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November 7, 2021 ~ Proper 27 ~ Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17; Psalm 127; 1 Kings 17:8-16; Psalm 146; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44 ~ Communion Sunday.

Charity

“For all of them have contributed out of their surplus; but in her poverty, she has put in everything she possessed from the little she had— all she had to live on.” — Mark 12:44 [1]

Let’s try an experiment. I am going to intone the first five words of a very well known song. When I stop, I’ll ask that softly with your masks on you sing the next four words and only the next four words Ready? O.K.

“Oh, give me a home…. (the pastor holds out his hands and the congregation responds) …where the buffalo roam….”

That’s it! “Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam.” There is only one problem with those words. You probably know this. There are not and there never has been buffalo on the North American Continent.

Several kinds of buffalo inhabit Asia, Africa, Europe. But there are none here. What this song and popular culture refers to as buffalo are bison.

Bison are relatives of buffalo, but they are not buffalo. To be clear, popular culture often calls bison buffalo. And popular culture is… wrong… just plain wrong.

Let’s try one more song, and again please sing softly with masks on. Do any of you remember this Tennessee Ernie Ford song: “Have faith, hope and charity / That’s the way to live successfully / How do I know,…” (“…the Bible tells me so.”)

Except there’s a problem with this song also. That’s not what the Bible says. Popular culture may say it. The Bible does not say it.

Well Joe, you might say, does not a passage in First Corinthians say this: “And now abide faith, hope, charity”? The answer is, “Not really.”

Now, to explain why the answer is ‘not really,’ I need to address how the Bible has been translated over the last 2,000 years. You probably know the original languages of the Bible are mostly Hebrew and Greek. But the version of the Bible used for about the first 500 years in the church was entirely in Greek.

By the late Fourth Century of the Common Era that presented a problem. Most people, even learned ones, did not know or read Greek. The language of the Roman Empire was Latin.

Saint Jerome, who lived from the mid-Fourth Century to the Early Fifth Century is said to have translated the entire Bible from Greek into Latin. Amazingly, this translation was the basis of the Bible used in the Roman Church for about 1,5000 years.

Jerome’s translation is commonly known as the Vulgate because the style of Latin Jerome used was not the classical Latin of Cicero and Horace. It was the language of common people and, hence, seemed like a vulgar dialect, at least to the elite. Therefore this translation became known as the Vulgate Bible.

Well, fast forward 1,100 years. The Bible gets a new translation. (Rumor to the contrary, the Bible is constantly getting new translations but that’s a longer story.) This translation is the King James Bible.

The translators did consult other versions, including the much revered Vulgate. And the King James translates 1 Corinthians 13 this way: “And now abide faith, hope, charity” because the Latin word is charitas.

But they were wrong. Charitas does not mean charity. Charitas means love and not just any kind of love. Charitas very specifically means love of God. (Slight pause.)

Remember I said earlier popular culture is sometimes wrong? Well, sometimes translators of the Bible are also wrong.

But then on top of that sometimes popular culture makes things worse by perpetuating misconceptions, as did that Tennessee Ernie Ford song. It is not faith, hope and charity. It’s faith, hope and not just love but love of God. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work known as Mark: “For all of them have contributed out of their surplus; but in her poverty, she has put in everything she possessed from the little she had— all she had to live on.” (Slight pause.)

If we read this passage and then think about of how much money the wealthy people give to the temple and think about how much the poor widow gives to the temple we are reducing the passage to a comparison about monetary value. I maintain this passage is not about how much or how little people give. This passage is not about anything which can be counted, especially money.

You see, as was suggested when the reading was introduced, this widow is not just poor. Poor is too kind a word. This widow is destitute.

Hence, I maintain the amount being given is not the issue being raised. And if the amount is not central, we then need to ask, ‘what is it this widow is really giving?’ (Slight pause.)

I think the widow is giving her heart to God. She is giving not just everything she has. She is giving everything she is. She is giving her entire being to God.

To reiterate, this story is not about an amount of money, about how much or how little is being given. In short, what the widow gives cannot be quantified. So this story is not a lesson about charity. That’s the way popular culture might have it. And popular culture would be… wrong.

The Bible sees this story as a lesson about love and what it really means to love God. And that is a constant Biblical message. We are invited to give our heart, to give who we are, to give our entire being to God, to love God. Indeed, loving God is what true stewardship is about. Amen.

11/07/2021
South Freeport Congregational Church UCC, South Freeport, 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: “As was said earlier next week, November 14, is Stewardship Sunday. The observant among you might have thought— ‘Wait Joe! That message we heard today sounded an awful lot like a stewardship message.’ And my reaction would be, ‘Yep, guilty.’ I even used the word stewardship in what I said. Here’s my take: to a certain extent all sermons in some way are or should stewardship sermons. Tune in next week, same time, same station— part 2.”

BENEDICTION
Let us be open to the possibility that the whole of our being should rest in the will and wisdom of God and that the whole of our being should rest in the ways of love taught by God. In short, let us trust God. And may the face of God shine upon us; may the peace of Christ be among us; may the fire of the Spirit burn within us this day and forevermore. Amen.

[1] INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE Rev. Mr. Joseph Connolly
In the King James Version of the Bible today’s Gospel reading was known as the widow’s mite— a mite in the England of King James being the smallest of coins, a half a farthing. A whole farthing was worth a fourth of a penny. This widow is not, as this translation suggests, poor. She is beyond poor. A better word for the underlying Greek would be destitute. She is destitute. Here now this Word as it is found in the Gospel we have come to know as Mark.

A READING FROM – Mark 12:38-44 [ILV]

[38] Jesus taught and said, “Beware of the scribes, the religious scholars, who like to walk around in long robes, be greeted with respect in market squares, [39] and have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets!  [40] They are the ones who swallow the property of widows and, yet, for the sake of appearances, say long prayers.  They will be judged all the more severely.”
[41] Then Jesus sat down opposite the collection box at the Temple, and watched people putting money into it.  Many rich people put in large sums.  [42] But an impoverished widow came and put in two small coins, worth a very small amount.
[43] At that point Jesus called the disciples together and said, “The truth is, this woman has put in more than all those who have contributed to the treasury.  [44] For all of them have contributed out of their surplus; but in her poverty, she has put in everything she possessed from the little she had— all she had to live on.”

10/31/2021 ~ Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost ~ Known in Some Traditions as the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Proper 26 ~ Ruth 1:1-18 or Deuteronomy 6:1-9; Psalm 146 or Psalm 119:1-8; Hebrews 9:11-14; Mark 12:28-34 ~ All Hallows’ Eve ~ A.K.A. as Halloween or Hallowe’en on the Secular Calendar ~ VIDEO OF THE FULL SERVICE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sugwWa9r9w.

Listening

“Hear, O Israel: / Yahweh, our God, Yahweh alone, is one. / You are to love Yahweh, your God / with all your heart, / and with all your soul, / and with all your strength.” — Deuteronomy 6:4-5 [ILV]

[The pastor moves to a pedestal on which there is a pitcher and several glasses, pours water into one glass until it is approximately half full, holds up the glass, then asks the following question.] So, is the glass half full or is it half empty? [The pastor moves back to the pulpit.]

A daughter of a friend of mine once lived for ten years in Turkey. A person of some where-with-all, my friend Bill, went to see his daughter each year and spent about a month. Early on he started a little habit.

Handy with a hammer, saw and screwdriver, while there he would build her a small piece of furniture, a cabinet, an end table. The first year this of this endeavor he went with his daughter to the Turkish equivalent of a lumber yard to get some wood and learned some interesting lessons about cultural differences.

First, lumber is stocked in a pretty raw form. Indeed, in the yard you could see whole sections of trees— bark still in place.

How do you buy lumber? You tell a worker what is needed. Then it’s cut to order. On their first trip to the yard Bill and his daughter arrived about 8:30 a.m. but waited some 45 minutes for anyone else to arrive. The owner was first.

That’s when clear cultural differences came into play. Bill’s daughter was fluent in Turkish but it was obvious the owner would be doing business only with Bill.

But first the owner offered cups of tea to the pair. Refusing was useless. If tea had been refused, then coffee would have been offered. If that had been refused, water with lime would have been next.

If everything had been refused, no business would have been done. Bill’s daughter nudged him to accept the tea.

Then negotiations started for real: the measurements of the wood required, choosing pieces from the raw wood, the milling, the cutting were all accomplished. Last a price was determined. It was a slow process.

It got to be about noon. Some wood still needed to be planed. But the worker who did the planning had gone to lunch.

“When will he be back?” asked Bill.

“Sometimes he comes back; sometimes he does not,” was the answer.

“Can any one else do that work?”

“Well, you can talk to my brother. He owns the other side of the yard and has someone who does that.”

Bill and his daughter walked about half a mile, moving the cut wood on a rickety cart. They then encountered the brother. (Slight pause.)

“Would you like some tea,” he asked? (Slight pause.) The transaction was totally completed about 4:30 in the afternoon. Through it all, no one in the yard seemed concerned this sale was progressing at a snail’s pace. (Slight pause.)

