SERMON ~ 05/19/2013 ~ “The Wind of God”

05/19/2013 ~ The Day of Pentecost ~ Acts 2:1-21 or Genesis 11:1-9; Psalm 104:24-34, 35b; Romans 8:14-17 or Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17, (25-27) ~ Strengthen the Church All Church Offering.

The Wind of God

“Suddenly they heard a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house in which they were sitting.” — Acts 2:2.

What does it mean to be called by God?  (Slight pause.)  I have long maintained that many church people, especially authorized ministers and ordained clergy, place too large an emphasis on the specific call to authorized and/or ordained ministry.

You see, I think God blesses each of us with multiple talents.  Because we are blessed with multiple talents, there are a myriad of things we can wind up doing, ordained ministry and authorized ministry being just one arena.

Indeed, many of you know before going to seminary and being ordained I had a multiplicity of jobs.  Early on, when I was still (pardon the expression) wet behind the ears, right after school I kind of stumbled into computer operations.  And yes, I did that well.  It turned me into a computer Geek.  (If you think I’m not a computer Geek, ask Bonnie.)

A little later I turned to what I’ve often thought of as my first love— theater.  Please notice: I do not know if theater is actually the place which might be the arena for my most effective talents.  I love it.  But again, just by becoming involved, I discovered I did have real talents for writing— writing plays and writing songs.

After that, since I was a working professional in theater and, as I am sure most of you know, there are two kinds of working professionals in theater— those who have jobs in show business and those who want to have jobs in show business— during those times I fell into the latter category, I needed a way to keep bread on the table.  And to do that, to keep bread on the table, I did nearly everything under the sun from being a tour guide at South Street Seaport Museum in Lower Manhattan to being a store manager.

At some point while doing nearly everything under the sun, I somehow landed on Wall Street.  I got what I thought was going to be a temporary fill in job between two theater jobs for a couple of months as a messenger.  The next thing I knew I was dispatching messengers.

The next thing I knew I was working at a brokerage.  The next thing I knew I was balancing and keeping track of accounts that traded millions of dollars in bonds and securities each day.  (Slight pause.)

Perhaps the fact that I’ve done so many things influences me and that’s why I think God does bless each of us with multiple talents.  But I’ve known too many people with multiple talents to think otherwise.  I would be hard pressed to name anyone I’ve ever known who cannot do more than one thing, who fails to have multiple talents.

We might not like to admit it, but most of us can walk and talk and chew gum at the same time.  In fact, most of us can walk and talk and chew gum and do a hundred other things all at the same time.  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from Luke/Acts in the section commonly called Acts: “Suddenly they heard a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house in which they were sitting.”  (Slight pause.)

Let’s go back to that question I first asked: ‘What does it mean to be called by God?’  (Slight pause.)  Let me give you the brief version of my answer.  It means to participate in the work of God.  But that answer opens up a can of worms.  After all, what is the work of God?  And what does it mean to participate in that work?  (Slight pause.)

One of the things I deeply appreciate about Scripture is that every time I read it, it seems to present new possibilities to me.  You see, the slogan used by our denomination probably has it right.  God is still speaking.

Knowing Pentecost was on the calendar, when I approached the Second Chapter of Acts in preparation for today, what jumped out at me was the metaphor, the picture of God as wind.  Suddenly and for the first time I realized this is the same metaphor used for the presence of God in the First Chapter of Genesis.

(Quote:) “At the beginning of God’s creating of the heaven and the earth— when the earth was unformed and void, wild and waste, filled with chaos and emptiness, as night reigned over the surface of the deep, a wind from God, the rushing Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters.” [1]

In Genesis this wind of God, this breath of God takes chaos and transforms it into the order we know as creation.  Hence, the essential work of God in all Genesis is to make order from chaos.  God creates.

Then here, in the Second Chapter of Acts, we find the same metaphor for God— wind.  Thereby, this passage— as the story in verses after what was read relates— is not about speaking in tongues.  It is not about the preaching of Peter.  It is not about the conversion of people gathered in Jerusalem.

These words are about bringing order to chaos.  These words are about new life— sudden, unmerited, irresistible new life.  That is the reality the Pentecost narrative broadcasts.

Thus, these words are about both an end and a beginning, the leaving behind of that which is past, the launching forth into that which is only now beginning to be.  Pentecost is therefore not a time of completion.  The presence of the Spirit of God is not about the completion of anything.

The presence of the Spirit of God is about moving forward into new dimensions of being.  The presence of the Spirit of God is about a world in which the basic forms may be clear, but it is also about a world whose fulfillment has yet to be realized.

In short, the presence of the Spirit of God— the reality we call Pentecost— is about what we do, about what we can do, about what we are called to do in the Dominion of God.  Which brings us back to that question: ‘What does it mean to be called by God?’

To be called by God means to be constantly listening to where God leads us as individuals and as a community.  To be called by God means to be constantly listening to where God leads us in relationship with each other.  To be called by God means to offer shelter, food, clothes, medical care to those in need.  That seems awfully simple, doesn’t it.  (Slight pause.)

It may seem strange but to be called by God means you never need to ask about a lack of talent.  God does not call the qualified.  God qualifies the called.  So to be called by God means to be open to the wind of God, open to the will of God, open to the Spirit of God.  (Slight pause.)

This quote that I am about to use is sometimes attributed to Archbishop Desmond Tutu.  It is sometimes attributed to Marianne Williamson. [2]  Either way it works for me.  (Quote:) “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?”

You see, Pentecost is about our participation in the Dominion of God.  And we can do that.  Amen.

05/19/2013
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 Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “Earlier I used a quote sometimes attributed to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, sometimes attributed to Marianne Williamson but I truncated it.  I made it short.  I’d like to offer the full quote.  ‘Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.  Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.  It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.  We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be?  You are a child of God.  Your playing small does not serve the world.  There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.  We are all meant to shine, as children do.  We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.  It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.  And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.  As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.’  Put another way, our God given talents are more about helping our neighbors than we realize and certainly more about our neighbors than they are about us.”

BENEDICTION: The love of God is abundant and steadfast.  When we give God’s love away, it returns in breathtaking abundance.  Let us willingly participate in the grace God offers.  May we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much.  May we be so in awe of God enough, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else.  And may the Word of God be on our tongues, the wisdom of God be with our thinking and the love of God be present in our hearts.  Amen.

[1]  Genesis 1:1-2 [ILV].

[2]   Of course, the quote is also sometimes attributed to Nelson Mandella.

