Blog Archives - First Congregational Church of Frankfort, MI

08-30-15 Sunday Sermon

8/30/2015

No printable sermon: Three Husbands on the Loose

08-23-15 Sunday Sermon

8/23/2015

First Congregational Church
August 23, 2015
13th Sunday after Pentecost
John 6:56-69
“Hearing What We Don’t Want to Hear”
Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching

Grandpa Nybakken loved life -- especially when he could play a trick on somebody. At those times, his large Norwegian frame shook with laughter while he feigned innocent surprise, exclaiming, "Oh, forevermore" But on a cold Saturday in downtown Chicago, Grandpa felt that God played a trick on him, and Grandpa wasn't laughing.

Mother's father worked as a carpenter. On this particular day, he was building some crates for the clothes his church was sending to an orphanage in China. On his way home, he reached into his shirt pocket to find his glasses, but they were gone. He remembered putting them there that morning, so he drove back to the church. His search proved fruitless.

When he mentally replayed his earlier actions, he realized what happened. The glasses had slipped out of his pocket unnoticed and fallen into one of the crates, which he had nailed shut. His brand new glasses were heading for China. (Why Grandpa didn’t go back and up the crates, I can’t tell you.)

The Great Depression was at its height, and Grandpa had six children. He had spent twenty dollars for those glasses that very morning.

"It's not fair," he told God as he drove home in frustration. "I've been very faithful in giving of my time and money to your work, and now this."

Several months later, the director of the orphanage was on furlough in the United States. He wanted to visit all the churches that supported him in China, so he came to speak one Sunday night at my grandfather's small church in Chicago. Grandpa and his family sat in their customary seats among the sparse congregation.

The missionary began by thanking the people for their faithfulness in supporting the orphanage.

"But most of all," he said, "I must thank you for the glasses you sent last year. You see, the Communists had just swept through the orphanage, destroying everything, including my glasses. I was desperate.

"Even if I had the money, there was simply no way of replacing those glasses. Along with not being able to see well, I experienced headaches every day, so my coworkers and I were much in prayer about this. Then your crates arrived. When my staff removed the covers, they found a pair of glasses lying on top.”

The missionary paused long enough to let his words sink in. Then, still gripped with the wonder of it all, he continued: "Folks, when I tried on the glasses, it was as though they had been custom-made just for me. I want to thank you for being a part of that.”

The people listened, happy for the miraculous glasses. But the missionary surely must have confused their church with another, they thought. There were no glasses on their list of items to be sent overseas.

But sitting quietly in the back, with tears streaming down his face, an ordinary carpenter realized the Master Carpenter had used him in an extraordinary way.

The book of John is the one book that doesn’t look so much like the other three Gospels. It doesn’t start with the list of names that trace Jesus’ lineage. It starts with the conundrum “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” It continues with some verbal support from Jesus’ cousin John, and then launches right into the highlights of Jesus’ preaching and teaching career.

So he changed water into wine at a wedding, cleared the temple courts, and spoke with the Samaritan woman, which set the scene for many other Samaritans to believe Jesus. Then during very ordinary days, Jesus fed way over 5,000 people with bread and fish, went for a walk on - rather than around - the lake, and finally he made the comparison between himself and the manna in the desert that keep the Israelites alive for forty years.

John 6:56-69
56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”
61 Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! 63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 65 He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”
66 From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
67 “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Thank you, Carolyn. There is a day I remember, clear as a bell, somewhere in the fall of 1979. I was a bold 18 years old, standing in my voice teacher’s office, and she asked me what I wanted to do in life. All of my high school years, when people asked me what I was going to do, I said, “music,” and most people shook their heads in agreement. No one asked me what I would do specifically, until Mabeth Gyllstrom threw it out there. The point is that I didn’t really have a ready answer, and so I said I thought I’d sing opera. Point blank she said, “Oh, no. You’re not good enough for that.”

But she didn’t stop there. She said, “Dr. Schrader and I (Mabeth’s best friend and colleague) think that you might make a pretty good teacher, tho.” I don’t know if there was weeping and gnashing of teeth, but part of me still stands in amazement at that encounter. There was Mabeth’s boldness dashing a dream, small as it was, in making the truth simple and yet in her rejection, giving me an alternative. And there is the fact that she was right. Knowing myself as I was then, I’d have probably crumbled up into a depressed blob after getting a few rejection letters after opera auditions. I am still grateful that she told me what I didn’t want to hear, but offered other words that brought hope and direction. I think our scripture passage has some of that offering of words we don’t want to hear, yet they bring hope and direction.

When some of the disciples said, “This is a hard teaching,” they weren’t just whistling “Dixie.” For those early followers, the idea of eating Christ’s flesh and blood was tantamount to cannibalism. How we understand the practice of communion was lost on them because they didn’t do it much at all in the earliest days.

They understood better when Jesus likened himself to the manna that the Israelites had to eat for those forty years wandering around the desert. But it didn’t completely satisfy some of those following Jesus, because the word “grumbling” in verse 61 is akin to the word “grumbling” that the Hebrew people did back in desert years of Exodus. What’s ironic about that is that “the disciples reject the idea that Jesus is manna, but in doing so they display that Jesus is manna by responding to him just as the Israelites responded to manna.”

As the temperature continues to climb in here, I’m guessing some of you are waiting for that “so what” part. So here it is: “As in the Exodus story, the issue is not simply the grumbling of the people but the lack of trust in God that it represents.” In verse 64, when Jesus says, “there are some of you who do not believe,” it’s not about believing in Jesus as much as it is trusting or relying on God. “Like the Israelites, (the disciples) have experienced God’s miraculous provision, (as in the feeding of the 5,000 plus,) but they do not trust that God will continue to provide for them in their spiritual and physical wildernesses.”

Even though Jesus knew there would be some followers who would wouldn’t believe, I wonder how his heart felt when those individuals walked away from him that day? Perhaps it isn’t unlike a person walking out of our lives, or someone leaving the church. You know they need to do it, for whatever reasons, but it doesn’t necessarily sit well on the heart. Even then, knowing that someone would betray him, we don’t hear of Jesus getting all up into anyone’s face. He kept the faith, walking the walk, teaching and healing like he’d been doing. Jesus had to keep on believing in, relying on God, just as the disciples had to keep believing in and relying on Jesus.

We know we should rely on God when a dear soul has the second or third pronouncement of cancer. We know that we should really mean the words we pray so often, “Thy will be done.” And we know that no one gets through this life without a physical death.

But in this passage, with all it’s complexities and “hard teachings,” the writer of John gives us direction from Simon Peter. I almost laugh when I read the line, because it’s sort of like, “either you laugh or you cry.” Except it’s deeper than that. In laughing or crying, there is not much future implication. Simon’s words, ‘Jesus, what else can we do or where can we go.? “You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”

No matter what happens, there is the hope of those words of eternal life continuing on into the future. No matter what happens, Jesus will never not be the “Holy One of God” - for all of eternity. That is the hope and direction we aim for. And even though I’ve just ended a sentence with a preposition, let us pray.

God of all time, all direction and all hope, we thank you for this passage that reminds us of your love, care and support, no matter what. Bolster us when we are forgetful of that truth. Prompt us when we are tending to lean toward apathy or indifference. Thank you for those moments when we hear truth that we don’t want to hear, even if we aren’t always really, truly thankful at the moment. Help us find the direction and hope in those times when what we hear tempts us to do anything else but find direction and hope. For answering all our prayers, even the half-hearted ones, all your people say, Amen.

08-16-15 Sunday Sermon

8/16/2015

First Congregational Church
August 16, 2015
12th Sunday after Pentecost
Ephesians 5:15-20
“Making the Most”
Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching

It was roughly thirty years after Jesus’ resurrection that the apostle Paul, most likely from a prison cell, wrote a letter to the non-Jewish church in Ephesus. It was written to help the people understand that in God’s eyes, heredity and religious practice weren’t important when it came to God’s love. Paul also reminded his audience that since they now belonged to Christ, they had to start living their lives differently. They were to distance themselves from immorality and strive for spiritual purity. It was “how” they were to live their lives, that by their actions non-followers of Christ would recognize them. Knocking on people’s doors and leaving leaflets was not what Paul had in mind.

Ephesians 5:15-20
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Bob. There are so many topics one could pick out of this passage. If I recall correctly, it was the book of Colossians was one that was assigned in seminary as our first year preaching text. And sure enough, I got the one with psalms, hymns and songs. The seminary I attended was a Baptist General Conference school, which means more conservative, so when I showed up to preach in slacks, shirt, green jacket and silk necktie with piano keys running down it, I’m pretty sure they didn’t really know what to make of me.

Incidentally, I think that the differentiation between the three types or music is between subject matter, depth and audience. Having thrown that early sermon out, I sort of remember that psalms were specific to those from that Old Testament book or other direct scripture passages, hymns are deeper, with more theological meat in them, sung in praise to God, like “Holy, Holy, Holy,” or “Rejoice, the Lord Is King.” Spiritual songs are those that are more personal in nature, like, “I Love You, Lord,” or “Jesus Loves Me.”

It struck me, reading the passage this week again, how the same part popped out,”of speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit.” This time, my brain went for conversations using only song titles: “On the Road Again,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?,” “I Will Follow You,” “I’m In a New York State of Mind.” So I’ve just given you all the example of how you can come up with your own musical conversation, when the sermon is really bad, using hymn titles right in front of you.

Or perhaps you might could become more attuned to using hymn titles in regular everyday conversations, like the one Sunday, a pastor asked his congregation to consider giving a little extra in the offering plate. He said that whoever gave the most would be able to pick out three hymns.

After the offering plates were passed, the pastor noticed that someone had contributed a $100 bill. Extremely grateful, he wanted to personally thank the generous person before the whole congregation.

A quiet, elderly widow shyly raised her hand. The pastor asked her to come to the front. Slowly she made her way to the pastor. He told her how wonderful it was that she gave so much and asked her to pick out three hymns. She looked over the congregation and pointed, “I’ll pick him, and him and him.”

Or, as it says in verse 6, “making the most of every opportunity,” there was the Sunday morning when a preacher was completing a temperance sermon: with great expression he said, "If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river.” With even greater emphasis, he said, "And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river.” And then, finally, he said, "And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river." He sat down. The organist then, very boldly, began the prelude to the closing hymn #365: 'Shall We Gather At the River.’"

More seriously, I don’t know that I would agree with Paul’s statement, that the days are evil. I would be more apt to say that the days are. Whether they are evil or not is not the point as much as our reaction to them. And yes we do well to be wise and do God’s will.

So the question becomes, I think, how do we live wisely and understand God’s will? Paul answer is simple —“be filled with the Spirit,” which can be equally vague. To accomplish that, Paul gives us a stunning analogy. It’s like being drunk on wine. (For those of you suddenly sitting a little straighter, don’t get all excited..Paul doesn’t include this prohibition on getting drunk because that is such a terrible sin, but because it is such a helpful comparison. When a person becomes drunk, they come under the influence of alcohol. They lose control of their mind and body, so that they act differently than they would if you were sober. When we come under the influence of the Holy Spirit; when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we acted differently then when we aren’t filled that way.

While Paul doesn’t give us the exact manner in which we become filled with the spirit, he does tell us what the results are. These words may sound like commands, but they are really descriptive participles, as the grammar people say. People filled with the Holy Spirit are speaking people, singing people and making music people, and giving thanks people.

Those who are filled with the Spirit speak to one another in a distinctive way. It’s like when two people are standing in front of you, speaking in Swedish or Russian or even pig Latin. It makes you want to magically learn that same language so you can understand what you don’t get. We may not know exactly what Paul means, but we get the impression. Our conversation with each other should be like music.

Stan Mast, from Calvin Theological Seminary, suggested that “our relationship with God must literally be filled with music—“singing and making music in your heart to the Lord.” He went on to say, “What a wonderful way to characterize our walk with the Lord—not grim duty, not costly sacrifices, not reluctant reverence, not fearful distance, but heartfelt singing.”

That’s a very nice thought, unless you’re having a really bad day, like when you are on vacation and the other person in the boat with you has been catching fish all day, and you’ve merely been fishing and the chauffeur. I’m sure many of you understand that feeling, the other person has been catching nice walleyes all day, you’ve been battling the wind and motor so that person could have a good time, but golly-gee-whiz, it would be nice to have more to your credit than a small perch and two lousy pike.

So you make the most of your choices - to grumble or make music. It’s sort of like taking life’s lemons and making lemonade, but with a song, you can make up imaginary costumes and Broadway scenery.

Two gall-darn pike, and a small perch, it just wasn’t my day.
Changing the lures, using fresh bait, things weren’t going my way.

The wind was a blowing, the sun was hot, nary a fish had I caught.
And then, a tug - fish on.

Three stupid pike, and a small perch, it was looking quite bleak.
This was supposed to be the place, and the gut bucket reeked.

I valiantly kept up my chin, again by the church was where to begin
And then, the tug - fish on

Four fetid pike and a small perch
Five bleeping pike, and a small perch

In the interest of time, you can mentally fill in the final chorus and big finish when I finally caught a walleye and could finally go home. None of us are Rogers or Hammerstein, but “Little Shop of Horrors” isn’t a title that sounds like the fame it has received. Who knows? Your song - about your day - could bring an offering to this church that would surprise all of us!

Making the most of this heat and humidity allows for long, comfortable visits in the shade with a cold beverage at hand. Or this weather allows for making the most of that investment called a boat or lawn chair and beach cooler.

Even when we are unwise and foolish, we have the opportunity to make the most of the situation. Even when you are standing in the boat when you should be sitting, even when you are getting into the boat and you should be waiting on the dock for the other person to sit down and you end up dumping the boat and most of the contents into the lake, and after assessing any injury, and after laughing hilariously, you realize the valuable reminder you become for other people and the sermon illustration is perfect because it’s yours and real.

It’s an ordinary day. It will probably be - by most accounts - an ordinary week. But ours is an extraordinary God who enables us to learn and relearn, to sing or make a joyful noise, to live our lives making the most of what lies in our path. So shall we pray?

Gracious and Great God, we are grateful for passages of scripture like this one today, that we are reminded to live within rules so we don’t fall out of boats, and yet, live life to overflowing. For those times last week when we didn’t live up to our identity as your children, we ask for your forgiveness. And for those times when we know we did well, thank you for the reminder of keeping perspective, so that our heads don’t become too big. In whatever ways you may need us this week, we ask for your clear guidance and encouragement, that we may make the most of those opportunities and sing full on, whether silently or aloud. For all these things and all the blessing you bestow so graciously on us, all your children say, Amen.

08-09-15 Sunday Sermon

8/9/2015

First Congregational Church
August 9, 2015
11th Sunday after Pentecost
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
“Walking the Talk”
Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching

Carl was a quiet man. He didn't talk much. He would always greet you with a big smile and a firm handshake. Even after living in our neighborhood for over 50 years, no one could really say they knew him very well.

Before his retirement, he took the bus to work each morning. The lone sight of him walking down the street often worried us. He had a slight limp from a bullet wound received in WWII. Watching him, we worried that although he had survived WWII, he may not make it through our changing uptown neighborhood with its ever-increasing random violence, gangs, and drug activity.

When he saw the flyer at our local church asking for volunteers to care for the gardens behind the minister's residence, he responded in his characteristically unassuming manner. Without fanfare, he just signed up. (BTW, this is not a plea for garden work around here - we’ve got that covered.)

He was well into his 87th year when the very thing we had always feared finally happened. He was just finishing his watering for the day when three gang members approached him. Ignoring their attempt to intimidate him, he simply asked, "Would you like a drink from the hose?"!

The tallest and toughest-looking of the three said, "Yeah, sure", with a malevolent little smile. As Carl offered the hose to him, the other two grabbed his arms. Throwing him down as the hose snaked crazily over the ground, dousing everything in its way, Carl's assailants stole his retirement watch and his wallet, and then fled. Carl tried to get himself up, but he had been thrown down on his bad leg. He lay there trying to gather himself as the minister came running to help him.

Although the minister had witnessed the attack from his window, he couldn't get there fast enough to stop it. "Carl, are you okay? Are you hurt?" the minister kept asking as he helped Carl to his feet. Carl just passed a hand over his brow and sighed, shaking his head. "Just some punk kids. I hope they'll wise-up someday." His wet clothes clung to his slight frame as he bent to pick up the hose. He adjusted the nozzle again and started to water. Confused and a little concerned, the minister asked, "Carl, what are you doing?"!

"I've got to finish my watering. It's been very dry lately", came the calm reply. Satisfying himself that Carl really was all right, the minister could only marvel. Carl was a man from a different time and place.

A few weeks later the three returned. Just as before their threat was unchallenged. Carl again offered them a drink from his hose. This time they didn't rob him. They wrenched the hose from his hand and drenched him head to foot in the icy water. When they had finished their humiliation of him, they sauntered off down the street, throwing catcalls and curses, falling over one another laughing at the hilarity of what they had just done. Carl just watched them. Then he turned toward the warmth giving sun, picked up his hose, and went on with his watering.!

