Adaptive Change Conversations Begin at Emsworth U.P.

On Monday night, about half of our active members/friends gathered for a pot luck supper and conversation as we continue to move through the Unglued Church process at Emsworth U.P. Church.

Using the information gathered through the New Beginnings report and the results of the six-week "house meetings"process, the folks who gathered considered three "future stories" for the church, and participated in an activity called "Animal Farm" which will help the congregation uncover those issues in our past and present that may hinder our movement toward a faithful way forward as a church.

Below you will find the three "future stories" and the comments they generated.  Additionally, you will see what issues the "Animal Farm" activity uncovered.  

At the end, you'll read about coming events in November in which we will meet with other churches in Pittsburgh Presbytery who are also going through the Unglued Church process.

As always, if you have questions or ideas, please get in touch with Pastor Susan, or with any member of the leadership team at Emsworth:  Jon Stellfox, Bez Stellfox, Tom Smart, Marti Smart and Donna Hunter.

Future Story 1 -- Redefining The Mission

Story

It is 2020, and so much has changed here at Emsworth U.P.

Back in 2014, we realized we really needed to step out and understand our community with fresh eyes.  We began to do prayer walks in our neighborhood.  We stopped and prayed for homes and businesses, and we would chat with other pedestrians that we encountered.  We spoke with political officials, leaders of non-profits, and others in the community who had a sense of the needs in our neighborhood.

Soon we began to transform the way we do thing to better reflect our community and our missional perspective.  Some of the things we changed included:

            ·We formed small groups to meet, pray, study scripture and have discussions in homes, coffee shops and other places in the community.

            ·We went out to festivals, sporting events and other places in our community – even laundromats! -- to interact with others and talk about our mission and ministry.

            ·We renovated our worship space and experimented with different worship styles and times to make our church a place of meaningful, vital worship.

            ·We updated our building’s layout to make it completely accessible for all ages and abilities, including updated restroom facilities, sound and visual technology, and meeting areas.

            ·We made significant financial investments in pastoral leadership and leadership training for our laypeople.

            ·We completed the labyrinth and prayer garden with the cooperation of our neighbors, and got word out to the community about it being there.

            ·We put up signage around the church to let the community know who we are and what we are about.

            ·We undertook significant local mission activities including (Meals on Wheels, The Doorway, Shepherd’s Door, The Table, etc.) and not only provided financial support, but also significant leadership and volunteer support.

Change has come slowly, but with each new relationship we give thanks to God and look ahead to new and different ways to transform lives.

The future story suggested by “Redefining The Mission” is a long term strategy in which the congregation moves through a series of adaptive changes resulting in a whole new way of being church.  This option requires significant energy, ingenuity, creativity and spirituality because people will be leaving behind previous ministry and doing a very new focus in ministry.  According to the New Beginnings material, this type of future story requires the greatest amount of time, energy and resource.

The group on Monday night felt that this was a difficult scenario to envision because it requires a much more community-oriented way of thinking.  The amount of change required to realize an entirely new mission for the church nearly overwhelmed them, although they realized such a story would result over a long period of time.  There was a sense that the congregation would “do what it takes” to make it happen.  They understood that part of redefining the mission would mean abandoning the notion of “bringing people in” to church, but would require an adaptation of going out into the community.  There was also great enthusiasm for small group ministry.

Future Story 2  – Resurrection and Rebirth

Story:

Back in 2014, our church made the important and empowering decision to enter into the New Beginnings/Unglued Church process in order to make some clear decisions about our future.  We considered all the things it might require to turn around years of declining numbers, and we questioned whether those of us gathered had the energy, will and financial resources to undertake a major revitalization process.

We began conversations about shared ministry with our sister mainline churches in the area.  We didn’t want these discussions to be motivated by desperation or fear.  Any bold ministry decisions needed to be about a passionate shared hope and exciting common vision for living out the gospel among people in our community.

We realized that we care deeply about things like mission and spiritual growth, and in many ways it felt like worrying about bills and our building distracted us from where our hearts really were.  We thought about what it would look like to continue on as intentional small group in another church community or in another missionally-focused location where we could worry less about resources and maintenance, and instead focus on our passions. 

Once we made the decision to let go of our building, we were open to all kinds of new possibilities in how we could engage each other and the outside world.   We did this in all sorts of ways:

            ·We began to worship in our homes, coffee shops, and in other churches.

            ·We looked for new and creative places for worship in the heart of our community, including outdoor worship.

            ·We considered leasing or sharing space in areas of the community where our mission, worship and other activities would be more accessible to the community.

            ·We sought out joint community and mission opportunities, and at these events we encountered others who wanted to know more about our ministry and calling.

