localpastor

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.”

12/31/2023 ~ First Sunday after Christmas Day ~ Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Psalm 148; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:22-40 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/899585016

Alleluia!

“Alleluia! Praise God! Praise Yahweh from the heavens; praise God in the heights! Praise God, all you angels; praise God, all you hosts!” — Psalm 148:1-2

It has been said if you know two languages, you’re bi-lingual. If you know three languages you’re tri-lingual. If you know one language, you’re an American.

When Bonnie and I were, pardon the expression, “courting,” she came to New York City to visit me several times. Once, when we got on the Subway, she realized as she looked down a row of passengers that every person was reading a newspaper and each paper was in a different language, none of them English. The Big Apple— you get all kinds of languages.

Given my history, making a living as a writer, at times meager, at times lush, I take a particular interest in words and their meaning. And English is well known for importing words from other languages, sometimes importing them whole, just as they are found in the original.

But the words we import tend to lose subtlety, texture, the nuance they had in their native setting once rendered into English. We, for instance, take the word ‘debonaire’ from the French. In its language of origin it can mean suave, urbane, affable, genial, carefree, jaunty, confident, charming or even well-dressed. But it can mean all those things at once, at the same time, simultaneously in the same sentence.

However in English we might demand more precision than that. ‘Which of those meanings does the speaker or the writer really mean?’ In English our inclination is to demand exact meaning.

Those who speak French would be comfortable with the idea that this one word might mean all of those things simultaneously. It’s speakers of English who get a little edgy with that concept.

But English does use words which originate in other languages, so here are a few words with those other origins noted. From German we get delicatessen, hamburger, frankfurter, pilsener, pretzel, pumpernickel, sauerkraut, schnapps, spritzer, kaput, kindergarten, neanderthal, poltergeist and autobahn. From the Scandinavian languages we get words such as sky and troll and geyser.

From Flemish we get skipper, keel and dam— something which holds back water, not the other kind. A number of words come into our language from Greek. These include phobia, Christ, phenomena, hypotheses, pentagon and anything ending in ‘ology’— o-l-o-g-y.

It’s pretty safe to say anything ending in ‘ology’ means the science of the study of whatever it is with which the word started. Theology is the science of the study of God. Biology is the science of the study of life forms.

Many of our root words also come from Latin. With a fair amount of direct lineage we get such words as advertisement, edifice, album, bellicose, disciple, insulate, judge, rural, sinister and dexterous— those last two being left and right in Latin. And there are words and phrases from the Latin which we don’t even bother to alter or translate at all, like ‘habeas corpus’ and ‘semper fidelis.’ (Slight pause.)

That brings me to Hebrew. I’m sure many of us have used the word ‘hallelujah,’ without ever asking where it came from or what it meant. I know I did once. (After all, it sounds so good, especially when you just shout it! Hallelujah! Right? Sounds good.)

We have imported hallelujah into the English pretty much as is. Again, as is the case with translating a lot of words from a foreign language, it’s not really possible to render an exacting meaning in English from Hebrew.

But we can get a sense of it and by dissecting the underlying Hebrew and this is in an effort to get a fuller understanding of what the word is trying to convey. For starters, you’ve probably all seen hallelujah spelled with the ‘h’ on the front of it or with an ‘a.’ That’s ‘h-a-l-l-e-l-u-j-a-h’ and ‘a-l-l-e-l-u-j-a-h.’ But these are just two different ways to transliterate the word. There’s really no difference.

Now, the word Hallelujah, itself, is not a noun. It does not name anything. It’s a verb. The ‘h-a-l-l-e-l’ part of the word means ‘to praise,’ an action.

Some sources suggest that the ‘e-l’ in that part of the word also refers to God, since the word ‘el’ (e-l) is one of the words for God in Hebrew. It would also make sense for the word which means God to be a part of a word for praise.

But for the Israelites and I hope for us, today, this is not about just any God. We actually know the name of God. God as it is addressed in the word ‘hallelujah’ and it is the God of Israel, whose name we know from the third chapter of Exodus.

