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.
Service for February 25, 2024
Old Testament Reading Genesis 12: 1-4
The Gospel John 3: 1-17
Sermon: Mapping the Journey
I do not know about you but I do not like being lost. I plan ahead so that does not happen. Whether it’s a map or atlas like this, printed directions from a friend or Mapquest, or the more modern GPS on my phone. I want to be plugged in to where I am going.
However, despite the best planning, I still get lost. Not having the greatest sense of direction, I often read the map wrong. Trusting printed directions, what happens when there is an unplanned detour due to road construction? And despite the wisdom of satellites, I am sure that I am not the only one who has found myself led astray by a GPS. One time, on the way to one of my son’s college ski races in Maine, two pots of soup with duct-taped lids in the back, the GPS led me straight into someone’s driveway in some random town along the way. I later heard that the Colby Ski Team had the same problem. We all turned around and heard that infamous: “Rerouting” and prayed that this time it would work.
Rerouting is exactly what God often does with us without a map, Mapquest, or a GPS; God asks us to have the faith that the Spirit will guide us towards the right path when we might have gone a different way.
Abram (soon to be Abraham) was in Haran, which means “highway” or “crossroads” when God calls and says “Go from your country, and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” So the call begins with a command that is followed by a promise, “I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”
And what did Abram do in answer to this call? He did not ask where this land was; he did not ask for a map; he did not ask how at the age of 75 with a barren wife, God could possibly make a great nation of him. He just went and his nephew Lot (and his wife Sarai, soon to be Sarah, and I am sure many others) went with him.
Abram, led by his faith, rerouted his life at age 75, venturing out into the wilderness knowing that God would equip him with what he needed to find his way. He was answering God’s call and believing in God’s promise: the blessing of new land that would be a great nation and an heir to continue the work. God also says “I will make your name great” but this is not so Abraham can feel like an all-powerful leader who will rule over others, but instead so that he “will be a blessing.” Abraham will receive gifts that are meant to be shared. It is clear with God, that it is never all about the individual. God’s gifts or blessings are meant to be shared with all of God’s creation: the planet and all the creatures and people whom God created.
Abraham did not need a map, faith was the map and God’s blessing provided the route.
The Pharisee Nicodemus had faith, he knew that Jesus was a teacher who came from God based on what he had seen him do, but he was not prepared to admit this publicly; he went to Jesus in the night seeking a map. He was essentially saying to Jesus, “show me how a person can be reborn from above, from the Spirit? Map this out for me, will you?”
Jesus tries. He says to him, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
This is not the map Nicodemus wants, it literally blows his mind but not with the Spirit as he asks, “How can these things be?”
“How can these things be?” Seems like a good question for all of this but it illustrates Nicodemus’ lack of spirit. In asking the questions, in asking for the map, he is essentially blocking the Spirit. Being born of or accepting the spirit is a letting go of sorts. Through faith, we let go of having to have all of the answers. Instead, we listen for the Holy Spirit that, like the wind, comes blowing in, gently guiding, gently answering the questions we hold in our hearts: no map required.
Letting go is hard, it might even feel irresponsible or frivolous at times. We need to plan, we need our maps - what happens if we get lost in the wilderness in the middle of winter? We have all heard the horror stories of those who did not survive. We think of the Donner Party trapped in the winter, forced to cannibalism to survive, but that is not the wilderness that God is inviting us to. God does want us to plan as best we can for our physical journeys and God provided Abraham and Sarah and Lot with what they needed for their journey, just as he did with Moses.
However, it is in our faith journeys that we are called to let go and let God. If Nicodemus had been able to really listen, to hold the questions in his heart rather than his head, to just pause, then the Spirit would have come in like a gentle breeze providing the answers: the understanding of what Jesus was saying. Then he would have been able to listen and learn with his heart.
Part of being in the wilderness is pausing. It’s why many of us seek time in the woods. We put a pause on the busyness of life for a reset: a restorative walk in God’s creation without the distraction of the stuff of this world. Hearing the crunch of the leaves or snow under our feet, the birds calling above, feeling our hearts beating in our chests as we travel on a forest path, we can more easily listen and let the Spirit in. Holding our questions as we walk, we can sometimes feel the answers drift in map-like showing us the way our lives should go. The challenge is creating the time and place to let the spirit in. It could be on a literal walk in the woods, field, or beach but it also can be in a metaphoric one. A time carved out to just be and to listen, to come with our burdens, our prayers, our questions and sit with them or walk with them, making room for the spirit to come in maybe not with an exact answer but maybe a gentle nudge to do something or a feeling of acceptance or reassurance.
Jesus spoke of being born of the water and the spirit. The very nature of our physical birth involves water. We float in amniotic fluid which supports our growth and development before we enter this world. We also have the water of Baptism where we are welcomed into the community of faith, often when we are babies, the choice made by our parents.
Allowing the spirit in is a more adult choice. To be spiritual is to open to a sense beyond the physical world; it is where belief/faith resides. Some claim to be spiritual but not religious. They feel something beyond themselves but can’t put a name to it or consider it more cosmic than God. They are still on the journey. Those of us with a belief in God, can name the Spirit as Holy and know that it is of God. Being born of the Spirit is the acceptance of and belief in God in all forms: Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit even though there will always be more to learn. It means we are trying to make time to listen to and feel the Spirit’s guidance in our lives.
