localpastor

03/10/2024 ~ Fourth Sunday in Lent ~ Numbers 21:4-9; Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22; Ephesians 2:1-10; John 3:14-21 ~ VIDEO OF SERVICE— NOTE: DUE TO A POWER OUTAGE THE FIRST TEN MINUTES OF THE SERVICE WERE NOT RECORDED: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/922532027

Not of Your Own Doing

“For we are what God has made us, God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to do the good things, which God prepared for us to do beforehand, from the beginning, to be our way of life.” — Ephesians 2:10.

I admit it. I am a planner. In 2015 I had a sabbatical and planned an eleven week cross country trip by car. Bonnie and I crossed the nation. Planing that was challenging. But as we used to say right after we got married when we went on a trip somewhere— “adventures with Bonnie and Joe.” And an adventure it was.

Of course, each Sunday I do some planning— prepare prayers, introductions to scripture, stuff not in the bulletin. And, oh, yes— there’s that sermon thing also. Do I ad-lib? Yes.

But a colleague once said I did more preparation for a service than anyone else he knew. My response? “The only way you can ad-lib readily is to be well prepared.”

Indeed, you may have seen a TV show whose premise is comedians are given a situation. They then seem to respond spontaneously, appear to ad-lib in a humorous way. Show Business people know calling this exercise ad-lib is a stretch.

These performers have a prodigious comedic, situational memory. For the most part they simply pull out a bit, a routine from their memory bank, perhaps string two or three together, and apply it to the situation.

Does it seem like it’s done totally off the cuff. Yes. Is it? Only sometimes. How do they make it seem like it’s off the cuff? They are prepared. It’s that simple.

To put planning in a different light, translated from the light Scot dialect, poet Robert Burns wrote “The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go often askew.” Steinbeck named the famous novella Of Mice and Men after that line in the poem.

A mouse is involved because the poem is about how planning can be reduced to meaningless futility by the shear folly of the unforseen. The whole poem says a mouse has survived in a frozen field through the depth of winter in a borrow only to have it ripped apart in the Spring by a plough. “The best laid plans…” And if the weather today doesn’t say something about the best laid plans I don’t know what does. (Slight pause.)

So, what are plans? What is organization? What do plans and organization mean, really? After all, isn’t full fledged disaster lurking around the corner most of the time? Ask the mouse. (Slight pause.)

This is what is recorded in Ephesians: “For we are what God has made us, God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to do the good things, which God prepared for us to do beforehand, from the beginning, to be our way of life.” (Slight pause.)

When we look at Ephesians, the passage from today and also when we take this writing as a whole, it is clear the writer insists God, the artist, is active in the life of the world. That might lead us, especially those of us to like to plan, to say, ‘Yes, God may be active in the world but what kind of plans does God have?’

You see, I think generally most of us want to know where things stand. We want to plan but we also want predictable results. Tell me, is that the reality of life, predictable results? (Slight pause.)

To address planning in another way, my opinion is despite all the polarized divisiveness we hear about today we humans have more in common than we realize. Yes, those on opposite poles generally see themselves as adversaries.

Why? Both ends of the poles tend to picture things in a deterministic, inevitable way, even see the world in apocalyptic terms. For example one side will say life as we know it will end unless we do x, y, z. No other cause/result is available. The other side says, no! Life as we know it will end because of a, b, c. No other cause/result is available.

I think unwavering attitudes— x, y, z verses a, b, c— these my way or the highway attitudes— diminish the reality of human complexity, diminish the complex reality of life. Perhaps our real failing— pardon the expression, our original sin— is reductionism. We try to make things more simple than they really are.

At least in part, I think polarization is a symptom of reductionism, simplification. Polarization— and it is real— is a symptom of trying to simplify the world, simplify reality. Perhaps people do this also. They even try to simplify Scripture.

One side, for instance, says Scripture can only be taken literally. The other side claims if it’s in Scripture it doesn’t matter at all. Either way, it’s simplification.

But simplification, reductionism is not the reality of what we find in Scripture or the reality of our experience of life. In truth I think complexity and mystery describes both Scripture and life.

The very fabric of the Biblical text is complex. Complexity, mystery are descriptions of things difficult to fully know and/or things beyond our knowing. Complexity and mystery describes real life. Complexity and mystery describes God.

And God is the One with Whom Scripture calls us to grapple. We are called to grapple with God Who is both complex and mysterious. I think grappling with complexity or mystery is something we do not like to do. Why? We like things kept simple.

Unfortunately an option too often employed is to insist the world is not complex, reality is not complex. But insisting that reality is not complex, not, mysterious, will not change it. The world will remain complex and mysterious. (Slight pause.)

And so… the writer of Ephesians tells us things are not of our own doing. And the very idea— that things are not of our doing— that is complex. Or we at least perceive that which is not of our own doing as complex.

Why? If God’s gifts to us— if God’s gifts to us are not of our own doing, we have to grapple with the complexity of the concept that we are not in control. And guess what? We like things kept simple. We like control. (Slight pause.)

This passage states we are (quote:) “God’s work of art,”— God’s work of art— an amazing phrase. So I suggest we all think about a basic premise of Christianity: God is a mystery. I think this passage reflects God as a mystery, complex beyond our understanding. And thereby the passage also tells us life is mysterious and complex.

Paradoxically, that presents us with a very simple challenge. We need to realize God is there, God with us, in all the complexity of real life. Another simple challenge is for us to realize God loves us. God loves not just each of us but all of us. And God loves each of us and all of us— that seems simple but I think it is really, really complex, really, really hard to understand.

Indeed, the idea that God loves each of us and all of us simultaneously— that tells us life is mysterious and complex. After all, if we follow the instruction of Jesus that we humans should love everyone, even our enemies, it presents us with a tall hill to climb, especially in a polarized world. (Slight pause.)

I think we all need to realize the concept that God loves everyone is a simple idea and, yes, tells us life is complex. Further, I think we need to realize it’s possible some people are not comfortable with a God Who loves everyone— hence polarization.

And complexity? I know I’m not always comfortable with complexity. After all, I like to plan. I like to be in control.

So perhaps the real key here is I need to have a true sense of humility, need to remember I am God’s work of art. Perhaps we all need to have a true sense of humility, need to remember, we are all God’s work of art. Amen.

03/10/2024
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “The opening sentence in one of my commentaries on this passage says, ‘The Bible is a cloth of many colors and textures…’ I think that’s what I was attempting to say today. And I’ve said this next thing here a number of times. It bears repeating. Theologian Walter Brueggemann says the picture of God painted in Scripture is drawn with intentional artistic illusiveness. Another way to put that is the Bible and life, they’re both complex. Life is a mystery. Life, itself, is or should be a work of art. At least that’s what I think”

BENEDICTION: There is but one message in 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 redeem, power to revive, power to renew, power to resurrect. So, may the love of God the Creator which is real, the Peace of the Christ which surpasses all understanding and companionship of the Holy Spirit which is ever present, keep our hearts and minds in God’s knowledge and care this day and forever more. Amen.

03/03/2024 ~ Third Sunday in Lent ~ Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22 ~ Communion Sunday ~ Used Lent Communion ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/921473543

What Really Counts

“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.

I have no doubt about this. My late father was very smart, brilliant really. The editor of his class High School Year Book, he graduated first in his class.

He then entered Manhattan College and received a 4.0 GPA, all A’s, in his first semester. I don’t know if this is true but family legend has it he was the first Manhattan College student to ever have a 4.0 GPA in the first semester.

Dad graduated from college— again first in his class, again editor of his class year book, and became an English Teacher at Regis High School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, a school run by the Jesuits. He was thought of by his colleagues as a master teacher and spent entire working career at that school. (Slight pause.)

I am ordained in the United Church of Christ. The title bestowed with ordination in the U.C.C. is Pastor and Teacher. People sometimes tell me I’m a good teacher.

If that’s right, I say I simply inherited the teaching gene; I got it from my Father. But I did not enter the teaching field. Aside from many other things, I was a writer in theater. Of course, I still write something each week. It’s called a sermon.

Now, as I said, my Dad was the editor of his High School and College yearbooks. In fact, he wanted to be a writer, not a teacher. But the truth is not many people earn a living exclusively as a writer, except perhaps writers who work for a corporation, newspaper reporters, television writers, and the stability of those positions can be quite precarious.

Another truth: many writers do freelance work, so they are in business for themselves, by themselves. Freelance writing is a hard, dangerous, risk taking way to make a living, often a hand to mouth existence. I know; I’ve done it.

