"GRADUATED FAITH" June 24, 2018

I Samuel 17: 8-11, 40-49 Mark 4:35-41 This is The Day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it! You will recall, that, in each of the Gospels, Jesus says “Let the little children come to me, do not withhold them, for unless you come as a child, you have no place in the Kingdom of God”; yet in Ist Corinthians 13, Paul says “when I was a child I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child, I acted like a child, when I became an Adult I gave up childish ways” Today, GRADUATING, we are both children and adults… So which is it, are we to be the child within, or be Grown up? When we were in Chemistry and Home Ec, whether last week or 50 years ago, we used what are called Graduated Cylinders or Graduated Measuring Cups. The purpose of which was not just to hold a sum quantity, but to recognize that 100 milliliters is more than 50, more than 10. A Weight Scale gives only a Total amount, where Measuring Cups that are Graduated demonstrate when you have 10 milliliters plus 40, plus 50 for 100; and if needed you could pour off or boil off excess, precisely back to any “graduated” level. Today, your name is called before the community, a sheepskin parchment is placed in your hand, you move a Tassel from one side to the other and you are “Graduated!” I am so to disillusion your parents, but several believe “Thank God, We are done!” While at 18, you are no longer Minors, our relationship for each other does not end because you are Graduated, in some ways our relationships and responsibilities get more expensive, both with College, and the problems you are able to get into! But being High School Graduates, or College Graduates, or Married, or Singing in the Choir 50 years, we can remember all the Gradations along the way… Remember your Junior Prom… Remember Crossing over from Middle to Hi School… Remember Going to State Street… Remember riding the Bus for your first day at Waterman, or in the Bus Garage for Kindergarten? And as you do, we also remember the gradations, not only as Educational memories, but as you were Baptized and entered on the Rolls of The Church, as you were Confirmed as Adults, You were claimed as Members of the Body of Christ, and we will always re-Member You. When you were 5 or 7 years old, things made sense, differently, than today. I remember my first Sunday in this Church, we read this much of the story of David and Goliath, and a 7 year old insisted that we had to finish the story, AS HE TOLD ALL, that David the Shepherd Boy, took the Sword of Goliath, cut off his head and raised it up in Victory! To him that bloody, gory, gruesome detail, was essential. We can each recall when what we were intrigued by was a favorite part of a story, a favorite line of a song, a favorite scene in a movie. Yet, Graduated, to where we are today, we sometimes return to see that reality, only to see that the lockers we had at State Street really were not as big as we recall, or your teachers were not as old as you thought. For that 7 year old, we can still remember that raising up the decapitated head of Goliath the Philistine of Gath, was as required as knocking two more times after rapping Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock; HOWEVER, as Graduates, we now hear the story and pay attention differently, as well. The last two weeks, as Pastor Mario has had his Flat Jesus, I have been waiting for someone to send us a Photo of their swimming under water in the Lake, holding up Flat Jesus as if Walking on the Water! Because, the point of the Gospel is not that Jesus floats, as much as people have been awed by that for Centuries. At first we see the face value, of an underdog standing up against a Bully, of a Shepherd boy with a slingshot and 5 Smooth Stones against a Combat Veteran; but as FAITHFUL GRADUATES we also search beneath the surface. What we suddenly hear, is that after Israel demanded to have a King, in our reading two weeks ago, the Army of the Philistines drew up against the Army of King Saul in battle-lines for War, because that is what “The Armies of Kings” do. Goliath stood some 6 Cubits, Nine feet Tall, with numerous powerful heavy weapons of War and Armor, a Shield and Javelin, a Spear and Sword. Goliath shamed and taunted the Army of Israel, calling “Instead of all my Philistine soldiers fighting, I will take on the mightiest warrior of King Saul, winner take all!” But is this, are we, the Army of King Saul, or the People of God? Is righteousness dependent upon who is biggest, strongest, who has the most powerful weapons, and who is the most afraid or shamed? Little David went out, to defend the honor of God. David was not a soldier of King Saul. David was a Shepherd, a boy who wanted to defend his father’s sheep against beasts, bears and lions. For David, this was not about Nations or Kings, Armies, Weapons, Fear or Shame. Night and Day, out in the world beyond the Walls of the City, a Shepherd risks his life against Beasts, not only to defend themselves and the flock, but to rescue even a remnant from the jaws of a monster. This was to be the image of the Real Future King of Israel, the Good Shepherd of the Flock of God. According to the Gospel, Jesus had already been Baptized by John with the Heavens opening and Almighty God declaring “This is my beloved Son, I am Well Pleased”. Jesus had stood up to Temptation in the Wilderness. Jesus had called his disciples and Preached