SERMON ~ 05/12/2013 ~ “Standing Around”

05/12/2013 ~ Seventh and the Last Sunday in Eastertide, Sometimes Celebrated as the Sunday Closest to the Ascension, Celebrated in Some Traditions as the Festival of the Christian Home ~ (If Ascension not observed here) ~ Acts 16:16-34; Psalm 97; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21; John 17:20-26 ~ Mother’s Day on the Secular Calendar ~ Used Acts 1:1-11 and John 17:20-26.

NOTE: 05/09/2013 ~ Ascension readings are: Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47 or Psalm 93; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53.

Standing Around

“Galileans— why are you standing looking at the sky?” — Acts 1:11a.

There are some who might accuse me of being a Biblical scholar.  Let me assure you nothing could be further from the truth.  Do I know more than the average bear about the Bible?  Probably.

You see, most Main Line churches require pastors to get 90 a credit Master’s Degree— graduate credits— before that pastor can be ordained.  A comparison: in many schools a law degree runs about 85 credits.  Needless to say, academic study of Scripture is a large chunk of the Master’s Degree credits achieved by a pastor.

But— back to the original thought— am I a Biblical scholar?  No.  How do I know that?  I know that because I have been in the presence of real Biblical scholars.

To use one example, a seminary professor or mine, Burt Throckmorton, was a Biblical Scholar.  Burt would stand in front of a class and the book in his hands would be the New Testament written in Ancient Greek.

What we lowly students had in front of us was the regular, plain vanilla, New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.  And what Burt said, as he translated into English on the fly, was exactly what the NRSV said word for word.  Now that, as far as I am concerned, defines a Biblical scholar.  (Slight pause.)

Dr. Greg Carey, Professor of New Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, recently published an article with a story about a Yale seminar.  The seminar was for just faculty and grad students.  The topic was the Bible.  A highly accomplished biblical scholar lectured on the use of language in Second Corinthians.

The presentation set forth a proposal for identifying the opponents Paul was addressing in that work, Second Corinthians.  The discussion involved multiple levels and many, many details.

Like many scholarly inquiries, the conclusions made were far from obvious.  During a time for questions, a faculty member spoke up: “My mother reads Second Corinthians as if Paul were writing to her.  What’s wrong with that?”  (Slight pause.)

That seems like a perfectly legitimate question.  Many ordinary Christians do without biblical scholarship, or with little exposure to it, and have done so forever.  In many church settings people read the Bible for themselves.  Moreover, countless millions have lived exemplary lives of charity and piety without recourse to scholarly ruminations. And, of course, this is also true: biblical scholars are no more saintly than anyone else. [1]  (Slight pause.)

On the other hand, what if a person grew up in Alabama in the 1930s and interpreted the Bible as forbidding interracial marriage and as supportive of segregation?  Indeed, what if a Biblical scholar grew up in Alabama in the 1930s and interpreted the Bible as forbidding interracial marriage and as supportive of segregation?

That concept is not far fetched.  It happened.  In fact, apartheid officially ended in South Africa only in 1990.  And there were religious leaders in South Africa who gave support to apartheid.  (Slight pause.)

So, perhaps the real question to be asked has to do not with scholarship.  The real question has to do with basic assumptions.  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work known as Luke/Acts in the section commonly called Acts: “Galileans— why are you standing looking at the sky?”  (Slight pause.)

When I was a High School Freshman taking a class in World History at a Parochial High School the teacher, in an offhanded way, said the Book of Luke and the Book of Acts was really one work written by the same author at the same time.  Because I heard that, I got the Bible down off my parents bookshelf and read the two books as if they were one.

It was an eye opening experience.  Why?  I learned some basics.  This is what I found out: the narrative first tells about the activity of Jesus, who is the Christ, and second tells about the activity of the Holy Spirit.  It’s that simple.  It’s that basic.  (Slight pause.)

The story we read today is at the end of the post-resurrection stories, the stories about the Christ.  It is a prelude before the actions of the Spirit are related.  In terms of the whole story, it marks a transition point from Easter to Pentecost.  It’s that simple.  It’s that basic.

And I happen think this transition is pivotal.  Again, that question: why?  The question posed by the messengers is key.  (Quote:) “...why are you standing looking at the sky?”  Put differently, it could be said this way: “What you do is up to you.  But please do something.  Don’t just stand around and do nothing.”

So what did they do?  This is clear as the story continues after today’s reading: they went off together and prayed.  For what did they pray?  It does not really tell us.

But, having prayed, they got organized.  They chose someone from among the disciples to replace Judas.  And then they prayed some more and they waited for the Spirit.  They prayed.  They got ready.  It’s that simple.  It’s that basic.

As simple and as basic as this seems, I want to suggest the power of the Spirit fell upon them because they waited on the Spirit and because they were ready.  That waiting on the Spirit, that being ready did but one thing.  It put them in the right place at the right time.

Let me illustrate what it might mean to be ready and in the right place at the right time.  Bonnie has coffee hour today.  One of her Facebook friends who belongs to the Sherburne Church posted that the church was having a pie sale from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

Bonnie left for Sherburne at about 11 seeking a pie.  The church folks had baked 48 pies.  When Bonnie got there they had only 4 left.  Bonnie bought a Peanut Butter pie.  Now, don’t head for Coffee Hour yet, just because you want a piece of Peanut Butter pie.  You need to at least wait for the closing hymn (and then I can see everybody running).

In any case, her friend told her it was raining at 10 a.m. so they were inside the church and sold nearly nothing.  But it stopped raining, they went outside, set up a table and sold pies so fast it was hard to keep track of them.  I don’t know if waiting for the rain to stop was like waiting on the Spirit, or if they prayed for the rain to stop.  I do know they sold a lot of pies in a hurry.

They baked pies.  They were ready.  To be clear: waiting on the Spirit does not guarantee a successful pie sale or that the rain will stop or anything else successful.  Success is not what working with the Spirit is about.  Working with the Spirit is about is participation.

And that bring us back to what the messengers said: “...why are you standing looking at the sky?”  The expectation of the Spirit is that we will pray and we will strive to be ready to do the work of the Dominion.

It does not matter if that work is selling pies or voting for a new Apostle or being with a friend who is sick or volunteering at the Food Pantry.  To reiterate, success is not an expectation of the Spirit.  Prayer and doing something— these are the expectations of the Spirit.  This is a difficult lesson in our success oriented society.  (Slight pause.)

There is one last thing to address.  It’s that earlier question from a faculty member at Yale (quote:) “My mother reads Second Corinthians as if Paul were writing to her.  What’s wrong with that?”

What’s wrong should be self evident.  Paul did not write Second Corinthians to your mother or to you.  Paul wrote Second Corinthians to a group living two thousand years ago.

Hence, we do need to pay attention to two things.  Unless we are Biblical scholars, we ourselves will probably have a hard time unpacking Scripture, since it does take scholarship to delve into the intricacies of those who lived two thousand years ago.