A final truth— for my Father, married and in fairly short order with three children to feed, that situation did not line up well with the often perilous life of a writer. My parents never said this straight out but I think they were happy and proud when I embarked on my writing career. They supported me in any way they could.

I think they were even happier, more proud and maybe even a little surprised when I had some success. You see, I was fulfilling my Father’s dreams— dreams which he knew were less than practical given the circumstances of his life. (Slight pause.)

My father, the teacher, once said to me, “I never gave any student a grade. They gave it to themselves.”

Good grades have a cause, said he. If a student does the work, participates, success will happen. If they do not, the result will be obvious. Dad said all he ever did when it came to grades was record the result. (Slight pause.)

This what we hear 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.)

In the Jewish tradition these words from Exodus are not known as the “Ten Commandments.” These are known as the Ten Words.

Also, in the Hebrew language the command tense does not exist. Given these two statements about Jewish tradition and the Jewish language, these words can, in no way, be thought of as commandments.

And there is also a societal tendency to think of this passage as a monolith— sacred, immovable. That is a totally secular, even irreligious, concept. (Slight pause.)

You have some inserts at the end of the bulletin today which refer to this passage. I invite you to turn to them. (Slight pause.) They are the long sheets.

There’s one insert listed with four traditions. The four traditions are Jewish; Anglican/Reformed; Orthodox; Roman Catholic/Lutheran. Where a number skips indicating a commandment, that tradition combines two of the commandments. As you can see on that chart, different traditions cannot even agree on how to number the so called “Ten Commandments.” [1]

Another chart has the three different versions of the Commandments” found in the Hebrew Scriptures. They are from Exodus, Deuteronomy and yet a second set from Exodus. [2]

I certainly wonder why people put up monuments with ten numbers— which ten, whose ten? Whose version, which tradition should take precedence? I would wonder why people put up these monuments, depictions with tablets and numbers, except I realize this is a totally secular, even irreligious concept. (Slight pause.)

Someone who tells you a translation can be taken literally does not know the first thing about either translating or language. And there is one more page in that bulletin.

That remaining page has six translations of this passage on it. [3] Please take it home and compare them. Each translation is different. Each has its own validity.

Society treats these words as immutable, etched in stone. They are not. There are even many ways to translate them. [4] (Slight pause.)

That leads to an obvious question. If our cultural image of the so called “Ten Commandments” is both monolithic but at the same time inaccurate, what are these words really about? (Slight pause.)

First things first: this passage makes a claim about God Who is the One Who loves us. God loved the Israelites. God guided their rescue from bondage, led them to freedom.

So these words start with God’s love. Given that these words begin with and stem from love, the rest of them should not be thought of commands but as the result of God’s love. They are or should be simply a result of our participation in the love of God, the work of God, the result of a relationship with God.

Hence and especially when we get to phrases like “No murdering! No giving false testimony…!” — this is about our relationship with one another, about loving one another. God loves us and we participate in that love by practicing the love of God with each other. (Slight pause.)

A short time ago we shared bread and cup at the table. The symbolism embodied by the tactile, real experience of sharing the bread and cup says something about how we are to love one another. We are to love one another through sharing, respect and love.

If we share, respect and love then we will be enabled to live out the words of this passage in ways which will amaze us, transcend this passage, guide us to places we did not know possible, empower us to see the world as God sees the world. If we share, respect and love we will live out the result these words talk about.

You see, I think too often both we and the world sees these words as commands. If they are conceptualized as commands we will see them as the cause for our behavior. But I think God, the great teacher, sees these words not as a cause for our behavior but as a result, the result of participating in the love of God, the work of God.

I think God sees these words as an assignment, a homework assignment if you would, from the great teacher. Our assignment is to participate in the Realm of God. And if we participate in the Realm of God, sharing, respect and love are sure to result. Amen.

03/03/2024
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: “We often take the word Torah, the Pentateuch, to mean the Law. But the deeper meaning of the word Torah is “the Teachings.” Let me suggest the elevation of the so called ‘Ten Commandments’ to an exalted status is about the culture, not about faith, not about a relationship with God. After all, when asked what are the great commandments the answer the Christ gave referenced Deuteronomy and Leviticus, [5] love God, love neighbor, not the ‘The Commandments.’ So the question for us is simple. When will we stop worshiping the culture as a god and worship the One Triune God, the God of relationship?”

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 redeem, power to revive, power to renew, power to resurrect. So, may the love of God the Creator which is real, the Peace of Christ which surpasses all understanding and companionship of the Holy Spirit which is ever present, keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge and care of God this day and forever more. Amen.

ENDNOTES:
[1] These 4 traditions do, indeed, use different numbers for different phrases. The four were listed on this chart with numbers assigned to specific “commands.” using abbreviated phrases for each.

[2] This sheet had Exodus 20:2-17, Deuteronomy 5:6-21 and Exodus 34:6-26 listed side by side to allow for comparison.

[3] The six translations lined up side by side are: The New Revised Standard Version; The Inclusive Language Version; The King James Version; The English Standard Version (British); The Message; The New International Version.

[4] When the passage was read the Inclusive Language Translation of Exodus 20:1-17 was read. This is it:

[1] Then God spoke these words and said, [2] “I am Yahweh, God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

[3] “do not worship any gods except me.

[4] “Do not make for yourselves any carved images or likenesses or anything in heaven above or on earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth [5] and do not bow down or serve them! For I, Yahweh, am a jealous God, and for the parents fault I punish the children, the grandchildren and the great grandchildren of those who turn from me; [6] but I show kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love me and heed my commandments.

[7] “Do not utter the name Yahweh or misuse it, for Yahweh will not acquit anyone who utters God’s Name to misuse it.

[8] “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy! [9] Six days you will labor and do all your work. [10] But the seventh day is a Sabbath for Yahweh. Do not work on that day— neither you, nor your son nor your daughter, nor your workers women or men, nor you animals, nor the foreigner who lives among you. [11] For in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth and the sea and all that they hold, but rested the seventh day; that is why Yahweh has blessed the Sabbath day and made it sacred.

[12] “Honor your mother and your father, so that you may have a long life in the land that Yahweh, your God, has given to you.

[13] “No murdering!

[14] “No adultery!

[15] “No stealing!

[16] “No giving false testimony against your neighbor!

[17] “No desiring your neighbor’s house! No desiring your neighbor’s spouse or worker— female or male— or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor!”

[5] Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18.

02/25/2024 ~ 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 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/917164464

An Invitation to Change

“No longer shall your name be Avram or the exalted ancestor, but your name shall be Avraham or Hamon Goyyim. [And that is the Hebrew for the progenitor of a multitude of Nations.]” — Genesis 17:5a.

People often take the word myth to mean a widely held but false belief or idea. That is one of the dictionary definitions but not the first one.

The first definition: a myth is ‘a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or which explains some natural or social phenomenon.’ So, a myth is a story which uncovers deep truth, a reality which supersedes mere fact.

To elaborate, myths give people a vision of their place in the world, a way to help make sense of their existence. Myths offer a narrative which helps people understand their lives. That type of myth is called a functional or establishing narrative which influences people to see the world in a certain way.

Establishing narratives are not an outdated idea. For example, Americans see the Revolutionary War as a part of our establishing myth, see that conflict as being about freedom, as well we should. However, we also need to be aware of the realities behind the myth, some of them at least.

John Hancock, famous in part because of a very large signature on the Declaration of Independence, happened to be one of most wealthy people in America at that time. A guy named George Washington owned more land than anyone else, wealth in terms of land ownership. And of course wealth in the South relied on enslavement.

But British bankers constantly cut off the credit lines of people in the colonies, credit being the life blood of wealth. So in part at least, the Revolution was about the economy— wealth and credit and debt and control of assets.

Hence, in order to really understand our own American establishing myth, one should also understand and acknowledge the realities involved. The facts do not diminish that the establishing myth of America is about freedom. But to ignore the underlying realities as if they do not exist is less than healthy.

I need to say one thing on a more individual level. Each of us maintains our own, personal, establishing myth, an establishing story, whether or not we know we do that.

To reiterate what I said last week, my story address my youth in the Roman Catholic tradition and my early childhood in a tough section of Brooklyn— in the vernacular a ghetto. That is the reality, fact. But my establishing myth, my deep truth, says I did not become trapped by my history, my circumstances.

