The Guilford Church

Sermon for June 27, 2010

Living in the Whirlwind

2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14

Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, "Stay here; for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel." But Elisha said, "As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So they went down to Bethel.

Then Elijah said to him, "Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan." But he said, "As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, "Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you." Elisha said, "Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit." He responded, "You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not." As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, "Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

He picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.

Philippians 4 (New International Version)

 ¹Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!

Exhortations

 ²I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord. ³Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow,^[a] help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.

 ⁴Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 ⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Luke 9:51-62

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." To another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

            When I was a little girl I lived in California and every summer we would go for a week to the beach.   My memories begin when I would go out with my mother and jump the waves.   The strongest part of that memory is the connection to my mother’s hand. We would be standing up to our waists in the rocking waves of the cold ocean and.. when a wave would come …we would jump at just the point the wave was strongest and the wave would lift us both off our feet for what seemed like minutes of magical joy –as if the water itself had lifted us up and beyond the surf.

            As I grew older, I would go with girlfriends and we would jump the waves together ….human flotsam and jetsum riding the ripples …..until we were old enough and brave enough to take on the deeper surf.  With most big waves it is possible--- even if the water rises over your head-- to catch it at just the right time and to float suspended… for amazing seconds, hearing the surf crash just behind you…but sometimes, if it comes too fast or is too big---you have to make the decision to dive right through the wave and that is an even more amazing lift.   You have to catch the wave just as it is crashing above your head …and dive right through where it begins to foam and then aim your  body like a bullet through the crest and out the other side.

            Then again there was always the possibility of body-surfing the wave. That takes an even better sense of the wave..of catching it at just the right moment…stiffening your body and riding it to the shore.

            I have not done much surfing with a board which can be an entirely other experience.   The you have to manage a board as well,  waiting outside the surf until a perfect wave comes, paddling quickly to ride on top of the wave to where the surf

begins to fold into a wave then deftly standing on the board and above the wave---finding a balance and then riding it to just our side the shoreline and jumping free.

            It is common knowledge that surfing in the West---whether with a board or without—is most heavenly at sunset…when the sun slowly sinks toward the sea and seems to melt along the horizon.     You can easily see why the Greeks and Romans thought of the sun as a chariot of fire…leaving a golden path behind at the end of the day.

            We can also imagine  Elisha in the moment Elijah was carried away—blinded by the sun as it set beyond the hills as he stood at the edge of the Jordan, windswept by the whirlwind that enveloped the place they stood.   It was a far different whirlwind than the small still voice Elijah had found on the mountaintop in the scripture we read a few weeks back.    This was the full moment of godliness in which Elijah was consumed by God wholly and completely and Elisha was left behind.

            I mentioned the story of surfing with my mother because the scripture recounts the same sort of passing on of wisdom. Elisha kept following Elijah insisting he had to be there when he crossed over.  They left the prophets’ home at Gilgal and travelled to Bethel.    Elijah offered to let him stay but Elisha insisted he had to follow along.

            They travelled then to the Jordan and Elijah offered to let him stay on the riverside but he wanted to pass through to somehow live into and through Elijah’s great spirit.   And then he stayed as the whirlwind came and the sun shown like a chariot of fire and Elijah was carried away with the whirlwind.

            We are encouraged not to take the image literally by scholars--- inasmuch as Greek mythology seemed to have been stirred into this scriptural memory,   but it is beautiful nonetheless…and easy to understand if you have been with someone you love and cherish at the time of their death.    There are often images and words which surpass our understanding…the one I might share is that of my mother-in-law who was French-canadian by birth and who, at the moment of her death sat up in bed--- her face filled with light--- reaching her hands out as if to a parent proclaiming  “ La Lumiere, la Lumiere!  In English that would be “the light, the light”.   We might well imagine that Elijah at the moment he passed also saw the light as a chariot and Elijah was left on the windswept shore of the Jordan having lived through something otherworldly and yet very real.

