In Lak’ech, Ala K’in

Saugatuck Congregational Church, UCC
September 17, 2017

Members of the High School Youth Group share stories and reflections from the 2017 Mission Trip to Denver, CO.

Love One Another

Saugatuck Congregational Church, UCC
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
September 10, 2017

Holy Hot Spots

Saugatuck Congregational Church, UCC
©Rev. Alison J. Buttrick Patton
September 3, 2017

Where to begin? Beloved members and friends of Saugatuck Church: It’s been two months since I worshipped with you in this sacred space. While I’ve been away on a soul-nurturing, spirit-filled sabbatical, you have no doubt been accumulating your own adventures. I pray that each of you has found time to rest and to play this summer. I know that some of you have also navigated health challenges, suffered loss, weathered personal storms. And then there’s the world around us, which has continued to turn. In the last month, we’ve seen a White Supremacist rally turn deadly in Charlottesville; and a category 4 hurricane devastate vast swaths of Texas and parts of Louisiana. On a brighter note, many of us joined the throngs of onlookers who grabbed cardboard glasses, cereal boxes and special telescope filters to view a dramatic solar eclipse earlier this month.

When have you caught your breath, this summer – in awe, or in horror? When have you had the wind knocked out of you, been left speechless, sobbed out of sheer wonder, or worry, or overwhelming rage? When have you been struck by the sheer scale – of a crowd, or the devastation or the cosmos? For me, it has happened over and over: I drove to the top of two different peaks that tower at or just below 14,000 feet. I marched in a crowd of peace-seeking counter protesters 40,000 strong in Boston. I lived on an island that is constantly changing shape, as an active volcano steams and bubbles and sends lava oozing across the landscape. (“That’s my home getting bigger,” said the Rev. Eric Anderson, my host and United Church of Christ pastor, as we watched lava pour into the sea). Each of these experiences has filled me with awe.

The Irish poet and theologian Padraig O Tuama (In the Shelter) says we don’t just read stories; they read us. Which is a way of saying that we bring our lives to the text. What we hear has everything to do with what we’re up to, where we are standing, where we have been, what is unfolding in our own lives when we encounter a tale.

So although I have read the story of Moses and the burning bush a thousand times, I read it differently in the wake of Charlottesville, and Hurricane Harvey, and my sabbatical trip to Hawaii. This story about a blazing bush and holy ground and a God outraged by and responsive to the people’s suffering – this story comes alive for me in ways that take my breath away. Perhaps it does so for you, too.

An angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a blazing fire out of a bush…

“Moses! Moses!”

“Here I am.”

“Don’t come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.”

I learned to walk barefoot in Hawaii. Not that I had never gone without shoes before, but in Hawaii, it became a way of life. In the home of my cousin in Honolulu, in the parsonage in Hilo (on the Big Island), where I lived for most of a month, at the halau (or hula school) where I danced… I always removed my sandals before setting foot inside.

I confess it took some getting used to for this sock-loving New Englander. Walking barefoot makes me feel a little exposed, literally a bit more naked. At the same time, removing my shoes had a way of adding meaning to my coming and going. Always there was a pause at the threshold to remove sandals when I went in and to put them back on as I left. Always there was this reminder to treat with respect, even reverence, every space that I entered.

Walk around barefoot and you become acutely aware of the ground – textured kitchen tile, stray bits of sand, the puddle left by a melting ice cube I dropped near the fridge. And outside: hot white sand, hotter black sand, cool grass, protruding roots, skin-scraping lava rock. It’s harder to ignore the details of a landscape – its soft spots and sharp edges – when you are walking barefoot. You can learn a lot about a place through the soles of your feet.

I’d always assumed that God commanded Moses to remove his sandals as a sign of respect, the way we expect baseball players to remove their caps during the singing of the national anthem. And it’s true: walking barefoot does feel like an act of reverence. But having lived barefoot in Hawaii, I wonder whether it was also an invitation to get more intimate with the Divine. “Remove your shoes, Moses, and know me better! Step out onto this land that belongs to me, this ground that I have charged with my own life force; stand barefoot, so you might feel the earth breathe, the rocks vibrate, the sand blaze. Come, get to know me, the land I created and the people I love, through the soles of your feet.”

