Posts

Holy Week Observances

April 17   Maundy Thursday.  This will be a remembrance of the end of Jesus’ earthly life shared over dinner around the table in the sanctuary.  The observance including  a simple meal, communion and the service of Tennebrae will begin at 6:30 pm.

Good Friday  Beginning at noon there will be an oral reading of the Gospel of Mark from start to finish.  Those in attendance will be invited to share in the reading.  By revisiting the earliest gospel, we will remember the scope of Jesus’ life and witness.  Come for the whole reading or for a portion.  It will take about two hours.  All are welcome.

Easter Sunday. There will be one Festival Service at 10:30 am.  This will be in intergenerational service.  All ages welcome!

Easter Flowers
This year for Easter Sunday, the congregation is invited to bring a flowering plant to church to bring to the altar as part of the processional.  Please purchase a plant of your choice and bring it Easter Sunday!  This will be a glorious celebration of new life in Christ!

Sermon text: “Connections: Grounded” 3.30.24

LAKEWOOD UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
2601 54th Avenue South St. Petersburg, FL 33712
On land originally inhabited by the Tocabaga
727-867-7961
lakewooducc.org
lakewooducc@gmail.com

Date: March 30, 2025
Scripture Lesson: Luke 6:46-49
Sermon: Connections: Grounded
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

Why do you call out, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi,’ but don’t put into practice what I teach you?  Those who come to me and hear my words and put them into practice — I’ll show you who they’re like:  they are like the person who, in building a house, dug deeply and laid the foundation on a rock.  When a flood arose, the torrent rushed against the house, but failed to shake it because of its solid foundation.  On the other hand, anyone who has heard my words, but has not put them in to practice, is like the person who built a house on sand, without any foundation. When the torrent rushed upon it, the house immediately collapsed and was completely destroyed.” 

There is a series of novels by Alexander McCall Smith, of Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency fame, that takes place in Edinburgh, Scotland.  It is the 44 Scotland Street series.  In the book The Importance of Being Seven, one of the characters is in the process of buying a new flat; Scot’s speak for apartment.  Matthew has married Elspeth and they are expecting triplets and they decide to buy a bigger apartment on the ground floor instead of their current third floor walk up.  After having his offer accepted on a large apartment in the chic complex, Moray Place, Matthew must have the dwelling assessed by a surveyor.  The person who turns up to do the job is someone Matthew knows and does not like.  Here’s how the inspection goes.  

Matthew and Bruce meet outside the building.  They greet each other.  And then:

“Let’s go in,” said Bruce.  “Let’s go in and see what’s wrong.”  . . . “Let’s ` take a look at this place.”. . .  “Let’s go through here. . . . Hold on, hold on.”

Matthew watched as Bruce looked up at the ceiling.

“Odd space,” said Bruce.  “Usually you find . . .”  

“I think they did some alterations,” said Matthew.  “The lawyer said something about not having had permission.  I thought that it wouldn’t matter too much as we weren’t planning to sell it again in the short term.”

Bruce frowned.  “Hold on. . . Look, you see up there?  There?  Yes.  That’s where a wall used to join the roof.  That’s what they took away.  And it went all the way to where that Chinese thingy is — that cabinet.”

Bruce pointed to the far side of the room where a large Chinese display cabinet reached all the way up from floor to ceiling.

“Yes,” said Matthew.  

Bruce turned to look at him.  He lowered his voice.  “That wall, Matthew, was a supporting wall.  You see — look up there.  You see that bulge in the ceiling?  That’s your proof.”

“A supporting wall?”

“Yes,” said Bruce.  “And you know what a supporting wall does?  It supports.  And you know what happens when you take away a supporting wall?  You have no support.”

“But if that were the case,” said Matthew, “then wouldn’t the ceiling have come down?”  Bruce nodded.  “It should have.  But you see that cabinet over there?  That, I think is holding up the ceiling.  Move that and the whole thing comes down.”  

Matthew stared at Bruce in horror.

