<![CDATA[Church of the Open Door: First Christian Church, Ukiah

<![CDATA[Church of the Open Door: First Christian Church, Ukiah - Pastor\'s Blog]]>Mon, 07 Jul 2025 21:35:07 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[WHAT IS OUR FAITH TASK?]]>Sun, 06 Jul 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/what-is-our-faith-taskAmos: 5:12, 21-24

I know how many are your transgressions
    and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe
    and push aside the needy in the gate….
I hate, I despise your festivals,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
    I will not look upon.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like water
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

The struggle for racial and social equality has been ongoing for lifetimes – for hundreds of lifetimes – for centuries, at least. I could choose any block of time and find enough to talk about here for weeks – months -- years, but I specifically want to discuss what is happening in our world – right here, right now. Today.

There’s no avoiding it. A week or so ago it was a question of unlawful deportations. This week it has grown to possibly affect unquestionably legal US citizens. It may even affect some of us. “What happens when I can’t afford my medications?” Is the Social Security I’ve paid into all my life going to be there when I need It or will it have been “re-purposed" when I wasn’t looking?” The people around us are for it or against it – likely quite vocally. It’s all over the news and the internet. It is hailed by some and hated by others.

We all know parts of it. There’s no way we can avoid what is happening right now. By being among those who will potentially lose rights and money that we’ve always taken for granted – we’re involved. And like it or not, thinking of ourselves as “decent” people, and especially by virtue of belonging to a church called the “Christian” Church we are involved. By naming ourselves as followers of Jesus, we are specifically involved here.

In a recent discussion between author and podcast host Jen Hatmaker and Episcopalian Bishop Mariann Budde, the question was raised: “A lot in our country is being systematically dismantled right now, and we need to remain engaged, to protect what we can and rebuild what is lost. So, as Christians, what is the faithful task before us today?” Or as another clergy person I heard express it online, “What deep feeling, what embodied love is Jesus calling us to show – to be – right now?”

There are so many responses available for us. We can give up. We can be angry, that’s always an easy one. We can try talking with each other. We can just ignore what is happening until it affects us.

Then there are the community responses. If food shortage is the main problem facing people around us then we can stretch our own resources as far as we can to fill in the gaps. A group of similarly minded people can band together to pool resources. Neighborhood gardens can be an option. Chances are that many of you are already doing something like this. Some things may simply not be doable for individuals.

But if we are sincerely wanting to find that “what does Jesus ask of us?” answer, we can’t just take the easiest, most obvious choice. These look the simplest on paper, but in reality they involve the harder give-and-take on our part, because they involve actions like not only talking to each other but actually listening to each other.

Many are asking right now, “Why isn’t God doing anything to help us?” I remind us once again that God is not our fairy godmother with a magic wand. What if God is waiting for us to do something?   Suffering does exist – so what can we do?

We can show up, we can resist. And we can remember that if evil exists, so does hope, and so does love – and these things exist through us. God is present in the form of love – through us – and love never leaves us alone*. Be with the innocent and pray for those we see as being guilty.   And take whatever action helps.

“What is the faithful task before us right now?” Pray about that and then do it – to the best that is in your ability right now. Don’t take the easy response of rage. Rage is a cheap answer. Try to address whatever is the greatest need in front of you whether that is feeding someone or standing in a protest line. Vote whenever there is anything to vote on. Try to separate facts from lies. It won’t be easy but try to find out what is really being done.

And take time – lots of time – listening to God because that is where the answers to our questions always lie.

This prayer from Steven Charleston resonates with me:
Love will find a way. Whenever I face a really hard situation, I remember these simple words. They give me strength because they are true. Whatever we face, love will help us navigate it. I can testify to the truth of what I say, and I know I am not the only one.

* Note: It wasn’t until I was delivering this message live in church Sunday and heard myself saying “God is present in the form of love – through us – and love never leaves us alone” – that I realized this line can be heard two different ways: “Love never leaves us alone” can mean “love never goes away from us and leaves us abandoned,” which is the meaning I intended when I wrote it – but it can also mean “when love calls us to do something or act in a certain way, love is going to keep on us until we do it, so we might as well listen the first time.”

]]><![CDATA[SMALL GOOD THINGS]]>Sun, 29 Jun 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/small-good-thingsLuke 4:16-21
When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

As you probably know, I’ve been skimming around recently through other preacher’s teachings that have been posted online. I’m not doing this in order to ‘steal’ other people’s work – honest.

I’ve been doing this preaching thing here, in this church, for about 25 or 26 years now and I often feel like I have talked a particular subject to death and I am just repeating myself.

Preachers preach on the main stories in the whole Jesus cycle. I don’t know about others, but I tend to pick the key points in a longer story and use those for my messages. While reading through other’s work I’ve come to realize that I mostly focus on what Jesus says, rather than how he presents it, and through my browsing I’ve come to realize that the how is at least as important as the what – if not more so.