You see, both fact and myth need to work together. Therefore, the reality, the facts of my story informs my establishing myth, informs a deeper truth found therein. My establishing myth brings new light and truth to that reality, enables me to see the underlying facts of where I have been in a helpful way.

I believe fully understanding my myth empowers me to think about where I might go next, who I might become. And who might I become? I am convinced God is not yet finished shaping and reshaping me. I believe God beckons me to walk in new ways, in new light, in new hope. (Slight pause.)

These words are the words we find in the work known as Genesis: “No longer shall your name be Avram or the exalted ancestor, but your name shall be Avraham or Hamon Goyyim. [And that is the Hebrew for the progenitor of a multitude of Nations.]” (Slight pause.)

Last week I talked about stories, my story, your story. This is part two. It’s about the larger story. All the stories in Genesis are founding stories, establishing myths of the people of Israel. And again, myth does not mean false.

Myths convey deep truth, visceral truth, truth about the reality of feelings. The Genesis stories convey truth about the reality of relationship with God.

That brings us to the story of Avram, who becomes known as Avraham or Hamon Goyyim. This Genesis story directly addresses covenant.

It is clearly an establishing myth for the Israelites since God promises make Avram (quote:) “…exceedingly, exceedingly many.” But it is also an establishing myth for a relationship with God. And I think it is the relationship with God which may give us moderns reason to pause.

Why? This is clear: we like to be in charge of relationships but God, the Prime Mover, is in charge of this relationship. (Quote:) “I am God, Almighty.”

God then says (quote:) “Be blameless.” Avram is here called to be perfect, complete. But this is not moral purity. This is about unqualified devotion to God.

Also (quote:) “As for me, here— my covenant is with you:…”— God, the Prime Mover, takes a unilateral action. Next, there is an obvious and in some ways a key point. God unilaterally changes the names of Avram and Sari to Avraham and Sarah.

For me, this name change poses the pertinent question. To what does God call us? (Slight pause.)

I want to suggest God calls us to change. And the change to which God calls us is to see the world the way God sees the world. How might God see the world?

I think God sees the world as a place where the possibilities God names astound us in a profound way. Avraham says (quote:) “I am a hundred years old. How can children be born to me? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

Is this about bearing children at a late age? No. I think the claim, the establishing myth, is that God sees the world as a place where the impossible possibility of the realm of God is possible.

And the realm of God is possible not just among the Israelites but among all people. Hence, not Avram but Avraham is a (quote:) “progenitor of a multitude of Nations.

Avraham will be a progenitor of all people, all nations, not just the Israelites. And therefore the story is both an establishing myth for Israel but also an establishing myth for humanity in its relationship with God. (Slight pause.)

Earlier I spoke about establishing myths for nations and individuals. In fact, most groups have establishing myths. (Slight pause.)

Question: what is the establishing myth of this congregation, this church. Or put another way, if someone asked you what is the reputation of your church, this church in this community, what would you say? What would your claim be?

While I have not been here a long time I would suggest at least a part of your reputation is this church honors its history. This church was founded in the 1700s and is now named for a pastor in the 1800s. Also this church is known for its community outreach. This church is known for its music. So my take is, at least in part, the establishing myths here are threefold: history, mission and music.

My hope is if you name your establishing myths it might bring new light to the reality of who and what this church is. It might enable members to see the underlying facts of both where you have been and where you might be going. To be clear, when I name the myths of this congregation it means nothing.

You, the members of the congregation, need to name those myths. And at least in part, that is what the transition process we are now experiencing is about.

You need to name who this church is. The very naming will inform this congregation where it is going. And yes, that is easier said than done.

Why do I think this naming is important? I am convinced God is not yet finished shaping and reshaping. I am convinced God beckons you, the people of God, to walk in new ways, in new light, in new hope.

I also believe, just as God called Avram and Sari to change, God calls you, this congregation, to change. Now, you might ask ‘change to what?’ I don’t know.

But God knows. And this congregation, each and every person, needs to be aware of that, the fact that God knows and to work with that and, perhaps most important, to let God lead. Amen.

02/25/2024
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: “An overarching theme of the Bible is covenant. And covenant is explained in the stories of establishing myths because covenant is the theology of Genesis. But we, humans, are often not quite comfortable with covenant because covenant starts with God. God leads. So, are we comfortable enough with the leadership God provides to let that happen?

BENEDICTION: Do not be ashamed to question all that denies God’s reign. The promises of God are for all. Let us trust in the promises of God. Let us understand, believe in and hold to God’s covenant. Let us depart in confidence and joy knowing that God is with us and let us carry Christ in our hearts. Amen.

02/18/2024 ~ First Sunday in Lent ~ Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-10; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:9-15 ~ Annual Meeting ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/915274338

In the Beginning?

“Here begins the Gospel, the good news of Jesus, the Christ, the Child of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah:…” — Mark 1:1-2a.

I believe all of us, we, have a story to tell. And I have from this pulpit over my relatively short time here offered bits and pieces of my own personal story.

Hence, I think many of you have heard what I am about to say. I was born during President Harry Truman’s first administration. And yes, I know some of you were born when FDR was President. Others claim a more recent time.

I also have talked about growing up in New York City and what that was like, certainly very different than growing up in Harpswell or anywhere in Maine. I’ve talked my service in Vietnam, that I worked in computer operations, worked on Wall Street and was a writer in professional theater.

I have talked about family, my grandparents, parents, about how I related to them. I, therefore, have talked some about the craziness of my family.

And I’ve talked about my life in the church, how I grew up in the Roman Catholic tradition and where I am today. Of course, this church talk is mostly an attempt to explain how I relate to God and practice my faith because of that relationship.

I have also said at the age of 44 I entered Seminary. Never mind the craziness of family life. Going to Seminary at age 44— that is… crazy. (Slight pause.)

In telling my story I am trying to illustrate three things. First, I hope it illustrates there are many ways to tell a story. Second, I hope it illustrates there are many facets to anyone’s story. Third, I hope by extension it illustrates we all have a story.

When I say we all have a story I am saying we all have roots, come from someplace. I think it is important for each of us to learn how to tell our own story and then tell it. I think telling our stories might help us come to a better self realization of who we are, where we’re at now, where we might be willing to go and perhaps of most importance, where a relationship with God has taken us and might take us.

Indeed I think we, all of us, need to tell other people our own story. I hope you know telling your own story is helpful to those around you since those who you encounter will come to know you better, understand you in a personal way. I also hope you take the time to listen to the stories others tell so you can get to know them better. (Slight pause.)

So what is your story? How do you tell it? Have you recently shared your story with someone? (Slight pause.)

These are words with which the writer of the Gospel we know as Mark begins to tell the story of Jesus, Who we claim is the Christ, the Messiah sent to the Jewish people. “Here begins the Gospel, the good news of Jesus, the Christ, the Child of God. As it is written in the prophet Isaiah:…” (Slight pause.)

I have said this here before. The earliest writings in the New Testament are the true Letters of Paul. But Paul wrote only 7 of the 13 attributed to him.

Scholars tell us these true letters were written between the years 52 and 64 or 65 of the Common Era, 64 or 65 being when scholars are fairly sure Paul died. Equally, scholars agree Mark is the earliest Gospel and place the compiling of this work at the year 70 or slightly later, clearly after Paul was gone.

Now, the letters of Paul have nearly no story about Jesus in them at all. But the Gospels do tell a story. So Mark, the earliest, by definition has the first recorded story of Jesus in the Christian Scriptures, in the New Testament.

That being said, where does the story in Mark start? Does it start with the birth of Jesus? Does it start with the ministry of Jesus? No and no, not the birth, not the ministry.

The writer starts by stating what the story will address. (Quote:) “Here begins the Gospel, the good news of Jesus, the Christ, the Child of God.”— the good news of Jesus— interesting— not good news about Jesus but of Jesus.

Next, the story, itself, starts. And where does it start? (Quote:) “As it is written in the prophet Isaiah:…” (Slight pause.)

The earliest telling of the story of Jesus references the Hebrew Scriptures, starts by quoting Isaiah. (Slight pause.) What does that say to us? (Slight pause.)

Well, the words from Mark reference Isaiah, Chapter 40, Verse 3. “A voice cries out, ‘Clear a path through the wilderness for Yahweh, God.’” And then just after that verse 9 says, “Go up on a high mountain / you who bring good news to Zion!” Well— good news— what does it say to us that in the Hebrew Scriptures there is also good news? (Slight pause.)

