localpastor

06/11/2023 ~ Proper 5 (10) ~ Second Sunday after Pentecost ~ Genesis 12:1-9; Psalm 33:1-12; Hosea 5:15-6:6; Psalm 50:7-15; Romans 4:13-25; Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26 ~ Note: used Matthew 9:35-10:1, 10:5-7 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/835858341

Do What?

“As you go make this proclamation: ‘The reign of heaven has drawn near.’” — Matthew 10:7.

Anyone who sees me can recognize right away I sport a beard. I’ve often said the beard hides that fact that I have the face of Irish Catholic choir boy. On the other hand, I have reached an age at which, if I did shave it off, this choir boy’s face would probably show more than a couple of wrinkles beneath the fuzz.

I have had a beard sitting on this face for probably about 75 or 80% of my adult life. Some men can grow a beard. For others it proves difficult. For me it was easy.

In fact, it was something of a legend in my family that when I was still in the Eighth Grade I came to the dinner table and my mother told me to go wash my face. So I did.

Upon my return my mother said, “I thought I told you to wash your face?”

“I did,” said I.

After a closer look, without any explanation Mom said, “We’ll take care of this after dinner.” And after dinner she dispatched my father to instruct me on how to shave without cutting myself too severely. In short, by the time I was in the Eighth Grade, there was enough beard to be noticeable.

Generally, there were two periods in my adult life when my shorn face was inflicted on the world. The obvious one is when I was in the Army. What follows is the story of the other time my naked face shocked those who saw it. (Slight pause.)

When I moved from New York City to the great State of Maine to marry my wife Bonnie, I had a beard. At that point she did not know me without a beard.

Not long after I needed to make a quick trip to back New York because my uncle had died. I was there on a weekend and on Sunday I went to the church where I had been a member. I sat next to Mary Johnson, the wife of my best friend Paul. Paul is Bonnie’s cousin. Mary had just had her second child.

After the service a women sitting front of us who did not know either of us, turned around, saw the baby on Mary’s lap and told Mary this was a very pretty baby. Then this woman had the audacity to ask if I was the proud grandfather. That hurt a lot. Why?

Mary, the mother of that baby, is a year older than I am. I, right away, realized the beard might be presenting an image to the world I did not want to embrace— elder statesman.

A couple hours after I returned to Maine I shaved my beard off. Bonnie took pictures of the process. Once the beard was banished, she told me to keep talking because she recognized the voice but not the face.

So then I went to seminary. For reasons of which I am unaware the tendency of many men in seminary is to grow a beard. I did not.

As a consequence, I arrived in Norwich, New York, where I served that church for twenty-three years, whiskerless. Then I went on vacation at the end of the first year and I, of course, returned with a beard. How did I grow a beard with that kind of speed? Please see the story about me in the Eighth Grade.

When I led the first service after vacation one parishioner told me she saw a person in a pastor’s robe who she did not recognize. She assumed there was a substitute preacher…. until I started to talk. She told me she recognized the voice, not the face.

Frankly, I noticed once the beard was back in place I was treated differently. Why? I think there’s a cultural prejudice, inaccurate at best, when it comes to some professions. That cultural prejudice says when men sport a beard they are either an academic or an expert.

Believe me, I am not an academic. I know academics. One of my professors in Seminary would have the Greek text of the Gospels in front of him and translate the Greek on the fly while he was reading. That’s an academic. That’s not me.

I admit this: over the years I may have slowed down some and my bones are quite arthritic, but I like to think I’m still a person of action, not an academic, sedentary and staid. That is certainly my history. Why do I say that? I never even had a sit down job until I was 35. The sedentary, staid life— not my cup of tea. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work known as Matthew: “As you go make this proclamation: ‘The reign of heaven has drawn near.’” (Slight pause.)

I suspect most of us prefer action. Most of us prefer doing. In fact, most of us learn not by reading or by studying but by doing.

I think that’s one reason why, when at the end of Matthew’s Gospel Jesus says we should (quote:) “go and make disciples of all nations” we feel pretty comfortable with that idea. After all, it’s a call to action. We like that. We even call it the great commission.

But that the great commission exists opens up an interesting question. What was Jesus really asking us, telling us to do? What, exactly, is the action to which Jesus is summoning us and how should we being doing it? (Slight pause.)

Remember those sedentary, staid academics (also known as Seminary professors) I was just talking about? Those academics unanimously agreed Jesus had one message and one message only. It was, indeed, a message about action, but probably not the one we think it is.

I think most people think this call to action is about making converts. I think that’s in part because culturally we think of ourselves as people of action. When we hear what we think is an order to make converts our first reaction— and it is a cultural reaction— is to say, “Yes! And how quickly do you want that done?”

But what is Jesus asking us to do? Jesus calls us to make disciples. I think making disciples is quite different, a longer, more sustained action, than simply making converts. I think what this really means is Jesus calls us to teach. This is a very, very, very long term process.

The next question we need to consider is in the context of this ministry of teaching is what are we called to teach? I think the most succinct version of the message Jesus wants us to teach, wants us to spread is contained in these words. (Quote:) “…make this proclamation: ‘The reign of heaven has drawn near.’”

Please note: that sentence, those words are in the past perfect tense: The reign of heaven has drawn near. Put differently, the message of Jesus, the message Jesus wants us to spread is simple: God is near, now; God lives among us, now; God walks with us, now.

So, yes— Jesus does want us to be people of action. And how are we to be people of action? Jesus wants us to share, to teach, exactly the same message Jesus was sharing. What message was Jesus sharing? What message was Jesus teaching?

I’ve said it already. Here it is again. God is present to us… now. God is with us on our journey… now. Indeed, on the journey we call life God walks with us at all times and in all places and in all ways. Amen.

06/11/2023
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: “This is a quote attributed to the late poet Maya Angelou. ‘I am always surprised when someone tells me they are a Christian. I thought that took a lifetime to accomplish.’ As individuals, never mind worrying about another person becoming a Christian. But helping someone become a Christian is something which takes a longer time, takes more sustained action than most people realize. For me, personally— I’m still working on it.”

BENEDICTION: 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. Go now, go in peace for it is a gift of God to those whose hearts and minds are engaged in the will of the One Triune God, Creator, Christ and Spirit. Amen.

06/04/2023 ~ Trinity Sunday ~ Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Psalm 8; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; Matthew 28:16-20 ~ Communion Sunday ~ Christian Education Sunday ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/833395168

God’s Reality

“God saw everything which had been made, was indeed, exceedingly good.” — Genesis 1:31a.

Phineas Taylor Barnum, P. T. to most, was a Nineteenth Century American showman, businessman, politician, remembered mostly for promoting hoaxes. A quote attributed to Barnum says there’s a sucker born every minute.

Are hoaxes perpetrated only on people who cannot think critically or are ignorant or willfully ignorant or is it even more broad than that? Maybe. But there are television shows in what seems to be courtrooms with (quote, unquote) ‘judges.’ These not real but a lot of people watch.

Many also watch all kinds of so called ‘reality TV.’ Reality? Just the presence of TV cameras recording what happens makes that a questionable premise. And now we have AI, artificial intelligence software. It’s likely that will really muddy the water concerning reality.

Indeed, if we could sell tickets back to reality how many buyers would there be? Perhaps these are or should be obvious questions for us: What is real? What is reality? (Slight pause.)

Actual reality can be frighteningly real and really frightening. We’ve probably all seen pictures from smart bombs exploding as they detonate on the unsuspecting.

These are genuine, real, but they look unreal. What’s the reality? The bombs kill people. This juxtaposition of true reality against what is the made up presents a problem: why do people suspend disbelief, abandon critical faculties? Is reality so porous we are readily fooled, sometimes happily fooled, by evocations which look real?

Here’s more reality. Daily real tragedies happen— disasters, wars, poverty, economic, emotional, physical violence so vivid we can feel them. Even when we do not experience it first hand, we empathize, hurt with the wounded, cry out for justice, want to act as peace makers. Our emotions invite us to respond as if they were our own reality.

All this gives voice to our particular dilemma. There are times it’s not easy to discern how we, as Christians, should respond to reality. We can spend more time debating among ourselves about how to respond than responding.

If we fail to respond, have we failed to recognize reality just by dint of inertia? And yes, perhaps our own reality is, at best, flawed, difficult. (Pause.)

