2-21-16 Inward Light

Sermon 2-21-2016‘Inward Light’

John 8:12-20

http://www.hallvworthington.com/George_Fox_Selections/FoxFromtheLord.html; George Fox Selections

http://www.hallvworthington.com/Margaret_Fox_Selections/MargaretMemoir.html; The Life of Margaret Fox, Wife of George Fox, compiled from her own narrative and other sources, 1859.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Be ready for mystery.  Always be ready for things you cannot see.  Appreciate the things you do not yet understand.  They may frustrate you, they may confuse you, but turn the energy of frustration or confusion to good purpose, and the challenge of learning more about yourself and the world.  The world is not as dark as you might think.  In fact, it’s filled with light – and you carry that light within you.

 Christ tells us in this story from the Gospel of John that he is the Light of the World, and that we never need walk in darkness.  He calls us out of darkness into Light.  George Fox, years later would say, ‘Christ lights every one that comes into the world; and by this light they might be gathered to God.’ 

The persons who heard Christ say these things were not ready for mystery.  They could only see what was in front of their faces.  They could not appreciate what they did not understand, and in fact, were threatened by it.  Their rules of logic applied, and they demanded that Christ validate who he was.  He did, claiming his Father as his witness – his father who had sent him.  Not seeing another person standing there, another person in flesh and blood, another person who resembled this young, impudent man, they scoffed at him.  Because they did not know his father, they refused to believe the son.  Because they could not see his father, they refused to accept the son’s word.  Within inches of the Light of the World, they stood in their own darkness.  Why?  Because they would not, could not, appreciate the mystery of experiencing something they did not understand.  How many of us today, living in the power of the coming of the Light of the World, still stand in our own darkness?  How many of us refuse to enter in to mystery?  To unknowing in order to know?  How many of us are willing to walk in the Light, rather than stand in darkness?

Our grandchildren live in Sheridan, Wyoming, and a week ago, Jon and I had a wonderful conversation with Ella and Ben through SKYPE.  Ben had just registered for Kindergarten, so he wanted to read a book to us that he’d gotten at Kindergarten Round-Up.  “Sam sat on Matt.”  “Matt sat on cat.”   “Cat sat on Matt.”  It was wonderful!  Then sister showed us her brand new Bible – purple, with beads hanging from the front.  Ella is almost 8, and she wanted to read to us, too.  She read a Psalm, and then I asked her to find Psalm 23.  Grandpa, Ella and I took turns reading verses together.  I told her I was preaching from the book of John.  Could she find that?  The kids have been learning a song with all the names of the books of the Bible, and so she sang her way up to John, and found it.  She asked why some of the words were red, and I told her that Jesus was having a conversation with people, and whenever he spoke, his words were printed in red.  She flipped a couple of pages again, and found everything in red.  “Look Mom,” she shouted.  “Jesus is talking!  I’ve got to show Daddy!”  And she took off to find Seth.

Jesus is talking.  Jesus has lots to say, and it’s pretty exciting – not just to a seven year old, but to anyone who will pay attention – to anyone who will step into mystery.  Last week, I told our children that Bible stories began like all stories do, shared from the heart.  Before they were ever written down, they were inscribed on our hearts, and humankind shared stories about God, and their understanding of who God was, what God did, and how God moved.  “Once upon a time” became “In the beginning”, and stories drawn in the sand, or in the sky began to be written, copied, printed, and read.  Jesus’ disciple John, who loved him so, began his gospel with, ‘In the beginning”.  Genesis begins with darkness and emptiness.  John’s Gospel begins with Life and Light.  Genesis brings humankind to creation.  John brings the ‘Word made flesh’ to us all.  Jesus is talking now. God no longer speaks for himself as he did to Moses, or through a prophet or king, but through his son.  God is speaking in red letters.  God is speaking in our hearts.

 The prophet Jeremiah told us this would happen… that all those written stories of family and community, the laws for living, the adjudication of kings and judges, and the warnings of prophets like himself would one day become written – not in books, or tablets of stone, but on our hearts. A five year old child knows God’s laws.  Benjamin may not know the Ten Commandments verbatim, but he knows not to steal, or lie.  He’s drawn naturally toward loving God.  Jeremiah once said, “This is the covenant I will make, declares the Lord:  I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God.”  Always be ready for things you cannot see.

So, how do we tell these stories that were once told in sand and sky?  How do we read these stories written down so long ago?  How do we know these stories? Does that matter?  It did to George Fox.  It’s said that “Fox's preaching was always backed up by the scriptures; his listeners usually remarked that they had never heard anyone open their understanding to the obscure meaning of the scriptures so thoroughly. He often delayed speaking until he could feel the "power of God settle on the people" to quiet them and prepare them for his words. He also waited until he felt the promptings of the Lord to begin to speak. Fox spoke by the Spirit of God, the Word of God, and from the presence of the Lord.”

Listen to what happened when Margaret Fell heard him speak for the first time:

"Our house being a place open to entertain ministers and religious people, one of George Fox's friends brought him there, where he stayed all night; and the next day being a lecture or fast-day, he went to Ulverstone steeple-house, but came not in until people were seated; I and my children had been there a long time before. And when they were singing, before the sermon, he came in; "and when they had done, he stood up, upon a seat or form, and desired 'that he might have liberty to speak;' and he that was in the pulpit said he might. And the first words that he spoke were as follows: 'He is not a Jew that is one outward, neither is that circumcision which is outward; but he is a Jew that is one inward, and that is circumcision which is of the heart.'

And so he went on and said 'that Christ was the light of the world, and lights every man that comes into the world; and that by this light they might be gathered to God.' I stood up in my pew, and wondered at his doctrine for I had never heard such before; and then he went on and opened the Scriptures and said: 'The Scriptures were the prophet's words, and Christ's and the apostles' words; and what, as they spoke, they enjoyed and possessed, and had it from the Lord:' and said: 'Then what had any to do with the Scriptures, but as they came to the spirit that gave them forth. You will say Christ said this, and the apostles say this; but what canst thou say? Art thou a child of light, and hast walked in the light; and what you speak, is it inwardly from God?’ This opened me so, that it cut me to the heart; and then I saw clearly we were all wrong. So I sat down in my pew again and cried bitterly; and I cried in my spirit to the Lord: 'We are all thieves; we are all thieves; we have taken the Scriptures in words, and know nothing of them in ourselves.' That so struck me that I cannot well tell what he spoke afterwards, but he went on declaring against false prophets, priests, and deceivers of the people. He came to our house again that night, and spoke in the family among the servants, and they were all generally convinced. I was struck in such sadness, I knew not what to do, my husband being away from home. I saw it was the truth, and I could not deny it; and I did as the apostle said: I received the truth in the love of it; and it was opened to me so clear, that I had never a slightest misgiving in my heart against it; but I desired the Lord that I might be kept in it, and then I desired no greater portion."

This is the moment when ‘way opened’ for Margaret Fell.  She began weeping.  She knew scripture well, but she hadn’t experienced it.  She knew that scripture had been robbed of its depth of meaning, taken only as words on a page.  Knowing God in her heart had been replaced by knowing God in her head. George Fox had said that the Scriptures were the words of the prophets, the apostles and Jesus, written down, moved from sand to page.  That they were lived words, owned words, given words that had come from God, had been used in the service of God, and that the Spirit of God gave them to us.  Instead of receiving them in mystery, Margaret and her kind had replaced that with mastery. They could quote the writings of Christ and the apostles, but what had God written on their own hearts?  What did their own hearts say?

Do we have to know everything?  Can we live in mystery?  The Pharisees could not, but can we, like the apostles, like Jesus, like Moses, like Jeremiah, live in such a way that we pay attention to what God gives us, each day?  Yes!  What we know of God, what we experience of God, what we understand of God is ours… it is our beginning, it is our Light.  Can we live from a centered, enlightened soul, a place filled with the Light of the World, as we walk through darkness?  Can we appreciate the things we do not understand, and wait for God to reveal the things we cannot see?  

Caroline Fox once wrote in her journal, ‘Live up to the light thou hast, and more will be granted thee.’  There is always more light where it first comes from.      

2-7-15 Elton Trueblood

Today is Super Bowl Sunday, but we Quakers can be a bit rebellious and contrarian. So I’m going to talk about baseball for a moment!

More than 30 years ago, Washington Post sports writer Thomas Boswell was a cub reporter. He was in the dugout before a Baltimore Orioles game interviewing the manager Earl Weaver. Weaver went out to exchange lineup cards and returned to the dugout to continue the interview. All of a sudden the National Anthem began to play. With the game about to begin, Boswell realized he had overstayed his allotted time so he apologized to Weaver. The famous manager looked at him in surprise and said, “This ain’t football. We do this every day.” 

Major League teams play 162 games a year, just about every day during the summer. Baseball is one of the few sports without a clock…. Theoretically a game could go on forever… Perhaps some of you feel that a baseball game DOES take forever!

But I try to take mindful- live-in-the-moment approach to watching baseball. At times I’m intensely focused on every pitch. Other times I’m lost in conversation or just enjoying a leisurely day at the ballpark. The players themselves mix intense discipline, focus and training with more lighthearted and casual moments to make it through that long season – have you ever seen a Major Leaguer blow a bubble like a kid with bubble gum? You won’t see an NFL player do that!

Friend Elton Trueblood – whom we’re talking about today – was a Quaker theologian, philosopher, professor and author. He lived a life of discipline. He knew my dad and used to tell him “Time is a moral matter.” “Deliberate mediocrity is a heresy and a sin,” Trueblood would say. Yet Elton Trueblood also had a keen sense of kindness, sense of humor, and enjoyment of life – a kind of freedom he found being Yoked with Christ…. In today’s meditational reading printed in your bulletin, Dr. Trueblood explains Christianity as a paradoxical blending of freedom and discipline, and I believe he applied that to his everyday life. 

To paraphrase Earl Weaver, “This Yoke of Christ ain’t heavy. We can live in fellowship with Christ and one another every day.”

My dad made several trips to Richmond to see Trueblood during his final years at Earlham. One evening my dad drove to pick Dr. Trueblood at the precise time they had set – Elton Trueblood was famously punctual!  But this day Trueblood was a couple minutes late… This was almost unthinkable! My dad feared something was wrong. But, then, thankfully Elton Trueblood walked out of his house and got in the car. He apologized to my dad and said he had been following the Cincinnati Reds game and had gotten caught up in a key moment in the game….
    
Main Message

The Philosopher, the Teenager, and the Tree

The day was Sunday, September 4, 2011. The afternoon forecast called for a chance of rain, but I was determined to go for a bike ride. I was feeling stressed that day because I was in the middle of changing jobs. I needed my bike ride! I headed north from my house in Hamilton County. Gray Road runs out of Carmel and turns into Moontown Road, and then as you leave suburbia and start getting into the countryside it changes name again to Hinkle Creek Road. I’m about 12 miles from home and it starts to rain. 

Often times I keep riding in the rain. But I was passing by this small white church on a knoll – Hinkle Creek Friends Church. There was a nice little porch with a roof, so headed there to wait out of hardest of the rain. I sat down on the concrete steps. Inside I heard a man playing an acoustic guitar and singing a wonderful folk praise song. I know now that that door I sat next to was no longer in use because it’s the old church entrance that is right where the front of the sanctuary is now. 
 
This man playing the guitar was only a few feet away from me, only he had no idea I was there. I listened to the song and watched and heard the rain all around me and looked at the big trees around the church. An incredible sense of peace came that I can only describe as the immediate and loving presence of God came over me. I actually began to cry. 

After a few moments I came out of that intense feeling. I thought about knocking on the door to meet the man but decided not to. But I wanted to share this experience with someone, so I took out my cell phone and type these three messages onto my Twitter account:

“My ride today: Seeking shelter literally + figuratively from the storm at a country Quaker church. Thanks, Friends!”

Next message:

“Man inside church playing guitar and singing folk praise song as I sit on porch + also listen to rain hit leaves.”

Then, just before I left I wrote:

“Uplifted, I pedal pack into the rain.” 
Now, from the perspective of today I can tell you that the man playing the guitar was Mike Haemmerle. His wife, Kelly Haemmerle, was the clerk of the church. In a little over a year from that day in the rain the Haemmerles would welcome us to attend Hinkle Creek Friends, which we attended for a year before coming to First Friends. They’d invite us into their home to talk about our lives and about Quakerism… 
But this is not a conversion story. It is the story of a spiritual seed – dormant for years –sprouting and beginning to grow into a tree of a faith I had yearned for all of my life.
You see, before that day in 2011 I rarely thought about Quakers. I didn’t even know who George Fox was! When I heard the word Quaker I thought about one person – Dr. D. Elton Trueblood, a great philosopher I had personally met years before. 
The funny thing is, I even once remember riding my bike by Hinkle Creek Friends years before with my dad and asking him, “Do you think Elton Trueblood ever spoke there?”
I still don’t know for sure if Dr. Trueblood ever physically visited and spoke at Hinkle Creek Friends Church. But I know for a fact that Dr. Trueblood’s life and testimony spoke to me at Hinkle Creek Friends. 
My journey to Quakerism is a story I’ve come to entitle “The Philosopher, the Teenager, and the Tree.” 
This story spans life and death and centers on the eternal value of the present time. This is a story a story of the eternal value of being a loving person because you strive to see God in every person. 
Dr. Trueblood was born in 1900. He had hoped to live the whole of the 20th Century. But in December 1994 – just after turning 94 – he died in his sleep. 
In March 1994, I saw Dr. Trueblood speak for the final time at the Yokefellow conference on the Earlham campus. His talk, entitled “A Life of Search,” eloquently recalled his long life in chapters. 

Like Trueblood, I’ve come to realize that our human lives contain different chapters. As with chapters in books, human life is finite. Our lives have a set number of pages and a conclusion, no matter how much we want them to go on. Yet faith assures us that the end of the book is not the end of the story – this is the eternal nature of the human soul and of Jesus Christ. Trueblood beautifully reflected this truth when he wrote: “A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.”

Dr. Trueblood planted many trees over his long life:
    Dr. Trueblood was an Iowa farm boy with Quaker roots reaching back to an Arnold Trueblood who died in 1658 a persecuted Quaker in prison. He was a lifelong member of the Religious Society of Friends. But he saw his calling as wider than Quakerism. He advocated reaching across denominational lines for spiritual renewal within Christianity and a transformed more compassionate society beyond it. 
    In 1964, Trueblood delivered a eulogy before more than 75,000 people at President Herbert Hoover’s funeral in West Branch, Iowa. Pastor Ruthie – who pastored at West Branch – read Trueblood’s words on the 50th anniversary of that service.
    Trueblood wrote more than 30 books. Most provided everyday people with a meaningful and logical framework for Christian faith, fellowship and church renewal. 
    His long academic career included stops at Quaker and non-Quaker institutions. He earned graduate degrees from Harvard and Johns Hopkins and served as chaplain at Stanford. But he found his calling as a professor of philosophy at Earlham College. 
    Trueblood sometimes was the target of criticism from within Quakerism. Yet he saw Quakerism as a big tent. He remained solidly Christ-centered in his faith, yet he had at times a non-literal and surprising interpretation of Scripture. He dared to write a book called the Humor of Christ!

Trueblood was a man of supreme self-discipline. A 1992 Philadelphia Inquirer feature on Trueblood told how he organized devotional services at his retirement home. He asked a guest speaker to talk for 11 minutes. “Not 10, not 12,” the Inquirer noted. 11 minutes exactly! My favorite journalism professor at Ball State was Earl Conn, a Quaker who knew Dr. Trueblood. Dr. Conn often told the story of Professor Trueblood who excused himself early from a dinner party. Someone asked Trueblood where he was going. “To prepare for class tomorrow morning,” Trueblood replied. What class? “Philosophy 101,” Trueblood said. The great philosopher dutifully prepared for a freshman-level class. To Elton Trueblood, deliberate mediocrity was a sin. Any worthwhile task deserved full attention. Trueblood spoke without notes, making his point in less than 20 minutes. His books were deep but concise, typically under 130 pages. It is the vocation of Christians in every generation to out-think all opposition, Trueblood said. 

Yet there also was a tender side to Dr. Trueblood rooted, I believe, in the Quaker principle that there is that of God in every person. Trueblood reflected on his life, asking: “How do I want to be remembered? Not primarily as a Christian scholar, but rather as a loving person. This can be the goal of every individual. If I can be remembered as a truly loving person I shall be satisfied.”

This brings me back to the beginning of my time with Elton Trueblood – this parable of “the Philosopher, the Teenager, and the Tree.” I was about to start Chapter 1 of my adult life in 1986 when I first met Elton Trueblood. I was a 17 year old high school senior, he was an 85 year old retired professor from Earlham. My dad, who then was about my age now, had sought out Elton Trueblood as an adviser, mentor and friend. My dad made several trips from our home near Pittsburgh to Richmond to see Trueblood. I accompanied my dad on one of his visits, and after seeing Dr. Trueblood I was to visit Ball State as a prospective student. 

I met with Dr. Trueblood in his study at Earlham. I was a C student. I had struggled throughout high school, academically and socially. I have to be honest, I don’t remember much about my first conversation with Dr. Trueblood. But I do remember he treated me with kindness. He offered to connect me with the Earlham admissions department. He talked about my interest in writing and journalism and said I would be in good hands at the Ball State Journalism Department led by his friend Dr. Earl Conn, a fellow Quaker. 

Soon after that, my meeting with Earl Conn convinced me that Ball State was the place for me. In fact, Dr. Conn would continue to encourage me and show an interest in my career until his death in 2009. Dr. Conn was a great storyteller, including his favorite classroom tale of when he covered Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington in 1963 for Quaker Life, a publication Dr. Conn helped found. 

I saw Dr. Trueblood just a few times after that day in 1986, and each time he’d take time, with a twinkle in his eye, to encourage me as a young writer and journalist. As a senior in college, I completed an editorial practicum with Quaker Life Magazine. 

Over the decades Trueblood’s books helped me form and maintain my core beliefs… my basic Christianity. Elton and I especially bonded in the first half of 1993 when I lived a solitary life in a rented room in Connecticut 1,800 miles from my fiancée. In my first job out of grad school, I earned $300 a week promoting professional bike races. There was no cable TV, Internet, or social media. I found fulfillment riding my bike, attending a Presbyterian church, and reading Elton Trueblood. This simplicity heightened my spiritual focus. Two of the Trueblood books that stood out to me those months were  “The Incendiary Fellowship,” about the need for Christians to rekindle the flame of fellowship cast upon the Earth 2,000 years ago by Jesus, and “Abraham Lincoln: Theologian of American Anguish,” a look at the role religious thought and Scripture played in President Lincoln’s leadership style and character.   

But despite a strong foundation of faith, I struggled for years to find a church where I experienced “incendiary fellowship.” In 2012, thinking of Elton Trueblood, I became curious about Quakers. For the first time, I approached Elton Trueblood not only as a Christian thinker but also as a Quaker thinker. So – almost 18 years after his death – I finally read what is now my favorite Truebook book, “The People Called Quakers.” 

 “There are, it is probable, many who are Quakers without knowing that they are,” Trueblood beautifully wrote in the preface of “The People Called Quakers.”

This book changed my life. I drove with my wife, Jennifer, and our three kids one Sunday morning to the Carmel mega-church we were attending. We sat in the giant parking lot as services began. Jennifer and I shared some of this church’s core beliefs, but we simply felt we belong elsewhere. In a spontaneous decision, I whirled our van out of the parking lot and drove several miles away to the closest Quaker meeting I knew of – tiny Gray Road Friends. We walked in during the middle of Sunday school and the few gathered greeted us as friends. We talked about Quakerism and about Elton Trueblood. My Quaker Chapter had begun. Since that day in 2012, I have experienced God’s presence within my own life and through the lives of others more fully that ever before. In 2014, I officially became a Quaker when I joined Indianapolis First Friends Meeting. 

