First Congregational UCC - Coloma BLOG

Why Liberal Religious Arguments Fail | Politics | Religion Dispatches

2011-06-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

Why Liberal Religious Arguments Fail | Politics | Religion Dispatches

Good article, and well worth the read...

For Sunday's Sermon: June 12. 2011

2011-06-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

I'll be using an portion of this text for my sermon this Sunday, but I thought would give you the larger reading, if you wish to look over it.

“A Theologian’s God” by Sarah Sentille--excerpt from her new book

“Whatever concerns you ultimately becomes god for you,” Paul Tillich writes. Everything is open to consecration.

There are several misconceptions about faith. The most ordinary is to think of faith as knowledge with little evidence, but this is “belief,” not “faith.” Another is to think of faith as believing something that someone with authority tells you. This, too, is a mistake. Faith isn’t about taking someone else’s word for something. Faith is about participating in the subject of your ultimate concern with your whole being.

Having faith in your ultimate concern is the greatest risk you can take. If it proves to be a failure, if you discover you have surrendered yourself to something that was not worth it, then the meaning of your life breaks down. You will find you have given away your center without a chance to regain it.

While I understood “God” to be the most powerful word in the English language—so powerful that using it felt like picking up a weapon, unwieldy, dangerous—people at church used the word casually, seemingly without careful attention, or else they didn’t use it at all. Each week we followed the liturgy set out in the Book of Common Prayer. We preached on the lectionary texts. We chose hymns out of the hymnal. We recited creeds and formulaic prayers. And that was that.

In our weekly staff meetings we barely talked about God. Theology, it seemed, was not the point of running a church. Being an institution was the point. Raising money, obeying the hierarchy, following rules, being right, counting the number of people in the pews, deciding whether or not to expand the building or get a new roof, caring for the community—that was church work. And I’m not sure many people in the congregation came to church to talk about God, either. They came to church because they wanted to be in a community with one another. They came to figure out how to live a life with meaning, how to do good work in the world, how to give back, how to be better people. They came to church to be fed, with bread and wine during Communion. They craved connection, and church seemed like a place where this might happen. God was almost incidental to the whole enterprise—background noise.

Although I focused a lot of energy on those who complained about my sermons, most people liked my sermons and the rest simply ignored them. If you had asked people in the congregation what they believed, I doubt their beliefs would have mapped onto the Nicene Creed any more closely than mine would have. And like me, they probably didn’t completely believe in the version of God described each week in the liturgy or in the prayers. They were very faithful people, but their faith had little to do with theology and much more to do with the other people sitting next to them in the pews and kneeling next to them at the Communion rail week after week. They came to church to be with each other, and they happened to come to that particular church because they’d been raised Episcopalian or their spouse had been raised Episcopalian or they had friends who also attended that church or the church was close to where they lived. I suspect most were willing to overlook sexist language or dangerous theology because they hadn’t expected to hear anything different.

But I couldn’t overlook it.

I was deeply disappointed. The distance between the theology I studied in school and the theology being practiced in the pews and preached from the pulpit by the priests on staff was enormous. Everything I took for granted—the difference between “God” and God, the wide range of theological possibilities, the need to think critically about the effects God-talk can have on the world, the existence of other holy texts besides those collected in the Bible, historical criticism—was absent, even heretical. I felt like I was going crazy. The God I had come to believe in was nowhere to be found—and in that God’s place was a different version of God I struggled to recognize. I felt as if there had been an invasion of the body snatchers, or as if I had traveled backward in time, before feminist or liberation or queer or black theology. The vision of God being worshipped in that place was so narrow. What is going on? I wanted to shout.

I sometimes wonder how doctors, having seen inside the human body, having dissected it, go about their daily lives interacting with the rest of us. When they look at people, do they see what is happening on the inside? The map of veins and arteries? The liver, the spleen, the stomach? Do they think of the skeleton? The skull? Do they think of the limbs they’ve cut off or the cancer they’ve cut out?

Divinity school had been like an autopsy of my faith. I had peeled back the layers of skin, of fat and muscle. I had looked inside to see how it worked, held its heart in my hand, touched its bones, its lungs. And it didn’t look the same anymore. Nothing looked the same.

I heard a story on the radio about a woman who came home from work and sat next to a man who was waiting for her on her front porch. He was wearing her husband’s clothes. “Who are you?” the woman asked.

“Who are you?” he said, laughing. “Come over here and give me a kiss.”
She gave him a kiss, but it felt wrong. His essence, his soul, isn’t in there, she thought. He’s an impostor.

Capgras syndrome—the feeling that the person you love has been replaced by an impostor.

Some scientists explain Capgras syndrome as a kind of denial—there are parts of the person you love that you don’t like, and when you see those negative parts you say, “He must be a different person.” People can show you fingerprints. They can show you photographs. They can map his genetic code. They can give you all kinds of proof, but you will not believe them. The only way to cope with the recognition that the person you love is not the person you thought he was, is to say, “This is not the person I know. This is an impostor.” The only thing to do is make a break.

Other scientists explain Capgras syndrome by looking at the brain: When you see the person you love, the visual parts of the brain recognize that person and send the message, “That is my husband” to the amygdala, the part of the brain that stores our emotional memories. Your husband is both a face you recognize and a set of feelings that goes with his face. But if you have a head injury, if there is something wrong with your brain, if the wire connecting the visual part of the brain to the emotional part of the brain has been cut, then he will look like your husband, but you won’t have the feelings you associate with your husband. No husband feelings: impostor.

Who are you? I ask God.

Who are you? God says. Come over here and give me a kiss.

A Posting For The Tuesday Circle

2011-05-03T09:06:00.000-07:00

Per our conversation about living for today, in the here and now, of God's good world.

This is from the musical Rent, near the end of movie, as they remember those of who died....

A Great Article on Forgiveness During Lent

2011-04-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

from my friend and mentor, The Rev. Ed Middleton, the pastor of First Community UCC of Dallas, and the preacher at my installation at this church.

