May 21, 2017               An Unknown God
                                                                                             

           Her name was Cauliflower. That wasn’t her real name, it was her camp name. Cauliflower had grown up in the church, was baptized, went to all the Sunday School classes and Youth activities, was confirmed, and still showed up for worship, Senior High Youth, and even worked at some of the church fundraisers.  Now, she was in college, and worked at a UCC church camp as a counselor during the summer. Life had always been good to Cauliflower, and she attributed part of that to her faith, and to God watching over her. And she believe this in a simple and matter of fact way, but all that was about to change.

         It was a Tuesday evening at camp, when Cauliflower was called to the office to speak on the phone with her mother. It seemed that her uncle and one of her cousins had been killed in a farm accident. Cauliflower had been very close to her uncle, and had often worked on the farm with him and her cousin as she grew up. Having never lost anyone in her life, this news was devastating. They were such good people, they went to church on Sundays, why would God allow this to happen to them, why would God take them away from their families, their friends, from her. Cauliflower was having a crises of faith.

         Pastor Bob, was the camp chaplain that week, and he was there with Cauliflower when she got the news, he sat with her and listened to her, and tried to tell her that God loved her, and would see her through this difficult time, and that this was not the act of God. But she seemed unable to hear his words, and kept asking “Why”, over and over again. This of course, made Pastor Bob feel kind of weak, and useless.

         The Bible Study passage for camp the next day, was a reading on the Unknown God, from the book of Acts. As Pastor Bob tried to focus on the text, he found himself thinking about Cauliflower, and what he could say that would help her. And then, something occurred to him. Cauliflower’s faith, was very much like the faith of the people of Athens. In the marketplace of Athens, Paul saw many shrines devoted to many different gods, gods that promised that if you worshipped them, you would be given safety and security, that life would be good for you, that you would be successful, and free from trials and troubles. Like Paul, Pastor Bob realized that this was a popular/secular faith, one that does not deal with the difficult and broken moments in our lives.

         And so, in his teaching the next day, Pastor Bob spoke about the difference between the faith of the people of Athens in the Greek gods, and faith in Jesus Christ.  He spoke about the presence of sin in the world that led to bad things happening, not a lack of devotion, or the purchase of idols. And he spoke about how much God loved us, that he came down to earth, and experienced this sin in Jesus Christ, who though he was without sin, was put to death on a cross – and how God raised him from the dead.

God did this, Pastor Bob said, not so that we would believe that by following Jesus nothing bad would ever happen to us.  God did this so that we would know, that when bad things did happen in our lives, that Jesus who would be there for us, and that through our faith in the resurrection, when we face these difficult moments in life, we would not lose our faith, but our faith would raise us to life again!

For the next two days, Pastor Bob gave Cauliflower some space, and let her be comforted by her friends who came to visit, and her fellow counselors. On Friday, when the kids had left, and the counselors were packing up to go home for the weekend, Cauliflower came out to Pastor Bob’s car to see him off. All she said was “thanks” and gave him a good strong hug.

The gods in our society today are very much like the greek god’s of old. They are models, athletes, business men, politicians, and etc. They have logos on their clothing, and sell their products all over the place. When they fail our expectations, or when their products fail to deliver what they promise, we toss them aside and look for something, or someone else to believe in.

 Sometimes, this even happens in our churches, we may wrongly place our faith in a particular leader, or we may believe that our church is the only one with the proper faith, doctrine or worship. We may even believe that if we are good enough, that we will be or should be protected from the effects of sin in our lives. And when these beliefs fail us in our lives, when things go wrong for us, some people lose their faith, and move onto something else.

Now it is true, that when we Christians, obey God’s laws for our lives, we are saved from many a trial and trouble, and more easily find peace and joy in our lives. But in the end, no matter how perfectly we follow the laws of Moses, or the 10 commandments, or our own particular religious tenets and rituals, sin still breaks in upon our lives, and it is then that we need to have faith, not in people, or things, or even laws. It is then that we need to have faith in the God who has personally experienced the full weight of sin and death in his life, and was raised from the dead! We need to have faith in Jesus Christ.

And that’s my final thought on why Paul latches onto this altar to an Unknown God for his speech. Because most of the world knows and worships the gods of the wealthy, the powerful, and wise. But very few know and worship the God who cares for the lost, the broken, and the hurting. Most of the world knows and worships all those gods who have fallen from grace, or failed to deliver their promises. But fewer know and worship the God, who lifts up the weak, shows forgiveness and mercy to the sinner, and changes people’s lives.       

