READINGS:12/24/2018 ~ 12/25/2018 ~ Nativity of the Christ - Proper I ~ Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14, (15-20) ~ Proper II ~ Isaiah 62:6-12; Psalm 97; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:(1-7), 8-20 ~ Proper III ~ Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98; Hebrews 1:1-4, (5-12); John 1:1-14.
God Whispers
“Mary treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart.” — Luke 2:19.
The journey from Nazareth had been long and hard. The trip took about eight days. The two of them and a pack animal had traveled over the hills and winding roads of Roman Palestine. Mostly they walked.
Mary was pregnant so occasionally— when fatigue or simply when surges of pain happened— occasionally walking was out of the question. But they could not stop. They needed to get to the City of David by a certain date to register, to be in compliance.
And so at those times when Mary needed to ride, her husband found a good sized bolder on the side of the road, helped her up and nestled the mule— an incredibly patient beast— next to the stone. Using the rock as a platform Mary would then carefully climb on the animal’s back.
And yes, there was noise along the road— a lot of it. They had not expected much company on the journey. They were wrong. Roman soldiers, both marching and riding in chariots, were also navigating these treacherous roads.
If the soldiers did not actually have the right of way, they took it. They were, after all, an occupying army.
And they made noise, a lot of it. Commanders barked orders. Chariots creaked. Soldiers cursed. Hooves pounded. Horses and pack animals seemed to bray constantly.
And then there were the people, hundreds of them, people with families, people in wagons, people riding, people walking, people making noise who, like Mary and Joseph, were headed to Bethlehem. Why were there so many?
The decree from the Roman Emperor declared everyone had to return to the place, the town, from which they claimed lineage. Joseph was a descendant of the house, the lineage of David. David was, of course, the great ruler of Israel, the one from whose linage the prophets predicted the Messiah would be born.
Joseph had a suspicion as to why so many people were going to Bethlehem. Many people wanted to claim they were of David’s lineage were making the trip. Claim was the key word.
People wanted to claim a relationship with David. But were all these people really of David’s lineage? It seemed unlikely.
However, once they registered that relationship to David with the Roman government who would question it? Having that credential made the claim real even if it was not.
Indeed, when Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem the town was packed. There was no place for them to stay.
And so they landed in a stable, in a barn. And that was noisy. There were all kinds of animal noises... and smells, all kinds of animal smells... and it was uncomfortable. Joseph gathered hay in a pile to make a place for Mary to lay down.
Just when she had settled into the hay her time arrived. Now it was she who made noise. And it was loud. She was loud. But the labor was short.
It was then the turn of the infant to make noise. This was her firstborn. She had not realized how loud a child could be. The noise hurt her ears. But this was her child. So she loved the noise.
Nearly right away there was even more noise— shepherds, boys— all very young— excited as only young boys can be, burst into the barn. She did not understand what they were talking about.
They said things about the glory of God and angels and good news and they went on and on and on. They shouted, they pointed to the sky and they pointed at the child. It did not make any sense. And then they ran away as quickly as they had come.
So finally, it was just Mary and her husband and the child alone in the barn. Joseph sighed and sat next to Mary and the infant. At least her husband was not noisy, she thought. He was, most of the time, taciturn.
Just as quickly as Joseph sat, he stood. “We are both hungry. I should go to the inn and talk to that innkeeper. Perhaps I can get some food.”
Mary smiled, nodded ascent. And he was gone. Mary sighed and held the child next to her breast. The crying stopped. In a short time she could feel the steady tempo of the slumber, the warmth of breath against her skin.
She suddenly realized noise had been a constant companion to her for days. But now there was no noise. It was strangely quiet.
The quiet surrounded her, enfolded her, embraced her. She felt warmed by it, comforted by it, blessed by it.
The silence gave her time to think. She reflected on the events of the last months, the tumult, the excitement. Of course, there was that... vision. Then there was the trip to see Elizabeth, the betrothal to Joseph, the pregnancy, the hard journey to Bethlehem.
As was her habit, she tried to understand the place to which God might be calling her. Perhaps because of that vision, the one she experienced, she had recently spoken with her Rabbi and asked what the voice of God might sound like.
“The voice of God has nothing to do with noise,” said the Rabbi. “We humans seem to like chaos. We seem to like noise. Noise is what humans make, not God.”
“The prophet Elijah,” he continued, “stood on a mountain before God. God was not in the earthquake, the wind, the fire. God was in sheer silence.” (Slight pause.)
Mary lifted the cover under which she and the child rested and looked down. The child opened its eyes and looked at her. (Slight pause.)
Mary heard the voice of God. The voice of God was not loud. The voice of God spoke softly, gently, quietly... in a whisper.
Mary heard the voice of God whisper in the eyes of the child. One word was spoken softly, gently, quietly... in a whisper. Love— love. (Slight pause.)
Mary pondered this in her heart. She wondered what it meant that the voice of God could be heard in eyes of this child. She wondered what it meant— that the voice of God said only one word: love. Amen.
12/24/2018 ~ Christmas Eve
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “We live in a very secular world. Hence, I never wish people a ‘Merry Christmas.’ That is a secular term. You see, as Christians at Eastertide we should not greet people with ‘Happy Easter.’ We should say, ‘Christ is risen.’ So, at Christmastide, if somebody says ‘Merry Christmas,’ as a Christian say ‘Christ is with us.’ That is the real Christian sentiment expressed in the Feast of the Incarnation— Christ is with us.”
BENEDICTION: The sun shall no longer be / your light by day, / nor for brightness shall the moon /. give you light by night; / for Yahweh, God, / will be your everlasting light, / and your glory. — Isaiah 60:19-20a.
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
Sunday, December 23, 2018
SERMON ~ 12/23/2018 ~ Fourth Sunday of Advent ~ “Souls Proclaiming Greatness”
READINGS: 12/23/2018 ~ Fourth Sunday of Advent ~ The Sunday on Which the Christian Virtue of Joy Is Celebrated ~ Micah 5:2-5a; Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 80:1-7; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-45, (46-55).
Souls Proclaiming Greatness
“Then Mary said, / ‘My soul proclaims Your greatness, O God, / and my spirit rejoices in You, my Savior.’” — Luke 1:46-47.
I have delved into the story I’m about to tell before but with a different emphasis. Besides, I have not reviewed or revived this tale in quite some time. So please forgive me as I wade into these waters again.
In 1983 I had a friend who went for a three day battery of psychological and skills tests at the Northeast Career Center in New Jersey. While this is an overstatement, I like to call that process “three days of ‘What does this ink blot mean?’” [The pastor holds up a sheet of paper as if displaying a page with an ink blot.]
