SCRIPTURES FOR 
The Ascension of Our Lord Thursday, May 30
Psalms 47 and 93
Acts 1: 1 – 11
Ephesians 1: 15 – 23
Luke 24: 44 – 53
 
for Sunday, June 2, 2019
Psalm 97
Acts 16: 16 – 34
Revelation 22: 12 – 21
John 17: 20 – 26

I thank you all for meeting with me in Elk Run Cemetery, this past Sunday. 
​I am aware that a lot of people can’t help but feel uncomfortable around a cemetery.  It does not bother me at all.  This is partly because I fully trust that Jesus Christ is victorious over death, so the dead cannot harm us, his people.  Also, Elk Run is a special cemetery because of the church site at its base.  Bethel is no better than the many churches that are surrounded by their old burying grounds.  If we had a cemetery by our own building, it would not give any good reason for anybody to avoid worshiping there.
On Sunday, we sang ‘Shall We Gather at the River.”  
It’s true, that there is a popular connection between this song and funerals.  But the words tell a happy vision straight out of the last two chapters of the Book of Revelation.  Its composer, Robert Lowry, wrote it on a very hot afternoon in July, 1864, when he was serving a church in Brooklyn, New York City.  Heat and exhaustion cranked up Lowry’s imagination, and the scenes described in the Revelation to John passed vividly before his eyes.
 
In Revelation chapter 22, the prophet John says,
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life,
   bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
   through the middle of the street of the city. 
On either side of the river is the tree of life
    with its twelve kinds of fruit,
    producing its fruit each month;
    and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 
Nothing accursed will be found there any more.              
                                        (Revelation 22:1-3)
This is such a beautiful picture— we can all appreciate it. 
If we take a moment to consider the day-to-day reality faced by ordinary people in John’s time, this vision of heavenly, pure, clear water becomes even more precious.  In those days, the wealthiest and most powerful people commanded the high places in the towns and cities.  They arranged for supplies of clean water for themselves, with the help of the best engineering available, plus servants at their command to fetch water from protected wells and springs.  Meanwhile, everyone’s sewage flowed in the public streets… downhill.  It flows downhill from the good real estate to the bad, making it hard for the less-well-off to have any clean water at all— plus, passing the filth and diseases of the mighty and rich down to the poor.
How glorious, then, that in God’s City, the pure, clean water is freely available to everybody.  Not only that, but God’s gift of water also irrigates the Trees of Life, helping them produce free medicine for all people.  It is not God’s will that only a few should enjoy the pure blessings of creation, while the many get crap.
                                       †                 †                 †

Now we are coming into the end of the Easter season.  Thursday this week marks the fortieth day since Easter, which is the traditional time to celebrate Jesus Christ’s “Ascension” into heaven. 
Besides myself, I wonder how many of you-all grew up reciting the Apostles’ Creed in church each week. 
I believe in God, the Father, the Almighty,
   Creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
   and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate;
   he was crucified, died, and was buried.
He went to the dead.
On the third day, he rose again,
   entered into heaven,
   and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again
   to judge the living and the dead.
The language about “he ascended into heaven” or “he entered into heaven” is ingrained in my imagination.  I love our UCC Statement of Faith, but this scene is not in it.  I feel that it’s important.
If at Christmas-time we say that Christ “came down from heaven,” we ought to give similar value to this moment, when Emmanuel (God-with-us) was received back into the presence of the Father.  So, this Sunday, we will dwell for awhile on Christ’s Ascension.
If you think about it, though, this day of Ascension was followed by nine or ten days when Jesus was “up there” but, at least according to Luke, the Holy Spirit had not yet been given.  Jesus’ disciples must have been feeling very strange anticipation.
All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer ....           
                                                    Acts 1:14

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY May 26
                             (at Elk Run)
Psalm 67
Acts 16: 9 – 15
Revelation 21:10,
21:22 – 22:5
John 14: 23 – 29

During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
                                      Acts of the Apostles 16: 9 – 10
 
When he saw his vision inviting him to Macedonia, Paul and his companions were doing missionary work in what is now the nation of Turkey.
Last year (2018), the region called Macedonia enjoyed an outbreak of peace and good-neighborliness.  People there ended a conflict between two regions which both wanted the name, “Macedonia.”  On June 12, the “Macedonia” that was formerly part of the Twentieth Century nation of Yugoslavia officially changed its name to “North Macedonia,” thus reconciling with their neighbors in the other “Macedonia,” which is the largest administrative region in the nation of Greece. 
Maybe you missed the news: the story didn’t feature anybody getting killed, or blustery threats and insults.
About one thousand, nine hundred and fifty years ago, Paul and his companions obeyed the vision and sailed to Macedonia.  As far as we can tell from the Bible, this marked the first time the Good News of Jesus was preached in Europe.  Also, this story is of particular interest within the Book of Acts, because at this point, the author, “Luke,” becomes a participant in the narrative:  in verse 8 he refers to Paul and his companions as “they,” but then in verse 10 he begins to say, “we.”  Paul, Silas, Timothy, Luke, and perhaps others set out to share the love of Jesus with folks who had not heard.
The city where Paul and his companions arrived in Macedonia was Philippi.  Although it was located in what is now the nation of Greece, in those times it was an extremely Roman city— a little Rome, in fact.  Military officers appointed by Caesar were its top leaders, and much of its populace consisted of Roman soldiers and their descendants.  But what Paul and his companions brought to Macedonia was the truth, that Jesus Christ is the real king over all peoples.  They began spreading their message outside the city walls, by the river, where the women went to wash clothes and relax.  It was there that a woman named Lydia made a commitment to follow Jesus, and was baptized with her entire household.  Lydia was not from Macedonia, but rather from what today is Turkey.  She was wealthy, a businesswoman, specializing in purple fabric at a time when purple dye was extremely costly, precious.  And the first thing Lydia did after giving her life to Jesus Christ was to invite Paul and his companions to set up a church in her home.
Thank God for people who cross borders, who try new things, and who strike up new and unlikely friendships. 
It was proud idolatry that led to the division of humanity into separate nations (Genesis 11).  It was the blessing of God’s Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost that cancelled that old curse (Acts 2).  Ever since then, God’s people have been skeptical of human borders and differing outward appearances.  In the victory of God’s peace and righteousness, God’s people will no longer fuss about which language a person speaks or the color of their skin or their gender, but regard and treat one another as fellow children of God.

