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“Equipping the Called”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun

February 9, 2025

Focus: God equips the called; we don’t need to know how to follow Jesus, we just need to be willing.

In today’s Call to Worship, we remember these words by Rev. Steve Garnaas-Holmes:

“You do not call those who are prepared;
you prepare those who are called.”

I remember the feeling of nervousness and even hesitation as I moved into the pastor’s office at this church. My family and I stopped in on Sunday, November 20, when no one was in the building. We arranged all my books on shelves, put my diplomas on the wall, and set up my computer speakers so I could listen to music while I work. I remember being excited, of course, and honored that I would be entrusted with loving you and leading you into your future. But as much as I was excited and honored and ready to begin my work with you, I do remember feeling nervous. How many mistakes was I going to make? Would you like my preaching? Would I be a good and effective leader? Would I do a good job for you? Was I worthy of the call I believed God had offered to me?

Of course, you all have been so gracious to me, and you’ve been patient with me as I’ve learned how things work around here. I figured you would be, and I had faith that God would give me the tools to do well. But I also felt what a lot of people likely feel when they begin a new job or respond to a call from God. Did I have what it took? I imagine lots of you have probably felt that way in your own lives. (And having an anxiety disorder makes those feelings extra “fun”…).

I suspect that the same feelings were shared by the people in today's text. Today I want to talk about what it means to follow the call of Jesus when we feel unequipped, and how we can do that in the difficult times we're living in right now. But before I do that, I wanna start by saying that this is a difficult time for many of us in this country. The last couple of sermons that I have preached here have been rather bold and direct. I'm going to tell you ahead of time that of course, I believe the problems in this country are still there, but today is calling me to take a gentler and more pastoral approach.

One thing I noticed right off the bat about both of these text is that the two people who are called by God, both find themselves in difficult circumstances. When I think about the writer of the book of Isaiah, for example, the prophet says, “Mourn for me; I’m ruined! I’m a man with unclean lips, and I live among a people with unclean lips.” Isaiah has seen the evolution of King Uzziah, first as a king that does God's will, then, later as a king that lets his pride and selfishness, get the better oven. And because of the kings example, the people of fall soon. Even Isaiah himself seems to be doubtful of his own faithfulness to God's will. But then, when God is looking for a ruler that will establish God's justice, saying, “Whom should I send, and who will go for us?”, Isaiah responds by saying, “I’m here; send me.”

Later on in our gospel text, Jesus encounters fisherman who have failed in their efforts. They've been at this for hours, and a long night has left them demoralized. But Jesus says, “Row out farther, into the deep water, and drop your nets for a catch.”

Somehow, the fisherman are able to find enough faith to do, as Jesus says, and their patience and persistence is rewarded. They get so many fish that their nets are overflowing, and they have to call in reinforcements to help them. After seeing what's transpired, Simon says to Jesus that he is a sinful man and that Jesus should go away from him. But Jesus has another idea. He says, “Don’t be afraid. From now on, you will be fishing for people.” And they drop everything to follow him.

In both of these situations, these men are living in difficult circumstances, and our doubtful of their own abilities to follow God's will. But God and Christ don't make mistakes with who they call. God does not call the equipped, God equips the called. We don’t need to know how to follow Jesus, we just need to be willing.

As I reflect on my own imposter syndrome before I became your pastor, I recognize that the only way I could be successful was because I believed that God would be with me and give me what I needed. Together, we have done so many wonderful things and I know we will continue to do so many more. As we think about the year ahead, and have this church's annual meeting, after our later service today, I wonder what God might be calling us to do in these times. we've had a great year in the life of the church, and have done lots of good work together. Our finances are in a good place, our engagement and participation have grown significantly from pandemic levels. There is a lot to celebrate.

The biggest question I have this week for all of us is to think about how we might row out into deeper water together. Both of the men in today's texts had to take great risks so that they could follow the way of God, and the way of Christ. Last week, I talked to us a lot about the risks that we take in doing just that. I'm not going to repeat myself too much, but I would just say now that sometimes taking risks to follow Jesus is the best way to get the greatest reward.

So as we go into this week, and as we enter into our annual meeting later today, may we keep that in mind. May we think about the times in our lives when rowing out into the deeper water with Jesus Christ has given us the reward of a better life guided by God. After thinking about that, may we be prepared to tell others and share the good news. Amen. 
 

“The Risks of Jesus’ Message”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun 
February 2, 2025

Focus: Jesus had to take lots of risks in sharing his message with others, and if we truly want to follow Jesus, we have to be willing to do the same.

There's an old adage that seminarians are often taught. “Preach what your congregation needs to hear, not just what they want to hear.” There are some times where pastors have to use their position of trust and, yes, even power, to say some things but not everybody is going to agree with. But that also doesn't give a pastor carte blanche to totally alienate people or get on a personal soapbox that doesn't move the congregation forward in some way or give them something useful to think about as they go through their lives. Whenever a pastor shares difficult truths with a congregation, it always has to be done with the best intent possible, so that the sacred trust of pastor and people is not hurt too badly.

But at the same time, sometimes, when a pastor speaks truth to a congregation, it's not always received very well. Sometimes eyebrows will raise in the pews. Sometimes the pastor will get a letter. Sometimes someone might even leave the church. But there are certain times when a pastor has to say what needs to be said, in order for the congregation to move forward, and become the best version of what God is calling them to become.

I certainly don't want you to throw me off a cliff like they wanted to do to Jesus! I have pretty good health insurance, but not that good.

But I'm sharing this with you today because that's kind of what Jesus does in today's text, and also because I think that’s what Jesus calls us to do. I’ll talk about what he said, how it was received, and bring it back to what it means for us.

Let's set the scene here. Jesus is coming back to his hometown after performing glorious signs in Capernaum. The hometown boy is making his long-awaited return. The commentator Ruth Ann Reese points out that now, word has gotten around about what Jesus has done in Capernaum, and now the people of Nazareth want him to show off. It's almost as if they're saying, “Look at little Jesus, all grown up! Show us what you've got, kid!” They are amazed and want to see the same things in Nazareth that Jesus did in Capernaum. After all, if they got to see what he had done for themselves, they would feel pretty important. They would feel like they were pretty hot stuff.

But unfortunately, for the people of Nazareth, who are expectantly waiting for Jesus to do something extraordinary, Jesus tells them that it doesn't work that way. Jesus tells them instead that they're not special. Jesus accuses them of not truly being able to accept him and his ministerial leadership, because all they're ever going to see him as is “little Jesus all grown up.”

It's kind of like when my home church in Neenah was going through its own search process to find their current Pastor. One person actually said to my mom, “why can't Jacob be our pastor? He speaks so well and he's such a nice person.” When relaying that story to me, I told my mom, “yeah, that would never work because as the church secretary, I would be your boss, and there's no way you're going to let me tell you what to do!”

Instead, Jesus tells them who he's actually there for, and who his ministry actually benefits.

He says in verses 18-19,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
   because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, 
   to proclaim release to the prisoners 
   and recovery of sight to the blind, 
   to liberate the oppressed, 
   and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

He then goes on to give them examples of times when people before him had tried and failed to do ministry in their own hometown, because the people of their hometown never understood them as people who were anointed by God to do God's work. And so he wasn't even going to try with them, as long as they couldn't get over this “little Jesus” image.

This is a prime example of not telling people what they want to hear, but telling people what they need to hear. And oh, were those people livid. Jesus was not there to show them cool party tricks after all. Jesus was there to tell people what was actually important, and what the people failed to understand. Jesus has ministry was not just for them, but it was for everybody. Our story ends with, the people uniting, rising up against Jesus and attempting to kill him by throwing him off a cliff, but Jesus finds away through them and goes on his way.

But I've been thinking a lot this week, because there are lots of disturbing things going on in the news. During a press briefing, our country’s president blamed a horrible, catastrophic and deadly plane crash on diversity efforts, saying that if the Federal Aviation Administration hadn't hired disabled people, none of this would've happened, despite the fact that disabled workers have to meet the same standards as anyone else, and in fact may need to prove themselves even more. Many people are now lobbying and working against the rights of LGBTQ+ people, especially children, which is already instilling fear in the hearts and minds of those most vulnerable. These are who the oppressed people are in our country and in our world today, and I believe these are who Jesus came for.

“God has sent me to preach good news to the poor,…
   to liberate the oppressed, 
   and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

The question becomes, are we ready to follow that Jesus, knowing the risks?

There are lots of churches in this town, many who hold different beliefs than we do. But so many of us have come to this church because we believe that this is a place where those who are unwelcome at other churches find a place here. it's a place where those of us who have been oppressed, discriminated against, and marginalized, can truly belong. This is a place where we find true and non-judgmental community. That’s part of why we picked today's media song. For some of us, there have been times in our lives “when holding [our] breath is safer than breathing, when letting go is braver than keeping”. There are some of us who had to let go of the faith that they knew in order to come to this church, hoping that someone would offer a safe place to land. And that's what we do for a lot of people.

Jesus had to take lots of risks in sharing his message with others, and if we truly want to follow Jesus, we have to be willing to do the same. We need to be willing to tell people not just what they want to hear, but what they need to hear. What I believe some people in this community outside of our church might need to hear is that discrimination and judgment have no home in this community of faith. We aren’t going to turn you away if you’ve made mistakes in your life, or if you live a lifestyle that some people don’t agree with. You can come here if you have questions, if you’re not sure what you believe, or if other churches in your life have hurt you. We will hold all of that with you and accompany you on your journey.

What I'm saying isn't new to many of the people sitting here. We know this. That's why we're here. But if we want to grow our church, if we want other people to know about us and what we believe, I sometimes think that we might have to take more risks.

So as you go into this week, I invite you to think about how you might more intentionally share the message of our church with other people in this community. How might you share what we're about, and what matters to us? How might you share who we believe Jesus calls us to be?

If we are to co-create a better world with Jesus Christ, sometimes we have to face some hard truths, and say some hard things. But I have so much faith in the work of this church, and what we can do together. All of us have so many gifts to offer the world. We know what it means to turn our faith into action. So let's roll up our sleeves and get to work. Amen.

 

 

 

“We Need Each Other”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun
January 26, 2025

Focus: No matter what happens in these next four years or beyond, we are one body of Christ and we belong to one another.

No matter what end of the political spectrum you find yourself, or what ideology you hold, I think we can all agree on one thing: it's been a week. You can add your own adjective about whether that’s good or bad, but that much is true. When I think about all of the current events in our country, there are so many things I could say. And yet, there are so many things that I can't say, or that I shouldn't say, or that I won't say. This is another one of those weeks where it's difficult to preach, or to find a good word in the midst of all this that’s true to the biblical text and at the same time, not strong enough to utterly offend people. But if you’ll trust me and stay with me, I will humbly offer the most faithful message I can.

I just joined the new social media platform called BlueSky. If you haven't heard of it, it's kind of like the platform formally known as Twitter, but without some of the algorithms that try to dictate what you see in order to make money off of you. Some people are leaving more popular sites, such as Facebook and Instagram, in favor of sites like BlueSky, because of some views that the Facebook and Twitter CEOs espouse. I don't know if it sticks, or if it's just another digital fad, but because I believe in community and connection, I thought I would give it a try. One of my friends described BlueSky as more hopeful and more factual compared to some of the other platforms. It's too soon to tell if that's true.

But I also made the decision that I'm not leaving Facebook or Instagram, at least not at this point, unless things get weirder or more divisive than they are right now. I have lots of friends across many different ideologies and many different walks of life, and if I disagree with somebody, I can just unfollow them or keep scrolling. I've come to the conclusion that I don't need to censor my community so tightly that I'm only in community with people I agree with. I can have good boundaries over how or if I engage with those folks on political or ideological topics, but at least for me, totally disengaging is not what I want to do.

I’ll admit that this is an odd entry point into today's text, especially since some of us are more tech savvy than others. (My girlfriend lovingly tells me I'm a nerd when it comes to technology, and I suppose I can resonate with that title.) But my point is exactly what it says up on the screen in my sermon title: we need each other, especially in times like these.

There are a lot of really important things that Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians, but for now I'll focus on about two and a half verses. Beginning in verse 24, Paul says,

“But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the part with less honor 25 so that there won’t be division in the body and so the parts might have mutual concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part gets the glory, all the parts celebrate with it. 27 You are the body of Christ and parts of each other.”

When I look at those three verses, in someways, I feel like my sermon writes itself for this week. And yet, the idea of having mutual concern for one another isn't something that always comes second nature to us. Because no matter what ideologies we believe, these are not just political talking points that one side or the other might use to win arguments. We're talking about real people. Real futures, real families, real consequences, and the more that we take the humanity out of our political discussions and our social discourse—the more we forget that these issues impact real people—the farther away we're going to be from coming together as a country again. Because Paul reminds us that if one part of the body suffers, everybody suffers. If you have watched the news at all this week, you've seen the backlash that Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde received when she spoke directly to President Trump at a prayer service on inauguration day at the Washington National Cathedral. Truth be told, as much as that sermon has been sensationalized, and as angry as some people have gotten about it, it really isn't that different from what I've been preaching all this time, and what a lot of my more progressively minded colleagues have been preaching all this time. To be honest, it's not even that different from a guy named Jesus. Next week, we're going to hear Jesus speak to people in his hometown, and say the now-famous first words of his public ministry:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
   because he has anointed me
       to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
   and recovery of sight to the blind,
       to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Having mercy on and protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ folks, and on illegal immigrants, and on disabled people, on women, and on people of different races and creeds and nationalities—none of this is a radical idea, but the fact that this caused so much uproar means that we need to keep talking about it. We need to keep speaking truth to power, and making sure that everybody has what they need. Because those people are part of the body of Christ just as much as you and I are, and we have a duty of care to one another to make sure that they are afforded the same rights as we are.

The truth is this, friends: No matter what happens in these next four years, or beyond, we are one body of Christ and we belong to one another.

But here’s the hard part: we can say all that with our lips, and maybe even believe it with our hearts, but the question is: is that enough? What does it take in this church, in this community, in this country, for our actions to match our words and our intentions? What kind of things can we actually do for the marginalized people in Waupun who need a safe, welcoming, affirming church home? If we say in our mission statement that we do what we do through “acceptance of all, love, and commitment to Christ”, how might we embody that?

There are so many ways that you care for one another. There are so many ways that you provide welcome and hope where it's needed. We need that energy and that spirit now more than ever before. We simply can't disengage with one another, because the problems we face as a country are too important. But we can only do this if we work together, and if we are guided by the love that Christ showed us. So may we all go together into this week knowing that we belong to one another, and knowing that Christ calls us to do more than just pray or speak, but that Christ calls us instead, take care for each other and to love each other as he first loved us. May it be so. Amen.

 

 


 

 

 

 

“Gifts for the Common Good” 
Sermon for U-CC Waupun
January 19, 2025

Focus: Sometimes the gifts we have aren’t revealed until we trust that God gives us what we need to do God’s work.

I'm going to do something a bit different today. I'm going to tell you what the point of the therm is first and then I'm going to give you the message behind it.

The point is this: Sometimes the gifts we have aren’t revealed until we trust that God gives us what we need to do God’s work.

That happened to me somewhat recently. During Thanksgiving break, an email came into my church inbox from my colleague Rev. Breanna Illene, a representative at the Wisconsin Council of Churches. During this Linton season, the Wisconsin Council of churches is inviting local churches into a sermon series around repenting from white Christian nationalism, which has become a deeply divided topic and has lots of ramifications given our current political climate. I was told that my name came up because I am not only a musician and songwriter that many leaders in this area trust, but also because I’m a pastor people trust to talk about complicated justice issues in a way they can grab onto. Of course, I was honored to get this invitation because I really believe in this organization’s work and I was excited for the creative challenge, but at the same time, I didn't truly believe at the outset that I was the right fit for the job. Shirley, there were better, more experienced songwriters they could've asked. I felt like Charlie Brown, being the director of the Christmas play, or the many people in biblical times who said that they believed God must be mistaken to ask them to do a certain job. But when I finished my musical assignment last week, I was reminded of what happens when God gives you a task, you respond with willingness, and then let God do the rest. I've gotten lots of really good feedback on the song, and I'm going to be very interested to see what happens when other people use it. I'm thinking of engaging this Lenten series in our church in some way, and so we’ll get to use the song as well.

I'm sure many of you have had experiences like mine, where you might've been asked to “strut your stuff” before you thought you were ready. All of us are in good company with Jesus, as he performs his first miraculous sign of his ministry at a wedding.

To set the scene here, we have to remember just how big of a deal weddings were in biblical times. Anyone who has gotten married in our modern culture knows how much work it is to plan a wedding and executed the day of. There are all sorts of details that need to be worked out. There's all sorts of money that changes hands. There are all sorts of decisions to make. But weddings in biblical times were a multi-day affair, and if you were invited to one of these weddings, you know that you were pretty important. Also, symbolically, the commentator Brian Peterson reminds us that “the wedding is a rich image in Jewish tradition, pointing to the time of God’s deliverance and blessing for Israel”. so there was deep symbolism to the event, far greater than just two people marrying each other.

And I think Jesus is very well aware of this. His mother, Mary, asked him to do some thing about the fact that the wine has run out, and Jesus responds in such a way that I think many of us can resonate with. He says, “Woman, what does that have to do with me? My time hasn’t come yet.”

He, of course, was pointing towards the crucifixion, which we will honor in just a couple of months. That was what he meant. But to me it feels like Jesus is making the larger point of saying, “I'm not prepared for this!” But then somehow his mother convinces him, as mothers do, and then she says to those gathered around, “Do whatever he tells you.” And then he does something extraordinary. He does something that makes everybody around him, believe that he is something special.

Of course, none of us are going to compare ourselves to Jesus, but because Jesus is human, Jesus understands and resonates with the human experience of feeling like he might not be enough, that he might not be cut out for the task ahead. And then somehow there's magically enough wine for the people to drink. Somehow, his glory is revealed in an unexpected way. To a certain degree, I can resonate with that, from the story I told you earlier. Maybe you can too, in your own life. Maybe there has been a way that you've been invited to share your gifts, and to share what you've been given with the world, even when you yourself might not, feel like you're cut out for it.

But that's exactly what the gifts of God are all about. In the text from 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about the various gifts that are given to each person, but the gifts are given from the same spirit of God, which enables each of us to do what we can for the common good. Indeed, all of the gifts that were given have a ripple effect on others. Maybe my song will help widen peoples’ perspectives. maybe the lessons we teach in our classrooms, or in our Sunday school classes, will prepare those who hear them for the realities of a complicated world. Maybe those of us with experience supporting people with mental illness might be able to help others reduce the stigma and make a better world possible for those who are just trying to get through the day.

I said it before and I’ll say it again. Sometimes the gifts we have aren’t revealed until we trust that God gives us what we need to do God’s work.
So as you go into this week, I invite you to think about how you might trust in the gift God gives you. Everybody in this congregation has gifts that we can share. Our community is richer because of what everybody brings to it. So how will you let your light shine in, this community, both in our church and wider? There are so many needs in this world, and so many people hurting for various reasons. On this day before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I think about him and his gifts and the way that he made this country better, with something closer to equal rights for all people, even though there's plenty more work for us to do to that end. and the ways that we experience, it might not be as sweeping as Martin Luther King's dream, but I am confident that, because of who you are as people, that there is a gift you can share with a world of need.

So may you go with confidence into this world, sharing the gifts that God has given you. may you have people in your life that give you that nudge to share it. May you have people in your life who say to others, “Do whatever they tell you and watch what happens.” because it is in sharing those gifts that God's broad our community will be made better. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

 

“I Will Be With You”

Sermon for U-CC Waupun

January 12, 2025

Focus: When we go through difficult or important moments in our lives, God will be with us.

Many of you were at my ordination almost 2 years ago in Neenah, either in person or virtually, when I officially received that Reverend title and made lots of promises and commitments to those present and to the wider church. The entire day was something I had been awaiting for 5 1/2 years and it was an incredibly exciting and important day. Lots of people said entirely too many nice things about me, and I felt like a beautiful affirmation of my ministry journey.

One of the most important things that happened during the service was something that happens whenever people are ordained, commissioned, or set apart for ministry and some other way. That process is called the “laying on of hands”. During that process, the candidate for ordination kneels on a kneeler, and all of the clergy, along with other important people in the candidate’s life, lay their hands on the candidate as a prayer is said over them. You'll see a picture of that part of the ritual on the screen.

I'm not sure I can quite describe the feeling that this moment elicited for me. Of course, I was very excited, but the sheer weight of so many peoples hands’ on my body, praying for my ministry, is a feeling I had never had before and probably won't have again that many more times in my life, if ever. Not only did I feel the affirmation of my calling, and the support of so many people, but I also felt the weight, the importance, of what I was saying yes to.

While most of the people in this room haven't had 30 people laying hands on them as a prayer was said for their ministry, I'm sure lots of folks in this room have had experiences that I felt like a “laying on of hands” for them. Naturally, as you hear my story, I’m sure that most of you might already be thinking about what that moment was in your life. If you're a teacher, perhaps that feeling was the first job offer you received, or the first time you stepped foot in the classroom that you would be teaching all on your own. If you’re law enforcement official, maybe that moment was your first day of training. If you're a student, maybe it was your first day stepping into a new school environment. But whatever that moment was for you, someone affirmed you as you stepped into a new chapter of your life's journey. Maybe, if you remember your baptism, you might remember the day you decided to say yes to God and yes to Jesus Christ, and their influence on your life.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't have a healthy dose of fear as I took my ordination vows. What if I wasn't actually cut out for the work that I was doing? What if I crashed and burned here at my first church what if I got too tired of the work and needed to change my career path?

My biggest question as I approached this week’s texts was this one: was Jesus afraid?

By all biblical accounts, it seems like we find a confident Jesus, and that John the Baptist has some kind of imposter complex.

Scripture says: “John replied to them all, “I baptize you with water, but the one who is more powerful than me is coming. I’m not worthy to loosen the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire”.

But part of me wonders if Jesus ever questioned his own worthiness. He is human after all, and we do see a very particular moment of vulnerability in Jesus’ ministry in the garden of Gethsemane, in that prayer where he says to God, “if it's possible, please take this cup from me.” Are we to believe that Jesus, even privately, didn't question his worthiness from time to time? After all, the steaks are high for him. The commentator Karoline Lewis says, “Hearing Jesus’ first sermon, the hometown folks want to throw him off a cliff. Jesus will be rejected by his friends, his family, his community before he even does anything.” Responding to that kind of call is a tall order, and not something that anybody would take lightly.

But just as much as the weight of the call is real, so is grace. In our texts for today, God says two important things. In the Isaiah text, God says,

“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
   when through the rivers, they won’t sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you won’t be scorched
   and flame won’t burn you.”

And in the new testament text, God says to Jesus, “You are my Son, whom I dearly love; in you I find happiness.”

So this is what I want you to take away from the message today: When we go through difficult or important moments in our lives, God calls us beloved and will be with us on the journey.

This is why celebrating the baptism of Christ is so important. In today's readings, we recognize that even Jesus needed John, a lowly, marginalized person, to initiate him into the ministry upon which he was about to enter. John was able to help Jesus complete an important ritual which allowed him to do important work in the world.

So friends, today I ask you this question to think about it as you go into your week. What kinds of moments have you had in your life that felt like affirmation moments, or initiation moments, for you? Who were the people who helped you do the important work of preparing for a big change in your life journey? How was your journey or your career shaped by those moments and those people?

One of the things I will always be grateful for at this church is that you will always be the first church that I served as Pastor. You put your trust in me when it was perhaps a risky proposition, and you continue to put your trust in me every day to lead you with, love, with levelheadedness, and with good decision-making. I will always be grateful for that. I promise to continue to grow with you as I think about all the ways that my call will continue to evolve. I also promised to help you think about how you might follow the call of God into something new. This church has so much potential, and if I may be so bold, I don't know that all of you see what I see in terms of the potential we have when we work together, one more willing to have the hard conversations, when we're willing to do the hard things. because any form of ministry—ordained ministry, public ministry in biblical times, being a more liberal church in a more conservative community—all of that is really important, really challenging, and can get really messy. But I believe so strongly in your potential to do the work God has called you to.

So may you go into this week, knowing first that you were beloved, and then that you are called. Even as difficult as the work of God will be, you know that God will be with you on the journey, and that God will guide you along the way. Amen.

 

“A Light Shines In The Darkness”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun
January 5, 2025

Focus: No matter what kind of darkness we might feel in the world, the light of Christ continues to be with us and guide our way.

My main Christmas tree is in my living room in my townhome, a 7 foot tall artificial tree which stays up probably midway through January. But in my bedroom, I have a 3 foot tall tree which sits on top of a file cabinet, and stays up all throughout the winter. I affectionately call my winter tree. It has colored lights on it, and it's a bit Charlie Brown-ish, but it has served an important purpose for me for a number of years

Ever since high school, I have shown the signs and symptoms of seasonal affective disorder, which I now know were probably more likely symptoms of the moderate anxiety and mild depression which I was diagnosed with early last year.  Winters have been the hardest. Living with a disability, I am more likely to slip and fall than some people, and I've never particularly cared for cold weather. So as a way to cope with the difficulties of this time of year, I've always kept the winter tree up until spring comes, reminding me that light will continue to be with me in this season. The winter tree reminds me that joy and celebration can still be present in times of struggle, even in the form of a little Charlie Brown tree.

I don't tell you this in order for you to feel sorry for me, or to worry about the state of my health, but instead, I tell you this because millions of Americans, live with anxiety or depression and learn over time to develop coping mechanisms. If you don't personally experience this, anyone who has lived with anxiety or depression (and the many other disorders that stem from them) will tell you that their mood can fluctuate. Sometimes you feel great, whether that's because of something particularly good going on in your life, responding well to medication, exercise, prayer, or meditative practices. At other times it's harder to be resilient and get through the day. This is made even worse by the fact that society, and frankly, the church, often stigmatizes those who live with mental health conditions, saying that they need to pray more or lean on Jesus more, or in essence, “suck it up, buttercup”. All this while depression, anxiety, and suicide rates are going way up in this country and around the world.

Of course, the people in biblical times didn't have the terminology that we now do to discuss mental health conditions, but as I reflect on today's scripture passages, it's pretty clear that the people in biblical times were certainly dealing with anxiety or depression over the state of the world. Today's text from the book of Isaiah situates us in the book’s third section. The third section of the book of Isaiah has what the commentator Julia M. O'Brien describes as a “pessimistic and frustrated tone”. The anonymous writer of this book accuses God of being silent and unfaithful, and plead for God to intervene against the injustice that the people are experiencing. Indeed, one chapter earlier, the writer of this book laments,

“Because of all this, justice is far from us,
   and righteousness beyond our reach.
We expect light, and there is darkness;
   we await a gleam of light, but walk about in gloom.”

The people of biblical times are looking for something, anything, that will give them relief from their plight, and so far they're not finding it.

Elsewhere, in the New Testament, King Herod in Jerusalem is afraid of a threat to his power. that's why today’s text in Matthew’s gospel begins by saying, “When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and everyone in Jerusalem was troubled with him.” Everyone in Jerusalem is now troubled over what will happen if a competing ruler comes to challenge Herod. As the commentator Media Stamper puts it, “A troubled Herod is a dangerous Herod.”

So both of today's Scriptures describe the precarious position of God's people in their own way. What are they to do? Who is going to be their liberator in a time of distress or discrimination?

Of course, we already know what the answer is! Jesus is going to come and make the world better. The entirety of his ministry was for the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed.

This is why celebrating Epiphany is so important. Celebrating that our light has come through Jesus Christ seems in a way like an abstract theological concept that doesn't have the same fanfare as the jubilant celebrations of Christmas, but that doesn't make it any less important. To the people of biblical times, waiting for the light to come in Jesus Christ was utterly life-changing, and maybe even life-saving.

Celebrating epiphany can also remind us that the light is still present, even when things look bleak on the outside. No matter what kind of darkness we might feel in the world, the light of Christ continues to be with us and guide our way.

When I think about this congregation, sharing the light seems like such a natural idea. The light that is in your heart is so bright. This is a congregation who loves Jesus and wants to communicate how his love can cover the marginalized and the oppressed. when other churches in our lives lives might turn people away, we believe in an extravagant welcome and I believe we are trying to do our best to it in the ways that we can.

So the question is this: how will you celebrate the light coming into your own life? Will you be like me, putting up a Charlie Brown tree every year, in a comforting act of resistance to the culture of pessimism that so often causes us to lose our perspective? Will you do good work in the community so that others will experience the light of love you have found in Jesus?

No matter what you do, may you do so in gratitude for the way is that the light has been shown for you. May you remember the way that you took comfort in Christ love and a time where things were difficult for you. When you share this love with others, I believe that, as the book of Isaiah says, your light will shine forth. Thanks be to God. Amen. 
 

“Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing”
Sermon for UCC Waupun

December 29, 2024
Colossians 3:12-17

Focus: As you embark on this new year, God guides you to love one another above all, and be mindful of what’s most important.

The inspiration for my sermon title came from an experience I had in Clinical Pastoral Education, which is an internship experience that all authorized ministers in the Wisconsin Conference are required to undertake. It teaches a minister how to provide effective and informed pastoral care. I’m a naturally anxious person, and so I asked my supervisor how I could stay focused and not forget to do something important in my care visits.

Her response was fairly simple: “Keep the main thing the main thing.” In other words, there were always going to be many different variables in the context of a care conversation, but as long as I focused on what was most important, I would be able to do ministry that was spirit-led and natural.

I’ve tried my best to keep that in mind in my future ministry, because the truth is that, as the church, there are lots of things vying for our attention. How do we keep our giving strong? Do our actions match our mission as a church? Is the work of the church running smoothly, or do we need to look at things again so we don’t fall into the old patterns that led to some discord in the church’s leadership in years past?

This is kind of what Paul is asking us to do as well.  In Paul's letter to the Colossians, Paul is speaking to people who are trying to do their best to advance the teachings of Jesus Christ after his death. They have good intentions, but of course, people are people.

If we zoom out a little bit in our text, we recognize that Paul is calling out some behaviors that run counter to the will of Christ. A few verses before our text begins, Paul writes, “But now set aside these things, such as anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene language. Don’t lie to each other.” Despite our best efforts, churches are communities of people. Sometimes we fight over things that don't actually matter that much. Sometimes we don't listen as well as we should to one another. Sometimes it's hard for us to see past the differences of another person, when, in reality, we should always be working to see each other first as beloved children of God, worthy of God's love and redeeming.

After all, we are all God’s chosen people, “holy and loved”, and God’s likeness lives inside of each of us. Often, we all need a reminder of what it means to live in genuine community. Our society is so divided by political, social, and ideological differences, and yet, churches like ours are a refuge for so many people from many different backgrounds. When communities like ours work at our best, we can be ourselves with one another, which is a feeling we may not always experience outside of this place. Paul reminds the Colossians of the importance of tolerating each other's differences, recognizing that God loves others, just as deeply as God loves us. We don't always have to agree with each other or understand the particulars of how we differ. That would simply be unrealistic. We recognize that people of all backgrounds and demographics deserve a place at the table. The disabled person longing for greater access, when they have long been told that elevators or ramps are too expensive. The person whose anxiety, depression, or other mental illness has outcast them from social circles. The teenager questioning their sexual orientation, when all they want is to be accepted for who God created them to be. The person who’s made a few mistakes in their lives and yearns for a space they can forgive themselves and rest in the fact that God hasn’t given up on them.

And the most important part of all this? Paul says, “over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” Keep the main thing the main thing.

Now, it’s not all so simple. If you read further into this passage, you'll see that Paul encourages wives to submit to their husbands, and slaves to submit to their masters. These very words have been misused and abused to hurt women, to hurt people of color, and to hurt other marginalized communities everywhere. It was wrong then, and it’s wrong now. We need to be mindful of both the complicated and compassionate advice that Paul gives. I’m not saying we automatically need top give Paul a pass for sexist, racist comments, but this is a prime example of why we are not always going to get this right.

As I stand here before you today, I can tell you that I haven’t always gotten it right. I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life and ministry, and I continue to learn from them.

There is grace enough for me, grace enough for you, and grace enough for all of us.

As you embark on this new year, God guides you to love one another above all, and be mindful of what’s most important.

Community is messy. It’s complicated. It can be a vessel to hurt or to ignore someone. It’s not always going to be easy. But if we put on love over all else, keeping the main thing the main thing, the ways we differ from others don’t have to divide us. As my friend Andra Moran wrote in a song of hers, “love first, love always. We’ll figure the rest out as we go.”

As we prepare to move forward from Christmas into Epiphany and the rest of the year, what if we carried the joy we’ve felt in this Christmas season and let it shape our actions moving forward?


So as you enter into this journey, may you know that you are beloved of God and that you are called by God to co-create justice and joy, compassion and peace. May you respond to God’s call as thankful people, and may you always remember to lead with love. Love first, love always. Keep the main thing the main thing. The ways we are different from each other will never be as powerful as the love we share, even when it isn’t easy. May that love be your guide as you do the work of Christ. Amen.

 

 

“Great Joy for ALL the People”
TRADITIONAL Christmas Eve Sermon 2024

Focus: No matter what you have been through this year, the good news of great joy that Christ offers applies to you, too.

I'm a sucker for watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. I live alone, and my yearly ritual consists of turning all the lights off in my house except for my Christmas tree and whatever other holiday-themed lights I have, and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas while I drink a glass of eggnog. Perhaps a bit of a cheesy tradition, but so are most of the traditions we engage in this time of year! I’ve gotten into watching Hallmark Christmas movies with my girlfriend and I’m still convinced the Hallmark acting is way worse!

But the reason why I watch this classic every year is not just because it's a classic, but because I take something different away from it every year, which informs the way that I think about the Christmas story. Of course, the climactic moment of the show is when Charlie Brown screams out in desperation, “Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” With compassion and quiet confidence, Linus Van Pelt says, “Sure, Charlie Brown. I can tell you what Christmas is all about.”

He then proceeds to recite the King James Version of the angel’s announcement to the shepherds. As I watched, I got stuck on this verse, which I’m quoting from the translation we just heard: “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.”

That verse got me thinking, both about what it meant in biblical times, and what it means for us in the times we live in today.

When we think about the biblical moment, we have to remember that the coming of a Messiah is prophesied throughout both the Old and New Testaments. All of those who were oppressed by the Roman power structure were finally going to be liberated. After all, life was extremely difficult for them. The Roman government regularly treated the Jewish people very unfairly. Many of us have already heard about this, as it's well documented throughout the entire entirety of the Bible. Harsh taxation. Laws built for the success of the powerful and the downfall of the poor. Enslavement. All sorts of problems that the people in Biblical Israel were facing.

Indeed, the commentator and preaching professor 
Amanda Brobst-Renaud reminds us that the shepherds had every reason to be cynical. They had every reason to say they had been waiting for all their lives for the Messiah to come, and it wasn't going to come from a tiny baby or an unwed teenage virgin. But they didn't. Instead, they dropped everything, saying, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” No hesitation, no questioning, no cynicism. They just go. And in the rest of the biblical narrative, they're never heard from again. This is a story of earnest people who hear what they believe is the word of God and respond with haste.

As I was watching A Charlie Brown Christmas, part of me wondered if I could respond without cynicism. My own family, members of this congregation, and members of our greater community have all faced lots of struggles this year. We've faced difficult health struggles or felt depressed or anxious at the state of the world. We've lost people we love. Some people continue to struggle to make ends meet. Many people in this area face food insecurity, poverty, or homelessness. Others are afraid of how they will be treated, or if they will be discriminated, in the midst of our divided and apathetic society.