and Healed people. And still people doubted, not just the Romans, not just the Crowds of Palestine and Galilee, not just Jesus’ own family, but even his disciples doubted and were afraid. Whether you know it yet, or are about to discover this going outside this bubble, we have lived a charmed life. The rest of the world is not just like Skaneateles. What we have witnessed on a regular basis are miracles, miracles of faith. And no matter what, this community has stood beside you. No matter what, this community of faith has prayed for you, by name. No matter what, you have been loved. I pray that sometime soon, we each open our eyes to the reality, that even the Winds of the Holy Spirit and Seas of Chaos have obeyed God! That nothing, nothing ever can separate you from God’s love! We have been and are incredibly blessed, which is not the reality everywhere in the world. This day, not only do you become Graduates of this High School, you are graduated in Christian Faith, able to re-member that you were Baptized and loved. Able to re-member that you are accepted as an essential part of the Body of Christ. Able to re-member that you can see both as an adult and still as a child of God. Many of you have run Track and Cross-Country. In Relay-races, there are various legs of the race. During the first leg, we carried you, and during this second, we have run along beside pacing you as you have excelled! Now you carry the baton forward, as we witness and cheer you on. A secret, many do not understand, the goal is not simply to WIN at your leg of the Race, but instead as part of the marathon, who are you going to chose to pace and teach and pass your Baton along to, on their journey?

"Living Life As A New Creation" June 17, 2018

Ezekiel 17:22-24 2nd Corinthians 5: 6-17 A true story, that starts off like a joke… Once upon a time, the Chaplain at University Hospital invited a Jewish Rabbi, a Catholic Priest, Muslim Imam, a Presbyterian Pastor to answer questions of 1st year Medical Students, most of whom claimed to be Spiritual and not Religious, questions about Faith & Medicine. We thought this could have gone any number of ways: When does life Begin, When does life End, Questions of Ethics, Do we Play God? But the question the Students were most interested in was: Their understanding the importance, and the Role of Suffering for each of us. Caught unprepared, the Rabbi and the Priest were like Deer in Headlights both said, “Suffering is bad, we try to comfort those who suffer.” The Imam protested, “Suffering is Good! Suffering is important! Only by suffering can the sinner atone for their sins.” The Medical Students began shifting in their seats, getting up, afraid one or more of us might enter patients’ rooms to cause suffering. At which point, I spoke to the Rabbi about the Book of Job and how despite suffering illness, the death of children and loss of his career; despite his friends and spouse pressuring him, Job never gave up his faith. I turned to the Priest, reminding him of the Passage in Paul’s Letter to the Romans that “Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope and hope does not disappoint… And to the 3, that there is a powerful connection between us: Islam, Judaism, Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) in that all of us have Scriptures about the Suffering Servant, whose sacrifice for the world, brings us all closer to God. Then turned to the Students, describing that we look to Medicine, as professionals possessing an arsenal of different tools to alleviate suffering and pain. Whereas, Our emphasis is on Redemption, and What Else is needed to Heal Suffering of the Whole Person, which does not automatically come because you took out the malignancy, or healed the disease consuming life. As Religious professionals in the business of caring, No one would ever inflict pain or suffering on anyone, but it is true that Suffering changes us! Suffering allows us to appreciate Life, to hope and dream differently than we ever could have without suffering. Actually, as much as Science and Religion have fought for years over the Origin of life, what I have experienced as far more relevant, have been the times of being Recreated, of Reconciliation and Redemption, that have come because of suffering, and the ability afterward, to LIVE LIFE AS A NEW CREATION! Those in the Wednesday Evening Bible Study, recently read the whole of Ezekiel, which began with Visions/ Hallucinations of Monsters, Men with 4 heads, each of which had 4 faces, and multiple pair of Wings. Then there were Wheels, with wheels inside of wheels, all spinning in different directions, that seemed to us like gyroscopes, however the wheels were covered in eyes staring in different directions. There comes realization, that connected to Suffering is Fear, fear of the Future. After the Vision of Beasts came chapters of Nebuchadrezzar’s destruction of every Ancient Nation and Kingdom, all justified in that time in the ancient past because: the World had forgotten God, Nebuchrezzar King of Babylon brought all the powerful low, then God entered in to reclaim and rebuild as a New Creation; that this new Creation would know and listen and love the Lord God. Next follows this poem, this parable, of how God like a mighty Eagle with outstretched wings and the razor-sharp dexterity of talons, takes the top sprig, the newest growth of the tallest Cedar, and plants this sprig on the top of a