Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista UCC (276 F St)

“Stone Soup (Immigration and Border Justice)”

A meditation based on a variety of scriptures about welcoming strangers:

Leviticus 19:33-34, 24:22; Deuteronomy 24:17-18, 21-22; Hebrews 13:1-2

August 19, 2018

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

Dr. Sharon R. Graff

* * * * *

                   The library of 66 separate books that we know as the Bible is unwavering about this one thing: we are to treat the stranger, the foreigners—aliens, the Bible often calls them—we are to treat them as we would a native born person, with the same rights and privileges as citizens.  There is to be no difference.  Obviously, most countries that adhere to the Judeo-Christian mission, including our own, fall far short of that goal.  So today’s message is a wonderful and timely reminder from our beloved United Church of Christ—a reminder of the ideal which God calls us to practice—it is the ideal of living God’s justice at the border and embodying God’s justice with immigrants.  Serious stuff, especially in our day and in this geographic location so near an international border. 

                   To help you visualize and imagine how you can practice immigration and border justice—as individuals and as a congregation—I invite you to hear the children’s story entitled, “Stone Soup.”  This lovely story shows how you can grasp this very large topic and still find small but significant ways to be faithful to your calling from God to welcome the stranger, to practice international hospitality.  Sit back, relax, try to put aside the current news about these matters, and hear this story through your own loving heart and your compassionate mind.  Hear how you might be part of the solution…

 

Three monks—Hok, Lok, and Siew—traveled along a mountain road.  They talked about cat whiskers, the color of the sun, and giving.  “What makes one happy Siew?” asked Hok, the youngest monk.  Old Siew, who was the wisest, said, “Let’s find out.”

The sound of a bell brought their gaze to the rooftops of a village below.  They could not see from so high above that the village had been through many hard times.  Famine, floods, and war had made the villagers weary and untrusting of strangers.  They had even become suspicious of their neighbors.

The villagers worked hard, but only for themselves.  There was a farmer.  A tea merchant.  A scholar.  A seamstress.  A doctor.  A carpenter…and many others.  But they had little to do with one another.

 

When the monks reached the foot of the mountain, the villagers disappeared into their houses.  No one came to the gates to greet them.  And when the people saw them enter the village, they closed their windows tight.  The monks knocked on the door of the first house.  There was no answer.  Then the house went dark.  They knocked on a second door and the same thing happened.  It happened again and again from one house to the next.

 

“These people do not know happiness” they all agreed.  “But today,” said Siew, his face bright as the moon, “we will show them how to make stone soup.”  The monks gathered twigs and branches and made a fire.  They placed a small tin pt on top and filled it with water from the village well.  A brave little girl who had been watching came to them, “What are you doing?” she asked.  “We are gathering twigs,” said Lok.  “We are making a fire,” said Hok.  “We are making stone soup and we need three round, smooth stones,” said Siew.  The little girl helped the monks look around the courtyard until they found just the right stones.  Then they put them in the water to cook.  “These stones will make excellent soup,” said Siew, “but,” he continued, “this very small pot won’t make much I’m afraid.”  “My mother has a bigger pot,” said the girl.

The little girl ran home.  As she started to take a pot, her mother asked what she was doing.  “The three strangers are making soup from stones,” she said.  “They need our biggest pot.”  “Hmmm,” said the girl’s mother.  “Stones are easy to come by.  I’d like to learn how to do that!”  The monks poked the coals.  As smoke drifted up, the neighbors peered out from their windows.  The fire and the large pot in the middle of the village was a true curiosity!  One by one, the people of the village came out to see just what this stone soup was.  “Of course, old-style stone soup should be well seasoned with salt and pepper,” said Hok.  “That is true,” said Lok as he stirred the giant pot filled with water and stones.  “But we have none…”  “I have some salt and pepper!” said the scholar, his eyes but with curiosity.  He disappeared and came back with salt and pepper and even a few other spices.

