The video of the complete service is found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuqcM7oWTeA

Note: the lighting is not good.
**********************************
07/04/2021 ~ Proper 9 ~ Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Sixth Sunday after Pentecost ~ 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10; Psalm 48; Ezekiel 2:1-5; Psalm 123; 2 Corinthians 12:2-10; Mark 6:1-13 ~ Fourth of July Holiday on the Secular Calendar ~ Communion.

Freedom and Responsibility

“Then Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs,…” — Mark 6:7a.

I do not remember the exact date the letter arrived. I do know it was the first week of November, 1967. I was 19.

Those of a certain age will be familiar with the opening words in the letter and recognize exactly what they meant. (Slight pause.) “Greetings from the President of the United States.” (Slight pause.)

For those a little younger, I need to state this letter was from President Lyndon Baines Johnson and informed me I was being drafted into the Armed Forces of these United States. This was my draft notice.

The draft letter had one other piece of news. The date set for my induction was December the 5th, my mother’s 44th birthday— Happy Birthday, Mom. (Slight pause.)

At the time I was working at a large corporation as a computer operator. I gave them two weeks notice. Much to my surprise that afternoon my boss told me the company was acting on my behalf to get the draft notice postponed. That would buy them time for me to train someone to do my job.

They had not asked my permission to intervene. They just did it. I went along because I did not want to be inducted on my Mom’s birthday.

Within days I got a second draft notice for January 20th, 1968. That the corporation for which I worked could get my draft postponed without my input was a life lesson in real world power.

And so on January 20th, 1968 I was off to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, for Basic Training. Late March landed me in Fort Lee, Virginia, for Advanced Training.

The next significant date in this sequence is hard to forget. 53 years ago today— July 4th, 1968— I arrived in Vietnam— Happy Independence Day. (Slight pause.)

I’ve always said my little brother is the one who got the smart genes in my family. You see, I was drafted because the first time I went to college I dropped out. My brother did not.

By the time he was eligible to be drafted draft numbers were assigned by date of birth. The system used when I was drafted chose individual people at random. It’s the only time I ever won a lottery.

My brother then proved he was also clever. He applied for conscientious objector status and got it. I could have done that. I knew all the clergy who signed letters to support him. So, why did I not do that? (Slight pause.)

Rumor to the contrary, the system of government under which we live in American is not a democracy nor is it a republic. It is a democratic republic. [1] Any competent civics text book will say that. We just don’t pay much attention to the term democratic republic as political commerce seems to prefer the mindless rhetoric which confines us to the words democracy or republic, neither of which is totally accurate.

So, what does it mean to be part of a democratic republic? Perhaps this will help: in the initial draft of the Declaration of Independence the inhabitants of the 13 colonies are referred to as (quote) “subjects.” But then, amazingly, Jefferson wiped the word “subjects” out of the text and changed the word from “subjects” to “citizens.”

As “citizens”— no longer subjects— we became and are a people whose allegiance is to one another, not to some king. [2] I believe from that point forward as a nation we have been bound one another in mutual covenant— citizens not subjects.

So, as a citizen of this democratic republic, as someone designated by chance, by tradition, by law and by age to serve I thought I had a responsibility to others. You may agree or disagree with that. But that I needed to be responsible is where I came down.

Put another way it’s this simple: real freedom can be found only in the collective not in the individual, indeed, not in individuality. Therefore and paradoxically, real freedom depends on the responsibility assumed by each individual to the collective, to each other. (Pause.)

These words are from the work known as Mark: “Then Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs,…” (Slight pause.)

Mark here addresses how the Good News spreads. When I say ‘how the Good News spreads,’ we need to heed not the details but the principles. In this case I think the first principle is mutual responsibility.

The disciples, you see, are sent out in pairs. So perhaps next we need to ask what is it which binds them in this mutual covenant? The message, the Word of God Jesus invites them to proclaim is (quote): “repentance.”

The Biblical meaning of repentance is neither regret nor feeling sorry. Biblical repentance is turning toward God with your whole being, turning one’s life over to God.

So next we need to ask ‘how do the disciples go about turning toward God, turning their lives over to God?’ In this case Jesus invites them to take nothing for their journey except a staff— no bread, no bag, no spare tunic, no money. Here is a different way to put that: focus your life on God and the place to which God calls you— nothing else. In modern language, they simplifed their lives.

But that simplify stuff also comes back to the fact that they go out two by two. To really simplify they needed to rely on one another. Because of that commission of mutual reliance, this seems clear to me: no one individual has the key or is in charge. No one individual has any formula. No individual can fix everything. Put another way, no one is God except God.

And so they go out two by two, embrace the humility found in accepting communal responsibility. They accept one another for who each of them is. They embrace the humility of needing each other. And this embracing of the other can and does form living community. (Slight pause.)

I need to step back for a moment and say one very important thing about the Gospel we know as Mark. While it is not said in this passage in Mark, especially in the parables, Jesus talks about the realm, the reign of God which has drawn near.

That the reign of God has drawn near is an overall theme of the Gospel. I want to suggest this reign of God has something to do with the freedom granted by God.

I also want to suggest this freedom also has something to do with the humility and the repentance found in accepting communal responsibility, responsibility to one another. And that brings us back to this two by two concept. Jesus is focused on the centrality of community in proclaiming the realm of God. (Very long pause.)

Many feel the opening words of the Declaration of Independence about equality, life, liberty, the pursuit are the most important words in the document. And these days we tend to take those words personally, as if they were about an individual, about us.

However, I believe for the ones who signed the document, who lived through those tumultuous times, some words towards the end of the Declaration are equally important. (Quote): “…for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” (Slight pause.) “…we mutually pledge…” The signers of the Declaration accepted, indeed, embraced communal responsibility. (Slight pause.)

No individual is up to the task of forming community. Being a lone ranger works only in the movies. We need to rely on one another, be in covenant with one another to see the full reality of freedom and its gifts.

As Christians who wish to seek the freedom promised by the reign of God we must work toward and in community. And for Christians community does not mean just those you know. For Christians community means everyone, all people who on earth do dwell.

So, perhaps the way we need to think about freedom on this Independence Day is that it is really “Interdependence Day,” a day on which we rely on one another with mutual respect and mutual responsibility. Living in community is sacred. Amen.

07/04/2021
North Yarmouth Congregational Church, U.C.C. [3]

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:
“Before he won the Nobel Peace Prize I once had the privilege and honor of meeting Archbishop Desmond Tutu. This quote is from Desmond’s vast wealth of theological sensibility. ‘The wave of hate must stop. Politicians who profit from exploiting this hate, from fanning it, must not be tempted by this easy way to profit from fear and misunderstanding. And my fellow clerics, of all faiths, must stand up for the principles of universal dignity and fellowship. Exclusion is never the way forward on our shared paths to freedom and justice.’”

BENEDICTION: Let us place our trust in God. Let us go from this place to share this Good News: by God we are blessed; in Jesus, the Christ, the beloved of God, we are made whole. Let us depart in confidence and joy that the Spirit of God is with us and let us carry Christ in our hearts for God is faithful. Amen.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_republic

[2] The Washington Post; Jefferson Changed ‘Subjects’ to ‘Citizens’ in Declaration of Independence; By Marc Kaufman; 07/03/2010 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/02/AR2010070205525.html?nav=rss_email/components

[3] The video of the service is found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuqcM7oWTeA

06/27/2021 ~ Proper 8 ~ Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Fifth Sunday after Pentecost ~ 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27; Psalm 130; Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15, 2:23-24 or Lamentations 3:22-33; Psalm 30; 2 Corinthians 8:7-15; Mark 5:21-43.

Just Believe

“While Jesus was still speaking to the woman, some people came from the house of the synagogue officer and said to that officer, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?’ But Jesus overheard the remark and said to the leader of the synagogue: ‘Do not fear— just believe.’” — Mark 5:35-36.

Given the Children’s Moment, you may have figured this out already. I am a Baseball fan. [1] I have been known to pull over to the side of the road to watch a Little League game. I lived in New York State and at different times I was in both New York City and in rural Upstate New York.

When I did live in New York, and it mattered not where, Upstate or Downstate, this is what people asked me about baseball: Yankees or Mets? Of course, when I lived in Maine— both before and currently— people who knew I was a baseball fan did not even bother to ask. They assumed I was a Red Sox fan.

I follow the Sox and I never stopped following them even when I was in exile in New York, but my real answer about team fandom is none of the above— not the Yankees, not the Mets not the Sox. I am not a team fan. I am a baseball fan. I follow baseball. Why?

If truth be told the only team for which I ever rooted was the Brooklyn Dodgers. Please note: that is not the Los Angeles Dodgers. That is the Brooklyn Dodgers.

And this proves I am old. I actually saw games in person at Ebbets Field, home of the Brooklyn Dodgers. My team went out of existence in 1957. That may be why I am a baseball fan and not a team fan. My… team… died.

However, since I did spend time in New York I know a lot about those teams. This is one story about the Mets. (Slight pause.)

These days the late baseball player Tug McGraw is probably best known as the father of country music singer Tim McGraw. But I remember Tug as an outstanding relief pitcher who played from the late 60s through the early 80s— 19 seasons.