Has it been easy?  Well, no.  Living out a gospel calling and life of discipleship rarely is.  But letting go of our material identity allowed us to fully embrace our spiritual identity.  We became re-energized for all of the passions that drew us to the church in the first place.  Looking back now, we are thankful for the Holy Spirit transforming and sustaining our witness to the world.

This future story is suggested by the “redevelopment” option of the New Beginnings material, and is just one of many hybrid options available to us.  The story presented included the provision of moving from our current location, and presented a number of possibilities for future locations to accommodate more missionally focused worship and ministry in our community. 

There was a strong resistance in the group to this future story – primarily focused upon the loss of the building.  Some group members said that this sort of change would lead to a significant loss of members.  Others feared that such a story would create an intolerable level of change and fear. 

On the more positive side, the group said that such a story would ensure the continuation of the congregation in some form, and would allow the community to spend more available funds on mission as opposed to building issues. 

Such a future story would require a very detailed plan, according to the group.  There would need to be a very clear sense of what such a story would be like before they’d want to move forward. 

Those who were most negative about this future story linked their opinion to their feelings about losing/selling the building.  They suggested exploring ways to get another church to share our current space.  They also felt that the church needed better “marketing” to attract visitors and new members.

Those who were most positive about this future story said they thought it sounded like an “adventure” and would help the congregation to stay together.  “We would do anything to stay together,” was a sentiment expressed by many in all the groups.

Future Story 3 – Grace-filled closure

Story:

After many months of conversation, prayer, and discernment with our congregation, pastor, apprentice and other Unglued Church colleagues, we realized that we did not have the energy or the resources to move forward as a congregation.  As people of The Resurrection, we realized that the death of our congregation, while difficult for us, did not have to be meaningless, but could plant seeds for future ministries. 

We talked and prayed and cried, but in time we realized that it came down to this choice --  we could continue on as we are and be able to maintain the status quo for a number of years, or we could use the financial and other resources we had remaining to us to ensure a continuation of ministry in the North Boroughs and beyond.

We took the proceeds of the sale of our building, as well as our remaining endowment, and set up a fund to support:

(some possibilities)

            ·A school/medical clinic in Malawi.

            ·A sustaining fund for Meals on Wheels in the North Boroughs.

            ·A gift to the Pittsburgh Presbytery to help fund new church development

            ·A gift to fund a particular new church development

            ·Shepherd’s Door/The Center/The Doorway or another area non-profit

During our last months as a congregation, we met and prayed together, and formed a plan for distribution of our assets, and as we talked, we also shared memories of our life together over more than a century.  Through the help of the presbytery, not only were we able to determine the way in which our assets were distributed, but also able to secure continuing pastoral care for our shut-ins and others unable to join another congregation.

On our last Sunday worship as Emsworth U.P. Church, we invited all of our former pastors and members to be with us one last time.  We invited the congregations of all of the Presbyterian churches in our area to worship with us that Sunday.  During the worship service, we introduced, commissioned and prayed over those who would continue the ministry for us – internationally, regionally, and locally.  Through our tears, we could see glimpses of resurrection and new life as a result of our decision to close with grace.

Many of us have moved to other Presbyterian churches in the area where we continue to work and worship with one another, as well as our new brothers and sisters in Christ. We’ve been surprised at the new energy we’ve found in that experience!  Many of us also work with those agencies and groups to whom we supported with our investments of our remaining assets.  Though we continue to miss our church, we are grateful that we made  the choice to make our final decisions together and plant seeds for continuing ministry.

One of the future stories offered by the New Beginnings report was “do nothing” and face a fairly dismal future of closing suddenly without planning for a legacy or a future.  Instead of presenting that story as a possibility, we looked at a future story of selling the building and using the proceeds to plant future mission and ministry in our community and beyond.

As you can imagine, this option is one that summons up difficult emotions.  Yet, it is an story that bears some consideration given the place in which we are standing now.

The group did report some positive aspects to such a story.  It would allow significant mission support to continuing ministries, and allow the church to leave a legacy.  Some expressed the belief that new energy for our people might emerge from our getting out of the continuing cycle of building maintenance and repairs.

The group was also very clear on the negatives of closure – loss of traditions and identity.  There was also a sense that closing means “defeat” and “giving up.”  Some said that closure could only be considered after the congregation “tries something” even if the things that are attempted fail.  Many said the prospect of closing is “depressing” and would want to wait a significant amount of time before considering such a story – maybe as many as 20 years from now. 

------------------------

After the small group sessions and conversations, we moved to an activity called, “Animal Farm.”  The purpose of this activity is to begin to uncover what unresolved, unspoken, and unexamined issues might be holding the congregation back from making the adaptive changes we need to make to become a vital, outwardly-focused ministry in our community.

