This is our special Guest Bob Bennett, http://www.bob-bennett.com , performing the communion song by Barry McGuire.  I perform the words of Institution in Sign Language as he sings.  It was such an honor to have this man with us please go and seek out his music it is wonderful

This Ain't gonna be easy

Last week Jesus sent out his disciples to minister in pairs in the surrounding villages.  He explains; “if a place doesn’t welcome you or listen to you, as you leave, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them.” (Mark 6:11) the footnote in the study bible says; “The gesture symbolizes a broken relationship. Jesus makes it clear the mission won’t be entirely successful”[1]  Yet as we heard last week nothing went wrong it says they healed and anointed and had a grand ole time.  The writer does get to write his own history.

After today’s reading in the gospel of Mark is the feeding of 5 thousand and we all know that turns out well.  But today’s reading is to the contrary.  We have John the Baptist who Herod respects and believes to be a righteous and holy person.  Yet his fate is well known even protected by a king he loses his head. 

This is what a professor of mine would call a markan sandwich.  A seemingly incongruent story nestled between two similar stories. Two stories of healing and joy and miracles contrasted by the one in between which is horrifying.  Too often we will focus on the joyous and try to ignore the hard story. Yet this is truly emphasizing that things may not always go as planned to the point of actually foreshadowing Jesus’ own fate.

You may be anticipating where I am heading with this especially after my centering prayer video. “Black churches in North Carolina, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Ohio and Tennessee have burned in the weeks following the terrorist attack on Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. that killed 9 people. In response, agents of the state and mainstream media have attempted to gaslight black America into believing that the smoke choking our collective souls is imagined.”[2]

I have heard some pundits try to blame this as an attack on Christianity and further try to associate it with a response to allowing marriage equality in America.  This rhetoric is not only hateful and mean, it is downright ignorant and it does not touch on an underlying fire that continues to smolder in this country.  As we were in the midst of joyous, rightly earned celebrations, people were mourning and still crying out for justice that has yet to be realized.

Please do not misunderstand me.  As the poem said in centering prayer; “To tell me you know my pain, is to stab yourself in the leg because you saw me get shot. We have two different wounds, and looking at yours does nothing to heal mine…”[3] I know pain, the LGBTQ community knows pain, the African community knows pain, knows it better than I can even dare to compare mine too. Yet when I read and hear of these things, these hateful horrific things that were happening congruent to our Joy, my heart broke.

There is something inside of me that wanted to rush to the side of our Christian brothers and sisters at the AME church, yet, I could not.  I want to reach out and offer something do something for those churches that burned down for those communities that lost their structural center.  I say structural center for the center of those communities continues to live in the people and will survive.  Hate may have burned a building down but the people still stand.  I do have to say that it is possible that not all of these fires were intentional yet it is safe to assume that most were and you see because we know, America knows that hate burned down at least one. Even if it is just one, that hatred, that underlying prejudice informs the reaction, the soul of everyone affected by the fire.

Every one affected by the fires.  Every one affected by the shootings. We are all affected, whether we want to admit it or not.  How many of you when you first heard of the shootings thought if that could happen there it could happen anywhere?

But then we separate ourselves from it and often forget it too easy.  John Metta has pointed out in a recent sermon he gave titled “I, Racist”. John speaks from how when these events happen the black community thinks of an event affecting the “we” meaning  “we as the black community” however

“White people do not think in terms of we. White people have the privilege to interact with the social and political structures of our society as individuals. You are “you,” I am “one of them.” Whites are often not directly affected by racial oppression even in their own community, so what does not affect them locally has little chance of affecting them regionally or nationally. They have no need, nor often any real desire, to think in terms of a group. They are supported by the system, and so are mostly unaffected by it.”[4]

Yet because these events happen in and around faith communities, churches I believe we can speak of this is affecting us. Robert C. Henderson a Parliament of Religion trustee writes;

“Once again our hearts are broken by acts of senseless violence—murders driven by the cancerous madness of racism. And once again the scene is a church, where God fearing souls gathered for Bible study and worship—spiritual fellowship and love, were taken from their families and friends in the vain hope of prompting a racial holy war.

While families and friends grieve and forgive, people of good will and faith offer support and prayers, and politicians make statements, Americans would benefit from deep reflection on the underlying cause of racial division, the heavy price we pay for hate, and the rising sun of racial amity and concord slowly illuminating the darkness of our divided past.”[5]

That last line is where I am heading I want us to look towards that “rising sun of racial amity.”  I do not want to be all doom and gloom but there are some important things coming out of this past week and a lot of it got buried.  Why? I believe it is because many of us hold an internal shame for what this country has done and often continues to do in ignorance. 

