“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman Welcome back to Plymouth after a summer of travel and fun. Welcome back, even in the midst of the uncertainty of Delta variant viruses and continued social distancing and masks! Welcome back, whether you can meet with us in person to worship, or whether you are joining us through livestream! As our bridge pastor, Rev. Ron Patterson, challenged us on August 22nd: we are the church, God’s gathered and beloved community, whether we are in the meeting house and sanctuary building or not. We are the church of Jesus, the liberator and redeemer, our model for inclusion and justice, wherever we find ourselves in the world. We meet in worship for sustenance and inspiration to be the church in the world. Our faith awakens and enlivens us in good times and tough times. As Christian theologian and minister, educator and mystic, Howard Thurman, wrote, “the world needs … people who have come alive!” Christian Formation is alive and well at Plymouth as we begin fall programming. There will be outside, intergenerational Sunday School activities for children, teens and families starting at 10 am on September 12 on the Plymouth lawn. (And running into October as the weather allows.) We will explore together through activities and crafts Bible stories that prompt us to ask “Who Are Our Neighbors?” At 10 am adults can join the Adult Forum sessions that will be in the Forum Room. We are hoping to live stream the Forums in some way (maybe on Zoom), and possibly link them to the Fireside Room for overflow seating, so we can remain socially distanced. To join in being alive in the world with God’s justice and love, I hope you will consider joining one of our two adult book studies that begin in September.
AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. “I can do all things through the power of the One who strengthens me.” Philippians 4.13* Going back to school is an exciting time and a bittersweet time. Students may be eager to see friends, to be in the next grade, to be in new after school or extracurricular activities. They may also be daunted by meeting new people and being in new classes with new teachers. Teachers are gearing up to meet their students, to prepare engaging lesson plans, to offer a welcoming classroom experience. And all this is A LOT of work! Parents may be anticipating an easier work schedule with children occupied in school all day five days a week, yet it is also sometimes hard to let go of the more relaxed summer schedule. It’s inspiring to see our children, teens and young adults take on the challenges a new grade, a new school. It is a reminder that they are growing up and becoming their own people with all the beauty and risk this involves. This year the beginning of school feels extra risky and bittersweet as our country continues to navigate the Covid-19 pandemic. We had hoped to be free of masks and to be celebrating vaccines for ALL ages by now. Instead, we continue to be thankful for the protection of masks and the vaccines that we do have that are effective for those who take advantage of them – even as we acknowledge that our youngest folks do not yet have vaccines and there are some among us with compromised immune systems who cannot yet take advantage of their protection. Going back to school this year takes an extra measure of courage to along with the usual excitement and concerns. On Sunday at our 10 am worship in Roland Moore Park we will celebrate going back to school and its implications for all ages and all school roles….students, parents who support students, teachers, administrators, food service workers, office workers, school nurses and counselors, custodians….the list goes on. Join us on Sunday to bless those going back to school! Plymouth’s Christian Formation program is preparing to welcome all ages “back to school” with the most creative, challenging, and safest fall programming possible beginning after Jubilee Sunday (8/29).
Sign up for both book studies on the Plymouth website at plymouthucc.org/adults. The apostle, Paul, wrote to the church at Philippi, “Don't be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.”* This is my prayer for us all in these uncertain times! Happy Back-to-School! And with you on the journey, *Bible, Common English. CEB Common English Bible with Apocrypha - eBook [ePub] (Kindle Locations 45179-45181). AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. It is exciting seeing so many of you as we come back to church for worship! I have heard many of you say, “It’s wonderful to be doing activities that feel normal.” Yet we know that “things” will never be the normal they were before March 2020. We are all irrevocably changed by the events of the past 17 months. Definitely by the pandemic which is better, but not over; by the highly contentious political turmoil; by the murder of George Floyd and its aftermath that has finally re-awakened an imperative to deal with the 400-year-old pandemic of racism in our country; by the biggest wildfire in Colorado history last summer; by this summer’s pandemic of heat telling us that if we hadn’t noticed, climate change is real! No wonder we still feel deep anxiety, even at a subconscious level! We are still discerning how to re-open and to participate in our programming at Plymouth. Perhaps, you wonder,
I am also finding Joy in the rebuilding! Speaking just from the standpoint of the Christian Formation Board…..the candidates we are interviewing for our Director of Christian Formation are invigorating the search team with new ideas for ministry! We are going to be discovering new ways to be church, to be formed in our faith, for children, youth and adults, with the guidance of a CF Board that is energized and the guidance of a new director. During the pandemic, we discovered new ways to have Adult Formation through Zoom book studies and the joy of discussions that could be longer and richer than the 45-50 minute discussions we used to have in our Sunday education hour. Our Adult Forum team is raring to go with innovative new programming which we hope to present in person and through livestream. AND in October, we will be hosting, the Rev. Traci Blackmon, as our fall visiting scholar! Traci is part of our UCC national staff and is at the forefront nationally of the anti-racism movement. We are partnering in the community for this event with the World Wisdoms Project and are making in-roads to invite community folks to join us, in person and by live-stream, via connections with the Interfaith Council and Fort Collins BIPOC Alliance and their White Solidarity allies. Finally, we have many new people visiting our church! People to whom we want to extend a warm welcome! Some of them found us and joined us online. Some of them discovered in the lock-down that they need something new in their faith life and are looking for a progressive, social justice, faith-filled community. They are all ages – from college students to families with young children to families with older children to single adults of every age. Be on the look-out for new faces!! And wear your name tags so it is easier for us to get re-acquainted and to get to know those among us that are visiting. I invite and encourage us all to be very gentle with ourselves and with one another in this exciting, but still uncertain time! Let’s not hesitate to extend extra kindness to one another knowing everyone is anxious. There is a Mary Oliver poem I have been reading and re-reading, “Don’t Hesitate” from her collection of poetry titled Devotions. Click on the title and read the entire poem. She writes in brief, “If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. … We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. … Joy is not made to be a crumb.” With you on the journey to Joy, *As you come into the sanctuary from the narthex or Fellowship Hall, the section of pews on your left (the wall side) is for fully vaccinated people who do not need to mask or social distance. The section of pews on your right (the window side) is for people who have not been vaccinated and who are masked — this includes families with young children. We have blocked every other pew for social distancing. I know your favorite regular place to sit may be on the window side, but if you are fully vaccinated, we ask you to leave the right side to those who need to social distance indoors for their safety. Of course, you may mask even if you are fully vaccinated. We fervently pray this is a temporary situation and we hope for the day when we do not have to sit in designated sides. Let’s all hang in there together. AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Read more We are pilgrims on a journey, we are trav’lers on the road; we are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load. I will hold the Christ-light for you in the nighttime of your fear; I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear. I will weep when you are weeping; when you laugh I’ll laugh with you. I will share your joy and sorrow till we’ve seen this journey through.* As promised last month, my reflection this month is on all the “formal,” programmatic ways we offer care to one another as the community of Plymouth. There are an amazing number of them in place or in the works. And these do not count the ways that we care for each other informally, “just because,” in our Plymouth family community! I hope you recognize the words above from the hymn, “Won’t You Let Me Be Your Servant?,” number 539 in our church hymnal. These words speak the truth about embodying our network, our web, of care that we call, “Calling and Caring Ministries.” Below I have listed all the programs along brief descriptions, their leaders and any needs for leadership/organization they might have. If you see a place that you would like to connect in to be of service to our caring community, please let me know.** Though they are listed in a linear fashion in this reflection, please see them as a web of care, not a hierarchy. We are working to develop greater connections between these programs, all of which are ministry teams of the Board of Deacons or the Congregational Life Board. As pastors, Hal and I, along with our next associate, will be working in tandem with this web of ministry team programs to provide pastoral and lay caregiving for our congregation. If there is any hierarchy, the pastors are the ultimate point people for emergencies, deaths in the congregation and for helping to activate this web of care. However, these programs will be growing stronger and learning to connect to each other on their own as needs arise. Calling and Caring Ministries Congregation Visitors These visitors provide friendly connectional visitation (in person and through phone/email/cards) for those who may not be able to get to church regularly to be with our community. They have undergone visitation training and are coordinated by a Visitor Coordinator (or two Co-Coordinators) who work(s) with the pastors to pair up visitors with those who need visits. We currently have around ten Congregation Visitors trained for action and will be re-uniting them for an update meeting soon as our pandemic social distancing allows. The Visitor Coordinator role is being considered by two folks trained as visitors. Congregation Visitors, formerly known as Calling/Caring or Support Visitors, are background checked and uphold high levels of confidentiality. Please let Jane Anne know** if you are interested in being a visitor. Stephen Ministers Our eleven trained and commissioned Stephen Ministers are led by Stephen Leaders, Lory Clukey, Eric Ferm, Peter Mullarkey. These Stephen Ministers have undergone 50+ hours of study and training in providing confidential, crisis oriented, longer term care and therapeutic communication for their care receivers. They attend a twice monthly supervision and continuing education group to assist them in giving care to other congregants who are experiencing long term illness, a family crisis, divorce, job loss, loss of a loved one, or are a long-term caregiver for a family member with health needs. Stephen Ministers are also background checked. They are paired with their care receivers through recommendations from a pastor that go to the Plymouth Stephen Minister Referral Coordinator, Eric Ferm. Faith Nursing Program Melanie Huibregtse is the Coordinator of our Faith Nursing program, a new program using the nurses who are members of our congregation to help the community integrate faith and health, to provide personal health counseling and education to members, as well as referrals to professional health services outside our congregation and health advocacy, if needed. Lory Clukey has also certified as a Faith Nursing professional through the Foundations of Faith Community Nursing class. All Plymouth Faith Nurses will be certified through this class as well as background checked. Congregation Visitors, Stephen Ministers and pastors can refer congregants to our Faith Nurses for help for their care receivers. Annual Every Member Contact Calling/Emailing This caring program is conducted by the Board of Deacons every fall through lay caregiving check-in phone calls and emails sent to every member/friend of the congregation. The results of the calls are compiled and given to one of the pastors who then contacts congregants as needed. Lay Communion Servers At this time, we have a few deacons and former deacons trained by the Senior Minister to deliver in home communion to people who cannot get to church. The Board of Deacons will help pastors train more deacons and former deacons as we are able to visit people more freely and as the need arises. Food Ministry Team This ministry was initiated by the Board of Deacons a few years ago to keep healthy soups and casseroles in the freezer in the deacon’s room to be available for people in need during a health or any kind of family crisis. There is a great system in place with recipes and recommended containers. This ministry needs new participants and a new coordinator. Participants would be primarily responsible for cooking food supplies, getting them to the freezer and occasionally for food delivery. A coordinator would make sure supplies are kept up, participants are using “approved” recipes (recipes that are helpful to folks just coming out of the hospital or in a health crisis) and specific portion containers as well as be a liaison to the Board of Deacons regarding the ministry team. Please contact Jane Anne** if you are interested in helping and/or coordinating. Transportation Ministry Team We need to re-activate this ministry team under the Board of Deacons to have a list of people willing to give rides to fellow congregants who might need them to medical appointments and to church services. If you are interested in helping to revive this ministry team, please contact Jane Anne.** Prayer Shawls Ministry This ministry team is also a fellowship group that is under the Congregational Life Board. We have somewhere between 8-12 knitters and folks who crochet beautiful prayer shawls that are given to members, friends, friends and family of members who are in crisis. The shawls are blessed by members of the Prayer Shawl team at their twice-a-month meetings. They are kept in pastors’ offices for distribution by pastors, Congregation Visitors, Stephen Ministers and others. Connected to this ministry is the “Fleece Blanket Ministry” that generally occurs at the Women’s Retreat each year. Fleece blankets are made to give to children as “prayer shawls” and are also given at children’s baptisms. The Prayer Shawl Ministry is self-sustaining and organizing. If you are interested in joining, please contact, Jane Anne.** Plymouth Text Connection Plymouth Text Connection is an outreach to the Plymouth community under the auspices of the Congregational Life Board. Currently there are nearly 100 Plymouth friends and members who receive twice monthly texts – one with a fun question for getting to know one another better and the other as a wellness check-in. Responses to the wellness check-in go to the pastors so that if anyone needs urgent or follow-up pastoral care the pastors will know quickly. Staff member Anna Broskie, our Plymouth IT and Communications Coordinator, schedules the texts and collates the fun text responses, which can be viewed at plymouthucc.org/responses. If you would like to start getting the texts, you can sign up at plymouthucc.org/text. WHEW! That is a lot of information! AND isn’t it great that we have so many ways of caring for and connecting to one another here at Plymouth! We are working hard to embody the words to the hymn, Won’t you let me by your servant? Let me be as Christ to you. Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.* When we care for one another and let ourselves be cared for, Christian community flourishes! What a gift!
With you on the journey, “Carry each other’s burdens [on the pilgrimage of life] and so fulfill the law of Christ.” From a Stephen Ministry handbook for pastors, Galatians 6.2 CEB “On pilgrim pathways we learn the myth of control, the wisdom of relinquishment, the promise of the unpredictable and the embodiment of grace.” From Without Oars by Wesley Granberg-Michaelson* This coming Sunday, May 16th, Plymouth celebrates pilgrimage. We will celebrate our individual spiritual, our inward, pilgrimage and our communal faith community, our outward, pilgrimage. We will do this in two distinctive, but connected, ways: through our Visiting Scholar events and through commissioning of our new Stephen Ministers in our 10 a.m. service. Last month I was quite excited to invite you to read our Plymouth Reads book, Without Oars: Casting Off into a Life of Pilgrimage, in preparation for our day with the author, Wesley Granberg-Michaelson. Many of you have taken me up on the invitation. (And there are still books available in the office, $10 cash or check.) This month I am quite excited to introduce you to our Stephen Ministry lay caregiver ministry and our Stephen ministers. How might these two programs be connected? Our Visiting Scholar, Wes Granberg-Michaelson describes pilgrimage as “embodied faith, taking steps ahead that teach us what we need to leave behind.” Our strategic planning team has discerned that “Plymouth’s purpose for the next 3-5 years is to embody beloved community with God, each other and our neighbors.” This coming Sunday, through our Visiting Scholar programming, we will explore being the gathered, worshiping, serving community of church, the Body of Christ, as pilgrimage. Amid this exploration we will commission ten among us to embark on a pilgrimage of embodied care for those in our community who need a companioning presence during tough times. The Stephen Ministry introductory handbook for pastors describes the program as “equipping congregation members to provide distinctively Christian care to those who need it.” After at least 100 hours of training and study Stephen Ministry lay caregivers are prepared to care for their fellow congregants who have experienced a life crisis with on-going, one-on-one attention that pastors cannot always maintain, especially in a larger congregation. Hal and I will continue to be “first responders” in the event of an acute life crisis, such as the death of a loved one, a major medical crisis, job loss or a financial crisis, divorce, family caregiver stress, or a long-term illness. After ministry and care with one of us for an appropriate length of time we can then (with your permission) refer you to the Stephen Minister Referral Coordinator. In Plymouth’s case this is Stephen Minister and Stephen Leader, Eric Ferm, who will follow up to explain the Stephen Ministry caregiving program and assign a Stephen Minister if you are willing. Eric works to coordinate the program with our other two Stephen Minister Leaders, Peter Mullarkey and Lory Clukey. Once a good match is made between caregiver and care receiver, the embodied care of the Stephen Minister lay caregiver begins as they meet with you weekly for as long as their presence is needed, offering empathic listening, prayer, emotional support, and other resources, if needed. (And we, the pastors, will always be available for occasional check-in.) This kind of trained lay caregiving is embodying beloved community and it is a journey of embodied faith, a pilgrimage. Stephen Ministry lay caregiving is only one facet of multi-faceted lay pastoral care program at Plymouth that includes our Calling/Caring visitor program, our annual contact calling/emailing by the deacons, and our new Faith Nurse ministry program. Stay tuned for a vision of the entire pastoral care program and how it works together with the pastors in my June Staff Reflection. Until then, please tune in to our 10 a.m. service and prayerfully support our new Stephen Ministers: Nancy Bryan, Lory Clukey, Karen Dawson, April Mason, Fran Milde, Sara Mullarkey, Anna Olsen, Colleen Silan, and Irene Wherritt. Please tune in Sunday to experience Wes Granberg-Michaelson’s three presentations with us this coming Sunday: his10 a.m. sermon in our prerecorded service, “Can the Pandemic Begin a Pilgrimage?”, his afternoon webinar (1-3 p.m.) mentioned above and his 6 p.m. Zoom service sermon, “Re-entry: Our Congregation’s Pilgrim Progress.” (Get more info and register here for the webinar.) God has joyful, risk-taking, love-giving work for us to do through our beloved community of faith! With you on the pilgrimage, *Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, Without Oars: Casting Off into a Life of Pilgrimage, (Broadleaf Books, Minneapolis, MN, 2020, 112). Click image below to learn more and to register for the afternoon event:
Why would anyone set off in a boat with no oars, or sails, or a motor? Just a boat and the currents of the sea or lake or river? Or head off on a journey by foot with no particular destination in mind? Sounds like folly, doesn’t it? Yet in the early centuries of Irish Christianity, it is reported that Christian monks set off from Ireland in small round boats, coracles, that had no oars or sails – and motors had yet to be invented. Why? To follow the call of God wherever God might lead their small boat. Wherever they landed this was where they were called to proclaim the love of God in Jesus the Christ. And after landing on a new shore they took off on feet to meet the folks God sent them to love. As you most likely know, our Plymouth Reads book is titled, Without Oars: Casting Off into a Life of Pilgrimage. Here is what author Wesley Granberg-Michaelson writes about “why without oars and why pilgrimage” in the reflection guide for his book: “Whether you are reading this in a sea of tumult, roiling political waters, fierce climate changes affecting lands by fire and water – or during a pandemic – your life has likely been disrupted from whatever ‘normal’ may have meant. … Can we learn to step away from the anxieties and crippling fatigue that seem to imprison us, and step forward in a journey to replenish our inner lives? That’s the promise of pilgrimage …. we’re exhausted emotionally, politically, and spiritually. Our inner resources seem sucked dry at a time when we are called on to have even greater strength … it’s time for us to take a step back from the frantic and frenetic tumult that has swept over our society, and re-center our souls. Without Oars: Casting Off into a Life of Pilgrimage is not a book about [outer] pilgrimages, per se, although that is included. Rather, it’s an invitation to begin the [inner] journey of renewal…to work with the text and travel down its roads, trusting that you will discover a wellspring nurturing your life forward.” Why am I inviting you to read this book at this time? Because we are setting off on a new pilgrimage as a church community this spring/early summer. And I think it bears comparison to the pilgrimages of those early Irish monks. We are not exactly sure where this communal faith pilgrimage will take us! We are setting off on the implementation of our new strategic plan which will bring change, renewal, letting some older ways of doing things go, greeting new ways of being church together and most certainly, discovering some surprises that we can’t even plan for at this time! And we are setting off on this all-church pilgrimage as we hopefully enter the semi-post pandemic pilgrimage, as we find ways of coming back together in person (still masked and socially distanced) as more and more of us are vaccinated! We have ideas, plans, expertise and yet we have to trust the ways in which the Holy Spirit will move and guide our community of faith as we walk new paths and/or take off with the rising tides of our times. Whew! Two pilgrimages at once, two vital, renewing and rigorous journeys that are intertwined. We need soul sustenance for these journeys because we will be accompanying each other in the necessary hills and valleys that will come logistically and spiritually. We have been through so much together these past 13 months. Let’s pause together to gather strength for the journey(s) ahead through the sustenance of this timely book and discussion of our life together in light of its wisdom! Wesley Granberg-Michaelson will be with us in both our worship services on May 16 and in a Visiting Scholar webinar conference that afternoon. (See the meme below for more information.) He is a compelling, thought-provoking and hope-inspiring presenter. Check out Wes at wesgm.com to learn more about his life and ministry that has always joined faith with action for justice. You can also find more info at (Plymouth link). There are about 30 books left in the church office for your purchase at the posting of this reflection, $10 cash or check. (The book is also available on Kindle through Amazon.) I hope you will participate with me and all the Plymouth staff and lay leadership in reading this important book and take full advantage of the events on our Visiting Scholar day, Sunday, May 16th. With you on the journey! See you on the road! Or in the boat! I resonate with the words of Rev. Sarah Are, the poet in our Lenten devotional materials this spring, who writes in her Palm Sunday poem (on page 37 of the devotional book): I wonder if Jesus could feel his heartbeat In his throat, the way I do when I’m afraid.… I wonder, because time has taught us That it is not uncommon For a peaceful protest To start or end With an unjust death.… I want to hold what matters most with both hands. I resonate with these words and use them to invite you to hold Holy Week in both your hands this year and in your heart as we revisit again the story of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. Time has taught us in the past year that peaceful protests are deeply connected with unjust deaths. That they may start peacefully and end in violence. That while we must band together in abiding by safety protocols to create herd immunity to a virus, the measures to combat this pandemic do not soften the anger festering under the surface of our social structure. Instead, isolation and fear exacerbate the dis-eases of racism, mental illness, gun violence and distrust of our neighbors. That is why I want to hold Holy Week in both hands to experience and, perhaps, understand more deeply than ever that the unconditional love of God is tangible in the life, death and new life of Jesus of Nazareth. I want to open my heart to this Love that is God who abides with us in the depths of our pain and the heights of our joy. I invite you, along with all the Plymouth staff, to join me in holding Holy Week with both your hands. Even though we must stay socially distanced, Love will join our hearts through the stories and the music of this week. Here are the highlights:
Hope to “see” you during this holy and fateful week! Blessings on the journey, PS!! The celebration of Easter does not end on Easter day. It continues into the 50 days of the Easter season. Join with your faith community for “Plymouth Reads” in preparation for our first Visiting Scholar day of 2021, May 16th, with Wes Granberg-Michaelson, author of Without Oars: Casting Off into a Life of Pilgrimage. Books available in the church office (call to make sure Barb or another staff person is there), $10, cash or check! More info on book group discussions coming in the Thursday Overview. AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Read more Each morning we stand on the threshold of a new day with its possibilities for change. Some changes we celebrate. Others we mourn or regret. God is with us in each and every change. Moses stood at a threshold of change as he gave his farewell address to the Hebrew people before sending them across the Jordan River into the land of promise. He led them for forty years, out of slavery in Egypt and through the wilderness pilgrimage. Yet, he could not go with them across the Jordan. At one hundred and twenty, he was on the threshold of death, and God gave the people a new leader, Joshua, for the new pilgrim journey. Change! At a very tough time. Moses told the people that God would be with them as they encountered enemies in the new land. Don’t we often think of “change” as an enemy? I do…it can be jarring when I want to be comfortable, it can engender hard work when I think I am tired to the bone, it can stir up emotions I don’t want to feel. Yet change has also provided the threshold for the most life-giving events that have blessed me beyond measure. Not that I always recognize the blessings immediately. That can take a while. Change also teaches me that I am not in control. I am not the Queen of the Universe that someone forgot to consult. (And would I really want all that responsibility anyway?!) I am a pilgrim on a journey through this life with the Holy One as my guide. I make choices, yes, however, my highest calling is to respond to the calling of God that may lead me into unknown territory, to thresholds that I did not expect. As a congregation we have been called to face SO many changes over the last year. I know that has been exhausting and still is as we look for the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. We have also faced church staff changes. Three of our staff who were with us a year ago, Mark Lee, Mandy Hall and Yendra Tenzca, have answered God’s call to work and ministry in settings that may have surprised them as much as us. And now, we face another staff change with the departure of Carla Cain. I hope you join me in praying for Carla as she moves toward new ministry opportunities back in Iowa and give thanks for the many gifts in ministry that she gave Plymouth in her time here. Our Leadership Council chose a theme for Plymouth this year that is telling, "Standing at the Threshold: The Pilgrim Journey Continues." Moses would have understood this theme when he addressed his people. I leave you with his words – adapted just a bit by me. Be strong! Be fearless! Don't be afraid and don't be scared by your enemies, [by change], because the [Holy One] your God is the one who marches with you. He won't let you down, and [She] won't abandon you. (Deuteronomy 31:6 from the Common English Bible). With you on the journey, “Is not this the fast that I choose, to loose the bonds of injustice…. to share your bread with the hungry…?” (Isa 58:6-7) … “The sacrifice that is acceptable to God is a broken spirit//a broken and contrite heart” … (Psalm 51.17) … “ tear your hearts and not your clothing” (Joel 2.13) In the scripture texts above, two prophets and a psalmist prophets and a psalmist call us to begin the season of Lent on Ash Wednesday. They call us to ancient rituals and spiritual practices of repentance. To repent is to come to God with a need for change, with, hopefully, a humble need to turn around in some way and get back on a better path of relationship with the Holy One. Repentance does not mean beating ourselves up with unproductive guilt. It means opening our hearts to transformation. What needs transforming in your life, in your heart and mind this year? How do we enter the repentance of Lent this year – after the pandemic and political trauma of the last 11 months – heeding the call of the prophets and the psalmist to fast with social justice, to bring a contrite heart ready to be torn open with Love? We find time to be with God and one another in gentle, humble ways. We lay down expectations of what needs to happen next and learn to wait for the surprising ways the Holy shows up to transform us from the inside out. Waiting with patience for “a slow wind to work words [and works] of love around us as an invisible cloak to mind our lives" as the poet, John O’Donahue, reminds us to do in his poem, “Beannacht.” We go slow and steady as we continue to move through this tedious pandemic, as one by one we are vaccinated, as bit by bit we are able to come back together in community. We slowly, steadily and faithfully repair the breaches of racism, incivility and hatred in our country with education, understanding and communication. To help you in your slow and patient journey through Lent this year:
May we all find ways to answer the call to Lent, to open our hearts to God’s surprising changes, to turn around and find a new way home to our center in the heart of the Holy One. With you on the journey, AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Read more During our Zoom coffee hour this past Sunday, a participant brought up her longing to pray for country, for its healing and for safety for all during this time leading up to and during the presidential inauguration tomorrow. She was longing for an in-person vigil, knowing that this is not possible because of Covid-19 restrictions. I heard her deep longings in my heart. If you heard my sermon on Sunday, you will understand when I say that her longings made my ears “tingle.” What can I do, I wondered, to help us gather in prayer? I was reminded first of the beautiful hymn by Fred Kaan, “For the Healing of the Nations,” thinking particularly of our nation today. (Click the link in the title to hear it sung.) For the Healing of the Nations For the healing of the nations, Lord, we pray with one accord; for a just and equal sharing of the things that earth affords. To a life of love in action help us rise and pledge our word. Lead your people into freedom, from despair your world release, that, redeemed from war and hatred, all may come and go in peace. Show us how, through care and goodness, fear will die and hope increase. All that kills abundant living, let it from the earth be banned: pride of status, race or schooling, dogmas that obscure your plan. In our common quest for justice may we hallow life's brief span. You, Creator-God, have written your great name on humankind; for our growing in your likeness, bring the life of Christ to mind; that by our response and service earth its destiny may find. [1] And I was also prompted to have an impromptu 20-minute prayer service this evening at 5:00 this evening on Zoom. Join me if you can! A Zoom link will be sent in a separate email coming just after this one. (You can also email plymouth@plymouthuccc.org to receive the link.) We will join together in an adaptation of the healing service in our UCC Book of Common Worship. A printed order of service can be accessed at plymouthucc.org/bulletin if you can’t make our time together, but still want to pray with your family or on your own at another time. We all pray together when we come before God in confession and intercession. Time knows no bounds. With you on the journey, [1] Words © 1968 Hope Publishing Company, 380 S Main Pl, Carol Stream, IL 60188 Reproduced under One License #A-709014 AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Read more Psalm 126 When the LORD changed Zion's circumstances for the better, it was like we had been dreaming. 2Our mouths were suddenly filled with laughter; our tongues were filled with joyful shouts. It was even said, at that time, among the nations, "The LORD has done great things for them!" 3Yes, the LORD has done great things for us, and we are overjoyed. 4LORD, change our circumstances for the better, like dry streams in the desert waste! 5Let those who plant with tears reap the harvest with joyful shouts. 6Let those who go out, crying and carrying their seed, come home with joyful shouts, carrying bales of grain! Today’s reading in our Advent devotional book, Those Who Dream, invites us to contemplate Psalm 126 in word and in an abstract visual that depicts the ripples of the Negeb river flowing through parched desert land, the tears of the people’s pain sowed in exile and the seeds of new life sown when God restored their dreaming and their fortunes. This week we can see some glimmers of restoration in the midst of our pandemic exiles as the first vaccines are administered here in our country. Thanks Be to God! Throughout these last nine months we have persevered in dreaming God’s dreams of justice and love and in “Being Church” as we came together:
Thank you!!! Thank you for continuing to “Be the Church!” even in the midst of all the pain and frustration and fear of our world. We may sow in tears, but we also reap in laughter, love and God’s abundance. Sowing the seeds of God’s presence in our world and reaping the reward of relationship is holy work for all seasons. It is particularly poignant during the darkness and waiting and preparation of Advent. Many blessings as we keep on keeping on “Being the Church” and following Jesus on the Way. With you on the journey, P.S. There are many Christmastide events coming up! See them at plymouthucc.org/events. AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Read more Weeping may tarry in the evening, but joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30 Recently I read a mental health article about hope and while I found it helpful, I also found myself resisting it. “Why,” I asked myself? I remembered the words of the ancient psalmist. Even they did not soothe my uneasiness. Then I remembered the times when in my life when words of hope, however well-meaning felt like fingernails grating on a blackboard. The time when I didn’t know if I could trust that “joy would come in the morning,” when that sentiment from the psalms seemed trite and unfeeling. Times when I wondered if I was the only one who could not trust those words. We live in a time when hope can be very tough. The isolation of pandemic and the divisiveness of our country is taking a toll on even the most stalwart and the cheery personalities.
There is community and help at Plymouth!!
There is no shame in needing professional mental health help. Let me say that again… There is no shame in needing professional mental health help. For those who struggle with any kind of mental illness - from mild, situational depression and anxiety to more serious illnesses, hope can seem like a pie-in-the-sky solutions. Even in the midst of the best medication and the best mental health treatment that we can offer in the 21st century – and we have made many strides in this area – hope can seem futile or non-existent to those who are in the midst of mental illness or are gripped by the disease of addiction. If you or someone you know and/or love needs help coping in these tough times, please call one of your pastors! Or email us! We are here for you. You will find our numbers and our emails at the end of this reflection. In the shorter days and longer nights of this time of year – especially this year – find some small rituals to lift your spirits….as small as:
This is the time to be slow, Lie low to the wall Until the bitter weather passes. Try, as best you can, not to let The wire brush of doubt Scrape from your heart All sense of yourself And your hesitant light. If you remain generous, Time will come good; And you will find your feet Again on fresh pastures of promise, Where the air will be kind And blushed with beginning. With you on this longer-than-we-would-like journey, Plymouth Pastors: Hal Chorpenning – hal@plymouthucc.org; 970-481-2928 Carla Cain – carla@plymouthucc.org; 515-418-7444 Jane Anne Ferguson – janeanne@plymouthucc.org; 303-257-4933 Online Mental Health Resources: Interfaith Network on Mental Illness – online programs and a good weekly newsletter Symptoms of Depression from WebMD Suicide Prevention; National Suicide Hotline; Larimer County Suicide Prevention (Colorado Crisis Support 1-844-493-8255 or text HOME to 741741) AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Read more Friends, Last Wednesday evening I told a story in vespers that I would like to share again. Its title is “Old Joe and the Carpenter” and I first read it in Doorways to the Soul: 52 Wisdom Tales From Around the World by Elisa Davy Pearman. It is a traditional American tale and inspired by Ms. Pearman’s written version I tell it to you in my own words. Old Joe had lived on his farm all his life. And his father before him and his father before him. And the father before had staked the claim for the land as pioneer back in early days. It was a beautiful piece of land in rolling hills with good pastureland and plenty of room for crops. Joe had married the love of his life and raised his children on the farm. Now his wife was passed on and the children moved to the city. His neighbor across the way who had always been his best friend was his closest companion now. And his wife had also passed and his children gone. They kept each other company, sharing a meal now and then, smoking a pipe, telling stories. But one fateful day, they fell out! It seems a calf was found on the neighbor’s land away from a herd and its mom. The neighbor claimed it was his. Joe was fit to be tied! “Don’t you see that the calf has all the markings of my best milk cow! It’s mine!” The fought and argued till neither had much breath left and then to avoid hitting one another, they stomped off! Each to his own house, resolving never to speak to the other again! About two weeks later, one a Saturday morning, Joe had a knock at his door. Early in the morning. Muttering to himself, he went to answer it. “Maybe that old coot has come to his senses and is bringing my calf back!” But when he opened the door there stood a young man with a toolbox at his feet and a knapsack over his shoulder. He had curly hair, a fresh, open face and bright, keen and kindly eyes. He introduced himself as a traveling carpenter and asked Old Joe if he had any work that he might do for him. Joe said, “I certainly do! Follow me!” And he led the young carpenter across the farmyard and into the first pasture and pointed down the hill. “Do you see that creek there?” The young man nodded yes. “Well, it weren’t there a week ago! My gol-darned neighbor dug a trench from the pond up there in the hill over-looking both of our farms. Out there all day with his tractor and then he flooded it. The creek runs right along our property line. We used to go back and forth all the time but then he decided that a stray calf he found that was obviously mine – same markings as my best milk cow – belonged to him. And we had words and I never want to speak to that lying son of a gun again! He dug the creek bed to separate our land….now I want you to build me a fence all along the creek so that I don’t have to see it or his land or him ever again. There is lumber and posts and nails, all you might need, in the barn. Can you do it?” The young carpenter agreed and set to work carrying all the supplies he would need from the barn down to Joe’s side of the creek bed. Joe thanked him and then hitched his team to his wagon and went into town for supplies, just as he did every Saturday. The carpenter worked all day, not even stopping for lunch, measuring and sawing and hammering. As the sun began to set, he finished up and began to clean up and gather his tools, put away the lumber scraps in the barn. And Joe returned from town. He drove into the farmyard with his wagon full of supplies. As he jumped down to unhitch the horses, he looked for the young carpenter to see how he had progressed with the fence. What did he see? Instead of a fence there was a beautiful little footbridge going across the creek. And coming across the bridge was his neighbor. Joe hurried down to meet him. The neighbor said, “Joe, I’m bringing your calf home. I’m so sorry! Your friendship is more important that any calf…in fact, it’s the most important thing to me! Thank you for building this bridge.” Joe said, ”Aww…keep that calf! I don’t need it. Your friendship is the most important thing in the world to me! And as for the bridge…well, it was this young fella’s idea.” Joe kind of hung his head and said,” I told him build a fence.” His mouth crooked up at the corner in a grin and he began to laugh! And so did his neighbor. They laughed till tears were funning down their faces and they were holding their sides. The young carpenter laughed with them as he shouldered his knapsack and picked up his toolbox. Old Joe pulled the man’s pay out of his pocket and handed it to him. Then said, “Look here, young man, you do great work! Why don’t you stay around these parts? I’m sure we could help you get all the work you need?” The carpenter said, “Well, I thank you kindly. But I have to be on my way. I have other bridges to build.” And with that he shook the hands of Old Joe and his neighbor and headed toward the road whistling a joyful tune. And that’s the story of Old Joe and the Carpenter. Now I invite you to prayerfully consider these questions:
Blessings on the bridge building journey, P.S. For those of you who resonated with my sermon from Old Town, “First or Last?” check out Brene Brown’s “Unlocking Us” podcast interview with Sonya Renee Taylor, “My Body is Not an Apology.” Great food for thought and action in light of our work as laborers in God’s circular realm of justice and love. No firsts or lasts, just all beloveds! AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Read more “Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy…” Dear Plymouth, I’m back! Catching up on email, helping two new staff members get up to speed, trying to remember the deadlines for getting in staff reflections, bulletins, Overview announcements, etc. And connecting with you one by one through email, phone, rare chance encounters in the office. Leading worship yesterday through our yearly practice of Instant Sermons was great fun and I loved hearing the questions. They always help me feel so much closer to you. As I left in July, I wrote to you that I hoped to encounter the Holy moment by moment even in the midst of the nitty gritty – “taking out the trash, picking up puppy poop, doing the dishes, etc.” I thought of that hope several times and wondered, “Am I accomplishing my mission? Am I letting go and living in the moment?” Isn’t it amazing that even when we set out to rest, to just be, we find it so hard to set down our accomplishment mindset? The voices in our heads that say, “What did you do today? Did you move any farther in the building of your life? Did you get better at what you want to accomplish?” are tyrannical! I did have moments of “being”, in play, in reading, in laughing with Hal and friends, in three wonderful trail rides at Ring Lake Ranch. I did not have quite as many quiet meditation moments due to an active puppy. These will return, in time. Anne Lamott, a wonderfully funny, poignant and deeply thoughtful writer, has a book titled, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. I have yet to read this book, but the title is right on. (And having read other Lamott books I can highly recommend her writing.) “Help,” “thanks,” “wow” are three ways to stay in the moment in life and in prayer. I know I had these moments on sabbatical. “Help” me be patient with this puppy, with myself, with our government! “Thanks” for the wonder of growing my own tomatoes and eggplant, arugula and pumpkins in our backyard, for the antics of puppies that make me laugh, for a week in a beautiful place where someone else cooked delicious food and I reconnected with old friends! “Wow, Holy One!” Creation is astoundingly and inexpressibly beautiful! “Wow” - that sky and those clouds and those multi-colored cliffs that surrounded me as I road horseback through the wilds of the Wyoming’s Wind River basin. “Wow!” as I gazed at 1500 year old petroglyphs made from the prayer images of indigenous people who lived on this same land that was welcoming me with open arms as it had welcomed them. So as I return to ministry with you in this strange fall of 2020, I say, Help and Thanks and Wow! “Help” us learn more together, and learn more deeply, what it means to be the people of God in the midst of pandemic, protest and political elections! “Thanks” for the beloved community of Plymouth as we learn to connect in new ways in the midst of social distancing! “Wow, Holy One!” You are Love and Love is with us always! In times of darkness and in times of light. You accompany us moment by moment. Even when we are not watching. Blessings to you my fellow travelers as we journey together, AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Read more Remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy…. a Sabbath to the HOLY ONE your God. Because the HOLY ONE made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them in six days, but rested on the seventh day. That is why the HOLY ONE blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20.8,10a,11 Dear Plymouth, I am writing this reflection as I head into my short sabbatical time (July 20 – August 22). I want to thank you for affording your called ministerial staff with this kind of time away to be renewed for ministry! It is a great blessing. Many of you have asked, “Where are you going? What are you going to do?” Well, current circumstances prevent me going much of anywhere. I am very fortunate that we have a lovely backyard and garden with a new sitting area under our apple trees and a new hammock. This is where I will go! And what will I do? I will spend as much time as possible in being rather than doing. What is being time? I don’t know about you, but my mind starts scheduling my day the minute my feet hit the floor each morning. “Where is my list of work tasks? What needs to be done to keep our household running, laundry, cleaning, cooking? Where is the new puppy? What does she need to learn today?” You know your own drill. And I try to incorporate a few minutes…maybe even 20… of being time into my morning routine for prayer each day. I try to remember to “pray without ceasing” throughout the day as I encounter the conundrums and joys of work and home and just life. There are many distractions, as you know! Now it’s time to go deeper to develop new habits. The word and concept of “sabbatical” comes from “sabbath,” a day that you keep as “holy,” mindful of the Holy One, God. During these weeks away I will endeavor (and pray) to wake up with the “Holy” on my mind as my feet hit the floor. Upon waking I hope to be mindful of the sacredness of taking the puppy out first thing, the sacredness of coffee, of the birds at the feeder, of the sun and the clouds, of the news, of the dreams I remember, of the reading and journaling during the day. As I write, I am not imagining a choir singing “Ahhhh” somewhere as background music to an idyllic video of my daily routine. I am imagining what it is like to live the nitty gritty of each day dedicated to and in relationship with God, even the taking out of trash and compost, the dusting, the pick-up of puppy poop, the heartbreak of our current times. A sabbatical, a sabbath time, is the time to practice this. I try to practice it one day a week or more likely a half day a week when I am working. It often gets interrupted with my distractions. I am hoping that practicing sabbath being more mindfully for this set period of time will further embed it in the habits of my mind, heart and soul so that when I return to ministry in late August there will be new focus and sustenance for pastoral care and leadership. That as I resume the list of ministerial tasks, I will bring with me the habit of the practice of being mindfully connected to the Holy no matter what I am doing. It will always be a practice never a “perfect.“ I invite you to set aside sabbath time in your life. Discover what it is for you to “remember the Sabbath day and treat it as holy.” The root of the English word “holy” that translates the Hebrew word for “sacred” meant “whole.” What practice do you need to invite you into sacred wholeness in relationship with the Holy One? Many Blessings! Until August 23rd… AuthorThe Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister, is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. She is also the writer of sermon-stories.com, a lectionary-based story-commentary series. Read more |
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