Christmas Eve

There are no Bah Humbugs tonight.  For those that joined us through the Advent season, we journeyed through Charles Dickens a Christmas Carol.  Ebenezer Scrooge was encountered by the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Future as his ice solid heart began to melt.  Through his visits from these three spirits, he learned that joy does not come through the self security of money.  Joy comes from engaging the community around him, using his resources as a means to bring healing and wholeness to others. 

One small voice, one small person, impacted him the most in this transition from selfish greed to overwhelming joy and that is the child of his employee, Tiny Tim.  Tiny Tim, gathers with his family on Christmas Eve, unable to walk without the use of a crutch, and even in his weakness, even in his slowly dying body, he proclaims:  God Bless Us Everyone. 

God bless us everyone.  God has blessed us everyone.  As the Angels break forth in the night sky and proclaim the Good News to the Shepherds that a Savior has been born unto them, the proclaim that this is good news for all the people.  All the people, extending away from Bethlehem, away from Jerusalem, away from Israel, to the far reaches of the land where the kings of foreign lands understand that they too are invited to witness what God is doing in the world. 

Mary and Joseph may have found no room in the inn, they may have had to dwell in a lowly stable stall, but God was not keeping this birth a secret.  There are no bah humbugs here, as shepherds are amazed and go with haste to see if what the angels have told them is true.  There is movement, there is hope, there is amazement, there is a sense of the sacred, the divine, the amazing power of God in this moment of time. 

God bless us everyone.  Ebenezer Scrooge emerges from his former self, a man on a mission, a man filled with life, because he finally understands, he finally gets it, he finally embraces that life is about community, about relationships, about blessings, and so he sings and he dances and he goes out into the streets and he goes to his nephew’s home and asks to be invited in.  The doors are opened, and a new day begins for Ebenezer and his nephew and for Tiny Tim.  Ebenezer learns that Christmas is more than just another day, a day, he would say is one without pay.  But rather, he learns that Christmas is a day that brings new life, a day where he falls in love with life, a day where, in his opinion, meaningless traditions fall away, but a day when he becomes family.  He does not just reach out to help Tiny Tim with costs for medical care, but, the story tells us, he becomes like an uncle to Tiny Tim.   They build a relationship, they become family. 

Christmas is the new day.  God has opened the door of love for all of us to receive.  We are all invited in.  We are to engage the community, and build relationships, and embrace the blessings, and leave the bah humbugs behind.  A baby has been given to us.  Babies are easy to fall in love with.  Will we this night, tomorrow day, find the gift of new life given to us in this baby?  Will we fall in love with him, fall in love with life, fall in love with the good news of God’s blessings?  For the message of Tiny Tim rings out above and beyond the bah humbugs, God Bless us Everyone.  Amen.  

Advent week 3: Who needs Joy?

“Bah Humbug, who needs Joy?”

            Bah Humbug, who needs joy?  Not Ebenezer Scrooge, or at least he does not think he does.  He has built up such an incredible emotional wall around himself that he feels nothing.  But that wall is beginning to crack after visits from the ghost of Christmas past and the ghost of Christmas present.  Now, the third ghost is upon him, the ghost of Christmas future. 

            What is the future?  Is it a predetermined path that we are all set upon?  Or can we influence our future in how we make choices in the now?  As Scrooge is tormented by this ghost, as he faces the reality of his own death, he cries out asking if this is the only outcome to his future or if there might be another way.  Is this the way it shall be or is it the way it may be?  Scrooge does not like what his future holds and has awakened within himself that he is ready to change, if only it is not too late. 

How can this be connected to the Advent theme of Joy?  There is no joy, only the fear of death. 

            Isaiah 35: the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom.  Scrooge is not the first one to experience a dry and empty life.  The prophets spoke of a better future.  They did not believe that the future had to be the reality of their current situation.  They believed through God, through a life of faithful living, God’s creating power for this world .  The prophets sought to bring hope to the people, that their future was not barren, but life giving. 

How is it that God can work out of death to bring new life?  How is it that God works out of barrenness and brings a new future?  How is it that God chooses the hardest places in the world, in our lives, to break in and create flowers and fruit and life giving resources?  Advent is all about the ways in which God is at work in the world to change the future into something full of life.  We move closer and closer to Christmas day, where we celebrate the fullness of God’s light in this world, we move out of the darkness, we move out of the despair, we move out of the fear, into the promise that God is still creating a future, a future for the Israelites, a future for Scrooge, and a future for us. 

Scrooges’ future, if he remains chained in fear, has been determined and he will die a lonely, mean, cold hearted man.  But, but, the future has not yet been written, and Scrooge has choices.  As he fights not just the ghosts that have visited him over the night, he has to fight his own inner demons.  He has to choose to let go of everything that he has built is life around.  As he sheds these things, as he chooses life over death, he finally understands joy.  According to Matt Rawle:  Joy is a passion filled experienced.  Joy is the steadfast assurance that God is with us.  Joy does not mean being happy, but joy is awakening to the understanding that no matter where we are in this life journey, God is with us.  In the midst of our tears, in the midst of our pain, in the midst of the worst news we could ever receive, God is with us. 

As we examine the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, each of the ghosts meets him where he is.  He is home, he is in bed, he is broken and unrepentant, but they come to him because his future does not have to be that way.  God is with us, and God meets us where we are.  Whether we are in the wilderness, or the dry land, or the desert, our future is not determined.  Taking the time to actually slow down and think about our actions and the ripple effect that they have upon the world is a spiritual act.  Just as a bell reverberates its toll out into the world, the bells that awaken Scrooge to a new future, our actions reverberate out into the world as well.  God calls us to make those actions, actions of faith, actions of love, actions of kindness. 

