Who's Better?

When it comes to the Kingdom, no one; since all are equal

In Paul’s day, some thought the answer was to be found in less variety, in exclusion, in isolation and the building of fences. In Martin Luther King Jr.’s day, many felt the same way, and built communities and churches by marking off who was not welcome. And so it is still in our own day.

All gifts are not acknowledged, the body is not complete, and love does not always prevail. 

But in this twenty-first century after Christ, let us live the way suggested by Paul: with diversity, with inclusivity, and with love. Let us ensure that all are welcome in the church, our communities, our neighborhoods and friendships.

Let us remember that all of humanity is made in the image of God. Not just the people who look like us, who think like us or act like us. Let us see the image of God that is in the other - especially the one that is different than us - because when we do so, we embrace God, but when we fail to do so, we reject God.

Embrace God in our Music

Lots of special music this past Sunday, in honor of Dr. King and Human Relations Sunday. The choir (with Kathy Niness on guitar) rocked the house with Garth Brooks' We Shall Be Free, and Janice Conner did a beautiful rendition of Abraham, Martin, and John. Some of the hymns were taken from a special hymnal: Songs for the Holy Other, an all-inclusive hymnal with special music celebrating diversity of all kinds.

The sermon included the song Don't Laugh at Me, an inclusionary anthem with special words written for the occasion by Mary Sugar.

Next week, Kim Trolier will be with us, enhancing the service with her lovely flute music! Don't miss a week!

Teaching Children to be Inclusive

The children spent a little extra time in worship so that they could participate in the litany in remembrance of Dr. King and to also witness our new friends, Erin, Charlie, and Sara join our church family formally.

When it came time to call the children forward, Vica only called the girls forward.  Everyone giggled as Vica extolled that girls rule and boys drool.  The girls thought it was great. However, Vica was quick to say that it was in fact not.

After having the boys finally join the girls, Vica shared that because all people were created in God's image, all people are important. No one is greater than anyone else. We all have a light inside that is the image of God and when someone tries to dampen it within someone else, two lights are dimmed. We are called to love like and because Jesus loves us.

Who's in the Details?

SERMON

We don't know who the magi were. We know they were seekers and we know they were Gentiles. They were not Jews.

Matthew wants us to know in the second chapter of his book that this Gospel is for everybody. It is not just for a select group. It is not just for the "in" crowd. It is not just for those who think and have all the answers. It is not just for the religious elite.

CHILDREN’S MOMENT

This past Sunday, Vica focused our children on the necessity of smaller details. She asked about the new addition we made to the nativity. It was a small detail of three new figurines that needed their attention. Some of them already knew what it was: the Wise Men come to visit Jesus. She shared about her own childhood tradition of placing their Wise Men in another room, on the top shelf in the far back corner. Do the math, and you figure it would take them at least 2-3 years to get to the nativity in the living room.

She pointed out how, before they arrive, noone ever seems to notice the missing figures from the nativity scene, despite their importance.

This is similar to the importance of the details in the Christmas story. It is a small passage that we read every year, but that doesn’t mean the details lose their importance. If we aren’t paying attention to the words, we’d miss that when the Wise Men. arrived Jesus is no longer a baby but a child and they are in a house. She stressed the hope that we all take time to pay attention to the small things. God does amazing miraculous huge things like what happens in the Christmas story, but so much of God happens in the small moments.

MUSIC

Coming up in the next few weeks, we've got special music for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day/Human Relations Sunday, and we're getting ready for Black History Month in February, where all the choral and bell anthems will be Spirituals. There'll also be guests galore in February! Don't miss a Sunday!

Refuge in the Nativity

For this first Sunday after Christmas, our own Vica Jones lead the congregation through service, complete with compelling sermon. She preached from Matthew 2:13-23, which picks up immediately after the wise-men's visit. Having been woken up from a frightening dream, Joseph and family pack and head for Egypt to escape Herod's murderous plan. After they were told that it was safe, they returned to Nazareth. This scripture was able to focus us on Jesus as Plan A. 

There is nothing that God does not foresee and cannot work for good. 

The wise-men had visited and brought to Jesus the weirdest gifts someone could bring for a small child. Though, God knew what they would be needed for. The gifts were light in weight and would have been worth years of wages for Joseph and family. This gave the family money for travel, to live off of while in Egypt, and travel back to Nazareth. Money they needed in order to follow the ordinances they received through Joseph's terrifying dream.

We also looked at a piece of art from Sister Grace Remmington from the Mississippi Abbey in Iowa (pictured above). The picture is of Eve and Mary interacting with each other. Ultimately, where Eve disobeyed, Mary obeyed. Eve's first born was killed because of jealousy, Mary's first born was killed because of perfect love. Eve's yes brought sin into the world, and Mary's yes brought about the Savior who would defeat sin for good.

As we go into a new year, I challenged everyone to step with faith that God is, was, and ever will be in control even in the midst of chaos. Will you say yes even if it's the middle of the night like Joseph?

The children learned through the book "Refuge." It is a book about the Nativity story from an uncommon perspective, that of the donkey. It follows the family from the birth of Jesus through their frightful flight to Egypt as refuges.

Service was completed through the recitation of the Covenant Prayer of Wesleyan Tradition:

I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, place me with whom you will.P
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be put to work for you or set aside for you,
Praised for you or criticized for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service.
And now, O wonderful and holy God,
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, 
you are mine, and I am yours.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it also be made in heaven. 

 Amen.

Patience in Advent

Not Everything has to be Instant

The season of Advent is all about patience as we prepare to celebrate the Christ’s entry into our world so long ago in Bethlehem and anticipate his coming in final glory at the end of the age when God establishes his Kingdom. The problem is that most of us (including myself) are not very patient. We live in the instant age where we can pull our smartphones out of our pockets and look anything up, anywhere and anytime. We can order something from Amazon and have it delivered the next day for $3.99 (if you are an Amazon Prime member). Amazon and Google have even rolled out same day delivery to select cities in the country so lucky customers only have to wait a few hours to receive their purchase. We can stream millions of songs instantly via Apple Music or Spotify and get sneak peaks at unreleased albums that the artist has just finished recording.   We can download a movie from the internet to watch in just a few seconds. No more driving to the video rental store and waiting in line to check it out. We can choose from a smorgasbord of pre-prepared meals from the the grocery store and pop them in the oven instead of diligently gathering the necessary ingredients and following the step by step instructions of a recipe and then waiting for it to finish cooking. For these and so many other reasons we are terrible at waiting and have become extremely impatient as a society.

Nowhere is this impatience more on display than the Christmas season for which retailers now start decorating the week before Halloween. My boys didn’t have a chance to collect their candy and come down from the resulting sugar buzz before Santa, Christmas lights and holiday music appeared in stores. Churches start singing Christmas carols on the first Sunday of Advent rather than dwell for a time in the slower, less joyful hymns of Advent. And so we rush around in a constant state of stress because we can’t and won’t slow down. Indeed some of us have forgotten how to do so.

However, we must recover the art of waiting and cultivate patience in this season of Advent if we are to truly experience the joy of Christmas and the birth of our Savior. The ancient Hebrews waited for centuries before the Messiah appeared. Surely we can wait a few weeks to bask in the joy of Christmas. Join me in trying to slow down this month and work to linger more in the moment. Let us try to recover what it was like to wait for something we knew we wanted and deeply needed. If we can do it we will find that Christmas is even more joyful and our shouts of praise will be even more exuberant when the Christ child is born into our hearts once again.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor John