Keystone Church UCC

class is cancelled

2012-01-18T07:59:00.000-08:00

The book study, The Soul of Money, is cancelled this evening due to weather conditions. Please read chapter 6 and 7 for next time to stay on schedule.

Keystone UCC Again Steps Out in Faith

2012-01-02T12:58:00.000-08:00

On New Year’s Day, Keystone United Church of Christ took a leap of faith. Last year, Pastor Rich went to Tucson to meet with those who are putting together a United Church of Christ volunteer program for young people interested in investing a year to do God’s work in the community (much like the Jesuit or Lutheran volunteers). As this is a new program for the UCC, it has the flexibility to allow a congregation to shape and promote the program.

As envisioned by the UCC, this program offers the volunteer about a year of housing, healthcare and a small stipend. Those costs are covered at the local level. The national UCC will help find and screen volunteers and would help to obtain low cost healthcare. Usually most of the costs are covered by the agency that takes on the volunteer; but ultimately the congregation would be responsible for the costs.

Keystone has a wonderful legacy of commitment to social justice and an amazing willingness to try new things and to take on the challenges of being a leader. On Sunday, the congregation voted in support of this worthwhile endeavor, making it the first UCC in the Pacific Northwest to do so, providing an opportunity for young people to live simply, to live in community, and to serve others. Fortunately, another local church, All Pilgrims Christian in Seattle, offered use of a two-bedroom apartment, which will help greatly in the area of housing. These opportunities can be profound experiences for those who participate, and Keystone is looking forward to the experience, and to working with others like All Pilgrims as we move forward.

The Soul of Money

2011-12-19T09:57:00.000-08:00

Please join us as we continue exploring the book, The Soul of Money, by Lynne Twist. You can purchase the book through Amazon or your local bookstore. Please catch up with us by reading Parts One and Two. We will continue our study with Chapter 5, “Money is Like Water.” We meet on the 1stand 3rd Wednesdays beginning on January 4. Come at 6:30 to Battson Hall for a potluck (soup is always available). The class runs from 7-8:30. All are welcome. And please bring neighbors and friends who might be interested in living a more sustainable life.

Schedule:

January 4…Chapter 5: Money Is like Water

January 18…Cancelled due to weather

February 1…Chapter 6: What You Appreciate Appreciates, and Chapter 7: Collaboration Creates Prosperity

February 15…Chapter 8: Change the Dream

March 7…Chapter 9: Taking a Stand

March 21…Chapter 10: The Power of Conversation

April 4…Chapter 11: Creating a Legacy of Enough

April 18…Chapter 12: The Turning Tide

“Saving Jesus”(Progressive Christianity Study)

2011-12-19T09:02:00.000-08:00

“Kidnapped by the Christian right. Discarded by the secular left. Jesus needs saving.” Keystone is offering “Saving Jesus,” a 12-episode video exploration of a credible Jesus for the 21st Century. With insights from 25 specialists, such as Marcus Borg, Walter Brueggemann, John Dominic Crossan, Matthew Fox, Amy-Jill Levine, Helen Prejean, and many more, this resource is already well respected by hundreds of progressive Christian communities. This study will pick up again with the fifth topic on January 11th, and will run on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays (with the exception of “Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22), beginning at 6:30 with a potluck in Battson Hall (soup is always available). Class runs from 7-8:30. ALL are welcome! Please bring a friend or 2!

Check out this link for more info. Scroll down to see the video ad.

http://www.livingthequestions.com/xcart/product.php?productid=154&cat=469&page=1

Topics include:

January 11…Jesus’ Birth: Incarnation

January 25…Teachings of Jesus: Wisdom Tradition

February 8…Jesus’ Program: The Kingdom of God

February 22…Ash Wednesday Service at 7:30pm, following 6:30 potluck. All are welcome.

March 14…The Atonement

March 28…Who Killed Jesus?

April 11…The Resurrection of Christ

April 25… Jesus’ Ministry of Compassion

May 9…Why Jesus is Worth Saving

Christmas Eve

2011-12-19T07:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve at Keystone is an hour of insightful poetry, readings, carols, and candlelight. Come join us at 7pm. on December 24th. All are welcome.

Longest Night Service

2011-12-15T18:40:00.000-08:00

St Paul's UCC (6512 12th Ave NW Seattle, WA 98117) and Keystone UCC are offering a special “Longest Night” service on December 18th at 7:00 pm. at St. Paul's. Pastor Tim and Pastor Peg will be leading the service. The short service will be followed by a brief time for light refreshments and fellowship.

Join with us in sharing and hearing prayers, scripture, and music that acknowledge that God’s presence is for those who mourn, for those who struggle - and that God’s Word comes to shine light into our darkness. Everyone, regardless of church background (or lack of it) is welcome. Please consider extending an invitation to persons you may know of for whom Christmas is a difficult season, and accompany them to this service.

Occupy Christmas in Wallingford

2011-12-15T18:31:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, December 22, come join in a public celebration of the true meaning of Christmas in the style of Las Posadas tradition of the Holy Family seeking a source of shelter and safety. In procession, we will make stops along the way on 45th Street in Wallingford to highlight the places where vulnerable people are excluded from shelter and safety today; and celebrate the hope of the season. Refreshments @Keystone after.

Gather at 6:15 @Keystone Church

5019 Keystone Place N. Seattle

Holden Evening Prayer

2011-12-15T18:26:00.000-08:00

Our last "Holden Evening Prayer" for the season of Advent will be on Wednesday, December 21, at 8:10 in the sanctuary, following Rich Gamble's class on Progressive Christianity at 7:00 in Battson Hall. A potluck starts off the evening at 6:30. All are welcome.

Progressive Christian Values class

2011-12-15T10:02:00.001-08:00

Here is the link to the George Lakoff lecture mentioned in class 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f9R9MtkpqM

Myth of Redemptive Violence

2011-12-09T12:11:00.001-08:00

In the first Progressive Christian Values class we talked about the Domination System. Central to that system is the Myth of Redemptive Violence. Walter Wink is the theologian responsible for this language. You can read his summation of the myth at this web address: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/cpt/article_060823wink.shtml

Festival of Hope

2011-11-18T20:35:00.001-08:00

The Festival of Hope begins tomorrow 11/19/2011 at 10am until 4pm and Sunday from 12pm to 3pm. Crafts, books, textiles, candles, baked goods, poems, feathers and wonders beyond description. Bring your friends.

Progressive Christianity Class

2011-11-09T15:10:00.001-08:00

Rich is teaching a class on "Progressive Christianity" December 7,14, 21 at 7 pm. If you want to get a head start, here's a good article. http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/cpt/article_060823wink.shtml

sermon: "Changing for the Party"

2011-10-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

Philippians 4:1-9, Matthew 22:1-14
Changing for the Party
By Rich Gamble

Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel is telling a story to the crowds gathered on the Temple grounds in Jerusalem. A king wants to throw a big bash for his son and invites the elite of the land to join in a sumptuous feast, but the invitees aren’t interested. JC doesn’t explain why someone would turn down an invitation to a royal soiree. Maybe they are too busy to take the time. Maybe they want to avoid the pressure of picking out wedding gifts for a prince. You’ve got to figure that the royal couple didn’t register at K-Mart.

In fact, the elite invitees are so angered by the invitation that they abuse and murder to folks conveying the invitation. That is a pretty strong no.

Kings being what they are, the king retaliates against the elite and kills them and burns down their city. This king isn’t the turn the other cheek sort of guy. Kings rarely are.

So there’s the prince all dressed up, the band is playing, the food is all laid out, the ice sculpture is starting to drip but there are no guests at the party.

The king sends out more of his staff to recruit party goers from the not so elite of the realm. Bring me some tired, and poor/ some huddled masses yearning to eat free the King says in so many words. And who doesn’t want to a free all you can eat buffet? So the good and the bad, the poor and the hungry, the happy and miserable all are invited to the party.

Traditional interpreters say that what is being described here is the grace of God being extended to the gentiles. The Jewish leaders would be the ones who turned down the party for Jesus and the ensuing destruction describes the destruction of Jerusalem that happened about a decade or so before Matthew wrote this gospel.

There are some wonderful aspects to this story and some very troubling ones. If we are to interpret the King as being God, then God is a violent, vengeful force. So that when Jesus tells his followers to love their enemies it seems he is asking his followers to be more loving than God as here depicted. So perhaps this isn’t an allegory in which each element of the story stands for something else. Maybe the King isn’t God. Maybe he is just a king with all the usual brutal inclinations of those who manage systems of domination. And if the king isn’t God then the elite may not be the Jewish leadership and the huddled masses may not be Christians.

Instead of being an allegory maybe this parable is a parable: a story which invites us to enter into a different perspective on reality. People in Jesus’ day, like us today understand people who have the wealth and power of kings. And we understand the notion of a wedding reception. We are not the kind of people who see the world as kings nor are we the kind that would murder the mailman for bringing us an invitation to a fancy party. We like the everyday people listening to Jesus’ story are people who would be thrilled to be invited to a princely party. We may not like caviar or foie gras or escargot but we would like to try them at least once in our lives. We’d like to be invited in through the front doors of the palace. We have no idea why someone would turn down such an invitation but heck yes we’ll be there. And if we are truly hungry, if we are daily ignored by those who don’t want to see our poverty, then the idea of being treated to princely food and treated like honored guests is even more a joyous possibility and not a burdensome obligation. So heck yes we are coming and heck yes we will load up our plates with fancy food, even if we don’t know what it is we are eating. We will enjoy the band, marvel at the centerpieces and the ice sculpture, and the numerous forks and spoons arrayed around our plate. We will lift our glasses for refills and wipe our mouths with fancy cotton napkins, and bask in the joy of being treated like an honored guest.

It is a great image. The folks who normally hold up signs begging for spare change are holding up fancy crystal glasses for refills of champagne.

But then the King comes back into the story. He walks right up to the guy standing next to you and asks the man where his wedding cloak is? The man is speechless, he doesn’t have an answer. So the King has the man tied up and heaved out into the outer darkness where there is much weeping and gnashing of teeth. This king is a scary guy.

What’s that all about? Isn’t this banquet a come as you are sort of affair?

Well it seems that just because everyone is invited, there is some implied obligation. If you want to come to the party you have to wear the right clothes.

Elsewhere in the Bible, clothing is a metaphor for behavior. So you can come to the party no matter who you are good or bad, healthy or ill, happy or miserable but…you can’t come unless you are willing to put on a particular set of behaviors suitable to the party.

A parable is meant to open people up to seeing the reality around them in a different light. A royal wedding reception attended by the hapless and homeless, the good and the bad, the everyday people rather than the elite. This is a world view that shakes up the status quo. But his isn’t a parable of simple revolution, it isn’t about the destruction of one class and the elevation of another. Because whoever you are rich or poor, good or bad if you come to the party there is an implied obligation to behave in certain ways.

We know these ways from Jesus’ lessons earlier in Matthew’s gospel and in other passages such as Paul’s letter to the Philippians. Generally this behavior is out lined in basic teachings of Judaism, which boils down to: love God, love your neighbor as yourself.

We don’t get this image of love from metaphors of domination like King. We get them from examples lived out by people like Jesus.

Parables are open to interpretation. I take from this story a wondrous image of world so filled with good things that poorest of us can live lives filled with the abundance of resources of a princely party; the realm of God as an inclusive celebration, in which every person is an honored guest. That is what we are invited into. But you can’t wear your greed or hate or fear at this party.

The army of Pharaoh could not drive their chariots down the path of liberation through the sea. Jesus says the wealthy cannot enter into the realm of God. The path of God’s love is for every person but not for every behavior. Our faith is one of radical inclusion. Everyone is invited but we are invited into a radical reorientation of values and our actions.

The elite of our day, and we may be among them… may not want to put on behaviors which call for radical generosity; they may not want to come to such a party. The elite have become elite in the current system of domination. They may not want to make the transition to a level place with everyone else. And indeed many folks are trying to school us how to be hard-hearted, exclusive and greedy.

When we serve food at Sacred Heart Shelter the servers sit and eat the same food at the same table as the residents. On Friday nights we have homeless people and people who are well off sitting in the same hard chairs and watching the same movies, eating the same donated bread and speaking as equals in the conversation afterwards. Some of you here struggle economically, some of you don’t but you are all equal members of this community. These are small things but they are the foretaste of the Realm of God, where no one struggles for home or food or healthcare and no one has more than they need.

Herman Cain to Wall Street protesters: “If you don’t have a job and you are not rich, blame yourself.” This fits the logic of the domination system. Those who are poor or unemployed have failed to successfully compete for the limited number of jobs out there so they should blame themselves. But this isn’t a foot race for a gold trophy these are people’s lives and everyone whether they come in first or last needs to eat. Those on the conservative side actively defend the social Darwinism ethics of domination. The winners should eat, have healthcare and housing. The losers in the struggle for limited resources should suffer the consequences.

This is not the way of our faith. Basic resources are a gift from God and should be shared among all in need, the good and the bad, the hard working and the lazy, the healthy and the sick.

But to get to this world we cannot use the tactics of the King in this story. We cannot burn down the cities of our enemies; we cannot place them in the outer darkness. We can’t use violent means to achieve just ends.

When the protesters in New York and Seattle embody the radically inclusive love of God they are worthy of our support. If they use clubs or hate speech they are wrong we need to stand in opposition.

The greed of the current system of domination will create anger among those who are not the winners. There is no guarantee that this anger will lead us to a better place. Sometimes such anger has led to even more violent systems.

What the world needs is vision of where we are heading and path to get there. This party of outcasts is a wonderful vision and the example of Jesus is the best path I’ve found. As people of faith we are blessed with the essential resources: vision and direction. We are also blessed with the Spirit of God guiding and inspiring us. And for us and the world that is good news.

Saturday Sept. 17 FAN Rollout

2011-09-13T17:04:00.001-07:00

Mark your calendar for Saturday, September 17, 2011! That’s the date of our Launch Celebration for this new ministry created by the union of the Washington Association of Churches and the Lutheran Public Policy Office. We’ll gather for worship, refreshments, and recognitions as we publicly roll out the new organization. Saturday, September 17, 5:00-7:00 PM University Congregational UCC Church 4515 16th Ave NE Seattle, WA 98105 Pastor Rich is a board member of the Fath Action Network and will be part of the celebration.

Friday September 16, Movie at Keystone

2011-09-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

Meaningful Movies 7pm. Fridays FILM: "THE FINLAND PHENOMENON: INSIDE THE WORLD’S MOST SURPRISING SCHOOL SYSTEM" (62 min, Bob Compton, 2011) Finland’s education system has consistently ranked among the best in the world for more than a decade. The puzzle is, why Finland? Documentary filmmaker, Bob Compton, along with Harvard researcher, Dr. Tony Wagner, decided to find out. The result of their research is captured in a new film, "THE FINLAND PHENOMENON".

Port Protest September 15

2011-09-13T17:00:00.000-07:00

You are invited to the Westin Hotel to participate in a protest: Thursday, September 15, from 11:30 a.m. to about 1 p.m. at the Westin Hotel at 5th Ave. and Stewart St. in downtown Seattle. The Port of Seattle this year celebrates its 100th anniversary, and is host to the annual American Association of Port Authorities at the Westin Hotel, from Monday the 12th through Thursday the 15th. About 1000 port executives, staff, administrators, shipping company executives, etc. will be present. As you know, the Church Council of Greater Seattle has been working with Puget Sound Sage for well over two years on this issue. Various groups, from the religious community to community action groups, to the Sierra Club and other environmental groups, as well as unions, and Change to Win, a national umbrella group for some unions, see this as an opportunity to make their voices heard, and to focus concretely on alternative policies. The Port of Seattle, together with other ports in the nation, is not sufficiently addressing the question of air pollution, caused by the roughly 2000 diesel trucks which daily haul their loads on and off ships and onto railroad cars or to the major warehouses locally (Costco, Wal-Mart, etc). Second, those who drive these trucks are mostly independent contractors, without health benefits, social security, etc. and whose paychecks have huge deductibles for insurance, truck payments, etc. in Seattle many of the drivers are recent immigrants from African countries. Their plight has been amply documented, and Church Council members have heard from them directly on various occasions. Thursday, September 15, from 11:30 a.m. to about 1 p.m. at the Westin Hotel at 5th Ave. and Stewart St. in downtown Seattle. Pastor Rich is planning on being there.

Education and Faith

2011-08-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

Each year of education ups the odds by 15% that people will say there's "truth in more than one religion," says University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor Philip Schwadel in an article for the Review of Religious Research. Schwadel, an associate professor of sociology, looked at 1,800 U.S. adults' reported religious beliefs and practices and their education.
People change their perspective because, as people move through high school and college, they acquire an ever-wider range of friendships, including people with different beliefs than their own, Schwadel says. "People don't want to say their friends are going to hell," he says.
For each additional year of education beyond seventh grade, Americans are:
•15% more likely to have attended religious services in the past week.
•14% more likely to say they believe in a "higher power" than in a personal God. "More than 90% believe in some sort of divinity," Schwadel says.
•13% more likely to switch to a mainline Protestant denomination that is "less strict, less likely to impose rules of behavior on your daily life" than their childhood religion.
•13% less likely to say the Bible is the "actual word of God." The educated, like most folks in general, tend to say the Bible is the "inspired word" of God, Schwadel says.

Debt, Taxes and Faith

2011-07-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

All of the political wrangling over the debt ceiling is ultimately a conversation about values and our faith has a lot to say about such values.

First, the largest contributor to the increase in the debt in the last several years has been the Bush era tax cuts which largely favored wealthy people. The next largest contributor is the wars and military budget. Some politicians are now saying that the debt is a serious problem but are unwilling to restore taxes or heavily cut into the military budget. Instead they want to cut funds for programs for programs which protect the health and safety of citizens especially the poorest citizens.

It seems likely that the “crisis” of the debt limit will bring about reductions in vital programs. This hits at a time when cities counties and states are all reeling from the lingering recession. This is the worst possible time to cut funds for the poor. If anything, the federal government should be pouring money into building low-income housing, improving schools, hiring more teachers, supporting renewable energy, etc… All of these things would provide resources and jobs for the people who need them. Instead we will be lucky if these programs are not cut too severely.

The inexorable logic of greed is rapidly shifting resources into the hands of those who already have more than they need. This stands as the complete reversal of Jesus’ call to share resources with one another and especially with the poor. Jesus offers the logic of love which moves the world towards the peace that comes from justice. Jesus condemns the hording of wealth as an act in contradiction to will of God and calls on people to share what they have so that all may be fed.

This week we celebrate the feeding of the 5000. In that story, Jesus gets the disciples to share what little they have so that all may be fed. In the end, there is way more food than anyone needs. Sharing leads to abundance. This is the logic of love.

Unfortunately the voices calling for true faithfulness in terms of our national budget receive little attention in the corporate media. That means we are called to use our grassroots forms of communication. Talk it up wherever you can.

"The Corporation"

2011-07-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

The Keystone Social Action Team will carry out a one-year project that focuses on limiting Corporate Personhood. This would be done in a step-wise process that involves education about the issues involved, writing up a resolution to submit to the Justice and Witness Ministries of the Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Church of Christ, and if it sees its way through, to take the final proposal to the regional conference Annual Meeting in May 2012. We are joining others nationally who are working on an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Our Social Action Team is hoping that many more friends of Keystone will become educated on this issue and move forward with us.

Our team recently viewed the documentary, “The Corporation.” Many of our team expressed outrage at how large corps are behaving, and how the public is convinced by them that there is a need for whatever it is that they are selling. One of the interesting segments in the documentary compared characteristics of corporations to that of psychopaths. Here are the bullet points:
• Callous concern for the feelings of others
• Incapacity to maintain enduring relationships
• Reckless disregard for the safety of others
• Deceitfulness (repeated lying and conning of others)
• Incapacity to experience guilt
• Failure to conform to social norms in respect to lawful behavior

Have you seen the documentary? What struck you? Please feel free to comment.

The Story of Stuff

2011-07-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

This simple video lines out the failures of our economic system. A very good investment of 21 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM&feature=player_embedded#at=1250

Peg's Ordination

2011-06-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

Peg Faulmann is being ordained at Keystone on Sunday June 26th at 5 pm. Come and share the joy.

People Notice

2011-06-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

Kaaren(one of our members) works with the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a long running, faith based, peace and justice organization. In talking with her on Sunday she related the story that at one meeting she mentioned Keystone and the people there broke out in applause. Coming from the good people of F.O.R. that is high praise indeed.

Peg Preaches/Rich Teaches on Sunday

2011-05-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

Rich will be teaching the folks at Northshore United Church of Christ about homelessness and social justice on Sunday. So our newly elected Associate Pastor Peg Faulmann will be preaching and leading worship.

Sunday Sermon, We Have Met the Savior...

2011-05-13T21:17:00.000-07:00

Easter 3 Year A
Luke 24:13-35
By Rich Gamble

In this story the disciples are experiencing the sorrow of the defeat of their dreams. It is clear from this text that the hopes of these two disciples were not in accord with the message that Jesus had been trying to communicate during his lifetime. One of the things the disciples said when he asked for an explanation of their sadness was, "We were hoping that he was the one who would set Israel free." In other words, these disciples--and this may have been Judas' problem as well--had preconceived ideas about who the Messiah was to be and what he was to do. One of their expectations was that he would deliver Israel from the domination of the Roman Empire. In other words, they wanted a Messiah who would fit into the nationalistic aspirations of the Jewish people of that time.

Jesus was going to save them. Jesus was going to save their nation. Jesus was going to be the answer to all their needs and fears and dreams. Then Jesus dies a horrible death at the hands of the occupiers of their nation. Suddenly the fate of Jesus might be their own fate, so not only do they suffer the loss of their savior but also must fear for their lives. Their glorious campaign of liberation has turned into fearful rout overnight. Then Jesus’ body is missing, who would steal a corpse?

It is all too much for two of the disciples. They are headed out of Jerusalem, out of the place of conflict, back to their homes and their old lives. Jesus was a great man but even great men cannot prevail against those capable and willing to inflict death on their enemies. Jesus was a good man, but not the hoped for messiah. They explain all of this to a stranger they meet on their retreat from Jerusalem.

Then the stranger shows them a different way to think about recent events.

This story points out how the same experience can look totally different depending upon the lens through which we look. To the disciples the death of Jesus was the death of hope but this stranger opens up the lens of scripture and they see the recent events of their lives in a very different way. That is the power of stories. That is why we study the Bible. In such a way we can take the interpretive lens crafted for us by our culture and see it for what it is, set it aside and pick up another. But study alone isn’t enough.

It is not through this teaching that the awakening of the disciples takes place. No, their hearts are warmed, their minds are opened but the shocking transformation of their lives does not happen until they invite the stranger to their table. It is there in the breaking of the bread that they recognize in the stranger the resurrected Christ and in the instant of recognition he disappears.

Here, outside of the frontiers of reason, comes the insight. The resurrected Christ is the stranger at your table. It is in the practice of hospitality, that the Christ is recognized. The living Jesus used the intimacy of the table as a lesson of the radical inclusion of God’s grace. The table became a symbol for the economic and social realities of the Realm of God. As they shared food with the poor and the sinners, so disciples were to share their resources with those in need no matter their race or faith. This practice of the living Jesus was magnified by the resurrected Christ, who is so identified with the other, that he becomes the stranger on the road. To invite the stranger to your table is to invite Christ.

Then the Christ/stranger disappears. Christ goes into the world and into the disciples. The will of God is no longer embodied in one person. It is embodied in all those who suffer, who are excluded, oppressed, ignored, hated and abused. It goes into those who, out of compassion, reach out to the stranger and share their table.

What did the disciples do in response to the awakening of the Christ within them? They went back to the place of fear and conflict. They went back but no longer fearing what would happen. They went with joy, knowing that will of God could not be killed, it would be embodied in all those who do God’s will. They went back not simply as bearers of the good news of their encounter with the risen Christ; they went back as those transformed into the embodiment of the will of God. They became the good news.

We yearn for an externalized savior: a good job, a child, a spouse, a retirement plan, a house, a pastor, a president, a cure. Whether we gain these things or lose our grasp on them, in the end, we will find that they cannot fill the emptiness in our lives and souls. When these externalized saviors have failed us, there may be great sadness or weariness, or hopelessness. As the disciples had to experience the death of their externalized savior, Jesus, so, if we are to grow in our faith, we may need to experience the loss of the externalized savior of our lives.

The savior, the Christ is not sitting on a cloud, looking at a calendar, awaiting a return. The savior, the Christ, is here, in the community. It is there, within each of us. It is out there, in a hurting world.

We look at the world and see people desperately clutching at saviors. But for us the death of Jesus brought about the death of all such delusions. No person, no church, no philosophy, no drug, no relationship, no amount of wealth or power or security will give us that which will truly fulfill us. Nor will such things provide the answers the world needs.

We are told by this story that the discovery of the presence of God’s truth in our lives comes not through any particular religious practice, not by mastering any great words or truths. This discovery comes only when we see the face of our savior, the truth of our salvation, within us and within the face of the other.

Love God with your whole being and your neighbor as yourself. In the story of Emmaus we learn that we experience the love of God in our whole being when we love, as sacred, God’s truth residing in our neighbors and ourselves.

How do we discover the Christ? We pray, not only by speaking our concerns and proclaiming our thanks but also by listening to the Christ within us.

How do we discover the Christ? We serve, not only by providing for the basic needs of our fellow humans but by sharing our table. In other words, we seek create a world where no one is excluded from the radically egalitarian intimacy of common community. It is about justice and charity, not just the bread but the place at the table, not just human needs but human rights.

It is only as the Christ within us sits at table of common community with the Christ within the stranger that the wholeness of the will of God is experienced. It is there that we begin to understand the miracle of the resurrection.

This past week, I have been saddened by the execution of Osama Bin Laden and the celebration of his death. The jubilation points out how lost we are as a people. To laugh and joke about and celebrate the death of even an enemy shows how far we have journeyed away from the insights of this story. It shows how many of us have been seduced by the idea that killing our enemies will bring us any closer to true peace. It shows how far we have moved away from the ability to embrace the humanity in the stranger and the enemy. The Powers that Be will always supply us with another boogeyman to hate and fear and they will always supply us with violent and dominating solutions to our fears. They will always provide externalized demons to scare us into submission to externalized saviors.

Before we can truly see the Christ we must experience the death of all the cheap and easy solutions to the problems besetting the world. There is no politican, there is no technology, no political party, no army or investment strategy that will save us. There is no external savior for us. But there is salvation. It is not found in the death of an enemy but in our transformation away from fear and hate.

There is an awakening possible. There is a hope that shines out bright even in these dark times. There is an aha moment awaiting us. Christ is here. Christ is us. Christ is out there. Christ is them. There is one human family and everyone is a part of it. There is one home for humanity and this planet is it. There is one path of salvation for us and the planet and Christ shows us the way: faith. Not in a doctrine or a religion but in a path: love expressed in a radical commitment to the other, love expressed in a radical commitment to non-violence, love expressed in a radical commitment to social justice, love expressed in a radical reversal of priorities and a radical undoing of the power of domination.

We need not be gloomy. Christ isn’t dead. Hope isn’t dead. Christ has risen. Hope is alive. And that is good news.

Amen.

Nickelsville Pancakes Saturday Morning

2011-05-06T18:56:00.001-07:00

Keystone United Church of Christ
It is pancake time again at Keystone. The Nickelsville Community is having another pancake fundraiser Saturday May 7 from 8am to 11am. All donations greatly appreciated. Good food, good company for a good cause

Sermon Easter Sunday

2011-04-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

Easter Year A 042411
Matthew 28:1-10
Resurrection
By Rich Gamble

This is the biggest day in the Christian year. This is the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus as told in today’s Gospel reading. Easter Week is the most fearful and hopeful week of the Christian Calendar. It is the time in which we face the heart of the gospel message in all its capacity to shatter our complacency.

For some this day is the Christian version of the ancient rites of Spring. The name Easter is believed to derive from a goddess of fertility. Ancient cultures often celebrated the renewal of life. Bunnies and eggs are fertility symbols after all, and everywhere you go today you are sure to see bunnies and eggs. For some then this time is about the ancient rhythms of the seasons and the ancient rhythms of birth and death and rebirth.

For some this is the day to celebrate the victory of Jesus over sin and death. For them believing that Jesus literally rose from the dead is central to obtaining the grace that will save their souls from eternal damnation. For them you have to believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus to consider yourself Christian. Many believe this, both those who do believe in the literal resurrection and those who believe that they cannot be Christian because they cannot believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus.

But there are other ways to understand the Easter story. One way is to say that this story is a parable. To say that it is a parable doesn’t deny the claims of those who need to see the event literally. It simply says to them: ok if you want to believe that, that’s fine but what does the story mean? And to those who don’t believe in the literal resurrection of Jesus you can still say ok fine but what does this story mean to you? You don’t have to believe in the literal historicity of a parable to get at its meaning. We don’t need to know whether the good Samaritan actually existed to make the story a source of truth and meaning.

