localpastor

October 30, 2022 ~ Proper 26 ~ Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost (If All Saints not observed on this day) Celebrated in Some Traditions as Reformation Sunday ~ Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; Psalm 119:137-144 Isaiah 1:10-18; Psalm 32:1-7; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12; Luke 19:1-10 ~ Note: November 1, 2022 ~ All Saints Day ~ Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18; Psalm 149; Ephesians 1:11-23; Luke 6:20-31 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/766119603

Systems 101

“Cease to do evil, / learn to do good; / search for and seek justice, / rescue, help the oppressed; / defend and protect those who are orphaned; / plead the case of those who are widowed.” — Isaiah 1:16c-17.

I suspect all of us take note of milestones in personal life, private events. And we also take note of milestones when it comes to societal life, public events, public life. We celebrate these markers in some way.

Corporate, public milestones get celebrated in a universal way, observed by a whole community— a Fourth of July parade, a remembrance of the observance of 9/11. There may be very private aspects to these public observances but they are communal.

Other milestones can only be described as very private, very personal, most often observed only by an individual or family members or close friends. Both of these kinds of milestones, the public and the private, each also break into two categories. There are events we celebrate with joy and events we observe with solemnity.

Among the private events we observe with joy are wedding anniversaries and birthdays. The private observances we mark with reserve and solemnity might include marking the anniversary of the date on which a close friend or relative died.

In our history, the history of this country, there have been many points of public distress. These range from the attack on Pearl Harbor to the assassination of Kennedy to the tragedy of 9/11. And there have been events we observe filled with joy— V.E. and V.J. day, when the astronauts landed on the moon, when the Red Sox won the Word Series. (Did I say that out loud?)

Needless to say, the further into the past we go, the less likely an event is to stir our emotions, however significant. After all, when was the last time we observed the date of the assassination of Lincoln? April the 15th if anyone is interested.

The more recent the event, the more fixed it is in current memory, the more personal it becomes. Therefore, even though these events, especially the recent ones, are observed in a public way, the personal pain of these memories bring is real.

It is likely the most private person among us participates in public moments, public markings and the most public person among us experiences private moments, private markings. That there is a tension between public and private cannot be denied.

Late this week I will observe a hard personal anniversary. It is the thirtieth-ninth anniversary of my Mother’s death. She died at a young age as those things go, 58.

Further, she died because of cancer of the bladder which, even that long ago, took only about ten percent of those who dealt with it. She was simply in the wrong group, not the ninety percent who survive but among the ten percent who don’t make it.

There is no denying this: the fact that she died young and that the disease takes a small segment of those who contract it does not feel fair. She died before I met Bonnie so she never met Bonnie. Bonnie never met her.

There are days I still feel some personal pain about this. It leaves me asking the question ‘is there, was there anything just in that?’ (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah: “Cease to do evil, / learn to do good; / search for and seek justice, / rescue, help the oppressed; / defend and protect those who are orphaned; / plead the case of those who are widowed.” (Pause.)

The words of the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah are written over the course of nearly 300 years between the late Eight Century and the mid Fifth Century Before the Common Era. Scholars think there are two or even three prophets recorded in the scroll. They do have an argument about that— two or three.

But there is no argument about the overarching thrust of the scroll. Isaiah addresses justice. So, what is justice?

What does it mean to do justice, see justice, experience justice, seek justice? Is any kind of justice— personal or public justice— real, attainable? And what is the tension among these, personal and public? (Pause.)

I’ll come back to those questions in just a bit. I just want to take a little journey somewhere else. I called this sermon Systems 101. Why?

If you go to a typical undergraduate class in systems this is the first rule you will learn: there is no such thing as a perfect system. It does not exist.

Equally, if you do a Master of Divinity Degree a required course will be Systematic Theology. Obviously, there is a problem with giving a course the title of Systematic Theology. There is no such thing as a perfect system.

However, I did not say ‘there is no such thing as a system.’ Systems exist— hence Systematic Theology— and systems are necessary, helpful and serve us quite well.

The job of anarchy and an anarchist is to abolish and/or obstruct systems. The last time I looked neither anarchy nor anarchists serve anyone except those who enjoy wallowing in chaos— no, thank you— not my cup of tea.

So again and to reiterate, every system has a flaw, probably many. That brings me back to what I believe is the key issue this passage presents: there is a tension between our private needs and our public needs between private joy and public joy, between private pain and public pain.

We do have private needs, private joy, private pain. We do have public needs, public joy, public pain. It seems to me all these— needs and joy and pain— are inexorably intertwined.

So, if a perfect system cannot be constructed— and I don’t think it can because joy and needs and pain all tug at one another— if a perfect system cannot be constructed what is justice?

Or as I asked earlier, what does it mean to do justice, see justice, experience justice, seek justice? Is any kind of justice real or attainable? Is justice personal, private public, communal? (Slight pause.) Hard questions, these. (Slight pause.)

I think we make a basic mistake in our perception of justice. We perceive justice as an end, understand justice as a result. That’s where the words from this passage are instructive.

For me the passage has a clear outline of what justice is about. Justice takes action; justice moves. Justice is, therefore, both for each of us and for all people. But of upmost importance, justice is a process, not an end. (Quote:) “Cease to do evil, / learn to do good; / search for and seek justice, / rescue, help the oppressed….” (Slight pause.)

That brings me back to my mother and what she taught me about how justice really functions. We lived in Brooklyn, New York— the 1950s mean streets of Brooklyn. When I was about seven I saw a mugging take place outside the front window of the house. I was the only one there watching.

Well, I ran and got my Mom. She rushed into the street. She was all of five foot two but shouted so loudly the attacker ran off. She brought the victim, a woman who was probably in her seventies, back into the house and called the police. (Slight pause.)

Action, you see, shifts our focus. Action takes the focus off us and places it on anyone who is denied justice. And action helps us realize that if any one person is denied justice, then we are all denied justice.

To be clear: action does not remove pain. Action, if anything, makes us more aware of pain, ours and others. Action does not eliminate need. Action, if anything, makes us more aware of need, ours and others.

I think these words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. sum up where we need to be in our struggle seeking justice. (Quote:) “I have not lost faith. I am not in despair, because I know there is a moral order. I haven’t lost faith, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I would add the arc of the moral universe invites us to action. Amen.

10/30/2022
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE— It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction and Response. This is an précis of what was said: “When the reading from Isaiah was introduced you heard it said that for the prophets sin means corporate sin, the sin of the community. The only remedy for corporate, communal sin is communal justice— justice for all people. What is justice for all? These are much more current words, a quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt (quote): ‘The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.’”

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

10/23/2022 ~ Proper 25 ~ 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost ~ Joel 2:23-32; Psalm 65; Sirach 35:12-17 or Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22; Psalm 84:1-7; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/764172185

Recognizing the Spirit

“I will pour out my spirit / on all flesh, on all humankind; / your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, / your elders, all of them, / shall have prophetic dreams, / and your young people shall see visions…” — Joel 2:28b.

I’m going to dip into some of my theater background today. I hope it doesn’t boor too many folks. Konstantin Stanislavski was a Russian actor and director of plays who lived from 1863 to 1938. He is probably not widely known outside of theater circles but his name is important to theater professionals.

It is likely most people have heard about what Stanislavski did. He invented the ‘Method System’ of acting. This system has and has had such famous adherents as Marlon Brando, Anne Bankcroft, Robert De Niro, Nicole Kidman, Paul Newman and Cate Blanchett to name but a few.

The method invites actors to build a character from the outside in and then again from the inside out. The system expects an actor to delve into a character’s psychology, class, education, behavior, familial life, spiritual life to understand and to engage completely the soul of a character before a word is spoken. Stanislavski described ‘The Method’ as ‘Spiritual Realism’— Spiritual Realism.

Once of my mentors in theater, Louis Simon, actually studied with Stanislavski in Moscow. Simon was near seventy when I met him. A Jewish boy who grew up in Salt Lake City surrounded by Mormons, he studied at Yale in the late 1920s just when the depression hit left for Russia, a letter of introduction to Stanislavski in his hand.

At that time the great director was the moving force behind the Moscow Art Theater. My friend never tired of telling about his first encounter with Stanislavski.

Louis presented his credential to a protective stage manager at the stage door and was told to sit in the last row of the theater, say nothing and just watch the rehearsal in progress. Stanislavski would find time for him at some point.

Now, the scene being rehearsed took place backstage at an American vaudeville show and called for a group of chorus girls to be gossiping among themselves. Having finished their dialogue, the chorines were then to dance out of the sight of the audience watching the real play in that Moscow theater and dance onto the unseen vaudeville stage, into the sight of another audience watching the vaudeville show.