The reputation of this organization is ‘they know what they are doing.’ That’s because they have a serious track record. They have been conducting psychological and skills testing since the mid-1920s.
My friend had been working in the advertising business as a copywriter. Having completed the three days of work, the Career Center suggested to my friend there might be a different career to be pursued. The recommendation suggested the legal profession was an appropriate arena for work given his skill set.
So he entered Princeton University Law School. He eventually wound up as the editor of the law review at Princeton and later went to work at a big corporate law firm on Wall Street.
Seeing this result— that a writer changed careers to the law— caught my interest. I was at that time making my living as a writer— often a hand to mouth existence— and the law does seem to be a more lucrative, stable profession than writing.
And so, in 1986 I went through the same three day battery of tests, hoping I also would get a similar recommendation— attend law school. When the tests were done the Center said they had good news and bad news.
They did not recommend the law. But that was really not the bad news. The bad news was, they said, not only should I be a writer, but I was off their charts on that skill set. How is that bad news? Simple— not too many people actually make a living just writing.
Even many people who are famous writers, said the staff at center, do other things to keep food on the table. They teach, especially at the University level, conduct seminars and, for a fee— usually a high fee when you’re famous— give talks at corporate meetings.
But there was good news. Most people test as doing one thing really well and nothing else particularly well. I, on the other hand, tested as doing one thing well and nearly everything else at least adequately well or even a cut above average.
That was good news since— I should add they said I should never be an airplane pilot.— that was good news since writers, if writing is all they do well, wind up as starving artists. But, because I did many things with a reasonable degree of competence, they said, it was unlikely I would ever starve. (Slight pause.)
In fact, the real goal of a place like the Northeast Career Center is not so much to detect skills as to put you in touch with yourself, help you analyze, self-analyze who you are. If you can do that kind of analyzation successfully once, doing it over and over again can become routine.
Understanding who you are, being able to assess where you’re at, digging deep into the soul with consistency is an invaluable asset. And, in order to constantly and consistently assess where you’re at, self examination is the kind of skill which needs to be practiced and practiced and practiced some more.
I think self examination needs to be and to become regular, constant. It was, after all, Socrates who said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” (Slight pause.)
This is found in Luke: “Then Mary said, / ‘My soul proclaims Your greatness, O God, / and my spirit rejoices in You, my Savior.’” (Slight pause.)
A couple weeks ago I was chatting with someone who was retired. This person said one of the pratfalls into which she fell upon retirement was not being able to let go of her work.
Why? She came to realize her identity was tied up with what she had done in her work life. Therefore, her identity was about what she did rather than who she was.
Once she was able to let go of what she did, it freed her to be who she was. But this movement, this change took a couple years.
Frankly, many people find their identity in their work. But is that who we are? (Slight pause.)
The Westminster Shorter Catechism of the Anglican tradition says the purpose of humanity, each of us, is to glorify God. The Baltimore Catechism of the Roman tradition says the purpose of humanity, each of us, is to know God, to love God, to serve God. I want to suggest these two are intertwined, inseparable.
I want to suggest glorifying God, knowing God, loving God, serving God is about who we are, not about what we do. And I also want to suggest glorifying God, knowing God, loving God, serving God— these are not even a possibility unless we first know ourselves.
But that raises questions: how do we know ourselves? How can we know ourselves? (Slight pause.)
First and to be clear, I think we can know ourselves only in part. Testing is invaluable because we can never know ourselves fully. There is always a new avenue to explore, another way to look at ourselves. But second, because we can never know ourselves fully, one of the best ways to find out about our own self is to listen to what others say about us.
Indeed, I believe when we allow others to examine, to explain, to affirm who we are that can be an essential way of getting to better know ourselves. Other people can help us in the process. (Slight pause.)
When this reading from Luke was introduced it was said Luke has a number of stories in the first two chapters. All of the stories, not just the Nativity of the Christ, are important. And we need to pay attention to everything in the first two chapters and not separate out the Nativity because these two chapter are a whole.
Given that, when Mary proclaims the greatness of God she has already been affirmed twice. She has been affirmed by Gabriel and was told (quote:) “Blessed are you among women.” She is then affirmed by Elizabeth who also says (quote:) “Blessed are you among women.”
And so, having been affirmed Mary proclaims. Mary proclaims by and through glorifying God, knowing God, loving God, serving God because Mary knows who she is. Mary knows who she is in part because she has been affirmed.
And Mary knows, because of that affirmation, what her true identity is. She is a child of God.
And this may be key. I think we cannot glorify God, know God, love God, serve God in the most effective way we are able without knowing and affirming who we are, who each of us is individually. And who are we? We are children of God. (Slight pause.)
That presents an obvious question: who am I? The testing helped. But it didn’t really tell me who I am. My answer is, like Mary, I am a child of God. I am a child of God and I am, thereby, empowered to glorify God, to know God, to love God, to serve God
There is, I think, a second, equally obvious question: who are we, as a church? You see, Mary received affirmation from others. And the community of faith, this group who we commonly call a church, needs to be a place where affirmation happens.
I maintain unless we affirm one another we cannot fully, to the best of the ability of each individual and to the best of the abilities of the whole, function effectively as a community, function effectively as a church. And who do we need to be? What do we need to do as a church? We need to empowered to glorify God, to know God, to love God, to serve God.
Hence, as we move forward through these next months it would be wise of us to ask a simple question. Who are we? Who are we as individuals. Who are we as a church? Indeed, this process of self-examination, this process of just asking questions about who we are might help us envision the future.
So to reiterate, do we, as individuals, strive to glorify God, to know God, to love God, to serve God? Do we, as a church, as a community of faith, strive to glorify God, to know God, to love God, to serve God? Amen.
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “New Testament scholar Nicholas Thomas Wright says the Realm of God as it is found in the Gospels is not about getting to heaven. The Realm of God as it is found in the Gospels is about the transformation of life here, now. I say if we as a church, truly glorify God, know God, love God, serve God then we will, as a church, be working toward the transformation of life here, now. What does transformation look like? Mary said what it looks like. It looks like the equity which happens when the proud are scattered, the powerful brought down, the mighty disposed, the lowly raised to high places, the hungry filled with good things. And who will accomplish this?”
[The Children’s Time at the service today had ended with a very large mirror being held up first to the children and then to the Congregation. At this point the pastor took that same mirror and held it up to the Congregation while not saying one word before intoning the Benediction.]
BENEDICTION: Let us be present to one another as we go from this place. Let us share our gifts, our hopes, our memories, our pain and our joy. Go in peace for God is with us. Go in hope for God reveals to us, daily, that we are a part of God’s new creation. Go in joy for God knows every fiber of our being. Go in love, for we rest assured, by Christ, Jesus, that God is steadfast. Amen.
Souls Proclaiming Greatness
“Then Mary said, / ‘My soul proclaims Your greatness, O God, / and my spirit rejoices in You, my Savior.’” — Luke 1:46-47.
I have delved into the story I’m about to tell before but with a different emphasis. Besides, I have not reviewed or revived this tale in quite some time. So please forgive me as I wade into these waters again.
In 1983 I had a friend who went for a three day battery of psychological and skills tests at the Northeast Career Center in New Jersey. While this is an overstatement, I like to call that process “three days of ‘What does this ink blot mean?’” [The pastor holds up a sheet of paper as if displaying a page with an ink blot.]
The reputation of this organization is ‘they know what they are doing.’ That’s because they have a serious track record. They have been conducting psychological and skills testing since the mid-1920s.
My friend had been working in the advertising business as a copywriter. Having completed the three days of work, the Career Center suggested to my friend there might be a different career to be pursued. The recommendation suggested the legal profession was an appropriate arena for work given his skill set.
So he entered Princeton University Law School. He eventually wound up as the editor of the law review at Princeton and later went to work at a big corporate law firm on Wall Street.
Seeing this result— that a writer changed careers to the law— caught my interest. I was at that time making my living as a writer— often a hand to mouth existence— and the law does seem to be a more lucrative, stable profession than writing.
And so, in 1986 I went through the same three day battery of tests, hoping I also would get a similar recommendation— attend law school. When the tests were done the Center said they had good news and bad news.
They did not recommend the law. But that was really not the bad news. The bad news was, they said, not only should I be a writer, but I was off their charts on that skill set. How is that bad news? Simple— not too many people actually make a living just writing.
Even many people who are famous writers, said the staff at center, do other things to keep food on the table. They teach, especially at the University level, conduct seminars and, for a fee— usually a high fee when you’re famous— give talks at corporate meetings.
But there was good news. Most people test as doing one thing really well and nothing else particularly well. I, on the other hand, tested as doing one thing well and nearly everything else at least adequately well or even a cut above average.
That was good news since— I should add they said I should never be an airplane pilot.— that was good news since writers, if writing is all they do well, wind up as starving artists. But, because I did many things with a reasonable degree of competence, they said, it was unlikely I would ever starve. (Slight pause.)
In fact, the real goal of a place like the Northeast Career Center is not so much to detect skills as to put you in touch with yourself, help you analyze, self-analyze who you are. If you can do that kind of analyzation successfully once, doing it over and over again can become routine.
Understanding who you are, being able to assess where you’re at, digging deep into the soul with consistency is an invaluable asset. And, in order to constantly and consistently assess where you’re at, self examination is the kind of skill which needs to be practiced and practiced and practiced some more.
I think self examination needs to be and to become regular, constant. It was, after all, Socrates who said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” (Slight pause.)
This is found in Luke: “Then Mary said, / ‘My soul proclaims Your greatness, O God, / and my spirit rejoices in You, my Savior.’” (Slight pause.)
A couple weeks ago I was chatting with someone who was retired. This person said one of the pratfalls into which she fell upon retirement was not being able to let go of her work.
Why? She came to realize her identity was tied up with what she had done in her work life. Therefore, her identity was about what she did rather than who she was.
Once she was able to let go of what she did, it freed her to be who she was. But this movement, this change took a couple years.
Frankly, many people find their identity in their work. But is that who we are? (Slight pause.)
The Westminster Shorter Catechism of the Anglican tradition says the purpose of humanity, each of us, is to glorify God. The Baltimore Catechism of the Roman tradition says the purpose of humanity, each of us, is to know God, to love God, to serve God. I want to suggest these two are intertwined, inseparable.
I want to suggest glorifying God, knowing God, loving God, serving God is about who we are, not about what we do. And I also want to suggest glorifying God, knowing God, loving God, serving God— these are not even a possibility unless we first know ourselves.
But that raises questions: how do we know ourselves? How can we know ourselves? (Slight pause.)
First and to be clear, I think we can know ourselves only in part. Testing is invaluable because we can never know ourselves fully. There is always a new avenue to explore, another way to look at ourselves. But second, because we can never know ourselves fully, one of the best ways to find out about our own self is to listen to what others say about us.
Indeed, I believe when we allow others to examine, to explain, to affirm who we are that can be an essential way of getting to better know ourselves. Other people can help us in the process. (Slight pause.)
When this reading from Luke was introduced it was said Luke has a number of stories in the first two chapters. All of the stories, not just the Nativity of the Christ, are important. And we need to pay attention to everything in the first two chapters and not separate out the Nativity because these two chapter are a whole.
Given that, when Mary proclaims the greatness of God she has already been affirmed twice. She has been affirmed by Gabriel and was told (quote:) “Blessed are you among women.” She is then affirmed by Elizabeth who also says (quote:) “Blessed are you among women.”
And so, having been affirmed Mary proclaims. Mary proclaims by and through glorifying God, knowing God, loving God, serving God because Mary knows who she is. Mary knows who she is in part because she has been affirmed.
And Mary knows, because of that affirmation, what her true identity is. She is a child of God.
And this may be key. I think we cannot glorify God, know God, love God, serve God in the most effective way we are able without knowing and affirming who we are, who each of us is individually. And who are we? We are children of God. (Slight pause.)
That presents an obvious question: who am I? The testing helped. But it didn’t really tell me who I am. My answer is, like Mary, I am a child of God. I am a child of God and I am, thereby, empowered to glorify God, to know God, to love God, to serve God
There is, I think, a second, equally obvious question: who are we, as a church? You see, Mary received affirmation from others. And the community of faith, this group who we commonly call a church, needs to be a place where affirmation happens.
I maintain unless we affirm one another we cannot fully, to the best of the ability of each individual and to the best of the abilities of the whole, function effectively as a community, function effectively as a church. And who do we need to be? What do we need to do as a church? We need to empowered to glorify God, to know God, to love God, to serve God.
Hence, as we move forward through these next months it would be wise of us to ask a simple question. Who are we? Who are we as individuals. Who are we as a church? Indeed, this process of self-examination, this process of just asking questions about who we are might help us envision the future.
So to reiterate, do we, as individuals, strive to glorify God, to know God, to love God, to serve God? Do we, as a church, as a community of faith, strive to glorify God, to know God, to love God, to serve God? Amen.
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “New Testament scholar Nicholas Thomas Wright says the Realm of God as it is found in the Gospels is not about getting to heaven. The Realm of God as it is found in the Gospels is about the transformation of life here, now. I say if we as a church, truly glorify God, know God, love God, serve God then we will, as a church, be working toward the transformation of life here, now. What does transformation look like? Mary said what it looks like. It looks like the equity which happens when the proud are scattered, the powerful brought down, the mighty disposed, the lowly raised to high places, the hungry filled with good things. And who will accomplish this?”
