Park It On Your Lawn: Survival v. Salvation

Park it on your lawn

Not large enough to contain everything, but large enough to notice.

As we wrestle with some of the imagery of the story (mostly that of divine violence), we can move from an interpretation where God used violence to condemn violence (something that never works and a heretical feature to a God of love) and move towards an interpretation where violence itself becomes the flood. We have read and perhaps even known of the all-consuming nature of violence to destroy what was once flourishing. This re-creation myth conveys what the people have known so very well, and becomes less a story of divine judgment and more a warning about the lesser qualities of our own potential and a story of divine deliverance and salvation.

Noah, build an ark.

450 feet long.

75 feet wide.

In your front yard.

This is enormous. Not large enough to contain a pair of every single creature, but don’t worry about that, says the commentary from Kli Yakar:

The text specifies for us the measurements of its length, width, and height for two reasons. First, to inform us of the magnitude of the miracle that a small space contained much, as there were large creatures there such as elephants and re’emim [wild oxen].

We’re entering into the miraculous. God is a god of abundance and there will always be enough room for all. The ark is 300 cubits long and 50 wide and don’t worry - there’s room. That’s the miracle of generosity and compassion.

But if there is a miracle in the amount of space, there is no such miracle offered to help Noah along with the timeline. The commentary tells us that it took Noah 120 years to build the ark! (Yes, time is perhaps something different in these stories as Noah lived into his 600’s…)

But 120 years of work! Why couldn’t God perform a miracle here that led to some Disney-fication of the story so that all of the forest creatures are suddenly helping in the work of sawing, hammering, and pitching like with every Disney princess? Noah didn’t receive any help - and for good reason.

I love this note from Rashi about why it took Noah 120 years to build the ark:

MAKE THEE AN ARK — There are numerous ways by which God could have saved Noah; why, then, did he burden him with this construction of the Ark? So that the men of the generation of the Flood might see him employed on it for 120 years and might ask him, “What do you need this for”? and so that he might answer them, “The Holy One, blessed be He, is about to bring a flood upon the world” — perhaps they might repent (literally, return to God) (Sanhedrin 108b).

Yes. Even from the beginning, the future is fluid.

Even within a story where everything appears certain and cast, mercy, care, and repentance can all change everything.

One could have come over to ask what Noah is doing and that could have changed one’s heart.

That person is now helping Noah and others come by - they hear, learn, change, and more are in the work.

Perhaps everyone - or just enough - change and repent and the flood waters of violence that had been rising cease and abate.

Perhaps the flood never comes.

This is the image of God found in our tradition from the very beginning. A creating God who loves and is committed to us - even when we pursue our own destruction - always.

God still enters into our world - even when the future seems certain and cast already for us. Speaks and stirs within humanity to find one, two, or more who might care enough to work and serve to partner with God to save.

But this isn’t just to save ourselves and our loved ones (although this, too, is noble). The call of God to find a partner in some saving work is going to involve some measure - some action - some sign - to try to bring in and save someone else.

And so God tells Noah, build an ark. It’s going to be huge. It’s going to take you forever. In the end, it may not even be necessary.

Yeah. That’s the kind of God we’re working with.

So if there is a call within you to join in God’s saving work…Perhaps it is to help save part of creation from the rising waters of the climate crisis, or to help save our nation from the rising waters of corruption, division, greed, and violence. Perhaps it is to help feed our hungry children in our community, or to help the most vulnerable children and young people in our communities to trust that they are members of, and belong to, this world.

If you’re responding to a call, and partnering with God in this saving work, let it be known. Let it be visible. Unless it requires discretion and privacy (which some good and faithful work does), make it known like a 450 foot ark on your lawn. Perhaps others will join in the work. Perhaps those of us who need to repent will repent.

Perhaps salvation will come before the waters ever do.

Peace,

Rev. Chris McCreight

Manuscript and Video to the sermon, “Starting… Now”

In Our Church and Community:

This service has returned for the Fall Schedule

Connect and listen to the soul.

The Adult Elective Sunday School Class will Begin this Sunday @ 9:45am

We’re moving into this work by James Finley to learn more about Merton and what his faith and work may have to offer to our own.

Begin Again

Begin Again

We set off into Summer with a blessing for the season: travels and exploration, good work and good rest, surprise and discovery whether at home or afar. It has been so good to learn how you have spent and shared your summer, and how the divine has met and moved with you into and through it.

Now, we are preparing for a return of sorts to a fuller schedule of services and gatherings to nurture faith and life within your heart and our communities.

  • Our Adult Sunday School program will begin at 9:45am this Sunday.

  • Our Sunday Morning worship service will begin at 11:00am this Sunday.

  • Tonight welcomes the return of our Contemplative Service @ 5:30pm - a welcome breath during the week.

This season also includes the return of our Potlucks, Community Breakfasts, Story Telling Sessions, and our Youth Group gatherings.

We’re even trying some new things like collaborating with the Hiram College Nursing Department for some service opportunities and welcoming the community for conversations with candidates for office.

It’s all part of how we live into our vision of following Christ in the ways of love, cultivating community, and doing our part of restorative justice. And it’s so good that we can share in this life and work together.

Peace,

Rev. Chris McCreight

The manuscript and video of the sermon, “If/Then, If/Then/Until.”

Your Generosity

A note from Marcia Muster regarding the donations for our siblings in Springfield.

Ken and I drove to Springfield yesterday, it took under three hours. We went to a community center. A security guard instructed us to go around to the back of the building and people would unload our car. They weighed everything we brought and put it on the shelves of their food cupboard. Ken filled out a form telling what organization the food came from.

They took us to the community room. We met the director. She told us they delivered 100 boxes to homes of Haitians yesterday. We asked if they preferred money or food. She said both are important. They like to see faces and interact with those bringing food and supporting the Haitians. Also, it helps to lessen the strain on local grocery stores. She said people have been very generous, coming from all over the state.

The money is important. They need money to help pay rent, legal fees, rental cars, hotels, if necessary. Haitians have to go to Cleveland to apply for asylum. We met two Haitian women and their children. One woman had just been granted asylum. They were going to read through her documents and see what steps she needed to take to complete the process. There might be opportunities to volunteer, you might email her directly.

Thanks to everyone who contributed, Hiram Christian Church is very generous.



Casey Kelly Rollins, Director

Caseyrollins59@gmail.com

Springfield District Council Society of St. Vincent de Paul

In Our Church and Community:

Finders Keepers, Losers...

Finders Keepers,

Losers…

Life after losing.

“Get behind me Satan!” (Matthew 16.21-28)

I have found this scripture to really push at my understanding of Christ as endlessly compassionate and gracious. The story goes that Jesus was sensing the impending threats to his life - you cannot go on critiquing and challenging empire without risk. Rome has little tolerance for “constructive criticism” and the Religious Authorities at the time had little tolerance for anyone who disturbed the incredibly fragile co-existence within empire. And Jesus shares this with the disciples.

But as Peter sees it, God would never allow for Jesus to be harmed; God would not allow for him to even “dash his foot against the stone.” But that is the view of another character, and Jesus makes that plain. If we had forgotten, the language that the author employs brings us right back to the earlier scene of Christ in the wilderness - tempted by the devil with power, wealth, invincibility and control. Every time, Christ turns it down for that which is genuine.

In this passage, Jesus seems to expel more emotion at Peter than he ever did with the devil. And perhaps we are to pay attention to this… not necessarily because of any sense of condemnation, but to receive the urgency within it.

Within Christ, there is a sincere understanding of calling. There is a sense of calling to teach, reveal, and embody the love of God and to be as true to this as possible - even when there’s risk and cost.

Christ is trying to be faithful to the calling. Peter can’t accept it.

Peter is holding on to an idea and a hope that Christ will be something else. Maybe it is like the vision offered to Jesus in the wilderness, or maybe it is closer to the image of the Messiah within the Jewish tradition. Either way, it is an image that does not and cannot include suffering. Peter is holding on to an image of God that is actually interrupting the real image of God before him.

This is what leads Jesus to speak the words that contain the essence of the gospel…

“For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?”
— Matthew 16.25-26

Peter is certain that he knows who God is, what God is doing, and where he stands in all of this. Until he isn’t. Peter is holding on to something that he must now let go of. Peter must lose this, or he will be left only holding onto an idea and an illusion, not the genuine.

What is God trying to do before and within us?

Are we willing to let go of our ideas of who God should be and what God should be doing?

Are we willing to let go of our ideas of who we are in relation to the image of God we have held?

These very questions hold the possibility of a radical deconstruction/conversion/rebirth and so we can have some grace with ourselves as we receive the questions. These are not easy questions. They are not questions that just pass us by. They are perennial within the life of faith and a faith community, and there is some urgency to it all - that the questions are worthy of us.

There is always threat and risk in losing - a cost to the self that often involves some portion of identity and spirit. And, there is something beyond the loss. Something that is found only after we have let go and lost.

What must we let go of, in order to discover the genuine?

Let us honor and wrestle with these faithful questions to be ever more faithful to God, ourselves, and one another.

Peace,

Rev. Chris McCreight

Manuscript and Video of the sermon, “Finders Keepers”

In Our Church and Community:

Food and Resource Drive for our Haitian Neighbors in Springfield:

There are many ways to help our siblings in Springfield, and one way that the church is helping is by holding a food drive to provide groceries. Foods can be dropped off in the kitchen of the sanctuary building or brought to the worship service this coming Sunday, September 6th. The collections will be delivered the following week.

Community “HillFest” at Hiram College on Monday, September 7 from 6-9pm

Our Contemplative Services will return on Wednesdays, beginning September 9th @ 5:30pm

It was so good to host The Hiram Rapids Stumblers this last Sunday evening for Hiram Village’s Summer Concert Series. Partnering with the Parks and Recreation Board, we’ve offered the sanctuary as a “rain location” for these concerts. It’s a gift to be able to host and use this phenomenal space in all the ways that serve our community.

Hiram College is organizing a Community Choir and Community Band Ensemble:

Along the Way

Along the Way

Relationships, Partnerships, and Friendsihps

Community and Blessing

A couple of weeks ago, we noticed a gentleman out and about in the Village. He was wearing a sunhat and sunglasses, and carrying a small can of paint and a paint brush. Moving along a path that been known but undistinguished, he proceeded about and painted a light-blue stroke of paint along trees and poles with great care - the color of distinction of the Buckeye Trail.

After years of work from Hiram Village, the Buckeye Trail now moves into and through Hiram. And because of the church’s generosity and partnership, the Trail also moves into and through the grounds of Hiram Christian Church.

From the South, the Buckeye Trail merges with the path through the native meadow and into the parking lot. It moves north across the lot and then West at the corner. There are at least four blue stripes on the church grounds - markers and guides for hikers to continue on.

It’s a wonderful development, and telling of all that we can do to help others find and continue on their way.

Ideas and conversation. Time and energy. Negotiation and persuasion. Gift and sacrifice. Hospitality and care.

It’s part of what we do as a people of hospitality and as fellow sojourners; part of what we do as the Church.

I hope that you’ll come and admire this fresh paint around town and on our grounds. And I hope that you’ll take a moment to reflect and remember who has helped provide the markers and prepare the path for you. I hope you’ll take a moment to offer gratitude, and then consider what we as Hiram Christian Church are doing and may still do to prepare the way for others and encourage us all as we proceed along.

Blessings in your coming and going, and along all the paths you encounter this Summer.

Rev. Chris McCreight


The video recording of the sermon, “You’re Doing Great” is not available due to some absolutely perfect visitation from one of our young people, but the manuscript can be found here.

In Our Church and Community:

Our neighbors in Springfield face an incredibly vulnerable experience now without Temporary Protection Status. If you are able and wanting to contribute some gift to help at this time, consider this ministry.



For such a time as this...

For such a time as this.

Perhaps you have been brought into your position for now.

I stand by the idea that it would be suitable (and hilarious) to sidle up next to someone in the grocery store who is deliberating over what coffee to buy and whisper, “perhaps you have come into your position for just such a time as this?”

There’s something about the beautiful suggestion of Mordecai that is to be recited even among the seemingly trivial moments and experiences of life. Perhaps then - with repetition - the question would nurture and facilitate a presence within us - discernment and agency. Perhaps this is the practice not just of coming into the role, but into who God is calling us to be: from the grocery aisles to our homes to our work and service.

What is also interesting about the scripture is that the Hebrew is best interpreted not as “time,” but as “crisis.” As in, “perhaps you have come into your position for just such a crisis as this.” Which is all to say that God can and does work for good, liberation, and salvation at all times and in all places, and invites us into the work - even and especially in crises such as these.

So, whether we begin in the grocery aisle or as we are preparing to volunteer our service or whether we are facing a family crisis at home or confronting the multiple crises within our world such as the fate of our Haitian neighbors in Springfield, we can recite and remember the words of Mordecai to help keep us present and prepared to offer ourselves to the sacred work before us.

Let us continue to be Christ’s Church,

Rev. Chris McCreight

p.s. And to be sure, accepting the call does not mean performing the service entirely alone. We are here to help one another. Your “yes” may also entail asking others for help. Your “yes” may be responding to help a friend address their time or crisis.

If you are searching for a way to help our Haitian neighbors in Springfield, consider:

  • Calling Governor DeWine’s office to express your concern and hopes.

  • Contact the Haitian Community Help and Support of Springfield.

  • Contact the White House to express your concern and hopes.

  • Connect with friends and family you know in the Springfield area to see what can be done.

Manuscript and Video to the sermon, “For such a time as this…”

In Our Church and Community:

Church Brunch on Sunday, July 12

More from Rev. Chris:

I will be taking some vacation from July 8-15th. Rev. Nancy Dunn will be preaching at Hiram on Sunday, July 12th!

To Bless the Space Between Us

CVNP

The late poet and theologian, John O’Donohue described the art of blessing as a word of grace and encouragement to aid us in the crossing of a threshold from one place to another, one role to another, one time to another. As we’ve formally crossed from Spring to Summer, and as this season holds an abundance of invitations to step away from our routine commitments and patterns, a word that might call us outward and carry us until we return to each other again. And so here, a blessing for the season and the travel we may take, even if we never leave the county.

Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.
 
New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.
 
When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:
 
How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.
 
When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.
 
A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.
 
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.
 
May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.
 
~ John O'Donohue ~

In Our Church and Community:

Garrettsville Summerfest!

This year’s General Assembly will be held online over July 10-11.

Transcript and Video of the sermon from Sunday, June 21st: “Bless this Mess”

This Is Us

This is us

The imperfect, flawed, and compromised. The courageous, brave, and steadfast. The commitment and loss. The hope and redemption.

Ruth has a list of “defenders” who have insisted that the third chapter of text doesn’t mean what it says it does. Steinsaltz, Ruth Rabbah, Rashi and more want us to know that there was no funny business going on between Ruth and Boaz that night when she went down to visit him and uncovered his “feet.” Perhaps they are correct and that there was no seduction or sexual intercourse occurring that evening prior to Boaz’s redeeming effort. And perhaps we are wise to welcome these defenders of Ruth for other women in our tradition do not receive this degree of character reference (it seems that women who become mothers of distinguished people in the tradition (Sarai, Ruth, Mary) are defended while others such as Mary Magdalene not only go undefended, but are defamed by the tradition). But there is something more within this story not to be defended or defamed, but simply to be accepted and honored.

The story of Naomi and Ruth is a radically complicated and complex story. It is filled with loss and suffering. Abandonment and attempt to return. Impoverishment and desperation. But that is not all (it never is). Their story is also filled with love and radical commitment. Hope and beauty. Kindness and abundance. Wisdom and cleverness. And yes, it is a story that also includes the potential of a sexual ethic that was freer than culture advised or even one that was utilized as leverage to benefit Ruth and Naomi. Must we defend? Must we defame?

It is something of a spiritual practice to move through this story accompanying Naomi and Ruth without judgment. If we have not been in such a place before, can we empathize and seek to understand? Can we reserve judgment if we believe we did make a different choice (or would have tried to make a different choice)? Can we recognize the need and perhaps limitation of choice entirely? Can we even affirm the interpretation that this was exactly what Ruth wanted and would choose time and time again?

If we can, we may be able to sense what is holy and sacred about all of this story. And if we can see it in a story, perhaps we can then see it in ourselves as well.

For how many times do we review the story of our lives and quickly begin to defend ourselves with a litany of interpretations or reasons other than the genuine? We can defend our stories to the point of dismissing what is right in front of us. We can also defame ourselves too, judging ourselves more harshly than anyone else. But what if we could look upon our lives and story with honesty, accept and honor it all with grace, living not with perfection but with intention and care?

What a gift this would be to ourselves.

What a gift this would be to others.

Indeed, this is the sort of person we want to accompany us!

The story and journey of Naomi and Ruth not only model for us what it may look like to move through life together, but through a non-judgmental reading, it can shape us and prepare us to live with and accompany others. May we continue to be Christ’s Church, welcoming and accompanying one another all the way through this blessed journey.

Peace,

Rev. Chris McCreight

Manuscript and Video of the sermon, “Redeeming Behavior”

In Our Church and Community:

Garrettsville Farmers’ Market: Thursday @ 4-7pm

It’s that time of year when the Farmers’ Markets are up and running. In addition to Kent’s market on Saturday mornings, Garrettsville hosts a wonderful market on Thursday afternoon/evenings. Stop by to enjoy the time with friends and neighbors, and consider shopping at this and/or other markets to support our farmers.

Hiram Arts: Open Art Studio Saturday @ 1-3pm

Bring a project you are working on or try out something new. This is not a class, it is a space and time to try something you are interested in, hang out with and get to know people in your community, carve out some time for yourself. Bring a friend, have a cup of tea. See what we are about. If you do not have art supplies, come and use ours. Need suggestions about getting started, we got those too. Come and be a part of creating community through art! All are welcome.

The Hiram Farm:

Continues to welcome volunteers to participate and support the programs. Currently, there is an opportunity to help with animal care over the weekend (cows, chickens, pigs). Also, there is an opening for artists to share their creativity and guide the Farmers and Staff through a small project. Contact the Farm office @ 330-569-3441

The Church Meadow: Welcoming the Guests

Earlier this week, Isabel Kopp noticed a few guests in the emerging meadow of the church. One, two, three fawns taking rest early in the day. What a beautiful sight and what an encouraging encounter.

There are a few trails cut into the meadow for folks to walk through and observe the flora and the fauna. The next time that you’re up at the church, consider taking a few moments and a few steps through.

Beneath the Shelter of Kindness

Beneath the Shelter of kindness

I do not know that we can overestimate the scarcity, desperation, and danger that fill the landscape of Naomi and Ruth.

The integrity of the judges in Israel broke down eroding the social ethic to self-interest. Famine came and seems to have further torn at the social fabric. Hospitality and neighborliness have fallen out of favor; the cultural ethos of the land has become similar to Moab where no one asks or demands anything from anyone else. It may be another time where “the strong do what they can and the poor suffer what they must.” Boaz seems to be a man of integrity and doing his part to rebuild the ties between kin, tribe, and community, but the whole climate is harsh.

The food has run out and Naomi and Ruth are in great need. Naomi is too old to glean. Ruth is able, and she is also foreign, beautiful, and new to this. Quite simply, she is incredibly vulnerable.

Farmers did not always take kindly to gleaners, even though it was commanded to do so. If gleaners were permitted entrance into the field, they were often targeted as the more powerful understood their condition.

Ruth is not naive about any of this. And so before she goes out into the day, she says to Naomi what she may also have prayed to God:

“I would like to go to the fields and glean among the ears of grain,

behind someone who may show me kindness.”

The hope and prayer is not, “Remove this hunger from me.” It is not, “Grant us a just world now!” The desire within her is find someone out there in this field of thorns that she could trust to stand next to her. One who would look out for her as she would for them. One whose presence and heart may become something of a shield and shelter for the work to be done.

Boaz might be that answer to the prayer. But it is also answered by the maidservants. It is also answered by another gleaner - or perhaps a few of them - who put their trust in one another to take care of each other.

All of this is to say that there are critical moments in our lives when the first and most dire longing is not for everything to be made well, but for some kindness to make some small measure of the world more gentle and good. We hold that profound agency and ability to offer that kindness.

Kindness

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore, only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

~ Naomi Shihab Nye

Kindness is a gift that will be longed for, even when each and every law is just; when each and every person has integrity; even when all of creation is free to be as abundant as it can be. Even then, kindness will still be necessary. Vulnerability is a certainty. Kindness is a gift in the best of days, an how much more valuable and powerful is the gift of kindness when the landscape wanes from justice to injustice - from tranquility to hostility. Neither justice nor injustice removes the need for or the demands to offer kindness in this world this day.

As any day begins, there is someone whose greatest hope may be,

I would like to go to school…

I would like to go to work…

I would like make this day’s journey…

I would like to go back home…

behind someone who may show me kindness.

Let us not dismiss the need nor the potential of kindness to make a difference.

Let us not leave it to someone else.

Your kindness is an answered prayer.

Peace,

Rev. Chris McCreight

Manuscript and Video to the sermon, “Standing Up for Kindness”

p.s. Apologies to the listener and John Denver for my “attempt” to sing…

Welcoming Dr. Adam Smith!

What a joy it was to welcome our new organist, Adam, to worship this last Sunday. Adam and his family are still in the process of moving from Pennsylvania - so this was a special gift for him to come play and meet the congregation the day after the move!

The congregation has been blessed and enriched by the musical gifts of our pianists and organists throughout the years, most recently with Sarah Park and Drew Hinkle, as well as musical directors such as Dale Lacan and Tina Dreisbach. In addition, we are blessed by the gifts of music within the congregation who share their talents of flute, piano, violin, voice, trombone, cello, French horn, and more…

We look forward to this new partnership in ministry and to the gifts of music that enhance our worship and spirit.

With over ten years of experience serving as pianist, organist, and music director at multiple churches representing multiple denominations, Dr. Adam Smith brings a passion for inviting people into worship through music. With musical interests ranging from classical to contemporary, Adam aims to create space for diverse musical expressions. As an educator, Adam encourages and coaches others to share their musical talents and interests in worship. In addition, Adam works in higher education, focusing on professional development related to teaching. He is relocating to Northeast Ohio with his family (wife, Hsin-Yi, and daughter, Eleanor) and their Bichon Frisé, Maggie. 

Dr. Adam Smith

In Our Church and Community:

The first concert of the Summer Series.

The Church will host the concert in the event of rain.

The Life Beyond the Gesture

Beyond the Gesture

An invitation to new life.

The book of Ruth is a story about a nation enduring famine, told through the lens of one particular family: Elimelech, Naomi, and their two sons, Machlon and Kilyon. As it is with every life and story, so too the book of Ruth is lined with a wealth of complex details, each conveying some additional treasure within the story:

Geography:

Rabbi Chaim Jachter notes that Moab has a similar climate to Israel. So when the famine came to Israel, it also came to Moab. While we would understand and even expect for a family to migrate and seek refuge in another territory of abundance, this was not the case. In fact, Moab was a land and people with a historic animosity towards the Israelites - no Moabite ever offered hospitality to the Israelites when they passed through. It was so noted and remembered that it became forbidden to marry a Moabite (Deuteronomy 23.4). Elimelech, being an aristocrat with wealth and status did not seek refuge in Moab, but abandoned his hungry kinsmen and neighbors to seek “safety and security” in a land and among a people who would not ask anything of him.

Naming as Potential:

Rabbi Jachter also points out that the names of the sons, Machlon and Kilyon are filled with symbolism. Machlon may be derived from the word “machala,” which means “sickness” or it may derive from the word, “mechol,” which means “joyful dance.” Similarly, Kilyon has a dualistic derivative possibly shaped by the word, “kalah,” which means “destruction” or “va’yechal,” which means “completion.” Jachter calls our attention to the rich potential within their sons to choose and live in a way that leads one way or another. The commentary then suggests that they chose like their father, Elimelech.

More to be Said:

Rashi understands the vows of commitment made from Ruth to Naomi as a rebuttal to Naomi’s every reason why Ruth should stay in her land with her family.

For wherever you go, I shall go. From here our Rabbis of blessed memory derived that if a [prospective] proselyte comes to convert, we inform him of some of the punishments [for violating the commandments] so that is he decides to renege [from his intention to convert], he can renege; for out of the words of Rus, you can learn what Naomi said to her. [Naomi said.] “We may not venture outside the boundary [of 2000 cubits beyond city limits] on Shabbos.” She [Rus] replied to her, “For wherever you go I shall go.” [Naomi then said,] “We are prohibited to allow a woman to be secluded with a man who is not her husband.” She [Rus] replied, “Where you lodge, I will lodge.” [Naomi said,] “Our nation is separated from other nations by 613 commandments,” [and Rus replied,] “Your people are my people.” [Naomi said,] “Idolatry is forbidden to us,” [to which Rus replied,] “Your God is my God.” [Naomi then said,] “Four [types of] death penalties were delegated to Beis Din [to punish transgressors],” [and Rus replied,] “Where you die, I will die.” [Naomi continued,] “Two burial plots were delegated to Beis Din [to bury those executed], one for those stoned and those burned, and one for those decapitated and those strangled.” She [Rus] replied, “And there I shall be buried.”

What shines through within this first chapter is a firm insistence of the author that within every landscape and at every juncture of life, we have some measure of choice and agency - even if it may be small. Elimelech could have stayed and shared his wealth with his kin and neighbors, but chose to flee and hoard it all. The sons could have returned to Israel or practiced generosity in Moab, but they chose to try and keep it all too tightly, and lost it all. Orpah and Ruth could have each returned to their family to try and start over. One did and the other did not. We have a choice.

We have choice: to flee or to stay; to share or to keep. We have a choice: to live up to our name and calling, or to succumb to something much less. We have a choice: to return to the familiar or to begin anew.

Our tradition holds a defiant fist in the air at any idea of fate (resurrection anyone?) - we have a choice in the matter. And not only do we have a choice, the story of Ruth shows us just how much consequence our choices can hold.

And so we pray not to be perfect in everything as though salvation is acquired through the perfect life. But we pray to have a clarity of vision and a courage of the soul to sense and understand the choices before us, and the invitations to a richer life that may come from being faithful to God, ourselves, and one another.

Peace,

Rev. Chris McCreight

Manuscript and Video to the sermon, “The Way Back Home”

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A new installation as part of the Common Good: Inspired by Marcia Muster and created by Isabel Kopp

We’re celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of becoming an Open and Affirming congregation within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). May we continue to live into this commitment for all of God’s beloved children.

The first concert of Hiram’s series at Reigh Hadsell Park (aka “the Zip-line Park with the Gazebo”)

A Slow Burn

To move through the story of Pentecost in Acts 2 is often to come away with an image of a small gathering blessed and charged to go and fulfill Christ’s great commission. The Spirit moves through the room like the sound of a rushing wind and suddenly, divided tongues “as of fire” sat upon each of them - the apostles can hear and be heard by all peoples of the world who had gathered in Jerusalem for this festival. There is proclamation and reception, repentance and baptism - 3,000 strong.

It’s often interpreted as a story of victory. The success of the Spirit to use the apostles to make more disciples. The Church is born and already growing. Happy Pentecost.

And while this is certainly a feature of the story in the understanding of the author(s) of Luke/Acts, there is perhaps another way to view this with the help of Peter Rollins’ “Pyrotheology.”

Rollins suggests that part of the work of God and the Spirit is to burn down the walls between us and God, us and others. He encourages the Church to honor and embrace our doubts, questions, and brokenness. He is generally suspicious of certainty and answers, and so he brings all of this to the concept of evangelism and conversion and suggests that at least part of the work of the Church is not to evangelize, but to be evangelized to - not to center our understanding of the gospel, tradition, and faith, but to be de-centered from it that we may open ourselves to God.

Divided Tongues as of flame

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

~ St. Francis of Assisi

Perhaps the divide tongue that enables each of the disciples to be heard is not necessarily to speak and provide the answers, but to speak and ask questions of others. Perhaps the gift of the divided tongue is not so much to be understood, but to understand. 3,000 came for Peter’s answers. How many more may have come to engage in sacred conversation?

What could it look like for the Church to use this gift of the Spirit not to bolster our certainty and proclaim ever more of what we believe, but to ask the questions of others and listen?

We have some stories of divine revelation - burning bush, pillar of fire, and now tongues of flame. But in no case is God ever fully revealed and understood entirely. Every flame is followed by questions, journeying, trust and doubt. The flame is then perhaps not to give us the answers, but to become something like a lamp - a spirit that invites others to it, a light that allows us to see others and the world more clearly. It is to lead us outward to gradually open and refine us, to be less of who we (or the world) are so certain we are and more faithfully become who God has created and called us to be; to depart from an idea of needing to convert and transform others to our image, and to orient our hearts to serving and loving the world as it is.

So perhaps this is the work of the Spirit - a slow burn throughout our lives.

May the Spirit’s flame within your heart open your life to the fullness of God, this world, and others. May it lead you to becoming more and more of who God has created you to be. And may the Spirit guide Christ’s Church into genuine service and relationship with the world.

Peace,

Rev. Chris McCreight

Manuscript and Video to the view the sermon, “A Slow Burn”

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