SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR 
Sunday, September 3, 2017
 
Jeremiah 15:15-21
Psalm 26:1-8
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 16:21-28

Contribute to the needs of the saints;
extend hospitality to strangers. ...
Rejoice with those who rejoice,
weep with those who weep.
                                                           -Romans 12: 13, 15

While tropical storm Harvey continues to dump un-imaginable amounts of rain on our nation’s fourth-largest city (Houston) and its surrounding region, scenes of terrible loss and desperation are all over the news.  You may be wondering if there is anything you can do to help.
I have good news for you:  you already have done some good, and we have some really efficient and effective ways to send more help.
In March and April of this year, we at Bethel received the annual One Great Hour of Sharing offering.  We contributed $360, this year.  And you can give directly to OGHS at any time.
On average, of every dollar given to One Great Hour of Sharing, 95 cents is used directly for mission programming, and the remaining 5 cents is used to create interpretation materials.  Administrative costs are paid by gifts to Our Church's Wider Mission National Basic Support.
“UCC Disaster Ministries is already gearing up for our long-term recovery work in the region and your contributions for Harvey survivors means providing community support for holistic recovery, repairing house and home for families and children and restoring dignity for the most vulnerable who have lost everything in the wake of this catastrophic event.” 

http://www.ucc.org/disaster_hurricane_harvey

Among our partners in disaster relief is Church World Service.  They are already positioning supplies for feeding people and flood cleanup where they can do the most good.  Church World Service is “in the initial assessment phase of [their] response.  Emergency Response Specialists are working with the National V.O.A.D. –  Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster – as well as the state VOAD in Texas as they monitor the damage from the storm.  We are coordinating with local partners in the Corpus Christi area to determine their needs.  A potential response would likely include small grants and other support for recovery efforts, particularly for vulnerable communities and groups including immigrants and refugees.   ...   Hurricane Harvey appeal funds will help cover the costs of processing and shipping these supplies.”
https://cwsglobal.org/situation-report-hurricane-harvey
 
I find the following devotional article , called “Super-Human,” highly relevant to this current disaster relief situation, as well as to our obedience to the gospel call in general.  It was written by Rev. Quinn Caldwell, who is the Pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church, Syracuse, New York. 
“… the flood would have swept us away,
the torrent would have gone over us;
     then over us
would have gone the raging waters.”
                                                             - Psalm 124:1, 4-5
Earlier this summer, two women visiting Panama City Beach in Florida heard screams and saw two young boys hundreds of feet out from shore.  They'd been caught in a rip current and couldn't get back.  There being no lifeguards on duty, the women went out on boogie boards to try to save them, and got stuck themselves.  Multiple other rescue attempts failed, until there were nine people caught in the water and in danger of drowning.
That's when the people on the beach realized that no single person was going to be able to save them.  This was a problem that was bigger than any one swimmer, even a strong one, could handle.  So one by one, then ten by ten by ten, they linked arms, forming a human chain reaching out toward the stranded swimmers.  And having made their human bodies into one huge super-human body, they plucked those swimmers from the waters and passed them back to shore.  Not one person died that day on Panama City Beach.
There are problems in this world that a body cannot handle alone.  There are situations that cannot be saved by a single person.  There are currents you can never swim your own way out of.  Which is why (please tell me you saw this coming) God gave us the church, the place where we link ourselves up, make our bodies into the Body, and perform miracles that none of us could perform alone.
The church doesn't exist for your salvation; it exists to give you a way to participate in the saving of the world.
Prayer:  For the strong arms of the one to my left and to my right, and for superhuman strength You give us when we're together, thank You.  Amen.

http://www.ucc.org/daily_devotional

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR
Sunday, August 27
Isaiah 51:1-6
Psalm 138
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:13-20

“...on this Rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”
- Matthew 16:18
Until I began to study the Bible seriously, I simply thought that this was another weird thing Jesus said.  I vaguely pictured “the gates of Hell” beating against a church building.
I learned that the word “church” actually doesn’t refer to a building, but to a gathering of people.
I learned that ancient armies would send groups of soldiers to attack the gates of a city they wanted to capture.  These soldiers would have shields all around them and spears and battering rams at the front, to attack the guards and smash the gates so they could get into the city.
So what Jesus was saying was that his gathered followers would be in the business of breaking into Hell / Hades for God’s sake.  Smash those gates !
 
So, church !  Who wants to go attack Hell ?

Our prison chaplains.  That’s who.

You know that Jesus said, “I was in prison and you visited me.”                (Matthew 25)
You know that we must pray for those who are in prison, as though we were in there with them.
(Hebrews 13:3)
Now I am asking you to pray for our prison chaplains, who go inside day after day to get the hell out of there— that is, to remove the hell and replace it with the Grace of God.
Here in Virginia, our prison chaplains are not state employees.  They are paid through a charity called GraceInside.          www.graceinside.org
GraceInside needs our gifts of money to pay the chaplains, and they especially need our prayers as they confront evil directly and batter against the gates of hell.
GraceInside’s Director of Development is Rev. Lynn Litchfield, one of our Shenandoah Association UCC Authorized Ministers. 
https://vimeo.com/195873520/1b6702d012?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=28749
Recently, Rev. Litchfield has begun sharing prayer requests with anyone who would like to pray about specific situations that our chaplains are confronting.  Here are a few:
Two of our chaplains with a combined forty years of chaplaincy experience between them have been banned from entering any of the state prisons, related to separate incidents.  Neither of these chaplains had done anything illegal or against the rules.  GraceInside is currently working to arrange meetings with the authorities to overcome the misunderstandings that led to these dedicated chaplains being put out of service.
† “The future of the Faith Based ReEntry Program may also be at risk.  This 100% successful program relies on some state funding that GraceInside has not been resourced to support if they decide to pull it.  We are concerned that Evil wants it closed.
† “We have several new chaplains getting settled in their positions.
† “Much of our leadership has also been under attack. We've endured everything from misunderstandings to electronic issues to human error and (non GraceInside) work crises as well as health crises for our staff and Board.  We have two women in our GraceInside family facing cancer diagnosis and treatment, as well.
† “Additionally, we'd love prayers for unity, clarity, hope, understanding, compassion and strong leadership moving forward.  
“We would like to invite you to pray intentionally for this ministry, for our people and for our purpose.  Our folks work in a world where Evil has a hold and darkness can be overwhelming.  We want to be sure we are consistently and constantly lifting this GraceInside Family into the light of God— for the darkness cannot overcome the light!

We would like to have an intercessory prayer team, too.  This team would consist of people who have committed to praying on GraceInside's behalf (whether at a stoplight on your morning commute or during your evening prayers).  I envision that we would notify our prayer team of specific needs (by email?) - and they could pray as they choose for those needs.  If so inclined, we could even organize a specific time for some to pray and/or a time to gather in prayer by phone or by spirit.
If you feel the Holy Tug on your heart to join our prayer team....” 

[contact me,
or subscribe through the GraceInside website to connect to this-
​Dan]

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR 
Sunday, August 20
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
Psalm 67
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Matthew 15:(10-20), 21-28

