God Will Lead Us Along the Way (Pentecost 11 C)

GOD WILL LEAD US ALONG THE WAY

The Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Kiser

Aug 25, 2019   Pentecost 11C    Ex.13:17-22           

A pastor back in Norfolk  told me about a phone call he’d received from a fairly new member at his church, JIM, a younger man who didn’t have a church background.  So Jim called this pastor and said he was at the religious bookstore and wondering which Bible to buy - he was confused by all the different kinds. So my pastor friend is thinking about the various translations of the  Bible available, because there are quite a few. Usually in seminary we use the NRSV, the New Revised Standard version, as its considered the most accurate translation, and from the most recently available scholarship. Another popular translation is the NIV, the New International Version, and I have friends who like the way the CEV, or Contemporary English Version, phrases things.  Another newer one is called The Message, which is the work of Eugene Peterson, a remarkable pastor whose books have been well-received, and whose death last year was deeply mourned. Its quite up to date in its word choices and idioms. So my pastor friend starts on all this explanation about translations from the old languages and such, and Jim stops him - “What are you talking about?  I was just wondering if I should get, like the blue jean cover, the one with spiritual helps for men, the one with study helps, the one with red letters or what.” My pastor friend cracked up and they figured something out.  

See, marketers have invaded the world of Bibles and added layers of attractions on the world of various Bible translations, and the result can be confusing to folks who are rather new to Bible reading.  Meanwhile, while attempting to help the Bible be more readable to today’s people, others of us know that translation is not a simple thing, and that the translator's own prejudices and assumptions do affect their word choices, and this affects what people read and think and quote.   

On the other hand, I’m glad Jim, who was a friend of mine also, wanted to read the Bible for himself and learn more about the world of the Scripture.  Its a sad truth that although the Bible is the best-selling book year after year, Bible literacy in our times is quite low. People aren’t growing up in Sunday School in the numbers they used to. My niece went to worship with her grandmother, my mom, and went up for the children’s time where they heard a story about Abraham.  Afterwards, she said to my mom, “Grammy, I never heard that story about Abraham Lincoln before.” She had no idea of the Abraham in the Bible, the patriarch of Judaism. Another illustration, one of my favorites, comes from the early part of Raiders of the Lost Ark, where Indiana Jones is meeting with the G-men who comes to recruit him, and he’s explaining the Ark of the Covenant.  The G-men look blank, so Indy says, “Didn’t you guys go to Sunday School?” 

Biblical allusions are all over literature - it used to be assumed that readers would know what you were talking about if you mentioned making bricks without straw, for example; or something being a Damascus road moment. Those are just a couple I’ve come across recently when I’ve been thinking about all this.  Oh, and a book I was reading the other night had someone say they were sent “empty away”, like the wording in Mary’s Magnificat, where we’d be more likely to say “we went away without anything.” Even if folks weren’t really devoted church-goers, they knew the Bible at least as literature that educated people would recognize. The pillars of cloud and the pillars of fire would have been well-recognized as the way God guided the wandering Hebrew people in their 40 years in the desert.  We can’t assume these are recognized anymore.  

Familiar readers of the Bible would also realize that although  the stories in the Bible are based in common human experiences, they are also metaphorical for religious and human experiences we may have now, too.  For example, many of us have had times when we felt we were wandering and feeling lost, or in a desert-like time of dryness in our lives; we may long for signs as clear as pillars of fire or cloud.  We know about the courage it takes to leave a place that’s known, even if it has been harmful to us - and how difficult it is to build a new life and sense of identity. Themes of movies about a good son and a “bad” son come out all the time, like the story of the prodigal.   

There’s a meme going around (PICTURE IN PHONE) where God is talking to a Biblical writer about allegory….  “Of COURSE they’ll know its not literal,” Moses says...Yeah, that one….

