Author: lakewooducc

Weekly Update 12/11

This Sunday: Advent is a season for preparation and celebration.  The Song of Mary, the Magnificat, helps us to see what we are preparing for and what we have to celebrate.  See Luke 1:46-56.

Lakewood UCC Choir: Throughout the five Sundays of Decembers, choir rehearsals will begin at 9:40am instead of the usual 9:00am.

Advent/Christmas Season: “Come Home for the Holidays” season of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Please pick up a collection can to use for the Christmas Eve offering which will provide rent, utility, and other assistance to people in the congregation and the community.  This assistance helps people to have a home and to feel connected to others as family.  After all, we are one human family and everyone deserves a home. 

Joy of Singing: Each Sunday of Advent, the congregation is invited to join in singing favorite Christmas songs at 10:15 before morning worship. May the music of Christmas inspire joy this holy season.

Christmas Caroling: Join with others to bring the joy of the season to folks from the LUCC family who are not able to come to church. Everyone is welcome regardless of singing ability! If you aren’t feeling merry, being part of this ministry will bring joy to your heart! Please gather at the church Sunday afternoon Dec. 15 at 3:00p.m. Jim Andrews and Janet Blair will have the arrangements made and carolers will visit the homebound members of the church family.

Daily Devotions: Look for a new devotion each day in your email or at the church website to help inspire your reflection about what it means to “Come home for the holidays.” What does home mean? Where do we find it? How do we create a sense of home with others?

Sundays in Advent: Each Sunday, singing songs of the season at 10:15 and lighting the Advent wreath during worship.

Dec. 15      Christmas Caroling in the afternoon. At 3:00 followed by dinner at the Wells’ home. Dec. 22      A special intergenerational, interactive service that will end with lining the cradle in preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Christmas Eve: 6:30      Music of the Season 7:00     Service with candlelight and communion. All ages welcome! Transportation provided. please contact the church office.

Straw Labyrinth: Come home for the holidays. There will be a straw labyrinth installed on the church grounds. This is an opportunity to reflect on what “home for the holidays” means to you through walking meditation. The walking will provide an image for making our way home to God in this holy season. The labyrinth will be open and available for use all the time. Come at your convenience. There will be printed sheets provided to guide your reflection.

During the Advent season there will be two opportunities to be part of a group-guided walk on the labyrinth. These will be held Wednesday Dec. 11th and Wednesday Dec. 18th at 3:00p.m. There will be a time for gathering, reading of scripture, reflection, and walking. All are welcome!

Maximo Elementary: Maximo Elementary’s Social worker  has  identified “sweat shirts, jackets, and leggings“ as a need  at Maximo as cooler weather arrives. This school has 80 homeless children. We can help keep them warm and healthy. Sweat shirts and jackets can be any color.  Leggings need to be navy or black.  The Education Ministry Team will begin collecting these items  or donations soon. Stay tuned!

The following expression of gratitude came today  from Ms. Jones after all the toys/gifts were delivered to the school:

Please let me start off again by saying that I am so elated and grateful for all of the toys that your church donated to the “MAX”. The scholar’s are going to be just as elated as I am once they have a chance to see all of the toys as well. Please let everyone know how much we appreciate their generosity.   

 Chelsea Jones  Family and Community Liaison Maximo Elementary

Letter Writing: A letter writing station has been set up at church. Look for opportunities to share your faith perspective on immigration, the environment, and gun safety with elected officials.

Operation Attack: Operation Attack is very much in need of clothes for men, boys, and girls as well as diapers and peanut butter and canned fruit. Donations may be placed in the shopping cart in the entryway to the sanctuary.

Operation Attack is an ecumenical effort serving families with children located at Lakeview Presbyterian Church, 1310 22nd. Ave. S., St. Petersburg. LUCC was a founding member of Operation Attack in the 1960’s!

Hearing Augmentation: Devices are available from the usher in the sanctuary during worship.

December Birthdays: Patti Cooksey 12/8, Becky Palmer 12/16, Amaiya Washington 12/18, George Diven 12/27, Melanie Moore 12/27, Someone missing? Contact the church office with birthday information.

Circle of Concern: Tony Rogers, Sherry Santana, Jen DeGroot, Carolyn Moore, Ann Quinn, Maggie Brizendine, Earl Waters, and Ann Rogers.

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Weekly Update: If you are involved with an activity or event that you would like to share with the LUCC family, please send the information to the church office by Tuesday since the Update usually is sent out on Wednesday.

Advent Devotion 10

A reply

In Advent Devotion 9 I asked “Why is Christmas scary?”  After all, the figures in the story are being told “Fear not.”  So what might be scary about Christmas?

I got a reply from someone in the church family.  This is what Marg Radens had to say and she agreed to letting me share her response:  

WHY IS CHRISTMAS SCARY? 

Where do I start? Should I begin with the practical angles, such as work intensive preparation and expense that goes into the performing of holiday rituals: traditions requiring defined encounters with personal, physical and financial limitations? or with the extreme social biases implicit in the actual scenario of the fate of an underage, unwed, humble female pregnant by an unknown donor?       

The narrative of the Bible plays so heavily on the superior options of male vs female that it is hard to know how to address the irony of the question of fear.  My heart goes to Pete Seeger and the line in his poignant song:  “Had I a Golden Thread.”  He says, ‘I’d sing the bravery of women giving birth…’ 

Why do Kings visit the creche? No Queens. Why are angels and apostles so dominantly male and the advisors and supporters of Christ all male? except for the Mary of Magdala?  and what are we to think of the various portrayals of the roles Mary plays in Christ’s life?  Scary if you are Mary.

I like to think that Mary wasn’t scared because she knew things could and should be different.  And she was willing to be part of that transformation.  

Prayer

Think about how you can make the celebration of Christmas less scary for yourself, your family, and for society.  Consider how you can make the world less scary – for yourself and others especially women.  Pray for all those who are raising children.  Together may we make the world a wonderful place for children at Christmas and all year round.  Amen.   

Sermon 12/8 Listening Together

Scripture Lessons: Isaiah 11:1-10 and Luke 1:26-45
Sermon: Listening Together
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

Holiday spending among Americans was $1.1 trillion in 2018. [Tampa Bay Times
11/28/19] Does that number surprise you? Do you find it hard to believe? Do you
want more information about how that statistic was arrived at? When we receive
information that we are unsure about, we often look into verifying it, finding out
more, making sure we understand.

In the story we heard this morning from Luke, we are told of Mary being given
some information. The whole scenario is outrageous – an angel, a baby, a throne, a
kingdom, another baby. Doesn’t this angel know that Mary is a nobody peasant
from an insignificant village in a backwater province? We can understand that
Mary is perplexed and ponders. But what can she do to verify the information that
she is given? Mary is told that her elderly relative Elizabeth is pregnant.
Evidently, Mary did not know about this. Is it true? If that part of the message
from Gabriel is true, then maybe there is validity to the rest of his message. So,
after Gabriel’s departure, Mary makes her own hasty departure to visit Elizabeth
and see if there is anything to this vision she has received.

And what does Mary discover in the story? Yes, Elizabeth is pregnant. So there is
something to the message from the angel Gabriel. Not only that, Elizabeth feels
her baby stir in response to Mary’s arrival. So, as promised, Elizabeth’s child is
fulfilling the role assigned to him by God preparing the way for the one to come.
Another part of the message is validated. And Elizabeth is filled with the Holy
Spirit and declares that Mary will be the mother of the one God is sending.
Elizabeth offers a prophetic witness affirming that Mary has willingly offered
herself in service to God’s dream and so Mary becomes the first believer. Mary
looks for verification of the message she has received and she gets it.

God, seen as the supreme ruler of the universe, sends an angel, Gabriel, to Galilee,
a region in Israel, to a town called Nazareth, to a young woman, engaged to Joseph from the house of David, whose name is Mary. The will of the all powerful, all present, supreme one, filters down from the heavenly realm to a specific situation.
To a random every day person. And a woman, no less.

This is so unexpected that it has to be verified. Such important activities of God
would surely involve people of high status, with means, in the center of power. So
this strange thing, this intrusion of God, in an unlikely manner, must be validated.
And in this visit between Mary and Elizabeth, we see that both women have their
suspicions confirmed. Elizabeth’s baby begins his job of preparing the way right
then and there even before being born, and Mary is given the affirmation she needs
from Elizabeth who seems to know the whole story without having been told by
Mary. In this interaction the women come to see more clearly how God is at work.
It’s not that they were skeptical but no one expected God to use weak, vulnerable,
nobodies for such a grand scheme. In the interaction between Mary and Elizabeth,
God’s plans are verified and confirmed. Together they discern the validity of what
God is doing in their lives and in the world. They mutually reinforce the calling of
one another. With this validation, they can trust what is happening. They have
support from each other when perhaps others will question their actions and their
roles. When they are hesitant and need encouragement, they can count on each
other. They are given to each other, their destinies are intertwined, they are
mutually dependent upon one another as well as upon God, so that they can fulfill
their purpose in God’s dreams.

I want you to take a moment and look around at the people who are in this
sanctuary. Some you may know. Some you may know very well. Some you may
not know. It doesn’t matter really. Because in the church we believe that we have
been given to one another to be of mutual support, to be in discernment together, to
affirm and validate each other’s calling. We are here to help each other see God’s
way for our lives and to encourage one another on that journey of faithfulness.
Elder, younger, woman, man, child, new to the church, a person of lifelong faith,
wealthy, homeless, it really doesn’t matter. We have been brought together here to
be of mutual support and encouragement as we seek to discern our calling and live
trusting the presence of Divine Love within us and among us. In the church, we
are here to help and support each other. To be in the process of discernment together. We are here to confirm and reinforce the ways we experience God
working in our lives.

We need each other to help us see how we are being blessed. We need each other
to discern the nature of God’s call in our lives. Like the people of Bible times, we,
too, still want to define being favored by God in terms of wealth, good health, and
social standing. We want to see God at work in our lives manifest as prosperity
and comfort.

Here, the story of Mary and Elizabeth gives us a reality check. Mary is favored by
God. She is blessed. The story tells us that for her this means she will endure the
shame of having a child out of wedlock who will later be executed as a criminal.
It’s no wonder Mary and Elizabeth need each other for support and encouragement.
Experiencing God’s call in your life may not be a cakewalk.

So we, too, need each other to verify and validate God’s intentions for our lives
because what God has in mind may be a far cry from anything we were expecting.
It may be a drastic departure from what we have in mind for our lives. It may be a
radical break from our planned trajectory. So, we need each other to help us stay
open to God’s intrusions and to respond with faith and trust.

Sure, you may get zapped by some seemingly supernatural insight during a
worship service but it’s more likely that you may hear a word from God in a
conversation with someone as you are walking to your car. Or doing dishes after a
potluck. Or in the van on the way home from church. And in that interaction you
may be led to see more clearly who you are, what you are being called to, how you
are needed to serve, and which direction you are to go.

On Sunday a couple of years ago, the congregation was asked about why you
come to church. Why bother on Sunday morning? And I remember one of the
responses was, “One of the reasons I come to church is because someone may need
me. I may be needed.” That’s exactly it. We come here. With the awareness that
someone here may need us, may need to hear what we have to say, may need our perspective, may need our word of support, may need our direction, or help, or
encouragement. Someone may need us. And, the person we need, the message we
need, may be here. Waiting for us. To show us the way. To help us see. How we
are needed to help save the world.

The gospel of Luke tells us of a girl engaged to a carpenter in an insignificant town
in an unimportant province having a child that will be a savior of the world. And
her elderly relative is needed to help that story unfold. Here we are. Every day
people. Not kings, princesses, or Kardashians. Just ordinary folks, like Mary and
Elizabeth. Listening together. Reminding each other that nothing will be
impossible with God. Who knows what might just happen here. When we are
together. Amen.

A reasonable effort has been made to appropriately cite materials referenced in this sermon. For
additional information, please contact Lakewood United Church of Christ.

Advent Devotion 9

Why is Christmas scary?

Halloween is supposed to be the scary holiday.  But the Christmas stories in the New Testament mention fear repeatedly.  In the gospel of Luke, when the angel Gabriel approaches the priest Zechariah who will be the father of John the Baptizer, the angel kicks off with Fear not.  Then when the angel Gabriel visits Mary who will be the mother of Jesus, and again he leads off with Fear not.  When the angels visit the shepherds abiding in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night, the angels declare, Fear not.

In the gospel of Matthew, an angel tells Joseph, Fear not, it is ok to marry Mary even if she is with child.  

It seems like there is a “Fear not” at every turn.  The implication is that the people may react in fear.  Is it because they were living in perilous times?  Is it because visitation by the Divine is always fear/awe inducing?  Is it because the God of their understanding was associated with punishment as well as blessing?  Is it because they might be asked to do something risky and unpopular?  That’s often the case with God’s call.  Look at Jesus.  We aren’t told why the people might be afraid.

As we approach Christmas, this is a time to consider how we might be afraid.  What might we fear about the incarnation of Divine Love coming into the world to bring joy, peace, and hope?  What might be scary about that for us?  Maybe our fears are preventing us from experiencing the full bliss and blessing of Christmas.  Maybe like Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds, we need to be told, Fear not!

Prayer: In these quiet moments we give voice to our fears.  In this advent season, may we let Divine Love drive out our fears.  May we fulfill our part in the drama of redeeming love with no hesitations or reservations.  May we not let our fears hold us back.  Amen.

Advent Devotion 8

Do you believe?

There is a lot of talk this time of year about believing in Santa Claus.  We’re way past ‘Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.’  Parents are posting on FaceBook about how to deal with Santa.  What to tell their kids.  How long to prolong the pretend.  When to unveil the truth.   This is a major topic on social media and in actual social interactions.  Though I am well past having deal with the Santa topic in my family setting, I have heard from young parents about what an obsession the Santa issue is.  What should you tell your kids about Santa and how to draw the Santa fantasy to a close.  All this talk about how to get your kids to believe in Santa and then how to gently, without significant emotional scarring, get them to give up the belief.

Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus.  So what about believing in Jesus?  What about making sure kids know who he is and what he does?  What about the awe and wonder that we see in Jesus?  What about his guiding light?  Where’s the obsession with teaching kids about that? 

Prayer: In this season may we reflect on all that we are being given through Jesus.  May we look for his light in ourselves, in others, and in the doings of the world around us.  May the universal love we see in Jesus make us merry and bright.  Amen.