Sept 27, 2019              Deb Matthews                                     

             Deb Matthews passed away on Sept 21, 2019 

         The picture I have up on the screen is from a photo I took some 14 years ago. In the church at that time, we had a sculptor who had read Leo Buscaglia book “Love”. In the book, Leo describes a student in one of his classes, who suddenly stopped coming to class. This disturbed Leo, so that he went out in search of the student, only to find she had passed away. Along the way, he found that she had left a hole in the world, people who knew and loved her had experienced a loss that they did not know how to fill.

         The sculptor, took this idea to heart, and came up with this idea for a cross with a hole in it, a Jesus shaped hole, describing the loss the disciples must have felt when Jesus died upon the cross. Interestingly enough, on the day we put the cross up, I noticed the church steeple in the background, and took this picture, of the church filling the hole that Jesus left behind.

         Now I know that Deb wasn’t Jesus, and neither am I for that matter. But Deb’s sudden loss has indeed left a hole in our lives, and a significant one at that. If you read her obituary, you will see quite a list of accomplishments, 30 years playing organ and piano for Union Congregationgregational, 11 years teaching music at Somonauk School District, 30 years working for the Somonauk Post Office, coaching T-ball, softball, and soccer. She was a girl scout leader for 10 years, member of the Sunshine band, active in the Indian Valley Theatre, active in the American Pool players, pianist and director for the Somonauk community choir, State Chaplain for her union for 25 years, Secretary-Treasurer for the DeKalb county RLCA, and a National Delegate for her state.

         And it is more than just a list of accomplishments that we will miss about her, it will be about who she was. In my two year and a half years that I knew her, she could be thoughtful, patient, kind and gave of herself to others. She cared not only about people she knew, but people she didn’t know who were suffering. She attended a number of church association meetings as our church moderator with me, and was engaged and involved in them. She was very patriotic and very Christian in the way she looked at the world.

         Our church members will miss her leadership, serving as moderator, on the trustees, collecting cans for the angel fund, starting the chime choir, faithfully serving as our organist and choir director, playing for any number of funerals and weddings, both here and at the nursing home. We will miss her laugh, and sense of humor, her gathering us for meals on Wednesdays at Rambo’s, her faithfulness to friends and family, and companionship, shown even to new comers. In fact, one couple that has joined us recently as they sort out their mother’s estate, told me the reason they kept coming back was Deb, who got their number, called them regularly, and made them feel welcome here.

         Now I realize that Deb had her other moments, we all do, but in this time of mourning her loss, we as Christians choose to focus on the blessings that God has given us in the life of Deb Matthews, because it is these blessing that lead us to life. In fact, that is the truth of our human existence, that set of behaviors that give life to ourselves and to one another, that set of behaviors that have been revealed us in Jesus Christ!

         And so, back to my picture, as I noted above, I noticed the church steeple in the background, filling in the hole left by Jesus. Jesus left us the church, as a place for us to not only hear about the good news, but to practice it with one another. After being a minister for 30 years, I know there are some troublesome people in churches, but they are far outweighed by the truly wonderful people you will meet. People who will be a blessing to you, people who will give you life, people who will fill in the hole left by lost loved ones. Deb was one of those people, a disciple of Jesus Christ, and while we feel a sense of loss at her passing, the angels in heaven are rejoicing at her presence among them, and one day too, as Jesus says, we will rejoice as well in the blessing God gave us in Deb Matthews.   

Oct. 20, 2019         Wrestling With God                                                            

Let’s talk about Jacob this morning. Jacob was a thief, a trickster, a cheater, a scammer. You remember the stories about Jacob, how he talked his brother Esau into selling him the birthright for a bowl of lentils? You remember how Jacob, stole his father Isaac’s blessing by dressing up in furs and pretending to be Esau. You remember how Jacob himself got scammed by Laban, working for seven years to marry Rachel, and instead got Leah. But Jacob got even in the end, using a clever trick to con Laban out of over half his livestock. Yes, Jacob was a thief, a trickster, a cheater, and a scammer, but this was all to change.

After Laban asked Jacob to leave his family and take his ill gotten gains with him, Jacob headed back to the land of his father, but along the way, he got word that his brother Esau was coming to meet him. Now Jacob was afraid of Esau, because he had stolen Esau’s birthright and blessing, so he figured Esau would be out for blood. So that sneaky Jacob, divided his group into two parts so that when Esau attacked one group, the other might flee, and he put servants bearing gifts in front, so that maybe he could buy Esau’s forgiveness. And last of all, that sneaky Jacob, stayed well to the rear, so he could get away. Even that night, Jacob, camped his people on Esau’s side of the Jabbok river, and then went back across the river to sleep in safety on the other side. And that’s when it happened. God came.

