“There be giants in the land…”

Numbers 13:1-3a;17-33

Matthew 28:5-10

Chilmark Community Church

June 30, 2019

Perception is a really curious human phenomenon. There is the old cliché observation that if four people witness an automobile accident, there will be four different descriptions of what happened – each person believing that they saw accurately. Moses sent 12 men, representing each of the 12 tribes out into Canaan to scout out the land and bring back a report about what they found.   

They were supposed observe whether the land was good, what kind of people lived there, whether there were settlements?  Or were there armed fortresses? Moses asked them to bring back some produce so he could see what the land produced – whether it was fertile or not.  It is clear that this was not an espionage assignment – too many men were going and Moses would not have risked losing so many leaders in a spy operation.  It seemed like a prudent thing to do – to scout things out before making a huge leap into the unknown.

The men returned with mixed perceptions about what they saw.

The majority report, on their return, was full of dire warnings – “Yes – – the land IS flowing with milk and honey and look at the fruit we brought back – – it takes two men to carry the bunches of grapes we found.  BUT the people who live there are strong and the towns are big and fortified – and we saw giants there.” 

Their report instilled fear in the people when they heard it -and they took up their 40 year long chant – “we would have been better off back in Egypt” – -“it would be better for us if we had died there or at least if we had died in the wilderness.”  It seemed as though they had learned nothing from their 40 years of sojourning with God and Moses.  At the slightest provocation, their fear took over and they yearned for the security of the good old days which weren’t that great, but which were familiar and predictable.

As a church community, Chilmark Community Church is on the brink of yet another “crossing into Canaan ” – – into a land that God will show you on the other side of July 1st.    Next week, you will welcome a new pastor who will lead you in new and unfamiliar ways.  Most likely you will spend a period of time adjusting to one another, discovering which expectations are realistic and which ones need to be moderated.  There may well be a lot of mixed perceptions as part of your conversations as you begin a new life with a new minister. 

I have no doubt that you will be the welcoming congregation you have always been as you and Ernest Belisle find your way together into being God’s people in a new land of relationships.

But that does not make the transition easy.  There seems to be  an unspoken, unwritten  expectation, I think, that churches will be able to weather the anxiety and stress of  changes in leadership gracefully and without a lot of questions about what comes next. In the Methodist tradition, congregations are asked  to place a lot of trust in the “scouting party” – the SPRC – and in the District Superintendent.  It is actually quite natural to wonder about the giants in the land.

Among the men who returned from the scouting party there was also a minority report from Caleb and Joshua – they stood up in the community and  said  -“Hey -wait a minute – -“The land through which we passed to scout, the land is very, very good.  “If the Lord favors us, He will bring us to this land and give it to us, a land that is flowing with milk and honey.  And there is this curious admonition:

“…. do not rebel against the Lord… do not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread, their shade has turned from them and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.

The Hebrew is translated in a number of ways – the idea is that “these possible enemies are like our bread -we will consume them”   In the desert regions where the story takes place shade was scarce and it was sought out as protection for both humans and animals in the heat of the day.  Joshua and Caleb report that whatever protection the perceived enemies enjoyed has disappeared.  Joshua and Caleb had a different perception of the possibilities in Canaan.  They were ready to move forward into the land.

While some of the scouts felt like powerless grasshoppers in the face of the giants they perceived, Joshua and Caleb saw possibility in the place where God was leading them.

On the threshold of any transition, there may be appear to be giants in the land – – sometimes they come in the form of  unvoiced anxieties that come with another substantial change in the life of the Chilmark Church.

And even though the report of your “scouting party” has come back in a pretty positive way, there may still be a   chorus of anxious inner whispers that ask “How will things change?” “What will be different?” “What if we don’t get along?” “What if they don’t like the parsonage?”  “What if the island is too rural?” “What if he picks hymns we don’t like?” “What if we don’t understand each other?” “What if he doesn’t love us?” “What if….?  What If…?” “What if…”  Giants in the land.

As we reflected on what  a new appointment might mean for Ernest and his family, we thought that perhaps they might be having the same inner wonderings about the giants they might encounter when they get to the Vineyard – “Will we and the congregation be good working partners?”  “Will the school system serve us well?”  “What will it be like to adapt to living on an island?” “Can we afford to be there?” “Will our son make new friends?” “Will we be able to get the medical care we need in an emergency?”  “And what about all those tick borne diseases?”

There were consequences for the Israelites who feared the giants in the land.  In their fear, they demonstrated to God that they were simply not ready to take responsibility for their future yet.  Their distorted perceptions  of slavery were a safer bet.  They did not get to enter the land.  Those who were able to listen to  Joshua and Caleb followed them and the adventure of the ages began as Israel established itself in the land.

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary  encountered the same fear of “giants in the land” at the empty tomb.  With the crucifixion, they were plunged into a strange borderland without Jesus’ leadership and friendship to guide them and they were afraid.  But they were not left to stay in their anxiety about what would come next. The minority report came in the words of the messenger at the tomb : He’s already gone on ahead of you – – go to Galilee and you will see him there – – they start to run in both fear and joy – – and Jesus greets them on the way.

So -perhaps that is what is in store for Chilmark Community Church -whether we use the metaphor of entering the promised land or running along the road to Galilee as a new ministry begins here – – in either or both stories, the truth is the same.  When change is inevitable, it is the presence of God with us on the road into the new land that guides and protects and informs and keeps us whole. 

