July 22 Sermon Notes

July 22-2 Sam. 7-look for a messiah-we  have one in Jesus Christ. Promise unfulfilled-Messiahs serve as projections. God is with this outpost of the kingdom of God on earth. Quell anxiety and reflect/discern.

Eph. 2:11-2 Sally Brown  identify the divides that structure our lives, granting them either a sense of distinction or painful exclusion. But the gritty reality of the divisions that Christ died to undermine  envision concrete practices that create a counter-current to the forces that stratify and separate. Meals shared with communities of other faiths are a start; common work for justice is another step, and praying together may be the most challenging of all.

Ephesians declares peace on new terms, the peace forged not by the "lords" of Empire but in the blood and bone of the Crucified. The cross undermined the wall dividing Jew and non-Jew, but that is only the beginning.

The new household of God is not a purely spiritual reality that we visit briefly on Sundays -- a weekly "time out" The church can  the daring practice of a new politics -- a different kind of power, the self-outpoured, boundary-crossing power of Christ's cross. We trust this power, letting it undermine every wall, until we are "built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God" (verse 22).At its worst the church erects its own walls, builds a containing barrier of complaint, abetted by silence.the temptation is to build a moat around this castle.

God’s reconciliation and transformation of humanity finds expression in a unity marked by welcoming. Consider areas of divisiveness within the church, or even within culture.  the upside-down idea that such uniting of humanity was won not through the blood of conquest and victory, but through (in the eyes of the world still enslaved to the spirit of the air) the blood of defeat.. “The powers’ triumph over Christ was their own defeat.”they show themselves still remaining under the ways that lead to death and have always led to death since Genesis 4. Through death to the ways that lead to death -- in blood -- God in Christ has brought an end to those ways and raised up a people who die with Christ to witness to reconciliation and unity in Christ.(Kyle Fever) Another way to express this is the Jesus Christ is healing medicine for the divisions we insist on erecting, as we are both victims of sinful behavior and attitudes and its agents.

Mk 6:30-4,53-56 the odd division of Mark frames the feeding of the multitude and the stilling of the storm.We share too little and create too many storms. Pastor means shepherd, but they are always auxiliary shepherds to the good. We are so individualized that I wonder if we have the capacity to act together, to even be a flock. Shepherd.healing sheep without a shepherd-Webb  underscores Jesus' identity as the true shepherd, the very inauguration of the divine kingdom. Seeing the great crowd, Jesus "had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd" (verse 34). These words echo Moses's prayer in Numbers 27, so that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep without a shepherd" (Numbers 27:17).Powery- In comparison to earlier summaries, the impossibility of Jesus entering towns unnoticed (6:54-55).  Also, this summary statement addresses the idea of touching Jesus again. shifted to a desire to touch his garments (6:56).  In between these two summary statements, readers witnessed a successful healing story through only a touch of his garments (cf. 5:28-29). Those ascended garments are there for us to reach out and touch in prayer.Christians have been reading these passages for 2 millenia.

column on local music

“Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here!” (J.K. Rowling)

Sometimes a column pushes me to reflect on the week. One of the few good things about Facebook is reconnecting with people from the past. A classmate sent out a video of her brother, afflicted with Alzheimer’s. His wife was with him and he was singing to her a song from his youth. He was beaming. She was beaming as he touched on himself again and may recognize her for a moment. He would tell her this is the beginning of the song; this is the middle. Somehow many of the words were clear to him. It reminds me of being in memory care when otherwise silent residents can sing, with gusto, the first verse of Christmas carols.

The songs of our youth seem to have special holds on us. Memory is connected to emotional triggers, and youth is a wellspring of deep feeling. Repetition helps us remember, and some songs have been played endlessly. The same goes for church hymns, as people often prefer ones that they have heard many times and then get to complain that they have heard them too frequently or too infrequently.

The revolution in music streaming allows us to create our own virtual radio stations. The algorithms by groups such as Pandora amaze me with their success at finding music that suits one’s taste by measures such as piano or guitar based songs.

At Rotary we had a presentation by the conductor of the St Louis and Belleville Philharmonic orchestras. A poor kid, Robert Baker, stumbled into the oboe and in remarkable happenstances worked with both Leonard Bernstein and Aaron Copeland. Through a lifetime of contacts, he brings major pianists to Belleville for a series.

I prize this area’s musical offerings, often for free. For folks of my musical tastes, it is astounding that we can hear talented artists such as Rogers and Nienhaus, Pat Liston, and the Mondinband on a regular basis. Fast Eddies has music every single night. Grafton in the summer has competing sounds of music in venue after venue. Of course we have our own Alton symphony, choral groups, the offerings at Lewis and Clark, and the high schools and middle schools. The work of ABOB parents to maintain a stellar music program is a testament to community spirit. I think that Hair at Alton Little Theater promises to be a big hit for them. I do wish we had a more centralized method of the music opportunities week to week, instead of hunting them down bit by bit.

I spent a good deal of money this spring going to veteran rock concerts. I admire that they have the knowledge and ego strength to hire skilled players that threaten to outshine them. For less money, I can go to the St Louis symphony to hear world class artists, and even then they offer free performances at times, such as the fall concert on Art Hill.

Music affects some of us in different ways. Some only want dance music. Others want only upbeat happy songs. For some of us, the blues or sad songs work to lift a downhearted spirit. Some people need music to get them through work.

What songs have stayed with you? Are performers on your bucket list?  If you are a couple, what is “your song?” Do you resist even giving some musical formats a try?

“Music... will help dissolve your perplexities and purify your character and sensibilities, and in time of care and sorrow, will keep a fountain of joy alive in you.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

week of July 15 readings

Sunday July 15-Ps. 24-reminds us that entry into the presence of the God of all creation is through worship. Some say that they find god in nature. What elements of creation would you like to see placed forward in worship?

Monday-When our words come too soon and we are not yet living what we are saying, we easily give double messages. Giving double messages - one with our words and another with our actions - makes us hypocrites. May our lives give us the right words and may our words lead us to the right life. Nouwen

Tuesday-The way God's Spirit manifests itself most convincingly is through its fruits: "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22). These fruits speak for themselves. It is therefore always better to raise the question "How can I grow in the Spirit?" than the question "How can I make others believe in the Spirit?" Wednesday-Mother Teresa-I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence – we need to listen to God because it’s not what we say but what he says to us and through us that matters. Prayer feeds the soul – as blood is to the body, prayer is to the soul – and it brings you closer to God. It also gives you a clean and pure heart. A clean heart can see God, can speak to God, and can see the love of God in others. Thursday-N. T. Wright-Here is the mystery, the secret, one might almost say the cunning, of the deep love of God: that it is bound to draw on to itself the hatred and pain and shame and anger and bitterness and rejection of the world, but to draw all those things on to itself is precisely the means, chosen from all eternity by the generous, loving God, by which to rid his world of the evils which have resulted from human abuse of God-given freedom. Friday..sometimes we forget and we spend more time looking at somebody else and wishing we were doing something else. We waste our time thinking of tomorrow, and today we let the day pass, and yesterday is gone.Source: Mother Teresa, Saturday-"Time heals," people often say. This is not true when it means that we will eventually forget the wounds inflicted on us and be able to live on as if nothing happened. That is not really healing; it is simply ignoring reality. But when the expression "time heals" means that faithfulness in a difficult relationship can lead us to a deeper understanding of the ways we have hurt each other, then there is much truth in it. "Time heals" implies not passively waiting but actively working with our pain and trusting in the possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation. Nouwen

July 15 Sermon Notes eph. 1, @ Sam. 6, Mark 6

July 15-Worship is the central element of Christian action. It has been downplayed for far too long and skipping it made far too easy.Contrary to current views, One of the things I admire about the Catholic church is its unwavering commitment to worship, indeed daily worship. hold that everything the church does flows from its worship. Otherwise, it is merely another social organization. 2Sam. 6 The ark is the locus of the LORD's presence with the people,.   The ark serves as the LORD's throne and place of self-revelation, such that Moses would hear the voice of the LORD from it.The ark, has great power that can also result in death. The death of Uzzah is disconcerting as he is simply trying to stabilize the ark, rattled by the movement of the oxen. Our outrage and confusion, however, pale to the holiness of the LORD and the LORD's throne, the ark of God. worship is an encounter with the holy, the wholly other, the very presence of the divine One.

So great was David's anger and fear that it was three months before he gave the ark another run into Jerusalem.  And in the meantime it ought not to go unnoticed that the ark's temporary host, the house of Obed-edom, was blessed by its presence.  The LORD's holiness, as in the ark of the LORD, is wholly other, working and affecting the world beyond the bounds of our imagination

Ps.24-Starts with god the Creator but that Creator’s presence is found in worship. No mention of it being hot or cold in the temple is made.

Eph. 1:3-14 lavished with grace.

Mk. 6:14-29-We are reminded that the first forays into the region of Jesus  places us in a tough world. John the Baptist called for turning around our perspective toward God, to take a different road. He received not blessing but imprisonment.Black-Corrupt politics torque this birthday party. Everywhere greed and fear whisper: in Herod’s ear, among Galilee’s high and mighty, behind the curtain between mother and daughter, in a dungeon prison. When repentance is preached to this world’s princes, do not expect them to relinquish their power, however conflicted some may be. The righteous die for reasons both valorous and vapid. “[A]s the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time” (Ecclesiastes 9:12 KJV). Herod’s drunken feast is in  contrast to the famous feeding of the multifude.At that feast greed and fear have no place. There all are fed to the full, with leftovers beyond comprehension (6:30-44). Hoffman-Herod was "perplexed" by John. He liked to listen to John, but he didn't know what to make of him. .Outlook-Where do we imagine the Kingdom of God is manifested - palaces or prisons? John the Baptist's head ends up on a platter and they live to throw another party. Mark, wants to say emphatically that God's providence and power is in the prison cell, not the palace. God will bring the redemption of the world through the One crucified, dead and buried. God's Word will not be silenced, despite all worldly evidence to the contrary.  This tale of manipulation and murder foreshadows the fate that will befall Jesus. Speaking God's word has real life consequences. Engaging in God's work of defeating evil doesn't gain you worldly favor. But rest assured, despite all evidence to the contrary, God's will and Word will not be thwarted. If we want to be reminded of that truth, we may need to leave the palace and go instead to the prisons.

