SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR Sunday, July 2
Psalm 13 and Genesis 22:1-14
Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18 and Jeremiah 28:5-9
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42

[Jesus said,]
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me,
and whoever welcomes me
        welcomes the One who sent me.”
                                                  - Matthew 10:40
 
First, a message from our Interim Conference Minister, Rev. Denise Mason Bullitt (dated June 23, 2017):
“Friends, in just one week we will fulfill the hope-filled wish of CAC’s late Conference Minister, the Rev. Dr. John Deckenback when we kick off the 31st General Synod of the United Church of Christ in Baltimore - the geographic heart of our Conference.  This moment would not have been possible without the enormous sacrifice and service of so many of you who have been faithfully working to bring it to fruition for the last 4 years.  While our words are inadequate, THANK YOU!   Thank you, one and all – for the tireless gifts of prayer, time, talent, imagination and MONEY ! 
I, on behalf of the Central Atlantic Conference Board of Directors, am eternally grateful for all that has been offered and will be offered over the next 12 days.  God is truly blessing us and the UCC because of the faithfulness of each of you.” 
 
[This Thank-You applies to us at Bethel because we have sent money to the Conference to help host the General Synod, as well as a separate gift of money to buy snacks for folks who come from all around the nation and the world to attend the General Synod]
 
Rev. Denise Mason Bullitt adds this invitation:
“All who are able, please plan to join us on Saturday, July 22nd, 11:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. for A Celebration of Thankfulness & Blessing at the new CAC offices in Catonsville [Maryland].  It will be our time to thank all you volunteers, prayer warriors, and financial underwriters for the gift of General Synod that you have given our church.  We will also officially bless our new offices and ask God’s ongoing provision for the work and service that happens in this place. 
In Christ !  (Denise)”
 
One thing the United Church of Christ stands for is “Extravagant Welcome” – going out of our way to show hospitality to people in Jesus’ name. 
 
This week, I won’t get to enjoy the great privilege I ordinarily do, of getting to proclaim God’s good news to you on Sunday morning.  Nevertheless, I have been reading the Scriptures that you’ll be dealing with.  They include these well-known lines: the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ (Romans 6:23).
You know what a geek I am, getting off the well-traveled trail and down among the weeds of words !   Here are some notes that I hope you’ll enjoy about the words in that famous verse.
“wages” – the word is opsonia, which literally means a cooked relish— meat and/or vegetables (usually onions)— that soldiers might purchase using money to go with the rations of bread that they would get anyway, just for being in the army. 
I imagine that Paul was comparing all of us humans to the Roman soldiers he knew, who got paid in both bread and money.  Because a diet of only bread is both boring and unhealthy, we go out and buy ourselves some opsonia to liven things up a bit... but if we get our opsonia by sinning, it poisons us.

“sin” – the word is hamartia, which literally means “missing the mark.”  When we disobey God, it’s as if God had given us a target at which to shoot our arrows (our actions), but we either shot in a totally different direction or we failed in our attempts to hit the target God was telling us to shoot.  Imagine soldiers or police, who are supposed to learn when and where they should shoot, but for various reasons, they may shoot badly, or shoot the wrong people or objects.  Shooting wrong has consequences !

“free gift” – the word is charisma— still in use in our English language today.  As a person may possess the gift of “charisma”— the gift of an attractive personality, the gift of being the kind of person people want to be around and follow— charisma meant a gift that one gets “naturally,” that is, without any effort on one’s own part.  The root word of charisma is charis, which is almost always translated “grace.”  Think of the quality of a gifted musician or athlete or dancer who performs fluidly and seemingly with little effort: gracefully.

“eternal life”— zoe aionios: literally, “life for the ages.” 
We are currently living in an age of birth and dying, of flesh and blood straining to mix with Spirit, but we pray,
​                            “Come, Lord Jesus.”

