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

<![CDATA[Church of the Open Door: First Christian Church, Ukiah - Pastor\'s Blog]]>Tue, 20 May 2025 22:05:45 -0700Weebly<![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!

]]><![CDATA["COMING OUT WITH JESUS"]]>Sun, 13 Apr 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/coming-out-with-jesusLuke 19:29-40
As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’ So those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. Its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” And they replied, “The Lord needs it.”

They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen crying “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples! They will call down trouble on all of us.”

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the very stones will cry out.”

Today is the beginning of Holy Week. It is also the last of our Sunday Messages to be drawn from the daily readings in our Lenten prayer books this year. These daily pieces have been written and compiled by the members of the God Is Still Speaking writers group. Today’s meditation was written by Liz Miller, from Granby Congregational UCC.

We are grateful to these writers for sharing their individual thoughts with us, and grateful as well to The Pilgrim Press for permission to reproduce and share these meditations with you.

Our title for today is “Coming Out with Jesus.” Miller begins her devotional by sharing a story from her personal life:
When I came out as non-binary to a teen-age cousin, he grinned and proclaimed, “Trans rights are human rights!” Then he told me it was a big deal to come out, and he was proud of me. His reaction gave me the courage to keep showing up as my authentic self long after our conversation was over.

Trans rights are a big topic of conversation in our increasingly splintered country right now so we are probably most used to hearing the phrase, “coming out” in this one context, but people “come out” in all manner of ways.

Have you ever felt the need to stand up in front of a society that has categorized you as one thing and say out loud, “No, that is not who I am” – or perhaps – “That is not the whole story of who I am, I am so much more?”

Jesus, so far as we know, was just a curious kid from Nazareth—son of the local carpenter—until his curiosity took him out into the desert to see this guy named John, preaching and baptizing in the wilderness. There he encountered the Spirit, and a voice that spoke from the heavens and claimed him as God’s own beloved son, and he believed it.

After a few weeks spent thinking about what had just happened to him, he ventured back into town and proclaimed himself as one sent to proclaim good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. That is quite a coming out statement.

From there for the next three years, he proceeded to add layer upon layer to his newly “out” persona. He was recognized as a prophet. He healed many, he rebuked demons, he told them stories that changed how they saw themselves—and he was a preacher who spoke God’s word of truth to any who would listen – and listen they did. For those who witnessed and those who listened he was no longer that guy from Nazareth. He had become a whole new being.

Perhaps he just became who he always was, always had been, but when he came to really believe it, the people did too. Maybe he needed to come out to himself. We can’t know exactly what the process was, but when he came out as his true, authentic self, the people came out from everywhere to walk with him and they followed him, letting him know that day that he did not walk alone on that trip into Jerusalem. They walked with him to let him know they loved him and they were with him.

“Coming out” can be frightening or it can be freeing. Sometimes I’m sure, it is both at once. To stand and name your own truth and refuse to consent any longer to a label that isn’t you. I’ve had a few of those moments in my life, and I suspect that you have, too. Mine happened mostly when I was younger, and they helped to shape the direction of my life. They’ve only gotten easier in the years since.

Those milestone moments in Jesus’ life were obviously more consequential than mine. They shaped the trajectory of his life and, in time, millions of other lives, as well. But all such happenings—big or small—matter.

It didn’t last that long, that joyous parade on that first Palm Sunday, and it ended in grief and sorrow with a wooden cross and a silent tomb – but Jesus refused to stop even then. They had no way of knowing it that day, but Jesus had one more “coming out” for them . . . but that’s a story for next week.

]]><![CDATA["LOVE, GIVEN WHILE WE CAN"]]>Sun, 06 Apr 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/love-given-while-we-canJohn 12:1-8
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

As we’ve been doing all along, today’s Sunday message is linked with the one found in our daily reading booklet and, once again, the meditation for today was written by Quinn Caldwell and taken from that booklet, Into the Deep, from the God is Still Speaking Writers Group.

I’ve expanded the brief quote that Caldwell took from John’s Gospel so that we might have the full story for our discussion. It’s a story we’re all familiar with but, like many stories taken from scripture, we sometimes finding ourselves just accepting it as “a bible story” without thinking about what it really means.

Living in a dry, semi-desert land, where the primary means of transportation for ordinary people was your own two feet, anyone arriving at the home of a friend who lived in a neighboring village was likely to arrive hot and dusty, with dirty feet and, by today’s standards, somewhat smelly. The rules of hospitality demanded that they be greeted with water to drink and water to wash—and refresh--their dirty feet. Further than this—if one could afford it—one also offered oil for the dry and cracked skin of their feet.

