localpastor

05/17/2026 ~ Seventh Sunday of Easter (If Ascension not observed here) ~ * Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35; 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11; John 17:1-11 ~ ECK VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHVLIl6vynU&pp=0gcJCQQLAYcqIYzv
HARPSWELL TV VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2_etCend9Y

Not for You to Know

“Jesus replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that have been set by the authority of God.’” — Acts 1:7-8.

My sister lives in Orange, California. I don’t hold that against her. Like me, in her youth she was a Roman Catholic. Somehow she is now a member at a Methodist Church. I don’t hold that against her.

Since she’s familiar with Catholicism and Methodism where Bishops assign pastors and knows my time at the Kellogg Church is approaching completion, she was curious about how getting a new pastor works in congregational Churches. As I explained the process to her, she asked a ton of questions. I didn’t hold that against her.

Hence and therefore, compared to what I said to her what I’m about to say is much, much, much shorter, less complicated and very, very, very incomplete. I hope you will not hold that against me. (Slight pause.)

Throughout history members of Congregational churches have had sole responsibility for calling their pastor. As you know, this church recently completed that process. But you may not know until the mid to late 1700s a call was literally for an entire lifetime. Hence, when a pastor left a church it was not for another church.

These days pastors move around. And there are two sides to that— the perspective of the church looking for a pastor and the perspective of a pastor looking for a church. So when pastors get together conversation sometimes turns to a retelling of adventures during the search process. This story is about one of those conversations I had with a colleague.

That pastor found a church, a church found him and they both thought they had a perfect match— until the interview. The church was at Los Alamos— yes, Los Alamos, where the atom bomb was developed. And yes, atomic research is still done there by scientists who live there.

This seemed like a match because my colleague had an undergraduate and graduate degree in science and worked as a scientist before entering ordained ministry. What could go wrong with that fit, right?

In his words (quote): “I blew the interview.” What happened? One of the questions he fielded was: “Is Jesus the sole path to salvation?” (Slight pause.) He had just completed a Doctor of Ministry degree which concentrated in this area and gave what was— again his words (quote): “a very scholarly, nuanced, subtle answer which delved into the early history of the church.”

It turned out the people on the Search Committee were not interested in scholarship, nuance, subtlety or history. The answer they wanted was “Jesus is the sole path.” They would not cotton to any other answer.

I suggested to my colleague he should have challenged the premise of the question. He looked a puzzled.

I said, “You should have tried something like, ‘Jesus is the sole path to salvation only insofar as that does not deny Jesus is sent by God not just for some but for all humanity for all time, for the whole of the human race forever.’”

Immediately he began to roar with laughter. “Oh,” he said, “that may not have made a difference. But I should have said that!”

“You see,” I said, “the problem is that’s not a question about Jesus. It’s a secular question about power”— the one they asked.

“It’s a question about power because it assumes the ones asking the question have a level of knowledge about salvation only God could possess. Hence, anyone who asks that kind of question is assuming they know what God knows. That’s a tad ego-centric, don’t you think?”

My colleague smiled. “My bet is I’ve got to take you along on my next interview as a coach.” (Slight pause.)

This is what we hear in Luke / Acts in the section we call Acts: “Jesus replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that have been set by the authority of God.’” (Pause.)

The question the disciples ask the resurrected Jesus sounds like a self-centered search interview question. (Quote): “Is this the time when You will restore sovereignty to Israel.”

You see, Jesus is right in front of them. So that’s not a question about what message God might have for humanity because of the resurrection is about. Instead it’s a question about the secular power of Israel and a question about the power the disciples might wield, their own power.

Jesus knows it’s the wrong question and says (quote:) “It is not for you to know….” Then Jesus re-frames the question by placing God at the center of what’s happening.

Jesus says the details of unfolding Realm of God are not up to humanity. The details are up to God. Letting God be God is a hard pill for some folks to swallow.

I do need to note Jesus says (quote): “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” Isn’t that about power, our power?

No. It’s not about our power. It’s about the presence of the Holy Spirit. Hence, it is about our empowerment— notice the difference— power and empowerment?

Of what does that empowerment consist? Jesus is clear (quote): “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Witnessing can be powerful. But witnessing is not about power. Witnessing is about saying what we know, what we’ve experienced, what we feel. Witnessing is about sharing. Witnessing is not about holding power over anyone. (Slight pause.)

And what is it we know, experience, feel? The very context of the story tells us: by the goodness of God, Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, raised from death.

The resurrection is a sign to us, that for us the covenant of God is real. It is a sign that the joy, peace, hope, freedom, justice and love of God is available to all humanity, not just to some, especially not just the self-selected.

Last, this passage is blatant about our call to be witnesses. This passage is clear that there is an expectation we will give witness, witness to the joy, peace, hope, freedom, justice and love God offers. How so?

The title “apostle” is a title we need to own for ourselves. It derives from the Greek verb “to send.” So an apostle denotes someone who is “sent out” with something to share.

Therefore, the word apostle is not about commanding, insisting, trapping, tricking or even about who is more important that anyone else, about who has power. The word apostle is about sharing. Hence, it is we who are called to be apostles by our own witnessing. (Slight pause.)

