Wednesday's thoughts

"Anxiety: Get Over It" Sermon for January 4, 2009

There are two basic aspects of life that make us anxious. It doesn't take much living to know that it happens to us; it happens to all of us.
1. There are things that happen to us that take us by surprise and it is difficult to know what to do with them when they happen. Unfortunate things happen. Accidents happen. Misunderstandings happen. Mistakes are made. Sometimes life is just basically unfair and we don't know what to do with what happens.
2. Compounding that is the realization that some of the things that happen have a cause and a reason. We are the victims of our own bad decisions. We are responsible for our misfortune. Maybe we didn't see it coming but when it came we used bad judgment. We can learn from this.
Sometimes things happen to us for no apparent reason at all. We don't understand why it happens; or how to deal with it now that it has happened.

What do we do with the things that happen when we don't have a good answer to the question "Why?"

I have come up with a basic truth and I think it is universally true.

We must never run from life. We must always face up to the things that happen. We have to say "yes" to life and the only way to say "yes" to life is to find the courage to stand up to life when it comes to us in ways we didn't expect and in ways we don't understand.

I think of David facing Goliath; we all have a shot at Goliath.
I think of Mary and Joseph facing their unknown future.
I think of Jesus walking into Jerusalem.
I think of all kinds of people who have learned that they must not run away but must stand up to the problems and to the unexpected.

What is the most difficult thing you have had to face? How did you face it? Did you want to run from it?

If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

By the way, Happy New Year!


Charles Schuster

Monday's thoughts

Sermon for Sunday, January 4th 2009


"Anxiety; Get Over It"
I wanted to have us begin the year looking at the kinds of things that cause us problems internally. I wanted to have us consider what makes us anxious.

The economy makes us anxious; and the potential loss of our jobs and loss of income. For some it isn't a threat it is a present reality. How do we deal with the unknown future?

Interpersonal relationships make us anxious. Why can't people just get along? Why can't people stand face to face and see eye to eye?

For some of us it is our health. There are medical issues that are unresolved and the signs are not good for a positive resolution.

For some of us life itself makes us anxious. Just being is a problem. Paul Tillich was one theologian who believed there was an existential anxiety. It comes from just being alive and the way to face it is to lean into it.

I tend to think Tillich is right about that. The best way to face our anxiety is to face it straight and deal with it directly.

Jesus said, "Do not be anxious about tomorrow."

How do we avoid anxiety? How do we face the future with confidence and hope?

If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles

Christmas Eve Thoughts

"An Email from Emmanuel"

On Christmas Eve I have responsibility for preaching at the 5 and 7 o'clock worship hours. Our adult choir will be singing and our bell choir will be playing. I should be a service full of beautiful music. At the end of the service we will turn off all our lights, light our candles, and sing "Silent Night". In the middle of the service we will be asked to ring our bells. If you have a bell bring it to the service.

The sermon is going off in two directions. I plan to look at two different aspects of the Christmas theme.

1. Why did we come? We came to see the Christ Child.
The implications of that fact are huge. It is symbolic of the fact that we, as human beings, seek new life and hope and a future. Coming to see the child is an activity we find ourselves doing frequently. Children are interesting to us. We travel great distances to see our first grandchild. We are intrigued with children. Christmas is a time to acknowledge the meaning of the search for the child.

2. Like the Magi we discover ourselves going home a different way. We may actually travel the same path but it will be different to us. Christmas will make us see things in a new way. We will leave on Sunday seeing things anew. We will go back home a new way and we will be new people as we return. We will be renewed if Christmas has the power is has the potential to possess.

I want us to think about why we have come and how we will return on Christmas Eve.

If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net.

If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Merry Christmas.


Charles Schuster





The services on Christmas Eve:


3:00 Children and family service. Joel Kershaw preaching and his sermon title, "Angels We Have Heard On High"


5:00 and 7:00



11:00 Music by the Bellacordia String Quartet

Friday's thoughts

"What Color is a White Christmas?"

There are two parts to the meaning of Christmas and both are important. The first is the human part of Christmas. That involves all the stories and myths we create; all the extravagance we engage to try to make the season joyous. It involves the lights we put up and the Santa Claus and the parties and presents and shopping and opening presents. That part is an effort on our part to face the darkness with the light of joy and hope.

The second part of the meaning of Christmas is the God part. It's not about white/light it's about the Glow of God and the warmth that the deep meaning of the Christmas brings. It is subtle and quiet. It is slow and it is a glow. It brings us to the point where we realize we are part of something more important than words can say; more dramatic than the colors can convey.

There are two parts of Christmas;
1. The human part of Christmas -- the bright lights
2. The divine part of Christmas -- the warm glow

I hope you have experienced or will experience both.

Do you have thoughts on this subject?
Write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net.

If you are willing to share your thoughts with others click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles

Wednesday's thoughts

"What Color is a White Christmas?"

You can't avoid it if you look around you see it. Lights are on the houses and it appears to be more this year than any other year. On the street where we live the only way you could pick out house out from the others is the fact that there are so many lights on the other houses, our house is dark in comparison.

What's going on here? Why, when we are in a recession, are people willing to be extravagant in the era of Christmas lights?

I think it is wrapped around the whole idea of the romance of a White Christmas. I think the lights are part of our human impulse to fix what is broken. We have a need to brighten up the dark areas in the world with the light of the world.

We have a need to shed light on the problems and to help make things better.

If it's broken relationships we want to repair them and we make our homes as inviting as possible.

If it's a broken economy we want to brighten up the neighborhood so that the spirits of the people who travel through them can see that things that are broken can be fixed.

What drove the shepherds and the magi to the manger to see the Christ Child if not a human hope that this child could make things better?

How have you decorated your home and, when you think about it, what is your motivation to do it? If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others see your responses click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles

Monday's thoughts

"What Color is a White Christmas?"
Talk about picking the right theme for the wrong Sunday; this is an example of it.
It's Sunday morning, December 14Th, and it's snowing like hard and we have cancelled the van that picks up Retirement Home residents for church and we have cancelled the bus trip to see the lights. It is a "white out" and if this were Christmas Eve we would have the potential of a "White Christmas".

The sermon I have in mind to preach next Sunday deals with the idealistic expectations that Christmas puts upon us. I intend to explore the positive and negative aspects of that Christmas factor.

There is something wonderful in the expectations that build toward Christmas day. The idea of a "White Christmas" is appealing and exciting. We all remember when there was a big snow at Christmas a few years ago. It was the year Christmas Eve was Sunday and we had our services in the morning and our Candle lighting services in the evening. There was a spirit of fun that day as people gathered. Somehow we didn't mind the cold and the snow. There is a kind of romantic aspect of Christmas that seems to be evidenced in our wish that there be snow on Christmas.

But the high expectations of Christmas also lead to its downfall. The romanticism gives was to the realism of Christmas and to the understanding that, whatever it was, it will end, and life will pretty much get back to what it was with very little change.

People build their expectations and then are down caste when Christmas doesn't live up.

I want to do a sermon on Christmas expectations.

What are your expectations for Christmas?
How has Christmas let you down in the past?

If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net.
If you are willing to have others read your response click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles

Friday's thoughts

Sunday at 9:15 and 10:45 the adult choir is singing the "Gloria" by John Rutter. My short sermon will be designed to lead into that wonderful piece of music. At 8 and 11:30 we will not have the adult choir singing and I have written two sermons for Sunday morning.

One of the sermons exposes the peculiarities of each of the sections of an adult choir (especially ours), and the other sermon is directed to the struggle for meaning through the illness and death of a child as grief yields to glory.

I have done some research on John Rutter. He was born in 1945 and is still living. He was an only child for the first 10 years of his life. He is ten years older than his sister.

His father was a scientist and his grandfather was an engineer. I haven't read much about his mother except that she introduced him to the piano which was in their home in England. He had little formal training on the piano and mainly picked out melodies by himself. Thus, he learned to play for the ear and not follow the dictates of a highly structured technique.

He struggled the talent he had to compose music and his need to direct it. I think he found the need to do both.

I have listened to our choir practicing the "Gloria". It is lively, and powerful and I hope to be able to do something in a sermon that will add meaning to their work so that it is an appropriate compliment.

If you have thoughts about the church, the economy, Rutter's music, or anything else write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your response click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles

Wednesday's thoughts

"Gloria's God"

Short sermons are more difficult than long ones to write. Probably the reverse is true in terms of which are easiest for the hearer, but for the writer and preacher a short sermon is hard.

I am writing a short sermon this week. That means it will be 13 minutes rather than the usual 20. The candle we light Sunday is the Candle of Joy. The choir will sing John Rutter's "Gloria".

I am picking up on two themes that, I hope, will bring together the beauty and meaning of the music and the significance of the Advent season.

Our choir, and we, ourselves, seek to find ways to give God glory, but how do we do that? What does it mean to glorify God in a world like this? Is this an activity that is alien to the way we live our lives or the work we do or the way we do it?

Is giving God glory more than just living right or doing the right thing?

I think it begins with ethics but it moves beyond that. It move from ethics to aesthetics. It moves from lifestyle to art. We give glory to God when we learn to make our lives "a statement" of what we believe and who we are. We give God glory when what we do and how we do it evolves into style and class, and that becomes something we don't have to think about; we just do it. It comes so naturally that we cannot help ourselves and it becomes a part of our identity.

There are several manifestations of giving glory to God.
1. It looks beyond ourselves
2. It sees beyond our furthest vision
3. It reaches beyond our immediate concern
4. It defines us as human but puts us in touch with the eternal.
5. It is never overt but always subtle. It is never done for show but always a natural expression of faith.

Advent is a time to hear the angels sing and to figure a way to give God glory. It isn't just a religious activity; it's more than that.

What does it mean to you to give God glory? If that isn't the way you would say it (and frankly, it isn't the way I talk) what alternative description might be used. If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your response click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles

Monday's thoughts

"Gloria's God"
Sunday the adult choir will sing Rutter's Gloria. It takes 17 minutes and that gives me about 12 minutes to share a message with you for the third Sunday of Advent.

The third Sunday the Advent Candle that we light is pink and the theme is joy. What better way to express our joy than with an expression that includes "glory to God"!

For now, what I'm thinking I want to do with my time is to take a look at each of the sections in the adult choir and to consider what they bring and which character in the Christmas story they each represent. As a choir requires all the voices to bring the harmony, so, with the Christmas story, it takes all the characters to get the truth conveyed.

The Christmas story is one that is filled with villains and heroes and there is question as to which is which. For example, is the Inn Keeper a hero or a villain? He did provide a place for Mary and Joseph but it was in the back of the Inn in the stable. Was Herod a villain? Were the Magi, in their strangeness, aware of the importance of the birth of the Christ Child?

Did Mary and Joseph realize what was happening to them and through them.

Where are we in the Christmas story? What would our script say? Would we play the part of the angels or the shepherds?

Each of us will want to find our place in the drama. Are we sopranos, altos, bass, tenors?

Where do we find ourselves?

Are we in the play at all?

If not, it's not too late?

Do you have thoughts on this subject? If so write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others read your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles

Friday's thoughts (On Saturday)

All week I have tried to come to terms with the problem of history and text. I find very few scholars who can verify some of the facts as presented by Luke in the story. The census is a problem. Having Mary and Joseph have to make the trip to Bethlehem is a problem. If a trip had to be made the idea that a pregnant woman would be required to come is a problem. That is just the beginning of the various problems posed by the Christmas story.

I have determined that Luke is using some historical events transposed into the time of the birth of Jesus to convey to us the conditions in which this birth happened. That it didn't happen exactly as suggested does not deflect the general point that is being made; points that are being made.

Luke is telling us three things:

1. Jesus' birth was surrounded by chaos. There was much in those days that was not the way it was supposed to be.
2. Jesus' birth was punctuated by signs that were above and beyond what most people knew and the 'God element' of the story was the realization of the cosmos of the story; or the way it was supposed to be.
3. The implication of the story of Jesus' birth and the implication of Jesus' life and teaching is this; when cosmos confronts chaos, there is the potential of catharsis. The pointing to catharsis happened at the table and we celebrate communion every month, but, in a more dramatic way, it is evident in the prayer Jesus prayed when he said, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

That part of the Lord's Prayer is not just a bit of Christian spirituality it is the imperative that calls us to our mission. Our job as Christians is to take things that are not as they should be and make them what they must become.

How do we do it? What does it mean?
It is central to our faith and our mission. If you have thoughts on this subject write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to have others see and respond to you as well click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster

Wednesday's thoughts

"Why Did Joseph Have to Take a Number?"

It seems clear to me that we have a historical problem but we have a theological solution. Most scholars do not accept the idea that a census happened the way Luke 2 suggests it happened.

Raymond Brown, in his book, Introduction to the New Testament, writes:
"The setting for the birth of Jesus is supplied by the decree of Caesar Augustus for a census of the whole world, the first enrollment when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Historically this description is fraught with problems: There never was a census of the whole Empire under Augustus (but a number of local census), and the census of Judea (not of Galilee) under Quirinius, the governor of Syria, took place in AD 6-7, probably at least ten years too late for the birth of Jesus. The best explanation is that, although Luke likes to set his Christian drama in the context of well-known events from antiquity, sometimes he does so inaccurately. Theologically, by associating Jesus' birth with the decree of Augustus, Luke is introducing a divine plan that will culminate when Paul proclaims the Gospel in Rome (Acts 28). The events Luke will describe actually took place in a small town in Palestine, but by calling them Bethlehem the city of David and setting them in a Roman census, Luke symbolizes the importance of those events for the royal heritage of Israel and ultimately for the world Empire. The announcement of angels, "To you this day is born in the city of David a Savior who is Messiah and Lord" (Luke 2:11), is imitative of an imperial proclamation. If Augustus is portrayed in inscriptions as a great savior and benefactor, Luke is portraying Jesus as even a greater one. This is an event on the cosmic stage, as the angelic multitude underlines by affirming glory to God in heaven and peace on earth."

There is a cosmic quality to the story and that is more important than the historical accuracy. There is a God quality to the story. Christmas is a heavenly event more than it is historical. It is a theological event and not a documental circumstance.

As strange as this seems to us we, too, live on this level from time to time. It is the area of intuition, of meditative introspection. It is a higher kind of logic than we usually employ. It is the logic of the heart.

Part of the reason Christmas has such appeal to us is the Cosmic Christmas; and what can be seen above and beyond the earth. Christmas is a heaven thing.

I expect we all look at Christmas this way. There are aspects of our experience that defy logic; elements of the story that transcend our understanding. Andrew Greeley wrote, 'Christmas is the surprise of light coming back, Easter the surprise of spring returning. Our faith is the ability to be open to surprises."

What do you think the surprises will be this year? How does the cosmic Christmas speak to you?

If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to let others read and respond to your thoughts click on the box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles