February 2007 Archives
Changed for Good
Luke 9:28-36
February 18, 2007
Transfiguration Sunday
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
Her name was Carol. She and I happened to be in the same Art-as-Meditation workshop at the week-long seminar presented by the Institute for Culture and Creation-Centered Spirituality. As part of that class, we were to find a covenant partner -someone else we would meet with every day to talk about what we were experiencing; someone who would listen and encourage and when necessary comfort and question. We were to walk silently around the room and when there was someone we thought we might want for a partner, we were to silently indicate that and they could either accept or decline, again without saying a word. As I was scanning the room and intently trying to sense if there was a pull toward anyone, I was startled as I caught sight of Carol standing a few feet away looking at me. I was startled because I hadn't even noticed her in the class. AS she stood there, I had the sense that she wanted to be my partner, but was afraid I would reject her. Now, I have to tell you, that's exactly what part of me wanted to do. But something else inside seemed to be saying "yes" to her silent request. And so it was that we became Covenant Partners. On that first day as we shared a bit of our life stories with one another, I was struck by how pale and lifeless Carol looked. She wore no make up, her clothes were very plan and even her hair seemed to lack any luster.
It was an incredible week; the classes, the workshops, the morning "body prayer" experiences, the evening speakers and rituals each brought new ways of seeing, new ways of being, new ways of thinking. As Carol & I talked each day, it was clear that we had much in common and it was a joy to witness one another as we opened more and more to the Spirit -each beginning to sense in a new way that we were loved, profoundly and powerfully loved; each beginning to understand in a new way that our lives had meaning and purpose and value; each finding healing for some of the wounds our rigid religious upbringing had inflicted on our souls. Yes, it was an incredible week; you might even say it was a mountaintop experience!
Strangely Blessed
Luke 6:17-26
February 11, 2007
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
We are a blessed people -amazingly, abundantly blessed! This past October and November as we were invited to adopt the spiritual practice of writing or at least making a mental list of at least five new blessings we experienced each day, many of us found great joy in recognizing just how blessed we truly are. As one of you said to me, "This blessing thing is great fun!" Even so, if life threw you a curve ball and you lost your job, had your home and your car repossessed and found yourself on the street begging for a handout so you could eat, I somehow doubt that any of those things would make it on your list of Blessings I Experienced Today. Or, if death or divorce robbed you of someone you dearly loved or some disease or tragedy stole from you a cherished part of your physical being and you found yourself weeping, day and night, in inconsolable sorrow, I rather doubt that those events would make it on your Blessings list either.
So, what did you think when you heard Jesus' list of blessings?
Luke 5:1-11
February 4, 2007
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
They were in the locker room and the enthusiastic coach was preparing his team. "Okay, fellows," he said, "now remember we are undefeated, untied, and unscored upon ---- and ready for our first game!"
Now, I don't think the coach's name was Lovie Smith. But he sure is the coach all of Chicagoland is thinking about today as our Chicago Bears (go bears) meet the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLI. Talking about his coaching style and his calm presence on the filed, Smith said:
"Yelling and screaming, that's one of the most overrated [coaching] ideas out there. Maybe in the old days that's what you had to do. Nowadays, what I've found is that if you tell guys what to do ... they will do it. You don't have to belittle them, threaten them. I simply tell them what I want done. If they can't do it, there are other guys waiting for the chance to do it."
More than just a new technique in coaching, however, Smith's attitude about how to be a great coach flows from his understanding of how to be a great person -that is a person whose life reflects the greatness of God. "God is the center of my life." Smith said in a news conference yesterday. "My faith controls all that I do. I hope I don't have to spend my time telling my players I'm a Christian. I hope they see it in my life every day." In his coaching and in his life, Smith dares to go into deep waters, confident that he is not steering the boat. So it's exciting that today Lovie Smith will be one of the first two African American Head Coaches of an NFL team to play in the Super Bowl.
For you see, it's also exciting that today one of Smith's best friends, Tony Dungy, also a man of deep faith, is the coach of the opposing team. From what I've read Tony Dungy is also a man dares to go into deep waters, confident that he is not steering the boat.
To me, the thing that is remarkable about these two men is that because of their deep faith in God and their equally deep faith in who God made them to be they have dared to live and work in ways that seem out of the ordinary in the world of NFL sports. And just look what they have achieved!