The days of Lent are passing quickly. Many flowers have bloomed, trees leafed, and the pollen…well, let’s just leave any further discussion of that alone. There are things I still haven’t done during Lent; things I had intended to do, promised myself that I would do, on Ash Wednesday. As the week of passion gets closer and closer, I now have begun to resign myself that I need to shorten the list and prioritize the work.

At the top of my short list will be a simple word, often shunned by the pundits and seldom practiced by the masses—forgiveness. To be able to forgive someone whom you perceive has done you wrong is a difficult thing. It can take decades for some folk and minutes for others. I’ve never quite figured out how that works for me; that is, why some wrongs are so easily forgiven and others require much time and great work. I get that it is about my vulnerabilities and brokenness more than the offender’s intent. Still, I scratch my head at how easily I forgive some big offenses and how reticent I am to forgive minor ones.

We can ponder such questions, discuss them with each other, delay the inevitable charge before us, but sooner or later, as people of faith, we must get to the heart of question. We must be willing to forgive the other for her or his sin against us. This is grace and not a theological option up for discussion. For what it’s worth, this means forgiveness of self, too.

I was recently reminded, while reading Wendell Berry’s Hannah Coulter, there are times when forgiveness is a process leading up to a revelation that the work is done. In the beginning of this wonderful book, Hannah Steadman is suffering the loss of her mother to the flu. She, her grandmother, and father continued trying to make a life on an old Kentucky farm. A year later he married Ivy Crutchlow, a widow with two sons. Hannah would describe her in the following way: “She was not a good wife to my father, and she lived up to the bad reputation of stepmothers.” Upon graduation from school, her grandmother arranged plans for Hannah to leave the farm and slowly begin to build her own life.

Years later Hannah would run into Ivy in a store. She had grown old; her joints were twisted by arthritis, and she was using two canes. Ivy spoke and raised the question as to whether or not Hannah knew her. It occurred to Hannah that Ivy “had perfectly forgot, or had never known, how much and how justly I had resented her.” Then came some startling revelations to Hannah:

But I knew at the same instant that my resentment was gone, just gone. And the fear of her that was once so big in me, where was it? And who was this poor sufferer who stood there with me? ‘Yes, Ivy, I know you,’ I said, and I sounded kind.

I didn’t understand exactly what had happened until the thought of her woke me up in the middle of the night, and I was saying to myself, ‘You have forgiven her.’ I had. My old hatred and contempt and fear, that I had kept so carefully so long, were gone, and I was free.

There it is, isn’t it? The power of forgiveness is not that the past injustice is made just, the wrong transformed into right, nor those memories of a sin erased. Rather, it is that by forgiving someone else we can be free. Forgiveness is a different kind of liberation theology.

Soon we will hear those words that sound so incongruous to us during the week of passion. Jesus will still be on the cross. The crowds will still be mocking. The Romans will still be doing the control-of-empire thing. Then the words will tumble from Jesus’ mouth, “Forgive them, they don’t know…”

So I’ve got work to do, and soon. I’m not talking about Easter egg hunts, choir rehearsals, or sermons to prepare. I’m talking about doing the work of forgiveness. Those whom I remember as the sinners may not even know how they hurt me or those whom I loved. They may not even care. No matter, it’s long since time for me to relinquish my resentments and let it go. Maybe then I can honestly pray, “And forgive me my sins, as I have forgiven those who have sinned against me.”

A Lesson In Grace

2011-01-24T12:45:00.000-08:00

From the New York Times: January 24, 2011

Against All Odds, a Beautiful Life By PETER APPLEBOME
MONTCLAIR, N.J.

Some things we know for sure — a little boy dealt a seemingly impossible hand, the two gay men who decided to give him a home and a life, the unlikely spell cast by the only horse in Montclair.

Beyond that, well, it was what you could never quite know as much as what you could that drew 500 people, friends and strangers, to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church on Saturday to ponder the lesson in grace and resilience, the parable of good lives and deeds outside the prescribed lines, in the remarkably long and way-too-short life of Maurice Mannion-Vanover, dead at the age of 20 on Jan. 14.

Few people begin life with so many strikes against them as Maurice had when he was born with AIDS on Sept. 11, 1990, to a crack-addicted mother in a hospital in Washington. There were physical and developmental issues severe enough that his twin sister, Michelle Reed, lived only 20 months. Deserted by his parents, he got his first break in 1993 when two men, intent on caring for a baby with serious physical needs, agreed to take him in.

The two, who came to be known as the Tims, Tim Mannion and Tim Vanover, were told he would probably live six months. But, to everyone’s amazement, he began to thrive. He gained weight. His T-cell count steadily increased. In 1996, they adopted him, becoming the first gay couple in Washington to adopt a child. A year later, they adopted a second son, Kindoo, eight years older. When Tim Vanover got a new job in New York, they moved to Montclair in 1998.

Eventually, the family of two white gay men and two black children became two men, two children and one horse, Rocky, short for Rockefeller. The Tims bought Rocky, a 4-year-old cross between a Morgan and a quarter horse, for $3,500 in 2002 and gave him to Maurice on Christmas Eve.

Montclair, a densely populated suburb, isn’t exactly horse country, but they had a double lot with an old carriage house near downtown. And Maurice had fallen in love with horses, almost transformed by their presence. Atop a horse, seemingly glued to the saddle, the slender child seemed to blossom, his back straighter, his eyes brighter, as if on top not of a horse, but of the world.

To say this was a blessing for Maurice is an understatement. But it wasn’t just for Maurice. Before long, everyone in Montclair, certainly every kid, knew about the house with the horse and the incredibly lucky kid who owned him. And before long, the intersection of Union and Harrison was a mecca for children and a magnet for passers-by, invariably greeted with a wave from Maurice and often a greeting from Rocky, who trotted up to view neighbors each day on their way to work.

It’s not as if everything went smoothly. Far from it. Maurice’s health could be precarious, like the heart condition that almost killed him in 1998.

Rocky sometimes got free, galloping down busy Harrison Avenue, where the New Jersey Transit buses go, then eating some of the neighbors’ flowers. And the Tims — stout, outgoing Tim Vanover and thin, more reserved Tim Mannion — broke up, but only as a couple, not as Maurice’s fathers, choosing to live together and continue to raise him.

None of that affected Maurice, who became a fixture in his neighborhood and church, a Buddha smile always on his face, the iPod — full of Ella Fitzgerald, Edith Piaf, “The Lion King” — seemingly permanently attached. He graduated from a special-education high school, traveled to Central America, Europe and Africa with his fathers, volunteered at the church food ministry. On Dec. 12, he became a black belt in tae kwon do. He wanted to live on his own and become an elementary school teacher’s aide.

And then on a trip to Toronto in January with Mr. Vanover, he got sick. Then he got sicker. There was pneumonia, sepsis, acute renal failure. “It’s time,” he said several times, seemingly in his normal, slightly Delphic voice. No one knew quite what he meant, but it didn’t occur to anyone it meant that this was all the time he had. But it was.

Making sense of it all goes far beyond the known facts of Maurice, the Tims and Rocky the Horse: the way his beloved dog, Hunter, keeled over and died a few hours after Maurice passed on; the way Rocky took Mr. Vanover’s head with his own and drew it close to him, as if sharing grief in a hug. Before the funeral service, Rocky, the Tims and Kindoo walked to the church in front of the hearse. Maurice’s priest and friend, the Rev. John A. Mennell, recalled his incandescent smile, his cut-to-the-chase greetings, his unerring instinct for doing the right thing, if not always the proper one.

He recalled the day Maurice was helping with the collection plate.

“You can do better,” Maurice said amiably to one congregant. It was the story of his life. You can do better, he said, and without quite knowing it, everyone did.

U2's version of Psalm 40

2011-01-11T11:07:00.000-08:00

I'll be preaching on Psalm 40 this week...

Competing Billboards...For This Week's Sermon

2010-12-10T11:02:00.000-08:00

For This Coming Sunday (December 5, 2010)

2010-12-03T13:14:00.000-08:00

Two items to be used for this week's sermon, for your viewing and meditation...or something like that...

First, Edward Hick's painting THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM...

And secondly, an excerpt from Handel's Messiah, the famous Hallelujah Chorus...

Edward Hick's painting THE PEACEABLE KINGDOM

Arising From Today's Tuesday Circle

2010-10-26T12:37:00.000-07:00

The Tuesday Circle is doing its study of Eric Weiner's THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS, and I don't know we got to this topic and this story, but I shared a story I had used in a sermon from 2008 that remains a favorite of mine, a story that embodies the heart of the Gospel, the true inclusiveness of God.

Below is the last paragraph of a sermon I preached in April of 2008, where I shared my experience of being raised by a Muslim servant in Indonesia. Amat ("mother" in Indonesian) was an important figure in my life, and the lens with which I viewed John 14:1-14 ("I am the way, the truth, and the life..."). The story I reference above is below, though I don't want their to be a misunderstanding here: Amat or persons of other faiths are not "Judases." The story simply points out how deep God's love is for all of us...

Focusing on our own dwelling place, our own relationship with God, is something we probably need to center our selves on—we Christians have done more damage to our witness by focusing on other people’s dwelling places, other people’s relationship with God, rather than our own. One of great things about what Jesus says here in this passage, and in the other I AM saying found peppered through the Gospel of John is that he reminds that HE is the way, he the truth and the life, and not me, and he is the bread of life, and not me, and he is the good shepherd, and not me, and he is the light of the world, and not me. That means I can let go of my worry about my beloved Amat, who was of another faith, or my friends who do not and cannot believe Christianity or any other religion, or even my father, whose faith was blown apart by his experience in Vietnam. Their dwelling place, their relationship with God, is God’s business and not mine, but because I trust and believe in the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I think God will lead all people home, into a dwelling place with the divine, with the Christ spirit, or whatever way you want to name it, one way or another. In our study on forgiveness, one of the writers tells of an old medieval legend about the disciples assembling “together in heaven in order to re-celebrate the Last Supper. There was one vacant place at the table until through the door Judas came in and Christ rose and kissed him and said, “We have waited for thee.” (Wiesenthal, The Sunflower, 180). And even though it is only a legend, I suspect it is a true legend, and if so, then surely, surely, Amat and others have a place at the table as well. Amen.

Good Things Happen To Good People - Compassion

2010-10-18T12:06:00.000-07:00

I'll be speaking about Karen Armstrong's CHARTER FOR COMPASSION this Sunday as we continue our sermon series on WHY GOOD THING HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE. Below is her talk to TED, which is a gathering of people who come together to listen to "big ideas"...

Click on this link for more information on THE CHARTER FOR COMPASSION

Good Things Happen To Good People - Humor

2010-10-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

This week I'll be sharing the latest scientific research on humor, while also looking at the notorious story of Sarah laughing at the impossibility of her becoming pregnant at her age (Genesis 18:1-15). Humor is so often connected to the absurd and and the ironic in our lives.

I couldn't pass up the chance to post some funny, church related humor, to tide us over until Sunday...

Ten Signs You're In For a Long Sermon

10. There's a case of bottled water beside the pulpit in a cooler.
9. The pews have camper hookups.

8. You overhear the pastor telling the sound man to have a few (dozen!) extra tapes on hand to record today's sermon.

7. The preacher has brought a snack to the pulpit.

6. The preacher breaks for an intermission.

5. The bulletins have pizza delivery menus.

4. When the preacher asks the deacon to bring in his notes, he rolls in a filing cabinet.

3. The choir loft is furnished with La-Z-Boys.

2. Instead of taking off his watch and laying it on the pulpit, the preacher turns up a four-foot hour-glass.

And The Number One Sign You Are In For A Long Sermon

1. The minister says, "You'll be out in time to watch the Super Bowl" but it's only September!

And, of course, the bloopers so often found in church bulletins..

Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.

Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa, will be speaking tonight at Calvary Methodist. Come hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.

The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals. The sermon this morning: “Jesus Walks on the Water.” The sermon tonight: “Searching for Jesus.”