It is not by accident that Jesus goes from talking about being born of water and the Spirit and then foreshadows his resurrection. He takes advantage of every opportunity to teach knowing that if the listeners do not get the message now, it will make sense later. He grounds his teaching in what they know: Moses was directed by God to lift up a staff with a serpent on it to cure his people who were bitten by poisonous serpents in the wilderness. Jesus too will be lifted up to cure his people, so to speak. As Jesus says, “so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
And after this we get the scripture that is probably the most well known in the New Testament: John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world. Jesus is God’s gift of love to a world gone astray. He provided the model of how to love: unselfishly, even sacrificially, and whom to love: everyone, without exception, all are invited in. God brought a flood before when people went astray but left the rainbow as a promise that, that would never happen again. The second time people needed to be rerouted, God sent love into the world in human form.
This is the Spirit that we need to be open to, to listen for and let blow through us and into us, the Spirit of Love. And guess what? It is already here: no map required.
I want to conclude with a poem “The Wilderness is a Place of Mystery and the Unknown” by Sarah Are
It’s only in the wilderness that you can see the stars.
That’s what city living has taught me.
We can shine a light on the things we want to see–
Fluorescent and bright, lighting up dark alleys.
However, it’s only in the wilderness that you can see the stars.
And it’s only in the dark of night that the questions come.
What is my purpose here? What does God have to say to me?
What does God have to say to suffering?
The sun falls and my doubt rises,
For it’s only in the dark that questions come.
So like Nicodemus in the night,
I will throw my big questions at the sky.
And my voice will reverberate among the stars,
And my questions will echo throughout the dark.
For there in the night, my words form constellations.
And there in the wilderness, my prayers form galaxies.
So there, in the unknown, I trust that I am found.
A light shines in the darkness, friend.
So if ever you’re in the wilderness,
Look up and find the stars.
Amen
Service for February 4, 2024
Old Testament Reading Isaiah 40: 21-31
The Gospel Mark 1: 29-39
Sermon: Serving Gratitude
I have to admit, the feminist in me struggles with the fact that Simon/Peter’s mother-in-law is healed by Jesus, then immediately gets up and serves them. One could get the idea that they needed someone to make lunch so that is why Simon and Andrew told Jesus about her being in bed with a fever as soon as he walked in.
But then I thought about it some more. What would I do if I had been sick in bed and Jesus cured me? I would jump up to serve Jesus as well. I would be so full of gratitude at feeling better, well, and so thrilled that Jesus came for lunch, that I would be happy to cook and serve. When I think about it, that is often how I show my love – in service — and I get as much pleasure out of it as I give, as I am sure many of you do as well.
And this service that Simon/Peter’s mother-in-law gave Jesus was truly a gift because it was a very brief respite for Jesus in between teaching and healing. At sunset that very same evening, the scripture says, “they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons” and it goes on to say “the whole city was gathered around the door.” Wow! How overwhelming! Jesus healed many, quieted and cast out many demons or mental illnesses and was likely exhausted. I can imagine that the gift of service that he received from Simon/Peter’s mother-in-law was greatly appreciated as it sustained him for all of this work.
In fact, Jesus needed to recharge his batteries even more, so he got up early the next morning, while it was still dark, and went out to a deserted place to pray. I do not know about you but I take comfort in knowing that Jesus modeled self-care: a quiet time away from others to center oneself on God, to offer prayers of gratitude, and to gain the strength to do God’s work. Jesus certainly needed that strength because even as he was taking this centering time, the disciples were as the scriptures say “hunting” for him. There was just so much work to do. From there he tells the disciples, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came to do.” And he went forth teaching and healing throughout Galilee.
Jesus was fulfilling the scripture from Isaiah “he gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless…(allowing them to) renew their strength.” But even though the Isaiah scripture says the Creator “does not faint or grow weary” which God doesn’t, Jesus, God in human form, was modeling for us, showing us both that we need to serve others in love and gratitude but also that we need to take time for ourselves: time to rest, pray, and recharge so that we too can do God’s work. We all need time to reflect on what we are grateful for, what we need, and what God is calling us to do.
Gratitude is the title of a very short but powerful book by Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, naturalist and writer. You may have heard of his treatment of a group of survivors of the 1920s sleeping sickness encephalitis lethargica that allowed them to move on their own for the first time in decades. It was captured in his book and the movie Awakenings.
As Sacks neared the end of his life, he wrote, “I cannot pretend that I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and given something in return; I have read, and traveled and thought and written...above all I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.” That collection of his final essays was published posthumously under that name; it is a quick read, which I highly recommend.
Raised as an Orthodox Jew in England, Sacks split from his faith at 18 when he admitted an attraction to men and his mother called him an “abomination” likely quoting Leviticus on this subject. I wish she could have instead followed Jesus’ model of loving all people and accepting them all just as God created them. Luckily, Sacks did find acceptance from his relatives later in life. Yet, even without faith, in his final essay “Sabbath” he writes of “the peace of Sabbath, of a stopped world, a time outside time” that his cousin Robert John Aumann, who received a Nobel Prize for his fundamental work in economics, followed religiously calling the Sabbath “extremely beautiful” and noting he would have turned down the Nobel prize if he had to travel on a Saturday. In the end, Sacks felt some nostalgia for the Orthodox Sabbaths of his youth that were just time for prayer and family and a break from the chores of life. He wrote “I find my thoughts drifting to the Sabbath, the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, and perhaps the seventh day of one’s life as well, when one can feel that one’s work is done, and one may, in good conscience, rest.”
In planning for his final rest, Sacks wanted to see the night sky unobscured by the lights of man. Using Milton’s words, he liked seeing the sky “powdered with stars” and told this to friends who promised to get him outside to see that sky when the time neared. This idea recalls our Isaiah scripture where the Holy One says, “Lift up your eyes and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them by name.”