Today, in a couple of little ways, we are changing the future for the better.  What if, what if we did not have the toy march today?  What if, what if the deacons did not purchase sweatshirts for those facing challenging times in the Dover area?  What if.  What if we only focused on ourselves?  But we don’t.  We look out into the world and we see places and people that are facing hard times and we give.  And in our giving, we change the future.  Our love is reverberating out into the world, to families that can now give their children a few more toys for Christmas.  Our love is reverberating out into the world, to men living on the streets. 

Joy, the steadfast assurance that God is with us.  As we share the good news of the Christmas season, that Emmanuel has been born, that God has entered into our world, that God has been, is with, and always will be with us.  Perhaps, perhaps, we are a little bit like Mary.  Perhaps we can be those that bear Christ into this world, so that others can feel within themselves a movement, a movement of joy, leaping within them, just as the infant in Elizabeth’s womb leapt in joy as soon as Mary greeted her cousin Elizabeth.  Or perhaps, perhaps, just like Scrooge, you have felt something within yourself leap, something within yourself move, and called you to pay attention to the joy in your midst. 

Scrooge awakens a new man.  A man grateful to be alive, a man ready to celebrate life, a man ready to change the future.  He is ready to be the rain that falls upon the dry land so that the flowers will bloom.  And he has a specific family in mind.  He must do something, he must do anything, he must do everything within his power to give Tiny Tim a fighting chance to survive.  

Advent Week 2: The Redemption of Scrooge

Matthew 3

Bah Humbug, Who needs Peace?

Bah humbug, who needs peace? 

Scrooge doesn’t need peace, he has created his own.  He has insulated himself in a fortified bubble of his own financial security that guarantees him peace.  How many times do we wish we could do the same?  Insulate ourselves into our own bubble of peace, keeping the worries and concerns of the world away?  Every time I go on vacation, I joke about how great it would be to sell the house and just move to tropics.  To just ignore all the pain of the world and just be, just soak in the sun, eat yummy food, swim, read books, that would be the life. 

The bell tolls

Bah humbug, who needs peace?  Pop, the insulated bubble around Ebenezer Scrooge pops, as the bells toll and the Ghost of Christmas Present beckons him to come and hear what is happening in the world that very night.  Earlier in the night, Scrooge has turned away from his office men seeking donations for the poor, he had said: —the poor have only themselves to blame and would be better off dead.

So when he is visited by the spirit of the present, he is admonished to “look!” He must really see the truth of the suffering world and his own hand in it.  One of the places he is taken is to the home of his worker:  Bob Cratchit.  There, Scrooge gets a glimpse into the life of this family.  Poverty suddenly has a face, a connection, to Ebenezer, this is a direct connection to someone he knows. 

 ‘Spirit,’ said Scrooge, with an interest he had never felt before, ‘tell me if Tiny Tim will live.’

Ghost:   ‘I see a vacant seat,’ replied the Ghost, ‘in the poor chimney-corner, and a crutch without an owner, carefully preserved. If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.’

 ‘No, no,’ said Scrooge. ‘Oh, no, kind Spirit. say he will be spared.’

Ghost: ‘If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, none other will find him here. What then. “If he be like to die, he had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.’”

Scrooge hung his head to hear his own words quoted by the Spirit, and was overcome with penitence and grief.

Pop, the bubble of peace Scrooge had fortified around himself no longer exists and he is overcome with penitence and grief.  Amazing what happens when we see how our life, how our choices, can directly impact the future of someone else. 

            In those days, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness proclaiming;  Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.  Repent, come and confess your sins.  I love the song from Godspell:  Prepare ye the way of the Lord.  What must we do to be prepared?  John calls us to repent and confess our sins.  The Kingdom of God is drawing near, the Prince of Peace has arrived, we desire to welcome him into our hearts, into our homes, into our lives and so we must prepare. 

            Whether Scrooge knows this or not, his heart changes, he makes the connection that his actions have consequences and he does not like what he sees.  And so he is overcome with penitence and grief.  Peace begins with us, it begins with how we view ourselves in the greater web of life.  Our choices, our actions have a ripple effect out throughout the world.  Whether it is the food we buy, the clothes we wear, the things we throw away.  It all ripples out and impacts others.  Just this morning on the news, there was a spot on truckers and the person interviewed stated:  we put profits over lives as he spoke about how tired so many drivers are working the long hours that they work.  Profits over lives.  That is the message of the life of Ebenezer Scrooge and if we are willing to see it in the world today, it still rings true. 

We don’t have to live that way, the Prince of Peace calls us not to live this way.  Just as Scrooge began to have a change of heart, we, as the people of God can model a way of living where we seek to do the least amount of harm.  It is not easy, but we can begin to be a part of a change to be more responsible consumers where we put the lives of others first. 

Open us to your miracle just begun

and in this season transform us into those whose giving

brings peace in a turbulent world.

Blessings sent us from above guide us on our way.

We raise our voice as we rejoice, bow our head and pray.

A miracle has just begun. God bless us everyone!

Two] candle’s light dispels the night; now our eyes can see.

Burning brighter than the sun, God bless us everyone!

Advent - week 1: The Redemption of Scrooge

“Bah Humbug, who needs Hope?”

            Bah, Humbug, who needs hope?  In Charles Dicken’s a Christmas Carol, the main character Scrooge seems to have hope in nothing but money.  Bah humbug, who needs anything but money?  Dickens is writing this novel in a time of great disparity between the wealthy and the poor.  For the poor, there is very little hope in the world, there are debtor prisons and labor houses,  For so many, the only hope came from the generosity of others.  And so Dickens writes this classic tale of a man that is so heartless, so hardened, so selfish, so greedy to illustrate that perhaps, just perhaps, hope is at work in the world and can transformed even the coldest hearts.  Dickens had hope.  He had hope for a better future, he had hope that people would awaken to generosity, he had hope that the message and meaning of Christmas can and will transform this world. 