Imagine how hot that ground must have been, where Moses stepped, baked by the wilderness sun and by the perpetually burning bush. There’s a hike I took across fields of hardened black lava rock, where it’s best to keep an eye out for heat shimmers and rock the color of silver. That’s newborn rock, rock that has only just been formed by flowing lava, cool enough to harden, but still hot enough to melt the soles of your sneakers. Just on the other side of one of those masses of silver rock, we found molten lava, flowing like sunset-tinted honey over the ground. Imagine watching new land being formed, almost literally beneath your feet!

That steaming rock, still hot to the touch, reminded me that the land is alive with God’s creative Spirit. Hawaiians have always known this. Like Moses in the wilderness, they see something powerful, life-giving and mysterious in the fire: glimmers of the Divine. Hawaiians call her Pele, the volcano god. “Do not poke the lava or toast marshmallows over Pele” says a sign in Volcano National Park. Because that would be rude.

Take off your shoes. You are standing on holy ground.

Maybe God directed Moses to take off his shoes so that Moses would learn to recognize the feel of holy ground, the feel of land charged by the divine touch, not just off the beaten path on Mt. Horeb, but wherever Moses went. “I will be there,” God told Moses, as he sent him out on that life-changing mission. “I will be with you; that shall be your sign that it was I who sent you.”

Scholars have debated exactly what the sign is intended to be. The text is ambiguous. It could mean – my being with you will be the sign. Or that you will eventually return to this holy mountain to worship will be the sign; or the fact that I am sending you is the sign.

But here’s another possibility. Maybe, it’s the feel of the ground beneath Moses’ feet that will serve as a sign – like the shimmers of heat that rise from recently formed lava rock. Step on it, and surely you will feel the heat of God’s presence. Surely you will recognize the sheer force and wonder of the one God; surely you will realize that you are not alone.

Stand on this holy ground, Moses…

Lay your hand on the pavement in Charlottesville, and feel the heat of outrage by those courageous enough to stand up in the face of bigotry.

Put your ear to the ground in Boston, listen for the hum of freedom songs being sung by 40,000 voices; feel the tremors caused by 40,000 pairs of feet walking away from hate speech and toward their many-colored sisters and brothers.

Wade through the flood waters in Houston, and watch the ripples caused by thousands of people who have turned out to help folks get to higher ground.

Yes, the ground around that bush in the wilderness must have been hot to the touch. But it’s not the only hot spot. Not by a long shot. Because the Spirit of God that blazed in that bush continues to ignite in response to human suffering, and God continues to call and send emissaries to confront Pharaoh and free the captives – emissaries like us.

Beloved in Christ: this is how I read the story of Moses today; how it reads me. I hear God urging us to be on the lookout for hot spots, to take off our shoes and peel off our socks, the better to feel the ground reverberating beneath our feet, the better to feel the soft spots and the sharp edges, to get in tune with the suffering of those who set God’s heart ablaze with grief or outrage, love, and compassion.

When standing on those hot spots threatens to leave you breathless; when you are overcome by the sheer magnitude of human suffering, in the guise of racism or climate change… hate speech or hurtful silence… large scale destruction of homes or of hopes…

When that happens, then do this: pause and step off the trail: take off your shoes, feel the ground beneath your feet, and remember that God’s hunger for justice is more fierce than primordial fire; God’s love more expansive than the cosmos; God’s devotion more enduring than the mountains. Beloved, be swept up in that promise; shed your shoes; let God take your breath away, trust that we are in good hands, powerful hands; then breathe deeply again, because like Moses, we have work to do: liberating, heart-healing, hate-dismissing, community rebuilding, holy, holy work to do. With the help of the great I-am, we can do this, one barefoot step at a time.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Amen.