“Good news of great joy for all the people?” I wouldn't be surprised if some of us in this room might be thinking to ourselves, “God, I’ll have to believe it when I see it.”

But this is exactly why Jesus came. No matter what you have been through this year, the good news of great joy that Christ offers applies to you, too.

I'm not saying that everything that's been difficult for you. This year is just going to go away. There's lots of work to be done in our society so that everybody can experience joy in this world and everyone can live with dignity, peace, prosperity, and hope.

But tonight, just for a moment, what if we could use the joy that is inside our hearts tonight as a source of strength to get through the hard times? What if we could truly believe that the coming of Christ is for our benefit?

I don't know about you, but if an angel came to me while I was minding my own business and doing my job, I would be pretty scared too! But what if we could hear the angel speaking directly to us? “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

To you. For you.

If you’re struggling right now, you might remember that Jesus came to be with you when life is messy or doesn’t make sense. To be with you when you are carrying anxiety at the state of the world. To be with you when you need God’s presence to touch your mind, body, or spirit.

On the other hand, maybe you're sitting here feeling like things are going well. Maybe life is really good for you right now. In the last weeks as we've joys and concerns, we’ve had many prayers of gratitude—for a new grandchild, for weddings and engagements and anniversaries and all sorts of beautiful things. The good news of great joy that Christ offers applies to you, too. To be with you as you have journeyed toward a new chapter in your life journey with anticipation. To be with you as you give thanks for the unexpected ways that God has provided for you or delighted you.  

That's why we don't have to be cynical when the angel says that the good news of great joy is for all the people. We can pack up and go with haste to see the baby. We can sing with the angels. We can go tell it on a mountain, over the hills and everywhere.

My friends, no matter who you are, what you face today,  or what has happened in your life up until now, Christ was born for you.

May you carry that joy and that assurance with you this season. May you be empowered by the hope Christ has offered in your life to give strength to others who are feeling afraid. Because good news of great joy for all people is a message worth sharing. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

 

 

 

“Great Joy for ALL the People”
MEDIA Christmas Eve Sermon 2024

Focus: No matter what you have been through this year, the good news of great joy that Christ offers applies to you, too.

I'm a sucker for watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. I live alone, and my yearly ritual consists of turning all the lights off in my house except for my Christmas tree and whatever other holiday-themed lights I have, and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas while I drink a glass of eggnog. Perhaps a bit of a cheesy tradition, but so are most of the traditions we engage in this time of year! I’ve gotten into watching Hallmark Christmas movies with my girlfriend and I’m still convinced the Hallmark acting is way worse!

But the reason why I watch this classic every year is not just because it's a classic, but because I take something different away from it every year, which informs the way that I think about the Christmas story. Of course, the climactic moment of the show is when Charlie Brown screams out in desperation, “Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” With compassion and quiet confidence, Linus Van Pelt says, “Sure, Charlie Brown. I can tell you what Christmas is all about.”

He then proceeds to recite the King James Version of the angel’s announcement to the shepherds. As I watched, I got stuck on this verse, which I’m quoting from the translation we just heard: “But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people.”

That verse got me thinking, both about what it meant in biblical times, and what it means for us in the times we live in today.

When we think about the biblical moment, we have to remember that the coming of a Messiah is prophesied throughout both the Old and New Testaments. All of those who were oppressed by the Roman power structure were finally going to be liberated. After all, life was extremely difficult for them. The Roman government regularly treated the Jewish people very unfairly. Many of us have already heard about this, as it's well documented throughout the entire entirety of the Bible. Harsh taxation. Laws built for the success of the powerful and the downfall of the poor. Enslavement. All sorts of problems that the people in Biblical Israel were facing.

Indeed, the commentator and preaching professor 
Amanda Brobst-Renaud reminds us that the shepherds had every reason to be cynical. They had every reason to say they had been waiting for all their lives for the Messiah to come, and it wasn't going to come from a tiny baby or an unwed teenage virgin. But they didn't. Instead, they dropped everything, saying, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” No hesitation, no questioning, no cynicism. They just go. And in the rest of the biblical narrative, they're never heard from again. This is a story of earnest people who hear what they believe is the word of God and respond with haste.

As I was watching A Charlie Brown Christmas, part of me wondered if I could respond without cynicism. My own family, members of this congregation, and members of our greater community have all faced lots of struggles this year. We've faced difficult health struggles or felt depressed or anxious at the state of the world. We've lost people we love. Some people continue to struggle to make ends meet. Many people in this area face food insecurity, poverty, or homelessness. Others are afraid of how they will be treated, or if they will be discriminated, in the midst of our divided and apathetic society.

“Good news of great joy for all the people?” I wouldn't be surprised if some of us in this room might be thinking to ourselves, “God, I’ll have to believe it when I see it.”

But this is exactly why Jesus came. No matter what you have been through this year, the good news of great joy that Christ offers applies to you, too.

I'm not saying that everything that's been difficult for you. This year is just going to go away. There's lots of work to be done in our society so that everybody can experience joy in this world and everyone can live with dignity, peace, prosperity, and hope.

But tonight, just for a moment, what if we could use the joy that is inside our hearts tonight as a source of strength to get through the hard times? What if we could truly believe that the coming of Christ is for our benefit?

I don't know about you, but if an angel came to me while I was minding my own business and doing my job, I would be pretty scared too! But what if we could hear the angel speaking directly to us? “To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

To you. For you.

If you’re struggling right now, you might remember that Jesus came to be with you when life is messy or doesn’t make sense. To be with you when you are carrying anxiety at the state of the world. To be with you when you need God’s presence to touch your mind, body, or spirit. In our media song, Gloria Estefan sings about the light that saves us, and coming out of dark places. Perhaps we feel like Jesus does that for us too.

On the other hand, maybe you're sitting here feeling like things are going well. Maybe life is really good for you right now. In the last weeks as we've joys and concerns, we’ve had many prayers of gratitude—for a new grandchild, for weddings and engagements and anniversaries and all sorts of beautiful things. The good news of great joy that Christ offers applies to you, too. To be with you as you have journeyed toward a new chapter in your life journey with anticipation. To be with you as you give thanks for the unexpected ways that God has provided for you or delighted you.  

That's why we don't have to be cynical when the angel says that the good news of great joy is for all the people. We can pack up and go with haste to see the baby. We can sing with the angels. We can go tell it on a mountain, over the hills and everywhere.

My friends, no matter who you are, what you face today,  or what has happened in your life up until now, Christ was born for you.

May you carry that joy and that assurance with you this season. May you be empowered by the hope Christ has offered in your life to give strength to others who are feeling afraid. Because good news of great joy for all people is a message worth sharing. Thanks be to God. Amen. 
 

“Mary’s Revolutionary Song”

Sermon for U-CC Waupun 

Advent 4C

December 22, 2024

Focus: “Like Mary, we must envision, must see, must prophesy and act on that vision for the world that God continues to call us to co-create.” (WDS)

Have you ever been given news that affected you, but also had a positive impact on people other than yourself?

One time this happened to me was when I got the call from my dear friend Lisa Hart that they were looking for a musician to lead the “Knock Knock” middle school fall youth event at Daycholah Center. My friend Bryan Sirchio, who had led that event for many years, had suddenly been unable to make it, and actually said to Lisa, “have you thought about asking Jacob?”

Now, at this point, I was midway through my college career, and thought that I was by far not the kind of musician that Bryan was, and also didn’t compare to any of the other people that the Wisconsin Conference UCC typically contracts with for this sort of work. the Wisconsin conference UCC has a very good reputation of finding quality, musicians, quality, speakers, and quality leaders for all sorts of events that they have, and I'll tell you what, the imposter complex was really setting in! But by that time, Lisa and I were already very good friends, and I trusted her that she was very excited to have me on board and would work with me as I learned the ropes.

I also thanked God for the kind of opportunity that this gave me to hone my musical skills, and hone my worship leadership skills. I've now done this event most every year since then, other than when COVID forced us to cancel the event. And I've gotten really positive feedback from both adult chaperones and youth participants so like about how I have connected with them, how my music has helped their faith, and that my story of living with a disability has been very helpful to them as they learned how to understand various levels of human difference. In return, I know that I have a sacred responsibility to remind today's youth and their chaperones just how much God loves them and that they have the capacity to change the world just by being who they are. So often, people in older generations think of today's youth in a negative way, calling them disrespectful, disengaged, and detached from anything outside of their own little world. But I love doing youth events like these because I really do believe with my whole heart that they have this incredible capacity, and I’m honored to be a person who can help them realize that potential. And in some ways, this would never have happened if this logistical error hadn’t occurred.

Now, I know I could never compare to Mary and her revolutionary song that was just read for us, which we often call the Magnificat. I would certainly not be so bold and self-centered to call my ministry prophetic. But in some small way, I can imagine Mary's awe and wonder as she is being tasked with the enormous and sacred responsibility of carrying the body of Jesus before he is born. I also love the way that Marcia McFee, the author of this worship series, puts it. She reminds us that Mary was a prophet, “her womb gestating love for the world.”

When I think about what it means to be a prophet, I'm struck by the fact that prophets see the world for how it is, and how it can be with God's help. A good prophet also has a healthy dose of humility in carrying out the message of God. Keeping these things in mind can help us understand the enormous consequences of Mary's powerful message, and why we consider it every year around this time of year.

Mary certainly has this humility thing covered. She begins this amazing song by saying, “He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant. Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored because the mighty one has done great things for me.”

It certainly wouldn't have been the norm back in those days that a teenage woman would be the bearer of such an important and special child. But she knows that God has chosen her for an important job, and that she should consider herself blessed to be empowered with this kind of task. What's more, the political, social, and economic landscape of the time meant that the Romans were exploiting the Jewish people to the point that the Jewish people could just barely make it through the day. The pastor and commentator Niveen Sarras reminds us that “Carrying the Savior in her womb and trusting in God’s salvation gave [Mary] a chance to play an essential part in resisting Roman imperialism.

No doubt that Mary could understand how this would change the world so significantly. There are examples all throughout this revolutionary song about how Mary understood that this would upend the current power structure. She knew that God was working in incredible ways through the birth of her son, and that she had a great deal to be grateful for to be chosen to bring this love into the world. She knew that the world would be so much better because of what God had done, was doing, and would do through her.

It's amazing to me how deeply Mary understood what this meant. Not only would her own personal reputation be a lot better, but she would be able to help enact God's will in a world that was deeply hurting the oppressed and the marginalized.

So how can we be like Mary as we celebrate the birth of Christ in just a couple of short days, and consider what it might mean for us in this world?
McFee puts it this way: “Like Mary, we must envision, must see, must prophesy and act on that vision for the world that God continues to call us to co-create.”

Like Mary, and perhaps like the story I shared from earlier, we must discern what our part is in creating the world that God will. A world where the lowly are lifted up. A world where the economically disadvantaged have what they need. A world where no one is discriminated for attributes about themselves that they cannot control.

So as we enter into this Christmas season together, how will you be like Mary to enact the hope, peace, love and joy that God will for the world. Perhaps you'll do so by empowering the youth of our church or community. Perhaps you'll do so by working on restorative justice practices for those of you who work in this town correctional facilities. Perhaps you will do your part to treat people with dignity who are often treated with dismissal or even disgust. no matter how you do it, may you go into this week? Mindful of the example of Mary, and what her revolutionary song teaches the world. May it be so. Amen.

“Joy and Having Enough”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun,
December 15, 2024

Advent 3C, Luke 3: 7-18

Focus: The teachings of Jesus call for a world where everyone knows dignity and sufficiency. Only then can we truly live in joy.

I had a lot of good friends growing up, some of whom I have preached about in other sermons. Today I want to tell you about one of my first friends, and what I and people around me learned from her.

As a kid growing up with a disability, it wasn't always easy for me to fit in or to make friends, because there were ways I was different from other kids. I walked differently. I needed adaptations that other kids didn't need. All of these things and more were things that I struggled with from time to time. But my friend Anne was one of my first friends in school, and someone who taught other people around me how to become my friend too.

First of all, she immediately jumped into help with things when she noticed that it was a difficulty for me. Those tiny little milk cartons were difficult for me to open in my early elementary school years, and Anne knew this. So when I came time for all of us as students to have lunch together, and immediately sat down next to me and opened my milk carton before touching her own lunch. My dad saw this in action one day when he had lunch with me and the rest of my class and he was astounded! This was still at a time when even my parents didn't know how I would develop socially or make friends. When he saw this happen, he knew that I was going to be just fine. Without a word spoken between the two of us, Anne knew what I needed and was willing to help me.

Of course, Anne also saw when injustice was brewing, and when I became the perhaps inevitable target of playground, taunting. Years later, she told me a story about how she punched a kid after she heard him taunting and bullying me!

Anne’s love and care for me was infectious, and soon other kids realized that I wasn't really that different after all, and that it was OK to be my friend. I’ve thought for a long time that everyone needs an Anne—someone who is always by your side, helping you with things, and models for others that it's important to do the same.

I’m convinced that the fact that I had Anne in those early days, as well as many other friends who treated me with the same kind of dignity, played a part in the joyful childhood that I had. I had a really good growing up life in lots of ways, and for that, I'm very grateful.

I titled today's sermon “Joy and Having Enough” because I believe having joy and having enough are intimately interconnected, and I'm going to talk about how Luke shows this in today's Gospel reading.

First, let me set the scene a little bit. Lots of people are coming to John the Baptist to be baptized by him. Some people might even think that he's the Messiah, that he's Jesus, because they have been told for a long time about someone who will come to liberate them from their oppression. Of course, John makes it very clear that this is not him, but somebody else. But before he makes that clear, before he answers their question, he isn't afraid to call the crowds out on their crap. So much so that he goes so far as to call them all “children of snakes!” (Some of you might have grown up hearing the words “brood of vipers” spoken by John the Baptist. This is that same text, but the language is simplified for a modern audience.) He calls them this because some people in the crowd are convinced that, because they are descendants of Abraham, that automatically means that they are aligned with God's will, and God's desires for humanity. John the Baptist reminds them that this isn't true. In fact, they have to live with changed hearts and lives. In other words, they have to live in such a way that demonstrates that they are changed people, and that God's message means something to them.

When asked how to do that, John the Baptist gives practical directives to several different groups of people. Give food to the hungry and clothe the needy. Don't cheat people out of money that you are not owed, don't harass anybody or treat somebody in a way that compromises their dignity. Jesus is coming, and Jesus is going to judge us for our actions in ways that other people don't have the power to do.

To all of this, Dr. Marcia McFee, who authored our Advent worship series, reminds us earlier in our liturgy that “A full life of joy…is the birthright of all children of God.” Everybody has the right to live into the fullness of their humanity, knowing that they will not be cheated, that they will not be treated poorly, and that they will have what they need.

My friend Anne would probably balk at this comparison, thinking that she couldn't possibly be as important as John the Baptist, but in a way it sort of feels like she was the exemplar for our friends about how to treat not only me, but others who society might push aside or ostracize in someway. She knew that I and all of our friends had the right to be loved for who we are, and that we had an opportunity to create the world that we want to see.

We have one more Sunday of Advent before we celebrate the coming of Jesus Christ into our lives once again. How will we live into what John the Baptist said to the crowd, and therefore says to us?

This is the good news: The teachings of Jesus call for a world where everyone knows dignity and sufficiency. Only then can we truly live in joy.

This congregation understands how to treat one another with dignity, and ensure that everybody has what they need. We are very good at helping each other when times are hard and when we know that I need arises. We also understand that this is not something that we only do at Christmas time, when the rest of society suddenly decides that they care about filling the food pantries and donating to the local clothes closet. We understand that John the Baptist, and therefore Jesus, calls us to do that year round. It isn't just about writing checks. It isn't just about putting in a couple hours to volunteer to feel good about ourselves. But instead, it's about spreading the joy that is found when we love one another as Jesus has loved us. So this week, may you go into a world of need, sharing the love, dignity, and compassion that you have experienced in your own life. You are kind, generous, loving, caring people. I know that all of these qualities are so evident in the way you live in community with one another. May you do all of these things not because Jesus is going to come and judge the world, but because it is the Christian way of being compassionate to one another, giving people what they need. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

“Room at the Table” 

Sermon for U-CC Waupun
December 8, 2024

Baruch 5:1-5; Philippians 1:9-11

  • The story about my parents hosting holidays in their little house. 
     
  • The true definition of a “crowded table!”
     
  • Everyone belongs
     
  • Always enough to go around
     
  • Not perfect, but always special for all of us; not everyone at this table will be around in the future
     
  • It’s the same way with God
     
  • There are lots of people in our society who we may not want around our tables (for good reasons). 
     
  • The Baruch text reminds us that all God’s children gather from every place, and God has not forgotten them.
     
  • To be fair, it’s a bit odd talking about Jerusalem/Israel in an oppressed context considering what’s going on in the world today, but we have to remember that the bible is a product of its time.
  • “Green Book” clip
     
  • This is also a product of its time.
     
  • Based on a true story where race relations are such that Don might not have received a war, welcome from Tony’s family
     
  • The point: To be able to welcome Jesus into our hearts, we are also called to welcome those whom Christ would welcome
     
  • Philippians “This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight”
     
  • I’m ending my message by singing “At This Table” by Idina Menzel. May these words be true for you and for how you experience God’s love.

At this Table Lyrics

At this table, everyone is welcome
At this table, everyone is seen
At this table, everybody matters
No one falls between
At this table, you can say whatever
At this table, you can speak your mind
At this table, everything's forgiven
There's enough for everyone

So come as you are
Remember that the door is always open
Yes, come as you are
The perfect gift that you can bring is your heart
So, come, come as you are

At this table, there will be no judgment
At this table, Mercy has a seat
At this table, we're all sons and daughters
There's no place I'd rather be

So come as you are
Remember that the door is always open
Come as you are
The perfect gift that you can bring is your heart
Come
Come as you are
Come as you are, oh

At this table, everyone is welcome
At this table, everybody cares
At this table, everybody matters
So, come, pull up a chair
 

“The Waiting Is The Hardest Part”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun

December 1, 2024

Luke 21: 25-36

Focus: Sometimes the anxieties of our lives feel like they might overtake us, but Jesus came to liberate the people of biblical times from the difficulties of their times. Jesus will do the same for us, if we wait with patience.

When I first moved to St. Louis to start seminary, I was unemployed for six months. Because I didn't have a sense of the seminary lifestyle, and how my class schedule would impact my availability for employment, I decided that I had enough savings to get me through for a little while, while I figured that out. I knew I would find a job, eventually, and in the process I would make the connections I needed to make with the community there, but it proved to be quite difficult. Before moving to St. Louis, I had started to be called upon in several different situations for freelancing in my music ministry. I didn't make much, but it was just enough to say that I was making some money. Of course, these things are all about who you know, and I didn't know anybody when I went to St. Louis, so as soon as I relocated, these opportunities dried up. And yet, I still needed to buy groceries, and books, and apartment furnishings, and all sorts of other things. It wasn't like the responsibilities of my adult life stopped because I didn't have money coming in. And they charge you like crazy for sales tax in St. Louis!

I did end up getting a part-time job several months later that paid me quite well, and gave me experience I could use in the future, but in all of this, I had to trust that God and Jesus were going to make a way for me to follow my calling.

I titled my sermon “The Waiting Is The Hardest Part” mostly because I wanted to make a Tom Petty reference, but also because it's true. Just like I had to wait for income, while my savings rapidly declined, and just like lots of you have probably had to wait for lots of things in your own lives, the people in biblical times had to wait too. This week as we open up our sermon series for Advent, we are talking about making room. The reality is that sometimes our own anxieties get in the way of making room for God to do something new. I know that, as somebody who has generalized anxiety disorder, people with anxiety and depression don't do particularly well when we don't know what the future holds.

When I think about the challenges that people in biblical times were experiencing, it strikes me that some of these challenges might've been similar to what I experienced during that time in my life, and what some of you might experience. These kinds of challenges are well documented, and I've spoken often about the economic disparities that so many people were experiencing in these times. The rulers at the top were making sure that they got the vast majority of the resources, leaving people like you and me with hardly anything to live on. In our country’s current economy, healthcare, childcare costs, rising food costs, and other barriers often disadvantage those who are already in difficult situations, so in some ways the situations we experience are not that different.

For generations, the stories passed down in what we now know as the Hebrew Bible have told these people that somebody, sometime, is going to come and turn the whole thing around. The Psalmist says,  “O my God, in you I trust;
   do not let me be put to shame;
   do not let my enemies exult over me.
Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame.”

But the grace of this moment asks us to remember what Jesus says to us. When Jesus comes, he says “there will be dismay among nations in their confusion over the roaring of the sea and surging waves. The planets and other heavenly bodies will be shaken, causing people to faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world.”

Lots of us are afraid for many different reasons about what our country is becoming, and what our world is becoming. Some of us are dealing with difficult personal circumstances that we never imagine we'd find ourselves in. The last thing we want to do, naturally, is wait for Jesus to come to us in situations like these. We just want Jesus to come and make everything better. That's why the waiting truly is the hardest part.

But Jesus also says, “When these things begin to happen, stand up straight and raise your heads, because your redemption is near.”

In other words, don't be afraid, and don't let the anxieties of your life, prevent you from knowing that Jesus is coming for you. Jesus comes for your benefit, to make the world more aligned to what God is already doing.

Sometimes the anxieties of our lives feel like they might overtake us, but Jesus came to liberate the people of biblical times from the difficulties of their times. Jesus will do the same for us, if we wait with patience.

So my friends, I leave you with this question. How might you make room for Jesus to liberate you from the difficulties you are experiencing in your life? How might you live with hope in situations where it may seem easier to be hopeless?

I'm not being naïve here. Those six months when I didn't have a job in a new place were very scary. I had to trust that God would provide for me, and that Jesus could create something new in me. The same might be true for you right now.

In today’s media song, I wonder if God is speaking to us, if Jesus is speaking to us, saying,

“be still my love
Open up your heart, let the light shine
Don't you understand
I already have a plan”

Trusting in God, and making room for a newborn baby to change the world forever, can give us hope in a hurting world. So as you go into this week, may you be ready to find the way that you can continue living into that hope. As you go into this week, may you become that hope for somebody else. A newborn baby is coming to change the world forever, and the hope of his birth can empower us to share that hope in times of fear. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

 

The Reign of Christ vs. Christian Nationalism
Sermon for U-CC Waupun

November 24, 2024
John 18:33-37

Focus: Jesus rejects the theology that makes him king in the ways that we might expect, calling us instead to carry out his mission of love and justice.

You might be wondering why I’m preaching on a Lenten text when we’re about to celebrate the season of Advent. Did I leave my brain back in Indiana on vacation? Do you need to send me on vacation less often? No, there’s actually a point to this!

Today is Reign of Christ Sunday, and most people don't really know what that means, so I did a little research. As it turns out, I learned from the commentator, Matt Skinner, that this annual celebration was developed in opposition to the tendency that western culture had after World War I to trust in worldly leaders, rather than trusting in Jesus to lead them and guide them. There are a multitude of religious and ideological perspectives that society follows. While it's true that Christianity is still the dominant religious tradition in this country at just over 70% of those surveyed in the most recent Pew Research Center statistics, it's far from the only tradition that exists. Just over 22% of Americans surveyed identify as religious “nones”—atheist, agnostic, or nothing in particular.

That brings me to the topic of today’s discussion: Christian nationalism. John and I represent this congregation at monthly meetings of the Waupun Christian Ministerial Association, and we coordinate with other area pastors to do worship services around Advent for Lessons and Carols, the Celebrate Waupun festival, and the National Day of Prayer which happens in May of every year. I believe very strongly in ecumenical partnerships, with other churches, and many of those ecumenical partnerships I've been a part of in the past have been very successful.

But one thing I've learned about ecumenical partnerships is that we don't always agree on everything. There was one prayer in particular said at last year's National Day of Prayer service that gave me pause, and I want to talk to you about that today.

To be clear, this prayer was not written by any of the pastors in the city. It was given to us by the National Day of Prayer organizers, and we decided to use it.

The prayer says in part, “With hopeful hearts we pray that all would choose to receive Your love and follow You. We pray that America would confess, “Jesus is Lord” and reflect Your righteousness in every sphere of influence, and every aspect of our lives.”

There are a few problems I have with this prayer. For one, it prioritizes Christianity over other religions, and in particular prioritizes, a certain brand of Christianity that believes that the 10 Commandments should be posted in schools, children, who identify in the queer community are sinful, and that being a true Christian means that one must align with certain political and ideological perspectives. These are examples of what is commonly known as Christian nationalism. As Christianity Today describes the phenomenon, “Christian nationalism is the belief that the American nation is defined by Christianity, and that the government should take active steps to keep it that way. Popularly, Christian nationalists assert that America is and must remain a “Christian nation”—not merely as an observation about American history, but as a prescriptive program for what America must continue to be in the future.” if you're looking for a thought-provoking documentary on this topic, I would recommend the movie, Bad Faith. I will say it takes a fairly partisan stance on how Christian nationalism originated, but it does a good job of tracing the history of this phenomenon.

I think that Jesus would take great issue with this trend as well, given the conversation he has with Pilate in today's text. When Pilate is trying to speak to Jesus, Jesus dodges his questions by saying: “My kingdom doesn’t originate from this world. If it did, my guards would fight so that I wouldn’t have been arrested by the Jewish leaders. My kingdom isn’t from here.”

Jesus makes it very clear that he speaks of a kingdom that is far beyond our concept of the monarchy, or other rulers. His is a realm where faithfulness, love, peace and justice reign supreme above the ambitions of the leaders of our world. He says, “I was born and came into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Whoever accepts the truth listens to my voice.”

This is my main point for today, friends. Jesus rejects the theology that makes him king in the ways that we might expect, calling us instead to carry out his mission of love and justice.

So what does that mean for us here at this church?

As we prepare for the beginning of a new presidential administration in the coming months, I'm feeling drawn to remind us of the fact that we have to remember what’s most important. (I would be saying this, no matter who won.) . In my last sermon here before I left the pulpit for two weeks, I reminded you that we can't trust politicians to create the kind of world we want to see, but sometimes we forget that in a society where not everybody believes the same thing all the time. Our call remains the same as it always has==to love God with everything we have and love our neighbors as ourselves. In this case, I think that we need to be mindful of what Jesus taught us. If what Jesus taught us runs counter to what we see in the world, I think we need to be discerning. I'm not suggesting that everybody needs to believe the same thing, or pray the same way, or profess the same ideologies. I'm suggesting that we need to follow the guidelines of our faith, and our moral compass, to the best of our ability as we move toward the future of our country. I don't believe that we need the 10 Commandments hung in our schools, or to prioritize Kristen holidays over non-Christian holidays, or to act like we are the only way to the truth. Because the reality is, none of that matters if we don't act like followers of Christ. Caring for the poor and the needy. Speaking out for the marginalized and oppressed. Recognizing that all people are fearfully and wonderfully made. That is how the realm of God will truly live on earth. Amen.

 

 

 

Who Are You Going to Follow?

Sermon for U-CC Waupun

November 17, 2024

 

So let me give you fair warning, you are going to have to use your brain throughout this sermon. I’m going to need you to think, to reflect, and to continue thinking about some of the things we talk about today. I’d like to imagine you’ll be thinking about this for awhile
 

God created us; and allowed us to have free will. The Creator decided he was not going to be a dictator and completely control our lives. This allowed us to have a lot of opinions and beliefs, it has also allowed others the opportunity to affect those beliefs.
 

In this day and age there are experts coming out of the woodwork, individuals that want to lead us, to guide our lives according to their plan. There are, as the Don Henley song says, a lot of tin gods showing up. So, what do you worship, who do you follow?
 

Our society has never had so much information available to it as we do now. 
With a flip of a switch, you know what is going on in countries on the other side of the world, countries whose names we have never heard of before.
 

And most of the time this information comes to us raw and unfiltered, leaving us to sort through it, looking for the real, the truth, the understanding. Along with all this information there is a never-ending list of individuals who are willing to “help you,” to “show you the way.”
The writer of Mark shows us that these things have been going on forever. The verses we read say that Jesus said many people will come in my name, saying, ‘I’m the one!’ They will deceive many people. When you hear of wars and reports of wars, don’t be alarmed. These things must happen, but this isn’t the end yet. Nations and kingdoms will fight against each other, and there will be earthquakes and famines in all sorts of places. The writer continues with the warning we need to watch out for ourselves.
 

Many will come to deceive us using Jesus’ name to do so. We’ve seen this many a time, and I imagine you all have instances of things like this that come to your mind. The “so called religious zealots” who promised a better life if you gave them all your money to spend, if you came to live in their sealed community, if you allowed your family to be completely controlled, 
if things didn’t work out you are to end your existence. People who claimed that they themselves were God. Some examples of false gods, that’s god with a little “g”, that people bow to are fame, fortune, substances, and chemicals.
 

Most of these gods are things that people feel will make them happy, but that happiness won’t last, in fact it will be replaced with a craving of wanting more and more.
Does this sound like what God is asking of us or what Jesus taught?
 

Preying on emotions is what usually is used to easily manipulate an individual. These false teachers quite often use fear and sadness to convince others that their way is the true way. When many are stressed, they go looking for help or a cure all, to make them better - what better time for the deceivers to take advantage.
 

So how do we figure out if what we are putting our faith in is real or a scam. To start with, use the old saying “if it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t.”  No human can promise you a perfect life and to solve all your problems. Look to the bible and see if what the person is saying is supported there.
 

Ask questions. A faith to believe in should not be scared to be questioned.  Look at all the instances when Jesus walked the Earth. He never shied away from a question, in fact most of his teachings came out because of a question.
 

Do some investigating. Don’t just take what the group is advertising at face value. Look to see what they are about, what their plan is, where their offerings are truly going. Listen to your head, heart, and soul. I think the majority of humankind have since creation, something inside themselves that helps them recognize true faith and God.
 

When you look into someone claiming they are the one, ask - is the leader claiming they are a god? Are the contributions just going to benefit one instead of helping others and spreading the word of God? Are the followers being separated from others? Is part of the belief system teaching hate, fear, and not to trust?
 

None of the things I have just listed are from a true faith in God yet there are people signing up to be part of these groups. Just a little side note, the disciples had asked when the end was coming and when will it happen, Jesus didn’t not really answer this, and we know there are other verses that tell us no one knows the specific time that He will come again, so, you need to question yourself if the one you are following can answer this question,
 

Another way to judge is according to the Ligonier (leg-o-near) Teaching Fellowship. 
The first thing to do is answer this question: Do you have faith in Jesus Christ? Those who have faith in Christ are given many assurances in Scripture. So, the first thing to ask is whether you have faith in Jesus Christ. 
 

The second stage—and this needs to be kept in order—is to answer this: Is your life beginning to exhibit a heart that has been turned and led by the Holy Spirit? Are you beginning to see evidence of the Spirit at work in you? By the Spirit, you’re calling Jesus “Lord,” and by the Spirit, you are beginning to be transformed into Christ-likeness. Those two must not be flipped around. The second level protects us from that to make sure the faith we have in Christ is real and evidence of a transformed heart.
 

Please don’t infer that I am speaking against other faiths or traditions, saying they are false or trying to deceive. Just because a group uses a different method or direction doesn’t make them wrong.  If they are teaching from the Gospels and that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and that we are saved through grace, then they are on the right trail. 
 

So, you need to decide - what do you want to believe in - who do you want to follow - where do you put your faith? I can’t force you to answer these questions in any way. Your answer is in your heart. Nobody said following God and being a Christian would be easy and without difficulties. 
In fact, our reading today states that Jesus told the disciples present with him that they may be taken, held in front of groups. You will be brought there because you believe in God; and Jesus continues telling them first the Good News needs to be proclaimed to all nations. We do not need to worry about what we will say for the Holy Spirit will give us the words. I believe what Jesus is telling us is that when we are questioned about our faith, we are to tell others of the hope, love, and peace that our God gives, and not to be worried for the words will come to us.
 

But with a little work, just think what rewards we’ll be able to receive by following the true God and not letting ourselves be deceived. You see with a true faith and a real Savior you are to love God with your all, love your neighbor as yourself, help those who are not as well off as you instead of judging them and are to live your life Christ like. These are the signs of a follower of the true Savior and Creator.  Don’t be scared to let the world know what real and true faith is.  Thanks be to God.

Judging/Giving
Sermon for U-CC Waupun
November 10, 2024

 

So, in talking with others about our reading in Mark, the message of the chapter is simple: it's about giving, and I can’t disagree with that. However, I think there are other meanings too.
 

One that I see is judgmental people. The first part of the text speaks of people who love to walk around in long robes and be greeted in the market. They like the front seats in the synagogues and the best seats at banquets. They pray long prayers just to show off, they feel that they are above the rest—these people I see as judgmental individuals. You know, though, - in reflection maybe they’re not judgmental, but show offs.
 

They need the world to see how good they are, how rich they are, how important they are. I know we all know people like this. Look at me - - - see how good I am, see what I can afford - - - do you know who my friends are? 
 

And most often they compare themselves to others, and usually find that others are not up to their standards. A real Christian way, isn’t it?
 

I think humans are hardwired to be judgmental in a way. We need to make decisions all the time, make a judgment, we go over pros and cons and come up with a decision. But somewhere we got into the idea that we don’t need any information, we make snap judgments.  We have even become scared of differences. If a group is not like us, then they are wrong or something about them is wrong. The decision made just by looks, by not knowing the individual.
 

Last Sunday we talked about love. Loving God and loving our neighbor. How can you love someone when you are looking down on them, judging them to be inferior in some way?
 

In the second half of the reading; Jesus and the disciples were at a temple watching the offering being given and Jesus spoke to them about the differences in the worshipers giving. Please keep in mind I’m not going to go into a spiel about how much we should be giving. 
 

Instead, I want to go further into what Jesus said. He noted that many were giving what they didn’t need, what was just laying around, their “extras.”
And then this woman comes up, - a person Jesus describes as a widower, who is not well off, - who is on a fixed income, and yet she gives what could be her life savings as an offering.
 

I also get the impression that this woman was looked down upon because she gave what others thought, and judged, was so little. Now I really don’t think Jesus was talking about money here. What I believe the message was: don't have your interactions with God be with whatever time or effort you have left over, but instead give God your all; and what your “all” is, - - - that’s between your heart and God, not for those in “the elegant robes sitting in the best seats” to decide.
So, as we go from this place today let’s think about some things.

If you don’t need to make an immediate decision or judgment, don’t. It's beneficial to get information and to check that information out before you judge or make a decision. It’s also helpful to get other opinions. Make good decisions.
 

Examine yourself. Take a look inside and see if your interactions with your faith are just when you have some free time or nothing else to do, or are your interactions with God and your faith in the forefront of your life.
 

Ask yourself which is more important; the way the world sees me or the way God sees me?
The only thing we should be judging is whether that person has a good heart, a person that is filled with grace and love.
 

We were given guidelines on how to live. Those that come to mind today are: Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. Do not covet your neighbors’ property. God so loved the world that He gave us His only Son.
 

We are saved by Grace. What you hold important here on Earth will rust and wither away, 
Instead, collect what you truly hold valuable for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust don’t eat them and where thieves don’t break in and steal them.
 

In simple words don’t try to show humankind your worldly riches and instead show the world how rich your life is with God in it.  Keep God first in your life, not leaving your faith sitting in a cupboard waiting for an emergency. Give God your all and interact with the world with love, peace, and understanding.

