People Get Ready

People Get Ready
Isaiah 2:1-5 Matthew 24:36-44
December 2, 2007 Alan Claassen
First Sunday of Advent

My family celebrated Thanksgiving at our favorite place in the Columbia River Gorge, Skamania Lodge. It is a grand place with a fantastic view of the river, a large stone fireplace, and excellent food. Our memories in that place go back to when our children were in grade school. One year our daughter, Lauryn, even wore her Halloween costume, which happened to be a Pilgrim outfit, to the Thanksgiving Dinner.
I am always amazed and yet not surprised that every time we travel in the Gorge we hear the sound of trains, the whistles, the roll of the iron wheels along the tracks, and the serpentine of cars connecting east to west, west to east.
And thinking of trains reminds of a line from Will Rogers, a story from Oliver Wendell Holmes, and a song. And fortunately for me they all tie in with Advent.
Will Rogers’ line:
“Even if you are on the right track, if you are not moving, you are going to get run over.”
Oliver Wendell Holmes’ story.
As Justice Holmes saw the train conductor approaching asking for passengers’ tickets, he began to search his pockets for his own train ticket. By the time the conductor got to his seat, Justice Holmes he was quite flustered saying, “I am sorry, Mr. Conductor, but I can’t seem to find my ticket.”
“Oh, Justice Holmes, that’s quite alright. I can trust you.”
To which Justice Holmes replied,” I appreciate your trust, Mr. Conductor, but you see the problem is, without that train ticket, I don’t know where I am going. My destination is printed on the ticket.”
And the song?
People get ready, there’s a train a’coming. Don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord.”

2
Christmas, like a train, is approaching, is a’coming. The journey we take to get to Christmas is the Season of Advent. The literal meaning of Advent is “toward the coming.”
What is coming?
Which track are we on this year? How are we going to balance
the switching back and forth from the sacred to the commercial dimensions,
switching back and forth from the joyful and the sad dimensions,
switching back and forth from the desire for peace in a time of war and the never ending and never resolved desire for peace in the Middle east,
switching back and forth between the Biblical call to wait for the Lord, and the commercial call to buy it all now.
Do we know ahead of time what our destination is, and can we stay on track through all the temptations and opportunities that this season presents to us?
Are we moving forward on the track or are we going to get run over by the huge machinery of media advertising telling us how concerned they are about retailers having a good year, as if it’s our patriotic duty to go buy things.

To put all of that in a positive light,
this is the season of ever-increasing light,
as we gather each Sunday of this season, light another candle, seeking God’s kingdom first, we choose a destination that places us by a manger, a mother, and an anticipated Messiah. With that destination in mind we can keep moving on the right track, we can make this a time of continuing the gratitude that helps us rest in the grace of the world.
Let that be our prayer and our intention as we begin this season.
But I want to get back to that anticipated Messiah.
A few years ago I was teaching Comparative Religions at Clackamas Community College. One day we had a young Oregon State Student as our guest speaker. His long-range plan was to become a rabbi, and it was very interesting to hear what he had to say.

3
One of the new concepts I found most interesting was the idea of tikkun olam, the earth in balance. An imagined time when the entire world will be in a state of peace and justice.
We need not look to any distant past to see a time when the earth was so out of balance and in need of divine intervention as these days we are living in now.
From this young pre-rabbinical student I learned there are two ideas related to the anticipation of the coming of the Messiah and this tikkun olam or earth in balance, this peaceable kingdom.
One is that the Messiah will make the peaceable kingdom happen.
The other is that the Messiah will come when we have achieved it, arriving saying, “At last, you got it. You did it.”
Well, who’s it going to be, God or us?
O Come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, ransom captive Palestine, captive Darfur, captive Afghanistan, captive United States of America
O Come, O come Desire of nations, bind in one the hearts of all humankind.
Bid thou our sad divisions cease and be thyself our King of peace.
This, this is the destination of this hopeful train. Have we forgotten where we are going? Do we, like Justice Holmes need to look at our ticket again?
Well, how would we act if we really thought the Messiah was going to come at any moment? Wouldn’t we clean up our act? Heavens, we clean up our house when we have company coming over, what would we do if we thought the Messiah was coming to dinner? Wouldn’t we treat one another as we want to be treated? Even in our disagreements? Is the anticipation of the Messiah enough to cause us to radically evaluate our choices, actions, and intentions? If only we could get enough people to anticipate and change at the same time, what a glorious world this would be.
If only I could live me life, keep my life on the track whose destination is the peaceable kingdom, the earth in balance, if only I could beat the life-denying swords of my life into plowshares that turn over the soil to plant seeds of new life.
Who is it going to be, God or me? How can I make it God and Me?

4

People get ready, there’s a train a’coming. Don’t need no ticket. Just Thank the Lord.
And get on board.
This is what Advent is for me. It is a time of switching back and forth from the tracks of already and not yet, of ultimate dependence and humble responsibility, of worrying about what I am going to give, and just being grateful for what I have been given.
Jesus has come, we know what he said and did, we know we what are supposed to do, and we know the program. And yet, we look around and see the violence and the injustice and we know this is not the destination God had in mind.
Globally we are on the wrong track. And so we long for something different than what we see. How will lay down our weapons, our fears, our ignorance and find solutions to end hunger and homelessness? Is that a dream like a child wishing for a shiny red bike?
Advent is a time for asking, deeply asking, what is it that we long for?
Advent is a time of asking, “What are we waiting for?”
And the question has a couple of meanings depending where the emphasis is placed.
What are we waiting for?
Just listen to some of the passages from the Book of Isaiah that are read and heard during the season of Advent.
Isaiah 2: 1-5: waiting for peace with the call to learn war no more.
Isaiah 11: 1-10: waiting for an ideal King who will rule with justice and equity for the poor
Isaiah 40: 1-11: waiting for a way to end the exile and return home and find joy again
Isaiah 61: 1-11: waiting for the Spirit of God’s anointed one who will bring good news to the poor, bind up the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and release to prisoners.
If this is what we are waiting for it will greatly influence the decisions we make.

5
What are waiting for? We are on the right track, but let’s get moving! Let’s get on Christ’s Express and fill Santa’s sack for the poor. Let’s share our wealth with others. Let’s make peace. Let’s be compassion. “Don’t have a cow, buy one!” “Kick that consumer habit buy a little bunny rabbit.” (For the Heifer Project) Whatever you can do, do it now. Boldness has hope in it.
Advent is a time of living out the wise saying,
“Act as if everything depends on you, pray as if everything depends on God.”

I want to commend you for coming to this station this morning.
It is a most amazing thing that you all are doing by simply being here this morning.
Waiting. Hoping. Singing. Praying. Taking action to bring the peaceable kingdom a little closer to home
You know, and you desire something sacred about this time of year. Even though this is the darkest hour, you see and desire to be, the returning light, because nothing can hold back the dawn. You affirm in the place, in this season your hope for humanity.
You have your seats on the Advent train.
This journey is going to take us by some most amazing and incredible sights.
The anticipation of God being with us and eradicating all injustice.
The prophets warning that when we mistreat the poor we break the covenant we made with God.
The vision of the lion laying down with the lamb,
the angelic visits to a pregnant-peasant-girl, to an old couple,
to shepherds.
In the midst of poverty, God chooses to be born.
And for us it begins today, with the Lord’s Supper. The Great Thanksgiving. The Great Gratitude.
As we come to the table of grace in the world I would like to ask you to think about this. It is something written by a friend of a friend of mine, Esther Armstrong.
6
“This year I am struggling. This year I am troubled. For I believe that this season of Advent is calling me into that which feels absurd, impossible, and even dangerous.
This year...
I am not waiting for the baby Jesus, though that would be a lot more comfortable and safer. But baby Jesus has already been born. He grew up, died, and is risen.
I am not waiting for the Kingdom of God to come, though it would be easier if waiting was all that is asked of me. But it isn’t.
This year...
The Kingdom of God is waiting for me, and I suspect for you, to take on more fully the character of Jesus.
This means I will: Voluntarily relinquish my need to control and my sense of entitlement.
Let go and be delivered of my insatiable appetite for more and my need for security.
I will seek to
Bring justice to all nations
Live in harmony with all God’s creation,
Set the captives free,
Shine a light in the darkness
Put my life on the line for peace.
This year...
The kingdom of God is waiting for me, and all God’s people, to be non-violent, forgiving, honest, humble, compassionate, and loving.
God is waiting.
And so this Advent I will pray for courage to “live” Jesus, while I hold onto the promises that God has come, God will come again, God will bring deliverance and justice, and the world will be born anew through God’s people.”
And so we say to Will Rogers, we are on the right track and we are moving.
And we say to Oliver Wendell Holmes, we know the destination.
7
And we sing along with Curtis Mayfield, People get ready, there’s a train a’coming.
Don’t need no ticket, you just jump on board.
And our Advent train is going to make a lot of stops this season:
it began when the little elves of the church began decorating our sanctuary,
and it will continue through our worship services and the lighting of our Advent Candles,
this afternoon’s workshop when we will decorate the Christmas tree and sing carols,
ringing the Bell for Peace on Wednesday,
next Sunday’s focus on empowering people around the world to care for themselves through the work of the Heifer Project,
caroling for our homebound members next Sunday evening,
listening the beautiful music that the Choir will present on the third Sunday of Advent, hearing the children present to us a Christmas Story produced by our own resident storyteller, Cynthia Restivo, on the fourth Sunday of Advent,
and I hear that we may be having a special guest on Christmas Eve.
We have received word that one of the shepherds who was watching his flocks by night is going to be visiting us THIS Christmas Eve.
People get ready there is a train a coming.
Don’t need no ticket, just Thank the Lord.
What are we waiting for?
Let’s sing!
Come, thou long expected Jesus.

The Practice of Gratitude

Practicing Gratitude
Isaiah 65:17-25 Matthew 6:25-33
November 18, 2007
Rev. Alan Claassen

Many years ago I had to quit watching the TV show ER. I was really hooked on the life and death drama, the sub-plots of the characters, the cool background music, and the fascination with the techniques of modern medicine as played out in the emergency room of a hospital.
But I had to quit watching, because it seemed an absurd way to end the day; just before going to bed, watching a super-charged, 10 plots going-on-at-once show that often left me emotionally drained. So I just quit watching.

But I admit that I came back for a short time a few years ago when Alan Alda, that former hero of MASH, was a guest actor on the show.

The character that Alan Alda played on ER was a highly skilled, experienced, and caring doctor who was unfortunately suffering loss of memory due to the early stages of Alzheimers.
During the first episode in which Alan Alda appeared I was incredibly delighted when he recited one of my favorite poems. written by Wendell Berry, a poet, essayist, Christian, and Kentucky farmer. I couldn’t believe my ears when the character Alan Alda was playing, said, from memory, the first line, the second line, all the way through to the end of this poem that sometimes when I hear it I feel like I should stand up.
Would you like to hear it?
It’s called, “The Peace of Wild Things.” By Wendell Berry.
Please Remain seated

When despair for the world grows in me,
and I wake in the night at the least sound,
in fear of what my life and my children’s life may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water,
and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

What I like about that poem is that Wendell Berry takes me to a place where I can be reminded of the beauty of the world. The life of the world. It doesn’t feel like the poet, Wendell Berry, is escaping problems, avoiding despair. It feels like he is taking an action that opens him up to receive the grace of God. And that gives him courage to return to his children and not to respond out of fear, but instead to respond from a creative and compassionate place.

“I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water. For a moment I rest in the grace of the world and am free.” This poem directs our attention towards a source of grace, courage, healing.

And in this moment of grace there arises a sense of gratitude for a larger life, a wider affection. In a moment of fear and despair, Wendell Berry took an action, a simple action in a powerful place.
“I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water...”
But in that simple action new life, hope, power, and healing were found.

I think of this as having an attitude of grace. Taking a stand, positioning oneself to receive the love of God.

It is a place where we can trust silence. It is a place where we can touch a deeper understanding of what it means to be a human being called to compassion.

It’s just a moment. “For a moment I rest in the grace of the world and am free.”
I don’t have the sense from the poem that this freedom is one of escape or denial of what caused him to fear for his children’s lives. I have the sense that Wendell Berry recognized that is fears were causing him to wake in the night in he least sound. He had lost his sense of trust in the world. Where to regain it?

The simple act of lying down where the wood drake rests, the act of writing the poem that shares this moment with others, this moment of rest, returned him to a sense of trust in the world. In fact, it returned him to the world itself.

It’s only for a moment. You experience this moment of grace and then you go back and you have to deal with all of those things that sent you out into the woods in the first place. You think, the first thing I need to do is take everybody out to where the wood drake rests, but it isn’t that easy is it?

You have to bring the day-blind stars who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief back to the people who you live with, work with, go to church with, everybody.

I would like to share another poem with you that speaks of this attitude of grace. This is by the poet, William Stafford. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to meet William Stafford when I first moved to the wet Northwest. At the time I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know he had been poet laureate of Oregon. I didn’t know he had been a conscientious objector in WW II, or that he taught at Lewis and Clark College. I just knew that was easy to be with and that everybody liked him.

This poem was commissioned by the US Forest Service and appears with others at selected viewpoints along the Methow River in the northern Cascades in Washington. So imagine you are driving along a road in the Cascades, you pull over to look at a beautiful valley, and you find this poem.

A Valley Like this
“Sometimes you look at an empty valley like this, and suddenly the air is filled with snow.
That is the way the whole world happened-there was nothing, and then...
But maybe sometime, you will look out and even
the mountains are gone, the world become nothing again.
What can a person do to bring back the world?
We have to watch it and then look at each other.
Together hold it close and carefully save it, like a bubble that can disappear
if we don’t watch out.
Please think about this as you go on. Breath in the world.
Hold out your hands to it. When mornings and evenings
roll along, watch how they open and close, how they
invite you to this long party that your life is.”

“Please think about this as you go on.” Remember this moment in the Cascades. Remember the stillness of the water when you return back home.

That poem was given to me by a friend, Ray Gatchalian. Ray was a firefighter in Oakland. Ray also traveled the world giving motivational speeches, reading poetry, and making a difference in his own community by tacking the issues of racism and drug abuse.
And putting out fires.

He gave me this poem when I asked him if he had any thoughts on he subject of gratitude. I must admit that I was surprised when Ray answered that for him, at that moment of his life, a practice of gratitude was the most significant, most powerful of all spiritual practices. He had studied and worked with many spiritual practices, meditation, yoga, and he found that the practice of saying 100 gratitudes a day was the most rewarding.

100 gratitudes a day! How could one possibly think of 100 things to be thankful for in one day. As I reflected on this I quickly realized how many grumps I do a day. How many ungratitudes I do a day. How many times I wish that such and such had happened. How many times I wished I had something I don’t. How many times I wished I could be somewhere I am not.

I realized that living with 100 grumps a day makes it impossible to stand where I am. When ever I am wishing that the world be something different than it is, then I am not present in the world.

And this is exactly what Ray said happened for him. That rather than creating some sort of unreal world, the practice of 100 gratitudes a day actually helped him get into the present, into where he actually was at the moment. It helped to see that the present is always full, whereas thinking of things in the past that haven’t gone right is limited and limiting.

Nevertheless it still is a challenging practice. You have to turn off the grump voice and turn on the grace voice with in yourself.

I recently received an e-mail from a friend that would give you an idea of what it might look like to practice 100 gratitudes a day.

I am thankful for: the mess to clean after a party because it means I have been surrounded by friends, the taxes I pay because it means I am employed, the lady behind me church who sings off-key because it means I can hear, the spot at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking, a lawn that needs mowing and gutters that need cleaning because it means I have a home, the alarm that goes off early in the morning because it means I am alive!

An attitude of grace as a spiritual practice enables us to see things as they are fully, honestly, with an awareness that with all of the events set before us we are still called to choose life. And to take actions that help others choose life.

An attitude of grace moves us fear to trust; from being judgmental of ourselves, or others, to being compassionate; from hurting to healing, from losing energy to gaining creative power, from despair to freedom.

It begins in a simple act. Going to where the wood drake rests. Stopping the car, getting out, and marveling at the beauty of the valley. Turning ones life from grump to gracious. Finding a way to feed someone who is hungry, visit someone who is locked up.

In his poem William Stafford asks, “What can we do to bring back the world?”
What can a person do to bring back hope, clarity, acceptance of the present and energy for the future?

We can look at each other and hold together that community of life affirming
love that knows compassion, honesty and forgiveness. We can celebrate simple gifts even as we mourn together the heartaches. We can hold out our hands to one another to heal the cuts and bruises that are a part of life. We can do the hard work of bringing the grace of the world into the grit of our daily life.

And when we orient ourselves to life in gratitude we open ourselves to receive God’s love which will enlighten the eyes of our heart. In this is the experience of the living Christ who guides us to care for others so that they might for a time rest in the grace of the world and be free.

And today, Jesus draws our attention to the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. For a moment. For a moment, rest in the grace of the world, and be free. The experience of God’s presence in creation can bring us to a place of gratitude that can heal us, inspire us, bring us to a place of restoring what has been lost, overcoming despair.

I had such an experience yesterday.

Several people have recommended that I take a hike, … around Alpine Lake.
So in the amazing sunlight of yesterday afternoon, I took by dog, Coco, my camera, a bottle of water and Snickers candy bar and headed up Hiway 4.

Well I assume you have all been there so I don’t have to tell you how beautiful it is. How relaxing. How easy it is to be in a place of gratitude, of resting in the grace of the world, as you take in the beauty of the lake, a fisherman catching a fish, people of all ages, and other dogs, all of them friendly walking around the lake. I even saw an eagle perched on top of a scraggly tree.

What was most amazing was when I was coming back down Hiway 4, filled with the beauty of Alpine Lake, filled with the wonder that comes from being in the Sierras, and grateful for a wider perspective of life and the resulting sense of joy, calmness, and presence of God that I experienced, I felt that I had a new perspective on my own life. I could see things differently.

So there I was driving down Hiway 4 and the beauty continued. As I was approaching a turn in the road I was enjoying this stand of trees that looked like they had been arranged by an artist. There was one tall sequoia on the left, and then a variety of other heights and varieties of trees that completed this perfect picture. Here is the amazing part.

Someone else must have had the same sort of epiphany some time earlier that I was having yesterday. They must have that the same mixture of beauty, and grace, and gratitude and insight that I was having. Why do I say this? Because the person had had time to make a sign. I don’t know how long it had been there. It looked pretty new.

It had a yellow background, it was attached to a tall wooden post, black lettering, square shaped but turned on its side like a diamond. Whoever it was didn’t have enough room to write out the entire sentence that would explain their revelation so they just wrote three letters...

I-C-Y

I see why.

I see why Jesus called us to consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air as a way of knowing what it means to live in the kingdom of God, the kin-dom of God while we are alive.
I see why the poet Wendell Berry was able to overcome the fear for his children’s lives by becoming a child again resting in the grace of the world.

I see why my friend, Ray Gathlian was able to gain strength to work against racism in Oakland by practicing saying gratitudes all day and night long.

I see why the prophet Isaiah was able to speak the God’s word of hope to a fallen nation, “for I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.” (67:17)

I see why the stories of the Bible are all about resurrection. “God delights in taking bad news and creating good from it, Crisis calls forth creativity, Breakdowns lead to breakthroughs, wandering in the wilderness is followed by entering the promised land, Good Fridays are followed by Easter Sundays." (from Michael Dowd's new book, Thank God for Evolution)

I-C-Y I must pay attention to the road that I am on at all times, it is always filled with invitations to what is holy and healing. And each invitation to health and holiness, whether it be a place of beauty or a place of pain, is potentially a place of gratitude. We can see the world from God’s point of view. We can rest in the grace of the world.
And for this, we can be eternally grateful, for a moment.
Like this one, here, now, and always.

The Incentive of Love

Scriptures: Exodus Philipians 2:1-11
September 30, 2007


Now where were we?
Garrison Keilor opens his weekly monologue on his radio show, A Prairie Home Companion by saying, “It’s been a quiet week on Lake Wobegon.”
Considering the Exodus story that we are learning and living I feel like saying, “It’s been a week of miracles and complaining in the wilderness”
But I kind of like, “Now where were we?”