In the middle of the night, Jacob found himself wrestling with an angel, and Jacob being a good trickster, was a good wrestler, so the match went on till dawn. And at daybreak, Jacob demanded a blessing from the angel, and the angel commended Jacob for wrestling with God and with human beings, and then touched him on the hip, and his hip fell out of joint, so that he now walked with a limp. And the angel told Jacob, that from now on he would be called Israel, which means God rules my life. No longer would Jacob be the trickster, the thief, the con man, now Jacob would play it straight, and rather than seeking to use God for his purposes, he would obey God, and trust in God to see him through.

So that next day, as Esau and his men come to meet Jacob, Jacob sets himself at the head of his people, so that if Esau is angry, the attack will fall on him, and his family might escape punishment. And to Jacob’s complete surprise, Esau hasn’t come to attack his brother, but to welcome him back home with open arms!

I guess I always see this story as the moment when Jacob went from being a trickster to being God’s servant. And I think that for many of us, we spend our youth relying upon our strength, our cleverness to see us through, but at some point we lose our strength, and we find out we aren’t so clever, and for those who wrestle with God, God touches our lives. Rather than continue to play the games of humankind, we turn our lives over and trust in God. At least I think that’s what happens for those who wrestle with God, who seek to know who God is in our lives, and what that means for our lives.

Now for those who choose not to wrestle with God, I imagine their lives are still plagued with the fear and bitterness of growing old. I imagine that the peace eludes them and anxiousness abounds. But what I really like about the meeting of Jacob and Esau, is that it reminds me of the story of the prodigal son, Esau greets Jacob, not with death but with life. The story helps us to imagine that maybe we don't always have to be afraid, that life may be filled with grace and blessing, and that if we give God a chance to rule our lives, we might find something far better than we have already. For those who wrestle with God, God has touched our lives, and although we might walk differently in our lives, God is indeed a blessing that we know we cannot live without. And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ. Amen.  

Sept. 29, 2019     The Rich Man and Lazarus                                

The story of the rich man and Lazarus always reminds me of something I saw on one of my Habitat Trips to Ecuador. Being wealthy Americans, who are well known for their love of shopping, our hosts took us to a Mall in the capital city of Quito. Now Quito is a large city of some 3-4 million people, so they have some pretty good sized malls, with lots of shops in them. The one we went to was in a building some 5 stories high and the length of a football field.

A unique feature of this mall was that it had see through glass walls facing a central square, so you could look in and see the shoppers, and shoppers could look out and see the square. There was just one disturbing thing about this, the beggars who sat outside the mall. Quito has a rather large population of beggars who come down from the hillside looking for work in the big city. When they get to the city, they send out members of their family who can’t work to beg on the streets. Almost every corner seems to have someone asking for a handout.

The mall had even more people like this, cause where there is money, there are beggars. The mall even hired security to keep the beggars away from the glass, so they wouldn’t disturb the shoppers, but you still had to walk through them to get to the mall, and as you looked out the window, they were still in plain sight. Later that evening at vespers, we had a time of sharing, and a number of our youth were quite disturbed by our trip to the mall.

It seems they didn’t like being watched shopping, even if from afar, some said it made them feel guilty of something, some said it made them second guess what they were spending money on, some felt like they should just leave and give their money to the beggars. Others noticed the way people just walked past the beggars as if they weren’t even there, how they sat at the restaurants in the mall and shopped for luxury items, seemingly oblivious to the poor beggars sitting just 15 to 20 feet away outside the glass.  

     The leader of our group, who had devotions that evening, and who knew what we were going to experience that day at the Mall, read to them the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and asked the youth to talk about what they heard in the story. Some noted that the rich man seemed to not notice Lazarus at his gate, just like some of the people seemed not to notice the poor all around them. Other’s pointed out that the rich man must have known Lazarus, because he asked for Father Abraham to send Lazarus to cool his thirst. Some thought the rich man felt Lazarus deserved his fate in life, and was surprised to find that in death, God favored Lazarus. This reminded others about how we treat the poor in our world, blaming them for their situations, saying we can’t help them all, expecting them to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. Still others, worried about our place in the world, for compared to Ecuadorians, we are quite a wealthy people, and what that might mean for our afterlife.