 

Siew took a taste.  “The last time we had soup stones of this size and color, carrots made the broth very sweet.”  “Carrots?” said a woman from the back.  “I may have a few carrots!  But just a few.”  And off she ran.  She returned with as many carrots as she could carry and dropped them into the pot.  “Do you think it would be better with onion?” asked Hok.  “Oh, yes, maybe an onion would taste good,” said a farmer, and he hurried off.  He returned in a moment with five big onions, and he dropped them into the bubbling soup.  “Now, that’s a fine soup!” he said.  The villagers all nodded their heads, as the smell was very agreeable.  “But if only we had some mushrooms,” said Siew, rubbing his chin.  Several villagers licked their lips.  A few dashed away and returned with fresh mushrooms, noodles, pea pods, and cabbages.

 

Something magical began to happen among the villagers.  As each person opened their heart to give, the next person gave even more.  And as this happened, the soup grew richer and smelled more delicious.  “I imagine the Emperor would suggest we add dumplings!” said one villager.  “And bean curd!” said another.  “What about cloud ear and mung beans and yams?” cried some others  “And taro root and winter melon and baby corn!” cried other villagers.  “Garlic!”  “Ginger root!”  “Soy sauce!”  “Lily buds!”  “I have some!  I have some!” people cried out.  And off they ran, returning with all they could carry.  The monks stirred and the pot bubbled.  How good it smelled!  How good it would taste!  How giving the villagers had become!

 

At last, the soup was ready.  The villagers gathered together.  They brought rice and steamed buns.  They brought lychee nuts and sweet cakes.  They brought tea to drink, and they lit lanterns.  Everyone sat down to eat.  They had not been together for a feast like this for as long as anyone could remember.  After the banquet, they told stories, sang songs, and celebrated long into the night.  Then they unlocked their doors and took the monks into their homes and gave them very comfortable places to sleep.

 

In the gentle spring morning, everyone gathered together near the willows to say farewell.  “Thank you for having us as your guests,” said the monks.  “You have been most generous.”  “Thank you,” said the villagers.  “With the gifts you have given, we will always have plenty.  You have shown us that sharing makes us all richer.”  “And to think,” said the monks, “to be happy is as simple as making stone soup.”

 

(Leviticus 19:33-34, 24:22)

God says, “When foreigners live with you in your land, don’t take advantage of them. Treat the foreigner the same as a native. Love them like one of your own. Remember that you were once foreigners in Egypt… no double standards: the same rules go for foreigners and natives. I am God, your God.”

 

(Deuteronomy 24:17-18, 21-22)

God says, “Make sure foreigners and orphans get their just rights. Don’t take the cloak of a widow as security for a loan. Don’t ever forget that you were once slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there. I command you: Do what I’m telling you…When you shake the olives off your trees, don’t go back over the branches and strip them bare—what’s left is for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. And when you cut the grapes in your vineyard, don’t take every last grape—leave a few for the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow. Don’t ever forget that you were a slave in Egypt. I command you: Do what I’m telling you.”

 

(Hebrews 13:1-2)

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

 

May God give us the courage to live these commands, with love, with creativity, with compassion, with trust in God that all we have is all we need, and what we have received—in God’s economy—are gifts for us to share with others.

 

Amen and Blessed Be

“The Dot (Justice for Children)”

A meditation based on Ephesians 4:25-5:2

August 12, 2018

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

Dr. Sharon R. Graff

* * * * *

                   Welcome to Week Two of teaching and learning about the UCC Statements of Witness!  I hope you enjoy this as much as I do, for I love teaching adults by using children’s stories.  We’ve all been children.  There’s something of our childhood still in us.  And I’ve noticed over the years that, when we adults can lighten up a bit and take a break from taking ourselves so seriously, those lessons learned from children’s stories seem to go deeper in us…to those places where change happens…where we become our best versions of ourselves.  So, today, on a day when we are learning together about the UCC Statement of Witness called Justice for Children, I offer you “The Dot.”  As you listen to its message, I invite you to listen also for how you, as a congregation, can help the children of this community.

Art class was over, but Vashti sat glued to her chair.  Her paper was empty. 

Vashti’s teacher leaned over the blank paper.  “Ah!  A polar bear in a snow storm,” she said.  “Very funny!” said Vashti.  “I just can’t draw!’

Her teacher smiled.  “Just make a mark and see where it takes you.”