McGraw was a part of the World Series winning 1969 Mets, the 1973 National League Pennant winning Mets and the 1980 World Series winning Philadelphia Phillies. Tug always had a way with words and what stands out in my memory about that is a catchphrase he invented for those 1973 Pennant winning New York Mets.

But before I talk about the phrase McGraw invented and for those of you who don’t follow baseball, I need to explain the 1973 Mets. Under their manager Yogi Berra (also someone who had a way with words— the classic phrase, “It’s too crowded; no one goes there anymore” belongs to him) under Yogi the 1973 Mets won the National League East title. But they did so with a terrible 82–79 record. They were certainly one of the worst teams to ever win a Division.

They then won the National League Pennant by beating a much stronger Cincinnati Reds team in the playoffs. And that’s where McGraw and his words come in.

On this terrible team every time the Mets won despite the rarity of a win, McGraw would shout, “You Gotta Believe!” And on this terrible team every time the Mets lost and there were a plethora of loses, McGraw would shout, “You Gotta Believe!”

And then the press picked up on it, quoted it. Then the fans picked up on it. People started making and holding up banners with the words “You Gotta Believe!”

If the Mets were winning by ten runs fans would shout, “You Gotta Believe!” If the Mets were losing by ten runs fans would shout, “You Gotta Believe!” (Slight pause.)

“You Gotta Believe?” Believe what? Believe you can throw a baseball, hit a baseball, win a game? What does it mean to believe? (Slight pause.)

These words are from the work known as Mark: “While Jesus was still speaking to the woman, some people came from the house of the synagogue officer and said to that officer, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?’ But Jesus overheard the remark and said to the leader of the synagogue: ‘Do not fear— just believe.’” (Slight pause.)

What is belief? What does the word belief mean? Jesus says (quote): “Do not fear— just believe.” What is this invitation Jesus presents? (Slight pause.)

In her book Christianity After Religion: the End of the Church and a New Spiritual Awakening Diana Butler Bass says as the Protestant Reformation progressed people started to place a larger emphasis on Creeds. Why? Perhaps because a Creed can readily be seen as a list of beliefs, a set of principles onto which one is expected to sign, a list of beliefs one is expected to affirm.

But Creeds have actually been defined that way, as a list of beliefs, only since a little after the Reformation blossomed. What I find fascinating about the timing is not that it coincides with the Reformation but that it coincides with the dawn of what might be called Western science.

The list of noted scientists who lived into, in or were born in the 16th Century spans giants of the era from Da Vinci to Descartes. In this era people now look at the heavens through telescopes, see things they have never seen before, look at droplets of water through microscopes, see things they have never seen before.

In short, things we humans never saw before and things we humans never thought about before, things we never knew existed are coming into focus for us. We are making new discoveries. And we humans start to look at the world with a new set of lenses. We start seeing the world as a list of facts. (Slight pause.)

Now I, for one, do not want to ignore the benefits of the era. It leads to the later discoveries of the Enlightenment and everything this thrust into modernity brought.

I like facts. I happen to like electric lights, computers and indoor plumbing— all benefits of facts, information, data, science.

But I do want to suggest when we look at faith like a science problem, we are headed down a questionable path. So, why is that questionable? (Slight pause.)

The word ‘Creed’ comes from the Latin word Credo. We translate the Latin word Credo as ‘I believe’— fair enough. Indeed, the first words of the Nicene Creed in Latin are Credo in unum Deum… which we translate as “I believe in One God.”

But to say the word Credo means I believe, as if belief is a mere piece of data, is somewhat deceiving. You see, the intent of the word Credo is not an affirmation of a belief as a fact.

The deeper meaning of the word Credo is I give my heart. So, in order to translate the phrase Credo in unum Deum accurately we should say, “I give my heart to God.” (Slight pause.)

I want to suggest giving one’s heart to God is not about God as if God is just another item, a fact on a check list. If we give our hearts to God, if we say we believe in God, it means we long to be in a deep relationship with God.

All of which is to say in Scripture— and who knows, perhaps even in Baseball— giving one’s heart is a key ingredient of what it means to believe. So when Jesus says to the synagogue officer, “Do not fear— just believe”— that is what Jesus is talking about, giving one’s heart to God.

In short this is an invitation on the part of Jesus. Jesus invites the officer of the Synagogue and is perhaps even inviting us to give our hearts to God. (Slight pause.)

I think this is clear. We need to be in a relationship with God. That’s what belief is really about. I also think what we humans find out over time is, once we are in relationship with God, this becomes clear: God calls us, invites us, to be in relationship with one another. (Slight pause.)

Well, I have good news and bad news. Belief— this being in a relationship with God— is just like any relationship. Being in a relationship with God may be the easiest thing we will ever do. And being in a relationship with God might also the hardest thing we will ever do. Amen.

South Freeport U.C.C., Maine — VIDEO
06/27/2021

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: “It is my habit to say something at the conclusion of a service before the Benediction so I shall. I once had the privilege and honor of meeting Archbishop Desmond Tutu and that was before he won the Nobel Peace Prize. This quote is from Desmond Tutu’s vast wealth of theological sensibility. ‘In the end it matters not how good we are but how good God is. It matters not how much we love God but how much God loves us. And God loves us whoever we are, whatever we’ve done or failed to do, whatever we believe or can’t believe.’”

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] In the Children’s Moment Pastor Joe tried on some hats and some baseball hats. Then this question was asked: for which team does God root? God is not a fan of one team. God loves everyone.

03/07/2021 ~ Third Sunday in Lent ~ Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22 ~ The Elijah Kellogg Church

God the Teacher

“Then God spoke these words and said, / ‘I am Yahweh, God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; / do not worship any gods except me.’” — Exodus 20:1-3. ~ VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/522911582>

I have no doubt about this. My late father was very smart, brilliant really. He graduated from High School and College first in his class. He graduated from college in 1943, when most others his age were fighting WW II.

Why was he not in uniform? He was born with a birth defect. His left arm could not be raised even to the height of the shoulder. If you can’t lift your arm you can’t lift a rifle to the right level to fire it. Hence, he was classified as 4F. So he stayed in school.

In that scholastic career he was very proud to have been the editor of both his High School and College year books. He loved writing and editing. But his first job out of college was not in writing or editing.

He took a job as an English Teacher at Regis High School in New York City, a school run by the Jesuits. Fun fact— Dr. Anthony Fauci is a Regis graduate so it is 100% likely my Dad was one of his teachers. Indeed, Dad’s entire working career was spent at Regis. And his colleagues thought of him as a master teacher. (Slight pause.)

Now, as I think many of you know, my ordained standing is with the United Church of Christ. First Parish in Brunswick sponsored me at Seminary. The United Church of Christ ordains people with a specific title— not Pastor but Pastor and Teacher.

And people sometimes tell me I’m a good teacher. A colleague once said of me that I did not know how to write a sermon without some teaching in it.

I say I simply inherited the teaching gene; I got it from my Father. But also and as some of you know, I had a career before ministry as a professional writer for theater. I had material performed Off-Broadway and Off-off-Broadway.

Becoming a pastor did not stop my writing. Pastors write sermons, newsletter articles, recommendations, etc. Which is to say maybe I also inherited a writing gene.

And Dad really wanted to be a writer, not a teacher. But the truth is not many people earn a living exclusively as a professional writer.

Indeed, many writers do not work at it full time. Even most TV writers don’t just write but produce the programs. Many writers also work teaching at colleges.

Which is to say people who only write for a living are freelance workers. Stephen King, despite his success, works freelance! Writers are, effectively, in business for themselves, by themselves. It’s a hard, dangerous, risk-taking way to make a living.

So here’s a final truth about my Father. Not long after college he got married and soon after there were children who had to be fed. In short, his situation did not line up well with the risk-taking the life style required of a professional writer.

Now I think my parents were happy and proud when I embarked on a writing career and had some success. They supported me in any way they could. I was, you see, fulfilling my Father’s dreams about being a writer. (Slight pause.)

I want to pass on something my Dad, the master teacher, said. He said he never gave any student a grade; they gave it to themselves. (Slight pause.)

If a student decides to participate or to not participate in the work— either way— the results will be obvious. Dad said all he ever did was record the results. (Slight pause.) He never gave any student a grade; they gave it to themselves. (Slight pause.)

We hear this in the work known as Exodus: “Then God spoke these words and said, / ‘I am Yahweh, God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; / do not worship any gods except me.’” (Slight pause.)

The words from this passage are commonly known as the Ten Commandments. However, among Jewish scholars, in Jewish tradition, this passage is not known as the Ten Commandments. This passage is known as the Ten Words.

That being said, rumor has it a good teacher understands repetition can be quite annoying but sometimes necessary. Repetitio Est Mater Studiorum— repetition is the mother of learning— was one of my Father’s favorite Latin aphorisms.

So please, do me a favor. Wherever you are— in your car, at home, please repeat this with me. The Ten Commandments are not commandments but are ten words. Say it with me now— The Ten Commandments are not commandments but are ten words.

Here’s another interesting point. In Biblical Hebrew the command tense does not exist, at least not in the same sense as in English— an order. In Hebrew the command tense does not exist. (Slight pause.)