Stanislavski, in pursuit of realism, realized these were supposed to be simple, young girls. So he instructed the actresses to chew gum as they spoke their lines.

But he also understood once they finished their dialogue, when they danced onto that other stage, they should not be chewing gum. After all, even if the audience for his play could not see the girls dance at this unseen vaudeville house, realism demanded the audience for whom they would be dancing could see them and they should not be chewing.

What befuddled Stanislavski is, if the actresses should be chewing gum how might they get rid of that gum before dancing onto this unseen stage? (Slight pause.)

Suddenly, Stanislavski turned toward the back of the theater and shouted: “Where is my American?” My friend, Louis, cautiously moved forward.

“You see what’s going on here?” Louis nodded. “They are chewing gum, as they should be, given who they are. But they can’t be doing that once they dance onto the vaudeville stage, yes?” Louis nodded again.

“You are an American, yes?” Louis nodded. “You have seen a little vaudeville, yes?” Louis nodded yet again. “How… would they get rid of the gum?”

Stanislavski, this stickler for realism, had built a backstage set that looked like a real backstage area. So, on one the side there was an entrance to that unseen vaudeville stage— the backstage side of a proscenium arch.

Thinking quickly, Louis jumped onto the stage, moved to the backstage side of the proscenium and pounded on it belt high. “Each of them must take the gum out of their mouth and stick it on the arch about here as they dance by,” he announced.

Louis had quickly sized up who these people were and, given what they needed to do, projected their likely action. He had simply thought it through, was present in the moment and, thereby, aware of what was necessary. (Slight pause.)

Stanislavski nodded appreciatively. “So, you have come to study with me, yes?” Louis nodded. “This… will be a fruitful time, I think,” said the Russian. There’s all kinds of theater history out there. (Slight pause.)

This is what we hear in Joel: “I will pour out my spirit / on all flesh, on all humankind; / your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, / your elders, all of them, / shall have prophetic dreams, / and your young people shall see visions…” (Slight pause.)

As Christians, we make all kinds of statements about the Spirit of God but there is one primary claim we make. In Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, God broke into the fabric of the existence of humanity in a special, specific way, broke into time in a way which helps us see the grace God offers.

The claim is simple. Christ lives. Christ is with us. The Spirit of God is present to humanity and the fullness of the reality of the Christ confirms this. But how can we, how do we, how are we able to be aware of that grace, that Spirit? (Slight pause.)

I take these words of the prophet Joel as a proclamation of the enduring grace God offers. Please remember what I said last week. From a Biblical prospective prophecy has nothing to do with foretelling the future. Prophecy is about sharing a word concerning a truth God offers to us now.

So the gist of the passage is clear. No matter how perilous the present moment, unforgiving judgment does not have the final Word. God’s final and gracious Word is one of hope and redemption and grace.

Still, this begs the question what should we being doing with that? (Slight pause.) I want to suggest my friend Louis Simon had it right in that encounter with Stanislavski. The first step— think the situation through.

Think things through from the outside in and then again from the inside out. But most importantly, think through the situation called life with God. Being aware that the Spirit of God is always present, we need to ask how is the Spirit a part of my life now, ask what does that feel like? (Slight pause.)

This is my take: the Spirit is available when we think things through in and with the Spirit. The Spirit enfolds us when we hope, when we praise, when we love. The Spirit becomes shrouded when we buy into fear, buy into anger, buy into distrust, buy into ignorance. In short, when we fail to think things through in and with the Spirit all we do is ignore the Spirit of God.

The late theologian Henri Nouwen writes that spiritual life means (quote): “the nurturing of the eternal amid the temporal, the lasting within the passing”— the lasting within the passing. (Slight pause.)

What lasts? How do we discover what lasts? I think we need to both be welcoming to the day, each and every day, and also be welcoming to the person next to us. We need live in the present moment fully, be present to one another, while acknowledging eternal life as promised by God as real. This I think is a spiritual path. (Slight pause.)

Today’s reading says God will pour out God’s own Spirit on us. I maintain the Spirt of God is with us now and is with us for eternity. I maintain the presence of the Spirit of God is a key message of the Gospel.

That message is clearly communicated by the resurrection. That message is made known to us in the living Christ. And remember, in quoting Joel, the message of Peter on Pentecost was the covenant of love promised by God lives because Christ lives.

I believe the challenge for us is not one of searching for the Spirit. The Spirit is with us. The challenge for us is doing the work— the psychological, educational, behavioral work for ourselves— which will lead us toward both being more aware of the presence of the Spirit of God and enhance our spiritual life as we find ways to cooperate with the Spirit of God, that Spirit of God which is always present to us.

And yes, all that is quite different than the spiritual realism of acting. On the other hand, all that does have to do with the work of self discovery, work I think is incumbent on us.

I call this true spiritual realism. True spiritual realism means doing the work which helps us be aware that the Spirit of God is present with us always. Amen.

10/23/2022
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 an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “I said this earlier in A Time for All Ages— the Hebrew word Ruach means Spirit and it means breadth. This juxtaposition should be a reminder to us that our belief is in a living God who is present to us. So last, let me repeat the thought for meditation offered by Richard Rhor:’Authentic spirituality is always about changing you. It is not about trying to change anyone else.’”

BENEDICTION: God stands by us to grant us support and strength. All who trust in God are strengthened and blessed. So, let us go on our way, proclaiming the Good News— that when we question and when we are open, that when we struggle to know God’s will and walk in God’s way, God will be our refuge. And may the face of God shine upon us; may the peace of Christ rule among us; may the fire of the Spirit burn within us this day and forevermore. Amen.

October 16, 2016 ~ Proper 24 ~ Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost ~ Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Jeremiah 31:27-34; Psalm 119:97-104; Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8 VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/761489113

An Old Concept: Forgiveness

“No longer shall they need to teach one another or remind one another to listen to Yahweh or to know Yahweh. All of them— high and low alike— from the least of them to the greatest shall all listen to me, says Yahweh; for I will forgive their misdeeds, their iniquity, and remember their transgressions no more.” — Jeremiah 31:34.

There are several points to be made about this reading. As you heard, it is a mistake is to give these words a preemptive Christian reading. That is what happens when the Prophet Jeremiah is interpreted as saying there is a difference between the Testaments and thereby a pointing toward a future Testament, something commonly done.

So this passage is not prophetic about the Christian era but is, rather, a call to renewal for the time in which it was written, right then, and for the people to whom it was written. Now, that presents an obvious question. Why does attaching the concept of this being a foretelling of the future, fail to be an accurate assessment?

The answer has several parts I’m afraid. First, anything we can rightfully label as prophecy in Scripture simply does not reference the future. That is not the purpose of true prophecy in Scripture. The purpose of prophecy is to address what God might be saying in a given and specific context— right then.

Biblical prophecy, by definition, speaks about God’s eternal truths, principles God holds dear, not the future. That means because prophecy is about truths, the words may speak to another era, may speak to another era with truth, but in no way foretell the events in another era. I know that’s going to be a shock to some of you but I’m addressing Biblical prophecy, not secular prophecy.

If that’s the case, this poses an obvious question. Why might people interpret Biblical Prophecy as a foretelling, a prediction? (Slight pause.)

Let me offer a story which could help explain why the idea that prophecy is a foretelling of the future is appealing. My story involves my father and one name you might know, especially if you are of a certain age, and another name you probably do not know or maybe do not know. So let me identify these folks who you may or may not know.

First: the name you might know— the comedian Jack Benny. Even though he died back in the 1970s Benny was and to a certain extent still is famous— a figure revered in the history of comedy and of broadcasting. If you do not know that name, please Google it. Benny, a master of comedic timing, had a radio program in the 1930s and 40s and a television program in the 50s and into the early the 60s.

His programs were described as a variety show that blended in sketch comedy. Among the troupe of players who participated in both the variety and the sketch comedy was a name you probably don’t know, or at least maybe don’t know, a singer/actor, an Irish tenor, who went by the name of Dennis Day.

Both my Father and Dennis Day were proud graduates of Manhattan College in the Bronx. And whenever Dennis appeared on the screen of our black and white television in the 1950s, my Dad would point at the TV and proudly say, “He’s a Manhattan graduate.”

As a kid I remember thinking, “Why does he say that every time he sees Dennis Day? And what does it mean?” All these years later I think I can tell you what it means, or at least I think I can tell you what I think my father was trying to say.

Dennis Day— he’s a member of my tribe. I’m a member of Dennis Day’s tribe. We have a real connection. We belong to the same tribe. (Slight pause.)

Tribal connections do not need to make any logical sense. Tribal connections, this wanting to be connected with others, with those who you think might be in the same tribe as you are, tribalism is a visceral, emotional response.

