Location: Community United Church of Christ (St. Paul Park, Minnesota)

Scripture: 2 Samuel 5:1-5; 6:1-5

I’m not sure if this is proper for a pastor to admit or not, but I really love to dance. I’m not talking about a genteel waltz, nor have I any idea how to do a spicy tango. What I’m talking about is club dancing, to the kind of thumping bass music that’s on offer most nights of the week at establishments of ill repute. You might not recognize it as dancing, per se. It looks like a cross between jumping in place and flailing after bees. There’s nothing synchronized, structured or planned about it. Nothing especially beautiful either, at least in the classical sense. This is why I keep my eyes closed or look down most of the time, particularly if there are mirrors around. What really captivates me is the beat, and the feeling of complete release that comes from being lost in the music. When Javen and I arrive at a place where the beat is going strong, I go directly to the dance floor. It doesn’t need to be crowded, or to be playing Lady Gaga (though both help). But if I’m in the right head and heart space, dancing without any purpose beyond the joy of movement brings me into a place of adoration. “Alive, God! I’m alive, and moving, and grateful to you! Praise you, praise music, praise artists, praise beats, praise talent, praise life!” Continue reading “A Community United in Praise” →

Community United Church of Christ (Saint Paul Park, Minnesota)

Scripture: Ruth 1:1-11a, 14-22

It’s been just over a year since our dog Ruthie came into our lives. She was a rescue pup that Javen and I adopted into our household of two cats. She has been a joyful, loving addition. I pretend that I don’t like her constant affection, that I need my space, but her desire to be right beside us is one of the things I find most endearing. She follows us around from room to room in the house, stands watching us intently as we cook in the kitchen, begs to go out with us when we’re by the back door, and hops on the couch immediately when we go to sit down. In fact, we named her “Ruthie” because of this passage of Scripture: “Where you go, I will go; Where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” One couldn’t ask for a more loyal, loving friend.

Unless you ask our cats, especially Amos. Continue reading “A Community for Outsiders” →

Scripture: Deuteronomy 5:1-21; 6:4-9

Over a year ago I got an email from church member Marlys Rucker. It was an email forward that contained a version of this morning’s scripture. So, since she is the wisest Marlys that we have at church, I saved it and made a note to come back to it when I was preaching on the Ten Commandments. Because what Marlys sent me was The Ten Commandments (Minnesota Style). See if you recognize any of these: Continue reading “A Community Loyal to God” →

Scripture: Exodus 1:8-2:10; 3:1-15

The word “sabotage” comes to us from the Dutch. Hundreds of years ago fabric producers in the Netherlands began shifting the way they made cloth. The old way was labor-intensive, involving many artisanal cloth-makers working on small looms. But with the invention of large, wooden textile looms, business owners could guarantee a more uniform product and didn’t need as many employees. Workers feared for their livelihood and fought back. They took their heavy wooden clog shoes and tossed them into the gears of the industrial looms, snapping off wooden pins and wheels, thereby fouling up the machines. A wooden shoe was called a “sabot”, and that’s how we get the word “sabotage.” Continue reading “Ordinary People, Extraordinary God” →

Scripture: Genesis 32:22-30

My full given name is “Obadiah Zarephath Ballinger”. It barely fits on a driver’s license. When we had to put our names at the top of our papers in elementary school, I was always the last person done. I didn’t know how to spell my middle name for the longest time, so I used to spell it “Zero-path”.

To know my name is to very quickly know something of the story of my life. Because as soon as I tell someone my name, questions or comments arise, and the story of its origin generally comes out. Some of you know that I was born and raised in a cult. I got my name from the cult leader. Like many of the other children I grew up with, my name came from where this man’s finger landed at random in the Bible. Whatever page it landed on, parents were told that was God’s choice for a newborn’s name. And here’s the thing: despite all the other malarkey of the cult,
I believe that there might have been a divine hand in my name. Because Obadiah means “servant of God”–my vocation named before I could ever have chosen it for myself. The name “Obadiah” holds my history and my identity in just one word.

Continue reading “Changed by Challenge” →

Scripture: Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7

Something amazing is happening in Chicago this year. The Chicago Cubs look like they’re going to the playoffs! To put this in perspective, remember that the Cubs have not won a World Series in 106 years. Most people here could not possibly have seen the Cubs even compete in baseball’s top series, because the last time the Cubs went to the World Series was seventy years ago. But this year, the “Lovable Losers” are almost certainly headed to the playoffs, and they even look strong enough to go deep into the competition. Could 2015 actually, possibly, conceivably be the year that they go all the way, even winning the World Series??

Continue reading “God Has Brought Laughter” →

Scripture: Genesis 2:4b-25

When was the last time you cut open a ripe watermelon? Not the pale pre-cut cubes you get in plastic at the grocery store. I mean a whole huge melon, dark-green from the late summer sun and heavy with juice? Sliding a sharp stainless steel knife into a perfect round melon you are Galileo, discovering otherworldly beauty. As the sides of a fresh watermelon fall open on the cutting board, the dark pink inside turns itself out for all the earth to marvel at. An aroma of sweet summer rises from the cut, hundreds of black seeds lie hidden in orderly rows, the ripe sugars are already almost in crystal form, and an ample rind provides green armor for the treasure within.

Continue reading “We are ‘Adam” →

Scripture: James 1:17-27

Shirley Bachelder is a 94-year-old woman who lives in Franklin, Tennessee. Shirley has been keeping a bucket list since she was nine years old, listing all the things she wants to do before she dies. Crossing off items on her bucket list, Shirley travelled across the world, took a ride in a hot air balloon, and when she was sixty years old graduated from college with a degree in art. She is a former missionary, an active member of her Methodist church, and someone who has lively conversations with God. One time long ago, Shirley asked God, “What can I do for you?” She got a curious reply: God wanted her to buy a 5-second ad on primetime television to share God’s message. It would “cost a bundle”, she said, so Shirley added it to her bucket list, where it sat for years.[1] But last month members of Shirley’s Bible study class told a local TV news reporter, and the station ran a human interest feature about her. In the middle of the story, they included five seconds with Shirley Bachelder’s message from God. White type on a black background carried three words: “love one another”. Shirley’s story has been shared countless times in the weeks since, including in Canada, the United Kingdom, China and the Philippines.[2] Everyone could use a reminder of God’s message through Shirley: “love one another”.

Continue reading “Growing with God in Love” →

Scripture: 1 Kings 3:3-14

George Washington, our first president, was the most honest man who ever lived. He would tell the truth, no matter what it cost him. In fact, one time as a boy George got so angry at something that he took an ax and buried it into the closest thing he could find—a cherry tree on the family property. He chopped that whole tree down! Then, afraid of what he’d done, he hid the ax and went away. But it wasn’t long before his wrongdoing caught up with him. George’s father found the tree and confronted the boy: “Did you do this??” Knowing that he was going to get a whupping, George nevertheless told the truth. He took a licking for it, but he kept his word intact. Because George Washington was the most honest man who ever lived.

Continue reading “Growing with God in Wisdom” →