But the Good News is, it is this Unknown God, who many of you here at Union Congregational know, who is the only God  who has the power to raise the dead to life! And how do I know this, all one has to do is read your newsletter, and see your love for the lost, the unloved, the broken, the struggling. In your ministry to this community, you worship a God unknown to much of the world, but who you know as the Risen Christ! 

May 14, 2017                   Dwelling Places

                                                                                           

         Two years ago, in an effort to form a married couples group in the church, a colleague and I invited a number of married couples to join us for an evening of food, fellowship, and program. For our program we listened to a number of marriage enrichment tapes, discussed them, and even worked a few exercises. One of the exercises was responding to the question, Where have you seen God in your marriage? One of our couples, gave us quite an answer.

         Matthew and Susan had been married for roughly six months, and it had not been going well. Before they got married, when Matthew came over, Susan had done all the cooking, and clean up. Susan was a very good housekeeper who cleaned regularly and did not like a messy house. After they got married and moved in together, Susan expected that Matthew would help her with these chores. Unfortunately, Matthew had never really done much of this on his own, and wasn’t very helpful.

         Over the first six months, Susan became more and more upset about Matthew not helping with the housework. In response, Matthew became more and more upset, thinking Susan expected him to do more than what he saw as his fair share.  At the end of six months, they fell into a routine of coming home, pointing out what the other had not done, and going to separate rooms to watch TV or work on the computer. Neither one was very happy.

         One night, as Matthew sat at the computer, he prayed, “Dear God, I want my marriage to work, please help Susan to come to her senses.” Of course, he got absolutely nothing out of this prayer. Then he prayed, “Dear God, help me to be a better husband, and show me what I can do to make this marriage work.”

It was as if a light bulb went on inside his head, all sorts of ideas came to him, “do some of the work, stop trying to make Susan upset, point out what you are doing, and tell her you want your marriage to work out.” The next day, Matthew applied these ideas, and when Susan ignored the work he had done, he pointed it out, and told her he was making an effort for their marriage to be successful. Over the next six months, Matthew stuck to this plan, and Susan, responded by making a similar effort as well. And at the end of that time, more often than not, they came home from work, and enjoyed the evening together.

         Matthew told us, that he believed God answered his prayer, and without God’s help, he and Susan would no longer be married.

         This morning’s gospel lesson is one of the most well known lessons in the bible. Mostly because it is regularly used at funerals. I have often heard preachers speak about how through our faith in Jesus Christ, we create dwelling places in our lives together, and that when we die, that we shall be raised to life in God’s house, and that house will be full of these dwelling places, full of the moments and relationships of love and life that we have created here on earth, to enjoy for all eternity. 

         And I think that is what Jesus is getting at in our gospel lesson today. Phillip and Thomas miss the point, they think that Jesus is talking about a particular place, far off in heaven somewhere, and want to be shown the way there. Or perhaps, they think there is some secret knowledge or formula for God, that will help get them to heaven. Instead, they get Jesus saying to them, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” What he is saying, is that by following him, by living in his Spirit, they will enter into relationship with God the Father, and the dwelling places that Jesus speaks of will become present in their lives.

         It is no coincidence, that Jesus tells the disciples this, on the night before his passion. In that passion, Jesus will give his life for his followers, and for the salvation of the whole world. In our worldly and fleshly lives, we are told to focus on ourselves, what is best or even fair for us. When we do so, divisions, arguments, and broken relationships often arise. It is only by living for one another, that we overcome our broken humanity, and the Spirit of Jesus, creates those dwelling places of faithfulness, love, and commitment in our lives. In the case of Matthew and Susan, it was when they put aside themselves and chose to work together for each other and for their marriage. For us, it happens each time we repent of looking at others only for what we can get for ourselves, and seeking instead the life that we can have together.

         Last week, Jesus told us he was the gate, through which we move from a world filled with chaos, fear, and violence, to a world of peace and abundance. This week Jesus tells us that by following him our broken lives can be transformed, and our broken relationships with God and with each other be healed, if we allow Jesus to become the way, the truth, and the life for us.    

May 7, 2017                      Children’s Sermon

                                                                    

         What do you know about sheep? Sheep eat grass. We get wool from sheep. Sheep travel in flocks, but sometimes get lost. Baby Sheep are called lambs.  Anything else….

         Well, one other interesting thing about sheep is that they are prey animals. Left alone, they might get eaten by wolves or bears. That’s why they have shepherds to protect them. And because they are prey animals, they get scared very easily. I was once on a sheep farm and reached into a sheep pen to pet one of them. The sheep jumped, and then the sheep next to it jumped, and suddenly there was a wave of jumping sheep, because they all got scared. Now if the sheep weren’t in a pen, they might have scattered and run, got lost, or even trampled each other.       

