Sunday Sermons at Niles Church

           A colleague shared a story about getting some feedback that was pretty amazing. [1]   Back a dozen year before Ralph received the feedback, he had led a boys group at his church.  Neil was one of the kids in the group and he was – well, “difficult” is a polite way of putting it.  He was hyperactive, manipulative, and physically strong.  He managed to sabotage just about every well constructed plan for meaningful and helpful activities in the group.

            Ralph went back to the church for an anniversary celebration and at the end of the evening, a tall young man came up to him.  “Hi.  Do you remember me?  I’m Neil.”  Neil was now a social worker who really saw his work as a ministry.  He had a deep and lively faith.

            The feedback Ralph got went something like this:

            “You were really important to my life when you led that boys group and I want to thank you.”

            “But Neil,” Ralph replied, “you and I were always struggling.  You were my number one discipline problem.”

            “I know,” said Neil.  “But I always felt you liked me.  And you took me seriously.”

            If you asked Ralph how this transformation happened, he couldn’t tell you.  But this story came to mind in response to today’s gospel lesson.

            Jesus tells these strange parables using the image of seeds.  God’s Empire (as opposed to the Roman Empire ) is as if someone scatters some seeds on the ground and, while the person who scattered the seeds goes on with life, the seeds germinates and grows.  The person who scattered the seeds doesn’t know how it works.  But when the grain is ripe, the seed-scatterer comes back to harvest the grain.

            The seed-scatterer thinks work consists of scattering and harvesting.  And, if we could interview a seed, it would probably tell us that it thinks the work is the germinating.  And the plant would probably tell us that it thinks the work is in the ripening of the grain.  And the baker would tell us that the work is in the grinding and loaf-making.  But the work of God’s Empire is all these things together, for if one part of the process isn’t there, people go hungry.

            I don’t think Ralph had any idea that he was being the soil, helping some seeds to germinate and grow when he was struggling with Neil.

            Jesus went on:  God’s Empire is like … well … a tiny, insignificant mustard seed.  And when it gets planted, it grows into a mighty … well, okay, a shrub.  But the birds can make their nest in its … well, I guess the branches aren’t strong enough for a nest, but they can make their nests in its shade.  And I suppose a bird could perch on it – if the bird is really small.

            Which, really doesn’t seem like much.  But that’s looking at the seed and its product from a mortal point of view.  What we regard as common, small, of little account, God regards as miraculous, wonderful, the essence of the Empire of God.

            I am reminded of something Mother Teresa once said:  We cannot all do great things.  But we can all do small things with great love. [2]

            You don’t need to be a mighty cedar of Lebanon to be of value in God’s Empire.

            Samuel thought he was looking for a mighty cedar when God told him to anoint a new king for Israel .  Samuel knew that if he went out to anoint a new king, the reigning king, Saul, would be a little threatened by it.  In fact, if he found out about it, Saul would probably kill Samuel.  So, God gave Samuel a cover story – go offer a sacrifice, and invite along Jesse, because the next king is one of his sons.  So Samuel did this, and Jesse went along with his sons.  And when the time came, Jesse paraded his sons before Samuel.  He started with the son he thought Samuel would anoint.  In fact, Samuel thought he was going to anoint him, too.  But no.  Remember the last time you picked tall, dark, and handsome?

            “For the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

            So, one after another, the sons were paraded before Samuel, and Samuel didn’t anoint any of them because none of them was the one God had picked.  Nope, the one God had picked is the one that Jesse didn’t even bother to bring along.  He was left watching the sheep.  He was the youngest, just a kid – to young to be anointed king.  And he probably wasn’t as tall as the others.  I wish the Bible described him as having a lazy eye and acne, but as handsome as he was, he was still the runt of the litter.  And this is the one that Samuel anointed.

            And once he was anointed, David life changed.  Well, not immediately.  He went back to watching sheep for a while before the whole king thing took off.

            So, why did God pick David?  It was certainly a shock to everyone.  Was it because David had great potential that his family hadn’t recognized?  Was it because, as the youngest son, David had learned early to fend for himself, to take responsibility, to undertake difficult tasks which his older brothers dumped on him?  We aren’t told.  God’s choices are God’s choices.  It’s just a good thing that Samuel was able to discern God’s will so clearly, or that God was speaking so clearly to Samuel.

            This discerning the will of God isn't easy stuff.  Here’s an example for you.

            First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Fremont , has worshipped on their property at the end of Niles Blvd. right next to where the road goes over the BART tracks.  They have decided to sell their property and buy the Church of Christ building on Niles Blvd. across the street from the nursery.  I don’t know what process they used to decide it was the right thing to do, but they have worked for quite a while as a community to discern if it is God’s will.

            The question they held before themselves was some form of this:  Would doing this strengthen our ability to carry out God’s mission?

            I know about this because of something that happened on Pentecost.  But I need to give you a little background before I get to what happened two weeks ago.

            Four main streams (and a number of minor streams) came together to form the United Church of Christ: [3]

The Reformed stream – immigrants influenced by Zwingli’s Reformation movement that came to the Americas in the 1700’s and 1800’s from Germany and Hungary .

The Evangelical stream – immigrants from Prussia influenced by Luther’s Reformation that came to the Americas in the 1800’s.

The Congregational stream – the church that came out of the Pilgrim and Puritan movements in New England .

And the Christian stream – a uniquely American church that came out of the Second Great Awakening in the early 1800’s.  The Christian Church continues within the UCC and as the “Christian Church, Disciple of Christ.” [4]

            The United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ do more in partnership than many (and maybe all) other interdenominational partnerships.  All of our overseas missionaries are jointly appointed by a common global ministries board made up of DOC and UCC members. [5]   The DOC and the UCC have recognized the validity of each other’s ordinations in a special way. [6]   We share leadership – like the Rev. Yolanda Moreno, who was ordained in the DOC, and is now doing the Interim Ministry at Little Brown Church (UCC), Sunol.

            Well, on Pentecost, this DOC pastor was installed into the UCC’s Interim Ministers Guild on Pentecost at Little Brown Church.  Joe Walters, pastor of First Christian Church, Fremont, was there.  And Joe and I got to talking.  We chatted about how things were going at our churches – he was excited to tell me about the move they are anticipating.  We got to talking about daydreams and brainstorms, and Joe mentioned that he’d thought, from time to time, that maybe our two congregations should merge.

 

            WOW!

 

            Should our two churches merge?

 

            The more I thought about this, the more I thought, we should consider it.

            There are questions that we (both congregations) will need to answer:

·        Is our worship compatible?

·        Are our histories and polities compatible?

·        If we merged, what would it look like?  Would the two churches cease to exist or would two congregations share one house or is there some other set-up that would be ideal?

·        Are we theologically compatible?

·        How would the music programs merge?

·        What sort of pastoral leadership would the merged church have?

·        What would be lost if Niles Congregational Church, at the corner of 3^rd and H, weren’t here any more?

·        What would we lose? And what would the wider community lose?

·        Would being a dually denominationally aligned congregation strengthen our ministry or weaken it?

·        Would the ministries of our congregation that we are most passionate about be able to continue in the merged church?

            And that’s just the beginning of the questions.  The answers to these questions all underlie and impact the most important question of all – in fact, the only question that really matters:  Would merging our two churches strengthen our ability to carry out God’s mission?

            Like I said, this discernment stuff isn’t easy.  It would be great if God would send us a Samuel who could tell us if this is a good idea or not.  But God doesn’t seem to send prophets like that these days.  No, if we decide to seriously consider this, it will take working together as a community to discern the will of God.  And let me add:  there’s no rush!

            Joe is sharing this same question with his congregation today.  And he’s suggesting that they only take one small step:  think about whether or not they want to expend the energy to consider the possibility of merger.  He’s suggesting that they take a couple months just to consider that.

            So, I’m going to suggest the same thing.  Around the lunch tables today, we can have some beginning, informal conversations about this, if you want to.  At tomorrow’s Council meeting, we’ll take a little time to chat about the idea.  And then we’ll let it rest in your hearts and heads for a couple months.  Then, at the Council meeting in August, we can decide if we want to enter into a time of discernment – a time that would last 6 months to a year, a time that would include meetings and worship with FCCF and meetings and worship by ourselves.

            Then, IF we discern that merging would strengthen our ability to carry out God’s mission in the world, we would start the work of actually merging.

            Are you feeling a little overwhelmed by all this?  It’s had my head spinning for a couple weeks.

            Back a month ago, when I was putting together sermon titles for the newsletter, I announced that today’s sermon would be titled, “Embracing your seedy side.”  I thought I’d preach about how each of us is a seed that God has scattered and that we are each here to do what we can, even if it’s just being a mustard shrub.  Maybe the title should have been “Embracing Our seedy side,” inviting us as a community to determine what sort of seed we are and what sort of plant we’re going to grow into and even if we’re planted in the right soil.

            I was once asked how many great men and women have been born in California .  The answer, of course, is none.  Only infants are born in California .

            How many great churches are started in California ?  I suppose it depend on your definition of “great.”  If we view greatness by mortal standards, then, none are started “great.”  But if we view greatness as faithfulness, I suppose there have been countless great churches started in California .  And by the grace of God they stay great.

           The question I’m inviting us to consider is, is it time to consider a new way of being great?  What sort of seed are we, and will we embrace it?

            Well, that’s something to think about for a few months, at least.