They
are two of the great walk-on characters in theater. They arrive as two
courtier sent by Hamlet’s uncle to spy on Hamlet, and later are to
escort him home, but with a letter ordering Hamlet’s death. Hamlet
finds the letter, rewrites it to condemn the two plotters, and leaves
them to their fate. W.S. Gilbert wrote a comedy about the two in 1874,
but most of us know them as the protagonists of Tom Stoppard’s absurdist
play and later movie, in which they befuddle themselves along when they
are not onstage for Shakespeare. Basically, they are bit players in a
larger universe than they see from their corner of the world.
In
Sunday’s lessons about Saul losing his eyesight on the road to Damascus,
there is a similar person who plays a small role in the larger drama
and then steps back into the shadows, Ananias, the mild-mannered
believer God sends to restore Saul’s sight. Ananias is a reminder that
sometimes the life of faith puts us in awkward or very scary places,
doing very hard things for God or others, just because that is the part
written for us for the moment. But he also reminds us that God keeps us
safe when we take on such difficult roles. Sometimes we are actors in a
larger drama than we can see from our place in it. But as my
daughter’s theater friends say, “There are no small parts…” Let’s play our roles for Christ as graciously as we can!
Please
join us as we introduce ourselves to a minor character with major faith
this Sunday at 10 am. God will be there; I hope you are too!
In Christ,
David
In
the next couple of months, First Congregational Church will be holding
several small, informal conversations at various homes and the church
for people to share with me and members of the interim study planning
group their experiences of this church over the years (not just in the
past three) so I can understand the landscape and history. If you are
willing to host such a small group or have a suggestion, please talk to
me or email me at interimpastor@fccithaca.org; I’d love to talk with
you!
Texts For Sunday Worship:
New Testament Acts 9:1-20
*Gospels John 21:1-14
Note:
These texts will be read in the worship service and the one with an
asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.
Friday, April 12, 2013
Friday, April 5, 2013
Proof and Belief
Weekly Word from the Interim Pastor
Our scripture lessons this week continue to explore the intersection of “proof” and “belief,” one of the great unsettled, perhaps unsettleable, duos in faith and theology. While the debate goes back into the early centuries of the Church— St. Anselm finally came down that he believed his way into knowing, whereas rationalists went from knowing to believing— each generation, maybe even each person, must work out whether we go from some kind of tangible knowledge toward belief that God loves us in Jesus Christ enough to save us from death and mistakes or that we start with the leap of faith and slowly grow to know the evidence supporting our faith.
I love that Pope Benedict XVI arranged for the viewing in person and TV and internet of the Shroud of Turin as a gift to the church as he left office. What people think of the relic has been such a wonderful parable of the complex, conflicted relationship of religious tradition and science, especially in the late twentieth century. Of course, since the 1978 STURP testing, the so-called clash of faith and science has gone back and forth over how the image might have been formed, but many people come to that interesting center position like the official Roman Catholic stand that it doesn’t take a position on how the image was formed but that the Shroud is valuable for deepening faith among the faithful. Frankly, it seems that shortly after physical testing reaches a conclusion, the next round of testing finds otherwise, and the cycle continues. And after each round, it still comes down not to science but belief. It always stays tantalizingly beyond “proof.” And, since as a Presbyterian serving a UCC congregation, I don’t have any stake in the Roman Catholic doctrine, I find it a wonderful ongoing parable of belief operating at a different plane as science, which may mean that they can enhance our understanding instead of being contradictory. God may be pushing human science and human religion equally!
Like most Sundays after Easter, the disciple Thomas, often known as the patron saint of Missouri, the “Show Me State,” arrives in this week’s Gospel reading. The key phrase for all of us is “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” In fact, it is harder for us because we, millennia after that night in the upper room, never had Thomas’ opportunity to touch and convince himself that Jesus was really resurrected; we have to take it on faith. We have to believe having not seen. Sometimes I wish we had it as easy as Thomas and the others.
Yet that is exactly where the ongoing witness of the Church through all its years truly bridges those twenty-one centuries to help us believe and know and believe and know that Jesus is alive in our hearts and minds and souls. And that is what makes all the difference.
Please join us as we puzzle on this together this Sunday at 10 am. God will be there; I hope you are too!
In Christ,
David
Texts For Sunday Worship:
New Testament Acts 5:27-32
Epistles Revelation 1:4-8
Gospels John 20:19-31
Note: These texts will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.
Our scripture lessons this week continue to explore the intersection of “proof” and “belief,” one of the great unsettled, perhaps unsettleable, duos in faith and theology. While the debate goes back into the early centuries of the Church— St. Anselm finally came down that he believed his way into knowing, whereas rationalists went from knowing to believing— each generation, maybe even each person, must work out whether we go from some kind of tangible knowledge toward belief that God loves us in Jesus Christ enough to save us from death and mistakes or that we start with the leap of faith and slowly grow to know the evidence supporting our faith.
I love that Pope Benedict XVI arranged for the viewing in person and TV and internet of the Shroud of Turin as a gift to the church as he left office. What people think of the relic has been such a wonderful parable of the complex, conflicted relationship of religious tradition and science, especially in the late twentieth century. Of course, since the 1978 STURP testing, the so-called clash of faith and science has gone back and forth over how the image might have been formed, but many people come to that interesting center position like the official Roman Catholic stand that it doesn’t take a position on how the image was formed but that the Shroud is valuable for deepening faith among the faithful. Frankly, it seems that shortly after physical testing reaches a conclusion, the next round of testing finds otherwise, and the cycle continues. And after each round, it still comes down not to science but belief. It always stays tantalizingly beyond “proof.” And, since as a Presbyterian serving a UCC congregation, I don’t have any stake in the Roman Catholic doctrine, I find it a wonderful ongoing parable of belief operating at a different plane as science, which may mean that they can enhance our understanding instead of being contradictory. God may be pushing human science and human religion equally!
Like most Sundays after Easter, the disciple Thomas, often known as the patron saint of Missouri, the “Show Me State,” arrives in this week’s Gospel reading. The key phrase for all of us is “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” In fact, it is harder for us because we, millennia after that night in the upper room, never had Thomas’ opportunity to touch and convince himself that Jesus was really resurrected; we have to take it on faith. We have to believe having not seen. Sometimes I wish we had it as easy as Thomas and the others.
Yet that is exactly where the ongoing witness of the Church through all its years truly bridges those twenty-one centuries to help us believe and know and believe and know that Jesus is alive in our hearts and minds and souls. And that is what makes all the difference.
Please join us as we puzzle on this together this Sunday at 10 am. God will be there; I hope you are too!
In Christ,
David
Texts For Sunday Worship:
New Testament Acts 5:27-32
Epistles Revelation 1:4-8
Gospels John 20:19-31
Note: These texts will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Triumph, Turmoil, Transformation
Weekly Word from the Interim Pastor
The bulletin covers for Palm Sunday had three words over the green palms fronds: “Triumph, Turmoil, Transformation.” While that immediately applied to the events and emotions of Holy Week, it also applies to our lives and to our community life as a people of faith.
The up-down-up of Passion Week fits with a lot of our experiences as we move through life. We are in a good place, happy, excited, healthy, wealthy, and wise. Then we get slammed by something, and we are brought low. We are crushed under the burden of troubles, of hardship, of complications, of Good Friday. That is when it is so very, very hard to remember that darkness is not the end of the story. Not that we can ever totally avoid darkness, mind you. But we do not need to fear it or worry that we will be stuck in turmoil and pain and darkness. We know-- even as we sit in Good Friday-- that Easter will arrive, that sun will burst through the night of the soul, that the Son will burst from death’s darkness, that love will win. We know that. We know that!
A number of years ago a crude bumper sticker was popular, loosely translated for church purposes as “Stuff Happens.” This is the week when we plaster over it our own version, our version of hope and belief: “Grace Happens, Too!”
The subtlety of Passion Week, psychologically and spiritually, is that we don’t stay at Good Friday. We know Easter will dawn. But we can only get to Easter through Good Friday. There is no other way to the green pastures except through the valley of the shadow. But we can get to the green pastures on the other side of the valley (whatever valley we are trudging through). But Easter will always arise to pull us past Good Friday. We may need to wait it out, but God promises that there will be resurrection on the other side. We have God’s word on that.
It is the same for a faith community like First Congregational which has been in turmoil. You have to go through bad stuff sometimes, but the song of Easter is that God will get us through the Good Fridays of church life and brighten them with the sun of hope and love. Granted, we will be trudging through a bit more of the valley of the shadow as we work through recent experiences here, but I assure you God’s grace is sure and that new life will dawn here in God’s good time. Good Friday can happen. But Easter always happens.