Ladies, don’t forget the rummage sale. It’s a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don’t forget your husbands.

The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say “Hell” to someone who doesn’t care much about you.

Miss Charlene Mason sang, “I will not pass this way again,” giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.

For those of you who have children and don’t know it, we have a nursery downstairs.

Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

Barbara remains in the hospital and needs blood donors for more transfusions. She is also having trouble sleeping and requests tapes of Pastor Jack’s sermons.

The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing: “Break Forth Into Joy.”

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.

A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.

Good Things Happen To Good People - Courage

2010-10-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

This week I'll be looking at the power of human courage, and how good people both possess courage, and "en-courage" their friends and family during the difficult times.

Related to that topic, as it will be used in the sermon, is the tragic suicides of gay youths that have been showing up in the news lately, though it is nothing "new," sadly enough.

Check out these tragic stories:

Tyler Clementi

Seth Walsh

Asher Brown

May God rest their souls, and may God have mercy on us for not speaking up for others when we could have...

Good Things Happen To Good People - Forgiveness

2010-09-22T06:54:00.000-07:00

This coming Sunday we'll be exploring the way of forgiveness as an attribute of good people, and how that manifests positively in our lives. The sermon will be based on Matthew 18:21-35, the story of the servant who was forgiven by his master, but was unwilling to forgive others.

Below are nine steps from Dr. Frederic Luskin at his website to help facilitate the hard work of forgiveness...

1.Know exactly how you feel about what happened and be able to articulate what about the situation is not OK. Then, tell a trusted couple of people about your experience.

2.Make a commitment to yourself to do what you have to do to feel better. Forgiveness is for you and not for anyone else.

3.Forgiveness does not necessarily mean reconciliation with the person that hurt you, or condoning of their action. What you are after is to find peace. Forgiveness can be defined as the “peace and understanding that come from blaming that which has hurt you less, taking the life experience less personally, and changing your grievance story.”

4.Get the right perspective on what is happening. Recognize that your primary distress is coming from the hurt feelings, thoughts and physical upset you are suffering now, not what offended you or hurt you two minutes – or ten years – ago. Forgiveness helps to heal those hurt feelings.

5.At the moment you feel upset practice a simple stress management technique to soothe your body’s flight or fight response.

6.Give up expecting things from other people, or your life, that they do not choose to give you. Recognize the “unenforceable rules” you have for your health or how you or other people must behave. Remind yourself that you can hope for health, love, peace and prosperity and work hard to get them.

7.Put your energy into looking for another way to get your positive goals met than through the experience that has hurt you. Instead of mentally replaying your hurt seek out new ways to get what you want.

8.Remember that a life well lived is your best revenge. Instead of focusing on your wounded feelings, and thereby giving the person who caused you pain power over you, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you. Forgiveness is about personal power.

9.Amend your grievance story to remind you of the heroic choice to forgive.

Also, don't forget the good work of Michigan's own Fetzer Institute in and their "Campaign For Love And Forgiveness," of which more information can be found here

Centering Words For Worship On July 11, 2010

2010-07-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

In the margins of his print of a Rembrandt etching
Van Gogh scribbled in truffle black ink,
In media noctic vim suam lex exerit.
“In the middle of the night light spreads its power.”
He wrote to his brother Theo
that mediating on the print gave
him the courage to live on broth and coffee
and work all night by gaslight,
the heart to make the darkness tangible,
the spirit to create a cavalcade
of color the world had never seen before.

The old master taught him how
To harness infinity, as if God were starting
The universe all over with a clean palette.

But the painter who moved him most
was the blue-souled, angel-winged Giotto,
who was always full of kindness and enthusiasm
and painted despite being always in pain.

What I would give to have that faith
That living and working in the margins
Will heal even your fiercest wounds.
--Phil Cousineau, “Marginalia”

Touching Story of ELCA Seminarian's Death In Haiti

2010-02-04T13:34:00.000-08:00

ELCA NEWS SERVICE
January 18, 2010

He Spent His Last Breath Singing: Wife, Cousin Remember ELCA's Ben Larson
10-019-JB

CHICAGO (ELCA) -- The past week for Renee Splichal Larson and Jonathan Larson has been filled with danger, uncertainty, heartache and deep pain as they mourn the apparent loss of Renee's husband and Jonathan's cousin, Ben Larson, 25, in the earthquake in Haiti. The two Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) seminary students, in Port-au-Prince at the time of the disaster, returned to the United States Jan. 15. They spoke to the ELCA News Service Jan. 18.
Renee and Jonathan told of their escape from the collapsed St. Joseph Home for Boys and their unsuccessful attempts to rescue Ben. They also talked about the suffering of the people of Haiti, their strong feelings of gratitude for the ELCA and the positive influences it had on Ben throughout this life.
"All he wanted was to be a pastor in this church," Renee said.
The three senior students at Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa -- one of eight ELCA seminaries -- went to Haiti to teach Lutheran theology to members and pastors of the Lutheran church during the seminary's January term. Renee, who grew up in Garrison, N.D., was also doing interviews with local people for a master's thesis about the emerging Lutheran church in Haiti.
That all changed on Jan. 12, when a severe earthquake struck Haiti. At the time of the quake all three were together in the St. Joseph Home for Boys.
"We were all together on the same floor," when the building began to shake, Renee said. "We all kind of panicked and started running. Jonathan and I were together. (Ben) was hugging a pillar in the middle of the floor. I turned and I saw him, and I saw concrete starting to fall on him. I called for him and started running toward him."
At that moment the two floors above collapsed on them. Jonathan and Renee were trapped for a short time, but managed to squeeze out onto the roof of the building and called for Ben, she said. The collapsed building continued to shift as the aftershocks continued, Renee said.
The two went back to the place where they had crawled out and called again for Ben. Renee said she heard Ben's voice. He was singing, not unusual for Ben who loved music. "I told him I loved him, and that Jon and I were okay, and to keep singing," Renee said. But the singing stopped after he sang the words "God's peace to us we pray," she said.
"If he was alive, he would have been calling for help desperately," Renee said. "Ben spent his last breath singing."
In the chaos of that night, Renee and Jonathan stayed nearby with local residents displaced by the quake. One of the people they were with was Bill Nathan, director of the St. Joseph Home for Boys, who injured his spine after jumping from the roof of the building to the ground. ABC News featured Nathan's story on Nightline.
The next day Renee and Jonathan went back to the building, managed to get their passports, and did what they could to locate Ben, but could not find him. "Getting off of that roof was the most difficult thing I've ever had to do," she said.
The two were advised to go to the U.S. Embassy, which they managed to accomplish with local residents' help, and seek assistance to rescue Ben, but there was no team to rescue Ben. They met up with a Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville (N.J.), medical team at the embassy, who cared for Renee and Jonathan. The students managed to get text messages to their families, asking for advice about what to do. Their families advised them to return home to the United States.
"It was so sad to go. It took all of our strength to get back to our families," Renee said.
Meanwhile, the Rev. Rafael Malpica Padilla, executive director, ELCA Global Mission, and a friend of the Larson family, had contacted the Lutheran World Federation and a member of Congress, trying to arrange for a team in Haiti to get to Ben. Those attempts continue.
The Red Cross has estimated that as many as 200,000 people may have died as a result of the earthquake. In addition, questions are being asked about the slowness of the response. "People are so desperate," Renee said, adding that the devastation "breaks my heart. To know that the people of Haiti still have nothing is very difficult."
She added that she cannot think about Ben "apart from the thousands of Haitians who died in the earthquake, the poorest of the poor in this hemisphere

