SERMON ~ 09/29/2013 ~ “Frightened”

09/29/2013 ~ Proper 21 ~ Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15; Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16; Amos 6:1a, 4-7; Psalm 146; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31 ~ At around 4:00 p.m. There Will Be a Concert in the Nave Sponsored by the Chenango County Council of the Arts Featuring the Don Byron ~ 5th Sunday Hymn Sing Prelude.

Frightened

“‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets,’ Abraham and Sarah replied, ‘neither will they be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.’” — Luke 16:31.

I am sure most of you know, when someone says the words “New York” many people think “New York City.”  Norwich, of course, is in New York State but nowhere near New York City.  Norwich is in a rural area of New York State.

Now as many of you also know, I grew up in New York City.  And yes, New York City is a really, really big city and life can be very different in a big city than it is in a rural area.  But, having been a native of New York City, I then moved to Maine.

Maine is a rural state, a state that does not even have a big city anywhere in it.  So, having moved to a rural state, I then moved to Norwich, in a state with a couple of big cities but a whole lot of rural areas.

Now, one might fairly argue that when I moved to Maine and then continued on to Norwich those moves meant I experienced a very large shift in cultural surroundings.  Why, yes, I did.  My motto had always been ‘If the Subway doesn’t go there it’s too far.’

But what was it that did not change for me?  What remained the same for me?  People— people are people are people are people.

Different cultural influences may expose us to different experiences.  And yes, the influence culture has on us can be overwhelmingly powerful.  But no matter how strong cultural influence is, we cannot and should not let it affect us to the point where we lose sight of what it means to be human.  To reiterate: people are people are people are people.  (Slight pause.)

There are two corollaries to that thought.  Pastors are pastors are pastors are pastors.  And churches are churches are churches are churches.  This holds true even when the pastors are called rabbis and when the churches are called synagogues.

And so I recently read an article by a Rabbi, Seth Goldstein.  Similar to myself, this particular colleague has had a long term tenure at a congregation.  Yes, synagogues are known as congregations.  In fact, congregation is a term found in the Hebrew Scriptures.

The title of the article was 10 Things I have Learned About Serving as a Congregational Rabbi.  I won’t list all ten.

Instead I’ll to skip to some of the conclusions the Rabbi reached.  Note: I’ve altered some of the language to fit the church, not the synagogue, but the ideas are the same.

As for those conclusions— first, said the Rabbi addressing the congregation based on the experience of a long tenure— first, I don’t want you to become a member of this congregation.  I want you to become a friend, a part of a whole.

I don’t want you to be a part of a club.  I want you to be a part of a community, to find value in the organization by finding value in the community.

This friendship is not based on your frequency of attendance, your religiosity, your preference for or disdain for the food at coffee hour.  It’s based on the shared value that we are better off together than alone and that congregations are needed to not just maintain traditions but to forge people to people connections.

Next, I don’t want you to make a pledge.  I don’t want you to simply offer financial support.  Rather, I want you to support this community based on a sense of deep commitment, engagement, gratitude.  Further, your support of the community should not be seen as a prerequisite for but rather as a result of participation.  (Slight pause.)

This is vital: I don’t want you to join a committee.  No, indeed, I want you to join with other like minded folks, committed to the same goals and outcomes.  I want you to work together on a common cause to make things happen.

Where your interest lies— governance, music, education, grounds-keeping, an entirely new idea— matters not.  Find some like minded folks and do it.  Forget meetings and minutes.  Think about creating and making.  (Slight pause.)

Here’s another way to look at our community, said the Rabbi.  I don’t want you to just show up.  Rather, I want you to be present.  In the context of community to see yourself as a passive recipient is a questionable practice.  To see yourself as an active participant in congregational life means you own what happens here, in this community.

Part of how that is done is by coming to services hoping to be moved, hoping to find meaning.  Come to classes hoping to learn, hoping to be inspired.  Come to a service project hoping to get your hands dirty, hoping to make a change in the world.

Come to the community to be open to new relationships, new friendships.  Come to laugh, to eat, to share.  Come to accept help when you need it, to give help when you are able.  And yes, come to be a part of this community.  But please don’t just show up.

The Rabbi writes this: if you do your part and I do my part we can fulfill the promise of what it means to live in a sacred community, a holy community.  Last the Rabbi says: let us demonstrate that when we join together, we can both transform and we can be transformed— transform and be transformed. [1]  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from Luke/Acts in the section commonly referred to as Luke: “‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets,’ Abraham and Sarah replied, ‘neither will they be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.’”  (Slight pause.)

In the Gospel story, the rich person is unable to even know the beggar is at the gate.  Why?  This person of wealth has a flaw.  That flaw is not one of purposeful meanness or abusiveness or arrogance.  The rich person is simply unaware of what is going on right at the gate.  (Slight pause.)

It seems to me human society, the culture, is often flawed.  That is not because society is purposefully mean or abusive or arrogant.  To often we are, the society is, simply unaware of what is going on, right in front of us.

I want to suggest that we have the ability to fix that flaw.  How is it fixable?  We need to be involved.

You see, the person of wealth realizes everyone in the household has the same problem and says (quote): “I beg you, then, to send Lazarus to my own house where I have five siblings.  Let Lazarus be a warning to them,...”

Let me be clear about this: being frightened is not being involved.  Being frightened means retreating into a shell.  Being frightened means being unaware.  Being frightened means being detached from reality.

Being frightened means not taking action when it’s needed.  Being frightened means losing track of this deep truth: people are people are people are people.

This is obvious: the person of wealth always had a way to be aware of Lazarus.  After all, Lazarus was sitting right at the gate.  But I suspect the rich person was always distracted— distracted by the culture, distracted by being (quote): “dressed in purple and fine linen....”

In fact, there is nothing wrong with fine linen.  But sometimes people do become detached from reality because of the trappings society offers.  Because of the trappings of the culture, the society in which they live people become distracted.  Which is to say this story is not a warning about the afterlife.

It is, however, a threefold admonition.  The admonitions are these: first, do not be afraid.  Second, the trappings of our society may cloud your vision, if you let them.  And if you let them, that has the possibility of making you afraid.  Third, people are people are people are people.  Love them.  Treat them with equity.

When we forget that, we have forgotten what community, a congregation is about.  And a community, a congregation is a place where we can both transform and a place where we can be transformed.  Amen.

09/29/2013
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: “Theologian Richard Rohr has said ‘much of organized religion tends to be peopled by folks who have a mania for some ideal order— something which is not possible.  The purpose of religion is not for the sake of social order.   The purpose of religion is for the sake divine union.’  Union, you see, union with God and with one another, is the point.”

BENEDICTION: There is a cost and there is a joy in discipleship.  There is a cost and there is a joy in truly being church, in deeply loving one another.  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.  And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much.  May we be so in awe of God that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else.  Amen.

[1]
http://rabbi360.wordpress.com/2013/09/08/erev-rosh-hashanah-5774-10-things-i-have-learned-serving-as-a-congregational-rabbi-for-10-years/

Note: I did used the Rabbi’s ideas and much of the verbiage in this article.  But I did change some of the wording.

SERMON ~ 09/22/2013 ~ “Pray for Everyone?”

09/22/2013 ~ Proper 20 ~ Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; Amos 8:4-7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13.

Pray for Everyone?

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for everyone— for rulers and all who are in high positions, all who are in offices which wield authority— so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. ” — 1 Timothy 2:1-2.

Those of you who were here last week or read my sermon online or heard my sermon online may remember I started by saying that politics do not fascinate me.  Rather, the ‘horse race’ aspects of politics fascinates me.  It’s the statistical analysis of the underlying, ongoing trends— the ‘who voted for whom’— that’s what intrigues me.

Well, lo and behold, a friend sent me an article this week with some analysis on which I could chew.  The gist of the article was summed up in its provocative headline: “Science Confirms: Politics Wrecks Your Ability to Do Math.” [1]  Really?

Well, it seems a social scientist has done research to support that claim.  In a controlled experiment, some people were asked to interpret a table of numbers about whether a skin cream reduces rashes.  Then they were presented with a second table— a table that contained exactly the same numbers.  This one, however, was an analysis about whether a law banning the possession of concealed handguns reduced crime.

The experiment found when the numbers in the table conflicted with the position people held on gun control— meaning some people tested held positions for hand gun control and others held positions against— when the numbers in the table conflicted with the position people held they could not do the math with any accuracy.  However, when the topic had been skin cream they had absolutely no trouble with the math.

In short, when it came to skin cream two plus two equaled four.  When it comes to gun control two plus two equals five.  So, politics wrecks your ability to do math, right?  Politics makes you stupid, right?

Well, not so fast— that might be one conclusion you could draw.  But there is also a phenomena known as confirmation bias.  Confirmation bias is a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their preconceived beliefs.  It means people confront, gather and remember information selectively.

And, indeed, research in this area says the effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues and for deeply entrenched beliefs.  Confirmation bias also means people think ambiguous evidence supports their position and leads to biased searches, limited interpretation, selective memory.  Of course, all that leads to polarization.  Positions become entrenched. [2]

Well, that may be just fine if you have a family disagreement about something simple— like no one can remember what year it was you took in a stray cat or dog.  That probably will play out this way: the more attached you are to the pet the more likely you are to say that animal has been a part of the household longer.

But when you’re talking about issues of public policy— issues which have the potential to effect many, many people— the trait called conformation bias should fall into the category of totally unacceptable behavior.  Twisting statistics to suit prejudice, even when you do not know you are twisting statistics to suit prejudice, is never acceptable, especially when it has the potential to do harm to others.  Sadly and strangely, the media, both mainstream and not so mainstream, can be seen as encouraging people to buy into bias.

Here’s an example.  There are often stories in the media that one or the other chamber of Congress has passed a piece of legislation.  And the story is reported as if one house and only one house of Congress passing piece of legislation is important.  It’s not.

To report that as important news is a little like reporting the results of a staged wrestling match.  It may be fascinating but it means nothing— zero, nada, zilch.  Not once have I seen that kind of story start this way: “The House today passed a bill that has absolutely no chance of becoming law.”

To be fair, that sentence might be buried toward the end of the story but not up front.  Why have I not seen a story start that way?  Because the media knows telling stories about conflict engages people.  Therefore, the headline, “man bites dog” or even “dog bites man” is engaging.  “Man feeds and walks dog,”— not so engaging.

By not telling the real story up front the media sets up a false sense of conflict.  Why?  They do want to engage us and portraying conflict is a sure way of doing that.

In fact, conflict is a continuing issue for we humans.  But I also want to suggest there is a way to approach life which minimizes conflict.  I call it a mature approach.  I haven’t been able to come up with a better label than that— but that’s why I call it that— a mature approach.

This is a way of living which attempts to overcome our biases with reality checks.  This a way of living which attempts to remain calm in the face of adversity.  This is a way of life which acknowledges God is present, God is real, God is with us.

What is this way of life?  It is a way of life that says pray first and pray always.  Prayer, you see, is not only the first and necessary step toward action— positive action.  Prayer can be a mature response to conflict— prayer— a mature response to conflict.  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from First Timothy: “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings should be made for everyone— for rulers and all who are in high positions, all who are in offices which wield authority— so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. ”  (Slight pause.)

We miss the irony of that, you see.  Pray for those in power?  Those are not the ones presenting us with a peaceable life.  Hence, pray for everyone.

Indeed, it’s said the Roman Empire fell because of panem et circenses— bread and the circuses.  What is bread and the circuses about?  Bread and the circuses means people pursued juvenile distractions, the mere satisfaction of the immediate, rather than engaging a mature way of living.  To be clear, I think that is something to which we are all susceptible— being distracted in juvenile ways. [3]  (Slight pause.)

Catholic theologian and priest Richard Rohr says this: an attitude of ‘I can do it, I must do it and I will do it’ presents us with a problem.  It feels good.  But all the emphasis on my effort, on me, my spiritual accomplishments.

There is little active trust with this approach, says Rohr, in a reliance upon the grace and the mercy of God.  When we underplay the importance and universal availability of grace and mercy, we succumb to an unhealthy self-centeredness.  Please note: a key part here is that grace and mercy are available to all, not just to one group, not just to us, not just to me. [4]

Prayer, you see, is not about self-centeredness.  Or, as I’ve said here before, our culture tends to get God and Santa Claus mixed up.  Often our prayer gets relegated to just asking for help, as in ‘Dear God— I’ve got a 2:00 o’clock ‘Tee’ time.  Please keep it from raining!’

That kind of prayer is not a dialogue with God.  That kind of prayer is a plea to Santa Claus.  (Slight pause.)

All that brings us to the reading from Jeremiah.  You see, if there is a balm in Gilead— and the claim we make about prayer says there is— God provides that healing.

But the healing of God, the grace of God, is not something we control and not something we can understand.  You see when Paul addresses the ‘peace of God which surpasses understanding’ what the Apostle says is true.  The peace of God does surpass understanding.  And Paul cannot explain it.  And we cannot explain it.

But I need to add this: the inexplicable nature of prayer as it intertwines with the action of God does not mean prayer is simply passive.  Prayer can lead to action.

How so?  Prayer, prayer offered humbly, is not passive.  Prayer is a way to engage with God and the will of God.  And nothing is more clear in all of Scripture than this: God calls us to action.

God calls us to action on behalf of the poor.  God calls us to action on behalf of the outcast.  God calls us to action on behalf of the marginalized.

A mature faith, in fact, always leads to action.  And it is in action, not in passivity that God provides a balm.  So, a balm for our soul can be and is found in mature prayer.

It is found because in prayer we can be in dialogue with God and we do dialogue with God.  Dialogue with God— if that’s not enough to frighten you out of being juvenile, nothing is.  Amen.

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 pop star and composer Cyndi Lauper grew up in Ozone Park Queens.  I grew up in the next neighborhood to the south of that, Woodhaven.  And we are not that far apart in age, either.  Now she is a Tony Awarding winning composer but early in her pop career she taught me a lesson.  One video for a hit song, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.  And the video had in it the professional wrestling manager “Captain” Lou Albano.  And what we he doing in the video?  Well, the lesson this taught me is about conflict (conflict as in professional wrestling).  Conflict does attract attention.  That does not make conflict a mature response.  It makes it a response which attracts attention.  Prayer— that’s a mature response.”

BENEDICTION: We are commissioned by God to carry God’s peace into the world.  Our words and our deeds will be used by God, for we become messengers of God’s Word in our action.  Let us recognize that God’s transforming power is forever among us.  And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much.  May we be so in awe of God that we are in awe of no one and nothing else.  Amen.

[1]  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/most-depressing-brain-fin_b_3932273.html

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

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

[4] http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Richard-Rohr-s-Daily-Meditation--Introduction--Theme-6---Process--.html?soid=1103098668616&aid=aHg-awl6FU4

SERMON ~ 09/15/2013 ~ “Insiders, Outsiders”

09/15/2013 ~ Proper 19 ~ Twenty-forth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28; Psalm 14; Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 51:1-10; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10.

Insiders, Outsiders

“Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to the teaching of Jesus.  And the Pharisees and the religious scholars were grumbling and saying, ‘This person welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” — Luke 15:2.

There are those who would accuse me of being a political junkie.  But I don’t agree with that label since most so called political junkies are ideologically driven.  I am more interested in what might be called the ‘horse race’ aspects of politics rather than the ideological battles.

By ‘horse race’ I mean I am fascinated by statistical analysis.  I want to know based on underlying, ongoing trends, ‘who voted for whom?’  For me the questions ‘who did the winners influence’ and ‘who did the losers fail to influence’ are more interesting and tell more about our society than the ideological clashes of the body politic.

You see, in the long run I don’t think ideological battles mean much.  Why?  Whichever ideological side wins today, you can bet the other side will win at some point down the road.  Even if it’s not tomorrow, the other side will eventually win.

All one needs to do is examine the history of the American political scene over time to realize the truth of that.  And by history, I mean our full history.

If our entire 237 years as a unified country are examined carefully, a fairly sound argument can be made that our politics swing like a pendulum from liberal to conservative, from left to right and back about every fifty years.  To be clear: those swings do not happen exactly every fifty years but it’s close enough to be astonishing.

Well, I’m telling you all this because I recently read a book with the title This Town, by Mark Leibovich, a New York Times reporter. [1]  And what is ‘this town?’  ‘This town’ is the phrase insiders— powerful insiders— use to refer to Washington, D.C.

To a certain extent the book exposes the false liberal/conservative public posturing presented by insiders— members of the media and politicians alike.  Off camera they see each other at weddings, funerals and parties.  They are friendly with each other, dine with one another and visit each other’s homes on the social circuit.

Perhaps the deeper point made by the book is a lot of money is made and gets spread around among those on the inside and not too much attention is paid to ideology.  They make money together and lot of attention is paid by everyone just to making money, not ideology.

In telling that story the book tries to convey a tone of controlled outrage.  Controlled outrage— like when a member of Congress says they are shocked, just shocked to find out (for instance) that the National Security Agency has been tracking phone calls.  Well, the National Security Agency, the NSA has been tracking phone calls since 1979.

So, one wonders why a member of Congress might be shocked by that.  It’s been going on for 37 years.  And most members voted to approve of it over and over again by re-authorizing the 1979 law which created the process.  (Slight pause.)

Par of my point here is this is a given: in any society there are insiders and there are outsiders.  Go into a High School and you will be clued you into that.  If you observe the students as they sit munching their lunch in the cafeteria you can spot the students who are thought of as... cool and spot the students who are thought of as... uncool.

Further, to continue that High School analogy, students who are thought of as cool in a science lab may not be the ones who are thought of as cool in music class, may not be the ones who are thought of as cool on athletic practice fields.  My point is a multitude of different inside and outside structures entwine our lives.

Additionally, there is, I think, a part of each of us that wants to be cool in places in we will never get a chance to be cool.  Yes, I really did want to be a broadcaster for a major league baseball team.  Yes, that would have been really, really cool.

No, I will never be that kind of cool.  I think it’s that wanting to be cool in places it will never happen is something with which most of us struggle.  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from Luke: “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to the teaching of Jesus.  And the Pharisees and the religious scholars were grumbling and saying, ‘This person welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”  (Slight pause.)

One of the things we tend to miss with the Fifteenth Chapter of Luke is that the whole chapter can been seen as a lesson about one thing.  Who is on the inside and who is on the outside does not matter in the Dominion of God.

Jesus accepts the tax collectors and other sinners.  The Pharisees and the religious scholars, appalled by this, effectively say, ‘these people are unclean, are they not?!’  To me, this reaction feels like the controlled outrage of the politicians I addressed earlier.

And that reaction is hard to swallow because the real accusation being leveled is this: these people are not members of our tribe.  These people do not do things the way our tribe does things.  Put another way, the Pharisees and the religious scholars are simply saying these people are not cool— or at least they are not our kind of cool.

And what happens then?  Jesus immediately overturns the accusation of the Pharisees and the religious scholars.  How?  Jesus includes the Pharisees and the religious scholars by engaging them and offering them these parables.  (Slight pause.)

The truth of the matter is cool and uncool, outsiders and insiders are created categories.  And we create them.  We create them because our tendency— and I’d be the first to admit it’s a very human tendency— is to break any group up into... tribes.

To be clear, I don’t think Jesus is saying we will ever get rid of tribes.  What Jesus is saying is this: in the Dominion of God tribes do not count for anything— anything.  (Slight pause.)

Well, that points to the obvious, does it not?  Why are there so many churches.  Isn’t the fact that all we Christians have broken up into tribes theologically detestable?  Why yes it is.  (Slight pause.)

I need to tell you about something else.  One of the things I try to do with my reading time, aside from reading current books like This Town, is I occasionally read a classic work and sometimes even a classic work in the field of religion and church.  A book I am currently reading is Visible Saints: The History of a Puritan Idea, published in 1963.

In these several sentences the author Edmund Morgan both paraphrases and directly quotes John Calvin.  (Quote:) “Calvin maintained that the visible church must be ‘composed of good and bad men mingled together’ and the failure to correct faults was no cause for withdrawal.  The ministry of the Word and the administration of the sacraments ‘have too much influence in preserving the unity of the church to admit to its being destroyed by a few impious men.’” [2]  (Slight pause.)

I’ll bet you didn’t think Calvin could be that liberal.  But Calvin probably understood being on the inside and being on the outside.

What we don’t get is that in his era Calvin was on the outside.  So, is this admission about inclusion by Calvin simply a theological stance or was it something he came to from experience— the experience of being excluded?  I don’t know.

I do think the bottom line is this: a sound theology says in the eyes of God the externals do not matter.  God does not create categories.  We do.  God does not decide who is cool.  We do.

So, do you want to be cool in the eyes of God?  Don’t split your neighbors into categories.  Just love your neighbor.  All of them.  Now that’s cool.  Amen.

09/15/2013
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: “There is a reason one of the great slogans of the Protestant Revolution is ‘we are justified by grace.’  However, the surprise is so many Protestants, starting with the Puritans I might add are willing to excommunicate anyone whose behavior doesn’t please them.  They don’t like what they do?  They excommunicate them.  They, thereby, ignore grace for the sake of having a pure, spotless group.  If we insist on a pure spotless group, then we insist that the stability of the covenant relies on works.  Personally, I do not think insisting on purity and, thereby, denying the efficacy of the Grace of, of Mercy of God, is a good idea.”

BENEDICTION: O God, you have bound us together in a common life.  Help us, in the midst of our striving for justice and truth, to confront one another in love, and to work together with mutual patience, acceptance and respect.  Send us out, sure in Your grace and Your peace with surpasses understanding, to live faithfully.  And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much.  May we be so in awe of God, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else.  Amen.

[1]   This Town: Two Parties and a Funeral— Plus Plenty of Valet Parking in America’s Gilded Capital, the Penguin Group, by Mark Leibovich.

[2] Pp. 21-22, Visible Saints: The History of a Puritan Idea, 1963, Cornell University Press, by Edmund Morgan.

SERMON ~ 09/08/2013 ~ “A Prisoner for Christ Jesus?”

09/08/2013 ~ Proper 18 ~ Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Jeremiah 18:1-11; Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 1; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14:25-33 ~ Colorscape Weekend in Norwich.

A Prisoner for Christ Jesus?

“This is a letter from Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and from Timothy our brother.  It is written to Philemon our dear friend and co-worker and to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our companion in the struggle and to the church in your house: Grace and peace from Abba, God, and our Savior, Jesus, the Christ.” — Philemon 1-3.

A while back we, this church, decided to stop ordering pre-printed bulletins, the front and back covers, used by many churches in the United Church of Christ.  We did so in part because we realized we could make the bulletins ourselves.

The front covers we now use tend to fall into four categories of artwork.  We use original drawings, often created by Judy Smith.  We use photographs, created by one Bonnie Scott Connolly.

We also use copyright cleared artwork, scanned in and enhanced by Cheri Willard and scanned in pictures from the history of this church.  In 2014 the covers will more heavily reflect the history because of our 200th Anniversary Celebration.

As to the short essays found on the back of the printed covers, the denomination, the United Church of Christ, actually puts these writings on their website.  Hence, Cheri just goes to that web page, downloads the piece and puts it on the back cover.

By way of confession, I don’t, myself, too often look at the back cover unless the essay is written by a friend, by someone I know.  This week was an exception.  I looked.  And so you don’t have to look also (don’t want to do that in the middle of the sermon, right?), so you don’t have to look also I’ll tell you what it says.  Or at least I’ll tell you the short version.

In the book Defining the Church for Our Time, Peter Schmiechen, President Emeritus of Lancaster Theological Seminary, discusses components that describe church.  This is a quote from the essay: “The church is a community which embodies in structures and practices the new life of Christ and the Spirit.”  (Slight pause.)

The author then lists, in groups, structures and practices common to most churches.  The following are listed [as these are enumerated, the pastor counts them off one finger at a time]: worship, sacraments and spiritual life; music, art and symbols; proclamation inside and outside the church; creeds, catechism and teachings; education at all stages of life; call and nurture of leaders; marriage, family and inter-generational life; fellowship and care for one another; service and witness, inside and outside the church; stewardship; a physical presence in the world; governance which orders, sets apart the life of the church from the world; ecumenical relations among Christians and other religious groups— thirteen— I ran out of fingers.  (Slight pause.)

That seems like a reasonable delineation of structures and practices.  But I want to suggest is that structures and practices are the supporting walls of church, not the foundation of church.

So, what is the foundation?  The essay says this, and I’ve already said it (quote): “...the new life of Christ and the Spirit.”  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work known as Philemon: “This is a letter from Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and from Timothy our brother.  It is written to Philemon our dear friend and co-worker and to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our companion in the struggle and to the church in your house: Grace and peace from Abba, God, and our Savior, Jesus, the Christ.”  (Slight pause.)

So, what is the foundation the author acclaims on that back cover (quote:) “...the new life of Christ and the Spirit”?  So, what did Paul mean by using the label (quote:) “...a prisoner for Christ Jesus”?  Is that a foundation?  (Slight pause.)

We, in fact, know Paul was imprisoned several times.  But why?  What offense warranted incarceration?  (Slight pause.)

I have often said this.  There are several things we need to understand about New Testament times in order to comprehend what is being said in the writings of that era.

One the key point is that Jesus and all the Apostles were Jews.  Their understanding of Who God is was a Jewish understanding.

For the Jews God is One; they insisted there is but one God.  But they lived in a polytheistic world, a world which thought in terms of there being many gods.  Polytheism was the cultural understanding of the time; it was culturally normal to think in terms of many gods.

Hence, to say there is but one God was a radical proclamation for that time.  Now, the Romans— polytheist but devout themselves— saw Judaism as an ancient religion.

Therefore, they thought the idea of One God was quaint and they did not think it should be held against the Jews.  So, they allowed for Jewish belief because it was ancient.

That having been said, society today also does not understand this about New Testament times: most people, other than the Jews, thought of Caesar, the ruler of Rome, as a divine being.  Caesar was one of the gods.

Given all that, this is a probable reason Paul is in chains: treason.  After all, what is Paul proclaiming?

Paul is proclaiming the kinship of God and Jesus.  Paul is proclaiming Jesus is the Christ.  Paul is proclaiming that someone, other than Caesar, the Emperor, is divine and lives— a treasonous message, if there ever was one.  (Slight pause.)

All that leads us to ask ‘what are our foundations as a church?’  And I think that is the very thing Paul is trying to highlight.  You see, in our civilization today, slavery— the owning of another human being— is clearly immoral.  It was not so in New Testament times.  Slavery was not thought of as immoral.

So, while not directly requesting that Philemon, a slave holder, set free Onesimus, a slave, Paul suggests the ties that bind persons as brothers and sisters in Christ transforms and changes assumed cultural patterns.  It’s assumed by the society slavery is moral.  Paul says: ‘no.’  We are one in Christ.  In short, belonging to God, belonging to Christ, affects the way in which we belong to each other.

You see, a premise that permeates this letter is the knowledge that Christians live in profound connection to Christ.  One’s behavior must reflect that connection.

Why?  Is Christ connected with God in a kindred way?  Then we too are connected.  And if we are connected through Christ, slavery of any kind cannot be condoned.  This stand, which comes from the concept that we are connected with God, in relationship with God and, therefore, we should not enslave one another, is totally out of step with the time and place in which Paul lived, where slavery was a given.

But it is not at all out of step with the God of Covenant.  Why?  The love which God shows through Christ says the dignity and the integrity of each person counts, no exceptions.  (Slight pause.)

And so, what is the foundation of church?  Not its structures and practices.  The foundation of the church is this: we are one in Christ.  Or as Schmiechen has it, in the church we find (quote:) “...the new life of Christ and the Spirit.”  Paul, on the other hand, puts it this way (quote): “Grace and peace from Abba, God, and our Savior, Jesus, the Christ.”

In short, once you strip away the cultural baggage of the society of the Roman Empire found in New Testament writings and then strip away the cultural baggage of Twenty-first Century society which surrounds us— which may be even harder to do— at that point we can see a clear common denominator: in Christ and through Christ we are loved by God.

Let me put this just one other way.  Our relationship with God must not be based on cultural baggage.  We really do need to be able to see one another.   Our relationship with God must be based on the love God offers to each of us and to all of us.  Amen.

09/08/2013
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: “Just like New Testament times, perhaps our biggest impediment to a relationship with God is the cultural blinders our times imposes on us.  Our culture says, for instance, the poor cause their own poverty but the economic system in which we live carries absolutely no culpability in creating poverty.  Really?  Wow!  There must be a whole lot of people who really want to live in poverty.  Maybe they’re just lining up to volunteer— I’ll be in poverty.  That sounds like a good idea!  I don’t think so.  What do you think?  The idea that the poor cause their own poverty is, my friends, a definition of cultural blindness.  Why?  God wants you to be poor, right?  Doesn’t make any sense at all.”

BENEDICTION: O God, you have bound us together in a common life.  Help us, in the midst of our striving for justice and truth, to confront one another in love, and to work together with mutual patience, acceptance and respect.  Send us out, sure in Your grace and Your peace with surpasses understanding, to live faithfully.  And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much.  May we be so in awe of God, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else.  Amen.

SERMON ~ 09/01/2013 ~ “The Law of Love”

09/01/2013 ~ Proper 17 ~ Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81:1, 10-16; Sirach 10:12-18 or Proverbs 25:6-7; Psalm 112; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14 ~ Labor Day Weekend ~ Communion Sunday.

The Law of Love

“...Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, ‘Is it lawful to cure people on the Sabbath, or not?’” — Luke 14:3.

The ELCA— the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American— {the pastor points to a person in the congregation}— I have a Lutheran out here who is saying the words with me— is one of the largest denominations in the United States.  The denomination claims more than 4 million members in nearly 10,000 congregations across the 50 states and the Caribbean.  Christ Lutheran on North Broad Street is a member of this group of churches.

The denomination recently made some news by electing a new presiding Bishop.  Unlike the United Church of Christ, Lutherans do have Bishops.  The news is that by a very wide margin the Lutherans elected the Reverend Elizabeth A. Eaton.  The Reverend Eaton will be the first woman to hold the office of Presiding Bishop in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American.

In fairness, I do have to point out the Episcopal Church has already accomplished this kind of first.  In 2006 the Episcopalians elected the Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, who had been a Bishop in Nevada.

In any case, I heard Bishop Elect Eaton interviewed this week.  This was the first question the person interviewing her asked is this: “What’s the greatest challenge for your church as you take over.”

The new Bishop wisely demurred.  “I won’t be taking over,” she offered.  “God is in charge.  I find great comfort in that.”

When it came to the rest of her answer, she again demurred by making sure she applied the answer to the state of churches in general, not just Lutherans.  And she stated the obvious.  It is no longer the 1950s.  The church has to be aware of that.

She then said something equally obvious, something we often tend to forget, especially when people operate out of a memory of what the church was in the 1950s, as churches sometimes do.  She said in the 1950s the church had a privileged status.

In the 1950s, she said, kids did not play sports on Sundays.  By law, professional sports teams could not start their Sunday games before 2:00 p.m.  That kind of privilege, that kind of acceptance, that kind of legal protection granted to a specific religious group is ancient history, said the Reverend Eaton, a thing of the past.

“When the church was new, it did not have any kind of privileged status.  The world in which Paul preached,” she said, “did not make any special accommodation for Sunday.  The Roman Empire did not give people Sundays off.  Still, it seems to me,” she insisted, “we did rather well in the long run.”  (Slight pause.)

I, myself, often wonder why, in our society, churches tend to look to the law to protect a privileged status.  Just as a current example, there were many churches who were and who still are against same-sex marriage— not this church, but there are many.

No one has ever been able to explain to me why those churches need the law as a means to the end of having things their way.  This is especially true since the laws which are in place and allow for same sex marriages do not require those churches to officiate at, to preside over any of those marriages.

I, personally, am happy to let other churches go their own way, do what they want.  I do not want those churches to, by law, have control over my life.  I do not want those churches telling me what to do by trying to turn their practices into law.  There is a difference between practice and law.   (Slight pause.)

“...Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, ‘Is it lawful to cure people on the Sabbath, or not?’”— words from the Gospel of Luke.  (Slight pause.)

So, what is law?  (Slight pause.)  I would be the last to deny law is a rule or a set of rules.  The rules which comprise all laws are strictures, walls, barriers, a box within which one stays.

Please note: in both a real and in a theoretical sense and contrary to populist belief, the prime reason for law, the reason all law exists, is not to punish.  Punishment is not its prime purpose.  The prime reason for the existence of a law is to set a boundary.

Punishment can and may happen after boundaries are shattered, broken.  But punishment is not the reason law exists.  (Slight pause.)

So, what is Biblical law?  Is Biblical law simply a series of rules, a set of strictures?  Some people seem to think it is.  After all, why would there be so much arguing about the Decalogue being the basis of all law if some people did not think it is?

However, while political populists may not agree with what I am about to say, scholars, theologians and Jesus all agree— scholars, theologians and Jesus all agree— the basis of law is not the Decalogue.  The basis of law is a twofold imperative: love God; love neighbor.

In fact, you can see something very interesting behind the story we heard today.  By asking (quote:) “If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out even on a Sabbath day?” Jesus is not asking them if they will pull a child or an ox out of a well on a Sabbath— of course they will.  Jesus knows it; they know it.

Jesus is asking a deeper, more cutting, question.  Jesus is asking ‘are you willing to use the law as a cudgel?’  Jesus is asking ‘why are you willing to use the law as a weapon?’  Jesus is asking ‘why are you willing to use the law as a means of punishment?’  Jesus is asking ‘what is the purpose of the law?’  (Slight pause.)

You have heard me say this hundreds, if not thousands of times.  I said it earlier.  The law— Biblical law— boils down to this: love God; love neighbor.

Too often the follow up question asked of that statement is: ‘who is my neighbor?’  But the question, itself, is the wrong question.  It is wrong because it, effectively, asks about a neighbor as if a neighbor can be found in a physical location.

Neighbor is not a geographical concept.  It is not about the location of said neighbor.  The term ‘neighbor’ is not even about which person or group qualifies as neighbor.  No, indeed, neighbor is a moral concept.  The imperative to love one’s neighbor is an invitation to a moral practice.

Therefore, loving one’s neighbor means maintaining both a collective responsibility and an individual responsibility which insists on the need for the preservation of the dignity of others.  Loving one’s neighbor means maintaining both a collective and an individual responsibility which insists on integrity of all people.  (Slight pause.)

So, what is Biblical law?  Biblical law is not a rule or a set of rules or a stricture or a wall or a barrier or a box within which one stays.  Rather, Biblical law is a moral imperative.

More importantly, it is not a moral imperative inside which we are expected to confine ourselves.  It is not a moral imperative out from which we are called to live.  (Slight pause.)

It has occurred to me, and perhaps it has occurred to Bishop Eaton too, that the privileged place Christianity had in society, the legal protection rendered by a secular government— which Christianity probably even sought— may not have been the best thing that ever happened to Christianity.  Paul, just as a for instance, did not think in those terms, did not think in terms of the law protecting what he might believe or even his practices.

So perhaps what we need to understand is something quite simple.  The only law we find in Scripture is not at all like the law rendered by secular government.  The only law we find in Scripture is the law of love.  And that law, the law of love, transcends rules.

Further, the law of love should not be reduced to something (pardon the expression) simply warm and fuzzy.  Love is a feeling, there is no question.  But the love being addressed here actually goes beyond that.  Biblical love is a moral imperative.  And, as would be true of any moral imperative, loving God and loving neighbor is also a call to action.

Indeed and to paraphrase the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the only thing we can do which is harmful is nothing.  Love your neighbor: a call to action.  Amen.

09/01/2013
United Church of Christ, First Congregational

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: “My late Mother had this funny little interesting saying.  She said: ‘I love humanity.  It’s people I can’t stand.’  And you can understand that when you get exasperated with somebody.  I get it.  And loving humanity in one sense is a moral imperative.  The question is ‘how does that happen?’  Well, it happens the other way around.  You need to love people.  You need to reach out when they have a health problem, when they’re hungry, when they’re homeless.  You need to love people.  If you do that the humanity part will take care of itself, won’t it?”

BENEDICTION: Let us place our trust in God.  Let us go from this place to share the Good News as we are witnesses.  And this is, indeed, the Good News: by God we are blessed; in Jesus, the Christ, the beloved of God, we are made whole.  Let us depart in confidence and joy that the Spirit of God is with us.  And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much.  May we be so in awe of God, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else.  Amen.

SERMON ~ 08/04/2013 ~ “God of the Ancestors: a Screenplay, a Comedy, a Midrash” ~ A Union Service with and at the First Baptist Church of Norwich, NY

08/04/2013 ~ Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proper 13 ~ Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Hosea 11:1-11; Psalm 107:1-9, 43; Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23; Psalm 49:1-12; Colossians 3:1-11; Luke 12:13-21 ~ A Union Service with the First Baptist Church of Norwich, NY at the First Baptist Church of Norwich, NY ~ Note: the Reading Used at the Service Was the Entire Chapter of Exodus 3 ~ Note: References are Made to the Specific People Playing the Parts ~ Note: the Sermon (Play) Is Done Last in the Service of Worship, Followed by the Hymn When Israel Was in Egypt’s Land.

God of the Ancestors: a Screenplay, a Comedy, a Midrash

NARRATOR:
This play, God of the Ancestors, is a Comedy and a Midrash.  It is also, actually, a screenplay, so a little audience participation is needed.  We need you to participate with your imagination.  We need you to hold an image in your mind’s eye of the time of Moses and the desert land of Midian.  These images might be vividly represented on a movie screen, but we lacked the Cecil B. DeMille or even the Stephen Spielberg kind of budget necessary to put such an extravaganza together, so please imagine.  The story we’ll explore is that of the burning bush, a reading you’ve just heard, and this play actually uses all the words found in the full text of the reading.  In fact, this play is a type of literature which is quite ancient and is common in the Jewish tradition called Midrash.  Midrash looks at what’s recorded in the Bible and asks ‘what might have happened, but got left out of the record?’  Midrash tries to fill in the blanks, tries to ask what was in between the words that were finally handed down to us.  Midrash looks at what was left out in many different ways, sometimes with drama and sometimes with comedy.  But it always looks at Scripture with a true sense of reverence.  Indeed, the point is to help make Scripture more understandable and accessible.  (Slight pause.)

So, on with the play.  There are three characters.  They are Miriam, the sister of Moses {and Janice Van Houten will be Miriam}.  Then there is Moses {and The Rev. Mr. Joe Connolly will be Moses.  I think he got that part just because he has a beard.} {And The Rev. Mr. David Spiegel will play Yahweh, God.  Is that a promotion?}  Oh, and one more thing. {I am, Ericka Tyler, your humble Narrator.}  Since you just heard this reading from Scripture, you already realize this is largely a dialogue between God and Moses.  Miriam is here to make comments.  What else would a sister do?  Now, the play imagines God and Moses as if they were two little old Jewish men who, together, own a small appliance store on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.  And what might two little old Jewish men who own a small appliance store in the Lower East Side of Manhattan do?  They argue.  That’s what they do.  On to the Play.  Remember, we need your imagination to be at work, because this is movie.  (Slight pause.)

The screen fades from black to the rising of the early morning sun.  The sandstone hills of the land of Midian come into view.  On the soundtrack a flute is heard playing music in a half tone scale, a psalm tone.  The picture on the screen then cuts to the scorching mid-day sun.  Noises from the sheep are heard and they are seen being moved forward by a lone shepherd.  We follow the shepherd scampering over rocks and crevices as he moves his flock along.  A voice is heard speaking directly to the audience.  It’s Miriam, the sister of Moses.  When Miriam is speaking sometimes she appears in the frame of the picture with the action in the background, sometimes she is just heard in voice over.  When she appears on screen, she is never recognized as being present by Moses because he can’t see her.  Only we, the audience can see her.  One more thing, and again you need to use your imagination: Moses and Miriam are dressed in clothes appropriate to their station in the year 1250 Before the Common Era.

MIRIAM:
My name is Miriam.  Moses is my brother.  You know?  Moses?  The one in the song.  (She starts to sing)  Go down, Moses / Way down to Egypt’s land, / Tell old Pharaoh, / To let my people go.

NARRATOR:
Seeming a little flustered, she says:

MIRIAM:
Oh, I’m sorry.  Sometimes I get carried away with singing.

NARRATOR:
She composes herself.

MIRIAM:
Let me continue.  As it says in our Scripture, in fear Moses was forced to flee the land where his people were held captive, Egypt.  But he has done well for himself.  He has married Zipporah, and has a son, Gershom.  But the people of Moses, the Hebrews, suffered greatly under the Pharaoh, and God took notice.  Moses, even though he may not have wanted to, was to become the servant of the God, the instrument of God, the chosen of God.  This is the true story of how that happened.  It’s all here.  Not one word has been changed or left out.

NARRATOR:
From the lighting and the angle of the sun, we can tell that it’s now late afternoon.  Moses is scooping water into his hands and drinking from a pool.  The sheep are all around him.

MIRIAM:
At this time Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

NARRATOR:
The camera cuts to a blazing bush and back to the astonished face of Moses.

MIRIAM:
There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; Moses looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.  Then Moses said,

NARRATOR:
The camera focuses on the face of Moses.  We see fear, pain and wonderment as Moses speaks.

MOSES:
I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.

MIRIAM:
When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called him out of the bush,

NARRATOR:
The camera focuses on the depths of the bush, on the flames which burn many colors from red to blue to white and back.  A voice speaks:

YAHWEH:
Moses, Moses!

MOSES:
Here I am.

YAHWEH:
Come no closer!  Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place you are standing is holy ground.

MOSES:
Holy ground?

YAHWEH:
The holiest.  Besides, I just planted some grass seed right where you’re standing.  If you tramp on it with those sandals, the seedlings will never have a chance.  They will never come up.  You must nurture them and give them a chance.  They will have a much better chance if you’re in your bare feet.

NARRATOR:
Moses complies with this request, scampering to a different location.  Suddenly realizing he is in the presence of God, he quickly lies prostrate with his face to the ground.

YAHWEH:
Moses, stand up.  I want to talk to you.  I like to see people’s eyes when I talk to them.  They’re the window of the soul, you know.

NARRATOR:
Moses stands up.

MOSES:
I’m curious.  Is there really enough water up here to grow grass?

YAHWEH:
I work at it.  Besides, I import my own rain.  I am, after all, the God of all things.  I am the God of the clouds, the earth, the sea, even the grass.  I am the God who nurtures.

MOSES:
Yes, but you bring water?  Up here?  To water the grass?

YAHWEH:
You’re a strange man, Moses.  You want to know if I can get water up here, but you have no curiosity about how this bush burns, but is not consumed.

MOSES:
I presumed you had your special effects person rig it up.

YAHWEH:
Moses, Moses, Moses, Moses.  I am sovereign over all things.  You want to know how this works?

MOSES:
No, it works.  That’s all right by me.  That’s all I need to know.

YAHWEH:
I’ll tell you how it works.  I make it work; that’s how it works!

MOSES:
I’m glad we got that detail straight.

YAHWEH:
Moses, you don’t understand.  I am God.  Others have gods.  Other nations have their gods.  It will ever be thus, but I am God above all.

MOSES:
Yes, but who, exactly, are you anyway?  For instance: do we have mutual acquaintances?  You know, like my aunt Sally who knows anyone worth knowing.  She’s a real Yenta.  Or maybe my Uncle Hiram.  He’s a schlemiel, but I like him.  Do I know anybody that you know?

MIRIAM:
God was clearly not please with this line of questioning.

YAHWEH:
(STAGE DIRECTION THE FOR ACTOR: Throughout this next speech the voice of God picks up speed and gets louder.)  Moses!  I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Abraham whom obeyed me in faith when I told him to take his possessions and leave his father’s house, Abraham who I promised to make a great nation, whose descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.  Abraham who accepted my word and packed his family and crossed the desert to Shechem.  I am the God who kept my promise by giving Abraham and Sarah a son, Isaac, in their old age.  I am the God of your father, the God of Isaac, the boy named laughter, the boy who grew and I blessed because he trusted in me and I am the God of your father, the God of Jacob— Jacob, the conniver, Jacob the schemer, Jacob who would wrestle, who would strive with me!  Moses!  I am the God of the Ancestors.  I am the God of your ancestors.  I am the God of the covenant.

NARRATOR:
The camera, which has been concentrating on the bush during this speech, cuts to Moses who is cowering.

MIRIAM:
And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

YAHWEH:
It’s all right, already, Moses.  Look at me.  Don’t look away.  This may not be exactly a face to face meeting, that’s maybe for later, maybe not, but know that I am compassionate.  Know that I love you greater than any other.  Know that I will not ask of you that which you cannot do.  Know that I loved your ancestors, Abraham and Sarah— know that I loved your ancestors, Isaac and  Rebekah— and know that I loved your ancestors, Jacob and Rachel.  Know that I love my people.

NARRATOR:
Slowly, with each successive statement, Moses has stood up straighter and straighter.

MIRIAM:
Then the LORD said,

YAHWEH:
I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters.  Indeed, I know their sufferings,

MOSES:
Hold on a cotton picking minute.  How could you know about the sufferings of your people?  Where were you when we needed you?  You were hanging out on this mountain, that’s where you were, and your people are back in Egypt!  Enslaved!  I was there!  I know!

YAHWEH:
What do you think?  Do you think there’s a giant ball and chain tying me to this mountain?  Do you think I haven’t been there, in Egypt?  I’ve even been to downtown Memphis at rush hour!  So many chariots!  And going so fast!  And traffic laws— they never heard of traffic laws!  If you’re not careful, you could get killed in a place like that!  How dare you question me?  Because I do know what’s going on down there!  I am a God of the oppressed!  I am a God of justice.  I am a deliverer of the persecuted!  It is this very oppression which cries out to me and says I should come down off this mountain, for crying out loud!  I’ll tell you what else, already!  I have and I will come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amoreites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

MOSES:
Easy for you to say!

YAHWEH:
(Calmer, slower.)  You know, Moses, You’ve got a lot of chutzpah.  You’ve got a lot of guts, questioning me like that.  I like you.  You’re a real mensch, a person— you know what I mean?

MOSES:
Oh, thank you.  So, you’re saying you understand the plight of your people?  You’re saying you’ll do something about it?

YAHWEH:
Moses, you may be a mensch, but you can be dense, too.  I just said it, didn’t I?  The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.  I don’t think you quite understand what I’m getting at, though.  It isn’t just that I  will do something about it.  We’ll do something about it, together.   So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

MOSES:
Say what?

YAHWEH:
You should use a ‘Q’-tip on those ears, my friend.  It improves the hearing.  What I said was ‘Do I have a deal for you!’

MOSES:
Deals?  Why should I want a deal?  What is this?  A game show?  What is this?  Are we going into business together?  Are we opening a small appliance store together?  So, it’s deals, you offer.  Who needs them?

YAHWEH:
You’re right.  I don’t make bargains.  Covenants, yes.  Deals, no.  Covenants are deeper, bigger, wider, broader, richer than deals, you know.  Covenants are based on trust.  Deals... deals are based on tit for tat.  So... I am the God of the covenant.  I don’t make deals.  Tag you’re it.

MOSES:
What?  What does this mean ‘Tag, I’m it?’

YAHWEH:
You have just won an all expense paid trip to glorious Egypt!  The land of the Pharaohs!  Land of the pyramids!  Bring your sun tan lotion; it’s always sunny and 112 degrees in the shade!  You, my friend, will get to go down to Egypt and bring my people out, and free them from their suffering.  Any sand you want to take out of Egypt with you is free of charge, but you will be liable to pay all federal excise taxes.  And thank you for being a contestant on This is Your Desert!

MOSES:
What?  Now wait a minute

NARRATOR:
Miriam enters the camera frame again and comments.

MIRIAM:
Moses and God went at it for quite some time, back and forth and back and forth with each other before Moses finally said to God...

MOSES:
Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?


YAHWEH:
Who are you?  I’ll tell you who you are.  You’re Moses, that’s who you are.

MOSES:
Tell me something I don’t know.

YAHWEH:
Look, I’m sending you there.  What are you?  Mashugga?  Crazy?  You can’t say ‘no.’  I’m God.  You’re Moses.  That’s all you need to know.  Case closed.

MOSES:
And that you are God counts for what when I go to the Hebrews?  That counts for bupkis, nothing, zero, zilch!  I can see it now.  I go to the Hebrews and I say, ‘Hello, I’m Moses.  God sent me.’  Right?  Of course, right!  Next thing they’ll bring me to a psychiatrist.  ‘Have you been hearing voices lately?  Have you been seeing visions lately?’  Oy!  I can see it now.  ‘How long did the bush burn without being consumed, Moses?’  Just come over here to this door.  It’s a nice padded room.  You’ll get you’re three square meals a day and you won’t have to worry!’  Oy, Vey!  How did I get into this?!  How does the saying go?  With friends like this...?!

YAHWEH:
(Shouting.)  Would you calm down!  Enough already!

MIRIAM:
Finally, when Moses was calm, Yahweh said,

YAHWEH:
(Calmly.) Look, I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.

MOSES:
And what’s so special about this mountain.  Maybe if I bring them out, I’ll just look for any mountain.  Maybe we could go here, maybe we could go there.  I hear Miami Beach is too hot this time of year, so that’s out.  Maybe we could just have a short picnic, then we’ll go right back to Egypt where it’s safe.  I’m sure the Pharaoh would like that much better.  He can be a mean cuss, you know.  I wouldn’t want to have him angry with me.  All those soldiers and chariots...

YAHWEH:
Moses!

MOSES:
(Resigned.)  I know.  I know.  Go down.  Bring back.  This mountain.  You are the sovereign one.  No earthly ruler is sovereign.  I understand.

YAHWEH:
Moses, I like you.  You’re a quick learner.  This will work out just fine.

MIRIAM:
Moses then realized he had forgotten some important details.  So, Moses said to God,

MOSES:
If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?   That’s a fair question, don’t you think?  I mean, it’s all right that I tell them that you’re the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Isaac and  Rebekah, the God of Jacob and Rachel, but that’s not really enough.  It’s not a name.  Everybody has a name... some kind of name.  I can’t say to them ‘What-cha-ma-call-it sent me.’  They’ll say, ‘Yeah.  And who’s on first, what’s on second.’

MIRIAM:
Once again God and Moses went back and forth.  Friendship happened between them very quickly.  When people become good friends, it often happens quickly.  And by this time they were really the best of friends.  Moses knew God intimately.  And vice-versa.  Only the best of friends could talk to each other like this.  They argued, they hassled, they compromised, they schmouzed.  They had a great time.  And, of course, they had still more discussion about the name.  Finally God said to Moses,

YAHWEH:
I AM WHO I AM.

MOSES:
Well, that’s good.  I’m glad we got that straight.  You are who you are.  But what’s your name.

YAHWEH:
What is not my name.  I AM WHO I AM.

MOSES:
No, no, no.  You don’t really understand.  I need to know your name.

YAHWEH:
I AM WHO I AM.

MOSES:
No, no, no.  You don’t really understand.  I asked who you were.  You keep saying, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’  I can’t go telling people that.  They’ll say, ‘So what?’  ‘What does that mean?’  You gotta give me more than that to go on.

MIRIAM:
But God was insistent about what name God should be called.  Indeed, God said further, thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’

MOSES:
So, what does this mean?  Does this mean I’m going to Egypt and I’m talking double talk to the Hebrews and to the most powerful king on earth, and he’s going to do what I ask?

YAHWEH:
Moses....  I am a God who acts.  I am a God who is in relationship with people in their lives.  I am a God who acts in history.  I am a God who is present.  My name indicates this.  I am not only a form of the word which means being.  I am the acting form of actual be-ing.

MOSES:
This I understand, and this I honor.  But how am I, how can I say this to your people so they will understand?  ‘I am who I am’ just isn’t enough!

MIRIAM:
Perhaps the plea of Moses for more was heard, because then God said to Moses,

YAHWEH:
Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Isaac and  Rebekah, the God of Jacob and Rachel, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this is my title for all generations.

MOSES:
And they will understand?

YAHWEH:
They will understand.  (Slight pause.)  Well, probably.

MOSES:
We can only hope.

MIRIAM:
God further said to Moses:

YAHWEH:
Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Isaac and  Rebekah, the God of Jacob and Rachel, has appeared to me, saying: I have given heed to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt.  I declare that I will bring you up out of the misery of Egypt, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’

MOSES:
I like that ‘land flowing with milk and honey’ part.  It has a nice ring to it.  Like an advertising slogan.  Or perhaps a song title.  Maybe that will be enough to sell them on the idea.  Did you ever think about giving up this management gig and going into advertising?

MIRIAM:
If Moses could have seen the face of Yahweh, which, of course, Moses could not, Yahweh would have been glowering.  Yahweh then said,

YAHWEH:
They will listen to your voice; and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; let us now go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’

MOSES:
Now wait a minute.  I told you that this Pharaoh guy is a bad dude.  I don’t think he’ll let us do that— leave Egypt, go sacrifice.

MIRIAM:
And Yahweh agreed and said:

YAHWEH:
I know, however, that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.

MOSES:
Finally we agree on something!  So what did I tell you, already?  How are you going to handle this?

YAHWEH:
I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will perform in it; after that he will let you go.

MOSES:
You would help me like that?

YAHWEH:
I will bring this people into such favor with the Egyptians that, when you go, you will not go empty-handed; each woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman living in the neighbor’s house for jewelry of silver and of gold, and clothing, and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters; and so you shall plunder the Egyptians.

MIRIAM:
All of this promised at once was clearly too much for Moses to take in, too much for Moses to process at one time, because Moses seemed to backtrack to something which had already been discussed and said,

MOSES:
But suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’

MIRIAM:
Repeating himself was only one of the annoying habits of Moses.  My brother even got on my nerves sometimes.  You had to ask him a hundred times, you had to ask him a thousand times, and then you had to show him.  God is not like that, not like Moses.  God hears.  With God there is a relationship.  Sometimes you get what you’d like, but sometimes God thinks that what you’d like is not so good for you, and you don’t get that.  But God always hears.  (Slight pause.)  I am always surprised with the patience of God.  Especially with someone like my brother.  Moses was such a pain.  Imagine someone like Moses bothering you?  Imagine asking a question like ‘suppose the Israelites do not listen?’ after going over it a hundred times.  As if further proof was needed about the sovereignty of God, the LORD said to Moses,

YAHWEH:
What is that in your hand?

NARRATOR:
Moses is seen holding his staff above his head.

MOSES:
A staff.

YAHWEH:
Throw it on the ground.

MIRIAM:
So Moses threw the staff on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses drew back from it.

NARRATOR:
Moses is seen beating a hasty retreat from the snake.

MOSES:
Would you stop it, already!  I hate snakes!  Yuck!

MIRIAM:
Then the LORD said to Moses,

YAHWEH:
Reach out your hand, and seize it by the tail.

MOSES:
I told you!  I hate snakes.

YAHWEH:
Do it, already!

MIRIAM:
So Moses reached out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand.  This took a lot of courage on the part of Moses, since he did hate snakes.  Perhaps the fact that he picked up the snake by the tail showed how much trust he had in God.  Trust is important in a relationship with God.

YAHWEH:
This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Isaac and  Rebekah, the God of Jacob and Rachel, has appeared to you.

MOSES:
Yes, but snakes, snakes— what could be worse than snakes?  Did you have to choose snakes?  I hate snakes!

MIRIAM:
Again, the LORD said to him,

YAHWEH:
Put your hand inside your cloak.

MOSES:
Oh, no.  What now?

MIRIAM:
He put his hand into his cloak; and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.

MOSES:
Don’t do this to me!  I don’t like this.

MIRIAM:
Then God said,

YAHWEH:
Put your hand back into your cloak—

MIRIAM:
So he put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored like the rest of his body—

MOSES:
Oy!  That’s a relief.  For a minute there, I thought I was going to need a dermatologist.  My brother-in-law wanted to be one but flunked out of medical school.  But, really, you don’t seem understand what I am getting at.  I believe.  It’s the Israelites I’m worried about.

YAHWEH:
If they will not believe you or heed the first sign, they may believe the second sign.  If they will not believe even these two signs or heed you, you shall take some water from the Nile and poor it on the dry ground; and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.

MOSES:
I’m not sure I’m ready for this.

MIRIAM:
Moses had this problem.  No ambition.  At least that’s what I think.  He did not want to do any of this in the worst way.  He knew he had to, and looked for any way out, any excuse to avoid this responsibility; so Moses said to the LORD,

MOSES:
O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; I am slow at speech and slow of tongue.

MIRIAM:
He was right on that count.  A talker, he wasn’t.  He tried three times to ask his girlfriend to his high school prom before he worked up the right language and the courage and got it done!  Then the LORD said to him,

YAHWEH:
Who gives speech to mortals?  Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind?  Is it not I, the LORD?  Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.

MIRIAM:
God is the one from whom all blessings, indeed, all knowledge flows.  Our Hebrew word for knowledge is: yada.  But it’s more than simple knowledge.  All our talent, all that we are flows from God.  And yada is more, even, than that.  It’s intimate knowledge, knowledge of the LORD, understanding born of relationship, understanding born of experience.  Well, back to Moses.  Moses was still stubborn about speaking, and he said,

MOSES:
O my Lord, please send someone else.

MIRIAM:
Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said,

YAHWEH:
What of your brother Aaron, the Levite?

MOSES:
Aaron?  I never thought about Aaron.

YAHWEH:
I know that he can speak fluently;

MOSES:
He’s always been a talker.  And charm!  He could charm the flies off a camel!

YAHWEH:
Even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad.

MOSES:
Glad?  Of course glad.  I’m his brother.  Besides, I’m the one he comes to when he needs to borrow something.  That reminds me— I think he still has my lawn mower.

YAHWEH:
You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.

MOSES:
What a relief.  Now he’ll have the speaking part and I’ll just be an extra.  I can stay in the background.

YAHWEH:
I don’t think so.  You’ll still have the lead part in this play.  But he, indeed, will speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him.  Now, take in your hands this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.

MOSES:
I’m still not sure I trust this staff.  It was a snake a couple of minutes ago, you know.

NARRATOR:
Moses gingerly retrieved the staff and shakes it a couple of times.

MOSES:
Hmmm... seems as good as new.  Well, anyway, what a relief it will be to have Aaron.  I thought I was going to do all this myself.  Let me off the hook, finally.  Yes?  You know, this is worse than a final exam at schul.

YAHWEH:
Moses, I don’t think you get it yet.  You’ve not been let off the hook and I’m not letting you off the hook.  That’s not where I’m coming from.  I am God.  You are not.  I have steadfast love (or as we say in Hebrew) hesed, for you and my people.  I will not fail you.  I will be with you.  I will be with my people.

MIRIAM:
And so, this how the first encounter of Moses and God ended.  There were to be many more.  They were to be faithful in this relationship.  You can read all about it in the Bible.  But this incident is where it started.  And it seems impossible, doesn’t it— the divine and the human working together?  Divine grace, human response— without this the liberation of God’s people would not have been possible.  Yes, Yahweh is a God of justice who is a champion of all oppressed people.  I think that God was willing to act in our lives, that God was willing to anoint one of us, that God was willing to be in relationship with us, is the point of this encounter.  That Moses responded shows us there is the possibility of a relationship with God, a relationship of which each of us is capable.  And we can encounter God in our lives everyday.  The confrontation of the burning bush may seem dramatic, but each encounter we have with God, each experience we have in life is equally important, if we remember the presence of God.  When we encounter God in strangers we meet, when we encounter God in our enemies, when we encounter God in our neighbors, when we encounter God in our friends, when we encounter God in our family, when we encounter God in all these, then we encounter God just as plainly as did Moses.  God told us about the truth of encountering God.  God told us about the truth of this when God gave us the Torah.  And God gave us the law when we finally returned to the mountain, under the guidance of Moses to worship God.  Everything is there in the Torah.  (Pause.)  And what is in the Torah?  Love God.  Love neighbor.  Do all the things in the Torah because you love God.  And what of Moses?  Never since has a prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, arisen in Israel.

NARRATOR:
On the screen we see the setting sun.  The lone figure of the shepherd, Moses, surrounded by sheep, is seen walking down the slopes of the sandstone hills.  A flute is heard playing in a half tone scale, a psalm tone.  The screen fades to black as the words “The End” come into focus.

SERMON ~ 07/28/2013 ~ Disqualifications

07/28/2013 ~ Tenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proper 12 ~ Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Hosea 1:2-10; Psalm 85; Genesis 18:20-32; Psalm 138; Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19); Luke 11:1-13.

Disqualifications

“Do not let anyone who worships angels and enjoys self-abasement disqualify you, judge you.  These people go into great detail, dwell on their visions and their worldly minds keep puffing up their already inflated egos, their human way of thinking.” — Colossians 2:18.

They are so popular, they are ubiquitous.  It’s unlikely a day goes by without one cropping up on a broadcast network or a cable channel or over the latest of mediums, the internet.  What is it?  What are they?  The reality show.

From a business prospective one reason reality shows constantly get produced is they are cheap to operate.  It does not cost a lot to manufacture one.

Even shows that give away a million dollar prize and shows that send people overseas— Survivor and The Amazing Race, for example— these do not cost as much to produce as scripted shows.  After all, you pay nothing for your star actors.

And there is no script written beforehand.  The observant among you probably realize scripts on reality shows are written but these are put together by producers, not writers, and this is done after the show is recorded and compiled, not before.  Makes writing a little bit easier, right?

Since there is no script there are no writers to pay.  And the long and the short of that is, the less you spend to produce a show, the more profit there is to be made.  And that’s not the Biblical prophet we’re talking about— right?  O.K.

Rumor to the contrary, however, reality shows are not a new phenomena.  And if we think they are new, we delude ourselves.  Reality shows date not just from the infancy of television.  Believe it or not, reality shows also date nearly from the infancy of radio.

Indeed, anyone who remembers the 1930s or has studied the social history of the 1930s, probably knows the Major Bowes Amateur Hour and that went on the air in 1934, just 14 years after the first commercial radio broadcast of any kind.  Amateur performers competed on the show by coming to the radio station, to the studio.

And, not unlike the modern show, American Idol, Major Bowes sent the best performers out on tour and, thereby, made even more money.  A fellow named Ted Mack took over from Bowes in 1945 and brought the same show to televison in 1948— television in it’s infancy.

So tell me, what is the difference between the Amateur Hour and programs like American Idol or America’s Got Talent— really?  There is none— nada, zilch, nothing— no difference whatsoever.  Since these more recent entries all carry the label ‘reality shows’ I’d be hard pressed to say their older predecessors were not also reality shows.  We just did not give them that name back then.

And indeed, just to mention yet another historic precedent, the hidden camera show, Candid Camera, a show which tried to catch people in the act of being real, went on television for the first time in 1948.  But the show started on radio as Candid Microphone.

So again tell me, what’s the difference between Candid Camera and, say, Big Brother?  There is none— nada, zilch, nothing.  They both try to catch people in the act of being real.

Of course, the phrase ‘people being real’ has a deeper implication.  You do realize all people are flawed; noone is perfect, right?  And, frankly, the last time I looked being flawed and not perfect is a human condition.  We all share it.  (Slight pause.)

The current reality show Survivor is perhaps best known for the cutthroat practice of the contestants voting one another off the island.  The show’s motto, after all, is “Outwit, Outplay, Outlast.”

In any case, have you noticed, when the host of Survivor, Jeff Probst, dismisses a contestant who has been voted off he never says: “You have been voted off the island.”  What he says is this: “The tribe has spoken.”

I find that phrase fascinating because it reflects another human reality.  We humans tend to form tribes.  We tend to be tribal.

We form relational customs, habits, ritual behaviors we believe to be shared only by other tribe members, other people in our social group.  Further, we tend to ignore, even banish those who fail to conform or meet certain standards or criterium.  And, interestingly, these standards or criterium are often hidden, unspoken.  (Slight pause.)  The tribe has spoken— even when not a word has been said.  (Slight pause.)

And these words are found in Colossians: “Do not let anyone who worships angels and enjoys self-abasement disqualify you, judge you.  These people go into great detail, dwell on their visions and their worldly minds keep puffing up their already inflated egos, their human way of thinking.”  (Slight pause.)

This should be a surprise to no one since it is something I occasionally remind us about.  Jesus was a Jew.  Paul was a Jew.  Hence, one question we should constantly keep in front of us is this: who is the God of Israel?  (Slight pause.)

You see, in ancient times everybody believed in a god or the gods.  That was a given.  What set the God of Israel apart is the Jewish people did not understand Yahweh, God, to be the God of only Israel.

While other nations and peoples had gods for only themselves or gods who took care of specific tasks like harvests, Jews did not understand God in that way— as being either a god of one people or a god who tended to specific tasks.  For the Jews, the realm of God and the role of God was all encompassing.

Hence, God was the God of all people.  God was the God of the whole world.  God was inclusive.  This concept, this idea that Yahweh, God, was the God of all people, the God of the whole world, an all inclusive God, was a strange, even unique idea in ancient times.

Further, like all premises, that Yahweh, God, was the God of the whole world had consequences.  The obvious consequence of that concept was loving one’s neighbor became not a duty but a way of life.

You did not love your neighbor because it was a demand made on you or because it was a law.  You loved your neighbor because you understood that God was the God of all people.  You understood that God was not the God of just your tribe, not just the God of people who conformed to your particular customs, habits or ritual behaviors.  God was shared.

And that brings us back to what Paul says in this passage.  In verse 9 Paul states a concept about Christ in this way (quote): “...in Christ the whole fullness of divinity dwells in bodily form...”  (Slight pause.)

In short, God is fully present to all people in Christ.  Hence (to truncate Paul’s words slightly), do not let anyone... disqualify you, judge you.  (Slight pause.)

It seems to me we Christians get into a bad pattern, a bad habit.  We make Jesus into the exclusive Child of God instead of the inclusive Child of God.  But that is not the kind of thinking Paul exhibits.

On the other hand, being tribal is a very human tendency.  We do seem to have a proclivity to form ourselves into tribes.  We do seem to have an inclination toward not seeing humanity as one family, one tribe.  (Slight pause.)

I want to suggest that God sees us as one family, one tribe.  But our relationship with God, indeed all religion, is not and should not bee seen as a pursuit.  Our relationship with God should be seen and should be practiced as a way of life.  On the other hand, when we see our relationship with God as a pursuit and not a way of life, then it becomes a game, something to be won, grabbed.

I’d be the first to say, if a relationship with God is something to be won— if it’s a game— it would require tribes.  So we need to remind ourselves daily that no one gets voted off God’s island— not by us or by anyone else.

Why?  The call of God is simple: love your neighbor.  And your neighbor is not a rival contestant to be outwitted, outplayed or outlasted.  Your neighbor is simply to be loved.  Amen.

07/28/2013
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: “Dr. Paul Farmer is an American anthropologist, physician and Harvard professor.  He was recently appointed United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Community-based Medicine— impressive sounding fellow, isn’t he?  And he has said this (quote): ‘The idea that some lives matter less than other lives is the root of all that is wrong with the world.’  ‘The idea that some lives matter less than other lives is the root of all that is wrong with the world.’  Who is our neighbor?  Everyone.  Why?  God is the God of everyone.”

BENEDICTION: This is the blessing used by natives of the islands in the South Pacific: O Jesus, please be the canoe that holds me up in the sea of life.  Please be the rudder that keeps me on a straight paths.  Be the outrigger that supports me in times of stress.  Let Your Spirit be the sail that carries me though each day.  Keep me safe, so that I can paddle on steady in the voyage called life.  God of all, bless us so we may have calm seas, a warm sun and clear nights filled with stars.  Amen.