Dream On

NOTE: Summer Interim Co-Ministers Linda Bruce and Rev. Willie Salmond presented joint reflections at the 8:30 AM service at Compo Beach and the 10 AM service at Saugatuck Church. Both are below.

Dream On

Saugatuck Congregational Church, UCC
© Linda Bruce
July 23, 2017

Dream on… dream on… dream on…

Dream until your dreams come true….

No, you won’t find in that in the Bible.

The band – AEROSMITH…

Singer / Songwriter …Steven Tyler… the year was 1976 and it was my high school coronation ball…

The senior ball for the campus king and queen, and all the court…

Don’t know if they have that anymore….

I did the artwork for the program…

Castle in the sky… I thought appropriate for campus king and queen…

Yes… I dreamed of my life as a princess…

And while I did marry my Knight in shining armor, 13 years later… my dreams changed… ( I GREW UP)

No more castles in the sky…. I wasn’t going to be a princess…. Charles married Diana….

And as the dreams changed….. I changed….

I had experiences of oh… wow.. something’s going on here… something weird…..something divine…

In times of joy and sadness….

God was surely here……But I didn’t know….

These Unexpected blessings….. came at times when I was at my lowest points..

The declining health and deaths of my grandmother and father.. and the death of my son…

All broken dreams

And my new dreams were more like petitions… I didn’t know what to do…

I asked for guidance for the one thing to do the next day…

Show me the way…

Or God, give me the courage to get out of bed tomorrow…

And feeling more ambitious… God, help me to get up before noon…. Maybe take a shower

I don’t know what to do Jesus…

God… I don’t know what to do.

And I felt God was always there…. I knew…..

Because sometimes in the middle of the night, I had a revelation

Or an idea.. or a plan…

Or sometimes that inspiration came to me in the morning… the one thing…

The one thing that I needed to do for that day.

I gave everything up to God….

And I received unexpected blessings…

Whether we call it intuition, the subconscious, the still small voice, a prophetic dream…

The love of community

The kindness of strangers

I called it divine intervention…..

And what about these unexpected blessings in the everyday?

How am I sensing and experiencing God’s presence with me, in the midst of my life?

How are you?

Sometimes I experience God in the moment….

Often I see God in the eyes of the stranger….

When I am outside … I can’t help marvel at God’s creative energy

That blesses us every day….

And sometimes that’s when I start to day dream….

I can observe but a lot of the time. I think….

I Think… what does this mean? What am I to make of it?

God is with me and will keep me where ever I go… Really? How does that work?

I’m a questioner, I want to get things…. I want to get things right…….

I’m reminded of my family binge watching old Monty Python shows.

Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group popular in the 70’s.

My husband and two kids are splitting their sides with tearing eyes they are laughing so hard.

I look at them quizzically… I don’t get it…

The kids in stereo say… MOM! There’s nothing to get! It’s just funny!

There’s nothing to get……. IT JUST IS!

God will always be with us… It’s just the way it is…. IT JUST IS!

Genesis 28:15 Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.. for I will not leave you…

So dream on.. dream on.. dream on… dream until you hear the truth…

And then dream some more…..

Because we’re human… and when we hear the word, a lot of the times, it doesn’t stick…

And we like to negotiate with God.. make deals… ask for more signs….

Seldom are we transformed overnight…

But God is steadfast and enduring…

So… engage your senses and Dream on…

Amen.

Dream On

Jacob says “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it.”

Take a look at Raphael’s beautiful painting. Jacob is in his prime – young, strong, virile, a head of curly hair.

However the truth is he finds himself at a crossroads in his young life. He is in fact fleeing for his own life. Jacob the deceiver by trickery has stolen the blessing of Isaac the birthright from Isaac from his brother Esau. And a blessing when given cannot be returned, cannot be revoked. Technically the bible should be calling God the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Esau. But no. God’s grace never goes by the book.

The title for God is now the God Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

Esau is furious and wants to kill him. His mother and father tell him he must not marry a foreign woman but he must go to Uncle Laban and be advised who to marry. And then all alone he arrives in this wilderness place at a crossroads in his life. Full of guilt maybe even remorse for what he has done. And with his mind full of confusing thoughts he lies down and falls asleep.