Vashti grabbed a marker and gave the paper a good, strong jab.  “There!”

Her teacher picked up the paper and studied it carefully.  “Hmmmmmmm.”

She pushed the paper toward Vashti and quietly said, “Now sign it.”

Vashti thought for a moment.  “Well, maybe I can’t draw, but I CAN sign my name.”

The next week, when Vashti walked into art class, she was surprised to see what was hanging above her teacher’s desk.  It was the little dot she had drawn—HER DOT!  All framed in swirly gold!

“Hmmph!”  I can make a better dot than THAT!”

She opened her never-before-used set of watercolors and set to work.

Vashti painted and painted.  A yellow dot.  A green dot.  A red dot.  A blue dot.

The blue mixed with the red.  She discovered that she could make a PURPLE dot.  Vashti kept experimenting.  Lots of little dots in many colors.

“If I can make little dots, I can make BIG dots, too.”  Vashti splashed her colors with a bigger brush on bigger paper to make bigger dots.

Vashti even made a dot by NOT painting a dot.

At the school art show a few weeks later, Vashti’s many dots make quite a splash.

Vashti noticed a little boy gazing up at her.  “You’re a really great artist.  I wish I could draw,” he said.  “I bet you can,” said Vashti.  “ME?  No, not me.  I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler.”

Vashti smiled.  She handed the boy a blank sheet of paper.  “Show me.”  The boy’s pencil shook as he drew his line.

Vashti stared at the boy’s squiggle.  And then she said…

“Please…sign it.”

 

As an aside, this book is lovingly dedicated to a 7^th grade math teacher, who, the author gratefully notes, dared him to make his mark…

                   So, Community Congregational Church, how do you help children make their mark?  How can you help children?  Two different questions…one looking from this point backwards and the other looking from this moment on.  Both of these questions, informed by today’s scripture reading.  A student of the Apostle Paul—scholars call him Second Paul—writer of the letter to the Ephesians, gives this list of how to help children grow up in the faith:

• Don’t lie
• Speak truth to your neighbor
• Be angry, when anger is warranted
• Do not hold onto your anger; neither let it hold onto you—the scripture poetically says, “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger…”
• If you steal from others, stop doing that
• Work honestly, and give to the needy
• Only speak that which helps build up, that which gives grace to those who hear
• Step aside from anger, bitterness, wrangling, slander—put those aside, says Paul’s student
• Instead, be kind to one another
• Practice being tenderhearted and forgiving
• In a word or two: Imitate God, as beloved children
• Live in love, as Christ loves us

I am reminded of a time decades ago, in this very church, a family was having challenges with their adolescent child, and the then pastor of this church said, wisely, “just love them…”  Good advice.  Great advice, actually.  And this student of Paul, author of the letter to the Christians at Ephesus, lists several concrete ways to show your love for children.  Hear them again:

• Don’t lie
• Speak the truth
• Be angry, when anger is warranted
• Do not hold onto your anger; and don’t let it hold onto you
• Don’t steal
• Work honestly, and give to needy children
• Speak only that which builds up, that which gives grace to these young ones
• Be kind, tenderhearted and forgiving
• In a word or two: when you are interacting with children, Imitate God by living in love, for you are on equal footing with these young ones—you are not higher—you, too, are a beloved child of God

                   It’s tempting, as wise experienced adults, to lord it over children.  Yet this passage puts us all in the same boat—young and old—guided by the same principles, loved equally by the same God.  And “The Dot” provocatively asks us to consider how we, as wise experienced adults, can help the children in this community make their mark. 

                   Friends, that is the essence of being a church community that not only welcomes children, but also encourages their growth in healthy ways.  Love in action, love by words, love by forgiveness, love by understanding, love by speaking truth, love by letting go of anger, love by working and giving to those in need, love in these and hundreds of others ways—this is how you can practice being a place where justice for children is your mother tongue.  You’re not there yet.  You have a ways to go.  Sometimes, you’re a little caught up in your own tentativeness, and you miss opportunities to really show your love for children as full members of this church now.  Sometimes, your tentativeness prevents you from helping a child right in front of you to make their special mark and sign it.  Sometimes you miss the opportunity to frame that child’s work with that swirly golden frame. 

