localpastor

10/15/2023 ~ Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost Twenty-eight Sunday in Ordinary Time~ Proper 23 ~ Exodus 32:1-14; Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23; Isaiah 25:1-9; Psalm 23; Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14; NOTE: ADDED PSALM 19.

VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE; NOTE: THERE WERE ISSUES WITH THE SOUND FOR THE FIRST SEVEN MINUTES OF THE VIDEO SO MUSIC HAS BEEN INSERTED OVER THE ACTION INSTEAD OF WHAT HAPPENS IN THAT PORTION OF THE SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/876014361

Prayer

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart / be acceptable to you, / O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.” — Psalm 19:14.

I am of the generation known as ‘Baby Boomers.’ The name, of course, comes from the fact that, after World War II, hundreds of thousands of GIs got discharged from the armed forces, got married and suddenly there were all these children— the ‘Baby Boom.’ At one point this generation totaled seventy-seven million souls and even now sixty-five million of us are still hanging out.

My wife Bonnie’s brother is, literally, among the first of the baby boomers. His parents got married on V.J. day in 1945. He was born nine months and six days later.

I, myself, arrived in 1947. But the point is we were and are a very large group who together moved through childhood, into if not maturity certainly adulthood and then through all the following years, simultaneously (if not together).

When I started Elementary School, you could see the‘Baby Boom’ in action. There were over fifty, nearly sixty students in my First Grade class at parochial school, all crammed into one classroom, shepherded by one nun.

By the time I hit the seventh grade my parents, thinking I needed to be in a smaller group, got me transferred from that parochial school in Brooklyn, New York, to one with a much smaller class size in Manhattan, nearly an hour away from where we lived.

My Dad actually worked near the school to which I transferred, so I would travel to school on the Subway with him. But most of the time I made the return trip alone.

In some ways the best education I got was from silent observation on the trip into Manhattan and back. I saw all kinds of people I had never run into before, from sidewalk venders to panhandlers to buskers— street entertainers.

I remember the first time I saw someone standing on a Subway platform holding up a sign with writing scratched on a piece of cardboard. It said they were homeless and needed money. Rumor to the contrary, homelessness is not new. It was common even rampant during the Great Depression. I saw it in the late 1950s when I was in the Seventh Grade.

To me, that person I saw seemed to be looking out at the world with a blank, hopeless stare. I remember being confused and upset at the sight.

I remember wanting to do something about it, maybe even see if I could give them some money. But I went to school with exact lunch money and three tokens, enough to make a round trip on the Subway and one extra token if needed in case of an emergency.

Being confused, upset and, since I could not help feeling a little helpless, I asked my mother if there was anything I could do if I saw someone who needed help. “Well,” she said, “right now you are not really in a position where you can do anything for them. You need to be a little older to do that. But you can always pray for them.”

That is actually a habit I developed and never relinquished. When I see someone in need and there is nothing I can do, I pray. (Slight pause.)

When Psalm 19 was introduced we heard that the first section praises God, the creation God made and its order. The second section suggests in the Torah this ordering affirmed. Still, what is our part in the creation? Who are we? Where do we belong? I actually think being a part of the so called ‘Baby Boomer’ generation has helped me with this. There are so many of us, I think the silent questions of my generation have been: ‘what is our part in the creation?’ ‘Who are we?’ and ‘Where do we belong?’ (Slight pause.)

I firmly believe some of the meditation my heart has experienced during prayer has grappled with these very questions. And so, in reverse order this is what I say about the questions: ‘Where do we belong?’ We can find where we belong by seeking and walking the paths God shows us, striving to help people as we go.

‘Who are we?’ We are children of God. We are loved by God.

‘What is our part of the creation?’ As I said, we are called to walk in the paths God shows to us. But certainly as the final words of the Psalm suggest, aside from everything else, one segment of our part, our place in life, is to engage in prayer and meditation.

We need to pray for all those around us. We need to pray for all those in need. We need to pray that the justice of God may surround all people.

We need to pray that the words we pray and the thoughts, the meditations of our hearts, are acceptable, pleasing in the sight of God. And it follows that sincere prayer and meditation, in and of itself, means we will seek to ways to act on God’s will.

Still, that leaves us with an obvious question: “how do we pray?” “Are there methods?” The short answer is: yes, we can learn to pray and a prime way is to pray is by praying with others. So what I am about to say is an outline taught by a wide range of folks from Catholics to Pentecostals to Main Line Protestants.

Indeed, I was a member of an Episcopal Church— the last time I looked Episcopalians were considered a Mainline Protestant group— I was a member of an Episcopal Church where members of the laity were trained to pray with other parishioners in the course of worship. This is some what I learned.

First, prayer can be seen as a conversation with God. But we need to let God begin the conversation. So we need to listen to a prayer request from a person who is requesting prayer and then wait in silence as we strive to listen for the voice of God before praying— that’s the hard part.

Second, pray with other people. Don’t pray alone or one on one. When two or three are gathered means two or three are praying with someone requesting prayer. There is no question about this: prayer is mostly meant to be a communal act, not simply the act of an individual.

While clerics often voice prayer, prayer is not meant to be the exclusive act of an intermediary, a pastor or priest, praying in the stead of a community. You are the ones who need to pray. Further, prayer is not meant to be an act of self-indulgence but is meant to be communal.

Those who live in cloisters understand when everyone within and outside the cloister walls voice their prayers, it is the cacophony of everyone’s prayer to which God listens. Even hermits understand prayer is not solitary and know others pray with them.

Third, prayers should be as brief and as clear as possible and always pray for the will of God to be done when voicing a specific prayer request. Also, when praying for someone, with someone, pray facing one another, eye to eye.

When appropriate, only when appropriate and with permission, those who pray together might hold hands or rest a hand on a shoulder. Why? Tactile contact can reinforce both a sense of the other and a sense of togetherness in prayer. (Slight pause.)

Last, prayer has four aspects. They can be represented in the acronym A-C-T-S. They are adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, supplication— A-C-T-S.

That idea is pretty universal. Rabbi Marc Gellman says in the synagogue they teach children four basic prayers, except this is the kid’s version: “‘Gimme!’ ‘Thanks!’ ‘Oops!’ and ‘Wow!’”

“‘Wow!’ are prayers of praise and wonder at the creation. ‘Oops!’ asks for forgiveness. ‘Gimme!’ is a request, a petition. ‘Thanks!’ expresses gratitude.” [1] (Slight pause.)

So, what should life in church look like? Church is a community of faith. A community of faith should look like a community immersed in prayer. (Slight pause.) Amen.

10/15/2023
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: “Sometimes it is said religion is private. That is an inaccurate statement, something our society has made up out of whole cloth, a falsehood. You may believe it; that’s a different issue. It is a falsehood. A lot of people believe all kinds of falsehoods— the earth is flat, for instance. Religion is not private. Religion is personal, but personal is not private. That is also true of prayer. Prayer is personal but it is not private. Prayer needs to be shared. If we, the community of faith, do not pray together, do not pray for each other, do not pray with each other, we lose a dimension of who we are and who we are called to be as believers in the One Triune God.”

BENEDICTION: God can open our minds to what is true. God can fill our lives when we participate in the work of God’s realm, participate in seeking justice and peace and love. When we seek what is pleasing to God we are doing God’s will. And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, help our hearts and minds be one with Christ, Jesus and be kept within the unity of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more. Amen.

[1] NY Times ~ 09/20/2009 ~ The Right Way to Pray? ~ by Zev Chafets.

VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/873372792

10/08/2023 ~ Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Proper 22 ~ Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20; Psalm 19; Isaiah 5:1-7; Psalm 80:7-15; Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-46 ~ Columbus Day Also Known as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, a Holiday Weekend on the Secular Calendar ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/873372792

I Did Everything Right

“I was above reproach when it came to justice based on the Law— blameless.” — Philippians 3:6b.

Who here remembers or has looked at YOUTUBE to catch the early television series known as The Honeymooners? Most of us, right? O.K., we know The Honeymooners. I happen to know the specific New York City neighborhood in which that series was set is the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.

Why do I know that? Jackie Gleason, the star of the show, grew up in that neighborhood and used it as the setting for the show. It was also the neighborhood of my youth until the ripe old age of twelve.

When I was twelve my family moved from that house in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn to a house in Woodhaven, Queens, New York. It was in 1961. My grandparents then my parents had lived in that Bushwick house from September 1929 to January 1961— two generations of us.

Shortly after that move I was home alone in this new house. My mother had gone to a doctor appointment. I don’t know where my brother and sister were. I presume at school. Was I was sick? I don’t know. Sick or not, the point is I was home— alone.

That this was a new house is also a pertinent fact. Mom had to travel 50 minutes by Subway to the old neighborhood for that doctor appointment.

But it’s unlikely I was sick. Why? I decided I would be productive, help my mother, surprise her by cleaning the bathroom, stem to stern— floors, tub, toilet.