So what are marks of apostles today, those filled with the Spirit right now? Surely an apostle today is someone who helps the community experience the love of God, know the Word of God, discern the will of God.

Those who help the community experience love, know and discern the will of God can be and are successors of the earliest believers. And to strive to be a successor of the apostles is not something grandiose or self-centered.

Anyone who shares the love of God— and there are multiple ways to share the love of God— anyone who shares the love of God— that’s someone who is an apostle. I think someone who shares the love of God are folks like you and me, folks who strive to practice faith everyday by mirroring the joy, peace, hope, freedom, justice and love of God. (Pause.)

I hope you won’t hold it against me when I say the joy, peace, hope, freedom, justice and love of God is our calling. And that kind of sharing is the real and true sign of Christian leadership. Amen.

05/17/2026
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is a précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “I want to once again draw your attention to the Thought for Mediation today from Alfred North Whitehead. ‘Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge.’ I want to suggest to you on the Christian journey knowing what we don’t know may be the most important part. So yes, sometimes it seems like we are just feeling our way because we do know what we don’t know. Well, I certainly hope we know what we do not know or are at least aware of how much we don’t know.”

BENEDICTION: God promises to empower our witness. The Holy Spirit is present to us. Jesus, the Christ, lives among us. Let us go from this worship to continue our worship with work and witness. And may the peace of Christ, which surpasses our understanding keep our hearts, minds and spirits centered on God, this day and forevermore. Amen.

[1] This Thought for Meditation was in the bulletin for the service.

05/03/2026 ~ Fifth Sunday of Easter ~ * Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14.
EKC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8hHnbs5Dk
HARPSWELL TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma6C0GzLeyg

Learning and Growth

“Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, the milk of the Word, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that God is good.” — 1 Peter 2:2-3.

I want to offer some general comments about how learning happens in infants and in children. You and I know there are exceptions. (Slight pause.) For a newborn stimuli is usually experienced as moments of learning. A baby learns something about the world with each hug, each touch of a hand, each human contact.

Learning happens when music is heard— Beethoven’s Fifth to Taylor Swift— when squeals of joy, shouts of anger, whispers of consolation are heard— when the sharp smell of an onion or the sweetness of chocolate is in the air— when the static image of a painting or harried movement on a TV screen is seen. Learning abounds in multiple ways.

As time goes by a child identifies and structures the data. One step at a time, a each youngster develops their own methods, their own ways of learning.

Here’s an example. When I was in Grade School no one knew what dyslexia even was. That proves I’m old. But I was dyslexic so I did not do well. By the time I was in High School I had developed my own work around systems. (Slight pause.)

To assist children as they learn adults can offer help, be observers and mentors, as we witness a child’s development. It can be amazing to us how much children assimilate what’s out there and how prodigious the difference is between what a one year old and a fourteen year old absorbs from the environment.

At one point my mother accused me of (quote:) “Not taking time to smell the roses.” Then she realized I was smelling the roses so fast it made her head spin.

By the time we are forty-five— some of us here are older than that, right?— by the time we are forty-five do we stop experiencing the stimuli which surrounds us? No. Have we learned all there is to learn? No— at least I hope not. I certainly have not. Mature folks may be set in how we process the world but we should always find new ways to learn in our quest for understanding. (Slight pause.)

An Episcopal priest friend openly admits she did not become a Christian until after she was ordained for ten years. She says her understanding of Christianity up until that point was merely cultural.

I describe much of what we see in American culture as cultural Christianity. But it’s clearly not Christianity. For centuries the West assumed Christianity was a bedrock of our culture and was learned from the culture. That assumption was never accurate. It was totally false.

An understanding of the Christian faith does not spring forth naturally from any human culture. Given that, I need to stress becoming and being a Christian is learned. It takes time and work to learn what I think is a vital set of assertions and practices.

These are the narratives, music, theology, traditions, the history of the faith. So having someone who is one of the aforementioned observers and mentors, someone who has internalized the competencies, nuances and attendant narratives— music, theology, traditions, history of the faith— having someone like that is invaluable.

This is a reality. Cultural Christianity— what we learn about Christianity from only the culture— is shallow because it lacks requisite knowledge. It’s also naïve to say the forming of Christians has ever been easy, automatic, flawless. After all, it’s said Jesus spent three years with the disciples and they still had a hard time understanding.

This is also a reality. Learning Christianity means discovering a way of life that often defies the culture. An example: the culture says family life is important. For the culture that’s often defined as blood relations and (quote:) “the nuclear family.”

The Christian claim is we are family to one another, made family in Christ, no exceptions. Unlike the secular culture, this Christian family is one from which no one, no individual is excluded or marginalized. Each person is valued. (Slight pause.)

So, what might it be like to learn Christianity as if we were children, as if we knew nothing and needed to take our first steps? I think seeing Christianity as a way of life is the first step on this journey of learning and growth and it is a journey that never ends.

On this journey there is some basic information to be acquired— the history of Israel, Biblical literacy, the history of the church, the ancient creeds. It’s wise to know about the great schism between the Eastern and Western Church in the Eleventh Century, be familiar with how Protestant Revolution of the Sixteenth Century influenced modern thought. All this might help us understand Christianity as a way of life.