"The Family" Condemns The Ugandan "Kill Gays" Bill

2009-12-17T07:33:00.000-08:00

In my sermon last Sunday--see link below. I just wanted to make sure and update you on The Family and their stance on the bill.

http://www.colomaucc.org/Sermondec132009.html

Recently, they have come out against it. Like Jeff Sharlet, I have deep suspicion about this organization, but even they realized how incredibly harmful this bill is...see this article from the blog, Box Turtle Bulletin. I just wanted to make sure they got a fair shake, and that their backpedaling on this issue needed to be acknowledged.

“The Family” Opposes Uganda’s “Kill Gays” Bill
Jim Burroway
December 16th, 2009

Jeff Sharlet, of The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power, wrote a guest post on Warren Throckmorton’s web site which updates his November appearance on NPR’s Fresh Air where he revealed ties between the secretive Evangelical movement known as “The Family” and Uganda’s politicians behind the proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill. In this latest guest post, Sharlet says that The Family opposes the bill and key members are working behind the scenes to stop it from becoming law.

In Sharlet’s book, he identified Bob Hunter as a key organizer for The Family in Uganda during the 1980’s becoming friends with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and helping him establish the Ugandan Prayer Breakfast. Sharlet was finally able to get in contact with Hunter and spent an afternoon detailing the events in Uganda. Sharlet writes:

We agreed that the first step was a statement making clear Bob’s opposition to the bill. Moreover, Bob adds “I know of no one involved in Uganda with the Fellowship here in America, including the most conservative among them, that supports such things as killing homosexuals or draconian reporting requirements, much less has gone over to Uganda to push such positions.”

That’s very, very good news. The Fellowship prefers to avoid the limelight; Bob has forsaken that to make clear his position and that of his American associates: The Fellowship, AKA the Family, opposes the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill. [Emphases in the original.]

In his book, Sharlet pointed out that while the Family has a strongly conservative bent, they do not exclude liberals or moderates from their ranks. Hunter had previously served in the Ford and Carter administrations, and had a strong background in consumer advocacy. Sharlet writes:

Over the course of the afternoon he [Hunter] shared with me his experience working with the Fellowship in Burundi, Rwanda, and South Africa. While I may take issue with the Fellowship’s behind-the-scenes approach, there’s no denying that in each of these cases Bob and his associates were working toward extremely admirable ends, and that in the case of Burundi Bob’s efforts helped make the difference that brought a truce to that country’s warring factions. Bob did what he did with the best of intentions, and, in several instances, achieved the best of outcomes.

While Sharlet exonerates Hunter’s role in the development of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, and further says that no American Family member has played a direct role in it’s promotion. But he notes the religious revival that has taken place in Uganda since the 1980’s and the prominent role Americans, including Family members, have played in shaping the rhetorical nature of that revival including its anti-gay aspects. And he believes that those Family members have a special responsibility, which many of them are not living up to:

I’d add that through the Fellowship, a number of anti-gay American politicians have involved themselves with Ugandan affairs, most notably Senator James Inhofe, who has spoken of having “adopted” Uganda and who has been a guest at multiple Ugandan National Prayer Breakfasts. I don’t believe James Inhofe told David Bahati to push this legislation. I believe Inhofe when he says – under pressure – that he’s opposed to it. But the fact is, these powerful politicians, representatives of the most powerful nation on the world and its foreign aid generosity, are clear and candid in their opposition to homosexuality. That’s their right. But I believe they should therefore be even more clear and candid in their opposition to its criminalization. Theirs is a personal, religious position. They should extra precautions to make clear that these positions are in absolutely no way linked to the relationships between the United States and foreign aid recipients. Not only have they not done that, they resisted even condemning the bill.

On The Lighter Side...

2009-11-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

Finally, an explanation of why there were no dinosaurs on the ark! (I thought this might be amusing in light of our study and evolution and faith the last few months...)

Thoughts From Sandi Nesbit

2009-11-10T11:10:00.000-08:00

Sandi Nesbit recently responded to an email I sent out to the congregation a week or so ago. Sandi was the pastor of this congregation in the mid-nineties, and still has a farm in the area, though she now lives in Chicago. Her husband Bob passed away last year...below are her thoughts, reminders of our inner strength for those of us who have lost friends recently in our family and in this congregation.

