Imagination

Albert Einstein said: “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” With all due respect to Einstein, I am not sure this is right. Can you say that facts or reality are less important? That is the world in which we live. That is where many of us start.
And yet we need imagination. It is the world that puts facts together into meaning. It is the world of the bigger picture. And it is the world of what can be. Imagination can take us from reality to action. Consider this news contributed by Rev. Staci Marrese-Wheeler of the Lakeview Moravian Community Church in Wisconsin. The Glenwood Moravian Church on Madison’s west side held a food drive but noticed that many of the canned food contributions were not being taken by those who needed food. The reason was that many lacked even the basics, such as can openers. When they added can openers to the drive, people in need were served. Some people start with a vision.
What made it possible to serve others was a “jump” from the facts of the situation to doing something in a new and better way. It was an idea that made the difference. It put the two worlds together. Where do our “facts” lead us? If we use our imaginations, what new things are possible?

Sugar Cookie

I have been searching for the perfect sugar cookie for many years now. I have found recipes and tried them and sampled the baking of many others. I have looked far and wide, seeking out the best bakeries. I have even found and used the best ingredients for my own, like real vanilla. For a while I thought the key was a pinch of nutmeg. It has been a hard and demanding task, but I am not going to give up. I started this because I remember a cookie from when I was growing up. When we were kids, after Dad took us to church, we would stop at the Quaker Dairy a couple blocks away. We would get two bottles of milk, glass bottles—this was from before plastic cartons—of skim milk in a metal wire carrier, so skim that it looked kinda blue and you could almost see through it, and bread they would slice right there in the store. And a sugar cookie. I still remember how they tasted. They were perfect and I have not tasted anything like them until I had Margaret’s cookies.
Last time I was in my home town, I saw a building, the Quaker Bakery. I stopped with great joy and found out that it was the corporate office, not a retail store. Also they make hamburger buns now. I am sure they are good buns. Things are different now. Time moves on. Every now and then I begin to wonder if the cookies were that great or whether my memory of them is better than they actually were. The present can be a disappointment, if we cling too tightly to what the past was like. My disappointment was short-lived. I would not want to return to those days just for a sugar cookie. Things are lost and things are gained. I have things now that I did not even dream of as a kid. The computer that is so important to work was not available then. Now I can even send mail to friends across the country without a postage stamp. Many of us carry phones in our pockets. The modern world has brought many valuable things. Nostalgia for the past can keep us from seeing what we do have.
We are that way in many of our churches. We remember the way things used to be and more than that, we remember the way we used to be back then. Things nowadays might not please us like our memories do. We might face many challenges now. The problem with the past, though, is that it is the past. We can remember it as we want to and that can give us great comfort, but we do not live in the past, we live in the present. The past, our past, will never return. To manage the challenges of the present, we have to live in the present. And we might miss new possibilities by looking only at what was and not thinking of what life could be.

219th General Assembly

According to the news service, while at the General Assembly a couple weeks ago, when the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Gradye Parsons, was visible on the monitor, it looked like a statue of John Calvin was watching over him. When he was asked about it, he quoted the thought of Calvin: We each have our own calling assigned to us “as a sort of sentry post, so that [we] might not wander heedlessly through life” (Institutes, III. 10.09). The many commissioners and staff, committees which gave reports, people who came in support of one viewpoint or another to General Assembly in Minneapolis all were responding to God’s calling to serve the church in this way.
I liked Gradye’s comment because one of my jobs as a volunteer with the Committee on Local Arrangements was guarding a committee room so they could take their lunch break. It was at pole #9 (the columns that hold up the Convention Center). My post was literally a post. But it is a good metaphor that we each have our unique task and calling in the church. God’s wisdom is to include us in what God is doing.
I enjoyed being up at GA for a couple days although my role in it was slight. I ran into at least 30 people I knew, could hear some of the discussions, and stopped by the exhibit hall (the Presbyterian idea of swag, by the way, is bookmarks with the Great Ends of the Church on them). Normally I don’t pay a lot of attention to General Assembly. This GA is far more real to me because I was a part of it, however small. Joy comes from participation.
In many churches, one of the reactions people have to anxiety is to become less active in the life of the church. That is almost a natural reaction to uncertainty. When they do that they forget two things. The first is that we have been given a part in what God is doing in the world. The church is God’s project, God’s great adventure, and God places men and women in roles to share it with them. Sometimes we see the idea of calling as a task or responsibility, and it is that, but it is also much more. The second is that once a person finds that place and is part of it, only then will they experience the joy of being a part. It is easy to be a bystander and critic. It is harder to fulfill one’s calling. But there is no question which is more satisfying.