This recent understanding came in the form of a quote from someone I’d never heard of before -- Bishop Craig Loya, Episcopal Bishop of Minnesota. He says:

“It is worth remembering today that Jesus is God’s small, good thing for the world. The path of life Jesus sets out for us isn’t forged by victory through force. It is forged by the small, good thing of standing in the broken, forgotten places, with the forgotten, vulnerable people. It is forged as God’s extravagant love reaches over every division that tears God’s children apart. While the world will always worship and covet what is big and powerful, small and humble is how God saves that world from itself”.

I love this. I’ve always known this at some level, and yet I’ve always skimmed over it when talking about Jesus’ message. He taught us this lesson with his words, but he also taught with his life – the ordinary, humble life he lived here among us.

Jesus, in his time, was not seen by the bigger world as anyone special. He was not a celebrity. He was a nobody from Nazareth – a backwater town somewhere up in Galilee – far from the sophisticated urban world of Jerusalem. Until the very end of his human life most of the world had no idea he existed. Yes, he had followers but at first they were a mere handful. Having seen him or heard him once – by chance -- they were moved by curiosity to follow him to hear more and in time his fame did grow but it took centuries before he became the universal figure he is today.

For us here today and those gathered in churches around the world, Jesus is the reason we are here each week – the reason we still seek to follow him – the reason we still come together to learn from him and live in his ways. But in his lifetime, he was – to all appearances – just one of many itinerate preachers, miracle workers, story tellers, who traveled around exhorting the folk to follow him and learn from his ways.

Jesus taught people by his words, yes, but he also taught by the example of the life he lived as much as by the words he spoke. Even when he performed miraculous feats of healing, he mostly did them quietly and many times drifted silently out of town in the night to somewhere away from the crowds.

The title of this message is “Small Good Things,” a phrase I took from Bishop Loya’s statement I quoted at the beginning here today. “It is worth remembering that Jesus is God’s small, good thing for the world. The path of life Jesus sets out for us isn’t forged by victory through force. It is forged by the small, good things of standing in the broken, forgotten places, with the forgotten, vulnerable people.”

This is why we follow Jesus. Not because he can dazzle us with miracles, but that he stands here with us – in this broken world -- when we are the broken ones, the lost ones. He stands with us and models for us with his very being, that we are loved, and that love is what we are about.

Jesus does not expect us to do all the big things, but if we are indeed his followers then Jesus does expect us to do every little thing that is in front of us, and to do it with the biggest possible love.

]]><![CDATA[BAKED RIGHT INTO US]]>Sun, 15 Jun 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/baked-right-into-us
Psalm 73:3-12

I was envious of the arrogant;
    I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
For they have no pain;
    their bodies are sound and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not plagued like other people.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
    violence covers them like a garment.
Their eyes swell out with fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against heaven,
    and their tongues range over the earth.
Therefore the people turn and praise them
    and find no fault in them.
…
Such are the wicked;
    always at ease, they increase in riches.

This past week has been an AWFUL week. I have always said that I am a news-junkie, but this week the news has been hitting way too close to home and I have not been able to break myself away from it. And the hardest part of it all has been the realization that the faith I claim and the political beliefs I have seen being acting out around me are light years apart from each other.

One of the most distressing things to come out of this week (although it’s been in plain sight for a few years now) is the growing existence of churches that call themselves “Christian” while teaching a twisted form of Christian belief that rejects the actual teachings of Jesus as “weak” and replaces them with a quest for power and control.

This is most obvious in the destruction of any teaching that attempts to lift up “D.E.I” – “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.” These three points seem to be anathema to these so-called Christians.

A couple of weeks ago I introduced you to Rev. Mark Sandlin – a Presbyterian pastor from North Carolina whose brief and sometimes ‘snarky’ on-line musings on things bible-related I have found to be helpful in seeing a subject from a new direction. Here is part of one such musing regarding diversity and inclusion:

"When people challenge DEI initiatives in Christian spaces, I have to wonder if they've read their Bibles lately. Christianity has a DEI bias baked right into its foundation. Jesus deliberately sought out the marginalized and excluded. He touched lepers, spoke with Samaritans, elevated women's voices, welcomed children, and ate with those society rejected. The early church was explicitly instructed to break down barriers of ethnicity, class, and gender.”

In teachings such as The Good Samaritan, Jesus praised this foreign man because of his caring actions, even though he would have been rejected as ‘unclean’ by the greater bulk of the people around him; The Beatitudes, for instance, teach us to be humble and not try to raise ourselves up above others. And several times when the disciples tried to limit who could have access to Jesus (i.e. women, children, foreigners) Jesus rebuked them (the disciples) and insisted on remaining open and available to all.

And there is, of course, the ultimate teaching from Matthew 25 which we have discussed multiple times recently: “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me….Lord, when did we do these things? When you did them to the least among my brothers and sisters…”

And yet these so-called Christian Nationalists reject these teachings. How do you call yourselves followers of Jesus and then reject everything Jesus taught?

Jesus made no secret of his beliefs in equity and inclusion – and he didn’t offer them to us as suggestions – these are commandments. Jesus expects us to do these things, if we are going to call ourselves his followers

And it wasn’t just Jesus and the New Testament – the Hebrew scriptures long before were filled with stories of various prophets speaking out in God’s name to reject the peoples’ shows of fake piety – such as Zechariah 7:9-10, ‘Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. And do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’ Do not take ancestral properties from someone fallen on hard times – and, again, offer hospitality to foreigners who show up hungry and exhausted – “You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself. (Leviticus 19:33-34) There are dozens, if not hundreds of such commandments in the Bible – both Old and New Testaments. How can we just ignore them?

Jesus and the God he claimed as ‘father’ cared about every person. No one was to be judged by the color of their skin or the fatness of their purse. The people then – as we are today – were expected to live and interact with each other with love and respect – not with greed or pride.

To quote Sandlin again:

"If you're opposed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, you're not just fighting modern culture – you're standing in opposition to Jesus's radical message of inclusive love and the divine vision of beloved community. Our faith calls us to embrace diversity – frankly, that's exactly how Creation flourishes. So yes, Christianity has a DEI bias, and we should not only be proud of it, but we must continue to live into it as fully as we can every day."

What we’re seeing on the news these days is just plain wrong but human arrogance has convinced too many that they have the right to be cruel and selfish. Those of us who know this is wrong must act, as we can, to correct these and to open the doors wide for God’s love to fill the world with no room for hatred and selfishness.

Since I’ve been quoting Rev. Sandlin today, I’ll close here with his signature sign-off when he’s doing Bible exploration:

“Seriously, ya’ll…some of you need to get to reading the Jesus-y parts.”

]]><![CDATA[THE MANY LANGUAGES WE SPEAK -- PENTECOST]]>Sun, 08 Jun 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/the-many-languages-we-speak-pentecostActs 2:1-6

   When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

   Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.

Today is Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is one of those special days, like Palm Sunday and Easter, that can drive me to a moment or two of despair because they come round every year, not just once every three-years … and after 10 or 15 years I begin to feel like I really have said it all...several times. This is a story we all know – we’ve read the scripture, heard the sermons. What on earth am I supposed to say that’s new and different? So this year I stumbled – by luck or divine guidance -- on a past Pentecost message, one from 2016, which still speaks to me, strongly and lovingly and I decided to share it with you again, this year.

This past message reminds me that this is God’s story, not mine. This is the church’s story, not mine. And this is Luke’s story, not mine, and I think we need to begin there. Luke’s gospel and its continuation in the book of Acts is dated as having been written between 60 and 80 years after the Easter event when historical memory might be getting a little shaky, to say the least.

But Luke is never about historical facticity - Luke’s narrative is a record of how the emerging church felt as a result of the events he describes. He isn’t necessarily describing something as it literally happened. He describes the event’s effect on believers and on their future perceptions. He’s writing the bone-deep truth rather than the fact of his story.

And so back to Pentecost. Since Jesus’ departure the Jesus community has been pretty quiet. They don’t appear to have done anything much but they are doing something – they are praying, and they are waiting for God to act ..... and then a wind begins to blow. A wind just like the wind that blew over the waters of chaos in the very first moment of creation – the wind of the Spirit of God….. The similarity here is no coincidence. Jesus had promised a “new thing” was coming and Luke is making it crystal clear – to those with ears to hear – that here is that new thing that is happening with the winds of Pentecost – a “new thing” that is very like the original “new” thing of the first creation.

Sixty to eighty years after the fact, when the emerging church looked back at the first Pentecost day, this is the story Luke wrote about how it felt to be there – to be part of it all. Is it a factual story? Luke doesn’t care, and neither should we. This is the story the church had to tell about how it all began. This is what it felt like to them when the Spirit was in their midst and moved among them.

Something had changed them, and they were emboldened to speak freely and tell the story they knew – the story of God’s great gift to the world through Jesus and the Spirit. Suddenly the people were on fire with God’s word. So on fire that they somehow made themselves understood by others around them and the story they had to share moved like wildfire through the whole world.

As I read this today, I was reminded of some meetings I regularly attend as a member. This is our region’s Ministries Council, where leaders from many different affinity groups gather to share our unique experiences and challenges. Hilary, my husband and fellow church pastor are the representatives from one such group. This particular meeting came at the the beginning of a new term and so half the people there were returning, like Hilary and I were, and half were new to the council – including the new Chair – so he asked us to go around and each tell briefly what it is we represent there and what we are doing in our group. As I listened, I realized that this was a perfect Pentecost story playing out in a small room in a suburban business office.

When we read the Luke story of that first Pentecost, probably the thing that catches the most attention is the whole “speaking in tongues” thing. What is assumed, but never stated outright, is that whatever language it was that came out of their mouths, they spoke or were heard speaking the same story – but each in a different tongue.

What I realized I was hearing, at this particular Council meeting was the church telling it’s story – each of us speaking a different language – but telling the very same story of love for others and service to others and a striving to be Jesus’ hands and voice in this world. Some of us spoke a language of Camp and the work this group of folks do to shape places – most often in the midst of God’s beautiful creation – places and opportunities for youth and families to grow and learn and love God. Some of us spoke a language of Reconciliation, working in our communities to eradicate racism and bring justice to all God’s people together.

We heard from those whose calling is to foster and nurture New Church development, supporting brand new churches that were forming themselves to join us in that larger community we call “Church.” We heard about the Men’s Ministry cluster and the things they have planned to minister specifically to the needs of men and boys today. Likewise, we have Women’s Ministry, shaped to speak to women’s desires for a church that, among other things, listens to them and offers opportunities for them to be in leadership.

My husband and I were there to speak for small, out-of-the-mainstream, Off-the-Center congregations – those who are located out away from the urban centers with no sister churches close by where we often feel alone -- and the challenges we face in being active in the wider church, as well as the blessings to be discovered in this particular kind of small group ministry and outreach to the immediate community, however small.

There are other groups represented, as well. We don’t have time for them all. But at this particular meeting each representative was there because they passionately love the specific work they are doing – and we all love to hear the language they speak in and to the larger church when they speak of that work.

The point is that we all are, back in 2016, and still today, in our own ways telling the same story of service and love in community but telling it in different languages so that our story is understood by those with whom we are speaking.

Many of you here do this same sort of outreach everyday but you may not think of it that way. For the people you meet, God’s story that you tell often sounds like a kind word, a sandwich, a warm coat, a listening ear and heart. Some of you stack cans at a food pantry to tell your story. Some care for deeply sick people. The languages are limitless. When we let that wind blow through us and let it fan the sparks into a flame of action and speech, we are telling the same story the early disciples told on the long-ago day, in all kinds of different languages - the story that we are loved and called to love in return.

We may never know who and how many are impacted by our story - whatever language we speak. All we have to do is allow the Spirit to move in us, to use us. When we let the Spirit flow, lives are changed. Let us continue to speak out in our many and various tongues and let us tell our story – the church’s story – the age old, ever new story, that death and fear are defeated, that the reign of God is here and now within our midst. The story that says that love will always – always – win.

Holy Spirit, come today. Fill us with your fire that we may continue to speak your love in all the languages of the human heart -- in all the languages of the world. Amen.

]]><![CDATA["KINDNESS HEALS US ALL"]]>Sun, 01 Jun 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/kindness-heals-us-allMatthew 25:34-36
“Come, you who are blessed by God, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.”

These are words that are familiar to all of us. Words we’ve heard time and time again whenever we have been discussing the teachings of Jesus – and they are words that it is hard to argue with – but that doesn’t mean that some people won’t try.

I have two points I’m going to focus on in this message today.

FIRST POINT: “Kindness heals us all.” This brief four-word statement caught my attention and refused to let go this past week. If you have been following us over the past few months, you know that kindness is a topic that often shows up in our conversations. If you happen to read our weekly Newsletter you know that the subject of kindness is the topic of at least half of each newsletter. I spend a fair amount of time every week just skimming online sources for stories based in kindness. That’s because it appears to me that kindness is at the core of almost everything we believe – and try to practice – about the teachings of Jesus.

SECOND POINT: I try hard to avoid politics in my messages – I really do. I have strong personal opinions, but I try not to let them swallow my message. Sometimes that’s a tricky path to walk. Because I WILL talk about ethical behaviors and basic rights and wrongs, and that quite often runs face-first into politics.

Unless you are living in a bubble, it is an inescapable fact that there are a whole lot of un-ethical, un-Christ-like, and un-kind things being done in our country these days. It’s enough to depress anyone – and yet – every once in a while one of these depressing stories turns out to have some lovely kindness growing out from them.

I found this story online last week but the events it references happened over the past several months if not years. It started at that time when certain people decided they were being over-run with illegal immigrants (remember: “they’re eating the dogs, they’re eating the cats!“) so to publicize their unhappiness with this state of things, they loaded the so-called “illegals” into buses and dumped them in cities that had named themselves as “sanctuary cities.”

One of those dumping places was Denver, CO. And that is where today’s story happens. With no warning, no preparation, busloads of migrant families were taken to Denver and dropped off – in 10-degree winter weather when most of the migrants were wearing T-shirts and sandals – just as they’d been herded onto the buses.

Now, this is also where the story gets political – and ugly – fast. In fairness I need to say here that there are at least two versions of what happened since floating around online.

First is the version told by Mike Johnston, at the time the newly elected mayor of Denver, who recently shared his pride in the people of his town, who stepped up and did the right thing. His description highlights the city's proactive response to this abrupt influx of immigrants, emphasizing both the city's logistical efforts and the moral obligation they felt to care for those in need. They responded by opening eight shelters to immediately house 5,000 people, with city employees volunteering extra shifts and Denver residents providing meals, clothes, furniture, school supplies and other necessary things. Over the next few months, more than 38,500 people landed in the streets of Denver, dropped off by the busload and left there.

All along, Johnston has framed the situation as a moral imperative, emphasizing that they had a duty to care for those in need. He has publicly quoted Jesus, and named what Denver did as common decency.

One year later there are no remaining migrant encampments, they have closed all their emergency shelters, those who were able have been helped to find legal employment and help pay their own way. And not only has there been no crime-wave over-taking the city, but crimes are actually down compared to prior years.

I said at the beginning here that there are other versions of this story. This is where it gets politically ugly. I could find few coherent explanations -- just people shouting “that’s a lie!” or “They’re criminals” The Fact Checkers I checked with, however, agree that they found little or no sign of criminality and that Denver’s version is basically true.

Neighboring cities report zero to few immigrants – because they are not listed as “Sanctuary cities”. They just went on with their comfortable lives while Denver – by their own choice -- struggled to help thousands. They have not been willing to take on the labor or the expense that Denver has accepted – or maybe it is a fear of ICE, or a belief that the brown-skinned people do not deserve a safe place to live. I do not know why people make the choices they make.

I do know that Denver appears to have made the choice that Jesus would make. I said at the beginning that sad stories can hold hope and righteousness within them. Even in the face of overwhelming opposition and impossible odds, we can still make the right choices.

I opened with a four word quote that sent me to this story. Here’s the whole paragraph it came from. I don’t know who originally said it:

According to research, acts of kindness release the same chemicals as falling in love: dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin. When you're feeling low, instead of turning away from the depressing world, find one small way of being of service. We can do it. Whatever IT is, we can do to the best of our ability. Many of us do it all the time. . . and it turns out that the doing of acts of kindness, can heal our fear, our worry and help us do things we can hardly imagine . . . because . . .
KINDNESS HEALS US ALL.

]]><![CDATA["WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO DIE?"]]>Sun, 25 May 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/why-did-jesus-have-to-dieMatthew 22:37-40
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Last week I spoke about the teachers we can find online these days and what good teaching we are able to find there even though many of these folks are from denominations other than ours. I believe we can learn and grow through hearing differing points of view.

I often find myself “nudged” to look at things I’d been taught, but didn’t really agree with, while never really looking too deeply into “why” I don’t agree.

I listed several people I have been following recently as examples. One of these is Mark Sandlin, a Presbyterian church pastor from North Carolina. He shares occasional short clips on a variety of biblical subjects and often questions if traditional interpretations are necessarily the only correct understandings.

A recent message from Sandlin is titled, “Why did Jesus Have to Die,” and his answer to the question is, “He didn’t.” Jesus didn’t “have to” die. No one, especially not the one he called “Father” ever pushed him out the door and said, “I expect you to pay the price for these misbehaving people. Somebody has to die for this and it’s going to have to be you.”

I can remember being told, as a child, that sin could only be blotted out with blood. All the way back to the disobedience of Adam and Eve humans had disobeyed God and God was affronted and someone had to pay for this affront!

Even as a young child, I refused to accept that as truth. It made God sound like a monster and I have never believed that God fits in any monster category! But that is what I was taught. I have since found what feel like more reasonable – to me -- explanations. Mostly I just learned to keep my mouth shut and not argue.

According to Sandlin then, Jesus didn’t die for affronting God. He died because he had a knack for drawing the attention of the Roman empire. If he had to die it was because he insisted on aligning himself with the marginalized and speaking out against those who were stepping on those who already had so very little.

Jesus taught that we are supposed to love each other – as Matthew so eloquently puts it:
‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets”.

This comes before any man-made law. Not only did Jesus teach them to love whole heartedly – he told them they were worthy of being loved. They were not created to just suffer and serve the powerful, but to love and be loved.

In other words, we are to love God and love each other completely – so completely that we can never allow those who are in charge to make rules or laws that require us to act in any way contrary to God’s laws. Our first law is always to love God with all we have – and close behind that one is the rule that tells us to love each other. Period. No human law can supersede these.

Those in charge of things at this time – the rich and the powerful -- basically, the Romans – were telling the people their first obligation and loyalty should be to the Empire because that was how they could keep the poor under their thumbs.

Is all this sounding strangely familiar? Like something we hear in the news every day? There’s nothing new happening in our world. It’s an old, old story. The rich need the marginalized to do their bidding in order for them to remain in power. And for all its power and might, the Roman empire needed Jesus to stop preaching because the people were actually listening to him, and his teachings about love. That is ultimately what got Jesus killed, because, of course, he didn’t stop. He had God’s message of love to share and he intended to do just that – no matter what the cost might turn out to be.

Here, Sandlin’s brief message ends with one inescapable truth: In the Roman Empire you only died on the cross when you were a threat to the empire. Not when you offended God’s ego. I think that is where we look for the answer to why Jesus died on that cross.

It’s less a matter of theology than it is one of politics. But Jesus still did it for love.

]]><![CDATA[DIVERSITY ENRICHES US]]>Sun, 18 May 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/diversity-enriches-usJohn 13:34-35
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

I have, throughout my lifetime so far, been attached to a number of different church denominations – all Christian – but different from each other in both theology and ecclesiology – the ways in which churches order their worship.

Some of you hearing this message may have had similar church journeys, some of you may have been raised since childhood in one setting where you remain to this day. Others of you may have been raised with no particular teaching and have only recently come to your current faith. This is one of the reasons I find church so interesting – because together we are such a vibrant hodge-podge of different beliefs and practices.

Until fairly recently most church goers seemed to choose one and stick with it. It is only in more recent years that many have felt free to change around at will. I suspect that the advent of the internet has had a lot to do with this. It’s easy today to find other voices speaking of their beliefs and practices when all we’ve ever heard before is the voices in our own denomination.

Granted, most Christians share the same base beliefs but we can differ widely in the ways we choose to live out those beliefs. I, for one, am delighted that Christians of different denominations are speaking out in different settings and sharing their ways of living out their faith.

We can learn so much from each other. Will we have differences? Yes, I suspect we will, but I also believe we will find many more similarities. When Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde offered the sermon at services for the president’s January inauguration, she asked for mercy on those who were feeling frightened by Trump’s newly declared war on immigrants. When Trump demanded an apology for the “insult” she did not cave – she responded simply that she would not apologize for the teachings of Jesus.

I was proud to share her faith even if it wore another name, and I can only hope I could share her courage.

There are several people I follow online and benefit from their hearts and their wisdom. Until the last handful of decades it was harder to do this because first I had to find them (usually in an academic setting) and then order any books they may have written, not knowing if their works would speak to me or not.

Now it is easier to see something brief they’ve written online that moves me and teaches me and draws me to learn more.

Nadia Bolz-Weber, for instance, is Lutheran. Mark Sandlin is Presbyterian. Joseph Yoo was raised and ordained Methodist but has recently transitioned to the Episcopalian priesthood. John Pavlovitz was raised Catholic, but served many years as a Methodist pastor before leaving parish ministry to focus on his writing career and his deep passion for social justice issues. These folks are familiar voices online.

Diana Butler Bass has been a Methodist, an Evangelical, and an Episcopalian and, in addition, is currently studying traditions from Buddist and Hindu settings, and Frederick Buechner, who my church knows I’ve probably quoted more than anyone else on the planet, was Presbyterian.

I could go on all day listing people who are from denominations that differ from our Disciples of Christ – yet are clearly our brothers and sisters in Christ’s love and service. People who have taught me, and then, by extension, taught you, as I pass on what I’ve learned from them to you in my preaching and teaching here.

As for the Disciples of Christ – we are proud to proclaim ourselves as Part of the One Body of Christ. Furthermore, we describe ourselves as “a diverse group of Christ-followers across the United States and Canada. We worship in old sanctuaries, living rooms, coffee shops, and online. We’re called to do justice. We read and wrestle with the Bible. We believe God loves the whole world, everyone included. We’re doing our best to follow Jesus.”

Two specific statements tell us a lot about who we are: first, We are called to study and read scripture for ourselves. Rather than having tests of faith and creedal statements, we critically and thoughtfully study scripture, taking into account the history and background – the context – in which it was written. Second: We honor our heritage as a movement for Christian unity by cooperating and partnering with other faith communities to work for bringing about wholeness – healing and justice – in the world.

We study scripture for ourselves rather than just accepting what someone else tells us is biblically true, especially when what we are told does not fit with the loving God we believe in.

We work with each other because we learn from each other and we can accomplish more to work for justice and spread love and kindness in this world when we work together.

Because that is pretty much at the heart of it all. Jesus taught us to love each other. That’s our calling. That’s what it’s all about. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

Regardless of which denominational name we claim, it is Jesus we follow. In that regard, we all speak the same language. Some of us may get the message a little garbled yet, but it is still the teachings of Jesus we seek to follow.

So let us willingly learn from each other. Share what we’ve learned. Lift each other up. Our differences enrich us.

Love one another as Jesus has always loved us – with open and giving hearts.

AMEN

]]><![CDATA[LAST WORDS]]>Sun, 11 May 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/last-words4930966Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus gave them this charge: “God authorized me to commission you, so go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

The weeks between Easter and Pentecost can be something of a mish-mosh. It’s hard to build a straight storyline with pieces thrown in from each of the four gospels.

The Feast of the Ascension will be celebrated on May 29th this year. That’s still two or three weeks away, but it will be the last big event in our journey in the life of Jesus — from Christmas through the weeks immediately after Easter, and it all culminates there with his followers standing around, and with Jesus being carried up into heaven – usually depicted as floating gently upward on a cloud, and – this is the key phrase – “disappearing from their sight.” At least this is the image most of us have been given most of our lives.

The ascension can be a “problem” for most modern Christians – those of us who are not literalists, at least. We have so much trouble accepting that Jesus just floated up into heaven and “poofed” away, never to be seen on earth again in his human form.

We tend to think of Jesus’ “last words” as a Good Friday thing – his last words as he is dying on the cross. The reading we just heard, from Matthew’s gospel, is Matthew’s version of Jesus’ last words to his disciples. His gospel ends here. Matthew never actually says Jesus ascended — he just leaves us there and we assume the rest.

Mark, in his gospel, simply says that “Jesus returned to heaven.” Luke says that Jesus blessed his disciples “and while blessing them, made his exit, being carried up to heaven.” That’s the closest to the ascension story suggested above. John’s gospel doesn’t mention an ascension. It ends where we ended last week with Jesus telling Peter to “Feed my sheep.” What we can gain from the writings left for us is that in some manner, from this point on, Jesus was seen no more among them.

Most of us non-literalists have known for a very long time now that heaven is not actually “up there.” If we weren’t sure before, NASA’s exploratory journeys into space pretty well proved that to us. Jesus told us repeatedly that the reign of God is here, right here where we are. So why are we so determined to place it somewhere else?

We happily believe a great many very odd things throughout our Christian journey, so why do some people get so hung up on this one, when we can believe it as figurative truth or metaphor. We don’t struggle like this at the idea that Jesus rose from the dead, or that God impregnated a young woman by way of the Holy Spirit, or that choirs of angels filled the sky at the holy birth.

We accept that we can believe literally or not, as seems right to us, and that both ways of telling the story are true. The point that matters is that when Jesus’ direct work here among us was over, he returned to God, to his home, to “heaven,” which is wherever the love of God reigns. It’s a story that tells us that Jesus’ direct work on earth is over and now will be done in a different manner, in a different form.

Soon we will be shifting our focus from the life of Jesus to the life of the newly emerging church. From here on we stop centering directly on the human life of Jesus and start paying attention to what the new church does with the story of that life.

After all, not a one of us here today was around during Jesus’ earthly life. All we know of it is what his early followers have left behind to tell us. What we have is their interpretation of Jesus’ message, and there has always been a lot of disagreement in just how that message should be heard and passed on.

Whether they knew it at the time, or not, those early followers were organizing a new religion, and a new church — which is interesting (but also very human) in that Jesus never said a word about “go out and start a church.” What it appears he did say was that they should change the way they lived their lives. He said nothing about making up a bunch of new rules. Nothing about buildings with gate-keepers. He certainly said nothing about locking certain people out if their ways were different from our chosen rules.

One thing he did say, to them, and by extension down to us – and he said it quite emphatically -- is that we are not to judge each other. Period. Full stop. Not our job. And so, of course, many of the new church builders, being human, started straight in with the judging and creating rules to govern the judging.

He was, however, equally emphatic, and equally clear on the things we are to do. We are to care for each other — to care for the widows and orphans, not just toss them to the curb to fend for themselves. We are to feed the hungry. There is no absolutely no ambiguity at all in that command. Feed. The Hungry. Three words – that’s it. Clothe the naked; give water to those parched with thirst; seek justice; practice mercy; be kind with each other. He tells us nothing about building institutions.

The more time we spend with Jesus, either in the stories left for us in scripture or in our personal prayers; the more we come to recognize the true voice of Jesus and the more we can recognize when something truly comes from him — and these then, are the things we cling to. The things we do to follow him. The new Jesus followers had a lot of work ahead of them – and we today are still part of that workforce – still struggling to build the legacy of God right here, right now. Still struggling to follow him as he asked to be followed.

AMEN.

]]><![CDATA["JESUS BECAME A STORY -- ONE WE LOVE TO SHARE"]]>Sun, 04 May 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/jesus-became-a-story-one-we-love-to-shareJohn 21:1-13    (paraphrase by John Shea *)

After Jesus had passed through the dark door,
   his friends returned
   to what they knew best,
   Galilee and the sea.
One evening Peter said,
     “I am going out to weep.”
But they thought he said,
     “I am going out to fish.”
So they all went with him
    and they wept and fished the night away,
    catching nothing but their tears.
With the dawn
    came a fire on the shore
    and the smell of fish across the water.
Through the mist
    a man was crumbled over coals.
He rose like an arrow
    from the bow of the earth and turned.
“Come, and eat your meal.”
No one, John says, presumed to inquire,
    “Who are you?
. . . They knew who it was.

Jesus told so many stories that he became one. It is through these stories that we know whatever it is we know of him – from the stories of his birth, through the stories of his death and resurrection. Stories told by him, stories told by others about him.

Easter Sunday was two weeks ago and last Sunday I was just returned home from our region’s Annual Gathering and there had been no time to prepare a formal message. This week’s message is about one of my favorites stories among all the many Jesus stories that we all know.

The reading we opened with today is the lead-in to that particular story but it isn’t the story itself. This is the third of Jesus’ post Resurrection appearances as told in John’s gospel account and it is, perhaps, more of a story about Peter, than a story about Jesus, but it is, for me at least, the most important of all the various post-resurrection Jesus stories.

Before the crucifixion, before the resurrection, there had been a night of a shared meal and promises given, and finally, a kiss of betrayal which ended with Jesus being taken away, a prisoner, to be judged by his own religious authorities. These pompous, angry men, wanting his death but not having the power to condemn him, sent him on to the Roman authority to do that job for them.

Through all these maneuvers a handful of disciples followed wherever Jesus was taken and among these was Simon Peter who professed to love Jesus more than all the others. Peter, who -- stunned that the thing he had so long feared was actually happening, or perhaps having convinced himself that now Jesus would make his play and be saved by God’s army of angels -- or maybe it was just plain terror for his own safety – who really knows? – but Peter publicly denied ever even knowing Jesus. Three times he denied it.

And Jesus died. And Peter never got to say how sorry and ashamed he was. I’ve often wondered how Peter managed to survive the guilt and shame and self-loathing he must have carried in the weeks following that crucifixion.

And that is the point of why this is my favorite story. Because the truth of this story from John’s gospel is simply that there was never any blame from Jesus. When they met again, Jesus did not call Peter out and berate him for abandoning him -- there was only love and understanding and trust, because after they all shared bread and fish on the beach that day, Jesus called Simon Peter aside and said, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Master, you know I love you,” and Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” – in other words, “watch over my little ones”.

He then asked him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Master, you know I love you” and Jesus said, “Shepherd my sheep.” – in other words,” take care of my people.”

Then he said it a third time: “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter answered, “Master, you know everything there is to know. You’ve got to know that I love you.” And Jesus said, “Yes, I do know and I trust you with it all. Simon, Feed my sheep.”

Three times the same question was asked, to wash out the shame of those three denials made on a night of betrayal and fear. Three times to make it clear that Peter absolutely was forgiven – and that he was trusted. That he was loved. And that he had always been loved.

The beauty of this short story within a story is that there was never any need for forgiveness – because there had never been any blame, only deep understanding.

And that is why I love this story so much because it tells us that no matter how badly we screw up, we are loved. Our fears are understood. No matter how deeply we may find ourselves mired in failure and shame, that is not what Jesus sees when he looks at us. What Jesus sees is love --- just love.

And that is why we tell ourselves and each other the stories that are Jesus because when we look at Jesus we don’t see blame or judgment. We see Jesus looking at us with understanding and love. All the stories we read and share about Jesus reflect compassion and joy back at us. And the world shines brighter.

Thanks be to God

* John Shea “Stories of Faith,” The Thomas More Press, Chicago, © 1980, p.181

]]><![CDATA["LOVE WINS -- AGAIN AND ALWAYS"]]>Sun, 20 Apr 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/love-wins-again-and-alwaysLuke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took spices and clothes and went to the tomb to properly tend Jesus’ body for burial.  They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord.

While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?  He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee:  The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ”  Then they remembered his words.

When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.  It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense.

Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

It’s Easter Morning – Christ is Risen! Alleluia, Amen! I wish I could feel the joy I have felt on Easters past, but every time I turn on the News lately I’m greeted with another atrocity – some horrible new thing committed by our government supposedly in our name, or a couple of new school shootings, or some raving antisemite attempting to burn a Jewish U.S. state governor and his family to death in their home. I could keep listing them – we all know what’s going on in our world these days.

But – it’s Easter morning and this is a time for rejoicing even – especially? – when joy can seem out of reach. Because that is exactly the message of Easter – that JOY is! LOVE is!

The people of Israel were an enslaved people in Jesus’ time, and yet – in the middle of their enslavement there was Jesus, who lived with them and talked with them and reminded them that they were loved -- they were God’s own beloved ones. They were worthy of kindness and plenty – not because the land was their home, but because God was their God.

Hatred is alive and well today, just as it was alive in Jesus’ day, and in all the days in-between. And yet ..... we are gathered here this morning not to mourn the presence of hatred, but to proclaim that – in spite of hatred’s best efforts -- love wins!

Jesus walked among us and taught and healed among us to show us that, in spite of what sometimes seems to be, it is love which always has and always will win. Author, teacher, and spiritual leader Flora Wuellner once wrote something that has stuck with me ever since I first read it. She described Jesus’s earthly mission as being “to bring heaven, the fullness of God’s realm, into our daily lives, relationships, choices.” I love that – Jesus’s mission was less to get us into heaven, as the church has taught for 2000+ years, than to get heaven into us – to place the living love of God into us – God's living, breathing, active love in us. That’s what Easter is about.

Jesus faced plenty that was ugly when he was here among us, but he never gave up his focus on the love of the one he called Father. He saw hatred and greed and hopelessness and selfishness and envy and fear aplenty, but still, the God he knew so deeply and personally was not, in his vision, about retribution or revenge or punishment — but always about love. Love is what he came to give us ... to give, and to give, and to give – in spite of our clinging to our old fears and hatreds, and in spite of all that hatred had to throw at him, love is what Jesus gave us in return.

Love spoke in all his teaching and healing. Love hung on that hideous cross. And love it is that lives again in each and every one of us – loving and being, through and in us.

Love is why we exist. Love – I believe – is what God is. And everything that comes from God is the result of that love. Love creates. All that is flows from the creativity of God’s love. Love supports, love nourishes, love builds – and love invites – invites us to live here and now in that heaven which is the ultimate expression of God’s love. Love is why Jesus exists. Love is why Easter is so important – more important, really, than Christmas or any other holy day. Love is why we are here .....

And so hatred – for all its nagging, petty ugliness – for all its persistence in the world – for all its seeming inevitable-ness – hatred loses. Because the life-giving Creator who brought everything into being is determined to love us all into wholeness. And – as Easter proves again today, love will always win.

I took the title for this message from Rob Bell’s book, “Love Wins” which came out several years ago. That book was a huge shift in how I see our lives as Jesus people. It’s a reminder to me that God’s love is stronger than death, stronger than hate. It’s easy to lose that in the midst of the world’s news, but it’s true. Love wins. It’s not some heavy, convoluted theological dogma – it’s two short words. Easy to carry around with you every day: Love wins. I want to end today with the blessing with which Bell ended that book years ago. It lives in my house and my mind as part of that tattered array of random quotes scribbled on post-it notes and stuck up around my work desk:

“May you experience this vast, expansive, infinite, indestructible love that has been yours all along. May you discover that this love is as wide as the sky and as small as the cracks in your heart no one else knows about. And may you know, deep in your bones, that love wins.”

Christ is Risen! Jesus lives! Happy Easter!

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