Sounds familiar? I wonder if you find yourself at a crossroads in your life this morning? Perhaps like Jacob you are disturbed by a very broken relationship which you would like to see healed. Perhaps like Jacob you feel the guilt for a hurt you have caused. Perhaps like Jacob you don’t see clearly the way forward in your life.

There is a bit of Jacob in all of us.

Then Jacob has a dream. He is not given answers to his conundrums. He is not told how he will reconcile with Esau or how he will find a wife someone to love. Instead he is given a moment of pure grace. A vision of heaven and a ladder from earth to heaven. Angels descending and ascending. A moment of pure grace.

When Handel was completing his Hallelujah Chorus (King of Kings Hallelujah, Lord of Lords Hallelujah) he wrote in his journal “I did think I did see the heavens open and the great God himself on the throne.”

Pure grace and from it a magnificent piece of music.

David Livingstone traveled from north to south Mongu, Senanga, Sesheke and came across the Victoria Falls. One mile across a crashing powerful waterfall and spray and spray and spray with rainbows in the mist. Moshi tunya the local people call it. The smoke that thunders.

Livingstone wrote

“Scenes so beautiful must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.” Ascending descending. In this moment of his Africa exploration, avid Livingstone was granted this moment of pure grace.

Angels descending ascending.

Then Jacob is given two promises. You shall lead a great nation and through you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.

Jacob wakes and says “Who me? Surely not. I’m the deceiver. I’m on the run. I have no wife to love no family. But he also knows something special is happening. “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it.” A moment of confession. He has been unable to see the hand of God in his life. But this dream is the beginning of something special.

Fast forward and we begin to see the unfolding of this grace moment in Jacob’s life. Fast forward and God speaks to him again. “You shall be Israel” the name of the new nation. Fast forward again and Jacob and Esau are reconciled. Fast forward and Jacob finds himself in Egypt of all places. Following a terrible drought Jacob his sons and their families are desperate for pasture for their flocks. They turn to Joseph in Egypt. The one whom they sold into slavery and who is now Pharaoh’s right hand man. Joseph graciously says come. Then there is this lovely moment when Jacob who is now old meets Pharaoh the world’s most powerful man. Pharaoh likes him. Asks how old he is. I have clocked 130 years and let me tell you some of them have been harsh even evil. Then Pharaoh bows his head and a strange thing happens. So strange that the author of Genesis mentions it two time. Jacob blesses Pharaoh the world’s most powerful man.

In that moment Jacob must have remembered his dream of heaven and the promise. Through you shall all nations be blessed. Even Egypt.

Pray for this grace moment in your life especially as you find yourself at a crossroads. Pray for a unique God moment to be just yours and yours alone. A private, secret, special moment. In our Christian faith the grace moment is that moment each week like this morning when we confess our sins in unison. And then kneel before the cross of Christ as we receive forgiveness.

“There was none other good enough to pay the price of sin

He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.”

Jacob’s young life was just beginning. He had no idea what was ahead and he was fearful. But as he woke from his dream he knew that something special was happening in his life.

“Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it.”

As some of you know it has been my pleasure and privilege to work with vulnerable young people in Uganda. In February this year I went back to Kampala to attend the graduation of a young woman Josephine at Makerere University. This was a moment of pure grace. At her party at home afterwards she spoke of her struggle with HIV/AIDS, her struggle with poverty with hunger. And at the end of her speech she looked down and then made a long speech about her shoes and thanked them. Walking to Makerere, walking home from Makerere. Walking to the library. Walking to church. Thank you shoes. Thank you. The impossible had happened. She graduated from university. A moment of pure grace.

Pray for that moment of pure grace in your life. And then other parts of your life will fall into place. Step 1. Say with Jacob “Surely God is in this place; and I did not know it.”

Let “Angels descend with songs again. And earth repeat the long amen.”

Amen.