Speaking of things that are out of the ordinary, that's just what we get in today's story from Luke's gospel, when Jesus, a carpenter, tells some stormweathered, bone-tired fishermen how to do their job.
It had been a long hard night and just about all they could think about was getting their nets cleaned after from a night of frustratingly fruitless activity and getting home for some rest, hoping that tonight's catch will be better. Then along comes Jesus. Perhaps out of gratitude for healing his mother-in-law, Simon - known later in the gospels as Peter- took Jesus out a little way from the shore so that he could talk to the crowds. When Jesus was finally finished, I have to belief that Simon couldn't wait to get him back to shore so that he could finish up the tasks he still had to complete. But Jesus says to him, "Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch."
"Master, we've been fishing hard all night and haven't caught even a minnow. Besides, that's not how we do it. You don't fish during the day. And it's the wrong time of the year to be fishing in deep water, and these are not deep water nets! Jesus, I'm the fisherman, you're the carpenter. Just let me do me work and get home for some rest."
Now we have no idea, what it was that caused Simon to trust what this carpenter was telling him to do or motivated him act, despite his notions of how fishing should be done, but he did; and when he did his nets could not hold the catch!
How often that's been true in the life of this congregation. We heeded the call to go into deep waters, as we dared to use some of the money in our Memorial Fund, first to pay part of the salary for a youth minister and then to purchase all kinds of A-V and lighting equipment that facilitates that ministry. And the result has been beyond anything we could ever have hoped for or imagined; 20-30 junior and senior high youth every Wednesday night -active, involved, inviting their friends, going on mission trips, raising funds to free children from slavery, repairing bikes to take to the Native American children on one of the Reservations in South Dakota and so much more. Lives are being changed; we are being changed. Our nets are over-flowing with abundant joy.
We heeded the call to go into deep waters, as we said "yes" to the call to be part of a Foods Resource Bank Growing Project. That first year we sponsored acres, told the story, and even dared to cancel worship here so that we could worship with our partners in a farm field in Forrest, Illinois. That first year we sponsored more than thirty acres and almost 90 people traveled south to worship in that farm field. And how amazing it's been as each year we've sponsored more acres and traveled with more people and felt the abundance of Divine Love flowing through our lives! Lives are being changed; we are being changed. Our nets are over-flowing with abundant joy.
We heeded the call to go into deep waters, as we trained about 20 of our own members in a strange thing called Reiki and then dared to announce to the congregation and the community at large that we have a Reiki Healing Ministry Team, willing to share this simple but profound form of healing with anyone in need. And how amazing it's been as we've gathered around hospital beds, in homes and here in our lounge, offering ourselves as channels of God's Healing and Peace! Lives are being changed; we are being changed. Our nets are overflowing with abundant joy.
We heeded the call to go into deep waters, as we dared to say that we can put on a production of Godspell that will help us reach out into the Plainfield community in new and exciting ways. The cast is at work and all of you will be selling tickets and inviting your friends and we will fill this sanctuary for two performances on Sunday April 1st and it will be beyond anything we could ever have hoped for or imagined. Lives will be changed; we will be changed. Our nets will over-flow with abundant joy.
Those are but a few of the times when we've dared to follow Christ into deep water, dared to step beyond our comfort zone, dared to try something new. There have been many, many more. But God is still speaking, still calling, still inviting us into deeper water. Our Vision Team will be meeting for the first time on Tuesday night. We will be designing a process that will help us listen to the voice of the Still-Speaking God who just may be inviting us deepen our faith as we dare to reach out in new and exciting ways to touch the world with God's Love and Grace.
When Simon experienced the awesomeness of Divine Abundance, he fell on his knees in fear. "There is nothing to fear," Jesus said to him. "Get used to it, because from now on you'll be fishing for men and women." In other words, "how you live your life will be different, but I'm going to use who and what you've been to grow you into the fullness of who God created you to become."
Now, we all hope, -or at least many of us hope- that Da Bears will be the victors in today's game. But whichever team wins the game, the nets of the Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy will overflow with abundant joy, because they have learned to trust the One who calls them into deep water and invites them to let down their nets.
Every time we dare to follow Christ into deep waters lives will be changed! We will be changed! Our nets will over-flow with abundant joy! May we trust and follow.
Amen.
