The Gospel of RUCC

2010-08-03T22:17:00.000-07:00

(a plaque at the Church World Service guest house in Port-au-Prince, Haiti)

The following quote from Rumi seems at apt way to say "Au revoir and Bonsoir" as the Haiti exploratory group returns home to share our experiences, reflections, and learnings with you...

"If God said,

'Rumi, pay homage to everything

that has helped you

enter my

arms,'

there would not be one experience of my life,

not one thought, not one feeling,

not any act, I

would not

bow

to."

(Source: Love Poems From God, translated by Daniel Ladinsky)

From each of us--Colleen Kintner, John Walsh, and Sharon Graff--please accept our deepest gratitude for your prayerful and loving support.

Amazing!

2010-08-02T07:24:00.001-07:00

Have an amazing journey Sharon and group

2010-08-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

What are we seeing these past three days?

On this Sunday afternoon in a city where 300,000 (at least) died in the 12 January 2010 earthquake, there are 2 million homeless people, 1-1/2 million of those living in tents, and yet from where we now comfortably sit, we hear the cheering of a crowd of 1,000 or more locals gathered for a neighborhood soccer game. If that's not hope, I don't know what is...

Earlier today, while riding through the town of Port-au-Prince, we saw street vendors, enthusiastically selling homemade wooden art, colorful paintings, and a variety of crafts. Across the street were the remains of what had been a five-story supermarket, now folded in on itself. Even earlier this morning, while worshiping with our hosts--Jon, Florence, and their staff member Patrick--we saw hope as stories were shared about both the devastation and possibilities, the history and the future of this great nation.

Yesterday and the day before, we saw a school, an orphanage (where two of us fell in love with an unforgettable little Haitian girl, orphaned by the earthquake, who smiled at us with her whole face); we saw also a medical clinic being rebuilt, a community garden in a sustainable village, a temporary home for women amputees from the earthquake, and yet another school being enlarged to accommodate their growing children. In the second school--picture above--art is encouraged by the very well-educated founder and continuing sponsor, Marc Christophe.

After our full day of touring, talking, dreaming, riding in the heat and humidity (the air conditioner went out on the car!), of having our hearts and minds so filled, our hosts booked us into a lovely waterfront hotel on the north coast of Haiti. We gratefully swam in the warm, gentle waters of the Caribbean, and within an hour, were wading our way through the floodwaters of a tropical thunderstorm...what drama lies deep in this country!

Like Frederick the Fieldmouse (of children's literature fame) we are each collecting stories to share with you when we return...stories, I believe, that will lead us all to the cooperative ministry that Redlands UCC can do to assist in the rebuilding of this good country.

Bonjour!

Bonsoir!

2010-07-30T06:21:00.001-07:00

Paradoxes and contrasts...this is the description of Haiti we keep hearing from our gracious hosts, Jon and Florence Robertson. And the view out our car window today confirmed the truth of their description. In the midst of abject poverty and devastation from the earthquake, there are beautiful bougainvillea trees blossoming. While people crowded around our car, begging for anything we might give, there were also well--dressed, uniformed, perfectly-groomed young schoolchildren, laughing their way home after a day of studies.

We arrived in Port-au-Prince just this morning, yet with a lovely meal and conversation, followed by an afternoon rest, it feels already like home. Our accommodations are palatial, and as John says, "embarrassingly so!" We are residing for this week in what was Florence's childhood summer home. It is up in the mountains out of Port-au-Prince, and though it is surrounded by urban growth, the crickets' song and the lush tropical plantings give a hint of the paradise that Jon and Florence remember about the Haiti they once knew.

Tomorrow we head out of the city to the coast and to explore some of the many programs sponsored and assisted by the Foundation Hope for Haiti (Fondation Espoir). This afternoon, as part of our introductory tour of the city, we also were honored to meet Hans Tippenhauer (a world-renowned engineer, husband of Nadege Robertson, and president of the foundation) while visiting the Foundation's offices. In this second-floor meeting room, a vibrant training program was in progress. Men and women from throughout the country had traveled there to be trained in sustainable practices that they, in turn, take back to their local communities. What spirit and zest was in that room! We look forward to seeing, hearing, and experiencing more signs of hope as this week unfolds.

2010-07-24T07:20:00.000-07:00

All pilgrimages must come to an end, yet it appears as though the benefits and effects of this particular one will continue for some time. The above pictures reflect something of both the surprise--i.e. actually seeing puffins at arms length!--and the peacefulness that invited us each day into the presence of the Divine. A mountaintop experience? Not really, in the classic sense of that expression. These two weeks, for me at least, were more of a repeated message affirmed by the psalmist so many thousands of years ago: there is NO place to go where God is not present, or, stated more positively, God is with us...always...everywhere...offering peace and creativity. Surprise! Surprise!

For those of us pilgrims now making our way home, we thank you for your prayers, comments, and support of this first (annual?!) Redlands UCC Thin Places Pilgrimage. We cherish opportunities to share more of our pictures and stories with you upon our return...just ask!