Shortly after arriving back in the States Bill stopped by a box store. There were fifteen cash registers. Two were open. He got on the end of a long line and heard people grousing.

“I’ll miss my game shows.”

“I need to pick up my kid.”

“I left my laundry in the dryer.”

Bill just smiled. He had internalized two things he suspected were true all along: nearly all perceptions are cultural. And stress is, often, a cultural attitude and is, often, a self imposed condition.

The second piece, that stress is often self imposed, was a reaffirmation of something he discovered when he visited Bosnia. In that country at that time people went about their business as if it was normal to have bombs crashing about them.

So, why was there any stress at all exhibited by those standing in this box store check out line? Perceptions, especially self imposed ones but certainly also cultural perceptions, are pivotal in one’s own sense of well being.

[The pastor moves to a pedestal on which there is a pitcher and several glasses and pours water into a second glass until it is approximately half full, then asks the following question.] And is that glass half full or is it half empty? [The pastor moves back to the pulpit.]

These words are from the work known as Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel: / Yahweh, our God, Yahweh alone, is one. / You are to love Yahweh, your God / with all your heart, / and with all your soul, / and with all your strength.” (Slight pause.)

So this says love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Jesus reiterates this ancient instruction in the Gospel we know as Mark and adds words found in Leviticus: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Slight pause.)

It’s all so easy, is it not— love God, love neighbor? (Slight pause.) Then why don’t more of us love God and love neighbor more readily? After all, these words seems pretty clear. (Slight pause.) Is it possible we’re missing something? (Slight pause.)

This is a given: we all have cultural blinders. We Americans see some things Turks do not. Turks see some things we do not. But we are human. Blinders exist. But is it possible that, no matter what the cultural biases of a given group, the largest human cultural blinder is that we all often fail to recognize Who is the source of all love?

You see, given what the ‘great commandment’ says, there is something which needs to happen before love can be experienced and expressed to its fullest. (Quote:) “Hear, O Israel.” (Slight pause.) We need to hear the voice of God before we can listen for love. (Slight pause.)

A widespread feature in all of Scripture, but especially here in the Shema, is it points out the necessity for nurturing an appropriate attitude toward and about God. We cannot have that attitude unless we develop our hearing skills, our skills of hearing the Word of God, hearing the will of God, listening for the voice of God.

Further, it is only when we hear God that it is possible to move onto the resulting attitudes: loving God and loving neighbor as ourselves. I maintain the loving relationships of covenant happen when we hear God. And it is the very hearing of God which empowers listening to the fullness of the message God offers. (Slight pause.)

So, what happens when hearing transitions to listening. I think the cultural blinders we all develop, binders which attempt to block out God start to fall away.

When we hear God— God Who is still speaking— the love of God starts to become more real to us and more sacred for us than that love has ever been before. And yes, we begin to deeply understand God invites us to be in relationship with all people.

But still, we need to work at being attuned to the fact that God speaks— God still speaks. Otherwise, the noise of our culture, the noise created in the context of any culture, will lead us to believe God is… silent.

[The pastor walks back to the pedestal with the glasses and pitcher and fills yet another glass about half way and holds it up.] So is the glass half full or is it half empty?

[The pastor picks up the two half glasses and pours them back in the pitcher. There is another glass filled with colored “Kool Aid” from the Time for All Ages. The pastor pours that back into the pitcher which changes the water in the pitcher into colored water and holds the pitcher aloft.] When we hear the voice of God, the world can become more wonderful than it has ever been before. Hear, O Israel. Hear, O South Freeport Congregational Church. God is with us. Let us listen for God. Amen.

10/31/2021
South Freeport Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, South Freeport, 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: “We Congregationalists have long believed that God still speaks to us. English Puritan minister John Robinson, said this to the Pilgrims as they left for these shores: “I am verily persuaded God hath more truth yet to break forth out of the Holy Word.” Well, let us continue to listen.

BENEDICTION: Go now— go in safety, for you cannot go where God is not. Go now— go with the purpose of fulfilling the will of God and God will honor your dedication. God now— go in freedom as we know God is the One Who sets us free from all that destroys. Go now— go in hope, for hope sees clearly the promise of God to walk with us. Go now— Go in love, for the love of God endures. Go now— go in peace for it is a gift of God to all people whose hearts and minds honor, respect and love. Amen.

[1]
INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPTURE: When people talk about the ten commandments as if they were, pardon the pun, set in stone, my reaction tends to be which set are you talking about? There are at least three sets of the so called Ten Commandments to be found in the Hebrew Scriptures and they are all somewhat different. Additionally, some Christian traditions actually count eleven. And, in the strict sense, there are 613 commandments in the Hebrew Scriptures. Then, of course, many who adhere to both the Christian tradition and the Jewish tradition would claim there are but two: love God and love neighbor. Last, most scholars say there is but one commandment and it is the starting point of all Scripture— the so called great commandment— the Shema. We find that commandment in this passage in verses 4 and 5 of this reading, a reading from Tanakh, in the section called the Torah, in the work known as Deuteronomy.

A READING FROM TANAKH, IN THE SECTION CALLED THE TORAH, IN THE WORK KNOWN AS DEUTERONOMY — Deuteronomy 6:1-7 [ILV]

[1] Here, then, are the statutes, the ordinances, the commandments, the decrees— that Yahweh, our God, charged me to teach you.  Observe them so that you may enter into the land Yahweh, the God of your ancestors gives to you and that you are about to cross into and occupy.  [2] If you and your children and the children of your children revere Yahweh, your God, all the days of your life and if you keep the statutes, the ordinances, the commandments, the decrees I lay before you, your days may be long.  [3] Hear, listen therefore, O Israel, and observe carefully, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may increase your numbers greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
[4] Hear, O Israel:
    Yahweh, our God, Yahweh alone,
                is one.
[5] You are to love Yahweh,
                    our God
                            with all your heart,
        and with all your soul,
                and with all your strength.
[6] Let these words
                that I command today
                        be written in your heart.
[7] Recite them, teach them diligently
                    to your children
repeat them constantly
    when you are at home
        and when you are walking down
                a road,
when you lie down at night
    and when you get up
            in the morning.

Here ends this reading from Scripture.

[2] At A Time for All Ages the pastor filled a glass with water and suggested water in a glass is hard to see. And some people say God is hard to see. However, perhaps you can see God in the smile of a friend or when a parent says, “Job well done.” But is that seeing God or is that feeling God. The pastor then picked up a second glass. At the bottom of this glass there was Kool Aid powder. But, of course, that powder could not be seen. So then the pastor poured water into that glass and the water immediately changed color. The pastor then said perhaps it was not that you saw God. Perhaps it was that you felt God and God really is there just like you can see the colored water.

READINGS: 10/17/2021 ~ Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 24) ~ Job 38:1-7, (34-41); Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c; Isaiah 53:4-12; Psalm 91:9-16; Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:35-45.

Service

“Anyone among you who wishes to aspire to greatness must serve the rest; whoever wants to rank first among you must serve the needs of all. The Promised One has come not to be served but to serve—….” — Mark 10:43a-45. [1]

In my comments today I will sharing two very personal stories about my family. But you need to hear some background information for these stories to make sense. I am the first of three children. My brother is 14 months younger; my sister 4 years younger.

The stories: my mother died at a relatively young age, 58. I was 35. She had cancer of the bladder which, even when she died in 1983, was fatal only 10% of the time. She simply was on the wrong side of the bracket when it came to those odds.

Not long before Mom died, and she knew she was dying, she had a conversation with me which I think was cathartic for her. My judgment is she felt had to say this to someone. In the chat my mother described her three children in this way.

She labeled me, her firstborn, as her experiment. She had not seen a child being raised as she, herself, was the lone child of a single mother, so I was her experiment. She said my brother, the second child, was her baby. Then she said my sister, the third born, was her enjoyment.

I am not saying that any of this was good or even healthy. But I am convinced she was trying to explain how she related to us as individuals. I think what she said illustrates how much she loved each of us differently and loved each of us deeply. (Slight pause.)

Here’s a second story about my family background. When I was five or so my father had what they called in the early 1950s a nervous breakdown.

Today we would have recognized this as the onset of a mental illness known as Passive Dependency or Passive Aggression. As can be the case with mental illness, he remained functional in society but he was clearly hurting.

One consequence of this was, as the next oldest male in the family in this very different era, the 50s, the family members looked to me for leadership. Or at least they invested me with and groomed me for that role.

I could tell tales about what that looked like. Suffice it to say Mom chose to have the aforementioned conversation with me. It illustrates my place in this family structure.

But my place in that structure is not the point. The point is in this structure I fulfilled a leadership role. That was certainly true by the time I was in my early teens.

I need to be clear— I am not saying any of that was good or healthy when it comes to family dynamics. I am offering these stories to illustrate two aspects of family dynamics. And not just in my family but in any family, family dynamics develop.

One aspect of these dynamics could be labeled as relationship— that story about my mother. A second aspect of these dynamics could be labeled as structure, the story about my father and leadership. Relationship and structure are present in all families. In fact, relationship and structure are present in any organization and in any church.

