Month: January 2020

1.26.20; One in Christ; Epiphany 3A; Pastor Rebecca  Ellenson; ICCM

The story goes… A young rabbi found a serious problem in his new congregation. During the Friday service, half the congregation stood for the prayers and half remained seated, and each side shouted at the other, insisting that theirs was the true tradition. Nothing the rabbi said or did moved toward solving the impasse.

Finally, in desperation, the young rabbi sought out the synagogue’s 99-year-old founder. He met the old rabbi in the nursing home and poured out his troubles. “So tell me,” he pleaded, “was it the tradition for the congregation to stand during the prayers?”

“No,” answered the old rabbi.

“Ah,” responded the younger man, “then it was the tradition to sit during the prayers?”

“No,” answered the old rabbi.

“Well,” the young rabbi responded, “what we have is complete chaos! Half the people stand and shout, and the other half sit and scream.”

“Ah,” said the old man, “that was the tradition.”

When two or more are gathered, factions lurk in the midst of them, as Paul discovered. One of my best friends is a professional interim ministry, specializing in resolving conflict in congregations. It isn’t my cup of tea! There are steps to follow, profiles to complete, interviews to take, goals to establish. It’s a serious business.

Jesus didn’t seem to worry about any of it. When he said, “Follow me,” he apparently wasn’t concerned that these followers might not turn out to be model disciples. Indeed, they were often dense and hard to teach, and on the rare occasions when they did understand him they would usually try to talk him out of his ideas. They squabbled about who was greatest. One of them betrayed him. And no one stuck around when the going got tough.

Jesus simply said, “Follow me,” and something in the way he said it pointed to God so clearly that two, then four, then 12 decided that whatever Jesus had to offer was worth leaving their old lives for. And as far as Jesus was concerned, their willingness to get up and follow was credentials enough. He would make his community out of this diverse, contentious dozen.

Of course, Jesus had to live with this makeshift community of disciples for only three years. And whenever they wandered off course, he was right there to set them straight. The real problems began when he was gone, and they had to make decisions for the long haul. How do we admit the gentiles? What about those who teach a different gospel? Who is really in charge? Do we have to make a break with Judaism? The apostles held meetings, drew lots and trusted in the Holy Spirit’s lead. The infant church grew.

The Acts of the Apostles tells the story of that initial stage of the church.  In the early 40’s Paul stayed with Priscilla and Aquila in Corinth, fellow handworkers. They lived in the small factory-shops alongside the other laborers. It was from that hardworking pagan community that Paul’s first converts were made.  They were tough, poor, uncouth people. 

When Paul tried to preach to the Jews in the synagogues he usually got thrown out.  But in Corinth he was somewhat successful with that crowd, at least among the God worshippers.  They were people who were not Jewish by birth but Gentiles who attached themselves by varying degrees to a synagogue. Paul converted a wealthy God-worshipper named Gaius Titius Justus, and a synagogue patron Crispus.  By the time he wrote his letters to the church in Corinth 10 years later, there was another Jewish patron, Sosthenes. 

The original poor, pagan, laborer converts were eating meals with the high-status wealthy people and their households. Ancient society was marked by great wealth disparity. The top 1.5% has over 20% of the resources, the next 10% consumed another 20%, leaving the bottom part of society living in constant hunger.

Spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues factored into the disarray too- as they were apparently praying so enthusiastically that their clothing would get disheveled and offend others’ sense of propriety.  Some were shaming their spouses publicly, others were bringing lavish meals and gorging themselves while others were left hungry.  It was a mess.

The congregation quarreled about class divisions, ethical issues and the qualifications for spiritual leadership, not to mention such daily concerns as what foods to eat. Paul struggled to get them back in agreement, offering specific advice when necessary. Most of all, though, he tried to knit them back together into a whole. They didn’t have Jesus’ physical presence with them. They themselves had to be the body of Christ now. The only way they could manage was to keep their eyes on the cross and love, love, love.

You are the people who walked in darkness and have seen a great light! You are the saved, the ransomed, baptized in the Lord Jesus! Don’t overshadow the glory of the gospel with divisions and quarrels!

“You are the light of the world,” Jesus told his followers. Unfortunately, the church doesn’t always act like the light of the world. There’s nothing quite like a church fight.  We all know of places and times where conflicts split churches. But there are also moments when the fractures heal and the light shines through, times when together we accomplish far more than we could ever have managed alone. There are times, between and within our congregations, when we are truly more than the sum of our parts. The Spirit breathes through us and warms the darkening world. The light of Christ breaks forth like the dawn. We are caught up in some power beyond our individual selves, and we become the Body we are meant to be. 

It’s only normal to label and draw boundaries.  In childhood we form our identities by doing so—these are my people, my family, my tribe, my sect, my place.  I am a Minnesotan of Norwegian descent, I am white, I am educated, I am Christian.  We learn the power of naming and then we learn its perils.  This sorting and separating is as old as humanity itself.  Look at how strongly the naming part of the story figures in Genesis 2 and 3.  It’s part of human development to name and claim our identity—the rub comes when we name one kind as blessed and elect while others become by default, pagan or savage, deluded or damned.  

One of the real beauties of this congregation is the fact that we come from all over and we are used to certain ways of doing things wherever home has been.  Here, we get to sing unfamiliar songs that are someone elses’ favorite one week and sing our own favorite songs another week.  We focus on Christ—not on our particular doctrinal backgrounds.  It’s a real treat to be here leading this very diverse congregation.

It’s quite liberating to not have a strict doctrinal standard here.  Some sophisticated believers whose approach to faith incorporates astute thinking about psychology, theology, history or philosophy have room to grow when it comes to the practices of compassion and generosity. Others who approach faith more simply and from the heart have room to grow when it comes to depth in thinking critically.  Some see faith as getting things right intellectually, others see faith as submission and surrender.  The ways we read the scriptures differ, our views on Communion or Baptism may vary slightly.  That’s ok.

Paul’s message was the same, in Ephesus, in Philippi, in Galatia and in Corinth:  we are neither Jews nor Greeks, male nor female, slaves nor free, rich nor poor.  We are all God’s children and heirs to the kingdom, sharing as we do a kinship of gifts, neither earned nor deserved, but ours all the same. No matter who we are or where we come from, no matter where we are in the journey of faith, we are all welcome.  Praise be to God.

Let us pray,  O great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us.  May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings.  Help us become a community that vulnerably shares each other’s burdens and the weight of glory.  Listen to our hearts’ longing for the healing of our world.  Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking, we offer these prayers in Jesus’ name. amen.

Called;  January 19, 2020; ICCM; Pastor Rebecca Ellenson

I never met my husband’s grandfather, John Rautio.  But I’ve heard a lot about him. He lived to be over 100. He wore a shirt and tie to the dinner table every day of his life. He was married for the second time in his 80s after his first wife died.  He traveled to Mexico in his later years. By ethnicity he was a Finn.  By vocation he was a carpenter in Ely, MN.  What he was remembered for most was his sense of humor. 

In case you don’t know, Finnish humor is a bit of an acquired taste.  Evidently, he liked to say things like, Come again when you can’t stay so long, Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry?  He was always ready to hire good helpers in his carpentry shop—especially young men with lots of experience, he would say with a wink.  His saying that’s in my mind today, though, has a certain ring of truth.  We are too soon old, and too late smart. He’s someone I would have liked to meet.  He wasn’t an important person by any of the world’s measures. But he left a legacy of a strong work ethic, a quirky sense of humor, a patient quiet presence, and a respectful demeanor.   

Gathering the wisdom we have accumulated in our lives to share with those who go on after us is one of the important tasks of the last part of life. If we can glean the smart part from the too soon old and too late smart and make sense of our experiences then we move from just smart to wise.  The life work of our last years also includes mending rifts or broken relationships. Another task is to grow closer to God, letting go of the strivings of the ego. 

Our lessons for today simply drip with the theme of God’s call and claim on life. We are meant for lives of purpose and intention.  God’s gifts are given to us for our own fulfilment yes, but also for the world’s good and for the glory of God. 

Listen again:  You are a polished arrow—you are not just a plain stick but you are made for a purpose.  You are a sharp sword—a thing of value and craftsmanship.  You are hidden away in the hand of God—to be used by God.  You are God’s servant, to give glory to God. You are a light to the nations.  You are my chosen.  You are called, sanctified saints, enriched in Christ, in speech and knowledge of every kind. You are strengthened, not lacking any spiritual gift. 

Our identity in Christ is not just hinted at or promised, it is not dependent on how much we do, on getting it right.  It’s right there—before we were born—all the way to the end.  The message is redundant, repeated over and over so we get it!  We are who we are. The trick is to live into that calling. 

Vocation is often a theme we think belongs to the young or those in mid-life.  What are we going to do with this one wild precious life?  Yet the questions of the third stage of life include those of purpose and calling too.  Those who are blessed to reach retirement and the elder part of life are also empowered. We are strengthened in Christ, we are purposeful instruments in the hand of God. 

Parker Palmer wrote an essay a few years ago, just before his 78^th birthday called, Withering into the Truth.  The title comes from a poem by William Butler Yeats.

Though leaves are many, the root is one;
Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun,
Now may I wither into the truth.

He started out by saying , When friends say they don’t know what to give me for my birthday, I always respond with the same tired old joke they’ve heard from me before, which causes them to sigh, roll their eyes, and change the subject. (Here’s a perk that comes with age: repeat yourself so often that folks think you’re getting dotty, when in fact you’re fending off unwanted conversations.)

Q: What do you give a man who has everything?

A: Penicillin.

Palmer says he doesn’t need gifts of a material nature.  Instead he offers his gleanings of wisdom about living nearly 8 decades as a gift for others.  He begins,

The Yeats poem at the head of this column names something I don’t want to forget. Actively embracing aging gives me a chance to move beyond “the lying days of my youth” and “wither into the truth” — if I resist the temptation to Botox my withering.

My youthful “lies” weren’t intentional. I just didn’t know enough about myself, the world, and the relation of the two to tell the truth. So, what I said on those subjects came from my ego, a notorious liar. Coming to terms with the soul-truth of who I am — of my complex and often confusing mix of darkness and light — has required my ego to shrivel up. Nothing shrivels a person better than age: that’s what all those wrinkles are about!

Whatever truthfulness I’ve achieved on this score comes not from a spiritual practice, but from having my ego so broken down and composted by life that eventually I had to yield and say, “OK, I get it. I’m way less than perfect.” I envy folks who come to personal truth via spiritual discipline: I call them “contemplatives by intention.” Me, I’m a contemplative by catastrophe.

To find our wisdom, to age well, involves letting our ego shrivel.  Interesting.  When we talk about our calling, our gifts, our vocation—we can easily move into the territory of the ego.  I can do this! I feel called to that.  The ego is an important driver for us in our working lives—pushing us on to achieve and accomplish. 

My dad was sharing with me on the phone this last week about a group he attends each week at his church called Caring and Sharing. He commented on how accomplished most of the men in the group were in their careers, doctors, lawyers, professors, CEO’s.  He said, “They’re PIPs, Previously Important People.” His gentle laugh spoke volumes. My dad himself accomplished all kinds of things in his working life.  But his legacy is his positive attitude, his supportive and gentle manner, his tender heart full of emotion, and his simple trusting faith. What really matters in the end but loving others, growing closer to God and meeting the needs around us?

St Augustine said we were here to love God and enjoy life.  Kurt Vonnegut believed we are here to be the eyes and conscience of God.  Karl Jung, standing on the silent African veldt at dawn, watching the drifting rivers of animals moving in their timeless way, wrote that we are here to bring consciousness to brute being. 

It’s so nice to be at a place in life when we don’t have to prove anything to anyone anymore.  We are free to love, to grow close to God and to serve those around us. There are so many needs.  Holly has tickets for the Hearts of Hospice Dance on February 15^th.  The tickets support the work of Hospice Mazatlan, a group that served over 160 families last year—160 families facing the death of a loved one with social services for family members, palliative care, counseling for the bereaved and so much more. 

Last Saturday I was at the Organic market buying a pot holder from the organization called Floreser.  It is a home for teenage girls who have been victims of abuse and violence. It is the only one of its kind in Sinaloa, and one of the few in the country. Its mission is to provide the girls with a place where they feel safe and can grow with their dignity intact. In Floreser, the girls continue with their studies, receive individual therapy, and are provided with outlets allowing them to develop to their full potential while living a healthy life full of possibilities. depends upon your continued help.

The woman selling the hand sewn items told me about her new-found purpose in life.  She volunteers at the home and wakes up each day knowing that her contributions are important. She saw a need, knew she had gifts to share, and was overwhelmed with feelings of the joy of service.  It just bubbled out of her.  Not an “important” person, but a gifted one, equipped and strengthened for service.

We find our purpose by looking around us to identify the greatest needs and how they fit with our skill set and our particular God-given gifts.  Vincent Van Gogh once said Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”  Even if you’re only here in Mazatlan for a few weeks or a month or two your input can make a difference and bring a better future for others.  It can make a difference in your own life too. 

Annie Dillard said, the way we spend our days is the way we spend our lives.  Jesus asked the disciples who came to follow him:  What are you looking for?  Come and See—he invited them.  We are invited likewise—come and see what God has planned for you.  Claim your identity as God’s chosen ones, strengthened and empowered for service, enriched in every way.  

Beloved; Matthew 3: 13-17; ICCM; Pastor Rebecca Ellenson; 1/12/20

John and Jesus were cousins.  When Mary found out she was expecting a child she went to her relative Elizabeth who was pregnant with John.  In today’s gospel those babies are all grown up.  John has been out baptizing and preaching about the coming of someone greater than he who will fulfill the expectations of the prophets. 

I wonder what family stories the two of them grew up with. Did their mothers tell their sons about the dreams foretold their birth? Did they share the songs they had sung about them?  Did Joseph tell Jesus about his dream that told him to name him Jesus because he would save the people from their sins? 

Jesus embraced his own purpose and shaped the goals of all the others around him. Joseph’s life purpose had little to do with carpentry.  It was raising the child called Emmanuel–God with us, that gave his life meaning.  It was the same for Mary, of course.  John’s purpose had to do with Jesus too. He was out there in the Jordan wilderness, dressed in camel’s hair and leather, eating honey and chapulines—locusts.  John prepared the way for his cousin, by preaching change and calling people to repentance. 

When Jesus came to John it didn’t fit with John’s own identity—You should baptize me—he protested.  All his life John had heard that Jesus would be the more important one.  But notice what Jesus did—he said No—This is how it is!  John had a vital role to play too.  Jesus needed John’s service and he validated his cousin’s life work.  Then—the heaven’s opened for Jesus and Jesus saw the Spirit descending like a dove and landing on him.  A voice proclaimed, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased!”   What an impact that must have made on Jesus!  Through the Holy Spirit he was able to see his status as God’s child, the Beloved, with whom God is pleased! 

Our identity rests in God’s relentless tenderness for us. We, too, can define ourselves radically, as those beloved by God. That is our true self. Every other identity is illusion.  It’s not just Jesus who has a life purpose, or a proclaimed identity as God’s beloved child.

In John’s gospel Jesus prepares his disciples for his leaving, the night before his death by promising that God will send the Spirit to empower them to do his work.  Jesus says, Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and in fact, will do greater works than these! As the Father is in me so I am in you.  The Spirit of truth abides in you and will be in you! The Spirit will teach you everything.  Those are daunting worlds, until we claim them and live in them.  There is purpose in each of our lives, in each of our days. When we open ourselves to the Spirit’s presence we are led and empowered.  

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2: 9-10, God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, or that haven’t crossed the mind of any human being. God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, including the depth of God. This is huge!

I believe my life purpose is about serving the poor.  I’ve only spent 17 years of my working as a pastor, so far.  I was ordained when I was 29. Then 11 years later I left parish ministry. As a newly single mother, I knew deep in my heart, that my first purpose was to be the best mother I could be to my children who needed me more than ever.  I found other work for 12 years. I went from preaching about serving the poor—to serving the poor directly. 

For over 8 of those years I led a company that helped people with mental illness, chemical dependencies, lack of education, or criminal histories find work.  It was a secular agency—but I knew the work was ministry.  Our clients needed to find their purpose; identify their gifts, talents, and passions; and they needed to believe in their own agency, their own abilities and value.  One of the biggest challenges s had to do with self-image.  Many of them had internalized the messages they had heard- “You’ll never amount to anything. Who would hire you?  Why bother even trying—you don’t even have a high school education?  You’re going to be just like your father.” So many self-fulfilling prophecies stood like brick walls in their way. 

Changing what we believe about ourselves changes what we can do. To find success our clients needed to visualize themselves having already achieved bigger dreams than they had aspired to before.  It was totally amazing to see them find hope and reach toward new dreams.

We all carry lies in our souls that can become our truth and shape our reality.  Retirement can bring its own identity challenges.  We may think we are too old, too shy, too bold, too tired. Or we may believe we are not smart enough, not secure enough, not adequate in some way.    

Listen to the prophet’s Isaiah’s words: Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen , in whom my soul delights , in whom I have put my Spirit, who will bring forth justice… The prophet’s words were claimed by and for Jesus.  The spirit descended on him and he was empowered to serve, yes. But listen:

Thus says God, who created all things, who gives breathe to the people and spirit to those who walk on earth—I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you. I have given YOU as a covenant to the people… to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon! 

Those words are given for all who walk the earth, all you breathe!

Paul says the same thing- God gives various gifts. God’s purpose is to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up until we ALL reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son.  God’s goal is for us to become mature adults, to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ! Wow!

The purpose of being a Christian is not to go to church.  I heard someone quote Joyce Myers the other day. Evidently, she says that sitting in a garage doesn’t make you a car any more than sitting in church makes you a Christian. Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’m very glad to see each and every one of you here today.  I hope you invite a friend to come with you next week. I think coming to church is important.  But God’s purpose for us is to use our various gifts to equip people, to serve and build and mature until we grow into the fullness of Christ! 

We discover our purpose and direction through a connection with the Holy Spirit.  That’s what happened in our gospel today.  There in the Jordan the heavens opened, and Jesus saw the spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him.  He was open to more than he could ask for or imagine. He was touched by God’s claim on his life, he accepted the call and continued until he finished what he was sent to do.

We see this pattern not just in Jesus’ life but in the lives of nearly all the people in the biblical story.  Jacob wrestled with God on the riverbank.  In his dream there he climbed a ladder with God at the top.  The heavens opened, so to speak, and he heard God’s claim on his life.  The voice said, Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Jacob became Israel there.  With his new identity he pledged his life to God and through him God accomplished what was meant to be.

Moses, in his encounter with the divine before the burning bush, was called to lead a people out of slavery—of course he protested, Who am I?  What gifts do I have for such an audacious task?  But God’s claim was on him.  Moses had seen the greatest need around him, the bondage and destruction of a whole people.  And it happened, he led them to freedom.

Saul, a Jewish persecutor of the early Christians, received a calling on the road to Damascus.  The heavens opened, so to speak.  Saul became Paul the evangelist to the Gentiles.  In Galatians 1 he describes himself as an apostle who is not sent from human authority or commissioned through human agency, but sent through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead.”  How did he know?  He didn’t read it in the Bible or learn it in Seminary. He went to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus 14 years later, and because of a revelation, he found his mission.  He never met Jesus—it came through the Spirit’s working.

Steve and I had a chance to get to know Peter and Melinda Gebraad better last week over dinner one night.  They are the founders of Gems of Mazatlan, a Canadian charity that distributes tax deductible donations to 6 of the orphanages in Mazatlan, including the Salvation Army Children’s Home, whose residents sing here for us each year during Advent.  For Pete and Melinda the heavens opened, so to speak, when they met the SACH kids in 2014 and fell in love with them.  They weren’t looking for a life purpose, but they found one.  They never dreamed this would become their passion and give such meaning to life. 

Their careers allow them to work remotely and devote 6 months a year to improving the lives of children through stabilizing the facilities and systems in the various orphanages here.  They saw a need, identified how to meet the need, and used their own gifts to further the mission given to them.  Those three steps are vital to figuring out a life purpose. 

Pete works as a pyrotechnician, producing shows as big as the Olympics.  Pyrotechnics is not his mission.  But the skills and talents he used in that work, organizing, publicizing, recruiting, managing—are put to use, now, in the service of the orphans of Mazatlan.  Melinda works as an accountant—but that’s not her life mission.  She uses those skills though in the financial management of the charity they founded. 

I listed a website in the bulletin today: beyondbeaches.ca  It includes a directory of charities that are looking for volunteers.  If you’ve got time to give and the skills to fix things, or mow grass, or make sandwiches, or give rides, or hold the hand of a child who has to go the dentist for the first time—they can hook you up.  Who knows how the Spirit will work in your life.

The Spirit equips us for service and calls us to serve.  It’s through our God-given talents that we are built up into mature Christians, fully grown and measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ.  It doesn’t have to be showy or public.  There’s all kinds of quiet ministry and service going on too.

My prayer for each of you is the same as Paul’s prayer.  Now to the one who by the power at work within us, is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to that One—to God, be the glory in the church, now, and through all generations!

Open yourselves to the Spirit’s power. Let the heavens open and hear the words “Beloved” “Child of God” “The one with whom God is pleased.” Amen

ICCM; January 5, 2020; Pastor Rebecca Ellenson; Epiphany

I’ve been thinking about two of Mary Oliver’s poems.  The first is called The Summer Day, it’s closing lines go like this:

I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

What am I, what are you going to do with this one wild precious life?  At first it seems like a question for a young person setting out in life—choosing a career, establishing an identity, achieving goals. After all, we here have all done something with our life already.  We are a bunch of retired people living the dream.  We get to spend our winters in Mazatlan, savoring the sights and sounds of life here, the waves, the sunsets, the flowers, birds, and geckos and the colors and the music.  Most of us know how to be idle and blessed to stroll on the beach if not the fields.  But the question remains, What is it that each of us plans to do with the rest of this our one wild, precious life?

It is the first Sunday of a new year, and of a new decade. It’s a good time for a sort of assessment.  One of my extended family members just retired.  She has always been highly organized and goal oriented.  For years now she’s lived by the ideas outlined in the book Younger Next Year.  Throughout her very successful career she utilized the principles of Jim Collins’ book Good to Great, where he encourages leaders to figure out their Big Hairy Audacious Goals.  Now in retirement she’s using the Blue Zone principles to make her annual goals. 

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Blue Zones—researchers have found 5 places where people regularly live into their 100’s with good health.  The Mountainous highlands of inner Sardinia, A Greek Island that also has one of the world’s lowest rates of dementia, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, a Seventh Day Adventist community in Loma Linda, California, and Okinawa Japan.  I’ve looked at the 9 principles the researchers discovered that are common to these varied groups. 

1.They move naturally instead of joining gyms or running races.  2. They have a life plan. They know their purpose. This alone can add 7 years to your life.  3.  They have routines that shed stress including prayer, rituals, happy hour, or napping.  4.  They stop eating when they are 80% full and eat their bigger meal mid-day or in early evening and do not eat after that.  5. Their diets are mostly plant based.  6. Those who consume alcohol do so in small amounts, drinking with friends or family and with food. 7.They belong to a faith-based community. Attending services can add 4-14 years to your life. 8. They put their families first. 9 Finally they live in social circles that support healthy behaviors. 

That sounds like a great recipe for living the dream. Participating here in this worshiping community, knowing our purpose, prayer patterns, that’s 3 out of 9 blue zone practices right off the bat. Many of us move more naturally here than we do at home too—walking instead of driving.  Many of us are involved in some kind of service—at the Salvation Army Children’s Home, at the Quilting Shop, making sandwiches for the residents of the Dump, organizing Christmas hampers, giving rides to church, caring for our friends and neighbors, giving to the work of this Blue Church.   

I took a little test online related to the Blue Zones after hearing about her annual review and planning.  According to the test, I’ve got about 35 more years of this wild precious life to fill with purpose and meaning.  Wow!  That’s a lot of time.  Many of you have less time than that. But, as long as our hearts are beating, God has a purpose for our lives.  We are not here to Live The Dream in the usual sense of that phrase.  Retirement, as seen through faith, is not just about strolling on the beach, improving our golf score, or learning to paint—those are some of my favorite things to do, by the way, I’m not suggesting we quit those things.  The answer to the question of what we’re going to do with what remains of this one wild precious life will differ for each of us. 

I recently heard the inspiring life story of a centenarian named Dr. Leila Denmark.  She was born in 1898 in Portal Georgia.  She originally trained to be a teacher and only decided to attend medical school when her fiancé was posted overseas by the US State Department and no wives were allowed to accompany their spouses to that post. She was the only woman in her medical school graduating class in 1928.  She started treating children that year, evidently inviting each next patient to the examining room by saying, “Who’s the next little angel in my waiting room?” 

Denmark devoted a substantial amount of her professional time to charity and was an active member of a Baptist church, even while working at a hospital, baby clinic and in her own private practice.  So many of her patients were dying of Whooping Cough that she conducted research in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, eventually creating the vaccine that protects us all.  She was an author, finishing her last book in the year 2002 at the age of 103, the same year she retired, because her eyesight was getting too weak for more involved tasks, such as examining children’s throats. Dr. Leila Denmark was one of the first doctors to suggest not smoking around children, and the importance of a healthy diet.  She died in 2012 at the age of 114 and 2 months.  In think she exemplified all 9 of the Blue Zone Principles. 

Now, I’m not suggesting that we all need to be like Dr. Denmark.  The story is told of Zusha, the great Chassidic master, who lay crying on his deathbed. His students asked him, “Rebbe, why are you so sad? After all the mitzvahs and good deeds you have done, you will surely get a great reward in heaven!”

“I’m afraid!” said Zusha. “Because when I get to heaven, I know God’s not going to ask me ‘Why weren’t you more like Moses?’ or ‘Why weren’t you more like King David?’ But I’m afraid that God will ask ‘Zusha, why weren’t you more like Zusha?’ And then what will I say?!”

Living God’s dream for us means identifying our individual life’s purpose, sharing in healthy community, and service to others.  Jeremiah 29: 11 says, For surely I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. 

In a minute we’ll be singing the words of a 1960’s folk song based on a Christmas poem by Howard Thurman, “I am the light of the world, you people come and follow me, if you follow and love you’ll learn the mystery of what you were meant to do and be.” John 20: 21 gives us the same message in Jesus’ words—As the Father has sent me, so I send you. 

We are not meant to retire to idleness.  Psalm 71: 17-21 explains it perfectly:

God you taught me when I was a child, and I am still proclaiming your marvels.

I am old, and now my hair is gray.  O God, do not forsake me; let me live to tell the next generation about your greatness and power, about your heavenly justice, O God.  You have done great things.  Who, O God is like you?  I have felt misery and hardship, but you will give me life again.  You will pull me up again from the depths of the earth, prolong my old age, and once more comfort me. 

I grew up with excellent role models.  About 10 years ago, my mother was voted into the City of Moorhead’s Hall of Fame.  In her acceptance speech she said, “I learned that all of us want to do well, but if we do not also do good in our community or in the world, then doing well will never be enough. I’ve learned how important it is to give back, especially for those of us who have been so richly blessed.” 

I started with a part of a poem by Mary Oliver.  I want to close with another, in When Death Comes she wrote:

When it’s over, I want to say: all my life

I was a bride married to amazement.

I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder

if I have made of my life something particular, and real.

I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,

or full of argument.

I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.

Amen.