Jesus said,
“Every plant
that my heavenly Father has not planted
will be uprooted.”                 
                                       -Matthew 15: 13
I feel compelled to write today, because of this weekend’s events in Charlottesville.  I am sitting in a comfortable chair, after a nice meal, “away” on vacation... feeling somewhat guilty because I didn’t go to Charlottesville to help.
People from our sister church in Charlottesville, Sojourners United Church of Christ, took part in activities designed to gather folks to make a positive statement for their city, BUT NOT in the streets seeking confrontations with the haters from out of town. 
One member of Nancy B’s extended family was up above the scene of the hit-and-run car attack, taking photos for a news organization: he is traumatized by the violence and carnage he witnessed.
And two State Police officers died while serving to provide safety for the public there.
And one young woman from Ruckersville died there, standing up for love over hate.  Numerous other Charlottesville folks are hurting, healing from wounds they suffered on the streets.
Some White people continue to insist that everything would be all right if everyone across the South would just leave the statues of Johnny Reb and General Lee and General Jackson alone,
People of color understand all too well the statement of “history” embodied in the Confederate statues: the White first-class citizens in the Twentieth Century placed the statues as highly visible signs that the War Between the States had left colored people as second-class citizens— and the power, the very real threat of force, was in the hands of the White descendants of the Confederacy.  “Keep to your place in society and don’t try to change the balance of power,” the statues say to the Colored people.
I don’t believe in coincidences:  this week’s Scripture lessons speak of God reaching out to everyone in the universe with love and mercy.
†  Psalm 67 is a prayer that God will “Let all the peoples praise You” (verses 3 and 5)
†  The prophet Isaiah (chapter 56) tells his fellow Israelites returning from captivity in Babylon that God wants all people to unite in fellowship and worship together.  Isaiah proclaimed that God accepts and affirms people who are different in terms of culture, ancestry, and even unusual sexuality. 
Isaiah’s prophecy here goes against other voices in the Bible, such as Deuteronomy 23:1-8 and Nehemiah: those texts call for God’s chosen people the Israelites to keep themselves apart from people who are different by race and in other ways.
But when I read Isaiah 56, verse 7 jumps out at me: God says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”  As you may remember, that is what Jesus said when he cleared the commercial interests out of the Jerusalem Temple (Mark 11:17).  All peoples.
†  In our gospel lesson from Matthew 15, Jesus makes the point that human evil is not a matter of cultural differences such as religious customs, but rather of our hearts being in the wrong place.  After he made that point, Jesus immediately got himself into a situation where he had to live what he taught.  Although he insisted that “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” he accepted and affirmed the personhood and the faith of a woman from one of those foreign nations that were sometimes condemned in certain Scriptures of the Old Testament (15:28).
In fact, the overwhelming message of the Jesus movement is that God loves all people and calls us to love them all, too. 
†  In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he argues forcefully that Jews and non-Jews must get along for God’s sake.  God’s mercy is for all people (11: 29 – 32).
I am proud of our faithful sisters and brothers from Sojourners and other Charlottesville churches who held fast to the Way of Jesus.  I hope to become more like them.  Will you join me ?

[  sojourners-ucc.org  ]

SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR
Sunday, August 13:
Isaiah 40:3-5
Psalm 85:8-13
1 Kings 19:9-18
Romans 10:5-15
Matthew 14:22-33

You are in for a treat again, this coming Sunday, as Kam Stabler will be your preacher.  I just heard from him, that he has in mind to preach from Scripture texts other than what we would use if I were leading worship and preaching. 
These weekly opportunities to write about our walk with God are good for me.  I hope you get some blessing out of them, too.
​
The gospel lesson for this coming Sunday, Matthew 14: 22 – 33, focuses on the famous “Jesus walks on water” scene.  Do you remember this ?
[Peter said to Jesus, ] “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
He said, “Come.”
So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus.  But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me !”
Many preachers and authors have made much of this super-dramatic story.  Have you ever tried to imagine yourself in the place of Peter in this story ?
 
Would you ask Jesus to let you walk on the water ?
Would you dare to get out of the boat ?
Do you imagine that your faith would enable you to
face the strong wind ?
Would you cry out, as Peter did,
for Jesus to save you ?
 
Another Scripture lesson this week is 1 Kings 19: 9 – 18.  This is where we read of the great prophet Elijah facing the LORD on the holy mountain. 
If you could use some good Summer reading, you  might check out the saga of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel, which is found in 1 Kings 16: 28 – 22: 40.  Elijah’s story begins during Ahab and Jezebel’s reign, and many of Elijah’s most famous deeds of power occur while he is standing up to this evil King and Queen.
Elijah prophesied a terrible drought in Israel, and it came, starving and impoverishing the country for about three years. (1 Kings 17:1)
During the drought, God fed Elijah through miracles, first in the desert wilderness with food brought by ravens, and later in a town outside of Israel with a widow, whose flour and oil supply miraculously never failed. 
Elijah prayed for the widow’s son when he died, and the boy was returned from death.
Perhaps most dramatically, Elijah challenged King Ahab and the prophets of the idols Baal and Asherah to a duel by fire !  (1 Kings 18)  The worshipers of the false gods would sacrifice a bull and lay the meat on firewood, then pray to their god for fire.  Although they prayed and danced and did everything they could think of, nothing happened.  When it was Elijah’s turn, he also sacrificed a bull and laid the meat on firewood... and then had hundreds of gallons of water poured on top of it all.  Then Elijah prayed, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel, that I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your bidding.  Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back.”  Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the wood, the meat, and even the stone altar.  And the people bowed down and worshiped God.
But Queen Jezebel threatened to kill Elijah, and Elijah took off, running away through the wilderness.  In 2007, I was blessed to hear Rev. John Thomas preach a sermon called “On the Run” about this episode in Elijah’s career.  He said, “To be honest, this is not Elijah's finest moment.... [t]o be quite honest about it, in our text he is a pathetic, self-absorbed, whining figure... [with] a grumpy lament on his lips.” 
 
