Time in the Garage (Homily 5/24/09)

Scripture: Isaiah 5:1-13, John 17:6-19

Sitting for 8 yesterday hours in the garage of the second most elaborate and expensive home I've ever been in (just how I wanted to spend a beautiful Saturday on Memorial Day Weekend), two wishes about our faith welled up within me:

1) that Christianity was a get-rich-quick scheme (it is Amway's 50th anniversary this weekend, you know); and
2) that Christianity was only about a private spirituality -- a "me-and-God" thing; then I could teach you how to reach union with God -- an ecstatic experience of Oneness, Nirvana, that blows away the need for anything else -- and all without pain, suffering, shadow, or death.

So, in these difficult economic times, I'm unveiling this package that can be yours for just $99.93: The Ecstatic Union with God Get-Rich-Quick Scheme (I held up a binder with that on the cover)! That's right. Right now, pay just $99.93 for this complete package! After the initial purchase, get them in volume at the great rate of only $50 apiece to sell to all your friends and neighbors!

Oh, why $99.93, you ask? Try it upside down: E (for Ecstatic (and Expensive!)) 666!

Okay, I admit there's no get-rich-quick scheme here. Isaiah's vision just read for us is especially harsh on those who would hoard for themselves what rightly belongs to everyone. His words are hard to hear in a community of second homes, like ours. His words blow the top off a community whose problems with alcohol are as rampant -- or moreso -- than any big city. They are, indeed, sobering words.

In a time of economic downturn, the words of Isaiah give us pause to consider what's really important. As individuals, families, businesses, and churches, we must consider where our priorities lie and put our resources there. Is image more important? Or substance? Is it really all about money? Who do I or we let in only so far as the garage?

Union with God is possible -- very possible -- and very delightful. But it happens where we least expect it as often as it does where we most expect it. We know God here in Douglas and Saugatuck on the beach, in the sunset, in our sanctuary, in fine food and friends. Those get us so far. Maybe it's time to go out to the garage and meet God there:

Come and meet God at Douglas Elementary School, where children and staff long for volunteers -- and who now fear the end of Saugatuck Public Schools. How could that happen here?

Come and meet God at the Harbors Health Care Facility: read a book, play a game, or simply chat with folks who have ended up where most of us -- rightly or wrongly -- never want to be.

Come and meet God at Christian Neighbors, where family after family pours in for the basics of food, clothing, and shelter.

Come and meet God at one of the many Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in our two cities, where women and men have the courage to admit weakness, face their fears, trust their higher power, and move on to a life of service.

Come, let us meet God in the broken and the broken-hearted -- and have our joy made complete.

Come, let us know God there. Then will our lives be rich.

Congregational Survey Says...

The last two weeks of April a Congregational Survey was placed in the bulletin to get input on a number of issues. With 22 surveys returned, here are the results (people could check more than one item in each category):

The Bulletin
(14) I like the current format (using 8.5x11 inside page, cover not folded in half)
(6) I like the previous format (8x14 inside page, cover folded in half)
(10) I enjoy the UCC bulletin covers

Comments:
· Too many announcements in church -- write or list them in the bulletin
· It's fine
· Shorten service -- maybe delete joys and concerns
· Start at 10 a.m., and not at 10:10 a.m.
· Maybe an occasional bulletin cover that deviates from the UCC series showcasing local artwork
· No preference
· Would appreciate a shorter service
· Seems long
· I would like to see less reading, less paper
· I am always open to change of any kind
· Include more on who is doing what around the buildings and recognition

The Sanctuary
(10) I like the pews all in rows
(8) I like some in rows and some angled
(8) I like it any which way
(2) I like the pews all facing the center (in the round, more or less)

Comments:
· I enjoy seeing it change from time to time
· Nice to see change
· Mixing it up every now and then is very nice
· The Chancel area is beautiful
· With it like it is (in the round), it's hard for people to get around the pews and hard for some people to get up from the pews without having the one in front to help them get up
· It's good to mix it up
· Nice seeing faces but also the Altar

Homilies: I would like to hear a homily or series on
(16) Tough Questions
(14) Progressive Christianity
(11) What It Means to Be a Church
(10) The Different Parts of Worship
(7) The Lord’s Prayer
(6) Integrity of Creation
(5) Newsweek covers
(5) Money
(5) Prayer

Other Suggestions: Current Events, Sexuality and Spirituality, Art, Human Growth, Meditation, Nature.

Comments:
· Good sermons, but get to the point and stop with the delays
· It's fine
· Favorite part of many services
· I enjoy series, so any would be great
· I enjoy listening to all!

One hymn I would like to sing is:
· Let There Be Peace on Earth
· O Lord I Am Not Worthy
· Lord of the Dance
· No Greater Love
· Any oldies but goodies
· On Eagle's Wings
· Gospel type with clapping, etc.
· You Are Mine
· Peace I Leave with You, My Friend

Gifts to Grow Building Steam!

Welcome to our new Douglas UCC Blog, Loving Wastefully!!

Three Sundays ago, on April 19, our Stewardship Sunday, we gave everyone in worship a cash gift of $10 with an invitation to use that gift for growing the reign of God, the kin-dom of God. The only stipulation is that people would tell us the stories of what happened to them, others, and the community by the means of this gift.

We are inviting you now to share those stories here. We also have been and will continue to hear them in worship. And on Sunday, May 17, after church we'll have bazaar for those who have used the gift to create something for sale - multiplying the original amount in support of our mission as a church.

Here are some of the stories I know about.

• The $10 was parlayed into a gift certificate for a $50 champagne brunch on the river, which will be sold at the bazaar.
• One took the $10, added to it, got a few friends to pony up, and made a donation of $50 to Christian Neighbors, our community aid agency which is a partnership of the area churches. This is an incredible organization that does an amazing amount of work all on volunteer efforts. This money will be a great help!
• At least two people are using the money to buy raw materials to cook for the bazaar, making granola and baked goods.
• Another doubled the $10 from his pocket and gave it to TYFA (TransYouth Family Allies; http://www.imatyfa.org/) through another's offer of a matching grant to make it $40.
• Artists are using the money to buy materials (and donate some of their own) to create pottery and needlework.
• Someone had a neighbor in desperate need of money and gave him the $10 for the purchase of life's basic necessities, telling him it was a gift from our church.
• One person took the money and replaced our incandescant light bulbs in the Retreat House with compact flourescents for efficiency and the environment.
• Two folks took $10 from their pockets and turned the money back in that day, doubled.

Thank to all of these wonderful and creative, giving and generous, thoughtful and justice-minded people!! Wait, that's all of you!

Please use the comment section to add your stories! Thank you!

Invitation for Gifts to Grow

Here is the original letter that went out with the $10:

This money is a gift from the church. Like everything we have, it is a loan (naked we came into the world and naked we shall leave it). Yet, in the spirit of Jesus, we “give, expecting nothing in return.”

Yet this money is also an invitation to growth – not only of the money, but also of ourselves individually, as families, and as a congregation. What can you do with this $10 that might bless the world and bless the church? How can you “invest” it and gain a return and a story to tell? Here are some ideas:

· buy the materials and bake or make something
· buy something and trade up and get more eventually
· invest in an ad to sell something
· buy a rake and offer to rake lawns
· buy vegetable plants and sell the produce
· buy seeds and sell the seedlings
· hold a performance and sell tickets
· raffle the money off
· purchase clay or paint or materials to create a piece of art to sell

You get the idea. We will hold a bazaar in one month, on Sunday, May 17, to sell anything you’ve made or found with this gift.

However, if you need to use the money buy groceries or pay your mortgage, by all means do that. Or if you’re called to spend it sharing a meal with someone who’s homeless, do that. Or if you simply want to return it as is, do that. The only request we have is that when you return this envelope with the profit or loss of money, you tell us the story. Tell us the story of what you did and what happened. You can either speak that story on a Sunday morning or you can write it below and return it with this envelope.

My Story (what I did with this gift and what happened – to me and to others):