The name of God offered there is Yahweh. But, of course, this name, this word, Yahweh, is a verb. In its verb form the name Yahweh loosely means ‘to be’ or ‘I am.’

That’s where the ‘j-a-h’ the jah part of the word ‘hallelujah’ comes in to play. ‘J-a-h’ is a shortened form of Yahweh. Hence, hallelujah means not just ‘praise be to God.’ It also means ‘praise be to Yahweh, God.’ And, since the h-a-l-l-e-l, the ‘hallel,’ is a verb form and ‘jah’ is a verb form, that’s two action words strung together.

Now, I want to come back to the idea that the word Yahweh is a form of ‘I am’ or ‘to be.’ How Twenty-first Century is that? God is a state of being. God is a presence. That sounds like something a contemporary resident guru would say.

But this is not new word. It is at least three millennia, three thousand years old. And it describes God as a state of being. Therefore, it also and effectively describes God as The One Who relates to us and the One to Whom we can relate.

It therefore and also, describes God as God separate from us. It describes God as not us. And the least time I looked, you and I— we— we are not God. (Slight pause.)

All this still leaves us with the question, ‘why?’ Why do we praise God? Well, if God is Who those of us in the Jewish and Christian traditions say God is, the One Who is the author of life, the appropriate question is not ‘why do we praise God? The appropriate question is ‘how could we fail to praise God?’

If that’s true for our tradition, perhaps the real question which should be asked is ‘in what ways do we respond to God because of God’s steadfast love for us. In what ways do we respond to God especially in this season, as we remember the birth of Jesus.’

I think the answer is we should respond to God with our whole being. Indeed, though being long in years, Simeon and Anna are clearly overwhelmed by the reality of God and responded to the reality of God in the Gospel story we heard today. And their whole being is what is responding. (Slight pause.)

Perhaps the real power— and words do have power— the real power in the word ‘hallelujah’ is it’s actually hard to say the word without using what feels like our whole being, our whole body. That being said, will you do me a favor?

I mean no pressure here, but if you are willing to stand please because I would like to try an experiment with this word. Please stand if you are willing.

(Slight pause.) Now all together, let’s say the word Hallelujah three times. But each time try to get a little louder and see if you suddenly start feeling this word with your whole being.

(All.) Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Thank you! Did that feel like something was happening there, right? Please be seated. So, it is hard to say that word without kind of putting your whole being into it, right?

(The pastor only.) Well, I guess there’s only one more thing to say. It should be obvious. Hallelujah. Praise be to God Who sent Jesus to be the Messiah, to live and dwell among us. Hallelujah and amen!

12/31/2023
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “I’m reminded that White Christmas (if you listen to the verse) was written because Irving Berlin found himself stuck in Los Angeles where it didn’t snow. I’d like to come back to that French word I mentioned earlier, debonaire. In the French translation of the Jerusalem Bible where it says “Blessed are the poor in spirit” the French translation translates that phrase as “Blessed are the debonaire.” And, indeed, this has nothing to do with Fred Astaire or Cary grant or being suave and sophisticated. It does have to do with a person who goes through life with gracefulness, full of grace, fully aware that the grace God offers us wondrous things. A person therefore who is debonaire is willing to offer God praise no matter what the circumstances— poor in Spirit— another connection for you.”

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

12/24/2023 ~ 12/25/2023 ~ Nativity of the Christ – Proper I ~ Isaiah 9:2-7; Psalm 96; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-14, (15-20) ~ Proper II ~ Isaiah 62:6-12; Psalm 97; Titus 3:4-7; Luke 2:(1-7), 8-20 ~ Proper III ~ Isaiah 52:7-10; Psalm 98; Hebrews 1:1-4, (5-12); John 1:1-14 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/898397366

Life Changes

“Mary treasured all these things and reflected on them in her heart.” — Luke 2:19.

