Dear Friends in Christ,

Halfway through Advent, I’m wondering how your preparations for Christmas are coming along. I don’t mean decorating, baking, shopping, wrapping, entertaining, or any one of a hundred other “external” tasks.  Rather, I’m wondering how you are inside – where your heart beats and your mind wanders.  For these constitute what Christian Christmas touches.  

On Christmas Eve, we shall sing, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”  In it, we sing “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.”  Many interpret this line as geography about a literal birth of a baby named Jesus in Bethlehem.  But really, we’re singing about our hopes and fears – wherever we have lived or live – and how these are met in the “eternal and everywhere” love of God in Christ.  

Which is why several church members and I are preparing a special time, sometimes called a Blue Christmas service. You may think this service, scheduled for next Wednesday evening, is for those who are especially sad at this time of year, but it’s really for anyone having any kind of hard time coming to – and experiencing – this season’s ultimate gifts of the Spirit: the hope, joy, peace, and love that constitute God’s divine holiness coming in a human being – and through any human-being that follows his Way. 

In a time of year when we may be prone to the gravity of our personal feelings pulling us down – as well as in a year in which a “fog of malaise” permeates our society and our breath, I invite you to join us next Wednesday night “in between the hopes and fears of all your years.”  In doing so, perhaps, you’ll be more prepared to receive – and experience – the gift of Christmas itself – in spite of it all.   

Blessings of Advent Preparation for a More Than a Merry Christmas,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,
Remember Irving Berlin’s, I’m dreaming of a White Christmas? It was first sung by Bing Crosby in 1942 followed by many others, and it was one of my favorite pop Christmas songs as a kid. After all, I liked winter’s snow. It was good for building snow forts, making snowmen, tunneling into, sliding on, and throwing balls at friends – not to mention cancellations of school!

But, when Barb and I moved to Phoenix, singing this song seemed strange. I mean: have you ever seen snow falling on cacti when temperatures are in the 70’s? I have – in a Peanuts’ cartoon and on occasional instances when an unusually cold low-pressure system would drop snow on the upper elevations of the mountains surrounding Phoenix. Still it never seemed quite right singing this song in Arizona’s “sun valley!”

Today, I enjoy listening to most any rendition of this song because it gets me to thinking about dreaming. Which is what being a Christian, especially in the Advent season, is all about. This year, in particular, when our society and the world are awash in winds of change, chaos, and conflict, I’m dreaming about much more than a “white Christmas.” How about you?

Whatever constitutes your dream life these days, we’ll be considering dreams and dreaming in our sermon regarding this aspect of Advent stewardship when we worship on this upcoming Sunday.

Blessings of Advent Preparation for a More Than a Merry Christmas,
Pastor Ed

Dear Members and Friends,

Those of you who heard our sermon on the last Sunday of Pentecost heard me say in effect, “While it’s beginning to look and sound a lot like Christmas outside our walls, I’m not yet ready to celebrate it because we haven’t even come to a most wonderful holiday of the year, a holiday for the soul:  Thanksgiving!”  (How’s that for a one-sentence summary of a sermon?) 

And, when we gather on this upcoming Sunday for worship, I still won’t be ready because Christmas isn’t meant to be a holiday we simply “come to.”  Rather it’s an incredible holiday that we “prepare for.”  Which is why we’ve been given the season of Advent on the Christian calendar.  Its purpose is to give us time to prepare for receiving the greatest gift of Christmas: the new life of Jesus, our Christ!  

So, it is, we’ll begin preparing, and not just for Christmas Day, but for Christmastide, the season of Christmas.  Yes, just as Christmas doesn’t come the day after Halloween when all the decorations are rolled out in stores and online, neither does Christmas come on December 25^th, the day after Santa Claus comes down the chimney.  For, Christmas is more than our rituals, whether commercial-based or family-based.  Christmas is the very love of God come into our hearts!  And, it’s an elusive thing. 

If you don’t believe me, or have wonderings about all this, stay tuned.  For we have preparations to make.  Meanwhile, I hope you have a Blessed Thanksgiving Day – and week!

Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,
Many summers ago, I spent a three week vacation in the Sierra-Nevada mountains putting in “sweat equity” on our friends’ vacation house – a home in which we shared many good times over 30 years of friendship. Toward the end of a third 15 hour work-day, their son, who had stopped working with me for the day at 4 pm, asked, “Ed, why are you doing this?” “One word,” I replied, “Gratitude.”

Now, given the look on his face, I don’t think he quite understood me. But, maybe, you do?

Gratitude has undergirded my decision-making in life. Gratitude is the reason I worked in social services and, then, responded to a sense of being called to church ministry. Gratitude has motivated my volunteering of time and energy to community service organizations. Gratitude has led me to make substantive financial contributions to the church and charitable agencies. I am, simply, grateful for life and moved to give to life in return. How about you?

The ancient Roman scholar, Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” Contemporary motivational speaker and leadership consultant, Anthony Robbins, says, “When we are grateful, fear disappears, and abundance appears.”

In this season of Thanksgiving, may you experience fear’s dissipation through your giving of yourself and all your resources. And, then, may abundances of all good kinds appear before your eyes!

Blessings of a Joyful Thanksgiving,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,
November is not my favorite month on the calendar. It’s an “in-between” month. When I was a kid it was a less exciting time between Halloween and Christmas, costume-wearing and candy, Christmas and toys! Now it’s a barren time between colorful foliage and snow-covered branches. It’s a stark, barren time filled with shades of tan and gray when the skeletons of trees and bushes have been laid bare. It can be a little depressing to the eye.

But, spiritually, it’s a reminder that blessings, as the saying goes, can come “in disguise.” November is a leaner time of easily appreciated pleasures. It’s a time of waning sunlight and scarcer warmth when basking in these gives way to turning on indoor lights, turning up thermostats and sitting by a fire or a heater.

November is a faith-builder. For what’s a faith for if not for trusting, discovering, and “seeing” that good things sometimes come wrapped in under-appreciated, and even un-comfortable, clothing?

Emerging November exposures culminate in Thanksgiving dinner tables topped with an abundance of mouth-watering foods that are surrounded by friends and family, blessed traditions – and memories of Thanksgivings past.

Whenever I complained too much about “how little I had,” my mother would say to me, “Edward, count your blessings. Her’s was a reminder not so much to literally count things as it was a pointer to this spiritual truth: in any fleeting moment of experience and feeling, we likely already have more blessings than we know.

When not in any of your “most wonderful times of the year”, may “November blessings” appear to you,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,

It’s actually a more or less “usual week” in this age. For, sociologists have called ours the “Age of Anxiety.” And, during any given week, many people are experiencing anxiety.

But wait a minute! People have been feeling anxious for a long, long time! How do I know? I read the Bible!

Yes, ancient characters of Scripture – and people of old – experienced anxiety. The author of the 55th Psalm, presumably a civic leader, maybe even King David, expressed anxiety over enemies telling lies and threatening his life. Famously, the author of the 23 rd Psalm spoke of his faith’s calming effect on his anxiety, writing, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil.”

And, Jesus encountered anxiety in his followers which occasioned his asking, “What can your worry add to your life?” And, then, he added, consider the quality and strength of God’s love.

Indeed! If we’re anxious about the coming days in our nation (And, why shouldn’t we be – given the egregious conduct of some of our political leaders, candidates, and their followers?), – we ought wonder what we may bring today to our feelings by virtue of our faith. And, then perhaps we ought discuss it with one another as well as pray about it together!

It’s all a part of our stewardship, our care for God’s creation! And, who knows what helpful gifts – in words and deeds – we might bring to others and our society as well as ourselves? Who knows?

Blessings of Peace,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,

Our days are “numbered.” In my 40 years of being a pastor, I have officiated at over 500 funerals of persons ranging in age from a few hours to 107 years – or as the deceased’s 84-year-old daughter said at her mother’s funeral: “107 – and a half – years!”

We never know “the length” of our days. But, of living, a fictional death-row character, prison guard, Paul Edgecomb, played by Tom Hanks in the 1999 movie, “The Green Mile,” said: “Everyone owes life one death.”

This debt is sobering at best. But living with it need not be! Especially for those who harbor a faith’s trust upon hearing Jesus say to his followers, “Do not let your hearts be troubled” (for) “in my Father’s house, there are many dwelling places,” (and in) “a little while, you will no longer see me, but then, again, a little while later, you will see me.” (John 14:1 & 16:16)

Now, how about you and your faith’s trust? How do you experience living in the face of our common human destiny – or, as Tom Hank’s character puts it, our “debt.”

Whatever your experience and your answer, on this upcoming Sunday, All Saints and All Souls’ Sunday, we’ll be “eating and drinking” while remembering those who’ve paid their “debt” – including Jesus and Paul who each had something to say about life and living in the face of dying and death.

I hope to see you worshipping this Sunday,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ, 

It’s the middle of the most important season of a church’s administrative life: pledging season!  It’s the time when you are asked to consider your financial commitment to the church.

Your stewardship of money and giving are especially critical during this time. As has been said, “money makes the world go round.”  It’s a way of acknowledging that money is vital for most endeavors in life including church ministry.  And, while it’s true, as has been said and sung, money can’t buy happiness or love, it can fund love.  And, in and through the church, money continually funds Christian love.   

Your stewardship and giving are especially critical at this time because there are fewer givers committed to  church-giving today.  If you want to fund similar amounts of love that you have in the past, you’re called to grow in your giving.  It’s a matter of simple math – as well as spiritual practice.  

But, of course, giving isn’t simple. It’s hard.  Giving affects one’s purse, budget, and feelings.  Giving can be rewarding, but it can also be anxiety-provoking – especially if you’re challenging yourself to give more money.  Giving can be – as well as feel – risky.  It can make us feel vulnerable, and it requires courage and trust.   

The good news is this: there are ways to mitigate the anxiety of contemplating giving more, and there are sound methods for increasing one’s giving.  These include pledging (which can be adjusted), proportional giving, (percentage-based),  giving incrementally more each year, and estate planning.  I know because I embarked on a journey when young to become a tither – a giver of 10% of my income, and, over a period of 18 years, I increased my giving by 8700%!   And, when I die, at least a tenth of any remaining assets will go to churches and other charitable organizations. 

Now, maybe tithing doesn’t seem realistic for you, but surely, some percentage of giving does.  So I encourage you to set a percentage goal this year.  Then, each year increase your percentage giving incrementally to the degree you’re able.  And, don’t leave out your will or trust.  If you follow these strategies of faith, imagine what might happen.  And, then, imagine even more – because, before I embarked on my journey of faith, I never came close to realizing how much money I could give, let alone how rewarding – and powerfully freeing, it would be!

Blessings of Giving Proportionally,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,
Regularly, I read obituaries published in the Nashua Telegraph. Increasingly, I see people I’ve known and, sometimes, loved. And, after I read, I remember the person who’s died. It’s my way of honoring their precious, unique lives.

I’ve been reading obituaries and doing this for a long time. Maybe it’s because I’m a pastor who has officiated at many funerals and memorial services. Or, maybe, it’s me. My father died when I was five. And, I missed him a lot. Perhaps you, for your own reasons, read obituaries and remember persons as a way of honoring their lives, too.

Whatever your habits with respect to remembering and honoring those who’ve lived and died, there are two important dates coming on the calendar: All Saints’ Day, November 1st and All Souls’ Day, November 2nd. All Saints’ Day, celebrated on November 1st, is for remembering saints and martyrs of Christian history. All Souls’ Day, celebrated on November 2nd is for commemorate those who have died after living a notable life of Christian faith.

On Sunday, November 3rd we’ll mark both dates’ spirit. We’ll remember the saints of our lives and members of Christian faith who’ve died during the recent past. If you’d like to honor a “saint” or “soul” you carry in your heart during our worship, please email the name of your loved one to Bridget (mail@fcc-salem.org) by Monday, October 28th. Please include the year of death if you know it, and we’ll publish the name(s) in our worship bulletin as well as remember the person(s) in our prayer.

Blessings of Remembering Love and Loved Ones,
Pastor Ed

Dear Friends in Christ,

Next Sunday we celebrate this Thursday’s Ascension Day, the 40^th day after Easter, (Recall any other associations with the number 40?).  It’s an intriguing day when we remember that the once upon-a-time earthbound Jesus returns to heaven.  Luke reports that “while he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.” (Luke 24:5).  Later, in the first chapter of Acts (verse 9), he offers another image: “as they were watching, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”  As a kid, I had my own version.  I imagine Jesus as like an Estes model rocket blasting-off and zooming upward into the sky!  

Taken literally this story seems unlikely history and more likely fantasy.  That’s why I now understand it metaphorically.  And, I’m in very good company.  Of Jesus’ Ascension, Christian scholar, and great teacher, Professor Marcus Borg wrote of Ascension Day in a blog almost 20 years ago:

          For Christians  past and now, it meant and means that Jesus is now with God, indeed “at God’s right hand” and “one with God.”  These affirmations have two primary dimensions of meaning.  Like the traditions of ancient  Israel and Judaism, they are religious and political, spiritual and social. First, Ascension Day proclaims the lordship of Christ. To say that the risen and ascended Jesus is “at God’s right hand,” a position of honor and authority, means “Jesus is Lord.”  In the first century, when kings and emperors claimed to be lords, this claim had not only religious but also political meaning.  To say “Jesus is Lord” meant, and means, that the Herods and Caesars of this world were not, and are not God.

          Second, because the risen and ascended Jesus is “one with God,” he (like God) can be experienced anywhere. Jesus is no longer restricted or confined to time and space, as he was during his historical lifetime. Rather, like the God whom he knew in his own experience, he continues to be known in the experience of his followers.

          To use language from Matthew’s Gospel, for Christians the risen and ascended Christ is Immanuel: “God with us.” (For Borg’s entire reflection, see: https://www.beliefnet.com/faiths/christianity/2000/05/the-ascension-of-jesus.aspx)

Now, I find in Borg’s expression an ongoing miracle of God more believable, more meaningful, more inspiring and more powerful than any magic moment of literal understanding.  But… how about you?

Blessings of Ascension Day,  

Pastor Ed