That opens this question. “Which will be the driving force in any family, in any institution, in any church— relationship or structure?” (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work known as Mark. “Anyone among you who wishes to aspire to greatness must serve the rest; whoever wants to rank first among you must serve the needs of all. The Promised One has come not to be served but to serve—….” (Slight pause.)

There are three scenes in this reading. First, there is the request of James and John for prominence. There is also the anger expressed by other disciples at this audacious request. Last we have Jesus. (Quote:) “Anyone among you who wishes to aspire to greatness must serve the rest;….”

Please note, Jesus does not rebuke the brothers. We might want to— not Jesus. But Jesus also confronts them with reality.

And then there is the anger on the part of the other disciples. It’s likely this reflects jealousy rather than indignation— jealousy about the proposed structure.

Again, Jesus resists a rebuke. Jesus instead uses the pagan authorities as models of how not to exercise leadership. So Jesus does it again: confronts with reality.

You see, the criterion for leadership is not effectiveness of structure, who gets the job done the quickest, who has the better program. Rather, in the Dominion of God we are called to be faithful.

The text even says faithfulness is a style of leadership, a style which runs counter to the prevailing wisdom of the day. I would suggest it also runs counter to the prevailing wisdom today since effectiveness, speed, programs are highly valued.

This may not make much sense to those who are stuck on effectiveness, speed, programs. And these all consider the bottom line… but we need to realize all these go no further than the bottom line.

In the Dominion of God the needs of people and how service can be rendered to meet those needs are vital. In short, priority is given to relationships. (Slight pause.)

I want to go back to the earlier discussion about my family. Clearly there was structure. But the problem with that structure was not even the fact that when I was young the family turned to me.

The problem with that structure is my family was not looking for a leader. The problem of any structure which does not rely on relationship is that structures which rely on effectiveness, speed, programs are simply in search of a fix. Structures which try to find fixes also try to find someone to fix things. These are structures in search of a hero.

Let me substitute a theological term for the word hero. To be searching for a hero, searching for someone to fix things, is to be looking for… a savior. Jesus does not have a hero complex. In fact what makes Jesus Savior is a willingness to be a servant.

We call Jesus Savior because of the willingness displayed by the Christ to concentrate on relationships, explore relationships, be in relationships, a willingness to say we need to support one another. The reason we call Jesus Savior is because of the willingness displayed in the Christ to not be served but to serve. (Slight pause.)

I have one more observation. Did James, John and the disciples completely miss the point of the preaching of Jesus or the actions Jesus took? Did they completely miss the point when Jesus blessed the children who seemed a nuisance, miss the point Jesus made when Jesus spoke to the rich man about the need to break with possessions?

My answer is ‘no,’ they did not miss the point. Rather, they willfully ignored the point. Why? You see, we are human.

We are imperfect and in our imperfection we believe structure is or at least can be a perfect solution. The very thought of structure gives us great comfort. We assume structure will be a solution for everything.

10/17/2021

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READINGS: 10/10/2021 ~ Twenty-eight Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost ~ (Proper 23) ~ Job 23:1-9, 16-17; Psalm 22:1-15; Amos 5:6-7, 10-15; Psalm 90:12-17; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31 ~ VIDEO OF THE COMPLETE SERVICE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gB8t8SQPzQ0.

It’s Not the Particulars!

“You know the commandments: ‘No killing; no committing adultery; no stealing; no bearing false witness; no defrauding; Honor your father and mother.’” — Mark 10:19.

When I was over in the New York Conference of the United Church of Christ I served as a pastor at a church in the Susquehanna Association. Located in central New York, the Association’s size is daunting. It has only 27 churches but it is the size of State of Connecticut— 27 churches as big as Connecticut.

Over time in Susquehanna I was a member then chair of the Church and Ministry Committee, vice Moderator, Moderator, Immediate Past Moderator of the Association. In those offices I traveled all over that Association… a lot.

When traveling in a car alone some people listen music. Some listen to a book. I listen to academic lectures, often lectures on history. I know— history: boring!!! Well, boring for most people. Not for me.

Why history? I have often said to be a good theologian you need to be a good historian. Christianity is steeped in, even based in history.

Our claim as Christians is Jesus was real, lived in history, at a specific time, in a specific place. Our claim as Christians is God has been present from before creation throughout all time. With the advent of the Christ, God is identifiably present in the world, our world, here, now, with us. (Slight pause.)

Well, it seems to me when I study history I always find out something I never knew before. In one lecture I discovered, despite the title of the famous book by Gibbon The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, that the Empire neither declined nor did it fall.

Things changed but in the time described as decline and fall by Gibbon the Roman Empire remained quite intact. In that era Rome was led by two competent emperors— Diocletian and Constantine.

They were competent because they foresaw, they anticipated, identified change in the Empire. They dealt with those changes and made structural adjustments in how Rome was governed as they happened, as the changes happened they made adjustments.

Anticipating and identifying what will happen and what is happening is important. Why? Instead of getting tied up in details, concentrating only on right now, competent leadership looks at the larger picture. Seeing the larger picture includes foresight.

And so the Roman Empire did not decline. It simply changed, constantly changed. Of course, everything changes constantly. It’s a lesson we can and should learn from history. (Slight pause.)

These words are in Mark. “You know the commandments: ‘No killing; no committing adultery; no stealing; no bearing false witness; no defrauding; Honor your father and mother.’” (Slight pause.)

There are at least three conversations in this reading. Commentaries suggest the writer of Mark meant them to be seen as one and that insight could be a key to understanding the thrust of the whole passage.

But first, we need to grapple with the idea that what is said to the rich person is not meant as a call to abandon the world. Neither is it a suggestion the rich person become a wandering mendicant, a beggar.

And yes, the disciples left all to follow Jesus but their future is described as ample. So we need to grapple with the idea that, we, the church of our era, cannot flee the arena known as the world, the time and place in history in which we are called to serve and to live.

Further, the rich person and the disciples keep the commandments. So we need to also grapple with the idea that keeping the commandments is not enough. Why? The commandments are just details, particulars. We need to look at the larger picture.

Hence, this question needs to be addressed: what does the world look like, the world now look like, really? And how do we, how should we respond to the world now, really? (Slight pause.)

There are at least two answers here. First, yes the world looks like it is broken, really. If you think that’s not true, please listen to the news. What are we going to do about that?

Second, things change constantly. The world changes constantly, really. If you think that’s not true, please listen to the news. What are we going to do about that?

Well, this is what history suggests to me: the details do not matter as much as seeing the entire picture, envisioning, foreseeing the larger picture. This is an imperative.

Put in a more colloquial way, do we pay too much attention to the tree, we miss the fact that a forest stands in front of us? That forest, that collection of trees, the systems in the world around us, are waiting to be identified and inviting us to grapple with them.

Let me put that trees/forest concept another way. In my Church History Survey course the professor was painfully aware since we were covering 2,000 years of history students needed to keep up with the reading. Fall a week behind, it’s hard to catch up.

So each week in class there was a 10 question short answer quiz. The professor was generous. The tests were only 5% of the grade.

Further, each week one of four answers on one question was always “Sir John Free-be.” Check that box with the answer “Sir John Freebe” and get at least 10% on each quiz without doing the reading.

This same teacher also said the importance of facts is to give context. But it is much more important to know and understand the broad sweep of history, the big picture.

Knowing Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 is not as important as knowing the voyages of that era are about the start of a new economic system called capitalism. The facts— the tree— that’s Columbus. The broad sweep— the forest— that’s economic systems. Which is more important— knowing about Columbus or about economic systems?

So what is a larger picture in Christianity? Our Christian forest is not about specific rules. Our Christian forest is about how we live our lives. Living within the rules is good. Living out from the rules— living out from the rules— is our calling.

Put another way, Scripture constantly asks: where is our heart? And perhaps that is exactly the interaction Jesus is having with the rich person. Jesus is asking where is your heart? (Slight pause.)

Have you ever considered this: loving one another is not a rule. Why? A rule is static, immoveable, a noun. Love is an action, a motion, a verb.

That actually brings up another question about anticipation and identification. What is the purpose of this Church? That’s a question with which this church has been grappling and will grapple. It’s also a question with which any church should never stop grappling.

But in order to faithfully grapple with this question foresight and sight— anticipation and identification are necessities. These have nothing to do with the programs we have, who the pastor is, even who the leadership is.

Each of us, each individual, needs to faithfully grapple with the question ‘what is the purpose of this church?’ And one way to work out that purpose might be that we all need to learn something from history.

What does history teach? Static, immoveable does not work. Action, motion does work. Change is not easy. It is inevitable. Success is not a goal. Being faithful is.

So let me make one suggestion as to what being faithful might entail. Maintaining faithfulness means living out from the rules, living out from what the reality of now says into the reality of what can be. That means seeing the big picture.

What is the big picture? The big picture is seeing, identifying the way of life to which God calls us.

And that, my friends, suggests yet another step, a really, really big step. We— all of us together— need to trust God— God who is faithful— we need to trust God to guide us. Amen.

