Red Hats Donate!

The Red Hat Loon-a-Ticks (first Red Hat Society group organized in International Falls-in 2002) have been saving "happiness dollars" each month for a year so we could make a donation to the Falls Hunger Coalition Food Shelf during March Minnesota Food Share month. At each meeting we pass around a box and each member puts a dollar (or dollars) into the box and tells the rest of the group why she is happy that day.



As of today we have collected a total of $183.12 which we gave to the Food Shelf's Assistant Director. Now we can start over for next year!

Lenten Decor

We have a gifted artist in our congregation who has started doing our chancel decor. It's fun to work with her!




Next week we'll add palms!

Ecumenical Lent

Since 2002, 5 churches (4 denominations) in International Falls have joined together for Ecumenical soup suppers and worship services on the five Wednesdays between Ash Wednesday and Holy Week. Each congregation hosts one Wednesday evening, providing many pots and varieties of soups with bread and crackers for dinner at 6 p.m. Then at 7:00 we all gather in the sanctuary for worship. It's a wonderful gathering that has brought people together.

We also give the offerings collected each week to the Falls Hunger Coalition Food Shelf to help with their total for Minnesota Food Share which takes place each year during the month of March. We promoted this offering with a display in the Narthex.


Some of my facebook friends wanted to know, "what is ecumenical soup?" I came up with this response: Ecumenical soup--No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, all soup flavors are welcome here!

This year our theme is "The Lord's Prayer" with each pastor preaching on one of the petitions in this prayer. Mine is "forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us."

We decorated our chancel to be inviting and relaxing. This is how it looked:

Forgive...to Love

sermon preached at the Ecumenical Lenten service on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 at Faith United Church, UCC, International Falls, MN


Texts: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Luke 6:37-38 and Colossians 3:12-15

I ran across a cartoon the other day in which a man is talking to a clerk in a card shop. He wants to know if she has a card that stops short of saying “I’m sorry” yet vaguely hints at some wrongdoing.

Have you ever wondered why forgiving—and asking for forgiveness—is so difficult for most of us? How many times have you heard someone say, “I’ll never forgive [him/her] for that”? How often do we find ourselves tied up in knots inside because we feel guilty for hurting someone or because we’re still hanging on to what someone has done to us?

And yet, look how often the bible talks about forgiveness! Jesus included it in the prayer we attribute to him, saying (in whatever words we use) that we should pray to God to forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Uh-oh!

You DO see the problem, right?

What if God really did forgive us in the same way we forgive (or don’t forgive) others? That could be a bit of a dilemma, couldn’t it? We all know that we tend to hang onto things like hurts and slights and wrongs instead of letting them go. But scripture tells us God doesn’t do that. And of course sometimes we have much bigger things we’re hanging onto that we need to forgive. We don’t have to forget, but we should forgive because then we can get on with our lives.

The bible goes pretty far back in talking about forgiveness. God made covenants with God’s people starting way back with the rainbow in the sky when God promised never again to destroy the earth. And God made a covenant with the Israelites to bring them out of slavery in Egypt and to be their God and to bring them to the Promised Land. The people had a difficult time with that one—they had lots of trust issues, even though God was completely reliable.

And now we come to Jeremiah. I think God sounds excited about the NEW covenant God plans to make with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. God promises to put God’s law within the people and “write it on their hearts.” God promises to be their God and they will be God’s people—a binding together in love where God will love ALL the people, from the least to the greatest, no matter who they are. AND God promises to “forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.”[1] There’s that forgiveness word again!

And then we hear it also in Luke’s gospel—great words of advice to live by: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”[2]

Forgive our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

And there’s more good advice from the author of Colossians: “…clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”[3]

Here’s the synopsis: God forgives us, and so we are to forgive one another and we will get back what we give and love binds us all together.

If only it were that simple! Wouldn’t you like it to be that simple?

Even though forgiveness is one of the healthiest things we can do for ourselves, it’s just not that easy for most of us. But it’s definitely something worth working at because “forgiveness is not something we do for other people. We do it for ourselves, to get well and move on.”[4] And God calls us to forgiveness because it is God’s desire for us to untie our knots and wash away the muck that’s weighing us down and keeping us from moving forward to being healthy and whole.

