"And They Settled" May 15, 2016

Genesis 11: 1-10 Matthew 5 Acts 2:1-11 Being in Skaneateles, I prepare a lot of couples for getting married, with 20-30 weddings per year, which is a lot of Pre-Marital Counseling. We regularly begin by describing “the point of blessing relationship in the Church is Not just to Get Married;” if it were, you could go to the Village Hall for a NYS license, and avoid the costs of the wedding, dress, flowers, music, photos, Reception, and all the work of bringing together family & traditions. At which point there is realization that family and traditions, and expectations, are what make both the wedding and marriage. I usually ask each “Why they believe they are ready to be married?” Which is less about why they chose this person, and more about who they are, what they are seeking, and whether they are in a place in life to be married. I have known couples who were grieving a former relationship, others families were not supportive, and some where they came to the realization that while getting engaged was exciting they were not prepared to be married. The point of this time in a congregation's life is Not to Get a new Pastor, but to figure out who you as the Taunton Church are, what is important to you, in order to connect with the right pastor for this time in this community. Let me set the foundation straight at the outset. There are always rumors about Presbytery trying to close churches... First, our Presbytery no longer has any office or staff, so there is no one wanting you to close. Related to that, you have a consistent attendance and membership and giving, so you are a stable congregation. The story of Babel is one of the simplest and most misunderstood teachings of the Bible. This is not about how or why languages came to be; not about people trying to make themselves into God by building a stairway to Heaven; not about technology or God frustrating them for building a Tower. Instead, this passage begins, “As they migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they settled there” and at the end “The Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth...” The problem in the Tower of Babel is that people settled, they stopped trying, they stopped searching for God, they settled as if all they had ever known was all there could ever be, and God frustrated them to make them no longer settled but searching. Similarly, believers routinely quote the Sermon on the Mount, or make reference to the Beatitudes, these verses in Matthew 5 of Blessed are the Poor... or Do not hide your light under a bushel, but serve as a beacon on a hill. Yet few ever preach on “When salt has lost its saltiness it is good for nothing except to be thrown on the ground and trodden under foot.” However, we are Salt-City! Our origins, in addition to being sacred to Iroquois Nations, was in the Salt Industry, the Erie Canal was created for the transport of Salt. In ancient times, before the invention of electricity or refrigeration, salt was used for everything from seasoning foods, to curing and preserving meats, or cauterizing a wound, fertilizing the ground as well as poisoning an enemy's land from ever growing crops again; here in Central NY we well know about throwing salt on the ground to absorb impurities, to dissolve ice and rust cars. I recall our family churning Ice Cream and using salt to lower the temperature of the ice for freezing. The difficulty Jesus names is when salt has been used you cannot salt salt, you cannot absorb the impurity from out of salt. The Church too has many uses, many equate the Church with schools, with music, with fellowship. So who are you and what do you want to do as the Church? One of the churches I served no longer had enough leadership for Presbyterian Women's Circles. So for years held a Craft Bazaar to raise money for Missions. When they could no longer do that, they recognized the Church had long supported a Half-Way House for Women Prisoners. They made a commitment, that every Thursday they would come for lunch to teach a Craft-project. I'll admit, that as Pastor I thought these 80 year old ladies would go once or twice and tire of this. But what no one anticipated was that for the Women Incarcerated, they had never completed anything, they never had mentors or Role-Models, or Grandmothers, and they did not own anything of their own. By making wax-paper placemats, or crocheted toiletpaper covers, they completed stuff, which was their own, which they could now give to family and friends. Which motivated them to complete their GEDs, and to follow through on the Half-Way House program so as to not become Repeat Offenders. Reading the Minutes of the Skaneateles Church, I discovered their origins were as the local school and place of worship, as well as courts for resolving conflict. The difference being that in the early 1800s, the purpose of the Courts was not the Rule of Law, or judging between people who was right and wrong, but rather when there is conflict: How do we forgive? If we take Communion seriously, how do we not inflict our pain on God or others? At one time, there was a conflict between two Elders that split the Church, and for 5 years, there were Two First Presbyterian Churches in Skaneateles, competing over the same building, the pastor's time, the membership and mission. The only record of which, comes on the next page of the Session Minutes, which reads “We confess that we have done harm to God! We have Crucified the Body of Christ! We repent, we have purged the Minutes of those years and are stating again to try to be a Church living in grace and forgiveness.” Writing my Doctoral Thesis, I researched and interviewed the leaders of a number of Presbyterian Churches, which different from Taunton, seemed stuck, continually changing pastors but fighting old battles over and over, being so settled as to not know how to get out and go anywhere. What we came to realize was that each of those congregations had at least one of four problems, which until the problem was resolved they continually talked around. The First was whether the Church saw itself as actually being The Church in this place and time? Often we describe ourselves as a family, a club, a nice group of people, good folks. The Rotary, The Lions, Masons, Odd Fellows, Garden Club and Junior League, All do great work in the community and in the world, but these would never describe themselves as being The Church. If you described this Church to a stranger, who had never been to Church, knew nothing of God, Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit, what would you say? One of the things we know about those writing the written text of the Bible, is that they loved language, they enjoyed word games and similar sounding words, and words with dual meanings. We know that Jesus did not speak English, but most probably Aramaic. The English translation of the text from Matthew, I most enjoy, is: “But when Salt has lost its savor, it is good for nothing” which sounds not dissimilar to “When the Church has lost its Savior, it is good for nothing.” Second, was whether the Church had the resources to make a difference in their situation? Their are Churches which grew up in a neighborhood, where that neighborhood is no longer there, and like an absentee landlord the congregation drive in on Sunday mornings use the building for an hour and lock everything up until next week. Those are also churches without the people, the time, the financial resources to make a difference. Third, is whether the Church is willing and able to use those resources? There once was a Church which had over $3,000,000 in endowments, and three men who rotated as Treasurer spending primarily on the building. The members of the Church no longer saw reason to give their offerings or their time. Eventually, that congregation perceived that their building had been a liability for maintenance and repair, but the property was valuable, so at their request with the Presbytery sold their property, and now had over $13,000,000 for the congregation to effect change. Fourth, was the level of Conflict. The reality is that conflict is natural. I want Chicken for dinner and you want Steak, or I need to turn left and you are in that lane. Teachers know another level of Conflict, I want you to learn multiplication and you do not believe you can, so I have to push you and convince you of your possibility. Anyone who has been in a competition, has experienced the third level of Conflict, there can only be one winner, so we do anything we can to not lose. But sometimes our desire to win becomes so strong, that we prevent others from winning. Even more, we sometimes shame others so that no one will ever try to compete with us again. Compounding all this, is that in America today, we assume a level of Competition as normal, so if anyone tries get ahead of us, it does not take much for us to escalate to wanting to destroy them. If someone is tailgating, and you slow-down, they will pull around you, because you are no longer competing. If I want Chicken and you want Steak, we both want a delicious meal and we want to share it together. The power of Easter, was that the Crucifixion lost its power, when death itself was conquered. When all these four: How high is our conflict? Are we willing to use our resources to try new things? Do we possess the gifts we need? Are we truly the Church acting as the Body of Christ? are addressed, new ideas and new possibilities seem to find you. Being the Church, having faith in God, was never intended to be private, or for worship behind locked doors. Pentecost is about sharing new ideas, being sent out into the world, speaking in the world's language, for the faith to grow.