So what does the story of the resurrection mean? Well it means very little if you don’t know the whole story, because this isn’t the story of the resurrection of Joe Shmoe. It isn’t the story of the new flowers springing out of the ashes, it isn’t the story of endless cycles of procreation. This is the story of the life and death and resurrection of one particular person: Jesus son of Mary of Nazareth.

Jesus who showed that sharing the love of God was about standing up for the outcasts by standing against those who profited from an unjust system.

Jesus came to Jerusalem to stand unarmed and unsupported in radical opposition to the combined power of the Roman Empire and his own religious leaders. But more than that he stood against the foundation of their power: fear, greed, violence, and prejudice. In doing so he challenged the fundamental assumptions upon which human civilization is built. It would be like someone running for office and standing against the values of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party and the American people.

In standing up for the love of God for those at the bottom of the social, political and economic order, Jesus earned the wrath of the people who had the power of death on their side.

Jesus did not use the power of death, it was not in him to do so. He used God’s non-violent power of life. Jesus knew that would happen when he went to center of power with his denunciations of that power. His death was as inevitable as any who openly stand in unarmed opposition to brutal tyrants. He didn’t need any mystical powers to foresee and try to prepare his followers for the inevitable. But knowing that arrest, humiliation and death awaited him didn’t deter him. He marched into Jerusalem and boldly spoke up and acted up and kept pushing his truth forward until he could push no farther.

Nailed to a cross, the slow, humiliating painful death suffered by those who questioned the authority of Rome, his journey ended. He died as he lived, embracing outcasts, forgiving enemies. It was an old story in Jesus day: the inevitable victory of violence.

Jesus’ death on a cross wasn’t a unique occurrence. The tragedy is found in its commonality with the experience of so much of humanity. Keep your head down and endure the abuse or stand in opposition and get much worse. And even those of us who are narcotized by the lies of our leaders to believe that those who suffer deserve their fate, even when seek to hide inside the canned laughter of sitcoms, or the acquisition of more unnecessary possession, or drugs, or in the endless preparation of our children to more successfully compete, even then, we know somewhere in the back of our minds that the suffering of others grinds away at our souls.

On Friday last, Good Friday, we paused for just a little while to let the suffering in. In facing the death of Jesus we face the fearful sadness and loss that sits at the heart of our civilization. Vulnerable people are exploited and those who speak up are shouted down or beaten down and the suffering goes on. The myth of the Powers that Be is that nothing changes, abandonment of the vulnerable and escape is the only alternative.

So Jesus died. And if the story ended there, then we would say oh well, another good guy bites the dust, another opponent of empire crucified. In Jesus’ day thousands shared the fate of the cross. But the story does not end there. The women, the ones who did not abandon Jesus when times got tough, went to the tomb to prepare the body. But there was no body, an absence instead of a corpse. There is instead a mysterious man in white who tells them that Jesus has been raised from the dead.

Well at least that is how Mark’s Gospel tells the story. Matthew reads Mark’s gospel and thinks that he can do it one better. Like remakes of favorite movies the new director has his own spin on the story and Matthew has a much bigger special effects budget than Mark. Matthew has an angel descending from heaven, he has lightning and earthquakes and guards who are struck dumb. And he has a resurrected Jesus. Mark just had an empty tomb and the story of Jesus’ resurrection shared by the mysterious man in white.

But whether you like the big effects of Matthew or the subtlety of Mark the story is the same. The tomb was empty, the body gone, the story has a new and wholly unexpected ending. It is fitting that Easter week is seen in connection to the Passover story. In that story the oppressed slaves flee their masters and find themselves with the army rushing upon them and the sea an impenetrable barrier in front of them. Their slaughter is the inevitable end as are all such attempts to thwart the will of those with the power to hurt and destroy. But then the sea parts and a way is found where there was no way.

On Easter morning we celebrate that the tomb was not the end of the story of Jesus. Death is not the end of the story. A way is found where there was no way. The empty tomb was the beginning of the story of those followers who came to finally understand and emulate Jesus.

It is increasingly obvious that we have missed the essential meaning of this day. I say that because most of the people in this nation think of themselves as Christian and yet, we are mired in a culture of consumption and violence that is harming people in other nations, the planet, the poor and future generations. We have the largest disparity between rich and poor of any of the developed nations, we spend more on militarism than most of the rest of the world combined, we consume far more than our share of the world’s energy and natural resources. We have the largest prison population of any nation in the world. If the United States is an example of what Christianity is all about then Christianity is toxic to the health of this planet and its people.

There is another way of seeing this day and our faith. As Good Friday is our expression of our belief that God grieves and suffers with us. So Easter is our expression that our suffering need not be in vain. When we rise up against the voice of hopelessness that says that nothing we do will change anything; when we rise against the lies of those who laugh at our poverty or ignorance or powerlessness, when we fling our teaspoon of charity toward a desert of despair, our lives, our efforts, our dreams are not in vain.

The meaning of this story is not about what Jesus did for us so we can merrily exploit the planet and other people and still get to heaven. It is not about ancient celebrations of the seasons or earth’s fecundity. It is about a choice: to stand for life and against death or not; to stand with the exploited and against the exploiters or not. And the not can mean actively participating in violent systems or passively participating by standing by and saying nothing.

The meaning of Easter is that there is no meaning if there is no resurrected body and by that I mean us. If this story does not lead us to die to the hold of greed and violence over our lives, then Christ is not raised in us. If this story does not lead us to stand against the sins of poverty and oppression then Christ is not raised in us.

Life is stronger than death. Love is stronger than hate or fear or violence or greed. This is the joyous and scary message of Easter morning. Scary because if we are truly Easter people then we are called to stand up, speak up and act up in defense of the vulnerable. We are called to be that unexpected voice of hope. We are called to boldly march into problems that are too big for us with the clarity of knowing that the most important thing we have to offer is our willingness to offer what we have.

We are called to embrace the belief that a small aging church of struggling believers can change the world and then act accordingly.

Easter calls us to discard our dreams of escape and boldly stride into tombs of poverty, racism, homophobia, sexual abuse, and war with the utterly unrealistic belief that new life… resurrection is possible. The realism of accommodating ourselves to a world of cruelty and injustice dies for us when we can see the life beyond death in the love beyond life.

The meaning of that first Easter morning didn’t immediately sink in for the disciples. It usually doesn’t hit us all at once. It nudges us to empathize and not judge, to act and not look away, to take a step that leads inevitably to another.

Easter isn’t the end of the story any more than crossing the sea was the end of the story for those escaped slaves. Easter, if we dare to believe that resurrection is possible for humanity and the planet, is just the beginning of the story. To believe in the possibility of resurrection is to embrace being the bearer of the self-giving love that is the power of resurrection.

The stone is rolled away. The sea is parted before us. An impossible hope awaits.

Happy Easter!

Good Friday

2011-04-22T16:30:00.001-07:00

The Good Friday Service is at 7pm tonight.

Sermon Palm Sunday

2011-04-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

Palm Sunday Year A
Matthew 21:1-11
Hosanna
By Rich Gamble

The scene is Jerusalem before Passover. Now Passover is one of the most important celebrations of the year. It is a time when the Jewish faithful did their best to go to Jerusalem to celebrate. The population of that town swelled to many times its normal size. Imagine living in small villages or in small communities of outsiders in large gentile cities. In these small communities it is easy to feel powerless to respond to those who lord it over you. But in Jerusalem during Passover, you are part of giant crowd of like minded people. There you are in the majority. In such a settting it would be easy to feel the power of the crowd. Passover is also the celebration of God’s deliverance of the Jewish people from the hand of oppression.

In Jesus’ day the Jewish people are once again feeling the hand of oppression. It is Roman oppression this time. So in the central city of Judaism, with the town packed with the Jewish faithful, comes the celebration of God’s liberation from oppression. It is a revolutionary’s dream situation, a crowded tinder box awaiting a spark.

And then Jesus comes to town. Now Jesus has prepared the scene. He has staged is a piece of political theater. Jesus comes riding into town on the back of donkey. This brings to mind the prophet Zechariah who proclaimed that the King would come to town in just such a manner. And that is how people imagined their Messiah. He was to be a king, like David only better. At about the same time, on the other side of town Pilot is riding into Jerusalem at the head of a column of Roman troops to keep order in Jerusalem during Passover. So Jesus’ entry is seen in direct comparison to the Roman one.

Jesus’ followers have done a good job of getting the word out. When Jesus comes riding over the Mount of Olives the people turn out in droves to wave Palm branches and to shout hosanna. Palm branches were a sign of Jewish identity, Jewish nationalism, Jewish independence from oppressive powers. Hosanna was an exclamation of entreaty meaning: save us. In this case undoubtedly the people were thinking of salvation from Rome.

Jesus as coming king, entering the city of David on the eve of the celebration of liberation from oppression, with people waving symbols of Jewish independence and crying out to their would be king an entreaty to save them from the oppression of Rome. Now that is good political theater.

It must have been a good time for those who threw down their cloaks before the donkey, (or donkeys if you take Matthew’s literalism to heart). Those who cried their hosannas and brandished their palm branches were thumbing their noses at Caesar and Rome. And there, they could get away with this act of contempt for Rome because it was filled with symbols that the Romans would not have understood.

Parades do have power. Protest marches, symbolic actions do have power; especially when it is an oppressed people marching in opposition to their oppressors. Why did Martin Luther King help organize those marches? And why did the white establishment use police clubs, attack dogs, fire hoses and rock throwing thugs to try and stop the marchers? It’s because a people claiming their power to march against their oppressors are going to be emboldened to cease cooperating with the system that oppresses them.

And so Jesus helps the people confront the power of Rome, nonviolently. He helps them celebrate their own identity independent from the one cast for them by imperial propaganda. He helps them see how much power they have to assert an alternative to the Roman idea of how things should be.

But of course they don’t really get it. Zechariah’s vision is that of the victory of God’s people over the forces of violence. Zechariah calls for the breaking of the weapons of war. But the people who turn out to mock Rome through Jesus’ coming to town don’t really see the depth of the revolution to which Jesus is calling them. In the end, when the choice is between the violent insurgent, Barabbas and the nonviolent revolutionary Jesus, they pick Barabbas.

Even those who believe in God, even those who are the oppressed, even those who celebrate Jesus can and do usually get it wrong. We don’t understand the depth of transformation required to achieve real and lasting peace.

Jesus was after something more. His sights were set not just on ridding Judea from Roman domination but ridding the world of the desire to dominate. He was about creating a revolution against domination itself. And to do that, his people, the ones who celebrated God’s siding with the oppressed; his people, the ones who had a long history of being under the heel of some empire; his people, the current victims of the latest global empire: his people, had to do more than dump the Romans, they had to change their own values, beliefs, and practices.

They were being called, as we are called to give up the concept of my (family, nation, possessions) and embrace God’s claim to all things, and God’s rule over all of our lives. We are called to look past the mindless acceptance of the way things are and the simple solutions of hate and greed offered to us by those who want to use us for their cause. We are called to sacrifice our expectations of cozy luxury so as to respond to a world of need. We are called to measure our lives not by what we have accumulated but by what we have shared. We are called to see past the blinders that let us go on day after day in the same old way while the earth withers in our pollution, and the poor grow in ever greater numbers and desperation. We are called to see that it is not enough to sing hosannas from the sidelines. It is not enough to wring our hands. It is not enough to vote for the latest incarnation of Barabbas.

Not in the victory parade or in the embrace of the adoring crowds, but alone on the cross, stripped of every possession, even his life, Jesus becomes the ultimate protest against the Powers that Be, Jesus becomes the challenge that strips away our smug self-certainty, Jesus becomes the boundless saving love of God, Jesus becomes our messiah.

That is the wonderful point of this day. The people on that day came out to mock the Romans by celebrating Jesus as their rightful king. Later in the week, when he failed to be their idea of a king they turned on him. Not imperious, lacking an army, forgiving his enemies, calling on the rich to give up their wealth for the sake of the poor. No wonder they picked Barabbas, we would never elect such a guy president.

Jesus is God’s idea of a leader. That is the challenge of our faith. Not to force God’s ideas through sieve of our notions of the way things should be but to change our ideas to align with God’s.

So often we get our ideas of things from the world around us and then we expect our faith to align with our ideas. We say that the church is a family and we think we know what family means because of our upbringing. Family is a group of people who are more special to us than other people. They are more dear to us. And so we say, if church is family then the folks who are in the church are more dear to us than those who are not in the church. And we use that same tool of thinking of one group as more dear to understand community nation and faith.

But God calls us to see family in a new way. Family as defined by God is everyone especially the stranger, especially the enemy. To enter into the mystery of our faith is to walk through the looking glass of our expectations and enter a new world, where we are redefined by God not as consumers or voters or workers but as beloved. In that reality the world is not something to fear, or conquer or exploit but a place to cherish, and our time is not something to measure our success or failure but an ongoing opportunity to embody the transforming love of God.

Hosanna Christ. Save us. May your path be ours, and ours together be the path of salvation for the world.

Amen.

A New Possibility

2011-04-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

We have had a good run with our Associate Pastor position. Brandon was able to bring us a web site, new logo, a sign, some good preaching and some laughs. We celebrated his ordination in a superb ceremony that both Keystone and the Taiwanese Church could share in. Sophie taught a class, helped the building and communications committees and was also a wonderful alternative voice in the pulpit. We have been blessed to have the opportunity to work with good people they have been blessed by the generosity of folks at Keystone in their support and praise.

With Sophie leaving in March, I asked Peg to temporarily increase her hours at Keystone for the next few weeks. She has more time now that her internship is over at Broadview. Soon she will be graduating seminary and this poses a real opportunity for us. I would like you to consider offering Peg a half-time position as Associate Pastor at Keystone. Were we to call her, we could continue to enjoy her leadership and add to the work she could do with us. Were we to offer her a position as Associate Pastor we could also celebrate her ordination here at Keystone and that seems right.

As you know, for years we got by with only me working half-time but since we have started hiring associate pastors, I have had more time to work on issues of justice within the regional UCC, with the Washington Association of Churches and in expanding circles.

We can go over the numbers at the annual meeting but I believe that we can support a half-time associate pastor with our current income. It will be close but with God’s help, doable.

So think about it. Feel free to ask me any questions and let’s plan on talking more about calling Peg as an Associate Pastor at Keystone.

Rich

Sermon: Foolish Faith

2011-03-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

I was asked to post this sermon:

Epiphany 7 Year A
Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18, 1 Corinthians 3:18-23, Matthew 5:38-48
Foolish Faith or Foolish World
By Rich Gamble

Using the lectionary is sometimes a challenge for me; it can be hard to find something to preach on in the texts given for that particular Sunday. Then sometimes, like this Sunday, the texts are so full of important insights that there is way more than one sermon’s worth of material. In fact there are at least 4 sermons worth of material here.

But all of this material centers on the idea that we are called to a particular set of behaviors by virtue of our peculiar belief in the God of Moses and Jesus and Paul. In Leviticus the people are called to be Holy. We think that Holy people should glow with divine radiance and spout deep wisdom but in this passage Moses says that holy people leave part of their crops to be picked and used by the poor. Holy people don’t cheat or steal or lie. Holy people don’t take advantage of others. Holy people refrain from hating. Holy people love their neighbors as they love themselves. To be holy then is not something for sages and mystics but something everyone can do. We do it, Moses says, because of the nature of the God we choose to follow.

In other words, to choose to follow this God, to choose this particular path of faith, leads directly to certain values, and those values lead to particular behaviors which have direct implications on how we live our lives, how we use our resources, how we structure our communities.

These implications make little or no sense in the logic of the world that does not believe in this God. Let’s take that command to leave behind crops in the fields for those who are poor. In the logic of the “World” as Jesus and Paul use the word, or the domination system as we often use here, it makes no sense to leave behind your crops, grown on your land, through your effort for someone else to harvest. If you can make a lot more profit by cheating your workers, say by cutting out their benefits, or sending their jobs to more exploited people who will work for less, then it is logical to do so. Indeed the logic of our current systems almost compels employers to squeeze ever possible concession out of their workers. That way you make more profits and have more money and more power and resources. But Moses here says that you are to treat the other guy with the same concern as you give to yourself. Our whole economic system is based on placing our self interest ahead of our neighbors.

Matthew’s Jesus here moves the conversation to violence which like greed is foundational to the World.

In the first part of this statement Jesus teaches his followers how to use non-violence to oppose violent systems and people. Yes don’t be confused by that line “Do not resist an evildoer.” That word translated resist is better translated: violently oppose. Jesus is not telling his followers to be passive in the face of oppression, he is showing them how to actively oppose violent folks like the Roman soldiers who marched down their streets, or those greedy people who took advantage of them economically. The way you oppose these people is to help them to recognize you as an equal. Turn the other cheek is Jesus way of showing people how to stand up to those who tried to put people “in their place.” It was permissible for a person to strike an underling with the back of their hand. That was how a small amount of violence to show people who was boss. The person struck was supposed to shrink off and submit to their betters. But Jesus tells his followers to stand their ground and turn their cheek.

Now in that world at that time you didn’t use your left hand to strike people, the left hand was not even used to gesture. So you used your right. Ok lets get a couple of volunteers up here. Lets say you are a master and this person is your inferior. Using your right hand how can you strike them on their right cheek? That is what Jesus says, if someone strikes you on your right cheek. It is a backhand blow right? Not a blow meant to cause great injury but one meant to humiliate and demean. Ok so now turn your other cheek. What options does the violent person have? They can give up or then can punch you using their fist but to strike someone in that time that way was to treat them as an equal. Jesus isn’t teaching us to be passive but to actively oppose violence with non violent tactics.

The same is true for that thing about the law suit: “and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well.” One way that a person could try to force someone to pay a debt was to sue them for their outer garment. But debts were and are a tool by the powerful to exploit the vulnerable. What do you do? Well Jesus advises people to give up their underwear as well. This paints a laughable picture of a guy handing over his underwear. Nakedness in that society brought shame on the ones who looked so this idea would create havoc in the court and shame the proceedings.

Roman soldiers had the “right” under Roman law to make someone carry their pack, which, given their armor was often quite heavy. But they could only legally make someone carry it for one mile. Jesus here says take the pack a second mile. Imagine a soldier running after a peasant to try to retrieve his pack before his superior realizes that he has broken the law by having the peasant carry the pack more than a mile.

In all these forms of resistance there is no violence. In all these forms of resistance the person resisting pays a price, a punch received, losing their underwear, carrying a heavy pack farther than necessary. But in all these forms of resistance the peasant teaches the dominator to see them as an equal.

The logic of the world says that when it comes to conflict there is either fight or flight, violent opposition or surrender to evil but Jesus offers us a third way of resisting the evils of oppression by non-violent opposition.

And to top it all off Jesus calls on his followers to love their enemies. Love their enemies. This command, along with the command to give our wealth to the poor are the most direct challenges to logic of the World. How could we love our enemies? Imagine a world where we took this command seriously. We would have no military. We would have no armed security forces. We would not seek to strike back, as was the response to 911. We would not be spending trillions on weapons systems and soldiers.

To take this command seriously would be to set ourselves up for the derision of those around us. Most Christians do not see this as an idea to take seriously.

But Jesus did. And Jesus called on his followers… calls on us… to live this.

It doesn’t make any sense in the world in which we live. It seems foolish. But it was just as foolish in Jesus’ day.

Paul tells the Corinthian church: “Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.”

Our faith leads us to proclaim a counter intuitive, ridiculous reality called the realm of God. To do so we need to understand the principles and tactics of non-violence, we need to understand the hold that fear has on us and the ways in which this fear leads us to the path of greed and violence. We need to understand how our brains work and how the messages of domination get so ingrained in us that it becomes “common sense.” We need to figure out how to embody this radical, ridiculous, world changing way of seeing and experiencing reality so that others may see it and choose it and live it.

Why? Because God is God. And if this God is God then it is the World that is foolish. It is the economics and politics of self interest that is unrealistic.

Look at the world: starvation, global warming, pollution, sickness, violence, hate, fear. These things are not aberrations of our systems of domination based thought and practice, they are the logical outcomes of policies based on the utilization of greed and fear as motivators. The logic of the world is ruinous for humanity and the planet.

We are possessors of the alternative reality that can save the world. But it only works if we believe it enough to live it. It only works if we believe it enough to speak up, stand up, act up in the name of the ultimate reality (God) of love. Love in the form of justice for the poor and oppressed, love in the name of non-violence, love in the name of peace.

It isn’t that the dream of the God of Moses and Jesus has been tried and has failed. The dream has largely been co-opted to serve the logic of the gods of fear and greed.

Like Jesus we are called to choose this path for ourselves, to challenge our fellow believers to abandon the co-opted version of the faith and embrace the foolishness of God’s alternative logic.

We are not called to run away to a “spiritual” interpretation of these commands. We are not called to subordinate our truth to the logic of fear. We are called to stand up to those who would turn our God into a tool for greed or fear or domination. We are called to stand up to those who would turn God’s creation into a source of wealth for some and deprivation for others. We are called to be creative, non-violent resisters to all that is not love. This is the hope the world needs. This is living presence of God’s love. This is good news.

Yay Peg

2011-03-11T08:30:00.000-08:00

It is time to celebrate. Yesterday Peg Faulmann passed her final ordination interview. This means that she has been approved for ordination by the duly authorized representatives of the United Church of Christ. This was a big event in Peg and Erv’s lives and a big event for Keystone.

Giving away our money

2011-03-05T15:45:00.000-08:00

Recently several folks have asked me about giving away money. We see people almost every day asking for money. They call us on the phone. They knock on our doors. Often they are people with signs standing beside the road. Sometimes it is closer to home. Should we give money to someone simply because they ask us to?

From the perspective of our faith tradition, the resources we have are not ours but God’s. I find that a helpful way of thinking about it. The question then is: what is the best way to use the portion of God’s wealth that is in our hands?

Knowing that God has priority concern for those who are most vulnerable, we are called to examine where we can live simply so that we have more to share with those who are in need. But also when we are giving money it is part of our calling to use the money where it will do the most good. Giving money to a friend might make us feel better than giving it to a more desperate stranger but it isn’t about our feelings, it’s about God’s priorities. Giving money to a person who says “thank you” may feel better than sending it off to an agency or a stranger we will never see but giving to the agency or stranger may be the most faithful use of our funds. Just because someone calls us on the phone or knocks at our door doesn’t mean that their need is the highest priority. And sometimes giving money to someone isn’t going to help them do anything more than continue their self-destructive behavior.

Jesus counsels his followers to give to anyone who asks but I don’t believe Jesus meant this to be interpreted as inflexible law but rather as reflective of a particular principle. I interpret this saying to mean that we are called to give freely and generously to people in need. It is the need that is the reason to give not the act of someone asking.

For example, I have known several guys who panhandled to get money. It was nice that they had money to spend on the things that thought they needed but I knew those guys because they came into the homeless shelter where I worked. The shelter provided them with food and shelter, community and counseling. From my perspective, giving money to keep the shelter open was more important than giving money to the guy with the sign. And since shelter is not a solution to homelessness but simply an emergency response to a dire need, resources spent on shelter should also be matched with resources given to overcome the inability of our nation to provide a sufficient quantity of affordable housing.

Having said all of that, if we make a mistake or get taken advantage of, we should extend to ourselves the forgiveness of God’s grace.

Here are my guidelines for giving:
• It is better to give haphazardly than not at all.
• It is better to give strategically than to give impulsively.
• It is better to give with God’s priority for those most in need over our priority of those who are closest to us.
• It is better to give with an eye to addressing both the immediate need and the injustice that is often the cause of the need.
• It is usually better to talk with people who are familiar with the broader picture before you give.

Please feel free to use me as a resource if you have questions.

Rich

March Reminder Newsletter

2011-03-03T11:43:00.001-08:00

Reminder Newsletter
March, 2011
Keystone United Church of Christ

From Sophie

It is hard to believe, after all the winter weather we’ve been having, that March is in fact here and spring is around the corner. Along with March comes the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, and later, the spring Equinox. It is naturally a period of transition and change. As my time here comes to a close, officially at the end of March, I am aware that it is an auspicious time to reflect on the past and begin something new.
First, I have felt honored and blessed to be part of the forward-moving energy of this congregation. I noted in the January Reminder the numerous ways I see this congregation continuing to embrace the future, not only for this community and the physical Church, but for our state, country, species and planet. It is inspiring to see a congregation able to work for justice in the world while also tending to the needs of their neighbors, and conversely able to tend to the needs of their neighbors without losing the vision of a just and peaceful world. If anything, we need to hide our light under our bushel basket less. Together with the Communications Committee I have helped set in motion a plan to increase our visibility in our neighborhood through improved signage (both permanent and weekly) and PR efforts in the community such as posting more flyers and even door-to-door promotion! Part of this work also includes creating our first photo directory, to make us more recognizable to one another and to newcomers, now in its final stages of production. The Communications Committee will also be collaborating with the Building Committee on improving the appearance and of the church building exterior when the time comes to update our paint job
Other projects I have been working on have included, briefly, spending some time myself and with our bookkeeper organizing Church files and getting to know the many faces and decades of Keystone’s history. I hope that this organizational work will make accessing Church files and documents a little easier for everyone in the present and future. Perhaps more importantly though, several of your names have “popped up” on the archival documents; it might be fun to continue one of your traditions of sharing each other’s stories, either in this monthly newsletter or in congregational gatherings. Many here probably have not heard much about the history of the church from those who have been here a long time and would enjoy hearing what you have to say!
I also enjoyed getting to know some of you better during the series I offered in Battson Hall earlier this winter. For those who were hoping to get a taste of what I was offering but were unable to come I will leave a copy of the handouts that I used in the Church office in a place where they should be easily accessible should you ever want them. If you want me to email them to you, I can put you on a list of recipients for when I have finished “touching them up.”
Lastly, thank you all again for being such a generous, flexible and forgiving congregation while I have tried out my legs co-leading and solo-leading Sunday worship. I have always felt that each Sunday gathering was a time of genuine, authentic sharing that made very real the presence of God in our lives and world. May each of you continue to be blessed, and share your light with the rest of Creation.
For the remainder of my time here I have offered to help the Building Committee check off some of their list items in terms of preliminary research, budget figures and project scenarios. This will exercise some of my project management muscles as well as (hopefully) leave behind something concrete that will help this committee move forward into the future. If any of you have anything else you would like from me in my final weeks here, I hope you will let me know!
My next steps career-wise are to work on my ordination process, something Peg has been working on this year as well, and further discernment about my call. I hope to stay in touch with you all!
Blessings,
Sophie

Ash Wednesday Lenten Prayer
Mark you calendars for March 9!
The Lenten season is a time for somber reflection on Jesus' wandering in the wilderness and the ways in which we ourselves wander. Lent is an opportunity for us to re-examine our thoughts and actions and the ways in which they bring us nearer to or separate us from unity with God and the rest of creation.
Earth Ministry and Washington Interfaith Power and Light invite us as people of faith to make our Lenten focus a time in which we can reduce our carbon emissions.
March 9th is Ash Wednesday, the 1st day of the Lenten Season – a perfect time for us to gather as a community to pray, to recall that we are people born of the Earth, and to learn a bit more about how we can further reduce our carbon on a personal level and through our government, using the resources that Earth Ministry and Washington Interfaith Power and Light provide.
So come on March 9th to our sanctuary. At 7:00 PM. We will discuss and provide materials for our Lenten focus. At 7:30, we will have an Ash Wednesday prayer service.

See the Upcoming Schedule for Friday Night Meaningful Movies: http://meaningfulmovies.org/

Scripture readings
6 March Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 99; Mt 17:1-9
13 March Gen 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Matt 4:1-11
20 March Gen 12:1-4a; John 3:1-17
27 March Ex 17:1-7; John 4:5-42

Reader/usher schedule
3/6 Steve Bauck/Rita Peterson
3/13 Betty Sabo/Marilyn Wall
3/20 Erv Faulmann/Gloria Bollens
3/27 Nell Townley/Betty Sabo

Keystone Anniversary!
Keystone Congregational Church was incorporated on March 23rd, 1901. Keystone Church turns 110th this month!

13 February, 2011: "Choosing Life"

2011-02-13T12:42:00.000-08:00

Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Matthew 5:21-37

Choosing Life

It is hard sometimes to take the words of the prophets to heart because they ask so much of us. We wonder at times whether the clear instructions for choosing life that we have been given were perhaps sent to the wrong address, and do we possibly have way out?

At the end of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Sam Gamgee is standing on the shores of Middle Earth unexpectedly saying farewell to not only the beloved wizard Gandalf, but to his life-long friend Frodo as well. These companions have done their work, supposedly the enemy has been vanquished, and they are departing for the world that awaits them. Sam and the other inhabitants of Middle Earth are on their own now, they need to sort out whatever they need to sort out without the help, the love, the guidance of these friends who have been walking with them. I wonder how Frodo and Gandalf felt as they stepped off the dock onto the boat that would carry them away. Did they wonder if Middle Earth would survive? Did they wonder if they had imparted enough wisdom for those they were leaving behind?

If you’ll excuse the analogy, the Book of Deuteronomy is perhaps the Biblical version of this scene. Moses must say good bye to the band of Israelites who have traveled with him for the equivalent of nearly three generations. Through the Exodus from Egypt, through forty years in the desert, and finally to this place above the River Jordon – overlooking the land that God has promised to them - he has shepherded them, spoken God’s words to them, held them together. But he cannot go further with them. This is his last chance to instill in them for now and all future generations all that he knows, and all that they need to know to maintain their identity, their faith, their fate as a nation and people of God. This is the last time he can communicate to them the story of both their past and their future. And in the particular passage we hear today, Moses tells his people that their literal survival in the future depends on them keeping the commandments. If they choose to follow the commandments it will mean choosing life over death.

We hear in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount echoes of these commandments, as well as an exhortation to go beyond their literal words to the spirit in which they were written. Jesus is setting before his listeners a new bar: a measure that says that the intent behind the commandments is now what is most important. Therefore, we hear that it is not enough to prohibit murder, but we must adhere to the life-giving spirit of justice and mercy beneath this commandment: that we should only do that which is love. It is not enough to say we should not commit adultery but we must not indulge in it in our hearts. It is not enough to say we cannot swear falsely, but we must now be careful what words we do use when we are sincere.

I imagine that it got quite hot for the hearers of Jesus’ sermon that day. No doubt many of them wondered if they were on the road to perdition given the number of quarrels they had at home. They were probably astounded to hear that their understanding of adultery and divorce were turned upside-down and opened many of them up to judgment. Many of them were probably questioning now even the words they spoke when they felt strongly – were they convicting them? Could they even imagine watching their speech so closely?

I’m guessing that some of them, before Jesus had gotten much past the second “You have heard that it was said…But I say unto you” would have suddenly remembered the nets that needed mending at home or the bread they left out to rise. This kind of truth telling can scatter good-hearted people like a loud noise scatters a flock of pigeons. We are told there was still a crowd at the end of his sermon two chapters later, but they must have been made of strong stuff.

I wonder how such words, such re-making of the rules that we hold dear, might sound to us today?

You have heard that it was said…
That we must be environmentally “sustainable” by carefully choosing the food we eat and spending our resources wisely but I say unto you as long as we think of Creation as something “out there,” as a commodity either to be exploited or preserved, until we think of Creation as an ongoing miraculous unfolding and the very web of our existence, until we know Creation in our bones as sacred and beloved, then we will continue to destroy it and ourselves.

You have heard that it was said…
We are not to participate in racial discrimination, but I say unto you…as long as we continue to benefit from a system that unfairly punishes those who are not white, that is biased against those who are not educated as European Americans, until we dispel the very notion of race and dismantle the way we think of our privilege as white European Americans as one we have somehow earned, then we continue to say “yes” to racial injustice and oppression in our country today.

You have heard that it was said…
We shall not discriminate against women, but I say unto you if we as women continue to accept lower pay then men for the same work, if we wake up every morning and struggle to find our self worth and we discount our contribution to this world as inadequate and inferior, if we spend one more day comparing our physical appearance to an objectified, profit-oriented, dehumanizing ideal of feminine beauty, then we are continuing the legacy of pain and suffering that sexism brings to the world and for our sake and our sisters’ sake and our daughters’ sake we need to stop.

Do we feel the heat yet? Are we uncomfortable yet? Are we thinking of something at home that suddenly needs our urgent attention?

Jesus believed that to understand the life-giving spirit beneath the rules of the time: the spirit of mercy and justice and compassion, was so important that it was almost better for us to lose a physical part of ourselves that makes us sin than to have our whole selves condemned to hell. By using hyperbole he made this sound quite gruesome. I daresay Jesus would have been horrified if someone had actually come up to him with a bloody stump for their arm having just cut off their sinful right hand. He was exaggerating to make a point. He wanted to convey how important it was to acknowledge the parts of us that continue to place us on the path of good intentions pointing directly to hell.

Many of us are put off perhaps, by the seemingly overly pious admonition not to have adulterous thoughts. Few would argue today however that adultery does not start with the act itself, but with the thought, and that if we observe ourselves having the thought we might be called to act in such a way that we avoid that well-paved road to what could hurt ourselves and those we love.

We also might have forgotten that in Jesus’ time a man could divorce his wife over something as trivial as a burnt meal, particularly I am assuming if the husband had found someone else he might fancy as his wife. Because divorced women were vulnerable to a life of social and economic hardship, Jesus was striking a blow against a system that was fundamentally unjust toward women. His statement taken as a whole made it much harder for men to frivolously divorce their wives. It was a statement that spoke out for justice and mercy.

And today we might translate this justice and mercy to our institutions of marriage and divorce by treating marriage not as a means to secure financial and legal stability for some while denying it for others, not a way to further segregate our society into those who are in and those who are out. You have heard it said, “thou shalt not commit adultery” but I say unto you, we violate the bond between us and our fellow humans whenever we bestow privilege on some and not others, when we structure the rules around marriage such that the benefits are not available for the full spectrum of what it means to be human. As far as I know there are no laws on the books today against swearing falsely or insulting our brother or sister. That we have attempted to freeze this one part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount into law is to miss the point, the point of justice and mercy.

Likewise, when we look at Jesus’ objection to the innocent act of quarreling or holding a grudge, we are called to look to the deeper meaning beneath the commandment against murder. We are called to the deeper way in which to choose life over death. You have heard it said “thou shalt not murder…” because to murder is not only to take away the life of someone who is made in the image of God but to deny the inherent dignity and worth of that human being. When we quarrel, when we hold a grudge, when we belittle even in the most hasty and innocent of ways, we act in a way that denies the dignity and worth of that human being. Though far apart, these two very different acts, to quarrel and to murder, are both ones that cannot take place if we simultaneously believe that that person is a son or daughter of God. It is impossible.

And how might we translate this to our world today? Understandably we find it hard to hold the dignity and worth of every human being in our hearts. But if we see that it is possible in the most intolerable of circumstances, we might think twice before we deny it of our irritating neighbor, our in-law, our micro-managing boss. In a book that explores the nature of forgiveness a woman writes about her journey after her seven-year old daughter was abducted from a Montana campground and murdered. She talks about the night, one year after the abduction, when she still does not know what happened to her daughter, that she talked to the murderer on the phone for the first time. He had called her in the middle of the night to taunt her. Because of her faith she had been working for an entire year on trying to see this person as someone who was also a son of God. She knew that her torment would not cease until she could find it in herself to see this person, this person she wanted to wring the neck of with her bare hands, the murderer of her daughter, first and foremost as a human being. Awakened from a sound sleep, her heart pounding with adrenaline, barely able to remember to turn on the tape recorder she remembered this: that he was a human being. His taunting ended abruptly. He broke down on the phone. They talked for an hour. He revealed enough in that conversation that the FBI was able to later find and arrest him. When the time of his sentencing came, this mother asked that his sentence be reduced from death to life in prison without parole. Only then did he confess to his crime, and that of three others. This mother wrote:

“The God [of Scripture] is a God of mercy and compassion, a God who seeks not to punish, destroy, or put us to death, but a God who works unceasingly to help and heal us, rehabilitate and reconcile us, restore us to the richness and fullness of life for which we have been created."

This, now, was the justice she sought for the one who had taken her little girl.

God has already reconciled with us. God is more interested in us reconciling ourselves with one another. We leave our gifts for God at the altar and address our grudges, our quarrels with one another first. This mother felt that she could only honor her daughter’s memory by becoming not what she deplored, “but by saying that all life is sacred and worthy of preservation.” She also knew that the only way she could get her own life back was to heal her rage and bitterness and to forgive. It is not an easy task, and never to be taken lightly. But if there is one message that we must hear if we are to survive as a species, it is this one. It is the most important calling we have as human beings on the planet.

God has given us instructions. We have heard them through Moses, through the prophets, and through one of the greatest teachers of all time, Jesus of Nazareth. Will we, can we, take these instructions into our hearts? Can we, as children of God, remember them? Can we choose life?

Amen.

Rich in Tucson

2011-02-06T20:27:00.001-08:00

Greetings from Tucson. I am talking with representatives from churches that have started or are thinking about starting a volunteer community of young adults at their church. It is a good group to be with and I am learning about how we might join in this brand new national effort. I look forward to talking with you more about this in the coming weeks.

It is nice to see the sun but I'd rather be surrounded by wet spruce than dry cactus.

Rich

Nickelsvilles Pancakes Breakfast Fundraiser

2011-02-04T13:14:00.000-08:00

Nickelsvilles Pancakes Breakfast Fundraiser

The Nickelsville Pancake Breakfast fund raiser is this Saturday,

February 5th at Keystone Congregational Church, 5019 Keystone Place

North, that's 51st and Keystone in Wallingford. Come join us for

delicious pancakes and coffee from 8am to 11am. Any and all donations

will be appreciated. We look forward to seeing everybody on Saturday.

Christianity: Is It What You Thought?

2011-02-02T11:45:00.001-08:00

Don't Forget!! The next three Thursday evenings...Everything you ever wanted to know about what Christianity says about Wealth, Forgiveness, and Non-violence! Explore the myths and countermyths around Christianity's teaching on these important and timely topics.

Thursday evenings from 6:30 – 8:30pm
20 January – 17 February, 2011

This series will provide an opportunity to challenge what we think Christianity says about Creation (& Science), Wealth, Women, Forgiveness and War/Nonviolence in a series of five evenings. As a group we spend time identifying what some of historical understandings of Christianity are: the so-called “myths” that have become tools of oppression and exclusion over the centuries. Because so much of what we know about Christianity is based on the written tradition, we will look at how some of these myths originated in the Bible. We will then explore these passages in such a way as to invite a different vision, a “counter-myth,” that understands Christianity more as a faith based on radical inclusion and love.

Join us for engaging discussion, hands-on exercises, and myth-busting dialogue with the 2000 year old tradition of Christianity!

This series will be led and facilitated by Sophie Morse, Associate Pastor at Keystone United Church of Christ. 5019 Keystone Place N. Wallingford. We will be meeting in Battson Fellowship Hall (downstairs from the sanctuary).

Call 206.632.6021 or email keystone5019@yahoo.com for more information.

February "Reminder"

2011-02-02T11:42:00.000-08:00

Reminder Newsletter
February, 2011
Keystone United Church of Christ

From Rich

As I see it the work of the church is three fold:
1. To understand and claim our identity as people who see ultimate meaning (God) in terms of self-giving (agape) love.
2. To work to move this faith into our way of thinking, and way of understanding and experiencing reality.
3. To effectively promote this way of understanding ultimate meaning in the world around us.
We mirror this work each Sunday in our worship. In worship we claim our faith, use our heads and hearts to experience and grow in this faith, and then prepare ourselves to carry this faith out into the world.
The world’s foundation is largely based on an understanding of ultimate meaning based in authority. This is what I call the “Domination System.”
More and more I am coming to understand that what we are doing at Keystone is not only sensible but essential. Worship is important. By regularly orienting ourselves in a community and sharing a value system in opposition to domination, we strengthen our ability to oppose the tidal wave of messages in the world around us which come at us in support of domination ways of thinking.
It seems that the human brain creates thought pathways. The more an idea is thought the easier it will be to think that way in the future. The more powerful the pathway the more we think in those terms even on a subconscious level. By thinking about what it means that God is love and not domination we are making such thoughts easier. By acting on those thoughts we reinforce them.
The more time and energy we invest in thinking and acting out of a foundation of agape love, the easier such thoughts and actions will be in the future. And the more we strengthen the neural pathways of agape the weaker the hold of fear and greed have over our thoughts and action.
In other words, the more we do, the more we pray, the more we study our faith and the implications of our faith on every aspect of our lives and community the stronger we become in our capacity to love.
So we have weekly worship, regular classes, and many opportunities to participate in doing the work of compassion and justice. This makes us more rooted in the power of God’s love.
So much for one and two on that list, we are now at the point to start thinking strategically about how we extend God’s love into the world. Part of this will be this will call on us to think about what resources we have, and how best to use those resources. Our task in the world is much bigger than winning a particular piece of legislation. It is about strengthening the influence of the power of God’s love on the thinking of the people around us.
Agape love is experienced in the world by actions which we call education, charity, justice and symbolic expression. All of these are important and the more our witness to the world utilizes these forms the more powerful our witness to this alternative way of experiencing existence.
All of this may seem a bit technical and probably downright boring but I think it is important that as we talk about the direction of Keystone we talk about why we do what we do.

See the Upcoming Schedule for Friday Night Meaningful Movies: http://meaningfulmovies.org/

Scripture readings
6 February: Isa 58:1-9a; Matt 5:13-20
13 February: Deut 30:15-20; Matthew 5:21-37
20 February: Lev 19:1-2, 9-18; Matthew 5:38-48
27 February: Isa 49:8-16a; Matthew 6:24-34

Reader/usher schedule
2/6 Rich Voget/Gloria Bollens
2/13 Becky Hutton/Dorothy Richey
2/20 Kaaren Mills/Gus Wall
2/27 Jo Winston/Janet Stillman
3/6 Steve Bauck/Rita Peterson

23 January, 2011: "Quarrels Among Us"

2011-01-27T17:49:00.000-08:00

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

“Quarrels Among Us”
When Cindy Sheehan, the mother of Specialist Casey Sheehan who died in Iraq, “resigned” from her role as the face of the anti-war movement nearly four years ago, she did so with painful commentary on the state of the so-called peace movement. Citing infighting and jealous turf wars, she wrote:

I have … tried to work within a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life … It is hard to work for peace when the very movement that is named after it has so many divisions…One of the things that pushed me over the edge was that people on the left were calling me names. How many kicks in the teeth do you have to endure?

When we stand for peace, or for unity, or for one God, we often get caught up in rhetoric and ideology and forget what is most important. This plays out even in movements, as we hear from Ms. Sheehan, that profess to be for peace, and against war. It plays out on the national stage of a so-called “United” States, in rhetoric, vitriol, and escalating violence as we have seen so recently in Tucson. And it plays out within our own Christian church, with the extremes of so-called progressive Christianity and more fundamentalist denominations at times at each other’s proverbial throats. There are serious and painful quarrels among us.
Perhaps unbeknownst to many, this week is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. This week of the year was initiated by the World Council of Churches to promote ecumenical dialogue, as well as to embrace the diversity, not disunity, within the myriad of Christian denominations. And whether or not we agree on how important this work is, how much we think it matters to the world of the poor, exploited and war-torn, the truth remains that if we cannot practice the central message of our faith, which is love, with our Christian brothers and sisters, where can we practice it?
Many of us understand Paul, particularly in this first letter to the Corinthian church, as the author of moral diatribes against sexual immorality that seem far-fetched to our modern ears. We are often challenged to bring his words and the specific, ancient context of them into relevance today, even if we do learn that Corinth was the Las Vegas of the ancient world: “What happened in Corinth stayed in Corinth,” except apparently when Paul heard about it.
In these first few verses of this letter to the Corinthians, however, we learn that Paul is also addressing disunity in the church. He is addressing this first and foremost. Instead of following Christ, we learn that Paul’s church of missionized gentiles and Jews were becoming followers of persuasive men within the church, fracturing the unity of the church and distracting it from its true head: Jesus Christ. In his argument to the church of Corinth, Paul appeals to the members to set aside their love for human knowledge or “cleverness” for a kind of holy “foolishness:” the foolishness of the cross, the foolishness of faith. Men such as Apollos and Cephas whom he refers to were apparently guilty of siphoning off allegiance to Jesus, and the cross, for themselves. No doubt it seemed to them and many others in the church “foolish” and irrational for a man such as Jesus to die for their sins, as though an attorney would die for their defendant. Paul agrees that it does seem foolish indeed. Yet the message that this cross and the event that happened on it is to Paul nothing short of the “power of god.” Paul wanted those in the Corinthian church not to be persuaded by the rational voices of the time, but to believe in the awesome and mysterious grace that had been offered to them through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ: the gift of salvation. The ability, after all, for those who believed, who were baptized, to be cleansed of their sins through the event of the cross was the whole point, the most spectacular gift of Jesus’ life, the Good News! To see his former congregation beginning to fracture around the persuasion of human words and wisdom, the illusion of rationality, the distraction of rhetoric, when the greatest miracle of all time was there for them, there for their salvation, was too distressing for Paul to behold.
“Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
We in the “progressive” Christian church may find ourselves nonplussed by these persuasive words of Paul. Not only is this not perhaps the face of Christian disunity today as we experience it, but Paul’s atonement theology, that Jesus indeed died to save us from our sins, is one we have questioned for decades, and have largely replaced.
It is a theology of individual spirituality, not of communal spirituality, and not one that addresses the very political nature of Jesus’ crucifixion. We in the UCC in particular embrace an understanding of the cross that is very different, that reveals God’s power of love over the human power of domination and violence. Jesus loved humanity enough to surrender to the violence of domination precisely in order to reveal its very limitation, and to teach us a different way.
So, what do we do with Paul? Do we throw him away? Is it not more important to discard his theology of atonement, to focus on the problems of poverty and oppression than disunity in the Church? Is it not more important for religions to get along with one another than the warring factions within the Christian communion?
Whether or not Paul’s message was based on a different emphasis of the cross, and limited to the baptized, whether or not we consider Christian unity of paramount importance, we are still convicted by his words. We are still vulnerable to losing track of what it is that is most important while we profess to a religion of love. And we also may need to open ourselves up to the notion that our baptism calls us to participate in a daily dying to our sins of exclusion and division.
Our baptism may not mean we are automatically cleansed of our sins, as Paul would have professed, but it calls us on a regular basis to die to that which is not love. We may not believe that in baptism we participate in Jesus’ death and resurrection in the same way that Paul believed, but the “power of God” is still present for us in the message of the cross, it is not? The power of God to transform our hearts and our souls when we allow ourselves to be open, the power of God to replace violence with redeeming love, the power of God to allow us to, over and over again, to be born to a different reality than the one in which we live. This is the Good News. Paul said, “I came not to baptize but to preach the Good News” and to that we can say “Amen!” In other words, “I came not to cause division but to share the good news of communion, of resurrection, of redemption, of hope, of healing, of shared resources, of new life in a world that is filled with death and loss.”
What might this look like, for us, to be in this spirit of Paul?
Rev. Dee Eisenhauer of Eagle Harbor Congregational Church on Bainbridge Island honors this week of Prayer for Christian Unity every year by calling the pastoral leaders of all the other Christian churches on Bainbridge, including the Catholic Church, the Church of the Latter Day Saints, the Baptist, Lutheran, Episcopal and Presbyterian churches, to find out how they are doing. She offers for them to share what they would like Eagle Harbor church members to help celebrate in prayer, and what they would like help with praying for. She then shares this “report” during her Sunday sermon this week. It is a simple gesture, to overlook what divides us in the way of theology and political beliefs and find common ground in the joint practice of prayer. Does doing so bring the churches closer in belief? I don’t think so, nor do I think Dee thinks so. But does it bring us closer as sons and daughters of God, and as followers of Christ? I think so.
This is, in essence, the message of Paul. Are we willing to be Christians first, and the members of the United Church of Christ second? As humans first, and partisans a distant second?
That does not mean we don’t honor our differences. We are not, as the saying goes, “holding hands and singing Kumbaya” while ignoring deep divides. When Pastor Dee picks up the phone each year to reach out to the leaders of the LDS church on Bainbridge, neither party has any illusions about what divides them. But they and their respective congregations are brought closer around what is arguably more important: the wellbeing and dignity of the other, and faith in that which is greater than all of us.
But it does mean to stretch our necks out. We all have felt that Obama’s speeches that preach unity over division have been prophetic. That they come from the mouth piece of what we can only know is the establishment might make us cynical, but they strike a chord in us nonetheless. We can still take the words to heart. It feels risky, and yes, foolish, to stick our necks out to those we consider our enemies, to be vulnerable in a world that appears to be nothing but cruel.
And perhaps if we flex these muscles within our Christian communion, where it may seem the most unlikely to succeed, it may also work to flex these muscles in all areas of our life, both public and private. We can take these lessons of listening first to our mutual humanity to all areas where we face strife and division.
For sure, Paul’s understanding of the cross and who stands to benefit from its good news might be different from ours. But we would do well to remember that what seems wise and strategic to us will likely not bring us new life. The divisions that we fall prey to are exactly that which we must let die on the cross. It is the foolishness of a radical inclusive love that does not take sides, and that places our trust in the love of Jesus Christ to heal wounds we don’t know how to heal ourselves that will bring us new life. May we learn to give up these quarrels among us and in the spirit of foolishness, of radical love and transformation, allow ourselves to enter into a new life with Christ.

January Reminder Newsletter

2011-01-09T12:42:00.000-08:00

January, 2011
Keystone United Church of Christ

From Sophie…
When I arrived here at the end of September there were a lot of projects percolating within this church family. Some of this has been ongoing activity, and some of it hints at long-term change for the community. It feels like an exciting time for the church, and a time to both reflect on the past and build momentum for what will move us into the future. The following is a brief summary of some of what has been discussed and accomplished in recent months.
The Building Committee has been moving forward with efforts to revitalize our “physical plant.” A long-term need to make our building more energy efficient has spurred us to approach PSE for some insight and resources to help us do that. There is also a desire to make our building, including our sanctuary, more multi-purpose and accessible: to this end we are moving toward a planned renovation of the sanctuary floor, including leveling it and replacing some of the pews with chairs. This would allow larger groups to gather there than are possible elsewhere in the church, as well as make it more suitable a space for what the Keystone worship Community has become.
The health and appearance of the exterior has also been a concern: our front entrance and Narthex have a neglected appearance and have been somewhat closed in by surrounding vegetation. Nuts and bolts projects for addressing this concern have included the removal of a few trees that were impinging on the church roof and walls, and replacing the broken and dark Narthex glass with more transparent, tempered glass. The latter will improve our appearance and allow more light inside at the same time. A future step will be to renew the paint on that façade of the church and evaluate how to spruce up the exterior cross.
Another exciting dimension of making the church more accessible to the community is a renewed interest in equipping the stairs to the second floor with a wheelchair lift. This would increase the accessible space of our church by a huge percentage!
The Communications Committee has spent some time looking at a couple different dimensions of how the church presents itself to the rest of the surrounding community. We continue to energize our online presence through keeping up our blog and our Facebook page, and to prioritize our interaction as a community through email and a future printed photo directory. We have also looked at improving our physical visibility in the community through increased signage and creating and distributing affordable flyers strategically throughout the community. In the process of discussing these ideas we’ve also asked one another, “What is our ideal size of church community?” I suspect we would get as many answers as there are members now: some enjoy and value the size we are now and its comfortable family feel. Some wouldn’t mind a larger size membership that would help us feel more energized. Others feel that the sky should be the limit. All agree that we want to be welcoming community to all newcomers, without putting too much emphasis on numbers as a measure of the health of our community.
The Social Justice Committee continues to spearhead efforts that extend our mission for social justice into the community. Members poured effort into political initiatives during the last election; we were treated to information and food nuggets during a presentation on the connection between the food industry and global warming on 10.10.10, and outreach continues to local community shelters for the homeless. With the help of the Social Justice Committee we are continuing to build on our certification as a “Green Congregation” by recommitting to low impact foods for our shared meals, and pursuing related topics through the Book Study Group. The legacy of Keystone: the ability of our energy and commitment to social justice matters to defy our small numbers continues!

From Rich

On the third Sunday in Advent (December), I preached about our calling as people of faith. As part of that sermon I put out an idea. In case you were not there here is the quote from the sermon.

“I have been thinking about starting a new program at Keystone. This new program would train people (probably young people) for a life a faithful action. In this program we would call 5 or so people to work for a year as our missionaries. They would work in justice based organizations, organizations that cannot afford to have enough staff. They would live together in a house. They would live very simply. They would participate in classes that would teach them about a justice based Christianity and provide them with the tools of social change. And they would be required to participate in the life of this church.

We would make sure that they have a place to live, food to eat, access to healthcare, and a little spending money (very little). We would make sure that they had good organizations to work with and we would make sure that they had our support.

Given that there are so many young people out there who have graduated college and cannot find meaningful employment. Given the need to teach others about the importance of justice for people of faith and the importance of faith for people seeking a just world. Given that we have (I hope) the skills and resources to pull this off. I think now may be the time. But the cost to us for this may be over $60, 000 for one year. And the program may end after the first year. $60 thousand is a lot of money from our savings. It will not add one cushion to our hard pews, it will not add one layer of paint to the sad exterior of this building. It offers nothing but the possibility to do good work and train young people do such work in the future.

Think about it.”

This project would take money and time from our resources. The $60,000-$70,000 figure is an estimate of worst case costs. I don’t want to sugar coat it. It could cost us a lot. It also takes a great deal of faith to think that providing one year of training and experience for five people will make the world a better place.

It is something we can do. The question is whether it is something we are called to do.

See the Upcoming Schedule for Friday Night Meaningful Movies: http://meaningfulmovies.org/

Report from Committees:

1. Communication Committee: The December meeting of the communications was attended by half a dozen rousing Keystone community members, as well as Julia’s sister MaryBeth. We divvied up various media outlets (including bulletin boards, online networks, free newspapers) for distributing more information about happenings at Keystone. We are continuing with our existing communication efforts within our own community through email and “social networking,” as well as brainstorming other ways of reaching out to our surrounding community. We plan to introduce a couple of signage options (based on material and basic structure) for the church to the next congregational meeting in January or early February.

2. Building: Improvements to the physical structure of the building and its surroundings are noted above in Sophie’s newsletter message. The Committee would like to note that the landscaping work was donated by the church’s neighbor Bill. We are looking for more volunteers to assist with further landscaping projects near the front of the building to help upgrade our daytime appearance. Stay tunes for updates on further church building projects.

3. Social Justice: The social action committee plans to serve another meal at Sacred Heart on January 21st. Members were encouraged to attend the Environmental Priorities Coalition Workshop on Saturday Jan 8th from 9:30 - 2:45 at Seattle Pacific University, Gwinn Room. Following this, attendees can then go to Olympia for Environmental Lobby Day on February 15, 2011.

Scripture readings
9 January: Jer 31:7-14; John 1:10-18
16 January: Isa 49:1-7; John 1: 29-42
23 January: Isa 9:1-4; 1 Cor 1:10-18; Matt 4:12-23
30 January: Micah 6:1-8; Matt 5:1-15

Reader/usher schedule
1/9 Gus Wall/Jo Winston
1/16 Rita Patterson/Steve Bauck
1/23 Chandra Vandermost/Bill Gough
1/30 Sandra Schumacher/Janet Stillman
2/6 Rich Voget/Gloria Bollens

Christianity: Is it What you Thought?

2011-01-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

A discussion series meeting on Thursday evenings from 6:30 – 8:30pm
20 January – 17 February, 2011

This series will provide an opportunity to challenge what we think Christianity says about Creation (& Science), Wealth, Women, Forgiveness and War/Nonviolence in a series of five evenings. As a group we spend time identifying what some of historical understandings of Christianity are: the so-called “myths” that have become tools of oppression and exclusion over the centuries. Because so much of what we know about Christianity is based on the written tradition, we will look at how some of these myths originated in the Bible. We will then explore these passages in such a way as to invite a different vision, a “counter-myth,” that understands Christianity more as a faith based on radical inclusion and love.

Join us for engaging discussion, hands-on exercises, and myth-busting dialogue with the 2000 year old tradition of Christianity!

This series will be led and facilitated by Sophie Morse, Associate Pastor at Keystone United Church of Christ. 5019 Keystone Place N. Wallingford. We will be meeting in Battson Fellowship Hall (downstairs from the sanctuary).

Call 206.632.6021 or email keystone5019@yahoo.com for more information.

Sermon: Christmas Truth

2010-12-30T15:40:00.000-08:00

Christmas 1 Year A
Matthew 2:13-23
Christmas Truth
By Rich Gamble

Truth is a tricky thing. A list of facts in a newspaper may be deceiving. A poem may speak a universal truth. One the books Kate picked up at the Festival of Hope book sale was called “Lying with Statistics.” Kate was trained in statistics and uses them all the time for her job and she tends to be cautious in accepting the conclusions of some else’s statistics.

For a couple of hundred years we have believed that facts were the source of real truth and stories were just something to pass the time. Before that, stories were believed to be sources of truth and facts were occasionally handy but not necessary. Many modern people reading the Bible refuse to believe it is true because they don’t believe the facts; others want to believe that it is true as they define it and so demand that that the stories be accepted as facts. Prior to the modern age people sought truths not necessarily facts and they didn’t confuse the two.

The two gospels that have accounts of Jesus’ birth have some differences in the details of the story. The Gospel today tells Matthew’s version of the birth of Jesus. If you were distracted by all the Christmas carols it is good to review. Luke has Mary and Joseph living in Nazareth and forced to go to Bethlehem by the dictates of Caesar. This makes the parents of Jesus homeless during his birth. Mary gives birth in Bethlehem in a barn and then Mary and Joseph go back home to Nazareth.

In Matthew’s version Mary and Joseph live in Bethlehem, where they give birth to Jesus at home. But then out of fear of Herod they flee to Egypt. Once they hear that the coast is clear they leave Egypt but since they are fearful of Herod’s son they decide to move to Nazareth instead of going home to Bethlehem.