 

“The Greatest Commandment and the Future”

November 3, 2024
Sermon for U-CC Waupun

Mark 12:28-34

 

So this is one of those weeks that it's not very easy to preach, because there's a topic of great consequence on everybody's mind, but nobody wants me to talk about it.

Of course, I'm talking about the fact that there's the election on Tuesday, and I'm mindful that I asked a very important question to your search committee when we were interviewing. I said, “what's the biggest preaching topic that will get me in trouble?” And everybody said, almost at the same time, “politics.” So I know I'm walking a very thin line here, but my goal is to be very apolitical.

I'm not going to talk about the two candidates for president, or what I think about either of them, or especially who I think you should vote for, because I would like to keep my job, and because it's none of my business. You don't need me to tell you who to vote for. You've seen the campaign ads, right? You've seen too many campaign ads, am I right?

But I do know that there is something that is true for any pastor, and for many pastors around this country. It's very difficult to preach the Sunday before an election. It's very difficult to preach the Sunday after an election.

And I also want you to know that I have a preaching colleague, I have a pastor colleague in Beaver Dam that I talk to every week, and we compare notes about what each other's preaching on, and my sermons have gotten better because of him in many ways. And I told him that I would not be preaching the next two weeks, and he said, “you suck.” But I do think that today's gospel text has something important to tell us, both those of us who've already voted, I've already voted, and those of us who haven't voted yet.

This is especially true because this particular election is so polarizing. Lots of us have ended up getting in uncomfortable conversations because of other people's views on one candidate or the other, and some people have been very hurt at times for what they feel are personal attacks, like, “oh, you're voting for them? I'm not sure we can be friends anymore.” But if we read today's gospel text, we remember that Jesus invites us to consider a different way forward.Love God with everything you have, and love your neighbor as yourself. So I'm going to talk about both of those things in turn, and how they can be instructive to us as we live in this strange and divided world. And I am going to focus on the gospel text, I promise. I'm not going to beat the election to death. Just trust me on this one. S

o as the lectionary often does, we come to today's text in the middle of the story. There are many different situations in the previous verses of the 11th and 12th chapter of the gospel of Mark, where legal experts are trying really hard to back Jesus into a corner and say, gotcha. He's told the parable about farmers in a vineyard that painted the legal experts in a negative light. He's answered the famous question about taxes, give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and give to God what is God's.

And then answered this really dense and really weird question about the resurrection. You couldn't possibly be interested in that. Even I looked at it and I was like, what the heck? Why are people asking Jesus this sort of thing? So Jesus is always one step ahead of them.

But this time is different. One legal expert asks Jesus, what is the most important commandment? The commentator Sung Soo Hong reminds us that the very tone of this conversation is different. The scribe does not intend to test Jesus like the others have, but holds what Hong describes as a positive conversation with Jesus.

And Jesus says he answers correctly. So of course, when asked what the most important commandment is, Jesus speaks about two commandments that are similar. Is that cheating? I don't know what the most important commandment is.

And then he says there are two. I don't know. The most important one is our God is the one Lord.

And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your being and with all your mind and with all your strength, he says. And for me, when we love God, we have to remember the people and things that are most important to God. For example, it is not the will of God that people here in Wapan and many other smaller communities in this country struggle to meet our basic needs while others of us have more than what we need.

Some people in this country have more money than they will ever know what to do with, and yet others don't have nearly enough. It's not the will of God that children continue to die from school shootings, that people are discriminated against for things about themselves that they cannot control, or that Israel and Palestine and Ukraine and Russia are at war. If we defend the oppressors in these situations, then our beliefs are running counter to what God asks us to do.

Instead, we are called to do what Jesus asks us to do instead. Love our neighbors as ourselves. Treat others with dignity, compassion, and understanding, just as we might expect people to treat us.

There's one attribute about this congregation which I am thankful for, particularly right now. We know full well that we don't always agree on everything in this church. We have church members from the full spectrum of political and ideological stances, but I'm thankful that we can sit next to each other at coffee hour talking about the goings-on of our lives that are most important to us.Families and grandkids and prayer requests when times are hard. You know how to love your neighbors well in this congregation.

So how do we vote like that? How do we vote like that? How do we live like that?

I ask you, I beg you, please don't stop now.

No matter who wins this election, there will be difficult consequences and difficult days ahead. No matter who wins this election, there will be people who believe that their voices were not heard and that their difficulties were not acknowledged by the winning candidate. No matter who wins this election, there will be reasons to fear for the safety of our country and our democracy, especially so over the next few months.

But here's the point that I want to drive home today. No matter who wins this election and whose vision for the future of our country prevails, our call from Jesus remains the same. Love God with everything you have and love your neighbor as yourself.

As Tim McGraw says to us in our media song, if we're willing, we can be building a tomorrow we can trust, but it's up to people like us. So as you move into this week, a week that will be difficult no matter what happens and no matter who wins, may you be ready to vote with love. Vote with love for God and love for your neighbors and love for all.

No matter what happens after your ballot is cast, may you be ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work. May you be part of the healing this country needs and not the hurt that this world continues to experience. May you use the good gifts that God has given you joyfully for the betterment of all creation and all people everywhere.

Because if we want things to change for the better, we can't rely on politicians to do that. We can't rely on other people to do that. It really is up to us.

So let's roll up our sleeves and get to work. Thanks be to God. Amen.
 

“Death Is Not A Failure”

October 27, 2024
Sermon for U-CC Waupun

Wisdom 3:1-9; Revelation 21:1-6a

Focus: So often we experience death as sadness and destruction. But God reminds us that the communion of saints are at perfect peace with their creator, and we can learn from their faithful example.

A year or so ago, in a previous sermon, I told you a story of my grandpa's second wife, who I called Nana, who had a near-death experience after a traumatic car accident. I thought that sermon was kind of a clunker. But I was amazed at the response from several church members who shared that either they themselves or someone else they know had a near-death experience, and I’m very grateful for the feedback.

One of the difficult pieces of Nana’s life after the car accident was that she sustained what most people in the medical community would now call a traumatic brain injury. Her speech, her ability to communicate, and her ability to physically care for herself were drastically and tragically impacted by her Miata convertible flipping over five times when she hit a culvert on her way home from work. The doctor told us that, at some level, her mental capacity was still there, which meant that she understood what was going on, but she couldn't communicate what she was thinking or feeling in ways that made sense to us.  Over the 12 years that her body stayed alive after the car accident, we could tell that this became increasingly distressing to her. We began praying for God to end her suffering, knowing that the only way for her suffering to truly end was for her to die. She went into hospice for about a week while I was in seminary, and I explained the situation to my professors so that they would know what was going on in case I was emotionally distressed. One of my professors sent me an email back that I will never forget.

She said this:

“Dear Jacob, Waiting and praying for an end to suffering is a compassionate act.  Because we live in a time and place where death is seen as a failure, praying for an end is both revolutionary and a sign of the strength of your relationship with your [Nana].  Thanks for letting us know. Rev. Dr. Kristen Leslie”

My Nana died a couple of days later. Kristen's message guided me through that time, and helped me reframe what it meant to love her as she was dying a difficult death. Today I'm going to talk about how we sometimes view death as a failure, and how sacred text offers us an alternative to that viewpoint.

Kristen’s message reminds me of today's lectionary text from the Book of Wisdom. The Book of Wisdom (sometimes called Wisdom of Solomon) is a book outside of the biblical canon but included in the Greek Old Testament. As such, we don’t typically study it or preach from it, but I view it in the same vein as if we were reading poetry about God or reflecting on theological themes from movie clips and radio hits as we do in our Media service.

Several verses stick out to me for this day.

“To those who don’t know any better, it seems as if [our beloveds] have died. Their departure from this life was considered their misfortune… 4 It may look to others as if they have been punished, but they have the hope of living forever.”

As I think about All Saints Day, I think about how true that sentiment really is. When someone we love dies, we are rightfully very sad that we don't feel their presence in the literal sense anymore, being able to call them up and talk to them for instance. The only thing that we can truly conceptualize is our existence here on earth, and we may fear that, when someone dies, their soul is not at peace in heaven. But this text reminds us that, just because their physical bodies have left this earthly realm doesn't mean that they have gone to a place where they are separated from joy and feelings of love. It’s, in fact, just the opposite. We can take comfort in the reality that those who have gone before us are with God, and set the path before us to be with God ourselves. The book of Revelation also reminds us that “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. There will be no mourning, crying, or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

This text from Revelation is one that many families request to be read at funerals. The reminder that God dwells with us, the reminder that God is with us in our pain, our grief, and our uncertainty as we readjust to a life without our loved ones by our side often gives people a lot of comfort. Because so often, we think that, when someone we love dies, we are separated from them, and maybe even separated from God. But the commentator Katherine A. Shaner reminds us that we don't need to think about it this way. Instead, she reminds us that it's important to remember how strongly God continues to be with us in these moments—in life, in death, in life beyond death.

So friends, as you think about what this All Saint’s Sunday means to you, remember this: So often we experience death as sadness and destruction. But God reminds us that the communion of saints are at perfect peace with their creator, and we can learn from their faithful example.

From my Nana, I learned to live life with joy, admire birds when I see them, and always smile when her favorite song (ABBA’s “Dancing Queen”) comes on the radio. I invite you to think this week about what you can learn from the saints in your lives. Many of you have told me, for example, things you will remember from the life and ministry of Rev. Cathy Carlson. For many of you, she taught you how to look at things from a different perspective, and was a trailblazer in this community for justice issues. I wish I could've met her, as I'm sure we would've been kindred spirits.

As you think about the saints in your lives, may you always remember that their spirits are with you. May you also remember that God is with you as you remember them. For it is by their faithful example that the legacy of this church continues. It is by their faithful example that our faith deepens.. May it be so. Amen. 
 

“Be Careful What You Wish For”

October 20, 2024
Sermon for U-CC Waupun
Mark 10: 35-45

Focus: Instead of focusing on our self-importance, Jesus asks us to serve others and be part of the work of love and liberation.

I cringe watching old home videos from my childhood. For one thing, I don't like to hear my little kid voice. For another thing, I really don't like the way I acted.

You see, until my sister Emily was about 3 years old, I would sometimes exhibit symptoms of what I'm going to coin as “Only Child Syndrome”. I don’t know if that term is a real thing, but I’m talking about the phenomenon of always wanting to be the center of attention, all the time, turning the attention away from my sister, as often as I could. Often that meant that I was using the camcorder to record every Monday and thing that we did in our household. I would act like I was hosting a reality TV show, because I grew up seeing my mom, watching various shows on TLC, like Jon and Kate Plus 8 or Trading Spaces, both of which were pretty cutting edge at the time. Mom and dad would always…ahem… remind me it was important to show the camera what Emily was doing also, and I feel bad for Emily, because if she ever wants to watch videos of her growing up life, she'll have to suffer through the announcer like child voice of her annoying older brother! She loves me now I think, because we just took a road trip together to St. Louis a couple weeks ago and there wasn't a wooden barrier in between us like the old days, and we actually talked to each other without fighting, but around that time I'm not so sure!
I can imagine I'm probably not the only older sibling, who tried to take all the attention away from their younger sibling. When a new sibling gets introduced into the family, everything it's all out of whack, and the older child who was previously used to having their parents’ undivided attention has to adjust to a new reality all of a sudden. Luckily for my sister, my parents were a whole lot less partial, and made sure that she had all the attention and love she needed, even if I was resistant to that! (For any of you who know her, if you ask her about this, she will absolutely say, “that’s right!”). I’m not afraid to admit my shortcomings!

Now, James and John weren't “only children” in the family of Jesus's disciples, but here they sure are acting like it in today's reading. This is one of several texts in the gospels, where the disciples argue about who is most important. We even see that in the Passion narrative, right before Jesus presents his friends with the Last Supper. Because, of course, the disciples are fully human. Because they are Jesus’ closest followers, they think they're pretty hot stuff!

But, as he often does, Jesus challenges James, John, and the rest of the disciples to consider things from a different perspective. He reminds them that their own importance is not the point. I’m going to spend a bit highlighting the new perspectives Jesus challenges the disciples to appreciate, and then end by talking about what he wants them (and us) to do instead.

Over the years, some commentators have called the disciples the “duh-sciples”, because Jesus tells them over and over again what his mission is, what the point of his ministry is, and they’re too dense to understand it. This is one such instance, where Jesus says, “You don’t know what you’re asking! Can you drink the cup I drink or receive the baptism I receive?”

Jesus is fully aware that truly following the countercultural way of God is punishable only by death, whereas the disciples don’t truly believe it can be that serious. But in today’s reading, Jesus in essence answers, “be careful what you wish for.” In Jesus’ world, you can only go into the work of following God’s will if you’re willing to set aside everything you have in this world: your status, your wealth, your accolades, your need to be right, even your own family and loved ones if necessary. If we’re honest with ourselves, I doubt any of us would sign up for that, and yet his closest followers have the guts to say they could handle the pressure!

Jesus then goes on to say that this was never even about his greatness. He says, “The Human One [or the Son of Man, depending on the translation you follow] didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life to liberate many people.” True greatness, Jesus says, means we have to be willing to be servants to many, to humble ourselves, because those who climb their way up the social ladder end up losing everything anyway.

In his popular biblical paraphrase called The Message, Eugene Peterson paraphrases the end of our reading in this way. “Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage.”

Okay, so we need to humble ourselves and be servants. What is our job then? Who are we serving?

We have to remember that Jesus was most sympathetic to the causes of those who we wouldn’t even consider: the people we walk past on the street corner, the people we say need to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”. The poor, the needy, the single parent, the woman who’s made the gut-wrenching decision to abort a pregnancy, and definitely the children in this city who have a place to rest their head only because of people like Randy Bentley and their organization we’re supporting. Those are the people Jesus champions.

Today’s song by The Many capitalizes on that point. Instead of giving into the “hard grip of hate”, what would it look like if we truly did the work that Jesus called us to?

Instead of focusing on our self-importance, Jesus asks us to serve others and be part of the work of love and liberation.

If I could talk to my younger self, I’d probably tell him there might be a better venue for an imaginary reality TV show, and challenge him to love the person in front of him.

That’s what Jesus invites you to do, too. This week I invite you to think about how God might ask you to set aside your own agenda and love the people in front of you. For it is truly in this work that all of God’s people will be free. Amen. 
 

“Job’s Frustration, Disability Justice, and Trusting in God”

October 13, 2024
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun
Access Sunday 2024, Job 23:1-9, 16-17 (CEB, adapt.)

Focus: As we work to love our neighbors, God calls us to be honest with our emotions, empathetic to the struggles of others, and trust in God.

As my grandma’s body got older, she had more health issues that made life difficult in one way or the other. She lived with things like diabetes, restless leg syndrome, high blood pressure, and probably developed some depression later in life. As she aged, she began to take more and more medications. By the end she must’ve had 10 or 12 different pills that she took multiple times a day. It's become a family joke that every time she was visiting us and went to go take a pill, she would come into the kitchen in our house and say, “anybody want a pill?” Because you knew she was taking  a bunch at a time and had plenty to share if you needed one! Most of the time, we’d say, “no thanks, I’m good…”. But sometimes we’d play along: what are you taking there, grandma? “Well, I’ve got my restless leg pill, my tinkle pill, my blood pressure pill…” and on and on.

She’d make jokes about it, because she made jokes about everything, but she told me one time how frustrating and exhausting it all was. To think about all the pills she’d need to bring for her 4-6 week visits to Wisconsin, all the doctors’ appointments she had to manage, all the differences that made her life more complicated. I'm not sure that she would have put herself in the disabled category specifically, but I bring up her story because many of the kings we acquire as we age often have a monumental impact on our daily living. Living with a disability can be complicated and frustrating, and society does not always take kindly to folks who live a different sort of life than what we consider to be normal.

Before I dive in, I'm going to speak for a moment to those of us who don't currently live with a disability, and who may be wondering (quite naturally) how they can find themselves in today’s message. I would invite you to approach the spirit of empathy, and perhaps think about the people in your life who live with a disability. For some, the disability is physical, for others, emotional or mental, for others, sensory, for others intellectual. What are they able to do, and what do they find difficult? What social norms are they able to access, and how are they perceived in society? I'm going to speak on today's text from a disability perspective, and then I'm going to speak about how the rest of us can be good neighbors as we do our best to care for one another.

Eventually I want to do a Bible study on the book of Job, because I myself have been really fascinated by it, and would really like to dive in with people. It's deeply emotional, and even painful, and there's no possible way for me to tell you everything that happens in the story of Job in a short paragraph, but I will at least tell you this much. We're told right in the beginning the book that Job is an utterly blameless person. He trusts God and has done no wrong in God's opinion. Meanwhile, up in the cloud somewhere,God is talking to a figure called “The Satan”, which translates to the accuser. It’s simplistic to think of The Satan as the devil, but let's go with that for now. The Satan basically says to God, “the only reason Job is such a good person is because you reward him. I'll bet you that he's not nearly as good as you think he is.” Then God says, “All right, I'll bite. Do what you will with him and we'll see what happens. Just don't kill him.”

So, the Satan inflicts terrible suffering on Job. He loses literally everything. His family, his home. Everything. I he never loses faith in God, per se, but he definitely accuses God, and asks a lot of really difficult questions, which is part of why the book is so interesting as a whole. In today’s text, we find Job wondering if God is absent in the midst of his suffering. In verse 16, he says, “God has weakened my mind;  the Almighty has frightened me.”

The book of Job is commonly cited example of what we theologians call theodicy—asking theological questions about why bad things happen to good people. What did someone who God has already said is blameless and trustworthy do to deserve such pain?

And this is often how many people with disabilities feel. In the song we've just heard, you heard many concrete examples of how society has failed people with disabilities by inflicting social humiliation, financial hardship, limited employment opportunities and so on. We didn't do anything to deserve that treatment. But instead, the legal system, along with social norms in general, have created a society which is deliberately built for the exclusion of one in four people. There's a lot to be frustrated about, and I am many of my disability ministry colleagues resonate very deeply with Job’s frustration.

But the beautiful thing for me about this text, the glimmer of hope, is that Job says: “Still—Still—I’m not annihilated by darkness; God has hidden deep darkness from me.” There is a reminder that, even when Job can't experience God, he believes that God must see out there somewhere and remains active somehow in his life. Finding grace in this text requires believing that God can handle our pain, our anger, and our big feelings. It is holy work to lament in times of suffering, and this is what Job teaches us to do. Trust God, trust in God's activity, and trust that God does not hide from our pain.

So what are most to take from this, as people of Union-Congregational Church? What do I want to leave with today? This is the point. As we work to love our neighbors, God calls us to be honest with our emotions, empathetic to the struggles of others, and trust in God. 
In times of suffering, in situations of both lifelong newly acquired disabilities or other challenges, God remains with us. God's activity is apparent whether we perceive it or not.

You have proven that to be true as a congregation. The usable portion of our building is very accessible, but beyond that, you have embraced me in so many ways as your pastor, and made being a pastor accessible to me by providing necessary accommodations. (one per living with a disability, if you can call it that, is that I have seen multiple examples of people caring for one another that other people in society might ignore.) The congregational care committee offers transportation to medical appointments. Many of us readily care for members in our congregation for whom it's difficult to leave their home. These are ways that we continually love our neighbors.

But far from just patting yourselves on the back, may you order that loving our neighbor means continued dedication and commitment to the work of caring for one another. How can use with somebody's frustration over societal barriers, and then help them navigate them? How continually practice your empathy and compassion, so that everybody has what they need?

Thanks be to God for this congregation, and for the way work together to show love to your neighbors. And thanks be to God for all the ways that I know you will continue to do so, supporting each other even when times are hard. Amen.

 

“Community”

October 6, 2024

Sermon for U-CC Waupun

Guest Preacher: Rev. John O'Donovan

 

So I bet you're thinking it's odd that we are reading about creation today. But we are only looking at a part of the creation narrative. When the first human was put on this Earth, the Creator noticed that Adam needed “a help mate.” God didn't want Adam to be; or to feel that he was alone. So God decided to put animals on the planet, but in looking them over God thought that they weren’t the companions he was looking for Adam, so God created another human called Eve.

 

God could have left the earth with just one person on it, God could have created the animals for this one human and left it at that. But that’s not what the Creator did. God had a plan.

 

From our reading today and other bible readings,  I find that, apparently, the Creator’s plan was for the community to exist from the start. Community and a community that includes diversity. So often we are told you need to do a project by yourself. Being able to accomplish something on your own is looked at as a success. But there are drawbacks to doing everything by yourself.

 

No new ideas are coming forward because there is no one with other ideas, there is nothing you need to think about because you have no one else to think about - you just have to worry about yourself. There is no advice or help, because there is just you. There is no sharing. There is no love, no compassion.

 

In theory, you can function without contact of another individual, but think what that would be like. To further illuminate this idea, some countries use solitary confinement as a torture. 
But the idea of being alone doesn’t appear to be what God had in mind from the start.

 

In reading through the bible there are numerous suggestions that we are to interact with others. Jesus walked with his followers, we had tribes of Israel, when Jesus preached it was usually to groups, and the like. And I have to ask why not be part of a community? Isn’t it nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of, and get advice? Isn’t it comforting coming here, to a place like this, being with a group of individuals who have similar ideas and beliefs, a place where you can discuss and learn about differences; as compared to being in a place where what you do and what you think - is contrary to everyone else and you are looked at as an outsider or someone who doesn’t belong?


 

In Corrinthians Jesus compares his followers to parts of the body. The writer states that a body is made up of several parts, each with specific gifts and abilities, and yet all the parts are of one body, one community.

 

A community made up with a variety of people with a variety of gifts, but still one community. This writing is showing that diversity can work in a community and should be part of a community. It also shows that you don’t have to stop being you. Your uniqueness helps make up the community as a whole. One body, but made up of many parts. They always say there is strength in numbers.

 

Starting a journey with Christ invites you into the community. A community that should give you support and comfort. You become part of another family; a church family. Like any community not all of us will completely agree on everything, but we are still a community.


 

But like any community when we have differences we need to respect each other's opinions, listen to each other's perspectives,  avoid personal attacks, find common ground, and be willing to compromise.

 

Something to add to all of this is that today is World Communion Sunday. This is a day when believers all around the world celebrate Holy Communion with a special reminder that we’re all part of one big family, one big community, no matter where we live. Believers live all over the world, and they are part of our extended community. Just like the Bible says, Jesus is the light and that light shines brightly all over the world, bringing love and hope to everyone.

 

As we celebrate Holy Communion a little later in this service, we remember Jesus’s love for us. But not just for us here in this church, or even just for people in this town or this country. It’s for everyone, everywhere!

 

We remember that Jesus’s love knows no bounds. It reaches every person, in every country.
Even when you think you are truly alone, you are not. God is just a prayer away. Our God is a living God. A God that does care - - and does communicate - - if you only take the time to listen.  And a God that sends people into your life to aid and help you. Being a strong individual is not a bad thing, but doesn't everyone need help now and then? 
 

You don’t have to travel this spiritual journey alone. In fact, God doesn’t want you to. The same God works in all of us, and helps us in everything we do, no matter who we are, or where we are in our journey with Christ.  Amen.
 

“A Courageous Woman and a Liberated People”

September 29, 2024
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22

Focus: We can learn a great deal from Esther’s courage, and how God asks us to advocate for the marginalized folks we know.

There's been a lot buzzing around in my head all week about preaching on this text. I've never preached on Esther before, so I was excited for the challenge (there’s nothing like giving yourself a challenge right before you take a vacation after all!)

But the biggest reason that I chose this text for today was because of a trend in biblical interpretation that I think we need to be aware of. So often, the lives, stories, and experiences of men in biblical times are uplifted. Think of the stories of Jonah, Joshua, Abraham, Moses, the 12 main disciples, even Jesus himself. The list goes on further than that. We might not like to go so far as to think of the Bible as a fallible document (even if I myself might be tempted to make such an argument from time to time.) By contrast, we only have a few prominent examples of women who both demonstrate extraordinary faith and are well-documented in the biblical text. Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Ruth, Hagar, and Sarah are among the few prominent women whose names are actually shared. Other women who were faithful to the way of Jesus are not even given that respect. I don't have to tell you that the cultural norms of biblical times were inherently sexist, and sometimes that sexism pervades our church culture today. Many of us come from church backgrounds where women are not given the right to make important decisions or serve in church, leader, ship, roles, being limited instead to the church kitchen or the youth area. It was wrong then, and it's wrong now, but as Maya Angelou said, "when we know better, we do better.” So now that we know better, we should try to do better.

So that's why it's important when stories like Esther come up to be sure to talk about them. Affirming examples of faithful women is indeed just as important as uplifting the stories of faithful men. So today I'm going to talk a great deal about what we can learn from Esther and her courage.

I haven't heard that many sermons on Esther in my years in the church. Perhaps we don't hear about this as often because, to digest the larger story of Esther, we almost have to read the entire book.Truth be told, another thing I'm almost embarrassed to admit is how close my conception of Esther initially was to the VeggieTales version of the story. I don't know how many of you have seen the VeggieTales adaptation of the story of Esther, but it turns out it's much different from the Bible story that we just heard. For example, the good people at Big Idea Productions probably understood that parents of young children probably would've had a lot of explaining to do if Haman truly had been impaled on a pole, so, instead, at the end, Haman gets sent to the Island of Perpetual Tickling, where you're tickled day and night and they won't stop even if you say “pretty please”!

But I have a wedding to get to back in Neenah after the service today, so we don't have time to read the entire book! I'll give you the short version of what's happened so far.

Basically, the King's first wife refused a command of the king and was banished, which of course became the talk of the town. Suddenly the king finds himself lonely, so Esther is eventually chosen to marry the king. Simultaneously, Haman convinces the king that Jewish people are bad and encourages mass genocide of the Jewish people. As it turns out, Esther herself is Jewish, so Esther's cousin and guardian Mordecai urges her to use her newfound position as the king’s wife to bend the king’s ear, and save the her people from certain death.

One of my favorite moments from the story of Esther is actually not in the lectionary. Esther is understandably, terrified by the proposition of having to single-handedly, save her family and others who are in eminent peril. But her cousin Mordecai says to her something very important. 
“Don’t think for one minute that, unlike all the other Jews, you’ll come out of this alive simply because you are in the palace. In fact, if you don’t speak up at this very important time, relief and rescue will appear for the Jews from another place, but you and your family will die. But who knows? Maybe it was for a moment like this that you came to be part of the royal family.”

Paraphrased another Way by the musician Jonathan Rundman, “could it be that you are called for such a time as this?”

So this is the moment Esther resolves to do what she needs to do to save her people.

Haman gets wind of Mordecai’s attempts to thwart his plan and plans to kill Mordecai. At this point, we have reached the lectionary part of the story. When Esther pleads for case to the king, the king gets wind of Haman’s plan to kill Mordecai, and orders Haman to be killed instead by the same method. This way, Esther saves, not only herself and her cousin, but her people as well, and is lauded as a hero.

Another important thing that differentiates the book of Esther from other books in the Old Testament is that God is never mentioned. But if you read the book of Esther, it's very clear that Esther understands that God is at her side.. Indeed, as the commentator Bruce Epperly writes, “God’s guidance is never obvious, but comes as we are going about our daily tasks, not from the outside, but from within the process itself.” In other words, God does not always come to us, in ways that we can understand, but God is with us nonetheless.

So what can we learn from this here at U-CC?

When I think about what the story of Esther can teach us, I think of two central questions. First, who are the people that we ourselves need to advocate for in our lives of faith today? Also, how can we be empowered by Esther's courage to really do the hard work of advocacy when the rubber hits the road?

We can learn a great deal from Esther’s courage, and how God asks us to advocate for the marginalized folks we know. I think there are lots of ways both in this community and wider, that we can advocate for others in times of great distress.

My family has been following the news of hurricane Helena, pretty closely this week, for example. As many of you know, my mom is from North Carolina, one of the many states that are deeply impacted by this devastation. Thankfully, everybody in our family is fine, but the reality of the incredible damage has hit home for many communities we know well. Of course, this distress is not the same. There's not a person like Haman doing this devastation, but lots of folks on the ground are struggling to meet their basic needs right now, and many people could use the advocacy of friends and strangers to get what they need. Could it be that we are called for such a time as this?

Several folks from our church are going to the St. Katherine Drexel homeless shelter in Fond du Lac this afternoon to deliver a meal, and sit with people who are down on their luck, to share stories, and eat together. Add to that the pressing need of food pantries, domestic violence shelters, and homeless shelters in our local community, and how we can help people in those situations. Could it be that we are called for such a time as this?

And finally, the how long is facing our children and youth are innumerable. This country is in a youth mental health crisis. Children are dying in school shootings, far more often than we would like to admit, while our politicians say nothing can be done except offering empty platitudes, and thoughts and prayers which lead to nothing.

So friends, it's clear that the needs are great. It's clear that we need courage like Esther had if we want to change the world. So how are you going to do that this week in your own small way? We are only individuals on the surface, but we can do so many great things together if we have the courage enough to trust in God's care and in God’s call. So may you go this week to do just that. Remember Esther’s courage, and remember that that courage also lives inside of you. May you be empowered by that courage to partner with God in justice and liberation. Amen.

 

 

“The Power of Saying No, and the Joy of Saying Yes”

September 22, 2024
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8 (adapt.), Pentecost 18B

Focus: As society is so divided, part of our job as Christians is trying to say no to conflict and dispute, and yes to seeing each other as neighbors and following Jesus.

I am going to let you in on an occupational hazard of local church ministry. I don't do this often because it often feels like “inside baseball”, but I believe that you'll find something in this as well.

When people find out I am a pastor, there can be a lot of baggage. For so many people, the church has not been kind to them, or perhaps some pastors have hurt them, so some people get very uncomfortable. But on the other extreme, other people really consider me as somebody who might magically have some answers for the difficult life experiences they go through. Lots of people bring me their fears and their anxieties about the world, and recently, lots of folks have approached me about their fears about the outcome of this upcoming presidential election.

Without getting overtly political (because that does a pastor and a congregation no good), I'm going to admit to you that when people ask me questions about this, I am truly just as overwhelmed as you are. Whether you watch CNN, Fox News, or something in between, the one thing we have in common is that most of us end up digesting some kind of partisan hysteria, whether we asked for it or not. Lately, I've been seeing lots of commentary about poll numbers, following the recent presidential debate, and what this means for both campaigns. And part of me just really wants to turn it all off. I so badly want to wake up in a world where, no matter who wins the election, we can all just get along and understand each other as neighbors, knowing that we all have the best interest of our country at heart. But as I think I've said in other sermons I’ve preached here, that just isn't reality. In my 30 years of life, I have never seen this country as divided as it currently is. So many friendships and family relationships have been ruined because of our political beliefs.

Now, I understand that many of you probably come to church these days for a refuge from this kind of discussion. So, I promise you I'm not going to beat it to death, but I would argue that it's relevant to the scripture for today, and we have to keep Scripture relevant to the challenges and concerns that we actually face. So today I'm going to spend a decent amount of time talking about how we might redirect ourselves from some of that rhetoric, and with the gospel of Jesus Christ invites us to do instead.

No matter what the cultural situation is, people are people. That means that people in biblical times were just as prone to disagreement as people in modern times. James tells his audience that it's important to live in ways that honor God, including honesty. He says in verse 14, “if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, then stop bragging and living in ways that deny the truth.” In conversations in our society, we often wonder what's true and what's false. Politicians on both sides use misleading information, and even blatant lies, to advance their agenda. The oppressive Roman government was no different. But what James is alluding to here is the reminder that God's truth, God's commandments, supersede the ways of the world in these regards.The theology professor and commentator Casey Thornburgh Sigmon reminds us that James’ point in this text can be boiled down to this: “Are you a friend of the world or a friend of God?” She goes on to say, “In your heart, what drives the choices you make? Envy, James asks? Then your wisdom is unspiritual, devilish. Selfish ambition? Your actions betray you as a friend of the world rather than a friend of God.”

What Dr. Sigmon points out, which I believe is applicable to today’s world, is that we are deeply conditioned in society to put one another in a box. If you're a Trump, voter, we automatically assume that you believe certain partisan, talking points to be true, in the same way we make assumptions about you differently if you're a Harris voter. It would be deeply inappropriate for me to endorse a certain political candidate, or certain political position from the pulpit, but we all know it's true, that the constant political advertisement makes us angrier and more at odds with one another, when was James reminds us, is that our anger and our divisions actually get us nowhere.

The other piece that I wanted to focus on was this idea of being “double-minded”, when they read it, members of the media team asked me, “what the heck does it mean to be double minded? That's not something we say very often.” And they're right.

To me, being double minded is about saying that we believe in God, saying that we do all the right things, one in fact, our motivations are very different. Are we motivated by greed, by power, or by other worldly temptations? What about the people who want to run our country?

Our religion and our politics are often intertwined with one another, which, in some ways can be unfortunate. I bet that all of us can probably think of at least one person we know who says they believe in God, but behave in ways that might imply very different priorities. While keeping all of those people in mind, James uses them as a cautionary tale for us, and reminds us of the importance of purifying our hearts. In other words, James reminds us to stop worrying about what other people do, and focus on our own spiritual growth.

So what are we supposed to do with this, in a time when how much of society is divided against itself and seems to have forgotten God's call to us?

As society is so divided, part of our job as Christians is trying to say no to conflict and dispute, and yes to seeing each other as neighbors and following Jesus.

This is easier said than done, of course, but one of the things that I love most about this congregation is that we can sit across the table at coffee hour with people who might believe very different things, politically or socially, but yet we can have meaningful conversation about what we have in common. Regardless of our political affiliations, many of us have families that we love to talk about. Many of us have difficult challenges that we face, like health challenges, for example. Many of us have powerful stories about how God has brought us through hard times. All of these things are examples of seeing each other as neighbors, but kind of Christian love that James wants us to employ.

In a few minutes I will be singing a special music piece, which my friend Andra Moran wrote with her friend, Gabe Dixon. Andra wrote this before the 2012 election cycle, but it seems like it could just as easily have been written a year ago. Being on the side of love is not easy work, but it is important work.

So my friends, as we move into this week, think about how you can demonstrate the love that God has given you to all of your neighbors, not just for people who think or believe like you. There are so many people in this world who are deeply hurting, and who may need the love that you can provide. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

 

“What Difference Does It Make?”

September 15, 2024
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun
Mark 8:27-38, Pentecost 17B

Focus: Our faith deepens when we can understand what difference Jesus makes in our lives, and why we believe what we believe.

As I’ve moved through this week, I’ve been thinking a lot about what Jesus Christ means in our lives. What’s the point, and what difference does it make to believe in Jesus? Kind of an abstract thought process, I know, but I think it’s worth digging into every now and again, because the truth is there are all sorts of ways we could be spending our time on a Sunday morning. Sleeping in, going to sporting events, bonding with our children, going for a walk or a bike ride, doing housework, simply sitting awhile longer with our hot coffee or tea…the list goes on.

For some people, the meaning of Jesus Christ in their lives is very personal. It certainly is for one of my best friends from seminary, the Rev. Tim Powers-Reed. (I’m sharing his story today with his permission.) He was one of the two pastors from St. Louis who came to our church on Pentecost Sunday several months ago. Of the two, he's the older gentleman with tattoos, whose husband sang a song with me. Tim has one of the clearest and most compelling call stories of most any pastor I've ever known. He leaned on Jesus in a very specific way, while he was being incarcerated in Illinois for his embezzlement of funds at the school district he worked in. His father had been a Southern Baptist minister, and not only had Tim just come out as a bisexual man, but he began to sense a call to ministry from behind the bars of his jail cell. He eventually prayed to Jesus, vowing to accept the call to ministry if Jesus would not only be with him through his incarceration, but also bring him out of the deep depression he was feeling.