We have seen the prophet Elijah brave, and we have seen Elijah pathetic.
We have also seen Jesus’ disciple Peter brave, and we have also seen Peter pathetic.
Bethel people have seen Dan pathetic.  I hope that, at least in some fleeting moment, you have also seen me brave.  If you did— if I was— it was strictly by the grace of God my Savior.  God is the only One Who can save— as with Elijah and Peter.
 
Paul taught the Roman church that when one trusts in God through Jesus Christ, all things work together for good.  [I]f you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and trust in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  (Romans 10:9)   God can give us courage.
Let’s keep calling out to Jesus, “Lord, save me !”

SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY, JULY  30, 2017
Psalm 128
Psalm 119:129-136
1 Kings 3:5-12
Romans 8:26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 4-52

Jesus told his disciples,
“Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven
is like the master of a household
who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”         
​                                      - Matthew 13:52
That’s one of my favorite Bible verses.  It makes me want to be a scribe trained for the kingdom of heaven.    In ancient times, a “scribe” was a person who could read and write- when those skills were not widespread as they are now.  This verse also explains my overall fascination with the Bible and the history of our faith. 
Matthew the Evangelist may have had his first career as a tax-collector, but he seems to identify himself as a kind of “scribe for Christ.”  In Matthew 23, where we find Jesus in Jerusalem harshly criticizing the Pharisees and scribes who resisted his teachings, Matthew quotes Jesus prophecy to them, that God “will send you prophets, sages, and scribes” to convict them of their wrong.  (Compare how Luke 11:49 quotes Jesus on the same subject: “I will send them prophets and apostles....”)  Matthew’s gospel quotes the Old Testament Scriptures more heavily than the other gospels do.  He must have been an avid reader of scrolls and page-books.  And there are many other examples of Matthew’s interest in scribe-work as part of God’s plan. 
Today’s scribe has many more media to use in recording and then bringing out the treasures of God, compared to the scribe of Matthew’s day.  Matthew had papyrus reed paper, smoothed-out animal skins, and perhaps clay tablets to write on.  He had feather-quill and reed pens and possibly a wooden stylus to make his mark. 
Nowadays, in addition to many “print” media, we may record and bring forth messages through audio and photo and documents and video across the entire radio-frequency bandwidth, from sub-bass rumbling up through UHF and microwave transmissions and beyond.  The internet continues to churn with new and newer opportunities to communicate.  The World Wide Web “blogs” and “bulletin boards” of ten to twenty years ago now seem primitive in today’s universe of Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram.  We know a young man whose full-time job is helping libraries and museums retrieve the data that was “saved” in computers of the 1990s and before— as if it were some kind of ancient text dug up by archaeologists.
Our gospel lesson for this week transmits six brief parables that Jesus told his disciples (including the one about the scribe). 
Over a period of almost two thousand years, many scribes have hand-copied these little stories and passed them along on papyrus and animal skins, eventually in the 1400s giving over to the printing press.  In the 1800s came the photograph, telegram, telephone, and recorded sound.  With 1900 came the beginnings of wireless transmission.  In the 1930s and ’40s, mechanical and electronic computers emerged.  Now they are micro-miniaturized and they are everywhere. 
And now we “scribes” – people who can store away information and then bring it out again— have opportunities to transmit and receive Jesus’ messages in ways Matthew could only have seen in prophecy or imagination.

                                             (These are ancient Greeks. 
                           Jewish Matthew had a beard and more clothes...
                                          and he disapproved of pictures! )
 
The overwhelming rush of modern information technology may upset us and confuse us at times.  Reading Matthew’s gospel, we know that Jesus’ parables upset and confused his hearers two thousand years ago.
But the message in Jesus’ parables carries down to us, that God’s reign over our lives is a sheer miracle of grace.  Like a tiny seed that grows a large plant, like yeast rising in dough, like a buried treasure, like a pearl of great value, like a net full of fish, like a scribe accessing old and new wisdom....
The unfolding of Your words gives light;
    it imparts understanding to the simple.
                                              – Psalm 119:130