The other week I was at a conference in Toronto, as I said in my previous blog entry. My trip was somewhat unexpected. The group I went to Spain with some years ago had hoped to attend a Continuing Education event together and we saw the notice for this event, but our schedules did not allow it to happen. I saw the promotional material on it again, some months later, and decided to go. I had been to Toronto last year for a Stewardship conference and got to know my way around the city and where budget accommodations were.
When you go back to a place, you can do some of the things that you were not able to do in previous visits. I brought my camera this time and got some pictures of Toronto, the highlights, so to speak. I was fortunate to have some nice days to see a few of the sights. There is much in Toronto, things for all sorts of interests.
When you know a place, you know what is good in it and can make use of those things. I like cities with subways systems—Washington, DC, Boston, Chicago, Madrid. That allows you to get around all over the city quickly at minimal cost and avoid taxis or driving in an unfamiliar city. Generally they are clean and usually safe, at least during the day. I stopped back at a couple stores I spotted last year. I went past the Prada, Louis Vuitton, Armani, Cartier, and Rolex stores. I even went past Adam & Eve, a chocolatier (Get it? Temptation!). I stopped at L’Atelier Grigorian for their great selection of Baroque Classical music CDs and the Anglican Book Centre for the religious book bargains.
Last week in worship I posed the question to the Parish of what was good in it. It is my hope that we have an ongoing conversation as a part of worship. What are those things here we go back to? I polled those who were in worship on Sunday, July 4. A picture of the Parish, what we enjoy in Chatfield:
We eat well and feed others
Friendship
Good music
We work together
It feels like home
A long history
It’s good for your soul
Good messages
Good base to build on for the future
At Utica and Lewiston they are:
Fellowship
Worship—how it all fits together
Sunday School
We are close
We know each other
Comfortable
A History with families
Lunches
Continuing learning
That is a good picture.

Coffee Shop Discussion

I was gone part of this past week to a conference in Toronto. It was good to go to it and good to be back. I think I was the only U.S. citizen at it and it caused a little confusion. Several people read my name tag and said: “‘Rochester, MN’, is that Manitoba?” It is not bad to be an honorary citizen of Manitoba, but better, to me, to be from Minnesota. My favorite moment in coming into the Rochester airport in summer is that the plane is so low you can see the corn and check how its doing. But it never ceases to thrill me to look down at the landscape from way up high. Everything is green hills and farms. You have a sense of things being good.
The conference was called: “More Franchises: A Second Cup”. This is an unusual name. I think it is based on a comment that the United Church of Canada has more franchises (congregations) than the big national chain of coffee shops called Tim Hortons has stores. And there are a lot of coffee shops. There is another chain called Second Cup. This is also the follow-up to a previous time the conference was held. That name has a warm down-to-earth feel, like, “Please, stay for a second cup”. In Canada, as in the rest of the world, time with people is important and often that takes place over a beverage. Significant discussions can take place.
At these conferences I hear some new ideas and have some of my own. So I came back and wanted to start a conversation with you all, kind of like a chat at the coffee shop. And this is the question I think would be good to discuss: We have good things in the Parish. What are they? I would like to know what you think.

This is the photo I forgot to add to my previous post, the Toronto skyline at night:

Conference—“More Franchises: A Second Cup”

This past weekend I attended the United Church of Canada conference in Toronto, “More Franchises: A Second Cup”. It was a good conference. I believe the name is a play on words. The local version of the big coffee shop chain, like Starbucks here, is Tim Hortons, with many stores, and I think there was an earlier conference with the idea that the United Church has more franchises than Tim Hortons. This now is a situation that they are wrestling with—many declining churches, often with multiple locations in a town. This was the second go-around for the conference and Hortons also has a chain called “Second Cup”. I left Rochester on June 16. I like flying out of Rochester. It is usually pretty simple. This time, my flight was delayed. There was no explanation. I started to worry and wonder what the cause was. But that doesn’t really get me anywhere. The need is just to wait. And if there is a cancellation, then it is time to deal with it. There was some anger among the waiting passengers. When things go wrong we look for people to blame, even if the blame doesn’t make sense. Especially for those things that “ought” to always be there for us. I think there is a little lesson there for those frustrated with the decline of churches. In the end American Airlines did OK. I got to Chicago and made my connection with a couple minutes to spare and flew to Toronto. I found the bus “The Airport Rocket”, then the subway (I like to travel on the cheap), and got settled in my room. I took a picture from my window. More on the trip to follow.