This is a related question: what is God’s reality? (Slight pause.) Genesis says, “God saw everything which had been made, was indeed, exceedingly good.” Does the creation story tell us something about God’s reality and the reality of God? (Slight pause.)

Genesis is not concerned with how creation happened. Genesis tells us God and God’s creation is bound together in a distinctive, delicate way, by the gracious involvement of God towards creation. What can clearly be learned from this premise— that God and the creation of God is good— is the Good News of Jesus becomes possible.

You see, we can neither explain away nor adequately analyze the story of creation. Also we can neither explain away nor adequately analyze the story of Jesus. The good news of creation, the Good News of Jesus, can only be affirmed, can only be confessed. These are statements of faith.

In this relationship with creation the characteristic action of God is to speak, name, call, to breathe life. God creates the universe through language, with infinite creativity God authors creation.

Genesis does not use the language of command but uses the language of poetry. So the creation stories in Genesis are a blessing, a liturgy.

As such the creation story is not about scientific description or about origins. The story of creation is a theological, pastoral statement, and again, a statement of faith.

‘Literalists’ would have the Genesis text seen as a blueprint. ‘Rationalists,’ insist there must be a logical explanation and would explain the text as mythology. Both misread the text in a literal way. Both obscure meaning by claiming an overriding definitive structure exists when the essence of the writing eludes any kind of structure.

In its journey with God, Israel is not concerned about God’s technique but God’s intent. So in Genesis ‘good’ is not a moral quality. Good is an aesthetic, a virtue. As a virtue it can never be pinned down, because virtue is verb-like, an ever changing process.

The poetry of Genesis confesses a faith in the reality of the world as God intended it to be. We, God’s creatures, are given a vocation, granted an opportunity to nurture the world, to exercise responsibility as God has exercised responsibility.

The reality of God in Genesis is not oppressive but creative. And we are meant to collaborate in the productiveness of that divine, benign creativeness.

Therefore, we are not meant to swing the cudgels of oppression, wack with sticks of hate, wield hammers of domination. There is a serenity and a peace in God’s work and in God’s world. We are invited, by God, to be participants in that peace, in that world. (Slight pause.)

The words of Genesis, revolutionary when recorded, revolutionary today, offer a gracious, self-giving, present God, not a remote God who reigns by fiat. There is also a revolutionary view of humanity as beings who are not chattel, not owned by God, but possess the free will to seek the same graciousness which God exudes.

We are, hence, ones to whom much is given and from whom comes the fruit of the covenant with God, the fruit of the community. Further, as a community, we are called to engage in this process of creation, called to attempt to remedy that which is unpleasing to God: those disasters, those wars, those conflict, the poverty, the economic, emotional, physical violence.

This is affirmed as a community process because in the Hebrew words employed for the creation of humanity— in those words— the plural is used. This is, thereby, also a bold affirmation that God is reflected not just in us not as individuals, but reflected in the community.

The opening stories in Genesis, therefore, are about process: the process of creation, the initial creation and the continuing creation. This is also about the process of community, each of us engaging with one another as together we seek the will of God.

This is about the process of dialogue between the Creator and the created, the process of dialogue between our flawed perceptions of reality and the perfect reality of God. This is about the process of a faithful God by Whom we are called to fidelity and the reality of a benevolent God who allows for our freedom.

We can either delight in the hard choices with which the ambiguity, the uncertainty of the process presents us. Or we can despair in the hard choices with which the ambiguity, the uncertainty of the process presents us.

We can even choose to abandon the process, abandon any attempt to be both faithful and free. And yes, since we have been granted free will by a gracious God, that choice is ours. All that poses a final question. What reality shall we choose? Which reality shall we decide that we will be a part of? God’s reality or perceived reality? [1] Amen.

06/04/2023
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: “As I said at the start of the service, today is Trinity Sunday. I did not directly address that. So here’s a poem, slightly truncated— by Maren Tirabassi, a pastor and poet. ‘God is like a symphony, not a soloist. / God is like a family, / any shaped family / steps and blends and chosen, / water cooler family and / recovery group family… / not like a hermit. // God is like a soup kitchen / where everyone eats together, / worker and guest…. // God sounds like the United Nations / or a really big airport, / God doesn’t sound / like a national anthem, / anyone’s national anthem. // God is more like prayer concerns / than a sermon, / anyone’s sermon, especially mine. // God is like Facebook (oh, no!) / with pictures of dogs / and vacations / and grandchildren, not a blog. / (Have you looked at the mess / that is the Bible?) // God is like a rambling farmhouse, / or a trailer park / or public housing / all those many, many rooms….’”

BENEDICTION: May the face of God shine upon us; may the peace of Christ rule among us; may the fire of the Spirit burn within us; and may we go from this worship to continue our worship with work and witness, in God’s name we pray. Amen.

[1] This analysis owes its origin to Walter Brueggemann as it is found in Genesis— Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. 1982. Atlanta, GA: John Knox Press.

05/28/2023 ~ Day of Pentecost ~ *Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30; Psalm 104:24-34, 35b; 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 or Acts 2:1-21; John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39 ~ Memorial Day Weekend ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/831595496

Confirmation

“…suddenly they heard what sounded like a rushing violent wind from heaven; the noise filled the entire house where they were sitting. ” — Acts 2:2

Tom entered Bangor Theological Seminary a year after I did. He was about my age, in his forties. He was married and he and his wife had two young children.

In most institutions there is a tendency to take nubies, new folks, the uninitiated under wing, to mentor, to nurture. And at this point, more than a year into my studies, while I had not seen it all, as those things go I was an old hand.

I took Tom under my wing. Besides, what was there not to like about Tom? Gregarious, gentle, he had a quick wit, an easy smile. Like me, he had seen life, had been around the block couple of times. (Slight pause.)

Less than two weeks into the term my phone rang. It was Tom. He was blunt. “Joe, get over here.” (Slight pause.)

That was strange. Not, “Hi, Joe. How are ya’?” not, “Can I see you for a minute or two?” Just, “Joe, get over here.” It had to be a big problem. I went right to his place.

Tom had just started a class students at Bangor Seminary nicknamed “Baby Bible.” It’s a course which deals with what’s actually in Scripture as opposed to what many people think is in Scripture.

It presented basic information like Moses did not write the Torah, the first five books in the Bible, that in the Torah there are four documents, written at different times over the course of about five to six hundred years. These separate pieces are then woven together into something like what we might recognize today.

Tom was shocked and Tom was in shock to learn about this. A person of deep faith, he had been active in his church, been a deacon, a trustee, a moderator, chaired a Pulpit Committee. Now in these first weeks in Seminary he was having a crisis of faith.

Perhaps counter-intuitively, instead of trying to console him, I poured more gas on the fire. “You ain’t seen nothing yet,” I said. “Right now, you’re only looking at the beginning of the Hebrew Scriptures in class. Wait until you get to the New Testament.”

“You know the letters of Paul?” I said. “Paul did not write all the ones credited to him. And the Gospels are not the earliest writings in the New Testament. The true letters of Paul, the ones actually written by Paul, were all written before any of the Gospels.”

“The first Gospel recorded,” I continued, “was Mark, not Matthew, and that happened at least thirty years after Jesus was raised. Also, even though the Gospel of John separates Luke from Acts in today’s Bible, Luke and Acts are two volumes of one book written at the same time. All this has been pretty common knowledge for a long, long time.” (Slight pause.)

“Why,” asked Tom, “why have I never heard this before? Why have I never heard anyone say this from the pulpit?”

There he had me stumped. I had heard, read, learned about all these widely known facts when I was a Sophomore in High School. Unlike Tom, I had heard my pastors talk about this from the pulpit way before I entered Seminary.

Finally I said this to Tom: “The Bible is not a rabbit’s foot. Many people treat it like it is; rub it and get your wish. They try to get out of it only what they think they see, as if they were trying to impart it with some magic power.”

“But it is the Word of God, not a rabbit’s foot. It is inspired by God and it is transmitted through frail human vessels.”

“The people who wrote Scripture were like you and me, people who lived in specific times and places who did what they could to be faithful to God daily and to go the places to which God called them daily, do the things God called them to do daily.”

“They knew they were imperfect vessels. We also need to recognize they did not think they were writing Scripture when they wrote. They were merely trying to write about their experience of the presence of God, what it felt like.”

“For me, knowing this background helps the Bible come alive. It deepens my faith to know God worked among these folks who were just like us— less than perfect.” (Pause.)