Our prayer for you as you move forward is that you will be blessed with the knowledge and assurance that the Presence of God and the power of the Holy Spirit  go before you and accompany you.

May you enter the land with excitement and joy as you greet your new pastor and knock out those pesky giants together. And, along the way, may you meet the Risen Christ and enjoy the power and the newness of what comes when you enter this new land with courage and optimism and trust.  AMEN

THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

     87, 128, 421                                                                                 92362

Luke 14:25-33                                                                    Luke 9:57-62

     The cost of discipleship.  It cost Jesus.  It cost the disciples.  To be worth anything, it’s got to cost you.

     To be a disciple, one who does the will of God, it cost Jesus a lot.  It cost him what many might call the pleasures of life:

the comforts of marriage and a home, popularity, ridicule, death in the agony of hanging on a cross.  It cost Jesus.

      The cost of discipleship.  It cost the disciples quite a bit too.  Jesus said, “Follow me.”  One man said I must bury my father, then I’ll follow.  Jesus replied, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”        Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.”  Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”  Jesus was not interested in their excuses. 

     Do you suppose God is not interested in our excuses?  We are asked for the supreme sacrifice – give up your ego and follow.  Christ so emphasized this giving of all, that Bacon noted in his writing, “prosperity is the blessing of the Old testament; adversity is the blessing of the New.”

     The principle obstacle to discipleship is concern with yourself – especially your comforts.  As one person put it, “It’s natural to think habitually of ourselves, remembering others only when their inescapably confront us; Jesus is calling us to think habitually of others, and only occasionally remember ourselves.” (Interpreters Bible, Vol. 8,p170)

     We all must face countless burdens in life, but that’s not what Jesus was referring to when he said, “If any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up your cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)  It’s not some calamity, loss of a loved one, shortcoming in our temperament; it’s not enduring the hardships that come our way.  To take a cross is to volunteer, in spite of hardships. To carry someone else’s burden for Christ’s.  It is deliberately choosing an action that could be evaded.  To take up the cross is plain old fashioned self-denial.

     The cost is great.  The rewards may be few, the road bumpy, but to those who persevere will find a life of meaning and joyous satisfaction.  The Christian faith affirms that apart from Jesus Christ one cannot know this fullness of life.  There are compensations, however even in this life which far out weigh any sufferings or renunciations we may be called upon to make.

     Most people seem content to drift to and fro with the crowd.  There is a saying: “Fools wander, wise men travel.”  When you decide with your mind and heart where you want to go with your life, you also have to decide with your mind and heart what your willing to pay to get there.  Christ asks for all of you.  So when the preacher asks for more of your time or money or whatever, as god’s spokesperson,  your being asked for more of you.

     You who are parents – were you happy when your children were born?  Vicky and I were deliriously happy seeing Clark and Adam born.   Even with our insurance we knew we would have to struggle to meet expenses but we decided to keep them. We took Tim in as a foster child and when he was not adopted, we adopted him after a year.

     For many years following they brought us indescribable happiness, but Clark, Adam and Tim never brought in a penny, but we kept them and any friends they gathered along the way.

     Life you know, is never very certain.  There is always the possibility that Clark, Adam or Tim might lose life in a war, or an accident or from an illness.  Then we couldn’t keep that one any more and he wouldn’t cost us a cent.  The dead never do.

     And you know anything alive, whether it’s a child or a church is going to cost and cost.  And when it stops costing, then it’s too late.

     The cost of discipleship is high, but only those who are willing to make the investment will ever know burdens to be easy and life to be abundant.

     In a moment of quiet, would you consider committing one more aspect of your life so that your discipleship would be more pleasing to God.

     

Figuring Out The Blueprint

Deuteronomy 4:9-14  Acts 2:1-21  2 Corinthians 3:17-18

Chilmark Community Church

June 9, 2019

Rev. Vicky Hanjian

I love the story of Pentecost.  What drama!  The early band of followers of the Way all gathered together in one place 50 days after the resurrection  when all heaven breaks loose with roaring wind and blazing flames  – and a mixture of languages that everyone understood in their own tongue.  And the Holy Spirit is poured out on all who are gathered – – and a new movement called the church is born.   Among other things, the story gives us an image of a radical unity in the midst of incredible diversity – – people from the middle east -Parthians and Medes -Mesopotamians – -people from North Africa – Egypt and Libya – – people from Europe – represented by Rome  – – mixed religions – – Jews and proselytes – – all hearing and experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit in their own way – in their own language – together in a united diversity.

The story is not unlike the traditions that have accrued around the giving of the law at Sinai. The text in Deuteronomy tells us that the revelation of God was given to all who were there -in all their diversity – and it was also given to all who were not there – -the multitudes of generations yet to come. The wisdom of the rabbis has long argued that all human beings who have ever been or ever will be were present at Sinai when the mount roared and blazed and the voice of God was heard.  They also have argued that each person heard that revelation in words they could understand no matter how old or young they were or where they came from.  The people of God were in a state of unity in their diversity as they received God’s revelation.  This morning, members of the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center are gathering at the beach to celebrate Shavuot – the giving of the law on Sinai .  It is a big day of celebration for both traditions.

More than at any time in our history, it is important to pay attention to these stories of diverse peoples being together – receiving the divine revelation as one – living it in the world in a multitude of ways.

