Author: rev

A sermon on the joyful and the hardened church, the reality of death and the hope for resurrection. Featuring Lt. Gen. Jim Pillsbury promoting the spirit of acceptance and inclusion. And a look at this year’s college freshmen through the lens of the Beloit Mindset List.

Jesus promised to be with us when two or three gather. And boy, do we need his presence. Being a UCC congregation is not easy. You might as well say “where two or three gather you will have about five very high-profile opinions.” On Sunday, August 23rd, the Rev. Daniel Haas and Tommy Gaskamp will share their current experiences at events in the Wider Church. In June the South Central Conference had their Annual Meeting in New Orleans and General Synod was later that month in Cleveland, Ohio.

Here is a glimpse into how things can go, when our extended church family gathers, written by Micki Carter:

The Rev. John C. Dorhauer was elected general minister and president of the United Church of Christ with 89 percent of the vote during General Synod 2015 Monday, June 29 at the Cleveland Convention Center — but not without voices of dissent. Frustration with a nomination process that brought yet another straight white male candidate for leadership of the church spilled over on the plenary floor during the vote.

As soon as the debate on Dorhauer opened, the first speaker set the tone. The Rev. Graylan Hagler of Plymouth Congregational UCC, Washington, D.C., charged that the nomination speeches for Dorhauer were “the most misjudged and misguided I’ve ever heard. (…) I don’t need a white male to advance me. I have my own worth — without the need of someone with white privilege to give me value.”

The Rev. Anna Humble, an association minister in the South Central Conference, added, “I cannot, I will not, I do not believe there is not one among us a woman who is qualified to lead this denomination. What face are we projecting to the world about who we are?”

The Rev. Alice Hunt, president of the Chicago Theological Seminary, then took the floor. “I served as one of eight women on the search committee. (…) Our committee was tasked to find the very best person to serve as the next General Minister and President for our beloved United Church of Christ. The call for applications was not a call for all women who sensed a call to this important work. The call was for applications from all persons who sensed a call. We received applications from a diverse and interesting pool of applicants. We followed a predesigned and transparent process following our credo, which we had agreed upon in advance. Just because our committee selected a straight white man does not mean our work was sexist or racist or hetero-normative. The eight women on this committee have spent a lifetime overcoming institutional male privilege. We fully support the nomination of John C. Dorhauer.”

The testiness of the delegates reached a point where one asked the current leader of the church, the Rev. Geoffrey Black, to offer a prayer to bring the discussion back to a spiritual footing. He reminded the assembly, “We are on holy ground, in sacred space.”

After the result of the balloting was announced, Dorhauer and his wife, Mimi, were invited onto the stage to receive the applause of the delegates. As they walked through the hall, receiving handshakes and hugs, he stopped long enough to evaluate all that had transpired that afternoon.

“I am grateful to be part of the United Church of Christ where voices of dissent are heard — with love and compassion — and where all voices are welcome!”

For my ministry I have two different uniforms: My Prussian robe is my Sunday best that connects me to the deep and rich roots of our tradition. One weekend per month I change after church to put on my uniform as a United States Army Reserve Chaplain. It may look like two separate ministries that are at odds every now and then. In reality though it is one ministry, endorsed by one body. The United Church of Christ connects me with my congregation and endorses me for military chaplaincy. Serving in two worlds comes with a unique set of challenges and benefits:

It is challenging for me: Last year I had to miss my wife’s and our middle daughter’s birthday. Besides the monthly drill, reservists also have annual training during the summer which lasts from two to three weeks. This year I missed our big family trip to Germany because of it. It is a big commitment that cuts substantially into family time.

It is challenging for the congregation: Some things can be scheduled well in advance like finding supply preachers to fill the pulpit while I am gone. But then there are pastoral needs when people need a visit and they know it is not going to happen. Or when someone dies and the memorial has to be conducted by another supply preacher.

It is beneficial for me: Serving in the military besides full-time church ministry keeps me on my toes. It makes me more efficient in my planning and I welcome the change of pace that comes with serving in different settings. It makes me a better pastor since serving both uniforms offers unique experiences that you cannot get anywhere else.

It is beneficial for the church: My congregation views its support of my military ministry as a service to our service members. They take pride in the fact that they allow me to be there for our Soldiers in need. The large veteran population in our church finds it easier to open up about the time when they served and oftentimes I see men in their 80s revisit their Korean war demons for the first time. When budget time comes the board members are appreciative of the fact that the Army provides me with continuing education and a comprehensive benefit package which equals added benefits for the church.

Serving both as a local church pastor and an Army Reserve Chaplain is something God calls me to do and by entering a covenant with me the church has agreed to make it their call as well. In return they get a well-balanced pastor.

On the occasion of the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, local churches are encouraged to pray and offer witness for peace in the world and the elimination of all stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Another world is possible. It must be possible. A world void of nuclear weapons with their devastating and long lasting affects on the peoples of this world, and on the earth.