These words are from Luke/Acts in the section called Acts: “…suddenly they heard what sounded like a rushing violent wind from heaven; the noise filled the entire house where they were sitting.” (Pause.)

Today, Pentecost, is the traditional day for the Rite of Confirmation. Over the years at different times I’ve worked with young people as they prepare for the Rite of Confirmation. I also recommend adults join with them in this because Confirmation is not just some teenage rite of passage, though many treat it that way.

In fact, I think adults should have the experience, go through the process which leads up to the rite of Confirmation every 15 to 20 years. Why? The goal of the process is to help someone to continue to grow and to strengthen and to deepen their faith.

So learning about Scripture in the course of the process is of great importance, Tom being an example of that. But the goal is not to just learn about Scripture.

The goal is to develop a toolbox, a way to help the person who goes through the process to cope during times when there is a crisis of faith. And at some point everyone has a time when their faith is tested.

As to the tools, I suggest participants think about several basic questions— not to answer the questions but think about the questions. The questions include but are not limited to: in what social context do I live? Put differently, who am I? Where do I live, small town, large city, in what State, in what country?

Next, what social context do others, who are not like me, experience? What is their experience of life?

Next, what is the church? Is it a club of friends or is it more expansive than that? That should lead to this question. How does the church fit into my life, fit into the social context of this community. How does the church fit into the social context of the world? (Slight pause.)

These questions are tools and there can be and probably are other questions. Also, the answers are not static— they can change. So the questions constantly need to be explored. Why? These question are tools but they also need to be versatile.

And like most tools, you need to keep them oiled, clean and use them. If they are kept, oiled, cleaned and used regularly then, when you hit a crisis, they will be there in the toolbox, waiting and ready. (Slight pause.)

The reality is, we all have times of crisis. There are all kinds of reasons for these from loss of a job to loss of a loved one. Crises are real. If you have nowhere to turn, nothing on which to fall back, no tool to use when crises hit, you’re left floundering, unsure of what to do, unsure of faith can help. (Slight pause.)

Let’s come back to this passage from Acts. I think our tendency is to concentrate on what seems to be magical in it— tongues of fire, speaking and hearing in a multitude of languages. But it is not meant to be read as magical.

The rushing wind indicates the reality of God is present. And one thing we fail to realize is no one is excluded from this display of the grace of God, the presence of God. Everyone is included at Pentecost.

In order that not even the least astute miss the inclusiveness of the moment, the names of places from which people who are listening live lists a wide area in the Greco-Roman world. What happens at Pentecost is, thus, no inner mystical magic experience, but an outpouring of the energy of God that can touch every life.

And yes, the Spirit does move; the Spirit is present. But God is not coercive. God does not force us to cooperate with the movement of the Spirit. Even if they did not realize it, the time the disciples were with Jesus was when they got their tools ready.

So it seems important to me that we get the tools we need, tools which will help us live life to the best of our ability. This might also help us know we are imperfect vessels who are simply striving to do the will of God. In short, it is imperative for us is to use our tools to work with and to cooperate with the Spirit. (Slight pause.)

And oh yes— Tom— what happened to Tom? Well, I guess you could say he did O.K. working with the Spirit, striving to listen to the call of God and to walk on the paths God might have him walk. Right out of Seminary Tom was called to serve as a Pastor at a church in Connecticut and stayed there until he retired. Praise be to God. Amen.

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “Two things: first, I try to impress on confirmands is that this is the Rite of Confirmation, confirming faith. So it is not about conformation, not about conforming. Indeed, we Christians need to be about confirmation, affirmation, not about being the same, conformation. Second, I think the reading indicated this. This is what I sometimes say: God loves everybody. What part of everybody don’t we understand?”

BENEDICTION: Let us acknowledge our many gifts. Let us seek to use them for the common good. Let us commit ourselves as people of action. God, the creator, is at work in our midst. The Holy Spirit is present to us. Jesus, the Christ, lives among us. Let us go from this worship to continue our worship with work and witness. And may the peace
of Christ, which surpasses our understanding keep our hearts, minds and spirits centered on God, this day and forevermore. Amen.

[1] This analysis is found in The Interpreter’s Bible: the Electronic Edition in the section about this reading. Needless to say, this has the same information as the printed version.

05/21/2023 ~ Seventh Sunday of Easter ~ *Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35; 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11; John 17:1-11 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/829473393

It’s Complicated

“All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as the sisters and brothers of Jesus.” — Acts 1:14.

I want to start with an obvious question: who is family? Please notice, I did not ask ‘who are your blood relatives?’ I asked ‘who is family?’ (Slight pause.)

In my family structure I had a cousin whose name was Roseanna Genevieve McCool, a name that sounds as Irish as mine. Rose was true family, a blood relative— a cousin, the daughter of my paternal grandfather’s sister.

When I was very young my grandfather’s wife died. One of the consequence was instead of being simply a cousin, Rose— already close to the family as a blood relative but on top of that she had introduced my Mother and Father to each other— Rose became much more of a grandmother figure in my family life, in the structure of my family.

Was Rose my grandmother? No. Was she a grandmother figure? Yes. So even within the context of blood relations, things can be… complicated. (Slight pause.)

One more family story: Bonnie and I have a niece whose name is Heather. She lives in Dallas. But she grew up on Deer Isle and as we all gather at the family property near Stonington in July Heather and her family will be back in Maine, something they do only sporadically.

Except what I just said about Heather being related to us is wrong. Well it is, in one sense, not wrong. But it is certainly… less than accurate.

How so? Bonnie’s brother is Jack. Heather is the daughter of Jack’s first wife from another marriage. So she not Jack’s biological daughter. Hence, we are not related by blood. Even though Heather is not related, after Jack got divorced from that first wife, Jack had custody of Heather.

Indeed, Heather calls Jack “Dad.” She addresses her biological father not with an intimate term like Dad but by his first name. (Slight pause.)

So, who is family— really? It is complicated, is it not? (Slight pause.) And even though it is complicated, we experience it, live with the reality of it, know the complexity of it, do we not? As I said— family— it is… complicated. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work known as Luke/Acts in the section commonly referred to as Acts: “All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as the sisters and brothers of Jesus.” (Slight pause.)

Over time it has become evident to me people are often not comfortable with what Scripture really says, with its reality, with its complexity. Scripture… it’s complicated.

I think in part because of that complexity we tend to make up things about Scripture. And the things we make up often try to simplify what Scripture actually says.

For instance— and as I have said here before— there are two Nativity stories, two stories of the birth of Jesus, in the four Gospels. The story in Luke has angels and shepherds and the one in Matthew has a star and Magi. These were written at two different times, by at least two different authors, addressed to two different audiences.

These stories do not exist to report the birth of Jesus but to make theological points about the advent of the Messiah. And what do we do with them? We speak of them as if they were just about the birth of a child and mesh them together as if they were one. How many Christmas pageants tell these stories as if they were one? We simplify the complexity.

And they are not meant to be unified. To illustrate that lack of cohesiveness, clearly one of many theological points Luke tries to make is the advent of the Messiah should be announced, proclaimed to the poor, the outcast. Clearly one of many points Matthew tries to make is to tie the story of the Messiah to Jewish heritage, especially the Exodus.

In simplifying these two stories, in meshing them together, we ignore and flatten out the theological points, make it bland, domesticate it, make the stories culturally acceptable while blithely ignoring their theological intent and emphasis. Also as I am sure you know, there are only two nativity stories in the four Gospels. Hence, two of the Gospels totally ignore the birth story.

Why would two Gospels dismiss the nativity of the Messiah so completely, especially when our own culture seems to make those stories so central? I would suggest those two Gospels discount the birth stories for two reasons.

First, those two Gospels have their own theological points to make and make those points without even considering a birth story. Second and as I already indicated, the nativity stories we do have are not at all about an actual birth, except from the theological perspective, except to make specific theological points. The truth— it’s complicated. (Slight pause.)

So, did you notice in the story from Acts Jesus has brothers and sisters. And not just one sister and one brother— sisters and brothers— plural? And have you noticed our culture pretty much obliterates that little detail? Indeed, from other passages in Scripture it is clear the Apostle James is plainly, unambiguously a brother, meaning a blood relative, of Jesus.

So… Jesus had sisters and brothers or at least that’s what it says. But from what I’ve heard I am fairly certain that populist religion, folk religion, popular culture is largely in denial about Jesus having had any brothers, any sisters. (Slight pause.)

