Sermon: “Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit”

Proverbs 11:2

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace; but wisdom is with the humble.”

Scripture:  Matthew 5:1-12

1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Sermon:  “Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit”

I’d like to begin this sermon with a quote from a prophet of old, who once said, “When you ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose.”  The prophet to whom I am referring is, of course, Nobel laureate Bob Dylan, and this is a line from his 1965 song, Like A Rolling Stone.  (I won’t sing it for you, because my impression of Dylan sounds even worse than Dylan himself.)  For those of you who don’t know the song, it is a song about someone of privilege who has fallen upon hard times and is having trouble getting used to it. 

The disciples and crowds, to whom Jesus was speaking in today’s Gospel reading, shared an experience similar to that of the subject of Dylan’s song.  Not that most of them had been people of privilege, but all of them had fallen upon hard times.  The Roman occupation of the Holy Land had taken a toll on the people of Israel; the enormous tax burden alone had crippled the poor and was wiping out the middle class.  The people were trapped in an unjust system that—in the words of one commentator-- was “rigged in favor of the rich and powerful.”  (Interpretation Commentary:  Matthew, p. 38.) 

And to the people who had fallen on hard times, Jesus speaks words, some of which, on the surface, make no sense.  He says, “Blessed are the poor…Blessed are those who mourn…Blessed are the meek…Blessed are those who hunger and thirst…” Jesus’ words are so surprising, they are such a reversal of what we might expect, that it is hard to believe we’ve heard him correctly.

But I think PART of Jesus’ point may be similar to Bob Dylan’s, “When you ain’t got nothin’, you got nothin’ to lose,” which, oddly enough, can be an incredible blessing, in some ways.  Perhaps Jesus is reminding the people:  when you’re not distracted by the material things of life; when things are not going your way; when you suddenly realize that much of what is happening around you is NOT something you can control; then, says Jesus, THEN your hearts and minds can be more free to focus on what is truly MOST important:  deepening connection to God and to our fellow human beings.

Over the next several weeks, I plan to preach a series of sermons on this passage from Matthew that is called “the Beatitudes.”  (The word “beatitude” being based on the Latin word for “blessings.”)  Today, I am focusing on the first beatitude in verse 3—“blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

I learned a lot about the Beatitudes from a little book called The Prayers of the Cosmos--a book I highly recommend if you are interested in gaining new insight into the Beatitudes.  The book is written by a scholar and mystic--Neil Douglas-Klotz-- who examines the Beatitudes and the Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke and in which he preached and taught.  Aramaic, as you may know, is an ancient Middle Eastern Language.  It was the language that all middle eastern people had in common until it was replaced by Arabic--a derivative language-- during the rise of Islam (which started in the 7th century CE.)   You may have thought, as I did at one time, that Jesus spoke and taught only in Hebrew, but Hebrew was a language used primarily for formal worship in the Temple.  Jesus spoke and taught primarily in Aramaic.

Scholars are divided as to which language came first--Aramaic or Hebrew--but either way, Aramaic was the main spoken language of the middle eastern people of Jesus’ day, and interestingly enough, Aramaic continues to be the main language spoken in some parts of Syria to this day and “is still used in the entire church of the East.”  (Douglas-Klotz, p. 2)

To go along with Neil Douglas-Klotz book, you can download an album, where the author reads the Lord’s Prayer and Beatitudes in Aramaic and chants them--and teaches you how to read and chant them as well.  The first thing that struck me in listening to the Aramaic version of the Beatitudes--and learning to speak and chant the words myself--is that the sound of the words themselves have a mystic quality to them that focuses your breathing and your mind and grounds you in the present moment.  The sound of the words themselves remind me of some yoga meditations I’ve done--and some of you may have done as well.   

I would have played Douglas-Klotz speaking today’s beatitude in Aramaic but because of licensing issues on the livestream, I can’t play it.  But I will speak it for you myself, so you get a sense of what it sounded like when Jesus spoke: 

Tubvayhoon l’meskena-ee barukkhh   dill-lhoounay  maaaalkutah  dashmyyyya

-blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven--

Now I want to say a little bit about the meaning of some these words.  (The meanings below are discussed on p. 47 & 48 of Prayers of the Cosmos.) Each word in Aramaic has multiple meanings, which is hard to convey in one English translation.  But Jesus’ original audience--hearing him speak in Aramaic, the language they all spoke-- would have understood the words and the many meanings they represent. 

The first word--Tubvayhoon--is translated into English as “blessed.”  It doesn’t just mean “happy” or “favored by God,” as we primarily understand the word to mean.  In Aramaic, Tubvayhoon also means “aligned with the One” and “tuned to the Source.”  So, playing that out, to be blessed means to consciously choose to align ourselves with God, to get in tune with the melody of God’s love, if you will. 

Other meanings of the word Tubvayhoon--blessed-- include being “healthy” and “healed” and “resisting corruption, possessing integrity.” 

The next words--l’Meskena-ee barukkhh--are translated into English as “poor in Spirit.”  The Aramaic root of the word translated into English as spirit is “rukkhh,” which is similar to the Hebrew word for spirit or breath.  So, some possible English translations of poor in spirit include:

- those who “live by breathing unity.”

- those who “hold fast to the spirit of life.”

- those who “devote themselves to the link of the spirit.”

Further the words “poor in spirit” taken together are actually an Aramaic phrase that means “humble.”  (p. 48) In other words, “Blessed are the humble,” says Jesus,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  

Delving a little bit deeper still into the concept of humility, Leslie Weatherhead, a minister who was preaching and writing in London during World War Two, has a lot to say on the subject of humility.  In a book that examines the meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven, Weatherhead describes the arrogance of world leaders after World War One, who actually thought they had come up with a scheme that would prevent all future wars.  Tragically, their scheme, their plan for Peace, did not work.  The truth they failed to take into account, says Weatherhead, is that humanity cannot legislate love.  REPEAT  (p. 21 of In Quest of a Kingdom.)

Or, to put it another way:  if we human beings think we can fix the world solely on our own, WITHOUT God, if we think that through the right government programs or social reforms, scientific discoveries or economic systems WE can set up God’s Kingdom of Love on earth, we are sorely mistaken. (p. 13)  Blessed are the humble, for they recognize that only God’s Love can truly change the world, and while we and our programs can and should be vessels for that change, the change does not start with us, it starts with God.  It starts with prayer. 

A modern English translation of verse 3, reads:  “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope.  With less of you there is more of God and God’s rule.”  (The Message, Matthew 5:3.) 

So, what does all of this mean for us?  Is it just a bunch of interesting semantics?  Or could it impact our lives and our world in some way?

That’s a question, of course, that each of us have to [prayerfully answer for ourselves.  But let me share how it impacts me.  What I take from this passage and this scholarship is that my primary job as human being--an individual and a church member-- is to align myself with God’s Love, God’s kingdom, God’s rule.  (Oh--another interesting thing that is clear in Aramaic is that “kingdom” is a gender inclusive term.  The word translated “kingdom”--Malkutah--shares the same root as a name used for “The Great Mother” in the middle east thousands years before Jesus.) (D-K, p. 20)

But let me get back to the impact of this text on my life.  I see this teaching as telling me--perhaps us?-- that my/our first job is to take time each day, multiple times a day, to pray and to breathe in God’s love and to first let it change US, body, mind, and spirit.  And when we see things in our world that worry us, that trouble us, that frighten us, that anger us, our primary response needs NOT to be blame--as in, how can those other people make the world so rotten?!  Our primary response needs to be humility, which is opposite of the contentious spirit running rampant in our world today.  Humility gives us the perspective to recognize that WE too are flawed and we cannot change the world by ourselves alone.  We must begin by bringing our concerns to God and asking God to first help us change, and THEN, use us to change the world.

Which makes me think of a song by 1980’s pop star, Michael Jackson.  (I know Michael Jackson was a flawed human being, but some of his music was amazing.) 

The lyrics to the song I’m thinking of go like this, (and again, I will not sing it…)

“I’m gonna make a change, for once in my life

It’s gonna feel real good, gonna make a difference

Gonna make it right... I’m starting with the man in the mirror

I’m asking him to change his ways

And no message could have been any clearer

If you wanna make the world a better place

Take a look at yourself, and then make a change.”

My friends, I know all of us want to make the world a better place.  That’s part of why we come to church—to help align ourselves with God, with Jesus and his teachings.  So, may today’s Scripture readings inspire each of us each of us to start with ourselves, humbly asking God to change us in the ways we need to be changed.  Then, as we align ourselves with those changes, may God make us channels of change and blessing in the world.  Amen.  

[Earlier versions of this sermon were preached in November, 2011 and January, 2017, and February, 2019.] 

Sermon: “Blessed Are Those Who Mourn”

Matthew 5:1-4

1When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Sermon:  “Blessed Are Those Who Mourn”

A few years ago, my little 5-year-old next door neighbor came over to tell me that her cat had died, and long story short, I ended up conducting a funeral for the cat in their back yard.  At the funeral, family members and friends shared stories and prayers and poems.  It was actually quite moving.  We even sang an adapted version of a song by Cat Stephens, no pun intended, “Moonshadow.”  The five-year-old had changed the words to, “I’m being followed by a kitty shadow, kitty shadow, kitty shadow.”  We ended the service with that song, and it made everyone smile despite their tears over losing their beloved pet. 

But, humor aside, such losses—whether of a beloved pet, hope,  dream, or person-- are painful.  Rabbi Earl A. Grollman, a pioneer in the field of crisis intervention, writes, “Grief is unbearable heartache, sorrow, loneliness.”  When you are in deep mourning, Rabbi Grollman says, “You find no pleasure in anything or anyone.  You feel naked, unprotected.”  (Living When a Loved One Has Died, p. 14 & 43.) 

We have all felt that raw feeling of mourning a loss, haven’t we? 

Today is the second week of a sermon series I am doing on part of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” called the Beatitudes.  Today we are looking at the second beatitude--or blessing, found in Matthew, chapter 5, verse 4, where Jesus says, “Bless-ed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”  

This is a tough beatitude to read, I think.  I have to admit that my first response--my gut response-- to Jesus’ words in this verse is bewilderment, disbelief, even anger.  How can mourning--how can feeling deep sorrow--be connected to blessing?  To even suggest that connection almost feels like Jesus is glossing over the pain of grief, like he is glibly uttering some kind of platitude like, “Don’t worry, be happy…  Chin up--It’s not that bad...  Tomorrow’s another day.” 

But, thanks be to God, that is not what Jesus is saying.  The actual meaning of his words becomes clearer when we look at them in the original language that Jesus spoke, Aramaic. What I’ve learned about the Aramaic words of Jesus comes from this little book by scholar and mystic, Neil Douglas-Klotz, and the companion CD that goes with it.  Last week we noted that Aramaic was an ancient language spoken by people in the middle east and still spoken in some parts of Syria to this day.  Aramaic words have multiple meanings, and it is hard to convey all of those meanings in just one English translation.  So, this week, we will look into the various meanings of the words used in verse 4, in order to get a fuller picture of what Jesus said. 

First of all, to give you a sense of what the beatitude sounds like in Aramaic, let me read the words.  Let me ask Steve to put up a slide so you can see the phonetic pronunciation:  Tubvayhoon   La-wi-lay,     dih-hih-known    net-bye-yoon.  [Note:  the phonetic spellings listed here are my adaptations of Douglas-Klotz’ phonetic spellings listed on p. 50]

- Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

- Let me repeat that a couple of times.  [M:  REPEAT 2X]

(Thank you, Steve! [STEVE TAKES DOWN SLIDE]

Let me delve into the meaning of the three key words in this passage.

First of all, Tubvayhoon.  We looked at this word last week, but it’s worth a review.  Tubvayhoon, translated into English as blessed, does not simply mean “happy” or “favored,” which are the most popular English definitions.  In Aramaic, Tubvayhoon has multiple definitions, and the fullest meaning of the word is reached when we put all of those definitions together.  “Blessed” in Aramaic also means,

-         “Healthy,”

-         “Healed,”

-         “Aligned with the One,” [aligned with God, God’s love, God’s values.  Like aligning tires on your car…J]

-         “Tuned to the Source.”  [Tuned to God, like you would tune a musical instrument so it would be in tune with itself and others…]

The next Aramaic word in this beatitude is La-wi-lay, which Neil Douglas-Klotz says, “can mean ‘mourners’…but in Aramaic it also carries the sense of those who long deeply for something to occur, those troubled or in emotional turmoil, or those who are weak and in want from such longing.”  (D-K, p. 51) Hearing these definitions of the word La-wi-lay made me think of Andrew Wyeth’s famous painting Christina’s World.  I’ll ask Steve to put it up on the screen now for a minute.  I bet you know the painting I’m talking about--a website refers to it as “one of the best known American paintings of the middle 20th century.  It depicts a woman, Anna Christina Olson, crawling across a treeless field, looking toward a gray house, a barn and various other outbuildings on the horizon.” (artsnfood.blogspot.com)  Even though you do not see the woman’s face, the longing in her body language is palpable as she leans and reaches toward home.

- Thank you, Steve!  [steve takes down slide]

The final Aramaic word in this beatitude is net-bye-yoon.  Douglas-Klotz says, “netbayun can mean ‘comforted,’ but also connotes:

·        being returned from wandering,

·        being united inside by love,

·        feeling an inner continuity, or

·        seeing the arrival of (literally the face of) what one longs for.”  (D-K, p. 51) Going back to the analogy of the Wyeth painting, it would be the woman finally arriving at the house, seeing the faces of her loved ones, and being swept up into their arms. 

So, taking these expanded definitions into account, Neil Douglas-Klotz offers several possible translations of Tubvayhoon   La-wi-lay,     dih-hih-known    net-bye-yoon. 

The four that spoke most to me were:

·        Healthy are those weak and overextended for their purpose; they shall feel their inner flow of strength return.

·        Healed are those who weep for their frustrated desire; they shall see the face of fulfillment in a new form.

·        Tuned to the Source are those feeling deeply confused by life; they shall be returned from their wandering.

·        Aligned with the One are the mourners; they shall be comforted. 

(D-K, p. 51)

Being in the state of mourning--or longing deeply for something--can, paradoxically, make us more open to God.  It can be one avenue through which we can connect more deeply to God and to each other. 

We know what that’s like, don’t we?  We know what it is like to experience a deep pain, to mourn a loss, and, in our mourning, to share a deep connection with the people around us, in whose faces we see compassion and recognition.  I dare say that is part of why we come to church.  We come because we know that we are not alone.  We know that the people in the pews around us--and those who participate on line and share prayer requests-- have also experienced both the pain of loss AND the joy of healing.  We know they walk with us in faith and understand what we are going through.  In worship, we experience together the joy of smiling through our tears because we believe in God’s promise that death, that loss, is not the final end of things.  Bless-ed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.

There is an old Swedish proverb that goes something like this, “Joy that is shared is doubled; sorrow that is shared is cut in half.”  We know that to be true, don’t we?  Even when we are feeling raw, we trust that when we share our sorrows with the God who loves us, and with our brothers and sisters in faith, our sorrows are cut in half and our joys are doubled. 

One of the difficulties of this Covid pandemic that we have been living through is that our normal way of connecting face to face with each other was severely curtailed, and sometimes completely cut off.  We have been mourners, la-wi-lay, those who long for each other’s faces.  We have had to be creative and find new ways of connecting virtually, and it hasn’t been easy.

As we transition out of this pandemic and learn to live with an endemic, may we continue to seek the comfort of God’s face in each other.  May we not give up connecting, even when it is hard.  May we continue to look for and find opportunities to comfort one another-- in-person, on-line and through note-writing and phone calls. 

And may we proclaim the truth of  Tubvayhoon   La-wi-lay,     dih-hih-known    net-bye-yoon. 

Healed are those who weep for their frustrated desire; they shall see the face of fulfillment in a new form.

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

Franklin, MA

Note:  Earlier versions of this sermon were preached in Manchester, NH in Feb ’17 and Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA in Feb 19.

Sermon: “Was Jesus Political?

Scripture Reading:  Luke 4:14-21

The Beginning of Jesus’ Galilean Ministry

14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Sermon:  “Was Jesus Political?

As some of you may know, I grew up in an evangelical Christian family.  I was taught at an early age that believing in Jesus and trusting him to save our individual souls was the most important thing that anyone could do.  That mindset permeated every aspect of my life, as was illustrated by one of my favorite jokes when I was a teenager, which went something like this:  A girl is sitting in a theatre and next to her is an empty seat.  Someone comes up and asks the girl, “Excuse me, is this seat saved?”  And the girl’s response is:  “No, but I’m praying for it!”  Get it?  “saved!”  Salvation was always on our minds…

So, if someone had come up to me when I was a teenager and asked me, “Was Jesus political?”  Which, no one ever did, but if they had, I am sure that my response would have been, “No, of course not, Jesus doesn’t care about politics.  He cares about our souls.” 

The Social Justice Team here at Franklin Federated Church is reading a book called, The Politics of Jesus.  It was recommended to us by Rev. Harris, who led the Diversity Training that many of us took part in last fall.  By the way, if you are interested in reading and discussing this book with the Social Justice Team, you are welcome to.  We have discussed the first part of the book--and we’ll have another discussion of the second part of the book on February 23rd by Zoom, and anyone is welcome to join us.

The author of the book, Obery M. Hendricks, Jr., had a similar upbringing to mine--in terms of the emphasis of his family and his church on the salvation of individual souls.  (For the record, he doesn’t mention any corny religious jokes. J)   His book chronicles how his understanding of Jesus changed as he grew up and began to reflect on the causes of human suffering and what the Scriptures have to say about it.  It’s fair to say that Obery Hendricks dedicated his life to understanding the ministry of Jesus and how it relates to the human condition.  He became a Biblical scholar, professor, and president of a seminary.  He kept his passion for Jesus and Jesus’ teachings, and, the more he studied, the more Dr. Hendricks began to see that Jesus’ emphasis wasn’t only--or even mainly--on saving individual souls so that people could get into heaven--rather, Jesus’ emphasis was on liberation:  freeing people now, in this life, from “fear and oppression and exploitation.”  (p. 4)

He says this on p. 5 of his book:

…Jesus of Nazareth was a political revolutionary.  Now, to say that he was “political” doesn’t mean that he sought to start yet another protest party in Galilee.  Nor does it mean that he was ‘involved in politics’ in the sense that we know it today, with its bargaining and compromises and power plays and partisanship.  And it certainly doesn’t mean that he wanted to wage war or overthrow the Roman Empire by force.

          To say that Jesus was a political revolutionary is to say that the message he proclaimed not only called for change in individual hearts but also demanded sweeping and comprehensive change in the political, social and economic structures in his setting in life:  colonized Israel…

That is quite a sweeping statement, I realize, but what I love about this book is that Obery Hendricks gives specifics:  example after example of how our Scriptures bear this out. 

