Daily Devotions

July 12, 2011

Social Insecurity

Excerpt from Jeremiah 49: 7-11

"Leave your orphans; I will keep them alive; and let your widows trust in me."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

Social insecurity is the issue of the day, when Medicare and Medicaid are not.  For all I know both sides in the debates are wrong. Maybe even the middle is wrong.  Some compromises end up compromising everyone and everything.

I wonder how we will obey the commandment to keep orphans alive and let widows trust in God without the state's money.  Is it that hard to cut the deficit and raise taxes, both, not either?  Isn't a deficit a moral matter before it is a financial matter?  On behalf of the widows and the orphans, and the potential widow and orphan inside you and me, might we not be wise?

Spiritual commandments without a political economy have a certain  vacuousness.  We have to be very careful that the commandments to love not end up empty-sounding, like the train robot saying, "Stand clear of the closing doors."  We have to be even more careful that we don't experience foreclosure of a spiritual or moral nature or live under water in those terms.  Some words are more important, and less vacuous, than others.  God’s promise to keep orphans safe and widows trusting is real, not pomp.  It is essential.

If that means spending the government's money, which is to say our money, wisely and appropriately, then GREAT. 

Prayer

When we casually disobey your commandments and mishear your promises, O God, open our hearts and wallets that we might change.  Amen. 

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her most recent book is Sacred Chow: a Guide to Holy Eating.

July 13, 2011

Praying for Help

Excerpt from Psalm 142

"I pour out my concerns before God; I announce my distress. When my spirit is weak God still knows my way." (CEB)

Reflection by William C. Green

This psalm is not only a prayer of petition but one of instruction. It's called a "maskil" of David, a Hebrew word meaning a lesson.

David had run into trouble and was scared to death. Enemies were trying to catch him. He found safety and solace in a cave, a hole in the side of a hill. He knew he couldn't hide there forever. He poured out his concerns to God but then added  "God still knows my way."

David is reminding himself of what counts. God knows the way to go, David doesn't. God knows what to do, David doesn't. David's way had been to seek solace and comfort in a cave, much as we seek the same thing, ending up feeling isolated alone, worried, and defensive. But we, too, are to have confidence that no enemy no fear, no anxiety, no distress is greater than the power of God's grace and guidance.

David's apprehension did not disappear after he prayed. But he knew, as this psalm teaches us, as we pray and stay faithful, no matter how we feel, we will be directed and protected in ways we cannot imagine.

May our prayers in times of trouble be like David's. We, too, may still feel anxious. But we won't be lost.

Prayer

God, when I feel lost and alone, worn out and afraid, may I remember that you will show me the way to go. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green, a United Church of Christ minister, is the Director of Long Looking, a consultancy service specializing in fundraising and education for congregations. His new book, 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving, has just been published.

July 14, 2011

The Gifts of Summer

Excerpt from Psalm 34:

"O taste and see that God is good."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

In recent years the summer has become the repository of my unfulfilled plans and dreams from the rest of the year.  During other seasons, I often say to myself, "In the summer I will have time to _____."  Fill in the blank:  De-clutter my desk.  Clear some rebellious brush in the backyard.  Paint the garage door.  Write that article.  Organize all those family photographs.  Read all of the books that are playing "king of the hill" on my bedside table.

Summer was made for such tasks, I suppose.  But as I make only the slowest headway through that to-do list, I have concluded that it was made for so much more.
Summer was given to us for high purposes, like tasting tomatoes that ripened on the vine.  It was made for getting salt water up your nose.

Summer is for lingering over the dinner table and sipping drinks that one would never touch in the winter.  It is for gathering with friends, instead of just exchanging e-mails with them.

Summer is for reminding us that the world goes on even when we are not productive.  It is for being, and not just doing.  It is a season to savor God's gifts, to "taste and see that God is good."

A sage parishioner once said to me, "By the time we get to the Fourth of July, the summer is half over."  So it is time to ask:  How is your summer going?
Or perhaps I should put it this way:  How is your savoring going?

Prayer

God, I praise you for the gifts of summer.  Help me to receive them with a grateful heart.  Truly, you are the best. Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

July 15, 2011

Searched + Known + Loved

Excerpt from Psalm 139

"O Lord, you have searched me and known me.  You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away."
 
Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

This is my mother's favorite Psalm.  For her, the idea of a God this all-knowing is a source of supreme comfort.  To me growing up, it was mostly just creepy.  In my teenage mind, it all felt a little too much like God the Stalker, peeping at me through the windows and doing drive-bys of my house.  Or maybe God as Big Brother, monitoring my library records and digging through the trash cans to see what kind of stuff I bought.  I wanted my privacy—even from God.

These days, I'm less convinced that privacy is such a great virtue, at least where God's concerned.  And I am very convinced that God's ways are not our ways.  What's creepy and dangerous in humans or governments is a very good thing in a deity.  I tend to think (sometimes, anyway) that if the people around me knew everything there is to know about me, I wouldn't be very popular.  But the biblical witness is that God does know all of it, everything, all my habits and deeds, every ugliness and act of beauty I have ever performed—and loves me anyway, completely and fiercely.  These days, that feels a lot less like creepiness and a lot more like grace.

Turns out Mom was right again.

Prayer

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts.  See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.  Amen.

Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the just-published Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

July 16, 2011

"Don't Just Do Something"

Excerpt from Exodus 14:9-25

"But Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.'"

Reflection by Felix Carrion

We have heard it said, "Don't just sit there, do something." The message here is get busy; don't let this moment pass you by. When those who love us tell us this, they are desperate for us; they believe in us, they know that there is kinetic power in our moving.

There is also an assumption that within us lays the fight, the momentum to make something happen. There is reliance here on the power of human utility, human ingenuity, human daring, human know-how. We think that as long as we are moving, we are of some worth to ourselves and others.

Then there is another saying that holds as much power and vitality, but in our industrious way of life almost sounds offensive: "Don't just do something, sit there."  This saying assumes that there are limits to our fight, our human utility; that if not checked, our industriousness will get us into trouble.  Our activity needs pause, needs observation, of the kind that demands stillness and humility. Here we begin to understand that the fight is not always ours, that the doing is not always ours, that the understanding is not always ours.

To let God be God in our lives requires a stillness of exceptional defiance. Stillness, contrary to what many think, is hard work. There are moments to forge ahead; and then there are times to sit and wait for God to reveal what lies ahead , what will be the outcomes of our reliance on God. The moment will then surely come when God will say to us, "Get up and get going."

Prayer

O God, grant us the wisdom to know when we are to "do something" and when we are to "sit still."  Either way, you are at work in and through us. Amen.

About the Author Felix Carrion is Coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ.

July 18, 2011

How Sweet it Is!

Excerpt from Psalm 133

"How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in unity!" 

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

How often do we think of human unity as some utopian dream with no hope of actual realization?  In the current climate of partisan bickering, class warfare and religious rivalry, social unity increasingly appears to be a distant mirage.

Could it be that our dream of unity is unrealized and unrealistic because it is based on assumptions of uniformity?   God must love diversity; that's why She made so much of it.  It is precisely our rich variations of expression and perspective that give our world the wonderful distinctions of color, texture, taste and contrast that keep us listening to and learning from one another.  Variety is indeed the spice of life.
 
Can we recognize difference without labeling the "other" deficient?  Can we be assertive about what we believe without being abrasive toward those who follow a different path?  Do we possess enough of God’s grace to recognize human oneness in the midst of human pluralism? 

How good and pleasant it is when even the starkest differences among us do not prevent us from dwelling together in unity.  Unity of humanity and oneness of creation are still the aims of a vast universe steeped in great diversity.  Uniformity is a vain wish.  Unity is a sacred goal.

Prayer

Dear God, You said that unity among us is good and pleasant.  Now help us to affirm your declaration by our commitment to realizing unity despite dis-uniformity in our communities today.  Amen.     

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

July 19, 2011

God Available

Excerpt from 2 Chronicles 15:1-15

"The spirit of God came upon Azariah who went out to meet Asa and said to him, 'Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: The Lord is with you, while you are with him. If you seek God, God will be found by you, but if you abandon God, God will abandon you.'  When Asa heard these words, the prophecy, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols . . . . He repaired the altar of the Lord that was in front of the vestibule of the house of the Lord."

Reflection by Ron  Buford

When a worship service has no prayer of confession, I wonder, "Am I the lone sinner in the house looking for more power than I brought in here?"

I know I've got stuff . . . . And to be honest, I think you may have some, too.

Hear the Good News! Our stuff is no barrier for God! God's available to take it off our hands and hearts.

Asa repaired the altars as a symbol of his new journey toward God, one that would bring peace to his kingdom for many years. We might do well to do the same.
How? Remove everything that hinders spending quality time with God and loving your neighbors as yourself. Read the Bible. Pray. Seek justice in God’s name. Doing what you can, trust God to do what you cannot. Consider the possibility that everything we need to know may not be rational and that many of the rational things we think we know, need re-imagining.

Repair your altars. Meet the still-speaking, still-creating God, as if for the first time. Reject dead, powerless, distracting, life -draining "idols," like fear, guilt, shame, vengeance, hatred, and old images of God, church, and you.

Haven't these idols failed you long enough?

Instead, seek and re-imagine God in ways that help you love everyone, the way God loves you. Without God, it's impossible, so—repair the altars in your life.

Call a meeting with God. You'll find God already there and waiting for you.

Prayer

Gracious God, please help me remove any old images and misconceptions and barriers to reflecting your miraculous ever-renewing Presence, Power, and Love for me and all the world. Thank you, Amen.

About the Author Ron Buford, former coordinator of the UCC's God is still speaking campaign, consults with religious and nonprofit organizations, leads workshops, and preaches in churches across the U.S. and U.K. Ron also appears in the DVD-based progressive theology series, Living the Questions 2.0.

July 20, 2011

"The Doctor is NOT in."

Excerpt from Matthew 12:15-21

"Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, and he ordered them not to make him known."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

Why didn't Jesus want people to know he had the power to heal diseases? Why wouldn't you want to advertise something like that?

I suspect it was because he was already overwhelmed with requests for healing. It is amazing how many of the gospel stories are about Jesus healing someone. Crowds were always following him. Yes, they wanted to hear his teachings, but so many of them must have just wanted to be healed from an illness or to have him help someone they loved.

If Jesus had wanted to, he could have set up shop as a miraculous physician and had people lining up, even paying. Someone with that power could have spent every waking hour doing nothing else, for there is no shortage of physical suffering in the world. He could have put the money to a good cause, started a nonprofit, and hired consultants to maximize his efficiency as a healer.

But Jesus had more to do and more to say. He healed along the way, but he must have known that this was Band-Aid work, no pun intended. He could cure one person at a time, but it would do little to change the world and how we live in it. Eventually, he would pass away and humanity would be right back where it was.

So in his compassion he healed. But in his divine purpose he preached that, one day, we will meet God in a place where sin and death have no power. And in the meantime, he refused to let the people turn a savior into a service provider.

I don’t why he did that. I know how much I would love physical healing, not just for myself but for so many people I love. But in the end, Jesus even allowed himself to suffer physically on the cross, and took healing to a scale we can barely comprehend.

Prayer

We pray for healing for the people we love and for ourselves, healing of mind and body and spirit. And we thank you, Christ, for your healing work, which we may only recognize on the other side of the veil.  Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

July 21, 2011

"Get Up and Eat"

Excerpt from 1 Kings 19:4-8

"[Elijah] went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: 'It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.' Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, 'Get up and eat.' He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, 'Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.' He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God."

Reflection by Christina Villa

Here is the angel of the Lord, like somebody's grandmother, urging Elijah to "get up and eat." It's not much—bread and water—but fortified with two such meals, plus a couple of naps, Elijah is fit for his forty-day journey.

If only we could have such faith in just the basics: three meals a day and a night's sleep. Since these are so easy to come by for most of us, maybe we take them for granted. I don't mean taking for granted our good fortune in having enough to eat. I mean maybe we're unaware of the healing power of simply eating our meals and getting our sleep.

We think that in times of disappointment or despair we require something extra to make us feel better—whether it's the large order of fries or a vacation home in Costa Rica. Yoga classes, a better therapist, free-range chicken, heirloom tomatoes.

After a death, grieving people often can't eat, so everyone brings food to the house after a funeral. At those times, the urgency of "Get up and eat" is clear. You are here in the land of the living: that's the message of all those casseroles and loaves of banana bread.

Eat and rest. Meet your basic requirements. Experiment with the sufficiency of these to make you fit for whatever journey you face this week. And you may find yourself enjoying the french fries or the heirloom tomatoes more than ever.

Prayer

Dear God, send us angels to remind us that if we eat, drink, and rest, we can get up and continue on our journeys, even through the wilderness. Amen.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

July 23, 2011

RESPECT

Excerpt from Genesis 29:31—30:24

"In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, 'Please give me some of your son's mandrakes.' But she said to her, 'Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?' Rachel said, 'Then he may lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes.'"

Reflection by Donna Schaper

Have you ever noticed that what people really want is respect?  The mandrake of respect.  They can put up with poverty, but can't live without respect.  They can put up with not being recognized for their labor, but not live a minute without respect.  When Rachel and Leah squabble about the adultery, they are saying something more than they no longer like each other.  One is saying to the other.  Enough.  "R E S P E C T,  find out what it means to me," as only Aretha Franklin can sing it.

Everybody has a breaking point.  Your partner can leave the dishtowel on the floor 99 times and the 100th time you declare the most intimate of catastrophes.  Your child can throw 15 tantrums on Wednesday only to be screamed at for the first one on Thursday.  Everybody has a mandrake.  The shrinks like to call these things triggers.  Don't you love gun metaphors?

War will stop if we learn how to give respect.  Street crime will decrease if young men find someone who understands that they don't really like school and that they need a little respect.  And as St. Francis fully understood,  you need to notice to be noticed, love to be loved – and respect to be respected.  Respect is the avant-garde of issues, the early soldier on the field.  It is not the rear guard of matters.  Take my husband, but for God’s sake at least leave me a mandrake.

Prayer

Whatever happens between us and our friends and family, O God, let it issue in respect, first given, and then received.  We know you will take it from there.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her most recent book is Sacred Chow: a Guide to Holy Eating.

July 24, 2011

Jesus is the Question

Excerpt from Mark 12:13-17

"Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?" . . . "Bring me a denarius and let me see it."  And they brought one. Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?"

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

Jesus asks 307 different questions in the gospels.  (No, I didn't count them myself, but someone did.)  By contrast, Jesus only directly answers three of the 183 questions he is asked in the gospels.  Instead of answering a lot of questions, Jesus responds in other ways.

In some instances Jesus simply keeps silent, as when Pilate questioned him after his arrest.

Or, Jesus responds to a question with another question.  When asked, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" Jesus points to a coin and asks, "Whose head is this, and whose title?"  (It reminds me of the old Jewish joke, "Why does a Jew always answer a question with a question?"  "Why shouldn't a Jew always answer a question with a question?")

Or, sometimes Jesus responds to questions indirectly.  For example, when Jesus is asked, "Who is my neighbor?" he responds by telling the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Catholic author Richard Rohr writes, "In general, we can see that Jesus' style is almost exactly the opposite of modern televangelism or even the mainline church approach of 'Dear Abby' bits of inspiring advice and workable solutions for daily living.  Jesus is too much the Jewish prophet to merely stabilize the status quo with platitudes."

Jesus is not a giver of advice.  He doesn't give us a neat list of ten ways to be closer to God.  He does not provide easy answers.  Instead he asks hard questions.  In that he is more like the Zen master who asks questions to take us beyond the obvious to something deeper.

Easy answers can give us a sense of finality.  By entertaining hard questions God has a chance to change us.

So why does Jesus ask so many questions?  Well, why shouldn't Jesus ask so many questions?

Prayer

Jesus, what is the question you would ask me today?  And help me to respond, not with words, but with the way I live this day.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

July 25, 2011

The Biblical Family

Genesis 28:35

"But that day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted . . ."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

Every now and then someone claims that there's something called "the biblical family." It seems to consist of a father and mother and two kids, all four brave, clean and reverent.

But when I read the Bible, I mostly run into families that aren't so orderly or predictable, and sometimes not even all that virtuous. In fact, many of the biblical families are kind of a mess.

Take this family, Jacob and his wife, Rachel, and Jacob's father-in-law, Laban. Jacob, who has been down on Laban's farm for far too long, wants to take his wives, Leah and Rachel, and go home. He tells Daddy Laban that fair wages for time served will be the speckled and spotted members of the flock. Laban says, "Sounds good. Deal."

But the very next thing you know Daddy Laban goes behind Jacob's back to cut all the speckled and spotted sheep out of the herd, which would have left Jacob a shepherd without sheep (or even goats). Not to be outdone, Jacob cooks up a breeding scheme that guarantees a bumper crop of speckled, striped and spotted kids and assures his fortunes. Jacob out-foxes his father-in-law.

These are my spiritual ancestors? This is a biblical family? This clever and conniving lot? Far from being pure, predictable and perfect, the biblical family looks pretty darn speckled, striped and spotted itself.

And the good news? That God can take speckled human beings and spotted sinners, like you and me, and make of us bearers of holy hope and divine promise. That from such raw material God can make a forgiven family who will be a blessing to all earth’s families.

Being "a biblical family" doesn't mean being perfect. It means that speckled and spotted, imperfect and sinful as we are, we are perfectly loved by this odd and insistent God.

Prayer

For your capacity to take us imperfect human beings and make us instruments of your perfect love and grace, I thank and praise you, O God. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

July 27, 2011

Just a Smidgen

Excerpt from Mark 4:30-32

Jesus said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

Refection by Ron Buford

Have you ever worked with a great cook who did not use teaspoons, tablespoons or cup measures? They might say, "Use just a smidgen of this or that — it's my secret ingredient."

"How much is a smidgen anyway?" the student asks.

She'd say, "Oh, about this much," grabbing "a smidgen" between her thumb and forefinger. 

The cooking lesson is nearly complete when the meal is served and the delicate balance of spices and ingredients is experienced, and understood. The student must then be able to replicate the recipe, connecting ingredients, technique, timing, and presentation.

It will take several tries for the chef in training to get it just right, replicating and perhaps even enhancing the original experience.

Jesus, the master teacher, teaches us that mixing prayer, Bible study, fellowship, work for justice, forgiveness, with just a "smidgen" of hopeful expectation, persistence, and love brings forth the Realm of God into our lives. With it, God transforms our weaknesses, failures, loneliness, disappointment, battles with illness, addiction and grief that seem too hard to bear...into life's greatest masterpieces.

From tiny seeds of hope, patience, persistence, love, and faith come great trees that when fully grown serve as a perch for others to come, sit, observe, and find the lessons they also need to thrive—and all because of "just a smidgen."

Prayer

Gracious God, I'm trying this recipe and it's not feeling like a masterpiece yet. Help me to keep cooking until my life is a masterpiece from your perspective.  Even if I cannot see it yet...I believe...a smidgen. May that smidgen make something of a masterpiece in my life today. Thank you. Amen.

About the Author Ron Buford, former coordinator of the UCC's God is still speaking campaign, consults with religious and nonprofit organizations, leads workshops, and preaches in churches across the U.S. and U.K. Ron also appears in the DVD-based progressive theology series, Living the Questions 2.0.

July 29, 2011

Return to Me

Excerpt from Joel 2:18-29

"You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you."

Reflection by Christina Villa

Do you know someone who is perpetually serene, someone who remains calm and in control while everyone else is running around having a catastrastroke? It can be good to have someone like that around to restore perspective and order in the midst of chaos. But sometimes these habitually mellow people get on my nerves. Don’t they ever get upset about anything?  What's the matter with them?

The prophet Joel was not one of these people. "Sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming . . . a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness!" Today's scripture picks up after all that is over: the locust plague, the devastation, the scorched earth. All is now well. How did that happen? Was it just a matter of perspective? Of staying calm and realizing that, really, those locusts aren't the end of the world, after all?  Did they just control their breathing and visualize a soothing scene until everything seemed fine again?

Not exactly. This change happened—there's no way around it—because of repentance. Between "Terrible indeed, who can endure it?" and "Do not fear . . . be glad and rejoice," there's this: "Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart."

Prayer

God, the next time all I can see are plagues on the horizon, I will try returning to you with all my heart. Amen.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

July 30, 2011

Knitting Prayer Shawls and Baby Booties

"For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works."

Excerpt from Psalm 139:13-18

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

On Tuesday nights, a group gathers in our church lobby to knit prayer shawls, baby blankets and booties for the members of our congregation. The knitting ministry meets the same night as our church council. So while we are in the conference room making big picture decisions about the life of the church, just a few feet away on the couches other people are knitting for the sick, the new babies or those in need of any kind of healing. I think it’s a nice combination of ministry on Tuesday nights, like a check and balance system for what leadership in the church is all about.

I still have the prayer shawl I received from my current church when I was sick, and I still have the prayer shawl I received from my former church when my mother passed away. I went on to inherit the prayer shawl her church made for her when she first fell ill. They all lie around my house as extra blankets in the family room, ordinary objects infused with prayer in the midst of our ordinary lives.

The prayer shawl didn't cure my mother's fatal illness. But there is no question in my mind that it was a conduit of healing. It remains a symbol to me of how all our churches are knit together by the Holy Spirit.

New babies receive a hand-made gift to keep them warm, blessed by prayer before it is given away. It's a symbol of a beautiful biblical metaphor that goes back many thousands of years. It seems that people have been knitting for one another forever, perhaps ever since God, the original knitter, knit each one of us together in our mother's womb. So indeed, we are wonderfully made.

Prayer

When I feel discouraged, unworthy or damaged, remind me that you, Divine Knitter, knit me together and made me wonderful. And when I feel cocky, superior or smug, remind me that you did the same for everyone else, too. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

August 1, 2011

An After-Hours Invitation

Excerpt from Psalm 17

“Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry; give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit . . . .  If you try my heart, if you visit me by night, if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me;”

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

According to Ephesians 2:8, we are saved by grace, through faith, so we have nothing to boast of, regarding our own self-righteousness.  But an exclusive emphasis on God’s grace and mercy can sometimes give license for lack of integrity and moral accountability.

