5/24/20

Sermon Notes:

Jesus prayed. Jesus took time out of his work and went to be alone to pray.

Jesus taught his followers to pray.

And Jesus prayed for us.

Jesus, fully human and fully divine, who exhibited special knowledge, healed the sick, raised the dead, loved the suffering back to life abundant, faced world powers with ease and faced spiritual powers with grace…prayed for us. For you and me.  

It is humbling to think about what this means for us, the level to which we are loved and the person who prayed for us. And it is intriguing to think what it means for our own practice of prayer. 

If Jesus could accomplish acts of God, as a person of God in the Trinity, what was the need for prayer? Was it his “fully human” part that benefited from prayer? And what did praying for his followers do for them? 

What he wanted he surely could have had: did he need to pray for it or for them?

In his book entitled, Tokens of Trust, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, describes the strangeness and wonder of a Jesus who prays: “Yes, Jesus is a human being in whom God’s action is at work without interruption or impediment.  But wait a moment: the Jesus we meet in the Gospels is someone who prays, who speaks of putting his will and his decisions at the service of his Father.  He is someone who is in a relationship of dependence on the one he prays to as Father.  In him there is divine purpose, power, and action; but there is also humility, responsiveness, and receptivity.”

Jesus’ last gestures before he goes to the cross are heartfelt actions and words for his loved ones. He eats with them. He washes their feet. He assures and encourages them. He prays for them. No flashing lights or descending doves, no big miracles, no victory parades nor taking down of the empire nor defeating the enemies of the empire. He simply communes with people and with God, connecting heaven and earth through simple sincerity, and showing others to do the same. Showing us to do the same, to linger on that bridge between heaven and earth, that bridge we call prayer. 

In the gospel reading for this Sunday, the seventh and final Sunday of Eastertide, we read a final portion of the Farewell Discourse from the gospel of John (John 17:1-11). In it, we hear Jesus praying. Jesus is not praying for people to make rigid doctrines that we can measure each other by and use to accuse, exclude, or judge one another. He does not pray that his followers will make him as big and as important as the king or the Roman emperor, nor as powerful as the Roman army nor as wily as the rebel zealots.

Jesus prays that God is glorified, that his completed work be used to glorify God, and that the ones who follow him experience unity and protection by being brought into full relationship with God. It is a prayer of surrender, a prayer of great love. A prayer that we are kept safe and whole in God.

Of all the things we pray for, do they not all boil down to this same prayer? A prayer to be kept safe and whole in God.

Remember that our prayer garden in front of the church is always open for prayer, and ideal for a safe, short outing, even in these worrisome times. 

I have already seen that some of you accepted the invitation to come pray and leave rocks on the marker there at the foot of the cross.

When I saw the rocks there it moved me to tears. I have spent so many hours alone at the church these last few weeks, many of them sweet hours, and many of them sad from missing you and missing our in-person worship together. 

Seeing the names of the people who worked so hard to start our church always boosts my spirit. Seeing the rocks someone left there reminded me - yet again - that I am not alone. 

We all need that reminder on a regular basis. We all need Jesus’ prayer of hope and healing, a prayer to be kept safe and whole in God. 

See you on Facebook at online Sunday!!

Yours with great love, in Christ our Lord - 
Jane

5/17/20

Sermon Notes:

The Farewell Discourse

Our lectionary gospel passages have taken back to that upper room to hear the words of Jesus we call “the Farewell Discourse .” Our gospel reading from last week, this week, and next week are each key passages from this Discourse  in the gospel of John. On May 31 we leave the season of Eastertide with the celebration of the Day of Pentecost, and then return to the predominance of readings from the gospel of Matthew, characteristic of this Year A of the lectionary cycle.

I thought you would like to know a little bit more in detail about the Farewell Discourse . It begins in chapter 14 of the book of John and ends with chapter 17. These chapters cover Jesus’ teachings and prayers that start right after the Last Supper on the night before his crucifixion.

 As he has been doing all along, Jesus tells the disciples he is going to the Father. This time he highlights the promise that they will have the Holy Spirit as their teacher and guide.