I often think back to the 1980s. What if Trueblood had not welcomed a new friendship with my dad, a stranger? What if he had not taken the time to give me – a teenager at a crossroads – his encouragement and, even more importantly, his full attention? 

Through his writings and small acts of kindness, Elton Trueblood had helped plant a shade tree of faith within me that he’d never see mature. Elton Trueblood said he wanted to be remembered as a loving person. “This can be the goal of every individual,” he said. As George Fox said – “come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one.” 
Without love, Trueblood’s scholarship and books would have lost their power. 
To send us into silent worship I want to read you one final quote from Dr. Trueblood
 “If you are a Christian, you are a minister. You can help others in ways no one else can. Many of us are sad, lonely, in hardship, and we need Many of us are sad, lonely, in hardship, and we need to face it together. " 
That is the legacy of Friend Elton Trueblood. It’s about planting trees. 

January 3rd 2016

Sermon 1-3-2016  Happy New Year! 
Lamentations 3:19-33
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Erikson's_stages_of_psychosocial_development
   
A friend of mine copied the bulletin for her church last Sunday, and as she opened it to lead worship, she realized that the inside pages had never printed… they were blank.  There was nothing there.  Rather than panic, Gwen realized how fitting it was that, just as the order of worship lay uncharted before the congregation, so the New Year - about to turn – was opening, with no real understanding of what was yet to be.   
  
The past year, the ‘Old Man of 2015’, has gone.  There were certain things I expected last year – I looked forward to with great excitement!  My son Matthew and his bride Rebecca were married last August.  Our grandchildren came from Wyoming for a visit.  So many other things happened, both large and small, in my family life, in my professional life, in my spiritual life.  It was a wonderful year.  But there were also those things that were were unanticipated… my cousin Sharon’s death as a result of complications from Multiple Sclerosis.  My older brother’s homelessness.  It has been a challenging year.  The ‘New Year’s Baby’ aged quickly as it grew, throughout 2015.  This is the wonder, the beauty, the excitement, the challenge, the test, the work of life… of living in and through each day, each month, each year. 
  
In his work “Childhood and Society” [1950], the psychologist, Erik Erikson, articulated eight developmental stages through which a healthily developing human should pass from infancy to late adulthood.  In each stage the person confronts, and hopefully masters, new challenges.  Each stage builds on the successful completion of earlier stages.  
Stages of Life – Erickson, a la Tippin! 
  
Middle School/High School – Identity
NOT ‘what do you want to be when you grow up’, but ‘who do you want to be?’ A question of character…  Society spends a great deal of time asking our children if they want to be doctors, lawyers, firemen, or soldiers.  But how often do we ask them if they
want to be truthful, caring, loving, forthright, honorable, forgiving, just, and kind?  How do our children learn to identify themselves?   
  
Young Adulthood – Intimacy
Who do you choose to associate with? What kinds of people do you avoid? Who do you choose to join with in business, in life? Do you choose to marry? To raise a family?  Do you choose to remain alone? What kinds of friends/relationships do you surround yourself with? 
  
Adulthood – Generativity
What do you do with what you know?  With what you’ve experienced?  With who you are?  What do you give to others of yourself?   
  
1999 – private practice to academic medicine; Spokane, WA to Iowa City, IA
2001 – academic medicine to private practice; Iowa City, IA to Medford, OR
2004 – private practice to academic medicine; Medford, OR to Iowa City, IA
  
Concern for our aging parents, and the crazy thought that our college-aged kids might need us, moved us back West to Oregon.  It wasn’t long before Jon told me we needed to leave.  That was the last thing I wanted to hear… Six years, three cross-country moves & five different houses:  house, rental, house, rental, house.  Friendships, family ties, my own work… this was going to be tough.  My son Seth was studying for his Doctorate in Psychology at the time, and his advice to me came straight from Erickson’s Stages of Life:  “Dad’s in the ‘generative’ stage.  He could continue to care for patients, and that’s a worthy calling.  But since he has the chance to teach, he can teach others how to care for many more patients than he could himself.  This is why he loves academic medicine so much more than private practice.  This is why he wants to go back to Iowa.”  So, after some negotiating, we started packing… again, for Iowa City.   
  
Just a few months later, amidst packing tape and boxes, the phone rang.  It was God, calling me into pastoral ministry.  It was the strangest thing ever, and six months later I began serving as a pastor in Iowa Yearly Meeting.  January 17th will be the beginning of my twelfth year in ministry.  God was definitely generating something in my life, too! 
  
Late Adulthood – Saging, not Aging! 
‘One strength of Erikson’s theory is that it acknowledges that development continues throughout the life cycle.  According to Erickson, even older people are not finished developing.  Older people who are coming to terms with their own mortality have a deep need to look over their whole lives.  In a life review, a person who can look back over their life history, on the good times with gladness and satisfaction, on hard times with self-respect, and on mistakes and regrets with forgiveness, can find a new sense of integrity and a readiness for whatever life or death may bring.’  These are the persons we become… wise, able, interesting, and sought after for all that we have been taught by our growing… not only older in years, but in understanding and in depth of character.   
  
This past Christmas, the children were gathering for their pageant and I spent time asking them all kinds of questions… Who were the first people to hear the announcement about Jesus’ birth?  Who traveled the farthest to see the baby Jesus?  Jack Broadwell asked me a great question… ‘What did the Wise Men do all day?’  I answered back with a question of my own… “What does it mean to be wise?”  His little brother Sam answered, “Smart.”  “That’s a very good answer,” I said.  “There are a lot of wise people who are very smart.  But there are a lot of smart people who aren’t very wise.  What does it mean to be wise?”  Jack answered again…. ‘It means to be able to figure things out.’   
  
Our Meeting is blessed with a great number of wise sages… people who are really good at figuring things out.  They have lived a lifetime of building personal character; they’ve chosen persons to associate with in spiritual community, business, marriage, friendship; they are people who have given their time, their interests, their love of teaching, their gifts in management, their care for children, their hospitality, their voices, their experiences, their finances, their very selves; and who now reap the reward of counseling, advising, guiding, shaping the life of our Meeting.  We each have a responsibility, no matter where we are in the calendar of our lives to reach out… to question, to wonder, to ask, to initiate, to join in the promise each day brings. 
  
Sages – what wisdom might you share with a young person who is asking himself who are they are?  Who they might become?  Do you ever stop them to ask?  Young adults – what question might you have to ask someone just a few years older than you about starting a business, or making Godly choices in finding a life partner?  Do you recognize the resource they are to you?  Older adults – what lessons do the littlest children in our Meeting have to teach you about the wonder of life you may not notice any longer?  What have you forgotten to give that they give so freely? 
  
The scripture reading today is not a song of praise…. It erupts from a collection of poems – five laments – of God’s people, seeing their city of Jerusalem fall.  Social, political, and religious corruption have overtaken the leadership of Judah.  A new year does not lie open before these people.  All seems lost.  These laments give them a way of working through their season of grief.  It is in the midst of this that we find… mercy and hope. 
  
“My soul… is bowed down within me, but this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; 
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.” 
  
Morning breaks.  The calendar turns.  God’s love and mercies are recreated, again and again and again. Regardless of all circumstances – within and without – God’s faithfulness and mercy is unfailing.  Whether my soul is standing fully upright or bowed down within me, God is all I need.  God is my portion.  The day lies before me.  The year opens up, fresh and new.  Through all the seasons of my life, those past and that in which I find myself now, God accompanies me.  Will I choose to live into God’s steadfast love, and the newness of life yet to be?  Will I choose to live out of God’s great faithfulness and never ending mercy?    

12-13-15 Christ Born in Us- Mary

Sermon 12-13-2015; ‘Mary’s Song’
Luke 1:47-56
“Mary, Did You Know?”  http://www.metrolyrics.com/mary-did-you-know-lyrics-christmas-song.html
Kathleen Norris, ‘Annunciation’ , Watch for the Light – Readings for Advent and Christmas, Plough Publishing Company, 2001.
 