The day of Pentecost, the coming of the power of the Holy Spirit, formally introduces the complexity of the Trinity into the early church’s consciousness.  In some sense, of course, the willingness of God to make Godself known in many ways has always been part of the process of revelation – fire and smoke, thundering mountains, a still small voice – – God has always chosen to reveal  Godself in ways that would most readily get human attention.

With the day of Pentecost, the young church receives its own central form of revelation in tongues of fire and rushing wind and strange, multifluid languages that everyone can understand.

It seems to me that God wants everyone under the tent – regardless of where we come from, what language we speak, what color we are or whom we choose to love.

But, of course, being the human receivers of this revelation of unity, we have a hard time living it out in its fullness.  We work quite hard at separating ourselves out by color, gender, religious belief, political preferences, and a myriad of other social constructs that prevent us from the knowledge that we are, indeed, one people in the sight of God.  We seem to need to create an “other” in order to maintain our own identities – – and in the process we create a separation that God did not intend for God’s people.

In his daily meditations this week, Richard Rohr,  referred to author and activist Adrienne Maree Brown who writes:

Separation weakens. It is the main way we are kept (and keep each other) in conditions of oppression. . . . Where we are born into privilege, we are charged with dismantling any myth of supremacy. Where we are born into struggle, we are charged with claiming our dignity, joy and liberation. . . . From that deep place of belonging to ourselves, we can understand that we are inherently worthy of each other. Even when we make mistakes, harm each other, lose our way, we are worthy.

In the same meditation last Monday, Rohr wrote: It seems every generation must be newly converted. While we seek to transform individual hearts and minds we must also work to create change throughout systems. Until a full vision of equity is realized, we must continue naming and resisting the ways in which so many people are excluded and oppressed.

With the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost comes the Holy and paradoxical vision of unity in diversity.  God’s own self becomes the blueprint for how that looks.  Three very different manifestations of the Holy One – – in traditional language -Father – Son – Holy Spirit -and yet the affirmation that there is only the One…..  A challenging complexity for a monotheistic people.  How can three be one?  On the surface, unexamined, it seems an impossibility. The notion of three different ways of knowing God sparked one church council after another right through the 4th century in an attempt formulate what Christians should affirm as true – – councils that frequently resulted in excommunication and  some times even death for those who could not align themselves with the conclusions of a particular body of church  leaders.  The Body of Christ that came into being with such color and drama and hope on Pentecost witnessed schism after schism.  Indeed, 2000 years later we continue to live with that brokenness – witness the fracture in the United Methodist Church as Methodists are in conflict about how to live out the life of Christ in our midst – embracing our diversity – and facing the possibility of schism once again.

Again from Richard Rohr: I’m convinced that beneath the ugly manifestations of our present evils—political corruption, ecological devastation, warring against one another, hating each other based on race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or nationality—the greatest dis-ease facing humanity right now is our profound and painful sense of disconnection. We feel disconnected from God, certainly, but also from ourselves, from each other, and from our world. Our sense of this fourfold isolation is plunging our species into increasingly destructive behavior and much mental illness.

The isolation of which Rohr speaks was part of the conversation last Sunday as more than a hundred Islanders gathered at the Hebrew Center to  hear what gun violence is doing to our land and what we might do to heal it.  A diverse group of people for sure, from across the spectrum of opinion – manifesting a remarkable  unity around one of the most troubling public health issues we face in this country today.

Somewhere in one of his reflections, Rohr offered an image for understanding the Trinity as a metaphor for relationship – self emptying relationship.  He described  three buckets on a moving waterwheel. Each bucket fills and empties out, then swings back to be filled again. The Father empties into the Son, nothing held back. The Son empties into the Spirit, nothing held back. The Spirit empties into the Father, nothing held back. The reason they can empty themselves out is they know they will be filled again. They know that the center of the universe is infinite love.

So, in the notion of the Trinity,  the blueprint for us as God’s people is an image of flowing interrelationship – one of allowing ourselves to be emptied in loving care and service to one another and the world in the confidence that we will be continually filled in order to continue the relationship – – and we are to sustain and maintain this relationship in our differences and our diversity.

From Richard Rohr again: With the endless diversity in creation, it is clear that God is not at all committed to uniformity but instead desires unity—which is the great work of the Spirit—diversity nurtured and nourished by love. Uniformity is mere conformity and obedience to law and custom; whereas spiritual unity is that very diversity embraced and protected by an infinitely generous love.

The gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost results in the “mad logic” of the Trinity and the Trinity is all about relationship and connection. We know the Trinity through experiencing the flow itself, which dissolves our sense of disconnection.  God is not a being among other beings, but rather the Ground of Being itself which then flows through all beings.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians that “…the Lord is spirit, and where the spirit of the lord is, there is freedom.  And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”  What Paul was seeing – – and what we must struggle and learn to see, is that the gift of the Holy Spirit is one that guides us into understanding that we – – each one of us – – reflects the face of God – when the  holy one “sees us” we are as reflection in a mirror.   The “face” of God is as diverse as all creation.  Showing itself in everything we see, in every relationship in which we engage. 

It is taking a long time for the church -the body of Christ -to read and interpret the blueprint set forth in the Day of Pentecost -and to live it out.  May we be blessed with strength and courage, and above all, with the unconditional love we need for one another and the world as we seek to create a world built on the Master Blueprint.  AMENFigur

INCOMPLETE UNTIL….