This is my sermon from June 5, 2010:

NRSV 1 Kings 17:8 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9 "Go now to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you." 10 So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, "Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink." 11 As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." 12 But she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die." 13 Elijah said to her, "Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the LORD the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth." 15 She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by Elijah. 17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 She then said to Elijah, "What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!" 19 But he said to her, "Give me your son." He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed. 20 He cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?" 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again." 22 The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, "See, your son is alive." 24 So the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."

NRSV Luke 7:11 Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. 12 As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother's only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. 13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, "Do not weep." 14 Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, "Young man, I say to you, rise!" 15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16 Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, "A great prophet has risen among us!" and "God has looked favorably on his people!" 17 This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.



“RESUSCITATION”

We don’t always have an accurate picture of things. We sometimes think things are better than they are, or are worse than they actually are. That’s when something or someone sets us straight. I recall an exam in Algebra I in high school. I thought I did very well on it until I got the exam back. Reality quickly corrected my faulty impression of things.
This morning we have a story from the Old Testament that has some twists and turns. The prophet Elijah was sent to Zarephath. It was a time of famine when there was no rain as a punishment on the land. He was to live there and a widow was supposed to feed him. When he went there, he found the widow, who was collecting a few sticks of wood, in order to make one last little fire to make a last meal of some ground grain and oil and then die. Elijah tells her to do that, but first tells her to bring him some of the last food she has. He tells her that her jar of meal and jug of oil will never run out while there is the famine all around her. She thought she was out of food, but was wrong. What Elijah said came to pass. He transforms what she has so that she is given another chance in life.
Some time afterwards the son of the widow became ill and died. When Elijah approached her, she assumed that he had come to judge her sin. But she is wrong about that, too. He took her son and prayed for him and gave life back to him. He too is given another chance in life. And the end of the story shows us one more resuscitation. It is a little strange that the woman who had seen the miraculous provision of meal and oil now seems to lose faith and confidence in Elijah, but that is how it was. She questioned his purpose for being there. Perhaps it was her grief or some other thing, but her faith was lacking. Gaining her son back revives that as well. She proclaimed that he is a man of God and that the word of the Lord coming from him is true. Not only her life and the life of her son have been saved, but her faith has been revived as well.
The Gospel reading is of the time Jesus saw the funeral procession of the son of a widow. He stopped the procession, and commanded the young man to rise and he did. The crowd immediately understands the point. Jesus is a great prophet like the prophets of old. These stories are to strengthen our faith. Like for the widow of Zarephath, we have God’s word among us. God speaks and things happen. It reminds us of the beginning of the Bible where God speaks and the world is created. When Jesus raised him from the dead it shows that God not only creates but preserves what God has made.
We might feel like the widow, like we have only a few sticks left for one last meal. From these stories we see that God wants to make alive what is dying in us, give us back what we had and lost, the things that are important to our lives. And it is clear that one of the most important things in life is our faith. Many things can injure faith. Things like disappointment can. Tragedy can. And yet we also know of people who grew stronger in faith when life was at its worst. Things in life do not automatically kill faith. They can draw us to God as well as drive us away from God. Much is up to us. Where are we going in life? What is important to us? Are we listening to God, being led by God, or telling God what to do? If we are looking for God to do our bidding, maybe that leads to disappointment. Perhaps if we are looking for what God will give us, we will not be. Are we trusting God to give us what we need, or doing things on our own? Maybe what makes our faith weak is that we spend too much time on nonessentials. Maybe what makes our faith weak is that we fill up our lives with everything except God.
God gives us these things to strengthen our faith. We have the words of the prophets and the life of Jesus to listen to. We have much if we will only let God guide us. The prophets were sent by God to tell us God’s will and truth. We know what we do with people who tell us what we don’t want to hear—we ignore them. But there is hope, even for those whose faith is fading, because we see and hear that God brings back what is lost, gives new life to that which is dying, brings things into being that were not there before. There is hope because God is not done with us and God can do anything.
Sometimes we neglect the greatest gifts because they are not flashy or do not give us what we want immediately. God’s word is like that. Often, we must be patient with it and allow it to shape us. Those can be hard to do. But there is nothing else like it. It speaks the truth in our lives and is constant in a way that few other things are. We are given these gifts so that our faith and hope can stay alive in life’s dark times. They give us what we need at the time we need them. Our faith comes alive when we remember to let the word God gives us guide us. Then we have a place to turn to, no matter what is happening.
God sent the prophet Elijah to a widow to restore her life. He provided food in a time of famine, brought her son back to life, and has restored her faith. She now has her foundation in what God did and said through him. We have this precious gift, that God has spoken to us through the prophets and the Son. It is a gift that can sustain us in change and difficult times. It can be our rock and can lead us onward. Like the Lord’s Supper, from it we are given food for our faith, which is in endless supply.