Eviction protest and the police

The Randolph Police had their first interaction with CityLife/VidaUrbana yesterday.
When the constable and the truck arrived for the eviction, there were 30 of us on the lawn, with signs, singing, chanting, praying.
Soon, police officers started to arrive.
One young police officer who arrived a bit later, said to the man holding a sign next to me: “What’s going on? Why are you here? What are you doing?”
Our fellow protester explained to the officer that Ketly, the homeowner, had been foreclosed and we wanted Fannie Mae to let her pay fair market rent and stay with her family until the house is sold to someone else. Also, we wanted Fannie Mae to consider, in good faith, an offer that a local non-profit has made to buy the house for cash.
Police officer nods his approval: “Good for you guys. That’s great.”
The Randolph police gave CL/VU an extra 2 hours past the deadline to try to make the deal. And they were almost as happy as we were when, 15 minutes past the deadline, as the moving truck backed into the driveway, the phone call came: eviction postponed. Fannie Mae will consider the offer.

communication, Coca Cola and the future

At Church Hill, we have a new communications group. I sat in on their last meeting. One of the primary goals that was mentioned in our winter focus groups is to attract more young families from the community and this group is working on that goal.
Shortly after that meeting, I was in another gathering, where I heard for the 10th or 100th or 1000th time, “it’s just not like it used to be. People just aren’t interested in church anymore. People are too busy. They just don’t care.” Followed by a big sigh and shrug of the shoulders.
And for some reason, I thought about soda. Coke, to be specific. And here’s what I thought:
When Coca Cola noticed that sales of one particular product have fallen off, and the company’s profits were not as rosy as they used to be, and share holders were getting worried, do you think that people at Coke were hanging around their cubicles saying things like: “What’s wrong with people these days? Don’t they know how delicious this is? Don’t they know what a great product it is? I love it just the way it is. Remember when everybody drank Coke? There are just so many competing products. What can we do?” Followed by a big sigh and shrug of the shoulders.
I guarantee you that this did not happen at the corporate offices of Coca Cola.
Wishful thinking and blaming consumers is not part of their strategy.
Instead, people at coke began to ask questions:
How have people’s beverage drinking habits changed? Why have they changed?
Do they prefer a different kind of flavor? Is the bottle/can too big, too small?
What kinds of beverages are becoming more popular? What will they want to drink tomorrow?

They did research. Then they asked themselves:
Do we need to change our formulas? Do we need to change our marketing strategy?
What can we do to bring consumers back to Coke products?
In other words, how do we need to change to accommodate these new realities?

And then, and here’s the pivotal point: they actually made the changes.

The people at Coke did not blame themselves or others.
They did not feel sorry for themselves. They did not give up.
They saw a need to take action and they did.

I don’t know what exactly was needed to make the changes. Retrofitting old plants? Building new ones? Changing personnel? Different management strategies?
The point it, they did what needed to be done so that no one today is saying, “Coke. I remember that. My parents used to drink it when I was kid.”

So that’s my parable. As Jesus used to say, “let those who have ears, hear.”

Flannery's Angel by Charles Wright

Lead us to those we are waiting for,
Those who are waiting for us.
May your wings protect us
may we not be strangers in the lush province of joy.

Remember us who are weak,
You who are strong in your country which lies beyond the thunder,
Raphael, angel of happy meeting,
resplendent, hawk of the light.

"The story of God's life with us is the deep landscape against which we begin to notice and recognize the mystery of love at work in everything." Mark McIntosh

Rejoice Over Everything

Just for today, in spite of everything still to be done - services not quite complete, gifts not yet wrapped, meals still unmade, errands still to run - I'm going to try to heed these words, just a tiny bit.

Rejoice over everything.
Exult. Exhilarate.
Be glad. Be delighted, elated, and bowled over with joy!

Frolic freely, hop, hope,
dance on the dare, cheer,
champion the little ones, revel in the riotous light.

Invoke God without ceasing. Pray with passion.
Whatever you do, do not quench the Spirit.

Take care not to douse or dampen the bold blaze in your depths.
Jump into life. Hold fast to it. Give thanks for everything.

For everything, even the most misshapen and misunderstood,
is the disguise of the divine.

Susan Virginia Hull

Noel
by Anne Porter
When snow is shaken
From the balsam trees
And they're cut down
And brought into our houses

When clustered sparks
Of many-colored fire
Appear at night
In ordinary windows

We hear and sing
The customary carols

They bring us ragged miracles
And hay and candles
And flowering weeds of poetry
That are loved all the more
Because they are so common

But there are carols
That carry phrases
Of the haunting music
Of the other world
A music wild and dangerous
As a prophet's message

Or the fresh truth of children
Who though they come to us
From our own bodies
Are altogether new
With their small limbs
And birdlike voices

They look at us
With their clear eyes
And ask the piercing questions
God alone can answer.

Luke 17:5-6

As you have heard next Sunday is our “Grow One Sunday”. And so during this week we are asking you to pray about whether God is calling you to grow one step in giving this year – Either by making a pledge if you haven’t done that in the past, or by growing in the portion of your income that you give. And to help us get started in our thinking and praying, let’s think about mustard seeds. (Instead of mustard seed, The Message paraphrase says “poppy seed” – most of us have probably had a poppy seed muffin or bagel, so we can picture what he’s talking about) So, let’s think about poppy seeds.