Rumor has it a good teacher provides some basic information. Then it’s up to the student to decide what the information means, what to do with it, how to understand it, absorb it. I’ve just provided some basic information which questions if there are actually commands in the Commandments.

However and as you probably know, there is a cultural tendency, an imperative, to think of this passage as something strict and immovable. Given this basic information, let me suggest that image of the Ten Commandments as being imperatives etched in stone needs to be seen as a secular, even irreligious, concept. (Slight pause.)

Now let me offer some more information. There are range of faith traditions. These traditions cannot even agree on how to number the commandments.

The Jewish tradition, the Reformed tradition, the Eastern tradition and the Catholic tradition— four different groups— each number the ten in four different ways. One wonders why our society erects monuments with ten numbers. After all— whose version of the numbers should take precedence? (Slight pause.)

Further, Scripture, itself, has three different versions of “Ten Commandments.” Two of them, composed by different authors in different eras, are in Exodus, Exodus 20:1-17 which we just heard and Exodus 34:6-26. Another is Deuteronomy 5:6-21. As I said, why do we put up monuments which make these words seem so specific? Which version found in Scripture should take precedence? (Slight pause.)

Rumor has it a good teacher gives homework. There are numerous translations of today’s passage and the other passages which contain the so-called commandments.

Just for fun and when you have time, please look up multiple translations of each of these— maybe half a dozen or so translations. Compare them. Ponder the differences you see. What does it mean that translations render the words in different ways?

As I said, why do we put up monuments, pretending these words are static? Which translation, which words should take precedence? (Slight pause.)

This leads to an obvious question. I have just suggested the “Ten Commandments” are not what our culture makes them out to be, not strictures etched in stone. So what are the words of this passage about? (Slight pause.)

I think these words primarily make a claim about who God is. God is the One Who loved the Israelites, guided their rescue from bondage, led them toward freedom.

These words start with the love of God which means they start with an action of God, not a command. My claim is even the words which follow are not commands. Rather, they record a result, a result of participation in the work of God. These words are or should be a result of a relationship with God, a result of the love of God for humanity and a result of humanity participating in the love God offers.

Hence— especially when it comes to phrases like “No murdering! No giving false testimony…!” — these words are about the result of relationships, loving one another. These words speak of God’s love and invite us to participate with each other in the love God offers. These words should be looked at as the result of that love. (Slight pause.)

I want to suggest if we respect and love one another then we will be enabled to live out from rather than live within the “Ten Commandments,” live out from them in ways which will amaze us, empower us to see the world as God sees the world.

Indeed, I think the world sees the “Ten Commandments” as restrictions on behavior. I think God sees these words as a result of our participation in the work of God called love.

And I also think God sees the first words in the passage as a homework assignment, if you would. Our assignment is to participate in the Realm of God, the Dominion of God. And, if we participate in the Realm of God, the Dominion of God, then respect and love are sure to be a result. God is the great teacher. Amen.

03/04/2018
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: “People need to remember something very simple about the Ten Commandments. When Jesus, the Christ, was asked what are the greatest commandments the answer referenced Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18, not the so called ‘The Commandments.’ So the question for us is simple. When will we follow the example of Jesus? When will we stop worshiping what the culture tells us is a god, indeed stop worshiping cultural idols? That carved image reference we heard in today’s reading tells us what we would be doing if we truly lived out from the commandments. We need to be worshiping something other than idols. Indeed, we need to worship the One Triune God, the God of relationship, the God of love.”

BENEDICTION: This is the message of Scripture: God loves us. Let us endeavor to let God’s love shine forth in our lives. For with God’s love and goodness, there is power to revive, power to renew, power to resurrect. So, may the love of God, the Creator, the Peace of Christ, the presence of the Christ, something which surpasses all understanding, and companionship of the Holy Spirit Who is ever present, keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and care of God this day and forever more. Amen.

02/28/2021 ~ Second Sunday in Lent ~ Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16; Psalm 22:23-31; Romans 4:13-25; Mark 8:31-38 or Mark 9:2-9 ~ Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

Blessed to Be a Blessing

“…I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.” — Genesis 17:7.

This is, I hope, obvious. I am standing in the pulpit of a church named for the Nineteenth Century Congregational minister, Elijah Kellogg. Many of you probably know what I am about to say concerning this pastor but some may not.

Kellogg was born in Portland, Maine, graduated from Bowdoin College, Andover Theological Seminary and served the church in Harpswell from 1844 to 1854. He served other churches and in other ways. Today he may be best known outside of Harpswell for writing multiple series of books largely aimed at youth. Kellogg’s life spanned 87 years between 1813 and 1901. [1] (Slight pause.)

As it happens I’ve just finished reading a biography of John Quincy Adams, [2] himself a life-long Congregationalist. Adams was the son of a founder of this nation and in this sequence served as an Ambassador, a member of the Massachusetts legislature, a United States Senator, Secretary of State, President and after that, as a member of the House of Representatives. Adams’ life spanned 80 years between 1767 and 1848. [3]

While the lifetimes of these two do not exactly match there is overlap. Obviously when Adams died in 1848, Kellogg would have been the pastor at the Harpswell Church. Obviously, these two were very accomplished, very learned. (Slight pause.)

For a moment, let’s look at the times their lives spanned. In the lifetime of Adams this nation saw the declaration of and the struggle for independence, the formation of its government structure through the Constitution, the Louisiana Purchase which greatly expanded its territory and the war of 1812. Adams, himself, negotiated the treaty with Spain which expanded American territory to the West Coast. Adams was still alive when the so-called Mexican–American War ended.

It should also be noted during the lifetime of Adams, transportation changed from horse and wagon to railroads and from sailing ships to steam ships. Adams saw communication change from printed material taking weeks and weeks to travel anywhere to the telegraph which communicated over large distances in seconds. (Slight pause.)

Kellogg was born before the War of 1812 ended and lived through a chunk of history I’ve already connected with the life of Adams. Then after 1848 Kellogg saw the Civil War, the assassination of Lincoln, Reconstruction, economic depressions and the so-called Spanish–American War.

During Kellogg’s lifetime railroads were invented and then spanned the continent. The automobile, though not yet in mass production, was invented. Electrification was happening. The limitations of the telegraph were overcome by the telephone. (Slight pause.)

For those who think we live in tumultuous, unsettled, dangerous times today, just look at this cursory list of what happened in those lifetimes. And I have left out major chunks of what happened during their lifetimes, major chunks of what happened around them and to them. So, you might well ask, what’s the point? (Pause.)

We find these words in the Seventeenth Chapter of Genesis. “…I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.” (Slight pause.)

I think one thing we moderns do not grasp well is, in different eras, the same words can carry different meanings. I think the word covenant is a good example.

Today many take it to mean a contract, effectively you do this and in return I’ll do that. This meaning might have even been true of secular covenants in Biblical times.

But it clearly was not true with the covenant about which God speaks. God makes it clear this is not a give and take contract. (Quote:) “…I will establish my covenant…” This is one way. This is not you do this, I’ll do that. No demand is made by God. God simply establishes it. (Slight pause.)

Now, both Kellogg and Adams had what we today would call a classical education. In that era it was a given that one would study Latin and Greek at the levels we equate with Grade and High School. Then one would read Greek and Roman authors in the original languages in college. (Slight pause.)

That observation brings me back to the meaning of words. In the late Eighteenth and into the Nineteenth Century, for those who had a classical education, the kind Kellogg and Adams had, the word “virtue” did not mean what it mostly means today. For them the meaning much more rested on what it meant to the Greeks and Romans.

These days we often take virtue to be synonymous with morality, behavior within specific, often culturally decided boundaries. Back in the Kellogg/Adams era they would have leaned on what virtue meant to the ancients. In those times virtue meant putting the common good above one’s own interests. Hence, virtue was thought of as a lynchpin of public life. It was thought of as doing what supported the community. [4]

So, what did the practice of virtue entail? This… this is where the words virtue and covenant collide.

The lives of both Kellogg and Adams embodied the type of virtue I’ve defined— service. Indeed, no matter what was happening around them or to them they were dedicated to the common good, dedicated to striving to make the world a better place, addressing wrongs, even in tumultuous, unsettled, dangerous times. (Slight pause.)

It is at this juncture many people struggle with the covenant of God. Earlier I said it’s clear the covenant God proclaims is not give and take, not a contract. The common way to put this is simple. God is the prime mover. Therefore, God places no demand on us.

However, while making no demands God does invite us… invite us… to participate in covenant. Further, we are changed not by our participation. We are changed simply by the invitation of God. This change is clearly delineated as in the reading the name Abram is changed to Abraham. And, in a section of this passage not read today, the name of Sarai is changed to Sarah. We are changed simply by being invited to covenant.

And what is the message of this covenant to us? The simplest way to express the covenant God offers is the way Jesus put it: love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbor.

This circles us back to the idea of virtue. If we love God and neighbor we will strive to look for and be involved in the greater good, strive to seek out places where injustice abounds and work toward justice. Covenant means we will strive to do the work of God encompassed by justice for all and love of everyone. Hence, covenant means we will learn. Covenant means we will grow. (Slight pause.)