 
What did Mary know?  We heard a beautiful song this morning, as our Prelude, asking Mary over and over again what she knew about the child she was carrying.  The baby boy she was holding in her womb.  She, like Katie today, knew that she would have a son.  But did she know he would walk on water?  He would calm a storm?  
The blind will see.
The deaf will hear.
The dead will live again.
The lame will leap.
The dumb will speak.
Did Mary know?  When the angel Gabriel came to speak to Mary, there in her home in Nazareth, the first thing she heard – once she recovered from her startled fear at seeing and hearing an angel of God – was that she was ‘highly favored’.  To be favored is to be preferred – to be chosen.  You are ‘the favorite’.  The angel told Mary, the Lord was with her.  There were many other young women God could have chosen, but God chose Mary.  God’s choice was purposeful.
What do we know of Mary?  She was a young woman, already promised in marriage to a man named Joseph.  She would have received a gift from Joseph while he said, ‘By this, thou art set apart for me, according to the laws of Moses and of Israel.”  The betrothal was binding, and could only be broken legally, as in a divorce.  Their betrothal would have lasted for a year, while Joseph prepared their home, and Mary prepared her wedding clothes (what we used to call a trousseau), and for the wedding celebration itself.  Joseph and Mary lived in the region of Galilee, in a town called Nazareth, where Joseph worked as a carpenter.  Each of them – Joseph and Mary – descended from the kingly line of David – depending on the genealogy you study – Matthew’s or Luke’s.  Mary’s cousin Elizabeth was a daughter of the Aaronic priesthood.  Mary, and Joseph too, were very familiar with Jewish customs, and Jewish faith.  
What did Mary know?  Not only was she favored, but she would give birth to a son.  He would be great and would be called the Son of the Most High.  He would be given David’s throne, and would reign over the house of Jacob forever.  Not just for a generation – but forever.  Her son’s kingdom would never end.  She was to name him Jesus.  And she knew that all of this would happen through the power of the Holy Spirit.
What do we know about Mary?  Mary was a virgin, a young person who had not yet learned to doubt her capacity for wonder.  Everything – anything – was possible.  What was it the angel Gabriel had told her?  Nothing is impossible with God!  She knew, as only young people do, that so much of life is beyond our control.  We may act like we control our lives, but much of it is beyond us.  Thomas Merton describes this when he speaks of the true identity he seeks in prayer – “a point untouched by illusion, a point of pure truth… which belongs entirely to God, which is inaccessible to the fantasies of our own mind or the brutalities of our own will.  This little point… of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us.” 
Author Kathleen Norris writes: ‘It is only when we stop idolizing the illusion of our control over the events of life and recognize our poverty that we become virgin, in the sense that Merton means.  Adolescents tend to be better at this than grown-ups, because they are continually told that they don’t know enough, and they lack the means to hide behind professional credentials.  The whole world confirms to them that they are indeed poor, regrettably laboring through what is called “the awkward age”.  It is no wonder that teenagers like to run in packs, that they surround themselves with people as gawky and unformed as themselves.  But it is in adolescence that the fully formed adult self begins to emerge, and if a person has been fortunate, allowed to develop at his or her own pace, this self is a liberating force, and it is virgin.  That is, it is one-in-itself, better able to cope with peer pressure, as it can more readily measure what is true to one’s self, and what would violate it.  Even adolescent self-absorption recedes as one’s capacity for the mystery of hospitality grows; it is only as one is at home in oneself that one may be truly hospitable to others – welcoming, but not overbearing, affably pliant but not subject to crass manipulation.  This difficult balance is maintained only as one remains virgin, cognizant of oneself as valuable, unique and undiminshable at the core…’
What does Mary do?  She sings!  She SINGS!  She sings of her own poverty, her own humility.  But she knows her inner self well, and she recognizes the strength of her choosing by God.  She is favored, she was chosen, she is valued.  God was mindful, was attentive to her.  God has done great things for her.  Poverty and wealth all wrapped up in one line – one lyric – one voice.  ‘God has done great things for me.’ 
Friends, we are virgin.  We are virgin when we open ourselves to the newness, to the wonder of God in us.  And we can sing from our poverty, when we are blest with the wealth of God’s love for us.  ‘God has done great things for me.’  ‘God has done great things for me.’  
Then, with the cocky assurance of youth, and the clear faith of one stepping out into the ‘known unknown’, Mary speaks rebellion:  mercy to those who fear God; the scattering of the secretly proud; the uncompromised strength of God; the destruction of arrogant rulers and the rise of the humble; the hungry filled with good things, and the rich sent away from the table – empty.  
This young woman, when making out her birth announcements, would write far more than the date, weight, and length of her son.  Here she is writing a cautionary tale: get ready for this kid… make way for the coming of the Lord.  My world, your world, our world, will never be the same.  
Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy has come to make you new?
She knew.  She knew.   
What do we know? 

12-6-15 Christ Born in Us- Elizabeth

Christmas has come – and the greatest gift of Christmas is that God has come, as one of us… as a person, as God with us.  God as humankind, in humankind, through humankind.  God in Christ.  Christ in us.  And we will celebrate this gift all season long – through stories of birth and rebirth.  The receiving and giving of birth.  Last week, we encountered Hannah, and how God filled the emptiness of her life with Godself, and with the birth of her son Samuel, who in turn, became God’s gift from Hannah.  The gift of life, through us, and in us.  This week we discover a wonderful text, sharing the gladness of birth accompanied by family, friends, and especially by the Spirit of God.

Only Luke the Physician tells the story of Elizabeth, Zechariah, and John.  Of Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.  Of the connection between them all.  It’s as if, in his clinical notes, it was important for him to include the entire history and physical findings of all persons who had a part in the coming of these two sons… these two boys who would each change the world in their own way… one preparing for change, and the other making it.

Elizabeth was a daughter of the Aaronic priesthood.  Her husband served as a priest, and so we know immediately, as the story opens, that these were faithful people of God. They had lived well past child-bearing years, and Elizabeth had most likely made peace with her aging body, and her childlessness.  Imagine her husband arriving home from Temple one day, writing out what he could not speak… ‘God has answered my prayer… you will have a baby soon.’ Oh my! Whoever said that there was nothing funny in the Bible??? We don’t know what Elizabeth said, but we do know that before long, Elizabeth became pregnant, and spent the first five months in seclusion... she had plenty of things to do to prepare herself for childbirth – physically, mentally, spiritually.  Prayerful preparation to receive a child when you’ve thought this wouldn’t come takes great care.  Imagine what Elizabeth had to think about…

The Angel Gabriel had spoken to her husband, giving him the name of their child – John. And the angel told him what John would become:  “…great in the sight of the Lord… filled with the Holy Spirit. 16He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ Imagine preparing for a baby boy like that!

Gabriel visited Mary too, and named her child – Jesus.  And told her what he would be:

2He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end… the child will be holy; he will be called Son of God.”  Gabriel was not speaking to an older woman, experienced in community.  This was a young woman, who knew stories of a coming King, but had no idea the King would come as a child – let alone as her child. 

And then, the angel brought Mary a very loving message:  36’… your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.’  Nothing will be impossible.  God makes all things possible.  If you Mary, are overcome with what seems impossible for you, know that you are not alone.  In this large, large world there is one whom you know, who is also moving through an impossible thing, from and with God.38Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ The angel departed from her.  And Mary hurried to Elizabeth’s home. 

You never know what God will birth into your life.  You may be moving through your life, having accepted its fullness, its emptiness, understanding just who you are, and what your sense of life is when… someone comes home to tell you your life will change.  What do you do?  How do you wait for something you didn’t expect?     

Henri Nouwen, in his beautiful essay, “Waiting for God”, writes this: “I find the meeting of these two women very moving, because Elizabeth and Mary came together and enabled each other to wait.  Mary’s’ visit made Elizabeth aware of what she was waiting for.  The child leapt for joy in her.  Mary affirmed Elizabeth’s waiting.  And then Elizabeth said to Mary, “Blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.” And Mary responded, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” She burst into joy herself.  These two women created space for each other to wait.  They affirmed for each other that something was happening that was worth waiting for.’

‘I think that is the model of Christian community.  It is a community of support, celebration, and affirmation in which we can lift up what has already begun in us.  The visit of Elizabeth and Mary is one of the Bible’s most beautiful expressions of what it means to form community, to be together, gathered around a promise, affirming that something is really happening.’

‘This is what prayer is all about.  It is coming together around the promise.  This is what celebration is all about.  It is lifting up what is already there. This is what Eucharist [or our time of Waiting Worship] is all about.  It is saying “thank you” for the seed that has been planted.  It is saying “We are waiting for the Lord, who has already come.”

‘The whole meaning of the Christian community lies in offering a space in which we wait for that which we have already seen.  Christian community is the place where we keep the flame alive among us and take it seriously, so that it can grow and become stronger in us.  In this way we can live with courage, trusting that there is a spiritual power in us that allows us to live in this world without being seduced constantly by despair, lostness, and darkness.  That is how we dare to say that God is a God of love even when we see hatred all around us.  That is why we can claim that God is a God of life even when we see death and destruction and agony all around us.  We say it together.  We affirm it in one another.  Waiting together, nurturing what has already begun, expecting its fulfillment – that is the meaning of … friendship, community, and Christian life.’

Elizabeth began her journey in seclusion, but she wasn’t allowed to remain there.  God sent her Mary, her relative, to companion with her and to assure her of her capacity for birthing newness in an aging body.  Mary received the gift of affirmation, that Elizabeth, a faithful woman of God, recognized God in her, and knew the presence of God made real.  What might have been fearsome, became faith.  What once was only wishful thinking, became hope. 

Elizabeth’s story reminds us that we are always pregnant, audaciously expectant, full of God.  We bear God’s light and God’s love, often without realizing it. When we don’t see it, or feel it in ourselves, our community finds it in us, affirms it in us, and proclaims that which we, together, have already seen and known.  We give one another space for God’s word and God’s promise.  We seek each other out, we move together in community, to bear witness to Emmanuel – God in us, God with us.  We stand and sing, as we did in our opening hymn today, Zechariah’s song – “Blessed be the God of Israel, who comes to seal peoples free!”  We sing our song together,  “Emmanuel – God is with us! We are waiting for the Lord, who has already come!”

November 8, 2015

Sermon 11-8-2015 “Laws and Love” (The Ten Commandments)

Exodus 20:1-21

Walter Brueggeman, New Interpreters Bible Commentary; Exodus

Just a few days after starting my job at Regal Elementary School in Spokane, WA I knew I was in trouble.  I hadn’t taught for eleven years, and these kids from the ‘rough side of town’ were nothing like the farm kids in the Willamette Valley near Portland, where I’d begun teaching 16 years before.  I’d had a lot of fun setting up my room, organizing the space, and had put my rules chart on the board.  My first rule?  “Treat each other kindly.”  The kids had no clue what that meant.  A week later the rules changed.  “Eyes front please.”   If the kids didn’t know how to treat each other with kindness, they knew they had eyes, they knew where the front of the room was, and they knew I expected them to point their eyes in that direction, with good manners attached!  Actually, we practiced.  It turned out the front of the room was wherever Mrs. Tippin was standing.  A game became a way of life in the classroom, and opened the possibility for learning – all kinds of learning!

Rules matter.  Without rules, classrooms turn into chaos.  Families malfunction.  Societies spin out of control.  God knew this when the world was created, bringing order out of chaos.  The same was true when God gave Moses the Decalogue – the ‘ten words’ or commands we’ve heard this morning. 

