Lenten reflection from Neko Linda

I can’t say that I know what it means to believe in God.  I don’t pray daily, but when I do pray, I’m amazed at the outcome.  Not sure that I feel compassion in the way that Jesus Christ did or does, but his words in action ring true to what I feel is most loving and living within myself.

As a child, stories in the Old Testament tested my imagination, while stories in the New Testament made me wonder.

I believe that miracles described in the Bible are not just allegories.  Our ancestors were scientific observers to a natural world that few of us living today have ever experienced.  Words that we use to communicate are only harbors for reflections on the miracles that breathe life into an eternal ocean of forgiveness and continuity at every moment we are changing.  Action is the creative source that feeds.  Whenever we move, the movement from within ourselves will move out and return back to us again and again.  It’s a basic law of nature.

For personal meditation and reflection, the Bible scripture that brings me back to center is Matthew 7: 1-4

Matthew 7:1  Judge not, that you be not judged.  Matthew 7:2  For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again.  Matthew 7:3 And why behold the mote that is in your brother’s eye, but consider not the beam that is in your own eye?  Matthew 7:4  How will you say to your brother, Let me pull out the mote out of your eye and, behold, a beam is in my own eye?


Neko Linda

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Lenten reflection from Nancy Sales

Revelation 19: 9 -10

And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And the angel said to me, “These are true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down and worshiped at the angel’s feet, but the angel said to me, “You must not do that! I am a servant along with you and your comrades who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” 

“Worship God!” Well, isn’t that what I do? But not angels. Is that it? Do I do that? Maybe I do need to think about that.  With all the angels in Revelation (or angel imagery as a commentary says), we may be surprised to read, “I am a servant along with you and your comrades.” 

God alone is worthy of worship.  What may I be worshiping without really being aware of it? Some of my role models? My spouse/partner/friend? Habits? Power over others? This certainly does provide me with some challenges about my relationship with God and with other things.
       
May we all be blessed by the study of God’s word, personally and with others. 

Nancy Sales

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Lenten reflection from Dick Sales

Psalm 32:8 says “The Lord says, ‘I will teach you the way you should go…'”

Finding your feet in a strange land and with people like Mr. Cabe (that is ‘tsk-abby’ a Zulu name) can be unnerving. I was to visit his little church and take communion because it was not on any bus line and no Zulu pastor could get to it. When I arrived at the ramshackle mud and stick building that Sunday I knew nobody there spoke English and I clutched my Zulu service book and sermon and prepared to spend two or more hours wrestling with words unfamiliar and taxing. I do mean taxing. Any unfamiliar language is exhausting to use for a long time and the Zulu service book decreed two complete services, one for preaching and the other for communion. My labors would be nothing compared to my listeners trying to figure out what I was trying to say!

Then Mr. Cabe, the deacon, told me his grandson’s baby had died.Would I conduct the graveside service? Two and a half hours later, croaking because my vocal cords were all but paralyzed, I arrived at the site of the service. The baby was in an orange crate.The location of the grave was shale and the hole probably five feet deep by four feet wide in layered shale. Did I mention that I had never even attended, never mind conducted a funeral? I’d been in South Africa less than a year. Faltering, I began the service. I have no idea what I was saying or what they heard me say.  But the service book sustained us all because they knew it, probably only too well. Then came the moment to drop dirt on the makeshift casket. 

Nobody told me that you can drop a handful of damp soil down next to the coffin. In any case there was no moist soil. There was no soil at all. So I picked up a handful of shale and dropped it on the little box. It sounded like a small explosion in  my ears and I broke down and wept on Mr. Cabe’s shoulder. In retrospect I believe the family appreciated that show of emotion on the part of the pale youth who hardly made sense. But let me tell you by the next funeral I conducted, I had attended several and studied and learned more Zulu and been guided about customs and procedures. But I believe God lent me the grief I shared with those people that day. How does it go?

“Lead me, guide me, on the way…”    

-Dick Sales

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Lenten reflection from Lynn Phillips

Psalm 63 

 1 O God, you are my God, 
       earnestly I seek you; 
       my soul thirsts for you, 
       my body longs for you, 
       in a dry and weary land 
       where there is no water. 

David wrote these words while he was in the Desert of Judea. Can’t you just see him in that barren land seeking, thirsting and longing for God?  David is not unlike us, seeking meaning and a purpose in life; in effect, searching for God.

 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary 
       and beheld your power and your glory.

Again, like David, we have a sanctuary where we see the power and the glory of the Lord.  Beloved CommunityChurch is our holy place where we can discover meaning in our lives as we find, acknowledge and praise God.

There are so many ways to find God here on 41st Street – in the awesome music of our talented musicians, in the moving and relevant words of Pastor Angie and in the basement as Beloveds box and distribute Angel Food.  Our sharing sessions have yielded so many passionate pleas, moving testimonies and powerful prayers that it’s easy to see God at work then. I once saw God in a warm ray of sunshine that fell on me during a summer service.  Of course, you can always see the light of God in the bright eyes and smiling faces of the person in the pew next to you, across from you, behind you….

Lynn Phillips

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Lenten reflection from Dick Sales

Luke 13:29 “Then people will come from the East and West, and from the North and South, and will eat in the Kingdom of God.”

People used to think Luke was the beloved physician who accompanied Paul. These days all scholars will say is that he was an expositor of Paul’s theology. But there is no doubt that he approved of what could be called the ‘missionary enterprise’ that Paul launched into the world at large. For many years the enthusiasm for world mission was lacking but as the European conquests in Africa and Asia progressed so did the idea of world mission and in 1806 the first US mission was organized among the Congregational Churches and within a decade couples were sent overseas from America to India and Africa and the modern missionary movement was under way.

Missionaries have been blamed for exporting western values and there is some truth to the popular charge that “When they came they had the Bible and we had the land but now we have the Bible and they have the land”. But most of those early missionaries tried to give people what they thought was a world gospel and simply had no idea what ‘cultures’ were.To their credit by 1900 some of them had pioneered anthropology and many had called into question Christianity embedded in western ideals. Nancy and I worked in lands where the churches were strong and flourish also today.

In today’s world mission has changed dramatically. The nations have come and are eating at the table. Even in a country like Haiti we can trust the churches to deal with funds for healing the nation. In Africa, Asia and Latin America great lovers of Christ have become leaders after those early fits and starts. Desmond Tutu is one of a host of strong leaders. We can thank God for the beloved community that can be found the world around welcoming Christians of every size and shape to eat at table in God’s Kingdom .

Dick Sales

 

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Lenten reflection from Nancy Sales

Psalm 105
1           O give thanks to God, call on God’s name,
          Make known God’s deeds among the peoples.
2           Sing to God, sing praises to God;
          Tell of all God’s wonderful works.
3           Glory to God’s holy name;  
          Let the hearts of those who seek God rejoice.
4           Seek God and God’s strength;
          Seek God’s presence continually.
5           Remember the wonderful works God has done,
          the miracles, and the judgments God uttered,
6           O offspring of Abraham and Sarah, God’s servants,
          children of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah, God’s chosen ones.  
 
This psalm of God’s faithfulness to Israel begins with 15 verses so uplifting they, along with verses from Psalm 96 and 106, are quoted in the account of the ark of the covenant being brought into Jerusalem under David’s direction. (1st Chronicles 16:8-22).  The more I read theses verses in preparing this reflection, the more uplifted I feel.  Does that suggest that I might more regularly spend time reading the scriptures? No doubt there are good reasons some faith traditions include a psalm in weekly worship. In addition to giving thanks and praise for all that God has done and is doing, is any other response needed? In a commentary on this psalm I read, “Note that God’s grace called for the people’s responsibility as well as their praise…It involves both privilege and responsibility.” “Privilege and responsibility.”

That’s something to think about. What are the responsibilities that challenge us? I’m frequently aware that I do better in giving thanks to God in public worship than I do in letting persons I meet outside church know how great God is God’s grace and mercy. Others may be good at telling friends, family and co-workers what wonders God has done, but find it hard to join with brothers and sisters in regular worship. Why is regularly telling about God so hard for some? Why is being in worship regularly so hard for others? Could we benefit by sharing these difficulties and supporting each other? At least for me some help is also in verse 4. How do we seek God, God’s strength, and God’s presence continually? We’re advised that those words and phrases mean pray. That’s certainly another good reminder from this psalm.

Looking for variation in translations I found that Today’s English Version verse 3a really touched me. It reads “Be glad that we belong to God.” I have no idea why that is so different from the translation above, but I like the TEV so much I had to include it and how I respond to it. It doesn’t say that I belong to God, but that we do. The versions are similar in 3b. When I recognize that we all belong to God, I rejoice and want to encourage others to do the same.

Nancy Sales

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Where are we in the UCC?

By Dick Sales

Of course the biggest reason to be a part of Beloved Community Church is to be found right on 41st Street and 2nd Ave. South, and that is how it should be. But Beloved is what we are in part because we are also part of a larger group of churches known as the United Church of Christ, one of the newest and oldest denominations in America.

In the next few issues I’ll suggest some of the perks that we enjoy as part of UCC. First, did you know we are the direct descendants of the Pilgrims who came in 1620 to America in search of freedom to worship as they felt called to do rather than conform to the Church of England? And one of their ‘mottos’ was “God hath more light to unfold from the scriptures.” That doesn’t shock you because we today have modernized the old motto when we say “don’t put a period where God has put a comma.” The UCC encourages innovative ministry (did I hear somebody say ‘amen’?).

