St. John's UCC

Thursday May 14, 2015, is Father’s Day. At least in my book. Since I live both the US and German cultures I get to celebrate two Father’s Days on different dates. This upcoming German variety has a powerful customary expression: A bunch of dads going on a hike without family – basically taking a day off from fathering. Instead they pull a little red wagon full of beer and get wasted in public places. It has been a tradition for over 100 years. Honestly I have never celebrated that way but it is a cultural icon you should be aware of.

All this daytime drinking is possible because German Father’s Day also happens to be a national holiday. The way most of us think about German culture it is totally within the realm of possibility to dedicate a national holiday to drinking beer in the park but actually it is a major Christian holiday: Ascension Day! Yes, churches do have a hard time filling the pews on a holiday where the guys prefer hiking. But at least the theme for the worship service is pretty clear: “Jesus goes back to his heavenly father”. So Ascension is truly Jesus’ Father’s Day. That’s the way it always has been. For almost 2000 years!

Then I moved to the US and this whole connection is gone because in America we don’t join those two celebrations. So I had to look at the more serious implications of Ascension. How do you celebrate Jesus going back to heaven when it is not linked to a Father figure waiting for him up there?

Jesus Christ is no longer among us. He is not dead, he is risen after all. But he is still gone, ascended into heaven. How do you maintain a long distance relationship like that? Ascension poses a challenge: There is this huge gap that remains between God Almighty, creator of the universe and us little creatures down here on Earth. For a brief time in history we had Jesus walking among us, preaching, and teaching, and healing. Then: Ascension! Pouf! He disappears just us quickly and unexpectedly as the angel had appeared to Mary announcing his birth to begin with. God’s presence among us is fleeting at best. Maybe that’s the takeaway from Ascension Day: God the Father will always be hiking through the Garden of Eden whether we see him or not and he’s got our back no matter what.

Mehrere Kinder werden in der Woche vor Muttertag und am Sonntag selber in deutschsprachigen Zeremonien in der Johanniskirche getauft. Der Gottesdienst am 10. Mai um 10 Uhr ist eine gute Gelegenheit sich selber der eigenen Taufe zu erinnern. Gross und klein sind ebenfalls eingeladen sich taufen zu lassen. Dazu ist eine vorherige Absprache mit Pfarrer Daniel Haas unter Telefon 801-368-1180 noetig. Im Muttertagsgottesdienst wird es deutsche Lesungen, Gebete und Lieder geben.

Multiple children will be 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 provides a great opportunity to remember your own Baptism. Young and old are invited to be baptized themselves. That requires consultation ahead of time with Rev. Daniel Haas at 801-368-1180. The Mother’s Day Service will include German language readings, prayers and songs.

Please RSVP on Facebook.

Everything the church is about can be summed up in one dinner table conversation:
A Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter 2015 based on Luke 24:13-49.

When I bake bread I use 1 1/2 cups of water. The bread turns out just right with a yummy crust when I follow my simple recipe that I developed a few years ago. Like any good recipe it doesn’t work if you don’t follow the measurements. You need to understand what 1 1/2 cups are. A half a cup is a fraction of a cup. The bottom number is called denominator. Of all the fractions the denominator tells you which numerators belong together.

Churches are the same way. We are all one and the same body of Christ that starts with water: the water of Baptism. After that things got messy and we divided ourselves into different “churches”. Ultimately we are all numerals on the same scale but we set ourselves apart.

Luckily we in the United Church of Christ hold on to the concept of the denominational church. We share a common denominator, a shared family name for all our more than 5000 congregations: United Church of Christ.

As the body of Christ is symbolized in a loaf of bread so the church is carefully crafted with a recipe that has worked from day one: Be in covenant with one another and have structures in place to live out that covenant. A local church works closely with its sister churches in the same Association – in our case the Houston Association. The Associations work together as a Conference – in our case the South Central Conference. And we all share in the missions and ministries of the National Setting. Every “level” of church life has its unique flavors and responsibilities but ultimately we are all numerators of the same denominator.

Our Conference Ministry, the Reverend Douglas Anders, ministers to our churches in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. He will be giving the Sermon next Sunday, April 26 in our 10 am service at St. John’s United Church of Christ. Ultimately being part of a denominational church is about relationship: recognizing kinfolk and sharing time, talent and resources to make the world better as a whole. Because ultimately that’s where the whole thing is headed – that one day there won’t be separate denominators anymore but the one Body of Christ: 1/1

On Facebook and in real life bad news spread easily.
Regarding Good News we tend to be like doubting Thomas:

A Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter 2015 based on John 20:24-31.

Jesus said to them, “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him. (Mark 12:17)

Today’s emperor is the Congress with its power of the purse and the IRS enforcing the rules. Your CPA or software tells you exactly what you owe them. They will want that this week. Paying your taxes is about paying you fair share but like with any institution federal and state budgets are mixed bags. My biggest complaint would be that we have not had a federal budget for the longest time. And even once we do everybody will find things in it they want to support. And of course you will find things that you don’t want to support. That’s all politics and politics are about the process. You don’t have to love the results but you have to honor the process. “Give to the Congress what the tax code tells you.” is Jesus’ straight-forward message.

