Anticipating Miracles

An old tv ad invites us to long for the rich taste of  super thick ketchup as we watch it slowly ooze toward the mouth of the bottle.

The Gospel text this week invites us to long for the Realm of God as we ponder the mystery of tending the seeds of the Spirit that have been planted among us. It also invites us to expect miracles in this garden of faith - huge bushes from tiny mustard seeds!

The ketchup ad and the parables of Jesus acknowledge that waiting can be frustrating as we bang on the bottom of the bottle or keep scanning the garden for new shoots, we aren't always able to be patient. And so, we are called to live in the mystery of growth that is happening, even when we cannot see it. 

So it has been over the past few months, we have been tending the seeds of our commitment to Feed My Starving Children and tomorrow, I expect we will see the miracle of abundant fruit in our Strawberry Festival. All of this has taken patience and faith and really hard work. And just as the text says, we are called to expect the miracles of abundant growth from the tiniest of seeds. For all things are possible in the Realm of God, the realm we anticipate this day and every day!

Blessings and hoping to see you all tomorrow at the Strawberry Festival and on Sunday,

Texts for This Week:

+Ezekiel 17:22-24

Psalm92:1-4, 12-15

IICorinthians  5:6-17

*Mark 4:26-34

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.

"You're Being Called

 My dad used to tell this great story: One of his golfing buddies, Joe, was given a cell phone for Christmas - a gift from his son in California. A few days later, they were on the golf course and Joe's phone rang. He took it from his pocket and said, "Hello." Apparently it was the son who had given him the phone because, the next thing he said was, "Hey, you're all the way in California, how did you know I was on the 12th green?"

The whole thing was a mystery to Joe!

Sunday is Celebration Sunday at FCC, a time to celebrate a year of ministry with our Children & Youth (and theirs to us)! And, we will focus on the calling of the prophet Samuel - a child. The call came in the middle of the night and Samuel thought his guardian, Eli was calling to him, but it was God - a mystery.

A mystery that God would call a child, would know where he was, would know his potential to become a leader of his people......

The truth is that God calls each and every one of us, knows we are in the kitchen, in worship on Sunday or on the 12th green! God knows our potential to become people who sow love instead of hate, people who are always seeking and granting forgiveness, people who work for peace instead of divisiveness.....

The truth is, you are being called this Sunday - to celebrate with all of us. So come, celebrate the children & youth and the adults who make our ministries with them and their families so rich. Come, celebrate your own calling to build up the body of Christ and to celebrate the good news of the gospel with all you meet. Come and respond to God's call in your life and celebrate the mystery!

Hoping to see all of you on Sunday,   Laura Lee

Texts for This Week:

+Psalm 92:1-4,12-15

*I Samuel 3:1-10

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.

"On the Journey"

If you haven't seen this movie, I recommend it for many reasons. It is a perfect illustration for Sunday's text from Romans. Everyone in the movie has the same destination - a retirement hotel in India, but the similarities end there. For some this is an adventure and for others it is scary.

Some embrace the experience and at least one of them can never adapt. One finds some closure and one opens up. And one, goes through a pretty radical transformation.

Paul knew that Christians are a similar 'motley crew' bound for the promises of life in Christ, but that it is a different journey for each and every one of us. Some are ruled by our fears and are always wanting to turn back and some just 'hold back'. Some think there might be possibilities and sort of 'wait & see' and others assume that it will all be good.

The important thing is that we are all on the journey together and we choose how it will be for us. Will we embrace the spirit of God's amazing grace, live in it and share it with others or will we be enslaved by our fears and turn back? The invitation of the Gospel is clear, we are all children of God, fully embraced, fully loved and fully welcome at Christ's table and we are all part of Christ's family. The only thing that holds us back or keeps us out is our own spirit. I find this exciting and scary at the same time. The way I know seems less threatening because it is familiar. But the new way is the one that promises me joy and adventure and new possibilities.

Funny how some things never change and some people never change. The good news is that Paul understood this and so does God, who transforms us all in love!

I am hoping to see all of you on Sunday. The journey promises to be a good one as we welcome new members, receive the gift of music from Sophie Viscuso and connect with each other at the table of true communion. 

Blessings,  Laura Lee

Text for This Week:

Isaiah 6:1-8

+Psalm 29

*Romans 8:12-17 p.158

John 3:1-17

 

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.

From Diversity We Praise

Last Sunday, Laura Lee and I reflected on the prayer of Jesus in John 17 and also the motto of the United Church of Christ: "that they may all be one." We posited that unity is not the same thing as uniformity. Our church did some dreaming together, coming up with all kinds of reflections and ideas that demonstrate that we are certainly not uniform in our thinking!

What a great time to be approaching Pentecost - which we often call the Birthday of the Church. God's church is born out of diversity - and that diversity is not a problem to be solved, but rather a gift to be celebrated. The chorus of one of my favorite hymns begins, "Many gifts, one Spirit, one love known in many ways. In our difference is blessing, from diversity we praise."

This Monday, Americans will observe Memorial Day. Our nation is not perfect, but it is incredibly diverse and varied in culture and race. But I am dismayed at the ways that difference and diversity are often disparaged in public discourse. I consider it a precious gift to be in relationship with a Muslim man who was born in Pakistan, for our varying experiences bring us to a deeper understanding of one another and, by extension, of our faith communities.


The Rev. Dr. Eric D. Barreto, in his reflection on the Pentecost text in Acts 2, writes, "Notice what happens at Pentecost. God, through the Spirit, chooses to meet us where we are: in the midst of a multitude of languages and experiences....At Pentecost, God makes God's choice clear. God joins us in the midst of the messiness and the difficulties of speaking different languages, eating different foods and living in different cultures. That is good news indeed." (Click here to read his full reflection)

This Pentecost Sunday, I hope that you will bring yourself, in your uniqueness, and perhaps invite someone who is unique in their own right, maybe even very different from you. I look forward to celebrating with you that no matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here, and your difference is a gift of God.

Blessings this holiday weekend,
Manda

Texts for this Sunday:
Psalm 104:24-35
Acts 2:1-21

Some Things Change.....

Massive protests.....at the political conventions, against the war, French-speaking students disrupting commerce...Young black men being randomly shot....women's rights to health care under assault....prices for gasoline skyrocketing....

Our tumultuous world.... now and in the late 1960's..... It seems to some of us (of a certain age) that some things never change. It seems that we are destined to tumult and strife over and over again. And, yet, if you listen, you will hear quiet, but important calls to 'dream'.

The Hebrews were facing total annihilation and exile, when Jeremiah called them to dream of a future when they would buy and sell land again. The disciples were paralyzed by the very thought of life without Jesus, when the day of Pentecost came and they were called to see visions and dream dreams. Martin Luther King called all Americans to share his 'dream' for justice.....

The call is not to dream our way out of painful realities or to avoid what's going on around us. The call is to imagine God's realm...of peace, of justice, of cooperation, of hope and then, to move our way out of the trials and into the future.

On Sunday, our Church Council will lead us into a time of dreaming for our church. It will be a time of worshipful imagining, of discerning what God is calling us to do and be, of working together to be the Body of Christ. When we recall the dreaming of the prophets  ancient and modern, when we answer the call to dream, we realize that some things do change.....when we live into the dreams.

I hope to see ALL of you, All of you on Sunday, Laura Lee

Text for This Week:

*John 17:17-26

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.

It's So Easy.... It's So Complicated

Sunday is Mother's Day... that's easy... honor your mother. After all, everyone has one. But, it's also complicated... some of us can be with our mothers on Sunday, many cannot. Some of us are (or were) close to our mothers and some of us aren't (or weren't). Some of our mothers did yoga with us or read to us or baked cookies with us or played soccer with us and some of them were not so present..... You get the point.

In Sunday's Gospel text, we are called to 'love one another'...that's easy....just be kind, thoughtful and generous. After all, we are people who care about loving. But, it's also complicated. Some people are really difficult to love: they are self-centered or need to run things, or have awful ideas or are just not kind themselves.... You get the point.

Parenting and loving are aspects of human life that are easy to talk about and easy to lift up as values - after all, every human on earth has experienced parent-child relationships and hopefully, most of humanity has experienced love at some point. This is probably why Jesus often described God as a parent and why he talked about loving a great deal. But, Jesus also knew that parenting relationships and loving are often very complicated, conflicted and difficult. And, so we can see his parenting metaphors and talk of loving as an invitation to acknowledge and struggle through the complications with grace and faith.

So, on this Mother's Day, think of your own mothers (and if you're a mother - your own children) and pray....To God who is the simplest and most complicated parent; for love which is the easiest and hardest thing to do; and for the life you have been given by God and by your own mothers (and fathers).

Hoping to see you on Sunday, Laura Lee

Texts for This Week:

+Acts 10:44-48

Psalm 98

I John 5:1-6

*John 15:9-17

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.

"Less is More"

The image in this week's Gospel lesson resonates with those of us who live in the Finger Lakes region. It is easy for us to imagine the vineyards that are all around us when we hear Jesus proclaiming that he is the vine and we are the branches and that God is the vine grower. We all know that grape vines need lots of tender care, pruning, providing a structure for the clinging tendrils, fertilizing.... And, so, even when we don't want to hear ourselves compared to vines, some part of us acknowledges that we too need a bit of pruning and fertilizing and re-structuring.

Pruning is usually thought of as clearing out or winnowing, so that the vines don't become too thick and tangled. Actually, the opposite is true.... vines that are not regularly pruned become spindly and straggly and too thin to support growing grapes. Wild, unpruned grape vines do not even resemble those we see in local vineyards and are thought of as an invasive species on our forests and woodlands!

So, as you prepare for Sunday, read the texts and imagine yourself as a branch in the vineyard. Think of the places in your life that need a bit of pruning. Identify the parts of your soul and life that have become hardened and need a bit of tilling. Seek the kind of fertilizer you might need to grow abundantly. Offer thanks for the support structures in your life that you need to thrive. And then, join us on Sunday morning as we offer our gratitude for the vine of Christ and the Vine Grower, whose abundant love enriches all of our lives. I suspect we will all become a bit more 'lush'.

Hoping to see you all in Worship - Laura Lee

Texts for This Week:

Acts 8:26-40

Psalm 22:25-31

+I John 4:7-21

*John 15-1-8

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.