So in the two Gospels that talk about the birth of Jesus there are different stories with commonalities. Jesus is born in Bethlehem but raised in Nazareth in both accounts. And in both accounts Jesus’ parents are shown to be victims of political tyrannies. Caesar makes the holy couple homeless during the height of Mary’s pregnancy, which was a direct threat to the survival of the infant. Herod plots to kill Jesus directly because he fears that Jesus will be a threat to his claim of the throne of Israel.

In both cases a cruel and thoughtless policy by the rulers leads to hardship and homelessness, and in today’s readings, the death of all the male infants in Bethlehem.

Did Caesar and Herod care about the suffering imposed by their policies? The story doesn’t indicate it. For them, the suffering and loss was an acceptable cost of asserting their idea of how the world should be ordered.

But in these Gospels we see the world not through the eyes of Herod or Caesar but through the experience of the peasants of Palestine. Our history has a particular perspective, that of the victims and not the potentates, the occupied and not the occupiers, the homeless and not the lavishly housed.

You can read historical accounts that will tell you what the Caesars had for dinner. You can read about the wars they fought, the policies they implemented, you can see even today the evidence of their influence in roads and buildings and monuments. There isn’t much evidence of the suffering caused by their economic priorities. There isn’t much information about the life expectancy of the slaves who quarried the marble for the monuments or the impact of the Roman taxation policies on the health of peasant farmers. In the worldview of domination, God is a dominator, therefore those who have dominating power are important and those who have little or no power are not.

Who would care about a couple of Jewish peasants expecting a baby? Who would care about a few peasant babies in the backwater town of Bethlehem?

That is where our story comes in. What’s important isn’t whether either of these accounts is factual. What’s important is the truth they reveal.

This truth is that not only are the lives of those most vulnerable humans important but that God’s purpose for all of humanity is located not on the throne of Rome or the palace of Herod but in a barn (or house) in Bethlehem. The truth of this story is that the power of God is the opposite of domination just as a helpless peasant baby born in nowheresville is the opposite of king on his throne.

The truth is that our God takes a side in history, the side of the nobodies. God’s side in this story is not with those who have the power to destroy human life but with those who have to run for their lives.

Already the cuts in human services is beginning. The wealthy won in the elections and there will be no new taxes to make up for the lagging income caused by the current greed caused recession. And it is unlikely that any more money will be coming from the federal government who just bent over backwards to give wealthy people tax breaks. Programs are closing, services cut back, and the outcome will be more suffering. The corporate media will cover the facts but largely miss the suffering. It is unlikely we will hear much of what it is like to have no medical care for your children, no hospice care for your loved ones. The nightly news will not cover what happens to a working mom when her daycare support is cut, and no one will track down those who are mentally ill and homeless and cover what it means to lose outreach workers.

The cuts will be made to seem like an act of nature, an act of God and not a choice by the powerful to cause the suffering of the powerless. And what few stories do hit the airwaves will rapidly be swallowed up by a sea of cheerful commercials and sports scores.

Here on this day after Christmas we are challenged to seek the truth which comes not from the perspective of judge or President or CEO, not from the guy who has his own media empire nor any of his minions, not from the neighbor who believes what sees on the TV or what he hears on the radio.

Here on this day after Christmas, we are called to look past the tinsel, look past the distractions, look past the lying statistics and instead see the truth that sleeps under our porch or in a car, see the lines of people seeking aid, hear stories of those who live without medical or dental care.

The President and the Congress will probably not send soldiers out to murder babies but they will pass a budget that will not feed uncounted thousands, not ensure everyone on the planet has basic medical care, not build housing for the poorest, not provide clean drinking water for all. This lack of action, this prioritization of the wealthy and warrior over the poor and vulnerable will lead directly to the death of thousands of children every day.

The slaughter of the innocents isn’t just a story from our book of faith, it is the ongoing outcome of the policies of the powerful. Only those of us who bother to look for it will see these deaths. Only those of us who believe in alternative truth than that of fiefdoms of wealth and dominating power will protest and act.

From the beginning of the Jesus story in the our Gospel we are called on to take a side and live that choice. Helpless infants or powerful rulers whose reality will govern our actions?

The good news is that through these truth-filled stories and through the heroic efforts of those who have lived this truth, we have a choice. Try as they might, the powerful have not silenced the alternative narrative.

Christmas, the holiday has passed. Christmas, the choice is ever in front of us.

Amen.

Christmas Eve Service

2010-12-21T10:09:00.000-08:00

Once again we celebrate Christmas Eve in our own twist on tradition.

Christmas Eve Celebration
7 p.m. Friday
December 24

We hope you can join us.

"Reminder" Newsletter December, 2010

2010-12-02T13:22:00.000-08:00

Keystone United Church of Christ

From Rich,
In the South Pacific the native peoples saw outsiders (many for the first time) during World War 2. The warring sides brought to these people, clothes, tools, medicine, and food. This cargo was believed to be the gift of the gods. Then the war ended. The supplies stopped coming in and the people, eager for cargo, built ceremonial landing strips and airplanes made out of straw. By making these things, they thought to lure the gods into bringing back the goods.
Every year at this time the celebration of the coming into history of a radical alternative to practices of domination is transformed into a celebration of a fat guy in a red suit bringing consumer goods. At Christmas we decorate, celebrate and exchange goods in hopes of filling the desire for the happiness, connectedness, purpose and peace which often cannot be found in our day to day lives. The cargo cults tried to lure back planes filled with goods by building symbolic planes. Just as the straw planes had no chance of luring back real ones, so our exchange of goods has no chance of filling the void in our lives and community.
My web search of the definition of Advent came up with this: “The coming or arrival, especially of something extremely important.”
This is the season in the life of the Church known as Advent. The coming or arrival of something extremely important is a perfect way to talk about this season of the Church. It is both coming and here, this thing we yearn for, this peace on earth, and good will to all.
It is here when we are open to it. Here when we work for it. Here when seek it deep within.
And yet, alienation, loneliness, poverty, violence, war, fear, and hate are all around us as well. In these dark days it seems to be getting worse and worse for more and more people. We hunger for a better world, for something that has not yet arrived, for a greater peace, a greater justice, where good will is not just a feeling but a political and economic reality for all.
Something here, something coming.
It is important to celebrate the goodness that is here. The justice we’ve won. The places where there is peace, the joy of being a part of such a wonderful community. But it is important also to yearn for more, for it is in our yearning that new steps are taken, new risks dared.
This year let’s lean into the light of a new way of living. That new way is as close as our willingness to live in its light. That new way is as far as today is from that first Christmas. Seek and celebrate the wonder of existence; work, plan and build a better existence for all, as if it will take many generations to arrive.
Advent isn’t just a season, it is a way of life.
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FRIDAY MEANINGFUL MOVIES
All Events Free and Open to the public, but Donations are kindly accepted!

Friday, December 3, 7:00 to 9:30 PM
Film: “THE MEAN WORLD SYNDROME - Media Violence & the Cultivation of Fear” (51 min, Jeremy Earp, 2010)
A new film based on the late George Gerbner's groundbreaking analysis of media influence and media violence. For years, debates have raged among scholars, politicians, and concerned parents about the effects of media violence on viewers. Too often these debates have descended into simplistic battles between those who claim that media messages directly cause violence and those who argue that activists exaggerate the impact of media exposure altogether. THE MEAN WORLD SYNDROME examines how media violence forms a heightened state of insecurity, exaggerated perceptions of risk and danger, and a fear-driven propensity for hard-line political solutions to social problems. Please join us following the film for a facilitated discussion.
Friday, December 10, 6:30 to 9:30 PM (...Film starts at 7)
TRANSITION FRIDAY! Film: "WATER ON THE TABLE" (79 min, Liz Marshall, 2010)
Is water a commercial good? Or is it a human right like air? WATER ON THE TABLE is powerful new, character-driven, social-issue documentary that explores our relationship to our most precious natural resource. The film intimately shadows Canada’s own water crusader Maude Barlow over the course of a year during her term as the UN Senior Advisor on Water to the President of the General Assembly. While still giving voice to the powerful interests that insist that water is just another resource to be bought and sold, it solidly and factually lays out the undeniable conclusion that what is at stake is our very future, and potable water must be included as a human right. For more information on the film, go to: www.wateronthetable.com. Please join us for a facilitated discussion on local water security with Transition Settle and sustainable Wallingford, and others.
Friday, December 21, 2007, 7-9:30 PM
Film: "JOYEUX NOEL" (116 min, Christian Carion, 2005)
In 1914, World War I, the bloodiest war ever at that time in human history, was well under way. However on Christmas Eve, numerous sections of the Western Front called an informal, and unauthorized, truce where the various front-line soldiers of the conflict peacefully met each other in No Man's Land to share a precious pause in the carnage with a fleeting brotherhood. This film dramatizes one such section as the French, British and German sides partake in the unique event, even though they are aware that their superiors will not tolerate its occurrence.
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PEG NOTES
Food and Faith book study…
Peg will be leading the Broadview & Keystone UCC communities through the book Money and Faith: The Search for Enough. Coming out of “Earth Ministry,: this book contains writings from a variety of authors such as editor Michael Schut, Sallie McFague, Walter Brueggemann, Dave Barry, Henri Nouwen, and many others. The study guide integrates prayer with discussions of articles regarding abundance , justice, compassion, the myth of scarcity, and, of course, money. The study will begin on January 5, 2011, and will be held on the first & third Wednesdays of the month through May. We will meet at the home of Erv & Peg Faulmann (11718 12th Ave. NE in Lake City) from 7 until 9PM. Please let us know if you are interested so that we can order books by the beginning of December.
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Festival of Hope!!
Thanks to the many hands that made the Festival of Hope possible and such a rousing success!! For those who have not already heard, we raised a record $14,525! Nearly $4K of that consisted of donations made where no goods were received. We are extremely proud of this outpouring of generosity, both by patrons and by the volunteers who made it all happen. The atmosphere was lively and fun throughout the event, enhanced by the delicious baked goods that kept issuing forth from our beloved food tables!
Thank you for everyone who donated their considerable time and talents, and see you again next year!!
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Longest Night…
Traditionally a Winter Solstice event, the “Longest Night” worship service is for those who may find Christmas to be painful for various reasons, and for those who support them. Come and join the communities of Broadview Community UCC, St. Paul UCC and Keystone UCC in a service of prayer, scripture & music that acknowledge that God’s presence is for those who mourn and struggle. God’s light shines through the darkness. Everyone, regardless of religious background, is invited to St. Paul UCC on Sunday, December 19th at 7:00 PM.
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Holden Evening Prayer Every Thursday in Advent, starting at 7pm Service lasts for about a half hour. All are welcome.
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SCRIPTURE READINGS
12/05 Isaiah 11:1-10;
Matt 3:1-12
12/12 Isaiah 35:1-10;
Matt 11:2-11
12/19 Isa 7:10-16;
Matt 1:18-25
12/26 Matt 2:1-12
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Sermon: "An Unlikely King"

2010-11-24T08:59:00.000-08:00

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Luke 23:33-43

“An Unlikely King”

This time of year we get to play around with the term “King.” This is Christ the King Sunday, or “Reign of Christ” Sunday if you want to throw out the problematic word altogether. Whether or not we can relate to the term “king,” or can relate to the notion of Christ being “King,” many of us are still vulnerable to the same notions of leadership that plagued the Israelites and the early church so long ago. Even after we have discarded monarchy, separated Church from State, and as Protestants rejected the notion of a Pope, we are still tempted to dream up the kind of savior-figure and authority that the new Messiah was supposed to be. We are still tempted to abdicate some of our responsibility and vision to human leaders, and we still fall prey to the desire for this leadership to vanquish our enemies. And so, at least once a year, we get to unpack this idea of kingship a bit.

I grew up with folk tales – and their subset fairy tales. Many of these stories, which we had bookshelves full of, wove their themes around the mainstays of goblins, witches, princes and princesses and of course, kingdoms. There were good kings, evil kings, weak kings and strong kings. But kings and their kingdoms were as much a part of the natural order in these stories as the sun coming up.

Perhaps you, like me, also grew up reading the Narnia Chronicles and bonded with the central character of Aslan. As a Christ figure, the lion Aslan is particularly appealing and accessible to the young mind. He is wise, benevolent and compassionate. He is mysterious, has special powers and demands faith from his followers. These are of course the elements of Jesus of Nazareth that many of us are drawn to. Yet Aslan, unlike the Christ we meet in the gospels, also has a daunting physical presence, and could, in fact vanquish his enemies with a swipe of one of his great paws.

It is cultural images such as these that can inform how we view not only leadership and ourselves, but the notion of savior. I wonder how many of us, like those contemporaries of Jesus who were expecting an Aslan-type figure to rescue them from their oppressors, still wish for the human or divine version of the benevolent dictator who will, if necessary, kick butt. I wonder how many of us, despite knowing better, give into the old notions of us and them, righteous and unrighteous, those worthy of salvation and protection and those who are not.

II.

The Hebrew Scripture notion of the new Davidic king, which we hear in today’s reading, is of one who will restore justice and protection to Israel. “Israel will live in safety” we hear in the Jeremiah text. The Israelites “…will not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing.” The longing is clear: Israel wants to return to a previous sense of security, a home pasture if you will, a return to justice, and to a leader who will hold them together against all enemies.

With this legacy of expectation, the early gospel writers faced a steep task in holding up Jesus of Nazareth as this very king. It was clear to them that the one who had been so long anticipated had finally come…but in the process had shattered the mold, or what they thought had been the mold. In all of Luke’s gospel, the only human to identify Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one, is Peter. So aware is Luke of the need to upset the old notions of the Messiah that he does not leave Jesus’ true identity up to human witnesses, but only supernatural entities and the resurrected Jesus himself on the road to Emmaus. Humans, with the one exception of Peter, cannot make room for a legitimate leader who submits himself so freely into the hands of the powerful. The jeers of the people, the soldiers, and the first criminal we meet in the Luke passage today call attention to the fact that indeed, as the kind of King prophesied in the Hebrew Scriptures, Jesus seems to be doing a really bad job.

In fact he is, but of course that is the point. Throughout the gospels Jesus has been upsetting traditional notions of Davidic kingship: at one point in Luke he even denies that the Messiah could even be a descendant from the House of David at all. Now, in his final chapter of life, Jesus makes sure we do not confuse previous notions of kingship and the new ones on at least two points. For one, he refuses to play favorites with those who have followed him, and extends the kingdom of God illogically to his executioners and a criminal hung at his side. After he has been stripped, beaten and hung on the cross, Jesus does not seek out those who have followed him and loved him for comfort, nor to deliver last minute words of assurance to them. He does not circle the wagon around the faithful and familiar, but seeks entrance to the kin-dom for those who are its true lost sheep.

Secondly, and more shockingly, Jesus overturns the previous notion of power and victory, and indeed safety. Instead of protecting Israel from its military enemies, Jesus has been dragged helplessly in front of the authorities, his crucifixion a ghastly reminder of how vulnerable all of his followers are. Jeremiah’s promise that “Israel will live in safety” could not appear further from the truth, and could not appear more bitterly ironic in these moments. Disturbingly, what Jesus presents as victory is not a vanquished enemy swept aside by the paw of some giant lion. It is a more profound and far more costly laying bare of the system’s moral bankruptcy as it forces the suppression of one group by another. Rather than protecting Israel under a canopy of military or worldly “safety,” Jesus offers the only real safety of the kingdom of God: God’s all-inclusive love that exposes exploitation and stands for justice. Based on moral authority and relationship, this is a new kind of kingship altogether, in fact, a kin-ship.

III.

What Jesus turned upside down in his final moments of life we still struggle with today. Think about it: are we not still looking for our Davidic King? It is hard not to pin our deepest hopes and longings onto the leaders we send to represent us. Sure, we have a democratic system not a monarchy, but the ways in which we abdicate our own responsibility and attribute these leaders with power seem to suggest we are still a little hung up on old notions of savior-kings. How many of us elevated Obama to the status of savior? How many of us attributed this one person with the ability to overturn the wrongs of illegal war, poor health care, and political corruption? How many tears that were shed at his election and inauguration were tears for the reawakened dreams of MLK, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy? Whether or not the President has fallen down on his promises, whether he has squandered an opportunity that was truly held out to him, we have to face that what he represents for us is greater than any one person could fulfill.

Jesus’ message was essentially, we are all each other’s means of creating the Kin-dom of God here on earth right now. When its numbers have been humiliated, scattered and afraid, elements of the church have in fact done this for 2,000 years. We cannot wait for the power structures, which are too invested in the system the way it is, to do this for us. We cannot wait for an inspiring leader to hold out our vision for us. We are called, as unlikely kings, to turn to one another, pool our resources, and go out to serve our fellow humans preaching the Good News. We are called to toss out our pet vision of what a king and savior is supposed to be, and with the vision that Jesus has passed down to us, partner with God and with one another to do the work.

In this process, we must not narrow the Kin-dom of God only to those who are familiar, to those who have loved and supported us. When we are persecuted, we are not circle the wagon around ourselves and our loved ones only, but to extend radical love to those we sometimes do not even know, or those who are responsible for our pain. Truthfully, do we seek the kin-dom only in the company of and for the future of those who are like us: progressive, educated, comfortable? Would we include Tim Eyman or Sarah Palin amongst those we would ask forgiveness for, for they know not what they do? Or CEO Jeff Bezos of amazon.com who poured money into the campaign to kill Initiative 1098? To those who are dividing up our clothes as we are being slowly drained of life? Jesus is asking this very question from the cross, as the Messiah-king: Will you give up your old notions of power and leadership and follow me? Will you do as I do?

IV.

So this Sunday we work to cleanse ourselves of “kingship” baggage. If we do call Christ a King, we need to remember that this king will not do the work for us but with us, did not come to make us safe, and did not come to “kick butt.” Christ’s “kingship” is, indeed, about kin-ship. A radical, inclusive love that leaves no one safe, but also no one unprotected by God, and no one excluded. It is a love that does not vanquish oppressors, but holds open the door for all, for redemption and salvation.

The bad news for us may be that Obama and the Democratic Party have not vanquished the enemy or overrun the opposition. The good news is that they have not vanquished the enemy and they have not overrun the opposition. We are one people, and rather than winning short term battles, our work is of wholesale conversion, and of a new orientation toward God. Let us lay down our swords of division and hero worship as each of us work toward this radical kin-dom of love and of God. Let us all be “unlikely kings.”

Amen.

- S. F. Morse

Holden Evening Prayer

2010-11-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

Please join us at Keystone Congregational Church for Holden Evening Prayer during the four Thursdays in Advent starting December 2nd. The services will start at 7pm in the sanctuary and last approximately a half hour. You do not need to be familiar with the music or liturgy to come, just bring yourselves and enjoy the opportunity to celebrate Advent in a spirit of contemplation, prayer, and sacred music.
Hope to see you there!

Festival of Hope at Keystone!!

2010-11-17T09:38:00.000-08:00

Join us for Seattle's oldest Alternative Christmas Fair that raises money exclusively for organizations that serve low income and homeless people. Now in its 32nd year, we expect a dazzling array of quality crafts, edibles, and recycled goods from vendors that carry out the vision of compassion and justice in our home state of Washington. Come visit, shop, and enjoy a compassion-filled pre-Christmas Bazaar in the company of others who wish to celebrate a vision of Hope for our world!

Where: Keystone United Church of Christ
5019 Keystone Place North, Seattle, WA
When: Saturday, 20 November 10am-4pm & Sunday, 21 November from 12-3pm.

Hope to see you there!

sermon: Resurrection

2010-11-09T12:49:00.001-08:00

Pentecost 25 Year C 11/11/07
Luke 20:27-38
Resurrection
By Rich Gamble

The Sadducees were the elite of Jewish society. They were generally wealthy, well educated, socially prominent, and in charge of the Temple which was the heart of religious, economic and political life in Judea of the First Century.

The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. That makes sense. People who have everything going for them are not as inclined to need an alternative reality. They think things are perfect right here and now.

It is the people who are getting stepped on, who have seen their parents get stepped on and who know that their children and grandchildren will be stepped on- these are the people that need to look beyond the way things are and have always been, to a future where everything changes.

Resurrection speaks of a time when death will not be a factor. No death, no fear, no hunger, no intimidation. How are you going to keep people slaving away for you if they can’t be intimidated? For every abused worker who can’t afford to quit, resurrection speaks of the day when the boss has no power over you.

Now a pie in the sky bye and bye belief can be used to keep people slaving, life is hard and then you die and go someplace else. What do you care if nothing on earth ever changes, you are heaven bound.

But resurrection speaks of a new earth. A new reality on the earth. No death. No fear. Whose going to clean the Sadducees toilets? No, the Sadducees don’t like the idea of resurrection. And they don’t want their servants thinking about what things would be like if they were no longer cowed. Those same servants might start trying to hasten that new reality. A woman trapped in an abusive marriage may stay in the marriage and accept her lot if she feels that she deserves her treatment or if she can see no alternative. But if she meets someone who says that no one deserves to be abused or if she meets someone who shows her how she can live a good life apart from the abuser then she is much less likely to accept the abuse.

Speaking about an better reality undermines the present injustices.

Little wonder why the Sadducees would want to make uppity prophets like Jesus look foolish. Jesus is exactly one of those folks who tries to hasten that new day.

So believing that Jesus’ message centers on the promise of an afterlife they focus their intellectual powers to try to make Jesus look foolish and so lose favor among his followers. They use the form of argument called Reductio ad Absurdum.

They take an instance of a man who marries a woman and dies before she produces an offspring. Jewish law allows that the woman may then be married by the dead man’s brother. If that brother produces a child by the woman the child would be considered the child of the dead man and hence be his connection in name to future generations.

Ah says the Sadducees but the brother dies before producing an heir and so the woman goes to the next brother but he dies before and so she goes to the next and then the next and the next on and on through seven brothers. The last one dies and then the woman dies.

So the Sadducees ask, with a cheesy smile on their faces, in the resurrection to whom does the woman belong?

The Sadducees think that by painting this ridiculous picture of a bunch of resurrected brothers trying to figure out who has property rights over the life of the resurrected wife that they have shown what a ridiculous idea the resurrection is.

But there is a problem with the logic. They make the mistake of assuming that life beyond death is the same as life in the shadow of death. They make the assumption that in the resurrection wives will still be the property of their husbands.

Jesus points this flaw in logic out to the Sadducees. In the resurrection things will be different. Jesus, in talking about the dynamics of the resurrection, is talking about the direction of human existence. He is talking about human beings living in the light of God’s power for life.

In the ideal human community, women are not the property of men. The dynamics of the resurrection stands as a critique of life in the here and now. The Sadducees are shown to be so locked into the way things are (good for them bad for poor and working people) that they cannot imagine a world other than the current. Why should they? Everything is right for them in this world. But for the people who are hungry, homeless, without work and with very little hope of bettering themselves, the current world holds nothing but hardship and pain. The poor long for another reality and it is that longing which feeds their discontent with the way things are, and it is that discontent which can be the driving force for change.

If people believe that nothing can be done to change the conditions of the world around them they will simply accept things as they are and not try to make a change. Their belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In Tuesday’s election, the majority of the people voted their frustration. They voted their anger. They voted their fear. They didn’t vote with a vision. They didn’t vote for the world they want to see, only the one they don’t like, the present one.

So they voted and because they did not vote with a vision of justice for their homeless and hungry neighbors, because they allowed themselves to be seduced by the arguments of the well off, their votes contributed to a state that is substantially worse today than it was on Monday. Not worse for the well off, just worse for those who are hurting already.

On Monday a handful of religious leaders met with the Governor. She predicted the outcome of the elections and told us that there would be a storm of cuts to programs for the poor. She believes that she has no choice but to cut essential programs for needy people. She asked the religious community to step up and take on even more of a role in aiding those who will be in need of essential resources. Because the voters chose not to take money from those who have way more than enough, our state and local governments will be taking aid from those who have little or nothing. No doubt church groups will strive to do more to help but we will not begin to make up for the cuts that are coming. We need a bigger vision of what people of faith need to be about than slightly stemming the tide of suffering caused by the cuts. We are called to boldly take up the struggle for justice in creative new ways.

Knowing that our God has moved us beyond the power of death, can give us the power to resist the forces which seek our passivity. This is the power of the promise of resurrection. It helps us imagine another reality and helps us see that alternative as a reality for our lives and living out of the power of that promise we can speak up without fear. For us, the ritual of Baptism is the symbolic step into a resurrected life, no longer governed by fear. Resurrected life for us is not some distant promise but a living reality. That new world, free of those who use fear and greed to pacify us, is a present reality. We need only embrace it and live in it.

The fact that the cause of justice was largely defeated on Tuesday does not mean that we were defeated. It just means that our work is that much more important.

The last election merely highlights how much more work needs to be done. We need to find ways to inoculate our neighbors against misleading media. We need to find ways to spread the vision that a world free of poverty and fear is as close as our ability to wake up and live it. Just as Moses led a confused and fearful people, so we who have a vision of a better world and path to get there, must lead where we can, speak where can, and take the lumps where we must.

On Monday I worked, on Tuesday I hoped, on Wednesday I mourned. Today we pray and tomorrow we pick up the work again. If Crucifixion couldn’t keep Jesus down then Tim Eyman sure isn’t going to slow me.

When I used the example of an abused spouse before, it was with full knowledge that programs for abused spouses are right now horribly under funded and will soon lose even more funding. Others may shrug and say ‘the will of the people’ and abandon them to their abuse, but we know that this is not the way things have to be. There is another way we can be a community, a nation and a planet.

Those people who will lose their medications when the program is cut, those homeless people waiting for a place to live out of the rain, the abused women and children and mentally ill people waiting for safety, they cannot afford the luxury of our weariness. They cannot afford to be written off as government belt tightening or budgetary discipline.

There is a new day coming. There is a light at the end of this tunnel and it’s our job to lead our neighbors towards it. Every once and while, while I am waiting for someone to take the lead, it hits me that I am the one I’m waiting for. We in tiny Keystone, not the conference, not the denomination, not some large and well off congregation, we are the ones who are called to be leaders in the struggle for a better world. Not because we are so talented or blessed with resources but because we are willing to take what gifts we have and use them for the work ahead.

The income tax initiative was always but a small step in the long walk to a just world. Our vision was always bigger. Our work was always greater. Now we take the lessons of that struggle and move on to the next. That’s who we are. That’s what we do. And everyone who was moved by our work to vote for that initiative is a potential ally in the work ahead and so a victory.

Our God doesn’t want us to spend our lives in passive anticipation of heaven or passive acceptance of a fallen world. We are called to see that God’s power for life is stronger that all the powers wielding fear and greed; and with the courage of that conviction, we can be the people God would have us be. We can be the voice of hope, the source of strength and ones who see the coming light even in the darkest night. We are called to be resurrected people, raised to walk a new life in Christ. We are called to be living embodiments of a hope that transcends time and death, a hope that comes from the God of love, whose promise is as powerful today as it was 2000 years ago. And that is good news.

UCC History - A Short Course

2010-10-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

For all those in the Keystone family who would like more information on the history and origins of our denomination, the UCC, you can find a concise version on the national UCC website. You will learn some other exciting history in the process!

New Photo Directory!

2010-10-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

Dear Keystone Members and Friends!

Keystone has been keeping up so well with the Church Directory, and most of you have a copy of the latest one from summer of 2010.

A few weeks ago the Communications Committee decided it would be a good idea to add photos to it. And guess what?! After taking pictures of obliging church-goers for the past few Sundays, we are more than halfway there! (For the Active Members and Friends at least). I will continue to take snapshots of those who we have not gotten pictures of, and of course am happy to accept digital copies from you if you already have a good head shot! The pictures are coming out great, and we are hoping for a Christmas delivery of the new and updated Keystone Photo Directory. Thank you for all your cooperation!

Cheers,

Sophie Morse

It Gets Better: Sermon 10.17.10

2010-10-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Luke 18:1-8

“It Gets Better”

In the past few weeks, the suicide deaths of seven teenagers have captured the attention of the news and so many of us: Tyler Clementi, Seth Walsh, Billy Lucas, Asher Brown, Justin Aaberg, Raymond Chase, and the most recent, Zack Harrington. As many of us know, these teens were targeted by their peers for their actual or perceived sexual orientation, bullied ruthlessly at their most vulnerable age, and mostly while the adults in the community stood by without interfering. Coinciding with the fate of these young men, a NYT article last week described the ritual beating and torture of a 17-year old gang recruit in the Bronx. He was suspected to be gay. After the man had been stripped, kicked and punched, he was given a choice between a bat and a pipe for the weapon for his further torment, which would last for hours. He chose the bat. The nine suspects that were charged with this beating, also beat and tortured three other men in connection with the first.

The shock of the teen suicides, the Bronx beatings, and other national news relating to homophobia has cast a new spotlight on our cultural intolerance toward sexual minorities. It has also galvanized a wide response. One response has been media host Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better Project” which he launched last month. This project invites members of the GLBT community and others who have suffered particularly harsh bullying to submit videos that communicate a message of hope to teens. Each person’s testimony is meant to communicate that no matter how bad or intolerable it seems now, that life does get better. The intense microcosm of the teenage years that breed prejudice and cruelty does in fact come to an end. So far there are over 800 videos that have been submitted, each broadcasting the message to teenagers who are suffering abuse and who feel hopeless and isolated, not to lose heart, the message that It gets better.