But equally, I was a kid— probably 13 or 14— and I figured out that taken together Luke and Acts is about the activity of Jesus, who is the Christ, and about the activity of the Holy Spirit.  That is not hard to do.  It does not take scholarship.

And— you have all heard me say this before— Scripture, all Scripture, taken as a whole, is about two things and two things only.  Scripture is about loving God and loving neighbor.  It is that basic.  It is that simple.

What is my proof?  The messengers asked the disciples (quote:) “...why are you standing looking at the sky?”  Again, the messengers asked them what they were doing.  When, in answer to the question, what are you doing and you can say, “Well, I am doing all I can to love my neighbor” then I think you’ve also found out how really basic and really simple it is to be a Biblical Scholar.

After all to be a Biblical scholar you need to know just two things.  Love God; love neighbor.  Amen.

05/12/2013
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 Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “When I graduated from grade school— Saint Ignatius Loyola in Manhattan— they gave out these small books with blank pages.  The idea was you were to have friends and classmates sign them and say something.  A page in the front was reserved for personal data— date of birth and the like.  One listing was Your Personal Motto.  Even to this day I know of noone in the eight grade who has a personal motto.  So I made one up.  ‘Pray like everything depended on God.  Work like everything depended on you.’  Years later I found out the theologian Thomas Aquinas said the same thing.  And, guess what?  I think I just said the same thing in my comments earlier.”

BENEDICTION: We can find the presence of God in unexpected places.  God’s light leads us to places we thought not possible just moments ago.  God’s love abounds and will live with us throughout eternity.  The grace of God is deeper than our imagination.  The strength of Christ is stronger than our needs.  The communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than our togetherness.  May the One Triune God sustain us today and throughout the infinity of what is commonly called tomorrow.  Amen.

[1]  http://ht.ly/kTVdh

SERMON ~ 05/05/2013 ~ “Healing”

05/05/2013 ~ Sixth Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5; John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9 ~ Communion Sunday.

Healing

“Jesus said to the one who had been ill, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ Immediately this person was healed, picked up the mat and began to walk.  Now that day was a Sabbath.” — John 5:8-9.

Most of you, I think, know I am a graduate of Bangor Theological Seminary, Bangor, Maine.  What you may not know is Stephen King lives just a block from the Seminary.  King is, of course,... and this description is from the write up in Wikipedia... Stephen King is (quote) “an author of contemporary Horror, Suspense, Science Fiction and Fantasy.”

In fact, I met King in a casual way several times while I was attending seminary.  Once we stood in a line next to each other in a local pizza joint.  I am quite sure he deeply appreciated it that I simply nodded as a sign of recognition and made no fuss over him.

I have described King as a down home, good old boy from Maine.  Of course, that comes with a caveat.  Stephen King is a down home, good old boy from Maine who has made out quite well since he is both a multimillionaire and a world famous author.

King has said of himself that most people pay psychiatrists a lot of money to listen to their nightmares.  King writes the nightmares down and publishes them.  In short, people pay him a lot of money to read his scary dreams.  He likes the arrangement.

All of that is by way of saying a year and a half ago, a friend give me a present: the Stephen King novel 11/22/63.  At the time it was a newly published work.  Now, a year plus later, I finally caught up with it.

Most of you will immediately realize the significance of the title 11/22/63.  That’s the date on which President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated.

This is a work of Science Fiction since the book tells the story of a person living today who is shown a time portal.  Walk through this crack in the fabric of time and on the other side it always opens up to a day in 1958, in Lisbon Falls, Maine— Lisbon Falls, the place where King attended High School.

On top of that, no matter how much time this time traveler who walks through the crack spends in the past, on reentering the portal just two minutes will have elapsed here, today.  Anyway, this main character gets it in his brain to go back, wait five years and then try to prevent the assassination of Kennedy.  Hence, we get the title of the book.  And no, I won’t release any more plot details in case you want to read it.

Now, I’ve probably read more Martin Luther King than I have read Stephen King— slight difference.  But I will always maintain King is a good author.

As I read the opening pages of this book I was reminded of that.  What makes King a good writer?  I believe it’s his ability to create a fictional world, an illusion so real you both believe it and buy into it.

As a writer, myself, I admire this.  But, as a writer, I recognize something else.  The audience has to buy into the illusion or the illusion does not become believable.  That’s true whether it’s Les Misérables by Victor Hugo or Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain or 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  The audience has to collaborate with the writer in creating a fictional world, since that world does not really exist.  (Slight pause.)

I suspect one of the problems we have when we read Scripture is we read it like a novel.  As we read we create a world that does not exist.  In fact, King did more research before starting to write 11/22/63 than he had for any other book.  And that research was to write about something which happened just 50 years ago.

The Gospel stories happened 2,000 years ago.  What was the reality of the world in New Testament times?  And who among us really knows what that reality was?

Not may of us, I think.  Indeed, I have studied Scripture and the times in which it was written on a graduate level and I would not make the claim that I know enough to really understand or to recreate what it was like.

Hence, I would suggest that we should never read Scripture like a novel.  To do so would mean trying to recreate what the world was like 2,000 years ago.  It simply can’t be done.  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work known as John: “Jesus said to the one who had been ill, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ Immediately this person was healed, picked up the mat and began to walk.  Now that day was a Sabbath.”  (Slight pause.)

So, rule number 1: never read Scripture like a novel.  Rule number 2: see rule number 1.

On the other hand, that does not mean we should ignore all factual data.  We do know something about those times and that knowledge can be helpful as we strive to unpack meaning.  (Slight pause.)  So, what do we know?

Here’s one place to start: miracle stories were common in the literature outside of Scripture in New Testament times, especially as miracle stories referred to some divine person.  Caesar, for instance, was considered divine.

In fact, to call Jesus “Lord” was to mock Caesar.  And there were stories about Caesar healing people.  Hence, if there were no such stories in the Gospels, these narratives, in the era in which they were written, would have been thought of simply as strange stories.

But therefore, a significant question needs to be raised.  Is this a story about healing or is there sometime else going on?  Is there a theological point being made?

Interestingly, the one who was sick may give us a clue about an answer.  (Quote:) “Rabbi, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; by the time I get there, while I am making my way, someone else has gone ahead of me.”

Put another way the one who was sick is really saying this: “Don’t you know, Jesus?  Didn’t anyone tell you?  These are the instructions you need to follow to have a healing take place.”  Put yet another way the one who was sick is reciting the modern mantra of the church: “We’ve never done it that way before.”

Jesus pays no attention to any instructions, no attention to what people expect.  Jesus takes the one who was sick and moves this one outside of any preconceived notions about what should happen.  Thereby Jesus takes us and moves us outside of any preconceived notions what should happen.