“And here’s something else,” said Bruce.  “If the ceiling comes down, then that could bring down the ceiling above it, and so on — all the way to the top flat and the roof.  And if that happened, then the flats next door could lose vital support and come down as well.  So the whole of Moray Place could fall over like a house of cards.”  

“Oh,” said Matthew.

“So the fact of the matter,” Bruce said, relishing his newly found Jeremiah role, “the fact of the matter is that all of Moray Place is probably being supported by one Chinese cabinet.  Quite a thought, that!”

“So what do we do?”  asked Matthew.

Bruce smiled.  ”Don’t move the Chinese cabinet.”  

[Alexander McCall Smith, The Importance of Being Seven, large print, pp. 363, 365-367.]

Ah, an unstable situation caused by the bad judgment of people choosing expedience and expense over wisdom.   We know about that.  And they did in Jesus’ day as well.

Jesus saw this again and again.  The teaching we heard this morning comes at the end of the Sermon on the Plain in Luke.  Jesus has offered his most important teachings.  Laid them out.  Given a direct account of the Word and ways of God.  Shared with people the basics for a good life.  For a community that is intended to thrive and flourish.  And his followers are still chasing after him, pleading, Rabbi, Rabbi!  Like, what do we do?  Like, we’re having trouble.  Like, we need your help.  Like, the sky is falling.  

We know this reality.  We, too, have been given all we need to live lives of purpose, meaning, peace, and compassion.  And yet, look at the state of things in our country and our world.  

If there is anyone that can relate to the image used in the gospel of a house built on the sand versus a house built on the rock, it is we the people of Florida.  We live in a state that is essentially a sandbar atop porous limestone.  Not a very firm foundation for building.  In Luke, there is reference to the threat of flood waters.  We KNOW about that.  In Matthew, the same image includes mention of not only flooding but wind and rain as well.  Oh, yes.  This teaching was meant for Floridians.  We know the risks of unstable building practices.  What about Surfside in Miami?  And we know the perilous power of wind, and rain, and floods.  We know how things can be washed away in a storm.  Our homes.  Our belongings.  Our dreams?  

And we know first hand how rights can be washed away in a political storm.  And how healthcare can be swept away.  And how sound educational practices and books can be whisked away in a bluster of fear.  

We see in our state, our country, and the world, the sweeping power of greed for money.  We see the damage caused by greed for power.  We see the devastation wrought by lies.  Our happiness ranking is falling in the world.  We who are promised life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in our Constitution.  We see division and discord each day.  We know that things are not right.  And lives are at stake.

And there are still people, in this very state, after all of the weather cataclysms recently and the billions of dollars in damages, who say, it was a one hundred year anomaly.  That will never happen again.  Ah, no.  It’s actually human induced climate change.  And if you think pursuing sustainability is expensive and inconvenient, look at the bills for the storms, floods, and fires.  There is NO comparison.  There is only intractability.  And blindness.  And greed.  We are not standing on solid ground.  We are not building a future on solid ground.  Our cities and communities along the coast of Florida are like sandcastles on the beach.   And we just keep building more.  If only it were as easy as – Don’t move the Chinese cabinet.  It’s all falling down.  Around us.  Literally.  Add to climate destruction the devastation to society and culture.  

 We can well image those followers of Jesus, pleading, Rabbi, Rabbi.  Save us!  Help us!  It’s all going down.  And what does he say?  I have saved you.  I have helped you.  I have given you all the teachings you need to thrive.  The Sermon on the Plain, like the Sermon on the Mount, basically says it all.  Who is your model?  Jesus.  Follow him.  Emulate him.  Tend to your own faults before worrying about the faults of others.  Have a good heart.  A good heart bears good fruit.  Bless the poor.  Warn the rich.  Love your enemies.  Love generously.  Be nonjudgmental with others.  There is no place for smug superiority.  Dig deeply.  Lay the foundation of your life in the word of God, the teachings of Love.  

You see, it has been all laid out for us.  We have been told all that we need to know to build our lives on a stable foundation.  A foundation that nothing can shake.  All it takes is hearing Jesus’ words and PUTTING THEM INTO PRACTICE. 

The putting them into practice part must be the challenge because there are numerous places in the writings of the New Testament where there is an emphasis on doing not just hearing Jesus’ teachings.  So, already, the people who actually heard the first century Jesus were struggling with this.  Jesus is aware of the inherent nature of humanity, and still we are called into relationship with God.  Maybe because of our inherent nature, Jesus makes the plea to us to listen to and follow the word of God.  

Here is a story of someone who did choose to follow the word of God; the teachings of Jesus:

During World War II a German widow hid Jewish refugees in her home.  As her friends discovered the situation, they became extremely alarmed.


“You are risking your own well-being,” they told her. 

“I know that,” she said.

“Then why,” they demanded, “do you persist in this foolishness?”

Her answer was stark and to the point:  “I am doing it,” she said, “because the time is now and I am here.”

[This story is in 25 Windows into the Soul:  Praying with the Psalms, from the writings of Joan Chittister, p. 338.]

It is not always easy to follow Jesus.  It can require boldness and courage.  Yes, times are challenging for us, and we know the teachings of Jesus.  So, we can take encouragement from the wisdom of the 16th century saint, Ignatius of Loyola, who said, “In times of desolation you should never make a change, but stand firm in the resolutions and decisions that guided you the day before the desolation.”  Our deep foundation, laid upon the rock of the word of God spoken through Jesus will see us through.  We are facing so many challenges and desolations today.  Yes, we have been given all that we need to be agents of good, of love, of compassion, of justice.  We have been given all that we need to create a society with engaging education, a fair and just economy, a culture of compassion, with thriving arts and recreation, and readily available healthcare for all.  And, we have been given all that we need to tend to the health of our dear mother, Earth.  

Our spiritual teachings tell us to have reverence for all life.  We are told of the earth as a precious gift given to us that we must cherish and care for so that it can continue to sustain us.  We have been given the knowledge to stop global warming with its increasing storms, rains, winds, and fires.  We know what we need to know.  It has all been given to us.  Including the wisdom to see what the consequences are of ignoring the teachings we have been given.  The basis of the word of God is reverence for God, creation, and each other.  All sacred.  Let us not be afraid to dig deep.  To build on the rock of the gospel of Jesus.  To live grounded in the ways of Divine Love.  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.

Sermon text: “Connections: Heart Health” 3.23.25

LAKEWOOD UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
2601 54th Avenue South St. Petersburg, FL 33712
On land originally inhabited by the Tocabaga
727-867-7961
lakewooducc.org
lakewooducc@gmail.com

Date: March 23, 2025
Scripture Lesson: Luke 6:43-45
Sermon: Connections: Heart Health
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

I want to tell you about something that happened to Jeff, my husband, in April of 2020.  Take a moment to remember back to that time.  We had a church service on March 15.  After church we had a meeting.  We sat in a circle and we discussed what was going on with the corona virus.  We shared our knowledge and tried to figure out what was best for the church in light of the unfolding health crisis.  We decided to stay on top of things and respond accordingly.  We fully expected to gather for church the next Sunday.  Later in the week, it was clear that we could no longer hold church services safely.  And we did not have church again until the first Sunday of November, All Saints Day.  We had that first in person service in 8 months outside by the Memorial Garden.  None of us could have predicted what we would be going through.  

In the midst of this, in the last week of April, Jeff had 3 health episodes within a few days.  He didn’t mention this to me until Wednesday.  He had been talking to his sister about it, she is a doctor in Cincinnati.  She was managing the Covid situation for the University of Cincinatti.  She told Jeff to get an oximeter and measure his oxygen level to determine if he had covid.  There were no vaccines yet.  He told me about his episodes and I asked if he had looked up the symptoms of a heart attack.  He had never had one but he was taking medication for high blood pressure.  The next day, Thursday, I asked him again about the heart attack symptoms.  He was still on the covid trail.  I looked up the symptoms and I told him about it.  This sounded like what he had experienced several times that week.  That Thursday he finally called his doctor.  And left a message.  By Friday morning, there was no call back.  He said, How long should I wait to hear before trying to call the doctor again.  I said, 10:00.  Just before 10, the doctor called.  She listened as Jeff described his situation.  She told him that he was to go to St. Anthony’s Hospital immediately.  And if cost wasn’t a factor, she would recommend calling an ambulance.  Well, with Jeff, cost is always a factor, so I took him to St. Anthony’s.  He thought he was going in for some tests.  A checkup.  I suggested maybe he should take his phone charging cord, a toothbrush, something to read.  His pills.  Some clean underwear.  Maybe they would be keeping him overnight.  This had not occurred to him.  So, he packed a few things and off we went.  When we got to the hospital, I had to drop him off at the door.  I could not go in – because of covid.  So, we said our good byes.  Later that day, he called me to say it was determined that he had had at least 2 heart attacks that week.  Maybe more.  And they were going to do emergency surgery and put in a stint.  He would be in the hospital for several days.  After the surgery, the doctor called me to report that all had gone well.  The idea that Jeff had several heart attacks floored us both.  Heart attacks?  Where did that come from?  To us it was completely unexpected.  Out of the blue.  Shocking.  Clearly, we did not know the state of Jeff’s [physical] heart health.

And this speaks to the teaching we heard today associated with Jesus.  Good people have good stored up in their hearts.  People who do evil have evil stored up in their hearts.  So, what do we have going on in our hearts?  They are the source of our identity, our character, our actions and behavior.  What is going on in our hearts?   What are we storing?  Do we even know???

It is hard to say.  It seems that many around us are completely unaware of what they are doing and how it effects others.  Consumer capitalism keeps us obsessed with getting the newest, the fastest, the sleekest, the latest.  Ads continually popping up in our news feeds and our email and our internet searches.  Always trying to sell us something; something we probably don’t need.  And reminding us of what we don’t have.  All the while many are just trying to stay afloat working several jobs and still there is “too much month at the end of the money.”  [Toby Keith]

Tangled in all of this debris, do we even know the state of our hearts?  What are we filled with?  What moves us?  

Some of us heard Matthew Fox speak on Friday evening.  He said, “There are two kinds of people.  There are people who are grieving.  And people who don’t know they are grieving.”  What do we know about the state of our hearts?

Jeff didn’t know he was headed for a heart attack.  Sometimes we just don’t know.  Then something traumatic, dramatic, or cataclysmic happens, and we are lurched awake.  We become aware.  

The heart connects us to ourselves, to each other, to what is beyond us, to God, the sacred.  Our hearts tell us who we are.  They determine our choices and behavior and what fruit we bear, whether we know it or not.  One way to tune into what is in our hearts is to pay attention to what makes us cry. What brings tears to our eyes. And what makes us laugh?  What fills us with delight.  Lent is a season to pay attention and to become more aware of the state of our hearts.  

One of Frida Kahlo’s most famous paintings is Two Fridas.  In the painting by the Mexican artist of the 20th century, there are two images of the artist, Frida Kahlo.  The one on the left portrays a Frida dressed in a white lace blouse with a high neck.  This is something that would be worn by a fiancée of her station in Mexico.  Status was conveyed by emulating European style.  Frida’s father was from Germany.

The Frida on the right is wearing traditional Tehuana dress.  It is the clothing of indigenous Mexicans.  Frida was known for identifying with the indigenous people.  Her mother was Mexican.

Each Frida in the painting has half of a heart and the two hearts are attached by a blood vessel.  The two Fridas are holding hands.  They represent two parts of Frida’s identity.  They are both part of her heart.  Who she is.  They are both important to her identity.  

There is another blood vessel in the painting that circles a picture one Frida holds in her hand.  It is a picture of her beloved Diego Rivera as a child.  A picture she actually owned.  Through the blood vessel her heart extends to Diego and encompasses him.  Her friend.  Her lover.  Her husband.  Her life.   There is also a blood vessel that is severed, dripping onto the white dress of one Frida, the bleeding staunched by clamps.  The heart is also a source of pain.  

And in the background, there is a stormy sky.  It conveys turbulence.  Distress.  Sadness. Emotional anguish.  Yes, when Frida did this painting, she was extremely distressed.  She had come to know that her husband, Diego, was having a long term, intense affair with her sister, Cristina.  And Diego had asked Frida for a divorce.  They were divorced.  And later remarried.  In a letter to Diego during this time, she declared, “. . . at bottom you and I love each other very much, and even if we go through countless affaires, splintered doors, insults and international claims, we shall always love each other. . . . All these things have happened and happened again for the seven years we’ve lived together and all of the rages I’ve gone into have only led me to understand better that I love you more than my own skin. . .”  [Frida Kahlo 1907.2007, p. 202.]   Yes, Frida knew her heart.  She portrays the intensity and reality of her heart in Two Fridas with glaring, gorgeous honesty.  

So how well do we know our hearts?  If we are to follow Jesus, our hearts are to be filled with goodness and love.  This is what is needed to bear good fruit.  To live in a way that is pleasing to God and helpful to others.  The implication from Jesus is that God seeks to fill our hearts with good.  We are to be like Jesus.  With hearts fulled with compassion and goodness and love.  Are our hearts filled with good?  Or have we let evil creep in?  While most of the time we are not people of evil intent, maybe we should say, are our hearts filled with good or not good?  Is there dissipation?  Apathy?  Selfishness?  Greed?  Misunderstanding?

Do we know our hearts?  It isn’t easy with the distractions of TV, social media, alarmist news, and scraping to get by day to day.  

If our heart is good, we will bear good fruit.  That can help us to assess the situation with our hearts.  Are we letting all the good in from God?  And then letting it out as good fruit?  Like blood going into the heart and back out again to serve the needs of the body.   

It turns out there is a fruit that is good for the heart.  The strawberry; a fruit that looks like a heart and is actually good for your physical heart.   Eating two servings of strawberries a day can reduce the risk of heart attacks.  It can lower blood pressure.  It can improve cholesterol.  And reduce inflammation.  The strawberry is also good for the gut and for cognition.  So, this delicious fruit, grown right here in Florida, is good for the heart.  

Are our hearts in good shape?  We can think about the food we eat.  Are we eating strawberries?  But as Jesus suggests, we must look not only at the fruit we are eating but also at the fruit we are bearing.  Is it good fruit?  Lent is a time to pay attention.  To be aware.  To be in touch with our hearts.  And to come to know our hearts by the fruit that we are producing.  

Now, speaking of fruit, we are going to turn to a beautiful prayer about the strawberry that comes from the Seneca, native people of this land.  They lived south of Lake Ontario in what we now call New York state.   

Before you listen to this prayer, we will give you a strawberry to help focus your reflection.  And at the appropriate time, you are encouraged to eat the strawberry.  

[Strawberries are distributed.]

The Sacred Berry                                   Seneca oral tradition, recorded by Jose Hobday

Oh sweet gift to the Seneca, I admire you.  You are shaped like the heart to remind us that we are to live by the heart.

Your flesh is red, to tell us our hearts should be moist with blood,

never dry and brown and crackly.

We study the seeds on the outside.  They are many, to teach us that there are many ways in the world to believe, to understand life.  All are worthy of respect.

We finger the leaves, so we keep in mind that you must always stay connected to Mother Earth and appreciate her gifts.

Now, we eat this beautiful strawberry from the bottom up, 

relishing the sweet taste.  For the last bite we eat berry and leaf together to help us remember life holds bitter tastes with sweet.  For all, we keep a thankful heart. 

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