These stories seem particularly apropos during a week that the gospels speak to us of ‘not losing heart.' The parable we heard today is the gospel version perhaps of the “It Gets Better” project. Luke knew his audience was in danger of losing heart. Jesus after all was late. His return was supposed to have happened already and his followers had been waiting faithfully to witness the coming of the Kin-dom heralded by his return. Now the first generation of those who had actually been alive with Jesus was starting to pass away and the community was in crisis, a crisis of faith. The author of Luke was eager to reassure Christ’s followers that despite what they saw, despite their disappointment, despite the fact the Jesus had not returned on schedule, that God was indeed working amongst them, God had not abandoned them, and that God’s promises were still real. Specifically in this story Jesus highlights the promise of God’s justice. If a cynical and self-serving judge can make the “right” decision on behalf of justice for the wrong reasons, how much more gracious, caring and swift is the justice that will be poured out by God. How much more quickly and completely will God respond to us, when we allow ourselves to open up to God, to pray. God is not remote, anonymous, abstract, but real and concrete, and God has not betrayed the people’s faith.

The message in today’s reading strikes at the heart of this faith. If we do not believe that God is there we will lose heart, and our vision of what is possible will continue to shrink until it fits the flawed and often brutish world that we live in. What we see in the way of mercy, justice and compassion in this world becomes all that is possible, the measuring stick with which to gauge how much we can have. Jesus is reminding his hearers to throw away the world’s measuring stick. There is another measuring stick, God’s and the Kin-dom of heaven where compassion, justice and mercy surpass all that we could possibly imagine. When the crumbs of justice occasionally fall from the table of the powerful, as they did for the widow in this story, we cannot allow this meager reward to be confused with the Kin-dom of God. When our cultural intolerance (of sexual minorities) continues to allow teenagers to be bullied to death, when it continues to allow you to lose your job if you are gay, lesbian or bisexual in 29 states and in 38 states if you are transgendered, when continues to deny same sex partners the right to marry, when continues to deny GLBT women and men the ability openly serve in the military, we cannot allow this reality to be confused with what is possible. It is precisely from a lack of vision of a better life that these teenagers took theirs. It is precisely from a lack of vision of God's Kin-dom that causes us to lose heart, and not stand up for ourselves or for the least of our sisters and brothers.

Jeremiah echoes this message. The Israelites who have insisted on a king and military might to protect them, are now scattered by the forces that had opposed and are overcome. They are in exile from their city, their temple, their land. And now God is offering them a new relationship. Like the Oldsmobile commercial, God is telling the Israelites, this new relationship “not your grandfather’s” covenant. “Just because our relationship does not resemble what it has been for so many generations, does not mean that I am gone. Rather, I am here in a new way. Instead of a covenant that is formed through learning of the law, this new covenant will be etched on your hearts. The law is not thrown out, but out of your new intimate connection with me acting according to the law will follow naturally. I will love you so much and you will love me so much that we will be in harmony with one another.”

When we are losing heart, this harmony may seem beyond our reach, this promise may seem like cold comfort. What good is it to know that God has something more in store for us, when our despair, or our grief, is at its worst? When we feel abandoned and overwhelmed, what does this promise of mercy, justice and compassion really matter? What good does it do when again and again and again we cannot see the Kin-dom manifesting here on earth? I suspect that what drove the widow in Luke’s gospel to persist in asking for justice, was not an illusion about how sympathetic the system was to her. She knew it was stacked against her. But she knew what was right. Today’s message is not about ignoring what is around us; it is about abandoning it as the measuring stick for what is possible. These stories from today are God’s message that “It Gets Better.” And this relates to all of us. Not just members of the GLBT community of course, but to all us who for whatever reason are finding we are losing heart. The reasons may vary, but the message is that if we are losing heart, now is the time to pray. Now is the time to hear God’s assurance that It Gets Better, I have something more for you, and it is etched in your hearts where you can never lose it.

You may have noticed that we are being asked to pray. This message may seem hard to relate to precisely because it is a one we so desperately need. We live in a culture estranged from the God of Luke. The God that is introduced to us from our culture, is more often a God that is external, a God that is domineering, a God that is exclusive, a God that does not care about the goodness of our heart but about how often we perform the precise tasks needed to earn God’s love. When we are taught to pray we are taught to pray to a God that is “out there,” whose attention we have to fight for, to a God who stopped speaking 2000 years ago, a God who manipulates history, who spreads more terror than love, a God that will vindicate us at the expense of our “enemies.” No wonder we need this message so badly. This cultural God is not the God of the new covenant, and it is not the God of Luke’s gospel. Their God is a God that reaches out to us in the pit of our despair and does not care if we are “good Christians,” or whether we are straight or gay, rich or poor, whether we are alcoholics or drug addicts, or what mistakes we’ve made in our lives. This God reaches out to us through these words in Jeremiah and Luke and tells us “if you believe in me, if you trust me, if you cry out to me, you will believe that this is not all there is, not all that is possible, and this will give you heart. It Gets Better.”

Last month during a visit to the Bay Area I took a sojourn to #575 Castro Street in San Francisco. This is the address where Harvey Milk launched his political career over 30 years ago. As many people know, Harvey became one of the first openly gay men in the U.S. to be elected to a major political office. He was gunned down along with the mayor just 11 months into his term as city supervisor. Harvey had been a hero of mine for a number of decades and what I had been struck by all those years was not just Harvey Milk’s political persistence, or even his larger-than-life personality. It was his ability to galvanize and give voice to a community that was losing heart. He was the catalyst that inspired the gay and lesbian community (as well as others) who were criminalized and targeted by the law, to turn away from fear, to stand up, to demand a different world. Harvey’s motto in fact, was, “You gotta give ‘em hope.” He might have said, “You gotta give ‘em heart.” His gift was his vision, a vision so powerful it gained, not lost, momentum with his death. This vision did not depend on a change in circumstances, but a change in conviction. This is the message of the Good News today. As long as we have a vision of what might be, not what is, and faith that what God wishes for us is so much greater than what see, we will have heart, we can find strength, we can find peace.

I cannot imagine what is like to, at the age of 13, throw a rope over a branch and prepare to hang myself. I cannot imagine what is going through the mind of someone asked to choose between two torture weapons. All I know is that if such a person can keep from losing their heart, how much more am I called to not lose mine. If such a person is not able to keep their heart, how much more are we called to keep ours on their behalf?

And if we are losing heart, how much more are we called to turn our hearts to God and remember. God has a vision for us, not based on what is manifested in the world, but on what is possible, and what is guaranteed to come. And we might find comfort in the prayer the psalmist wrote:

I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

God will not let your foot be moved; God who keeps you will not slumber.

God who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil; God will keep your life.

The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

Amen.

New Faces

2010-10-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it we have some new faces at Keystone.

Sophie Morse is the new Associate Pastor. Sophie is a recent graduate (Master of Divinity) from Seattle University (where Peg goes).

Elliot Kraber is our new Cantor. Elliot will be leading us in song on those occasions when Peg is helping our sister congregation Broadview UCC.

Sermon God's Economy

2010-09-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

Pentecost 18 Year C 091910
Luke 16:1-13
God’s Economy
By Rich Gamble

Last week’s scripture had Jesus responding to the holy men of his day after the criticized him about hanging out with and even eating with “sinners and tax collectors.” In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus responds by telling a series of stories. This story is part of that response.

In Luke’s story the man in charge of his master’s investments knows that he is about to be fired. So in order to make sure that he has friends out there who look after him after he is fired, he starts forgiving part of the debt that various people owe his boss. In essence he is giving his boss’ money away in order to buy friends.

But there is a twist in this parable as there usually is in parables. The boss finds out about the loan and commends his employee for his shrewdness.

Jesus then goes on to make a comparison. We are like that employee. We don’t own anything. It all belongs to the boss, the big boss, God. It all belongs to God, so why not be generous with it and make yourself some friends. This is the exact opposite of American monetary policy. When we give out money, we use it as a tool to control. Our nation, our banks our corporations don’t give money away to people they loan money with an expectation of profit. Of ten we loan money to impoverished nations through the World Bank or other such organizations. Those loans are then used as a tool to get the impoverished nation to sell off its resources or allow the exploitation of its people as ways of paying off the loan. Loaning with the expectation of profit gives power to the one who makes the loan over the one who takes the loan.

The poor family farmers of Jesus day knew all about debt as a tool of exploitation. That is exactly how the Roman Empire operated. And in the distant memory of our Jewish spiritual ancestors sits a clear line connecting loans taken and the road to slavery.

But here everything is upside down. Here we are called to use money as tool of friendship and not exploitation. The shrewd employee partially lifts the burden of debt from people. He does so for his own gain, not as an act of charity.

Debt is a way to gain control over people. It is a primary tool of economies of domination. In our faith history, debt is a tool of exploitation and slavery. It is no surprise then that we pray every Sunday about the act of forgiving debts. Our God is the God who stands in utter opposition to the economics of empire and exploitation. The way of our God is the way of debt forgiveness, and because it is the way of our God, it is the way of those who choose to become followers of this God. We pray that God will forgive our debts and we commit to the economic process of debt forgiveness (as we forgive our neighbors).

The tool of imperial exploitation so often used against members of the Third World is now being used against America. We are in great debt. Debt caused largely by a transfer of our common resources into the hands of large corporations and wealthy individuals through massive military spending and the bailout of the banking industry. People, even compassionate people, are saying, “well we just don’t have the money to… Improve public schools, have universal healthcare, end homelessness, substantially reduce our carbon emissions. After that will come the calls to privatize things like social security and public lands and close down programs for the poor.

Yesterday I was at a public meeting held by the Lutheran Church about 10 blocks south. The church had recently opened up their building to a homeless shelter and many of the neighbors were upset by the fact that they did not have a say in the matter. For many, the presence of the homeless shelter in their neighborhood was the first time that they became aware that homelessness was an issue for people living in Wallingford.

The future of our current economic path is leading us to greater and greater cuts of programs for low income people as our city and county and state and perhaps even federal governments cut back on essential programs. That means that there will be greater pressure on places like this one to provide shelter and food. Living in Wallingford or Mercer Island is no longer proof against encountering desperately poor people and churches will be looked upon with distrust as possible portals for the poor into more well-off neighborhoods. I don’t think churches should be homeless shelters. I don’t think that there should be homeless shelters because I believe that there should be adequate sources of affordable housing for everyone; but when our nation's economic system leaves people hungry and homeless we must respond. And if our current economic system is inadequate to the task then we should do more than furnish the bandaids of a mat on the floor or a bowl of chili on the victims. We should find a better systems.

The solution is found in our faith: Constructing an economic order which is based on sharing rather than hording wealth. What’s good for people of faith is good for everyone whether they believe in God or not. Building an economic order whose primary goal is broad distribution of wealth rather than on the retention of wealth in the hands of a very small number of people is possible. There are lots of ways to move towards that goal. Utilization of income and inheritance taxes to finance programs for impoverished people is one direct step we can take. That is why there is a “Yes on 1098” sign in the window of this church. That is not just a political sign, it is a sign of our understanding of the will of God.

Like Jesus we have to find ways to change people’s thinking about wealth. Giving food away at Sacred Heart is a good thing, and advocating for things like Public Schools, and Universal Healthcare and non-profit housing are good as well. As the Body of Christ we are challenged to be as creative and daring as Jesus was in his day. Stories, poetry, song, worship, Facebook entries, letters to the editor, protests, painting, parties, and thousands of other activities can spread this vision of a compassionate nation and a just economy. In the midst of the suffering caused by the politics of fear and economics of greed, we know that there is another way and so we have hope, and that is good news.

Amen.

9/11

2010-09-11T19:23:00.000-07:00

Matthew 5:44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Parent in heaven; for God makes Gods’ sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

Loving (and the word here is agape) your enemies is the means by which we change the world. Loving does not meaning capitulating to those who practice evil, in the example of Jesus it means directly opposing them nonviolently. So that they may turn from their violence and oppression.

When President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize he sought to justify violence.

“We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations - acting individually or in concert - will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.”….. “A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism - it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.”

The president’s recognition of history is an interpretation of history, not a fact but a faith statement about his belief in the necessity and righteousness of violence. No one knows whether non-violence would have stopped Hitler’s armies. We do know that

“The Danish and Norwegian resistance to Hitler used direct action such as sabotage of rail lines and factory equipment. Their most important methods involved withholding support from the Nazis -- defiance by teachers, strikes by workers, public boycotts. By the end of the war, Nazi leaders were cabling Berlin to urge that the Germans withdraw -- the costs of staying outweighed the benefits! While thousands of protesters were killed and many more were imprisoned, the casualties were far fewer than would have been caused by armed resistance.” (Glen Gersmehl)

In 1989-90 alone, fourteen nations underwent nonviolent revolutions, all of them successful except China. These revolutions involved 1.7 billion people. If we total all the nonviolent movements of the twentieth century, the figure comes to 3.4 billion people, and again, most were successful. And yet there are people who still insist that nonviolence doesn't work! Gene Sharp has itemized 98 different types of nonviolent actions that are a part of the historical record, yet our history books seldom mention any of them, so preoccupied are they with power politics."(Walter Wink)

Often we resort to violence because we have devised no alternatives. If the only tool you have is a hammer then every problem looks like a nail.

“The 2003 US federal budget again provides over 200 times as much money to military options and resources as it does to all our nonviolent responses to conflict combined, from US contributions to peacekeeping operations or State Dept. conflict resolution efforts to US Institute of Peace research and training programs. Even if you add all the money the US spends to address the roots of conflict and violence in the world – programs like the Peace Corps and development aid – nonviolent methods don’t receive even two percent of the money spent on military options! Contrary to popular belief about the extravagance of US foreign aid, the US trails every industrialized nation in the world in per capita spending to address the root causes of violence and conflict in the world such as hunger and extreme poverty!” (Glen Gersmehl)

In calling on us to love our enemies Jesus was showing us an alternative to the endless cycle of violence. To choose that path is just as much an act of faith as is believing that the use of violence will end the use of violence.

“It cannot be stressed too much: love of enemies has, for our time, become the litmus test of authentic Christian faith. Commitment to justice, liberation, or the overthrow of oppression is not enough, for all too often the means used have brought in their wake new injustices and oppressions. Love of enemies is the recognition that the enemy, too, is a child of God. The enemy too believes he or she is in the right, and fears us because we represent a threat against his or her values, lifestyle, or affluence. When we demonize our enemies, calling them names and identifying them with absolute evil, we deny that they have that of God within them that makes transformation possible. Instead, we play God. We write them out of the Book of Life. We conclude that our enemy has drifted beyond the redemptive hand of God.

I submit that the ultimate religious question today is no longer the Reformation's 'How can I find a gracious God?' It is instead, 'How can I find God in my enemy?' What guilt was for Luther, the enemy has become for us: the goad that can drive us to God. What has formerly been a purely private affair--justification by faith through grace--has now, in our age, grown to embrace the world. As John Stoner comments, we can no more save ourselves from our enemies than we can save ourselves from sin, but God's amazing grace offers to save us from both. There is, in fact, no other way to God for our time but through the enemy, for loving the enemy has become the key both to human survival in the age of terror and to personal transformation. Either we find the God who causes the sun to rise on evil and on the good, or we may have no more sunrises.” (Wink)

On this anniversary of a terrible act of violence, let us as a people of faith proclaim the hard truth of love as the path out of the cycle of hate, fear and violence.

Rich

Bright-Eyed People

2010-08-31T17:04:00.000-07:00

At www.ucc.org on the web you will find a lot of good and useful ideas. One story was about a pastor and author who spoke at the national church setting. Here is part of that story:
“The Rev. Paul Nixon spoke with a passionate clarity during his visit to the UCC national offices in downtown Cleveland last week when he said bold vision and unwavering witness require an unmistakable sparkle.
“The bright-eyed people are the ones,” said Nixon, speaking before 75 people in the Church House Meeting Room during The Pilgrim Press’ presentation of The Igniting Leadership Series.
“Their eyes sparkle as you talk about it – whatever ‘it’ happens to be,” said a smiling Nixon. “They have a way of energizing you. When the bright-eyed people outnumber the rest, that’s when your church has turned the corner.”
Citing their ability to connect, nurture and empower, Nixon says they are great apprentices to others – invaluable allies during challenging times. “If you can get even five of these people, good things will happen. Your church will survive.”
Nixon, an ordained Methodist minister and pastor of Foundry Church in Washington, D.C., authored the best-selling book “I Refuse to Lead a Dying Church!” (2006), which was Pilgrim Press’ top seller in 2007. He also wrote “Jesus on the Metro: and Other Surprises Doing Church in a New Day” (2009).
“We’re moving toward new territory, a whole new place,” said Nixon. “And not just mainline churches – everyone. Evangelical, big and small, we’re all scrambling. In this decade, the churches that succeed will be those making active, intentional choices.”
Nixon cites “Six Key Choices” needed for churches to survive: Life Over Death; Community Over Isolation; Fun Over Drudgery; Frontier Over Fortress; Bold Over Mild; Now Over Later. “
On Sunday we celebrated (and completely surprised me) my ten years of ministry here at Keystone. It was a very nice, and very Keystone time, with lots of laughter and some tearful memories as well.

I know what Rev. Nixon is talking about. I see those bright eyes looking back at me on Sunday. We embody those “Six Key Choices.” We have turned some wonderful corner and we are off on the newest adventure in the life of Keystone.

Thank you one and all for your part in this journey.

With Love,

Rich

Free Recycling Event

2010-08-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

Free Recycling Event in Seattle's University District
Sunday 11:30-3:00

University Christian Church Parking Lot
NE 50th St. & 15th Ave. NE, Seattle
Sunday, August 8th, 11:30am - 3:00pm

The Washington Association of Churches will have trucks available for Free Recycling of many items that are typically hard or expensive to dispose of, as well as environmentally damaging in landfills. All items will be evaluated by 1 Green Planet for re-use and recycling.
Please share this with others who may be interested. You can download a flyer for this event here.

Bring your used:

All Electronics
Computers & Parts
Printers and Faxes
TVs - Any Size!
Appliances - Both Large and Small
Phones, Cell Phones, Chargers
Speakers, MPG Players, Radios, VCRs, Game Systems,

Lamps, Christmas lights, Record Players
Medical Equipment
Even Ink & Toner Cartridges.

All Scrap Metals like:
Bicycles, Tools, Furniture, Exercise Equipment, BBQs,
Lawn Mowers (please empty gas & oil)

If it has a plug - we'll take it!

If it contains metal - we'll take it!
Even Car Batteries & Computer Batteries

If you have questions about what items we will recycle please contact: sakahara@thewac.org call 206-261-7797. There is no charge for dropping off items. Free will, tax deductible donations to support the work of WAC will be accepted but are not required. If you are interested in hosting a similar recycling event in your area please contact sakahara@thewac.org.

Please call on us if you have questions or you want to connect with resources for this or other issues.

Alice Woldt
Washington Association of Churches
206-625-9790 ext 11
woldt@thewac.

The Economics of Faith

2010-07-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

In his book "Journey to the Common Good," Walter Brueggemann points out how the community of ancient Israel sought to institutionalize their experience of a God who took the side of slaves. This happens in the book of Deuteronomy.

• Debts owed by the poor are to be canceled after seven years, so that there is no permanent underclass (Deut 15:1-18). Debts are the way the wealthy control the labor and resources of poorer people and nations. A periodic forgiveness of debts would radically reduce the power of the few to control the many.
• No interest is to be charged on loans to members of the community (Deut 23:19-20). Imagine how many people currently losing their homes to foreclosure would be able to afford those homes if all they had to pay off was the principal.
• Permanent hospitality must be extended to runaway slaves (Deut 23:15-16). Traditional slavery still exists in the world but more often people are forced into poverty which then forces them to work for whatever meager wages are offered. This is sometimes referred to as wage slavery. Are we to extend this call to hospitality to those fleeing poverty and coming to our nation for a better life?
• No collateral is to be required on loans made to poor people (Deut 24:10-13). There are some groups out there making collateral free loans to poor people and such loans are making a an important impact in the lives of those people.
• No withholding of wages that are due to the poor (Deut 24:14-15). Does this extend to the practice of paying poor people inadequate wages? In a sense this practice of underpaying desperate people is a withholding of fair wages. If so then any wage which does not provide a family with decent housing, food, education, and healthcare is inadequate. In Seattle that would mean at least doubling the current minimum wage.
• No injustice toward a resident alien or an orphan (Deut 24:17-18).
• Regular provision for the marginalized (Deut 24:19-22). In Deuteronomy this meant leaving some of the crops in the fields for the poor to harvest. In our nation would it not mean taxing those with means to aid those in need?

To live into these provisions would require a complete restructuring of our economy. The question for those of us who believe in the God of the Exodus is: Should we change our participation in the economy to match our faith or should we change our faith to facilitate our participation in the economy.

sermon: Marching Orders 7/4/2010

2010-07-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

Luke 10:1-11,16-20
Marching Orders
By Rich Gamble

The Fourth of July was a date that our founding fathers were quite proud of, and with good reason. They had managed to make a radically new idea into reality through the adoption of a document. A new nation was born. One dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal.

There is much to be proud of as an American. We enjoy many freedoms. We enjoy some of the blessings of living in a wealthy nation. We live in a land blessed with great physical beauty.

But as Christians we are called to take off the rose colored glasses and look at our nation, indeed we are called to look at nationalism itself, and ask the hard questions about whether our nation is aligned with the will of God.

In today’s Gospel account Jesus sends out his army to do battle with Satan. Before they go, Jesus gives them their marching orders. It is important for us to closely examine these directions because our faith tells us that actions define the meaning of the message Jesus has for the world. How these representatives of God act, reflects the words they proclaim.

First thing Jesus does is send others out to do what he has done. Jesus does the work and then calls others to do likewise. We can contrast this with our past two president who have sent our young people into war, something they avoided.
Next Jesus sends the followers out two by two. Jesus is teaching the disciples that the message is a communal one. The followers are called to work together. The message is not in the hands of one person but in the hands of the community. Jesus is not creating a cult of personality, though later Christians try to make the faith into just that.

Jesus says, “See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” That is how Jesus sends his troops into battle with the evil empire. Unarmed. No helicopter gunships waiting in the wings. No shock and awe. Lambs generally don’t fair to well when they go forth to the land of wolves. But the wolves are not in any danger of harm. Harm is a distinct possibility for the followers of Jesus, but retaliatory defense is not an option. The war against Satan or the Domination System is a war fought without any of the stuff of a modern army.

Our Peace Corps is much closer to the image of Jesus’ army than the US military. If Jesus were to take on Saddam that is how he would do it. We know this because Pontius Pilate was the Saddam of his day and Jesus and his followers did take him and the whole Roman Empire on. And they died. But they did not kill. And in the end the Roman Empire was no more but the people of Christ lived on.

Jesus sends these unarmed soldiers of truth out into the world without provisions. In warfare, lines of supply are of utmost importance. It is said that an army travels on its stomach, in other words, without food the army does not move. But Jesus sends his people out to combat the Domination System with direct orders not carry anything, “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals.” These followers of Jesus are sent into various communities in small numbers and in need of the compassionate assistance of the people of those communities.

Jesus instructs his soldiers to enter each house proclaiming peace. He instructs them not to shop around for the best situation but whatever house first takes them in, that is where they are to stay, accepting whatever level of hospitality is initially offered. Imagine if our soldiers were sent to Iraq or Afghanistan utterly dependent upon the generosity of the people who live there. Imagine if they were instructed to gratefully accept and be utterly dependent upon, whatever was offered them. How would that change the way the soldiers treat the people of these nations? If the soldiers understood at the most basic level the hardships of the people and shared those hardships, how would that change the way the people there treated by them?

And if the people don’t want to offer hospitality, Jesus instructs the troops to leave. How’s that for an invasion? If the people don’t want you there, if they offer you no hospitality, then just leave. Don’t curse them, don’t bomb them, simply let them know that they lost a precious opportunity to experience the Realm of God.
This is how Jesus sent out his troops to do battle with the enemy of God: in twos, unarmed, unsupplied, proclaiming peace, utterly dependent on the hospitality of others. This is how the Realm of God is established. The enemy to be fought is not flesh and blood but rather a false perception of reality, a spirituality contrary to that of God. People caught up in this false system of thought and perception are not to be harmed and forced to accept the right idea, they are to be converted through the application of compassion and the embodiment of truth.

If we were to apply this approach to our military it is doubtful that our nation would exist as we now know it. Nations are made up of arbitrary lines on a map, those inside the lines are friends and those outside the lines are foreigners. The whole of almost every nation’s national policy is to ensure that the people inside the lines fare better than those outside the lines; and hence, the lines usually have to be violently defended.

In the ministry of Jesus we see no borders, no lines to defend, no in-group who expects a better life than anyone else. The approach of Jesus did not, could not, would not create a nation. It can only convert people to a way of understanding the world through the insight of faith in a God of love.

The army of Jesus has no arms, no flag, no lines of supply, no overwhelming numbers. As the army of Rome sought to be invulnerable, so the army of Christ actively pursued vulnerability. As the army of Rome threatened violence unless their will was obeyed, so the army of Christ proclaimed peace and sought to heal.
As people of Christ we have to admit that our nation acts more like Rome that Christ. Our army uses force and violence. Most people in this nation would agree that a nation needs an army to ensure its existence, that the vulnerability practiced by the followers of Jesus, will not defend the borders of a nation and therefore is an impractical ideal.

And that is the point. Jesus shows us in this passage, what a true liberation movement should look like. If such an army is incongruous with our idea of nation, then perhaps, it is our idea of nation that should be shelved rather than Jesus’ ideas. Borders create nations, nations create violent armies, violent armies kill people to ensure the safety and prosperity of nation over nation. Jesus offers us a vision of a world without borders, without violent armies, without killing. Just as Jesus’ idea of how an army should operate is incongruous in the world of nations so our idea of a violent army is incongruous with the Realm of God Jesus proclaimed.
And so, on this national holiday, celebrating the creation of our nation, our faith calls on us to open our hearts and minds to something larger than that held within national boundaries. Our founding fathers proclaimed and established some noble ideals, but from the birth of our nation we have been dependent upon violence, we have been subjects of the Domination System. We have many things to be proud of as Americans, and many things of which we should be ashamed, but the ultimate point of this Gospel passage on this day is that we are called to a higher loyalty. We are called to tear down barriers between people. We are called to pound our swords into plowshares. We are called to extend peace through vulnerability. We are called to enlist into the cause of Christ and to understand that such an ultimate pledge of allegiance separates us fundamentally from the cause of Caesar, or any current political leader.

We are called to pledge our wealth and even our lives to extend the promise of peace, and the love of God. The age of kingdoms has passed, the time of nations is fading, the rise of corporate power is visible but the Realm of God remains wherever we awaken to the truth and follow the call to embody God’s love.

The Grim Facts and the Great Commission

2010-07-02T13:29:00.000-07:00

Below is part of a talk from Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians. I found it on the Democracy Now website. Gloomy as they are, these facts are important for us to hear. They stand as the often hidden context of our lives.

Our faith in a God of self-giving love and the actions of compassion and justice that flow from that love is key to turning the world in a different direction. The truth we proclaim is not for us to simply consume and contemplate, it is for us to share in every way possible.

Keystone lives not for the services it can render to its members but for the vision it has to offer to the world (of course we care for one another while we proclaim our vision).

The facts as laid out by people like Ms. Barlow may well overwhelm many, but we are a people empowered by a power greater than humanity’s capacity for destruction. The world needs people willing to live out their faith in the God of self-giving love. This is our calling.

"On the eve of this G-20 gathering, let’s look at a few facts. Fact, the world has divided into rich and poor as at no time in our history. The richest 2% own more than half the household wealth in the world. The richest 10% hold 85% of total global assets and the bottom half of humanity owns less than 1% of the wealth in the world. The three richest men in the world have more money than the poorest 48 countries. Fact, while those responsible for the 2008 global financial crisis were bailed out and even rewarded by the G-20 government’s gathering here, the International Labor Organization tells us that in 2009, 34 million people were added to the global unemployed, swelling those ranks to 239 million, the highest ever recorded. Another 200 million are at risk in precarious jobs and the World Bank tells us that at the end of 2010, another 64 million will have lost their jobs. By 2030, more than half the population of the megacities of the Global South will be slumdwellers with no access to education, health care, water, or sanitation. Fact, global climate change is rapidly advancing, claiming at least 300,000 lives and $125 billion in damages every year. Called the silent crisis, climate change is melting glaciers, eroding soil, causing freak and increasingly wild storms, displacing untold millions from rural communities to live in desperate poverty in peri-urban centers. Almost every victim lives in the Global South in communities not responsible for greenhouse gas emissions and not represented here at the summit.
The atmosphere has already warmed up a full degree in the last several decades and is on course to warm up another two degrees by 2100. In fact, half the tropical forests in the world, the lungs of our ecosystem, are gone. By 2030, at the present rate of extraction or so-called harvest, only 10% will be left standing. 90% of the big fish in the sea are gone, victim to wanton predatory fishing practice. Says a prominent scientist studying their demise, there is no blue frontier left. Half the world’s wetlands, the kidneys of our ecosystem, have been destroyed in the 20th century. Species extinction is taking place at a rate 1,000 times greater than before humans existed. According to a Smithsonian science, we are headed toward of biodiversity deficit in which species and ecosystems will be destroyed at a rate faster than nature can replace them with new ones. Fact, we are polluting our lakes, rivers and streams to death. Every day, two million tons of sewage and industrial agricultural waste are discharged into the world’s water. That’s the equivalent of the entire human population of 6.8 billion people. The amount of waste water produced annually is about six times more water than exists in all the rivers of the world. We are minding our ground water faster than we can replenish it, sucking it to grow water guzzling chemical-fed crops in deserts or to water thirsty cities who dump an astounding 700 trillion liters of land-based water into oceans every year as waste.
The global mining industry sucks up another 800 trillion liters which it also leaves behind as poison and fully one-third of global water withdrawals are now used to produce biofuels, enough water to feed the world. Nearly three billion people on our planet do not have running water within a kilometer of their home and every eight seconds, somewhere in our world, a child is dying of waterborne disease. The global water crisis is getting steadily worse with reports of countries from India to Pakistan to Yemen facing depletion. The World Bank says that by 2030, demand for water will outstrip supply by 40%. This may sound just like a statistic, but the suffering behind that is absolutely unspeakable."

