Advent 4

A Time to Center Ourselves for Worship

 The Snow Lay on the Ground: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tcBHZDJHMw  

 Light  a Candle                

C all to Worship: responsive

One:  Into our world as into Mary’s womb…

All:  Come, Lord Jesus

One:  Into the forgotten places, as into the stable…

All:  Come, Lord Jesus.

One:  Into the lives of the poor, bringing hope; in to the lives of the powerful, bringing rest; into the lives of the wise, bringing restlessness; and into our lives and longings; whatever our estate….

All:  Come, Lord Jesus.

One:  This is the good news: Christ is coming, and blessed are those who wait on the Lord

All:  Therefore come quickly, Lord.  Amen.

            Cloth for the Cradle

               

A Time for Children--Pray for children everywhere that the promised peace that comes with God's child may be known to them.

    

 Sharing of Joys and Concerns

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

                                              

 Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day         our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those            who trespass against us.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.

Old Testament: Isaiah 7:10-16

*Hymn: O Come, O Come Emmanuel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C65aJef1J_Y

Gospel: Matthew 1:18-25

Sermon: Someone like me?

        In the Gospel lesson we learn of Joseph who is ready to leave the whole pregnant girlfriend situation behind.  He is a kind man so he is willing to do this in a quiet manner but leave her he will.  It is in a dream that the angel comes and suggests something different, something crazy, something that in a million years Joseph would never have planned for himself.  But that is God for us, always expecting more for and through us.

      We often have our own best laid plans ones that seem doable, or at least on a par to our ordinary living, even in our adventures we exercise a bit of restraint.  How often do we have a safety net or backup plan in place when we set off for something out of character?  How often do we rest in place waiting for just the right moment to make a move?  

     The truth is that recognizing we are not in control is often the moment we become free to accept the crazy and seemingly impossible God has planned for us.

     In the movie Evan Almighty, God asks a senator named Evan to build an ark and starts changing him to be like Noah-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrP8aOsM5RU

     When God really grabs a hold of us there is no going back.  Joseph could not turn back once he accepted his role in delivering Christ to the world, we cannot turn back once we realize that we too are called to deliver Christ to the world.  How do we do that?  With love for our neighbor, by sharing meals and stories with those who are not like us, we bring Christ to the world by extending kindness and respect to others.  The Prince of Peace was born with the help of a simple man named Joseph and will be born again this season with the help of someone like you.  "Really someone like me?"  "Yes someone like you?"  Thank God.

*Closing Hymn: Let There Be Peace on Earth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRFNg-Eyt_0

Benediction/Postlude:

      You are the God who is always coming to us.  help us open our hearts to all you want to give us, and tell us and ask of us.  Help us to be willing to live with desire, and newness, and wonder, and truth, and to give ourselves up to the journey.  Susan K Bock

             

Weekly Announcements: 

¬  No Quilting Monday the 23^rd.

¬  Christmas Eve Service 6:30 (Family friendly)

¬  A.A Friday at 12:00pm

¬  Pastor Gayle will be available Monday, Tuesday and Friday this week

Cox Memorial United Methodist Church

Middle St. Hallowell, ME 04347   (207) 622-6636

Pastor:  Gayle Holden  

Cell phone:  751-0273

E-mail: gayle.holden62@gmail.com

More Than Broken Glass

         

"I can see clearly now"  Johnny Nash

 
The church leaders, of the church I serve, and I have been on a prayer vigil.  As the year comes to a close I felt it was time to really pray for each other as we are experiences changes.  We all know that whether change is positive or negative, change is difficult. And so we go back to the beginning with prayer! 

            Yesterday morning as I pulled into the church parking lot for quilting I saw one of our parishioners waiting for me.  I could tell by his expression that something was amiss and then saw the broken window with a large rock on the ground below.  My reaction surprised me, overwhelming sadness, anger and outrage were nowhere to be found, I was just sad.  As I write this my eyes tear up still.  I think all of the intentional prayers we have been investing in the church over the past week(s) and I think it is because of these prayers there was no room for anger, blame or revenge...so often stumbling blocks to moving forward.  We can be sad because of great love, not love for a building but love for the people and God who have a standing date each Sunday, and we can move on because of great love.