Today’s Scripture Reading, set by the Lectionary, is a case in point.  In this sermon, I am going to dive into various aspects of this Scripture and then talk about how it could apply to us today.  Today’s reading describes Jesus speaking in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth at the beginning of his ministry.  The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary refers to today’s passage as a “keynote” to the entire ministry of Jesus, “setting the perspective from which it is to be understood.” (NIB, p. 102) As was the custom in synagogue worship in Jesus’ day, Jesus stood up to read, and when the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, he unrolled it and chose the passage he wanted to read.  We would identify the passage he read as coming from Isaiah, Chapter 61, verse 1, and Isaiah 58:6.  After he read, Jesus sat down to teach, in the posture of a first century rabbi.

The verses Jesus read clearly lay out his understanding of what he was called by God to do:

1.     To bring good news to the poor

2.     To proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind

3.     To let the oppressed go free

4.     To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Obery Hendricks in his book examines each of these callings.  I will take each in turn, and highlight Hendricks’ main points. 

1.     To bring good news to the poor.  Dr. Hendricks points out that the Greek word used here for poor is ptochois, which “indicates a collective or class identity.”  In other words, Jesus’ ministry will involve bringing radical change to the literal circumstances of a whole group of people whom the institutions of society have kept down. (p. 8)  We in the church sometimes gloss over the fact that Jesus was speaking of literal poverty here.  When we read the word “poor” in the gospels, our minds may naturally jump to a metaphorical interpretation, associating it with the phrase “poor in spirit” used in the Sermon on the Mount.  But the phrase “poor in spirit” comes from the Gospel of Matthew, and it’s not a phrase that Luke uses.  When Jesus in the Gospel of Luke speaks of the poor, it is always literal poverty that he is addressing.  In Luke’s gospel, Jesus makes it clear that God is committed to drastically changing the actual circumstances of the poor, not just changing their spiritual state.  (Eg, Luke 14:13, 21; 16:20, 22; 18:22; 21:3) 

2.     To proclaim release to the captives.  Hendricks asserts that it would have been obvious to Jesus’ contemporaries-- and those in the early church hearing these words-- that Jesus was calling for the literal release of people who were unjustly suffering in Roman prisons.  It was common knowledge that “Roman jails were full of political prisoners and those reduced to penury by economic exploitation.”  (p. 8)  And when Jesus proclaimed “recovery of sight to the blind,” he was not just speaking metaphorically there either.  Roman prisons were places where captives literally sat in darkness, far from the light of day, unable to see the world around them.  I Googled “Roman prisons in the first century” and found this description:  “[Roman prisons were] “filthy, poorly ventilated, and underground.”  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_ancient_Rome#:~:text=The%20prisons%20were%20filthy%2C%20poorly,not%20have%20had%20individual%20cells.)  Hendricks’ assertion is that Jesus is making a political statement here by calling for the literal release of people unfairly locked away in the dark depths of Roman prisons. 

3.     To let the oppressed go free.  Hendricks points out that the word translated into English as “oppressed” is from the Greek word thraw-o, which means “oppress or crush” and refers to those experiencing the “crushing weight of the empire.” (p. 8)  And when Jesus says

4.     To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, he is referring to the practice of “Jubilee” described in the Hebrew Scriptures, the book of Leviticus, chapter 25, where after a 49 year cycle, land that had been sold off as a last resort to pay creditors or had been unjustly acquired in some way had to be returned to the family of its original owners, in order to maintain a fair and just distribution of wealth among the people. 

After quoting these specific verses from the prophet Isaiah, and then sitting down in the posture of a rabbi to say, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” it would have been clear to all listening to him what Jesus understood to be his calling from God.  Jesus understood his ministry to be dedicated to making sweeping changes to society, which is a political act.  (Politics being defined by my dictionary app as “activities associated with the governance of a country or other area…especially when concerned with power and status in a society…) 

Okay, I know today’s sermon style has been more academic than my usual style, so let me stop here and turn to more traditional preaching--bringing it home with the question, what difference does all of this make to us?  That, of course, is a question each of us needs to sit with in prayer, but let me suggest some possibilities, beginning by sharing what difference it makes to me.   

Since Jesus didn’t spiritualize people’s predicaments or tell them that they should simply put up with suffering, then neither should I.  If Jesus emphasized that the Spirit of God called him to address the politics of his day, then as someone who calls myself a follower of Jesus, I should not be afraid to follow in his footsteps and prayerfully address the politics of my day.    

If Jesus proclaimed relief for those who were crushed by the economic system of his day, liberation for those who were unfairly victimized by the justice system, and reparations for those who were treated unfairly, then I should do the same. 

Can I--can we-- identify places in our society where we see these things happening?  The erosion of voting rights, for example.  The disproportionate number of African Americans in our prisons.  The way climate change affects the poor much more than the rich or even middle class.  I’m sure you can think of other examples as well.  Can we speak out when we see unfair discrimination happening?  Can we ask questions?  Can we vote for local, state, and federal politicians who prioritize the needs of the poor and minorities, the people whom Jesus prioritized?  Can we call out politicians who prioritize the interests of the rich over the interests of the poor?  Can we look for and listen to the experiences of people who have been victims of oppression and ask them how we could help rather than assuming that we already know how? 

May God be with us--each and all-- as we prayerfullly figure out how to get involved in political action for Jesus’ sake. 

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

Franklin, MA

Sermon: “Filling up the Emptiness”

Scripture:  John 2:1-11

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.  When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “they have no wine.”  And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?  My hour has not yet come.”  His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”  Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.  Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.”  And they filled them up to the brim.  He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.”  So they took it.  When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk.  But you have kept the good wine until now.”  Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. 

 Sermon:  “Filling up the Emptiness”

The first part of our scripture passage today reads like a short story by Hemingway—the details are very sparse.  On the 3rd day there is a wedding in Cana of Galilee.  Jesus is there.  The mother of Jesus is there.  So are the disciples.  But the gospel writer is not telling me anything I want to know about this wedding!  Who are the bride and groom?  How are they connected to Jesus and his mother?  Are they followers of Jesus—or were they simply friends from the neighborhood?

But, these details are not important to the gospel writer.  What is important?  Apparently the answer is to be found in verse 6, because this is where the writer finally offers up an abundance of details:

 “Now standing there are six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 to 30 gallons.” 

I paid enough attention in high school English class to know that when a writer spends a lot of time and energy describing something, there is usually some symbolism that we are supposed to pay attention to. 

So, I invite you to reflect on the jars with me this morning. 

First of all, they’re empty.  They were supposed to hold water for religious rituals, rituals of purification, of hand-washing that would normally have been performed at meals and feasts, but they’re holding nothing.

The emptiness of the jars suggests a lot to me.

Maybe the religious rituals themselves were empty.  Maybe the rituals no longer held meaning for the people, so the jars sat unused, pushed aside, irrelevant to the lives of the couple getting married—and their guests. 

Or maybe the empty jars point to the emptiness of the people.  We all know that emptiness is part of the human experience.  There are times when all of us feel empty—when loss leaves a void in our lives, when work is unfulfilling, when we lose faith in someone we used to respect-- a partner, a colleague, a leader of our country.  At those times we may well feel like a cold, stone jar—that’s supposed to be brimming with water and life, but instead has nothing inside. 

But then something happens.  Our scripture passage today is an Epiphany story.  In church, we are in the season of Epiphany, the time of the year that we celebrate those “ah-ha” moments when the light gets turned on.  In our story, the light of God’s glory shines through Jesus into those jars.  At Jesus’ request, the servants fill the jars with water, and when they draw some out, it becomes wine. 

And not just cheap wine, like the kind that comes in a box, but good wine.  In fact, such good wine, that the wine steward can’t even believe it!  And not just a few drops of it either.  The gospel writer was eager to tell us that each jar holds 20 to 30 gallons, so if we do the math, we’re talking 120 to 180 gallons of good wine.  Clearly an abundance. 

Some of the first readers of the gospel would, no doubt, have recognized the symbol of abundant wine in this story, for it was a common motif in Greek folklore.  In Greek folklore, a miraculous supply of wine was often a sign of the presence of a god.   Further, and perhaps more relevant to our story, many of the first readers of this gospel would also know that in the writings of the Hebrew Bible, an abundance of good wine was a sign of the joyous arrival of God’s new age. 

So, what is this story trying to get across?  That the time of empty religious rituals is over.  That our time of personal emptiness will have an end.   God is present in our daily lives and can take our emptiness and fill it with joy and hope.  Not that our circumstances will always—or even often—miraculously improve overnight, but as we ask God to fill us, God will do just that—and bring us the joy and hope that we may not have dared to believe was possible. 

Let me give you an example.  Years ago I had a friend who told me about a very empty time in her life.  She was between jobs, her marriage was falling apart, and she told me that at the time she felt so depressed that she didn’t even have the energy to make herself a tuna-fish sandwich.  But slowly, she got her life back on track.  She put her faith in God, she found a good therapist, she found a job she liked, and she was able to stay strong even when her marriage ended.  It took lots of prayer and a concerted effort to keep moving ahead one step at a time (sometimes it was 2 steps forward, one back), but as she moved forward step by step, God filled up her empty jar with good, new wine, more than she ever thought possible. 

I believe that God’s Spirit still works to fill up empty jars-- not only on a personal level, but also on a political one.   These days with the pandemic dragging on and daily news of more political rancor within and between countries, exhaustion and anxiety is constantly nipping at everyone’s heels.  And, if we’re not vigilant, we can find ourselves empty, as individuals and a country-- our emotional and physical reserves spent before we even realize they’re gone.  And what’s worse, when we’re feeling exhausted and empty, it is so much easier to re-fill our reserves with bitterness and hate rather than with God’s good wine. 

But we are not called to do what is easy.  We, as Christians, are called to follow Jesus.  We are called to look to God both in times of joy and in times of crisis.  We are called to ground ourselves in God’s Love, as our Scripture from last week reminded us, and then we are called to step out in faith, asking God to fill us with good wine--not for our own sake alone, but so that we can be used by God to bless our world. 

On this Martin Luther King weekend, we remember his strong witness to God’s Love in a world that was often hostile to his message.  But what always strikes me most about Rev. Dr. King’s life and witness is that he effected change not through hate but through love.  Rev. King had every reason to hate the people who railed against him, the people who threatened him and his family and demeaned him for the color of his skin and the audacity of his message, but he did not give in to hate.  He grounded himself in God’s Love, and he continued to find the courage to speak out against injustice--preaching equality and calling out unjust behavior,  in ways that did not demean the humanity of his enemies. 

Let me quote a portion of Rev. Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, which was the keynote address given in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington for Civil Rights.  Commenting on the way the vast majority of his hearers-- regardless of their race--reacted to the call for justice in this speech, Rev. Dr. King’s wife Coretta King once said, “At that moment, it seemed as if the Kingdom of God appeared.  But it lasted only for a moment.” 

Rev. Dr. King writes:

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.  We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.  We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.  Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force…We cannot turn back.  There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?”  We can ever be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality…We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one…  We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.  No, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. 

Powerful words, aren’t they?!  And it’s clear that nearly 60 years later we still have work to do.  My friends, in our world today, we are called to do that work.  We are called to follow the example of Dr. King.   We are called to invite God’s Love to fill and re-fill us daily--through prayer and meditation--as Jesus filled the empty jars at the wedding with good wine.  And then, from that centered position, we are called to live out that love by seeking justice for all people--in both personal and political arenas, as Dr. King did, as Jesus did, speaking out for those whom society demeans.  May God use us to love our neighbors, ourselves and our enemies, and may God strengthen us to preach equality and to call out unjust behavior wherever we see it-- in our enemies, our neighbors, and even in ourselves.  Let us pray: 

Infinite God of all peoples and all places, you created the earth, with its mountains and valleys, oceans and plains, and you have filled it with extravagant abundance.  Yet humanity has parceled out your good earth in unequal shares and built great armaments to protect our separate parcels.  Forgive us, O God, and teach us how to share.  Make us more generous on a personal level, and give us the courage and strength to incorporate generosity into our human systems on a political level.  Rid us of injustice and discrimination, that all may share in your bounty.  Breathe your Spirit of unity into all peoples, that the world may live in harmony, and war shall be no more; through Jesus, the power of peace, we pray. 

Hear now our specific prayers.  First, for our country and our world.

As the spike in Covid cases continues to increase, we pray for health care professionals.  We pray for those who are sick themselves, and pray that they recover quickly.  We pray for those who are overworked and stressed--that you will help them to find times to rest physically and emotionally--and that they stay alert and able to work when they are on duty. 

We pray for people who are still fearful of the vaccine or feel it is unnecessary.  Help them to trust their own doctors’ advice and get vaccinated for their own sake and their families--and to prevent hospital overcrowding which is causing pain and deepening illness for more and more people.

- Afghan refugee family re-settling in Franklin area this week.

[An earlier version of this sermon was written and preached by Marlayna on Jan 14, 2007.  ]

Sermon: “Soaking in the Spirit”

Scripture Reading:  Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Sermon:  “Soaking in the Spirit”

Do you ever feel frantic?  Unsettled?  Off-kilter?  I know I did last week when I had to go to the dentist fearful that I needed a root canal!  But root canals aren’t the only things that unsettle us.  Everyday life can be pretty unsettling even in the best of times, never-mind when we’re all trying to navigate the shifting sands of a pandemic.  You know what I’m talking about.  Between work, children, grand-children, parents, volunteering, managing a household, taking care of ourselves, staying informed, doing what we can to make the world a better place--all while attempting to manage the ever-changing protocols around Covid, our lives can get very full-- and sometimes that fullness spills over into franticness.  I say sometimes, but these days it seems to be more often than not.  Doesn’t it?! 

Now, before I increase our collective anxiety level any more than I have already, let me tell you some good news.  (Of course, this is news which you already know, but we can all stand to be reminded of.)  There are things we can do to counteract the franticness in our lives.  There are things we can do to be more centered, more at peace, calmer, more tranquil. 

And you’re all doing one of those things right now.  It’s like that old TV commercial from the 1970’s, when Madge, the manicurist, is trying to sell her client on the curative properties of Palmolive dishwashing liquid.  You may remember it.  As a woman is getting her nails done, she has her hand submerged in what she thought was a moisturizing solution, but then Madge tells her, “No, it’s Palmolive.  Dishwashing liquid.  You’re soaking in it.”  (If you’re too young to remember this commercial--I’m jealous!  I mean, you can look it up on You-tube. J)

But, my point is this--similar to the woman whose hand is submerged in Palmolive, you are submerged in worship right now.  You are soaking in God’s peace (which, incidentally, is much better for you than dishwashing liquid.)  You have taken an hour out of your schedule, and you have come here, to this sacred space-- in-person or virtually--to this place which has light pouring in the windows and crosses in the architecture reminding us of God’s love and power to resurrect new life out of hopeless situations.  You have come here to let music and singing lift your spirits.  You have come here to pray and to breathe and to remind yourself that there is something larger than just us.  That life has meaning.  That God is with you.  That Jesus walks by your side.

You have come to hear the ancient stories of scripture, which are full of life-giving symbols.  Symbols, that when meditated upon, when allowed to soak into our psyche, can alleviate and disarm franticness.  

Take today’s scripture passage, for instance.  The story of Jesus’ baptism is one of the most powerful, evocative stories in all of scripture.  Jesus walks down into the waters of the Jordan River, where he is baptized by his cousin, John, and then, when he is coming up out of the water, the heavens open, and the Spirit of God descends on him, like a dove, and he hears a voice from heaven saying, “You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.”

This is a story that I meditate on when I am feeling frantic.  

I thought I would share with you today one of the techniques that I use to meditate on Scripture.  I share it with you because I didn’t learn how to meditate on Scripture until I went to seminary--I didn’t even know that meditation was a thing that Christians did.  I thought it was part of only Eastern religions.  I wish I’d learned about it much sooner in church.  So all that to say, if you already know how to meditate on Scripture, I hope this will be a helpful review.  but if you don’t know how or it’s not part of your devotional practice, I hope this technique is something you consider trying.  (There are other techniques as well that help us meditate on Scripture, but I’ll just go over one in today’s sermon.) 

I read through a Scripture passage, and when a phrase speaks to me, stands out for some reason, I repeat it over and over again throughout the day.  Sometimes I say it out loud; sometimes I repeat it silently to myself.  Using today’s passage as an example, the phrase that stands out most to me is God saying to Jesus, “You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.”  This phrase became a mantra for me this week as I prepared for this sermon.  As I repeated it to myself, I changed the word “son” to “child” and I imagined God saying it not just to Jesus, but to me as well.  And I soaked in the peace of the Spirit. 

A cool thing about meditation is when we repeat a phrase over and over again, whether we are sitting with our eyes closed in prayer or going about our day doing other things, sometimes insights come to us which feel like a surprise gift from God.  In fact, this happened to me yesterday.  I was repeating the phrase in my head “You are my child, the beloved, with you I am well pleased” while I was driving to Walgreens on a mundane errand, and I had a sudden insight.  When I was repeating the phrase, it suddenly occurred to me that God declared God’s love and favor to Jesus before Jesus had started his ministry.  Before Jesus had done anything noteworthy or noble or particularly amazing, God declares God’s love and favor.  In other words, Jesus did not earn God’s favor, God loved Jesus simply because he was God’s child, he belonged to God.  It occurred to me that the same thing is true of us.  We do not need to do anything to earn God’s favor; we’ve already got it.  God looks at us and loves us from the beginning simply because we are God’s children.  And that’s an insight that came to me through meditation, thanks be to God.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that meditation should be our only spiritual discipline.  (There are many other important spiritual disciples, such as study, intercessory prayer, care for each other).  I’m also not saying that meditation alone will magically solve all of the world’s problems.  What I am saying is that meditating on Scripture is one excellent technique to counteract the franticness that is part of our daily lives, franticness that adds to the tensions in our world. 

And meditating on this passage in particular helps to ground us in the love of God.  Which may be part of the reason why the people who put together the lectionary (the list of readings set for Sunday mornings in churches across the country) always include the accounts of Jesus’ baptism on the second Sunday of the new year.  They want us to start off each year grounded in God’s love.  I’m sure that’s not the whole reason why they’ve chosen this reading for this day, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were part of the reason.

And here’s why that’s important.  When we are grounded in the love of God, when we truly believe that we are God’s beloved children, then our actions flow out of a place of peace and wholeness.  When we are grounded in God’s love, then we act in ways that are in sync with God’s values of justice and inclusion.  When we are grounded in God’s love, we do not lash out in anger with our hackles up.  We do not try to get our own way at the expense of others or forge ahead with our own plans that do not take others’ needs into account.  We listen and care and take stands and speak out and allow God to work in and through us-- and we pray for God to work in and through others as well--because we know that God loves the whole world, not just us. Or people like us.

When we act from a centered place like this, then our actions are deliberate, compassionate, and blessed. 

In this new year, may we meditate more on Scripture, and may we meditate on this Scripture in particular.  May we see ourselves as God’s beloved children, baptized by God’s Spirit, empowered to be instruments of God’s Love and Peace in the world, as Jesus was. 

In just a minute, I am going to invite you to participate in

renewal of Baptism ritual.  No pressure.  If you don’t want to participate, feel free to just sit prayerfully where you are and know that God’s love is with you.

But, if you’d like to participate, here’s what I ask you to do.

In a moment, I am going to read the questions on the screen, which are the traditional questions from the UCC book of worship asked at the baptism of an adult, and I invite you to read the responses. 

As you read, I invite you to picture yourself grounded in God’s love, blessed by God’s Spirit, and empowered to act in the world guided by God.