It was quite a discussion, and at the end of the discussion, our leader that evening, noted that it was our faith in Jesus Christ, that helps us to bridge the gap between rich and poor, heaven and hell. It is our faith in Jesus Christ that helps us recognize how the world ignores or blames the poor for their situation. It is our faith in Jesus Christ that leads us to missions and ministries that reach out to the poor, hoping that we can make a difference in their lives, even if we can’t help them all. It is our faith in Jesus Christ, that helps us to understand wealth and power as a way to help others, rather than to simply indulge ourselves. And it is our faith in Jesus Christ, that moves us to action, that will be our salvation in this life and in the life that is to come. And that is the Good News of Jesus Christ! 

Sept. 22, 2019          Eschatology                                           

This past Monday, I had to drive my youngest daughter Emily to Peoria for a Dr’s appointment. So we drove to Peoria Monday afternoon, and on the way back, because I didn’t have anything thawed out, I chose to stop at a local tavern on the way home. Now about three to four times a year I like to do this, because usually, while I am eating at the counter, someone will talk to me and ask what I do for a living. Of course, I tell them I am a minister, and that usually leads to questions about the bible or about Christianity. And this time, didn’t disappoint.

The young man sitting a chair away from me, was confirmed in a UCC church, but had become an atheist while away at college. It seems he had taken a number of philosophy courses, became a fan of Friedrich Nietzche and came to believe that religion was some sort of scam. According to him, Christianity preached “Pie in the Sky when you Die by and by”, in order to get people to give money, and to get people to be good moral people. Instead of wasting time loving some God, we should really be loving other people.

“You’re talking about the problem of Eschatology” I told the young man. “Eschatology? What’s that?” “Eschatology is the part of Christian theology that deals with death, judgement, and the final destiny of the human soul. Nietchze understood this, in reaction to the Catholic Church of his time, like you said, to get people to give money, and to make them be good moral people, basically so they would do whatever the church told them.  But when Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven, I don’t think he is talking about what happens when we die, I think he is talking about something else.”

“I think Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven, not so we can prepare ourselves for the final judgement, but so that we will live differently in the here and now.  The most important part of that living here and now, is just what you said earlier, its about loving one another, it’s about caring for people, it’s about caring for every human being on the face of the planet. Only then will the kingdom of heaven come, not when we die, but here and now on earth. And that is what the final judgement will be about, not how much money we give, or how morally good we are, but about how we loved one another."  

Now, what I just shared with you, was really a boiled down version of an hour and a half discussion, and in the end, the young man and myself agreed to disagree about the purpose and value of Christianity, shook hands and departed. But you know, if you sow a few seeds, who knows what might grow?

Anyway, I shared this story with the local clergy group, and they said that this was a wonderful opportunity to talk about the dishonest manager this Sunday. The dishonest manager, changes his behavior before he gets fired, so that he might be welcomed into the homes of those whose he manages. The dishonest manager, doesn’t play by the rules of society, but uses his power and position, to make people’s lives better here and now. And yes, he does this all quite selfishly for himself.   

The dishonest manager, chooses God’s righteousness, rather than the righteousness of money or society, so he will be welcomed into the homes of the people. The parallel for us, is that we are called to find ways to live toward a future in which God’s kingdom becomes present among us now!

Last week, we read the story of the Prodigal Son, and in that story, we saw the love of the Father for the Son, that was willing to overlook how far the son had fallen, in order to be reunited with him. This week, we are invited to expand our compassion for others, beyond just family, but to all with whom we work and interact. The gifts God has given us, our talents, our abilities, the positions of power we are given, are meant to be used for the good of all. I am not suggesting we do anything illegal, but to find ways we can use the mammon of men, to bring the kingdom into the lives of those we interact with, who knows, by such kindness God's promise is to welcome us into God’s eternal home. And that’s the Good News of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Sept. 15, 2019          Lost and Found                                                            

Late Friday evening, as I was finishing up my paperwork at Casey’s, a young lady came into the store. She had short shorts on, lots of tattoos, glitter make-up on. As I sat in the office, I could hear her conversation with the girl at the register, it seems that she had just auditioned for a job at the local gentleman’s club, and felt really good about her chances. The girl working at the register, rung up the items, wished her well, and the young lady left.

After she left, I came out to the register to clock out, and the girl at the register said, “Can you imagine that, that girl had no shame, she just came up and told me…” and the register girl proceeded to tell me the entire conversation, which I had just heard.  Standing nearby, the other person working up front, waited till the story was finished and turned to me and said, “I thought we were supposed to pray for people like that..” And my reply was “yes, that, and offer them a job at Casey’s”  “What???” the girl at the register exclaimed! So I proceeded to explain.