Now, here’s yet a different question: ‘given what I said earlier, are these people who are labeled as sisters and brothers actually sisters and brothers? Or are they some kind of extended family? Again, who is family? (Slight pause.)

Occasionally someone asks me why I am so passionate about Scripture. This is the answer I give. As I read what Scripture has to say, for me the people are real, alive. The situations are real, alive.

Also the way I see it, the people and the situations we find in Scripture are like real life— complicated. Because of that, the people and the situations seem real to me.

And yes, the theology fascinates me because it leads me to ask what are these real people, these real situations, trying to tell me, trying to tell us? And yes, the theology both recognizes the reality of God and is wrapped in complicated stories. (Slight pause.)

I would suggest the theological reality of God is just like our own every day reality, just like all reality. Have I said this already? Real life— it’s complicated. (Slight pause.)

Here’s the paradox wrapped all around of this. My perception is we make the reality of God much more complicated than it actually is. How do we do that? We overlay the reality of God with our cultural trappings, impose culturally acceptable falsehoods, which have little or nothing to do with God’s truth. (Slight pause.)

That brings me back to the question: ‘who is family— really?’ Here’s my definition. Family: the ones with whom we share our life, share our love, share our reality, share the complexity of our real lives.

And what is God’s truth? God’s truth is we are all part of God’s family. And it’s that statement, that we are all a part of God’s family that is not complicated. As I have said here before, God loves us and wants to covenant with us. God’s truth it’s that simple.

God’s truth is we are all children of God, all a part of the family of God. And that, my friends, can be as complicated or as simple as we make it out to be. So, is the love of God, as that love is reflected in each of us, complicated? Your call. Amen.

05/21/2023
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 late, great composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim wrote this lyric: ‘Anyone can whistle, / That’s what they say— / Easy. / Anyone can whistle / Any old day— Easy. / It’s all so simple: / Relax, let go, let fly. / So someone tell me why / Can’t I? / I can dance a tango, / I can read Greek— / Easy. / I can slay a dragon / Any old week— Easy. / What’s hard is simple. / What’s natural comes hard. / Maybe you could show me / How to let go, / Lower my guard, / Learn to be… free. / Maybe if you whistle, / Whistle for me.’— Stephen Sondheim. Sometimes, especially when it comes to covenant love, we need to relax, let go, let fly.”

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

05/14/2023 ~ Sixth Sunday of Easter ~ *Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:8-20; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21 ~ Mother’s Day on the Secular Calendar VIDEO OF THE FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/826952397

The Paraclete

[Jesus said:] “….I will ask the One who sent me to give you another Advocate, another Paraclete, another Helper, to be with you always, forever— the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot accept, since the world neither sees Her nor recognizes Her.” — John 14:16-17a.

A couple months ago I leaned on my theater background in a sermon and talked about George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, collaborators who wrote plays, musicals, reviews. In 1938 they wrote a play, The Fabulous Invalid, which offered lamentations on how the theater of that era, a long, long time ago, was dying.

Despite this premature obituary the institution of theater survives, lives and thrives. But the name, The Fabulous Invalid, has remained a code name for the theater. Why? It always seems like the theater is dying— that is… until the next hit production.

And yes, even theater people often lament the theater is dying. That is, until they, themselves, become involved with the next hit. In short, the theater just seems like it’s always dying. It’s not.

I suspect the reason theater survives is because we are a race of story tellers and we tell stories when gathered in groups. Theater is about telling stories to gathered groups. Further, I maintain something which makes us human is we tell stories and in order to do that we need to gather in groups.

Why tell stories? Stories help us make sense of the world around us. Now, that title— The Fabulous Invalid— is one many would apply to the church. After all, how often have you heard it said or even you, yourself, have said the church is dying?

Take my word for this: it’s likely the idea that the church is dying came into existence about three days after Pentecost, right after Peter spoke to that crowd in Jerusalem. It, in fact, can be argued the church in Europe and North America is in decline today in terms of numbers, attendance, budgets and perhaps the area that really gets under our skin, in societal influence, cultural influence.

On the other hand, Lutheran Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber has published a sermon with this title: Stop Saying the Church Is Dying. Why? She draws a distinction between a cultural church, a church of cultural influence— that church which probably is in decline— and a church who proclaims the Gospel, administers the sacraments and names sin as the brokenness we find in the world.

Another Lutheran, Erik Parker, says the church is not dying but is in transition, changing from what it has been for a number of generations into something new. Further, there is a serious flaw in even saying the church is dying today. The self-centered implication is that we today are, ourselves, actually capable of killing the church.

Let’s consider the weight of that claim over the course of 2,000 years. At first the church barely survived getting off the ground. A cursory look at the facts tells us it took nearly 400 years before the church could be called a viable institution within society.

Then the church survived the trauma of becoming imperial, being designated as the religion of the state. It survived even though it took on the already failed structure of that state— a bad idea. Next, the church survived going to war— the Crusades.

Then the church survived the Great Schism— East and West— something we in the West barely acknowledge— because those folks over there in the East don’t count— right? Between you and me they do count.

Still later the church survived the stress of numerous reformations, the rancor of counter-reformations, the discovery of the so called new worlds, scientific revolutions, nationalism, charismatic movements, revivals, global wars. (Slight pause.) And we think we can kill the church today? [1] Come on! (Slight pause.)

So, here’s an obvious question: does the church survive because we are, it is, an institution? Or does the church survive because we are story tellers who strive to tell the story to each other about the love of God? And by the way, if we strive to tell the story of the love of God to each other we simultaneously need to try to be… relational. (Slight pause.)

These words are in the work known as the Gospel According to the School of John— [Jesus said:] “…I will ask the One who sent me to give you another Advocate, another Paraclete, another Helper, to be with you always, forever— the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot accept, since the world neither sees Her nor recognizes Her.” (Slight pause.)

There is no question about this. We are conditioned by our culture— our culture— to recognize some things and ignore others.

A case in point (quote): “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (Slight pause.) What’s the most important word in this sentence? (Slight pause.) Our culture insists ‘commandments’ is important. And our culture would be… wrong.

Throughout Scripture one thing is absolutely clear: the prime imperative is love. And love is, in every sense, the only imperative. Everything else is superfluous.

Put differently, God does not demand, command, compel, require, force, dictate, order, burden, saddle, mandate. Love does not allow for that. Rather, God invites… God invites love. It is our human society, our social context and our structures which demand, command, compel, require, force, dictate, order, burden, saddle, mandate. (Slight pause.)

If God invites love, the church is or should be more than an institution. The church is or should be a Spirit-led community proclaiming the gospel, administering sacraments, naming as sin the brokenness we find in the world. If we, the church, practice the love which God invites, the church will exist long after the structures of current institutions are gone. (Slight pause.)

In saying we are a Spirit led community, not a structurally bound institution, I am also saying we mis-read Scripture. We read Scripture through a parochial, cultural lens. Our cultural lens instructs us to demand, command, compel, require, force, dictate, order, burden, saddle, mandate and presumes the church should do likewise. (Slight pause.)

So, how did Jesus read Scripture? Did Jesus use the cultural lens of the Roman Empire, a cultural lens for which and in which force was the imperative? Or did Jesus use a lens which sought to be led by the present reality of the Spirit? (Slight pause.)

Methodist Adam Hamilton says the way Jesus read Scripture is clear. Jesus never set out dogma but favored passages that portray a God of mercy, a God who invites love. Jesus was led by the present reality of the Spirit in reading Scripture. Jesus never tried to tweak instruments of violence out of every jot and tittle. [2] (Slight pause.)

That brings me back to the fabulous invalid known as the church. It is Jesus who refers to (quote): “the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot accept,”— the world cannot accept— and then says (quote): “…you can recognize the Spirit, because She remains with you and will abide with you, and will be within you.”

So, the challenge set forth here is to read the Scripture the same way Jesus did— with an understanding that the Spirit walks with us. Further, this is certain: when we become enamored of a lens which encompasses only our own parochial, limited cultural context, we will see the church as dying.

On the other hand, when we read the words of Scripture with Spirit filled hearts and minds— then what Jesus says (quote): “you can recognize the Spirit, because She remains with you and will abide with you, and will be within you”— what Jesus says will empower us. And when we do read the words of Scripture with Spirit filled hearts and minds we are invited to love.