CHILMARK COMMUNITY CHURCH       June 16, 2019

PSALM 104 AND  LUKE 6:27-28             ARMEN HANJIAN

I have just the prayer for you in case people have started eating before the prayer: “Bless the Lord , O my soul, and all that is within me bless God’s holy name.”

In many places in our Bible we are called to bless the Lord.  We have some tasks to attend to then.  One is to identify the many benefits God gives us – to recall them, to remember them.  That’s not sufficient.  Many say “I am thankful for peace and for health and for my good looks – at least I look better than so and so.”  That is a very limited step.  That step is just a matter of making a list, a matter of rationally knowing  I have a debt.  What is missing is the feeling component.

In so much of our lives, we have had squelched that feeling part of life.    When we started out in  life as infants, we came packaged with good balance: with ability to reason and being in touch with and able to express our feelings.  For many in the world, society has found a way to squeeze the feelings out of our awareness.

We are told, “Cool it; we don’t want to know about your feelings and especially about any negative feelings.  And if you have any positive feelings of rejoicing – that’s o.k. but only so much.  Don’t over do it.”

So the amount of feelings we are allowed to express are very limited in scope.  We can have a little bit of positive and even less of negative.  The overall message that we have gotten is “Stuff it.”

Yet God has given us the ability to have deep, deep feelings – feelings of despair, of hopelessness, of pain, of being in touch with our times of deprivation and at the other end of the spectrum feelings of joy and exhilaration and excitement.  But for most, we have been limited  to a very narrow range, a narrow world of feelings.

And what people have had to do is to take drugs, to drink, to force a party in order to push past those limits.  And you know there are healthier ways to get past them.  The healthiest thing of course is not to dampen and limit feelings in our children.  When they get out into the world they will get limited there  so our task is to give permission to others and to our selves to take the time to be aware of feelings and welcome them.

So, in order to bless the Lord we must not only remember all God benefits.  We also need to express the feeling they have the ability to stir up in us.  That is what the blessing part is, that is what the praising part is.   When we get in touch with our feelings and usually when it is in the area of thanksgiving –  they are feelings of gratitude, of pleasure, of satisfaction, of having been attended to – when we are in touch with those feelings – then we are moved to action.  Because feelings are not just for the moment, for the experiencing; they are energy  which is given to us to prompt us to action perhaps to sing, to praise, to dance, to share or some other move.

Notice the many places where praising or blessing perk up; it is happening in a myriad of places.  C.S. Lewis in his book, The Joyful Christian (p.118) noted, “The most obvious fact about praise – whether of God or anything else strangely escaped me.  I thought of it in terms of a compliment, approval or the giving of honor.  I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously… overflows into praise unless(sometimes even if) shyness or the fear of boring others is brought in to check it. The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses, readers praising their favorite poets, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favorite game, praise of weather, wine, dishes, actors,… horses, colleges,  countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars.”

Lewis said, “I had noticed that the humblest, and at the same time the most balanced minds,…praised most, while the cranks, misfits and malcontents praised least….Except where intolerably adverse circumstances interfere, praise almost seems to be inner health made audible.”

“All that is within me bless God’s holy name.”  What is within a person?  Love the Lord our God with all your mind and heart and soul and strength.  With your voice, your singing, with your hands, with your feet, with your talents, with your work, with your life. The Psalmist says, Let everything that breathes praise the Lord.”

Many other things praise the Lord just by being – the earth, the sky, the sea.  We humans who breath have a choice.  It is not that God has this need to be praised.  It I rather that we need to praise.  There are rules, laws in the Hebrew scriptures, saying on the Sabbath we should worship as a community of the faithful.  We could translate that:  “You need to go to Church every week to praise God.” And that sounds like a dull, difficult requirement to many.  At least that is how it is for those who don’t go every week.  Those who go every week don’t see it as a dull requirement; they see it as a source of strength, as a way of expressing, as a way of being in touch with the truths inside and the truth outside and the Source of all truth.

Did you ever notice that just as we spontaneously praise whatever we value, we also try to get others to join us in praising it?  “Wasn’t that a great day?”  “Isn’t she a beautiful person?”  So when the Psalmist writes to us, “Bless the Lord…,”  he is doing what everyone else does when they speak about what they care about.

We  delight in praising what we enjoy because it completes the enjoyment.  C.S. Lewis adds, “It is not out of compliment that lovers keep telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete until it is expressed.”

Isn’t it frustrating seeing a beautiful sunrise and everyone else in the house is asleep?  Or worse, wanting to point out a truth but the one alongside you doesn’t care a stich about it?

Our feelings seldom get full expression.  Sometimes they get out in poetry or music or art or dance where we almost burst with the fullness of vitality.

What does it mean to bless?  The meanings include: to make holy, to baptize, to dedicate; to endow, to benefit; to guard, to protect, to watch over, to support.  The Hebrew Scriptures are full of directives to bless.  Only one place do we have Jesus saying we should bless.  Luke 6:27-28 “But I say to you who  listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.”

And we also can glean insights into Jesus when he expressed feelings. 1) When Jesus was angry, he turned over the tables of the money changers and drove out the sellers of unblemished sheep for sacrificial offerings in the Temple. 2)Upon hearing of the death of his friend John the Baptist,  in sadness, Jesus wept.  It is o.k. to cry. Then he went about teaching and modeling the Kingdom of God about which John preached. 3)When Jesus felt compassion for the sick, the lame, the blind, he healed them. 4)When he felt the lostness of the people who were like sheep without a shepherd, he engaged people with a ministry of teaching such that they connected with God’s leadership and God’s purposes.

