October 2006 Archives

Blessed with Joy
October 29, 2006
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
(Emma sings) Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say Rejoice
Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say Rejoice
Rejoice, Rejoice, and again I say Rejoice
Rejoice, Rejoice, and again I say Rejoice
A number of years ago, Tony Campolo was the guest preacher at a Lutheran church in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania. As the service began, the pastor of that congregation called the people
to worship by saying, "Let us make a joyful noise unto the Lord! Let us come into his gates with
thanksgiving and into his courts with praise!" No sooner were the words out of the pastor's
mouth when someone in the balcony jumped up and yelled, "All right! All right!" and started
clapping. Before long there were several young people on their feet shouting praise and
applauding wildly, while the pastor and the majority of the congregation stood there in stunned
silence. Reflecting on his experience that day, Dr. Campolo later said, "I don't know what the
pastor was expecting when he told the people in the church to make a joyful noise unto the
Lord, but I do know that the last thing he expected that Sunday night was that anybody actually
would!"
Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say, Rejoice!
Have you noticed how there are some songs that capture our hearts, touch our spirits and
maybe even move our hands to clap and our feet to dance -especially if we aren't in church?
Have you noticed how, sometimes, such songs even have a way of altering our present reality,
lifting our spirits and transforming a difficult situation. And have you noticed how -on those
occasions when we actually let loose and let the spirit move within us- that our whole being
seems to be filled with joy -an almost irrepressible joy? The Apostle Paul knew it. He had
experienced it. He had seen it.
Perhaps it was what kept him going as he sat in a jail cell in Rome. Perhaps he was in the
midst of rejoicing when he first heard the news that all was not well with his beloved
community in Philippi. He knew that it was being hounded from the outside by those who saw
their radically inclusive faith as heresy. But what troubled him was that it was also being
threatened by those within the community who failed to take their faith seriously as well as by
all their differing opinions regarding what to do to solve these issues. Arguments were breaking
out and fear was gripping the very heart of the community. If he hadn't been in jail, Paul would
have returned to Philippi to remind them of what they already knew. But a letter would have to
do. And so it is that the church through the ages has been blessed by the wisdom Paul shared
with those he calls his "partners in the gospel." In the first three chapters of this letter Paul
deals directly with some of the issues facing the little community. Then he reminds them of
what he must have told them time and time again when he was with them; the secret that
would carry them through any difficulty, the blessing that will keep them strong:
4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5Let your gentleness be
known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8Finally, beloved, whatever is
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true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is
anything worthy of praise, think about these things. [Philippians 4:4-8]
Praise, Prayer and Gratitude! These are the elements Paul called his beloved community to
engage as an ongoing spiritual practice. Praise, Prayer and Gratitude! -all the time!
When I was a young mother, struggling to balance two small children, a full-time job, a
husband, a house, and a great deal of volunteer work in the church, I was frequently
overwhelmed and near the point of exhaustion. During this time there was a popular saying
circulating around evangelical Christian circles that said, "Praise the Lord, anyway." Lose you
job? "Praise the Lord, anyway." Your house burns down? "Praise the Lord, anyway." Feeling a
lot like Job? "Praise the Lord, anyway." Betrayed by a friend? "Praise the Lord, anyway." No
matter what bad thing might befall you, "Praise the Lord, anyway." Now at the time, I thought
this was the craziest, most emotionally dishonest saying I had ever heard. Whenever I heard it
talked about, written about or preached about, it came across to me as an exhortation to paste
a smile on your face and deny that anything was wrong in your life. And perhaps it was. But
what I think I missed was the subtle and yet enormous difference between "joy" and
"happiness." What I heard in the phrase "Praise the Lord, anyway" was an injunction to be
happy no matter what. But happiness comes from external circumstances. And I don't care who
you are, when bad stuff happens you are not happy about it. In fact don't we do everything we
possibly can to avoid being unhappy?
But it just might be possible that somewhere buried in the midst of the "Praise the Lord,
anyway" rhetoric is the same gem of truth that Paul sought to share with his beloved
community.