In our gospel reading this morning, Jesus refers to himself as the Good Shepherd, and to those who follow him as sheep. Now some people don’t like being referred to as sheep, because they think that sheep aren’t smart.  But that’s not why Jesus refers to us as sheep. Jesus refers to us as sheep because like sheep, when we get scared, we might jump, run, get lost, or even hurt ourselves or others. 

         But the good news is, that we don’t have to be scared, we have a Good Shepherd who loves and cares for us. And when something happens that makes us afraid, we can turn to our Good Shepherd in prayer, and trust that He will care for us, and keep us safe.

         So the next time your afraid, remember that you have a Good Shepherd who will take care of you!

May 7, 2017                     Good Shepherds

                                                                            

         In 2006, I served as Chaplain for a group of Illinois South Conference UCC Youth, who participated in a Habitat for Humanity build in Catamayo, Ecuador. One of our hosts was a Pastor named Hugo, who had come to Catamayo just a few years earlier.  Pastor Hugo told us, that up until a few years ago, Protestants were unwelcome in Catamayo, and he told us about how he was received when he came to town.

         He had taken a 10 hour bus ride to get to the Valley of Catamayo. When he got off the bus, he asked where he might find a room for the night. Someone told him of a hotel, on the edge of town, where he might stay. So Pastor Hugo walked a mile to the hotel, and introduced himself to the owner as a new protestant minister in town, and asked for a room. The owner, a woman in her 50’s, told him plainly that Catamayo was for Catholics, and refused to put him up. So Pastor Hugo walked back into town, and spent the night on the streets.

         As he went about town the next week, Pastor Hugo discovered that there was a great deal of animosity between Catholics and Protestants in Catamay0. He discovered that a number of years earlier, a group of Protestants had come to Catamayo to build a church. When the Catholic priest heard of this, he told his parishoners to have nothing to do with them. And when the Protestant minister heard this, he told his people to have nothing to do with the Catholics. As you can imagine, this led to fear, mistrust, anger, and even violence between these two groups. This is what led to the animosity Pastor Hugo experienced when he came to town.

         Hearing that there was a new priest in town, who seemed to be more open towards non Catholics, Pastor Hugo decided to go visit him. The priest welcomed Pastor Hugo and they talked about the town, the animosity between Catholics and Protestants, and how they might work together to address it. They decided to have the newspaper print a picture of the priest welcoming the new protestant minister to town. Now at first, they were a little apprehensive about how the townspeople might react to this, but when the picture was printed, they both received strong support from the townspeople for making this effort to overcome their divisions.

Over the next two years, Pastor Hugo told us that relations between Catholics and Protestants had improved dramatically. So dramatically, that the very hotel we were staying in, was the hotel he had been refused a room in his first night in Catamayo.

         Now the reason I remembered this story, is because our gospel lesson this morning is about our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. And this week, I got to thinking about Good Shepherds and Bad Shepherds. In our story from Catamayo, the first priest and minister were Bad Shepherds – or thieves and bandits as Jesus calls them. Their voices created fear, misunderstanding, anger, and violence among their flocks. Their voices created pain and suffering, and stole the life God intended for them, from them. Pastor Hugo and the second priest were Good Shepherds. Their voices sought to encourage peace, understanding, patience, and cooperation among their flocks. Their voices sought for their people to have peace and life in abundance together.

           Being able to recognize the Good Shepherds in our lives is particularly important for us today. It seems like we have some pretty poor shepherds who encourage us to fear just about everyone around us, be they people of other faiths, other nations, races, gender orientation, or social classes. These statements create fear, misunderstanding, anger and violence. These “thieves and bandits” make these statements to win votes, gain support for their political agenda, make money, or to gain power over others. The result of this is, that the life God intended for us is stolen away, and the world we live in is filled with chaos.  Even in our own lives, because of these voices, we are less likely to trust, to forgive, to seek justice, to show mercy, to be understanding, to show compassion, or to have peace in ourselves.

         And that is why it is so important that God has given us the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ. Because as followers of this Good Shepherd, we don’t have to be afraid, we don’t have to live in fear. We can recognize the voices of thieves and bandits, and choose not to follow them. We can realize the life that God intends for us, lives full of peace and abundance. And that’s why Jesus speaks of himself as the gate in our scripture this morning, because through following our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ, we can move from a world filled with fear, chaos and violence, to a world filled with pastures of peace and life in abundance. And that’s the Good News of Jesus Christ!