It is said that integrity is who you are when no one is looking at you.  Integrity is who we are in the dark.  It is our “after-hours” character.  It is the values we live out through the night.  The mercy and the grace of God should never allow us to renege on our responsibility for personal integrity.

There is something ethically reckless about crying out to God for justice while we compromise our moral values and live our lives in moral duplicity.  The Psalmist was not morally perfect, but he was also not morally irresponsible.  He invites the Lord to test the integrity in his heart by investigating his life after hours to see if his daytime persona was consistent with his nighttime behavior.  This is not about being boastful; it is about being consistently faithful.

Public pleas for justice and righteousness are one thing, but how much scrutiny can our personal lives really stand?  What inconsistencies in our own character do we continue to pamper and propagate?  Aside from the religion that we practice in public, can anyone tell who we really are in private? 

Mahatma Gandhi admonished us to “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  That change begins with our own commitment to practice what we preach – even after hours.

Prayer

Dear Lord, please place us on the path toward greater honesty and integrity in our public and in our personal lives.  Guide us in truth and sincerity as we commit ourselves to becoming all that we know we should be.  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

August 2, 2011

What's Mine is Yours

Excerpt from Acts 2:37-47

"All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need."

Reflection by Christina Villa

Have you ever lived with anyone who has a "what's yours is mine" attitude toward possessions?  Maybe a sibling when you were growing up, a teenager in your household, a friend of a teenager in your household, a roommate in college, a co-worker?  They "borrow" your clothes, your books, your bike, your favorite pen, your tennis racket, your car. Without asking, because they knew you wouldn't mind.  Since it’s all in the family, or between friends. And you weren't using it, anyway.

That's not the point! you want to say, and maybe do say.  The point is that it's MINE.  The early Christians in the book of Acts, we're told, "had all things in common."  Sold all their possessions and split the proceeds "as any had need."  So nobody owned anything and everyone had their needs met.  Hard to picture, isn't it? Especially given how infuriating it is when the person in the next cubicle repeatedly helps himself to something as simple as your stapler.  

Reserve your moral indignation for something worthier the next time someone borrows something from you. Before you get too angry, stop and be grateful you have whatever it is in the first place. Not guilty, and not greedy. Just grateful.  Maybe it will change your perspective on the borrower in your life.  And maybe it will make those early Christians and their communal set-up seem a little less impossible, even in the real world. 

Prayer

Dear God, as the economy struggles, I may need some help loosening my iron-fisted grip on what's MINE, so please give me reminders that it all comes from you.  Amen.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

August 3, 2011

Jesus Goes Local

Excerpt from Matthew 15:32-39

"The disciples said to him, 'Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?' Jesus asked them, 'How many loaves have you?' They said, 'Seven, and a few small fish.'"

Reflection by Felix Carrion

A colleague of mine has a cartoon on his office door about the biblical story of the multiplication of the bread. The multitude is seen behind a few folks holding baskets filled with bread. One of them is asking, "Did Jesus create these locally?"

One of the main reasons for supporting sustainable farming and local farms is that it helps to build community where people feel welcome, safe, invested in, sustained. The building of community is at the heart of this story. The people gathered to see and hear Jesus start off as a "crowd." But by the time Jesus shares the kingdom of God and breaks bread with them, they have become a community. He doesn't send the people away as the disciples had suggested when faced with the daunting task of feeding thousands of people. He multiplies the resources right there in their midst and feeds them. Jesus goes local.

For many this story is known as the miraculous multiplication of bread and fish by Jesus, with the implication that the baskets spill over with more and more food every time someone reaches in and takes their share. Yet, for others, the miracle is in how Jesus opens the hearts and minds of the people, unleashing the generosity of men, women and children, who share with all others the little food they have in their bags and baskets.  The miracle is that each of them now begins to experience in their sharing the full spirit and power of an unconnected crowd turned into a loving community.

If Jesus thought globally and acted locally, how much more do we want do the same?  In supporting everything that builds community we follow the example of Jesus and help change the world, beginning with the world right in front of us.

Prayer

O God, you always begin right here with each of us, and in so doing begin with all of us. We ask that you now empower us to follow Jesus' example in becoming builders of community in the places we live and share with all others. Help us to go local. Amen.

About the Author Felix Carrion is Coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ.

August 4, 2011

Wealthy Women

Excerpt from Acts 17:10-15

". . . and many Greek women of high social standing and many Greek men also believed." (Good News Bible)

Reflection by William C. Green

Christianity began among the poor and persecuted. But it grew because of the middle and upper classes—especially wealthy women. They became primary converts. Then some of their husbands, often grudgingly, started showing up at church. Notice the gender order in today’s verse: Paul says "women of high social standing," then says "and men."

This was important for struggling communities of faith. Women could extract financial support from indifferent partners who, at first, went along to get along. Who wants another argument at the dinner table? (Sound familiar?)

Women were drawn to Christianity because it promoted liberating social relations between the sexes and within the family; however some passages in the New Testament can make it sound. Even the wealthiest women found status not otherwise available.  Moreover, Christianity prohibited the abandonment or killing of female infants commonly regarded as unproductive economically. Women also benefited from the sanctification of marriage. Divorce was usually considered a sin.

For women, ahead of men, the community of believers was a social safety net that naturally included the sick, the poor and persecuted. That net grew bigger as it extended through family, friends, and the neediest themselves—and, last but not least, men.

The church still grows best as a homegrown network that expands first through interpersonal relationships. It’s our nature, not simply our "mission," to remedy injustice, aid the poor and persecuted, and engage the wealthy and privileged.

Prayer

O God, may we know the good news of Jesus in our need for each other. Amen

About the Author William C. Green, a United Church of Christ minister, is the Director of Long Looking, a consultancy service specializing in fundraising and education for congregations. His new book, 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving, has just been published.

August 5, 2011

Play to the Lord

Excerpt from Psalm 105

"Give thanks to Yahweh, call [God's] name aloud, proclaim [God's] deeds to the peoples! Sing to [God], play to [God}, tell over God's marvels!" (Jerusalem Bible)

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

As it happens today is my birthday, so I figure that today's Scriptures might have a special word for me. I think I found it in today's psalm, second verse: "play to the Lord."

Imagine that: "play to God."

I confess, most of the time work comes easier to me than play. But if Jaco Hamman in his wonderful book, A Play-Full Life (new from The Pilgrim Press) is right, even that standard contrast of work and play is misleading.

Hamman says that play "helps us to manage our destructiveness and rejuvenates the mind, much like deep sleep does." But he also notes that in our culture play has been co-opted by other industries, such as the gambling industry, where one "plays the slots" and the sex industry, which offers "playmates." Moreover, increasingly play costs money, becoming another consumer good.

What does the psalmist mean by enjoining "play to God"?

"Play to the Lord" means not letting worry and fear consume us. It means living life to the full, even amid adversity. It could mean resisting the many ways the world has developed to render people anxious, fearful, hopeless and violent. It might mean letting go and letting God.

Play to the Lord. Try it today. I will.

Prayer

For bird-watching, listening to music, a bike ride on a country lane, a meal with friends, a walk with my wife, a hike with one of my sons, and standing in the river at dusk casting a fishing line, I thank you, good and play-full God. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

August 6, 2011

All Our Spills

Excerpt from Isaiah 3:1-15

"What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

I was filling up the car with gas.  When I put the pump back, I realized that I had oil and grease all over my hands.  Whoever had previously filled had spilled. There was a greasy oily something on my hands, under my fingernails and achieving access to my clothes and car.  I completely over-reacted and went looking for who might have done this.  No one was to be found.  Thus I improvised.  I washed my hands but the grease abided.  I wrapped my hand in a paper towel and drove on. I didn't want the grease all over the car.  Nor do I want it all over the Gulf of Mexico.  But I can't seem to figure out whether the government or big business or both are responsible for the spill that is becoming all our spills. After I looked around and failed to find a slob to blame, I carried on.   The grease didn't come out from under my fingernails for days.

There are way too many ways to be poor.  One is to lose a clean ocean or its livelihood.  Someone said that it is now the ocean that sits at the "back of the bus."  The BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been compared to 9 – 11 in its seepage.  I agree.  The only problem is that the oil is also on my hands and in my car's fuel tank.

Prayer

O God, when we wish we could find the right person to blame and sock it to them, remind us of our own participation in the grinding and the seepage.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press.  Check out her work at www.judson.org.

August 8, 2011

This Day

Excerpt from Psalm 118

"This is the day that our God has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

I am a very future-oriented person.  I have a calendar that contains pages for the present year but also two years ahead.   I can tell you now what I am going to preach about in Lent.  I have a special drawer where I keep tickets to plays or games or trips I look forward to.  When that drawer is empty, I get almost panicked.

None of that is bad, I suppose, but being such a future-oriented person sometimes prevents me from appreciating the only day I can live in, and that is today.

Those of us who are farsighted — both literally and figuratively — can see things at a distance but have a hard time seeing what is under our noses.

That is why, when I read this psalm, I tend to emphasize the very first word:  "This is the day that the Lord has made..." 

That single word "this" is often the reminder I need.  This is the day that God has made and given to me, to all of us, as a gift.  This is the day that will have the power to bless, if I let it.  This is the day I can make a difference in the world, even if only one small corner of it, if I choose to.  This is the day to enjoy, if I will allow myself to. 

Not tomorrow.  Or next year.  This day.

Prayer

God, thank you for the gift of this day.  Open my heart to receive its blessings and to find in this day ample reason to rejoice.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

August 9, 2011

Your Work Can Be Your Ministry

Excerpt from Philippians 1: 3-4

"Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamation of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find my self praying for you with a glad heart."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel
    
One of the great pleasures of writing the daily devotionals is hearing from readers, like Jim Cope, a full-time dentist and a part-time licensed minister. I have to admit; the mix of those two callings fascinated me—the caring for souls and the caring for teeth. I told him I was interested in hearing about how being a dentist connects with the church, so he shared something he had written for his church newsletter:   

"Over the years, the one aspect of general dentistry that I have enjoyed is caring for families. I have spent many appointments drying the tears of someone who has just lost a spouse, child, or loved one, giving comfort to someone facing surgery or diagnosed with a terminal illness, listening to someone in the midst of divorce, and laughing with someone over the 'joys of parenthood.' I cherish these parts of my day immensely, maybe even more so then the actual fixing of teeth. What most people probably never realize is that they become a real part of my life. When the day is done and I think over the encounters I have had, these people are in my thoughts and prayers."

What a beautiful reminder this is that every type of work can be a ministry. Anyone who deals with people can be a loving a pastoral presence, even someone heading toward your aching tooth with a drill!

Most of us don't look forward to going to the dentist. It's not particularly enjoyable to have cavities filled or gum surgery performed. But the manner and attitude of the dentist can make all the difference. And let’s not forget to include the dental hygienist, the receptionist, the clerk at the grocery store and the bank teller who cashed your check that morning. All of us can approach our work as our ministry.

Prayer

Gracious God, allow me to do my work with a loving heart and a prayerful manner, so that I may be a blessing in someone's life today. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

August 10, 2011

Nothing But the Truth

Excerpt from Genesis 40:6-8

"When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled.  So he asked Pharaoh's officers, who were with him in custody in his master's house, 'Why are your faces downcast today?'  They said to him, 'We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.'  And Joseph said to them, 'Do not interpretations belong to God?'"

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

In one of my favorite scenes from "The Pink Panther," Inspector Clouseau (a fictional French police detective) interrogates a woman suspected of perjury in a previous testimony.  "Madame" the Inspector says, "this time I want nothing but the truth.  Don't confuse me with the facts."

This rather humorous statement reminds us of something that we sometimes forget.  Knowledge of the facts does not always translate into an understanding of the truth.
 
While serving time in an Egyptian prison, Joseph, son of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob, encounters two fellow prisoners who have facts but who lack understanding.  These two former attendants of the Pharaoh have no problem recalling the facts of their dreams to Joseph.  The details are all recollected and communicated.  These two men knew the facts, but they didn't know how to draw meaning from the facts.

A pastor asked a group of laypersons to talk about what really motivated each of them to attend church.  One young man stated: "My life is full of so many questions.  I come to church because I need some answers."  A woman added this: "I've got lots of questions in my life as well.  But I don’t necessarily come to church for answers.  I know life is not that simple.  I come to church to gain understanding.  I can deal with the unanswered questions and the problems in my life as long as my understanding is increasing."

Sometimes we need an understanding of why it is that we don't  grasp the meaning of some things in our lives.  Joseph's reply to his fellow prisoners' quest for meaning was that the interpretation of the facts of life belongs to God.  We may have all the facts, but God has the truth that gives our lives meaning, purpose and value.  It's enough to motivate us not only to go to church, but to seek God in all our ways.

Prayer

Dear God, as we encounter the facts of life today, please give us guidance, give us wisdom and give us understanding.  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

August 14, 2011

God's Holy Fools

Excerpt from Mark 8:14-21

"Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear?"

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

I have always identified with the disciples as they are depicted in Mark's gospel. Far from holy and wholly together, they are the original "Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight," fumbling and fickle, often missing the point. In fact, the first sermon I preached after I was ordained was on this passage and I picked up on these themes. It was entitled, "God's Holy Fool," which was my description of the original disciples. Unfortunately, I didn't think about how that title would look on the board outside the church: "God's Holy Fool, Martin B. Copenhaver, preaching." Anyway, I digress (which isn't easy to do in 250 words!)...

In this passage, Jesus is speaking to his disciples after the multiplication of loaves and fishes. They were present when the crowds were fed. They had picked up the baskets of scraps that were left over after everyone had their fill. But when Jesus asks them to recall what happened, they simply report the facts: five loaves for five thousand people and twelve baskets of scraps. Jesus had given them a stunning glimpse of God's power and all they could see or remember was a picnic in the sun.

I wouldn't be so dim-witted. I wouldn't miss a miracle like that. But then I remember that the word miracle literally means, "sign that points to God." So, yes, I am still one of God's holy fools, because I am quite sure that I miss miracles—signs that point to God—every day.

Prayer

Jesus, thank you that you love me and claim me as your own, even when I am being a dim-witted fool. Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

August 16, 2011

Elemental Life

Excerpt from Romans 11:13-29

"But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root of the olive tree, do not vaunt yourselves over the branches. If you do vaunt yourselves, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you."

By Felix Carrion

What Paul was trying to do after his conversion is bring together the Gentiles and Jews of his day. Paul has embraced a new understanding of who belongs in the graces of God, and his mission is to graft them onto each other.

Life is the grafting of basic elements that creates new forms. Nothing remains on its own. For example, the culinary creations of the people and cultures of the world are products of how foods and spices were brought together to make something richer. Musical notes "do" this, too. They graft onto each other and make music. Solitary notes that remain solitary cannot produce a symphony. Had hydrogen and oxygen "walked" in opposite directions after meeting, you and I would not be here. In essence, the things that come together in elemental ways are the things that have the power to create grace and faith, wonder and gratitude, beauty and art.

So, today graft onto your life a different theological outlook, a different musical piece, a food you've never tried, engage in a new conversation with another -- and begin to experience the power and wonder of elemental life fusing and creating what did not exist before.

Prayer

O God, may we open ourselves to the new creations you are grafting and fusing in us. Amen.

About the Author Felix Carrion is Coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ.

August 19, 2011

Keep On . . .  Keepin' On

Excerpt from Psalm 126

"Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves."

Reflection by Ron Buford

Life sometimes knocks us down. It happens to everyone. The key is to get back up and keep moving. The psalmist offers a simple formula for getting through tough times:

First, remember ways God has brought you through past tough times;

Second, ask God to do it again, and;

Third, show that you believe by moving forward before there is tangible or visible reason to do so—even while weeping, sow seeds for the future you envision, though the path may be uncertain and you may just not feel like it . . .  yet.

You may be worried about a job, finances, a relationship, illness, fears about aging, trouble with kids, aging parents, an old hurt, or just "the blues." Whatever it is, God specializes in restoring life’s greatest fortunes—love, joy, peace, and more—even before we feel it or see it coming. Leave the "how" to God as you focus on your hope. There will be a harvest. Go out, look for it. But it may come in a surprising new way or from surprising places. Be open. Don't miss it. Weep freely, but always with nagging, unrelenting hope in God.

Prayer

Gracious God, I need your help right now. Please restore my life to better times. Forgive me for the way I tend to forget the ways you have been with me in the past. For the faith I lack as I say these words, please help my unbelief and send your Holy Spirit to pray for me when I doubt and forget. Guide me. Teach me. I’m getting up and out . . . today, thanking and praising you now. Amen.

About the Author Ron Buford, former coordinator of the UCC's God is still speaking campaign, consults with religious and nonprofit organizations, leads workshops, and preaches in churches across the U.S. and U.K. Ron also appears in the DVD-based progressive theology series, Living the Questions 2.0.

August 20, 2011

Multi-Tasking Leads to Mini-Living

Excerpt from Deuteronomy 7:12

"If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

Remember the days, decades ago, when multitasking was hailed as the greatest invention time management had ever seen? Well, decades later, most of us know that it really doesn't work.

We still do it, check our emails while we're on the phone, balance laptops on our laps when we watch television, sometimes two channels at once. But we've learned the hard way that it's not all it’s cracked up to be. Maybe in haste you sent the wrong email to the wrong person, because you were moving too fast. More seriously, people have crashed cars and trains because they've been distracted by multitasking. But now comes the scientific backup for what we are beginning to suspect is true.

Executive coach Vickie Austin devoted a newsletter to the folly of multitasking. She cited an article from NeuroImage, a science journal, which determined that managing two mental tasks at the same time significantly reduces the brainpower available to concentrate on either task, ultimately damaging the quality of the final product.  Scientists reporting in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found it takes our brains four times longer to recognize and process when we switch between tasks. So if we just showed more patience and stuck with one thing at a time, we might actually be more efficient.

There's a story from London's East End where they have new lampposts designed to protect those who are not paying attention from banging into the posts.  This trial program began after a survey revealed that one in ten people were harmed by focusing on their cell phones instead of where they were walking. So they've padded the lampposts. Padded the lampposts? There has to be a better way.

Prayer

Gracious and attentive God, if I can't pay attention to the people in my life, and the tasks at hand, how can I pay attention to you and your teachings? Help me focus on the small things, so that I can focus on the big ones. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

August 21, 2011

Holy and Acceptable

Excerpt from Romans 12:1-8

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

Reflection by Christina Villa

I own a small leather-bound book titled "The Catholic Girl’s Guide," published 1918, edited by the Rev. Francis X. Lasance, apparently an expert on Catholic girls. I can't remember where I got it—a garage sale or used book store.  I thought it was funny. It is 670 pages of hand-wringing about chastity. You can open it up anywhere and find lines like this, from a chapter entitled, "The Faded Lily": "My daughter, you can form no idea how large is the number of those who sink into hell on account of sins of impurity."  Since this is a Catholic guide, sin comprises "thought, word, and deed."  So you can't even think about it.

But if we, and Fr. Lasance wherever he is, can stop thinking about sex for a moment, these old-fashioned words make sense. What "impurities" floating around in your head cause you to sink into a kind of low-grade, chronic hell? And keep you from being somewhat less than a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God?  Maybe the recall of that episode of "Housewives of the Jersey Shore" you watched. Or your obsessive worry about your credit score and your suspicion that your mechanic is cheating you, or your sadness about cellulite.

Someone once told me that a fine cure for anxiety is to ask yourself if your thoughts are worth having.  God accepts us however we are, and I'm told that nothing we can think or experience is foreign to God. Not foreign, perhaps, but what about holy? Never mind what Fr. Lasance means by "sins of impurity."  Consider instead what this scripture might mean by "holy and acceptable to God."   

Prayer

Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

August 23, 2011

Improvisation

Excerpt from Luke 6:9- 11

"Then Jesus said to [the Pharisees], 'I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to destroy it?' After looking around at all of them, he said to [the man with the withered hand], 'Stretch out your hand.' He did so, and his hand was restored."

Donna Schaper

Improvisation is when you don't have enough information to do anything but just take the next step.  Actors say the secret to improvisation is to go only as far as you have to and not a step or second more.  They also argue that it is a great idea to make your partner look good when you speak.  That keeps the story moving. Jazz musicians say the same thing. What did you play?  "Oh, just something that the first chord told the second chord to say."

To theologically improvise requires keeping the conversation close and moving.  It also involves a concrete choice of partners, among a sea of partners.  The powerful will always present themselves as snarkily in charge.  The withered will also always know the danger they are in.  Theological improvisation involves looking straight towards the withered and ignoring the people who are playing games with the rules or the theology.

Improvisation is the art of the short-term. Improvisation is when you go with the withered who are in front of you—and decide to make them look good or feel good or at least not suffer any more or any longer.  Good improvisation chooses who it will listen to—and takes the next step.

Prayer

Jesus, you knew how to take the next step and let the rest go by.  Help us to do the same. Send us to the unlikely partners as our source of life.  Make sure we know who it is we listen to.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press.  Check out her work at www.judson.org.

August 25, 2011

Looking and Seeing

Excerpt from Exodus 2: 23 – 25

"The people of Israel, groaning in their slavery, cried out for help and from the depths of their slavery their cry came up to God. God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God saw the people of Israel and God knew . . ."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

Is there a difference between looking and seeing? Or between seeing and really seeing?

Here, as the Exodus story begins, we read that God "saw." The Hebrew word is ra'ah. It does not refer to a look or a glance. It means to begin to move toward another with kindness or sympathy. God really saw the suffering slaves in Egypt. He moved toward them.

In a novel I was reading recently a woman who had been a waitress for fifty years, which is an awful long time to be on your feet like that, was asked about her memories of a particular customer, a naval officer. She says, "He actually saw me, if I can put it like that." The implication was that few of her customers, few of the other high-ranking officers where she worked, did actually see her. She was not seen by the others as a person.