            Seven years after Scrooges’ partner Jacob Marley has died, Scrooge is hard at work on Christmas Eve and is visited by his nephew, Fred, inviting him to Christmas.  : “[Christmas is] a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when [people] seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”   Scrooge will have nothing to do with his only living relative and the famous line, bah humbug is his response.    His next set of visitors are men seeking a generous donation to feed the poor and hungry.  Scrooge refuses to donate anything and proclaims it would be better for those to be dead as to help the issue of over population.  What’s Christmas time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, but not an hour richer?”   Out of his abundance, he refuses to give to the poor, wishing them dead.  He is a true illustration of selfish greed. 

            Leaving work, and returning to his home alone, when others are gathered together with family and parties, he is encountered by his former partner Marley.  The ghost of Marley is covered in chains and warns Scrooge that this too will be his fate.  He has been chained for all eternity of the sins he committed in life.  He second warning is that Scrooge will be visited by three ghosts to expose to him the hardness of his life and how his choices have a great impact on those around him. 

At one o'clock, Scrooge is visited by the candle-like Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him back in time to his early life. They visit Scrooge's boarding school where Scrooge remembers how his friends all returned home for Christmas but his family did not send for him.  One begins to understand why he has become so hardened towards the Christmas season.  The ghost then shows him another year where his sister Fanie, comes to bring him home.  This is the first glimpse to a moment of happiness, perhaps he was not always a mean, selfish, and cold person.  He is shown a few more happy memories, and one begins to wonder what happened to him that made him so miserable.  The ghost of Christmas past shows us a young man with the potential for a happy and successful future.  Until, until he and his fiancé Belle come to their separation.  She sees that he is more concerned and occupied with his career, with money than for her.  So she leaves him.  What was once a life filled with endless possibilities seems to have established itself as one focused not on family, not on relationships, but merely on money. 

Living with God or living without God.  Living with hope and living without hope.  Others all around him have less than he does, but they are happy, yes, they have worries and concerns and fears but they have not given up on the world. 

Each of us can visit our past, we can look backwards in our own lives and reflect on the events that have impacted us and molded us into the person we currently are.  Some of us can look back and see how we leaned heavily into God’s arms during hard and trying times, others can still feel the pain of a broken heart or the grief of loss over someone or something.  Some turn away from God because of the hardships of life, while others anchor themselves into the hope that God promises and grow stronger through tragedy.  How will we be inspired to share hope in the midst of the world’s heartbreak?

In this first Sunday of Advent, we hope.  We too hope for a better future.  We join the long chain of the human story, of people waiting and hoping.  The prophet Isaiah speaks of a future time, he speaks of a time of peace, shedding hope upon the people that there will be a better future, that indeed there will even be a future.  There will be a time when wars cease and swords will be turned into plowshares and the way to get there is to walk in the light of the Lord.  We still wait for that day, they day when wars will cease and God continues to call us to walk in the light as we journey together into that future day. 

As we wait for the day, God calls his people to stay awake, as we live into God’s hope for this world, we must stay awake.  Scrooge could not stay awake, both literally and figuratively.  He knew the spirit was coming but still he feel asleep, and had he stayed awake in his own life to the Hope of God in his own life, he never would have become such a cold hearted person.  But sleep he did, and sleep we often do too.

Come, all you who are haunted by past disappointments and scattered dreams.

Come, you who feel burdened by the patterns set up early in life.

Come, you who yearn to start anew.

We often set aside New Years as the time when we name our resolutions, the ways in which we seek to change our lives for the better, but Christmas is the time to let our faith be born within us once again, to remind us of God’s presence in our life, not just in the past, not just on the pages of scripture, but alive within each of us.  We light one candle because we understand the human journey, that this is not an instant gratification moment of life, this is a process, a journey of time.  One candle burning bright, chasing away the darkness.  One candle cannot chase away our past, but it can shed light on our hurts and allow us to either find the path of God’s love if we feel we are lost, or the light can help us remain on the path when we are tempted to stray in another direction. 

            God’s hope for us is that in this journey, we will receive the Christ child into our lives, into our hearts and that, just like Scrooge, we will find moments of transformation and redemption as we engage this world.  Where are our fears, our places where we too hold too tightly, where we depend upon ourselves instead of on God’s abundance? 

            In so many ways, life is so different than in the times of Dickens, but in so many ways it is still the same.  There are still hungry people, there are still families seeking places to live, there are still many who rely on the generosity of others for their very survival.  In and through the church, God has called people to be agents of love to make a significant difference in the world around us.  We are called to be those that listen and hear what others are hoping for.  What are the hopes and fears that surround us and how can we be that place of God’s hope as the Christ child is born once again in this world reminding us of God’s presence in each and every life? 

            Dickens had hope for a better future and he illustrates this through the redemption of Scrooge.  Let us too be agents of hope for a better future, and let it begin with us.  Amen.  

Sermon Luke 8 - the Parable of the Sower

Over the past few weeks, we have been touching on various stewardship topics.  Last week, for All Saints Day, I mentioned those that came before us, giving to this church, creating the place where we are able to gather and worship today.  Prior to that, we had the story of the Ten Lepers, where only one leper came back to give thanks to Jesus.  This is a story of gratitude and thanksgiving, of returning to God our thanksgiving for all that God has done for us, it is also a story of tithing, that one in ten is returned to God. 

            Today’s parable is one of abundance that, perhaps can also be seen as carelessness.  What farmer, what gardener, what sower will just throw seed everywhere?  Before the seed is thrown, the ground is carefully prepared, but not in this story.  In this story, seed is thrown everywhere, reminds me of dandelions, where the seeds float through the air until they come to a resting place, somewhere, everyone, and indeed, those seeds often take root even in the most unlikely of places. 