            What we also know about Elisha is that he feared he wouldn’t be up to the task of bearing Elijah’s mantel and yet he wanted it terribly.    He begged Elijah to be sure he knew enough,  had enough-no, double of the holy spirit to carry on and he stayed with Elijah to the end that he might have the touch feel smell and comfort of the mantel he left behind…some reminder to carry with him of who his beloved had been.  Again, we are encouraged to make much of the mantel itself, there is no real biblical significance to a mantel..it too may be a carry over from the Greek but we know it was precious and something to hold onto as he went forth.

            As always the old testament makes human our struggles to live as people of faith in times of change and loss.  Elisha manifests what we know so well in ourselves about times of change.     We follow after what gives us security, we doubt ourselves, we ask for assurance and we hope that material things might somehow help us hold on to memories or replace those we love.

Jesus, of course, cuts right through all of this in the gospel:

 "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

Follow me, he says to the person-- but they are caught..in their obligations, in their traditions, in their work.

" Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

Jesus is not talking about giving up being human--- but rather about remembering what is most important. We know and will hear in the weeks to come that Elisha does drop Elijah’s mantel and becomes a prophet in his own right…making wise decisions, encouraging others to remember God’s love and wisdom above all  and encouraging others to make a new Jerusalem on earth.

Jesus cuts right through this process and puts it in words:

"Has God indeed said…He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it."( Matthew 10:39)

            Elisha takes me back again to the seaside in California where I so desperately wanted to be able to be at peace with the Great Ocean and probably just as much, ached for the chance to be alone with my mother and something she loved.

            In the story of Elisha we find the truth of how delicious it can be to follow our deepest yearnings…

To follow,  as it says in Phillipians….”whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—“

. ⁶Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷

^…And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I think of the wave and the learning about just when to jump into the wave trusting

that the water will lift you up and over every wave.

Rejoice! Paul says to the Phillipians…” ⁹Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

Peace when we follow our deepest desires, leave worries behind and trust in God.

            Yesterday, in the midst of the Strawberry Supper, I came upstairs to my office to get something and the phone rang and it was the woman I talked about earlier who is in need of diapers and formula . When she told me who she was I tensed up a bit since I knew we had spent all we have to spend for her this year but in her cheery voice, as if we were now friends, she shared with me her news that her older children are in Kurn Hattin, that she has done all the paperwork for low income housing, that one possibility had fallen through but she was hoping it would not be long until she and her children had a home:

"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

The words of Jesus rang in my head.

And she shared how she was almost out of diapers and that her baby needed special

formula…just like that as if of course I would understand. And the miracle was that I

did understand.  I still have the memory of buying special formula for my third

daughter because she was allergic to all the usual formula and of coming to the cash register and cringing,  week after week, and paying $14 for a  quart size can and thinking, what would I do, what would we do if we couldn’t pay  this much?

            It was as if this young woman and her children and I were facing the same wave, the same whirlwind of concern for our children and the question was whether I would continue to hold her hand. My child and her child were the same child with a delicate stomach and I felt myself rise above the wave and ay, Yes! We can do this, we can do this, I will ask and we will help you feed your children.

            My daughter is now 20 years old and I praise God that I did not say ---oh no, I must turn away, I Must this or we must that.  I knew that God had assured her that if she asked she would be lifted up with grace and joy and I also knew it would really be no problem to respond at all…”to do whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. ⁹Whatever you have learned or received or heard from Christ, or seen in Christ—and to put it into practice.”

Sermon:  November 29, 2009..........TRUE HOPE

SCRIPTURE READING:

Jeremiah 33:14-16 

¹⁴ " 'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

 ¹⁵ " 'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line;  he will do what is just and right in the land.

 ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.
       This is the name by which it ^[a] will be called:  The LORD Our Righteousness.'

 11 Thessalonians 3: 9-13

 ⁹How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? ¹⁰Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

 ¹¹Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. ¹²May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. ¹³May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

Luke 21:25-36 

 ²⁵"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. ²⁶Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. ²⁷At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."

 ²⁹He told them this parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. ³⁰When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. ³¹Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

 ³²"I tell you the truth, this generation^[a] will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. ³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

 ³⁴"Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.³⁵For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."

