As We Were Saying

We have a pair of Hebrew psalms to be read today. The book of Psalms - found smack in the middle of our Christian Bible - songs of great confidence in God and great questions for God, with shouts of joy and groans of sorrow, sung to a God who is blessedly present sometimes and glaringly absent others. These are songs that can begin, as Psalm 22 does, the one that Jesus quoted moments before he died, My God, my God . . . why have you forsaken me? And the very next psalm, psalm 23, begins with these beloved words of faith, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The Hebrew psalms have it all, from faith to no faith, joy to sorrow, and love to hatred.

The psalms Dave will read this morning are of the brighter sort, expressions of great confidence and joy. They invite us to give praise to God, to Yahweh who is gracious and merciful. For God provides all we need - those who follow God, says the confident poet, lack no good thing. And in the second reading we will hear some clear and simple advice for living the truly good life: First, watch what you say - do not speak deceitfully. Then, Depart from evil - and instead, do good. And last, Seek peace - no don't just seek peace, pursue it relentlessly. Let us give our attention now to the reading of today's scripture.

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Roman Catholic theologian Matthew Fox in 1988 was ordered by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now known simply as the Pope, to stop teaching for fourteen months. Fox, an innovative and provocative thinker, a progressive, open voice within the church (who is now an Episcopal priest) obeyed that order. And at the end of those fourteen months he began his first public address with these words, As I was saying fourteen months ago, before I was so rudely interrupted . . . .

It was not fourteen months, but four months ago, that Carol and I put on pause our ministry among you. It's not as though we were rudely interrupted, of course. It was our idea, after all! But still, it has been a while, and while we are glad to be back among you we are grateful for our time of renewal and reflection and rest.

We welcomed the freedom the time afforded us to nourish soul and mind and body, to learn and to grow as people and as ministers. More than one person this week has asked us, Honestly, now, are you really glad to be back to work? And honestly there are certain aspects of any vocation that one doesn't miss. I won't go into those! What we did miss was you, the people of this church. We missed being part of a faith community ,THIS faith community, because it is our faith community.

Most of us need to be in community with others in order to thrive. It may be a very small community, or large. But being in relationship with others is for most of us an essential ingredient for being healthy. And so we missed being part of this community these weeks.

We were, however, over these four months temporarily were part of several kinds of communities, including some communities of faith. Let me tell you about some of those experiences..

For a week we were on Washington Island, attending a conference about singing and faith. It was good time. Morning worship was led by the Lutherans among us, and while I appreciated that style of worship, I learned that chanting is not something I can appreciate very much. The speakers for the week were from the Mennonite tradition, and I learned that they have a wonderful sense of song and a rich heritage of social justice expressed in their music. We hope that we can use some of that music in our own worship here this year. There were folks of other Christian traditions attending as well, forming a supportive community for the week, and we made some new friends.

We spent a weekend in the community of faith called First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn, Illinois. There we interviewed the pastor, Lillian Daniels, who is a leader in the renewal of using "testimony" in mainline churches - the kind of testimony we have been using here. And then on Sunday morning after worship that church held a congregational meeting to decide on becoming an Open and Affirming church - this was just three weeks after that step was taken here. And while we missed being here in our home community when we became an Open and Affirming church, we could share in that community's joy and as they came to that same decision - and we pretended that it was this congregation!

We spent several days in Cleveland, and there our community came in the form of two families being joined in a wedding celebration - the son of Brad and Jane Larsen-Wigger whom some of you know married a woman from Cleveland. So it was fun to see them, and as a bonus I renewed a kind of community from my high school days. The pastor who performed the wedding was a fellow I knew in high school - a good friend of mine, in fact, and Carol and I spent an evening in his home.

There in Cleveland too were an Aunt and cousins of Carol's - family is a type of community in which we share. And a childhood friend of Carol's spent a day with us too. So we took part in some communities that defy the limits of geography and even time.

I should mention too that there for a day we were part of another kind of community - the crowds at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! Many of that crowd looked suspiciously of a mature age - they looked a lot like us - there reliving our youth and the good old days when rock was still rock, in all its glory!

In Louisville, Kentucky, we were part of another faith community for a week, this one made up of people wanting to learn more about worship and the arts. There were dancers and musicians, writers and artists - living and learning and worshiping in community. One afternoon I spent several hours in a workshop with just eight people - eight very different people from a variety of life circumstances and religious experience - led by a Louisville jazz pianist named Harry Pickens. For those hours, led by word and sound - music - that little group became a faith community, experiencing a common sense of God's presence among us.

There were other communities of which we were a part these past four months, joining in worship at various times and various places - from Fond du Lac to Appleton, to New Jersey, joining for an hour a worshiping community, and then going our separate ways.

Now: I must say there is a great advantage of being part of a temporary faith community like the ones we experienced. That advantage is that you are not known. One can be anonymous, sitting toward the back, slipping out early if you want, and not having to sign up for anything. That's an attractive thing about a short term faith community. You're not known.

But there is a disadvantage to such communities. That disadvantage is that your are not known. No one knows even your name, if you choose not to wear the nametag. Still less do they know your needs, your questions, your strengths and weaknesses, or your gifts. And being known and valued and cared for - having a place, being accepted for who you are in all your glory and sometimes shame - being in community, is something you can't get in a day or two, or a week.

And so the faith communities in which we lived for a morning, or for a day or even a week, as valuable as they were, and enjoyable, fall short of providing what we really need. And that is an ongoing community - a faith community like this. And being back in such relationships is why we are, honestly, glad to be back among you. Community is something easily taken for granted - and missed sorely if you're gone for very long.

That's a little bit about what we have been doing these past four months. But let me remind you what YOU have been doing. You, the faith community that we call First Congregational Church, didn't just shut down while we wandered about, did you!

I already mentioned the decision to become an Open and Affirming church, the culmination of not just a few months discussion, but of years of thinking through the issues, and coming to a consensus. You took on a potentially divisive issue, and talked about it honestly and respectfully, and then dared to follow what you believed to be the leading of God. That was an important step in this community's life.

But that wasn't the only thing this faith community did. You elected new church officers and other leaders who have begun their work for the coming year.

You sent a mission team out, and they returned having served in your name, and grown as individuals and as a group.

Stephen Minister trainers were commissioned, and we are at the start now of this wonderful and exciting new ministry that will serve this faith community for many years to come.

Other ministries began, like the prayer pillow and shawl ministry, and the visitation team. You just hosted a successful Vacation Bible School here.

You were part of the Gallery Walk last month, and you hosted the Green Lake Festival of Music chorale concert in July. You received an Acanthus award from the City for the preservation of the tower and roof.

Your church leadership has moved forward with plans to make our church better known and identified in the community - you'll be hearing much more about that. And another group has been actively working on how we can take a new look at financial stewardship, to address the economic challenges of these days.

And through these months you have cared for each other in countless, unseen ways. Several beloved and long time members of the church family have passed on. And you welcomed several new children born into this faith community.

We share together in a living, always changing, community of faith. Sharing our lives with each other, working together in the mission of the church, seeking to be a vibrant community of faith in challenging times - we need one another to be the community that God in Christ calls us to become. And so today we don't start again. Because nothing has stopped that needs to be restarted. No, we continue the work of being a people of God, each with a gift to share, each to play a part in the community, this community that dares to call ourselves followers of Christ, seekers of God's way of justice and peace.

It's good to be back among you!

Amen.