South Freeport Congregational Church United Church of Christ, South Freeport, Maine
10/10/2021

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 a quote from a Jesuit, Greg Boyle. ‘We are not invited to an allegiance to a system of beliefs but to a way of living, a way of loving, a vision where we take seriously what Jesus took seriously— inclusion, non-violence, unconditional loving kindness, compassionate acceptance.’ Or as I indicated in my comments, the commandments are merely the particulars. Our calling is not to live within the commandments but to live out from the commandments.”

BENEDICTION: The Word of God guides us and assures us of God’s saving grace, God’s healing love, God’s eternal promises. 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.

READINGS: 10/03/2021 ~ Proper 22 ~ Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 22) ~ Job 1:1, 2:1-10; Psalm 26; Genesis 2:18-24; Psalm 8; Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12; Mark 10:2-16 ~ World-wide Communion Sunday ~ Communion Sunday ~ VIDEO OF COMPLETE SERVICE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHJdlMDNSxywfQXnG5dt8Gw.

From the Earth

“…Yahweh, God, said, ‘It is not good for this creature of the earth, this one I have made out of the ad-am-ah, made out of the earth, to be alone; I will make a fitting companion, a partner for it.’” — Genesis 2:18.

I have already mentioned here that I was a professional writer, mostly for theater related projects. And, since I have been a writer and people know that, occasionally someone will say to me their impression of most writers is that writers are… loners— do things alone.

That impression is not far fetched. Even I think most writers are loners. They go off to their towers, ivory or otherwise, and scribble, scribble, scribble— or these days type, type, type on a computer— pages and pages and pages of prose.

Then the writer emerges, finalized copy in hand, ready to share it with the world. And the world is not permitted to change a single letter, word, comma or paragraph, thank you.

But there is something unique about writing for theater which sets theater writers apart. How are theater writers different? This is a given: theater is a collaborative art.

It takes many, many people of great talent— actors, directors, producers, musicians, set, sound and lighting designers, sometimes even other writers, multiple writers— to present a stage play. And all of these collaborators will bring change to what has been originally written.

The demand the theater makes is to embrace change in the process of creating. The nature, the character of the art incorporates change in the process of creating.

Hence, while a theater writer may initially find some tower in which to write, that writer needs to know upon emerging from said tower, change is a part of creating. Equally collaboration, working with others, is a part of the process of creating.

So no theater writer can be a loner nor can anyone who works in theater. The profession does not allow for that.

And yes, as I worked in theater I learned how to collaborate and even found I like to collaborate. It’s what we theater people do— we collaborate. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work known as Genesis. “…Yahweh, God, said, ‘It is not good for this creature of the earth, this one I have made out of the ad-am-ah, made out of the earth, to be alone; I will make a fitting companion, a partner for it.’” (Slight pause.)

You probably know this reading is the second of two understandings of creation in Genesis. Please notice, I did not call these creation stories.

Why? Neither of these understandings are descriptions of creation nor are they concerned with how creation came about. The Bible is not a science textbook. So if this is not a story of creation or how creation happened, what is it? (Slight pause.)

There are a bunch of things here which jump out. Let’s start with the obvious. I hope the translation [1] we heard made it clear the word ‘a-dam’ [2] is not a name.

Our clue to this idea is in the fact that the ad-am-ah is the earth, the ground. It is, in fact, the dust of the ground. A-dam is, therefore, an earth creature, made out of the ground, from the ground.

Equally, Eve— ish in Hebrew— is not a name but a word which means giver of life. Additionally, Yahweh, God, has made these earth creatures. And it should be evident God loves what God has made. How do I know God loves what God has made?

In words which came before the section of Scripture we heard today God acted as a bellows, breathes life into the a-dam. This “breath of life” is God’s own living breath.

This is a divine act and an act of love. This divine act is the only distinction between the creation of humans and the creation of animals. God does not breathe into the animals. Instead they are simply created out of the ad-am-ah, out of the earth.

Additionally and therefore, the a-dam, this earth creature, is a combination of the substance of the earth and the image of God, this breath of God. What also seems clear is this passage constitutes a profound statement about human identity, about who we are.

Now, having formed the a-dam, having breathed life into the a-dam, what happens? Together with this a-dam— together— Yahweh, God, sets to a task. They begin a collaboration. The task? They name things.

God creates things and brings them to the a-dam so they can be named. Further, this is not simply a collaboration. We watch as a relationship develops.

The motive of God is stated quite clearly. God seeks a companion for the a-dam, the earth creature. Then yet another level of collaboration happens.

God, you see, does not take this next step in isolation from the earth creature. God creates ish— this name which means giver of life— God creates ish out of the earth creature, out of the a-dam.

Thereby, the collaboration deepens and becomes richer and becomes inclusive of yet another earth creature made out of the a-dam, made out of the ground and made out of the breath of God. Hence by its nature, by its reality, this very act instructs humanity about what we should be doing and need to be doing. We need to collaborate with one another, rely on one another, support one another. (Slight pause.)

Let me state the obvious. As I said minutes ago, is not concerned with how creation came about. This is a story about relationships— about a relationship with God and relationships with other humans.

And yes, you may get tired of hearing me use the word ‘covenant.’ But here it comes again. This is a story about covenant because it’s a story about relationship with God and relationships with other humans.

Further, something we need to realize is covenants— in part because they are collaborative— covenants are not contracts. Contracts do not change. They are and remain static.

Covenants by their nature renew, animate, revive, regenerate, create, re-create, alter, live, breathe. And yes, covenants demand change because covenants are not static. And yes… covenant is about collaboration.

It is a demand of the art of covenant to embrace change, incorporate change, include change. Covenant, you see, is about the process of creating, about the process of creating with God. Covenant is also about the process of creating with others.

Covenant is about the process of creating and growing in love, in peace, in wisdom, in knowledge, in understanding. That, my friends, is both a real story of creation and the real story of creation. We are invited by God to grow— to grow in love, in peace, in wisdom, in knowledge, in understanding. Amen.

10/03/2021
South Freeport Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, South Freeport, 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 Thought for Meditation was from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. [3] That is a work of science fiction comedy— yes, science fiction comedy. As a theater person let me define comedy for you. Comedy seeks to uncover deep truth. That’s what makes us laugh— comedy helps us see deep truth. In Hebrew a-dam and ad-am-ah reads as a comedic word play and points to deep truth. That being said let me end with another quote from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s not a funny quote but it is true. ‘There is a moment in every dawn when light floats, when there is the possibility of magic. Creation holds its breath.’”

BENEDICTION: The work and the will of God is placed before us. Further, we are called to be faithful and seek to do God’s will and work. In so doing, may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.

[1]

This is the translation used and the introduction Tthe the reading which preceded the reading of Genesis 2:18-23 [Inclusive Language Version]
There is a tradition in Congregationalism which says there should never be a dumb reading of Scripture in a service of worship. In this case the word dumb means silent. What that means is there should never be a reading of Scripture in a service during which the reader fails to offer some commentary as the reading progresses. That is what you will hear today. Jeremy will be offering some commentary as he reads. As commentary he shall inject both the underlying meanings and the Hebrew pronunciations of some of the very familiar names you will hear. Hear now this reading from the Tanakh in the section known as the Torah in the work we call Genesis.

[18] ...Yahweh, God, said, “It is not good for this creature of the earth, this one I have made out of the ad-am-ah, made out of the earth, to be alone; I will make a fitting companion, a partner for it.”  [19] So also out of the ground, from the soil, out of the ad-am-ah, Yahweh, God, formed all the animals, every wild beast of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to the earth creature, the a-dam, so these could be named.  Whatever the earth creature, the a-dam, called every living one, that became its name.  [20] The earth creature gave names to all cattle and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field, all the wild animals.

But none of them proved to be a fitting companion, a partner for the a-dam, the earth creature. [21] So Yahweh, God, caused a deep sleep to fall on the earth creature. While it slept God divided the earth creature in two and then closed up the flesh from its side. [22] Yahweh then fashioned the two halves into male and female and presented them to one another.

[23] The male realized what had happened and said,
“This time this is the one!
Bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh;
Now this one will be called ish”—
ish a word which means source of life
“and I shall be called a-dam”—
a-dam— a word which means from the ground
“for out of me was this one taken.”

Here ends this reading from Scripture.

[2] Adam is pronounced a-dam. Adamah is pronounced a-dam-ah.

[3] Thought for Meditation:
“Humans think they are smarter than dolphins because we build cars and buildings, start wars etc., and all that dolphins do is swim in the water, eat fish and play around. Dolphins believe that they are smarter for exactly the same reasons.” — Douglas Adams (1952-2001), author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

09/26/2021 ~ Proper 21 ~ Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22; Psalm 124 ; Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29; Psalm 19:7-14; James 5:13-20; Mark 9:38-50 ~ VIDEO OF COMPLETE SERVICE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yXagDdMYAk.

Leadership

“…Moses answered, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the people of God were prophets! If Yahweh would bestow the Spirit on them all!’” — Numbers 11:29.

When I offer pre-marital counseling, something I have done a number of times, I always ask a very basic question. ‘When does the marriage happen?’