Further, when we read the words of Scripture with Spirit filled hearts and minds, we are also invited to tell the story Jesus tells about God who loves. And God who loves clearly invites us to relate to each other in love. (Slight pause.) Love is, you see, what the story to be told, the story we need to tell, is about. Amen.

ENDPIECE— It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Congregational Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “I am not making this up. At the start of my very first class in Seminary— at the start, it was a New Testament survey course— the professor invited us to introduce ourselves, tell our stories to the other students. Then the professor said this: ‘The New Testament is about confrontation. The New Testament is about confronting one another in love about the reality of God. Hence, the New Testament is about telling the world our stories about the love of God. And how is that done? We need to tell one another and the world about how our own stories reflect the love of God.’”

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.

[1] http://millennialpastor.net/2014/05/18/can-we-kill-the-church/

[2] Adam Hamilton, Making Sense of the Bible, HarperOne, © 2014, pg. 54.

05/07/2023 ~ Fifth Sunday of Easter ~ *Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/824796882

Believe in God

Jesus said: “Have faith in God; have faith in me as well.” — John 14:1b

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I was a member of All Angels’ Episcopal Church in New York City. This church called one of the first women officially ordained as a priest in that denomination, Carol Anderson, to be their rector. Priest— that’s Episcopal talk for pastor; rector— that’s Episcopal talk for settled pastor.

I think of Carol as one of my mentors in ministry, someone who pointed me on an eventual path toward ordination. Mind you, many, many years passed until that happened. This story is about the first meeting I had with Carol.

It being All Angels’ Church, in the corner of her office was a really big wood sculpture of an angel tooting on an outsized trumpet. After some chitchat Carol leaned forward and earnestly said, “So tell me Joe, when are you going to become a priest?”

I looked over my shoulder to see if someone else named Joe had come into the room. All I saw was the wood angel. It stared back at me. It said nothing.

After seven years at that church Carol moved on and started the Institute for Clergy Renewal. As the name says, it was for clergy who need a time of renewal. Why?

Clergy burnout happens way more often than people realize. At the institute clergy worked with Carol to try to rediscover themselves and explore the basis of their ministry.

In large part, she established this Institute because of her experience, what she had seen happen to clergy. When she was in college in the ’60s, Carol did what many college students in those tumultuous times did, headed South and took part in Civil Rights protests, marches, work.

When she joined those protests, marches, that work, Carol saw what happened to some clergy— burnout. Then she, herself, heard a call to ministry and entered Harvard Divinity School.

Let me unpack that journey for you. It was good for Carol to join the work of justice in the South, good to be among those working toward justice for all people. It is good for the soul of anyone to get involved in working toward justice.

This work also helped Carol realize a deeper but simple question needs to first be asked— ‘why?’ What is the reason one might want to take part in working toward justice? Why get behind any cause which works toward justice?

Carol started the Institute to help other clergy discover the ‘why’ of justice. She realized many clergy get involved in a cause just for its own sake. That’s a mistake.

To take a stand for justice is a good thing. The work is necessary. But after a while, people who take stands without thinking them through, especially clergy, are in danger of just… burning… out.

In short, some clergy get involved without remembering why. They support causes but forget there is a Christian basis to seek justice. And here’s the deep truth people forget: if you trust God and seek the heart of God, you will find justice. (Slight pause.)

These words are from the Gospel according to the School of John— Jesus said: “Have faith in God; have faith in me as well.” (Slight pause.)

There’s no question about this: the Gospel we call John was written last among the four. As such, it displays what scholars call— here’s that term you heard me use just last week— what scholars call a “high Christology.”

The word ‘high’ tied to Christology indicates Jesus is more God-like in John’s Gospel than in the others. This reading both separates and intertwines God and Jesus.

About the fourth century the church defines the relationships of Abba, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Again, you heard me say this last week: the church proclaims God, Jesus and the Spirit are Trinity, are one but at the same time are three.

In her retreat work with clergy Carol encouraged them to ask and to answer for themselves how they understood the nature of God. Why ask that?

Unless a concern for justice has a basis in theology, a way to see God and to seek the will of God, burnout often happens. (Slight pause.) And let me say it once again: if you trust God and look for the heart of God you will find justice. (Slight pause.)

Once, when I needed to be away one Sunday from Norwich, that church I served for many years, a member of the laity preached. Her sermon title was The Dash— the dash engraved on a tombstone, the time between the dates of birth and death.

The real topic of the sermon was ‘what do we do with our time?’ Do we use our time to do what we can to forward the Realm of God, be empowered to do the work of transforming the world to be a place where love and justice abound? (Slight pause.) If you trust God and look for the heart of God and you will find justice. (Slight pause.)

I want to say one more thing about Carol. As I indicated, she was among the first women to be ordained in the Episcopal Church. She was, therefore, painfully aware of how privileged she was.

She was aware of that because she knew for two millennia Christian women had heard the call to ordination. That call was ignored by churches. It still is ignored by some.

But what Carol also understood is Who was calling— Carol understood Who was calling. She realized if getting ordained was simply a matter of her working for justice— in this case the cause of rights for women, and had she concentrated on that only— she probably would have burned out long before the church had allowed for the ordination of women. But because she concentrated on and was grounded in Who was calling her, that sustained her.

In short, Carol understood trusting God, Jesus and the Spirit is central. And perhaps the justice God calls us to seek will not and often does not conform to our personal timetable. But yet, we still need to trust and to know justice resides in heart of God. (Slight pause.)

So, why do we, the people of Elijah Kellogg Church in Harpswell, Maine, gather as a church, come here on a Sunday? You will hear a lot of answers to that question.

The music is great. The outreach is fruitful. Many enjoy just being with the people here. Have you seen the worship space? It’s beautiful. These are all good reasons. They are all true.

But if trusting God, trusting Jesus, trusting the Spirit is not central, it needs to be. (Slight pause.) Here’s my take: if we first trust God and thereby seek the heart of God, that is what makes the people of this church, any church, truly be church. (Slight pause.)

Trusting God, trusting the heart of God, is necessary if the ministry of a church is to be empowered. Indeed, I say trusting God needs to be central to what we, at the Kellogg Church, do to in order truly be church. Amen.

05/07/2023
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: “One more Carol Anderson story: at seminary she once marched into the dean’s office and announced she was dropping out. The dean told her to think and pray about it for three days, then come back. If she still wanted to leave he would bless that decision. Frustrated, she went to the Charles River and hurled her Bible as far as she could into the water. After three days of prayer and thought, still undecided, she returned to the river just before she was about to go see the dean again. There, washed up on the shore, was her waterlogged Bible. She scooped it up, laughed and went to see the dean. She stayed in seminary. She still has that Bible. Trust God.”

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

04/30/2023 ~ Fourth Sunday of Easter ~ *Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10 ~ VIDEO OF THE FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/823062269

I Am

“I am the gate. / Whoever enters through me will be safe— / you will go in and go out and find pasture. / The thief comes only to steal / and slaughter and destroy. / I came that you might have life / and have it to the full.” — John 10:9-10.

I have mentioned from this pulpit when my wife Bonnie and I met I was on vacation in Maine at a property owned by her family in the Stonington area. What I have not mentioned is a key factor which led to our mutual interest.

If you’ve spent any time with either of us you know we both have a fondness for jokes and puns. The unkind call it a warped sense of humor and we are, by the way, proud of that. And so what I noticed when I first met Bonnie is she was beating me to all the punch lines. From my perspective this was an very impressive person, someone to be reckoned with.

Hence, this should be obvious: I do not ignore bad jokes. So this one is from the Rev. Dr. Martin Copenhaver. It’s not only a bad joke— it’s a shaggy dog story and a joke with a little theology, religion. It’s about the unity and differences between denominations.

Marty sets up the joke by saying small differences, not great ones, stand in the way of religious unity and tells a story of two men who had just met. Both notice a cross in the lapels of their sports jackets. So they try to discover their religious backgrounds.

One starts with the obvious question: “Are you a Protestant or a Catholic?”

The other one replies: “Protestant.”

The first one cracked a little smile and said, “Me too! What franchise?”

“Baptist.”

“That’s great! Me too!”

“Well,” said the second one also smiling just a little now, “we all know there are many of flavors of Baptists. Are you a Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?”

A little wary but certainly more hopeful the first one replied “Southern.”

“Oh, gee! That’s great. Me too!”

The first one then asked, “Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879 or Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?”

With a cautious tone the second one replied, “Why, I am Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912 and proud of it!”