5)When Jesus felt respect for children, he acted by welcoming them amongst his hearers; removing the barrier he said, “Let the children come.” 6)When he felt frustrated with the slowness of the disciples to catch on to his way, he expressed it verbally.  7) When Jesus felt unjustly accused, he had a variety of responses:  One time he responded with a counter question, another time with intentional silence and once with “Father forgive them, they know not what they do.”

The beautiful thing about letting feelings prompt the action is that the action is usually the most appropriate action to take.

We don’t write letters of thanks to all, but we do to some.  We don’t visit everyone who has blessed us, but there may be a few. We don’t give gift to all who have been kind to us, but it may be fitting for this person.  The feeling may prompt a hug offered to a child or even to another man.  I find it best to ask, “Are you open to a hug?”  Your response may be a creative piece of art or cooking or poetry that is just suited to the feeling and to the person.  And, the feeling may spontaneously overflow in joyous, even extravagant action.

It doesn’t take much time at all to stop and be aware of God’s benefits and then take the next step and be in touch with your feelings.  Then your soul will truly bless the Lord  and will overflow in benefits to others and to yourself.

“Bless the Lord O my soul, and forget not all God’s benefits.”

Off The Beaten Path

(or The Spiritual Practice of Getting Lost)

Chilmark Community Church

June 2, 2019

                  Genesis 12:1         Numbers 10:11-12               Luke 4: 1-14

Rev. Vicky Hanjian

                             

Armen and I recently spent a week visiting  the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

We traveled in unfamiliar territory on roads we had never seen before, slept in strange places and ate in untried cafes and restaurants – on at least two occasions experiencing some pretty dicey results.  Traveling “off season” sometimes had me  wondering when we would find the next gas station, or the next place to eat.  Most of the businesses were still closed.  From time to time, in the misty remoteness I really felt like a stranger in a strange land.

As we drove through dense forests of Jack Pine and birch rising steeply on either side of the road, covering miles and miles without seeing another car or human being , Barbara Brown Taylor’s reflections on the idea of getting lost as a spiritual practice were very much with me.

Taylor writes about how we humans get into stable patterns that help us to move through our daily lives in an orderly way – patterns that become automatic and almost unconscious.  She compares this to the way cows follow well trod paths day in and day out without having to think about where they are going or what they are doing.   She writes “I am convinced that this is normal human behavior, which means that something extra is needed to override it.  Why override it? Because once you leave the cow path, the unpredictable territory is full of life. True, you cannot always see where you are putting your feet.   This means you can no longer stay unconscious. You can no longer count on the beaten down red dirt path making all of your choices for you.  Leaving it, you  agree to make your own choices for a spell.  You agree to become aware of each step you take, tuning all of your senses to exactly where  you are and exactly what you are doing.

This was my  experience, traveling along hairpin turns high above the ocean, not being able to see whether other vehicles were approaching  on the road ahead, keeping conscious watch for obstacles in the road where the signs indicate the danger of falling rocks.  The play of light on the ocean; the softness of the mist shrouding the trees;  ribbons of water falling from hidden places in the rocky cliffs all stood out with greater clarity.  On those occasions when the GPS device occasionally couldn’t  “find us” we did get to have the experience of being lost.  All of a sudden, it is just us in the car in the wilderness, unable to even sense direction because of the fog and the lack of an appearance by the sun.

Being of a theological mindset, I found myself connected in a new way to  Abram and Sarai being called out to “a land I will show you” – not really knowing where they were going, but answering the call with a willingness to get lost;  then Jacob running to escape his brother’s murderous rage and getting lost in holy space;  Moses and his band of wanderers finding their way through wilderness to a place of promise;  Jesus spending time in the wilderness – – all willing to be “lost” – – all on  their way to finding new ways of being conscious of  God, all on the way to discovering who they were to be in the Divine unfolding of God’s people. 

In the off season wilderness , we spent a number of mealtimes sitting at the dinner table in small out of the way restaurants and diners enjoying the company of wait staff and local people as well as others who were traveling the off the beaten path.  Places with unlikely names like “The Yello Cello” and “The Farmer’s Daughter”, the “Foggy Skipper” – even visited a place called “Proud To be Hookers” (It turned out to  be a rug hooking co-op).  We encountered gentleness, kindness, generosity, trust, interest, hospitality, grace and delightful humor in strangers wherever we landed.

Last week we heard the guest preacher at the Congregational Church in West Tisbury name and confirm the emotional and spiritual stress that is in our country today – that we are all, regardless of our politics, having the experience of being in the wilderness – “off the beaten path” – lost.  We are traveling in a wilderness where the familiar patterns of civility and  the traditional values of honor and respect, honesty and integrity, trust and truth telling are barely holding on like battered prayer flags in a strong wind.  Whether we have chosen it or not, we are enduring an experience of the spiritual practice of being lost.

In a climate of fear and name – calling and distrust, we are reluctant to talk to one another about what is important to us – afraid to be with one another in our differing opinions about what we understand to be  right or wrong.  Many of the trail markers of civility and honesty that have guided us have rotted and faded by the trailside.  Alongside  all the other crises we are in – humanitarian, constitutional, environmental – we are also in a spiritual crisis.    The holy impulse of God desires holiness – – wholeness and unity in our immense diversity of belief and understanding and political orientation.  But we live in a time of being fractured and divided – and therefore vulnerable to exploitation and abuse by powers beyond our control.

I’d like  suggest that, as uncomfortable as this is for many of us, it may be an invitation from the Author of All Life to engage in the spiritual practice of being lost – to confess that this is where we are -to trust that in the wildness  in which we may find ourselves, that there is, indeed, a guiding principle – the same One who guided Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Moses and Jesus through their wild and lost times.   Wherever a sense of being lost  has happened in our ancestral stories, it has resulted in a new and heightened consciousness of the movement of the holy One  – – guiding the narrative if you will.   

Life in this country and, indeed, in this world, today literally calls us to take the risk of getting off our beaten paths – to join our faith ancestors in the discomfort of the journey into wilderness territory – to find and encounter one another -to encounter the stranger – to have the difficult conversations, to have the experience of entering unfamiliar terrain, of being lost, as we try to reach out to each other in our differences.  Barbara Brown Taylor suggests that we all may carry the “wilderness gene” – – that we have a propensity as God’s people to be wanderers, sometimes lost in strange and unfamiliar places.  She also affirms that the practice of getting lost is a way of awakening to God.

The very act of sharing together today in communion at the table Jesus has prepared for us is, indeed, an invitation into that place of being lost – – being in the wilderness – – being in the wild and unruly presence of God’s dynamic and ongoing creating as we travel in this strange and stressful time together.  May it be so.

    

synonyms for “Prodigal”..generous, lavish, liberal, unstinting,unsparing , bountiful… Also , as with the ” prodigal son”  ..wastefully extravagant.

Rev. Charlotte shared this poem written by her friend,..Maren Tirabassi

March 1, 2019

Beloved in Christ:

Greetings in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded of God’s call: “Gather the people,
consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast …” —  Joel 2:16

In other words, gather everyone.

“A 2016 study from the nonprofit Public Religion Research Institute found that 39 percent of young adults (ages 18 to 29) are ‘religious unaffiliated.’ That has nearly quadrupled since 1986, when only 10 percent of young adults identified that way.” (USA Today, Feb. 28, 2019)

Though there are many reasons for the increase in the number of young adults who are staying away from the church, J.J. Warren, who many of you likely saw speaking so passionately on the floor of General Conference, traveled with me with on a Mission of Peace journey years ago. I think his words give insight into what young people in the church are seeking:

“For me and the younger generation that is the church now among you, and who want to be the church together with you for the future as well, we desire a church that seeks the justice of God.” (If interested, please see here for a video of J.J. Warren’s full speech)

Let us begin our Lenten journey, earnest in our desire to be God’s prayer, to gather all the children of God, and to surrender ourselves to be transformed through love.

Let us take time to write in our Lenten journals each day, to compose our own prayers for justice, and to examine how our actions give witness to God’s justice.

Let us pray that we will become what the prophet Joel calls, an “assembly of God,” and a community that is the Sermon on the Mount.

As a conference may we pray this prayer together every day during Lent:

God,
remind me again today that
you are Love;
that Loving is always expressed in action
not beliefs.

Remind me again today
that your love was made visible
in creation,
in Jesus,
in the Church, the body of Christ.

Remind me again today
that it is through love, not
right vs wrong,
good vs evil, that
we are saved.

Remind me again today that you
gather us all,
love us all,
sanctify us all,
call us all, 
to be one —
in Christ,
with each other,
in ministry to
all the world.

Prema and I wish you and your loved ones a blessed Lenten season.

in Christ’s love,

Bishop Sudarshana Devadhar

Luke 12:13-21 WHEN VALUES GO DOWN    Jan.. 14, 2018

Rev. Armen Hanjian

When values go down – it’s unsettling.  It happened drastically to the man in Jesus’ parable who built bigger barns to hold his increased crops only to wake up one morning – dead.

What is the value of a glass of water?  Very little to the one who runs the faucet waiting for it to get cold. Life itself(big money) for the one lost in a desert.

Just because the value of a person is always high in God’s eyes, it may vary greatly for us as we look on another or we look at ourselves.

It is true that people go through changes as we age and our physical strength may lesson – understanding can be increasing.  But usually, our self worth shifts because of our attitude about our self and not because there has been some real external change.

Try this experiment.  Look someone in the eye and if you can honestly say it, say: “I love you.  I’ll gladly spend some of my life’s time and my energy to support you.”  You know what will happen; the person’s feelings of self worth will go up.

  

Self worth and happiness go hand in hand. Several years ago Henry Wallick made this comment:  “If wealth could buy happiness, Americans should be the happiest people on earth. In this winter of our discontent, it is obvious that wealth is failing us….We face a failure of money to do what it is supposed to do – satisfy wants.”

It is true, we feel some measure of happiness and security when stocks go up, when our property value goes up, when salary and savings go up.  However, the scripture and the wisdom people thru the ages warn us, that is not the bottom line.  The value we place on our physical self and even more so on our purposeful self are the significant factors.  Although, just being  –   is value enough from God’s perspective.

Physical selves.  Purposeful selves.  First, valuing our physical selves.  Do you see your body as a wonderful, valuable, awesome asset?  I doubt that many focus on that.  So many spend their time trying to change their body – being discontent with how it turned out.  I’m not just talking make up covering a pimple.

When the psalmist proclaims of God: “Wonderful Thou art and wonderful are thy works.”  The physical appearance is just a tiny aspect of our physical selves.