And I think some people who do make this kind of connection between the Testaments do so because they see these words in Jeremiah as to make that tribal connection with the New. So the claim is made that the words foretell events in the future.

This tribal, visceral, emotional connection, a connection combined with the foretelling concept says, “Look! The Prophet is pointing to the future and to my tribe! Of course, the downside of insisting on this type of tribal connection is, by implication, it claims that the old is not a part of your tribe. It says, by the way, therefore, that the old is of lesser value.

But the God of the Jeremiah and the Hebrew Scriptures is the God to whom Jesus prayed. The God of the Hebrew Scriptures is a part of the tribe of Jesus. So even implying this separation between the Testaments, no matter how visceral, how emotional that claim might feel, is an assertion which rests on quicksand.

To be clear, I do not doubt there might be hundreds of reasons one could connect the words of Jeremiah with the New Testament other than tribalism. I might even be getting to some of those reasons. But what I am saying is a sense of tribal connection is probably high on that list of reasons the connections are made. Why?

Most of the time we don’t even consider tribal connections, don’t think about it. But it’s there, hidden. And we rarely or never think through visceral, emotional responses. It’s that cut and dry. (Slight pause.)

I need to make another point about this reading, as thick with meanings as it is. So let’s explore these words in a different way.

At one point it was a standard that a Seminary student would write a Master’s thesis. However, by the time I arrived on that scene, writing a thesis had become a rarity. But write one I did.

The topic of my thesis was about a sub-set of a topic within the Hebrew Scriptures and concerned an area called midrash, an ancient form of Jewish story telling. Midrash story telling is evident inside the Scripture. Midrash story telling is also seen outside Scripture in ancient Jewish literature.

Well, in the introduction of that thesis I felt it was important to address my justification for having the audacity to write about this topic. I explained I had grown up in New York City, a city which has the largest population of Jewish people in the world, larger than even Jerusalem. I also had many good friends who were Jewish and had even attended worship services at synagogues.

I suggested I was, as much as a Christian could be, at least familiar with Jewish culture, had some understanding of Jewish culture. And midrash— this story telling trait— was and is a part of Jewish culture. To add one other thing— I also studied Hebrew while I was in Seminary.

That background brings me to what we commonly call the Ten Commandments. These words should in no way be taken as commands. Both in the Hebrew language and in Jewish tradition, in Jewish culture, these are not known as the Ten Commandments. These are known as the Ten Words. In fact, in Hebrew there is no imperative tense, no command tense. Hard to give a commandment when you don’t have a tense in the language to do that.

Now as you know, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Pentateuch, are commonly called the Law. But that label— the Law— implies a strict set of rules. In Jewish tradition, in Jewish culture, the Law, is not thought of as rules or commands. The Pentateuch is thought of as teaching, instruction, a way to learn, a way of learning.

So the Law is not a set of rules but instruction. And in this reading, you have the Prophet Jeremiah recording Yahweh, God, as saying (quote:) “I will put my Law within them, in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts.”

So, what is the instruction heard here? What is it we need to learn? (Slight pause.)

(Quote:) “I will forgive their misdeeds, their iniquity, and remember their transgressions no more.” I will forgive their misdeeds, their iniquity, and remember their transgressions no more. Now that’s not law. That’s teaching. (Slight pause.)

Let me suggest the teaching here, what we need to learn, is forgiveness— especially forgiving one another. Why? (Quote:) “I will be their God; they shall be my people.”

And Who is God? God is a God who invites us to learn. God invites us to learn about peace— the real presence of God— about freedom, about joy, about liberty, about hope, about equity, about opportunity, about love. Who is this God? This is a forgiving God.

My take? That is a true prophecy. That is a principle God holds dear, an everlasting truth which can speak to us today. Amen.

10/16/2022
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 Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor wrote this in her book Bread of Angels (quote:) ‘But…’ I love that word— ‘but.’ Sometimes I think the whole gospel swings on that word— ‘I was lost but now I’m found, was lost but now I see.’ It means things can change. It means we do not always know everything there is to know. It means God can still teach us something.’ And that actually reflects what John Robinson, the pastor who sent the Pilgrims to these shores, said: God ‘hath more truth and light yet to break forth out of the holy Word.’”

BENEDICTION: God has made us partners in covenant. Let us truly be God’s people. Let us be guided by prayer, by study, by love, by justice. Let us continually praise the God of the universe who loves us. May our trust grow as we are empowered to do God’s work in this, God’s dominion. 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.

10/02/2022 ~ Proper 22 ~ 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Lamentations 1:1-6; Lamentations 3:19-26 or Psalm 137; Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; Psalm 37:1-9; 2 Timothy 1:1-14; Luke 17:5-10 ~ Communion Sunday ~ World Wide Communion Sunday ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/756452799

God and Jesus 101

“To Timothy, my beloved child: May grace, mercy and peace from God the Creator and Jesus, who is the Christ, and our Savior, be with you. I am grateful to God, I thank the God of my ancestors— whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did….” — 2 Timothy 1:2-3a.

You may get tired of hearing me say this: I am a baseball fan. I’ve been known to pull over to the side of the road and stop to watch a little league game.

Since I grew up in New York City and spent so much time in Maine, people will sometimes accuse me of rooting for the Yankees or the Mets or the Red Sox.

But my team, the team I rooted for, no longer exists. My team was the Brooklyn Dodgers. They left Brooklyn when I was nine. It broke my heart.

My childhood devotion to the Brooklyn Dodgers comes through inheritance. Yes, my Dad was a Dodgers fan and took me to games at Ebbets Field, the home of ‘dem bums.’ And yes, I saw Robinson, Hodges, Campanella, Reese in person, in the flesh.

But my Grandmother was the real fan. She would sit in front of the television watching a game and, good Catholic woman that she was, say the rosary praying for the Dodgers to win.

For her, the Yankees were scum. I know a lot of Red Sox fans think that. The Giants, the National League rivals of the Dodgers who played in the Bronx, weren’t scum because they were in the National league. They were merely unworthy. (Slight pause.)

This much is certain: our lineage and early childhood forms us in many ways. Hence, our likes, our dislikes the things we root for or against, are often just inherited. And those inherited likes and dislikes can be appropriate but they can also be inappropriate.

Inherited likes and dislikes make sense as appropriate only when and if we own those likes and dislikes for ourselves. We need to separate our like and dislikes from our parents, understand and work on them, think about them, think them through. That’s how I became a baseball fan, as opposed to a team fan.

Since I lost my team I stopped simply rooting and started to think about the game, study the game. I pay attention to things like does the catcher run toward first on an infield ground ball to back up in case of an overthrow? Do the infielders position themselves for a cutoff throw from the outfield. These are minor, hidden, textured, necessary, important aspects of the game.

People readily become fans. It’s easy. Being a fan does not demand much of anything except rooting— my team good, other team bad. A person doesn’t really have to know much to be a fan since the only thing they have to do is shout, “Yay my team!”

Being a fan of a game, as opposed to being a fan of a team, is a more demanding discipline. It insists a person not simply roots for a team but really studies, thinks about and knows a game. (Slight pause.)

It says this in Second Timothy: “To Timothy, my beloved child: May grace, mercy and peace from God the Creator and Jesus, who is the Christ, and our Savior, be with you. I am grateful to God, I thank the God of my ancestors— whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did….” (Slight pause.)

We are fairly certain Paul did not write these words. But the theology we find here is rock solid.

And perhaps that sound theology has to do with both what is inherited and what is owned. The writer indicates Timothy inherited the faith. Assuming Timothy agrees with what the writer says, Timothy also clearly owns it. How so?

We have in these words an appeal to the God of the ancestors, the God of Israel, the God worshiped by Lois and Eunice, mother and grandmother of Timothy. This is an indication of a lineage and heritage for Timothy, a history noted by the writer which goes back not just several generations but based on what the writer says, goes back to the God of Abraham and Sarah— Yahweh, God— God who is One.

Then we get a reference to Jesus, Who is the Christ, the Messiah of Yahweh, God. Hence, the classic question of the New Testament era is posed: ‘Who is this One called Jesus?’

The answer is actually in the text and comes with good news and bad news. The good news is the answer is in the text. The bad news is, unless we make the answer our own, as did the writer and Timothy, we probably won’t understand what is being said.

You see, if we simply root for Jesus, that requires minimal involvement on our part. We need to go beyond rooting, beyond merely saying “Yay, Jesus!” And that is what the writer and Timothy have done— gone beyond rooting.

The writer illustrates this in the passage (quote): “This grace was given to us in Christ, Jesus, before the ages began, before the beginning of time. It has now been revealed through the appearance of our Savior, Christ, Jesus,….”