The first one’s eyes lit up as if they were on fire. “I knew it! I knew it! Die, you heretic!” (Slight pause.)

This kind of thing is not limited to Baptists. My bet is we’ve all heard about places where both First and Second Congregational churches reside and the two buildings are less than a mile apart. And while we Congregationalists tend to pride ourselves on openness to other faith traditions, there are times we can be, if not critical, at least less than knowledgeable about other traditions.

Indeed, it seems to me whether we’re talking about churches or nearly any other topic, most of the time people want to and like to distinguish themselves as different, even if those distinctions are sliced very thin. Sigmund Freud called this phenomenon, “the narcissism of small differences.” Of course, that applies to areas other than church but I won’t go there this morning.

Perhaps when we do this thin slicing what we are protecting is our turf, our territory. And perhaps some insecurity or even pride is involved. Let’s face it, too often it seems what we all we want to be is simply… tribal. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the Gospel according to the School of John: “I am the gate. / Whoever enters through me will be safe— / you will go in and go out and find pasture. / The thief comes only to steal / and slaughter and destroy. / I came that you might have life / and have it to the full.” (Slight pause.)

The “I am” statements of Jesus appear only in John. And more than any other Gospel John addresses Christology.

Now, let me unpack that $64 word. Christology is the study of the nature and person of Jesus, especially as that relates to the nature and person of Yahweh, God.

Indeed, when Jesus asks “who do you say that I am” in the Gospels those who first heard that question understood the real question being asked was this: “how does the person Jesus, who we claim to be the Christ, the Messiah of God, fit into and fit with the concept that God is One.” (Slight pause.)

Well this is a simple idea: monotheism is the primary premise of Judaism. God is One. So, if you are a Jew living in the First Century, how do you explain Jesus? Is Jesus something extra, another god? Is Jesus simply a wise Rabbi, a great teacher?

I think this passage helps us understand how to think about Jesus and understand Jesus and it probably helped those who first heard it think about and understand Jesus. You see, Jesus is not making a self-comparison to the gate— I am the gate.

Nor is Jesus making any other kind of comparisons in the “I am” descriptions— comparisons to Bread, Light, a Door, a Good Shepherd, the Way, the Truth, the Life, the Vine. The important part of these statements is not the object of the sentence. It is the subject and verb— “I” and “am.”

You see, if we listened to these words with First Century ears, we would recognize right away that with the words “I am” Jesus is referring to Yahweh, God. Yahweh, the name of God in Hebrew, is a form of the verb “to be”— “I am.”

Indeed, Jesus claims “the gate” as a metaphor of self description but then says (quote:) “I came that you may have life and have it to the full.” Therefore, we also need to realize the way the people in the First Century within the Jewish tradition would understand that statement.

Jewish tradition says God gives life and gives it to the full. Put another way, Jesus is here addressing a relationship with God and also says God gives life.

That brings me back to what Freud called this phenomenon of “the narcissism of small differences.” As far as I can tell a lot of churches get caught up in what might loosely termed doctrinal differences. One of my favorite kind of things that happens is when someone asks you: “Have you found Jesus?” I want to say, “I did not know Jesus was lost.”

I also want to say, “We Christians claim God is Trinity. Did Jesus somehow become detached from the Trinity? Has the Holy Spirit also gone AWOL?”

In all seriousness, if someone asks about finding Jesus that’s narcissism. The question does not point to Jesus nor does it point to the individual this person is trying to engage.

The question is self referential. The question points only to the person asking the question. The person asking the question is seeking affirmation of what they believe. More troubling— the question, itself, separates Jesus from the Trinity.

Here’s where I stand: the claim that Jesus is the Messiah does not separate Jesus from God or from the Holy Spirit. The point of Trinity is that Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit are inseparably intertwined. That is, you see, both an impossible reality and an incredible and wonderful truth that we Christians claim: God is Trinity. (Slight pause.)

So, Jesus— Who is a part of Trinity— Jesus clearly taught God is inclusive, taught everyone is loved by God. The God of Trinity makes no claim that some are unwelcome, unclean, unacceptable. Therefore, the narcissism of small differences has no place with the God of Trinity. (Slight pause.)

True story: I recently heard someone say one person was directly related to them by blood but another person who had married into the family was not directly related by blood. Now, in this day of DNA testing, being related by blood and not being related by blood is meaningless. DNA testing proves we are all related in some way. (Slight pause.)

To quote John 17:21, we are all one. And so we believe God treasures each of us. We believe we that are all one together. And we all rely on the mercy of God— God Who is Trinity. Amen.

04/30/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE— It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Congregational Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Since Steve mentioned Millard Fuller I have to follow up on that because I heard him speak once and he addressed differences. He said the difference between us in the South— he was from Georgia— and you folks in the North is we know the way to say the name is Jesus. On a more serious note, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed the narcissism of small differences with these words: ‘We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly… We aren’t going to have peace on Earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.’”

BENEDICTION: Let us rejoice for Christ is risen. This service of worship is over but our service in the name of God continues outside these doors. 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.

04/23/2023 ~ Third Sunday of Easter ~ *Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/821287618

Explaining Scripture

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

I like to point out there is a difference between doctrine and dogma. Dogma is something someone tells you must be believed. Doctrine is an explanation of belief.

Given that, we congregationalists have no dogma. Nobody tells us what to believe. But we probably have more doctrine than any other tradition. We constantly strive to explain what we believe.

Over the course of my years as a pastor at Congregational churches I have, on occasion, used Affirmations of Faith, sometimes called a creed, in the course of a service. Some take Affirmations of Faith, creeds, as dogma— what you must believe. For us they should not be not dogma but explanations.

I do not often use a creed in a service but when I do I always use the Nicene Creed. Therefore and also on occasion, I have fielded this question. “Why do you use the Nicene Creed and not the Apostles’ Creed?” (Slight pause.)

As far as anyone can tell, no Apostle had a hand in or even heard of the Apostles’ Creed. It was written a long, long time after the Apostles were alive and a long, long time after the Nicene Creed was created.

The earliest trace of anything called the Apostles’ Creed is found about 700 years after the Resurrection in what we today call France. So, why was the Apostles’ Creed ever even used?

Charlemagne ruled the Holy Roman Empire, which included what we today call France, from the year 800 to the year 814 of the Common Era. This emperor insisted it must be used throughout the Empire— the Apostles’ Creed must be used throughout the Empire.

That creed was only about 100 years old at that point but perhaps Charlemagne didn’t know that. And back then it was not unusual for monarchs to have power in church matters across the realm over which they held control.

In short, the Apostles’ Creed is a product of Europe, the West. It has never been used in Eastern Orthodox Churches, churches outside of Charlemagne’s influence.

To elaborate on the origins of Nicene Creed just a little, it was put together by a church council which met in the city of Nicaea in what is today Turkey in the year 325 of the Common Era. So, why bring up all this about church creeds?

Among all the Gospels, Luke is the best at telling stories. We are enthralled by them, especially by the story of the Road to Emmaus. In it we encounter two travelers Jesus and return to where the disciples are gathered. They hear these words: “Christ has risen! It is true! Jesus has appeared to Simon!” That is a creed.

These words reflect what Paul writes thirty plus years before Luke is composed. And what Paul records probably pre-dates even Paul’s own writings. So it’s likely this restates the earliest known Christian belief, creed, Affirmation of Faith. (Slight pause.)

And yes, we do find these words in the work known as Luke: “They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while Jesus was talking to us on the road, explaining the Scripture to us?’” (Slight pause.)

This is an obvious statement. In the year 2023 of the Common Era it can be hard to understand stories written 2,000 years ago. We hear this question, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place…?” Our brains then play a trick on us. We might wonder ‘did this person not read the newspaper headlines that morning?’

But this story in Luke, the Gospel which happens to be the very best at story telling, is not meant to record history, report facts. Additionally, when reading any part of Scripture it is at best unwise to ask, ‘what does the story say? What are the facts?’

Instead we always need to ask a ‘what does the story mean?’ And this story very specifically asks ‘what does the resurrection mean?’

Now, paradoxically, I need follow all that up with a pertinent fact from the story. It’s said the village of Emmaus is seven miles from Jerusalem.

However, Biblical historians have never been able to find any trace of an ancient town with the name Emmaus. Those who first heard the story probably knew that.