There was banging on the door. “I’ll get it!” shouted Miriam. She had to get it. No one else in the crowded dinning room was paying attention. An innkeeper, she had been named Miriam after the sister of Moses, who was a great prophet in her own right.

Her husband had been dead for five years. Her children moved out of town to larger more important ones— Nazareth, Caesarea, Jerusalem. This town was commonly called the City of David, even though it was small and not much of a city. With her children gone she decided to turn her house, into an inn, though it was now much in need of repair.

When the occupying army— the Roman soldiers— needed a place to stay in the village, they chose this ramshackle hovel thinking it would not draw too much attention to their presence. They were wrong about that. And Miriam knew the ways of the world. She overcharged the Romans. That usually paid the upkeep for the entire year.

Then, because of this Roman census thing, people were flocking to Bethlehem in droves. Financially, it would be a very good year. The inn might finally get the fixing it needed.

The banging on the door persisted until Miriam opened it. Introductions were made. A man, his name was Joseph, and a very pregnant woman, her name was Mary, stood there. They were in town for the census.

Miriam thought she detected some fear in Mary’s eyes. Joseph had kind eyes and spoke softly. “We have been on the road for five days. We need someplace to stay.” Then he stated the obvious. “My wife is with child. The baby might be born anytime now.”

Miriam thought quickly. There was no room for them in the inn. It was packed. And if the woman’s time came she would need to be alone, not with a crowd.

“I have no room inside. Follow me. I think I can put you up in the barn.”

She brushed past them not seeing if they agreed or disagreed but follow they did. What choice did they have? They had tried everywhere else in town.

There were some animals in the barn— a cow, a couple of chickens, several sheep. But many stalls were empty. There was plenty of hay, more than enough to put together a makeshift place to sleep— or to bear a child— in an empty stall.

“Look— make a place to lay down. I’ll be back,” Miriam said and scurried off.

“I can’t thank you enough,” the man called after the innkeeper as she disappeared.

Miriam guessed the child would be born shortly. She sprinted to the house, found a towel, a bucket, ran to the well, tied a rope on the handle and tossed it down the shaft.

She heard it splash, guided the rope back and forth until the heft said there was enough water to make retrieving the bucket practical. She tugged the load to the surface and headed back to the barn.

As she approached she was surprised to hear the cry of an infant. In her short time away Mary had given birth.

Joseph must have acted with resourcefulness and haste. Clean hay was neatly spread out in one of the stalls. There was Mary, a crying baby cradled in her arms. Joseph sat next to her, his arm gently wrapped around her shoulder.

Miriam approached. In her straightforward, matter of fact way she said, “O.K. Let’s do what we have to do.”

She dipped a towel into the bucket and began washing the child who was in Mary’s arms. Joseph looked on.

Miriam looked at him. “You do realize your whole life has now changed.”

Joseph nodded. His eyes now showed the same kind of fear Miriam had detected in the eyes of Mary.

The crying of the baby got still louder as the infant was washed. Sensing that fear in Joseph Miriam said, “Don’t worry. From the amount of noise this baby is making I think we have a very healthy child here.”

“I understand that,” said Joseph nodding in affirmation. “But I am worried about the world this child has just entered. Our journey here took five days but that was not the arduous part. The roads are infested with brigands, thieves— that’s dangerous.”

“Our leaders seem incompetent,” Joseph continued. “That’s dangerous. The Roman Army of occupation— they are dangerous. The child does not frighten me. The world we live in? That frightens me.”

Miriam simply nodded. “We may be a small town but we have a wise Rabbi here. He once said to me life is a journey through changes. As life changes it is often dangerous, often frightening. But tomorrow will be different. You will be different. And life will present you with other different, frightening, dangerous challenges.”

“Me? My husband died five years ago. My children left— changes,” said Miriam. “I could not maintain this house without doing something. So I started the inn. Life changed; I changed. Life changes. It’s a given. You need to change with it.”

“You now have this child. As I said, your life will change completely. Indeed, that same Rabbi who told me about life changing also said we need to live life understanding the promise God makes. The promise God makes is to love us, to covenant with us, be with us, to walk with us, to walk at our side.”