Jesus imparts his own peace to the disciples and leaves them with the commandment to love one another. He speaks in sparse language, but goes deep into the mystery of the unity of love that exists between Jesus, the Creator, and the Holy Spirit. What he is describing is a relational love between the three persons of the Trinity. What is does by assuring them of his love and commanding them to love is to invite them into the relational love, and to give them the power to invite others. 

The love of Christ as a saving power is key in this Discourse . Christ loves the disciples and this gives them the power to love, to heal, to forgive and to share the good news. The New Commandment Christ asks us to obey is to “love one another as I have loved you.” 

Chapter 16 contains the allegory of the True Vine. We will not read this section during the Year A cycle of Eastertide, but it is an integral part of the Farewell Discourse . In it, Jesus encourages the disciples to discern the difference between the world of human fallenness that does not understand Divine love and the reality of Jesus’ victory over that world. He prepares them for the troubles they will experience and commends them to hold tight to their own peace of heart, knowing they are safe and sound in his love, even when the outer world is raging. It is a subtle distinction and one we seek to live into as Christians every day of our lives.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

In the last chapter of the Discourse, Jesus prays for all his followers. This section gives us the longest prayer we hear Jesus prayer, and it is often referred to as the Priestly Prayer, the Farewell Prayer, or the High Priestly Prayer. Again, in this prayer, we hear Jesus calling for unity, our unity with Jesus, Jesus unity with God the Creator, and the Holy Spirit. When I read this prayer, I often get the feeling that these beautiful words are still ringing throughout the world, drawing us in as God’s beloved children: "may all be one as we are one" and that "the love with which you love me may be in them, and I in them.” It is deeply comforting to me to remember that not only do we pray for help, but Jesus too, prayers on our behalf.  

5/10/20

Sermon Notes:

The gospel selection for Sunday – John 14:1-14 -  takes us back to the night of the last supper.

Taken together, chapters 13-17 are often called the Farewell Discourse. In chapter 13 we see Jesus wash the feet of his followers and share the last meal with the ones he called beloved, even as Judas makes his fateful decision. In chapter 14 Jesus begins to explain his impending departure. He speaks words of comfort and hope, promise and straight talk. Still, the disciples do not quite understand.   

Why would we take time out of the season of Easter – when we have already celebrated the resurrection – to go backwards into the story? It is as if the lectionary asks us to pause for a moment during this season of Eastertide to go back to the words Jesus said before the drama of the passion began. How did he prepare his people for his departure? What were his promises? What were his instructions?

The big miracle upon which all other miracles rest is the miracle of God coming into human form in the person of Jesus Christ.  Once Jesus’ ministry begins in earnest, however, everything begins to point toward the crucifixion. The disciples who have taken part in the incarnation will now take part in the crucifixion. Jesus is telling them there is more to us than the finite nature of our lives. All physical things that come into physical life will leave this life, but there is something eternal that is alive in us now and goes on living. 

Jesus tells the confused disciples not to be troubled, to return again and again to the central truth: “I know you and you know me. You know me and I know you.” Friends, we are invited into this safe place as well.  We are known. And we are loved. No matter what we face, even threats to physical existence, we are known and loved. In the face of threats to our composure, our sanity, still, we are known and we are loved.

So let’s gather again in that upper room and return to that safe place together.

See you Sunday!

Jane

5/3/20

Sermon Notes:

Our first reading for Sunday is Acts 2:42-47. This passage reflects the actions and functions of the church, to be a family together, to watch out for one another, to break bread together and to encourage each one along in life. 

It is a beautiful vision of the church.

We do not have to read much further in the New Testament to see that this vision was as challenging for early Christ followers as it sometimes is for 21st century people. We do not have to be disheartened by this, though, for it is not by our hands that we are saved, but by God’s.

And the blessings of gathering as the church are great. We are worth it! And we are the church, even in this exceptional time of not being able to gather physically.

We show our love and care for one another by practicing social distancing and staying home as much as possible, until the virus abates. We show our love and care for one another by staying in contact by phone and social media. We show our love and care for one another through prayer.