For me, this is quite clear. Mark ties the story of Jesus and the Good News to the story the Hebrew Scriptures and the Good News. Let me put that another way. Right off the writer of Mark, the first story of Jesus in Scripture, tells us Jesus is not the beginning, not the start of the story about good news.

Indeed, according to Mark the story of Jesus starts with the God of the Hebrew Scriptures. So, who is the God of the Hebrew Scriptures?

We heard about God of the Hebrew Scriptures when the Noah story from Genesis, the story of the rainbow was read. That story is clear: God is the God of covenant.

And I think Mark is clear. The story of Jesus continues the story of the God of the Hebrew Scriptures, the God of covenant.

In the words of tehe New Testament scholar Nicholas Thomas Wright, Jesus is the ‘climax of the covenant.’ So, if the story of Jesus continues the story of the God of the Hebrew Scriptures, the God of covenant, and Jesus is the climax of that covenant, perhaps the reality of the covenant is the Good News. And the reality of the proclamation of Jesus, the Messiah, is this God of covenant walks with us, is with us. (Slight pause.)

All that leaves this question: why does Paul not tell the story of Jesus? I think it’s because Paul knows the story of the God of the covenant and assumes anyone who receives these Epistles will also know the story of the God of the covenant.

Therefore what the Apostle addresses is not the story of covenant but the theology of covenant. Since the theology explains the reality of the continuing covenant and that explanation ties God and Jesus together, Paul simply never bothers with telling the story.

Written after Paul is gone, Mark starts with the assumption that those who hear the story will not necessarily know those connections unless they are told or reminded about it. And theology is easier to comprehend in the context of story. Given the project of story telling, the writer probably feels compelled to start the story of Jesus with the God of the Hebrew Scriptures, the God of covenant. (Slight pause.)

So what is your story? How do you tell it? Have you recently shared your story with someone? How does your story relate to the story of God we find in Scripture? How does your story relate to God? (Slight pause.)

The story of the God of covenant, God of the Scripture, insists God is a God of freedom, justice, joy, peace, hope and love. And that covenant gets acted out by us through our participation in God’s freedom, justice, joy, peace, hope and love.

That is, I think, why we, all of us, need to tell other people about our story and realize that is helpful to those around us. And I believe the story that each one of us has to tell does connect with the God of covenant, the God of freedom, justice, joy, peace, hope and love, this God of covenant. (Slight pause.)

Let me say it again. What is your story? Have you thought about how your story connects with the story of God and with the story of everyone you meet? And have you shared that story? Amen.

02/18/2024
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: “Langston Hughes was an African-American poet, activist, novelist, playwright who said this. ‘I am so tired of waiting, / Aren’t you, / For the world to become good / And beautiful and kind?’— Langston Hughes. While I will not suggest the world will become beautiful and good and kind if we share our own stories and how these stories relate to the God of covenant, this God of freedom, justice, joy, peace, hope, love, I do think being aware of one another’s stories might help us start down the path of making the world a better place.”

BENEDICTION: We are children of God, beloved and blessed. Let us be renewed in this season which holds the promise of resurrection at its close. And yes, hear and believe the Good News: God reigns now. Let us depart in confidence and joy knowing that God is with us and let us carry Christ in our hearts. Amen.

02/11/2024 ~ Transfiguration Sunday ~ Last Sunday before the Season of Lent; 2 Kings 2:1-12; Psalm 50:1-6; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; Mark 9:2-9 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/912946761

My Name Is Peter

“…Jesus was transfigured before their eyes. The clothes Jesus wore became dazzling, such as no one on earth could bleach them.” — Mark 9:2b-3 [pause as the pastor changes to a white robe.]

My name is Peter. (Pause.) I saw my friend die today. I do not know what to think. I do not know what to say. I am frightened. That’s because I saw my friend die today. (Pause.)

No. That’s not right. I watched as my friend was executed today. No, that’s not right, either. I saw my friend murdered today.

And it was brutal–– what they did to him. In fact, I could not watch to the end. I ran away. I hid. I was fearful, ashamed, sad, angry. I wanted to lash out, to hit someone, anyone. I did not know how to react. I did not… know what to do.

And I do not know what this means… that he was executed, murdered… by the state, by the government, by Rome. He was… my friend. (Pause.)

His name was Yeshuah, Ioesus in Greek. The name means ‘God saves.’ That is what I thought every time I saw him–– ‘God saves.’ That is what I thought I saw in him–– ‘God saves.’

What I thought I was seeing in Yeshuah was that God’s dominion could be and was present, real. What I thought I was seeing in Yeshuah was that God is with us, God is present to us and that God is in the here. And God is in the now!

And I knew, I was confident, that the things which had been written about, those things which are foretold, things which say the time of God’s dominion is here— those things, that time had arrived.

Did Yeshuah not fulfill the very things about which the prophets speak? Did those who are blind see? It happened! Did it not? Did those who are lame walk? It happened! Did it not? What had been prophesied about the Dominion of God happened!

It happened here, in this time, among us! It was real! (Softly.) It happened in Yeshuah! And now this, this— murdered by the state. (Pause.)

He was kinder and more giving than any one I’ve ever met. He was filled with wisdom. He knew the writings we hold sacred in an intimate way.

He did not just know what they said. Anyone can memorize and recite the sacred writings, even gentiles. But he knew what the writings meant. Yes, he knew what was written. But the Rabbi knew not just the letter of the law but the spirit of the law. The Rabbi knew the Spirit of Yahweh, the Spirit of God. (Pause.)

I remember that day we, my brother Andrew and I, had been trying to catch fish, casting our nets. We were not far out on the water when we noticed someone was on the shore. It was Yeshuah.

The Rabbi called out to us, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” I was not sure what that meant— ‘fish for people.’

What I do realized is suddenly I knew what the reality of God was, knew God’s will for my life. That’s when I abandoned the nets. That’s when we abandoned the nets. We followed. (Slight pause.)

There were twelve of us who were very close to him. But there were more than just the twelve. And this group was like no other group I had ever been a part of before.

It did not seem to matter to Yeshuah if those in the group, those who followed, were in many ways different. He treated each of us as individuals and yet seemed to be able to connect with all of us simultaneously, met each of us where we were at and yet met all of us together, as one.

I did not know how he did that. We were young, old, children, adults, men, women, rich, poor, wise, foolish, tax collectors, physicians, farmers— none of us were alike. Yet what seemed to matter to the Rabbi was not our differences but our willingness to know God, to participate in the work of God, to be in relationship with God.

The Rabbi told us that the most important thing we could do was to love God and love our neighbors. We asked who our neighbors were. That’s when we heard our neighbors included everybody— Jews, Samaritans, Gentiles, men, women— everybody.

He told us if we had two cloaks give one away, turn the other cheek, told us to avoid judging others. I have never heard any teacher, any rabbi say these things before.

He said all these things, but he didn’t just say them. He did them. He lived life not just by words, but by choices, by actions. He lived a life centered on God.

He told us to not worry and to trust totally in God. And Yeshuah did that. Yeshuah trusted God totally, called God abba, daddy. (Pause.)

We traveled throughout all of Galilee with him, right by his side. And he taught, befriended the poor, healed the sick.

Then he sent us, the twelve, out, told us to preach, to teach about the good news of the Dominion of God and to cast out demons and cure lepers. And this I still do not believe. We preached, taught, cast out demons and cured those who were leporus! We did it! All of us. (Pause.) It was awesome!

And then… and then there was that day on the mountain. Yeshuah took us up the hill. There were four of us, myself, James, John, Yeshuah. The day was hot, but it was very clear. The sky was as blue as I had ever seen it.

We reached the top and just sat, stared out at the countryside, all of us together. It was beautiful. Then we prayed. But we were tired. The climb was hard. We slept.

Suddenly we were all awake at the same time. Perhaps we had sensed something had happened.

We all experienced it but I’m not sure how to describe it. The face of Yeshuah was as bright as the sun. His clothes were dazzling.

And both Moses and Elijah were standing there with Yeshuah. I don’t even know how I knew they were Moses and Elijah. I just knew.

I said something stupid like, ‘…how wonderful it is for us to be here.’ I was so tongue tied, I didn’t know what else to say.

Then there was a cloud, a voice. We all saw the cloud. We all heard the voice.

The voice rang out loud and clear and strong: “This is my Beloved, my Own… listen!” I fell to the ground, covered my eyes. I did not know what to do. I was very, very frightened. (Pause.)