                   Justice for Children is one of the many Statements of Witness that the United Church of Christ offers to congregations like yourself…a statement in which you talk together of the real challenges facing the young ones today.  A Statement in which, as you talk honestly together, you also resolve to take action.  Small actions are fine.  Maybe start with a simple swirly frame.  Maybe continue by using your outside voice to tell one of this church’s precious children how much you love them…even and especially when their outside voice brings you discomfort.  I once knew a preaching pastor, who, every time an infant or child seemed to interrupt the worship service, instead, from the pulpit, the preacher invited the congregation to say, “Amen” or “Hallelujah!”  And the strangest, most grace-filled thing began to happen in that congregation.  They began to anticipate and look forward to a child’s voice in worship, and a sort of verbal dance began taking place between the young and the elders.  And there were a lot of Hallelujahs…and smiles all around… 

                   You will find your way to help children here make their mark and sign their name, because that’s who you are, Community Congregational Church.  You are already loving and already forgiving and already truthful and honest.  Now, add to those marks of yours, a courageous spirit and your love will be signed and framed in swirly gold.

 

Amen and Blessed Be!

 

“The Blessing Seed (Creation Justice)”

A meditation based on Psalm 78:23-29

August 5, 2018

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

Dr. Sharon R. Graff

* * * * *

                   Today, we begin a 5-week sermon series to introduce you to a really important part of the United Church of Christ: Statements of Witness.  Have you heard of them?  Good!  Statements of Witness are various ways for congregations to live out who they really are already…to be public and open about their particular special witness in God’s world.  And there are over a dozen Statements of Witness that can bolster a church’s identity within its larger community!  You, for example, already carry 3 of these Statements as your public witness:

• You are “Accessible to All,” meaning that you have ramps and an elevator and accessible bathrooms and large print in worship and wheelchair areas in the sanctuary, so that a variety of special needs are met here on a regular basis. More importantly, you have an awareness of various special needs, and you are willing to be sensitive to meeting those needs, be they hearing, mobility, sight, etc.  Good job!
• You also carry the Statement, “Inter-Cultural, Multi-Racial.” Look around this sanctuary!  Check out Bradley Hall during any fellowship time, and you’ll see the beauty of God’s creative variety assembled!  More than that, when it comes to making a Statement about multi-racial and inter-cultural matters, you do so with deep sensitivity and acute awareness of one another.  After 15 or more years of practice, you wear this Statement of Witness like a comfortable piece of clothing, and when guests are here, they feel the closeness of this family of faith.  Good job!
• A third Statement of Witness you wear well is “God is Still Speaking.” This Statement, unique to the UCC, assumes that the Bible isn’t the complete and finished record of God’s work in the world.  Rather, the “God is Still Speaking” initiative affirms that God is still at work in our lives, 20 centuries later, and that God is still speaking to us and through us.  I’ve watched you for these past 2-1/2 years.  I’ve lived with you here in this sacred place.  You’ve repeatedly shown me that you believe—you know!—God is still speaking.  Good job!

                   In addition to these three Statements of Witness, the UCC has several others.  You can read about them online—address is on your bulletin insert today.  For the next few weeks, we’re going to learn together about a few of these Statements of Witness, starting today, with Creation Justice.  This is summer…a season for doing things a bit differently.  To tell the stories of these various Statements of Witness, I thought storytelling itself would be a most helpful approach.  So I’ve selected 5 children’s stories, paired them with scriptures and am excited to teach and learn with you about these important UCC Statements of Witness over the next several weeks.  Today’s story, teaching us something about the necessity of Creation Justice, is called “The Blessing Seed.”  I invite you to sit back, relax, and hear this familiar creation story in a new way.