If you are an adult of average weight, here is what you accomplish in 24 hours:

Your heart beats 103,689 times.

Your blood travels 168,000,000 miles.

You breath 23,040 times.

You inhale 438 cubic feet of air.

You eat 3 1/4 pounds of food.

You drink 2.9quarts of liquids.

You lose 7/8 pound of waste.

You speak 4,800 words including some unnecessary ones.

You move 750 muscles.

You exercise  7,000,000brain cells.

The Psalm writers didn’t know these numbers and yet were aware more than most of us the awesome wonder of the workings of the body.

A scientist , having received a card which jokingly set the value of the elements of his body at 98 cents. Determined to calculate his value by evaluating the DNA structures and cells.  He came up with 6 billion dollars.  In fact, he said, the billions of libraries in each sell are worth that much.

In one of the cartoon episodes of Peanuts,  Snoopy the dog is watching the children and saying to himself: “I wonder why some of us were born dogs while others were born people.  Is it pure chance or what is it?  Somehow, the whole thing doesn’t seem very fair.”  Then as he walks away, he exclaims,  “Why should I have been the lucky one?”

How we see ourselves affects our feelings about ourselves.  And whether or not we see ourselves as a real and significant part of God’s purpose also affects how we value ourselves. It is true for you and me and it is true for us as a church.

Carl Sandburg once said, “Nothing happens unless it is first a dream.”  We have to dream of great things if we are going to accomplish great things.  But the way to make a dream come true is to wake up.  Sandburg was touring Washington, D.C. with a friend.  As they passed by the National Archives building the friend noticed a line from Shakespeare –

“All the past is prologue.” He asked Sandburg, what that meant.  To which he replied, “That means you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

If you concluded the glory and climax of this church was when the building was built or when so and so was the minister here or when the addition was added or when the membership was at it’s peak, then I am asking you to look at the church and at yourself differently.  Believe and live out the belief that the best is yet to come.

Dream, share your dreams; let others be captured by your dreams then together let’s carry them out.  Jesus disciples were ready to include the whole world in their vision.

And if it is a challenging dream; if it is something God would surely bless, then stick with it even though there may be some negative signs from others early on. Note Lincoln’s road to the White House.

Failed in business in 1831.

Defeated for Legislature in1832.

Second failure in business in 1833.

Defeated for Speaker in 1838.

Defeated for Elector in 1840.

Defeated for Congress in 1843.

Defeated for Senate in 1848.

Defeated for Vice President in 1856.

Defeated for Senate in 1858.

Elected President in 1860.    Dreams take persistence!

When Howard University was celebrating their 250th anniversary, they choose to have a parade. First came the President of the University, then the 3 graduates who had become U.S presidents, then the faculty, then the seniors, the juniors the sophomores and the freshmen.

The freshmen, not to be degraded on the day of the parade, after each of the other groupings went by had a sign which read, “The purpose of the first 250 years was in preparation for us.”

Do you have that sense?  That the purpose of the first 220 years of this Chilmark Church, the first 2017 or so years of the Christian Church was in preparation for us.  Do you see yourselves as one of the foremost waves of God’s flowing purpose?

If you conclude: “I ain’t much of anything and I ain’t much good for anything,”  then you forget God doesn’t make junk.  It may be useful to keep in mind the sculptor Michael Angelo.  He was examining a block of stone which other sculptors had

discarded and was asked, “What do you see?”  He answered, “An angel, an angel!”

They who stay close to Jesus and to people of faith keep getting affirmed.  They keep being viewed as someone of value.

Then when you see  yourself as a potential blessing for God – you are then in a most appropriate place to be a blessing. Some action will follow.  Persons were made for action.

William James, in a lecture he gave years ago at Stamford University, called for a moral equivalent to war.  He saw clearly that war persists because people want action and it will end when we find decent causes to take it’s place.

I want to do one more thing be fore I conclude.  Because you are, each one, a person of value, I want to look each of you in the eye and I want to say this:” I love you. I will gladly spend some of my life’s time and  my energy to support you.!”

There may be value in saying we are not worthy to pick up the crumbs from under your table, but there is an appropriateness in saying  , “God, I am one of your people; feed me, bless me, use me to fulfill your vision for us human beings.”

“The View From Mt. Nebo”

Deuteronomy 33:48 – 50; 34:1-10

June 25, 2017

Chilmark Community Church

Rev. Vicky Hanjian

Quite a few years ago now,  on one of our trips to Israel, we landed first in Jordan, on the eastern side of the Jordan River. One of the stops early in our trip was a visit to Mt. Nebo.  It was late in the afternoon and we were facing into the setting sun at the northern end of the Dead Sea – looking out over the view that Moses must have seen as he reached the end of his journeys with the Israelites.  We looked out over rugged hills and valleys toward the land that Israel was about to enter.  The sunlight was reflecting off the water in the distance.  The air was chilly and quiet.  It was a profound moment that stays in my memory – – standing in the  spot where tradition says Moses looked over into the land that had been promised – coming to terms with knowing that he would not accompany his people as they crossed over.