The second part of that verse is a little more complex: “Give to God the things that are God’s.”
As a pastor I am not your spiritual bookkeeper that tells you how much you owe and there isn’t a software for that either. But I can suggest one mathematical approach nonetheless:
What do you owe God? – Everything!
In numbers that would be infinite. Because ultimately all of creation, all the blessings we receive in life are given and sustained by God. Ultimately we don’t own anything but are mere stewards in God’s vineyard. There is no hard and fast deadline for the giving Jesus is talking about here. Neither is it clear what should be included on that balance sheet. Maybe a good starting point would be to track your expenses and then as a second step you could become intentional about adjusting your “God Budget”. Here is a simple worksheet to get you started, not just financially. But please also include the time and the talents that you invest:

“Sister Act film poster” by Source. Licensed under Wikipedia.

“Oh happy day! Oh happy day! Oh happy day!
When Jesus washed, oh when he washed, he washed my sins away”
I admit it: I just love Whoopi Goldberg in Sister Act. When that energetic, loving nun turns around that run-down neighborhood, her songs are an inspiration. Bringing Aretha Franklin’s tune to a broader audience also helps spread the message of Easter. The lyrics really contain everything you need to know from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, from Jesus’ death on the cross to his glorious resurrection. Have you stopped humming yet?

The image of washing our sins away with Jesus’ blood is somewhat disturbing because it sounds so archaic but hey, that’s what you get for basing your faith on ancient texts like this one:
“If we walk in the light as God is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
(1 John 1:7 –Watchword for the Week of Sunday 12 April 2015)

That’s what Holy Week is all about: He washed my sins away!
And actually that extends well beyond that one special week, because I will sin over and over again and I will need cleansing over and over again. It is literally the original vicious cycle.

But not only that: The song as well as God’s purpose for us don’t stop there:
“He taught me how to watch, fight and pray, fight and pray! And living rejoicing every, everyday!”
Remember how Jesus asks the disciples to keep watch while he goes out to pray? – They keep falling asleep! They don’t fight their inner laziness and they fail to pray when it is so crucial. And rejoicing every day? – That sounds so hard because some days are just so hard to bear that nobody would want to rejoice. My hope would be that, when you have one of those days, when rejoicing sounds like too much to ask, that God may send you a sister Mary Clarence who may rock your world and teach you to sing “Oh happy day! Oh happy day! Oh happy day!”

Imagine people didn’t have a defect that you need to fix.
Imagine people didn’t need you to share your wisdom.
“No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,”
for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest”

A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent 2015 based on Jeremiah 31:31-34 and John 12:20-33.

The first official announcement for the 2016 presidential ticket of a major party is now on the books. Campaign season has officially begun. And like always we will hear a whole slate of people announcing their candidacy for their party ticket. And every single one of them will promise to do better than anyone else. They may promise to do away with whatever a predecessor may have done or they may promise to continue down the same path. “With me things are going to get a lot better.” They all have to say something to that effect because in the highest government executive office, we the people want someone who can get things done.

Israel had a lot of expectations for their new leader as well. For generations the land had been occupied by the Romans. There had always been revolts trying to cast off that yoke. Uprisings were commonplace and there was a lot of hope that some day a great strong leader may emerge and kick out the Romans once and for all. Somebody yelling: “With me things are going to get a lot better.” A strong leader who can get things done, who can fight and win our wars and restore liberty and justice for all. Maybe this concept of ancient Israel still applies today: Candidates still want to be the Messiah who saves the day. That’s why they promise heaven on earth if you just vote for them.

Well, here is what happened back then: Jesus was nominated to be the new king of the Jews. The media of the day had high expectations of this new and upcoming star. They wanted him to be the mighty warrior to restore King David’s Empire. They wanted him to lead the people into battle and free Jerusalem and restore Israel’s independence. News reports came in that he may join the Passover festivities in the capital this year. So reporters lined up along the main drag that led into town, vendors set up their booths with fan memorabilia, excitement was building. The people got curious: What’s going on? Who’s coming? What is this all about? Oh – a rally against the Romans? – Sign me up! Finally his presence was announced: Jesus has entered the final stretch and will be visible soon! What’s he gonna look like? Heavy armor? A mighty horse? Troops following behind him, well trained and equipped to march into the fight? Maybe even before the festival is over? Can he get this done swiftly and forcefully? Go Jesus! Go Jesus! Go Jesus!

Then he turns around the corner so everybody can see him in all his glory – sitting on a donkey!? And all of a sudden everybody starts realizing that their expectations had been off. When King David sent his son Solomon to his accession to the throne he had him ride on a donkey (1 Kings 1:33): No war machine, no military parade. The king of the Jews has always been a king of humility. What if our 2016 candidates announced like that: “Don’t expect too much from me. I’m not bringing anything special to the table. Things will not get a lot better because of me. I would just like to play my part in the system.”

What if we would manage our exceptions in a way that would enable us to live the life we have?
What if would would hope for fulfillment in our current situation without radical transformation?
What is life weren’t always all exciting but sometimes just hard work that never seems to end?
Because let’s not forget that the same crowd that yells “Hosannah!” today is bound to yell “Crucify him!” in just a little while.

Did God really send snakes to kill God’s people? What kind of parent would do that?

A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent 2015 based on Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21.