In short, unless we Christians have some knowledge of the history, traditions, theology and work of the church universal, how can we, the local church, provide a space in which others might grow? That comes back to can Christians grow without mentors?

Mentors know the bedrock learnings of Christian formation is not found cultural Christianity. So it is helpful to have mentors as a part of the learning process.

For us, in offering the church as a space to learn what is incumbent is that the church provides to the community around us a space to grow and a vision for that growth. I think unless we have prepared ourselves with tools for growth, we, the church, will not be able to offer any vision for growth.

And I think learning and understanding basics can empower us to offer a Christian vision for the aforementioned growth. When First Peter tells us (quote) “Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation….” it’s presenting us with a challenge, a challenge to learn how to be continually faithful, to continually grow.

Any parent knows you must learn to crawl before you learn to walk and one metaphor we have for God is God as parent. As a parent, God would have us grow in all ways and continue to grow until we cannot just walk but run.

So, let us strive to be faithful, strive to be informed by the history and traditions of our faith, be open to acquiring tools for growth, open to growth. We , thereby, can be ready to present a vision for physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual growth both inside these doors and beyond these doors to the world around us. And in terms of our Congregational tradition we also need to understand we are, each of us, called to be mentors. Amen.

Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
05/03/2026

ENDPIECE – It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “Two things: some might say to me, ‘Gee, that list of what you call basic tools, church history, Biblical literacy, all that learning stuff seems really, really daunting.’ No. That’s easy. Being a Christian who has no tools— that’s hard— very, very hard. Next, one Thought for Meditation was from the author Maya Angelou. She also famously said she’s surprised when someone tells her they’re a Christian. Her reaction is, ‘Doesn’t that take a lifetime to accomplish?’”

BENEDICTION: Jesus assures us we will be empowered to do great works. We are, in fact, representatives of Christ, as we share the gifts God has granted us. And may the love of God the creator which is real, the Peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding and the companionship of the Holy Spirit which is ever present, keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge of God and in the care of God this day and forever more. Amen.

04/26/2026 ~ Fourth Sunday of Easter ~ * Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10 ~ EKC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTxrk17aQN8
HARPSWELL TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNZOalTvCN4

The Work of the Church

“They [that is: those who were and those who had become disciples of the Messiah] devoted themselves to the instruction of the apostles, to communal life, to the breaking of bread and prayers.” — Acts 2:42.

There are in the neighborhood of eight billion people on this planet. Roughly a third identify as Christians. About 1.4 Billion of those folks identify as Roman Catholic.

However world-wide, there are more than 45,000 other denominations, many of whom believe they have the clearest read when it comes to the Bible. But let’s take a step back from that diversity and consider only the group we generally call American Mainline Protestant. There certainly is diversity among those historically related groups. But what are the differences? Is it core beliefs?

No. The core beliefs can be stated by paraphrasing Paul’s words. Trust God; Christ lived; Christ died; Christ was raised. That’s the basics, so what are these separations, this diversity, especially in Mainline churches, about? (Slight pause.)

I think the differences can be labeled as sociological separations, not core beliefs. These differences are in some ways tribal attachments.

There are two specific aspects of this tribalism I want to examine, one of which is theologically abhorrent. Like people worship with like people. Or, as the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said the worship hour is still the most segregated hour in America.

King knew this observation was not just about race. It is about a myriad of things from education to income to occupations and more.

A second tribal tendency is about how churches organize, the methods by which churches govern themselves. The Mainline churches use three basic, different systems of government labeled as episcopal, congregational and presbyterian.

Here’s a simple explanation of that. Episcopal systems of government, hierarchal in nature, have bishops. Generally bishops listen to the people but have the final say. Thereby they can tell people what to believe, how to process, proceed, organize.

In congregational systems the people, themselves, accept the responsibility of deciding what to believe, how to process, proceed, organize. Do note: this does not preclude honoring, respecting and cooperating with other churches.

Presbyterian systems are kind of a mix of those two. They elect members to area and then national assemblies. Those then dictate decisions about what to believe, how to process, proceed, organize. A disclaimer: that was a painfully brief description so what I just said deserves a large gain of salt.

Adherents to each system offer theological and biblical reasons for the superiority of their method. It’s probably no surprise I think Congregationalists have it right. Why? I think the congregational system faithfully attempts to follow the great rediscovery of the Protestant Revolution, a basic premise of the early church: justification by faith.

If we are justified by faith, it places a serious responsibility on each of us to be accountable for our behavior, our beliefs. But further— and there are some, perhaps many, do not like to hear this. Those early Protestants insisted personal responsibility does not rest on or end with the individual. No one is an island.

We are accountable to one another, in covenant with each other and God. Each person in a Congregational church needs to be ready to act on behalf of and in unison with the whole. Congregationalism is about individual and mutual responsibility.

I think this is clear: God calls each of us separately and all of us communally to be accountable as we love God and love neighbor together. Hence, if we hand over either our individual or our mutual responsibility to a prelate or some distant assembly, thereby accepting dictums, we abdicate the accountability of the personal and the local communal commitment. (Pause.)

These words are in Luke/Acts in the section known as Acts: “They [that is: those who were and those who had become disciples of the Messiah] devoted themselves to the instruction of the apostles, to communal life, to the breaking of bread and prayers.” (Pause.)

You heard me say this earlier. Luke and Acts are one work, not two. Generally, the Gospel tells us about the work of Jesus. Acts offers a blueprint for the continued work of Jesus, as that work is and needs to be carried out by the church, by us. (Pause.) So, what is the work of the church? (Slight pause.)

Does the work of the church have anything to do with how we govern ourselves, anything to do with the tribes to which we belong, with the kind of programs we offer, the type of music we play, the rituals to which we adhere? No.

The basic work of the church is, I think, illustrated in these few sentences in Acts. We are called on, as individuals and as a people, as a community to grow in our intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual lives.

How? We need to claim ownership of the message authored by the life of Jesus which says trust God, love God, love neighbor. How? The Acts says we are to experience one another through communal acts of fellowship, breaking the bread and prayers. This is first step in and toward personal and communal growth.

But there is more. Fellowship, breaking the bread and prayers— these are meant to empower and facilitate the actions of the church in its outreach to the world, as we go into the world beyond this gathering.

Please notice— fellowship, bread breaking and prayers are not products or goals or programs, not end results. They are experiences we have with each other.

So the basic work of the church is not about an end product nor about how we operate. The first work of the church, the prime work of the church is about the action of our presence to and with one another. (Pause.)

Here’s a very modern illustration. Is the real work the Disney Corporation the selling of Mickey or movies or theme parks? No. They are in the business of trying to help people feel happy.

Is the work of the church programs, buildings, organization or preservation? No. The work of the church is trying to help people grow. It’s about the growth of our intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual lives through communal action.

When a church does this work the people of the church experience personal growth, evolution, development, change. When a church does this work the people of the community in which that church lives experiences growth, evolution, development, change because of the presence of that church. (Slight pause.)

I think the basics are simple: rely on God through the acts of loving God and neighbor. If all Christians just did that there would be no need for 45,000 denominations, no need for tribes, for associating only with other like people. If all Christians practiced the basics, intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual growth, evolution, development and change would abound. Amen.

Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
04/26/2026

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “I think you know I’m a graduate of Bangor Theological Seminary. Among the professors were a Roman Catholic nun, a gay Presbyterian, one of the first women ordained in the United Church of Christ, a lay person who was a member of the Disciples of Christ, a Southern Baptist, an Episcopal priest, a cleric who had dual standing with both the Presbyterians and the United Church of Christ. They all understood they were working together in the vineyard of God, as one in Christ. They all understood there are no real differences. There are just the basics and that thrust God, love God, love neighbor is not about tribalism. It’s about intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual growth.”

BENEDICTION: The time for this service of worship is ended but our service in the name of God continues outside these doors. Therefore, 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.

04/19/2026 ~ Third Sunday of Easter ~ * Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35 ~ EKC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ff_VI4hDg4
HARPSWELL TV VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRRf_zXSerQ

A Long and Winding Road

“They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while Jesus was talking to us on the road, explaining the Scriptures to us?’” — Luke 24:32

When I was a freshman at a parochial High School a World History course was taught by a member of the religious order known as the Christian Brothers. To address the reality of the Roman Empire this teacher placed some of the origins of New Testament into the context of the specific and concurrent era known as The Pax Romana.

He said it’s amazing the Christian Scriptures were even written, since the literacy rate at that time was less than 10%. So these works were likely composed by literate people, probably members of some upper class group. That this was an influential group is one reason the New Testament spread. And it does say something about the context of its origins and the context of the era.

He emphasized we did not know how names of Apostles that were assigned to each Gospel. We did not know how they were assigned. But these attributions were probably made up.

Luke and Acts, he said, were not separate writings but two volumes of the same work, written by the same author or authors at the same time. At some point the Gospel we know as John somehow got stuck between the two.

Being curious, I went home, pulled the Bible off a shelf where I’m sure it had rested untouched for quite some time. I read those two works— Luke and Acts— as if they are one, which they are.

I’ve often said two things about this. First, that event started my life long interest in and study of Scripture. It was also a conversion experience since the church I saw in front of me was not the church I found in Scripture. Hence, it seemed reasonable for me to work for change and I think that is one of a myriad of reasons I stand in this pulpit. (Pause.)

A disclaimer— today a lot of what I will say about Scripture you have heard me say before, perhaps in bits and pieces, but I’ve said it. To start I want to address the chronological composition of the New Testament, what was written when. (Slight pause.)

All the (true) letters of Paul are written before any Gospel since Paul died before any of them were composed. The earliest letter, First Thessalonians, was written about 25 years after the Resurrection. Fourteen letters are attributed to Paul but the Apostle actually wrote only seven of them.

As to the Gospels, despite its position in our Bibles, the second of four, Mark was the first written, and written about the year 70 of the Common Era, 40 years after the Resurrection. Matthew was the next. Most scholars say it comes together around the year 85.

Luke/Acts followed. A consensus says that happened about the year 90 of the Common Era. The year 100 perhaps a little later, John is compiled. That’s at least 70 years after the Resurrection, 45 years after Paul writes.

Paul’s attributed letters and the other works are likely to have been written as the later Gospels are being composed. But some are written as late as the year 120 of the Common Era. Further, the New Testament was largely written in geographical areas far away from where the events described in the Gospels take place. (Slight pause.)

The earliest fragments we have of the New Testament— and it’s just fragments— date to the Second Century. The earliest mostly full copy— the Codex Sinaiticus— dates to the Fourth Century.

There is no question this journey, this development of the New Testament, is a long and winding road. I hope all this reminds us that when we ignore the context of Scripture, the time, the sequence in which it is written and those who wrote it, we may be ignoring the understandings of those who composed it or first heard it or first read it.

When those aspects are willfully ignored what happens is people often try to exclusively place today’s understandings on these readings. That can lead to missing significant meanings which are there, present in the writing. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work called Luke/Acts in the section called Luke: “They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while Jesus was talking to us on the road, explaining the Scriptures to us?’” (Slight pause.)

Please note: since the New Testament did not yet exist, Jesus is explaining the Hebrew Scriptures. So how did the Hebrew Scriptures develop? Here’s a very, very, very short version: The Pentateuch, the Torah, the first five books, are a merging and editing of four older works, woven together in about the Fifth Century Before the Common Era.

Experts can tell some of those words date to a little after the Tenth Century Before the Common Era. The Prophets and the Writings also come together over time, some recorded as early as the Eight Century Before the Common Era, some much later.

The Dead Sea Scrolls date from between the Third and First Centuries Before the Common Era and contain a portion of what we find in the Hebrew Scriptures. But they also contain other documents.

The scrolls predate any physical record of the New Testament but that is not unusual since in the time of Jesus the New Testament didn’t exist. This is clear: this journey, the development of the Hebrew Scriptures is a long and winding road. (Slight pause.)

Well, I hope that was not too much of a long and winding road. It was a very, very, very short version of that road and, as my story indicates, I’ve been exploring this road for better than sixty years. I have not yet finished that exploration. (Slight pause.)

Here’s an obvious statement. In the year 2026 of the Common Era it can be hard to understand something written between 2,000 and 3,000 years ago.

But one thing we do need to understand is this story in Luke, indeed, much of Scripture, is not meant to record history, report facts. So when we read Scripture it’s usually unwise to ask, ‘What are the facts the writing reveals?’ We need to ask, ‘What is the meaning being revealed and what are the feelings being revealed?’

Indeed, the word theology means the science of the study of God. So we need to remember the purpose of Scripture is to explore Who God is. So the Bible, especially the story we heard today is not trying to convey facts. Jesus is not even trying to convince these travelers the Resurrection happened. Jesus is trying reveal the meanings in Scripture, reveal Who God is. So what or rather Who does Jesus explain? (Slight pause.)

You’ve probably heard this old saw: the God of the Old Testament is a vengeful, angry God; the God of the New Testament is a loving God. That is false, false, false, false and false.

Why is it false? Who is this God Jesus discerns in the Hebrew Scriptures? This is a God of covenant, a God of steadfast love. Or as Jesus puts it, the two most important commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures are love God and love neighbor. Jesus is explaining a God Who loves and invites us to love. (Pause.)

What we call The Last Supper was a Passover meal. It is a joyful meal, a celebration of community and of liberation from an oppressor, tyranny, a tyrant. With the breaking of bread, the Road to Emmaus episode provides a bookend to what happened the week before. And if we fail to understand railing against an oppressive state, tyranny, a tyrant, is present in this story we’ve missed that this is a constant theme and some of the context we find in Luke.

And yes, this relationship to Passover provides continuity to and about the God of Israel. This is the One about Whom Jesus speaks to the travelers, God Who celebrates community, liberation, God who knows about freedom— and freedom from an oppressor, freedom from tyranny, freedom from a tyrant, the God of covenant, of steadfast love. This is the God Jesus proclaims.

And when do the travelers truly understand what Jesus has explained? When Jesus breaks the bread which recalls the Passover. So perhaps for us the resurrection is or should be an affirmation of everything cherished by God, God who celebrates community, liberation, covenant, and steadfast love. Amen.

Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
04/19/2026

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is a précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “Two things: most people forget when both the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament were coming together those writing it, compiling it, did not think it was Scripture. They were simply trying to address their own individual experience of God. Next, given my sermon title— A Long and Winding Road— for those disappointed I did not quote Lennon and McCartney please remember the last words of that lyric say (quote:) ‘lead me to your door.’ That’s what Scripture tries to do— lead us to the door, the threshold of the revelation God offers. Then we need to both explore what’s behind the door and be proactive about the covenant promise which instructs us to love God and love neighbor.”

BENEDICTION: Let us serve the world in the name of Christ. Let the love of Christ find expression in 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.

[1] If you listen to/see the video you will hear the pastor left out the word “true” but it is made evident in a later sentence.

03/15/2026 ~ Fourth Sunday in Lent ~ 1 Samuel 16:1-13; Psalm 23; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41 ~ EKC VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sglSJnUlnM
HARPSWELL TV VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0a07jWED18

Outcast?

“As Jesus walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. The disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” — John 9:1-2.