Column on first Reformed

The Lovely One actually asked if I wished to see the movie First Reformed at the Frontenac. We went over the dress requirements for entering that piece of real estate, as it is more upscale than entering Godfrey from Alton. It is definitely not a movie for everyone, but it holds a deep well for reflection. It tips its hat to Dairy of a Country Priest and Bergmann’s winter Light, as Paul Shrader, the writer and director, is as much film historian and critic as he is writer and director.   He wrote Taxi Driver years ago, and adapted the Last Temptation of Christ, and this movie comes at some of the same themes: loneliness, social dislocation, and mental balance. He respects image as well as words: notice the movie is projected more as a square than as a wide screen rectangle,; look at two differing views of his small bed, or shots of the churchyard and of the site for an outdoor service, or the strange cocktail Toller makes, keep an eye for how he composes shots with light and shadow.

The lead role is a middle aged minister, Rev. Toller, played by Ethan Hawke

For me, no surprise, the spiritual elements stand out: the politics of money and church; the old church as more a museum than a functioning community, the intersection of the personal and the communal. He demonstrates the fading old variety of orthodox faith, and its new market-oriented upbeat expression at a nearby church, upon whose largesse he is dependent... Toller’s is a gloomy, Gethsemane spirituality. Rev. Toller admires Thomas Merton. (I may have spotted the 14^th century spiritual book, Cloud of Unknowing, in his books). He decides to make a journal as a spiritual exercise. Our Puritan spiritual ancestors spent much time in self-examination, and it seems Toller’s spiritual descent is in a realm of isolation, guilt, and darkness. “A life without despair is a life without hope.” He knows well the tensions of the spiritual life.  His home is so austere, so spare, that it looks as if it would be a parish manse version of a monk’s cell. In a later scene, I assume he is led into a mystical revelation worthy of the great saints, of creation resplendent, then an awful fall into the pollution and toxicity we pour into the creation. I say creation and not environment, as this is an example of Toller’s spiritual lens. Toward the abrupt end, we witness a bizarre scene where he movies toward extreme physical self-torture, a form of the flagellation of some monks, a terrible version of a hair shirt.

He is asked to counsel one of his few parishioners, a man being moved to eco-terrorism and utter despair about the fate of our warming planet. He asks Toller a haunting question, will God forgive us? I keep hearing the question as: can God forgive us? In a bracing conversation, Toller responds about living in the presence of facts in this way:  “Wisdom is holding two contradictory truths in our mind at the same time.” 

Schrader knows the faith of the fathers. Worship begins with the first question from the Heidelberg Catechism. He has Rev. Toller use an apt passage from Job at a funeral service. As the grounds shifts beneath him, Toller quotes Ephesians: "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world."  It is an attempt to face a faith where, as Richard Niebuhr taught us, can be Christ against culture and Christ with the culture, at the same time.

July 8 sermon notes-2 Cor 12. II Same. 5, Mk 6

2 Sam. 5,1-10, Klein-I am with you" so important? It means that David and all of us later royal and priestly children of God are never alone.  "I am with you" in our language could me on our side or companionship.. Whether it is the ability to trust, to carry out our day to day vocations, or to face all the challenges of life -- including our mortality -- God's "I am with you"  endures. In Isaiah Emmanuel is god with us, and we apply it to christ.How do we know that God is with us? Took a while to get to Jerusalem in the account given.

It all starts with our naming at our baptism. you have been marked  forever. It is Christ's real presence in the Supper that says to us in ways that we can taste, touch, and smell, "I am with you." Was God ever more with us than when Jesus was extended for us on the cross? This congregation may learn, once again, or maybe for the first time to trust God’s presence in its past, present, and future.Need each other's talents, time without caving in to the voices of the loud, the extreme, the controlling.Brueggemann-what god does first and best is to  trust people with their moment in history.”

Pas 48 -guide-steadfast love-I am with you is another way of expressing that divine loyalty and fidelity.