            Jesus teaches that the seed is actually the word of God.  Is it possible that the word of God is blowing in the wind all around us, floating in the breeze like a dandelion seed, ready to find a resting place?  The word of God is all around us, it is available for all to hear, for all to receive, but does not always find a fertile place to rest. 

            Today’s stewardship theme is discipleship, it is about cultivating our inner being, our spirit, our soul, so that when we hear the word of God in the world around us, it falls upon our hearts and grows.  And not only does it grow, it bears fruit. 

            Our Thursday morning Bible Study group is doing a video series on faith.  According to Rick Warren, there are six stages of faith:  dream, decision, delay, difficulty, dead ends, and deliverance.  In each of these stages, the seed of God’s word is seeking to be heard, seeking to land upon us, seeking to grow within us.  And in each of these stages, if we do not keep our trust in God, stay firm in our faith, seek support from our greater community of faith, these seeds can wither and die. 

            How often do we have a dream, a dream for the church, a hope, a feeling that this might be a ministry to try, and it only stays a dream?  We heard the word of God, we got excited about it, but it landed on the path or in the rocks and couldn’t take root and fully develop. 

            In order to get from dream to decision, requires discipleship.  It requires prayer, and courage, and the willingness to invest resources into the dream.  Disciples listen to the word of God, and seek to live it out in their daily lives.  Turning a dream into reality involves studying the scriptures, listening to how God is guiding us, calling us, speaking to us, and having the faith and courage to put that dream into action.  I can use the birth of Faith Kitchen as an example. 

Pastor Cheri did not have a dream of a soup kitchen in her church until, until one day a person came to the church hungry and asked for some food.  He was given a can of beans and sat outside the church and ate the beans right out of the can.  Pastor Cheri heard the word of God that her congregation could do better than this in providing food for the hungry right outside their door.  And the dream turned into a decision, and Faith Kitchen was born.  And for over 25 years it has been bearing fruit for God in the Dover community. 

But this dream came at a great cost, and risks, and conflict, and the list goes on.  The church gave up their fellowship space Mon – Saturday, they turned their kitchen over to the heavy use of daily cooking, they allowed people into their building that sometimes start fights or are struggling with some pretty severe mental illnesses.  But they heard the call to discipleship, to living out God’s word of feeding the hungry, to care for God’s sheep, to be a light that shines in the darkness. 

The seeds of God’s word comes in all different shapes and sizes.  But for it to land in fertile soil, ready to bear fruit for God, requires discipleship.  And discipleship comes in all different shapes and sizes.  Starting a soup kitchen is completely different than collecting food for a Thanksgiving food drive, but they both bear fruit for God.  Discipleship and Stewardship go hand in hand.  In order to be a disciple, you understand what it means to use your time, talent, and treasure in serving God, in making our hearts a welcoming place for God’s word, for preparing ourselves to bear fruit for God. 

I chose today’s passage partly because of the baptism we celebrated this morning.  As people of faith, as disciples, we bring our children before the church, dedicating them to God.  Baptism marks a child as part of God’s family, a child of the covenant, and we take vows to raise the child, nurture the child in the faith.  These are all marks of discipleship.  The church is called to surround this child, and every child that comes before us unconditional love and to provide a place of nurture where the child can grow into a compassionate adult.  Hearing the word of God can happen any time in a person’s life, young children have heard the word of God, have had a seed of God’s word fall upon their heart, and dreams have been born, and decisions made, and fruit has been born.  Discipleship does not have an age restriction. 

Friends, the word of God are all around us, something is speaking to your heart, there is a topic or issue that is dear to you.  Hear that dream, pray about it, and seek ways within your own life to cultivate fertile soil within our own inner being to nurture that seed into the fruit of God’s love that is desiring to be born.  Live into your discipleship, live into your baptism, live into being God’s presence of love in this world.  Amen.  

Children's Sunday - dialogue

H:  Who are we?

J:  We are all children of God. 

H:  Are we?  We are all so different, how can we all be children of God?   We don’t even like each other.  We judge each other on our skin color, the language we speak, and the religions we practice. 

J:   Well, God loves us, each and everyone of us.  God does tell us, we should love our neighbors, and not just our neighbors, but our enemies too.

H:  Seriously, we should love our enemies.  No way.  Why would I want to try and be nice to the bully in my gym class? 

J:  Because that bully is a child of God. 

H:   But he doesn’t go to church. And have you seen the crowd of people he hangs out with? 

J:  God still loves him, and that crowd that he hangs out with.  Think about it, if we can’t get along with the people in our schools, why should we expect people in the greater world to get along? 

H:   I know, it seems like there is so much bad stuff on the news.  There are people that are living in the middle of war, there are people that are afraid because of hate crimes, there are people left out because of where their families are from.    

J:   I thought all of this stuff with discrimination was a thing of the past.  But it seems people still find ways to separate themselves from others.   We seem to find ways to make others the enemy.

H:  Wouldn’t it be great if we could find a way to remove the labels from people, the things that make us different, and focus on the things that make us the same? 

J:  It does seem that throughout the world, most people do want what is best for their children, for their families, and for their communities.  Parents work hard to make sure their children are fed, have and education, and medical care. 

H:  So why is there war?  Why is there discrimination?  Why do we not treat people kindly? 

J:  Maybe it is something that we have learned.  Maybe each generation has to ask the question:  Who are we? 

H:  Who are we?

J:  We are God’s people, we are called to be a people of peace, a people of love, a people that show others that kindness does matter. 

H:  Who are we? 

J:  We are a people, like Esther, that need to be a voice for the voiceless.  We need to have courage and faith that God wants a better world, that God wants us to love our neighbors and yes, even love our enemies. 

H:  Who are we? 

J:  We are dancers and football players, we are artists and musicians, we are students and children, we are friends and children of God. 

H:  We are sad and lonely, we are happy and energetic, we are hurt and healing, we are stressed and strong, we are courageous and faithful, we are children of God. 

J:  We are all so different, and we give thanks for the moments where our diversity is celebrated. 

H:  We are like Esther, where we will not let the bad news be final.  We believe that good can come out of the bad. 

J: We see the bad and we believe in the good.

H:  we are a people that believe we are all children of God.

J:  We are are people that dreams of day when we can all love our neighbor and we no longer will say, you are my enemy.

H:  Who are we?

J:  we are learning to be a voice for the voiceless, we are learning to be courageous, we are learning to be faithful to our God.

H:  We are a people seeking to live into God’s new creation in Jesus Christ, where there are no Jews or Greeks, where there are no slaves or free, where there are no male or female, for we are one, we are human, we are God’s children.  

Sermon - Hebrews 12 "What is the Cloud?"

            For those of you that have an iphone, you may or may not know anything about the Cloud.  I honestly don’t know anything about it other than it exists.  I didn’t sign up for it, I don’t know how to put things there, but one day, on my iphone, a notice popped up that my cloud was full.  Really?  How did that happen.  I do know that pictures and my calendar seem to appear on both my ipad and my iphone without me doing anything to make it happen, so it seems the Cloud is definitely at work linking my items together.  And if my cloud is full, maybe there are things there that I don’t need.  So, what exactly is this cloud?  How does it work? 

            I decided to do a little investigating.  I mean, if the cloud is there, and I am using it, perhaps I should know a little more about it.  The icloud safely stores photos, videos, files, contacts, documents, calendars, and music, to name just a few items.  Just this last week, I had to replace my phone, and thankfully because of the Cloud’s existence, I was able to restore to the new phone all of my contacts, apps, and other items I needed.  For some reason my pictures did not restore, but perhaps that is because of the notice previously received that my Cloud was full.  I guess those pictures are just lost.

            One sight states the following:  Think of iCloud Drive as any other remote volume, external hard disk, network drive, or storage service. You can create new folders, drag and drop stuff into your iCloud Drive from your Mac or elsewhere, and you have the option to save files and data from apps into your iCloud Drive. This isn't rocket science, folks. It's a hard drive in the sky that you can access from all your devices.

            What exactly is the Cloud?  It is something out there, something that I cannot see or touch but I know it exists.  It seems to be all around me, since I can access it at just about any time.  It holds valuable information, or at least valuable information for me.  My cloud and your cloud are part of the same system, but are still somehow separate from each other. 

            What exactly is the Cloud?  On this All Saints Day Sunday, we hear a passage about being surrounded by a great Cloud of witnesses.  All of the people, lives, souls that have come before us are not gone, they are a part of a Cloud of witnesses.  Just like the icloud, they are all around us, invisible, untouchable, and yet accessible.  Present with us in particular moments of our lives when we remember them, celebrate them, miss them, grieve for them, continue learning from them.  When we pick up an item given to us by them, perhaps an image or voice, or smell returns to us.  Just a few weeks ago, I grabbed a towel out of the cabinet and when I smelled it I was instantaneously transported back to my grandmother’s house in Iowa.  Just like that, from the smell of a towel, there I was standing in her bathroom, remembering her.  The Great Cloud of Witnesses, we remember them on this All Saint’s day, we remember that just like our modern technology, their presence is here. 

            Sometimes it takes spending a little bit of time to learn about something.   Today, we spend a little bit of time learning more about the Great Cloud of Witnesses all around us.  In a sense, we can down load and store items there, through our prayers, through our memories of our loved ones, through the love that has been shared over a lifetime. 

            Just sitting here in this sanctuary, we are surrounded by the Great Cloud of Witnesses that came before us.  Through their stewardship, their love for God, their love for the community of faith, their calling to be in ministry here in this region of NJ, this church was built, cared for, and sustained throughout the generations providing us a place to gather.  If only these walls could talk, can you even begin to imagine the number of prayers said, baptisms and weddings celebrated, tears shed as funerals were given.

            The passage in Hebrews does the same thing, it names all of those faithful people that came before, and how through faith, they trusted in God and built an amazing foundation upon which both Judaism and Christianity are built.   

            Returning to the source I mentioned earlier:  Think of iCloud Drive as any other remote volume, external hard disk, network drive, or storage service. Think of the Great Cloud of Witnesses as a remote, external, network or storage service of God’s faithful people that came before us, paved the way, built a foundation of ministry for us to continue upon. 

You can create new folders, drag and drop stuff into your iCloud Drive from your Mac or elsewhere, and you have the option to save files and data from apps into your iCloud Drive.   We can create new ministries, continue faith traditions of the past, remember our story as a continuation of past, present, and future, as we pull from sources all around us.

This isn't rocket science, folks. It's a hard drive in the sky that you can access from all your devices.  This isn’t rocket science folks, it’s God’s love in the sky that we can access from all of our devices. 

            I kind of like it, this notion of the Cloud.  If apple can create it, why surely can’t God?  Why can’t we be surrounded by our loved ones, the faithful, the courageous?  If apple can create it, why can’t we believe that God already has?  When we stop and think about how our own lives have been so truly blessed by those that have come before us in the faith, and how we too, are blessing the lives coming along beside us and behind us, blessings, blessings all around us, through us, to us and from us. 

            One pastor shares this:  One can't help but be inspired by this text.  It is a clarion call for the church to continue to fight the good fight of the gospel.  The winning witness of our heroes stirs us to persevere.  Their stories remind us that we are not the first ones to run the race of faith.  Faithful saints before us have run the same race, fought fatigue, battled discouragement and won!  This text reaches out like a postcard from heaven and dares us to run the race to win.