A Prayer of Remembrance:

O God, tender and just,
the names of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
cut through our denial
that we are capable of destroying the earth
and all that dwell therein.
Forgive us –
and help us to always remember.
We must remember because this must never happen again.
We must remember because you would have us live
in harmony with each other,
seeing the joy of your creation in our
sisters and brothers.
Holy God, God of all the ages,
lead us from death to life,
to the stockpiling of hope, and of possibilities,
and of love
rather than the stockpiling of weapons, or stones to throw,
or of hate.
We pray for the healing of the earth and of its peoples,
especially for our sisters and brothers
upon whom a nuclear rain poured down.
Help us to imagine that another world is possible
and guide our actions towards the peace
you envision, the peace you have already given us.
In the name of the One who came so that we might have life,
and have it abundantly, we pray.
Amen.

Written by Rev. Loey Powell

Starting August 11, the Rev. Daniel Haas will be offering a Bible Study Class and everybody is welcome to join us on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month from 6-7 pm. We will work our way through the Apostles’ Creed touching on the major Biblical issues Christians have wrestled with from the beginning. In preparation you are invited to revisit this ancient affirmation of faith and highlight words or phrases that you want to study more in-depth:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

(From the English Language Liturgical Commission, 1988.)

About this testimony
The Apostles’ Creed evolved into its present form by the seventh century, although much of the text originated the first century. It is the creed par excellence of Baptism, widely used when candidates declare their readiness for membership in the Body of Christ and recited during the Great Vigil of Easter as a reminder of our baptismal covenant. It is frequently used in Protestant churches during Sunday worship, and forms an important part of the orders for daily Morning and Evening Prayer in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.

Dancing is Worship – Worship is Dancing

Healing in American Christianity has a somewhat bitter flavor in my mind. The stereotypical TV preacher was perfectly depicted and ridiculed by Genesis in their 1991 music video “Jesus he knows me”. A sad affair where show and business mingle. That said there is room for healing services in the church. The United Church of Christ even has an Order for Healing for Congregational Use. Our next healing service will be held on August 9, 2015. Here is an introduction, taken from the Book of Worship with a local Rosenberg twist:

Services of healing have a biblical heritage appropriate for the full life of a local church. Anointing and the laying on of hands are acts closely related to the covenant of faithful love between God and Israel and between God and the church. In scripture, monarchs are anointed, prophets commissioned, the Holy Spirit conferred, the sick healed, and the dead raised in acts of faith accompanied by anointing with oil, the laying on of hands, or touch in another form. The symbolism of touch has survived almost universally among churches in the laying on of hands at confirmation and ordination. The power of touch in healing is finding renewed acceptance as is the unity of the total person.

In the New Testament, faith, forgiveness of sins, and healing are frequently inseparable but distinct aspects of one experience. Out of mercy and compassion, God works to bring about reconciliation that restores peace between God and humanity, among individuals and communities, within each person, and between humankind and the creation. Guilt, anxiety, fear, broken relationships, and the loneliness of alienation all contribute to human sickness. Healing, in the Christian sense, is the reintegration of body, mind, emotions, and spirit that permits people, in community, to live life fully in a creation honored by prudent and respectful use.

In this healing service, four themes are intertwined: God’s word, growth in faith, forgiveness of sin, human touch.
At St. John’s United Church of Christ our healing service is part of Holy Communion: Together with the confession of sin and the assurance of pardon the whole person is strengthened to approach the Lord’s table with a sense of integrity.

In scripture, God’s word reassures us of the Creator’s love and compassion. Jesus’ acts of healing, the healing ministry of the New Testament church, and contemporary experiences of healing all testify to the health and fullness God makes possible in human life.

Faith in the inclusive sense of trust and belief in God’s unmerited goodness is an integral cornerstone of the New Testament understanding of healing. Individuals and communities of believers nurture each other in their mutual growth in faith. God does not promise that we will be spared suffering, but does promise to be with us in our suffering. Trusting that promise, we are enabled to bear the unbearable and recognize God’s sustaining nearness in pain, in sickness, and in injury.

Forgiveness of sin is often closely associated with healing in the New Testament. The connection of forgiveness and healing affirms the psychosomatic unity of individuals recognized by modern health sciences. It admits the importance of openness and honesty to every relationship of love. It sets health in the context of relationships restored by confession and forgiveness.

In the New Testament, touch plays a central role in the healing ministry. The power of touch is recognized, whether in the anointing with oil, the laying on of hands, or the less formal gesture of holding someone’s hand or touching a wound. Jesus frequently touched others: blessing children, washing feet, healing injuries or disease, and raising people from death. Jesus also allowed himself to be touched, washed, embraced, anointed. To allow oneself to be touched is an act of openness. To touch another is an act of acceptance in which a person transfers something of oneself to another: love, affection, protection, strength, power, acceptance. Touch in the healing ministry embodies the embrace of God for the redeemed creation when in the mystery of last things God will make all things new.

