From the UCC Network: 04/23/2012 "Loaves and (Gold)fishes"

Loaves and (Gold)fishes

John 6: 9-11

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted."

Reflection by Elizabeth Griswold

A few years ago, I was walking across the quad of a large university and noticed a group of inner-city elementary school kids on a field trip. Just as I came upon them, they paused to take a break, and the teacher began to pass out carrots. Being in a playful mood, I smilingly reached out my hand too.  One of the little boys turned to me with a very concerned look on his face and asked, “Are you hungry?  Do you want some goldfish?” And he reached into his pocket. 

I think sometimes the greatest gift we can give another is to receive graciously their heartfelt offer of hospitality. So I accepted his crumpled bag of crackers with sincere gratitude (since I really was kind of hungry too!).

But I felt that his gift was greater than that. I felt as if I had just witnessed firsthand a modern-day miracle. The multiplication of the loaves and fishes right before my eyes!

Maybe the Bible’s stories are alive all around us, and it’s our job to find ways to tell the old, old stories in beautiful new ways. You’ve heard of rose-colored glasses. Well, what if churches’ stained glass windows were lenses that colored the way we see the world through what’s depicted there? 

Then our theology just might help us view those biblical figures as regular people revered not because they are different, but because they are like us and still somehow managed to serve God in ways that changed history and society.

Prayer

Dear God, help us to recognize you in the ways you appear all around us—and especially in those seemingly meager yet astonishingly abundant offerings that just may feed both our bellies and our souls. Amen.

About the Author Elizabeth Griswold is the Associate Pastor of Irvine United Congregational Church, Irvine, California.

From the UCC Network: 04/21/2012 "Cash the Check"

Cash the Check!

Excerpt from Psalm 4

"Know this: the Lord takes personal care of the faithful." (CEB)

Reflection by William C. Green

It's one thing to know we are loved and respected, another to act on it. But the less we act on it, the less we know it. What does love or respect mean if it's just left sitting there? Like a gifted musician or a skilled athlete, if we don't use our gifts they waste away and we wonder if we have what it takes to perform well.

Another way of looking at it might be to consider ourselves recipients of a large check made out to us. What if I failed to cash it?

So it is with God's promise to take personal care of us. Today's verse says "know this." Knowledge in the Bible is active not passive. Knowing is doing. We cannot really know love, respect, talent, skill, or gifts of any sort (including money), until we quit puzzling and do something about them. 

What of those who are destitute, unable to know and do much of anything that shows God's personal care? Aren't they faithful enough? Or maybe they're not faithful at all? Those questions need to be asked of us. How are we acting on the love and care we're given to know? God's personal care does not just drop down from the sky. It works within us, for us, and then through us for others, whatever their circumstances. When we plant the seeds, God reaps the harvest. God personally cares for all of us.

Prayer

Make known through me your personal care of us all. Amen.

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

From the UCC Network: 04/18/2012 "Endangered Blank Spaces"

Endangered Blank Spaces

Isaiah 58:13-14

"If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day… if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs, then you shall take delight in the Lord."

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

From a recent article in The New York Times:  "Add this to the endangered list: blank spaces."

"Advertisers seem determined to fill every last one of them.  Supermarket eggs have been stamped with the names of CBS television shows.  Subway turnstiles bear messages from Geico auto insurance.  US Airways is selling ads on motion sickness bags."

One marketing research firm estimates that a person living in a city sees 5,000 ad messages a day.  No wonder we feel bombarded.

So, yes, add blank spaces to the endangered list.  And we need blank spaces as much as we need room to breathe or room for the Holy Spirit to breathe through us.

In the 1930s there was an Oxford don, an influential Anglo-Saxon scholar, who was quietly correcting the papers of his students.  Picture the pages before him on his desk.  Each page is densely packed.  He writes his own comments, adding to the crowded pages.  Then he turns over one page and finds it is blank.  This is something different and unexpected.  He pauses before the blank page and, for whatever reason—later he could not explain why—he writes one sentence:  "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

The Oxford don was J.R.R. Tolkien and that sentence is the opening line of his famous novel, The Hobbit, the introduction to his masterful Lord of the Rings trilogy.  He had never written a word of fiction before coming upon that blank page.