So many of the stories of the Hebrew people, wandering in search of that vision of the future called the Land of Promise, can be taken not just as history, but also as prototypes or archetypes of the human quest. Look at the larger story here - What’s going on? The patriarch Jacab, aka Israel, and his extended family go to Egypt as refugees during a long and hard famine, where his son Joseph, though thought to be dead, has risen to prominence by storing up food ahead of time. Joseph is well-loved by the current Pharoah, and his family is welcomed and given choice land to live in.  So the tribe grows and grows, and eventually, as time passes, a couple Pharoah’s down the line don’t remember Joseph and the famine time, and only see the large number of Israelites as a potential enemy from within, so enslaves them. There are lots of stories about how they were treated badly, and cried out to God. God prepares the deliverer Moses and brings plagues on Egypt until the Pharaoh is broken, and says Moses can lead the Israelites to another land. There are more signs and wonders, and then the people who have seen the deliverance of God first hand are being led by Moses and these pillars of cloud and fire, another clear sign of God’s presence and care for them.  

Listening to the section we read today, we hear a summary paragraph about  people leaving a place of hardship, overwork, mistreatment and enslavement to others’ wills, and setting out on a journey towards a place of fulfillment and blessing, in which God guides them.   We’re told that God took them a bit out of the way at first, to avoid a face-to-face conflict that might end things before they started. And we’re told they took their identity, history and tradition with them, ie the bones of their founder.  There’s a lot of chapters about this journey, as the group of formerly enslaved people forge a new identity. Its neither an easy journey nor an instant journey - they live daily trusting God’s promise of what’s to come and their trust in the goodness of God towards them, even when the way is rough. 

This journey is an  archetypal journey of faith, hope, deliverance, and trust; a metaphor for the human quest for that place of fullness and security, where we can stand in both our history and our strong future, secure in faith and with the hand of the Divine blessing us.  Its a story of transition, of finding ourselves, defining ourselves and walking in trust of that spirit of life, God, which draws us.  

This is the story that the African American people, who were brought here as slaves, chose as an inspiration for their journey to freedom.  In fact, the 400th anniversary of the first slave ship to land on our country’s shores was just this week, with ceremonies of both lament and apology occuring in towns.  “Let my people go,” Moses’ words to the Pharaoh who had forgotten Joseph, was the longing of their hearts, too. This Scriptural story is a potent story of setting out towards a time and a life of promise.  

It can also be a personal inspiration for us as individuals, when we bravely chose a new path for ourselves, and set out from the known into a journey to find ourselves and our own promise.  Setting off to a new school, leaving what we knew behind; setting off for college, leaving the sheltering years at our home; changing career in mid-life because of a longing for something that wasn’t being met; finding ourselves alone after a long marriage and having to figure out who we are now.  I’ve read that retirement is often as stressful as any other changes in life, despite what we’ve been told about our “golden years.” None of these are quick or easy journeys, but filled with twists and turns and doubts and struggles. 

Our transition time here at Jamesville Community Church can be such a journey, although of course we’re not fleeing mistreatment and slavery like the Hebrew people did.  We can still look at ourselves and our church as being on this journey between time before and time ahead, this interim and transitional time.  We can see in this scriptural story that God was a part of things from the start, and with the people in their present and in their future.   I believe that is true for us as well - that God was there at the start of the changing, that God knows where we are going, and that God is with us every step along the way.  God is with us in our grief and in our hope; God is with us in the yin and yang of darkness and light (ie night and day). There is no time when Jamesville Community Church has been, is or will be, out of God’s hands.

Like the journey of the Israelites, we can look at our journey as a time of discovery, of defining ourselves as a people of God with a history and a future.  We can learn to live more and more in faith and hope in God as we walk each day, whatever it brings. Its a time when God can speak to our hearts and imaginations of the possibilities in our future as individual persons and as a congregation, with all its ins and outs, with all its hopes and despairs, with all the steps and missteps. Its a time we trust ourselves to the care and oversight of the One who loves us and desires good for us, individually and communally.  

I spoke earlier of the lack of biblical literacy in our civilization ss well as in our churches.  And even some of those who can tell the details still don’t get the idea of religious language as inner experiences, but fight over literal details while missing the whole point. This is a big concern of mine, my friends.  This collection of writings that has come down through the centuries of faithful people who both loved these texts and wrestled with them, who both loved God and struggled to live that love in the world - this is Christianity’s holy book, our faith’s book of the truth of living in God’s world, the truth of seeking and being sought by God.  While its no substitute for the actual spiritual life of journeying with God, this book IS the record of the experiences passed down by those gone before us. Our forebears in faith have walked this path before us - we’re not the first people to seek God, or be sought by God. There is much wisdom for us in here, wisdom that can save the world.   

So its crucial that we read it, know it, wrestle with it, hear it deep into our souls. Not just in a trite Bible-thumping way, not just in sound-bytes taken totally out of their context, not as a weapon to divide and cast out, not to proof-text our enculturated hatreds and fears - - But to hear its total message of hope for humanity, of God’s seeking to restore the world and be known by all.  The invitation to live in wholeness and peace calls from here towards the Land of Promise; the invitation of the One who created it all and called it good.  

If we feel this longing inside our soul, I urge us to take it seriously - it is the Holy Spirit of God calling, seeking to reveal Godself to us.  Its not just a preacher thing or a “religious career” thing - it is truly the journey to capital-L Life itself. And its a call to everyone. I would love to teach more about our Scriptures to those hungry for it, and talk together about our journeys, even while we corporately work towards calling a new pastor.  Let me know your thoughts, okay? AMEN.

That New Thing God Does (Pentecost 10C)

THAT NEW THING GOD DOES

The Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Kiser

Aug 18, 2019     Pentecost 10C   Isaiah 43:18-20 

With our young people here from VBS, and with the pictures and songs and energy, its a good day to preach about God saying, “I am about to do a new thing - now it springs forth - do you not perceive it???”  We’re here with the physical reminders that life is renewed, moves forward, is made new in these young people.  They are coming of age in an era different from ours, especially those of us in the 2nd half of life. People are still people, of course, and the laws of nature are still the laws of nature - however, however, their generation faces things that we didn’t, and perhaps don’t comprehend.  AND - As God is still working and speaking in the present NOW, God will guide them.  

The VBS group made a fingerprint tree for me, and presented it during the day of the program about change, as I’ve made a big change in the last few weeks.  There are SO MANY details to take care of in a move! First, I made a trip up here to find a place to live. Then I went back to my former house to finish packing up - lots of work!  Then the movers came to load my things in a truck and carry them here, where they unloaded them to the middle of the floors! Lots of boxes everywhere! Whew! Then I had to find where the grocery stores are, get my TV & wifi  turned on, put my bed together and help my kitty adjust to a new house, too. This week, now that I have the proofs that I need, I can change my drivers license and car registration. Next its finding doctors and a good vet, meeting other area pastors, and so on.

Moving takes a lot of energy- physical energy as well as mental and emotional energy.  

I’m fortunate in that I enjoy being in new places and meeting new people.  I’ve always liked moving, even when I’m sad at leaving at the same time. I find it exciting to be in a new place, meet new people, and start new friendships.  The scenery here looks SO different from where I was near the beach - the land is more hilly here, and the soil isn’t sandy. And its not as hot and humid here, thank goodness!  

Of course, I liked South Carolina, too. I had lots of friends there, and I really do love the ocean.  They do lots of things the same there as here, especially in church, because people are people everywhere.  Some churches were doing the same VBS - ROAR - as we just did! So young people in SC were singing the same songs and doing the same crafts as we did!  Probably young people all over the country know the same songs. I had fun in South Carolina; I had my favorite stores, my favorite doctor, and a nice place to live.  Now I like it here, and I’ve already met some cool new people! I was sad for a while that I was leaving SC...yet at the same time, I was excited about coming here, too.  Both at the same time.

Changes happen, and we find ourselves in new places, and in new situations.  Our VBS buddies helped us remember that, when life is sad, GOD IS GOOD! When life is scary, GOD IS GOOD! When life has changes, GOD IS GOOD!  And finally, when life is good, GOD IS GOOD!  

You know, I’m not the only person who has made changes lately.  Our church here has had a big change, too - Pastor Mark retired from being the preacher here, and I came to be the Interim Pastor. So everybody at church who were SO USED to hearing Pastor Mark preach the sermon, or answer the phone or visit them in the hospital - they are getting used to the change of having me do all that!  Church is “kind of” the same - I mean, we are having VBS like usual, and we have Sunday worship like usual, and we’ll have Thanksgiving and Christmas like usual - the change is that it will be me preaching and doing things. That’s different. But what did we learn at VBS about when things change???? GOD IS GOOD!!! And if people are sad and miss Pastor Mark, GOD IS GOOD!!!

Let me read our passage from Isaiah the prophet again -  its short - 

Isaiah 43:18-20   Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.  I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?   I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people… 

Now, God doesn’t mean that we’re to forget what’s happened before.  In fact, in other places, God says to remember how God did great things, and helped the people who came before us - remembering those things helps us know how God loves us and what great things God CAN do.  Remembering helps us have courage, because God has been so good before.  

HOWEVER, this passage reminds us that God moves along with us in the present, NOW.  God didn’t just help people back then, God helps people NOW! God wasn’t just good back there, God is good NOW.  That’s what God means when it says, “Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old.” Its n ot that we don’t remember the past - its “Don’t get stuck thinking its all over!”  “Don’t get stuck thinking all the good things happened back then!” “Don’t get stuck being sad, although its okay to be sad for a while.” God is good NOW.  

God was good to us when Pastor Mark was here - and God is good to us now, too. And God will be good to us tomorrow, and next month, and next year, too.  We will be fine, because God is good.

What the prophet Isaiah hears God saying is that we need to watch for the new things God is doing in this new time.  It hits me that this might be the message to us adults who are in our 2nd half of life - sometimes we can get stuck remembering how things used to be, because we have lived a lot of years, and have a lot of memories.  We need to be reminded that the present and future still hold promise of God’s goodness. God is always in the present - God might be as old as the whole world, but God is also as new as the newest baby, and the children in VBS, and the young people who helped lead things, and the new parents of those babies.  Maybe God’s words about remembering God’s past goodness are what younger folks need to hear, because mostly they’re looking forward in anticipation. And us older folks, who have lots of past, need to be reminded that there is also have a future.   

We live right between them, in the PRESENT, and this is also where God is working.

Friends, this is good news.  It doesn’t in any way negate or belittle the past, it just reminds us that God is still with us where we are now.  

On a personal level for our Jamesville community, as we begin to look to our present and our future, we’re not taking anything away from how great the past years have been, or how much love was shared, or how much community was built, or how many friendships deepened.  

The good news is that God is here in this new situation; God didn’t stay in the past - God is always in the NOW.  

God says, through the prophet Isaiah, that we need to be looking around to see the new things God is doing, and look for the new ways God is working.  God is always bringing along new leadership to respond to new situations, for example - I never heard of climate changes and global warming when I was younger.  I did hear about pollution back then, but its an ever-growing issue now. God is also working in these next generations to address our welcome of all people, to further bring down racial barriers and increase understanding. We made some progress in the 60s & 70s, and there’s still much to do.   I also trust God is inspiring God’s followers to address the recent surge in hate crimes and hate speech. God is STILL seeking to be known by all people; for people to find forgiveness and restoration in faith, and to grow in wisdom. God is the source of salvation for humanity, and the source of wisdom for us to live together and in harmony with all creation.  God is the cure we need, and thankfully, God is here and caring.

   Isaiah tells of God’s call for us to do our own inner work, so we can perceive where God is, and join God there.  Young and older together, let us keep our eyes open to see God in the NOW. AMEN.

The Land They Left Behind Pentecost 9C

 THE LAND THEY LEFT BEHIND

the Rev. Dr.. Rebecca L. Kiser

Aug 11, 2019 Pentecost C Heb. 11:13-16

You’ll notice that I put the context of this passage from Hebrews in the  bulletin, to set up the reading. The context is important: its the reciting of all the deeds of faith of Hebrew forbears, how all these people whose names & stories came down through Jewish history & Scripture, had hope & trust in God’s promises - and how that hope & trust in God’s promises caused them to act in ways unlike others.  Because they believed God’s promises, they acted on future-oriented faith, & made amazing choices. 

What struck me in my earlier reading of this text was the phrase I chose as the title, which is in this sentence:  If they were thinking of the land they left behind, they would have had opportunity to return.  That is countered by what they WERE thinking of, which is the realm of God - God’s vision, But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.   If I were choosing a title today,  I  might choose a title more based on the HOPE of this “better country,”  & how that pulls us, in our present life, into our future. See, HOPE for a future changes our living in the present… It matters whether we’re thinking about what lies behind or what lies ahead.    

Hmmmm… that sounds a little heady…. let’s reflect a minute about practical examples of what I mean.  

When I was a teenager, our VBS was held soon after school let out in early summer.  I was usually involved doing snacks or games, or playing the piano for the singing, so I always missed the first week of summer swim team practice.  I didn’t want to be too far behind the other swimmers, so the coach wrote up a workout for me to do in the afternoon or evening. Because I wanted to swim well, I came to the pool later in the day after VBS and did it.  I enjoyed summer swim team, and wanted to be a lifeguard, so I attended practices, and found rides until I was old enough to drive.  I did what I needed to do in order to reach that goal of lifeguarding, even coming out for practice on the cooler and rainy mornings when it would have been  more fun to sleep in than to dive into cold water.

Another swimmer named Kitty had some pretty good race times, and had thoughts of the Olympics in her head.  The future she looked towards was a lot more demanding, so Kitty swam all year, and had a private coach. Our practices in the morning for summer swim team were just a warm-up for her.  Her swimming goals took up lots more time and energy out of her days. It cost her parents a pretty penny, too. What Kitty and I each wanted to do in our future made a difference in how we acted in our present, in how our time, energy and money were spent. 

See, if we value making A’s in our classes, we put in the time studying in the days we have.  If we have a future dream of being a doctor, say, we take the classes for pre-med, and know that the next years are going to be full of even more school, residencies and such.  What we hope for makes a difference in how we spend our current days.  

That we believe it is important to worship God and be gathered with other Christ-followers is why we’re each here today on Sunday morning, and not sipping a latte or caramel macchiato at Starbucks while walking slowly around a lake somewhere, like our neighbors.  Our trust in God’s promises about living in us and our hopes of growing in our spiritual lives, are what make us choose to read our Bibles and pray about people and events in our daily lives; what makes us care about showing love to others, being honest, and other moral values within Christianity.    

         Abraham & Sarah, who we mentioned last week, found the courage to step out and follow what God called them to do - a radical leave-taking, and a radical trust in God for their future.  Their HOPE & TRUST in this promise from God, gave them the incentive to uproot themselves & move forward. In their present, they stepped into the future HOPE.

     Again with Moses, who gathered those many descendents of Abraham & Sarah in order to make a huge exodus from Egypt where they had been enslaved, we see all those people going out on a desert journey - a huge undertaking, a huge task that might seem illogical & doomed. Again, they went because of a HOPE & TRUST in what God said & promised. They stepped out of their past & into their future, because of what they envisioned. 

And so with the others mentioned in Hebrews 11. They all died without ever seeing the fulfillment of the promises & the vision - but that vision from God carried them throughout their lives. 

Without that vision, if they had just simply continued in the view of life that they had, they probably would have been alright, but it wasn’t the future that God was calling them into.  And if they had continued remembering that former life, the life of the country they left, well, they could always have returned. We’ll read a few places where they DID whine about what they left….   But basically Moses led them and they held onto the vision, & that made all the difference. 

     So it matters, you see, what our vision is.

     

As an Interim Pastor, or, as we’re being called now “Transitional Pastors,” (vs Settled Pastors), I’ve worked in a congregation that just couldn’t let go of how it used to be in the heyday they remember, when the pews were full & Sunday Schools overflowed the room available, & happy, & upwardly mobile families of 2 parents & some kids all flocked to church. That was in the 50s, when our country was pulling itself together after the upheavals & uncertainties of 2 World Wars, and the long history and stability of the church fed that need. 

      This specific congregation hoped to recreate that past, sentimentalizing the way things were & putting a golden, nostalgic glow around those times. They kept remembering ‘the land they left behind,’ as it were, and were unwilling to look around at the needs of their community now.  Of course they were also angry at the changes over the last 50 years, angry that they were shrinking, angry at the differences and angry that the clock wouldn’t turn back. Only a few of them began to form a vision for their future that was different from the past; only a few were willing to step out and risk for a new vision. And they were blocked by the others from taking any forward steps.   While I loved those people & prayed for their lives & worries, I also prayed for their eyes of faith & their spiritual sight. It was frustrating to minister there, because of the unwillingness to let go of the land they left behind, and turn forward. 

Okay, here’s a hokey illustration, but all the same, it IS an illustration.  My cat Mr B used to escape to the outside at my former house, when I opened the garage to get the car out.  When I couldn’t catch him, he got to spend some time outside, which he liked. Now that we’re in an apt and townhouse complex, he has to be on a leash to go out.  So we’re learning the leash thing, which he is willing to do because he wants to go outside. He’s still very tentative outside in our new place - I’m sure it smells different and looks different.  He stops and sniffs, looks closely at everything, then moves. I can tell he’s tense, because the other day when the air conditioning unit started up, he literally jumped 4 feet in the air and did flips.  He totally freaked! I admit that I laughed at the poor scared thing, but then comforted him. He ran for the door, panting. Stepping out into new stuff can be scary.  

Now this congregation here in Jamesville doesn’t seem to be bound to a vision in the past, which I’m glad for.  I feel a forward-looking energy in the folks I’ve talked with so far. This is a positive thing. I also know that a time of uncertainty is a legitimate part of grieving, and a part of this transition. And after so many years of security with a good pastor & good leadership, new stuff can be scary. (As long as no one jumps 4 feet in the air and turn flips!)  Jamesville Community Church has a good history, and good strengths to draw on. We don’t have to be fearful. 

      At transitional times, we may feel the lack of balance for a while, and have to hold still and look around at the new vista, like my poor Mr B.  Things that used to be ‘business as usual’ may feel different now. Yet transitional times can also be a positive time of taking stock, remembering the original vision & even honing that vision.  We may discover how the Holy Spirit can tweak our vision for church with the new situations around us. We can listen to the ideas of upcoming leaders. Perhaps God will lead us to redirect & refine some emphases; and perhaps take on some new directions.  Transitional times are a good time for all of this.  

It’s not overnight, of course - it’s a gradual thing. It takes time to work through all the feelings, to say a good goodbye, to feel & respect our feelings; we need to complete one step before taking the next. 

The challenge from this chapter of Hebrews - - or better, the invitation from this chapter of Hebrews, is to stay rooted in our faith in God that calls us forward into the vision of God’s realm and God’s promises. The invitation is to remember who we are & whose we are, & what we are called to do and be. We can hear again the assurances of Jesus that “I will be with you, even until the end of the age,” as well as the call of Jesus to “follow me.”  These will be firm ground under our feet even if other places feel wobbly. God has been faithful in the past - God will be faithful in the present and the future. May the visions that God puts in our hearts call us forward into our future. Let us walk in that faith. AMEN.

On Setting Out Not Knowing - Getting to Know each Other 8/4/129

ON SETTING OUT NOT KNOWING – GETTING TO KNOW ME!

1^ST Sermon at Jamesville Community Church

8/4/19

Hi, Jamesville congregation!  I’m pleased that God saw fit to have your search committee and I find each other.  This is the first time in my pastoring life that a search committee approached my instead of me approaching them first!  I’d been asking God why this happened to other clergy and not me - usually I have to read forms and inquire, and read more forms and inquire - the way your search committee contacted me felt real nice. We seemed to click right away, which also felt good.  They’ve been real helpful in telling me about this congregation, how you do things, and some of your history.

I know that you are grieving (as well as celebrating) the retirement of your previous pastor, who ministered here for 22 years.  The length of his service here points out how well you got along, and I’ve heard many good things about his ministry here.  This kind of stability is good for a congregation.

It also means that a new pastor is a big change... There might be some anxiety about what’s going to happen next and who the next pastor will be and what she or he will be like.  It looks to me like your leadership folks have stepped up and begun taking care of things, searching for an Interim pastor (me); keeping VBS going and such.  That’s good! And the Presbyterians have specialized training for Interim pastors, and steps to move forward that have been helpful for other congregations.  It was insightful of your leadership to choose this Interim process after a long pastorate.  It takes a while to say goodbye; and like any grieving, it takes a while to look again to the future.

My overall goal is to begin by learning how you are used to doing things, so your comfort level doesn’t get totally messed up.  For a while, just me being up here and not Rev Mark is enough of a visual change!  I might be around his same age group, but I’m not his gender!  Another goal is to be sharing parts of my story so I’m not such a stranger, and sharing something about this journey that we’ll be on for the next year or so.  . 

Let me tell a story – I like stories.  Some years back, I was the Hunger Action Coordinator for the Presbytery of Eastern VA, and  I shared an office with a man from Congo, who coordinated mission between our presbytery and our partner churches in Congo.  Billy, a 17 yr old young man who was actually born in the US and therefore a citizen, was repatriated to the U.S. during some bad times when we closed our embassy in the Congo; and his parents sent him to my office partner, Mr. Bota-Tshiek.  I had a new house with an extra room, and Mr Tschik didn’t, so Billy came home with me for a few nights until a permanent place could be found for him.  A couple weeks later I had to become his guardian in order to put him in school.  He lived with us for his junior and senior year and then we helped him get into college; and now we’ve watched him get working, get married, and become a dad.  ANYWAY – Billy found comfort that first year with the exchange students - they shared the changes of being in America, speaking English & being away from the familiar.  However, come spring, they all went back home – and Billy didn’t. That’s when the reality of his new life set in for Billy, and he went through a rough time.  I read that somewhere around the end of the 1^st year a person is in a new country, they bottom out; they realize the changes they’ve struggled to make are just the beginning, and that there’s still more subtle differences out there.  Depression and even suicide rise at that point for those who have changed country, especially if they are alone.

This process is common to all kinds of transitions.  There’s the initial change, then there’s dealing with it long term.  Feelings of disquiet, maybe even anger rise up – where are they from?  Often it’s the growing sense of how much is actually different now. So don ‘t be surprised at the feelings that might rise up as we go on – we will handle things together.

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When I was buying my first house, my realtor told me in advance that there would be at least 3 times when I called him up in a panic, maybe crying; and I should remember that he forewarned me.  So one day I got agitating about all the extra papers I was being asked for re the mortgage, and I freaked out and called him up anxious and crying about if this was ever going to work.  Ah, yes….And how did he comfort me????  “Remember I told you about the 3 times? Well, this is #1.”  Believe it or not, that actually helped…I laughed, and then we proceeded to do what was needed.

I guess that’s my foretelling of our next era here – while we are working on plans and self-studies, there’s more going on under the surface, emotions that will bubble up out of us now and then in unexpected feelings and reactions.  Its part of the process.  Part of my task is to recognize it and remind us.