They say, nothing can really ever be deleted from the internet.  Once it’s out there, it is out there.  Well, the same can be said about people’s lives that have lived the race of faith.  We can go outside and walk through the cemetery, and some of those gravestones can no longer be read.  But the lives lived are still a postcard from heaven, still a message of God’s love, still people that lived and shared their faith and their love that traveled from one generation to the next.  The great web of being that connects to another and to another, the ripple effect that generates outwards and never stops.  Can you even begin to imagine how your life just might influence someone else 200 years from now?  It will, it will be taken by this generation and passed along to the next, the name may be forgotten, washed away by time, but the examples of faith, the commitment to the church, living out faithful stewardship to God, will all become a part of the Great Cloud and will be present to the future as God’s presence of love, hope, determination, and perseverance.

Sermon - Luke 18 - Wrong side of the Tracks

The Wrong Side of the Tracks

            Shortly after college, I taught middle school for a few years down in Fl.  My school was on the other side of the tracks, it was on the wrong side of the tracks.  It really shocked me, that indeed, just crossing railroad tracks can take you into a whole different world.  These tracks happen to be for the Tropicana Orange Juice Company.  The town was pretty much divided into two, the middle class families and retirees that could afford to live near the beach and those that were laborers, factory workers, perhaps the housekeepers for the numerous beach resorts, or the landscapers for the fancy beach homes.  But the type of homes drastically changed as you crossed over the tracks. 

            The school where I taught had a full time police officer trained in gang intervention, there was a heavy gang presence, and incredible diversity.  I was actually pretty impressed how my students seem to get together no matter what color of their skin.  But, there was still one insult, if you really wanted to hit below the belt, you would call someone a Haitian.  Even on the wrong side of the tracks, there was a wrong side of the tracks. 

            I attended a church on the right side of the tracks, with families that sought to nurture and encourage their children to grow into strong and healthy adults.  These were two different worlds.  As I walked back and forth between these two worlds, I knew I had a lot to be thankful for.  But then, I hear this passage today, and I wonder if my thankfulness is appropriate.   My thankfulness was based on my good fortune against someone else’s bad fortune. 

            There was a Pharisee and a Tax Collector, both go to the temple to pray.  The Pharisee begins by giving thanks to God that he is not like other people.  That he is not like: thieves, rogues, so far that sounds like something I can identify with.  I thank you God that I am not involved in some sort of embezzlement, or white collar crime.  But then he compares himself to another person present at the temple also in prayer.  Yes, being a tax collector was not a good occupation,  Being a tax collector was to be in relationship with Rome, often taking a little bit of extra money from the people for themselves.  They were not well liked.  For the Pharisee, the tax collector was on the wrong side of the tracks, a different world than himself, and he was thankful that he was not like him. 

            Last week, we had a story of Jesus healing 10 lepers and one out of the 10 comes back to say Thank You.  The story focused on thankfulness.  Today’s parable also involves giving God thanksgiving, but this type of thankfulness seems to be rejected by Jesus.  How is it that we can say thank you to God?  The leper was thankful that he was healed, that God had heard his cry for mercy and had responded.  The tax collector is thankful because of his good standing in life.  He is thankful because of who he is, in comparison to who others are.  His sense of security in God’s presence is about his lifestyle, his religious choices, his actions, while the tax collector stands and asks for mercy. 

            What is it that really separates the Pharisee from the tax collector?  They both gather in the same place to offer prayer to the same God?  And yet, they are separated, they are a world apart.  The Pharisee does not want to engage the tax collector, his only acknowledgement of his existence is that he is glad he is not like him.  Behind his words, is there something deeper?  Is there fear of the other?  Is there a lack of understanding that God could also love the tax collector? 

            We often separate ourselves from the other out of fear.  And sometimes that fear is well warranted.  Sometimes being on the wrong side of the tracks can be life threatening.  The way we separate people can be based on economics, skin color, language, cultural practices, and behavior.  What if, instead of separating ourselves from the other we begin to find ways to begin to build relationships?  What if we take intentional steps to safely cross to the imaginary other side of the tracks and instead of comparing ourselves from another as different, we see both selves as children of God?  What if we ask God to give us the courage to build bridges of understanding instead of just being thankful we are not like the other. 

            We are in the season of Thanksgiving, we come to God and we are thankful.  I asked earlier, is there a right and a wrong way to be thankful?  And I guess, it all depends on how we frame our thankfulness.  As a person of faith, we give thanks to God for everything, for the blessings that we have received, but we also are called into discipleship, into service, into the presence of others.  What I learned from teaching on the wrong side of the tracks is that I am truly thankful that I was not born as a crack baby, but by having such a child in my class, I learned not to judge this child because he had no control of the choices his parents made.  I learned that I could be present to these children and seek to provide them a safe place at least within my classroom because that might have been the only safe place they had in their lives.  I learned that life is not fair, and even education cannot bridge the gap of inequality. 

            There is a ministry in Camden, NJ that was not afraid to go to the wrong side of the tracks and connect with these young people that their only future was to be involved in gangs, and drugs, and stealing.  The founder of Urban Promise could have stood at a distance and said:  Lord, I am thankful that I am not a youth in Camden, NJ but instead he said, Lord, bring me to Camden and guide me as I bring hope to this place of hopelessness.  Urban Promise has grown over the years and now has its only school where the youth of Camden are actually graduating from high school and going on to college.   A future they never would have had if someone had stood and said, I am thankful I am not like them. 

            Next time we find ourselves a little afraid of another, or glad we are not like another, perhaps God is calling us into a ministry with that person, not a ministry to that person, but a ministry with that person.  We will never know, unless we cross the bridge and begin building the relationships. 