Suddenly Yeshuah touched me. I had felt that touch before, a touch only the Rabbi seemed to have— warm, friendly, sensitive. I felt that touch on my back.

Yeshuah could touch you with his hand, with his voice, with his eyes. I always seemed to know when he was looking at me. Yeshuah touched me. I looked up.

He was alone. I stood. We all stood. We did not tell anyone about this. We simply did not know what to say. (Pause.)

I do not know what to make of this. I do not understand it. My name is Peter. I saw my friend die today. I watched as my friend was murdered today. I do not know what to think. I… am… frightened. (Sit with one hand held over the face.)

{Note: This is followed by a piano playing Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?}

02/27/2024
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: “Last week I suggested what we need to see in Scripture is our emotional connection with God. Something I say at Bible Study is for me the people and the situations in Scripture are real. As such I try to understand the emotions of the lives therein portrayed. So today I tried to say something about the tumultuous emotional reality of Scripture and maybe even the tumultuous emotional reality of our own lives.”

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, transform us and keep our minds and hearts in the companionship and will of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more. Amen.

02/04/2024 ~ Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany ~ Isaiah 40:21-31; Psalm 147:1-11, 20c; 1 Corinthians 9:16-23; Mark 1:29-39 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/912000748

The Everlasting God

“Do you not know? / Have you not heard? / Yahweh is the everlasting God, / the Creator of the ends / of the earth.” — Isaiah 40:28.

As I have said here before, I am a Vietnam veteran. My MOS in the Army— MOS is Army speak for what your job is— my MOS was cook. Hence, I landed at Tonsonuit Airbase and was transported immediately to a mess hall in downtown Saigon.

It was a different kind of mess hall. Only Field Grade officers— Field Grade officer is Army speak for officers who have attained the rank of Major— only Field Grade officers and those of an even higher rank were served in this exclusive mess hall. It was also frequented by high ranking American Embassy personnel.

The mess hall was actually not yet operational when I arrived. That was in process. The Army had taken over a four-star hotel in downtown Saigon which acted as barracks for those Field Grade officers. The mess hall was located, naturally enough, in what had been the hotel restaurant.

The building, just 6 stories high, was one of the tallest structures in the city. The mess hall was on that 6th floor and had an open air patio where meals could be served. It afforded a vista which encompassed downtown Saigon and the Mekong delta.

The target date for opening the mess hall was only five days after I arrived. There was one problem. While the existing restaurant equipment was largely adequate, the old stove housed there was not. So a huge Army issue stove sat in a crate in front of the hotel waiting to be installed 6 floors up.

The only elevator in the building was just big enough to hold three people, barely. No Army stove was going to fit in the elevator. That presented an interesting challenge: how do you get the stove up six flights of stairs.

And that was six flights with three ninety degree turns on each level. So seven GIs, myself included, uncrated that sucker and lugged it up to the kitchen, six floors, 18 turns in the staircase, three for each floor. We did it by dint of brut force.

This is where I could insert a long and harrowing story about getting up those stairs. I will not. Suffice it to say we just got ‘er done.

Here’s another piece of Army speak: nearly every last piece of equipment issued by the Army has a tag or a plate on it. These are called a nomenclature tags or nomenclature plates. Their purpose is to name and describe that piece of equipment to which it is attached.

Only after we got that stove up 6 flights did anyone bother to look at the nomenclature plate. The description included this— weight: 1,000 pounds. Ouch! We had moved that half a ton monster up 6 flights, around 18 turns— whuh! (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the Scroll of the Prophet Isaiah: “Do you not know? / Have you not heard? / Yahweh is the everlasting God, / the Creator of the ends / of the earth.” (Slight pause.)

Nomenclature— it’s an interesting word. As I indicated, for the Army it means name this thing and describe it. It’s a stove— this is the length, width, height, weight…. Some would argue that’s a boring but a very necessary thing to do: naming, describing.

In a very real sense, theology does exactly the same job as a nomenclature plate. Theology does nothing more than name God and try to describe God.

Indeed, the very word theology means the science of the study of God. That science, any science, gets deeply involved in naming and describing.

Now, on occasion people will ask me what my theology is. What they are really trying to ask is am I a liberal or am I a conservative. What is interesting about that is, while everyone, even some very serious theologians, succumb to the temptation of using those terms, those labels— liberal and conservative— they have no theological meaning.

When it comes to describing my theology, this is how I respond. I am a Monotheistic Trinitarian or I am a Trinitarian Monotheist. Please notice, this names, describes and even proclaims God is Three in One.

Also please notice I am not simply a monotheist. I suspect each of us knows this: there are churches all over America who claim only Jesus is God. That is monotheism and only monotheism. Others make a claim only the Spirit is God and only monotheism. That’s monotheism. Still others claim God is some central, unifying, singular force. That is monotheism and only monotheism.

These monotheistic positions are hard to justify in terms of historic Christianity which says God is Three and God is One. The Christian description, the Christian naming, the Christian nomenclature is much more fluid than monotheism.

These three different monotheistic positions— meaning just Creator, Redeemer, Spirit— are easy to describe, to explain. There is only one thing, one aspect of the Triune God to explain and describe if you’re relying on these monotheistic descriptions. The Trinity— that’s hard to describe and hard to explain.

So, given that I say the Trinity is hard to explain let’s look at the reading from Isaiah, and the awesome language found therein. Let’s try to see how these words explain God.

Several things should be obvious. First, reading from Isaiah is a poem. Hence, it does not in any way address a naming, a description, a nomenclature of God except through poetry. And a poem by definition is about emotional understandings, emotional connections with God.

Second, we know this text was written around 2,500 or 2,600 years ago. We can be confident noone knew what it was like to fly back then. And yet… and yet… this poem addresses what God might see from a great height, higher than any structure.

It speaks about God Who is (quote:) “…above the circle of the earth, above the vaulted roof of the world, and its inhabitants look like grasshoppers;…” That language is just amazing, incredible, especially given that it is ancient.

Then on top of that, these words invite the reader, the listener, to see things from God’s perspective. (Quote:) “…those who wait for Yahweh, God, / shall renew their strength, / they shall mount up, soar with / wings like eagles,….” (Slight pause.)

It is said the Hebrews did not have a theology. And if theology is about naming and describing, the Hebrews never bothered to name, to describe. Why? For the Hebrews, God is about emotional understandings, emotional connections with God.

In fact, I think if we look for an exact description of God, a nomenclature, in both the Hebrew Scripture and the Christian Scripture we will not find one. It is only several centuries into the Christian era that naming and describing becomes a thing to do. And so I maintain Scripture is about an emotional understanding of God, an emotional connection with God, not about naming and describing.

As I said already the Hebrews did not have a theology. Rather, the Hebrew did theology. The Hebrews acted. The Hebrews acted out of their emotional understanding of God, out of their emotional connection with God. The Hebrews acted out their faith.

Indeed, after the reference which invites people to soar with wings like eagles, that verse continues and says this about those who wait for God. (Quote:) “…they shall run and not be weary, / they shall walk and never tire.” In short, those who emotionally connect with God— will be empowered by God to act.

All that leaves the obvious question, the one which I think the poem from Isaiah with its language, both fluid and articulate, asks. What is our emotional connection to the reality of God Who clearly seeks to be emotionally connected with us?

Indeed, for me this is a question asked throughout Scripture. Are our hearts open to God? The question is just that simple. Are our hearts open to God? Amen.

02/04/2024
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: “Speaking of emotional connection with God, that’s exactly what Dorsey did with this hymn. [1] I have mentioned this here before. Theologian Walter Brueggemann says the God found in Scripture is portrayed with remarkable, intentional, artistic illusiveness. I would suggest, thereby, the use of poetry and its ability to address emotions is a natural way to listen for God, especially when we are trying to discern anything about the will of God.”

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

[1] This was said when the last hymn, Precious Lord, Take My Hand, was introduced this was said: “The closing hymn will be Precious Lord, Take My Hand. It was written by Tom Dorsey. Tom had the nickname “Gospel Tom” because he was one of the pivotal people in the initiation of the Gospel Movement of the 1920s and 30s. Dorsey wrote this hymn when shattered because his wife had died in childbirth and the son who she bore did not survive twenty four hours. He wrote it as a plea to God to walk with him.”

01/28/2024 ~ Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany ~ Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/908731680

The One, True God

“Hence, as to eating food which was sacrificed to idols, we know that idols have no real existence and that there is no God but the One, true God.” — 1 Corinthians 8:4.