There are lots of reasons buried in the scriptures for why Moses didn’t ever get to the Promised Land.  The predominant one is that he had displeased God by striking a rock to get water for the thirsty tribes in the wilderness when God had instructed  him merely to speak to the rock.  Other stories speak of Moses’ advanced age – he was 120 years old – that he was tired after 40 years sojourning with the people and didn’t have the energy required to  guide them through their conquest of  Canaan.  Still other stories suggest that it took the entire 40 years for the first generation of slaves to die off so that the next generation would no longer think and feel like slaves, but would take responsibility for themselves as free agents under God. For this they needed the leadership of someone younger who had transcended the slave mentality. 

The story is a poignant one.  It comes at the end of  Deuteronomy which is attributed to Moses as his farewell address to Israel.  Deuteronomy rehearses the entire saga of the 40 years of wandering.  No wonder it sounds familiar and repetitious in so many places.  It was calculated to remind the people of where they had been – where they were going – – and who it was that would always lead them – regardless of who the person was at the head of the line.

I think it is a great story for guiding us as we contemplate a change of leadership, both for us and for all of you.  We get into murky waters if we take every word and story of the Bible literally.  But if we can let the wisdom in the stories inform us we may be on more solid ground.  And the wisdom here is that the people of God are always in the process of becoming – – because we follow a God who is always in the process of becoming.  We are not a static people and God is not a static God.  This always takes some getting used to because for many of us, we grew up thinking that either God was immutable and unchanging – and therefore somewhat dependable and predictable, on the one hand, or we were taught that God was malleable and that our prayers could change God in some way – – sort of like with my childhood prayers  that God would make the sun shine on the day of  my class trip.  But it turns out that God is none of that.   

Rather God is a God of relationship and becoming – and we are invited along for the ride.

So – -here we are, on our own Mt Nebo of sorts.  As your pastors we can stand on the peak and kind of look over Jordan with you to envision something of the future as 

you move forward under new leadership.  But envisioning and predicting with accuracy are two very different things.  So we all are living with a measure of uncertainty.   We will descend the mountain on our side to see what future awaits us there while you will move on into the future that awaits on your side of the mountain.

Because, as science tells us, we cannot predict the future any more than about  a few fractions of a second ahead of us,  we are now drawn, or maybe pushed or pulled, to a moment of absolute trust and faith in this God who prefers relationship  with us – who prefers the process of becoming something new with us rather than some static and predictable outcome. 

This is challenging.   And it is apt to be uncomfortable.  With our ancestors, about to come under the leadership of Joshua, Moses’ successor, we may be asking “What will we do without the person we have trusted to guide us?”  “How can we be sure this is the right leader?”  “What will be expected of us?”  “Moses loved us and stayed with us through thick and thin – what if Joshua loses patience? What if Joshua doesn’t love us?”   

I think we can intuit from the text that these are the murmurings of the people as they realized that Moses would  be stepping down.   In Deuteronomy 31, the people are fearful of what they will encounter in the way of enemies as they cross over the Jordan.  Moses reassures them with these words: the Lord himself will cross over before you. The Lord will give [your enemies] over to you and you shall deal with them in full accord with the command I have given you…Be strong and bold, have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God

who goes with you; God will not fail you or forsake you.

Moses doesn’t only reassure the people, he also reassures Joshua: Then Moses summoned Joshua before the people and said to them in the sight of all Israel: “Be strong and bold, for you are the one who will go with this people into the land…It is the Lord who goes before you.  He will be with you; he will not fail nor forsake you.  Do not fear or be dismayed.

If we fast forward several generations to the days immediately following the resurrection of Jesus, we hear the same affirmation of the God Who Goes Before.

Near the end of Matthew’s Gospel we hear a messenger telling the women at the tomb: Jesus has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him. This is my message for you.” (Matthew 28:7)

They begin running to deliver the message and they encounter Jesus in his Risen Nature who tells them: Do not be afraid. Tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me. Matthew 28:10).

Galilee is where it all began – the business of preaching God’s love, feeding the hungry, tending to the needs of the poor, healing the sick, learning the skills of forgiveness and reconciliation, seeking justice for the poor and downtrodden. 

In a sense, the crucifixion is a Mt. Nebo for Jesus and his followers.   It is in crucifixion and resurrection that the relationship between Jesus and the disciples  changes.  Jesus is gone from their physical presence – no longer to be depended upon for doing the feeding, the healing, the forgiving, the teaching that he had always done with them.

A new relationship is now there to be explored – learning how to trust that what has been begun on one side of the cross will continue in another form on the other side of the cross.

So – here we are – all of us facing an ending together – wondering what will happen on the other side of tomorrow.  We are also together hearing the assurances -whether we think  in terms of crossing Jordan into a  strange land under new  leadership or in terms of life on the other side of the cross – we can affirm with faith that we belong to a God who goes ahead of us – a dynamic God who seems to become evermore trustworthy the more we are able to offer our trust.   In the process, we become the people God chooses every day to be the people who will make the crossing and buy into the adventure. 

So – as we come to a time of ending a way of being together, may we know without a doubt  that even as we say farewell today to this particular way of being together that we have enjoyed, God is bringing something new into being.   

God has never been satisfied with a static and comfortable people.  God  seems to enjoy life with us – always unfolding -always changing – always in process.  Indeed even Jesus made his most significant encounters and teachings while he was on the move – – on the road .   So we are invited once again to move on, to sojourn, to live always in a state of being temporary.   One of the first books I read in seminary was a book titled “The Journey is Home” by Nelle Morton.   The title says it all .  We live and move and have our being in a God on the move.  God is the Journey.  And the Journey is, indeed our home.  May God bless us all on the way.  AMEN