I loved being married to Bob. I miss the intimacy, the sharing, the companionship. Ours was not always an easy relationship, though in many ways it was that too, but it was absolutely committed. I learned that I like living life with another in that way. I learned that I can be a pain in the posterior and need forgiveness. I learned that I can forgive. I learned that the decision to be true to the commitment is the key. I learned that being known, so totally known, is not frightening but one of the most secure and loving feelings one can feel. I learned that, even if my mate has a terrible problem, I can and will hang in there. I learned that I am loveable. I learned, most of all, that in spite of whatever difficulties may arise, it's worth it as long as both of us are trying with all we have and are.

Pax,

Sandi

The Art Of Blessing The Day by Marge Piercy

2009-10-20T06:14:00.000-07:00

The Art of Blessing the Day
from THE ART OF BLESSING THE DAY

This is the blessing for rain after drought:
Come down, wash the air so it shimmers,
a perfumed shawl of lavender chiffon.
Let the parched leaves suckle and swell.
Enter my skin, wash me for the little
chrysalis of sleep rocked in your plashing.
In the morning the world is peeled to shining.

This is the blessing for sun after long rain:
Now everything shakes itself free and rises.
The trees are bright as pushcart ices.
Every last lily opens its satin thighs.
The bees dance and roll in pollen
and the cardinal at the top of the pine
sings at full throttle, fountaining.

This is the blessing for a ripe peach:
This is luck made round. Frost can nip
the blossom, kill the bee. It can drop,
a hard green useless nut. Brown fungus,
the burrowing worm that coils in rot can
blemish it and wind crush it on the ground.
Yet this peach fills my mouth with juicy sun.

This is the blessing for the first garden tomato:
Those green boxes of tasteless acid the store
sells in January, those red things with the savor
of wet chalk, they mock your fragrant name.
How fat and sweet you are weighing down my palm,
warm as the flank of a cow in the sun.
You are the savor of summer in a thin red skin.

This is the blessing for a political victory:
Although I shall not forget that things
work in increments and epicycles and sometime
leaps that half the time fall back down,
let's not relinquish dancing while the music
fits into our hips and bounces our heels.
We must never forget, pleasure is real as pain.

The blessing for the return of a favorite cat,
the blessing for love returned, for friends'
return, for money received unexpected,
the blessing for the rising of the bread,
the sun, the oppressed. I am not sentimental
about old men mumbling the Hebrew by rote
with no more feeling than one says gesundheit.

But the discipline of blessings is to taste
each moment, the bitter, the sour, the sweet
and the salty, and be glad for what does not
hurt. The art is in compressing attention
to each little and big blossom of the tree

of life, to let the tongue sing each fruit,
its savor, its aroma and its use.

Attention is love, what we must give
children, mothers, fathers, pets,
our friends, the news, the woes of others.
What we want to change we curse and then
pick up a tool. Bless whatever you can
with eyes and hands and tongue. If you
can't bless it, get ready to make it new.

School Yanks Band T-Shirt Over Evolution

2009-08-31T18:38:00.000-07:00

Folks, this one is hard to believe...

SEDALIA, Mo. — T-shirts promoting the Smith-Cotton High School band's fall program have been recalled because of concerns about the shirt's evolution theme.

Assistant Superintendent Brad Pollitt said parents complained to him after the band marched in the Missouri State Fair parade. Though the shirts don't violate the school's dress code, Pollitt noted that the district is required by law to remain neutral on religion.

The light gray shirts feature an image of a monkey progressing through various stages of evolution until eventually becoming a human. Each figure holds a brass instrument that also evolves, illustrating the theme "Brass Evolutions."

"I was disappointed with the image on the shirt," said Sherry Melby, a band parent who teaches in the district. "I don't think evolution should be associated with our school."

But other parents were just as dismayed that the shirts were taken away from students at the Sedalia school.

Sophomore band member Denyel Luke said the reaction by some to the evolution theme was a little extreme.

"It's not like we are saying God is bad," Luke said. "We aren't promoting evolution."

The district will have to absorb the $700 cost of the shirts, which will be replaced as soon as administrators approve a design for the new ones.

New York Times Opinion Piece on Evolution

2009-08-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

Check out this interesting piece by Richard Wright on evolution, natural selection and development of the moral sense. It was just published in the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/opinion/23wright.html?emc=eta1

I will have printed copies of this piece for our meeting this Wednesday.

Much peace,

Pastor Kevin

"Monkey Girl" author's personal website

2009-08-18T06:08:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Below is a link to the personal website of the author whose book we will be studying in a few days. Included is an excerpt from the book, and a slew of links from organizations, persons, and legal decisions. Good stuff!

http://www.edwardhumes.com/books/monkey-girl/

I'll be posting more links and stuff as our study goes forward.

However, don't worry about reading, or finishing the book--just join us for discussion on the intersection of faith and religion.

La Pieta--A Meditation on Good Friday

2009-07-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

Below is the text of a Good Friday meditation I once did on the Michelangelo's La Pieta. This Sunday I'll be revisiting La Pieta once again, but in a different context.

Can God grieve? And if God can, how does God grieve? How does the
creator of all that is, of all that will ever be, experience grief? The events
of the day find their conclusion in Michelangelo’s Pieta, Mary cradling her
now dead son for the last time. The death of her son must have found
Mary breathless with sorrow, as it does to us all who have experienced
the wrenching pain of loss.

The stories found in the Scriptures tell of the sky growing heavy with
dark clouds, the temple veil that separated the holiest of the holies from
the world being ripped into two—signs of the grief of God, signs that
even God can shudder with the pain that comes from losing someone.
There is God, seeing Mary holding her eldest son; this is a God who now
knows of Mary’s grief, who knows human grief in ways that before this
moment were never possible—human grief has now become divine grief,
in this moment. This God knows loss, this God knows how deeply the
human heart can weep for a loved one, especially for a child taken too
early to the grave. The heavy stone of grief now rattles inside the
broken heart of God, like it does in our own hearts when we lose
someone we love—a lover, a mother, a father, a friend, a child to the
dark night of death.