There may be pain; there may be loss; there may be a lot of bad stuff going on-stuff that
robs us of happiness, but not of joy at least not if we wake up to one essential truth. In the
midst of it all, there is God, who always and forever "works all things together for good..."
[Romans 8:28] and that is the source of true joy and always cause for rejoicing!
But, waking up to the nearness of God is not a given. Just like it may be necessary to set
your clock radio if there is a certain time you need to wake up, there are spiritual practices that
help you wake up to God's all encompassing ever-present love. If you dwell on what's missing
and constantly rehearse all that wrong, counsels Paul, all you see is what is wrong. But if you
focus on the goodness and love which are present even in the most difficult times, if you
practice opening your heart, mind and spirit to God in meditation and prayer, if you pay
attention to the blessings that come your way every day, then you will begin to sense more and
more that you are never outside of God's love and care and your heart will be filled to
overflowing with joy.
In the gospel of John, Jesus uses the image of the vine, the branches and the fruit to
describe the state of interconnectedness that exists between human beings and God. He ends
this description by saying, "I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and
that your joy may be complete."[John 15:11]
Last year we began a SALT Group using the 28 week study called Companions in Christ.
This fall we picked up where we left off with another study from that same series called The
Way of Blessedness. In both studies each gathering begins by asking participants to answer the
question, "Where or how have you experienced God in the past week?" Note the authors did
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not ask "Have you experienced God this week?" The assumption was and is that we will always
be able to answer that question, because God is always and everywhere present.
As you might imagine, over such a long period of time with a five or six people answering
the question, the answers have been many and varied. But what has amazed me is that even
when people had difficult weeks, even when they experienced pain or loss, even then -or
perhaps most especially then- they always had some experience of God's love and grace that
reminded them that God is always near.
As you continue to focus on your blessings -listing just three of them each and every daybe
aware of how it affects you. Are you beginning to sense the joy that is present even where
there is nothing to be happy about? Are you more able to feel, even just a little bit, the neverending
flow of God's blessing and love? Are you more able to trust -just a little bit- that you are
never outside of God's love and care? If so you are beginning to sense that you are indeed
blessed with joy!.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. .... Do not worry about anything...
The Lord is near. .... Amen.
(sing) Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say Rejoice
Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say Rejoice
Rejoice, Rejoice, and again I say Rejoice
Rejoice, Rejoice, and again I say Rejoice

Blessed with Love
1 John 3:1-3 (The Message)
October 22, 2006
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
I first met him in the winter of 1974. From the moment he walked into the church parlor that
day, I knew there was something special about him. His manner was so genuinely caring, his smile
was so infectious, and his eyes were so clear you could almost see his soul. Before the night was
over I knew he was the one who I wanted to be the next pastor of our congregation, and so did the
rest of the search committee. But little did I know how much his coming would change my life!
I had been an active church member my entire life, but it wasn't until I met him that became a
true disciple. It didn't happen right away. But the more I listened to him, learned from him and saw
the way in which he sought to live out the teachings of Jesus and answer the call of the spirit in his
life, the more I wanted what he had -the peace, the joy, and most of all the love.
Through his eyes I began to see my own life in a new way. Through his heart I began to hear
the call of God in my life. Through his challenge I began to risk giving my whole being back to God.
It was because of his witness in my life that I was open to hear God calling me into pastoral ministry.
It was with his affirmation and support that I dared to say "yes."
In the years following that decision, as I had opportunities to reflect on my faith journey, I often
said of him "He is the most complete embodiment of Christ I have ever met, and with his beard he
even looks like many of the paintings of Jesus, especially when he smiles."
1 What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it--we're called
children of God! That's who we really are. ... 2 And that's only the beginning. Who
knows how we'll end up! What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we'll see
him--and in seeing him, become like him. [1 John 3]
How amazing is that?! The day is coming when we, the children of God, will not only know Jesus,
but we will be like him! In a powerful sermon on this passage titled "We Will Be Like Jesus," Rev. Dr.