The Blessing Seed: A Creation Story for the New Millennium

In the beginning, God sang everything alive.  God sang the sky, the land and the seas.  God sang the plants and trees.  God sang the moon, the sun and the stars.  God sang animals to live in the sea, in the sky and on the Earth.  Then God, Mother and Father of All, sang of Man and Woman.  God said to them, “This Earth is your garden.  The rocks, plants, trees and animals are your family.  Go and explore your home.”  The Man and the Woman thanked God.  They greeted every stone, plant, tree and animal.  They learned what each living thing could do.  The Man and the Woman found a tall tree in the middle of the garden.  It had four paths leading away from it.  “What is this for?” they asked God.  God said, “That is the Tree of Life.  On it grows the fruit of knowledge.  But it isn’t ripe yet, so you mustn’t eat it.  The four paths are ways to explore this world.  When the fruit is ripe you will be able to walk them all.”  The Man and the Woman sat together and watched the stars grow bright in the sky.  Then the Woman said to God, “Everyone in the garden has their special gift.  The squirrel can jump, the snake can crawl, the bird can fly.  What is our special gift?”  And God answered, “In all the world, you and the Man are most like me.  You have a special duty.  You will care for everything on Earth.  Your special gift is to learn and to care.”  “How will we do that?” asked the Man.  “Listen for the song that I sang at the beginning,” said God.  “My song is in everything and it will help you to learn and to care.”  The Woman listened to the song of the Tree of Life.  It sang a song of laughter, a song of tears, a song of beginning and a song of coming home.  She said, “Maybe I will understand our special gift if I eat the fruit?”  She picked the fruit and tasted it.  It was sweet and bitter, soft and sharp.  As she swallowed it, things began to change.  She felt like a cloud looking down on the land far below.  The birds, trees, animals and rocks felt far away.  She shared the fruit with the Man.  When he tasted it, he felt different and frightened.  “Why do the animals run away from us?” he cried.  God came that evening and said, “You are frightened and upset.  Have you eaten the fruit of the Tree of Life?”  The Man said, “We did.  And now the animals hide from us.  We don’t understand what is different.”  The Woman said, “We ate because we wanted to discover our special gift.”  God smiled and said, “I made mountains to last forever.  I made flowers and trees for beauty.  I made birds, fish and animals for their many gifts.  But I made human beings for their longing to know—it is time for you to explore the four paths.  Come!”  And God led them to the Tree of Life and showed them the paths.  “The four paths are called the path of wonder, the path of emptiness, the path of making, and the path of coming home.  These four paths of life will help you to learn and to care.  On the path of wonder, you will remember when you were sung from the Earth.  When you see the moon and stars at night, or the sun sparkling on the water, when you hear birds singing in the trees, when you hear the song of creation, then the gift of caring will be born to you.  On the path of emptiness, you will remember when you ate the fruit and felt different.  When things go wrong, when no one understands you, when you lose the things you love, when you feel sad, lonely or frightened, then the gift of learning will be born to you.  On the path of making, you will remember the song that is inside you.  When you have good ideas, when you make something beautiful, when you tell stories and sing my song, then the gifts of learning and caring will start to grow.  On the path of coming home, you will remember that you are part of everything.  When you look after the Earth, when you defend the helpless, when you speak for those who have no voice, when you enjoy and respect my creation, then you will be most like me.  Your learning and caring will shine out everywhere.  You will be separate no more.”  “Must we leave our home and all we love?” cried the Man and the Woman.  “All places are your home.  Everything I have made is your family,” said God.  “Must we leave you?” cried the Man and the Woman.  “I will always be with you on your journey,” God promised.  “Will we really find the gift of learning and caring?” asked the Man and the Woman.  God said, “Yes.  You ate the fruit of the Tree of Life before it was ripe.  But the seeds of learning and caring will grow inside you.”  And God blessed them both, saying, “I will ripen your gift as you walk the paths of light.  Your gift will be a blessing seed.  It will leap from your hearts into the hearts of others.  Go now and spread my blessing throughout the Earth.”  The Man and the Woman thanked God.  They walked out into the wide world, taking the blessing seed in their hearts.  The End.