Ignorance, a simple lack of knowledge.  If you were brought up with a certain flag and told it represents southern pride. If that was the common message being taught all around, why would you question it? I can understand that and then, shame on us as a country for not doing a better job of educating our children.  But today with access to instant information and hundreds of articles showing how something never was and cannot continue to be protected because it always has been a symbol of hate there is no excuse, and now it is done.

Yet this conversation, which probably should have happened at the end of the civil war has not truly been addressed till today.  I am not going to question our past.  I am not here to judge how we have or have not progressed, by the way I know we have progressed.  But what I am talking about is we still have a way to go. Yet I believe Charleston may have been a major turning point.  Why?  Because not only did a president pay attention…so did a nation.

As the president eulogized Rev. Clementa Pickney he said somethings that were profound.  One addresses a question I have been asked.  Why does the UCC address the politics?  Why don’t you just address the concerns of the church? 

“Clem was often asked why he chose to be a pastor and a public servant. But the person who asked probably didn’t know the history of the AME church. (Applause.) As our brothers and sisters in the AME church know, we don't make those distinctions. “Our calling,” Clem once said, “is not just within the walls of the congregation, but…the life and community in which our congregation resides.” (Applause.)[6]

You see all this stuff that goes on in the world has always been the concern of the church and sometimes, like today, it is our job to hunt it down, bring it to the foreground and talk about it.  Now if you have been paying attention I have not spoken of solutions.  I have only talked about what has happened. Today’s gospel does not talk about solutions it just bluntly told you what happened.  John was executed and his disciples took his body and buried him.

Why put this story in the Gospel if not to talk about it?  Why do these things happen if we are not going to talk about it?  Is talking about it enough? I will say yes and no.  First it depends upon how we talk and second what that talking about it inspires.

President Obama went onto say; “Over the course of centuries, black churches served as “hush harbors” where slaves could worship in safety; praise houses where their free descendants could gather and shout hallelujah -- (applause) -- rest stops for the weary along the Underground Railroad; bunkers for the foot soldiers of the Civil Rights Movement. They have been, and continue to be, community centers where we organize for jobs and justice; places of scholarship and network; places where children are loved and fed and kept out of harm’s way, and told that they are beautiful and smart -- (applause) -- and taught that they matter. (Applause.) That’s what happens in church.”[7]

Did you hear that the president emphasized what the traditional black churches have meant to people? Where slaves could worship in safety, where free descendants could shout hallelujah, rest for the weary, bunkhouse for soldiers, centers of education, job organization, and justice work and he concludes this paragraph by saying; “That’s what happens in Church.”

That is what happens in church, not just the AME church, but church.  This church, the church you visit on vacation, the church that is having service right now down the street. That is what happens in church!

When speaking of the shooter who acted out in violence the president preached.  President Obama took hold of that pulpit and the Spirit of God spoke through him as clearly as it has spoken through the Gospel today.  Here is what he said

oh, but God works in mysterious ways. (Applause.) God has different ideas. (Applause.)

He didn’t know he was being used by God. (Applause.) Blinded by hatred, the alleged killer could not see the grace surrounding Reverend Pinckney and that Bible study group -- the light of love that shone as they opened the church doors and invited a stranger to join in their prayer circle. The alleged killer could have never anticipated the way the families of the fallen would respond when they saw him in court -- in the midst of unspeakable grief, with words of forgiveness. He couldn’t imagine that. (Applause.)

The alleged killer could not imagine how the city of Charleston, under the good and wise leadership of Mayor Riley -- (applause) -- how the state of South Carolina, how the United States of America would respond -- not merely with revulsion at his evil act, but with big-hearted generosity and, more importantly, with a thoughtful introspection and self-examination that we so rarely see in public life.

Blinded by hatred, he failed to comprehend what Reverend Pinckney so well understood -- the power of God’s grace. (Applause.)[8]

The Power of God’s grace not only to allow the families of the victims to speak of forgiveness.  But the Grace to allow us to gather here today, living in God’s amazing love, knowing we may have not been perfect people but now, as a nation, we are rising to these challenges that have faced us for so long. We are not allowing, we cannot allow, hate to be a rule for this land any more.  Love has to win, not just in marriage equality, but in equality, period.  Far too long we have allowed this smoldering fire of racial injustice continue.  We have allowed for sexual inequality to continue, we have allowed for economic injustice to continue.  In the face of these atrocities, conversations have reignited, do not let them fade into the background of one victory, or worse yet, just one tragedy.

To maybe hear a different voice in this I want to share

“a few excerpts from “The Vision of Race Unity—America’s Most Challenging Issue,” a statement by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States….