How does Jesus do this?  Jesus simply says: “Stand up, take your mat and walk.”  (Slight pause.)

This story warns us against the persistent temptation to make God too small.  The love God offers us is cosmic, infinite in scope.  The love God offers us goes beyond what we can possibly imagine.

Indeed, there is an old slogan that says ‘faith works miracles.’  That concept utterly breaks down with this story.  It is God who works miracles.  Faith, our faith, is not a precondition for God to act.

We are indeed and often invited to have faith.  But it is not our action that creates anything.  It is God Who acts.  It is God Who creates.

Of course, this way of seeing the passage is reenforced by the last sentence in today’s reading.  “Now that day was a Sabbath.”

People do not get healed on the Sabbath in this place.  Why?  Healing on the Sabbath does not follow proscribed ritual.

But this story tells us following ritual is not something imposed by God.  It is something we might read into the reality, something we might impose.  But not God.  (Slight pause.)

For a moment, let me come back to Stephen King.  As I suggested, any good writer will rely on the audience to fill out the story.  It is the detail we already know that helps us fortify the story and King understands that and uses it.  That’s what makes him a good writer.

But Scripture is about theology, not about fiction.  We don’t need anything except theology when reading Scripture.  And this is the only theology we find in Scripture, so it’s the only theology we ever need: God loves us in ways we have yet to imagine.  Amen.

05/05/2013
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 Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “When I was a seminary student in Maine, I would go out to preach at different churches.  Never did peach at Stephen King’s church— he’s a Methodist.  Congregationalist— we don’t cross the isle— I don’t know why.  In any case, I learned that I had to put titles on my sermons so I put a title on this sermon— Healing.  It has occurred to me that the more appropriate title might have been: Oh, No, Jesus.  Your Healing People the Wrong Way!  But certainly one other possible sermon title might have been God Is in Charge and We Are Not— a hard lesson.”

BENEDICTION: We can find the presence of God in unexpected places.  God’s light leads us to places we thought not possible just moments ago.  God’s love abounds and will live with us throughout eternity.  The grace of God is deeper than our imagination.  The strength of Christ is stronger than our needs.  The communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than our togetherness.  May the One Triune God sustain us today and throughout the infinity of what is commonly called tomorrow.  Amen.

SERMON ~ 04/28/2013 ~ “Changes”

04/28/2013 ~ Fifth Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 11:1-18; Psalm 148; Revelation 21:1-6; John 13:31-35.

Changes

“I had hardly started to speak when the Holy Spirit fell upon them in the same way she had upon us at the beginning.” — Acts 11:15.

Many of you know our parishioner Gary Gray.  (Gary wave so we can see...  O.K.  That’s Gary.)  When we were quite young— meaning he and I— when we were quite young, probably more years ago than either Gary or I care to mention, the job we both had was called “computer operator.”

We worked at very different places, however.  I was working for Bloomingdale’s in New York City.  Gary was working in Norwich for NBT. [1]  But we both were working with the same style of main frame computer.

The amount of memory that computer had was 12K, that’s 12 thousand positions in memory.  The amount of physical space that computer took up was an area at least the size of the Founder’s Room, where we have coffee hour.

[The pastor holds up a small electronic device, an iPod Touch.]  This is an iPod Touch.  It has 32 billion positions in memory and it’s not even the biggest one they make.  I’ll do the math for you.  That means this little thing is 2,666,666,666 times the memory, it’s that many times more powerful than something which was, not that long ago, the size of the Founder’s Room.  (Slight pause.)  Things do change.  (Slight pause.)

So, let’s look at a little history.  To do this, to look at history, I ask you to do me favor.  Imagine yourself right here in Norwich but it’s 1833.  Close your eyes, if you think it will help you conjure up those days of yesteryear.

Imagine what it might have been like in 1833, horses and wagons, no electricity, no gas and the river is down there [the pastor waves to the right] way a piece.  Indeed, that’s why the east-west street the church is on is known as Main Street.  Main Street was, in fact, the main street, the important street, leading to the River.

And one of the major things which was going on back in 1833 was the building of the Chenango Canal, which ran north and south.  The canal opened in1834, the same year the Village of Binghamton was incorporated— the village of Binghamton. [2]

Now, in a similar way, imagine yourself right here in Norwich but it’s 1879.  By 1879, this is a very different town than it was in 1833.  The old wood church which stood on the land where we are sitting today had burned down in 1860.  The so called Brick Church had been built in 1862 and today we still meet for worship in that shell of that Brick Church.

Again, I’ll do the math for you.  1833 to 1879— that’s 46 years between the two.  But the canal?— the canal is now closed.  Why?  It was called the railroad, that’s why.  The canal was open for just 44 years only to be replaced by the railroad. [3]  (Slight pause.)  Things do change.

Well, let’s fast forward a little.  It is now 1928 and you’re still here in Norwich.  Your family gets a new car.  It’s not a Model-T, since Ford stopped making those in 1927, the year before.  It’s 1928 and the family just bought Model-A Ford.

But it is 1928 and things are very different than they are today.  What makes it a different era?  Try this: women had only achieved the right to vote nine years earlier.

The first Presidential election in which women could vote was 1920, when Republican Warren Harding faced off against Democrat James Cox.  Harding, the Republican, won the election taking every last state in the north and the west.  Cox, the Democrat, took all the southern states, except Tennessee— pretty much the opposite of the political landscape today.  (Slight pause.)  Things do change.

So, here’s the issue to consider: you are here, in Norwich.  It is 1928.  The family has a new car.  Does “Mom” (pardon the expression) learn how to drive that Model-A or is driving (pardon the expression) “the man’s job,” something only Dad does.

Please, don’t misunderstand me.  I know in some families, even then, that was not an issue.  I’m making an inquiry about the culture and its perceptions.

In fact, not that long ago most families got along with just one car.  I know a woman, now in her early seventies, who raised four boys on West Hill in Oxford.  Every day her husband went off to work with the only car.  She could go nowhere— stuck on West Hill.  (Slight pause.)  Things do change.  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from Luke/Acts in the section known as Acts: “I had hardly started to speak when the Holy Spirit fell upon them in the same way she had upon us at the beginning.”  (Slight pause.)

If you think the word prophecy means foretelling the future, then it needs to be said we Christians have an abysmal record at being prophets.  In the true letters of Paul, in the early ones, the disciple express a clear opinion that the second coming of Christ is around the corner.  That opinion is so clear it is stunning how much Paul pulls back from the position in the later letters.

And while some Christians have wrestled with the Apocalypse, the so called ‘end times’ from the get go, it is amazing how many in just the last 150 years have made calculations which offer precise dates as to when the world might end.  Some even took actions based on those calculations.  And they have always been wrong.