I’m happy to report no couple has ever given me an answer like this: “Didn’t we tell you? The marriage will be Saturday, October the 2nd at 2:00 p.m.” No one has ever said that to me.

The real answer is not simple but it is obvious. Marriage happens when the covenant commitment is made among— note, not between but among, meaning three parties— marriage happens when the covenant commitment is made among those two people getting married and God. This is a three way covenant.

That covenant commitment could have happened a long time ago, before the ceremony. Equally, it might not have yet happened, might not happen for years. The only thing I might be willing to bet on is it’s unlikely the ceremony will entice it to happen.

So, what’s the ceremony about? After all, in our culture it does seem to carry great importance. (Slight pause.) Here’s my take: the ceremony is about gathering family and friends and inviting their blessing and the blessing of God, something we should invite every single day.

Rituals of passage are important markers. So to say the marriage happens when the commitment to covenant becomes realized in no way diminishes the ceremony.

That having been said, this question about when the marriage happens and the answer about covenant commitment among the two people and God is a very complex concept. Why? Well, what is covenant and, therefore, commitment about?

I have already said this here. Covenant is a commitment to growth— growth in learning, growth in the spirit, in wisdom, in love. In the case of marriage it is a commitment before God, with God, through God, in companionship with God and another person.

The idea of covenant growth in marriage raises many questions. What happens when one person in the covenant in some way— mentally or physically— is not able to grow? What happens when one person in covenant in some way simply refuses to grow.

You will be relieved to know I am not going to tackle those questions since my comments might last a couple of hours. The aspect of covenant I want to consider is not about we humans but asks the question ‘Where is God in the covenant?’ (Slight pause.)

These words are found in the work known as Numbers: “…Moses answered, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the people of God were prophets! If Yahweh would bestow the Spirit on them all!’” (Slight pause.)

The Israelites think of Moses as their leader. Why not? Moses is charismatic, gifted, filled with the Spirit, speaks with God face to face, speaks for God to the community, intercedes on behalf of the people. Leadership is embedded in this story and it cannot be read independently of it.

But what happens? There are complaints and at the end of today’s reading these complaints say people other than those assigned to prophesy are being prophetic.

Now through the leadership of Moses this community has had a formation experience in the Exodus and Sinai events. But now this community has entered a different phase— a wilderness phase, a wilderness… experience.

And so when, where and perhaps even why does this conflict, this complaining happen? It happens in the wilderness. It could be the charisma of Moses has lost some of its gleam. Time does that. And yes, perhaps the people are puzzled, confused, lost.

Questions are raised: where are we going? What was done wrong? Who got us here? Whose fault was this? Who is in charge? Let’s… blame… someone.

Moses is a convenient target. Even Moses complains. But Moses complains to God. (Slight pause.)

Earlier I asked the question ‘Where is God in the covenant?’ I want to suggest in complaining to God Moses got it right. Moses complains to God but then Moses listens to God. What does Moses hear? (Slight pause.)

Moses hears God is present, there, real. And Moses also hears God seeks to be present to and for everyone. (Slight pause.) What does that say to us? I think it says we need to be like Moses. We need to listen to God. And we need to be like Moses— confident God is there for us, present to us, with us.

Please note: I am not addressing results. Being confident God is there— present to us, with us, is not the same as having an expectation about results. It is simply being in the moment, living in the moment with God.

And that is what Moses did. That is, in fact, what leadership in a community of faith really means for we humans. Leadership is not about figuring out what program or planning is needed.

Leadership in a community of faith is about asking a key question: to where is God calling the entire community of faith? Let me be clear. I am not bad-mouthing programs or planning. That is often good work. I am saying if leadership fails to ask to where is God calling the community of faith, programs, planning will not matter.

Indeed, programs, planning may turn out to be successful in human terms. But does that success fulfill being in covenant with God if God is not on board? (Slight pause.)

This is a quote from Óscar Romero, Catholic Archbishop in El Salvador, who was assassinated while offering Mass. “A church that does not provoke any crisis, preach a Gospel that unsettles, proclaims a Word that fails to get under anyone’s skin, a Word that fails to touch the real brokenness of the society in which it is being proclaimed, what kind of Gospel is that church preaching?” (Slight pause.)

I think Romero had it right. God always calls the community of faith to be provocative, unsettling in our society, among the congregation God has gathered also.

Equally, I think this reading tells us something very important. Leaders, no matter how charismatic, can only take a community so far. Ideally, in a church, a congregation, the whole community of faith needs to be involved, needs to have a voice. (Slight pause.)

That brings up two points. First it is the work of every person in the community of faith to listen for and listen to God. Equally, it is the work of every person in the community of faith to understand the covenant means God is there for us, present to us, with us.

And for what are we listening? Programs and planning are good but every person in the community of faith should be listening for the God of covenant who calls us to be committed to covenant growth— growth in learning, growth in the spirit, growth in wisdom, growth in love.

As Archbishop Romero suggested our work is to preach the Gospel. From what I hear the Gospel provokes, unsettles, gets under the skin, identifies the brokenness in society. Why can society be described as broken? Tell me, has society ever been a place where everyone— everyone— feels loved, wanted, protected, encouraged to grow?

My friends, the call of the Gospel is clear. Everyone should feel loved, wanted, protected, encouraged to grow. Amen.

09/26/2021
South Freeport Congregational Church United Church of Christ, Freeport, 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: “If you turn to the Call to Worship in the bulletin and find the sentence which reads, ‘Let the Glory of God abide in this place’ you will notice the word Glory is capitalized. That is not a typographical error. The word glory appears many times in the Hebrew Scriptures. The underlying Hebrew word is Kabod. Kabod indicates the real presence of God is being addressed and that’s why Glory is capitalized. Kabod— the real presence of God is with us. So indeed, as a congregation, as a community of faith, let us commit to covenant growth and recognize the reality of the real presence of God.”

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

09/12/2021 ~ Proper 19 ~ Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proverbs 1:20-33; Psalm 19; Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 116:1-9 or Wisdom of Solomon 7:26 – 8:1; James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38 ~ Rally Day ~ VIDEO OF COMPLETE SERVICE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quX0GVd9AqA

Rally Day? What’s That?

{Wisdom says:} “How long, O simple ones, / How much longer, you ignorant people, / will you love being simple, being ignorant?” — Proverbs 1:22.

This is the fifth time I am leading in person worship here at South Freeport. Add one time leading by video and that is a total of six. Therefore I think I need to start my comments with an apology.

Why? I have already said what I am about to say twice. This will make it three out of six. But I need to assume some people will be hearing this bit of information for the first time and might not have been privy to it the other two times. (Slight pause.)

My upbringing was in the Roman Catholic tradition. There! I said it again. Now, in many Protestant churches as I said earlier the kick off of the Christian Ed year has often been called “Rally Day.” Here we have appropriately renamed it Back to School Sunday.

Because I came to maturity in Roman tradition I never heard “Rally Day” until I moved into a church in the Protestant tradition. My first reaction was “Rally Day? What does that mean?” Rally Day just does not happen in Roman Churches.

To a certain extent American history is the culprit in me having never heard the term Rally Day. You see, less than 150 years ago if you were a Roman Catholic you were considered at best a second class citizen.

Here’s an example of that. The Knights of Columbus was founded in 1882. Why was this organization invented? It turns out it’s not just a fraternal organization.

Back then insurance companies would not sell life insurance to Catholics. So, fraternity is not the prime mission of the Knights. Selling life insurance to Catholics is.

Another consequence of Catholics being socially ostracized was they organized their own educational system, established a range of schools from Grade Schools to High Schools to Universities. Given their own education apparatus, they did not need to celebrate an educational start date in the church.

That a Fall term would happen, education would happen, that was a given. Why mark something assumed? I would be remiss if I did not point out similar social ostracization in the 1920s led to the educational institutions established by churches on the right.

Therefore in my case, I ascribe the reason I never heard about “Rally Day” to information myopia. I did not know about what I did not see. And yes, sometimes information myopia can come from being ostracized. But there are many flavors of myopia about information, about facts.

Information myopia can come from, pardon the expression, willful ignorance. Make believe something does not exist even if it is staring you in the face— that is willful ignorance. It seems to me there’s a lot of that going around.

There are other flavors of ignorance. It can come from different forms of isolation— physical, self-imposed, social, economic, cultural isolation. Of course, information myopia can come from a lack of curiosity on the part of an individual. A lack of curiosity— a self imposed isolation is, perhaps, the worst kind. (Slight pause.)

In an article Psychiatrist Alfred Margulies said curiosity is necessary for stable individuals. (Quote:) “Wonder…” wonder meaning a sense of curiosity, “…wonder promotes a searching attitude of simultaneously knowing and not knowing.” (Unquote.)

Wonder blends astonishment with curiosity, a combination that ends up fostering deep appreciation of the other. Children can be exemplars of curiosity, of wonder.

The questions children pose often have as much to do with relationship as with acquiring information. For instance, when a child aska an adult, “Why do grown-ups cry when they are happy?”— yes, the child is seeking information.

But the child is not just seeking information. The child is asking for and seeking interaction. Relationship is at stake in the question being asked.

