June 2010 Archives

Called! Sent!

Luke 10:1-11 & 17

June 27, 2010

Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf

It happened during my second year of seminary on the second day of my unit of Clinical Pastoral Education at Children's Hospital in Columbus Ohio. Having been oriented to the hospital on the first day, we were scheduled to be in class the entire day learning the basics of what a chaplain did. Sometime during the middle of the morning our teacher -the Chaplain of the hospital- received word from the emergency room that a 10 year old boy had been brought in. The boy was dead, but the family had not been told and they needed a Chaplain right away. As he was telling us this, I thought, "I guess we're going to get a break while he goes to deal with this."

Then I heard him say, "OK, whoever is on call for today will handle this one while we continue class. Who is on call for today?"

With a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I checked the schedule and my worst fear was realized, it was me. So I tentatively raised my hand and said, "It's me."

"Do you know how to get to the Emergency Room?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, thinking, but what in the world am I supposed to do when I get there?

"Good," he answered. "Head on down there as quickly as you can. They're waiting on you."

Now even though I had been an emergency room nurse, I had no idea what a chaplain was supposed to do in this situation. I had been called to be a follower of Christ; called to allow the Spirit to mend the broken places in my life; called to grow in faith; called to work in the church; called to seminary to learn how to be a pastor; called to life. And in that terrifying moment I was being sent; sent to embody God's love and grace; sent to offer comfort and support; sent to proclaim God's ever-present care; sent! I felt completely inadequate and totally unprepared to do what I was being asked to do. I was terrified! "God, please help me," I prayed as I walked.

I wonder if the seventy-two disciples Jesus sent out felt as unprepared and uncertain as I felt. No matter how long they had been traveling with Jesus, no matter how much they had learned from him, I suspect that they too didn't feel quite ready or totally prepared for the task. I mean really, Jesus had just said to them, "I am sending you like lambs into a pack of wolves."[Luke 10:3] And "Oh by the way, don't take any provisions with you, not even the basic necessities for survival. Just trust that when you offer God's peace, you will find peace in return."

At least I was just going to the emergency room!

Augustine was tutoring young clerics to go into the world to start churches and preach the gospel. At their ordination and commissioning ceremony, he reminded them of the importance of their mission. Then he said, "Preach the gospel with all your heart. If necessary, use words."

So too, those first missionaries sent by Jesus were called to practice what they preached, to live God's gracious love, to be a healing presence in the midst of each community. For sure they had words to say that would help people recognize that there was a power beyond them that gave them the wisdom and the strength to do what they did. But the most important thing they had to offer was their presence. As they dared to step out in faith, as they risked trusting that with God who they were and what they had to offer was enough, they became channels of grace, beacons of hope, instruments of healing and agents of transformation.

One day a group of teenagers went out to the abandoned railroad tracks near the edge of town near to challenge each other to walk the length of the rail. Despite their best efforts none of them could do it. Now as it happened the younger brother and sister of a couple of the teens had followed them to the tracks. After watching the older kids try for some time, the little girl, named Lucy, said, "I bet Steve and I can walk the tracks." Well, of course the older kids laughed and heckled these little ones. But finally, feeling pretty safe in their judgment of the kids ability, they said, "OK, if you can do it, we'll take you for ice cream"

Looking at each other and smiling a secret smile, Steve and Lucy got up on the tracks at the same time and reaching out and taking each other's hand for balance and support they proceeded to walk the entire length of the tracks!

I think it is a vitally important detail of this story that Jesus sent these first missionaries two by two; for balance, for support, for encouragement. They needed each other. That's the power of a spiritual friend; that's the power of a caring community; that's the power of small groups formed to study or pray or minister together.

Linda Graham, along with her friends Kellee, Lisa and Julie, went to Haiti on what they thought was a routine mission trip to deliver blankets, clothing, and medical supplies to an orphanage. The women had no idea that they were walking into one of the worst natural disasters in modern history.

As their taxi was leaving the airport the earthquake hit. Unable to drive to the orphanage they were dropped off at a church where about 2,000 people were singing and praying. "I've never felt the presence of God in such a tangible way as I did that night," Linda said.

The next morning wounded people lined up in front of the four women assuming they were nurses. Linda admits feeling inadequate knowing that she had no idea how to help the injured. Then she remembered that they had medical supplies in their luggage. The women sprung into action doing whatever they could do.