Sermon

There is a story which we know… at least in part

Of a small baby which was found floating in a basket in a stream

And which a young woman took in and cared for as her own

The story goes on to tell of how soon another such baby was found

And another and another

Until, all along the stream, people had to create orphanages and hospitals

and schools

to care for the children…

So numerous they were and so in need of so much…

Until one day, some of the people began to shake their heads and wonder

how it could be possible

that there were so many children

without people to care for them

and, evidently, so many people willing to put them in baskets

in the rapid waters of the stream

and so,  one day, a few of these wondering people

began to make their way up the river one day to find out…

That day of course was a turning point

Which led to the discovery of just what terrible tragedy may have

happened

Of course in the time of Moses it was a terrible despot who threatened

The lives of newborns

And in the Middle Ages… it was poverty and plague…

And today even now babies die by the thousands all around the world

And perhaps mostly tragically,  in Africa.

             More than 25 million people have died of AIDS worldwide, and another 33 million are currently living with HIV/AIDS.  While cases have been reported in all regions of the world, almost all those living with HIV (96%) reside in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa…and because of this tragedy, in Kenya alone there are 5 million orphans and vulnerable children.

            Wangari Matthai has shared with us her belief that the cause of much of the poverty and illness in Kenya has to do with colonization and alienation of people from their native spiritual practices, their native gardening and nutrition practices and from the migration of millions of men and women into the cities to find work when their land was taken over for coffee and tea plantations. This migration, like the orphans I described earlier has signaled that something had gone terribly wrong.

            In our scripture today in Luke we hear about the: “Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory”.  In Hebrew we are to understand “son of man to have come from “ben adam” which means “son of Adam”, Adam having been himself made from earth.  James Jones, points out in fact that frequently when the phrase is used it is in conjunction with the earth and is considered a reflection of the phrase in the Lord’s prayer “Thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven”…that that which went wrong in the Garden of Eden was to be rectified by the coming of Christ, in the form of a new human. Our faith tradition tell us that Jesus came to reconcile us to the earth and to each other, to forgive us for all which has gone before, to give us a new chance.  

            On this first Sunday of Advent we are reminded again of that chance.  

In Jeremiah we hear:

'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line;  he will do what is just and right in the land.

            In marking WORLD AIDS day we mark the fact that we are now paying attention and doing what is right. We are looking upstream and committing ourselves to making things right at a places suffering begins. 

            By remembering those in our community who suffer because of this disease we acknowledge that everyone is loved by God, everyone deserves a place on earth and that we all need a chance to hope again.  By remembering the children in Miricu we help them remember that God has long and loving arms and a good memory, that no one is forgotten.

            Now six years ago we welcomed Wangari Mathai here as the Johnny Appleseed of hope and possibility in Kenya,  She is one of the wise ones around the world who sees something which has gone terribly wrong and who has reclaimed a memory of sacred trees and of women heaven and earth being one.  She reminds women of what is possible when they reclaim the land and plant small seeds, reminds children of the nourishment the earth can provide if we work with it and reminds the people of Kenya of the importance of communities of people working together. The young men and women whom we help with our offerings have also revitalized their ancient songs and dances, celebrating the animals which surround them and whose footsteps and calls to each other are part of the sounds and rhythms of their lives, and who using those songs to keep their children in hope.

            Today we mark the first day of a new church year and the retelling of a hope-filled story in which the moon and stars mark the way  for wise men as they travel in darkness just as Joseph and Mary look to angels and the sun to light their path  through the earth,rocks and trees  to Jerusalem.

            We hear in Luke;

 ²⁵"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars….

The coming of the birth of Christ invites each of us to set out in hope—whether in darkness or in light—no matter what the terrain or what the distance, no matter how old we are or how young, to step onto a path that will lead us deeper into the heart of Christ and deeper into the love which is there for each of us through fellowship with each other.