A few of weeks ago I was at Half Price Books in St. Louis Park and I picked up a copy of The Shack by William Paul Young. Now, I must confess that the first time my brain was penetrated by the awareness that there was a book called “The Shack,” I had no clue whatsoever of the content of this novel. Living where I do, I assumed it was some tale about a bunch of guys hanging out at the hunting shack and I wondered why the book was so popular all over the country! Then I read a clergy colleague’s comments about it on her blog and realized it was probably something I should read one day.

When the book presented itself to me at the store I began to have an inkling that it might tie in to tonight’s sermon. And indeed it did.

This is a story about a man named Mack whose youngest daughter is abducted and murdered during a family vacation. Mack is, of course devastated and terribly angry at God. But God invites Mack to go back to the shack where evidence of his daughter’s murder had been found. There Mack has an encounter with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and Sophia/Wisdom and learns the importance of forgiveness.

This isn’t a book that will go down in literary history as a classic, but it has touched many people. I could hardly put it down and read it in a couple of days. And when I updated my status on facebook to say that I was reading it, a number of friends commented on their experience of the book or their desire to read it soon.

I’d like to share with you just a bit of the conversation between Mack and God about forgiveness…

Mack asks God, “how can I ever forgive that [S.O.B.] who killed my Missy. If he were here today, I don’t know what I would do. I know it isn’t right, but I want him to hurt like he hurt me…if I can’t get justice, I still want revenge.”

God tells Mack, “…for you to forgive this man is for you to release him to me and allow me to redeem him.”

“Redeem him?...I don’t want you to redeem him! I want you to hurt him, to punish him, to put him in hell…” his voice trailed off.

And God replies, “Forgiveness is not about forgetting, Mack. It is about letting go of another person’s throat.” Then God explains, “Forgiveness is first for you, the forgiver to release you from something that will eat you alive; that will destroy your joy and your ability to love fully and openly. Do you think this man cares about the pain and torment you have gone through? If anything, he feeds on that knowledge. Don’t you want to cut that off? And in doing so, you’ll release him from a burden that he carries whether knows it or not—acknowledges it or not. When you choose to forgive another, you love him well.”

“I do not love him.”

“Not today, you don’t. But I do, Mack; not for what he’s become, but for the broken child that has been twisted by his pain. I want to help you take on that nature that finds more power in love and forgiveness than hate.”

After Mack begins the process of forgiving this man he asks, “So is it alright if I’m still angry?”

God quickly responds, “Absolutely! What he did was terrible. He caused incredible pain to many. It was wrong, and anger is the right response to something that is so wrong. But don’t let the anger and pain and loss you feel prevent you from forgiving him and removing your hands from around his neck.”[5]

God explains to Mack that forgiveness doesn’t mean there has to be a relationship or that there can be trust. Those things can only—possibly—happen if the other person truly repents. But forgiveness frees the forgiver to move on, to untie the knots in their heart and to begin to live again.

When we forgive, we allow God to act and we allow ourselves to heal. Forgiveness makes room for love and love binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Once we begin to practice forgiveness—“just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive”—we will find that we are free to live and to love. Forgiveness frees us to follow Jesus who calls us to love one another as he has loved us.[6] Forgiveness frees us, simply, to live in love. AMEN.


Endnotes
1. Jeremiah 31:34, NRSV.
2. Luke 6:37-38, NRSV.
3. Colossians 3:12b-14. NRSV.
4.http://relations.kimcm.dk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/forgiveness.gif
5. From The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity, by Wm. Paul Young. 2007, Windblown Media, Los Angeles, California, pp. 224, 225, 227.
6. John 15:12, NRSV.


Following the sermon Cathy Johnson led us in a meditation on untying the knots within us. Each person had been given a piece of rope with several knots in it to use during the meditation.

