localpastor

04/27/2025 ~ Second Sunday of Easter ~ * Acts 5:27-32; Psalm 118:14-29 or Psalm 150; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31 ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSBxsmcT0Ek
VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1080532869

Doubt

“…the other disciples kept telling Thomas, ‘We have seen Jesus.’ But Thomas answered them, ‘I will never believe it without putting my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand into the wound of the spear.’” — John 20:25.

I have mentioned I’m a lyricist, a member of A.S.C.A.P., the American Society of Composers Authors and Publishers. One of the people with whom I’ve collaborated is the composer Tom Rasely, also an A.S.C.A.P. member. The choir sang an anthem by the two of us at Christmastide.

Tom and I started collaborating when I was a pastor in Upstate New York. We still work together but at long distance over the web. Back in New York Tom would come to my office and for ten or fifteen minutes and we would just shoot the breeze, hang out. One day our discussion turned to the topic of music literacy and, by extension, literacy in general.

Now Tom teaches, gives lessons, on how to play the guitar. But needless to say, it’s hard to offer lessons on how to play guitar without also offering some overall information about music— to address music literacy.

Tom put it this way, “I can teach someone to play something on the guitar. That does not mean they will know anything other than that one thing. They will not be able to go beyond it, integrate it with anything else unless there is an eagerness to see more, see the big picture, have some basic information which extends beyond the narrow.”

Indeed, with music in general an obvious question is do you know something about the field, the literature? Hence, if you want to be a composer or even just be literate about music but do not know what Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Duke Ellington, John Lennon, Stephen Sondheim, Paul McCartney or Taylor Swift wrote or are writing, the place you start in terms of knowing about music is behind the proverbial eight ball.

Equally, if you want to be a playwright or just be literate about theater arts, some prerequisite knowledge is necessary. If you know nothing about the works of William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, August Wilson, Neil Simon, Tom Stoppard to name just a few writers, you would not know enough about the history and the art of writing for theater. It’s these kinds of things you need to know in order to be literate about theater or even make play writing your art.

But that premise presents us with a paradox: an individual needs to know enough about a field so that they can begin to know what they don’t know. Knowing what you don’t know is when someone actually becomes both literate and grounded.

This is true of music, medicine, theater, banking, any field. You need to get to the point where you know what you don’t know. Everyone, even experts, need to strive to learn and strive to grow. (Slight pause.)

These words are from the work commonly referred to as the Gospel of John: “…the other disciples kept telling Thomas, ‘We have seen Jesus.’ But Thomas answered them, ‘I will never believe it without putting my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand into the wound of the spear.’” (Slight pause.)

Question: is doubt a necessary part of faith? (Slight pause.) What follows are a series of quotes from several writers and theologians on the topic. I shall name the author after I’ve offered each quote.

“A belief which leaves no place for doubt is not a belief; it’s a superstition.” — José Bergamin. “Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond a doubt they are right.” — Laurens van der Post.

“If you would be a real seeker after truth it’s necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.” — René Descartes. “Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.” — André Gide.

“Faith which does not doubt is dead faith.” — Miguel de Unamuno. “There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking.” — Alfred Korzybski

“Faith requires something more than comfortable self knowledge. It requires difficult, uncomfortable things— doubt, repentance, observance— these are perplexing in our world of going with the flow and doing your own thing, a world of comfortable, personal space.” — Winifred Gallagher. “Doubt is as crucial to faith as darkness is to light… faith is, by definition, uncertainty.” — Carter Heywood. [1] (Slight pause.)

There are a number of passages in Scripture where faithful people express doubt. Here’s an example. In a post resurrection story in Matthew, Jesus appears to a crowd of disciples. And with the resurrected Christ in their midst the Gospel says (quote:) “When the disciples saw Jesus, they worshiped; but some doubted.” (Slight pause.)

This is what I think: if you do not know the literature, the Scriptures, you might not realize how central doubt is to faith. Indeed, the passage read today says these signs (quote): “…have been recorded so that you may come to believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Only Begotten,…”

The most important idea in that phrase is that you may come— come to believe. Coming to believe is a process. Further, belief does not happen without doubt acting both as a part of that process and as a continuing factor. And, as is clearly outlined in the passage, belief does not come without some doubt being a part of belief. (Slight pause.)

Well, I have just insisted that doubt is and needs to be a part of faith. But where does that place any of us on our life journey, on our faith journey? (Slight pause.) I said this— this is like knowing the literature in music or theater. Once doubt is realized as being a part of faith one begins to understand there are things we don’t know. When this happens, we can get to the point where we know we don’t know everything.

And, indeed faith is defined not by what we know. Unquestionably, a definition of faith, perhaps the central one, is we need to believe what cannot be fully known, what we cannot fully see nor fully understand. Faith, in short, is not about what we understand, see, prove. So, what is faith? Could it be that faith has something to do with what we feel?

So what is it that cannot be seen but felt? Well, let’s start with this list as examples of what cannot be seen but can be felt: love, trust, hope, joy. These can be experienced. These can be felt.

Here’s another way to put it: love, trust, hope and joy can be thought of as foundational. But, paradoxically, love, trust, hope, joy are not concrete [the pastor hits a hand on the pulpit], are they? So do love, trust, hope, joy really exist? I think so. (Slight pause.)

Having said that, how do we get on or rather continue on our life journey, our faith journey, our path toward faith? I would the first to suggest we need to learn and know the literature.

Here’s an example of not knowing the literature. Many insist Thomas does put his hands in the wounds. But read this passage carefully. Thomas does not do that. Proof is not a part of this passage. Proof is not a part of the life journey, the faith journey of this disciple. Thomas just believes. (Slight pause.)

As I said, belief, real belief, starts by knowing what we do not know. Faith is not about proof. Faith is not about a destination. Faith is a journey, a life journey. Here’s a key question for us. Are we willing to be on the life journey called faith? Amen.

04/27/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “The real issue in literacy, especially literacy when it come to faith, is making it one’s own. Personally, if my car breaks, I go to a mechanic. I take my taxes to an accountant. I don’t care, particularly, if I am illiterate about fixing cars or doing taxes. But faith deals with my soul. I don’t think I want to trust that to someone else. So, when it comes to my faith I need to be as literate as I can possibly be.”

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

[1] . José Bergamín Gutiérrez (1895-1983), was a Spanish writer, essayist, poet, and playwright.

Sir Laurens Jan van der Post (1906-1996), CBE was a South African Afrikaner writer, farmer, soldier, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer and conservationist.

René Descartes (1596-1650), was a French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher who is considered a key figure in the development of modern science and philosophy.

André Paul Guillaume Gide (1869-1951), a Nobel Laureate, was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics.

Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (1864-1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca.

Alfred Habdank Skarbek Korzybski (1879-1950) was a Polish-American independent scholar who developed a field called general semantics, which he viewed as both distinct from, and more encompassing than, the field of semantics.

Winifred Gallagher (1950) is a science writer who thought she had left religion has traced her generation’s complex relationship with faith.

Carter Heyward (1945) is an American feminist theologian and priest in the Episcopal Church.

Bertrand Arthur William Russell (1872-1970), 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual.

04/20/2025 ~ Resurrection of the Christ ~ Easter Day ~ * Acts 10:34-43 or Isaiah 65:17-25; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 or Acts 10:34-43; John 20:1-18 or Luke 24:1-12 ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SMC8IjdgmM

VIDEO OF WHOLE SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1077944141

Trusting Truth

“Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Upon getting there this apostle stooped and looked in but could see nothing but the linen cloths, the wrappings, on the ground. Then Peter left, amazed at what had occurred.” — Luke 24:12.

The disciple headed back down the road, exhausted. Peter had been running. Despite his age he was not in bad shape. But he was older than the others in the group. So they looked to him for leadership.

It may not have simply been running which led to the exhaustion. Another reason was he had fully expected to see the remains of the Rabbi in the tomb.

But over and over Jesus had said, “Wait three days. Just wait three days.” That insistence always puzzled Peter. And somehow, someway, Jesus was no longer in the tomb, no longer where Peter knew the body of the Rabbi had been placed.

So at least in part, the exhaustion Peter now felt was not from running. It came from the recognition that there was nothing in the tomb except wrappings on the ground. The reality of that truth left Peter emotionally exhausted.

Perhaps thinking it would somehow help control his emotions, Peter began to review everything that had happened since he first met the Rabbi. After all, Peter was there when Jesus preached all over Galilee, there when Jesus healed the sick, fed five thousand, recited parables.

Peter was the one who answered the pivotal question, “Who do you say that I am?” Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, he insisted. And when Jesus was transfigured it was Peter who heard that voice, a voice which insisted Jesus was the Chosen One. Peter… was… there. (Slight pause.)

Then, when Jesus was taken as a prisoner of the state, Peter… was… there. (Slight pause.) Right after that Peter’s friend, Peter’s teacher, Peter’s guide, Peter’s companion— was murdered by the state, crucified by the Romans. Peter watched from afar as his friend Jesus… died. Peter… was… there.

But now, now this… this… empty tomb and the reality, the truth of the wrappings on the ground. So yes— Peter was… spent, exhausted, emotionally exhausted. (Slight pause.)

And so with the truth of this burden Peter trod toward Jerusalem, toward the house where the other disciples waited, knowing there was yet another emotional hill to climb. He needed to face the women who all the others had doubted.

It was the women who on the first day of the week, at dawn, went and found the tomb… empty. It was the women who were told, “Why do you look for the Living One among the dead? Jesus is not here; Christ has risen.”

It was the women who then told everyone about the empty tomb, about what they had heard, saw, felt. It was the women who… no… one… believed. The women were told their tale was… idle, nonsensical.

Peter was the only one who went to the tomb, the only one willing to face the reality of the empty tomb. Why? Peter realized if what the women said was true he needed to affirm the truth, needed to affirm them. He wondered if they now would, in turn, ridicule him because of how the others had ridiculed them. (Slight pause.)

Peter burst through the door into the large room where everyone was gathered, entered into a cacophony of chatter and raised a hand. What had been a wall of noise turned into immediate silence.

“It’s true,” he said, gesturing toward the women who were standing together away from the others. “They spoke the truth. The tomb is empty.” (Slight pause.) “I’m exhausted. Let me sit.”

Peter sat on a bench. Perhaps the flood of emotions had finally caught up with him. It suddenly felt like the weight of the world was pressing down on his back. He bent over and just stared at the floor.

The women were the first to notice this distress. From a corner of the room, a question was asked: “Peter, are you all right?”

Peter knew that voice. Was it Mary of Magdala? He thought so. She was perceptive. She knew before anyone else when something was amiss.

Peter, his eyes closed, responded. “Yes. I’m all right. I’ll be fine.”

Then Peter started to sob. His body quaked. Tears streamed down his face, his beard. He wept and he wept and he wept.

“Peter? Peter?” He was sure it was Mary’s voice.

The disciple felt a hand softly touch his shoulder. He knew that hand. The touch was tender, healing. “Mary is offering solace in my time of need,” thought Peter.

After a bit, the crying began to cease. Peter tried to force a sense of logic, order on the multiple emotions he felt.

Slowly he wiped away the tears. The hand which was resting on his shoulder patted three times and then lifted away. Peter opened his eyes.

Across the room he saw Mary of Magdala and the other women. Quickly he looked around. No one was behind him. No one had dared come near him.

“Mary! Were you just near me? Behind me?”

She offered a quizzical look. “No.”

“Someone was behind me. Someone was touching me. I felt it!”

Everyone in the room stared at him not knowing what to say. This was, after all, Peter, a speaker of truth, the seeker of reality, the one among them who saw everything clearly, the first one to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ.

He pointed toward the women. He shouted as loud as he could. “You have given me— no, you have given us the greatest joy imaginable!” he shouted. “Jesus is risen! Jesus is risen and you, you were the first to be told and so you shared that. You told us. What a wonderful gift.”

The women nodded and smiled.

Peter was emotionally drained but at the same time somehow filled with joy. Softly, Peter said it again: “Jesus… is… risen. Jesus… is… the Christ.” (Long pause.) Amen.

04/20/2025 ~ Sunrise Service and the 10:00 a.m. Service
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

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

BENEDICTION AND EASTER ACCLAMATION

Hear now this blessing and then please join with me in the responsive Easter acclamation found in the bulletin:

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

ONE: May the love of God, the power of the resurrection in Christ, Jesus and the presence of the Spirit be with us always.
MANY: And the blessing of God surround us this day and forevermore.
ONE: So, indeed, rejoice! Rejoice people of God! Christ is risen!
ALL: Christ is risen, indeed. Alleluia!

04/13/2025 ~ Liturgy of the Palms ~ Sixth Sunday in Lent ~ Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29; Luke 19:28-40 ~ Liturgy of the Passion ~ Sixth Sunday in Lent ~ Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56 or Luke 23:1-49 ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYzqjuNXZ1k
VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1076425325

In the Image of God

“Christ, though in the image of God, / did not deem equality with God / as something to be clung to— / but instead emptied self, / and took on the image / of oppressed humankind: / born into the human condition, / found in the likeness of a human being. / Jesus was thus humbled….” — Philippians 2:6-8a.

Some of you have heard me say dozens of times I served a church in rural Upstate New York for 23 years. Here’s what I mean by rural. It was a town of less than 7,000. By some standards, especially those in Northern Maine, that’s a good size town. In fact, it’s a good sized town compared to where I was serving churches in Waldo County.

But you did have to go an hour in any direction, get outside of that county, to hit a larger town. In between, there were hills, forests, some farms, not much else. The town was the county seat. So at least for that neck of the woods it made it a metropolis.

Despite its size, there were a bunch of Mainline churches— Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopal, Methodist, Congregational. Except for the Lutheran Church, all those churches from different traditions, were established before the mid-1800s.

Early in my tenure the Director of Music Ministries wanted to do a Palm Sunday anthem but it needed a larger choir than we had and good tenor solist. The Congregational choir had tenors but no soloists. However, the Methodists had a tenor who regularly did solos.

So she asked the Methodist choir director if it might be possible to put the choirs together for Palm Sunday. And yes, she did that without telling me. Then she asked me if I could talk to the Methodist pastor about joining the two congregations as one for Palm Sunday.

Why did she think this could happen? My choir director knew the Methodist pastor and I got along famously. And so that pastor and I met and we went out on a limb because we came up with what was, for that town at least, a precedent shattering plan.

Both congregations would meet at the Congregational Meeting House and start the Palm Sunday service with a blessing of the Palms. Then the members of both congregations would march out the front doors and processed the three blocks up the main street of the town to the Methodist Church for the rest of the Palm Sunday Service. A farmer in the area even supplied a donkey for the procession.

What happened as we processed? We waved our palms at people in passing cars. Guess what? Many drivers, smiles on their faces, honked their horns and waved back.

We repeated this year after year and by the time I left in different years and in different combinations at one time or another the Baptist, the Episcopalians and the Lutherans had all joined the Congregationalists and the Methodists in this public display of faith, this public act of worship.

And yes, having a procession out in the open was a very public act of worship, a public display of faith. But my read is, at least in part, each of us probably lays claim to the thought that religion, faith, worship, should be private. But is that accurate? (Slight pause.)

Here’s my take: faith is personal. But faith, by definition, is never, ever private. Why? Faith, at its core, is about two things: relationship with God and relationship with others.

Additionally, faith needs to be both something on which we act and a way of life. If it is about God, others and a way of life, faith is, by definition, public.

In short, faith is about acting on and through those aforementioned relationships with God and others. So faith is unquestionably personal but not private. Faith is public because faith involves a way of life and therefore involves action. (Slight pause.)

These words are in the work known as Philippians: “Christ, though in the image of God, / did not deem equality with God / as something to be clung to— / but instead emptied self, / and took on the image / of oppressed humankind: / born into the human condition, / found in the likeness of a human being. / Jesus was thus humbled….” (Slight pause.)

It’s likely at one time or another you’ve all heard what is commonly referred to the Prayer of Saint Francis. Francis of Assisi valued humility, simplicity, compassion, care for the poor and has come to be an example of what it means to live a Gospel life.

Now, I refer to the Prayer of Saint Francis as being attributed to this Saint. Why? There is absolutely no trace of that prayer anywhere before the year 1912, some 700 years after Francis died. Does that mean the words of the prayer are bad or should be ignored? No. It just means they are not 900 years old.

These are the words of that prayer: “O God, make me an instrument of your peace, / Where there is hatred, let me sow love; / Where there is injury, pardon; / Where there is doubt, faith; / Where there is despair, hope; / Where there is darkness, light; / Where there is sadness, joy. // O Holy One, / grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; / to be understood, as to understand; / to be loved, as to love. / For it is in giving we receive. / It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, / and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.” [1] (Slight pause.) This prayer is filled with humility.

When pastors talk about humility, we are sometimes met with a strong backlash in church circles. In our culture humility is sometimes confused with humiliation, confused with making one’s own self less than one should be. And, after all, why should we not think of ourselves as great? God has created us in God’s own image. Right?

But thinking humility is about humiliation or making one’s own self less than one should be, proves our culture does not understand what humility really means. Humility isn’t about denying we are good (or even great). Humility isn’t about wearing sackcloth and ashes, beating up on ourselves, having low self-esteem.

Rather, humility is about refusing to deny who other people are. It’s about seeing others as created in the image of God. Humility is not about making ourselves ‘less.’ It’s about seeing everyone as standing together before God. (Slight pause.)

One message Palm Sunday proclaims is Jesus was very, very public about faith— public even onto death. And so we are presented with a question. What does it mean when the Apostle Paul says (quote): “…Jesus was thus humbled— / obediently accepting death, / even death on a cross.” (Slight pause.)

The humbleness expressed by Jesus is clear because despite being highly exalted Jesus sees others as created in the image of God. The self-emptying of Christ was the fulfilling of a vocation: attending to the needs of humanity.

Christ humbled self by resisting the temptation to follow an easier calling, which would have denied an authentic self. But there is no hint at all of self-deprecation.

So on Palm Sunday when we say, “Blessed is the One who Comes in the Name of our God,” we are saying Jesus is not just public about faith in God. Jesus is also humble. (Slight pause.)

Perhaps on this Palm Sunday we need to remember the humility found in that prayer of Saint Francis which says: “O God, make me an instrument of your peace,…”

Perhaps being and becoming an instrument is not personal, nor is it private. The very words— make me an instrument— invite us to action. Action is, by definition, public. Amen.

04/13/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is a précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “As I said, faith is personal not private. If that were not the case there would be no need to gather as a community of faith. We would each worship our own personal God alone with no connection to anyone else. But this is clear to me: the Christian faith is enwrapped by and enfolded in community. That is one reason why the Congregational tradition exists. The word congregation tells this is an assembly, a group, a community of faith.”

BENEDICTION: God has written the reality of love within us all. We are empowered to live in this love, through the Redeemer, Jesus. In Christ, we experience God’s presence together. Where Christ leads, let us follow. Where God calls us to service, let us go. And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge of God, the love of Jesus, the Christ and the companionship of the Holy Spirit, this day and forevermore. Amen.

[1] Slightly adapted from the traditional words of the prayer as found on the wiki web site.

04/06/2025 ~ Fifth Sunday in Lent ~ Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8 ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW3MvtdE_Lc
VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1073981772

New Things

“Do not remember the former things, / forget the events of the past / ignore the things of long ago / do not consider the things of old. / Look! I am about to do a new thing! / Now it springs forth! / Can you not see it? / Do you not perceive it?” — Isaiah 43:18-19a.

The computer app called Facebook has caused some— no, a lot of controversy lately. For those who don’t know about Facebook or don’t have a computer, the denizens of Facebook have what’s called a wall on which you write. People you’ve designated can see what you’ve written and write something back.

So Facebook is not like a town square. It’s like a town fence where you scrawl a message but any message you leave can be spread by the town gossip or worse, used by the town bully to cause disruption. That seems dangerous. And that’s the controversy.

Now, there is an upside to Facebook. You can try to track down folks you have not seen, spoken to or even thought about in years, like the people you knew in High School. Now, I graduated from High School in 19… [the pastor mumbles].

Just like now, back in High School I was involved in music. I was the librarian for the school choir, the manager of the school dance band and in my Senior year I was deeply involved in the school musical, which that year was The Music Man.

You may remember this musical features a Barber Shop Quartet. Well, here’s how we put that Barber Shop quartet together. There were three guys who were— to use the vernacular of the time— “Greasers”— and they would hang out after school in stairwells singing doo-wop as they listened to the echo of their harmonies.

They were recruited for the show. I taught them the melodies of the songs— Lida Rose, Sincere, It’s You and then sang a bass part underneath their harmonies. It worked.

The character of Harold Hill was played by a fellow named Jeff Spolan. At that time we became friendly. After graduation we went our separate ways. He went to college and studied theater. I was drafted and went to a theater of war— Vietnam.

But we both wound up in professional theater. He was an actor. I was a writer. His passion was seeing the world— traveling. He did that by hooking up with non-profit companies which toured overseas.

My career was more parochial, confined to New York City, so our paths never crossed. That is they never crossed until we found each other on Facebook. Amazingly, at least four of us from that High School class went into professional theater. Renewing these contacts reminds me of how different my life is now than what it was at that time.

But I would not exchange where I have been and what I have done for anything. So perhaps what Shakespeare said in The Tempest is true: “What’s past is prologue.” (Slight pause.)

These words come from the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah: “Do not remember the former things, / forget the events of the past / ignore the things of long ago / do no consider the things of old. / Look! I am about to do a new thing! / Now it springs forth! / Can you not see it? / Do you not perceive it?” (Slight pause.)

Scholars say this Prophet writes from the Babylonian Exile where the Jews are held in captivity. Given the situation, the Prophet makes a stunning statement.

Using an amazing metaphor— rivers flowing in the desert despite the dire situation of the Jews— the Prophet insists God will do and is doing a new thing. Further, their call is to be aligned with God in newness. (Slight pause.)

But how does this Word of hope, apply to us today? (Slight pause.) A colleague recently asked a question of the church he serves: “what makes ‘a church’ really ‘a church’?” (Slight pause.) He offered this list.

A church must trust God enough to welcome everyone and be as surprised by one another as we are by God. We need to let our hair and our guard down rather than pretend and defend, shoulder each other’s burdens, celebrate blessings.

We need to respect others as they are, not as we wish they were, honor one another when we differ, see creativity in differences and accept that we and the church fall short. We need to value doubts and ask questions while having faith and assurance, open ourselves to God loving us just as we are as individuals and as a group.

Thereby we, paradoxically, open ourselves to change, to growth and newness. We need to look to God for help with all this as we recognize, in ways subtle and glorious, Jesus is with us. [1] (Slight pause.)