I chose to begin in our first worship together with the very basic story of our faith tradition, way back there with our ancestors Abraham and Sarah, who heard God say, “Get up and move to this place I’ll show you.”  And surprisingly, they did.  No Allied Van Lines, no U-Haul, no move coordinators – they packed up their tents, took their cattle and goats and whatever else they had in terms of critters, their herders and such, and in the end took a nephew’s group, too. And they all set out for a new land.  That journey starts in our first Scripture book, Genesis, which means “Beginnings.” Or, “How it all got started.” Our whole faith tradition starts with a big transition! A leaving, a setting out for a new place.  They left the familiar, the known, the usual, and took off - because God said to.  Its counted as faith, the letter to the Hebrews says – because they believed God, trusted God, and did what God directed.

Can you imagine the changes they must have encountered?  The way the Scriptures were recorded and remembered, not much is said about how people felt - just a bare recital of what happened.  We can tell the emotional toll, however, by some of the things that happen, the stories of grumbling and complained that Moses deals with, with God’s help.  Hundreds of years later, their progeny moved to Egypt and found refuge there in order to avoid a terrible famine.  Then more hundreds of years later, their progeny left Egypt led by Moses, still looking for that land of promise.  That’s the story called the Exodus, a major story of salvation for our Jewish sisters and brothers.  All kinds of changes fill our Scriptures!  Change happens.

I like the way its put, that they “set out not knowing” - not knowing what would happen, not knowing where this land of promise was, not knowing how God’s promises would ever be fulfilled, not knowing if they could handle everything… When I ponder that phrase, “to set out not knowing,” it seems to me that this is actually true of most anything we begin - we are always “setting out not knowing.”  Its a kind of archetypal experience of many things in our living.   I mean, how many of us went to college knowing what we’d be like at graduation?  Knowing how classes would change us, challenge us, broaden us?  And when we found that special someone and committed to them, how many of us knew or even anticipated everything that marriage was going to call for from us?  What we would learn?  What kind of situations we would encounter and weather?  And when we delighted over our babies, – did we even have a clue how that would change us?  When my daughter became pregnant with her first, I really didn’t know how to find the words to express the inner changes, the self-awareness, the challenges….  So many places in our lives we “set out not knowing.” 

Again, when we first profess our love for God and take those early steps in faith, it’s the same thing - we don’t know what God has in store for us, or where the Holy Spirit will actually take us.  We have to take the journey as it comes, listening to the Holy Spirit regularly, and continuing to trust that God is with us and upholds us.  I sometimes wonder what my 18-year-old self would make of who I am at 65, and what life and God have worked in me.  I never foresaw what my life would hold.   

Its the same with our transitions like this, when a pastor retires and we set out not knowing what or who or how - yet we know and trust God, who is with us.  We’ve had a nice settled time for quite a while. What’s going to happen? Will attendance stay good during the transition, or will people pull away until they see who comes?  Will giving stay good? Will VBS continue?  Will our council meetings be the same?  Will we know the hymns and songs she chooses?

We do have some choices in the matters – we can let the anxiety rule us, or we can trust in the process and in the good people around us.  We can decide to be faithful in our attendance and giving, and participate in the upcoming processes of discernment.  We can pitch in, in a good spirit, to keep things going, and communicate clearly with one another.  We can encourage and pray for our leadership.

We are now on a journey together, seeking out where God will lead us.  That’s actually true all the time, although its more overt at transitional times.  We’re actually adapting and tweaking changes all the time; although again its more overt at pastoral transitions. Unlike Abraham and Sarah, we do have a path of sorts, some signposts and steps; although our journey will be our own.  The covenant we made in my call to Jamesville Community Church named some of those signposts – they have names like Coming to Terms with History, Discovering a New Identity, Allowing New Leadership, and Renewing Denominational linkages.  There are known helpful ways of addressing each of these, and our colleagues in faith will be with us all the way.  Other congregations have been down this path, have been there and done that.  We will be okay.  And no matter what, God is always with us, guiding us, speaking to us, leading us to where we are supposed to go.  I was glad when Fred mentioned that my first Sunday with you would be communion - what better promise of love and fellowship and belonging is there as we set out?  AMEN.