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Introduction
Well, dear sisters and
brothers, here we are: all gathered to
return thanks to God for 250 years of mission and ministry. One of the anonymous writers of the Bible,
whom some have suggested may have been the Apostle Paul, recorded a sermon from
the earliest days in which these words were proclaimed:
Since, therefore, we are surrounded by so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin that clings too
closely and run with perseverance the race set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and
perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the
joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has
taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
Now
I have loved that passage since I was a young man: since we are surrounded
by so great a cloud of witnesses let us run with perseverance the race that has
been set before us. Notice that the preacher did NOT say: since we are gathered
together this day with an intimate coterie of our ancestors – nor did she say
anything about a small group of like-minded friends and neighbors coming
together for some casual barbeque. No
the proclamation is that we have been SURROUNDED BY A GREAT CLOUD OF
WITNESSES. Saturated with their bold and
graceful presence and buoyed beyond imagination with their love.
You
see in those early days of persecution, when Christians risked life and limb to
show compassion and justice to those in need, they drew strength and stamina
from the assurance that they had been surrounded by faithful saints who had
preceded them on the journey of life.
· And they didn’t
just include those they knew personally – or those who looked like them – or
those who lived on their side of town.
No, they celebrated and serenaded all
different kinds of saints who showed the world something of what it means to
live for faith, hope and love.
· In the list of
honored guests recorded in this sermon as it is written in chapter 11 of
Hebrews, there are Christians and Jews that are celebrated as models of
faith. There are women and men with
questionable pedigrees that are celebrated. There are patriarchs and matriarchs
among the celebrated as well as a few dear souls who are just wounded, broken
and even messed up people like you and me.
· I mean… Samson? Or Rahab? Not paragons of public virtue, to
be sure but still apparently worthy of being remembered among the saints.
Because, you see, they ran
with perseverance the race of faith that was set before them even when
they saw as through a glass darkly. So today that same cloud of witnesses –
expanded by time, wisdom and humility – join us here for our cele-bration
– and I want you to think about that truth if you dare? Think about who is with us right now in this
room – whether in heaven or on earth – as we mark the 250th
anniversary of this congregation.
· Certainly it
would have to include the 8 foundation men who were called together by the Holy
Spirit back in the earliest days of this community and became the core of First
Church are with us today. And certainly
our first pastor, The Reverend Thomas Allen, the fighting parson is here, too
probably with his gun. All too often
brother Allen is remembered as firing the first shot at the Battle of
Bennington in the Revolutionary War, and that has its place; but did you know
that the fighting parson once took in a runaway slave into his home and gave
him solace and support for 11 years?
· I am certain the
Parson Allen is here with us today and unless I am totally mistaken, the 18
pastors who have preceded me in ministry – including all of their Moderators
and faithful deacons and church councils as well as their beloved families –
they are all here today, too. 19
minister in 250 years – amazing!
· But let’s go
deeper, beloved, because I have been persuaded by faith to tell you that I also
believe that the Reverend Samuel Harrison, the first minister of Second
Congregational Church, is here today along with the 7 foundational women and
men who started that sacred institution in 1846. The Holy Spirit was
alive among our African American sisters and brothers when in good conscience
they could no longer tolerate the racism of the age and chose to break away
from First Church in freedom even before the Civil War had begun. Truly, those
saints are in the cloud of witnesses that are gathered here among us today.
And
there are hundreds and hundreds of other saints who are joining today as a part
of our celebration – people with whom we have become partners in ministry within
the city of Pittsfield - Sara and Kelly Shuff, Carolyn Valli, Mayor Bianchi and
Jane Winn. According to the grace of
God, they too are a part of this great cloud of witnesses as are our musical
partners and choirs and children.
You see, today we gather not
simply to mark a birthday – that’s important, don’t get me wrong – but simple
chronological longevity takes place among even reptiles. So, while age has its place, what we want to
celebrate today is the profound shift in vision and approach to ministry that
has taken root within and among us. Let’s be honest and talk turkey: while we were gathered by the Holy Spirit to
come into being as Pittsfield’s FIRST church 250 years ago, today we are no
longer first in influence, power or authority anywhere. We are not
Pittsfield’s movers and shakers. We
are not those who regularly
influence public opinion or social investment in any significant way. And we
are not the country club at prayer
as they used to say about our beloved membership.
· Rather, we are a
collection of predominately white middle class Christians trying to follow the
spirit of Jesus in the 21st century.
We are gay and straight, male and female, young and old, wealthy, poor
and every-thing in-between.