Wherever you celebrate it this Sunday, Happy Easter. Christ is risen indeed!
In Christ,
David
Texts For Sunday Worship:
Hebrew Bible Isaiah 65:17-25
Epistles Acts 10:34-43
*Gospels John 20:1-18
Note: These texts will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.
The bulletin covers for Palm Sunday had three words over the green palms fronds: “Triumph, Turmoil, Transformation.” While that immediately applied to the events and emotions of Holy Week, it also applies to our lives and to our community life as a people of faith.
The up-down-up of Passion Week fits with a lot of our experiences as we move through life. We are in a good place, happy, excited, healthy, wealthy, and wise. Then we get slammed by something, and we are brought low. We are crushed under the burden of troubles, of hardship, of complications, of Good Friday. That is when it is so very, very hard to remember that darkness is not the end of the story. Not that we can ever totally avoid darkness, mind you. But we do not need to fear it or worry that we will be stuck in turmoil and pain and darkness. We know-- even as we sit in Good Friday-- that Easter will arrive, that sun will burst through the night of the soul, that the Son will burst from death’s darkness, that love will win. We know that. We know that!
A number of years ago a crude bumper sticker was popular, loosely translated for church purposes as “Stuff Happens.” This is the week when we plaster over it our own version, our version of hope and belief: “Grace Happens, Too!”
The subtlety of Passion Week, psychologically and spiritually, is that we don’t stay at Good Friday. We know Easter will dawn. But we can only get to Easter through Good Friday. There is no other way to the green pastures except through the valley of the shadow. But we can get to the green pastures on the other side of the valley (whatever valley we are trudging through). But Easter will always arise to pull us past Good Friday. We may need to wait it out, but God promises that there will be resurrection on the other side. We have God’s word on that.
It is the same for a faith community like First Congregational which has been in turmoil. You have to go through bad stuff sometimes, but the song of Easter is that God will get us through the Good Fridays of church life and brighten them with the sun of hope and love. Granted, we will be trudging through a bit more of the valley of the shadow as we work through recent experiences here, but I assure you God’s grace is sure and that new life will dawn here in God’s good time. Good Friday can happen. But Easter always happens.
Wherever you celebrate it this Sunday, Happy Easter. Christ is risen indeed!
In Christ,
David
Texts For Sunday Worship:
Hebrew Bible Isaiah 65:17-25
Epistles Acts 10:34-43
*Gospels John 20:1-18
Note: These texts will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Holy Week
Interim Pastor’s Ponderings
I love Palm Sunday! There is something about the children leading the procession with “All Glory Laud and Honor,” the majestic hymn and the bopping little ones.
That odd counterpoint of upbeat and solemn, of kids flailing palm fronds at each other (even some adults!) and the march of the King, the glory and the donkey, is a part of the psychology of Palm Sunday for the church. We know that after the triumphant entry comes a week of turmoil and fear and discouragement. Yet we also know that triumph will return with resurrection on Easter. It’s just the way it is.
It can be easy to skip from the mountain top experience of Palm Sunday right over Holy Week to the super mountaintop of Easter without moving through the valley of the shadow in between. This is why many churches and even this one fairly often observes this Sunday as “Passion Sunday” or “Palm and Passion Sunday,” reading the whole Biblical narrative of Jesus’ suffering as part of the liturgy so that everyone feels the emotions. Still, the best way to experience, really experience the whipsaw of emotions is to attend the worships of Holy Week.
I encourage you to participate in the whole drama of Holy Week. We begin with the triumph of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday at morning worship. We commemorate the Last Supper and hear the scripture of the last words in the darkening sanctuary on Maundy Thursday at 7:30 pm, and the tale of the Passion on Good Friday at 5:30 pm. Then we gather for the Sunrise Service on Easter morning at 6:30 am at Lakeview, and have the two celebrations of the Resurrection at 9 and 11 am, with time to share fellowship.
Come share the excitement and spring green of Palm Sunday. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed are us when we celebrate in the name of Jesus!
In Christ,
David
Texts For Sunday Worship:
*Luke 19:28-40
Philippians 2:5-11
Note: The texts in bold type will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.
I love Palm Sunday! There is something about the children leading the procession with “All Glory Laud and Honor,” the majestic hymn and the bopping little ones.
That odd counterpoint of upbeat and solemn, of kids flailing palm fronds at each other (even some adults!) and the march of the King, the glory and the donkey, is a part of the psychology of Palm Sunday for the church. We know that after the triumphant entry comes a week of turmoil and fear and discouragement. Yet we also know that triumph will return with resurrection on Easter. It’s just the way it is.
It can be easy to skip from the mountain top experience of Palm Sunday right over Holy Week to the super mountaintop of Easter without moving through the valley of the shadow in between. This is why many churches and even this one fairly often observes this Sunday as “Passion Sunday” or “Palm and Passion Sunday,” reading the whole Biblical narrative of Jesus’ suffering as part of the liturgy so that everyone feels the emotions. Still, the best way to experience, really experience the whipsaw of emotions is to attend the worships of Holy Week.
I encourage you to participate in the whole drama of Holy Week. We begin with the triumph of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday at morning worship. We commemorate the Last Supper and hear the scripture of the last words in the darkening sanctuary on Maundy Thursday at 7:30 pm, and the tale of the Passion on Good Friday at 5:30 pm. Then we gather for the Sunrise Service on Easter morning at 6:30 am at Lakeview, and have the two celebrations of the Resurrection at 9 and 11 am, with time to share fellowship.
Come share the excitement and spring green of Palm Sunday. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed are us when we celebrate in the name of Jesus!
In Christ,
David
Texts For Sunday Worship:
*Luke 19:28-40
Philippians 2:5-11
Note: The texts in bold type will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Interim Pastor’s Ponderings
This week we observe the last week in the holy season of Lent.
Spiritually and psychologically it is a slow, meditative walk uphill, a
time to think thoughts you don’t usually think about, thoughts about
your life, your faith, your church, yourself, your self. It is,
historically, a time to change your behavior, to begin or deepen a
spiritual discipline, to do something more engaged in serving the
community and world, to reflect on what you don’t do so well and resolve
to do better. Lent is thinking and talking and praying about the
reason Jesus turns his footsteps to the long walk uphill in Jerusalem:
human sin and evil of which we are all part. It is the last grey days
of late winter before spring really arrives.
So why? So why “do” Lent?
To be ready for the next act of the cosmic drama: Holy Week. Lent is pre-season practice, it is chopping up the vegetables before cooking, it is turning the pieces over before doing the puzzle, it is tuning up or warming up before playing. It is getting ready for the big thing.
If you don’t “do” Lent, you don’t really appreciate the Biblical story of Holy Week, nor can you really appreciate the psychological and spiritual “mood swings” that accompany our holy journey. Being inside a dim building (or inside your own head!) and stepping outside makes you blink in the bright sunlight. That shock of light flooding the world is exactly what Easter is!
So I encourage you to put the worship services here on the calendar on your refrigerator, on your office wall, on your computer, on your phone… on your mind, and participate in the whole drama of Holy Week. We will begin with the triumph of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday at morning worship. We commemorate the Last Supper and hear the scripture of the last words in the darkening sanctuary on Maundy Thursday at 7:30 pm, and the tale of the Passion on Good Friday at 5:30 pm. Then we gather for the Sunrise Service on Easter morning at 6:30 am at Lakeview, and have the two celebrations of the Resurrection at 9 and 11 am, with time to share fellowship.
Why have we “done Lent?” To rejoice in the Easter tidings, “He is risen! he is risen indeed!” Come join us in the joy of new life in Christ Jesus our Savior!
In Christ,
David
Texts For Sunday Worship:
Isaiah 43:16-21
Philippians 3:4-14
*Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
So why? So why “do” Lent?
To be ready for the next act of the cosmic drama: Holy Week. Lent is pre-season practice, it is chopping up the vegetables before cooking, it is turning the pieces over before doing the puzzle, it is tuning up or warming up before playing. It is getting ready for the big thing.
If you don’t “do” Lent, you don’t really appreciate the Biblical story of Holy Week, nor can you really appreciate the psychological and spiritual “mood swings” that accompany our holy journey. Being inside a dim building (or inside your own head!) and stepping outside makes you blink in the bright sunlight. That shock of light flooding the world is exactly what Easter is!
