Highlights from Mayflower Early Service 1-9-2011

Highlights from Mayflower Early Service 1-9-2011

Chris Moore, preaching

The Prayer of Confession:
Gracious God, as we enter a new year, we confess that for too long we have let the nature of our faith be dictated to us. And by rejecting religion the way that it has been presented to us, we end up leading an empty revolution that leaves us still wanting. We end up rejecting all tradition, all ritual and all experience in the name of rejecting the religion that we feel pulls us away from you instead of to you. Help us to find some balance. Help restore in us a sense of tradition and experience that calls us more deeply to you. Help us to find new ways to be baptized into your new life. Help us to be ready for a revolution that leads us to doors and arms being flung open, justice restored and life renewed. Amen.

Scripture Lesson Matthew 3:13-17 (Jesus' baptism by John)

Sermon Title: Ready for the Revolution

In the ancient world, few could swim. Bodies of water were places of death and chaos. When people were baptized by John, it probably was the first time that they had been under water, so it must have felt as though they were literally dying and being reborn.

When one becomes a minister, one takes on a new identity that may seem like a new life. Jesus' baptism signified his new life of ministry announcing the presence of the kingdom of God. It was the beginning of a new world based on repenting our old way of relating to one another and the way we lived and acted in God's creation. We are to live now as God has wanted us to live all along.

If we consider salvation merely an individual act of repentance that appeases a wrathful God saving us from his eternal damnation, then we have yet to undergo the baptism of Jesus. Only by repenting what we have done to exploit the earth and each other can we save ourselves and the world of which we are a part.

That is the revolution to which Jesus called us, which his life is the example.

Some Thougths on My Faith.

A few of my postings on Facebook about my faith statement.

The problem with the church is that it has become more concerned about who Jesus was and what we should believe about him than what he wanted us to be doing about his ministry and our work in the world.

I think we as Christians should be much more concerned about how we are acting in this world than what we believe doctrinally.

What Jesus challenged during his ministry was the "purity code" of his day that emphasized religious conformity and belief over righteous actions. The church has adopted the righteousness of the Pharisees establishing rules as to who is in and who is out of G...od's favor. Justice and righteousness have gotten lost in the squabble over whether or not someone believes the right way.

Jesus had much more to say about the way the rich treated the poor than he did about sinners. He was more concerned about social sins like poverty and the marginalization of the poor than he was about believing the right doctrine.

That is why I decided to leave the evangelical church and join a movement that emphasized a convenenting fellowship rather than a credal one. We really don't care in our fellowship what you believe. We care about the fact that you are living to create a just and sustainable world.

We figure that this is most pleasing to God.

Mayflower Congregation Church--Sermon Highlights: Rev. Scott Rennie, Guest Minister

Jesus the Sower
Note: This Sunday we had a guest pulpit minister at Mayflower, Rev. Scott M. Rennie of Queen's Cross Parish in Aberdeen Scotland, a congregation of the national Church of Scotland. As noted in the welcome printed in the church bulletin, Rev. Rennie's call to Queen's Cross was the first time an openly gay minister was called by a Church of Scotland, or Kirk, parish. His calling was the subject of a landmark case before the General Assembly of Kirk in 2010. The Assembly resolved to allow his call to proceed.

Guest Minister: Rev. Scott M. Rennie

Title of Sermon: WASTED GRACE

Scripture Lesson: Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23 (Jesus' Parable of the Sower)

Sermon Highlights:

The sower in Jesus parable was not your stereotypical thrifty Scot. He sows his grain indiscriminently throwing it on good soil and bad, even on the road itself. The sower reminds us of God who is gratuitously generous with His favors and blessings.

Some times Life seems to be a tale of wasted energy. We seek to help people who never seem to improve their living. We work for justice in our community, but justice does not come.

Whenever we sow the seeds of the kingdom, we never know where those seeds will take root. We do not always see the difference we make. We must work in the spirit of faith and hope.

We must imitate God's gratitous generosity and live in the hope that our efforts will one day take root in our world.

Personal Reflection: This sermon spoke directly spoke to me. Those of us in Oklahoma concerned about social justice often feel none of our efforts will pay off. We look at those who represent us in Washington and in our state government, and we see how they seek to deny all efforts to heal our environment or bring about real health reform.

It is difficult to labor in such poor soil, but labor we must and have faith that we will help bring about justice for all.

Jim Beals Journey of Grace Is Coming to an End

Some of my family got together during the last Southern Nazarene University Homecoming. Jim is the nearest on the left and his wife Becky, my sister, is across from him on the right
I have been informed that my brother-in-law Jim Beals is nearing the end of his 6 year plus bout with cancer. Jim is married to my sister Becky and pastors the Hood River Church of the Nazarene in Hood River, Oregon. Jim has put up a courageous fight as has his entire family, but he has now been checked into a hospice in Hood River and the family has been called home. I may be joining them soon. Jim wrote his testimony for something called "Relay for Life" which can be accessed here:Jim Beals "My Journey"

Credo

Church Steeple, Mayflower Congregational Church, United Church of Christ
This Easter Sunday, I was the Worship Leader at my church, Mayflower Congregational UCC. Among the duties of the Worship Leader is to deliver some personal remarks during a segment of the service called "Prayers of the People." I decided to offer my personal faith statement or Credo.