Thereby the story, itself, says it’s not about facts; it’s about meaning. Because of this obvious fabrication the story, itself, asks ‘what does the resurrection mean?’ It essentially makes that claim when it says Jesus explained the Scripture to these travelers (quote:) “…beginning with Moses and all the prophets,…”? (Slight pause.)

Here’s one more obvious statement. The only Scripture Jesus knew is what we call the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament. When the early Christians saw or heard the words ‘Moses and the prophets’ they would have known this meant the Torah and the Prophets, the only Scripture Jesus knew.

And so what does the only Scripture Jesus knew mean? Not what does it say; what does it mean? How can it be summed up? (Slight pause.) The Hebrew Scripture insists God loves us and God wants to be in covenant with us— God loves us and God wants to be in covenant with us. (Slight pause.)

Sometimes people say I refer to the covenant of God often. Well, one reason I do that is scholars tell us there are at least 12 signs of the covenant in the Hebrew Scripture— signs of the covenant with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, with David, with the Priests. It goes on and on. And again, the only Bible Jesus knew is about covenant— that’s it; that’s all; case closed— covenant. (Slight pause.)

Now, the skeptical among you might say but what Jesus explained had to do with the Messiah, had to do with the resurrection. That’s not about covenant.

My take on this is simple. The resurrected Jesus is yet another a sign of the covenant. There is no way Jesus explained the Scripture about the Messiah without addressing the covenant.

And why do I say the resurrected Jesus is a sign of the covenant? Here’s one reason right from this reading. “Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them…. and they recognized Jesus…”

When we celebrate Communion these days the words we use insist the sacrament is a sign of the new covenant. The resurrection is a sign of the covenant. (Slight pause.)

All that brings me back to Affirmations of Faith, what some commonly call creeds. I maintain statements of faith are not a list of what we have to believe, although many people take them that way.

Rather, I say Affirmations of Faith are a description, an explanation of God. Therefore, if you ask me what I believe about the reality of God— not a description or an explanation of God but what I believe about the reality of God— this is what I say: God loves us and wants to covenant with us.

And I believe the resurrection of Jesus is yet another a sign of the reality of that covenant. I would also suggest it is only in the light of the resurrection the very idea of covenant found in the Hebrew Scriptures can fully make sense. (Slight pause.)

There is one more layer here, as if I haven’t dug enough already. Covenant also means God loves us unconditionally. What is unconditional love about? Unconditional love is about heart, emotion. So unconditional love encompasses forgiveness, joy, peace, hope, freedom, equity.

Here is where I stand— this covenant, this forgiveness, joy, peace, hope, freedom, equity and the unconditional love of covenant— in both the Hebrew Scriptures and in the New Testament— are central to Who God is. Therefore, these are the blessings of the covenant: forgiveness, joy, peace, hope, freedom, equity and unconditional love. Amen.

04/23/2023
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 have said this here before: creeds may sound like they are about the head, the intellect. But they are really about the heart, emotion. When we translate the Latin words of the Nicene Creed, Credo in unum Deum, we usually translate them as ‘I believe in one God.’ But a better understanding of what the Latin implies says it this way: I give my heart to one God. And yes, God loves us. God gives God’s own heart to us.”

BENEDICTION: Let us serve the world in the name of Christ. Let the love of Christ find expression in us. And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.

04/16/2023 ~ Second Sunday of Easter ~ *Acts 2:14a, 22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9;
John 20:19-31 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/818796095

Abba, God

“Blessed be Abba, God of our Savior, Jesus, the Christ, who with great mercy gave us a new birth: a birth into a living hope which draws its life from the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, from the dead;…” — 1 Peter 1:3.

On April 13, 1970, 53 years and 3 days ago, the Apollo 13 mission, on its way to the moon, was rocked by an onboard explosion. The command module went dark. Astronaut Jim Lovell radioed mission control: “Houston, we have a problem.”

And so, “Houston, we have a problem” became a cultural touchstone. Books, movies, sportscasters, politicians, plays, novels, use or paraphrase these words as shorthand for saying something has gone terribly awry.

Except… except… astronaut Jim Lovell did not say that. No astronaut on Apollo 13 used those specific words, “Houston, we have a problem.” So, that is not just one of the all-time great misquotes. It is a cultural myth.

First and to be accurate, astronaut Jack Swigert, not Jim Lovell, did say something. But what was actually said was a little more prosaic. (Quote:) “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.”

Now, that’s not a big difference. But it is different. As I said— more prosaic. It’s slower and in a different tense. So from where did the idea that Jim Lovell said “Houston, we have a problem” originate? (Slight pause.)

If you guessed from the movies you would be both right and wrong. In the movie Apollo 13 Lovell was played by Tom Hanks. With Hanks playing that part, no other actor would be allowed to say it. This was certainly one way the world became infected with one of the most used catchphrases ever.

In explaining the change, William Broyles, Apollo 13 screen writer insisted you can’t say something has happened. If it has happened it’s over, done. That may be true but it’s not dramatic. This was a suspense movie. Suspense needs to be continual.

But also in 1983 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, used “Houston, we have a problem” as the title of its weekly program about… space history. So not just the movies are to blame. It’s NASA, itself. (Slight pause.)

There are all kinds of cultural myths, things into which the culture buys, things to which we become emotionally tied, which are simply not true. And yes, the culture imposes all kinds of myths on Christianity.

Here’s an example. The iconic image of the cross widely used in and by the culture has a central vertical beam transected by a horizontal beam about a third of the way down— like this one in front of the pulpit. (The pastor points to a cross.)

But crosses Romans used had a different construction than this common symbol. The cross on which Jesus was executed probably looked like a capital ‘T’— a vertical element with a horizontal beam on top. Executioners would tie a victim to a beam and then raise the person being murdered to the top of a pole already in the ground.

Here’s another myth along the same lines. Rumor to the contrary, the cross was not a symbol used by early Christians.

The archeological record says the symbol of a cross was virtually non-existent before the mid-fourth Century of the Common Era. And depictions of Jesus on a cross did not occur with regularity until the 6th century. When these images first appeared, the Christ was depicted as a monarch dressed in royal garb— Christus Rex— and levitating off the cross so it looked like Jesus was not nailed to the cross.

In short, it’s 400 years into the Christian era before the image of a cross becomes common and 600 years before the crucifix— a cross with a body— becomes common. And then it is at least another 100 to 200 years before a partially naked, blood soaked body on a cross, an image often seen today, becomes common.

But myths— myths meaning falsehoods in this case— myths imposed by a culture long after New Testament times insisted the image of a cross should be paramount. That might lead us to question what other cultural icons we still use today have no relation to how things looked and were looked at when Christianity first took hold. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in First Peter: “Blessed be Abba, God of our Savior, Jesus, the Christ, who with great mercy gave us a new birth: a birth into a living hope which draws its life from the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, from the dead;…”

First Peter is one of the so called ‘general epistles,’ not attributed to Paul, not addressed to a particular church. One commentary says this letter is written for churches alienated from the surrounding society.

Put differently, this is clear: the early church is a counter-cultural church. The early church does not buy into the dominant culture of Rome, does not buy into imposed cultural myths.

Now, an older translation for this passage says (quote:) “Blessed be the God and Father of Jesus Christ.” But if the churches to which this letter was sent did not buy into the dominant culture, did not acquiesce to imposed cultural myths, they would never have referred to God as Father.

Why? Only the dominant culture of the era, the Romans, would have referred to God as Father. God referred to as father was a common reference used with the pagan god of Roman culture, Jupiter.

Further, you can search all of Scripture and you will not find God referred to as “Father” in the original languages anywhere in Scripture. To call God Father is simply an imposition of Roman pagan culture on Christianity.

Jesus does, however, call God Abba, which means “Daddy.” This is and is meant to be an intimate term, a term which stresses relationship.

All that brings me to some the key questions raised by this reading. Who is Abba, God? And what does Abba, God have to do with resurrection? (Slight pause.)

Well, having said God is relational, let’s take that a step further. In the Congregational tradition we often use the term covenant. Covenant is meant to have familial, relational understandings, meanings.

Since God is a God of covenant, the claim made in Scripture and by our predecessors is simple. God adopts us as God’s own— a relational concept. (Slight pause.)

I want to unpack all that because I want to illustrate that this epistle is, in its own way, quite counter-cultural. So let’s turn to the words Savior and salvation both used in this passage.

At the beginning of this reading the word Savior is applied to Jesus. But we need to realize Savior is not an exclusively Christian term. Savior is applied to God in the Hebrew Scriptures constantly. Hence, in using this term, the relationship of Jesus and God is here intertwined in an intimate way.