But this time, Mary’s offering of oil went much, much further than usual – into a another meaning entirely. A day or so later Jesus would wash the feet of his disciples, as an offering of humility, of servanthood, of love – but as Caldwell points out, Mary did it first. Perhaps Jesus learned the value of this particular kind of giving of self after first receiving it from Mary.

And the time is growing very short. Jesus is here at Mary and Martha’s home because he is on his way to Jerusalem—for the last time. This visit is only a momentary respite. When he leaves their home in the next few days and enters Jerusalem it will be to be greeted by crowds, hailing him as “King of the Jews.”

We are growing very close to the crisis point. Mary sees this and recognizes that there will not be many – if any—more chances to show her love for Jesus – the Lord she has followed so faithfully and with such loving devotion. So, as Caldwell puts it, she overdoes it, she falls to her knees and gives him everything she has to give.

She takes a full jar of nard – an expensive perfume gathered from a plant found clear off in the Himalayas, and she anoints him with it because again, as Caldwell puts it, there’s no time for subtleties as hatred and violence are headed their way; no reason to be stingy with love in a world so generous with pain – she uses her own hair to wipe his feet. When it might be your last touch you don’t want anything between you.

In those days, anointing--deliberately pouring out oil upon someone--signified God's blessing, and was used to set that someone apart for a specific holy purpose or to consecrate them for a particular role, like a king, priest, or prophet. Or in this case, a sacrifice.

Mary knows this journey isn’t going to end well. As Caldwell puts it:
“This is her last chance to do this while Jesus is still alive. It has to count, this anointing. It has to last. He needs to still be able to feel this when they’re lashing him a few days from now. When he looks down from the cross at jeering faces, he needs to be able to remember hers looking up at him with love. He needs to still be able to smell this act when he’s on the cross.”

When we take the time to fully recognize the agony of Mary’s goodbye, we can understand, so much better, the absolute joy of that meeting in the garden a few days later when Mary was shown that nothing, and no one, can separate us from Jesus – ever.

But that is another story for another week. Today we have only one woman’s need to reach out while she still can to make sure that the one she loves knows that they are loved – and needed -- and supported. Love—in one form or another--is all we have to give – so give it while it still can be given – wherever it is needed.

]]><![CDATA[WHEN LEADERS SERVE THEMSELVES]]>Sun, 30 Mar 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/when-leaders-serve-themselves1st Samuel 1:1, 10-16
Elkanah son of Jeroham, had two wives; Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none because the Lord had closed her womb. Once when they had gone to the house of the Lord to offer sacrifice, Hannah prayed to the Lord, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
As she kept on praying to the Lord, the High Priest Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.”
“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”

As we’re doing with all the Sundays in this Lenten Season, this reading is the scripture that links with today’s reflection for the 4th Sunday in Lent, found in our daily reading booklet, Into the Deep, from the God is Still Speaking devotional. This reflection was written by Kaji Dousa, Senior Minister at The Park Avenue Christian Church in New York City.

Here, she takes one small but important fragment of the larger story of Hannah and Eli – part of the background for the life story of Samuel, who would himself become High Priest after Eli and the most important of the Judges to rule the land called Canaan, which would later become Israel.

Elkanah, a good and righteous man, had a dearly loved wife, Hannah, who unfortunately was barren. He had then taken a second wife, Penninah, who bore him the “necessary” children, but he still loved Hannah and cherished her. Unfortunately, the lot of barren women in the Old Testament was not a kind one. A man must have children – to work for him and to carry his name forward and most importantly, to speak his name into future generations that he might not be forgotten, so the women, of course, were blamed and mocked and humiliated, and the more fortunate, child-bearing wives made life unkind for the childless women.

The present might not have been all rainbows and butterflies for barren women but (unknown to them at the time) their future was much brighter. A miracle child born to a barren woman in the Old Testament was always destined to be someone very important: Isaac, Jacob, Joseph (Jacob’s son), Samson, and Samuel were each examples of sons born to a previously barren woman who was redeemed by their birth. Samuel is the one today’s particular storyline leads to even though he never enters this bit of the story and, in fact, wasn’t even born yet.

Rev. Dousa takes a different direction with her story of Hannah and the High Priest Eli. And it all hinges on Eli’s judgmental responses to Hannah’s prayer.

Eli was highly respected at this time and was used to people hanging on his every pronouncement. He apparently felt he was entitled to judge Hannah simply because she was a woman doing something differently than the way he did it.
“Hannah’s dreams were shattered. She’d had expectations for how her life would go . . . and it wasn’t. She was going through it, so she took up her courage and headed into that sanctuary to lay it all at the altar—speaking to God from her heart but without speaking aloud--but the guy in charge, Eli, made fun of her. Called her out for being drunk. Made sure she heard how her prayers were wrong. He publicly humiliated her.
“Understand, any failure here wasn’t Hannah’s, but Eli’s. He just couldn’t, or wouldn’t grasp her language of prayer or her situation.
“There are a lot of reasons people step away from houses of worship. Authoritative leaders who think everyone needs to follow them are one of the biggest problems.
“What I want you to know is that when God had to choose between the religious authority’s response and the person praying, God didn’t choose the structure. God chose the person. God chose Hannah. God’s not ever going to choose the religious institution, ever, over you.
“But that doesn’t mean giving up on church. Church is a collection of humans, a gathering of imperfect people. The church’s job is to approach our call to serve with humility, never making the Eli mistake of expecting the church’s way to always be your way.”