If an adult squelches that kind of “why” inquiry, relationship gets thwarted. I therefore want to pose the idea that curiosity is often about relationship.

Here’s an example of that from Scripture. We have labeled one disciple, Thomas, as “doubting.” But Thomas is known as Didymus— twin. And the episode is commonly described as being about doubt. But the word doubt is not in that passage.

So, when Thomas seeks to touch, to see, is that about proof? I think not. Rather, the scene is about opening doors to relationship.

And that relationship will require all kinds of personal, relational change. What Thomas does display is holy curiosity. And yes, curiosity is holy. [1] (Slight pause.)

These words are found in the work known as Proverbs: {Wisdom says:} “How long, O simple ones, / How much longer, you ignorant people, / will you love being simple, being ignorant?” (Slight pause.)

One of the things we need to notice in these words, in the context of how they are spoken, is that they are proclaimed into the very heart of the city of the people of God. This is a public proclamation, not a proclamation of an individual truth, but a public call to everyone, for everyone.

Wisdom declares this Word from God is to be heard, bids everyone to listen. This, thereby, is a proclamation to all people to enter into dialogue with God. This invites everyone to examine how God might see the world, to understand the nature of reality not as we humans see it, not as an individual sees it, but as it is created by Yahweh, God.

Since this is an invitation to examine how God might see the world, it is a summons to both curiosity and to relationship. Curiosity and relationship intertwined are at the core of this proclamation.

Is this passage a prophetic accusation, a prophetic condemnation? It proabbly could be read that way. But no— the only real condemnation here is when and if the people condemn themselves by ignoring God’s covenant teachings, by being willfully ignorant of God’s covenant teachings.

Of course, what that really means is we are in control. We have the ability to learn. We are in control because the teaching heard here is an invitation to participate, an invitation to be in relationship with God, an invitation to be in relationship with each other. I would be so bold as to suggest that to enter into relationship, to be in this kind of dialogue, is a sign of spiritual maturity. (Slight pause.)

I also want to suggest the pertinent issue here is one discussed in the last verse of the reading. (Quote:) “…those who listen to me / will be secure, / those who listen to me will be at peace; / those who listen to me / will live at ease, will have quiet, / will have no dread of disaster.”

Listen is repeated three times. Why? The Shema, the Great Commandment, says this: “Hear, O Israel.” And, when we do not listen to God, when we do not, therefore, hear God, we break covenant.

So if we are to rally to anything we need to rally to learning about covenant and through covenant. And covenant invites us to one thing: growth.

Covenant is, you see, a commitment to growth, a commitment to not be in any way myopic. Covenant growth is a commitment to learn, a commitment to change, a commitment to grapple with God’s reality, a commitment to seek, a commitment to relationship.

And yes, just change alone is a tall order. But we are invited to go beyond just change to growth. That is the daunting challenge of covenant. Amen.

09/12/2021 [2]
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Earlier I mentioned the episode we commonly call “Doubting Thomas.” Jesus invites Thomas to examine the wounds. Again, this is not about proof. This is about the invitation of Christ to relationship, and thereby it is an invitation to movement, to change, to growth.”

BENEDICTION: We are called to care, even when conventional wisdom says we should not. God is our helper. Christ is our teacher. The Holy spirit is our guide. Let us go forth knowing that the grace of God is deeper than our imagination, the strength of Christ is stronger than our need and the communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than our togetherness. May God guide and sustain us today and in all our tomorrows. Amen.

[1] The last several paragraphs are adapted from an article in The Christian Century (9/12/18) by Peter W. Marty, Curiosity Is Holy.

[2] Give that the date is the day after the 20th anniversary of 9/11/2001 the pastor said this before gathering joys and concerns for the Prayers of thep people.

We have come to the time we call Prayers of the People and the World. This morning I want to separate the two. So before I ask for your concerns for this day and in and about this place, South Freeport, I want to and need to address the anniversary of 9/11. I once worked in an office at 5 World Trade Center, one of the smaller buildings in the complex, a building crushed 20 years ago. But on 9/11 I was already in my sixth year serving the church in Norwich, New York. Of course, I had both worked at the Trade Center and I am a native of New York City. I still have friends and family there. To say what happened on 9/11 deeply affected me is an understatement. So on Friday I looked up the sermon I shared the following Sunday. This was among the things I noted on that day (quote:) “Christianity and all the great world religions, when well understood, have, at their core, a history which rejects nihilism, rejects ignorance, rejects insular judgments, rejects legalism, rejects the darkness found when one surrenders to an impulse which says cruelty to others is acceptable behavior.” At the end of the service before the Benediction I said something, just like I do here. On that day I offered this prayer from the United Church of Christ Memorial Service. So let me offer that prayer again right now after which I shall ask for your joys and concerns for this day.

Let us pray: we gather here in the protective shelter of God’s healing love. We are free to pour out our grief, release our anger, face our emptiness, and know that God cares. We gather here as God’s people, conscious of others who have died and of the frailty of our own existence on earth. We come to comfort and to support one another in our common loss. We gather to hear God’s word of hope that can drive away our despair and move us to offer God our praise. Amen.

And indeed, as we worship even here today, all these years later, it is well to remember we believe the protective shelter of God’s care, God’s healing love, is available to all people.

READINGS: 09/09/2018 ~ Proper 18 ~ Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23; Psalm 125; Isaiah 35:4-7a; Psalm 146; James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17; Mark 7:24-37>
VIDEO OF SERVICE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90BwDy1u15o.

Equity?

“My brothers and sisters, your faith in our glorious Savior Jesus, the Christ, must not allow for favoritism.” — James 2:1.

My brief biography on the church website says I have had material which I wrote performed Off -Broadway. My most important credit in that arena is I contributed writing to a show which stared Kaye Ballard. Some of you may remember Kaye. But she was more of a theater personality than a TV or movie personality.

Now, theater people tend to do a lot of different things just in the profession. So I was also a stage manager off-off Broadway, a business manager for a children’s theater, wrote and staged club acts and worked for the theatrical charity the Actors’ Fund of America.

I never waited on tables like many theater folk, but I did work many jobs outside of theater. You name it, I did it— from managing a store to being a tour guide to computer operations to back office Wall Street operations. Being a pastor is not a second career for me— it’s a ninth career. This is a story about one of those other jobs.

I once was a computer operator at Bloomingdale’s Department Store in New York City. That was back when a computer took up a space the size of this Meeting House.

I mostly worked the night shift. Computers were slow in that era, so sometimes jobs took hours to complete. The machine would chug along and I would have nothing to do except sit and watch in case something went wrong.

And so, with the permission of my boss, I took to reading books as I sat there. Once, at about midnight as the computer was grinding away and I was reading, the CEO of Bloomingdale’s walked in. He was an older, tall, regal, patrician looking fellow. What he was doing there at midnight I have yet to figure out.

He asked a couple of questions and my responses seemed to satisfy him. Since I had permission to read and the CEO saw me reading, it did not concern me. But curiosity did overtake him so he asked me what the book was.

Now, in 1762 the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote a work called The Social Contract. That book proposed this radical idea: all people are created equal.

There are many issues you can have with Rousseau’s work. But his best ideas are reflected by Jefferson fourteen years later in the Declaration of Independence.

The work I was reading was also called The Social Contract. But this book said people are not created equal. So I said that to the CEO of Bloomingdale’s: “The premise of the book is not everyone is created equal.”

The CEO of Bloomingdale’s, this older, tall, regal, patrician looking fellow, smiled, nodded and said: “I never thought they were.” Then he turned and walked out. (Slight pause.)

It says this in the work known as James: “My brothers and sisters, your faith in our glorious Savior Jesus, the Christ, must not allow for favoritism.” (Slight pause.)

Justice does not allow for favoritism. Favoritism sanctions privilege, something perhaps familiar to a CEO. It is therefore clear this passage addresses justice. After all, favoritism, by definition, means things are not equal.

But when it comes to the word equal, I suspect we read inaccurate implications into it. Why? We are, in fact, not equal, at least not equal in any mathematical sense.

Each of us is born with a set of gifts and talents. Each of us is unique, different, created by God with singular gifts and talents.

Therefore, instead of equal I sometimes use the word equity. And I do think it is good to strive toward equity. But that word, equity, is an almost impossible target.

So I think neither equality nor equity is quite right, at least from the perspective of Scripture. Perhaps that’s because Scripture understands that any standard of human justice is flawed, imperfect. But we do need to be clear: when we try to talk about equity, when we try to talk about equality, we are addressing the possibility of justice.

There is a reason I just labeled justice a “possibility.” Human justice is unquestionably an illusive goal. Further, Scripture does not address human justice. Scripture addresses the justice of God. (Slight pause.)

I maintain when this passage says we (quote:) “must not allow for favoritism,” the justice of God is being addressed. Most of the time when we translate the underlying Greek word for justice we translate it as righteousness.

But we also have a hard time with that since we think of righteousness in human terms— my righteousness. So let me offer a definition of righteousness from a Bible dictionary.