The second scripture we will read is John 10:1-10 in which Jesus calls himself the good shepherd. He gathers in his flock, and his sheep know his voice.

Friends, I pray you feel your connection to Emmanuel, to your brothers and sisters here. I pray you hear the voice of the good shepherd, assuring you of life abundant and guiding your steps as you make your way through these days. 

We all belong. And we are all connected. The Good Shepherd has seen to it and it is so.

Please reach out to me if you have not been contacted yet by me or by one of our session members. We are working together to stay updated on each other’s lives and needs.

Even in a time of threat, even in times of trouble, life abundant is ours: a fullness of love, of joy, and of deep confidence knowing we are loved. Our awareness of this may come and go, but it is always true. Please know you are being prayed for daily and very much missed!

See you online Sunday!

Yours,

Jane 

4/26/20

Sermon Notes:

Friends,

This week I got stuck. 

There are plans I’ve had for the church that simply cannot move forward until we know how to proceed safely, and new plans that need to take shape to respond to our current reality. I miss my people, and the question of whether or not I am doing all I can do for you is constantly in the back of my mind. I am working on an issue for Presbytery that is not coming to the tidy conclusion I wanted. While Annie has been homeschooling for the most part for four years now, we have relied heavily on small classes at a local tutorial and individual tutors with an academic agency here in town. We find ourselves trying to wrap up her freshman year of high school with none of these resources, and she is climbing the walls to see her friends. Stuck, frazzled, frayed, at a loss. I called a trusted friend. 

My friend listened intently, sometimes asking questions, sometimes just sitting quietly with me during pauses. Finally, he said, “I have something to say. It won’t change any of this. I do not have any answers. But this is what I know and what I believe: God did not promise us we would not walk through the fire. God did promise to walk through the fire with us.”  He said, “Jane – I’m with you. I hear you. And I know God is with you.”

It wasn’t anything I don’t know. It wasn’t anything I have not told others or been told before.

However, it felt new again and lifegiving and very real. 

It meant everything to hear it after being heard, to hear it in my moment of need, and to hear it from a trusted friend. The knot it my heart began to loosen up.  My head felt a little less fuzzy. I made a list of the things I know I can do and the things I cannot do, and I even made a third list of things I am not quite sure about just yet. I took a deep breath and a short nap and then got back to work. But first, I said a little prayer of thanksgiving that Jesus showed up in my life in the words of my friend and was able to pierce my heart that had become hardened with worry and fatigue.

This Sunday we will hear the story of the disciples meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus. My prayer for us all is that we recognize Jesus on the road as well.  In the words of Rueben Job, “May we, like the disciples before us, have our eyes opened to recognize Christ as he comes to walk beside us this day.” 

See you online Sunday!

Much love to you, in Christ – 

Jane

4/19/20

Sermon Notes:

Eastertide!

Easter is the pinnacle of the liturgical year. 

On Easter Sunday we celebrate the resurrection of Christ from the grave. 

But it took Lent and Holy Week to get here.

We have walked the 40 days of Lent, going deeper and deeper into our own inner need for God, looking at the great emptiness inside us that only God can satisfy, that same emptiness that is constantly threatening to lure us into appetites that “seem” like they will make us happy but all too often lead to dangerous attitudes and coping mechanisms and even addictions.

We have, during Lent, been invited to ponder our human limits, to ponder the difference between what we can control and what we cannot control, to ponder the reality of our lifespan, that “from dust we come and to dust we shall return.” Lent, if we really sink into it, can be a heavy time. And that is OK. 

The point of Lent is to open to the miracle and the mystery that for Christ followers, the darkness of the tomb can only really be the darkness of the womb. Because light is ever at work in our lives, and even the darkest hour will be used by the God who loves us to bring us into new life.

This darkness intensifies during Holy Week with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. And Easter Sunday brings the brightness of Christ thundering back into our lives, like the angel whose countenance was bright and shocking as lightening.

Easter is the event, Jesus’ resurrection from the grave, that forms the foundation of our faith and invites us to deepen our belief in the mysterious paradox that LIFE FOLLOWS DEATH.