I think that to ask what’s your favorite musical or song or play or movie is to ask a useless question. At the very least ask for a list broad enough to not be confining— ten or twenty of favorite musicals or movies or songs or plays.

While theater is my home, it is my medium, I like movies, especially movie musicals— no surprise there. Certainly among my top twenty is The Wizard of Oz. It might even be on the list of top twenty for everyone here this morning. It is loved. Why is that?

I think there are two basic reasons that movie is loved. I shall address the first reason at length.

Despite its overall sense of fantasy, surrealism, a picture of an unreal world, I think the imaginary found in this Land of Oz that we see in the movie also presents us with a picture of reality, the real world. (Slight pause.)

The real world that we live in and Oz have similarities. They have similarities? Yes and I have personal proof of this, something that happened to me when I was involved in professional theater.

Back in the mid-70s I worked for the Actors’ Fund of America. Word got around theatrical circles that I had a keen sense for estimating the value of memorabilia, putting a price on odd pieces of theater history— determining what old posters, pictures and the like would be worth, especially when connected with a specific famous person. This felt like Oz in part because that reputation was based on just one incident. [1]

The Fund had been given a letter signed by the famous American composer George Gershwin. A decision was made to sell it, get the money. My opinion was this document should go for somewhere between $800 and $1,000, and that’s in 1970s dollars.

However, the board of the Fund had oversight and thought that estimate was inflated, a tad high. It was decided that $250 was appropriate. Well, the document wound up being sold to a dealer in the business of rare autographed documents.

I was present for the transaction with a board member. Since it was being sold to a dealer I asked, “How much do you think you’ll get for this?” (Slight pause.)

The buyer grinned. “Oh, I think somewhere between a one thousand and twelve hundred.” (Slight pause.) The world of professional theater is a small, tight-knit community. My reputation was made and it spread rapidly.

Shortly thereafter, the curator of the Songwriters Hall of Fame asked me to drop by for a cup of coffee. Over some java I was shown a series of documents and asked my opinion about the monetary value of each document in the collection and how much the whole collection might fetch.

There is no doubt about it. I was now in the land of Oz. Why? In the Oz story the straw man needed a brain. So the Wizard goes to a desk, pulls out a scroll and says the straw man is as smart as anyone who has a wall filled with sheepskins. He holds up what looks like a diploma. “This is a credential,” he says, “the only thing you are missing.”

The fact that I had accurately determined the price of the Gershwin letter was my credential. No further certification was needed. It really felt like I was in the land of Oz.

I need to be clear, I’m all for certification. I really do want my physician to have an M.D. I might even want to see that sheepskin hanging on the wall.

But there are times the real world just hands you certification. If, for instance, you fall into a readily identifiable category, easily labeled, you are in that way acceptable. If you are in an acceptable group, your ticket is punched.

If you do not fall into a readily identifiable category or are not easily labeled, in some way you’re unacceptable, your ticket is automatically rejected, denied. The world can be and is sometimes surprisingly surrealistic, just like Oz. (Slight pause.)

I think the second aspect as to why The Wizard of Oz is beloved is it’s a movie about a journey. Many things need to be overcome on the journey— you know— lions and tigers and bears.

And there’s no question about the reality called life. Life is a journey and in the real world lions and tigers and bears abound. The journey in the movie is a metaphor about life’s journey and it’s loved because we realize that. In what may be the pivotal scene which sets up the rest of the movie, Judy Garland sings about that quest.

(Quote): “Somewhere over the rainbow / Way up high / There’s a land that I heard of / Once in a lullaby.” (Slight pause.) If life is a journey, and it is, I believe that adventure does not preclude dreams, nor does it mean dreams can fail to be made real.

Life can be hard sometimes but it does not mean hope is unwarranted nor does it mean hope is shortsighted. I, for one, insist possibilities do abound, even if lions and tigers and bears surround us. (Slight pause.)

I, perhaps personally, deeply identify with the story of Oz because, as many of you know, I grew up on the mean streets of Brooklyn, an inner-city kid. Hope was in short supply. There, in that place, dreams were often destined to be at best difficult to realize, possibilities decidedly limited.

Still, and maybe because of that, I am guilty of a specific crime. I am a dreamer who believes in hope and possibilities. But yet, I know this to be also true: in the real world sometimes dreams are shattered, hope is in short supply, possibilities are limited. (Pause.)

This is what we hear in John: “As Jesus walked along, he saw a man born blind from birth. The disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (Pause.)

Did you notice in the story of the man born blind Jesus is not there for most of it? Did you notice also no one asks the man born blind who it is who has sinned?

Rather, others are invited to bear false witness, to make claims, statements not about themselves, not about their own frailty, but about someone else. They effectively accuse the man born blind of sinning— with no support for the accusation.

Perhaps this illustrates a group dynamic of behavior— sinister— behavior that is sinister— and perhaps all too realistic. If a scapegoat can be found in the midst of a group even though the collective is made up of individuals, somehow and for unjustified reasons, that affords the group an unwarranted sense of arrogance. (Slight pause.) Labels, categories— these are convenient receptacles for prejudice and fear. (Slight pause.)

And of course, once the man has received sight, lions and tigers and bears just abound. The world is a place where struggle happens. Even his own parents effectively say, “This is not our problem, not our fight.” (Slight pause.)