It’s both the first and last piece on that list to which we Christians especially need to heed. Trust God; Jesus is with us. (Slight pause.) Still, the metaphor of “rivers in the desert,” wonderful though it is, is just a metaphor. How can this claim of newness be real for us? (Slight pause.)

I invite you to look around, to look at each other— I’ll give you a moment to do that. Just go ahead— look around. (Slight pause.) You may or may not know what each person does daily outside these walls but please start with an assumption.

Assume each of us strives not to do well but to do good. Each of us represents a reality based in hope, a reality that a river can flow in the desert, that each of us represents a belief God is among us, is present to us. (Slight pause.)

Reacquainting myself with old friends and old times is heart warming, even when it’s done over the Internet. But it also has made me aware of a reality: life has moved forward in ways and with possibilities I could never have imagined.

When we realize there are possibilities, perhaps we can be empowered to trust God, be aware that life with God is like a river, flowing, moving ceaselessly. Indeed, trusting God means being aware the love of God is present, real, tangible, life giving.

Trusting God allows us to realize the hope God wants for us is always forward looking. Hope may be written in the present tense but hope is realized in the future tense.

And so let us be aware the hand of God is with us, the Spirit of God surrounds us, Christ is present to us. Let us be aware that the reality of the Messiah helps us be aware that there are rivers in the desert.

Let us be aware the love, goodness, wisdom and peace of God etches its image in the sands of time while seeking out new horizons. I could be wrong about this but I think looking to new horizons is exactly what Habitat for Humanity seeks to do on a daily basis— what do you think?

And yes, these are the words offered by Isaiah (quote): “Can you not see it? / Do you not perceive it?” These words both present us with a challenge and help us to be mindful of the constant, faithful, present, forward looking love of God. Amen.

04/06/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “Back in the 80s I had the privilege of hearing Millard Fuller, a co-founder of National Habitat, speak at First Parish in Brunswick. He said Christians really don’t agree on a lot. Now, Millard was from Georgia so he then said we Christians can’t even agree on how to say the Name Jesus. Those from the Deep South know it should be said “Jeee-sss-us.” (The pastor has moved an arm pulling the first down.) And you have to have the arm movement with that. Then he said we Christians can agree on one thing. People need housing. Here’s what I say— helping people get housing may be an old thing but every time a house gets built or renovated by Habitat it’s a new, forward looking thing.”

BENEDICTION: In Christ, we experience God’s presence together. Where Christ leads, let us follow. Where God calls us to service, let us go. And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge of God, the love of Jesus, the Christ and the companionship of the Holy Spirit, this day and forevermore. Amen.

[1] The Rev. Mr. Michael Caine.

[2] Note: the Brunswick director of Habitat for Humanity offered a Time for Mission at the start of the service.

03/23/2025 ~ Third Sunday in Lent ~ Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9 ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0g1SFNiHeU
VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1069301613

The Ways of God

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, / so are my ways higher than your ways / and my thoughts than your thoughts.” — Isaiah 55:9.

You may get tied of hearing me say I was a theater professional. But I was. As a consequence, like a lot of theater folk, I had some odd jobs. Here’s a very odd one: I did presidential telephone surveys for the Harris organization in 1980. That was Regan vs. Carter.

Harris abided by some strict standards. I’m not sure that’s true of polling now. The standards: there should only be a few questions and it should last five to seven minutes.

The questions must be short— multiple choice, four options or yes and no. A valid poll also gets demographic data: age, ethnicity, faith background.

It was important the person who was called be allowed to give their own answer. But that’s a paradox because the poll taker offers all the answers— yes or no, A, B, C or D. But the person contacted must, themselves, repeat the exact words offered.

Last, all the questions needed to be answered. If one question is not answered, all the answers did not count— the industry standards in 1980.

This happened on one call. I dialed a random number, random since a poll taker was assigned an area code, the first three digits of a number and then made up the last four. In the 1980s this located the call in a specific region. That’s no longer true, is it?

The area I dialed that night— it was always in the evening— was in Alabama. On one particular call the presidential preference questions were successfully navigated. I turned to the demographic questions and asked the standard question about faith tradition: “Are you Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or other.”

The response? “I’m a Baptist.”

As I said, the person being polled needed to say one of the words I offered as an answer. I tried rephrasing the question. “Many people say the Baptist tradition is part of the group known as Protestants. Are you a Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or other.”

“I’m a Baptist.”

I said, “Some people think a Baptist should not be classified as a Protestant but falls under the category called other. Are you a Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or other.”

“I’m a Baptist.”

I then heard the phone slam down. Hence, all the valid answers this person gave were thrown out. (Slight pause.)

These words are from the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah, the second Prophet in the Scroll: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, / so are my ways higher than your ways / and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Slight pause.)

Vince Amlin is a United Church of Christ pastor. In a blog post he said a parishioner asked this question: “What do you expect of me as a fellow church member?”

The question reminded Amlin he is a church member— a pastor— but a member. Therefore, this person was asking a fellow theologian— as church members we really are all theologians even if we don’t want to admit it— this person was asking a fellow theologian, a parishioner, what they expected from another theologian, a parishioner.

Now a question about expectations can be uncomfortable. You see, if I’m a member of any group— not just churches but any group— it means others in that group may make claims on me.

In any organization others make a claim on my time, resources. But in a church a claim is made on my heart. An individual might expect the other theologians in a church to pray for their father diagnosed with dementia, visit a parishioner who is ill, or even make soup or bake for a potluck.

Expectations might even come from a giver. There might be an expectation to need their care, invite concern, partake of casseroles. For some, expectations might be a terrifying aspect of the church— all that was from Pastor Vince Amlin. [1] (Slight pause.)

That poses a provocative question: to what is God really calling us? Is it membership of some form or another? After all, doesn’t church membership simply just break out into tribes, as in “I’m a Baptist?” (Slight pause.)

Mike Flanagan, an Episcopal priest, offers this reflection. “When I was ordained,” he said, “I was all about the worship, the liturgy being just right, good preaching.”

Today Flanagan sees his role as helping people discern their callings, talents, connecting those to the needs of the local church and the community. Flanagan adds, “I can be a member and do nothing. Membership is a much too passive idea.”

So this Episcopal priest no longer refers to parishioners as members but as disciples. “Disciple,” he says, “is not a passive word. [2] (Slight pause.)

Poet and Pastor Maren Tirabassi wrote a poem called Lenten reflection— I’d like a church— make mine double. These are her words.

I know a church / that only embraces prodigals— / tech industry nones / or folks who live in their cars, / those who identify as gender non-conforming, / formerly incarcerated, / in recovery, post-evangelical, / lapsed, doubters or inked.

I know a church / that celebrates long-timers, / the ones who CROP walk, / or teach Sunday School, / the ones who are life-deacons, / chaperone mission trips, / shovel snow, / visit nursing homes, / get wax out of / Christmas morning carpet.

What I want is— / a church like / the completely dysfunctional family / Jesus told stories about— / with the designated lover / always out on the road / to welcome in or argue back— / someone staggering from / a hit-and-run, / someone stuck in their ruts. [3] A Lenten reflection — I’d like a church – make mine a double by Maren Tirabassi.

That brings us back to Isaiah’s proclamation that the ways of God are not our ways. I think Maren’s poem gets at a truth that may be uncomfortable: God’s ways are not our ways, especially in a church.

To illustrate that, I think we need to realize the verse from Isaiah about the ways of God not being our ways actually refers to the first words in this passage (quote:) “I call out to all who thirst: / come to the waters; / and you that have no money, / come, buy and eat! / Come, buy wine and milk / without money and without price.”

God’s ways are not about a transaction, what we can purchase, trade, about how much we have. God’s ways are not about tribalism since tribalism by definition is transactional. So it’s not about what we know, who we are or with whom we align.