After Lent has drawn us to the grave and taken us down to look into the darkness, Easter assures us God is always making things new, and not even death can stop that process. In theological language, this is called the paschal mystery.

And then we have 50 days of Eastertide! 

During this time, we observe Jesus’ ascension into heaven and the imparting of the Holy Spirit. The Day of Pentecost is the last day of the Easter Season.

Friends, here we go into Eastertide. It will be like no other Easter season we’ve known.

But I believe. I believe that despite the strangeness and suffering in this time, that God is doing something good with and in all of this.

The only legitimate way to embrace this miracle is to also let all the emotions and realities move through you.

Lent teaches us: sometimes we have to let the tears out to make way for the joy. 

Holy Week teaches us: serving each other is never wasted, giving is always blessed, and even while we scatter and hide, God is making plans for us to be gathered up as the body of Christ on earth.  

Eastertide teaches us: there is life on the other side of grief so we must resist the temptation to get stuck in the romance of the gloom. We must be willing to admit we were wrong or never really understood. We must accept ourselves when we doubt it was Jesus there on the road, even though our hearts were burning and fluttering and telling us so. We must allow ourselves to admit that he has walked through the locked doors of our hearts and sat in the gloom waiting for us to realize who we are and who he is and how that changes everything! 

Friends, we are in a time that can really be used in our spiritual practices as Christians. Let us pray to see God’s grace at work and let us pray to play our part as God calls on our gifts and graces for the good of his people.

With much love to you, in Christ Jesus the Risen Lord!

Jane

Easter 4/11/20

Sermon notes:

Service 4/5/20

Sermon Notes:

Palm Sunday – April 5th

Glittering sadness. That is how one teacher describes Palm Sunday.

There is such a mix of beauty and pain in this day, a mix of unbridled joy and pure grief.

Jesus is called king, but ends up a prisoner and convict. He will accept the love and happiness of people who cheer as he rides in on a donkey, and with the same open arms will accept torture and execution at the hands of people he asks God to forgive.

He loves us. He loves us every step of the way and to the very end. 

Isaac Watts hymn When I Survey the Wondrous Cross says: See, from his head, his hands, his feet; sorrow and love flow mingled down…

Palm Sunday shows the sorrow and the love co-mingling in Jesus so we can see the sorrow and love co-mingling in our own lives. We experience the high of Jesus’ triumphal entry and yet we know where the path leads. We know the crowds will thin. The disciples will make promises they do not keep. An innocent person will be ridiculed, beaten, killed. A criminal will turn to love at the last moment.   

Palm Sunday shows us our own mortality and asks us to come to terms with the sorrow and love of our own lives. Can we rejoice in times of joy? Can we go to our knees and weep when we suffer? Can we go to our own crosses knowing we are not alone, knowing that Christ has walked this road? Can we live through times of pain and betrayal and hold onto a faith that tells death and loss cannot be the end of our stories because of who and whose we are?

Palm Sunday highlights the profound theology of our Christian faith: that betrayal can be overcome, that justice does prevail, that sacrifice can lead to redemption, that death can lead to resurrection.

Though we are apart in these days of social distancing, still we walk this road together.

See you online Sunday!

Jane          

Service 3/29/20

Sermon Notes:

When we go beyond what we can control, we inevitably get into drama. 

Sometimes that is fun! But usually, or eventually, it is not. 

The truth is, sometimes it is hard to tell what we can control and what we cannot control.

I used to think I could control my husband’s diet and keep him healthy. Because I love him!  I put a lot of energy into doing so, and, in fact, I had some effect. He likes to remind me that I am responsible for him EVER eating tofu…that one time.

 Still, we both began to enjoy our relationship more when I accepted that he was going to make some choices I disagreed with, choices that might even hurt his health.  Or not. Apparently, his constitution is a lot healthier and less sensitive than mine.

The trade was worth it! As I focused less on controlling his behavior and food, I remembered some long-forgotten things about him that I fell in love with, and I had more curiosity about who he had become in all the years we had been married, who we were both becoming. It is infinitely more exciting and fulfilling to stay in my lane and see what we create together as the people we are, rather than trying to choreograph things.