Commandments are unconditional – “You shall not…” in Exodus 20, like Mrs. Tippin’s “Eye’s front please”.  There is no choice.  Nothing happened in my classroom until every person was looking at me.  The ten commandments are set in the context of covenant, or promise.  Until the Exodus of Israel from Egypt, the onus of covenants has been on God: Would God flood the world again? Would Abraham’s offspring prosper and find a new homeland in Canaan?

Now, generations later, the children of Abraham have thrived, threatening Pharaoh.  They’ve been expelled from Egypt, and are on their journey to the promised land of Canaan!  It is time for this new people-group to have a rule of life – a way of being – in this new world.  They are no longer slaves.  They belong only to God, and to one another.  No one will force them to build bricks… now they will build a future together.  But how?  What is their purpose?  How do they use their time?  Their energy?  How do they function together?  How do they live? 

God who has kept covenant, now needs a promise from them.  Will they obey God’s voice?  Will they keep covenant with God?  “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.  Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all people.  Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.”  God’s taking a big risk… God has freed these people, liberated them from oppression, has defeated their pursuers, has prepared a future…  God is standing at the front of a classroom, sensing the tension, wondering if the students are going to honor the preparations made, the care and concern invested, the vision and purpose for the future….  “Class – out of all the students in this school, you are mine.  We will do remarkable things.  I have some great things to show you.  Are you with me?”  What would the kids say???

Yes!!!  ‘Everything the Lord has spoken, we will do!”  Okay!  They were off and running.  The next step was to review the rules.  All ten of them.  There were so many, they had to have two charts up on the wall!  (God did a really clever thing to help us all remember them, but you have to wait until the end to find out what it was!)

The two charts/tablets divided the commands into two categories: the first showing the Israelites their relationship with God…

1.     You shall have no other gods before Me.

2.     You shall not make idols.

3.     You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.

4.     Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

And the second tablet, showing them their relationship with one another…

5.     Honor your father and your mother.

6.     You shall not murder.

7.     You shall not commit adultery.

8.     You shall not steal.

9.     You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. You shall not covet.

What is often times overlooked is the interrelationship of the two tablets to one another.  Walter Brueggeman says, “The second tablet is not just a set of good moral ideas.  It contains conditions of viable human life, non-negotiable conditions rooted in God’s own life and God’s ordering of the world. Thus, it’s important to “get it right” about Yahweh, in order to “get it right” about neighbor… it is not the case simply that Israel must attend both to God and to neighbor, but that the WAY of attending to God determines our ways of attending to neighbor and vice versa.  It is precisely the worship of the God of the exodus that provide the elemental insistence and passionate imagination to reshape human relations in healing, liberating ways.”  [p.840]

Does it not excite you that the same God we claim, adore and worship is the God who, so many years ago, loved and liberated a people, and then asked them to live in a liberated, loving way?  “Treat each other kindly.”  “What does that look like, Lord?  We’ve been beaten, abused, scourged, and lived under the cruel hand of Pharaoh.  We can’t do what we don’t know.”  God’s answer? “You no longer belong to Pharaoh – you belong to me, and only to me.  Your belonging transforms you from an exploited people to a beloved people… a people capable of kindness, rather than cruelty.”

God has liberated us, and asks us to do the same.  God’s love has liberated us from darkness, and brought us into light.  God’s love has freed us from isolation, and brought us into belonging.  God’s love has healed us from bitterness, and brought us into new life.  How has God liberated you?  How does ordering your life with God, liberate you to order your life with others?  This was the purpose of God’s commands then, as it is now.  To liberate people to love first, and then live – freely.

I John 5 reads in part: ‘By this we know that we love the children of God [each other], when we love God and obey his commandments.  For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments.  And his commandments are not burdensome.” 

Well, they were to an attorney.  At least, he used the commandments as a way to test Jesus.  “Teacher”, he said, “which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  Which one would you pick?  It probably depends on the day, your mood, the people you’re with…  #5 used to be one of my favorites, when the boys were home and driving me crazy!  Jesus answered the lawyer with not just one, but two… and really, he gave the attorney all ten of the commandments.  (I told you I had a trick up my sleeve!) 

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment.”  (And… it’s the first tablet!  The first four commandments drawing out our relationship with God!) “And there is a second like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (That’s the second tablet!  If you love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself, you can’t possibly murder, steal, lie, cheat, covet, or dishonor them.)  And then Jesus said this startling thing:  “On these two commands hang all the law and the prophets.”  Brueggeman again: “…the way of attending to God determines our ways of attending to neighbor and vice versa.”  If we obey these two unconditional commands, to love God and to love neighbor, we will have satisfied all the law and understood all that the prophets had to teach us.   Now, that’s liberating!

Do not let anyone steal your joy in following God obediently.  Wisdom, the teacher who speaks in Ecclesiastes is exactly right – we are to honor God and keep God’s commands.  The ten commandments were given as a gift, by a redemptive God who loved his people.  God not only wanted the children of Israel to survive in the wilderness, God wanted them to flourish, and in order to do so, they all had to follow and obey. This was made possible through their devotion and obedience.  But they were not always faithful – and neither are we.  They were not always obedient.  Neither are we.  But they were always called back to love.  And so are we.  By a God who is full of mercy and grace.  Who rescued his people in the wilderness many, many times.  Who rescues us in our wilderness, over and over again.  Why?  Because we belong to him.  Because God loves us.

Wisdom warns us of judgment for every deed, including every secret thing – whether good or evil.  I believe there will be judgment, but I won’t judge you.  Cindy won’t judge you.  Your best friend won’t judge you.  Your worst enemy won’t judge you.  You know who sacred scripture says will judge you?  The one who loved you enough to die for you, and for every deed – including every secret thing – whether good or evil – you have done.  Jesus’ life and death, and his life in us now, brought us redemption from fear and oppression. Wisdom may have warned us, but Jesus won us.  ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill.”  Jesus, point for point, has matched the law and the prophets – not with fear, but with love.  God welcomes us into these commands, not out of duty or compulstion or with anxiety or dread… God welcomes us with redemption and love.  And we respond… our love for God, out of God’s love for us.  Our love for neighbor, out of our love for God.  What a joyful, circular, liberating, rule of life!

John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.” 

November 1,2015

Sermon 11-1-2015; ‘Equality, Equanimity’

Mark 4:35-41 (Matthew 8:23-27)

Dr. William Osler; http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/31st-december-1904/21/equanimitas

http://wjla.com/news/local/chesapeake-bay-2-boaters-saved-1-missing-from-capsized-sailboat-70445

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-01-17/news/bs-md-ar-boater-found-0118-20120117_1_sailboat-capsized-windemuth-wind-gusts

Tom Scott quote: http://forum.trailersailor.com/post.php?id=1304331

Would you all please stand as you are able.  Please put on your life jackets.  Pull them tight around your waist.  Adjust them so they feel secure - tight enough, but not too tight.  If you have young children with you, be sure to put theirs on first. 

The Roman Emperor Antonius Pius summed up his philosophy of life in one word – the last word he ever spoke – “aequanimitas”; ‘to keep an equal mind in all adverse circumstances of life’.  This is no easy thing to do.  But it has always been needed – whether in early history, or in our current life today.  To keep a sense of equanimity, regardless of the circumstances we are in, is not only a helpful suggestion – sometimes it is a necessity.

Two people were recovered from the waters of Chesapeake Bay on December 17, 2011. A 25 year old woman survived.  A 40 year old man did not.  The body of a third person, a 25 year old man, was recovered a month later.  The boat, an 18 foot Precision sailboat, was discovered under 40 feet of water.  An 18-foot Precision sailboat.  A “P-18”.  That’s the same boat my husband sails each summer at Eagle Creek Reservoir.  Two people died.  How did this happen? Boaters have a lot to say about it.

Two experienced sailors were on board.  One less so – the owner of the boat.  The least experienced was ‘driving the boat’ - in charge of the sails.  No one had put on life jackets before they left – even with small craft advisory warnings.  The survivor said they scrambled to put them on in the water. And, sailing in December in northern waters, no one was dressed out in dry or wet suits.  They weren’t prepared.  And… they panicked.  They lost any sense of equanimity. 

A boat is built to float, and a P-18 is designed to right itself, if and when it’s knocked down.  If the sailors had let go – if they had literally let go – the boat would have righted itself. Instead, it was found, capsized, at the bottom of Chesapeake Bay.

Tom Scott is an experienced P-18 sailor, and has a very popular blog for this type of sailboat called “The Trailer Sailor.”  Here’s what he had to say… “if you get a P-18 close to - or into - a knockdown situation (where the mast is in contact with the water), three "average-sized" crew members clinging to the deck WILL prevent the boat from righting itself. :(  I knocked down my P-18 twice (while single-handing), and it was very slow to right with me hanging on. Had it been any slower, the proper course of action would have been to get off the boat, and let her right herself. Yup, simply step off to leward, [away from the wind], and float.  Unfortunately, that would be a rather counter-intuitive idea (and action) on a winter sailing day, with water temps in the 40's.”

Let go?  That makes no sense.  No sense at all.  With a gust of wind lifting the front of the boat, the sailor should have let go of the sail.  Instead, he pulled it tight.  With the boat knocked down, the crew should have let go, jumped overboard, allowed the boat to right itself, and moved to the ladder at the stern of the boat, climbing back in.  They would have been wet, cold, and miserable, but there is a chance they would have lived.  Instead, they panicked, and held on for dear life, weighing down the boat, so it could not come back up to center, and right itself.  How do we know this?  Because the boat drowned. It didn’t right itself.  It capsized, belly up, and sank.

Jesus had been in a boat all day long.  He had been teaching from the boat by the seashore, with crowds of people gathered sitting close to the water, listening.  When it was evening, he said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side.”   

 Jesus and the disciples headed across the lake. Other boats were nearby.  They weren’t alone on the lake that night.  Jesus, probably exhausted, fell asleep in the stern, the back of the boat. We know that at least four of the disciples were used to being on water… Andrew, Peter, James and John had all been fishermen by trade, before leaving their work to follow Jesus.  Matthew the tax collector… maybe not so much. It’s hard to say which of the disciples were comfortable crossing the lake that night.

A squall came up.  They can come out of nowhere, these squalls… they’re “a sudden violent gust of wind or a localized storm, especially one bringing rain, snow, or sleet.”  Jesus woke to men surrounding him, shouting, ‘Save us! We’re drowning!  Don’t you care? We’re going to drown!”  Their fear was palpable.  They were panicking.  Christ could feel it, as they shook him from his sleep.  He could sense it in the pitch and level of their voices.  Regardless of their experience with storms, even those who had been in rough water and squalls before, with nets hanging from their boats, freaked out. 

 Jesus stood up, and spoke to the seas and to the wind and said, “Be quiet!  Be quiet!  Be still!” The winds stopped and there was a dead calm.  Then Jesus spoke to his disciples.  He did not ask them why they were afraid.  He knew that.  What he asked them was “Why are you so afraid?  Have you still no faith?

When Jesus was speaking – shouting – over the wind and the crash of the waves – to the storm, everyone could hear him.  The disciples could hear him.  And what was he saying to them, as he spoke to the storm? “Quiet yourselves.  Be calm.  Be still.” 

“Why are you so afraid?  Have you still no faith?”  “Have you no faith, even now?  With all you know of me, with all the time we’ve spent together, after all the work we’ve done together, and the amazing things you’ve seen me do – the amazing things you’ve done yourselves - you still have no faith?”  Even with Jesus in the boat, they were sure they would die.    

Fear does strange things to us.  It takes all logic away.  It takes away our capacity to think, to reason, ‘to keep an equal mind in all adverse circumstances of life’.  We, like the three persons on the boat in Chesapeake Bay, or the twelve disciples in that squall, panic.  We forget what we know.  We sometimes forget what we’ve always known.  When we face scary circumstances, it’s not easy to quiet ourselves, to stay calm, to think rationally, reasonably, or… to think, at all.  It’s much easier to react, than to act purposefully.

A few weeks ago, Ministry and Counsel set the course for our Meeting to consider a proposal for marriage equality. This journey is one that First Friends chose to take ourselves, based on a query that was raised by our own Western Yearly Meeting of Friends in the summer of 2014.  Every Monthly Meeting in our Yearly Meeting has been asked to do so.  Some people want nothing to do with this journey.  Some people have been eager to set sail.  Much of that difference, in my view, has to do with fear.

First – fear of the past… some of you have had experience with discussion and decision making at the Yearly Meeting level regarding marriage equality, and have seen how divisive it was.  That was more than ten years ago.  The Yearly Meeting leadership has changed… they are now asking each Monthly Meeting what they think, rather than telling each Monthly Meeting what they will do in regard to marriage equality.  There is no reason to fear the Yearly Meeting.  Respect? Yes. Fear? No.

The Yearly Meeting has changed, and so has First Friends.  I want to show you something… How long have you been coming to First Friends Meeting?  I have been here for just a little over three years.  I’d like to ask all those who have come to First Friends,, or have returned to First Friends in the last three years, to stand up.  We are not the same Meeting we were four years, five years, ten years ago. 

Second – fear of each other… marriage equality is a much more controversial topic than what color to paint Fellowship Hall.  Heart rates go up for some, even when it’s mentioned as something to discuss publicly.  Many people want to panic.  We struggle to find something to hang on to.  “Letting go” is the most counter-intuitive thing we could possible think to do.  This is where leadership comes in.  Out of the chaos of fear, someone needs to come forward with a sense of purpose and direction.  Who is that for Friends?  The answer has been, and always will be, the Holy Spirit.

Our leadership comes from the power of the Holy Spirit moving, speaking, and working through us.  You and me.  My authority comes in the challenge of asking you to consider for yourselves the authority of Christ’s leadership through the power of the Holy Spirit.  I could tell you, but that’s not my work to do. There are pastors in Indianapolis this morning who are telling their congregations how to vote on Tuesday.  You won’t get that from me. 

Some of you have been angry, because it’s taken so long for a proposal to come forward in Monthly Meeting.  Remember the folks, drowning in Chesapeake Bay, fumbling to put on their life jackets?  Ministry and Counsel has worked diligently to be sure that the proposal that came forward considered not only the question of whether marriage equality was something that should be pursued, but HOW it should be pursued at First Friends.  Not at Second or Third or Fourth Friends.  At First Friends.

Relying on the Holy Spirit means listening – waiting on the Holy Spirit.  Not panicking, not determining our own ending, or using conjecture to determine what we think God would do.  It’s means waiting for a sense of clarity and release.  Some of you are already clear – you already have your answer.  I would ask you to listen carefully to be certain that your answer allows enough flexibility to respond to what God’s Spirit requires of you, no matter what comes. It may not be what you expect. 

Who are we sailing with?  With people we’ve trusted, some of us, for years.  We’ve trusted them with our kids.  We’ve trusted them with our money.  We’ve trusted them with our energy and time.  We’ve trusted them with our intellect, our thoughts, our plans, our stories.  We’ve trusted them with our guts.  We’ve trusted them with our secrets.  We’re sailing with people we know, trust, and love.  Who else would you want to take this journey with?

And finally, trusting one another as Friends.  I mean, as Quakers.  People who understand that God is not kept in a box, or a book.  God is alive in you.  In me.  In our children.  In each other.  That day on the lake in the squall, those Jewish men believed that God was in the Torah and the Temple.  They forgot that Jesus, God Incarnate, was in the boat! “Have you still no faith?” he asked them.  “Aren’t I God to you yet?” 

We must not fear God, as some scary monster… that is not what scripture teaches us.  We are to fear God – to hold God in high honor, with awe and wonder, but also with thanksgiving and joy, knowing that God gave himself to us, for us, loves us dearly, and lives in us, showing us Godself every day, and in every circumstance.  George Fox looked and looked and looked for God, and finally heard God say, “There is one, even Christ Jesus, who can speak to your condition.” God is in this with us.  God is speaking to our condition.  God is showing us the way forward. 

We have nothing to fear.  We must not panic.  We’ve done many practice drills with other questions and concerns that have come before this meeting in the past, and we’re still here.  The Meeting has not split apart or died.  If anything, we’re stronger than ever.

Keep your equanimity, regardless of the circumstances.  Stay calm.  Be still.  Still enough that you can hear God speak.  Listen to the teachings of God’s Spirit.  Love God with all you have – heart, soul, mind and spirit.  And love each other fiercely– like you love yourselves.  Show each other what love looks like, feels like, acts like.  BE God to each other.  Be good to each other.  

George Fox once said: “I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.” I’m setting sail for the ocean of light and love with you – every single one of you.

October 25, 2015

Faith Versus Fear

The Parting of the Red Sea

Exodus 14: 5-25

I imagine this is a familiar story to many of you.  We have likely heard it since our childhood and might have experienced depictions like red Jell-O being prepared and separated by our Sunday School teachers symbolizing God parting the red sea.  We all remember Charlton Heston playing Moses in the classic movie Ten Commandments.    The parting of the red sea was one of the most dramatic scenes in the movie.  This is one of the great stories of the Torah and one that has been told to every generation.    

The build up to this dramatic action was that the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt for over 400 years.  They suffered under Egyptian rule and were looking for a savior.  The story of Moses and his upbringing in the ruling palace sets the stage for a showdown.  Moses is called by God to lead his people out of Egypt and God sent a number of plagues to the Egyptians culminating in the death angel killing the first born of every family in Egypt sparing the Israelites from this horror and creating the first Passover.    The Egyptians want the Israelites gone and grant them freedom to end this devastation.  The Israelites leave to pursue the promised land of Canaan for their home.  However, the Pharaoh and other leaders have second thoughts as they realize they have lost all of their free labor and pursue the Israelites.  The Egyptian army is on the run chasing down the Israelites in their journey to Canaan culminating in the encounter at the red sea.

Ruthie and I had an interesting interfaith clergy experience last Friday at the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation listening to a respected Jewish scholar discuss how scripture should be read and interpreted.  He outlined many discrepancies in the translations and texts and noted that our intense interest in science and verifiable facts extends to the Bible.  The advent of science is a fairly recent advancement and we have taken science to try to understand the Bible.    The Bible is not suppose to be scientifically plausible, rather it is written to help us understand God, our human condition and what might we learn about how we should live in this world.   The writers of the Bible knew nothing about scientific theory.

I read several articles as I was preparing this message that were trying to justify and support how the red sea might have parted for the Israelites.  It talked about how the part of the red sea where the Israelites were camped was a marshy shallow area and the winds could have caught up at such a force to allow the Israelites to cross on the reef and then the winds died down when the Egyptians attempted to cross and they could not make it to the other side. 

Frankly, there are so many stories presented in the Old Testament that defy any scientific theory.  Men living to 923 years old, a man bringing 2 of every animal onto a boat, the creation story, the plagues that preceded the encounter at the red sea – the list goes on and on.    It is dangerous to try to read the Bible without context and without understanding that the Bible is not good science.  The Bible was created to transcend science.   The Bible can be good religion when it is incorporated into authentic practice.  But it is not good science.  It is a tradition and a culture that has changed and is changing.   And yet the Bible has much to teach and reveal to us about God, humans, God’s love and redemption. 

So what does this story mean?

I have spent the last week trying to step into the life of an average Israelite following their leader Moses to the edge of the Red Sea – there have been many moments of faith for us during the last year and God has provided.  Yet here we are faced with a crucial moment with the Egyptian army advancing towards us and a huge body of water in front of us with no where to go.   We really don’t see any alternative.  Our back is against the wall and we feel a tremendous amount of fear.  Our lack of faith in God has us asking Moses to take us back to Egypt to be enslaved once again.

Really?  I know God has provided for me in the past, yet I don’t have enough faith to believe that God will provide a way in this moment.  I say I would rather be enslaved, stuck in my bad situation, willing to be abused, degraded, dismissed and hopeless because I don’t believe that God will provide a way. 

Many of us might be might be facing our own red sea.  We don’t really see a way out of our situation and are too afraid to step into the Light towards wholeness – we can’t see the way forward.  We might ask God to take us back to something that wasn’t good but felt comfortable. We just can’t let go and step into the waters of the red sea.   Yet this amazing story here shows us that God will help provide a way out of our circumstances even when we have no understanding or comprehension of possibility.   God can open a way when we see no hope or opening.  Sometimes it is dramatic like the parting of the red sea.  Sometimes it is just enough to help us take a step forward. 

I asked a Rabbi that is leading a division of one of our Quaker organizations what he thought about this story – he shard a Jewish midrash which is a biblical interpretation that fills in some gaps of the story taught by rabbis and I share it with you today:

The story of Nachshon is a favorite midrash. Nachshon was a slave with all the other Israelites who found redemption at the hand of God. He packed and didn't let the dough rise and ran, breathless and scared and grateful, away from the land of Pharaohs and pyramids and slavery. Nachshon ran into freedom.

And then he got to the sea. He and some 600,000 other un-slaved people, stopped cold by the Red Sea. It was huge and liquid and deep. They couldn't see the other side. It was so big they couldn't see any sides. Just wetness from here to forever.

And behind him, when he and the 600,000 others dared to peek, were Pharaoh and his army of men and horses and chariots, carrying spears and swords and assorted sharp, pointy things. Moses went to have a chat with God, and just like that, he got an answer--- a Divine Instant Message. All the Children of Israel needed to do was walk forward into the sea, that big, wet, deep forever sea. God would provide a way. "Trust Me," God seemed to say, "I got you this far, didn't I? I wouldn't let you fall now!"

Nachshon and the 600,000 stood at the shivery edge of that sea, staring at that infinite horizon in front and the pointy, roiling chaos of death and slavery behind them. They stood, planted – and let's face it: not just planted, but rooted in their fear and mistrust and doubt. They may have felt reassured by the image of God as a pillar of smoke or fire – impressive pyrotechnics, to be sure – but the soldiers and the sea were so there, present and much more real.

Then, in the midst of that fear and doubt, something changed. Nachshon – recently freed, trapped between death by water and death by bleeding – did the miraculous. He put one foot in front of the other and walked into the sea. The 600,000 held their collective breath, watching the scene unfold before them as Nachshon did what they could not: He decided to have faith. And though the water covered first his ankles, then his knees, then his chest, then kept rising, until he was almost swallowed whole, Nachshon kept walking, kept believing. And just when it seemed that he was a fool for his faith, that he would surely drown in that infinite sea, another miracle: The waters parted.

The sea split and Nachshon, so recently in over his head, walked on dry land. The 600,000 breathed again, in one relieved whoosh of air, and they found their own faith and followed Nachshon into the dry sea to across to the other side. And then the journey truly began.                             

I pray to have faith enough to walk into my own sea – of doubt and fear and darkness. I want to walk and feel the waters part, to be released from the tangled web of thought that holds me immobile and disconnected. I have learned, again and again, without fail: When I take that step, when I find the faith to put one foot in front of the other and to trust, as Nachshon did, I am carried forward. I am freed from my self-imposed bondage. I am enough, and I can walk again on dry land to freedom.

Let us enter into a time of unprogrammed worship together.  A time of listening for God’s voice.  God may speak to you with a message just for you and I ask that you hold that and sit with that during this time.  God may share a message that needs to be vocalized with all of us and I ask that you stand and give this message if God is calling you to this.

October 18,2015

Sermon 10-18-2015; ‘Take a Chance’

Exodus 1:8-12, 22; 2:1-8

JB Phillips, Your God is Too Small; http://thecommonlife.com/files/books/Your_God_is_Too_Small.pdf

She always came in late – after the service had started.  She would sing the hymns, give an offering – always cash, take communion each Sunday with these Disciples of Christ.  And then, she would leave early.  Week after week after week.  The women in the choir noticed this, and before long, two of them put together a plan. One Sunday, they left worship early too, and met ‘Kathy’ in the parking lot.  They visited with her, told her how glad they were to have had her coming to First Christian, and learned a little bit about her.  She was in transition… the hormones were slowly, gently working.  Months later, once the counseling and all the preparations were ready, those same women traveled with her to Portland for her surgery at the Medical School.  By the time I met her, she was a lovely, fully transitioned woman.  She was the Worship Team leader, and she played a mean guitar.  I was the Choir Director, and we had so much fun!  Jon figured it out right away… I had no clue.  All I knew was, Kathy was Kathy, and she was beautiful, and she loved Jesus, and served God in a loving and giving way.  Once she discovered Jon and I would be moving back to Iowa, she asked me if we could record some pieces together.  I thought that was great idea... so I went to her trailer house, and we spent time choosing pieces, some she had written, and made a recording we called "Sisters in Christ”.  None of that would have happened if Kathy had not taken a chance.  Would First Christian mind if she sat in worship with them?  Would she be welcomed there?  Could this person who had been a Christian all their lives, find a place to worship, to belong, to grow and serve Christ?  That would depend on the God those people served… was their God big enough to love Kathy?

 She nursed her baby, possibly for the last time, and bundled him in the softest blanket she had.  She put him in the basket, and carried him to the river, slipping the basket carefully down among the reeds.  Her son would either die at home, or die in the river, or… She had to take this chance.  Her daughter had heard the instructions many times, and waited nearby.  What would happen next?

The Pharaoh did not know the Hebrew, Joseph.  His earlier time in Egypt was of no consequence.  What he did know was that the Israelite people had multiplied many times over, and Egypt was overflowing with Hebrews.  Safety and protection against these immigrants was of the utmost importance.  Midwives, who were supposed to kill Hebrew boys, cleverly told the Pharaoh that the Hebrew women birthed their babies so quickly, the midwives could not arrive in time.  The infant boys lived. 

Moses’ mother received her son back again, and was paid by Pharaoh’s daughter to raise him!  Not only would he not die at home, but he would live there, with his mother.  The infant who would have been drowned in a river was drawn from a river by the daughter of the one who would have killed him.  And another daughter brought them together.  None of this would have happened if Moses’ mother would not have taken a chance.  Would he suffocate in the heat?  Would he drown?  Would anyone, the right one, come and find him?  Would her daughter remember what to say? Would her boy-child have a future?  That would depend on the God she served… was her God big enough to love her son?

What chances have you taken?  Some of us are risk-averse… we take as few chances as possible.  Count me in with that crowd!  Others love the fierce excitement of ‘living on the edge’ of possibility, and taking chances are like second nature for them. Every time you drive a car, you take a chance.  Every time you cross a street, you take a chance.  Every time you go out on a date, you take a chance!  We all take chances, all the time.  And we do this, because we’ve made some assumptions.  We’ve taken driving lessons.  We’ve learned to look both ways.  We’ve answered all the questions for Match.com!  We’ve read the directions (or not!), we’ve interviewed the candidates, we’ve spoken to counselors, we’ve watched to see when Pharaoh’s daughter usually comes to bathe, we’ve attended church with the same people for days and months, and years and decades. 

Jesus was always willing to take a chance…  J.B. Phillips, in “Your God is Too Small” describes Christ as “one who did not hesitate to challenge and expose the hypocrisies of the religious people of his day… who could be moved to violent anger by shameless exploitation, or by smug complacent orthodoxy, a man of such courage that he deliberately walked to what He knew would mean death…”  Was Christ’s God big enough to love him?  To love him to death?  Yes.  Christ’s God was big enough. But Christ discovered that, Christ revealed that by stepping it out.  By making it real.  By taking a chance.  And there was God, on the other side of what was certain death, in life and love. 

Was Kathy’s God big enough?  Yes.  She discovered that by walking into that sanctuary.  Literally, discovering ‘sanctuary’ by taking the chance to see if there was love enough, and hope for a new beginning.

Was God big enough for Moses’ mother?  Yes. But God could only work if she would love her son enough to take the chance of walking away from him, hidden in those bulrushes.

We can take the chance of trusting God.  We live in God.  And we believe and have experienced God living in us.  Not across the street, or on the other side of town… God lives in us.  We have trusted God before, and God has been faithful.  God has not always answered in the way we expected, and that’s been a very good thing… it’s strengthened us, stretched us, and caused us to rely on each other, and on God even more.  God is big enough.  God’s love is big enough. Is our love big enough to take a chance on God?  Is our love big enough to take a chance on one another? Are we willing to take a chance to be loved?  Are we willing to take a chance to love?

CD: Sisters In Christ; Kathy Williams and Ruthie Tippin/Cut #12 “Spread Your Wings”

October 11, 2015

Sermon - October 11, 2015 “Loving Giving, Giving Loving”

Mark 12:38-44 and Luke 21:1-4

http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2013/spring/why-i-wont-give-to-your-church.html

Copyright © 2013 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal

I love this story… and the woman Jesus tells us about in the story.  I don’t feel sorry for her.  I feel great compassion for her, but more than that, I feel great respect for who she is, and the choices she makes. She is my teacher today. This woman is not a person who lets her circumstances define her.  She, who had lost her husband was destitute.  She was not allowed to inherit anything from her husband’s wealth or property.  She could remain in her husband’s family, only if his next of kin would marry her.  And who’s to say she would have chosen that for herself?  She would very likely be left without any financial support.  This is still true for widows in many parts of the world today.  They are left destitute, often with children to support, and with no means whatsoever.  Isaiah cries out, “… cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”   Widows in the time of Christ were at the mercy of the church… the church was to protect and care for the widows among them. 