The road was long and difficult, and even after he got out, he faced many challenges, especially in the first couple of years that I knew him. But I continue to be so proud of all that he has accomplished, and he is an amazing asset both to the church he serves in southern Illinois, and to the entire United Church of Christ. He didn't get the chance to share this part of his story when he was preaching, but I thought you might like to hear it.

Now, I know that not everybody has that clear of an encounter with Christ. I would say that my own encounters with Jesus have been loving and prayerful, but not born out of the same level of personal difficulty. The reason I share that story is because I think it offers a helpful example of how one person responds when Jesus asks, “who do you say I am”. Today I'm going to talk about the ways Jesus invites us to do the same.

It's helpful for us to remember that this story takes place in Caesarea Phillipi. This is an area about 25 miles north of the sea of Galilee, which has one of the largest springs feeding the Jordan river. This makes it a particularly beautiful place for religious worship, and chances to get away. Several commentators remind us, that, perhaps, in contrast to the large crowds that Jesus and his disciples attracted, maybe this was a place where Jesus and the 12 could get away. But, of course, since the crowds follow, Jesus, no matter where they were, word gets around. This is why Jesus starts by saying, “who do people say that I am?” In other words, “what kind of reputation do I have?”

They told him, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others one of the prophets.”

In other words, many people in Caesarea Phillipi would've assumed that Jesus was more likely a messenger of the reign of God realized in the highest powers of Roman government, rather than someone who would turn the status quo upside down.

Then Jesus turns the question back on the disciples: “Who do you say that I am?”

The disciples respond by saying that Jesus is the messiah. When people gave somebody a title, like that, that usually meant that they were the one who was going to rule in unmitigated power. Calling anybody else the Messiah other than the appointed Roman leader, therefore, represented an existential threat to the existing power structure that the Romans relied upon. That's why Jesus sternly rebukes the disciples, telling them not to tell anybody about what they believe. An even more stern rebuke comes later, when Jesus tells Peter to “get behind me, Satan.” Here, Jesus is reprimanding Peter, because he continues to think about the purpose of Jesus's ministry from a human lens, rather than a divinely inspired one.

So what do we do with all this? This is surely a rich passage, as much as it is a confusing one. I think these versus sum up well what I believe the point of the text is as a whole: “All who want to come after me must say no to themselves, take up their cross, and follow me. All who want to save their lives will lose them. But all who lose their lives because of me and because of the good news will save them.”

This is my big picture overview for today. Our faith deepens when we can understand what difference Jesus makes in our lives, and why we believe what we believe. For my friend, Tim, Jesus made a huge difference in his life, at a time when he needed guidance and direction the most. He takes up the cross every day of healing from his past, understanding God’s call for his life, and doing his best to follow it. But it's not easy for Tim, and it's probably not easy for any of us if we are honest with ourselves. Meeting Jesus at difficult moments in our own lives is, of course, never easy work. But it's often in those moments that Jesus reveals himself to us. It's often in those moments that our faith becomes more real, something that we are a part of because we want to be, not because we feel like it's the right thing to do on a Sunday morning.

So, as you go, through this week, I invite you to think about how Jesus has made an impact on your life. It might feel like a monumental impact. Or, it might feel like, instead of a monumental impact, Jesus is speaking to you through a still small voice, and a loving presence. However, Jesus interacts with you in your life, may you go be part of the liberating work he invites you to do. Take up your cross, and truly follow him, because, following Jesus always leads to love and liberation, even in our most challenging moments. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

 

Sermon for U-CC Waupun

“Faith=Action”

September 8, 2024

James 2:1-17


I love Reunion Sunday. Some churches call it Rally Day, some churches call it Renewal Sunday, or probably some other name that I don't know.

But whatever you call it, generally, it involves getting the congregation excited for a new program year, which usually starts in September and goes through May. There's usually food, because of course there's always food. Food brings people together.

There's activities for kids and youth, and perhaps some last minute Sunday school registrations, Becky's crossing her fingers. And also, sometimes the pastor will make snide comments to regular members they haven't seen for a while, because they've spent the summers at their cottages, or they've spent the summers traveling, and now the pastor is hoping that they've enjoyed their sabbatical.

Now, getting all the little details of Reunion Sunday right is important.Becky has been working really hard getting things ready for the new Sunday school year. Christina and others have been coordinating the potluck that we're going to have after this service today. But I think today gives us an important point to focus on as we think about this new program year.

And there's a great deal of richness that I could talk about out of this text, but I'm going to leave you to do most of that work on your own as you feel led to do so. We've got a lot of good food, and Rick is going to talk to us about birds, so we've got lots going on, so I'm not going to yammer on forever. But I'll boil it down to two sort of main points.

The reminder to love our neighbor as ourselves, and the reminder that we are to put our faith into action. So James reminds us that loving our neighbor as ourselves is not a simple act. It's easy to love our neighbors if they look like us, or love like us, or act like us, or live like us.

But instead, James reminds us to show no favoritism. We have to treat everybody with the same dignity and respect as we ourselves would expect to experience. James begins by giving us a concrete example.

Two people coming into our sanctuary dressed radically differently, especially on important days in the church year, think Christmas Eve, Easter Sunday, all those sorts of things. We often encounter people in our worship space that we don't know personally. And perhaps one person is wearing a suit and tie, like Wayne often does.

Some people wear Packer jerseys and ratty jeans, like my friend Kevin often did in Nina. Or maybe in this election season, one person is wearing Kamala Harris swag, and maybe in this election season, the other person is wearing a MAGA hat. So on one hand, I hesitate to bring that part up because we don't like to talk about our politicians because we hear all these political ads all the time.

But James offered his people a very stark contrast. And I don't know about you, but I can't find a starker one in this time and place. So if we wanna bring this to a modern context, I can't find a starker contrast than that.

But the unfortunate reality of living in a small town is that we are often wary of people that we consider to be outsiders. If your name does not appear in the Dutch bingo that Wapun talks about so much, we don't know who you are, we don't know who you're related to, we don't know what school you went to as a kid, we don't know anything about you in order to pigeonhole you, right? But I would like to think that the people in this church would be welcoming to strangers, as we ourselves have been welcomed from wherever we came from. So many of us came from different churches and found refuge in this one.

And so that's what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves in these times. And as we think about this new program year, I think it's important for us to remember how we can love our neighbors. Perhaps in our Sunday school classes, we might start to talk about things like poverty and food insecurity and homelessness in ways that are age appropriate, and yet call our children and youth to think about and imagine life experiences that are different from their own.

And as we prepare our budget and think about our overall mission of this coming year, maybe there's an opportunity to help out in some sort of unmet need in our wider community. The other point that I wanna make today kind of piggybacks off of what I've just said, James ends the passage by saying, faith is dead when it doesn't result in faithful activity. But what does that really mean? What does that mean to say that our faith is dead? For me, it means that if we're not willing to put our faith into action, we're not trying hard enough to follow the will and the ways of God.

So as I'm sure you've been following on the news this week, the shooting at Appalachee High School in Georgia is one of 45 school shootings just this year, according to a statistic by CNN. When we see these kinds of things on the news, it's natural to feel kind of helpless, like we can't do anything about this on our own. But the inconvenient truth is that too many people for too long have relied on thoughts and prayers, refusing to end a stalemate on a uniquely American issue, while children and teachers are caught in the crossfire.

Now, of course, I'm not suggesting that one church can solve a national crisis like that on our own, but there are other things that we can do something about that can also empower us to tackle some of these national crises. For example, this week, our local food pantry made us aware that they're running low on supplies, and as the need of these supplies only continues to grow. As I myself make a pretty healthy living, I can only imagine how difficult this time of year is for single parents trying to put food on the table, trying to put school supplies in their kids' backpacks, and trying to keep the joy and the hope in their hearts as this world continues to be frightening and disappointing in some ways.

And one thing about this congregation that I know to be true is that you are giving and you are willing to help when the need arises. So I think we have an opportunity to be a resource for families in need. And in fact, I wanna add, earlier this week, that grocery cart that you see in the fellowship hall there was empty.

And y'all have stepped up, so thank you for that. But given all this, what's the most important thing to take with us into a new week and into a new program year? Friends, if you get one thing out of today's sermon, I want it to be this. God calls us to love our neighbor as ourselves and put our faith to work.

There are so many important opportunities to put our faith in action that don't require taking out a checkbook.

There are so many organizations that need your volunteer work. There are so many organizations that need vital supplies that you might already have that you're not using. And there are so many ways to share God's love with the wider community using gifts and talents that you all already have.

So may you put your faith to work this week. May you understand that faith equals action. You are a loving and creative people with so much to give.

And the community would be better and brighter if you share your many gifts in abundance. So let's put our faith to work. Thanks be to God.
 

Sometimes “Rules” Don’t Matter
Sermon for U-CC Waupun, Pentecost 15B, 
September 1, 2024
James 1:16-27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Focus: The message of Jesus reminds us that the rules made by humanity are less important than the abundant life Jesus invites us into.

Sometimes, when I am scrolling through my Facebook feed, I see people, post political opinions, and then I see their friends commenting on the posts getting all upset because the original post doesn't match their opinion. I've even had a person private message me, saying how wrong I was for my particular view on a particular political or religious topic. So people inevitably end up getting into these angry, politically charged arguments on social media, when the world would be so much more peaceful if they were to just keep scrolling. You can so easily unfollow people on Facebook or choose not to see their posts. It got so bad for my dad during the 2016 election cycle that he eventually had to avoid using Facebook altogether. At some point, social media, which we intend to use to keep up with our friends and loved ones across countries and time zones, ends up being a hotbed of hostile, dangerous and potentially misinformed debate.

At some point, our mental health has to take precedence over our need to be right, doesn’t it? Or are we really just trying to get little “highs” over our ability to shut down the other side, and this “might makes right” sort of arguing? At some point, we have to know when enough is enough, and when we need to replenish our energy.

But one of the big things I'm going to talk about today is a theme that weaves through both of our texts. I'm mostly going to zoom in on the gospel, but the verse that has been buzzing around in my head all week is a verse from James. The reason that I used the Inclusive Bible over some of the other translations that we use more often is because of how it renders verses 19 and 20: 
“Remember this, my dear sisters and brothers: be quick to listen, but slow to speak and slow to anger; for God’s justice is never served by our anger.”

“God’s justice is never served by our anger.” I want you to keep that in mind as I share the rest of the message, and I will circle back and talk more about it.

Many of the Pharisees back in biblical times might've benefited from such a lesson. It's tempting to view many of these Pharisees as one-dimensional characters, who wait around, ready to pounce on Jesus and his followers for doing things that they believe are wrong or against the gospel. (Not every Pharisee was like this, of course, but many of them were.)  But more than just being one-dimensional characters, it's important to remember that the very existence of Jesus gave the Pharisees reason to fear. Many psychologists agree that there is a powerful link between anger and fear, and that one often fuels the other. When we feel threatened, when something changes the equilibrium in our lives, it's natural to respond with some sort of hostility. Many of these Pharisees have ascended to power and leadership positions over long periods of time, and thus, think they have it all figured out. They think they know all there is to know. The status quo, and the way society is organized, benefits them, and they think they've earned it.

But this isn't just about stroking the Pharisees’ ego. The commentator Courtney V. Buggs reminds us that there is a cultural layer to this as well. She puts it this way:

“Notice, Jesus does not condemn the Jewish washing practice, one of many rituals common to their faith identity. Jewish food practices helped build community and reminded Jewish people of their commitment to live according to God’s values. The issue is not with traditions—it is the privileging of human traditions over the commands of God.”

Said another way, in itself, washing our hands before we eat is not a bad thing. In fact, we still encourage it in our practices today. But when our practices overshadow the bigger picture, when our culture actively disconnects us from being in community, that's when we have a problem. When we think about the traditions that the institutional church has adopted over generations, I wonder what traditions we could come up with that are at odds with the ways of God. Maybe it's our country’s obsession with privileging those who are rich or well-educated, when so many of us here in places like Waupun struggle to meet our basic needs. Maybe it's adopting purity cultures for our children when what they really need is to be loved and accepted for who they are. Over and over again, Jesus shows us that living a life according to God’s desires means that we must work towards serving God's justice. God's justice is not served by upholding legalistic interpretations of God's word, because with God, there is always grace. The Pharisees were more concerned with the facts of the disciples were not following purity codes than they were that the disciples were hungry.

I'll admit that, in the context of the scripture, today's sermon title is perhaps a little flippant. But I stand by it, because I think Jesus is trying to remind us that the rules we hand down, these purity cultures, can so often disconnect us from the ways of God that we profess. Jesus reminds us that it's only the standards that we set for ourselves that can contaminate us.

But here’s the good news. The message of Jesus reminds us that the rules made by humanity are less important than the abundant life Jesus invites us into.

Indeed, in today’s media song, Phillip Phillips reminds us to pay no attention to what fills us with fear, and to what drags us down. Instead, we can find home, we can find love and grace, in the liberating teachings of Jesus Christ.

As many struggles as people are going through right now, we don't need to be angry at each other for “not following the rules.” I've always been convinced that, even if I don't agree with somebody viewpoint and faith or politics, that God knows our hearts, and that it's not my place to judge another person. Because, as Jesus reminds us, the rules that are set forth by humanity, always go in second place to what God desires of

So may you continue to go live, authentically into who God created you to be, setting aside your judgment of others, and focusing on your own spiritual growth. May you remember your traditions, and keep them sacred, but may you also know that God is always more concerned if you have eaten enough than if you have washed your hands first. Amen.

 

 

“Decide Now!”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun

August 25, 2024

Pentecost 14B
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18

Focus: Like Joshua reminded the Israelites, God reminds us that it’s important for us to commit to our own justice work.

By and large, Neenah, Wisconsin was a good place to grow up. By the most recent population estimates, Neenah's population is about 2.5 times the size of Waupun’s, but to me, it still had a small-town feel. Lots of people knew each other, we had good schools, we had good churches, and we were family-oriented.

That also meant that we as a society were not particularly outspoken on social issues. We supported things quietly. We would share our beliefs with people if we could sense that they believed the same thing, but we would never be accused of being outspoken about our beliefs. We wanted to be congenial, we wanted to get along with others. So that didn't often leave room to have an unpopular opinion or be super outspoken. We knew what we believed as individuals, but we didn't know for sure if it was the church’s place to boldly proclaim anything about social issues. The phrase “social justice” made us a little uncomfortable.

It wasn't until I went to seminary in St. Louis that I truly started to learn more about the disparities in larger cities. Suddenly, issues like racism, housing inequality, poverty, homophobia, and classism were issues I heard about on a daily basis. Eden Seminary is only about 20 minutes away by car from the street where 18-year old Michael Brown was killed in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Rev. Dr. Deb Krause, Eden’s current president, was on the front lines of protest marches,  along with many other Eden faculty and students.

The event fundamentally changed Eden's approach to theological education, and by extension, I believe it changed my own approach to faith. It became abundantly clear that we had a choice to make as progressive Christians. We could either watch idly as people in our city were actively disenfranchised and ostracized, or we could remind ourselves that God’s heart is closest to the cause of the oppressed.

I share this anecdote because, like many smaller cities in this country, I think that cities like Waupun and Neenah are in the very beginning stages of a reckoning of their own. As more people identify as members of the LGBTQ+ community, for example, schools and churches in this town are starting to think more seriously about what that means. How will we respond to these issues as people of faith? What do we believe God is saying to us in times like these? I think many of us who are older than, say, 50, would agree that some of the social justice issues didn't appear to affect us quite so strongly when we were growing up. We weren’t trying to be discriminatory; we just didn't think much about it.

Part of why I find today’s text in Joshua so interesting is that this moment is part of Joshua's farewell address to the Israelites, after successfully bringing them to the promised land and dividing it among them. Joshua takes this opportunity to remind the Israelites of everything that God has done for them, all of the difficult things that God has brought them through. “Long ago,” he says, “your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates. They served other gods.” He basically says, “Remember? They served other gods and it didn't work out well for them. You, on the other hand, were brought out of bondage and given a chance to start again. What are you going to do about that?”

While there were a multitude of other gods that their neighbors worshipped, Joshua reminds his audience that he has made his choice. His family is going to serve the Lord.

That leads me to think of the constructions of God that we make. All the time in society, we see versions of Christianity that are at odds with our own understandings. Some churches we're familiar with might not allow women to hold positions of leadership in the church, or even to make a vote on a church issue. Some churches believe that God will give us great wealth and prosperity if we believe in God. Some churches might go along with the notion that God wants to put our country first and other countries a distant second. Finally, some churches believe that people who are different from us—because of their race, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, or socioeconomic status—should not receive the same opportunities for God’s grace as everyone else.

Joshua then gives the Israelites an ultimatum. He says in verse 15, “If it seems wrong in your opinion to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Choose the gods whom your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But my family and I will serve the Lord.”

Sometimes I believe my cultural upbringing made me hesitant to be outspoken. Sometimes I believe that my cultural upbringing made me fearful of asking the harder questions, for fear of what my extended family or my friends or even strangers might think. I just wanted to be a friendly person to everyone.

But I’ve come to believe that I can be both friendly in my interactions with others and firm in my beliefs. It’s not mutually exclusive. I’ve come to believe we cannot truly serve the Lord if we serve a version of God that excludes, ostracizes, or demeans. I’ve come to believe we cannot truly serve the Lord if we “straddle the fence” while the people we love are struggling.

I recognize that this is extremely uncomfortable for some of us, and I recognize that my own evolution on these issues did not happen overnight. I said and did things that I regret. I wasn’t always a strong enough ally when my friends needed me to be. There are ways I still want to grow.

But I can continue learning and growing, and so can you. As one of my seminary professors used to say, “We are all on the way. No one has arrived.” I’m not pretending to stand here in judgment of anyone in this congregation. You are good, justice-seeking, faithful people. If you’re interested in exploring ways to be bolder and stronger in your beliefs as we do our particular ministry here at Union-Congregational Church, I will walk beside you with care and with love as you discern where God is leading. I believe we can do incredible work together in the months and years to come.  

Like Joshua reminded the Israelites, God reminds us that we must choose how to commit to our own justice work. But like those who sang today's media song, I have so much hope for the future. Mumford and Sons and Pharrell Williams repeatedly sing, “Good people (have) been down for so long, and now it's like the sun is rising.”

Where are ways that you can see the sun rising in your own thoughts on some of these social justice issues?

Joshua reminded the Israelites, and so reminds us, of what is possible when we serve the Lord. As you go into this week, I invite you to think about how you can commit to sharing your own beliefs in a time and place where doing so might feel a little risky. When we commit to being clear in our witness, when we commit to worshiping God in our actions, and not just in our words, that is when we can proclaim with integrity that “we too will serve the Lord, because the Lord is our God.”

May it be so. Amen.


 

 

 

“A Heart of Wisdom and Justice”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun, Pentecost 13B 
August 18, 2024
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14

Focus: When we follow God’s guidance and instruction and are attuned with God’s will, God’s glory will be revealed in us and we will receive true blessing.

My dad, who many of you know, has served his church in a lot of different ways. Among them have been terms on pastoral relations committees, church councils, and the youth program. In particular, he was a high school Sunday school teacher for a number of years and has been a confirmation mentor on multiple occasions.

I never had my dad as a Sunday school teacher, a fact that I regularly reminded him of for many years. Even so, he taught me a lot about what it means to live a life of faith and truly modeled living a life of prayer and discernment.

As I think about the text for this week, where King Solomon asks God for a wise and discerning mind, and a good, strong heart for his people, one such example of dad's faith sticks out to me.

When it was his turn to lead Sunday school lessons, my dad would often read through the curriculum on Saturday evening to prepare, and then think of an activity or discussion topic that would be particularly meaningful to his high school class. I remember being so proud of my dad for doing this, because, in addition to being a very present and loving father in my own life, he understood that it was important to give back to his church, and the youth in the church’s care.

I don't remember particularly what the lesson was about that week, but sometime when I was in middle school, my dad made a point to tell me a story about his preparation. He told me he had read through that curriculum for that week over and over and over again, and couldn't find an entry point. He knew that he had to make it relevant for high school students and their time and place, something which isn't always easy to do when Bible passages so often feel like they relate more readily to an adult life experience. Prayed, asking God to help him find a way to teach this lesson in a way that was meaningful and helpful to them. Then finally, in the middle of the night on Saturday, he got an idea that he was able to use to teach the Sunday school lesson.

I'm struck by how my dad wanted to do what was best for his Sunday school students, like King Solomon wants to do for the people of Israel. Today I'd like to talk about what happens when we are attuned to the needs of our people, and how King Solomon can be an example to us of what happens when we are mindful of God's instruction.

Our text does a pretty good job of placing us inside of the story. We understand that King Solomon is the son of King David, who ruled over Israel with generosity and with care. The success of David's reign is well documented, but not without controversy, and neither is Solomon's appointment. Many commentaries on this text remind their readers that Solomon's rise to power was the talk of the town, and Solomon is not a perfect person.

But even still, this part of the text has something to teach us about how to do I think about what is most important to God and follow that. As Solomon begins his reign over Israel, he is painfully aware of his own youth and inexperience. I love how the Common English Bible translates his lament. He says, “I know next to nothing.” It's in this humility that Solomon essentially says, “Prepare me, God. Make me wiser.” He is fully grasping the enormity of his calling: “I’m here, your servant, in the middle of the people you have chosen, a large population that can’t be numbered or counted due to its vast size.”

I also love that Solomon regards the Isrealites as “this important people of yours.” He regards these people with care and compassion, because he understands that they are people who are close to God’s heart.

Solomon would have been like many kings in his day, who, instead of asking for a discerning heart, ask for things that will make their lives better. But God is impressed by Solomon's desire, and gives those things to him anyway even when he didn't ask for them.

Sometimes I wonder how much we ourselves would be willing to be so attuned to what is close to God's heart. The renowned Latin American theologian Leonardo Boff  urges anyone who reads his work to remember that anyone who serves God should be attuned to the cries of the Earth and the cries of the poor. Depending on which American politicians share your beliefs and your worldview, perhaps you think that those individuals follow the ways of God and the opposing politicians don’t. But it truly isn't that simple. Before we put Solomon on a pedestal, we have to remember that even Solomon falters. Later on in his reign, he worships other gods and implements forced labor and heavy taxes. It might not be unlike the politicians of today’s day and age, who say they’re going to do one thing and end up doing something else. It’s also a reminder that we aren’t perfect.

But I'd like to think it's not about being perfect. I think my dad would tell you that he doesn't know all there is to know about God, or about Jesus, but he does know what's most important. Dad always taught me to love God, do your best to follow God, and love the people in front of you. 
It’s in those moments that we find what truly matters. When we follow God’s guidance and instruction and are attuned with God’s will, God’s glory will be revealed in us and we will receive true blessing.

In today’s media song by Mumford and Sons, they sing:

“Now I'll be bold
As well as strong
And use my head alongside my heart”

I wonder if God is calling us to be bold as well as strong, as we think of Paul and situations that are closest to God's own heart. The cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor. For many ways we can do that. Perhaps it's as sacred as preparing to teach high school Sunday School. Perhaps it’s knowing how to care for the most vulnerable in a community where many churches and many individuals have a perspective that differs from some folks in this particular community of faith. Perhaps it’s remembering the life and witness of people like Pastor Cathy Carlson, a predecessor of mine who was an early advocate for certain social justice issues in the region.

Friends, may you be blessed with wisdom and discernment from God as you carry out God’s will. May you always be attuned to the cries of those most vulnerable. In that work, may you find joy in your advocacy and in your care. Amen.

 

“Have You Eaten Enough Today?”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun

August 11, 2024
1 Kings 19:4-8

Focus: God did not make us to be machines of capitalism and grind culture. God made us to be sustained by Jesus’ loving presence and reminds us to rest our weary bodies and spirits.

I feel a little like Mr. Rogers this week, because today I'm going to do some show and tell as part of my sermon.

I got a special deck of cards from Amazon that I wanted to bring in to show you. But it's not just any ordinary deck of cards. It's called the “Rest Deck” by an organization called The Nap Ministry. The card deck promises to give its users “50 Practices to Resist Grind Culture”.

When I say “grind culture”, I'm referring to the kind of uniquely American tendency to be workaholics, to always go from one thing to the next, to work and work and work and work, and brag about our productivity like it's a badge of honor. But Tricia Hersey, the founder of the Nap Ministry and the appropriately named “Nap Bishop”, put these cards together as spiritual practices that people can use to remind themselves to rest, she also wrote a book called Rest is Resistance, because she believes that allowing our bodies and souls to take a rest is one form of dismantling white supremacy and other oppressive structures in our society. Each card has a short affirmation on the front and a longer meditative practice on the back. As a spiritual practice, she says you're supposed to close your eyes, pull out a card, and do what it says. I'll show you a couple of the fronts of these cards, but I'll keep the whole deck in my office for a while so if you want to take a closer look for yourself, I'd be happy to show you.

These are really beautiful multicolored cards. You’ll see two examples on the screen.

One is written against a flowery orange border. It says, “Rest is not a privilege. Rest is a human right. I don’t have to earn rest.” (Show card)

The other is written against a blue and flowery border. It says, “Rest is my foundation to build, invent, restore, and imagine the world I want to see.” (Show card)

As I looked at some of these cards in preparation for today, I was reflecting on the text from 1 Kings. It's kind of an odd text, but I think it gives us a good reminder of the character of God and what God calls us to do. Today I want to talk about what our society has been conditioned to believe about capitalism and the allure of constant productivity, and how it's antithetical to what God invites us into in a life of faith.

First, it feels important to set the scene for what the prophet Elijah is going through here. You have to go back a few chapters are in the book of 1 Kings to truly understand Elijah’s plight, but I’ll give you the “spark note version”. As Rick noted before he began his reading, the prophet Elijah is attempting to escape from Queen Jezebel. In previous chapters of the book of 1 Kings, Elijah has proven himself victorious over other prophets that follow the will of a false god, Baal. After a violent and bloody scene, which ends in Elijah killing 450 of these false prophets, Queen Jezebel issues a death threat against Elijah. Fearing for his life, Elijah runs into the wilderness, and now here we are at the point of our story.

The text doesn't really explain why Elijah is depressed, why he prays for God to take his life. So, commentators are left to make educated guesses and ask questions of their own. But, whatever the reason, I am mindful that some of us sitting here might resonate with the depth of Elijah's lament. The National Institute of Mental Health calls major depression one of the most common mental disorders in the United States. Depression causes feelings of hopelessness, and the feeling that there is no way out of how we feel. It is for this reason that I would argue that Elijah is not being overdramatic in this passage. His feelings are real and valid.

These feelings can also be worsened when we don’t have what we need. When we haven’t had enough physical sustenance or enough time at rest, how on earth could we be expected to regulate our emotions? Sometimes it feels like we are not unlike the toddler versions of ourselves, who cry when we are hungry or tired or overstimulated or scared. We might just show it differently.

At a certain level, I think Elijah is mindful of this. After his lament, he sits down under a solitary broom bush (or perhaps a broom tree, depending on your chosen translation.) On the screen, you'll see a picture of a broom tree. This is a tree that grows in deserts and other hot places, and because of its structure provides a great of shade from the relentless Middle Eastern sun.

The commentator David G. Garber, Jr, says it well: “…the messenger of God comes to Elijah and offers him practical pastoral care.”

I would add this: God’s messenger does not offer him platitudes. God's messenger does not simply say, “it will get better,” or “I’m praying for you,” or my personal least favorite, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.”

Instead, God’s messenger provides fresh bread on hot coals, and a jar of water. God’s messenger provides Eliah with what he actually needs. And then the messenger says something to Elijah that’s been buzzing around in my head all week. The NRSV translates it slightly differently than the CEB, which Rick just read. The messenger says, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.” The CEB, on the other hand, reminds us that we have difficult days ahead. After all, Election Day is in 85 days. So we need sustenance.

In our media planning meeting, we loved the idea of a sharing a Snickers commercial, because of their slogan that “you’re not you when you’re hungry”, and of course Robin Williams is arguably one of the finest comedic actors of his generation. But also because of the reminder that our faith in God and our faith in Christ gives us not just physical sustenance, but also spiritual sustenance. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Our story of Elijah finishes with this beautiful reminder: “Elijah got up, ate and drank, and went refreshed by that food for forty days and nights until he arrived at Horeb, God’s mountain.” Refreshed by that food. Refreshed by that rest. Refreshed by God’s love for him.

God did not make us to be machines of capitalism and grind culture. God did not make us to be alone in our depression, in our loneliness, or in our despair. God made us to be sustained by Jesus’ loving presence and reminds us to rest our weary bodies and spirits.

Of course it isn’t as simple as not doing anything. Those of us who are farmers have to tend to our crops with care and help them grow. Those of us who are educators have to interpret assessment results. Those of us in the corrections industry have to be dedicated to the work of restorative justice every day. And none of these are easy tasks. They require a lot from us.

But the work Tricia Hersey, the Nap Bishop, and the work of God, your great Provider, remind us that our bodies and souls are made for more. More of what brings joy. More of what brings peace. More of what brings hope and liberation to a hurting world.

So may you receive the invitation to rest. Eat some food and drink some water. We have difficult days ahead, but by the grace of God, refreshed by that food and that rest, we can continue to build the world that God wills. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

 



 

“Many Gifts, One Spirit”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun

August 4, 2024
Ephesians 4: 1-16

Focus: We are called by God to live lives worthy of what we have been called to be. Sometimes that will require a lot from us, but we are always invited to grow into it.

Around the time I started to respond to my call to ministry, I was disoriented, and sometimes even troubled. I was in the midst of what I would now describe as my “wilderness era”. I describe that time as a period of my life that felt so confusing, because I had previously prepared for a totally different trajectory, and spent multiple years of college, studying for a totally different career. It was a period of high anxiety and intense disorientation.

When I was finally coming out of the wilderness, I started to hear words of affirmation from people. One common phrase that was said to me, “Jacob, I think you’ve found your calling.”

As lovely as that affirmation was, I was still so disoriented that I didn't know what to do with that. How could I be totally sure that I had found my calling after such a difficult time of discernment? Did I have the right to be sure of anything after everything I had thought was going to be part of my future radically shifted?

That was about five years ago, and as I stand here before you today, I can tell you that I've grown a lot in that time. I feel very peaceful in this work much of the time, and you all are just such a fabulous congregation to have my first settled pastorate.

And I'm going to continue to grow. As I was scrolling on Facebook this week, I encountered a post by a prominent United Church of Christ pastor named Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, who pastors Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, one of the most prominent black churches in the denomination. I reposted this in solidarity with other pastors, who encounter both the joys and the challenges of the work. He writes some things that are difficult to hear, which you can read if you want toby going on my Facebook page, but he ends his post with this.

“You will never be good enough, smart enough, wise enough, strong enough, kind enough, tough enough, humble enough, quiet enough, close enough, or holy enough.

But never ever forget this,  “you are enough.”  You are called not to be anything else, but you.  Rest in the knowledge God had enough holy humor to call a broken, ill equipped, stumbling person such as yourself. It would have made more sense to call any other creature in creation but God called you! You need to smile and recognize the irony of your call.  What a joke and an honor God calls the jester of the court to be a prophet before the King.”

Of course, Otis Moss had a particular audience in mind when he was writing this—fellow pastors and other ministers—but I think this piece of the post can apply pretty directly to what I want to talk about today and how it can relate to us.

Many people believe that the writer of this letter is probably the apostle Paul. If you look at the book as a whole, there's some pretty solid evidence for this, but the authorship been contested, like many other books of the Bible. If we assume that the book of Ephesians is in fact, written by Paul, we would then assume that he is writing a letter to a church, or a group of churches, which are trying to do their best to share the good news of Jesus after his death. So there's some context for you.

There are two major points of the letter that I want to illustrate today.

The first is the author’s discussion on the importance of unity. Some of the beginning verses say, “Accept each other with love, 3 and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. 4 You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Creator of all.”

This reminder of the need for unity is in many ways as important today, as it was then. If you've been watching the national news recently, especially the comparisons of the nominees for this year's presidential election, you know that division is something that we are painfully aware of. Both sides have lobbied intense personal attacks on the political candidates and their policies, so unity is not something that comes easy to most of us these days. But I think it's important for us to remember that, in our faith, we belong to one another. We work together in building up the body of Christ no matter if we all believe the same things or I have exactly the same theology. You may not agree with everything I ever say from the pulpit, and that's OK, because I think that all of us here at this church can recognize that we share the mission of sharing God's love with our greater community here in our own particular ways. We serve a God that is bigger than partisan disagreements, a God who gives each of us important gifts that we can share for the benefit of those around us.

This leads me to the second most important point that is text discusses, I am the one that I've spent the most time with this week as I have considered this text. We are each given different gifts, which can benefit our community of faith. 
I often tell members of our congregation that I am so thankful for our finance committee, because my only D in any of my educational career was in a math class, so I purposefully found a career where math is such a small part of it! If I had to understand the ins and outs of church finances to the level of Chris Van Buren and everyone else on that committee, this church would be in big trouble! But by the same token, I can’t tell you how many people have told me, “I’ll help you any way I can, as long as it doesn’t involve getting up and talking in church on Sunday!”

The writer of Ephesians says, “Christ’s purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son.”

We all have work to do in building up the body of Christ. From the ministry of answering the phones, to the ministry of meaningful visitation, to the ministry of stewarding various gifts, to the ministry of preparing our communion elements, to the ministry of caring for our physical building, to the ministry of music, to the ministry of teaching our youth, and on and on.

Each of these are big and small ways that God has called us to build up God’s community here. We are called by God to live lives worthy of what we have been called to be. Sometimes that will require a lot from us, but we are always invited to grow into it.

The chorus in today's media song is pretty simple, but it’s powerful.

if you could see me the way I see you
If you could feel me the way I feel you
You'd be a believer

What if God were saying that to us? What if God was acknowledging the gift that God has given us, but we could use them to speak truth to power and speak the truth in love? It's not always going to be easy, and sometimes we have to talk about hard things. But when we are given the gift that God has given us, we can't simply use them when they're convenient or when the stakes are low. Like Otis Moss said, “Never ever forget this,  “you are enough.”  You are called not to be anything else, but you.”

So this week, I invite you to think about this: how are you going to use the gift that God gave you? How are you going to use them for the benefit of this church, and how are you going to use them to benefit a world in need of more love, more light, more hope? What I love about this congregation, among other things, is that we are a faithful, discerning, and creative congregation. There are so many ways that we have learned to use our gifts to lead us in deeper encounters of our faith. So, as you go into the week, may you be empowered to find the way is that you can use your gifts. The world needs them more than you will ever know. Amen.

 

 

 

“This Story Again!”

Sermon for U-CC Waupun

July 28, 2024

It was brought to my attention from a member of the Congregation that it gets kind of old hearing the same stories over and over again. And I can  understand that. In fact in our scriptures today we find that there is a similar story to the parable in the book of Kings. There are some things that need to be considered in these thoughts. Many religions and pastors follow a guide called the Liturgical Calendar. It gives us a framework throughout the year, to keep us organized, 
and gives a sense of reverence and structure. It also helps expose people to verses and readings that they may not be familiar with. It also brings back the familiar stories or parables. Jesus used parables a lot.
It’s similar to how we include current music and graphics in our services. It is also similar to how Jacob preaches.