            What if that Pharisee had embraced the tax collector?  What if, like Jesus, they went and had a meal together?  Jesus is not afraid of the other, he is not afraid of the outcaste, he is not afraid of the sick, he is not afraid of the wrong side of the tracks.  Rather, it seems those are the places he goes, and it is there that he finds people hungering for God’s love, hungering to be seen, to be noticed, to be made whole.  Jesus was blessed by God to bring that blessing to others.  There really was no one that he would keep away or deny.  As we continue into this season of thankfulness, let us too seek to be welcoming and loving, extending ourselves as agents of hope to the world around us.  Amen.    

           

            

Sermon: One out of Ten Luke 17

            This fall, the scripture readings have revolved around being lost and being found.  From a lost sheep, a lost coin, to a lost brother, we had celebrating once the lost were found.  We also had stories of lost people, a rich man and a poor man, both of whom were lost in their own way.  Today, we have ten more people that are lost, lost to society due to leprosy.  As we have journeyed through these passages, I have viewed them through the lens of what it means to be self-focused versus being community focused, transitioning from population me to population all. 

            Ten lepers, completely lost to society, caste away, thrown away, outcastes.  They must live away from others, in this passage it describes the place as between Samaria and Galilee.  It’s a border region, and some commentators point out that this is a dangerous place.  Border regions were not protected in the same way as the fortified cities and towns.  Wars often took place on the borders, since these are weak places politically. 

            So, here Jesus is, in a weak place, in a dangerous place, in a place that is neither Galilee or Samaria and he is approached by those that no one wants.  People that due to their leprosy, no longer belong to Samaria or Galilee.  They know their place and don’t even approach Jesus.  Rather, they keep their distance and call out to him:  Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 

            As people caste away, stricken with a disease where they have no hope of recovering, they cry out for the possibility.  Maybe, just maybe, this one named Jesus, just might be able to help them.  And so Jesus tells them to go and show themselves to the priests.  This connects back to the laws and rituals of Moses, it is the priests that have the authority to offer cleansing to those that are unclean.  But along the way, the lepers are healed.  They are healed.  This is different than the rites and rituals associated with being made clean.  They are healed, their leprosy is gone, their isolation is over, they are no longer outcastes.  They can go home and return to their lives, and reconnect with their family, friends and community. 

            But one, one out of the ten, takes the time to return to Jesus to thank him.   He returns to say thank you, not because he was raised with good manners, not because he is obligated to do so, he returns because he completely knows to the core of his spirit, that he was lost and now he is found.  His healing touched him deeply, it is not something to be taken for granted, he cannot just go back to his normal life, he has to stay connected to the one that brought him this healing. 

            Every once in a while, we hear this heart touching stories of people that connect over time due to organ donations or bone marrow transplants.  Recently there was a story of a mom that had lost her son, but his heart was given to someone in need.  A few years later, the mom was connected to the person that received her son’s heart, and she was able to hear it beat.  These families were connected by tragic life events, and now they share a bond that out of death comes life.  The leper understood this, he knew that out of death, Jesus brought him new life and he had to express his gratitude. 

            The cleansing of the ten lepers is a story of healing, it is a story of transformation, it is a story of gratitude, it is a story of being lost and being found.  I love the hymn:  God of the Sparrow, How does the creature say Awe, How does the creature say Praise.  We turn around from what we are doing, we remember the one that has healed us, the one that meets us where we are and transforms us, we take a moment to be present to the awesome, the divine, the sacred, and we say thanks. 

            How do we do this in our ever so busy lives?  Is it setting aside Sunday morning as a time to gather in worship?  We could be on our way, we could be out and about instead of gathered here in this place, but we gather, we have stopped, we have come, and this is the time to give thanks.  We give thanks by singing praises to God, by offering ourselves in prayer, by seeking to connect our soul to the scripture and the sacred time that we set aside here in this place. 

            Ten lepers were healed but only one returned to give thanks.  Each of us have been touched by God in different ways.  Each of us may feel healed in different ways.  Perhaps we are still struggling with feeling healed, whether it be physically, emotionally, or spiritually.  We gather seeking that word from God that will meet us where we are, seeking something that will give us the spiritual connection that we need to make it through the next week.  The lepers came to Jesus, they did not say heal us of our leprosy, rather they cried out – have mercy upon us.  Jesus, Master, have mercy upon us.  And God’s mercy flows out, and still flows out today in a multitude of ways.  Can we name it?  Can we feel it in our own lives?  Answered prayers, a moment of much needed peace, laughter with a friend, hugs from a grandchild, an old grudge forgotten, an apology given, a moment of pain named allowing healing to begin.  And when that moment occurs, to we name it as a God moment?  Do we say a silent or even an out loud, Thank You?  How do we express our gratitude to God? 

            Ten lepers were healed but only one returned to say thank you, one out of ten, these do not seem like good odds do they?  One out of ten.  At another level, this story reinforces the Biblical tradition of the tithe.  The people that heard this story, would know that one tenth of their harvest, or one tenth of their livestock’s offspring, were to be given to the priests.  Since the days the people entered into the Promised Land, they were to set aside the first fruits of the land and ground and present them to the priests as a form of thanksgiving, as a form of praise to God as a way to remember to be thankful for what God had given them. 

            Returning to God a portion of what one has received was a part of the people’s faith practice, it was a part of life, it was what they did.  So, when one out of the ten lepers came back to give thanks, Jesus is showing that this rich tradition of his Jewish heritage is still an important piece of what it is to practice one’s faith.  Tithing is an extremely challenging spiritual practice.  When we see it as this story, one out of ten does not seem like very much, but when we translate it to our income, one out of every ten dollars starts to add up.  But when we think about how we give back to God, not because we were taught to, not because we are obligated to, but when we start giving purely from our heart, because we are able to name and explain and celebrate the ways in which God has touched our lives, perhaps it becomes less challenging. 

            As we enter into the Stewardship season of the church, I want to invite us to think about the ways in which we say thank you to God.  We offer ourselves in worship and study, we give of our time in service, we dedicate a portion of our treasure for God’s work in the world.  We often think of stewardship season as how are we going to pay the bills for next year.  This year, I want us to think about Stewardship season as how do we respond to the mercy of God in our lives by saying Thank You and then to ask the question – is this church through this congregation, living out God’s mercy either through our own spiritual growth or through our mission outreach to the greater community around us?  If we can say yes, then we can celebrate that our gifts to God’s ministry are indeed bringing forth God’s love in this world.  If we cannot name God’s mercy at work through us, then we must spend time discerning how, together, as the body of Christ, can live more fully into God’s purpose.    

               

                

sermon - What Does Require?

“What Does God Require?”

            Over the summer, we have journeyed through our Scriptures one covenant at a time.  Our God is a God that connects to humanity through a relationship.  With each of these covenants, God gives a promise to the people:  God will never again destroy the world through a flood, God will bless Abraham and his offspring to be a blessing to others and promises them a land, God gives the law to guide God’s people in living holy lives, God promises that David’s throne will be over an eternal kingdom, and in Jesus Christ, God promises to forgive our sins and love us with abundant grace.   

            In each generation, the people of God had to discern what it meant for them to be a people of the covenant.  Would they trust in God’s promise?  Would they choose to live holy lives?  Would they follow the law or worship the idols in the cultures around them?  A life of covenant was not easy for God’s people and again and again they fell away from how God called them to live. 

            In the first passage we heard today, the prophet Micah declares that God does not desire sacrifices that are being made with empty meaning.  The people have fallen into rote behavior, they do what they do because that is what they have been told to do.  The “why” behind it has been lost.  Why do we sacrifice to the Lord?  Do we do it because that is what God requires?  And so the prophet proclaims, that God desires this people of the covenant to do justice, love kindness and to walk humbly with their God.  This is the “Why” behind being a people of the covenant not sacrifices.  God connects to God’s people in order for God’s people to be compassionate, to be justice oriented, to be kind, and to walk in the ways of God. 

            What does God require of us?  The rich young ruler had the same question.  He came to Jesus and asks:  What must I do to have eternal life?  Basically he is asking:  What does require of me to be saved?  And Jesus responds to him with the Law, the covenant given through Moses.  And the rich man responds, yes, I have been doing these things since I was a child.  Then Jesus takes it a step further, and tells him to sell his possessions and give everything to the poor.  And the man goes away sad because he has great riches. 

            What does it mean to be a person of the covenant?  Does it just mean to have faith and trust in God?  In today’s world, that may sound like enough of a challenge.  Does it mean just be a good person and follow the rules?  Or does it require more of us?  We believe that in Jesus Christ, God’s promises have been fulfilled and we proclaim that in the sacrament of communion Jesus gave us the new covenant, the cup of salvation.  As a covenant people are we to just gather and break bread and share the cup together?  

            God works with God’s people through the gift of the covenant.  What does that mean for us in today’s world?  What would Jesus say to us if we were the rich young ruler that asked:  What must I do to inherit eternal salvation?  Would Jesus say:  Just believe in me?  Would Jesus say:  Go and sell your possession and give to the poor?  Would Jesus say:  love your neighbor?  What would be the response to us? 

            I came up with a huge list of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. 

·         We are to drop everything and follow

·         We are to abide in Jesus and bear fruit for God

·         We are to Go and make disciple

·         We are to Go into the harvest and labor

·         We are to deny self and take up the cross

·         We are to be like children

·         We are to feed, clothe, visit, and heal the least of these

·         We are to be a blessing

·         We are to forgive each other

·         We are to be obedient

·         We are to be peacemakers

·         We are to be salt

·         We are to be transformed

·         We are to be like the teacher

That is a rather large check-list. 

If I had to use one piece of scripture to summarize what it means to be a people of the covenant given to use through Jesus Christ, I would use 2 Corinthians 5

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; ¹⁹ that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,^[d] not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. ²⁰ So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

           

In Christ, God has given us eternal forgiveness, not just eternal salvation.  We are forgiven and we are to be a people that lives out forgiveness.  Loving one’s neighbor is to live in such a way that it exudes forgiveness.  To be a people of the covenant, we are to be agents of reconciliation in the world.  Just as God brings us into God’s presence through Jesus, we are to bring God’s love and grace to others.  We are not to judge others, but simply show them God’s love.  As a people of the covenant, God is working through us.  This is a holy and sacred task, one we should not take lightly. 

In a small church, what does it mean for us to be a people of God’s covenant?  Do we feel we are living into God’s purpose for us?  Is there a “Why” behind who we are?  If we are gathering to worship without a why, then we are empty.  If we gather to worship because we love God, desire to praise God, and desire to be a people of the covenant, then we start to answer our “Why”.   Through New Beginnings, you all named your why as:  Partnering with our community near and far to joyfully spread the message and love of Jesus.  As agents of God’s reconciliation, you all have a mission to partner with others, such as Roxbury Social Services, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Habitat for Humanity, the Rec department, Faith Kitchen, and Family Promise.  They cannot do what they do without the support of others, and we do what we do because:  We partner with our community near and far to joyfully spread the message and love of Jesus. 

I want us to let go of our financial concerns, committee responsibilities, and even our historical presence in this community and really think about what it means for us to be a people of the covenant.  What does God require of us?  A people called by God to be agents of reconciliation in the world, ambassadors for Christ.  In the book:  When the Saints go Marching out, Art Beals states:  pg. 3

            So good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal heaven?  What does God require of me?  Of us?  But to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.  What does God require of us?  To be a people of the covenant, to be agents of reconciliation, to be ambassadors for Christ.  Let us continue doing what we do, focused not on the doing, but on the “Why”.  We do what we do as Ambassadors for Christ, agents of reconciliation, people of the covenant.  Amen.