March Blizzard

It began Tuesday morning, March 10th. They said we were getting an inch of snow an hour! By the time Text Study was over a little after 1 pm, I went home to stay! The moderator and I decided to cancel committee meetings scheduled for that evening and we made calls to the chair people who then notified their committee members. It was a good day to hunker down and enjoy the "show" outside our windows.

Next morning we woke up to a gorgeous sight. I had left a shovel next to the kitchen door, but we couldn't open the door to get to it! Fortunately our kind neighbor came and shoveled a path to the door. It was sunny and clear on Wednesday (and COLD) and most people spent the day plowing and digging out ... from 18.8 inches of snow!

Lent 2 - Everlasting

Texts: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 and Psalm 22:23-31

What does covenant mean to you? The first two things that come to my mind are “covenant of marriage” and “covenant of life partnership.” Those are both ceremonies at which I have officiated as a pastor.

Then, in the UCC we have lots of covenants. We covenant together to be a congregation. Our churches are in covenant with Associations, Conferences and the national UCC. It is covenant which binds us together as the United Church of Christ. When Jill was here she was in a 3-way covenant consisting of herself, our church and the Minnesota Conference because she was not in a called pastoral position. That has changed now that she is the pastor and a member of a church in South Dakota.

Even our UCC Statement of Faith talks about covenant. It says about God: “You bestow upon us your Holy Spirit, creating and renewing the church of Jesus Christ, binding in covenant faithful people of all ages, tongues, and races.”

So… we have some ideas about covenant. But what does it mean to be in an everlasting covenant with God? Because that’s what our reading from the Hebrew Scriptures today is about.

This wasn't the first, or the last time God and Abram had a conversation; in fact many times in the book of Genesis we read the words, "The Lord said to Abram…" It isn't even the first time that God "made a covenant" with Abram and promised him lots of descendants, as numerous as the stars in the night sky—God made that promise in chapter 15. Still, it must have been something of a balancing act for Abram. I would think it must have been impressive to be seeing God, and actually hearing God's voice. Surely, that would never get old, and who among us wouldn’t like God to tell us exactly what to do? And yet, the things that God was saying to Abram during these visits really tested the limits of a person's imagination. God promised not just one child, but a multitude of descendants, for two people past ninety years of age??! Could it possibly be true that old Sarah would not just produce one child but would "give rise to nations," to "kings of people"?! Imagine! It’s not in today’s reading, but is it any wonder that both Abraham and Sarah laughed?

Scholars believe that today’s story was probably written by the Priestly writer—one of several different writers who produced the book of Genesis, bringing together other traditions into the story of the birth of the people of Israel. The Priestly writer was writing during the time of the exile in Babylon, so it was important to him to remind himself and the rest of the people that even though they were in exile and even though there had been destruction of their city and separation of the people, God was still their God and God kept God’s covenant.

“What do a people do when they are strangers in a strange land, uprooted, aliens? One thing they do is remember, recall time past, lovingly reiterate the promises of God. [In spite of the present situation], the Priestly writer insists that the covenant of God still holds. Israel, now persecuted and laid waste by the nations, is destined to be the family above all families, the nation before all nations.” [1]

We are reminded that it is, of course, God who is at work in this story. It's God's initiative, and God's plan in motion. God is shaping a family, and God commits to be at the heart of that family's story, to travel with them when they wander and dwell with them when they reach their home. This covenant and its blessings aren't just for the sake of Israel because God intends, through Israel, to restore all of humanity. But it starts here, with a man and woman who leave home and all that is familiar, including its security and its gods, to set out in response to the irresistible call of this one particular "God Almighty." And so a relationship begins—a relationship that is at times beautiful and at times troubled. This relationship is between the children of Israel and their one God, whom they trust to be with them always. “Israel's commitment to absolute monotheism did not come about from philosophical reflection upon the being of God. [Instead], it arose out of a vital and personal experience of God's presence and faithfulness" [2]

How do we experience God’s presence and faithfulness today? How do we experience being in an everlasting covenant with God that has been going on since the beginning of time?

People experience God in very different ways and, like Abraham and Sarah, we, too, have our doubts and probably lots of questions. But God is still there for us all. And God is present to each of us in different ways.

This week I read the book, The Shack, by Wm. Paul Young. I hadn’t heard enough to have any idea what to expect in this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found that the author’s theology fit pretty well with mine, so I didn’t have any major disagreements with anything he wrote.

The story is about a man who has had great tragedy and guilt in his life and then has an experience of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and Sophia/Wisdom that changes him forever and makes his life new and easier to live, though not trouble-free.

One of my favorite parts of the book is when God expresses being “especially fond” of Mack—the main character—and it turns out that God is also especially fond of all the other people in the world! Isn’t it nice to know that God is especially fond of EACH one of us?!

Back when God made that covenant with Abraham and Sarah, God promised to be their God and to be the God of all their offspring after them. That includes you and me because, as we should know, Abraham and Sarah are the parents of all the great religions and symbolically they are the parents of all the people on earth. What went before them—Adam and Eve, Noah and his family—was the prequel, but the real story of the relationship and everlasting covenant between God and humankind begins with Abraham and Sarah and the promise of children to people who found the idea hysterically funny because they were both over 90 years old.

God kept God’s promise to Sarah and Abraham and to all their descendants. God is still our God today, even though we have become more numerous than the stars,[3] and God’s covenant promise is everlasting, meaning that God will be “especially fond” of our children, grandchildren, and all the generations yet to come. That IS good news for all! AMEN.


(Image "Old Abraham receives God's Promise, Genesis 15:2-6, 17:15-17, 21:1-6" Clay Illustrations by Georgia Cawley)

Endnotes
1. William Willimon, The Lectionary Commentary (quoted at http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/march-8-2009-second-sunday.html)
2. Mark Husbands, Feasting on the Word (quoted at http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/march-8-2009-second-sunday.html)
3. Genesis 15:5-6, NRSV.

Lent I - Rainbows and Deserts

Texts: Genesis 9:8-17 and Mark 1:9-15

As another season of Lent begins, we are reminded, again, of 2 familiar stories—Noah and the Ark and Jesus’ baptism followed by temptation in the desert.

The biblical story of Noah and the flood and the rainbow isn’t just about God getting mad at the world and deciding to start over, only saving Noah and his family for re-population. What’s more important is that it’s about the covenant God makes with God’s people that God will never do anything like that again. This covenant is symbolized by God’s hanging the bow in the sky—the bow being the weapon of war—indicating that God will no longer be at war with humankind. Instead, God promises to be with us. Even in the wilderness.

This doesn’t mean that life is going to be simple, easy or trouble-free. Even Jesus, God’s beloved son, had to spend time in the wilderness. But the wilderness can be survived, and God will be with us, even there.

Some years back, I helped my friend Pam, who is an Intentional Interim Ministry Specialist, move her belongings from where she had been serving a UCC church to another friend’s parsonage where she had been invited to stay until she found another interim position. While heavy filing cabinets were being lugged down the basement stairs by some of the men who were assisting, I spent a few minutes reading Carol’s refrigerator—that’s one of my favorite pastimes when visiting other people’s kitchens! There was a magnet that said, “I asked for all things that I might enjoy life. I was given life that I might enjoy all things.” I thought that was a sentiment worth remembering.

In the difficult times in our lives, can we, too, have that kind of outlook on life? Can we remember to look for the oases in the desert? Hardship can show us the goodness and generosity of other human beings. Loss of a loved one can show us how many friends we have. This doesn’t make the pain we are going through any less, but it does show us that we are not alone and that there are those who care about us.
The Old Testament tells us of a God who grows angry and frustrated with the humanity that God created. We’ve all seen movies or documentaries (or even real life) where a potter is working at the wheel and doesn’t like what’s taking shape. Suddenly the wet, spinning clay is mashed down by the potter’s hands so that the creation may be started over again. Sometimes this process occurs repeatedly until the pot resembles the design originally conceived in the artist’s mind.

But God wasn’t working with inanimate objects. God created living, breathing creatures with whom God has a relationship. And so, it would seem, God repents of God’s actions in destroying the world, and promises never to do that again.

Some people put the emphasis on the end of verse 11 where God says, “…never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” They think this implies that the earth may be destroyed by some other means, but never again by water. I believe the pledge is that God will never destroy the world again. Human beings may destroy it, but God will not. And even God seems to need a sign and seal, a symbolic reminder of the covenant. So God places the bow (the weapon of war at the time this story was written) in the sky—pointing away from the earth—as a reminder of that pledge; that covenant.

The first audience for this story knew all about covenants. Ancient Israelites reading or hearing this story would immediately recognize the covenant ceremony. It was part of their culture. So God was indeed limiting God’s self by putting down this giant bow—a weapon of destruction which had just cleansed the earth of all those wicked people. It is a RAIN bow. It “sends rain.” The refraction of sunlight through water vapor is a modern idea that doesn't apply to this story.

And God’s promise sounds like a kid’s: “I won’t do that again.” But it is a comfort to us lesser parties to the covenant to know that the powerful one has only friendly intentions toward us little ones. [1]

God has given us freedom and responsibility in this covenant, and God has also promised to remain with us.

Because of our human actions, life is still full of hardships and the wilderness is the place where life is at the raw edge. We are and will be tempted and we will have to make decisions and then live with them. Our times in the wilderness can strengthen our faith and strengthen us for what lies ahead in life. I don’t believe that God tests us with temptations, but I do believe God is with us in the struggles of our journeys.

Lent is, traditionally, the time when we focus on wilderness experiences, surviving temptation, confessing our sins and shortcomings, and preparing ourselves for the joy of the resurrection on Easter morning by focusing on the dark days that preceded it. In our dark days we may come face-to-face with God’s love that makes us all special and that calls us to be children of God.

In the Disney movie The Lion King, Simba has run away from home after a terrible misunderstanding that resulted in the death of his father Mufasa, the king. As he wanders in the tall grasses, considering whether to return to the rest of the lion pride and take his place as king, he sees wise old Rafiki, the baboon. Simba confronts him, saying, “Who are you?”

Rafiki says, “The question is, ‘Who are you?’”

“I thought I knew. Now I’m not so sure.”

“Well, I know who you are. You’re the one who’s confused. You don’t even know who you are.”

“Oh, and I suppose you do?” replies Simba.

“Sure, you’re Mufasa’s boy.”

Simba gasps in awe and Rafiki waves good-bye and takes off. Simba chases him and begs to know how Rafiki knew his father. “But my father died,” says Simba. “Nope, wrong again,” says Rafiki. “He’s alive. And I’ll show him to you. Just follow old Rafiki; he knows the way.”

After running through a thorn-filled, circuitous route, Rafiki abruptly stops Simba and says, “Shhh…look down there,” pointing at the water’s edge.

After looking at himself in the water’s surface, Simba says, “That’s not my father; that’s just my reflection.”

“No,” says wise old Rafiki, “Look harder.” As Simba looks into his reflection, Rafiki says, “See, he lives in you.”

Suddenly, Simba has a vision of his father walking out of the clouds and saying, “Simba, You have forgotten me.”

“No, how could I?”

“You have forgotten who you are and so have forgotten me. Look inside yourself, Simba. You are more than what you have become. You must take your place in the circle of life.”

“How can I go back?” Simba asks, “I’m not who I used to be.”

“When you remember who you are; you are my son and the one true king. Remember who you are.”

As the vision recedes into the sky, Simba tries to hold onto it, but all he can do is hear the echoes, “Remember who you are” and “He lives in you.” [2]

As people of the covenant—and we are heirs of the covenant—remember that God’s spirit lives in you, just as it lives in Jesus. When you remember who you are and acknowledge God’s spirit in you, you can embrace the promises of God’s everlasting covenant. As you come to the table today, and as you journey through the weeks of Lent, may you find yourself face to face with our God of grace who delights in you and takes pleasure in who you are … now and always. AMEN.


(Image from www.flickr.com)

Endnotes
1. Note #16 from Bill Mosley to “Sermonshop 2006 03 05” on Ecunet.
2. Carla Thompson Powell, “Sermonshop Sermons” note # 5295.