The summer was quickly fading into fall. Carl was doing some tilling when he was startled by the sudden approach of someone behind him. He stumbled and fell into some evergreen branches. As he struggled to regain his footing, he turned to see the tall leader of his summer tormentors reaching down for him. He braced himself for the expected attack. "Don't worry old man, I'm not gonna hurt you this time." The young man spoke softly, still offering the tattooed and scarred hand to Carl.

As he helped Carl get up, the man pulled a crumpled bag from his pocket and handed it to Carl. "What's this?" Carl asked. "It's your stuff," the man explained. "It's your stuff back. Even the money in your wallet."!

"I don't understand," Carl said. "Why would you help me now?" The man shifted his feet, seeming embarrassed and ill at ease. "I learned something from you", he said. "I ran with that gang and hurt people like you. We picked you because you were old and we knew we could do it. But every time we came and did something to you, instead of yelling and fighting back, you tried to give us a drink. You didn't hate us for hating you. You kept showing love against our hate." He stopped for a moment.

"I couldn't sleep after we stole your stuff, so here it is back." He paused for another awkward moment, not knowing what more there was to say. "That bag's my way of saying thanks for straightening me out, I guess." And with that, he walked off down the street.

Carl looked down at the sack in his hands and gingerly opened it. He took out his retirement watch and put it back on his wrist. Opening his wallet, he checked for his wedding photo. He gazed for a moment at the young bride that still smiled back at him from all those years ago.

He died one cold day after Christmas that winter. Many people attended his funeral in spite of the weather. In particular the minister noticed a tall young man that he didn't know sitting quietly in a distant corner of the church. The minister spoke of Carl's garden as a lesson in life. In a voice made thick with unshed tears, he said, "Do your best and make your garden as beautiful as you can. We will never forget Carl and his garden." (pause)

The following spring another flyer went up. It read: "Person needed to care for Carl's garden." The flyer went unnoticed by the busy parishioners until one day when a knock was heard at the minister's office door. Opening the door, the minister saw a pair of scarred and tattooed hands holding the flyer. "I believe this is my job, if you'll have me," the young man said.

The minister recognized him as the same young man who had returned the stolen watch and wallet to Carl. He knew that Carl's kindness had turned this man's life around. As the minister handed him the keys to the garden shed, he said, "Yes, go take care of Carl's garden and honor him."!

The man went to work and, over the next several years, he tended the flowers and vegetables just as Carl had done. In that time, he went to college, got married, and became a prominent member of the community.

But he never forgot his promise to Carl's memory and kept the garden as beautiful as he thought Carl would have kept it. One day he approached the new minister and told him that he couldn't care for the garden any longer. He explained with a shy and happy smile, "My wife just had a baby boy last night, and she's bringing him home on Saturday."

"Well, congratulations!" said the minister, as he was handed the garden shed keys. "That's wonderful! What's the baby's name?"! "Carl," he replied.

Ephesians 4:25-5:2 NIV
25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 5 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Thank you, Betty. Maybe you, like me, sometimes wonder if this working for the kingdom is worth the effort. It’s hard to see the well-fed cattle in the winter when your sweating up a dust-storm loading bales of hay in the summer. But that’s exactly what we do when we come to church each and every week - well, mostly every week.

We are certainly all wired differently, and would I have been Carl, I probably would have gotten up and ran home, holding back the tears until I got there. But if I’d been a good friend of Carl’s, my hackles would have risen to new heights and I’d been ready to punch someone’s lights out.

Like the Ephesians, Carl, and the young man, God calls us to a different way of life - one that is not like the regular ways of the world. Our Christ-following ways don’t have to be self-deprecating or pitiful, and the results may not be instantaneous or even ever known. All we have to do is “have faith” that God will give us what we need when we need it. So shall we pray?

Gracious, Respectful God, we thank you for giving our lives direction and purpose, even when we may not know what they are. Help each of us to remember that we represent you when we deal with other people. Show us the people and the places where your grace is needed, and give each of us the tools and abilities to bring that grace - and healing and - you. For all those who have treated us with grace when we were less than grace-full, we give you huge thanks, and for those who tried, and we rejected, give them hope and endurance. For this life to which you have called us, and the great part we get to play in it, all your people say, Amen.

08-02-15 Sunday Sermon

8/2/2015

No postable sermon: Salt City Dixie Jazz Band