We are supposed to pray for people like that, because they are far more likely to get involved with drugs, far more likely to be assaulted, far more likely to suffer health problems, and far more likely to end up in jail or worse. But we are supposed to do more than just pray, we are supposed to be a friend to them, we are supposed to offer them the opportunity to do something else, we are supposed to provide them a way out of such a life. After all, she isn’t just some foolish young kid, she’s somebody’s daughter."

Which is where we come to our gospel lesson this morning. I know that our reading is about the lost sheep, and the lost coin, but the extended version of the reading includes the story of the prodigal son. In these stories, Jesus is speaking to a crowd that includes the Pharisees. These stories aren’t about sheep, coins, or lost sons, they are about saving people, saving lives.

The Pharisees don’t save lives, they use the law to separate themselves from sinners. Jesus, on the other hand, is about reclaiming lost lives, and turning those who have gone astray, back to life, back to being children of God. The Pharisees are like the elder brother, unwilling to have anything to do with the younger son. But we are called to be like the Father, who is ready to welcome back his son, even though he has disrespected the father, and squandered all that the father has given him.

The Father is all about relationships, and restoring relationships that are broken. And the Father knows, that in order to do that, we must show mercy, even to those who have gone astray. For, as one commentator puts it, if we are unable to show mercy to others, we will be unable to receive mercy for ourselves, and without mercy none of us will be able to live together.

Now being a spouse, a parent, and a grandparent, I, like many of you out there, have experiences of being disappointed and even disrespected by those close to us. And to be truthful, I would have to say at times, I have disappointed and been disrespectful of others as well. But the ability to show mercy, to forgive those who have sinned against us, is the glue that holds families together, it’s the stuff that brings back the lost, it’s the stuff that gives life to relationships we long thought dead.

Our goal as Christians, is to be that glue, to show that mercy, not just to our own family members, but to all people, for each of them is someone’s son or daughter, and each of them could be a lost sheep, or a lost coin, or a prodigal that we could rejoice over, so that God could also rejoice in us! And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Sept 8, 2019        Cost and Joy of Discipleship                         

Yesterday morning, as I was driving to a personnel committee meeting for my church conference, I saw along the highway, what looked like a huge spider made up of steel girders and beams, not glistening in the sunshine, but red with rust and decay. And I remembered when this huge structure was erected back around 1997, it was supposed to be a church, but something happened along the way.

Now the pastor who led this church, had a grand vision of the future, and the church that he would build. He was a shrewd business man as well, making sure he got the financial commitments all lined up, and the pledges needed to make the payments. He even went to some other local independent congregations, and convinced them to sign on to his project, promising that they would all become one in Christ.

It all got off to a grand start, with the churches working together in project, and worshipping together at each other’s buildings. Soon ground was broke, and the foundation was put in place, and the frame of the building was going up. But then something happened, people began to have disagreements about how the church should be furnished, and what could come along from their old churches. And there were arguments about who gave how much, and how their gifts should be remembered. And there were arguments between the church families over who was being given special consideration.

Soon the pledges stopped coming, and the payments were late, and the work ground to a halt. And so, there stood the building, standing like I imagine the cross stood against the sky on Calvary, a testament to what happened, when Christ was crucified.

You know, I think we all as Christians have a certain amount of pride attached to our church. Many of us grew up in the church, our parents and grandparents before us. We are proud of the work they did, and the church community they created. And we probably can relate to the arguments that the church I mentioned above experienced, because we probably have experienced them also. But the difference between that church and our churches, is that we haven’t lost sight of Christ our Savior. Our church is not here to serve us, although some may believe that, but we are here to serve Christ. For without that belief, our churches would be in danger of becoming empty monuments to ourselves, rather than the communities of God’s love and fellowship that we experience.

Now our gospel lesson this morning, has some pretty strong words in it, about hating, …..mother, father, brother, sister,…. even our own lives. These statements of Jesus are pretty tough, aIl in all, I think they are pretty simple. When we walk through the doors of the church, we are there as disciples of Jesus, when we walk out the doors of the church, we are disciples of Jesus. All of the worldly desires for special treatment, because of our families, our giving, the years we have invested, go out the window. We are there to serve Jesus. And in serving Jesus, there will be disagreements, and there will be sacrifices that need to be made, but that is the cost of discipleship, those are the crosses we are called to bear, but then, there is the joy!

One of my colleagues, at the Sandwich/Somonauk lectionary group, which meets every Tuesday at the pancake house noted, that this passage follows on the heels of the great wedding banquet parable. The focal point of that parable is the joy of the great banquet.