And yes, Eli got the message. After Hannah defended her murmuring as grief and despair, Eli backed down—apologized, and gave Hannah his blessing. God’s blessing she already had. She always had it.

]]><![CDATA[GOD'S KIND OF SOIL]]>Sun, 23 Mar 2025 07:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/gods-kind-of-soilLuke 13:6-9
Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’”

“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘Leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

This is the scripture that links with today’s reflection for this third Sunday in Lent, taken from our daily reading booklet, Into the Deep, from the God is Still Speaking devotional. Today’s reflection was written by Quinn Caldwell, a UCC pastor who is Chaplain of the Protestant Cooperative Ministry at Cornell University. The scripture citation he chose for us is the one we opened with just now.

We’re going to read some of his thoughts on the meaning of these verses, then we’ll talk a bit about what these thoughts and verses might mean to us. “’Everything I have, I earned. Everything I’ve achieved is down to my hard work and nobody else’s. If you’ve failed, it’s because you’re a failure. You didn’t grind hard enough; spent too much on lattes.’”

“That’s some people’s line anyway. It’s nice for them because it absolves them of a lot of responsibility—the responsibility to thank or acknowledge the world for the aid, the privilege, and the boost they have received. Not to mention the responsibility to aid, privilege, and boost others.”

Jesus refers to this kind of reasoning as “nonsense”—this whole “I did it all myself” stuff, and to make his position relatable he introduces us to two characters who illustrate his point. The first is the vineyard owner–a real ‘up by his own bootstraps’ kind of guy.

Somewhere in his wisdom this man has decided that a fig tree requires a maximum of three years to root and grow and settle into the business of producing figs. This tree has not done this so he orders the vineyard worker—the second new character—to get rid of it. Dig it up, chop it down. It’s just using space in his orchard and not giving anything back for it. Toss it out and replace it with a tree that will do what he wants.

But the vineyard worker—the one who actually works at tending the trees—answered him, “Sir, give it one more year. Let me give it my personal attention for that year. It could be that the soil in this one spot is just not rich enough for this tree’s roots. I’ll dig around it to loosen the soil and fertilize it well. Let’s see what happens with new soil.” Or, as Caldwell puts it in the closing line to his reflection here: God, the arborist says, ‘Not till we see how it does in my kind of soil.’

The vineyard worker knows that not all trees have the same needs and not all soil is equal--just as we know that all people are not born with equal abilities or blessings of support and opportunity.

Each Sunday as I drive, first north, then south again between home and church, I drive past acres of vineyards, all laid out in their neat lines. It’s a strip of land rich in multiple varietals of grapes and sometimes it seems to a non-grower like me that they are constantly ripping out whole plots to plant something new. Each time—around the 2nd or 3rd year—I can see blank spots in the areas where the planting covers hillsides as well as the flatlands. Those blank spots are where the new planting just didn’t thrive due to a low spot where the water collects or a slope that doesn’t get quite as much sun as the rest of the plot. It's the same grape from the same lot, given the same care, but its life is not the same.

In the same way, people can be born in similar locations but experience very different lives with very different results. Have you ever heard the old saying “Judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree and it will live its life believing it is stupid”? How about we refrain from judging … period. We don’t truly know anyone else’s story—their circumstances. Let’s help out and lift up and boost other’s chances—all without judging, just lifting up-- all while respecting each person's humanity. It shouldn't be all that hard to do.

]]><![CDATA[CATCH ME IF YOU WILL]]>Sun, 09 Mar 2025 08:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/catch-me-if-you-willLuke 4:9-12
The devil brought Jesus into Jerusalem and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down from here; for it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you’ and ‘they will take you up in their hands…’”
Jesus answered, “It has also been said, ‘Do not test the Lord your God.’”

This is the scripture that links with today’s reflection for this first Sunday in Lent, taken from our daily reading booklet, Into the Deep, from the God is Still Speaking devotional. Today’s reflection was written by Chris Mereschuk, a UCC pastor and consultant in church vitality. We’re going to read some of his thoughts on the meaning of these verses, then we’ll read a bit of reflection from someone else, and then, at our in-person church, we’ll talk a bit about what these thoughts and verses might mean to us. This will be our basic pattern for the Sundays through Lent.