mountain on top of the world. The Sprig will grow tall enough and strong enough that all the world will make its home in the branches, and all will come knowing this new creation is a gift of God. In Corinthians, Paul describes that At one time, we each saw Jesus from a human point of view, then he suffered and died for us, and was resurrected by God, so none of us can see Jesus only like that anymore! In the same way, we cannot see each other only as sinners, but each and every person as part of the Body of Christ. A hundred years ago, at the height of the Evolution Debate, Henry Sloan Coffin, the Preacher of Madison Avenue in NY preached a sermon “From the Natural to the Spiritual”, describing Nature’s desire for Primordial Species of life to crawl Up from out of the Water to live on the Land. The thickening of skin, the development of lungs as they changed from fish to mammals. The growth of hair on our bodies for warmth and covering. The use of clothing and tools. In the seas, water provides air and food and a home for young; but on land, families must be carried and nurtured and sheltered in homes, developing a societal bond between us. There is a parallel development, as we are Called by Christ suffering to struggle to grow from Evolved Natural beings to Spiritual Relationships with one another and with God. One of the greatest experiences for me with my sons was Mountain Climbing the High Peaks which included a good deal of suffering. Parker Palmer has a story of Mountain climbing like this, with his greatest fear of repelling on a rope down the side of a sheer face cliff. Palmer describes that there were three plateaus, as he stepped up to the edge of the cliff, he was told to turn around and keeping the line taught gradually lean further and further backward until you could walk down the face of the mountain. He took a first step, and having not leaned far enough his feet went out from under, he crashed into the cliff and fell to the first plateau. His spotter called out, that that was a great first try, but he had to lean further, to risk more. He took a deep breath, rapped the rope around himself and leaned out far further than the first time managing to take one step, then another, when suddenly his feet went out from under and had again fell to the next plateau. Trying the third time, he managed to step over the cliff and walk backwards down the side of the mountain, when suddenly, he realized there was the large hole of a cave beneath him, and no where to place his footing! His Spotter called out, “Now you learn the meaning of when you can’t go round it, you have to trust to go deeper in faith!” The greatest joy of being a Father, is the Joy I hope we each experience this Day… The joy of coming through life to be God’s New Creations! This Joy comes in pausing to remember and reflect upon how blessed, how very blessed we have been by God, and to be part of the Church together. Otherwise we only “exist from day to day”, and we forget what it is to Live as a New Creation of God.

"Renouncing Sin to Trust God" June 10, 2018

I Samuel 8:4-22 Mark 3: 20-35 Listening to the Confirmands last Sunday, like you, I was reminded of my own Confirmation years ago. They did a very fine job, not only professing what they believe, but leading us in worship as the Church! At that time in 1972 when I was Confirmed, and with each of the New Members and Baptisms, there have been 3 questions required in professing Christian Faith: 1) Who is your Lord and Savior? 2) Do you want to be his Disciple? 3) Will you give of your self in every way? The chief concern being that the highest authority in our lives, more important than Nationalism, more than quest for a Career or dollar, more than following a Hero, more important than anything else… is our Faith in God. AND that instead of asking “will you have perfect attendance, will you give a minimum amount throughout the year”; our hope is that you would be involved because you want to be; you give without reserve because you care and want to see change in the world. Suddenly, without debate, in the last year, a fourth question has been added, not to The PC(USA) Book of Order but Ecumenically to Book of Common Worship. Do you renounce Sin and Choose to Trust Grace from God? Oddly, instead of this being an added commitment, it is something of a pre-requisite. Before claiming faith in Jesus Christ, in order to give of your self, we first must consider and choose whether to Renounce Sin. What is it to renounce Sin? There was a time in the life of this Church, where the Session held heresy trials, because as “role models”, as Christians they were witnessed to be crawling in and out of someone’s bedroom at The Sherwood! Because they were so intoxicated as to be unable to walk home… because they had sworn profane language… or worked on the Sabbath… or made an idol of their politics, their houses or their car. As asked this morning, I want to suggest that Sin is our prideful desire for Control. Our desire to have what we want, to have recognition, in short to make ourselves God, denying the Lord that identity. SO, in order to demonstrate your faith in God, will you intentionally abandon trying to control your world, your own life? Will you instead trust the grace/love of God? This trust is not in something you can hold, acquire or merit, not something you inherit, or master in school or sports. Like “Job” can you accept all the opportunities, and tragedies of life, as being like the blessings of health and a new Day, unwarranted, undeserved gifts of God’s grace? We pride ourselves on Our accomplishments and believe that we have to work to create everything that happens in our lives. Trusting God, trusting that we are loved by God, so much that God will provide for us without our asking, that is a mind-shift. In ancient times, before our development of government or recorded history, our Ancestors demanded, “We want to be like everybody else!” Other Nations have Kings, we want a King! To which the Prophet Samuel replied “How dare you, there is One King, God and God only!” But God replied, if they want a King, let them have a King, but choosing this, recognize, a King is going to demand Taxes, your children for Soldiers, your daughters as his wives. Chose the Living God and you chose to trust, chose a King and you pay over and over each day from all that you possess. We have an historic advantage over the Bible Stories we read. The Wednesday Bible Study Group this week, listened to Paul’s explanation that Jesus was human until the point he suffered through death and was resurrected by God, at which point he became divine. We have Creeds and Gospels, to know Christ is God’s Son, Thousands of years later, we read of the people being tempted to eat the Apple they were told to not eat, and we know what will happen. We read of the People demanding to be like everyone else, with a King, and we know they were rejecting God. Before we even read from the Gospel, we know Jesus is the Son of God, we know he suffered and died and was resurrected for us as our Messiah; but the Scribes and Pharisees and Jesus’ own family, did not. They witnessed his performing miracles, they heard his wisdom, but they were not convinced to renounce the Sinful desire for control; to trust the compassion, grace, covenant commitment of God through Jesus Christ. We have been the Church of Christ in this place for the last 217 years! We came into this family knowing Jesus to be the Son of God, our Lord and our Savior, knowing God to be God, the Creator of everything tangible and intangible, knowing that God did not abandon us when Christ ascended, but ever since that first Pentecost has continued to blow through us. We have witnessed people who were infected with disease and as good as dead, who through faith/prayer have been returned to life. Marriages that were over, that shame/betrayal had broken, that have been renewed and reclaimed. Children that were arrested and incarcerated, who have succeeded and made both their parents and their community, proud. We have witnessed refugees of Civil Wars, whose own family “un-named as being a John Doe”, whom the world pointed to as being Lost, who not only found their families and brought to them resources they never knew, these refugees gave this Church new understanding of the Bible and of Christian faith, that we are survivors who never give up, and we call others to faith! But still we agonize and struggle. “I Want! I Need! Everyone else has, so I want”… To place our trust in the Grace of God, the love of the Church, is hard. Over the years we have known one another, we have baptized over 400 new believers together! As an installed pastor for 34 years, I have experienced the Church claiming over 900 persons, in an era when the Church has been hemorrhaging members and people have claimed to no longer be religious. There is an arrogance in Baptism... Having young parents bring forward their new born, and declaring you cannot do this alone! There has been a running joke in each of the congregations I have served, that whenever parents have difficulties, the Preacher will provide babysitting. There have even been Grandparents who were suspected of pinching infants, in order that we would carry them around. But the truth is that in all these years, we never tried and never believed that we could raise someone’s children better than they, only that when needed we could provide help better than being alone, trying to live, to raise children, as if there was no one other than you in life. The Great Uncle of our members Reinhold Niebuhr was a great theologian in the 1930-60s. Reinie described that Christian Faith involves REFLECTION and UNDERSTANDING of the Social, Political and Economic realities of the culture in which we live, faith is not abstract theory! However, he went on to say that with all our powers of thought, all our advanced human understanding, WE MUST NEVER CLOSE THE DOOR TO THE POSSIBILITY OF GOD’S INTERVENTION. Something different than we expect, different from what we can make happen, is always possible with God. That possibility from God, is what keeps Christian Hope alive! The people of Israel demanding a King, The Scribes and Pharisees, and Jesus’ own family his brothers and sisters and Mother Mary were not Evil, they were not Bad People. They were simply PEOPLE without HOPE. When God intervened in their lives, through Jesus Christ, they reasoned it to be illogical, they were afraid, they wanted to be in control. The Latin root of the word RELIGION = “ligare” means to determine what is legitimate, what is truth, what is right and wrong. Their thought led them to the conclusion that Jesus must be THE LORD OF THE FLIES, BEELZEBUB, and that he was calling on powers of evil, because they could not imagine something more, something given by LOVE instead of by making it happen.