Do you have enough blank spaces in your life?

If not, do you have any new ideas about what you might do about that? 

How about a very ancient idea?  How about Sabbath?

Prayer

God, let me just pause in your presence for a moment so that you can write something on my heart.

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.

From the UCC Network: 04/17/2012 "Bridges"

Bridges

1 Peter 4:17

"And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever."

Reflection by Donna Schaper

Eternal life is a scary concept.  Consider all the laundry, dishes, dusting that could involve.  Consider the arthritis or the love handles or the varicose veins.  Also consider what it would mean to live unafraid of dying as a body and living on as a spirit.

Some of you may know the Tappan Zee Bridge that spans the Hudson River between the storied town of Sleepy Hollow and the bustle of Nyack, New York.  It was built to last 50 years and has now lasted 56. A new bridge is being proposed at the cost of $5 billion.  It will cost $150 million to tear the old bridge down. A creative idea has occurred to New Yorkers: a Tappan Zee Greenway.  Why not keep the old bridge up, next to the new bridge, as a walking, biking span?

I like this approach to eternal life.  Like bridges, we keep on living, but our function changes. It is no longer to stay young, while using cars and oil.  We become immortal, but stronger legs bike us. Imagine the lettuce, corn, and compost that would thrive when roads are no longer buried in concrete.  Imagine being old with dignity and pride.

Eternals know that change is a constant.  We know the power of imagination and spirit in a world of concrete and cars.  Bodies diminish, but bridges between Nyack and Sleepy Hollow—and life and death—last.

Prayer

When we have the shiver and quiver of death in our hearts, bridge us, O God, to immortality.  Show us a way for the spirit to thrive.  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.

From the UCC Network: 04/16/2012 "Psalm for Getting it On"

Psalm for Getting it On

Excerpt from Psalm 127

"Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain...It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; For he provides for his Beloved during sleep."

Reflection by Christina G. Kukuk

With a wink and the wag of a head, the singer asks an annoying question of the workaholic: What do you really gain running yourself ragged, rising before dawn and pushing past midnight? Why settle for "the bread of anxious toil," always coming home long after the plates on the table have turned cold?

The one who sings knows what it means to be truly human: Working and eating, and… well, one more thing. You could call this "The Psalm for Gettin' it On."

Is this a poem about prayer or procreation?  Spirituality or sex? Like all good religion, it's ambiguous. The translation for polite company slumbers with innocence, "for he gives sleep to his beloved." But the next paragraph suggests zzzzzzs aren't the only provision.

"Sons are a heritage… the fruit of the womb a reward…"

Someone is getting fruitful, in the Biblical sense. And a quiver-full of ankle biters in those days was a picture of God's blessing. Babies weren't a metaphor for life. They were your life. A passel of them was insurance against starvation in a subsistence agricultural economy. In the so-called developed world today, that's no longer true. We couple up and procreate for other reasons and sometimes none at all.

But like a good song, the truth in these notes can still be heard: You are a being—not a machine. The dance of your working, eating, and love-making creates a spiritual economy not only in your own household, but also in the world. Your ability to stop working early enough to make love with your partner, and your ability to stop toiling once in a while and trust enough to pray are related. The Creator Chef spreads a feast.

So stop early once in a while.

And get it on.
   
Prayer

Master Chef, we confess: If we're trying by sheer force of will and power, by long days and short nights, to build our castle, career, portfolio, or program - we'll spend ourselves in vain. Help us to stop early once in awhile, and trust you enough to get it on. Amen.

About the Author Christina G. Kukuk is the Senior Pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ, Elyria, Ohio.

From the UCC Network: 04/11/2012 "Secret of the Blues"

Secret of the Blues

Excerpt from Mark 16:1-8

"Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?" (Good News Bible)

Reflection by William C. Green

The secret of the blues is strength in the middle of trouble. It brings to mind what Reinhold Niebuhr meant by "creative despair."

Listen, for example, to B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Nina Simone. Amid dejection and lyrics like "can't do nothin'," or "love lies dead," there's something else: an unyielding defiance of those very feelings, disdain for whatever stirs them up. "Mississippi Goddam!" sang Simone.

