The following are some of Pastor Michelle's recent weekly sermons and scripture readings. We hope you find these words helpful for your spiritual growth. If you wish to contact Michelle, feel free to use the contact form found on this website.
God Bless.
Unpacking Privilege Workshop
This workshop was taught by Pastor Michelle in April at the Annual Meeting of the Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ in April, 2022 and on September 11 at the United Church of Ludlow. The objective of the workshop was to look at privileges that some have that others do not and to consider how privilege can be shared. Click here for the recording that is from the presentation in April.
This workshop was taught by Pastor Michelle in April at the Annual Meeting of the Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ in April, 2022 and on September 11 at the United Church of Ludlow. The objective of the workshop was to look at privileges that some have that others do not and to consider how privilege can be shared. Click here for the recording that is from the presentation in April.
Sermon for May 14, 2023: In Defense of Hope
Is this glass half full or half empty? Many would say it depends on your mindset. If you are in scarcity mode, worried or stressed, it is half empty; if you are hopeful, it is half full. As Christians, if we are not already there, we should work to see it as half full because we were given hope and help in the form of the Risen Christ and support from, depending upon the translation, an: Advocate, Counselor, Companion, Helper, Friend, Spirit of Truth or Comforter aka the Holy Spirit as we heard in the Gospel of John today.
The message here is that we are not alone; that gives us hope even in times of suffering or challenge.
Last week in our “conversation church” we looked at John 15: 12-13 from Eugene Peterson’s The Message “This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.” And Matthew 22: 37-39 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
So when we consider our gospel reading today where Jesus, in this Maundy Thursday Sermon to his disciples says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” we are reminded that the greatest commandments are about love - loving God and loving our neighbors. And, as we have explored in the past, our neighbors are ALL the People whom God created, those like us and those very different from us: those of all races, creeds, gender, gender identity and sexual orientations; those of differing abilities, different economic and social status. Even our enemies, these too are our neighbors and we are called not just to tolerate them but to love them. What would happen if we could learn to love our enemies? I think, at minimum, we would not use the term enemy any more - maybe they would even become friends of a sort and remember we are commanded to put our lives on the line for our friends.
This loving all people - even those who think and act very differently from us can be hard work at times, but Jesus even planned for that. As he told his disciples during that Maundy Thursday supper, as he was preparing for his own death even though his disciples still did not get it, “I will ask the father and he will send another Companion, (Helper, Friend, Advocate, Comforter) to be with you.” In Jesus’ time disciples without masters or teachers were considered orphans. But Jesus’ is telling them and us, that “I won’t leave you as orphans. I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me.” This was both to foreshadow his resurrection and to let them know that even when he was not here, the Holy Spirit would be. They and we are not alone.
So what it means to be Christian is to love or to strive to love all as Christ loved all people, even and especially those, society considers less than or “other” and to have hope. And not only to have hope but to be prepared to defend that hope.
So how do we do all of this? I would like you to open your bulletin to the Word Cloud image of our brainstorming during church last week. The idea was to choose active verbs that represent what we, as members and friends of the United Church of Ludlow d0. In other words, what do we see as our mission here in this church, in this community, in this world? I created this Word Cloud by listing the words we chose last week along with how many votes each word got; the larger the word, the more votes it got. Let’s all say the biggest word out loud together on the count of three: one, two, three: Welcoming!
Is welcoming loving? Absolutely!
Can I have a volunteer to read the other large words? Caring, Celebrating Diversity, Loving, Giving.
Are we obeying Jesus’ command to love one another if we welcome all, celebrate diversity, love all, care for all and give of ourselves in doing so? I sure think so. Our path is being laid out towards a mission statement - a one or two sentence statement about what we do as people of faith, as the United Church of Ludlow. I encourage all of you to play with these words, adding a few more along the way. Maybe even consider it through the lens of your Star Word that you selected on January 8 to guide your meditation throughout the year. My word is “Awareness” and I have found myself stepping back from situations to see them from a different viewpoint all year in order to be more aware. How about you? By the way, if you missed out on a chance to get a word to guide your reflection, there is still a basket of words downstairs in the lobby - grab one and see where it takes you!
As you play with arrangement of those words, consider what else needs to be included and what that looks like within our walls and outside them. If we just welcome people who show up at our door, is that truly welcoming or do we need to go beyond and invite people? Is this just about church or are we welcoming the community by allowing Rotary, Windsor County Mentors and other organizations to use our fellowship hall for meetings. Should we hold more community events here like the Piano Concert and Lunch with Coolidge in order to be welcoming? What else can welcoming look like? How would someone walking by our church or checking out our website, know that we are welcoming to them no matter their nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ability, or economic status?
What would it look like to show that we celebrate diversity? What might we do differently to truly celebrate diversity?
What does caring or giving look like? Is it just writing a check to this church and various non-profits in need or is it rolling up our sleeves to raise money for victims of violence like those in Ukraine or victims of earthquakes like those in Turkey and Syria? Is it visiting with the sick and lonely and fighting injustice in our own country?
What does love look like? Is it just a product of these other active verbs - welcoming, caring, celebrating diversity or is it something more?
In our rich conversation last week, the other thing that came through clearly is the value of fellowship. People visiting often stay because they feel welcomed and they enjoy the fellowship of other people on the journey of faith. We are chatty - we enjoy sharing stories and laughter. We are hungry, we enjoy eating together. Could this fellowship be an outgrowth of the Holy Spirit as a friend, helper, comforter acting through and with us to help us live up to Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbors?
