It has been a while since I wrote for this blog. Part of the reason is that things have gotten busier in the churches since we are in the season of annual congregational meetings. Another is that we have had some truly wintry weather. We have had to cancel a church service and a meeting, which we always regret, but do so for the safety of those who might venture out. We had one mild week in terms of temperatures, but it also brought with it freezing rain and rain. The roads in the rural areas are a mess. So, for those who missed the sermon last Sunday, here it is:

Luke 4:14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. 16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." (NRSV)

FOUNDERS’ DAYS”

Back before I moved to Minnesota, I lived in Iowa. Back there, I shopped at a chain of grocery stores which have now spread into this state, HyVee. They had what they called “Founders’ Days” in which they recalled the beginnings of the chain. It goes back to the early days when they were the “home town” grocery store in Iowa. But in doing so, they went back to the reason they were in business and those were quality goods at a low price with excellent service, at least according to them. Their jingle for their TV commercials tried to capture that goal, “Shop HyVee. Shop HyVee. Where there’s a helpful smile in every aisle.” That was how they started out in the business. That was their purpose and they wanted to communicate that to us. Those who run the business today want us to know the values of the founders and that they are still active.
The Gospel reading is of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. He had just been in the wilderness and successfully resisted the temptation by the devil. He returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee and went to his home town, Nazareth, where he went to the synagogue. In worship, he was given the scroll with the writing of the prophet Isaiah. He found and read a portion of it and then said that it had been fulfilled that day. It is the description of Jesus’ life purpose: The Spirit of the Lord anointed me to preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And to make sure that Jesus’ ministry will begin, he has been anointed by the Spirit, has been given the presence and strength of the Holy Spirit.
People and organizations often go back to their beginning to define who they are and what they are about. One of the most famous is the U. S. Constitution which was established at the beginning of our country and states the purpose of this new nation in the preamble:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

That is a statement from the founding fathers of our nation of where we came from and where we are going (if we hold fast to it). Those who put it together were guiding the government of our country for centuries to come. Such statements of purpose help us. We can compare actions, decisions, and policies with to see if they continue to fulfill the intent of the founders and continue on the role and work of our government at home and in the world. With it we can test our deeds to see if they live up to the purpose.
A statement of purpose for an organization is valuable because it tells others what this thing is and what it does. It can also tell if a thing is living up to its purpose. The HyVee stores grew into a chain because they, like other stores, did well what stores do. If they had stopped doing that, the question could arise, as it would with any organization, as to whether it was needed.
We hear Jesus’ words because he is the founder of the church. With them he declares his purpose in life. As we follow him, his purposes become ours. The church sometimes is in doubt about its purpose and can use how Jesus took the passage from Isaiah to show why he came and what he was about to do.

The first purpose of the church is to preach good news to the poor. Sometimes it is obvious who they are and the church is called to help in people’s struggle for existence. Other times that struggle is less obvious, but the church is still to give a word of hope, good news in all its different forms. Liberation Community Church is such a place in one of the poorer parts of Memphis. The church has the motto—“Building a church without walls”, which means outreach into the neighborhoods, beyond the four walls of the church, beyond one hour on Sunday, and to go to where the people need good news in their lives. The pastors are J. Herbert Nelson II and his wife, Gail Porter Nelson. This is how she describes how they came to the church: “‘There was this one member,’ Gail Porter Nelson recalls, ‘who said, ‘We would love for you to come help us increase our faith.’ That struck me. I knew they needed to increase their numbers, but their faith? That really resonated with me.’”
The work of developing a ministry to the poor has had challenges. “‘We were struggling to keep this church alive,’ J. Herbert Nelson says. ‘There were times when I’d look at Gail and say, ‘Should we leave?’ And she’d throw the question back at me and say,’ ‘Are we still called to do this work? Then we need to go on and do what the Lord would want.’” One person describes the ministry to those who have become self-destructive by their alcohol and drug abuse this way:
Aaron Cross was one of those people. In 2000, while Cross was in an addiction recovery house, he was taken by a friend to a service at Liberation. He says it was one of the most important moments of his life.
“They came with open arms and have loved me ever since,” Cross says. “They hug you and get to you on a one-on-one level. They become friends. You’re not just a number. It feels like an extended family. I’ve had a few of my friends join also because of that.”
While Liberation will extend a hand, the church does not believe in hand-outs.
“We will assist you, particularly with work and legal struggles, things that are hurdles to you,” Nelson says. “But just to watch you sit and expect to get some money from everybody on Sunday, we don’t do that. We’re about empowering people to do for themselves what we know they have the ability to do.

Jesus proclaimed his mission while in the synagogue, but it was not just for the synagogue, it was for all God’s people wherever they are.

The church is to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. The church is to share the power of the Spirit. Part of the good news is that we are to proclaim to others the healing power of God in their lives. Sometimes we experience God’s healing power for the health of our bodies, but other times it is for our minds and our souls. Marilyn Morgan King tells this story of how she found God’s presence in her life:
Celtic Christians, while believing that all things are sacred, honor certain places as especially holy. These are called “thin spots,” where the line between eternity (heaven) and time (earth) is very thin. Standing in such a place allows one to experience, more fully, the presence of God. Wells are particularly honored as places of healing. While we were in Wales, we visited a number of holy wells. The one that felt most like a thin spot to me was St. Seriol’s Well.
In April, I’d had surgery on both my feet. It was now September and my feet were still very weak, to the point that fellow pilgrims often had to help me climb or pull me up after I’d fallen. Sitting at the edge of St. Seriol’s Well, I surprised myself by suddenly removing my shoes and putting my feet into the water. I’d like to be able to say that I was instantly healed, but it didn’t happen that way, and I admit I was disappointed.
Then a retired university professor who spoke to us that day called our attention to an interesting fact. The well water looked absolutely still and yet it was perfectly clear. How could it be so still without being stagnant? It was, in fact, coming from an underground spring. The water was actually moving, even though on the surface nothing seemed to be happening.
In the bus on our way back to the hotel, I realized that this was also true of healing. Even though on the surface, it may seem that nothing is happening, still the deep healing waters are truly moving according to the Creator’s timetable, not mine! I wanted to remember this next time I prayed for healing.
It’s October now, and even though my feet are still weak, they aren’t hurting anymore. I choose to believe that my healing began at St. Seriol’s.

Jesus’ purpose, which is also the church’s purpose, is to share the good news of liberation and healing and the power of the Spirit, to bring God’s movement to us, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. While we await the coming of this time, we are also reminded by Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth, that this is the beginning. The time is now.

Jesus went to his home synagogue and there told the people what he was going to do. It was there that he laid out his vision for his ministry. It is a ministry which gives good news to people, meets their needs. It is a ministry which brings the power of the Holy Spirit among us. It is a presence that heals. This is the vision of the church, too. It gives us a vision which we can carry out into the world to share with our neighbors. It is a vision that can guide our lives of faith. This message by Jesus becomes our purpose, too. This proclamation, this statement, perfectly describes who Jesus is, God with us, God for us. To be shared with the world.

Peace, Tim

This week Advent began. I used an Advent calendar with the children’s time. They had fun opening the little windows, although most of them were too young to understand the Bible verses inside. Of course, it is best done one each day, but we had to cover the whole week. The first few Bible verses are
Day 1 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” (Isaiah 9.2)
Day 2 “But you, O Bethlehem, from you shall come forth a ruler.” (Micah 5.2-4)
Day 3 “Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin named Mary.” (Luke 1.28-33)
Day 4 “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.” (Luke 1.35)
Day 5 “Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord.’” (Luke 1.46-48)
Day 6 “Mary went with haste into the hill country to Elizabeth.” (Luke 1.39-45)
Day 7 “Come into his presence with singing!” (Psalm 100)
They are Bible verses that help follow how Christ’s birth was promised and foreshadowed in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New.
Following the reading I was doing last week, the basic idea for Sunday was that this time of the year is the time for telling the story of Jesus. Children’s time matched the sermon “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” In it, I compared the way we celebrate holidays nowadays to their original and true meaning. It always strikes me as interesting how outrageous we make the holidays. I also think it is interesting that Advent usually begins with the reminder that Christ will return. It places our whole history between a beginning and an end, a promise and a fulfillment. This is true of our lives as well. One of my parishioners showed me a short article a few years ago that said that what happens in the dash matters. It is the sum of your whole life, referring to the dates on both sides of the dash on a cemetery marker. It is also amazing that we live our lives fully only when we believe that what we do each day matters and that the big picture is many times completely out of our control. So Christ’s disciples to wait for him and do not get bogged down in distractions (Luke 21.34) and seek to live lives of greater holiness (1 Thessalonians 3.13).

Be good, Tim

Luke's Story of Jesus

Tomorrow, Advent begins, the season of the church year in which we look forward to celebrating Christ’s coming at Christmas, and with it the new year of lectionary readings begins. These are the readings to be used in worship and this is the start of Year C. It focuses on many parts of Luke’s Gospel, and I thought this would be a good year to read and study the whole Gospel while I also preach on the assigned passages. The first section, Luke 1.1-4, is called the prologue, and in it the author, traditionally called Luke, sets out his reason for writing:

1 Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, 3 I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed. (New Revised Standard Version)

There are some things worth noting about the passage, but first of all of them is that Luke writes to add his story of Jesus to the other ones. It is a carefully researched and accurate story, but this reminds us that we each have our own story of Jesus to tell others. It is the account of what Jesus has done in our lives. The church, you might say, is the community of those whose lives have been touched by Christ. Some people’s stories will talk about Christ as healer, others of his love, still others of the forgiveness found in Christ. Mine begins with how Jesus led me from knowing about the Christian faith to having my own faith in him. What is your story of Jesus?
We gather each week in worship to share these stories of Jesus. We will also gather on Christmas Eve, at 5:00 p.m. in Lewiston and 7:30 p.m. at the Chatfield church, where we will retell the story in words and song of how God loved the world so much that God sent the Son into it to show us who God is and bring us back to God. You are invited to share in this special time. Until then, we prepare our hearts in Advent.