The three women who wanted to anoint Jesus knew the stone to the tomb was in their way as surely as death stood in the way of the love of their lives. Stones—and death: "God---!" It turned out that the stone had somehow been rolled back and they were told they would see Jesus again. But, as happens to us, too, the first happiness of faith is subsequently interrupted by apparently insuperable obstacles. Some stones don't easily go away.

The songs of enduring faith are not only "gospel songs" of happiness. They include the blues at their best. Not just mournful and melancholy, but defiantly strong, making clear that I may be down but I'm not out.

Whatever stands between us and our strength in God cannot silence our faith. One way or another, that's what we can sing about. That's the spirit of Jesus himself who, facing the worst, outlasted it and lives among us in the spirit of God.

Prayer

May the obstacles in my way—the stones in my life—inspire greater faith, realistic and undeterred. Amen.

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

From the UCC Network: 04/10/2012 "Do You Have Anything to Eat?"

Do You Have Anything to Eat?

Excerpt from Luke 24:36-49

"While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, 'Have you anything here to eat?'"

Reflection by Martin B. Copenhaver

Jesus asks a lot of questions in the gospels — 307, to be exact.  Even when the risen Christ appears to the disciples, he is still asking questions.  We might assume that, on this occasion at least, he would have settled for declarative sentences.  And if he were to ask questions at such a time, we would expect those questions to be momentous ones.  But one question he asks seems anything but momentous.  According to Luke, soon after Jesus appeared to his disciples, he asks, "Do you have anything here to eat?"

What do you make of that?  That doesn't sound like the question of a Risen Lord.  It sounds more like the question of a teenager arriving home from school.

So his disciples give Jesus a piece of broiled fish and he eats it.

Apparently, rising from the dead really works up an appetite.  Who knew?  Get this fellow something to eat!

So what's going on here?  Well, for one, it's a way for Luke to affirm that Jesus' presence is real.  He isn't a ghost. 

But, knowing Jesus, the follow-up question is this: "Does your neighbor have anything to eat?"   After all, this is the same Jesus who taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread."  Not mydaily bread, our daily bread.  It is a collective plea, not an individual one.  In this prayer we say so often is the radical notion that your neighbor's need is not different from your own need.   There is only our need.

Fifteen centuries ago, Saint Benedict wrote that Jesus comes to us disguised in every stranger knocking on the door asking for hospitality and asking for food.  And if that is true, the question on his lips surely is:  "Do you have anything here to eat?"

That turns out to be a momentous question, after all.

Prayer

Jesus, give me eyes to see you, especially in your distressing disguise as one of the poor. 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.

From the UCC Network: 04/09/2012 "The Day After"

The Day After

Mark 16:6-7

"He said, 'Don't be afraid. I know you're looking for Jesus the Nazarene, the One they nailed on the cross. He's been raised up; he's here no longer. You can see for yourselves that the place is empty.'" (The Message)

Reflection by Lillian Daniel 

The day after Easter is usually very quiet in churches. The staff and volunteers are often taking some well-deserved time off. The church might even look a bit of a mess, after what may be the most highly attended service of the year. The pollen from the lilies has had time to scatter around the church, as petals droop, giving things a musty air. Coffee cups spill out of full trash cans. The phones don't ring.

I know this because I often come into church on the Monday after Easter. I love how quiet it is, and how well-used it all looks. It's like waking up the morning after a great party, but no one has a hangover.

To me, Easter is the highlight of the church year, the biggest celebration of them all, after which I can't help but ask, "So now what?" After the intensity of Holy Week, the sorrow followed by the joy, where do we go from here?

We go back to the work of living, of cleaning up the flowers, of straightening up after the party, of seeing the usual people on Sunday mornings, and not all those extras. It's hard to not feel a little sad that every Sunday can't be like Easter. It's tempting to judge the people who only come on Easter.

If they came every Sunday they would see what a loving, special place our church is! And if they don't come again, we will judge them for it. Oops. That can't be right.

I think there's a reason every Sunday can't be Easter. We're not ready for it every Sunday. We need all those other Sundays to gear up for it, to appreciate it, and then to recover from that much joy in one place.

We need a quiet Monday, so that the walls of the church can rest, the halls of the classrooms can breathe, the cloud of witnesses in heaven can sigh and remember that one day later, Christ is still risen. He is risen indeed.