In no other country is the promise of organic unity more immediately demonstrable than in the United States because this country is a microcosm of the diverse populations of the earth. Yet this promise remains largely unrealized even here because of the endemic racism that, like a cancer, is corroding the vitals of the nation…

The application of the spiritual principle of the oneness of humanity to the life of the nation would necessitate and make possible vast changes in the economic status of the non-white segments of the population. Although poverty afflicts members of all races, its victims tend to be largely people of color. Prejudice and discrimination have created a disparity in standards of living, providing some with excessive economic advantage while denying others the bare necessities for leading healthy and dignified lives. Poor housing, deficient diet, inadequate health care, insufficient education are consequences of poverty that afflict African Americans, American Indians, and Hispanic Americans more than they afflict the rest of the population. The cost to society at large is heavy…

The persistent neglect by the governing bodies and the masses of the American people of the ravages of racism jeopardizes both the internal order and the national security of the country.[9]

The concept of oneness that must be the rule of this land and allowed to rule our hearts is simple.  The world is one people. There can be no justification for disparity in wages.  There can be no disparity between the sexes.  There is no room for disparity among the races.

This past Fourth of July weekend the hymn America was song and played all over this country.  America, America God shed Grace on thee.  God did not shed grace on some but not others, God’s grace is not something earned but gifted.  Gifted to each and every one of us no matter race, sex, religion, social or economic status.  Now we must start acting like it.

It is our job as Christians to stop the language that hurts.  If you hear hate speech, stop it or walk away.  If you see an injustice call it out or seek out the group that is working to stop it for there are strengths in numbers. Better yet when you see an article about a church burning, a hate crime happening, it will make you uncomfortable, but read it, understand it, talk about it.  Do not allow silence to be the rule anymore.

You see marriage equality happened because we could not be silent anymore.  Yet racial inequality, discrimination and downright hate are allowed to continue for centuries because we refuse to talk about it.  We regulate it to the back pages.  We rather be joyful and celebrate than be uncomfortable and look at our own history of perpetuating another’s otherness.

Jesus warned the disciples nothing is safe.  John the Baptist who was loved by a king was even executed by the man who respected him because he spoke out against him.  I believe this is a time to no longer stay safe.  I needed to talk about this and I pray the conversation continues beyond this simple sermon.  As Christians we are called to stand up and risk it all so that all may know and be treated, not just know but be treated the same. As we are all created from the same dust, as we are all created in the image of the same God, as we are all given the same Grace then so we must proclaim it and act upon it.

That action can take shape in many ways.  First and foremost Prayer, yes I got prayer into this sermon.  Secondly conversations with each other, your neighbors, your friends.  Get involved, Clergy and laity for economic Justice, Habitat for Humanity, or the walk for hunger.  See what the southern Poverty law center is talking about or, aware –la, is talking about. Check out the Justice and witness ministries of the United Church of Christ.

Remember as it was stated in Centering Prayer today; “Movements are driven by passion not asserting yourself dominant by a world that already put you there.”[10]  I am speaking of deep listening and walking beside the other.  This is only how we can work as a nation, as a congregation, to heal and cure this underlying dis-ease.  I use the term dis-ease as in not at ease, but uncomfortable, because there is still work to be done.

I know this is not a comfortable topic.  I know this is not for everyone.  I also know there is at least one person here who is thinking right now maybe I have not done enough.  Maybe I can take a risk and do more.  I pray for this congregation, this denomination and this nation.  This is the conversation that was started by a shooting, I pray this conversation, one day, will no longer be needed. Amen!

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[1] Joel B. Green, Common English Bible: Study Bible (Nashville TN: Common English Bible Inc, 2013), NT 78.

[2] Kirsten West Savali, Silence Around Who Is Burning Black Churches Speaks Volumes, July 5, 2015, accessed July 6, 2015, http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/07/05/silence-around-who-burning-black-churches-speaks-volumes.

[3] Darius Simpson and Scout Bostley, Lost Voices, 2015, accessed July 6, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=42&v=lpPASWlnZIA.

[4] John Metta, I, Racist, July 6, 2015, accessed July 11, 2015, https://thsppl.com/i-racist-538512462265.

[5] Robert C. Henederson, Reflections on Charleston and the Path to Unity, July 2, 2015, accessed July 6, 2015, http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/news/index.php/2015/07/reflections-on-charleston-and-the-path-to-unity/?utm_source=Email+Updates&utm_campaign=74292247ce-RSS_Blog_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5516d1b278-74292247ce-87375217&mc_cid=74292247ce&mc_eid=10708b75ab.

