Back to Lynchburg

I was at Chestnut Hill UMC in Lynchburg today (Year C - Trinity Sunday). It's Memorial Sunday so part of the service as an ode to the United States and veterans; which, as someone who has military in the family as well as countless ancestors, can appreciate. My grandmother came. She has a habit of counting things I learned: 22 veterans came up front for recognition, there were 12 in the choir and 9 children for time with children. The attendance was much bigger than what I am accustomed to. I was told ahead of time that some introductions would be made: one of which was for a Vietnamese family that the church had sponsored and invited into its life. The husband talked about how glad he was to be at church today. He said that he and his wife/family were able to escape Saigon 2 hours before it was ceased. My sermon today went longer than I realized but no one minded and many people want me to come back. I was able to define the Trinity as "the Fullness of God," wisdom that the Holy Spirit I am assuming gave me because I had to explain the Trinity somehow. It's not the easiest Doctrine.


I was thinking a bit later though about the purpose of the Holy Spirit. As for the couple who missed the Fall of Saigon in 1975 by two hours - just in the nick of time. I think that's the Holy Spirit works. In the toughest times, as John says in his Gospel, the Holy Spirit leads to truth. He guides and comforts and advocates. I'm not saying that for the people who didn't escape Saigon that for some reason the Holy Spirit didn't "guide them too." In the case of the couple, there is a mystery as to why they got out and others didn't. I'll never know why. But what I will say, as someone who wants and hopes to witness more to others, that even in the midst of hell and chaos, there's a guide that always wants to be step ahead in the process. And, for the record, I'm speaking more generically than John Wesley's "prevenient grace."

My sermon topic was the fullness of God via the Trinity. How Proverbs uses "she" for the antecedent Wisdom. God speaks through the voice of a woman. Images are used of birth pangs and the use of words like womb and virgin. These are all feminine terms that describe elements of God. We experience the fullness of God when we remember all of those attributes and the terms that are used in the Old and New Testaments: Elohim, Abba, Almighty God for the fatherhood role. We should think of Father, Son and Holy Ghost as being umbrella terms that encompass so many other things. All of these things fit under the Doctrine of the Trinity; the completion of which makes for the fullness of God.

Editorial: Pentecostal courage

Editorial: Pentecostal courage

Shenandoah Association UCC Experience #3

So today (Day of Pentecost - Year C) I went to Christ United Church of Christ at Conicville, near Mt. Jackson and St. John's United Church of Christ, Hamburg, near Edinburg described as a "two point charge," language with which I as a United Methodist am very familiar. They're both toward the heart of Shenandoah County, an Ode to which I've posted below. I arrived at the first church, Christ, at 8:59, for a service that started at 9! I suppose I felt a bit of panic like the Disciples did on the Day of Pentecost. I didn't have time to put on my white robe and cincture so I put on my black one that zips up the front. Christ is located on Senedo Road. With a little digging it turns out the Senedo were a branch of the Iroquois Native American tribe.

St. John's didn't start until 11. In-transit I was zipping up my garment bag only to have the zipper pull right off! I suppose finding a new one is a venture I will have to have some time soon. Christ United Church of Christ seems like a redundant name. Actually, both St. John's and Christ were German Reformed churches and just kept their names after the 1957 merger to make the United Church of Christ. St. John's is a bit bigger than Christ. There is a balcony but no one seems to use it. I asked about the history of the building. The one in which I preached today was built in 1891 but prior to that the congregation met at Zion Lutheran Church, a few miles or so at the most, since the late 1700s. At St. John's, in distant history, men sat on one side of the sanctuary and women on the other. This was the second time I've had some experience with a "historically Lutheran" church, as the Glade Church building was Lutheran at one time as well. Today is Pentecost. Pentecost has formed the base-word for Pentecostal, a word that resonates with many especially in America. I was reading an article late last night but it was a bit too much to include in a sermon today with everything else that I had had planned. I managed to email it to myself though and hope to use it in the future:

http://www.ucc.org/news/editorial-pentecostal.html

The writer is right. I think of myself as being a Pentecostal at heart but Pentecostal, in a land as "evangelical" and prosperity-doctrine enriched as it is, Pentecostal can have a very different meaning. Neither I nor the writer are talking about taming snakes or drinking poison nor speaking tongues. Personally, I have no problem with the practice of speaking in tongues but keep those snakes away from me! The point he makes with which I most definitely concur is - the Holy Spirit isn't something to be afraid of and we can't water it down and only think of it in our liturgy. The Holy Spirit is very alive and very real. It is something we should enjoy.

Shenandoah Association UCC Experience #2

On Sunday I went to St. John's Reformed United Church of Christ of Middlebrook (Year C - Ascension Sunday), near Staunton. It was started as a Reformed Church in the late 1700s and over time became part of the German Reformed, then Evangelical & Reformed now United Church of Christ. It's brick and is a remodeling of the original. A number of years ago the church experienced a fire and in another incident a fire was set via arson. Upon its discovery profanity was found to have been put on walls in the sanctuary. Apparently a few years ago that was a pattern to a few church in this area. It may have been in response to the UCC's "Bouncer Ad." No one knows. I had the opportunity after the service to talk to person afterward. I asked him what he thought of my sermon. He said it was good but that I shouldn't bring too much homework into pulpit. I didn't quite understand. So we talked some more. He said, "People can get information from anywhere but what they are often seeking is advice." In retrospect I think I understand more of what he meant. In my own experience of interacting with others, I've always been told not to use "I" in sermons, "unless it's about something you've done wrong." I sought this person's further being sagacious. He told me about an article from Christian Century magazine not long ago about "not dwelling on 'I'" but instead that it was ok to use it if doing so will make the sermon more relevant to your audience. That advice is serving me well especially since next week is Pentecost.

Shenandoah Association UCC Experience #1

So on May 2 (5th Sunday in Easter, Year C for lectionary followers), I went to Glade Church. It's a smaller church that is a suburb of Blacksburg, It started out in the early 1900s as a Lutheran Church but in the 1970s was sold to a local Baptist church, part of the SBC, as a mission church. The congregation "antithetically" to the overwhelmingly conservative majority resigned unanimously from the Southern Baptist Convention and became a constituent body in the Alliance of Baptists, an association of progressive and affirming churches. Over the course of a few years the congregation decided that it further needed a denominational affiliation and was accepted into the United Church of Christ. The church sanctuary is very pretty. All wooden. The walls are white and are adorned with original artwork. On the alter was a small quilt. Each time a new person or family joins the church, he or she brings a scrap of fabric and it is sewn onto everything else. The church is very progressive which was a new experience for me. When I think about that quilt it reminds me of the construct of the Body of Christ for believers. We're all pieced together. We don't all seem the same or have the same talents but by virtue of Jesus we're all sewn together. I like the practice and I know that that church is very meaningful to its local community.

I take pride in the fact that a week prior, Harry Knox of the Human Rights Campaign preached there. I stood in the pulpit that a nationally-recognized figure had just stood one week prior. I feel a great sense of pride in it.

http://www.hrc.org/about_us/2638.htm