I think that reality should help us focus on the term disciple. This is a dictionary definition of disciple: a disciple is someone who accepts and helps spread teachings. (Slight pause.)

There are some basic teachings found in this passage. God abundantly and freely pardons. We are forgiven in the eyes of God.

God’s economy is all inclusive. This really is a free market— free — there are no transactions so it’s not transactional. We do not pay. (Slight pause.)

God’s club is all inclusive. Everyone is welcome. So, how can we, as disciples, spread the word about the ways of God?

Perhaps disciples need to incorporate God’s ways into their own lives, the method by which disciples really teach. Our lives do teach by our actions. (Slight pause.)

You have heard me say this. The message of Scripture can be reduced to four words: love God; love neighbor. These are God’s ways, God’s thoughts— love God, love neighbor. Amen.

03/23/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Congregational Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “I want offer a quote from Archbishop Desmond Tutu: ‘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: God’s steadfast love endures forever. Let us live our days offering thanks to God who feeds our souls. Let us go on our way with Christ as our companion. And may the peace of Christ, which surpasses understanding, keep our minds and hearts in the companionship and will of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more. Amen.

[1] Adapted for this context.
http://www.ucc.org/daily_devotional_raised_expectations

[2]
https://baptistnews.com/ministry/congregations/item/30951-trading-membership-for-discipleship-helping-churches-christians

[3] Posted on Maren Tirabassi’s Facebook page.

03/16/2025 ~ Second Sunday in Lent ~ Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Psalm 27; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:31-35 or Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a) ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYQo_rirGEM ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1066992117

Covenant Made

“On that day Yahweh, God, made a covenant with Abram…” — Genesis 15:18.

A couple weeks ago I regaled you with a story about the time I worked at The Actors’ Fund of America. Telling it must have dredged up memories about those thrilling days of yesteryear— the 1970s. Here’s another story from that time.

One of my volunteers at the Fund was a woman named Caterina Jarboro. She was an African-American classically trained opera singer. She died in 1986 at the age of 90.

Some of Caterina’s story refers often forgotten theater history. Some of the story concerns American history, also often forgotten, but history which we should not forget. (Slight pause)

Despite being a classically opera trained singer, early on Caterina worked on Broadway. She was in the original 1921 Broadway production of Shuffle Along, the first Broadway show ever written and produced by African-Americans.

Theater professionals were skeptical this show would appeal to Broadway audiences. They were wrong. It ran for 504 performances and earned $9 million, a long run and a large sum for its time.

It had a score written by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake— and if you know about song writing, you know them. The best known song in the show was I’m Just Wild about Harry— you know that one? (The pastor entones the first notes). [1] O.K. Especially in his later years Eubie Blake became quite famous and in 1981 received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan.

Back to Caterina— her United States opera debut was in a 1933 New York City production of Verdi’s Aida, the first time a black woman had the lead role in an American all-white opera company. Both before and after that she had toured for a number of seasons in Europe but returned to the States when WWII started.

Now, the well known African-American classical singer in that era was Marian Anderson who, in 1938 was prevented from giving a concert for an integrated audience at Constitution Hall. So instead she performed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Millions listened to that concert since was heard nationwide on the radio.

Now when Caterina did return to this country she approached an agent to see if she could get a concert tour started here. The response? She was told there was room for only one black female classical singer in America. That was Marion Anderson. So there would be no room in this country for a Caterina Jarboro tour. One black classical singer in America was enough, thank you. (Slight pause.)

Caterina taught me a lot by her attitude, by how she approached her volunteer work at the Fund. She was precise, dedicated, faithful. Her life spoke volumes to me.

And yes, she was extraordinarily talented but because of the world, the era in which she lived, she was never able receive the recognition she deserved. That must have been hard to deal with, even hard to comprehend.

But she persisted. She was relentless. She never surrendered, never gave up. She always moved forward steady, sure.

Because the world is what it is she knew there would be roadblocks. But she also knew there was work to be done. And she could be trusted, counted on to do whatever she could to help and to move forward with a sure and steady hand. [2] (Long pause.)

These words are in Genesis: “On that day Yahweh, God, made a covenant with Abram…” (Slight pause.)

Please notice several things about this reading. Abram gathers a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon. Abram even cuts the larger animals in two.

The darkness, the smoking barrier, the fire pot, the flaming torch, are all images fraught with the symbolism of covenant making in the Ancient Near East. So these are not meant as mysterious signs but are indicated symbols of covenant making in that era.

Now, when God says the words which establish and enacts the covenant, Abram is (quote:) “in a deep trance.” Therefore Abram does nothing to establish or enact the covenant. Nor does Abram even respond to the covenant being made.

Hence, there is no question about this. The covenant established by God with Abram and hence with us is not a two way agreement. It is not of our doing. The covenant is, like grace, a free gift. God is the prime mover.

So, what Abram has done is not about covenant making on his part. Abram simply participates, participates by gathering and slaughtering the animals, for instance. So what has Abram really done? Abram trusted God. Indeed, God reckoned this trust as righteousness, as being in right relationship with God.

You might ask, if Abram has done nothing to initiate, enact, establish covenant, what is our place in the covenant? What are we to do? I think the key is simple but sometimes hard for us to deal with it, in part because we firmly believe we are in control of everything.

So let me ask the obvious question again. What is our place in this covenant? (Slight pause.) We are invited to participate by God— participate— in the covenant. And again for us, mere participation can be hard since participating just does not feel like enough. We want to do more. So perhaps it seems like we do want to be in control. (Slight pause.)

I want to suggest there is something we can do but it’s not about control. It is about relinquishing control. We are called to do what Abram did. We are called to trust God. (Slight pause.)

Let’s go back to the story of Caterina Jarboro. She was in Shuffle Along, the first Broadway show ever written and produced by African-Americans. She toured Europe and was the first black woman to have the lead role in an all-white opera company in America.

But she was not able to receive the recognition she deserved since there was room for only one Marian Anderson in America. And yes, that must have been hard to deal with, hard to comprehend.

But what was she doing when I met her? She was volunteering for The Actors Fund. In volunteering she was raising money to help those in her profession in need.

What was she really doing when I met her? She was participating, persisting, being relentless. She had never surrendered, never given up.

She was always moving forward sure, steady. She knew there was more to life than roadblocks. She trusted that. (Slight pause.)

So, why was I reminded of Caterina and my work at the Actors’ Fund? Perhaps I was reminded just so I could share her story. Perhaps I was reminded so I could note that our real part in the covenant is to trust God. And that, I think, is not just our part in covenant. That is the real lesson of covenant: trust God.

Why? The world is what it is. It can be hard. Caterina knew that. The world now is not the way God would have it. We know that.

And we need to trust God so we can be empowered to do the work of God and the will of God here in this very flawed, very broken world. I happen to think doing the work of God and the will of God is the result— the result— of trusting God. And perhaps when we trust God and simply participate slowly and surely the world will be changed. Change… the change that God seeks… what a concept. Amen.

Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “Theologian Walter Brueggemann said this (quote:) ‘Covenant (and, therefore, true spirituality), consists of learning the skills and sensitivities that include both the courage to assert self and the grace to abandon self to another’ (unquote). In short, covenant is not possible unless you recognize the needs of others. The needs of others— it’s that love neighbor thing which keeps coming up, isn’t it. And I would suggest to really love neighbor we need to trust God.”