Rainy Day at Iona

2010-07-21T06:08:00.000-07:00

Today (Wednesday) is our first rainy day on Iona. This is the way it is usually. Many of our group are going on a boat outing. I hope they are successful in their quest. The wind and the rain...hummm. We are divided (all Abbey guests or residents) into 3 work groups. Otters have breakfast duty and chop vegetables. Puffins (I am one) have lunch duty and chores. I change toilet paper rolls and trash can liners, and dump trash to the outside bin. Then the Otters have dinner duty and different chores, like keeping the Common Room supplied with hot water, cups etc. There are two worship services a day which are quite meaningful. Some classes and alone time round out the day. Tonight is a Concert, or Talent Show. Our Redlands UCC group is singing "The Raggedy Band" by Jim Manley. Bill on the guitar, the rest of us voices. And a Raggedy Band we are!

The week is going by very quickly. It will be a wrench to say good bye. We have done this "good bye" piece several years ago when we moved to Seattle in 1983. The passage of 28 years doesn't make this good bye easier! Didn't think about that when we signed on.

Wish you were here. A spiritual experience it is albeit experienced differently by each one of us.

What a lovely place!

2010-07-20T03:59:00.000-07:00

I'm glad others can put up pictures to give you the idea of what this place looks like. It changes from moment to moment depending on weather- goes from mist to rain and back again with some hous of sun and rainbows thrown in. For me there have been many highlights since we arrived on Iona Satursday evening.. It is so special to be living and working in the rebuilt Benedictine Abbey and know that others were living and working here way back in the Middle Ages. ( That' s how I get out of doing exact dates- after all, they are numbers.) There have been lots of "thin place moments" here, but one of the highlights, for me, has been getting to know people from all over and to discuss things like prayer and healing with them in the Chapter meetings. It is a great way to learn and stretch my understanding. Last night I went down to the ceilidh in the village hall which was a hoot! Nothing fancy and much like camp folk dancing, but I did get to see some of the Scottish dancesI have always heard about! I met one of the local women and got to learn a lot about kilts and local customs from her. I think kilts might not always be the best clothing for " a thin place"- could be drafty!

Picture of Abbey and Medieval Road

2010-07-20T03:54:00.000-07:00

The Medieval Road between the Abbey & The Abbey (Monday in the Sun)
Cemetary

Tuesday at the Abbey

2010-07-20T03:16:00.000-07:00

Many of our group are on the "Pilgrimage"; either a 3 mile or 7 mile exploration of the Isle of Iona. I cannot do this with the stints in my legs, but am glad for some let down time. Bill went on the 7 mile. I am glad the stroke did not affect his physical stamina. He has spent his life taking excellent care of his body and it is paying off, Worship has been lovely. The biggest surprise to me is the Iona Community. I was expecting Nuns and Monks. Instead there is a group of 20 somethings that are either resident staff or volunteers. They are on 2-3 year assignments. They are talented and reflective. I am amazed at the richness in the answers and possibilities they bring to my spiritual yearnings. I am curiously looking at my surprise and appreciation. I am discovering a "reverse ageism" I did not know I held. I knew I held certain thoughts and beliefs; but I thought they were truth and factual data. A shifting of position in me. This is a good thing.

This is a wonderful Pilgrimage for me. Getting re-acquainted with old friends and embracing new ones. This is a "Thin Place". Thanks go to Sharon, Kathie and Leif.

Thin places retrospect

2010-07-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

It is a bit hard to describe visiting places that have such a vast history. In the U.S. We are awed by 200-300 year old places, on this journey in was not unusual to be in the rhelm of several thousand years old. There was, of course, the majesty of Stonehenge in all of its glory. Our three separate visits into the stones gave us perspective of spacing & height, light & shadow and amazement at the ancients that built it. It was also amazing to see the details such as axe & dagger markings from 1500 B.C.! In addition to the stones we experienced burial mounds, the cursus, Avebury stones, Woodhenge & Durrington Walls history & the Tor in Glastonbury. Moving through history we enjoyed castle ruins and churches that celebrate a 1000 year history. All are such testaments to our ancestors.
Then there were the people of today. Barb, Emma and I throughly enjoyed meals with our group of fellow travelers, hikes through many a pasture, car rides through beautiful "highways", and conversations that ranged from the ordinary to the extrodinary where we got to know each other better. In such time we too built upon our own history of experiences. What an amazing time we each had!

2010-07-16T17:24:00.000-07:00

Not everything on pilgrimage is serious business...

Yesterday, while visiting Chalice Well, I had to, well, you know, use the facilities. To my surprise, and right next to the hand drying machine, this sign was posted. I can now honestly say that, thanks to the vigilance of the British Toilet Association, this is the first award winning loo I've ever seen. Uh, congrats? Sympathies? I'm baffled!

Train ride to Glasgow

2010-07-16T08:59:00.000-07:00

Bill and Sharon at a special visit to the Stones.

Eleven of us are traveling by train to Glasgow from Salisbury. Turned in the rental car-an adventure. Barb, Heidi and Emma left us to begin a Caribbean Disney Cruise. The rest of us are headed to Iona Abbey. We spend the night in Glasgow and head to the Abbey tomorrow through Friday.

What an adventure. The stones and everything were wonderful and the fellow travelers on the pilgrimage are grand. We are having a lovely time ad enjoying ourselves as we learn much.

2010-07-16T07:16:00.000-07:00

Well, fellow travelers, our group is traveling today by train, taxi, and foot from southern England to Scotland. Tomorrow we will add to our list of "Modes of Travel for Pilgrims"--by taking 2 ferries, 1 bus and as many footsteps as it takes to walk from the shoreline of Iona to our lodging in the Abbey. (Some of our amazing group may decide also to walk across the water from Mull to Iona...!).

Our time yesterday was spent in Glastonbury, thus completing the "bury tour"--Salisbury, Avebury, Glastonbury. This photo is of the Tor, with a 500' elevation and an ancient Cretan-style labyrinth that circumnavigates the hill. This has probably been used by pilgrims for centuries, is now overgrown, but did offer us glimpses of its former inspiration. The photo was taken from a beautiful garden known as Chalice Well, which offers free and delicious iron-rich water to all who are thirsty. It offered us pilgrims opportunity for gratitude, drinking in God's creativity, and many hours of contemplation...refreshing!

Our last day near Stonehenge ended with a final look at the Stones, a lovely dinner at our favorite local pub (just down the road from Sting's home ~ no, he didn't invite us in), and a boisterous party hosted by the ever-generous Sally and Paul, complete with mountains of clotted cream, drinks aplenty, and laughter all around :-)

I like pilgrimage... :-)

2010-07-14T02:25:00.000-07:00

Pilgrims at Salisbury Cathedral's new baptismal font ~ What a day of seeing (again) the power and impact of communal efforts! In the early 1200s, it took the community of Salisbury only 38 years to build this amazingly detailed and intricately decorated cathedral. We toured -- first with a guide, then wandering on our own -- followed by a gentle Evensong which led us quietly to a boisterous sharing of a meal...kinda like the ups and downs of those original disciples. Throughout the day, there were repeated "thin moments" for me...from watching our group's varied responses to the heavy and traditional Christian overtones of the cathedral, to enjoying a light rain refreshing the earth, to the laughter and conversation with our shared meals, to pondering the placement of this brand new modern baptismal font right in the middle of a medieval cathedral. God, apparently, IS still speaking :-)

2010-07-11T14:24:00.000-07:00

On our way to the Temple...

Seems that the single most-asked question about this World Heritage Site is, "What was its purpose?" Theories abound, from Stonehenge being an observatory, a megalithic-sized calendar, a cemetery, a place of contemplation, a meeting place, a healing center, a temple. Of that particular list, I favor the final two: a healing center and a temple.

Today, appropriately after an early morning Stonehenge access visit and worship with the congregation of a 1,030 year old Christian church in Amesbury, several of us pilgrims walked some of the immense and panoramic Stonehenge Environs. In the photo above, we are moving up the ancient "Avenue" toward the Temple in the distance. As the Salisbury Plain gracefully undulates, the Temple seems to play a game of hide-and-seek, first appearing on the horizon then disappearing from view. As we make our final ascent, those familiar Sarsen trilithons stand visible and majestic.

Thin Places? You bet! Thankfully, from morning till night...just like those Celts of old... :-)

The journey begins...

2010-07-10T09:34:00.000-07:00

We are waiting at the Ramada for the rest of our group. The the journey begins.
RUCC Groupie

2010-07-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

Do I ever love these Stones???!!! We are in our final preparations for the group of pilgrims from Redlands UCC to come together in Amesbury (just 2 miles from these giant beauties!) tomorrow evening. We'll begin with prayer, orientation, and settling in to our lovely B&B--home for the next week. Trusting that lessons will be learned, insights gathered, and friendships deepened.

For free, a bit of writing from my 2008 visit here, based loosely on the popularized series "everything I need to know about life I learned from..." :-)

"Weather the storm. Pass the test of time. Be true to yourself. Retain a bit of mystery. Stand tall, or lie recumbent, as necessary. Offer a shoulder to lean upon. Create your own sustainable eco-system. Shine in the sunlight. Persevere in the rain showers. Give others something to remember. Encourage many stories, creative ideas, and imaginative theories. Welcome all creatures. Keep close to one another, with spaces in your closeness. Invite dancing, laughter, tears, ceremony, and contemplation. Keep more of yourself apparent than hidden. Let the grass grow between your toes. Protect yourself with a few trusted friends. Cast long shadows and strike memorable silhouettes. Look inward to your center and outward to the world with equal vision. View life from many angles. Outlive your detractors. Be monumental. Accept help before falling flat on your face. Be ageless. Let interesting stuff grow on you."

Ummm...did I mention that I LOVE these Stones? But not as much as I love you :-)

2010-07-08T03:53:00.000-07:00

OK...just one more quick thought, "liberated" (as it were) from one of my favorite liberation theologians...and so appropriate as we begin this Thin Places Pilgrimage together, friends!

Yesterday, while visiting the Stanton Drew Stone Circle, I was again reminded of the many ways that the so-called "sacred" and so-called "secular" live peacefully side by side...perhaps, they, it, we, are ALL sacred? Love letters written from God AND to God? But of course!

God's Love Letters

Ernesto Cardenal

All animals who lift their voices at dawn sing to God. The volcanoes and the clouds and the trees cry to us about God. The whole creation cries to us penetratingly with a great joy about the existence and the beauty and the love of God. The music roars it into our ears, the landscape calls it into our eyes. In all of nature we find God's initials, and all God's creatures are God's love letters to us.

All of nature burns with love created through love to light love in us. Nature is like a shadow of God, a reflection of God's beauty. The still, blue lake is a reflection of God. In every atom lives an image of the trinity, a figure of the trinitarian God. And also my own body is created to love God. Each of my cells is a hymn about the Creator and an ongoing declaration of love.

Source: To Live Is to Love

Arrived!

2010-07-08T03:22:00.000-07:00

"In heaven there is no beer..." so goes the song... In Heathrow, there IS ice cream! This ice cream machine was one of the first sights to greet us when we landed in London...sweet!

Since arriving on Tuesday, my roommate and I have negotiated many roundabouts, survived driving from the airport (and riding with me driving!), settled in to our lovely B&B in Amesbury, visited the Stones once, had a cream tea (yummy!), and discovered an old stone circle that carries her family name of Stanton. Sweet!

Today offers more sweetness, as we shall visit the various sacred sights associated with the Avebury Stone Circle--a nearby sibling of Stonehenge--built about the same time, larger, and ever so much more accessible. Will post pics tonight!

Blessings from this holy land to yours :-)

Two sleeps away

2010-07-04T00:25:00.000-07:00

Well, there ARE stories about the giants and the Stones...we will, no doubt, have some big fun amongst these gentle giants!

Taking you all with us, in heart...

Pilgrimage Prep

2010-06-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

B&B rooms confirmed...check.

Camera batteries charged...check.

Final itinerary complete (as if Spirit could be scheduled!)...check (with a chuckle...)

Packed...half a check.

Completed list of things to do before jumping on the plane...not even close...

Brain and heart and soul already there...check, definitely!

I wonder if those two Irish guys in that boat had such a long and cumbersome list? (She asks rhetorically...!) Six days till LAX looms in my vision :-)

Please know that, as we embark on this first-ever Redlands UCC Thin Places Pilgrimage, we each hold each of you in our hearts, minds, and prayers. We are truly in this together!

2010-06-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

On Pilgrimage ...almost!

In less than a month, our group of 14 enthusiastic pilgrims from RUCC will embark on the first "Thin Places Pilgrimage." We will stay a week near Stonehenge, visiting the Stones several times, and spending time at other local sacred sites. Following that, we will travel to the Isle of Iona in Scotland (pictured above) to live and work for a week in their established Christian community, learning more about Celtic Christianity from those who live and breathe it each day.

Borrowed from the book The Heart of Christianity, which itself borrowed from the long history of Celtic Spirituality, the term "thin places" refers to those locations and events where the Divine is especially present and palpable...where the "veil" between this world of matter and the world of the sacred is so thin we can glimpse God. This may occur in our own backyard, in a conversation with a friend, while reading or eating or walking or, yes, even while traveling to ancient pilgrimage sites!

Author Marcus Borg notes, "...this way of thinking sees God as 'right here' as well as 'more than right here'...[it] affirms that there are minimally two layers or dimensions of reality, the visible world of our ordinary experience and God, the sacred, Spirit...'Thin places' are places where these two levels of reality meet or intersect. They are places where the boundary between the two levels becomes very soft, porous, permeable. Thin places are places where the veil momentarily lifts, and we behold God, experience the one in whom we live, all around us and within us...[in thin places] we experience God shining through everything."

The idea of calling this trip a "pilgrimage" also originates in the Celtic tradition. There is an old Irish story about two guys setting off in a boat without oars, being swept ashore near Cornwall, escorted to the king and asked (rather incredulously), "What were you doing on the sea in a boat without oars?" The story concludes with their joy-filled response, "But for the love of God we set out on pilgrimage, knowing not where we would land...!" So will our group be setting out for the love of God!!! Though we do know our geographic destinations, i.e. Stonehenge and its environs, followed by the Isle of Iona off the northwest coast of Scotland, none of us really know where or how or when the Divine will become apparent.

As I reminded the pilgrimage group when we met together recently, this is the Thin Places PILGRIMAGE...not the Thin Places TEST :-) We will seek to be open, attentive, listening to our Still-Speaking God and will happily bring you along from the comfort of your living room. No oars needed ;-)

--Rev. Dr. Sharon R. Graff

Putting our Words into Action

2008-11-02T21:55:00.001-08:00

This is an excerpt from my blog and deals with the undertaking of informing voters about prop 8.

"Day 6 - Photo 6. This is Loring Fiske-Phillips and he is a volunteer for a phone bank making calls to voters encouraging them to vote no on California's Proposition 8. If voters pass Prop 8 on November 4th it will eliminate the right for same-sex couples to marry.

Dozens of volunteers spent hours making thousands of phone calls. Volunteers are from every walk of life and every type of relationship. In fact many of the volunteers are in heterosexual relationships and they do it because as one volunteer says, "I want my children to grow up in a world where they choose who they love. I believe in the separation of church and state. This should not be a religious issue. This should not be a political issue."

I am moved by the power of people who believe in change, of people who are willing to spend their time, physical and emotional, and of people who will stand in the face of adversity regardless of the cost. This is about simple fairness and equality. And by the way, after looking at Day 5 - Photo 5, a friend of mine told me, "stay with your family, friends and things you believe in. You told us in your very first photo that you start each day and end each day with your family. Right?" Right my friend. Right."

Looking back on this posting...prop 8 is indeed about our friends and family.

I Do

2008-11-02T21:50:00.000-08:00

The following is an excerpt from my own blog 31Days31Photos.blogspot.com and was taken from just one of the nearly 12,000 weddings since prop 22 was overturned.

Day 25 - Photo 25. The wedding day had finally come. They stood before the alter and committed their lives to each other. Members of the audience smiled and nodded knowingly. At times the couple giggled breathlessly like school kids. They blushed. They faltered. They exchanged vows and slipped rings on each others fingers. And then, they turned to face a church filled with family and friends as a married couple.

They stood in a reception line and accepted the handshakes, hugs, smiles and congratulations. They mingled amongst well wishers. A friend lifted a glass and toasted the couple and finally with hands intertwined, they cut the cake. As weddings go, events and people stayed to the script. Unless of course you take into account that the happy couple were two women who've waited on this day for 15 years.

The camera is a bully pulpit. As photojournalists, we will often say we prefer to remain in the background, the shadows, attempting only to portray people and events, never wishing to influence the outcome with our presence. That much is true. Though the photojournalist has great power for change by what and who we show with our cameras. Many a social injustice has been brought to light through the lens.

On November 4th voters in California will defeat or approve proposition 8. If passed it would amend the state constitution to define the word marriage as "between and man and a woman." Many look upon this as a religious issue, a legal issue, a moral issue. Simply put, it's a social justice issue. It was within my lifetime that a mixed race marriage was illegal. Illegal.

I never wanted this blog to be process driven. I started it as a photographic journey. Part of the journey was to find the passion that had driven me to be a photojournalist. I found something unexpected though, part of my heart and soul that had been missing. I don't want to lose them again.

On November 4th I will follow my heart and soul when I step into the voting booth.

Feinstein: Vote Against Discrimination

2008-10-28T22:46:00.000-07:00

Vote NO on Prop 8 Forum

2008-10-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

You are probably aware that the struggle to retain marriage equality in California is VERY CLOSE. Proposition 8--the marriage INequality proposition--seeks to take away current rights of same-gender couples to marry. Whatever we think about marriage, taking away rights from a particular group of citizens, rights that have already been granted by the state constitution, is unfair, unnecessary, and wrong.

In the spirit of equality, I invite you to a NO on 8 forum this Saturday, November 1st, 10:00-11:30 am at Redlands United Church of Christ. We will listen to speakers representing legal, historical, and faith perspectives, all sharing why proposition 8 is a bad idea.

Please download and pass along this invitation (PDF) to those you think would be interested.

Blessings,
Sharon

Our Faith Our Vote

2008-10-10T14:09:00.000-07:00

Voter fraud, or more accurately, election fraud, is a serious threat to our democracy, especially in this crucial period of our nation's and the world's history.

Election Protection recounts true stories from real people from all over the nation, stymied and thwarted from exercising their right to vote. Here is the experience of Aaron E. of Indianapolis, Indiana:

Aaron was first told to vote at a nearby retirement home in his Indianapolis neighborhood. Once there, Aaron, and many other voters, learned they had been misdirected and were told to go to a local library to vote. Aaron headed to the library only to find that once again he had been misinformed. A poll worker at the library told Aaron that a nearby firehouse was his correct voting location. Unsure if he would ever find the right location, Aaron made the trip to the firehouse to learn he had reached the correct location, but that the polling station had closed. In utter disbelief over the absurd ordeal he just endured to cast a simple vote, Aaron called Election Protection to complain. His only hope now is that he will be given the correct information for the general election in November.

UCC has a valuable resource on its website called Our Faith Our Vote, dedicated to voter rights, general voting information and ways you can become active this election season.

Meditation - A Working Title

2008-10-02T15:50:00.000-07:00

The title to a mediation, book or movie sets the theme we want an audience to follow. And when Carla emailed me asking for the title to this meditation, I didn’t have one. I had no idea what to do. I toyed with a number of ideas and nothing worked. Finally in an act of humility and sophomoric desperation I replied to Carla in an email with the next thing that came to mind. Meditation, A Working Title. And as read today’s Gospel and wrestled with Jesus’ words to his apostles, the title began to make some sense. These three lines of Matthew, were Jesus’ final words to his apostles as the 12 prepared to go on with the mission of spreading the Word. They had the full authority of Jesus, to heal the sick, raise the dead, cure leapers and cast out demons. And the message seems fairly straightforward. Straight forward if you understand the language.

“Who ever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes the prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous.” Well you get the idea right? Good, because I don’t.

Jesus supposedly used propositional logic as it expresses a rule of inference. While in the history of logic, it is shorthand for the theory of consequence. Well you get the idea right? Good, because I don’t.

Okay, how about this?

1. Redlands Centennial Bank donates money to RUCC.

2. RUCC uses that money to send people to help rebuild communities and lives in Mississippi.

3. Therefore, Redlands Centennial Bank helps rebuild communities and lives in Mississippi.

Okay. I get that. And while Jesus, in Matthew 10:40-42, doesn’t exactly state the conclusion of his words explicitly, I think we can agree we understand the meaning. Those words spoken by Jesus to his apostles still apply today. God is Still Speaking right? But are we listening and are we understanding the language?

Recently while sitting in an airport waiting on a connecting flight. A teenager sat next to me. His head bobbed to music wired directly to his brain as his fingers flew wildly over a miniture keyboard on his cell phone. It was a pretty cool looking device and when the boy’s head stopped bobbing and swaying I took this as a queue the music in his brain had subsided and used the opportunity to strike up a conversation and remark on his cell phone.

“Hi.”

“Wassup?”

“That’s pretty a cool phone.”

“Word Yo, it’s Sick”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah dude, it’s cool.”

“Ah. Talking to one of your buddies?

“Uh ah, not talking gigging, texting. I’m gigging my Shorti”

“Excuse me?”

“My Shorti dude. My girlfriend.”

“Ah. Oh, is that her picture on your screen.”

“Yeah. She’s Phat right?”

“Ah, she’s doesn’t look very heavy.”

“No dude, she’s no Salad Dodger. She’s hot, you know, ah-trac-tive. Right?”

“Right. Well, hey look at the time. Gotta go.”

So, our messages should to be delivered in a language that the audience speaks and understands. In our families and communities we’ve built a means of communicating our messages even when we don’t always speak the same language. We’ve built that means of communicating in this community here at Redlands United Church of Christ to share our experiences in our journey of faith. I’d like to share with you a story of God is Still Speaking.

During a particularly low point in my life, it seemed as though the world were crashing down about me. As I drove through town running from errand to errand, nothing seemed to be going well and I was taking full advantage of the moment to feel incredibly sorry for myself. No one’s pain could have been worse. Job had no worries compared to the misery that had been bestowed upon me. And I decided that God had abandoned me. After all, he wasn’t speaking and I’d been asking for “a little help here please.” I was listening but I wasn’t getting anything accept the woe is me mantra that’d been playing over and over in my head. Come on God I dare you to speak to me. I double dog dare you. Where’s my burning bush? As I continued on my rant, I now had bumper-to-bumper traffic to throw into it. I noticed a shabbily dressed man standing on a traffic island holding a cardboard sign. And on the sign was a painstaking perfectly handwritten message. It said, “I HAVE NOTHING.” Oh my God! Yes, my God. It was a message for me and this man standing on the traffic island stared at me with his piercing blue eyes as I passed along. Passed along as time slowed to a crawl in a moment of life imitating art.

And Jesus said, “Whoever welcomes the prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward.” All my petty worries slipped away. I have a beautiful family. I have a job and a home. I have everything. I laughed with the heady knowledge that God had spoken. I was on a new rant, planning how to spend this message, planning what I would do and planning where I would go. When suddenly the car in front of me stopped abruptly and as I screeched to a halt I noticed the car’s license plate frame. It read, “When I make plans, God laughs.” Now, nearly hysterical, I pulled to the curb threw my hands in the air and declared. I get it! I get it! Please stop. Then silently added, and for God’s sake… please…no burning bush.

Will we welcome the one who welcomes God? Will we welcome the prophet? When God speaks will we be listening?

“Who ever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” Welcome to Redlands UCC. Wherever you are on your journey of faith, you are welcome here, even if you are a working title.

Amen and Blessed Be!

Two Thumbs Up!

2007-12-20T10:24:00.000-08:00

So, the family and I were able to bring Hollywood into our living room last night via Pay-Per-View. Miraculous. We watched "Evan Almighty" and thoroughly enjoyed it. The movie was energetic, humorous, and at times down right silly! Now, before you assume you mistakenly stumbled upon some movie review site instead of the RUCC Blog let me just tell you... There's a lot of really sound theology in this movie.

The concept of one man, with God's help, changing the world is explored. One man standing up to criticism, ridicule, and even Congress to try and do what he believes to be right is one of the basic tenets of the film. Evan doesn't wait on the world to change, he brings change to the world.

Evan also brings to life and modernizes the "reluctant prophet". You know the type, the Jonahs of the world. It proves that there are still plenty of these among us and that same dilemmas that faced Jonah are present in our world today. It made me wonder what kind of world we could live in if we were to give up our reluctance and embrace the message.

Clearly, the most obvious (and most fun) aspect of the movie's themes in that God is still speaking. Sound familiar? Yup, it seems that even Hollywood has heard the UCC rally cry. Have we? I would also like to add that I personally think that Morgan Freeman makes an OUTSTANDING God! He's personal, direct, a little mysterious, and loving. God takes himself far less serious than Evan does and He even pokes a little fun at man's incompetence at scriptural interpretation.

This movie also touches on subjects like environmentalism, governmental corruption, family unity, the love story between God and human, and animal preservation. I would highly recommend you look into the theology of "Evan Almighty". When the film was over and the popcorn was gone I was left with a deeper sense of personal commitment to rewriting the Gospel. Two thumbs up from my living room!

I Owe Jerry Falwell An Apology

2007-10-26T13:53:00.000-07:00

I owe Jerry Falwell an apology.

Years ago I wrote Reverend Falwell a rather unsavory letter touting my liberal and compassionate views of humanity and blasting his shameful doctrines of fear and intolerance. I ended my letter with a warning that "he had better get used to people like me because someday he would find himself spending an eternity with us."

I've grown up quite a bit since that letter was written and I can now see that my own doctrines were just as shameful, and cloaked in a false view of tolerance and compassion. I have come to realize that I too will someday spend eternity with the likes of "them". With this new awareness I have been able to enter into the same type of love, tolerance, and compassion that Jesus had such a grip on.

I believe to truly be a people of peace we MUST dialogue with our enemies. We MUST be willing to find the good in all people and to celebrate their unique gifts they bring to our world. We must even try to see how we can take the lessons offered from our enemies and apply them to our own lives. This is essentially the message Jesus gave when he instructed us to love our neighbors as ourselves. I no longer think he was referring only to those neighbors who thought and felt as I do. I don't think he was referring only to those it was easy to get along with, or to those people I think I can "convert" to my views. No, Jesus was talking about the prostitutes, the poor, the lepers, AND the Pharisees and Sadducees among us.

And so, my letter to Jerry Falwell would now read something like this:

Dear Rev. Falwell,

I Apologize for the accusatory tone my last letter took. I have come to see that you are a man of great commitment to your beliefs. I am learning to live my beliefs as strongly, though they do differ from yours.

I admire how you have taken what you believe and put it into action. I really feel that if I can learn this lesson from you and do the same I will help make the world a different and better place. I'm sure you feel the same.

I am awed by your abilities to take what you see as right and true and good and share it with others. I have begun to do the same with what I see as right and true and good.

Thank you Rev. Falwell for all the lessons you've taught me.

Peace, Always Peace,
Jennifer

The Fires of Hell

2007-10-24T12:53:00.000-07:00

At lunch with a colleague yesterday, we chatted about sermons as fires raged in the mountains just a few miles away. "What are you preaching about this Sunday?" I benignly asked. "The Fires of Hell..." he quickly replied. Like RUCC, the congregation he serves is open, affirming, loving, compassionate, looking for the best rather than expecting the worst in others. Such a sermon title is better suited to preacher Jonathan Edwards than to a couple of UCC pastors! Yet, as I drove home to the mountains last night, watching flames lapping up the timber to the north of the highway, I wondered how many days it will be until some religious nut accuses some group or other of having sinned to the point that God's anger is imagined as erupting in this fiery hell? Is that the kind of God who made the beautiful timber and provided homes for the wildlife in the first place? I think not...how about you?

Listening to the Unexpected

2007-09-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

I was asked recently to provide the homily for a worship service at the monthly meeting of the Presbyterian women. I really got into it and thought I’d share with you some of what I said. What follows are snippets.

“Let’s be clear that a whale didn’t swallow Jonah! Whatever the beast was that got Jonah, it was a figment of the storyteller’s imagination. The sea was the great unknown, and awful unknown things dwelt in it. In being swallowed by the unknown, Jonah experienced primal, primordial separation from God and realized that life lived in service to God, whatever the dangers, was better than separation from the love of God. This was, by the way, the lesson Jesus learned in Gethsemane, what the gospel authors referred to as the ‘sign of Jonah’!”

“Jonah finally makes his way to Nineveh. He goes partway into the city and speaks a five-word prophecy! Wonder of wonders! It works! The people who hear it repent, and in a complete reversal of ancient political behavior, when the people repent, so does the king. In fact, the king is so frightened by the threat of the warrior god of Israel that he even orders the animals to be dressed in sackcloth! The total effect is to influence God to change her mind!”

[That response from God made Jonah almost irrationally angry.]

“Jonah has a very pious view of the world. He tells God at one point: ‘…I knew that you are a gracious god, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.’ But he had always figured that God reserved that behavior for God’s people. It just wasn’t right that God should act towards others the way God acted towards Israel. The very idea that God could do that, that God could change God’s mind once having announced judgment, meant that nothing could be certain any more. How could Gentiles enjoy the same privileges and protections as those of Israel? How could God allow for the destruction of Israel and Judah and yet save one of the destroyers?”

“I think the answer to that question lies in [something]… I remembered [from] a study I did years ago on the name of God in the burning bush story. While doing the research on that, I ran across somebody—I don't remember now who it was or even where I found it—who made the observation that the first identification of the name—“I am who I am”—could be understood as “I will be known by what I do!” That insight fascinated me, because it implies a continuing revelation, an invitation to find God in the activities and processes of living, and suggests that God is revealed not only in what God does but also in our recognition of it. In that sense the only immutable truth about God is that we cannot, will not ever ‘know’ God because God is always being known! It is a masterful theological turn by the one telling the burning bush story, and a truth Jonah never saw. He first ran from God’s call and then behaved badly, petulantly, in parochial fashion when things didn’t work out the way he wanted them to, because his god had to fit his understanding of God.”

“God’s call requires us both to believe that there is more to know about God and the Kingdom than we now know, and that we must act on that belief even when it, from time to time, seems to fly in the face of all we have known and done before. It requires us to overcome our fears and manage our anger. It requires us to run towards God, calling out like a child on a playground, ‘Here! Here! Pick me! Pick Me!’ It requires us to accept and act on the possibility that ‘God is Still Speaking.’”

“May we be given the grace to risk standing on holy ground, listening to the great ‘I Am!’ with ears to hear and hearts to act!”

New Reading

2007-07-23T08:50:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy the sermons of our pastor here on the mission field in Arkansas! He is one of the two best preachers I have ever heard, the other being Bruce Van Blair. On July 15 the lectionary reading for the gospels was Luke 10:25–37, the parable of the Good Samaritan. How many times have I heard it? Is it possible to hear it with new ears, a mode that Jesus exhorts his disciples to employ (Mark 4:9, 23)? I'm not sure I heard it completely anew, but I did find in my musings on Steve's sermon a few things I hadn't really considered before.