We don’t often think of these joys, because as Christians they are all around us -  the joy of knowing God’s love for us, the joy of knowing the peace that Christ gives to us, the joy of our fellowship and church families, the joy of finding the meaning and purpose of our lives in our creator, the joy of living lives of praise, rather than grumbling, the joy of a life that is full and satisfying rather than empty and disappointing. The joy of helping others, and the joy of being helped by others. The joy of being found when we are lost. The joy of being comforted when we are mourning. The joy of forgiveness, reconciliation, and healing when we are broken by sin. The joy of seeing God’s plan for our salvation, and the joy of being a part of that plan, seeing it realized in our lives together, and realized in the world through our Christian service.

Yes, there are a great many joys that God invites all of us to share, the cost is our self-centeredness, and the reward is God’s great banquet of life, and that’s the Good News of Jesus Christ!  

Sept 1,2019                 Invitations                                              

The Christian songwriter, Bryan Sirchio, on one of his albums includes a song entitled, the Table of Friendship and Love. The song talks about a heavy metal music loving kid, who was invited to a local church group, and there he heard about Jesus, and the table of love for all that he spread, through his sacrifice on the cross. But the one thing he didn’t understand, was all the talk about realizing the kingdom of heaven on earth, “yeah, like that’s ever going to happen.”

Now this kid thought about the message that he had received, along with the warm welcome shown to him at the meeting, and he decided to do something about it. So one day, sitting at the table in the cafeteria, where he usually ate  his lunch alone, he put up a sign, Table of Friendship and Love.

A lot of the hipper kids, the popular ones, the jocks, the socialites, snickered and laughed, but one kid, a nerdy looking freshman, came up and asked, “Is this for real?”, and the heavy metal kid answered, “yep!” So the freshman sat down, and they struck up a conversation, and became friends. As the weeks went on, the table of fellowship and love grew, to the point where they made a new sign, and put it on another table, and then another, and another. Finally, even some of the hipper kids, began to hang out at these tables.

And there, in that cafeteria, the heavy metal kid, began to understand, all that talk about realizing the kingdom of heaven on earth, all it took was a sign, an invitation, to make it happen.

This summer, working a “real” job, has opened my eyes a little wider, to the world beyond the church. In most churches, I find a lot of people who are doing just fine, or at least they put a good face on it. I know from our prayer concerns, and from ministering to you in your times of need, that many of you aren’t always doing just fine, that your life is filled with the same kind of heartache, brokenness, and loss that the rest of the people in the world experience. The difference is, that you have the gospel of God’s love for you, and you have a church family. You have people who care about you, who check in on you, who pray for you, who look for you when you are lost. Somewhere along the line, you were invited to this Table of Friendship and Love, that we will soon be sharing later today, and you responded, not with “I cannot come”, but with a “yes”.

Now back to my “real” job. In that job, I have met people who are hurting, mother’s who have lost children, young people who have made mistakes in their lives that continue to plague them, older people plagued with debt, sometimes from the choices they have made in life, sometimes because their spouse died of a long slow medical condition, People in abusive situations, people who abuse drugs, most often because they are depressed and lost. People who have lost close friends, and wonder what the purpose and meaning of life is?

The problem is, these people don’t have a Table of Friendship and Love, Oh, maybe they have some family, and maybe they have someone in that family who looks after them, but not a whole church family. You know, sometimes I think we forget, just how blessed and fortunate we are, to have come to know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, to know how much God cares and loves each one of us, and who calls us to be a family who is there for one another, watches over and encourages one another. Not everyone has that kind of extended family to help them through their difficult times in life.

So what can we do about this? Every year, in our churches we have special events in the calendar of the church. These events are wonderful opportunities to invite people to join us, even if it is for one Sunday. Rally Day is just such an opportunity, and this rally day we are serving Ice Cream Sundaes in fellowship hour. Yes, I know that sounds a little creepy, but we are inviting them to church. Also, I know that when we think of asking people to church, we go down a list of people we know, and check off all those who go to another church, or family members who we have asked a dozen times before. How about this time, we ask people we wouldn’t normally ask? Someone we bump into at the store, or a restaurant, or in the neighborhood. “Our church is having an Ice Cream Social on Sunday September the 15^th, come join us for just one Sunday, to see what our church is like!”

Who knows? We might just be throwing a lifeline to someone in need, or we might end up, as the writer of Hebrews says this morning, “entertaining angels” Either way, by inviting them, we will be inviting the Kingdom of heaven, to be made real on earth, here in our lives. And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ!