St. John's UCC

The first official announcement for the 2016 presidential ticket of a major party is now on the books. Campaign season has officially begun. And like always we will hear a whole slate of people announcing their candidacy for their party ticket. And every single one of them will promise to do better than anyone else. They may promise to do away with whatever a predecessor may have done or they may promise to continue down the same path. “With me things are going to get a lot better.” They all have to say something to that effect because in the highest government executive office, we the people want someone who can get things done.

Israel had a lot of expectations for their new leader as well. For generations the land had been occupied by the Romans. There had always been revolts trying to cast off that yoke. Uprisings were commonplace and there was a lot of hope that some day a great strong leader may emerge and kick out the Romans once and for all. Somebody yelling: “With me things are going to get a lot better.” A strong leader who can get things done, who can fight and win our wars and restore liberty and justice for all. Maybe this concept of ancient Israel still applies today: Candidates still want to be the Messiah who saves the day. That’s why they promise heaven on earth if you just vote for them.

Well, here is what happened back then: Jesus was nominated to be the new king of the Jews. The media of the day had high expectations of this new and upcoming star. They wanted him to be the mighty warrior to restore King David’s Empire. They wanted him to lead the people into battle and free Jerusalem and restore Israel’s independence. News reports came in that he may join the Passover festivities in the capital this year. So reporters lined up along the main drag that led into town, vendors set up their booths with fan memorabilia, excitement was building. The people got curious: What’s going on? Who’s coming? What is this all about? Oh – a rally against the Romans? – Sign me up! Finally his presence was announced: Jesus has entered the final stretch and will be visible soon! What’s he gonna look like? Heavy armor? A mighty horse? Troops following behind him, well trained and equipped to march into the fight? Maybe even before the festival is over? Can he get this done swiftly and forcefully? Go Jesus! Go Jesus! Go Jesus!

Then he turns around the corner so everybody can see him in all his glory – sitting on a donkey!? And all of a sudden everybody starts realizing that their expectations had been off. When King David sent his son Solomon to his accession to the throne he had him ride on a donkey (1 Kings 1:33): No war machine, no military parade. The king of the Jews has always been a king of humility. What if our 2016 candidates announced like that: “Don’t expect too much from me. I’m not bringing anything special to the table. Things will not get a lot better because of me. I would just like to play my part in the system.”

What if we would manage our exceptions in a way that would enable us to live the life we have?
What if would would hope for fulfillment in our current situation without radical transformation?
What is life weren’t always all exciting but sometimes just hard work that never seems to end?
Because let’s not forget that the same crowd that yells “Hosannah!” today is bound to yell “Crucify him!” in just a little while.

Did God really send snakes to kill God’s people? What kind of parent would do that?

A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent 2015 based on Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.”
(Psalm 51:10 – Watchword for the Week of Sunday 22 March 2015)

Me, me, and me! Unapologetically me! The Psalmist is not afraid in just one verse to three times refer to himself. He doesn’t care about the interconncetedness of all beings. He’s not worried about the state of the church or the state of the nation. He doesn’t want to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, or to care for the widow, or the alien or the orphan. He prays for his own benefit. He doesn’t ask for kingdom come and thy will be done, no, it’s all about me, myself, and I!

That’s where religion takes place: In an individual’s heart. It’s a place where God has spoken from the beginning. Individualism is not a bad thing. God calls prophets and apostles, not committees and representatives. No corporation, no institution, no state, no church, can live if it does not have individuals that take care of the logs in their own eyes before getting into everybody else’s business. “Create in me a clean heart, O God” also means: I am in desperate need of cleaning because it’s not pretty in there. Give me a fresh start this Lent – like a spiritual spring cleaning.

Sometimes the shortest word in a verse has the biggest impact. Here it is certainly the humble a: “put a new and right spirit within me.” It implies that there is a multitude of new and right spirits to be had. For me, I need only one of those for myself. My way is not the highway and if I think my path is the straight and narrow I can be certain that the God of hosts has a host of other paths that are just as viable. The me right next to me, the me across the street or on the other side of the globe has their own journey just as I do.

The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted. (Mother Teresa)

A Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent 2015 based on Exodus 20:1-17 and John 2:13-22.

A conversation based on John 3:16-17 and written by Rosemary Broadstock and Ann Scull.

A: ‘For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everybody who believes in him may not die but have eternal life’.
B: But that’s not fair!!! What about the likes of Hitler and Stalin – the people who start terrible wars and cause the death of millions of innocent people and cause the destruction of whole countries which take decades to rebuild.
A: But God has shown us how much he loves us – it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us.
B: But that’s not fair either!!! Does that include the people who dominate powerless people? What about those who rip off the system and make us all pay more? What about people who are cruel?
A: This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.
B: Hey, come on, this really isn’t fair!! That can’t possibly include the thieves and the murderers, the people in our jails, the criminals, the liars and the cheats, the ones who abandon and mistreat their children and families, the ones who fight and drink too much.
A: Absolutely nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord.
B: But its still not fair!!!! What about the people who are self satisfied and thoughtless? What about those who gossip and are jealous, the ones who are selfish and lack compassion, the ones who break promises, the ones who are always critical, the ones who carelessly hurt other people’s feelings….. Come to think of it – it’s all of us really, isn’t it?
A: This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.