When I came to this story from the bible that is assigned for today, I had to stop and think for a minute and try to remember. What was going on that caused the disciples to say to Jesus, “Give us more faith”? I couldn’t remember, so I read backwards to see what had been going on. And the context is this: the disciples had just asked Jesus a question: with all this talk of forgiveness, Jesus, how often do I have to forgive someone who wrongs me? Seven times? And Jesus replies: no, not seven. Seventy times seven. You have to live life of forgiveness. Wow. That's a lot of forgiveness. No wonder the disciples said, “If that’s the case, Jesus, you’d better give us some more faith.” And Jesus answers them in this surprising way. “If you had as much faith as this tiny seed, you could say to this tree, “be planted in the sea, and it would obey you.” And you can almost hear the disciples, can’t you? "A poppy seed? Really? That’s all the faith we need? Well, I’ve got that much faith!" And that’s exactly the point.

The original text of this passage is in ancient Greek and Greek grammar can be a bit tricky. When Jesus says, “If you had faith as big as a tiny see…” it’s a clause according to fact. You know how we say, “Is the Pope Catholic?” It’s the same sort of thing – it’s as if Jesus were saying: if the sky were blue… iff birds could fly… If you had faith as big as a poppy seed… Which you do! You’ve got that much faith! And it’s enough. That’s enough faith. You just have to use it.

There is a story about Alexander the Great, the Greek ruler who created one of the greatest dynasties in history. A man came to Alexander, asking for ten talents. Alexander responded by giving him 50 talents. The man tried to stop Alexander, saying that 10 would be enough. And Alexander replied, “True, ten are enough for you to receive, but not enough for me to give.” Alexander’s giving had to do with who he was, not who the recipient was. His giving had to do with his own need to give. That’s the question for us today: How much do we need to give so that we can grow in faith?

There was a time in the life of the church when we made some serious mistakes regarding stewardship. Mistakes that have proven very difficult to undo. There have been times when we have acted as if stewardship is all about the church’s need to receive money. And in doing that, we have lost focus on the real meaning of stewardship as a spiritual practice. We’re trying to correct that.

You may have noticed that in recent years, when we start to talk about stewardship, we don’t usually say much about the church budget. Because as we talk about stewardship, to focus on the church budget, would be to miss the point, it would be to ask the wrong question. The question, in Alexander’s terms, is not “how much does the church need to receive?” As if God were waiting for a hand out from us. After all, we are a part of the church of Jesus Christ, established by God to endure through the ages.

And we know that this congregation that we’re a part of is doing great things – in missions, with baby kits and Father Bill's and our new church wide emphasis on housing needs. We’ve got a new Sunday School program for the kids and the Breakfast club for the teens and an entire youth group experience focuses on helping kids reach out to help others. We trust that, Chuck Frary has said about a thousand times since I’ve known him, God gives us what we need to do the work God wants us to do.

No, the question at hand is not how much does the church need to receive, the question, as Alexander asked himself, is how much do I need to give? That is the question for me and it is the question for you: How much do I need to give to be true to myself? How much do I need to give to be faithful to the God that I know in my life? How much do I need to give as a spiritual practice? For giving, at its best, is a spiritual practice that benefits us, the givers.

We have talked all summer and into the fall about spiritual practices. A spiritual practice is something that we do intentionally that connects us to God – to God’s creation – and to other people. A spiritual practice is something we do to create an open space within our lives, within our hearts, where God can come and dwell. And giving – regular, planned, disciplined, generous, giving is a spiritual practice that is foundational for all of us who want to follow Jesus. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism said it this way: earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.

Occasionally someone will say to me, “I don’t really need to make a pledge. I give whenever there’s a need – I give when they need money for Father Bill's or for the disaster relief or for baby kits. But I don’t want to make a pledge." And when I hear that, I think of how giving is like prayer. Many, perhaps most, Christians pray at certain times in our lives: When we are going through a difficult time, when we’re grieving or worried. We give thanks when something wonderful happens, when we feel blessed and thankful. And those prayers are so important.

But it is the other kind of praying that really bears fruit. Regular praying, every day, day in day out, in good times and bad times – but mostly the in the in between times. Praying whether we feel like it or not. Praying whether it seem like it’s doing any good or not. Regular, disciplined, planned praying – this is the spiritual discipline that opens the space in our hearts where God can come in and dwell.

And so it is with giving. Giving when there is a special need or perhaps when we’ve had an unexpected windfall is important. But it’s the regular giving, every week, every month – writing the check whether I want to or not, whether I feel like I can afford it or not, whether I feel changed by me giving or not, that eventually make the place in our hearts where God can dwell. You have heard testimonies last week and the week before from people about how their own giving, in some cases, their own tithing, has changed them. How they have been made different because they give. A greater trust in God, a deeper peace, a sense of being a part of something much greater than oneself, freedom from the power that money tries have in our lives. It’s different for everyone. But giving in this way changes us.

But back to the mustard seed or the poppy seed. Most of us who gather here are trying to come closer to God, to have some experience of the holy. We are trying to put that poppy seed of faith to use, and giving as a spiritual practice is one way which we do that. So my prayer is that as we prepare for our Grow One Sunday is that we would follow Alexander’s example, and ask ourselves, “how much do I need to give?” What is the portion that I need to give to open that place inside me where God can come and dwell? May God be with us as we put our poppy seed of faith to use. Amen.