Living in the least-churched state in the nation, at a time when more churches close than open, it would be easy to despair. Looking around this room seeing fewer than 30 people and seeing just one person under 20, could make us think that we are a dying breed. Yet last week George Thomson told us that we qualify as a vital church and we are: We have vibrant worship both in person and through Zoom, significant lay involvement, some community events, and we’re good at incorporating new members. The areas from the Vital Church Conference that we can still work on are: crafting mission and vision statements as we are working on now, being open to change - what might we do to put more of those chosen verbs into action? How can we bring in more diversity in age, sexual orientation, gender identity, race and ethnicity? How can we better live out our faith commitment by sharing it with others? What would Jesus do if he were present with us here today?
In other words, how can we more fully live out Jesus' commandment expressed in Matthew? I am going to end by sharing it with you in words and the hand motions I would teach students in my Vacation Bible School sessions at the North Pomfret Congregational Church many years ago. Picture me up here doing this with 20 kids. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In doing this, we are glass-half-full people defending the hope that we have through the model of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sermon for April 30, 2023
Psalm 23
The Epistle Reading: 1 Peter 2: 19-25
The Gospel John 10: 1-10
Sermon: Abundant Green Pastures?
This week I took my 7th grade students to the Hubbardton Battlefield. The only place where a battle in the Revolutionary War was entirely fought in Vermont. I assigned them roles of American soldiers and commanders in the battle and told them the story as we walked the land where this battle took place: the story of how the soldiers were eating breakfast at 5am when shots were heard in the distance from Sargent Hill. They knew this was the sentries warning them that the British were coming through the Gap and they went into action dropping everything to grab their muskets and find defensive positions in a battle that they would lose but yet was still claimed as a strategic victory in that many troops were able to escape to later fight and repel the British at the Battle of Bennington.
Standing at the top of Monument Hill looking towards Sargent Hill and the Taconic Range, now the Taconic Ramble State Park, the view is very similar to this living Psalm painting by Mary Melcher. The Hubbardton Battlefield is considered the most preserved battlefield in America because standing on that hill with my students, it was easy to imagine the British coming through the gap and the flanking maneuvers that they made because you cannot see any buildings - only trees and fields - just as the soldiers saw 250 years ago on July 7, 1777.
So despite its bloody history, this place felt tranquil. As one of my students said, “We’re really in the sticks now.” And they were - as they reenacted the battle grabbing sticks and seeking defensible postures in the woods, even in this war game they were different, they were more calm - the middle school version of lying in green pastures.
The very familiar Psalm 23 is a a Psalm of comfort - with the inference of the Lord as Shepherd leading us to a place of respite, a beautiful pasture to rest in with food, clear water, beautiful views and the assurance that even in difficult times, God is walking with us, protecting us.
There are 43 different places in the Bible where God or Jesus is either stated or inferred, as in Psalm 23, to be a shepherd caring for and leading the people. And why not? Isn’t it comforting sometimes just to follow and to feel that someone will protect us and take care of our needs on this beautiful earth?
In John 10 the image is expanded to not just a shepherd but the very gate that lets the sheep in for protection and keeps those who would harm them out. John 10: 7 says ” Very Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep…whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture” and later in verse 10 we are told “I came that they may have life and have it abundantl./”
In much of history, as evidenced throughout the woods of Vermont, sheep were enclosed in pens made of rock walls rather than wood. In fact, in Jesus’ time, there was not always a gate on these stone sheep pens, rather the shepherd, at times, was literally the gate either standing or lying in the entry to the pen. So the image of Jesus as the shepherd and the gate here can be both literal and figurative.
First, let’s consider the shepherd, throughout history there have been and still are false ones - those who act like they are in charge, who seek followers of their way, ways that serve them as individuals - inflating their status, power, and income. Jesus tells us in this parable in John that those false shepherds are “thieves and bandits” trying to climb over the wall to get to the abundant green pastures, their own version of heaven on earth, without acknowledging a higher power beyond themselves. But sheep are often smarter than they are given credit for and most of them will not follow a false shepherd, at least not forever, because they know the voice of the shepherd that offers them the comfort and protection of abundant green pastures.
Sometimes we need to go out into those Green Mountains and pastures to break from the cacophony of false shepherds that might pull us in different directions - to be able to hear the voice of Jesus, letting the sheep in, protecting them and offering pastures to graze in and the beauty and contentment of that green pasture near a beautiful lake that is evoked in Psalm 23.
Now that we have established Jesus as the true shepherd calling the sheep we have to consider the question: who are the sheep? At the 228th Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ on Friday and Saturday, the theme was “Who is our Neighbor?” and it is not so far from the question of who are the sheep that Jesus is letting in.
If we think about it through the lens of the life of Jesus, the answer is clear. As we heard at the conference through the example of the Good Samaritan, a true neighbor is “the one who demonstrated mercy” towards the injured man. That injured man was a stranger from a different place with different beliefs and lifestyles, but the definition of neighbor was offering mercy to this person who was different, with nothing expected in return. And remember that Jesus commanded us to “love your neighbor as yourself.” So our neighbors are all people - those like us and those very different from us and we are called to love them all: American and foreigner, queer and straight, people whose skin, lifestyle, economic status and beliefs match ours and those whose skin, nationality, beliefs, economic status and lifestyles are different from ours.
Being a sheep feels so passive but we are not called to be passive. In answering Jesus’ call, we also need to follow his model, which is not always easy as 1 Peter 2:20-21 tells us
“But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.”
