Rise & Shine

John 20: 19-23 & 21: 15-17

Roger Lynn

April 22, 2018

(click here for the audio for this sermon)
(click here for the video for this sermon)

Life is a gift from God intended to be unwrapped and enjoyed and celebrated. It is a gift which features amazing bodies that can touch and see and taste and smell and hear, an amazing world filled with wonders beyond imagination, a variety of people to share it all with and all wrapped up in the ongoing, intimate presence of God. In the words of a song written by my friend Amy Martin, God invites us to “rise and shine.” Unfortunately, all too often for all too many of us, we get stuck in the basement, locked inside ourselves behind bars of fear and guilt and pain. We can’t feel the wonder of God’s presence. We can’t experience the joy of God’s gift of life in all of its abundance. We just end up feeling stuck. Sometimes we notice and just feel helpless to do anything about it. Sometimes it has been going on for so long that we stop even noticing. It’s just the way life has always been. We don’t even look for more.

But I believe God would have it be different for us. The Sufi poet Hafiz writes what might easily be a message to us from God. “Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.” (from “Your Mother & My Father” by Hafiz, found in “The Gift: Poems by Hafiz - The Great Sufi Master” Translations by Daniel Ladinsky) Jesus spent his whole life and ministry trying to offer people another way to approach their living. He recognized that it was possible to live in full and open awareness of the loving presence of God, because God was all around us and within us in every moment. All we need to do is become aware of it. One day he breathed on his disciples and said, “It’s like that. God is that close all the time. Breathe God into your being. Receive the gift.” Of course it’s easier to get the point in Hebrew because breath and spirit are the same word. God is that close. We need not live our whole lives locked up in the basement. Come out into the sunshine and breathe in God’s Spirit. Be full. Rise and shine!

A Leap of Faith

Genesis 12: 1-2 & Matthew 4: 1-11

Roger Lynn

April 15, 2018

(click here for the audio of this sermon)
(click here for the video of this sermon)

Ten years ago this month I resigned from my position as Pastor at the United Church of Moscow. I took that step without having secured another job. And as a result I set my life on a new trajectory. I believe there is a clear connection between that decision and me becoming the Pastor at Plymouth Congregational Church. The choices we make matter. 

As I was reflecting on that time ten years ago I looked back at the sermon I preached on the Sunday following my announcement, and it occurred to me that it was worth sharing with you. It offers some insights into how important decisions can be made. And, more importantly, it offers a glimpse into why it is important to be bold and take a leap of faith. So, that having been said, I share with you now what I shared with the good folks in Moscow ten years ago.

- - - - -

Upon hearing the news about my resignation, the most common first question has been “Why?” And the short answer is, “because I have a sense of being called to move on.” The not-so-short answer is far more complex and nuanced, ambiguous and hard to explain. If this were a Methodist congregation and I were a Methodist pastor, the answer might be relatively straightforward - because the Bishop told me it was time to move. But we are not a part of that system and so answering the “why” question is more challenging. I would like to try answering at least some of that question by sharing with you some of the process which led us to this point, and some of what making this choice means to us. I want to share this in the hope that in our experience you might see something of your own experiences of seeking to make faithful choices for your living.

A Time and Place Set Apart (Camp Sunday)

Matthew 14: 23

Roger Lynn

April 8, 2018

Camp Sunday

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

(click here for the video for the entire worship service - the sermon begins at 32:40)

We live fast-paced, busy, hectic lives in a fast-paced, busy, hectic world. And things only seem to be speeding up by the moment. In the world of computer design there is “Moore’s Law” – a computing term which states that processor speeds, or overall processing power for computers, will double every two years. Sometimes it seems like there is a similar “law” governing the speed of the world around us. Maintaining such busy-ness on an ongoing basis can have seriously detrimental effects on our bodies and our spirits. There is important wisdom to be found in ancient practices such as sabbath, which sets aside a day each week for rest and renewal. And there is also important wisdom to be found in ancient practices such as pilgrimage and retreat, which take us out of our “normal” everyday routines so that we might re-connect with ourselves, with each other, and with the Sacred Presence which surrounds us. Otherwise we get distracted and we forget who we are.

Hope Springs Eternal With God (Easter)

Isaiah 65: 17-25 & John 20: 1-18

Roger Lynn

April 1, 2018

Easter Sunday

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

(click here for the video for the entire service - the sermon begins at about 23:10)

The darkness is real. The pain and suffering are real. The shattered dreams are real. Death is real. The stories from the Bible which we paid attention to during this past week confirm that it was all real for Jesus and his followers 2,000 years ago. And our own stories, to say nothing of the stories we hear on the news and read about in the papers, confirm that it remains real for us today. As individuals and corporately as a society, we know about suffering and pain. We know about shattered dreams and darkness. If the story of our faith were simply the story of Holy Week, we could all offer a collective shrug and then go on about our business. If Jesus’ death was the last word on the matter, there would be little to capture our imaginations or to lift our eyes towards a brighter tomorrow. If that is all there is, then we might as well go home right now. 

But the bold and even audacious claim we dare to make is that there is more. We are Easter people! Pain and suffering, darkness and death may be real, but they are not the most real, and certainly not the final real. There is life. There is new, vibrant, abundant life. Not somewhere else. Not for someone else. But right here, right now, in the very midst of the darkness. The message of Easter is not a denial of death and darkness. Indeed it embraces those realities. But it also reframes them and in so doing transforms them. When those first followers of Jesus tell their stories about encountering the resurrected Christ, they always include details which point to his suffering and death. He shows them the nail holes in his hands. It is into our current darkness that God’s light shines. It is out of our current suffering that God’s new life calls us. That is the message of Easter which we desperately need to hear. When we pay attention to the presence of the sacred in the midst of us, hope springs eternal.