<![CDATA[Melrose Highlands Congregational Church - Pastor's Page]]>Thu, 23 May 2013 05:24:21 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[Happy new year!]]>Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:09:09 GMThttp://www.mhcc-ucc.org/1/post/2013/01/happy-new-year.htmlPicture
Like any year, 2013 is written in the sand. As we stand at the start of the year, it seems to stretch out before us with great possibility. Yet before long, it, too, will be washed away. 

What are your dreams, hopes, resolutions for this short span of time? What do you intend to do with your one wild and precious life?

This Sunday is the Epiphany. We tell the story once again of the wise ones that come from the East following a star. They came pulled by a desire to encounter the new, to meet this new thing that was unfolding. When we push beyond our fears, we too can encounter the new and experience the light. It might, however, mean taking a different route from what we expect. It might mean really paying attention to the life that is unfolding before us. 

Poet Mary Oliver describes paying attention to our lives as a form of prayer. It is a way to encounter the holy. As we look out at the year stretched out before us, we can make resolutions like lose ten pounds, pay off credit card bills, go to the gym more. If you're anything like me, by March these resolutions are washed away by the tide. But what if this year we have one single intention, one guiding light, one star that we follow? What could be your intention for this year? Mine is simple: to pay attention to this gift of life.

May 2013 be a year of great insight, filled with blessings!

See you Sunday,

Rev. Beth

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

~ Mary Oliver

]]><![CDATA[Tigers and Strawberries]]>Sun, 09 Dec 2012 01:28:29 GMThttp://www.mhcc-ucc.org/1/post/2012/12/tigers-and-strawberries.html There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.  Albert Einstein

Each Advent we retell the story of the angel Gabriel’s visitations. Gabriel appears before Zechariah but when Zechariah hears Gabriel’s news, that Elizabeth will bear a child, he wants proof. Even with an angel standing right there in front of him, telling him this miraculous story, Zechariah can’t quite wrap his mind around it. Mary, on the other hand, visited by the same angel with similar news, receives it with curiosity. “But how?” she asks.  She accepts the news with wonder.

You might have heard the following story from the Zen tradition[1]

A student frustrated with life, with school, with her family, her boyfriend approaches her teacher for some guidance. The teacher responds with this story:

A Buddhist monk was walking through the mountains. Out of nowhere comes a hungry tiger. Chased by the tiger the monk comes to a cliff and grabs a vine hanging over the edge. He swings out, looks down and sees another tiger waiting below. Two mice begin to gnaw through his vine. He sees a strawberry growing from the cliff before him. He smiles. What a magnificent strawberry, he says to himself. He plucks it and drops it in his mouth. It is the sweetest, juiciest berry he's ever eaten.

The teacher paused as if the story had ended.

“That’s it?” said the student. “A monk is about to be eaten by a tiger and he reaches out and eats a strawberry. That’s it?”

The teacher continues, “The lesson is to know and embrace the experience of being alive. You must be alive every second when you are alive.”

The student replied with exasperation, “Well obviously…you are alive when you are alive.”

“Not always”, said the teacher. “It’s the experience of being alive in every moment, in every experience, both good and bad. We are to be alive in every moment we are alive and not simply exist and live out our days.”

The angel Gabriel comes before Zechariah and Mary with strawberries. Zechariah sees the strawberry but does not trust that it is real. He does not believe the possibility being offered to him. Mary, however, embraces it with wonder and is open to what will unfold.

During this season of Advent preparation, may we embrace each moment as Mary did with a sense of wonder, pondering and holding each moment close to our hearts.

Merry Christmas!


[1] Pearmain, Elisa Davy, ed., Doorways to the Soul: Fifty-two Wisdom Tales from Around the World, Pilgrim Press, 1998; pg. 92


 

]]><![CDATA[Blessings]]>Sun, 28 Oct 2012 18:46:17 GMThttp://www.mhcc-ucc.org/1/post/2012/10/blessings.html May God bless you and keep you.
May God’s face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
May God look upon you with kindness and give you peace.
(adapted from Numbers 6:24-27)

When I was a child one of our night time rituals was for my mother to listen to our prayers bedside and then call out to us as she walked out through our bedroom doorway, “May God bless you and keep you, Sweet Molly Malone.”  I always thought Molly Malone must be a relative-- a long lost aunt or cousin. It turns out my mother was referencing a girl in a traditional Irish song. It was such a part of nightly ritual that my sisters and I had no idea that she was humming a song as she left our room! What with six kids to bathe and get ready for bed, she must have been humming a tune and dancing a jig as well!

For thousands of years, these words, “May God bless you and keep you,” have comforted God’s people. In the Bible the story goes that when God gave Moses the commandments, a way of life for God’s people, he also gave Moses these words of blessing to give to his brother Aaron, the priest. Aaron was to use these words to bless the people. First, Aaron spoke these words to God’s people, then his priestly heirs spoke them and then the priests and ministers of the Christian church spoke them and on throughout the ages. Today these words are still spoken as benediction at worship and as farewell at bedside.  

In a world that seems more inclined to cursing than blessing, we can be a powerful force with our words of blessing. The giving of blessing is a part of who we are as God’s people. Our Protestant tradition upholds the “priesthood of all believers” making us all heirs to the priesthood. The act of giving God’s blessing is a way of for us to be God bearers.  We can bless, the ordinary days and experiences of our lives by lifting up our voice to heal, encourage, empower. When the news is bad coming out of Libya, Syria or Wisconsin, we can lift our hand and speak words of blessing to the people there. We can also do it here. Try it when you are cut off in traffic, under a deadline or wondering how you are going to face a situation.

As you gather with family and friends this Thanksgiving Day, may it be a day rich with blessings and thanksgivings.


]]><![CDATA[Grace or Works?]]>Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:58:36 GMThttp://www.mhcc-ucc.org/1/post/2012/09/grace-or-works.htmlJames 2:1-17

2 My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? 2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” 4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11 For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. 13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? 17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

James is challenging his congregation of first-century Jewish Christians with an age-old question. Is it faith or works? A key insight of the Reformers was that works without grace is--to use James's word--dead.  But James has it the other way around: "faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead."

The hymn that I keep humming as I read this text is, They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love. 

Perhaps the key to life simply is love. James calls it the Royal Law: love God, love neighbor, love self. Those three make up all the ethics we need to know.  Is it simple to do? Not at all. The example he gives is so telling to a congregation. How we treat everyone who walks through our doors no matter their influence or standing in life speaks volumes about the love in our hearts. 



]]><![CDATA[From where do you draw your wisdom?]]>Fri, 10 Aug 2012 01:20:56 GMThttp://www.mhcc-ucc.org/1/post/2012/08/from-where-do-you-draw-your-wisdom.htmlProverbs 9:1-6
Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars. 
She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table. 
She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls
from the highest places in the town, ‘You that are simple, turn in here!’
 To those without sense she says, ‘Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.  Lay aside immaturity,* and live, and walk in the way of insight.’  
In the Hebrew Bible, we find Lady Wisdom. She is a female manifestation of the Holy that has been with God since before time. It makes sense to me that wisdom would be female. My mother was the bearer of wisdom in the family. Both her parents were teachers and her mother was a published poet, playwright, and book reviewer. Words were important in her family, and my mother had a saying for everything that might need fixing. She knew her Bible, but could also quote poets and loved Shakespeare. Her sources of wisdom were broad and mixed. When life seemed uncertain, she might quote us  something from the Bible but alongside it would be the Rubaiyat. 
Once I left home, I was fortunate to find other sources of wisdom both male and female that mentored me in the ways of the world. People who,  like Lady Wisdom of Proverbs,  sat at the city gates. These people lived and worked at the places where commerce took place. They were wise in the ways of the world and in the ways of God and encouraged me to live with integrity.  I am grateful for their wise ways.
From whom did you learn wisdom?




]]><![CDATA[David, Saint?]]>Mon, 30 Jul 2012 16:26:38 GMThttp://www.mhcc-ucc.org/1/post/2012/07/david-saint.html2 Samuel 11:26 - 12:15
When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him. When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord, and the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the Lordlives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan said to David, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die.”

Then Nathan went to his house. The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became very ill.


First I confess a love of the stories about King David. This passage shows David's sin revealed. It is the moment that his shadow is exposed that I think I like him best. Yes, he at first tries to cover his tracks and does the unthinkable--arranging for the murder of Bathsheba's husband. Yet, when he is exposed by Nathan.....he does not hide from what he has done. Even so, Nathan must have wondered whether the story he told to David of the rich man taking advantage of those that have little would be his last words.

There is so much going on here. I'd love to hear your thoughts....Sunday is coming!








]]><![CDATA[Summer Sabbath, Summer Joy]]>Tue, 03 Jul 2012 16:59:35 GMThttp://www.mhcc-ucc.org/1/post/2012/07/summer-sabbath-summer-joy.html Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? Luke 12: 22-25

Happy Summer, Joyful Summer, 

Finally summer is here with all its trappings- great weather, ice cream, a ball game, a bike ride, a BBQ.  I hope all of you are taking a breath and finding a way to soak in, enjoy and savor each moment.  In the summer at the Highlands we dive into Sabbath time, a time of rest, renewal and re-creation. Our office hours are reduced, and we share in the Union Services with other Melrose churches.  This gives our staff, our deacons, our stewards and all our leadership an opportunity to slow down and enjoy the gift of these beautiful days and nights. If you are traveling-safe travels. If you are local and have a pastoral concern, please leave a message on my office voice mail or cell phone, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.  

We hope that you too can savor, enjoy and dive into a time of rest and renewal.

Blessings, 
Beth

Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement. ....get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed. ~ Abraham Joshua Heschel

]]><![CDATA[Count Your Blessings]]>Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:02:12 GMThttp://www.mhcc-ucc.org/1/post/2012/02/give-and-it-will-be-given-you-a-good-measure-pressed-down-shaken-together-running-over-will-be-put-into-your-lap-for-the-measure-you-give-will-be-the-measure-you-get-back-luke-638.html 
"Give and it will be given you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running
over, will be put into your lap, for the measure you give will be the measure
you get back."   Luke 6:38
 

“Count Your Blessings”

 As he sat down to have lunch with us, these were the first words he spoke. The lunch was provided by the food
pantry for us, its volunteers. And we were high school students and chaperones-a group of work camp volunteers- that had traveled to New York City to work with and learn about homeless people. (This is the same trip our youth are going on in June.)

“Count your Blessings”, he said again. I could see that some of the youth were squirming ever so slightly at the
food choices put before us. Someone had cooked a home made lunch for us and it was 50s style covered dishes like tuna noodle casserole, American chopsuey and a Jell-O salad. 

His name was Jake. A big burly life-long New Yorker, Jake was the shift supervisor. He also was formerly
homeless. He shared his story with us, how he had turned his life around by climbing out of the bottle and drugs that claimed him. It was more than that though, he learned each day to count his blessings, to give thanks for the good and learn from the hard parts.  He lived now from a deep well of gratitude. 

By the end of lunch, he had the youth mesmerized. He lived in a single room in a tenement on not much more than minimum wage. Yet, he radiated joy. The room was warmed by his presence. His turn around he told them came when he realized all life, even his own was pure gift, and he got to choose how he lived each day. 

“What goes around comes around.”

“You reap what you sow.”

“Wherever you go there you are.”

“You get what you give.”

However you say it, it all comes back to counting your blessings. Living as if, trusting that all life is a gift
from the Universe and in response living your life in an intentional way by continuously giving thanks.

 Peace, Rev. Beth ]]><![CDATA[Beth's First Post!]]>Fri, 04 Nov 2011 18:47:55 GMThttp://www.mhcc-ucc.org/1/post/2011/11/post-title-click-and-type-to-edit.htmlMHCC 20 Days of Gratitude Cleanse

Take a Gratitude Day! Spend a day being mindful of everything you feel grateful for and saying a quick prayer of thanksgiving, over and over, all day long. Lillian Daniel

What if for the first 20 days of November, we practice gratitude? Each day, we would write down what we feel grateful for and then say a quick prayer of thanks. We invite everyone to try this, adults and children, individuals and families, members and friends.

We all have something in our lives to be grateful for.

Each of us would do this in our own way, but an example is below.

I'm calling it a cleanse, because gratitude is a practice that cleans out the cobwebs and stuff hidden deep in the closets of our hearts. It helps us to face the world lighter and with a more open heart.

On our Ingathering Sunday, November 20th, we could bring both our Ingathering food collection and our gratitude before God in thanksgiving.

Dear God,

 

I am grateful for another day, for the adventure of this life.

 

Today, I am especially grateful for:

1)___________________

2)___________________

3)___________________

  Thank you God, for the gift of life and its many blessings.

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