            Three years ago, when we as a church started on a path to relationship with a small Kenyan village our gifts could only supply their most basic needs and it  was food they could and did use immediately.  The last pictures you saw were of a meal and prayer they shared together on World AIDs Day now 4 years ago, the next year because of their work and the increased help of their government they could apply our gift to mattresses and school supplies and tuition for the older children. This past year they have taught the children jewelry making to begin their self-sufficiency and now these same children, they say, are ready to write to us on the internet!

            It is an amazing world where so much is possible in 4 short years.

I’d like to read the words Paul wrote in his first letter to the Thessalonians and have you imagine them writing us or we to them:

⁹How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you? ¹⁰Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.

¹¹Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you. ¹²May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. ¹³May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

Their joy has become ours and ours theirs…and our children may soon become friends.

            Advent is a time of great possibility, of preparation and setting out  in faith and hope.  Like the wise ones in the story I began with, who decided once and for all to set out to find out how and where love was lost to so many children, let us thank God for the lessons we can learn from the children of Miricu and take their Joy and allow it to rekindle the fires in our own hearts.

            Sister Joan Chittester once wrote:

The liturgical year proposes, year after year, to immerse us again and again into the sense and substance of the Christian life until eventually we are what we say we are…followers of Jesus all the way to the heart of God.

           Returning again and again throughout the year to our commitment to those suffering with AIDS gives us a way to stand before God and each other, to give thanks, and to set our hearts and minds on what is at the heart of God’s call to each of us and to let all the rest be left behind.

            Gods calls us all in the midst of our confusions and toils, our worries and doubts to pause again and make clear to ourselves what our own Hope is for this year and to nourish it and have faith in God and to pray for it…

Let us close with a prayer, adapted from the Dinka tribe in Sudan…

God, at the time when you made the earth, you also made the sun;

At dawn the sun is born, at dusk it dies, and at dawn it is born again.

At the time when you made the sun, you also created the moon

at the start of the month the moon starts to grow,

in the middle it starts to shrink,

and at the end to grow again.

At the time you made the moon,

you also created stars;

at dusk the stars are born,

at dawn they die, and at dusk they are born again.

At the time when you made the stars you also created human beings

and at the time of my conception you created me…

Help me know that through you I can be born again this year

and give me Hope.

Amen

Sermon, August 30, 2009 (Pastor Lise Sparrow)

Union Service, First Congregational Church                                               .

SCRIPTURE READING                         James 1:17-27

James 1:17-27 (New International Version)

17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 

18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of all he created.

Listening and Doing

19My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 

20for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 

23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 

24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 

25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 

27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.____

SERMON                “Here I Am” 

Before I begin I’d like to acknowledge that this entire service has been in process for quite few weeks.  Debbie, Carra and I spoke long ago about using Water as the theme which was highlighted as annual meeting but which might “flow” nicely through the summer union services.

Two weeks ago Carra found the prayers we have used and she and Debbie selected hymns to match the prayers.   Peter and George selected the anthems so in the end it was left to me to pull together some of the themes which emerged as we discussed the state of our three churches and the themes present in the epistle of James. 

So, with gratitude for their thoughts and meditations, I offer you a homily which is mine and not mine at all for your consideration.  Going back to our Vermont Annual Meeting I would like to read to you from the covenant we recited together on the first night:

Our leader read:           

“speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament in which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.”

(Ephesians 4:15-16)

And we responded:

“We covenant with one another to sustain a congregational culture in which we will communicate with integrity and mutual respect, and in which our creative energy – both individual and collective –will be free to flourish.”

As I read these words I was standing in the company of dear colleagues.  Debbie was not present because of the death of her father-in –law but Cara and I were there as was Susan Tarolli, pastor of Putney Church, a church whose life would draw to a close two  weeks later, again with all, of us present, sharing memories and sharing grief.—each part working properly—promoting the bodys; growth in love.

We don’t often as congregations have the chance to stand together as the Body of Christ.  More like neighbors than family we often live only a few miles apart each, sharing holy days and national tragedies (and maybe union services)-- but by and large – we live our lives, births, deaths and all which is in between, in our own company.