After the questions, I will invite you to take your little bottle of hand sanitizer, squeeze some out onto your hands, and place some on your own forehead, as a reminder of your own baptism.  I chose to use hand santizer today instead of water not because of its magical, germ-killing properties, but because it is a ubiquitous element in our lives these days--even more ubiquitous than water, and I believe the best religious rituals incorporate elements from our everyday lives and imbue them with new meaning.  It is my hope that from now on, every time you use hand sanitizer, you will think of this worship service and remember that you    blessed by God’s love to be God’s agents for good in the world.   

If you have not yet been baptized, please still feel free to participate, as I am sure Jesus would want you to be included.

RENEWAL OF BAPTISMAL VOWS

Pastor:   Do you desire to be baptized into the faith and family of Jesus Christ?

ALL:     I do.

Pastor:    Do you renounce the powers of evil and desire the freedom of new life in Christ?

ALL:      I do.

Pastor:    Do you profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior?

ALL:     I do.

Pastor:    Do you promise, by the grace of God, to be Christ’s disciple, to follow in the way of our Savior, to resist oppression and evil, to show love and justice, and to witness to the work and word of Jesus Christ as best you are able? 

ALL:     I promise, with the help of God.

Pastor:    Do you promise, according to the grace given you, to grow in the Christian faith and to be a faithful member of the church of Jesus Christ, celebrating Christ’s presence and furthering Christ’s mission in all the world?

ALL:     I promise, with the help of God. 

Pastor:          I now invite you to spread some sanitizer on your hands and place some of it on your forehead as a reminder of your baptism.  

Let us pray…  Loving God. We thank you for the words of Scripture that remind us of your great love.  We thank you for the gift of baptism, reminding us not only that you love us, but that you also call us to mirror the love and justice of Jesus out in the world.  Forgive us for those times when we cling to our fear, our guilt, or our self-hatred, rather than letting ourselves be warmed and healed by your compassion.  Give us courage to trust you and to let your love flow through us to others.

[An earlier version of this sermon was written by Marlayna and preached on January 13, 2008]

Material not used in this sermon:

A second technique that I use when meditating:  I use my imagination and I picture myself as a participant in the story.  For example, with today’s Scripture, in my mind’s eye I picture myself right there getting baptized along with Jesus.  I imagine what it’s like to be walking barefoot into the Jordon River, to feel the gritty sand ooze between my toes; to feel the cool water splash against my ankles and shins—and then against my forehead as I am baptized.  I imagine what it is like to come up out of the river and to see the clouds part, and the Spirit descending like a dove; to feel the soft feathers of the Spirit’s wings brush gently against my shoulders.  Such visualizations enable us more fully to soak in the peace of the Spirit.

A third technique that I use when meditating:  I focus on one symbol that is present in the passage, and I let my mind run with it.  For example, I see in my mind’s eye the heavens opening and the Spirit of God descending slowly and gracefully like a dove.  And I remember other times when the image of the Dove or the Holy Spirit is mentioned in Scripture.  The Spirit of God, like a dove, hovered over the face of the waters during the story of creation.  The Spirit of God, like a dove, brought news to Noah that the flood waters had subsided and hope was on the horizon.  Then I picture the Spirit of God, like a dove, descending on the world today, and bringing peace to all people, including places that are fraught with tension that need Peace beyond what we humans seem to be able to bring right now:  places such as the border of Ukraine where thousands of Russian troops still remain; immigrant detention centers in Europe and Mexico and Arizona; the United States Congress, where divisions between the parties seem to deepen with each new day.  I picture the Spirit of God descending like a dove.  Such visualizations enable us to expand our compassion for others.

Story: “The Lion who Feared,” written by Roger L. Robbinnolt (slightly adapted) Retold by Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Scripture:  Matthew 2:1-12                                       

The Visit of the Wise Men

1In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
    who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

Story:  “The Lion who Feared,” written by Roger L. Robbinnolt (slightly adapted)  Retold by Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

[Note:  This story follows the story told on Christmas Eve about a unicorn visiting the manger.]

The lion had spent most of his life developing his roar.  He was not a happy beast.  His father had given him little attention as a cub—being intent upon strengthening his own position as the king of all the beasts in the immediate area through skilled lionic diplomacy.  His mother was a dreamer who spent hours [each day] watching imaginary landscapes in the clouds and wishing she were there. His brothers and sisters teased him unmercifully because one front leg was a bit shorter than the other.  He rolled in an odd way as he walked.

The lion became a loner.   He spent hours [each day] hidden in a cave developing a ferocious roar.  When he was ready, he stood at the top of a low hill.  The sound of his angry voice reverberated off the nearby cliffs.  Shepherds gathered their flocks in anxious knots.  Ravens dropped from flight in sheer fright.

The lion was pleased.  He too could rule the countryside.  He would not reign by his father’s diplomacy but with the weapon of fear.

His tactic worked.  Sheepherders put extra sharp-horned rams on guard duty with the flocks.  As the lion’s roar engulfed fields and villages, unwise parents would say to troubled children, “You do what I tell you, or I’ll leave you out for the lion to eat!”

One cold winter’s day, the troubled beast stood on a hilltop watching unusually large crowds of people streaming toward the nearby town [of Bethlehem.]  He kept a sharp eye out for straying pack animals.  He saw none.  His hunger deepened. 

When night fell, he quietly crept toward a flock of sheep, trying to avoid the guardian rams whose sharp horns could slit open the belly of a lion.  If he was lucky, he might sneak up on a lost sheep.  

At that moment, the night silence was [suddenly] embroidered with angelic songs heard more in the heart than the ear.  When the sky blazed, the lion momentarily wished for his mother.  She would have loved the display.  The lion saw the shepherds embrace in fear and hope.  When he sensed the words concerning a babe born in Bethlehem, he saw the shepherds choose prize lambs from the flock and, leaving a ram in charge, rush toward the village.  The lion followed.  Surely something edible would stray into his path.

Just outside the city limits he observed three camels coming down a nearby road.  Their riders were richly dressed.  The lion paused, gathered all his strength, and let out the loudest, most ferocious roar of his entire life.

The camels bolted.  One rider dropped a small, ornately carved chest, which bounced down a steep slope in the darkness.  After a great distance, the riders controlled their mounts and turned them again toward Bethlehem. 

The roar caused quaking in the village inhabitants and guests a like.  The couple in the stable clutched their child tightly and the kneeling shepherds hugged their lambs.

The lion limped fiercely down the main thoroughfare.  Shouts of “The lion is coming!  The lion is coming!” echoed through the town.  Rocks and spears were readied.  [But it was dark, and the lion walked in the shadows of the buildings, so no one could see him well enough to take aim.]

The beast followed the scent of shepherds and lambs toward the stable behind the inn.

As he continued to slink down the cobblestone path, he found his way blocked by a unicorn with a golden horn.  The lion paused.  If he could avoid the horn, a fine feast surely awaited him.  He paused for a moment to consider what a mythological beast might do to his digestive system, but he was hungry enough to eat anything. 

The unicorn sang a soothing song:

Come now in peace,

O mighty beast,

I care for you;

Come now in peace.

Instead of listening, the lion gave another mighty roar and leaped at the unicorn.  The unicorn dodged to one side—but not far enough.  The lion’s claw caught him on the flank and flipped him end over end, his horn jamming itself into a crack between the stones.  [The horn broke—and began to bleed.]

Landing, the lion turned in a single movement, preparing to spring again.  He saw the bleeding unicorn huddled on the ground.  It still sang in a quiet voice:

Come now in peace,

O mighty beast,

I care for you;

Come now in peace.

Perhaps it was weakness from hunger.  Perhaps it was lifelong aloneness.  Perhaps it was the interweaving of the angels’ song and the unicorn’s.  But the lion cried until his hard heart broke.  Beating within it he discovered the heart of love that lies deep within all living creatures.

The unicorn struggled to his side and said, “Great beast, come with me.”   The limping lion allowed himself to be led through the stable door.  Light from the great star washed the marks of the lion’s claw from the unicorn’s flank.

The song swelled with the addition of the voices of the man and the woman by the manger and the counterpoint of the cooing child.

Come now in peace,

O mighty beast,

We care for you;

Come now in peace.

The lion and the unicorn knelt at the manger.

The heavy clop of camel hooves sounded on the stable path.  The great lumbering animals appeared, with their richly cloaked riders.

The man in the lead commented mournfully to his companions, “You have your frankincense and myrrh to offer to the young king in the manger crib.  I lost my gift of gold to the lion’s roar.  I come sad-hearted and empty-handed.”

Then he spied something at the edge of the cobblestone path glowing in the starlight.  Dismounting, he picked it up, and shouted, “I have a gift for the long-sought [king]!”

His compatriots climbed down from their saddles.  Together they entered the stable and knelt in the empty places, which seemed to be awaiting their arrival to the holy scene.  The cow nodded her approval.

[The unicorn’s song welcomed them too,

Come now in peace,

O mighty ones,

God cares for you;

Come now in peace.] 

Amen.

Sermon: “Antidote to a Small Heart”

The lectionary has done it again.  We come to church in this Advent Season looking for some much-needed comfort and joy, and we are hit, instead, for the third week in row (but who’s counting?!) with a Scripture Reading that contains challenging metaphors and allusions to violence and judgment.  It’s almost enough to make me choose other readings for this season--and one year I might.  But not this year.  Because, as much as I/we may resist reading them, there are things we can learn from these Advent Scriptures if we can set aside our understandable discomfort with them long enough to reflect on what they are trying to say.

And, interestingly enough, Dr. Seuss’ TV special from the 1960’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, when looked at along side today’s Scripture, can also help us learn something about how God calls us to behave in the world.

In fact, I couldn’t help smiling when I read this Scripture after seeing the Grinch special, which a dozen of us watched together in the sanctuary last night.  The way John the Baptist doesn’t pull any punches when addressing the crowds reminds me a bit of the narrator’s description of the Grinch.  “You brood of vipers!” John says, as he begins his speech warning them about the coming judgment.  “Even now the ax lying at the root of the trees” ready to cut them down and throw them into the fire!  His way of speaking is very similar to the tone the narrator takes in Suess’ story when the narrator sings the song, “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch.”  Have you listened closely to the words of that song?  Let me share a verse:

You're a monster, Mr. Grinch. Your heart's an empty hole.
Your brain is full of spiders. You've got garlic in your soul.
Mr. Grinch! I wouldn't touch you with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole!

Minus the rhyming, this speech is very similar to what John the Baptist is saying to the crowds--calling out their bad behavior and the consequences thereof in no uncertain terms. 

I wonder what John the Baptist’s speech to the crowds would be like if Dr. Suess translated this Scripture?  I took a stab at one possible verse.  Picture John the Baptist singing: 

          You’re filled with poison, all of you!  You’re a bunch of hissing snakes!

          Your arrogance is astounding, your hypocrisy so great,

          Change your behavior, or you will not escape!    

Okay, I better stop there. I am no Dr. Suess.  Or Thurl Ravenscroft, who did the vocals for the song.  (Here’s a bit of trivia for you:  Credit for singing the song, “You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch, is often given to Boris Karloff, but, in fact, Mr. Karloff didn’t sing it.  Mr. Karloff was the narrator and spoken voice of the Grinch, but Thurl Ravenscroft, who did the voice of Tony the Tiger, was the singer.  The things you learn when you come to church, eh?)*  But, I digress…  I would like to make 3 points about the Grinch story that I believe our Scripture is also trying to teach us.

1.     Self-reflection is important. 

After the opening song, the Grinch story begins with these words,

…The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.

 “The Grinch hated Christmas! …  No one quite knows the reason.”  Hearing these words made me wonder what the Grinch would have been like if he had made it a practice to engage in self-reflection.  What if the Grinch had engaged in daily prayer, confessing his sins to God, accepting God’s grace, trying to do better?  What if the Grinch did journaling or therapy or simply sat with the discomfort of his own feelings and tried to accept and understand them?  Maybe he would have behaved more kindly toward others and even himself.  But he doesn’t do these things.  At least not at the beginning of the story.  Instead, he lashes out at the world and his poor little dog, Max. 

Before this week, it had been years since I had seen this TV special, and, honestly, the first thing that struck me about it this time when I watched it was how horribly the Grinch treated his dog, who was, in fact, his only friend in the world.  Now I know that the Grinch was just an animated cartoon character who debuted on the small screen in 1966, in an era where cartoon characters like Wiley Coyote routinely fell of cliffs, got into fights, and got boulders dropped on their heads.  But I have to say that the Grinch’s violence against his dog--even in satirical, cartoon form-- was hard to watch.  (Which reminds me how one of our deacons commented that the violence of the main character in the 1947 film “It’s a Wonderful Life” that we watched a couple of weeks ago was similarly hard to see.)

But back to self-reflection.  If the Grinch had, himself, ever stopped to realize what the narrator knew--that his heart was 2 sizes too small, the Grinch might have spared Max, the Whos down in Whoville, and even himself a considerable amount of on-going pain.  Because what does it mean to have a heart that is 2 sizes too small?  Since it’s a rich metaphor, I don’t have the final answer on that, but one possibility is that if you have a heart that is 2 sizes too small, then you have a heart that has minimal capacity to feel your own pain--and the pain of others. 

And that is a problem because it is only through feeling our own pain that we are able to hear and understand the pain of others and develop empathy for them.  And the more we develop empathy, the more we increase our capacity to form relationships with others.  But, conversely, the less we are in touch with our own pain, the less we allow ourselves to feel the pain of others.  And the less we feel the pain of others, the less we are able to form relationships.  And we become isolated.  And, before we know it, we find ourselves living alone in a cave on top of a snowy mountain hating Christmas--or at least that’s what happened to the Grinch.  So my point?  Self-reflection is important because without it, we do not develop empathy and our relationships suffer. 

Which brings me to my second point about the Grinch story that I believe our Scripture is also trying to teach us: 

2.     Isolating ourselves from our own pain-- and from other people’s joy and pain-- does not make us feel better.  And neither does trying to make other people hurt like we are hurting.

The Grinch stood on top of his own isolated mountain and cursed the people down in Whoville who were gathered around the Christmas tree holding hands and singing because they had the nerve to enjoy themselves at Christmas.  But rather than seeking an end to his own pain by joining them in community, he decides instead to complain about them, and then his complaints escalate to a plan:  he decides to try to rob them of their joy in order to make himself feel better.  But praise be to God, it doesn’t work. 

I’m not saying that any of us consciously act like the Grinch in this regard.  Of course, none of us would ever consciously try to isolate ourselves from our own pain--or from the pain and joy of others.  None of us would ever consciously try to rob the joy of others.  But unconsciously?  That’s a different story.

Let me give you an example.  Last week in church we prayed for my aunt who had fallen and was in rehab.  It turns out her health had been failing since August, but her kids, my first cousins, hadn’t shared that with the rest of the extended family, partially because we are all spread out across the country and we have been more or less out of touch during the pandemic.  But we managed to find out anyway, though rather belatedly.  So another of my cousins, when she found out about our aunt’s failing health, called my aunt’s oldest son and said, gently, “Why didn’t you tell us about your mom?”  His answer was understandable.  In fact, it’s probably something any one of us could say or has said.  He said something like, “Well, we know it’s been a tough year for everybody.  We’ve all got a lot on our plates.  We didn’t want to bother you with our stuff.  We didn’t want to add to your pain.”

To her credit, my cousin who had initially asked the question responded with empathy and care, saying something like this: “I understand that.  And I appreciate your not wanting to add to anyone else’s burden, but we are happy to help.  We’re family.  You know that old saying, ‘A burden shared is cut in half.’  That’s really true,” she said.  “We’re here for you.  Let us know how we can help.”  And he thanked her and said it was good to hear that.  Which underlines my second point:  isolating ourselves from our own pain--and from the joy and pain of others--does not make us feel any better.  Conversely, sharing our joy and pain in community does.  And that brings me to my third point about the Grinch story that I believe our Scripture is also trying to teach us:  

3.     There is an antidote to having a small heart.  In other words, there are things we can do to increase our own empathy and strengthen our relationships with one another.  And these things are very concrete. 

We can reach out in love and care toward others.  There are several examples in our Scripture.  When the crowds come out to John in the wilderness to be baptized, he tells them, in his own fiery, apocalyptic style, to “Bear fruits worthy of repentance.”  But the fruit metaphor isn’t clear enough for the crowd.  They want specifics, concrete examples of what they can do to please God and be part of God’s Kingdom, and John is happy to comply.  It occurred to me, reading through this text, that the examples John gives could be considered to address 3 different sectors of society. 

His first example addresses people in the individual/family sector.  It’s what anybody can do.  If you’ve got 2 coats at home, if you’ve got food on your table, then share your coats and your food with people who don’t have any.  It’s not rocket science; it’s the simple math of sharing.  It’s what it means to love our neighbors as ourselves.  It’s not just feeling warmly toward them, it’s doing something to help them keep warm.  Literally.

John’s second example--when he addresses the tax collectors--could be interpreted, I think, as addressing the corporate or business sector.  John says to them, “Collect no more than what is prescribed for you.”  In other words, the family sector is not the only sector where we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Our behavior needs to be consistent across all the sectors in which we operate, including the business sector, our work places.  John is calling the tax collectors to act ethically in their jobs.  His words imply that how we behave in business is important to God.  We can’t just say, “There are different rules in business” or “Everybody cuts corners” or “I can’t change the system.”  No.  Being part of God’s Kingdom means we need to apply the same ethic of loving our neighbor at work as we do at home.

John’s third example--when he addresses the soldiers--could be seen to address the government, which is the sector that controls the military.  John tells them not to use threats or false accusations to extort money.  In other words, you could read this to mean that John is telling the government that it too falls under the sovereignty of God.  It too needs to behave according to the ethics of God’s kingdom. John is, in effect, saying to the soldiers, to the military arm of the government, “Do not abuse your power.  Don’t use threats of violence--or actual violence-- to get what you want, because tearing others down to build yourself up in any sector is not God’s way.  Treat others the way you want to be treated.”

In a way, John’s message echoes the message of the Grinch story:  there is an antidote to a small heart--it’s doing the things that build up, not tear down, community.  It’s sharing in the joys and pain of others and doing your part in all sectors of life to love your neighbors as yourself.  In the words of Dr. Seuss, in the song the Whos sang around the tree, the Whos celebrate the power of Love shared in community:

Christmas Day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp.

Christmas Day will always be
Just as long as we have we.

Welcome Christmas while we stand
Heart to heart and hand in hand.      

Amen.

* quotes from the Grinch and information about the show are from this blog:  https://ninjamonkeyspy.livejournal.com/585154.html

Let us pray…

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

Franklin, MA

Sermon: “It’s a Wonderful Life?”

It’s the first Sunday of Advent, and many people are starting to gear up for Christmas.  On-line and in-person shopping is in full swing.  Decorations are up in churches and businesses and homes.  People are making more travel plans to be with family for the holidays than they did last year.  And, on top of all this, we’ve actually gotten some good news about job numbers and the economy in the past few weeks.  Plus, the verdict in the Ahmaud Arbery trial has led many to voice hope about us potentially turning a corner in terms of the problem of racism in America.  So, all that to say, all these things, taken together combine to form a climate that we might describe as “cautious optimism.”