Prayer

Christ the Lord is risen today. And the day after. And the day after that.   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.

From the UCC Network: 04/08/2012 "Easter! A Really New Day"

Easter! A Really New Day

Excerpt from Mark 16:1-8

"And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb."

Reflection by Talitha Arnold

The sun came up that day.

That's the one tangible thing about Easter the four Gospel writers agree on. They don't see eye to eye on any other details of the most important event in the Christian faith. Was it a group of women who went to the tomb or just Mary Magdalene? Did they go before dawn or after daybreak? One man or two who greeted them? In Mark, the women run away and don't tell anyone. In Luke, they tell the disciples who don't believe them.

But the writers do agree the sun came up that first Easter. 

This morning at my church, some of us will gather outside in darkness for the Easter Sunrise Service. It's never a big group. Sometimes my fingers are too cold to strum the guitar. Since we also have indoor Easter services filled with people, lilies and even The Hallelujah Chorus, one could argue a Sunrise Service makes no sense.

Every Easter Eve, when I set my alarm for 4:00 am, I remember the bleary-eyed teenager who once advised, "Talitha, next year it's an Easter Sunset service. Got it?"  But I also remember the sunrise services growing up in South Phoenix. The mystery of gathering in the darkness, the sweet smell of the cool desert air, the sense of awe as the world came alive with the new light of dawn.

I remember, too, later Easters as a young adult when I felt far from God. The Easters when, because of family sorrows, all I could believe was that the sun would come up and it would be a new day.

It did and it was.

Maybe this is an Easter of Hallelujah Choruses and all kinds of new life for you. Perhaps, though, all you can believe in is that the sun will rise, and it will be a new day. If so, take heart. Sometimes that's all the rest of us can believe in, too. In fact, it's the one thing those Gospel writers could all agree on.

The sun came up and it was a really new day. Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia!

Prayer

Thank you, God, for this new day. Thank you for the new life of Easter, however it comes to us this year. Amen.

About the Author Talitha Arnold is Senior Minister of the United Church of Santa Fe (UCC), Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is the author of Worship for Vital Congregations, published by The Pilgrim Press.

From the UCC Network: 04/05/2012 "It Can Also Be Blessed to Receive"

It Can Also Be Blessed to Receive

John 13:5–8

"Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, 'You will never wash my feet.' Jesus answered, 'Unless I wash you, you have no share in me.' Simon Peter said to him, 'Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!'"

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

On Thursday in that last, holy week, Jesus had a final dinner with his disciples. It was then that Jesus tied a towel around his waist, took a bowl of water, and knelt to wash the feet of his friends.

When Jesus came to Peter, Peter said, "No way." "Lord," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." I suspect that Peter would have been comfortable washing Jesus' feet, being in the giving role. He wasn't so comfortable on the receiving end.

We often hear, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." There's truth in that. But this saying and its truth may hide another: giving can be an act of power, while receiving tends to make us vulnerable. It can also be blessed to receive. And sometimes it's harder.

For some it is a whole lot easier to give gifts than to receive them. For some of us, it can be difficult to accept or to receive help. We may be generous givers, but impoverished receivers. When someone gives you a compliment, are you able to receive it? If a friend or pastor were to lay a hand on your head and bless you, could you handle it?

When Peter said, "No way," to Jesus, Jesus responded bluntly, "Unless I wash you, you have no part in me." Peter relented. "Then, Lord, wash me all over."

Soon Jesus would be gone and Peter would be called to give and give and give again. He would be asked to lead and serve others. Perhaps Jesus wanted Peter to know that before he was a giver, he was—and would always be—a receiver, a receiver of God's extravagant grace for him. Why? Because it's difficult to give what we have not received.

There's a time and place to be generous givers; and there is also a time and place to be generous receivers. This night, this week, is one such time.

Prayer

Holy Kneeling One, wash me all over. Cleanse me in your love. And grant me the grace to be a generous receiver. Amen.

About the Author Anthony B. Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His newest book is Called to Lead: Paul's Letters to Timothy for a New Day, and he is also the author of the just-publishedBook of Exodus: A God is still speaking Bible Study. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com by clicking on Weekly Reading.

From the UCC Network: 03/07/2012 "Queen for the Day"

Queen for the Day

Hebrews 4:1-2

"Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness"

Reflection by Donna Schaper

It will come as no surprise that pastors and priests are sinners.  You might want to think something else, as it is so spiritually convenient to have a spiritual surrogate.  But your house will be built on sand.

I need not mention the Roman Catholic scandal regarding errant priests. Or that sermon I preached last week, which was simply inadequate to the hunger of my people.  I don't need to bring up the old heresy that assures us, after much mistaken hyperbole, that the bread is good even if the giver is not.  Better put, the bread does not depend on the giver being good.  That is the sacramental heresy, changed by the ancient revision that assures us that the bread of life is still good even if the giver is not.  You can just hear the sighs of relief underneath the collars.

It is amazing how often people project their hopes in the divine on their minister.  To be a decent minister, it is crucial to avoid those projections.  I only take them on one day a month.  I call it Queen for the Day. On that day, I imagine I can help people manage their loneliness, their debt, and their boredom. I consent to their projections and brag about how many appointments I have.  I act like I know more about God than they do.  Sometimes I even offer advice, which is a sure sign that I have granted permission to the projections, sustained spiritual surrogacy,  risked ridiculousness.  On that day I complain especially about how busy I am, how in demand I am, how irreplaceable I am.

When the day is over, I have to go back to the truth.  Even the highest priest had to face her maker, his God, their inadequacy to carry the spiritual weight that is only managed by shoulders that share it.  I prefer the normal day to the special day, as do most Queens.  It has more truth in it.

Prayer

O God, who made not one of us perfect, grant us the reach towards grace anyway.  Give us that perfect humility that allows us to wake up each day and come towards you with strong shoulders.  Give us shoulders that know the limits of what they can bear and wisely seek partners to make the load easy and the burden light.  Teach us spiritual physics, not spiritual surrogacy.   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.

From the UCC Network: 03/06/2012 "Multiply"

Multiply
Excerpt from Genesis 22:1-19 

"The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, 'By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore.'"

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

I feel a little weird about it, but here is a true thing: I give my money away because I want to be richer.

I wish the only reason I gave money to the church were because I want to build the realm of God.  But the truth is that part of the reason I do it is because I want more money.

It is my experience that the more generous I manage to be, the wealthier I find I am.  And let me be clear: by "wealthier" I do not mean just "wealthier in spirit"; I mean I really do seem to have more money.  I cannot explain this phenomenon.  It might be luck.  It might have something to do with unearned privilege.  It might just be that the more I give away, the less I realize I need, and so I justfeel richer.

And it might just be the work of the God who, when Abraham was ready to give his son's life, multiplied his sons a millionfold.  The God who, when the crowds gave the few loaves and fishes they had, multiplied them and fed the world.  The God who, when Jesus gave his life, multiplied that life so powerfully that we're still living it today.

I give my money away because when I do, I find that I have more of it than I did.  I honestly do not know how this works.  I'm just telling you that with our God, it does.

Prayer

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

From the UCC Network: 03/05/2012 "Changing Faith"

Changing Faith

Excerpt from Hebrews 1:8-12

"You, Lord, are always the same, and your life never ends." (Good News Bible)

Reflection by William C. Green

When my son turned fourteen he was puzzled by his inability to enjoy the amusement park where we'd passed many summer days. He kept going on the same roller coasters that had thrilled him. He kept riding the bumper cars he once loved. He again threw balls at moving targets to win the toys he'd been drawn to collecting. But the harder he tried to enjoy himself the more disappointed he felt. Something was wrong. Something had changed. It was time to move on.

One writer said, "All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."

Lent is a good time to ask ourselves what we're going to have to die to for faith to grow, what we're going to have to leave behind. The God who never changes is present in ways we may not have fully anticipated—as when we're lost and alone, when we're suffering, when doubt runs strong, or when the plight of others cries out for our attention.

In God, our life never ends but we're called to move on. We will find new ways of believing and seeing what's always there, seeking us out, loving us, leading us, and supporting us.

Prayer

God, help us to let go of belief we have outgrown. May we move with you into the new life you have in store for us. Amen.

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

We are who God says we are [cross-post]

CENTURY BLOGS

We are who God says we are

The gospel in seven words

Mar 02, 2012 by Nadia Bolz-Weber

What's the gospel in seven words? We asked theologians, pastors and others both to answer this question and to expand on this in a few sentences. To see all the responses together as they're posted, bookmark this page. Add your own version here. --Ed.

We are who God says we are.

In the incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Christ we see that God is so for us and with us that we can no longer be defined according to death, a religion-based worthiness system or even the categories of late-stage capitalism. We are who God says we are: the forgiven, broken and blessed children of God; the ones to whom God draws near. Nothing else gets to tell us who we are.

From the UCC Network: 03/04/2012 "Again and Again and Again"

Again and Again and Again
Excerpt from Mark 10:1-12

"Crowds again gathered around him; and, as was his custom, he again taught them."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

A faithful churchgoer was talking with a skeptical friend about why he bothered going to church.  The friend asked him what his favorite part of the service was.  "Oh, I love most of it: the songs, the Doxology, Communion.  The pastoral prayer can be pretty boring sometimes, but I even get something out of that.  Overall, though, I guess I would say I get the most out of the sermon."

"How many sermons do you think you've sat through in your life?" the friend asked.

The man said, "Oh, I don't know.  Couple thousand?"

"And do you remember them all?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why bother?  What's the point?"

The man thought about it for a moment, then asked, "Do you remember every meal you've ever eaten?"

"No."

"Neither do I," replied the man.  "But I sure am glad I ate them."

Prayer

God, I wish I didn't have to feed my spirit so much.  I wish I could hear about you just once and then be yours forever.  But it looks like I'm going to need to hear it again and again.  So send me the discipline to come often to the table of your Word, and send me preachers good enough to keep me fed.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

From the UCC Network: 03/01/2012 "In Search of a Girlfriend ... or Maybe Just a Sixth Cat"

In Search of a Girlfriend ... or Maybe Just a Sixth Cat

1 Corinthians 13:4 

"Love is patient, love is kind."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel

Someone in the online dating world received this note from a potential suitor:

"You should be an outdoors and nature lover ... did I mention you must like cats?
Exercise habits: Never
Pets: I have Cats
I have 5 cats and they are number one in my life. They own the house and yard. My job is to protect and care for them. Anyone who does not like cats is not welcome at my house. Period." 

OK, now I love cats as much as the next person. By which I mean that I actually love cats as much as I love the next person, which means that on some days, I just straight up prefer the cats. So don't get me wrong here, I relate to this guy.

But I don't think he is demonstrating much openness to all that a new relationship might bring. Word choices like "must," "number one," "period," and "not welcome" are not particularly inviting. This guy may be looking for a girlfriend, but he might be better off with a sixth cat. Because relating to other people is hard. The apostle Paul understood that, when he reminded us that love is patient. He didn't say passionate, or fun, or easy. He said "patient."

Other people seldom agree to our rules. Other people have their own ideas about things. Other people can be needy or they can ignore you. Other people can be warm and cuddly one minute, cold and aloof the next. Come to think of it, sometimes other people are a lot like cats.

Prayer

Allow me to know myself well enough to explain myself to others, but not so well that I scare them away. Grant me patience in the realm of love, and openness to the possibilities of others who are not like me. 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.

From the UCC Network: 02/29/2012 "Leap"

Leap
Genesis 2:2

"And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done…These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created."

Reflection by Quinn G. Caldwell

Every once in a while, time just doesn't add up.  Doesn't work out.  Every once in a while, you need to mess with time a little bit to make it all come out right.

Take leap years:  Once upon a time, they made a calendar.  It was pretty awesome, but it turned out that it didn't have quite enough room in it for all that needed to happen in the cosmos.  So they messed with time a little bit.  They added today.

Once upon a time, God did the same thing.  She took seven days to complete the Creation.  It was pretty awesome, but it couldn't quite save itself, couldn't quite come to full flower without a touch more Creating.  So God messed with time a little bit.  He added the Eighth Day of Creation: Easter.

They say every Sunday is that Eighth Day all over again.  To observe the Sabbath in worship and prayer is to participate in the ultimate act of Creation, the final flowering of the world that happened—happens, is happening—on the Eighth Day.