I used to think that old joke “when mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy” was really funny. Now, it sounds like a lot of work, and not much fun. Why can’t mama have her feelings and everybody else have theirs? Why can’t we discuss what we each need and craft a way forward?

I know! It’s not supposed to be taken seriously! But when I look at my old behavior, I see myself in that little “joke.”

The part of me that “KNOWS” I have a better idea of what my husband should eat than he does is not so happy. Honestly, that part of me would often rather be RIGHT than be happy. (sad face!)

 The part of me that wants to control others and the world tends to be afraid most of the time. I think that is why “she” feels the need to control so much instead of allowing other people the dignity of their own life experiences.

I don’t mind using myself as an example here because I know all of us have some version of this “self:” the part of us that finds being human just a tad bit overwhelming at times.

This very basic human fear can cause trouble with our boundaries…like nagging a beloved husband about what he eats or isolating or judging or…well, you get the idea. Our fears and poor boundaries affect all our human interactions in family and community.

We might find ourselves tending to other people and forgetting our own lives. Or we might turn to hoarding our energy, our resources, our love and affection and becoming callous toward others. Or we might do a bit of both, back and forth.

Boundaries are tricky business! We cannot live isolated from one another. And yet we cannot live enmeshed with one another.

 Boundaries need attention. They need to open and close according to the times, according to the circumstances, according to what we find out about ourselves and others. Life is dynamic and changing. We grow and learn. Boundaries are living and dynamic as well.

Understanding what is and is not within my control and working on healthy boundaries applies to facing events such as this current Corona virus outbreak.

Not only are there aspects of this out of our control (the outbreak itself, how the media handles it, what other people do or do not do), but there are aspects within our control(washing our hands, tending to our own mental health, finding ways to be helpful to one another from a safe distance, using this challenge as a spiritual practice to grow closer to God). 

With the social isolation, we will be having issues of intensified closeness with those we share housing, and also intensified aloneness if we live alone.

Therefore, this is an important time to practice good boundaries! Good boundaries start with knowing how we really feel and what we need. From here, we can be honest and open with ourselves and others.

This is one of my favorite tools.  Investigating my own feelings and needs works to let me know if I have become overly dependent on someone else and am expecting them to do something for me that I should be doing, first, for myself. I can also tell if I am struggling too much to control things that are actually out of my control. Or not asking for help when it is time to do so.

Getting curious about my own feelings and needs helps me give other people responsibility for their own behavior, and it helps me be responsible for mine.

This idea was introduced to me through the work of Nonviolent Communication, developed by Marshall Rosenberg. 

Take a look at these feelings and needs inventories and see if you find yourself becoming more centered.

 Or perhaps you find your anxiety giving way to a good cry as you explore all the feelings and needs you have.

It could even be that, though we face uncertainty upon uncertainly, you find that you are experiencing more joy and love and gratitude than you realized.

Take a look and see what you think: 

https://www.rabe.org/downloads/Feelings%20&%20Needs%20Inventories.pdf

https://www.nycnvc.org/feelings

https://www.cnvc.org/training/resource/needs-inventory

As our world tilts a bit, or a lot, during the current health crisis, fears and anxieties may surface.

You may notice that these fears and anxieties stem from all the uncertainty, all that is outside of our realm of control. Or you may notice that some of these fears mirror very old feelings of loss and confusion that you have carried for years.

Whatever you notice, know this: your feelings are as utterly unique as you are, and yet you can be 100% sure that YOU ARE NOT ALONE IN HOW YOU FEEL.  You can be sure that others of us have similar experiences, and you can know that even God, who came into this life to have a body and experience humanity, understands how strange and difficult being human can be.

In addition to taking the time to show care for myself and identify my current feelings and needs, I find myself using the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr. I use this prayer many times a day and I invite you to pray it with me.  This prayer is especially helpful when I identify a need that I do not readily see how to meet.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.

Friends, above all, I urge you to lay claim again to the promise that is Emmanuel: God with us. Christ IS with us. Christ is, indeed, among us. Jesus Christ is with each and every one of us as we walk through this time of questions and waiting. 

See you Online Sunday!

Yours in Christ,

Jane