So we not only get two of the three persons of the Trinity, God and Jesus, named, we get them named as co-existing from the beginning. Hence, what we have in this passage is not merely a matter of rooting for Jesus, as if Jesus just popped up yesterday.

The passage makes the connection with Yahweh, God and therefore also does not leave us with the impression that Yahweh, God, no longer matters because Jesus is now on the scene. So this is not just a basic explanation and a basic understanding of who Jesus is and who God is. This explains that the writer and by extension Timothy, they have thought this through and answered questions about who Jesus is and who God is for themselves.

In Christian circles ‘who is Jesus?’ is often asked. Jesus even asked the disciples “Who do you say that I am?”

We, today, need to hear this question with First Century ears. I think for those who lived in New Testament times the question being asked sounded like this. ‘If the God of the ancestors, the God to Whom Jesus prayed, Yahweh, is One, how does Jesus fit in since Yahweh, God, is One?’

The answer we get in this text— before the ages, before the beginning of time— this answer is much more textured and subtle than simply rooting for Jesus. Further, it’s clear the writer owns this textured, subtle idea and thinks Timothy does also.

Now, for us to own and grapple with this kind of textured, subtle concept— and when we read Scripture subtle, textured concepts are on nearly every page— for us to own and grapple with these ideas, is both a very basic chore and it is very hard. But this is clear: grappling with the relationship of God and Jesus goes beyond simply rooting.

I call these basics, this grappling, God and Jesus 101. Further, I want to suggest we cannot get to a place where we understanding the meanings of and in the New Testament unless we study and think and grapple with who God is and who Jesus is. Why? Because when we grapple with it, we make it our own. (Slight pause.)

Dan Smith, author of Pathway to Renewal says, this about how a church can be renewed: “A church seeking renewal must look beyond simply improving its programs and its building.… What’s renewed in a congregation… is the people’s own understanding of their relationship with God, their community and their sense of calling.” (Slight pause.)

I am grateful for the legacy of my Father and my Grandmother. I am grateful for the legacy of those who wrote the Hebrew Scriptures. I am grateful for the legacy of those who wrote the Christian Scriptures.

I am grateful for the legacy of the cloud of witnesses over millennia. Their study, work, devotion, grappling can be found in Christian history. I am grateful for the legacy of those who founded, who built and maintain this church, here in Harpswell.

Here is where I stand: unless I, personally, grapple with that legacy and make it my own, I am simply rooting. “Yay, Jesus!” “Yay, ancestors!” “Yay, Harpswell!” (Slight pause.)

Simply rooting does not work for the long run. So the challenge for us is obvious: are we willing to do the work to make the legacy which has been left to us our own? After all, if we do that well— if we study, work and grapple with the inheritance given to us— then the work we do will be our legacy.

How can we accomplish that? It can be accomplished if we make that inheritance our own and leave a legacy, a richness of faith and growth, to another generation, the next generation. Amen.

10/02/2022
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: “When I was in the Army I learned a useful word: ‘nomenclature.’ It means description. Every piece of Army equipment has a description label, a nomenclature label— the label actually uses that word: nomenclature— Army talk. I think a helpful question is this: ‘What is the Christian nomenclature of God?’ ‘How do we describe God?’ Islam, Judaism and Christianity are Monotheistic religions. But Christianity makes a subtle, textured claim for God. We claim there is one God, three Persons— Trinitarian Monotheism— or Monotheistic Trinitarianism. That nomenclature, that description is the Christian claim. For each of us to own, for ourselves, such a textured, subtle description of God requires study, reflection, work.”

BENEDICTION: May the gifts of God be rekindled within and among us. May our trust grow as we are empowered to do God’s work in this, God’s dominion. And may the peace of Christ which surpasses our understanding keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and companionship of God’s Spirit this day and forevermore. Amen.

09/25/2022 ~ Proper 21 ~ Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15; Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16; Amos 6:1a, 4-7; Psalm 146; 1 Timothy 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/754423552

Frightened

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

It’s likely that when someone says “New York” many people think “New York City.” Norwich, the New York location of the church I served for 23 years, is in New York State but it’s nowhere near New York City.

Norwich is in a rural area of the State. It is the county seat but it’s small, less than 7,000 souls. You have to go nearly an hour to hit a larger town.

Most of you know I grew up in the other New York, the City. And yes, New York City is really, really big. So life can be very different than it is in a rural area. But once I met Bonnie Scott this New York City native, a big city guy, decided moving to Maine was necessary.

Maine is a rural state, a state that does not even have a really big city. On a national ranking Portland is 519th in size. So, having moved to a rural state, I then moved to Norwich, a state with a couple of big cities but a whole lot of rural.

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

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

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

There are two corollaries to the fact that people are people are people. Pastors are pastors are pastors. Churches are churches are churches. This is true even when the pastors are called rabbis and the churches are called synagogues.

Rabbi Seth Goldstein wrote an article which I think illustrates that. Similar to myself, the Rabbi had a long term tenure at a congregation. Yes, synagogues are known as congregations.

In fact, congregation is a term found all over the Hebrew Scriptures. The Hebrew word we translate as congregation means a called-out assembly or a congregation. So if the place of worship is named synagogue or named church, we are talking about the same thing.

The title of Seth’s article was 10 Things I Have Learned About Serving as a Congregational Rabbi. I won’t repeat the list.

I’ll just to skip to some of the conclusions the Rabbi reached. Note: I have edited the words of the Rabbi a little but not a lot. First, as for those conclusions— first, said the Rabbi, first, I don’t want you to become a member of this congregation. I want you to become a friend, a part of a whole.

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

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

Next, I don’t want you to simply offer financial support as if that’s all that counts and the only thing that counts. Yes, we need money to turn on the lights, to pay for the heat— the annoying, practical and real stuff. But it’s essential for you to understand what your financial support does for the mission of this church, what it does for the community both inside this meeting house and beyond the walls.

Support needs to come from deep commitment, engagement, gratitude. Which is to say financial support should be a result of participation. But I also invite you to participate in our work here even if you never give a dime. Money can do a lot; it’s necessary. Commitment, your commitment, in any way you can, does more. (Slight pause.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let me be clear about this: being frightened is not anything like being involved. Being frightened means retreating into our own shell. Being frightened means being unaware of what’s around us. Being frightened means being detached from reality.

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

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

In fact, there’s nothing wrong with fine linen. But sometimes people do get detached from reality because of the trappings society offers.

Because of the trappings, because of the culture, because of fine linen, because of the society in which people live, distraction happens. Which is to say this story is not, is not a warning about what might happen in the afterlife.

It is, however, a threefold admonition. The admonitions are these: first, do not be afraid. Second, the trappings of our society may cloud your vision, if you let them.

And, if you let the trappings of our society cloud your vision, that has the possibility of making you afraid not of what might happen in the afterlife. It will make you afraid of reality. What reality? People are people are people.

Third and to reiterate, people are people are people. Love them. Treat them with respect, with equity.

When we forget that people are people are people who we need to love we have forgotten what a community, what a congregation is about. And a community, a congregation is a place where we can both transform and a place where each of us can be transformed. (Slight pause.)

Let me suggest a radical idea. Christianity is about being transformed each and every day. And that— transformation— is why we are invited by God, why we are called by God to be community. Amen.

09/25/2022
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE— It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction and response. This is a précis of what was said: “Theologian Richard Rohr (and we heard from him in our Thoughts for Meditation) has said ‘much of organized religion tends to be peopled by folks who have a mania for some ideal order. An ideal order is something which is not possible. The purpose of religion is not for the sake of social order. The purpose of religion is for the sake of divine union.’ Union with God and with one another is the point.”

BENEDICTION: There is a cost and there is a joy in discipleship. There is a cost and there is a joy in truly being church, in deeply loving one another. May the face of God shine upon us; may the peace of Christ rule among us; may the fire of the Spirit burn within us this day and forevermore. Amen.

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

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

September 18, 2022 ~ Proper 20 ~ Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost~ Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; Amos 8:4-7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/751671905

Pain

“Is there no balm in Gilead? / Is there no physician there? / Why, then, has the health of my people / not been attended to, restored?” — Jeremiah 8:22-9:1

I think most of you know I was ordained and hold my pastoral standing in the denomination known as the United Church of Christ. And as I think you also know being a pastor is not simply a second career for me but it’s more like a seventh career.

I get reminded of that career shift to pastor at a monthly meeting because, among my denominational responsibilities with the U.C.C., I am on my fourth go-around— I served three stints back in New York— I am on my fourth stint with an Association Committee on Ministry. Among other things this committee works with candidates for ordination.