We Did It!

2010-07-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

According to their Facebook site the Yes on 1098 campaign submitted over 360,000 signatures today. This is well above their goal of 325,000. Even more impressive is that Keystone lived up to its challenge. We challenged churches across the state to meet or exceed our goal of 10 signatures on the initiative for each member. Barbara dropped off hers last night and officially put us over our goal. Thanks to all who gathered signatures. It truly was a community effort.

And now a word from our sponsor:

2010-06-26T15:17:00.000-07:00

At Keystone we speak of the Christian faith in a way unfamiliar to many. We focus our faith as an alternative to the ways of domination that have defined human civilization. Domination utilizes carrot and stick forms of control to get humans to conform to the norms set by those who have most of this sort of power.

Standing in stark contrast to this idea of power is the power of agape or self-giving love. Agape power utterly undermines Domination forms of power.

Everywhere in our culture dominators are extolled and fawned upon. In subtle ways we are called upon to emulate the richest, the strongest, and the most popular. Domination proclaims that those who have such power have it because they are blessed or have earned their privileges.

Agape calls on humans to seek out the needs of those who are most vulnerable and in their name challenge systems that allow wealth and power to accumulate in the hands of a few and misery to befall all others.

Most churches go so far as to define their God in terms of domination (all powerful, King, Judge) and their faith by the cosmic carrot and stick of heaven and hell.

There is another way, another understanding of the scriptures, another way of understanding God, another way of building human community.

Come by and join in. Changing the world is a big job and we could use your help.

The View

2010-06-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

From the window in my office I can see the street in front of the church. This morning I watched the people coming into the pancake breakfast fundraiser for Nickelsville the homeless community of people who are homeless. As people from the neighborhood came and went from Keystone, I saw a group from the Taiwanese church which shares our building, gather and depart for some common adventure and I remembered all the people who came last night for the movies. Keystone is sacred space. Not because we have a cross on the front. It is sacred because of the people who gather here and the reasons they gather. Keystone is sacred space because a community of people have, for many years, quietly kept it as such.

On days like today, I wish you could all see what I see.

Pancakes!

2010-06-17T14:40:00.000-07:00

Our friends at Nickelsville will be holding a Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser on Saturday, June 19th at Keystone Church (5019 Keystone Place N., Seattle 98103).

The flapjacks will be hot off the griddle starting at 8:00a until 11:00a.

The Nickelodeons are hoping to raise funds to cover the cost of the Waste Management and Honey Bucket bills.

Come early for hot cakes and coffee and help out our friends at Nickelsville.

25 out of 21

2010-06-10T14:26:00.000-07:00

Keystone members moved forward on the plan to share meals with those in need. Recently the Keystone community cooked a meal for the residents of Sacred Heart Shelter. There was so much food left over that a second shelter, St Martin de Porres, benefited from all the food.

In the process of cooking, shopping, and sharing the meal, 25 people from Keystone were involved. Considering our active membership is 21 members, that is a percentage of participation (119%) that is hard to beat.

More adventures in compassion are in the planning stages. Stay tuned.

It's Full

2010-05-19T16:04:00.000-07:00

When people ask me to tell them about Keystone I typically say, "Keystone's full. Full of ideas, overflowing with blessings, and rich with joy." That has been my experience of this community over the last six months. It is a time I have truly enjoyed.

Recently, there has been some significant news in my life. Not long ago I was offered the position of Director of Family, Youth, & Children Ministries at Plymouth UCC. I feel great excitement about stepping into this newly created position. Yet even more than the sense of excitement, I am filled with gratitude.

Keystone has been such a healing, nurturing, and forming place for myself and Janelle. Over the past several months Keystone has given my creativity space to roam free, inspiration to try new projects (the Keystone website is the first website I have ever made), an opportunity to work on timely justice issues (like tax reform in WA state) and throughout it all Keystone has been a loving, supportive community. The gifts Keystone has given me over the past several months will accompany me into every ministry of which I am a part. No matter where I am I will keep my eye on Keystone, watching for the next bold steps of faith the community takes.

This Sunday I look forward to celebrating with you the great amount of life and blessings we filled the last 6 months with.

Sermon: Let Them Eat Pork

2010-05-07T20:30:00.001-07:00

Easter 5 Year C 2007
Acts 11:1-18
Let Them Eat Pork Chops
By Rich Gamble

Peter was a faithful Jewish man. To Peter this meant that he bore the marks of his faith: he was circumcised, he honored the Sabbath, and he followed Jewish dietary laws.

It is hard for us today to understand the power of these marks of faithful identity. For us faith is something that happens in the head. We believe some particular way of thinking about God, and faith and that is enough. Most Christians don’t see any particular marks of faith as being essential. But to faithful Jews these marks defined who they were.

So imagine just how gut wrenching is this story Peter tells. Peter has a dream in which he sees all the profane animals, animals that the Bible sometimes call abomination. And in the dream a voice from heaven tells him to kill and eat these animals.

Now through his whole life he has been told and he believes that these animals are unclean, that they are so repellant to God that to come in contact with them will make you unclean. They are nasty things, these animals. Just as we would be repelled at the germs carried by a cockroach or a rat or a vulture, so Peter would have been repelled by the holy uncleanness of these beasts.

But the voice in the dream invites him to snack away.

No way, says Peter. I have never eaten such disgusting animals.

Then the voice says: ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.'

This happens three times in the dream. Then Peter is awakened by a knock on the door. It is from some unclean people, Gentiles who have been sent to Peter by the Spirit.

Peter makes the connection: Breaking the taboo about eating certain food is like breaking the taboo about sharing a Jewish faith with unclean people. So Peter shares his faith with them and they are filled with Spirit and Peter realizes that : If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?"

This is a dramatic moment in the life of the Christian Community. This is the moment when the community chooses to become bigger than their religion. No longer will they be a sect of Judaism. They have now pushed Judaism so far that it ceases to be recognizable as Judaism.

Understand what is being said here. The love of God is bigger than religion.

In religion boundaries are essential. If you are a member of this religion you believe this, and you do that, and you don’t do that. These boundaries help us figure out our religious identity.

In a confusing world knowing your identity is important and often it comes from a set of layers. You are an American, of the Middle Class, a citizen of Seattle, a liberal, a book keeper, a Mariners fan, a vegetarian, a male or female, heterosexual or homosexual, a parent or grandparent, a member of your particular family, and a Christian. All of these layers have certain qualities and in all of those we find our identity.

Peter had lost most of those identifiers in following Jesus’ call. He was no longer a fisherman, no longer a resident of his village, no longer honoring his familial obligations. So much has been taken from him that what little he has left is precious to him. He is a Jew and a follower of the Way of Jesus as Messiah. Now the very marks of his Judaism are being stripped from him. He has given up his job, given up his community, given up his family, given up his security, and now he has to give up his religion.

And when he does, the door of his world opens just that much more. For the things which we cling to as sources of our identity are also barriers to others. That is what sources of identity do, they say this is me and mine and not you and yours.

For the love of the God of the Jews who created everyone, Peter, gives up his Jewishness to include everyone.

So what is left when the barriers are broken down?

Love.

Love calls us to break down all barriers and love is all that is left when the barriers are all broken down.

In the end the ways we identify ourselves turn out to be ways we alienate ourselves from our neighbors and from ourselves. Who are you? A beloved child of God. Who is your enemy? A beloved child of God.

Now maybe there are behaviors out there which do not reflect the love of God for self, neighbor or enemy. Out of love for the sinner and those sinned against we advocate for more loving behaviors but we don’t deny the other the love of God, it is not ours to control. As the voice to Peter says: ‘What God has made clean, you must not call profane.'

We are called to recognize the difference between acts which violate the law of love and the things that God made clean.

If someone causes harm to another, takes advantage of another, they are acting in opposition to the love of God but they do not have the power to place themselves outside of the love of God. There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.

Walls can protect people from those who would do them harm and walls can harm those who are excluded from distributive justice. As people of faith we are called to understand the fear that causes folks to build walls, and to understand the harm that is often caused by those selfsame walls.

A drug policy that relied on punishment and not treatment gave opportunities to violent people to rise to wealth and power in this country and in Mexico. A trade policy which decimated small scale farms and businesses in Mexico caused a great desperation for jobs amongst the poorest of Mexicans. These things created a tide of desperate people and growing lawlessness in our neighbor to the South. I can understand why people are fearful in Arizona, and why people are desperate in Mexico. Walls and racist laws will not protect the people of Arizona and will only increase the suffering of those desperate enough to leave their homes in search of hard work at low pay.

The real answer to the problems of Arizona does not lie in more laws, jails, police and walls. It lies in more opportunities for people to have meaningful work in Mexico. It lies in decriminalizing drugs and spending money to educate young people and aid addicts. It lies in changing trade policies. It lies in not placing any higher value in one group of people over another.

As the worlds wealth flows to fewer and fewer people. There will be a rising tide of desperate people and out of that desperation will flow growing lawlessness and a growing call for more and more repressive responses. The trickle down theory hasn’t worked well for wealth but it works remarkably well for violence. A violent economic system which allows some to live as royalty and others to starve leads to greater and greater violence throughout society.

This spiral will end either in chaos or in awakening to a new way of living. The way of self giving love is the hope of the world. It has real political, social economic and religious dimensions. But those dimensions undermine our current domination based systems.

For too long we have been blinded and diverted by arguments about who Jesus was rather than what Jesus taught. The old form of Christianity which demanded orthodox creeds about Jesus as God, God as trinity, salvation as heaven have to be set aside as Peter set aside his dietary restrictions.

I think it was Pearl S. Buck who pointed out that Christians sent missionaries from America to China to help the Chinese get to heaven but Americans wouldn’t let the Chinese into their country.

Our calling as people of faith is to move beyond creeds of faith and move to deeds faith, faith in a God who calls all people God’s children, and all creation good. Our calling is to stand for justice which springs from human need and moves to transform human greed.

Our calling is reach out past the flag waving, race baiting, nay saying angry crowds to see the real fear beneath. Our calling is to reach out to those who are desperate and seek the causes of their desperation.

Our calling is to embody the love of God which stands with the oppressed so that they and their oppressors may also be released from systems which dehumanize all.

This is who we are called to be traitors, wimps, and dreamers to those who guard their walls. We are called to be the love of God, which transcends every barrier. It is the highest calling in the world, and for us and the world it is good news.

New Display Possibilities

2010-05-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

As we look ahead to this summer we have a few projects on the horizon.

First is replacing the sign we have on the building with something that reflects our new logo. This is what we're thinking of putting up.

Next is a larger art display. This is what it could look like.

It might not be a bad idea to repaint the building at the same time. Any suggestions for what color?

Pass the Gift

2010-04-30T15:11:00.000-07:00

Eliza Penick, Heifer International's Community Volunteer Coordinator and Keystone Church member was in Peru for this exciting ceremony earlier this month. Check out the video.

Heifer International "Pass on the Gift" Ceremony. Thirty families, original recipients from the Acomayo and Canas Heifer International Project, each gave six male sheep from their own stock to 180 families. This was their first Pass on the Gift Ceremony. Watch. Inspire. Share their Story.

Pancake Breakfast

2010-04-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

Our friends at Nickelsville will be holding a Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser on Saturday, May 1st at Keystone Church (5019 Keystone Place N., Seattle 98103).

The flapjacks will be hot off the griddle starting at 8:00a until 11:00a.

The Nickelodeons are hoping to raise $2,000 to cover the cost of the Waste Management and Honey Bucket bills as they prepare to move to their new location.

Come early for hot cakes and coffee and help out our friends at Nickelsville

New UCC Ad

2010-04-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

The Language of God from United Church of Christ on Vimeo.

What do you think of it?

God Flooring

2010-04-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

We have a sanctuary that needs updating. One of the things we need to do fairly soon is replace the flooring. So the question arises, what is faithful flooring?

Faithful flooring would hopefully be durable, so that the sanctuary can be a flexible asset to the broader community and the cause of justice. It should strive to limit the amount of toxins produced. It should come from renewable resources. And it should be cost effective.

Any suggestions?

We Have Met the Resurrection and It is Us

2010-04-08T14:05:00.000-07:00

Easter Year C 2010
Luke 24:1-12
We Have Met the Resurrection and It is Us
By Rich Gamble

This is Easter, the most important day of the year for Christians. It is also April 4 one of the most important days of the year for Americans. The Convergence of the two makes this day a powerful one indeed.

You probably know the Easter story. Jesus, following his calling to speak truth to power, goes to Jerusalem. There he confronts the rulers of his part of the world. He challenges the Jewish leaders of the Temple who served the empire of Rome. And he received what he expected, he was executed by the Roman military, in a fashion all too familiar to Palestinian Jews of the time: as a dissident prosecuted for resisting the “occupying authority.” He was crucified, a slow, painful, humiliating, public execution. The means by which the Roman Empire sought to terrorize its subjects into submission. Jesus died.

Jesus’ death led to the death of the dreams of those who saw him as the messiah. They had hoped that he would raise up an army of the faithful, who, supported by the power of God, would crush their Roman occupiers and secure the borders of Israel against all invaders forever.

Jesus’ followers had lost their dreams, lost their leader, and were now fugitives from the authorities. In the midst of this loss, the women, having waited until after the Sabbath to tend to Jesus’ body, come back reporting that the body is gone. This leads to confusion and fear, but eventually the followers of Jesus believe that Jesus was resurrected, meaning that through God he had been moved beyond the power of death.

April 4th is the anniversary of two of the most important events in American history. The first is the 1967 speech made by Martin Luther King Jr. in the Riverside Church in New York City. Rev. King had become a household word for his heroic non-violent struggle against racism in the United States. He had gained the support of many powerful people, including the president of the United States, Lyndon Johnson. But Rev. King’s vision was broader than this one cause. He saw in the Vietnam War, an evil which was consuming the resources and the soul of his nation and he felt compelled to speak out against it.

He was warned by his supporters that speaking out against the war would put him on the wrong side of many of his supporters. He would make an enemy of the president, he would cost his organization much of their financial support, he would incur the wrath of the corporate media which had largely been supportive of his work, and he would stand out against his nation in a time of war. Parents, wives, and children of soldiers want to believe that their children are risking their lives for a noble and important cause. To denounce that cause is question the meaning of their sacrifice.

Rev. King was strongly encouraged not to get involved in the issue of the war and yet he could not ignore the evil he saw in that struggle. On April 4 1967 he gave a powerful argument against the war in Vietnam and a powerful denunciation of the Powers which ruled the nation.

Early in his speech he said

As I have walked among the desperate, rejected and angry young men I have told them that Molotov cocktails and rifles would not solve their problems. I have tried to offer them my deepest compassion while maintaining my conviction that social change comes most meaningfully through nonviolent action. But they asked — and rightly so — what about Vietnam? They asked if our own nation wasn't using massive doses of violence to solve its problems, to bring about the changes it wanted. Their questions hit home, and I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government.

He then went on to make a clear sighted denunciation not only of the war but also of the political, economic and social direction taken by his nation. He called on the people of the nation to turn to the better angels of their nature and participate in a revolution of values.

As expected, he was denounced by the media, but he was also denounced by members of his own organization. His popularity ratings plummeted. Even Walter Fauntroy, his loyal Washington representative, called King a “ spent force. ” That previous fall King’s literary agent had been unable to find a single magazine to excerpt his latest book.

But Rev. King did not stop. In May 1967, he told workers in New York City that the movement needed a second phase, an effort to change not just racial laws, but the unjust allocation of national resources that upheld poverty and economic division. Throughout 1967 he worked on planning a poor people’s march and encampment in Washington DC in which he hoped to push for that more just allocation of resources.

On April 4, 1968 one year to the day, after he gave his speech which challenged the military and economic agenda of the nation’s leadership, Martin Luther King was shot on a motel balcony in Memphis Tennessee.

Jesus challenged the rulers of his day and he was crucified on that first Good Friday. Rev. King challenged the rulers of his day and he was shot on April 4. But this April 4th is Easter and the story has changed from Friday. Friday Jesus was crucified, dead. Sunday, he is among the living and that is the heart of the story and the heart of our faith.

Resurrection means different things to different people. For some it is a myth about a man rising from the dead. For many it is proof that Jesus was the Son of God and proof that through his death they will have eternal life. But resurrection is not confined to a past event; it is an active principle.

Remember that Jesus put himself into the hands of a violent empire, with only the thinnest of hopes that anyone would understand why. His followers continually proved that they did not understand what he was talking about. They continued to interpret his life through the lens of domination, which sees power in terms of violence and wealth in terms of greed. And if his followers who had been with him day and night did not understand how could he hope that strangers would? If we believe that Jesus was fully human, then we are called to see how he risked torture and death with little or no visible sign that he would be understood or his sacrifice remembered.

The Powers that Be believe that if they shout a lie long enough it will become truth, if they offer someone enough money they will go along, and if they cannot bribe or intimidate someone then death will shut them up permanently.

But on Easter morning we celebrate that the power of self giving love, the power of God’s truth, the power of compassion and justice will not be silenced. Resurrection is the promise that against all odds, with not one shred of evidence on our side, with the power of those who rule the state, the economy, the media and even religion against us, with public opinion against us, that in some way we cannot predict or even understand our efforts to embody the love of God will not be lost to the world.

The disciples on that Easter morning did not know what the resurrection meant but they knew that the truth that Jesus lived and died for was not locked away in a tomb. The stone of force and ignorance was rolled away and power of love and justice had triumphed over the imperial might of Rome and the even over the System of lies upon which Rome and the hopes of those who sought to overturn Rome rested. The disciples didn’t yet know the meaning but they knew that their ideas about everything were overturned with the stone that sealed the tomb of Christ.

When they did awaken to the meaning of Jesus’ life and teachings and the power of the resurrection the followers of Christ went on to follow Jesus’ example and spread the truth over the known world. Centuries passed and when the power of Rome failed to frighten these followers, Rome enticed Christians with power and wealth.

The truth of Jesus was twisted and turned to meet the needs of those who seek to dominate and exploit. The image of Jesus became a gentle endorser of the whims of mighty. Cornel West cause it the “santiclausifcation” of Jesus.

For most of the world, today is not a celebration of a vision which overturns the Powers that Be, but a vindication of their religion, nation, race and class. Rev. King too, is not remembered for his call to do away with the evils of militarism, materialism and racism. He too has been santiclausified to be a smiling endorser of American values, a man with a nice dream, and an antiquated notion about the power of non-violence. President Obama in praising King went on to say that Rev. King’s notions of non-violence were not practical in today’s world.

Once again the thin thread of hope is strained. The truth of Jesus embodied by Rev. King rests in the hands of misunderstanding world.

If the truth of the vision of a world where all are loved, all are housed and fed, educated, cared for, where all have medical care, and opportunities to contribute and thrive; if the truth of the vision of world without the violence of war, and pollution, where all are free from oppression, if the truth of the vision which claimed the lives of Rev. King, and Jesus is to be a living force, then we now must be a part of the miracle of resurrection. The truth of the vision, the power of self-giving love lives or dies with us.

We are the thin thread upon which the God places this hope. That the spirit which moves through the universe would be so vulnerable as to place this most precious vision in our hands is as incomprehensible as the resurrection of Christ. And both are sign of the unique power of God: power that brings life from death, power in vulnerability.

If Christ (not the Santa Clause version but the world changing savior) is risen then it is in us, when we choose to roll away the stone of fear and greed and reach out in love and justice.

We are called to see in the vision of man nailed to a cross, a vision of the power of God. As Jesus loved in the face of ridicule and forgave those who tortured him to death; as the truth of Jesus hung on the thin thread of his confused followers, so we glimpse the amazing power of God. This day is not the celebration of long ago event but the celebration of life changing world changing vision entrusted into our hands. It is an awesome calling and shockingly overwhelming, we are the resurrection of Christ and it is good news.

Easter Service Lives On

2010-04-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

I am still enjoying the lingering sense of joy from last Sunday's Easter service. The morning was filled with good news. A definite highlight from the morning for me was the confirmation of Tom's membership (Rita suggested we should confirm him every year!). Tom's story of his faith journey was very moving and I am pleased to post the full version of his story here.

BONUS - After Tom's story be sure to read the community blessing that was shared by Rita.

---

While growing up, I often wandered lonely as a cloud, as I was a Catholic living in an overwhelming Protestant town (just over 3000 people and about 12 churches.) Every Friday at school, it was fish sticks for hot-lunch and serious heat for the Catholic kids.

We attended St. Joseph’s in Yakima and I went to CCD classes every Saturday. Despite being baptized, taking first communion, and being confirmed in the Church, I always had a sense of disconnect or doubt about the reality of it all. These doubts began at a very early age. For instance, my mother would tell me the candle hanging from the ceiling meant that God was in the house. This left me to wonder, if I blew the candle out, does God leave?

The Catholic Mass seemed such a mysterious ritual that I had trouble accepting the message. For one thing, until I was about nine years old, it was said in Latin. For another, the priest had his back to the congregation while he was performing some elaborate ritual on the altar so I had little idea of what he was doing. This would change later on, as would the No-Meat-on-Friday rule, but by then it was too late for me to have formed a deep commitment to the Church. I suspect that I was not alone in this. As evidence that my friends and I weren’t taking things as seriously as the priests and nuns would have liked, the three most popular confirmation names in the year I was confirmed were John, Paul, and George. Also, there many jokes made about the possibility of a Saint Ringo.

As I was growing up, I noticed that my older siblings stopped going to CCD and to Mass when they reached their mid-teens. I followed suit, but for reasons I really can’t defend and don’t subscribe to now. You see, from about second grade on, I knew I wanted to be a scientist. The scientist as atheist was the prevailing message in the media and it was reflected in the popular opinion of the town that you can’t believe science and believe in God. So I bought into this. In college I would describe myself as an atheist, but I’m not sure that I ever truly was. If I were really an atheist, would I have been so deeply disturbed as I was by the movie “The Exorcist”? I mean, if there’s no God, then there’s no Satan, right? Shops selling occult supplies were popular in the 70’s, and I felt really uneasy every time I passed one.

On the flip side, every time I found myself among ancient trees or in a quiet space away from people, I felt something. At the time I just assumed it was me feeling an appreciation for nature, but looking back I think I was feeling the Spirit. There is certain spirituality about an old growth forest. For many years that is where I would go to seek refuge and renewal. When I would visit these places with Penny and her family, they would invariably begin talking and laughing loudly and I would invariably turn and say: “Penny, you’re talking in church”.

In 1994, Penny and I took a trip to Asia, which included four days in Bali. Bali at the time was like Shangri-La (except for all the vacationing Aussies.) The sense of the spiritual was undeniable and ever-present. The people were totally plugged into their religion and into caring for the earth. I never again described myself as an atheist, but I was not sure which spiritual path I should follow. I began an investigation into a number of different teachings and became confused by most of them. At the time I formed the opinion that there were a number of paths to the “top of the mountain,” spiritually speaking; all that really mattered was that your journey was a sincere one.

Also, at around this time, I was deeply interested in Archeology (actually from the late 80’s on.) I was a member in the Archeology Institute of America for twelve years. As such, I became very interested in Biblical Archeology. In particular, I became fascinated with Jesus the man. The more information I uncovered, the more I grew to respect this man. I wasn’t necessarily thinking in terms of divinity, but his courage and compassion really impacted me.

In 1996 my mother passed away; another life claimed by cigarettes. Most of the family was there in vigil at the hospital when Dad had to excuse himself to run home to feed the dog. Penny and I accompanied him. It was a short trip, but the phone rang almost as we entered the door with the news that mom had passed. The priest who had given her Last Rights the day before told us he had seen this many times before, that a spouse will wait for their life partner to leave the room before they pass. It’s as if they want to spare them the pain of watching when it happens.

Shortly thereafter, something extraordinary happened to me. Its most commonly described as a “visit in a dream”; except I don’t think I was dreaming. Mom’s visit was too real. It’s strange that I can’t describe what she looked like, but then, I was seeing the whole thing through her eyes. I knew what she had felt as she moved toward the light. She was almost laughing and wondering why she had ever feared death. I sensed the presence of other souls, and I sensed the overwhelming presence of God. From then on, all doubts about the existence of God or the afterlife were gone. In the immediate aftermath of this experience I could feel God everywhere and in all things.

Another consequence of this experience is that I began to pray, I mean really pray, from the heart. I feel in my heart that some my prayers produced some extraordinary results, especially at work. I was pretty good at raising monoclonal antibodies, but suddenly I was getting results five times better than what I was used to. As I say, I was good, but I wasn’t that good. Something clearly was happening, perhaps even a small miracle. It led me to the conclusion that small miracles are still miracles, so perhaps the larger miracles described in the Bible could be true as well. How else can we explain all the thousands of crutches left behind at Lourdes?

So far I’ve only been talking about how I found my way to God, now I want to tell you how I found my way to Keystone in particular. It began with the war in Iraq and the moral outrage I felt as a consequence of the war. It should be remembered that on the eve of war Seattle was witness to its largest demonstration ever. The papers said 10,000 people were there, but it was at least 50,000. I know this for a fact, I was there. Worldwide, 15,000,000 million people took to the streets to say, “No” to war. War came anyway.

It should also be remembered that in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks many, many people became very fearful and paranoid. Certain politicians played upon this fear to generate support for an invasion that had been planned months before the 9/11 attack. We were lied into a war. Those of us opposed to the war knew this up front. Those who supported it would not acknowledge that this was the case. I continued to go to many demonstrations, and at every one there would be people screaming that we lacked patriotism or worse, that we were traitors.

After a time, I discovered the Green Lake Peace Vigil. It actually began immediately after 9/11 as an appeal not to respond to violence with more violence. It began small but had grown to a sizable number by the time I became involved. To gather with a group a people and pray for peace had a greater appeal for me than to surround myself with a bunch of angry people shouting through megaphones into my ears. By this time a significant number of people had realized that the Iraq war was a grave mistake, so many of the cars driving by our group honked their horns in support. Others, however, became angry at our presence and on occasion would try and run their cars into the crowd.

The war dragged on and on. Months, actually years, passed and the task of organizing the event became too much of a burden for the original organizers. It was decided to hold a potluck to honor all who had organized or participated in the vigil and to make an appeal to anyone who would take on the responsibility of organizing the weekly vigil. It was held in Battson Hall. This was my first introduction to Keystone. Prior to the event I printed out a list of prayers for peace from every major religion around the world. When I got up to try and read some of them at the potluck I was completely overcome with emotion and started to cry. I wasn’t alone. As long as I live, I will never forget that moment.

I hope this doesn’t seem like I’m shifting paradigms without a clutch, but the other thing that made UCC stand out in my mind involved an Ad that the networks refused to run.

For some time now, there have been a number of conservative religious “leaders” who have been using sections of the Old Testament to condemn those of the GLBT community. A few years ago, UCC wanted to run an Ad during the Super Bowl which made it clear that everyone was welcome at our church. The networks refused to run the Ad, but it did appear online. The concept of universal inclusiveness had great appeal to me. So, UCC became fixed in my mind.

Now as you all know, in 2007 I lost my job at Trubion. This was really a traumatic event in my life, to say the least. You also know that my wife is Chinese. In Asia, the notion that you can simply be laid-off for no apparent reason is a foreign one. She was totally stressed and very upset emotionally. She sought refuge in her Chinese language Bible and in prayer. She also suggested that we start going to church. I agreed, provided that I got to pick the church. With Keystone and the UCC lodged in my memory, I showed up here. When I heard Rich give a sermon for the first time, I knew in my heart that I had made the right choice. When we prepared the meal for the folks at St. Martins, a voice inside told me this something you need to be doing. Yes, we are each other’s keepers.

I want to reveal to you the great gift that you all have given me. Since joining this community, I have learned how to see God in people’s faces. It’s easy to do as I look around this congregation, but now I see God in places and faces where I never expected. Thank you all.

--

Community Blessing

Tom,

You have called us by name and we are yours!

On this day of Resurrection we confirm what we have known and appreciated for a long time--your enduring presence and commitment to your God and us, your community of faith.

Thomas, you are Good News and you are etched in our hearts! On this day of Resurrection we confirm and celebrate the many gifts you share with us:

-A passion for peace
-Your concern for the poor and a desire to help lead us in service to the poor
-Your prayerful heart and love of knowledge
-Your open and seeking heart and the eyes to see
-Your laughter and Oh, that reverence you have for all Creation!

Tom, your gifts strengthen and encourage our gifts. We are grateful for your compassion and your friendship. Thank you for choosing to be with us as we strive to live the fullness of the Gospel Call and the Easter Promise. As a sign of our solidarity and support let us now lay our hands on Tom as we bless him with joyful affirmation.

Let us pray:

Loving and gracious God, Creator of forest cathedrals. You who give us the eyes to see You in every face and in every leaf, we ask your special blessing on Tom on this day of deepening commitment.

May Tom continue to grow in Your love and, with our encouragement.
May he continue to live his call of peace-making and home-coming for others.
May Tom's compassion enhance our compassion for all people--and for our beautiful earth.
May our walk, together with Tom, as followers of Christ, boldly proclaim an "On-Going Alleluia" of Holy Belonging and Abundance for everyone!

Tom, may you know now and always the love and support of all of us, your faith community here at Keystone.

Thomas, clothed in our Creator's dream and wrapped in the cloth of your community here in this we celebrate your presence with us.

May your "Yes" to God's Call and your "Yes" to us be good joy, good light, and good bread, for Penny, for your family, for us, and for our world.

And let us all say, AMEN!

Rise Again

2010-04-01T13:47:00.000-07:00

The best song written by the late folk singer Stan Rogers was one titled, “The Mary Ellen Carter.” The song is about sailors who are on board the boat the Mary Ellen Carter when it sank due to the incompetence of the leadership. Once it rested on the bottom, the owners and insurance company decide that it is cheaper to declare it a total loss. But the sailors who had worked and lived in the boat felt a special kinship with it and refused to abandon it. So they went into debt, gave up their time and risked their lives to raise the boat from the bottom. It is a guy’s song filled with basso testosterone but it expresses something that resonates deep within many who hear it. The chorus goes like this:

Rise again, rise again
That her name not be lost to the knowledge of men.
All those who loved her best and with her to the end,
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.

The Church has often in its two millennium made the resurrection of Jesus something between Jesus and God, or just between God. When we do that we make ourselves passive bystanders whose only calling is to believe in what God has done and try to get others to believe it as well.

But Resurrection isn’t a past event it is an active principle in the lives of those who embrace the path of God’s love. The life and death of Jesus shows us that living a life guided by the love of God is not easy. We are called to use self giving love as a tool to combat violence and hate, fear and greed. Not only is our task difficult it almost insures that we are going to get knocked down, literally or figuratively. This does not mean that we are masochists; it means that our faith calls on us to be realists. The Gospels show us that the path of Christ is filled with hostility and conflict. Getting knocked down is a part of engaging the world around us with agape love. That is where resurrection comes in.

We are called to be people who accept that the cost of following our faith will be the hostility of the World (Domination System), we expect to be knocked down, but we also expect to rise again, and again and again. The love of God as experienced especially in a loving and supportive community rolls away the stones that would keep us down. The love of God empowers us to rise.

Resurrection is what we do.

The last verse of Stan’s song goes like this:

“And you to whom adversity has dealt a moral blow
With smiling bastards lying to you every where you go
Turn to and put out all your strength in arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.”

Give Credit to Jesus

2010-04-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

This came in the mail the other day. I was disappointed that they forgot to include his middle initial, "H." Hmmm...I wonder what Jesus' credit score is.

What did Jesus buy in Lynnwood? And how long do I have to wait before it's legal for me to open his mail?

Holy Week Schedule

2010-03-30T10:45:00.000-07:00

Maundy Thursday - 7p @ Keystone Church, Battson Hall

Good Friday - 7p @ Keystone Church, Learning Center

Holy Saturday Vigil - 7a-7p @ wherever you find yourself for the time slot you chose. Didn't choose a time slot? Contact Brandon for more info (brandon.duran@keystoneseattle.org)

Easter Sunday - 10:30a @ Keystone Church

The Mental Health Chaplaincy Presents: Companionship Workshop

2010-03-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

Learn more at
www.mentalhealthchaplain.org

New Logo!

2010-03-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

We're pretty excited about the new logo designed by Kim Morgan.

Kim Morgan began her education at Brigham Young University. She is currently a senior in the graphic design program at The Art Institute of Seattle and will graduate in September of 2010. Kim wanted the logo to emphasize the inclusiveness and supportive character of the church.

Some interesting aspects to the logo:

-The image is comprised of various forms of the "keystone" shape. The individual shapes could symbolize the people of Keystone Church, who each bring their unique gifts to the community.
-The rough edges of the image could symbolize that our community is a work in progress. We are ever learning, growing, and being shaped.
-The open borders could symbolize the inclusive nature of the community
-The green could point to new life or reflect our "green goals"

What do you see?

You can view more of Kim Morgan's work at:
http://kimmorgangd.com/

Isn't There Another Way?

2010-03-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

***CAUTION SEMI-SPOILER ALERT***

The good guys beat the bad guys.

That's about the extent of the spoiler.

Now, as far as the rest of the film goes I only have one thing to add to the continuing conversation on this record breaking production.

It's too bad the film wasn't more creative.

Avatar knocks you over with its wildly beautiful world of Pandora. From the flora to the fauna and all the little bugs in between, the film presents you with a delightful immersion into a colorful and believable world. The native humanoid species to Pandora, the Na'vi, portray a rich, harmonious culture. Pandora becomes not only a world but a world-view that seems so appealing, at least until conflict arises.

Then the creativity ceases.

The final act of the film boils down to all out war between the resource ravenous, heartless corporate baddies and the sensitive, balanced, life affirming (at least when it's not the life of a baddie) goodies.

And in the end the message is one we've heard before. Killing the bad guys makes everything alright. After nearly two hours of exploring the Na'vi culture which seemed to be offering something different, we're brought back to the same tired solution, the myth of redemptive violence.

I was thinking of this film this past week as 2 Corinthians 5:18 was bouncing around in my brain. "God gave us the ministry of reconciliation."

Avatar seems to pick up on the sense of disconnect we can all feel with its portrayal of the Na'vi who can effortlessly connect with each other, past loved ones, and all of creation. Just not with their enemies apparently.

The verse gave me hope that there can be another way to respond to conflict and the separation it brings. There can be another way beyond fight or flight.

Perhaps it was a bit much to hope that a Hollywood film could illustrate this third way. Fortunately, the church has plenty of examples. My most recent favorite is found in Shane Claiborne's book, "Jesus for President." (No, he is not actually advocating for Jesus to run for office). Enjoy it. May it inspire you as you seek to embody God's ministry of reconciliation.

"One time Kassim (age 11) and I (Shane) were walking to the post office...We were walking down a narrow side street and some teenage guys started to follow us. You could just feel the mischief brewing, and the group grew from two young men to four to eight, until there was a little mob of sorts. They started calling out some names, throwing rocks and sticks, trying to stir up trouble. It's always hard on the spot like that to know what Jesus would do. I told Kassim, 'Let's go say hi.' he looked at me skeptically. We turned back and walked toward them, knowing full well that if we had run, we probably would have made it to the post office. 'Hey, I'm Shane. And this is my friend Kassim. We live around the corner,' I said with my hand out. They weren't really sure what to do with that. A couple of them shook my hand and introduced themselves. Others snickered. One or two refused the handshake. We said, 'Nice to meet you guys,' and headed back on our walk.

With the wind taken out of their sails a bit, they regrouped and continued to build momentum toward a brawl. They ran after us, throwing some rocks and bottles, and I noticed two of them now carried broomsticks from the trash. We picked up the pace a bit, and then I looked at Kassim and said, 'No, don't run.' We turned back, and before we know it one of them had clocked Kassim on the side of the head with a stick. I said firmly, 'Why would you do that? We haven't done anything to hurt you.' They laughed. Then they started hitting me with a broomstick until it broke over my back. At this point I decided to bust out a can of holy anger. I looked them in the eyes and said as forcefully as I could, 'You are created in the image of God...every single one of you. And you are made for something better than this. Kassim and I are followers of Jesus, but we love you no matter what you do to us.' That wasn't exactly what they expected or hoped for. They looked at each other, startled a bit. For the first time they were quiet. And then they scurried off in every direction." (-Jesus for President, pages 264-265)

Posted by Brandon

Keystone Goes Nationwide

2010-03-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

To those of you kind souls who listened to the radio show, thank you.

I wanted to share just one brief part of my experience. Mr. Medved was very pleasant personally. On the radio he repeated used the tactic of putting words in my mouth. What he said was so overblown that I found it kind of funny.

Something like, “We’ll be right back with Rev. Rich Gamble who believes that men with clubs should take the lunch money of school children to pay for pointless government programs.” (he never said that, that’s just my overblown version of his shtick). And then he would cut to commercial.

The problem was that some of the authors of the angry emails I received heard only Mr. Medved’s version of me and didn’t hear my words at all.

The biggest thing that seems to reverberate about the inner ears of the irate e-mailers is my desire to use force to take their money and give it to the government. Even though I thought was pretty clear that opposed all forms of domination (I used that word just for you guys)and violence.

When did tax policy become equated with force?

I would have loved to have had the time to delve into that issue more. Do these folks think that taxes should be voluntary? That brings to mind a very interesting world.

• Firemen collecting donations in their boots at street corners, not for hungry kids but for their salaries and health insurance payments. Or maybe they would just ask for payment in advance from people whose houses were blazing.
• The Marines could start baking cookies and go into competition with the girl scouts to pay for their uniforms and Humvees.
• Maybe we could get more donations using plaques, “this aircraft carrier was donated by your friends at Foxy News”
• Coin operated stop lights. It only goes green if you pay a dollar.
• We could have toll sidewalks, and streets.
• Policemen would have to hand out tickets and hope for tips to pay their salaries.
• Prisons could send you a picture each month of the prisoner you sponsored to help pay to keep behind bars.

The Christian Community in Acts voluntarily shared their possessions with those who had needs. They did not assess taxes. No force was needed because people freely gave. It was a model of compassion; not government, but it was a vision of what an alternative world not based on the me-and-mine-first thinking of the Domination System.

Certainly we should give all we can to set an example. But what happens when people do not freely give enough to ensure that there are homes enough and food enough and health care and education for all in a world ruled by the logic of domination? Should we as Christians advocate for taxes to support programs for the poor? Or should we shrug in the direction of great need wring our hands and say that we wouldn’t want anyone to be penalized for not paying a share to support people in need?

As I understand the call of our faith, the first mandate is deal with the needs of those in the greatest need first. Taxes should not be levied against people of very limited means (which is the problem with a sales tax) but for those in our nation who can afford it, taxes are a way to provide for the real needs of those who can't afford it. Another call of our faith then is to struggle with our elected officials to prioritize human needs in the budgets of our governments.

Taxes should also be used to save the wealthy from their addiction to wealth. The Bible has a lot to say about the wealthy being on the wrong side of God's justice. And the prophets have a lot to say about the coming destruction of nations which allow great wealth and great poverty to co-exist.

Concentrations of wealth eventually turn democracies into tyrannies. It is good social policy to tax wealthy people and corporations and share that wealth with those who are in need. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis said: “We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”

Taxation will be a big issue in the next year or so, as our state wrestles with a regressive and revenue limiting tax structure.

Stay tuned.

Rev. Gamble on the Michael Medved Show

2010-03-12T01:00:00.001-08:00

In case you missed Thursday's broadcast here it is (sans commercials). Enjoy.

Keystone Goes Nationwide!

2010-03-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

Listen in Thursday the 11th as Rev. Rich Gamble is a guest on the Michael Medved show (AM 770) in the 1p hour.

Rich has been invited in response to his op-ed piece about the WA budget. You can check out the article published last week in the Seattle Times through the link below.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2011248733_guest04gamble.html

While the budget is of great concern I'll be listening for a "Domination System" reference or two.

posted by Brandon

It's a Crime to Deny Health Care

2010-03-09T19:18:00.000-08:00

Keystone members joined in a rally organized by Health Care for America Now!, Washington CAN!, and others outside of Regence Blue Shield's Seattle offices today.

The effort was in response to the insurance company's 54% raise in rates in the individual market and 31% raise in rates in the small-group market since 2007.

Participants in the rally created a "crime scene" of chalk outlines and yellow tape to represent the atrocity of those who have died from treatable illnesses because they were denied health care.

As the legislature in DC continues to debate the legislation the community gathered today wanted to send a message that the need for health care reform is dire and urgent.

For more photos and videos of today's rally check out:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-Community-Action-Network/60169311827

For more information on today's rally in Seattle check out:
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1621710/KPLU.Local.News/Demonstration.Targets.Health.Insurance.Companies

For more on what's being done nationally check out:
http://healthcareforamericanow.org/

Editorial

2010-03-04T13:18:00.000-08:00

Here is the link to the editorial by Rich printed in the Seattle Times today.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2011248733_guest04gamble.html

Sermon Citizens of Heaven

2010-03-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

Lent 2 Year C 2/28/2010
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35
Citizens of Heaven
By Rich Gamble

If there is one overarching theme in the lectionary readings for today it is conflict. For any of us who believe that participating in a life of faith is all about avoiding conflict, the passages today help set us straight.

In the reading from the Gospel of Luke, Jesus is warned by the Pharisees, a religious class with whom he has had many conflicts, that Herod, a political leader is out to kill him. Is it that the Pharisees are truly interested in Jesus’ safety or are they just trying to scare him out of town? In either case there are layers of conflict here.

Jesus isn’t troubled by Herod. He is on the move towards Jerusalem and Herod isn’t going to slow him down. In Jerusalem he expects even greater conflict. He is going as a prophet to the city that he describes as the place that murders prophets.

So why is he going? Often our faith gets all mystical here but I hold to a more direct understanding of Jesus’ motivation. Jerusalem is the heart of the Jewish world. It is the place where the Temple sits, the heart of their religion. It is the capitol city of the nation, the heart of their political identity. It is the seat of commerce, the center of learning, the storehouse of records, and the upper rung of the judicial system.

Jerusalem is Israel’s heart and Israel’s heart is firmly in the hands of the Domination System, that system of values and beliefs opposed to God’s domination free order. The center of the liberating faith of Moses has been consumed by the forces of greed and fear and violence. The leaders have led the people in the wrong direction, a direction which will eventually lead them to their doom. And so Jesus is heading towards the heart of darkness, the center of his world, the place where the forces arrayed against the will of God are most concentrated and potent.

In the passage from Philippians, Paul lays out the conflict:
“For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The conflict is between those whose minds are set on earthly things and those whose citizenship is in heaven. These two parties are so divergent in their understanding of reality that Paul says of the opposition that their glory is their shame. The thing that they are most proud of is the thing that should be most embarrassing for them.

This conflict isn’t between two parties vying for the same goals but it is a conflict so profound that they have utterly and completely divergent value systems.

In the movie the Matrix, there is this wonderful scene in which the hero awakens to reality. He thought that he was living a normal life as a computer programmer but then he falls in with a renegade group. The leader of this group offered him a choice, two pills take the blue pill and go back to way things were, take the red pill and see things as they really are. The hero chooses the red pill and becomes aware of the true nature of reality. That true nature was that he was being deceived. The world as he knew it was a giant fabrication and in truth he was nothing more than a source of energy for a world run by machines.

In the movie, the moment that he became aware of this reality he ceased to be useful to the machines and so he is disconnected and flushed down the drain. But waiting there on the other side are others who have awakened and to them he is not waste product to be flushed but a new life. The imagery shifts from toilet to baptism.

In the evocative imagery of the movie maker’s art, we are shown two worlds sharing the same planet. Humans live in each. But these two worlds are diametrically opposed to each other. They are in conflict in such a fundamental way that there cannot be any middle ground between them.

This is what Paul is getting at in this passage from Philippians.

Paul speaks of one group as being focused on “earthly” things and the other as being citizens of heaven.

Often the church has painted heaven as that place with God arrived at by the faithful departed. But note here that Paul speaks of heaven as the place from which their savior is to come.

Ok so what does all of this mean for us?

Well one thing that these texts tell us is that conflict is part of the nature of living a life faithful to this particular God. Moses was led into conflict with Pharaoh, the prophets were led into conflict with political and economic elite of their day, Jesus was in conflict with religious leaders and political leaders and economic leaders. He was in conflict with the Jewish leadership and he was ultimately tried and executed by the Roman Empire. Paul’s churches were in conflict with unbelievers and those who believed in a different interpretation of what it meant to be Christian, and Paul too is eventually put to death by the empire of Rome.

Our conflict is ultimately with the domination system but since that system governs human civilization it means that we are called to be in conflict with our fellow human beings on a whole host of issues.

Politics, economics, social systems, religion, everywhere we turn, we run into human beings who are operating under the influence of the Domination System.

And the things the System values: wealth, the power to dominate, fame these things are not only things which believers do not seek but they are sources of shame.

What are we to do with this understanding?

We have two choices:
1. We can choose the blue pill and accept the fundamental values of the world around us. Within that choice we can be conservatives or liberals. We can be fundamentalists or atheists or anything in between. But fundamentally we stay rooted in the desires and dreams of the world around us. Or…
2. We can take the red pill and enter into a world in which there is no desire to dominate, no dream of wealth, no longing for luxury, and no willingness to sacrifice others for our security or ease.

The red pill world for us places us in profound opposition to most of the leaders of our religion, virtually all of the leaders of our government and economy, with our families, co-workers, teachers, and friends. This choice will place us in conflict with the dreams and desires planted in us as children and nurtured in us for most of our lives.

Conflict? Yes we enter conflict when we truly choose the path of Christ.

But this conflict is good for us and the world. This conflict helps us chart a path of liberation for ourselves and it helps show others that there is a real alternative.

It is in the very heart of this conflict that we find our hope.

As we have seen in the meltdown, the logic of our economic system holds the germ of its own destruction. As we have seen in our nation’s inability check the power of banks, or insurance companies, or defense contractors our political system suffers from the same terminal weakness.

Paul’s words: “Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.” seems more visible today then they did a decade ago.

But in our faith, Paul’s words were a call to a hope filled path. Jesus’ path though it led to Jerusalem and death was also the path of life and hope.

Conflict with the forces of violence and greed are part of the path of our faith but in the choice to live in a different reality the victory is already won. And that is good news.

Freely Bound

2010-02-24T17:03:00.000-08:00

Peg F. is Keystone's liturgist and a United Church of Christ member in discernment. In her paper, "Freely Bound" she shares her understanding of the core of our denomination, it's roots, and it's distinctive features as it looks to the future. Check it out, it's a great way to become more familiar with Keystone's wider community.

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"Freely Bound"

The general characteristics, Spirit, or ethos of the United Church of Christ can be summed up in one word: covenant. The spirit of covenant permeates everything about the UCC, including its theological and political perspectives throughout its history, its organizational structure, its relationship to the world through mission, and its experience of God within the “beloved community,” which the “Statement of Faith” names as “people of all ages, tongues, and races.”

The theological roots of the United Church of Christ are firmly planted in the biblical history of covenant, a binding contract between God and God’s people. The evolution of covenant can be found within the Hebrew Scriptures. The Noahic covenant was an unconditional promise from God to Noah, whereby God will never again destroy Earth with a flood. The sign of the covenant was the rainbow (Gen. 9:8-17). Through the Abrahamic covenant, God promised Abram and his descendants the land from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates (Gen 15:18), and descendents too numerous to count (Gen 22:17). The sign of this covenant was circumcision, making this a conditional covenant by placing responsibility on Abraham and his descendents (Gen 17:11).

When God gave the Law to Moses, the relationship between God and the chosen people changed forever. The people now must obey the law in order to receive continued blessing. However, the initial choice to do so was made freely and communally. Thus, they were freely bound, a concept important to the ethos of the UCC. This time, not only did the people pledge to God, but also to each other. The covenant now involved a commitment to relationship among the community, as well as to God. The story continued as Jesus renewed the covenant by blessing the wine on the night he was betrayed, saying, “This is the cup of my blood, the new and everlasting covenant.” As Christians, when drinking of the cup, we are reminded that we are in covenant with each other.

Covenant language disappeared with the theology of the early church, but resurfaced with John Calvin. Calvin’s understanding of covenant related to grace. From the very beginning, humanity “violated” the covenant of “works,” and God’s grace was the only thing that kept humanity in covenant. Therefore, Calvin contended, the “covenant of grace” did not begin with Christ, as many Christians thought, but existed with God from the beginning of human history (Walker 136).

At this point, covenantal history became intertwined with the history of the colonies developing in North America. The English “Separatists,” after having attempted to reform the Anglican Church in the Netherlands, decided that the church was too corrupt for reform. Later known as the “Pilgrims,” they sailed on the Mayflower to Plymouth, totally separating themselves from the church. The Puritans set out to “purify” the Anglican Church, and came to America a decade later to position themselves as a “City upon a hill.” The “Holy Experiment” that ensued at Massachusetts Bay brought John Calvin’s theology of covenant into the Puritan way of living, using scripture as a guide not only for one’s personal life, but as a way of living to be embraced on a political level (Theology and Identity 3-5).

Covenantal language evolved into the "Cambridge Platform" of 1648, the document that Charles Hambrick-Hambrick-Stowe calls the "Magna Carta of Democracy." Its words call for an order of society in which church and state “may both stand together and flourish, the one being helpful unto the other in their distinct and due administrations." This bold statement was resisted by a number of laity, who feared giving any power to the political realm. Yet, documents such as the “Cambridge Platform” show that the history of our nation is a religious history, and that the roots of the UCC are grounded in the same ideals that formed our democracy (“A Company of Believers”).

Covenant continued to be emphasized by the congregational churches that began with the Pilgrims and Puritans, and covenantal relationships are still important to the UCC today, although they are sometimes difficult to maintain. One of the tensions that exists between the spirit of congregationalism and the ideal of covenantal relationships is within the portion of UCC polity that calls for autonomy. Reuben A. Sheares suggests that UCC polity can be “described as a ‘covenanted relationship of autonomous units of church life.’” These autonomous units are within a larger web of units, or expressions, that compose the UCC, and are described in the Constitution and Bylaws, which Sheares depicts as a “covenant within the covenant.” He portrays it as such because it “delineates the relationship between autonomous units of church life, even as it regulates the General Synod and those instrumentalities relating to it.” Most importantly, the document reveals the covenant between the members of the Body of Christ “within” God’s covenant (Theology and Identity 72-75).

It is important to note that the UCC holds Jesus Christ as the “sole head” of the Body of Christ (“Preamble to the Constitution,” par. 2). Therefore, the various expressions within the UCC that are in covenantal relationship are not hierarchical, although they are within an organized structure. The General Synod is the representative body of the UCC, meets biennially, and is led by an elected General Minister. The expressions contained in the UCC are the local churches (congregations) that are components of the associations that comprise the local conferences, each led by a Conference Minister. Some conferences, such as the Pacific Northwest Conference, do not have associations within their structure. All decisions are made “in consultation and collaboration” among the expressions (Article III).

Within the UCC’s structure are “Covenanted Ministries” which carry out the work of the church locally, globally, ecumenically and through interfaith relationships.” The UCC is “an inclusive, multiracial, multicultural church, accessible to all, engaging in ministries of justice, witness, healing, teaching, and preaching.” The four ministries are “Office of General Ministries, Local Church Ministries, Wider Church Ministries, and Justice and Witness Ministries” (Article X). The instrumentalities are the boards and commissions that function within the various expressions.

The Constitution of the UCC declares that “each expression of the church has responsibilities and rights in relation to the others” (Article III, par. 6). Yet, the Local Church (Congregation) is the basic unit and life of the UCC. It is empowered to manage its “own affairs,” and “formulates its own covenants and confessions of faith” (Article IV. par. 18). In other words, each expression has its own set of responsibilities, and each recognizes those responsibilities, while honoring their place among the others. Each expression of the UCC structure is freely bound to the other.

The very fact that each local church is empowered to form its own confession of faith demonstrates how difficult it is to define a specific theology or set of beliefs held by the UCC as a whole. This difficulty is compounded by the ecumenical nature of the church. Congregationalism, stemming from the Pilgrims and Puritans, is only one of four “streams” that comprise the current United Church of Christ. The UCC is also comprised of “evangelical,” “reformed,” and “christian” movements.

The Christian tradition is the only one of the four that originated on the American frontier. Like the Congregationalists, the Christian Church embraced autonomy. Both denominations hailed freedom of religious expression and united in 1931 to become the Congregational Christian Churches. In 1934, the evangelical and reformed churches, rooted in the German and Swiss movements within the Protestant Reformation, joined to form one denomination. The union of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches became the United Church of Christ in 1957.

The evangelical background, with Martin Luther as its source, brought to the fore rich discussions of grace and justification by faith that influenced Protestant theology for centuries. Martin Luther struggled tremendously in his life because he never felt as though he could ever do enough to earn God's grace and to merit eternal life. He felt enslaved by the laws of the Catholic Church. In Luther’s attempt to reform the Church, he wanted others to experience the freedom he found once he gained insight into St. Paul's theology of justification by faith through grace.

Paul’s theology can be translated into covenantal language. Basically, God created us and will love us always. We do not earn God’s love, nor do we need to work for it. The love and mercy that God bestows on us is "grace." Because we know (have faith or belief) that we are loved and graced by God, we respond by walking with God and living in love with God and with each other. Grace transforms us so that we no longer need laws to tell us how to walk with God and each other. We walk in covenantal love, which for Paul, is a fulfillment and true heart of the law. It is when we do not walk with God and each other that we are in a state of sin, or separation. Thus, grace and covenant are closely linked. For Luther, the Christian is the free-est--bound to no one but God--and is also the one most bound to others in love and duty.

The Reformed tradition contributed the theologies of John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli, including that of covenant and Eucharist. Ulrich Zwingli said that "believers bring Christ to the supper in their hearts; they do not receive him in the supper." The focus is on the community and how they commit themselves to discipleship, and transubstantiation occurs within the worshipping community (Lindberg190). Zwingli's arguments were based on John 6:63, that by virtue of Christ's ascension, it is the Spirit that gives life and not the flesh (Lindberg 185).

Eucharist is one of two sacraments embraced by the UCC. Our current theology states that through the ritual of Holy Communion, the church celebrates the presence of Christ in the community, through which it is transformed. Frequency and manner of the ritual is decided on a local church level (Balaam 74-76). In most UCC congregations the table is open to all, for the radical abundance of God’s feast is for all to share. When we come to the table regularly, we are reminded of the covenant with God and with all Christians.

The second sacrament vital to the covenantal nature of the UCC is Baptism, which, through community ritual, welcomes a new member into covenantal relationship. Baptism, by immersion, sprinkling, or pouring, is a “central celebration” of unity in the church community. When a child is involved, the child’s family, including the church family, gathers to promise to nurture the child’s faith and union with Christ. Later in life, one can acknowledge for oneself a commitment to the body of Christ through Confirmation, or through a ritual celebrating membership.

It is important to re-emphasize that the autonomous nature of each local church makes it impossible to state that there is one specific formula of ritualizing that is standard. It is also virtually impossible to define a theology that is standard in every congregation, although there is a general non-fundamentalist attitude among UCC members. A progressive theology put forth by David Hambrick-Stowe sheds some light on this diverse ecclesial community’s understanding of its relationship with the world and its Creator (Theology and Identity 103-115).

Hambrick-Stowe emphasizes that the world and we who live in it, undergo a “beautiful, infinitely complex and mysterious change process,” and that this is intrinsically related to the Creator. Hambrick-Stowe illustrates that our God is a living God that “creates and responds to the whole universe in all its parts” infinitely and intimately. God is relational, and this relationship is symbolized in the Trinity, whereby God is not only in infinite relationships, but the essence of God is “intrinsically…eternally and essentially relational.” This relational aspect of God considers the importance of the entire cosmos, and how critical it is that a human centered traditional theology is augmented by an ecological theology that includes the precious world in which we live.

Hambrick-Stowe embraces the concept of “panentheism,” which suggests that “all is in God.” The underlying force of all that is in God is love. Through Jesus, who embodied that love, humanity is shown how the power of love can overcome evil, and that pain and suffering can be redeemed into “the larger harmonies and more creative adventures” that God continually has in store for God’s creation. His theology implies the covenantal nature of a community of faith. Furthermore, a community that embodies full relationship as shown by Jesus, is led directly into the church’s mission, which embraces human beings in all faiths and cultures, and reaches out in actions that promote justice and liberation.