            This past September I went to a Jan Richardson retreat.  We were guided through meditation and prayer with her own reflections and her husband Gary's music.  I am using her book Night Vision as an Advent Study. Last week we talked about the desire that can come out of the darkness, Jan used a form of writing we experienced on the retreat in her book.  She uses the words "I am...to begin each stanza.  On the retreat my I Am poem began

"I am Nancy Drew and Honey Bunch,

I am sweet cherries and peaches,

I am coca cola and a black mustang...”   You get the idea?

            As I was praying for our leaders this morning I began to pray for the church in this I Am manner:

I am more than broken glass,

I am smeared fingerprints from children and adults alike,

I provide the first view or the last as people cross this threshold.

I am sunshine so bright the curtains must be pulled.

I am the reflection at night of chicken pie and smiling faces,

    of children breaking piñatas, of dessert served after musical affairs,

            Of costumes and candy

    of tired faces crunching numbers for the coming year.

I receive the faces of expectation looking for plants, food, and chicken? (what kind?)

Look my way--I am busy hands sewing, knitting, quilting, felting...did I leave something out?

            sorting papers, letters from Melville.

I am children running, falling, laughing, crying

            packing pet food, making may baskets, sweeping (at least trying).

I am warm from their faces pressed against me as they wait...

I am more than broken glass,

I am one window, I am one view

I am one part of a whole-- I am a church.

           

 It struck me that the vandals left this very large rock outside the damaged window.  Placed right there at the base of the church.  I couldn't help but think of the children's song:

           

"Don't build your house on a sandy land, don't build it too close to the shore, oh it might be kind of nice but you'll have to build it twice, you'll have to build your house once more…you better build our house upon A ROCK!....”

             How ironic would it be if the best gift we got as a church this Christmas was a wake-up call from unlikely visitors to remind us of who we are?

        I invite you to pray with and for us and for Jan Richardson’s husband Gary who is seriously ill.  If you would like prayer please feel free to post on our Cox Memorial United Methodist Church facebook page.   May the peace that passes all understanding be upon you this holiday season!

Why it matters---the Rev. Frank Schaefer trial.

Why it matters

Why does the Frank Schaefer trial matter to us? (Rev. Frank Schaefer had his license suspended for officiating at the same-sex wedding of his son, 7 years ago.)

It matters because as United Methodists the world is watching us.  They are watching us not only on issues of gay marriage but on how we are treating each other as we disagree.

It matters because I love and I mean really LOVE people who disagree with me on this issue.  As the only Democrat in my biological family, I admit I have practice at this (I say this with a smile on my face)

Unfortunately what is published or sticks out about the church is our unloving treatment of each other when we disagree.  God never said we had to like each other or each other's ways...just that we sit at each other's table and try the food and talk.  Respecting each other enough to talk, that is what makes real love so hard. 

1 John 4:14 (in part) says: "God is love. Anyone who leads a life of love shows that he is joined to God. And God is joined to him."  Where love is God is.

It matters because we are a church (United Methodists) who disagree and can't agree that we disagree and so what is lost?  Love. We are no different than the world's solution when we are a "don't ask, don't tell" church or an uncompromising body that comes to a stalemate; setting us up for failure. 

It matters because it is cold outside and gas and fuel are expensive and jobs are limited and while we argue to be a body of one mind-- people are cold and hungry and living on the streets and we may be talking/thinking less about them than this trial. 

It matters because as a pastor I have had to say no to two weddings for gay couples-- one was the wedding of one of my best friend's daughter and the other was for a couple that had been together over 10 years.

             I said no because I am a Martha and for the most part a rule follower, though like Martha I am also a Jesus follower who taught all of us it is sometimes necessary to break the rules.

Saying no denied what I believe to be my call –which is to support and include all God's people in love.  And so while others may not agree with me, it matters that people know this about me and other clergy.

In Dr. Seuss's movie The Lorax, the Lorax asks the Once-ler a rhetorical question-"Which way does a tree fall?—the answer…The way it leans."

This conversation matters because if we lean into each other with love we may actually stop the collapse of this house.

Walking with Scarecrows

Richmond Maine downtown scarecrow contest

            Ask me the main reason I belong to a church, outside of my job of course, and I will tell you it is because of the amazing and baffling love I have found through a variety of people.  This love keeps me grounded and life very interesting.

