Grass Valley Roll Call Download

[Marva Richardt]

Asyou prepare for worship, I invite you to reflect upon your own baptism and the role that it has played in the formation of your faith. When is the last time you thought about your baptism and the commitment that you made (or the commitment that was made on your behalf) at your baptism? While that may not be something we often think about, now would be a good time to spend a little reflection.

There is power in our choice to remember. There is strength in our ability to reflect upon our past as we allow it to inform our present and inspire our future. Our memory has a critical role to play in the shaping of our identity.

There is power in our choice to remember. I invite you to experience that power this Sunday as we reflect upon the legacy that is ours both as a nation and as a people of faith. I hope that you will be able to join us. Have a great week-end!

Being a mother has never been an easy task, especially in the 18th century world of which Susanna was a part. And yet, Susanna displayed a remarkable skill and determination in making the best of her assignment. With great discipline and grace, she provided her children with the education, wisdom and spiritual awareness that enabled them to grow into remarkable human beings. Some historians have suggested that Susanna was the most educated woman in England at the time. Whether or not that was actually true, her witness of faith was one that left an indelible mark on all of her children and especially Charles and John.

In my absence, I am most grateful to Mark Renfrew and Ron Packer for leading worship and offering the message over the past two Sundays. It is, I believe, a great quality of our congregation that we have those who are not only willing, but actually, wanting to share the good news of the gospel in the context of worship. It is a real blessing not only for me, but for our congregation. We are all the better for it.

We can image that Peter was somewhat exhausted from the emotional roller coaster that he had been on during the arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. He had known great moments of agony and despair and he had also known moments of unmitigated joy. Now, in this moment, he simply chooses to get away from it all and get back to the familiar rituals of fishing the Sea of Galilee. The other disciples decide that this is a good idea and suggest that they join him.

Then, as the breakfast winds down, Jesus and Peter find the opportunity to have the conversation that they have been waiting to have. I invite you to read (ahead of time) the exchange that takes place in John 21: 15-19. It is a tender and poignant moment in which Jesus makes clear to Peter that the past and his three-fold denial of Jesus, has been forgiven and forgotten. Jesus then proceeds to commission Peter to the work of being the rock upon which Jesus indicated he would build his church.

As we all know, Pastor Ron has been enjoying some personal fishing time, and I was invited to lead our worship service this Sunday. I hope you all perceive my invitation from Pastor Ron as a positive experience, and I will share how I feel God has guided me throughout my life, as I believe He has been very active in it.

I suggested, however, that rather than denigrate Thomas for his doubt, we might want to celebrate him for his willingness to be honest not only with the other disciples, but with himself, as well. I further suggested that honest doubt, in and of itself, is nothing to be venerated, but that it can be the key that unlocks the door to a vibrant and vital faith. Rather than being an adversary of faith, doubt can be the very thing that makes faith possible.

This week in worship, we are going to continue to explore the importance of honest doubt and the struggle to better understand our faith through the questions we ask. My message will be devoted to responding to the questions that the people of our congregation choose to raise in regards to their own questions (or doubts) about faith.

They would, however, be disappointed. Their Palm Sunday cheers turned into jeers before the week was through and the One they welcomed with palm branches would be hanging from a cross. Not exactly what they had planned on!

Some, such as the Zealots, were absolutely convinced that the time was at hand to take up arms and begin terrorist action against Rome and that is precisely what they did. On the other end of the spectrum were the elites (religious and otherwise) who actually benefited from the status quo even if it was made possible by the hated Romans. These elites did not want anyone or anything to disrupt the power sharing benefits they enjoyed. In between these two extremes was the majority of the people who were just trying to get by, making sure that they had enough to live on. Their primary concern was day to day survival.

In this sense, Jesus was highly political, and his witness could be understood as revolutionary. His mission was to peacefully usher in the reign of God and to bring about needed change in the systems that refused to act with justice, love and mercy. For that reason, both the Roman rulers and the Religious Authorities were threatened by Jesus and deemed him worthy of execution. He was perceived by the powerful as a revolutionary and revolutionaries were to be killed.

We all recognize that Jesus was a masterful teacher, one who had the ability to invite people to really think about the nature of God and what it was that ultimately mattered to God. While Jesus often used parables to illustrate his message, he was careful to engage people in a way that invited them to really think for themselves and not just accept what was handed to them by their religious leaders.

You might compare this Lenten approach to piecing a jig-saw puzzle together. As we are able to fit each of these pieces into their proper place, we will better be able to understand not only who Jesus was (the historical Jesus), but also, who Jesus is for you and me in this present moment of time (the Jesus who is personal). From my perspective, both of these dimensions carry great importance for us in our own respective journeys of faith.

Not that you have to have clear answers to each or any of these questions, but your willingness to wrestle with them a bit may help to better prepare you to engage more fully in this effort to answer the question: Who do you say that I am?

If you have experienced such a moment (or moments), you might want to ask yourself about how you have translated that experience (those experiences) into your day-to-day witness of faith. What difference, if any, has it made? What purpose, if any, has it provided for you in the living out of your life?

Today, some fifty years later, I still believe that it is important to continue this practice. If there is anything that I have learned about the human condition it is that not all forms or expressions of authority are trustworthy. Sometimes, the voice of authority is one that speaks out of greed and self-centeredness rather than compassion and concern for others. It is, therefore, important to be able to discern whether or not the voice of authority is actually worthy of being listened to.

Anyway, it is good to be home and to have the opportunity to experience the regular rhythm of daily life once more. A significant part of that rhythm, for me, involves planning for our worship celebration each Sunday. This week, we will be taking a look at the story of the calling of the Prophet, Samuel. As some of you may recall from Sunday School lessons as a child, Samuel was called to be a prophet while he was still a young boy, serving as a Temple apprentice to the Priest, Eli.

That story, as you might suspect, has largely been told from the perspective of the dominant (White) culture of the time. Most of us have learned about Sacajawea through the history textbooks that relayed a somewhat idealized and sanitized story about this amazing and courageous woman who was a member of the Lemhi Shoshone Tribe.

To be sure there was and is a great deal of mystery surrounding Sacajawea and her story. Having long been fascinated with her role in American history, I was able, several years ago, to visit the cemetery where she was allegedly buried outside of Lander, Wyoming. It was, for me, a special privilege to make this visit and to reflect upon the ways in which this courageous woman actually helped to shape the future of the emerging nation that would, one day, engulf her own people and cast them aside.

I am grateful that Debra Magpie Sterling has offered to us another way of seeing and understanding the life of this Shoshone woman. While history may regard Lewis and Clark as true heroes, it is quite clear that without the presence and the wisdom of this much belittled and oppressed woman, they would have not likely have survived their perilous journey.

While this is a fictional work, it speaks, I believe, to a reality that needs to be better recognized and appreciated for the contribution that it has made to those of us who share in the American story.

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