So what are some of these hard things that we are called to do? We already know from the example of the Good Samaritan and the commandment to love our neighbor that we have to love and care for all people, but if we want to continue to enjoy abundant Green Pastures and we want them to be there in the future for our children and grandchildren, we cannot be passive sheep just grazing on what is there-using it up, we must be active disciples preserving it and making sure there will be abundant resources for ALL God’s children in the future.
Our Keynote speaker at the Annual Meeting this weekend was Vermont environmentalist and author Bill McKibben and he laid out both our current challenges and how we can address them clearly. He began by telling us the challenge of time. “We knew everything we needed to know in 1989 and we did nothing.” In the 34 years since then, we have released more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than in any time in all of history and the average temperature across the globe has increased almost 2 degrees fahrenheit. McKibben told us, “Your body can’t tell the difference but the planet can” noting that the extra heat trapped in the earth’s atmosphere is the equivalent of 400K Hiroshima explosions each day. Nine million people die each year due to illnesses such as asthma caused by these extra emissions.
What impact does that have? Ancient sea ice is melting, raising the levels in the oceans. The weather system has been upset - increased heat and dry land has led to forest fires on huge scales and unhealthy air to breathe. Some areas are seeing more rainstorms. There has been a 70% increase in storms of 2 inches or more. Fort Lauderdale got 25 inches of rain in 6 hours recently. In Pakistan, they got 800% of their annual rain in three weeks destroying their earthen homes and displacing 33 million people.
Americans produce 25% of the carbon that is released into the world’s atmosphere. If 30 million people are displaced as climate refugees, that means 8 of those 30 million are on us.
McKibben emphasized, “Climate change is by far the biggest and most dangerous thing we have done..We are running Genesis in reverse and fast...winning slowly is just a different way of losing..the physics does not work” But he also had a message of hope, noting it is not too late.
“We need the church,” he stated, noting that people in churches say that some goals are more important than economic growth and endless accumulation.” He also reminded us that we are called to “love our neighbors” and that means everyone around the world who is being disparately impacted by climate change.
This idea was echoed in the UCC’s first Earth Day Summit a week ago that I watched. “Facing reality is a pre-condition of hope” the speaker stated emphasizing, “God is calling us to restore this great gift of creation.”
How do we do this? McKibben advised us to “Stop using energy from hell and start using it from heaven.” Emphasizing the benefits of solar energy he said, “Point a sheet of glass at the sun and out of that comes cold, light, and heat.” Solar energy is the cheapest way to produce energy on the planet and the cost to install it has gone down significantly in recent years.”
The next best source of energy is the wind. While he noted that many people don’t like to see windmills, he advised us that in times of emergencies like we are currently in, we need to readjust our aesthetic sense and think of windmills as “breeze made visible.”
We also need to divest from fossil fuels. According to one Earth Day Summit speaker, since the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, the top banks have lent more than $1 Trillion to expand oil reserves. What can we as individuals do? Purchase hybrid, electric or more fuel efficient cars, drive or fly less or purchase carbon offset credits from a company that commits to removing greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere to offset what we do, and move our investments into more green portfolios, divesting from fossil fuels.
My students and my own sons have often bemoaned that they did not create this mess that the planet is currently in but they are expected to suffer under it and fix it. Many, including my own son Jordan, have questioned whether they should bring children into this world. While Greta Thunberg and young people around the world have worked to call attention to the problem, we are the ones who have the most power to solve it.
In a new organization called Third Act, Bill McKibben notes that 70% of the financial assets belong to Baby Boomers. It is our age group that can afford to take the actions to move to more renewable energy sources. This new organization has led protests in front of those large banks holding banners that say “Fossils Against Fossil Fuels” in Burlington and sitting in 100s of rocking chairs in front of a bank in Boston in a “Rocking Chair Rebellion”, cutting up credit cards from these large banks and calling for change.
“The most important thing an individual can do is be less of an individual,” McKibben states promoting the idea of working with others to make a difference. He adds that if we do all that we can, we have a reason at least not to give into despair.”
Next week at the Windham Union Association meeting at 3pm in the Peru Church, we will hear of how a church installed solar panels - join me there to hear about that option. Some churches have Green Teams to help their church and members become carbon neutral. Others plant pollinator gardens and have Green Fairs to teach their community members how to live more sustainably.
God wants there to be abundant green pastures available and shared by all. Following Jesus means making sacrifices as Jesus did to make that happen. Russ and I are working on this. We have solar panels and a heat pump. We have cut down our use of plastics by over 50% by buying concentrated cleaners and soaps and putting them in refillable glass bottles and using reusable containers. I, like many of you, drive a Prius. Most of my investments are in Green energy, but I can still do more. Today, I am cutting up this credit card from a large bank. I still owe money on it and do not own another credit card so will have to work to pay this off but I am not going to support this bank any longer than I have to and will look for a more environmentally responsible credit option.
None of us can do everything but all of us can do more and that is what God is calling us to do. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.” Amen.
Sermon for February 19, 2023
Old Testament Reading Exodus 24: 12-28
The Gospel Matthew 17: 1-9
New Testament Letter 2 Peter 1: 16-21
Modern Affirmation of Faith Hymnal page 885
*Gloria 70 Glory be to the father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
Sermon: Mountaintop Transformations
As an avid hiker, I can see why these transformations happened on mountaintops and while they could be metaphoric, and likely are for some, the idea of climbing up a mountain to sit with and listen to God works for me.