I hope that when it is my time to leave this earth, I can have Oliver Sacks’ sense of gratitude coupled with the faith that allows me to thank God for it.
A sense of gratitude in the face of adversity is really the ultimate weapon, the ultimate cure. It allows us to focus on the positives - what we have or have experienced – rather than on the negatives, some of which are outside our control.
But gratitude is not just for times of adversity, times of sickness, or at the end of life. What if we could harness the feeling of gratitude on a daily basis?
According to UCLA Health, “Research shows that practicing gratitude — 15 minutes a day, five days a week — for at least six weeks can enhance mental wellness and possibly promote a lasting change in perspective. Gratitude and its mental health benefits can also positively affect your physical health.”
Studies show practicing gratitude in this way lessens depression, anxiety, stress and even heart problems.
When we practice gratitude, we feel better and when we feel better, we have the ability to help or serve others. The practice of gratitude has the power to have a ripple effect, like a rock thrown in a pond, those ripples can extend in concentric circles around God’s creation helping God’s people: all people.
So let’s start serving gratitude regularly, whether that involves going to a quiet place to reflect and pray, writing or teaching about it, serving others - or all three. We, too, can make ripples. Amen.
Service for December 3, 2023
Old Testament Reading Malachi 3: 1-4
The Gospel Luke 1: 67-80 & Luke 3: 1-6
Sermon: A Time for Refinement
In the Old Testament, the messenger mentioned in Malachi was considered to be Elijah, in the New Testament, the messenger is seen as John the Baptist as was clearly the case in the Luke scripture where Zecheriah proclaims the messenger status of his newborn son. Either way, their job is to prepare the way: by getting the people ready.
The Malachi scripture seems frightening as shown in our Readers’ Theater- the analogy is of a refiner, a metal worker, purifying silver through burning it in the fire. The fire burns off the impurities leaving the silver clean, pure, and ready to be molded. Fuller’s soap is used similarly as an extremely strong soap that uses lye to clean the dirt out of clothes. Either way, the message is clear - people need to clean up their acts to be ready to hear and learn from Jesus.
John the Baptist accomplishes this through Baptism. As his father prophesied, he was to “go before the Lord to prepare his ways by “giving knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins”. In so doing he, “gave light to those who sat in darkness… (guided) our feet into the way of peace”. The Way of Peace is Jesus. John’s job was to prepare the path for Jesus by getting people to pay attention, to take stock of their lives, and clean them up through the repentance of sin through baptism. These actions metaphorically straightened out winding paths, leveled mountains and valleys so that all roads became a direct and easily traversable route to Jesus - to the Way of Peace.
But sometimes it seems like no matter how straight and easy that road to peace is, too few people are walking it doesn’t it?
It is easy to point to all of the “theys” who are not walking the road to Peace - those who start wars or continue them, act on prejudice, harm or exclude others. If we just pause for a second, we can think of many who would fit into a category that somehow blocks peace. And if we think too long about that, we might not be able to see the straight path before us that easily leads to the Way of Peace. We might feel so weighed down that we forget to be Peace, to together be an oasis of peace.
We need to remind ourselves that the way to cleanse ourselves, the Act of Refinement, is to continue to walk the path of peace and in so doing, to be messengers preparing the way.
Etty Hillesum was a Dutch Jewish woman who wrote about her religious awakening and the suffering of the Jewish People during World War II. She said,
“Why is there a war?… Because I and my neighbor and everyone else do not have enough love. Yet we could fight war and all its excrescences by releasing, each day, the love that is shackled inside us, and giving it a chance to live.” In speaking to God she said,
“One thing is becoming increasingly clear to me: that You cannot help us, that we must help You to help ourselves. And that is all we can manage these days and also all that really matters: that we safeguard that little piece of You, God, in ourselves. And perhaps in others as well. Alas, there doesn’t seem to be much You Yourself can do about our circumstances, about our lives. Neither do I hold You responsible. You cannot help us, but we must help You and defend Your dwelling place inside us to the last. “
Hillesum wrote this even as she was preparing to be sent to the Westerbrook Transit Camp. She was later sent to Auschwitz and, sadly, died there. Yet even as she faced this terrible reality, she thought of the solution: “releasing, each day, the love that is shackled inside us, and giving it a chance to live.”
This is how we both refine and purify ourselves and how we continue down the path to the Way of Peace. It is even how we take up the mantle as messengers of peace, we lead with love. We don’t keep it inside but we release it each and every day.
But to release love and peace, we have to center them inside ourselves. We have to realize that we cannot fix all those people and issues we wish we could fix and we cannot even toss it to God like some magical ball of the world’s troubles and say “Here God, you’ve got this - I certainly don’t want or need it.”
Instead we start with ourselves. How can we settle peace and love in our own bodies? How can we let go of all of the things that we cannot possibly fix and the crushing weight with which they seem to be pressing in upon us?
As we have been practicing with our newer peace song - we breathe in peace. We breathe in the peace and love for ourselves - for the imperfect child of God that each of us is and love that person - ourselves in all of our imperfections first. We accept ourselves as God made us imperfectly perfect. We let go of all of those things about ourselves that we wish were different: thinner, smarter, richer, more generous, more patient, more forgiving etc and we accept and love ourselves for who we are. And guess what? As we do that, we find that we become better, smarter, more patient. Loving and accepting ourselves as God made us, allows us to then to do the second part of the peace song. After we breathe in peace - the calm acceptance of who we are and what we can and cannot do - we can breathe out love, the kind of love that Etty Hillesum spoke about, the release of a love that accepts differences - maybe even embraces them, the kind of love that causes people to put down weapons, not pick them up; the kind of love that can be passed on, that can become contagious.
It’s a big job but it starts right here, right now. It is the art of refinement. It is how we walk the road toward the Way of Peace. It is how we prepare for the birth of a child who throughout his brief lifetime released love to all, especially to those whom others thought of as imperfect. He released a continuous chain of love that has extended over 2000 years and all over the Globe connecting us on the path of peace.
Let’s continue to walk that path as children of Jesus’ light. Amen
Service for November 5, 2023
Old Testament Reading Micah 6: 6-8
The Gospel Matthew 23: 1-12
Sermon: Putting Words into Action
“Words, Words, Words!” In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Prince Hamlet is acting as a madman in order to observe his uncle, now king, Claudius to see if he appears to be guilty of the murder of Hamlet’s father. When the King’s attendant Polonius asks Hamlet what he is reading, he replies: “Words, words, words.” His answer is meant as an act of his madness to say that the words he reads are meaningless and yet in the brilliant wordplay that continues, as is often true in Shakespeare, there is a double-meaning whereby even Polonius can see that there is some sense in what he is saying.
When are words really more than just letters on paper or breath in the air? When they are put into action and that is what our scriptures are calling us to do.
The Prophet Micah lived in the 8th Century BCE, like many times, it was tumultuous. Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell, Assyria was a superpower like aggressor and general corruption abounded. Through all of this, Micah is trying to refocus the people by reminding them of what God has done for them. In the earlier portion of chapter 6 that we did not read today, Micah says in verse 2 “The Lord has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel”. Micah, speaking for God, reminds the people that he brought them out of enslavement in Israel and gave them leaders like Moses, Aaron and Miriam to guide them and reminds them that animal sacrifices are ritual but not action just like words without action are just words. Micah clearly and succinctly reminds them of what God wants us to put into action: “to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God.” Action, not just words. Action, not just sacrifices thrown on a fire like a bandaid to somehow cover their sins.
We are called to walk our talk and this was echoed by Jesus in the Matthew scripture today. He tells the crowd to listen to the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees because they “sit on Moses’ seat”. In other words, they have the role of leader/teacher as Moses did so they are indeed sharing the Word of God. But he entreats them not to follow their model in life because, as he says, “they do not practice what they teach”. They speak the scriptures but do not live them. Jesus even goes on to say what a show they make of their office. They wear phylacteries, small leather cases containing scripture passages on their left arms and foreheads and elaborate prayer shawls with long tassels to supposedly show their piousness but then they regale in having the best seats at banquets and in the synagogue. They are all for show. They are form over substance. They are just saying: “Words, words, words” without living into them.
Instead, Jesus reminds the crowd, you/we have one Father - God, one teacher - the Messiah, and one purpose -service. He emphasizes, “the greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” If the scribes and Pharisees had been walking humbly with their God, they would have gotten the message. They would be serving rather than expecting to be served.
One Sunday last May we held “Conversation Church” in an effort to gain input into a mission statement - what we do as the United Church of Ludlow and also a vision statement - how we aspire to live into our mission. We gathered active verbs that showed what we, members of the United Church of Ludlow do. The words offered the most were: Welcoming, Caring, Celebrating Diversity, Loving, and Giving. Sharing those a week later, I invited all of you to live with these words, to consider them and how they might be morphed into mission and vision statements.
Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt, Stacy Malecki and I got together over the summer and played with the words to create a rough draft of mission and vision statements, we then met with the larger group that had planned the conversation church as an outgrowth of our Building Inclusivity and Church Vitality Teams and we edited those mission and vision statements. A few weeks ago, I presented the draft mission and vision statements to the Executive Board and they made one final edit. Here is what we came up with. I am going to have Laura pass them out so you have a copy to ponder beyond today. You will likely recognize some of it as I used it to write today’s Call to Worship.
United Church of Ludlow’s proposal for Mission and Vision: October, 2023
MISSION
Striving to live God’s message of inclusive love through Jesus Christ in our community and world.
VISION
As we strive to live God’s message of love, we:
Welcome everyone,
Celebrate diversity,
Nurture spiritual growth,
Work toward peace and justice,
Serve our community and world.
As we worked on this mission and vision, we kept in mind all of the words offered. We recalled that Jesus emphasized that the greatest commandment is to love one another and we know that Jesus loved and invited everyone in, especially those marginalized by society so this inspired “God’s message of inclusive love”. Welcoming was the most common word chosen in our conversation church so welcoming everyone, without exception seemed very important. As it says on our bulletin covers “No matter who you are or where you are in your life and faith journey, you are welcome here.”
Celebrating diversity stems from inclusive love and abundant welcome. And we knew we could not forget that we are all still learners, as our scripture today reminds us, with one teacher, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. We felt it was important in living God’s message of inclusive love through Jesus Christ, to continue to nurture spiritual growth in ourselves and others, to continue to listen to the still speaking God.
When we considered the words caring and giving, we thought about what that looks like and we decided that comes down to work and service. As Micah reminds us that our work is to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God” so we saw working toward peace and justice and serving our community and world as caring and giving.
This proposed mission and vision is not just “words, words, words”. Instead they are love personified in action following the model of Jesus Christ. Are they always easy to do? No, but they are what we should strive for in order to walk humbly with our God and to be God’s loving hands to a hurting world. I ask you to prayerfully consider these mission and vision statements before we vote on them at the end of January at our annual meeting.