Wishing you all a blessed and joyous Christmas,
Pastor Tim

Last Saturday we held the Fall Festival in Lewiston. The weather for it was gorgeous and it was good to see familiar faces as well as some new ones. It was a time of good food and fellowship. This Sunday (Nov. 15) in Utica will be the Utica Area Cancer Research Fundraising Group’s chili and soup supper, 3-7 p.m. at the Utica School. A freewill offering will be taken to support cancer research.

In my reading of James, I have been looking at the word “light”, since it says that God is the Father of lights (James 1.17). The New Testament uses “light” in a number of different ways. One of those, according to the Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, is “light” used for the proclamation of salvation, centered on Christ’s person, words, and works. So the nations will look for that light (Isaiah 42.6; 49.6; Luke 2.32) and find their hope fulfilled in Jesus. We disciples are to be that light (Matthew 5.14) so that others can see the gospel and turn from their present lives to a new life in Christ (1 Peter 2.9). It is good to remember as our time of daylight is getting shorter that Christ is the light of our lives and the gospel is the message of that light.
The verse, as I mentioned last time, also points to the gifts of God. That is something to keep in mind as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday. We have much to be thankful for and perhaps this would be a good time to name them.

In reading I have come across this verse: “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” (James 1.17) It is a reminder of how we live our lives as recipients of God’s blessing. That is a whole different attitude from the one in which prevails in our world, in which we expect to be rewarded generously for what we do (even if it is very little). The first finds or discovers God’s goodness, the second attitude demands it. The first is based on who God is, the second on what we want. True gratitude is based on God; greed is based on us. The verse from James reminds us that the good things in our lives come from God. That is something we can rediscover as we think about those things that God has given us.

This morning I went to the YMCA and as I was getting ready to run I noticed a slight odor. It was from me, as I still smelled like chili from last night. It was good chili, though. When I started with the Parish it took me a little while to appreciate the annual fundraising events of small churches. I was used to big church ways of doing things. But fairly soon I saw that they are important to the survival of small churches, sometimes providing as much as 20% of the church’s income. It is also a reminder that yesterday’s event, like the church, could not take place without the participation of many people. Thanks go to those who planned it, called for volunteers, provided publicity, set up, cooked, served, sold tickets, provided items for sale upstairs, and cleaned up. Behind each of these events is much work, generously given.
But these events are also important for gathering. I think they go back to the days when there were no TVs or microwave ovens at home and so people got together both for the food and the company. Bonds were made and strengthened this way. I enjoy working in the kitchen. The key is a dark shirt. (The first year I did not know this and had to get a few red spots out of a white shirt.) I get to spend time with those working there and there are usually more than a few laughs to go around. Often the event is, in itself, a tradition. They remind us of days long ago. Sometimes this can be a bit of a distraction when we compare one year to the others or worry about whether it was exactly the same year to year. When we do that we forget why we are doing it. The better question is: Was it fun?

I use the Revised Common Lectionary when preaching. For each Sunday there are four previously assigned Bible passages to work with in a repeating three-year cycle. So the first part of preparation is understanding what the Bible is saying. Often this involves some study to find what those passages said to their first recipients long ago. The second part is finding what the passage has to say to this group of folks I am preaching to in their place and time and with their specific needs. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is from the branch of Protestant Reformation (which will be recognized in many churches this Sunday) called the Reformed Tradition. The Reformed Tradition takes the Bible seriously as God’s Word to us written down and as preached so that we hear God speaking to us again.
For yesterday (the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B), the passage from Hebrews grabbed me. Hebrews is a book that is hard to preach. It has much convoluted logic and argumentation and draws on numerous Old Testament references. It is not a book that we understand on a quick first reading. But the phrase that Jesus “learned obedience through what he suffered” caught my attention. It led to my thinking about how and what we learn. To recap the sermon’s main points:
Life is better with learning than without.
Learning requires effort (the “suffering”) on our part.
The life the gospel calls us to is not an easy life.
Learning involves doing to make it real.
In the experience of life we can learn who we are.
The concern behind the sermon is that, as I look at the country’s religious landscape, education as a purpose of the church is being replaced by superficial fads and distractions and entertainment. The real goal is to respond to the gospel with our lives, and that involves growing spiritually. Robert Schnase pointed out that fruitful congregations make faith formation intentional. This means that we put forth that effort behind spiritual growth.

Have a good week, Tim

Recently the Revised Common Lectionary used passages from the Letter of James for the preaching texts for some Sundays. That has renewed my interest in it and I would like to share some of the ideas from the letter. It begins: "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, ..." (NRSV). Who is this James? It is most likely that it is the brother of Jesus who came to believe in him gradually from what sounds like lack of faith (John 7.5) to becoming a leader in the Early Church (Acts 12.17). The question for reflection is: How has your faith grown over the years? What were the influences (such as a brother) who helped you grow in faith?

This coming week I will be attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison Professional Development & Applied Studies program "Visioning and Planning: Holy Conversations About Your Congregation's Future" and attending a family wedding.

Have a good week, Tim