2 Cor 12:2-10, the righteous suffer-Tiede- the power of Christ dwelling in them.thorn in the flesh/thorn in the side-not given more information than that, so it invites speculation. Paul’s prayers went unanswered. Some take it as a point of pride to be a thorn in someone’s side.Clearly it can be taken to be an internal struggle or physical pain or infirmity.Paul knows full well the pain of unanswered prayer. I don't know how I would respond to a sense  that divine power is made complete in weakness when I want a healing of some sort.

Mk 6:1-13 Jesus met with utter failure in his home base. Even Jesus found his power limited due to the dismissal of him by his townfolk.-In some ways the spread of the mission emerged in a search for a receptive audience.can't expect mass conversion but do not hold a grudge either but move on and do not remain rooted in the failure. We have a hard time forgiving because we cling to grudges life life preservers. Recall that the usual root for forgive in the NT is to let go, release. In church, of all places, we permit resentments to fester. In church of all places, we act in unforgiving ways. In church we even honor those who act as thorns in the side of others and seek to run over the unobtrusive.In part, that may stem from being unable or unwilling to capture the presence of god in our interactions. It may well be an unwillingness to acknowledge the continued presence of god within these precious vessels that Paul dares to call temples of the Holy spirit.

Packing light may well be difficult, but letting go of the baggage of cynicism, contempt, anger, fear and just plain fatigue is harder...Jesus  did what he could in his hometown and when he could do no more he went into other towns. He kept moving. Kept proclaiming. Kept healing, casting out demons, confronting evil, calling out oppressors and alleviating suffering. Others' affirmation or acceptance was not a prerequisite for his ministry, and it cannot be for ours either. When tangible results are elusive, we trust that God gives the growth, sometimes underground and unseen to those of us throwing the seed. Outlook

Week of July 1 Readings

Sunday-Ps.130 recurs in the lectionary.It links sin to the depths of our experience, but it need not be a consequence of sin, but of life itself. How doe sprayer help you to plumb the depths of the self?

Monday-But what God has put in our power ...is largely to be secured by our being kind to them.…I wonder why it is that we are not all kinder than we are. How much the world needs it. How easily it is done. How instantaneously it acts. How infallibly it is remembered.Source: The Greatest Thing in the World

Tuesday-Abba is a very intimate word. The best translation for it is: "Daddy." The word Abba expresses trust, safety, confidence, belonging, and most of all intimacy. It does not have the connotation of authority, power, and control, that the word Father often evokes. On the contrary, Abba implies an embracing and nurturing love. This love includes and infinitely transcends all the love that comes to us from our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, spouses, and lovers. It is the gift of the Spirit.Henri Nouwen Wednesday-Do you see stress as an enemy or as your friend? Here lies the key as to whether it deepens you or demeans you: Look for inklings of personal resurrection. With Parkinson's diagnosis, I have scads of occasions to practice resilience. Resilience creates compassion: When I mess up, I tell myself: Practice compassion for yourself--you'll be in practice for someone else who will surely need it. Ira Kent Groff Thursday-in this taste of paradise/ where rest becomes luminous/ and play a prayer of gratitude, /even the stones sing /of a different time, /where burden is lifted and eternity endures. Abbey of the arts on sabbath Friday-We are a spiritually impoverished generation; we search in all the places the Spirit ever flowed in the hope of finding water. And that is a valid impulse. For if the Spirit is living and never dies, it must still be present wherever it once was active.…It is like a small but carefully tended spark, ready to flare, glow, and burst into flame the moment it feels the first enkindling breath.Edith Stein Saturday-The word must become flesh, but the flesh also must become word. It is not enough for us, as human beings, just to live..If we do not speak what we are living, our lives lose their vitality and creativity. When we see a beautiful view, we search for words to express what we are seeing...When we are sorrowful or in great pain, we need to talk about it. When we are surprised by joy, we want to announce it!Through the word, we appropriate and internalize what we are living. The word makes our experience truly human.

July 1 Sermon Notes @ Sam. 1, 2 Cor.8. Mk.5

July 1-2 Sam. 1:17-27 Giere WP-I always get the feeling that when David speaks it is both private word and public proclamation. In other words, he is always keeping an eye on the presentation of his public persona.David's grief at the deaths of Saul and Jonathan is acute.  From this flows his lament, a beautifully constructed example of Hebrew poetry that never mentions God, but is a prayer nonetheless. David even pleads with nature to mourn a lost good. Woven together here are these two relational threads, David's relationships with both Saul and Jonathan, drastically different thought they were.   William Holladay, David "chose to eulogize the two men side by side..., draws together his predecessor on the throne and his deepest friend, father and son at odds over the LORD's favor upon the throne of Israel. It is difficult to start to say goodbye to a congregation. All positions, all relationships are complex and a mixture of difficult and easy and David’s work illustrates it.

Church is a place where we recognize the full gamut of life. Look at the great psalm-what a cri de coeur-Ps 130 out of the depths-Worship is our communal point for meeting with God, being in the presence of the divine.