The biggest test of their faith came later that morning when two Haitian women went into labor. Linda was asked to deliver the babies in an abandoned hospital without electricity or running water. Linda prayed seeking the Lord's guidance. A healthy baby girl was born followed by a baby boy. The overjoyed father of the baby boy asked Linda to name his son. "I told him to name the boy Judah which means 'praise,' " Linda replied.

Each and every one of us is here because we too have been called; called by Christ to receive God's extravagant love, God's unfathomable grace, God's immeasurable healing, God's restorative justice, and God's life-renewing hope. Each of us is also sent to share with others what we have received, because it is in that sharing that we grow into the fullness of who we were created to be. Now it seems to me, that if we were only sent to do the things we already know we can do, that there would be no growth in faith in ourselves or in God. It is only when we find ourselves just a little beyond what is easy, comfortable or secure that we discover who God is and who in God's love we can become.

As I walked into the emergency room to meet that young boy's family, the nurse introduced me and then promptly disappeared. For the next several hours I sat with them, mostly just listening and trying to be present in whatever way seemed best at the moment, all the while wondering what in the world I was supposed to be doing and silently praying for wisdom and guidance. Then as they were leaving the grandmother said to me, "Thank you so much, I don't know how we could have gotten through this without you. You were a true blessing in this horrible nightmare."  As I walked back to class I wondered what I had done. In answer to my quandary the Chaplain said simply, "you were there!"

Whether we find ourselves in the middle of a natural disaster, in an emergency room with a grieving family with a friend, a co-worker, or even a stranger in times of pain, grief, challenge or fear, whether we are sent to bring comfort or hope, justice or peace, we are simply sent to be there; to embody God's love and live Christ's compassion, with open hands and open hearts, trusting that with God we are enough. Amen.

Great Love, Great Joy!

Luke 7:36 - 8:3

June 13, 2010

Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf

Her name was Candace. I met her during my tenure as Student Associate Pastor. As part of my ministry mandate to "create something for the young adults in our congregation" I had started a Relational Bible Study Group. I think we started with two or three participants. Candace was a friend of one of them, who told her about the group and invited her to check it out. I remember how quiet and reserved she was the first night she came. But something in the group drew her back the next week and the next until she was a regular and full participant.

We began each session talking about the stresses and joys of our week and offering each other support and encouragement. We also talked a lot about how we related personally to whatever Biblical text we happened to be exploring. The group grew together in love, in their sense of God's presence in their lives and in the joy that seemed to flow from that awareness. All of us felt our lives being touched, transformed and empowered. But none more so than Candace; she was like a flower opening up, a rose starting to unfold, a light beginning to shine.

I'll never forget the night she asked if she could share a song. She said it was a song that captured her story and she wanted to share it with us.

(Song)You Gave Me Love

You gave me time when no one gave me time of day.

You looked deep inside while the rest of the world looked away.

You smiled at me when there were just frowns everywhere.

You gave me love when nobody gave me a prayer.

That's why I call you savior.

That's why I call you friend

You touched my heart; you touched my soul;

And helped me start all over again.

That's why I love you Jesus,

That's why I'll always care.

You gave me love when nobody gave me a prayer.

You gave me laughter after I cried all my tears.

You heard my dreams while the rest of the world closed its ears.

I looked in your eyes and I found the tenderness there.

You gave me love when nobody gave me a prayer.

That's why I call you savior.

That's why I call you friend

You touched my heart; you touched my soul;

And helped me start all over again.

That's why I love you Jesus,

That's why I'll always care.

You gave me love when nobody gave me a prayer.

Picture in your mind the woman who stood behind Jesus, weeping, bathing his feet with her tears; can you imagine her singing those words as she gently massaged his feet? Can you hear her whisper or shout "you gave me love when nobody gave me a prayer"? She was after all a woman on the outside of polite society, a nothing, a nobody. Worse than that, she was a sinner; one who had sold her body to keep her life; one who had done whatever she could do just to survive. Now here she was crashing the party of Simon, the Pharisee, touching the feet of this itinerant preacher, interrupting the meal and rendering Jesus and anyone who came near enough to touch him or her unclean. It was the law. Simon knew it and so did Jesus and so did this woman! Women -even good, upstanding, reputable women- were not to speak to or touch men in public. She knew it, but her love was so great and her joy so profound that she dared to risk further retribution to just to say "thank you."