Try reading that old story again. Were you struck by the irony that Luke introduces at the end of the pericope? The commandment to love neighbor as self seems clear in a collective society, like those in the Roman empire of the first century, in which the individual finds individuality in group identity; there really is no "self" without "neighbor"in the ancient world. Unless otherwise described, the guy in the ditch is "neighbor" to Jesus's listeners because they figured he was a Jew. After all, he was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, and only Jews and Romans -- and maybe some other Greeks -- took that route.The neighbor couldn't be the Samaritan because he shouldn't have been on that road. For the listener the fact that he was, would have seemed astonishing enough, but then the Samaritan performed the very service required by the commandment, thus demonstrating that he, as a descendant of apostate Israel, understood the spirit of the commandment better than the priest and Levite.

That in and of itself is ironic. But I think a further irony is in the question Jesus asks and the answer given. "Who is the neighbor?" "The one practicing mercy!" The neighbor isn't the guy in the ditch; it is the guy who practices mercy, the Samaritan! Now the boundary conditions for who is "in community" are re-drawn! The outcast, the apostate is my neighbor! By implication Jesus is saying it is tough enough to show mercy to those who are members of the community, but the commandment is really even tougher. You have to love those who show mercy no matter what group they are from. The irony is that the people of God are made up of those who practice mercy, not just those with whom you readily identify! This is a new feature of the New Creation and a judgment on the intensely selfish cast of modern culture

Upon further reflection it also occurred to me that this ironic understanding of neighbor further enlightens the beatitude in Matt. 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy." The apostate Samaritan was merciful! He, not the priest or the Levite, will receive mercy from God. And, if God shows mercy to the merciful, how can I not do so?

Think what that means for social justice issues! Whenever a Muslim shows mercy to anyone outside of the "house of Islam," she is our neighbor! The guy who does me the great service of mowing my lawn in the muggy heat of the day is my neighbor, even though he is Mexican and is quite likely not in the country legally. The whole story would seem to elaborate the notion that being a neighbor is an activity, not a status, and at the core of that activity is "doing" mercy!

It has almost become a ritual tradition in most churches for the pastor to end a sermon with statement like, "Amen!", or "Let us pray!" Sharon will often say, "Amen and Blessed be!" I want to make the case that, in light of the parable of the good Samaritan, that statement should be, "Okay, now what are you (we!) going to do about it?"

Gospeling

2007-04-28T16:21:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking about what it might mean to "write our gospel." Unlike early Christians, we have the means to write readily at hand! The "how" of writing lies in the availability of really nifty means of communication. With the internet, websites and blogging can carry the message more easily, cheaply, and speedily than anything the early disciples of Jesus could ever imagine, for that matter more so than my evangelist grandfather could have. It is the "what," the content that is the tough part.

That claim might seem strange given the fact that dozens of translations and thousands of copies of the Bible are found across the country. It would appear that all we need to do is choose one and paraphrase it or, like Thomas Jefferson, edit to meet our needs. But, I am convinced that those actions or others like them won't suffice, won't deal with the worlds we face, the crises of religion, ethics, politics, environment, and spirituality that confront the disciples of Jesus and the inhabitants of this world. No, we need to figure out what it might mean to recover and reclaim Jesus.

Having said that, I have to admit that I'm not quite sure how to go about that. I am intrigued that Paul either didn't have or didn't feel the need to make much use of the story of Jesus beyond the fact that he was crucified. It took at least two major crises -- the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and the death of the first generations of disciples -- evidently to trigger the writing of the narrative gospels, that is to begin to create the story of Jesus, the man and his message.

Maybe that is the key, a crisis! I think we have one on our hands. Consider six years of an incompetent, lying, and hypocritical presidency. Consider rising global warming. Consider shameless corporate greed and a growing health care problem. No, I am not getting apocalyptic on you. I am simply saying that it is time to start figuring out how to tell the story of Jesus to this world. Apparently his earliest message had to do with re-structuring how we are to live in this world because the reign of God had already started. If that is what Paul meant by the "new creation," then his exhortation still holds. Live like God really is present in life, not just our own life but in LIFE. Be courageous enough to proclaim that love of neighbor should be the guiding principle in the body politic as well as among the people of God. Maybe the first words of our gospel have to be after all, "Repent, for the reign of God is here!"

Welcome!

2007-04-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome! Almost 35 years ago, Redlands UCC was born with a spirit of adventure and pilgrimage, believing that a very creative and loving God is our companion on the journey of faith. Our annual covenant writing has created a community that values the written word, and one that is attentive to the movement of the Spirit each day. Today, we continue to hear God speaking through a variety of sources and in an infinite number of places. In the summer of 2005, while discussing our "Still-Speaking God," one of our members suggested we write our own gospel. Another added, "Let's create a blog!" Thus, God spoke once again...

We invite contributions to this dynamic gospel...from those who wish to reflect on their own journey of faith, to write about the companionship of the Divine in their lives, and to have positive dialogue with other seekers. Remember: "gospel" means "good news" ~ we ask that your contributions reflect the good news of the Divine in your life. Blessings to you on the journey!