· We are doubters
and seekers, believers and heretics, those with a passionate evangelical
commitment to Christ as Lord and Savior and those who are often offended to
even be called Christians given the bone-headed and sometimes mean-spirited
thoughts and actions perpetrated on our friends by of other members of the
Christian community.
And
what we ache for these days is not pomp and circumstance and certainly
not the power and prestige of by gone generations. No, what we yearn for most as a congregation
in 2014 is partnership - partnership
with those who are committed to the common good of our community – partnership
with those who hunger and thirst after compassion and justice – and partnership
in the humble spirit of the Lord made flesh in Jesus. That’s why today’s
celebration is a concert: a form of shared beauty playfully and reverently
offered to God and our town by musical partners who love to embrace the joy of
life in community.
Our
mission statement reminds us that we have been called together in com-munity to
worship, to reflect, to do justice and share compassion – our witness is
defined by how we do this together – in partnership with one another and other
allies who have a vision of the beloved community. Not a dog-eat-dog world or some addicted race
to the bottom of the barrel in obeisance to the lowest common denominator. But
rather something that resembles a choir – or a band – where everyone listens to
one another carefully – covers one another’s mistakes with creativity and
forgiveness – and tries to make something beautiful together in the spirit of
cooperation and joy.
Jazz
guitarist, Bill Frissell, once put it like this: we play and practice and improvise together
because when we do this we can explore the freedom and beauty we need in a
space where no one gets hurt. And that’s part of what we’re doing
today: we want to celebrate together in
community.
Another
part has to do with reminding ourselves of who the Holy Spirit has called us to
be for THIS generation. Once upon a
time, we were called to be first, but not so much in 2014. In fact, I think there are two passages from
the Bible that are calling out to us for serious reflection. You may recall, that the Old Testament scholar
and theologian, Walter Breuggemann, once observed that when a people or a
community is in transition they tend to grasp hold of their favorite old and
time-tested texts with what seems like a death grip. But the better way – the
more faithful way – he suggests is to go to the portions of the Bible we have
neglected over the years – journey to the border and the periphery – and listen
to the voices from outside the circles of power. And in that spirit there are
two passages that cry out to me for deeper understanding for they offer to us a
new vision for our ministry. The first is taken from the Hebrew Scriptures in Psalm
131:
O Lord, my heart is
not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; My soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; My soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
O Israel
trust in the Lord from this time on and for evermore.
This
is all about humility and trust: my soul
has been calmed and quieted like a baby resting in her momma’s lap. Mmmmmmm…. The
second text comes from that wounded sinner who in time became one of Christ’s
most loving advocates, Paul of Tarsus, who wrote to a weary church in Corinth:
My grace
is sufficient for you, says the Lord, for my power is made perfect in weakness.
That is why I am able to boast all the more gladly of my weakness, for in this
the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weakness,
insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities for the sake of Christ for
whenever I am week, then I am strong by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Sometimes
Paul would go so far as to say that he had become a FOOL for Christ – not a social mover and shaker but a fool for
Christ – and from my perspective as pastor I think that is true for many of us
today at First Church. Oh we may not like to talk about ourselves as fools, but
we know that given changes in our culture, we no longer have to carry the
mantle and burden of greatness or wealth or power.
Now we can live more freely and playfully as
compassionate collaborators with Christ.
That is why we are giving so much attention to music, poetry and prayer
today: it empowers us to mature as creative
fools for Christ in a world that wants to keep us locked into the slavery of
distraction and fear. But this
congregation, for most of its life, has had a LONG history of opening its heart
to the wisdom of God through music.
At
one time there was an orchestra playing here to accompany congregational
singing. In time that was replaced by an
organ – and once upon a time for a few years there was a moment when the
primary musical instrument was a bass viol!
I’m not kidding – what goes around comes around – and as a bass player I
LOVE that fact. We’ve had a long history
of beauty and innovation. I think of the
50 years of music making that enriched the Berkshires and this church under the
leadership of Lou Steigler, an alum of my alma mater, Union Theological
Seminary in NYC as one recent example: playing bold and beautiful music here to
evoke the radical vision of Christ is nothing new…
What has changed, however, is the context and the
theology. Today we are broadly eclectic
– as you will here in a moment – combining blues and rock and roll with sacred
chorales and hymns. Today we rarely start our music from a theology of glory and
power. No now we try to trust that in
OUR weakness GOD is strong and that changes everything: from this upside down vision the last become
first, children become honored members of the community and our wounds become
sacred teachers that can lead us to wisdom.