I do not want to mislead you. Living into, out from and through the covenant to which God calls us, a covenant of justice and love, a covenant of growth and learning, is not easy work. Ask Adams. Ask Kellogg. Their paths were not easy. But I think covenant work is the place to which God invites us, the place to which God calls us.

And so, let me reiterate: to where are we called? To what are we invited? We are called, we are invited to covenant. We are, thereby, called, invited to be a blessing to the world in which we live. And in so doing we shall be blessed. Amen.

02/28/2021
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “You may have noticed I preached on Genesis but the choir sang an arrangement of Fairest Lord Jesus. What’s the connection? In the words of New Testament Scholar Nicholas Thomas Wright, what is seen in the resurrected Christ is the reality of covenant, the place we can come to understand God loves everyone. And hence, we need to move toward that virtuous task— we need to love everyone.”

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

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elijah_Kellogg
Note: May 20, 1813 – March 17, 1901 which means he was 87 at this death.

[2] The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics by William J. Cooper.

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams
Note: July 11, 1767 to February 23, 1848 which means he was 80 when he died.

[4] First Principles: What America’s Founders Learned from the Greeks and Romans and How That Shaped Our Country by Thomas E. Ricks.

A Christmas Eve Sermon

As the date and place on the sermon below indicates these words were first offered on Christmas Eve of 2009 at the United Church of Christ, First Congregational in Norwich, NY. While I did not realize it at the time this sermon became the initial step in the development of an Advent/Christmas Cantata— The Child— written with the composer Tom Rasely. I decided to re-post the sermon this year.

The text of the Cantata (along with suggested readings) follows the text of the sermon.

There was a video done at the service of worship which first contained this Cantata. The URL is just the Cantata and not the full service. This is the URL where the video of the Cantata can be found:

12/24/2009 ~ The Eve of the Nativity of the Messiah, the Christ, the Feast of the Incarnation ~ Proper 1 ~ Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11-14 ; Luke 2:1-14, (15-20).

The Child

“And she gave birth to her firstborn, whom she wrapped in bands of cloth and laid in a manger, a feeding trough for cattle, because there was no place for them in the inn.” — Luke 2:7.

The child lay against her breast. Blessed sleep had finally arrived. The child was quiet. She could feel the steady tempo of slumber in the warmth of the breathing against her skin.

It had been a long night and the dawn was not far off. Colic in an infant is never fun. This night the malady had been complicated by the surroundings.

This was not the best place for her and the infant and she knew it. But for now there was some shelter, when before there had been none.

In the last several nights, while circumstances she detested dictated they stay in these inadequate surroundings, it got very cold. But the hay which was all around made for good insulation.

Her husband had taken it, piled it up high, spread it out enough to accommodate them both and together, with the newborn child huddled in her arms, they burrowed into it. Just that extra bit of protection provided the necessary warmth to make it through the night. (Slight pause.)

Her husband was a good man. He was not wealthy. He was not handsome. He was not well spoken. In fact, he spoke very little. But she knew his soul.

When she looked into his eyes, she could see a man who knew God. She could see a man who cared about relationship and understood that relationship with God came before all. She could see a man who understood that all relationships into which one could enter were based on one’s relationship with God.

She knew he cared about her. She knew he cared about the child. (Slight pause.)

He never questioned about the child. She wondered about that. But she knew he was a good man, so there must have been a reason for the silence. And even though he was so often silent, he seemed to be able to communicate with her on a plane which precluded verbiage.

He had always been good to her. She hoped the child would learn from the example of this goodness. After all, example was the chief way any person learned about life, was it not? (Slight pause.)

She hoped for much for this child. Despite their poverty, or perhaps because of it, none of what she hoped for had to do with worldly possessions. Primarily, she hoped the child would be a kind person. She hoped the child would understand, if only for reasons of self protection, that the world was not always a place in which it was safe to live.

She had known people to be cruel and it seemed to her often they were cruel just for the perverse enjoyment of it. She hoped that the child would see, in this life, in this time, something of God’s light, something of God’s love, something of God’s dominion, in this world which seemed, so often, to be devoid of these. (Slight pause.)

Sometimes— in her dank, desperate moments— she thought the light of God’s love was too great a thing to ask for or to pray about. And perhaps she got discouraged because she had seen more than she wanted to see of the occupying army. They seemed… to not care— not care about people, not care about the sacred, not care about… life.

It appeared to her that they treated everyone as an annoyance, something to be used and then tossed aside. She had also seen more than she wanted to see of local government lackeys making sure they were first in line for any largess which might be available from the Romans. It was unnerving to know people could be so mercenary.

Whenever her attitude got too caught up in this way of thinking, a ray of hope somehow seemed to appear— a friend giving advice, a shopkeeper who was helpful— and then she realized not everyone insisted on looking out only for themselves. There were people who seemed to make a positive difference in this world. (Slight pause.)

The child stirred, made a noise, stretched out a hand… and rested again. This child, of course, made the positive difference for her. She could see in the child all the brightness of God’s creation, full blown in the little hands and feet, in the dark rings of hair on the tiny head, in the bright eyes which searched deeply into hers… for what? For hope? For support? For love? For relationship?

For some inexplicable reason, she could see in this child all the warmth and promise of the relationship to which God had committed in the covenants written in the Torah. For some inexplicable reason, she could see in this child all the warmth and promise of the relationship she knew God always sought in this world— this world which could seem so broken.

For some inexplicable reason, what she could see in this child was the warmth and promise of a God who was at work in the world and present in people. Was it thus with every child? Could this be seen in each baby born? Or was this child… special?

She dismissed that last thought. “All mothers think their child is special,” she assured herself. She reasoned, in a self-effacing way that, within all creation, God would not single out her or single out her husband or single out this child for anything special. (Slight pause.)

She heard a cock crow. With the noise of the animal, the child stirred again, but then rested. The first streaks of light were washing into the sky and onto the earth. God’s life giving light was dawning on a new day.

“No,” she thought. “I have seen much. I will see more. But, no. I am not that special that God might choose me for…” She did not finish the thought.

Perhaps she was overwhelmed by the possibility of the dawn of a new era in God’s work. Perhaps she understood that God’s work is always the continuing work of relationship. And she had no doubt that the continuing work of relationship was nothing special.

It was nothing special because it is a normal, daily, everyday occurrence. It was what God sought. Was it not?

And the place she knew God was calling her was, after all, to relationship. Was it not? So this… this place, this time, this child was nothing special. Was it? Amen.

United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
12/24/2009

************************

CANTATA — The Child
Music by Tom Rasely
Text by Joseph Connolly

A READING FROM THE GOSPELS — John 1:1-4 [ILV]
Narrator: Stories about the birth of Jesus appear only in Matthew and Luke. On the other hand, sometimes this reading is referred to as the Christmas story as it is found in the Gospel according to the School of John.

[1] In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God, in the presence of God, and the Word was God. [2] Indeed, the Word was present to God. [3] All things came into being through the Word, and apart from the Word not one thing came into being. The Word was life and [4] and that life was the light of all humanity.

This is the Gospel Who is the Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity.

1- From the Beginning
From the beginning the Word was with God.
The Word became flesh,
and the Word became flesh
and dwelt for a while
among us.

God is with us.
God is with us.

2- Promises

The promises that God had made
to all people long ago
had all come true in this child they found
in Bethlehem we know.
The light of God is with us now,
and God will not forget
the covenant that binds us all.
Amen and amen.

3- A Sign for You

NARRATOR:
I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people. To you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find the child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.

When the shepherds looked up at the sky,
they remembered all God had promised:
the rainbow in the sky,
the return from captive lands,
the parting of the waters,
and a home.

NARRATOR:
As a prophet of old once said: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who lived in a land of deep shadows, on them light is shining. For a child is born to us, an heir given to us; authority, dominion, rests on the shoulders of this one. The zeal of Yahweh, God, will do this.

As the shepherds sat quietly
gazing at the stars
on a clear and moonless night,
from somewhere close by
a sound filled the air;
the sky was turning bright.
Was it the blare of trumpets
or the buzzing of thousands of bees?
Or a sudden wind with a burst of light;
and they heard a voice in the night,
sounding like a multitude in the sky.

“To you is born upon this day,
in the city of David,
a Savior, Messiah, Christ the Lord.”

Then suddenly all was silent.

NARRATOR:
The shepherds were amazed; some were afraid. But they moved toward Bethlehem, to a small enclosure where the animals were kept, and found a mother and a father and their newborn. They sat in awe and wonder, and watched till the child awoke.

As the shepherds returned
to their sheep on the hills,
they gazed up at the stars.
Watching, wondering,
who is this child?
Who would the child grow to be?

4- Realities

The occupying army,
so far away from home,
had been in the land
for lo these many years.
And they’d conquered the world,
or so they always claimed,
and built an empire
of blood and hate and tears.

The occupying army
had come all the way from Rome,
and they treated all the people
as something to be used,
as something to be tossed aside.

The one that they called Caesar,
the one that they called Lord;
they also called him Bringer of Peace
But the peace that he brought
was the peace of the sword,
and now no one dared to even dream.

It’s the reality of Rome,
the reality of State,
the reality of force,
the reality of hate.

Was this the best reality
that Israel could hope for,
or was the reality of God
something much more real?