[6] Paige Lavender, You Absolutely Have To Watch And Read Obama's Full Eulogy For Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Medium, accessed July 6, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/26/obama-eulogy-full-text_n_7674406.html.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Henederson, Reflections on Charleston and the Path to Unity.

[10] Simpson and Bostley, Lost Voices.

Resting is a Divine Choice! Mark 4:35-41

In today’s Scripture our friends are about to take a journey outside of their comfort zone.  Jesus says lets cross to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  I was wondering what the other side meant?  Jesus was already in the region of Magdala and Capernaum.

According to Professor Rami Arav 
University of Nebraska at Omaha

“Jesus made his home among the Jewish fishermen of the northern Sea of Galilee and soon learned their lifestyle, the hardship of their livelihood and their anxieties. He made Capernaum his hometown. Capernaum was no more than a small hamlet of fishermen situated at the northwestern shores of the lake. It contained one cluster of simple courtyard houses constructed of the local black basalt stones. Jesus did not remain only in Capernaum, but wandered also between two other locations in the vicinity: Chorazin and Bethsaida.”[1]

But then I got to thinking and I do not believe this to be relevant.  These are seasoned fisherman.  They been in and around this lake all their lives.  To give us some perspective; “How does the size of Lake Tahoe compare with the Sea of Galilee? Lake Tahoe, at 22 by 12 miles wide, is 9 miles longer and 4 miles wider than the Sea of Galilee, which measures about 13 by 8 miles.”[2]  At its deepest it is 200 ft deep. As I continue to reflect, I am sure, these guys’ boats were not anything magnificent but by no account were they flimsy.  These men had been raised around this lake coming from generations of fishermen.  They knew how to swim.  They knew these waters by heart and yet…the story says; they woke him up saying “Teacher don’t you care that we’re drowning.”  Ok, exaggerate much? I must believe this has nothing to do with a physical storm.

Kwasi Kena ask some interesting questions of this text and the disciple’s experience.

“Storms. Who hasn’t experienced nature’s fury?  After living through enough storms, two things may occur. First, you might develop the assurance that when storms hit, you will get through it. Second, you may develop a somber respect for nature’s ability to wreak havoc on life and Limb in a flash.

In Mark 4, the disciples find themselves in the middle of a violent storm while crossing the Sea of Galilee.  They have crossed this sea before, but on this evening the storms seem demonically driven such that the disciples frantically cry out, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing” (v. 38cNSRV)? Yet, Jesus, who was also on board, lies sleeping.

The Psalmist notes, “He who keeps you will not slumber” (Ps 121:3 NRSV). What a contrast between that vigilant God and this sleeping Jesus.  Doesn’t Jesus Care?

The prevailing worldview of the day held various beliefs about the sea and storms.  In the near-eastern narratives, the sea symbolizes chaos, evil, and demonic power. Jewish apocalyptic literature likens the raging seas to the conflict between God and Satan.  The stormy sea equals the power of death, which means powerlessness in Jewish thought.  Could the disciples avoided such thoughts that night?

Despite the Disciples’ angst, Jesus sleeps.  Why? To Him, the storm was not a crisis.  He obviously believes the situation is not beyond control.  In ancient Eastern Theology, the Creator God can “sleep” because God fears no challenger to his authority.  Resting is a divine choice.

Once awakened, Jesus commands the storm to be quiet.  The storm, violent enough to scare seasoned fishermen, ceases.  Jesus’ stilling of the storm shows the disciples that storms – demonic or otherwise- remain subject to God’s authority. What storms have you allowed to usurp God’s authority in your mind? As an act of faith -----rest.”[3]

We all suffer from irrational fear from time to time.  I have a healthy fear of heights and it can still send me into a panic crossing an over pass that millions have crossed before me. I can drive across the golden gate with no qualms whatsoever but I will not drive on the edge of the 134 coming south from Pasadena.  Yet for me this is still addressing something different.

We are a people of prayer.  We trust in the power of prayer to connect us to the other, to the spirit, to the God that is beyond us, outside of us and yet grounded within us.  We use prayer to center ourselves. We use prayer to strengthen and comfort ourselves.  We use prayer to make wishes, I know this doesn’t sound good but it is true.  In this case I believe the storm was irrational fear brewing within the disciple’s soul.

This whole ministry thing is still new to them.  This itinerant preaching thing going here and there is very different from the lifestyle of a fisherman.  Jesus’ cousin had been executed.  They tried to bump of Jesus in his hometown and now they are headed into the unknown but once again.  If we keep going wherever you lead us we are going to die.  It is so much safer to stick to our routines, do not try going somewhere or doing something new, we might fail!