Now where were we?
Last Sunday we were asking questions in the wilderness. And I said things like, “What we learn in the wilderness we take with us into the promised land.” And “Moses was able to see things that others couldn’t, like the bread of heaven, simply because he was full of trust and the people were full of anxiety.” And I also said that “Trust is a active verb, an activating verb, it should make us want to move.”
I came across a quote this week that I wish I had had last week. The quote is,
“You can’t steer a parked car.” Trust is an activating verb. Let’s get moving.
And that reminded me of an old quote from the great Will Rogers, spinner of ropes and spinner of yarns who said, “Even if you are on the right track you still are going to run over if you are not moving.”
Trust is an activating Verb.
But where are we going? We understand the worries of those people that Moses was trying to lead through the wilderness. Are we going to survive this in between time where we are strangers in a strange land? Is God with us in the wilderness just like we experienced God back home?
And since we can understand their worries I suggested that The Exodus story can be a guide for us if we see that these people were in a wilderness discovering new blessings in the midst of hunger and thirst just like we are today. The wilderness may be a new job or no job. It may be the call to leave something secure and known into something never tried before. It may be a congregation and a new Minister getting to know one another. It may be spending a perfectly beautiful day in the Sierras attending a Planning Retreat like 28 members of this church did yesterday. Whatever that wilderness is The Exodus story can be a guide for us.
What did we learn last week from the Exodus story? It’s alright in the wilderness to have questions, to be hungry and thirsty. The story tells us to direct our questions to God. When we call out, when we question, God responds. When we are full of anxiety, but don’t cry out, it’s a sign that we have lost hope that there is anyone who will respond. To cry out to God is a sign of hope not despair.
It is OK to ask questions, such as “What is this? Is it safe? Will I die of hunger or thirst? Will we lose members if take a controversial stand? Why have you brought me here? Part of the answer to these questions is in trusting that God is providing bread and water, guidance and new life, in ways that are unexpected, and at first mysterious.
What we learn about trusting God shapes how we will experience the promised land. How we learn to trust one another forms how we will experience promised land. And likewise what you all learned about yourselves as a church in the interim time is essential to entering the beginning of our life together in partnership-ministry as we live into the mission of this church.
That is some of what I have learned so far in this Exodus story. What did you learn about yourselves during the past two years? I don’t know yet all that you learned. I know one thing. You found out that there are styles of ministry different than that of Rev. John Randlett’s and that is a good thing. Rev. Steve Shepherd’s style and approach to ministry was different than John’s and the building is still standing, the programs continued to meet people’s needs, and new ministries were.
As one who has served many churches as an Interim I have always found it to be a time of growth and vitality, fresh perspectives, and new ideas and new people. One misconception that people often have of the Interim time is that it is a doldrum time, a time when the church is on hold, a time when no one joins the church. Well that hasn’t been my experience.
You have been having some very cool visitors attending worship here in the past couple of years and since I have been here. What has been my experience is that people do begin coming to church during the Interim time. They don’t know you have an Interim when they walk in the door. There is just something they heard about the United Church of Christ, maybe from the news, maybe from the God is Still Speaking ad on TV. Maybe they heard something about the amazing mission trip that our Youth Group took to Costa Rica. Or maybe they met someone on the golf course.
Or maybe one of you invited them!!!
Who knows?
But do you know what kind of visitors stick around during an interim time or when a new minister arrives and things are kind of confused and up in the air. They are people who like to be welcomed. AND they are pioneers, early adopters, cultural creatives, adventurers, people who don’t need to have everything all in place but are ready to try something new. As long as they can feel a sense of loving spirit that cares for them and welcomes them, as long as they find a church that is authentic in its thinking and loving in its service to the community, they are ready to jump on board.
But don’t take my word for it. Go talk to one of our visitors and see if what I say isn’t true. This church has some very cool visitors. And it has very interesting members. My first experience was when I met the Search Committee. What a crazy bunch that was. Just what I was looking for.
In August, in the small group meetings, I had the opportunity to hear your stories, what you value about this church, what challenges you have lived through, and what wishes you have for this church.
Let me share with some of what I learned. I shared this yesterday at the Planning Retreat, and I would like all of you to hear this. What are some of things that you most appreciate about this church?
Everyone is welcome
Progressive message
Caring support and friendship
How comfortable the children and youth are in this church
The quality of the worship service, especially the great music
We’re different -- open, accepting, and religiously present in today’s world
Our outreach to the community through programs such as the Heifer Project, Habitat for Humanity, and Caring Kids
And last but not least, two of my favorite statements to come out of the small group meetings,
We are strong because we have survived and
Laughter is abundant.
That is something that I now know about you, namely, what you value, why you are here.
And I also learned from those small group meetings what some of the challenges have been for this congregation and what wishes you have. Both the challenges and the wishes are doorways to the promised land, if you base your life on trust not fear.
How do we bring together this all together during this wilderness time, transition time, time of new beginnings. This trusting in God, trusting our questions, trusting one another and welcoming cool visitors with new visions, and this litany of values, challenges to face, and dreams to achieve.
Well, that is what yesterday, the Planning Retreat was all about. And I have good news. We have a plan! and we are not retreating! We are going forward. We are moving through the wilderness, learning its lessons, and keeping our eyes on the promise of the peaceable kingdom.
Our guide through yesterday’s wilderness was not Moses, it was Bob Henning, who did a masterful job of gathering ideas and keeping us on task and on time.
But thinking of today’s passage when Moses got water from a stone we could have used Moses yesterday, because when we got to our meeting room up at Forest Meadows we discovered that the water line was broken so we had no water for coffee, tea or restrooms.
There were many good ideas and commitments made for the coming year. Without going into specifics I can say that I perceived a real sense of hope and enthusiasm for the future of this church, as we looked for procedures and programs that would help this church be ready and set to grow! You will begin to see evidence of the yesterday’s planning in upcoming Council and Board Meetings, the Nugget, and events throughout the next year.
Which reminds me, if you ever want to attend a Council meeting, or a Board meeting, just to see what is going on, or to share an idea, you are always welcome. The calendar lets you know when those meetings are taking place.
One thing that I would like to draw your attention to this morning is this passage from Paul to the church in Philippi and now to the church in Murphys, California
“So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive in love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”
You have been witnesses to that affection and sympathy here in this church.
Can I get an Amen!
Looking to the interests of others is something that members of this church are good at. And that is such a great encouragement to me and should be to you as we begin this wilderness journey time. It is right out of the passage from Paul’s letter to Philippi, Murphys, and surrounding areas.
Reading from a translation of the Bible known as The Message this time, “Be energetic,…That energy is God’s energy deep within you, God’s self willing and working at what brings God pleasure.”
What excites me is, that given your strong foundation, I wonder what is going to happen next here at this United Church of Christ Congregation in Murphys, California. What are we going to be called to say and do together? What gifts and visions are about to find a home in this place? How are we going to take care of this corner of the garden we have been given and make it a better place for more people. What structure will enable you to get the highest level of involvement of the membership of this church in the ministry of this church?
I don’t know the answer to those questions. Remembering the bumper sticker that says, “All who wander are not lost” I say let us trust this energy that God has placed within us and let us step forward and each day do the next right thing. Let us remember that God hears us when we are hungry and thirsty and that we would do well not to give into anxiety but instead give into trust. Let us remember the words of Paul, that we are to seek a deep-spirited friendship with one other, helping each other to get ahead. How counter-cultural is that?
I am honored to be among you at this time. I anticipate learning a lot from you. I hope to share with your what I have learned from other churches that have been my teachers. And most of all, I seek to be open to the Spirit that hovers over my chaos and gives me direction, purpose and meaning. A church is fundamentally a safe place for everyone to work out their own healing transformation for the good of all life.


I want to close with something seemingly very far afield from anything I have been talking about so far. I dedicate it to all each of you, who at one time were a visitor and walked through that front door for the first time.

The Rodeo at the Mendocino County Fair.
Barrel Horse racers. Little girl bouncing up and down.
The announcer calling the event yells out as the young girl rounds the third and final barrel before heading for the the straightaway,
"Don’t you dare weaken!"

We are all little children riding on the back of a big horse that turns sharp, runs hard, and knows the way back home. To God’s loving embrace.

Do You Want to Be Well?