On the committee I am currently an advisor to a candidate for ordained ministry. I have an expectation he will be ordained sometime in the Spring. Why?

He has completed nearly everything my Association requires. The only pieces remaining are an ordination paper and an ecclesiastical council at an Association meeting. Approval for ordination is granted only at an ecclesiastical council at a full meeting of an Association.

This means he has finished his 90 credit Master of Divinity Degree, experienced a mentored practice with an ordained pastor, done psychological testing, completed Clinical Pastoral Education— CPE. What exactly is CPE?

CPE encompasses 400 hours of class work and supervised field work. The field work is usually done at a hospital, jail or hospice setting. The person effectively works as a chaplain at one of these settings. 400 hours of work is equivalent to a full semester of upper level education.

These kinds of requirements are not exclusive to the United Church of Christ. While there are exceptions, generally these and/or similar and/or alternative requirements tend to be what many pastors in Main Line churches need to accomplish before ordination.

In denominations with a Congregational way of doing things, which would include American Baptists, the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, the one of this church and the United Church of Christ, each individual Association in those denominations set the criteria. Therefore, precise requirements may vary greatly. I happen to have served in three Associations which required everything I outlined.

Some change is, however, taking shape in the degree work requirement. In part this is because there are many tiny churches— not small churches, tiny churches— who cannot afford the cost a pastor with a full blown Seminary education. So denominations are organizing alternative educational tracks to ordination.

These tracks are still rigorous but not as rigorous. Candidates who take these paths to ordination are likely to be called, usually very part time, to these tiny churches.

Well, the work I do with the candidate I’m mentoring has reminded me of my own journey through the process. First Parish in Brunswick sent me to Seminary, so my mentor was here in Southern Maine. But I was at Bangor Seminary, 100+ miles north.

So I sometimes made an intentional trip South just to see that mentor. But I also constantly wrote letters, reported to the committee about my progress at Seminary, about supply preaching assignments, about any issues I felt arose on my journey.

Put another way, this was and needed to be a two way street. I needed to be proactive in my contacts with the Association and my mentor. In turn the Committee and my mentor needed to be in contact with me. It’s a process. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the Scroll of the Prophet Jeremiah: “Is there no balm in Gilead? / Is there no physician there? / Why, then, has the health of my people / not been attended to, restored?” (Slight pause.)

One of the key things to which we need to pay close attention in this reading is ‘who says what?’ What does God say? What does Jeremiah say?

The vast majority of the words we hear in this passage— mostly a lament and we get a lot of that— is venting by the prophet. Jeremiah is an expert at venting.

This is not to say the anguish expressed is unwarranted. The pain we hear is real. The venting leads to the famous, poetic plea to God which asks why there is no balm available, asks God about the lack of a physician in the land.

But we do have to read the passage carefully. When read carefully we then realize Yahweh, God, makes just one statement. “Why do they provoke me to anger / with their graven images, / with their carved images / with their useless foreign gods?” (Slight pause.)

I need to say two things about what God is portrayed as saying. First, this is clearly a compassionate God. Despite what the Prophet intones about no balm or physician, God is not absent. God is real. God is present.
In fact God grieves, is in pain, over the plight of the people who face both drought and the threat of an invading army. And God is also in pain that Israel has broken the covenant relationship by worshiping false gods.

So in these words we discover God is not an impassive deity. God is not a distant deity. Yahweh feels the anguish of the people for and about whom the prophet speaks.

Yes indeed, God feels aguish over the faithlessness of Israel. But at the same time God loves these people deeply and cannot abandon the community. God walks with these people no matter what the circumstance, no matter what happens.

There is a second thing to be said about the words of Yahweh, God. God throws the ball back into the court of the community. Since God directs the question about graven images, carved images, foreign gods at Jeremiah and not at the people God is asking a question about the people. Hence, what is left open by God is the people might turn toward God, might work with God. (Slight pause.)

Let me take very different tact here in terms of explaination. I am a baseball fan. Back in 1962 a new team came into existence— the hapless 1962 New York Mets. No team has ever lost more games in one season— 120 to be percise. One Charles Dillon Stengel— “Casey” Stengel— their first manager, famously said about that atrocious team: “Can’t anyone here play this game?”

I hope you won’t find the comparison too blasphemous if I suggest that is exactly what God is saying to the people. “Can’t anyone here do this?” “Can’t anyone here be attentive?” “Can’t anyone here be proactive?”

“Can’t anyone here cooperate?” “Can’t anyone here do the work to which I call them?” “Can’t anyone here discern my will?” “Can’t anyone here love?” “Can’t anyone here keep covenant?” (Slight pause.)

All that brings me back to my own journey to ordination and ministry. This is a sometimes ignored truth: human civilization was born of cooperation, people working with people. Being proactive and interacting as I did, is a necessary human trait.

If one is a candidate for ministry that person needs to be proactive and not presume a paternalistic Committee on Ministry or a mentor will get them through the long and complex process. A candidate for ministry needs to actively work with the committee and the mentor. It’s a two way street.

It’s a simple reality that even so called ancient times needed to interact with people once in a while to survive. The “lone ranger”— someone who does not need others— is an interesting concept, but it’s not workable in real life, in the real world. Everyone needs to rely on others. (Slight pause.)

Guess what? God calls each of us— each of us— to some form of ministry. Yes, God walks with us so God needs us to be pro-active. God needs us to do, to work, to be people of action. There is no question about the fact that God loves us. But God is neither paternalistic nor manipulative.

Further, we need to remember how the love of God among us is really displayed. The love of God is displayed through our actions. God has no voice but ours, no feet but ours, no hands but ours.

So let me propose this idea: we are the balm in Gilead. We are the physicians. Please note: I did not say ‘I am the balm’ ‘I am the physician.’ I said we— we together— we need to embrace the work of God. We— we together— we need to embrace the will of God.

Especially in this time of transition, communal action needs to be the balm, the physician. Taking action to do God’s will was a truth in Jeremiah’s time. Taking action to do God’s will is a truth here, now, today. Amen.

09/18/2022
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: “This is an aphorism which circulates in clergy circles: ‘The Gospel is not about how to get to heaven after you die. The Gospel is about how you can help heaven be present to everyone with whom you come in contact before you approach the pearly gates.’ The Gospel message needs to be put into communal action now. Communal action— that sounds like a covenant community and a community in covenant to me.”

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

September 11, 2022 ~ Proper 19 Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28; Psalm 14; Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 51:1-10; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/749247552

Prodigal In the Key of ‘F’

“‘But my child,’ said the father, ‘you are with me always, and all that is mine, everything I have, is yours.’” — Luke 15:31.

What I am about to recite is something I did not write. Part of me says, “Gee, I wish I had written this.” However, since what I am about to say may live in infamy here, part of me is quite satisfied to attribute these words elsewhere.

This is The Prodigal Son (In the Key of F). It was written by Todd and Jedd Hafer and it’s from their book: Mischief From the Back Pew: and You Thought You Were Safe in Church. It is, I think, great fun.

The Prodigal Son (In the Key of F)— Feeling footloose, frisky, fancy-free, a frivolous, feather-brained fellow, Fred by name, forced a fond, fawning father to fork over a fair share of the family farthings. Then this flighty flibbertigibbet offered a felicitous farewell, not at all forced, and fled far afield to foreign fields.

He ferociously frittered away a fabulous fortune, famously feasting among faithless, fair-weather friends until, fleeced by those fun-loving fellows of folly, he found himself flinging feed in a festering, filthy farmyard. Flummoxed, famished, forlorn, filled with foreboding and finally facing famine, the frazzled fugitive found his faculties and returned to his father’s farm. (Slight pause.)

“Father, Father!” he forlornly fumbled, “I have flunked, flubbed, failed and frivolously forfeited family favor. Phooey on me! Let me be as one of your flunkies, for even a fruitless flunkie would fare far, far better than I fared. Fair enough?” (Slight pause.)

“Filial fidelity is fine,” the father philosophized, “but, folks, the fugitive is now found! Let fanfares flare! Let flags unfurl and flutter! Fetch the fatling, play that funky music and let’s have some fabulous fun!” (Slight pause.)

As fortune would have it, unfortunately, older brother Frank was unforgiving and fumed furiously. “Forsooth! Father, flee from this folly! Frankly, it’s unfair. That fool forfeited his fortune!”

“Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank,” the father confronted. “Do not fear and do not fester. I am your fan.”

“Your coffers are fairly filled to overflowing, with forty million farthings. But your phantom brother, Fred, is finally and fortuitously back in the fold. For many fortnights, I’ve fantasized about this fabulous and festive feast. So focus on the fun for Fred, not on the funds. So, to be forthright, Frankie, flake off.” (Slight pause.)