I maintain to think the world will end in our time is nothing more than ego-centric.  If it has not ended over the last 2,000 years, what makes someone think they are so special that they will enjoy the privilege of seeing the Apocalypse?

Now, when we listen to the reading from Acts, there are several things to note as that reading relates to change.  First, the passage was written a long time after both Paul and Peter were not on the scene.  Which is to say the writer full well knows the end times were not around the corner.

Next, as was said when this reading was introduced, the short version of what this passage offers is this: what God has blessed we cannot deny.  And the odds are God blesses what we do not expect because of our own cultural blinders.

After all, in 1833 who could foresee the possibility of rail travel or that the Chenango Canal would last only 44 years?  Who could foresee the rapid growth of Binghamton, so fast, that in 1867, very soon after it’s 1834 founding, it would incorporate as city?

 Who could foresee in that in 1879, the year after the canal closed, even though the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment to the Constitution which freed the slaves, defined citizenship and prohibited the denial of suffrage based on race, color or previous condition of servitude— who could foresee that women would be denied the right to vote until 1920.  1920— that was 42 years after the Chenango Canal closed, 55 years after the slaves were freed. [4]  Indeed, things do change.  But sometimes they change oh, so slowly.  (Sight pause.)

So, if we Christians or even we humans are not good at predicting the future, what is prophecy about?  As you have heard me say many times before, from the Biblical perspective prophecy is about seeking the Word of God, the Truth of God.  But how does that happen?  How is the Word of God, the Truth of God discerned?  (Slight pause.)

I think we can take a cue about discerning the Word of God from Peter and we can take that cue on several counts.  First, Peter has a vision while praying.

Second, Peter does not have a clue as to what the vision means until it works out in real life and in real time.  Hence, there are two things necessary when trying to grasp change, when trying to discern change, when trying understanding change, when trying to discern the Word of God the Truth of God.

The first is prayer.  The second is work.  Since prayer seems so obviously necessary, I won’t even elaborate on that.  But work is a different issue.

By way of explaining work, let me say four things.  First, change is difficult.  Not changing is fatal— bad for your health.

Second, I have a pastor friend who always ends a service of worship with a Benediction that starts with these words: “Our worship has ended, so now our service begins!” [5]  Our worship has ended, so now our service begins!  (Slight pause.)

Next, from the history I recited earlier, I hope you picked something up.  Change may feel rapid.  But it is often painfully slow.  And change takes work.  It takes work to cope with change.  It takes work to help change happen.  It takes work just to be aware that change is the place to which God calls us.

Third [6] — third point here— a pastor friend in Florida said on Facebook that he had seen a plane with a banner which said: “Jesus is coming.  Be prepared.”  Then someone else posted the old joke line: “Jesus is coming.  Look busy.”  So, I posted: “Jesus is coming.  Love your neighbor.”

Love your neighbor.  I want to suggest that when change happens— and change will happen— loving neighbor is the way we need to address that change.  And, if there is anything I am convinced about, it is that God calls us to change.

Why am I convinced God calls us to change?  Have you not heard?  God is still speaking.  After all, it says this in Acts: “I had hardly started to speak when the Holy Spirit fell upon them in the same way she had upon us at the beginning.”  Amen.

04/28/2013
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 Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “Back when I was still working in theater as a writer, many years ago, I was writing a club act for a friend.  We went to see another club act so she could hear a piano player she was interested in having play for her act.  He was actually well enough known as a jazz musician so he had cut a couple of records in the 1960s.  She said to him, ‘Now look, You are fairly well known.  Why are you playing club acts?’  He stared at her a moment and then said: ‘I’m just working in the vineyard.’  And maybe that is what God really calls us to do: work in the vineyard.”

BENEDICTION: Our worship has ended, so now our service begins!  God is with us, always.  When we love one another, God is pleased.  And may the steadfast love of God and the peace of Christ, which surpasses understanding, keep our minds and hearts in the companionship and will of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more.  Amen.

[1]  NBT - National Bank and Trust of Norwich.

[2]  It should be noted that Binghamton, just 50 mines south of Norwich, became a large town compared to Norwich.  Norwich has less than 7,000 people.  Binghamton ash over 50,000 people and nearly 200,000 people when once the suburbs close to Binghamton are tallied in the calculation.

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenango_Canal

[4]  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_amendments_to_the_United_States_Constitution

[5]  A blessing by the Rev. Mr. Michael S. Piazza.

[6]   Oops!  Lost count!  That was number four.

SERMON ~ 04/21/2013 ~ “Plain Talk”

04/21/2013 ~ Fourth Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 9:36-43; Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30 ~ Note: moved Psalm 23 to 4/14 for Choir Anthem ~ Blessing of the Super Sew Sunday Quilts.

Plain Talk

“...Jesus was walking in the temple, in the Portico of Solomon when the religious authorities gathered around and said, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense?  If you are really the Messiah, tell us plainly.’” — John 10:23-24.

When I, several weeks ago, preached in Corning on March 17th, it being Patrick’s Day, I wished them a happy one and said it’s commonly claimed we are all Irish on Saint Patrick’s Day. [1]  My presumption, on the other hand, is if my full name— Joseph Francis Connolly, Jr.— does not say I am of Irish descent, nothing will.  I, therefore, often forego the wearing of some green on March the 17th.  It would be redundant.

Then I offered a history lesson about the Irish in America.  I said my ancestors arrived on these shores shortly before the Civil War, an era when the Irish were stereotyped as uncivilized and their very humanity questioned.  Advertisements for employment regularly said: “No Irish Need Apply.”

Many regarded the Catholicism of the Irish as an alien, rebellious religion and the Irish culture, itself, as an alien, rebellious culture.  In fact, during the mid and late nineteenth century insurance companies would often refuse to sell Catholics insurance.  Why?  Simply because they were Catholic. [2]

And so, in 1882 the Knights of Columbus was born.  The initial and real purpose of the Knights was to be (quote): “a mutual benefit society,” an insurance company, from which Catholics could buy life insurance without fear of discrimination. [3]  (Pause.)

We heard a lot about violence this week— from bombs and gunfire in Boston to explosions at an ammonium nitrate storage facility in Texas.  As these stories played out in the media I reflected and wondered about why my tendency is to remain calm in the face of violence.

To answer that, let me flesh out my own, personal history a little.  (Slight pause.)  I sometimes say I grew up in an Irish Catholic ghetto in Brooklyn, New York.  There were some Italians and Germans in the mix, but mostly the names were O’Neill, Sullivan, etc.

But still, why do I label that neighborhood a ghetto?  (Slight pause.)  When I was about seven out a window of my family’s third floor apartment, I saw a woman being mugged.