These are words never said and yet, for me they sound very similar to what the disciples may be saying in this reading.  It is very opposite the scripture of Isiah 43 which a very familiar hymn is based upon.  “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you. (Is 43:1-2)”

of course the song ends with  “ come follow me and I will give you rest.”[4] Remember what Kena said earlier “Resting is a divine choice.”[5]  This is a choice we often find hard to make.  When we face something new or strange or when something turns our world upside down as it just has in south Carolina, we suddenly have this urgent need, this is when we wake up the Lord and say can’t you see we are about to drown.  Honestly, I wonder for how many of us this is our prayer life?  How often do we go to God only when we are in urgent need?  It is easy to do and I am not saying it is wrong for all and any prayer is good for it does connect us to the other and it brings us back to God but, once the crisis has passed, then what?

There is this belief if we learn to walk with God, to give God daily, our prayers and devotions we can move past the urgency of daily life and move into a closer relationship with God. This is not easy.  You may have heard references to the great spiritual leaders who moved out to the desert to renounce life and be closer to God.  Yet the desert fathers and mothers learned that this alone was not an answer.

“In an old, often retold, mythical tale of Abba Anthony, we hear him tell about the vicissitudes of renouncing wealth, honor, status, relationships, and comfort only to find that the thoughts of wealth, honor, status, relationships, and comfort had followed him into his solitude. Rather than moving into a mystical experience with God, his mind kept his previous life before him.  Prayer was very difficult because, although he was in the desert, his mind was back home.”[6]

Now if one of the great mystics was finding his own prayer life haunted by thoughts of things that didn’t even affect him anymore how much can we be blamed when we jump into panic prayer mode? Resting is a divine choice.

Even for those of us engaged in the daily grind of life there is a way beyond these thoughts that pop into our head.  There are practices that, as we learn and perfect them, allow us to move in to a restful, calm, trusting prayer life.  There are practice that will allow you to calm down the Monkey brain.

Ok umm Monkey Brain….the very instinctual part of us, the primate part of us, sets us on a path that makes no sense...I am trying to be still and suddenly…I need to do this…or I wonder what so and so is doing right now….or Pie…or what shall I make for dinner…tomorrow I must to this and this and …..The thoughts just keep coming and we can’t seem to shut them off.

As we enter into times of silence we often find ourselves trying to fight these thoughts, to overcome them to just push them away or, as I said earlier, we wake the Lord up and one of these random panicky thoughts suddenly becomes an urgent prayer.

We can teach ourselves how to honor these thoughts and let them be and still remain in the stillness of God.  Frank Rogers, a professor at Claremont School of Theology, taught me that instead of dismissing these distractions when in prayer we should honor them.  If you are trying to be still and silent in the presence of God and a random thought pops up hold it for a moment…pay attention to what it is, if it is important promise you will attend to it later and let it go and return to the silence, to the presence of God.

You can see through this practice that the most urgent, or the most mundane, gets attended to with the same, calm, centered way of being.  This way of being present to God and honoring our distractions, as it becomes a practice, you will see the distractions become less and less.  We find that our mind and soul learns that all our needs and distractions are the same to God.  If we truly believe that God is always with us, then where is the urgency?  Where is the need to wake God from his slumber? If we allow our concerns to rest, as we rest with God in Prayer…all will be attended too.  Resting is a divine choice. 

Yet, this is a choice and it is a practice that one must learn.

I am telling you right now if you try silent meditation….you will fail.  If you try lectio divina…you will fail.  If you try the old standard, rote prayer, you will fail.  If you are trying to pay attention to me right now, some of you have failed.  You see the human brain is wired to distraction.  We have to practice and intentionally teach ourselves to allow our brain to rest in God.

I mentioned Lectio Divina, and I am sure you have heard it before.  This is one of the simplest ways of meditative prayer taught. There are several steps; the first being lectio – to study and understand the literal sense of the text.  This means read the foot notes in the study bible, maybe look up via internet where and when and who the text was written for.  Nothing extreme, you just want to get a basic understanding of the text. This is not a doctoral endeavor.

“The Second stage in lectio divina is meditation, thinking and reflecting upon the text in order to understand its significance. The hermits used their time in their cells (individual sleeping/study spaces) to immerse themselves in the word of God until it became natural to them a prayer coming from within as well as without.”[7]

For us today in this practice it would be to read the text out loud.  Read it out loud a couple of times, with silence in between, internalizing it. Allow it to become a prayer.  Maybe Journal about it.  Writing poetry or a prayer around the concept of the scripture that you are attempting to immerse yourself in.  This moves the text into the next stage oratio which means simply using the in your life as action or prayer I action.