 

                   But not really the end…!  In Creation Justice churches, there is a commitment to care for the earth by recycling, not using Styrofoam, decreasing dependence on fossil fuels, learning about climate change, using solar energy, melding together the truths of Bible and science, working and praying to save this beautiful Earth from destruction.  And in Creation Justice churches, the work that God describes in this story goes on and on…remembering that you are part of everything and living like it…looking after the Earth…defending the helpless…speaking for those who have no voice…enjoying and respecting God’s creation.  These are the sacred choices that make us most like God.  These are the sacred choices that foster our learning and caring.  These are the sacred choices that cause us to be separate no more.  And these, my brothers and sisters, are the choices that are available as you walk the path of the UCC Statement of Witness called Creation Justice. 

                   This is a path uncovered by God in many places in scripture.  Today’s psalm passage is one of those.  It’s a beautiful collection of verses.  God commands the skies to rain food on the hungry people; God causes winds to blow from east to west and south to north to bring the free food closer to the people.  The passage ends with the inspiring scene described in these words, “And the people ate and were well filled, for God gave them what they craved…”

It’s inspiring, isn’t it?  A generous God providing for a hungry people. 

                        Yet, the larger context is that, in this particular scene, God is really angry with the people.  Once again, they have failed to follow God’s instructions.  Once again, they have walked a path of dis-ease and dis-comfort.  Once again, they have turned to their own ways and away from God’s heart.  And God is divinely angry.  That’s an important context for us, as we learn about Creation Justice.  For in Creation Justice, God is THE model of caring.  Even when God is angry, God feeds the hungry people.  Even when they don’t follow the rules, God feeds them.  Even when they turn aside, God turns toward.  This is who God is. 

                        And this is who God has created us to be also.  People who turn toward Earth.  People who turn toward plants and animals and enjoy and respect God’s creation.  People who do what we can to defend the helpless and speak for those who have no voice.  No one of us has to do it all.  But God has created each of us to do something to care for our Earth home.  Maybe your caring action will be to speak the truth of science and climate change to your doubting neighbor.  Maybe your caring action will be to walk more and drive less.  Maybe your caring action will be to read a book that gives you ideas of how you can care for Earth more actively.  No one of us can do it all, when it comes to caring for our Earth home.  The challenges have always required cooperative people.  So do your part, whatever that part may be.  Even though you may be angry about the direction things are going now with the environment, even though your anger may tempt you to inertia, resist temptation!  Follow the example of our God who loves through the anger and loves despite the anger and promises that, as we act for and with Earth, we too will be blessed.

Amen and Blessed Be

 

 

Children’s Circle with Communion

“When I hold a piece of bread, I look at it, and sometimes I smile at it.

The piece of bread is an ambassador of the cosmos offering nourishment and support.

Looking deeply into the piece of bread, I see the sunshine, the clouds, the great earth.

Without the sunshine, no wheat can grow.  Without the clouds, there is no rain for the wheat to grow.  Without the great earth, nothing can grow.  That is why the piece of bread that I hold in my hand is a wonder of life.  It is there for all of us.”

-Thich Nhat Hanh

“Abundance All Around”

A meditation based on John 6:1-13; Isaiah 6:8

July 29, 2018

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

Dr. Sharon R. Graff

With joyful help from

Dr. Norma and Rev. John DeSaegher

* * * * *

                   Same day.  Same crowd gathered to hear Jesus teach.  Same hungers we’ve heard before.  Today, we’ve heard another version of the same story with the same ending: with Jesus, there is always enough.  With Holy Spirit, there is plenty.  With God, you get leftovers…12 full baskets in fact…left over from the crowded feast on that long ago mountainside. 

                   What does that mean to you, Community Congregational Church?  What does having enough mean to you, in this season in which you search and pray for a new permanent pastor?  Well, thanks to Dr. Norma and Chaplain John DeSaegher, you’re about to find out: what it means to have enough…what it means to be cared for…what it means to have your needs met.  And warning: you’re probably going to laugh along the way!!! 

                   Welcome to the Gospel of Holy Humor, a skit specially adapted by John; the skit is called, “Finding the Right Pastor is Never Easy!”

[skit: see next pages]

 

FAITH 101.  She—or he—will be a real blessing to you!  How do I know this?  Not because I have any inside track…  Rather, I know it—and you know it, too—because God is in this search.  Because Holy Spirit has always had your backs.  Because, with Jesus cooking up this search for your new pastor, there will be MORE than enough!

Amen and Blessed Be!

