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Well, like many of you, I'm sure, at the very beginning of the COVID pandemic lockdown, Gregg and I were home, watching a lot of TV. A lot of Netflix, a lot of movies and series on Netflix. One of the shows that we really enjoyed is a reality show called Tidying Up, about a Japanese woman, Marie Kondo, who comes into people's homes, and helps them to tidy up, to declutter and to become more organized.
, if you were with us last Sunday, I mentioned how I had been having a rich conversation with our church member, Gordon Stannis, who's here today, about pruning. Gordon is a gardener. And we were talking about how pruning is such a great metaphor for this season of Lent.
Well in the years before the COVID pandemic, Peter Black, Jeff Spangler and I were doing Sunday afternoon worship services for the residents of Grace of Douglas nursing home here in Douglas. We were doing that on a semi regular rotating basis with other local churches. And I remember back then Reverend Sarah Turlough, who's the pastor of the First Congregational Church in Saugatuck, told us about her first Sunday doing services there.
I'm not sure if everybody realizes this. But I'm not the only minister here at Douglas UCC. We actually have seven ordained ministers in our congregation. That's really amazing for a little church like ours. But as we heard, in our words of integration and guidance this morning, we actually have way more than seven ministers in this Church. This whole church is filled with ministers, all of you sitting here today, all of you watching on YouTube, you are all ministers. That's your calling. It is.
Today's Gospel reading from the lectionary for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany comes from Jesus's famous sermon known as the Sermon on the Mount, in which he recites the Beatitudes. And if you looked in the bulletin you saw that I titled my homily, today, the BE-attitudes, because these are the attitudes for how to be.
Some of you may remember a few months ago, I was sharing with you the symbols of all of the world's major faith traditions. And if you remember, they all had to do something with either light, or oneness. So there is the Star of David of Judaism. There is the Islamic symbol of the star and the crescent moon. There is the Buddhist wheel, the Taoist Yin-Yang symbol, and the Hindu Om, symbolizing the Light and Sound of the cosmos. All such beautiful symbols. Then there is our symbol of the Christian cross, which truth be told, is an ancient torture device.
Well, as I mentioned at the top of the service, tomorrow, we're celebrating a holiday, a holy day if you will, celebrating the life and spirit of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Most of you know that Dr. King wasn't just a civil rights activist. He was also an ordained Christian minister. And in one of his books, Stride Toward Freedom, Dr. King said that the motivation behind the civil rights movement, the inspiration for the movement, came from the teachings of Jesus.
Well, like many of you, when I was a little boy, growing up in the Christian church, I heard a lot at church about heaven – and hell. I learned about how if you were good, you went to heaven after you died. And if you were bad, you went to hell. But then I also learned there was a third place, a place called purgatory. It was kind of this in-between place. And as a boy, in church, we were especially encouraged to pray for all the little babies who were in Purgatory. These were infants who sadly had died before they could be baptized. And then I also learned at church that the world's one and a half billion Muslims, and the world's 1 billion Hindus, and all the millions of Buddhists and Jews. They also weren't in heaven, because they had never been baptized.
Well, I'm so sad to say that next Sunday, when you come to church, all of these beautiful Christmas decorations are going to be gone. Our beautiful manger is going to be put away again for another year. Because this week, you see, is the last week of Christmas. Friday is the 12th and final day of Christmas. Now I know some people think that the 12 days of Christmas that we sing about are the 12 days prior to Christmas. But they're actually the 12 days from Christmas to epiphany, which is this Friday, January 6. And on the Epiphany, we celebrate the Magi, or the three wise men
I don't think I'm going to burst anyone's bubble by telling you that Jesus probably wasn't born on December 25. In fact, most theologians have absolutely no idea when Jesus was actually born. The Christian church decided on the date of December 25, almost 400 years after Jesus died.
Some of you know that last week, Gregg and I were away. We just returned from a week's vacation in Mexico. We were in a beautiful place in Mexico called San Miguel de Allende. It is an ancient colonial town, high up in the mountains of central Mexico. And we were there for my birthday, which was December 13. But the day before my birthday, was the day of great celebration in Mexico, and it is every year on December 12, because December 12, is the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
We're going to begin this morning with a little bit of show-and-tell. You may remember last year at this time, our denomination, the United Church of Christ, produce these yard signs. We had one out in front of our church. And it says, ‘This Christmas, we remember that Jesus was a refugee,” and a quote from Matthew's Gospel. One side is in English, and one side is in Spanish.