Finally there is the contemplation of the text, contemplatio. This, Mary Margaret Funk writes; “means sitting in silence with no thoughts, the unspeakable joy of simply resting in God.”[8]  All together and a simple way to put this for a half hour practice: Choose the text, seek some understanding of when and who it is written for, read it out loud 3 or four times with silence in between so you are meditating upon it, then write down or share, if you are doing this in a group, what stood out for you what moved your heart. 

Being focused upon a text helps limit the monkey brain intrusion though you will still have to practice the honoring of your distractions.  Yet as you practice this simple form of lectio the distractions will learn that they will be honored later and allow you to rest in God. Resting is a Divine Choice.

I found an advertisement on-line for a chance to learn some of these techniques but the advice given by the Pastor who was doing the advertisement is great she teaches some simple techniques to allow ourselves to rest in God…

• Light a candle to begin, and offer God your intention. Your desire to be with God pleases God, even if it doesn’t go as you plan.

• Focus on your breathing. Become aware of your body. Remind yourself that God is present right where you are, so be where you are!

• Don’t declare war on your thoughts, chasing them down to shut them up. That increases the attention you’re paying them. Try to just let them pass by. (this works for some I still prefer Honoring the thought by holding it, acknowledging it, then letting it go.)

• Poetry sometimes help me slow down my thinking. Some of my favorite poets are Mary Oliver and Denise Levertov. It’s a good prelude to prayer.

• When closing my eyes seems to just encourage the monkey- brain, I have some mandala coloring sheets that can sometimes distract my brain just enough, but not too much. (You can find these online)

• Music can help settle me too, but be very careful what you choose. For me, it has to be instrumental and very mellow. Otherwise my brain grabs hold of the song and starts following it!

• Resist any and all temptation to evaluate your effort – to grade yourself, so to speak. Again, that just puts you in your analytical brain. You showed up. You did the best you could. You will try again tomorrow.[9]

Whatever practice you find that works for you it will teach your mind and your heart patience.  If you know God in the stillness then you will know there is no need to wake the Master as he is sleeping.  Your “storm” is not Gods’ “storm” and when you intently seek out time to rest in God you will find that God will calm the waters even before your storm arises. Amen!

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[1] Rami Arav, Bethsaida and the Ministry of Jesus around the Sea of Galilee, Unknown, accessed June 15, 2015, http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/bethsaida.shtml.

[2] Donna Reddin, Lake Tahoe, last modified 2015, accessed June 15, 2015, http://www.comspark.com/eldorado/laketahoe.html.

[3] JENEE WOODARD, ABINGDON CREATIVE PREACHING ANNUAL 2016 (NASHVILLE: ABINGDON PRESS, 2015), Digital eBook.

[4] Bob Dufford, Be Not Afraid (Phoenix, Ariz: North American Liturgy Resources, 1975), Digital eBook.

[5] WOODARD, ABINGDON CREATIVE PREACHING ANNUAL 2016.

[6] Mary Margaret Funk, Thoughts Matter: The Practice of Spiritual Life (New York: Continuum, 1998), Digital eBook.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Pastor Susan, The Important Thing about Silent Prayer: Don’t Give Up!, October, 2014, accessed June 15, 2015, http://www.immanuel.us/images/uploads/October_2014_-_The_Important_Thing_about_Silent_Prayer.pdf.

Then you will produce much fruit (John 15:1-8)

I am divine and you are de branch ok that is not exactly what Jesus says here and yet it is.  We are not only being commanded by Christ to live in Love of one another we are told we are embedded in Christ’s love for us and thus we are a branch of Christ’s divinity and through us his divine love is shared with the world.
Today’s reading is part of a very long uninterrupted speech given by Christ after he washed the feet of the disciples and Peter’s betrayal is foretold. Interestingly most scholars believe that chapter 15-17 were added later.  No one is saying that it wasn’t part of the original speech it may be part of the oral tradition that one writer heard that another didn’t or it may be a poetic expansion of the Johnine traditions interpretation of Christ’s words.
In Hampton Court England there is a grape vine also known as:

  The Great Vine, Vitis vinifera ‘Shiva Grossa’ (synonym- Black Hamburg), is over 240 years old.

Lancelot 'Capability' Brown directed its planting in 1769 from a cutting taken at Valentines Mansion, in Essex. In 1887 it was already 1.2 metres (4’) around the base. It is now 4 metres (12’) around the base and the longest rod is 36.5 metres (120’).