I invite you to close your eyes and walk up the mountain with me. In the parking lot at the base of the mountain, what we mainly see are trees. The evergreens with deciduous trees mixed in that line the path. We see the top of the mountain but cannot measure the time it will take us on the winding paths but we can either imagine the view or call it up from memory. We start the climb enjoying the gentle, relatively flat beginning, smelling the air rich with the scent of pine, watching our steps for roots and rocks that might send us spiraling. This hike is a sensuous experience as we listen to the crunch of the leaves and pine needles under our feet and the birdsong in the trees above us.
The path grows steeper and we add the noise of our heavy breathing to the sounds around us. We pause at times to catch our breath and take in the remarkable scenery of farmland, rivers, and villages below from vistas along the way. We find ourselves thanking God for this peaceful time where we can feel our hearts beating in our chests; where we feel fully alive even in the soreness of working muscles along the way. We replenish ourselves from our water bottles, renewing our purpose as we continue the upward climb.
Eventually, we come to the summit and pause to breathe in the beauty before us. The land below is laid out in square plots with rivers snaking through and dotted with homes, farms, and forested land along with some commercial enterprises in the distance. There is some busyness of cars down there but here all is calm and quiet, only disrupted by the chatter of squirrels and calls of birds.
Now open your eyes.
Is it any wonder that God called to Moses, Peter, James, John and Jesus from a place like this? I certainly feel and listen for God in these mountaintop experiences - do you? Or maybe you have a lake, oceanside, or ballfield experience with God or even a church or cathedral experience. The point is that God is calling us all to be prophetic in some way. We just have to open our hearts and minds at the right place and time to let the Holy Spirit in, to let God work through us.
Our scriptures today, like much of the Revised Common Lectionary, offer many connections. First we have Moses climbing a mountain to talk to God. Then we have Jesus along with Peter, James and John at the top of a mountain encountering Jesus as God the son confirmed by God the father, and, finally, we have Peter recounting the latter story after Christ’s death and resurrection.
These mountaintop experiences are truly transformative both for the people who experienced them and for us if we open our hearts and minds.
First, let’s take a closer look at Moses’ experience. God calls him to the mountain for a specific purpose as we hear in verse 12 “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” He takes only his assistant Joshua on this journey leaving Aaron and Hur to lead the Israelites in the valley below.
When Moses gets to the top of Mt. Sinai, the Glory of the Lord settles on it in the form of a cloud and on the seventh day God calls out to Moses from the cloud. Moses enters the cloud to be with God. For the Isrealites down in the valley verse 17 tells us “ the appearance of the Glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain.” In other words, they were terrified, but not Moses. Moses was ready to listen for God’s word and to receive the law and commandments. Both his heart and mind were open to God and he would spend 40 glorious days and nights listening to and learning from God. God will give him very explicit instructions about creating the tabernacle for the stone tablets - the covenant or promises from God and so much more. God is giving Moses the instructions for a society in right relationship with God and each other.
Turning to the scripture of the transfiguration, we see Jesus building upon the foundations laid out by both Moses and Elijah. He often referenced them in his teachings, but if Peter, James, and John ever had any doubts about this connection, they were dispelled when Jesus is transfigured into dazzling brilliance before their very eyes AND he is seen conversing with both Moses who represents God’s laws and Elijah who represents the prophets. No wonder Peter offers to create a monument or temple to each of them, but that was not the point as God’s voice immediately comes from a bright cloud emphasizing the divinity of Jesus. “This is my son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”
This is not the first time that God has claimed Jesus as his son in this way. In Matthew 3:17 during John’s baptism of Jesus, the Spirit of God descended like a dove and a voice from Heaven said, “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
God is using repetition, more evidence, to make this relationship clear, but the addition of “listen to him” in today’s scripture is important. Jesus is preparing the disciples for his death and resurrection. They need to listen to him - to open their hearts and minds fully to who he is and what he is saying to be able to continue his work on earth after his resurrection.
And they did listen as we hear in 2 Peter. In his letter, Peter is giving witness to what he has seen and fulfilling what Jesus told them to do in Matthew 17:9 “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead”. Peter listened and is sharing what he saw at the right time - to dispel the idea that what happened on that mountain was a myth. He was an eye witness to the transfiguration and as such is a primary source that people should listen to. He is continuing Jesus’ work showing the fulfillment of the prophecies. He emphasizes that prophets are men and women who are moved by the Holy Spirit to speak from God.
South African theologian Albert Nolan in his book Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom says Jesus is calling all of us to be prophets to, in a sense, have our own mountaintop transformations.
Anyone who wishes to take Jesus seriously would have to be prepared to become a prophet and a mystic. In the history of Israel before Jesus, prophets were rare individuals. Jesus’ aim was to open up the spirit of prophecy to everyone.… Then too we can all become courageous enough to speak out like prophets.
Nolan goes on to say: The prophet claims that they have had an experience of the heart of God, and therefore they judge human reality on that basis. And that’s what makes the prophets such absolutists. They are not afraid to generalize. They are not afraid to make sweeping allegations. From our limited and finite perspective, we say to ourselves, “Well, come on, Amos. You’re overstating your case. It’s not that bad.” We always want to say that to the prophets, don’t we? When we’re reading, we think, “Come on, cool it a little bit.” We don’t have the boldness, the assurance, and the inner authority that the prophet seems to have. They dare to believe and even know, that they are speaking for God. I guess if we had that kind of assurance, we’d speak with boldness, too. We’d say, “This is it.” That’s why it’s hard to listen to the prophets.Could Nolan be right? Is Jesus calling all of us to be prophets? If so, how do we go about having our mountaintop transformation?
Jesus’ transfiguration was one of brilliant light that lit the way for his disciples' own understanding of Jesus as God. His disciples then carried that light as eyewitnesses
We are also called to carry that light of faith to the world through our words and actions. To do so, we need to seek opportunities to let God in, to make the space for mountaintop, lakeside, garden or even living room transformations where we can be open to God giving us prophet-like opportunities to speak of and take action to show God’s love for all people. Find your inspiring transformative place. Be still, breathe deeply, and listen to the still-speaking God. Be ready for your own style of mountaintop transformation. Amen.
Is this glass half full or half empty? Many would say it depends on your mindset. If you are in scarcity mode, worried or stressed, it is half empty; if you are hopeful, it is half full. As Christians, if we are not already there, we should work to see it as half full because we were given hope and help in the form of the Risen Christ and support from, depending upon the translation, an: Advocate, Counselor, Companion, Helper, Friend, Spirit of Truth or Comforter aka the Holy Spirit as we heard in the Gospel of John today.
The message here is that we are not alone; that gives us hope even in times of suffering or challenge.
Last week in our “conversation church” we looked at John 15: 12-13 from Eugene Peterson’s The Message “This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.” And Matthew 22: 37-39 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
So when we consider our gospel reading today where Jesus, in this Maundy Thursday Sermon to his disciples says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” we are reminded that the greatest commandments are about love - loving God and loving our neighbors. And, as we have explored in the past, our neighbors are ALL the People whom God created, those like us and those very different from us: those of all races, creeds, gender, gender identity and sexual orientations; those of differing abilities, different economic and social status. Even our enemies, these too are our neighbors and we are called not just to tolerate them but to love them. What would happen if we could learn to love our enemies? I think, at minimum, we would not use the term enemy any more - maybe they would even become friends of a sort and remember we are commanded to put our lives on the line for our friends.
This loving all people - even those who think and act very differently from us can be hard work at times, but Jesus even planned for that. As he told his disciples during that Maundy Thursday supper, as he was preparing for his own death even though his disciples still did not get it, “I will ask the father and he will send another Companion, (Helper, Friend, Advocate, Comforter) to be with you.” In Jesus’ time disciples without masters or teachers were considered orphans. But Jesus’ is telling them and us, that “I won’t leave you as orphans. I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me.” This was both to foreshadow his resurrection and to let them know that even when he was not here, the Holy Spirit would be. They and we are not alone.
So what it means to be Christian is to love or to strive to love all as Christ loved all people, even and especially those, society considers less than or “other” and to have hope. And not only to have hope but to be prepared to defend that hope.
So how do we do all of this? I would like you to open your bulletin to the Word Cloud image of our brainstorming during church last week. The idea was to choose active verbs that represent what we, as members and friends of the United Church of Ludlow d0. In other words, what do we see as our mission here in this church, in this community, in this world? I created this Word Cloud by listing the words we chose last week along with how many votes each word got; the larger the word, the more votes it got. Let’s all say the biggest word out loud together on the count of three: one, two, three: Welcoming!
Is welcoming loving? Absolutely!
Can I have a volunteer to read the other large words? Caring, Celebrating Diversity, Loving, Giving.
Are we obeying Jesus’ command to love one another if we welcome all, celebrate diversity, love all, care for all and give of ourselves in doing so? I sure think so. Our path is being laid out towards a mission statement - a one or two sentence statement about what we do as people of faith, as the United Church of Ludlow. I encourage all of you to play with these words, adding a few more along the way. Maybe even consider it through the lens of your Star Word that you selected on January 8 to guide your meditation throughout the year. My word is “Awareness” and I have found myself stepping back from situations to see them from a different viewpoint all year in order to be more aware. How about you? By the way, if you missed out on a chance to get a word to guide your reflection, there is still a basket of words downstairs in the lobby - grab one and see where it takes you!
As you play with arrangement of those words, consider what else needs to be included and what that looks like within our walls and outside them. If we just welcome people who show up at our door, is that truly welcoming or do we need to go beyond and invite people? Is this just about church or are we welcoming the community by allowing Rotary, Windsor County Mentors and other organizations to use our fellowship hall for meetings. Should we hold more community events here like the Piano Concert and Lunch with Coolidge in order to be welcoming? What else can welcoming look like? How would someone walking by our church or checking out our website, know that we are welcoming to them no matter their nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ability, or economic status?
What would it look like to show that we celebrate diversity? What might we do differently to truly celebrate diversity?
What does caring or giving look like? Is it just writing a check to this church and various non-profits in need or is it rolling up our sleeves to raise money for victims of violence like those in Ukraine or victims of earthquakes like those in Turkey and Syria? Is it visiting with the sick and lonely and fighting injustice in our own country?
What does love look like? Is it just a product of these other active verbs - welcoming, caring, celebrating diversity or is it something more?
In our rich conversation last week, the other thing that came through clearly is the value of fellowship. People visiting often stay because they feel welcomed and they enjoy the fellowship of other people on the journey of faith. We are chatty - we enjoy sharing stories and laughter. We are hungry, we enjoy eating together. Could this fellowship be an outgrowth of the Holy Spirit as a friend, helper, comforter acting through and with us to help us live up to Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbors?
Living in the least-churched state in the nation, at a time when more churches close than open, it would be easy to despair. Looking around this room seeing fewer than 30 people and seeing just one person under 20, could make us think that we are a dying breed. Yet last week George Thomson told us that we qualify as a vital church and we are: We have vibrant worship both in person and through Zoom, significant lay involvement, some community events, and we’re good at incorporating new members. The areas from the Vital Church Conference that we can still work on are: crafting mission and vision statements as we are working on now, being open to change - what might we do to put more of those chosen verbs into action? How can we bring in more diversity in age, sexual orientation, gender identity, race and ethnicity? How can we better live out our faith commitment by sharing it with others? What would Jesus do if he were present with us here today?