Some weeks ago, Rev. Meyers called for a renewal in the Christian church “comparable with that of the Reformation.” Consider this my own modest, very modest, contribution to that reformation. Don’t worry, I don’t have anything like "Ninty-Five Theses", just a brief testimony of my faith.

I believe in God because it seems to me that there must exist a Freedom that allows all other freedoms to exist, a source of Love that makes all love authentic. I don’t know if God is a person, but because I respond best to people, I regard God as a person. This makes my responsibilities towards God personal.

I do not believe that Jesus is God. I think that we can take a cue from our Muslim friends who affirm that there is but one God. I believe that Jesus was a man sent by God to show us what God is like and how we should live as children of God. Now, I may be wrong about this, and if I get chance to meet Jesus some time, some place, I’ll offer him my sincerest apologies. But I have a feeling that he would say something like, “That’s okay. That wasn’t the important thing anyway.” For it seems to me that too many people worry more about who Jesus was than they do what he taught about how we should live. Many say they want to be like Jesus, but not a lot of us seem to want to live like him.

And as far as I have been able to figure it out, the way we are supposed to live involves living lives of righteousness on a personal level and lives promoting justice on a social level. I do believe in good and evil. I believe that I have a moral responsibility to live in a right relationship to God and God’s universe. One family motto my wife and I have goes, "Life is a work in progress. (We hope!)" Righteousness is my personal responsibility, and I have an equal moral responsibility to Justice, to end or at least mitigate social sins, those evils that deny others their right to human dignity, evils like greed, intolerance, and racism. This is what I pray for when I repeat that part of the Lord’s Prayer calling for God’s rule on earth as it is in Heaven. I pray also for the courage to act on my convictions.

So there you have my Credo, not as dramatic as Martin Luther’s statement before the Diet of Worms. (I first heard that name when I was a child, and I’ve always loved it.) But this is the best I’ve been able to come up with so far, until I make more progress. I hope

Oklahoma Methodists Challenge Immigration Law

A United Methodist task force in Oklahoma is calling for reconsideration of House Bill 1804, the 2007 state law on immigration.

The group urges state legislators to revamp the law in their 2008 session and rallies the grassroots to express their opinions at the Capitol.

A formal statement was released Jan. 30, 2008, by members of the Oklahoma Conference United Methodist Immigration Task Force. The statement references biblical examples, Church resolutions, and written policy of the worldwide denomination.

I am glad to see faith groups getting involved in opposition to House Bill 1804 because that law has to be one of the most anti-Spirit of Jesus law ever written. One day we will look back on it and wonder how we could have so betrayed the Our Lord's teachings.

Faith group urges review of 2007 state immigration law

On Being a Politician

NPR: This I Believe

(Our church has been using the NPR Series This I Believe and the companion book as the basis for its annual Lenten Study Series. Rev. Meyers, our pastor, has encouraged each of us to write an essay describing some belief we have in 500 words or less. This is my contribution which I read at today's service as a part of my responsibility as lay worshp leader for that service.)

I eagerly await the day that researchers involved in the Human Genome Project announce that they have discovered the “Political Gene.” I can think of no other reason why some of us become so politically involved. I am one of those whose political gene is dominant.

My political tendencies manifested themselves very early. In 1960, I had my classmates in the 3rd grade vote on which of my two best friends would be my “very bestest friend”. Since I personally favored one over the other, and I knew my parents favored Nixon over Kennedy, I ran one as a Republican and the other as a Democrat. Thus I not only took part in my first campaign, but my first “push poll” as well.

It is easy to become cynical about politics in our time. In fact, that has long been the case. Aesop is supposed to have said, “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.” My childhood faith in politics and politicians has gone through many tests. For example, my first campaign in Oklahoma, was to elect David Boren as governor. Later I watched him as a US Senator vote to confirm Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, an action that Boren later said he, too, regretted.

Politics is like that: glorious one moment, appalling the next, very much like humanity as a whole. Politics is, after all, a human enterprise; therefore, we should not be surprised that it displays all of the generosity and compassion humans are capable of showing as well as the cupidity and cruelty endemic to our species. The same body politic capable of creating Social Security and Civil Rights legislation can also reward corporate greed and deny some Americans their rights because of their sexual orientation.

So why do folks like me, and many of you, keep at it year after year, election after election? I believe it comes down to our faith in the possibility of justice, the only true purpose for any society. After all, any political decisions from the school board to the federal government must be examined in the light of whether or not the choice enlarges the realm of justice. We should always ask this question, “Will or will not this action allow more of our citizens to enjoy their right to dignity?” For human dignity is the true measure of a just society. I also believe that, despite setbacks, defeats and occasional reversals, we are making progress towards securing justice for all. The task, of course, is far from finished. What justice we have achieved happened because a body of people, usually an elected body, had the courage to do a just political act. Because I believe in justice, I must to be political. Therefore, I am proud to say that I am a politician.