2 Cor. 8:7-15 spirit at work making new community and breaking boundaries and creating glad and generous hearts- money and emotional generosity. I suppose it may be healthy to make a compartment out of stinginess when it comes to money alone but be generous elsewhere. The reformed Scrooge is the great example of someone being transformed into a glad and generous heart. Paul’s advice on money here is to seek an equitable balance-he reaches all the way back to Exodus, the creation of the people of whom he is a proud member. He wishes them to excel and to be ready, willing and able, eager to be part of the community.god’s generous grace will continue to this place, as it has for almost 2 centuries, as pastors entered and left, and membership evolved over time.some people build walls and some open doors snag Jackson Browne last Monday. We wall ourselves off in a defensive crouch, or we can take the chance, the risk of opening doors.

Mk 5:21-they are intertwined healings-again the impossible possibility of the two healings-intercalcation/sandwich--they cast light on each other. Some think that the interruption in the story is what to keep an eye on. Life has a way of sandwiching events, so that a plan get interrupted.It cannot be an accident that a woman has suffered for 12 years and a twelve year old is dead, only to be raised. In the one, Jesus is touched, and the dead girl cannot know the she has been touched. Interrupted on the way to a dying girl-desperation doesn't know manners. After all, she was destitute and the alleged treatments of the physicians left o her worse. I2 years seems like an eternity to one suffering.!2 minutes is an eternity when a child is dying. From an adult perspective 12 year old girl, at the cusp of womanhood, is just starting her life.n the time of Jesus many believed dead was dead. Easter faith denies that obvious fact and moves healing into a new dimension within the life of God.when one thinks about it, a sermon itself is an example of this technique where current day concerns are sandwiched within a set of biblical passages for the day. We bring concerns to worship sandwiched within our prayer time.

Jesus was able to say au revoir/goodbye to them both, even though the girl was making her final exit.

Week of July 8 Devotions

Sunday-July 8-Ps.48-”We ponder your steadfast love in the midst of t your temple: (v. 9.) Here is a summary statement of worship. W?e try to go through various mentions of divine love in each service. Its form and content often exceed our individual prayers. It is a testament to the importance of worship together every week.

Monday-Nouwen-Words are important. Without them our actions lose meaning. And without meaning we cannot live. Words can offer perspective, insight, understanding, and vision. Words can bring consolation, comfort, encouragement and hope... Words can reconcile, unite, forgive, and heal. Words can bring peace and joy, inner freedom and deep gratitude. Words, in short, can carry love on their wings. A word of love can be the greatest act of love. That is because when our words become flesh in our own lives and the lives of others, we can change the world.Jesus is the word made flesh. In him speaking and acting were one.

Tuesday-“Be. Here. This moment. Now is all there is, don’t go seeking another.  Discover the sacred in your artist’s tools; they are the vessels of the altar of your own unfolding.” -- Christine Valters Paintner

Wednesday-Nouwen"Have courage," we often say to one another. Courage is a spiritual virtue. The word courage comes from the Latin word cor, which means "heart. A courageous act is an act coming from the heart. A courageous word is a word arising from the heart. The heart, however, is not just the place where our emotions are located. The heart is the centre of our being, the centre of all thoughts, feelings, passions, and decisions.

Thursday-Fyodor Dostoyevsky-Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in sight of all... But active love is labor and fortitude.

Friday-Nowen-If all our words had to cover all our actions, we would be doomed to permanent silence! Sometimes we are called to proclaim God's love even when we are not yet fully able to live it. Does that mean we are hypocrites? Only when our own words no longer call us to conversion. Nobody completely lives up to his or her own ideals and visions. But by proclaiming our ideals and visions with great conviction and great humility, we may gradually grow into the truth we speak. As long as we know that our lives always will speak louder than our words, we can trust that our words will remain humble.

Saturday-Rachel Naomi Remen-The marks life leaves on everything it touches transform perfection into wholeness. Older, wiser cultures choose to claim this wholeness in the things that they create. In Japan, Zen gardeners purposefully leave a fat dandelion in the midst of the exquisite, ritually precise patterns of the meditation garden. In Iran, even the most skilled of rug weavers includes an intentional error, the “Persian Flaw”,…and Native Americans wove a broken bead, the “spirit bead,” into every beaded masterpiece. Nothing that has a soul is perfect. When life weaves a spirit bead into your very fabric, you may stumble upon a wholeness greater than you had dreamed possible before.