Now we don't know for sure just how it was that she had come to experience the love Jesus came and comes to bring. Perhaps she had been in the crowd and heard him speak. Perhaps she had caught his eye and when he looked at her she felt the love of God he talked about touching her deep within. Perhaps it was a smile. Perhaps it was the stories she had heard of other sinners he had welcomed, other outcasts he had included. We don't know. All we know is that something profound had happened to her and in its happening the love that had been hidden for so long was released in joyful service.

That's what happens when we receive a gift beyond anything we could ever hope for or imagine, isn't it? Our hearts are filled with gratitude that simply must find some expression. And when that gift is love when we have been told we are unlovable; when it is acceptance when all we have known is rejection; when it is extravagant welcome when the doors of life have slammed shut in our faces then that gratitude releases the love and the joy that makes us whole. I have seen it time and time again as individuals discover the love of God lived out in the extravagant welcome of a community of faith. I have seen it as the hurts and wounds of a lifetime begin to heal through the gift of Divine grace. When we have been loved like that, the great love and great joy that we experience simply must be shared, offered, given.

Meanwhile Simon, watching the scene unfold, simply cannot believe that Jesus is just sitting there, doing nothing to stop this woman or condemn her and her lifestyle. So Jesus tells him that story about the two debtors and asks him which debtor would love the creditor more. Cautiously Simon answers, "I suppose the one for whom he canceled the greater debt." Whereupon Jesus points to the woman and, after enumerating the number of times Simon failed to show Jesus common courtesy and respect while this woman poured out abundant love, Jesus says, "Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love."

Unfortunately several of the English translations of this passage have it backwards. They imply that this woman was forgiven because of her love. Not so, says Jesus. As a matter of fact the belief that forgiveness, love and acceptance come as a result of something we say or do was part of Simon's problem. He thought that only good, upstanding, proper, law-abiding people -like himself- deserved God's love and grace. He believed that only those who could follow every iota of the law were acceptable. He believed that one had to earn one's way into God's favor. He believed that because he faithfully kept the commandments he was somehow superior to those who did not. What he didn't understand was that in judging others inferior and in believing that he was capable of earning his own way, Simon was just as separated, just as distant, just as alienated as the woman was. He believed he had earned everything he had and there was no loving gratitude in his heart, no joy in his service, no room at his table for those he identified as sinners.

So much of the time we seem get it turned around. We think that we must do something to make ourselves acceptable to God. Oh, we utter the phrases about salvation by faith, but we turn faith into a work. We must have faith, repent, confess our sins; then and only then will God love us, accept us and forgive us. "No! Not so," says Jesus!!!  We have it backwards. God loves, forgives and accepts us - period - end of sentence. The question is will we accept God's acceptance of us and in that acceptance and love grow into all God dreams we might become?

How different our lives might be if we finally accepted that we are loved in spite of the number of times we have failed and will fail to live into the fullness of who we are created to become! How different our lives might be if we finally understood that we are -each and every one of us- people of infinite value, limitless dignity and immeasurable worth?

On the day of my ordination, several years after Candace first tentatively shared her song with us, she stood in the middle of the sanctuary and with great love in her heart and great joy radiating from her life reminded us all of God's incredible love as she sang her story, my story, our story:

You gave me laughter after I cried all my tears.

You heard my dreams while the rest of the world closed its ears.

I looked in your eyes and I found the tenderness there.

You gave me love when nobody gave me a prayer.

Amen.

Walking Side by Side

John 16:5-7 & 12-15 (CEV)

May 30, 2010 - Memorial Day Weekend

Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf

One Sunday a pastor was standing outside the sanctuary looking at pictures that had been hung on the wall, when a little girl stopped and asked, "Pastor, what are you doing and who are these people."

"Well," the pastor replied, "tomorrow is Memorial Day and these are the pictures of all of the people in our congregation who have died in the service."

Before the pastor could say another word the little girl cried out in alarm, "Which service the 8:00 or the 10:30?"