This past weekend, we did not get to hold our Annual Meeting, which is provided for in our Church Constitution.  But in the run-up to Sunday, I enjoyed reviewing our Constitution and By-laws.  I feel it would be good to focus afresh on the part of our church Constitution called PURPOSE (Article II): 
“The avowed purpose of this church shall be to worship God, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to celebrate the Sacraments; to realize Christian fellowship and unity within this church and the Church Universal; to render loving service toward mankind; and to strive for righteousness, justice, and peace.”
​
It seems to me that, as we work to fulfill that purpose, we will receive these gifts from Jesus, which he promised in John 14: 23 and 27:
"Those who love me will keep my word,
     and my Father will love them,
     and we will come to them and make our home with them."
...
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. 
I do not give to you as the world gives. 
Do not let your hearts be troubled,
     and do not let them be afraid."

Scriptures for Sunday, May 12, 2019
Psalm 23
Acts 9:36-43
Revelation 7: 9-17
John 10: 22-30

MESSAGE FROM THE PASTOR
Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. ...
The Judeans took up stones again to stone him.
                                            - John 10: 23, 31
We hate to imagine places of worship becoming venues for violence.
This past Sunday morning, I was driving toward church, listening, as I often do, to the National Public Radio program Weekend Edition- Sunday. 
 
https://www.npr.org/2019/05/05/720376190/act-from-a-place-of-love-3-religious-leaders-on-the-recent-attacks-on-houses-of-
 
The host, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, was presenting interviews with three religious leaders concerning violence and security measures at their houses of worship.  A Christian pastor, Rev. Ronell Howard, of Christ United Methodist Church in Piscataway, N.J., offered the following thoughts.
“I think just how we blissfully go through life as a Christian church here in the United States, in most parts of the country not thinking a whole lot about safety, and now having to be confronted with it.  
“I remember in one group meeting, one person saying that they had a member who offered to pay for armed security on Sunday mornings.  And everyone was in complete angst around it.  ‘Oh, what would that look like?  And what would that mean?  And should the church do it?’  And all of that.  And I remember just saying, ‘Are you guys serious?  Black churches have always had armed security.’  And they looked at me so shocked, like, ‘Wait- what?’  I'm like, ‘Yeah, like, for as long as I've been in church, it has never been a given for black churches, that it wouldn't be bombed.  We think about Alabama.  
“It wouldn't be burned?  We think about Louisiana.
“That someone might not come in during Bible study and shoot everyone save one person, right?’
“So with that being the Black experience, I think the Black church is a bit ahead of the curve on security.  Whereas, in predominantly White spaces, it really comes as a saddening shock.  I think the feeling in the room was this sense of loss of safety and security that the people in the room had always kind of counted on.”
At this point, I want to call attention to my translation of John 10:31, at the top of the column.
In the Gospel according to John, the author uses the Greek word Joudaioi over and over again to refer to the people who opposed Jesus, mostly in the area around Jerusalem.  The word can be translated “Jews,” but it equally means “Judeans”— people from the territory called Judea, as opposed to Samaritans or Galileans.  Throughout the New Testament, it is evident that Jesus and his followers, though in the religious sense “Jews,” were labeled as “Galileans” by the people who gave them trouble, especially around Jerusalem.  Understand that Jerusalem is the ancient capital of Judea.  Judeans, proud of being citizens of the Holy City area, looked down on Jews from anywhere else.  In other words, they had an ethnic and regional chip on their shoulder: a lot like Yankees having an ‘attitude’ toward Southerners (or vice-versa), or like Whites being prejudiced toward Blacks or other people of color.  Judeans in the New Testament frequently accused people from other places of being religiously impure. (Look at John 4:1-45 or 8:48, to name two among many examples)
So, according to John 10, Jesus the Jew from Galilee told the Judean Jews that he was in fact the Messiah, the Christ, One with God the Father.  The Judean Jews accused him of “blaspheming”— slandering God— and they made moves to stone him and arrest him.  Somehow— John doesn’t say how— Jesus escaped from their violence.
Two thousand years have passed, and today we have religious violence across different lines. 
Weekend Edition- Sunday also interviewed Rabbi Toba Schaller in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“My community is feeling some fear and stress.  And we're working really hard as a community to act from a place of love rather than a place of fear.  We have had a sense for a long time that we were at risk because of hatred and violence against Jews and other minorities.  It definitely changed after the attack in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life synagogue.  And after that, our congregants got together and donated money to hire a chief of security for our congregation. ... But also, as Jews we believe in a concept, ‘mitzvah goreret mitzvah,’ that one deed of justice and love that God commands us to do perpetuates another, and that sins or acts of evil perpetuate more sins and more acts of evil and more negativity.  So it really is a Jewish value for us to respond to events like this with loving kindness.”
May we Christians match them in grace.