“Jesus’ Summer ‘Staycation’”

A meditation based on Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

July 22, 2018

Community Congregational Church of Chula Vista

Dr. Sharon R. Graff

* * * * *

                   For a summer, it’s been a busy time around here.  Pelito painting in the office.  Amber and Victoria tag-teaming surgery and illness, and now both, thankfully, healthy and back at work!  Volunteers training to do various office and church jobs.  Women’s Fellowship leaders actively preparing for their upcoming Card Party…that lively annual fundraiser from which they do so much good throughout the year.  Search Committee busily interviewing candidates to be your next permanent pastor.  Yes, this church remains busy, for a summer.  One of the only groups to take a break has been the choir, and we welcome them back today with joy!  Yet in their absence, our worship services were deepened by Cameron and Earl and our own youth from this congregation.  There is no lack of talent and gifts around here!  Amen??!! 

                   This summer’s busy-ness is to be expected.  After all, this whole interim season has been focused on preparing for your next permanent pastor.  So what remains to be done?  Another way of asking the same question: what prevents you from moving forward with your next pastor?  Those of you who are concrete literal thinkers will be responding, “Well, Sharon, duh…we don’t yet have our next pastor…so we can’t really move forward yet…”  Truth.  Yet not the whole truth.  For this church runs on Spirit’s energy—Holy Spirit fuels this place and always has—and the rest of the truth started by our concrete thinkers is that Spirit, right now, is helping you move forward to receive your next pastor.  Let me hasten to add that such forward movement for you is, in no way, a judgment against or indictment of our pastoral relationship.  I don’t take any of this personally!  This movement forward is your work and your path from God to seize.  Your forward movement is my joy!  Because it means you are spiritually ready to receive the next pastor God has put in your path.  So, in Spirit’s reckoning of these things, we can logically assume that you still have some preparatory work to be accomplished.  To return to the same question: what might that be?  What prevents you, Community Congregational Church, from moving forward to receive your next pastor? 

                   Some might still look back at history and claim it is fear holding you back…fear standing in your way.  After all, long ago, some poor pastoral choices led to a lot of pain that nearly everyone here felt.  Yet, I look at you now—15-20 years later than those painful days—and I see fewer people, yes, but I also see resilience and gratitude and a unified strong multi-cultural congregation that enjoys learning about each others’ lives and cherishes one another’s stories.  Do you know how many churches would give a lot to be in your place? 

                   When I speak of the effect of long ago on the present, I’m talking systems theory…for when churches survive such traumas, there is often residue remaining that new people assume.  To heal from trauma requires strong and steady attention to that healing, and you seem to have accomplished that healing here through your deep love for God and for one another.  So I don’t believe fear is the main deterrent keeping you from moving forward.  I see your trust in Spirit as stronger than any fear you may harbor.

                   The scripture reading today, not surprisingly, gives us a glimmer into one possible answer to the question of what may be holding you back just now.  Let’s look at it more closely.  [verses on screen]  Before we get to these verses, we see a very busy Jesus, and we’ve been reading about his busy-ness for several weeks running.  He’s been teaching large crowds, healing individuals like that young girl and the woman bent over with pain for twelve long years.  He’s calmed one storm and, after questioning the disciples about their own level of faith, he later assures them they have it in them to go out and do the same kind of healing he does.  Jesus entrusts them with his ministry.  As we meet Jesus and the disciples at the beginning of Mark’s 6^th chapter, they have just arrived in his hometown of Nazareth, where his credentials are doubted by his former neighbors, and he replies with that famous saying, “A prophet has little honor in his hometown.”  Remember, that passage goes on to note: Jesus wasn’t able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, that’s all.  He couldn’t get over their stubbornness.  And so he left and went on a teaching circuit of the other villages.  It is then Jesus emboldens the disciples to go out in his name, two by two, and while they are gone, we hear about the death of John the Baptist, which we read and studied in last week’s message. 

