Faith is a Verb.. Musings by Pastor Tony September 8, 2017

When I first preached at Arlington Community Church United Church of Christ in 2010, I used the phrase, “Faith is a Verb,” naming that ancient Hebrew and Greek have verbs for our idea of “faith.” This idea of “faith is a verb” combines the notions from modern English of the noun, “faith,” with the verbs, “to trust” and “to believe.” It is also a call to act out our faith, and, as we sing every week, to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.  Faith as a noun calls us to contemplate, meditate, and pray quietly, which are all important to our spiritual life, yet they cannot be the end point; faith as a verb calls us to put our hands to work to bring peace and joy to our world calls us to put our feet on the ground to walk and march for justice.

We are at a time in the life of our congregation when “Faith is a Verb” is really being put into action. Have you noticed the activity? The kitchen is being refurbished, so that we can continue being a place that is used by the community. A Landscaping Team is working to redevelop plans for the external face we present to the world, as we make our space an even more inviting, peaceful, spiritual place of rest and renewal. There is a newly formed green team, focusing on environmental justice and our individual actions to help our planet. The Mission and Social Justice Board has been active in figuring out how to respond to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. I am connecting more deeply into North Richmond and the Iron Triangle of Richmond (We gave 48 backpacks and school supplies to a recent program for local youth, with much thanks from the creator, Marcus Byrd-Ray), and I am volunteering to help in the medical area as protests against white supremacy and rallies for racial justice occur in our region. I imagine all of this will push our hands, hearts and feet into verbing our faith.

It feels like our faith at Arlington Community Church is living, breathing, doing. It feels like God has given us a jolt of caffeine, to get us up from our deep contemplation and go do the faith. It feels exciting, and yes, perhaps a bit exhausting, and to me it feels like God is at the center of it.

So how are you verbing the faith these days? How are you experiencing Arlington Community Church as a verb these days? Along with the Pastor Parish Relations Team (Elena, Barry, and Susan Y), I look forward to hearing your comments in these upcoming months!

Peace,

Pastor Tony

Person of the Planet- A Message from Down Under by Shanti Moorjani

I met a man from Cairnes (pronounced "cans") on our recent trip to Australia. He is a Person of the Planet.    His name is Dean Nulty, a biologist/naturalist, and a guide.  We had the priviledge of spending a day with in him in the Daintree Rainforest in the Northeast coast of Australia.  Daintree is a 450 square mile lush green rain forest.  It is the oldest one on the planet and a very complex ecosystem. 

Dean started out by saying: " I don't like the word 'Climate change' when it is really 'climate disruptions'".  Take for instance this forest. In the 1950's onward there was a rush to cut down the rainforests to plant sugar cane and develop fish hatcheries.  The motto among the "powers that be" was "the only good tree is a cut tree".   Consequently, 80% of the forests were gone, and they were itching to finish the last 20%.  They rushed a crew to start cutting without any environmental impact studies.  This was 1983 and the local people had had enough. Violent protests broke out to prevent the bulldozers from continuing.  Thanks to a miracle monsoon-like rain that disrupted the clear-cutting from continuing and organizers coming to help from outside the country, the message finally made it to the news media and the rest of the world.   The bulldozers stopped and eventually this last piece of rainforest was declared a World Heritage site in 1987.

Recently, concerned wealthy individuals are starting to buy back the farms and asking people to come and plant a tree. Dean understands the importance of a rainforest environment and its positive impact on the health of the planet.  He said, "The answer to climate disruption is so simple! If every person on the planet were to plant just one tree the problem would be solved.  But, politicians just don't get it."  He continued, "Plant a tree or donate to their Save a Rainforest project so someone can plant a tree for you."  Even so, he said it takes about 400 years to create another rain forest.  Pretty sobering.

As I looked around Daintree I remembered a quote I once heard:   " look around you,.... the trees, grass, flowers, water, air........it's all alive".

This planet is truly alive, a "garden of Eden", a "gift from God". We are standing on "holy ground".  This earth has supported us unconditionally over the centuries, yet it has no voice of its own.  Would it say,  "Stop cutting the trees, I can't make air" or "If you wipe out all the bees, I can't pollinate the fruit" and so on.   We have everything for our needs; just look at this computer you are reading, the chair you are sitting on, the house you live in, the car you drive, the food you eat: all are gifts from the planet. In fact I can't think of anything that did not ultimately come from the earth.

Our Person of the Planet movement is an opportunity for each individual to be part of the "voice of the planet" and do whatever you CAN do within your" sphere of influence" (thank you Linda Jones for that lovely phrase) to make a difference. Even just re-cycling shows your care for planet.  In addition, by always asking the question "IS THIS GOOD FOR THE PLANET?" we can choose with more awareness. 