I ran and got my mother who rushed to the street.  The mugger had run off, so my Mom brought the woman to our apartment and called the precinct.  A burly red-headed officer arrived to interview the victim, to take down information.

Despite my young age, I remember admiring his sense of calm.  And I also remember he was clear— an incident like this was a normal occurrence.  (Slight pause.)

So, why do I label that neighborhood a Ghetto?  To this day I hesitate when I drop a letter into a mailbox on the street.  You see, in that neighborhood it was a common occurrence for someone to dump some gasoline into a mailbox, light a match, throw it in and walk away.  Those memories never leave your psyche.  (Slight pause.)

So then, having reached the age of majority and having dropped out of college, I was drafted.  And all that early experience of violence was reenforced as I saw first hand how inhumane people can be.  (Slight pause.)

Let me fast forward a little.  I was working on Wall Street in the World Trade Center— to think about the World Trade Center still leaves me with an empty feeling— I was working in the Trade Center but the place I worked was only five stories up.  One day everyone in my office suddenly gathered at a window.

I joined them and saw police cars across the street.  The next thing I knew a police officer came up behind us and told us to get away from the window because there was a sniper in the building opposite us.

The only ones to move back from the window were myself and another veteran.  We knew precisely what violence was and had our fill of it, thank you.  (Slight pause.)

Perhaps my tendency to remain calm in the face of violence is because I know what violence feels like, what violence tastes like, what violence means.  Which is not to say I approve of violence.  It is to say I am familiar with it.  (Slight pause.)

This week I heard a lot of people, a lot of commentators trying to parse, trying to give a definition to the word terrorism.  Let me give you some plain talk about what terrorism is.

Terrorism is an act of violence, any kind of violence— case closed.  Motive does not matter.  Means do not matter.  Terrorism is any act of violence.  (Slight pause.)

Therefore, terrorism is when insurance is not sold because someone is Catholic. And terrorism is when someone is mugged.  And terrorism is when a mailbox is set aflame.

And terrorism is setting off a bomb in a crowd gathered to watch their friends run a marathon.  And terrorism is when safety regulations for storing ammonium nitrate are not followed so it explodes obliterating a neighborhood.

And terrorism is when people are denied the right to vote.  And terrorism is cheating on taxes.  And terrorism is not treating someone as equal due to their sexual orientation.

And terrorism is not providing equal healthcare for everyone.  And terrorism is not providing equal pay for equal work.  (Slight pause.)  And that, my friends, is plain talk.

Here is another piece of plain talk.  When someone shuts their mind to what someone else says even though it is obviously true— that is terrorism because it is a violent act.  Terrorism, you see, is when people play politics with the lives of other people to suit their own ego or their own needs or their own desirers.  Violence is violence is violence is violence.  (Slight pause.)

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said this: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  (Slight pause.)  Equally, violence— violence any kind of violence from physical violence to mental violence to economic violence to systemic violence— violence anywhere is a threat to the safety of all people everywhere.  Violence anywhere is a threat to the safety of all people everywhere.  (Pause.)

And these words are from the work known as John: “...Jesus was walking in the temple, in the Portico of Solomon when the religious authorities gathered around and said, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense?  If you are really the Messiah, tell us plainly.’”  (Slight pause.)

This passage is dripping with irony.  Why?  Those questioning the Rabbi have heard Jesus speak to the fact of being the Messiah in a multitude of ways.  And they simply deny it.  In their denial they are committing an act of violence— political violence— playing with the lives of others to suit their own ego and their own needs and their own desirers.

Again, violence is violence is violence is violence.  Therefore, perhaps the real questions for us are twofold: how do we react to violence and what do we do to counter it.  (Slight pause.)

Yes, I tend to be calm in the face of violence.  Given the background I’ve outlined that’s not surprising.  But I am also a theologian.  Some of that demeanor comes from theology.  The peace of God, you see, has little to do with the absence of violence.

The peace of God is the presence of God.  The presence of God can be tangible, whatever the circumstances, even in the midst of violence.  And when the peace of God, the presence of God is real to us, we understand that violence— any violence— is merely an attempt to divert us from the presence of God, to insist God is not real, to insist God is not present.

That realization about how people use violence can, in fact, be quite calming.  (Slight pause.)  So, if the presence of God is real to us, how do we take the next step?  How do we counter violence, violence which can be all around us, despite the fact that we recognize the presence of God with us?  (Slight pause.)

In a couple of minutes we will dedicate the quilts put together by the Chenango Piecemakers Guild.  What these should represent for us is a response to violence.  You see, historically some of these quilts will go to Chenango Memorial Hospital for newborns and to Roots and Wings for the domestic violence program. [4]

And that needs to be our real response to violence: to reach out to others, to try to comfort and to protect our neighbors.  Our response to violence never needs to be a response of fear or a response self-centeredness.  Our response to violence never needs to be more violence.

Why?  God is with, by our side, present to us now and forever.  And that, my friends, is plain talk— as plain as I can say it.  (Pause.)  Amen.

04/21/2013
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 Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “This quote was going around the Internet this week, probably with good reason.  It is a quote from Fred McFeely Rogers, better knows as  Mister Rogers.  And for those of you who do not know this, Fred Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian Pastor.  (Quote): ‘When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.’  To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.’  (Slight pause.)  And now before invoking the Benediction I ask for a point of personal and pastoral preference.”  [The pastor reaches into a bag and brings out a Boston Red Sox hat, puts it on and proceeds to the blessing.]

BENEDICTION: Go now— go in safety, for you cannot go where God is not.  Go— go in love, for love alone endures.  Go— go with purpose and God will honor your dedication.  And go— go in peace for it is a gift of God to those whose hearts and minds are in Christ Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity.  Amen.

[1]  This was a pulpit swap with the Rev. Marraine Kettell of Corning.

[2]  http://www.victoriana.com/Irish/IrishPoliticalCartoons.htm

[3]  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_Columbus

[4]  This Ceremony of Dedication, in fact, happened after the sermon and a time of prayer.

SERMON ~ 04/14/2013 ~ Knocked Off a Horse?

04/14/2013 ~ Third Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 9:1-6, (7-20); Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19 ~ Note: Moved Psalm 23 from 4/212 for Choir Anthem.

Knocked Off a Horse?

“Now, as Saul was traveling along and approaching Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed all around and Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’” — Acts 9:3-4.

I have mentioned a number of times that one of my mentors in ministry was the Rev. Carol Anderson, who happened to be one of the first women to be officially ordained in the Episcopal Church.  Carol often said among the disciples there are three examples of our relationship with God, three archetypes of how that relationship works out, to be found in the New Testament.  Hence there are three examples, three styles we might emulate as our own relationship with God develops.