There's seeing and there's really seeing. There's eye contact and there is moving toward another with kindness or sympathy.

Often privilege and power, rank or status, as well as plain-old self-centeredness, keep people from really seeing or really hearing another person.

How remarkable, then, that our God and God's power is not like that at all. Our God sees, really sees, the suffering and the lowly. Our God's power is not manifest as distance or not getting involved or sending orders. Our God enters in, moves toward us, in kindness and sympathy. God doesn't just look, God sees.

Prayer

God, forgive me for the many times when I only look but do not see. Grant me grace today to really see and to move toward another person in kindness. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

August 27, 2011

A Rhapsody to Jesus

Excerpt from Matthew 8:14-17

"When Jesus entered Peter's house, he saw his mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever; he touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him. That evening they brought to him many who were possessed with demons; and he cast out the spirits with a word, and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah, 'He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.'"

Reflection by Felix Carrion

What was it about Jesus that in his presence people found healing?

Could he see penetratingly into opaque matter?

Did his hands channel non-detectable frequencies to heart and body?

Were his words the language of a lost world?

Was his science the special skill of the metaphysician at work?

Did he know the realm of demons and spirits like the back of his mind?

Had he cast out fear before casting out other possessions?

Did he believe like no other Isaiah's message, "He took our infirmities and bore our diseases"?

I don't know. This much I do know: "People found healing in the presence of Jesus. Still do."

Prayer

O God, help me to believe in Jesus today in ways like never before. Amen.

About the Author Felix Carrion is Coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ.

August 29, 2011

Falsely Accused

Excerpt from Acts 25: 1-12

"Now if I am in the wrong and have committed something for which I deserve to die, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can turn me over to them. I appeal to the emperor."

Reflection by Christina Villa

Being falsely accused of wrongdoing is a miserable experience for anyone, and acutely so for children.  If you want to see indignant, blame a 7-year-old for something he didn't do.  Maybe the reason kids get so infuriated is that they have no court of appeal. Parents, baby-sitters, teachers, and principals are the Supreme Court justices of childhood. To be accused is to be convicted.

Paul was sophisticated enough to know that he needed a change of venue before he faced the charges against him. He spoke up on his own behalf and was allowed an appeal to a higher court. Today, of course, Paul would call his lawyer.  Unless he couldn't afford one, and then, if he lived in this country, he'd be appointed a public defender.

Public defenders are often looked at askance by the public.  How can they defend all those obviously guilty people? (A question not as frequently asked of celebrity criminal defense attorneys.)  There may not be a saint like Paul among the accused who find themselves in a public defender’s office, but who knows?  There are certainly at least a few now and then who are falsely accused.

The falsely accused have truth on their side, but that's clearly not enough. The 7-year-old doesn't know this yet. Often, religious people call for justice as if it were simply a matter of pointing out the truth.  Paul knew a lot better than that.   

Prayer

Dear God, watch over those who are being blamed for something they didn't do and strengthen those who defend them.  Amen.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

August 30, 2011

Open Doors

Excerpt from Revelation 3: 7-13

"See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut." (NIV)

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

The book of Revelation was written by the disciple John to Christians who were experiencing severe persecution by first-century Roman emperors determined to destroy the church of Christ.  With doors of social acceptance, religious tolerance and political favor being closed violently in their faces, John proclaims to Christian believers that "God has set before you an open door!"  Really?  How realistic is it to believe that God will open doors in contexts of systemic confinement, disenfranchisement and oppression?

I grew up in the slums of New York City – the South Bronx.  It was an economically depressed community, full of drugs, delinquency and crime.  But in that concentrated ghetto of closed doors, God sent me a teacher by the name of Ms. Hutchinson, who taught and mentored me from grade 7 to grade 9.  Upon my completion of the 9th grade, under Ms. Hutchinson's tutelage, I was able to apply for and receive a scholarship to a private, prestigious college preparatory school in the hills of northern New Jersey.  Upon graduation, I received four-year scholarship offers from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. and Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT.  God does open doors.

This summer, a group of about 30 of my church members and friends journeyed to Senegal and The Gambia, West Africa on a cultural excursion.  In The Gambia, we visited an orphanage that educates and serves children with special needs. The Gambia is a developing country with not very many doors of educational and economic advancement open to the vast majority of its citizenry.  But after our visit,  our church made a commitment to adopt that orphanage and to give what we can to provide consistent financial and material support so that it can keep its doors open for the impoverished children of The Gambia with special needs.  God does open doors.

The church I serve is itself located in an area of metro-Atlanta that has seen doors of business development and employment opportunity close consistently over the past ten years.  Like many black and Hispanic urban areas across the country, we are experiencing the consequences of diminished resources for investment in transportation, infrastructure and education.  But in partnership with a local community college, our church has recently launched a program that offers free GED prep classes to the growing number people in our community who have slipped through the public education system without a high school diploma.  God does open doors.

Are there any doors of opportunity, advancement or blessedness that God could open through you today?

Prayer

Lord, we are grateful for the doors of opportunity that you have opened for us.  Now please give us the opportunity and the desire to open doors for others who would otherwise be locked in or left out.  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

August 31, 2011

Spiritual but Not Religious? Please Stop Boring Me.

Matthew 16:18

"And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

On airplanes, I dread the conversation with the person who finds out I am a minister and wants to use the flight time to explain to me that he is "spiritual but not religious." Such a person will always share this as if it is some kind of daring insight, unique to him, bold in its rebellion against the religious status quo.

Next thing you know, he's telling me that he finds God in the sunsets. These people always find God in the sunsets. And in walks on the beach. Sometimes I think these people never leave the beach or the mountains, what with all the communing with God they do on hilltops, hiking trails and . . . did I mention the beach at sunset yet?

Like people who go to church don't see God in the sunset! Like we are these monastic little hermits who never leave the church building. How lucky we are to have these geniuses inform us that God is in nature. As if we don’t hear that in the psalms, the creation stories and throughout our deep tradition.

Being privately spiritual but not religious just doesn't interest me. There is nothing challenging about having deep thoughts all by oneself. What is interesting is doing this work in community, where other people might call you on stuff, or heaven forbid, disagree with you. Where life with God gets rich and provocative is when you dig deeply into a tradition that you did not invent all for yourself.


Thank you for sharing, spiritual but not religious sunset person. You are now comfortably in the norm for self-centered American culture, right smack in the bland majority of people who find ancient religions dull but find themselves uniquely fascinating. Can I switch seats now and sit next to someone who has been shaped by a mighty cloud of witnesses instead? Can I spend my time talking to someone brave enough to encounter God in a real human community?  Because when this flight gets choppy, that's who I want by my side, holding my hand, saying a prayer and simply putting up with me, just like we try to do in church.

Prayer

Dear God, thank you for creating us in your image and not the other way around. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

September 1, 2011

Free to Worship

Exodus 9:1

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.’”  (NIV)

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

In the southern church I serve in Georgia, congregants are sometimes disturbed when they hear “too much politics from the pulpit.”  “Just stick to the gospel,” they say.  “All we want to hear is what saith the Lord!”

I suspect that my church is not unlike many.  In the minds of many Christians, there is a vast divide between sacred worship on Sundays and the everyday political debates that plague us.  But our faith is built upon God’s direct intervention into a political debate that took place in Egypt centuries ago.  The issue was whether the Hebrew slaves, who held up Egypt’s economy with their free labor, should be liberated.  God anointed and empowered Moses and the freedom fighters in Egypt, and after some 400 years of political, social and economic enslavement, the children of Israel were set free.  The political climate in Egypt leading up to the liberation of the Hebrew slaves must have been tense, to say the least, but God was certainly the instigator of it all.

So what does this have to do with worship?   God said to Egypt: “Let my people go, so that they may worship me.”  This doesn’t mean that oppressed people can’t worship God.  It means that all people should be free to bow to no other god but God.  No person should have to bow to any god of racism, imperialism, sexism, heterosexism, nationalism or materialism.  God wants all people free to worship God and God alone.

Worship, at its best, is a celebration of God’s liberating activity in the world.  When we are liberated from every dimension of personal, inter-personal and political distress, we are made free to bow before no other god, but God.  Political?  Yes.  Divine?  Resounding yes!

Prayer

Dear God, empower our struggles against every exalted oppression that rivals your place on the throne.  Make us free to worship you and you alone.  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

September 2, 2011

Worship Style

Excerpt from Exodus 10: 21-29

"Then Pharaoh summoned Moses, and said, 'Go, worship the Lord. Only your flocks and your herds shall remain behind . . . .'  But Moses said, 'You must also let us have sacrifices and burnt offerings to sacrifice to the Lord our God. Our livestock also must go with us . . . for we must choose some of them for the worship of the Lord our God, and we will not know what to use to worship the Lord until we arrive there.'"

Reflection by Christina Villa

In this passage from Exodus, Pharaoh tells Moses the people can go, but they can't take their livestock with them. The problem is they're going to need some of those animals to sacrifice in worship, since that's how they did things. Without them, says Moses, "we will not know what to use to worship the Lord."

Excluding animal sacrifice, there are still certain things many people believe you have to have, or do, in order for worship to be worship. Exactly which things those are is a matter of opinion.  

In some circles, it's considered shallow to be overly concerned with worship style, and backward to insist that things be done a certain way. I'm all for being open to new and different ways of doing worship.  But custom and tradition in worship are more than style. They are lessons in faith repeated, week after week.

Some of us need to hear and see the same thing repeatedly to get it through our heads and keep it in our hearts. For this reason, worship traditions and customs develop and stick around—for years, decades, centuries.  Without them, many of us, including me, would not know "what to use to worship the Lord."  

So I can empathize with Moses' worry.  It reminds me of those lists of Houses of Worship that hotels used to post in their lobbies.  Or the signs along local roads coming into town that told you where the churches of various denominations were located.  This information was for traveling people, like the Israelites, assuring them they would be able to worship the Lord wherever they went.

Prayer

Even when I haven't left home, I often feel like a traveling person, unsure of what I'm going to find around the corner. So thank you for the church and its traditions, anchors for the wandering soul.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

September 3, 2011

Hindsight is 20/20

Excerpt from Matthew 23:29-36

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'"

Reflection by Felix Carrion

Even the scribes and Pharisees engaged in "Monday morning quarterbacking" and "hindsight is 20/20" claims. According to them, had they been around when the prophets were killed they would have had no part of it. They are pretty sure of this.

Although the exchange in this passage is between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees, its larger context has to do with the treatment of the early converts to Jesus at the hands of the spiritual authorities. The writer of this passage knows that their present-day actions betray their claims of innocence. Even as the ink dries the gospel reminds the readers of what happened to Jesus and of the attacks against the apostles and missionaries of the early church at the hands of some of the religious leaders.

When watch documentaries about the Civil Rights marches and am inspired by the courage and determination of the marchers, I would like to think that had I been old enough to be there I would have been one of them. But how can I know for sure what I would have done?

The only way to know whether or not a "hindsight is 20/20" claim is true is to judge by what one does today. When folks are persecuted, tortured and kill today because of their religious, gender, ethnic and/or sexual orientation and identity, in our country and around the world, where are we and what are we doing about it? We are reminded by the text that beginning with Abel through the present day there is no lack of betrayal and violence.

We have the opportunity now to show up, to make our voices heard, and to break the long chain.

Prayer

O God, judge whether or not my claims and actions are true, and please let me know what you see. Speak in my heart your truth about me, and grant me the fortitude to do the right thing. Amen.

About the Author Felix Carrion is Coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ.

September 4, 2011

Easy Victims

Excerpt from Matthew 18:15-20

“If your brother or sister sins against you go and correct them. . .” 

Reflection by William C. Green

Correction here is what reconciliation requires. And we’re to take the initiative. But when I’ve been hurt by someone I don’t think I should initiate reconciliation. Besides, why should they be interested in being corrected? It seems pointless. It’s easier to stay angry and convince myself I don’t need them anyway. Being a victim and trying to forget is easier than doing something about it.

Meanwhile, the gospel is all about God’s initiative in bridging the breach between ourselves and God, and ourselves and one another. “Gospel” is derived from the old English, “God’s spell.” Under the influence of God’s spell we see more clearly than ever love we haven’t deserved, grace we couldn’t bring on ourselves, and hope when we’d given up. Blessed by initiatives we could not take or deserve—expressions of grace not always recognized or appreciated at the time—we in turn are to take comparable initiatives with others

Few of us have been physically assaulted. But all of us have been psychologically assaulted. We’ve all been trampled on, run over, put down, publicly humiliated, and ridiculed quietly or noisily. Pained as we are, under the spell of love and strength greater than all that, we don’t withdraw or just endure the hurt. We face it, aiming to settle matters that cause offense. Taking this initiative it will be far easier to live with whatever outcome ensues.

Prayer

Almighty God, knowing your love when I was at fault, may I take the same initiative with others when I’m hurt.

About the Author William C. Green, a United Church of Christ minister, is the Director of Long Looking, a consultancy service specializing in fundraising and education for congregations. He is the author of 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving.

September 5, 2011

Labor Day

Psalm 90:17

"Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands—O  prosper the work of our hands!"

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

Our church and many of its leaders have been supporters of the labor movement over the years. We have supported efforts to insure that laborers were treated with respect and paid fairly. We have backed the right of workers to collective bargaining.

We should continue to support these values and policies. We should recognize the value of unions both for their members and as a counterbalance to other powerful interests in the arenas of politics and policy. And we should fairly compensate those who work for the church.

But we should not hesitate to call unions to reform and renewal where it is needed. Some unions that began as justice movements have become protect-the-status-quo organizations. When that happens, unions have forgotten their own story.

Of course, when it comes to forgetting your story, we in the church have a few things to own up to ourselves. The church, too, has been guilty of forgetting that our calling is to serve Christ and his Realm and instead have served ourselves.

Labor Day also reminds us how many people today have no work at all. This is really, really bad, and I wish we were a lot more concerned about it than we seem to be. It is bad because a job not only allows a person to support themselves and their family, but because work really means so much more. Work often brings with it a role and an identity. Moreover, our work is a source of many of our most important relationships. That’s a lot to lose.

It's a good day to honor and say thanks to everyone who serves the common good by their labor. And to remember with prayers of intercession and action those who are without work and all that a job means in our lives.

Prayer

Thank you, God, for work to do; for useful tasks that need study and strength; for the comradeship of labor; and for exchanges of good humor and encouragement. And, hear our prayers, we ask, for those who don’t have a job, who may have about given up hope. Sustain and uphold them and guide us in creating a society where everyone has a chance to contribute. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

September 6, 2011

Treasure

Excerpt from Exodus 12:29-42 

"The Israelites had done as Moses told them; they had asked the Egyptians for jewelry of silver and gold, and for clothing, and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

God has just finished visiting the ten plagues upon the people of Egypt, and Pharaoh has given the Israelites permission—actually, has begged them—to leave.  The Israelites know it’s time to get the heck out of Dodge, so they head out with their bread still unleavened and their pockets stuffed with treasures given to them by the Egyptians.

For a lot of reasons, the UCC is one of those denominations that seem to collect people from other traditions.  Some leave their former faith homes easily; some with pain.  Some leave of their own volition; some are asked to leave.  Some get the heck out of Dodge in a hurry; some mosey on over.  But everyone comes bearing treasures given to them by the people there.

One man comes with skill at witnessing.  A woman shows up who understands why we might pay attention to saints.  Others come with deep appreciation for weekly communion, or the heart of an unapologetic evangelist, or a whole hymnal's worth of praise songs written on their hearts.  And the list goes on.

Have you come to us from a far land, or at least a far denomination?  What treasures do you bring to us from there?  Will you share them?

Prayer:

Holy One, thank you for the precious gifts you've sent to us in the hands of the theological immigrants, sojourners, exiles, and travelers in our midst.  Give us eyes to see the treasures we bear and the treasures borne by others.  Give us the wits to use them.  Amen.

Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the just-published Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

September 7, 2011

"Blessed"

Luke 6:20

"Blessed are you who are poor. . . "

Reflection by Donna Schaper

As we face the so-called debt crisis, and its debt "service," I keep thinking of the beatitude that says, "Blessed are the poor." It obviously means a blessing for those in debt.  Being "under water" in our own homes, being out of pocket, paying off  credit card debt or national debt are all more like curses than blessings. The curse comes from the exaggeration of the economy's importance in our lives.   It is important, but it's not as important as it thinks it is.

One of the hardest things I face now as a pastor is the way my unemployed congregants blame themselves for being out of a job.  Strangely, our cultural economy has decided that people who are poor or unemployed are "bad."  Their poverty must be their fault, which is one of the most convenient myths bankers and billionaires ever fictionalized.

Forgiveness of debt might be the route to the blessing Jesus promised.  It might start at home, as the Lord's Prayer wisely means when it says, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."  Blessing might be something that has to start in your heart first, before it goes to S and P or Equifax for a rating.  Our debts, in the form of self-blame and over-use of economic language, are forgiven.  What is bad news for bankers is good news for the poor.

Right now I feel the energy of most Americans resembles an unexploded bomb, a barn-bound horse, a root-bound plant.  We are all wound around the economy as though it were our lifeblood.  We are looking for a rebirth of wonder and blessing.  What might change us would be to understand debt as fundamentally a spiritual problem. How do you pay off debt?  You forgive it in another.  You receive the blessing, then, of the poor.  Maybe you even stop being so afraid of being poor and become poor.  Your favorite word is "Blessed."

Prayer

God of debtors, we pray for a release from banks and blame for blessing.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press.  Check out her work at www.judson.org.

September 8, 2011

Glimpses of the Future

Excerpt from Romans 16:1-16  

"I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

Sometimes we can glimpse the future through an individual.  In some people, the future seems to arrive ahead of schedule.

In some of his letters, the Apostle Paul limited the role of women in the church.  For instance, he wrote that women should be silent in church (which, you have to admit, is pretty limiting).  But here, as Paul writes to the Romans, he commends a woman named Phoebe to them.  She will soon be traveling to Rome, and Paul wants to make sure that she is properly received.  He uses the title "deacon" (some translations render her title as "minister") in recognition of her authority.  He then admonishes the members of the Roman church to do whatever she might need or ask.  Whatever Paul may have thought of women's role in the church in general, in Phoebe he caught a glimpse of the future.  

When my grandmother was fourteen years old, in the late 1800s, she told her Presbyterian minister that she felt called to the ministry.  He informed her that she must be mistaken because God doesn't call women into the ministry.  So my grandmother went in search of a denomination that would ordain her.  She was ordained in 1902 in the Christian Church, a predecessor denomination of our United Church of Christ.  I am proud that our United Church of Christ consistently seems to be able to catch early glimpses of the future.

Prayer

Dear God, keep us open to the glimpses of the future, your future, that we see around us this day.  Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

September 9, 2011

The Greatest Star

Excerpt from Mark 1:4-8

As [John the Baptist] preached he said, "The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I'm a mere stagehand, will change your life. I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. His baptism—a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit—will change you from the inside out."  (The Message)

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

My mother used to try to pull everyone into self-confidence by saying, "You are the greatest star." She'd say it to me to pull me out of my childhood shyness, which mortified me, of course. The last thing a shy person wants to be is the star of the show. But that was her mantra. "You are the greatest star."

As I got older, I began to notice that I was not the only one she said it to. She'd say it to my little cousins when she though they needed a boost. She'd say it to her own friends when they had an important job interview coming up. "You are the greatest star," she would say, with total enthusiasm. After a while, it finally hit me that we couldn't all be the greatest star.

John the Baptist was considered by some people to be the greatest star. He was a charismatic wild man with a passionate and devoted following. His fans would travel all the way out into the wilderness to get baptized by him and to listen to him preach.

But John was a wise enough leader not to believe his own publicity. He knew that another one was coming who would make him look like a bit player or a stagehand in the show. And John didn't resent it; he delighted in it.

Jesus was going to be the star of the show. To John, that was good news. It's good news to me, too. I am relieved that God is the center of this production. And whatever small part I can play, bring it on.

Prayer

God, bless each one of us with a sense of responsibility for the part we play in your drama and the comforting knowledge that the show’s success does not depend on us. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

September 10, 2011

“Our Father / Our Mother”

Excerpt from Matthew 6:7-15

"This then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father / [Our Mother] in heaven. . .'" (NIV)

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

In August of this year, my mother celebrated her 84th birthday.  In all my life, I have seen her visibly shaken and upset on just a couple of occasions.  One of those occasions occurred a few years ago.  My sister, my two brothers and I were at my mother's apartment in New York discussing some family business.  The discussion got heated and exploded into a fireball of disagreement among the four of us.  Out of anger and frustration, things were said that should have been tempered, or not said at all.  That's when I saw my mother visibly shaken; deeply disturbed.  She didn't calm down until she'd extracted a promise from me and each of my siblings that nothing else would be said until each of us got over the anger and remembered that we were family.

Days later I asked my mother why she had gotten so upset.  None of our angry expressions were directed at her.  "We go at one another all the time," I said to her.  "It's no big deal."  She looked at me squarely and with a solemn tone said, "Perhaps you do. . .  but not in my presence."

If prayer is an acknowledgement of the presence of God, our Divine Parent, then we can never pray without remembering that each of us is a part of God's human family.  We cannot really go to God in prayer without taking with us the quality of our relationships with one another.  Prayer can be personal, but it can never be private. It always exposes our relationships with our brothers and sisters.  Prayer reminds us that without human community there can be no divine communion. Prayer lifts each of us out of the secluded silos of our own self-centeredness and ushers us into the communal consciousness of "Our Father" / "Our Mother" / "Our Creator" / "Our Redeemer" / "Our God."  And there is nothing that displeases "Our God" more than our disrespect and disregard for one another.

