NEWTONVILLE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH - Word from the Pastor

"Easter us."

3/25/2021

“You defeater of death, whose power could not hold you, come in your Easter, come in your sweeping victory, come in your glorious new life. Easter us, salve wounds, break injustice, bring peace, guarantee neighbor, Easter us in joy and strength” – Walter Brueggemann

The history of the relationship between God and God’s people is one of liberation. Time and again God is about the work of releasing people – individually and collectively – from captivity. Abraham and Sarah were released from the bounds of old age and their own skepticism to give birth to a nation. Moses was inspired and empowered to release God’s people from Pharaoh’s bondage. Ezra and Nehemiah offer the fullness of release from exile in the restoration of Jerusalem.

Jesus then offers an even bolder liberation, delivering people from the bondage of a ritualistic adherence to the law, from the infirmities that held them captive, and from the limits of earthly existence into a new way of living. His disciples continued that liberation, throwing open the doors of the church by eating with gentiles, baptizing a Eunuch, and gathering people into communities for coexistence where all was shared in common and none of God’s went without.

In several of his prayers Walter Brueggemann uses this phrase, “Easter us.” It’s about liberating and releasing us, restoring and renewing us, empowering and emboldening us. “Easter us.” It’s about a new way of living, of perceiving the world, of being in relationship with God. “Easter us.” It’s about imaging beyond our mind’s captivity, believing beyond our human capacity, loving beyond our human capability. “Easter us.” It’s about living with fullness into all that God promises.

The history of the relationship between God and God’s people is on of liberation. Now is the time when God is about the work of releasing people – individually and collectively – from captivity. The world cries out, “Easter us.” Who will respond?

Peace for the journey,

Pastor Steve

An Announcement

2/25/2021

As you have likely read or heard, it was announced on Sunday, January 31 that Bishop Mark Webb will appoint me to serve the Queensbury United Methodist Church effective July 1. It is part of our United Methodist system that clergy itinerate – that is, move from place to place. This is rooted in the early Methodist practice of circuit riding preachers, who traveled to reach the people where they lived. Clergy are appointed on an annual basis, and I am in my tenth year at Newtonville.

We have been blessed by our time here, and by the opportunity for all three of our children to graduate from Shaker High School. Having been here longer than the average for United Methodist clergy, and being at a place where our family can more easily move, I had informed the District Superintendent that I would be willing to move if there was a congregation that was a good fit and was as close or closer to our parents who still live in the north country. We were asked and I have agreed to go.

While there are challenges in our United Methodist appointment system, one of the advantages is that churches are never without a pastor. Our DS, Rev. Debbie Earthrowl, has already had conversations with our Staff Parish Relations Committee about the mission and ministry needs and opportunities at Newtonville and the gifts needed in the next pastor. Another advantage of the appointment system is that congregations benefit from pastors with a variety of gifts and talents.

While goodbyes are always difficult, this is an opportunity for each of us to serve God and experience the multitude of Spiritual gifts in new ways. And while I will no longer be your pastor on July 1, we can maintain friendships. I will continue to pray for you the fruitfulness of your ministry, and hope that you will do the same for me. In the months ahead we will have opportunities to say goodbye, as you prepare to welcome your next pastor and I prepare to serve with the people of Queensbury.

Peace for the journey,

Pastor Steve

Everybody and Everything

1/27/2021

This is a rerun of the pastor’s letter written around the inauguration in 2017, and it seemed equally appropriate now.
“Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. I don't believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.” -Coretta Scott King

One of the most well-known passages from the Gospels is John 3:16 – “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.” (CEB) While people typically focus on the “everyone who believes” and “eternal life” parts, it’s the first five words that matter most to me. “God so loved the world.” As in, all of creation. Everybody, and everything.

The above quote from Coretta Scott King speaks on a lot of different levels. If you take “political” to mean the inter-working of individuals within any human organization, we see certain groups neglected or even shut out for the benefit of others in many institutions – schools, community groups, corporations, and yes, churches. It also plays out on the international stage when we “take the fight over there so it won’t happen here,” or hold fast to the notion that “charity begins at home.”

It’s our human nature to seek self-preservation, to look out for those closest to us, to hold something back just in case. It’s a primal instinct that we need to survive. That’s why it’s so significant that God’s grace works within us. While our human nature seeks survival, our divinely-created humanity seeks love. Divine Love leads us to see beyond ourselves, beyond our families, beyond our social groups and institutions. Divine Love enables us to see not with our own eyes, but as God sees.

When Divine Love is at work in us we can accept nothing less than justice, freedom, and peace for all people. When Divine Love is at work in us we willingly sacrifice our own personal well-being, against our human nature and its survival instincts, for the well-being of all people, because God so loved the world. As in, all of creation. Everybody, and everything.

Peace for the journey,
Pastor Steve

December 29th, 2020

12/29/2020

“There are no mere theatergoers present, for each listener will be looking into his own heart. The stage is eternity, and the listener…stands before God during the talk. But the main concern is earnestness: that the listeners by themselves, with themselves, and to themselves, in the silence before God, may speak with the help of this address.” – Soren Kierkegaard

As the calendar turns and we bid farewell to 2020, we unfortunately return to virtual-only worship. Hopefully this will only be a (relatively) short time, as we allow COVID rates to diminish and it becomes safer to once again gather in person. We will keep the worship format the same as it has been, including the use of worship assistants, so that we will be able to resume quickly and easily once the opportunity is available.

One thing about virtual worship is that it does require more of us. Of course, those who hadn’t yet returned to in-person are all too aware of that. For the rest of us it will be a reminder. Something teachers have faced with their shift to virtual learning is that students are used to being passively entertained or informed when viewing a screen. Schooling however, like worship, isn’t passive – it’s participatory.

Philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard reminds us that there are no passive participants in worship. It’s not theater, film, or television show. Live or viewed later as a recording, what we see is not, in and of itself, worship. What makes it such is that we bring to it, what we do with it, whether we are active participants or simply bystanders, whether we allow ourselves to into God’s presence.

In order to help you participate more fully in the liturgy and prayers we post each week a printable bulletin. Whether you print it out or view it on another electronic device, it’s a way for you to involve yourself more fully in worship, speak the prayer responses aloud, look up the scripture for yourself in your Bible. This is your performance for God, where you become the actor, offering your heart, mind, and soul in worship.

Peace for the journey,
Pastor Steve

Real Power

12/16/2020

“Politicians compete for the highest offices. Business tycoons scramble for a bigger and bigger piece of the pie. Armies march and scientists study and philosophers philosophize and preachers preach and laborers sweat. But in that silent baby, lying in that humble manger, there pulses more potential power and wisdom and grace and aliveness than all the rest of us can imagine.” -Brian D. McLaren

While always an undercurrent of sorts, power is particularly noteworthy in election years. The positioning for political power at the highest levels of government subsequently underscores the existence and exercise of power in business, international relations, and mass media. Academics and pundits offer their insights and wisdom, preachers endeavor to speak truth, and society struggles to find meaning in the midst of survival.

Power is also something we relate in our everyday living to light. In recent months, power outages were fairly commonplace here in the Newtonville neighborhood. Once for more than a day, several times for hours, occasionally for minutes, we found ourselves without electricity and therefore without light. It’s quite easy to take for granted when you flip the switch (or ask Alexa to do it for you) that illumination will result.

Images of light and darkness, day and night, are a regular and common part of scripture, and particularly poignant to the Advent and Christmas seasons. Images of power are also central, though we too often gloss over the prophetic witnesses of Isaiah and Mary in our longing for beautiful simplicity. What we find, however, is that the challenges to worldly powers and the humble plainness Jesus’ birth go hand in hand.

When the author of John’s Gospel tells us, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.” (John 1:5 CEB), he’s telling us what real power looks like. When Mary proclaims, “He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed," (Luke 1:52-53 CEB) she’s teaching where real power comes from.

We discover in the Christ-child that real power is political, and economic, and academic. But real power is also gentle, and righteous, and wise. Real power flows forth with holiness, and meaning, and truth. Real power brings forth mercy, and justice, and peace. Real power shatters the darkness of despair and heals God’s people. Real power pulses through creation is the simplicity of a child, lying humbly in a manger, God-with-us, Emmanuel.

Peace for the journey,

Pastor Steve

Troubled in Soul

12/3/2020

“The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.” -Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We have spent the past nine months waiting. First we waited to see if the virus we were hearing about in China would make it to our shores, then to see if it could be contained once it did. We waited at home – participating in school, work, and church online. We waited through Holy Week and Easter, through graduations and birthdays and anniversaries, through canceled vacations and scaled-back weddings. We’ve seen glimpses of hope in reduced summer spread and some degree of normalcy, only to have those hopes dashed as we’ve changed our Thanksgiving plans and are wondering what Christmas will bring.

Still we wait – for a vaccine, for more effective treatments, for a sliver of assurance that life will be better and that we will return to people and activities we cherish. If ever there was a time when we are troubled in soul and looking forward for something greater to come, this is it. In the spring we spoke of the Lentiest of Lents. This, now, is an Advent to beat all Advents. This, now, is a time when all we can do is wait. All we can do it hope. All we can do is care for one another, look to God for the promise of something better, place our trust in Christ, as we are more aware than ever of our human poverty and imperfections.

We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but that recognition and understanding is what Advent is all about. This moment in time is like no other, but that experience and opportunity is what Advent is all about. There is only so much we can do, but that acceptance and truth are what Advent is all about. In the midst of darkness, God became light. In the midst of brokenness, God became healing. In the midst of conflict, God became peace. In the midst of sorrow, God became joy. In the midst of sin, God became grace. In the midst of Advent we find hope, because in the midst of humanity, God became human in Jesus, the Christ.

Peace for the journey,
Pastor Steve

Thanksgiving, Peacemaking, Worldhealing

11/25/2020

“And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also…fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.” –Abraham Lincoln

Feasts of Thanksgiving have long been a part of human history, celebrating harvests and offering gratitude for the sustenance of our Creator. In American history there are many traditions and legends surrounding Thanksgiving. While some of these are dubious, there is no doubt that the last Thursday of November was first set aside as a national day of Thanksgiving by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War.

While we’re certainly not in such a time as that, we are undoubtedly in a time of great national stress and division. Tensions are running high, while many suffer and misinformation runs rampant. Institutional trust is lacking – in governments, in community organizations, in the media, and in the church. The strains we’re enduring as a nation, and throughout the global community, have amplified human differences that had until now been more negotiable.

In the midst of all that, I find the invitation of Lincoln to Americans in that autumn of 1863 especially poignant – to fervently (passionately, zealously, fanatically) implore the imposition of God’s hand to heal the wounds of our nation, and to restore it, ASAP, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union. The idea of restoring harmony and union may seem overwhelming to us, but it’s not overwhelming for God to work in and through us.

We are called in this moment, I believe, to be peacemakers, community-builders, restorers of relationships. That begins with an act of Thanksgiving for all that is good, recalling for us in the process all that we value, so that we might remind the world what goodness looks like. We, then, must recommit ourselves to God’s work of reconciliation, to actively living lives of thankfulness, humility, and grace. God’s good work of healing will come alive in you.

My prayer for you is a blessed season of Thanksgiving. My invitation to you is to fervently implore God to help us in this time of strain, that our wounds might be healed, our divisions relieved, our community restored. This is our call, and our purpose, as disciples of Jesus.

Peace for the journey,
Pastor Steve

Christians, this is your call...

10/28/2020

Our faith is stronger than death, our philosophy is firmer than flesh, and the spread of the Kingdom of God upon the earth is more sublime and more compelling. -Dorothy Day

When Jesus is asked what he understands to be the greatest of the commandments, he responds from the Shema Yisrael (“Hear, O Israel) prayer with a verse from Deuteronomy 6:5, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength,” followed with a paraphrase of Leviticus 19:18, “You must not take revenge nor hold a grudge against any of your people; instead, you must love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.” He links these two together, saying that the second is like the first. They are, essentially, one and the same.

The legal experts of Jesus’ time and context might have argued whether Sabbath-keeping, or circumcision, or sacrifices, were most central, or important, to being faithful to God. In the midst of that debate they test him with the question, “Which is the greatest commandment.” Within our time and context we separate secular and religious legal arguments, yet neither is any less contentious. Whether the question under consideration is access to firearms or access to ordination, there is a fundamental question of our guiding principles, the core beliefs which shape our views.

For disciples of Jesus, however, there can ultimately be only one ethic: love God and love neighbor, because these are one and the same. Dorothy Day, the founder of the Catholic worker movement quoted above, held that it often wasn’t possible to be both a good American and a good Christian. For her the call of the Gospel – to stand in solidarity with the poor and marginalized, to live communally with the least in our midst, to see Christ in each person we meet - had to come first. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, strength and being, and love your neighbor as yourself.

As we move through this pandemic, as we make choices at the polls, as we listen for God’s call and watch for ministry needs in our midst, may we live into Jesus’ command to love God and neighbor.

Peace for the journey,
Pastor Steve

R-e-s-p-e-c-t

10/1/2020

“If we lose love and respect for each other, this is how we finally die.” -Maya Angelou

I was recently in the church parking lot with Caleb (who’s now 22) in the passenger’s seat, and needed to ask a question of Art Bowen who was walking past on Caleb’s side. I rolled down his window, and said to Caleb, “Get Mr. Bowen’s attention for me.” When Caleb paused I said, “Just say ‘hey Art,’” to which Caleb replied, “I can’t do that. He’s Mr. Bowen.” I imagine many of us recall that difficult transition to adulthood where the elders we respect become fellow adults. In fact, there are still people at my home church who are Mr. or Mrs. [last name] to me.

Respect, however, is increasingly lacking in our society, and I’m not talking about the ways that norms evolve or people are just sometimes thoughtless. This is different. While in some ways the current reality has brought of the best of people, in other ways it has brought out the worst. Too often we seem to have lost our sense of a common humanity, remembering that each person is a precious child of God. We can differ, we can disagree, and still respect one another. Not only can we, we must. It’s a Biblical imperative that we honor and care for one another.

“Love should be shown without pretending. Hate evil, and hold on to what is good. Love each other like the members of your family. Be the best at showing honor to each other. Don’t hesitate to be enthusiastic—be on fire in the Spirit as you serve the Lord! Be happy in your hope, stand your ground when you’re in trouble, and devote yourselves to prayer. Contribute to the needs of God’s people, and welcome strangers into your home. Bless people who harass you—bless and don’t curse them. Be happy with those who are happy, and cry with those who are crying. Consider everyone as equal, and don’t think that you’re better than anyone else. Instead, associate with people who have no status. Don’t think that you’re so smart. Don’t pay back anyone for their evil actions with evil actions, but show respect for what everyone else believes is good.” –Romans 12:9-17 (CEB)

Peace for the journey,
Pastor Steve

Courage to Care

8/31/2020

“I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
-Jesus the Christ (according to John 13:34-35)
“Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” -Paul of Tarsus (according to Philippians 2:3-4)

A member of our congregation recently shared an article with me comparing face covering usage in Asian countries and the U.S. While, several factors influence willingness to mask (for example, those with a higher trust in government are more likely to comply), there is a cultural distinction between emphasis on the person and emphasis on the society, rugged American individualism versus cultures with a different sense of communal responsibility.

The author explains that in Japan, it relates to the concept of giri, or duties toward others. Koreans refer to inhwa, the social value of cultural harmony. It was striking to the person who shared the article with me that these historically non-Christian or Christian minority cultures have a clear sense of the values espoused in the above scriptures. Placing the interests of others alongside, or even above, the interests of self was a core practice of the early church.

If you’re a person of extraordinary empathy it can be overwhelming to experience, process and understand all that is happening in our world. Many of the issues and events affecting our daily lives are about care for the other. Throughout the scriptures there are calls, again and again, to care for one another. And as we live into that call in this moment by limiting our personal freedoms for the common good, we will hone that skill and better live into being the church.

Loving with the love of Jesus is tough. It’s about empathy and humility, and it requires sacrifice. It’s about a sense of duty to others and a value of social cooperation. Those are all things of which our world is desperately in need right now, things Jesus not only teaches but embodies, things that we are called to as disciples. I’ve seen it at work in our congregation, so I trust that in the days ahead we can muster the faithful courage to care for others all the more.

Peace for the journey,

Pastor Steve