USH-Enews Supplement 012209

BJ’s Testimonial 1 - 4 - 09

I am honored to participate by sitting in the pew today,
and giving my own testimonial from the pulpit as one of you might on occasion.

John’s piano skill is a gift to us. It is helping us to fulfill the USH 2002 Strategic Plan in which you asked for more diversity in musical styles in worship. How many of you have wished to learn to play the piano well, and today you cannot?

Looking back, there are things we wish we’d been exposed to and encouraged to do or be…become.

James Hillman writes that by the alchemy of biology and environment,
there is some….soul coding in us,
some ontological seed of beingness that yearns to evolve into more mature versions of the unique characters we are designed to be.

Some of us chose our parents well…like Van Cliburn, whose mother plopped him on the piano bench before he could walk,
and kept him there, until he got it.

Others of us find ourselves on the bench later in life,
full of experience which enhances our piano playing.
Our lives are never wasted. We are each, right where we are
supposed to be, a seed evolving at its own pace.

Beverly Spence wrote a piece for the “Messenger” around 2003
about a book she was researching for "small group ministry" programs entitled Callings—she reported that we each are called,
called toward or away, called into or out of.

I was introduced to one of my callings as a child. It goes like this:
“Go ye therefore and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the father, son, and holy ghost,
teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you, and
lo, I am with you always , even to the end of the world.”

It helps to have something simple like that,
to reflect on through the years,
Go-- actively, never stopping, across all space.
Teach the good that you’ve been taught, and keep subjecting yourself
to the friendly discipline of learning so you can teach more.
Baptize in the name of good—Welcome and Empower others with rituals of friendly support, giving name to that good in them.

I am with you--We are never alone, across all of space and through all of time, our lives never wasted.

I am honored to be pastor to the folks who planned today's experience, folks with clear callings. Under the leadership of great souls like Bill LB, Carolyn Cartland, passionate and loving personalities like Edith Savage, relentless pioneers like Joan Kemble, huge hearts like Tom Kemble, and willing hands like Bev Prager, USH is being blessed with programs like the Green Sanctuary, a model which other social responsibility projects could well emulate.

Today you may be inspired to join some of them in their calling.
Or, your calling of the season or your life may be totally different,
not related to any organized social responsibility program.

Which ever is the case, we can be inspired to greater faithfulness to
our own callings by seeing the zeal and joy of others
being faithful to theirs. That might be part of the reason you come to church some Sundays—to witness ME being all excited about my own calling to preach!

A caution is in order however.
It's easy when caught up in a personal calling to forget that
it’s not for everyone, easy to shout “woe unto you”
if you don’t do likewise.

I know because I’ve done that a few times here, and regret that some of you have been hurt by my zeal to bring in the kingdom of god as I see it.

Happily, this is a safe place where we can make mistakes, be forgiven, and try again.

Our social responsibility folks push too hard sometimes, then
We yearn to act ugly, as my mother used to say, in response.

This creates a tension well known and much discussed in our denomination because we are a people of the great commission—
and being critical thinkers, we interpret what it means in many ways
beyond the traditional meaning.

But, because USH is a greenhouse, which helps us to grow in spirit,
we can choose instead of acting ugly, to practice virtues that
mature us—like counting to 10 then walking away,
or giving loving feedback about how we feel when our need for
self-determination is not honored.

Fortunately, as we are each faithful to our own callings, clear
about what we are responsible for, their pushing bothers us less.

A deep study of our individual callings
would help us with a critical issue before the congregation,
how we will evolve during the years I am your minister.

The author of the book Callings might come help us on June 7,
preach and do a workshop on callings that afternoon.

Do you want more clarity, more direction about the larger purpose of your life beyond getting through the day?
Might you come on June 7, if cost were not an issue?
Would you raise your hand if so, and hold it up for a moment?

I took this book to the Sahara desert for a silent pilgrimage,
And studied it for 12 days. It changed my life.

Mr. Levoy needs a number of attendees before he agrees to come.
Dear friends, will you go check your calendar, and please send me an email right away if you will come, or will sponsor someone else to come.

Let us know of any comments, errors and corrections - thanks (revised 0/00/00)