   I recently served on a young women's youth retreat.  The young women arrived Friday night to a team of other women ranging in age from mid-teens to mid-70s.  What do 17 year olds have in common with 70 year olds?  Nothing and everything.

"AND FINALLY THE Gospel itself as comedy—the coming together of Mutt and Jeff, the Captain and the Kids, the Wizard of Oz and the Scarecrow: the coming together of God in his unending greatness and glory and man in his unending littleness, prepared for the worst but rarely for the best, prepared for the possible but rarely for the impossible. The good news breaks into a world where the news has been so bad for so long that when it is good nobody hears it much except for a few."  Frederick Buechner

     I shared with the young women that I am friends with unlikely people, like the Scarecrow and Mutt and Jeff, and my world is bigger and better because of it. Because of them I have more opportunity to see, hear and experience the good news. 

    

 Acts 2:17--"'In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young people will see visions, your old people will dream dreams."

     What does it mean to see young people as prophetic and elderly people as dreamers?  It means that we live with respect and value toward all people.  It means a 17 year old can answer a call to ministry with words of encouragement rather than "You can't!"  It means a 90 year old author living with dementia still dreams of helping others tell their story and still sees the world as full of opportunity.

     Is there no better hope in the world than a young person who sees into the future?  Is there no better hope in the world than a 90 year old dreamer?  All is not lost, both are saying "There is more to come, there is more to come."

     I challenged the women on this weekend to look at their Facebook friends and take an honest look at who they are friends with.  What does it say if everyone is related or looks the same?  What would it mean to have people look at our friends list and say "Who is that and why are you friends with them?"  The people on that list who actually stand by you in times of sorrow and joy may actually surprise you.

    When I was first diagnosed with M.S. at the age of 35 it was the people 50 and older who took me to appointments and fed our children.  A retired woman from the military with a bit of a stern approach to children, gathered us up one day, packed a picnic and took us to a playground telling me "the children need some sun and fun, let's go" and she was right.  Listening to WWII vets in a bible study share their stories allowed me to keep dreaming just as they had. It was the young people who let me rest knowing that the world was (and is) in good hands, go to any middle school science fair and you will walk away understanding they really so have visions for tomorrow.

     There may be bad news in the world but the good news comes when we see all that is possible while walking alongside the Scarecrow.

Another Richmond scarecrow.

Things are looking up!

What I saw when I looked up on my way to work--Hallowell!

Psalm 121--

            I lift my eyes to the hills-from where will my help come?

            My help comes from The Lord, who made heaven and earth.

            God will not let your foot be moved; the one who keeps you will not slumber.

            God who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

            The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

            The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

            The Lord will keep you from all evil; God will keep your life.

            The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and                        forevermore.

            On Sunday I shared with my congregation that this was my favorite            Psalm.  I actually condensed it to the simple mantra of "God is my shade by day and moon by night."  These simple words helped me to get through some very difficult times as well as to fully celebrate some wonderful times.  There were times when I said these words with confidence, and others with some doubt.  I have wept and I have smiled, I have been fearful and joyful and more often than not, thankful.

    

     After sharing this Psalm a parishioner shared that this was her mother's favorite Psalm as well only her mantra so to speak was the first line: "I lift my eyes to the hills-from where will my help come?"

            I imagined this unknown woman standing at her sink looking up out of her window asking these words, and I thought how often did her help come simply from looking up?

            How often do we become so hyper-focused on our difficult situations that we forget to look up?  What happens when we look up?  We see the sun, the rainbow, the blue or grey sky. 

When I look up from my kitchen window I see my neighbor's children playing hide and seek or climbing on their jungle gym.   When I am driving and look up I occasionally see an eagle but usually I am simply awestruck by the sky, the river I drive along on my way to work or at this time of year the foliage. 

     Other times I look up and I see grey clouds, I see rain and bare trees and I know that I am not alone in times of transition or loss.  Comfort and strength sometimes come from knowing we are not alone.

            When our son was born prematurely and was rushed to a neonatal hospital my husband looked up from his concern and despair and saw my sister and brother in-law with their new baby waiting for him, they had driven 2 hours to be there.  One championship soccer game our sons were playing in they looked up from the field to see their uncle coming up over the hill, his was a three hour drive, when I was very sick while in college I looked up after a very long three hour drive and saw my home and my dad and collapsed with relief. 