I want to tell a story about something which happened when I was in my early teen years. But I need to remind you of a couple of things I’ve said here before about my personal history before I start.

I was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition. My Dad taught at a Jesuit High School. My Mom went into the convent but left before taking final vows. When she left the nunnery my parents met and got hitched. With that brief outline of my parent’s history and given that I wound up as a pastor, I sometimes say I simply went into the family business.

Now, in order to tell this story I also need to presume many of you are not familiar with the practices in Roman Catholicism. So there are two things I need to explain, two practices in which Catholics engage called fasting and abstinence.

Both were often employed during Lent when I was young. They became largely optional for most Catholics in the 1980s. But these were not optional when I was thirteen.

So what are fasting and abstinence? Fasting has an obvious definition— the reduction of one’s intake of food. On a fast day one is not supposed not eat between meals. Also, a person should have a small breakfast, a small lunch but a normal dinner.

Following that regimen is probably not a bad nutritional practice for anyone. And mystics of many traditions say fasting which is even more strict than that simple discipline can even help someone be more aware of one’s own body which might lead to a sharpening of one’s spiritual focus.

Abstinence is different. Abstinence is abstaining, refraining from eating meat or meat by-products. This is not difficult for vegetarians but for us carnivores….

Both fasting and abstinence are pious practices with a long history and are not practiced only in Catholicism. Even today, many people in many traditions still find fasting and abstinence useful.

Here’s the paradox: for reasons beyond my comprehension, no one seemed to notice that making these practices mandatory transformed them into something less than pious. You see, once something becomes mandatory, a rule, it stops being a practice. It becomes nothing more than a demand, a closed box, a cell from which there is no relief.

Back before the rules changed a Catholic was expected to abstain from eating meat on all Fridays of the year. During Lent one would also fast for the entire season, all forty days and forty nights. By the way, Sunday’s do not count as days in Lent— never did. You could eat anything you wanted on Sundays.

Well, all that background leads to the story: I was a student at Saint Ignatius Elementary School in New York City. As the name implies, it operated under the patronage of the Jesuits. By the way it was run by the Sisters of Charity, not the Jesuits. One day in the late Spring I went with a group of guys from school to play soft-ball in Central Park.

When we were done we all said goodbye and split off and headed toward the Subway to go home. It’s what you do in New York City— you get on the Subway to go home, right? O.K.

I was famished the way only a thirteen year old can be famished. I would have eaten anything. Just before I got to the 86th Street Subway station I saw one of those ubiquitous rolling hot dog stands you still can see all over Manhattan.

I pulled out some money and got a hot dog and a Coke. I was about ninety percent done with the hot dog when a classmate who happened to be passing by came up to me, pointed and said, “What are you doing?”

I was not sure what he meant. “I’m hungry, so I’m eating,” said I.

He pointed to the small sliver of hot dog left in my hand and said, “It’s Friday. That’s a hot dog. That’s meat.”

I was totally chagrined and very embarrassed. I don’t know if I was more embarrassed because I had broken an obvious rule or because I had been caught breaking said rule or because I had simply forgotten it was Friday.

And the truth of the matter is I did forget it was Friday. And that’s when I haltingly stammered out to my classmate, “Oh, no! It’s Friday! I forgot it’s Friday! I just forgot!”

He smiled and said, “Don’t worry. I won’t report you to the meat police.” By the meat police I think he might have meant our teacher, the stern faced Sister Catherine Roberta, a person whose temper was even more stern than her countenance.

Perhaps more to the point, I felt awful, upset, even angry with myself. After all, a rule is a rule is a rule, right? And I broke the rule, right? (Slight pause.)

These are the words in First Corinthians: “Hence, as to eating food which was sacrificed to idols, we know that idols have no real existence and that there is no God but the One, true God.” (Slight pause.)

This passage may be one of the most convoluted sections Paul ever wrote. On the other hand, that’s just Paul. But there is a third hand here, another way to look at it. I think is this actually more simple than it sounds.

I also hope I just illustrated how simple it is with that story from my youth. Meat was forbidden. I unknowingly broke the rule. My classmate was kind.

But suppose he decided that my Dad was a teacher in a Jesuit School— and do note, the school in which my Father taught was just across the street from the elementary school and my classmate knew that— so suppose my classmate felt he could break the rule too? His reasoning might be that guy with all those holy connections did it! So how could breaking that rule not be all right?

Or suppose he was not kind and had reported my transgression to the meat police, in this case the stern Sister Catherine Roberta? Would punishment have been (pardon the pun) meted out? (Slight pause.)

I want to and need to point out the obvious. This passage is not about the meat police, Paul’s meat police or the meat police who might have reprimanded me. (Slight pause.)

Now, earlier I said this may be one of the most convoluted sections Paul ever wrote. But as convoluted as the Apostle often tends to be, this passage is merely trying to illustrate a very central truth by telling a story about what was actually happening in Corinth— people eating meat that might have been forbidden. And the message Paul is sending them and by extension sending us is quite simple: meat means nothing. God and God only God is central in our lives.

Not everyone knew that then. Not everyone believed that then. Not everyone knows that now. Not everyone believes that now. And clearly, some people think if one person breaks a rule everyone has a free pass to break any rules they care to break.

Other people actually think the rules, all rules, any rules, are to be followed no matter what and that rules are central to our lives. And never mind rules about things like meat. Some people think rules, all rules, are central and intractable. Put another way, some people think rules are God. Some people make rules greater than God.

And so Paul, as complex as the Apostle is, understands the basic theology here. Idols are a fantasy. Idols do not really exist. Paul says this (quote:) “…we know that idols have no real existence and that there is no God but the One, true God.”

And to close the deal Paul says this (quote:) “…anyone who loves God is known completely by God.” You heard me say this couple times today: Paul can be convoluted.

So, I want to offer the short version of what Paul says— my version, rather than Paul’s: God loves us. We need to recognize God loves us and we need to recognize the love of God for us must be central to our lives. We need to recognize the love of God for us is the only thing that really matters. Case closed. Amen.

01/28/2024
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: “Tradition has it that a Rabbi whose name was Hillel was both a contemporary of Paul and a teacher of Paul. There is a story which gets told about Hillel and an encounter with a Roman Centurion. The Centurion went to the Rabbi and said if you can teach me everything there is to know about the Hebrew Scriptures while I am balanced on one foot, I will convert and become a Jew. Hillel stood on one foot himself and said, ‘Love God; love neighbor; the rest is commentary.’ And yes, it is not convoluted. It is that simple: Love God; love neighbor.”

BENEDICTION: People of light, turn toward God with joy and be free and open to the empowerment God offers. People of unity, be one in Christ. People of commitment, dare to run the race with courage. May the Spirit dwell with us and may the peace of Christ, which surpasses our understanding keep our hearts, minds and spirits centered on God, this day and forevermore. Amen.

01/21/2024 ~ Third Sunday after the Epiphany ~ Known in Some Traditions as the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time; Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62:5-12; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/906067264

They Followed

“…Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed.” — Mark 1:17-18.

Even if you do not have a computer, know nothing about computers, my bet is you’ve heard of Facebook. And yes, I do have a Facebook account. But generally the only thing I post is a link to my sermon blog. O.K. I confess. I also occasionally post a picture of a cat, Tigger.

However, on occasion I do comment on something someone else has posted. Last week a friend posted a picture of someone in a library plowing through a card catalogue. You do remember card catalogues, don’t you? O.K.

The caption on the picture said, “This is what people did to get information before GOOGLE.” Yes, people searched card catalogues before GOOGLE.

And that is one of the rare posts on which I commented. I said, “I used card catalogues once. But that was so long ago when I went to the library to get there I had to ride my dinosaur.”

Of course, the issue with using card catalogues is you have to know how to use them, how they work. Let me translate that: you need to use the right search criteria as you plow though the cards or you will either not find what you need to find or you will find only bad information.

GOOGLE, which I ‘ve already mentioned and just like Facebook I am assuming even if you know nothing about computers but you’ve heard of GOOGLE— GOOGLE has a problem similar to card catalogues. A recent study said the reason so many people get and believe bad information and false information is that when they do a GOOGLE search they use the wrong criteria to execute the search. Using the wrong criteria for a search leads only to bad and/or false information. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work commonly known as Mark. “…Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed.” (Slight pause.)

Rudolf Bultmann was one of the great Biblical scholars of the 20th Century. One of my seminary professors, the Rev. Dr. Burton Throckmorton, studied with Bultmann in Germany. Bultmann said there is a tension in the Gospel we know as Mark to which we do not pay enough attention. (Quote:) “The proclaimer becomes the proclaimed.”