                   Whew!  If you weren’t tired when you came into church today, you ought to be exhausted now just listening to the ministry Jesus and the disciples have been doing in just a few days time.  Point: at the beginning of today’s gospel reading, Jesus and the disciples can’t help but be tired.  They badly need a vacation.  Three times in today’s reading Jesus tells the disciples to take a break…three times they get in a boat for that time off…and three times, ministry happens instead.  Their attempted vacation isn’t exactly a “staycation” in our sense of the word, where they would actually get that needed rest by seeing sights around home.  Rather, Jesus and the disciples go back and forth and back again across the water to get away from the crowds, to take a break from the work, but it is the work of ministry that stays with them wherever they go.  Their VAcation turns into a STAYcation, and it is the work itself that takes no break. 

                   Now what does all this have to do with Community Congregational Church?  Plenty!  Just as Jesus and the disciples keep busy, so do you.  Just as Jesus and the disciples give their energy and attention to ministries of healing, so have you.  Just as Jesus and the disciples face the work before them in each sacred moment, so do you, Community Congregational Church.  You are attentive to the day-to-day work of ministry, and you do that work with faithfulness and with grace.  If I may meddle a bit, for that’s my job as your interim, you do not do that work of ministry with speed or with efficiency.  You take your sweet time to do most everything that happens around here.  And no matter the age or generation.  Slow pace, thoughtful prayer, careful and gentle responses, being present to God and to one another in this present moment—these are your signatures—as we see they were also a part of the ministry of Jesus and the disciples.  Look again at the first slide: “his heart broke…so he went to work teaching them…”  And on the second slide: the image of people darting and pushing to simply touch Jesus, and all who touched him were made well.  Jesus and the disciples gave themselves to the work of the people.  So do you.  In so many of the moments of your life together as a congregation.  And that is good energy…gentle energy…soft and loving energy.  Like Jesus.

                   Now, however, at this point in this interim season, you need more than gentleness and kindness.  You need the ability to make a change.  Here, again, Jesus and the disciples help with that.  For embedded in the busy-ness of the schedules of Jesus and his disciples are little jewels of wisdom about how to navigate change.  The first is on the first slide, first line: “after going out two by two…”  Remember that?  Remember Jesus delegating and empowering the disciples?  That was a change…for Jesus…and for them.  And the impetus for that change came from the work itself.  From the work itself, Jesus saw the need to empower the disciples to take up that work.  So his ministry changed in that moment, from singular (all about him)—to plural (all about them).  Change was—and continues to be—inherently part of the Christian journey. 

                   A second jeweled piece of wisdom is seen more clearly in another translation—the one you have in the pews.  [also 2^nd slide]  If you wish, check out page 41 in the New Testament, and at the beginning of verse 53, we read, “After they had crossed over…”  Simple as it may appear, that phrase “crossed over” gives biblical scholars a lot to think about.  Crossing over.  Starkly, it can mean death, as one crosses over from this life to the next.  It can also mean intentional action, as in choosing to cross over from one point to another.  At the very least, “crossing over” suggests some sort of change and change that is successful.  They crossed over!  Hallelujah!  They made it!  Praise God!  No storms.  No lack of faith.  They got there.  And so did you, repeatedly, my dear friends, and so will you. 

                   One more, quick story to make the point.  It comes from an email meditation I received this week about a word new to me: the word is imperturbability, and the story is from the writer’s martial arts training. Here’s what he has to say about imperturbability:

“In my martial arts training, we talk a lot about imperturbability. Imperturbability is the ability to remain calm, peaceful, loving, and discerning even in a moment of high agitation. In my training I was invited to consider the image of a rock dropping into a body of water. Sometimes we are a like a puddle. When a rock is dropped into a puddle, it will HIGHLY disrupt the water. There will be a huge splash, and it will actually change everything. Our goal, however, is to be like the ocean. Virtually any size rock dropped into the ocean will be easily swallowed up and unnoticeable.”

Community Congregational Church, you’ve got this.  You know how to be an ocean.  You know how to receive changes with grace.  More than that, you trust in God and in Christ, and you are fueled by Holy Spirit.  Seize this moment of change, sisters and brothers, imagine getting in the boat to cross over to the other side with your new pastor, whoever she or he might be, and know, in the words of 14^th-century Christian theologian Julian of Norwich, that “…all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well…”

 

Amen and Blessed Be!