And so, I got to work. When the floors, tub and sink were done, I turned my attention to the toilet. For reasons beyond me now, I took the cover off the top of the tank and washed it in the tub.

Once I was satisfied that the cover was clean, I lifted it out of the tub and carried it back toward the toilet. Of course, I was carrying a wet, slippery, heavy piece of porcelain with wet, slippery hands.

My twelve year old brain did not quite grasp that. As I got near the toilet having not quite made it, the rectangular chunk of ceramic slipped from my grasp and as it hit the floor shattered into hundreds of pieces.

When I felt the thing begin to slip I gave up trying to hold on and let go. Therefore, both my hands were now stretched out parallel to the floor, palms facing down to the floor.

There was one oddity about how that tank top shattered. As I said, my palms faced downward. And so a single, large shard of porcelain— it looked like a dagger, about three inches long— bounced up and logged itself dead center in the palm of my left hand.

I distinctly remember looking at it, amazed as it was hanging there, sticking down from my palm, not falling out, just dangling. I did what any self confident twelve year old would do. I pulled the shard out. The wound, of course, began to bleed.

I ran to a closet, got a cloth and pressed it very hard against my palm. Much to my surprise, the bleeding quickly stopped. I think the piece of porcelain really was like a dagger. Had it been jagged, pulling it out would have done more damage. But it was thin, narrow, smooth. So when I extracted it, no additional damage was done.

I knew my mother was at the doctor’s office, so I called her there. Once I got her on the line and explained what had happened. She handed the phone over to Doctor Gabriel Kirshenbaum— the family doctor for two generations.

With a soothing, deep, resonant bass voice, the doctor calmly walked me through what had happened, what I had done in response, then assured me I would be fine. He did promise my mother would be home soon. In fact, he gave her money for a cab so she would not have to take the Subway. (Slight pause.)

It was not until she walked through the door that my emotions exploded. I ran to her. I hugged her. She hugged me. And I cried and I cried and I cried.

“Why,” I asked, “why did this happen? I was trying to be helpful. I trying to do the right thing. I was trying to do everything right.” (Slight pause.)

We hear these words in the Letter commonly called Philippians: “I was above reproach when it came to justice based on the Law— blameless.” (Slight pause.)

Was Paul was riddled with guilt over an inability to live as the law demanded? No. When this passage is examined carefully Paul is claiming a Hebrew heritage, defending it, is clearly and deeply involved in it.

Further, Paul is not renouncing doing things right, not renouncing tradition. So, where’s the guilt? It’s not here, at least I don’t see it.

But that does pose the question ‘why is Paul not riddled with guilt?’ (Slight pause.) I think the answer is also obvious.

Paul explains that lack of guilt with testimony. Paul’s testimony, Paul’s claim, is about an old understanding, a traditional understanding, a Hebrew understanding, of the relationship of God with humanity.

And Paul’s testimony, Paul’s claim, is also about a new understanding, new for Paul at least. The Apostle to the Gentiles says this understanding of a new relationship with God is because of the reality of the Christ.

Why is it significant that Paul has both reclaimed an old understanding and now has a new one? I think what makes this significant is, in a real sense, these two understandings are one.

And that understanding is both simple and seems to constantly escape us: God loves humanity. So yes, based on Paul’s testimony we, humanity, need to strive to do things right. However, and I think this is where Paul is coming from, we need to strive to not simply do things right, as in correctly. We need to strive to do things well.

This is what I mean by doing things well: our doing, our action, is not what’s primary. Our success in any endeavor is not primary. It is the love God has for humanity which is primary and that empowers us. Hence, for us, the place where we need to be is to make faithfulness is primary.

That the love of God comes first is a hard idea for many of us to grasp. After all, we like to be and even want to be in control. But we are not.

On the other hand, these words also present us with a paradox. The paradox stems from an insistence that the heritage of the Hebrews is not to be forsaken.

After all, when it comes to justice based on the Law Paul is blameless. The paradox? If God is the prime mover, if God takes the initiative, how are we to move forward? Are we to ignore the Law?

Paul’s answer is found in this passage. It says Paul was blameless when it came to justice. What I think it therefore says is that true justice, God’s justice is not based on the law. Justice, God’s justice, is not based on rules.

And that is a very hard concept for us to grasp. Let me phrase that in to a way it’s more commonly said. Justice is not based on our works. We are not justified by works. And that very basic idea, that justice is not based on our works, should lead to us to ask ‘what is the basis of God’s justice?’ (Slight pause.)

The basis of God’s justice, this relationship with God, based in faith. Further, that God takes the initiative is a primary tenet of the Hebrew Scriptures.

That God takes the initiative is a primary tenet of the reality of the Christ. And that is the new understanding to which Paul has come: the advent of Christ is pivotal. Christ embodies the love God offers. Christ embodies the justice God offers.

Should we have a response? Yes, we should. But any response on our part pales compared to God’s embrace of humanity, the love of God for humanity.

And that brings me back to 1961 when I found a shard of porcelain hanging out of my hand. Should I have not tried to help my mother?

My answer is the same as Paul’s answer. I should have helped my mother. Be blameless. Help as much as you can.

But perhaps this more to the point: in trying to help my mother I was trying to be about relationship. But sometimes the best laid plans of twelve year old boys do go astray. And yes, there are times our work has no impact on justice.

But as Paul insists, what will never go astray is the love God has for humanity. So what we should never forget is God loves us.

And that, my friends, is Paul’s basic testimony. In the reality of the Christ, the love of God is present to us, now and forever. Amen.

10/08/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “My late Mother always downplayed Mother’s Day. She said, ‘Don’t try to give me a present and be nice to me one day a year and forget to deal with the other 364 days.’ A point well taken. Relationship is constant. Love is constant. The law called love, in fact, needs to be our guideline, our law.”

BENEDICTION: Let us never fear to seek the truth God reveals. Let us live as a resurrection people. Let us understand every day as a new adventure in faith as the Creator draws us into community. 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.

10/01/2023 ~ Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time~ Proper 21 ~ Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16; Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32; Psalm 25:1-9; Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-32 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/871520254

A Plethora of Pachyderms

“…it is God who is at work in you, enabling in you the desire both to do the will of God and to do the work of God.” — Philippians 2:12b-13.

You may have noticed the title of my comments today: A Plethora of Pachyderms— Pachyderms— elephants. To unpack that just a smidge, when we don’t talk about something it’s said, “There’s an elephant in the room.” If there are at least several elephants, I call that a plethora of pachyderms.

So, let me name one elephant, probably often mentioned in church parking lots but not often mentioned inside the walls of our meeting houses. (Slight pause.) Have you heard? The church is dying.

Well, that’s poppycock! The church is not dying. Not even close. If the so-called Dark Ages couldn’t kill the church, it is the height of egocentricity to think we can!

But let me offer an explanation and use numbers. If you told someone who worked on Madison Avenue in advertising ‘the church is dying’ and then named any church in rural Maine as a larger proof of the dying church, the response of that person who works in advertising would be… laughter.

Why? People who work in adverting know demographics. Maine, especially rural Maine, like many other rural areas, is losing population. So, when it comes to numbers, one church, any specific church, is not the issue. Indeed, church growth can often be seen in city areas and in areas called exurbs, areas just outside of suburbs.

So while this next statement is a generality, it is still broadly true: census data tells us two areas, rural areas and suburbs, are losing population. Exurbs and cities are gaining.

Further— and we don’t often pay attention to this statistic— a majority of Main Line churches are in… rural areas— a majority. So yes, there has been a decrease in the Main Line church numbers but you can readily see why just based on where the population of Main Line churches resides this is a truth.

In short, it’s mathematically inaccurate if not mathematically incompetent to separate church population from where churches are located. Indeed, on what locations do leaders tend to concentrate when they are planting churches today? Cities and exurbs. And generally Main Line churches do not put enough effort into planting churches, so that really puts them behind the eight ball.

But let’s set today aside and talk about New Testament times. Why? The New Testament can address another pachyderm, maybe a lot morem roaming around the church. This long-snouted beast also deals with demographics— New Testament demographics.

In antiquity ninety percent of the population of the Mediterranean basin lived in what we would call slavery. Less than five percent of the population was literate.

Now, Jews and Christians were both called “people of the book” in ancient times and today. Also there is some clear Scriptural evidence Jesus could both read and write.

Hence and by definition, two statements can be made. Those who were literate, that group of less than five percent, offered leadership and were deeply involved in Judaism and Christianity. Jesus was likely among those in that less five percent group.

To be clear, I am not coming close to saying anything like ‘all those in that ninety-five percent group who could not read and write were banned from belonging to the ‘people of the book.’ I am quite sure they were included as there is evidence for that also. I am inviting us to focus on the reality of the demographics of ancient times and how they worked and to think about that. The leadership is likely to have been in that five percent.