Beatrice Wood, who was involved with the United Church Board for World Ministries, illustrates the UCC theology of mission (Theology and Identity 125-127). She indicates that our denomination, as one that strives for unity, needs to include in its understanding of mission those contributions made by people outside of our denomination, culture, and the borders of our nation. Furthermore, the best approach to mission work is no longer of a proselytizing nature, which, unfortunately, violated the nature of various cultures. Rather, it calls for a “participatory” model, whereby established mission churches work together with agencies to determine how our efforts together best reflect God’s vision of justice and peace. The pluralistic nature of the UCC invites opportunities for all to learn from each other’s theologies and cultures, including, but not limited to, those in our own country.

Wood equates the words “salvation” and “liberation.” Liberation theology includes diverse ways in which people express their theologies. Rooted in the liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt, the word now carries with it “the freeing message of the Christian gospel,” which calls all people to recognize that salvation is not for a time after death, where suffering and oppression are no longer, but the liberating message of the gospel is for right here and now. It involves not only a transformation into a new way of living peace and justice, but calls humanity to political action to bring it about. North Americans need to be aware that liberation theology challenges the very system of power within which the culture is embedded.

The UCC is absorbed in social consciousness, often at the cost of spiritual development. Many Protestants are strangers to traditional practices of piety and mysticism expressed in Roman Catholicism. Bengt Hoffman suggests that “the intellectual structures have prevailed over the inward aspect” that was so evident in Martin Luther’s monastic life (Maas 148). The Calvinist vision of the “City upon a Hill” truncated mystical inclinations with its focus on leading an exemplary life as modeled by Jesus. The deeply mystical side of Jesus himself has been de-emphasized.

Today, fewer people are stepping into a church building, claiming to be “more spiritual than religious.” Instead, they seek spiritual practices outside the doors of mainline Protestant churches. It is my experience that the UCC is among those churches that emphasize the intellectual forum and social reform rather than deep spirituality. Spiritual practices outside of a personal prayer routine and corporate worship might be rediscovered through ecumenical or interreligious connections, including practices evident in Catholic models, such as Ignatian spirituality.

It is spiritually critical to feed the congregation with corporate worship that embodies the movement of the Spirit. The weekly gatherings of the beloved community are the lifeline of the local church to its members and to the wider community. We gather for praise, we sing and dance, we remember that ours is a compassionate God, we recall our baptisms, we reflect upon the Word, we state our faith, we share joys and concerns, we offer gifts, and we share in the Bread of Life and Cup of Covenant. We are blessed and summoned to serve outside the doors of the building in which we gather. That ritual is vitally important to our basic human needs. When it embodies “full, conscious, and active participation,” the worship experience is richer and more Spiritfilled.

Also decided at a local church level is the use of the “Revised Common Lectionary” for corporate worship. The lectionary links the UCC to all of its brothers and sisters in Christ who share a common word. The scriptures, once hailed by the Protestant reformers as the sole authority of the church, are now embraced by the UCC as the words of a God who is still speaking.

The celebration of the liturgical seasons link us to universal truths through which humanity can fully explore and understand the deaths and resurrections of life which make up the human condition. We are globally bound through these cycles of the planet, and that realization demands that we seek covenant with all people and work to renew our commitment to the health of Earth.

The United Church of Christ is considered to be a progressive and liberal member of mainstream Protestantism, if not the most liberal and progressive member. This identity holds within it a responsibility to be a prophetic voice to a world that seeks unity. The denomination’s motto, “That we all may be one,” and the “God is still speaking” advertising campaign sum up the desire of this denomination to embrace its ethos of covenantal relationship. At the same time, the UCC’s balance of autonomy with covenant acknowledges that Christianity is a living and breathing entity through which the Spirit of God flows throughout and within every time and place.

Works Cited
-Bodin, Jan, Ted Braun and Tom Warren, eds. Balaam’s Unofficial Handbook of the
United Church of Christ. Cleveland: United Church Press, 2008.
-Hambrick-Stowe, Charles, and Daniel L. Johnson, eds. Theology and Identity: Traditions, Movements and Polity in the United Church of Christ. Cleveland: United Church Press, 2007.
-Hambrick-Stowe, Charles E. "'A Company of Believers Ecclesiastically Confederate' :
The Message of the Cambridge Platform." Bulletin of the Congregational Library at www.14beacon.com.
-Lindberg, Carter. The European Reformations. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing,
1996.
-Maas, Robin and Gabriel O’Donnell, O.P., eds. Spiritual Traditions for the
Contemporary Church. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1990.
-Walker, Randi. The Evolution of a UCC Style: Essays in the History, Ecclesiology, and Culture of the United Church of Christ. Cleveland: United Church Press, 2005.
2005 Edition of the UCC Constitution and Bylaws

2010-02-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

A Lenten Invitation

2010-02-22T19:39:00.000-08:00

Some weeks ago from this pulpit we heard the story of Jesus and his mother at the festive wedding reception at Cana. Rich gave what I thought was an uplifting and fun sermon about Jesus and the party-goers. As this story unfolded, we as community, were ultimately invited to explore and share our gifts. We were missioned by our pastor to go forth to surprise the world with random acts of kindness. I loved that morning in the pews, as I always do here with all of you. But that Sunday was particularly engaging for me as I listened to a delightful, humorous, and joy-filled message.

But in today’s reading from Luke, Jesus is far from a wedding hall, far from family and friends. He is at the end of a long, self-imposed exile prompted by the Spirit, a Spirit that has completely filled him, so much so that, at his baptism, according to Luke, the skies opened and “a voice from heaven was heard to say: ‘You are my beloved Son. On you my favor rests.’” Almost immediately after this even, Luke then tells us that he beloved is called away to be with his God and only his God – in the dry, rocky desert of solitude – Alone with the Big Alone, as we see at the beginning of today’s reading.

As I stumbled around in my own desert of anxiety, trying to prepare this reflection, I went on a whim to the Bible glossary and looked up the word, desert. To my surprise, this is what I found: Desert: -- “this word hold a major place in biblical thought: It is the desert that the people have experienced divine intimacy. The desert symbolizes the desolate sojourn of the times of trial. Jesus withdraws to the desert before beginning his ministry.”

This Spirit who loves Jesus so much, who loves us so much, draws us to that intimate time and space to adore us but also to work us over, so to speak. It is like God is saying: “You are so beautiful I can hardly stand it and I want you to go out into the world and love but Hold on Pard’, not so fast…there’s this shadow side I need you to look at and embrace before you head-on.”

In today’s Gospel the biggest part of the story focuses on the devil coming to Jesus after hi forty days with three over-the-top temptations for a very hungry fellow. This is high drama but for some reason I didn’t feel called to reflect on the temptations themselves. Temptation is a part of life. It is part of being human. It never ends. It is in the mysterious mix of out very existence, always on the sidelines ready and waiting for a spin on the dance floor, especially so when we are tangoing with our best selves, with open hearts. As my old mentor up on the reservation, Sister Ann, used to say in simple terminology: “Whenever things are going well and you are, with pure intention, striving to love and to do good, the ‘old boy’ likes to get in there and stir things up.” Annie’s more plain-spoken wisdom parallels a beautifully-written interpretation by Fred Caddock which connects to Luke’s desert scene. Although Jesus has come to adulthood and has been majestically anointed at his baptism, Caddock says: “The Spirit is leading Jesus but not jet to Galilee; the devil will not let him move that easily into the service of God. It probably was no surprise to Jesus, nor should it be to us: good news always has its enemies. Love generously and hatred will pull on boots and helmet; speak truthfully and falsehood begins to charm its auditors; live simply and extravagance sets up a carnival across the street; serve faithfully and self-interest renews its seduction of human pride.”

Our shadow is always with us and always will be. It is woven into our DNA. Big temptations, little temptations are part of our fabric and will play themselves out in our psyches in a myriad of story lines. Luke is really on to this because in his desert scene Jesus’ battle with the old boy ends with: “When the devil ha finished all the tempting he left him, to await another opportunity.” The beat goes on.

So that is why instead I want to zero in on those very first two, literally and figuratively, dry sentences from today’s scripyture: “Jeuss, full of the Holy Spirit then returned from the Jordan and was conducted by the Spirit into the deser for forty days, where he was tempted by the devil. During the time he ate nothing, and at the end of it he was hungry.” I want to explore a little more the reality of the forty days in the desert. What is this desert experience all about? God knows we have a need for it and God wants us there for important reasons. In wisdom and divine selfishness our God leads us to solitude in grand stretches and in smaller ways. – For God knows our human poverty and God loves us and wants intimacy with us. In the seemingly empty spaces, God will mold and shape, and at the same time reverence us right where we are at.

In the desert our spirit meets God’s spirit in a very human way. Under thehot sun there are good times and hard times with the One who wants us to become who we truly are and so desires to be in relationship with each of us. I keep thinking of the many scenarios that Jesus went through out in the barren land. At first there was probably the usual, “I don’t want to go there” resistance, perhaps an attitude of “What do I need this for? I just want to get on with the work.” Or, being the social guy that he was, maybe Jesus was thinking, “I get a little anxious when things are too quiet around me.” But in trust, I imagine Jesus got past this initial resistance and the growling stomach, and settled into some fabulous and fulfilling days of wandering through the mysterious terrain of discovery, touching into his gifts and laying down by his fire at night, looking up at the starry sky we seldom see in Seattle, awestruck in the emptiness, in the enfolding arms of his loving Creator. Continuing this sojourn there is no doubt that there were some big dust-ups between Jesus and His God out in the sand. Our God is a bit demanding for our own good. When we accept the invitation to solitude in faith and we have the courage to party with our distractions we will be forced to face and embrace our shadows and really look our wounds, our selfishness, our failing, our addictions and separation from others. This can be painful and harsh because of that old ego we all have, where we think we are center of the universe, or on the other end of the spectrum, we think that we are of little worth and beyond hope and change. This necessary holy face-off with our truth, is the on-going tempering God knows we need to respond to life with the fullness of our lives rather than react to live with reflexive selfishness and self-absorption.

I believe Jesus did not succumb to those very seductive temptations because of his relentless choice to listen with his heart to his God, because he had the faith to love and be loved by his God in the desert Unknown, the grand paradox that will nurture and embrace us, challenge us to our very core, and lead us to the Freedom to be uniquely and fully ourselves.

Perhaps on day 39 after resistance and awe and silence and struggle and emptiness and delight, Jesus might have prayed to his God this prayer echoed centuries later by another pilgrim, Thomas Merton:
“O kind and terrible love which You have given me and which could never be in my heart if you did not love me!
You ask of me mothering else than to be content that I am your Child and your Friend, simply to accept your friendship because it is your friendship. This friendship is Spirit.
You have called me to be repeatedly born in the Spirit, repeatedly born in light, in knowledge, Unknowing, in faith, in awareness, in gratitude, in poverty, in presence, and in praise.”

--This is God’s longing for our destiny—to live in the Holy One’s friendship and peace.—The is the path of Jesus, a deliberate walk—disciplined and yielding to the way of Generative Love—honed in the desert of reflection, sacrificial for the sake of life n day forty. In our solitude we find our freedom to submit to the way of Love in our daily relationship and speak the Truth to our collective shadow: The Domination System.

Dear Community, our Lenten journey is our invitation to the desert, our tradition’s call to follow God right to our blind spots, to turn from separation and embrace the Gospels. It is our built-in “time out” from our culture that is anything but reflective; a culture in need of compassionate, fully-alive and wise folk who have the desire and trust to enter into self-examination, contemplation, humility and the lonely spaces where God waits for us and grounds us for the sake of ourselves and for all creation; -Persons who transcend fear because they have responded to God’s invitation to look into the face of their character flaws, their darkest anxieties and elf-centeredness, embracing all that is there and allowing for the mystery of God to bring wholeness, healing and forgiveness; --Fearless companions because they live with certainty into the unconditional friendship of God whose love is bigger than all uncertainty and death.

Dear Community, these are the first of many days because Easter. This is our time to live our tradition with deliberateness and clarity of purpose. Will we really risk solitude this year and allow it a foothold in our daily living? The choice is ours to know that we loved and invited to live Divine Intimacy in wild and rocky grace.

Are you ready to go the way of Jesus? Will you go? I hope I can really do it this year—head off-road and be surprised, cherished a little, and unafraid to look where I dare not look. Indeed, there are brambles of judgment within me to trim, caves of complacency that need light, --and ego, always ego to ten and tame by the night fire.

Beloved, this is our time, it is necessary --- and it is good news.

-A sermon given by Rita P. on the first Sunday of Lent, 2010

Sermon, Transfiguring It Out

2010-02-19T20:03:00.001-08:00

Transfiguration Sunday year C 0210
Luke 9:28-36
Transfiguring It Out
By Rich Gamble

So much of my preaching and teaching is aimed at making the Gospel of Jesus Christ something that we can understand. Yes it is challenging to understand a call to live our lives outside the hold of greed and violence. Yes it is hard to incorporate the upside down vision of the realm of God into our everyday lives. But if we buy into the basic supposition that God’s realm can be experienced in the here and now, and that God’s realm is the complete inversion of system of domination that currently rules the minds and actions of humanity, then there is coherent logic to things that Jesus says and does.

But this story isn’t about understanding the Realm of God. This story of the transfiguration is about Wonder and Awe. This story has a glowing Jesus, a talking cloud and dead guys walking around. Frankly the story would have made more sense if it had begun with Jesus serving the disciples some questionable mushrooms.

The story tells us that Jesus takes Peter James and John to the top of the hill and there they have this otherworldly experience of seeing Jesus glow bright white. If that were not strange enough, they then see Moses and Elijah having a conversation with Jesus. How did they know it was Moses and Elijah in the days before photography or even portrait painting? The story does not say.

And if things were not strange enough the disoriented disciples hear the very word of God. Well it says that the voice came out of cloud but we are inclined to believe that if clouds start talking to us that it is the voice of God. God says: "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"

Simple direct statement and instruction. I like that about the cloud here. It doesn’t use a bunch of flowery language.

Glowing leader, long dead prophets having conversations, and talking clouds, it is quite an afternoon. If someone today were to report such goings on we might be inclined to say that they were delusional.

What are we to make of it?

When I was in the last year of college, I lived by myself in a small apartment in a rat and roach infested neighborhood of Kansas City MO. I went to class and I worked to pay for class and I walked. I was graduating with an English Literature major and had no job prospects and no clear idea of direction in my life. My girlfriend was in the process of discovering that she was lesbian and my close friends and family were in other towns. In other words I had a lot of time to myself.

To fill this time I would walk for hours. Being burly and naïve I did not worry about where or when I walked. I walked and I thought and at times I prayed.

I prayed for guidance, for direction, for companionship, I prayed that somehow the world would make sense to me.

One night as I walked I was overcome by a sense of wonder. I didn’t see any glowing apparitions. No long dead prophets walked with me. No clouds spoke. And yet, something filled me. I was caught up in the wonder of moment. Concerns about the future, about companionship, about meaning left me. All such things were crowded out by a sense of overflowing peace.

I remember that I stopped and reached out and touched the trunk of a tree, and I could feel the life flowing beneath my hand. I stopped at a dark alley and perceived something in the darkness and so stopped and waited. In a couple of minutes an opossum walked out and we stared at each other and I felt a bond between the two of us. During that night my concerns were replaced by joy and sense of peacefulness. I was in the moment and the moment was filled with wonder. As a whole when people start to talk about the mystical I get impatient because such talk usually seems to be a distraction from the social, political and economic ramifications of our faith. But in my life, I’ve occasionally experienced the peace that passes all understanding.

That, I think, is what this story is all about. Between dealing with the needs of the afflicted, the hostility of the leadership and the incomprehension of the disciples, Jesus takes a break to experience the wonder of Creation and the disciples get a peak. Even though they didn’t know what it meant or how to respond, still they remembered that moment when reality opened up to reveal so much more than they had expected.

Immediately after this story, Jesus and the disciples go down from the mountain to find a child afflicted by a demon, and the disciples unable to do anything to help. Jesus is once again thrust into the world of suffering, struggle and ignorance.

It should be noted that he doesn’t turn his back and go back up the mountain. He plunges into the work of healing and teaching. He returns to the path that will lead him to the cross.

As adults we sometimes have to work to take seriously the concerns of children. We know that in time the trauma of lost toys, bad hair, and homework will be seen to be insignificant but to the child at the time, it is all.

Elders can sometimes see the concerns of younger adults as small. Worries about status, style, career and possessions will grow small as we turn to face the implications of the end of our existence.

Our faith guides us to take seriously such things as human suffering and injustice. Because of our faith we find ourselves called to places we would rather not go, and into struggles we would rather avoid. But in the midst of anger and trauma, beyond the fear and anxiety there is always present the peace and serenity of knowing that the world as we know it is just a small part of wonder of existence. This peace we rarely if ever experience and if so, often forget but it is there.

The voice of God may thunder from a cloud, the wonder of existence may be felt through the bark of a tree, or in the clasp of a newborn on our finger.

We are invited to awaken to the wonder of existence which transcends the span of our lives linking us with those long gone and those yet to be. We are invited to awaken to see that in the midst of war and famine, suffering and death beyond the seemingly unstoppable forces of ignorance and greed, beyond the sadness of loss and the alienation of existence, that there is something …more. Something… wondrous.

Many try to sell us the peace we seek. If only we do what they say, buy what they sell, read their book, join their club, take their drug we will get there.

Our story of faith says that wondrous experience comes only as part of a life of faithful struggle to share the love of God. As we seek justice for the oppressed, food for the hungry, truth for those mired in lies, and peace for those brutalized by violence; so we may just stumble into a moment where the doors of perception are opened up to reveal the peace that passes all understanding.

We may live our whole lives and not have a mountain top experience but our faith says that it is there. We can’t manufacture it. We can only be open to it when it comes. But whether we ever personally experience it, we proclaim that the love of God is there, and it is broader than our ability to perceive, longer than our years, and more filled with wonder than we can comprehend.

And that is good news.

Taxes Unite!

2010-02-16T18:58:00.000-08:00

Olympia was flooded yesterday with nearly 10,000 citizens from all over the state of Washington. They came with a common issue, taxes. One might think that based on American history and our often exemplified love affair with finances that this group might be unified against taxes. This was not the case. While the subject of taxes brought citizens to Olympia, it was what to do about taxes divided this deluge of Washingtonians. I arrived as a part of the “Rally to Protect Our Future.” Our cry, “Yes on Revenue!” sounded a bit more appealing then, “More Taxes!” yet that was essentially our message.

In order to balance the budget with the its $2+ billion deficit Governor Gregiore proposed deep cuts that affected services for the elderly, reduced basic health care coverage, cut funding for university students, affected state workers’ salaries, as well as gouging services for the homeless, disabled and other vulnerable citizens. Representatives from these groups united at the capitol to oppose the cuts and advocate instead for new revenue sources. The 6,000+ crowd overflowed the capitol steps and demonstrated their passion as they cheered, jeered and took every opportunity let their voices be heard. I was impressed and surprised by the sheer number of people asking government to tax them (perhaps that's not how they saw it but I don't know how else to take it).

I cannot speculate on the varied motivations of the diverse crowd that gathered to plead with lawmakers to stop the cuts and find new sources of revenue. I know for myself, that I raised my sign high because I believe we must hold, protect, and cherish the vulnerable in our society. I’m willing to pay higher taxes if it will mean that the homeless, the poor, the disabled, and the ill receive much needed social services and health care. What’s more, I cheered loudly because I think that the members of Keystone believe as I do, that ultimately this issue isn’t about taxes, it’s about justice.

Posted by Brandon

Sermon: Transfiguring It Out

2010-02-15T23:15:00.000-08:00

To play the audio from the sermon press play on the video below.

The sermon text is Luke 9:28-36.

"Some eight days after these sayings, Jesus took along Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.

And while he was praying, the appearance of his face became different, and his clothing became white and gleaming. And behold, two men were talking with him; and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of his departure which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with Him. And as these were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, 'Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah'--not realizing what he was saying.

While he was saying this, a cloud formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is my son, my chosen one; listen to him!'

And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen."

Image by Kevin McNeal

The Ones that Got Away

2010-02-08T22:42:00.000-08:00

Today’s story is one I remember hearing often as a child. Our Sunday school teacher relived the tale with flannel graph. After sticking the people to the felt background we’d sing, “I Will Make You Fisher’s of Men,” a tune I still have stuck in my head.

But even as a child this image of fishing for people always struck me as odd. It made me think of bait, lures and hooks. I had a hard time connecting with this story. I asked Janelle what the story elicited in her and she said she thought of people heads on fish bodies wiggling about. This didn’t help.

But as I’ve been living with the story for the past week I have found new points of connection and I want to walk through the story with you.

The story begins after Jesus has been run out of Nazareth. The community there liked the message of good news for the poor, release for the captives, and freedom for the oppressed. They liked it up until the point Jesus mentioned that such newness of life was not only for them but for everyone, including their enemies. At this point they wanted to throw him off a cliff.

Jesus escaped the crowds and continued to teach the realm of God in both word and deed in the neighboring village of Capernaum. It wasn’t long before a large crowd had gathered pushing in on him from every side.

At this point Jesus sees a couple of fishermen cleaning their nets on the lake shore after a long night of fishing. Jesus convinces one of these fishermen, a man named Simon, to let me use his boat.

Now Jesus wouldn’t have been a complete stranger to Simon and his pals. Just prior to this story Jesus had healed Simon’s mother-in-law and I’m sure word of this wandering rabbi would have spread.

Once in the boat Jesus sets off a little distance from shore in order to teach the crowds. It’s interesting that at this point Luke (the writer of this gospel story) completely skips over the message Jesus was teaching. Instead, the story says that when Jesus was finished teaching he told Simon to go out into the deep waters.
Now this detail of the “deep water” might very well simply be Luke’s attempt to let us know the location where Jesus wanted to go on the lake. Yet this inclusion of this simple detail may also represent something more.

In the ancient Jewish world, water was often a symbol of chaos and deep water is often dark water. It’s in deep water where we often can’t see the bottom. It’s in deep water where we’re concerned about getting in over our head. Perhaps the deep water represents those places we would rather not go, the places of risk, discomfort, and uncertainty.

The call to go into the deep water sounds very much like something God does. God often calls us to go deeper; deeper in relationships risking vulnerability and intimacy; deeper into issues of justice risking the bliss found in just not knowing; deeper in our trust and deeper in our faith.

Deeper is where Jesus calls Simon to go.

Once in the deep water Jesus calls Simon to let down their nets. I can only imagine the sideways glances and sighs of the fishermen. They had probably fished this lake for many years. I’m sure they knew the best times to fish, the best locations around the lake. They had been fishing all night and caught nothing and now this wandering rabbi wanted them to send out the nets again. But then again, Jesus had healed Simon’s mother-in-law so they play along and lower the nets.

The story goes that as they pulled up the nets they were astounded with the catch. Their nets were on the brink of tearing apart they were so full of fish. As they hauled it into the boat the sheer weight of the fish nearly sunk their boats.
In a moment of awe Simon blurted out, “Master, leave me. I'm a sinner and can't handle this holiness. Leave me to myself.”

Jesus responds with the four words that comprise the most repeated command in the Bible, “Do not be afraid.”

And like a flick of a switch Jesus switches their profession with a turn of phrase, “From now on you will catch people.”

Perhaps this pronouncement foreshadows Luke’s sequel, the book of Acts, when Simon and the others will continue Jesus’ teaching and many people are gathered together as they catch this vision for this realm of God.

The story ends with these heavy laden boats coming onto the beach and the fisherman leaving it all behind to follow Jesus.

It’s at this point in the story that my heart is hooked; when it says they leave everything and follow.

I can only assume that as fishermen they had good days and bad days. Days when their nets were torn and they spent the entire day mending. And I’m sure there were days when they caught enough fish to feed themselves, their families, and maybe even some left over.

Yet on this day, this fantastic catch would certainly be a high water mark for them. The story sounds as though if there had been one more fish the nets would have snapped and the entire catch lost. Had one more fish jumped into the boat the weight would have been too much and the boat would have sank. The image is that this was the best possible catch imaginable and at this high point of success, they walked away.

I have to wonder what would have thought or felt as they let their catch get away. Would they have looked back over their shoulder as the catch lay upon the shore? Would they have felt a twinge of doubt or even regret? What would they have felt as they followed Jesus into the unknown, into the deep?

When the fishermen left their catch, they also left their nets, and their boat, in a sense they felt their very identity, their very role in that society behind.

One thing I can be sure of, no one would have said they expected this. Not a single one of them could have said, “Yeah, this is pretty much how I figured today would play out. I totally figured we’d catch nothing all night, quit for the day, then have some rabbi tell us where to fish and we’d bring up the biggest catch ever only to walk away from it.”

None of us can claim to know what we can expect out of life, much less out of a day. For we worship a God of possibility. We worship a God of surprise whose call can reorient our entire day, our entire identity. We worship a God of surprise, a God who, after a night of nothingness, brings forth a bursting abundance

But the story doesn’t end with the abundance; it ends with them leaving the abundance behind. It says they left everything and followed Jesus. What does it mean to leave everything and follow?

This idea of leaving all to follow Jesus is common throughout the gospels, and to be honest each time I come across it I’m not sure what to make of it. It seems overwhelming and in the face of such a daunting idea it’s tempting to believe this call isn’t mine. I mean, what am I supposed to do?

Does it mean Janelle and I sell everything and we take Winston and go into the wilderness like the ancient monks? Maybe, but somehow this feels like I’m taking it too literally.

So what does this calling mean for me, for us?

At the risk of sounding like I am singing someone else’s song I have to mention the domination system. We talk a lot about the domination system here. It is a way cultures orient themselves that seeks control, a mechanisms that seek to manipulate. It is a system of governance that defines power by the ability to force people to conform to one’s will; that defines significance by fame; and that defines wealth by what we can hoard.

Each Sunday morning in our call to worship we speak of coming out of this system. We say:

“Come from the world of extravagance for a few, which causes suffering for many…Come from the world of rich over poor, one race over another and one nation over all…Come from the world so full opinions that we become deaf to cries of those who suffer.”

Perhaps this coming out of the domination system is the “leaving it all behind.” But if I’m honest, sometimes it’s not that easy.

For just as the principalities and powers of the domination system want to take a hold of me and conform me to its image, sometimes I want to be embraced by it for all the empty, temporary privileges it promises. It’s a Stockholm syndrome of sorts, a becoming comfortable with your captor.

Let me give you an example. I remember the first time I saw a video on meat packaging slaughterhouses. If you’ve seen something like this, you’ve witnessed the savagery cows, pigs, and other animals can be subjected to by certain meat packing companies. After watching the documentary I couldn’t help but feel as though by purchasing these products I was contributing to this savagery. I knew I didn’t want to be a part of something so cruel, but at the same time, I like beef, I enjoy bacon. I felt a tension; perhaps you have felt a tension like this as well? Now I know that for this specific example, thankfully there are other ways to get meat products without the cruelty such as organic or free range farms. Yet this is simply one example of the tension I’ve felt in wanting to “leave it behind” and the temptation for the temporary privileges.

We live in a culture, a country of comparative wealth where at this time we receive many of the unsustainable benefits of the domination system. And sometimes it’s tempting to plead ignorance and stay in the shallows.

Perhaps leaving it all behind, leaving the nets full of fish, is a learning to let go of these unsustainable benefits of an unjust system.

Thankfully this calling to let go and follow doesn’t belong to any one of us in particular but to all of us as a community and together we will support, we will encourage each other as we will walk into this calling and follow Jesus into the deep.

Homelessness in Wallingford

2010-01-22T19:44:00.000-08:00

A few days back, a neighbor of Keystone posted a concern on the neighborhood blog "Wallyhood."

He said that he has seen homeless people sleeping in cars in the neighborhood and wondered if Keystone was attracting them.

Below is the response I sent in.
~
Not only am I the pastor of Keystone Church but I live one block away from the church, so I spend most of my time in the neighborhood. I have lived in the neighborhood for over 9 years. Long before Nickelsville stayed at Keystone, there have been homeless people sleeping in cars, vans and R.V.s in the area. Maybe the particular car you are talking about wasn’t here but homeless people have been in the neighborhood as long as I’ve lived here.

I agree that people shouldn’t take up residence on the streets or under bushes. People should have homes that they can afford. But thirty years ago the federal government slashed funds for building low income housing and spent the money in other ways (like tax breaks for the wealthy). Since then large scale homelessness has been a reality for cities like Seattle.

One way of dealing with homeless people in a neighborhood is to try to drive them away to some other neighborhood. Another way to deal with homeless people is to criminalize homelessness with a variety of laws and thereby incarcerate them.

Apart from lacking compassion, these strategies are not very effective. Ultimately, you cannot force people to obtain what they cannot afford. So we can pay a lot of money to provide affordable housing and support services or we can pay much more money to harass and incarcerate homeless people. It was in response to Mayor Nickels’ policy of harassment and criminalization that Nickelsville was born.

Right now the current policy seems to be a confused mixture of compassion and harassment. With homeless shelters largely full, and low income housing programs carrying long waiting lists there are no quick and simple answers.

One of the guys who used to sleep in his van in this neighborhood is now happily residing in an apartment which charges him 30% of his limited disability check. If we had more such apartments we would have fewer people living in their cars.

Currently, Keystone does not have any direct service programs for homeless people on church premises. Yet, we continually support local efforts to care for and house homeless people.