We attended Broadway Presbyterian Church again today. It was World Communion Sunday. THere had been a sign up sheet and members of the congregation were encouraged to bring in breads form their homelands. Before the service the breads were displayed on tables at the entracne to the sanctuary. The introit was "Come All You People." At the invitation to the table the people brought their breads forward and announced to the congregation where the bread was from. Then the breads were laid on the tables and someone cut them up and put some of each kind in a basket. People were invited forward to pick a type of bread and dip it in wine or juice. Three people heled on each side of the sanctuary. One held a basket of bread, one a cup of wine, and one a cup of juice. After the congregation the minister served the communion servers who lined up on the front pew. The last serer than served the minister and everyone returned to their seats.
Roti from Trinidad, Organic 12 Seed and Grain Boule from United States, Shortbread from England, Folar from Portugal, 6- Seed Bread from Canada, Knackebread from Norway, Kringle from Norway, German Bread from Germany, Fry Bread from the Cherokee Nation, Polish Bread from Poland, Pumpernickel from Germany, Scones from Scotland, Irish Bread from Ireland, Cornbread from the American south, Jamaican Bread from Jamaica
Children's Message: How many people do you think are in this church? 30? Preacher said 400! How many churches in this city? Asked congregation to respond. How many cities in this country? How many countries in the world? There are lots of people gathered at this table with us today.
Sermon: She began by mentioning the suicides that have been in the news lately. A young man, a gifted student and violin player, jumped from the George Washington Bridge because his (college?) roommate had put a video of the man with his boyfriend on the internet. She also talked about the suicides by soldiers returning home. I think she said there have been 100 suicides in the United States this far, just by soldiers returning from war. She asked what do we do when life as we know it is shattered? When we lose faith, hope, the ability to dream...
Discouragement is the devils most powerful tool.
The scripture was of the Mustard Seed and the minister brought some and tossed a handful out into the congregation. She left a pile of the seeds on the communion table and invited us to take some.
She said Faith is our response to dispair, to "Why me?" We believe that increasing our faith will solve our problems, will lead to greater rewards. We speak of faith as if it can be measured. Whe nwe have lots of it bells and whistles will go off. But faith is not measureable. It is not about having more. She knew of a young widow who had 2 small children. The woman was a minister and some one said to her, "Don't you have enough faith to get through this?" Our nation is losing power and our response is to push peoiple away. We try to measure everything by volume. People cried to the disciples to increase their faith. Faith won't protect us though. We will lose jobs, loved ones will die, disasters will happen. Faith is not about " much" but "how."
God is present already. Faith is a gift. We are here to receive it. We cannot buy it or get more of it. We must live it. Be encouraged. God has not let us go. We can dream the impossible dream: where women are not objectified by their bodies, where races are not at each others throats, a world united by God's love. It is possible because God has given us this opening through dispair. Oh, may it be so.
There is a chili cook-off in a few weeks. Cooks are encouraged to make an extra batch of chili to place in the deacon's freezer. They keep meals on hand for families who come to the church and need an emergency meal. What a wonderful idea. We have a great recipe from Mom and the girls have already asked if I am making it for us to bring.
No comments:
Post a Comment