Sermon Notes I Sam. 17, 2 Cor. 6, Mark 4:35-41

I Sam 17 -18 We spoke of small size last week and now move to a giant.Goliath (name derived from exile or to reveal?) was the size of Robert Wadlow. One of the reasons I love sports is the promise of an upset, that is often called David v. Goliath. 5 smooth stones and the power of the seemingly small- David brings his  brothers provisions, as his father told him, but they put him down,like the runt of the litter, and David responds like an annoyed teen. It is a bit of a jab at militarism.David is handed the armament of Saul but it is like a size 50 suit on a 36 body. (I went to the Middletown yard sales and was crushed when I was going to buy up a lot of shirts, but for once the gentleman was two or three neck sizes bigger than me, if such a thing can be imagined).The valley of Elah lies between them.The united forces of Israel cower in fear of the giant, but a boy without armament faces and brings down the giant. David’s courage comes from God and his own ambition.  David the shepherd notices some tool sin a dry creek bed, some smooth stones, probably unnoticed by anyone else.

2 Cor. 6-Paul rattles off the weapons of righteousness against a flurry of terrible storms. Open wide your hearts-This may not still a natural storm but Paul is convinced these weapons have real power in a stormy world. They seem so small, these non-violent weapons. They are not even 5 smooth stones from a creek bed but small items in our personal quiver.They will fail often, maybe especially in church.virtues such as purity/chaste-long-suffering/forbearance, unfeigned love, kindness-I don't even see how they relate to the terrors inflicted on paul.

Mark 4:35-A terrible storm is a goliath.When faced with goliath we get anxious and want to flee, but there they are in the boat.Fear often paralyzes us as it catches us between fight or flight. Recall that the boat is an early Christian symbol.Jesus a descendant of David, rebukes the wind and tells the sea to simmer down; the first word ("Peace!" in the NRSV)  be silent; the second ("Be still!" in the NRSV)  be muzzled. The word for rebuke is used when Jesus rebukes the unclean spirit in 1:25 (also 3:12 and 9:25). And the unclean spirit in 1:25 is also told to be muzzled. In 1:27, ...Why are you still afraid?" Jesus asks The word translated afraid here might also be translated cowardly (as in Revelation 21:8). In 4:41, the phrase translated awe in the NRSV literally says that the disciples feared a great fear. That great fear, or awe, is understandable in the face of the storm and in the presence of the immense power at the disposal of jesus.  That same fear of 4:41 is felt by the healed woman (Stamper)-At Sundance, a standing ovation at the end seemed more for Rogers himself than the film.  hunched and cold in a tall field, a lone figure fighting the wind. He couldn’t control life’s storms. But he’d show people how to endure them.

We put the VBS children in a carved boat about the length of the boats used in Galilee at the time. One boy stood up at the front and said peace be still, as they remembered an awful storm that  pushed back some of our work there.

I have used peace be still as a mantra for years. In facing pettiness or something truly deliberately hurtful,I use it. That centered stability fights anxiety and gives security.

week of June 24 relfections

Sunday-June 24 Ps. 9:9-20-+is a song of the downtrodden, biblical blues.It expresses the deep frustration of being put down.How do you manage such thoughts and feelings in your spiritual life?

Monday-Integrity has the same root as the words integral and integrated: integritas, which means wholeness and soundness.  To act with integrity means to always be moving toward wholeness and not feeling divided; this is the same meaning as the root of the word monk.  The desert calls us to a singleness of heart and to live from this commitment.” -- Christine Valters Paintner

Tuesday-This is not the power that controls, dictates, and commands. It is the power that heals, reconciles, and unites. It is the power of the Spirit. It is this power of the divine Spirit that Jesus wants to give us. The Spirit indeed empowers us and allows us to be healing presences. When we are filled with that Spirit, we cannot be other than healers. Nouwen?

Wednesday-Pres. Outlook-From 2 Cor. How do we regard no one from a human point of view? How do we walk by faith and not by sight? Notice beauty and signs of hope. Pause to give thanks for them.Why does Jesus talk and teach in parables? Are there ways we could do likewise?When have you been surprised by someone or something and realized that there was more than what you initially saw, thought or assumed?

Thursday- Our self-centeredness must be reckoned for the enemy it is. God cannot squeeze into a self-centered heart.Source: So Who’s Afraid of Birthdays

Friday-You will no longer feel the need to measure up to anything or anyone, because your love for God, to whom you belong, will make you stand firm.…Happy and secure are those who have given their whole heart to God. How simple this is if we but look to Jesus, God’s Son and our brother, whose pure heart reaches out to us.Source: The God Who Heals

Saturday-"The early monks longed, as most of us do, to live in a way that was unburdened by anxiety and fear. All of their spiritual practices were in service to this ultimate goal. They longed to be healed of the internal divisions that kept them from seeing the abundant grace freely offered moment by moment which could be seen by gazing on the icon of creation. To live in paradise in the midst of this world means to see things differently which only comes through practice.” -- Christine Valters Paintner

week of June 17 reflection pts

Sunday-Ps.20  Two verses jump out. At the start one pleads for help in the day of trouble and it comes from the sanctuary. Toward the end, it takes the usual view against militarism. Some take pride in chariots, but the faith is in the name of the Lord. where do you see non-violent power?