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR Sunday, June 18
(Fathers’ Day)
 
Psalm 100
Exodus 19:1-8
Romans 5:1-8
Matthew 9:35 – 10:23

This week in June, in most of the past eleven years, Nancy B and I were in Newark, Delaware, attending the Annual Meeting of the Central Atlantic Conference of the United Church of Christ.  We have gotten into the habit combining the business and fellowship and learning of the CAC Annual Meeting with a mini-vacation among family in Delaware and Maryland.
This year, everything is different.
This year, the United Church of Christ’s General Synod will be coming to Baltimore, right in the center of our Central Atlantic Conference, on June 30th.  WE, the people of the Central Atlantic Conference, are the HOSTS of this General Synod.  People from all around the country will be coming to Baltimore for this once-every-two-years event.  Leaders of our Conference have asked us to contribute snacks, or money to buy snacks, as a sign of our hospitality for these visitors.  I got permission from our Deacons to ask for a special offering next Sunday for this cause.  To be perfectly candid with you-all, our Conference leaders suggested that $80 would be a nice contribution toward snacks for a church the size of our Bethel.  If forty of us gave $2 each, that would do it.
 
Have you traveled to attend conferences or big meetings ?  This type of travel has some things in common with vacationing.  You go to someplace special and encounter people you wouldn’t find at home.  Perhaps the local food there is distinctive (in Baltimore during General Synod, there will be a crab feast).  Maybe the scenery or culture there is interesting (General Synod takes place by the Inner Harbor).  But the serious, dutiful participants in the conference have their fun before or after the official meeting time.  During the actual conference, the faithful delegates have genuine work to do, and they focus on that.
In this Season After Pentecost, our gospel readings are from Matthew.  This week’s passage serves as a re-introduction to the way Jesus and his disciples did their traveling business.  Jesus told his disciples, “As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’  Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.  You received without payment; give without payment.  Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.”
I picture the listening disciples nervously feeling their First-Century fanny packs, trying to imagine how they would fare without money or supplies among strangers.  (I have my own nervous giggle as I question the way I load my vehicles with books, papers, tools, and food for every trip.)

A few years ago at our Central Atlantic Conference Annual Meeting, the keynote speaker was John Dominic Crossan, a very famous New Testament scholar.  Crossan has written numerous books about how to understand what made Jesus’ Way distinctive in the First Century.  Crossan points out that Jesus’ practice of sharing a table with just anybody stood out like a sore thumb in the presence of both Jewish and Greek observers.  Prostitutes, tax collectors (who were collaborators with the evil Roman occupiers), and unwashed poor people— Jesus wanted to be with them all for meals.  And Jesus did not always supply the food, as he did when he miraculously fed thousands using a few loaves and fishes.  Rather, on most occasions Jesus humbly yet confidently dined on whatever his haphazard hosts offered.  And he taught his disciples to do the same.
In the UCC, we generally give our delegates to Conference Annual Meetings or to General Synods an allowance for travel and lodging.  In my experiences of these meetings, the event organizers have made preparations to be generous hosts, either feeding the delegates together in banquets or thoughtfully guiding us to reputable restaurants in the area.  And, usually, there are snacks.
When I attended General Synod 26 in Hartford, Connecticut in 2007, on the 50th Anniversary of the UCC, that local UCC Conference over-blessed us with homemade cookies.  Oh, how I suffered (!)  Sadly, that option isn’t allowed for this Synod. 
 
I mentioned above that this year, everything is different.  In my case, I long ago promised to officiate Maggie and Nathaniel’s wedding on July 1st.  That pretty much rules out my participating in this General Synod in person— but I hope to help feed our Synod guests another way.   Join me!
...since we are justified by faith,
​we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ....
                                                Romans 5:1-2

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR 
Sunday, June 11, 2017

Psalm 8
Genesis 1:1-24
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20


Glory be to the Father
     and to the Son
          and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning,
     is now,
          and ever shall be,
               world without end. 
Amen.
“Doxology” is Greek for “praise-words.”  This particular doxology is commonly known as the “Gloria Patri,” which is Latin for “Glory to the Father.”  The fact that these words have been handed down to us through ancient languages should tip us off, that people have been saying and singing these words for a long time. 
This Sunday, we will praise “God in three persons, blessed Trinity.”  Trinity is what we call one God Who is always Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 
[Hundreds of years ago in the English language, the word “Ghost” used to mean what the word “Spirit” still means today] 
The New Testament part of the Bible contains numerous mentions of God as Father, Son (Jesus Christ) and Holy Spirit.  Perhaps the most vivid of these is when Jesus gives his last earthly farewell to his disciples, according to Matthew 28:19-20 :
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.  And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
I myself especially love this one, from Romans 8:11:  If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you.
However, the word “Trinity” is not found in the text of the Bible.  A Christian teacher named Tertullian seems to have invented that word, some time before A.D. 200, to express that there is only one true God, Whom we address as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:  tri (three) + unity (one).
The classic creeds of the Christian faith try to help us express what it means for God to be Three-in-One.  The Nicene Creed, which was developed by Christian leaders between A.D. 325 and A.D. 381, says this:
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
      maker of heaven and earth,
      of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
      the only Son of God,
      eternally begotten of the Father,
      God from God, Light from Light,
      true God from true God,
      begotten, not made,
      of one Being with the Father;
      through him all things were made.
      For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
      was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
          and became truly human.
      For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
      he suffered death and was buried.
      On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
      he ascended into heaven
      and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
      He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
      and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
      who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
      who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
      who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.  Amen.

Yes, that is a lot to take in.  You might say it’s a mission impossible.  Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to seek God and give God praise and glory.  So in preparation for Trinity Sunday (and for the rest of your life), pray and contemplate our God the Three-in-One.
 
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR
Sunday, June 4
 
Psalm 104:24-35
Numbers 11:24-30
Acts 2:1-21
1 Corinthians 12:3-13
John 7:37-39

(Concerning all the creatures of land and sea:)
“When You hide Your face, they panic,
        You withdraw their breath
                and they perish,
                and to the dust they return.
When You send forth Your breath,
        they are created,
        and You renew the face of the earth.
                                      Psalm 104:29-30
The following comes from the United Church of Christ Calendar of Prayer:
Before Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, New Orleans’ Beecher Memorial UCC was not unlike many churches— modest in size, but significant in mission— with a century long tradition of providing educational and community development programs, and a vibrant gospel music ministry reaching 90 people a week.
Then the levees broke.  Its building drowned; its people displaced, and no endowment to draw on.  Meeting in a nearby church, attendance hovered at about a dozen.  They began to worship among the studs of their building.  Their large former choir became a praise team.  Their Bible study group met in a FEMA trailer.  They began a quilting ministry, and reached out to the homeless.  Every Saturday, they “walked” the community, greeting people, passing out flyers, praying.
And as they re-built, people returned— both those they expected and those they didn’t.  This historically Black church now draws on a much broader demographic— justice-seeking, spirit-filled, music-loving people of God who believe that God is still speaking and working amid the chaos and pain of New Orleans.  Beecher Memorial’s renewal has been supported by funds from Strengthen the Church special mission offering.
[Note: Bethel has not been supporting the Strengthen the Church special offering]
 
We all remember the miserable images of New Orleans’ destruction, which were shown on television day after day in 2005 and afterward. Darryl Lam went to the Gulf Coast on several mission trips, as did many other big-hearted folks, to help people there rebuild their lives and their homes.  Many other people gave gifts in a sacrificial manner, to bless those who had lost churches and homes, workplaces and schools to the flooding and the destructive winds.
Many of us questioned in our hearts, “Is there something wrong with those people, that they won’t simply leave the coast and start over again on higher ground ?”  As Paul Simon asks in his song, How Can You Live in the Northeast? : “How can you live on the banks of a river when the floodwaters pour from the mouth?”
There are a lot of choices we humans make, a lot of feelings that we feel, a lot of ways that we live which cannot truly be explained to other humans who have lived different lives with different surroundings and different influences.  As a pastor, I am challenged almost every day by how unlike each other we humans can be— even Christian people come in enough varieties to boggle our minds.
On the Day of Pentecost, fifty days after Jesus was crucified, his disciples were gathered together in one place.  These women and men had been praying and worshiping God together since Easter Day, coming to grips with the supernatural reality that Jesus had overcome death, just as he had told them he would do.
“[S]uddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.  Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.” (Acts 2:2-4)  God’s Holy Spirit was being poured out upon this diverse group of fishermen, housewives, tax-collectors, rebels, and who knows who-all !
If we church people will single-mindedly devote ourselves to praying to and worshiping the God who raised Jesus from the dead, we too may receive the weird and overwhelming gift of the Holy Spirit.  We may find ourselves doing things we never anticipated, with the power that fills us.
“Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people.”
                                                     Ezekiel 37:12