Tomorrow is Memorial Day and despite the little girl's confusion, we know that it is a day that was begun to honor those who had lost their lives in military service. Originally called Decoration Day, this custom of putting flags and flowers on the graves of the war dead began in this country during or just after our Civil War in many different places. As one historian puts it: "Each ... and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead and each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen. Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868."[1]

Perhaps that need to honor our dead, whether their death occurred in war or by some other means is one of the reasons that Memorial Day came to be a time when people went to the cemetery and placed flowers or wreaths on the graves of all their loved ones. At least that's what I grew up doing. Around our house the Peonies were generally in bloom by Memorial Day and we cut buckets full of them and made the trek to several different cemeteries. I can remember pulling weeds and cutting the grass around my grandparents graves. Next my parents and my brother set up mayonnaise jars filled with water and secured them with cut wire coat hangers. Then I got to put the Peonies in the jars. I had known some of my grandparents but others died before my birth. So this was also a time for sharing stories about what we remembered and loved about those who had died; and it helped me know the grandparents I had never met.

So today, I want to invite us into that story telling mode as we engage in an interactive time of reflection. To begin please get the blank half sheet of paper in your bulletin and grab a pencil or pen. If you need something to write with hold up the sheet of paper and we'll bring you something. ...

OK everybody set? Call to mind one or two people in your life -they can be living or dead- who have been a positive influence in your life; people who have helped you grow into the person you are today....

Now write one or two sentences telling something specific that person did for you. Let me give you some examples of what I mean:

©   The pastor of my church in Ohio, Kerry, saw gifts in me that I couldn't see in myself, he called me to use those gifts and nurtured and supported me as I risked stepping out in new directions.

©   My dad, Herb, delighted in my being. Each night he would give me his undivided attention as he listened to stories of my day and shared his wisdom with me.

©   Tom knows all about me, the good stuff and the not so good stuff and loves me anyway. His love brought me back to life after a painful and difficult time in my life.

OK, got the idea? You can either have two or three sentences about one person or one sentence about two or three people. Of course what you write is only part of who this person was to you, but it is an important part. [pause for reflection & writing]

Now I hope some of you will share with us the sentences you wrote. All you have to do is stand or wave at me and then you can read right from where you are. [pause for sharing]

Thank you for sharing.

In our passage of scripture today we hear Jesus promise to send what the CEV translates as "the Holy Spirit" or simply "the Spirit". But according to one of my seminary professors the Greek word used here is Paraklētos. "It is a word that has always challenged translators. In English, it has been read as Comforter (KJV), Helper (NKJV), Counselor (RSV, NIV, New Living Bible), Advocate (NRSV), or simply transliterated as Paraclete (NJB). The Greek word is made up of the participial form of the verb "to call" and the preposition "beside" and thus means one who has been summoned or called to the side of another."[2]

So try something with me: how would it be to substitute Jesus, God or Holy Spirit for the name of the person in the sentences you wrote?

Let's try mine and see:

©   Jesus saw gifts in me that I couldn't see in myself, he called me to use those gifts and nurtured and supported me as I risked stepping out in new directions.

©   God delighted in my being and loved me unconditionally. Each night God would give me his undivided attention as he listened to stories of my day and shared his wisdom with me.

©   Jesus knows all about me, the good stuff and the not so good stuff and loves me anyway. His love brought me back to life after a painful and difficult time in my life.

Let's hear some of yours [pause for sharing]

It has been my experience that God has always sent the right person at the right time to walk beside me, to comfort me, challenge me, love me, teach me, empower me, or simply be with me in whatever way I needed. And there have been times when, whether or not I knew it, God sent me to walk beside another who needed to feel God's presence and know God's love.

Just a little while before Jesus spoke the words in today's scripture, he said to his disciples "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever." [John 14:16 NRSV] So today as we remember and celebrate those Advocates, Helpers, Counselors, Comforters and Friends that have walked beside us, let us thank God for promises fulfilled and love given and received!

We are going to sing a familiar song We Are Marching in the Light of God, but this time we are going to add verses which substitute singing, dancing or praying for marching. As we sing, you are invited to walk, march or dance your way to the front, pick up a candle and light it in celebration of the people you remembered in writing today and also for all of the people God has sent to walk beside you and for the opportunities God has given to you, to walk beside another.

[pause for people to come forward]

Prayer of Thanksgiving

God, whose love and compassion are beyond anything we can imagine, we thank you for all the people who have sent to walk beside us as advocates, counselors, comforters, helpers, teachers, companions and friends. We thank you that the fire of your love has burned brightly through them. Thank you also for the times when your fire has burned in us to light the way and smooth the path of those you send us to walk beside. In times when we feel frightened or alone and think that you are far away, help us remember again the ones you have sent to us and trust that in many and various ways you will always walk beside us. Alive in Christ and open to your love, we pray. Amen.