And into this reality
a baby now was born.

A READING FROM THE GOSPELS — Luke 2:4-6
NARRATOR:
In Luke, the stories surrounding the birth of the Messiah extend throughout the first two chapters. This is a small portion of that story. Hear now this word as it is found in the Gospel we commonly call as Luke.

[4] …Joseph went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, being a descendant of the house, the family, the lineage of David. [5] Joseph went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was espoused and who was expecting a child. [6] While they were there, the time came for her to deliver.

This is the Gospel of, Jesus, Who is the Christ.

5- Nativity

    Instrumental

6- The Child

The child lay against her breast;
she could feel the steady tempo
of his slumber,
and the warmth of his breath
against her skin
this night.

The night was cold,
there was no room at the inn,
but there was shelter for the night,
and the hay provided
much needed warmth.

Her husband was a good man,
she knew he was a good man;
not handsome,
not wealthy,
and not well spoken,
but she could see he was a man
who knew God.

She could see in this child
all the warmth of God’s promise
see in this child a new revelation,
a new relationship with God!

Mary pondered all these things
in her heart,
as she felt the steady tempo
of his slumber,
as the child lay against her breast
this night.

7- Trust Me, Joseph

In the depth of the night,
Joseph stared down the road
that had brought him to Bethlehem
with his wife on the donkey,
and their unborn child,
and he pondered
the distance in between.

Joseph sighed as he thought
of Israel and of forty years
of wandering. They had come
through chaos; they had come
through war, till they
came to this land where
the Roman now was king.

And tonight a child
had come into his life;
what would that mean
in light of history?
Yet in the eyes of his wife
he saw love, he saw life.
And he pondered God’s mystery.

Could Joseph trust
the promises of God?
Could he trust the angel in his dream?
Could he trust his wife,
whom he loved so much?
But all he heard was silence.

“Trust me, Joseph, trust me.”
Said the Lord.

“Trust me, Joseph, trust me.”
Said the Lord.

“Trust me, Joseph, trust me.”
Said the Lord.

In the depth of the night,
Joseph stood alone,
and he pondered God’s mystery.

8- Innkeeper’s Reflection

How could I have known?
I could have done
the best thing on that night.
But how could I have known?

A cold wind was blowing
from the west;
there was no moon to be seen,
no stars in the sky
on this silent night.

How could I have known?
A man and his wife,
and she was with child,
There was no room to spare,
but I gave them shelter
on the stable floor.
And how was I to know?

A cold wind was blowing
from the west;
there was no moon to be seen,
no stars in the sky
on this silent night.

Then while I was sleeping,
or was I wide awake?
Shepherds came from all the nearby hills;
and I thought I heard an angel
start to sing.

Glory to God in the Highest!
All glory to God in the Highest!

How could I have known?
Perhaps I did the best thing
on that night.

A cold wind was blowing
from the west;
there was one star in the sky
and God’s glory shown
on this silent night.

A READING FROM THE TANAKH IN THE SECTION KNOWN AS THE TORAH —
Genesis 1:1-3
NARRATOR: Hear now these words which are found in the Torah, in the work known as Genesis.

[1] At the beginning of God’s creating of the heaven and the earth— [2] when the earth was unformed and void, wild and waste, filled with chaos and emptiness, as night reigned over the surface of the deep, a wind from God, the rushing Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters.  [3] And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

9- At the Beginning

At the beginning
of God’s creating
of the heavens and the earth,
At the beginning of God’s creating,
God said: Let there be light.
And there was light.

And a child was born to us
who reveals God,
who is the light.

Alleluia and amen.

A STORY FROM THE TALMUD

NARRATOR: The Torah is the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Talmud is, essentially, the Jewish commentary on the Torah and is filled with all kinds of writings from prose to poetry to stories. This is a reading from the Talmud:

After all creation was formed, God called the angels together and asked them what they thought of it. One of them said, “Something is lacking: the sound of praise to the Creator.” So God created music. And music was heard in the whisper of the wind, in the chirp of the birds, in the tympani of the thunder. But that was not enough, so God gave humanity the gift of song. And down through the ages this gift has blessed, comforted and inspired many souls. This gift is a part of the covenant; we have the blessings and wonder which the gift from God bestows in us; and God is pleased when a joyful noise is heard.

10/18/2020 ~ Proper 24 ~ Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Exodus 33:12-23; Psalm 99; Isaiah 45:1-7; Psalm 96:1-9, (10-13); 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22 ~ Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine ~ Parking Lot Service.

Say One for Me

“We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you, remember you, in our prayers, constantly.” — 1 Thessalonians 1:2.

Starting last August I have pinch hit, or rather pinch preached, for your Pastor, John Carson, several times. My second time at here Elijah Kellogg Church I mentioned something very specific about my Mother. This particular piece of information sounds a little like a joke but it is not.

My Mother was a nun. Needless to say she left the convent before taking final vows. She met my father, married and had three children. I am the oldest.

Based on the fact that my Mother entered the convent these next statements might be assumed. She was pious. She took her faith seriously. She took God seriously.

Jews in the New Testament era— Jews in the city of Thessalonika— would have labeled someone who took God seriously with an obvious title: God seekers. And they understood even people who were not Jewish might take God seriously. The way they saw things is, if a person took God seriously, that person should be taken seriously.

Back to my family— for many years we lived in a house diagonally across the street from our church. That made going to church on Sunday an easy task. Fall out of bed, take a couple steps— you’re at the front door of the church.

As was true of most inner city Catholic churches in those days, the Sunday Mass schedule started at 7:00 a.m. There was one Mass every hour on the hour through 11:00.

The 11:00 a.m. one was a so called “High Mass”— a choir sang parts of the Mass, the priest waved a thurible, that pot like thing with burning coal and incense in it. Hence, at the High Mass the smell of incense permeated the chancel and wafted out to the nave.

For reasons too complex to bother to explain, in my family it seemed most weeks each of us chose to attend Mass at a different hour. My mother always attended the last Mass of the day, that High Mass, at 11:00 a.m., because she sang in the choir.

But she was an early riser. She was, therefore, very aware of when each of us went out the door to take those couple steps across the street to attend Mass. When any of us headed out the door to the church, she would say the same thing to each of us: “Say one for me.”

Effectively, she was asking each of us to say a prayer for her as we attended church. While, theologically, I would argue each of us and all of us stands in the need of prayer, I would also argue that among the rag-tag Connolly clan my mother was the one least in need of prayer. Still she asked for prayer.

She, in fact, said “Say one for me” to us so often this phrase stuck in the memory of her children permanently. Therefore when she died, we decided to put that saying on her gravestone. “Say one for me.” (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the First Letter to the Church in a City known in New Testament times and still known today as Thessalonika. “We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you, remember you, in our prayers, constantly.” (Slight pause.)

Look at what Paul does in this section of the reading. Paul offers thanks. Thanks for whom? Thanks for the people of the church, the community of faith gathered, in the City of Thessalonika.

We moderns do not get this: all of these churches to whom Paul writes were very small. Scholars doubt each of them would have numbered more than 50 people.

Paul quite directly says to the people in this small church at Thessalonika that they are mentioned, remembered, held in prayer constantly by the Apostle. Then Paul praises them for their attitude and their actions concerning the reality of God and the Christ.

Paul also acknowledges what they are doing by their example is done through the movement of the Spirit. And because they are open to the Spirit, this is a model for all believers. Therefore, their faith is known and celebrated everywhere. (Slight pause.)

We have here an example of how each of us, in the context of faith, should constantly relate to those around us— pray. To reiterate, after a standard introductory sentence, Paul offers prayer for the members of the Church in Thessalonika, effectively saying— “people of Thessalonika— let me say one for you.” Prayer for others is a primary concern. Why? Prayer, in and of itself, can be empowering. (Slight pause.)

Now, something which has been said to me over and over again in my years as a Pastor is a request that I pray for someone. And I honor those requests.

But that very inquiry, asking me to pray for someone, raises an obvious question. Do I, as an ordained Pastor, have some kind of special relationship with God which might make any prayer I offer more valid than anyone else here today who prays?

The short answer is ‘no.’ I do not have any kind of singular conduit to God. Ordination did not somehow give me a special or a secret knowledge about how to pray. We, all of us, need to follow Paul’s example and pray for one another. There is no question about this. (Slight pause.)

My perception is what I am about to say is not addressed often enough. There are techniques, ways of praying, which can be learned. The point of these methods is to offer ways for individuals to feel comfortable praying and perhaps help the person for whom the prayer is being offered feel comfortable.

Briefly, here are some things any of us can do. If you agree to pray with or for another person, first listen carefully to any request and try to discern not just what is verbalized but the emotional depth of the request. Doing this will often offer guidance about what might be placed before God, vocalized and/or thought about as pray is offered.

Next, if the situation is that you will, indeed, pray one on one with another person, it is sometimes suggested that you offer prayer while holding hands or touching an arm— except not in this time of pandemic and, needless to say, only with permission. Alternatively, perhaps just looking into one another’s eyes will suffice.

These techniques can add a tactile or visual aspect to prayer. They can also empower a real sense of connection with that other person.

Another technique is, in the course of a prayer which is being offered for and with another person, at some point in the course of those prayers, close your eyes and visualize that person. As you do so, think about, concentrate on the person for whom the prayer is offered. Many say doing this can bring both the prayer and the person for whom the prayer is being offered into sharper focus for the one offering the prayer. (Slight pause.)

I do need to say something about our personal prayer habits. I once had the honor and privilege of being in a very small group in the presence of Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It was before he had won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Someone asked how much he prayed every day. Desmond said one or two hours a day, unless he was busy or under stress. Then it was two or three hours. (Slight pause.)

Let me come back to the story about my Mother. She may, indeed, have been the one in our family who was least in need of prayer. But she also understood, as did Paul, that the first thing we need to do with and for one another is to pray for one another.

And yes, I do think we need to pray for one another faithfully and often, hold each other in prayer. I also think that holding one another in prayer can help us, empower us to see one another as children of God, as equal before God.

All that having been said, let me make one promise. I shall hold you all in prayer. But let me also make one request. Say one for me. Amen.

10/18/2020
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “I need to say one more thing about our personal prayer habits. Earlier I said we are all ‘children of God.’ Certainly one of the issues in society right now is that some people are seen as outcast, different, the other. But we are, all of us, children of God. In God’s world no one is outcast, different, other. I think praying for others, especially those who society sees as outcast, different, other— whether we know them or not— can be life changing. At least for me, when I pray for those I do not know, it becomes much harder for me to fail to see them as children of God.”

BENEDICTION: We have gathered, not just as a community, but as a community of faith. Let us respond to God, who is the true reality, in all that we are and say and do. Let the Holy Spirit dwell among us and may the peace of God which surpasses our understanding be with us this day and forever more. Amen.

08/09/2020 ~ Tenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proper 14 ~ 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28; Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b; 1 Kings 19:9-18; Psalm 85:8-13; Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33 ~ Parking Lot Service at Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine.

Descriptions of God

“Elijah answered, ‘I have been very zealous for Yahweh, God, Omnipotent.’” — I Kings 19:14a.

In what is commonly referred to as the American Main Line Protestant Church— and the Elijah Kellogg Church is within that grand tradition— most of the time, with minor exceptions— pastors have both a Bachelor’s Degree and a 90 Credit, three year Master’s Degree, called a Master of Divinity Degree. Sometimes it is said in the Congregational tradition we have a learn-ed clergy.

I would be remiss if I did not note that in the context of the American experience, simply by dint of that educational level, this places both our churches and our clergy among the privileged. That reality alone at minimum deserves a three sermon series, so since I am filling in for Pastor John I am not going there today.

Needless to say, both John and I have the aforementioned certification. However, my acquisition of those credentials was not always smooth. I often say my first degree was not from any academic institution but from the school of hard knocks.

Here’s the back story on that. In the 1950s and 60s my youth was spent on the mean streets of Brooklyn. No, that is not Brooklin, Maine. That is Brooklyn, New York.

The first time I tried to go to college— notice how I put that— my academic journey was not always smooth— the first time I tried to go to college I dropped out. And you may remember there was a little skirmish going on back in the late 1960s.

So shortly after I dropped out I was wearing Army green, walking the mean streets of Saigon. In one sense I’ve done post-graduate work in the school of hard knocks.

Back to my formal schooling— for reasons quite beyond me when it comes to languages other than American English, I’ve studied Latin, Spanish, German, French, Hebrew and Greek. This study was done among the other wonderful benefits of a liberal education.

To be clear, while I studied all those languages I am neither fluent nor proficient at any of them. Sometimes I even wonder about my proficiency with American English.

Now, one thing which might be gleaned in the study of language— especially a range of them— is each language comes with its own baggage, its own preconceived notions of what words are, what they do, how they operate, how they work in the context of that given language. Let me illustrate this with a church story.

I have a friend who was on a Search Committee to find a new pastor. It is fairly normal for such committees to take a survey of church members.

This is one of the survey questions the committee developed. “On a scale of one to ten the Bible is— one: word for word the word of God— to ten: the Bible is an interesting book, worthy of study.”

My friend shared this question with me. “Gee, that is fascinating,” I responded. “You see, if you ask me that question in Hebrew, then the Bible is word for word the Word of God. But if you ask that question in Greek then I’d say the Bible is an interesting book, worthy of study.” (Slight pause.)

You see Hebrew words are living, breathing beings, difficult to pin down. In Hebrew the meanings of words are flexible and can change before your eyes.

So if that question is asked in Hebrew, then Scripture would be word for word the Word of God since the language treats words as dynamic. Greek— not so much— in Greek words are set, solid, concrete. And that is language baggage. (Slight pause.)

This is what we hear recorded in I Kings: “Elijah answered, ‘I have been very zealous for Yahweh, God, Omnipotent.’” (Slight pause.)

English, like Greek, is a Western language. Words lean toward being set, solid, concrete. And God is referred to as omnipotent in this passage. In English omnipotent means all powerful. But the baggage carried by American English associates omnipotence with naked power, brute force.

This poses a question for us: what does it mean to say God is omnipotent? Is God about brute force? (Slight pause.) Let’s look at a different part of this reading for a clue.

We hear there is a strong wind, an earthquake, fire. All these phenomena reek of force, power. But God is not in the wind, the earthquake, the fire.

And then…. and then… Elijah pulls a mantel over his face, goes to the mouth of the cave and listens to…. silence. Silence— that is not a word we associate with any kind of force or power, is it? (Slight pause.)

The mantel indicates Elijah recognizes the presence of God. Elijah hears the voice of God speak and that voice is enfolded in… silence. (Slight pause.)

So, what does this tell us about God— God who is both heard in silence and is omnipotent? Perhaps the omnipotence of God is not about brute force, power. And if the omnipotence we attribute to God is not about brute force, what is it about? (Slight pause.)

Well, let’s look at what happens in this reading. God calls Elijah to a mission. Elijah responds.

Therefore perhaps we should ask, ‘What is our mission?’ That is neither a trick question nor a hard question. Indeed, there is a clear answer.

We are called to share the love of God. So let’s suppose for a moment that the omnipotence of God is not about brute force, naked power but about love— limitless love. You see, force, power is temporal, temporary, fleeting. Love is eternal.

Indeed, Elijah carries out a mission, but after what we read today Elisha appears and becomes a disciple Elijah. Then that sweet chariot we sing about in the spiritual swings low and scopes up Elijah. The work of this prophet is done. But Elisha carries on the work of God. (Slight pause.)

This is clear to me: we never know where trying to do the work of God, the work to which God summons us, will take us. But we can know this: all we are called on to do is our part.

Indeed, when we heed the call to do the work of God, work which is about love, we may never know the consequences. But the work of God will continue beyond us, if we but remain faithful to doing our part— if we respond by sharing the love of God.

So let me suggest when this service of worship is finished, the work to which God calls us— sharing the love of God— will be all around us. Indeed, all you have to do is look the headlines and you will know that spreading the love of God is in sore need in the world.

So to reiterate— I maintain God can be described as omnipotent when one thinks of this omnipotence in terms of overwhelming, unconditional love, when one thinks in terms of God who walks with us in love, no matter what the circumstance, no matter where we are at.

Hence, this is the challenge for us— are we willing to hear the call of God to unconditional love? And are we willing share that love with everyone we meet? Amen.

08/09/2020
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak before the Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “A rabbi asked some students: ‘There are prayers done at night, others in daylight so how do we know when night has ended and day begun?’ One student said day is here when I can distinguish my field from my neighbor’s; a second said when I can distinguish my house from my neighbor’s. Another when I can tell a cow is mine, not my neighbor’s. ‘No!’ the Rabbi shouted. ‘You divide, separate, split the world into pieces. The world is broken enough. You can tell night has ended and day begun when you look at the face of the person next to you and see your brother, your sister, your neighbor and see that you are one.’” [1]

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

[1] Thomas L. Friedman, Thank You for Being Late (New York, Farrar, 2016) 357-358; adapted for this use.

12/29/2019 ~ Elijah Kellogg Church ~ First Sunday after Christmas Day ~ Isaiah 63:7-9; Psalm 148; Hebrews 2:10-18; Matthew 2:13-23.

The Big Picture

“Now after they, the Magi, had left, an angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and Mary, and flee to Egypt.” — Matthew 2:13

When I was in this pulpit back in September I said: “With a name like Joseph Francis Connolly, Jr. it is hard to hide that I came to maturity in the Roman Catholic tradition.” But my background is even more attached to Catholicism than that.

For his entire working career my Father taught at a Jesuit High School. And my mother… my mother entered the convent but left before taking her final vows. Given that personal history— my father was a teacher in a parochial school, my mother was a cleric— it could be argued I simply went into the family business.

As is made clear by that history before seeing the light and discovering Congregationalism, I came out of a tradition which is liturgical in nature. One aspect of many churches in liturgical traditions is the readings used on a given Sunday or Feast Day follow what is called a Lectionary, a three year cycle of assigned readings used by the Catholic Church and many Main Line Protestant Churches.

These days it is not uncommon for Congregational pastors to follow the Lectionary. Both Pastor John and I do so.

It’s sometimes said the discipline of following the lectionary means a congregation will not hear a Pastor’s favorite readings over and over. More to the point, a congregation will not, thereby, hear a Pastor’s favorite sermon over and over. And I, indeed, have used the readings assigned for this day, the First Sunday after Christmas.

The assigned Gospel reading poses a question for us. What, exactly, is the greater church inviting us to ponder today in specifying this passage from Matthew?

After all, let’s face the facts presented by these words in the midst of the Christmas season. Joseph, Mary and Jesus become refugees, flee the violence imposed on the populace by an occupying army and in the story babies are slaughtered. What is that about? (Slight pause.)

To answer this question, let’s backtrack a little. Let’s look at the assigned Lectionary Gospel readings on both Christmas Day and today, the First Sunday after, and see if we can determine what those who designed this sequence had in mind. (Slight pause.)

On Christmas Day the Lectionary actually assigns three different readings. In part that’s because in historically liturgical traditions there would have been a service at Midnight, a service at dawn and a service at mid-morning on Christmas Day. The mid-morning Christmas Day service would have been considered the main celebration, not the Christmas Eve service as so often happens today.

The Midnight and Dawn service readings split the Second Chapter of Luke in half. At Midnight we hear about angels announcing the birth of the child to the shepherds. (Quote:) “…to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is the Messiah.” We also get angels rejoicing (quote:) “Glory to God in the highest heaven,….”

At the dawn service we get the shepherds going to see the child and glorifying God. (Quote:) “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen,….”

The Gospel reading at the mid-morning service, what was seen as the main, indeed the central, important service, is very different. We hear the first words of the Gospel known as John. (Quote:) “In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God, in the presence of God and the Word was God.” So, just with those three readings what’s happening? (Slight pause.)

First, let’s look at Luke. The word angel means messenger from God. The birth is announced to shepherds by an angel, a messenger. In that era shepherds would have been both poor and socially the lowest of the lowest class, a group outcast by society.

Hence, among the things one can take away from the Second Chapter of Luke are these truths: the birth is announced not to the rich but to the outcast, the poor. Further, the birth of the Messiah is cause for angels— God’s messengers— to rejoice. And then at the mid-morning service, the main service, we get: “In the beginning was the Word;…” (Slight pause.)

I refer to this passage as John’s version of the Nativity, John’s version of the birth. But this is not about the birth of an infant. This addresses the reality of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Christ, Who was, Who is and will forever be.

And then… today, on the First Sunday in Christmastide, we get: “Now after they, the Magi, had left, an angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and Mary, and flee to Egypt.’”

So, in assigning this sequence of readings at Christmastide what is the greater church trying to tell us? Never mind the greater church.

What is Scripture, specifically what are these Gospel passages trying to tell us about the Nativity? After all, in a real sense they are all connected as they all contain pieces about the saga of birth of the Messiah. (Slight pause.)

I want to suggest what the greater church, what Scripture is trying to tell us, is we need to see the big picture. (Slight pause.) Unless I miss my guess all of us gathered here today are what philosophers call Western thinkers.

Whether or not we know it, we were all schooled in Greek, Western style thinking. What is Greek, Western style thinking? We tend to examine each of the trees and all of the trees in a forest— separately. But sometimes because we concentrate on each tree we forget there is also a forest to be considered— a big picture to look at.

Which brings us back to Christmas. When it comes to Christmas what is the big picture? Is the big picture about an angel or a stable or shepherds or a baby or Magi or an emperor or a manger or a star?

Yes, it can be and is helpful to examine all these trees and each of these trees— an angel, a stable, the shepherds, the baby, the Magi, an emperor, a manger, a star. Examining each can be helpful in seeing things, understanding things… unless… unless we lose sight of the big picture. And when it comes to Christmas the big picture is about one thing and one thing only.

Christmas is a message to us about the in-breaking of God into our world, the reality of the presence of God among us— God Who was, Who is and will forever be.

Indeed, returning to these several readings the very thing they have in common are a multitude of references to the Hebrew Scriptures. The hosts of heaven rejoice. The Messiah is announced to the poor, the outcast. These references to the Hebrew Scriptures are about the reality not of the birth of the Messiah but of the Messiah being present among us, the in-breaking of God.

And when we turn to the Matthew saga not only is it an announcement of the in-breaking of God— that is the purpose of the story of the Magi. It also presents a clear parallel with the story of the infancy of Moses when there is a slaughter of babies and also with the story of Joseph— Joseph with the coat of many colors, Joseph who winds up in Egypt. Again these are all references to the Hebrew Scriptures but they are also references about the in-breaking of God into the life of people.

So, the very purpose of these stories is to remind us of what has happened in the Hebrew Scriptures and, thereby, allow us to make connections, understand these ties to the God of the Hebrew people. But to fully see that proclamation you need to step back from each tree— step back from an angel, a stable, shepherds, a baby, Magi, an emperor, a manger, a star and see that there is… a forest.

And the forest is a very basic proclamation. Emmanuel is here. God is with us. (Slight pause.) Now, remember I said that in the liturgical traditions the Christmas Day service is thought to be the main service? And at that service we get John’s version of the Nativity. (Quote:) “In the beginning was the Word; the Word was with God, in the presence of God and the Word was God.”

That should, in fact, point us to the ultimate reality of this in-breaking of God into our lives, this feast commonly called Christmas. The feast of Christmas tells us, the message of Christmas tells us the reality of the Second Person of the Trinity, Jesus, the Christ, the One Who was, Who is and will forever be, walks with us now and will always be with us— Christmas. Amen

12/29/2019
Elijah Kellogg Church

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 Howard Thurman. You’ve probably heard it. ‘When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart.’ Thurman helps us realize that since God is with us, we need to work with God, be the hands, the feet, of God. We need to spread the love of God— Go Tell It on the Mountain.” [1]

BENEDICTION: “The sun shall no longer be / your light by day, / nor for brightness shall the moon / give you light by night; / for Yahweh, God, will be your everlasting light, / and your glory. / Amen.” (Isaiah 60:19-20a).

[1] Go Tell It on the Mountain was the closing hymn.

10/27/2019 ~ Proper 25 ~ Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost ~ Joel 2:23-32; Psalm 65; Sirach 35:12-17 or Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22; Psalm 84:1-7; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14 ~ Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine.

A Spirit of Humility

“But the other individual, the tax collector, stood far off, kept at a distance and would not even look to heaven. With real humility, all the tax collector said was: ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” — Luke 18:13.

As I think most of you know in the official sense I recently retired. Given that I started serving churches at the ripe old age of 46 and officially retired at a much more ripe age— 71— I spent 25 years in the pulpit. 25 years— that still surprises me.

And yes, I am still here, in this pulpit this week. And yes, I am likely to keep preaching, at least some, as the opportunity presents itself. After all, old preachers never die. They just ramble on, and on, and on, and on… My wife, Bonnie, says I finally found a profession for which I am paid to talk.

In those 25 years I spent two years as the Associate Pastor at the Waldo County Cooperative, five churches in Waldo County. I was then 23 years Pastor and Teacher at United Church of Christ, First Congregational in Norwich, New York. I do not know who was more surprised by that length of time— me or the members of that church.

Now, First Parish Church in Brunswick had sent me to Seminary. And it is well known that Harriet Beecher Stowe reportedly had her vision to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin while sitting in a pew in that church.

Believe it or not Harriet Beecher Stowe steers my story back to the Norwich Church. I was the longest serving pastor that church had ever seen. The pastor whose record I broke— a pastorate of a mere 19 years— was the son-in-law of Henry Ward Beecher. Henry Ward Beecher was, of course, the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe. Therefore and somehow, that all feels like things really came full circle.

Well, in 23 years I saw a lot of change. I officiated at the weddings of children for whom I had administer the sacrament of Baptism and with whom I had worked through the process of Confirmation. That was heart warming.

I did memorial services, celebrations of life, for people to whom I had become close. That was sometimes… no… that was always heart rendering.

Over time a goodly number of people joined the church. Whenever someone joined I always said several things.

First, said I, you are not joining me, the pastor. You are joining the church. Next, a church is not a building. This building is a meeting house. The church is the people who sit in the pews. You are joining the people who worship at this meeting house.

I also said the Norwich church had been around for 200 years. So you need to conceptualize the church this way. The church is like a train. You are at the train station waiting for that train.

Except after 200 years the train, this church, has built up a head of steam. It is not going to stop for you in the station. If you want to get on, join the church, you need to stick out your hand and grab on to it as it barrels through. (Slight pause.)

This story is presented to us in Luke/Acts in the section known as Luke: “But the other individual, the tax collector, stood far off, kept at a distance and would not even look to heaven. With real humility, all the tax collector said was: ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” (Slight pause.)

Let me offer two more stories. In our tradition when a pastor leaves a church, a Search Committee finds a suitable candidate to be the pastor. That pastor leads a service and preaches. Then the congregation gets to vote to call that pastor, yes or no.

When I candidated at the Norwich Church, my first service there, I did what you have seen me do at the end of the service here. I had something extra to say.

“Congregationalists,” said I, “have a great tradition called freedom of the pulpit. That freedom stems from the fact that a pastor needs to understand the pulpit is the pulpit of the people, your pulpit.”

“All a pastor should try to do is share something about their own journey and how that might relate to the Gospel. But sharing the Gospel in the fulness of its love is not something which can be done in one Sunday, a month of Sundays, a year of Sundays.”

“Further, Pastors come and Pastors go. You are the church. If you call me as your pastor I shall be the 33rd pastor. God willing there will be 33 more.”

Next story: when I was in seminary one of my mentors said this: “I don’t know any pastor who fails to have a good sized ego. After all, it takes quite a bit of ego to presume you can preach, presume you can share the message of the Gospel. But, said my mentor, without a healthy ego you would never be able to share the word.” (Slight pause.)

Those of us in the Protestant tradition claim we are a priesthood of all believers. The idea behind those words is we all are empowered to share the Gospel. Some of us are called to share the Gospel with words.

Some share the Gospel by consoling someone in a time of need, by writing a card to someone, by offering encouragement, by contributing to a church fair, by visiting a friend. There are multiple ways of sharing the Gospel. And indeed, the Gospel in the fulness of its love cannot be shared by a single action, or a dozen actions or a hundred dozen. (Slight pause.)

It is unlikely Saint Francis said these words but they are often attributed to this monk. “Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.” (Slight pause.)

Having stated a healthy ego is necessary to share the Gospel— to share it in any form— I need to state the obvious. To preach the Gospel humility is a necessity. (Slight pause.)

One of the key words in this reading is righteousness. In the case of this reading these words are said (quote:) “Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves, believed in their own self righteousness,…”

The Bible the Pilgrims carried with them to these shores was not the King James. It was the Geneva Bible. In that Bible righteousness is translated as right-wise. We must strive to be in right relationship with God, be right-wise with God. (Slight pause.)

We Congregationalists stand on the shoulders of giants— the Pilgrims for instance. In Norwich we stood of the shoulders of the folks who founded a church 200 years ago. I stood on the shoulders of the 32 pastors before me. We, here today, stand on the shoulders of those who joined with Elijah Kellogg to found this church.

Yes, we need to preach the Gospel. And yes, we use words when necessary. And yes, we need to be humble enough to know we don’t, ourselves, solely carry that burden.

As we preach we need to be humble enough to utter the same words the tax collector uttered. (Quote:) “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” Humility— it’s a necessary aspect of preaching the Gospel and even a necessary aspect of hearing the Gospel. Amen.

10/27/2019
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Let me offer this quote from Madeleine L’Engle: ‘We do not draw people to Christ by discrediting what they believe, telling them how wrong they are, how right we are but by showing them a light that is so lovely they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.’— Like I said, humility— a necessary aspect of sharing the Gospel.”

BENEDICTION: Hear now this blessing, commonly known as the Irish Blessing: May the road rise up to meet us. May the wind be always at our back. May we have a full moon on a dark night. May the sun shine warm upon our faces. May the rain fall soft upon our fields. And until we meet again, may the hand of God hold us and the wing of God offer us shelter, and the peace of God be with us, always. Amen.

October 20, 2019 ~ Proper 24 ~ Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost ~ Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Jeremiah 31:27-34; Psalm 119:97-104; Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 121; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8 at Elijah Kellogg Church.

An Old Concept: Forgiveness

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

There are numerous points which can be made about this reading. I’ll try to limit my comments to a few. But first, I need to reiterate what was said when this passage was introduced. It is questionable to give these words a preemptive Christian reading, to interpret Jeremiah as offering a prophecy concerning the New Testament.

This is, rather, a call to renewal for the time in which it was written, for the people to whom it was written. That presents an obvious question. Why does attaching the concept of foretelling about the New Testament and Jesus fail to be an accurate assessment?

The answer has two parts. I mentioned this first one when I was last here. Prophecy in Scripture simply does not address the future.

True Biblical prophecy, by definition, speaks not about predicting but about God’s everlasting truths— principles like equity, justice, freedom, love. These are principles God holds dear both at the time the prophecy was proclaimed and right now.

If that’s the case, why is it said in the Gospels Jesus fulfills prophecy? Indeed, why might anyone interpret Biblical Prophecy as a foretelling, prediction? (Slight pause.)

I think this story might help explain why some might label the content of Scripture as a foretelling of the future. My story involves my father and two people who were celebrities in their time. If you were born after— say about 1965— you might not know these names and may have to Google them. So I’ll offer a word of explanation.

The first name is Jack Benny, comedian. Benny started in Vaudeville, moved to radio in the 1930s and then to television in the ’50s and ’60s.

His shows, radio and television, were a blend of sketch comedy and variety. Among the troupe of players who participated in both the variety and the sketch comedy was a singer/actor, an Irish tenor, who went by the name of Dennis Day.

Now both my Father and Dennis Day were proud graduates of Manhattan College in the Bronx. Whenever Day appeared on the screen of our old black and white television in the ’50s, my Dad would point at the TV and proudly say, “He’s a Manhattan graduate.”

As a kid I remember thinking, “Why does he say that every time he sees Dennis Day? What does it mean?” All these years later I think I can tell you what my father was trying to say. (Slight pause.)

“Dennis Day is a member of my tribe. I am a member of his tribe. He’s famous, on TV, and we have a real connection. We belong to the same tribe.” (Slight pause.)

You see, tribal connections need not make any logical sense. Tribal connections— this wanting to be connected with others— tribal connections with those who we think are in the same tribe we are, produce visceral, emotional responses.

So when some see these words as foretelling the future, what is often happening is a visceral, emotional, tribal, satisfying connection. Jeremiah must be pointing to Jesus since the new covenant must be the New Testament. But tribalism— even that kind of tribalism— is not what prophecy is about.

Therefore to reiterate the obvious question: why does the New Testament say Jesus fulfills prophecy from the Hebrew Scripture? As I said there are two reasons. The first reason is we take the events of the New Testament too literally in part due to tribalism.

But if Jesus does fulfill a prophecy it is not about a tribalism of separateness— a tribalism which says ‘this is my tribe so only people like me can be a part of it’— New Testament against Old Testament tribalism, for instance. The tribe of Jesus is a tribe of inclusiveness. The Old and the New are one. God says all people are a part of my tribe. [1]

All that points to the second reason a foretelling of the future— a prophecy about Old verses New or a prophecy about Jesus— is not the issue being considered in Jeremiah. Indeed, the foretelling to be found in Jeremiah is the kind of prophecy I’ve already addressed— eternal truth embraced by God. So what is the eternal truth found here?

In an effort to explain the foretelling of eternal truth, I will use the words of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II. “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.”

In the beginning— the beginning: the Hebrew Scriptures came first and can be summed up this way: they exist to express a theology. It is the theology of covenant love.

The next point: in the New Testament the earliest writings are not the Gospels. The true letters of Paul are the earliest writings. And what is it Paul writes about? Paul writes scarcely a word about the life of Jesus. Paul writes about theology.

This next step will surprise some people. The Gospels are not stories about the life of Jesus. Rather, the Gospels do exactly what Paul did but in a different way. The Gospels, contrary to populist belief, are theological discussions which use a story about someone Whose name is Jesus as a means of conveying theology.

How so? An example: in the Gospels this Jesus is assigned two names. Jesus is a Greek word. In Hebrew the name of Jesus is Yehoshu’a. Yehoshu’a means “God saves.” The other name given to Jesus is Emmanuel. Emmanuel means God is with us.

To be clear, Jesus was real. Jesus lived and was resurrected. But even the names of Jesus recorded in the Gospels tell us these writings are not about story. These writings are about theology.

In fact, we should not read the Gospel stories and ask, ‘what does this story say?’ Rather, we need to ask, ‘what does this mean; what is the theological point being made here?’

And the question ‘what is the theological point being made’ brings us back to Jeremiah’s words. (Quote:) “…I will forgive their misdeeds, their iniquity, and remember their transgressions no more.”

Earlier I said a prophet speaks about God’s everlasting truths— the principles of love, equity, justice, freedom— truths which God holds dear right now. So if there is any prophecy here, it is not a reference to a new covenant as in the New Testament.

Prophecy is not a true prophecy unless it can speak to us right here, right now. And this prophecy is about an eternal truth God holds dear— covenant love. And covenant love is always and must always be enwrapped with and by forgiveness.

(Quote:) “I will forgive….” So the prophecy Jesus fulfills is a prophecy of forgiveness— an eternal truth of God.

For us perhaps what we especially need to hear in this prophecy is forgiving one another is an imperative. Why forgive? (Quote:) “I will be their God; they shall be my people.”

Who is this God? This God is a God Who speaks to us right here, right now and for Whom forgiveness is an imperative. This is a God of peace, freedom, joy, liberty, hope, equity, opportunity, love, a forgiving God of eternal covenant. Amen.

10/20/2019
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Catholic theologian Richard Rhor says this: ‘Unfortunately, for much of Christianity, faith largely became believing statements to be true or false— intellectual assent— instead of giving people concrete practices so they could themselves know how to open up (which is having faith), hold on (which is having hope) and allow an in-filling from another source (which is the love God offers).’”

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

[1] It should be noted that at the Children’s Time the pastor had a bunch of Baseball hats from different teams and asked people to identify the team. The point was God does not root for one team— that would be tribalism. God is for every team. God is for everyone.