One more item rarely discussed in the church today about New Testament times is what the economic system looked like back then. Biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan says the economic system found in that era was a system of Domination.

What that means is the ten percent lived off the work and the sweat of the ninety percent. Once we label the economic system in those times as domination, I think it becomes easier to envision and comprehend a population of ninety percent enslaved and ninety-five percent illiterate.

There is another pachyderm from antiquity that needs to be addressed. Once again, it has to do with demographics.

Paul wrote letters to different locations in the Mediterranean Basin— the Church in Thessalonika, the Church in Rome, etc., etc., etc. What did these churches look like? How large were they?

It’s unlikely that any of them had more than fifty people. Why do I say that? We believe those churches met in people’s houses. Even among the elite, very few had a house large enough to hold a meeting of more than fifty. These churches were very small.

Further, scholars tell us that by the year 100 of the Common Era— 70 years after the Resurrection, 36 years after Paul died— the number of Christians in the entire Mediterranean basin was less than 10,000. Christianity was not exactly spreading like wild fire. (Slight pause.)

Walt Disney told us elephants could fly… but I’m not so sure. Well, there’s another long snouted Dumbo flying around these days: when the American Revolution happened most people were Christians.

Well, that depends on definitions. If by Christian we mean church members, it would be hard to prove most people were Christians. You see, in 1776 the percentage of the population who were members of a church, any church, was seventeen percent.

Indeed, this church, a Congregational Church, was founded in 1757. To be clear, in that era, especially in New England, you needed to be a member of a church to even be counted as a citizen. Put differently, if you were not a member, you were not counted. But more to the point, if you were not a citizen you did not count.

All that brings me back to the words from Philippians: “…it is God who is at work in you, enabling in you the desire both to do the will of God and to do the work of God.”

Based on what I’ve said, when Paul wrote these words what do you think that world look like? Would Paul and the disciples of Paul, those to whom Paul addressed those letters have been discouraged? Would they have said their church is dying? (Slight pause.)

That raises up yet another pachyderm. In our era we tend to believe this maxim: “If you build it, they will come.”

The director of a non-profit once said to me that idea may have been true once. But this, he said, is true now: you need to go out there and be there with the people. You need to be with the people you want to reach, stand at their side, talk with them about their lives.

Some of them will come back to whatever edifice you’ve built; some won’t. But it’s not about you. It’s about the place at which the people you meet are in their lives.

If they listen and come back with you, that also is about the place at which they are in their lives. If they don’t listen, that is still about the place at which they are in their lives.

This brings me to the last elephant for today. Work in the vineyard is hard. Work in the vineyard often involves little in immediate results, often involves decades of effort, sometimes more than one lifetime. This can feel very hard because often there is little reward. Which is to say we who are involved in church work need to name that. This is hard work.

Why would I say that? Paul knew that. Paul experienced it. And Paul offered this advice, advice which says we need the help of God to even (quote:) “…desire both to do the will of God and to do the work of God.” And perhaps, just perhaps, the will of God and the work of God means simply being present to people— being present to people. Amen.

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: “I sometimes say I don’t take the Bible literally; I take the Bible seriously. Biblical scholar Nicholas Thomas Wright says this: New Testament times are just like today. Back then everybody believed in God. Very few people took it seriously. Since I suspect you constantly hear me talk about relationships, perhaps at least as part of our hard work, our call, is two fold: take the Bible seriously and take all people seriously.”

BENEDICTION: Redeemer Who sustains us, visit Your people; pour out Your courage upon us, that we may hurry to make welcome all people not only in our concern for others, but by serving them generously and faithfully in Your name. And so let us remember, the grace of God is deeper than our imagination. The strength of Christ is stronger than our need. The communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than our togetherness. O Holy Triune God, guide and sustain us today and in all our tomorrows. Amen.

09/24/2017 ~ 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ (Proper 20) ~ Exodus 16:2-15; Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45; Jonah 3:10-4:11; Psalm 145:1-8 Philippians 1:21-30; Matthew 20:1-16 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/868784126

Bread/ Love

“I have heard the complaining of the people of Israel; say to them, ‘At twilight, in the evening, you will eat meat and in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, I am your God.’” — Exodus 16:12.

I have said this here before so most of you know it. I am a Vietnam veteran. When drafted I was working as a computer operator. I suspect the Army used Army logic in making the following decision. They said, “computer operator… computer operator— that starts with a ‘C.’ What else starts with a ‘C’— oh, yes— cook— let’s make him a cook.”

So after eight weeks of Basic at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, I was shipped off to cook’s school at Fort Lee, Virginia. Cook’s school meant there was some serious training from butchering to baking.

It also meant after only eight weeks I got a promotion. I was now a Specialist Fourth Class. In language more accessible to civilians, that meant I had gone from a lowly Buck Private at the start of Basic to corporal in just sixteen weeks, three grades up.

Shortly thereafter I found myself on a plane to Vietnam. While there I served in two locations, downtown Saigon and Tan Son Nhut Air Base. As those things go these were both relatively safe.

On the other hand, once in each of those locations I was blown out of bed by incoming. I am not looking for any sympathy in saying that. I am merely naming the reality of that war and many wars in the modern era. No place was or is safe.

The Saigon the mess hall at which I worked was a little exclusive. This facility served only field grade officers and above. Again, in language more accessible to civilians, that meant only officers who had attained the rank of Major or above could eat there. We also served civilian personnel of higher ranks from the American Embassy.

It turns out there was real advantage for me in being at that Field Grade officer Mess. Because of the contacts I made I was able to talk one of those high ranking officers into getting me transferred to a computer outfit on Tan Son Nhut Air Base. This computer installation kept track of all the supplies for all the helicopters in country.

Sometime after that transfer I got three days of in country R & R. Again for civilians, R & R is Rest and Relaxation. In-country meant Vung Tau which is about 60 miles southeast of Saigon on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. As part of a helicopter unit I did not worry about transportation to Vung Tau. I just hitched a ride on a chopper.

As it happens that ride was a real adventure. We took off, got some altitude, then the chopper swooped low over the rice patties. The flight crew was trying to draw fire from the Viet Cong and thereby invite them to reveal their position. We would have, in turn, gone after them. Fortunately, we drew no fire. (Slight pause.)

When I got back from Vietnam I did some soul searching. I asked, ‘why had I survived when better than 50,000 of us did not?’

While I thank God every day for my safe return, I do know this about the fact that I did come back. It is totally wrong— not merely inappropriate or incompetent but wrong— to say I survived because God favored me. Why? The implication is God wanted better than 50,000 dead. I don’t think so. (Slight pause.)

We hear these words in the work known as Exodus: “I have heard the complaining of the people of Israel; say to them, ‘At twilight, in the evening, you will eat meat and in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, I am your God.’” (Slight pause.)

The story of the miraculous feeding of the Israelites portrays God as a zealous protector of the people of Israel. Hence, the question the reading poses is simple. Are the actions portrayed meant to be merely about God looking after the welfare of the Hebrew people or is there something else going on?

I want to suggest the miraculous details of the story are not about food. Rather, this story is about a witness to liberation, the freedom Yahweh, God, offers and a witness to the presence of Yahweh, God.

You see, the following words refer to liberation, the freedom offered by God, and they are found in verse 7 (quote:): “…it was Yahweh Who brought you out of Egypt,…” These next words refer to the presence of God and they are found in verse 10 (quote:): “…they looked toward the desert, the wilderness, and there the kabod of God, the glory of Yahweh, appeared in the form of a cloud.”

Let me address that Hebrew word kabod. It is often translated as “glory.” But that’s because there is no equivalent in English. One meaning of the word is the reality of the presence of God. But there is more to kabod than that. Kabod also means a manifestation of God, hence the reference to the cloud.

I need to be clear on this count. Contrary to populist modern concepts, in both the Hebrew Scriptures and in the Christian Scriptures, the work we commonly call the Bible, the presence of God, this kabod, this glory, this manifestation of God, is often seen as an overwhelming and sometimes even a frightening experience. (Slight pause.)

Now, the Fifteenth Verse of the King James translation of this passage says this about the bread like substance found each morning. (Quote:) “When the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, it is manna…” The word “manna”— and that’s where we get that word from— the word “manna” is actually a transliteration of a Hebrew word. But the translation I used and many other translations say (quote:) “When the Israelites saw this, they said to each other, “What is it?”

Why? The word manna means “what is it?” I think the manuscript is purposeful in using this verbal skewing, this word play, and it’s a key to the reading and to the story.

You see, using word play to refer to the flakes— this fine, delicate, powdery, substance, as fine as frost— using word play lets us know to not take the bread and meat pictured too literally. What does this word invite us to ask? It invites us to ask, ‘does God provide?’ Yes, God provides.

And what God provides is this manna— this “what is it?”— and that points us toward a central, vital truth. God provides— God provides liberation, freedom, presence. Therefore, God provides love; God walks with us.

In short, this is not a passage about food. Neither is this a passage about winning or losing. This is a passage about the kabod, about the constant, real presence of God, about the love God offers, about liberation, the freedom God offers, a passage about God who walks with us.

One clear reason I say this passage about the constant presence of God is scholars agree that manna, this “what is it,” does not stop until the Israelites enter Canaan. The manna does not stop for forty years. Therefore, this is about the kabod, the constant, real presence of God, the love God offers, the liberation of God, God who walks with us. (Slight pause.)

Over the course of years I have probably said this on a Sunday morning a couple hundred times. There is another way to present the idea which says this passage is about the kabod, the constant, real presence and love God offers, liberation and freedom of God, God who walks with us.

God loves us and wants to be in covenant with us. God loves us and wants to be in covenant with us. What more is there to say? Amen.

09/24/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

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: “Earlier I stated God did not want 50,000 to die. To discredit God in that way is a justification which says God chooses winners and losers. And people do say winning and losing is up to God. But this claim is not made by Christian theology. It is made by American theology. For example, a baseball player, a football player will say they won because God helps— American theology— someone wins or loses because God wanted it. Christian theology says God loves everyone. Winning and losing is not part of the love for everyone equation, is it? And the love God has for us is a constant, real presence. God walks with everyone.”

BENEDICTION: God surprises us. Let us trust God and give thanks. Let us seek God’s will. And may the blessing of the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Jesus, the one who is the Christ, and the Holy Spirit who broods over the world as a mother hen over chicks, be upon us and remain with us always. 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.

09/17/2023 ~ Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Proper 19 ~ Exodus 14:19-31; Psalm 114 or Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21; Genesis 50:15-21; Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/866812227

Meat and Potatoes

“Welcome those who are weak in faith but do not quarrel or argue with them.” — Romans 14:1a.

I think there are people we meet in life with whom we have an immediate connection. And so it was when I first met the Rev. Dr. Chris Xenakis.

Perhaps the connection happened because we are both veterans and both pastors. Reasons don’t matter. We connected.

Chris has an interesting background. Born into an Eastern Orthodox family, during his late teens Chris shifted to a fundamentalist group but is now a United Church of Christ pastor. Here’s a translation of that shift: it is— pardon this assessment— a shift out of a fringe into the mainline. The interesting background does not end there.

Ordained in 1979, Chris is a retired Navy Chaplain, has two doctorates— a Doctor of Ministry and a Ph.D. in World Politics. I sometimes kid Chris and sometimes say he should be addressed as the Rev. Dr. Dr.

He’s published many articles and just one of his several books has the daunting title World Politics and the American Quest for Super-Villains, Demons, and Bad Guys to Destroy. Chris also published a web article about church that went a little viral— Is Autonomy Turning Ministers and Churchgoers into Turtles?

What are turtles? In Chris’s definition, turtles are those who might hide in their shells, withdraw from interactions with settings beyond the local church— other local non-profits, local churches in other denominations, the local Association, the Denomination.

Chris drew on the work of sociologist Robert Putnam in this article. Putnam says American life, itself, is based on social capital. Social capital refers to networks people need to facilitate cooperation for mutual benefit.

We Americans were not as isolated from one another in the past as we are now, says Putnam. When de Tocqueville visited the United States and wrote Democracy in America in the 1830s, it was our propensity for civic association— our investments in social capital— that impressed him as the key to making American democracy work. A neighbor’s barn burns down? The entire community comes together to help rebuild it.

Social capital encompasses the connections of friends, neighbors, community, institutions and, by its nature, the connections should keep expanding, become more broad. Indeed, life is much easier in a community blessed with substantial, expanding social capital. But Putnam argues social capital is in short supply in America today.

Chris, in turn, took note of people pulling back in many arenas from scouting to clubs like Rotary or Masons. And, if this pulling back trend is happening outside the doors of our churches, we are not immune inside the doors. The end result of pulling back is it reinforces thinking which says only our own autonomy is central.

Hence, churches sometimes treat any ties with local organizations or a denominational associations like they are distant, remote. But is autonomy a healthy response?

Chris quotes Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber who says if you insist there is no need for others it is not about independence, strength, not about wanting to make your own decisions, or even about saying you are strong. Rather, saying there is no need for others is about… fear.

When we allow someone else’s need, she says, we make ourselves vulnerable to betrayal and/or the vulnerability we attribute to appearing as if we are weak. Hence, when insistence on autonomy is the overwhelming factor, it is really fear— fear of vulnerability, fear of looking weak which overcomes us. (Slight pause.)

These are the words find in Romans. “Welcome those who are weak in faith but do not quarrel or argue with them.” (Slight pause.)

In this reading Paul addresses some specific quarrels and articulates a theological framework for dealing with them. Many might recognize the dilemma Paul faces here.

How can quarrels be mediated without destroying the fabric of the community? It is the theological framework for unity, not the fissures Paul really addresses.

Indeed, what is most striking about the response of Paul is there is no attempt to decide any specific issue being raised. To translate it into the modern vernacular, the Apostle says, “You mean meat and potatoes matter? Tell me, who… really… cares? Let’s talk about what’s important!”

To be clear, it is plainly stated no one needs to chastise or limit another’s rights or beliefs. It is however and also, clear the health of the whole community takes precedence over autonomous rights or beliefs.

Paul asserts it this way: we belong to God. God created us and in the Christ-event God claimed us. That relationship takes precedence over all other needs, wants, desires without exception. What matters is the integrity of the relationship with God, not our own specific practices.

This text places the pluralism of Paul’s era and the pluralism of our era firmly within a community context. The entire section of this letter begins with “Welcome those who are weak in faith.” And then the “welcome” is heard again (quote:) “…God has welcomed them.”

What Paul seeks in this passage is not merely the tolerance of diversity. Tolerance means a grudging acceptance of the inevitability of differences. Instead, Paul articulates an active welcome for those with conflicting views and practices.

Paul’s argument is if Christ, through God, welcomes all people, then we must find a way to welcome one another and respect the integrity of one another. But it would be a mistake to take this passage as an endorsement of any and all behavior. Why? Paul insists on the reality of limits in other places in this Epistle. So primarily, Paul is moving us beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law. (Slight pause.)

Debates will always characterize the life of the church, as one or another emphasis comes to the fore. But the debates should not prevent a common understanding of Who God is, a common understanding of the reality of God. The debates should also not prevent a common understanding of who we are and the truth that there is a need for all people to seek the will of God together. (Slight pause.)

My friend the Rev. Dr. Xenakis says we live in a time of tumultuous cultural and technological change and the church is changing, just as American society is changing. And because of our humanity— our humanity — we do not like change. Congregations resist change; pastors resist change, but change is what we are all facing.

Chris says modern American life brings out the turtle in all of us as people pull into their shells, lock themselves in. Chris then quotes the motto of the United States and says perhaps we need more E Pluribus Unum— out of many, one— in our time. He says diversity and community might be exactly what we need to help us survive in the Twenty-First Century— more E Pluribus Unum. [1] (Slight pause.)

In a recent book the Reverend Mary Susan Gast writes there is a mobility, a flexibility, in the treasured concept of covenant. Covenant yields a way of life which is always mobile, flexible, always on the move. God summons us to change and change can be sustained when we move beyond our own comfort zones to faithful obedience.

I think that is where Paul takes us in this passage. Paul takes us from being the turtles Chris addresses, the turtles autonomy can make us into, and leads us toward a path where we can live into freedom, mobility and the flexibility of faithful obedience.

Why would I say that? Paul puts it this way: “whether we live or whether we die, both in life and in death, we belong to Christ.” It is, you see, not about us. It is about community in Christ and the community of Christ. Amen.

09/17/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Today’s sermon title was Meat and Potatoes something of an American icon. Another American icon is autonomy. Can you say Sylvester Stalone as Rambo or Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones? One individual triumphs autonomously— American icons. In this passage Paul is letting us know it is not about meat and potatoes, not about autonomy, not about our icons. It is about the community of Christ— our lives together— that is what the community of Christ is about.”

BENEDICTION: We have observed this day to honor God, who promises to be with us as we go. We do not live or die to ourselves for Christ has claimed us. Hence, we are taught to value every person. And may the peace of Christ, which surpasses our understanding, keep our hearts and minds in the love, knowledge and companionship of the Holy Spirit this day and forevermore. Amen.

[1] https://carducc.wordpress.com/2017/08/14/is-autonomy-turning-ucc-authorized-ministers-and-churchgoers/

09/10/2023 ~ Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost~ Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Proper 18 ~ Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 149; Ezekiel 33:7-11; Psalm 119:33-40; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/864386648

Pesach

“This is how you are to eat the animal: your loins girded, your belt buckled, your sandals on your feet, and a staff in your hand; you shall eat it hurriedly, in haste. It is the Passover of Yahweh.” — Exodus 12:11.