Scripture:John 5: 1-9
October 21, 2007

Last Sunday we began looking at the healing stories in the gospels by reviewing the story of the blind man by the side of the road, and the question that Jesus asked, “What do you want me to do for you? From that story we learned:
The importance of taking responsibility for our health even if the crowd seems against us;
That healing begins when we accurately name where it is that we are in need of healing.
We also learned that there is a connection between a healthy community and a healthy self. A healthy community is in which people feel safe to share what is going on with them, good or bad, without blame or judgement.
In this story of the blind man by the side of the road we saw not only a healing of the man we also saw a transformation of the community. When the blind man first called to Jesus for help the crowd told him to shut up. When Jesus responded to the blind man’s cries, the community changed their approach to the blind man. They became part of his support team, saying, take heart, rise up he is calling you.
Part of the meaning of this story, for me, is to see that Jesus is not just wanting to heal individuals, he is wants to heal communities.
Now, I want to pause here for a moment, before considering the man who had been lying by the pool waiting for the waters to stir. He’s been waiting 38 years, he can wait another couple of minutes.
Several of us, about 20 in all, are studying a book by former Oregon State University professor, Marcus Borg, entitled, The Heart of Christianity. In this book we are introduced to a way of taking the Bible seriously, but not literally. We are invited to see the Bible as a product of historical communities communicating their response to God. In some portions of the Bible we find history remembered, in other portions we find history interpreted through story. Though these stories are not factually true, there is truth in them. The question that Marcus Borg wants us to consider is not whether or not they happened, but instead what do they mean?
So, with the story of the blind beggar by the side of the road and the man lying by the pool of healing waters, we can look at these verses as we would literature. We can place ourselves in the narrative imagining that we are the blind man, and asking such questions as, “What does it feel like to blind, to be cut off from what everyone else is able to do?” We can also ask, “What does it feel like to call out for help and be told to keep quiet?” And we can ask what gave the man courage to call out to Jesus and what on earth did Jesus mean when he said the man’s faith had healed him?’
Now, if you are still with me, are you still with me? I want you to try something else on with this way of exploring the Bible as metaphor, as story. This is an approach I am learning in a class that I am taking from two retired Jesuit priests over in Sonora.
We have the story of the blind man and the crowd and Jesus. Imagine for a moment that the crowd is not other people, but is in fact, the voices in the blind man’s mind that say to himself, don’t speak up, don’t say what’s going on, don’t call attention to yourself, don’t pay attention to what you are actually feeling.
The two Jesuits, Fr. Pete Campbell and Fr. Ed MacMahon, have a simple and graphic way of portraying this.
Oftentimes, when something is going wrong with us, we are hurting somewhere, we are tired, or angry, or our stomach hurts or our heart is racing, we push it away from ourselves. We deny it. We ignore it. We blame ourselves or someone else for the pain and we push it away.
And there are many ways that we push it away. In the class we are learning ways of creating a new habit in our lives that enables us to embrace lovingly that which is causing us pain, discomfort, illness.
How do we do that? That is where Jesus comes into the story. Not as a knight on a shiny white stallion come to take all of our cares away, but instead as a caring companion, an affection teacher who will sit beside us without judgment or blame.
The presence of this caring companion who offers us love unconditionally breaks through the habit we have built up over the years of not truly listening to ourselves, trusting ourselves, seeing ourselves as perfectly imperfect children of God.
Let me give you a little example of this practice of working with a caring companion or affection teacher. One morning I woke up really early, too early, my mind filled with a long list of things I needed to do. I couldn’t go back to sleep. I wondered if I should put on some coffee and just get working. I tossed and turned some more kind of willing myself to be awake. But then I remembered this practice of just simply noticing what I was feeling without judgment or blame, without pushing it away, but instead imagining accepting, noticing, what I was feeling and embracing it like a loving parent might hold a child who has fallen and scraped her knee.
When I did this that way too early in the morning, morning, I realized, I am tired.
And suddenly my body became very heavy. My mind stopped racing with a thousand to do’s and I just let myself relax.
Jesus as healer, as caring companion, as affection teacher, wants us to really feel what is going on inside of us because he knows what is there past on the other side of exhaustion, pain, anxiety. Jesus knows that on the other side of fear there is trust, there is clarity, there is wholeness. Jesus wants the goodness that is within us to become real. He wants to be present with us so that our faith, our trust, our faithfulness, our vision of our essential goodness to heal us.
Pause………..
Are you still with me?
Can you hear me now?

What can we learn about healing from the story of the man by the pool at Bethesda. In Jerusalem there was a pool by one of the gates. By this pool lay people with all sorts of physical disabilities. They believed that whenever the watered stirred, it was stirred by an angel, and the first person who stepped in the waters after it had been stirred would be healed.
This man had been by the pool for 38 years. When Jesus saw him and he knew that he had been lying there for a long time he said to him, "Do you want to be healed? Do you want to be well? The man responds by saying, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I trying to get into the water another steps down before me.
Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your pallet, and walk."
Now what strikes me about this passage is the question that Jesus asks the man. "Do you want to be healed?" "Do you want to be well?" It’s like the question Jesus asked in the story of last week’s sermon, why did Jesus ask a blind man, “what do you want me to do for you?”
Why does Jesus ask this man, “Do you want to be well?”
The man had lost his power, had lost his faith. Had for so long been unable to move that he forgot what it felt like.
One of the steps of healing that is required is the desire to be well. And that desire needs to be so strong that it breaks through all our years of excuses, fears, laziness, pain that we would rather not face. Jesus as caring companion, as affection teacher in asking, “Do you want to be well? is giving the man an invitation to heal.
This question, "Do you want to be healed” is an invitation to health. It also makes us have to look at what stops us from achieving health.
Healing means change. Healing requires a recognition that the present path isn't working. We have been going in the wrong direction? Who likes to acknowledge that? Healing means giving ourselves to trust rather than to fear or judgement. It is what the experience of grace is all about. When the time is right to get up on out of that pool, Jesus is ready to call us out.
A few summers ago I went on a rafting trip with some middle school kids. It was organized by a Christian rafting group and so we had a lot of lessons while going down the river. None of us would admit it but we were all a bit frightened going over the rapids. This fear made us very attentive to our guide. We knew that he knew more than we did. He knew the raft, he knew the river, and we believed that he had our lives in his hands. I have never witnessed such an obedient group of middle school students before. Our need for his guidance, our ability to learn quickly, and his ability to teach turned the fear into fun.
As we approached one set of rapids he asked us to close our eyes. And even though we got knocked about we kept our eyes closed and for three of us the most amazing thing happened - we were not as frightened going through the rough water with our eyes closed as we had been going through them with our eyes open. In other words, we were making the situation more frightening than it actually was.
We gave ourselves to trust rather than to fear, and our fears went away. It's enough to make you believe that what Jesus says is true, is worth trying.
It is important to remember that it is God who does the healing, we can place ourselves in the light of God but we are not the healers. When I was on the raft trip I needed to learn that I would be OK if I trusted the guide and the water and that I would enjoy myself much more if I loosened my muscles instead of tightening them for the entire ride.
Do you want to be well? Do you want to trust God? Do you want to be healed?
After Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be well and heard that the man had no one help him get into the healing pool, Jesus said, “ Rise, take up your bed and walk.”
This man had lived with this illness for 38 years. He had believed that healing would come from the stirring waters. Instead healing was being offered freely by this many who was just walking by. This man walking in the light of God.
No sign of faith other than incredible patience. Do you want to be well?
Rise, take up your bed and walk.
Did he feel something change in his legs? Or was the change in his heart?

