Family Dynamics: On the Run

I missed posting last weeks worship service. No particular reason, just did not get around to. Last Sunday was Part 2 of Sibling Rivalry where Jacob deceives his father and steals his brother’s blessing. Cindy Dantic Watson played violin and it is always a joy to hear her play.

This week, because of the events of last week, Jacob in on the run. His brother Esau is angry enough to plot to kill his brother once his father dies. Rebekah intervenes and sends Jacob to Haran to her brother’s home for him to find a wife outside of the local women. Esau has already married two of the local women and Rebekah again manipulates Isaac into agreeing to send Jacob away. Jacob is blessed again by his father and then he is on the road to an uncertain future.

This is part of Jacob’s saga is where we get the story of Jacob’s ladder. It is really more of a staircase, but that spot, God blesses Jacob. During worship, we showed pictures and updated how our Virtual Vacation Bible School went (and the videos are on the website and worth a view) and then showed how to make a Jacob’s ladder. You can find that video at 23: 38. Here is a picture of my Jacob’s ladder.

The traditional spiritual is shared by our section leader quartet and Jane Hyde on the harp is always a gift to the spirit.

This story always grabs me in a new way. God’s grace is infinite and is such a gift not just to Jacob but to all of us. Grace comes not because we are deserving but because God is loving. You can watch the service, hear the music and sermon here. Last weeks service is also available if you would like to hear Cindy Dantic Watson on violin.

Family Dynamics: Sibling Rivalry Part 1

We started a new sermon series today that will take us through the end of August: Family Dynamics: The Saga of Jacob. In the lectionary for Year A, there are exactly four texts on Jacob. The series does have some of the Abraham and Sarah texts, but again, only some of the story. The five pericope is the beginning of the story of Joseph, Jacob and Rachel’s son.

The first lection is the one we read this morning on the Rebekah conceving the twins, the wrestling in the womb, the word of God that the elder would serve the younger and the Esau selling his birthright. The other stories the next week is when Jacob is on the run and we have the vision of “Jacob’s ladder,” then Laban tricking Jacob by giving his eldest daughter Leah in marriage before his younger daughter Rachel and finally the trip home and the late night wrestling with a messenger from God who renames Jacob and makes sure he limps the rest of his days.

ALL good stories, but lectionary skips over so much that instead of just preaching the lectionary, I have added the stories that actually create the whole sage. The Jacob narrative in Genesis is gritty, ugly, and filled with back biting and sibling rivalry, with jealousies and cheating. You wouldn’t know most of that if you only read what the lectionary shares.

So while we will do the four readings, they will be added to the greater story of Jacob and  his redemption. This first week we get the birth narrative and the first bit of grasping and grabbing on Jacob’s part. We are introduced to the favoritism of the parents (and grandparents before them) and the first deep fracture of the brothers relationship.

We were blessed to hear Rachelle Goter on Clarinet with Dr. Bryan Mock accompanying on piano and Dr. Mock on organ. The Gathering Band shared “It is Well with my Soul, a hymn that always blesses me. You can find the whole of the worship service or just the sermon here.

I am excited about our virtual Vacation Bible Study this year. Covid-19 threw alot of plans into chaos, but I am so grateful for Brad Remington and our Family Ministries Council who decided to go ahead and find a different way to share in VBS. This past week several volunteers were taped for the lesson, the craft and a devotion. The videos will be uploaded each day next week beginning on Sunday so families can choose the time to share in VBS for their own children, or with others. The registration form is here and we need families to register so that we can make sure there are enough kits for everyone!

We are finding new ways to connect with a Wednesday devotional being sent through our phones and a new Zoom Church Wide Fellowship Hour next week. What a great way to be the community of faith together during this time of pandemic. I am thankful for God’s grace and love that is with us through it all.

Easter Sunday

What a different kind of Easter Sunday. With an empty sanctuary, no choir or special musicians, the feel was so unexpected. I have great worship leaders and musicians: Chy Billings III, Leslie Coates, Brianna Brown, Kate Davis, Ralph Phillips and Brad Remington. Volunteers run the cameras and the sound and the slides. I am so grateful for their gifts and leadership

The Covid-19 pandemic has changed worship across my city and state and nation. Churches all over the world had empty sanctuaries and the push to have online worship has been difficult for many.

Since the church I serve has been televised live for four decades, the technology is not difficult for us. Except for today! I can’t be the only pastor that wants everything to go right particularly on Easter and more so this Easter.

Some of the technical issues of being live on television is that we have exactly 59 minutes and 58 seconds to fill. We meet weekly to put together the elements of the service and figure out the “timing.” How long will the music last? How long will the scriptures and prayer time take? Usually then we get the timing for the sermon. Most weeks if all goes well I get 18 minutes. Occasionally I take more than the time allotted and because the sermon has the most flexibility I have to either add or cut in the middle of the service in order to make things even.

Today was such a day. We thought we had more planned, but things went quickly and all the sudden we were over six minutes short with no real plan B. In most places it wouldn’t matter, but on television, “empty” air time matters. I stretched the sermon, stretched the benediction and still we were short!!! On Easter!

Those of you who know me well, know that I am a perfectionist. I want things in worship to go well, to go smoothly and to work! The truth is sometimes is just doesn’t. Stuff happens, we make mistakes and it is what it is. And in the whole scheme of things it doesn’t really matter. In my head it feels like it matter, but the truth is, it doesn’t. A week from now, a year from now, it won’t matter.

It seems to me the All Sons and Daughter’s song: Buried in the Grave spoke the deep truth of today:

All we have, all we had
Was a promise like a thread
Holding us, keeping us
Oh from fraying at the edge

All we knew, all we knew
Was You said You’d come again
You’d rise up from the dead

Trusting in the resurrection of Christ in the midst of a pandemic, is holding on that thread, believing that God is walking us into our future and caring for us. Easter is the promise that keeps us from fraying, keeps us centered on God’s love for us in our resurrected Christ. Easter can not be stopped by a preacher’s mistakes, or off timing, or a coronavirus or social isolation. Easter comes with its hope and promise and it is what we know and proclaim.

You can find the “whole” service or just the sermon here.