BENEDICTION: Let our hearts take courage. Our God meets us where our needs rest. God is our shelter and shield. God’s blessings outnumber the stars. Let us go on our way with Christ as our companion. And may the peace of Christ, which surpasses understanding, keep our minds and hearts in the companionship and will of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more. Amen.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuffle_Along

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterina_Jarboro

https://www.starnewsonline.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/03/27/the-diva-worthy-life-of-wilmington-opera-legend-caterina-jarboro/69987163007/

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/jarboro-caterina-1903-1986/

03/09/2025 ~ First Sunday in Lent ~ Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13 ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H-87Go7H5A
VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1064807594

No Distinction

“…there is no distinction between Jew and Greek— all have the same Creator, rich in mercy towards those who call.” — Romans 10:12.

I’ve often mentioned I’m from New York City. Hence, I know a lot about how to survive there. An example: there are codes on the lamp posts in Central Park. Did you know that? If you know the code, it tells you what cross street you’re at, a north/south location, and it also tells you where you are relative to your east/west location.

Now, I grew up in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn in the 1950s. My parents always told me that this neighborhood was a nice neighborhood, a safe place. Even as a youngster knew that was at best an over statement. It was neither.

Well, when I worked on Wall Street one of my co-workers was a retired New York City police lieutenant. And as we talked I found out he had worked in that same Bushwick neighborhood in the 1940s.

So I asked him what it was like in the 40s. Was it a nice neighborhood, safe? His response? “Well,” he said as gently as possible, “I would not have wanted to live there.” So, no— it was neither nice nor safe. But I also need to say this: today Bushwick has become gentrified, upscale. I couldn’t afford to rent an apartment there now.

Despite the gritty reality of my youth in the 50s and into the 60s, the city does provide access to world class music and art. For reasons beyond me I was attuned to these. I preferred Beethoven and van Gogh over Elvis and Superman comics. In short, growing up there, in that atmosphere, is a part of me, a part of who I am today.

The phrase sociologists use to describe one’s origins and also one’s current time and place is social location. We all have a social location, a time and a place of our origins and a current time and place where we are now.

Social location is a very academic idea so here are two concrete examples. How much money someone has influences how a person sees the world. Race is also an obvious factor in social location in how one sees the world. Social location can even have an affect on what gets through to our brain. It can either block or illuminate features of the world which are salient, relevant, forceful, credible.

Whether we are aware of our own social location or not, it has helped us to shape, conceptualize, understand, make sense of the world. Indeed, if we do not recognize the multiple aspects of our social location which make up own life, we have our eyes closed to reality.

Again, that is somewhat academic. This is less academic. If you grew up with or are now familiar with wealth your take on a lot of things is likely to be different than if you grew up with or are now familiar with poverty.

Equally, if you grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, your take on a lot of things is likely to be different than if you grew up in San Francisco, California, in London, England, in Tokyo, Japan. And if you grew up in Harpswell…. well, you get the idea, don’t you?

The bottom line: exploring our own social location invites us to ask some basic, even hard questions. Here’s one: because of my social location am I aware of my own prejudices or am I blissfully unaware of them?

Being aware of social location invites us into a process of self examination. How did I become who I am? How does who I am affect those around me? (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the Letter to the Church in Rome, often called Romans: “…there is no distinction between Jew and Greek— all have the same Creator, rich in mercy towards those who call.” (Slight pause.)

Here’s a label which sometimes gets flung around. “Loser!” Most of the time those who used this are attempting to utter a pejorative, an insult, a put down.

However, the real purpose of invectives like “loser” is to set up differences, us/them dichotomies. What’s left unsaid is, ‘If there are losers, there are winners’— winners and losers— the way the real world works, right? But separating people in that way begs the question: ‘Why are these us/them lines, these separations drawn?’ (Slight pause.)

That brings us back to Paul’s proclamation about there being no distinction between Jew and Greek. To reiterate something I said last week, the season of Lent always brings us, brings the church back to basics, to issues which are bedrock, essential.

The texts assigned for Lent tend to ask us to reflect on where we, as communities and as individuals, stand in relation to these basics. One part of those basics is an invitation to self-examination.

And so the text challenges us to ask who is to be included in my community, in our community? Clearly the answer offered in this text is everyone is included. There are no distinctions.

Why do I say that? In a real sense given Paul’s time and place, Paul’s social location, if Jew and Greek are not the only two choices available they are at least the only two Paul is willing to consider here. Hence, Paul insists social location is not a determining factor about who is acceptable and who is not.

To put it in more modern language, Paul is saying there are no winners or losers. There are no outcasts. In the eyes of God categories do not exist. (Slight pause.)

Let’s come back to our own social location for a minute. Compared to Paul who here thought in terms of those two social locations, today we have a vast array of social locations.

But the prime issue for us is the same one Paul addressed. And we, therefore, need to realize our very human tendency is to break people out into tribes, to catagorize people. Too often we break everyone into that aforementioned pair of tribes: winners and losers.

Here’s my take: the call of the Gospel counters that. The call of the Gospel is to live by the grace, in the grace, with the grace God offers. The call of the Gospel, the call of that grace, is to see everyone as gathered into in one tribe— the tribe of God.

To be clear, I don’t think the idea that everyone might belong to one tribe comes naturally to us. Why? I think we humans like to catagorize. The painful fact is too often we don’t just catagorize based on reality. We simply make things up. We make up groups.

I say if we think in terms of all humanity as being one tribe that invites us to explore, to identify, to examine our own shortcomings, our own failings, our own group making, our own tribe-making. I would also suggest through an examination of self, an examination of our social location, we can at least strive to avoid choosing up sides, avoid making up groups, avoid choosing winners and losers. (Slight pause.)

Sociologist Robert Putnam puts it this way. ‘Relentlessly— relentlessly exercising individual freedom at the expense of others can unravel the foundations of society.’ [1] I would add relentlessly exercising individual freedom at the expense of others can unravel the foundations of a church and can unravel the foundations of God’s tribe, humanity.

And yes, it is a challenge to us, for us, to refrain from picking sides, to love as God would have us love. But I am convinced the call of the Gospel is a call to examine and explore the world not as we see the world but as God sees the world. Let us pray for the vision and let us pray for the grace to accomplish that task. Amen.

03/09/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “Yes, I was a Catholic altar boy who grew up in Brooklyn. The nuns taught me examining myself— they called it examination of conscience— examining myself was important in exploring a Christian way of life. When I became familiar with classical literature I learned Socrates said, ‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’ And so let me point out one of our thoughts for meditation in today’s bulletin (quote:) ‘Lent is not a “penitential season.” Lent is a “growing season.’” Lent is a time for growth. So, let us pray for the grace to grow in service, grow in friendship, grow in love.”

BENEDICTION: God heals and restores. God grants to us the grace and the talent to witness to the love God has for us. Let us be ready as we go into the world, for we are baptized in the power of the Spirit. And may the peace of Christ, which surpasses understanding, keep our minds and hearts in the companionship and will of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more. Amen.

[1] This is a paraphrase of the words of Putnam from The Upswing, 2020 Simon & Schuster, pg. 19.

03/02/2025 ~ The Eight Sunday After the Epiphany and the Last Sunday Before Lent ~ A.K.A. Transfiguration Sunday ~ A.K.A. the eight Sunday in ordinary time ~ Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a) ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1062771341

Transfiguration and Reality

“Therefore, because we have this ministry through God’s mercy, we do not give into discouragement, we do not lose heart.” — 2 Corinthians 4:1.

Most of you have heard me say I worked in professional theater. When I do that I often mention being a writer and lyricist. But that short changes what I did. Like many people in theater I did a myriad of things.

To highlight just one thing, I was an executive with The Actors’ Fund of America, now known as the Entertainment Community Fund. The Fund offers social services from financial assistance to employment training and operates the Actors’ Fund Home, a nursing and assisted living facility.

Now, when I worked for the Fund I was one of two people who went through the estate of Basil Rathbone and his wife Ouida. Those of you over 50 will know exactly who Basil Rathbone is. Those of you under fifty will probably have to Google him.

Rathbone, a British character actor, played heros and villains— Sherlock Holmes and Pontius Pilate to name one of each— and in the 1940s was one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. After Rathbone and his wife died lawyers rummaged through their estate, got what they thought was of value and handed the rest over to the Fund.

Some of what to those lawyers looked like was junk was not. I got to plow through what was leftover. For reasons too long to explain, back then I had a reputation for evaluating theatrical memorabilia— items associated with significant theater people.

Now, when you go through an estate seeking something which might have value, rule one is when you find junk get rid of it. But discerning what has value isn’t easy. It’s not necessarily about monetary value. It’s about emotional value.

Here’s an example of the difference between memorabilia worth something and junk. Rathbone’s first Actors’ Equity contract on Broadway— valuable. An 8 x 10 glossy picture of a place setting from a Rathbone dinner party— not so much. (Slight pause.)

We hear this in 2 Corinthians: “Therefore, because we have this ministry through God’s mercy, we do not give into discouragement, we do not lose heart.” (Slight pause.)

Every commentary I’ve ever seen says this passage is very complex. Hence, figuring out what Paul is trying to say is not easy. But I want to make a suggestion. Paul is encouraging us to go back to essentials, the basics— get rid of the junk.

I find it instructive that this reading is the assigned Epistle lectionary today, Transfiguration Sunday. That $64 word you heard earlier, theophany, is defined as an experience of the real presence of God, something which certainly involves our emotions. The Transfiguration is a theophany. [1]

That brings us back to Paul. The apostle brings up the Torah, the teachings, Moses. Then Paul says (quote:) “And we… reflect the glory of our God, grow brighter and brighter as we are being transformed into the same image we reflect.”

In New Testament times anyone would have recognized what Paul is doing using the word ‘glory.’ Glory— Kabod in Hebrew— means the real presence of God. And what is the Transfiguration? It’s an experience of the real presence of God.

And that is, I think, why Paul insists ministry is present through God’s mercy and we should not give into discouragement, should not lose heart. Indeed, Paul draws on the story of Moses to make the point that in Christ God enables all to participate in the glory of God because the glory of God is present. God walks with us.

And that is the reality we Christians claim, the claim of the Transfiguration, the claim of the Resurrection. God is present. God walks with us. (Slight pause.)

As Christians, we need to focus not on the idea that God is present to me, God walks with me. Rather God is present to all of us. God walks with all of us.

Further, Paul also says do not be discouraged. Are there are times I am discouraged, times we are all discouraged together? Yes. But that’s simply life, simply being human.

Indeed, if Paul possessed any human trait he also must have had those times of being discouraged. If that were not true the Apostle never would have never written (quote:) “we do not give into discouragement, we do not lose heart.”

Why? Because (quote:) “We have this ministry through God’s mercy,….” And that, my friends, is not junk. Paul is simply pointing at the basics of life with God, the basics of our emotional life with God.

So, what do we need to do? We need to do something else very, very human. We need to look around and realize that ministry here and now, in this place, at this time, is granted to us by God. And yes, God is with us. God does walk with us. This is basic. This is about our emotional life with God. Amen.

03/02/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “Generally, we Congregationalists fall under the category, the heading, of the group commonly called Protestant. But we need to realize that the Latin root of the word is protestari. It breaks down this way: testari is to declare publicly, to testify, to witness. Pro means for. Hence, a Protestant is not someone who protests but someone who witnesses for. For what do we Protestants witness? We witness for the reality that God is with us. God walks with us.”

BENEDICTION: God heals and restores. God grants to us the grace and the talent to witness to the love God has for us. So let us live in the light God offers. And, therefore, let us be ready as we go into the world, for we are baptized in the power of the Spirit. And may the peace of Christ, which surpasses understanding, keep our minds and hearts in the companionship and will of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more. Amen.

[1] A theophany was explained when the Transfiguration reading was introduced.

02/23/2025 ~ Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany ~ Genesis 45:3-11, 15; Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40; 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50; Luke 6:27-38 ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtHMdJ9cDVE
VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1061258659

Golden Rules

“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” — Luke 6:31

One of my professors at Bangor Theological Seminary had an interesting background. Dana Sawyer was a Native American who grew up on the Penobscot reservation near Old Town. And he had a Ph.D. in Far Eastern Religion.

After acquiring the Ph.D. and numerous trips to the Far East he returned to Maine to teach at the University level. At Bangor he appropriately taught World Religions. In that class he said something more fascinating than his background. The religion most practiced in the world and most practiced in America, said he, was called folk religion— he called it folk religion— most practiced world wide and most practiced in America.

Further, he labeled fundamentalism as an American folk religion. Why? Fundamentalism has absolutely no basis in historic Christianity and began only in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And it started here in America.

Following the Civil War, tensions developed among Christians here. Scholarly Biblical criticism, a practice which dates back millennia, was unacceptable to some because scholarly Biblical criticism examines social and cultural changes within the Scriptures. Why was that unacceptable to some? The implication was studying this reality in Scripture might encourage social and cultural change today.

And so The Fundamentals, a series of papers, was published in Los Angeles between 1910 and 1915. The publication was funded by an oil baron who wanted to resist social, cultural changes perhaps because of his status. The bottom line: Christianity had never seen anything like organized Fundamentalism before and big money supported and helped organize it.

Many think Fundamentalism is ancient but it’s a little more than 100 years old and it’s an American idea. Islamic Fundamentalism did not exist before that time and the idea eventually spread East. I’m sure the irony of that is not lost on you.

To put all this another way, fundamentalism is not a theological reevaluation of Christianity. It is a social, cultural movement whose mission was to resist change in society. I am not saying people who follow Fundamentalism are insincere. I am saying the movement, itself, stems from social and cultural resistence and has late origins. (Slight pause.)

From time to time many of you have heard me say I have Jesuit training. Since my father taught at a Jesuit High School for his entire working career, Jesuits were my friends. They came to family parties. I played softball and basketball with Jesuits. Jesuits staffed the Summer camp I attended.

Question: most of the time how do we really learn, learn about life, learn about how to behave, about how life should be lived? We learn from family and we learn from friends.

A competent teacher will tell you a significant chunk of learning happens outside of any classroom wall. When Jesuits are friends of the family, it’s hard to not be influenced by their thinking, to not learn from their thinking. (Slight pause.)

The Jesuit order defines their mission with these words. To work for reconciliation every day. To work with God, with humans and with the environment. To respond with intellectual rigor to the most challenging issues of our times.

To employ discernment in decision-making. To care for the poor, the vulnerable and the earth, the common home of all humanity. To serve God and the Church with creativity and fidelity. To bridge societal divides.

To foster understanding among diverse people and cultures. To collaborate regionally through partnerships and in networks in an effort to serve the people of God— that is the mission of the Jesuits. (Slight pause.)
This is what we find recorded in the work known as Luke/Acts in the portion called Luke: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” (Slight pause)

The quote you just heard is often called The Golden Rule. It’s found in many faith traditions, in many social traditions, in many cultures. It dates at least back to the Code of Hammurabi, 1,700 years before the birth of Christ. (Slight pause.)

Now, I think most of you are aware I had what might be called multiple careers before seminary. One piece of that was a stint working on Wall Street.

This is The Golden Rule on Wall Street: those who have the gold make the rules. A corollary: those who have power hoard power. Another corollary: those who dominate strive to perpetuate dominance.

These are cultural, secular golden rules. The question that presents to us is simple: do we follow a cultural, secular golden rule, or do we follow the golden rule to which God calls us and calls the church? (Slight pause.)

Occasionally someone will say to me there are liberal interpretations of the Bible. Others will say there are conservative interpretations. Nether position is accurate.