And its not that God’s doesn’t know how the story will end; its not that
God doesn’t know that days from now, death itself will be broken in that
empty grave outside the city of Jerusalem. But just because God knows
how it all ends, it doesn’t take away the truth that death haunts even
God, that its power can even make the heart of God shudder with pain.
Certainly, that is true for us as well—we know how the story ends for us,
for others, for those we have loss to the grave—we know that it isn’t the
end of the story—but even though we know that life is the end of the
story, death still haunts us. Its sting may have been loss, as the
Scriptures tell us, but the one who stings, death, remains, and he
continues to inflict his awful damage upon the world, damage felt even by
the heavens. Even if you know the end of the story, like we do, like God
does, that more life follows life, and though the power of death has been
forever broken, it does not take away the pain of loss. We have only
known the ones we love the way we have always loved them, as flesh
and blood, bodied selves we could touch and feel, hold and kiss, and so
we grieve for the loss of these gifts of the body.

The heavens grew dark with mourning on that day two thousands years
ago, as Mary holds her son—like God, her loss seems insurmountable,
as Mary grieves the loss of the one she loves, the loss of the way of the
way that she had known him, warm flesh, warm blood, becoming colder
even as she held him. Grief changes you, sorrow takes its toll; so it true
of Mary, of us, and certainly of God. We Christians believe that the
cross means something, that what happened on that day two thousand
years ago changed everything—and we believe that it even changed
God—how could grief not change the heart of God?! Deep sorrow will
do that, it make you see the world differently, the shadows become
deeper, and the light becomes brighter, and because of Jesus, God saw
all of creation through new eyes, through the eyes of this divine child,
who now lays across the legs of his mother.

The deep and powerful grief of God has saved us, you and I, and the
whole world—God’s deep sorrow for this child Jesus has changed God,
and we are in midst of being made different because of that deep pain
found within the heart of God. Grieving reminds us that we are alive,
that we are connected to each other, sometimes in surprising ways—
Mary knew that truth, certainly—and so too it is with God. On that day, in
that stark moment on the cross, God understood us, God knew human
despair and sorrow, human grief and pain, and because of it, God saw
us differently, and we are given hope because we know now that we
have been known, deeply known, by our Creator. Still, the grief remains,
the sorrow still aches—how could it not?—even though we all know how
the story ends, we must experience this death to know the power of the
life that meets us on Sunday. It is the way of the universe, death and
life, life and death, forever dancing with each other, until that one day
when life will dance on its own—and all grief will melt away, and the first
one whose grief will fully give way to life is God, whose broken heart has
changed us all. So let it be, Amen

Review of Bart Ehrman's book God's Problem

2009-06-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

I will be interacting with the following review of Bart Ehrman's new book God's Problem for this week's sermon. For those so interested, check out the link below. I had a particularly negative reaction to Willimon's review, as did many others, who wrote later in the form of "letters to the editor." Thoughts?

http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=6046

See you on Sunday

Neil White's book IN THE SANCTUARY OF OUTCASTS: A MEMOIR

2009-06-15T06:50:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone,

Some of you may be curious about the story of Neil White, whom I referenced in this past Sunday's sermon. Below is a link to hear an interview of him discussing his new book with NPR radio host Diane Rehm. Its worth the listen!

http://wamu.org/programs/dr/09/06/03.php#25937

You may have to cut and paste it into your browser.

Pastor Kevin

Toronto Blessing

2009-05-28T12:52:00.001-07:00

Now, why in the world would a pastor in the mainstream church be blogging about the Toronto Blessing, a charismatic phenomenon of the mid to late nineties? Why, to illustrate a point, of course! Sunday is Pentecost, a time when we celebrate the giving of the Spirit to the church. Ever since that moment we've been trying to get back to that moment of spiritual power, and the Toronto Blessing is simply part of the church's quest to relive that moment, as it has done for centuries, in different ways. I don't think that's the way to do it, to try to relive this experience, but that is for the sermon on Sunday...hope to see you there Here is an explanation of the Toronto Blessing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Blessing

And here is a link to a YouTube to give a sense of the movement (you will need to cut and paste this into your browser):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSyj2pZisG0

Would love your response...

Gay Marriage And The Free Exercise of Religion

2009-05-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

Friends,

With the recent spate of states legalizing same-sex marriage, questions always arise about the free exercise of religion for those who might disagree with "gay marriage." As an Open and Affirming congregation, my guess is that most of our members are not too concerned about this issue, but its important to address it, especially in conversations with others who might disagree with us.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life is a great website, and it has recently published a nicely even handed look at the issue. Check out the link below to get more information"

http://pewforum.org/events/?EventID=216

See you Sunday,

Mean Moms

2009-05-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

This is the poem--minus the formatting--that Karen Chronister shared with us last year...a great poem about mean moms and their importance in our lives. Great stuff, though a little late, I know, for Mother's Day.

Mean Moms

Someday when my children are old enough tounderstand the logic that motivates a parent, I willtell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you enough . . . to ask where you were going, with whom,and what time you would be home.I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new best friend was a creep. I loved you enough to stand over you for two hourswhile you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes. I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children mustlearn that their parents aren't perfect.I loved you enough to let you assume theresponsibility for your actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart.But most of all, I loved you enough . . . to sayNO when I knew you would hate me for it.Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too.And someday when your children are old enough tounderstand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.Was your Mom mean? I know mine was. We had the meanest mother in the whole world! While other kidsate candy for breakfast, we had to have cereal, eggs, and toast. When others had a Pepsi and a Twinkie for lunch, we had to eat sandwiches. And you can guess our mother fixed us a dinner that was different from what other kids had, too.Mother insisted on knowing where we were at alltimes. You'd think we were convicts in a prison. Shehad to know who our friends were, and what we were doing with them. She insisted that if we said wewould be gone for an hour, we would be gone for an hour or less.We were ashamed to admit it, but she had the nerveto break the Child Labor Laws by making us work. We had to wash the dishes, make the beds, learn to cook, vacuum the floor, do laundry, empty the trash and all sorts of cruel jobs. I think she would lie awake at night thinking of more things for us to do. She always insisted on us telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. By the time we were teenagers, she could read our minds and had eyes in the back of her head. Then, life was really tough! Mother wouldn't let our friends just honk the hornwhen they drove up. They had to come up to the door so she could meet them. While everyone else could date when they were 12 or 13, we had to wait until we were 16. Because of our mother we missed out on lots ofthings other kids experienced. None of us have everbeen caught shoplifting, vandalizing other's property or ever arrested for any crime. It was all her fault. Now that we have left home, we are all educated,honest adults.We are doing our best to be meanparents just like Mom was.I think that is what's wrong with the world today. It just doesn't have enough mean moms

More on the torture debate

2009-05-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

Barb recommended this great article on the issue of torture and people of Christian faith. Leonard Pitts is a UCC member, I believe. Check it out.