And so, a fathead, foolish fugitive found fulfillment. Furthermore, the father’s fond forgiveness formed a foundation for both the former fugitive’s future welfare and the fixations of the sibling fretter. Hence, do not forget: a faithful father loves forever. Well now— that is finally finished! [1] And if you think that was easy you’re wrong. (Slight pause.)

These words are from the work commonly called Luke: “‘But my child,’ said the father, ‘you are with me always, and all that is mine, everything I have, is yours.’” (Slight pause.)

Walt Kelly, the late cartoonist, is best known for the classic comic strip, Pogo. In one of the most famous lines ever in a comic strip, the character Pogo the Possum, gazing at garbage all over the ground in what should have been a pristine woodland ruefully says: “We have met the enemy and they is us.” (Slight pause.)

This reading from Luke is commonly referred to as the “Parables of the Lost.” At best that is ill named. These are the parables of the “Faithful Shepherd,” the “Diligent Housekeeper” and the “Loving Parent.” The purpose in renaming the stories is that might be heard in a very different way from the moniker with which they are so often labeled: the “Parables of the Lost.”

You see, we get so used to hearing the traditional names of these parables I think we often fail to listen to what the stories really say. We concentrate on what we think they say. That is exactly why I recited that updated parable in the key of ‘F,’ to help us listen in a different way.

Indeed, when we read Luke 15 carefully, nothing could be much clearer than these are not the ‘Parables of the Lost.’ To say they are the ‘Parables of the Lost’ is to miss the point. And one of the things I think we miss in the in the story of so called ‘Prodigal Son,’ one of the points being made therein, is the parable can be seen to be about the making poor choices.

I think it’s also evident that this story feels as if it was drawn from the life experience of family dynamics, a life experience with which most folks can identify. In real life dynamics often contain people who make poor choices. And relatives cannot often change those choices. So, those choices are simply lived with.

In this case the son who is footloose, frisky, fancy-free, frivolous and feather-brained clearly makes some very poor choices. Then the same son starts making good choices. In a reversal, the son who has made some good choices at the start suddenly becomes unforgiving, fumes furiously and makes some very poor choices.

Even though his coffers are fairly filled to overflowing, something his father has given him, he blames his father because this petulant son has not used what was his all along. Perhaps his real problem is he never claimed it for himself— also a very poor choice. (Slight pause.)

Well, what’s the lesson here? Many times, when these two siblings look in a mirror, they have met the enemy. They are their own worst enemy because they make poor choices. (Slight pause.)

So, do people make poor choices? Yes, people make poor choices all the time. And what can we do with that?

We can react in the way the loving parent reacted. We can offer acceptance. We can offer forgiveness. But there is a final attribute here, I think one not often noticed. I believe it to be the most important attribute the father exhibits.

The Prodigal Son (In the Key of F) says this (quote): “the faithful father loves forever.” And what makes that love so steadfast is (quote): “For many fortnights, I’ve fantasized about this fabulous, festive feast.” In short, the father never gives up hope— never gives up hope.

Hope, you see, has two important qualities. Hope, real hope, is not some pie-in-the-sky good-will-happen in a sweet by-and-by dream world. Hope deals with reality. Equally, hope, real hope, is not and does not mean imposing an agenda on others.

All of which is to say perseverance is the prime attribute of hope. Hope comes alive when perseverance is involved. Perseverance, persistence— that’s working with someone as they work on something or even as they do not work on something. It means working with someone until they understand how to, for themselves, make good choices. That is the real definition of hope. (Slight pause.)

I, personally, know this truth: there are times we feel despair. Surely, as the father waited for the son, those times must have presented themselves. And surely, persistence is not an easy road. And surely those times when one’s patience is tested are the very times we need to rely on God. (Slight pause.)

There is a hymn I know— Let Us Hope When Hope Seems Hopeless. Once verse reads: “Like a child outgrowing childhood / setting childhood things away / we will learn to live in freedom / in the light of God’s new day. / Now we see as in a mirror. / Then we shall see face to face / understand how love’s compassion / blossoms through amazing Grace.” (Slight pause.)

Again, hope— real hope— is found in perseverance, in patience and perhaps, just perhaps, waiting on God’s time and on God’s grace. Further, and I need to be a realist about this, persistent hope is certainly not the only response we can have in the world in which we live, a world filled with brokenness. But hope, real hope, persistent hope is a very, very, very wise response. Amen.

Elijah Kellogg Church
09/11/2022

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: “Earlier I spoke about hearing Scripture in different ways, new ways. We need to listen to and to read Scripture not just in new ways to help us hear and read it afresh. We need to listen and to read Scripture with First Century eyes and ears, not Twenty-first Century eyes and ears. There is no better way to confuse what’s in Scripture than to listen to and read it with Twenty-first Century eyes and ears.”

BENEDICTION: O God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us, in the midst of our striving for justice and truth, to confront one another in love, and to work together with mutual patience, acceptance and respect. Send us out, sure in Your grace and Your peace with surpasses understanding, to live faithfully. And so may Yahweh, God, bless and keep us. May the face of Yahweh, God, shine upon us and be gracious to us. May the continence of Yahweh, God, be present to us and give us peace. Amen.

[1] Excerpt from Todd & Jedd Hafer’s Mischief From the Back Pew: and you thought you were safe in church, ©2003, Bethany House Publishers

09/04/2022 ~ Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary ~ Proper 18 ~ Jeremiah 18:1-11; Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 1; Philemon 1:1-21; Luke 14:25-33 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/747364353

It’s Personal

“…you see, my friend, let me have this benefit from you in Christ! I want to make you useful to me in Christ! Refresh this heart of mine in Christ!” — Philemon 1:20

Yesterday Bonnie and I celebrated 34 years of marriage. Some of you know this fact about us but some don’t. Bonnie and I were fairly old when we got hitched.

We met when I was thirty-nine and Bonnie was thirty-eight. We got married a year later so we both would really appreciate it if you did not add 34 to those ages and thereby do the math to figure out how old we are right now.

The piece which surprises some folks is, despite the fact that by most standards we got married late, it was the first marriage for both of us. Or as I often say, since we got married at an older age than most we skewed the statistics. It makes us demographically unacceptable.

We did have one advantage working for us when we met. I was the best friend of Bonnie’s cousin, Paul. Or as Bonnie likes to put it, because of that family connection I was pre-screened.

Another fact: I knew Bonnie’s cousin for fifteen years before I met Bonnie. So when Bonnie and I did meet I kept asking Paul where he had been hiding her all that time. He’d been hiding her in Maine.

Having held out from marriage for as long as we did, I think it was harder for both of us to surrender being single than it would have been had we tied the knot in our twenties. After all, we had both built very independent lives for ourselves.

Still, I believe we got married because we saw in each other someone who was willing to unconditionally accept the other. I am, frankly, still baffled it happened and I am very glad it happened.

Let me put the idea of unconditional acceptance another way. We were both willing to put ourselves on the line for that other person. We were both willing to take a chance on that other person. Did we take a risk with our union? Yes— we did.

Now, the reality is we all put ourselves on the line, take a chance on other people, take a risk, nearly every day. We do it in big ways. We do it in small ways.

An example: my dad was a parochial High School teacher. Once a close personal friend, another teacher at the same school, needed cash. So my Dad co-signed a bank loan, a personal loan.

Shortly thereafter, the friend was fired from the teaching position. My Dad was left holding the bag on the loan. Sometimes relationships are not easy. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work known as Philemon: “…you see, my friend, let me have this benefit from you in Christ! I want to make you useful to me in Christ! Refresh this heart of mine in Christ!” (Slight pause.)

Paul, indeed, wrote this letter on behalf of Onesimus, a runaway slave who had wronged Philemon, who owned Onesimus. It is, therefore, a very personal letter.

But it is also profoundly theological. It says something about what Paul believes God has done and is doing for each of us and all of us in Christ, Jesus. Because Onesimus is a brother in Christ to Paul and to Philemon Paul now insists this one who is enslaved by Philemon should be received and treated with unconditional acceptance, equal before God, a brother in Christ.

But perhaps more important than the specifics of the request Paul makes to Philemon— and to be clear, the letter never tells us whether or not Onesimus remains enslaved— perhaps more important than the specifics of the request is that Paul puts himself, his own being, on the line. Paul, in writing— you notice it says I’ve written this line myself— takes a chance on Onesimus. Why? I think it’s because Paul sees this person as a child of God. (Slight pause.)

What makes theology live, what makes theology come alive is not just that it’s about God. What makes theology live, what makes theology come alive is relationships.