            Baby was still premature (requiring all that came with that from us and him), soccer game came and went (no memory of who won) and after a brief hospital stay so did my illness.  But what we saw when we looked up has remained, I still weep when I share these stories, we looked up and help arrived.  

Bee-ware!

God bless the bees!

Praise God from earth..

Mountains and all hills,

    apple orchards and cedar forests;

Wild beasts and herds of cattle,

    snakes, and birds in flight;-----The Message

      We are preparing for our Blessing of the Animals service, and I came upon this sunflower covered with bees...God bless the bees!  However this picture reminded me a bit of what our relationship with blessings can be...Watch out what you ask/pray for---the blessings we receive can often surprise us in unexpected ways. 

On approach, this sunflower attracted my attention because of its joyful color and because it actually grew when I thought I planted it too late.  Well, it was too late to make a sunflower house for our grandson, but not too late for the bees.  My intention to get closer and even pick the flower was quickly thwarted by the threat of a sting.

     Isn't that often the way "the best laid plans go"?  We have one intent or desire and God has another, or we pray for one thing to happen and well....the answer isn't always one we are prepared for.

     Think of this quote from Evan Almighty: "Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage, or does he give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other?"  (imbd.com)

When I think of church and the things we pray for we are often surprised by the results:

-Pray for more children and when they show up....we don't know what to do with them.

-Pray for more people to come in the building and we don't know how we will pay for the oil to keep them warm.

-Pray for new members and now our committees look different.

In our own lives we may have found ourselves at one time or another receiving an answer to prayer only to be left with a “now what?” feeling.

When I pray for peace, for the hungry to be full, for the homeless to be warm, I may be naïve as to how much that prayer may cost me in my own life?

Tracy Chapman sings "Be and be not afraid to reach for heaven." 

Blessings abound all around us, I sit on my porch listening to the birds sing, the sun is warm on my back and yet the recycling bag has dumped and I also hear bottles and cans rolling around, the three dogs are barking at "ABSOLUTELY NOTHING" and I think some hornets are attempting to build a winter nest in the eaves...and that warm sun caused my ipad to overheat.

God bless us in our praying and in our receiving of the answers unexpected and surprising as they may be.

Coffee!

Acts 28:2 

The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold.

     I am still "off the lectionary"  which means I am not going by a chosen scripture for my preaching or blog.  So today I am talking about coffee.  I promised a good friend I would reveal to the world my obsession with coffee, and that I can get pretty wound up about getting a coffee with more than one cream in it.  This could be considered putting my hope in worldly things, or show where my heart is, because where our treasures are our heart is...so one might say my heart is with my coffee and I might say this is not such a bad thing.

     I loved coffee before I ever drank it.  I loved it because it reminded me of my grandmother who drank coffee all day hot in the morning and then if it was summer iced in the afternoon. It also reminded me of my great aunt and great grandmother as they drank coffee with my grandmother around a big dining room table.  I loved the smell, the camaraderie it created but I did not drink coffee until I was in my 30's.

    I was a hot cocoa girl while my friends drank coffee until one morning while working at a library fair I drank from someone else's mug and got coffee instead of cocoa and my world change!  My close friend at the time who lived across the street jumped for joy, "Now we can have coffee in the morning!"

     I was in!  I was now a part of the group, no longer the outsider.  I made new friends as I stood in line at the local convenience store, just smiling at each other as we poured and stirred, "Yup, we understand each other."

    I now understood the big picture of coffee, it wasn't just drinking the coffee but it was a process.  One begins by making a pot of coffee listening to the gurgle and hiss as the aroma rises and fillsthe kitchen   with the smell of comfort.  That simple act means something--company is coming, a lazy slow morning with my husband is ahead, dessert is on its way or I have one foot out the door and need COFFEE!  

     When friends get together and someone "puts on a pot of coffee" it says: "Your are welcome here" and not just for a short visit.  It means let's sip and talk and sip some more.  

     I have wonderful memories that involve coffee.  There was a group of us, about six people, who would pray for ministry teams drinking coffee into the night.  We would camp with a youth group once a year and a friend's only job was to make coffee, there is nothing like camp coffee!  Recently a young woman, who is like a daughter to me, and I would drive around looking for "intriguing" coffee shops. Gathering at the home of friends (a rotation of homes) after church for a pot of coffee was routine because let's face it...CHURCH COFFEE _______!  You fill in the blank.  

     As a pastor I have sat in homes and shared in people's lives in incredible ways often with a cup of coffee.

    And so my treasures may include coffee but for the most part it also means my treasures are my friends new and old.  The friends that give me the right look and I know we are on our way to Dunkin' Donuts, (though if I am with my youngest coffee compadre---Starbucks) or the new friends I make simply by saying yes to a "cup of joe".  Call it what you want, drink it black or with cream and sugar, flavored (one friend calls flavored coffee "foo foo coffee"), or plain old Maxwell House, hot or cold, coffee can be a great beginning.  

    Now back to my friend who wanted me to talk about coffee, actually about how mad I was that I got three creams instead of one in my iced coffee, admittedly not one of my best moments.  I met this person almost 10 years ago at Licensing School for Local Pastors and over that week and a half of 14 hour days in the summer...we drank a lot of iced coffee together!

    Whether we drink coffee or not the idea and feelings of hospitality it conjures up is worth noting and imitating in some other way.

Carrie Newcomb sings 

" Here we are all in one place.  The wants and the wounds of the human race.  Despair and hope sit face to face when you come in from the cold.  Let her fill your cup with something kind.  Eggs and toast like bread and wine, she's heard it all so she don't mind."  (I shared these lyrics at our Bishop's day last week as he described a coffee house ministry so they were fresh on my mind)

Holy Quilting

An antique quilt, one that was made with our original group and the one on the left is unfinished and made with the first group at church --yes that means unfinished for 10 years!

            Well I have been away vacationing and I am in the midst of a movie series at church so I thought I would write about a practice I have brought back into my life that I can't believe I ever let go of---quilting!

            Now I make quilts here and there but for the past 10 years or more I have been quilting alone.  There is creativity and solitude in quilting alone, but quilting in a group, well that is something all together different.  Listening to the hum of machines, the click clack of needles from those who knit instead, and the tearing of fabric (yes tearing---it is how you get your straight edge) makes me completely whole for that moment.  And there is no better place for such happenings than a church basement....oops I mean parish hall!  

            As a young mom I found myself in need of an inexpensive hobby, I saw a picture of a quilt, an applique of animals on muslin, and I made one by hand for our daughter; a piece of this quilt is in a drawer somewhere 26 years later.  Another hand stitched quilt for our son sparked my grandmother to buy me my first machine.  Before our third son was born I was in the hospital for a month so his was hand pieced as well.  With each arrival of a new niece or nephew quilts appeared; pinwheels, Overall Sam, appliqued hearts, Jacob's Ladder, Double Irish Chain and many more. 

            While I toted our toddlers around with their quilts I met other mom's with children wrapped in nine patch and log cabin patterned quilts and this is how I became part of a circle of friends that have remained in my life to this day.  Our first quilting group traveled from home to home, adding and losing members as life happened.  Eventually our group moved to the parish hall of our church.

            As we admired each other’s fabric and shared tricks of the trade we also shared our lives, we talked, and we laughed and cried together.  On September 20th 1999 I remember coming into the church and learning about the Columbine school shooting, there was almost no conversation that night but I cannot describe how comforting it felt to be together silently working, creating and praying.  It is a holy memory for me, the thought that we were together practicing an art that many others had for generations before us, an old tradition soothing the mind of new questions that could not be answered.

            The women in this group helped me get through an intensive treatment for my M.S., we celebrated our pastor's ordination, a few of us went back to school to finish our degrees and I learned to love Odetta from the original group!  As with any group the dynamics shifted and through no real choice of our own our meetings were put off enough that we dissolved.  School work, church work and children's sports took over.  People moved and occasionally one or two of us would get together for a mini project and often one of us would say "We have to get a group started again."

And now just as the 23rd Psalm states "God restores our souls" my soul has been restored!

            I am back quilting in the parish hall, with some of the women from our original group and new people as well.  We are just beginning our venture together but already Monday morning is my joy and the rest of the day is better because of it. 