[The Children’s Time at the service today had ended with a very large mirror being held up first to the children and then to the Congregation. At this point the pastor took that same mirror and held it up to the Congregation while not saying one word before intoning the Benediction.]
BENEDICTION: Let us be present to one another as we go from this place. Let us share our gifts, our hopes, our memories, our pain and our joy. Go in peace for God is with us. Go in hope for God reveals to us, daily, that we are a part of God’s new creation. Go in joy for God knows every fiber of our being. Go in love, for we rest assured, by Christ, Jesus, that God is steadfast. Amen.
Sunday, December 9, 2018
SERMON ~ 12/09/2018 ~ Second Sunday of Advent ~ “Repentance and Forgiveness”
READINGS: 12/09/2018 ~ Second Sunday of Advent ~ The Sunday on Which the Christian Virtue of Peace Is Celebrated ~ Baruch 5:1-9 or Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 1:68-79; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6 ~ Sing Out and Celebrate (7:00 p.m. @ BSUMC) ~ Bell Choir.
Repentance and Forgiveness
“John went through the entire region of the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;...” — Luke 3:3
Most of you know I am in my twenty third year as the pastor of this church in Norwich, as your pastor. Some of you know this next factoid but not everyone. Before I came to Norwich I served as an Associate Pastor at the Waldo County Cooperative of Churches in Waldo County, Maine.
That was a five church cooperative, a five church yoke. (I know— it sounds very Methodist.) When it came to a preaching schedule, the Senior Pastor and I switched off week to week, one week three of the five, the next week the other two.
The towns in this group— Frankfort, Jackson, Monroe, Brooks, Freedom— had a combined population of less than 3,000. Brooks was the largest— on a good day about a 1,000 souls. These were very small churches in very small towns. My first Sunday in the pulpit as a settled pastor serving those churches was September 4th, 1995.
For about two years before that, starting in 1993, I did a lot of work as a supply preacher. In those 104 weeks I filled a pulpit on a Sunday 47 times— just short of half of the possible Sundays.
I must have done all right. A lot of churches asked me back. The church in Belfast, Maine invited me six times.
I am reciting this history to explain something. Since 1993 I have not actually heard a lot of other pastors preach. Obviously, when you’re in the pulpit preaching you are not listening to someone else preach.
Once, however, I attended a service and heard a sermon offered by a good friend. The essence of it was some people think inside the box; others think outside the box. The point was this recommendation: for churches thinking outside the box is a necessity.
Well, after the service I saw my friend and said, “You’ve fully explained my life situation with one sermon. Some people think inside the box; others think outside the box. My take is, ‘Box? There’s a box? Why was I not told?’” (Slight pause.)
I need to be clear. There are times thinking inside the box can be useful, wanted, warranted. Innovation is not always a necessity. But usually innovation, trying something unknown, is the only way you can see if that thing will or will not work. And innovation is often the only avenue which will encourage growth.
Me, personally? Male, older, Caucasian— I may present an image which says inside the box. But don’t be fooled. I’m a theater person.
For theater people, stretching is a given. I would, in fact, suggest stretching, trying something different, outside the box stuff, is good for individuals and for organizations.
Can it be risky? Yes. However, I doubt that, in all of human history, growth has ever happened without stretching, without real risk taking. (Slight pause.)
This is what we hear in Luke. “John went through the entire region of the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;...” (Slight pause.)
There are a number of things to which we need to pay attention in this reading. First, given the story which precedes these words, the writer skips from the time Jesus is very young— at the temple— to the time Jesus is about to start a ministry of preaching.
Second, since the writer gives us all those names in this reading which, by the way, are not easy to pronounce, there is clearly an attempt at offering information about the historical context. This is not the first time Luke’s author has offered historical context.
The more famous effort reads this way (quote:) “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.” (Slight pause.)
It is often said Luke was written for, written to and written about the poor and the outcast. The story of shepherds is not meant to depict a peaceful, pastoral scene.
Shepherding was a hardscrabble, marginal, risky, lean way of life. There was nothing romantic or attractive or peaceful about it. Further, in that era shepherds were considered the lowest of the low. On any kind of social scale they were outcast.
That having been said, in these two key passages what is this writer doing? Setting the context. The writer tells us who was in charge in the world, tells us who did not have a hardscrabble, marginal, lean, risky existence. So, at least part of the point Luke strives to make is to draw that contrast, that distinction.
And who appears after setting the context? First the shepherds who are outcast, then the Baptist, who shouts on Jordan’s shore, the one about whom it can readily be said this person is an outcast from respectable society, someone who does not care about boxes.
John, however, can and does tell us about what a relationship of God looks like. And a relationship with God is about a God Who clearly wants to be in relationship with humanity— with everyone— with those in charge, with those not in charge.
Why is it clear God wants to be in relationship with us, with humanity? John claims the place God starts with this relationship is what is commonly called forgiveness. We are forgiven before we do anything, before we have done anything. Further, we do not have to do anything to be forgiven. This is often called God’s unconditional love.
Put another way, because of this relationship between God and humanity— and this is what any solid relationship is or at least should be based on— God starts with a premise: we are trusted. We are trusted with each other’s being, trusted to love one another, trusted to be stewards of the world God created.
John also says we are invited to what is commonly called repentance. As I have often said before, repentance is not about remorse, not about feeling sorry. Repentance means turning toward God, walking in the ways of God, living life to its fullest, living life as God would have us live, living life filled with hope, peace, love and joy.
So, when we hear this proclamation about repentance and forgiveness these are not what popular culture says they are about, what I’ve just outlined. That brings me back to the juxtaposition with which the writer of Luke presents us in laying out the context.
Luke asks who is in charge of society? Who runs the world. Luke then holds up the power brokers and contrasts that with those who are outcast. (Slight pause.)
I think this is a given. Those who are in control— or rather those who think they are in control— are generally comfortable inside the box.
Those in control tend to use bywords and we have all heard from time to time. Don’t make waves. Don’t upset the apple cart. Include only those who are just like us. That is, my friends, clearly inside the box thinking. (Slight pause.)
What is outside the box thinking? Everyone counts. All people are included. Go ahead— eat the apples off the cart. Let’s splash some water— waves can be fun.
And yes, doing new and different, working outside the box means taking risks. But my experience says the only way to fail is to refuse to take risks.
What’s my experience? You remember I mentioned that five church cooperative where served as an Associate Pastor? These were poor churches in a very rural area. End to end the cooperative spanned 40 miles.
But they thought outside the box, took a risk. Each church had its own budget. Then together they formed a separate budget. With that unified budget, they had the where-with-all not to have just one pastor but two. Now, that’s thinking outside the box.
This is also to say the preaching of the Baptizer is not about any kind of ethereal, pie in the sky stuff. Turning toward God needs to be real, practical, substantive and risky.
Perhaps that’s why so many have a hard time with repentance, turning toward God. How much of a hard time do people have with repentance? They turn it into something it is not.
As I said, repentance is not about remorse, not about feeling sorry. But that’s what people turn repentance into.
And forgivingness? As I said, we are forgiven before we do anything. And we do not have to do anything. But people are uncomfortable with free gifts. Don’t we owe God something for this gift? No, we do not. (Slight pause.)
So, this is the Sunday of Advent when we celebrate peace. Biblical peace is not the absence of conflict. Biblical peace means the truth of the real presence of God. Biblical peace means the real presence of God is with us.
And yes, that’s what Christmas is really about: God is with us. And that very idea that God is with us— that make really makes people really, really uncomfortable.
How do I know that? Do me a favor. Go shopping and you see displays of trees, lights, ornaments, electronics, cookware— you name it. But let me know if you see any signs which say, “God is with us.” No one out there has seen that in the supermarkets, in the box-stores. (Slight pause.)
So, let us celebrate Advent with hope, peace, love and joy. Hope, peace, love and joy can be found when we realize the real risk we take in our life is to ignore that God with us and that God is present to us. Of course, that God with us and present to us is the message of the Baptizer. It is the message of Advent. It is the message of Christmas. God is with us. Amen.
12/09/2018
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Secular culture makes every effort it can to take over church culture. After all, secular culture turns the birth of the Messiah, the in-breaking of God, into a buying spree while at the same time claiming there is a war on Christmas. Whose staffing that war? The buyers? After all, when we the last time instead you heard somebody say ‘Have a blessed Advent filled with all the hope, peace, love and joy remembering that God is present to us’?”
BENEDICTION: Let us be present to one another as we go from this place. Let us share our gifts, our hopes, our memories, our pain and our joy. Let us go in joy for God knows every fiber of our being. Let us go in hope for God reveals to us, daily, that we are a part of God’s new creation. Let us go in love, for we rest assured, by Christ, Jesus, that the love of God is steadfast. Let us go in peace for God is with us. Amen.
Repentance and Forgiveness
“John went through the entire region of the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;...” — Luke 3:3
Most of you know I am in my twenty third year as the pastor of this church in Norwich, as your pastor. Some of you know this next factoid but not everyone. Before I came to Norwich I served as an Associate Pastor at the Waldo County Cooperative of Churches in Waldo County, Maine.
That was a five church cooperative, a five church yoke. (I know— it sounds very Methodist.) When it came to a preaching schedule, the Senior Pastor and I switched off week to week, one week three of the five, the next week the other two.
The towns in this group— Frankfort, Jackson, Monroe, Brooks, Freedom— had a combined population of less than 3,000. Brooks was the largest— on a good day about a 1,000 souls. These were very small churches in very small towns. My first Sunday in the pulpit as a settled pastor serving those churches was September 4th, 1995.
For about two years before that, starting in 1993, I did a lot of work as a supply preacher. In those 104 weeks I filled a pulpit on a Sunday 47 times— just short of half of the possible Sundays.
I must have done all right. A lot of churches asked me back. The church in Belfast, Maine invited me six times.
I am reciting this history to explain something. Since 1993 I have not actually heard a lot of other pastors preach. Obviously, when you’re in the pulpit preaching you are not listening to someone else preach.
Once, however, I attended a service and heard a sermon offered by a good friend. The essence of it was some people think inside the box; others think outside the box. The point was this recommendation: for churches thinking outside the box is a necessity.
Well, after the service I saw my friend and said, “You’ve fully explained my life situation with one sermon. Some people think inside the box; others think outside the box. My take is, ‘Box? There’s a box? Why was I not told?’” (Slight pause.)
I need to be clear. There are times thinking inside the box can be useful, wanted, warranted. Innovation is not always a necessity. But usually innovation, trying something unknown, is the only way you can see if that thing will or will not work. And innovation is often the only avenue which will encourage growth.
Me, personally? Male, older, Caucasian— I may present an image which says inside the box. But don’t be fooled. I’m a theater person.
For theater people, stretching is a given. I would, in fact, suggest stretching, trying something different, outside the box stuff, is good for individuals and for organizations.
Can it be risky? Yes. However, I doubt that, in all of human history, growth has ever happened without stretching, without real risk taking. (Slight pause.)
This is what we hear in Luke. “John went through the entire region of the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;...” (Slight pause.)
There are a number of things to which we need to pay attention in this reading. First, given the story which precedes these words, the writer skips from the time Jesus is very young— at the temple— to the time Jesus is about to start a ministry of preaching.
Second, since the writer gives us all those names in this reading which, by the way, are not easy to pronounce, there is clearly an attempt at offering information about the historical context. This is not the first time Luke’s author has offered historical context.
The more famous effort reads this way (quote:) “In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.” (Slight pause.)
It is often said Luke was written for, written to and written about the poor and the outcast. The story of shepherds is not meant to depict a peaceful, pastoral scene.
Shepherding was a hardscrabble, marginal, risky, lean way of life. There was nothing romantic or attractive or peaceful about it. Further, in that era shepherds were considered the lowest of the low. On any kind of social scale they were outcast.
That having been said, in these two key passages what is this writer doing? Setting the context. The writer tells us who was in charge in the world, tells us who did not have a hardscrabble, marginal, lean, risky existence. So, at least part of the point Luke strives to make is to draw that contrast, that distinction.
And who appears after setting the context? First the shepherds who are outcast, then the Baptist, who shouts on Jordan’s shore, the one about whom it can readily be said this person is an outcast from respectable society, someone who does not care about boxes.
John, however, can and does tell us about what a relationship of God looks like. And a relationship with God is about a God Who clearly wants to be in relationship with humanity— with everyone— with those in charge, with those not in charge.
Why is it clear God wants to be in relationship with us, with humanity? John claims the place God starts with this relationship is what is commonly called forgiveness. We are forgiven before we do anything, before we have done anything. Further, we do not have to do anything to be forgiven. This is often called God’s unconditional love.
Put another way, because of this relationship between God and humanity— and this is what any solid relationship is or at least should be based on— God starts with a premise: we are trusted. We are trusted with each other’s being, trusted to love one another, trusted to be stewards of the world God created.
John also says we are invited to what is commonly called repentance. As I have often said before, repentance is not about remorse, not about feeling sorry. Repentance means turning toward God, walking in the ways of God, living life to its fullest, living life as God would have us live, living life filled with hope, peace, love and joy.
So, when we hear this proclamation about repentance and forgiveness these are not what popular culture says they are about, what I’ve just outlined. That brings me back to the juxtaposition with which the writer of Luke presents us in laying out the context.
Luke asks who is in charge of society? Who runs the world. Luke then holds up the power brokers and contrasts that with those who are outcast. (Slight pause.)
I think this is a given. Those who are in control— or rather those who think they are in control— are generally comfortable inside the box.
Those in control tend to use bywords and we have all heard from time to time. Don’t make waves. Don’t upset the apple cart. Include only those who are just like us. That is, my friends, clearly inside the box thinking. (Slight pause.)
What is outside the box thinking? Everyone counts. All people are included. Go ahead— eat the apples off the cart. Let’s splash some water— waves can be fun.
And yes, doing new and different, working outside the box means taking risks. But my experience says the only way to fail is to refuse to take risks.
What’s my experience? You remember I mentioned that five church cooperative where served as an Associate Pastor? These were poor churches in a very rural area. End to end the cooperative spanned 40 miles.
But they thought outside the box, took a risk. Each church had its own budget. Then together they formed a separate budget. With that unified budget, they had the where-with-all not to have just one pastor but two. Now, that’s thinking outside the box.
This is also to say the preaching of the Baptizer is not about any kind of ethereal, pie in the sky stuff. Turning toward God needs to be real, practical, substantive and risky.
Perhaps that’s why so many have a hard time with repentance, turning toward God. How much of a hard time do people have with repentance? They turn it into something it is not.
As I said, repentance is not about remorse, not about feeling sorry. But that’s what people turn repentance into.
And forgivingness? As I said, we are forgiven before we do anything. And we do not have to do anything. But people are uncomfortable with free gifts. Don’t we owe God something for this gift? No, we do not. (Slight pause.)
So, this is the Sunday of Advent when we celebrate peace. Biblical peace is not the absence of conflict. Biblical peace means the truth of the real presence of God. Biblical peace means the real presence of God is with us.
And yes, that’s what Christmas is really about: God is with us. And that very idea that God is with us— that make really makes people really, really uncomfortable.
How do I know that? Do me a favor. Go shopping and you see displays of trees, lights, ornaments, electronics, cookware— you name it. But let me know if you see any signs which say, “God is with us.” No one out there has seen that in the supermarkets, in the box-stores. (Slight pause.)
So, let us celebrate Advent with hope, peace, love and joy. Hope, peace, love and joy can be found when we realize the real risk we take in our life is to ignore that God with us and that God is present to us. Of course, that God with us and present to us is the message of the Baptizer. It is the message of Advent. It is the message of Christmas. God is with us. Amen.
12/09/2018
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Secular culture makes every effort it can to take over church culture. After all, secular culture turns the birth of the Messiah, the in-breaking of God, into a buying spree while at the same time claiming there is a war on Christmas. Whose staffing that war? The buyers? After all, when we the last time instead you heard somebody say ‘Have a blessed Advent filled with all the hope, peace, love and joy remembering that God is present to us’?”
BENEDICTION: Let us be present to one another as we go from this place. Let us share our gifts, our hopes, our memories, our pain and our joy. Let us go in joy for God knows every fiber of our being. Let us go in hope for God reveals to us, daily, that we are a part of God’s new creation. Let us go in love, for we rest assured, by Christ, Jesus, that the love of God is steadfast. Let us go in peace for God is with us. Amen.
Sunday, December 2, 2018
SERMON ~ 12/02/2018 ~ First Sunday of Advent ~ “Justice and Integrity”
READINGS: 12/02/2018 ~ First Sunday of Advent ~ The Sunday on Which the Christian Virtue of Hope Is Celebrated ~ First Sunday in Year ‘C’ of the Three Year Lectionary Cycle ~ Jeremiah 33:14-16; Psalm 25:1-10; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13; Luke 21:25-36 ~ Communion Sunday.
Justice and Integrity
“In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch, a branch who maintains a right relationship with Me, to be raised up from the line of David who shall bring justice and integrity to the land.” — Jeremiah 33:15.
When the reading from Jeremiah was introduced this was said. “Prophets sometimes get a bad name for they are too often remembered for their condemnations rather than their word of hope. In this passage a prophet speaks a word of hope to the people of Israel.”
It is also true in our society many think a prophet is someone who predicts the future. But the idea that a prophet predicts the future is a secular concept. From a Biblical perspective that is a false notion, despite the seminars you can find out there about Revelation predicting the future.
Foretelling future events was not the job of the Prophets. The job of a prophet is to speak the Word of God, the truth of God.
That having been said, my bet is most of us have had some experience of foretelling, predicting, a premonition. I’ve had more than a couple. I want to address just one.
In August 1964 I was headed into my senior year of High School. I have always been an avid follower of the news. So on August 4th I was riveted to the TV knowing President Lyndon Baines Johnson was to make an emergency address to the nation.
The President said a Navy destroyer had been attacked by North Vietnamese PT boats. So Johnson asked congress to give the executive the ability to vigorously respond without a declaration of war. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
I was all of sixteen but as I listened I had one reaction. And this is where prophecy or at least premonition might come into play. I immediately realized even though this was the result of something half way around the world, it would in some way effect me directly.
Sure enough, at age 19 I got my draft notice and at 20 I shipped out to Saigon. Now, a lot happened when I was 19, 20 and 21 over which I had no control, the least of which in a sense was me being in the Army.
Much of what happened in those years made it seem there was little hope left in the world. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy were assassinated. There was a revolution in Czechoslovakia, the so called Prague Spring, but it was squashed.
Lyndon Johnson decided to not run for another term as President. There were riots at the Democratic National Convention.
On the other side of that coin, American Astronauts landed on the moon, the Beatles released the White Album, the Who released Tommy. The Jets won the Super Blow (while I was still in Vietnam) and the Mets won the World Series right after I came back. But these are more about fun than hope. We often confuse the two— fun and hope. (Slight pause.)
This is found in the Scroll of the Prophet Jeremiah: “In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch, a branch who maintains a right relationship with Me, to be raised up from the line of David who shall bring justice and integrity to the land.”
Those of you who know me real well and know about my sense of humor, know that my sense of humor sometimes even extends to visual humor. About three years before that day in August I described earlier, on my first day of High School— I was 13— my mother literally took me to the door of the house as I prepared to leave. With a tear in her eye she gave me a warm, tight hug and wished me luck. I could not resist.
I walked out the door, did a pratfall down the short front stoop and landed on my butt. Mom screamed. I turned around, looked up at her and said, “You’ve got to watch out. The world is a dangerous place!” I don’t think she ever forgave me for that one.
Despite making that statement in a humorous way I was, of course, right. The world is a dangerous place. How dangerous?
Ask Jeremiah. Again, when this reading was introduced it was said the prophet speaks a word of hope to the people of Israel who seem to be in a hopeless situation, under siege by the armies of Babylon. The world is dangerous. And because of that we sometimes fail to hope. (Slight pause.)
Life is full of coincidences. The Interfaith Council usually meets once a month for breakfast, a gathering intended to be social, and once a month in the afternoon, a more formal session with a speaker and/or discussion.
Even though the breakfasts are social, at a recent repast the conversation turned serious. We started discussing poverty in rural areas, especially in Chenango County.
The coincidence part of this is the next morning I had breakfast with Jack Salo. Many of you may know Jack, a former director at Opportunities for Chenango and of The Place.
Currently and for the last 15 years Jack has been the Executive Director of the Rural Health Network of South Central New York. Jack has an immense storehouse of knowledge on the topic of poverty in rural areas, especially poverty in Chenango County.
So Jack and I got to talking about poverty. Then I invited him to speak with the Interfaith Council. That session happened just this last week.
Among the items we discussed was the study called A.L.I.C.E.— Alice,— Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. It’s an assessment of current economic conditions. The study says 15% of families in Chenango Count live below the federal poverty guideline.
Another 30% of families have members who work but still are not making enough to cover their necessary costs. That 30% are the ones at the A.L.I.C.E. levels, families who must make difficult decisions every day about how and where to spend limited resources. Many are just one paycheck or accident/sick day away from financial disaster.
So, that statistic— which means 45% of the families in Chenango County are in poverty or struggling— leaves us with a question. Is this situation hopeless?
Jack Salo says ‘no.’ This is not hopeless. Jack works at this full time and has what I call a 2 ‘E’ approach. It is a response to any hopelessness that the 45% statistic might evoke. The two “Es” are education and engagement.
In today’s world this is a given: education, more than ever before, is a necessity. But engagement is the real key.
Yes, engagement is a part of education. But on top of that people need to be engaged with one another in many ways, on many levels, in order to achieve results.
And yes, engagement is a two way street. But those who profess to practice what Jeremiah calls (quote:) “justice and integrity” are responsible to keep the flow of that street open no matter what happens, no matter what another party does, no matter how another party behaves.
You see, the practice of justice— God’s justice— is a practice. Therefore you practice it, you do it, no matter what the circumstances are.
And hence, it is not only about justice. As Jeremiah says, it’s also about integrity. And integrity is about constantly giving, about consistent unity, about the wholeness possible through living in and into a full sense of what the community of God might entail— equity for all people. (Slight pause.)
That brings me back to my pratfall and the observation of a 13 year old. Yes, the world is a dangerous place.
But should we fear the world? Should we fear danger? It’s clear a lot of people today from prelates to pundits to politicians want us to be afraid.
So perhaps we should we hide our heads in the sand because the world is a dangerous place. Or perhaps do nothing because we are afraid.
There is another possibility. It is the one I think Jeremiah’s words of hope recommend. We should accept the challenge with which danger presents us and boldly confront this dangerous world. (Slight pause.)
I believe the words of Jeremiah are about hope because they are an invitation from God to us. They are an invitation to consistently, with integrity, confront a dangerous world. These words are an invitation to practice justice— God’s justice.
And justice never happens in isolation. Justice happens in community. God’s justice is, you see, not about my justice. God’s justice is not about your justice. God’s justice is about our justice, communal justice. And God’s community includes all people. If you exclude someone what you are saying is that individual is not a human. That individual is not God’s child. (Slight pause.)
That leads me to this question. Why is this reading assigned on the First Sunday of Advent, the Sunday on which the Christian virtue of hope is celebrated? (Slight pause.)
For me there is an obvious answer. The birth of the Messiah is about hope. The birth of the Messiah is about confronting the world with action, with hope as did the Messiah.
And yes, the birth of the Messiah is about the hope of God. This hope of God to which we are invited insists the Dominion of God will be seen when we act with one another to confront the reality of tribalism in our dangerous world.
This hope of God to which we are invited insists we need to maintain justice with integrity, with action, with working toward the justice of God. And so, here again we are faced with a question.
Are we willing to work with integrity toward God’s justice in this world, God’s world, and be filled with hope in so doing no matter what happens? Your call. Amen.
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “In the New York Times this week David Books had piece titled, It’s Not the Economy, Stupid. Brooks said the biggest factor in the current sociological, psychological and spiritual decay is a crisis of connection. People are less likely to volunteer, go to church, know their neighbors now than at any time over the past several decades. Why? They have fewer resources to help them ride the creative destruction always present in any type of economic system. [1] Well, it seems to me Jeremiah would be predicting the future if we turned that situation around by connecting. After all, that way we would be following the exhortation of the prophet to (quote:) “bring justice and integrity to the land.”
BENEDICTION: Let us go in joy and in love and in peace, for our hope is in the one who has made covenant with us. God reigns. Let us go in God’s peace. And may the face of God shine upon us; may the peace of Christ rule among us; may the fire of the Spirit burn within us this day and forevermore. Amen.
[1] NY Times ~ Opinion ~ It’s Not the Economy, Stupid ~ How to conduct economic policy in an age of social collapse. ~ David Brooks ~ Opinion Columnist
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/opinion/american-economy-working-class.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Justice and Integrity
“In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch, a branch who maintains a right relationship with Me, to be raised up from the line of David who shall bring justice and integrity to the land.” — Jeremiah 33:15.
When the reading from Jeremiah was introduced this was said. “Prophets sometimes get a bad name for they are too often remembered for their condemnations rather than their word of hope. In this passage a prophet speaks a word of hope to the people of Israel.”
It is also true in our society many think a prophet is someone who predicts the future. But the idea that a prophet predicts the future is a secular concept. From a Biblical perspective that is a false notion, despite the seminars you can find out there about Revelation predicting the future.
Foretelling future events was not the job of the Prophets. The job of a prophet is to speak the Word of God, the truth of God.
That having been said, my bet is most of us have had some experience of foretelling, predicting, a premonition. I’ve had more than a couple. I want to address just one.
In August 1964 I was headed into my senior year of High School. I have always been an avid follower of the news. So on August 4th I was riveted to the TV knowing President Lyndon Baines Johnson was to make an emergency address to the nation.
The President said a Navy destroyer had been attacked by North Vietnamese PT boats. So Johnson asked congress to give the executive the ability to vigorously respond without a declaration of war. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
I was all of sixteen but as I listened I had one reaction. And this is where prophecy or at least premonition might come into play. I immediately realized even though this was the result of something half way around the world, it would in some way effect me directly.
Sure enough, at age 19 I got my draft notice and at 20 I shipped out to Saigon. Now, a lot happened when I was 19, 20 and 21 over which I had no control, the least of which in a sense was me being in the Army.
Much of what happened in those years made it seem there was little hope left in the world. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy were assassinated. There was a revolution in Czechoslovakia, the so called Prague Spring, but it was squashed.
Lyndon Johnson decided to not run for another term as President. There were riots at the Democratic National Convention.
On the other side of that coin, American Astronauts landed on the moon, the Beatles released the White Album, the Who released Tommy. The Jets won the Super Blow (while I was still in Vietnam) and the Mets won the World Series right after I came back. But these are more about fun than hope. We often confuse the two— fun and hope. (Slight pause.)
This is found in the Scroll of the Prophet Jeremiah: “In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch, a branch who maintains a right relationship with Me, to be raised up from the line of David who shall bring justice and integrity to the land.”
Those of you who know me real well and know about my sense of humor, know that my sense of humor sometimes even extends to visual humor. About three years before that day in August I described earlier, on my first day of High School— I was 13— my mother literally took me to the door of the house as I prepared to leave. With a tear in her eye she gave me a warm, tight hug and wished me luck. I could not resist.
I walked out the door, did a pratfall down the short front stoop and landed on my butt. Mom screamed. I turned around, looked up at her and said, “You’ve got to watch out. The world is a dangerous place!” I don’t think she ever forgave me for that one.
Despite making that statement in a humorous way I was, of course, right. The world is a dangerous place. How dangerous?
Ask Jeremiah. Again, when this reading was introduced it was said the prophet speaks a word of hope to the people of Israel who seem to be in a hopeless situation, under siege by the armies of Babylon. The world is dangerous. And because of that we sometimes fail to hope. (Slight pause.)
Life is full of coincidences. The Interfaith Council usually meets once a month for breakfast, a gathering intended to be social, and once a month in the afternoon, a more formal session with a speaker and/or discussion.
Even though the breakfasts are social, at a recent repast the conversation turned serious. We started discussing poverty in rural areas, especially in Chenango County.
The coincidence part of this is the next morning I had breakfast with Jack Salo. Many of you may know Jack, a former director at Opportunities for Chenango and of The Place.
Currently and for the last 15 years Jack has been the Executive Director of the Rural Health Network of South Central New York. Jack has an immense storehouse of knowledge on the topic of poverty in rural areas, especially poverty in Chenango County.
So Jack and I got to talking about poverty. Then I invited him to speak with the Interfaith Council. That session happened just this last week.
Among the items we discussed was the study called A.L.I.C.E.— Alice,— Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. It’s an assessment of current economic conditions. The study says 15% of families in Chenango Count live below the federal poverty guideline.
Another 30% of families have members who work but still are not making enough to cover their necessary costs. That 30% are the ones at the A.L.I.C.E. levels, families who must make difficult decisions every day about how and where to spend limited resources. Many are just one paycheck or accident/sick day away from financial disaster.
So, that statistic— which means 45% of the families in Chenango County are in poverty or struggling— leaves us with a question. Is this situation hopeless?
Jack Salo says ‘no.’ This is not hopeless. Jack works at this full time and has what I call a 2 ‘E’ approach. It is a response to any hopelessness that the 45% statistic might evoke. The two “Es” are education and engagement.
In today’s world this is a given: education, more than ever before, is a necessity. But engagement is the real key.
Yes, engagement is a part of education. But on top of that people need to be engaged with one another in many ways, on many levels, in order to achieve results.
And yes, engagement is a two way street. But those who profess to practice what Jeremiah calls (quote:) “justice and integrity” are responsible to keep the flow of that street open no matter what happens, no matter what another party does, no matter how another party behaves.
You see, the practice of justice— God’s justice— is a practice. Therefore you practice it, you do it, no matter what the circumstances are.
And hence, it is not only about justice. As Jeremiah says, it’s also about integrity. And integrity is about constantly giving, about consistent unity, about the wholeness possible through living in and into a full sense of what the community of God might entail— equity for all people. (Slight pause.)
That brings me back to my pratfall and the observation of a 13 year old. Yes, the world is a dangerous place.
But should we fear the world? Should we fear danger? It’s clear a lot of people today from prelates to pundits to politicians want us to be afraid.
So perhaps we should we hide our heads in the sand because the world is a dangerous place. Or perhaps do nothing because we are afraid.
There is another possibility. It is the one I think Jeremiah’s words of hope recommend. We should accept the challenge with which danger presents us and boldly confront this dangerous world. (Slight pause.)
I believe the words of Jeremiah are about hope because they are an invitation from God to us. They are an invitation to consistently, with integrity, confront a dangerous world. These words are an invitation to practice justice— God’s justice.
And justice never happens in isolation. Justice happens in community. God’s justice is, you see, not about my justice. God’s justice is not about your justice. God’s justice is about our justice, communal justice. And God’s community includes all people. If you exclude someone what you are saying is that individual is not a human. That individual is not God’s child. (Slight pause.)
That leads me to this question. Why is this reading assigned on the First Sunday of Advent, the Sunday on which the Christian virtue of hope is celebrated? (Slight pause.)
For me there is an obvious answer. The birth of the Messiah is about hope. The birth of the Messiah is about confronting the world with action, with hope as did the Messiah.
And yes, the birth of the Messiah is about the hope of God. This hope of God to which we are invited insists the Dominion of God will be seen when we act with one another to confront the reality of tribalism in our dangerous world.
This hope of God to which we are invited insists we need to maintain justice with integrity, with action, with working toward the justice of God. And so, here again we are faced with a question.
Are we willing to work with integrity toward God’s justice in this world, God’s world, and be filled with hope in so doing no matter what happens? Your call. Amen.
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “In the New York Times this week David Books had piece titled, It’s Not the Economy, Stupid. Brooks said the biggest factor in the current sociological, psychological and spiritual decay is a crisis of connection. People are less likely to volunteer, go to church, know their neighbors now than at any time over the past several decades. Why? They have fewer resources to help them ride the creative destruction always present in any type of economic system. [1] Well, it seems to me Jeremiah would be predicting the future if we turned that situation around by connecting. After all, that way we would be following the exhortation of the prophet to (quote:) “bring justice and integrity to the land.”
BENEDICTION: Let us go in joy and in love and in peace, for our hope is in the one who has made covenant with us. God reigns. Let us go in God’s peace. And may the face of God shine upon us; may the peace of Christ rule among us; may the fire of the Spirit burn within us this day and forevermore. Amen.
[1] NY Times ~ Opinion ~ It’s Not the Economy, Stupid ~ How to conduct economic policy in an age of social collapse. ~ David Brooks ~ Opinion Columnist
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/opinion/american-economy-working-class.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)