John Adams, a driving intellectual force in the struggle for freedom, signed the Declaration of Independence and was the second President of the United States. In a letter to his wife, Abigail, dated July the Third, 1776, Adams also proved to be a predictor of the future, a prognosticator, by writing the following.

(Quote:) “The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable… in the history of America.” Adams was not wrong about the date. The actual vote for independence happened on the second but the Declaration was ratified on the fourth, hence the discrepancy.

Adams continued, “I am apt to believe it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as a great festival…. commemorated as the day of deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to God, Almighty…. solemnized with pomp, parade, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other….” [1]

So it is solemnized in those ways but on the Fourth, not the Second. Also please note the other prediction contained in these words. “…from one end of the continent to the other.” When Adams wrote, the thirteen states were only on the east coast.

Independence is celebrated with many and various rituals as noted. But any celebration with ritual defines a challenge. How is the idea of independence actually tied to our rituals? Do these oft repeated rituals help us understand independence?

After all, I am sure we can all agree true independence, real independence, is not about ritual. So what is true independence, real independence? (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work known as Exodus: “This is how you are to eat the animal: your loins girded, your belt buckled, your sandals on your feet, and a staff in your hand; you shall eat it hurriedly, in haste. It is the Passover of Yahweh.” (Slight pause.)

We Congregationalists tend to think churches with a “high church” style of liturgy— Episcopalians, Lutherans— employ ritual. But the fact is we have ritual. Just the weekly ringing of the bell before the service and a coffee hour after it constitute ritual. A mentor once said to me a Congregational service is a hymn and sermon sandwich. But even that is still ritual.

And you may have noticed the sermon title with a peculiar word— Pesach. Pesach is a transliteration from Hebrew for the word “Passover”— a celebration riddled with ritual.

The reading concentrates on the procedures followed by the Israelites when the first Passover happened, the origin story of the rituals. At the end of today’s passage, we hear (quote:) “…all the following generations shall observe this forever as a feast day.”

And so year after year for 3,000 plus years Passover has been commemorated with ritual. If you have ever been to a Seder, the ritual of the Feast of Passover, you know the ceremony consists of a ritual meal. For those of you who have never been to a Seder, the ritual meal consists of a solemn retelling of the happenings recorded in Scripture concerning the Exodus event.

In the course of the ceremony an explanation of the events is recited. The illustrations in the ritual range from eating a bit of bitter herb such as horseradish which signifies the bitterness of the enslavement experienced by the Hebrew people to the repeating and a listing of the plagues endured by the Egyptians.

It is remembered the Israelites left in haste so there was no time for bread dough to rise. Hence, matzah, the unleavened flatbread is consumed. There is much more to this ritual but the point is that it’s ritual.

When done in an appropriate way, the Seder ceremony helps people examine the Exodus event. But this ritual can be rendered meaningless unless a participant in a Seder comes away with an understanding of the depth of meaning contained in the ritual.

Participants need to engage not just in the narrative of what happened but also to engage in what the ritual represents. Therefore, the ritual, itself, is not the point of the Seder. The meanings behind the ritual are the point. (Slight pause.)

Well, before we get to any of the meanings behind the ritual, let me raise another issue. Perhaps because of movies which dramatized the Exodus event, the Charlton Heston effect, we tend to think in terms of hundreds of thousands of Israelites fleeing captivity in Egypt.

But most Biblical scholars say multitudes are a figment of our collective imagination. If a real Exodus event happened— and there is some clear evidence an Exodus event did happen in some form— at most several thousand people participated.

Those numbers should push us to ask, since so few fled Egypt, why has this ritual been repeated for 3,000 years? Is the meaning of the ritual so significant it insists on being practiced? And if so, what does this Seder ritual really mean? (Slight pause.)

The ritual of the Seder, of Passover, remembers the liberation of Israelites by God from slavery. Hence, Passover is not about the Exodus event, itself. Rather, Passover is about liberation— liberation of all kinds— offered by God. And that the Exodus is about liberation is a message clearly conveyed by the Seder ritual.

Further, the Biblical scholars say the Exodus event is the most important episode of the Hebrew Scriptures because the Exodus is the singular, the central sign of the covenant of God. You see and as I just suggested, the Exodus event is about the liberation of all kinds— about freedom, deliverance, equity, the saving action, the redeeming, forgiving grace God offers. All that is what the covenant is about.

So, the ritual is not in place to remind people about what happened. We know what happened. The ritual is in place to remind people about liberation, freedom, deliverance, equity, the saving action, the redeeming, forgiving grace God offers.

Therefore, what does the covenant of God mean? The covenant of God means God offers us, us, liberation, freedom, deliverance, equity, saving action, redeeming, forgiving grace. That’s what the covenant of God is about. (Slight pause.)

This brings me back to one Mr. John Adams, July Fourth and the words of the Declaration of Independence. I have said this here before. Many see the words about being created equal and unalienable rights as the most important part of the Declaration.

But words toward the end of the document state the signers rely on the protection of Divine Providence and mutually pledge to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Pledging to each other their lives, fortunes and sacred honor— that, my friends, means these people understood covenant when it comes to the assembly.

The words do clearly say “Divine Providence.” Adams, good Congregationalist that he was, would have known and acknowledged that.

This brings me to us, to the church. We, the church, should not be simply about ritual, doing the same thing over and over without asking ‘why are we doing that?’

We, the church, need to be about being in covenant with God and each another. If we do that, remain in covenant with God and each other, we will be empowered to be mindful of God and fearless when it comes to the mission to which God calls is.

I might add the mission to which God calls us is something which constantly changes. Why? We are in covenant with one another and we change because we grow.

Indeed, in the passage from the Gospel reading Jesus says “where two or three are gathered….” The collectiveness of that, the mutual covenant, is the message we really need to hear in those words.

Why? Covenant with each other by definition demands both independence and interdependence. And to reiterate, we, ourselves, constantly change and yet we should strive, need to strive to remain within the covenant call to us from God. Amen.

09/10/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

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: “I think today when most folks consider covenant they say something like— ‘Covenant— well, that’s just between me and God.’ But that is not what Scripture says. Scripture says the covenant with God is worked out and acted out with each other. If our rituals do not remind us that we need to be in covenant with God and each other, something which demands change in us, then either we are doing it wrong or we need different rituals. And as I said, perhaps real independence is not just being independent but it also means being interdependent.”

BENEDICTION: Let us go forth in the Spirit of Christ. Let us seek the will of God. Let us put aside ambition and conceit for the greater good. Let us serve in joyous obedience. (Slight pause.) And hear this prayer of Melanesian Islanders: May Jesus be the canoe that holds us up in the sea of life. May Jesus be the rudder that keeps us on a straight course. May Jesus be the outrigger that supports us in times of trial. May the Spirit of Jesus be our sail that carries us through each day. Amen.

[1] Note: I’ve modernized the punctuation and spellings.
https://www.masshist.org/digitaladams/archive/doc?id=L17760703jasecond

08/27/2023 ~ Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Proper 16 ~ Exodus 1:8-2:10; Psalm 124; Isaiah 51:1-6; Psalm 138; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20 ~ NO VIDEO THIS WEEK.

Mythology and Theology

The Apostle to the Gentiles says this in the work known as Romans: “…be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you may discern, that you may judge what the will of God is— that which is good and acceptable and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:2) And the writer of Matthew pictures Jesus as asking this question: “What do people say about who the Chosen One is?” (Matthew 16:13)

Those who study popular culture will tell you the finances of the industry commonly called Hollywood totally changed in 1975 with the invention of the Summer blockbuster movie. That first one was Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg.

I was reminded of Jaws because I follow what’s happening on Broadway. You see, a play with the title The Shark Is Broken just opened and it pictures the cast of Jaws, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and Roy Scheider, talking to one another while waiting for the less than cooperative mechanical shark to be fixed. The part of Robert Shaw is played by his son Ian, who also co-wrote the play and is a dead ringer for his Dad.

Two years after Jaws made monetary history, Star Wars, directed by Spielberg’s friend George Lucas, burst on the scene and became the new money making record holder. People point to reasons for the success of these films as being everything from the direction to special effects to likeable actors. I’m not sure a shark is very likeable.

I think the real reason these films were successful is they went back to a very old fashioned way of telling a story. Both Spielberg and Lucas freely admit they use this old fashioned method commonly called myth.

Now, a myth is not a lie. But the details of any myth are not about engaging reality either. Rather, a myth tells a story in an effort to engage large truths, big ideas. Indeed, a myth is not meant to relate mere facts but is meant to expresses deep truth— the kind of truth which sometimes hides behind facts, often a bigger truth than the mere facts can represent.

The opening words of Star Wars effectively insist the story we are about to see is fabricated. (Quote:) “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away….” That says this is fiction. But it’s the final words in that introduction, words to which we might not even pay attention, which tell us what the myth we will see is actually about.

It says the mission of Princess Leia is to (quote:) “…restore freedom to the galaxy…” That is the big idea Star Wars conveys: restore freedom.

