A Community of Abundant Welcome to All, Growing Together in Christ and serving with Love

Be Compassionate, Not Competitive

“Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be lover of all.” (Mark 10:35-38, 41-44)

By Henri Nouwen

“This all-pervasive competition, which reaches into the smallest corners of our relationships, prevents us from entering into full solidarity with each other, and stands in the way of our being compassionate.

We prefer to keep compassion on the periphery of our competitive lives.

Being compassionate would require giving up dividing lines and relinquishing differences and distinctions.

And that would mean losing our identities.

This makes it clear why the call to be compassionate is so frightening and evokes such deep resistance."

(Submitted by Rev. Mary Poole from Lent and Easter Wisdom from Henri J. M. Nouwen)

Lenten Devotions
March 11, 2021

A Day in the Life of Jesus

The gospel attributed to Matthew devotes most of three chapters to describing a typical day in the life of a wisdom teacher called Jesus of Nazareth. He was known for his quotable sound bites and stories with twists and ambiguities that generated conversation and debate among his audience, that created community. This was a scene that happened again and again as Jesus walked around the countryside, telling favorite stories over and over, so that his quips and anecdotes were remembered and repeated for some fifty years until "Matthew" wrote them down for future generations to copy, interpret, and translate into languages not even in existence in Jesus' time.
Today we continue to tell Jesus' stories, to debate their meanings, to apply his wisdom to our own lives, to do our best to create God's kingdom on earth. That is the meaning and purpose of the community we call "church."


Lenten Devotions
March 11, 2021

Words for the 21st Century

If you were not able to join in Dan Woodman's ordination service on February 21 - or if you would like to see it again - you can view it on YouTube.
The link is: https://youtu.be/fNYhwDjb8tc

Like Dan, most of us grew up in the church of the 20th Century, and we, like Dan, are called to create the church of the 21st Century, a church that combines the best of our beloved traditions with new and exciting ways of following and modeling the teachings of Jesus and the meaning of his life, death, and resurrection. We cannot rely on the ways of the past and must leave them behind. We must learn from our children and grandchildren. We need to be open to trying new activities, new methods of communication, even new modes of worship, so we can continue to share the message of God's love and hope with a world that sorely needs it.
May we have the courage and wisdom to be God's faithful messengers to the 21st Century.

Musings from Lyn Pickhover

Lenten Devotions
March 10, 2021

The Real World


In pondering why young people don't go to church, Robin Meyers, pastor of very progressive Mayflower Church in very conservative Oklahoma City, comments:

"So much of our theology in church has been so hopelessly remote, along with our concept of God. But humans live in the real world. They walk on streets with real names and love particular people in all their magnificent imperfection. We step on real bugs as they scurry across the floor. We get into real fights and say terrible things. We worry about real pain that begins in our fingertips and travels ominously up our arm. . . .We don't live our lives in general, love in general, or sin in a general sort of way. We are very specific about it. Which may be the last, best hope for Christianity. At its heart, there is nothing general about it, but something very specific, very concrete, and very human. We call it incarnation.

Rev. Robin R. Meyers in Saving God from the Church


May we remember constantly that we, the saints of the Franklin Federated Church, praise God in this world by being and serving humanity as best we can.

Lenten Devotions
March 9, 2021

Surprise

If you were surprised by the content of yesterday's Devotion, so was I. One of the joys, frustrations, and surprises of studying the Bible is facing unexpected contradictions that can challenge one's understanding, and sometimes even one's faith. For years I have delved into the Bible, trying for a better understanding of who Jesus was and what his teaching meant. There are still surprises.
After years of thinking that our version of the Lord's Prayer was from the Gospel of Matthew and our Catholic friends used the Gospel of Luke, I actually compared the King James Version [KJV] that formed my faith with the New Revised Standard Version [NRSV] of our pew Bibles. They are not the same! The discrepancy sent me to Westar's The Complete Gospel Parallels which noted that many versions of the prayer included "For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever, amen." Honesty in Bible study required me to acknowledge that this was probably a late addition, and it was too late to scrap the whole series of Devotions based on the prayer we say every Sunday.
To quote a UCC phrase: "God is still speaking." God speaks through us, and there is nothing wrong with adding a sentence of praise to Jesus' words.

Thoughts from Lyn Pickhover


Lenten Devotions
March 7, 2021

Our Version of THE GREATEST PRAYER

"Thine Be the Kingdom, Power, and Glory Forever"

Redaction (adding, removing or changing) was common as our Bible was pieced together over centuries. The King James Version of the Bible, first published in 1611, includes the words "For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever, Amen" (Matthew 6:13b, KJV), but you may notice that there is no Matthew 6:13b in our pew Bible, the New Revised Standard Version or NRSV. Apparently the compilers of the KJV, who were generally very good translators, decided to emphasize their theological position by adding a reference to the prophecy from the Hebrew Bible Book of Daniel:


As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a human being* coming with the clouds of heaven. And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.

Daniel 7:13-14

*also translated "Son of Man"


Our version is our heritage; may we understand and be proud to proclaim it.

Thoughts from Lyn Pickhover


Lenten Devotions
March 6, 2021

THE GREATEST PRAYER "Deliver Us from Evil"

Having grown up in strife-tom Ireland, Dom Crossan sees violence as an evil to be avoided. He reminds us all four gospels recount that during Jesus' arrest one of the disciples (Peter) drew a sword and cut off the ear of the priest's slave. Three of those versions have Jesus telling him to put down the sword, and in all four gospels, Jesus likened resisting arrest to acting like a bandit. (Mark 14:47-48, Matthew 26:51-52, 55, Luke 22:49-52, John 18:10-11). Jesus taught by example that violence was evil, even as a defense against violence. Certainly violence in response to violence is also wrong. Jesus was trying to get his listeners to understand there was a better way, community cooperation, the kingdom of God. May we listen and act accordingly.

Lenten Devotions

March 5, 2021

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

"Lead us not into temptation." Temptation comes in many forms. Jesus was tempted by hunger (turn stones into bread). by show of power (throw yourself down the mountain to show God will save you.) and by taking short cuts (worship Satan to accomplish what you want.) (Matthew 4 :2-10, Luke 4 :2-12.) Jesus taught his followers - and us - that it is better to accept the challenges of being God's people of justice and community than to always "look out for number one."
May we have the wisdom to discern the right path and not be tempted to do things that hurt individuals, community. or the world.

Lenten Devotions
March 4, 2021

THE GREATEST PRAYER "Forgive our Debts"

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Jesus meant money debts, real debts in a world where falling into debt was a serious matter; failure to pay a debt could lead to borrowing at exorbitant interest, followed by loss of property - the house one lived in and the small plot of land whose produce fed the family. It could mean selling one's children or even oneself into slavery, going to prison, or escaping into the wilderness/desert to eke out existence as a bandit.


Jesus taught his disciples to pray for God to forgive debts, real and metaphorical, but only to the extent that they forgave debts owed to them. He told a parable about a slave whose master forgave a debt of 10,000 talents - a huge amount. But this same slave sent a fellow slave to prison for failing to pay a small debt. The master so angry that he handed over the unforgiving slave to be tortured until he repaid his entire debt. ( Matthew 18:18-34.)


Perhaps we should remember Jesus' warning: "For if you forgive the trespasses of others, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. ( Matthew 6: 14-15.)

Thoughts from Lyn Pickhover

Lenten Devotions
March 3, 2021

THE GREATEST PRAYER "Give Us Today Our Daily Bread"

In his first century world in which the poor were being squeezed by the combination of tithes to support the Temple and taxes to support the purposes and lifestyle of the rich and powerful of the Roman Empire, Jesus taught his disciples to pray: "Give us this day our daily bread." Our privileged twenty-first century comforts make it hard for us to imagine an existence where being hired today meant food for tomorrow, but that is what Jesus meant: Pray to be chosen as a day laborer today so the family can be fed for another day.


That's pretty basic: food for one more day. That is why when Simon Peter said he loved Jesus, he was told to "Feed my sheep." (John 21:15-17.) Talking about God's kingdom on earth, Jesus told his followers that when the Son of Man (or child of Adam, the earthling) comes, the king will say: "Truly I tell you, just as you did to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. " (Matthew 25:31, 40.)
We who have enough food for today are told to provide for "the least" of our family. Who are members of our family is a thought for another day.

Thoughts from Lyn Pickhover

Lenten Devotions
March 2, 2021

THE GREATEST PRAYER "Thy Will Be Done on Earth"

"Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." John Dominic Crossan likens God's kingdom to a well-run household which provides all members with their basic needs. That is God's will: not that everyone will have the same, but that the world will be run like God's household, and everyone will have enough. Crossan calls this "distributive justice."

One of my favorite Bible passages is Micah 6:8: "He has told you 0 mortal (the Hebrew word is "adam" or, as I like to translate: "earthling"), what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. "

Jesus' teachings focus on earthly matters, on justice for the poor and unfortunate, on distributive justice, on God's will that His earthly kingdom is run as well as He would run Heaven. Jesus called his followers, and still calls us, to do God's will on earth.

Thoughts from Lyn Pickhover

Lenten Devotions
March 1 , 2021

THE GREATEST PRAYER "Thy Kingdom Come"

"Thy kingdom come." Jesus and his listeners would have been familiar with the vision of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible, written in the fourth century BCE, which described the four earthly kingdoms (empires) that had devastated Israel. The Babylonian empire was like a lion with eagles' wings; the Median empire like a bear; and the Persian empire like a leopard. (Daniel 7:4-6.) The fourth, the Macedonian empire of Alexander the Great, was "exceedingly terrifying" with teeth of iron and claws of bronze; it devoured the whole earth. (Daniel 7:7, 19, 23.) Daniel's fifth empire was different: the Kingdom of God, personified by "the Son of Man," literally the child of Adama (earth or soil) or, as I like to say, "Earthling." (Daniel 7:9-13)


Jesus ignored the fifth secular empire, the Roman Empire oppressing his people, and prayed instead that the true fifth empire, God's kingdom, would be established here on earth. His other teachings made it clear that human beings, earthlings, were the ones who would bring about God's empire on earth. We are still working on that today.

Thoughts from Lyn Pickhover

Lenten Devotions
February 28, 2021

THE GREATEST PRAYER "Hallowed by Thy Name"

"Hallowed be Thy name." Jesus' prayer does not offer God extravagant praise; in fact, this is not actually praise, but a simple statement that God's name is sacred. This echoes the first, second Mosaic commandments (one God, no idols, and the name is sacred) and Jesus' Greatest Commandment: "Thou shall love the Lord they God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." "Love God"; that is what is required. Of course, the second part is implicit: "Love all of God's creation."

May we take these words to heart, not just reciting them at appropriate times, but really living them.

Thoughts from Lyn Pickhover

Lenten Devotions
February 27, 2021

THE GREATEST PRAYER Who art in Heaven"

Jesus and his contemporaries lived in what can be called a "three-tier universe": the sky or heaven above, the earth in the middle, and Hades or Gehenna, the place of the dead, below. It was easy to think of God as being in the highest heaven, far beyond the reach of human beings. This is a little harder to imagine with our knowledge that the earth is round and orbits the sun, that the sun is only one of a myriad of stars in our galaxy, and that there are countless galaxies in the universe. As our understanding of space has expanded, so, too, should our vision of God be expanded, both inward and outward, beyond the picture of the old man in the sky, to the mystery of the logic and balance of physical forces, our fragile ecosystem, and of life itself.

May our presence add to the goodness of God's creation.

Thoughts from Lyn Pickhover

Lenten Devotions
February 26, 2021

THE GREATEST PRAYER "Our Father"

According to the Gospels, Jesus prayed in private. He taught only one prayer, which John Dominic Crossan called "The Greatest Prayer." Jesus did not ask for great things; he did not offer high praise to an all powerful God; he asked for simple, earthly necessities.

Jesus' prayer began with the salutation which has been translated: "Our Father." This was in keeping with a culture in which the head of the family, the pater familias who would have had the power of life and death over his wife and children as well as his household servants and slaves. We are told that Jesus addressed God as "Abba" which probably should be translated "Dad" or even "Daddy."

Jesus opened for us a direct line into a relationship with God. We do not need intermediaries, not even Jesus, to mediate this relationship. In our faith tradition, this is called "the priesthood of all believers." May we never abuse this special relationship.

Thoughts from Lyn Pickhover

Lenten Devotions
February 25, 2021

Help - Thanks - Wow!

By Rev. Mary Poole

If your prayer life needs a boost during Lent, consider these three words.
They are three essential ways to pray, says writer Anne Lamott.

HELP – We surrender, admit we can’t control everything, and finally ask God for help.
THANKS – We thank God for all good gifts (whether we deserve them or not).
WOW! – We experience awe and wonder -- and just have to praise God for it.

Prayer is our own personal conference call with God, available 24/7.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Lamott says prayer is “private communication from our hearts to God.” A cry from deep within to Life or Love. A way to make peace with God, or the “great Mystery.”

She suggests: keep it simple and private.

Or to paraphrase Jesus: when you pray, don’t show off, just show up.

And if you get stuck, remember: Help – Thanks – Wow!

Lenten Devotions
February 24, 2021

"FATHER"

Although the Gospels tell us that Jesus often went off to pray by himself, we are only given one prayer that he taught to his followers. It begins: "Our Father." Much to my surprise, my inter-linear Greek-English New Testament (my "trot" or translation crutch if you will) shows that both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke use "Pater," the Latin word for "father." Scholars like to think Jesus actually used the Hebrew word "Abba" which they translate "Dad" or "Daddy" to show that Jesus wanted us to see God as close and accessible, not some distant authority figure.

This should remind us of the words of the Hebrew prophet Jeremiah:
Am I a God nearby, says the Lord,
And not a God far off?
Who can hide in secret places
So that I cannot see them? says the Lord.
Do I not fill heaven and earth, says the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:23-24 NRSV

May we not hide, but be open to God's bold plans for us.

Lyn Pickhover, Lent, 2021


Lenten Devotions
February 22, 2021

DAN WOODMAN'S ORDINATION

Today is a very special day when the Central Association of the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ ordains our own Dan Woodman as a minister of the UCC. You need to register to join the Zoom ceremony at 3:00.


Since the UCC subscribes to the principle of "the priesthood of all believers," while Dan receives his official credentials today, in reality, his ministry began many years ago when he made his first commitment to serve his church. He was an active lay leader, earned his Master of Divinity degree at Andover Newton Theological Seminary, wrote reams of papers, met repeatedly with the Central Association Committee on Ministry, wrote more papers before his Ecclesiastical Council which declared him "fit for ministry" in the UCC. Along the way, Dan joined the FFC where he was a student minister and sabbatical interim pastor before he became Associate Pastor at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Leominster.

Dan has worked hard toward ordination. It will be a real pleasure to address him as "The Rev. Daniel Woodman" from now on.


Congratulations and Best Wishes, Dan, from all of us at the Franklin Federated Church.

Lenten Devotions
February 21, 2021