(Quote:) “Righteousness is a fulfillment of the demands of a relationship with God”— a fulfillment of the demands of a relationship with God. When we think about justice are we even aware relationship and justice are intertwined? (Slight pause.)

Here is some interesting history. Our Pilgrim ancestors would not have carried the King James Bible to these shores. They were, after all, rebelling against anything related to the King. The Pilgrims would have brought the Geneva Bible.

In the Geneva Bible the word for justice is not translated as righteousness. Justice is translated as “right wise”— one strives to be right wise with God, strives to maintain a right relationship with God. So here’s my take: a right relationship with God constantly seeks the justice of God for all people— the justice of God for all people. (Slight pause.)

You heard Dietrich Bonhoeffer quoted at the start of the service. [1] Let me offer a couple more quotes. The ideas here offered might help explain how God’s justice demands a relationship with God and demands relationships with others.

Here’s Thomas Aquinas— “The work of divine justice always presupposes the work of mercy and is based on it.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu — “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has a foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” (Slight pause.)

Biblical justice does not just or only mean equality, just or only mean equity, just or only mean everyone has a seat at the table, just or only mean everyone has a voice. Why? Biblical justice adds yet another layer to those foundations.

Biblical justice means, indeed instructs, that everyone is engaged in relationship with everyone else. And I think being in relationship at a minium means we become more involved, more concerned— hard, difficult work. (Slight pause.)

The Epistle of James reminds us of two things. The first is of upmost importance. (Quote:) “You are acting rightly, however, if you fulfill the venerable law of the scriptures: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

The second explains what that means (quote:) “If deeds do not go with faith, then faith is dead.” Faith, relationship, justice— these are all intertwined. Amen.

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: “Since earlier I offered several quotes, let me offer a couple more very ancient ones. This is a Yom Kippur, a Day of Atonement Prayer: ‘We pray for impossible things: peace without justice, forgiveness without restitution, love without sacrifice.’ This is Saint Augustine: ‘Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.’”

BENEDICTION: Surely God will empower our ministry; surely God will supply for our needs when we are about God’s work; may this God, the God who formed the universe, bless us with the courage, the knowledge, the wisdom and the fortitude to serve the Gospel of Christ, empowered by the Spirit to seek justice, this day and forever more. Amen.

[1] “The absence of anything lasting means the collapse of the foundation of historical life, confidence, in all its forms. Since there is no confidence in truth, the place of truth is usurped by sophistic propaganda. Since there is no confidence in justice, whatever is useful is declared to be just. And even the tacit confidence in one’s fellow-man, which rests on the certainty of permanence and constancy, is now superseded by suspicion.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)

08/29/2021 ~ Proper 17 ~ Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Song of Solomon 2:8-13; Psalm 45:1-2, 6-9; Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9; Psalm 15; James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 ~ VIDEO OF THE COMPLETE SERVICE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUqVO69J__A

Your Children;

Your Children’s Children

“But take care and be diligent in guarding yourselves closely, so as neither to forget those things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days you live; make them known, teach them to your children and your children’s children—…” — Deuteronomy 4:9.

I believe this is a given. We all have specific ways of learning things. In the field of education these are commonly called learning styles.

And, depending on the research you look at, learning styles can be broken down into at least 7 or 8 ways of learning. I, myself, would argue there are about 107 or 108 learning styles. After all, we each have different ways of learning, so to break the styles down to that kind of simplicity, while useful for understanding, seems like a stretch.

Now, one of those 7 or 8 officially recognized styles is labeled as visual learning. I am not a visual learner.

However, research says about 65 percent of the population are visual learners. Perhaps that explains why movies and television— visual mediums— are popular.

These are new mediums but please do not delude yourselves by thinking visual mediums are new. The ancient Egyptians wrote in hieroglyphics, writing recorded in pictures. There are over 1,000 distinct pictographs, characters, in Egyptian writing.

The Cathedrals of Europe had stained glass windows and statuary. The buildings, themselves, are full of visual cues. These ancient shrines are old examples of how people learned about faith in visual ways. (Slight pause.)

Well, on a slightly different but related topic, here’s a true story about how non-visual I am. I am not making this up. I am sure you have all seen the international symbol which means “fragile” on some box, a circle with a line through it. And behind that circle with a line is what looks like a broken champagne glass.

When I was a kid I would look at boxes with that fragile symbol and I would think, “Does that mean broken glasses are in the box?” No— it means fragile; handle with care. Since I am not visual the symbol made no sense to me.

I am also dyslexic. Hence, I think I cultivated listening as a learning style so I could process first through hearing, through sound, not sight.

One other thing on that count— in my profession being dyslexic could have been devastating. After all, is the word “angel” or is it “angle”? Two letters difference, right?

There is the good news for me on that. The letters “e” and “l”— el— are one of the root words in Hebrew for God. Indeed, the word ang-el means messenger from God. Once I learned Hebrew in Seminary and understood God is a part of that word, I got a lot better at spotting the difference between “ang-el” and “ang-le.” (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the Fourth Chapter of Deuteronomy. “But take care and be diligent in guarding yourselves closely, so as neither to forget those things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days you live; make them known, teach them to your children and your children’s children—…” (Slight pause.)

Right after the reading we heard today leaves off, verse 13 uses the word ‘covenant.’ It is the first time the word covenant is used in Deuteronomy.

So the words heard in today’s reading are meant to prepare the reader, the listener, for the idea of a covenant way of life is real, is important, is lived… fully. Therefore, God admonishes the people to not (quote:) “…forget those things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days you live;…”

God, through Moses, says, “teach them to your children and your children’s children—…” Teach what? (Quote:) “…the commandments of your God…”

To be clear, in Hebrew a commandment is not understood the way we understand it— as in “do this” or “don’t do that.” In Hebrew there is no command tense at least in the same sense as there is in English. In fact, the word commandment here means teachings— plural— teachings. And what is being taught? Covenant. (Slight pause.)

So, how do children learn, really? I’m not talking about learning styles. What I’m addressing is how we live our lives and how share our lives with children. (Slight pause.)

Sometimes, especially in private situations, people introduce me as Reverend Joe. And especially in private situations, I correct them and say, “People usually call me irreverent Joe.” That is not meant to be impious. That is meant to be realistic, real.

So, what’s my point about trying to be real? We need to be real with our children. Let me try to unpack that with something I shared just last week. I mentioned that given my very Irish name— Joseph Francis Connolly, Jr.— it’s hard to hide the fact that I came to maturity, grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition.

But when it comes to my family background, it’s even worse than that Irish heritage sounds. My father, for his entire working career, was a teacher at a Jesuit High School. My mother was a nun. Seriously, entered the convent at a young age, dropped out before taking final vows, then married my father. It could be argued I just went into the family business. (Slight pause.)

I would be foolish to ignore that personal history. Their background with and in the church had an impact on me. This brings me back to what God said through Moses.

“…teach them,”— teach them— what does that mean? That means share with the children, share these learnings, share this covenant living, share this way of life. This points to an obvious question. How do children learn, really?

Yes, children learn from their parents. But children also learn from the adults around them, learn by example. Learning happens not just with and through the parents but with all the adults— around them. And we all have to be real with children.

Yes, age appropriate information is necessary when working with children. But age appropriate also needs to be real. Why? How do children learn? Children learn from their elders. And children will sniff out phoney, bogus or unreal in a second. They may not react. But they know.

And yes, my parents taught by example. But there were others. Many family friends were clergy— priests, nuns. I saw them at parties, on trips, on vacations, at family dinners. I, therefore, saw them as real people, not icons.

And I learned. Learned what? I learned this God stuff was something with which everyone grappled as they lived their real lives.

I learned these adults searched for meaning, lived in hope, prayed with humility, sought to embrace justice, were passionate about loving God and neighbor. I learned this God stuff is not to be placed on a shelf, taken down and dusted off every Sunday. (Slight pause.)

What I am really saying is through teaching (quote:) “…your children and your children’s children…” the first thing we need to be is real. Age appropriate, yes— but real, genuine, careful, thoughtful, truthful… conducting lives well lived.

Children do learn from the adults who surround them. And if our life with God is not something with which we grapple, something fully lived, if our life with God is something we place on a shelf, take down and dust off every Sunday, children get it.

So please remember these words from Deuteronomy: “…take care and be diligent in guarding yourselves closely, so as neither to forget those things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days you live…” And these words are followed with this instruction (quote): “make them known, teach them to your children and your children’s children—…” Amen.

08/29/2021
South Freeport Congregational Church, United Church of Christ

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: “These are the words of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II from the Musical South Pacific: ‘You’ve got to be taught / To hate and fear, / You’ve got to be taught / From year to year, / It’s got to be drummed / In your dear little ear / You’ve got to be carefully taught. / You’ve got to be taught to be afraid / Of people whose eyes are oddly made, / And people whose skin is a diff’rent shade, / You’ve got to be carefully taught. / You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late, / Before you are six or seven or eight, / To hate all the people your relatives hate, / You’ve got to be carefully taught!’ That lyric is seventy-two years old. Perhaps it sounds like it could have been written yesterday. And yes, we need to be careful not just about what we teach but how we teach. To use another song idea, we need to teach our children well.”