If you’ve noticed he interweaves a bit of his personal life in many of his sermons. The process is done to help all of people understand what is being said and the meaning behind it, in a setting of their everyday interactions with the world; and if you allow yourself, it also gives you a starting point to continue to reflect and what was really meant.

So let's look at today's parable. A large crowd comes to hear Jesus, reported there are at least 5,000 people. 
It’s said that these folks needed food. Nobody has money but there is this kid that shows up with 5 small loaves of bread and 3 fish, yeah that’s going to work isn’t it? But Jesus says it’s enough, pass it out, and low and behold when they are done, everyone is full and there are left overs!

With this parable we have it easy, the writer even explains the parable’s meaning to us in the verse, “the people saw that he had done a miraculous sign, they said, “This is truly the prophet who is coming into the world.” 
So this was all done so Jesus could show his power to the people, that is what I always thought this parable  was all about, but was that the only meaning?

When I decided to look at this as our Scripture for today, I noticed several ideas and other meanings laying off in the weeds.

What popped up right at the beginning is that we need to have faith in Jesus.  Marvin Gaye just sang about this thought in another way saying “I’m  Always there in time of need And when I lose my will You'll be there to push me up the hill.”

Jesus told the disciples to do something that they thought was going to end in failure, however when they actually followed what Jesus told them they succeeded in multiple ways. They just had to have faith in what Jesus was telling them.

Along this line there is another meaning, “God will provide.”  Jesus knew how many people were there, he knew they needed to be fed, and provided a way for the group to receive nourishment when everyone else thought it impossible. 
Isn’t this something we’ve been told from little on, to put it in God’s hands, look to God for help, God will provide.


Now whether or not you listen to what God is telling you or whether or not you embrace what God is providing to you, that’s up to you. Nothing is going to be forced upon you, it will be offered, but you need to make the decision whether to take it. It’s my belief that God continually provides for us, so if you don’t take, or realize what is offered this time, God will provide for  you again and again. The Creator wants the best for us, but God isn’t going to force you, you need to make the decision. You need to have the faith and courage to step up and take what’s being offered.

One last meaning that I found in this parable is abundance.

Now you are thinking there wasn’t much abundance in this parable; there was just a tiny amount of food; and yes you’re right, however that tiny amount of food was enough, in fact it was more than enough. The so-called civilized world is keyed into the belief that we need stuff, at times we need more stuff.

I’m not bashing businesses, we certainly do need things to survive and to live, but just how much do we need?


In other Scripture, the writers of those words point out that the sparrow does not work and yet is cared for, the grass and flowers toil not but are they not dressed in the finest colors.

Sometimes I think we need to take a moment and just look at how well we may have it, to think about what we have. To evaluate what to do with what we may not need. I’m not telling you to sell off everything you own, to put on sackcloth and become missionaries to a far off land, 
but what I am asking is for you to appreciate and look at your lives, and realize you probably have something to share that will make someone else’s life better.

If you're retired you may have time to give, to volunteer, if your clothes or possessions don’t suit you anymore there are resale shops and consignment stores, if you feel the best way for you to help is to donate finances, there are many upstanding organizations that will take it and turn it into things that are wonderful.

The saying, “ that it is better to give than receive,” comes to mind here. Think back to when you gave of yourself and you were able to see the result of your actions.

Didn’t the smile on the person’s face, the gratitude of another, the organization taking your donation and making changes for many, didn’t that just make you feel wonderful. After feeding the multitude 12 bushel baskets of leftovers where gathered up, a demonstration of the blessings from sharing with others what little you may have.  
We all truly have an abundance in one way or another and we have something to give. The world is truly in need, maybe now more than ever. We need to use our faith, our trust, and our gifts. 
Even if you believe what you have is too small, as we have read, God has the ability to make what you have be enough to help others. You just need to believe that God will provide what you need, and in the abundance of what the Creator gives you, you can share with others.

Yes there is one book and one Jesus that we can draw from for our teachings, and the stories may repeat, but never stop looking at them to see what else they are telling you; remember God is still speaking to you, to us, to the world. Don’t ignore the Creator’s message, don’t put yourself in do not disturb mode. 
God will, and is providing for us. Take what you need of the bread and fish, but make sure to pass it on what’s leftover,  so others too can be fed in a variety of ways by God.
 

“The Good Samaritan, and the View from the Ditch”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun

July 21, 2024
Luke 10:25-37

Focus statement: The call of Jesus to love our neighbors is as important and revolutionary today as it has ever been. When we love our neighbors, we are offered the opportunity to extend love and grace to those who need it most, regardless of what society would tell us to do. 
Behavioral purpose:

Yesterday evening, I returned from a week in Illinois, representing the Wisconsin Conference UCC at the Great Lakes Regional Youth Event. In total, there were about 110 youth and their adult leaders, representing 12 different conferences of the UCC. You’ll see a group picture of us up on the screen. I’m on the top step, next to my friend Bekah, whose name you might recognize as the woman I wrote the song with last year for Access Sunday. It had been the first time I saw Bekah in person since I first met her in 2019.

The theme of the event was the reminder that “love is greater than fear.” I want to talk a bit about what I learned this week in relation to that, and how I think today’s youth embody this lesson so well.

First off, I want to assure you that as long as the youth are in charge of running the world, the rest of us have nothing to worry about. A lot of today’s youth frankly get a bad rap from the rest of society for being disrespectful, disengaged, and disconnected from the real world while they’re glued to their phones and tablets. To be blunt, I believe the rest of us so often write them off for not behaving like we expect them to, when we would do well to form genuine relationships with them and engage them in non-judgmental conversations about issues that matter to them. Some of the issues that are most important to youth today are things like this: how can they be assured they’ll be safe to live into the fullness of their identity? How can they be assured that they’ll be safe from school shooters and other people who want to hurt them? How can they be assured that they’ll inherit a planet that is safe for future generations to live on?

But the most important insight I had was this: these youth have such clarity about the need to lift up the voices and experiences of people who have been oppressed. They want to give back to their community by making the world a better place for those who are disadvantaged in some way, particularly by race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or socioeconomic background. They understand what it’s like to be “in the ditch”, like the man in our story. Maybe some of them have been there themselves. If these youth are any indication, today’s youth are attuned to the needs and experiences of others than some adults might expect.  

And that takes ri
sk. I may only be 30, but I’ve never seen our country as divided as it is today. With a few exceptions, many of my friends and family who are older than me feel the same way. We’re divided on religious, political, and ideological issues, in ways that prevent us from seeing each other as neighbors.

So sometimes, on our less generous days, we may be like the legal expert who asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor”. He asks this not because he wants to learn about the people to whom he should show compassion and love. He asks, instead, because he wants to know who he has license to ignore or push aside, whose plight he doesn’t need to worry himself with.

As is often the case with Jesus, he doesn’t directly answer the lawyer’s question. He turns it into a teaching moment instead. He uses one of his favorite teaching methods, telling a story, to make a point.

The story begins with a Jewish person being robbed and left for dead. Then a priest and a Levite pass by the man and go another way.

But why don’t they help him? The commentators of the Jewish Annotated New Testament say it’s not out of purity concerns, but out of a lack of care for someone in their community. Maybe they were in a hurry on the way somewhere, or maybe they thought, “Ah, well. Someone else will help him.” We don’t get a very satisfying answer to that question from reading the text alone, but Rabbi Amy-Jill Levine reminds us that that’s not the point. In her book, Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi, Amy-Jill writes, “Neither [Jesus nor Luke] gives the priest or Levite an excuse. Nor would any excuse be acceptable.” In other words, they knew what the Torah said about loving your neighbor, and they did nothing.

That’s what makes the Samaritan so interesting. Samaritans and Jews were brutal enemies, and yet this Samaritan is the one who helps his neighbor. 
And this isn’t the “brush you off, give you some water, and send you on your way” kind of help. He does this at great personal cost. He dresses his wounds with wine, hoists him onto his donkey, and takes him to an inn to recuperate, at great personal expense. The Scripture says he was “moved with compassion.”

I wonder what he might have thought when he saw his injured neighbor.  Did he hesitate for a few moments before approaching the man? Was he cynical about helping someone he was supposed to see as an enemy? Did he wonder what others might think if they found out?

Whatever he might have been thinking, he understood the importance of loving the person in front of him, without considering whether or not he was worthy of that love. The Jewish man was a person in need of help, and he had the resources to provide that help.

Jesus ends the parable by turning the lawyer’s question back to him, albeit in a slightly different way. “What do you think? Which one of these three was a neighbor to the man who encountered thieves?”
The lawyer correctly answers: The one who demonstrated mercy toward him.”Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”  

This might naturally lead me to end my sermon by talking about how we should care for those in need in our communities, those who are oppressed by unjust systems. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s a good thing to keep in mind.

But Amanda Brobst-Renaud, who serves as Assistant Professor of Theology at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, reminds us that we should take the invitation a step further.

She invites us to ask ourselves what we can learn from the man in the ditch. What does it feel like to be forgotten or dismissed by others, or even by God?

When you’re in the ditch, either in a literal or metaphorical sense, you’re caught in the middle of a life circumstance you can’t escape. You’re passed over by some, waiting for that one person to help you out of the goodness of their heart. When you’re in a ditch, you’re hoping someone will do something that runs counter to human nature, and show you compassion.

We’re all in the ditch in one season of life or another.

Sometimes it looks like being robbed and left for dead. Sometimes it looks like growing up in an unimaginable world, doing your best when you inherit the problems previous generations either couldn’t or didn’t want to fix. 
Sometimes it feels like the creeping anxiety as food and gas prices go up, and there’s too much month left at the end of the money. 
Sometimes it looks like infertility in the midst of a society that values reproduction, and Christians who tell you to pray a little harder for God to help you. (People use that Deuteronomy passage to support that kind of theology, by the way.)
Sometimes it looks like doing your best to navigate social systems that were designed for your exclusion.

In today’s media song, Drew Holcomb talks about shining like lightning, “even if our back’s against the wall”. Not only o we get the chance to shine when we help others, but we get a chance to shine when we know what it’s like to be in the ditch, and we’re given an opportunity to live authentically into our beings.

The Samaritan might have had empathy for this downtrodden individual because he knew what it felt like to be in the ditch, metaphorically or maybe even literally. Christ offers a similar call to us: to help not because we want to feel good about ourselves, but because we have empathy and compassion for those around us.  

The call of Jesus to love our neighbors is as important and revolutionary today as it has ever been. When we love our neighbors, we are offered the opportunity to extend love and grace to those who need it most, regardless of what society would tell us to do.

So my friends, may you be moved with compassion this week. May you pull someone out of the ditch, or sit with them in it, because you know how important that gift of grace was when it was extended to you. May you lead with love, with empathy, and with kindness. May you be surprised by what you learn, and how God’s grace is with you along the way. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

 

 

“Focus On…What Exactly?”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun

July 14, 2024
Philippians 4:4-9

Focus: in thinking about the mission of our church, it's important for us to remember that God calls us to focus our spirits on that which brings joy and blessing to us and our communities. It's in those acts that we will receive the peace of Christ.

When I was scrolling on Facebook this week, I encountered the image on the screen. It says, “You can do anything… but not everything.” As the image shows, you can either fill one jug of water all the way full, or five jugs of water partway fall. You can't do both unless you have more water. I want you to keep that image in your mind as I share today's message, because it has lots of relevance to my own life, and the life of this church. Maybe you might find some relevance in the ways that you love your own life as well.

As some of you know, outside of playing and singing music, a hobby of mine that is also part of my vocation is songwriting and producing music. My second bedroom in my townhome is a cross between a home office for doing church work and a small home recording studio. One of the things that I was most looking for and excited about when I moved here was the opportunity to have a dedicated space for making music.
But I'm learning that I need to carve out more time and space in my life to utilize it. I still have a lot to learn about the recording and production process. But the learning and the doing is also something that brings me joy, something that helps me fill my own cup when the workday is done.

As this is my first proper ministerial call, I know I have a lot to learn there too. I love this church, and I am honored to accompany you through important parts of your lives and be invited into both joyful and the challenging moments. You are constantly in my thoughts and prayers and every day I ask myself how I can be more effective or more present. Because I care about you all so much, you deserve my time, my attention, and my prayerful discernment, in order for me to serve you well.

But in order for me to serve you well, you also deserve a pastor who has taken time for self-care and other things that feed my creativity. You deserve a pastor who has interests and passions outside of local church ministry. You deserve a pastor who finds ways to set aside anxiety and focus on things that are important to me when I’ve done what I can do for the church that day. If I don’t engage in time management as a spiritual practice, if I don’t care for myself and do the things that feed my soul, there’s no way I can do a good job caring for you.

I think the same is true for this church. I think the anxieties that Paul talks about in today's passage are felt both in our local church here, and in the church universal. Because we have a unique theological perspective, in comparison to some of the other churches in the area, many of us want to promote that we still have “something for everyone.” And to make it so, we want to say we have progressive theology, meaningful children’s and youth programs, innovative worship engaging secular media, generous community outreach. and so forth. And most of that is true. We have a lot of that already. But so often the institutional church believes that we have to be all things to all people in order to stay relevant. Because if we don't, how will we pay our bills? How will we preserve our traditions? How will God's love be shared with the next generation?

But Paul reminds the church that the anxiety does not need to oppress us. You might remember that I often construct a sermon based on a particular verse or phrase of the text that has been buzzing around in my head all week. This week, that phrase is this one: “if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things.”

When there are so many things that we think about as individuals, and so many things that we think about as the church, to me, it's deeply liberating to be reminded to focus on what brings joy and love to the world. God calls us to focus our spirits on that which brings joy and blessing to us and our communities. It's in those acts that we will receive the peace of Christ.

For me personally, it might be the recognition that at some point it's time to set aside my own anxieties for the day, take the “pastor hat” off, and write a new song. (I have lots of ideas that could be fleshed out.) Maybe for you, it's taking time to spend with your families, or with those who love.

Maybe for the church, it’s the act of liberating ourselves from doing everything for everyone, and focusing instead of clarifying our mission, our particular ministry here at U-CC.

Perhaps we might respond first, by reciting the words of our mission and vision statement that we now recite about once a month. That's a good start. But I wonder if it's the place we finish.

There's a question that's worth asking as the church changes and we begin to realize that we can't be everything to everyone. Like the image at the beginning of my message, we can do anything, but we can't do everything. That leaves us with this question: Because we can’t do everything, what are we going to do?

Maybe Paul's encouragement can give us an answer. Our job is to focus on the things that are excellent and praiseworthy in our ministries. Perhaps that looks like packing over 300 lunches for people in need. Perhaps that looks like widening our welcome as we think about how to be more inclusive. Perhaps that looks like building beloved community, lifting each other up when times are hard. Perhaps that looks like providing meaningful visitation ministry or bringing food to folks when they need it.

In today's media song, Whitney Houston sings this:
“Each day I live, I want to be
A day to give the best of me
I'm only one, but not alone”

This reminds me why it’s important to stay focused, and to be present. If we let the peace of Christ live within us, and focus on the things that are most important to our church’s ministries, and to our own lives, we can put them into practice.

So is he going to your week, may you think about how you can unburden yourself from the pressure to do everything. Think about the things that you do best, the things that bring you joy, and do more of that. Yes, the work still needs to get done, and the anxiety might not totally go away. But it is when we live our lives with joy and passion that the peace of Christ can be with us. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

“The Choices We Make, and the Challenge of Sharing God’s Love”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun, Pentecost 7B

July 7, 2024

Focus: Sharing God’s love asks a lot of us, and sometimes the challenge is how we are going to share a different message than what others believe or what we’ve been taught in the past.

One of the side effects of being the pastor of a more progressive denomination of Christianity is that I often get a lot of questions, questions I think many people in a church like ours can resonate with because of what we say we believe.

Here are just a few.

“How can you believe that being gay isn’t a sin?” (That one came while I was getting a haircut.)

“I don’t believe in female pastors. How can you think that’s acceptable?” (It’s no coincidence that women were the first preachers of the resurrection and also no coincidence that the one who doubted it was a man. Also, I’m not criticizing anyone who is less used to the idea of female pastors, only the peoples who say that shouldn’t be.)

“Do you really think talking about racism or other forms of oppression are acceptable in church?” (In fact, yes I do, because I believe God wants all people to have the same rights as everyone else and we as God’s people cannot be free until everyone is free. Besides, if we’re doing it right, I believe we should be talking about hard things, even risky things, and trying to make the world better as a witness to God’s work in our lives.)

But unfortunately, not everyone who claims to be a Christian understands things that way. Too often, people go to church simply because they want to feel better about themselves for doing “the right thing.” Too many people want to "check it off the list”, saying they did their good thing for the week and can now live their lives without consequence the rest of the week. Or worse, some people believe that the primary motivator for believing in Christ is that you'll go to hell if you don’t.

I feel like Jesus probably felt the same way. For so many, the teachings of Jesus presented a radical departure from the established social norms of the day. Listening to Jesus, therefore, also forced listeners to make a choice: either get on board with what Jesus was saying, or don’t.

My overarching theme for today is that Jesus and his disciples offered a very different message than what people were accustomed to, and those who listened had a choice to make: either receive it or dismiss it. There are two important things that happened in this lectionary passage, and I will take each one by one. But that's the theme that runs through both of these, and after I make those connections, I will talk about what it means for us.

First, Jesus receives what can only be understood as a cold reception in his hometown of Nazareth. The popular paraphrase called The Message interprets it this way:

“He’s just a carpenter—Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?”

The people of Nazareth can't experience the authority of Jesus, because they know where he came from, who his parents were. They could make assumptions about him based upon what they had experienced of him. Anyone who knew him couldn't get behind most of the more important things Jesus was saying, because they couldn't get past the image of “little boy” Jesus in their heads.

We're about to watch a clip from one of my favorite movies, called Freedom Writers. It's based on a true story of a first-year high school English teacher, by the name of Erin Gruwell. Two years after the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, Mrs. Gruwell, a middle class white woman, is hired to teach at risk high school students. Before the beginning of this clip, she’s startled by a derogatory drawing of one of the other students in the class, and has an encounter with her students which eventually teach both her and them some very important lessons. Let's watch.

(clip)

Happily, the scene we just watched, represents a breakthrough for both teacher and students, but they seen it also shows how people in the business of teaching others don't always get the reception they expect.

But this leads into the second part of the scripture, where Jesus gives the disciples some instructions. They are to share the good news of God’s love with others, but if others are not receptive to that love, the disciples are to kick the dust off their shoes and move forward.

Sometimes I wonder if that might be part of our task as more progressively-minded Christians. We are far from a monolith of our beliefs, to be sure, but we pride ourselves on being a church where people can belong if they don’t agree with the way the churches and their past have done things. When you put out your church profile in the most recent search process, one of the things on your “wish list” that intrigued me right away  was the sense that you were seeking to become more inclusive, more welcoming, and more strong in your mission than you already were. You recognized in that time that you were already doing some great things, but that you hoped that your next ministry leader would help you do more. I'm certainly not a perfect pastor, and if we wanted to take on some wider or deeper initiatives, those things could not be initiated by me. The pastor does not cast the mission of the church; the people cast the mission of the church and the pastor advises them, guides them, and prays for their discernment.

But here's what I do know.

So often, churches say that they want to learn to be more inclusive, or to be stronger in their mission. And I think most of the time when they say those things, they really believe it.

But so often, when we are faced with the desire to make a change, we are afraid of what other people in our communities will think if we take a strong stance on a controversial social justice issue. We live in a small town, and that risk is not a small one, because in small towns like ours, people talk. People form opinions of our church based on what we say we believe and how we choose to broadcast that belief system. Sometimes people will agree with our message and our belief system, and sometimes they won’t. That’s the nature of discipleship; what’s right isn’t always easy.

But what Jesus asks his disciples to do in this text is not to simply avoid doing the work of discipleship because of what other people will think. He asks them to keep going, shake the dust off their feet, and continue to spread the good news of God’s love to anyone who needs it, especially those who are most vulnerable, those who were caught in systems that oppressed and demeaned. 
I’m going to let you interpret what that means for you personally and how you want to see the church live out that call. But here’s the message I want you to take with you today. Sharing God’s love asks a lot of us, and sometimes the challenge is how we are going to share a different message than what others believe or what we’ve been taught in the past.

Because when we share a message of love, inclusion, and liberation—instead of the exclusionary belief systems of other churches—and share it boldly, incredible things can happen. Perhaps people in our community who are yearning for an accepting and caring church home can finally find that in us. (We’ve seen that in action today, as a new member has joined our church!)

So may you continue to do as Jesus asked of all of us us, to share the good news, to be courageous in your beliefs, and made stronger because God accompanies you on the way. May it be so. Amen.

 

“Lament, and Finding Our Way Back to Hope” 
Sermon for U-CC Waupun, Pentecost 6B, 

June 30, 2024
Lamentations 3:22-33

Focus: Even when there are reasonable circumstances to lament, we can have faith that God has not left our side.

When my mom got endometrial cancer, it was probably the moment where my own faith was tested the most. It was also undoubtedly the moment where God's strength and presence has been revealed to me the most.

When our family received the diagnosis, it was the summer before my last semester in college. We were told from the get-go that my mom had treatment available to her that would represent a full cure, but it would require some pretty intense treatment. They called it “sandwich therapy”. Three rounds of chemo, followed by 30 days of radiation, followed by three more rounds of chemo. As anybody who has ever had cancer treatment will tell you, that is the worst kind of sandwich you could imagine! But if that's what it took, my mom was willing to do that.

As it turned out, she would run into some difficulties along the way. The chemo made her feel absolutely horrible for several days afterwards. Going to radiation treatment every weekday for a month took its toll. And finally, since the radiation had wiped out most of her platelets, her last three chemo treatments had to be postponed several times because of low platelet counts.

Especially that first few months of her cancer treatment, I was an hour and a half away, trying to finish my last semester of college. I wanted nothing more than to be able to sit with her during her treatments and help her around the house when she needed it. I remember feeling so helpless, because there was so little I could do, and if I was going to find hope in the situation, I was going to have to dig deep to find it. Sometimes it felt like I had to stick my face in the dirt, like the text says.

But my faith was strengthened in these moments, because of the ways that God showed up to carry me and my family through. God showed up through casseroles and restaurant gift cards brought to my parents’ house so that dad didn't have to cook all the meals by himself. God showed up through college friends who would meet me for coffee on the days of mom's chemo treatments and tell me stories that would make me laugh. God showed up through caring teachers and professors who helped my sister Emily and I process our emotions around what was going on.

But on our journey to find that hope, we had to lament first. Part of the reason I chose this text from really strange text from Lamentations today was to remind us, that part of our faith journey both encourages and sometimes requires us to lament. In so many of our faith traditions, we've been told throughout our lives that if we're not praising God in every circumstance, we're doing it wrong. If we aren’t giving God thanks at all times for all the things God has done for us, we are ungrateful. But I think this text is inviting us to challenge that assumption. Lament is, by definition, an inevitable part of the human experience, because there's no way we can be happy all the time. The text says, example, that we should simply put up with anything God throws at us. We should expect to be slapped on the cheek, set our face to the ground, and sit stoically, waiting for God to deliver us from our current situation. It's almost as if the writer we should expect some kind of punishment from God in times of our distress.

We don't know exactly who wrote this part of the book of Lamentations, because the book of Lamentations has many authors, but the stark reality is that in this chapter of the book of Lamentations places the blame for the individual’s circumstance squarely on God. The lectionary cuts, this part out, but I feel it's important to give you some context. Among other complaints, verse 8 says: “Even though I call out and cry for help, God silences my prayer.”

Have you ever felt that God has ignored your distress, or that God has failed to intervene in our communities when it mattered? To be honest, it would be quite faithful of you to say yes, because it's biblical. So often, so many of us are forced to try to hold onto faith, and hope, even as it seems that the world is crashing down. So often, we are forced to ask the question of why bad things happen. Does God simply allow it, sitting and watching while the medical treatment doesn’t work, or the rights of marginalized communities are taken away, or people are without a home or dependable food sources in Dodge County? Did God simply watch idly as last weekend’s storm completely demolished the building of the Apple Grove Lutheran Church in Argyle, WI, a building that has been standing since 1893?

The truth is that sometimes we don't know why these things happen. The author of today's scripture passage was dealing with a particularly difficult moment in their lives, one that they believed that God caused.

But even in the midst of these complaints, even in the midst of this deep trouble in their lives, the author of this text doesn't falter in their faith. In spite of everything else, they say, “Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through!” There certainly is reason for hope.

In our media song for today, we are reminded that, even when there is no star in sight, God will be our guiding light. God is with us, even when things seem unexplainably difficult.
We're about to watch a heartwarming movie clip from A Dog’s Way Home, which we also thought was appropriate for today's message.

(clip)

After 2 1/2 years, a period of time which surely would have meant certain death for most dogs, a dog can still find her human companions. In a similar way, no matter what the situation, God can still give us hope.

This is the good news, friends. This is the grace you can take with you today Even when there are reasonable circumstances to lament, we can have faith that God has not left our side.

That was the grace that I took away from my mom's cancer journey. By God’s grace, she is now cancer, free, and we're very thankful. By God’s grace, my faith was strengthened, instead of weakened by hopelessness. No matter what happens, God has been faithful to me in my life, and I know that God will see me through any situation. And I know that God will do the same for you.

So this week, I invite you to not shy away from despair when it comes on your path, because it might be what strengthens your faith, the most. Think about a time where your faith was strengthened in a time of difficulty, and give thanks for God's faithfulness, which has sustained you. Amen

 

“Don’t You Have Faith Yet?”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun, Pentecost 4B, 

June 23, 2024
Mark 4: 35-41

Focus: In the midst of the storms in our lives, Jesus’ presence offers us hope, even when it seems like the rain won’t stop.

Do you ever feel like the rain won't stop?

On one hand, I actually mean this literally. Over the past couple of months, it seems like it's rained and rained and rained. I haven't been able to get my bike out to ride to work as much as I could this time last year, and most of you understand my bike is something that gives me a sense of independence. The mosquitoes are horrendous. The farmers in our community have probably wondered how all this rain would impact the planting, growing, and harvesting that they rely upon for survival. I had to stop writing this sermon when we were under a tornado warning, and the news told me we got well over 3 1/2 inches of rain yesterday.

But on the other hand, I mean this in a more metaphorical way. There was a time in my own family. For example, that was just so full of loss. First, my dad's brother, Jim, with whom he had a very close relationship, had just retired from managing a paper mill, and was consulting with his former company one day to help the young guys shut down the mill for routine maintenance. As he was giving them instructions, he collapsed right in front of them, and either had a heart attack or a stroke. They put him in a medically induced coma, and he never woke up.

Then, my mom's mom, the grandma that I talk about from North Carolina, was diagnosed with Stage 4 bile duct cancer, and 21 days later she was gone.

Then, our dear family friend, Dave, died a few days after my grandma, after a difficult journey with pancreatic cancer.

The three of them died in the course of about four months. All of us were grieving so much and it was just exhausting. For a time we didn't really know how to cope with it all.

It felt like the rain just wouldn’t stop.

Of course, at one point, the rain finally did stop, and we knew Bo felt God was with us, and that the people we had loved and lost. We're with us also, in our minds and our hearts. My sister, Emily, and I, can do pretty good impressions of the various wacky things that my grandma would say in her sassy, southern drawl. There are very few memories of my Grandma, Uncle Jim, or our friend Dave, that don't give us a smile or laugh, even if sometimes we laugh through misty eyes.

I would imagine a number of us have stories like this, in our own lives, in our own families. Maybe not with death specifically, but other traumatic life events, perhaps. If we're honest with ourselves, maybe we’ve felt like the disciples in the boat. There are many songs, both on Christian radio, and in our treasured hymns, that use the image of Jesus being with us in the storm. And it's a nice idea that gives us comfort, but it isn't always so simple. 
While we are caught in the eye of a storm, it sometimes seems to us that Jesus is absolutely unbothered by our circumstances, literally sleeping on a pillow (or a cushion, depending on which translation you follow), while we are the ones saying, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re drowning?”

Often times when I'm preparing to preach, there will be one sentence that the Holy Spirit nudges me to talk about. This week, that sentence is this one: “Jesus asked them, […] ‘Don’t you have faith yet?’”

I think there are two ways to hear that sentence. The more obvious way is probably the way that Mark might want you to hear it, which is to say that Jesus is rebuking the disciples. He saying, “don't you get it? Snap out of it!”

But in his commentary for Working Preacher, New Testament professor Matt Skinner puts it this way: “[The disciples] have lost hope; their words reveal that they have already figured out how the story must end.”

Like them, when we face difficult circumstances, if Jesus were to ask us, “Don't you have faith yet?”, a response might be, “to be honest, it's a little shaky at the moment,” or maybe even, “I’m not so sure anymore, Jesus. So many terrible things have happened to me and you haven't been able to stop them.”

But what if we read that sentence a little bit differently? What if, instead of rebuking us, and telling us to shape up, Jesus said these words with love and compassion in his voice? As if to say, “why are you frightened? Don't you know I am going to love you and keep you safe? Don't you know I'm not going to leave you to yourselves? Don't you know that, no matter what happens, I am not going to give up on you?”

“Don't you have faith yet, in what I have done, what I'm doing, and in what I am going to do for you?”

I don't know what the kind of inflection was in Jesus’ voice, because I wasn't there. But something is leading me to believe that a rebuke from Jesus would not be the end of the story, because, as he says this, the storm call is down, and the disciples are filled with awe, and maybe even with a kind of peace. “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
Just like the disciples, we ourselves might be able to be filled with that kind of peace. Just like the disciples, the storm is not the end of the story for us. In the midst of the storms in our lives, Jesus’ presence offers us hope, even when it seems like the rain won’t stop.

It's true, that Jesus doesn't take away the things that caused the storms in our lives. Jesus didn't prevent my grandma, my Uncle Jim, or my friend Dave, from dying and leaving loved ones to move forward and navigate their lives without them. But we can have hope in these moments that Jesus does not leave us to ourselves. Jesus is gently calling us to be more faithful, to trust that Jesus will be there for us, as he has been so many times before. I can say for certain that my faith enabled me to get through that incredibly difficult time in our family’s life, and my faith will enable me to get through many more difficult circumstances in the future. I have every confidence the same will be true for you, because, from everything I know about you, you are a strong, faithful, and prayerful congregation. All of these attributes will carry you through any storm.

Even as, in many ways, UCC Waupun has recovered quite well after the pandemic, I think, in other ways, we are still trying to calm down again. And while it's true that the future will not look like the past, and things won't necessarily return to exactly how they used to be, Jesus is inviting us to maintain a resilient hope that he will be with us for whatever comes next.

Mumford & Sons exemplifies that resilient hope in today's media song. The chorus is simple and beautiful, and I want to make sure you caught this assurance in these lyrics:

But there will come a time
You'll see, with no more tears
And love will not break your heart
But dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see
What you find there
With grace in your heart
And flowers in your hair

As you go into this week, I invite you to think about the storms that Jesus has carry do you through in your life. Remember, with gratitude the times that Jesus called you into deeper faith. A life of faith, after all, it's rarely easy, but so often deeply rewarding. May you were reflection on the times that Christ has carried you offer you opportunities to continue to grow. When Jesus asked you the question, “don't you have faith yet?”, may you work toward being able to respond in earnest, with a heart full of awe and joy. Thanks be to God. Amen.  
 

“Mustard Seed Moments at U-CC”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun, June 16, 2024, Pentecost 4B
Ezekiel 17:22-24 and Mark 4:26-34

Focus: Even as the church is changing drastically by every measure, we can celebrate the goodness of what we do together and recognize how God is calling us into exciting new opportunities to grow even more.

It's no secret that the institutional church is changing a lot. From this pulpit, I have talked about many disturbing trends that are impacting society and impacting how society views the institutional church. Add to that an increasingly divided political landscape and competing moral values, and it's enough to make anybody feel more than a little uneasy.

These are all real issues, and I don't want to belittle them or pretend that they don't exist. In the same way that I can't pretend that these social issues have no impact on us as a congregation, you can't pretend that, at some level, you don't come to church looking for personal direction, in the midst of all of it. As a Christian community, I think we crave spiritual accompaniment in the midst of life's challenges. So honestly, every once in a while, I think it's important to remember the things that we do well, as a tool for cultivating the resilience we need to get through the challenging times we're living in. 
So today, I want to talk about a couple of “mustard seed moments” that I personally have experienced here in this congregation, and how God might be calling us to continue our growth.

When I say “mustard seed moments”, I'm talking about the kinds of things that happen in the church that start a small and grow to something bigger. Jesus says, “When scattered on the ground, [the mustard seed is] the smallest of all the seeds on the earth; but when it’s planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all vegetable plants. It produces such large branches that the birds in the sky are able to nest in its shade.”

The first of many “mustard seed moments” I can point to is the formation of our congregational care committee. At some point along the first few months of my pastorate here, I realized two things: first, that I couldn't visit everybody on our visitation list with the frequency I would desire, and second, that not everybody in our congregation is well acquainted with the people in our membership who are living in care facilities. So I solicited the help of other individuals from the congregation, who now make regular visits to those in need of care and companionship. I can tell you that those who receive the visits find them extremely rewarding, and they feel more connected to their church family and less isolated. The care committee, in return, feels that this gives them the opportunity to get to know more people in our congregation, and provide friendship and companionship to those whose days might otherwise feel mundane or even boring.

The second “mustard seed moment” I want to lift up is the relationships I've been able to foster with people who have helped me out in various ways. Because of my disability, I need help in different ways than what might be typical for a pastor to need. To be blunt, some people in my life have questioned whether I could be a pastor, because of some of the physical limitations that I have. (One of them is transportation, but there are more ways than that that other people have stepped in for me. In fact, I would argue that pretty much every active member of this congregation has made ways for me to do the work that I do in big and small ways, some people in ways they wouldn’t even realize.) Not only has this congregation not seen my disability as a deficit, but you continue to celebrate my particularities, and you foster a sense of interdependence, relying on one another, in ways I deeply appreciate.

To me, this is what the realm of God is like. The people of God caring for one another, as Jesus cared for us. And what strikes me is that Jesus understood that dense or abstract theological concepts couldn't be grasped by most people at face value, but he could translate them into something that they could understand. It's probably fair to say that most of us would fit that description as well. Mark also makes a point to remind his readers that Jesus only spoke to most people in parables, and that he decoded the meaning of his teachings, only to those who were closest to him. Since they would be the ones carrying on the teaching, after he was gone, it was important for them to understand his motives. In the same way, that the farmer did not always understand how the seeds grew we don't always have the opportunity understand how God can take the stories, the joys, and the pains of our lives, and use it for the goodness of God's dream in the world. What I love the most about the mustard seed parable is that, even when we don't always understand it, God shows up and multiplies our efforts far more than we could fathom. God shows up through a caring congregation. God shows up through meaningful visitation ministry. God shows up even in the moments where we have difficulties and disagreements with one another.

This is the good news for today. Even as the church is changing drastically by every measure, we can celebrate the goodness of what we do together and recognize how God is calling us into exciting new opportunities to grow even more.

Nobody ever said that the realm of God would be without its uncertainty. We don't always know what will grow when we plant our mustard seeds. That's why I think the Sara Bareilles song, “Uncharted”, is appropriate for today's message. As I alluded to earlier, the institutional church is in a state of transition. We're out of foolproof ideas. The things that worked 50 years ago to grow the church just aren't going to work anymore. So, this calls us to be inventive with the mustard seeds that we plant.

And if there's a way you want to see the ministries of our church reach people in new ways, let's talk about it together. Let's think about how our particular ministries can be “mustard seeds” for the city of Waupun and beyond.

I’d also invite you to this week think about how God might be calling you to work toward spreading God’s realm in the world. What are some of your own “mustard seed moments”, when God showed up and turned something small into something bigger than you could fathom?

Friends, there are “mustard seed moments” all around us, and there are ways that this church has been part of God's transformative work in the world. Let's celebrate the gifts that God has given us, and then, after that, let's think together about how God might be calling us to plant more mustard seeds in the future. Thanks be to God. Amen. 
 

Listening to a Still-Speaking God
Revelation 3:20-22
Delivered at the Wisconsin Conference Annual Meeting 

Green Lake, WI 

June 8, 2024
Adapted by Pastor Jacob
 

Listen!  I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Grace and peace to you!  I bring you greetings from Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, where graduation was just a few weeks ago and we are now in our summer term. We at Eden continue to prepare passionate, well-educated leaders for congregations like yours, and we’d love to talk with you about which members of your congregation are being called to lead congregations in the future. I’m honored to be asked to explore this passage of scripture with you this morning, and I hope that you will be able to hear whatever the Spirit is whispering to you, for your life and for your community.  
 

Have you read about the new dolphin communication technology?  It’s so cool, and I am totally not making this up.  It’s called “CHAT,” C-H-A-T, which stands for Cetacean Hearing Augmentation Technology. (A cetacean, if you’re wondering, is a marine mammal like a dolphin or a whale.)  A team of scientists led by Denise Herzing has developed a device that you can strap to your wrist that will both listen to and produce dolphin sounds.  Using hundreds of recordings gathered over the course of 35 years, they are using artificial intelligence to build a large language model that will allow this device to both hear and produce dolphin communication signals.  It’s a little bit like the phone translation apps that will speak Italian or Mandarin or Serbo-Croatian—except that you’d be using it underwater, which is often a little hard on phones, and you’d be talking to a different species.  It may be stretch to say that dolphins have a language in the sense that we think of a language (Dr. Herzig prefers the term “communication signals”), but with this technology we humans are learning some amazing things about how dolphins learn communication signals from their parents, how they can learn new communication signals and add to their repertoire, and how they may be communicating far more than we knew.  With the help of artificial intelligence some waterproof hardware and a whole lot of research and effort, these scientists are learning how to listen to dolphins in new ways. 
 

What about listening to galaxies?  Have you heard about that?  Astronomical data sonification takes digital information gathered by telescopes and converts it into pitch, volume, and types of musical instruments.  You can go on Youtube and listen to the ghostly, mystical sounds of star clusters thousands of light years away.  Sound can’t travel through empty space, obviously, so we’re not hearing distant stars exactly, but data sonification allows people to listen for patterns in a data set, as well as making the data accessible to people with visual disabilities.  Scientists and musicians have worked together to develop this new way of listening to the stars.  
It's pretty amazing how much effort and creativity people are putting into finding new ways to listen. Makes me wonder if we in the church might be able to find new ways of listening as well, with some effort and creativity of our own. Not just listening better, but finding new ways to listen. 
We in the United Church of Christ are fond of claiming that God is still speaking: that revelation, or the word of God, is still unfolding, still evolving.  We are a faith tradition that tries to be more open than defensive when it comes to new kinds of knowledge. We’re not as afraid of new scientific discoveries as some faith traditions, for example. And we’ve tried to learn from the voices among us that have been historically marginalized and silenced. At our best moments we have worked to be less rigid, more flexible as new, emerging theologies have offered fresh ways of understanding Jesus and the astonishing, liberating grace of God.
 

But this theological stance brings with it some sticky questions about what it means to actually engage in listening to the God who continues to speak in an ongoing way.  It’s not always clear whose perspective is the new thing God is speaking, and it’s often even less clear how we can adapt to new ways of listening and responding in each new era.
 

We want to keep growing, to stay on the journey with a stil speaking God, but it’s so tempting to stay in one place after we’ve arrived at a new, exhilarating way of understanding the gospel.  We’re like Peter on top of the mount of transfiguration, saying to Jesus, “It’s so great that we’re here!  If you want, we can just set up camp here on this mountain top.  We’ll set up a tent for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah, and it will be all mountaintop experience all the time!”  But then a voice comes from the clouds.  Do you remember what it says?  “This is my Son! The Beloved!  Listen to him!”  Listen. You thought you were paying attention, you thought you already were listening. But Jesus is not staying on the mountaintop.  He is headed back down into the suffering world, he is “setting his face toward Jerusalem,” as Luke’s gospel says, to go confront the authorities in the streets. “We’re not staying.  I know you’re excited, but stop for a moment, and listen differently.” 
 

“Time makes ancient good uncouth,” as the old hymn says.  “They must upward still and onward, who would keep abreast of truth.”  But when the ways of listening for God we’ve grown accustomed to don’t keep abreast with truth, our first impulse isn’t always to figure out new ways of listening.  When the ways we’ve interpreted scripture, or the theological frameworks that shape our worship aren’t meeting the moment, we are just as likely to assume that God just isn’t saying much, rather than seeking out new ways of listening.  We can start to feel like the elderly Eli in the temple at the time of the call of young Samuel. The story says, “The word of the HOLY ONE was rare in those days. Visions were not widespread.”  Eli is tired.  His adult sons are spoiled and greedy, taking more than their share of meat from the temple sacrifices, and they never listen to him, the text says that.  They just keep staring at their phones.  None of them, including Eli, are really hearing much from God.  
 

But is it really the case that God was not speaking much those days?  Or is it something else?  Is it, perhaps, that a younger generation can hear something that Eli can’t, because he’s not ready for God to be saying, “Samuel!  Samuel!” Samuel comes to Eli three times in the middle of the night, because Samuel thinks it’s Eli who is calling him.  Finally, on the third try, Eli figures out what’s going on. Maybe he remembers what it’s like to hear that call himself.  So, he tells the boy to go back and lie down, and if he hears the voice again, he should say what? Do you remember?  “Speak, Holy One, for your servant is listening.”  There it is again. The future is not Eli’s, but it’s his task to teach young Samuel how to listen differently, and perhaps Eli will learn to hear something that only seemed like silence before, in the process. 
 

In our reading for today, John (not John the gospel writer, a different John) is stewing in exile on the Island of Patmos, off the coast of what is now Turkey, with plenty of time to write. Apparently, banishment to a remote island has left him with more time on his hands, and he wants to keep in touch with some of the congregations he’s been supporting.  He sends a letter that includes seven different messages (which he says he has received from the risen Christ in a vision) for each of seven churches in Asia Minor. And honestly, a lot of it is pretty harsh.  The message to the Laodicians, in which the verses we heard appear, says they’ve gotten too rich and comfortable, and that they’ve become lukewarm in the process, neither hot nor cold, just kind of enjoying their prosperity and going with the flow. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on that, since it obviously has little to do with us, BUT…. But….each brief message ends with the same sentence: Let anyone who has an ear hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”  It’s kind of a refrain that rounds out each message. 
 

This refrain about listening to what the Spirit is saying gets repeated seven times. And of course there’s a good chance that John adds these words at the end of each message just to give some weight and authority to what he’s saying, since the implication is that these scolding messages are what the Spirit is saying. But it’s also a theological assertion, made by the risen Christ according to John’s vision, that the Spirit is saying things currently, in the present tense. And that is really good news, because at the same time that John is saying, “Shape up!”  He is also saying, “Don’t give up.  It’s not over, because the Spirit is still speaking to the churches.”  These are tiny little congregations, scattered far from each other in cultures that generally assume these Jesus followers have lost their minds. Many of them have risked persecution from their neighbors and sometimes the government. (And Franz, just so you know, the bishop of Laodicia was martyred a few decades after this was written, under the emperor Marcus Aurelius.) Over and over, seven times, John is reminding these tiny, struggling churches—Smyrna, and Ephesus, and Laodicia, and maybe Appleton, and Cecil, and Three Rivers, and Waupun, to Listen. To keep listening, and maybe listen differently than they have been. Why? Because God is faithful, and steadfast, and therefore the Spirit will continue speaking. 
· The Romans are breathing down your necks?  It's not over.  Hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
· Fascist, white supremacist, misogynistic, and xenophobic imitations of Christianity seem to be overshadowing authentic lives of struggling to follow in the way of Jesus?  It's not over.  Hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
 

What does it actually mean to listen to what the Spirit is currently saying, or listen to the God who is still speaking?  What does it look like in practice, to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches, in this era we’re in?  In your life?  In the practices of your congregation?  And how might we listen in new ways?
· It might mean listening in new ways through congregational practices of collective, prayerful discernment. 
· It might mean listening in new ways to the biblical interpretation of Palestinian Christians. 
· It might mean listening in new ways to distant galaxies, or dolphins. 
· And it might mean listening to what the Spirit is saying about new ways of being church.  Because the Spirit is saying something, to the churches. Thanks be to God. 
If these words be true, then let all who agree say, “Amen.”

 

“Known and Called”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun, Pentecost 2B

June 2, 2024

Focus: God knows us more deeply then we can ever imagine, and calls us into important work in the world.

Whenever somebody discerns a call to some sort of ministry, usually there's a biblical story that coincides with something in their own lives. The experience of identifying with certain biblical stories in the midst of what is going on in a person’s own life is often referred to as their call story. The story of Samuel and Eli from today's text is a part of my own call story. There's also a bit of Jonah wrapped up in there, too.

For years, so many people thought that I should go into ministry, even though I believed that I was doing what God called me to do going into music education, and sharing what I thought was one of the best gifts God has given me with the next generation. And still, for years, there were so many voices that were placed in my life to help me recognize a call from a God, who, in many ways, knew me better than I could know myself. I've since come to believe that God was calling me in the night through those voices. The voices that I thought were simply friends and professors and other influential people in my life were instead the voice of God, calling me into something deeper.

It was far from easy. There was a lot that I had to give up, and a lot of hard work that I had already put towards that other profession, that I am would learn to recontextualize into a different line of work. I had to learn that I could leave out my musical calling in other ways. Looking back on it now, I can recognize what God was doing, even though in the moment it felt like I was wandering through the wilderness for many years.

I think many of us can relate to the feelings of disorientation around being called into a new direction. Being called by God to explore a new passion, sometimes feels like being in the wilderness. But we do this because life changes, circumstances change, our family dynamic changes, or some other change in our life necessitates something new. According to a study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person changes jobs about 12 times in their career, so society as a whole is very familiar with this concept. So it might be helpful, then, to think about what it means to be called to the work we do, as so many parts of our lives deal with some sort of transition.

What I'm going to trace for you is a theme that weaves through both of our texts for this week. I'm going to talk about how God knows us, and how God calls us.

Psalm 139 is almost creepy in how it talks about how deeply God knows us. Some of the first verses of the psalm recite this way:

2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
   and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely.

If the Psalmist was talking about anybody, other than God, I would have a lot of questions! Who is watching me sleep? Who is following me all the time? Is somebody inside my mind?

But still, I find this really beautiful. No matter what the rest of the world sees about us, no matter what we thought about ourselves, God has searched us and known our inmost parts.

Today's media song is one of my favorites off of Kacey Musgraves’ new album. God knows the complexities of human life. God knows both the joy and the pain of the human experience, and sometimes that causes us to ask God some questions, like, “Are you sure about this, God? Has anything surprised you? Is there anything that you regret?”

It's clear to me that God can only know us this deeply by loving us so much. One of the reasons this Psalm is my favorite Psalm in the entire book is the reminder that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. We are made to live into God's joy, and to respond to God’s call with gratitude and with courage. This also seems like a meaningful message as we head into Pride Month. I've heard important and powerful stories from members of this congregation about how members of the LGBTQ+ community have found refuge and welcome here, in this faith community. And yet, far from patting ourselves on the back, I'm also struck by the reality that the institutional church, all around the world, has so much work to do as we think about what it means to be more fully inclusive. Being fearfully and wonderfully made by God is not something that applies to only some of us.

But because we are fearfully and wonderfully made, God calls us into something deeper. In Samuel, God calls a young boy. If my understanding of biblical life expectancies serves me, I would imagine Samuel is probably not much more than 10 or 12 years old. The scripture says he didn't know God at this point, but when Eli tells him what's going on, Samuel has the courage to immediately respond to God’s call, even if he didn't fully understand how to listen for God’s voice.

It's the same way with my story from earlier. I had to have a reminder on how to listen to gods voice in my life, and maybe you do too. But this is the good news.  God knows us more deeply then we can ever imagine, and calls us into important work in the world.

Here at U-CC, we recognize the call to be messengers of hope and liberation for a community in need. This week, I would invite you to think about where is that God has called you in your own lives. How has God called you by name, and what does God invite you into?

God would not call you into the work that you do in the world if God did not know you. But it's because God made you in the fullness of who you are, and because God loves you so much, that you have the chance to light the world with your love and your important witness. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

“The Power of Questions”
Sermon for UCC Waupun

May 26, 2024

Focus: Like Nicodemus asked questions of Jesus, we are also invited to ask questions as a means of deepening our faith.

My friend Marissa and I went to the same elementary school, and also went to the same home church for our early lives. I didn’t remember this, but recently she reminded me of times when she and I and a few of our other friends would run to the grassy corner of the playground at recess and “play church.” Predictably, I would be the “preacher” and she would lead us in a little song, something she had learned about John 3:16. I don’t remember the content of any of my little sermons, of course, but it was probably something to do with how God loves us and how we should love each other.

Marissa and I went to different middle schools. She went to a middle school for gifted and talented students and I went to traditional middle school. We didn’t lose touch, per se, but we had different interests growing up and didn’t have many of the same classes together when we rejoined at the high school.

Over the last couple of years we’ve reconnected. She lives out in California now and she’s working on her PhD in Immunology. (She’s one of the smartest people I know.) 
In one of our more recent conversations, which I’m sharing with her permission, she told me that in middle school, her family transferred their membership from our shared home church in Neenah to a different church a few cities over that preached a much different message than what we had known to be true. The message of Christ’s love tuned instead into a message of sin and hell and damnation, which didn’t seem to match at all with what we had rehearsed and affirmed all those years ago as we played on the playground. The most disturbing piece to her was that she no longer felt safe asking questions in that church, in a time when asking questions could’ve helped her grow. So, if she couldn’t ask questions, she resolved to find the answers herself. So, she read her Bible from cover to cover hoping to construct a faith that felt more authentic and real, but became even more confused because the Bible so often contradicts itself. So, she became disillusioned with religion and let that part of her life go.

She told me recently something to the effect of, “You know, Jacob, you really believed all that stuff you would say on the playground. And you still believe it, that God loves everyone exactly as they are and we should love each other. You asked a lot of questions so that your faith could grow, and now here you are in ministry. Honestly, I think if I had stayed in our same church through all my growing up life, I think I might still be a Christian. But I couldn’t be a Christian anymore if most churches were like that other church.”

I was immediately struck by how sad I was for my friend, that she had had that experience, and wished I had maybe been there to listen to her work through some of this as it was happening. I was also reminded that Marissa’s experience is not unique. A January 2024 report by the Pew Research Center asserts that 28% of US adults are religiously unaffiliated, and instead call themselves religious “nones”. Of that 28%, a third of them say that a bad experience with religion has driven them away from the institutional church as a whole. I bet you wouldn’t have to think too hard to identify a person in your own life that might fit that description.

But in light of all this, there are two points that strike me about today’s Gospel story of Nicodemus.

First, we need to remember that Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the middle of the night. I know it wouldn’t be historically accurate, but for some reason I can’t shake this image of Jesus in an old, baggy t-shirt and boxer shorts, having this really in-depth conversation about what it meant to be reborn into faith. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t ask those kinds of questions in the middle of the night! I don’t believe that Nicodemus is testing Jesus here, like many of the priests and leaders do, because of his preface: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could do these miraculous signs that you do unless God is with him.”
In verses 9-10 Nicodemus says, “How are these things possible?” “Jesus answered, “You are a teacher of Israel and you don’t know these things? It’s almost as if Jesus is saying, “You have much to learn, young grasshopper.”

But here’s the thing: instead of rebuking Nicodemus, Jesus answers him, telling him what he thinks is most important. This gives Nicodemus an important opportunity to grow. Later in John’s gospel, in fact, Nicodemus sticks up for Jesus when the chief priests and Pharisees are questioning him, and when Jesus dies, Nicodemus participates in anointing Jesus’ body for burial. So this conversation helps Nicodemus become an important ally in the Jesus Movement.

The second point I’m struck by is Nicodemus’ central question: what is it mean to be “born again?”

I don’t usually call out other denominations, because it’s generally unproductive and doesn’t make me any better than they are. But this is a text evangelical churches love to use to talk about sin and salvation, the very same things that caused my friend Marissa to turn away. In evangelical contexts, the general theology is often something like this: I was such a terrible, sinful person until someone told me about God, and God saved me from myself, from the destructive path I was going down. 
Now, I don’t deny that God can help us turn our lives around or redeem ourselves. I’ve seen personally how God does utterly transformative work in peoples’ lives. What I take issue with is that this evangelical theology comes from the starting point that we are terrible people in need of saving, when I think Jesus’ theology was far more invitational. Jesus says in John 3:16-17, “God so loved the world that God gave God’s only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. God didn’t send God’s Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

We have beautiful, full, and everlasting life because of a God who loves us so deeply. We are loved more deeply than we could ever imagine, with the kind of love that we can’t resist telling people about!

But this understanding doesn’t come without serious discernment and study. Like Nicodemus asked questions of Jesus, we are also invited to ask questions as a means of deepening our faith.

One of the gifts of our church, I think, is that we have created a sense of community for people who have questions about their faith, who aren’t content with simply believing what someone else has told them. Without getting into specifics, several of you have told me powerful stories about your reasons for joining our church that have something to do with this. Friends, we have both the gift and the responsibility to be an antidote to harmful theologies that demand unquestioning obedience. We have both the gift and responsibility to be a compassionate presence to those who are discriminated against, or those who are struggling with their spirituality.

Our media song for today recognizes that “the world’s not forgiving of everyone’s fears”, and that God gives us the opportunity to be peaceful. Also, the poem we listened to earlier in the service reminds us, “What if what it means to come to God is to enter into God’s joy?” And my favorite part: “What if God goes to hell every weekend with a load of tissues and listens to everybody who’s locked themselves up in there.”

Friends, God sent Christ into the world so that you might have life to the fullest. New life. Liberating life. Abundant life. May you respond to that gift by committing to your continued growth. Don’t be afraid to wonder. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Don’t be afraid to find the joy in the midst of wrestling with your faith. Because it’s in those moments that your own lives, and the lives of those around you, can be gifts to others. Thanks be to God. Amen.  

 

“Now What?”
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun

May 12, 2024

Focus: In our lives of faith, we may come upon difficult circumstances, but we can lean into the truth that God loves us as we are and that God’s instruction will guide us.

Today is a very important day. We celebrate the ongoing faith journey of three young men, who have grown significantly in these last two years. I've been privileged to see a remarkable shift in all of them along this journey, from being shy and quiet boys to truly impressive young men.

They grew from boys who really didn’t want to read or pray out loud, even amongst themselves, to sharing our liturgy for today without even a little bit of protest.

They grew from a group of individuals who hardly knew each other to a group of individuals that cares about each other, from teaching each other how to fish to laughing and giggling into the late hours of the night at our confirmation retreat.

They grew from not having had many conversations about God into thinking a little bit more deeply about how God is active in their lives.

But it's important to remember the confirmation is not the end of the journey. Confirmation is not a checkbox, or something we do merely because our parents ask us to do it. (Parents, I’m talking to you too. We don’t just bring up our kids in the faith to feel like we’ve done a good job. When we bring our kids up in the faith, we are modeling for them what an ongoing faith journey looks like.)

Instead of a “checkbox”, it's affirming the faith that our parents or other caregivers welcomed us into when we were young. In the United Church of Christ, we understand confirmation to be almost like “part two” of our baptism. That's a bit simplistic, but what makes this liturgy so symbolic is that those who are confirming their faith today will be answering the same questions that were asked if their parents, sponsors, or other caregivers, during the time of their baptism. This is the moment that they will affirm their faith in Christ, and affirm their desire to grow in it.

Because living and growing in our faith is an ongoing project, the question I have for all of us to consider today is, “now what?” As in, “you've reached the end of a long journey of studying your faith. Now what?”

So this message is, in part, a message directly to Bentley, Kolsen and Kameron. But it's also a message for all of us, and even for myself. We're all growing in our faith, no matter what stage we are. 
The book of Psalms, one of my favorite books of the Bible, starts out with these words:

“The truly happy person
   doesn’t follow wicked advice,
   doesn’t stand on the road of sinners,
   and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful.”

That verse alone could be a sermon all in itself. There are two things I want to highlight from that.

Kameron, Bentley and Kolsen, there are many voices in the world who might tell you you're not enough if you don't live in the way that other people want you to. There are voices who will tell you the only way to fit in is to be unkind, or to discriminate against other people because they don't fit the mold of the rest of society, for one reason or the other.

But I think you're very good people, and you're very smart. I don't think you'll fall for that. In the words of the Psalmist, I don't believe you will sit with the disrespectful. I believe that one push comes to shove, you will have the courage and the compassion to do what's right. I believe you will be like trees, firmly planted, standing on the side of justice and affirm refuge for the oppressed.

But it won't always be easy. You may not always feel like you have everything you need. You may not always feel that you have the knowledge or the courage to meet the tasks ahead of you, or follow, wherever your life path may lead. But, also, like the Psalmist, being rooted in God's love means that you will be able to bear fruit at just the right time.

Now, before we get our minds in the gutter, bearing fruit is a spiritual thing. It's a reminder that all of us are still growing, and that God will empower us to do the work of God's justice and love just the right time, when we're ready.

The psalm also tells us that those people and influences who do not follow the ways of God are going to do what they're going to do. They will continue to act in ways that run counter to what God asks of us. But we don't have to fall into that trap. We know the ways of love, hope and truth which will guide us along the journey of faith.

So some of us in this room are about to confirm their faith, and others of us in this room are about to remember why we ourselves have said yes to this journey of faith. Now what? What are we going to do as we continue the journey?

My hope for all of us is that we would remember to be strong and courageous. In our lives of faith, we may come upon difficult circumstances, but we can lean into the truth that God loves us as we are and that God’s instruction will guide us. A faith foundation can be a refuge in times of trouble, and even life-saving for some people. May it be this way for you. May you stand like trees, firm in your faith, knowing that God will guide you along the journey, and help you grow in just the right ways, and at just the right time. May you always travel on the path of justice, love, and compassion, knowing that God goes ahead of you, before you, behind you, and beside you. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

“Not Our Decision, But God’s Grace!”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun

Acts 10: 44-48
Easter 6B

May 5, 2024

Focus: God’s Holy Spirit is active in all of us in amazing and surprising ways. God calls us to question our assumptions about who is worthy to receive God’s greatest blessings, because the Holy Spirit has already decided.

When I was in middle school, Daycholah Center held a summer week long retreat for students who were going to begin confirmation studies the following year. I was the only boy in my church’s confirmation class, so I was put in a cabin with six or eight other boys from other churches. And I'll tell you what, these boys were mean. They were bullying me, bullying each other, and goofing off the entire time. It was very clear that none of them wanted to be there, and in fact, most of their churches had required them to be there.

I, on the other hand, was taking this very seriously, and was very excited to meet other students who were on my same path. I thought to myself, “Don't they know what this means? Don’t they understand that we’re supposed to learn from this?” (You can probably see that I wasn’t always the typical middle school boy, and I knew it.)  

So I appealed to my pastor, Rev. Lynne Spencer-Smith, who was there with us. I said to her, “These boys aren’t ready. They’re mean and they don’t care about each other and they haven’t been nice to me. You don’t really think they should be confirmed yet, do you?”

Even after all these years, I will never forget what she told me. She said, “I’m sorry that they’re being mean to you and we’ll work on that with you all. But you need to understand that whether these boys are ready for confirmation or not is not our decision. That’s up to them, and their pastor, and God.”

Pastor Lynne was very wise, and very good at her job. She had a way of making me feel heard, but also gently helping me understand things from a different perspective. While I wished someone could talk some sense into these boys and make them appreciate the reason we were there, eventually, I had to realize that that wasn't the point. God had already decided that grace could abound, and that even these people could be welcomed into the family of faith, even if I myself was not ready to admit that fact.

I wonder if those who heard Peter speaking in the book of Acts felt the same way.

In her commentary for Feasting on the Word, Barbara K. Lundblad notes that our passage for today begins at the end of the story, where Peter is speaking to a prominent gentile, Cornelius of Caesura, and a crowd around him. Peter’s in the middle of this elegant and beautiful speech about Jesus and what his ministry represented, and still represents. But that’s when the Holy Spirit decides to show up, even to the Gentiles, who were understood by some as second-class citizens. I've talked in previous sermons about how important circumcision was for early converts to the Christian tradition, as a way of knowing themselves to be worthy of the name, a ritual which allowed them to participate in the fullness of the early Christian church. Among the many differences between the Gentiles and Jews is that the Gentiles did not participate in this ritual act of circumcision.

To early believers, this would've represented an intense theological problem. The history of that debate is less important to get into at the moment, but perhaps the best comparison to our modern day theological disagreements might be how our more modern Christian traditions treat social groups who have been marginalized for their calls to ministry. Some denominations believe, for example, that women should not be ordained into ministry. Also, just this week, the United Methodist Church voted at its general conference that LGBTQIA+ people will from now on be allowed to be ordained into the ministry of the United Methodist Church, something that was strictly forbidden up to this point.
 

So, just like in our modern times, the early Christians had many debates on hot-button topics. But in the midst of these theological debates, Peter understood that, no matter what the early followers of Jesus believed, the Holy Spirit has already made a decision to fall on even the Gentiles. Suddenly the Gentiles were speaking in tongues and praising God, and those who had been circumcised, those who thought they had done everything correctly, were astonished.

But I love what Peter says in verse 47: “These people have received the Holy Spirit just as we have. Surely no one can stop them from being baptized with water, can they?”

So it was that they were baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and welcomed into the faith just as those who were circumcised had been.

In this prophetic question, Peter is asking the crowd to challenge their own assumptions about who was worthy to receive new life in Christ.

If I simply asked you the question today, “who is worthy to receive the blessings of God,” I'm sure most of you would probably say, “well, everyone!” And you would be right!

But I think a question that's worth asking, especially in times like these, is this: who are the Gentiles in our own lives? Who are the people in society that we might need to challenge our own assumptions about?

By our very human nature, all of us have implicit bias, even if we may not think we do. We might say outwardly, “I don't see the color of a person’s skin, I only see the person,” or “I don't care about a person’s lifestyle, I only see the person,” or “I don’t care whether someone was incarcerated for a time, they’re still a person.”

But whether we realize it or not, our opinions and assumptions about groups of people can cause us to treat them like the Gentiles were treated in the bible story, or the way I treated those middle school boys at the retreat.

But this is the good news: God’s Holy Sprit is active in all of us in amazing and surprising ways. God calls us to question our assumptions about who is worthy to receive God’s greatest blessings, because the Holy Spirit has already decided. God's grace abounds, even though we ourselves may not recognize it, or be willing to give it to others right away.

Whether others are worthy of God’s love, blessings, and spiritual accompaniment is not our decision. And for that I say “praise God”—because I know I would have so easily written these boys off, instead of letting the Holy Spirit work in and among and around and through them.

Any of us who have been recipients of God’s grace and blessings understand the judgments and assumptions people make about us all too well, because of who we are or decisions we've made in our lives that people may not understand. But just as we ourselves have experienced the grace and blessings of God, part of our work involves extending that grace to others.

So, as you go into this week, may you be willing to challenge your own assumptions about other peoples’ worthiness. May you be open to the action of the Holy Spirit, which moves in us, through us, and in spite of us. May you recognize the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are present, even in those whose lives you may not understand. After all, it is in this understanding that we can begin to know others as God knows us—worthy of love, worthy of grace, worthy of blessing, and worthy of belonging. God’s decision to welcome us into blessing and belonging is, after all, the only decision that matters. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

“Loving One Another In Times Like These”
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun
April 28, 2024

Focus: We are living in anxious and divided times, but we remember that God asks us to love each other in spite of, or perhaps because of, the ways we are different from each other.

I was six years old when 9/11 happened. I honestly don't remember much from that day, other than the fact that my dad sent me down after school at the edge of their bed, and told me in an age-appropriate, very simple fashion, what had unfolded that fateful day in our country. Because I don't have as many concrete memories of my own from that period of time, I've tried to learn as much as I can about what happened that day, and how it impacted the country’s future.

Even as that was such a scary time for our country, and the political ramifications of all of this divided us, there's one story that sticks out in my mind that reminds me that it’s still possible to have hope for humanity.

That hope came in the form of a film adaptation of a Broadway musical. The musical is called Come From Away. It's based on true events, where 39 planes, carrying 7000 passengers were forced to reroute all of their passengers to Gandor, an island in the Canadian province of Newfoundland. The musical talks about how both the Canadians and Americans bonded with one another, how the Canadians provided the Americans with refuge and comfort in an incredibly difficult time, without regard to their race, gender, sexual orientation or other identifiers. It's heartwarming and beautiful, and you come away with the realization that there really can still be good people in the world. In the finale of the musical, one character remarks, “today we honor what was lost, but we commemorate what we found.” One reviewer called the musical “a love letter—to Newfoundland, to New York, and to what people can do if they set aside fear and hate.” The entire film adaptation of the musical, which was taped straight from the stage production and acted by the original Broadway cast, is available on Apple TV+. If you like movie musicals, and don't mind spending six dollars for a month or starting a free trial to another streaming service, I would heartily recommend you watch it.

Of course, we live in very different times than we did in 2001, but I’ve thought a lot about the upcoming presidential election and the divisiveness that we face along ideological lines. You need to know that I'm never going to endorse any political position from the pulpit, as doing so would be deeply unethical and unnecessary, besides the fact that it takes away the focus from our own church’s response to the divisiveness in the world. But I think today's new testament reading from 1 John is a helpful reminder for all of us of how we want to live in Christian community when we're at our best. Today, I'm going to talk about how this text reminds us how to be in community with one another, and what we can learn from that in the increasingly divisive times we face as a country.

Our text begins by saying, “Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love.” This makes it clear that the capacity to love one another is born with us, innately in our beings. I think our congregation loves each other well as a group, and we try to maintain friendships with a wide diversity of people. But I've been troubled in recent years that in some ways, it seems like we as a society forgotten that.

But commentators agree that the writer from first John isn't so much rebuking their audience. Instead, the new testament professor Jeanette K. Ok says in her commentary for Working Preacher that the author believes “the struggle to love is real.” I can relate to that, because there are some people who make it really hard for me to love them. It’s so much easier to pigeonhole people on the basis of how they are different from us, what their beliefs are, or some decisions they’ve made in their lives. Other times it's hard for us to love people because we fear them. We fear that our own perceptions of the world might be under threat, and we fear what would happen if we were wrong about someone else.

But the writer of 1 John reminds us that God loved us, even when we have messed up. God loves us with a perfect love which drives away fear and hatred. God’s inexhaustible love is greater than any fears we could hold against another person. The author of this text does not pretend to believe that loving one another is easy, especially when we disagree with one another, or when our personalities clash.

So this is why God makes the commandment to love one another. We are living in anxious and divided times, but we remember that God asks us to love each other in spite of, or perhaps because of, the ways we are different from each other. Like my story from earlier in Come From Away, the people in Newfoundland welcomed weary, frightened travelers with open arms, and learned something along the way. I feel like we can learn from that example ourselves. As much as we don't want to admit it, it seems inevitable that in this divisive season, people will try to get us on their side by saying we're wrong if we don't believe a certain way.  Friendships and other relationships will be tested by the broader social climate. Different points of view will be present in every social circle. Feelings will be hurt. I think we're kidding ourselves if we believe we’re immune to those threats. I don't care who you vote for; there's divisive rhetoric on both sides.
But this is the grace. God has loved you so deeply that God gave God's only son for your benefit. And God understands that we will continue to mess up, and mess up again, and mess up again. But there's always a new opportunity to learn how to love somebody who is different from us. We have so many different opportunities to love God by loving our neighbor. These may be difficult times ahead, but even as our country, and our world are so divided, there's always an opportunity to continue doing our best to love those around us. I believe this church understands very clearly that our commandment is to love one another even when, and especially when, things get messy. Multiple people have told me that they have chosen this church because of some difficulties with churches of their past, and it's also clear that we may not all believe the same things. And in United Church of Christ, thank goodness, we don't all have to believe the same things.

The only thing we have to do is love people where they’re at, knowing that everyone is in need of God’s grace just as deeply as anyone else.

So, as you go into this week, may you find opportunities to love as you have been loved. Every one of us has unique ways that we can show our love for others. Like this song that Siera and I sang says, “I see evidence of great love all around and my part in this story.” All of us can be part of the story, and all of us can provide love to the weary, to the refugee, to the disenfranchised, to the other. How we love others is how we love God, and I know that you all are deeply loving people. So may you share your love with joy. In times, like these loving others may be messy, but it is always worth it. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

“Change Your Hearts and Lives”
TRAD Sermon for U-CC Waupun 

April 21, 2024
Acts 3: 12-19

Focus: Sometimes in our life of faith, we have to recognize the consequences of falling short. But there is grace in the fact that God always gives us another chance to repent and believe.

This isn’t a direct comparison, but it gives me a way into kind of a strange text.

When I was a kid, I wasn't always the best big brother. I did what a lot of big brothers do. I teased Emily. I played a little too hard and maybe hurt her from time to time. We thought a lot, and I wasn't always in the right. Because my parents didn't show any favoritism, they would put me in timeout or separate us so I can think about what I have done. Sometimes my parents would be quite stern with me, reminding me of how my actions had resulted in either Emily's bodily injury, or her hurt feelings. Usually this undeserved act would result in some kind of punishment, or grounding, or whatever for the offense. But after that, I would always have the chance to redeem myself, apologize and mean it, and then move on.

But as I think back on it, now, I think about how embarrassing it was to be called out. Facing consequences for my actions was difficult, and, at least sometimes, it taught me to not do that again.

I wonder if the crowd the disciples were talking to might have also needed an attitude adjustment. To fully understand this text, we have to set the stage using the previous 11 verses of the third chapter of Acts.

Most biblical scholars agree that the writer of the book of acts it was also the author of the gospel of Luke, and that the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts should be read as a continuation of the Gospel. The gospel of Luke ends with the story of the road to Emmaus, and the story depicted in this text is likely happening just a short time later. The story told in these first 11 verses is problematic, because it depicts a man who can't walk as a beggar. but then Peter takes him by the hand, and all of a sudden he can walk. The man who was previously unable to walk God, and everybody is amazed. The position of the disabled man as a beggar paints the man in the negative light, which might be why these verses are omitted from the lectionary, but it's important context. The commentator Michal Beth Dinkler reminds her readers that this act bolsters peters authority for what he's about to say. Peter says to the crowd of Jewish leaders, “Why are you amazed by this?”