The challenges with which Scripture presents us are not that empty minded. The challenges are multiple, especially when it comes to the culture. The first challenge: identify the cultural trappings which are in Scripture because of the era in which Scripture was written.

That alone is not easy. Why? In the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, there are at least four different documents written over the course of a number centuries and then stitched together, effectively a fifth layer.

When these documents are read only in translation and not in the original language they appear to be one, single, singular document. In the original languages differences jump out at you.

Each of those documents, each written in different eras, need to be unpacked for the cultural content based in the era in which they were written. After we strive to identify and eliminate the cultural noise, the question for us becomes to where does God call us, right here, right now?

The next challenge: what does our culture, today, say to us? To identify what our culture today says to us— fundamentalism, for instance— and identify the influence of our culture on us, is an even harder task than looking at ancient cultures in the Scriptural text.

We may not be fully able identify all aspects of an ancient culture but we can identify many of them. Identifying today’s culture is a daunting challenge because we are living in and with our own culture. It’s just second nature to us. We don’t even notice it.

Just like we need to identify and neutralize cultural practices found in Scripture, we need to identify and neutralize practices in today’s culture. Once today’s cultural noise is located we yet again need to ask ‘to where does God call us?’

So a key question becomes ‘will we be overcome, be overwhelmed by today’s culture which surrounds us when we read Scripture?’ (Slight pause.)

That brings me back to my friends the Jesuits. This is a précis of the Jesuit mission in several words: discernment; reconciliation among all people and justice; be creative and faithful; strive to create a hope-filled future; care for the earth, our common home. (Slight pause.)

As I said, Scripture is neither liberal nor conservative. That summation of the Jesuit mission is neither liberal nor conservative. Why? Living into and with these ideals is about a way of life, about a way to learn about life, a way to learn how to behave, a way to learn about living together— that’s what these are about. (Slight pause.)

Christianity is not about rules. Christianity is not about the culture. Christianity is about a way of life.

Will anyone ever be perfect at the practice of life? No. The idea is to practice every day. Perhaps the important idea here is to strive, as well as we are able, to see the world as God sees the world. How does God see the world?

Certainly one step is what Jesus says in Luke: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” That is, however, not just a golden rule. That is a counter-cultural idea since those words are about God’s culture, not about human culture. Amen.

02/23/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “This is a quote from theologian Reinhold Niebuhr: ‘Nothing worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love.’— Reinhold Niebuhr. The culture is temporary. God is not.”

BENEDICTION: Let us go in joy and in love and in peace. God reigns. Therefore, let us go forth in the name of Christ proclaiming the peace of God which surpasses understanding. And may the face of God shine upon us; may the presence of Christ be with us; may the fire of the Spirit burn within us this day and forevermore. Amen.

02/02/2025 ~ Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany ~ Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30 ~ Also the Feast of Presentation of the Lord ~ Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 84 or Psalm 24:7-10; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40 ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wotduEKNL-E ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1053427195

Agape

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and can endure all things. Love never ends.” — 1 Corinthians 13:7-8a

You may be tired of me saying I spent 23 years at one church in Upstate, rural New York. As I think you also know (you may be tired of me saying this too), my ordination and my standing is with and in the United Church of Christ. Similar to the NACCC, your denomination, the UCC has Associations.

Congregational churches gathering into Associations dates from the 1600s. Whereas the NACCC has one Association in Maine, the UCC has seven.

Unlike the NACCC, the UCC has an encompassing body known as a Conference. In New York I was, at one point, on the Board of the Conference. Now, churches have annual meetings. We shall have one in a fortnight. Just like churches, Associations and Conferences have Annual Meetings.

A year before I came back to Maine someone approached me at a Conference annual meeting a Conference Annual in New York and told me they felt like I was an institution in the Conference. I responded with a smile and said, “Change can be good for institutions. It must be time for me to leave.” A year later I did just that. I left. (Slight pause.)

At the first Conference board meeting I attended, a lawyer offered a short course on the ethical standards expected not just of church boards but of all non-profit boards. Many points were made; lawyers do that— cover a lot of bases.

But one thing stuck in my brain from that talk. Many non-profit boards are made up of specific segments from a broad constituency. I represented my local Association.

However, the ethical standard for a board member of any non-profit, said this lawyer, is once on a board, that constituency, that affiliation, from which you come is a moot point. Each individual board member is responsible for representing the whole— non-profit standard— each board member is responsible for representing the whole.

In New York and in Maine I’ve served on many boards of my local Association and I did and do try to represent the whole. Representing the whole does not mean you fail to bring your sensitivity, sensibility, insights, intelligence to what’s being considered. It does mean you strive to represent the whole as well as you can. That… is the ethical standard. (Slight pause.)

These words are found in 1 Corinthians: “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and can endure all things. Love never ends.” (Slight pause.)

As was mentioned when this reading was introduced, there are six words in Greek for love. We speakers of English are confined to just one.

These are those Greek words with the short explanation for each. Eros is a physical expression of love; Philia— is friendship sometimes called brotherly or sisterly love; Ludus— playful love or the love of parents for children; Pragma— longstanding love; Philautia— love of self— not vanity, but protective love of self.

Next, Xenia is hospitality coupled with generosity and reciprocity. Last we have Agape. Agape is unconditional, altruistic, universal, inclusive love. (Slight pause.)

It is fairly well known that in this passage Paul addresses Agape. And yes, as a community we should be aware that we are bonded in and by Agape, this unconditional, altruistic, universal, inclusive love for one another.

But there is a larger idea behind Agape love. Agape love should not and does not end in this place, with those we know. The very meaning of the word should instruct us that we, this community of faith, who have bonded here in this place, who are bonded here in this place by unconditional, altruistic, universal, inclusive love also need to move beyond this place.

In the practical terms of Congregational polity, each member of this church is affiliated with another church group— the Congregational Churches in Maine and also with the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches. So Agape love, as it relates to the church community, this unconditional, altruistic, universal, inclusive love, extends to the Maine Association and to national level, both a broadening and an outgrowth of the universality of Agape love.

There is more. Agape love invites us to look at things with the eyes of another one of those Greek words for love— Philia love for all our brothers and sisters, for all humanity. But this is not just love for all humanity. Philia extends to love for all of God’s creation— all of God’s creation. (Slight pause.)

I need to add one thing. We Congregationalists have another name for Agape— did you know that? We call it covenant love. And covenant love understood well is quite demanding.

You see, what covenant love invites us to is… growth. Covenant love invites us to… learning. Covenant love invites us to… engagement. Covenant love invites us to… see new horizons constantly.

Covenant loves invites us to the idea that as we move forward we remember, honor the past… and understand it is past. Covenant loves invites us to deal with the realities of the present. Covenant love invites us to meet the challenges of the future.

Covenant loves invites us to see the whole. Covenant loves invites us to be responsible for the whole. Last, and perhaps the most important aspect of covenant love, is that it invites us to hold one another’s humanity and well being as precious. (Slight pause.)

It’s likely we all know and can probably recite by heart Paul’s famous words. (Quote:) “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and can endure all things. Love never ends.” The challenge for us is simple. Can we meet the standard proposed by Paul, this standard the Apostle called agape, called love? Amen.

02/02/2025
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: “Rumor to the contrary, the Bible does not tell us about faith, hope and charity, despite what the popular song says. Agape translates into Latin as Caritas. Caritas was then translated into the Anglo-Saxon language tree as charity. But when that translation happened the underlying word was still Agape, unconditional, altruistic, universal, inclusive love. So that kind of charity is not about giving something to someone. I hope I have just illustrated that Paul’s challenge is much more demanding than mere charity. It is about total devotion and surrendering of self.”

BENEDICTION: Let us, above all, surround ourselves with the perfect love of God, a love which binds everything together in harmony. And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.