Big ideas can be described only with the kind of story we call myth. That leads to something important about mythological story telling we need to understand and remember. When it comes to the stories we call myths this is a question the stories, themselves, never ask: “Did the story happen?” ‘Did it happen?’ is a moot point.

Please note: in saying “Did the story happen?” is moot I am not denying the story happened nor that the details happened nor that the facts happened. Neither am I affirming that the story, details or facts happened. I am saying the story, itself, insists the details and facts of the story are not the point.

Why? When it comes to myth, the only valid question to ask is this: “What does the story mean?” Star Wars is not about Light Sabers or Wookiees, even though these are fun things, fun details. Star Wars is about restoring freedom. (Slight pause.)

The Apostle to the Gentiles says this in the work known as Romans: “…be transformed by the renewal of your minds, so that you may discern, that you may judge what the will of God is— that which is good and acceptable and pleasing and perfect.” And the writer of Matthew pictures Jesus as asking this question: “What do people say about who the Chosen One is?” (Slight pause.)

I have said this here before. Biblical scholars offer a timetable for when the writings of the New Testament developed. The Resurrection of Jesus happened about what we call the year 30 of the Common Era.

The true letters of Paul— fourteen letters are attributed to Paul but the Apostle only wrote seven— the true letters of Paul are written before any Gospel. The earliest work of Paul, First Thessalonians, is likely to have been written around the year 51 of the Common Era, about 21 years after the Resurrection.

Paul did not write after the year 64 of the Common Era since we are fairly confident that’s when Paul died. As to the Gospels, scholars say Mark was written first and is unlikely to have been recorded much before the year 70 of the Common Era, 40 years after the Resurrection. Matthew is often dated to the year 85 of the Common Era.

Luke and Acts, written at the same time by the same author or authors, is said to be written about the year 90 of the Common Era. John is usually dated as being written around the year 100, 70 years after the Resurrection, 36 years after Paul is done writing. Paul, that first writer, gives us very little in terms of story and is largely theology. But not an organized theology. These are sporadic writings responding to questions with specific guidance about specific things going on in specific communities, mostly places Paul had visited. This makes for some haphazardness in Paul’s theological writings.

We also need to realize and understand something very important about what we call the New Testament. Those who first heard or read the Epistles and the Gospels did not identify them as Scripture.

For them Scripture was what we, today, call the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures. The church designates what we call the New Testament as Scripture only a couple hundred years after New Testament times. So what we call the New Testament is not Scripture for several hundred years into the history of the church. (Slight pause.)

Well, that was a bunch of facts. Why are they all important, vital? I think these facts are vital because the first thing that gets written in the New Testament is not story. It’s theology.

Then, when the followers of Jesus do turn to relating story, they do something very important. They delve into myth. So let me say this again: myth addresses a bigger truth, a deeper truth than mere facts can represent. And what is the truth the Gospels address?

The Gospels all tell us God is with us. The Gospels all tell us God walks among us. The Gospels all tell us God is present to us.

Let me elaborate on that in just one way. In the modern myth called Star Wars it’s clear the name Luke Skywalker is a mythological name— a name that tells us something.

In the Gospels Jesus is given two names. One is Emmanuel, which means God is with us. The other name is Jesus. Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua— Yehôshúa in the Hebrew. And that name means God saves.

So the two names of the Christ in the Gospels mean ‘God is with us’ and ‘God saves.’ Just these names tell us something. The names tell us is Jesus is the Chosen One, the Christ, the Messiah. And Peter is pictured as naming that deep truth, that big idea.

There is one more important fact to consider here. It concerns those who first heard or read the words of the Gospels. If you asked them if the details in the Gospels were true they would not have understood the question.

Why? They understood the point of the Gospels was not to concentrate on factual detail. They understood the point of the Gospels is to declare large truth, a big idea, deep truth. And those who first heard or read these words were much more concerned with large truth, the big idea, deep truth than factual details.

And the large truth, the big idea, the deep truth being addressed is simple: God is with us; God walks among us; God is present to us since Jesus is the Messiah, the Chosen One, the living Christ. And that is not the kind of myth we would label as a lie. That is the kind of myth which reveals a deep, world changing truth. Jesus is the Christ. Amen.

08/27/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

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: “At the start of the service you heard a quote from N. T. Wright which said for early Christians the key question was ‘is Jesus the Messiah?’ If Jesus was the Messiah then the Dominion of God had been decisively launched. So perhaps the big idea for us, the idea with which the Gospels invite us to grapple, is this: if we are now living in the time of that Dominion what can we do to further the work of the Dominion of God in our time?”

BENEDICTION: This service of worship is over but our service in the name of God continues outside these doors. May we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe God that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.

08/20/2023 ~ Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Proper 15 ~ Genesis 45:1-15; Psalm 133; Isaiah 56:1, 6-8; Psalm 67; Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/857620507

Brokenness and Wholeness

“…Jesus… said, ‘Listen, hear and understand: it is not what enters the mouth that defiles a person; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.’” — Matthew 15:10-11.

I want to start my comments by offering a little family history, what happened in my family, to my family structure, when I was a child. (Slight pause.) Way back when I was about five years old, in 19xx (the pastor puts hand to mouth and mumbles), my father had what was called in the parlance of those days a nervous break down.

Today we would have recognized this episode as the onset of the mental illness known as Passive Dependency or Passive Aggression. One of the consequences of this is at an early age, perhaps because I was eldest son I, effectively, became a leader in our family unit.

Once I was in my late twenties I spent some time in therapy exploring what had happened to me at that tender age and how it affected me. For me a basic meaning of the fact that this happened when I was at that early age, is I started to think like an adult even though I was very young. But the real lesson I took away from therapy is no matter how my relationship with my father and my mother had an affect on me, I was in control of my own life.

Indeed, it is sometimes said we Americans tend to blame everything that’s wrong on our parents. But, therefore, one consequence of placing blame in that way can be it seems like and it feels like we want to take very little self responsibility, personal responsibility for who we are, for what we become.

I think someone who seeks to find locations for blame— one’s parents or some other relational situation— is often simply looking for an excuse. At some point one’s life and one’s behavior belong to that person, that individual. That individual has to do the work of confronting the problem.

I need to be clear I am not dismissing the idea that each of us needs help. As I just indicated I, myself, sought out help. Neither am I dismissing the reality of trauma beyond our own control and the sometimes irrevocable damage that can cause. What I am addressing is the idea that there can be a very human, very real and sometimes even convoluted effort to avoid responsibility when an opposite course of action is both necessary and needed.

I find this an interesting example out of my musical theater background: in the musical Into the Woods James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim combine and retell several fairly tales. In one of the stories, Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk has climbed to the sky where the big, tall, terrible giants of that fable live. The plot pivots on the fact that in turn a giant climbs down said beanstalk and reeks havoc in the land.

At that point, with destruction all around them, the characters turn on one another. They try to assign blame on each other for inviting and inciting the destruction the giant has wrought.

They sing these words at one another: See, It’s Your Fault; Yes, It’s Your Fault. In short, by accusing someone else, by avoiding their own part in what has happened, each individual attempts to avoid dealing the real problem.

In this case what’s happening is not just an individual problem but is everyone’s mutual problem. And that problem is staring them in the face: a giant is spreading devastation. Moral of the story: stop the blame game; get to work! (Slight pause.)

I think one of the reasons I have had a modicum of success in my adult life is I worked hard to get over the blame game. I realized it was up to me to be who I am and to be what I want to be. Instead of finding blame by wallowing in my past I saw what happened to me as an opportunity to move forward. I used my history in a positive way.

Another family story: my wife Bonnie and I got married relatively late as those things go and did not have children. As sometimes happens when a couple has no children, we tend to treat our nieces with great affection. Our niece Phoebe, a doctor who lives in San Diego, is special.

Phoebe grew up on Deer Isle, Maine. So in one sense winding up as a doctor in San Diego is quite a leap. The only down side of her living in San Diego is we do not get to see her often enough.

Phoebe’s personal history has an interesting piece to it. Very early on, when she was about five— does that sound familiar?— , Phoebe exhibited a specific trait. Phoebe was stubborn. Some say she was born stubborn.

I do not know if that’s true. But I do know Phoebe was stubborn because the family legend says at that point she got into a match of wills with her Mom.

There was something on her plate at supper she simply would not eat— some vegetable she did not find palatable. Phoebe’s Mom demanded she sit there until she ate it. The second part of the family legend says this serving of vegetable is still sitting on that plate to this very day.

Now, a minute ago I said Phoebe is a doctor. I want to suggest being stubborn is exactly what empowered Phoebe to become a doctor. About the time she was going from grade school to high school she knew she wanted to be a doctor.

And she was stubborn about that. No one was going to prevent her from becoming a doctor. And now she is a doctor.