Every Sunday we come to this pool of potential healing that we call worship.
Did you come for a healing this morning? Did you come to increase your sense of well-being and trust in God? We come to worship and Jesus asks us, Do you want to be well? If you do there are some things that you can do. Rise, take up your pallet, let what was your sign of weakness now be your sign of strength.
What was your sign of weakness will become a source of strength and knowledge and healing for others.
Health becomes a new habit and the body resists change even when we know it needs it. Our image of ourselves can actually be like a prison. Our habitual way of doing things can be like the prison but our caring companion is ready to bust us out of jail.
But there is a voice that the man by the pool heard, “Rise, take up your stretcher and walk.”
There was a voice that the blind man by the road heard, “Rise up, he is calling you.”
Health means taking responsibility for the next step of your life.
First Congregational Church Murphys UCC is being asked the same question that this crippled man in the pool was asking. Do you want to be well? Do you want to be a healthy church walking in the light of God?
If so, there are going to have be some changes. No more lying around the pool for one thing.
The other one is a little trickier I think. Can we clearly assess what needs to be done to enable this church to grow, each of us offering the little piece that we can.
Then rise, take up your pallet and walk
Say Yes, I have the skills and the vision that will help this church share its extravagant welcome to a wider circle of people seeking a progressive Christian community. Yes I believe that this church can be a part of the healing of the fractures of this world. Yes I believe that this church can be a place of celebration, and teaching, and worship and the arts, and stewards of this acre of God’s grace. Yes I believe, like Carroll Lang did that we need a new delivery system to get the message of an earth-loving, peace-loving, people-loving church out into the community.


And yes, we will stop beating ourselves up for being who we are, and will instead, with the help of our caring companion, Jesus, embrace ourselves with kindness and compassion, knowing that his unconditional love will enable us to see with a clearer vision and walk with renewed strength in the direction of peace and well-being.
First Congregational Murphys, United Church of Christ, Do you want to be well? I am hearing YES!
And may each of us hear God’s voice calling us to speak, to lead, to love, and then to walk in the grace of world.
Let the people say. Amen

What Do You Want Me To Do For You?

Scripture: Mark 10: 46-52
October 14, 2007

Keith Miller, in his book, The Scent of Love, shared a story about a man named Jack whose life and family were changed at a church week-end retreat that Keith Miller was leading.
Jack owned his own company after having been in the military for a number of years, and he stood like a tough marine sergeant. Keith Miller confessed that when he first saw Jack he thought to himself, "I hope this man doesn't want to see me after hours on this retreat. He seems hostile.”
Jack's wife was also at the retreat, and she told Keith Miller that when Jack came home from work that he was usually so angry that she was afraid that one of their four children was likely to get smacked, so she would send the kids out into the backyard whenever he came home.
Sometime during that week-end retreat Jack heard what was being said about how God can change the direction of a person's life, and at the end of the conference he said he wanted to see if he could make that change. He talked with someone who suggested a few things he might do, to begin learning to live with love and not judgment.
The person suggested that Jack not tell anybody about his decision, that he just be quiet and kind of ease into his new way of living. He was asked to start by praying, reading the Bible, and trying to show his family how much he loved them.
A month later Jack came back to the retreat leaders and shared what had happened. After the first week his 12 year old son knocked on Jack's study door one night and said, "Can I come in and talk to you?" His son had been in real trouble. He was always by himself at school. He never played with other kids, he had almost no friends, and he had been caught stealing. Jack could not remember his son ever having knocked on his study door before that night so he said, "Sure son come in."
His son came in and said, "Uh, Dad, uh, what's happened to you?"
Jack was very embarrassed. He was a tough guy, and he didn't know how to talk about what had been going on with him since the retreat.

2
Jack said, "Well, son, I just... well, I don't know how to live my life very well, and I....heard some people say that if I prayed, and read the Bible, and tried to give you guys love instead of grief, somehow, Jesus or God, would help me learn what was making me so angry all the time. Somehow by doing these things, well things might go better for all of us."
After a long silence his son said, "Dad...do you suppose I could try this too?"
Jack stood up from his chair, they looked at each other and then hugged each other, which they hadn't done in years. And that night, Jack said his boy started being happy.

A week later Jack had to leave their small town and go to New York City on a business trip. His son had never liked to meet him at the plane when he got home from his trips. When Jack appeared from the boarding gate area his son ran up and said breathlessly, "Dad!" and hugged him and buried his face in his Dad's chest. Then he looked up said, "I'm so glad to see you." And then he said, "Daddy, do you know what God's done?"
Jack said, "No, what son?"
And his son said with a look of amazement on his face, "Dad, God's changed every kid in my class."
Pause
Over the next 4 Sundays I will be looking at the healing stories of Jesus as told in the Gospels. We actually began last week with the feeding of the five thousand story. Though not often thought of as a healing story, for me, the feeding of the five thousand does indicate a healing among the community of people gathered on that hillside, as well as a healing for the disciples who were looking for a way to care for to care for the crowd.
The reason that I began with the wonderful story of Jack and his son is that I want us to have a broad notion of what healing means. Sometimes we limit ourselves to thinking of healing in terms of physical healing. I want us to think of healing in such a way that includes the healing our spirits, our souls, so that besides for praying for broken bones we are also praying for broken relationships, praying for people to have a high sense of self-esteem, praying not just for an end to sickness but also a increase in health and well-being.
2
The healing that took place in the feeding of the five thousand was that Jesus was able to cure the people of only thinking of themselves and instead offering what they had so that everyone had what they needed.
So over the next four weeks we will be looking at the healings that occurred in the presence of Jesus. We will find more than just a list of miracles. We will find what it means to go through a change in our life that also changes our family, our class, our church, and our community.
Jack's son said, “God's changed the whole class." Of course, it was Jack's son who had changed. That inner change, that healing caused him to see his classmates differently, and that change in one individual may in fact have led to a healthier classroom.
Jack himself had changed because at the retreat he had seen people freely giving love and he wanted some of that for himself. He felt safe to call out for help and he felt some confidence that there would be a response.
As we look at the healing stories in the Gospels, one of the interesting things to think about is the relationship between community and healing. How does our community help or hinder our physical, mental, spiritual and emotional health?
There are certain traps that churches can easily fall into that make them unhealthy communities.
There is the danger of falling into a way of thinking that says: if a person has doubts or fears then they have no faith. There is the danger that sometimes sets in and says: don't let anyone know how you are really feeling. There is the danger of worrying about what others think we should be doing. There is the danger of keeping your thoughts to yourself.
Health depends on being in a community that enables you to feel safe enough to speak your mind, your soul, your heart in a way that is loving and respectful.
How did the community in passage from the Gospel of Mark do in creating a safe place for healing?
A blind man was sitting by the side of the road and he heard a big crowd. He asked what it was and he was told that Jesus was passing by. He immediately cried out, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."
4
And what did the crowd do? Maybe they said, “Why should he stop for you? We don't expect him to stop for us. You don't see any of us trying to get his attention. We are content to just watch him go by so, be quiet"
So the blind man by the side of the road has a choice, does he listen to these people who are telling him to shut up, or does he listen to his inner voice that tells him that the possibility for healing is walking by.
He shouts even more loudly, "Son of David have mercy on me."
You can just imagine the cold stares from the people in the front row.
What happened to those cold stares when Jesus stopped? What did those people think when Jesus called .... for the blind man.
It says in the scriptures that they all gave praise to God.
All the silent ones are now praising the one who spoke up.

We know from the story that the blind man was changed, he recovered his sight. I wonder if the people standing on the side of the road were also changed? Just a moment earlier they called this man's screaming, noise, but Jesus called it faith.
Just a moment earlier this man was stuck on the side of the road having to ask people who was passing by, but now he is a part of the procession.
What about those people who wanted to keep him quiet and are now said to be praising God. What thoughts do they go home with?
I like to think that they were changed as well. I like to think that they also had their sight restored. I like to think that they were able to translate their praise of God into compassion and mercy for each other. That they might think twice about shutting down someone who is expressing their need or their pain.
I even hope that they would be able to understand when someone cries out not only for personal needs but also when a person cries out against injustice. A person who is sharing something that is wrong needs to feel heard, trusted. If that is lost and the person shuts themselves down then even greater harm can take place.