But then we come to church today, on the first Sunday of Advent, and the Scripture--on first read, anyway-- is kind of harsh.  And the harshness proceeds to squash any optimism we may have been feeling.  My reaction to this traditional reading for the First Sunday of Advent could be summed up by the title of a bad country song I once heard:  “You done stomped on my heart and squashed that sucker flat.”  (My father liked country music, and I was subjected to songs with titles like this on a regular basis.  I have suppressed most of them, but occasionally they surface in my memory…but I digress.  Back to the Scripture…)

To help us understand the jarring aspect of today’s reading--the distress, fear and foreboding that stomp on our hearts, that surround the return of the Son of Man to earth--let me give you a little background on the text.  Advent lectionary readings come from a genre of writing called Apocalyptic Literature, a genre that arose when people of faith were undergoing oppression and persecution.   The most famous examples of Apocalyptic literature in the Bible are found in the book of Revelation in the New Testament and the book of Daniel in the Hebrew Scriptures.  Those books use scary imagery as a kind of code to talk about the persecution and oppression that people were experiencing, but to talk about it in a veiled way that would not further antagonize the authorities who were causing the persecution.

And, oddly enough, though the Apocalyptic images sound scary to us, they were meant “to convey a message of hope and faith” to the people who were going through hard times.  Telling them, in effect, “No matter how bad it looks [and feels right now—even if you feel like the earth is shaking and disaster is about to strike--] don’t give up.  Hang in there.  God is in control.”   And remember that at the end of everything, Love will have the last word.   Further, Apocalyptic passages in the New Testament have the added message:  Jesus the risen Christ will come back again to earth one day, at the end of time, to set up God’s Kingdom permanently.  And when God’s Kingdom comes, then death and evil will be vanquished forever.  Love will ultimately triumph and rule.  So, in the meantime, get with the program-- “watch and work and pray,” and keep on loving your neighbor as yourself so that you will be ready when Christ comes. (preacherrhetorica.com)  

That’s the message of today’s Scripture.  And, it is also the message of the 1947 classic film “It’s a Wonderful Life”--that some of us saw last night, and I bet most of us have seen at some point or other over the years.  Okay, so “it’s a wonderful life” doesn’t specifically refer to the second coming of Christ, but it does clearly convey the message that love will triumph in the end if we watch and work and pray and live out the Golden Rule that Jesus taught:  Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

In case you haven’t seen “it’s a wonderful life”--or haven’t seen it in a long time, let me give a synopsis.  The film follows the life of its main character, George Bailey, who has been described as a “modern day Job.”  (John A. Zukowski, Christmas on the Screen, p. 73)   Like the Biblical character, Job in the Hebrew Scriptures, George Bailey has lived an incredibly ethical life, but, rather than being rewarded as we might expect, he instead suffers for it.  George gives up his dreams and ambitions time after time after time in order to help his neighbors and members of his own family. 

For instance, at age 12, George saves his little brother’s life and, in the process, loses the hearing in his own left ear.  And, a little later, as a kid working in a drug store, George stands up to his boss, risking bodily harm, and prevents a terrible tragedy.  When he’s a young man, George gives up all his own dreams in order to take over the family business and carry out his father’s dream of giving low-interest loans to members of his community so they can build affordable housing.  When there’s a run on the bank, George gives out his own money to assuage his neighbors’ fears.  In short, George Bailey works hard for years, but, like his father before him, George’s hard work and ethical actions do not result in soaring financial success or any financial success at all.  In fact, just the opposite happens. 

We discover that George Bailey ends up on the verge of financial ruin due to a tragic chain of events that occur partway through the movie.  And, through an unexpected conversation with his nemesis--an evil, greedy tycoon named Potter, George comes to the realization that he himself (George) is worth more dead than alive.  And, in a moment of desperation, George decides to jump off a bridge so his family can get the insurance money. 

And this is where the power of prayer comes in!  Interestingly enough, although I’ve seen this movie a number of times since I was a teenager, seeing it last week was the first time I noticed that the movie starts with prayer!  In fact, the first scene is set in the heavenly realm where some angels are listening to the prayers of earth, and it comes to their attention that dozens of people are desperately praying for a beloved man named George Bailey--to help him and keep him safe.  So the angel in charge decides to “send someone down” to help--a guardian angel named Clarence. 

But it’s not clear that Clarence is up to the task.  As his superiors note (rather unkindly, I might say), Clarence is said to have “the I.Q. of a rabbit.”  In fact, we find out that Clarence’s rank is only “angel second class” because although he has been an angel for over 200 years, he has not yet been able to earn his wings.  But, nevertheless, Clarence is sent down when George himself utters a plea while drunk at a bar on Christmas Eve.  “Dear Heavenly Father,” drunken George begins his heart-felt prayer, “I’m not a praying man.  But if you’re up there and you can hear me, can you show me the way?” 

You might think that this would be when the movie turns around.  But no.  George doesn’t like God’s answer to his prayer!  As far as George is concerned, Clarence is no answer at all, and George completely gives up.  “I wish I’d never been born,” George blurts out, and Clarence--in his wisdom or perhaps his desperation-- grants George his wish.

Long story short, Clarence gives George a glimpse of what the world is like without him.  And it’s not a pretty picture.  Everything is bleak.  His nemesis, the evil Tycoon Potter, has exploited everyone and everything, and all the people most important to George are either miserable or dead--or simply do not exist.  In the process, George comes to realize what’s really important in life--and it’s not financial success.  “Please God,” George changes his prayer, “I want to live again!”

The interesting thing about this point in the movie to me is how George’s prayer has changed.  George is not asking for God’s help to stave off financial ruin or to help bail him out of the scandal he had wanted to escape.  George simply wants to live and to be reunited with the people he loves--his family and friends, come what may.  By the end of the movie George has come to understand what’s really important, and it’s not material wealth or financial power or realizing one’s youthful dreams or ambitions.  What’s really important is living ethically, with compassion, and by so doing building a caring community where people treat each other the way they want to be treated. 

And that is the message of our Scripture reading as well.  Verse 34:  “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap…”  In other words, today’s Scripture reminds us that life can be difficult--no matter how much faith we have.  Things happen in this world that weigh us down and cause us distress, through no fault of our own, and having faith does not give us immunity to this pain.  Following Jesus does not mean we do not suffer. 

But, if we keep following Jesus, keep loving our neighbors as ourselves as he taught us, if we keep trusting in God, then we will prevail in the end.  For the Kingdom of God - the kin-dom of relationships -- is eternal.  To quote a modern day prophet (Bob Dylayn), if we “keep on keeping on”--if we keep praying and watching and living our faith, we will stand together through it all-- and find joy and meaning even in the midst of pain.  Let us pray…

Loving God, we are grateful for the gift of life--and for the hope and joy we can find in relationships.  We are also grateful for this time of year and all of the wonderful stories that inspire us--sacred stories of your love in Scripture and secular stories in movies and books and tv that help us find your love in the midst of our everyday lives.  Oh God, in this season that is always a mix of pain and joy, help us to stand firm together, in the faith of Jesus, trusting that despite the difficulties and grief that we may face, your Love will see us through.  Help us to feel your everlasting arms around us and the people we love. 

Hear now our prayers for our community and our world:

As people travel for Thanksgiving and Christmas, we ask that people will do all that they can to stay safe--from travel accidents and from exposure to the corona virus.  Keep us vigilant, O Lord, and despite our frustrations with continued covid protocols, help us to make smart decisions that protect our family and friends and neighbors. 

Bless doctors and researchers as they explore how to respond to the new omicron variant. 

Bless also our country as we respond to the news of the verdict in the Ahmaud Arbery trial.  We are grateful that jurors voted to hold the defendants accountable for their heinous actions.  And, we pray that going forward, as a society, we work to examine the biases that lurk in our hearts and in our systems so that we can live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you and each other. 

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

Franklin, MA

Sermon: “Giving Our All”

Scripture:  Mark 12:38-44

38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40 They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

41 He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” 

Sermon:  “Giving Our All”

I once overheard an argument between 2 middle-school-aged boys.  (They were in a public place, and apparently did not care if they were over-heard, so I didn’t feel too guilty about listening in.)  They were arguing about a tee shirt that one of them was wearing, which had a skateboard logo on it. 

“You can’t wear that,” one of them was saying, pointing at the logo.

“Why not?” the other one countered. 

“Because you don’t skateboard.”  The first one said. 

“So what?”  The other one said. 

“Because wearing that makes you a POSER!”  

I had never heard that term before, so I listened to the rest of their conversation, and it became clear what it meant.  The first kid was a dedicated skateboarder, threw his whole self into it, spent most of his free-time at the skateboard park improving his skills and enjoying the sport.  He was deeply offended that his friend, who evidently did not have a passion for skateboarding, was trying to “pose” as a skateboarder simply to look cool in the eyes of others, to capitalize on the prestige of a sport he had no interest in.  (I am no expert in child-development, but their argument seemed to be pretty advanced for kids that age!  I was impressed!)

I think of this conversation every time I read today’s scripture, because it seems to me that Jesus was upset with the scribes in today’s reading for a reason very similar to the reason the skateboarding kid was upset with his friend.  These particular religious leaders were not really interested in doing God’s work of caring for the poor and oppressed, the orphan and the widow, rather their main interest was to capitalize on the prestige that came with being in positions of power:  nice clothes, sumptuous food, social status.  To put it in middle-school lingo:  Jesus is critiquing the scribes for being posers!

And then Jesus moves on from there to critique more folks who are also “posing”—the wealthy people who are making a show of putting big wads of surplus cash into the temple treasury (which, by the way, wasn’t a building, but rather a collection box for freewill offerings to help the poor.)  Like the scribes, these folks were more interested in the prestige of being seen as charitable people rather than actually committing themselves to being passionately involved in caring about and partnering with people in need.   

In contrast to these “posers,” Jesus points out the poor widow, who “puts her all” into the temple fund for the poor. 

Now, before we go on, I want to point out something for the sake of clarification.  Jesus is not calling his followers to literally follow the example of this widow and give away all of our material wealth.  No.  Jesus is challenging his followers to refuse to be posers and, instead, like the widow, passionately “give our all” to God’s work in the world.  To give with integrity--to put our heart into our giving, not just go through the motions.  For some, this could entail a drastic change in lifestyle or location, but for most of us, it means staying where we are and putting our time, talent and treasure into serving God through loving our neighbors as ourselves.     

How do we do that?  How do we passionately “give our all” to God’s work in the world?  That, of course, is a question that each person needs pray about and answer on our own, in conversation with each other.  I can’t answer for you what it means to give your all to God’s work, and you can’t answer for me, but we can talk and pray about it together and help each other see how God is leading us as individuals and as a church community. 

In this stewardship season, as we each consider how to “give our all” to God’s work in the world, let me offer a few questions to help us in our decision making.

One way to think about giving is to divide it into the three traditional categories of time, talent, and treasure.  I’d like to offer some questions for us to ask ourselves in each category. 

First: time.  How are you--how am I--spending it?  If you are working, much of how you spend your time may be decided for you.  The same can be true of people who are retired.  How many retired people do I know who have told me, “I’m busier now than I was when I was working!”  But whether we are working or retired, if we’re not intentional about it, our time can be gobbled up by events and activities that expand beyond what we expected. 

It can be hard to do, but it is important to take stock of our time and dedicate it to God.  It is important to recognize and prioritize the activities that BOTH feed our own souls AND build community in the process.  It is also important to recognize the activities that sap our energy--and minimize those as much as possible. 

Second:  talent.  If someone asked you, “What are your talents?  Gifts?  Skills?”  How would you answer?  Do you know what they are?  Do I know what mine are?  Are we using them in ways that build community and feed our souls? 

Let me give you an example.  We have a new dog walker--I’ve told some of you about him.  He’s a retired state trooper.   He decided to become a dog walker in his retirement--not to earn money, but because he loves dogs.  And they love him.  Whenever he comes to walk our Foxhound, Moosie, she nearly jumps out of her skin with excitement.  For those of you who have seen Moosie on Zoom calls, I bet this is hard to picture, because Moosie is VERY low energy.  Her favorite activity is sleeping on the couch.  But when Michael comes to walk her, she can barely contain herself.  She wags and jumps like she is welcoming home her long-lost best-friend.  And the other dogs in the neighborhood whom Michael walks react in the same way. 

And Michael is using his gift of caring for dogs not only to make the dogs’ lives better--but people’s lives as well.  Michael chats with all of the neighbors he runs into on his walks.  He tells stories and makes people laugh.  He is contributing to a sense of caring community among dogs and people in addition to feeding his own soul.

Third: treasure.  Rev. Steve Gray, who was the Stewardship Minister on staff at the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC for years, gave many talks to help individuals and churches decide how to use their money.  He is long since retired, but I’ll always remember a children’s sermon he gave.  He talked about how he taught his own kids to make decisions around money when they were growing up. 

When each of his children got old enough to get an allowance, he gave them each 3 jars.  One marked, “Saving,” one marked “Spending,” One marked, “Giving away.”  And he told the kids they would each get $10.00 a week, in $1.00 bills, and it was up to them how they used their allowance, but he and his wife had one requirement.  Each week they had to put at least $1.00--10%--in the savings jar.  And they had to put at least $1.00 in the “giving away” jar.  The rest, $8.00--80%--they were free to spend however they wanted.   

The system worked really well.  Every so often, after the “saving” jar collected some cash, the parents would go with them and the kids would deposit their money in the bank.  And after the “giving away” jar accumulated some cash, the kids got to decide what to do with it.  Being active church members, part of the “giving away” money always went into the offering plate.  And part of it went to other things as well, charities the kids were interested in.  And sometimes extra money from the spending category went to church and charity also, when the kids would get excited about a particular mission project.

I loved this system!  (When I told my husband about it the other day he said, “You know, there’s an app for that now…”)  Even before the computer age, Steve Gray and his wife taught their kids how to use their money to meet not only their own needs, but also to help do God’s caring work in the world.

My friends, in this stewardship season, like the widow in our Scripture reading, may we “give our all” to God’s work in the world.  And, may God guide us as we prayerfully decide how to use our time, talent, and treasure to build community and care for our neighbors as well as meet our own needs.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

Franklin, MA

(note:  first part of this sermon was adapted from sermon written by marlayna for Nov 22, 2006)

Sermon: “Celebrating Stewardship”

Scripture:  Luke 12:22-34

          22Jesus said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. 23For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 26If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? 27Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 28But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! 29And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. 30For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

          32”Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Sermon:  “Celebrating Stewardship”

Years ago I visited a new UCC church in Boston that my husband Paul helped to start.  The most surprising thing about their worship service was not the fact that Paul and I were among the oldest people there—which we were; or that they had a 3-piece band instead of an organ—which they did.  The most surprising thing—to me—was how they did the offering.  When it was time for the offering, a woman got up and started playing bongo drums.  Can you believe it?!  Bongo drums!  And everyone started singing some kind of praise song that had a Caribbean beat.  Then, the kids got up and someone handed them tambourines—and streamers, and they started dancing down the aisle—tambourines or streamers in one hand, money in the other!  Then the adults got up—some of them had maracas and castanets in one hand, and if they didn’t dance, they at least all walked with a spring in their step, and they brought their tithes and offerings forward and put them all in a big basket on the altar that was decorated with bows and streamers.  It was really quite festive.  I whispered to Paul before we got up and took part in the parade down the aisle, “Is this their annual Stewardship Sunday Celebration?”  “No,” he whispered back, “They do this every week.”

Every week!  Which begs the question, “What, exactly, are they celebrating?”  I’ve thought about that a lot since I first witnessed their weekly stewardship celebration, and here is what I’ve come up with.

First and foremost, every week when this church takes their offering, they are celebrating God’s faithfulness, God’s provision for our lives.  Like our Scripture lesson reminds us, God faithfully provides for the birds of the air, God faithfully provides for the lilies of the field, so will God not much more faithfully provide for us, God’s children?  That’s not to say we should sit on our hands and do nothing, waiting for God to provide, to send the Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol to come knock on our doors with a million dollar check.  No.  God gives us each talents and skills to use to work to provide for ourselves, and God expects us to use those talents and skills, just like God expects the ravens mentioned in our scripture to use the wings and beaks God gave them to obtain food.  So, we celebrate that God has provided for us by giving us a beautiful planet with amazing raw materials—and by giving us talents and skills to make use of the raw materials.  

For isn’t that what stewardship is all about?  It is recognizing that everything we are and everything we have comes from and belongs to God. God is the Creator, and we are the creatures.  God is the Landlord, and we are the tenants.  The truth is—no one actually owns anything; we don’t even own ourselves.  We’re just taking care of it all for a while for God. 

So when the church I visited engages in a weekly stewardship celebration, they are celebrating two related things:  God’s faithful provision—and our part in it. 

Yet there is an unspoken dynamic that we need to address before we can celebrate God’s provision and our part in it.  And that dynamic is this:  in our world, everyone is not provided for equally.  We know the truth of this statement, don’t we?  We see it lived out in the world every day.   Everyone is not provided for equally.  Some people, some regions, some countries, some groups, get more of the provision pie than others.  Some get more of the raw materials; some even seem to get more of the talents and skills.  Which doesn’t seem fair.  And, actually, it isn’t fair, particularly when people are left out of the provision pie by the malicious intent--not of God, but of “the people in charge” who want to hold onto their own wealth or power. 

For example, in our diversity training this past week, we saw a very enlightening video--backed up by indisputable facts-- that showed how black and indigenous people of color--the acronym is BIPOC--were intentionally left out of the provision pie in our own country.  They were left out by state, local, and federal officials and business men who engaged in practices and passed laws to keep black and indigenous people of color from getting home loans,  from living in the suburbs,  and from giving their children an education that was on par with that of white children.  All of which worked--and continues to work-- to perpetuate a cycle of poverty in BIPOC communities from generation to generation. 

But let me get back to God.  Today’s Scripture makes clear that this type of discrimination and racist behavior--where people in power hold onto the biggest piece of pie for themselves and give others mere crumbs--this is not what God intends.  The Bible is clear, from start to finish (Genesis to Revelation), that God’s blessings are always meant to be shared.  And when they are shared, there is always more than enough to go around. 

For instance, God says to Abraham, the patriarch of Jews, Muslims, and Christians in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 12, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  (Genesis 12:3) God said through countless prophets in the Old Testament—Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Amos, just to name a few--that God’s people need to take care of the orphans, widows, and the poor living among them—rather than focusing only on the needs of their own families.  And God said through Jesus that we in the church are to love and care for “our neighbors as ourselves.”   (Matthew 19:19)   God’s blessings were never meant just for one person or one family or one group alone—God’s blessings were and are   always   meant to be shared with the whole world. 

So, that’s where we come in—and how we get back to celebrating stewardship.  God is counting on us—God’s followers—to be the distributors of God’s blessings.  Every week when we give our gifts, tithes and offerings, and our talents and skills in church and beyond, we celebrate that God’s blessings, God’s Love, can--and must-- be shared in our community and throughout the world. And we celebrate that we are called to be the agents of that sharing!

