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Listen. Click Button to Left. Rev. Pam Easterday. Sunday message, January 9, 2011. Simmering. See no Flash Player button? Alternative: Direct DOWNLOAD.
As written in the Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune, Saturday, January 28, 2012. Is Evolution Scary? by Rev. Pam Easter day. This is an Adobe PDF file and will open in a new window.
AUDIO and VIDEO Message? See Easterday Audio and Video. Or, scroll down for SITE DIRECTORY in the left side-bar. VIDEO direct? click on images above.
ABOUT THE VIDEOS. Strangers on Earth. Adult message recorded sans audience but you from the pulpit at Claridon Congregational United Church of Christ. Holy Communion. Children's message recorded live at Claridon. Pastor Pam explains the open table. Haircut. Adult message recorded live at Claridon. Her willing client is husband, Bill Brandes.
MORE VIDEO has been posted. Five in all. See Video. Student Preaching. 2005. Steadfast Love. Response. Baptism. New Life. Called Into Life.
Greetings from Rev. Pam Easterday. Welcome. Simple Word. Big Concept. Jesus welcomed those who did not expect a welcome. Lepers were thought to be so sinful that they would be contagious. In biblical times, people did not understand germs as spreading disease. However, they thought they had to exclude sinners from the faithful, for safety's sake. Can you imagine any good way for people to judge who is bad, who is a sinner? Even with the attorneys, investigators and evidence in our legal system, we do an imperfect job of judging. In the time of Jesus, since tax collectors worked for the non-Jewish government and often took more than their due, tax collectors were assumed to be sinners. Wives could be dismissed by their husbands for no reason and might have to become prostitutes to feed themselves. Prostitutes were excluded as sinful. However, the Old Testament tells us that men who visited a prostitute were unclean until sundown. Unfair? Of course! Abusive? Absolutely. But that happens when humans setthemselves up as judges. Jesus criticized those who judged the speck in another's eye while wearing a log in their own eye. Jesus often spoke like that, over the top, in hyperbole, to get our attention. Did it work? Paul saw the problem of judging. He included it with his list of bad behavior to avoid, along with sexual immorality, gossip and worshiping something other than God. We humans want to judge. We dream up excuses to exclude those who do not look or behave like the people we trust. Jesus, over and over, showed us and taught us how to welcome. He was criticized for being a drunkard and glutton for sitting down to eat with every kind of person, such as those tax collectors and prostitutes. I suspect one reason he brought up divorce and reminded us it was forbidden was all those conversations with prostitutes. Jesus really listened. He heard their stories. Jesus, a Jewish teacher, or rabbi, should have steered clear of women, children, non-Jews and anyone considered a sinner or unclean, like those with leprosy. Except he took children into his arms and blessed them. He touched lepers to heal them. He sat down at a Samaritan (outsider) well and taught a woman who had had five husbands and was living with yet another man. Then, much to the horror of his groupies, he went home with her and taught all her friends and neighbors. He told us to love neighbors, and even our enemies. He told us to forgive, and forgive again and again. We are just humans, imperfect lumps of clay. We make mistakes and have to hear again and try again. Together, as a church, a community trying to learn about and follow Jesus, we are called to welcome. We are called to love and listen and bless in his name. We would love to have you join us as we learn. You are welcome.
Many people have been hurt so badly by a religious community that they hope to avoid religious people for the rest of their lives. Were you asked to leave during your divorce? Did you feel unwelcome because you did not wear the right clothes? Some families leave a church that condemns homosexuality when they find out that their wonderful, faithful, dear child is gay. You are torn, but you feel rejected by the Creator of the universe. So you depart. Except God keeps calling. We long to know more about what the Bible means, what the prophets taught, what God wants, what God offers to those who venture near. Holy Communion and Baptism. Teachers call them manipulatives. When you pull out all your pennies to help children learn to count, you are using manipulatives, something they can hold in their hands, to help them understand. In the Protestant church, we have two sacraments, solid things we use to connect us to God, who can be a bit hard to grasp. We call baptism and communion (Eucharist or Lord's Supper) sacraments. Jesus gave them to us and promised to be with us through them. At St. John's United Church of Christ, we try to recall the way Jesus fed people. He fed a lot of people, thousands, many times over. He never asked if they were good enough, or Jewish, or a believer. He never asked anyone to pull out their money or food stamp card. He had compassion on the weary, the lost and the hungry. So, he fed them. He still does. When we drill a water well in Africa for a child to drink clean water, we are with him, his hands in the world. When we provide soup for our local food pantries, when we provide new socks for Cleveland's homeless or towels and soap to refugees, we are working for Jesus, providing for the weary, lost and hungry, God's children. And in our own church sanctuary, we relive Jesus feeding us, by feeding each other. We call it communion. We commune with God, with each other and with every other Christian community around the world. You see, Jesus prayed, "that they may all be one." Some churches "fence the table." They believe it is their job to keep out those not good enough. Did you ever hear about Jesus keeping anyone out? Just before he died, he fed the friends who had followed him through heat and criticism, over long, dusty trails. He used the bread and wine at the table as manipulatives, to help them and us, understand. He was giving himself to us. Take this; make it part of part of you. Make me part of you. With this wine you drink, there is a new agreement between people and God, between you and me, a new promise, based on love, and justice and forgiveness. Just as when Jesus fed 5,000 strangers on a mountainside, everyone is welcome at this feast. Everyone shares in the bread and grape juice at St. John's United Church of Christ. Because Jesus is presiding. The food is his. The table is his. The welcome is his. You do not have to be a member or wear the right clothes. The gifts of God are gifts. We cannot earn them. We do not have to be good enough. None of us is. Sometimes, we have communion by intinction. We each tear a mouthful of bread from a common loaf and dip it into a cup of juice. Other times, we remember our Congregational ancestors who did not like others deciding if they deserved Jesus' meal. Then we serve communion to everyone in their seat. We use little bites of bread and tiny cups of juice. Either way, everyone is welcome. Parents, not the church, decide when their children take communion. Jesus fed everyone. He often spoke of the banquet or feast at the heavenly table. Many of us take the bread and juice and imagine that feast, where all are whole, and all are welcome.
criticized those who judged the speck in another's eye while wearing a log in their own eye. Jesus often spoke like that, over the top, in hyperbole, to get our attention. Did it work? Paul saw the problem of judging. He included it with his list of bad behavior to avoid, along with sexual immorality, gossip and worshiping something other than God. We humans want to judge. We dream up excuses to exclude those who do not look or behave like the people we trust. Jesus, over and over, showed us and taught us how to welcome. He was criticized for being a drunkard and glutton for sitting down to eat with every kind of person, such as those tax collectors and prostitutes. I suspect one reason he brought up divorce and reminded us it was forbidden was all those conversations with prostitutes. Jesus really listened. He heard their stories. Jesus, a Jewish teacher, or rabbi, should have steered clear of women, children, non-Jews and anyone considered a sinner or unclean, like those with leprosy. Except he took children into his arms and blessed them. He touched lepers to heal them. He sat down at a Samaritan (outsider) well and taught a woman who had had five husbands and was living with yet another man. Then, much to the horror of his groupies, he went home with her and taught all her friends and neighbors. He told us to love neighbors, and even our enemies. He told us to forgive, and forgive again and again. We are just humans, imperfect lumps of clay. We make mistakes and have to hear again and try again. Together, as a church, a community trying to learn about and follow Jesus, we are called to welcome. We are called to love and listen and bless in his name. We would love to have you join us as we learn. You are welcome.