           

        Why does it take us so long to recognize something is missing? 

            It is work to lug machines, though my office is holding three of them right now, it is work to gather up cutting tools, irons and ironing boards, and it is work to carve out time in a world that is operating at double and triple time. 

            Soul searching, soul refreshing can be work but it is so worth the appearance of still waters and green pastures.    

I'd like to use a "love line".

Treat yourself to a coffee then smile and thank the server--it is the little things that count.

Luke 10:27

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

            The week before preaching on the Good Samaritan this past Sunday I witnessed an event that hit a nerve in a way that I knew I was going to write about it.  Later like most of you I was focused on Trayvon Martin and the trial concerning the tragic loss of his life.

            I am still going to write about this incident that may seem so small in comparison to recent events but in a way is really the beginning of how easy it is to stray from loving our neighbor as ourselves.

            I was at Dunkin' Donuts standing in line behind a man being waited on by a regular server.  The store was crowded, it was hot and all the employees were at full steam. The man asked for an ice tea and a coffee, the server asked if he wanted iced or hot coffee. The man looked at her sarcastically and said "I don't understand you."  At first I thought he couldn't hear her though his tone was offensive, she thought the same and repeated herself this time holding up an ice coffee cup and a hot coffee cup.  "Hot!" he responded thoroughly annoyed.  At this point I was thinking what is happening; did I miss something?  His order isn't wrong, she is being polite and he has a line of witnesses.  The server remained cool and said "Oh well we have both so I was just making sure."  He replied "If I wanted iced I would have asked for it!"  And then he looked down the line with a look that said "Can you believe her?"  Since we live in a small town and most of the people in line live in this town the looks he received in return said "Knock it off."  The deflation in his stance was evident.  What amazed me was how the server never flinched she never gave in to his behavior and she never changed her own to match his.

            Why would a man think he could treat someone this way and how long had he been allowed to do so?  Was this the way he treated those close to him, his own wife, daughter, niece, or granddaughter?  Was this the way he had been treated?  Did he love himself this very same way, expecting only criticism and disrespect? 

            How can we possibly love others well if we do not love ourselves well?  Philip Zimbardo a sociologist who did experiments based on the Good Samaritan rule and human behavior saw that simple acts of not helping our neighbor can escalate to group acts of hate, basically that even good people will follow crowd behavior they do not agree with- but in that same vein once one person stands up and crosses the road to help their neighbor others will follow.  Maybe the reason the server could maintain her cool was because she saw the line behind this man, this line of people that were really behind her. I assume my face showed the same reaction as others "He says one more thing and I will step up."  It is what he saw as well when he turned for support for his behavior.  It is what he saw when he walked out alone.

            I remember thinking as I walked away, I wonder if he has a "group" a place where he feels whole, a place where he knows others stand behind him.  That place for me is church.  This is the place where I am tested to love myself and others publicly.

           

             So as usual I have gone all the way around the Mulberry bush but on this day in response to all that we are feeling and as we react to all of the questions this incident has raised. I pray that we all may have a “love line", whether it be a faith community, a family, a group large or small that gives us the courage and grace to be our best selves even on our darkest night.”  

Passing the torch one pup at a time.

Our good old boy Jake...notice he isn't even licking that plate!

Just when I thought I had nothing to say for the past two weeks memories of our old dog Jake inspired me.  I was thinking of our old boy, he was such a great dog and I realized in a funny way he had been instructed just as Elijah was in the 1 Kings reading to pass his knowledge on. 

Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.”

            Jake had been king of our house for 14 years when our son brought home our little boy Roger.  Bringing home another dog was not an easy decision for us, after all while we were preparing for the loss of our beloved Jake and admittedly I was also imaging a life with worry free travel (I worry the whole time I am away from my dogs...yes I said dogs but I digress) and let's be honest I also dreamed of a time when there would be no more dog hair!

            Our son plead Roger's case saying "Listen, we need to get a puppy now so Jake can teach him how to be a good dog...and he doesn't shed!"  That was all I needed to hear, Roger came to live with us and soon so did his brother Coda.  For quite a while every time Jake looked at me I felt like he was saying "Seriously, must I tolerate these little rats?"