Prayer

Dear God, today, as we acknowledge your presence we also acknowledge our need to reconcile and be reconciled to our brothers and sisters.  In your presence, help us to find better ways to love one another.  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

September 12, 2011

"Holy Ghost" Boldness

Excerpt from Mark 9: 14-32 

Jesus asked the father [of a child having convulsions], "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood.  It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us." Jesus said to him, "If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes."  Immediately the father of the child cried out, "I believe; help my unbelief!"  

Reflection by Ron Buford

My former religious tradition spoke of needing Holy Ghost boldness" to deal with "the Devil." Today we tend to say "Holy Spirit" and speak of evil rather than of a Devil. But evil does not stop when we say, "Please Mr./Ms./Institutional Devil, go away," or "Why can’t we all just get along?"

As Christians, we have the power to command evil to depart from our homes, churches, and communities. Use it. Many evils remain simply because we refuse to command them to leave. Have modern Christians become spiritual couch potatoes, lacking the stamina, power, expectation, or follow-through to stop evil—in ourselves or others?

This concerned father says to Jesus, "If you are able." But Jesus challenges him: "No, Bucko, it's if you are able that matters."  Mark's gospel repeatedly reminds us that our faith brings real completeness or repair.

Turning things over to God is an act of spiritual engagement and sometimes physical action.  Spiritual engagement may lead you to take your medication, make peace, protest a wrong, stop abuse to yourself or others, accept a call, or even restrain yourself to not respond or indulge in self-destructive behavior.

Call upon the power of God within you to stop some evil today, take action, and give God thanks.

Prayer

Gracious God, I boldly command all evil in my life, in my relationships, and in my community to depart, in the name of Jesus. Even as I pray, I can feel belief slipping and doubt increasing. Please strengthen my belief and boldness, and give me what I lack, in Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.

About the Author Ron Buford, former coordinator of the UCC's God is still speaking campaign, consults with religious and nonprofit organizations, leads workshops, and preaches in churches across the U.S. and U.K. Ron also appears in the DVD-based progressive theology series, Living the Questions 2.0.

September 13, 2011

My Ways and Your Ways

Excerpt from Romans 14:13-15:2 

"Do not let what you regard as good get a bad name." (Good News Bible)

Reflection by William C. Green

We can be so good at what we do that there's no room for others to excel. We doubt they can. And, besides, "it's easier to do it myself." It's hard to "relinquish my proficiencies," as an outstanding preacher and social activist put it toward the end of his pastorate.

Leaving room for others is difficult when our ways work well. This was the problem Paul addressed in his letter to the Romans. He said don't block love by getting locked into your established roles and practices; don't let what you regard as good shut out others. There's more than one way to be excellent.

The spirit of Christ is inclusive. How these congregants voiced their belief and conducted themselves was fine, a good expression of freedom in Christ. But not if this got in the way of God's love for others.

Our intentions can be so good, our belief so solid, and our skill so proficient, that it's easy to hurt others without knowing it and stand in the way of their growth. Excellence itself gets a bad name when it discourages the excellence of others. And love itself is cheap when it's on my terms alone.

Knowing how to leave room for others and when to relinquish our ways for them to shine is a key to rewarding relationships — and a good expression of the spirit of Christ himself.

Prayer

God, may I encourage the excellence of others when their ways are not mine. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green, a United Church of Christ minister, is the Director of Long Looking, a consultancy service specializing in fundraising and education for congregations. He is the author of 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving.

September 14, 2011

What a Miracle Feels Like

Excerpt from Mark 6:45-56

"When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the sea."

Reflection by Christina Villa

This sentence from Mark is just one example of the peculiar way the Bible often has of describing extraordinary events.  Jesus walking on water is surely one of the major astounding things in the entire New Testament.  And yet here it's related almost as an afterthought, a minor detail, as in "she stepped off the curb, into a puddle."

You'd think there might be a little more build-up, some mention of the urgency Jesus felt to get out to the boat full of disciples by the most direct route.  But no, he sees them in trouble and goes over to help, "walking on the sea." No drama at all, just a flat statement.

This does often seem to be the way longed-for good news or desperately-needed help arrives in our lives. Without fanfare or advance notice, often after you've stopped waiting and wishing for it—there it simply is, like your lost dog sitting on the back steps. The job offer from an interview last year.  The college acceptance letter amid a pile of rejections.  The positive pregnancy test after years of infertility.  You can't believe it, you thank God, you look twice to make sure it's really true. 

When you're straining at the oars against an adverse wind, remember that at any moment you might look up and see salvation walking toward you, even if that seems as impossible as walking on water.   

Prayer

Dear God, thank you for the quiet miracles that change our lives.  Amen.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

September 15, 2011

Faithful

Excerpt from Psalm 105:1-6,37-45  

"O give thanks to the Lord, call on God's name, make known God's deeds among the peoples.  Sing to God, sing praises to God, tell of all God's wonderful works."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

A couple of years ago, I was coming up out of a Boston T station and was arrested by the sight of a huge banner covering one entire exterior wall of a downtown church.  It was there to celebrate the church's bicentennial: in letters that were three feet high if they were an inch, the sign proclaimed, "Celebrating 200 years of God's Faithfulness."

I remember feeling a bit convicted by that banner.  The various signs and banners on my church have lots of different purposes, most of them more or less holy: some are invitational, some informational, some inspirational.  But one way or another, they all have the same agenda: get people to come inside and join us.  Of course, there's nothing wrong with that: I believe good, gracious, faithful stuff happens in my church, and I'm eager to have people join us in it.

But this other church?  They spent a whole bunch of money on a sign that did nothing but glorify God.  Nothing but proclaim, on one of the busiest corners in Boston, that God is faithful.  Nothing but tell the world that God can be trusted.  Seems to me the world can use just a little bit more of that.

How has God been faithful to your church over the years?  What promises has God kept to your community, and how?

Who are you going to tell, and how?

Prayer

God, you are faithful in all things.  Thank you for keeping your promises to me, to my church, to the world.  Now give me grace to tell the world what you have done.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the just-published Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

September 16, 2011

The Test

Excerpt from 2 Corinthians 13:5-10

"Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test!"

Reflection by Felix Carrion

Among the most dreaded things we hold in common is the surprise quiz. I doubt there has ever been a student who shouted for joy at the sound of the teacher saying, "This morning you will be given a quiz."

In college, mid-terms and finals meant the dreaded "all-nighters." Whether they worked or not, they almost always meant you left it all for the last minute. (And no one really knows if all-nighters are effective or not.) At some point in the night, or as the sun made its appearance bringing you ever closer to the test, you resigned yourself to what you thought you knew and/or didn't know.

Well, Paul here instructs the folks in the church of Corinth to test themselves. Rather than the teacher giving the test, Paul is urging self-examination. Test to see if you are living in the faith. Test to see if your faith is vital. Test to see if Christ is in you. You can know the answer if you take the test.

I like this because the administrator and taker of the test are one and the same. Really! You can take it any day, week or year. You can take it at any time of the day: morning, mid-morning, noon, early afternoon, late afternoon, early evening, late evening, or in the middle of the night. And, you can take the test wherever you wish to take it: at home, at church, at work, in the park, or walking down the street. The thing is this. You choose when and where you get to take the test that will help you judge how vital or listless is your faith; that will help you to judge if the divine life of Jesus Christ is being communicated in and through you.

The one thing you don't want to do, however, is put it off.

Prayer

O God, I don't care what anyone else says. You are my favorite teacher. You in me! Your voice speaking to me! You judging me, in love and in truth, for my own good, my own salvation, my own joy! Amen.

About the Author Felix Carrion is Coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ.

September 17, 2011

Shout Out to Sunday School Teachers

Excerpt from Psalm 105: 1-6, 37-45

"Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold, and there was no one among their tribes who stumbled."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

It occurs to me this being Saturday, and early in September, there may be a fair number of folks preparing their first Sunday School lesson of the year today (or tonight). Thank you. Thank you for teaching, for telling the story, for loving the kids, and for helping all of us in the church to fulfill our baptismal promises to our children and their parents. It matters.

The long 105th Psalm basically tells the story of Israel and thus the story of God, or part of it. One of the main things we are up to in Sunday School is helping people learn and love the stories, the great stories of our faith.

Some opening lines from the novel Ceremony by Native American author, Leslie Marmon Silko, have stuck with me. "I will tell you something about stories . . . They aren't just entertainment. Don’t be fooled. They are all we have, you see, all we have to fight off illness and death. You don’t have anything if you don’t have the stories."

Imagine that: stories as health care! Stories to strengthen our immune system, set our broken bones and mend our torn hearts.

As people of faith, we have lots of amazing and wonderful stories. Together they make up one big story. It's the story of a God who created this good world and all of us in love and won't ever give up on us. It's the story of a God who has the first word and will have the last one, and that word is "Yes." It's the story of a God who finds a way when we don't, and who will be the way through life's many dangers, toils and snares.

So Sunday School teachers (preachers and parents), tell the stories. Furnish the imaginations of your children and adults with the stories. They aren't just entertainment. You don't have anything if you don't have the stories.

And Sunday School teachers: thank you.

Prayer

Dear Lord, bless all those who are your storytellers tomorrow. Grant them such grace that they may be so caught up in your story as to forget themselves and be truly found alive and anew in you. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

September 18, 2011

What Have You Done for Me Lately?

Excerpt from Psalm 105: 1-6, 37-45

"O Give thanks to God, call on God's name, make known God's Deeds among the peoples. Sing to God, sing praises to God; tell of all God's wonderful works."   (The New Century Psalter)

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

"Used to go to dinner almost every night / Danced until I thought I'd lost my breath. / Now it seems your dancing feet are always on my couch. / Good thing I cook or else we'd starve to death. / Ain't that a shame? /What have you done for me lately?"

These are a few of the lyrics to Janet Jackson's mega hit, "What Have You Done for Me Lately?"  In a real sense they express how most of us feel about relationships.  Past declarations of love and fidelity are no substitutes for current expressions of care and affection.  Love suffers greatly if it is not renewed daily by deeds that show how much a person still cares.

The Psalmist calls upon the children of Israel to make God's deeds known among all people – to talk about God's wonderful works.  In order for the children of Israel to be successful in this endeavor, they would have to point to divine activity that their contemporaries could see and readily relate to.  God's actions in ancient times would not be sufficient to convince the people of God's consistent grace and mercy.

What has God done for you and me lately?  Some of us can respond in the words of another well-known lyric: "Great is thy faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness, Morning by morning new mercies I see. . ."

We can recite the litany of ancient glories and biblical feats, but what new mercies in our lives are we able to name and celebrate today?  What new mercies in our lives are we willing to give God the credit for, today?  What new mercies in our lives can we share with others today?

If God is still speaking, what has God said to us lately?

Prayer

God, please show us how your love and care for us are renewed in every morning mist and in every evening shadow.  Then give us the unction to talk about it.  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

September 19, 2011

A Blessing for God's Handy-Persons

Excerpt from Exodus 31:1-11 

"...and I have filled him with the spirit of God, with ability, intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft."

Reflection by Maren Tirabassi

Until my son Matt became a master bicycle mechanic, I didn't know there was such a trade. Not a job, a trade. The technology, tools and technical expertise translate as well to most gym equipment . . . and to wheelchairs. At his shop they tune up and repair wheelchairs for free.

God asked Moses to set aside and consecrate Joshua's nephew Bezalel and his friend Oholiab because of their gifts of stone-cutting, woodwork, metallurgy, and fabric arts. They were going to create the tent of the ark of the covenant and its furnishings. Five chapters of Exodus are devoted to the details of their crafts. They shaped furnishings, vestments, curtains, a table, a lampstand, and a mercy seat. God said, "I have given skill to all the skillful."

This is a wonderful day to celebrate the spirit of God in every kind of craft. All around our churches and our communities are quilt makers and auto body mechanics, plumbers and watercolorists, potters and pipe fitters. Some of us use God's handy skills for amateur activities; some of us use our gifts for employment. Many of us are fortunate enough to be able to do both. Let's give ourselves a hand!

Prayer

God, take my hands and let them be – consecrated to you, every bit as much as my head and my heart. Amen.

About the Author Maren C. Tirabassi is Pastor of Union Congregational UCC of Madbury, NH. Her book, Gifts in Open Hands: More Worship Resources for the Global Community has just been published by The Pilgrim Press.

September 20, 2011

Quibbling and Quoting

Mark 1:21-22

"When the Sabbath arrived, Jesus lost no time in getting to the meeting place. He spent the day there teaching. They were surprised at his teaching—so forthright, so confident—not quibbling and quoting like the religion scholars."  (The Message)

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

"So what does your church believe?" If someone asked you that question, what would you say?

In the spirit of confession, let's acknowledge that many of us might respond by telling the person what our church does not believe. We might say, "We're not closed-minded, but open to all ideas. We welcome everybody, unlike some other churches. We're not like the fundamentalists who take scripture literally. And we're not like the churches who won't ordain women."

"OK," says the patient inquirer. "So what do you believe?"

We might continue, "Well, we believe that people can be free to believe many different things, so that's a tricky question to answer."

"OK, then," says the inquirer, now less patient. "Then what do you believe?"

"Well, I'm on a journey. It's a private matter. Here are the authors who have meant something to me and can say it so much better than I could. . . Blah, blah, blah."

Oh, just stop it.

We are told that one of the things that impressed Jesus' listeners was that he spoke plainly, "not quibbling and quoting like the religious scholars." He just put his beliefs and teachings out there and was ready to withstand some debate.

You can be open-minded and still know what you think. You can be accepting of other people's ideas but still willing to articulate your own. You can rejoice in the many diverse paths to God and still invite your neighbor to church.

Just say it.

Prayer

God, you have already given me the words to express how I know and love you. Help me get over the quibbling and quoting, and just say it. Otherwise, how will they know? Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

September 21, 2011

Finding God in All the Wrong Places

Excerpt from Deuteronomy 6:10-25

"Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are all around you."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

A cartoon in a magazine depicts a man and a woman leaving worship.  The sign outside the church announces that the sermon topic for the day was the Ten Commandments.  The man says, "Well, at least I haven't made any graven images lately."

The sad truth is, if the man in the cartoon is anything like us, he HAS made graven images—that is, idols, false gods.

Today, no longer are we tempted to worship gods by the name of Zeus or Aphrodite or Apollo.  Now we are wooed by gods named Education or Success or Family or Money.

Paul Tillich, an influential theologian of the last century, defined God as a person's "ultimate concern."  If you want to know what your ultimate concern is—or, to put it another way, if you want to know what your idols are—ask yourself these questions:  Where is your ultimate loyalty?  What do you consistently make time for?  In what have you put your trust?  Where can you be most deeply threatened?

No one ever says, "I'm going to worship an idol now."  Instead, idolatry happens when we invest our fullest energy and our ultimate allegiance in those things—perhaps even good things—that are not ultimate.   And if we worship idols, instead of the one true God, we will be ultimately disappointed.  There is only one God worthy of our worship.

Prayer

O God, the one true God, guide my actions and my thoughts this day so that I will not look for you in all the wrong places.  Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

September 22, 2011

For Your Own Good

Excerpt from Isaiah 48:17-21

"Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy one of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your own good, who leads you in the way you should go. O that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your prosperity would have been like a river, and your success like the waves of the sea."

Reflection by Felix Carrion

In June I was at the Pike Place Market in Seattle where I sampled a peach. The peach was so intensely good that I said, "Oh my God."  The gentleman who cut me the piece responded, "'Oh my God' is in three weeks. These are simply amazing."
How could something this simple be so good?! How could something this good get even better?!

In the order of creation, this "good,"  this goodness, is first. We know this because from Genesis we learn that God declared his/her creation to be good. Of us, she said, "very good." However, we can come to know this not because of what we have been told, even if it does come from the scriptures, but because we finally get to pay attention to and experience the "good" of our essence,  our being,  our innate structure.

The essence of the goodness of the peach was already in the peach. The essence of the goodness was the peach.

When this passage speaks of God teaching us for our own good, I believe it is referring to our protection, our prosperity, our posterity, both spiritually and materially. And yet, these aspects of a good life pale in comparison to the deeper good that we are. This is why I believe makes a comparison, to give depth to this good:  "Then your prosperity would have been like a river and your success like the waves of the sea."  If I may take a moment of indulgence: like the peach.

Like something you've never experienced before because you simply did not know it was there or have neglected it far too long. So, pay attention now. It's for "your own good".

Prayer

O God, why is it so hard to believe that what you have created is good, very good! Far too long we have listened to others. It's time to listen to you. For you know better; and so can we. Amen.

About the Author Felix Carrion is Coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ.

September 23, 2011

***Sneaky Resumes

Excerpt from James 4:4–10

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

Have you ever noticed yourself sneak yourself into a conversation?  You don't really say what you are doing, you just do it.  "When I was in Italy…."  Then you go on to relate to the question of how crusty the whole wheat bread is.  You are not really joining the conversation about the bread.  You are doing what Karl Jung says we all, almost always, do.  He says we "smuggle" our biography into everything.

Post-moderns and critical theorists agree.   We not only smuggle ourselves into the conversation; we also often are so blinded by the presuppositions of our class, race, church, parents, colleges that we don't really think.  We simply react.  That by itself would not be such a problem, if only we would refuse to be proud about it.

Nor would smuggling of ourselves into conversations be a big problem if we weren't proud
about it.

Self-satisfaction is a real problem.  We can learn instead to be humble about our blinders.  We can also learn to talk about the bread and openly "brag" about how it is better in Italy.  We can especially brag if we keep a smile on our face and a joke in our heart about how great we really aren't.

Prayer

O God, grant us a way to see that we don't have to prove ourselves with you.  Let us enjoy grace and forswear pride.  Amen.

***Forwarders note: I'm not at all sure what this means or has to do with anything, but thought maybe some of you could find a grain [no pun intended] of truth in it someplace.

                Jerry

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press.  Check out her work at www.judson.org.

September 24, 2011

The Cost of Forgiveness

Excerpt from Numbers 27:12-14   

"When the whole community complained against me…you refused to acknowledge my holy power before them."

Reflection by William C. Green

Moses was barred from the promised land because of a mistake he made that insulted God. As Kyra Sedgwick (Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson) said in TNT's "The Closer," after listening empathetically to a good man who had committed a crime, "I love you. You're under arrest." In effect, that's what God said to much-loved Moses. "You will not enter the land I am giving my people."
 
Midway through the wilderness journey the people were dying of thirst. God had commanded Moses to speak to a rock and then water would flow. Moses was so furious with the raucous crowd that he didn't just speak to the rock, he struck it hard with his staff, twice.

Moses' sin was not his anger, which was understandable, but his irreverence.  For all anyone knew, Moses was responsible, not the power of God, which Moses misrepresented and took into his own hands.

Moses later accepted responsibility for what he'd done wrong—without forgetting what he'd done right. He had led the people to the brink of a promising land. He couldn't get in, but they could! So his life ended in a song about God's deliverance through so much trouble. And then he blessed the people, knowing God's forgiving love.

Forgiveness can't mean much if we don't believe there's much to forgive. Neither can responsibility. Moses knew both and his days ended happily. So it can be for us.

Prayer

Merciful God, your forgiveness restores us to responsibility. I pray for forgiveness. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green, a United Church of Christ minister, is the Director of Long Looking, a consultancy service specializing in fundraising and education for congregations. He is the author of 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving.

September 25, 2011

Darn That Jesus!
 
Excerpt from Matthew 21: 28 - 32

"'Which of the two did the will of his father?' They said, 'The first.' Jesus said to them, 'Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.'"

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

Darn that Jesus! Isn't it just like him to mess up my Sunday. Here I was planning to go to church where I could pledge my support for truth, justice, kindness, generosity and all right causes and feel pretty good about myself, before coming home to take a long nap, watch a violent football game, have a few stiff drinks with dinner and go to bed.

And then this. This story of two brothers. One a yes-man. "Yup, Daddy, that's right, I'm off to the vineyard. No, don't thank me, it's the right thing to do!" He then snuck out the back to go joy-riding and catch a movie. The other son, never very cooperative, told the old man, "forget it." But then, surprise, he couldn't quite forget it himself and went down to the fields to help out, working a long, hot day.

How does this happen? How does it happen that we say "yes" but do "no"? How does it happen that we say things, and really believe them at the time, but they don't translate into the way we live and the actions we take?

And how does it happen that at least sometimes the people that don't seem to give a hoot about all the right values and pretty much thumb their noses at them, go out of their way to help out and give all they've got?

Well, here I am stuck in church, messed up by Jesus . . . Here I am wondering if it's me he's talking about. Here I am thinking the amazing thing is that despite all the times I have said "yes" and done "no," he's come to sit now at my side. And this is what he says, "Let's give it another shot. Don't just believe in me, follow me. Here we go. That's right. Just follow me, you'll get it."

Prayer

Thank you, Lord, for disturbing my fool's bliss, for asking hard questions and letting me struggle with the answers. And thank you that when the true, honest answer isn't pretty, your verdict remains the same: grace. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

September 26, 2011

Righteous

Excerpt from Philippians 1:3-14

 ". . . having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell
 
In the Northern Hemisphere, we're in the midst of the great season of harvest and thanksgiving, when the food that we've been working to grow all year will be gathered into granary and store, there to see us through the winter.  Well, in theory, anyway.  For most of us, the only fall vegetables we'll actually be gathering in will be the plastic ones that spill out of the cornucopia we haul out of the upstairs closet every Thanksgiving.

Nevertheless, this is a good time to ask what a "harvest of righteousness" would look like.

Are the vegetables in your fridge righteous?  How many pesticides, how much fuel, how much labor under what conditions and pay did it take to get them to your table?

Or the deli meat in your lunch bag.  Under what conditions would the turkey or the pig have had to live—and die—for your sandwich to be a righteous one?

Or the water in your bottle.  How much plastic, how much fuel goes into a righteous drink?