But we celebrate more than that.  We celebrate the counter-intuitive fact that when we become agents of sharing,    when we step out in faith and share of our time, talent and treasure,    we not only benefit others and their well-being, we also benefit ourselves.  Because, when we give--whether it’s a pledge to the church or a thankyou note to a friend, we, in effect, remind ourselves that we are not alone.  We remind ourselves that, in the words of today’s Scripture, we do not need to worry or focus all our energy on taking care of ourselves.  God has provided a kingdom for us--a “kin-dom” of other people with whom we are joined in mutual care. 

We heard testimonies last week about saints--other people of faith who impacted our lives and made a difference to us.  Stewardship is first and foremost about recognizing our kinship with each other and our joy-filled responsibility to share our love and resources with the people around us, to build up the body of Christ. 

So, in this stewardship season, may we continue to celebrate the people whom God has brought into our lives, and may we continue to share our time, talent, and treasure to build up the kin-dom so that all can participate in God’s good gifts and no one is left out. 

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

Franklin, MA

[the first part of this sermon was written by Marlayna for a sermon she gave on October 21, 2012.]

Let us pray.  Loving God, we thank you for your faithful provision for us.  You have given us each time, talent, and treasure to use and to share.  Increase our awareness of both our own giftedness and of each other’s needs, so that we can figure out how to share what we have with each other and our world in practical ways that benefit everyone. 

Hear now our prayers for the world around us.

Bless the climate summit in Glasgow.  May each country make and keep promises that address the needs of our planet and reverse the damage we have done to our planet.

Bless people in Houston, Texas, particularly the families of those who lost their lives in the stampede at the music festival.  Surround the grieving families and the people who were injured with your healing love.

Bless the roll out of the Covid vaccine to children between 5 and 12.  May education about the vaccine continue, and may all families get accurate information as they weigh any potential risk of the vaccine vs. the danger of getting infected with the virus. 

Hear now our prayers for loved ones mentioned in worship today:

SLIPS

PHONE

And hear our individual prayers,  in this moment of silence, as we lift up the names of those whom we each hold on our hearts…

And now may we join our hearts and voices together in the Lord’s Prayer, saying:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.  Amen.

Sermon: “Celebrating the Saints”

Scripture:  Hebrews 12:1-3 (NRSV)

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of* the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.  3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

Sermon:  “Celebrating the Saints”

“I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.” Some of you may recognize this quote--it’s not from our Scripture reading.  It’s a line from a Billy Joel song that was popular in the 1970’s when I was in high school.  Billy Joel, apparently, thought of saints the way most of us in our culture do:  people who are excessively virtuous, on the fast-track to heaven, including those formally recognized by the Catholic Church to have performed miracles and led exemplary lives.  Saints, in our culture, are not typically thought of as people who get much enjoyment out of life. 

I am happy to proclaim that, according to the Bible, that understanding of the word “saint” is much too narrow.  The word saint is used 64 times in the Bible--once in the Hebrew Scriptures (Psalm 31) and 63 times in the New Testament--primarily in the Letters attributed to the Apostle Paul as well as the Book of Revelation.  In the Hebrew Scriptures, the word saint means simply, “child of God,” and in the New Testament, the definition is expanded to include all followers of the God we see revealed in Jesus.   

As you may know, the word “saint” comes from the Latin “sanctus,” which means “holy.”  And “holy” didn’t originally carry the connotation of “virtuous,” but rather meant someone dedicated to a divine purpose.  [repeat].  I know I’m sounding more than a bit like Webster’s Dictionary here, so let me cut to the chase.  In case you’re in Billy Joel’s camp and think that being a saint is nothing you want aspire to--that being a saint would be basically dedicating your life to a joyless, holier-than-thou, monastic existence that you would prefer to avoid at all costs, thanks be to God, that’s NOT what being a saint means!  Being a saint means dedicating your life to God’s purposes that we see in Jesus.  That is, living a life characterized by joyful, abundant welcome; spiritual growth, and loving service that promotes justice for all--to expand a bit on FFC’s purpose statement.

Tomorrow, November 1st, is “All Saints Day” on the Christian calendar.  On “All Saints Day,” we remember and honor those whom today’s scripture describe as being part of a “great cloud of witnesses,” that is, people who have gone before us and been an inspiration to our faith.  People whose lives have been an example to us as we go through our own struggles.  People whose memories and spirits cheer us on, like spectators in a race, whose words and actions point us to Jesus, whose own example of endurance gives us strength when we are weary. 

Today, you will hear 4 testimonies from 4 fellow church members of people and actions that illustrate the true meaning of “saint.”  

May God bless our hearing of these stories.   

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

Franklin, MA

Note:  The third to last paragraph uses words from a sermon written and preached by Marlayna on November 5, 2006 and Nov 2, 2014.  Scripture:  Hebrews 12:1-3 (NRSV)

1Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of* the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.  3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners, so that you may not grow weary or lose heart.

Sermon:  “Celebrating the Saints”

“I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.” Some of you may recognize this quote--it’s not from our Scripture reading.  It’s a line from a Billy Joel song that was popular in the 1970’s when I was in high school.  Billy Joel, apparently, thought of saints the way most of us in our culture do:  people who are excessively virtuous, on the fast-track to heaven, including those formally recognized by the Catholic Church to have performed miracles and led exemplary lives.  Saints, in our culture, are not typically thought of as people who get much enjoyment out of life. 

I am happy to proclaim that, according to the Bible, that understanding of the word “saint” is much too narrow.  The word saint is used 64 times in the Bible--once in the Hebrew Scriptures (Psalm 31) and 63 times in the New Testament--primarily in the Letters attributed to the Apostle Paul as well as the Book of Revelation.  In the Hebrew Scriptures, the word saint means simply, “child of God,” and in the New Testament, the definition is expanded to include all followers of the God we see revealed in Jesus.   

As you may know, the word “saint” comes from the Latin “sanctus,” which means “holy.”  And “holy” didn’t originally carry the connotation of “virtuous,” but rather meant someone dedicated to a divine purpose.  [repeat].  I know I’m sounding more than a bit like Webster’s Dictionary here, so let me cut to the chase.  In case you’re in Billy Joel’s camp and think that being a saint is nothing you want aspire to--that being a saint would be basically dedicating your life to a joyless, holier-than-thou, monastic existence that you would prefer to avoid at all costs, thanks be to God, that’s NOT what being a saint means!  Being a saint means dedicating your life to God’s purposes that we see in Jesus.  That is, living a life characterized by joyful, abundant welcome; spiritual growth, and loving service that promotes justice for all--to expand a bit on FFC’s purpose statement.

Tomorrow, November 1st, is “All Saints Day” on the Christian calendar.  On “All Saints Day,” we remember and honor those whom today’s scripture describe as being part of a “great cloud of witnesses,” that is, people who have gone before us and been an inspiration to our faith.  People whose lives have been an example to us as we go through our own struggles.  People whose memories and spirits cheer us on, like spectators in a race, whose words and actions point us to Jesus, whose own example of endurance gives us strength when we are weary. 

Today, you will hear 4 testimonies from 4 fellow church members of people and actions that illustrate the true meaning of “saint.”  

May God bless our hearing of these stories.   

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

Franklin, MA

Note:  The third to last paragraph uses words from a sermon written and preached by Marlayna on November 5, 2006 and Nov 2, 2014. 

Sermon: “The Paradox of Generosity”

Scriptures: 

Proverbs 11:24 

The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.

2 Corinthians 9

6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

Sermon:  “The Paradox of Generosity”

Several years ago I read a book that blew the doors off my understanding of generosity.  It’s called 29 Gifts:  How a month of Giving Can Change your Life by Cami Walker.  Some of you may have read it too.  The book is a testimony to the healing power of generosity, and I want to share the gist of it with you because Cami’s story beautifully illustrates the truth of what our Scripture readings for today proclaim.     

Cami Walker--a young woman in her mid-thirties-- starts her book by describing the lowest point in her life so far—when she was diagnosed with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) at age 32, just a month after her wedding day! 

In a short period of time, Cami Walker goes from being a happy, active newly-married woman with a professional career to being a discouraged, unemployed, homebound person who can’t drive, walk, or even make a meal for herself.  She leaves her apartment only for doctor’s appointments.

When she is feeling really bad one day, Cami picks up the phone and calls a friend named Mbali, who is originally from South Africa.  Mbali is a spiritual healer, but Cami calls her not for healing advice, but rather just to complain about her situation.  After she goes on for a while, Mbali stops her.  “Cami,” she says gently, “I think you need to stop thinking about yourself.”  “Thinking about myself!?” Cami yells, protesting that because of her disease, she has no energy to think about anything else but herself. 

To Mbali’s credit, she doesn’t let this defensive reaction put her off.  Mbali persists in challenging her friend Cami, suggesting that by focusing all of her time and energy on herself and her disease, Cami is in effect falling deeper and deeper into a black hole.  Finally, Mbali says, “I have a prescription for you.  I want you to give away 29 gifts in 29 days.”  

I want you to give away 29 gifts in 29 days-- what an odd prescription to give someone who can barely function!  Even though the gifts recommended are just little, ordinary things—  a phone call, a letter, a smile, a word of thanks— even those things can seem like way too much to someone in Cami’s situation.  As I’ve reflected on this story, it occurs to me that Mbali is making the same point that today’s Scriptures are making:  the paradox of generosity is that when we give, we are not depleting our resources.  In fact, just the opposite—we increase the abundance in our lives. 

Our reading from Proverbs says:  “The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.”  When we give, we deepen and expand the connections we have with God and other people—and everyone benefits in ways that defy explanation—the giver as well as the recipient. 

Now, let me stop here for a moment with a disclaimer.  This is not a stewardship sermon--  at least not in the classic sense.  This sermon is not primarily about material giving—it’s about intentionally cultivating an attitude of generosity in our daily interactions with other people.  By so doing, I believe we expand our world to include the abundance that God intends us all to experience.

What struck me about the beginning of Cami Walker’s testimony, is that her world, through no fault of her own, had gotten smaller and smaller.  A debilitating disease put severe limits on her and cut her off from activities and friendships she had previously enjoyed—and had even taken for granted—in the past.  And more than that, the disease had limited Cami’s vision, depleted her imagination, and like a malevolent vacuum cleaner, had sucked all of the hope right out of her.  Her friend Mbali named it well—Cami was falling deeper and deeper into a black hole—physically, emotionally, and spiritually. 

To make a long story short, Cami Walker decides to try her friend’s prescription—giving away 29 gifts in 29 days—not because she is convinced that generosity will change her life or help her heal, but because, well, what the heck, she’s tried everything else and maybe this could help-- at least it couldn’t hurt. J 

The rest of the book describes the amazing change that takes place in Cami Walker’s life as she begins, intentionally every day, to give little gifts to other people.  In the book, Cami describes how she would go to bed at night thinking of what gift she might give the next day, and how she would wake up in the morning and pray about the gift.  Some examples of what she decided to give include:  a phone call to a friend, a thank-you note to her mother, a love-letter to her husband, a taco to a homeless man, and a used book to a neighbor— all just simple little things, but they have a profound effect.  As she begins to give her little gifts, Cami discovers that the focus of her life starts to shift from the limits of her disease to the abundance of what she still has left to give. 

I found this book incredibly inspirational.  But, unlike some of the inspirational biographies of great people that we read and come away thinking, “Wow, that person is incredible-- I could never do anything like that!”  with this book, I thought, “Wow, such a simple gift can have such a profound effect—I can do that!  I want to try it!”

When I first read the book, I actually adopted the challenge of giving 29 gifts in 29 consecutive days, and I became very intentional about giving little gifts to people.  For instance, during that time period, I went to a car wash, something I do once a year whether my car needs it or not.  (Yeah, I know it needs it…but I digress.)  The car wash I went to was one of those where you drive your vehicle into a garage-like building, where a couple of guys direct you onto a track, hook your car up to it, and flip a switch that starts machines that do the washing for you as you move along.  After I had gone through the wash, with the 29 gifts challenge in mind, I took a moment to drive back to the entrance and thanked the young men who had run the machines.  “Car looks great!”  I said, “Thank you!”  The young men beamed in response, and one asked, like a little kid who needed some positive feedback on his homework, “Did we do a good job?!”  “Yes!” I said, “Thanks again.  The car looks as good as the day I bought it, but, of course, now I have to clean the inside…” And they both laughed. J  

Seeing those young men smile and laugh like little kids really made my day, and it made me think how a simple gift, like an unexpected word of thanks, can benefit both the giver and the one who receives the gift.  That said, let me shift gears for a moment and say a few words about receiving.  I once attended a workshop called “Spiritual Finance,” and the workshop leader, Kerry Cudmore*, made the comment that being an intentional giver wasn’t nearly as difficult for some people as being an intentional receiver.  In my experience, those of us who are part of faith communities easily get enthusiastic about adopting giving challenges like the one described by Cami Walker, but we may have more difficulty being on the receiving end of gifts.  For instance, how many of us, when we’ve been given a gift, has ever said, “Oh, no, you shouldn’t have!”  or “Thanks, but really, I’m fine, I don’t need anything.  I’m sure  there is someone else who needs this more…”  J  Sound familiar?

Kerry, the Spiritual Finance workshop leader told us about her experience of going over to friends’ houses on several different occasions for dinner.  And, each time, she (Kerry) would carefully choose a hostess gift to present to the friend who had prepared the dinner, and each time, when she presented the gift, the person looked at it awkwardly - like “What am I supposed to do with this?”, mumbled a quick “thank you,” and then whisked the gift off into the kitchen where it was never seen again.   Kerry said that each time she was left feeling “thwarted and befuddled” and, to put it more strongly, even “robbed” of the opportunity to connect with the other person and feel good about knowing her gift was enjoyed. 

So, brothers and sisters, as part of our stewardship reflections this fall, I invite you to think about giving and receiving.  Which one is easier for you?  Which one is harder? Is there one would you rather not do?  Can you see giving and receiving as two sides of the same coin?  Can you imagine how being intentionally gracious in both giving and receiving can help you expand your world and deepen your connections with God and each other?

For each of us, the opportunities to practice intentional giving and receiving are endless!  On the giving side:  a phone call to a friend, a note to a someone who has been especially helpful, a box of instant mashed potatoes for the Thanksgiving Baskets.  On the receiving side, an answer of “yes”--without any words of protest-- when someone offers to help you, even if it’s something you feel you should be able to do yourself OR, to take it a step further, actually asking for help when there is something that you need--and enjoying the help you get. 

I know you already do such things, so I am simply suggesting that you do them more intentionally, asking for God’s guidance and blessing as you give and receive.  You may even want to follow Cami Walker’s giving prescription and give 29 gifts in 29 consecutive days.  Or, if that’s too overwhelming to think about, do it for a week, starting today:  7 gifts in 7 days--keeping in mind the gift can be as small as a thank you note or a smile to the checkout clerk at the grocery store.  I plan to do it.  And let me know after worship if you accept this challenge as well.  I’d love to hear about your experiences.

However you decide to practice giving and receiving, may we all discover, as our Scriptures remind us, that our world gets larger, as God provides us with “every blessing in abundance.”

Let us pray:  Loving God, our Scriptures remind us of your generosity in creating the world and giving us the gift of life itself.  We see this deep generosity reflected in Jesus, who poured out his life and love, forgiveness and wisdom on all people, showing no partiality.  Help us, O God, to mirror that generosity in ways big and small as part of our daily living.  Guide us in both our giving and receiving that we may live abundantly and share that abundance with others. 

Hear now our prayers for our community and our world…

- Vaccine roll out… vaccinating children…

PHONE

SLIPS

- Moment of silence…lifting up in prayer those we hold in our hearts.. others in this room and in our livestream…  [PAUSE]

- O God, bless the sick… those who are struggling… those who are grieving…caregivers… Give them strength and healing….  In Jesus name, Amen

PLEASE JOIN ME IN THE LORD’S PRAYER

- Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy kingdom come 
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven 
- Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors`
- And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  AMEN

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

*Kerry Cudmore leads the Spiritual Finance Initiative.  Website:  www.Kerrycudmore.com

Note:  original version of this sermon was written and preached by Marlayna at  Brooksby Village Chapel in Peabody, MA  1/24/10; an edit version was preached by Marlayna at Trinity in Gloucester on Feb 7, 2010. 

Sermon: “Mutual Service”

Scripture:  Mark 10:35-45

35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 39 They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43 But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Sermon:  “Mutual Service”

One day, 25+ years ago, I lived in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and I went to the supermarket to return some empty soda cans.  I happened to be wearing old clothes, and I was carrying the cans in a green plastic garbage bag.  In this particular supermarket, the can-return machine is located near the customer service desk.  So, while I’m dealing with the cans, pushing them into the slot on the machine, out of the corner of my eye, I see a well-dressed, perfectly coiffed older woman standing in the customer service line watching me.  As a pastor, I was used to seeing parishioners in the grocery store, so I glance over at her and smile, thinking maybe she recognized me from church or something.  I didn’t recognize her, so I didn’t think much of it, until she came over to me a few minutes later, opened her purse, and held out a couple of dollars.  Puzzled, I stopped pushing cans into the machine and turned to face her.

“Here,” she said, “Take this.”  She looked me up and down, taking note, no doubt, of the holes in my jeans and the dirt on my sneakers.  “I’m sure you could use it.”  She pushed the money into my hand and walked away quickly, leaving me with my mouth gaping open.  Now, the downtown Haverhill Supermarket is located near a homeless shelter, and I think she had mistaken me for one of the shelter residents.  I wanted to run after her and tell her that she’d made a mistake.  I wanted to say, “No, you’ve got it all wrong!  I don’t need charity; I’m a professional.  A minister!  I have advanced degrees!!”  But I didn’t run after her—because, honestly, I didn’t think she’d believe me, and I figured, “Hey, I actually could use the money.”  So, I pocketed the 2 dollars she’d handed me, and I turned back to the can machine, which, at that point, I happened to notice had a sign on it that said something about “redemption.”  So I laughed out loud. 

But, I’ve got to tell you, although I found the incident to be rather amusing, I also found it to be a bit embarrassing.  There were other people around who had witnessed her “gift,” and, although they were just a bunch of people I didn’t know, I still didn’t want them to think I was what my grandmother might have referred to as a “charity case.”  (And, by this point, a crazy charity case, because I was standing there, by myself, laughing out loud for no apparent reason.) 

So, all this to say, I sympathize with the disciples when they are concerned about how other people view them, what other people think of them, about their status in society.  In chapter 9 of Mark’s this Gospel, we read about how the disciples were arguing with each other about who was the “greatest” among them.   In today’s reading from Mark chapter 10 we read that James and John continue this discussion, asking Jesus to give them places of honor in his kingdom. 

We might wonder why James and John and the other disciples seem to be so overly concerned with greatness, with status, with holding positions of honor.  But when we look at their society, we can understand their preoccupation.  Their’s was a very class-oriented society.  There were people at the top, wealthy folks who held positions of power, mostly Roman citizens; then there were people at the bottom, lepers and poor people, women and children, members of minority groups, foreigners and slaves—many of whom were barely treated as human.  (There were not too many people in the middle.) 