            Let's remember Jake didn't ask for this job and he would have been perfectly fine passing his last two years alone with us but some interesting things happened with our fine crew.  Jake began to run again, there was a new spring in his step as he tried to keep up with the puppies.  He ate more, there was of course a certain urgency to get what he could before they did, but he WAS eating more.  Once Jake realized we were not forgetting him with the attractiveness of the pups he actually began to mind them and the house while we were away.  Yes his hair was falling out in clumps and he could no longer see well but he was never going to be replaced.  Jake grew up with our children, we can't think of summers at the cottage, mountain climbs or the way he cared for me when I was sick, without thinking of him.

            Without even knowing it Jake did a fine job raising up, passing the torch on, to Roger in particular.  He did such a good job that in his last months, two years later, Roger took care of Jake lying by his side whenever he could.  On the day we had to put Jake to sleep at the age of 16, Roger stayed under the kitchen table with his head between his paws for two days.  When it was time to go out both dogs would stop and wait for their lumbering mentor before I had to physically shoo them out the door.  The torch had been passed and now what were they suppose to do?

            Roger is seven now and he has survived all five of the pets we had when he arrived, all cats and dogs have gone and he, who seemed like the weakest link (I won't lie) has remained strong.  Lately my husband and I have found ourselves more than once calling him Jake--our best old boy--by accident, each time we do we look at each other with such fondness for him.

            Last month our middle son had to come home to live for a bit bringing with him his two rowdy pups!  Roger had been lonely but maybe not "that" lonely.  While he was happy for the company there are many times he looks at me with the same eyes Jake did saying "Seriously?"  The first time he gave me that look I pointed my finger at him and said, "It is your turn now, someone did it for you, now teach these boys how to behave!"

 

Roger in the back "seriously?"

It's a sign!

           

A Good Sign?

          I recently brought a good friend of mine to the church I serve.  She took a picture of it and later posted it on Facebook.  As you can see in the picture there is a detour sign pointing away from the church!  We didn't even notice this while looking at the church to take the picture.

            Now there has been construction for the past couple of weeks in this area and each time I drive into town I try to remember which way I can go without getting stuck in construction and of course each day is something a little different as the construction moves down the road.  I imagine for some getting to church can feel like navigating through major construction only to find a detour sign at the door when they arrive.

            The "church” is changing...well...at least for some.  However the world is changing for all of us.  As the world changes, the church for the most part may seem slow to respond.  We sometimes send out mixed messages which only lead to a detour sign indicating there is a better solution, a better, community, a better place for comfort another direction to go rather than to God.

Galatians 1:23-24--they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.

            The negative rumors you have heard may have truth to them, we have heard them too.  We have been working on repairs and while certainly there are still problems and we do not have everything figured out but it may be time to give us a second chance.

            Paul may have changed his song about Jesus but what didn't change was his passion, the church may be finding a new way but the message, at least for us, is still the same:  it all comes down to love. 

How that love--God's love, looks may be hard to describe and frankly hard to accept but that has always been the problem!

Walter Brueggemann wrote in The Bible Makes Sense: "It is a free gift to have a brother or a sister to love.  It is a joyous task to love them in ways that heal and transform."

            So here is the truth we (the church...at least our church in Hallowell) really is under construction on the inside, the walls are painted, we are handicap accessible, and yet we understand that how we "do church" may not meet the needs of our brothers and sisters.

The Gift of New Beginnings!

           We invite you to join us in the work and we are willing to meet you on the road if necessary. All the signs may indicate there is another way yet those of us who have stuck around want you to know, in the words of Mark Twain, "The reports of our(my) death are greatly exaggerated."

            We are here, the church is here and there is more to the story----a detour doesn't mean the end but only the beginning of a new way.....so maybe it is the best sign to have outside our door!

Worshiping with children.

Our "perfect" children with some of their cousins.

I was reminded this past Sunday of a song by Victoria Williams about a family getting ready for church and the background chorus repeats “and...us kids are fighting."

            I have always found it interesting that the older my siblings and I got my mother's memory of us changed.  If we were by a screaming child in a supermarket she would say "You guys never did that."  Siblings wrestling in a parking lot, play ground...you pick the place, "You guys never did that."  When I first started hearing these statements my initial reaction was to believe her but then I would think "Yeah, I am pretty sure we did, as a matter of fact I know we did."

            The funny thing is that now that my children are older I find myself saying the same thing "You guys never did that."  Whatever "that" is.  How funny is it that the further away from our children's younger years we get the memories of noise, and bickering and running and crying seem to fade and what remains is the best of times?

            This brings me to children/youth in church, considering the age of most congregations, we know there are a handful of people saying or thinking each Sunday "My kids never did that."  Well...yeah they probably did or at least something like it.

            I can remember my own daughter and her friend while in middle school being told by a pastor on his last Sunday, literally one of the last statements he made leaving the sanctuary was "Girls sit up in church." They had taken to lounging in the front pew during the service. 

            Susan Bock wrote-"The only thing worse than all the racket in church (from children) is a church without children."

            The tornado in Oklahoma this week had a few of us anxiously waiting for news of the safety of a couple from our home church.  Dot and Don are now in their 90's and a friend and I wept as we received the good news they were fine.  The slow hours before the news had me remembering many things about them and many included our children.  When we first arrived at our church with three small children, 6, 4 and 3 years old, Dot and Don greeted us and promptly invited our whole family to a camp event.  They became a constant presence in our life; they taught our children to line dance, to belly laugh and were a reliable source for school papers about earlier times. I imagine that when asked today about how the children behaved in their church 20 years ago, Don and Dot might say "They were perfect."

            Children are noisy and squirmy in church; it is hard work learning to sit while surrounded by so many people you don't know.  Adults in church are sometimes noisy and squirmy as well, it is hard to sit surrounded by so many people you don't know while planning your shopping list or balancing the checkbook.  We have more in common than we think!  And because we share so much in common, church is the perfect place for children to learn not only about God but about being part of a community.

            I laugh to myself as I think that the children in our congregation are, through our memories, literally on their way to perfection!  

Matthew 19:14--But Jesus intervened: "Let the children alone, don't prevent them from coming to me.  God's kingdom is made up of people like these. (The Message)

Remnant Living

     

     

From Spinnakees Farm

These feathers are left over from a visit to a parishioner’s farm.  I collected them for a project and promptly forgot I had them until the next cleaning of my car.  When I found them they made me smile, I thought of them as remnants of my living. 

     Yesterday was Ascension Sunday; we shared the scriptures of Luke and Acts that described Jesus rising to heaven leaving the disciples behind.  The disciples stand looking to the heavens in awe, wonder and/or fear.  They are the remnants of his life; we are the remnants of Chris’s life of his living. 

     Take a look around your room, car, office and what would someone think or learn about you?  I sit in my bedroom typing and I look and see a couple of tops size 2 folded on my dresser, this says I have a child I care about in my life (my grandson), I have about 20 books on my night stand (it has a nice lower shelf for stacking) ranging from devotionals to my latest book club choice, I see photographs, flowers, crosses and a pile of laundry to iron (I know, I know, I know...but ironing is relaxing to me). I hope these things say I love to read and learn; that my family is important to me but that because none of it is perfect I hope it also says that I love my time outside of this space.

     I think of all the homes I have visited as a social worker or as a pastor and I am always humbled by people sharing their lives with me, because there is a little nagging feeling in most of us that knows new eyes see our leftovers from life a little more clearly. 

It is not the messy kitchen that most of us are really concerned about when unexpected guests arrive, it is all we have shed from our lives that we are unaware of.

    The angels come to the disciples and tell them to get moving from this space, yes this is a wonderful moment but you have got to move on.  This event happened on Mount of Olives and there is what is thought to be the right footprint of Jesus. This is a physical remnant like my feathers, or the items listed in my room, things that can be held or captured in time.  However this foot print will not bring the grace, love, healing and compassion to people, the pieces of Christ's life meant to go on and on.

    Carrie Newcomer sings in Bare to the Bone:

So, when I rise, I rise in glory

If I do, I do by grace

Time will wash away these footprints

And we'll leave without a trace

Between here and now and forever

Is such precious little time

What we do in love and kindness

Is all we ever leave behind.

     Take a look around and think about your space, what do your remnants say about your living, what did you bring in from the outside that is a blessing and testimony to your living and what needs to be let go of in order to get moving?