Guy Sayles writes:
God wants to make us like Jesus. ... God intends to work in us, with us, and on us until
we fully reflect the spirit and character of Jesus. ... You and I are growing into the
image of Jesus; and even though there are days when we do not seem to be very much
like him, we will be one day. In the end, as Carroll Simcox beautifully put it, "You and I
shall be our real, complete selves for the first time ever. ...
To say that God is in the process of making us like Jesus Christ does not mean that God
is cloning us into exact replicas of Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, a wonderful and gracious
paradox at the heart of the gospel is that the more we become like Jesus, the more we
become our truest selves. Don Wardlaw once said that "to be yoked to Christ is to be a
soul companion with the authentic self God intends for us to be." As we discover deeper
dimensions of Christ-likeness, we uncover more and more of our honest-to-God selves.
...
What blessing! God is at work in us and through us transforming us into our "honest-to-Godselves;"
the fully human beings, the image of God which we were, in the beginning, created to be
and to become. Dr. Sayles continues:
Genuine transformation is not a self-help exercise or a do-it-yourself project. It is God's
work. Transformation happens as God convinces us that we are loved -that, like
Jesus, WE are God's beloved children. ... The words God spoke to Jesus at his
baptism are words God speaks also to us: "You are my beloved son, my beloved
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daughter. With you I am well pleased." ... God's love for us is tender and strong,
reassuring and challenging, nurturing and empowering. God's arms of welcome and
affirmation are always open to us. We are God's children. We are loved.
What a blessing! We are blessed with love -God's love! Have there been people in your life who
have loved you with a deep, accepting, affirming, all encompassing love; the people who have seen
beneath the surface of who you might be at the moment to call forth the not yet of who you will
become; the people who even though they know all your mistakes and failures love you just as you
are? If so then you have been blessed with love -God's love, Divine Love. Have there been people in
your life who have challenged you to think deeply about who you are and what you believe; people
who might not have seemed to fit the definition of what we usually call loving, but people who have
none-the-less gifted you as you have learned how to stand up for yourself? If so then you have been
blessed with love -God's love, Divine Love. Have there been people in your life who have loved you
in a deep and passionate way, calling forth the very essence of who you are as a man or a woman;
people whose touch sends shivers of delight through your entire body; people who awaken your own
desires? If so then you have been blessed with love -God's love, Divine Love. Have there been
people -maybe even complete strangers- who have done or said the right thing at the right time to
lift your spirit or restore your faith? Have there been moments when you have been overwhelmed by
the beauty of a sunset or the magnificence of the mountains? If so then you have been blessed with
love -God's love, Divine Love. Did you wake up this morning, gifted with another day of life? If so
then you have been blessed with love -God's love, Divine Love.
As amazing as such blessings are being on the receiving end of Divine Love is not the greatest
blessing Love gives. We are truly blessed with love, when we recognize that we are created to be
love alive in our time and our place!
Hear Dr. Sayles once more:
That deep down assurance that we are loved empowers us to join Jesus in his
compassion for our broken planet, his passion for peace, his hunger and thirst for
justice, his welcoming embrace of the excluded and his tender mercy toward sinners.
Beloved children of God, remember those whom the rest of the world forgets, keep
company with the fallen and the downtrodden, work to turn strangers into friends, and
labor for reconciliation among enemies.
The truly amazing thing about this gift of love is the truth that love is not a limited resource! It's
part and parcel of the whole of creation. It's the energy that pulses through our bodies and connects
us to one another in an amazingly beautifully web of life. The more we love, the more love we have
to give; the more we love, the more ways we find to love; the more we love, the more fully we
become who we already are children of God, made in the image and likeness of God. The impulse to
reach out in love is God at work in us. May we dare to live that love trusting that as we do God is at
work in us, with us, and on us shaping us, growing us, transforming us so that we more and more
fully reflect the spirit and character of Jesus in all that we say and everything that we do. Then we
will know beyond a doubt that we are blessed -Blessed with LOVE! Amen.