Now, turning to the word salvation, it has a very specific meaning in the context of Scripture. And this passage says (quote:) “…you are receiving the outcome of your faith— salvation.” In the context of Scripture salvation means freedom.

This is no secret: the dominant cultures in many societies oppress specific groups. Hence, throughout history oppressed groups have turned to this and other passages in Scripture as they seek an understanding of themselves and who they are called to be by God, despite the oppression imposed on them. I don’t presume for a minute I need to name for you the groups who have been outcast, oppressed in our society, our culture.

This passage, therefore, offers a very specific, very direct message. The resurrected Jesus is a sign from God that the promises of God are real. This passage says the freedom God offers is real, that God wants to be in an intimate relationship with us.

Additionally, this relationship is not a transaction, something paid for, bought. That a relationship with God can be relegated to a transaction is, I believe, a cultural imposition placed on Christianity.

And the culture, our culture, thinks there is a cost for everything. Everything can be bought or sold. But this passage tells us God willingly, freely, graciously wants to be in relationship with us now and forever. In short, this passage is counter-cultural.

How do I know we Christians are or at least should strive to be counter cultural? Well, the last time I looked we believe, we trust that God— God and no one else— offers freedom. We believe, we trust, that peace is possible, hope is real, joy abounds, love lasts forever. And we believe God gives all this to us freely. No transaction is involved.

Indeed, the last time I looked that kind of trust— trust in the realities of freedom, peace, hope, joy and love— is in short supply in the culture around us. Therefore, by definition, I’d say we Christians are or should be counter cultural. That us because we believe there are no strings attached to the freedom, hope, peace, joy and the love of God. Amen.

04/16/2023
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: “When it comes to being counter cultural, we live in a society that both functions in a top-down manner and seeks top down leadership. We constantly ask ‘who will lead us?’ But we congregationalists think bottom up is the way things should be. We believe leadership comes from the bottom up. So even if we do not acknowledge it we are, by definition, counter cultural.”

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

04/09/2023 ~ Resurrection of the Christ ~ Easter Day ~ *Acts 10:34-43 or Jeremiah 31:1-6; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Colossians 3:1-4 or Acts 10:34-43; John 20:1-18 or Matthew 28:1-10 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701

Everything Has Changed

“…Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go— and tell the disciples to go to Galilee where they will see me.’” — Matthew 28:10.

She had been running a long time. Mary wasn’t quite sure how long, but she knew the muscles in her legs were beginning to scream in pain. Each breath she took seared her lungs.

Behind her, she could hear her friend shouting at her to wait, to stop. Even though she was tall, lean and athletic, her nineteen year old body had limits.

She knew it was time to slow down. She had to stop. Besides, the dusty road was mostly uphill in this section. It made running harder.

She came to a halt near a boulder which was just the right size to sit on. So she sat on it, deciding she would wait there for the other Mary. She gazed down at the valley below. The very height of the road meant she could see its whole expanse.

She let her mind wander a little as she reflected on what she had seen, heard and felt this early spring morning. This filled her innermost reaches with confusion, amazement, pain, joy and fear simultaneously. So she sat still, silent, on the rock gasping for air, waiting for the woman she fondly called Mags, even though her real name was Mary.

Everyone she knew called the other Mary — “Mags,” because she was from the town of Magdala. Besides, even though the two Marys were very close friends, when they gathered with a group it made things much easier if one of them was called Mags and the other Mary.

It did not take long before Mags approached. She came at a sure, steady pace, her face flushed, her eyes intent, breathing heavily. She would not win a foot race between the two. She was shorter, squatter, older than Mary. She was also more emotionally volatile, more intense, more given to grand gestures than her younger companion.

“I shouted! I told you to stop! Did you not hear me?” Mags glowered at her younger friend.

Mary simply nodded. “We needed to recover,” she said, her own breathing still labored, intense, “So I stopped.” (Slight pause.) “Sit,” she said, taping the top of the bolder with her palm.

Mags sat down on the rock next to her younger friend. “Yes, I’ll sit for a little.” The face of relief Mags presented told Mary she welcomed the respite. Still, she insisted, “But we also need to find the others as quickly as possible.”

“I don’t think they will be hard to find, Mags. My guess is they still haven’t left the upper room.”

Mags turned toward Mary with a quizzical look on her face. “What should we say to them? How can we explain this?” Then she suddenly realized where they were and pointed to the hill across the valley. “Look!”

Mary looked up. They were directly across the valley from the place called Golgotha, the skull and many crosses were visible. The cross was, of course, the method of execution employed by the Romans.

The Romans probably killed several dozen Jews with this method every week. Those in the know, those with political savvy sometimes said it had been a slow year when it came to executions. It was not the kind of thing often mentioned out loud, but the reality was the occupying army from Rome was responsible for killing, executing at least several thousand men and women each year.

It had been many years since the hoards of infantry from the far off land called Rome had invaded. Only a relatively small contingent of the army remained. Their numbers were large enough to keep the peace, not large enough to provide real security for the people.

Looting of neighborhoods by marauding gangs was commonplace. It was unwise to travel any major thoroughfare after dusk. Roadside robbery was a fact of life.

The limited number of Romans was able to maintain this balance between peace and security by deftly collaborating with the local government run by Herod. Herod was a Jew, but held in contempt by most of the people.

The Roman crosses on the far side of the hill reminded the women what they had seen just three days ago. (Slight pause.) They saw their friend… die. They watched while others had fled. They were with him till the end.

His name was Yeshuah, Jesus in the Greek. The name means ‘God saves.’ And that’s what they thought every time they saw him–– ‘God saves.’ That’s what they thought they saw in him–– ‘God saves.’

Because of Jesus they had confidence— hope— that the dominion of God could be and was present, real— that the peace, justice and equity of God might have a place in society. (Pause.) Then… they watched… as Jesus… died. (Slight pause.)

The reality of the death, the murder, the execution of Jesus by the Romans was still present with them this very morning as they made their way to the tomb. (Slight pause.) Magdala started to cry.

“Mags! Mags! Are you all right?”

“Oh, yes. I’m fine. It’s just, you know, I get so emotional. It’s what the rabbi said to us this morning. ‘Do not be afraid.’ But I am afraid. And I am happy.”

“I really don’t know what to do or how to explain what’s happened or what to say. What are we to tell our friends?”

Mary turned toward Magdala and hugged her tightly. She felt tears dripping down her own cheeks.

She whispered, “Maybe we should just say what we felt, our experience. We can try to say what it meant for us. We can try to say what it meant to us. ”

Her voice got stronger. “The truth is Yeshuah was there, was with us, spoke to us. It wasn’t a dream. No matter what we saw on that hill over there with those crosses, we know Yeshuah is alive.” (Slight pause.)

“We know the hope God promised is reality. Faith, trust, love matters. We knew the truth of this all along. We knew the promises of God were real. And yet, it’s as if right now everything has changed. It’s not what it was before. Somehow we can touch, taste, see, smell, feel it.” (Slight pause.)

They stood. And there on the road and held one another and cried. (Pause.) Finally, they let go. Mags reached up and wiped the tears off Mary’s face. Mary reached down and wiped the tears off Mags’ face.

“Well,” said Mary, “what should we do?”

“I think we had better go and find the others.” (Slight pause.) “But I think you’d better go at my pace,” said Mags. “We need to do this together.”

They started down the road toward the town. “I could be wrong,” said Mary “but I think maybe that’s part of what this is about. We are all, indeed, together. God is with us… all.” (Pause.) Amen.

04/09/2023 ~ 10:00 a.m. Easter Sunday, the Feast of the Resurrection
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “I need to say two things: first, in Aramaic, which would have been spoken in Roman Judea in New Testament times, to be saved meant to be made alive. Second, I want to suggest to merely say ‘Happy Easter’ is not a Christian sentiment. So, let me propose this: if someone walks up to you today and says, ‘Happy Easter’ smile and say, ‘Christ is risen.’ That is, you see, the Christian sentiment.”

BENEDICTION AND EASTER ACCLAMATION
May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the love of Christ, Jesus, and in the knowledge of the Holy Spirit this day and forever. And please join with me in the Easter Acclamation.

ONE: Rejoice, people of God! Christ is risen from the dead! Go in peace to love and serve God. Christ is with you always. Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
MANY: Christ is risen, indeed. Alleluia!