The disciples, most of them, before they met Jesus, were hard-working, relatively poor fishermen, closer to the bottom of the class spectrum.  They were looked down upon by the wealthy Roman citizens; they were avoided in the street.  (With their old, dirty clothes, they could easily have been mistaken for homeless people in the supermarket.)

So, after having met Jesus, whom they believed would be taking on the Roman government and literally setting up God’s kingdom on earth, the disciples were extremely hopeful that one day soon they could jump from the bottom of the social ladder up to the top.  They were no doubt looking forward to this because it meant that they’d finally get the respect and honor that they’d been denied all their lives.  When they finally got to be rulers in God’s kingdom, then, instead of avoiding them, people would be seeking them out, asking their advice, valuing their opinions, serving their wants and needs, instead of the other way around.  The disciples couldn’t wait!  Especially James and John.  They wanted to have the top places of honor in the kingdom. 

But Jesus tells them all, in effect, “No.  That’s not the way it’s going to be among you.  Status doesn’t count in God’s kingdom.” 

Now, I’ve just got to say, Jesus is always surprising me.  At this point, I would have expected him to say to James and John and the other disciples: “Status doesn’t count because everyone has a place of honor in God’s kingdom!”  But that’s not what he says.  Instead of saying that everyone has a place of honor in God’s kingdom, he says, “Whoever wishes to become great among you, must be your servant.  And whoever wishes to be first among you, must be slave of all.” 

So, in other words, Jesus is telling them that they’ve got it all wrong.  In God’s kingdom, they’re not going to be at the top—they, along with everyone else, are going to be at the bottom.  Everyone is going to be a slave.

Can’t you just imagine James and John and the others looking at each other and saying, “What is he talking about?!  We haven’t been following him for years in order to drop to the bottom of the social ladder--even lower than we are now.  We didn’t sign on to become slaves!”

When you think about it, what Jesus is saying is quite radical.  He’s saying to rich and poor alike—stop putting all that energy into worrying about what other people think of you, in working on your social status—either maintaining it, if you like where you are, or improving it, if you don’t.  Rather, Jesus is saying, take the energy that you put into working on your status and put that energy, instead, into serving, supporting and caring for other members of God’s family.

It’s important to note that Jesus is talking about mutual service here.  He’s not suggesting that some people are always the servants and others are always being served.  He’s saying that God wants us all to serve our fellow human beings.  AND to allow our fellow servants to serve us when we are in need, as our first hymn suggests.  We are all in this together. 

Which reminds me of an image that I once heard of the afterlife, of heaven and hell.  The speaker described the afterlife as a feast, where everyone was given a very long spoon to eat with.  However, in hell, people were starving, because no one could get the spoon to reach his or her own mouth.  But in heaven, everyone was happy and satisfied, because they figured out that all they needed to do to eat was to feed each other. 

So, my friends, may we ponder this analogy and apply it to our lives however God calls us to.  Maybe there are new ways that God is calling us to serve, care and support our fellow human beings-- here in the Franklin area and throughout the world.  As individuals and as a church community, I know that you are already involved in many avenues of service.  We heard about some of those avenues today in the Missions Moment--and we’ll hear about some more next week. 

There are many non-profit organizations and Missions Projects that need our support, and getting involved in them through hands-on work and/or by donating money are some ways we can engage in mutual service.  And, paradoxically, as we serve as we’ve all discovered, we will receive back more than we have given in terms of joy and a sense of connection.  So, may we be in prayer this stewardship season and listen for God’s leadership as we each consider how God is calling us to be involved in serving our neighbors in our church, our community, and our world. 

Let us pray…

PHONE

SLIPS OF PAPER.

- Moment of silence…lifting up in prayer those we hold in our hearts... others in this room and in our livestream…  [PAUSE]

- O God, bless the sick… those who are struggling… those who are grieving…caregivers… Give them strength and healing….  In Jesus name, Amen

PLEASE JOIN ME IN THE LORD’S PRAYER

- Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy kingdom come 
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven 
- Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors`
- And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  AMEN

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

[First draft of this sermon was written by Marlayna and preached October 22, 2006]

Sermon: “What Do You Need to Let Go?"

Scripture Reading:  Mark 10:17-31 (New Revised Standard Version)

17 As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” 20 He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

28 Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

“What Do You Need to Let Go?"

The desire for immortality seems to have been around forever.  In the Middle Ages, knights of the king’s court searched for the Holy Grail, believing that one sip from this legendary cup would allow them to live forever.  A few hundred years later, explorers in the new world sought the fountain of youth.  These days, some people pay thousands of dollars to have their bodies cryogenically frozen—with the hope that sometime in the future, when science advances, they’ll be able to wake up and resume their lives.

The desire for immortality was present in Jesus’ day as well.  The rich man in today’s scripture reading was looking for it—it’s clear from his question, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus, however, gives him an answer he doesn’t expect.  The Scripture tells us that “Jesus looks at him and loves him.”  In other words, rather than getting angry at the man’s ignorance or privilege, Jesus answers with compassion and says, “You lack one thing; go, sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”  The rich man is shocked by Jesus’ words and goes away grieving. 

I remember being a kid reading this Scripture, and I didn’t understand the man’s reaction.  At the time, the choice seemed easy to me.  I mean, compared to immortality, how good could his possessions be?  Silk, gold, diamonds, shoes—sure, they’re nice, but you can’t take them with you!  Why couldn’t he see that?  Why couldn’t he let go? 

As an adult, my understanding of what Jesus was asking the man to do has grown, and I have a greater appreciation for how difficult the choice actually was.  It’s become clear to me that the possessions themselves probably weren’t the main roadblock for this man—my guess is that it’s what went with them:  power, prestige, influence, the ability to make choices.  Or maybe it went even deeper than that:  maybe what the man had trouble letting go of was his identity.  No doubt, his wealth bought him a nice position in society.  People recognized him, looked up to him, admired him.  Without all that, what would his life be about? How would he define himself?  Who would he be?

When who you are is too closely defined by what you have— then to give up your possessions means to give up yourself—and the man in our reading wasn’t able to do that--at least not yet. 

And his lack of ability to do what Jesus asked implies that there was something else that the man lacked too.  His understanding of eternal life was apparently not the same as what Jesus understood it to be.  For the man, eternal life evidently meant being immortal, living forever in the same identity and lifestyle to which he’d become accustomed.  But, for Jesus, eternal life was defined differently.

For Jesus, eternal life was first and foremost entering into the community of faith, the family of God.  It was claiming a new identity:  your identity as a child of God, a child who is as equally loved, accepted, valued, and forgiven as all of God’s children. 

This is what Jesus was getting at when he commanded the man to sell his possessions and give to the poor.  Jesus was trying to get the man to claim a new identity and, with it, new priorities.  Jesus was encouraging the man to see himself first and foremost as a child of God— a child who is called to be part of a community where growing and sharing equally in love, acceptance, and forgiveness are valued above wealth, power, prestige and influence. 

My friends, like this man, we are each called by Jesus to claim our identity as children of God, as part of the community of faith.  To fully claim this identity, there may be things in our lives that we need to let go.  Like the man in the reading, maybe we have allowed other things to define us more than our relationship with God---  maybe we have found our primary identity in our work or our status or family relationships.  Not that these things are bad in and of themselves, but the problem with letting these things define us more than our relationship with God is that these things are not eternal.  Jobs end.   Status can easily change.  Family configurations shift.  And when these changes happen, if our identity is not centered in God, we are cast adrift.  Let me give you an example.

Ed and Kathy—not their real names—have been friends of my husband for years.  When they were newly married, they moved from the Midwest to the Gold Coast of Connecticut, got good jobs in the corporate world, and started to climb the ladder of success.  He was an executive in a corporation, and she worked for a real estate company.  When they had saved enough money, they started a family—had 3 children in fairly short order.   While the children were young, Kathy cut her work schedule to part-time so she could be home with the kids at least some of the time.  But the two of them—and their children—had such busy schedules, that the whole family rarely, if ever, got together as a unit.  Ed and Kathy themselves were like ships passing in the night and started to feel burned out—like they were drifting away from each other and themselves-- losing their identity as a couple and as individuals.

(Something that happens fairly often in our world today.) 

At the time, Ed and Kathy were not religious--they hadn’t been to church since they were young, but they started seeking something beyond themselves to bring life to their souls.   They even prayed about it, though they weren’t even sure there was a God who was listening.  Well, as a short-term solution, they decided to take a family vacation together, and ended up in Vermont—and, by divine providence, stumbled upon the Westin Priory.  Some of you may be familiar with it, but, if not, the Westin Priory is where a group of Catholic Benedictine monks live and work and lead worship services open to the public in an old stone chapel, where they play guitars and drums.  Ed and Kathy found these worship services so healing that they decided that they needed to reconnect with God and participate in a church community like this on a regular basis. 

To make a long story short, they decided to change their life-style so that everything they did reflected their renewed understanding of who and what God was calling them to be.  So, they left Connecticut, bought an Inn in Vermont near the Priory, and started what they considered to be a ministry of hospitality—reasonably priced accommodations where burned-out city dwellers could come to find renewal.  Their children lived with them there in the Inn, and although Ed and Kathy have now retired, two of their children have continued the ministry of hospitality there at the family Inn in Vermont. 

Now, I’m not saying that we all need to move to Vermont and start a ministry.  What I am saying is that if we each allow our primary identity to be “a child of God,” we can stay centered and make a positive difference in the world no matter what happens to us.  If our primary identity is being a child of God, we will have a community of faith that offers mutual support and care and helps us grow through good and bad times alike.   When we are grounded in this identity, that’s when we discover the true meaning of eternal life, which is not simply immortality for an individual, but rather being part of something larger than ourselves.  It’s being part of the Kingdom of God, which many people these days call the “kin-dom of God,” to emphasize that it’s all about relationships, that is, sharing equally with others in the love, acceptance, and forgiveness of God—now and always. 

I think many of us have come to appreciate the importance of this kin-dom--being part of a community of faith-- even more during this pandemic, haven’t we?  I’ve talked with a number of people who have expressed how church connections--virtual and in-person--have been a lifeline for them in this time of Covid.  And how the stress and grief of Covid, as awful as it has been, has also forced us to re-think some of our priorities.

So, my friends, may we each take some time this long weekend--and beyond--to re-examine our own priorities--to prayerfully ask ourselves the question, “Is there anything I need to let go of in order to make my relationship with God-- and others in God’s kin-dom-- top priority?”  And, by the grace of God, may we continue to grow together in Christ, sharing more equally in love, acceptance, and forgiveness with all God’s people.

Let us pray. 

O God, you have called us into your kin-dom, and we have answered that call by being part of this family of faith.  O God, continue to challenge and teach us through your Scriptures, through your good gifts of reason and reflection and science, through our interactions with others, that we may grow in faith and understanding.  Help us to see and treat all people as equals, working for justice in ways that build each other up and not tear each other down.  May your all-encompassing love help us to let go of whatever gets in the way of our making you and your kin-dom our top priority. 

And hear us now as we lift up to you our prayers for our community and our world.

Bless the Afghan refugees as they resettle in new countries, including the family that is now settling in Worcester.  Help our fellow citizens welcome these newcomers with open arms and value them as brothers and sisters in God’s all-encompassing family. 

Bless all of the participants and spectators taking part in the marathon tomorrow.  Keep them safe, O God, and may this event be filled with joy.

PHONE

SLIPS OF PAPER.

- Moment of silence…lifting up in prayer those we hold in our hearts.. others in this room and in our livestream…  [PAUSE]

- O God, bless the sick… those who are struggling… those who are grieving…caregivers… Give them strength and healing….  In Jesus name, Amen

PLEASE JOIN ME IN THE LORD’S PRAYER

- Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy kingdom come 
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven 
- Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors`
- And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  AMEN

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

[An earlier version of this sermon was written by Marlayna and preached on 10/15/06.]

Sermon: “Learning Faith from a Child”

Scripture Reading:  Mark 10:13-16 (New Revised Standard Version)

13 People were bringing little children to Jesus in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Sermon:  “Learning Faith from a Child” 

I love this passage where Jesus takes the little children up in his arms and blesses them!  Not only does it show us how much God values children, but also it teaches us adults something about faith.   “Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”  When Jesus said this, I am sure the disciples stood up and took notice.  I can just picture them stopping in their tracks, their jaws dropping, the word, “What?!” forming on their lips.  This statement had to come as a shock, since children in that day and age were considered to be unimportant, “non-persons,” almost.  This statement of Jesus’ flew in the face of what they’d been taught in their culture—that wealthy men with power and prestige were the ones whom God had blessed, the ones closest to God’s kingdom—not little children who had nothing. 

I can just picture the disciples puzzling this out with each other later on, when they were again walking along the road.   I can imagine their conversation:

- “The Kingdom of God belongs to children??  Do you understand what Jesus meant by that?!”

- “Is he really saying that there is something about little children that brings them closer to God than the rest of us?”

- “Yeah, I think he’s saying that--and more than that:  he’s actually saying we need to be like them!  But in what way?” 

- “Could it be the way they trust others so freely?”

- “How about their openness, their willingness to accept and love people, faults and all?”

- “Yeah, and maybe it’s also their lack of guile-- their natural tendency to be full of hope…” 

I can imagine the first disciples having this kind of conversation, because it’s the conversation that scholars have been having over this statement ever since. 

It’s a conversation that I commend to you to think about, starting with the question, “What is it about little children that naturally brings them closer to God than the rest of us?”  (And, while we’re thinking about this, it’s important to note that the gospel of Luke, in relating this story, uses the word “babies” instead of little children.  So, we’re talking really young children here.) 

It’s a question that I’ve thought about over the years, and a few years ago I came up with an answer that made sense to me--and then I found that answer written up in a book.  (Just an aside:  I didn’t know whether to be psyched that I’d come up with a theory that was corroborated by a scholar—or annoyed that I hadn’t thought of it sooner and written the book myself! J) So, my answer (that I have to say was very well-stated by the scholar) is that it’s primarily a little child’s “radical dependence” on other people that brings them closer to God.  They have not yet learned to strive for self-sufficiency, so they are ready and willing to receive all the blessings that God has to offer, including life itself.   (New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Vol. VIII, p. 647)

Sadly, however, in our culture, as we grow up, we tend to lose this openness to receiving blessings from God and other people.  We are taught that our highest value should be autonomy, self-sufficiency, independence.  We begin to believe that relying on others, instead of ourselves, makes us weak and worthless.

I know that I internalized that message early on.  Let me give you an example. 

When I was around 5 years old, I used to love hanging out with my father in his basement workshop.   I used to love watching him work on “projects,” as he called them— items he would repair or make out of wood or metal.  And one day I decided, myself, to embark on a project—to make a toy airplane out of wood.  I had collected two scraps of wood that I wanted to use for the body of the plane and the wings, but both were a little too long, so I figured the first order of business was to cut them down to size—using one of my father’s saws.  I told my father what I wanted to do, and he said he’d be glad to help me.  But, apparently, I did not like that suggestion.  My father told me years later, when we were talking about the airplane project, that I had looked at him indignantly and said, “No, Daddy, I can do it all by myself!” 

Now, the amazing thing here, was that he somehow managed not to laugh at me.  Here I was, 5 years old, small for my age, not even tall enough to reach the work table, barely strong enough to even pick up a saw, never mind use it, and yet I thought I could handle a woodworking project all by myself.  Well, to make a long story short, I discovered I couldn’t do it by myself, I allowed my father to help me, and together we made a pretty decent little toy plane.  (Which hung for years from the ceiling of my room.  J)

So, analogous to this, the concept that competent adults should be able to do everything on their own without relying on their fellow human beings and God is simply not true.  Autonomy is a myth.  And, worse than that, it’s a myth that sets us up for isolation, loneliness, and deep feelings of inadequacy.  If it weren’t so painful, it would be as laughable as a 5-year- old who thinks she can make an airplane by herself out of wood! 

The truth is what’s stated in the first couple of steps in any 12 step program.  Let me paraphrase: “By myself I am powerless; I look to God, or my Higher Power, for strength because I cannot do it alone.”  We all know the truth of this statement, don’t we?  How many of us have faced situations in our lives when it feels like we are standing at the bottom of a mountain and the only way forward is up, but we have no energy for the climb.  Whether we are facing an addiction, an illness (our own or someone else’s), a loss, or some other huge obstacle, one of the first feelings that may hit us is hopelessness, because we are inadequate to face such momentous things on our own. 

My friends, this is one very important thing that little children can teach us about faith:  We cannot do everything on our own; God is the source of our strength and power.  We cannot do everything on our own; God is the source of our strength and power!  The more we accept this fact, the happier we will be.   In fact, that’s part of why we have church—to encourage one another to look to God and to support each other.  Because we can’t do it all alone.  It’s the grace of God that gives us life. 

So, in the coming weeks, whatever projects we embark on in our individual or corporate lives, may we do them in the strength of God’s power, for God’s purposes—recognizing that it is only in connection to God and our fellow human beings that we will thrive. 

Let us pray… 

Gracious God, we thank you that you have not created us to be islands unto ourselves.  You have given us the gift of each other--and you strengthen us when we turn to others--and you--for the support we need.  Help us to accept support when we need it, and help us to give it when others are in need.

Hear now our prayers for our community and our world. 

We pray that the marches yesterday for Women’s Reproductive Rights will bear good fruit.  We pray that women’s health care will be a priority for our politicians, and we pray that we can find ways to talk with each other about complex issues like abortion without our conversations escalating into angry confrontations.  

We continue to pray for healthcare workers taking care of patients with Covid 19.  Keep them safe, O God, and may people worried about whether or not to get the vaccine find trustworthy sources that give them the information they need to weigh the risks. 

We pray for our church community as well.  We received a few requests by email…

1.   We pray for Julia who will be having surgery on Tuesday.  She asks for prayers for her doctors and nurses who will be taking care of her, and so we pray for them--AND HER--that your Healing Spirit will guide their work--and that everything will go as planned.

2.   We pray also for Lyn’s friends Meri and Mark and family as they deal with Meri's worsening ALS.

3.   And we join Lyn in a prayer of celebration for her daughter Michelle, who is in the Netherlands to receive her Master of Legal Letters degree in international law on Tuesday.

PHONE

SLIPS

- Moment of silence…lifting up in prayer those we hold in our hearts.. others in this room and in our livestream…  [PAUSE]

- O God, bless the sick… those who are struggling… those who are grieving…caregivers… Give them strength and healing….  In Jesus name, Amen

PLEASE JOIN ME IN THE LORD’S PRAYER

- Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy kingdom come 
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven 
- Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors`
- And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  AMEN

Sermon: “Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us”

Scripture Reading:  Mark 9:38-41 (New Revised Standard Version)

38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

Sermon:  “Whoever Is Not Against Us Is for Us”

Today’s Scripture reading is not an easy one to hear or interpret.

First of all, there’s the whole demon possession thing.  In a scientific age, we understand that most of the behaviors that ancient peoples attributed to demon possession we would attribute to physical or mental illness.  And, thanks be to God, when such illness is correctly identified, then a person can be treated.  So, we need to be careful not to take everything literally when we read an ancient text that arose in a completely different worldview than our own.