So I encourage you to put the worship services here on the calendar on your refrigerator, on your office wall, on your computer, on your phone… on your mind, and participate in the whole drama of Holy Week. We will begin with the triumph of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday at morning worship. We commemorate the Last Supper and hear the scripture of the last words in the darkening sanctuary on Maundy Thursday at 7:30 pm, and the tale of the Passion on Good Friday at 5:30 pm. Then we gather for the Sunrise Service on Easter morning at 6:30 am at Lakeview, and have the two celebrations of the Resurrection at 9 and 11 am, with time to share fellowship.
Why have we “done Lent?” To rejoice in the Easter tidings, “He is risen! he is risen indeed!” Come join us in the joy of new life in Christ Jesus our Savior!
In Christ,
David
Texts For Sunday Worship:
Isaiah 43:16-21
Philippians 3:4-14
*Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Friday, March 8, 2013
Time Change!
One of my very few recurring nightmares comes this time of year when we adjust to Daylight Saving Time.
We've all seen people nonchalantly arrive at church at the end of the service, having forgotten to move their clocks ahead the night before, only to suddenly realize they are an hour late. Probably more than a few of us have been the person arriving late, which makes us check and re-check the clocks in our house and worry about the one on the car dashboard.
But what makes my nightmare is when I arrive at church just in time for the benediction.... which I am supposed to be pronouncing. I wake up in a panic that I am the one who is late. Mercifully, with the cable box and my phone and computer adjusting automatically, time changes are much easier on me now.
Of course, the whole Standard and Daylight Saving thing is a human construct, a human-made way of delineating time. For eons time was local and solar; the sundial in the town square set noon, and people just worked with when the sun came up or they popped awake and did things until it got dark and they got sleepy. With the invention of hourglasses you could break the day up into watches or for hours of prayer, and mechanical clocks became useful. But the town clock was still regulated by when the sun was highest in the sky, keeping the rhythm of nature. We started imposing human constraints on "God's Time" in the 1840s with British railways, and in the U.S. in the 1870s with standardized time zones. Changing an hour ahead to use longer summer days began during World War I, and now we have our vast, interconnected, international, atomic clock system.
Yet we cannot forget that it is a pretty much artificial system,
designed by humans to impose human "control" on the natural progression
of life through time. And the "adjustments" like DST that are necessary
to make it all work out only seem to be making the sun conform
to our wishes. We are only inventing ways to get our rigid system to
fit better with planetary motion, whether you describe it with
astronomical calculations or the stories in Genesis. We happily like to
believe we are in charge of time. But in our better moments we realize
time does its own thing! It still snows after the groundhogs see their
shadows.
Something like this happens between called pastors. We have
constructed all sorts of plans and calculations for calling a new
pastor, but in reality, many of those are just labels we like to put on
the Holy Spirit's true sense of time. Self-studies and profiles and
searches happen "in their own good time," even if we like to solemnly
write things solemnly on a church calendar. That is fine if we remember
that, like the flowers coming up in the spring are responding to
nature's time, that we are not really "in charge" of this time in
between.
So we will be doing both, setting our watches and planning dates and
times, yet like the ancients, we still need to look at the skies, watch
stars, watch the way the wind moves the trees, and wait for the crocus
and daffodil to emerge. God will look out for our time together. The
whole time! I trust that.
Still......... my first Sunday here at FCCI is, ironically, the day we spring our clocks ahead... hmmm...
Come to worship and see if I make it "on time!"
Peace,
David
Joshua 5:9-12
Psalm 32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
*Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
Note: The texts in bold type will be read in the worship service and the one with an asterisk will be used as the focus for the proclamation of the word.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Rev. Richard S. Tosh
The Rev. Richard S. Tosh retired from Parish Ministry in June 2005 and
from Nursing Home Chaplaincy in May 2007. He was born in Pittsburgh,
educated at Allegany High School (Cumberland MD), Franklin and Marshall
Collage (Lancaster PA) and Princeton Theological Seminary.
He has served in ministerial leadership in American Baptist and United Church of Christ congregations in Connecticut, Vermont, North Dakota and New York. He now lives in Trumansburg, while waiting for his new home to be completed in the third neighborhood at EcoVillage of Ithaca.
Texts For Sunday Worship:
Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Cor 10:1-13
*Luke 13:1-9
He has served in ministerial leadership in American Baptist and United Church of Christ congregations in Connecticut, Vermont, North Dakota and New York. He now lives in Trumansburg, while waiting for his new home to be completed in the third neighborhood at EcoVillage of Ithaca.
Texts For Sunday Worship:
Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Cor 10:1-13
*Luke 13:1-9
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