In the Beginning - Blessing!
Genesis 1:1-31
October 15, 2006
In the beginning... In the beginning, in the time before time...
In the beginning, before there was anything, when everything that was to be was still part
of one gigantic emptiness, a sphere of pregnant possibility....
In the beginning there was Love, pulsing, beating, yearning; LOVE longing, for a way to
love.
In the beginning there was Love and the creative energy of Love would not, could not be
contained.
In the beginning there was Love and the Creative Energy of Love moved across the sphere
of pregnant possibility calling forth from its very heart the shimmering radiance we call LIGHT.
And Love saw that LIGHT was good, which is to say a blessing. But Love also recognized the
need for darkness, a time to rest and grow, a time to ponder and pause and so the Creative
Energy of Love separated the Holy LIGHT from the Sacred DARK and those blessings of creation
we call day and night first took shape. And Love saw that LIGHT and DARK were good, which is
to say a blessing.
But Love needed more ways to pour forth the blessings of Love's Heart and so in the
beginningness of all things the Creative Energy of Love moved again and a blanket of Holy
Breath enveloped the sphere of pregnant possibility, protected and nurtured it like a mother
enfolds her newborn babe and the sky above became distinct from the waters below. Not yet
satisfied the Creative Energy of Love moved again and the waters began to separate and the
dry land began to emerge and the sparking orb we call Earth began to take shape. And Love
saw that all that was, was good, which is to say a blessing.
Even so Love had still more blessings to pour forth and so the Creative Energy of Love
moved again and the earth began to sprout all manner of green and growing things, and moon
and stars took shape, fish began to play in the water and birds began to soar through the air
and all manner of life began to dance on the sacred earth. And Love saw that it was all good,
which is to say a blessing.
But still there was more love that needed to be expressed, more blessings that Love longed
to share and so Love pondered the possibilities and danced with the Creative Energy of Love
until a deep desire was fulfilled and two earth creatures took shape, two creatures we call
female and male, two souls teeming with all the Creative Energy of Love, two selves filled with
the deep desire to continue Love's work, the very image of Love, capable of Loving Love with
Love's own passion. And Love saw that all of Love's work was good, so very, very good, which
is to say a blessing, a gift, a treasure to be savored and enjoyed and cherished. May Love -
which is to say God- bless our hearing and our understanding of this story of the begingingness
of all things.
In the beginning, at the moment of creation, there is blessing -immeasurable blessing;
unimaginable blessing. In fact in his book Original Blessing, Matthew Fox asserts that blessing is
the very purpose of creation. And he points to the fact that the word for blessing -Berakah and
the word for create -Bara come from the same root and carry the same energy. The Whole of
Creation -and that includes each of us- is a blessing, an original blessing, a gift from the heart
of Love, which is to say God.
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Think about it for a minute.... When we love others -especially our children- what is it we
want to do? We want to provide for them and give them every opportunity for a full and joyous
life, don't we? We want to spend time with them. We want to share with them the things that
will bless their lives. We want to give them the blessings we call gifts. And we hope, don't we,
that they will enjoy, cherish and savor the gifts we give, the opportunities we provide and the
blessings we share.
Once upon a time there was a Jewish Rabbi who dreamed that he had a heart attack and
died. In the way of dreams he then saw himself outside the throne room of God, waiting to be
called before the Holy One. The Archangel Uriel appeared and said "In just a moment you will
be called before the Holy One -Blessed be He/ Blessed be She- where your life will be judged
based on how you answer one question and one question only. So, while you wait, you should
prepare yourself by reviewing your life."
Alarmed at this possibility the Rabbi began pacing back and forth thinking, thinking,
reviewing his life, trying to remember which of the 612 commandments he might have failed to
follow. Was their some wrong he had failed to right? If so it would be his luck that it would be
the basis of the question rather than all the good things he did and all the times when he did
follow the Torah. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the doors opened and he was
escorted into the Holy of Holies, where he immediately fell to the ground, lest he look upon the
face of God.
"Stand up, my child," the voice of Love said. "Stand up and behold my beauty and my
radiance." Slowly and cautiously the Rabbi got to his feet and was dazzled by the shimmering
radiance before him. And the voice of Love spoke saying, "My beloved child, your life will be
judged on the basis of how you answer this question: 'Which one of the good gifts of my
creation, the blessings I have poured into your life, have you failed to savor, cherish and
enjoy?"
Then suddenly in the way of dreams the Rabbi saw the doctors apply the defibrillator
paddles to the chest of his corpse and he was shocked back to life. Awakening with a start he
began to see with new eyes and love with a new heart as he began to celebrate the goodness
and cherish the blessing of all that is.
In another one of his books, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the
Earth, Matthew Fox offers what he calls the Four Commandments of the way of blessing named
Creation Centered Spirituality, the first of those commandments is "Thou shalt fall in love at
least three times a day." In elaborating what he means by this he enumerates things that
might be objects of our love saying:
...we could fall in love with a galaxy every day ...there are one trillion of them,... or
we could fall in love with a star, of which there are 200 billion in our galaxy alone.
Or a species of wildflower, of which there are at least 10,000 on this planet. Or a
species of bird, of fish, of tree, of plant.... We could fall in love with music, poetry,
painting, dance. If we fell in love with one of Mozart's works each week we would
have seven years of joy. How could we ever be bored?
In Paul's letter to the Philippians, we read:
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just,
whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any
excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
[Philippians 4:8]
It seems to me that all too often we focus on our lack, rather than on the abundance of
God's blessings. We focus on our failures rather than the times we have lived up to the vision
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God had for us in the beginning, at the moment of our creation. How many of the good gifts of
God's creation, the blessings God has poured into your life, have you failed to savor, cherish
and enjoy? As a congregation, how many of the good gifts of God's creation, the blessings God
has poured into our life, have we failed to savor, cherish and enjoy because we have been so
concerned about meeting the budget and paying the bills? God has given enough and more
than enough. We are blessed beyond reason. How might our lives and this community of faith
be different if we "fell in love" at least three times every day?
I don't have the answer to that question, but I have a deep sense that life might just be a
whole lot more joyful if we did. So I want to challenge all of us to a spiritual practice for the
next 30 days. I want you to get a small notebook or a journal and at least one time everyday sit
quietly, breathe in God's loving presence for a minute or two and then write down three
blessings in your life that come to mind. Sounds easy, doesn't it? But here's the challenge, once
you've written something down you can't repeat it -ever. So don't just say family -name the
individuals God has given into your closest circle of relationships. Don't just say friends, but
name them. Even better don't just list their names, but list a specific way in which they bless
you, that way you can be aware of the many different ways in which your loved ones are
blessings to your life. And after you've done the obvious easy ones, get down to the nitty gritty
little things like a warm cup of tea, the smell of the earth after the rain, a rainbow that
reminded you of God's promise of eternal love, a particular kind of flower, a smile that came
from a stranger at just the moment you needed to believe life was good, something one of your
family members or friends did that blessed you in a particular way. And don't forget to include
those things we sometimes don't think of as blessings, like garden snakes that eat mice or the
opportunity to help a friend or give a gift that blesses someone else, the chance to express your
gratitude to someone who has blessed you or even the difficult person who allows you to
deepen your faith or think through your values. How might our lives and this community of faith
be different if each and every one of us made it a practice once every day to write down just
three blessings we have received? Let's try it and see what happens!
Every breath we take is the beginning of a new moment of creation and in the beginning
there is always blessing! May we dare to savor, cherish and enjoy each and every blessing, so
that when we enter the holy of holies and Love asks us 'Which one of the good gifts of my
creation, the blessings I have poured into your life, have you failed to savor, cherish and
enjoy?" WE can joyfully reply "I have cherished and enjoyed them all!" Amen.