Monday-Sophie Scholl-People believe that we live in the end times, and many terrible signs make such a belief all too credible. But isn’t it irrelevant? Don’t we all realize that, no matter when we live, God can call us at a moment’s notice?

Tuesday-Bonhoeffer-Don’t be surprised at the difficulty of faith, if there is some part of your life where you are consciously resisting or disobeying the commandment of Jesus. Is there some part of your life which you are refusing to surrender at his behest, some sinful passion, maybe, or some animosity, some hope, perhaps your ambition or your reason?

Wednesday-“Grace is a gift offered freely that helps us to return to alignment with our Self and the divine.” -- Christine Valters Paintner

Thursday-Nouwen-Prayer is the gift of the Spirit. Often we wonder how to pray, when to pray, and what to pray. We can become very concerned about methods and techniques of prayer. But finally it is not we who pray but the Spirit who prays in us.

Friday-Abbey of the Arts-No matter how far I stray from my practice, there is always an invitation to begin again. Not just each day, but each moment offers us the chance to lay a new foundation."

Saturday-Merton-"Actually one decides one's life by responding to a word that is not well defined, easily explicable, safely accounted for. One decides to love in the face of the unaccountable void, and from the void comes the unaccountable truth. By this truth one's existence is sustained in peace - until the truth is too firmly grasped and too clearly accounted for. Then one is relying on words - i.e. on his own understanding and his own ingenuity in interpreting existence and its 'signs.' Then one is lost - has to be found once again in the patient 'Void.'"*

June 17 Sermon Notes I Sam. 15, mark 4, 2 Cor. 5

June 17-I Sam. 15:34-16:13 Samuel took it personally when the people demanded a king. He knew that it would cause all sorts of new problems. ,Samuel grieved over Saul’s failure to follow divine edicts.Saul and Samuel  are said not to see each other again Maybe his madness was becoming apparent. Remember that Samuel did not wish a king in the first place but the people wanted this man who stood head and shoulders above them -issue of book by its cover - and insight blinded by the light-Israel not chosen for size but David is handsome? But he is the youngest. Samuel is sent on a undercover mission to find a new king.The villagers are concerned when Samuel shows up as he has recently killed a foreign ruler with his sword. Saul felt small in his own eyes according to Samuel.

Ps. 20, line about militarism

2Cor 5:6-17 E Johnson- We are tempted to view worldly success as a sign of God's favor, and conversely, to view weakness and suffering as a sign of God's absence or even God's punishment.God chooses vulnerability, weakness, suffering, and death in order to bring new life.Not appearance but heart-not live for oneself but for Christ. God places the greatest value on our service to others, even when service means suffering and rejection.-indeed it is a new creation  Ml 4:26-34 Kingdom grows in its orderly procession-seed has a powerpack of energy to emerge for the soil God works with the small, god works with appropriate size-mustard seed-greatest of shrubs-it does grow within its purview and niche-We want things of size and stature-indeed we tend to select the taller candidate still-some folks go on trips and stop to see the largest ball of twine-perhaps it is only the past itself, which is always smaller than one had believed.” ― David Markson,Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. Vincent Van Gogh

Small is limiting-After all, the kingdom, god’s way in the world is an earth shaking event that is apparent in things large and small.

Yes acorns grow into mighty oaks-they also grow into shrubs-they also grow into weeds. WE are a blip on the cosmic screen. The church has existed for far less time than civilization let alone our emergence into becoming human.Humility is the virtue that stands against our seemingly limitless capacity to strain against limits.We live in a niche of time and space.Church life comes from the Spirit but is is part of the incarnation so it is lived on a human scale with all of its attendant hopes and foibles. boy, no longer little, told his friends to watch out, that he was going to do something "really big" the next day at school, and the next day at school he took his gun and his ammo and his earplugs and shot eight classmates who had clustered for a prayer meeting. Three died, and they were still children, almost. The shootings took place in West Paducah, Kentucky, and when Mister Rogers heard about them, he said, "Oh, wouldn't the world be a different place if he had said, 'I'm going to do something really little tomorrow,'" and he decided to dedicate a week of the Neighborhood to the theme "Little and Big." He wanted to tell children that what starts out little can sometimes become big, and so that could devote themselves to little dreams without feeling bad about them.

We are going to receive communion-such a small thing, the little cracker our president calls it, yet is the latch that opens into heaven itself.As Christians we hold that god's love is not anchored in heaven, but here with us, in this world.

Father day column 2018

Father’s Day was sometimes troubling for me. My father was killed in a seafaring accident before I was three, so I have no memory of him. When our daughters were born, I would realize that I was able to see them grow up in a way that he was not permitted. I soon learned the father’s day is not in the same league as Mother’s day. The card selection is smaller. I have not seen much anxiety over a present for Dad in any way close to the hand wringing over a Mother’s day present. Fathers are considered fashion victims, yet a standard present is a tie or socks or worse, stylish underwear.

