Inspired

Today, I'm excited by the supreme court ruling on DOMA and Prop. 8 and I'm excited by a book I finished called "Behind the Beautiful Forevers" by Katherine Boo.

I believe we, as a nation, are finally raising our heavy feet from the quicksand of prejudice to lovingly embrace brothers and sisters who have been fighting a silenced struggle for too many lifetimes. And I'm overjoyed that regardless of the political outcome today, Americans across each state are and have been affirming their support of those who simply want their love for another to be acknowledged. I'm inspired by where we've come and where we're headed. I'm inspired by countries like Norway and South Africa and Belgium that set examples of LGBTQ acceptance for the U.S. I'm inspired by the way God is uniting lovers, families, churches and political leaders in the name of loving thy neighbor and loving God.

As I mentioned, I also found inspiration in the book, "Behind the Beautiful Forevers." I strongly recommend this book as it tells a non-fiction narrative of the lives of individuals of Mumbai's Annawadi slum. Boo spent 5 years investigating the daily routine, struggles and triumphs of children and adults who collect and steal polyurethane bags, plastic bottles, and scrap metal to sell in order to make a few rupees each day. What made this story incredible to me was not the squalor in which these people live, but the intelligence, thoughtfulness and hope of the people. Emotions and dreams very much like my own. Survival is certainly at the forefront of most Annawadians' minds, but extending deeper than that is their desire to achieve success for their family through a child's completion of school, finding a stable job or moving into a more prosperous slum. One boy described his goal to be "ice," which is water (something all people have in common), but a "better state." He understood the link that connects all individuals but knew he wanted a life of meaning for himself. He didn't want to be forgotten after he had died, but rather strived to make a lasting difference despite his grim circumstances. THAT is inspirational to me.

What both the court rulings and content of Boo's book reminded me today is that we are all one people united as children of God. God forgets about no one, even when our marital laws and living conditions cause us to forget about the basic needs of our fellow humans. As a Christian, I frequently feel like how Jesus' disciples are often portrayed, trying to do the right thing, but not quite getting it right. Jesus set the perfect example and the disciples did their best to follow, but often stumbled. As I learn more about the world I see that we have a long way to go before we are loving our neighbors and giving a coat to someone who needs it. We might think we're doing the right thing, when in fact, God's will is far from our actions. That said, I'm inspired by the dreams and realities of those who are making the world a more heavenly place in the U.S. in India and in many, many other places. I praise God for acting in the lives of these people, and I have so much hope for the future of the world.

What is General Synod?

Hi Church and Church Lovers!

I'm about to attend the ultimate church-lover conference: General Synod.  This is a gathering of the national denomination of the United Church of Christ which occurs every 2 years in a different location in the US.  This year, it's in Long Beach, California!  At the conference, we attend workshops, gather with various groups for networking opportunities, worship together, and vote on Resolutions and Formal Motions of the UCC.  

The United Church of Christ is a denomination in which the local churches work both autonomously and covenantally.  What that means is that each church makes its own individual decisions, but because of the covenant made with the denomination the decisions made at synod are recommendations to the local churches.  So, those resolutions and formal motions linked above are recommendations to us, the First Congregational Church of Ripon!  

What do you think about them?  As a delegate, I am your voice!  I'd love to hear what you think so that I can make decisions that represent both myself and this community.  

Any time that General Synod is in session (plenaries, worship, etc.) in the main hall, they will be webcasting live. In general that means that they will be following the schedule found in the Detailed Agenda.

The stream will be seen live on this page and on the UCC Facebook page.  I highly encourage you to tune in for the worship times.  I will be posting on Facebook just before worship each day as a reminder to tune in. 

On Thursday, I will also be attending a pre-Synod gathering of the 2030 Network of the UCC.  The 2030 Network is made up of ordained and licensed clergy in their 20s and 30s.  This will be a day of fellowship, discussion, and worship which I am so, so looking forward to!

Stay tuned!  I'll be updating along the way!

-- Pastor Joanna 

Sermon Reflection | Sunday June 9, 2013

Read: 1 Kings 17:8-24
Listen: God Will Provide
Dig a Little Deeper: 

     As I mentioned in my message, I'm reading the Psalms every morning as a Spiritual Discipline and as a form of prayer.  I put together a simple check list with a space to write when you read each Psalm and some brief thoughts about it, if you're interested in joining me and setting a goal.  My personal goal is to read one Psalm every day.  I'd love it if you'd join me in this!  Let me know if you do, just so I can have an idea of who is participating.  If you'd like a copy of the Psalms list, e-mail me at pastor@firstcongo.net and I'll send it to you! 

I have to say the Psalms challenge has started a lot of discussion in the D'Agostino household.  You may know that my husband is a poet.  That makes it easy for him to love the Psalms, of course.  They are poems.   Well, they are songs, but we read them usually without music.  He has been recognizing the way that a lot of religious poetry reflects the essential ideas/concepts of the Psalms-- rhythmically, conceptually, etc., and has even found some that he wants to put alongside one another as past and present compliments of each other.  This is a baby-idea for him, but I've asked him to find an example and share it on the blog sometime.  It may be a few weeks, but you might encourage him if you see him (or in the comments)! 

Okay, anyway, so on the topic of 1 Kings... I hope you'll just listen to the sermon.  I don't have a lot of follow-up on it.  You might read this commentary.  

Or you might just sit and think about these questions I asked in my sermon:

"Ask yourself, what fills you?  What rules your thoughts?  What takes up your time?  If you’re empty, how can God fill you?  If you’re full, how much of your fullness is God’s goodness and how much is junk food and negativity and unhelpful noise and hoarding.  Is your coffee can full of things that make it hard to open yourself up to God’s love and grace?  How can God come into us when we are already filled by earthly things? 

 And then, think-- how can God work through us when we remove those distractions and really concentrate and listen to what God is calling us to?  I’m not saying we should get rid of all of the activities we do, or that we should turn our church into a silent monastery and just listen; what I’m saying is that it’s time to clean out the spiritual junk food—the worry, the negativity, the bad stuff…and make room for God.  Make room for what is good and right.  Because the woman’s coffee can was empty, there was so much room for kindness and compassion and faith and mercy."

Another question:
When have you been served by the people you thought you were serving?  Or learned from the people you were teaching?

Well folks, the next three weeks I will be out of town.  I'm in North Carolina and my brother's home in Rockville, MD for about 10 days, and then off to the General Synod of the UCC for one week.  I am glad to go, and I will be glad to come home!  Come listen to Rev. Gary Miller and Dr. Brian Smith preach the next three weeks!

Peace!

Sermon Reflection | Sunday June 2, 2013

Read: Luke 7:1-10
Listen: "Who is Worthy?"
Dig a Little Deeper:
     First let me tell you a little bit about why I preached on the topic of "worth" this Sunday.   There is an epidemic spreading throughout our congregation, and perhaps throughout our whole society, called the, "I'm not good enough for that" disease.  It's a brutal disease.  It effects the heart, and the head, and the energy-level, and sometimes brings physical pain throughout the entire body in a strange, indescribable way.  It's a disease that effects the faith of afflicted individuals.  Symptoms include: not praying, because you think God won't listen to you (ie: "trust me, God doesn't want to talk to me), not going to church because you think the church will go up in flames if you step in the door (ie: "I've sinned enough for Hell to come to me!"), not joining a committee, not speaking in church, not volunteering (ie: "those other people do a better job than I could ever do").  Oh, and these are just some of the church symptoms.  You should see (maybe you do see!) the home and work symptoms.

    So I wanted to get up in front of the congregation and say, "Stop thinking that way; you are worthy!"

    So I did.

    And then I got home, and I plopped myself down on the couch and I said to myself, "I didn't preach that sermon as well as I should have."*  Are you kidding me!?  I preached a sermon about how ONLY GOD CAN MAKE US WORTHY and then I went home and beat myself up about not doing a good job.  I said it before: this disease is brutal.

    Friends, we're worthy of God's love.  We're worthy of the love of our neighbors.  Let's make it a Mantra.

    I wonder how many of you have practiced the spiritual tradition of the labyrinth?  It's a good one.  The meaning, or purpose, of a Labyrinth is all over the place, but I like to look at it this way: when you follow one, you are journeying inward towards a goal.  When you reach the center you have attained that goal, and then you bring it back out with you so that it can be incorporated into your daily life.  I don't know if this is right, but it's what works for me.  I invite you to follow this Labyrinth (print it out, look at it on the screen, follow it with your finger or just with your mind) and make the goal in the center: a full understanding that you are worthy.   

*I like to remind myself that an excellent Major League baseball player has a batting average .300; if 30% of my sermons are hits, I am doing an excellent job...

***
     Okay, so that's that.  You are worthy.  But in the Dig a Little Deeper section, I bet you were really hoping to learn more about Centurions.
     Or perhaps you just wanted to check out some good commentaries on the text... Check here, or here for some of my favorites this week.

But probably, based on the feedback I got after worship, you're just hoping to hear this song again.  "Come to Me" by Christopher Grundy, based on the scripture from Matthew 11:28.  You can also find it here on Youtube.

May we all live into God's calling, while all realizing that who we are is good enough.  

Pastor Joanna

Thoughts on Camp 14

Often my dad comes home from work and announces to me that he has a movie or video clip that he just has to show me. I've learned to roll my eyes a little, because at times, the video fails to live up to his  schoolboy excitement. However, I have learned to pay attention to what his shows me, because sometimes he comes across an unbelievable story...this happened last week.

My dad pulled me into the living room and cued up our TV to show me a 14 minute "60 Minutes" news story: 

This is a story about Kaechon internment camp, commonly called Camp 14, a slave labor camp in North Korea for political prisoners. The camp is located 50 miles from North Korea's capitol, Pyonyang and is considered a modern day concentration camp. The 15,000 captives in Camp 14 are prisoners for life and work in houses, factories, fields and mines each day in constant starvation. Shin Dong-hyuk is believed to be the only person to have successfully escaped from the camp back in 2005 when Shin was 23. Shin was born in the camp and his family was kept separated within the camp. When asked if he knew what love was Shin replied, "I still don't know what that means." He says the prisoners were allowed to take breaks to watch fellow prisoners get executed. Shin considered these times a welcomed escape from the grueling labor and hunger he monotonously faced. Prisoners ate rats to survive. Shin believes his father and grandfather were sent to Camp 14 because two of Shin's uncles defected to South Korea during the Korean War. The majority of people in the internment camps in North Korea are the children of people considered to be political dissidents, yet North Korea denies it has any political prisons. This is only a taste of the 60 Minutes story about Shin's life and escape; again, please view the video from the link above.

After watching the story, I was shocked and saddened, of course. But I also felt confused. So often I feel like the world we live in is really small. I can Skype a friend across the globe, send an email nearly anywhere and I all too often hear stories from people who unexpectedly run into friends while on trips across seas. 

But this video made the world seem too big and too foreign to me.

It upset me that I had never heard of Camp 14 before almost as much as the atrocities that were occurring in the camp. I realize injustices occur each day in all corners of the globe and also in Ripon. Too many children, parents, single adults and elderly face daily hunger, physical, verbal or emotional abuse and nagging physical ailments with no money to pay for medical services.

Then I think about this past Monday's Memorial Day commemorations I remember that we live in a county of free people where the majority of boys and girls are able to go to school and adults have services to help pay for medical care and food. And we live in a country where we celebrate those who serve our country in order that we can be free to express our beliefs, even when they do not align with our government's.

I don't know what we as Christians should do to help those in a country whose government doesn't even acknowledge the existence of its starving citizens. I feel pretty helpless. But I also can't remember a time in Sunday School or Confirmation where I learned we should ignore our neighbors in need. I think a prayer before bed is a good place to start.

This is a prayer from someone in the Ravensbruck concentration camp, a women's camp in Mecklenburg, Germany in WWII:

Peace to all those who are full of evil intent 
and an end to taking revenge 
and an end to speeches about punishment and scolding. 

The matchless cruelties defy description,
They exceed anything that may be learned, 
and the martyrs are numerous. 

Henceforth, o God,
don't weigh their sufferings on the scales 
of your justice, 
Don't ask for cruel reckoning,
but weigh it in a different way: 

Let the hangmen,
traitors and spies,
and all evil peoples benefit from their crime, 
and forgive them 
for the sake of courage and the sacrifice of the others. 
All good shall be reckoned, but evil spilt and lost. 

And in the remembrance of our enemies 
we shall not live as their victims,
not as their nightmares and terrible monsters, 
but rather come to their rescue,
that they abstain from their delusion. 

Only this will be claimed from them, 
and that we, when all this will be over, 
may live as humans among humans, 

and that peace may again reign on this poor earth 
for all with good in their heart 
and that this peace shall extend to the lost ones, too.
Amen

Several Pastoral Thoughts

Hello Church and Blog Readers!

First I'll offer the inevitable Blogger Apology-- I'm so sorry I've been absent!  I want to say that it's because I've had a couple of Sundays when I haven't preached lately, which is true, but the other truth is I've been rather inundated with *stuff.*  A lot of church stuff, but mostly life and family and pregnancy *stuff.*  For some reason (nostalgia, perhaps?) I thought I loved being pregnant last time.  This time around there's a little less love and a little more whining and complaining.  After I get through with my daily whining and complaining, it seems I have little time left to write a blog entry!  Chin up; press on! 

Some compassionate words from the Gospel of John (who doesn't know first hand what he's talking about; but still manages to be sweetly sympathetic.  Good man, John.  Good man.):  

Very truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy. When a woman is in labor, she has pain, because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. So you have pain now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 

As long as I'm already rambling about my pregnancy, I'd like to share a link to a blog entry from the Young Women Clergy Network: Your Pregnant Pastor: Ten Things You Should Know

Okay, moving on.  

Some really cool things are happening here at the church.  I might as well start by moving up just a tad in the age bracket from the pregnancy subject-- we are starting a new program called Tiny Spirit Saturdays for babies and toddlers.  I am so excited about this opportunity for our church and the community.  There's wisdom in those little souls and it's time for us to explore it!

Cool thing that's happening, number two:  A relocation of our church library!  We will still have the main stash of library books down in the Adult Lounge, but since we know that very few people frequent that area we've decided to move a couple of bookshelves up to the main hall outside the sanctuary.  This will happen in upcoming weeks.  On that note, we'd love some book recommendations because it's been a few years since we stocked our library.  What theological books have you loved to read recently?  Motivational novels?  Prayers and devotionals?  

Cool thing that's happening, number three: We have a new projection system installed in the sanctuary!  How awesome is that?  This system was made possible through an anonymous donation.  It looks so beautiful and the opportunities it provides for worship abound.    

The first week with the projector went really well.  The service itself was unique and beautiful because it was Children's Sunday.  The children shared their "This I believe" statements that they have been writing during Sunday school-- simple statements about what they believe about the goodness and possibilities of the world, and especially what the church should be striving for as we try to become more like Jesus.  Here are the statements they came up with: 

I believe that people who have a lot should give up something to help people in need. 

I believe there is no right way to pray. 

I believe we should be friends.

I believe we should get food every day.

I believe you can do anything as long as it isn't bad.

I believe people should go outside more.

I believe brothers and sisters should be kind to each other.

I believe life is good.

I believe God is in everything. 

I believe everyone should be able to learn to the best of their abilities.

I believe we should hold open doors for others, let other cars into our lanes, and give others the opportunity to go first. 

I want to share a few other links to this week's children's sermon.  The Children's Choir sang "We Are the Church" <http://bit.ly/12Fsjoh>. In a reversal appropriate for the day, I gave an Adult's Moment <http://bit.ly/Z6qz9v>. And for the offertory Nalani and Esther played a piano duet, "The Water Is Wide" <http://bit.ly/10OHskh>.  

After the worship service, we had a church picnic in which we heard music from Nalani's band, "Rock Candy" and had face painting!  It was such a fun day!

Some of our youth and children listening to the band.

Beautiful girls!

Remember that thing John said up there ^^ about not remembering the anguish?
There she is-- my human being!  Joy abounds.  

Rock Candy! 

The Lone Pinata.  He's beheaded now. 

Thanks to everybody for reading a somewhat rambling post.  I'm happy to say that after this week we'll be back on the regular sermon reflection schedule!  Grace and peace to all of you! 

Pastor Joanna

Saying Thank You

As my time away from home is nearing an end (I'll in Ripon for the summer!), I am excited to share a recent experience that provoked classic, college kid introspection. Last week at my sophomore women's Bible Study, my minister invited a student from "Ask Big Questions UW-Madison" to facilitate a special discussion with my group. "Ask Big Questions" is an international organization whose mission is to engage college students in asking "big questions," in an effort to promote conversations that help us understand ourselves and others. Through these conversations that goal is to ignite positive change in the world.

http://askbigquestions.org/

UW-Madison began its own "Ask Big Questions" organization this year. The student representative from the group began our session by asking us what this quote mean to us: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination. It is our light more than our darkness which scares us." --Marianne Williamson. This quote got us thinking about the tremendous power we possess and how we can use this power to impact our community and world.

Next the leader showed us this "Ted Talks"video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVCBrkrFrBE

In summary the video highlights the impact each of use can have in one another's lives in ways we do not realize. We can all think of people who have shaped who we are or who have positively impacted us at some point. But, we all too often do not bother to let these people know they are appreciated. The take home message from the clip was the importance of acknowledging those people who have positively changed us by thanking them. They may very well not realize what an impact they have had in our lives and a simple thank you may, in turn, change their life. 

Earlier in the day, I was carbon copied in an email my dad sent to a friend who was soon to retire. He had heard that she was retiring from another friend and simply wanted to thank her for the profound impact she had had on our community and let her know her work over the years was greatly valued by him. His message was short and nothing spectacular was written. However, I am sure the woman found it meaningful that he would go out of his way to say thank you for her hard work.

I hope that I can embody the example my dad set last week by reaching out to those who have impacted my life and letting them know how much they mean to me. I say thank you often for small things people do for me, but seldom do I take time to reach out to those people who have radically changed my life. I think part of God's hope for us as a community of Christians is to share the deep gratitude we have with one another. If we are the body of Christ, shouldn't we strengthen ourself by forming stronger bonds through gratitude? The act of saying thank you can feel uncomfortable, but the difference it can make in the life of the recipient is extraordinary.

The message from that night had a strong impact on me, and I hope you can consider ways to reach out to others in thanks as well.