By definition, a harvest is what you get from the combination of God’s gifts and human efforts.  As we—who are most of us so removed from the sources of our food that it's easy to believe it’s grown in the back of the grocery store—enter the great harvest season, it seems a good time to pause and ask:

Is what I’m about to put into my mouth a righteous harvest, or something else?

Prayer

God, I'm hungry.  Fill me up not with things that will not satisfy, but with righteousness.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the just-published Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

September 27, 2011

Enough Already

Excerpt from Luke 12:13-21

[A rich farmer] thought to himself, "What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?"  Then he said, "I will do this:  I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods."... But God said to him, "You fool!  This very night your soul is required of you.  And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"

Meditation by Martin B. Copenhaver

When was it exactly that we began to need such big closets?

When my family lived in Phoenix, we had a comfortable home that was built in the early 1980s and, like most homes built in recent decades, it had very large closets—not large enough for Imelda Marcos' shoe collection, mind you, but plenty large for all the stuff we had.

When we moved to Massachusetts, we bought a house built in 1931.  And, like most homes built in that era, it has small closets.  This made unpacking a particular challenge.  We simply did not have storage space for all of our stuff. 

How did we end up with all this stuff, anyway?  And is that why so many houses are so large these days?  After all, as the comedian George Carlin put it, what is a house but a large box to keep all of our stuff, with a lid on it?  And we have a lot of stuff these days.  So now the average American house is twice as big as it was fifty years ago, while in the same time period family units became smaller.

How much stuff is enough?  And how much space is enough to store it all?

For most of us, "enough" is defined as something more than what we have, a shifting standard that can be, and often is, adjusted upward.

I've never been to a dog track, but I'm pretty sure about one thing.  I think I know the name of that wooden rabbit that keeps the panting pack running around the track.  That rabbit's name is, "Enough."  And, whether it is a dog race, or a rat race, no one ever seems to catch it.

Prayer

God, your creation is infused with your generosity.  You take care of our every need.  Quiet our hearts—and rebuke us—when we fear that there is not enough.  Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

September 28, 2011

Happy Birthday, Alanna

Excerpt from 1 John 1:1-4 

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our own eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our own hands, concerning the word of life… that which we have seen and heard we proclaim to you."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

When I arrived home after the birth of our daughter, Alanna, 27 years ago, I opened a bottle of champagne, lit an enormous cigar and called everyone I knew.  I used the same words in each conversation until it became a kind of litany:  "Karen and the baby are fine.  We named her Alanna.  It's a Gaelic term of endearment.  It means, 'Beloved.'  She was born at 2:30.  She weighs eight pounds, two ounces.  She has the most beautiful long eyelashes."

Here is what I wrote the next day about the same experience:  "What swept over me was an almost palpable sense of time.  We speak of there being three dimensions of space, and that time is the fourth dimension.  But, in a way, I think time has dimensions of its own.  Time, too, can have a height and a depth.  And then there are rare and precious moments that are so full, so laden with meaning, that the moment seems to plumb eternity.  Such was the time in the delivery room."

"Such moments are rare, indeed, and necessarily so, for if we lived every moment as if each moment were filled with eternity in miniature, our human hearts and minds would be overwhelmed.  But the light of such times does shed truth on the more routine times in our lives.  The nearness, power, and mystery of God, so evident in such moments, does not disappear, but remains a soft glow on the rest of time.  Eternity lodged in the moment.  The power of God held so close in my arms in the form of this tiny baby.  Such an experience is not forgotten, or simply remembered.  Rather, it is one moment’s gift to the rest of my days."

When I was calling to tell people about Alanna's birth, still swimming in the depths of the mystery, I did not even hint at the larger dimensions of what that experience was for me.  Sometimes it is only after time has elapsed that you can offer your testimony.  And so I offer mine 27 years later.  Happy birthday, Alanna.

Prayer

"Now thank we all our God, with hearts and hands and voices, who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices, who, from our mother's arms, has blessed us on our way, with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today."

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

September 29, 2011

Today, Can I Have a Three-Martini Lunch?

Mark 2:18-20

Jesus said, "When you're celebrating a wedding, you don't skimp on the cake and wine. You feast. Later you may need to pull in your belt, but not now. As long as the bride and groom are with you, you have a good time. No one throws cold water on a friendly bonfire. This is Kingdom Come!" (The Message)

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

I am so happy to read in this scripture that Jesus is telling me to go out and have a good time. Let's all throw away the boring old sandwich we made for lunch and go out for steaks, cake and martinis instead. This is one case where I am more than willing to become a biblical literalist. It's in the Bible, so let's go!

But in the interests of honesty, this passage needs a little unpacking. When Jesus said this, it was because some Pharisees had been criticizing him and his followers for not fasting. The Jesus gang looked like they were enjoying life too much and having way too much fun to be religious.

Jesus responded by hinting that he was not going to be around forever. He knew his time on earth was limited.

My time on earth is limited too, and so is yours. Nobody gets to stay here forever. So should we all just eat, drink and be merry?

Not if we look at the rest of Jesus' life. There were many times he went without food for forty days. There were many times he put other people's healing ahead of his own well-being, and of course on the cross he suffered unimaginably.

But he also told people to celebrate and enjoy the cake and the good company, when the time was right. Life involves both feasting and fasting. And amazingly, he didn't leave us with a rulebook but left each one of us to figure out when to do both.

Which probably means I am eating my sandwich for lunch today after all.

Prayer

Gracious God of heavenly banquets, help us to know when to feast and when to fast, and to find the value in both. For what we are about to receive, and for what we are about not to receive, we give you thanks, O Lord. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

September 30, 2011

Tell Us How You Really Feel

Excerpt from Mark 11:20-25

"Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered."

Reflection by Christina Villa

I'm always a little surprised to find that the Jesus in the Bible is really not the same as the Jesus in hymns and on those decorative plates your grandmother had.

Take today's Scripture.  Jesus curses a fig tree and makes it wither because he was hungry and the fig tree didn't have any figs on it.  Not a very good example to set for the disciples.  Not very pastoral.

He doesn't do this kind of thing often, but nevertheless this scripture suggests that Jesus had an actual human personality, which means he wasn't always in a good mood. Even Jesus got aggravated.  And he let it show.

Jesus was perfectly good, but he wasn't always perfectly nice. One of the many reasons I would never make it as a clergy person is that people expect ministers to be not only ultra-good, but also super-nice and pastoral all the time. Not even Jesus could manage that. And I wonder: is that what we really want in our spiritual leaders?

In my earlier years of working among ministers, I spent a lot of time in meetings trying to figure out how they really felt.  Anything negative was phrased so carefully that I frequently thought something was being praised when in fact it was being criticized. I remember one former colleague who would energetically nod his head up and down while saying, "No, I don't think so." 

This is what happens when we forget that nice and good aren't the same thing. Let's give our pastors a break and let them have actual human personalities, just like the rest of us. And Jesus.

Prayer

Please watch over those who serve you and care for all of us.  Keep us from making unfair demands on them. Remind us that their jobs are not easy. Make us grateful for them. Amen.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

October 1, 2011

Non-Verbal Communication

Excerpt from Psalm 19 

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of God's hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.  They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.  Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world."   (NIV)

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

Dr. Fred Craddock, my homiletics professor in seminary, used to tell us often: "Preach Christ.  Use words if you have to." 

The import of Dr. Craddock's directive was to help us, as young preachers, to understand the limitations of language.  He was really pointing us to the value of communication beyond words; trying to help us see that words alone, no matter how articulate, can never fully express experiences with the Divine.

Sometimes we preach by our mere presence with persons in crisis.  No words can adequately explain or completely console the situation of those who suffer, but our presence with them at those times of distress speaks volumes.  Sometimes in visiting the infirm and the disconsolate, we minister much more by listening than by speaking.  Sometimes a simple gesture of concern for someone who feels forgotten or neglected says more than an entire sermon or lecture series on compassion and community.

The Psalmist says that "the heavens declare the glory of God."  Without words, they convey to us the grandeur and the amazing grace of God.  Beyond language, they speak to us about the awesome details of God's care for the human family.  The very resiliency and consistency of the natural order communicates the faithfulness of God's relentless love without verbal expression.  Even in the context of natural disaster, when a terrible hurricane had ravaged the main characters in her novel, leaving them  speechless, Zora Neale Hurston asserts: "Their eyes were watching God." 

Someone asked Jesus: "How much do you love me?"  Jesus said nothing.  He stretched out his nail-scarred hands, hung his head and died on an old rugged cross.  What more can be said?

Prayer

Dear God, even if we had 10,000 tongues, we could not fully express your glory and your goodness.  Thank you for communication beyond words.  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

October 2, 2011

Forget What Happened Yesterday

Excerpt from Philippians 3:4b-14 

" . . . forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead . . ."

Reflection by Christina Villa

Energy Maburutse, a 21-year old from Zimbabwe, has the greatest name for someone who has never been able to take one step on his own.  Born with a severely crippling bone disease in a rural Zimbabwean village where wheelchairs were unheard of and his mother carried him everywhere, Energy is now a college freshman in the U.S.  You can read the full story by New York Times columnist Frank Bruni here.  "His is a miserable story that became a miraculous one," says Bruni.

If ever there were a story to make you aware of how many blessings you take for granted, this is it.  But it's also a story about breaking free of the grip of the past and memories of deprivation and obstacles thrown your way. You are more than the sum of what's happened to you so far. You are also what could happen to you in the future, the sum of your hopes and aspirations.

Truly, the only way to “strain forward to what's ahead” is to "forget what lies behind."  Dwelling on the defeats and disappointments of the past guarantees you'll have a fine, discerning eye for disappointments to come—and partial blindness to anything else.

Few of us are ever going to experience anything like the misery to miracle transformation of our lives that Energy Maburutse has.  But that's only because we started out with a lot less misery and require a much smaller miracle. A small miracle is good enough, though.  Imagine being like Energy as Frank Bruni describes him at the end of his column.  "I asked him if anything about his new life disappointed him. He stared blankly at me. To him, the question made no sense whatsoever."

Prayer

Let us value life so much that disappointment makes no sense.  Amen.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

October 6, 2011

Mooby

Excerpt from Psalm 106

"They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

One of the awesomer religiously-themed movies out there is Kevin Smith's Dogma, in which an atheist abortion clinic worker — who also happens to be the last scion of Christ — attempts to stop two rebel angels from unraveling creation.  Along the way, she's aided by Metatron (aka the Voice of God), a writer's-blocked Muse, an elided Apostle, and two pot-smoking prophets.  [Warning for parents and the easily offended: just because a Daily Devotional author recommends a movie doesn't mean it's appropriate for all audiences.]

In one scene, the renegade angels attack as idolaters the board of a corporation whose mascot is Mooby, an anthropomorphic golden calf with a gigantic media and fast food empire.

The golden calf reference is pretty glaring.  The claim about what constitutes idolatry, on the other hand, is uncharacteristically subtle for a Kevin Smith movie.  Jesus and the prophets would have gotten it, though.  The claim is that worship isn't primarily made up of religious practices, words, or postures.  Instead, you worship whatever you give most of your thoughts to, whatever you spend most of your time and money on, whatever you would go crazy without, whatever you look forward to most, whatever you long for most of all, whatever you stare at in adoration longest.

By this standard, I don't know a single person, including me, who couldn't use a little iconoclasm.  So let us pray:

Prayer

Dear Lord, please forgive me all my Moobys and return me to you, the only true object of worship.  And if it's not too presumptuous to say so, I totally hope you're like the God in the movie.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the just-published Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

October 13, 2011

Has God Spoken to You Lately?

Excerpt from Exodus 33:7-11  

"After Moses had gone in the Tent of the Lord's presence, the Lord would speak to Moses face-to-face, just as someone speaks to a friend."  (Good News Bible)

Reflection by William C. Green

It's hard to imagine what it would be like to be spoken to by God face-to-face. What would God look like?

But this is to mistake speaking for seeing. Moses did not see God; rather God spoke to him. This was a personal experience, but it wasn't meant to be private. The purpose was to enable the people themselves, through Moses, to listen to the God who still speaks to all. Then as now the question is not whether and to whom God is speaking, but whether we’re listening.

Sometimes something of God hits us with overwhelming feeling. We decide to begin, or end, a marriage or partnership. We find another job. We start speaking out instead of hiding how we really feel. We finally accept the risk of serious surgery because the alternative is worse.

Other times God's word strikes us with the force of a hint. This is simply a hunch, an inclination to go one way rather than another. At those times it's helpful to remember that God can't guide us until we get going—just as Abraham and Sara headed out to the promised land, "going out not knowing" and were corrected along the way.

God reaches us in many ways. Whether or not any of these can be called "face-to-face," any of them can help us move ahead backed up by grace beyond measure. And when we get it wrong, we'll be redirected.

Prayer

Gracious God, may I hear the word you are speaking—and learn to take a hint. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green, a United Church of Christ minister, is the Director of Long Looking, a consultancy service specializing in fundraising and education for congregations. He is the author of 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving.

October 14, 2010

Consider Breaking a Rule

Excerpt from Acts 10: 9-23a 

"He heard a voice saying, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.' The voice said to him again, a second time, 'What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' This happened three times . . . Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen . . . While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, 'Look, three men are searching for you.  Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation, for I have sent them.'"

Reflection by Christina Villa

Peter is hungry and has a vision in which God tells him what to do: "Get up, Peter; kill and eat."  Wait a minute, Peter says, I'm not going to just kill any old thing and eat it!  There are rules against that, and even having God tell him it's OK—not once, not twice, but three times—isn't enough for Peter.  He's still greatly puzzled. What could it mean?  What should he do? He’s still sitting there thinking about it when the Spirit, sounding exasperated, taps him on the shoulder: "Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation."

Sometimes we get so used to following "rules" that our obedience to them gets in the way of our obedience to God. Sometimes rules protect us from challenge or risk. In the process of staying safe, and perhaps congratulating ourselves for being good rule-followers, we never do anything that might be considered divinely inspired—or even very important to us. 

What rules are you busy following while the Spirit is repeatedly trying to make you get up and do something else, something you were meant to do, something God has in mind for you? 

Prayer

Thank you for never giving up on trying to get my attention.  Amen. 

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

October 15, 2011

Hands

Excerpt from Exodus 39:32-43 

"Then they brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent and all its utensils, its hooks, its frames, its bars, its pillars, and its bases; the covering of tanned rams' skins and the covering of fine leather, and the curtain for the screen; the ark of the covenant with its poles and the mercy seat; the table with all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence; the pure lampstand with its lamps set on it and all its utensils, and the oil for the light; the golden altar, the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the entrance of the tent…The Israelites had done all of the work just as the LORD had commanded Moses."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

Here's the thing about hands.  The same pair can be used to build a bomb and to stroke a child's face; to smack your spouse around and to paint a masterpiece; to flip somebody off and to remove a cancer from an ailing body.  It's all about who's in control.

The Israelites had just blown it big time: they had cast themselves a golden calf to worship.  The story glosses over the actual process of making the calf, but it must have taken a lot of work, some of it quite skilled, to produce such a thing.  A lot of work, a lot of craftsmanship, a lot of time, a lot of loving care…all to produce one of the worst abominations God seems able to imagine.

Now here are those same people, offering the Tabernacle.  The hands that created an abomination have now woven, and dyed, and cast, and sewn, and built a great portable cathedral in the desert.  Those same sinning hands have now produced tools to dispense forgiveness, and furniture for righteousness, and containers for covenant, and a seat for mercy, and a great thing of beauty rising in the starkest of surroundings.

When left to their own devices, the best the people could come up with were a cow and a party.  With God in control, they crafted mercy, and forgiveness, and beauty.

Who's going to control your hands today?

Prayer

God, I know whose playground idle hands are.  So grant me tasks to do with mine that will be gentle, beautiful, creative, and just.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the just-published Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

October 16, 2011

About Taxes

Excerpt from Matthew 22: 15-22

"Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?"

Reflection by Felix Carrion

Entrapment is the aim of the question about taxes posed to Jesus by the Pharisees. But Jesus is too smart to fall into the trap. He's also too smart to supply a yes or no response. And, for sure, he will not answer a question each of them must answer for themselves.

(Having said this, Google "famous quotes about taxes," if you want to laugh and be intrigued.)

Now back to the question about taxes served to Jesus on a large platter of political machinations, seasoned with a whole lot of flattery. (Is this sounding familiar?)

Here's the deal. Two factions in Jesus' day were having it out over taxes. The Herodians, supporters of the local dynasty of Herod, were clear about paying taxes to the emperor, their overload. With Rome's backing they had garnered their power and fortunes. The Zealots, on the other hand, were committed to overthrowing Rome's rule over Israel, and would not support in any shape or form paying taxes to their oppressors. The Pharisees were kind of in the middle. They did not abide being subjects of Roman dominance but were in opposition to the Zealots’ use of force.

Had Jesus answered no, he probably would have been arrested on the spot. Had he answered yes, he would have landed squarely on the side of the Herodians, willing subjects of Rome and of this world’s power and fortune.

So, Jesus says show me the coin used for the tax.  (Note he didn't pull one out of his "pocket.") Whose head is this, and whose title? They answer, Caesar's.  Jesus responds, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God.”

What I hear and see in Jesus' actions and words is this: What does the world say about who is the head of your life? What does the world say about what this ruler is entitled to?

Now, what do you say?

Prayer

O God, grant me pure clarity about what belongs to this world and what belongs to you. And, may I give my all to you. Amen.

About the Author Felix Carrion is Coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ.

October 17, 2011

Applause in Church

Excerpt from Psalm 150 

"Praise God in God's sanctuary! Praise God with the blast of a ram’s horn! Praise God with drum and dance! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!"

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

I was recently in a congregation where everything was greeted with applause. Well, okay, not quite everything. People applauded the choir's anthem, the children's song, all the announcements and even the prayers of a lay leader. But no one, as I recalled, applauded the offering.

Is applause in church okay or not? Is it okay sometimes but not other times? I've been in some churches where thunderous applause seemed like another form of praise of God and just right. And I've been in churches where applause made it seem that worship was a performance and the congregation an audience and just wrong.

What I mostly noticed in the church where everything but the offering was responded to with applause is that the open and empty spaces in which God might move and get to us were all filled up. They were filled in and filled up with applause. No silence was allowed.

That church seemed long on friendly, but short on mystery.

While I have experienced times when applause in worship was spontaneous, joyful and somehow right, when applause becomes a norm or expectation it does turn worship into something it isn't, namely a performance. Worse, it fills up the spaces, the silent spaces following a powerful solo or anthem or sharing or testimony where God's presence is palpable, or might be.

Another way to put this reservation about applause is to say that applause tends to move us out of our hearts and into our heads. We ask, ":Did I like that?" "Should I applaud?" "Will it make him/ her/ them feel good and appreciated?"

One thing that gifted worship leaders do, in my observation, is they don't do too much. They lead with a light touch. They leave room for God. They hold the space. And only very rarely do they invite applause.

Prayer

Thank you Lord, for worship. It's a different and special time. Thank you for worship leaders who lead lightly and don’t need applause because they know it's not about them. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

October 18, 2011

Majoring in Minors, Minoring in Majors

Excerpt from Numbers 12:1-2

"Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.  'Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?' they asked.  'Hasn't the Lord also spoken through us?'  And the Lord heard this."  (NIV)

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

Determining what's really important and pertinent to our lives is an ongoing struggle.  Too often we confuse the tangential with the essential.  Why else would high school sports command the attention of the multitudes while high school graduation rates plummet with little public concern?  Or what about the fact that more people are likely to vote for the next "American Idol" than for the next governor of their state?  And we all know that more of us watched the royal wedding of Prince William and Lady Katherine than President Obama's address to the joint session of Congress regarding the American Jobs Bill.  And this is to say nothing of how the NFL, the NBA and NASCAR actually determine much of our church calendars.

The children of Israel had been delivered from bondage in Egypt, but they faced colossal challenges as they sought to posses their land of promise.  They had settlements to negotiate, communities to build, children to nurture and a destiny to realize.  But in the midst of these awesome challenges and opportunities, Miriam and Aaron turned their attention to the personal prerogatives of their brother Moses.  They murmured against Moses' selection of a woman from Ethiopia (a Cushite) to be his wife.

How sad that even to this day, so many people choose to neglect the pertinent matters of the common good in their self-righteous quests to regulate the personal liberties of other individuals.  While the nation stagnates in the grip of economic crisis, there are those whose main agenda is the denial of marriage equality to all Americans.  While public schools falter and crime increases and prisons multiply, many can focus only on the repeal of women's reproductive rights.  While globalization has made the need for multi-religious dialogue more necessary than ever, there are those who think it is of vital importance to deny the building of a mosque near Ground Zero. 

Isn't it time that we redeem the time by reassessing our priorities and deciding what's really important?

Prayer

Gracious God, please give us discernment to know what is pertinent and vital to our common good.  And give us respect for the individual liberties of all.  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

October 19, 2011

What is Your Testimony?

Excerpt from John 1: 29-34  

"I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God."

Reflection by Ron Buford

The gospel narratives, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are compelling testimonies to a life-changing, mysteriously powerful, spiritual presence wrapped in human form . . .  Jesus. The gospel writers' reflections on Jesus' greatness and on people's reactions in his day still inspire people across continents and centuries.

You, too, have holy moments to share. Do you recognize and capture these moments or toss them away? Reclaim them.

John received a holy impression that a miraculous presence in human form would seek him out, asking to be baptized. John testifies to his impression being confirmed on the unforgettable day Jesus came to be baptized.

God is still speaking to you in holy impressions. Do you miss God, thinking you are not worthy? Stop belittling yourself. You are one of God's windows into the world.

Whether age 9 or 109, you are still having holy moments. Was it the first time you saw the twinkle in the eye of someone you love? Was it at an altar of prayer or communion? Was it was when you first held your newborn child? Was it the time some new idea flowed through you? Was it during the look you exchanged with someone and knew it would be your last? Take time, despise the fear, and set your story free among those you love. It is not too late, even if it involves someone dead; imagine him or her sitting across from you. Verbalize or write your testimony to a divine moment – it is God’s presence present to the world. Unleash it!

