Faces of Federated - Entries from November 2011

SunSundayNovNovember13th2011 November 13, 2011 - Ken Horner

Posted Sunday, November 13 2011 @ 12 PM byKen Horner Tagged No tags 0 comments Add comment

Generosity

Good morning, and blessings to you from the Horner family. Apologies for my voice, as I used it a bit too strenuously cheering for Laurel School in the state soccer finals yesterday in Columbus. Our team lost, but gave it their all even when they were down 5-0. The final score was 5-2. It would have been easy to take for granted that a 5-0 deficit early in the 2nd half was a loss waiting to happen. They instead chose to view it as an opportunity to score two goals and finish strong.

Generosity is not an easy theme in life. I hope to share with you this morning my own learning curve, warts and all, on generosity. I think it begins for me in understanding how dangerous it is to take things for granted, so I'll start with a story.

Some years ago the Chancel Choir performed a piece of music called "The Holocaust Cantata" by Donald McCullough. It is essentially a song cycle depicting a variety of themes associated with the Holocaust. Some called for full choir, while some were solos, and Bill Foley asked that I sing one of solos in the piece. I casually looked at the note range, and relatively thoughtlessly decided "no problem". I didn't look at the solo again for a number of weeks. Approximately 2 weeks before the performance, one of my fellow tenors Gerry Stueber nudged me and asked if I had read the narratives that Mr. McCullough and others had written into the score as preambles to each song. I hadn't, and placated Gerry's comment as idle chatter. During the dress rehearsal, Gerry mentioned the narrative again, and again, I largely ignored him. My particular solo was about the herding of people on railroad platforms into freight cars to be shipped off to concentration camps. As horrible as this was, it was a story I thought I was familiar with.

On the morning of the performance, with mere minutes to go before singing my solo, Gerry wished me luck on what he thought would be an extremely emotional piece. Since I had a few free minutes (probably during the sermon...sorry Hamilton!), I finally put my eyes on the narrative associated with my solo for a "quick read-through". I was absolutely stunned to find out that the song was about more than just rail platforms and camps, it instead depicted the practice of separating children from parents and used the song to show the perspective of a father running along the platform waiving to his frightened daughter pulling away in a railcar....assuring her everything would be OK when he knew it wouldn't!....assuring her he would see her soon when he knew this was likely the last time he'd ever see her face!!! I was COMPLETELY emotionally unprepared for what I had to sing in several minutes, having taken for granted for weeks the song's content, and having ignored several nudges I clearly then knew were from God (through Gerry Steuber).

With my jaw on the floor, I looked up to the coup de grat, my own smiling 8 year old daughter in the front row....oh the cruel but well deserved irony. Needless to say my rendition of that solo, if it was good at all, was exceedingly better the second service than the first.

[PAUSE]

Generosity for me unfortunately requires dealing with the uncomfortable truth that the resources we have are not of our own making, but are gifts of God. I am a steward, not a star performer or investor or banker or whatever. We tell ourselves "how can this be when Joe has this much but Sally has so much more?" It must be that Sally worked harder than Joe, or was smarter than Joe, or even was luckier than Joe. But the reality that I am slowly coming to believe is that it is not because of these things. That's not to say that the Lord does not recognize the difference between hard work and no work, as the text from the parable of the talents tells us. But if I recognize the resources which are in my hands only as rewards for my work - that is recognizing them only for their stature in our human world. Attempting to recognize that God has the majority hand in the provision of my resources has been key to my learning curve as it relates to how to be generous. And I confess that at almost 50 years old, I still have far to go along that curve. Resources in Gods eyes are not money, or currency, or buying power. Instead they are opportunities to share with other children of God.

Generosity requires faith - you have to be willing to lose control. For me, It can't be "I'll give them some of my money and then see how they do with it, and if they do OK then maybe ill give them some more..." It can't involve my judgement. We must have faith that in returning to God what she has provided for us, SHE has a purpose! SHE has a roadmap! SHE has a vision!

I believe Generosity is private, and anonymous. I can't be like the Pharisees and scribes of the temple who wanted to be seen giving large amounts so their status would be raised in the community. Ulterior motives are my own human creations and are too tempting to be of God.

I believe opportunities to be generous are customized by God for us. And I believe immensely that Federated Church, for me and for each of you, is a customized treasure trove of opportunity waiting to be realized.

I'll conclude with another story I heard once a number of years ago ... an interpretation of the Lords prayer, the only time Jesus directly taught us how to talk to God. We all learn the words as children and it becomes as rote as the pledge of allegiance or the catholic Hail Mary. The title as written in the program was entitled "THY Kingdom Comma". At first I thought it was an embarressing misprint.

But what the pastor explained was two phenomena that have stuck with me ever since: first the word THY is glossed over in our rote renditions of the Prayer. It is THY kingdom come ... THY will be done. There IS a roadmap, and at the end, there IS a kingdom to celebrate. And each is Gods, not our own.

And second, related the pastor, there was a glaring syntax error! How could Jesus have made such an error? It comes when we ask God to "give us this day our daily bread." The comma, he said, should come after "day". How important is it to remind God to give us a bit food every day? Not very....but to pray for "this day" as an opportunity for service, AND, oh by the way how about a taco or a big Mac every now and again....that is a very different context.

As we hand in our pledge cards today and in the coming days, I will be trying to do so with a sense of not taking blessings for granted, with a sense of passion for the sheer magnitude of what is available to accomplish, with a sense of faith and letting go, and finally with an intense sense of the opportunities that have been customized by God for us through this amazing Federated Church community. I hope you will join me and do the same.

Please pray with me.

Father Mother God, as we each define our feebly human interpretation of generosity, help us do so in a spirit of sacrifice, a spirit of faith, a spirit of opportunity not waited for but SOUGHT OUT, and a spirit of thanksgiving for the fountains of opportunity You give us each and every day. AMEN.

SunSundayNovNovember6th2011

November 6, 2011 - Edith Guffey

Posted Sunday, November 06 2011 @ 12 PM byEdith Guffey Tagged No tags 0 comments Add comment

Faith Witness on Gratitude

I’ve known about this Sunday for a while, but for some reason it has been really hard to get my head around talking about gratitude. That may be because it’s so obvious that we have so much to be grateful for that part of me just wanted to say gratitude… DUH and be done with it. While that would have fit nicely into Dan’s 5 minute time limit, I felt something more substantial was likely expected.

When I think about what I am grateful for, my mind almost always goes first to my health, my family and then to the things in life that we all need, food, shelter, clothes, medical care, jobs to help support our families. You probably know that I am unemployed as my term as the Associate General Minister of the UCC has ended. And no I did not retire, so I find myself without a job for the first time since I was 16 years old, a huge change and my future is unsettled like millions of others in our country, Even so, I know I am blessed. I have far more than the necessities of life and while I am often baffled about why some have so much and others so little, I am deeply grateful for all that has been given to me. But I also know while gratitude includes being grateful for all we have been given, our gratitude isn’t determined by how much we have. My parents had very little, but they were grateful people and I remember testimony after testimony of gratitude for a God who is generous and loving and kind; a God who is with us in good times and bad; a God who makes a way out of no way. So while my gratitude includes being grateful for all I have been given, at the heart of it is gratitude to God for loving and forgiving and caring and cherishing me, just as I am.

On this all Saints Sunday, I am grateful for so many people here at Federated who have given their time and treasures to this church. I remember Bob Marquart who called me after I first worshipped here and said, “We’d love to have you join us”. That was almost twenty years ago and we have been blessed by the gifts of this amazing community of faith. Our two kids grew up here, and felt supported, embraced and loved. Bryan’s love of music was nurtured and fed, Michael, well Michaels’ independent nature accepted. And while Jerry can speak for himself, when we moved here in 1991, Jerry was the “trailing spouse” giving up his career path to support me and looking for a place to have some sense of community. Federated became that place and the ministry of music through the Ensemble has been so important to him. When we moved here from Kansas in 1991to work for the UCC, I learned pretty quickly that working for the church meant that I really needed a place of worship to remind me what church was really all about. Believe me, church work can be very hard. And I found that reminder year after year here at Federated. Like many of you, this faith community has prayed for me during important and difficult transitions, helped me to live out my commitments to justice, encouraged me to be more generous and, challenged me on how I live out my faith day in and day out.

Gratitude….absolutely, for the amazing grace of God, for all I have been given, for this church, for all that has been and for all that is yet to be.

Let us pray, Gracious and loving God, We come this morning with hearts full; thankful for all that you are to us and all that you have given to us. We thank you that no matter who we are or where we are on life’s journey, that you are right there beside us. We remember those this morning whose lives are racked with pain of loss and illness, those who don’t have the basic necessities of life, those who will go to bed tonight and wake up hungry, those whose lives are filled with violence, in this country and abroad. Even while we are so grateful for what we have been given, we know that to who much has been given, much is required. We pray that you will create in us a sense of urgency and impatience for the inequities and injustices of life. We know that we can’t make it all better, but God help us to be committed to work for change in places where you call us to serve. Gracious God, thank you for this particular community of faith, for the ways that we care for each other and for those beyond these walls. Help us to do and be more, more committed to you, more generous and more grateful for all that you are to each one of us. In your name we pray. Amen.