What makes church live, what makes church come alive is not the quality of the services or the charisma of the preacher. What makes church live, what makes a church come alive is relationships— deep, involved, risk taking relationships. And yes, the fancy theological description of church says it’s is about loving God and loving neighbor, about our relationship with God and about our relationships with each other.

But let’s be more down to earth than that. If we are risk averse about relationships it means we are not honoring that unconditional acceptance we often call ‘love.’ So yes, love is about unconditional acceptance. But, therefore, love is also about taking a risk when it comes to being involved in relationship with another person.

Indeed, what Christian love is really about is putting ourselves on the line for another person. When we put ourselves on the line for another person— that is the base reality of unconditional acceptance.

That other person for whom we are placing ourselves on the line might be a member of the family, might be a friend, might be an acquaintance. It might even someone we do not know. (Slight pause.)

As you are aware, the people of this church will be and are seeking a new settled pastor. What does that mean?

Does it mean you are looking for someone to simply fill a job? No. The position of pastor at a church, any church, is not a job. Seeking a pastor is not about finding someone to fill a slot.

Seeking a pastor means you are seeking someone to be in relationship with you, someone who is willing to be in relationship with you. Seeking a new pastor with whom you will be in relationship also means as a church you will be taking a risk, putting yourselves on the line.

Like any real relationship, the first order of business when that settled pastor arrives will be a commitment to grow with one another, to learn from one another, to respect one another and the obvious— to live with one another. That list leads to this question: in the course of this process how can this church, any church, get to a place where it commits to growth, to learning, to respect? (Slight pause.)

The first step in this process might be the most difficult one since the first step is not and should never be the question, ‘who do we want as pastor?’ The first question to ask in this process is a question about self identification. ‘Who are we as a church?’

Among the things to be explored in order to get to a semblance of an answer to that question are these: ‘as a church where have we been?’ ‘As a church who are we now?’ ‘As a church where might we be going?’

Within those questions there is another reality to be considered. This church exists in the context of a greater community, Harpswell. It would therefore be wise to go out into the community and ask the very same questions of the greater community, ask people who are not involved in this church the same questions about Harpswell— ‘where have we been.’ ‘Who are we now. ‘Where might we be going?’

I want to suggest all that is at one and the same time both easier and harder than it sounds. It’s harder than it sounds because it means putting in a significant amount of work just in preparation for this journey, this process. It’s easier than it sounds because it all comes back to one word: relationships. (Slight pause.)

Let me return to that story about my Father. Although some might think that this story is simply about the burden he accepted, it is not. The story is about taking personal responsibility. Yes, he accepted a risk. He accepted the risk of taking personal responsibility for someone else. (Slight pause.)

I think a lesson we can learn from the apostle Paul is one about personal responsibility. And the personal responsibility of taking risks is key to relationships. Indeed, all this is not cut and dry and all this is and will be personal, very, very personal.

Further, when it comes to a church seeking a pastor is not just about individual actions. It’s about communal actions. Therefore when it comes to a church, a communal situation, a community of faith, the relationships involved are still and always about taking risks, communal risks.

I need to draw a parallel between one type of community and another. A Rotary club, for instance, is a group, a community. But church is a community of faith. Hence, the scope of the various relationship into which a church enters is more broad, more varied.

Why? The church is a community of faith where there is a commitment to growth, to learning, to respect.

So is this, will this process be hard? Yes. But it will be much easier if we remember a basic lesson Paul teaches here. Relationships matter. So there needs to be a commitment to grow with one another, to learn from one another, to respect one another and to live with one another. It is personal. Amen.

09/04/2022
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 an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “Covenant is a word we Congregationalist like to throw around. The essence of the word covenant is a relationship in which binding promises are made. As Congregationalists we need to acknowledge and understand that just in terms of the simple definition committing to covenant is a daunting task.”

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

08/28/2022 ~ Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Proper 17 ~ Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81:1, 10-16; Sirach 10:12-18 or Proverbs 25:6-7; Psalm 112; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/744244171

Orthodox

“One Sabbath, when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal, the guests were watching closely.” — Luke 14:1

I don’t know how many of you are aware of this but my wife, Bonnie, is fairly good at the game of golf. You see, she learned when she was a teen and played a lot in her twenties and early thirties.

I have, in fact, seen her break 100. She will sometimes even break 90. For those unfamiliar with the game, the lower the score the better. Breaking 100 is good; breaking 90 is better.

However, that she is good at golf means she made a mistake when she married me. I was not a golfer. So, when we got married that meant there was one way we were not able to share time together— golfing. As a consequence, her game got neglected— my fault.

She did still want to play, so once we moved to Norwich 25 years ago she made golfing more of a project. And I was a part of that project. Which is to say, about 25 years ago, I took up the game.

To be clear, even now, all these years later, I am an awful golfer and that despite Bonnie’s sound tutelage and encouragement. But why would I want to better her? Can you imagine that headline in the newspaper? “Pastor Beats Wife.” That wouldn’t look good, would it.

I also need to be clear about our current golf situation. First, because of all that was involved in moving back to Maine and then because of that little hiccup called the pandemic neither of us has touched a club for a long, long time. We are both out of practice.

So, if anyone here wants to volunteer to take us out on the Mere Creek Course, introduce us to the Mere Creek, just so we can become familiarized with it, please let us know. We’ll even pay your greens fees.

Now, as poorly as I play the game and believe me it’s not good I really, really like it. And I like to play it right. What does playing it right mean? There is a lot to the game of golf besides just hitting the ball. One of the prime aspects, something Bonnie taught me, is called golf etiquette, the manners one maintains on the course.

Among these customs are: the player with the lowest score on the previous hole in a round tees off on the next hole first. On the fairway or on the green, the player closest to the hole shoots last. Finally, on the green, one does not step onto an imaginary line between the ball of another player and the hole.

You see, when someone walks on a green with spikes— spikes, standard footwear when golfing— small holes are left in the grass, the turf. So, the surface on the grass is made a little more rough when walked on it and it becomes a little more difficult to hit a straight putt.

Of course, if you’re playing at five in the afternoon, it’s likely dozens of people have walked on that line already. Still, one is not supposed walk in the line of another player, despite that in reality it’s probably been trampled on a number of times. It’s the etiquette one observes. (Slight pause.)

These words are from the Gospel known as Luke: “One Sabbath, when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal, the guests were watching closely.” (Slight pause.)

Eating is essential for life. But this story is not just about food. This is clearly a dinner with social significance.

For the people we find in this passage it was a dinner to which a certain class, a certain group were invited. So, there is a sharing of values, a settled, agreed upon etiquette, rules, just in having a meal. Etiquette— like a set of rules on the golf course— sometimes it means something, sometimes no so much.

At this meal the status and rank of individuals are legitimatized both by their inclusion in the guest list and by their location on the seating chart. Those who first heard or read the words of this narrative would have understood the meal as a symbol for the in-breaking of God, the anticipated rule of God. And for them, when it came to the reality of God, what they believed about the rules in relation to God, the rules were paramount. The rules, the etiquette was decisive. (Slight pause.)

Now you may have noticed I give my sermons titles. I called this one Orthodox. But what does the word orthodox mean? According to the dictionary, it means adhering to the accepted or traditional, established faith, especially in religion.

And yes, therefore some might take orthodox to simply mean following the established rules, a little like not stepping on the line of a ball on the green. But does orthodox really mean simply and only following the rules?

After all, Jesus does a number of things here that don’t follow the established rules of the game. With everyone watching, Jesus heals on the Sabbath. That’s against the rules.

Then, with everyone watching, Jesus tells the parable about who sits where at the table. Since the rules of this era state that the status and rank of individuals are legitimatized by their inclusion in the guest list and by their location on the seating chart, this kind of social occasion is the power lunch of the era.

But Jesus says the table and therefore the Dominion of God, the Realm of God, is not about those kinds of rules since all these rules really and only address who has power. Jesus, in fact, suggests the etiquette, the rules they follow, are wrong since they are about power.

Jesus then proposes a different group be invited to the next “power lunch”— those who are poor, those who have physical infirmities, those who cannot see. This list includes not only those beyond the categories of family, friends and well off neighbors, the ones usually invited to the table. Those on this list are, by Jewish law, by the rules, the unclean, the unworthy.

The rules make them unclean and being unclean they are, thereby, not worthy of sitting at this table. Hence, what Jesus proposes is a social system without reciprocity, without payback. (Slight pause.)

So, what are the rules? What does it mean to be orthodox? I think in the eyes of Jesus to be orthodox means loving God and loving neighbor. Those are the rules, the only rules. That is the etiquette which needs to be followed. Is it possible what Jesus says makes those who heard it uncomfortable? Yes.