And yet, when seen, together the truth that we are the Living Body becomes so much more clear.  Like the planets we can see the seasons manifest and changing, season by season. The Putney Church, doors closed only two months, in what appeared to be a winter  tragedy, has now given birth to a new life, the building lifted up by the historical society , the pastor with a job as Associate Conference Minister in Connecticut, and the small congregation now bringing life to other congregations.   Like small droplets of manna their beautiful story can bring other congregations hope.

In less than month Centre Church, after what seemed like interminable years of waiting and hoping, now has its springtime of hope and promise, as they prepare for Carra’s installation and their steeple and siding changes almost invisibly day by day to it’s fresh new form.

Guilford Church at the moment is blessed with summer abundance and all the work that takes to keep things taken care of, a new storage shed, a new teen group, decisions about what to harvest and what to mow under, to keep the ground fertile and ready for what God has next in store.

And, just as the chill of autumn comes to the Vermont landscape, we worship here together in West Brattleboro, where you, once again,  face the autumn grief of letting go, of harvesting all which is good and beautiful and of planning for the next spring. Autumn , more than any season, asks us to face the truth of change and letting go. 

Autumn, more than any season, reminds of the importance of working together for the harvest. The crunch of leaves, the honk of geese, the rush of wind reminds us to listen for the coming and going of all good things.

Last night I found a found a striking passage in a book by Joan Anderson called A YEAR BY THE SEA.  She writes:

            I’m learning that what’s important is not so much what I do to make a living as who I become in the process. Simple labor is soothing my edges, teaching me to crave work not because it might make me special or wealthy but because the job pleases my spirit, makes a more pleasant person, and meets my financial needs.

            Like our scripture lesson for today it holds up the question of who we are alongside the matter of what we do.  Simple labor is soothing my edges, teaching me to crave work not because it might make me special or wealthy but because the job pleases my spirit.

            John Calvin used this scripture to inspire him to begin the work of Hospitals dedicated to the poor.  Congregational women used this scripture to inspire the founding of hospitals in the nineteenth century.

James writes:

Religion that God accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

The pollution he writes about is anger and all which prevents us from seeing who we are and who we are called to be in any season; from listening to what and who God is calling us to be ( …insert story…)

Make no mistake, this restless non-listening can besiege any of us—whether it be in times of great hope or great busy-ness—in times of deep grief and loss or of great change.  We can use any excuse to talk too much and listen too little.

We can see it in the Bible—whether it was the Israelites moaning, groaning and complaining  in the barren wilderness only to wake one morning and find dew upon the very ground thy were walking on—dew that would feed them day by day until they reached the promised land---or whether it was the disciples tossed about in a storm on the Galilee, afraid for their lives—only to have Jesus awaken to remind them it was in their own power to calm the seas of their despairing.   Our ancestors wanted to remind us that the Living Water comes in many forms—whether as the perfect daily bread or the vast wide open sea—but that we are called to be the ones at the well ---offering  the living water of love, generously, to others. James remind us:

Do not merely listen to the word. Do what it says.

Don’t forget:

the ones who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continue to do this, not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

It is easy to lose heart--in any season—but let us not forget the living water comes in so many forms—the snow, the mist, the summer rain, the pounding storm—all call us back to look, listen and to remember who we are and who we are called to be for God and for each other.  Amen

Sermon May 10th, 2009 (Pastor Lise Sparrow)

Mother’s Day

 I did a search for the history of Mother’s Day and this is what I found:

   The history of Mother's Day is centuries old and goes back to the times of ancient Greeks, who held festivities to honor Rhea, the mother of the gods. The early Christians celebrated the Mother's festival on the fourth Sunday of Lent to honor Mary, the mother of Christ. Interestingly, later on a religious order stretched the holiday to include all mothers, and named it as the Mothering Sunday. The English colonists settled in America discontinued the tradition of Mothering Sunday because of lack of time. In 1872 Julia Ward Howe organized a day for mothers dedicated to peace. It is a landmark in the history of Mother's Day.