Here is the beginning of Mereschuk’s meditation:

About 40 days from now in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus will beg God to spare him from death. God will be silent. Suffering on the cross the next day, Jesus will cry out in anguished abandonment. No angels will be commanded.
What if Jesus knew from the start that’s how it would go, and that’s why he didn’t leap? Didn’t test God, not from obedient faith, but because of deep doubt that God would send angels to catch him? It’s painful—almost blasphemous, heretical—to think about. But maybe slightly relatable? (end quote)

Our faith wants to tell us that Jesus was simultaneously fully human and fully divine. But those are two truths that are hard to balance in one faith. Those of us who are believers, I suspect, do believe that God will indeed catch us when we are falling—perhaps not in this life—at this moment—in every instance—but in the end God will catch us and hold us in loving care.

But the question is not always, “Will God catch me?” There is also the more present question, “Will we catch others at those times when they are falling down?

There was a piece posted on Facebook last week. A friend had reposted it but it was unclear who had been the original poster.

Anyway…there were two people involved here—one, to whom the initiating event had happened, and a second, who spoke about how the first person’s involvement affected them. I’m trying not to be too specific because I don’t want to get tangled up in the politics of the story, even though politics is what initiated the story. You’ll probably figure it out anyway – it’s fairly obvious.

So – one person—the storyteller’s next-door neighbor-- was a hard-core fan of a powerful political person – signs all over their yard, and flags, and very vocal about their support. But recently this same person was dropped-kicked out of their long-time job – with no warning--by the orders of the one they had supported for so long. They were in shock and mourning that this could have happened to them.

The storyteller had several friends (not the political person’s fans) who had also had their jobs cancelled and their lives turned upside down, so they were finding it difficult to scratch up any sympathy for the erstwhile fan who they felt had “brought it on themself.” (This would all be so much easier if I didn’t have to tip-toe around the politics!)

What does the Christian believer do in this situation? Jesus makes our expected response painfully clear several times in the bible:

You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. (Matt. 5:43-45)

But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. (Luke 6:27-28)

We ask God to catch us when we are falling, but God doesn’t always do all the catching by God’s self. Sometimes other people are assigned the task of doing the catching. Sometimes we are given the job of catching someone else when they are falling. Even when we might just enjoy watch them fall because “they deserve it!”

We don’t have to act as if what they did was OK. We just need to do something to catch them when they are falling. Some bit of humanity that says “Yeah, we’ve all been known to screw up once in a while.” We don’t have to like them for it – that’s God’s part of the deal. The right or wrong of their actions is not up to you or me – only God-- and God wants all of us to be caught. And God wants them to be caught so they can be healed, just as any one of us was at some time in our lives caught and allowed time to learn to be better.

As our opening reading puts it, sometimes we, like Jesus, can find ourselves on that high place, teetering on the edge. We can choose the soul-death of hanging on to our fear or hatred or we can choose the life giving Kin-dom that is God’s gift for us when we allow ourselves to choose love, and our role in sharing it with others.

As I hope always to be caught when I’m falling, so I choose to play any part that God assigns me in helping to catch others. There is more than enough love to go around. There's no need to be stingy with it.

]]><![CDATA[A BRIEF NOTE ON ASH WEDNESDAY FROM PASTOR CHERIE]]>Wed, 05 Mar 2025 08:00:00 GMThttp://firstchristianchurchukiah.org/pastors-blog/a-brief-note-on-ash-wednesday-from-pastor-cherieASH WEDNESDAY

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent and the first step on the path to Easter. The forty days from today to Easter (Sundays aren’t counted) mirror the forty days that scripture tells us Jesus spent in the wilderness, hungry and alone and harassed with temptations.

In earlier centuries we were expected to suffer in some way to join ourselves to the Jesus who suffered for us. It is still seen as a reminder of our mortality, “You are dust and to dust you shall return,” but in recent decades it is presented more often as a chance to attempt to better ourselves – to replace our pettiness, selfishness, anger and lack of compassion with goodness, with hope, with caring for each other.

Rather than giving up chocolate bars or steaks or alcohol for the forty days, how about if we look for ways to reach out and help others: donate to a local food bank; or an animal shelter; support your locals schools; smile at that grumpy person you always seem to run into at the bank (even when you’d prefer to growl back at them); say “thank you, have a good day” and mean it to the server who hands you your drive-up take-out order; give your older neighbor a ride to the grocery store – and home again; donate your time to any of the dozens of organizations trying to make your area a better place to be…..Kindness matters!

I could go on all day, but you get the picture, I hope. Instead of giving up things that don’t really matter, give yourself away. The world will be blessed by your caring…..and so will you.

HAPPY GIVING!

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