To be clear, being stubborn is not often a pleasant trait. On the other hand, when I say Phoebe was stubborn I do not mean she is unpleasant. She is wonderful. I have seen notes of praise about her work from both her colleagues and her patients. What Phoebe understood is she could use her stubborn streak in a very, very positive way. (Slight pause.)

These are words in the work known as Matthew: “…Jesus… said, ‘Listen, hear and understand: it is not what enters the mouth that defiles a person; it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a person.’” (Slight pause.)

When this reading was introduced it was said we hear two stories back to back in these words. One story concerns what brokenness really is. The second story seeks to help us understand faith makes us whole.

My take is the traits of both brokenness and wholeness together found here are a very complete picture of we humans, humanity, and a very complete picture of the relationship we humans, humanity, have with God. So, when it comes to our humanness, let’s start at the beginning. This is a given: no one is perfect. If you think you are you’re dismissed.

And it seems to me many people pursue the aforementioned blame game, blaming others, because of their own shortcomings. And it seems to me many people, in fact, want to blame not just their parents but any other convenient target for their own short comings. And that is what (quote:) “…comes out of the mouth…,” isn’t it? That stuff that defiles. (Slight pause.)

That brings me to the topic of the journey with God, our journey with God through life. I am convinced our journey with God is what life is about. But this journey with God is not about just our individual journey. We are, all of us, together on a journey with God, together.

And, to reiterate, no one, not one of us, is perfect. Despite imperfection on our individual journey with God our task is to work on our relationship with God. And in our mutual journeys together with one another, our task is to work on our relationship with each other and with God. Now, a different name for that relationship, those relationships with God and one another, is what I call the journey of seeking faith.

Do we have faith in God? Do we trust God? It seems to me those who spew the evil Jesus addresses in the first story, those who speak evil, do not have faith in God, do not trust God. And so what (quote:) “…comes out of the mouth… defiles…”

It also seems to me that the Canaanite woman displays an amazing degree of faith in God. Because of that faith she understands God will not abandon her. And perhaps that is key: understanding no matter what, God will not abandon us. (Slight pause.)

There are some who say these two stories, as they appear in the work known as Matthew one after the other, have no relationship at all. Obviously I disagree.

As suggested earlier, one story concerns what brokenness is really about. The second seeks to help us understand faith makes us whole. And faith does not just make us whole. Faith repairs us, restores us to wholeness— our brokenness, our wholeness— all pieces of our human frailty.

And how does faith make us whole? Faith empowers us to see our life with God, our relationship with God is real, can be empowering. Our faith empowers us to live our life in the fullest way possible. Amen.

Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
08/20/2023

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: “Earlier I said we humans are not perfect. The Preamble of the Constitution of these United States presents us an interesting oxymoron. And the founders were not stupid. They certainly knew it was an oxymoron. The preamble says the intent of the document was to (quote:) “…form a more perfect Union”— more perfect— a contradiction. If you are perfect how can you be more perfect? I say every day we humans need to strive to be more perfect and perhaps one way to traverse that path is to every day strive to deepen our relationship with God.”

BENEDICTION: We are commissioned by God to carry the peace of God into the world. Our words and our deeds will be used by God, for we become messengers of the Word of God in our actions. Let us recognize that the transforming power of God 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.

08/13/2023 ~ Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost ~ Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Proper 14 ~ Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28; Psalm 105: 1-6, 16-22, 45b; 1 Kings 19:9-18; Psalm 85:8-13; Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/854682885

The Sounds of Silence

“…after the fire there was a sound of sheer silence.” — 1 Kings 19:11b-12.

Actor Sir Richard Attenborough is probably best known for playing the part of the off-kilter Billionaire in the film Jurassic Park. But he also directed Gandhi, a film about one of a great civil rights leaders of the 20th Century, a film which won eight academy awards including Best Picture and Best Director. So he’s an even better director than an actor.

Mohandas Gandhi is sometimes known by the honorific Mahatma. Mahatma means Great Spirit. Gandhi’s methods of non-violent protest were adopted around the world and led to advances for the rights of many people in many nations.

The makers of that film, Gandhi, were clear about the limitations of the project. The introduction to the published screenplay says (quote): “No one’s life can be encompassed in one telling. There is no way to give each year its allotted weight, include each event, each person who helped to shape a lifetime. What can be done is to be faithful in spirit to the record and to try to find one’s way to the heart of the person…”

In an effort to frame the film in such a way as to help audiences understand Gandhi’s life, to give it context, the film both opens and closes with an image of violence: the assassination of Gandhi. The film, indeed, contains a lot of violence.

When asked why a film which is unquestionably about non-violence might contain so much violence Attenborough said a paradox of making this film was you can’t portray non-violence without addressing violence, showing violent acts. The contrast is essential. (Slight pause.)

To a certain extent, I find myself in the same place as Attenborough. I want to talk about silence. So I need to talk about sound, even noise.

Of this I am convinced: as humans we are, both by nature and by the nurturing Spirit of God, called to communicate. Many of us do that in more than one way. But certainly one way many communicate is through sound.

Indeed, since I am a song writer people sometimes ask me what my favorite type of music is. The question always puzzles me. You see, as a song writer, or perhaps because I am a song writer, I say music is simply organized sound.

So for me the more pertinent question needs to be ‘how is this sound we’re talking about organized?’ Is it organized in a way which can communicate something not necessarily just to or only to me but can it communicate something to someone, anyone?’

Asking that leaves me open to being able to appreciate multiple types of music, even if I do not fully understand or even like the types or styles of music to which I’m listening. It also opens the possibility that communication in a broad sense is central, rather than relying on my own relatively narrow vision.

Julian Treasure is a musician, an author and consultant. He works with services like Muzak and advises businesses on how to use sound. He says each of us comes to the table with filters. Our filters block communication.

Among the filters are culture, language, values, beliefs, attitudes, expectations, intentions. And both those who are trying to communicate and those with whom they are trying to communicate come to the table with filters, judgments or perhaps better put: pre-judgements.

That, I think, brings me to the key point about sound: sound is not about noise. Sound, or at least understanding sound, is about listening carefully while trying to cancel out our prejudicial filters.

And when it comes to what we hear, studies tell us we actually listen not 100% of the time but just 60% of the time and we retain about 25% of what we hear. And we retain that 25% only when we concentrate really, really hard on just listening, not making sound— just listening. (Slight pause.)

These words are from the work known as First Kings: “…after the fire there was a sound of sheer… silence.” (Slight pause.)

Throughout Scripture God speaks to people. That poses a question: does God still talk with us, speak with us? (Slight pause.) Is it possible to know when or if God communicates, speaks, especially if we retain only 25% of what we hear even when we concentrate and when it’s just another person speaking to us?

Indeed, Paul Simon might have nailed this issue in a song. Does it not often seem that in our era we have (quote): “People hearing without listening”? (Slight pause.)

So let’s ask these questions: if God does speak, through whom and how does God speak? And are we listening?

And what does listening mean? Mark Twain said (quote): “The right word may be effective, but no word is ever as effective as a well-timed… pause.” (Slight pause.)

Tom Rasely is a composer with whom I work. Tom says he is very aware of pauses, silences. In music you can have a series of notes, sounds, interrupted by what are referred to as ‘rests.’ Rests are silences that give a musician and the listener time to pause and reflect, time to consider, time to prepare for what will happen next.

In short, sometimes what you don’t play as a musician can make what you do play sound better. But still, silence can be unsettling to most of us. When we hear nothing, especially for long periods of time. Indeed, it can be quite unnerving. (Long pause— about 35 seconds.) See? We Protestants like noisy services.

Today we also heard from Peter in a boat on the lake, Peter who really, really listened when Christ said “Come” and did. So what was Peter’s problem?

Why did Peter start to sink? Did Peter stop listening? Or was Peter simply distracted by noise, the noise of the wind? (Quote): “Peter noticed how strong the wind was, became frightened and, beginning to sink,…” (Slight pause.)

I want to suggest Peter was doing just fine until the noise of the wind, a noise other than the voice of Jesus got in the way. It was not that Peter stopped hearing. The voice of Jesus was still there. Peter stopped trusting.

Was Peter distracted? Probably. Here’s what I think: trust helps us concentrate really, really hard on what’s really, really important.

Therefore, I do want to suggest God does speak in the silence. And God also does speak with a cacophony of many voices and in a cacophony of multiple voices. And the voice of God is there, present, even among clattering, chattering, distracting voices and noises.

So, how does God speak? God speaks with the voices of the loving spirits of those around, the members of the community of faith, this community of faith.

So yes, God does speak clearly and God does clearly speak. This happens especially when we trust God. That leaves us with a simple question: where and when does God not speak? (Slight pause.)

God does not speak in or through the noise of injustice. God does not speak in or through the noise of violence. If the noise we hear is not fair and beneficial to all, if the noise we hear is the violence of oppression— economic, physical or cultural oppression— or the violence which sets people apart as being different, strange, unacceptable— that is the sound, that is the noise of injustice. When we see or hear the sound, the noise of injustice, we know God is not speaking.

