Transformers

One of the goals of the United Church of Christ is to change lives. That's a tall order! If you're not sure how that works, you might want to read this sermon.

Were you intrigued by today’s sermon title? What image came to mind when you saw that title? I imagine that the answer to that question depends on your age. If you’re my age (you know, old), you probably thought of electrical transformers: those big, silver cylinders that are mounted on power poles along the road. Their job is to change high-voltage electricity into a form that can be used to power items in our own homes. But if you’re a little bit younger, you probably thought of big trucks that turn into robots. Those kinds of Transformers are on the shelves of Toys ‘R’ Us, and on an animated TV show. Their names are Grimlock and Sideswipe and Optimus Prime; and in their fantasy world, their job is to fight evil. But there is another kind of transformer. Like the cartoon Transformers, they also fight evil; and like the electrical transformers on the power poles, they also channel power to people who need it. Who am I talking about? Why, it’s you: the members of the United Church of Christ. Are you surprised? You shouldn’t be! The most fundamental goal of our denomination is to transform people into the image of Jesus Christ – to change their lives – with the help of the Holy Spirit.

That’s a pretty tall order, but it’s what God calls us to do. And before we can help God transform somebody else, we have to clean up our own act. Paul says as much in his letter to the Romans (12:1-8): “Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought; but rather, think of yourself with sober judgement.” In other words, “Take a good, long look at yourself.” Are you the person that you want to be; or are you a little bit disappointed when you look in the mirror in the morning? Now, I’m not talking about physical imperfections. Sure, some of us might want a facelift or a tummy tuck. But the spiritual “you” that lies behind and beneath your physical appearance is a lot more important, even though it’s harder to see. So, what do you see when you look in a spiritual mirror? Do you see someone who is loving, forgiving, and generous? I hope that everyone here sees that. But way down deep, under the surface, are some old wounds lurking? Maybe you have some buried anger or resentment or prejudices. Don’t kid yourself: they’re ready to pop out when you least expect them to. It’s certainly that way in my own life; and maybe it’s the same in yours, too. Very few of us are what we want to be through and through. So let’s be honest with ourselves: we all need some transforming. Not one of us looks like Jesus Christ yet. When Paul says, “Don’t be conformed to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” that’s exactly what he’s talking about.

Well, Paul, that sounds wonderful. But how exactly do we do that? Are we supposed to go into our local Barnes and Noble bookstore and pick up a copy of “Christian Transformation for Dummies”? No, the transformation into the image of Christ actually begins somewhere else – and it’s a somewhere that’s so familiar that we can easily forget how powerful it is. The transformation that we all crave begins in worship. That’s because in worship, we encounter God. We don’t worship to connect with our friends, or to get away from the demands of the week, or even to enjoy the music. Those are all good things, and I hope that they all happen on Sunday morning! But if we don’t meet God somewhere in that process, we’ve missed the whole point. We can only be transformed into the image of Christ if we encounter God and let the Spirit work in our lives! That’s why I put such a huge amount of work into planning worship each week. Writing the sermon takes time, of course; but so does finding appropriate prayers, preparing the responses that we say, and choosing meaningful hymns. Praying, responding, singing: all those experiences are a part of the way that we can feel the presence of God.

Designing meaningful worship is a difficult task; because no two people encounter God in exactly the same way. I ask myself all kinds of questions as I plan for Sunday worship. How should I structure my prayers? What should I say during my sermon – and how should I say it? But the hardest question that I have to answer is what hymns to choose. Music has the power to bring us incredibly close to God; but there are all kinds of ways to do that. And the music that one person really loves will leave another one flat. Lots of people for example, are nurtured by hymns from their childhood. They learned “Amazing Grace” in Sunday school; they remember singing “Holy, Holy, Holy” to begin Sunday worship; and when they sing “In the Garden,” they feel Jesus standing right next to them! But other people, especially many younger ones, are different. They love the songs of Chris Tomlin and Jars of Clay and Rend Collective that they hear playing on Christian radio. They meet God through a whole different type of music – but it’s the same God working in their lives. And then there are the folks who love the old hymn tunes, but the words seem outdated to them. They are challenged by new hymn texts that are set to the music that they know so well. We all want to meet God in worship; but we always need to remember that others encounter God differently than we do.

But we can’t stop with our own transformation. If we only focus on our own spiritual journey, we’ve missed the other half of what God calls us to do – and that’s helping to change the lives of others, too! That’s why, on the heels of his advice for us to be transformed, Paul’s letter focuses on the gifts that God has given us. We don’t have those gifts for our own good; we have them so that we can give them away! Paul offers quite a list of gifts: prophecy, service, teaching, encouragement, giving, leading, and showing mercy. And I don’t think that Paul meant for his list to be exclusive. I could add a whole lot more gifts to that list: praying, organizing, preparing food, writing, and making music, for example. Even listening can be a spiritual gift! When we use these gifts on behalf of others, their lives can be transformed. Here’s how that works. When we show love, we offer an alternative to the hate that seems to be everywhere in our world. And our love may be the only love that some people get. When we share our resources – food, clothing, or shelter – we show people that someone cares about them. Many people don’t believe that anyone cares. And when we give others respect, they might even start to believe that they are worthy of respect! How that self-esteem can change a life! There is no person who is beyond transformation, no soul that is beyond redemption, no life that is beyond change. That’s because God has promised us the Spirit; and that Spirit can do miracles!

God has built transformation into the very fabric of creation. Caterpillars are transformed into butterflies. Seeds are transformed into flowers. And we can be transformed into the people God intended us to be, and help others to do the same. That’s what we’re all about in the United Church of Christ. We welcome everyone; we believe that God is still speaking; and we join with other Christians to spread God’s love and compassion to all people. I don’t know about the rest of you, but there is nothing else that I would rather do!

That They May All Be One

The official motto of the United Church of Christ is "That they may all be one." What does that mean, anyway? Where did we get that motto? And maybe most importantly, how do we live it out? If you choose to read this sermon, it might answer some of those questions for you

“A Hispanic, two African-Americans, a Jew, and a Texan walk into a bar.” You’ve all heard jokes that begin something like that. Well, this time, it isn’t a joke. I’m talking about real people. And the bar doesn’t sell gin and tonics! It’s a balance beam – or maybe a set of uneven parallel bars. Those five people are the US women’s gymnastics team that represented our country so well at the recent Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro! The Hispanic is Laurie Hernandez who virtually sparkled as she won a silver medal on the balance beam. The Jew is Aly Raisman, a veteran of two Olympic Games who took home silver on the floor exercises. The Texan is Madison Kocian who earned a bronze on the uneven parallel bars. And the African-Americans are Gabby Douglas, who won the individual all-around gold medal at the last Olympics; and little Simone Biles, who flattened the competition as she won the same medal at this Olympics. And while their individual medals are a certainly a cause for celebration, they are just as proud that they won the gold medal in the team competition. All of the gymnasts worked together to earn that medal. If even one of the team members didn’t do her job, the gold medal would have slipped through their fingers and been awarded to another team. While all those talented gymnasts have their own strengths, they all work together as a team to get to their goal of a gold medal. And they certainly achieved that goal in Rio! In a real way, they are all one.

The United Church of Christ also considers itself to be a part of a team as we work with other denominations to follow Jesus Christ and to serve the world in his name. We believe that we are stronger doing God’s work together than we could possibly be if we worked alone. The world has big problems, and we need to work together as a team with other churches to solve them. After all, nobody would play tug of war with the Ohio State football team all by himself; he’d go get some help!  We Christians can’t solve the world’s problems all by ourselves, either. And our belief that we Christians should work together is reflected in our official motto, “That they may all be one.” That phrase from the Gospel of John is even included on the UCC official seal, which shows the cross of Jesus Christ standing both in the world and over it.

In years past, we have taken that motto very literally. In the early years of our denomination, we hoped that Christian denominations would not only work together, but also join together and reverse centuries of separation. After all, the UCC is the product of four earlier denominations: the Congregationalists, the Christian Church, the German Reformed, and the German Evangelical. Our denomination was born in 1957 when all four of those churches joined to form the United Church of Christ. But there hasn’t been a stampede by other denominations to join with us. They have their own history and traditions, after all; and they aren’t eager to give those up. It’s hard to join with another church. Compromises have to be made. Why, just think about the compromises that have to be reached after two people marry! Which church does the couple attend (if they attend church at all)? Who do they visit on Thanksgiving and Christmas? Do they open their gifts on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day? And which mother gets them for the Mothers’ Day dinner? If you think that those decisions are tough, try making them for an entire denomination! To merge, churches have to answer questions like: What will our worship look like? How will our money be spent? Who’s going to be in charge? Those thorny questions, and many others like them, have prevented Christian denominations from joining together into one.

So, in more recent years, the UCC has joined with other churches in different ways. Instead of trying to squeeze everyone into the same mold, the UCC has tried to identify the strengths that are uniquely ours, and then use them as the UCC works as a team with other denominations. For example, we have always been champions of the underdog. Way back in 1773, for example, the Congregationalists helped Phyllis Wheatley, an African-American woman, publish a volume of poetry. Publishing the writing of an African-American, much less an African-American woman, was unheard of at the time. In 1817, they established the very first school for the deaf, Gallaudet College, in Hartford, Connecticut. And in 1959, after many television stations refused to show images of the civil rights movement, Everett Parker of the UCC’s Office of Communication won a federal court ruling that the airwaves are public property. As we focus on justice and opportunity for all people, we work with other denominations that have different strengths, allowing us to serve Jesus Christ in a variety of ways. But we are one big team as we do it.

We see this clearly at least twice every year as we join in two big events: the One Great Hour of Sharing and the CROP walk. Both are coordinated by Church World Service, a branch of the National Council of Churches. The spring One Great Hour of Sharing (OGHS) is an offering that is used for disaster relief in over 100 countries. When a natural disaster occurs, OGHS is there. Funds from OGHS helped rebuild after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, the earthquake in Haiti, and the volcanic eruptions in Indonesia. I imagine that they are in Louisiana right now helping the victims of the catastrophic flooding. And the fall CROP walk raises funds to help people worldwide gain access to nutritious, sustainable food sources. Working with other Christians as a team means pooling our funds, our resources, and our talents. And we do just that, every single year!

“That they may all be one” isn’t just a throwaway phrase in the United Church of Christ. It’s a way of life! On the widest stage, we are represented on the National Council of Churches and on the World Council of Churches. And right here in our area, UCC churches work with other churches to help in smaller ways. We are a member of the Milton Union Council of Churches, for example. We help to nurture teenagers in their faith through Young Spirits; we assist needy families with school supplies in the fall and food at the holidays; and we offer ecumenical worship services on Thanksgiving and Good Friday. We aren’t one big denomination. We’re Methodist and Presbyterian and Brethren and Episcopal and Disciples of Christ and many others that I don’t have time to mention. But we’re one in name; and that name is “Christian.”

On the last night of his life, Jesus prayed for his disciples; and for all people who would follow him, just like we do today: “May they be one, O God, even as we are one – I in them and you in me.” (John 17:20-23) That is our prayer, too, as we work as a team with many other Christians in many other places. So here’s the beginning of another great story: “A Presbyterian, a Methodist, an Episcopal, and a member of the UCC walk into a disaster area and offer to help as best they can.” That’s not a joke, either; it’s true! In many ways, we really are one in mission, one in service, and one in following Jesus Christ in this world. Thanks be to God!

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome!

One of the core values of the UCC is extravagant welcome -- a welcome for anyone, no matter who they are or may have been! Today's sermon considers what that might look like.

I wonder how many of you started to hum to yourselves when you saw the title of my sermon: “Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome!” That’s the title of the opening song in the musical Cabaret. The emcee of the Kit Kat Klub in pre-World War II Berlin sings it to welcome the patrons of the cabaret, as well as to welcome the audience to the show. “Welcome, stranger!” say the lyrics. “Happy to see you; hope that you stay awhile here at the cabaret.” Now, I raise my eyebrows just a little bit at the goings-on in the Kit Kat Klub during the show; but I can’t complain at all about that opening song. The emcee sings it in three different languages: German, French, and English. He makes sure that everyone knows that they are welcome, no matter who they are or where they are from. And that’s the job of the church, too: to welcome everybody, no matter who they are or where they are from.

Now, we’re representatives of Jesus Christ; and we all know that Jesus was famous for hanging with all kinds of people that nobody else wanted to come close to! He embraced tax cheats and misers and fallen women. He healed lepers and cripples and the blind. He talked to Romans and pagans and people who didn’t have any religion at all. Jesus welcomed everybody who wanted to listen to what he had to say! Pretty much every church says that they want to do that, too. The problem is that what we do often doesn’t match what we say. Lots of people just don’t feel welcome in church. They feel unwanted, regardless of what the Sunday morning greeters say. So back in 2006, the UCC came up with a TV advertisement that showed – in a humorous way – how those people feel. It begins with a mother in a large church sanctuary holding a fussy baby. The service is about to begin. The organ is playing softly; and some of the people in the congregation are clearly not happy about that baby. A hand pushes a red button; and the mother and baby fly up into the air and out of the pew. Next we see a gay couple sitting together in a pew. Boom! The same hand pushes the same button, and out they go. Next a Hispanic man shares the same fate; and pretty soon all kinds of people are being ejected from their pews, even someone using a walker. As the clip ends, a homeless woman slides into a pew; and we know what fate is in store for her. The title of the video is “Ejector Seat.”

It’s a very funny video; but the message is clear. Many people feel unwelcome in church! Those churches may say that they want children in the pews; but many folks really want them exiled to the nursery so that they don’t disturb the worship service. They say that they want to be multicultural, but when an African-American or a Hispanic walks in the door, many people are secretly very uncomfortable. And God forbid that a smelly, ragged homeless person should wander in and sit down on a Sunday morning! But we are the United Church of Christ, and we really do try to walk the walk as well as to talk the talk! We believe that “God doesn’t reject people,” and so we say to everyone who may want to join us, “No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here!” That’s offering an extravagant welcome; and it’s another of the core values of the United Church of Christ.

In fact, we try to be as welcoming as the father in the parable of the prodigal son! We all know that story (Luke 15:11-24). A kid with more greed than sense gets tired of waiting for his old man to die, so he demands his share of the inheritance right then. And what does he do? The kid goes Monte Carlo and books the penthouse suite at the Hilton. He buys the company of beautiful women, and he drinks and gambles all night, every night. Of course, the money doesn’t last! Pretty soon he’s living in the basement of a fleabag hotel and picking cans out of the dumpster so that he can sell them for recycling. There’s nothing for him to do but to go home and grovel, hoping that his old man will at least feed him table scraps. But when he comes limping home, why, his dad is so glad to have him back that he can’t control himself! He runs to that kid as fast as his feet will carry him and throws his arms around his kid – fleas, dumpster smell and all – and he doesn’t care a whit about the $700 custom-made suit that he’s wearing. Then he yells for the help to invite all the neighbors and get the party started: shrimp cocktail, beef Wellington, and baked Alaska!

We don’t often give welcomes like that. The Cleveland Cavaliers got one when they returned home after their recent basketball championship; and so did the first men who landed on the moon. But in church? Not so much. And the reality is that we couldn’t possibly welcome everyone that way. We can’t drop balloons and confetti every time that we have visitors in our worship service! But we can welcome those visitors warmly and honestly; and when we say, “I’m glad you’re here,” I hope that we mean it. I recently ran across recently a welcome like that. It was written by Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Community; and right under the customary “All are welcome” statement, it said this.

We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, y no habla Ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying newborns, skinny as a rail, or could afford to lose a few pounds. We welcome you if you sing like an opera singer or can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re “just browsing,” just woke up, or just got out of jail. We don’t care if you’re more Catholic than the Pope, or haven’t been in church since little Joey’s baptism. We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, and junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems, or you’re down in the dumps, or if you don’t like “organized religion.” (We’ve been there, too.) If you blew all your money at the dog track, you’re welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church. We welcome those who are inked, pierced, or both. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid, or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers, doubters, bleeding hearts… and you!

We are the United Church of Christ. God doesn’t reject people; and neither do we. No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you’re welcome here. And so is everybody else!