February 29th makes the calendar balance; you pretty much have to participate in it whether you like it or not.

The Eighth Day, on the other hand, is a leap that makes the whole creation balance.  You don't have to participate in it if you don't want to, but my God, why wouldn't you?

Prayer

God, thank you for making the rules and then breaking them, making time and then bending it, creating the world and then saving it.  Amen.

About the Author Quinn G. Caldwell is an ordained minister of the United Church of Christ, and co-editor, with Curtis J. Preston, of the Unofficial Handbook of the United Church of Christ.

From the UCC Network: 02/28/2012 "Less Boasting"

Less Boasting

1 Corinthians 5:6  

"Your boasting is not a good thing. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough?"

Reflection by Donna Schaper

Less is usually more.  Subtraction is a good spiritual strategy.  A little often means a lot.  And yet, many of us spend a lot of time on our resumes or on social networking. We present or we represent.  We may be warned against boasting, but that doesn't mean we don't boast!  Karl Jung says we sneak our biography into just about everything we say.

Many of us want to be recognized more even than we want to be known.  We want to be seen for who we are.  We want people to know what we've come through.  This hunger for recognition is human being 101.  If you don't believe me, feel the warmth you know after a good conversation with a friend.

Paul is advocating recognition and being known.  He wants the good bread to rise.  Perhaps less boasting and more yeasting would achieve the results of recognition we so very much want.  And deserve.

Prayer

O God, understand how much we want to be seen and known.  And then lead us to a good batch of dough and let us sprinkle our yeast upon 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.

From the UCC Network: 02/22/2012 "Ash Wednesday"

Ash Wednesday

Joel 1:13 

"Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests; wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, pass the night in sackcloth, you ministers of God!" 

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

One year, as the new pastor at First Church, I persuaded the Worship Committee to try an Ash Wednesday service. Since it was a new thing, we decided to sweeten the pot with a concert of African-American spirituals, by a noted local artist, following the service.

His concert got full-page publicity in both city papers. When I got up to lead our first-ever Ash Wednesday service, the sanctuary was packed, mostly with people I had never laid eyes on before. I panicked. "What in the world will they think of this . . . this long confession of sin . . . the imposition of the ashes? Will they think we've done a bait-and-switch, ashes instead of concert?" I offered a wordy explanation.

When the time came for the imposition of ashes I wasn't sure if anyone would come forward. To my astonishment, hundreds did. So many faces were open in hope and anticipation. So many eyes were tear-filled. We made the sign of the cross on forehead after forehead, saying only, "Turn away from your sins and believe the good news of the gospel." The sense of God's presence was palpable.

Why was that? For sure, I don't know. Touch? Mystery? Risk? Something old and ancient? Something new and strange? Maybe, in spite of all our denials and our attempts at self-justification, we do know we have sinned. And we long for mercy, for forgiveness.

So few words, repeated over and over, like a chant. "Turn away from your sins and believe the good news of the gospel." Sometimes our many words drown out God's Word. Often, too many words keep us stuck in our heads when our hearts long for God.

Let this day, this Ash Wednesday, be a day for fewer words all day long. Let it be a day for some stillness, for paying quiet attention to mystery, to beauty, to the sacred.

Prayer 

Holy One, into our sorrow and confusion, our brokenness and pride, speak your word of healing and hope, your word of 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.

From the UCC Network: 02/21/2012 "Cheap Grace"

Cheap Grace

Excerpt from Romans 3:1-8

"But if through my falsehood God's truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?"

Reflection by Donna Schaper

This is one of those questions form Paul that has a trick inside it.  Like its more famous partner, "What then shall I sin more so that grace may abound?" the trick revolves around the matter of cheap or inexpensive grace.  Cheap grace is when we count on God to forgive us so much that we persist in sin.  Sin can be defined in many ways.  Here I mean it as missing the mark of our true humanity.  We lower the bar God has set for us and imagine that God's overwhelming love for us sinners is such that we may as well have another drink or cheat another client or forget another homeless person's name.  Cheap grace tosses us into the hell of relativity where we sense a deep inconsequentiality about our lives.