That leads to an obvious question which needs to be asked. What did Jesus proclaim? Jesus proclaimed the Dominion of God is at hand.

However and at the same time, that the Christ, the Messiah is Jesus is what we proclaim. Indeed, in telling the story, both Mark and the early church proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.

And yet… and yet… we still need to grapple with this: what did Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, proclaim? What did Jesus say? Jesus proclaims that the Dominion of God is at hand.

It seems to me (and perhaps to both Throckmorton and Bultmann) we can grapple with the Messiahship of Jesus more easily, more readily, than what the Messiah, Jesus, actually says, actually proclaims— that this Dominion of God at hand. Hence, we need to be looking for and looking at the right thing or we will not get the information we need.

So perhaps a key to this reading is this: rather than concentrate on that fact that Jesus is the Messiah ask what is the Messiah is proclaiming about the Dominion? What’s being said? (Slight pause.)

First things first: Jesus does not point to self. Jesus points to God. The claim Jesus makes is the Good News comes from God.

Next, this reading clearly presents an immediate, present-tense summons. These words are, hence and therefore, a proclamation about a new era— the presence of God as that presence is and can be experienced by humanity is at hand. The passage insists on the reality of that presence and because of that presence insists that a reorientation of one’s own life to that reality is an imperative. (Slight pause.)

So why do the disciples immediately leave their nets, leave their father, follow without delay? They get it. The Dominion of God, with its new era of the reality of the presence of God, is at hand. They must participate… because they get it. (Slight pause.)

I think the term “at hand” is the least understood phrase in Mark, maybe the least understood phrase in the New Testament. The disciples promptly respond because they understand this new era involves them, involves their participation, involves their reorientation. That is what this message that the Dominion of God is at hand means to them.

Also please notice: in the summons Jesus offers, this new era is constantly unfolding, constantly happening. It’s not in the past tense. Neither is it in the future tense.

The new era of the Dominion of God is always in the present tense and, therefore, there is always something to do right now, today in this new era as this new era constantly unfolds. Indeed, I think that is where the challenge to us and for us lies.

And perhaps we do not understand that this new era existed then and this new era exists right now. The new era of the Dominion of God is, you see, not about something the past, not about something which happened two thousand years ago. The new era of the Dominion of God is not about the future, not about something which will happen, not about an afterlife or a second coming.

This new era of the Dominion of God is about that which is constantly happening, unfolding, present, real, available. And if it is unfolding now, if it is present, real, available, perhaps the call of the Messiah, the call of Jesus, is not simply a call to the disciples who dropped their nets and came. Jesus calls us. Jesus calls us in the present tense, now. And so what is the new era, this unfolding era of the Dominion about? (Slight pause.)

The constantly unfolding Dominion asks us how we respond to God. Just like the disciples, the constantly unfolding Dominion is about our participation. That’s because our participation in the constantly unfolding Dominion of God concerns striving to seek and discern the will of God.

Of course, that still leaves the obvious question: ‘what is the will of God?’ This is what I think: the will of God is about freedom and justice and peace and hope and love. And that is freedom, justice, peace, hope and love as God might see freedom, justice, peace, hope and love, not as we might see freedom, justice, peace, hope and love.

And so, how might this era of freedom, justice, peace, hope and love as God sees them happen? We need to remember two things which are proclaimed by Jesus, Who is the Christ, the Messiah.

First, we need to remember the Dominion is happening right now since the Dominion is the constant presence of the reality of God. Second, we need to participate in that reality. Participation— that is what following Jesus means.

And we, therefore, need to remember that freedom, justice, peace, hope and love are not things to be won. When we think of freedom, justice, peace, hope and love as things to be won we are using them as a cudgel, a weapon. Cudgels only create winners and losers. In God’s economy there are no winners or losers. Everyone is included in God’s economy.

So God’s freedom, justice, peace, hope and love are something to be shared— sharing. When God’s freedom, justice, peace, hope and love are shared that is when we participate in the Dominion of God. (Slight pause.)

Well, I think we need to remember what is at the core of the basic message Jesus offers. God will be with us and God is with us, especially when we participate in the Dominion.

And when we participate in the Dominion of God then… then the Dominion of God is truly at hand, now, present, real, available. And then… and then we… we… become disciples… we become disciples who follow. Amen.

01/21/2024
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: “As you know, I’m a musician, myself. This is a singing church. I love it. When it comes to the reality of the presence of God theologian Richard Rohr said this: ‘We cannot attain the presence of God because we are already totally in the presence of God. What is absent is our awareness.’”

BENEDICTION: Through God’s grace, by being attentive to God’s will, our deeds and our words will change our world for we will discover ways to proclaim release from the bondage or narrowness. Let us seek the God of Joy whose wisdom is our God. Let us go in peace to love and serve God. Amen.

01/14/2024 ~ Second Sunday after the Epiphany ~ 1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20); Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 1:43-51 ~ The Weekend of Martin Luther King Day on the Secular Calendar ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/903771446

Listening for the Word

“Yahweh called again, ‘Samuel!’ And Samuel got up, went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But Eli repeated, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’” — 1 Samuel 3:6.

I have already mentioned this here: I served as a part time Associate Pastor at a five church cooperative in Waldo County. The obvious question: five churches— how does preaching at five churches work on a Sunday morning?

The Senior Pastor, the Rev. Mr. Jim Wood, and I took turns. One week I would preach at three churches; Jim would preach at two. The next week we switched and rotated.

Of course, since the largest distance from one church to another was about 40 miles, if you want to start services within a time frame say of 8:45 a.m. at the earliest and 11:15 a.m. at the latest and lead three services, logistics, knowing the back roads, the shortcuts between the churches, becomes critical, especially in Waldo County.

Another pastor I knew, the Rev. Dr. Chuck Maxwell, was the sole pastor at a five church cooperative. How could he get to all the churches in one morning?

These five churches were on a Native American Reservation in North Dakota. When Chuck went from church number two to church number three, East to West, he crossed over a time zone, Central to Mountain Time. Gaining that hour gave enough time to start all the services in the morning, at least in terms of locally calculated time if not time calculated by Chuck’s own body clock. (Slight pause.)

When I served in Waldo County I was not yet ordained but licensed for the position. On occasion the Rev. Mr. Wood, would embarrass me by pointing at me and saying to another ordained pastor, “We should ordain him right now. After all,” Jim would insist, “he’s been involved in church all his life. He knows what this pastor stuff is about.”

That was not just embarrassing. It was not true. While Jim appreciated my skill set, that is what it was and that is all it was: a skill set, unvarnished, untested.

To learn and understand how to do anything takes not just talent, a skill set. It takes time, training, work and an exploration of the emotional challenges involved. A skill set needs experience, needs testing to become adequately developed. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work known as First Samuel: “Yahweh called again, ‘Samuel!’ And Samuel got up, went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But Eli repeated, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’” (Slight pause.)

In a Seminary class one professor asked this question: “Why did it take 4 years to get a Bachelor’s Degree? After all,” she said, “if you worked hard at it for 8 hours a day, five days a week, 52 weeks straight out, it’s likely you could do all the necessary work to get a degree. So why does it take 4 years?” (Slight pause.)

The class members looked at each other with blank stares. The professor reasoned it this way: you need time to become acculturated into this group who holds a degree in a specific area and you want to join. You may already have a fine skill set. It will help.

But you need time, training, involvement, work, an exploration of the emotional complexity involved. There is even a need to be tested, a need for that skill set become adequately developed. Any skill set needs to be honed.

In short, just a degree will not suffice. Work in the field is a necessary component, a part of honing a skill set.

As I am sure you realize professional Baseball has minor leagues and professional Football and Basketball rely on college programs. Why? These are places where skill sets are honed. Honing takes time. (Slight pause.)

Question: does it take time to discern the voice of God? My answer is ‘yes.’ I think it is unwise to ignore the witness of Scripture about this. Scripture is clear not just in this passage but over and over and over again: the voice of God needs to be listened to, absorbed and what is heard needs to be processed and pondered.

Equally, when it comes to listening for the voice of God I maintain we all have that skill set. We can all, probably in different ways, hear the voice of God. The voice of God is available to each of us because God endows us with that skill set.

But as the Apostle Paul suggested when discussing gifts, none of us has a skill set that covers everything, all the gifts we need. We all have different gifts and talents.

