REDTAILS MOVIE CURRENTLY SHOWING       True story of the Tuskegee Airman (black pilots in WWII who endured racism and provided heroic support for white pilots) showing in various theaters.

Griot Museum of  Black History & Culture-241-7057 thegriotmuseum.com

Only the second of its kind the country, The Griot Museum of Black History & Culture opened as The Black World History Wax Museum in February 1997. After 10 years of being variously known, we hit upon what seems to be the perfect name “The Griot Museum of Black History & Culture” (The Griot”). Our new name more accurately reflects our mission and purpose—the keeper of the stories, culture, and history of Black people.

Museum Hours Wednesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Admission Adults: $7.50  Children under 12: $3.75

Missouri Botanical Garden—577-5100—mobot.org for more info

23rd Annual ‘Celebrate the Gospel’ Concert Set for Sunday, February 12 at 3 p.m. Missouri Botanical Garden, 4344 Shaw Blvd.,

COST: $8 adults; $4 St. Louis City/County residents. Free children ages 12 & under

Enjoy the sweet harmonies of heart-felt gospel music at the Garden in celebration of Black History Month & is included with Garden admission.

The St. Alphonsus Liguori “ROCK” Catholic Church choir will perform traditional & modern renditions of inspirational gospel music. The concert will be held inside the Garden’s Shoenberg Theater. Seating is limited and available first-come, first-served.

Powell Symphony Hall  534-1700     stlsymphony.org

Friday, February 10, 2012, 7:00 PM Powell Hall

LIFT EVERY VOICE: BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION

Kevin McBeth, conductor in celebration of Black History Month, the STL Symphony welcomes Webster University alum and Hollywood diva Jenifer Lewis to Powell Hall. Star of The Preacher’s Wife, Disney’s The Princes and the Frog and Broadway’s Hairspray, Ms. Lewis will join the St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON® Chorus to celebrate the rich experience of African and African-American culture that has shaped the lives of people around the world.

Black Rep 534-3810  theblackrep.org      Grandel Square

St. Louis-style disco/funk version of the Bard’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” begins February 15 till the end of the month.

Repertory Theatre of St. Louis    968-4925      repstl.org    

David Mamet’s play, “Race,” opens February 8 with courtroom drama posing questions about black and white issues in America.

Black History Month at Jefferson National Expansion Memorial            655-1700 (voice) nps.gov/jeff/index.htm

During the month of February 2012, the park will be showing Black history films at the Old Courthouse and will do a Sunday reading program geared especially for children and their families.                                                                                                           Feb. 5-11              Never Lose Sight of Freedom (Voting Rights Movement)           Feb. 12-18            Sweet Auburn (MLK National Historic Site)

ST. LOUIS PUBLIC LIBRARIES—CITY BRANCHES

Authors @ Your Library Presents: Jamala Rogers      

Feb 7 @ 6:00PM – 7:30PM (Carpenter—3309 S Grand @ 772-6586) Jamala Rogers discusses her book “The Best of The Way I See It.”

Our Eyes Are Watching Zora    (Machacek—6424 Scanlan @781-2948)

Feb 6 @ 10:00AM – 11:30AM          Featured documentary: “Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun” (2008). This documentary gives us insights from leading scholars and rare footage of the rural South (some of it shot by Zora herself) with re-enactments of a revealing 1943 radio interview. Hurston biographer, Cheryl Wall, traces Zora’s unique artistic vision back to her childhood in Eatonville, Florida, the first all-black incorporated town in the U.S. There Zora was surrounded by proud, self-sufficient, self-governing black people, deeply immersed in African folk traditions.

Monday Series—Black History Month Films and Discussion: Black Women in American Culture and History         (Schlafly)

Feb 6 @ 6:00PM – 8:00PM   Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues (1989). Film shows how the blues were born out of the economic & social transformation of African American life early in this century. It recaptures the lives & times of Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Alberta Hunter, Ethel Waters & other legendary women who made the blues a vital part of American culture. The film brings together for the first time dozens of rare, classic renditions of the early blues. Discussion & refreshments.

Feb 13 @ 6:00PM – 8:00PM             Quilt makers of Gees Bend (2004). This acclaimed PBS film documents a group of African-American artists from Gee’s Bend, AL. The artists, primarily women, are descended from slaves & still inhabit the land their forefathers once worked. The film explores the extraordinary lives, inspirations, & history of the quilt makers, including their discovery by art historian Bill Arnett, and follows them on a poignant journey to see their work exhibited in a major art museum.

The second feature is For My People: The Life and Writing of Margaret Walker (1998, 28 minutes). This film gives long-overdue recognition to one of the seminal figures of American literature. Margaret Walker has been described by poet Nikki Giovanni as the “most famous person nobody knows.” Her signature poem, For My People, written when she was 22, set a tone & a level of commitment which African American literature has been responding to ever since.

Tuesday Series —Black History Month Film Series      (Julia Davis)

Feb 7 @ 6:00PM – 8:00PM               In celebration of Black History Month 2012, the Julia Davis Branch presents a Tuesday evening film series. Tonight’s feature is Standing on My Sister’s Shoulders. This documentary tells the story of three Mississippi women in 1965, who walked into the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington D.C. to seek their civil rights.

Film @ (Cabanne—1106 Union Ave @367-0717)

Feb 8 @                1:30PM – 2:30PM                Today’s feature is At The River I Stand (1993). This documentary examines the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Missouri History Museum       746-4599     mohistory.org   civilwarmo.org CIVIL WAR IN MISSOURI EXHIBIT    November 12, 2011 – March 16, 2013

Cost: Adult: $10; Senior/Student/Military/Tour Groups: $8; Children 6-12: $6; Children 5 and younger: Free;   City & County Residents FREE with ID on Tues. 2 – 8 pm.

Missouri may best reflect the Civil War’s rending of our nation. Prior to the Civil War, the state was bitterly divided between pro-slavery secessionists and those determined to preserve the Union. The Missouri Compromise, the Dred Scott Case and the Missouri-Kansas border conflicts exposed the simmering tensions. Claimed by both the Union and the Confederacy, two state governments grappled for control of Missouri. Today, Missouri and its role in the Civil War continue to generate controversy among historians, academics and Civil War enthusiasts. To commemorate the Civil War sesquicentennial–and to explore the complexities of the Civil War in the twenty-fourth state–the Missouri History Museum’s comprehensive exhibit, The Civil War in Missouri, will feature compelling artifacts, imagery and interactive elements. Although the exhibition addresses issues with which our entire nation wrestled, topics that are distinctively Missourian will take center stage.

Kirkwood Roots Exhibition       Saturdays in February 1:00pm

Join us for facilitated discussions in which all participants are invited to reflect on what they’ve learned after visiting the Museum’s Kirkwood Roots exhibit. Space is limited.

The Black Rep’s Resurrection 150 Saturdays February & March 2:00pm

Presented by the Black Rep, this short play by Linda Kennedy illustrates the African American experience of the Civil war through songs of the Colored Regiment, stories, and poetry.

I Shall Not Desert My Post: Elijah Lovejoy, Abolitionist Martyr

Tuesdays, February 7-28    3:00pm  Known to many as the first martyr to the anti-slavery movement, Elijah Parish Lovejoy lived and worked in St. Louis fighting for the destruction of slavery.  Hear of his passion for the anti-slavery movement and the freedom of the press through his own words.

You can see more pictures of the morning on the Picasa site by clicking on the link on the right side of the page or by following this link.

Advent arrived as a season of the Church but also as a new season for Pilgrim.  The was the first Sunday that Rev. Dr. Allen Grothe led worship as our called Pastor.  There are pictures of the worship including a couple of short videos available here.  The text of the sermon is available here.

2011-11-27

Scripture: Mark 13:24-37

Sunday, November 27, 2011 – First Sunday Of Advent

Part I: The Devil & Mr. Nobel

    Perhaps you are familiar with the old legend which speaks of the devil wanting to divide human beings so as to set us against each other and keep us experiencing only the emptiness of that separation.   According to this legend, when the  devil asked for help in achieving this task, Fear stepped forward and said, “I will sow the seeds of prejudice within human hearts.”  Greed stepped forward as well and said, “I will sow the seeds of possessiveness within human hearts.” Revenge stepped forward and said, “I will urge human beings to worship all their wounds.” Volunteer after volunteer stepped forward until just one volunteer remained.  This volunteer quietly said, “I will tell human beings to love and serve God and neighbor.”  Everyone laughed uproariously at this suggestion. Then, when the laughter died down, this volunteer added, “But I will tell them not to worry about loving and serving God and neighbor until tomorrow.” And the legend ends with the devil deciding to send Procrastination to divide us. (1)     

From my perspective, there is a great deal of truth in that old legend, for often it is procrastination which persuades us that now is not the time to become less fearful and more loving, less judgmental and more welcoming, less possessive and more compassionate, less vengeful and more forgiving.   Often it is procrastination which persuades us we can always wait until tomorrow … and tomorrow … and tomorrow … before we start to honestly take Jesus seriously—and I suspect that at least Alfred Nobel would agree with me.

As you may be aware, Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, woke up one day to read his obituary in the morning newspaper.  It was actually his brother who had died, which created the confusion, and, amidst his sorrow, he was disturbed by his portrayal in the obituary as the “dynamite king”—a merchant of death who had made his fortune peddling the seeds of destruction.   It was then that Alfred Nobel realized he was living on a street named Denial, just south of a road called Procrastination.  It was then that he truly woke up and sensed he was, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “spending his money for that which is not bread and his labor for that which does not satisfy” (Isaiah 55:2).   And it was then that he decided to establish the various Nobel Prizes which bear his name as a way to embrace a different set of values right now. (2)

Part II: Scare Tactics

On this First Sunday of Advent, we too are called to wake up, which is what our gospel lesson is really all about.  Unfortunately, instead of focusing on the power and even the beauty of this “wake-up call,” some people use this lesson to try and scare us—and maybe a light-hearted story can help us see the folly of such scare tactics.   Once there were two brothers who were irresistibly drawn to mischief like moths to a flame. As a result, they were always blamed for any of the pranks in the neighborhood and usually rightfully so.    Seeking to improve their behavior, their mother asked the local pastor to talk to them. The pastor agreed to meet with the boys individually, and so the younger brother went to see him in the morning, with the older brother scheduled to come in the afternoon. The pastor, a large man with a booming voice, sat the younger brother down in his office and sternly asked him “Where is God?”   The boy’s mouth dropped open, but he made no response.   The pastor then repeated the question, this time shaking a finger in the boy’s face: “Where is God?” At which point the boy bolted from the office, ran home, and hid in a closet.   When his older brother found him, he asked him, “What happened?”   Gasping for breath, the boy replied, “We are in BIG trouble this time.  God is missing, and they think we did it.”

Yes, the pastor did succeed in scaring the boy, but he did not succeed in drawing the boy closer to God.   Chances are he even pushed the boy further away, and that is the problem with scare tactics. Scare tactics leave us fearful rather than faithful, cowering in one kind of closet or another and concerned only with our individual well-being.   Worse yet, sometimes those who try to scare us the most are the ones who heed their own words the least. Here I think of Tim Lahaye, one of the co-authors of the “Left Behind” series of books.  Mr. Lahaye warns us about some sort of “rapture” which he thinks is right around the corner but which, quite frankly, Scripture never speaks of and which seems to be little more than an attempt to escape from the world. He warns us about the destruction of creation even though Scripture consistently affirms the redemption of creation.  And he says that we should take every verse of Scripture literally, which, as far as I can tell, means we should agree with his inter-pretation of Scripture.   However, when Mr. Lahaye was asked in an interview if maybe he should take literally those verses where Jesus tells the rich young ruler to sell everything he has and give to the poor—when an interviewer asked if he should give away the millions of dollars he has made writing his books—Mr. Lahaye replied, “I think I can do more good by keeping the money and continuing to write.”  To me, that does not sound like someone who really believes any “rapture” is close at hand. (3)

Part III: Time & Eternity

In contrast to such scare tactics, what Jesus gives us in our gospel lesson is, believe it or not, an invitation to a party.   It may not sound like that, but I am convinced this is what it is. Jesus tells us fig trees are blossoming, and so should we.  He tells us it is a kind of surprise party for God, Who is not always sure if we care about anything besides ourselves, and so we need to get ready for the party.  He tells us that after the suffering which comes from all of our procrastination and all of our power struggles—be it on an individual, local, national, or international level—after all of that human-initiated suffering comes, he will come again and will be the host of the party.

Jesus tells us something else as well, something that is hard to express but which is impor-tant to try and express.    He tells us that time is not separate from eternity but rather is part of eternity—is, if you will, embraced by eternity. He tells us this time, our time, and any time is always God’s time, Whose only now is forever.  Furthermore, he tells us we are not really separate from God either but rather are like clay in the potter’s hand (Jeremiah 18:1-12). As St. Paul puts it, we, along with all the rest of creation, “live and move and have our being in God” (Acts 17:28). Time is always being lovingly shaped by eternity, and we are always being lovingly shaped by God, and the only question is whether we are willing to be shaped or whether we prefer to procrastinate. Indeed, Jesus is living proof of eternity breaking in upon time to lovingly shape it.  He is the Eternal Word made flesh, and eternity keeps breaking in upon time at every moment of every day, which is why we pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”   And it is also why the time to act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly is always now, for whenever we do those things, we are not just living a good life; we are also participating in eternal values.   We are sharing in eternity, and we are allowing ourselves to be shaped by God.

    Recently, I came upon a story about an African-American community in Florida in the days before civil rights were granted to all citizens.  According to the story, during political elections, the people would rent a voting machine and go through the voting process.   They knew their votes would not be counted, but they voted anyway, and when they were asked by the white members of the community why they bothered to do this, they replied, “Oh, we are just practicing … just practicing.”  Those people were not only expressing their longing for civil rights at a specific moment in time.  They were also bearing witness to eternal values, and they were sharing in eternity.   They were not just practicing voting; they were practicing the redemption of the world. (4) 

“We are marching in the light of God!   We are marching in the light of God!”   That was our Opening Hymn this morning, which is based upon a South African Freedom Song, and during all the years of apartheid—during all those years that Nelson Mandela and others sat in jail for protesting apartheid—a candle of hope kept burning in their hearts … hope not only for equality in South Africa but also hope for the kind of equality which is eternal.

    During World War II, a German widow began hiding various Jewish refugees in her home.  When her friends learned what she was doing, they became greatly alarmed.  “You are risking your own well-being,” they told her.   “I know that,” she replied.   “Then why do you persist in this foolishness?”   “I am doing it,” she said, “because the time is now, and I am here.” (5)

Ah, yes, the time is always now, which is why we urge our Young Christians not to wait until they are older but to let their light shine now.

Part IV: Ready For The Party

This morning we also share the sorrow of the Gladney Family, and as we do so we need to remember that Dr. Gladney did not only live a good and even great life; he also participated in eternity, and so he was ready for the party which was awaiting him.   He was ready, and we need to ask if we are ready.   Sometimes we think we can waltz into the party with our racism or sexism or homophobia intact, but we can’t. Sometimes we think we can waltz into the party with our lust, greed, or vengefulness intact, but we can’t.  And the reason we can’t is not only because those negative qualities are contrary to God’s will but also because so long as we cling to any negative qualities we would not be ready for the party.   We would have no idea how to handle the party … no idea how to handle the joy Jesus would share with us, for that is what he told us too: “I have said these things to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11)

    An old Baptist deacon was once asked if he resented the idea of people confessing their sins and being accepted by God right before they die—people like the penitent thief who was crucified next to Jesus and who asked to be remem-bered when Jesus came into his kingdom.  Did such last-minute acceptance ever bother the old deacon?   “Not at all,” he answered.   “If anything, I feel sad those people did not have more time to love and serve God in this world, because that is the real joy in life.”  (6)

To be sure, we can wake up right before we die, but, as the old Baptist deacon says, there is a certain sadness in waiting until then. This takes us back to our Epistle Lesson for today which Marcia read.   No church ever had as much nit-picking and as much in-fighting as did the Corinthian Church. Yet St. Paul begins his letter, as he begins so many of his letters, by giving thanks for the ways in which they have managed to let their light shine.  Presumably, he hopes in this manner to call them away from any nit-picking and in-fighting, and it is not a bad approach.

As you will discover, with me there is usually one last story, and here it is.

    Once upon a time, a man sought employment on a farm.   So the man went to the owner of the farm and handed him his letter of reference, which simply read, “He sleeps in a storm.” The owner did not know what this meant, but he was desperate for help and hired the man.   Several weeks passed, and, suddenly, in the middle of the night, a powerful storm ripped through the valley.  Awakened by the swirling rain and howling wind, the owner of the farm leapt out of bed.   He called for his new hired hand, but the man was sleeping soundly. So he raced out to the barn. He saw to his amazement that the animals were secure with plenty of food. He raced out to the field and found the bales of wheat bound and wrapped in tarpaulins.  He raced over to the silo. The doors were latched, and the grain was dry.  And then he realized what the letter of reference meant when it said, “He sleeps in a storm.” (7)

The hired hand could sleep in a storm because he had woken up long before the storm ever came.   He was not procrastinating but was acting justly, loving tenderly, and walking humbly right now, and so he was not only ready for any storms but also ready for the party Jesus describes. We too are called to be ready because the time is always now.  And let all God’s people say “Amen!”

Notes

1. Source Unknown

2. See “Alfred Nobel And His Prizes,”  by James Campbell,  in Boston Review,  A Political &

Literary Forum, for one version of this story.

3. “The Pop Prophets,” by David Gates, Newsweek, May 24, 2004

4. Unfortunately, I have forgotten the source of this story.

5. Source Unknown

6. This encounter was part of an interview I once saw on television.  Unfortunately, I cannot  remember which program the interview was part of.

7. Have A Little Faith, by Mitch Albom, Hyperion, 2009, page 93

While this is a book for business, it makes some observations relevant to the church broadly and to Pilgrim in particular about what we mean by “diversity” and why it matters to us.

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46

Sunday, November 20, 2011 – Joint Thanksgiving Service

Part I: The Butterfly & The Cocoon

Perhaps the place to start is with a story the Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis told years ago in his novel Zorba The Greek.

    A man out walking in the woods came upon a butterfly struggling to force its passage through the narrow neck of its cocoon. Thinking that he would “help” the butterfly, he took a sharp stick and split open the cocoon, allowing the butterfly to easily and immediately emerge. Yet its glorious coloring never developed, and its soaring wings never expanded.   Instead, the butterfly crept aimlessly about for a while and then died. Unbeknownst to the man, the butterfly’s furious struggle with its cocoon was nature’s way of helping.   It was nature’s way of strengthening the beautiful wings and sending the vital fluids throughout the body until every part of the butterfly was bright with the distinctive hues and shades.   Without the strug-gle, the butterfly simply could not live. (1)

Could it be that sometimes butterflies know more than the rest of us?  Could it be butterflies understand there are some struggles which we should not avoid … some struggles which are sacred struggles precisely because they help to transform us and make us more beau-tiful and more faithful and more alive than we have ever been before?  Could it be there are some struggles which we need to give thanks for and without which we would be in danger of dying … at least spiritually if not physically?

Part II: The Comfortable Daphne Plant

As far as I can tell, Howard Thurman believed in sacred struggles, and when someone like Howard Thurman speaks, I attentively listen.   As you may be aware, Mr. Thurman was one of the most influential religious leaders of the twentieth century, a spiritual mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr., and, at the time of his death in 1981, Dean Emeritus of Boston University’s Marsh Chapel.  In his book, Deep Is the Hunger, Mr. Thurman shares this reflection.

    It was a beautiful little garden just outside the dining room window.   With the simplicity characteristic of him, my friend gave me the names and explained the habits of life of various plants growing there. I was struck by what was said about a small bush which grew near the steps. He told me, “This plant is called daphne. It is not doing well here because it is too comfortably situated. The soil is too rich, and it gets too much protection. This plant tends to go to wood and leaves with very poor blossoms if it is placed where it does not have to struggle.…”  Then the silence fell while my mind took wings, and I thought to myself, “An easy life de-void of challenge (too much protection) also scatters the energy, dissipates the resources, and works against singleness of mind, without which there can be no real fulfillment.”

Mr. Thurman then concludes his reflection with these words, “We are not like the daphne plant.   Sometimes within very wide limits, often within extremely narrow limits, we have the privilege of choice. Some things contribute to our weaknesses, to our tendency to grow soft and flabby; some things we know toughen our fiber and cause us to pool our resources in the effort to achieve singleness of mind, of purpose, and of will.   Wood and leaves, then, or the blossoms of fulfillment … which will it be?” (2) It is, and I am sure Mr. Thurman intended it to be, a haunting question.

Mr. Thurman’s words remind me of a greeting card I once stumbled upon in a unique little gift shop in Fargo, North Dakota.  On the card was printed this simple yet striking message: “Most people don’t know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don’t get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss your life (Brian Andreas).” Unfortunately, those angels have their work cut out for them in a culture where we are often encouraged to be “seekers after the greatest degree of comfort for the least expenditure of energy”—which, believe it or not, is how the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopedia Brittanica defines humanity.   It is a definition which should make us shudder, and yet it is a definition we often accept, even if it means falling asleep and missing our lives.

As I mentioned, Mr. Thurman was a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr., and if anyone appre-ciated the lesson of the daphne plant, it was Dr. King. In particular I think of words he wrote while in jail for nonviolent civil disobedience during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and words he later included in a sermon entitled “Loving Your Enemies”—words I imagine most of you have heard before but words I know I need to keep hearing: “To our most bitter opponents we say: ‘We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering with our capacity to endure suffer-ing.  We shall meet your physical force with soul force.  Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you.   We cannot in good conscience obey your unjust laws because non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good…. But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer.   One day we shall win free-dom but not only for ourselves.   We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process and our victory will be a double victory.” (3)  Echoing Jesus as he followed after Jesus, Dr. King proclaims that the power of love is ultimately stronger than the love of power and that sacred struggles are sacred because they not only help to trans-form us but also help to transform others.

Part III: Honoring Connections

Perhaps now we can more fully appreciate our Gospel Lesson for today, the familiar para-ble of the sheep and the goats, where I believe Jesus calls us to participate in what might be considered the most fundamental and most sacred struggle of all—namely, the struggle to see ourselves as connected to each other and connected even to any so-called outcasts or enemies. Although many people will tell us this parable asks us to recognize Jesus in the faces of those around us, I believe Jesus is doing far more than that.   After all, such an in-terpretation ignores the fact that no one in the parable ever does recognize Jesus.   Neither the sheep nor the goats ever say,  “Aha, this looks like a neighbor in need, but I can tell it is really Jesus in disguise.” Both the sheep and the goats are thoroughly surprised to discover that Jesus was and is somehow included in every encounter with any of our hungry, thirsty, lonely, or imprisoned neighbors.   Indeed, both the sheep and the goats ask the very same question: “Lord, we saw a lot of suffering people, but when did we ever see you?”

By framing the parable this way, it seems clear Jesus is not all that interested in having us recognize him. At least he is not interested in having us recognize him as an individual.  He is not interested in having us pick him out of a line-up of hungry or thirsty people.   He is not interested in this because then we would just have one more excuse to limit our love only to those who we think resemble him—or, maybe more honestly, those who we think resemble us.  Instead, Jesus challenges us to see ourselves as connected to everyone, regardless of whether we recognize any resemblance to him or not.  He calls us to open up our eyes and see that just as the Three Persons of the Trinity are inextricably connected to each other—Three and yet One—so too God, self, and neighbor are a trinity of their own and are inextri-cably connected as well. To borrow a favorite Native American image, Jesus tells us we are individual strands of a single web and that whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves. This is what he means when he tells us that our treatment of others directly affects him.  He is part of the web, and so are we.  That is what Jesus wants us to recognize.

To their credit, the sheep in the parable embrace this sacred struggle and open their eyes. They act as if love of God cannot be separated from love of neighbor. They act like they are connected not just to Jesus and not just to a few neighbors but to everybody. The goats, on the other hand, try to isolate themselves and limit their love.   The goats say, “Oh, Jesus, if we had only known you were involved, we would have been more loving.”   And Jesus re-plies, “That is exactly the problem. You want to disconnect both me and yourself from your neighbors, and that is impossible.”  The goats want what is sometimes called a “personal (if not a private) relationship” with Jesus—the only drawback being that the phrase “personal relationship” is not mentioned anywhere in Scripture. What Scripture gives us, instead, from Genesis through Revelation, is the call to honor the connections which exist between us.

And, just to be clear, this does not mean we cannot ever say no to people who make what appear to be questionable requests of us.   But it does mean we need to treat every person as a person—with the respect, dignity, and love that they deserve as someone who is con-nected to us and, in truth, related to us.   It means we need to treat every person as a per-son, including those neighbors within our own congregations, which is something we occa-sionally forget. Ironically, sometimes we act like sheep outside the church and like goats in-side it.  And it means that if we do not sense Jesus’ presence in our midst, chances are it is because we are not honoring those connections, no matter how loving we may like to think we are.

Part IV: Jumping Off The Log

Today, of course, we do joyfully seek to honor those connections and embrace this sacred struggle. By gathering items for a neighborhood food pantry, by designating a portion of our offering to alleviate hunger, by sharing in a beautifully simple meal of soup and bread, and by joining together in worship, we do seek to honor the connections that bind us together in love.   Yet I wonder what will happen tomorrow or next Sunday, when we are all back in our normal routines and back in our individual churches.

    On the first day of class, a philosophy professor once asked his students an apparently simple question.  “If there are three frogs on a log, and one decides to jump off, how many are left?”   “Two,” said the students.  “No,” said the professor. “There would still be three left, for there is a big difference between deciding to jump and actually jumping.” (4)

That is the dilemma which the goats face and which maybe we face too. Often we “decide” to jump off the log but then postpone actually jumping.   Often we “decide” to follow Jesus, but then expect discipleship to be a piece of cake without any sacred struggles.   Yet Jesus tells us we will all struggle along the way, just as he struggled out in the wilderness and in Gethsemane and elsewhere. We will all struggle, and the only question is, “Will we struggle for the right reasons?”

Will we stubbornly struggle to remain caterpillars or joyfully struggle to become butterflies?  Will we struggle to remain overly comfortable and protected daphne plants or will we strug-gle to bravely bloom?  Will we struggle to justify any insensitivity to others or struggle to be-come more compassionate?   Will we struggle to stand up for our rights alone or struggle to stand up for everyone’s rights?   Will we struggle just to get ahead of others or struggle to get ahead with others?   Will we struggle to critique those we think are goats or struggle not to give up even on the goats, in part because we each have our own goat-like moments and, more importantly, because Jesus, the King of Connections, never gives up on anyone, with his words of judgment never an end in themselves but forever and always a call to re-pentance and transformation.   Will we struggle to save our own lives or struggle to lose our lives in love for both God and neighbor … which leads me to one last story.

    A small wave was bobbing along in the ocean and having a wonderful time. She was enjoying the wind, the fresh air, and the movement until she saw the other waves in front of her crashing against the shore. “Oh, dear,” she said. “This is terrible.   Look at what is going to happen to me.”   Then another wave came along and noticed the first wave was upset.   “Why are you so sad?” asked the second wave.   “Look up ahead,” replied the first wave.  “We’re all going to crash. All of us are going to be nothing.  Isn’t it terrible?”   The second wave smiled, “Ah, you don’t understand.  You are more than a wave. You are part of the ocean.” (5)

That story often brings comfort to people in the face of death. It should also bring both com-fort and challenge to us in the face of life.  We are not just individual waves.  We are part of the ocean.   And whenever we do realize this, we shall mount up with wings like eagles and with wings like butterflies, and we shall begin to fly.  And let all God’s people say “Amen!”

Notes

1. Adapted from Zorba The Greek, by Nikos Kazantzakis, Simon & Schuster,  1952,  pages

120-121

2. Deep Is The Hunger, by Howard Thurman, Friends United Press Edition,  a reprint of the

1951 Edition by Harper & Row, pages 90-91

3. “Loving Your Enemies,”  in Strength To Love,  by Martin Luther King, Jr.,  Harper & Row,

1963, page 40

4. Source Unknown

5. Tuesdays With Morrie, by Mitch Albom, Doubleday, 1997, page 179-180

TODAY IS NOVEMBER 7 AND here are the updates for Pilgrim Church.

Pilgrim’s goals for MISSION: 1 are:

• 1,111 food items so far we have donated 934 food items – NOV 6 COUNT WAS 188, OUR HIGHEST SUNDAY YET!!  WESTMINSTER FRIENDS DONATED 69 ITEMS.
• 111 letters to Congress so far we have written 90 letters—ONLY 21 MORE NEEDED!!
• $1,111 donations to Neighbors in Need WE HAVE EXCEEDED OUR GOAL BY $264!!!

MISSION: 1 is our denomination-wide effort to feed the hungry and confront food-related injustice through shared mission work. The UCC has set four goals for us church-wide, and each congregation has been asked to do their part in achieving these goals:

•           1,000,000+ items of healthy food to local organizations

•           11,111 letters to Congress

•           $111,111 to Neighbors in Need hunger-related ministries

•           $111,111 to East Africa Famine Relief

We have 6 more days to exceed our other two goals.  Last chance to make our goals we are very, very close—-please bring your food items to church on Sunday, Nov 13 or drop your donations off at Pilgrim Mon thru Thurs. before  5 pm.

LETTER WRITING TIME TO OUR NATIONAL LEADERS— IF YOU HAVE NOT YET SIGNED YOUR LETTERS – YOU CAN STILL DO SO, e-mail  Rita Hill @ 4rhill@prodigy.net and she will send you a set of letters to print off & sign & bring (or mail) to Pilgrim and Community Partnership will take it from there.  It’s that simple and it only takes a few minutes as Community Partnership Ministry has provided the letters & all materials needed.