Dean Nulty is honored to be a Person of the Planet and hopes he can share his knowledge with us over the miles, or, if ever in California, in person.  Will you join with us?

Person of the Planet- Back to School Shopping

From Shirley Lutsky

Stores are competing for customers on our hot summer and early fall days especially in the areas of Concord and Walnut Creek.  One “invitation” is to prop doors open to entice people with air conditioning.

Like leaving a refrigerator door open, this practice wastes energy, drives up costs, increases pollution and stresses the power grid.  An average store with its doors propped open wastes about 4200 kilowatts of electricity over the summer, releasing about 2.2 tons of carbon dioxide – the same amount of pollution emitted by a diesel semi-truck driving from New York to Miami.

Let’s stops this habit of blatant energy waste.  Stores keep their doors open because they believe it’s good for business.  They need to hear from consumers like us that this practice is wasteful and we don’t approve. 

Time for businesses to show their conservation values by closing their doors.  If stores across the country closed their doors in the summer, it would reduce the equivalent amount of pollution generated by 830 million car miles – every year.

This article adapted from “Generation180”, an environmental organization.

Speak up for the planet!

Pastor Tony's Sermon August 20, 2017

Matthew 26: 36-46     8-20-17     Rev. Tony Clark     ACCUCC

Matthew 26:36-46The Message (MSG)

Listen to this week's sermon by clicking here.

Then Jesus went with them to a garden called Gethsemane and told his disciples, “Stay here while I go over there and pray.” Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he plunged into an agonizing sorrow. Then he said, “This sorrow is crushing my life out. Stay here and keep vigil with me.”

Going a little ahead, he fell on his face, praying, “My Father, if there is any way, get me out of this. But please, not what I want. You, what do you want?”

When he came back to his disciples, he found them sound asleep. He said to Peter, “Can’t you stick it out with me a single hour? Stay alert; be in prayer so you don’t wander into temptation without even knowing you’re in danger. There is a part of you that is eager, ready for anything in God. But there’s another part that’s as lazy as an old dog sleeping by the fire.”

He then left them a second time. Again he prayed, “My Father, if there is no other way than this, drinking this cup to the dregs, I’m ready. Do it your way.”

When he came back, he again found them sound asleep. They simply couldn’t keep their eyes open. This time he let them sleep on, and went back a third time to pray, going over the same ground one last time.

When he came back the next time, he said, “Are you going to sleep on and make a night of it? My time is up, the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the hands of sinners. Get up! Let’s get going! My betrayer is here.”

This is the third in a series on the Lord’s Prayer, the Prayer that Jesus taught us to pray together, and this week I’m paying attention to the line “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Temptation makes me think of the apple, the apple that Adam and Eve ate after being tempted by the serpent. That apple of temptation that made its way into the fairy tale of Snow White. The apple in those stories is a symbol of temptation, and it is a symbol of doubt, distrust, disbelief.

Apples aren’t that tempting to me because I have chocolate and sugar both of which taste way better than an apple; however, in places where chocolate was unheard of and sugar was rare, what was the sweetest thing a sweet tooth would have been tempted by? Honey, berries, and fruit like apples.

In the stories of Adam and Eve and the legend of Snow White the apple is a symbol of temptation, and that all of the characters in the stories are mythic archetypes on one side or the other of temptation. There is the sweet purity of innocence in Adam, Eve and Snow White; they have not been tainted by the doubt, distrust, and disbelief one gains in facing the world’s temptations. Then there is the archetype of the one out to sow doubt, disbelief, and distrust. The serpent in the Garden of Eden and the Wicked Queen who offered Snow White the poisoned apple have been jaded by the world’s temptations, and they seek to sow doubt, distrust, and disbelief.

Temptation living into the doubt, distrust, and disbelief that questions the presence of God and God’s will, which means losing the innocence of trust in God.

When Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer, he used the word we know as temptation, and he used the same word when he spoke to the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, right before he was captured by the Roman army and put on trial for treason. We heard that story today. After their Passover holiday meal, Jesus asked the three leaders of the disciples, Peter and James and John, to accompany him into the garden to pray, but the three leaders fell asleep. When Jesus found them asleep, he woke them up, and told them to stay alert so they didn’t wander into temptation without knowing it. Jesus, who seemed clear about the outcome, needed to pray, and be assured by God that his was the right path, and in that vulnerable moment as he immersed himself in the heart of God, he needed his compatriots to hold him in prayer and be alert to their surroundings. And he needed them to pay attention to what was going on and follow their promises to follow God over the next few days. Their temptation was more similar to ours today than to eating an apple in a Garden; the disciples’ sin of apathy and a not staying aware is the sin of today.

The sin we face is to be lulled into false sense of security that the doubt, distrust, disbelief are the reality, when they are simply the thoughts in your brain and your fight or flight response taking hold. The sin was neither eating the apple nor falling sleep; the sin was hiding from and denying relationship with God and God’s human voice. And for this we cry, Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us!!

When Jesus told us to pray to God, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, he is telling us that the human temptation is to doubt God’s providence of peace, and to fight or to run away, to protect ourselves. Perhaps we might pray, “We are anxious, God; give us strength to stay with the anxiety, to neither fight, nor flee, but to step into the anxiety and live as we promised we would doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with you. Lead us not into the evil of violence or apathy, but into nonviolent presence.

We live in anxious times. Destruction of our democracy and Nuclear threat from North Korea have been overrun in our news this week by the white supremacists who are rallying with the sole purpose of inciting violence toward the people they know are against them. For some of the groups, violence is part of a hazing ritual that leads to full membership in what they are calling a fraternity. They have organized themselves through the internet. Many of them are armed with assault guns, shields, and other weapons of war. We are learning new words to go with them, “Paleo-conservative,” and “Identitarians.” They call themselves the Proud Boys, and the Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights, and people are no longer calling them Neo-Nazis, but just Nazis. We are also hearing about opposing groups called, SURJ or Standing up for Racial Justice, and Anti-Fa, or Anti-fascists, who intend to stand up against the violent Nazis, with violence if necessary. All of this is expected to hit the streets of Berkeley next week, and it is expected to be violent.

At an interfaith meeting on how to respond as people of faith, we heard from someone just back from Charlottesville, Virginia, and we heard from another person who gave us the history of those white supremacist groups. I think many of us in the room were feeling an assault on not just on our government or democracy, but on the morality of our country, and we are coming face-to-face with the principals, values, and actions we deem appropriate in both the physical world we live, work and pray in, and the virtual world on the internet. Many of us are feeling compelled to respond in some way.

 As an interfaith body at the meeting on response, we decided to do two things, to offer a space of respite and sanctuary, and to peacefully march and stand as witness to the rally at City Hall.

My anxiety is high. I have been anxious for some time as I have watched the #BlackLivesMatter movement take hold against police brutality, and as I watched white supremacists gain voice and confidence. I have started taking anti-depressants to help my feeling of helplessness. I have until now had no idea to how to respond, and I have felt frozen in my anxiety, and it is fed by the temptation to protect myself. Now, even though my anxiety is rising, I can no longer stand on the sidelines, frozen, stuck, helpless, tempted to ignore and deny what is happening. Neither can I run and hide from this, and I am not good at fighting. And yet my temptation this week has been to avoid the conflict, and go about my comfortable life as if nothing is happening 3 miles away in downtown Berkeley.

This is our modern temptation, to ignore homelessness because the problem is too big, to ignore racism because we have nothing more to offer than our love, to avoid the oncoming revolution because there will be violence.   

In spite of my desire to crawl back into bed and pull the sheets over my head until all of this blows over, I am stepping into the anxiety. I have volunteered to be at the respite and sanctuary site, offering medical and spiritual first aid to anyone who needs it. I pray that I am not led into the temptation of doubt, distrust and disbelief that this is the right thing to do, and that I can step into the center of God’s heart and know what it means to trust God.

Although we expect this to take place in the afternoon next Sunday, I may not be in worship next week. I encourage you to meet, to pray, and to name the anxiety in our region, our nation and our world. This week I will be praying, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us with evil,” over and over again, and I hope you pray, too. Pray to not be tempted by doubt, distrust and disbelief, nor tempted by the evil to fight back or the evil to ignore the problem. Pray that God’s will be done on earth as it is heaven, in response to this evil.

In these weeks to come, may Peace be with you. may Peace be with us all. God bless us everyone., and may we realize God’s kingdom of justice here on our earth.

Amen.

Faith is a Verb…Musings By Pastor Tony, Aug 18, 2017

Dear Friends:

Last weekend we watched as one of our nation’s historic university towns, Charlottesville, VA, was brought into conflict.  A weekend rally sponsored by the Alt-Right was protested by progressives of all kinds; the Alt-Right/white supremacist groups, primarily made up of disaffected young white men, came with the intent to do violence, and some on the left vowed to respond in kind with violence. I lift in prayer the name of Heather Heyer, the woman who was killed when a car was deliberately driven into the crowd by a member of one of the white supremacist groups. These kinds of violent rallies are predicted to become more frequent; this weekend one is planned for Boston, and next weekend, San Francisco and Berkeley                  

The Alt-Right claims that they are victims because young straight white men are being replaced by people of color, Jews, LGBT folk and women. They have a misguided ownership of the history of slavery and the Civil War, and they would seemingly want us as a nation to revert back to a time of brutish injustice and oppression that our country has deemed appropriate to keep in the past and inappropriate for a modern society. They reject the notions of plurality and diversity, and they rely on science that has been long disproven to claim their own racial and gender superiority.  And they are willing to defend these opinions with violence, even murder, as they declare they have the rights to bear arms, to assemble, to free speech, and to their own brand of religion.

These are the same tactics and arguments that were used by white supremacists of the past, yet we are no longer in that past. Although some of us may struggle with all of the aspects of a plural society, in general our culture has more-or-less embraced the idea that diversity leads to a richer society.  We are re-writing our histories to recognize people of color who made significant improvements to our culture, and Southern cities are moving the statues of Civil War anti-heroes into museums where they belong. This is an amazing thing, a sign that our relatively young nation is moving into a new, beautifully just phase. Of course, not everyone agrees, and the Alt-Right, emboldened by the internet and an impotent government, is pushing their scapegoating, denigrating, and abhorrent views into our public space.

In the 1950s and 60s, during the Civil Rights Era, when these same issues were being fought in our public spaces, few of the mainline Protestant Christian churches responded. Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, JR, wrote a scathing assessment of the mainline churches from the Birmingham Jail, on the eve of Easter, 1963. “…Over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klan, but the white moderate who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice….”[1] King went on to decry the lack of passion and presence in the Civil Rights fights.

Similarly, in the Book of Revelation, John of Patmos excoriated several churches for their apathy and lack of focus on the Christian faith, and he wrote, “So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Rev. 3: 16, NIV). Today, many clergy, including myself, feel the sting of those words; churches of the past stood idly by observing injustice and walking away, and, while we have moved a great deal from then, many of us feel that one of the Church’s major failings of the last 50 years is that we have not risked stepping out of our comfort zone to face down injustice when called to do so.

So, what to do when white supremacists want to pull us back to an untenable era of culturally sanctioned oppression, and our Commander in Chief, whom we expect to be somewhat of our moral leader, does not exactly denounce them? This is the question the faith community in the greater Bay Area faces next weekend when these forces make their way to our region. As a colleague pointed out, the power that the white supremacists have is over our physical bodies and the media exposure they get; they are not in control of our government at the local, state or federal levels, and this is different than in the Civil Rights Era when the laws were explicitly oppressive and unjust and the government officials mostly agreed with the laws. The white supremacists are thugs (not government agents), and as someone in our congregation with asked, “How are they different than gangs?” There are certainly many similarities between the Alt-Right, gangs, and even ISIS and Al Qaeda, all of which radicalize disaffected young men (and increasingly women), who are looking to express their anger in society. They are terrorists who, through violence, create chaos and fear and provoke people to respond with violence.  

Whether we like it or not, they have pulled us into the fight, if by nothing else, by their theological statements that God is on their side; I cannot stand idly by and allow white supremacists to claim God is on their side. While we can expect violence--they’ve already told us that, non-violence is the response most of us faithful wish to portray. In an interfaith meeting on Tuesday, a group including Unitarian-Universalist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and UCC clergy and laity decided to offer two public responses next weekend out of our faith: to provide a respite or sanctuary where medical and spiritual first aid can be provided, and to form a peaceful processional from First Congregational of Berkeley to the Berkeley City Hall where the alt-right is expected to gather. I have offered to be part of the medical and spiritual first aid. I do not expect any of you to take part; in fact, I pray you will stay out of harms’ way and sit in vigil for us, for we know there is power in prayer.

Friends, like you, I am anxious over all these wars and rumors of wars, and yet, we are people of faith, beloved children of God. No matter what we face, God is with us. Through communion we join with all Christians to celebrate oneness in our diversity. Through baptism we have been united to one God, and one Lord, Christ Jesus. In prayer and singing, we call on rich tradition and deep faith to hold us in the light of God. In all these things, God.

Be safe, do what you must for yourself, and pray ceaselessly.

Peace,

Pastor Tony

[1] “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” from  Why we Can’t Wait,  Martin Luther King , Jr, (NY: Signet Classic a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc., 2000), p. 73).

Pastor Tony's Sermon August 13, 2017

Luke 11: 1-13     8-13-17     ACCUCC     Rev. Tony Clark

Listen to this week's complete sermon by clicking here.

He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name.
   Your kingdom come. 
   Give us each day our daily bread. 
   And forgive us our sins,
     for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
   And do not bring us to the time of trial.’ 

And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. 

‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’

This month we are looking at the Lord’s Prayer. Last week we looked at the version in Matthew, and this week we look at the version from Luke, which is shorter, and is followed by a few stories about asking. This was going to be a week when I preached about asking, not for what you want, but for what God is ready to give you. This was going to be a sermon that ended this way:

“If you ask for what God is ready to give, then you will get it and more. If you knock on the right door it will be opened to you. Our Father who art in Heaven—that prayer is an opportunity to place yourself in the neighborhood where God lives, on the block, facing God’s door.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done aligns you with Divine presence and the will of God. Give us this day our daily bread moves from a prayerful space of being aligned with God, to asking for what God is ready to provide.  Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us is a knock on the door to God’s house, to which God cannot refuse to let us in, to a blessed feast of abundance, with more pancakes than we could ever eat and not get fat or have our blood sugar go out of whack. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

That was the ending to the sermon before Charlottesville, and before nuclear brinksmanship played by two of the world’s most swaggeringly blow-hard leaders. I still believe that sermon, yet now the Holy Spirit has charged me to say something different, about the Kingdom of God, and why we pray for it to come each and every week.

And for that I may need your prayers.

The Lord’s Prayer starts with these words, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The first word is “OUR,” and it is similar to the first word in the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America, “WE,” as in “We the people…”.  I wonder if some have forgotten that God is Our God, and that We are one people.

I wonder also if people have been hearing and praying the Lord’s prayer wrong all these years. I wonder if people haven’t been saying, “Thy,” but rather, “My,” and that their prayer is “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be MY name. MY kingdom come, MY will be done.” I wonder if they’ve even gone farther and begun thinking not in terms of Our Father, Our God, but of MY Father, MY God, MY Daily bread. “My Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by MY name. MY kingdom come, MY will be done on earth as it is heaven. Give ME my daily bread, and forgive ME my trespasses.”

“Our Father,” and “We the People,” do not mean US against THEM. It means us together, all of us, not working for ourselves, but for the well being of all of us. And when any one of us is failing or struggling or oppressed, then it is all of us who need to face God and ask for forgiveness.

What I see happening across our globe this week—the threat of nuclear war between our President and the leader of North Korea, and the white supremacists marching and protesting in Chancellorsville, Virginia—are symptoms of translating the Lord’s Prayer into a personal conversation with God. It is not a prayer for any one of us. It is a prayer for all of us.

For a very long time, much of the last century at least, we have been more focused on individual rights and desires than our corporate good. We talk about Jesus as a Personal Lord and Savior. We talk about my rights, and my needs. We talk about God answering my prayers, as if one person’s prayers are more important than all of our prayers together. 

It’s not much surprise that we find ourselves in a hyped-up, testosterone-laden match over which bully on the national and international stage has the biggest weapon. It sounds like boys in a size match, wondering who can spell their name in the snow. Well, friends, in nuclear winter, we can all have that opportunity.

It is not surprising that we have an ultra-right wing group of bullies pushing back against the long-time oppressed who are naming their place in the Kingdom of God. Right-wing--or should I say White-wing—white nationalists and white supremacists are reacting to a bizarre personalized sense of the Civil War when they say their history is being erased asstatues of Confederate heroes are being from public spaces. White nationalists and white supremacists, who feel that saying #BlackLivesMatter diminishes white lives, only focus on ME, not WE. Their needs become more important than a group of people who have been systematically oppressed for 400 years because of the quantity of melanin in their skin.

Those white supremacists may pray with the rest of us, “Thy Kingdom come,” but the Kingdom they desire on earth is not the Kingdom of God; it is a kingdom of their own making. It is an exclusive, members-only type of club, and they get to define who is in and who is out. Straight white “Christians” are in, all others are out.  Last time I checked, this is not God’s Kingdom, and I do not want to have their kingdom come. God’s Kingdom is based on love, where the oppressed find justice, where we approach Our Father together, and where wars are not fought over the size of one’s manhood—oops, did I say manhood? I mean the size of one’s nuclear arsenal.

I want God’s Kingdom to come, not theirs.

Do they even know what they are asking for when they say, “Thy Kingdom come”?   

Folks, the riots are not over, the protests are just beginning. There will be more protests, more riots, and more violence. The protests we saw in Charlottesville are expected to make a show in Berkeley at the end of the month. This shouldn’t surprise any of since all protests lead to Berkeley. This doesn’t surprise me, because California, for all of its progressive politics and causes, is also the state, in my opinion, with the most pronounced individualism in our country.

This is not a time to stay silent because of our individualism, allowing other opinions their say because everyone is entitled to his or her personal opinion. No, this is a time to join our voices together, to remind each other that God is OUR God, and WE are God’s people. It is Our Father, not My Father, who art in heaven. It is God’s kingdom to come, and God’s will to be done, not any one person’s. We pray give US this day OUR daily bread, and forgive us OUR trespasses as WE forgive those who trespass against us. We stand before God together, being judged whether we as an entire species cared enough for even the oppressed among us to bring them along to the Kingdom.  

Our trespasses, our debts, our sins are shared among us all. Environmental destruction with rising sea level, species extinction, and diseases as diverse as asthma, cancer, obesity, are sins of us as a species. Racism, slavery, and the lasting effects of inequality and poverty may be particular in the United States, but they are sins of all of us, especially when we define sins as being a separation from the will of God. While some of us are trespassers and some us are trespassed upon, all of us suffer and are separated one from another and ultimately from God. Until we can figure out that all of us must stand in judgement together, the trespassers side by side with those who are trespassed against, we will never welcome the Kingdom of God into our world.

So, today, even more than ever we need to pray Our Father, Thy Kingdom Come, Give all of us our daily bread and Forgive all of Us, so that all of us may be brought into your heavenly feast. 

I have had a quote that is attributed to President Abraham Lincoln on my mind this week. When asked if the Civil War would be won because God was on our side, Lincoln was reported as saying, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for God is always right.”[1] Whether or not he actually said those--I can’t find any proof that he actually said that, though he did have other theological sayings that are similar—that is a question to wrestle with. Is God on your side, or are you on God’s side?

Well, my answer is that God is on all of our sides, rooting for each of us to live holy lives of love, fully in communion with God, and all of humanity.  It is a harder thing to be on God’s side, to know God’s will, and to welcome “Thy Kingdom come,” without fear, knowing that God’s kingdom will rock our socks, because God’s Kingdom is totally not what we expect. It is richer, and fuller of justice and love than any one of us could imagine, in part because it is not for any one of us, but for all of us together. What does it mean that we are on God’s side?

It means we can pray this: Our God, Thy kingdom come. Give all of us our daily bread, not just the few of us privileged to be able to buy what we want. Forgive all of us our trespasses, including where we are oppressing or excluding any one of us. Deliver all of us from evil, from the evil of racism, from the evil of poverty, from the evil of environmental destruction, and the evil of aggressive warmongering narcissistic leaders with nuclear weapons. For your kingdom cannot come without all of us, your power is for all of us-- not just a privileged few, and your glory is only fully seen when each of us shares together with all of us what we know of you.

In these days, when fear is high, when we fear losing what is most costly to each of us personally, and we are divided us against them, may we remember that God is Our God, and We are God’s people. Amen.   

[1]  https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abrahamlin388944.html, retrieved 8-12-17

Eco Justice- What’s In Your Junk Drawer? by Ruth Robinson

By Ruth Robinson

I have a junk drawer.  OK, maybe there are two.  But it is mostly good junk, or at least it was at one time.  The one in the kitchen near the phone (yes, we still have a land line), well, that has important stuff, too.  Like the black address book, rubber bands, paper clips, pens, pens, pens, a pencil or three, pens.

And sometimes, OK, maybe a lot of the times, a pen just doesn’t want to do its duty.  So, I put it back, intending to clean out the drawer “later”.

Enter Mr. Costas Schuler of Forestville, CA.  He is known as The Pen Guy.  He wants the dead pens.  He has a couple of noble missions:  keep old pens out of the landfill and make art.

His most well known “art” piece is his Mercedes that is literally covered in old pens, artistically arranged.  He uses pens in wall art, too.  And it is very pricey. 

He would like my old pens, as well as yours.  My plan is to put a can out each Sunday in which you can deposit your old pens.  When we fill it up, I’ll mail it to him.  Address on his website.

Liberate those pens!  Clear out your junk drawer(s), and save the landfills. Bring useless pens to church…and we’ll keep the can out for you.

Eco Justice- Too Busy? Start Here... by Ruth Robinson

The other day I discovered a blog by Joshua Becker called "Becoming Minimalist".  He suggested, "Simplicity brings balance, freedom and joy".  How does that relate to efforts to heal our Earth?

I think part of our dependency upon the fast, the efficient and the expedient gets wrapped up in products that actually have the exact opposite effect upon the environment.  Think about foods that contain suspicious ingredients, like high fructose corn syrup.  Think about all that packaging in the kids' Lunchables from the market.  In efforts to simplify our busy lives, we add layers of unintended problems.

Becker has a list of the top 10 ways to simplify lives (which are probably too many!).  Number 4 is - Eliminate Artificial Ingredients in our food.  Shop local, eat food locally grown.

In October, we are going to ask folks to participate in an Eco Challenge.  For two weeks, try and either start a good habit (for example, simplify eating) or stop a not so good habit (don't throw away plastic bags, reuse).  The part you'll be asked to do is totally personal...but start thinking about what you might want to focus on.  No scores will be kept, no true confessions about some habit to be broken will be required.

Becker also has written a blog called "A Guide to Becoming Unbusy", just in case....

For more:  www.becomingminimalist.com has food for thought.

Keep up with becoming a Person of the planet by visiting the link below!

www.arlingtoncommunitychurchucc.org/person-of-the-planet

Pastor Tony's Sermon August 6, 2017

Matthew 6: 5-15, NRSV     8-6-17     ACCUCC     Rev. Tony Clark

Listen to this week's sermon by clicking here.

‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

‘When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

‘Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
   hallowed be your name. 
   Your kingdom come.
   Your will be done,
     on earth as it is in heaven. 
   Give us this day our daily bread. 
   And forgive us our debts,
     as we also have forgiven our debtors. 
   And do not bring us to the time of trial,
     but rescue us from the evil one. 
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Living Loving, Laughing, Parent to us all, teach us to pray. Bring your reign of justice to this place. Give us what we need for today, and Forgive us as deeply as we have hurt you. Grant that we may follow your path; may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and redeemer. Amen.

This month we are going to look at what is probably our most common prayer, the Lord’s Prayer. We say this every week, mostly from memory, and sometimes when you do things by rote, they can lose their meaning. So we are trying this month to unpack some of the meaning of this common prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer is found in the Bible in two places, in Matthew, that we just heard, and in Luke, which we will read next week. They have some differences, and they are found in different contexts. The one from Matthew is most like what we pray every week; the one in Luke is shorter and simpler. In Matthew, this prayer comes in a discourse on praying. In Luke, the Disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, and he gives them this prayer.

The Disciples were religious folk, steeped in Judaism, and knowledgeable about God. They knew how to pray; Judaism had and still has a deep prayer life. But still, these devout prayers ask Jesus how to pray; perhaps like many of us, they had no idea what exactly to say in a prayer. In a time and place of sever upheaval and overwhelming injustice, when prayers seem hollow and God’s silence is deafening, they might have been asking, “How do you get God’s attention? How do you ask God for things you need? What is the best way to address God?”

Jesus answers with a simple prayer: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed is your name….” This was a conversation with someone he was close to, someone he revered, someone whose address he could name. Then Jesus named God’s presence, here and everywhere: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Then Jesus asked for specific things, “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.” Give us enough food for this day that we are not hungry, enough forgiveness to turn our hearts toward forgiving others, and enough love that we are not tempted to do evil.

This prayer was moved into our worship pretty early on, with an added line, “For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever. Amen.”

Jesus used a typical formula for this prayer, an address to God, an acknowledgement or invoking God’s presence here, offering of thanks, and then a request from God with the expected results of God’s action stated before closing. Jesus addressed God as Papa, and then he then simply named God’s place: in Heaven, and said that even though God is as intimate as a family member, God’s name is to be said with reverence. Then he invoked God’s presence by asking that his rule of justice be not just in heaven but also here on earth. Then Jesus asked for what we need—food, forgiveness, and love, and before closing, Jesus said what the expected results would be—that we would not be tempted nor turned toward evil. Simple.

Jesus taught us to pray with humbleness, in private, without a lot of extra words. Jesus said that God knows what is on our heart even before we pray. In the act of saying it, we (not God) begin to understand what we really desire. The political realm based on true Justice. Food for this day, no more, no less. Forgiveness as wide as all bad things we do, and as deep as all the bad things everyone does to us. Focus to keep us away from temptation and on the path toward God.

Jesus addressed God as if God is a close family member, “Abba” or “Papa,” which must have sounded a bit too informal to some. In Judaism there is a long tradition of not saying or fully spelling God’s name because it is too powerful. Yet Jesus insisted that God wants a personal relationship, and, therefore, we can call God something personal: Friend, Father, Mother, maybe even Lover.  We don’t need the high fancy words to get God’s attention.

 The way we pray says a lot more about us than it does about God.  How we say each of those things shows who we believe God is to us. Is God close and personal like a friend or family member whom we can tell our deepest secrets, or a distant ruling entity we approach with reverence and fear? Do we experience or imagine God’s presence like being in splendid overwhelmingly bright beauty or like common everyday life with all its shadows and hiding spaces? Do we humbly approach God for our needs or do we expect or demand that God to do our bidding?

My own public prayers often start with “Holy One,” or “Most Divine Presence.” These are fine ways to address God, yet I have begun to realize that calling God “Holy One” or “Most Divine Presence” places God in a distant, relatively unapproachable throne room far away, a judge before whom I must proclaim my guilt or innocence. Struggling to find that personal God with whom I have had a close connection, I began to open my prayers with, “Living, Laughing, Loving Friend,” a much less serious God, who is friendly and joyful; in renaming the way I address God, I have felt more connected with God. My pleas for God to be with me or to reveal God’s presence to me have turned into statements of, “I know you are here, enliven me.” This says more about my need then about God’s accessibility or approachability.

Likewise, what we ask for is important; and next week we’ll talk about that. However, I want to recognize that there are times when we cannot pray ourselves, because asking seems too arrogant, or maybe it seems feel like God is not listening, or maybe what we deeply desire feels too out of reach. A chronically ill person might have difficulty asking for health, or a lonely and isolated person may have difficulty asking for friends to step in, and the unjustly imprisoned may have trouble seeking justice.

Later in Matthew, in the passage about “When did we see you naked and give you clothing,” Jesus taught us to feed the hungry, visit the sick and imprisoned, clothe the naked, as if we were doing it in his name. He called us to pray with and for others, by listening to their cries and restating them to God. Many times, as I pray for and with someone else, when I can verbalize what they cannot--their deepest desires-- I feel the spirit rising in them and the tears of release begin to flow, as they recognize that someone has heard them and made a plea to God on their behalf.

There is no specific injunction that this is only done by trained professionals; it is the call of each of us to be able to pray for others. As we visit our shut-ins, or those who are sick, or even our friends from church, it is appropriate for each of us to pray with them. We’ve had some training in visitation for the Worship and Pastoral Board—the Deacons, and I hope to expand this to the broader congregation.  I believe we all can take on this task of praying as we visit each other.

I have created a booklet to take with you as you visit others, and I encourage you take one. In it there is a basic formula for prayer: An Address to God, with an honorific title, an invoking of God’s presence, offering of thanks, request and outcome of the request, and a closing. I encourage you to practice writing simple prayers that address God, name God’s presence, give thanks for blessings, and name a request and an expected outcome of God’s action. What is meaningful for the people you visit? Practice on each other—spend a few minutes listening about a specific need, and formulate a prayer for that one, maybe at home after the conversation. Perhaps then send that prayer in an email or a postcard. Another way to practice is to write a prayer for an upcoming event; you do not need to speak it at the event, but you may find that going in with an intention named ahead of time gives the event a different feeling for you.

Compare your prayer to the Lord’s Prayer. Who is God to you, and how do you approach God? What are you asking for, and why? What will happen if God grants it?

And then don’t forget to close with, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name….”

Amen. 

Faith is a Verb.. Musings by Pastor Tony August 4, 2017

Faith is a Verb…     Musings by Pastor Tony     Aug 4, 2017

Several weeks ago, I spent a day in North Richmond. I toured the Shields-Reid Community Rec Center, the new community garden being designed by Urban Tilth (check it out here), and ended at the Neighborhood House of North Richmond. I witnessed that the unincorporated village has much need, is surrounded by industry, and, because of its proximity to the west county trash facility, is prone to illegal dumping of all kind of materials.   I found out about the this past Tuesday I attended the North Richmond Municipal Advisory Council meeting andconnected with several leaders in North Richmond.

There are many places where we Arlingtonians could get involved in North Richmond and in the Iron Triangle in Richmond.  A Greenway is being created to connect the Ohlone Greenway in El Cerrito with the Bay Trail that runs along the Bay. Every 2nd Saturday of the month there is a Greenway Volunteer day at 6th St, between Ohio and Chanslor, from 10 am – 1 pm, and it is open to all ages (younger ones need adult supervision); the next Greenway Volunteer Days are Aug 12, Sept 9, and Oct 14.  Click here for more info on the Greenway Project and here to learn about the Watershed Project that is working to clean up the streams that flow through North Richmond to the Bay and create a North Richmond waterfront park. Also, Richmond is participating in the California Coastal Cleanup Day, Sat Sept 16, 9 am- 12 noon, at Shimada Park off the Marina Bay Parkway (bring your own bags, hat, water, sturdy shoes); click here for info on the International Coastal Cleanup Day .

Ceasefire is a group sponsored by the Richmond Police that is walking the streets on Friday evenings to stop gun violence, and Ceasefire is also responding to shootings by providing support and food for grieving families. A new program supported by Ceasefire is Change4FiveHundred, which was initiated by a formerly incarcerated young man who is motivated to change the community he ravaged. On August 19, Change4Fivehundred will host a Bar-B-Que and Backpack and school supplies give away to school aged children at the Shield-Reed Community Center.

One last thing to watch for: there is once again a proposal to annex North Richmond into Richmond. In the past, resistance was put up by the industries and the owners of property in North Richmond. The County Supervisor’s office believes that annexing North Richmond would create a contiguous area of service, which will help stabilize the area by having Richmond city services like Police and Fire respond rather than the Sheriff that is located in Martinez. This will be discussed in upcoming Municipal Advisory Council Meetings (held every 1st Tues). 

I will be getting connected with our neighbors in North Richmond; I hope that ACC can help support and transform North Richmond and the Iron Triangle. I will keep you updated with ongoing needs; may we respond from the deepest places of our faith.

Peace, Pastor Tony