I think that is precisely where this turns back to what my Seminary professor said about it taking 4 years to get a degree. Both learning and listening to God happens over time and in the context of a community. The thing people often miss about honing a skill set is it is not about the individual. Honing happens in the context of community.

And as Paul states, the voice of God in its fulness is not the sole possession of any one individual. No single person, alone, has access to, can hear in a complete way the voice of God in the entirety of the message being rendered.

This is also to say the voice of God needs to be listened to in community. I would even say the skill set we broadly identify as listening to the voice of God has always and historically been done only in the context of community. I know: that is very Congregational of me.

In fact, here’s something we do not get about the Hebrew Scriptures because our tendency is to read what we find there with 21st Century eyes. Our modern eyes constantly search for outstanding individuals rather than outstanding groups.

But a basis of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Hebrew people, is the community, not the individual. You see, the word for prophet in Hebrew is Nevi’im. The word is not singular but is always plural. And the word means guild of prophets, a group of prophets. So even when one prophet stands alone, all the other prophets surround that one even if they are not present.

This leaves an obvious question: how is the voice of God discerned in our modern context? (Slight pause.) I think the voice of God needs to be discerned within the community. And for the community to discern the voice of God the community needs time, training, involvement, work, an exploration of emotional life and testing in order to have that skill set become developed, honed within the community. (Slight pause.)

I need to be clear about this. Part of being a member of the community in the Congregational tradition involves what some might label as ‘compromise.’ That is not a popular idea in modern times.

The word compromise even sounds counter cultural in today’s society. My way or the highways seems to be our response. But what some call compromise others call listening to the voice of God in the context of community and listening for the voice of God in its fullness.

Why do I say that? These words are in First Samuel: “Yahweh called again, ‘Samuel!’” And as you know, Yahweh called and called and called.

And finally, finally, Samuel relied on what Eli said. And Eli was, of course and by definition, not an individual prophet. Even when Eli was alone a group of prophets stood with Eli, a member of the guild of prophets, the Nevi’im— plural, not singular.

And Eli, a member of the Nevi’im, the prophets, said this (quote:) “‘Go, lie down; and if you are called again, say, “Speak, Yahweh, God, for your servant is listening.’”

You see, it does take time, training, involvement, work, an exploration of emotional life and testing in order to hone a skill set. And this is not just true of an individual. This is especially true within and for a community. Amen.

01/14/2024
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: “Some people insist church growth is about more people in the pews. That’s 200% wrong. Developing a relationship with God is like developing any relationship. Unless that relationship for one and for all is worked on daily— note, not just at Sunday services, not just at committee meetings— unless that relationship is worked on daily it will wither and die. Also, I think we all know what a three legged race is— you know— two legs tied together for two people. Well, in a Congregational community it’s more like a thousand legged race. The idea is we all move forward together. How? We rely on one another.”

BENEDICTION: We do not always know where the voice of God will lead us. But when we hear the call we need to follow. May the voice of God be open and clear. May our sense of God’s purpose be keen and true. May we be aware of God’s promise to be with us in our journey. And may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, and the presence of the Spirit of Christ which is real and available, keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge, love and companionship of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more. Amen.

01/07/2024 ~ Baptism of the Christ ~ Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11 ~ Communion Sunday~ NOT DELIVERED ~ SERVICE SNOWED OUT.

The Light

“Then God said, ‘Let there be light;’ and there was light.” — Genesis 1:3.

You may have heard me say this a number of times. I served one church in rural, Upstate New York for Twenty-three years. You may have heard me say this a number of times. Before moving to Maine to marry Bonnie one of the prime things on my résumé was writing for theater and theatrically related areas.

Now in case no one ever said this to you, working in the theater is a tough racket. It’s hard to earn a buck. Therefore, outside of theater work I held many 9 to 5 jobs from computer operations to tour guide at South Street Seaport Museum to back office work on Wall Street— all to keep bread on the table.

In part because of working at many different jobs, the non-theater work alone takes up a lot of slots on my résumé. Once the theater work is added to the list, using just one line per job, that résumé runs two pages.

Further, I was not in any single job before serving that one church for 23 years longer than 4 years. So being at one place as long as I was really presented quite a change in my life. In a sense I was outside of my comfort zone.

On the other hand, I’ve done so many things, I think that helps me as a pastor. I’ve had a multitude of life experiences and that helps me relate to many different people.

Now that I’ve delved some into my background, I want to focus on one theater item on that résumé. At one point I worked at the Actors’ Fund of America, now known as the Media Fund of America. The name change illustrates a truth.

From its start in 1892 the Fund has also supported all the behind-the-scenes folk who work in the arts. As to scope, today the Fund offers social services, emergency financial assistance, counseling about affordable housing. It runs the Lillian Booth Actors Home, both assisted living and skilled nursing, in Englewood, New Jersey.

When I started out working with the Fund I was a volunteer and later I became an employee. But I’d like to highlight just one of my duties from when I was a volunteer.

I am sure this doesn’t happen any more, but back then the Fund had a blood drive. Give a pint of blood? You get two tickets to a Broadway show. I ran the ticket table.

The reason I’m telling you this is to explain that I did this work, I was drawn to this volunteer work because it was about helping people. And the people being helped were theater people— my people.

Since I was too often, myself, a starving artist, I could not do something grandiose like make a large monetary donation. But I could do something. And, pardon the cliché, it is always better to light a candle than to curse the night. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the Torah— the teaching— in the work commonly called Genesis: “Then God said, ‘Let there be light;’ and there was light.” (Slight pause.)

It seems to me we moderns have a number of inaccurate fixations about Scripture. Prime among them is many people see the first two chapters of Genesis as a story about the physical creation of the world, the universe. Second, some see this story as being about an all powerful God who commands the world, the universe into existence.

The problem with this way of looking at it is at least threefold. First, obviously, the story is about theology, not physics and, therefore, it is not about matter, dust.

Second, in competent translations the words day and night are capitalized. Why? These words are not meant to identify a 24 hour cycle. These are proper names and God gives them those names. Further, in Hebrew, Day and Night are seen as living, breathing entities, not as fractions of a 24 hour cycle.

Third, the story is written in Hebrew. Hebrew has no command tense. If there is no command tense, the words we translated as, “Let there be light” are not a command.

Of course, if the words, “Let there be light,” are not a command God is not commanding anything, so one does need to ponder what is going on here? What is the theology being addressed? (Slight pause.)

I think the theology says that light is already present in the void, already there, a real, living, breathing entity. Light is there and exists and sits there amid the formless, disordered, ominous, threatening, rebellious, destructive chaos.

Perhaps light feels overwhelmed, frightened. Then, in the midst of the chaos God does not command but invites the light, itself, to be present, to be there, to be real, to embrace a reality, to boldly claim that it is a living, breathing entity.

When light hears the voice of God, light takes up God on the invitation, affirms its own nature and… shines. Thereby, light begins to provide a place and a context for viable life. Hence, the invitation of God to ordering— this forming, this shaping of life, this living and breathing— becomes a real possibility. (Slight pause.)

There is no question in my mind about the theology of our heritage, about Who Christ is— Christ is the light. There is no question in my mind about who we are, about what the call of God is to us. We are invited to accept the call of God to participate in light. God invites us to see light, light which is already there all around us.

When God says, “Let there be light” it is an invitation not just to the universe but also to us to participate in the ordering, forming, shaping, an invitation to participate in life giving ways. It is an invitation to movement, an invitation to the reality of hope, peace, joy, freedom, truthfulness, wisdom, love.

Why do I say that? The theology of Scripture is clear. God invites us to see what is already there. And God sees this ordering, this forming, this shaping as happening through our participation in and with peace, joy, freedom, truthfulness, wisdom, love. (Slight pause.)

As a community of faith we have a great opportunity before us. God invites. We can and I believe we should respond. I believe it is our calling to light a candle, the candle called peace, joy, freedom, truthfulness, wisdom, love. Amen.

01/07/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “‘Let there be light.’ I sometimes think a better translation would be God allowed for the light. So perhaps that is what we need to do in a world which can be filled with grievance, allow for light, search for light, see light.”

BENEDICTION: Howard Thurman was an African-American pastor, author, theologian, educator, mentor to leaders within the civil rights movement, including Martin Luther King, Jr. Thurman wrote the poem Now the Work of Christmas Begins. I’ve used it as a Thought for Meditation but thought it also might be an appropriate Benediction this morning. “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.”