2.5.23 "Salt & Light" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Isaiah 58.1-12; Matthew 5.13-20

Jesus says to his disciples, you are the salt of the earth, and the light of the world … 

And then asks: what good is salt, if it loses its saltiness? … what good is light, if its covered up?

Salt is salt … light is light … they have purpose … it’s your purpose, says Jesus … so let it happen, let it be … don’t fumble it, don’t stand in it way, don’t mess it up … 

There was a time in America when the church was a powerhouse … after World War 2, Americans went to work, and they went to church … what we would call “mainline” churches - Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, American Baptists, Episcopalians … 

In the earlier part of the 20th century, megachurches came to be - historic Protestant Churches … tall steeples marked the landscape - 4th Presbyterian Church in Chicago, Riverside Church in New York City, Pasadena Presbyterian Church, and Westminster on Lake Avenue … 

The police showed up on Sunday mornings to direct traffic … such was the appeal, the power, the presence, of historic Protestant Churches throughout America … 

After the war, churches sprouted up throughout the suburbs … I was pastor of one such church in Livonia, MI - founded in 1951 … folks came in droves … multiple services.

A colleague of mine said, “We couldn’t have stopped them had we tried.” 

These were the program churches: musicals, mission trips;  pageants and potlucks … a lot of good was done, a lot of fellowship, enjoyed … but danger signs were present … in a society with turbulent undercurrents.

This church, 1961, welcomed Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to it’s pulpit for a Saturday morning visit to Pasadena.

Westminster took a stand in favor of school integration … 

And guess what …

Folks walked away from Westminster in droves - the membership drain continued throughout the 60s and 70s … and continued … for lots of reasons … so, here we are today.

From a recent article: 

… by 2021 the percent of Americans who claim to be “None” … is at 29% … only about 60% of Americans claim now to be Christians and less than 50% are members of a church. 

The article goes on: 

Many are leaving because they are no longer welcome. Because they have called out how their church acted; or because they don’t like their church’s stances on politically- and socially-important topics (like climate, politics, racism); or they despise how the church treats women and silences their voices; or who can get married in the church and who cannot.

So, here we are, 2023 … a magnificent building, a legacy sanctuary, a glorious organ … with hopes and dreams.

We will never again have thousands in membership … 

The Protestant Era in America is done … but the work of the church continues. 

God is God … salt is salt … light is light.

For Westminster, I see a revitalized presence in the community … centered in the power of this building, a gift from God - yes, the Tower still stands, and it’s up to us to flood it with light, and flavor it with salt.

It will require of us - inventiveness, experimentation … the discipline to let go of the past, thinking outside the box, daring to take some chances.

God will help us.

God will help us, when we engage in the central work of the church: worship, mission, and justice.  

When we sing to the glory of God, for all we’re worth - praise God from whom all blessings flow …

When we celebrate our story - a story to tell to the nations, that shall turn their hearts to the right, a story of truth and mercy, a story of peace and light …

When we take a stand for justice, make justice our mission to the world - and what’s justice, we ask? That’s the salty question. What is justice???

To make things right … to make things right for God’s world, God’s creatures, great and small … for people in war-torn lands, for trees and water, for the weary, and the downtrodden.

What’s justice? we ask!

Gun violence calls for some salt and light - America’s paralysis with regard to sensible laws and legislation. 

The NRA proclaims a gospel of private interests and personal rights - to own guns - arm teachers, police patrols in our schools, active-shooter routines, and more guns … more guns … more guns … 

Misunderstanding the Second Amendment … bowing down to “acceptable” violence and death, as if the violent death of children could ever be acceptable. 

When it comes to laws and legislation, nothing works 100%, but that’s no reason to have no laws and legislation. 

A doctor said to a friend of mine: “We can’t make you any better, but we can keep you from getting worse.”

Right now, gun violence is getting worse … the civilized world shakes its head.

I, for one, do not believe that “more guns” is the answer … I believe that common sense and a commitment to the common good can help us create common-sense laws that will at least keep us from getting worse.

What is justice? we ask.

Climate change calls for some salt and light … scientists agree - human industry has impacted the weather … yes, weather is cyclical … but human endeavor has added to the momentum of global warming - glaciers melting, earth exploited, air, and water, polluted.

Some christians proclaim a gospel of innocence … “god will never allow the worst to happen” they say. 

“It’s god’s purpose for humans to dominate the earth. 

So, go ahead and drill baby. Dig that coal and sink those wells … 

Tempting God, it what it is.

The devil said to Jesus … Go ahead, throw yourself off the roof of the Temple; angels will come to your aid and save you.

Jesus replied: Don’t test God with foolish behavior.

What is justice? we ask.

The diversity of humanity calls for salt and light - 

Gender, life, and love … 

Millions of people, their children and loved ones … trans children, trans adults, gays and lesbians … because gender isn’t binary, it’s on a spectrum from A to Z … 

A young man whom I’ve know for years has recently come out, as a woman - This is who I am, he said; I’ve always been a women; it was my body that went in another direction.

There are those who in the name of their god condemn diversity of gender and life … criminalize homosexuality, prosecute doctors and hospitals who work with families and trans-children … 

The Pope recently said, “Homosexuality isn’t a crime,” and I would add: it isn’t a sin either. It’s just life, in all of its complexity and glory.

What is justice? we ask.

Mounting anti-semitism, anti-Asian violence, the persistence of racism … 

American society is still tilted toward white privilege and power  … millions of children are robbed of a fair chance at life … schools underfunded … private schools, charter schools, home-schooling - so much of it empowered by racism, the protection of white privilege, religious bigotry, even as corporate interests smell money in all of this.

What is justice? we ask.

You are the salt of the earth, the light of the world.

I’m grateful … grateful for the moment in which we live … it’s a challenge, for sure … even frightening, some of the time, but in just such a moment, we have the opportunity to forge something new, something fit for the future … a new paradigm of faith, hope, and love … to be the church of Jesus Christ, all over again, anew, forever and a day.

Brave and bold as our forebears … to meet the challenge of the day … engage the world, seek the kingdom of God.

The Spirit is powerful … to lift our hearts and minds to the possibilities of greatness … great with love, great with courage and innovation, great with humility and kindness, great in the ways and wonders of justice.

Yes, the Tower on Lake Avenue still stands.

You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the world. 

Hallelujah and Amen!

May 22, 2022, "Ford Every Stream" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena

 Psalm 67; John 14.25-29

I love to read Zane Gray novels … stories of the "old west" - more fiction than fact, but still fun to read.

Stories of huge cattle drives ... the constant search for water, forage … safety … and those rare and difficult rivers - how to cross a river ... 

If the water's too high, bed down the cattle - wait for the water to drop ... sometimes, last year's crossing changed during the winter, so another place has to be found ... 

None of it easy; all of it demanding ... and every bit of it, dangerous.

But the work pays off … there's always a place to cross the river.

Sure, it's just a novel of the Old West: Riders of the Purple Sage, The Spirit of the Border, The Rainbow Trail.

Beautiful young ladies with flowing hair and glowing eyes, handsome cowboys with rugged features and tender hearts ... hard days and lonely nights … raging storms and crooked cowboys.

The point of the story remains: there's always a place to cross the river … the cattle drive goes on ... the bad guys get their comeuppance, the hero gets the girl, the girl gets her man! Love wins the day!

I think of all the challenges Westminster Presbyterian Church has faced over the years ... how many rivers have been crossed ... issues resolved, sadness overcome, glory achieved, greatness enjoyed … the good work of being the church of Jesus Christ goes on - lives transformed, witness given, ministry sustained, mission accomplished, the bills paid …the Tower still stands, the organ plays on … year, after year, after year!

The Psalmist says it well:

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.

Like the cattle drive of old, there’s no going back … the only way, is the way ahead … if the water’s too high, we’ll wait … if last year’s crossing has changed, we’ll find another place to cross … we’ll experiment, innovate, invent … 

I can’t think of words more important for the people of God in such times as our’s: experiment, innovate, invent.

1930, 1940, 2001, and 2022 … every age poses its own set of challenges and questions … some periods are a little more settled than others … sometimes, everything is upside down.

Right now, we’re in a strange time, an in-between time … no one seems to know quite what we should do, or where we’re going.

Such times afford us a rare opportunity, an opportunity to step back a bit, take a deep breath, look long and hard at who we are, what we value, what we want, how to love the world, how to love one another. 

Amanda Gorman said: “To love one another just may be the fight of our lives.”

Jesus tells the disciples about the Holy Spirit … the Spirit, to teach us everything … everything pertaining to the life and work of Christ. 

We are not alone; we have the sacred text, we have the living Spirit of God - the deep traditions of our faith … we have one another - we have what’s needed to know who we are, how to live, what the love of God requires.

Jesus says to the disciples: Peace I leave you … my peace I give to you .. do not let your hearts be troubled, do not let your hearts be afraid … rise, let us be on our way.

In that moment, the disciples didn’t have a clue.

They had no idea what was to come.

Jesus says, I’m leaving you.

But I will not abandon you.

The Spirit will be here.

In Christ, our courage … 

In Christ, our hope.

Especially so these days … when hatred plays its ugly hand at every turn of the clock … politicians and preachers proclaim “replacement” propaganda - “the replacement of the white race” - and hatred of immigrants, people from the Middle East, people from south of the border, people of color, people from Asia … and always the Jews, of course. 

Irresponsible politicians, careless preachers, shout their malicious ideas of race and color, as if such could ever be God’s truth … but it’s not God’s truth… it’s the Devil’s lies … a script from hell - hell thrives on fear, hell loves hatred; hell despises the truth … hell lives on death.

I ask you: Was Jesus oblivious to the times in which he lived?

Was Jesus a recluse in the wilderness, a hermit on the mountain?

Jesus knew full-well the oppressive powers of Rome … the countryside punctuated with crosses … everywhere, betrayal, suspicion, high prices, food shortages, and too much religion, religion run amok … a land seething with unrest and fear.

Jesus lived in the midst of it all - when the time came, he journeyed to Jerusalem, the eye of the storm - where Pilate presided, and religion ruled. The Sermon on the Mt. is deeply spiritual, and powerfully political - the Sermon on the Mt. addresses the lies and deceptions of the day, the temptations to hatred and power.

Jesus offers peace, the antidote to fear … because bad decisions are made when we’re afraid … fear destroys our ability to think … fear twists love into useless shreds … 

Nowhere does Jesus suggest any of this to be easy; it’s hard to live the Christ-Way - then or now, for Jesus, or for us. 

But it’s the only way to survive, the only way to make some sense of our times, the only way to cross the river. 

Here, this morning, we do what God’s People have always done in difficult times: we turn to God … seek God’s counsel … pray for the Holy Spirit … seek the gift of courage: the courage to keep on keepin’ on … inventing, innovating, dreaming and daring.

Emily Bronté wrote:

No coward soul is mine,

No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere:

I see Heaven's glories shine,

And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.

A little child on the beach watched the sun sink into the sea … she asked her mother and father, with a tremor in her voice, “Will the sun come back?

Her mother said to her, “Early tomorrow morning, we’re going to the mountains, and we’ll watch the sun come back.”

Leo Buscaglia tells the story of his mother’s “misery dinner” …

It was the night after his father came home and said it looked as if he would have to go into bankruptcy, because his business partner had left town with all the money. 

His mother went out and sold some jewelry to buy food for a feast. Some of the family scolded her for it. But she told them: ”the time for joy is now, when we need it most, not next week." Her courage rallied the family. 

Cowboys on a cattle drive … 

The disciples in the land of doubt … 

A child on the beach … 

And Mama with her misery dinner.

Climb every mountain, dear friends.

Ford every stream,

Follow every rainbow,

'Til you find your dream 

In the name of the threefold God. Hallelujah and Amen!

"Making Things Better" ... First Presbyterian Santa Monica

John 6.35-40

Every time this church opens its doors,

Something good happens … 

The world’s a wee bit better … 

Every time … the doors are opened.

Good News proclaimed.

People welcomed!

The community around us … the city at our door … the nation and the world … 

For God so loves the world, the Bible says.

The whole wide world … all its creatures, great and small.

All its forms, and every shape:

From the snows of Mt. Everest to the evergreens of Oregon.

From the Salton Sea to the Bearing Straits.

You and me, brother.

You and me, sister.

And don’t forget:

The tadpole and the panda bear … 

The polar bear and the penguin.

The honey bee and the hummingbird …

The flowers of the field and the fish of the sea.

We’re all in this together … we belong to one another … a vast network of life … 

Called by the great God Almighty … to live … to live for the sake of that network … that’s the Church!

When I think about the Church, special words come to mind: big words, powerful words … words like purpose, mission, opportunity, responsibility … liberation, freedom, justice and peace, forgiveness and hope.

All summed up in the highest of ideals - to be the church of Jesus Christ … 

To be of God, so thoroughly, we can be of this world comfortably … to be of Christ, so completely, we can be of one another lovingly.

The holy fellowship of faith … 

At the very center of it all - one big question …

What is God like? 

Look at Christianity around the world and down the street, you’ll find hundreds of answers, thousands of answers … a smorgasbord of faith … not to mention all the other religions and expressions of faith found in every land across the vast expanse of this good earth.

Can they all be right?

Are some of them wrong?

Much of human history is a chronicle of religious warfare … we humans, so determined to know the truth - we’re willing to demonize and kill those who differ from us … can violence ever make for truth? Or only some perversion of it?

Right or wrong, or somewhere in between … it’s up to us to answer the question for ourselves … in this place and in this time … right here, right now … for the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica. 

This is what churches do … for good and for ill … sometimes it’s for ill, isn’t it? … churches don’t always end up in good places … 

The churches of Germany that signed on with National Socialism and Herr Hitler made horrible and hideous mistakes … my great friend, John Calvin, gave his consent to the burning of Servetus.

For centuries, the Western Church thought slavery was a part of God’s natural order, that women, naturally weak and unstable, had no place other than the home, that the landed gentry were God’s anointed, and entitled to their elevated status … kings and queens ruled by divine right … the church alone could forgive your sins, and if you didn’t behave, you were condemned to an eternal hell.

The church doesn’t always end up in a good place … but fear not, say the angels … forge ahead anyhow, but pay attention, do your homework, seek, knock and ask.

Jesus asked the disciples: What are folks saying about me?

Well, some are saying this, and some are saying that … but in the end Jesus asks:

What do YOU say about me? 

All we can do is answer the question as best we can … but it requires work … a community of faith, because whatever the truth is, it always involves our love for one another …

All of this has been my life … 

I’ve been working at it for a long time … it began in my childhood … sitting in church, in Sunday School, laying in bed at night … a deep and abiding sense of God … never frightening, always there … a good and kindly presence.

I went to a Christian High School that gave me a tremendous grounding … and then to a Christian College that expanded my mind and transformed this little white boy racist into something a whole lot better … and then to seminary and to ordination.

Over the years of ministry … the coal fields of West Virginia, the rail yards of Altoona, the corporate offices of Pittsburgh, the lumber trade of northern Wisconsin, the Oil Patch of Oklahoma, the Auto Industry of Detroit, and now the sunshine of California … 

I’ve done my homework; I’ve had good teachers … yet, the question remains: how much do I know? 

I know enough to know how little I know.

But I cannot evade the question: What is God like? 

None of us can, and none of us should … 

I answered this question 50 years ago … and 30 years ago … and I’m trying to answer it right now … it’s all slightly different … I’ve grown, I’ve learned, backtracked and turned, and moved ahead a wee bit I hope … a journey that never ends … and should I live another ten years, my answers will be different even then … 

Yet some essential pieces have remained steady for me:

God is good and God is gracious … God is beautiful and God is bright … big enough to hold the world in her hands, strong enough to take up the sins of the world … 

Tiny enough to fit into Mary’s womb, small enough to fit into Bethlehem’s cradle … kind enough to heal the leper and strong enough to challenge hypocrisy … just right to hang on a Roman Cross and be tucked away into a tomb … 

Best of all, sized just right to fit my heart … and I would dare say, with joy, sized just right to fit your heart, too.

When Jesus stepped out of the Jordan, a voice from heaven declared, This is my beloved son, listen to him.

And when I listen, this is what I hear … Come unto me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

I am the bread of life, says Jesus. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

This is God … God with us, Emmanuel … the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the God of Sarah and Rebekah and Rachel … the God of Exodus and Sinai … a pillar of cloud by day to provide shade from the burning sun; a pillar of fire by night to bring warmth to weary bones … and all along the way, water from a rock, and manna in the morning … the long journey, the long haul … from death to life, from darkness to light, from bondage to freedom … 

God, the Good Shepherd … God, the open door … God, the living water … the bread of life … the light of the world … the love that makes the world go round …

What Paul the Apostle said to his friends in Philippi, I say to you this morning:

If there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

What a joy it’s been for me to be with you this morning … you have a strong heritage, and the promise of a vital future here in Santa Monica …

Every day, think of God, pray for the world, be alert to the moving of the Spirit, mindful of those who have little voices, the wee ones, the children … and people around the world who live in terror and sorrow, whose lives are being ripped apart by the rich and the powerful … pay attention people of God … let the world come into your lives, and you’ll find along with the world, there will come into your life the best guest of all: God Almighty, Creator of the heavens and the earth.

To God be the glory.

To all of you, grace, mercy and peace.

Healing for your souls.

To make this a better world. 

Amen and Amen!

August 25, 2013, "Love Remains"

1 Corinthians 13
1 John 3.14

An elderly woman walked into the local country church. The friendly usher greeted her at the door and helped her up the flight of steps. 

"Where would you like to sit?" he asked politely. 

"The front row, please," she answered.

"You really don't want to do that," the usher said. "The pastor is really boring." 

"Do you happen to know who I am?" the woman inquired. 

"No," he said. 

"I'm the pastor's mother," she replied indignantly. 

"Do you know who I am?" the usher asked. 

"No," she said. 

"Good," he answered.

Oh well … so it goes …

Faith, hope and love abide … these are things that last … yet Paul dares to say, the greatest of these is love.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. 

Love is big … 

Simple because love is love … 

Love can’t be small-minded … 

There are no boundaries to love … because God is love … and God is the biggest of all realities … God is reality … God is the universe … God is light and God is love.

Are there boundaries for God?

Are there places where God won’t go?

Places where God can’t go?

God even goes to hell … as the creed says, He descended into hell … into a place of darkness and sorrow … into the realm of death … God even goes there … to work the glories of grace … to set the prisoner free … to bring good news to the lost … all the lost … everyone last human being … to harrow hell, as it’s sometimes said … to invade it, conquer it, and when all the prisoners of hell have seen set free, to seal shut those terrible gates of despair and hatred … and open wide the gates of heaven, so that all may enter in …

Such is the work of God.

Are there boundaries for God?

Of course not.

No boundaries at all …

No boundaries of race or religion or nation … for God so loved the world … 

But we’re creatures of boundaries … humankind loves to draw boundaries … between families and clans and tribes, we draw boundaries …

Between religions, we draw boundaries … my god is bigger and better than your god … I know the truth, and you don’t … I’m going to heaven, and you’re going to hell … and we kill one another, too … all in the name of our gods and religions.

Just a few days ago, a touching picture of the exception … when religions rise above their own worst instincts … in Egypt … a large group of Christians stand, hand-in-hand, offering protection around Muslims kneeling for prayer … and another picture, of Muslims, hand-in-hand, surround a Christian Church to give it protection …

Love abides … but it isn’t always easy …

We love our boundaries ...

Between nations, we draw boundaries … we send soldiers to defend them, we build fences and walls to protect them, and we launch wars to enlarge our boundaries …

Between races, we draw boundaries … some thought it was perfectly fine to enslave some to harvest sugar cane and cotton … and who cares if they die a mean and miserable death, there’s more where they come from.

All around the world, the pain of racism persists … and still in America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, freedom is still the goal for which we strive … and brave people still stand tall for human dignity and civil rights.

This week, August 28, 1963 … 

A momentous event in our American story …

Anyone recall?

That’s right … the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech” … if you haven’t read it lately, please do so this week …

A remarkable speech … it tells of the great work achieved by the sweat, blood and tears of so many … and sets before America what remains to be done …

Like any good dream, work remains …

Freedom still to be won … and human rights still to be protected …

Because there are factions in this nation who would strip away the rights of women, and the rights of children and the right to vote … there are folks who would gladly return this nation to the days of Jim Crow … 

There are in this great land of ours economic interests that bow before the Wall Street gods and worship material success … economic forces without restraint, without a soul, without a shred of love … 

Corporations enslaved by shareholders, and shareholders enslaved by profits … 

Much has been done …

More remains …

A little Black Girl surrounded by Federal Troops, but she went to school that day … and white folks spat upon her, and called her terrible names and carried Christian placards talking about Jesus and turning to this little girl and hating her with everything they had. Jesus in one hand, and hatred in the other.

This kind of hatred still lives in our land … a horrible shadow on America’s soul …

There are some who say, “There is no racism any longer in this land” … I wish it were true … just a last month, in North Charleston, South Caroline, 25 family members and friends - African-Americans - gathered to say farewell to a family-member moving away … they waited two hours for a table, and when finally entering the Wild Wing Cafe, were told to leave, because a white patron felt threatened by their presence.

Racism remains in this land … we fought a Civil War because of it, and the war still rages on in the hearts and souls of Americans … and in pulpits across the lands and in newspaper editorials … in our colleges and universities …

As long as there are human beings on the face of God’s good earth, there will be racism of various sorts …

If left unchecked, racism grows all the more …

Only moral reflection and moral honesty can confront the demons that hurt us … the roar of hell that frightens us … the madness of hatred that raises a fist rather then offers a hand …

And sadly, I’m not always sure about the role of the Christian Faith in this task … 

Across parts of this country, where churches are a dime-a-dozen, tall steeples and country chapels, we find the worst cases of racism and bigotry, women abused and denied their rights, children mistreated, while pious preachers talk about love, and turn a blind eye to the hatred surging through the pews of their churches … 

Those who do not know the name of Jesus will have an easier time of it when they stand before the LORD of heaven and earth [Matthew 10.15].

Easier than those who claim the name of Jesus and do nothing to change the world … who sing hymns on Sunday and allow hatred to flourish on Monday … who bow their heads and fervently pray to Jesus, and still live in ignorance and fear.

Not everyone who says, ‘LORD, LORD,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven … Jesus will say to them, I never knew you [Matthew 5.21-23].

It will be far better on the day of judgment to stand before the LORD without a shred of faith, then to stand before the LORD with the pretense of faith … the trappings of religion without the heart of religion … 

On the day of judgment, only one thing will stand in the judgment hall of God, and that’ll be love …

So love for all you’re worth … be of good cheer … be kind and generous … work for justice, wherever you can … because justice is love at work.

Love is the heart and soul of a living faith … 

Love is the heart and soul of a living hope …

Love is the heart and soul of everything God is … and everything we hope to be.

Faith, hope and love abide, but the greatest of these is love … 

Amen and Amen!