5
What about calling out for a change in one’s local community, in one’s family, in one’s own church? Do we feel safe to call out that it is time for a change? That something is not right? Or has there been a lot of roadside silence?
If so, is it time to learn from this blind beggar that if is healing is passing by, if wisdom is passing by, if insight and intuition is passing by, then call out to it. Trust it. Be healed in the crying out and come forward.
Story of President John Thomas and Linda Jaramillo and the Peace Pledges
Where is healing to be found for this world? When someone has the courage to cry out. Son of humanity, have mercy on me.
This simple little story of a blind man sitting by the side of the road reveals to us so much about healing if we put ourselves and our situation into the story.
The blind man is isolated from the rest of the community. But he has heard that there is this man Jesus who is a healer. He hears that he is passing by. He can’t see him so he is compelled to call out. He has to risk embarrassment. He has to risk standing out in the crowd. Then the crowd tells him to be quiet. Why do you think your special? We all have our problems, you don’t see us calling out do you? What stops us from crying out for healing or calling out for justice?
But this blind beggar thinks he is worth something. He believes that Jesus has something, And he calls out even louder. Son of David, have mercy on me.
Jesus stops. And tells the crowd to call him.
And now the crowd says, “Take heart, stand up; he is calling you.”
What a wonderful sequence of words.
Take heart. This thing that has surrounded you with fear and darkness, there is some hope, that it might come to an end.
Stand up. No longer sitting by the side of the road, a nobody, a victim, you are now the center of attention and people are rooting for you. Not judging you.
He is calling you. He is calling you.
Can you believe that? Sometimes risking making a fool of yourself pays off.

6
Sometimes knowing your need and expressing it is the beginning of healing, freedom.
The man stands up, and Jesus says, “What do you want me to do for you?”
And Jesus says, what do you want me to do for you.?
Puzzling question.
Everybody could see the man was blind. Jesus knew he was blind.
Why did Jesus ask, “What do you want me to do for you?”
One possibility is that we have to name the illness in order for healing to happen. In order for healing to take place we need to be able to identify the source of the affliction. Sometimes it’s not so easy to name what is going on in ourselves, or in others.
Sometimes we just see the symptoms. We see a person who is blinded by anger, blinded by fear, blinded by prejudice. How to name what is really going on? We have to ask, “What do you want me to do for you?” How can I help?...rather than judge or assume we know what is going on with ourselves or with others.
When Jesus asks the man, what do you want me to do for you? the man responds, “I want my sight back. I want to see where I am going. I want to be able to join the procession.
What would you say, if Jesus asked you, “What do you want me to do for you?”
What would say if this man of wisdom, compassion, and unending affection asked you. “What do you want me to do for you?”
Take heart, stand up, he is calling you, asking you, inviting you, comforting you, supporting you in your courageous work of healing yourself, your community.
Jack, the man in the story I told earlier had an answer. How would you answer that question from Jesus? What do you want me to do for you?
I want my sight. I want my trust. I want acceptance for what is next for me. I want to know how to respond with honesty and without violence when I am hurt, or when I see injustice. I want to stop having to be in control all the time. I want to be able to follow.
Jesus has a puzzling response. He says to the blind man, “Go your faith has made you well.” Did Jesus cure the man’s blindness, or did the man’s faith cure his blindness?


7
And what the sign of the man’s faith? The crying out? The stepping forward? One of the reasons why we are taking several weeks for the healing stories is because that is not an easy question to answer.
In fact it may be easier to answer with our feet, with our bodies, rather than with heads. The answer may simply be in the willingness to dive into the divine, to be immersed, to move from the side of the road to being on the path.
Tell the story of the Prayer group and the bell ringing and the couple from Seattle passing by our church for prayer vigil, and the monthly prayer vigil.
Take heart, stand up, he is calling you.
I spoke earlier of traps that churches sometimes fall into. According to Scott Peck, who has written many books on community building, one of those traps is the desire to heal, to fix, to convert others. We are more likely to create a safe place for healing if instead of trying to fix others, we confess our own brokenness or blindness. Because we soon find out that we are all wounded. That we all suffer from some sort of blindness. That we are all in need of healing. That we are all perfectly imperfect. That we are all in need of being embraced by God’s love. That we all need immersion in the healing waters. Can we create a safe place for people to be who they are, with different beliefs, different struggles, different gifts?
Can we give each other the freedom to say, I can't see, I am lost, I am angry.
Can we give each other a safe place to share when someone has hurt us?
It’s not easy. It’s not the way of the crowd. But we have to do something first.
Something in Jesus gave the blind man the courage to call out through the crowd.
Jesus, the one whom God annointed with the Holy spirit, at his baptism in the Jordan River, provided the sense of safety, of affirmation, of love, that enabled the blind beggar to expect a healing. To not listen to the voices saying shut up, but instead hearing the voice that said go on.
And we also are annointed to be a church, a sacred shelter, to provide a sense of safety, of openness and affirmation, dedicating ourselves to the highest in human values.


8

We are this: when we seek first the kingdom of God. Quietly, through prayer, reading the sacred texts, and loving one another.
Take heart, stand up, he is calling you.
May this call give us the courage to speak up for the healing that we need; remind us that healing is not something we can do alone; make it a little easier for us to drop our defenses so that we can receive the love God has for us and shows through us.
How would you respond if you heard Jesus say, “What do you want me to do for you? Jack’s son answered that question and the whole class changed.
May it be so with us.

What is This Among So Many

Scriptures: 2 Timothy 1:1-7 John 6:1-13
October 7, 2007

A large crowd of people had come to hear Jesus. The disciples, Andrew and Philip, realized that if they were going to feed these people they were going to need more food.
Jesus asked, "How much have you got?"
Just then a young boy, let's call him Daniel, is seen walking toward Andrew.
So while Jesus is questioning Philip, Andrew is looking around and sees this boy with some food.
What is Jesus asking Philip? “How are we to buy bread so these people may eat?” Jesus is setting Philip up. He knows that there is no way that they can buy bread for all of these people. He knows the answer is not in purchasing bread. He knows that the source of the food is going to come from somewhere unexpected. He knows the Exodus story, the same one we have been reviewing the past two weeks.
One of the themes one discovers in the Exodus story is that when we trust that we are cared for by God we need to expect the unexpected. We need to let go of our normal solutions to problems, such as feeding large numbers of people, and be open to new solutions.
So Jesus is asking Philip, “Philip? How are we going to feed all of these people?” It’s the same question that Moses had to answer in the wilderness. How could Jesus get the disciples to look at the people themselves, not as separate individuals, each looking out for themselves, but instead as a community, as neighbors, each looking out for one another.
Meanwhile Andrew notices this young boy. And here is what I imagine happened...
Now you see young Daniel had been asked by his mother to go to the store. It was near time for the great Jewish Festival, the Passover, and Daniel's mother had invited the entire family over for dinner. She was so busy getting the house ready that she didn't have time to go to the fish market or the bakery, so she gave her son enough money and told him to go to the store and buy some bread and some fish.
She said, "If they have any salmon just get one, otherwise get two trout. And don't get cinnamon bread like you did the last time, I need 5 barley loaves.
So off Daniel went. First to the fish market. He left there quickly for the warm sweet smell of the bakery. Then with his heavy load he headed back for home. On his way he noticed a huge crowd of people gathered on the hillside. He knew that he should go straight home but his curiosity got the better of him.
He walked up the hill, worked his way through the forest of bony knees and then found himself right hear some men talking about having to feed all of these people. He heard them say they didn't have enough money to buy enough bread. Daniel didn't know how much they needed, but he knew what he had.
He thought about his mother and the company that was going to come that night and then he thought about all of those people on the hillside and he decided to walk up to the men.
What called young Daniel forward? A young child on the edge of a crowd, and then in the center of a crowd and hearing they needed what he had. He didn't know if it was enough, but he offered what he had.
Andrew saw him and said to Jesus, "There's a boy here."
Daniel pulled on Andrew's cloak and said, "Daniel."
Andrew said, "Daniel is here and he had five barley loaves and two trout."
"They were out of salmon." whispered Daniel
But what is this among so many?
What is this? manna from heaven? water from the rock? desire born in some people hearts to work for justice, care for a sick friend, pray for a loved one, work for peace in the world?
What is this among so many?
Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, and there was enough to feed everybody. In fact, there were twelve baskets of bread left over. Daniel went home with some of the leftovers and told his mother, "Mom, you won't believe what a good deal I got!"