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/1034170.html

Much peace,
Pastor Kevin

Torture and Us...

2009-05-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Folks,

See this article, and note that the more likely one is to go to church, the more likely one is endorse the use of torture.

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/30/churchgoers-more-likely-to-back-torture-survey-finds/

This is kind of scary. I can't imagine that Christ, the one who suffered torture at the hands of the Romans, would endorse the same tactics be used against others.

I doubt it will, but this should cause us some soul seaching on the part of us Christians.

Pastor Kevin

The Power of Friendships

2009-04-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

While visiting some of our home and nursing home bound members, I heard a discussion on the radio about a fascinating book called The Girls From Ames: A Story of Women and A Forty Year Friendship. Its going to be a part of my sermon for this Sunday, but I wanted to give you a chance to check out the website...its a fascinating look at women's friendships, and a particular set of friendships "grown" in the midwest.

The other thing I found interesting was the fact that around the age of forty women begin to revalue their friendships, perhaps after years of raising a family and tending to a marriage. During the ages of 25-40 women tend to lose sight of those friendships, but later re-focus on those important relationsips. Interestingly, men have a much more difficult time of making friends after their youth, and tend not to take care of the ones they do have...which is something I can personally attest to.

Check out the website for the book at: http://www.girlsfromames.com/

Thoughts?

Pastor Kevin

Jesus Kills Mohammed? Article In New Harper's Magazine

2009-04-21T17:56:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

My latest Harper's magazine showed up the other day with a really interesting article on the attempt by some to "christianize" US Military. Jeff Sharlet, one of the writers of the really great website www.therevealer.com is the author.

Here is my attempt to at linking to it, but it might be blocked by a suscriber wall...

http://harpers.org/archive/2009/05/0082488

Of course, you know that I grew up in Muslim country, so the relationship between Christians and Muslims is an especially important topic for me. I had such a good experience growing up in Indonesia and interacting with others of different faiths, though primarily Muslim, since Indonesia, which is about 90% Muslim, and the largest primarily Muslim country in the world.

It should concern us that there are those who are using our armed forces as a way of trying to convert our own soldiers and others throughout the world.

Thoughts?

Pastor Kevin

Some good silliness for Holy Week - Plus, Times for Holy Week Services

2009-04-09T04:02:00.001-07:00

Nope, this fun video has nothing to do with Easter directly, except that it does what Easter should do for us--bring a smile to our face, and joy to our heart. Check it out below!

See you at the Maundy Thursday service at St. Paul's UCC Thursday night at 7 PM and Good Friday service at 7 PM at Coloma Methodist!

Youtube link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq6b9bMBXpg

The End of Christianity In America?

2009-04-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

Newsweek has a cover article about the lessening of religiosity in our country, something I am not sure I mourn too much. Civil religion, religion that is hitched to a culture, is a dangerous thing--to those who are not affiliated with the religion being tactily endorsed by the government, but also to the church, who often cannot distinquish between the concerns of the state, and the concerns of the church.

See link to article below

http://www.newsweek.com/id/192583?tid=relatedcl

Thoughts?

Gary Dorrien - The Remaking of Evangelical Theology

2009-04-06T07:47:00.000-07:00

First, Gary Dorrien is one of the best synthesizers of theological material I've ever read. I had picked up his three part "The Making of American Liberal Theology" and plowed through the first book. It was excellent--broad and readable and incredibly interesting, especially for those of us in the Congregational tradition and the United Church of Christ. In many ways, you can trace the beginnings of American liberal church tradition right back to our Congregational roots.

Dorrien taught at Kalamazoo College for many years before finding a new home at Union Theological Seminary in New York, truly the home of the liberal Christian tradition.

Back to the title of this post: I've been reading his "Remaking of Evangelical Theology" which is another excellent read--a balanced and accesible look at evangelical theology through the eyes of someone from the more liberal Christian tradition.

Why am I reading it? Well, because its important to know what is going on outside one's own theological traditions and milieu. And its a reminder that though we at this church find our selves left of center when it comes to theology, its important to understand our sisters and brothers who don't agree with us, and why issues like biblical inerrancy matter deeply to them. Keeping the conversation going is important for us as people of Christian faith, and Dorrien does a great job of synthesizing the works of the great evangelical thinkers of the last 5o years, making it easier to understand a tradition that is not my own.

Charter of Compassion

2009-04-02T12:41:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, and to the thousands that visit this site daily... ;)

The scholar Karen Armstrong has put together a project she calls the CHARTER FOR COMPASSION, arguing that each of the world's great religions endorses compassion as a key element in its beliefs. She was on Bill Moyer's Journal show on PBS talking about this idea, which intrigues me. Here is a link to the website.

http://charterforcompassion.com

Check it out

Great Website On Religion--Check it Out!

2009-04-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Friends,

Check out the following website...its a great resource on contemporary topics on faith and culture! I appreciate the commentaries, and the slant that is given, something that one does not usually see in the religious press.

http://www.religiondispatches.org/

Funniest Jab At Praise Songs...and Hymns!

2009-03-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

I heard this at a recent continuing ed event...and just fell off my chair laughing.

http://deefs.net/humor/differences_between_hymns_and_praise_songs.html

Funny stuff, ya'll!

Welcome To Our Church Blog!

2009-03-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

Yep, I think its time...to start blogging. Check this site out for various ruminations, etc, and respond if you like.