BENEDICTION: God’s Word lights our path. The risen Christ dwells among us. The Holy Spirit, guides, protects and sustains us. Let us go forth from this service of worship and offer service to the world in the name of Christ, for the grace of God is deeper than our imagination, the strength of Christ is stronger than our need, the communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than our togetherness. May God guide and sustain us today and in all our tomorrows. Amen.

READINGS: 08/22/2021 ~ Proper 16 ~ Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ 1 Kings 8:(1,6,10-11), 22-30, 41-43; Psalm 84; Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18; Psalm 34:15-22; Ephesians 6:10-20; John 6:56-69 ~ VIDEO OF THE COMPLETE SERVICE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ufQqNiWbtM

Prayer

“Always pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and every petition. Indeed, pray constantly and attentively, always persevere in prayer for all the saints, the people of God.” — Ephesians 6: 18.

I think some of you know and others may have assumed given my very Irish name that I came to maturity, grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition. And that is true. In fact, I can still recite in Latin whole swaths of the old Tridentine version of the Mass.

For example: “Et introibo ad altare Dei”— these are the first words of the Mass in Latin intoned by a priest. The person serving at the Mass then responds: “ad Deum qui laetíficat iuventútem meam.”

The translation— don’t worry, you were going to get the translation: “I will go onto the altar of God,” are the words said by the priest. The server then says, “God, my exceeding joy, God who gladdens my youth.”

That is a quote from Psalm 43. Part of that Psalm was used as the Call to Worship today.

Now, the Tridentine version of the Mass was instituted in 1570. Only in 1962 was it revised for the first time since that date. (Slight pause.) Churches— did you know things change really slow in churches?

There was a second development with the Mass in 1962. Reciting the prayers of the Mass in Latin was no longer a requirement. Permission and eventually instruction to use a vernacular language was granted. This has been in the news recently if you’ve paid attention. English, French, Swahili— whatever the language common to a specific location or group could now be used.

Over the years I have on occasion heard my fellow Protestants make an interesting accusation about the how Roman Catholic service of worship, the Mass, is celebrated. “Those Catholics,” it was and is still sometimes stated, “those Catholics don’t even pay attention to what is being said. English or Latin does not matter. They just recite everything by rote.”

Since I have voiced that accusation here, let me offer some personal history. In my youth I was, in fact, a server at Mass, an altar boy. So I have, myself, experienced, served at a Mass, when a priest recited it by rote. That Mass lasted about 15 maybe 20 minutes at most.

However, this needs to be heard also. Back then and maybe even today I’m not sure Canon Law required every priest to celebrate at least one Mass every day— not every Sunday but one Mass every day. That can be tedious and it becomes understandable why rote comes into play.

But, interestingly, a priest cannot celebrate Mass alone, by themselves. In order for the Mass to be valid, there needs to be at least one other person in attendance. And so, there needs to be a server. On occasion that server would have been me which is why I have experienced a 20 minute Mass.

But there is a real reason that at least one person other than a priest needs to be present at each and every Mass and it is the very thing which makes that requirement interesting. The Mass both is and is meant to be a communal event. The worship expressed in a Mass is seen not as an individual offering. The worship expressed in a Mass is seen as a communal practice.

That brings me back to the idea some people voice about a Mass celebrated by rote. I agree. This happens. There are Masses said by rote.

However because the Mass is a communal practice, if any priest or any altar boy or any parishioner recites the words of the Mass by rote, they are doing it wrong. This poses an obvious question: if celebrating a Mass by rote is wrong is there a right way to celebrate Mass? Indeed, is there a right way to be engaged in an act of worship? Is there a right way to… pray? (Slight pause.)

We hear these words in Ephesians: “Always pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and every petition. Indeed, pray constantly and attentively, always persevere in prayer for all the saints, the people of God.” (Slight pause.)

You may have already heard me say this from the pulpit: “Let us be in an attitude of prayer.” Being in an attitude of prayer has nothing to do with our circumstances, our physical position, our past, about who we are, about who we think we are.

An attitude of prayer might be about how we approach prayer. Hence, I want to suggest being in an attitude of prayer might be about focus. But I do not want to imply by the word focus that there is any one way to attain a focused state.

Indeed, we Westerners seem to equate silence or physical stillness with a prayerful attitude. That would not be true for a whirling dervish. They pray as they dance, while they dance. Indeed, their dance, the movement itself, is an aspect of their prayer.

An attitude of prayer is about the state of your own spirit as you strive to listen for the will of God in your own life. And yes, striving to listen for the will of God in your own life may mean you need to be silent and still. That is just not true for everyone.

In fact, as I indicated about the Roman Mass— and the Mass is, after all, an extended prayer— communal prayer is an important aspect of prayer. We need to pray together, with one another and for one another. So perhaps community is or can be a contributor to each individual being in an attitude of prayer, praying in the spirit.

To be clear, by definition each of us prays on our own and in our own way. But I would also suggest God longs to hear the cacophony of prayer which pours forth when we pray together as a community. (Slight pause.)

I need to mention another interesting idea we Westerners seem to have about prayer— interesting— I think that might mean not true. We treat prayer as if it was a medicine. Take this pill called prayer. It will fix everything. To me that makes prayer sound like snake oil medicine.

Prayer as a remedy also places prayer in the realm of monetisation. It changes prayer into money. Pay this, get this back. Trade, barter, is not the purpose of prayer. So, what is the purpose of prayer? (Slight pause.)

You may have noticed something fairly unusual about our bulletin this week. There were three Thoughts of Meditation which were recited out loud earlier.

Did you notice the origins of these quotes? One is from a Hindu; one is from a Jew, a Rabbi; one is from a Roman Catholic nun.

There are two obvious conclusions to draw from that. First, this should be quite clear: prayer is a very universal concept, idea, practice. Second (and perhaps this is my take on what an attitude of prayer might mean), prayer in itself is an act of worship and worship is a very universal concept, idea, practice.

All that brings me back to admonition found in Ephesians which tells us to (quote:) “…pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and every petition.”

As I suggested earlier, I believe God longs to hear the cacophony of prayer which pours forth when we pray together as community. So for me prayer is first and primarily an act of worship. Put another way, the worship of God is or should be at the core of prayer. And the worship of God is first and primarily a communal act.

This stance makes no claim that each of us does not or should not pray on our own. This stance makes no claim that each of us does not or should not worship God on our own.

In fact what I am suggesting simply points out an attitude of prayer might be a place where we join hearts and maybe even minds in worship. You see I maintain we are invited by God to community, to be in a community. In fact, I maintain the first invitation of God on our lives is to live in community and to live into community.

And the first invitation of God on the community is to worship God. What is it, what does it mean to worship God? Worship is an act of extended prayer. Worship is striving, as best as we can, to pray in the spirit.

So yes, Ephesians has it right. We are to (quote:) “…pray constantly and attentively, always persevere in prayer for all… the… saints,… the people… of God.” And yes, that is how we are to (quote): “Always… pray… in… the Spirit….” Amen.

08/22/2021
South Freeport Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, South Freeport, 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: “Earlier I said God calls each of us to community. Community is not easy. Indeed, the Gospels and Epistles are clear: the Apostles and the early church had many arguments. And what makes community not easy is even when arguments exist we are, all of us, no exceptions God’s people called to be in community, to live in community. So perhaps one key to community is the aforementioned communal prayer.”

BENEDICTION: Let us trust God to provide all we really need. God knows us, loves us and blesses us in Jesus, the Christ. Let us love one another as Christ has loved us. And may the peace of Christ, which surpasses understanding, keep our minds and hearts in the companionship and will of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more. Amen.

[1] RESPONSIVE CALL TO WORSHIP BASED ON PSALM 43
ONE: Vindicate me, O God.
MANY: Plead my cause before unjust judges,
rescue me from lying, deceitful accusers!
ONE: For You O God are my stronghold and defense.
MANY: O Holy One, send forth
Your light and Your truth;
let them lead me, guide me;
let them bring me to Your holy mountain.
Let them bring me to Your dwelling place.

            (Time for silent reflection.)

ONE: Then I will go to the altar of God.
MANY: God Who is my exceeding joy,
God of my delight;
and with my harp and my lyre
I will sing Your praise,
O God, my God.
ONE: My hope is in God;
MANY: For I shall, again and again,
praise You O Holy One,
My deliverance,
My help, my God.
Indeed, you are my God.

[2] “Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” — Mahatma Gandhi.

“There are three basic prayer themes: Wow! Help! Thanks! ‘Wow’ prayers express awe and wonder— amazement at… the miracle of life itself. ‘Help’ prayers articulate our deepest needs, hopes and fears, aspirations and longings. ‘Thanks’ prayers give voice to gratitude for our blessings— our lives, souls, the miracles, wonders and goodness that surround us every day,… the opportunity to be God’s partners in the ongoing work of creation, for God’s love and care.” — Rabbi Richard Block

“The purpose of prayer is not prayer. The purpose of prayer is to come to love God as much as possible with all the insights into the nature and presence of God this world allows.” — Joan Chittister, Order of Saint Benedict.