Remember what Philippians 4:13 tells us: “ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Amen
Old Testament Reading Genesis 12: 1-4
The Gospel John 3: 1-17
Sermon: Mapping the Journey
I do not know about you but I do not like being lost. I plan ahead so that does not happen. Whether it’s a map or atlas like this, printed directions from a friend or Mapquest, or the more modern GPS on my phone. I want to be plugged in to where I am going.
However, despite the best planning, I still get lost. Not having the greatest sense of direction, I often read the map wrong. Trusting printed directions, what happens when there is an unplanned detour due to road construction? And despite the wisdom of satellites, I am sure that I am not the only one who has found myself led astray by a GPS. One time, on the way to one of my son’s college ski races in Maine, two pots of soup with duct-taped lids in the back, the GPS led me straight into someone’s driveway in some random town along the way. I later heard that the Colby Ski Team had the same problem. We all turned around and heard that infamous: “Rerouting” and prayed that this time it would work.
Rerouting is exactly what God often does with us without a map, Mapquest, or a GPS; God asks us to have the faith that the Spirit will guide us towards the right path when we might have gone a different way.
Abram (soon to be Abraham) was in Haran, which means “highway” or “crossroads” when God calls and says “Go from your country, and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” So the call begins with a command that is followed by a promise, “I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.”
And what did Abram do in answer to this call? He did not ask where this land was; he did not ask for a map; he did not ask how at the age of 75 with a barren wife, God could possibly make a great nation of him. He just went and his nephew Lot (and his wife Sarai, soon to be Sarah, and I am sure many others) went with him.
Abram, led by his faith, rerouted his life at age 75, venturing out into the wilderness knowing that God would equip him with what he needed to find his way. He was answering God’s call and believing in God’s promise: the blessing of new land that would be a great nation and an heir to continue the work. God also says “I will make your name great” but this is not so Abraham can feel like an all-powerful leader who will rule over others, but instead so that he “will be a blessing.” Abraham will receive gifts that are meant to be shared. It is clear with God, that it is never all about the individual. God’s gifts or blessings are meant to be shared with all of God’s creation: the planet and all the creatures and people whom God created.
Abraham did not need a map, faith was the map and God’s blessing provided the route.
The Pharisee Nicodemus had faith, he knew that Jesus was a teacher who came from God based on what he had seen him do, but he was not prepared to admit this publicly; he went to Jesus in the night seeking a map. He was essentially saying to Jesus, “show me how a person can be reborn from above, from the Spirit? Map this out for me, will you?”
Jesus tries. He says to him, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
This is not the map Nicodemus wants, it literally blows his mind but not with the Spirit as he asks, “How can these things be?”
“How can these things be?” Seems like a good question for all of this but it illustrates Nicodemus’ lack of spirit. In asking the questions, in asking for the map, he is essentially blocking the Spirit. Being born of or accepting the spirit is a letting go of sorts. Through faith, we let go of having to have all of the answers. Instead, we listen for the Holy Spirit that, like the wind, comes blowing in, gently guiding, gently answering the questions we hold in our hearts: no map required.
Letting go is hard, it might even feel irresponsible or frivolous at times. We need to plan, we need our maps - what happens if we get lost in the wilderness in the middle of winter? We have all heard the horror stories of those who did not survive. We think of the Donner Party trapped in the winter, forced to cannibalism to survive, but that is not the wilderness that God is inviting us to. God does want us to plan as best we can for our physical journeys and God provided Abraham and Sarah and Lot with what they needed for their journey, just as he did with Moses.
However, it is in our faith journeys that we are called to let go and let God. If Nicodemus had been able to really listen, to hold the questions in his heart rather than his head, to just pause, then the Spirit would have come in like a gentle breeze providing the answers: the understanding of what Jesus was saying. Then he would have been able to listen and learn with his heart.
Part of being in the wilderness is pausing. It’s why many of us seek time in the woods. We put a pause on the busyness of life for a reset: a restorative walk in God’s creation without the distraction of the stuff of this world. Hearing the crunch of the leaves or snow under our feet, the birds calling above, feeling our hearts beating in our chests as we travel on a forest path, we can more easily listen and let the Spirit in. Holding our questions as we walk, we can sometimes feel the answers drift in map-like showing us the way our lives should go. The challenge is creating the time and place to let the spirit in. It could be on a literal walk in the woods, field, or beach but it also can be in a metaphoric one. A time carved out to just be and to listen, to come with our burdens, our prayers, our questions and sit with them or walk with them, making room for the spirit to come in maybe not with an exact answer but maybe a gentle nudge to do something or a feeling of acceptance or reassurance.
Jesus spoke of being born of the water and the spirit. The very nature of our physical birth involves water. We float in amniotic fluid which supports our growth and development before we enter this world. We also have the water of Baptism where we are welcomed into the community of faith, often when we are babies, the choice made by our parents.
Allowing the spirit in is a more adult choice. To be spiritual is to open to a sense beyond the physical world; it is where belief/faith resides. Some claim to be spiritual but not religious. They feel something beyond themselves but can’t put a name to it or consider it more cosmic than God. They are still on the journey. Those of us with a belief in God, can name the Spirit as Holy and know that it is of God. Being born of the Spirit is the acceptance of and belief in God in all forms: Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit even though there will always be more to learn. It means we are trying to make time to listen to and feel the Spirit’s guidance in our lives.