That’s
what ALL of the songs we will share with you today reinforce – from the surly
and gnarly music of Tom Waits to the hymn that Eva and Carlton wrote for this
occasion – but there is one in particular that I want to call to your attention
because it cuts deep: Peace Train. It takes the image of a train moving across
the country on behalf of peace and partnership and invites us to ask
ourselves: are we ready to get on
board? Are we ready to be a part of the
choir – or the band – or the dancers or painters who want to strengthen and
build up our community? Are we ready to do our part in cooperation – not
necessarily as leaders – but as servants?
Now pay careful attention here because there two truths we must
consider:
The symbol of the train has been used for decades in American
soul music. One song, “This Train” speaks about holiness – this train don’t
carry no gamblers, this train. Years later the great Duke Ellington and Billy Straythorn
wrote “Take the A Train” about leaving the stress of oppression downtown behind
and getting home to their safe and sweet neighborhood uptown in Harlem. Twenty
years later, Curtis Mayfield, wrote the incredible “People Get Ready” about a
train ‘comin that was picking up passengers from coast to coast. And just last month Bruce Springsteen released a new tune,
“Land of Hopes and Dreams” that celebrates a train so inclusive in love that it
carries saints and sinners, losers and winners, whores and
gamblers and all types of lost souls.
That’s
one layer of train symbolism. Another
whole strata is built upon the Underground Railroad and the importance
that reality has played in our collective history. So, first of all, Peace Train reminds us that
there is a force – a power – an energy alive in the world that is rolling
across this country – and every country – and it is about healing and hope and
transformation and freedom. The second
truth about “Peace Train” is that sometimes that force – that love – that grace
finds us laughing, sometimes it finds us singing and sometimes it finds us
crying. But it never quits rolling – it
meets and greets us where we are in life – happy or sad, broken or whole – and
invites us to get on board.
See where this is going…?
The Peace Train is an invitation to partnership in community no matter
what our condition or station in life.
It acknowledges that there is pain and sorrow in our world – evil and
injustice, too – and like Dr. King once said: we must choose which side we’re
on. Every generation must do likewise
and either get on board or get out of the way
The second thing we are celebrating today on our 250th
anniversary is that we want to get on board with those who care about the
common good as partners in Pittsfield. Not as first this or first that – but
partners – dare I say as fools for Christ?
That
is why we are so grateful that some of our allies in compassion are with us
today – and they will be sharing words of greeting and encouragement in their
own unique way in just a moment – but there is one last truth I must call to
your attention today. And it is born of
our history, our human sinfulness and our God’s amazing grace. One hundred and forty six years ago, our
African American sisters and brothers felt led by the Spirit to break away from
First Church – we all know this story but many don’t like to acknowledge it – at
least here – because it is so ugly and painful.
But
there are two beautiful things that came out of the sinful breech: the first was the birth of the first African
American congregation in the Berkshires – Second Congregational Church – a
community of faith dedicated to breaking down barriers and challenging
injustice with love and faith. The
second beautiful thing has been simmering and percolating in the hearts of the
faithful at First Church for a long, long time – far longer than I have even
been alive – so you KNOW that’s a long time – has something to do with
repenting of our sin and walking the road of reconciliation with our sisters
and brothers. Some of my predecessors
set the stage for this throughout our history, but we have a unique opportunity
at this moment in time.
· So today, on the occasion of our 250th anniversary
of First Church, we want to take another small step on the road of repentance
and offer Second Church a symbol of our love and gratitude and friendship as
part of the Peace Train.
· We have a gift - it is one of our historic silver communion
chalices – that dates back to 1804. It
was probably used both by members of First and Second Church at different
moments. For the story of our historic breech, at least as it is told here, has
something to do with the wife of a pastor refusing to share the common cup at
Holy Communion with the African American members of First Church. This is probably partly truth and partly
fiction but it is an accurate reflection of a broken relationship born of a
culture of division and racial bigotry.
So
what we would like to do today is simply say that in the 21st
century we want to walk with you – we want to find new ways of being partners
with you – and we would like give you this as a symbol of our repentance. It is a sign that not only do we want to work
and pray for the day when very soon we will know one another again so that we can
all drink from the same loving cup, but that we trust that God’s love in Christ
is bigger than our sin. (SHARE THE CUP…)
As
fools for Christ we trust that in Christ Jesus our Lord there is neither male
nor female, slave nor free – and in my Bible that goes on to say – neither rich
nor poor, black nor white or anything else in all creation that can ever
separate us from the love of God we share in Christ Jesus our Lord. I am so honored that you have all joined us
for the party – so as the master of ceremonies and pastor of funk – I think it
is time to get down…
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And we did.. going right into an down and dirty version of Tom Waits' "Come On Up to the House."
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