That having been said, as we gather as a church let us remember not just those who are here. Let us remember all those who might feel excluded in our midst.

Please notice, I did not say let us remember all those whom we might exclude. I am not saying we might exclude anyone.

I am saying let us remember all those who might, for whatever reason, feel excluded. What I am saying is their feeling is not their problem. Their feeling is our problem. And perhaps, just perhaps, that makes us feel uncomfortable. (Slight pause.)

This is the bottom line: we need to remember we are brothers and sisters in Christ of everyone, no exceptions. Hence we need to follow the etiquette of love Jesus espouses. And the etiquette of love Jesus espouses suggests the only rule which counts is the discipline, the rule called love.

And within that love, within that etiquette Jesus describes, we need to not just welcome the outcast. We need to stand with the outcast, in solidarity with the outcast— tall order. Amen.

Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
08/28/2022

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: “Organized religion of many flavors often stresses ritual and rules at the expense of justice and at the expense of deep, unconditional love. But Jesus took as radical a stand as anyone ever did. Jesus insisted the essence of the ancestral religion known as Judaism be observed with a deeply held sense of justice, a deeply held morality. Because of that Jesus denounced the fusion of paying attention to only rites or rules while being indifference to justice and love as an abomination. Jesus also suggested that rites and rules, unlike justice and love, were dispensable.”

BENEDICTION: Let God’s love be our first awareness each day. Let God’s love flow through our every activity. Let us rejoice that God frees us to be witnesses for God. Let us understand every day as a new adventure in faith because 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.

08/21/2022 ~ Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost ~ Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Proper 16 ~ Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; Isaiah 58:9b-14; Psalm 103:1-8; Hebrews 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/742717072

Calling

“Then Yahweh put out a hand, / touched my mouth and said to me, ‘Look, I am putting My Words in your mouth.’” — Jeremiah 1:9

I think those of us who are ordained types perhaps too often talk about our calling in the ordained ministry. I have only one defense for that proclivity.

In the course of, the process of, both education and ordination a very specific demand is made on ordained types. We are invited to state what that call, our call, is, what it feels like, how we first might have recognized its presence and even if we are comfortable with it. Please note: I don’t know an ordained pastor who is fully comfortable with their call.

However, it seems to me that society, generally at least— and way too often this is also true of pastors— people want to sanctify a call to ministry, make it special, make a call to ministry some kind of holy. I beg to differ.

I think we can be called to many things in our life. I will, for instance, tell you I am called not just to the ordained ministry but I am clearly called to be baseball fan! That may not be particularly holy but it is a part of me, a part of who I am. To turn that thought around, I think a call, any real call on a life, and not just a call to ministry, is holy— any real call on a life, and not just a call to ministry, is holy.

Let me explore that for a bit. The late Rev. Michael Himes was both a Jesuit priest and Professor at Boston College. Himes laid out some thoughts concerning a call in a lecture.

But this lecture was not given to those seeking ordination. Himes gave this talk to incoming first year students at Boston College— all first year students— no exceptions. The title of the lecture is: “On Discernment: Three Key Questions.”

The first question is about one’s call in life, one’s vocation: ‘is this call a source of joy?’ The second question: ‘is this something that taps into your talents and gifts, engages all your abilities and uses them in the fullest way possible?’ The last question: ‘is this role a genuine service to the people around you and society at large?’

Then Himes restates those questions in a more vernacular way. Do you get a kick out of it? Are you any good at it? Does anyone want you to do it?’

Coming back to the question about a source of joy— Himes says there is a difference between joy and happiness. Happiness changes from moment to moment and is affected by external factors— everything from sleep to illness to chance.

Joy is deeper and more central. This Jesuit defines joy as feeling a sense of the rightness in the way in which one lives one’s life.

The second question: ‘are you good at it?’— is not something an individual can or should decide about themselves. Himes insists other people have to tell us, help us discern whether or not we are good at what we are trying to do.

Last, ‘does anybody need you to do it?’ Put another way, I may be good at herding sheep. But if I live in Boston, the community in Boston does not really need someone herding sheep on the Fenway, case closed. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work known as Jeremiah: “Then Yahweh put out a hand, / touched my mouth and said to me, ‘Look, I am putting My Words in your mouth.’” (Slight pause.)

This passage has been referred to as “The call of Jeremiah.” There are a lot of what we refer to as “call stories” in Scripture. But I think there is something we moderns tend to overlook in all the call stories.

When people listen for and then hear God, there is an implicit admission about the reality of God. After all, how can someone experience a call from God if God is not real?

In this passage there is also something seen in many call stories— a reluctance on the part of the one being called. (Quote:) “I do not know how to speak for I am too young.”

For me these two somewhat opposite ideas— acknowledging the reality of God and a reluctance to listen to God— intertwine in exactly the way Michael Himes suggests they might with the second question: ‘are you good at it?’ Others have to help us discern whether or not we are good at what we are trying to do.

To be clear, if we hear a call it is likely God is inviting us to do specific work. And yes, God is the one insisting the call is valid. But God always acts through the people around us. They tell us we are good at something, act as messengers from God.

There’s also this to consider (quote:) “Do not fear anyone, for I am with you to protect you…” God walks with us on the journey.

Last, God says (quote:) “Say whatever I command you.” You see, a call on our lives is not our call, our possession. We do not own it. No single person owns it.

A call from God means one works collectively among the people of God, listening to the people of God. And the invitation God offers to us is that we participate in the work of God with others. There are no lone rangers in God’s realm.

There is one more thing to note. Jeremiah is presented in the context of the events, the experiences of a specific time and place.

Thus, both the history of the community and the biography of the prophet are joined. Therefore and as Himes states, the call is addressed in a community and by a community who needs your talents.

And so a call is not about what you think the community needs. It’s about what the community really needs. And how is that discerned? By the whole community, not by one individual. So the whole community needs to be listening for what God says. (Slight pause.)

As you heard it said earlier, after a vote next week it is expected a Pulpit Committee will be in place— talk about a call. And we need to realize while this committee will do the heavy lifting in the task, the whole community needs to be listening. The whole community will need to support, to help, to assist, cooperate with and not hinder the Pulpit Committee. (Slight pause.)

That list of how to proceed with, how to work with the Pulpit Committee brings me back to Himes. This professor says many of us live our lives as if we were a star and have the leading role in a movie. Therefore, many people see themselves as being a star while everyone else around them only plays a supporting role— Joe Connolly— the Movie!

That does not work. We need to see others as people, real people, not as tools, not as actors in our movie. We should see others as if we were in their shoes.

Himes then says this: “There is only one vocation that embraces all our other vocations: we need to be human. We are, thereby, called to be as intelligent, as responsible, as free, as courageous, as imaginative and as loving as we can possibly be within the context of what we do.” (Slight pause.)

So, if our one and true calling is to be truly human, what does that entail? (Slight pause.) Let me speak for myself. First, I am flawed. (Check with Bonnie if you don’t believe me!) And yes, I think we need to realize and admit we are all flawed. Noone is perfect. After all, church would be superfluous for the perfect.

Second, to be truly human we need to rely not on ourselves but on the reality of God. Third, we need to rely on the grace of God. Fourth, we need to rely on the love of God.

This is obvious: that list is all about God. Further and as you can probably imagine, that lost might be endless, go on and on and on. It might go on and on and on. Therefore, we should not think of a call, our work, as a goal, as an end.

Why? A true call, a real call is a process. It is the process of relationship with God and with one another.

Now, there’s a highfalutin theological word, a theological term, which describes this process of relationship with God and with one another. The word is love. Love is a process.

Most often in church we hear the theological description of the process called love said this way: love God; love neighbor. Loving God and loving neighbor is our one, real, true and only call. And love is a process, a continuing process, not a goal.

And so, let us continue to be in and to maintain the process of loving God and loving neighbor. Let us never let barriers separate us, for we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Amen.

08/21/2022
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: “There are two quotes Professor Himes used in the course of that lecture. The first from St. Augustine— (Quote:) ‘Dissatisfaction— restlessness— is not a bad thing… indeed it’s the best thing about us.’ The next quote is from The 20th Century poet Marianne Moore. (Quote:) ‘Satisfaction is a lowly thing. How pure a thing is joy.’ Then the Rev. Himes chimes in: ‘Contentment is an obstacle. Joy always pushes us forward. It’s a impulsion, a pressure to move forward, to do more, to expend oneself more deeply, more richly, to open one’s talents even more widely than one had before.’”

BENEDICTION: May God bless us and keep us. May the face of God shine upon us and be gracious to us. May God look upon us with kindness and give us peace. May the God of joy fill us with the power of the Holy Spirit, that we may abound in hope. 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.