While some of you may remember a few years ago, before the COVID pandemic, Greg and I were not here on the first Sunday of Advent – we were on a cruise. And you may remember when we came back from the cruise I told you about a young couple we met who were on the cruise celebrating their babymoon. Now, I had never heard the term “babymoon” before. It's not a honeymoon. A babymoon is when expectant parents take a vacation together before the birth of their child, so they can enjoy some alone time, because they know once that baby is born, they are their lives are going to be turned upside down.
I think that most of you are aware that our church, Douglas UCC, follows the Christian church calendar. Not all churches follow this calendar. But we do. It's a very ancient calendar. It was established all the way back at the Council of Nicaea, which happened in 325 AD. So it's almost 1,700 years old, this calendar. At that council, those dates on the calendar were established, the dates for Advent and Christmas, and Lent and Easter, and all of the special feast days, Epiphany and Pentecost and Palm Sunday.
Well, if you were here last Sunday, you know, we were talking about salvation and heaven, and what the next life might look like. And we're going to continue that conversation this Sunday, because as we just heard, our gospel reading today is a continuation from last Sunday's Gospel reading. Jesus is asked another question about heaven. Specifically, who are we going to be married to in heaven?
Well, as I mentioned at the top of the service today, we're celebrating All Saints Sunday because this Tuesday, November 1, Is All Saints Day, a time for us to honor and to celebrate our loved ones who have passed and to recognize that their light is still with us.
Well, I think some of you know that when Greg and I first moved to Michigan back in 2005, we opened a bed and breakfast in Saugatuck. And at that time, we became aware that there was another bed and breakfast in the area that was embroiled in a bit of controversy. At the time, a couple had reserved a room at that bed and breakfast. But when they arrived, the innkeeper said that they couldn't stay there, because she saw that they were two men, a gay couple. And she said that hers was a Christian B&B.
Well, today's Gospel reading actually has a name, a title. It's called the Parable of the Persistent Widow. And as I mentioned at the top of the service, it's probably one of Jesus's least known parables. I mean, many of Jesus's other parables – the parable of the Good Samaritan, the parable of the prodigal son – most people know these stories, even if they're not religious, even if they've never read the Bible.
Well, one of the very first things I did when I became the pastor here eight and a half years ago was establishing a KUDOS section in the weekly church Epistle newsletter and in the Sunday bulletin. The word kudos comes from an ancient Greek word, which means praise. And I have to tell you, it brings me so much joy each week to bestow praise and kudos on all of you who do so much in service of our church and community.
Well, I think that most of you know that the scripture readings that we read each Sunday come from a book that's called the Revised Common Lectionary. And the reason that it's called the Common Lectionary, is it's a book that the Christian denominations have in common. And I really love that. I love that every Sunday, Christian churches of different denominations around the world, be they Episcopalian or Presbyterian or Methodist, or Catholic, are all focused on the same readings each week.
We're going to begin this morning with a little bit of Show and Tell. This framed poster has been hanging in the foyer of our church for over a decade now. And it says “Welcome to a Progressive Christian Church.” And among the things it says on the poster is, “We are a church that welcomes all people, including agnostics, and questioning skeptics.”
Well, I became the pastor here in 2014. So it's been a little over eight years. And in that time, I have officiated more than a dozen memorial services here in the church, for church members who have died. And those services are always so sacred, so meaningful and so important. They're not only a way for us to honor and celebrate our loved one who has passed, but they also allow us to come together as a spiritual family, to support one another and to comfort one another during our time of grief. But you know, in all the years that I've been the pastor here, I've never once not one time, been asked to officiate a memorial service for a loved one who wasn't human.
Well, I think that some of you know that I am a Facebook person. I'm on Facebook almost every day. And I know that some of you think that is a complete waste of time. And you're probably right. But for me, it's a wonderful tool to promote what's happening at our church, and to know what's going on in the community. And of course, I love looking at your joyful pictures, and reading your supportive and uplifting comments. I also follow many spiritual teachers on Facebook, who post words of inspiration each day, and many times they're often exactly what I need to hear that day.
It's that time – back-to-school – when students and teachers are getting ready to return. In some places in the country, they're already back in school. Many of you know that for 12 years, I was a highschool teacher. And this time of year, I always kind of had some nervous excitement, getting my classroom all ready and awaiting the new students, and to see what the new school year would hold.
Well, if you were here last Sunday, you know we were talking about the Kingdom of Heaven, and how it's not a place up in the clouds that you go to after you die. But how it is something we can experience right here and now. Jesus said, ‘The kingdom of heaven is here and now. It is at hand. It is with us and within us.’
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