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God walks behind us and charges ahead at the same time. God is all around us and transforms us from within. That will show in how we live and talk and how we call ourselves. There will be outward signs of that transformation.

A Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent 2015 based on Genesis 17:1-16 and Mark 8:31-38.

“For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
(1 Corinthians 1:18 – Watchword for the Week of Sunday 8 March 2015)

There are so many spots in my life that are marked with the sign of the cross.
Let me share with y’all what some of them are about:

When she first saw me in the uniform of an Army Chaplain my mother started crying. Yes, of course there was this whole “my son is a Soldier” thing but what disturbed her most was the cross on my chest. The love of God and a combat uniform do not naturally go together. The Army Chaplain Branch Cross is one of five insignia besides the Jewish tabloids, the Muslim crescent, the Buddhist wheel of life and the Hindu ”Om” syllable. They tell Soldiers where their Chaplains are coming from not where they are taking them. Luckily my mom understands that the love of God is greater than all religious distinctions and Christ has called me to be a servant to all.

Whenever our family has moved we have posted a cross over our front-door. You may call it a talisman or good luck charm. I think of it as a blessing of our home and everybody who lives and visits in it. A symbol of Christ’s presence. Maybe not so much through the symbol of the cross itself but very much so by the spirit which we strive to live. The crosses we have used over our doorposts over the years have always been very modest you may even say tiny. That way they have also been great reminders of humility. I wish the cross were used that way more often. Around Houston highways crosses are being abused as symbols of power and dominance towering up to 200 feet tall. The “emblem of suffering and shame” should not be used as a phallic symbol that strives to be bigger and stronger than everybody else.

The roadside crosses that I respect are the ones that remind us of our mortality. After the deadly crash of a loved one family and friends sometimes try to keep the memory alive at the scene of death – with a cross and candles or flowers. By that not only do they support their own grief process but they also help others in a similar situation. Driving past such a memorial site can work like a support group: I am not alone in my mourning. And on a pragmatic note it warns all motorists: A deadly crash happened here. This spot may require more attention and lower speeds. The cross gets that across more powerfully to me than any speed limit sign could.

In the parish hall at St. John’s United Church of Christ we have close to one hundred crosses on the wall. No, this is not bragging by numbers. This is a sign of diversity. Not two are the same. They are kids crafts, cowboy scenes, crucifixes, clothespins, artsy, rustic, kitsch and ancient, you name it, we got it. The blessing here is in the variety of the multitude. There is not the one correct cross. Our journeys are all different, our approaches to Jesus’ suffering and the season of Lent are all different. What is your cross style?

It’s a great thing to be in a covenant with God. Over thousands of years biblical authors have painted the most wonderful pictures of what that means: blessing, wealth, love, health, peace, power, forgiveness, eternal life, whatever you may hope for in heaven and on earth, it has probably been spelled out as part of God’s covenant with us somewhere. Like when God promised to Abram:
“I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”
(Genesis 17:7 – Watchword for the Week of Sunday 1 March 2015)

Sunday’s Watchword adds an important twist though: God’s covenant is not only with you in the present generation but also “your offspring after you throughout their generations”. That is a challenge because it means that it is our responsibility to preserve the blessings that God provided us with for future generations. And we have to look at this in all aspects of our lives. All to often grown-ups say: “Children are the future” where in reality that is a distraction from our responsibility today. There are also passages where curses are handed down from generation to generation: “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,” (Exodus 20:5)

How can we live here today and make sure that our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and their children inherit a world that is full of more blessings than ours has ever been? What can we do to preserve our social programs in a way that they are funded for generations to come? Are we making sure that we don’t leave our kids with generational debt that they need to pay on our behalf? Do we leave behind a world that is fun to live in with a sea to swim in, woods and fields to play in, air to breath and water to drink? Do we create a thriving church that inspires generation after generation? God’s covenant is for all generations. We need to keep our end of the bargain.

I grew up in a largely Catholic area in Germany. Cologne Cathedral has served the area since the 4th century. So as the Reformation came around in the 16th century Protestants needed to be different. We have gone along with the carnival season from November 11th to Ash Wednesday because we like a good mardi gras celebration with parades and floats and a lot of partying. But then when Ash Wednesday comes around you can still tell Catholics from Protestants because overwhelmingly we will stay away from that fasting thing.

For me that changed somewhat when we moved to Utah. In a community where 93% of the population are Mormon the liturgical roots of our tradition helped me to retain and strengthen my identity. My UCC congregation worked regularly with the Episcopal Church across the street to keep ourselves rooted in the desert. And I got my Catholic fix out of our joint Ash Wednesday services. Now in Rosenberg, Texas, at St. John’s UCC we have our own Ash Wednesday service – no Episcopal priest to impose the Ashes but it will be my turn tomorrow. That to me is a double-edged sword since the most disturbing thing about Catholicism for me is the role of the priesthood. The guy imposing the ashes seems so removed from the sinners who receive it. That just feels so wrong since our tradition puts a big emphasis on the priesthood of all believers. So I am very excited that I get to juggle that tension tomorrow.

The good news is that the whole ash thing at its core uses a scriptural foundation that fits well into the Protestant spirit:
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19)
God is quoted saying that to Adam and Eve after the scene with the forbidden fruit. Basically they are reminded of their limitations. That applies to all of us who were born to a human mother: Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, Priests, All Believers, oh yes, we are all sinners alike!