The Vine is grown on the extension method where one plant fills a glasshouse. In Victorian times it gardeners thought that a larger crop was produced this way. The average crop of black dessert grapes is about 272 kilograms (600lbs), however in the autumn of 2001 it was 383 kilograms (845 lbs) - the best crop ever. The grapes are ripe after August Bank Holiday and are sold during the first three weeks of September.

Queen Victoria had the grapes sent to the Royal Household at Windsor or to Osbourne House on the Isle of Wight. King Edward VII (1901-1910) decided that the grapes were no longer required by the Royal Household and could be sold to visitors.

Later they were sold in small wicker baskets at St. Dunstans, the home for soldiers blinded in the First World War. In the Second World War German P-O-W’s were given the task of thinning out the bunches of grapes.
Cultivation of the Great Vine
In February the buds begin to break. A fertiliser is applied to the soil inside the glasshouse and the vine border outside. Once the new shoots are 2.5 – 5cm or so long, it is then time for disbudding to reduce the number of new shoots. The remaining shoots grow until they are 30-45 cm (12”- 18”) long. They then have their growing point pinched out and are tied in with raffia.

The Vine is protected against mildew by vaporizing sulphur. Immediately after flowering the number of bunches are reduced and the remaining bunches are thinned. During the growing season the Vine is given liquid and foliar feeds. Later in the summer some leaf thinning is carried out to allow sunlight to fall upon the ripening fruit. In November and December when the plant is fully dormant, the fruiting spurs are pruned back to one or two buds.

Jesus, in his day, probably had some knowledge of this process, wine was a cherished commodity and how to grow and care for grapes was common knowledge. However;
Wine production on Israeli lands began thousands of years ago, perhaps even prior to the Biblical era. However, the wines that were made during this time often tasted so bad that bottles shipped to Egypt were garnished with anything that would add flavor. Stopping just short of adding RediWhip, people tossed in everything from honey to berries, from pepper to salt. The bottles sent to Rome, though not lacking flavor, were so thick and so sweet that anyone who didn't have a sweet tooth, or a spoon, wasn't able to consume them.

As a matter of fact when the Muslm conquests of 636 put a halt to Israel wine making no one really complained.
So enough about the facts, let’s get back to the metaphor.  Christ is the vine and we are the branches.  We must be pruned, tied, thinned out in order to produce good fruit.  What does all that mean, and what does this mean for us?
There is no one who sits here and literally cares for us as a gardener would a grape vine.  God doesn’t literally break in and shape our thoughts or way of being. We must make ourselves present to the spirit and allow it to lead us. Thomas Moore says; “Care of the soul requires ongoing attention to every aspect of life.  Essentially it is a cultivation of ordinary things in such a way that soul is nurtured and fostered.”  One must find love and care for oneself in the everyday.  God is in the everyday.  We live in the everyday.
In other words as Christ says in today’s reading if we remain in Christ then Christ shall remain in us. Yes there are distractions throughout the day and things we get caught up in and we are not literally, physically thinking about Christ or even seeking Christ in every moment. Yet if we have touchstones to go to throughout the day then that awareness of Christ with us becomes easier. One sees the Muslim culture where the call to prayer is sounded and all stop to face the east and say their prayers.  This seems foreign to us yet Christianity has a similar practice known as the liturgy of the hours.  The Liturgy of the hours consists of;

Matins (during the night, at midnight with some); also called Vigils or Nocturns or, in monastic usage, the Night Office
Lauds or Dawn Prayer (at Dawn, or 3 a.m.)
Prime or Early Morning Prayer (First Hour = approximately 6 a.m.)
Terce or Mid-Morning Prayer (Third Hour = approximately 9 a.m.)
Sext or Midday Prayer (Sixth Hour = approximately 12 noon)
None or Mid-Afternoon Prayer (Ninth Hour = approximately 3 p.m.)
Vespers or Evening Prayer ("at the lighting of the lamps", generally at 6 p.m.)
Compline or Night Prayer (before retiring, generally at 9 p.m.)
This arrangement of the Liturgy of the Hours is attributed to Saint Benedict. However, it is found in Saint John Cassian's Institutes and Conferences,[12] which describe the monastic practices of the Desert Fathers of Egypt.

You can see if you are living a monastic life in community with this schedule Christ and God are always in your heart and mind.  For the average me, I mean the average Joe this is a bit umm shall we say tight.

But there are lighter versions around such as the divine hours as interpreted by Phyllis Tickle there are four books for each of the seasons and a special book for Christmas time.  They consist of prayers listed day by day with morning, midday, and vespers, now if you are really disciplined there is an order to be recited right before bed.