It is not by accident that Jesus goes from talking about being born of water and the Spirit and then foreshadows his resurrection. He takes advantage of every opportunity to teach knowing that if the listeners do not get the message now, it will make sense later. He grounds his teaching in what they know: Moses was directed by God to lift up a staff with a serpent on it to cure his people who were bitten by poisonous serpents in the wilderness. Jesus too will be lifted up to cure his people, so to speak. As Jesus says, “so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
And after this we get the scripture that is probably the most well known in the New Testament: John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world. Jesus is God’s gift of love to a world gone astray. He provided the model of how to love: unselfishly, even sacrificially, and whom to love: everyone, without exception, all are invited in. God brought a flood before when people went astray but left the rainbow as a promise that, that would never happen again. The second time people needed to be rerouted, God sent love into the world in human form.
This is the Spirit that we need to be open to, to listen for and let blow through us and into us, the Spirit of Love. And guess what? It is already here: no map required.
I want to conclude with a poem “The Wilderness is a Place of Mystery and the Unknown” by Sarah Are
It’s only in the wilderness that you can see the stars.
That’s what city living has taught me.
We can shine a light on the things we want to see–
Fluorescent and bright, lighting up dark alleys.
However, it’s only in the wilderness that you can see the stars.
And it’s only in the dark of night that the questions come.
What is my purpose here? What does God have to say to me?
What does God have to say to suffering?
The sun falls and my doubt rises,
For it’s only in the dark that questions come.
So like Nicodemus in the night,
I will throw my big questions at the sky.
And my voice will reverberate among the stars,
And my questions will echo throughout the dark.
For there in the night, my words form constellations.
And there in the wilderness, my prayers form galaxies.
So there, in the unknown, I trust that I am found.
A light shines in the darkness, friend.
So if ever you’re in the wilderness,
Look up and find the stars.
Amen
Service for February 4, 2024
Old Testament Reading Isaiah 40: 21-31
The Gospel Mark 1: 29-39
Sermon: Serving Gratitude
I have to admit, the feminist in me struggles with the fact that Simon/Peter’s mother-in-law is healed by Jesus, then immediately gets up and serves them. One could get the idea that they needed someone to make lunch so that is why Simon and Andrew told Jesus about her being in bed with a fever as soon as he walked in.
But then I thought about it some more. What would I do if I had been sick in bed and Jesus cured me? I would jump up to serve Jesus as well. I would be so full of gratitude at feeling better, well, and so thrilled that Jesus came for lunch, that I would be happy to cook and serve. When I think about it, that is often how I show my love – in service — and I get as much pleasure out of it as I give, as I am sure many of you do as well.
And this service that Simon/Peter’s mother-in-law gave Jesus was truly a gift because it was a very brief respite for Jesus in between teaching and healing. At sunset that very same evening, the scripture says, “they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons” and it goes on to say “the whole city was gathered around the door.” Wow! How overwhelming! Jesus healed many, quieted and cast out many demons or mental illnesses and was likely exhausted. I can imagine that the gift of service that he received from Simon/Peter’s mother-in-law was greatly appreciated as it sustained him for all of this work.
In fact, Jesus needed to recharge his batteries even more, so he got up early the next morning, while it was still dark, and went out to a deserted place to pray. I do not know about you but I take comfort in knowing that Jesus modeled self-care: a quiet time away from others to center oneself on God, to offer prayers of gratitude, and to gain the strength to do God’s work. Jesus certainly needed that strength because even as he was taking this centering time, the disciples were as the scriptures say “hunting” for him. There was just so much work to do. From there he tells the disciples, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came to do.” And he went forth teaching and healing throughout Galilee.
Jesus was fulfilling the scripture from Isaiah “he gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless…(allowing them to) renew their strength.” But even though the Isaiah scripture says the Creator “does not faint or grow weary” which God doesn’t, Jesus, God in human form, was modeling for us, showing us both that we need to serve others in love and gratitude but also that we need to take time for ourselves: time to rest, pray, and recharge so that we too can do God’s work. We all need time to reflect on what we are grateful for, what we need, and what God is calling us to do.
Gratitude is the title of a very short but powerful book by Oliver Sacks, a neurologist, naturalist and writer. You may have heard of his treatment of a group of survivors of the 1920s sleeping sickness encephalitis lethargica that allowed them to move on their own for the first time in decades. It was captured in his book and the movie Awakenings.
As Sacks neared the end of his life, he wrote, “I cannot pretend that I am without fear. But my predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved; I have been given much and given something in return; I have read, and traveled and thought and written...above all I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.” That collection of his final essays was published posthumously under that name; it is a quick read, which I highly recommend.
Raised as an Orthodox Jew in England, Sacks split from his faith at 18 when he admitted an attraction to men and his mother called him an “abomination” likely quoting Leviticus on this subject. I wish she could have instead followed Jesus’ model of loving all people and accepting them all just as God created them. Luckily, Sacks did find acceptance from his relatives later in life. Yet, even without faith, in his final essay “Sabbath” he writes of “the peace of Sabbath, of a stopped world, a time outside time” that his cousin Robert John Aumann, who received a Nobel Prize for his fundamental work in economics, followed religiously calling the Sabbath “extremely beautiful” and noting he would have turned down the Nobel prize if he had to travel on a Saturday. In the end, Sacks felt some nostalgia for the Orthodox Sabbaths of his youth that were just time for prayer and family and a break from the chores of life. He wrote “I find my thoughts drifting to the Sabbath, the day of rest, the seventh day of the week, and perhaps the seventh day of one’s life as well, when one can feel that one’s work is done, and one may, in good conscience, rest.”
In planning for his final rest, Sacks wanted to see the night sky unobscured by the lights of man. Using Milton’s words, he liked seeing the sky “powdered with stars” and told this to friends who promised to get him outside to see that sky when the time neared. This idea recalls our Isaiah scripture where the Holy One says, “Lift up your eyes and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them by name.”