Prayer

Gracious God, help me to recognize all the places I see You and give me the courage to write or verbalize a testimony to my encounter with You. Amen.

About the Author Ron Buford is Interim Minister for Discipleship at Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts. The former coordinator of the UCC's God is still speaking campaign, Ron consults with UCC conferences and churches across the nation and appears in the DVD-based progressive theology series, Living the Questions 2.0.

October 20, 2011

A Mother's Work is Never Done

Excerpt from Mark 1: 29-31 

"Simon's mother-in-law was sick in bed, burning up with fever. They told Jesus. He went to her, took her hand, and raised her up. No sooner had the fever left than she was up fixing dinner for them."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

This story cracks me up. Simon's mother was very ill, consumed with a fever, but Jesus was able to cure his friend's mother, to literally "raise her up." What a moment that must have been.

So after this life-threatening illness and a miracle cure, what does this woman do next? She makes them all dinner, of course. Simon may be a grown-up, his mother may have just had a near-death experience, but a mother's work is never done.

I know one could make a feminist analysis of this story, and feel sorry for the hard work women had to do in a patriarchal society. But as a postmodern woman, I still relate to Simon's mother simply as a mother.

These days, with one child in college, and another with three short years left at home, I find myself longing to cook meals for my kids. These days, we have to schedule family dinners in advance with our busy high school sophomore. So I love it when my daughter and a group of her friends just happen to find themselves together around the kitchen counter, and I can whip up a little something. I’m eager for my son's first trip home from college because he has already told me what he wants me to make him for dinner.

In my early years of parenting, cooking for my children was just another chore, another stressor in an overscheduled working mom's life. But now, I'd like to do more of it.

When Simon's mother recovered, she must have been enormously grateful to have been given more days to live. But what she chose to do in that moment was something very ordinary. She cooked a meal for her son and his friends. Because when you look back on your life, it's not the big vacations, the promotions, or the extraordinary events you remember. It's the simple stuff, like cooking a meal for your son and his friends.

Prayer

God, you are the host, the mother who waits for us with a heavenly banquet and a loving heart. In you, may we find the grace to delight in each other and in each day you give us. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

October 21, 2011

The Passages That Make Us Say “Eew”

Excerpt from Titus 2: 7-8,11-15  

“Show yourself in all respects a model of good works.”

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

Today's assigned reading from the Bible is from the letter to Titus, sometimes attributed to the Apostle Paul, chapter 2, verses 7-8 and 11-15, which of course sent me immediately to verses 9-10 to see what was left out.  Here are those unassigned verses:

“Tell slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give satisfaction in every respect; they are not to talk back, not to pilfer, but to show complete and perfect fidelity, so that in everything they may be an ornament of God our Savior.”

Eew.  No wonder they left out those verses.

Today it would be hard to find a moral issue about which there is greater agreement than that slavery is wrong.  But nowhere in the Bible is the practice of slavery condemned.  Slavery is not defended as much as it is simply assumed.  What are we to make of that?

When Paul said, in another letter, that in Christ there is no longer slave or free, it came like a revelatory flash.  Only hundreds of years later, however, were the full implications of that understanding seen completely.  God's revelation may occur in a flash, but our understanding of it unfolds over time.

This understanding is deeply embedded in our tradition.  John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrims, sent off members of his congregation to the New World with these words in 1620:  “The Lord has more truth and light yet to break forth out of his [sic] holy word. Or, as we like to say in the United Church of Christ today, God is still speaking.  And, thank God, it is true.

Prayer

God, give me ears to hear what you are saying today, even if it is different from what I thought I heard you say yesterday.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

October 22, 2011

The End of All Our Searching

Excerpt from John 5: 39-47 

"You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings."

Reflection by Felix Carrion

Many of the religious thinkers of Jesus' day were troubled by Jesus, by his thoughts about God, by his approach to truth. The same was the case in the early church when the gospel of John was written. To be fair to some of these folks, they were not ready to let go of cherished ideas and theological doctrines that may have held the strongest sway in their lives for a long time. Yet, the more they hardened their understandings, the more calcified they became. In the end, they could neither see nor accept that much in their own scriptures pointed to one who would love God, love truth, and love all people, like Jesus did.

When we seek validation from scriptures we are more preoccupied with our glory or the glory of others than the glory of God. We want the scriptures to point back to our position. We want to win the debate. We want to prove the opponent wrong. We want to be right. Convinced that we are right, this self-gratifying approval trumps the honest inquiry and a passion for the truth.

There is another way to gain the truth from scriptures. Stand in the path that opens the scriptures, and be prepared to go wherever the scriptures lead. Search them for the truth you are seeking and you will not be disappointed. Your perspective may end up validated; it may also be refuted. Either way, you will have come upon the deeper truth that points back or forward to God, who in the end is the end of all our searching.

Prayer

O God, light a fire in my heart and mind for your truth. Make me a lover of your truth. Amen.

About the Author Felix Carrion is Coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ.

October 23, 2011

Packaging vs. Presentation

Excerpt from John 6:26

"You ate your fill of the loaves. . ."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

The reason I love scissors is that they cut things out and up.  Scissors frame a geranium by taking off the parts that have already had their show.  They take a picture from a magazine and make it look all yours.  Scissors find newspaper clippings in an otherwise over-stimulated, heavy mess, which mess makes your back tired if you put the whole thing in your backpack and get on the subway.  Once scissors have had their way with the newspaper, you can carry the five articles you really want to read as though you and not over-stimulation were in charge. 

Scissors also address that major postmodern problem of over-packaging. I don’t mean just the almonds but our outfits.  Over-packaging is a menace, causing the outer to prohibit entry into the inner.  Presentation, on the other hand, is a matter of style, which is spiritually stunning.  Nothing is so important as the way we present ourselves, wrap ourselves, choose ourselves.  Like the backpack with its choices, we become light when self-styling.  Packaging is NOT style so much as it is a fortress.  Scissors break through the fortress and get to the stuff inside, which stuff is delicious, beautiful, useful, and stylish.

Scissors are likewise useful on the road.  I keep a pair in the car in case I see a field of wildflowers so abundant that I can take some for a preplaced jar in the car.  I would never take from a small bunch, only a large bunch.  Seeds matter.  The next season matters.  But without the scissors I couldn’t take the asters or the daisies with such ease.

I keep scissors close by.  I have eaten my fill and want satisfaction and flow, not fortress and weight.  Scissors help me.

Prayer

God of what is inside each of us, thank you for scissors and my ability to cut out what is too much on behalf of what is just right.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press.  Check out her work at www.judson.org.

October 24, 2011

Have Mercy

Excerpt from James 2:8-13 

"There will be no mercy in judgment for anyone who hasn't shown mercy. Mercy overrules judgment."  (CEB)

Reflection by William C. Green

Mercy doesn't mean do whatever you want and be forgiven anyway. It means since you have been forgiven learn to forgive others, or pray that God does.

Mercy requires a lot of honesty. How many times have I hurt others whether I intended to or not? What mistakes have I made that I don't want others to know about? How often do I project onto others things I don't like in myself, forgetting they're more than that, just as I am? Where would I be without mercy? Where would any of us be without mercy?

God is merciful, not to get us off the hook, but so that, honestly, we can show that same mercy to others. We bring on ourselves the worst judgment when, instead of being merciful, we get stuck in anger and resentment. More than anything this is what divides us from others.

This doesn't mean withholding criticism or failing to take a strong stand against what we know is wrong. But judging in the spirit of mercy does require humility—and remembering that there's always at least one thing we don't know about what, or who, we're judging. Known, that could temper our judgment.

God, who does know all, shows mercy, not because we're guiltless, but because we who are guilty can yet be restored to responsibility. That's what forgiveness does. That's what love does. It lifts us up from where we have been to where we can be in the grace of God.

Prayer

All-loving God, may I show others the mercy you show me. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green, a United Church of Christ minister, is the Director of Long Looking, a consultancy service specializing in fundraising and education for congregations. He is the author of 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving.

October 25, 2011

Follower

Matthew 9:

"As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, 'Follow me.' And he got up and followed him."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

If you experienced a college orientation this fall there's a pretty good chance that the college or university touted itself for being in the business of "educating tomorrow's leaders." It's difficult, however, to imagine a school that would announce we "educate tomorrow’s followers."

Leadership is all the rage. What about the other side of the coin? What about followership?

Unitarian minister Paul Beedle describes "followership" as, "The discipline of supporting leaders and helping them lead well. It is not submission, but the wise and good care of leaders, done out of a sense of gratitude for their willingness to take on the responsibilities of leadership, and a sense of hope and faith in their abilities and potential."

For Christians, followership shouldn't be a foreign concept. The initial words of Jesus to his disciples were, "Follow me." If our ultimate followership is of Jesus, then one penultimate expression of Christian discipleship is good followership in relation to the leaders we call and elect.

Beedle is right. Good followership is not submission or blind loyalty. It is thoughtful and responsive. And it is also, as he says, a "discipline." Being a good follower asks something of us.

Often these days, we put such emphasis on leadership that when we get the "leader" we imagine our work is done. Then we're surprised when yet another leader fails to be "the one." Effective leadership involves a partnership of leaders and followers. It involves followers who appreciate the importance and challenge of leadership. It involves followers who are willing to manage their expectations and not insist on their own way.

Just as leadership is something we grow into and grow at, so it is with followership. Jesus' followers, the disciples, weren't always all that good at it. But they kept at it and before long it was their turn to be leaders.

Prayer

We thank you, God, for those who have accepted the task and challenge of leadership in our church. Teach us to be good, wise and mature followers to your glory. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

October 27, 2011

An Offering You Can’t Refuse

Psalm 116:27 

"What shall I return to the Lord for all God’s bounty to me?"    

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

This time of year I have a recurring fantasy.  A member of my church calls me on the phone and invites me to lunch.  Over lunch he says, "You know, Martin, I am aware that the church is pressed for funds, particularly in this financial climate, and it takes a lot of energy to raise those funds.  Well, I came into some money this year, so I want to cover this yea'’s budget with my own gift." 

First I try to catch my breath. 

Then I offer to pay for lunch. 

But he goes on:  "I ask only one thing."

I say, "Sure.  Whatever.  Would you like some champagne?"

"No, thank you," he says.  "All I ask is that you not accept any other contributions or offerings for the rest of the year.  I want to do it all.  My gift to the congregation."

I take another deep breath.  Then I say, "I'm sorry, but I cannot accept your gift.  I can't do that to the people.  It's not just a matter of being able to pay the bills.  We need to be able to respond to all that God is doing in our midst and to share in that work.  We can't be deprived of the opportunity to give of ourselves.  To hear the promises of God and to receive the gifts of God, and to be unable to respond?  Why, that's a burden.  We just can't do that to the people."

Prayer

God, thank you for inviting us to share in your work through the gifts and offerings we bring.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

October 28, 2011

Don't be a Jerk

God is God not of the dead, but of the living . . . . One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?"   Mark 12:27-28

Reflection by Ron Buford

Marcus Borg says it is exegetically correct to replace the word "commandment" in this text with the word, "relationship." 

As such our first or greatest relationship is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, the second great relationship is to love our neighbors as ourselves. There is no relationship in life, law, or eternity greater than these.

Borg went on to say, "You can keep the commandments and still be a jerk. But you cannot be in relationship with the living God, without be continually transformed."God, the great "I am," Jewish scholars interpret to mean, "I will be what the future demands."

Our God is not a God of outmoded rules and laws, keeping keep people separated—people do that. By contrast, the rule of God's living love is to always take another look and see the relationship with each other and God as primary. If you want to know where God is, Jesus says, look to where the love of God bends toward making the life of each person as wonderful as God wants life to be for us in light of the present. Thanks be to God.

Prayer

Gracious God, we are grateful that you are a God of innovation in all things, shaping human and divine relationships in view of your ever unfolding and always embracing present. May we remember that and grow into it—even when we do not fully understand or want to do it. Amen.

About the Author Ron Buford is Interim Minister for Discipleship at Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts.  The former coordinator of the UCC's God is still speaking campaign, Ron consults with UCC conferences and churches across the nation and appears in the DVD-based progressive theology series, Living the Questions 2.0.

Spring

Psalm 87:7 

"Singers and dancers alike say, 'All my springs are in you.'"

Reflection by Donna Schaper

What makes a song a good song? Or a dance a good dance?  Doesn't it have some spring in it?   Air.  Buoyancy.  Lift.  Rise.  The kind of thing people tell us they want from Sunday morning.  Surely you have heard the urgency: "I came here this morning to be lifted up. . . ."

This phrase is usually followed by a "but."   You know the "but."  "I am a leader in this congregation and I don't feel like I get to go to church any more.  I come here to work."  "I had a big thing happen in my life and nobody knows." "I feel flatter than when I came in.  My pain has been condensed, not released."  "I live in a great city but I never get to see it because I go to a meeting every night."  Flattened.  Twisted.  Tied up.  Contorted.  Living in the land of rock and hard place.  I could be lifted up, but.  I could rise, but. I could be buoyant . . . but.

Perhaps it is time to take a hint from the psalms and the singers and the dancers.  I rise because all my springs are in you.  And we are not talking here about either pastor or parish.  We are talking about you: the spring of the spring.  Sometimes it is important to get church out of the way of Spirit. Other times it is time to transform Church so it is spirit.  Most of the time it is time for both.

Prayer

Oh, you who sprung into action for us, lift us up.  Let us sing and dance, even if we "aren't very good at it."  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press.  Check out her work at www.judson.org.

October 31, 2011

The "Not Yet Factor"

"Beloved, now we are children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be." 1 John 3:2

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

There is a forward momentum to the Christian faith that is absolutely undeniable.  No matter what goals  we've attained or challenges we've conquered, there is an element of our faith in Christ that keeps beckoning us toward something more.  There is always something yet to be consummated in us, something yet to be realized about us and something yet to be received through us.

I like to call this urgent beckoning toward our destiny's fulfillment the "not yet factor."  The hope that we have for what has not yet been revealed is what keeps us from being stagnated by our present accomplishments.  Steve Jobs, the man who redefined technology in the 21st century, was relentless in his quest to keep his focus on the future, despite the impending limitations of his own mortality.  "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life," he told the 2005 graduating class of Stanford University.

According to the book of Hebrews, faith is the substance of what we hope for and the evidence of that which we do not yet see.  This focus on the future is what moves us past the myopic perceptions of our own supposed perfection and engages us in the thoughtful processes of becoming better than we are—indeed  better than we've ever been.  Realists may be expert at analyzing the present, but it takes visionaries to discern the seeds of new possibilities, and to open doors to the future.

In the modern day parable, The Shack, by William P. Young, God speaks to a man living with deep depression and says: "You are depressed because every perception you have of your future is without me."  The "not yet factor" requires vision beyond sight.

Prayer

Lord, you are the God of our past, our present and our future.  Give us sufficient grace for what is, and sufficient hope for what is yet to be revealed.  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

November 1, 2011

Saints

Excerpt from Acts11:1-8 

"Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, 'I was in the city of Joppa praying and in a trance I saw a vision.'" 

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

Here's what it means to be a saint: it means you have direct access to God.  It means that you can see the Heart the breaks for all that is broken.

Here's who is a saint: every member of the church, and that means you.

You know that through history, the church has recognized certain people for their closeness to God, people like Peter from today's story.  But in our tradition, everyone who is a member of the church is a saint, able to communicate directly with God, gifted, at least sometimes, with visions of God’s heart.  And when we’re really getting it right, we saints then find ways to pass what we know about God on to the people around us, spreading vision and grace freely, as Saint Peter did.

Today is All Saints' Day.  Today, pick at least one saint who has already gone home to God, and at least one that is still with you.  Say their names out loud and offer them up to God.  Remember at least one thing that each one taught you about God.  Say it out loud, and offer it up.  Then sing like you mean it:

Prayer

For all the saints who from their labors rest
Who through the years their steadfast faith confessed.
Your name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, alleluia!

Still may your people faithful, true, and bold
Live as the saints who nobly fought of old
And win with them a glorious crown of gold.
Alleluia, alleluia!

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the just-published Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

Someone Out There

Excerpt from Acts 12:6-19  

"Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell."

Reflection by Felix Carrion

Who led Peter out of prison? The text says, "An angel."

I've heard people say that some relative or friend, a pastor, a child, a stranger, someone out there, was "an angel" to them. What I understand them to mean is that this person was sent to them in that precise moment when they were most needed. Out of nowhere, and with no prompting, they appeared or called or sent a book or wrote a letter or prayed a powerful prayer.

In that hour of need, and in their appearing, they were no longer just a relative, friend, pastor, child, stranger, or someone out there; they were an angel and their deed was miraculous. (I recall many years ago, in the middle of a sorrowful night, while prayerful tears fell from my eyes, in search of a sign from God, my youngest son called out, "I love you, Dad," and fell right back to sleep.)

An angel is a messenger, sent by God, with a message. They point us in the right direction; they shine a light; they make clear the unclear; they open a door; they break chains; they move us from bondage into freedom’s path.

All kinds of people can and have done exactly these things at God's prompting. So, today be an angel. Or, at least, recognize the one that was sent to you (recently or a long time ago). And, be assured -- this is real!

Prayer

O God, the ways you come to me make me smile. Amen.

About the Author Felix Carrion is Coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ.

Foreigners

Excerpt from Joshua 8:30-35 

"Every one of the commandments of Moses was read by Joshua to the whole gathering, which included women and children, as well as the foreigners living among them." (Good News Bible)

Reflection by William C. Green

It's easier to tolerate and enjoy what's foreign than to consider it carefully—as on U.N. Day in the elementary school I attended. Colorful crafts and dress (we called the attire "costumes") along with exotic culinary treats made the day.

But diversity is often offensive. Maybe not so with the foreigners also listening when Joshua read the commandments. But as time went on, no spirit of those early U.N. Days could prevail among different Jewish or Christian thinkers on matters as basic as the meaning of each of the commandments.

Comparable diversity characterized the early church, sometimes leading to bloody conflict. There were various types of Christianity from the beginning. These included very different views of Jesus among people often foreign to each other and in disagreement with one orthodoxy or another.

The Muslim reformer, Irshad Manji, says, "Wherever there's an orthodoxy (liberal or conservative), there is an enshrined identity and a set of precepts for representing it correctly." For Manji, identity, like truth itself, 'isn't brittle." It's constantly "irrigated" by engagement with others—"foreigners" to our accustomed ways of believing and behaving.

Rabbis are known for discussion and debate about contrary views—what the Jews call "oral Torah"—as important as the written text. While God's truth is never a matter of believing what we want, it is a living Word: it isn't brittle and once for all. Our faith is enriched as we engage others, taking into account views sometimes unsettling and foreign to our way of thinking.

Prayer

God, may I hear the word you are speaking to me in views not my own. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green is Vice-President for Strategy and Development, Moral Courage Project, NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and the author of 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving.

November 5, 2011

The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling!

Matthew 24:13

"But the one who endures to the end will be saved."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

The late, great Texas journalist Molly Ivins was fond of telling a story about two young boys, John Henry Falk and Boots Cooper, who liked to play Texas Rangers.

One day, John Henry's mother sent the two boys down to the chicken house on their East Texas ranch to roust out a chicken snake that had been doing considerable damage there.

The boys mounted their broom stick horses and galloped down to the chicken house to investigate. They looked all around the nests on the bottom shelf but couldn't find the snake. Then they stood on tiptoe to see the upper shelf and found themselves face to face with a big ol' chicken snake. They were so scared that they both tried to run out of the hen house at the same time, doing considerable damage to themselves and to the structure.

Watching the commotion from the front porch Mrs. Falk couldn't help but laugh. When the boys finally made it back, she said, "Boys, what is wrong with you? You know perfectly well a chicken snake cannot hurt you." To which Boots Cooper answered, "Yes ma'am, but there's some things'll scare you so bad, you'll hurt yourself."

In Matthew 24 Jesus noted a bunch of scary things: wars and rumors of war, false messiahs, torture, famines and earthquakes. Sounds pretty much like our daily news. Lord knows, there's plenty to be anxious about these days.

But the real danger is that we become so frightened that we hurt ourselves (and others). In the face of alarming realities, Jesus urged a Christian calm, endurance in our faith and calling, and a bold confidence that God's love is stronger than our fears and God's mercy more enduring than present perils.

Prayer

Save me, Lord, from the sin of faint-heartedness, from a shrinking deference to my fears and a failure to trust your love and purposes as the weightiest thing in my life. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

November 6, 2011

Donation Season

John 17:21

"That they may all be one."

Reflection by Christina Villa

I used to be one of those people who, when asked to donate something to a food drive, would look in the pantry for a can of something we were never going to eat and donate that. The pumpkin puree I was never going to make into a pie was a regular contribution. A tiny can of mushrooms. Some sort of prune butter. A box of "lite" microwave popcorn.  And once, I'm not proud to say, a jar of maraschino cherries.

I would feel guilty but convince myself that prune butter and canned mushrooms were better than nothing if you're really hungry. The food that families would actually eat, I reasoned, was required by MY family. I couldn't be expected to give that away. It would be irresponsible.

Then time passed and life happened and I grew increasingly aware of my own financial vulnerability. Paradoxically, this made me more generous. It was no longer impossible to see myself as someone who might need donated food someday. And if that day came, how would I feel face-to-face with someone's castoff pickled beets?

As current economic trends send more families to food pantries, Jesus' prayer (and the UCC motto), "that they may all be one," takes on additional meaning. The UCC's Mission:1 campaign, happening right now, is named in recognition of the power of many individuals and churches coming together to take action on one urgent issue: hunger and food-related injustice.

In more ways than we usually realize, we already are one. "They" includes you and me. We can take hope in the power that flows when people release their confident belief in "us" and "them," when they look at someone else and recognize, "That could be me." 

Prayer

Dear God, when I'm asked to give, help me give the very best of all that I've received.  Amen.