The concept for those who practice the hours is that all over the world there are Christians everywhere praying all the time the same psalms and songs and prayers.  There is the universal connection to the other and each other.  The problem still is this is a much disciplined practice and very difficult for those who live normal everyday first world lives.

Another practice that many due is wear something that reminds us that we are part of the body of Christ.  That may be a cross, a pendant, a pocket medal, a scapular or a dozen other things.  People wear these day in and day out they do not interrupt their daily routine yet they are a literal touchstone a quick reminder.  All one has to do is reach down and touch their reminder.

Of course I have chosen to live this life day in and day out so at home, in my office, in my car there are gentle constant reminders of the community I love and participate in.  I have millions of ways to keep me connected to Christ and be aware of Christ in me and around me.  I have cards and posters and a Giant rosary.  I have stones and music and buttons.  Yet the simplest tool I have is my mind.

Stop right there I di d not say I was simple.  Let me say this another way, a practice is an only a practice till it becomes a routine.  If we strive to stay connected to Christ each in our own way whatever way that is it becomes embedded in our hearts and our minds so that it becomes a reality.  It just becomes who we are. It becomes natural to us without thinking.

Now I do not believe this vine and branch metaphor ends there.  This embedded Christianity, this engaged contemplative life, for that is what I have described above. This is the contemplative life in which we seek and search out God constantly, but as opposed to living in a monastery, we continue to function day to day, we are not separate from the world but engaged in it as Christians who are constantly living in Christ.

Yet as we allow our practice to become embedded, just another part of our lives, we will find the spirit making us yearn for even more.  Once we get a feel for, and awareness that we are living in Christ daily, we yearn for more.  We want to be better at it.  We want to share it.  We want to shout it. This is the rest of the metaphor from the sermon.

This is the talk about pruning branches.  As we grow in our Christianity certain aspects of our habits, our ways of being, are pruned away to make room for the more.  We are constantly called to be better.  First we are called as Christians to learn what that means for us and how we can live as Christians, day in and day out.  Then our simple practices become embedded ways of being and we seek out other practices.  Those other practices strengthen us further until being a Christian can no longer be just about my spiritual life but the life and care of others.

The metaphors of pruning, I see, as metaphors of self-improvement.  The more we strive to be better Christians the more we will prune away those practices that are not healthy for us.  We need to prune away blame and jealousy.  We need to prune away our pain and anger.  We need to prune away our fear and distrust.

As those part of ourselves, as we catch ourselves maybe being to down today for something I have no control over. As we see ourselves angry over somebody else’s expression of a belief that we see as antiquated or out of touch.  As we catch ourselves walking past the homeless or mentally ill on the street.  This is the beginning of the pruning.  We catch ourselves and maybe, afterwards, hold ourselves responsible.  The key is to forgive ourselves and then do something about it.

At the beginning of each service we have the words of assurance. Nothing we can do can separate us from the love of God.  But we sure as heck, do all in our might to be sure we ignore it.  We have to forgive ourselves, as well as others, but then we have to do something. We as the body of Christ, as people living in Christ and knowing that Christ is in us we must let the light shine through.

Again this is part of that pruning thing.  As I read in the care of the great vine, not only is the vine pruned but it is fed, watered, and fertilized, then it produces fruit.  What is your fruit?  What have you done to help change yourself and then change this world, so that it more resembles the kindom of heaven than a human wasteland?

You see what comes of this engaged Christianity is we are part of this world and we are working and striving to make it a better place not only by our own behaviors but in how we respond to others and how we reach out.  That is why UCC is involved in so many different mission type work as a denomination and as individual churches.  We have the feeding program and the hats and scarves and the solar empowerment project.

There are opportunities to engage locally and or globally. We are researching the possibility of a project with Habitat for humanity in cooperation with a number of the other United Church of Christ Churches. Individually through global missions you can sponsor a child.  We have UCC National disaster ministries that works here at home for those struck by tornadoes, floods, or hurricanes and more. There is an office of volunteer ministries that within its lists of possibilities are mission trips for groups, disaster volunteering, young adult service communities, summer communities of service, and partners in service, a baby boomers section and so much more.  Please go explore the web pages of the united church of Christ and the global ministries pages.
the united Church of Christ is a partner in Church World Service cwsglobal.org here you can make sure help gets to places like Nepal.

I could go on and on about opportunities to truly be the Christian community out there in the world but I think the strongest part of today’s Gospel is the first step.  We must remember to do as Christ tells us “if you remain in me then, Christ says, I shall abide in you and you will produce much fruit.” (John 15:5)  Please continue to keep yourselves in Christ and find the Christ in yourselves and the rest will come. Amen.