Those Pilgrims also pioneered. Through voluntary associations they started schools and colleges, missions to Native Americans and world mission based  in America. The Pilgrim churches became the Congregational Churches and spread through the northern states true to their name as each local church was responsible for its own life and the local churches gathered together to do things that one group couldn’t do alone. In the years before the War Between the States, many Congregational Churches were staunch abolitionists and, after the war, the American Missionary Association started hundreds of schools for the freed slaves, sometimes at great risk to the teachers.

When I came on the scene in 1956, I worked for a year in a church in Connecticut that had been in existence since 1679 before I went overseas to work in Africa where our missionaries had served African people since 1835. So we have one tap root that goes back four hundred years!

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Lenten reflection from Cindy Jones

Mark 2:1-12:  When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” – he said to the paralytic – “I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.” And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them.”

In reading the above scripture I started thinking what would happen today if Jesus came back to earth as a man. What role would I play? Would I be a betrayer like Judas, a doubting Thomas or a self proclaimed Paul? Would I be amongst the modern day scribes or would I be one of Jesus’ followers? Would I have the courage to seek Jesus out so he would put his healing hands upon me?  Would I have the faith to open my eyes and see?

Of course I will probably never know the answer to these questions but I can  surmise what I would do. As I read Dick Sales’ writing the other day I realized then that I play different roles depending on life situations.  There are times when I am at the top of Know It All Mountain.  When I am high on that mountain, life is exhilarating, each moment of the day is exciting and I have a vast amount of energy.  I feel God’s presence in every thing I do — and then comes the fall — into the depths of humility.  In the depths of humility, I am asking God, “where did you go?” although it is not God who has left, it is me who has forgotten to ask God to come along.

In closing I want to say I can only hope that if Jesus came to my door, he would be welcome and when he left, he would say that mine was a home filled with love. 

-Cindy Jones

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Lenten Reflection from Dick Sales

Luke 22:3 “Then Satan entered into Judas….”

There are two contrasting readings set for February 24th. The first is Job Chapter One, where God boasts that Job is the real McCoy, a truly good man. The other is the betrayal of Judas. And as I read them I couldn’t help thinking how human Judas seems and how unlike us Job is. Job rants and raves that he has done nothing to deserve his misfortune through forty chapters and finally the things he has lost are restored and he is chided by God for trying to challenge God. Job is justified and Judas is condemned.

A newly discovered document purports to be a gospel according to Judas and seeks to prove that Judas was the real champion of God by bringing to pass exactly what God wanted for His son Jesus. The Judas document, dating from perhaps the second century, shows that some early Christians found it impossible to imagine that a person who had lived intimately with Jesus for years could have had him killed.

I don’t buy that argument. I am just as likely to be a betrayer as I am to be a champion for Jesus. Years ago God called me to do something that I would never have done on my own while I was in South Africa. I did what I believed God called me to do in that apartheid land and was declared a prohibited immigrant there. But while I was doing this courageous thing I also felt the magic of the situation in my life and felt I could do no wrong. My years of feeling guilty rolled away and while in my exalted state I was tempted to seek to win a local lottery. I thank God it went no further. I lost and  later became aware that what I had done in the lottery was succumb to one of the basic temptations. I picture Judas as being awed by Jesus and feeling initially that he was ‘in the spirit’ and could do no wrong. Hadn’t Jesus said he was to be crucified? So Judas helped it to happen and then realized what he’d done.  This Satan within is alive and kicking and waiting for any of us to get that momentary rush of feeling that we can do no wrong, that we know a shortcut, that we can ‘fix’ it.  Only genuine humility can keep us from acting out such moments. I know that now.

Lord Jesus, help us; rescue us from the temptation from within and teach us humility in life and love.

Amen.

Dick Sales

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Lenten reflection from Priscilla Hancock Cooper

Psalm 91:2  “I will say to the Lord, My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

Psalm 91:9-11  “Because you have made the Lord-my refuge, the Most High-your dwelling place, no harm will come to you; no plague will come near your tent.  For He will give His angels orders concerning you, to protect you in all your ways.”

In November 2005, I was awakened by two men standing over me with ski masks and guns.  They demanded to know where drugs were hidden in my house.  As I tried to convince them that I didn’t know what they were talking about, they hit me, put a pillow case over my head, and tied my hands.  They moved me into another room, and I tried to reason with the one who was in the room with me. As I continued to pray and recite the 23rd Psalm. I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit come into the room.  The intruder’s demeanor and tone changed.  They left me alone in the room while they ransacked my house.  A horn blew and they left.  I was able to get across the street to a neighbor’s house.

Needless to say, this horrifying incident haunted me for years afterward, and I was not comfortable staying in my home alone, even with an alarm system.  Over the past few months, I have come to a deeper understanding of what God was teaching me.  Rather than living in fear, I now live in the true knowledge that God will protect me in any circumstance.  I know what David was writing about in Psalm 91, God has given his angels charge over me, and has protected me in all my ways.

Praise God.  Praise God.

-Priscilla Hancock Cooper

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