Reaching out to Mary, Miriam said, “Give me the child.”

She held the baby up. The baby stopped crying. She looked deeply into the infant’s eyes. Then she handed the child to Joseph. “What do you see?”

“I see love.”

Miriam took the child and handed the child to Mary. “What do you see?”

“I see love.”

“That same Rabbi told me the covenant starts with love. When you look in the eyes of a baby you see nothing but love. This child shall see many changes in a lifetime. But God will love, covenant, be with and walk with this child through every change.”

Miriam then took the child from Mary again, cradled the child in her arms and again looked into the eyes of the infant. “The Rabbi told me God loves us so much a Messiah will be sent at some point. Now that… that will be a real change— the Messiah— loving, present, covenanting, walking with us.”

Miriam, this one named for a great prophet, said, “Who knows? This child… this child… might be the Messiah.” (Slight pause.) Amen.

12/24/2023 — Christmas Eve
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “We live in a very secular world. Hence, I try to avoid wishing people a ‘Merry Christmas.’ That’s a secular term. At Easter we Christians say Christ is risen. So if somebody says‘Merry Christmas,’ to me I say ‘Christ is with us.’ That is the real Christian sentiment of Christmas, the sentiment expressed in the Feast of the Incarnation— Christ is with us.”

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

December 24, 2023 ~ Fourth Sunday of Advent ~ 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/898416158

Proclaiming the Reality of God

“And Mary said, / ‘My soul proclaims / Your greatness, O God, / and my spirit rejoices in You, my Savior, / for You have looked with favor / on Your lowly servant.’” — Luke 1:46-48.

I said this in my comments just a couple weeks ago. I was a member of All Angels Episcopal Church on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. When I left New York for Maine the membership numbered nearly 500 souls, a pretty good size.

Compared with the population of Manhattan, that’s minuscule. But it was not a small church. Now, a church that size or larger needs to find a way to encourage people to be engaged with one another or people can get lost just because of the size.

One way to prevent getting lost is for members of the laity to form small groups who met once a week outside the Sunday service. Even though in Manhattan everyone lives in apartments, these groups are called house churches, not apartment churches— I’m not sure why.

They met to pray, study Scripture, have discussions and for camaraderie. Let me put that a different way. These groups meet to explore their faith, get to know one another and to have fun.

Small groups are, in fact, the secret of being an effective large church. All these small groups then gather as one at the Sunday service.

But by its nature, a Sunday Service is a difficult place to have fully developed prayer, Scripture study, discussion and camaraderie. Indeed, even in a smaller church, often a Sunday service is a place where not everyone really knows everyone. And clearly prayer, Scripture study, discussion and camaraderie more readily happens in a smaller, intimate context where each member gets to know the others.

Here’s the paradox: this practice— what large churches do to be effective— somewhat copies small churches, who by definition and because of their size, present a much better chance for people to know other people. But I maintain even in small churches these smaller groups for the study of Scripture, discussions and camaraderie are necessary since these things cannot be fully explored in the context of a Sunday worship.

Now, when those small groups started at All Angels back in New York City, a friend invited me to a group. I was hesitant as I had a limited amount of time in my week. Thinking I didn’t know what a house church was like he said, “You should try it just to see what it’s like.”

“I know what it’s like,” said I. “When I was growing up my family was a house church.” I continued, “My mother had been in a convent but dropped out before taking her final vows, met my father and they got married. My father taught at a Jesuit school.”

“Every Friday after dinner the family gathered at the dinning room table. We prayed, read Scripture and had discussion. As my brother, my sister and I got older the discussions dealt with topics which ranged from the writings of Augustine to the writings of Aquinas to the existentialist Jesuit theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.”

“So do not tell me I am unfamiliar with house church. I know it better than most.” That probably sounded a little defensive. (Slight pause.)

These words are in Luke: “And Mary said, / ‘My soul proclaims / Your greatness, O God, / and my spirit rejoices in You, my Savior, / for You have looked with favor / on Your lowly servant.’” (Slight pause.)