I am grateful for the opportunity to be once again invited to lead the Rosenberg City Council in a prayer of invocation tonight. As always you have a full agenda and tonight you are making two presentations that I want to reflect on for a moment: Our Lady of Guadelupe Catholic Church is being recognized for the beautification of their property and the month of July is recognized as Parks and Recreation month in the City of Rosenberg. The Bishop of Rome just a few weeks ago released his ENCYCLICAL LETTER LAUDATO SI’ celebrating the beauty of mother Earth in a similar attempt. Let me share the first couple of paragraphs with y’all and then lead into Francis’ prayer that can be found at the end of his encyclical ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME:

1. “LAUDATO SI’, mi’ Signore” – “Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs”.

2. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life. This is why the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.

Remembering our beautiful city parks that survived recent flooding and celebrating America’s independence with a fun filled evening at Seabourne Creek Park, let us pray:
“All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe
and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth,
so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts
of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united
with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace.”
Amen.

We are the 1%. No, we are not the super-rich. But our delegation of about 30 people from the South Central Conference made up about 1% of the total attendance of General Synod 30 in Cleveland, Ohio, from June 26-30. 3,000 UCC folks doing the business of the church, praying, learning and singing together is a powerful witness.

In one workshop I learned more about how to heal the invisible wounds of war. Warriors journeying home need a safe place to open up and sometimes PTSD can be triggered decades after they returned from WWII, Korea, Vietnam.

I also attended a workshop on breaking the silence about mental illness. One in four adults suffers through a period of mental illness in their lives. That is nothing to be ashamed of and opening up and finding help are crucial for all of us. The church has the sacred responsibility to help wounded souls heal.

General Synod coincided with the Cleveland Pride Festival and the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of marriage equality has been celebrated in many ways. In our tradition marriage is understood to be a covenantal relationship: Two persons entering a covenant just like Christ has entered a covenant with his church. For that commitment all persons require God’s blessing because as human beings we cannot make that work on our own.

Our theme has been “Unexpected Places”. Where warriors heal, where mental illness loses its stigma, where love is just love, that’s where we can be surprised to find the face of God in unexpected places.

General Synod is the body of our church that gathers as sort of a nationwide family reunion. It’s also where business is done and elections are held: The Rev. Dr. John C. Dorhauer is our new General Minister and President (GMP). In the UCC we do not have a Bishop neither are we autonomous. Our 5,000 congregations with 1,000,000 members are in a covenantal relationship with one another. The national setting does not speak for the church but to the church, just like our congregation speaks with the Houston Association and the South Central Conference. The church of Jesus Christ is fully realized in St. John’s United Church of Christ, however at Synod our South Central Conference amounts to 1%. We have a big and beautiful family all over the place.
To hear and see more about what was going on in Cleveland please find #GS2015.

I am fixin’ to attend the United Church of Christ General Synod 2015 in Cleveland, Ohio, June 26-30. Every two years delegates and visitors from all over the country convene for the business and celebration of our wider church family. A reunion of sorts representing 1,000,000 people. Like many attendees I will post regular updates using the hashtag #GS2015. Back in Germany the national setting of the church has a similar event that just concluded a couple of weeks ago. Here is a report that has been shared via the World Council of Churches:

Tens of thousands of people from Germany and beyond have converged on the city of Stuttgart for a five-day festival of faith, debates, music, worship and culture. Open-air services in different parts of the city marked the start of the German Protestant Kirchentag, or church convention, which began on 3 June and continues until 7 June.

The event is Germany’s biggest Protestant gathering, taking place every two years in a different German city. It brings together tens of thousands of participants, including personalities from political, economic and national life. The Kirchentag was founded in 1949 by Protestant lay people to strengthen democratic culture after the Nazi dictatorship and the Second World War. The Kirchentag also serves as a major forum for debates on such matters as nuclear power, climate change, and the financial crisis. Alongside such discussions, it offers opportunities for worship, music and culture. The event features 2500 individual events in Stuttgart.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, German President Joachim Gauck underlined the role of the Kirchentag in motivating people to tackle the major issues of the time. “Poverty, injustice, lack of peace, intolerance and environmental degradation affect people in many parts of the world,” said Gauck. “Those who live by faith do not want only to be spectators in the face of such developments. They are looking for responses that will help them to act.” Gauck was a Protestant pastor in the former East Germany and became active in the 1989 protests against communist rule that led to the unification of Germany the following year. Alongside Gauck, Chancellor Angela Merkel and former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan are scheduled to address the gathering.

Almost 100,000 people are registered for the whole of the five-day meeting. The assembly takes place this year under the biblical theme “That we may become wise,” based on a verse from the book of Psalms (90:12). The president of the 2015 Kirchentag, Andreas Barner, underlined the need for wisdom in “how we deal with each other, how we deal with our natural resources, and with our world.” At the same time, he said, “The sustainability of our society depends on the extent to which we develop the ability to create and to preserve peace.” Barner, a Protestant layperson and business leader, referred in particular to the continuing reports of people drowning in the Mediterranean as they try to reach Europe from North Africa. Such deaths must come to an immediate end, he said.

The Kirchentag has strong ecumenical links in Germany and beyond, with more than 5000 international guests at the Stuttgart meeting. They include a high-level delegation from Korea and large groups of participants from Indonesia and Nigeria. On 6 June, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, will take part in a day of events linked to the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, launched by the WCC following its 2013 assembly.