About the Author Christina Villa is on the staff of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Source of Action is Awe

1 Corinthians 14:20

"Do not be like children. . ."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

Jesus really did say that children have a better chance than non-children at entering the Kingdom of Heaven.  Now the writer to the people at Corinth is telling us just the opposite.  What happened?  Is the mature church-builder becoming religious instead of spiritual?  Or was Jesus too child-like to survive adolescence? 

The church-builder is giving a pointed message about confusing the ecstatic experience of the spirit—in this case speaking in tongues—with the everyday experience of religion.  Surely you know the difference.  You became a Christian at summer camp, with the songs singing, the moon glowing, the fire burning.  You were 16 and possibly also wondering if that person across the glow was looking at you.  You became moderator of your congregation 30 years later only to dread attending services because someone was going to mention a typo in the newsletter and consider you responsible for it. 

There is a large difference between spirituality and religion and the answer is not just in aging. Spirituality all by itself is too marvelous to remain untutored.  If all you can think about is your own experience, you become tongue-tied; you speak a language no one else can comprehend.  If all you can think about is church attendance or the offering, you become spirit-tied. 

Those who don't glow with the spirit dare not "moderate" congregations.  The source of action is awe.  Action without awe is plagued to become that thing we all dislike about "religion."  Likewise awe without action is that thing many of us dislike about spirituality.  While spirituality can be self-centered, like a child who insists on a certain position for the peas on her plate, religion can be other-centered, forgetting how to deeply care about the wonder of doing things the "right" way.  Mature people don’t leave their joy behind so much as tend, befriend and increase it in action.  Child-like church moderators?  Open-hearted speakers in tongues?  Yes.  Why not?

Prayer

O God, when we confuse spirituality with religion and religion with spirituality, set our tongues on fire and re-enchant us.  Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press.  Check out her work at www.judson.org.

Abundance or Scarcity?

Excerpt from Psalm 128 

"Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around the table."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

So much of our scripture is a celebration of abundance.  The first chapters of Genesis are a song of praise for God's generosity.  With each act of creation, the divine refrain is, "It is good, it is good, it is very good."  And it pictures the Creator saying, "Be fruitful and multiply."

Many of the Psalms, including the one for today, survey creation and catalogue this abundance in loving detail and with joyful thanksgiving.

Then, in the Gospels, Jesus multiplies loaves and fishes so that there is more than enough for everyone.  At a wedding feast he turns water into wine, and more wine than could be consumed at a dozen weddings.  These highly symbolic stories speak of God’s abundance.  There is enough, there is more than enough.

That’s the biblical narrative.  But the narrative by which we are tempted to live is another story entirely, a story of scarcity, where there is never enough.  In fact, we are tempted to define enough as, "always something more than I have now."

In spite of all that has happened in recent months, we still live in the most prosperous country in the history of the world.

Do you live out of a sense of abundance or scarcity?  That may be an economic question, but certainly it is a faith question.

Prayer

O God, when I count your blessings, they are numberless as the sands, so I confess that I don't always get very far with my counting.  So I simply thank you for sharing your abundance with me.  Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

The Poor Are Not Lucky

Mark 4:24-26

"Listen carefully to what I am saying—and be wary of the shrewd advice that tells you how to get ahead in the world on your own. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes," Jesus said.

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

A well-dressed woman at a religion conference told me that she had learned that it was harder for rich people to experience God's love than the poor. "The poor," she explained, "have so little that they have to rely on God's love so much more. They just seem so much happier." This was presumably why she delighted in mission work overseas, where the poor were "just so grateful."

She was inspired by the people she served, saying, "They offer me so much more than I offer them." Well, at least that last part I could imagine to be true, but not for the reasons she imagined.

She continued to explain that the people who have less, have less to worry about, and that was why they were closer to God. "In some ways, I truly envy them," she said. "It is just easier for them to experience God's grace." For that reason, she believed that it was more worthwhile for her to offer her presence than her money.

I have heard rich people say that the poor are lucky before. But I have yet to hear a poor person say it.

Yes, Jesus does say that we get closer to God by giving away what we have. But the poor do not get closer to God by having less. Most people in the world are not poor by choice. They are poor because other people have more than their fair share. Whole nations steeped in poverty are not an accident of fate. Whole nations who enjoy most of the world’s wealth are not God's will.

"Generosity begets generosity," Jesus says. Generosity ought to inspire others to be generous. Mission trips are miraculous faith-filled pilgrimages when they alert us to the injustice in the world and inspire us to be generous and to change things. Mission trips are self-serving vacations when we come back thinking that the poor we met overseas are the lucky ones.

We can admire the poor people we meet, and we can respect them, but to call them lucky is ridiculous. When generosity begets stupidity it wasn't really generosity to begin with. But when generosity begets more generosity, it is the real thing.

Prayer

Dear God, give bread to those who are hungry and a hunger and thirst for justice to those who have plenty. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

Our Dwelling Place

Excerpt from Psalm 90 

"Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations." (NIV)  
                                                                                               
Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

I will never forget the last Sunday I worshipped as a member at the church I attended during the three years of my seminary education.  The historic Ebenezer Baptist Church of Atlanta, Georgia, had become my home away from home, my refuge from the grind of academic rigor, and my place of safety amidst the hazards of theological deconstruction and reconstruction.  The pastor had welcomed me, the congregation had embraced me and the Holy Spirit had edified me at Ebenezer.  Upon graduation from Emory University's School of Theology I was called to a pastorate, and that meant leaving Ebenezer.

On the last Sunday I worshipped at Ebenezer, a senior deacon of the church shook my hand and said to me, "Son, you'll always have a home here at Ebenezer.  If you don't like where you're going, you can always just come right back."  Those kind sentiments have stayed with me throughout the 30 years I've been away serving my own congregations.  And even though the Ebenezer Baptist Church family today has a new church building, a new pastor and many members I do not know, I still feel that I have a home in the gracious spirit of that congregation.

When I think about it, a home—a  dwelling place—may  not necessarily be the place of our address.  A dwelling place is an ever-present spirit of hospitality and affirmation that goes with us wherever we go.  A dwelling place is much more than an address.  It is God's relentless invitation to every sojourner to "come home" and find rest and restoration for our weary souls.  Our locations change from time to time.  But isn't it good to know that in the spirit of God's welcoming embrace, we can always come home?

Prayer

Lord, in the midst of so much transition and relocation, we thank you for being our constant dwelling place—even from generation to generation.  Because of you, we are never without a home.  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

We Need to Remember to Remember

Excerpt from Psalm 78 

" . . . that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and rise up and tell them to their children . . ."

Reflection by Maren Tirabassi

Inside the old town hall with the pressed tin ceiling, crumbling revolutionary flag, voting booths pushed into a corner, the gathering was small. Memorial Day draws a better crowd because of the band, and companies let people trade this holiday for the day after Thanksgiving.

A frail gray-haired woman with snapping eyes leaned, shaking, on the chair in front of her. She addressed a group of school children with their moms.

"I remember Armistice Day, when we believed there'd never be another war. Oh, it was grand! The churches rang their bells all day long. There were bonfires. Women ran out of their homes to bang spoons on pots and pans. Every couple hours neighbors would decide they wanted a parade. They’d find a flag and march around the streets. The boys and the fathers were coming home."

Psalm 78 reminds the Israelite people of God's saving actions in the past and criticizes their short memories and ingratitude. It charges them to keep the stories of the past alive, both the ones that make them feel like heroes and the ones of which they are ashamed, for the next generation. On Veteran's Day, begun in 1918 as Armistice Day, we remember the gifts and sacrifices of those who have served, our country’s honorable military history, mistakes we wish to never repeat, and our ultimate trust in God’s compassion. Then we tell these stories to children.

Prayer

God, help us to learn from history and teach it truthfully. Amen

About the Author Maren C. Tirabassi is Pastor of Union Congregational Church, UCC, in Madbury, New Hampshire. Her bookmost recent is Gifts in Open Hands: More Worship Resources for the Global Community, published by The Pilgrim Press and written with Karen Wonson Eddy.

What's Important?

Excerpt from Matthew 25:14-30 

"You are a good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little."

Reflection by William C. Green

In Jesus' parable of the talents, two servants were given a lot of money and congratulated for investing it wisely. The third also got a lot of money, but not as much, and so he chose to bury it for safekeeping, making Jesus angry. One talent equaled a lifetime of earnings! There wasn't much difference between getting 5,000 and 2,000 talents, as the first two servants did, and 1,000, as the third did.

But even many lifetimes of money Jesus calls 'a little" next to what really counts: faithfully investing our hearts and souls in what's right at hand. As with the third servant, our ideas of "big" and "little" can distort both what we do and what needs doing.

A prominent social activist said to a fine author who felt he was just writing books when he ought to be on the front lines of protest and going to jail: "You need to do what you do best. Quit moaning and do it!"

A woman at a friend's church, when asked to help with coffee hour the next Sunday, said, "I want to do something really important." The words of Jesus give me pause since I'd probably resist that task, too: If I can't be faithful in small things, can I be trusted to be faithful in bigger matters?

We're meant to appreciate much more what we can already do. It's not as little as it seems!

Prayer

O God, help us remember that none of the good we do is too small to matter. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green is Vice-President for Strategy and Development, Moral Courage Project, NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and the author of 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving

Moving Onward and Upward

Excerpt from Matthew 24:45-51 

“But if that wicked slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know.”

Reflection by Felix Carrion

When I turned 50 last month, my oldest son kidded with me. He said, “Well, Dad, it’s all downhill from here.” We shared a hearty laugh.

How does one escape the sure lot that befalls everyone? How do we reconcile ourselves with the ever-present end?

Moving onward and upward, there are some resolutions I would like to work on for myself (and offer to others as possibilities).

Meditate more on death. Although this sounds morbid, it really isn’t.  The more one’s mortality becomes one’s daily bread, the deeper the inhalation and the longer the exhalation. The distinction between the present hour and the eternal one will incite awakened laughter when the virtual veil between the two becomes completely translucent.

Seek mastery of one life alone:   my own. With God’s help I will seek to be the master of this one household, my life. I am convinced that mastery of one’s life begins with love for the one you have been, the one you are now, and the one you are becoming. The wonderful gift of self-forgiveness is born in compassion for oneself. Reverence for another’s life, and indeed for all creation, begins with reverence for one’s own journey.

Never, ever, think that it is too late to go after my dreams. I will seek to remember that every day is a new day and each moment a born-again hour. I will gather my efforts to imagine again paths opening and beckoning: do not be afraid. I will take up the pieces and make them one unified whole.

Awaken each morning with gratitude in my heart and a “thank you” upon my lips. Then I will quietly wait for the smile to make its first visit of the day.

Prayer

O God, how majestic is the breath of life. Amen!

About the Author Felix Carrion is Coordinator of The Stillspeaking Ministry, United Church of Christ.

Goodbye

Excerpt from Acts 20:17-38 

"'And now I commend you to God. . .'  When he had finished speaking, he knelt down with them all and prayed.  There was much weeping among them all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, grieving especially because of what he had said, that they would not see him again.  Then they brought him to the ship."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

Nobody likes goodbyes, and we go to many lengths to soften or avoid them.  A colleague leaves or a friend moves, and we say it's not goodbye because we promise to have lunch, or to write, or to Facebook.  Sometimes we avoid the moment altogether: even though I barely knew her, I once hid in the bathroom for half an hour at a coworker's goodbye party to avoid the moment when she actually left.

When Paul says goodbye to the Ephesians, he gets it right.  He remembers what they did together, he tells them what they mean to him, he commends them to God.  The word "goodbye" is a contraction of "God be with ye."  Saying it is a reminder that even when we're apart, God is with us both.  It's an act of faith that if God is with you and with me, then somehow we're still together, and that in the end we'll join each other at a reunion in God's heart.  It's a promise that even when I can't be with you, God will be, and that that will be sufficient.

Sometime soon you'll have to say goodbye to somebody.  It's worth doing well, for it's all about faith.

Prayer

Oh God, all these partings are hard.  When I have to say goodbye, help me to cling fast to the faith that you are with us always, and that all of us will one day be reunited again in you.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ published by The Pilgrim Press.

Sometimes a Sheep

Psalm 100: 3

"Know that the Lord is God--it is God that has made us; we belong to God. We are God's people, the sheep of God's own pasture."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

I love this short, cheerful Psalm.

It calls us to, "Enter God’s gates with thanksgiving; and God's courts with praise." It makes me think--or better, feel--the happiness of going to church, the sense of anticipation on a Sunday morning, the joy in gathering and the feeling of being caught up in praise of God, "who is good, whose steadfast love lasts forever."

But for some the whole sheep thing is hard, a downgrade. Sheep are dumb. Sheep stand around going "Baa, baa." Sheep are passive. Sheep are dependent. "I'm no sheep."

Actually, I am sheep-like, or what I imagine sheep to be like, at least some of the time. I need my human version of green pastures and still waters, some safe pasture and sanctuary. I need a good shepherd to turn to, to check in with. I am dependent, at least every now and then. I want, some days or hours, to rest on the everlasting arms and be rocked on the bosom of Abraham.

But we're big on independence, on being in charge and on our own. Okay. But really, we are both, both dependent and independent.

We gather to worship as a return to a womb. We come back to the rock from which we were hewn, to the well from which we were drawn. There's a time for that and a place for that. You've been being big and independent all week long. Now you get to rest, to depend on an Other and turn to a power greater than your own.

But it doesn't last forever. The benediction is a blessing but also a charge. A sweet farewell and a kick in the butt. Now, the pendulum swings the other direction. Having drawn near to God in the hour of worship and prayer, we are blessed and sent forth into the world to declare God’s praise and be instruments of God’s grace. I love the church.

That's the Christian life: gathering and scattering. Frequent factory recalls and regular road tests. Dependence and independence. Not one or the other, but both. Sometimes sheep, sometimes shepherds.

Prayer

Thank you, Lord, for the church, for its life of worship and service, for its rhythm of gathering in and sending out. Thank you for every community of faith where we find both rest and challenge. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

Sparkle

Excerpt from Acts 17:1-15  

"While they were searching for Paul and Silas to bring them out to the assembly, they attacked Jason’s house.  When they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some believers before the city authorities. . ."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

Jason hosted Paul and Silas in his house, and got in trouble for it.  If you provide hospitality to God's messengers, sometimes the world isn’t going to understand.

If you saw Sparkle in church, you might infer from her feather, leopard, and vinyl outfits that she is a member of a profession that is very difficult, very old, and mostly performed after dark.  Nobody knows for sure, and Sparkle’s not saying.  In fact, she won’t tell you anything about herself, but if you talk to her in coffee hour, she’ll tell you a whole lot about God, and about why church matters.  She loves them both with a passion.

Once, as Sparkle was leaving the building, some well-dressed tourists passing by wrinkled their noses and said, plenty loud enough for her to hear, “Ugh!  Look how she’s dressed!  Do you think she’s working at THIS time of the morning?”  Sparkle just held her head high and kept on walking.

In fact, she HAD been working, all morning, on the Lord’s work: praising God in two worship services and then sitting at the teenagers’ table at the church breakfast, where she told them God loves them and that their church had welcomed her when others wouldn’t.

Those tourists might not understand why we need Sparkle, but God knows our teenagers do.

Prayer

Lord, give me the heart to build a church that welcomes troublemakers like Paul, and mysterious women like Sparkle, and sinners like me, for we all need your gifts, and the world needs ours.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the  Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

The Limits of Taste

Mark 6:1-3

"He left there and returned to his hometown.  His disciples came along.  On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in the meeting place.  He made a real hit, impressing everyone.  'We had no idea he was this good!' they said.  'How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such ability?' But in the next breath they were cutting him down." (The Message)

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

Someone was complaining to me about why she had stopped going to her church, saying, "You know, when it came to worship, I just didn't get much out of it."

To which I replied, "Well, it wasn't directed toward you."

Worship is directed toward God. If there's anyone who should get something out of worship it's the creator of all things seen and unseen.  If there's anyone the choir should hope will delight in a beautiful anthem, it’s the One who invented musical taste in the first place. If there's a target audience for a sermon it's probably the One who died on the cross for preaching his own. If there's anyone meant to get something out of our silent prayers, it should be the One we are praying to. Worship is one of the few places in our society where we hear some shocking news: it’s not all about you.

When Jesus Christ himself showed up to preach, in the very town where he was raised, the townspeople were so excited at first, but then it went very quickly awry. Faced with a word from the Son of God himself, it was still just a matter of opinion. And they essentially said, "You know, I just didn't get much out of that."

Jesus could have done back flips and other stunts to entertain the hometown crowd. He could have asked them what they were into that day. But he refused to be a service provider.

In the church at its best, we challenge the idolatry of opinion and acknowledge the limits of our own taste. We study an ancient and complex book and not just the latest fad or our own most recent opinion. In the church at its best we are a vagabond group of naysayers saying to a culture of narcissism, “"No, it is not all about you."

But in the pressure to grow, to prosper, or just to keep going, we can fall prey to our service provider culture, so that the church at its worst sees the parishioner as customer and asks, "What do you want? What programs do you need? Sure, we can do that."

But when Jesus himself appeared and preached to the people who should have loved him most, even he wasn't good enough. And two thousand years later we read about the limits of their taste.

Prayer

Mysterious creator of all things seen and unseen, in a world that tells me that my opinions and tastes are paramount, remind me to listen for something larger and more transcendent. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

Who's That Knocking at My Door?

Excerpt from Revelation 3:15-22

"Listen!  I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

In The Rule of Benedict, the remarkable document that has ordered the life of Benedictine monks for 1500 years, there is a particular role delineated for the "porter" of the monastery.  Quite simply, the porter is the one who opens the door to the monastery when someone knocks.  Not much of a role, you say?  Ah, but there is so much to it.  Author Joan Chittister goes so far as to say, "The way we answer doors is the way we deal with the world."

So the porter is given very specific instructions.  As soon as anyone knocks, likely a poor person because they often sought refuge in monasteries, the porter is to reply, "Thanks be to God."  That's before he even knows who is on the other side of the door.  Isn't that remarkable? 

Dorothy Parker, the author who was famous for her dark wit, used to answer her telephone with this greeting:  "What fresh hell is this?" 

What do you think when someone knocks on your door?  Is it closer to "What fresh hell is this?" or is it closer to, "Thanks be to God?" 

And why is the porter in a Benedictine monastery so quick to respond when someone knocks on the door?  It is not just out of some general sense that it is the right thing to do.

Rather, the porter immediately gets up to respond because it might be Jesus knocking on the door.  Not Jesus as we have ever encountered him before, but Jesus just the same.  As an old Celtic saying has it, "Oft, oft, oft goes Christ in stranger's guise." 

So when a porter—or someone of a porter's spirit—hears a knock on the door, he doesn't delay in showing hospitality.  No, instead, he gets up and declares, "Thanks be to God," because it could be Jesus.  And often—oft, oft, oft—it is.

Prayer

Jesus, help me to receive a stranger in the manner I would receive you. Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

Strong Dependence

Excerpt from 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 

"God is able to give you more than you need, so that you will always have all you need for yourselves and more than enough for every good cause."

Reflection by William C. Green

On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our dependence. At least that was the spirit of the impoverished Pilgrims who made seven times more graves than huts while setting aside a special day of gratitude for divine strength and support. They could not otherwise account for their endurance and survival. They knew they could not rely on their own guts and willpower alone. They were dependent—and proud of it.

In a recent college women's studies course, my stepdaughter was asked to write a paper about a woman they respected and why. After reading each other's papers the class was asked to identify common characteristics found in the women they chose. The one trait that stood out was the ability of these women to ask for help.

This was not about women being needy and dependent. Quite the opposite. It was about the strength to get help-something not as common among men, at least as those college women saw it, and a mark of distinction.

On Thanksgiving Day we give thanks again for the divine power on which we depend. God gives us all we need and then some. We depend on this as much as those first Pilgrims-and as much as those respected women who were true to their own need for help.

Prayer

Gracious God, make us proud to ask for help and grateful that you give it. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green, a United Church of Christ minister, is the Director of Long Looking, a consultancy service specializing in fundraising and education for congregations. He is the author of 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving.

November 26, 2011

Life Before Death

Excerpt from John 5:24

"Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes [the one] who sent me has eternal life . . ."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

Did you notice? The first dozen times I'm sure I didn't.

When Jesus speaks of eternal life here (and throughout the Gospel of John) he isn't only speaking of something that happens after we die. He is speaking of something that happens right now.

"Anyone who hears my word and believes [the one] who sent me has eternal life." Jesus didn't say "will have eternal life." He said, "has eternal life." Whatever eternal life is, it starts when his word burns in our heart and we take the risk of trusting our lives to the One who sent Jesus, the light of the world.

While I do trust that there is life beyond death, I also think that life before death is a good idea. But sometimes life before death seems like a really big challenge.

We spend all our time and energy getting ready for something someday and miss today. Or we become, for all sorts of reason, some understandable and some not, dead people walking. There's no life in us. We put our hands over our ears so we won't hear what God, or anyone else, is saying to us. We refuse to even imagine, much less trust, that there really is a God who is up to something and who is on a quest to find us.

Jesus is telling us that eternal life isn't just a quantity of life. It is a quality of life. It's a quality of life that happens, that is ours, when we trust him by following him here and now.

Imagine being alive before death! Now's the time; today's the day. Besides, there's a good chance if we don't start living the life that is true and lasting on this side of the grave, it's not super likely to suddenly happen on the other side. 

Prayer

There's death in me, God, but life in you. Raise me from the dead today. Help my ears to hear you, my heart to trust you, my feet to follow you. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

November 27, 2011

Christmas is a Surprise Party

Mark 13:32-35 

"About that day or hour no one knows… Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

In a way it is unfortunate that we always celebrate Christmas on the same day of the year, because that makes the coming of Christ seem almost predictable.  But Christmas is more like a surprise party. 