I love the way our ancestors put it aside “for lack of time”.

     These days I am often tempted to put a celebration of Mother’s Day aside for its complexity.    I suspect it has always been so but in these days of diversity we know too well that we must acknowledge the extraordinary loving of mothers, grandmothers great grandmothers and great great grandmothers but that there are stepmothers, adopted mothers, aunts, neighbors, teachers, therapists friends and fathers who provide the extraordinary love so needed in our lives and the lives of our children. 

     Our first lesson in Acts helps us see in a similar way not only the extraordinary reach of God’s Love for us all but the specific ways God calls to us as apostles to make God’s love visible and knowable.

     An angel tells Philip to go to a wilderness place and then to go speak to a specific man in a specific carriage where he finds a man reading aloud. Through their conversation the scripture is transformed from empty words about a distant misery to an inner knowing of how personal and transformative God’s love can be.  As if it were a “coincidence”, the scripture speaks specifically about a lamb being slaughtered, his generation having been denied justice naming exactly and specifically the humilation of the generation of men who had been castrated to better serve  the rulers of Egypt.   Scholars say that the fact man was black and Ethiopian was far less notable than the fact of his having been mutilated  and marginalzed. Nonetheless,  Philip not only teaches him but ultimately helps him claim his birthright as a child of a loving God and then, in a flash disappears—leaving the man to wonder and rejoice at this revelation.

     This was a moment when a perfect stranger made the words of scripture come alive and whose generosity helped this young man claim his right to full baptism in the River of Life. We learn in this brief passage that up until then the young man had been serving the queen and in charge of the entire Egyptian treasury but that even in this service he was bereft.    Philip this kind stranger then helped him find  in a simple river blessing an entirely new way to see himself and his purpose.   This young man who have been mutilated and marginalized and burdened with responsibility was left, changed forever.

     In the gospel we then hear Jesus talk of the good shepherd who is willing for a few moments to put his own life on the line for his sheep  only to pick it up again when the danger is past.

     We can’t know in the epistle story what danger Philip may have risked in his willingness to set his own life aside to spend time with the eunuch.   What of his own business might he have had to suspend when the angel called?   What danger might he have faced in taking up a conversation and traveling with this servant of the Queen?    And in the end, what joy might he have taken from having sacrificed to make this connection?

     This gospel passage has been given to us so perfectly for today… we hear so clearly Christ’s call to true love and connection for all of us:

     I know my own and my own know me, just as God knows me and I know God. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

 One flock, one shepherd, one God for all…One love,  one forgiveness, one rebirth for us all.

     In research on youth they have learned that children who are bullied or left behind in some way need only one caring adult whom they may not even see often but who is there for them-- showing them unconditional love--- who makes the difference to a child who ultimately succeeds and one who fails and falls into despair and trouble.

     We cannot underestimate the power of holding out a dream for another person of what is possible.   I always think on Mother’s Day of my first mother-in-law.   How in the day to day of married life I would become irritated  with my husband or at least, a bit frustrated,  and then we would go visit his mother, and there in the course of an afternoon visit I would remember all the reasons I had first fallen in love with him.   By spending time with her I could see how see could overlook all the small and petty things and revitalize his dreams for himself of who he was and is and could ultimately become.

     We all need these people in our lives and with luck they are our parents…but when they are not we can thank God they remind us nonetheless of who we truly are and of what we are meant to be.

     And we all need to be this for others—especially for our parents---who themselves may have forgotten their early dreams and  God’s amazing grace.  

     For those of us who are lucky, we have the fortune of being by our loved ones bedsides in gratitude as they slip back into God’s everlasting Love of thanking them for all the moment when they said just the right thing at just the right time---when unlike the hired hand or babysitter who slips away in fear—they laid their own lives aside to be with us—in our struggles. What precious moments these are.

     And it is good that women before us reclaimed the importance of honoring the ones in our lives who love us into healing and gave us a day to remember our mothers and all others, to remember the best of who we each are, and Christ the One who reminded us of what true love can be.

Let us pray.