What is this among so many? This is the question of the disciples. This is our question. It is our question as we as individuals seek to meet the challenges of our lives. It is the question we ask as a church, a small church, in a quickly growing area.
What is this among so many? It is what we have, it is where we are, it is how we are feeling, it is the questions that we are asking, it is the desire for reconciliation in our hearts, it is the gifts we have to share, it is the place where Jesus is ready to begin.
This offering of the young boy, 5 loaves for five thousand people, is the offering that the churches offer to the world on this Sunday, World Communion Sunday. Is it enough? Can the table we have set today, which is similar to tables set all over the world make any difference in the problems of today's world? Can this table and all of its global partners have any effect on the relations between nations, relations between husbands and wives, relations between parents and children? Can this table have anything to say to the problem of world hunger?
What is this among so many?
Little Daniel, didn't ask if what he had was enough, he simply offered what he had.
What this is, is the bread of life broken for you and the cup of life poured out for you and I believe it can make all of the difference in the world because I believe that peace begins with me, with each of us, and healing begins with me, and each of us, and the suffering in the world is sometimes due to individuals who have never been loved, have been broken and never put back together.
Communion puts us back together.

I believe this bread and this cup can make a difference in the world because the world is tightly interconnected- what happens in one country effects all others. What happens in one individual effects so many others- and today all over the world people are taking communion, are hearing the lifegiving word and remembering to give thanks for all that has been received.
I believe this bread and this cup can mean so much to so many because by taking it into our lives we are a part of the resurrection- we are a part of the reality of the Risen Christ- we are a part of a people who are committed to the vision of the kingdom of heaven.
I believe this bread and cup can make a difference in the world because even though we recognize that peace begins with each of us, we are not the only actors in this drama called history. There is a spirit among us, there is a God who created us and there is the word that became flesh and lived with us just long enough that we can never lose hope in our world, in our church, in ourselves.


Let me share a very different kind of story. It's about a truck driver traveling across Interstate 80, and this truck driver was mean, he was exhausted, and he was hungry. He pulled into a little diner and he said to the waitress behind the counter, "What I want is a piece of apple pie and a kind word."
The waitress got him the apple pie and then she became quiet. The truck driver looked up longingly and said, "And the kind word?" She leaned over and whispered in his ear, "If I were you, I wouldn't eat the apple pie."
The world is waiting for a kind word. A True word. And on this day the word we give to the world is communion.
As the world is waiting for a kind word, God has something to say to all of us. God is saying, "I know that I am asking a lot of you. But you must see that though I am concerned for your well-being, I care for everyone's life. I want to see an entire world in communion. And to do that I need you. I need your help. I have never acted alone before, I can't act alone now. I needed Abraham & Sarah, Mary and Jesus, and Daniel and the disciples

and I'm calling you. But I have something for you. Something that will feed you if you let it, something that will renew you if you'll accept forgiveness, something that will nourish you if you are ready for love, something that will give you so much that you'll have some left over to share with one another.
Before you go out into the world, the world that needs to hear a kind word, I want you to be fed. My kind word to you is, if I were you, I would eat this bread, and drink this cup and know that what I have asked of you can and will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Each of you is a loaf of bread. Like those 5 loaves blessed by Jesus I bless you.
That is what God is saying to us.
There were many loaves of bread left over on that day. Daniel got just a few of them. I imagine that those loaves have been shared and passed around and multiplied all over the world and all over the centuries to this very day and this very spot. Imagine you are part of the crowd, not of 5,000, not of 5 million, but of an infinite number of people who have received the healing and forgiving word of life.
Come through the crowd. Offer what you have. Touch the love of God and receive the hope and the healing that you require. Receive the strength and the courage you are looking for.
What is this among so many? This cup and this load of bread. This bread and cup. This church and its people. Each one of us.
Today the word that we offer to the world is communion. And the gift that we have for the world is our Neighbors in Need Offering.
The gifts that we give to today, no matter the individual size are gathered into one large fund of compassion that supports projects all around the country. I was curious as to what kind of projects are actually funded so I went to the United Church of Christ web page, and looked up the list of agencies Neighbors in Need contributed to past year. And I found one called, Peace in the Hood.
In 2006, as part of the Faith of Our Fathers Peace Campaign, the IMANI PEACE PLEDGE has been established to engage youth to commit to non-violence and to encourage others to do the same. The reasoning is based on the proven fact that their fathers as youth were able to bring peace to the city of Philadelphia and the youth of today can do the same.
These fathers, who now are seeing their sons involved in gangs, remembered when they were young boys back in 1974 and they were able, to bring an end to gang warfare in their neighborhoods. One key tool in the “No Gang War In’74” campaign was the IMANI PACT, which was a contractual agreement between each gang member and the community that they would not fight and because they kept their word the gang warfare virtually ended.
Neighbors in Need is supporting Peace in the Hood to bring peace to the city of brotherly love.
One-third of the offering undergirds the work of the Council for American Indian Ministry (CAIM), including much-needed financial support for 20 American Indian congregations in the UCC.
Thinking about Jesus on that hillside filled with hungry people. The miracle, for me, was not in the miraculous creation of fish and bread; it was in the miraculous creation of enabling people to see themselves as neighbors in need and neighbors in blessing. The miracle was in his ability to share his vision with others, namely, to see the people, not in terms of how little they had, but instead on how much they had, if only they would stop seeing themselves as alone and instead would see themselves as intimately and intricately connected. He moved them from fear to trust, from division to community, from individuals to neighbors.
I have seen that in you, First Congregational Church, Murphys, UCC. You have been given a gift. Something given to you by God to carry with you, like Daniel and the five barley loaves and two fish. You have offered what you have, not asking if it is enough, but in gladness. In your support of the youth mission trip to Costa Rica, in support of Habitat for Humanity, the Heifer Project, and the operating budget of your church, in volunteering at everything from the Applecake booth, to the Fashion Show, to the Parish Care Board and Ministries, I have seen your Daniel like dedication. Through you and through churches around the world,the feeding of the 5,000 goes on today.
You a part of the miracle.
And may you continue to be, in familiar and in unexpected ways.
Let the people say,
Amen.