Participants were given post-it notes and asked to jot down responses to these questions.  We did not talk in depth about their answers.  The posters used in the activity will be posted in the sanctuary for the next several weeks to allow other members/friends to post their responses.  Below, you’ll find a summary of responses from Monday night’s group:

Sacred Cow -- What do we treat as that which cannot be "messed with" in our church?  

Worship times/day

Building (5 notes)

Doctrine

Music

Faith

The “look” of the sanctuary

Midweeks

Session meetings

Big sanctuary

Elephant in the Room -- What issues need to be acknowledged and discussed that we are afraid to tackle?

Change that takes us out of our comfort zone

Loss of building

Why have members left?

Too few people

Lack of manpower/energy

Not in touch with our community

Hollow enthusiasm/lack of commitment

Too few people left to get things done

We will lose people before this is over

If building is sold and empty, we will be over as a congregation

No time for children in worship

Can we financially maintain the building?

Can we move forward with the people we have?

Dinosaur -- What is extinct or needs to die in order for us to move forward?

Closed minds

Negativity

# of elders and deacons

Midweeks – need to revive them

The idea that we need to bring people to church rather than take church to the community

Building

Ties to 11 a.m. Sunday worship

The idea that the church = the building

Rituals that are not relevant

Music/choir

Music

Faith

Squirrel(!) -- What distractions are keeping us from moving forward?

Prayer garden

Finances

“Just one more chance”

Fear

Money

Fear of doing something “different”

Focus on numbers

Fear

Meetings

Doing the “work” of the church vs. outreach

Church = building

Road Kill -- Are we willing to name and embrace our epic failures in the past?

Free meals

Evangelism

Leadership training

VBS

Garden/labyrinth

Community dinners

Sunny Jim’s ministry

Attracting new people to church

Attracting new members

Masonic Village ministry

Good Friday service

Door to door evangelism

Solicitation to community for dinners, prayer groups, children’s programs

Next Steps

1. Meeting of Session and Deacons with Rev. Sarah Robbins to review the report from October 13 – Sunday, November 2 at 12 noon (after worship)

2. Meeting of all churches in Unglued Church program with our consultants/apprentices – Thursday, November 13 at 7 p.m. (location TBD)

3. “Fresh Expressions Vision Day” – Friday, November 14^th, 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary  http://www.pghpresbytery.org/calendar/cal_files/pdfs/fresh_expressions_vision_day_111414.pdf

4. Meeting of Emsworth U.P. with our consultant, Rev. Deborah Wright and Rev. Sarah Robbins – Saturday, November 14 at Emsworth U.P. at 10 a.m.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and the Ebola Crisis in West Africa

As the Ebola crisis continues to escalate, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) programs are working with its partners, the West Africa Initiative (WAI) and Action by Churches Together (ACT) Alliance, on the immediate medical crisis as well as the secondary impacts on communities in the region. The response has focused on: Supplying essential protective gear and supplies to protect medical workers Raising awareness on the symptoms of Ebola and preventive methods Improving food security and incomes of families by maintaining agricultural production at the community level  “This is not just a public health crisis,” said Dr. Margaret Chat, World Health Organization director-general. “This is a social, humanitarian and economic crisis as well as a threat to national security beyond the outbreak zones.” Sento Conteh, a WAI facilitator in the Kenema District of Sierra Leone says, “Ebola is worse than the civil war. In the war you could see and hear the danger, this Ebola is a silent and invisible killer.” In addition to health care, one of the most urgent needs is food security. Many communities are being quarantined, and reports of food shortages abound. “It is very difficult for the groups to take their produce to the markets in Monrovia. Village markets are closed, and group members have no income coming in,” says Thomas Hackor, WAI Country Coordinator in Liberia. The WAI program has on-the-ground presence, credibility and organizational structure to reach rural communities with necessary information and assistance. Despite travel restrictions, WAI facilitators have been able to get permission to travel to the villages in need of help. In the United States, a PC(USA) committee is monitoring the Ebola situation and is prepared to provide guidance to congregations should the situation reach a level that requires a substantial response. As the crisis continues, our partners and the people they serve will need our ongoing prayers and support.   Please stand in the GAP for families impacted by Ebola.

Give... Your financial gifts will provide prevention education, medical supplies, sanitation kits and implements for food security to the people directly and indirectly affected by the outbreak. Designate gifts to DR000190-Ebola response. Individuals can give through their local Presbyterian congregation, online, or by mailing a check to: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) P.O. Box 643700                        Pittsburg, PA 15264-3700

Act... Follow the PC (U.S.A.) response on Twitter and Facebook and share updates with your congregation and others. Share the downloadable bulletin insert wth your congregation. Learn more on an upcoming November 3, 2014 webinar. Check Facebook or the website for more information.

Pray... Remember those affected or threatened by the virus throughout the world as well as the safety of healthcare workers, families and neighbors caring for those affected. Remember the families who have lost loved ones as well as the quarantine communities. Pray for containment and an end to the spread of the Ebola virus.

Continuing The Conversation, Dreaming Our Future

This Monday Evening, October 13 

6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Come join together for dinner, conversation and prayer as we continue our work to discern our future as a congregation, using the resources from the New Beginnings/Unglued Church process.

We'll gather at 6 p.m for dinner (entree provided -- please bring a side dish or dessert), then break into small groups at 6:30 p.m. to consider three options for our future that came out of the New Beginnings process. 

Each small group will look at one of three future stories suggested by our New Beginnings report and house meetings, then consider what steps would need to be taken to move toward that desired future. At the end of the small group discussion, we will gather a a single group again to talk about the discoveries generated by each group.

We will also participate in an exercise called, "Animal Farm" in which we will talk about the "animals" in our midst that can hinder our process of becoming the church that God is calling us to be.  These animals are:

Sacred Cow -- What do we treat as that which cannot be "messed with" in our church?  

Elephant in the Room -- What issues need to be acknowledged and discussed that we are afraid to tackle?

Dinosaur -- What is extinct or needs to die in order for us to move forward?

Squirrel(!) -- What distractions are keeping us from moving forward?

Road Kill -- Are we willing to name and embrace our epic failures in the past?  Are we willing to risk them in the future by creating an environment in which failure can be celebrated?

We hope you will join us on Monday evening as we continue these important conversations that will be so critical in our movement forward.  If you have questions, please contact Pastor Susan via phone or email.  

World Communion Sunday, October 5, 2014

The Common Language of Love

For audio, click here:  https://soundcloud.com/emsworthup/october-5-2014-11-17-36-am/s-QZkaq
For the You Tube video played before the Lord's Supper, click here: http://youtu.be/0KekKTvAVD0

Exodus 19:3-7, 20:1-17

Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: 4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites." 7 So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.

20:1 Then God spoke all these words: 2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me. 4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. 8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. 12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13 You shall not murder. 14 You shall not commit adultery. 15 You shall not steal. 16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.      

When we arrive at this part of the Exodus story, it has been three months since the Israelites left Egypt, walked through the Red Sea, and headed south into the vast Sinai Desert.  Along the way, the Israelites have learned a lot about God’s provision for them.  God’s protection has kept them safe, God’s improvisation with a rock has given them water, and God’s manna has kept them from starving.  And no doubt, Moses’ persuasive and persistent prodding has kept them moving forward.  Now, the ragtag band of former slaves has finally reached Mt. Sinai.

Before we get much further, I must admit that I’m not much of a rules and regulations kind of Christian.  You’ve probably figured that out about me by now.  I love our Presbyterian way of doing things decently and in order, and I’m not a radical by any stretch of the imagination.  I am, however, apt to become furiously impatient when rules and regulations seem to get in the way of people experiencing the love of God, the peace of Christ, and the friendship of the Holy Spirit.   We do that when we get hung up on hanging up the Ten Commandments as a moral checklist. In other words, we use the law to communicate all the ways in which we are horrible people who disappoint God, rather than all the ways in which God is crazy in love with us and gave us the law not as a way to feel guilty, but to experience that love up close and personal.

Imagine our dollar bills carrying this phrase:  “In love we trust.”  Imagine posting “10 Rules for Loving Your Neighbor” instead of “The Ten Commandments.”  Too wussy?  Guilty as charged.

Yet, I wonder how we might be transformed as people if we listened for the love of God in the Ten Commandments, rather than hear judgment and shame?

You may not agree with me on changing the tag line on your dollar bill, but one thing for is for certain – God’s love is the spirit behind the law given to Moses on Mt. Sinai.  God loves the people of Israel, despite their many flaws, foibles and endless murmurings.  As we enter into the text today, we hear that love expressed so beautifully from the very beginning. God lifted the people up on the wings of an eagle and opened up God’s self to draw them in, close and safe.  The people of Israel are treasures, a holy nation, wholly loved by God.  And out of God’s passionate devotion, the law is given to Moses and to the people. 

God is also entirely realistic about people. How hard it is for us to get along with one another and how easily we become distracted.  God knows the odds are excellent that the murmuring of the Israelites will continue, even when they reach the promised land.  So God lays out a pattern of living that will increase the odds that this small nation of newly freed people might be able to make it in the rough and tumble ancient world. 

But the law is about much more than survival, success or about righteousness.  It is about God’s high expectation that God’s people may actually be a blessing to the world, by living a life rooted in care for their neighbors.  Which is a completely crazy idea in the ancient world of warring kingdoms and disputed territories. Caring for neighbors isn’t exactly how the world works.  Yet God is undeterred in sketching out a better idea for the Israelites.  God intends for these people to be a new kind of kingdom in the world – a priestly kingdom, a just kingdom, a kingdom rooted in holiness.

Karl Barth says it really well:  “God made us for freedom. God made us for life. God made us for himself. But we have chosen the prison of sin, of death, to be our own and no one else's…By the power of his resurrection, Jesus Christ has broken our prison bars. He stands outside and he calls us, he summons us to come out and follow him. To abandon our prison cell of hate and self and death, and to walk his way of love and fellowship and life.

And so we must make the only possible choice. To live as we were made to live. To know God as ours and to know ourselves as his. To forsake our misery and to experience his life or joy in the way of Jesus Christ by the power of his Spirit.  Or to make the impossible choice: to stay as we are.”

What if we thought about the law as a blueprint for loving our neighbor in a way that reflects God’s love for us?  What if we thought about the law not as a list of do’s and don’ts, but a way to experience life in the fullness that God intended for us?  What if we decided to not stay as we are, but instead experience a joyful life in the way of Jesus Christ by the power of his Spirit?  How might we hear these commandments in a different way if we read them through the lens of God’s love, not judgment?

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 

Putting the love of God first means we have to sort out what is life-giving and what is not.  Don’t we all have idols that just suck the life out of us?  A job or a new car or, of course, everybody’s favorite golden idol – money.   Maybe your idol is a political point of view or a long-held grudge or even a desire to be someone other than who God intends you to be.  I realized on my birthday this week that I idolize my formerly wrinkle-free face, and have forgotten to be grateful for the 53 interesting years of life those wrinkles represent. Implicit in this first commandment is God’s worry, I think, that we are only too willing to allow ourselves to become Pharaoh’s slaves again, when God’s love offers us freedom.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Reading this commandment through the lens of God’s love first means carefully handling how we use God’s name -- quite a different exercise that just avoiding R-rated language.   We are often quite guilty of dragging God’s name into arguments over things that have less to do with God and more to do with our need to appear righteous.  We probably should try not to say things like “God has put this on my heart,” because what we are usually saying is,  “This is what I want.”  God speaks in God’s own way, in God’s own time.  But if we absolutely must call on God’s name, we should speak with respect and gentleness, and most of all humility.  The ancient Israelites understood the power of God’s name far more deeply than we do.  When it comes to the Creator of the Universe, for them and for us, we hardly ever really know what we’re talking about.  We should use God’s name with great fear and trembling.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 

God loves God’s people so much that God has made what looks like wasting time a holy and necessary activity.  Whether we do it on a Sunday or a Saturday, or any other day of the week, God knows we need at least one day out of seven to remember who we really are.  Not a worker bee, not a consumer, not a productive member of society, but a beloved child of God.  We need one day every week to make space for art and music and books and bubble baths and long walks and conversations with our family and friends.  We need one day a week to make praise and worship of God a priority -- worship being the most divine waste of time there is.  We need a day to completely ignore the voices that tell us that our worth is only measured by what we produce or accomplish.  Our worth is measured only by God’s love and that is beyond measurement. 

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

We learn about the love of God first through the love of our family – the people we do not choose, but whom God has chosen for us.  So it’s important to honor our family, their quirks and their charms.  Even care for them in their old age as tenderly as we are able, because the people who will someday care for us are probably watching.  But also remember, honoring your parents or your family may also mean walking away if they are unable to honor you.  God does not condone emotional or physical abuse or neglect. 

You shall not murder.

If we truly know God’s love, it shouldn’t be as difficult as it seems to be to resist the need for violence.  If we believe we are loved, why is it so difficult to find ways to reconcile that do not involve hurt and pain?  Every life is precious to God, even the lives of our enemies.  Although the Old Testament is filled with war and violence, God’s intention for creation has always been abundant life.  This is a hard one for us in an age of terrorism.  But I will leave you with these words from Paul, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.  If it possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17-18, 21)

You shall not commit adultery.

Honor the promises we’ve made to people who love us.  If we can’t honor our promises, we should not make them.

You shall not steal. 

It’s been a very long time since I swiped a Charms pop at the neighborhood candy store, but that doesn’t make me any less of a thief.  I am always acutely aware that lower prices at the store almost inevitably mean that someone, somewhere, probably in a very distant third world country didn’t receive a fair wage to produce the widget I am about to buy.  Which means for me that loving my neighbor as God loves my neighbor might mean I should take the time to spend my money thoughtfully and maybe do without the low priced widget.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor

Loving my neighbor means I should assume the best about my neighbor, and try to understand what’s beneath the surface of someone acting hurtfully. 

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.      

Love what God has given to you, and don’t waste time being jealous of what someone else has.  Odds are, your neighbor is as miserable as you are, even if he or she has a nicer house, a better looking spouse or an expensive car.  Do not be fooled by appearances of material well-being as a mark of blessedness.  In fact, we should celebrate everything good that happens for our neighbors if we love them as God loves them.

When viewed through the lens of God’s love for us, it becomes clear that the law isn’t about us.  God does not give you and me the law in order to perfect us or even to make us a better “you” or a better “me.”  The law is not about us — it is about our neighbors. God gives us the law, not so that we can get more spiritual or have our best life now, but so that our neighbors can their best life now.  We are connected by the law through our common language of love, which knows no boundaries.

On this World Communion Sunday, we are reminded to think of our neighbors as the many we do not see and do not know, but are connected to us by the power of Holy Spirit.  We share one planet.  We breathe the same air and walk on the same holy ground that has been blessed by God for our mutual well-being.  Although it’s been a dreadful and horrifying lesson for us to learn, the news this week about the Ebola patient winding up in a Dallas hospital reminds us that there is no longer such a thing as “far away.”  The world is becoming smaller by the moment and we are irrevocably connected to one another.   We share a common language that is the love of God and God’s vision of our life in community where we can uplift and embrace one another.

As we learn what it is to walk in the freedom that God gives to each one of us, 

I’m reminded of the words of 5^th century theologian, Augustine, who famously said:

"Love God, and do what you like" -- meaning that if we deeply love God and believe that God loves us, then what we like will tend to be that which pleases God. For we are God’s, and God is ours,  and we live within the immense bounds of God’s love. 

Thanks be to God.

Trip The Light

If all the days that come to pass are behind these walls

I’ll be left at the end of things in a world kept small

Travel far from what i know, I’ll be swept away

I need to know I can be lost and not afraid

We’re gonna trip the light ,we’re gonna break the night

And we’ll see with new eyes, when we trip the light

Remember we’re lost together, remember we’re the same

We hold the burning rhythm in our hearts, we hold the flame

I’ll find my way home on the Western wind

to a place that was once my world, back from where I’ve been

We’re gonna trip the light ,we’re gonna break the night

And we’ll see with new eyes, when we trip the light

And in the morning light I’ll remember as the sun will rise

We are all the glowing embers of a distant fire

We’re gonna trip the light ,we’re gonna break the night

And we’ll see with new eyes, when we trip the light

Ordinary 26A -- September 28, 2014

At The Water’s Edge

For audio, click here: https://soundcloud.com/emsworthup/september-28-2014-11-16-25-am/s-h2wsd
For Alvin Ailey "Wade in the Water": http://youtu.be/H49lzTf6-mE

Exodus 14:10-14, 21-29

¹⁰As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. ¹¹They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? ¹²Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

¹³But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. ¹⁴The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.

²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. ²²The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. ²³The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. ²⁴At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. ²⁵He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

²⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” ²⁷So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. ²⁸The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. ²⁹But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

In 1933, Martin Nieimoller, a German pastor, was a part of delegation of religious leaders who met with Adolph Hitler.  Nieimoller stood at the back of the room and observed Hitler closely.  He didn’t say anything during the meeting.  Later, when his wife asked what he had learned about the Nazi leader, Nieimoller said, “I discovered that Herr Hitler is a terribly frightened man.”

We observe another terribly frightened man in today’s text.  Pharaoh is also a very frightened man, and history has taught us that frightened leaders are apt to become ruthless. Especially when they believe there aren’t enough good things to go around.  They decide they must try to have them all.[1]

Last week, we heard about Joseph and his imprisonment in Egypt.  While in prison, Joseph becomes useful to Pharaoh thanks to his gift for interpreting dreams.  After Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dreams as a prediction of a coming famine, Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of managing the monopoly on food that Egypt has amassed. 

The famine is long and severe, and the peasants run out of food.  On behalf of Pharaoh, Joseph says to people looking for food, “What’s your collateral?”  The peasants give up their land for food, and then the next year, they give up their cattle.  By the third year of the famine, the peasants have run out of collateral except for themselves.  And that is how the children of Israel become slaves – through an economic transaction with the government of Egypt.  The only option to slavery is for the peasants to starve.  By the end of Genesis 47, Pharaoh owns all the land except that which belongs to the priests.  And like the shrewd politician he is, Pharaoh only leaves the priests alone because he needs somebody to bless him (Gen. 47.13-26).

God created the world as good.  The Bible begins with a liturgy of God’s abundant provision for all of creation.  But by the end of Genesis, the fear of “not enough” has set in with Pharaoh’s hoarding of food, land and, ultimately, Abraham’s descendents. Pharaoh’s ruthlessness is born of out dreams of scarcity.  For the first time in the Bible, someone says, “There’s not enough.  Let’s get everything.” 

By the time we get to our text today in Exodus, the Israelites had been enslaved for more than 400 years.  I think the fact is worth thinking about for a moment.  400 years is longer than our country has been in existence, longer than any of us could probably trace our own family’s ancestry, long enough that the Hebrews likely had no memory of freedom. They had learned how to cope by this time, but generations of experience had pretty much stomped out any dreams among God’s people of living any other way.

There’s nothing sadder than a situation in which people have not only pretty much given up on the idea that anything good can happen to them, but have also forgotten what goodness looks like.  When people are oppressed or imprisoned for a very, very long time, they slowly, bit by bit, lose the ability to hope for something beyond the small life to which they’ve become accustomed.   Hope requires the creativity and imagination to envision something better beyond what we can see.  Slaves and prisoners eventually lose the ability to imagine that they deserve any other sort of life, and that lack of imagination suffocates all hope.

But slavery didn’t become normative only for the Israelites.  Slavery had become a way of life for Pharaoh as well.   Both the Egyptians and the Israelites have become bound up by fear.  Pharaoh is fearful of losing control what he perceives as limited resources, and the Israelites are fearful of their master.  All of the later chapters of Genesis and the first 13 chapters of Exodus are set against a backdrop of cultural anxiety and fear.

 It is in this hopelessness that God decides to act.  God remembers the promise God made to Abraham.  God sees the suffering of the people -- not only the suffering of the Israelites, but also the crippling anxiety of Pharaoh.  And we can see in this story that liberation is entirely God’s idea.  God’s imagination is larger than human dreams.  And we see God’s creative redemption at work in Exodus.  First, God captures the imagination of Moses.  Once Moses captures God’s vision of freedom and abundance, Moses continue to hold that vision in front of those who have completely forgotten how to dream, including Pharaoh.   Which isn’t the easiest job in the world to do.  But Pharaoh finally relents and that is where our story begins today, with the Israelites on the banks of the Red or Reed Sea.

In front of them is nothing but water with endless wilderness beyond, and coming up behind them is the entire Egyptian military led by Pharaoh.  And in their panic, it occurs to the Israelites that they didn’t ask for this.  As far as they are concerned, this trip was all Moses’ idea, so they throw all their anger and sarcasm at him:   “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? ¹²Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

Freedom wasn’t the Israelites’ idea, but it wasn’t up to Moses either. God imagined more for God’s people then they could imagine for themselves.  None of them were operating from a place of faith.  All they had was fear and a growing desire to go back to something that wasn’t good, but a life they understood.

Slavery seems better to the Israelites than to die on the banks of the Red Sea – either by drowning or at the hands of the Egyptian army fast approaching.   This is not the first time they have been unable to see a future beyond their immediate fear.  And it won’t be the last.  The Israelites will keep murmuring and doubting and falling into despair all the way through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.  Moses will keep holding God’s vision before them.  And over time, the memories of slavery in Egypt will be held together with memories of God’s liberation. 

And so it is for us.  Sometimes we prefer the misery we know to the mystery we can’t begin to imagine.  We are like the Israelites, standing at the water’s edge, wondering if it’s too late to turn back around and make a deal with Pharaoh.  We depend upon our excellent coping skills to deal with anxiety as best we can.  But God hasn’t created God’s people to cope, but to flourish.  So out of grace and love, God will part the sea for us if we muster up enough gumption to push on through the mud.  And sometimes, maybe most of the time, God doesn’t even wait for us to get a grip.  We’ll be pushed out into the wilderness despite ourselves. 

But we have to experience liberation for ourselves to believe God’s freedom is real.  Nobody can convince you that everything will be ok, anymore than the people believed Moses.  The children of Israel had to experience God’s grace for themselves, over and over again, in crossing the sea, in seeing Pharaoh defeated, in seeing manna every morning and water springing forth from a rock.  They had to live through their loss of certainty about knowing to expect.  Grace came to them as loss and bewilderment, and sometimes that’s how we experience grace, too.  We have to live through loss and then learn to see it as the deliverance it often is.  The longer we live, the easier it becomes to see God’s grace, but it is never, ever easy to receive it.

Pharaoh could not see that having control of everything would never save him.  After the plagues, he told Moses just to go and take his people out of Egypt.  But the scarcity narrative of Pharaoh’s empire could only be defeated by the power and goodness of God.  When the Israelites make their escape, instead of turning back to Egypt to rebuild a new society based on freedom and justice, Pharaoh and his army foolishly follow into the water. The chariots’ wheels become clogged in the sea bottom and Egyptian drivers cry out, “Let us flee from the Israelites for YHWH is fighting for them.”  Pharaoh had been given the opportunity to escape too.  But it’s too late.  Pharaoh lost his chance. 

Deliverance had come, but it came with a tremendous cost for everyone involved. There is a famous Jewish Midrash in which the rabbi says that God prevented the angels from celebrating the deaths of the Egyptians.  God’s heart was filled with pity for Pharaoh and the Egyptians, as well as pity for the anguish of the Israelites and their terror at the water’s edge.[2] 

So there is a stark choice in this story.  Who are we to be?  Will we stand with Pharaoh’s ethic of fear, greed and anxiety?  Or will we trust the God of abundance and believe we will be cared for? Where will we put our trust?  In our own ability to defeat our enemies and secure our own future?  Or with Jesus whose vision for all people is peace and the wholeness of God’s shalom?

Next week, we will receive one of the special offerings of our denomination, the Peace and Global Witness offering.   This is an offering specifically designed to witness to the Shalom of Jesus and the love of God for people who are suffering from violence, oppression and exploitation.  One of the places Presbyterian mission co-workers have been doing this kind of important work is in Columbia.  At the heart of Columbia’s struggle is a modern day version of Pharaoh’s land-grabbing.  As soon as someone with power wants a piece of land in Columbia, whether it is the government, wealthy land owners, or the cocaine industry, the campesinos (peasant farmers) are run off, harassed or even murdered.

The Presbyterian Church in Columbia is speaking out against this kind of oppression and violence, and has asked American Presbyterians to stand with their communities.  Presbyterian missionaries partner with Columbian Presbyterians to accompany people who have been displaced or have lost family members.  An American missionary wrote in a journal she kept during her time in Columbia about a young man named Yeison, “He wanted Americans to know how he felt.  He told me, ‘Not everything here is drugs and violence.  There are lots of us simply striving to live a good life.  Columbians like their life, they just want it to be more peaceful.”

Another mission worker writes, “We sent to the town of El Tamarindo after a young man was murdered.  There was a spokesperson for the man who claims he is the ‘real owner” of the land, the paramilitary thugs who ran the farmer off by destroying his crop and his home, the military that was called in as back-up, a cluster of campesinos who have all worked the land for years, and the grief-stricken father of the murdered young man.  We had nothing to offer the father except our presence, love and compassion, but in that moment of personal connection, it felt important, it felt like it helped.  It was what accompaniment is all about, and it was a moment we will never forget.”

It seems like such a small gesture, doesn’t it?  Such a small moment of peace in the face of almost overwhelming violence and injustice.  But when we are standing on the side of those who are vulnerable or oppressed, we know that we are on God’s side, not Pharaoh’s.

This week, I spent Tuesday night helping my sister in Christ, Jennifer Frayer Griggs and many others at Hot Metal Bridge serve what we called “The Fancy Table” to the folks who come for a meal at their ministry “The Table.”  Instead of Sloppy Joes or spaghetti served cafeteria style with paper plates, the people who came on Tuesday night sat down at tables covered with white tablecloths, set with real china and glasses, and were served a three course meal including steak and shrimp, prepared by local chefs and students.  As our staff of volunteers moved among the tables clearing plates and pouring refills of iced tea and coffee, the guests kept asking, “Why are you doing this?  What’s the special occasion?” And the truth is, there wasn’t really a reason or an occasion.  The whole idea was basically to love people who don’t experience whole-hearted love very often.

Jenn said that as one man was leaving, he said to her:  “That was wonderful.  For a few minutes there, I completely forgot I was homeless.” 

Such a small insignificant thing, right?  A couple minutes of forgetfulness. A steak dinner served by a bunch of earnest volunteers and high school kids.  Such a brief interlude in the on-going issues of homelessness and poverty and lack of mental health resources.  But when we stand on the side of people who are hungry and insist that God’s abundance is for everyone, we know we are on God’s side, not Pharaoh’s.

Truth is, most days it is almost impossible for me to know whether I am the oppressed or the oppressor.  Truth be told, most of us stand much more closely to the powers we can see with our eyes because we do not trust our hearts to be reliable.  Some days we are as fearful as Pharaoh and other days we are as faithless as the Israelites, but through all of it, God’s peace is held up to us as a new script, a better narrative for our lives.  God and God’s angels are rooting for us, guiding us, through deep seas and high mountains and too many days in the wilderness.  Let us wade into deep water together, trusting God will make a way out of no way.

Thanks be to God.  Amen.

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[1] Walter Brueggemann, “The Liturgy of Abundance, The Myth of Scarcity,” in Christian Century, March 24, 1999.

[2] Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, The Particulars of Rapture, 215.