Annoucements 07.18.10

The mission of the Blue Point Congregational Church is to foster individual and group spiritual fulfillment through fellowship, Christian education and community outreach in the tradition of the Congregational Church and the United Church of Christ.

Come early Sunday at 9 am to hear some favorite “old chestnuts” played before the service and the choir will come out of summer R&R and sing an anthem.

Rev Peggy Dunn is with us for the summer. Come join us and Rev Peggy.

Sunday July 25 again come early and “Bach’s Alarm Clock”  wake up at 9 am to BACH!!

FUND-RAISING SEASON HAS BEGUN!

FUND-RAISING season has begun,
lots of laughing lots of fun,
please mark your calendar and come out to help
lots of date for you to choose,
come on now, you’ve nothing to lose!
(okay I can’t rhyme – but you get my point)

Here’s a list of our first few events for this year -

Baked Bean Supper, March 27, 2010, 4:30 – 6 pm
Baked Bean Supper, April 24, 2010, 4:30 – 6 pm
Chowder Challenge, May 22, 2010, 4:30 – 6:30 pm

Here are some of the ways you can help!
1 – Bake Beans (for 3/27 and 4/24)
2 – Make a church chowder – or enter one of your own (for May 22)
3 – Bake pies or some other yummy dessert
4 – Help set up
5 – Workers to serve (for bean suppers)
6 – Help with clean up
7 – Invite your friends and neighbors to our DELICIOUS EVENTS!
We appreciate any and all help!

Our fundraisers not only help the church, but a portion of the proceeds from each are given to a local charitable organization. We have choosen Southern Maine Meals on Wheels to benefit from our March 27 Bean Supper. Please help us help this worthy cause!

Please let us know how you can help. You can reply to this email or contact anyone on the committee!

Thank you for all you do!
Anne Brennan, Charlotte Boston, Lisa Caldwell, Sara Salisbury, Cinny Wood and Mike Wood

“Imitating Jesus” | Dr. Rev. Carol Kerr | February 28, 2010

We are creatures of conformity. We are inherently imitators of people around us. Imitation is how we learn at every level. We learn to speak by imitating. I remember when Gavin was no more than 2 years old. He was sitting in the car seat and I was pulling up to the bank window, and holding a check in my hand. “Deposit!” he called out. When we are teenagers we insist that we are absolutely unique. At least I did in the late 60’s when I had long hair and wore tie died t-shirts and blue jeans. Which my mother didn’t hesitate to point out that everyone who was a “non-conformist hippie” all looked alike! We imitate whether we know it or not. Gavin who is in Vancouver is picking up those subtle Canadian intonations “Eh?” And of course, whether we want to admit it or not, we will imitate our spouse. I wear L. L. Bean slippers, Dave wears L.L. Bean slippers.

Some things we imitate are innocent enough. But, some things are not. I remember one mother shouting at her child on the side walk “Goddam it! Don’t swear at me!” Or the alcoholic parents who wink when their underage child has a beer pong contest. The bully on the play ground in the morning was hit by his father at dinner.

For better or for worse, we are what we imitate. Although we like to pretend to be unique individuals and nonconformists, the reality is about 99% of what we do is imitating someone. Monkey see, monkey do. Each of us is a mosaic of influences resembling many people in our past and present. The question is not whether you will imitate someone but who you will imitate

Who do you copy? Who do you aspire to be like and to imitate? Most people at some time in their lives aspire to be rich, like a John D. Rockefeller. He was an industrial tycoon who made his wealth on Standard Oil and the petroleum industry. He is considered possibly the wealthiest man that ever lived. His income adjusted for inflation would be about $600 billion dollars today. He owned 1.53 percent of the U.S. economy. On the outside, being rich like him seems good to imitate. But, the truth is that wealth will only get you so far, if anywhere at all. When he was asked what would make him happy, despite all he wealth he responded “One dollar more.” 600 billion didn’t make him happy, but I guess 600 billion and one dollar would!

Some people will imitate their favorite sports hero. Tiger Woods seemed like a clean cut, hard worker… we all know the problem with that scenario.

Women like to imitate beautiful Hollywood stars. There is a new line of lipstick in the store whose colors are named after the stars that wore them. Indian model turned actress Aishwarya Rai wears L’Oreal “Tickled Pink” lipstick. But, women will go further. Not only do they want to wear the same lipstick but want to look as young as they do. So Botox injections enter into the picture. Get rid of those wrinkles between the eyes that make you look angry and annoyed. Or those little lines around your mouth that make you look sad. I just read an article that found that women who have these Botox injections actually loose some of their ability to read other people’s sad and mad feelings, as well and their own. Something with the body mind connection. If you don’t express it in your face, you are less likely to understand it.

So if rich people and sports hero’s and movies stars don’t’ work out well, who can we imitate? It seems the ones that we tend to pick are filled with flaws and as lost if not more so than we are. This is where the apostle Paul comes in with his letter to the Philippians. Paul writes in chapter 3:17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. Let me paraphrase what Paul is trying to say here: You’re going to copy. You’re going to mimic someone’s steps and mirror someone’s movements. That’s how we roll as human beings. So if you’re going to imitate somebody, go ahead and imitate me. Follow me as I follow Jesus.

We are here this morning because we are looking for someone to imitate and the best one we can think of is Jesus. Professor Alice Camille says that “stakes are high” but following Jesus will free us like nothing else will. She writes:

If Christ is our king, the stakes are high. The usual controlling bodies – media, public opinion, the quest for security, the lifestyle of acquisitions – have o sovereignty over us. The authority of Christ is not just another voice; it is the only voice to which we need to respond. And Christianity is not just more homework, a dungeon-like oppression to suffer; it is the only authority that liberates those who subject themselves to it. Not to embrace Christ the King is to continue to bow before the countless sovereigns of the world and to light the sacrifices at too many altars. Not to listen to Christ is to face the schizophrenia of voices beckoning, demanding, cajoling our obedience, all the while spinning their web of half-truths.

But, how do you imitate the son of God? We all have seen the bumper sticker “WWJD?” Which stands for “What would Jesus do?” How do you answer that question for yourself and in your particular situation. Do what Jesus would do, but what would Jesus do? Do you wear a toga and sandals? Do you grow a beard? Do you observe the Jewish holidays such as Passover, and worship in a Jewish temple as Jesus did? Some people have actually tried these very things. But, they seem to be missing the point.

Most people would say, imitating Jesus is is living according to the moral standard that he lives by. But, if you spend any time checking out what Jesus is asking us to do, doing this is harder than it looks. For instance, telling the truth no matter how badly it hurts to hear it. In the Comedy “Crazy People” Dudley Moor plays Emory Leeson, an advertising man who comes up with an outrageous idea: telling the truth. “Let’s face it,” Emory tells a coworker, “you and I lie for a living.”

Emory launches out on a different path by composing ruthlessly honest ads. Instead of a thousand subtle deceptions about how some product will make people happier, sexier, or richer, he says things like “Volvos: they’re boxy, but they’re safe” or “United Airlines: most our passengers get there alive.”

Of course Emory’s new commitment to truth lands him in trouble. He is sent off to a psychiatric hospital to restore his “sanity.” But while he is locked up, his agency accidentally releases his ads to the public and the results are astounding. The public is surprised and delighted by hearing the unvarnished truth for once.

Even though the movie had a happy ending, it also underlines the fact that living a life like Jesus is tough in a world that is riddled with half-truths and operates on many deceptions.

Another example, the rich man asks Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life. Jesus tells him to sell everything and give it to the poor. Raise your hands, who here is really willing to do that? Really go out and sell you house, your car, pawn your rings and jewelry, sell your business, drop off you clothes at the Goodwill, unload your furniture at the consignment shop, cash in your IRA and 401K and give it all away? John D. Rockefeller said that what would make him happy is one more dollar – that might have been extreme, but on the other hand we need to keep at least one dollar to our name.

Actually the moral bar that Jesus set is impossibly high. Take some of his suggestions he has on the Sermon on the Mount…. Don’t lust after women in your heart, Never be angry with your brother or say “You fool!” Pluck out your right eye if it causes you to sin. Never divorce you wife. Never swear, ever. Here is an all time favorite, “if someone hits you on the right turn to him the other cheek also.”

How do you imitate Jesus. WWJD? What would Jesus do? Even if we are ready and willing, it seems the bar is set impossibly high. We might as well go back to celebrities with pink lipstick.

Let me tell you a story, from “the Wisdom of the Desert.” These are stories from early Christians in aroud the fourth century who fled to the deserts of Egypt in order to get closer to God and be more like Jesus.

It seems a young man – John the Dwarf – prayed for God to remove all his passions. He believed that he were unmoved by difficulties, without feeling toward those who attacked him, and unable to be swayed by the devils he would be alive to God. So, John the Dwarf asked God to take away ll his feelings. He wanted to live without emotions.

Being gracious, God answered John’s prayer and made him “impassible.” By an act of God, John the Dwarf ceased to feel – anything. He became passionless. Then, in his new condition, John the Dwarf went to see some older men in the desert community. Standing before them he boasted of being without any struggle, any anxiety, or temptation. “I am completely at peace,” he said. “God has removed from me all temptations. Nothing moves me.”

“Well,” said these old wise companions, “You had better hurry back to your cell. Go and pray to God to command some struggle to be stirred up in you, for the soul is matured only in battle.” Now, this was not what John the Dwarf had expected from these trusted companions. Still, he respected these men and so he obeyed. He returned to his desert hut and asked God for something to struggle against, something to test him.

God heard his prayer and set many temptations before John. However, though the temptations came hard and fast, John the Dwarf never again asked for these strange companions to be removed. Though evil surround him and constantly tried him, he had been enlightened by the counsel of wiser companions. Now John the Dwarf simply prayed, “Give me strength to get through.”

One of the most famous Christian devotional books of all time is by Thomas a Kempis and is called, The Imitation of Christ. His central theme is that to imitate Christ is not about being perfect but it is about the struggle to be better people. It is only through this struggle that, as John the Dwarf learned, our souls become wiser and purer. Jesus came down to earth and took on the suffering of the world in order to free us through the outreach of grace and love and so to strengthen us. Through the struggle we gain humility and through humility we set aside our egos and realize how we must rely on God and God alone.

What would Jesus do? With the wolves of sin nipping near, Jesus would live from God, live on God, and live for God. That is the path we should follow. That is the model we should imiate.

Chosen, Blessed, Broken and Given | Dr. Rev. Carol Kerr | March 7, 2010

The passage which we read this morning from the prophet Isaiah is one in a series of 4 poems that introduce for the first time in the Bible the idea of the suffering servant.

The suffering servant is the servant of God whose unique ministry is the salvation of the people of Israel and through them the salvation of the whole world. The way he is to provide this salvation is through suffering. The people who scorn him are the people he in fact saves. An ironic, sad, and deeply loving gesture of God’s and of the servant’s.

500 years before it happened, Isaiah here foretells the very heart of Jesus’ ministry. We are particularly mindful of this in the season of Lent. As we ponder Jesus walk to the cross.

We can only stand in awe as we turn to the passionate and mournful love of God that the suffering servant lives out. Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.

The great mystery is that all of this suffering is not just accidental, but the central part of Jesus’ ministry. It is that which saves us. Isaiah says, Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; …. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.

When we share the Lord’s supper we remember the words of Jesus that night. He took the bread and said, This is my body broken for you. Then he gave thanks and blessed the bread. When ever you eat of this do so remembering me. Then he breaks the bread and gives it away. He is the bread of life.

As Christians Henri Nowen says that our lives are also about being taken, blessed broken and given.

At first we are taken as the bread in communion is taken. The bread is picked off of the table as special. In one passage of the suffering servant it says, The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother the Lord named my name. The suffering servant was chosen by God as special. We are chosen by God. As we were knit together in the darkness of our mother’s wombs, even before our mother’s knew we were there, God knew. As our mother’s blood pulsed intor our veins, God called us his beloved.

This is the starting point, to be chosen. Ironically, most Christians have the hardest time with this starting point. They don’t truly believe that they are chosen by God as the beloved. Many people feel fundamentally rejected. It could be rejected by their parents, or their loved ones, or their work, or themselves. Most people are like Charlie Brown who once said in a cartoon, I was born onto the stage of life and they took one look at me and said, ‘Not right for the part!’

God has named you and that name of yours is “the beloved one.” Henri Nowen makes the point, that we are called to refract God’s love through our unique histories and lives as no one every has and no one every will. We are chosen like the bread off the communion table.

After the bread is chosen, then it is blessed. We too are blessed. The word blessing in Latin is benediction. Benediction means saying good things. In one of the suffering servant passages of Isaiah the servant was blessed by God, You are my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified. What better benediction, blessing, could there be than for God to say in effect: Good things will happen to me as God because you are around! And that is God’s blessing to each of us as Christians.

After the bread is taken and blessed, it is broken. This is what happens with the suffering servant and with us. We all know what it is like to be broken. We all have been through it. A person’s father is dying but the son can’t seem to say to him “I love you.” A mother is shocked by how uncontrollably angry she got with her child. We may steal, we may lie. Yes, we are all broken.

There is a litany that I ran across once it says, “Go tell the strong that they shall become weak, and the weak that they shall become strong.” At first I thought that this is crazy! No one will want to come to church if we go and tell them the strong will become weak. Our society hates to talk about being broken. We hate to admit we are broken. Yet, it is true that we are broken countless times in our lives. Desperately we insist that we are happy instead. Happy, happy, happy al the time. Happy go lucky! Happy hour! We and the society rejects suffering. WE don’t like to talk about it because it is weak, it is painful and it is ….. intimate.

So when suffering comes upon each one of us, which it does inevitably, we then think that we too are rejected. We think that something is wrong with us because no one else seems to be suffering. What did we do wrong that we got cancer, or lost our wife died, or have gone bankrupt, or divorced.

The mystery of suffering is this: If you embrace the suffering and put it under the blessing of God instead of under the curse, then the suffering will become holy, it will become whole and heal.

At the Center for Grieving Children before the children leave the center after they finished their grief work, the are given a little bag of stones. Three of them are made smooth and round. The fourth stone is left rough, pointed and jagged. For children who have lost their brother or sister, mothr or father, or both, it is this rough stone that they always hold on to and cherish the most. This is the stone that they carry around with them in their pocket. They don’t’ have to be told what it represents. They know automatically. It is their suffering and they cherish it, hold it in the little fists. As such they are able to put it under the blessing.

The fact that Jesus suffered for us is God putting our pain, our sinfulness, and our brokenness under the blessing instead of the curse. Jesus holds each one of our lives, not the smooth gems, but the rough rocks. He grasps the jagged edges in his hand so hard that it hurts and he feels the pain too. Thus, Jesus puts the pain under the blessing for us.

The bread is taken, blessed, broken and finally, the bread is given. “I will give you as a light ot the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” God says to the suffering servant in Isaiah. Once we are able to put our suffering under the blessing instead of the curse we will then be able to give ourselves to the world.

Jesus says, “be fruitful” he doesn’t say, “be successful.” To be fruitful one must ripen then let go and die to seed the earth. We must lose our lives in order to save our lives.

This is the Christian journey that we are reminded of in this season of Lent, as we contemplate Jesus’ journey to the cross. Evil is overcome by good when we are chosen, blessed, broken and given. Just as Jesus the suffering servant is. Because of Jesus we are put under the blessing instead of the curse. The one who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows.

This is what we remember every time we come to the communion table. After Jesus takes the bread, gives thanks, blesses it, he breaks it and says, “This is my body broken for you. Whenever you eat of it, do so remembering me.”