So, in the real world is it wrong to dream? Is hope a mirage? Are possibilities something over which narrowness will always hold sway?

Perhaps we need to ask, “What are the promises of God?” Is God, as the 23rd Psalm suggests, a Shepherd? Is God, as the 23rd Psalm suggests, to be trusted? Is God, as the 23rd Psalm suggests, a God of dreams fulfilled?

Is God, as the 23rd Psalm suggests, a God of hope unbounded? Is God, as the 23rd Psalm suggests, a God who knows that possibilities are real and justified. [2] (Slight pause.)

The story of a man born blind, I think, makes this clear: God does not set up labels, categories. God does not fuel fear. God does not cast out the outcast. God is a God of dreams, possibilities, hope. (Slight pause.)

I want to reiterate my personal testimony. I am a dreamer. I hope. I believe in possibilities. But perhaps most important, as well as I can, I try to trust God.

After all, if God is unfamiliar with dreams, if God is not conversant with hope, if God denies possibilities, then fear wins. If God is unfamiliar with dreams, if God is not conversant with hope, if God denies possibilities, then the promise of the resurrection comes to naught.

And I know that cannot be true, since I count fear as merely a state of self delusion. And I, for one, rest assured in the hope called resurrection. Why? How? The Lord is my Shepherd. Amen.

Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
03/06/2026

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is a précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “Most people don’t know this: Somewhere Over the Rainbow has an introductory verse which was not in the Oz film. These are the words: “When all the world is a hopeless jumble / And the raindrops tumble all around / Heaven opens a magic lane / When all the clouds darken up the skyway / There’s a rainbow highway to be found / Leading from your windowpane / To a place behind the sun / Just a step beyond the rain. Somewhere over the rainbow…” [3] The first words of the verse say, “When all the world is a hopeless jumble…” And yes, there are times it feels that way— the world is a hopeless jumble. But we need to trust God and realize seeing rainbows is not wishful thinking. They can be seen. They are real.”

BENEDICTION: God of the covenant, show us the light of the resurrection. Remain with us and give us hope that, we may rejoice in the gift of Your Holy Spirit Who gives us life. Accept our prayers in the warm embrace of Your compassion. This is what we pray in the Name of Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

[1] In the 70s I worked at the Actors Fund of America. It is now known as the Entertainment Community Fund.

[2] Note: Psalm 23 was one of the assigned lectionary readings for the day and the Congregation recited the King James version of it as one of the two Scripture readings.

[3] For those who do not know the introduction of Somewhere Over the Rainbow these URLs have several verison of the whole song.

TONY BENNETT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqXAmFS8bNs

MANDY PATINKIN:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrcGdIzweu4

ELLA FITZGERALD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc2rTt74Qys&list=RDhc2rTt74Qys&start_radio=1

JUDY GARLAND IN A RARE RADIO RECORDING:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1lbHgdUI_s&list=RDD1lbHgdUI_s&start_radio=1

03/08/2026 ~ Third Sunday in Lent ~ Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42 ~ HARPSWELL TV VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME9nRjc_UKg

Universal Salvation

“At the appointed time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for godless people.” — Romans 5:6.

I suspect most of you know I’m a member of A.S.C.A.P., the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, as a writer of lyrics. I’ve written lyrics for both hymns and secular songs. I’ve also collaborated on three faith based cantatas.

Over time I’ve written lyrics for new music, church and secular— working with three different composers. Over time I’ve written new lyrics for well known hymn tunes.

And so an article in Christianity Today caught my attention as it asked what hymns continue to be used in churches over the course of time? While some think hymns are sacred, akin to Scripture, the article questioned that premise.

It was, if anything, an academic analysis. It studied the data and asked what hymns have survived in hymnals over time?’

Now, I know people complain about changes in the words of hymns. But change is commonplace. Indeed, in the introduction to the 1913 Pilgrim Hymnal the editors stated they changed the words to match their times.

I also need to note the singing of hymns is fairly new in Congregational churches as the practice was not widely accepted until the early 1800s. Up until theb the standard was antiphonal singing of Psalms. (Slight pause.)

As to that aforementioned article, what hymns made the cut in hymnals of Mainline churches across generations and still appear in today’s versions? Here’s the data. In 28 different editions of hymnals in six Mainline Protestant denominations over the course of years there have been 4,905 hymns.

The denominations are the Episcopal Church, with four different editions since 1892; Congregational, five editions since 1897; American Baptist, four editions since 1883; Lutheran, five editions since 1899; Methodist five editions since 1878; Presbyterian, five editions since 1885.

In the course of 148 years a typical hymnal had between 500 and 700 hymns. Generally in each edition, 250 to 350 of the hymns would be older, 250 to 350 newer.

So the process of constant change is old one. While there was an outpouring of new hymns in the Victorian era, they make up less than 20 percent the hymns now in use. (Slight pause.) Well, I’m sure everyone wants to know how many hymns made the cut, survived in all 28 versions of the hymnals and are still there, right? O.K. (Slight pause.)

This is the list of hymns and the years they were written. I will start with the newest one. There is one caveat: by definition, these all predate 1878 so that eliminates a lot of well known hymns written at a later date. And there are only 13 hymns that survived.

