Grace and peace to you, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  Grace and peace . . . what we all long for from each other as well as from our Creator.  I want to share with you the words (by David Sparks) to the anthem the choir is sharing tomorrow morning.  In this unsettling time, with war being waged on too much of God’s good earth, we look for our hearts to be eased and to learn new ways forward in faith.  God’s word is and always will be love.  What are the stories from scripture that we continue to tell so that all humanity may learn this in a way that sustains?  How, indeed, may we be saved?  Blessings and peace, Lisa

Unsettled world, where people long to find their way, to feel secure,
from lives of turbulence and rush we come, to seek your peace, our God, your word to hear, our faith to live.

Unsettled world, where money rules and greedy systems call the tune:
for strength to keep our values straight we come, with trust in you, O God, your word to hear, our faith to live.

Unsettled world, where angry poor from grinding need at affluence stare, with tears and thirst for truth and right we come, with longing in our hearts, your word to hear, our faith to live.

Unsettled world, unsettled church, whose structures creak and doctrines swirl, by faith, and in the strength of Christ, we strive, in true community, your word to hear, our faith to live.
Words © 1994 Hope Publishing Company.

Grace and peace to you, from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  If you have ever sought to read just one book of the Bible as a guide for human behavior and an explanation of why to live in such a way is a worthy idea, you might consider picking up the book of James.  We have been reading our way through it as a companion to the Gospel of Mark for the past several weeks, and tomorrow’s lessons again are fairly straightforward.  That said, we have to be ready to have our expectations of what is good and desirable completely upended.  We have to be ready to have our Alpha become Omega.  And don’t worry if this seems a little confusing to you.  We’re in good company in not quite understanding how our Prince of Peace; how the one meant to usher in the reign of God could allow himself to be the lowliest, even to the point of crucifixion.  Our confusion may be right in line with the disciples’ own.   

As we also gather as a congregation for our annual meeting tomorrow after worship, we have the opportunity to put into practice what it means to respond to these calls on our life.  We gather together in hope as we pray for peace. 

Blessings, Lisa

While Pastor Lisa is at her nephew’s wedding in NJ this weekend, we welcome the Rev. Linette George to our pulpit.  We also will be enjoying Clair Maxwell’s gifts on the organ while Ann takes a well earned break.  As we read together the passage from Mark in which Jesus queries his disciples about who others say that he is, Linette asks us to consider who this makes us become. See you all in church!

Grace to you, and peace from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  I smile often when colleagues talk about how life in the church slows down over the summer.  Not here in Blue Hill!  That said, we are shifting to fall mode, which includes some gearing up for our annual meeting on the 22nd and for new programming as we work to invite children and create new music opportunities.  All of this is part of our responding to the movement of the Spirit among us.  How is it that we respond to our faith with our actions? 

That question is at root in this week’s scripture readings, as it was in those for last week.  James continues to nudge us toward living a life fully reflective of our faith in a loving, transforming God, and the story we hear of Jesus’ interactions with and healing of those even on the periphery of “acceptable society” makes us consider who in our lives  we may meet similarly.  How is it that we respond to our faith with our actions?  Who and how may we be in the year ahead, such that our presence in community is a sure sign of our faith in a loving, transforming God?  As we gather in worship and praise, we celebrate the opportunities offered to us in this new season. 

Blessings and peace, Lisa

Grace to you, and peace from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ!  Growing up in the Reformed Church of America, an offshoot of the Dutch Reformed Church, our worship bulletins on Sundays were organized around The Word, which is to say that scripture lessons from the Bible were at the center of worship, in typically Reformed Protestant tradition.  So, the three sections of the bulletin were The Approach to the Word,The Word of God, and The Response to the Word.  I was reminded of this as I studied the lectionary texts for this weekend.  James’ letter is one to which I have always looked for sound reason and loving suggestions of how one should be in response to one’s faith in a loving God.  Jesus’s interactions with his followers and the Pharisees in our Gospel lesson from Mark similarly direct us, in no uncertain terms, not to simply talk about what we believe, but to do what Jesus would have us do.

Jesus was frustrated with the behavior of those who claimed to speak with authority about religion.  I wonder if you have similar frustrations.  Our response to that frustration mustn’t sound or look like more talking about religion, but more like living out our faith in God, who calls us to love–indiscriminately.  James tells us what this looks like, and Jesus tells us what it doesn’t look like.  So, how do we respond?  With our annual meeting coming up in three weeks, we are looking at what may be called the more tedious aspects of being church together: we are going to talk about governance structure.  Rather than regard this as tedious and superficial, I invite you this week to consider how our being church is the most explicit response to the Word there is.  So, we will talk tomorrow about the church’s ministries and what role we each, individually, would like to play in them.  In so doing, we will live to be doers of the Word of God.

Blessings and peace, Lisa.

P.S.  Other things to note this weekend:  Please do stop by Hannaford today in support of our church’s drive to collect canned goods for the Tree of Life!  From 10:00-2:00 you may exchange cans for cookies there, but you also may bring them to church tomorrow for collection!  You also cannot miss the remains of the 158-year-old Elm tree that is now lying on the ground at the edge of the parking lot.  We have the opportunity to make use of 2.75″ cross sections of the trunk that are approximately 36″ in diameter.  Please let me know if you are interested in one, as I have been speaking with Phil Norris (BH tree warden) about how we will obtain them as the wood is processed. 

Grace to you, and peace from God our Creator and the Lord Jesus Christ! What do we do when our lives feel tied to the issues of the day, including politics that can produce anxiety even when discussions of them are hopeful and exciting?  What do we do when our endeavors feel too often focused on temporary things, when we know in our hearts that what matters is more eternal?  Trying to discern between what is temporary and eternal, individual and universal, significant or incidental can be difficult.  Sometimes, in our focus on the stuff of religious ceremony, we can forget our need to connect with the aspect of God and our faithlife that is above and beyond the immediate.  So, on this Sunday, I invite you to slow down for conversation about what matters, revealed to us as it is through scripture, and also revealed to us in our observations of all that is good and life affirming.  Join us in worship of God, who unites us and invites us to love. 

Blessings and peace, Lisa