Mainline scholars today approach ancient texts like this one mostly through a metaphorical lens rather than a literal one.  With that in mind, I encourage us to see the “demons” spoken about in this text as a metaphor for the things that negatively affect the health of a person or a community.  In other words, “casting out demons,” would be a metaphor for restoring a person or a community to a state of health.

Viewed like this, today’s Scripture reading does not seem so off-putting to our sensibilities.  However, what does still seem off-putting is the disciples’ reaction to the restoration of health.  Given that restoration of health is a good thing, you’d expect the text would read something like this:  “The disciple John said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we rejoiced because it was so wonderful to see our neighbors free from their infirmities!’”  But that’s not the way the text reads. 

Instead, John says, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 

What is up with that reaction?!  The disciples witness a healing--actually, several healings, because the word “demon” is plural, but instead of praising God and encouraging the healing to continue, they get mad and try to shut it down. 

What were they thinking?!  The phrase “because he was not following us” gives us a clue.  Apparently, whoever this unnamed outsider is, he did not follow the proper protocols; he did not approach the disciples and ask their permission to heal in Jesus’ name.  He did not even give the disciples the courtesy of informing them that he would be working on their turf!  And their noses got more than a bit out of joint because, somehow, the disciples erroneously had it in their heads that they were the ones in charge, that all of the healing work “in Jesus’ name” had to be directed by them.  Which is ludicrous, of course.  “Jesus” is not a brand that can be owned; Jesus is the Son of the living God--the Christ--who embodied God’s Spirit; Jesus is the one who empowers whomever he chooses to heal in his name.

But before we get too critical of the disciples, it’s important to remember that they are human beings with human flaws like all of us.  In this text, they aren’t doing anything that most of us haven’t also done at some point in our lives.

I know I have.  Let me give you an example. 

In one church I served, several years ago, there was an AA group that met on the same night we had church meetings.  (The church owned a big building with a number of different meeting spaces.)  The AA group that met in the fellowship hall was very well attended--in fact, more people attended that group than attended worship on Sunday mornings-- and when they’d take a break partway through their meeting, many of them would go outside to chat and smoke.  And, as it happened, their favorite gathering spot was underneath the windows of the second floor meeting room where church meetings took place. 

I have to confess that when I was in a church meeting on AA nights, my first thought on hearing the AA group outside the window wasn’t always, “Praise be to God!  How wonderful that so many people have found support and healing from their addiction!” 

I wish that had been my first thought.  But mostly it wasn’t.  Often my first thought when I heard the AA group or smelled their cigarette smoke wafting through the meeting-room window was, “I wish they wouldn’t be so noisy--and do they have to smoke right under our windows?!  How rude!”  Like the disciples in today’s reading, rather than seeing the big picture and rejoicing in the healing that was taking place--which was the most important thing in God’s eyes, I’m sure--I allowed myself, instead, to focus on a few minor things that annoyed me. 

But back to the disciples.  I believe there is another dynamic going on in this situation, as well--a dynamic that fueled the disciples’ emotional reaction to the unnamed healer and contributed to their desire to stop his good work.  And this dynamic has nothing to do with the healer himself.  The healer’s behavior just happened to trigger the disciples’ unresolved emotions from a previous incident. 

Earlier in chapter 9 of Mark’s Gospel--not part of today’s text, we read that the disciples themselves were trying to cast a demon out of an afflicted boy, but they simply weren’t able to do it.  And, still smarting from their failure, they get into an argument with members of the crowd who had witnessed the failed healing.  And, if that wasn’t humiliating enough, Jesus then enters the scene and chastises everyone for their lack of faith.   I think we can assume that, at this point, the disciples had to be feeling pretty bad; if I were in their place, I’m sure I would have felt embarrassed, chagrined, ashamed, and angry.    

So, given human nature, a couple of days later, when the outsider in today’s text shows up and has great success at doing what the disciples have publicly failed to do big time, the disciples’ feelings seem to intensify.  It looks to me like the disciples are jealous of the outsider’s ability to heal people when they themselves lacked that ability, despite all the time they had spent with Jesus.  Plus, the healer’s success also seems to have triggered some of the disciples’ unresolved emotions from the previous incident, and the disciples unfairly redirect some of their own anger from that previous incident at him.  Psychologists call this phenomenon transference--when people redirect their feelings for a person from a previous incident onto an entirely different person and a new incident.  (https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/transference)

Why am I bringing this up?  Because we all do it--not just the disciples.  It’s a human thing.  For example, maybe we have unresolved anger from an argument we had with a family member, and then later someone at work says something that triggers that anger, and we unfairly redirect--and sometimes intensify--that anger onto the person at work.  Why am I bringing this up?   Because we all need to be aware that we do this--we all need to monitor our own behavior, notice when we do it, and put a stop to it.  Because when we are unaware of the times we engage in transference--when we don’t put a stop to the emotions we unfairly transfer onto other people, it is damaging to community.

We see the potential damage in our reading for today.  The disciples, unaware of their jealousy and their transferred anger, try to put a stop to God’s work of healing that was taking place in their community.  To put it another way, the disciples’ unexamined feelings nearly became a road-block to the mission of healing that God had given-- not just to them--but all who seek to follow God’s way of Love!  

Because of the disciples’ lack of awareness and ability to monitor their own behavior, Jesus had to intervene and remind the disciples not to impede God’s work.  Using words that were probably a direct quote from a proverb of his era, Jesus tells them, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”  In other words, Jesus reminds the disciples:

“Don’t let your emotions blind you to the big picture of what God is doing in the world.  Remember, God uses a variety of people--not just you--to accomplish God’s work of healing in the world.”

This Scripture text has some things to teach us today, doesn’t it?  To state the obvious, in our world, there are numerous divisions between people-- and emotions are running high, fueled by many things, including the stress, anxiety and grief of living in this pandemic.  In this atmosphere, how often do we--like the disciples of old--run into folks whose behavior triggers our ire?  Speaking for myself, I dare say it can almost be a daily occurrence!  May this Scripture passage remind us to take some deep breaths before we respond in these situations.

May this Scripture passage remind us to look at the big picture and evaluate what is going on before we unthinkingly transfer our emotions onto someone else.  May we pray for the people who make us mad.  May we ask ourselves some questions, such as:

·        Are the people who are triggering my ire well-intentioned? 

·        Do they share God’s value of helping all people--particularly those who are disadvantaged-- thrive? 

·        Are they working to heal the world, even if the way they choose to do it may be different than the way I might choose to do so?

Even if we think we know the answer to those questions, let’s have the courage to bring them up.  To ask these questions--not just to ourselves, but, where it’s appropriate, to the other.  Because maybe we know their answers--OR maybe we would be surprised…When we notice ourselves getting mad, can we set our anger aside and respond instead with curiosity?  Can we say something like,

·        I want to understand where you are coming from.  Can you tell me why you are saying or doing that? 

·        Can you tell me how what you are doing helps the greater good and improves the lives of people who are suffering?

The more we recognize our own humanity and tendency to transfer our feelings onto others, the more we can engage others with compassion, as Jesus did. 

Now hear me, I’m not naïve enough to suggest that everyone out there is working for healing or trying to do God’s will.  There are, sadly, some people in this world who really don’t seem to care about the suffering of their fellow human beings.  But we should not let our anger fool us into thinking that everyone who disagrees with us is in that camp.  God loves us all.  And healing is best accomplished when we allow God to open our minds and hearts and show us how to work with those others who ultimately want the same things we want, but who just go about it a different way.   

May God guide us in our discernment and help us to see the truth in Jesus’ words that “whoever is not against us is for us.”

Let us pray.   [OVER]

·        Loving God, thank you that you are still speaking through the words of Scripture and challenging us to work with our neighbors to heal the wounds of our world. 

·        Oh God, we boldly ask that you begin that healing with us. 

·        Forgive us for the times when we let our anger blind us to your bigger picture.  

·        Forgive us for the times when we transfer our emotions onto others, focusing more on what other people do wrong than what they do right. 

·        Help us to be humble enough to offer the same grace to others that you offer to us. 

·        Open our eyes to the glorious possibilities of the healing that could be accomplished in our world if we worked together with those who are seeking the same things we are, but by different means.

And hear us now as we lift up to you our prayers for our community and our world.

Bless our House of Representatives as they discuss and vote on a massive tax and spending bill.  May the reps listen to each other and find viable compromises, while at the same time focusing first and foremost on those who are disadvantaged.

Be with all of us as we continue to make decisions about how to live in this pandemic.  As we discuss the pros and cons of being vaccinated and wearing masks, help us to continually fact-check our assumptions, asking the same questions of ourselves as we ask of others.  And remembering that we decide affects others, and vice versa.  O God, lead us through this polarizing time with love, grace, and compassion.

Bless immigrants from Haiti.  Keep them safe as our country and other countries figure out how to handle the influx of people understandably escaping disaster. 

PHONE

SLIPS OF PAPER.

- Moment of silence…lifting up in prayer those we hold in our hearts.. others in this room and in our livestream…  [PAUSE]

- O God, bless the sick… those who are struggling… those who are grieving…caregivers… Give them strength and healing….  In Jesus name, Amen

PLEASE JOIN ME IN THE LORD’S PRAYER

- Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy kingdom come 
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven 
- Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors`
- And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  AMEN

Sermon: “Concluding Comments about the Rising Church"

Scripture Reading:  Isaiah 42:6-9 (New Revised Standard Version)

6 I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness,
    I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
    a light to the nations,
7     to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
    from the prison those who sit in darkness.
8 I am the Lord, that is my name;
    my glory I give to no other,
    nor my praise to idols.
9 See, the former things have come to pass,
    and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
    I tell you of them.

Sermon:  “Concluding Comments about the Rising Church"

(Last sermon in a series on the book Weird Church)

My best friend in high school was Albanian Orthodox, and I have a wonderful memory of dancing at her wedding.  One dance in particular was very memorable:  the band started playing a song I didn’t recognize and suddenly everyone was up on their feet--from the youngest preschooler to the oldest grandmother.  They arrived on the dance floor in groups of 2 or 3, often with one person leading another by the hand.  Then, with one person leading the whole group, they all formed a circle holding hands and started doing a fairly simple dance step--it was something like 3 or 4 steps to the right followed by a step or two left, a partial turn, and then repeat.  For good or for ill, I’ve never been one to sit out a dance, so despite not having any idea what I was doing, I jumped right in with everyone else, and I actually got the hang of it because I kept holding the hands of the people next to me, and I kept watching the leader’s feet! 

But then the pace of the music increased, and everyone started dancing faster and faster, and the circle became a spiral, and everyone was laughing and cheering and I kept holding onto the hands of the people on either side of me and watching the leader, and although I probably stepped on a few feet in the process, no one seemed to mind--it was absolutely wonderful!!  Such a fun celebration!!

The experience of that dance popped into my mind when I read the last few chapters of this book.  The authors begin chapter 26 by quoting the pastor of a church in New York City that has been trying new things.  Here’s what the pastor says:

“This project has helped me see what God has been working on and recognize God’s invitation to me into what God is up to.  It feels like dancing with the Triune God who is already dancing in a circle to beautiful music.  My project has become a search for the dancing God and led me to join God’s dance…  My prayer changed from discerning God’s will or asking God to work on my plan-- to keeping up the dance with God.”  Pastor Paul Moon quoted on p. 161 of Weird Church.

This image of dancing with God is a good one, isn’t it?!  I wonder if that image was in the prophet Isaiah’s mind when he wrote today’s Scripture reading, particularly verse 6, where the prophet, speaking on God’s behalf, says, “I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand…”  I have taken you by the hand.  Even if you’re not a confident dancer, if a good dancer takes you by the hand and leads, not only do you pick up the steps fairly quickly, you also recover quickly from any mis-steps you make.  AND before you know it, you are smiling and laughing and enjoying the dance. 

Over the past few months, going through this book, Weird Church, we have looked at many different ways churches can do ministry.  Some may have been far outside our comfort zone and felt very weird; some may have felt more doable because they are adaptations of what we’ve already experienced.  The idea isn’t to pick something at random, try it, and hope it succeeds.  The idea is for all of us--as individuals and as a church family--to be in a spirit of prayer.  To ask God to take us by the hand and lead us in the dance, and to trust that God will show us what we need to learn as we step out in faith onto the dancefloor. 

An interesting thing about today’s Scripture passage from Isaiah that I have never noticed before--despite having read it dozens of times over the years--is how many times the pronoun “I” is used. The prophet is relaying the words of God to the people of Israel.  In this passage, God is calling them to be a light to the nations.  To open the eyes of that are blind.  To bring out of prison those who sit in darkness.  Scholars say this passage is reminding the people of Israel of the promise God made to their ancestors Abraham and Sarah in Genesis chapter 12, verses 1-3.  God told them, “through you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.”  In short, God is reminding the people of their mission, the purpose for which God created them and put them on this earth:  to shine the light of God’s love and justice out into the world--to reach everyone. 

It’s the same mission that Jesus had--and passed on to his disciples and to the church and to us.  We are to follow God in the dance and invite others to join us--to shine the light of God’s love and justice, light that opens people’s eyes and frees them from the forces in the world that constrict their lives and leave them suffering in darkness.  There is nothing more fulfilling that we can do in the world.

But back to the pronoun “I.”  God does not just give us this mission and then disappear.  By using the pronoun “I” 8 times in these 4 short verses, God assures us, “I am” right there with you.  In the present moment, I am leading you.  If you take my hand, I will open your eyes and heart and I will free you from whatever prison you are in, AND I will use you to open other people’s eyes and hearts and free them from whatever prisons they are in, whatever forces bind them and stop them from being their full selves.  All you need to do, says God, is keep hold of my hand and the dance of love and justice will spring forth in new ways and accomplish all the blessing I intended from the beginning. 

How might we and our church change if we saw ourselves first and foremost as being led in a new dance of love and justice by God?  Would we enjoy it more?  Would we be less fearful of trying new things? 

The last two glimpses of the rising church described in this book are very interesting.  One is called “Moment of Grace,” and it is described in Chapter 25.  In this chapter, the authors point out that not every faith community lasts forever.  In fact, they point out that “every church that [the Apostle] Paul planted in what is today Turkey vanished centuries ago.  And yet those faith communities are our spiritual ancestors.  We are direct descendants.”  The point being that even if a particular church building closes its doors or a particular mission trip ends, the church is the people--and, and as long as people’s hearts remain open, the light of God’s love and justice continues shining through people’s lives and bringing new blessings wherever the people go from there. 

The last glimpse of the rising church is called “holocracy,” and it refers to a way a church is governed.  In a holocracy, there is no management hierarchy.  Every group or ministry in the church operates autonomously, without being micromanaged by another group or person.  (Weird Church, p. 172).  But the most interesting thing about this model, I think, is its focus on spirituality.  Let me read a description:

“Imagine a church…where all the people in each cell and circle are rallied toward daily practices of prayer and/or meditation, and daily practices of kindness, forgiveness, and peacemaking.  Where it is all about spiritual practice, regardless of the programs, the theological convictions, or the lack thereof.”  (Weird Church, p. 163)

The book closes with the hope that churches will take heart in the understanding that God is still dancing with us.  Even though many institutional churches may be shrinking, God’s Spirit has not left our world.  On the contrary.  God is as present as ever.  God is as willing as ever to take us by the hand and dance and help us shine the light of love and justice in the world.  The authors of this book find hope that many people whom we might consider “secular” because they do not belong to an institutional church really are spiritual seekers. They describe a world where “for many, Jesus becomes a mystical and deeply personal friend and guide…[where] Bible students move beyond a fixation on what is literal/historical and what is not, to an exploration of what the ancient texts reveal about the contours of our souls.”

The book leaves us with this challenge:

“Move to the edges, if you dare, toward those rising sons and daughters who have long abandoned our houses of worship…the young artists, and activists, with voices fresh and unorthodox, ready to prophecy.  Do not do this selfishly, with the hopes that they will bail out a tired, old church.  It is not about us.  It is about them.  Moreover, it is about transcending all notions of “us and them.”  … it is about showing up to dance with God and all the folks God is bringing to her party.”  (Weird Church, p. 169)

May we take this challenge to heart and show up to dance with God, allowing God to lead us into new ways of being church, of sharing love and justice with our neighbors.  And as we do so, may we find our strength in Jesus, giving thanks that he is with us always, even to the end of the age.

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

“More Glimpses of the Rising Church" (#10 in a series on the book Weird Church)

Scripture Reading:  2 Corinthians 5:17

17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Sermon:  “More Glimpses of the Rising Church"

(#10 in a series on the book Weird Church)

I was out watering my garden yesterday--something I have not had to do very much this summer, given the excess of rain we’ve had--and I noticed something interesting.  Right in the middle of one clump of Montauk Daisies there was one stem with leaves that were all wilted and dried up.  I brought it along with me this morning for show and tell--here it is.  [HOLD UP DRIED STEM.]  The clump of daisies in which I found this stem is located right near our front door, and I have a vague memory of dropping something into it by mistake this past week when I holding a bunch of stuff in my hands and trying to unlock the door at the same time.   (It might have been my phone or an empty travel mug--I can’t remember exactly, because I drop stuff all the time… I just can’t multitask.)  At any rate, whatever I had dropped into the plant apparently broke this stem and disconnected it from the rest of the stem and the roots of the plant.  And stopped its growth.

Which reminded me of today’s Scripture.  “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:  everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new.”  In case the connection between this dead daisy and today’s Scripture is not readily apparent, let me explain.  Normally when I read this verse, I focus on the second part--the new creation.  But this week, when I read the verse again, the first part of the verse kept jumping out at me--the part about being “in Christ.”  And I got to thinking again about what being “in Christ” actually means. 

Like everything in the Bible, this phrase of Scripture is subject to interpretation and may mean different things to different people.  And, in our denominations--American Baptist and United Church of Christ, we celebrate how each of us is free to interpret the Scriptures according to our own study and discernment--praise be to God.  So, let me just share a little bit about what being “in Christ” means to me--and perhaps also to you.

Based on my years of study and life-experience, being in Christ means to me that we--everyone, regardless of our background, race, gender, sexual orientation, abilities, age, political persuasion, theological beliefs or any other category by which human beings tend to judge each other--we are all welcomed, accepted, affirmed just as we are as Children of God.  In a nutshell, each and every human being is loved by God more than we can imagine, and nothing we do can ever separate us from that love.  (Romans 8:38-39).  Furthermore, we are forgiven by God for anything we have done or are doing or might do in the future to hurt ourselves, our neighbors, our world.  That is not to say that God condones any of our harmful behavior--on the contrary.  The more we open our hearts to the God we see revealed in Jesus, the more God actively works within us; through the Spirit we accepted when we chose to follow Christ, God transforms our hearts, minds, and behavior for the better.  And, as we are being transformed, we reach out in service to share that transforming love with others in our world. 

But back to my Montauk Daisy.  When we stay “in Christ”--that is, when we intentionally choose to stay connected to Christ’s love in our individual lives and through our faith community, we grow and flourish.  (For more on a similar metaphor, see Jesus’ words in John chapter 15…)  But, when something happens that knocks us off kilter--we may feel like this [HOLD UP PLANT AGAIN]-- cut off from our source of growth and spiritually dried up.  It happens to all of us, doesn’t it?  We all have dry periods.  We all have times in our lives when for various reasons we feel cut off from Christ, from the source of our spiritual life and growth and health. 