The list: Crown Him with Many Crowns, written in 1851; Abide with Me, 1847; Come, Ye Thankful People, Come, 1844; Holy, Holy, Holy!, 1826; In the Cross of Christ I Glory, 1825; How Firm a Foundation, 1787; Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken and All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name, both 1779; Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, 1747; Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah, 1745; Jesus Shall Reign Where E’er the Sun, 1719; When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, 1707; last and the oldest— O Sacred Head, Now Wounded, written sometime in the 12th Century.

Do note: there have been multiple translations from the Latin of the seven verse poem on which O Sacred Head is based. Each verse has ten lines. And all the translations have a different take on what the Latin says. Just for starters, the Latin title of the poem is Salve Mundi Salutare which means Hail, the World’s Redeemer— not O Sacred Hear— nothing like it. So it seems changing words is not new, is it? (Pause.)

Brian Wren, a British hymn writer, came to Bangor Seminary when I was there. In one lecture he picked up a hymnal and banged on the cover (the pastor bangs on a hymnal cover) like that.

Then he said: “We make a big mistake by putting hard covers on hymnals. It makes people think hymns are permanent, eternal, akin to Scripture. They are none of those. Hymns are cups dipped into the flowing stream of artistic interpretation about Scripture, works of art for today meant to help us understand today.” (Slight pause.)

I sometimes say Scripture can be explained with several crucial points. God loves us and wants to covenant with us, wants be in relationship with us. Therefore, without condemnation, God invites us to love God and to love neighbor. That’s not complex, is it?

However, getting to a place of refined Biblical interpretation, gleaning the subtly of meanings from Scripture can be a complex task. Here’s a brief explanation of one part of that task.

When examining Scripture, one must attempt to seek what a passage might have meant to those who first read it or heard it. Hence, you need to know something about the era in which the passage was written, something about the people, their way of life, the economy, the social structure, etc., etc., etc.

Only when you begin to understand in those ways what it might have meant to the folks who first read it, heard it, can you start to discern any meaning for the world today. Now, if you think understanding the world in ancient times is a tall order, the bigger one is understanding the world today.

The ancient world is in the past tense. It is, therefore, somewhat static. Studying the world of ancient times may be imperfect but it can be done.

But the world today is constantly changing. In short, asking about how something from Scripture might apply for us today is the hard part because the world changes around us daily and we often don’t even notice the change.

So we need to strive to understand the society of yesterday and today because we do not want to the prejudices of either yesterday or today to be involved in God’s message. If we can block out the prejudices of society in ancient times and modern times, then we might hear the message God has for us both in our own situation and for the entire human race.

All that brings us back to the words from the work known as Romans (Quote): “At the appointed time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for godless people.” For me, the meaning of this returns to the simplicity of covenant.

This should be clear: if Christ died even for (quote) for “godless people” Christ died for everyone. This is, therefor, a message of inclusiveness. You see, society in ancient times did have prejudices. Society today does have prejudices. My position is we may have prejudices but God does not.

God does not say ‘if a person is imperfect they are unacceptable.’ God does not say ‘people who are right handed will make the cut.’ So if we do like this hymn and we don’t like another hymn, that does not matter to God. God still accepts us. God listens to our hymns, all of them. And yes, hymns are a cup dipped into the flowing stream of artistic interpretation about God.

And yes, no matter who we are, no matter where we are on life’s journey, God accepts us as we are— each of us, all of us. In fact, God accepts us now and forever, for all eternity. This is a basic Biblical message.

I believe Scripture does not present God as a set of stumbling blocks, a set of tests to be conquered. Scripture addresses what it feels like to be loved by God. (Slight pause.)

I referenced this last week. It seems to me we humans spend a lot of time choosing up sides. Indeed, as a musician, as a lyricist, people sometimes ask me what music I like. I think that’s one of the strangest questions I have ever heard since it’s is a question about choosing sides.

The deciding factor for me, especially when it comes to hymns, is the simple one Brian Wren proposed. Music is that cup dipped into the great flowing stream of artistic Biblical interpretation. Music, hymns are meant to be a work of art for today which strive to help us understand Scripture for today.

So, for me, what Scripture says is simple and is for today: God loves everyone, no exceptions. I think the one thing we need to remember in this time of Lent is that with the advent of the Christ Scripture is about our salvation and about universal salvation. Why? The message with the advent of the Christ is simple: God loves everyone. Amen.

Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
03/08/2026

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “Historically hymns are a way people remember theology. There are many hymns which convey very good theology but there are unfortunately even more which convey astoundingly poor theology. So for me as a writer of hymns striving to reflect good theology— that’s a great burden. All of which is to say I do urge you to pay attention to a hymn as it is sung, even if you don’t know it or don’t like it. Ask yourself ‘what is the theology found therein?’ Do I hear theology which I think will withstand the test of time?”

BENEDICTION
Let us rest assured that God is among us and travels with us daily. Let us know that God’s Spirit empowers us to do things in the name of God we did not think possible. Therefore, let us share our love for God with others, confident that God will provide if we are faithful. 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] The article can be found here:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/march/hymnsthatkeepgoing.html