"Hope in God"

"These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng,and led them in procession to the house of God,with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,a multitude keeping festival."(Ps. 42:4)

Last week, John Thomas, UCC General Minister and President, shared his own Holy Week reflections on the challenges which he has had to address as the primary "voice" of the national setting of our church in the context of his own faith experience. Many of you may have seen John's meditation. For those that didn't, he wrote:

Sitting among the memorabilia on my bedroom dresser is a glass communion cup, the cup I used on Maundy Thursday about forty-five years ago on the night I was confirmed and received the sacrament for the first time. Through many moves and transitions I have managed to keep it intact; it still evokes memories of a darkened sanctuary, rich with the aroma of grape juice, the familiar faces of cherished family, pastors, and friends shadowed by the growing darkness of Tenebrae and the annual recital of the betrayals and desertions that followed the meal in the Upper Room. I "owned the covenant" that evening, as was the custom in my New England Congregational church, promising to join the walk with God and my fellow church members that God would reveal to us in the "blessed Word of truth."

He went on to talk about his week of sharing in the celebration of a new church start in West Virginia, to interviews with media about Jeremiah Wright, Trinity UCC, and Barak Obama, to thinking about the IRS matter, to reading emails regarding his statement on these matters (some in support, some calling for his resignation). He spoke of his concerns for his son who has recently been deployed in Afghanistan and his mother in a nursing home in Baltimore. He spoke of his desire to be able to refocus on the meaning of the events of Holy Week for his own spirit. In conclusion he shared,

So this Holy Week in particular I cherish my little glass communion cup and the rich meaning associated with it. It points to the centered spirit found in Christ's presence and shared in Christ's community, the centered spirit that we all need in these demanding and disturbing times.

As I read his remarks, I thought of my experiences in the New England Congregational church in which my faith was nurtured, Faith United in Springfield, Massachusetts. Maundy Thursday was and still is the most holy and special of liturgies for me: the gathering shadows surrounding the light that can be blown out but never finally extinguished and the great hymns. I also remember "how I went with the throng to the house of God" on those long ago Easter Sundays. Choirs and lillies bathed in sunshine. As I recall the first time I understood the sermon occurred on Easter when I was about 7 or 8.

I also felt the need to share some of this with John. It disturbed me that he was receiving emails calling for his resignation, so I wrote to him of my support. Not that my email would mean that much, I thought. We have attended some of the same meetings and have spoken upon occasion. And so, I was presently surprised to receive an email of thanks from him. Please pray for him.

Yesterday, I dare say that most of us went with the throng to celebrate the Resurrection in full churches. We sang hymns and heard stirring sermons. Indeed! Christ is Risen! Indeed!

Mark Lawson, my pastor at UCC Bayberry, in addition to his sermon also took about 5 minutes to speak of Trinity UCC and Jeremiah Wright. He wanted to give his parishioners some perspective on the relationship between pastor and people, but even more the important heritage and continuing role of the UCC in the United States as a denomination that upholds freedom and justice.

Mark spoke of the warm welcome he felt on the three occasions that he has worshipped at Trinity. He spoke of Trinity's vibrant and vital ministry to the community. And, yes, he spoke of his disagreement with what Jeremiah Wright said in the sermon clip that has appeared over and over again in the media, even as he supported and applauded Wright's dynamic and prophetic leadership over the decades of his pastorate. "Is Trinity UCC one of us?" He asked. "Yes," he emphatically declared. Is "Jeremiah Wright one of us?" "Yes," he declared just as emphatically.

This is an important point. We are one of another across the covenant of churches across the UCC. We continue to uphold and admonish, pray for, work with and support one another as we seek to walk together in all God's ways.

Joe Connolly, pastor and teacher at Norwich UCC, has been very helpful in sharing various web links regarding all of this.

He sent this link to an article on Anderson Cooper's blog regarding research by CNN contributor Roland Martin who actually decided to listen to the entire 40 minute sermon from which we have heard 40 second soundbytes. Here's the link: http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21/the-full-story-behind-wright%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9cgod-damn-america%e2%80%9d-sermon/#more-448

Yesterday, Joe sent word that Trinity UCC has produced it's own YouTube video and established a blog in the effort to share the nature of its ministry and mission. Here are the links to these resources: http://www.youtube.com/trinitychgo http://truthabouttrinity.blogspot.com/

Today Joe sent along the Holy Week newsletter of Wisconsin Conference Minister David Moyer that gives a totally different picture to the ministry of Trinity UCC. Here's the link to David Moyer's letter: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1989524/posts

We are aware that life brings with it both glad shouts of thanksgiving as well as worries and anxieties. The psalmist in Psalm 42 went on to confess, "Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise [the Holy One], my help and my God."

May this be so for you (and me), too!

Blessings,

Rick Cowles