St. John's UCC

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.

Ramadan 2015 begins in the evening of Wednesday, June 17. Our neighbors at Maryam Islamic Center in Sugar Land will be observing this fasting season just like we do Lent. Maybe they are even more serious about it. As Protestant Christians we have for the most part forgotten how powerful the spiritual practice of fasting actually can be. Imam Tauqer H. Shah is the Religious Advisor in Sugar Land and has written the following piece as a reminder of our shared heritage and practice.
Blessings
Rev. Daniel Haas

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar. It is the month in which God revealed the Holy Quran to Mankind. In this month, Muslims fast throughout the day and offer special prayers at night. Ramadan is a month for increasing and achieving spiritual, physical and social health. Ramadan comes to erase bad habits/attitudes to replace them with those beneficial for mankind, through context-dependent repetition and obedience to God.
Fasting during the month of Ramadan is obligatory for every Muslim, man and woman, who is sane and mature. Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam and an important act of worship and obedience to Allah (God). Fasting in Islam means abstaining from eating, drinking, and conjugal relations from dawn until sunset with an intent of observing the fast.

Fasting has been part of the universal religious tradition of mankind. It would be difficult to name any religion system of any description in which it is wholly unrecognized. The Quran affirm this continuity of tradition of fasting when it says:
“Fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you”. (Quran, 2:183).

The act of fasting allows us to strengthen the idea of God’s sovereignty in the consciousness of man and its outward expression to such an extent that man submits his will and independence to the will of God, in all he feels and does. Exercising control over all parts of the body and mind and employing them with the knowledge and insight given by God for such ends that may produce the qualities of patience, steadfastness, endurance, and trust in God. One who fast begins to absorb these characteristics, and when he repeats this practice for a continuous thirty days, they become stabilized and become deeply rooted in his/her nature. Fasting is more than abstaining from food and drink. It includes abstaining from any falsehood in speech and action, ignorant and indecent speech and lustful thoughts. Therefore, fasting strengthens control of impulses and helps develop good behavior. This purification of body and soul harmonizes the inner and outer spheres of an individual.

Fasting is primarily an individual action but just as prayer is performed in congregation, fasting is turned into collective practice with all its advantages. The process of sharing meals, joining the congregation for the nightly prayers, increased reward for charity produces a society of righteous and God fearing individuals. This act of fasting is considered the pillar of Islam, for it is through fasting that each individual of the Muslim community gets the opportunity of his moral, spiritual, and social training.

At Maryam Islamic Center, we will start the festivities of Ramadan from Thursday, June 18, 2015. We will have regular nightly prayers and Iftar (Sunset meal) offered on the weekends and many more activities for the community. Every year, we also host the annual Interfaith Iftaar for our friends and neighbors. Details will follow soon. For further information, Please visit our website at www.MaryamMasjid.org

The Endowment Fund for St. John’s United Church of Christ is there to maintain the assets of our congregation so we are free to do ministry. On Sunday, June 14th, 2015, right after church, they will be sponsoring a presentation on how to have your medical house in order through Texas Advance Directives.

What are church endowments good for anyway?
– Here an explanation from the Local Church Planned Giving Manual:
“Old First,” known as the “church of the open mind, the open heart and the open door” ministers in a deteriorated area of the city, where it has served for over 150 years. The surrounding community is ethnically diverse and economically poor. The membership of “Old First” has ebbed and flowed as immigrant groups arrived in the city and eventually made their way to the suburbs. Presently, under vital pastoral and lay leadership, the congregation is experiencing a renewal, attracting new members and reaching out again to the neighborhood. The ability of the congregation to be so engaged is due in no small measure to their endowment. For instance, it provides additional funds for an associate pastor to serve the community and engage in a youth ministry.
St. John’s, located nearby, is of similar age to Old First. It is known as an “ethnic” church, given its historic roots. It is served by a part-time pastor who gathers the elderly few in a cavernous Gothic sanctuary for worship on Sunday, which basically constitutes St. John’s ministry. The outlook of this declining congregation is one of survival. A small endowment, whose principal is dwindling, maintains the congregation. The members are determined to “keep the doors open” as long they live, or “until the money runs out.” Lacking is a sense of mission, an openness to the community, and a vision for tomorrow.
Some congregations question why we have endowments. Some church officers would even say it is not wise Christian stewardship, and perhaps even unbiblical. Some leaders feel that endowments are a deadly influence on the life and giving of a congregation, in the same way that too much capital reserve can lull a business into complacency. Jesus offers a perspective that does not condemn money, nor the accumulation of wealth, as long as it serves a worthy purpose and does not become the object of worship. Money, especially when invested, can tempt individuals and congregations to place undue reliance and trust in it, as with the rich young ruler (Mk. 10:17–31) or the builder of bigger barns (Lk. 12:16–21). In these scriptures, we hear the legitimate warnings and harsh judgments of Jesus. In contrast, the parable of the talents (Mt. 25:14–30) has Jesus commending the servant who multiplied what he had been given, that it might serve an even greater usefulness.
(More on Endowments at http://www.ucc.org/giving/pdf/giving-manual-section-04.pdf)

We have houses evacuated in our city of Rosenberg and the Brazos River still threatens to endanger lives and property. Whenever the National Weather Service issues a flood watch or a flood warning people are sure to compare it to the situation with Noah. It so easy to compare any inconvenient water to that which killed almost all life on planet Earth. Not only natural disasters trigger that comparison but also the reference to the sin that presumably caused it.

Any natural disaster will have some preacher up in arms proclaiming the end is near because you-know-who did this-or-that. I am writing these reflections in a much calmer situation: The weather forecast looks dry for the next week. The crest of the flood is here and turned out less disastrous than originally expected here in Rosenberg. And most certainly has nobody preached of fire and brimstone denouncing the sin that led to our flood warnings. So in a very stable situation after the flood has passed, the rainbow is out and we are all safe and dry, let us take a sober look at what actually caused the Great Flood for which Noah built the Ark. That story is to be found in Genesis 6:1-8:

When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose. Then the Lord said, ‘My spirit shall not abide in mortals for ever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’ The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterwards—when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown. The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.

Yes, you read that right: demigods roaming the Earth, Sons of God having babies with human mothers, just like it was the case with Jesus and Mary. Only in this early incarnation God did not approve and vowed to undo that.
The Flood was not caused by human sin!
The Flood was caused by demigods abusing their power.
Let that sink in for a minute:
God is not in the business of punishing people!
God is in the business of making amends for what his sons messed up!
God is a loving parent cleaning up after his kids!

The sun rises and….. :/ #HoustonFlood pic.twitter.com/kgifRHTUin

— Kyle Nowotny (@ElNaranja22) May 26, 2015

We just sent our congregation’s donations of $250 to UCC Disaster Ministries in order to help in the aftermath of the Nepal Earthquakes. Now the Houston area itself got hit by disaster. UCC Disaster Ministries are checking in and assessing the damage as well as the need for help:

Dear friends in Christ,
Your conference and those who have been impacted by the recent storms and flooding have been in my prayers this weekend. I wanted to let you know that we are here to support. I want you to know that you are not alone and my office is here to help in any way that we can.
Are you aware of any of our congregations or members that have been directly impacted?
Peace and Blessings,
Zach Wolgemuth
Executive, UCC Disaster Ministries

And from the South Central Conference of the United Church of Christ:
I am hoping your church survived the torrential rains but if you did sustain any damage, please be in contact with me. Our prayers are with all who sustained damage from the weekend severe rains and flooding. We continue to pray for those are still missing in central Texas (and their families).
Rev. Douglas Anders
Conference Minister

If you suffered sustained damage please let the Rev. Haas know. He can connect you to help. He can be reached on his cell at 801-368-1180 or email at haas@minister.com

If you were on the lucky side you can keep those affected in your thoughts and prayer and you can donate to UCC Disaster Ministries to help both in your neighborhood as well as around the world: http://www.ucc.org/disaster

Wouldn’t it be nice to know God?
Wouldn’t it be nice to have God in your heart?
Wouldn’t it be nice to bring God to people?
Wouldn’t it be nice to bring people to God?
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to handle God?

A Sermon for Ascension Sunday 2015 based on Acts 1:1-11.

Our congregation is gearing up for its 75th anniversary next year. We will be celebrating a great past full of wonderful people, missions and ministries. I think its only fitting to also mention our parents and look into our family tree:

St. John’s United Church of Christ was born out of a vision form our mother church Friedens UCC in Beasley. They provided the original staff and energy. Friedens UCC was 29 years old when they gave birth to little St. John’s. That is a good age to become a parent – well established yet young and energetic enough to dare new adventures. As you can tell by their German first name they had their roots across the Atlantic. I am speculating here but it might well be that the original Friedens people came from the Braunfels area in Hessen where a lot of people in our region originated from. It stands to reason that they came out of the Schlosskirche in Braunfels, Germany. That church was built in the 16th century as a church used by both Protestants and Catholics simultaneously.

Going back only two church generations we made it across an ocean and a language barrier. Our church family tree is full of risk-takers and adventurers. On the occasion of the church’s birthday we are reminded that we are not autonomous but that we are part of a long and proud lineage. We can celebrate our ancestors all the way back to the day of Pentecost. That was when in Jerusalem the disciples received the Holy Spirit in order to live as the Body of Christ. Pentecost is often called the birthday of the church. Without Jesus physically around his friends now had to deal with one another and with the world “only” with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And when we “do church” here today we can only do that because people have dared to allow the Spirit of God to move them into new and unexpected places.

Our ancestors have been taking risks, tearing down tradition, starting over in life and faith. That has been our church family’s tradition. As we are gearing up for our anniversary we need not only look at the past 75 years but also dare ask the big questions:
What does God want St. John’s to look like 75 year from now?
And what can we do to make room for that Spirit right here right now?
Come Holy Spirit! Come!

Multiple children were baptized in German language ceremonies at St. John’s United Church of Christ in Rosenberg TX the week leading up to Mother’s Day and on that Sunday itself. The 10 am worship service on May 10 provided a great opportunity to remember your own Baptism. The Mother’s Day Service included German language readings, prayers and songs.

Mehrere Kinder wurden in der Woche vor Muttertag und am Sonntag selber in deutschsprachigen Zeremonien in der Johanniskirche getauft. Der Gottesdienst am 10. Mai um 10 Uhr war eine gute Gelegenheit sich selber der eigenen Taufe zu erinnern. Im Muttertagsgottesdienst gab es deutsche Lesungen, Gebete und Lieder.