This widow chose to give.  Within the limitations of her life, she chose to give.  She could have held tightly to what she had.  No one would have thought less of her.  She was already ‘the least of these’.  It was the unexpected choice she made that brought her into scripture… Jesus was stunned to see her at the Treasury – not begging for money, but offering it. 

Giving is a choice – no matter what we have to give.  Our time, our energy, our money, our life.  The rich people in the story chose to give large sums.  The widow chose to give her two coins.  The choice to give is much easier when you have more, rather than less.  But Jesus seems to be saying, the outcome of giving is the same, or even greater when you struggle with it a bit.  When you think about it.  When you make a choice.  When you are giving because you want to, and not just because you can.

Our giving matters to First Friends.  If everyone stopped giving today, there would be no First Friends Meeting.  The building would be here, but the Meeting would not.  Unless you write a note on your check, saying what your money goes to; ‘Vacation Bible School’ or ‘Friends United Meeting’ etc, your money goes straight into our Operating Budget.  It pays for pencils and paper, curriculum for our children, bulletins and ink, heat, lights, salaries, and much, much more.  When we run out of money, we run out of money, and we have to ask for more.  And that’s just as it should be.

Years ago some very, very smart people decided that they would make an investment in our Meeting for the future.  Because of that decision, we are not responsible – we don’t have to worry – if we have to pave the parking lot, or if the roof leaks.  We don’t have to raise extra funds if a storm comes and lifts the roofs off.  Because years and years and years ago, some very wise Quakers decided to put some money aside to cover those concerns, and let it grow.  It is called the Trustees Fund.  And that is separate from our Operating Budget.  And I am very thankful for that.  There are many churches that go broke when the boiler blows up.  Not First Friends.   

I received a letter this past week that included an incredible set of old, brittle papers.  The document is from the Finance Committee of Indianapolis Monthly Meeting, dated ‘2nd Month, 1895’.  You’ll get to see copies of it when you enjoy Fellowship Hour today, hosted by the 2015 Finance Committee!  The papers mention West Indianapolis Preparative Meeting, Indianapolis Preparative Meeting, the Alabama Street property – where we were before building on Kessler, and Delaware Street Meeting – where we first met. It’s obviously a working paper, with pencil markings all over it, updating the 1895 figures for 1896.  The Finance Committee was determining the budget for the coming year.  The janitor would be paid $120/year, or $10/month.  They estimated they’d spend more for funerals than they would for fuel.  And there was no paving – of anything.  It cost $26.23 to “sweep and sprinkle” Delaware Street that year.  How would they cover their costs?

The third and fourth pages of the document list 108 names – presumably members of the Meeting.  The Finance Committee submitted an assessment for each person.  Only two persons are asked to pay a tithe, or 10%, and one of them is William R. Evans – the Clerk of the Finance Committee.  Most are asked to pay ½ to 1% of their income.  Linton A. Cox is listed at 2%, but is penciled in at 3%.  Robert Rees was asked to pay 1%, but he’s chosen to pay 1 ½%. 

Included in the envelope was a little ‘subscription’ card… I’ve made a copy for you to see, and put it in your bulletins.  “I subscribe and agree to pay to Friends Church of Indianapolis…”  I don’t know if the subscriptions were based on the assessments, or if the assessments were based on the subscriptions. They may have been two separate, complementary tools for fundraising. 

The Meeting was less than 50 years old, it had outgrown its Delaware Street gathering place, moved to 13th and Alabama and had more than 100 members.  And the Finance Committee asked everyone – each one of its members – to participate financially in the work of the Meeting.  They did not ask the same from each person… they asked them to make a choice.  Some said they would give more, like Linton and Robert.  Some may not have been able to give at all.  We don’t know the outcome of the request. But we do know the outcome of giving… when you’re giving because you want to, and not just because you can.  When your ½% matters just as much as another person’s 10%. Because… here we are.  We do know what happened.

I don’t know how many persons in this Meeting give financially to the work and witness of this Meeting.  I know approximately, but I don’t know specifically, and I certainly don’t know how much any one person gives.  Except me and Jon.  I just assume you all give, as you are led by God to do so, and as you can, because you want to.  We probably should make a bigger deal about giving when people become members!  Anytime you join a Fitness Club, or Costco, you have to pay a membership fee.  I can’t shop at Costco without paying to be a Member!  I’ve learned that there are some churches and synagogues where new members are interviewed as they join, and finances are discussed, and a determination is made regarding their support of the church.  You won’t find that at First Friends.  The Meeting does not take on that responsibility.  That’s your work to do.  That’s your decision to make.  That’s your choice.  Your joy!

This is our Meeting.  This is our expression of God in us, and God in the world through us.  I heard recently about another Meeting that kinda sorta belonged to one guy.  He was really, really, really, rich. He gave an endowment to his Meeting.  In addition to the endowment, he also gave a certain amount, in the thousands, every month.  And after awhile, the meeting realized they didn’t need to support itself because “Mr. X” was doing that for them.  So, instead of using the monies to build the meeting and do more for God, they just started sitting back.  We can’t afford to sit back.  We don’t have a ‘Mr. X”. That meeting died.  We are very much alive.  Because some of you give ½ %. Some of you give 3%, and some of you give 5%, and some of you give 20%. 

I’m just going to say, that some of our dear givers are gone now, and so the rest of us have got to pick up the slack! We won’t be able to give as much as Howard Taylor. But maybe 3, or 4, or twelve of us could, together.  We’ll do that because, we want to.  Because we love the meeting.  It wasn’t Howard’s meeting.  It wasn’t Duffy’s meeting.  It’s our Meeting.  It’s my meeting. It’s your meeting. We love our meeting.   

And we have the joy and responsibility of supporting it, sharing it, and caring for it.  It’s such an adventure to see what God does with who we are, and what we have to offer!  And people are watching us.  What we do, and who we are matters.  Not just to ourselves, but to those around us, and to those who are growing up with us…

Listen to this great article from Christianity Today.  It’s called “Why I Won’t Give To Your Church.”  Do you think this young person would feel the same way about First Friends?   

I am a 23-year-old who refuses to give to your church. My parents made me attend your Christmas program. I have to admit, it was quite a spectacle: real animals, fake snow, and lights that bathed the actors in red, green, and gold. The production cost thousands of dollars. (Has this person ever been to our Christmas pageant?)And gee-whiz, it was worth every penny! By the way, if you're going to understand anything about our generation, it should be that we love sarcasm. The truth is, I could not have been more put off by what you put on. It was gaudy and awkward. Your jokes were not funny, your script was predictable, and the only lights that mattered were the ones coming from the exit signs.

My generation loves technology yet we're minimalists. We're highly educated; we don't like to read. We're comfortable with uncertainty, I think. We're skeptical of corporations, and we're pretty much an expert on everything because of Google and Wikipedia. We realize we're arrogant, and in many ways, contradictory. We're OK with that, but we're not OK with you being unwilling to admit to the same.

More than half of us will leave the church at some point. Those of us still here find it increasingly difficult to stay. So what is it that we're looking for? What's the magic answer? There is none. What will satisfy one person my age may not satisfy me, and vice versa. But for what it's worth, here are my ideas, frustrations, and yes, a little advice.

We're not a "target demographic"

We've been "marketed to" since childhood, and we can smell it a mile away. When we step into a church and sense it, it's patronizing and offensive. Your "Young Adult Outreach" may be well intentioned, but it comes off as phony. When we sense you're preoccupied with attendance among our demographic, we feel like you're making us into a number, or even a dollar sign. We want to be known and valued as individuals. We may be the same age, but we have a diverse array of passions, dreams, and callings. Until the church recognizes this, like the rest of the world has, we will continue to be absent from your pews and our giving from your offering plates.

Use your money wisely

In politics it is common to criticize spending. People passionately debate spending on education, welfare, campaigning, and the military—and complain how the government is wasting our precious tax dollars. Government spending is always under scrutiny. The same applies to churches. Where exactly is our money going? Is it helping others? Or is it being spent on elaborate Christmas pageants? Are you building the kingdom? Or are you building your kingdom? Millennials are extremely conscious of how our money is spent. We are the generation that demands fair trade coffee and supports eco-friendly companies, but will dump them just as quickly if they're caught "greenwashing."

Impact your community and the world

What are you doing in your community? Are you feeding and clothing the homeless? Are you hosting support groups for addicts? Are you finding childcare for single parents? These are things my generation respects. We want to help the people around us. You'll win us over if you do the same. What are you doing abroad? Organizations like Compassion International and World Vision make it so easy to care for God's children. There are too many people living in poverty, and far too many churches doing nothing about it. In America alone, there are approximately 315,000 Protestant houses of worship. If each church sponsored at least one beautiful child of God, perhaps we would begin to see the kind of global impact God desires the church to have.

Let us lead

Contrary to popular perception, we aren't allergic to responsibility. We just want to make sure what we commit to really matters. Let us partner with you in making an impact for Christ. Please don't conclude that my refusal to give means I'm indifferent to the church. I have always believed that Christ holds the answer to what is wrong with the world—that Jesus is the key to truly experiencing life. I am only critical of your efforts because I refuse to give up. I desperately want my generation to see authentic Christianity. Let's make it happen together.

The woman who came to the Treasury, gave out of authenticity.  Our meeting gives, because we are authentic.  Yesterday when I paid my bills I sat down and thought, “What am I doing with my money?”  When you sit down to respond to the Finance Committee letter you will receive, think about First Friends, and how authentic it rings in your life.  And then decide as they did so long ago, “How do I want to fill out this little card from 1895… “I subscribe and agree to pay to Friends Church of Indianapolis…”  Amen.

 From the silence…

Ruthie was talking about the widow this morning.  It made me think of my mother who became a widow at the age of 31, with three small children to take of.  I wouldn’t say we were destitute, but we were pretty close, since my father had just begun his career as a teacher six months before.  And even in that first couple of years when her only income was taking in ironing for the neighbors, she put money in the offering plate every Sunday.’