Carol labeled these archetypes as the Peter type, the Paul type and the John type.  She never took my advice and labeled them as Peter, Paul and Mary.  She was probably right.  (The choir collectively bursts into laughter and the pastor points at them.)  The choir got it!

In any case, in reverse order let’s review: John and Paul, the disciple also known as Saul, and then Peter.  Now, if you’ve read the stories in the New Testament, John— John never seems to be in doubt about who Jesus was and is and what he needed to do because of who Jesus was and is.  Even when, from the cross, the dying Jesus asks John to look after Mary, there is no flack, no push back, as in “You want me to do what?”

In short, John is calm and secure.  John knows about life, John knows about the world, John knows about God.  Now, if I had to guess, we probably all want to be just like John— never any doubts.  But it’s also likely not a one of us thinks we could be anything close to that— so secure, so knowing, so compassionate.  Instead, we opt for wanting to be like Paul.

And what was Paul like?  Well, when we ask ‘what happened to Paul?’ the traits exhibited in the story of that disciple seem obvious and quite attractive to us.

Clearly Paul got knocked off a horse.  Put another way, Paul was headed in one direction— persecuting the people of ‘The Way,’— and winds up going in exactly the opposite direction.

Changing direction is, of course, the real meaning of repentance.  To be celar: repentance has nothing to do with being sorry or sad.  Repentance is when turns one’s life around, turns one’s life over to God, turns one’s life over to the will of God.

So, that’s archetype number two: get knocked off your horse and come suddenly into some kind of new and clear knowledge, some new way of understanding.  And this new knowledge, this new way of understanding is what changes your life forever.  You never go back to the old ways.  (Slight pause.)  As I suggested, I think it’s likely this method is how most of us would like to have things happen— over and done with in one act— quick and simple.

Then there is Peter.  If truth be told, most of us want to be like Paul but most of us we are probably more like Peter.  Let’s look at two incidents involving Peter to illustrate what the Peter archetype is like.

In one story Peter says Jesus is the Christ.  In another Peter denies knowing the Christ.  Yes, no, yes, no— that’s Peter.  Peter cannot seem to steer a steady, consistent course.  Peter is all over the map.  And, as I said, I suspect most of us are like Peter in our relationship with God: all over the map.  (Slight pause.)

So, now here’s the trick question— Bible trivia, if you will.  I suggested we all want to be like Paul and get knocked off our horse.  But does Paul ever even get knocked off a horse?  (Slight pause.)  No.  Paul does not get knocked off a horse.  (Quote:) “The Rabbi fell to the ground and heard a voice....”  No horse is mentioned.

So, from where does the horse come?  It comes from Christian Art, mostly art out of the Renaissance era.  Mind you, one can assume Paul was riding.  But, if that’s the case, if Paul is on a horse, that’s a pretty long fall to the ground.

You see, the phrase ‘being knocked off your horse’ is in that sense quite secular and is a little like the phrase ‘God helps those who help themselves.’  That phrase is not in the Bible, either.

Although ‘God helps those who help themselves’ has been commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin, it probably originated in ancient Greece.  But the sentiment, itself, that God helps those who help themselves, is throughly, throughly, anti-Christian, since it is contrary to the Scriptural message which says the grace of God is available to all.

Similarly, we have this image that Paul gets knocked off a horse and comes suddenly into some new and clear knowledge, some new way of understanding, which changes life forever.  You never go back to the old ways when you get knocked off that horse.  Was that true of Paul?  Was it just that Paul got knocked off a horse, or is there more to it?  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work know as Acts: “Now, as Saul was traveling along and approaching Damascus, a light from the sky suddenly flashed all around and Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’”  (Slight pause.)

When the reading from Acts was introduced it was said Paul’s own account is in some tension with this version.  Indeed, based on what Paul says in the letters most scholars believe that any fulness of a public proclamation about Jesus from Paul did not happen for about 14 years.  This is when Paul returns to Jerusalem.

So, what happened in that time span— 14 years?  (Slight pause.)  We do not know.  Scholars speculate Paul spends that time studying.  In fact, the depth and the integrated theology Paul exhibits and writes on in the Epistles strongly suggests there was time spent in study, in reflection, in prayer and in meditation.  (Slight pause.)

So, how does that apply to us?  I think we can be knocked off a horse.  We can have some kind of conversion experience.  And that is wonderful.  But it is not enough.  It was not enough for Paul.

I want to suggest even if we have a conversion experience, we need to emulate Paul.  How?  We need to study, to meditate, to reflect, to pray.  (Slight pause.)

I was privileged to be at a series of lectures Archbishop Desmond Tutu gave in New York City before he won the Nobel Peace Prize.  At one session he was asked how much time he spent each day in study, meditation, reflection and prayer.  He said he spent at least two hours a day, except when he was under pressure or had a lot of work to do.  Then, he said, he needed to spend four or five hours a day in study, meditation, reflection and prayer.

In short, conversion does not just happen and it’s over and done.  Conversion happens every hour of every day.  And yes, we all lead busy lives.

But when we repent, we hand our lives over to God that can open up new vistas.  This handing our lives over to God, this repentance, means we study, we meditate, we reflect and we pray every day.  It means every day in our life with God we grow.  And growth?— that is what relationship is really about, is it not?  Amen.

04/14/2013
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 Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “This is a quote from the late theologian Henri Nouwen: ‘You don’t think your way into a new kind of living.  You live your way into a new kind of thinking.’  So, in a real sense repentance means when it comes to our relationship with God taking action each and every day.”

BENEDICTION; Let us go where God leads us, for surely God leads us to embrace our neighbor with love.  Let us follow where Christ has gone, and see the great commandment of loving God and loving neighbor as a watchword.  And may the steadfast love of God and the peace of Christ, which surpasses understanding, keep our minds and hearts in the knowledge, companionship and will of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more.  Amen.

Sermon ~ 04/07/2013 ~ Second Sunday of Easter ~ “The Alpha and the Omega”

04/07/2013 ~ Second Sunday of Easter ~ Acts 5:27-32; Psalm 118:14-29 or Psalm 150 Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31 ~ Communion Sunday.

The Alpha and the Omega

“‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’” says our God “‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Sovereign.’” — Revelation 1:8.

My late mother used to say, “If you want to really know what’s going on in the world, don’t pay any attention to the news.  When you open up the newspaper in the morning turn to the comic strip section first.”  You see, she believed that day to day reporting was, for the most part, just a series of facts— she even referred to them as “so called facts.”

Facts don’t always have the ability to tell you the full impact, the full truth about what’s going on.  In a real way, when you follow just facts it feels like what you are seeing is simply chaos.  There are too many facts and they don’t connect, don’t provide a sense of the whole.

Indeed, that’s why an analysis of facts is necessary.  And analysis, Mom believed, is what the comic strip section brilliantly gives.  Good strips— Peanuts, The Wizard of Id— reflect not just a particular moment in time but the flow of time, the steady center and the general direction.  In short, I think my Mom was probably right.  Pay attention to the comics section first.

Of course, today, newspapers are a dying breed, the comic strip section along with them.  Certainly one reason for the demise of print is the advent of the Internet.  Newspapers and comic strips seem to be transferring to the web.

In fact, not only do I read the news mostly on line I, personally, know two people who draw comic strips professionally.  Both of them have a presence on the web.

Now, I’ve discovered something else relating to that, and it does surprise me some.  If you pay close attention to what your friends are talking about on Facebook, what they post, it can be a little like following the news— chaotic.

The secret of understanding Facebook is to not pay too much attention.  If you pay too much attention, it’s just like reading the newspapers.  You get overwhelmed by day to day details.

The funny thing is, occasionally, someone posts a commentary on Facebook, on the newsfeed, a commentary on the facts which reminds me of the kind of analysis we get in comic strips.  One friend recently did exactly that: made an entry on Facebook which had the flavor of analysis.

I hope this won’t bore you too much, but the post read like this (quote): “In case you don’t feel like scrolling through your news feed today”— the news feed is a list of what all your friends are posting— “In case you don’t feel like scrolling through your news feed today let me sum it up, tell you what people are saying: homophobia is bad; congress is inept; we should ban all guns; the Game of Thrones is awesome; so is Dr. Who; Twilight— those books with a vampire theme?— not so much.”

“Marriage equality is good; God does not exist; congress is messing with the middle class and the poor.  You should believe in yourself; God does exist; friendship matters more than money; chase your dreams; puppies are adorable; kittens are cute; George Taiki (or any one of several other ‘B’ list celebrities) posted something funny.”

“There are also those silly and totally false postings,” the soliloquy continued.  “These claim that Bill Cosby or Robin Williams or Warren Buffett or Abraham Lincoln or John Boehner or Barack Obama or Queen Elizabeth or George Washington never said the silly thing I am about to attribute to them but I am posting it any way.”

“I am going to say they did say what I know is not true because it confirms to my preconceived notion of what I think they should have said.  And I am positing it because it also says something about where I am at and how silly I am and how prejudiced I am.”  (Slight pause.)  And that was that end of commentary— long but interesting.

And, the way I see it, just like the comic strips, that stream of consciousness post on Facebook insists there is a larger picture in everyday life.  And despite or perhaps because of its length, it is a commentary on so called facts.  So let’s be real: a constant stream of hard news— a constant stream of so called hard facts, is not easy to take.

Sometimes you have to shut off the TV news and tune in to reruns of The Big Bang Theory or Friends or go very retro and try to find episodes of Happy Days or I Love Lucy just to give your brain some relief.  To be blunt I, personally, sometimes find a string of facts either consoles me or upsets me.

Why?  A stream of facts makes things feel chaotic.  A stream facts does not help me with analysis, does not help me understand context.  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work known as Revelation: “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’” says our God “‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Sovereign.’”  (Slight pause.)

I think a lot of people believe the times through which we are living are tumultuous, chaotic.  In fact, you can see that by what people post on Facebook.  And I can understand where people are coming from.

After all, we were attacked on 9/11— that’s chaos; we fought 2 wars simultaneously— that’s chaos; we have now seen the worst economic times since the 1930s— that’s chaos.

However: if you believe it’s bad now, imagine the chaos experienced while the Civil War was in progress.  Or think about this: in the course of a lifetime many people lived through one World War, a Great Depression and a Second World War— that’s chaos.

To make that concept of chaos a little more personal here’s a story about my family.  In early in 1929 my grandparents, my father’s parents, owned some railroad stock and sold it off at the beginning of that year to make a down payment on a house.

That October the market crashed.  My grandfather worked for the City of New York, so during the Depression he often worked six days a week but was paid only for three or four days.  However, he had a job, some money, a house, because he had sold off that stock— the family survived.  But the Depression did not just feel like chaos.  It was chaos.

So, how did people get through those times?  (Slight pause.)  By taking life one day at a time— day by day by day and by looking at the big picture.  They constantly asked themselves not what does today mean but what does my life mean, how do I live my life over a broad span of time?  (Slight pause.)

I invite you to look at the cover of today’s bulletin.  And let me wait a second while you do that.  (Slight pause.)  Those are pictures of the large Alpha and Omega we put up in the front of the nave at Christmas.

I remember being blown away when I saw that for the first time seventeen years ago.  My reaction was: “Wow!  This congregation gets it.  The celebration at Christmastide is not simply a celebration of the birth of a child, not even simply about the birth of Jesus.”

“This is a celebration which has greater implications.  And this congregation gets it that at Christmastide we celebrate the in-breaking of God.”  (Slight pause.)

When the reading from Revelation was introduced it was stated that the basic themes found in the work are in the first sentences.  And, indeed, they are.

I would suggest that the entire meaning of Revelation is not a prophecy of the end times.  It has nothing to do with the Apocalypse. To say Revelation is about the Apocalypse is to say Revelation offers a message about chaos.

However, that God is the Alpha and the Omega conveys the thought that God transcends time, that God was before time existed and that God will be after time exists, and that God encompasses all time.  Revelation says God brings order— God brings order— in opposition to chaos.

So, the work known as Revelation is not simply about a particular moment in time, not even about a moment which might come— a moment we loosely label as the Apocalypse.  Revelation is about grappling with God, the eternal.  (Slight pause.)

Don’t misunderstand me: that God encompasses all time is not an easy concept. But this is a more simple way to put it: to say God is the Alpha and the Omega says we need to be calm amidst the chaos of life.

We need to understand that God is with us always.  In short, we need to grapple with the thought that God loves us always and that God loves us beyond time.  Amen.

04/07/2013
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 Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “The First words in Genesis say this (quote): ‘At the beginning of God’s creating of the heaven and the earth— when the earth was unformed and void, wild and waste, filled with chaos and emptiness, as night reigned over the surface of the deep, a wind from God, the rushing Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters.” [1]  God brings order to chaos.  If we do not understand that the last book in the sequence of how the books are laid out in Scripture, Revelation, is placed there to be a bookend, to be a commentary when it says God is the Alpha and the Omega, and that this says nothing about the end times, the apocalypse, then we do not understand Scripture.’”

BENEDICTION: Go out in the compassion and love God provides.  Praise the deeds of God by the way you live.  And may the steadfast love of God and the peace of Christ, which surpasses understanding, keep our minds and hearts in the companionship and will of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more.  Amen.

[1]  Genesis 1:1-3 (ILV).