Peter then makes a comparison of his own. He reminds the people what they have done to Jesus. They think it's cool, that a man can walk again? Try being raised from the dead! The author of life— the one who said he was the way, the truth, and the life—died at their hands. Pontius Pilate was forced to sentence an innocent man to be crucified at their insistence. The people were duped by the propaganda of the Roman government, which caused an innocent man to die and a movement of liberation to be threatened.

Peter, of course, is very stern about laying the blame for Jesus's death directly at the feet of the crowd. I'm struck by how this is one example of the larger story of following Jesus that we all encounter. If we didn't know any better, how many of us might be tricked by the same government propaganda if we lived in biblical times? How do we know that we wouldn't betray Jesus to the hands of sinners ourselves? This text is a tragic reminder that, as we live our lives of faith, our actions have consequences.

But Peter also doesn't say we're doomed. By God’s grace, God does not leave us to ourselves. Peter says, “Yes, you killed the author of life and you should be ashamed of yourselves, but that's not how they say it is. You acted out of ignorance, and you have another chance to redeem yourselves.”

These final verses depict, what I believe we can learn most from this text. Yes, our actions have consequences, and yes, we should be vigilant so that we don't fall into the traps of corrupt belief systems. That's all true. But aside from just being a cautionary tale, this text, can you remind us that we have another chance to follow Jesus as we grow in our faith as a result of events like these.

Sometimes in our life of faith, we have to recognize the consequences of falling short. But there is grace in the fact that God always gives us another chance to repent and believe. Even at those moments, where we think we are irredeemable, and God reminds us, that we still have another chance, and another chance, and another chance to continue to live lives of faith that are authentic and meaningful.

In a similar way, with my story earlier, I knew I would have a chance to be forgiven, and learn how to be a better big brother to my sister. Now we have a lovely relationship and we've grown a lot as adults.

And what about you, and what about us?

Our lives of faith have had twists and turns, and many of you have told me powerful stories of how God has worked in your life when you have fallen short of what you believed God desired from you. But in each circumstance, you have also told me about how God has given you chance, after chance to return to God, and continue learning in your life of faith.

So as you go into this week, I invite you to think about how God is working in and through you, as you learn to repent and believe in the ways you might feel the need to do. May you responders thankful people for the chance you have to grow alongside of God who will not give up on you. Amen.

 

“Fully Known”
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun 

April 14, 2024

Focus: Jesus firmly stands on the side the side of all who are oppressed. Jesus calls those of us who are allies to do our part, working for justice for our siblings in Christ.

My friend Bekah is one of my co-conspirators in the work of disability justice. She works with me on the UCC Disability Theology Committee, and we write original songs together every year for the UCC’s Access Sunday observance. Bekah is blind, and very thoughtfully talks about how she navigates a world that is often quite dependent on visual information. She also told me a story one time about how she felt exiled by society because of her disability: she was once excluded from a summer dance camp for kids because the dance instructors didn’t believe they could teach a blind girl to dance.

Bekah will tell you it isn’t always easy to feel comfortable in our own bodies, especially when our bodies don’t work the way society might expect. Even so, in talking with Bekah it’s immediately clear that she loves her disabled body. She loves the fact that she can write songs, prayers, blog posts, devotionals, and other resources which challenge the thoughts the church has about disability experiences and offer a new theological perspective instead.

I also have Bekah to thank for being one of my first conversation partners on disability theology. She modeled for me that not only is possible to find God in my disabled experience, but also that Jesus can resonate with the wide spectrum of disability experiences. She was one of the first to affirm in clear language that disabilities are’t deficits, and they aren’t things we have to “overcome”. Instead Bekah taught me that our disability experiences can enrich how we live our lives and make meaning of who God creates us to be.

Our Scripture reading today talks about how Jesus honors us as we are. He says, “I know my own sheep and they know me, just as God knows me and I know God.”

I love how Jesus starts out this passage with the intimacy of being fully known by the God who created us. Jesus knows who his people are, and the people know who their liberator and their guide is.

Throughout the Bible, we experience Jesus recognizing the worth and dignity of his people, even if they don’t always fit in with society’s construction of human value. So much of Christianity has tried to write off the LGBTQIA+ community, the disability community, people of color, and other communities as unworthy of God’s love, and undeserving of the richest blessings God has to offer,. But in his book, Radical Love, Patrick S. Cheng talks about how Jesus Christ is the embodiment of what he calls “radical love”—a love that dissolves the boundaries of society and invites all people into it, without exception. That means that our gender identities, our sexual orientations, our disabilities, our race, and any other identifiers that make us who we are, do not preclude us from knowing ourselves as beloved.

Jesus goes on to say that he has other sheep that don’t belong to this pen, and that he must lead them and love them just as much. This is another reminder that God’s love encompasses even the people we have trouble loving for whatever reason. That’s what makes this love radical love.

This bring us to the second point I want to lift up: Jesus says, “They will listen to my voice.” In her commentary for the New Interpreter’s Bible, Gail R. O’Day reminds us that this means Jesus’ followers will listen to his voice and his voice alone, not the voices of corrupt people in power who would love to lead them astray, or harm them in any way. He will be the one voice who leads them to safety and blessing.

Finally, Jesus is willing to give up his life for the sake of those he loves. He gives up his life because he wants to, not because anybody is making him do so. He understands that he must be willing to do whatever it takes to protect his sheep, because of the evils that lurk in the shadows to hurt them. 
In many ways I know that this congregation appreciates me and what I bring to the table. You also tell me you appreciate the ways I can help you consider things in a different way. A part of my own advocacy work, and confidence to find my place in the movement, is thanks to Bekah’s gentle, encouraging, compassionate spirit, born out of her own experience.

But at this time, obstacles are coming at our marginalized siblings from many directions. Legislation which targets and endangers the LGBTQIA+ communities. Threats to reproductive healthcare. Racial injustice. Antisemitism and contempt for the practice of other religious traditions. An unprecedented mental health crisis.

There are many reasons for concern, for anger, even for fear.  But I believe there is reason for hope too.

This is the good news for today: Jesus firmly stands on the side of all who are oppressed. Jesus calls those of us who are allies to do our part, working for justice for our siblings in Christ.

We worship God, and we worship Jesus Christ, who know us, love us, and affirm our full humanity, exactly as we are.
And it’s because we worship this God and this Christ that we know we are not alone in our work for justice. 

This week, I invite you to think about ways to transform your fervent prayers and welcoming hearts into true, meaningful action. Educate yourself. Call your lawmakers. Speak out for what you believe. Or even have a cup of coffee or tea with someone who is hurting right now.

Because we’re all trying to do our best to live authentically into our humanity.

As I think about the work we have ahead of us as pastor and people here at U-CC Waupun, I think first about how this church has been a refuge for people in this town. We join together to affirm that we are beloved of God, fully known and celebrated, even as other faith communities from our past might want us to fit a certain mold or believe a certain way.

But we can’t just keep this joy for ourselves. Our work and our witness has already proven life-altering for some of us in this congregation, and I dare say it might even be wrong of us if we didn’t embody this to others. How can you witness to Christ’s care and protection in your life, and how it has been nurtured in this faith community.

As we consider the next parts of our faith journey together, may we respond as thankful people. ready to share how Christ’s protection and provision have impacted our lives. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

Sermon for U-CC Waupun
April 7, 2024 

Guest Preacher: Emma Landowski-Sancomb

Let us pray: Living Christ, we hear stories of you, on the other side of the grave, visiting your friends; letting one of them, who could not believe your return, touch you. You show us the importance of intimate friendships, the need for community. May our hearts be open this day, to hear what we need to hear and see what we need to see. Amen

Peace be with you.  Peace be with you Jesus expresses to his beloved friends as he comes to them behind closed doors.  In just the previous verses we know that Mary Magdalene saw Jesus and was told by him to tell the disciples that he is ascending to the Divine.  And we know that she goes to them and tells them that  she has “seen the Lord”.  

But can you imagine what must have been going through the minds of his disciples as Jesus comes before them now?  Fear, grief, confusion or maybe even joy? They saw their beloved friend killed in front of them and today…

Jesus simply enters this room…he enters this room to commission his disciples…I envision Jesus walking in with this calm, grounded energy, similar to the clip we saw moments ago. As Jesus enters into this space, he greets his friends with this phrase “peace be with you.”

As our story unfolds he reminds them that just as the Divine sent him, so too, he sends them…into the world.  To do what? Jesus goes on to say that If they forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven.  And if they retain the sins of any, they are forgiven.  

For too long our culture has put more focus and energy on what sin might be that we forget Jesus’ invitation to forgive.  We have also lost sight of the fact that for John’s culture, sin is not a “category of behavior” but a theological category about one's response to the revelation of God in Jesus.  So despite our best efforts to try and judge or define sin, the book of John is trying to teach us that “sin” is alienation from God or more specifically, it’s not continuing the work that Jesus commissions the communities of faith to do.        

So when we ask ourselves, what is it that Jesus is calling us to? I keep going back to his invitation for peace…peace be with you…Just as the Divine has sent me, so I send  you.  He breathes on his friends and says receive the holy spirit.  

I’m going to be a theology nerd for a second…Ruach is the Hebrew word that can be translated in three different ways.  It can be translated as “Holy Spirit,” “wind” and “breath.” This is one of my favorite words because it holds space for both breath and the Holy Spirit.  You cannot breath without being reminded of the holy or without the Divine being present.  

So as Jesus breathes on the disciples, I’m picturing him breathing with them…grounding them to the present moment. Guiding them to reconnect with their bodies and again inviting them to reflect on what they need.  Reminding them that they are not alone and that with every breath they receive the Holy Spirit.  

Now this is a helpful, and maybe necessary reminder as we and the disciples struggle with doubts and fears.

Doubting, like Thomas, simply because of our own experiences in life.  In Thomas’ doubt, he did not flatly refuse to believe; he rejected a faith that relies strictly upon the experience of others. His faith waits for an encounter with the Living God. Once he has it, he exclaims, “My Lord and my God!” In that moment, hope prevailed. Jesus lives. The world has changed and his life has been changed.

Where might we be looking for our own physical signs of the living God, showing up to us in this space…praying, “breathe your spirit on us, oh God”.  Wishing to hear that invitation for peace.

I’d like to share another Hebrew word with you, one you might be a bit more familiar with.  The Hebrew word for “peace” is shalom. My seminary professor and Old Testament theologian, Dr. Clint McCann, suggests that “shalom” is better translated as “comprehensive well-being”.  This may seem like a bit much to wrap our heads, so I ask you to bare with me.  What if this “comprehensive well-being” or well-being that is “all encompassing” depicts what it means to have peace?

There are several different dimensions that contribute to our wellbeing.   We have emotional, environmental, financial, intellectual, physical, occupational, social, and of course, spiritual well being.  All of these demotions of our lives require care, rest and work.

As you know,  I am a hospital chaplain, and in one of the groups I provide for our patients in behavioral health, we reflect on this idea of “comprehensive well-being “.  We are invited to reflect  on each of these areas in our life, assess which areas are healthy and which areas might need a little extra work.  I might then ask which areas you are feeling most fulfilled in and which areas might be feeling  a bit vulnerable. This “comprehensive well-being”, as we call it, is a continual practice.  It’s a journey that requires work and care and support from those around you. I’m grateful for the words of Mother Teresa as she reminds us that this is work we cannot do alone.  She once shared: "If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." …We belong to each other.  God created us to be in community and it is also the invitation we receive from Jesus, for holistic peace, peace in all areas of life.

So as we hear these words from Jesus today, “peace be with you”? I invite you to ask yourself what that might practically look like for you individually and as a community?

God created us to be in community, Jesus calls us into community, we are called to take care of themselves and each other.  We are invited to take inventory of our  thoughts, feelings, and emotions and assess what it is we (individually and collectively) might need. Jesus shows up to them behind closed doors.  He meets them where they are and honors their need for peace, for comprehensive well-being and just as the Divine has sent him with that message, so he sends us.  

I don’t know about you, but that’s a pretty vulnerable place to be… to slow down enough to ask ourselves how we are doing.  What do we need? How might we be supported by or support others?  

But it is also a beautiful place to be, a place of peace.

One of the things that church is often known for being good at is showing up after major life events.  Meals are made, transportation can be provided, hugs are shared and words of prayer are frequently spoken of.  Each of these, a demonstration of building peace on earth.

How might our relationships with church and community change if we leaned into the idea of peace being individual, congregational and communal well-being? What would it look like to genuinely check in with our neighbors to see if there was a way they needed support this week? Or what if we practiced our own vulnerability to share that we are having a particularly hard day and need support in some way?

Even though we may sometimes have weary hearts and feel like hiding behind closed doors. Somehow, paradoxically, the kin-dom of heaven is still being co-created.  With every breath we receive the Holy Spirit. Comprehensive well-being is still happening through communities meeting each other’s needs.

May we continue to be emboldened to breathe in that sacred holy spirit and receive the blessed message of peace and well-being.  Beloved siblings in Christ, peace be with you.  Amen 
 

“I’ve Seen the Lord”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun

Easter 2024

March 31, 2024

Focus: If you were the first person to see the risen Christ, how would it change your life? How would you share the good news?

Some of you know that when I was a student at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, I worked as a children's ministry director at a local church part time. It was a big church, and the job had a lot of responsibility. I was in over my head most of the time, and improved to be one of the most challenging jobs I had ever had.

But one of the people I will remember forever is a woman we’ll call Alice.She was quirky, she could be brash, and she had a very strong personality that wasn't always easy to get along with. But she ended up being one of my best children's ministry volunteers. She understood how to live a life of faith authentically in a way that I haven't quite seen before or since. Her love for God, and her love for Jesus, was so clear to me. Equally clear to me was how much she loved ministering to children, because she had a particular gift for working with children who were misunderstood themselves.

We would have fascinating conversations when she would drive me back to my apartment after church events. One of the clearest things I remember her saying to me was this: “You know, Jacob, there have been a lot of people in my life who have misunderstood me, but my faith has gotten me through a lot and it means the world to me that I can share it with kids. There was a time in my life that I had to make a choice to be who I was, no matter what other people thought of me, and you've given me the opportunity to do that.”

It was shortly after this conversation that Covid hit, so we didn’t have the opportunity to work together on events anymore. But it's always stuck with me that in our time together, she started to learn how to let go of other peoples perceptions in order to share her love for Jesus with her community.

Part of the reason that Alice's story speaks to me so clearly is what she had to let go of. She knew that people talked, and how she was misunderstood. And yet, she let go of other peoples’ perceptions of her, of her perceptions of herself, because the gospel of Jesus was so compelling to her that she had to share it.

I wonder if this is how Mary felt. She was the first one, according to John’s gospel, to experience the resurrection of Jesus. Like the other disciples, when the body of Jesus is gone, she thinks that someone must've taken it away. In a time when they are already grieving, this is a state of emergency. Finally, she speaks to someone who she thinks is a gardener, but it's actually Jesus. Once she makes that realization, she literally cannot let go of Jesus. She wants to bask in that moment of being with Jesus, someone she thought she would never see again. In her devastation, in her grief, the only thing she can think to do is to stay right where she is.

So Jesus has to say to her, “Don’t hold onto me any more! Go and tell the others!”

At this moment, Mary understands that she has a choice to make.

If she holds onto Jesus, she can bask in the resurrection and glory, and keep it all to herself, taking comfort in Jesus's presence with her.

If she lets go, and does what Jesus tells her to do, she may not be believed. She may not be understood. Because she's a woman, society might consider her a laughing stock. They might even accuse her of stealing Jesus's body. We don't know what happens, because the gospel doesn't address it. Instead, John's Gospel goes right into the Doubting Thomas story that we’ll engage next week.

But somehow, despite whatever self-doubt she might've felt, she makes the choice to do as Jesus tells her, to proclaim the good news that he has risen. She has seen the Lord, and she will never be the same. Through God, Jesus has done something so incredible and unexpected that deserves to be shared.

When we know this to be true, we are filled with such joy. Christ has conquered death, and in doing so, conquered the corrupt government that threatened to squash the Jesus movement. But none of this would be known if Mary had not made the choice to let go of her self doubt, let go of her fear, and even let go of Jesus himself in order to tell the world the good news.

So today, friends, I'm asking you this question. What fears might you be called to let go of as you share the good news of Christ's resurrection?

Are there times that you feel like Alice, misunderstood because who she was, but yet so compelled to share the good news of God's love with others? Are there times that you feel like Mary, where you have to physically let go of what holds you back, needing Jesus himself to remind you that what you have to share is important?

I'm mindful that, for some of us sitting here, that isn't an easy question to answer. The wider church has not been kind to people who are marginalized, to people who don't fit the mold for who Christ’s disciples should be. In biblical times, women were not permitted to hold positions of power or leadership in society, so whenever women have a story to tell, they are taking a big risk. But it’s not a coincidence that every Gospel account of the resurrection of Jesus begins with women sharing the news, and being the first people to proclaim Christ’s return. It’s not a coincidence in biblical times, or in our present time, that those who are marginalized can offer compelling testimony that will change the trajectory of the Jesus movement forever.

This is exactly what the world needs. This is exactly what the church needs. The world is so full of fear and hopelessness. We live in such difficult times. Having the courage to witness to what we have seen, heard, and experienced can truly transform lives.

In today’s media song, Queen Latifah talks about the risks we take, and the choices we make along the journey. As the story from Hairspray reckons with racial inequality, we also take risks on the journey of faith to share a message of God's liberating love, when we have been told we don’t fit into God’s dream for the world if we don’t fit the mold.

In order to take those risks, we have to let go, just like Mary had to let go of basking in the resurrection moment, to do meaningful and important ministry that changed the world.

So, as you go today, with the resurrection joy that you now feel, may you go with courage. May you go knowing that your witness of joy can provide hope to a hurting world. Like Mary, and like Alice, may you let go of your fear. May you let go of your indecision. May you let go of what holds you back from sharing the revolutionary love of Christ with the world.

Thanks be to God. Amen.
 

“The Lord Needs You!”
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun

Palm Sunday 2024

March 24, 2024

Focus: Like the colt, Jesus needs you so God’s message of love can be known to a world in need.

My Grandma Nault was a simple woman. She loved gardening, taking walks, and spending her time in prayer. She was perfectly content being a loving mother, wife, and grandmother. She lived a simple life, and shared her incredible cooking with those she loved. I experienced her as quiet, understated, classy.

But this quiet woman was probably the best example of God in another human being that I have ever experienced. 
Her deeply held Catholic faith was evident in everything she did. Every morning she would wake up and say to God, “Good morning, God. Thank you for another day.”

I think she would have been too humble to boldly call herself a modern-day disciple, but she sure was if I’ve ever seen one. Every week, she went to her parish for a full hour and silently prayed for the world, for her family, for her friends, for anyone who needed it. Also every week, she traveled to New Holstein with a group of ladies who packed lunches for poor and homeless folks. She did all of this, and yet talked about it as if everyone else did that too.

Each year, we reflect on the same story. Jesus comes into Jerusalem, ready to do this unimaginable thing God has asked of him, ready to die. It's a story of irony and tragedy. Many churches not only celebrate Palm Sunday on a day like this, but we also celebrate Passion Sunday, because today is a day of stark contrast: a seemingly triumphant celebration, as Jesus enters Jerusalem, and the tragedy that those very same people who cry “Hosanna”—save us—are the ones who will cry out “Crucify him” just a few days from now.

There are many different ways to look at this text, but this year I'm feeling drawn to think about what it might've been like from the colt’s perspective. Understanding the Palm Sunday story from the perspective of an animal isn't exactly a common way of looking at it, but I think it's instructive to how God asks us to respond to God's call on our lives. Sometimes, the ordinary, unassuming people, like my grandmother, are the ones who help usher Jesus into the world most authentically.

Not much is said in the passage about the colt, of course. Only that it had never been ridden before, and that the Lord needed it. The focus is more often on Jesus subverting the political powers at play before he does, as God asked him to do, and dies at the hands of those who wield that political power. Of course, this is important, and not an insignificant thing to remember. In his commentary for Working Preacher, Don Hyeong Jeong reminds us, that one is so often known as the “triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem” is anything but that. He points out that Jesus is entry into Jerusalem is totally devoid of the typical features of a royal procession, like an animal sacrifice, political takeover, or a banquet celebration. None of these things happen in the course of Jesus's procession. Another commentator, Ira Brent Driggers, points out that Jesus arriving on a colt was totally countercultural to the ways that people would've expected a divine ruler to appear. If you wanted to make a more culturally, understandable statement, Jesus would have processed into the city on a war horse, all confident and full of himself. But that’s not who Jesus was. Those weren’t the values that he espoused.

It's striking, visualizing Jesus arriving on a colt that had never been ridden before. Did the poor animal stumble a tie or two from the weight of a thirty-year-old man? Did it follow Jesus’ direction obediently, or did it need to redirected from time to time?

Jesus might've had a smoother ride on a more experienced horse. Jesus might've made a better statement on a more experienced horse. But the other piece that the scripture tells us is a striking as it is powerful. The disciples are instructed to say, “the Lord needs it.”

I've been thinking a lot this week about what that means for us, in our own lives of faith.

So many of us like to think of ourselves as “simple people.” Not in a degrading way. Not in a way that implies we are unintelligent. But, in ways that declare that we only focus our attention on the important things. Faith. Family. Friendship. Kind of like my grandma did.

If we were called upon by Jesus’ first disciples to help Jesus share his message of love and compassion with the whole world, how many of us would really think we have what it takes? How many of us would say, “Um, I think you might be looking for someone else?”

But this is exactly why Jesus did not choose the war horse. Jesus did not choose the war horse because he wasn't like other kings, and yet he was greater than all of them. Jesus chose the unlikeliest of animals in the same way he so often chose the unlikeliest of people. Greedy tax collectors. Ineffective fishermen. Even the man who would turn him over to the custody of a corrupt government was among his closest friends and advisors.

So, I believe it’s not too far of a stretch that Jesus chooses us.

Like the colt, Jesus needs you so God’s message of love can be known to a world in need. The colt was an unlikely animal for Jesus to use, especially since most people would've considered those who make a grand entrance to come in on larger horses. In a similar way, many of us may believe that we are unworthy or not good enough to vessels of God’s liberating love. But like the colt, you are exactly who Jesus needs. In these days, when divisiveness, deceit, and discrimination, want to control our society you can be away to share a different message.

How can we do that in a world of such need?

When the world cries, “save us,” maybe you can be an instrument to usher in another way. The way of love when so many would rather marginalize people who don't fit the mold. The way of hope when there is despair. The way of compromise and collaboration when our society is content with “my way or the highway”. The way of connection when society would rather live in silos.

You might feel like you aren’t enough, that you aren't worthy of being a vessel of the message of Christ. But, indeed, you are more than enough, and you are exactly who Jesus needs to change the world.

So may you do your part, knowing that God has chosen you. Amen. 
 

“Covenants and Reckless Love”
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun

March 17, 2024

Focus statement: When we promise to follow Jesus, sometimes it’s difficult and heart wrenching work. But when we are reckless in sharing our love, we will surely receive the greatest reward.

I took Uber and Lyft often when I lived in St. Louis, because the bus system wasn’t always super reliable. Often the drivers would be cordial, and we’d have decent conversations about our lives. You can learn a surprising amount about a person in a 10 minute car ride if you’re open to genuine and open-hearted conversation. Sometimes you’d get a creepy or even rude individual, and you’d be waiting with anticipation just to get out of the car, but more often than not, it was a very pleasant experience.

But none were more pleasant than one man. I wish I remembered his name, but it’s been around 5 years since our encounter, and I never saw him again after this. We’ll call him Erik. I opened the door as he picked me up from my workplace, and encountered a man with a winsome smile and an effervescent personality. “You Make Me Feel So Young” by Sinatra filled the car with joyful sound, and he was clearly having the best day of his life. He was the kind of person who probably had the best day of his life every day. We had easy conversation, which was mostly small talk from what I recall, but the one thing I remember was that I hopped in the car, and soon after I buckled in, he said, “man, it’s such a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

And it was. It was such a beautiful day, in part because it was sunny and warm, but mostly because of the joy that radiated from Erik’s spirit. Being a full-time seminary student and working part-time doing children’s ministry work was incredibly stressful. That day had been one of those days. It warmed my heart to experience his joy, especially after the day I’d just had.

This week I’ve been thinking about what it means to be reckless in our love, even when it's hard. We’re also closing in on Holy Week, and the gospel passage foreshadows the understanding. So today that's what I'm feeling led to talk about.

Jesus loves using seed and gardening analogies throughout the gospels. There are several parables related to this kind of imagery (several of which were in the lectionary last summer), and sometimes Jesus simply uses them as analogies. If you think about how God’s beloved community works, it makes sense. Jesus talks about the importance of planting seeds or grains, and letting them grow. That would've been a very relatable way to explain the realm of God in biblical times, because of the amount of people whose livelihoods depended on some sort of agricultural vocation. Several of us in this congregation, and in the broader Waupun community, either grew up on farms ourselves, or were intimately connected to the agricultural industry as a way of life in some other way. So, for some of us, these analogies that Jesus uses aren't really analogies. We understand that people have to plant something and tend to it with care, in order for it to be a viable crop. Seeds do no good if they are kept in the bag that you purchase them in.

The same is true about the realm of God. Those of us who plant our roots deeply, tend to them, and let them grow, are the ones who will experience the fullness of God's love, and the blessings that come from a life of faith. In his commentary for Working Preacher, Dong Hyeon Jeong reminds us that gardening can also teach us about the resurrection. Just as losing the seeds that we have in our hands by putting them in the ground is not the end, losing our lives, for the sake of what we used to have is not the end, either. Our lives can be more fulfilled, more prosperous, and more joyful when we have a strong faith foundation, and all of this reminds us of new beginnings of resurrection.

But none of this promises us an easy life. Jesus himself says so in The Message, which is a paraphrase of other translations which are more literal to the original text. The text renders Jesus’ conundrum this way: “Right now I am shaken. And what am I going to say? ‘Father, get me out of this’? No, this is why I came in the first place. I’ll say, ‘Father, put your glory on display.’”
Jesus understood that God’s will and purpose for him would include being brutally attacked, and later killed, as a result of speaking out against the current government structure, but he also understood that all of this would be done for the glory of God, so that others would be able to understand God's will and purpose for them.

Covenant is also an important piece of this. Our Jeremiah text reminds us that God continues to make a covenant with us, promising to be present with us, as we live our lives of faith. From the days of the prophet Jeremiah to the ministry of Jesus, the covenant of God’s law and God's love will guide us in the ways we should go. Many theologians understand God's love and God's law to be interchangeable ideas, because many theologians understand the intent of God’s law to be fundamentally loving.

So, as we follow Christ who will soon make the ultimate sacrifice for our benefit, to show how much he loves us, how will we respond?

I believe the most important thing we can do as followers of that Christ to be reckless in our own love. When we promise to follow Jesus, sometimes it’s difficult and heart wrenching work. But when we are reckless in sharing our love, our faith will multiply in ways we could never imagine.

Jesus reminds us that “At this moment the world is in crisis.” Indeed, people are experiencing literal war across the world. Other people are experiencing metaphorical war in many different ways. Our differences in political ideologies are tearing families apart. Mental illness is at an all-time high, not only for our children and youth but in many demographics. Too many experience discrimination based on race, gender, identity, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, and other identifiers. Too many experience, homelessness, poverty, or food insecurity in a country where some people have more resources than they know what to do with.

With all the difficulties so many people are dealing with, at our church, and in our community, our call is to be as loving as we can be. Like Erik, the Uber driver in my story, we had the opportunity to show love and compassion, which will make a lasting impact on the people around us.

So may you go from this place and be reckless in your love. May your plant your roots deeply in faith, not just because you will receive eternal life as a result, but because the world needs a reminder that hope can still be found even in the deepest despair. Amen. 
 

“Loved So We Can Live”
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun

March 10, 2024

Focus: God’s grace covers us in unimaginable ways, and through Christ’s life and ministry we can be assured of that love.

On Upworthy.com, one of my favorite websites, the talks about the best moments of humanity, a woman named Anjuli tells a story about how her mom showed her unconditional love as she grew up, with one simple phrase: “I love you more than…”

She gave the example of a time she was washing Christmas dishes, the fine china, that they only use once a year. In the middle of washing those dishes, five of the 12 china dishes shattered to the floor. These dishes have been part of their family for generations, and they were very special. Instead of being upset with Anjuli, without a moments hesitation, her mother yelled from the other room, “I love you more than those dishes!” This was a phrase her mother used throughout her entire life. “I love you more than bad grades.” “I love you more than the way you treated your sibling.”

It strikes me that not everybody could have that level of grace the moment something bad happened. Anger, or at least exasperation, are natural human emotions. I think most of us would at least have some reaction to the china breaking. But all that mattered to this mother was teaching her children self forgiveness and reminding them of her unconditional love.

For me, that's what links our two scriptures for today. I'm going to zoom in on both of them individually, but I want you to keep this little story in mind while I talk about the biblical passages and what they mean for our life of faith today. We're going to talk a great deal about grace and how God's love offers us salvation and hope.

Perhaps more than any other time in the liturgical year, Lent is a time where we focus more inwardly, working to refine and refocus ourselves in our faith journeys. Not every denomination deals with the season of Lent in the same ways we do in the UCC (which is objectively an oversimplified statement, but that's the level at which I’ll get into it right now), but I really appreciate the theological focus of this season. Of course, it's always a good time to refine and refocus ourselves on our faith journeys, no matter what time of year it is, but there's something about this season that offers us more corporate opportunities to do that work.

The text this week give us an opportunity to think about how we have fallen short as people of God, which ism’t easy, but by definition it is necessary. In the letter to the Ephesians, someone who is likely a disciple of Paul reminds their audience of the ways they lived before their faith in Christ began. The author writes, “All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else.” In other words, their priorities did not match God’s desires.  But yet God offers grace. Grace to start again, grace to live into fullness of life in ways that honor God. Multiple commentators highlight the importance of this “before-and-after”: before making a commitment to our faith, and after making a commitment to our faith. Before we understood the wheel of God, we were doing things that didn't honor God, but after we were taught what God desired, our faith matured and refined. But even as we ourselves need to grow in order to experience the fullness of life that faith offers us, God has already made a decision. God has already decided to love us, in spite of and even because of who we are. God gives us the gift of grace and salvation, that we could not earn, but instead, it was given to us with no strings attached.

Similarly, in this very famous text from the gospel of John, John reminds his audience, that God loved the entire world enough to give the world God's only son, so that anybody who believes in him may receive eternal life. One of the most important things for us to remember out of this text is that the text says God so loved “the world.” Not “God so loved humanity”, and not “God so loved people who believe in this or that way.” God loves humanity, and all lives on this planet, so deeply that God gave us Jesus to offer liberation and hope.

This is today’s good news: God’s grace covers us in unimaginable ways, and through Christ’s life and ministry we can be assured of that love.  God loves us so deeply, and we don't need to do anything to earn that love. Even if we mess up, God loves us enough that we can have a second chance, and a third chance, and a fourth chance. Both riders of our text today, saying that we only need to be ready to receive it.

Like my story from earlier, God loves us more than others dishes. God loves us more than any way, that we might fall short of God's love for us, and that is the kind of grace that invites us into deeper faith. That is the kind of grace that makes us want to respond as thankful people.

How do we respond to this gift of great love and grace in our community, and around the world?

First, it's helpful to remember that God has already decided that all of us are worthy of God's love, God's blessing, and the belonging that comes from God. That also means we don't get to decide. As we live in community with one another, at times we will disagree. At times we will differ from one another because of the way we vote, the way we love, what we look like, or are the ways we live our lives. Some of these disagreements may cause us stress or other negative emotions. But because we receive the amazing grace of God's love, that grace extends to others just the same.

Second, it's helpful to remember that our call is to share that love with others. Living in community is rarely easy, and sometimes quite complicated. But because of the love and grace we have found in Christ, we have the opportunity to grow, mature, and refine our faith.

So this week, may you remember that God does not condemn you. May you remember that you have been loved long before you could understand it. Empowered by that love, may you go into your week, proclaiming that to others. To the needy, to the oppressed, to the marginalized. Because all are worthy of the incredible love and grace that Christ offers us. Amen.
 

“Jesus’ Teachings and Our Call to Change”

Sermon for U-CC Waupun

March 3, 2024

Focus Statement: When we misuse our power for greed and selfishness, we lose focus on what God desires for us.

 

There are so many directions I could take with our Gospel text for today, but if I could sum it up in one word, it would be “power.” Jesus becomes very angry at those who are using the temple for greed and selfishness, and takes their power away by driving out their greedy behavior.

 

I spent most of this weekend with our confirmation students at Daycholah Center for the Youth Faith Formation retreat. Our confirmands enjoyed fishing together and growing closer as a small group, which Heather, Becky, and I enjoyed experiencing.

 

Every time I spend time at camp, I’m struck by how special of a place this can be as all of us journey in faith. If you've never been to any of our camps for a retreat, or even just to walk around, I would encourage you to go, because we are one of only a few conferences who have this kind of gift. The camping programs in many other conferences of the United Church of Christ and other denominations have since closed due to financial difficulties. I wrote about half of today's sermon while sitting outside near Vesper Point, overlooking Green Lake, as our confirmation students were fishing and nature was abuzz with activity.

 

But it isn't just about the beautiful scenery, the fishing, or the great food. There is something powerful about the practice of this mastery. This is a place that gives people permission to be who they are, authentically, when perhaps their schools or other places in their lives don’t allow them the kind of grace and compassion to be that authentic.

 

This was apparent in a special way when I was leading music and worship at the Knock Knock middle school youth event in November of last year. This event was attended by 30 youth from across the Conference, and adult chaperones who went with them. One of the youth there was a kid who we’ll call Brian. Brian was the type of kid who might’ve been bullied in his school, but his church group set the tone and really rallied around him, so the rest of the kids at the camp did the same.

 

A particularly beautiful moment was at the closing worship, where Brian wrote and recited a very meaningful prayer for the gathered, and shared a favorite song of his during the service that made him feel closer to God. In this moment, his delivery wasn't polished, and he was nervous as all get out, but he claimed the space that was rightfully his, and let us all in a meaningful and spiritually empowering experience.

 

This may seem like a strange illustration to talk about power until you process the ways that people like Brian are marginalized in society. When he shared this song and this prayer, he was, in a way, claiming his own power, as someone who is loved by God and worthy of care and belonging. Places like Daycholah Center, and events with our camping programs, can have that kind of liberating effect on people.

 

Today’s media song also offers an important commentary on taking back our own power. Taylor Swift talks about the walls that society put up to hold people back, and the revolution which is often required to defy our marginalization and work for the positive change we want to experience in the world.

 

As we consult today’s Biblical texts, we can trace the threads of power and God’s will for us as well. I'm going to mostly talk about the gospel today, but I will say just a little bit about the text from Genesis. In the Old Testament text, God has given us commandments for how we should live. Most of these sound very familiar to us, but one I want to highlight today is how the CEB renders that commandment that typically says not to “take God’s name in vain.” The CEB renders it this way: “Do not use the Lord your Gods name as if it were of no significance.” When we consider this rendering, I wonder if we might be willing to “think outside the box” a little bit. In our society, we sometimes encounter people who treat others poorly based on things they can’t control because “God told them to do it.” Many Christians have done and said terrible things in God’s name, including all sorts of discrimination, many instances of war and family conflict, and plenty of other things. In doing so, we make Christianity in our own image, taking away the ability for people to understand the truly liberating and all-inclusive message of God's love.