And this analogy doesn’t just apply to individuals.  It also applies to  churches.  Sometimes local churches--and even whole denominations-- dry up.  Sometimes the culture changes around us and the ways we’ve been tapping into Christ’s Spirit do not work well anymore.  Or are not sustainable.  Sometimes in church we do not find ourselves growing or flourishing or experiencing much joy.  Which brings us to the point of this book.  The culture is changing around us, and churches need to make shifts in ministry if we want to continuing growing in Christ.  And, let me reiterate-the book is not saying that Christ’s Spirit has dried up.  No, thank God--the Spirit of Christ’s Love and Acceptance and Forgiveness and Service is alive and well and still transforming lives--and will continue to do so.  But local churches need to change or adapt our ways of tapping into it.  In the words of today’s Scripture, we need to find ways of letting go of the “old” that has and is passing away and allowing the “new creation” that God is forming to grow and thrive.

Let me share a few glimpses of new ways--out lined in this book--that real life churches are tapping in to Christ’s Spirit and thriving.

One glimpse--from Chapter 17--is called “The Community Center.”  Let me read from a description of how this works.  It is a “first person” testimony of a church member:

“How can we partner with Christ in the unfolding of the kingdom in this community?”  that was our overarching question when we began dreaming about ministry in this neighborhood.  We spent lots of time meeting the neighbors, non-profit groups, and small business owners in the area.  [Everybody shared] our stories and listened.  Through that deep listening we began to discover synchronicities of gifts, needs, and passions… Together we transformed a storefront into a place where people can meet to collaborate … We have nonprofit partners who help pay the rent, and we are becoming known as the place where good stuff happens for the neighborhood.  On Sundays we use the space for worship, and the other days of the week the space is used for arts groups, parenting groups, yoga, community meetings, and 12-step groups.  The pastor is also the executive director of the space and chaplain for all the groups.  (Weird Church, p. 122)

This particular example is of a church who got rid of their old building and now operates out of a rented storefront.  However, other examples in the chapter speak of churches who have done similar things by keeping and renovating their old buildings.  It’s important to note that what they do with their building is dictated by the Church’s Vision for ministry and understanding of what fits best with needs of the neighborhood in which--and with whom-- they are called to minister.

Another glimpse of a church that is growing and thriving in Christ is from chapter 18; it is called “Mission Base Camp.”  Let me read a first-person account quoted in this book by someone whose church is an example of this model:

For years, our church had been advocating for LGBTQ rights--within the district of Columbia, within the U.S. military, within our denomination.  I remember the day we voted to conduct gay weddings, in holy transcendence of the denomination’s rules.  The day of the vote came after several months of conversation and discernment within the congregation.  We knew as we voted that a Yes vote risked our pastor (Dean Snyder) being removed and possibly defrocked.  Dean was fearless about the matter.  …The voting was by secret ballot…[We sang while] We watched ballot after ballot going into the box.  By the end of the fourth hymn, they certified the vote:  397 to 8, and the house erupted in cheers.  I realized that day that we were a mission base camp--a community energized by a great gospel cause, where everything we did from worship to Bible study finally called for the question “What are we going to do about it?”  (Weird Church, p. 127-8)

This chapter goes on to give other examples of churches focusing on a single mission, such as advocating for prison reform, helping to end homelessness in their area, or working to prevent suicide.  And when the mission the church has been working on gets resolved, then the church moves on to discern and address the next mission or issue they feel Christ calling them to take on.  In the words of this book, “Everything a Mission Base Camp church does, including children’s ministry, will have to be framed in terms of world impact for good.”  (Weird Church, p. 131)

The final glimpse I want to share today of new ways local churches are organizing themselves to tap into Christ’s Spirit and thrive is from Chapter 24 and it’s called, “The Seminary.”  This chapter is not talking about seminaries as we know them, formal institutes of higher learning where people go to get graduate degrees in theology and become pastors.  This chapter is talking about small churches that are organized primarily around studying the Bible.  Let me share the paragraph of testimony quoted in this book:

Before I started at my current church, I had been in and out of churches for thirty years and I still could not tell you much about the Bible.  And I never knew how much happened in history between Bible times and now.  Nor could I tell you the ways that Christianity differed from Buddhism, or how it has similarities.  That has all changed.  Not only has my faith grown in the last few years.  But I…understand how things fit together.  Being a part of a true learning community has opened my eyes to so many things about the core of what Christianity is, as well as to the insight it offers to the world for almost every challenge we face.  It also has inspired me to make some major life commitments in terms of how I want to channel my energy, my prayers, and my resources to make a difference.  (Weird Church, p. 152)

This chapter points out that this model of church is similar to the ways Jewish synagogues operated for centuries.  The main mission of these churches is to “awaken fresh, intelligent, and heartfelt faith in their students, connected with centuries of tradition that have come before us.  They trust that from that awakening God will do amazing things in students’ lives…” (Weird Church, p. 153)  These churches are described as “small and intense,” and they empower their members to intentionally live out their faith in their daily lives. 

So, these are some glimpses of “the rising church” of the future, new ways that churches are organizing themselves for ministry in the 21st century so that they can tap in to Christ’s Spirit and grow and thrive and shine the light of God’s Love out into the world.  May God be with us as we prayerfully consider how God might be leading us to become a new creation for Christ’s sake. 

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt,

Franklin Federated Church, Franklin, MA

“Glimpses of the Rising Church" (#9 in a series on the book Weird Church)

Scripture Reading:  1 Corinthians 13:8-13 (from The Message paraphrase)

8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

11 When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Sermon:  :  “Glimpses of the Rising Church"

(#9 in a series on the book Weird Church)

It’s late August, and around this time every year I inevitably ask myself wistfully, “Where did the summer go?”  And then my next thought is, “Woah!  That means Fall is just around the corner!”  I said, “Woah!”  But I could just have easily said, “Wow!”  Because this time of year is full of transitions, which almost always bring with them a mix of feelings.  For many children, youth, young adults, parents, teachers, professors, there is the HUGE transition of “back to school.”  People getting used to new classrooms, new classmates, new students, sometimes entirely new schools.  For freshmen in college, there is not only a new school, but also a totally new living situation.  And for parents of college students, there is a new living situation as well!  And did I mention a mix of feelings?  Excitement, trepidation, joy, and sadness, just to name a few. 

This is the time of year when everyone realizes that in the very near future, things are going to be different, and how things are going to pan out, we don’t exactly know. 

To quote this morning’s Scripture reading, from 1 Corinthians 13, verse 12: “12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist.”  You may be more familiar with a traditional version of this Scripture that reads, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly.”  But while this familiar version is beautifully poetic, given how much mirrors have improved in the last 2000 years, the mirror image (so to speak) has lost a lot of its impact.  I prefer the wording in The Message paraphrase of squinting in a fog or peering through a mist.  It fits better with what the Apostle Paul was trying to get across--that although we may get some glimpses, we can’t see the whole future stretched out in front of us--it remains mostly hidden. 

I’ve been doing a sermon series on this book, Weird Church, which points out that our world is in a time of transition.  The culture is rapidly changing around us, and if the church wants to continue sharing its message of God’s Love in ways that people can understand, then we’ve got to make some changes too.  For the past several weeks, I’ve talked about 7 different shifts in ministry that the church needs to make to continue sharing its message.  The implication is that if the church makes these shifts--or even some of these shifts, it’s going to look or feel rather different, which is a bit scary, isn’t it?  I mean, what if we don’t like the changes?  I am guessing that each of us has at least a part of us that resists change (I know I do!) and asks, “Can’t we just keep everything the same?”

This book answers that question with an emphatic, “No.”  Or, let me rephrase.  Actually, we can choose to keep everything the same, but if we make that choice, then, like animals who aren’t able to adapt to their changing habitats, we’re not going to be around for much longer.  To quote from page 83,

“Most of the churches that are designed for yesterday will vanish like the dinosaurs, and possibly more quickly than we currently expect.  One particular type of church that will be nearly extinct by midcentury is the denominationally based, neighborhood franchise church waiting to get its box of curriculum and offering envelopes from headquarters…  If that is your church, then we are talking in this book about the end of church as you know it!” 

I’m not going to sugarcoat it--these words are more than a bit chilling.  They are predicting that denominationally based churches, like ours, are simply not going to be around for much longer--unless we make some changes.  We need to dare to squint into that fog, peer into that mist that is our future and see if we can catch a glimpse or two of what the future may hold for us.  Not so that we can freak out at our demise--but so that we can be motivated to go in directions that are life-giving!  If we look at new, potential ways to adapt to our changing environment, we might see one or two or three new ways to do ministry in Jesus’ name that, in the words of this book, “…help to stir longing and imagination within your church’s people and kickstart you on the next phase of your journey together with God.” (Weird Church, p. 83)

This book actually looks at 19 new ways that churches can do ministry in the future in order to adapt to the way society is changing.  They give  “snapshots” or “glimpses” of each new way based on examples of actual churches that have already started to implement these new ways and are doing vibrant ministry.  The authors don’t claim that every new way will work in every setting, but they do invite us to look at them and pray about them and consider which adaptations the Spirit of God might want us to consider.  Since exploring 19 different glimpses of new ways to “do” church is not feasible in one--or a few--13-minute sermons, I will present only a handful of “glimpses of the rising church” over the next couple of weeks--a sampling that may stir longing and imagination.  (And, by the way, the authors call it “rising” church as a reminder that our faith is grounded in the resurrection of Jesus and the power of God to bring new life to any situation.)  Let’s briefly look at 3 glimpses today. 

[NOTE to readers:  In the next pages of this sermon, I am summarizing different chapters in Weird Church, using a combination of the authors’ words and my own.]

One “glimpse of the rising church” is called “simple cell.”    Some people also call these churches “house churches” because they consist of groups that meet, primarily, in people’s homes.  The groups may be connected to a larger organization, or they may just pop up independently.  Each group forms their own practices and rituals, and “Their monthly rhythms often include worship, fellowship, learning, and mission.”  Here is a description of a simple cell church from the point of view of someone who is “spiritual but not religious” who has newly started participating in one:

“I wasn’t sure what I was getting into.  My friend invited me over to her house church on a Thursday evening and I met a bunch of people who intrigued me…  I have found a safe place to ask questions about all the things that I find offensive about religion…  We do all kinds of things together, like watching movies and talking about them, cooking meals together, gardening for our local food pantry, and serving meals at the local shelter…  Each of us takes turns sharing our gifts and interests, leading, and hosting.  I like how we read the Bible.  They call it lectio divina.  I am not exactly sure what the term means, but it invites me to listen to my intuition and to the wisdom of the group… we are on a journey together and I like that.”  (Weird church, p. 89)

This book points out that this simple cell, house church model may be foreign to most of us in our culture, but it is a configuration of church that allowed Christians to thrive for hundreds of years, particularly in times of persecution.  It was also the form that John Wesley followed in the Methodist movement back in the 18th century.  As I read the above description, I thought it sounded somewhat similar to the “connect group” concept you have here at FFC.

Another “glimpse of the rising church” is called “Dinner Party.”  Here’s a description of one such weekly gathering that takes place in an old church basement.  The description is written from the point of view of someone who came to this church for the first time, having been invited by a friend:

“There were about forty people gathered, everyone so friendly, so relaxed.  It was like a good dinner party.  Then came the Trader Joe’s wine bottles, and a toast to Jesus… And the breaking of these magnificent loaves of bread…A couple of guys had worked all afternoon in the kitchen preparing soup and bread.  As we ate, there was Bible reading, poetry, music, and people telling stories from their lives…  You could not stop the conversation.  It was so interesting, so honest…  The pastor finally talked a bit--I guess it was a sermon.  It was funny, and it was about life.  When the evening came to a close, I thought it had been the shortest church service ever--but I looked at my watch to see that two hours had passed.” (Weird Church, p. 95)

One thing the authors point out about this form of church is that it is very easy to have it be multi-generational.  This “dinner party” form of church seemed to me like the old church potluck dinner combined with Bible study, song and sharing.

The final glimpse of the rising church that I wanted to mention today is called “Community-Based Enterprise” where a church starts some sort of regular, on-going business venture that “builds up” the community around the church while at the same time making money to supplement their budget.  The type of business venture varies, of course, depending on the needs of the community in which the church is situated.  Some real-life examples include: 

·        Baking bread and selling it at a local farmers’ market

·        Creating marketable crafts and selling them regularly

·        Building websites for nonprofits

·        Having a pumpkin farm

·        Starting a coffee shop

·        Running a thrift store

·        Housing a pre-school

·        Turning the church sanctuary into a climbing center (this church now holds their weekly worship services in the banquet room of a popular local restaurant, which actually increased their worship attendance!)

It is important to note that this “Community-Based Enterprise” model is not easy.  One pastor--the one with the church who created the pumpkin farm--describes this ministry as a constant “hustle.”  It is not for low-energy leaders.   Many of the business ventures involve “repurposing  buildings in ways that build community relationships and create cash flow,” which requires not only a lot of work, but also the willingness of the congregation as a whole to “think outside of the box” and prioritize what is most important to them. 

Enough glimpses for today.  I invite you to hold these glimpses--and others from the book-- in prayer.  To picture yourself as “squinting into a mist, peering into fog,” being led by the Holy Spirit.  Ask yourself, “What does God want me to see?  Are there any elements of these glimpses that stir my imagination and longing?”  And, remember that as long as we ground ourselves in the faith, hope, and Love of God, God will guide us into the future in ways that bless our church’s ministry to the community around us. 

Our closing hymn …

LET US PRAY:

O God, bless your church universal AND this local group of people called Franklin Federated Church.  Be with us as we squint into the fog and peer into the mist of our unknown future.  Help us to continue to experience the Light of your Love, and help us shine that light into our world. 

And now, O God, hear our prayers for our community, our nation and our world.

- Be with the people of Louisiana, where Hurricane Ida is forecast to arrive as Category 4.  We pray that all who are vulnerable can safely evacuate and that their homes and businesses will be spared.  

- O God, we continue to lift up to you Americans and American allies in Afghanistan--as well as the citizens of that country, particularly women, girls, and people of religious minorities who fear oppression, persecution, and even death.  Surround them with your Love and may they be protected from harm.  May there be no more terrorist attacks.

- And, God, we continue to pray for our climate, where some areas have life-threatening drought and some have devastating floods.  Help us all to make the adjustments we need to make in order to stem global warming. 

[LOOK AT PHONE]

- Moment of silence…lifting up in prayer those we hold in our hearts.. others in this room and in our livestream…  [PAUSE]

- O God, bless the sick… those who are struggling… those who are grieving…caregivers… Give them strength and healing….  In Jesus name, Amen

PLEASE JOIN ME IN THE LORD’S PRAYER

- Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy kingdom come 
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven 
- Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors`
- And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  AMEN

Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt

Franklin Federated Church

Franklin, MA

Sermon Transcript: A Reading of "Why I Stay"

Why I stay: A prayer

christiancentury.org/article/first-person/why-i-stay-prayer

First Person

Because my yearning comes from somewhere, and that somewhere must be you.

by Debie Thomas December 20, 2016

I stay because A was for Adam, B for Bethlehem, and C for Cross, and my first classroom was a pew. Because I played hide-and-seek in the font when the preacher wasn’t looking, answered every altar call with a sprint down the aisle, and snuck the leftover communion juice from the glasses the church ladies washed on Mondays. I was hoping—I understand this now—to steal a drop more of you.

Debie Thomas

Debie Thomas is minister of lifelong formation at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Palo Alto, California. She blogs at Journey with Jesus.

See All Articles

Jul 5, 2017 issue

Because I love stories, and I cherish the ones I first learned in your book. Because I am Eve and the apple makes sense to me. I’m Rachel and I won’t surrender my sacred objects. I’m Leah and I long to be loved. I’m Hagar, and I will name you in the desert. I’m Miriam and I am ever watchful. I’m the bleeding woman and I need the hem of your robe. I’m Mary Magdalene and I must bear witness by your tomb. I’m Junia and my story aches to be told.

Because childhood ends but childhood hungers do not. Because you were my first house, first father, first mother, first love, first hate, first heartbreak, first safety, first terror.

Because the psalmist got it right: I was cast on you from birth. Because Peter got it even better: Lord, if I left, to whom would I go?

Because I like questions, and it turns out that you ask good ones. Because I answer when you ask, and my answers never shock you.

Why are you so afraid? (Are you kidding me?)

Do you still not understand? (Nope, not even a little bit.)

What do you want me to do for you? (Um, how much time do we have?)

Do you want to get well? (Occasionally.)

Do you love me? (I think so. Or, I want to. Or, not yet. Or . . .)

How long shall I put up with you? (A little longer, please.)

I stay because sorrow came too many times this year, and there had better be an afterward to explain it. I stood at gravesides and raged, my body betrayed me to panic, and my children knew fear and pain. Bodies failed, minds cracked, and we didn’t live happily ever.

I stay because all in all there are far too many unfinished stories, and I’d like to believe you’re neater than that. Because I yearn for so much more than I have. Because my yearning comes from somewhere, and that somewhere must be you. Because “on earth as it is in heaven” is all I’ve got, and if it’s not enough, then I am lost. Because “Death, where is thy sting?” is a mockery, but “Jesus wept” is not.

Because joy comes too, and it doesn’t look anything like I think it should. Because you hound me, and I can’t get rid of you. Because our pursuit of each other is exquisite in both directions—pleasure and pain. Because rarely—too rarely, but I’ll take what I can get—the veil parts, the ground gives way, the skies open, and my hunger for you intensifies to the breaking point of communion. The hunger itself becomes you: incarnate, shining, present. I know you then in the liturgy, in the Word, in the broken bread and spilled wine. I press my palms against ancient redwood trees, and you are there. You awe me in the mountains and at the shifting edges of the ocean. I hear you in the stillness of the forest, in the cacophony of birdsong. I feel you in the solid embrace of the people I love—their hands your hands, their eyes your eyes, their voices soft echoes of yours.

And in those moments the possibility of you grows and grows until I am unhoused and undone, almost too alive for this world. Because you are my Everlasting Almost—almost here, almost certain, almost always, almost irrefutable. You are the tenuous edge I will live and die on. Because the almost of you—heartbreaking as it is—is sweeter than any guarantee I can find in this world. Because you’re not who I thought you were, so I must wait for revelation. Because the mystery of your strangeness is a lure that calls my name. Because I thought I needed to contain you, but a tiny deity won’t bend my knee.

Because the path is winding, and you are a God worthy of perilous journeys. Because I need to wrestle, and you meet me at the river. Because this is no ordinary hunger, and your manna alone will suffice. Because you know the loneliness of the desert, and so do I. Because I will drown unless you part this water. Because the world is dark, but it shimmers at its edges.

Because I’m wild inside, and you are not a tame lion. Because you suffered, and only a suffering God can help. Because you spoke of joy, and I need to learn how to laugh.

Because I am wired to seek you, and I will not let you go. Because my ache for you is the heart of my aliveness.

Because I am still your stubborn child, and I insist on resurrection.

A version of this article first appeared at Journey With Jesus and is included in the July 5 print edition under the title “Why I stay.” The online version was edited on June 19