In other words, how can we more fully live out Jesus' commandment expressed in Matthew? I am going to end by sharing it with you in words and the hand motions I would teach students in my Vacation Bible School sessions at the North Pomfret Congregational Church many years ago. Picture me up here doing this with 20 kids. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” In doing this, we are glass-half-full people defending the hope that we have through the model of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Sermon for April 30, 2023
Psalm 23
The Epistle Reading: 1 Peter 2: 19-25
The Gospel John 10: 1-10
Sermon: Abundant Green Pastures?
This week I took my 7th grade students to the Hubbardton Battlefield. The only place where a battle in the Revolutionary War was entirely fought in Vermont. I assigned them roles of American soldiers and commanders in the battle and told them the story as we walked the land where this battle took place: the story of how the soldiers were eating breakfast at 5am when shots were heard in the distance from Sargent Hill. They knew this was the sentries warning them that the British were coming through the Gap and they went into action dropping everything to grab their muskets and find defensive positions in a battle that they would lose but yet was still claimed as a strategic victory in that many troops were able to escape to later fight and repel the British at the Battle of Bennington.
Standing at the top of Monument Hill looking towards Sargent Hill and the Taconic Range, now the Taconic Ramble State Park, the view is very similar to this living Psalm painting by Mary Melcher. The Hubbardton Battlefield is considered the most preserved battlefield in America because standing on that hill with my students, it was easy to imagine the British coming through the gap and the flanking maneuvers that they made because you cannot see any buildings - only trees and fields - just as the soldiers saw 250 years ago on July 7, 1777.
So despite its bloody history, this place felt tranquil. As one of my students said, “We’re really in the sticks now.” And they were - as they reenacted the battle grabbing sticks and seeking defensible postures in the woods, even in this war game they were different, they were more calm - the middle school version of lying in green pastures.
The very familiar Psalm 23 is a a Psalm of comfort - with the inference of the Lord as Shepherd leading us to a place of respite, a beautiful pasture to rest in with food, clear water, beautiful views and the assurance that even in difficult times, God is walking with us, protecting us.
There are 43 different places in the Bible where God or Jesus is either stated or inferred, as in Psalm 23, to be a shepherd caring for and leading the people. And why not? Isn’t it comforting sometimes just to follow and to feel that someone will protect us and take care of our needs on this beautiful earth?
In John 10 the image is expanded to not just a shepherd but the very gate that lets the sheep in for protection and keeps those who would harm them out. John 10: 7 says ” Very Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep…whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture” and later in verse 10 we are told “I came that they may have life and have it abundantl./”
In much of history, as evidenced throughout the woods of Vermont, sheep were enclosed in pens made of rock walls rather than wood. In fact, in Jesus’ time, there was not always a gate on these stone sheep pens, rather the shepherd, at times, was literally the gate either standing or lying in the entry to the pen. So the image of Jesus as the shepherd and the gate here can be both literal and figurative.
First, let’s consider the shepherd, throughout history there have been and still are false ones - those who act like they are in charge, who seek followers of their way, ways that serve them as individuals - inflating their status, power, and income. Jesus tells us in this parable in John that those false shepherds are “thieves and bandits” trying to climb over the wall to get to the abundant green pastures, their own version of heaven on earth, without acknowledging a higher power beyond themselves. But sheep are often smarter than they are given credit for and most of them will not follow a false shepherd, at least not forever, because they know the voice of the shepherd that offers them the comfort and protection of abundant green pastures.
Sometimes we need to go out into those Green Mountains and pastures to break from the cacophony of false shepherds that might pull us in different directions - to be able to hear the voice of Jesus, letting the sheep in, protecting them and offering pastures to graze in and the beauty and contentment of that green pasture near a beautiful lake that is evoked in Psalm 23.
Now that we have established Jesus as the true shepherd calling the sheep we have to consider the question: who are the sheep? At the 228th Vermont Conference of the United Church of Christ on Friday and Saturday, the theme was “Who is our Neighbor?” and it is not so far from the question of who are the sheep that Jesus is letting in.
If we think about it through the lens of the life of Jesus, the answer is clear. As we heard at the conference through the example of the Good Samaritan, a true neighbor is “the one who demonstrated mercy” towards the injured man. That injured man was a stranger from a different place with different beliefs and lifestyles, but the definition of neighbor was offering mercy to this person who was different, with nothing expected in return. And remember that Jesus commanded us to “love your neighbor as yourself.” So our neighbors are all people - those like us and those very different from us and we are called to love them all: American and foreigner, queer and straight, people whose skin, lifestyle, economic status and beliefs match ours and those whose skin, nationality, beliefs, economic status and lifestyles are different from ours.
Being a sheep feels so passive but we are not called to be passive. In answering Jesus’ call, we also need to follow his model, which is not always easy as 1 Peter 2:20-21 tells us
“But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.”
So what are some of these hard things that we are called to do? We already know from the example of the Good Samaritan and the commandment to love our neighbor that we have to love and care for all people, but if we want to continue to enjoy abundant Green Pastures and we want them to be there in the future for our children and grandchildren, we cannot be passive sheep just grazing on what is there-using it up, we must be active disciples preserving it and making sure there will be abundant resources for ALL God’s children in the future.
Our Keynote speaker at the Annual Meeting this weekend was Vermont environmentalist and author Bill McKibben and he laid out both our current challenges and how we can address them clearly. He began by telling us the challenge of time. “We knew everything we needed to know in 1989 and we did nothing.” In the 34 years since then, we have released more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than in any time in all of history and the average temperature across the globe has increased almost 2 degrees fahrenheit. McKibben told us, “Your body can’t tell the difference but the planet can” noting that the extra heat trapped in the earth’s atmosphere is the equivalent of 400K Hiroshima explosions each day. Nine million people die each year due to illnesses such as asthma caused by these extra emissions.
What impact does that have? Ancient sea ice is melting, raising the levels in the oceans. The weather system has been upset - increased heat and dry land has led to forest fires on huge scales and unhealthy air to breathe. Some areas are seeing more rainstorms. There has been a 70% increase in storms of 2 inches or more. Fort Lauderdale got 25 inches of rain in 6 hours recently. In Pakistan, they got 800% of their annual rain in three weeks destroying their earthen homes and displacing 33 million people.
Americans produce 25% of the carbon that is released into the world’s atmosphere. If 30 million people are displaced as climate refugees, that means 8 of those 30 million are on us.
McKibben emphasized, “Climate change is by far the biggest and most dangerous thing we have done..We are running Genesis in reverse and fast...winning slowly is just a different way of losing..the physics does not work” But he also had a message of hope, noting it is not too late.
“We need the church,” he stated, noting that people in churches say that some goals are more important than economic growth and endless accumulation.” He also reminded us that we are called to “love our neighbors” and that means everyone around the world who is being disparately impacted by climate change.
This idea was echoed in the UCC’s first Earth Day Summit a week ago that I watched. “Facing reality is a pre-condition of hope” the speaker stated emphasizing, “God is calling us to restore this great gift of creation.”
How do we do this? McKibben advised us to “Stop using energy from hell and start using it from heaven.” Emphasizing the benefits of solar energy he said, “Point a sheet of glass at the sun and out of that comes cold, light, and heat.” Solar energy is the cheapest way to produce energy on the planet and the cost to install it has gone down significantly in recent years.”
The next best source of energy is the wind. While he noted that many people don’t like to see windmills, he advised us that in times of emergencies like we are currently in, we need to readjust our aesthetic sense and think of windmills as “breeze made visible.”
We also need to divest from fossil fuels. According to one Earth Day Summit speaker, since the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, the top banks have lent more than $1 Trillion to expand oil reserves. What can we as individuals do? Purchase hybrid, electric or more fuel efficient cars, drive or fly less or purchase carbon offset credits from a company that commits to removing greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere to offset what we do, and move our investments into more green portfolios, divesting from fossil fuels.
My students and my own sons have often bemoaned that they did not create this mess that the planet is currently in but they are expected to suffer under it and fix it. Many, including my own son Jordan, have questioned whether they should bring children into this world. While Greta Thunberg and young people around the world have worked to call attention to the problem, we are the ones who have the most power to solve it.
In a new organization called Third Act, Bill McKibben notes that 70% of the financial assets belong to Baby Boomers. It is our age group that can afford to take the actions to move to more renewable energy sources. This new organization has led protests in front of those large banks holding banners that say “Fossils Against Fossil Fuels” in Burlington and sitting in 100s of rocking chairs in front of a bank in Boston in a “Rocking Chair Rebellion”, cutting up credit cards from these large banks and calling for change.
“The most important thing an individual can do is be less of an individual,” McKibben states promoting the idea of working with others to make a difference. He adds that if we do all that we can, we have a reason at least not to give into despair.”
Next week at the Windham Union Association meeting at 3pm in the Peru Church, we will hear of how a church installed solar panels - join me there to hear about that option. Some churches have Green Teams to help their church and members become carbon neutral. Others plant pollinator gardens and have Green Fairs to teach their community members how to live more sustainably.
God wants there to be abundant green pastures available and shared by all. Following Jesus means making sacrifices as Jesus did to make that happen. Russ and I are working on this. We have solar panels and a heat pump. We have cut down our use of plastics by over 50% by buying concentrated cleaners and soaps and putting them in refillable glass bottles and using reusable containers. I, like many of you, drive a Prius. Most of my investments are in Green energy, but I can still do more. Today, I am cutting up this credit card from a large bank. I still owe money on it and do not own another credit card so will have to work to pay this off but I am not going to support this bank any longer than I have to and will look for a more environmentally responsible credit option.
None of us can do everything but all of us can do more and that is what God is calling us to do. “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.” Amen.
Sermon for February 19, 2023
Old Testament Reading Exodus 24: 12-28
The Gospel Matthew 17: 1-9
New Testament Letter 2 Peter 1: 16-21
Modern Affirmation of Faith Hymnal page 885
*Gloria 70 Glory be to the father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
Sermon: Mountaintop Transformations
As an avid hiker, I can see why these transformations happened on mountaintops and while they could be metaphoric, and likely are for some, the idea of climbing up a mountain to sit with and listen to God works for me.
I invite you to close your eyes and walk up the mountain with me. In the parking lot at the base of the mountain, what we mainly see are trees. The evergreens with deciduous trees mixed in that line the path. We see the top of the mountain but cannot measure the time it will take us on the winding paths but we can either imagine the view or call it up from memory. We start the climb enjoying the gentle, relatively flat beginning, smelling the air rich with the scent of pine, watching our steps for roots and rocks that might send us spiraling. This hike is a sensuous experience as we listen to the crunch of the leaves and pine needles under our feet and the birdsong in the trees above us.
The path grows steeper and we add the noise of our heavy breathing to the sounds around us. We pause at times to catch our breath and take in the remarkable scenery of farmland, rivers, and villages below from vistas along the way. We find ourselves thanking God for this peaceful time where we can feel our hearts beating in our chests; where we feel fully alive even in the soreness of working muscles along the way. We replenish ourselves from our water bottles, renewing our purpose as we continue the upward climb.
Eventually, we come to the summit and pause to breathe in the beauty before us. The land below is laid out in square plots with rivers snaking through and dotted with homes, farms, and forested land along with some commercial enterprises in the distance. There is some busyness of cars down there but here all is calm and quiet, only disrupted by the chatter of squirrels and calls of birds.
Now open your eyes.
Is it any wonder that God called to Moses, Peter, James, John and Jesus from a place like this? I certainly feel and listen for God in these mountaintop experiences - do you? Or maybe you have a lake, oceanside, or ballfield experience with God or even a church or cathedral experience. The point is that God is calling us all to be prophetic in some way. We just have to open our hearts and minds at the right place and time to let the Holy Spirit in, to let God work through us.
Our scriptures today, like much of the Revised Common Lectionary, offer many connections. First we have Moses climbing a mountain to talk to God. Then we have Jesus along with Peter, James and John at the top of a mountain encountering Jesus as God the son confirmed by God the father, and, finally, we have Peter recounting the latter story after Christ’s death and resurrection.
These mountaintop experiences are truly transformative both for the people who experienced them and for us if we open our hearts and minds.
First, let’s take a closer look at Moses’ experience. God calls him to the mountain for a specific purpose as we hear in verse 12 “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” He takes only his assistant Joshua on this journey leaving Aaron and Hur to lead the Israelites in the valley below.
When Moses gets to the top of Mt. Sinai, the Glory of the Lord settles on it in the form of a cloud and on the seventh day God calls out to Moses from the cloud. Moses enters the cloud to be with God. For the Isrealites down in the valley verse 17 tells us “ the appearance of the Glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain.” In other words, they were terrified, but not Moses. Moses was ready to listen for God’s word and to receive the law and commandments. Both his heart and mind were open to God and he would spend 40 glorious days and nights listening to and learning from God. God will give him very explicit instructions about creating the tabernacle for the stone tablets - the covenant or promises from God and so much more. God is giving Moses the instructions for a society in right relationship with God and each other.
Turning to the scripture of the transfiguration, we see Jesus building upon the foundations laid out by both Moses and Elijah. He often referenced them in his teachings, but if Peter, James, and John ever had any doubts about this connection, they were dispelled when Jesus is transfigured into dazzling brilliance before their very eyes AND he is seen conversing with both Moses who represents God’s laws and Elijah who represents the prophets. No wonder Peter offers to create a monument or temple to each of them, but that was not the point as God’s voice immediately comes from a bright cloud emphasizing the divinity of Jesus. “This is my son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”
This is not the first time that God has claimed Jesus as his son in this way. In Matthew 3:17 during John’s baptism of Jesus, the Spirit of God descended like a dove and a voice from Heaven said, “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
God is using repetition, more evidence, to make this relationship clear, but the addition of “listen to him” in today’s scripture is important. Jesus is preparing the disciples for his death and resurrection. They need to listen to him - to open their hearts and minds fully to who he is and what he is saying to be able to continue his work on earth after his resurrection.
And they did listen as we hear in 2 Peter. In his letter, Peter is giving witness to what he has seen and fulfilling what Jesus told them to do in Matthew 17:9 “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead”. Peter listened and is sharing what he saw at the right time - to dispel the idea that what happened on that mountain was a myth. He was an eye witness to the transfiguration and as such is a primary source that people should listen to. He is continuing Jesus’ work showing the fulfillment of the prophecies. He emphasizes that prophets are men and women who are moved by the Holy Spirit to speak from God.
South African theologian Albert Nolan in his book Jesus Today: A Spirituality of Radical Freedom says Jesus is calling all of us to be prophets to, in a sense, have our own mountaintop transformations.
Anyone who wishes to take Jesus seriously would have to be prepared to become a prophet and a mystic. In the history of Israel before Jesus, prophets were rare individuals. Jesus’ aim was to open up the spirit of prophecy to everyone.… Then too we can all become courageous enough to speak out like prophets.
Nolan goes on to say: The prophet claims that they have had an experience of the heart of God, and therefore they judge human reality on that basis. And that’s what makes the prophets such absolutists. They are not afraid to generalize. They are not afraid to make sweeping allegations. From our limited and finite perspective, we say to ourselves, “Well, come on, Amos. You’re overstating your case. It’s not that bad.” We always want to say that to the prophets, don’t we? When we’re reading, we think, “Come on, cool it a little bit.” We don’t have the boldness, the assurance, and the inner authority that the prophet seems to have. They dare to believe and even know, that they are speaking for God. I guess if we had that kind of assurance, we’d speak with boldness, too. We’d say, “This is it.” That’s why it’s hard to listen to the prophets.Could Nolan be right? Is Jesus calling all of us to be prophets? If so, how do we go about having our mountaintop transformation?
Jesus’ transfiguration was one of brilliant light that lit the way for his disciples' own understanding of Jesus as God. His disciples then carried that light as eyewitnesses
We are also called to carry that light of faith to the world through our words and actions. To do so, we need to seek opportunities to let God in, to make the space for mountaintop, lakeside, garden or even living room transformations where we can be open to God giving us prophet-like opportunities to speak of and take action to show God’s love for all people. Find your inspiring transformative place. Be still, breathe deeply, and listen to the still-speaking God. Be ready for your own style of mountaintop transformation. Amen.