This morning we celebrate the Fourth Sunday in Advent. This evening we will celebrate Christmas Eve. The Second Chapter of Luke, the one with a stable, angels and shepherds— some might dismissively identify it as the Charlie Brown Christmas reading— the Second Chapter of Luke is always the Christmas Eve reading. But that story is a mere 13% of the full Nativity story as Luke tells it.

The readings we heard from the First Chapter of Luke today are as pivotal to the story as the stable, the shepherds and the angels. The story Luke tells starts at the Fifth Verse of the First Chapter. (Quote:) “In the days of the ruler Herod, there was a priest named Zechariah…” This is about the birth of John the Baptizer.

Further, the story does not end until the Fortieth Verse of the Second Chapter with the circumcision of Jesus at the Temple in Jerusalem. Why is that important? This happens not in Nazareth or Bethlehem but at the Temple in Jerusalem, thus fulfilling ritual requirements set out in the Torah.

The point I’m making is simple. The story about birth of the Messiah is not just a story about the shepherds, angels, a stable, a manger. I would also maintain the story of the birth of the Messiah cannot be well understood unless we know and unless read (to quote the late Paul Harvey) the rest of the story.

So, that leaves the obvious question: what is the story of the birth of Jesus in Luke about? I think it is absolutely clear the proclamation in Luke is about the real presence of God, the reality of God, the in-breaking of God into our world.

What Mary says reiterates and reenforces what Luke says throughout the Nativity story. First, the birth of the Messiah is proclaimed to those who are poor, powerless. Second, we are called on by the story as Luke tells it to do what Mary is doing— proclaim God is real, God is present, God walks with us.

Indeed, in the context of the story what is Mary doing? Mary is deepening her relationship with Elizabeth and discussing what God means in her life. In a real sense it is a story about having fun. It is a story about house church. (Slight pause.)

That brings me back to the aforementioned small groups and worship. Worship is significant, necessary, important. It is a wonderful way to support our faith. We are called by God to worship. But there are other needs.

And that is where small groups come into play. As I said earlier— prayer, Scripture study, discussion, camaraderie, in short having fun— all these can more readily happen in a smaller, intimate context that each individual group provides once members get to know one another.

As a small church by our nature we do have small groups who gather for all kinds of reasons. To name a few these range from the Choir to the Women’s Fellowship to the boards and committees.

And yes, in these groups we do learn from each other. But the trap into which many small churches fall is these committees become only about work, about what needs to be done, what needs to get done.

So I want to suggest we need to concentrate on being intentional about prayer, Scripture study, discussion, camaraderie in our small groups. To put that a different way, the danger in small churches is they sometimes forget to have fun.

I think this kind of activity might help us as we strive to do our work, the work to which God really call us, the work on which we really need to concentrate. What work is that?

The work to which we are called is to proclaim God is real, God is present, God walks with us, proclaim as Mary did. Our work is to reflect on the goodness of God, make that proclamation, as Mary did.

I think one way we can effectively and deeply learn to reflect on the work to which God calls us and to reflect on goodness of God is by being intention with each other as we engage in these kinds of practices that house church might illustrate. Put another way, having fun is a necessary aspect of church. That’s a secret; don’t tell anyone— O.K.? Amen.

12/24/2023 — Note: the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
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: “A reminder: we do not celebrate the birthday of Christ. That would simply be remembering something that happened a long time ago. We celebrate the amazing reality of the incarnation, God entering our world, this in-breaking of God into the world. The Christian belief is because of this in-breaking nothing has been the same since. In short, what happened two thousand years ago is not as important as why it matters. It matters because of what is happening now. Christ is with us.”

BENEDICTION: Let us go in hope and in joy and in peace, for we find love in the One who has made covenant with us. And, indeed, God reigns. And may the face of God shine upon us; may the peace of Christ rule among us; may the fire of the Spirit burn within us this day and forevermore. Amen.