Rich grace, the kind that shows up in the coin of changed behavior, is so moved by God's anyway love for us that it begins to live on a different plane.  Instead of thinking that what we do doesn't matter, we know it does.  We are almost driven to show others what it means to be secure.  We are compelled to be different than what we were, so drawn and magnetized are we to the high bar of true humanity.  It is not so much achievement, although saved people do achieve, as it is lighting up on all of our cylinders where before we were only showing one or two bars.  Instead of being burnt out, we are lit.  Instead of being sad, we are happy.  Instead of being bored, we are engaged.

One of the organizers of the Washington, D.C. Occupy movement came to a national meeting of faith leaders at our church three days before Christmas.  She was 75 in age, a former self-described "lieutenant in Dr. King's army."  She said that the Occupy movement had turned her into water and she just felt poured out, so reinvigorated was her hope for human right and human rights.  She said she felt like we had another chance to make our mark as a democracy.   She said she had remade a decision that she had made a long time ago.  She used these words, "What I do really does matter."

Cheap grace drives you to inconsequentiality.  Grace drives us to consequentiality, not the kind that makes us self-important so much as the kind that pours out, overflows, gets everything that was all dry all wet again.  We are NOT to sin more so that grace may abound.  Just the opposite: we are to make our mark as creatures of a God that was not fooling around.

Prayer

When we are tempted to devalue ourselves, Gracious God, drive us to the deep grace that is the well of our wells.  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.

From the UCC Network: 02/20/2012 "Who Wants to Be the President?"

Who Wants to Be the President?

John 13:34

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

Reflection by Lillian Daniel 

I do not want to be the president of the United States. I am totally clear on this point.

To which you are probably responding, "Well, thanks for sharing, but who asked you?"

No one, in fact. No one is recruiting me for the job, at least as far as I know. But in case you were wondering, I don't want it. And I have trouble imagining why any sane person would.

The level of incivility in American politics seems to have reached an all-time high. Bi-partisan cooperation seems to be a quaint custom of days gone by. When I watch the news, it feels less like journalism and more like a breathless and gossipy commentary on a brutal spectator sport. And big money seems to control it all.

Sometimes I forget that the candidates they are talking about are human beings, with feelings, families and faith. And so are the countless people who work for them. And so are the volunteers. All human beings, every one.

This President's Day, I want to say a prayer for them all, past, present and future, for seeking a job that strikes me as impossible. And I pray for a more peaceful political culture in which an impossible job might be redeemed.

Prayer

Let us love one another, as you have loved 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.

From the UCC Network: 02/19/2012 "Free Will"

Free Will

Deuteronomy 30:19

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God."

Reflection by Robert Naylor

Life is becoming increasing difficult for me.  My new television cable package offers 78 basic channels and another hundred or more HD offerings.  I thank God every day that I didn't buy the premium package.  My favorite ice cream store now has over 40 flavors.  I have a lengthy list of daily activities from which to select: writing, working in the soup kitchen, playing golf, tutoring children and youth, practicing my guitar, visiting the local long-term care facilities, taking a cooking class . . . and on and on.

I share in the basic problem of being human—dealing with God's gift and curse to us of "free will."  I am faced with too many choices to make. As the famous writer E.B. White commented, "I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world.  This makes it hard to plan the day."

God's gift of free will does require some prayerful decision-making as we face the choices that the day brings.   The daily question the faithful must ask focuses on whether we will choose to improve the world or make "me" and my welfare the center of it. Our words to others can be gracious or hurtful; we can choose to keep silent or speak up in the face of wrong; the way we choose to use our material wealth can bring healing or harm to the world.

But I do have one problem with White's dichotomy of "improve" vs. "enjoy."  The truth is, when we choose to improve the world through selfless service we come to know a joy beyond our comprehension.  Just as God did with the faithful/wayward children of Israel, at each moment God is pleading with us to choose life.  Let us go this day and in all of its minutes and hours, let us choose life. 

Prayer

God give me the insight today to choose life so that I will be an instrument for improving the world and so find the fullness of joy that comes with serving you.  Amen.

About the Author Robert Naylor is a United Church of Christ minister and and lead consultant for In Church Imaging, a leadership training and planning resource for clergy and local churches.