So it seems to me our job, our goal is to listen for God because God does speak. And in order to hear God speak, I think we need to concentrate really, really hard. (Slight pause.)

In many ways what Gandhi did is filter out the noise of injustice and the noise of violence. And I believe the best way to filter out the noise of injustice and the noise of violence is to trust God.

So yes, I believe God speaks. But that leaves a final question: do we trust God to the point where we listen hard enough to filter out the noise of violence and the noise of injustice and really hear both that God does speak and what God is saying. Indeed, can we hear what God says even and especially when God speaks in the silence? Amen.

08/13/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “The last words of Paul Simon’s The Sounds of Silence are these (quote): ‘The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls— And tenement halls— And whispered in the sounds of silence.’ Paul Simon is Jewish and I don’t know if he is a Hebrew scholar. But what we translate in this passage we heard as ‘sheer silence’ can also be translated as whispered silence. Whispered in the sounds of silence— Paul Simon’s words. Indeed, Elijah hears whispered silence and listens for the voice of God. The bottom line: listening for God is, I think, the key.”

BENEDICTION: We are called to care in a world which can be uncaring, commissioned as lovers among some who may offer back indifference. Know this: God is with us in all our days. So, let us go forth knowing that the grace of God is deeper than our imagination, the strength of Christ is stronger than our need and the communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than all our togetherness. May God guide and sustain us today and in all our tomorrows. Amen.

08/06/2023 ~ Tenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Proper 13 ~ Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 17:1-7, 15; Isaiah 55:1-5; Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21; Romans 9:1-5l; Matthew 14:13-21 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/853079119

Wrestling with God

“…the other answered, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob’ (which means heel grabber) ‘but you shall be called Israel, the one who wrestled with God, for you have striven with God and with mortals and you have prevailed.’” — Genesis 32:28.

This is a poem.

I thought life would be easy—
I wonder why.
Perhaps I got that notion
from my mother
since she made life seem easy,
not from my father,
who was strong,
gentle and tried to teach me
about the wisdom of the sky
from whence life
often sears and tries the soul.

I know now that life is not easy
and as I lay prostrate
on the ground.
I can hear that other one—
I can hear the sound
of heavy breathing,
and my own,
and as I moan in pain
we grapple neath
the moonlit sky.

I thought life would be easy—
I wonder why.

Things change but the sky does not
and it is hard to see
where I needed to go
for no one gave me anything—
a map, a plan, a route to take.
So I had to make
and shake and break
and do whatever I had to do
to see me through.

And You! You!
You are here beside me
and I know not why.
Are You the sky?

What if I surrender, give up, stop?
Will that matter?
Will You offer a blessing?
Will that matter?
And what does it matter
that the sky goes on and on and on—
and that the stars glisten
above our heads until dawn,
and then the stars are… gone?

(Pause.) The reading from Genesis is the famous story of Jacob wrestling. ‘Wrestling with Whom?’ is a key and difficult question. Does Jacob wrestle with angels? Does Jacob wrestle with a person?

Does Jacob wrestle with self inflicted demons? Does Jacob wrestle with the human race? Does Jacob wrestle for the human race— all humanity? Does Jacob… wrestle… with… God? (Slight pause.)

It says in the reading (quote): “…you shall be called Israel, the one who wrestled with God, for you have striven with God and with mortals and you have prevailed.” To be clear: the very word Israel means one who has wrestled with God. And to be clear, the deeper meaning of the word ‘wrestle’ is one who deals with and who struggles with some reality, in some form, and in this instance it seems the reality is, in some form, God.

These words also indicated an even more expansive meaning than someone who has only wrestled with God. It plainly says Jacob wrestles with “God and mortals.”

The piece of the story not read today, the content of the narrative both before and after this scene, concerns the relationship of Jacob and the brother of Jacob, Esau from whom Jacob has been estranged. And, indeed, Jacob has led a life which is both successful and contentious.

So Jacob gets by. And Jacob gets by wrestling with both family and with everyone else. And while I don’t want to place emphasis on the combative aspect of the word ‘wrestling’ it is clear Jacob comes away from the struggle changed by the engagement, hence changed by life, itself. Jacob is injured, traumatized by life.

Who among us has not been traumatized by life in some way? At some point each of us has had to wrestle. Each of us has had a heavy heart because of something. (Slight pause.)

Yes, we all wonder what the future holds. Yes, we all have had failures and times which inflict feelings of being unworthy. Yes, it’s likely many of us has faced the death of a loved one— a parent, a spouse, even a child.

Some of us have experienced the anxiety of being socially marginalized. Some may be perplexed, even angry because we feel obstacles are constantly put in our way. And yes, we sometimes ask: “Does… God… care?” (Slight pause.)

I think if there is anything this story says, it says that God does care. It says that God engages with us in life — all of it— every day.

However and rumor to the contrary, God is not Santa Claus. God is not some ‘Fix-it’ person. Rather, God stands in solidarity with us. God is present to us.

And perhaps that’s the hard part for us about us wrestling with God. Perhaps what we want is Santa Claus rather than God. But Santa Claus is a fantasy, a pipe dream. A God Who is really God does not deal in fantasy.

And life which is really life is not a fantasy. Real life consists of ups and downs, joys and concerns, struggles and silliness. (Slight pause.)

The Rev. Lillian Daniel is currently the Conference Minister at the Michigan Conference of the United Church of Christ. She wrote this reflection. (Slight pause.)

“On Tuesday nights once a month, a group gathers in the parlor of a church I know to knit prayer shawls, baby blankets and booties for the members of that congregation. The knitting ministry meets the same night as the church council.”

“So the council sits around a table in the conference room grappling what might euphemistically be called big picture decisions about the life of the church. Just a few feet away on the couches across the hall other people are knitting for the sick, the new babies or those in need of any kind of healing. I think it’s nice that this combination of ministry happens on these Tuesday nights, like a check and balance system for what leadership in the church is all about.”

“I still have the prayer shawl the last local church I served gave me when I was sick for a couple weeks. I still have the prayer shawl I received from yet another church when my mother passed away.”

“I also inherited the prayer shawl my mother’s church made for her when she fell ill. They all lie around my house as extra blankets in the family room, ordinary objects infused with prayer in the midst of our ordinary lives.”

“The prayer shawl didn’t cure my mother’s fatal illness. But there is no question in my mind it was a conduit of healing. It remains a symbol to me of how all churches are knit together by the Holy Spirit.”

“New babies receive a hand-made gift to keep them warm, blessed by prayer before it is given away. It’s a symbol of a beautiful Biblical metaphor that goes back many thousands of years.”

“It seems people have been knitting for one another forever, perhaps ever since God, the original knitter, knit each one of us together in our mother’s womb. So indeed, we are wonderfully made.” — the Rev. Lillian Daniel on meetings and on life. (Slight pause.)

This is a poem.
I thought life would be easy—
I wonder why.
Perhaps I got that notion
from my mother
since she made life seem easy,
not from my father,
who was strong,
gentle and tried to teach me
about the wisdom of the sky
from whence life
often sears and tries the soul.

I know now that life is not easy
as I lay prostrate
on the ground.
I can hear that other one—
I can hear the sound
of heavy breathing,
and my own,
as I moan in pain
we grapple neath
the moonlit sky.

I thought life would be easy—
I wonder why.

Things change but the sky does not
and it is hard to see
where I needed to go
for no one gave me anything—
a map, a plan, a route to take.
So I had to make
and shake and break
and do whatever I had to do
to see me through.

And You! You!
You are here beside me
and I know not why.
Are You the sky?

What if I surrender, give up, stop?
Will that matter?
Will You offer a blessing?
Will that matter?
And what does it matter
that the sky goes on and on and on—
and that the stars glisten
above our heads until dawn,
and then the stars are… gone? [1]

Amen.

08/06/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

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: “So I say this up front, the title of the poem at the beginning and end the meditation is Jacob’s Lament and yes, I wrote it. Next, I have this quote which I once as a Thought for Meditation. It’s from Biblical scholar Walter Bruggemann and is about the God of Scripture: ‘The image of God painted in Scripture is a God of intentional artistic illusiveness’— intentional artistic illusiveness— Walter Bruggemann. God is real, but like anyone else we know, even or perhaps especially a close friend, God cannot be explained. God needs to be experienced.”

BENEDICTION: Let us never fear to seek the truth God reveals. Let us live as a resurrection people. Let us understand every day as a new adventure in faith as the Creator draws us into community. So, go now, go in safety— for you cannot go where God is not. Go now— go in love— for love alone endures. Go now— go with purpose and God will honor your dedication. And last, go in peace— for it is a gift from God to those whose hearts and minds are in Christ, Jesus. Amen.

[1] This poem was composed for this sermon by the Pastor. Its title is Jacob’s Lament.