I hope that when it is my time to leave this earth, I can have Oliver Sacks’ sense of gratitude coupled with the faith that allows me to thank God for it.
A sense of gratitude in the face of adversity is really the ultimate weapon, the ultimate cure. It allows us to focus on the positives - what we have or have experienced – rather than on the negatives, some of which are outside our control.
But gratitude is not just for times of adversity, times of sickness, or at the end of life. What if we could harness the feeling of gratitude on a daily basis?
According to UCLA Health, “Research shows that practicing gratitude — 15 minutes a day, five days a week — for at least six weeks can enhance mental wellness and possibly promote a lasting change in perspective. Gratitude and its mental health benefits can also positively affect your physical health.”
Studies show practicing gratitude in this way lessens depression, anxiety, stress and even heart problems.
When we practice gratitude, we feel better and when we feel better, we have the ability to help or serve others. The practice of gratitude has the power to have a ripple effect, like a rock thrown in a pond, those ripples can extend in concentric circles around God’s creation helping God’s people: all people.
So let’s start serving gratitude regularly, whether that involves going to a quiet place to reflect and pray, writing or teaching about it, serving others - or all three. We, too, can make ripples. Amen.
Service for December 3, 2023
Old Testament Reading Malachi 3: 1-4
The Gospel Luke 1: 67-80 & Luke 3: 1-6
Sermon: A Time for Refinement
In the Old Testament, the messenger mentioned in Malachi was considered to be Elijah, in the New Testament, the messenger is seen as John the Baptist as was clearly the case in the Luke scripture where Zecheriah proclaims the messenger status of his newborn son. Either way, their job is to prepare the way: by getting the people ready.
The Malachi scripture seems frightening as shown in our Readers’ Theater- the analogy is of a refiner, a metal worker, purifying silver through burning it in the fire. The fire burns off the impurities leaving the silver clean, pure, and ready to be molded. Fuller’s soap is used similarly as an extremely strong soap that uses lye to clean the dirt out of clothes. Either way, the message is clear - people need to clean up their acts to be ready to hear and learn from Jesus.
John the Baptist accomplishes this through Baptism. As his father prophesied, he was to “go before the Lord to prepare his ways by “giving knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins”. In so doing he, “gave light to those who sat in darkness… (guided) our feet into the way of peace”. The Way of Peace is Jesus. John’s job was to prepare the path for Jesus by getting people to pay attention, to take stock of their lives, and clean them up through the repentance of sin through baptism. These actions metaphorically straightened out winding paths, leveled mountains and valleys so that all roads became a direct and easily traversable route to Jesus - to the Way of Peace.
But sometimes it seems like no matter how straight and easy that road to peace is, too few people are walking it doesn’t it?
It is easy to point to all of the “theys” who are not walking the road to Peace - those who start wars or continue them, act on prejudice, harm or exclude others. If we just pause for a second, we can think of many who would fit into a category that somehow blocks peace. And if we think too long about that, we might not be able to see the straight path before us that easily leads to the Way of Peace. We might feel so weighed down that we forget to be Peace, to together be an oasis of peace.
We need to remind ourselves that the way to cleanse ourselves, the Act of Refinement, is to continue to walk the path of peace and in so doing, to be messengers preparing the way.
Etty Hillesum was a Dutch Jewish woman who wrote about her religious awakening and the suffering of the Jewish People during World War II. She said,
“Why is there a war?… Because I and my neighbor and everyone else do not have enough love. Yet we could fight war and all its excrescences by releasing, each day, the love that is shackled inside us, and giving it a chance to live.” In speaking to God she said,
“One thing is becoming increasingly clear to me: that You cannot help us, that we must help You to help ourselves. And that is all we can manage these days and also all that really matters: that we safeguard that little piece of You, God, in ourselves. And perhaps in others as well. Alas, there doesn’t seem to be much You Yourself can do about our circumstances, about our lives. Neither do I hold You responsible. You cannot help us, but we must help You and defend Your dwelling place inside us to the last. “
Hillesum wrote this even as she was preparing to be sent to the Westerbrook Transit Camp. She was later sent to Auschwitz and, sadly, died there. Yet even as she faced this terrible reality, she thought of the solution: “releasing, each day, the love that is shackled inside us, and giving it a chance to live.”
This is how we both refine and purify ourselves and how we continue down the path to the Way of Peace. It is even how we take up the mantle as messengers of peace, we lead with love. We don’t keep it inside but we release it each and every day.
But to release love and peace, we have to center them inside ourselves. We have to realize that we cannot fix all those people and issues we wish we could fix and we cannot even toss it to God like some magical ball of the world’s troubles and say “Here God, you’ve got this - I certainly don’t want or need it.”
Instead we start with ourselves. How can we settle peace and love in our own bodies? How can we let go of all of the things that we cannot possibly fix and the crushing weight with which they seem to be pressing in upon us?
As we have been practicing with our newer peace song - we breathe in peace. We breathe in the peace and love for ourselves - for the imperfect child of God that each of us is and love that person - ourselves in all of our imperfections first. We accept ourselves as God made us imperfectly perfect. We let go of all of those things about ourselves that we wish were different: thinner, smarter, richer, more generous, more patient, more forgiving etc and we accept and love ourselves for who we are. And guess what? As we do that, we find that we become better, smarter, more patient. Loving and accepting ourselves as God made us, allows us to then to do the second part of the peace song. After we breathe in peace - the calm acceptance of who we are and what we can and cannot do - we can breathe out love, the kind of love that Etty Hillesum spoke about, the release of a love that accepts differences - maybe even embraces them, the kind of love that causes people to put down weapons, not pick them up; the kind of love that can be passed on, that can become contagious.
It’s a big job but it starts right here, right now. It is the art of refinement. It is how we walk the road toward the Way of Peace. It is how we prepare for the birth of a child who throughout his brief lifetime released love to all, especially to those whom others thought of as imperfect. He released a continuous chain of love that has extended over 2000 years and all over the Globe connecting us on the path of peace.
Let’s continue to walk that path as children of Jesus’ light. Amen
Service for November 5, 2023
Old Testament Reading Micah 6: 6-8
The Gospel Matthew 23: 1-12
Sermon: Putting Words into Action
“Words, Words, Words!” In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Prince Hamlet is acting as a madman in order to observe his uncle, now king, Claudius to see if he appears to be guilty of the murder of Hamlet’s father. When the King’s attendant Polonius asks Hamlet what he is reading, he replies: “Words, words, words.” His answer is meant as an act of his madness to say that the words he reads are meaningless and yet in the brilliant wordplay that continues, as is often true in Shakespeare, there is a double-meaning whereby even Polonius can see that there is some sense in what he is saying.
When are words really more than just letters on paper or breath in the air? When they are put into action and that is what our scriptures are calling us to do.
The Prophet Micah lived in the 8th Century BCE, like many times, it was tumultuous. Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel fell, Assyria was a superpower like aggressor and general corruption abounded. Through all of this, Micah is trying to refocus the people by reminding them of what God has done for them. In the earlier portion of chapter 6 that we did not read today, Micah says in verse 2 “The Lord has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel”. Micah, speaking for God, reminds the people that he brought them out of enslavement in Israel and gave them leaders like Moses, Aaron and Miriam to guide them and reminds them that animal sacrifices are ritual but not action just like words without action are just words. Micah clearly and succinctly reminds them of what God wants us to put into action: “to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God.” Action, not just words. Action, not just sacrifices thrown on a fire like a bandaid to somehow cover their sins.
We are called to walk our talk and this was echoed by Jesus in the Matthew scripture today. He tells the crowd to listen to the teachings of the scribes and Pharisees because they “sit on Moses’ seat”. In other words, they have the role of leader/teacher as Moses did so they are indeed sharing the Word of God. But he entreats them not to follow their model in life because, as he says, “they do not practice what they teach”. They speak the scriptures but do not live them. Jesus even goes on to say what a show they make of their office. They wear phylacteries, small leather cases containing scripture passages on their left arms and foreheads and elaborate prayer shawls with long tassels to supposedly show their piousness but then they regale in having the best seats at banquets and in the synagogue. They are all for show. They are form over substance. They are just saying: “Words, words, words” without living into them.
Instead, Jesus reminds the crowd, you/we have one Father - God, one teacher - the Messiah, and one purpose -service. He emphasizes, “the greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” If the scribes and Pharisees had been walking humbly with their God, they would have gotten the message. They would be serving rather than expecting to be served.
One Sunday last May we held “Conversation Church” in an effort to gain input into a mission statement - what we do as the United Church of Ludlow and also a vision statement - how we aspire to live into our mission. We gathered active verbs that showed what we, members of the United Church of Ludlow do. The words offered the most were: Welcoming, Caring, Celebrating Diversity, Loving, and Giving. Sharing those a week later, I invited all of you to live with these words, to consider them and how they might be morphed into mission and vision statements.
Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt, Stacy Malecki and I got together over the summer and played with the words to create a rough draft of mission and vision statements, we then met with the larger group that had planned the conversation church as an outgrowth of our Building Inclusivity and Church Vitality Teams and we edited those mission and vision statements. A few weeks ago, I presented the draft mission and vision statements to the Executive Board and they made one final edit. Here is what we came up with. I am going to have Laura pass them out so you have a copy to ponder beyond today. You will likely recognize some of it as I used it to write today’s Call to Worship.
United Church of Ludlow’s proposal for Mission and Vision: October, 2023
MISSION
Striving to live God’s message of inclusive love through Jesus Christ in our community and world.
VISION
As we strive to live God’s message of love, we:
Welcome everyone,
Celebrate diversity,
Nurture spiritual growth,
Work toward peace and justice,
Serve our community and world.
As we worked on this mission and vision, we kept in mind all of the words offered. We recalled that Jesus emphasized that the greatest commandment is to love one another and we know that Jesus loved and invited everyone in, especially those marginalized by society so this inspired “God’s message of inclusive love”. Welcoming was the most common word chosen in our conversation church so welcoming everyone, without exception seemed very important. As it says on our bulletin covers “No matter who you are or where you are in your life and faith journey, you are welcome here.”
Celebrating diversity stems from inclusive love and abundant welcome. And we knew we could not forget that we are all still learners, as our scripture today reminds us, with one teacher, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. We felt it was important in living God’s message of inclusive love through Jesus Christ, to continue to nurture spiritual growth in ourselves and others, to continue to listen to the still speaking God.
When we considered the words caring and giving, we thought about what that looks like and we decided that comes down to work and service. As Micah reminds us that our work is to “do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God” so we saw working toward peace and justice and serving our community and world as caring and giving.
This proposed mission and vision is not just “words, words, words”. Instead they are love personified in action following the model of Jesus Christ. Are they always easy to do? No, but they are what we should strive for in order to walk humbly with our God and to be God’s loving hands to a hurting world. I ask you to prayerfully consider these mission and vision statements before we vote on them at the end of January at our annual meeting.
Remember what Philippians 4:13 tells us: “ I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Amen