The fine writer Michael Chabon has written on being a father recently. “The handy thing about being a father is that the historic standard is so pitifully low.” In part he means that 20^th Century fatherhood was making a living and having the mother be the emotional center of a well-run household, a delegation model. John Wooden said that being a role model is the most powerful form of educating…too often fathers neglect it because they get so caught up in making a living they forget to make a life.”  With the advent of two earner families, fathers have often adjusted to much more responsibility.

Biblical fathers, especially in Genesis, are not successful. Instead, they continue dysfunctional traditions, one generation to the next. On the other hand, Proverbs is filled with sage advice about being a father. “Hear, O sons, a father's instruction; and be attentive, that you may gain insight; for I give you good precepts. Do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he “taught me, and said to me, ‘Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom; get insight. Do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. (Prov. 4) “Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old” (Prov.23:22) (Notice that wisdom is portrayed as female and is the cardinal virtue). Umberto Eco surmises that “what we become depends on what our fathers teach us at odd moments, when they aren’t trying to teach us. We are formed by little scraps of wisdom.”

The notion of the fatherhood of God has slipped in recent times, and we are always in danger of externalizing our notion of human fathers to the divine realm. Yet, the fatherhood model of God is a complex one, not an imprimatur on child-rearing practices. Still, it carries with it a hint of respect and awe. Aspiration is connected to our emulation of a father. “Sometimes I think my father is an accordion. When he looks at me and smiles and breathes, I hear the notes.” (Markus Zusak).

While we prize activities with a father and words of wisdom, some of us have the difficult gift of seeing a father move into old age. It challenges our view of them from childhood. It is a striking introduction to our own mortality, our own transience. After all, honor the father is a commandment for adults, not a hammer for a disobedient child. We come to realize, as adults, the hidden depths, the hidden history of an often taciturn father. Perhaps the most valuable words of a father is letting us know of their pride in us. Perhaps, the most poignant of reciprocity is telling them of our pride in them.

June 10 Sermon Notes 2Cor. 4:13-5:1, I Sam. 8, Mk. 3:20-35

I Sam. 8, Samuel fails with his children as did Eli, and his sons are corrupt. Assumptions and expectations may deceive .The  desire for a king emerges from a desire to replace Samuel and God with a leader such as others have.People who were under the thumb of a pharaoh who have been warned want a king.

Ps. 138, 2 Cor. 4:13-5:1 Sometimes I have heard people say that they do not understand how people face death with their faith. Today Paul has us consider that  face sufferings in this life. Many of our co-religionists do not touch Paul here, because it doesn't fit on a bumper sticker.. They hold that bad things are deserved punishment from God, but they hold without blinking an eye that they deserve only blessings as Christians.  In 2 Corinthians 4:16, Paul acknowledges the frailty of our human existence.  The "outer nature" is subject to all the sufferings of this present age -- beatings, shipwrecks, afflictions, and trials.  This outer nature parallels earthen vessels, so it can hold junk or a treasure. Jesus dealt with an outer physical nature of a hard life too.

The "inner nature" is what God is doing in us that makes the "life of Jesus" also "visible in our bodies" (4:10).  This "inner nature" is God enacting transformation (3:18), bringing life (4:12), and shining light in our hearts (4:6). God's work is ongoing -- renewing everyday, even when it is not immediately apparent (4:18).  

The frailty of humanity is not newsworthy.  What is truly amazing is that Paul can say in the midst of hardship that there is hope.  Whatever happens to the body,the "inner nature" is what God is doing in us that makes the "life of Jesus" also "visible in our bodies" (4:10).  God will rectify his body. It is in this God whom Paul places his unwavering hope.Amidst real hardships , Paul hopes in God's work. He knows that the God who is at work in his mortal body is the same God who resurrected Jesus from the dead.   Hope is not optimism. It is a conviction that things will improve despite evidence ot the contrary.It is a faith pinned on the future being different.Carla Works |

Mk. 3:20-35 Stamper-Jesus is coming to plunder Satan's household and bring about his end,   crowd is pressing in to see him and touch him, urgently and desperately.The ones who should be in the best position to see Jesus as himself fail to see it and attribute it to evil.the family of Jesus is alarmed at his message and mission and fear for him.Apparently they were not prepared for this shift in a life’s work that occurs after his baptism by John. Jesus recasts family into the new movement.His family may well be pushed from the center of his life..We also are claimed by him as his sisters and brothers and mother, no longer outsiders at a distance, but holders of the secrets of the kingdom, drawn into the inner circle of the mystery and love of God. In an early episode of Mister Rogers King friday decides he needs a wall for security. He almost misses out on a birthday cake as he has the chef cut it into little pieces.King Friday fears people are out to get him.Early in PBS, he was asked to testify before the imperious John Pastore. He had been elected to congress in the Depression, served as an attorney general office and the governor’s office in RI and had been a Senator for years.Inner nature and outer nature the same.