For centuries God's people awaited the coming of the Promised One.  Then, when it happened, most people missed it.  They were watching the ceremonial gates and he snuck in the servant's entrance.

God is always slipping into town when we least expect it, and where we least expect, as well, even in the darkest time of year, in a forgotten corner, as a baby with milk on its breath.

Although December 25 is fixed on the calendar, we never know when the Spirit of Christ will be born in our midst.  Our task is to live with an air of expectation because it could be any time, even today, and anywhere, even here.

A friend tells about asking a group what keeps them coming to church.  Someone responded, "It's strange, I know, but I get the feeling here, like nowhere else, that something is about to happen."

What a great description, particularly this time of year.  We gather around the expectation that something is about to happen.  And we may even be able to affirm that it's Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, that is about to happen.  But we don't know when.  We don't know where.  We don't know how.  So we wait with bated breath, and our souls atingle, for the surprise party to begin.

Prayer

God, keep me awake, by whatever means necessary, so that I won't miss your surprise party when it begins. Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

November 28, 2011

Peaceful Presents

Micah 4:3

"…they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks…"

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

A beautiful image, but it's a lot more complicated than it sounds. I mean, let's say that an Israelite doesn't need his sword any more. What then?  Go home, pull out the ol' hammer and anvil from the basement, and do a DIY repurposing of those old decommissioned weapons?

Probably not. You'd have to go to a blacksmith. Who, let's face it, could make more money beating plowshares into swords, war being so profitable and all. So you'd also have to convince him to put off other business to take yours. Which would probably require getting together a bunch of people who agree with you and proving to him that plows are profitable by spending your money on them.

If you really want swords beaten into plowshares you're going to have to work. You're going to have to pay and organize. You're going to have to convince other people, people like you and people who run businesses that do stuff that you can't do yourself, that peace is profitable.

Start with your Christmas list. Choose gifts that are made of renewable resources; that use less plastic (and therefore less oil); that are made by companies that are not also defense contractors. Come up with your own list of requirements for peaceful presents. Ask others for similar gifts.

It won't be enough to get Raytheon into the plow business, but it will be a start.

Prayer

God, I believe in your coming realm of peace. Help me to make it real—and profitable. Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the  Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

November 29, 2011

Telling it Like it Is

Psalm 79:12

"Pay back our neighbors seven times over, right where it hurts, for the insults they used on you, Lord."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

The 79th Psalm is pretty raw stuff. There's this verse, telling God it's "payback time." There are cries for vengeance and divine wrath.

As Advent begins and our thoughts turn to mangers, Bethlehem, and choirs of angels, this psalm seems, at best, discordant. There's not a thing about it that's pretty or sweet.

Such raw, desperate prayer was prompted by the violation of all that was holy. The Temple had been desecrated and destroyed. The people have been slaughtered. ("They've left your servants' bodies as food for the birds" v. 2). Their enemies gloat.

There's a tendency in the church, perhaps particularly in a season like Advent, to censor out such realities and such raw emotions. Church becomes a place to be polite and on our best behavior or to be only upbeat and happy.

While acting on the feelings expressed by this Psalm can be a mistake, it is also a mistake to censor them from our experience and from our faith. What is holy is violated daily in our world. Children are abused and neglected. Lives are tossed on the scrap heap of unemployment. Once lovely neighborhoods are turned to ugly wastelands. People with power use it to feather their own nest, not to serve the common good.

A faith that does not tell it like it is, that does not reckon with evil, risks becoming sentimental and irrelevant, especially in this present time.

So, while I don't find Psalm 79 to be easy reading or praying, I am grateful for it. I am grateful for a faith that is honest enough to tell it like it is and to submit the truth, along with our feelings of outrage and betrayal, to God.

Prayer

We confess, Holy One, sometimes we bring you only our noble, cleaned-up selves. We are grateful that what you desire is our real, our uncensored, selves. Grant that our prayers may be honest and our faith real. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Stewardship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.

November 30, 2011

Magic Tricks

Mark 3:22

"The religion scholars from Jerusalem came down spreading rumors that he was working magic, using devil tricks to impress them with spiritual power."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

Recently I attended a clergy conference where a remarkably talented presenter from Cambridge University was not only talking about theology and music, but would periodically sit down in the middle of his lecture at a grand piano and actually play the piece in question, from memory, with the skill of a Carnegie Hall star. On top of that, he had a cool British accent. It felt like he was cheating. Of course, I was jealous of his gifts. Spare this Anglican priest who's good at everything.

God is so not a Communist when it comes to apportioning talent. And I think our denomination needs to pass a resolution correcting God on that, because that's how we roll.

I was already feeling insecure that day because we had these Christian magicians coming to my church for a Wednesday night program, and they're not only magicians but also ordained Methodist clergy. And I could just hear my members saying, "Ok, Lillian, what special thing can you do? "

And I had to say "Look, I'm sorry, but there are just way more requirements to becoming a Methodist minister."

I mean, Rachmaninoff - playing Anglicans, Bible-based Methodist magicians — it all just makes you feel inadequate. And when that happens, it's easy to get accusatory.

That's what happened with Jesus. He was doing good things in the world, he was healing and teaching, but the people accused him of doing magic tricks and working with the devil.

Prayer

Dear God, help me to see your Holy Spirit at work in the gifts and talents of others, and keep those demons of petty jealousy at bay. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

December 2, 2011

Much More than Words

1 Thessalonians 1:5

"For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance . . .” 

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

As we approach the celebration of the incarnation of God in Christ at Christmas, our ears are already filled with the festive, majestic words of the season. "Shalom," "Glad tidings to all," "Peace on earth," "Wise men still seek him," "The greatest gift of all," "For unto us a son is born; a child is given," "Silent night, Holy night," "Behold the star," "Joy to the world!"

But despite the beloved choruses of our holiday hymns, scriptures and salutations, the Apostle Paul suggests that what God has given to us through Christ Jesus can never be adequately proclaimed through words alone. For in Christ, God has given us much more than a good word or a good sentiment or a good idea. In Christ, God has given us the power of word made flesh. In Christ, God shows us the awesome power we have when we take lofty principles and incorporate them into everyday human practices. In Christ, the concept of good is realized and personified in a human character to which we can all relate. In Christ, God invites us to simultaneously embrace the full humanity and the full divinity that is in each of us.

Such Good News can never be conveyed in words alone. This Good News requires a passionate presence among people, the strength to forgive and the humility to be forgiven, the faith to keep searching for light despite the darkness of night, and, oh yes . . . the willingness to approach grown-up things through the eyes of a child.

Much more than the words we speak, we must seek to become the incarnation of Advent this season.

Prayer

Dear God, in addition to the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, give me the will and the capacity to act out the meaning of Advent through Christ who animates me. Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

Charles Dickens reminds us that God can use remarkable dreams to open a person's heart. Consider Peter, the red-headed apostle, as the prototype Ebenezer Scrooge – his heart narrow and pinched when it came to offering good tidings to Gentiles.

Peter told the tale upon returning to Jerusalem that, when he was in Joppa, he drifted asleep waiting for lunch. In his dream he was visited three times by a sheet on which every kind of non-kosher animal was displayed, while a voice ordered him to eat and overwhelmed the objections he'd shored up by his own miserly interpretations of scripture and tradition. "What God has made clean, you must not call profane."

He woke and went to the home of the gentile Cornelius, shared good news of great joy which was for all the people and was further startled by Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit before Peter could even marry . . .whoops, baptize them.

Reading this "Christmas Carol" we, too, are struck by the presence in our communities and churches of people of many sexual orientations whom God calls clean and Spirit-filled. This holy season let us open our windows, our doors and our legislatures, shouting, "We haven't missed it," and hear in response, "They knew how to keep Christmas well, if any alive possessed the knowledge."

Prayer

God of the Past and Present and Yet-to-come, send such Spirit and such spirits to us that our hearts are open wide this Advent and all the year long. Amen.

About the Author Maren C. Tirabassi is Pastor of Union Congregational Church, UCC, in Madbury, New Hampshire. Her book most recent is Gifts in Open Hands: More Worship Resources for the Global Community, published by The Pilgrim Press and written with Karen Wonson Eddy.

Charles Dickens reminds us that God can use remarkable dreams to open a person's heart. Consider Peter, the red-headed apostle, as the prototype Ebenezer Scrooge – his heart narrow and pinched when it came to offering good tidings to Gentiles.

Peter told the tale upon returning to Jerusalem that, when he was in Joppa, he drifted asleep waiting for lunch. In his dream he was visited three times by a sheet on which every kind of non-kosher animal was displayed, while a voice ordered him to eat and overwhelmed the objections he'd shored up by his own miserly interpretations of scripture and tradition. "What God has made clean, you must not call profane."

He woke and went to the home of the gentile Cornelius, shared good news of great joy which was for all the people and was further startled by Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit before Peter could even marry . . .whoops, baptize them.

Reading this "Christmas Carol" we, too, are struck by the presence in our communities and churches of people of many sexual orientations whom God calls clean and Spirit-filled. This holy season let us open our windows, our doors and our legislatures, shouting, "We haven't missed it," and hear in response, "They knew how to keep Christmas well, if any alive possessed the knowledge."

Prayer

God of the Past and Present and Yet-to-come, send such Spirit and such spirits to us that our hearts are open wide this Advent and all the year long. Amen.

About the Author Maren C. Tirabassi is Pastor of Union Congregational Church, UCC, in Madbury, New Hampshire. Her book most recent is Gifts in Open Hands: More Worship Resources for the Global Community, published by The Pilgrim Press and written with Karen Wonson Eddy.

•    Elvis' Christmas Album. If it can make my whole family sing together while performing a complex operation involving a saw, a tree, a small living room, electricity, and water without killing each other, it's holy.
•    Shopping. Can get out of hand, but searching for a great gift to make someone happy can be a profound experience.
•    Christmas cards. Likewise with the out of hand, but they help people keep in touch and help the lonely feel connected.
•    How the Grinch Stole Christmas. In fact, Christmas specials in general—especially if they're commercial-free.
•    Your favorite. Bring it on in the comments on Facebook!

Prayer

God, you can make anything holy. Bless my celebrations when they increase my love, make me generous, or open me to your world. If they do the opposite, make them go the way of last year's fruitcake. Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Minister of Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ published by The Pilgrim Press.

Impractical Gifts

Habakkuk 2:5  

"Wealth is treacherous; the arrogant do not endure.  They open their throats wide as Sheol; like Death they never have enough."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

Here are some of the gifts being offered in various catalogues this season:

There is "The Remote Controlled Rolling Beverage Cooler."  If someone across the room looks thirsty, you don't even need to get out of your seat to serve them.

Then there is the toaster that can emblazon the emblem of your favorite team on your morning toast.

In the "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out" category, there is the "Double Barreled Marshmallow Crossbow," which shoots 25 mini marshmallows from each barrel.  The catalogue suggests that it is "suited as an offensive weapon for assaulting a siblin'’s doll house."  That should make for a Merry Christmas.

In reading those catalogues, I went from saying, "I don't need this stuff," to saying, "Nobody needs this stuff."

But don't assume that I am a fan of practical gifts.  No, my position on that has been clear since I was a boy.  Everyone needs socks.  But not wrapped up and under the tree. 

One of my favorite Christmas gifts I ever received was from my big brother—a bright red ascot.  I was twelve years old at the time.  I loved it immediately.  What twelve year-old needs an ascot?  But that's what made it so wonderful.  An ascot is an event, that something extra, that delightful little taste of grace.  

The best gifts of love are those that show a lovely lack of common sense.  They are not practical.  Flowers (they fade, don't they?), a bracelet (of what earthly good is that?) 

There is high precedent for all this.  The first Christmas gift was highly impractical—a baby in a barn.  Who would have asked for that?  

In this season I do not celebrate the orgy of conspicuous consumption, but I do delight in the surprising taste of grace.  Grace is something we can't deserve, don't really ask for, a delightful something extra.  And sometimes it is only in receiving it that we realize it is what we wanted all along.

Prayer

God, in this season surprise us with your gifts of grace, those things we do not deserve and did not even know we wanted all along. Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

In the Ups and Downs, God Levels Things Out

Isaiah 40:3-4

"A voice cries out: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.'"  

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

People who are facing a serious illness tell me they have a new respect for how changeable life is. Suddenly, they realize how precious the ordinary moments are. One man once told me what many others have said in different words: "I used to complain about being bored. But I could use a little boring right now."

These words from Isaiah seem to predict the divine future God wants for us. God does not want us laboring up steep mountains one minute and down in a ditch the next minute. God wants to level things out.

But life on earth doesn't work that way. Life delivers wild fluctuations in the stock market, our love lives, our health and even our sanity. The ground we travel is uneven and rough.

It is God's grace, working through the passage of time, which evens out the terrain. We look back in hindsight and don't just see a lot of ups and downs. As we learn from our mistakes and our heartbreaks, some of those past mountains get laid low.

It's good preparation for the real moment of understanding, when we meet Jesus in the afterlife and finally understand that all this was just the prelude. Until then, let’s hold on to the image of God watching us in our ups and downs, and using grace and mercy to turn the rough places into a fertile plain.

Prayer

When my heart is a desert, make straight a highway through me, and remind me that one day every mountain I am climbing will be made low and every valley will be lifted up. Eventually. Amen.

About the Author Lillian Daniel is the senior minister of the First Congregational Church, UCC, Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She is the author, with Martin Copenhaver, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

The Prophets of Advent – Cost and Joy

Isaiah 53: 1-5 (KJV)

"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities." 

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

We should never assume that our celebrations of the advent of God in Christ Jesus will attract and appeal to everyone.  Isaiah's prophesy about the life and sufferings of Jesus are enough to prompt the question: Is anybody really willing to celebrate and to follow a messiah of sorrows, who was acquainted with grief?

The advent of Jesus is not just about his manger; it is also about his mission.  A mission that would render him stricken, smitten of God and rejected by men and women.  Where is the merriment in that?  Those of us who celebrate not just the manger but the mission of Jesus are aware of this poignant paradox.

Yet, still we joyfully celebrate the coming of our Christ, for we understand what Isaiah understood: suffering for the cause of God's realm is redemptive in every sphere of life.  In fact, the suffering of Jesus is not ancillary but integral to our celebration of Advent. 

Prayer

Lord, during this Advent season, let our celebrations and actions reveal to us afresh the redemptive power that only comes through our sacrifices for others. Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

Hope of the Righteous

Micah 4:12

"They do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand God's plan."
 
Reflection by Ron Buford

I was taught that righteousness is simply having a "right" perspective and acceptance about one's relationship with God and one's fellow creatures and creation, and one's powers and limitations. Such perspective does not come from ordinary human knowledge alone but through attentiveness to life's "holy moments" amid the mundane and the frightening. Such attentiveness reveals things we do not know, precisely when we need to know them. Such light and revelation, coupled with human knowledge, is the Stillspeaking God continuing creation.

We may not always know God's "thoughts" or understand God's "plan."  At times, we ask God, "What's going on? Why?"

But as we remember past victories, some a long time coming, they become midwives birthing increased faith from the womb of our being. Pilots learn to trust instruments that guide them through clouds by flying.  Just so, we remember to trust God’s presence, persevering through challenging times. Despite travail, we deliver. Despite turbulence, we arrive.

The hope of the righteous is that no matter how things look right now, God's realm will certainly come, for us, our children, and for the world. Somehow our work, our presence in creation, our lives by the grace of Almighty God will have been for a blessing. We may not live to see it, but it will be so in the midst of our weakness, unbelief, and imperfection. God is faithful, holding us, never letting us go because we belong to God. Believe it!

Prayer

Gracious God, Thank you for the confidence we have in Your Presence and that we belong, body and soul, in life and in death, to you. Amen

About the Author Ron Buford is Interim Minister for Discipleship at Old South Church in Boston, Massachusetts.  The former coordinator of the UCC's God is still speaking campaign, Ron consults with UCC conferences and churches across the nation and appears in the DVD-based progressive theology series, Living the Questions 2.0.

How Tall is Your Tree?

Psalm 125: 3

". . .as the mountains surround Jerusalem so God surrounds Israel, both now and forevermore."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

A child stood with her parents in a store. The parents stood with a frazzled clerk who had opened a white plastic Christmas tree to show them what it looked like. The child looked at the tree and made a quick conclusion. "No," said she, "it's too small. There won't be room for all the presents you're going to give us under such a small tree."

We come to Christmas with a similar disproportionality. We find the story too small, too fragile, too weak for the bleakness of the earth's demands. We want a big tree and we want big presents and we want them now.

And we can't afford them. Imagine wanting another want: to be surrounded by love and security. We imagine we can't afford them, either. The Psalm gives us a promise: that God's security is like the mountains. We are already surrounded by it. It is already there. In fact the room is so full of that security that we probably can't fit a tree into it at all.

One way this year could be different would be to focus on the security that already does exist and let the tree, large or small, mark the security. "As the mountains surround Jerusalem, So God surrounds Israel, both now and forevermore."  The tree lights up, the presents are given and received, and we are pulled towards the surround sound of God's mountainous love for us.

It will continue to be different as we get the message about size that Jesus' birth brings into the world. Because of Jesus the last thing that matters is the size of the tree. God messes with the proportionality issue and sides with the small as tender power over the large. Christmas comes to open up your mind and heart to God's love. That is something really different.

Prayer

O God, let the size of our trees be so small in the grand scheme of things that they fit the mountainous love of God into our living rooms. Amen.

About the Author Donna Schaper is the Senior Minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City.  Her latest work is 20 Ways to Keep Sabbath, from The Pilgrim Press.  Check out her work at www.judson.org.

On the Lookout

2 Kings 2:9-10

"Elijah said to Elisha, 'What can I do for you before I'm taken from you.' Elisha said, 'Your life repeated in my life. I want to be a holy man just like you.' Elijah said, 'If you're watching when I'm taken from you, you'll get what you've asked for. But only if you're watching.'"

Reflection by William C. Green

Elisha knew that the older prophet Elijah was about to be taken from him. He wanted the assurance that the spirit of Elijah would be his as well. This request would be granted, he was told, "but only if you're watching" what’s about to happen.

What the young prophet saw was hard to miss—as the story goes, he saw a chariot and horses of fire! Sometimes an encounter with the divine carries the charge of powerful vision. But sometimes it's quite the opposite. Both are true. Both involve watching and taking in what's right before us.

Watch those good times at church or with family, or with a friend. Take them in. Keep the memory fresh. They can fill you with a sense of warmth and completeness beyond what could be yours alone. But watch, too, at times when you're dealing with a broken heart, serious illness, a lost job, the death of someone you love. Anything divine seems distant—and may for some time. But then with the help of a friend, a prayer, a memory, your spirit will gradually rebound and you'll find strength restored.

We can be filled with a strong spirit, just as Elisha hoped. In the spirit of Advent we can be on the lookout for love and goodness waiting to be proved true again.

Prayer

May I expect to find you in all I face, God, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

About the Author William C. Green is Vice-President for Strategy and Development, Moral Courage Project, NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and the author of 52 Ways to Ignite Your Congregation: Generous Giving.

The Challenges of Waiting

Isaiah 60:19-20

"The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.  Your sun shall no more go down, or your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days or mourning shall be ended."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

Advent is a season devoted to waiting.  It is a time when we celebrate waiting, honor those who waited for the coming of the Messiah, and seek to learn something about how we might join them in waiting for the Spirit of Christ to be born again in our midst.  But waiting is difficult for most of us.  In this era of instant gratification, as the world is put in fast forward, even our limited capacity to wait has diminished still further.  It seems as if, among all the things we no longer have time for, we no longer have time to wait. 

As challenging as it can be to wait, however, certainly it is preferable to the alternative.  Those who have ceased to wait generally are those who live without hope.  When all that you see around you is all there is to be, then there is no need to wait.  But there is also no hope of progress, movement, revelation or transformation.  To wait is to be open to the future.  To wait is to be open to God.

Prayer

God, you know that I can find it challenging to wait.  So teach my heart to wait.  Or, to put it another way, please give me the gift of hope.  Amen.

About the Author Martin B. Copenhaver is Senior Pastor, Wellesley Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He is the author, with Lillian Daniel, of This Odd and Wondrous Calling: the Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers.

Angels All Around

Hebrews 1:5-6

"After all, when did God ever say to any of the angels: You are my Son . . . All of God's angels must worship him."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

At this time of the year we're into angels. There's angel Gabriel showing up to say to Mary, "Hail, O favored one!" There are angels on Advent calendars and perched on Christmas trees. We hear of choirs of angels filling the night sky to serenade shepherds.

"Angels," Frederick Buechner once wrote, "are powerful spirits whom God sends into the world to wish us well. [But] since we don't expect to see them, we don't."

In the world of the Letter to the Hebrews, from which today's lesson comes, it was different. Whether to believe in angels or not wasn't their problem. Their problem was a world chock-full of angels or spiritual powers, each one presiding over different turf and offering a different menu of blessings and curses. Sort of like having different gods, each with different rules. Different deities/angels at home, at work, in the car, at school, in the shopping center and at the stadium. All very confusing.

Their problem wasn't, "Do angels exist?" but, "How in the world do I figure out which spiritual power/ angel is operative here, and what do I do to get on his/ her good side?"

Especially at the holidays, we may be able to relate to that situation. Life can seem fragmented into a thousand pieces with a thousand competing powers grabbing at us and conflicting loyalties claiming us. We're pulled here and there, frazzled by our efforts to honor the work gods, placate the shopping deities, humor the family angel, and worship the food gods while not betraying the fitness powers.

To people trying to negotiate that crazy, fragmented world, the word here is "only Jesus." None other is worthy of your worship, of your life. It all hangs together in him. Your center is here, in Christ Jesus. Love him so much that you love nothing else too much. And, as real angels always say, "Don’t be afraid."

Prayer

When we are frazzled and fried by all life's competing demands and powers, help us to remember you alone are God. Claim us, settle us, center us and restore us to our right minds. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. H