 

Later on in the Gospel, Jesus acts out on his frustration, and the way that the temple has been made in the image of so-called thieves and robbers. He accuses those exchanging currency in the temple of making a place of worship something it's not supposed to be. In doing so, he takes away the power of those who are probably trying to swindle the common people, and instead demonstrates the power of God’s liberating teachings.

 

He understands that, for the Jewish people of this day, the temple is a meeting place, and a place to continue to grow in faith and learn more about God's teachings. In this angry outburst, Jesus is doing his best to protect the will, and purpose of what this building was meant to symbolize.

 

As we later understand in the story of Jesus’ life and ministry, Jesus makes it very clear that his message is for the benefit of the oppressed and marginalized. Jesus's message is meant so that people like Brian, or other children who might be bullied for something about themselves, can find liberation and love in community.

 

Here at our church, I wonder how we can continue to re-dedicate ourselves to fighting for the powerless in our community. Many people in our community are struggling in various ways. I think we understand that it would have been Jesus’ desire for us to be true to the call of justice, making sure that our worship spaces and our community life stay true to Jesus’ intent. When we misuse our power for greed and selfishness, we lose focus on what God desires for us.

 

So, as you go into your week, may you have the grace of knowing that Jesus’ fight for the integrity of worship was for your benefit, so that you could be known like all of us desire to be know. May you take back your power to do justice in a world of need. Amen.

“Believing in God’s Promise”

TRAD sermon for UCC Waupun, Lent 2B

February 25, 2024

 
Focus statement: When we trust in God’s promises, we are committing ourselves to trusting in a future only God can imagine for us. The examples in both of these texts call is to be hopeful, and trust that God can do wonderful things through us if we are willing to follow.
 
One of my family's favorite stories to tell about me growing up was the time that God talked to me in a dream. I was about five years old. I announced to my parents one morning that God had talked to me in a dream. God said I was going to have a new baby sister and a new puppy. The best part about the story was that my parents already knew part of this was true. Mom had just discovered that she was pregnant with my sister Emily, so recently that they didn't even know the baby’s gender, and hadn’t told me yet! So, when the two of them would say in front of me, their own theories about whether Emily was going to be a boy, or a girl, I would say very definitively, “God told me we were having a girl, so it's a girl!” (As I look back on it now, I'm struck that my parents never totally discounted my revelation, but instead that they were open to the possibility that God really had appeared to me somehow.)
 
We never did get that puppy, though, but we turned out okay.
This is the only time I can remember having this vivid of an experience with God telling me something in my life. As often as I have felt God's guidance in my life, and as much as I believe that God can answer prayer in certain ways, I don't believe God appears in peoples’ dreams willy-nilly. God appears in peoples’ dreams when God has something important or consequential to tell somebody.
When God appears to Abram in the Genesis text for today, this translation doesn't necessarily clarify, whether it was a dream, a vision, or some other manifestation, but by whatever means, God comes to tell him something important. God comes to tell him that he will have a rich ancestry, even at his advanced age. God also tells him that he will have a new name. Abram becomes Abraham. If you were to look at the footnotes in the Common English Bible, which is the translation we use most often in worship together, the name “Abram” means “exalted ancestor,” and the name “Abraham” means “ancestor of a multitude.” At 99 years old, Abraham will be an ancestor of a multitude!
 
Of course, for any of us who have heard the story in Sunday school, or other times throughout our lives, we know how Abraham initially took this news. According to this translation, “Abraham fell on his face and laughed. He said to himself, Can a 100-year-old man become a father, or Sarah, a 90-year-old woman, have a child?”
 
But Abraham never stopped believing in how God was at work. Our text from Romans 4 uses a different translation, because we were having trouble making sense of the Common English Bible when we were planning this week out. The New Living Translation makes meaning of Abraham’s reaction in this way: “Abraham never wavered in believing Gods promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever God promises.”
 
I want to say that I'm really grateful to our media team for sticking with me on this one, because it wasn't an easy text for us to consider. It was actually a member of our media team who found a different translation of the Romans text for us to use, which I think really gets to the “meat” of what Paul is trying to say in his letter to the Romans. I'm not going to say this person's name because I didn't get their permission, but I do want to highlight that because we really do have an incredible and faithful media team which is willing to make meaning out of difficult parts of Scripture. It may be a difficult text for us to conceptualize, but I think it's important for us for a number of reasons.
 
It strikes me that sometimes it's hard to believe in what God promises to us. How can we believe that we inherit the richest blessings imaginable, when war rages on all around us, when they're in such a variety of pain in our communities, and in the world? This has been a really hard time for several members of our congregation, who are navigating various different journeys. In our communities—in this county, for example—people experience difficulties paying their utility bills, which our Missions committee is endeavoring to address in this quarter’s Mission offering. Our church has helped with Loaves and Fishes events, which provide hot meals to people who are in need of that provision.
 
Equally, Abraham was concerned about his family’s future, since he and Sarah struggled to have children of their own, which would have represented far more than simply their own sense of accomplishment in biblical times. They must have felt such grief over that.
 
Believing in God's promises when your world is crashing down requires a lot of faith.
 
But as our text from Romans reminds us, stories like this were recorded for our benefit, so that we can use Abrahams experience as a model for believing what God can do using us as conduits.
 
My experience hearing from God around the time my mom was pregnant helped me understand that God can work within us to do important things when we may not consider the possibility on our own. It also reminded me that having faith in what God tells us about our future can deepen our faith when God does what God promises.
When we trust in God’s promises, we are committing ourselves to trusting in a future only God can imagine for us. The examples in both of these texts call is to be hopeful, and trust that God can do wonderful things through us if we are willing to follow.
 
As we go into this week, how might you be called to trust God? What kinds of things might God be trying to say to you about your future that might not be apparent to you at this time? And if you are so privileged to receive that kind of revelation, what are you going to do about it?
 
When we believe in God's blessing and God's provision in our lives, incredible things can happen, not just to us, but also through us. As you go into your week, may you be open to the work of God within and around you. May you be ready to believe that God can use your story to deepen your own faith, and the faith of those for generations to come. Thanks be to God. Amen.
“Promises”
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun
Lent 1B, Genesis, and Gospel texts
February 18, 2024
 
Focus Statement: In both of the texts this week, we notice examples of covenants (promises). In the promises we make to God and God makes to us, our relationship with God becomes deeper and richer.
 
When I was a child, I liked to test my limits. I could be a stinker sometimes, and I liked to do things that I knew I shouldn't be doing or say things I knew I shouldn't say. Most of us can probably relate to doing some of these things as a kid. And sometimes, my parents would get really upset with me. I would have to take a time out and think about what I did. When we talked about it, I apologized, and we moved on.
 
My parents would be upset with me for a little while, but I learned very quickly that they would still love me, no matter what I did, and that they wouldn't hold my previous actions against me. Just as much as consequences were very much a thing in our household, so is the old adage of forgive, and forget. There was always another chance. There was always something to grow from. There wasn't much of anything that we couldn't move past it, because we were family, and we loved each other.
 
One day, I asked my dad if he was still mad at me for something that I have done. I don't remember any details, but I will never forget what he said back. He said something to the effect of, “I wish you hadn't done what you did, but I am a big believer in forgiving and forgetting. I love you no matter what.”
 
It was a powerful thing as a six or eight year old to hear my dad. Tell me that he loved me no matter what. It's even more powerful as a 29 year old because not every kid gets to hear that.
 
Today, both of our scriptures talk about elements of covenant. Another word to use for “covenant” is promise. I am especially going to highlight how sometimes we make promises to God, and sometimes God makes promises to us. It changes our faith and it changes our lives.
 
To be able to fully understand why the covenant God makes with Noah in the book of Genesis is important, we need to trace some of the common themes of the book at large, which I will do in about a paragraph.
 
In the book of Genesis, we are first exposed to several examples of God's blessing. God makes the world and calls it good, and God makes people, and recognizes that Adam is not meant to be alone. But then, of course, Adam and Eve fall short, God gets upset, and there is a consequence. Humanity tries to restore relationship, God forgives them, and everybody moves on. Then, the cycle continues with the next situation.
 
This time, God has had enough. Because of the amount of transgressions, God feels the world has committed, God wants a clean slate, so God wipes out most of the world with the flood, except for a chosen few people and animals. But in her commentary for Working Preacher, Song-Mi Susie Park recognizes that God has to reconcile with Noah and those people and animals that are still left, because wiping every last being off of the Earth is neither a healthy nor productive solution to God's anger. Put another way, when my old testament professor, Clint McCann, taught us about this passage in seminary, he said that God was learning how to be God. It's not often we think about God making mistakes, or God, having to grow from an experience, because so many of us have been taught that God is an all-knowing and benevolent creator. This is a very early example of a time that God gets angry, and God has the choice between taking a step back, and renewing relationships, or saying, “to heck with it,” and wiping everything out.
 
We recognize that God chooses the former, because God understands that it isn't healthy just to give up because someone makes mistakes. If our relationship is important to us, and there is value to that relationship in our lives, working through problems, and being willing to change ourselves is the only way we will truly succeed in our own growth.
 
But growth, and maturing, both begin and end with the reminder that we are beloved, as we are. When Jesus was baptized, even as he was forced into the wilderness, his faith and his being were deeply anchored by the fact that God loved him. God needed him in order to do the work of restorative justice for a world in need of it. Jesus leaned on the promises that God loved him, and that God would be with him no matter where the journey led them.
 
In a similar way, we have heard the promises that Nicole, Casey, and the rest of us have made to support Riley in her faith journey as she grows up. We know that a productive faith journey is full of many experiences, from deeply affirming experiences of God’s love to the more difficult moments of feeling like we're at a crossroads. As Riley enters her journey of faith, she will have several opportunities to think about who God is to her, and what it means to be Christ’s disciple in the world. As a congregation, we have promised our love, support, and care to Riley, to her parents, and to her family as Riley grows in faith. Riley may experience wilderness moments, like Jesus did. I know I had my own wilderness moments as I grew up. But as long as she knows that she is beloved, and knows the promises that those closest to her have made to support her, she will be able to embody love, justice, and peace wherever she goes.
The same is true for all of us. This is the good news for today, my friends: In both of the texts this week, we notice examples of covenants and promises. In the promises we make to God and God makes to us, our relationship with God becomes deeper and richer.
 
As we live our lives of faith, we regularly make promises to God to be the best version of ourselves that we can be, pursuing justice, loving kindness, and journeying humbly alongside a God who makes promises to us. Even when God is disappointed in our actions, God loves us, no matter what, which is a promise we can cling to. As I shared in my story about my relationship with my dad, knowing that I was loved “no matter what” gave me the space to grow in a healthy way. God also makes promises to us that God will not let God’s anger win the day, but instead God will be the patient and loving God that we know God to be.
 
So friends, as you go today, may you know that you are beloved, and that God loves you, no matter what. May you be patient, may you be kind, and may you have the wisdom not to let your anger win the day in your relationships with others. May you have the grace to make promises to those in your life that you will love them no matter what, just as God has made that promise to you. Amen.
“Called and Changed”
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun
Transfiguration Sunday
February 11, 2024
 
Focus Statement: In this moment, Jesus is revealed by God as beloved and called. In this moment, something in him changes, and perhaps something about us changes too.
 
When I was beginning middle school, the district used to take the incoming sixth grade class on a weekend retreat to the Green Lake Conference Center. The purpose of the event was to get to know other sixth graders, and also get to know your team of teachers that would help you through your sixth grade year. In the Neenah school district, five or six elementary schools funneled into two middle schools, so there would be a lot of people who didn't know each other.
 
It was Friday night in the boys dormitory. We had some free time in the game room, where many of the boys were playing table tennis or other games. But right there, in the corner of the room, I saw a dingy upright piano, and went over to play that. Even though it was out of tune and sounded terrible, my social studies teacher, Mr. Lewis, was amazed at how well I played, and wanted to know if I wanted to play for the whole class the following evening. I have never played for a group of 3-400 people before, but I said yes anyway. To be honest I was a bit worried that I might be bullied in middle school for having a disability, so I was going to jump on being given an opportunity to be known on my own terms.
 
So the following night, in the hot, sweaty gymnasium, it was my time to shine. I approached the much better piano, which actually sounded pretty good. As I played my first song, you could hear a pin drop. Their attention was glued to my playing. When I finished, the entire class burst into thunderous applause and cheers. It was a feeling unlike anything I had experienced before. Then I asked them if they wanted to hear another song, and that got me more cheering and more applause. So I play the second song, and then all of us went back to free time. This time during free time, lots of people were talking to me, and asking me how long I had played the piano and all sorts of things like that. I was known in a different way than I would've been had it not been for that experience.
 
To be sure, I'm not going to be so self-important as to say that my experience compares with the kind of experience Jesus had, and the experience his disciples had seeing this. But I'm also mindful that, in order to understand certain dimensions of the Biblical story, we have to somehow relate it to our own experiences. The stories included in the Scriptures are meant to be instructive for us about how we live our lives, so it's important for us to find ourselves within the words.
 
Part of what makes the transfiguration story so tricky is that its meaning is not immediately clear to most people, even to those who have theological training. There are many different ways we can interpret this text, which in its own way adds to the difficulty. So today I'm going to talk about what it symbolizes for Jesus and his ministry, and what it can symbolize for us as well.
 
When I looked up the word transfiguration in the dictionary, the first definition was: “a complete change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state”.
 
As I understand it, the transfiguration is a twofold event. The first part of the transformation is visual, with Jesus turning dazzlingly white and appearing with Elijah and Moses. The visual part of this transformation draws immediate attention to the event, so much so that it terrifies, Peter, James, and John. And I think I would be terrified right there with them! This is not something that we normally experience, which adds to the mystery of it.
 
But the second part of the transformation is, I think, the more interesting one. It comes with words, and with naming. A voice from heaven says: “This is my Son, whom I dearly love. Listen to him!”
 
For me, this is an important moment for Jesus. The same words are spoken about him at the time when he is baptized, but the juxtaposition of these words, at this point in the liturgical calendar is equally important. We're about to enter into the season of Lent, where we will see, Jesus questioned, mocked, betrayed, and killed. Experiencing these words spoken about Jesus, at this moment is, in part, a reminder about why we are following him to the cross. We follow Jesus, because he is the fullest embodiment of God’s hope for the world, a world that is in deep need of that hope. In biblical times and in modern times, people are just trying to get by, reeling from the hatred and discrimination, which is too often spewed at them. When we think about those people experiencing homelessness, poverty and discrimination here in Waupun and the surrounding area, when we think about the children and youth who are growing up and trying to find their truest identity… they are the reason why Jesus came. Through the transfiguration, Jesus models the affirmation that we receive when we dedicate ourselves to God's ongoing project of peace, justice, and comprehensive well-being for all. When so many people are distracted by their own self importance, listening to Jesus, is instructive, because we can more clearly understand the will of God through his witnes.
 
In this moment, Jesus is revealed by God as beloved and called. In this moment, something in him changes, and perhaps something about us changes too.
 
I believe we can become changed people ourselves, when we are revealed for who we truly are. Jesus is God's beloved son, who showed us the way from the very beginning, so that we would know how to share peace, love, and joy with a weary world. In my story from earlier, part of me was revealed to relative strangers, people who might first have judged me on the basis of outward appearances. It was a reminder, both to myself, and to my peers, that I was worthy of love, and knowing. And I believe the same thing is possible with you. When we claim ourselves as God's beloved child, whatever tries to get in the way of us being our authentic selves is silenced and dismissed forever.
 
 May it be this way with you. May you claim yourself as God's beloved child. May the people around you elevate your gifts, and affirm your experiences, and may the world be changed for the better because of who you are. Thanks be to God. Amen.
“The Reason Jesus Came”
Sermon for U-CC Waupun
February 4, 2024
Epiphany 4B
 
Focus Statement: Jesus comes to comfort and heal spiritually with his love. How do we need to be comforted by Jesus, and how can we provide that comfort to others?
 
Earlier this week, Sesame Street posted from Elmo's official X account, the website formally known as Twitter. Elmo asked a pretty simple question: “How is everybody doing?”
 
It's possible that Sesame Street may not have predicted what happened next.
 
As of the time I wrote this, this tweet got over 18,000 responses. The responses included many people who had fallen on hard times. One user said, “The world is burning around us, Elmo.” Another said, “Hi Elmo, I have accepted the fact that I'll never be able to buy a home in this economy.” Another said, “Honestly Elmo. I need a hug.” The actress Rachel Ziegler said she was “resisting the urge to tell Elmo that I am kinda sad.” Finally, one more person said, “I shouldn't have rushed wanting to be an adult. I need a break big guy.”
 
After some of these responses came in, Elmo posted again, saying he was glad he asked and that he would check in again later on. Then Sesame Street pointed users towards mental health resources which might be helpful to them if they needed further assistance.
 
On first glance, it might be strange talking about Sesame Street in church, and yet this sequence of events  amplifies the larger mental health crisis affecting children, youth, and adults of all backgrounds. So many people are struggling in this world, and the problem feels so vast that, addressing it seems insurmountable. Beyond the mental health epidemic, there are plenty of other pressing issues affecting both our congregation and our community. Living expenses, sometimes feel out of control. Grocery store prices in Waupun and elsewhere are astronomical, even as people across Dodge County face rampant food insecurity and homelessness. In talking with representatives from the Food Pantry, the school district, and Church Health Services, our church leadership has been made aware of the incredible magnitude of this community’s difficulties.
 
Our media song for today also demonstrates the kind of difficulties so many people face. Sara sings:
 
“I've been talking to God, don't know if it's helping or not
But surely something has got to give
'Cause I can't keep waiting to live”
 
I can only imagine that many of us have experienced a similar desperation at least once in our lives.
 
So it seems important to pay attention when we have the opportunity to engage scriptures that provide comfort and  compassion. Today's text from Isaiah 40 is a prime example of that. We begin by encountering these stark words:
 
“Dont you know? Havent you heard?
Wasnt it announced to you from the beginning?
Havent you understood since the earth was founded?”
Isaiah reminds us about how God has been caring for humanity, and for all of creation, since the world began. God extends compassion to the needy, to the oppressed, to the marginalized, and send the rich away empty. This is a counter-cultural reality, because, in this world where it seems that the rich are getting richer and the needy struggle to catch up, we need to remember that God is taking care of us too. Isaiah also speaks of gods endurance: “ God doesnt grow tired or weary. Gods understanding is beyond human reach.”
 
Isaiah also stresses that God has a deep understanding of our worldly predicament. Because sometimes, when life happens, or when the world seems to be conspiring against us, we hope for somebody, anybody, to understand where we're coming from, and sympathize with the difficulties we face. Too often, we find other people are so absorbed in their own difficulties that it's difficult for them to be present for us. So our struggles become compounded by the fact that we feel isolated. But Isaiah reminds us that God is with us, and that because God is with us, we can face whatever it is, we need to face, and we are not alone. Because we hope in God, our strength will be renewed, and we will not grow weary by the problems of the world.
 
In our gospel text for this week, we join Jesus as he refocuses himself, sharing the good news. This time I won't delve into deeply to the problematic nature of the healings that take place. I spent a lot of time on that last week and I won't beat you over the head with that. For now, I will suffice it to say that, any time bodily healing is said to be taking place, it's important to view that with suspicion because of the ways these stories are misused to hurt people with disabilities and mental illnesses.
 
But this time, I find it, striking that even Jesus needs rest and prayer as he delivers the good news as far as they can go. Jesus needs a moment of prayer and centering, to renew his own strength, and to refocus him for the journey ahead. Eventually his disciples find him, and say, “Everybody's been searching for you! Aren’t you going to go help them?”
 
Jesus’s reply surprises them. “Actually,”he says, “I think I've done what I need to do here. Let's go the other direction so I can share the good news there as well.” Even though the healings themselves are problematic in how they were discussed in the Bible, there is still so much good news with Jesus and his message. We can hold, intention the difficult and even problematic pieces of the biblical narrative with the pieces that are deeply liberating. No matter how these narratives have been. Miss used against people with disabilities and mental illnesses, the story of Christ’s revolutionary love still rings, true. The reason why Jesus came has been explained to us time, and time again throughout the New Testament, and arguably, predicted in the Old Testament. Jesus came to fight for the powerless, to remind the world that there is still another way. A way of peace, mercy, and justice.
 
My friends, this is the good news for today. Jesus comes to comfort and heal spiritually with his love. There is so much good news in the message of Jesus, and what it means, for people like you and me, who are dealing with so many difficult circumstances in our lives.
 
The question becomes this: How do we need to be comforted by Jesus, and how can we provide that comfort to others?
 
Maybe the comfort we and our communities need is that people will be present for us when we fall on hard times. From what I've seen recently, especially in the last few weeks and months, this church family supports one another and lift each other up in times of difficulty. I have noticed that in big and small ways.
 
Maybe the comfort we and our communities need is more systemic. It's what happens when the walls of oppression and exclusion are broken down. It's what happens when those who experience homelessness or food insecurity receive the resources they need. It's one people earn the kind of reliable income necessary to find safe and sustainable living conditions.
 
But first, before we can do anything that approaches systemic change, we have to have that comfort within ourselves. The comfort to have courage, the comfort to know that God love is sustaining each of us. Jesus came so that we would know the fullness of God's love for us, even to the point of his own death. We are rapidly approaching the last Sunday of Epiphany, before we begin Lent, our journey with Jesus to the cross. We will journey together in self reflection, thinking about the ways we might need to refocus on our faith journeys. As we prepare to do that hard work, may we go from this place today, knowing that we are so deeply loved, and that God does not give up on us. Instead, God understands our predicament, and sent us Christ to work for our justice. May we share that good news, the love we found, everywhere we go. Thanks be to God.
“New Teachings With Authority and Love”
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun, Epiphany 4B,
January 28, 2024
Mark 1: 21-28
 
Focus Statement: Jesus teaches his followers differently from what they have been taught in other places, showing them a way of living that liberates the oppressed and empowers the marginalized.
 
One piece of the experience of having a disability that may not be apparent to those who are without it is the experience of what’s called “internalized ableism.” I could speak about internalized ableism alone for a whole sermon. The easiest way to explain it quickly is that disabled people are given so many assumptions about who they are or their life experience from abled people. In the absence of more empowering language spoken to them, sometimes disabled people will take those things on as part of their own self-talk.
 
For example, one assumption that disabled people often have to unlearn about themselves is that they are a burden to society. Because of the different needs that they have, in a world where people are often pressured to live independent lives, asking for help that “normal people” don’t require is considered to be an inconvenience to another person.
 
When some people experience another person who has a disability, they label their lives as “sad”, or even “pitiful”. I can’t tell you how many well-intentioned people throughout my life have said to me, “I would never be able to go through what you go through every day. You’re so strong. You’re so brave. You’re so inspiring.”
 
When I talk about some of this, you may be shocked that those kinds of things have been said to me, and so many others. But the tragic reality is that these are the kinds of things people are taught about disability, and when that is all you're taught, that's what you're going to tell yourself, or your children, or your children's children. People are going around talking about how living with a disability is so negative, and how people who live with them must live terrible lives. When a disabled person is told those things, for some of us it might go a step further: “Wow, someone just told me they think my life is so hard and so unimaginable. There really must be something ‘wrong’ with me after all.” That’s internalized ableism.
 
I feel I can speak about these kinds of things freely with this congregation, because of the ways that you celebrate my personhood and my ministry, and have told me you enjoy helping me out. This has really made me feel that I can be authentic with you. Your understanding of the interdependence that we share is truly appreciated. But it's important for me to remind anybody who will listen that not everybody who has a disability is treated with the same kind of warmth and compassion.
 
Today, I'm going to start by talking about why talking about preaching on the healing texts is a slippery slope for people who live with disabilities, and end by offering us a piece of this text that can actually be liberating.
 
When confronted with healing narratives like this one, where Jesus cast out a demon, many preachers either avoid touching it with a 10 foot pole, or worse, perpetuate harmful theology around disability. This theology is aided and abetted by people in biblical times being told that they should not associate themselves with people with skin diseases, demons, or other disabilities. After all, people with any kind of disease were considered to be unclean or unworthy of God's love in Biblical times.
 
Understandings around ritual cleanliness were likely perpetuated by the very legal experts that are spoken about in today's text. This is why, for so many people, the healing narratives are so powerful. Jesus cures a disabled person, whether or not they ask for it, and their place in the community is restored. Jesus summons a demon out of a man, and this is what causes the crowd around him to be amazed.
 
For me, in reading this text, we put us a lot of focus on the casting out of the demon. Though we don't entirely know what it means to have a demon inside of us from a medical perspective, some people have interpreted demons like having a mental illness. Unfortunately, as those of us understand if we live with mental illness, or know someone who lives with mental illness, disability and mental illness don't just go away. We understand that Jesus does incredible things that ordinary people couldn't do, and yet, the ways that the healings of Jesus have been misused continue to hurt people with disabilities all too often in our Christian churches.
 
But I do think there's a way to read this text without solely putting the focus on the poor disabled person in the crowd.
 
Toward the end of this passage, the people understand that Jesus is offering new teachings with authority, unlike the tired interpretations of the legal experts. Of course, in this text, Jesus doesn't speak beyond rebuking the demon, but we also know what Jesus cares about by understanding the rest of his public ministry. He turns the world on its head by saying that the poor, the marginalized, the needy, and the oppressed are the ones who benefit most deeply from the blessings of God.
 
Jesus teaches his followers in a different way from what they have been taught in other places, showing them a way of living which liberates the oppressed and empowers the marginalized.
When we read texts like this, and the emphasis is placed on casting out demons, we lose the opportunity to remember the larger point. Jesus came to remind us that God loves us, exactly as we are, and that those who were relegated to the margins would finally have what they needed to live as God intended.
 
Jesus loves us so much that he is willing to redirect our understandings away from what we have been taught in the past, in order to embrace the more inclusive, more just future. When we are willing to be open to new understandings, we can think differently about not only how we talk about disability, but any other human difference.
 
When we recognize that Jesus gives us new understandings with authority, our hearts can be changed and renewed by an incredible love that we could never understand.
 
So, as you go into this week, may you know how deeply loved you are by your creator and your savior. Also, may you be receptive to new teachings and new possibilities as you live a life of faith. Amen.
 
 
 
 
“The Work of Saying Yes”
TRAD sermon for U-CC Waupun
January 21, 2024
Epiphany 3B
 
Focus Statement: It may not always be easy, but when we say yes, to God, not only can our own lives change, but the lives of people around us as well.
 
One of my favorite memories with my dad growing up happened when I was a teenager. We had just gone to the grocery store, which is just a few blocks down from my parents house. It was supposed to be the kind of shopping trip that you go, get a few things, and go back home and you might only be gone for 20 minutes. But this time was different. This time they had a sale on one of dad's and my favorite varieties of potato chips: Cape Cod Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper kettle chips, and it was a good enough sale that we got two or three big bags of them. After we had shopped, we were sitting in the parking lot. Dad started the car, and said to me, “You know, I want a few potato chips before we get home.”
 
I said, “Dad, we’re two minutes from our house.”
 
He goes, “I know. But just a few. Put on some music and we’ll just sit here a minute.”
 
So I put on some music, and he ripped open the bag. We sat there, and we both ate a few. And then a few more. And then a few more. Before we knew it, we had eaten an entire bag of chips sitting in that parking lot while listening to almost an entire CD’s worth of songs. Dad said not to tell Mom when we got home but she found out anyway after the conversation of “what in the world took you so long?”
 
That was such a simple moment of both of us saying yes, but it ended up being one that I will remember forever. It was such a spur of the moment thing, and I remember being so thankful that he had taken the time to do that with me. He had a number of things to do around the house that day, and maybe he didn't get everything done that he meant to, but that moment was special to both of us, and he knew that it was important to spend some special time together.
 
Though this is a funny example, it relates to a common thread of both of our scriptures for today. Each of these scripture passages talk about what might happen if we say yes to one thing and no to something else, and the reward which comes along with that. So, keep that theme in mind as I trace it between each of these passages.
 
First, we will focus on the story of Jonah. Jonah came up in the lectionary a few months ago, so I won't go through the entire story again, but this is the most important part for today. We remember that the Ninevites had done some real harm to their perceived adversaries. They had cheated people out of more than their fair share in taxes, and generally treated them terribly. God is not pleased with how they are acting, and so plans to destroy the city and all of those people in it. But before carrying out this plan, God wants to give them one more chance through the prophet Jonah.
 
Of course, Jonah has already written them off, and delays going to Nineveh to share God's message with the Ninevites, because he believes that there's no way that the Ninevites will listen to God anyway. After Jonah is spit up from the whale, and finally agrees to do what God has asked of him, Jonah is shocked by what happens next. Not only are they receptive to Jonah's message, but they repent from their greed and selfishness immediately. The text says that they put on mourning clothes. This was a common practice of the day to represent a shift from the average every day life to grappling with a new reality. It was a visible sign that something had changed in someone’s life. In this case, the Ninevites show God that they are ready to recommit themselves to following God, changing their hearts and lives to understand what's most important. Although we don't get the benefit of seeing what the Ninevites do after Jonah leaves them, we can imagine that the Ninevites have completely reformed and live in more intentional community. They are saying no to their greed and selfishness, and yes to an existence, that is more just, and more obedient.
 
In a similar way, at the beginning of our gospel text for today, Jesus invites his listeners to change their hearts and lives, and trust in this good news. Through Jesus, God has come to the poor, the needy, the oppressed, and the marginalized, and there will be great joy for all who believe in God, and for some of Jesus, his first messengers, he call, some lowly fisherman. The most amazing thing is they immediately drop their nets and follow Jesus, throwing caution to the wind, and not worrying about the cost. I wonder sometimes what was going through their heads. When Jesus told these fishermen to leave their steady jobs, to leave their families, and to leave everything that they had known to follow him, it could not have been a simple proposition. Like the Ninevites, these fishermen were forced to confront a choice: either except the status quo, or prepare for their lives to potentially be transformed beyond recognition. In the fisherman's case, they gladly chose the latter, and I imagine that their faith gave them great strength in this time of re-orientation.
 
So what can we learn from the Ninevites and the fisherman, who re-orient and re-dedicate their lives to God's work in the world?
 
This is the good news: It may not always be easy, but when we say yes, to God, not only can our own lives change, but the lives of people around us as well.
 
As we go into this week, I wonder what we might be called to say no to in order to say yes to God.
 
In such a contentious election season, for example, we might be called to focus less on what divides us, resisting the urge to put other people in a box, and instead, lean into more intentional community building.
 
In a world where peoples’ differences convince us that we should be allowed to exclude people, we might be called to be more radically inclusive.
 
Finally, in a more rural community like ours, where individuals and families have to make hard decisions about how they will make ends meet, those of us with greater financial stability might be called to be more generous, instead of keeping it for ourselves.
 
Good things, even incredible things, can happen when we do just that. Lives can be transformed, both our own lives, and the lives of those we encounter. And as a result, we will be blessed by the ways that we continue to work towards the will of God. So may you go into this week, prepared to turn and follow God. May you be blessed and challenged in equal measure, knowing that your work to deny your own desires and follow God will change lives for the better. Amen.
 
 
Defying Tyranny, Serving Christ, and Knowing Were Beloved
Sermon for U-CC Waupun, January 7, 2024, Epiphany 1B
 
Focus Statement: Serving Christ sometimes calls us to defy systems of power, which is difficult and even scary. In that work, we know that God loves us and equips us to do the next right thing.
 
A while ago, I talked about some of the camp concerts that I do at Daycholah Center when I am a part of an event called Knock Knock, which is a middle school youth event that happens in the fall of every year. Some of the songs I do have religious themes embedded in them, while other songs are things that they might've heard on the radio or in a musical. As I talk between songs, I like to try to explain why I chose a certain song to be part of the concert, and get them thinking about both the world as it is and how God calls us to share God’s love in the world.
 
At the last concert, that I did there just a few months ago, one of the questions I asked the kids as the concert was going on, was what kinds of people in the world are discriminated against because of who they are. They called out a long list of different groups of people based on race, gender, ethnic background, sexual orientation, ability and disability, and several other identifiers.
 
Part of our job, I told them, is to notice when society is discriminating against people, and trying to do our best to make a positive change.
 
I was really impressed by their perceptions of the world, and in my conversations with them throughout the weekend, they talked a lot about how they’re learning to be better friends and caring people. By continuing to learn to do this, they are trying their best to defy the discrimination that too many people around them experience.
 
One of the dominant themes in the entire Bible has to do with power. Who has it, and to whom it is denied. Throughout Advent and Christmas I talked a lot about how Jesus came to liberate those who had been marginalized and oppressed. Today, I'm going to talk about our own relationship with power, and what we might be called to defy as we usher in the coming of Christ, the light of the world.
 
Today, some churches are celebrating Epiphany Sunday, and most churches are celebrating what's called Baptism of Christ Sunday. The lectionary is a little bit weird this week. As it turns out, I'm breaking the rules a little bit, because the baptism of Christ reading is the same exact reading we've done twice already, so I'm not going to bore you with that again. You’re welcome.
 
Epiphany is the season after Christmas that reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world, and over the course of the next month or so, we will engage biblical texts that spotlight the tension between Jesus and the ruling powers in the places he visits. Baptism of Christ Sunday, on the other hand, recognizes the time when John the Baptist baptized Jesus, and proclaimed his coming.
First, a reminder of how King Herod is related to this story seems important. King Herod, otherwise known as Herod the Great, who is not afraid to torture, or even kill his perceived enemies. Not even his own wife, or sons were spared from this terror. The scripture tells us that Herod was terrified when Jesus was born, and all of Jerusalem with him. He was terrified, because people had proclaimed Jesus to be the Messiah. If Jesus was the messiah, Herod would no longer have power. On the other hand, the commentator Audrey West reminds us that everyone in Jerusalem was terrified because they did not want to be caught in the crossfire of the conflict between Jesus and Herod. The birth of Jesus, for so many people symbolized hope in a hopeless world.
 
So Herod asked the magi to do his dirty work for him. He asks them to find where Jesus was born so that he could go and “worship him” also. As you might imagine, Herod really has no interest in worshiping Jesus, but instead he probably wants to kill him. But the magi journey anyway, bringing gifts they feel are fit for a king. They immediately worship him, and they understand the importance of his coming.
 
The most striking piece of the magi’s story for me is that they are warned in a dream, not to return to Herod, so they go home by another way. By doing this, they are making a statement. They understand Jesus to be the true ruler, the true light of the world. Herod doesn't come close.
 
They understood a crucial point, which also serves as are good news for today. Serving Christ sometimes calls us to defy systems of power, which is difficult and even scary. In that work, we know that God loves us and equips us to do the next right thing.
 
Like the kids in my story from earlier pointed out, imbalances of power are all around us. So many different groups of people in this world don't get a fair shake. But we can choose to reject power structures in this world, that demean or oppress, if we are brave enough and bold enough to do the work.
 
Our media song today by Crosby, Stills, and Nash is another example of this. It talks about teaching each other how to live in the world, fostering a better sense of empathy through another's life experiences.
 
And this work isn’t easy. This work can force us to make difficult decisions about what we believe, and how we want to respond to powerful social structures. So we need to remember that we are beloved. The most important part of the baptism of Christ story is that God calls down from the heavens, and says that Jesus is God’s beloved child, and that the world should listen to him.
 
So, as you go into this week, I invite you to think about the kinds of power structures who might be called to defy. Are there any ways that you might be called to speak up, or to go home by another way like the magi did? As you do this important work, may you know that you are beloved, and that, even though this work isn’t easy, it will bring the light of Christ into the world. Amen.