Unity

So Where Have I been?

2007-02-18T15:40:00.000-05:00

Hey There!

Things have been pretty quiet at Unity, haven't they? That is because I have moved to "Parsonage Life" at revtierneyeliot.net. Its not too far developed but, hey! Check it out!

Oh, and Thanks to Boy in The Bands, Rev. Scott Wells for being my technological guide...

Sermon

2007-01-12T10:33:00.000-05:00

Here is the sermon (translated from notes for your convenience) that I gave in Newton this past Sunday. Not Surprisingly, it is similar to the one I gave in Natick the week before!

PS. I apologize for any unconventional punctuation, grammar, etc. I was never an English major, after all, and this was originally meant to be spoken...

Lost in the Temple (Newton Version)
Rev. Adam Tierney-Eliot

For many of us, the holidays require quite a bit of packing and unpacking. Starting around Thanksgiving and continuing on into the New Year there are family outings. Ones often farther than a days drive.

In my family, for example, we pack up the van and go to Maine to visit relatives. It is where I’m from, after all, and half of my family still lives there. Into the car go the pies and the presents, the spare clothes, distractions for the kids on the way. On the way back the presents have been replaced with other presents there are leftovers, too. All of this has been somewhat haphazardly stowed in our haste to go south.

Given our haste it should not be surprising that there have been times when I have forgotten some crucial item. Sometimes it is something small, like car keys. However, somewhat less frequently, we drive the long miles back to our home only to find a message on the answering machine: “Son, you forgot your dog”.

You cannot ship a dog. You have to go back.

Now, just maybe this sort of thing has happened to you, and if it has (even though few of us have probably forgotten our children) it is hard not to sympathize with Mary and Joseph. In fact, many of us may be feeling the same way these days. After a long trip and a big holiday it is natural to feel a bit tired--Maybe a little less festive than we felt just days and weeks before
In anticipation of our plans and observances. After all the highs and lows that the holidays bring, it is hard to return to the regular, everyday world

Maybe this is why Joseph and Mary got a little confused and forgot one of their children back in Jerusalem. In their defense, the Bible tells us that they did have other kids and they were moving in a group of friends and relatives. Also, Jesus was a teenager at the time--testing the boundaries of his home life, exploring the new freedom that comes with that advanced age. But, of course, they eventually figured out that he wasn’t with any of their friends returning to Nazareth.

Three days of travel and frantic searching ensued until there he was--in the Temple. “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” His parents probably could have killed him just then and the Bible says that they “Did not understand what he said”

When we read this passage in the context of later orthodox theology it seems merely to be another reference to and reinforcement of the literal divinity of Jesus. In this context he appears to be rebuking his earthly parents by claiming one father (God) above another (Joseph). But upon closer inspection, this doesn’t really make sense. The fact is--If that is all it was--the Mary and Joseph of Luke’s Gospel Would have understood exactly what Jesus had said. After all, they had just had their fill of the heavenly hosts a chapter before.

No, there must be something else going on here. The famous religious educator Sophia Fahs, (who wrote today’s responsive reading) also wrote a book about Jesus back in the 1940’s that has a slightly different, more human take on this same moment. If you are curious, I am sure that there are probably some old copies still in the Sunday School.

“How astonished they were when entering one of the cloisters among the pillars [of the temple] they saw their son, sitting quietly, with older men all around him listening to the rabbi! They heard Jesus ask a question. They trembled lest the teacher become annoyed by their son. But the teacher listened with interest and answered the boy’s question respectfully, and Jesus was…absorbed in what the teacher was saying.”

“[later Mary asks] ‘Son, why have you behaved like this?’ [And Jesus responds] ‘Mother, why have you been looking for me all over the city? Did you not know that I would be right here in the temple?’…So Jesus’ dream of being with the great teachers to listen and ask them questions came to an end.”

To Fahs this story has a practical and understandable message. Jesus was a special child--as all children are. He was one who asked questions about the world around him and about his faith. He wasn’t always understood, but listened closely to the beat of his own drum. Instead of arguing with Mary and Joseph he seems genuinely surprised that it took so long to find him.
He tells them, in essence, “This is who I am! You know that! Where else would I be?”

And where else would he be at the end of one of the holiest times in Judaism. Where else would he be? No wonder they didn’t understand. No wonder we do not understand. After all, in our day at least the religious aspects of the holidays can, and do take something of a back seat to all the other seemingly (but not really) central events like big feasts, family get-togethers…packing and unpacking presents.

Jesus didn’t come for the festival, for the celebrations and the food, for parties with old friends and new. He didn’t show up for the excitement, for all the many secular joys of a time like this in the capital city. Nor did he come to Jerusalem to merely go through the motions of religious observance, to make the appointed sacrifices, to pray the required prayers and be done with it.

No, apparently not.

He came to listen to the old rabbis, to learn about his faith of all things and, in his own way, as a young person, to contribute to the discussion. To ask questions, to air his doubts. Where else would he be?

In fact, this moment of conversation—helping to fill the gap between his infancy and his ministry--gets at the most fundamental aspect of his faith. The theologian Harvey Cox, in his book When Jesus Came to Harvard, points out that “Jesus was a Rabbi…[Jesus] never delivered an easy answer to a hard question but, in time-honored rabbinical fashion…would not allow people to escape the responsibility of making their own decisions”.

One thing that Jesus teaches us in this moment is that real religion expands and contracts as we human beings inhabit it and discover more about ourselves and our world. Sometimes we must abandon (or at least modify) the ways of our elders--To follow new dreams and develop new ideas. Still, even as Jesus leaves his parents he encounters other teachers. For the core of our faith is always the same--whether we are Buddhist or Christian, Jewish or Muslim, or any other of the many responsible varieties of belief that exist today.

Religion can seem complex. This is, in part, by design. It is the design of those who wish to establish a system of right and wrong belief--to define us and them. However, to the reformer--reformers like Jesus and like the other prophets of the past and the present—the goal is to cut through the layers of doctrine, to gather in the shadow of the temple and to talk, to exchange ideas. For them the goal is the simple and understandable faith

Now, there is a difference between simplicity and shallowness. When we seek out the Divine we are searching for something that is profoundly simple. It is also amazingly deep and mysterious
Chaung-Tzu (The ancient Taoist philosopher) writes about the Tao, “how deep and still its hiding place. Without this stillness, metal would not ring…the power of sound is in the metal and Tao in all things. When they clash, they ring with Tao and are silent again. Who is there now to tell all things their places?”

This stillness that Chang-Tzu writes about is something we all participate in, though we may have different names for it. When Jesus sat with the rabbis at the temple he was acknowledging this stillness and the place where he most felt connected to it.

Of course, there have always been those who are so invested in the smallest particulars of religious doctrine that they are unwilling to let them go. From our own tradition, there is the story of Theodore Parker who once observed that “Anyone who traces the history of what is called Christianity will see that nothing changes more from age to age than the doctrines taught as Christian and insisted on as essential to Christianity and personal salvation.” The Church, to Parker, was meant to change with the times and with the growth of our human body of knowledge. Churches, however, (both liberal and conservative) move slowly--as does any community so linked to the past. Even when they do move, there is always some disagreement as to the direction.

The first minister of the Eliot Church in Natick, MA (The church that I now serve) was the Unitarian James Thompson, who refused to exchange pulpits with Reverend Parker—as did others. This is considered quite the insult then and now (so it’s a good thing you invited me). Thompson’s refusal, in Parker’s words “Decides my course for the future”.

Parker became increasingly estranged From many of his fellow Unitarians for his then-liberal views. Still, it would have seemed strange to Parker to have modified his opinions merely to stay in the good graces of his colleagues. “I should laugh out loud,” he wrote sarcastically, “To catch myself weeping because the Boston Clergy would not exchange with me!”

This kind of compromise would have been strange to Jesus, too
“Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and their own house”

There is something else that this story of the Temple tells us about the nature of our faith. It lies in the timing. In this story Passover is finished for the year but Jesus and his teachers are still there--still preaching and praying, teaching and learning…and arguing. The mature faith--the simple faith--doesn’t wax and wane based on the cycles of the season. The hard and rewarding work continues.

Now some people worry about putting the Christ in Christmas. No doubt there is somewhere a catalogue of all the perceived infractions—the ground lost to forces of secularism--that occurred this past year. Maybe instead we should be concerned with putting the life and teachings of Jesus and all the great and true prophets to work in this world, every day of the year. That is a New Year’s resolution worth keeping.

Praying Like Jesus

2007-01-10T14:42:00.000-05:00

I just finished a very good book that I would like to tell you about. It is Praying Like Jesus by James Mulholland. I first learned of Mulholland in conjunction with this year's Revival program in New York. Before I knew his name, I was dimly aware of his work as the co-author of the books If Grace is True and If God is Love. That is, I was aware of the books and their titles and of the rising of Christian Universalism and celebrated their presence in the wake of the slow retreat of Christians from Unitarian Universalism. I, however, hadn't read the books and, frankly, "Grace" and "God" still sit on my bookshelf awaiting the advent of spare time that I most likely will not have any time soon.

Praying Like Jesus, however, called to me. I have been giving some serious thought to my prayer life. When Mulholland talks about the "Prayer of Jesus," the focus of the book, he means what most of us call the "Lord's Prayer" or "Our Father". I, like many people pray the Lord's Prayer (with "trespasses") every day. It is also part of the prayer I say about fifteen minutes before I preach on Sunday. During that time I also pray for my congregation and that I will do a good job for them and for God. We also pray the prayer during the service, itself.

This prayer--the prayer of Jesus--is a big part of my life for something so short. In fact, my entire spiritual discipline is short. It has to be. For me, and (I suspect) for many others, there isn't enough time in the day for any of the nifty "home rituals" that I hear suggested from time to time. Still, in its brevity it must be effective, too.

The book is also short. It is effective in that Mulholland has chosen an effective subject. Additionally, there is a conversation going on. This book is meant in part to be a response to another work The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkinson. That prayer can be found in 1 Chronicles 4:10. The prayer is fine enough, but the book is aparently part of the ever-popular prosperity gospel that many Americans and others wish were true. Who wouldn't want to be proserous, after all? Who wouldn't want to enlist God to aid them in getting what they want? I am being rhetorical here. The fact is, religion is so much about our worldly needs as about God.

Mulholland attempts to show us how the Lord's Prayer reinforces such Christian virtues as compassion and forgiveness. He also points out the social justice implications of these virtues. The prayer helps us, in a simple way, to look outside our needs and to strive for the true transformation of ourselves and our world. Jesus' prayer does that. Mulholland just underlines what is already there.

I am grateful for this as, at times, I have forgotten that faith requires a certain amount of discipline to live well. I have forgotten the words of the Prayer of Jesus even as I have said them. I am grateful, therefore, to be reminded of their message and power. I recommend this for book discussions and, possibly Adult Religious Education. If I ever get my act together, perhaps I will take a crack at doing just that...

Hey There!

2007-01-09T10:36:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in over a month. I just couldn't do it. December and the holidays have been exhausting and I just couldn't quite get it together enough to put something up here that would be worth reading! However, I am back, at least for the moment, thanks to minor-but-painful mouth surgery that makes it hard to talk (my preferred form of communication). Now I have the time, it seems.

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to preach elsewhere. I went over to First Unitarian Church of Newton, to fill-in for the incomparable James Ford, who is on sabbatical. I had a lovely time. The building couldn't be more different from Eliot's. Ours is a stereotypical "small white church" of the New England flavor. Newton's is just plain huge in a Harry Potter sort of way that made it a fun space to be in. The congregation, of course, was very like the one at Eliot. They were warm and welcoming and--while not Christian--did not mind my fairly extensive exegesis on the story of the adolescent Jesus lost in the temple in Jerusalem.

One of the great things about supply (or exchange) preaching is that it challenges you to get out of whatever mental ruts you might have been in and to look at worship and preaching in a slightly different way. Back before I had a church, I spent a year or two supplementing my community-organizer income through itinerant preaching. Sunday brought back to me the joy and excitement of doing something different, of being challenged and rising to that challenge in a creative way.

Sunday also reminded me of how much I love my own church. Whenever I go somewhere I get a lot of questions about Eliot and its status as an Ecumenical Shared Ministry with the UUA and UCC. Pretty much all that I do is talk about Eliot during coffee hour and in the parking lot! Folks aren't hostile, just curious. I like the way we do things. I enjoy preaching and pastoring to the Eliot church and I love attending services there to hear someone else preach. This shouldn't be seen as a slam on any other religious community. It is great to be able to find a church home. Eliot happens to be mine.

I dimly recall that PeaceBang had a post about liking the church one serves but, sadly, it appears that "old blogger" is in for maintenance. Check it out later...

Adalius for Peace!

2006-12-06T14:28:00.000-05:00

Here is an article about professional athletes opposing the war and the barriers they face in speaking out. Pro athletes have a great deal of potential power that they rarely use. People listen to them. Kids listen in particular, but parents do to. All you have to do is look at all the folks with football connections in the recent election. They are there, from Heath Schuler to George Allen to JC Watts. Tom Brady gets paraded around from time to time by the Bush administration as do others. Dave Zirin, in his article, urges liberal athletes to speak up and to organize. I wish him (and them) luck...

Christmas Vacation

2006-12-05T11:07:00.000-05:00

Two things happened recently that got me thinking. I was walking to the church yesterday after dropping the kids off at school when one of the other "walking dads" asked me what I was doing for Christmas vacation. "I'm Working!" I said. This, of course, is true. I am working three services on Christmas Eve. After that, I proceded to tell him how I would spend Christmas morning. After we parted company I started to wonder if what I told him might have sounded a bit too much like complaining. After all, most people have family-time, parties, and Thanksgiving-style feasts on the big day. My family does not. In fact, if one didn't know what I did for work, one might assume that I had been possessed by the ghost of Ebenezar Scrooge (pre-reformation).

Then this morning I read the post over at Peacebang, where she outlined her rather ambitious Christmas rituals and realized that I am not alone. Her plans are "ambitious" in the sense that we all try to achieve that level of relaxation and in-the-now-ness from time to time. More often than not, we fail.

So I thought I would share with you what I do. This story is not unique to me (or to Peacebang, whose plans are similar). Church Organists, Choir Directors, clergypeople and just about every trumpeter in Chrisendom celebrate in very similar ways. We like it.

For the last seven years, I have worked on Christmas Eve. I get to church early, make sure the place is clean, call my readers, musicians, deacons, etc to make sure all are ready and there is nothing that they need from me. I then read through the services. There are usually two of them. This year there is a third at the usual Sunday morning time. Are there enough chairs up front? Do the flowers still look fresh? Do we have the candles for the "silent night" lighting? I go through everything. I know that the deacons, musicians, etc are doing the same thing, but hey. It never hurts to check that list twice!

Then the services. This year the first one will be a small half-hour gathering for communion (probably) at 10 am. Wherever two or more are gathered as they say! This will be festive in a small way. If it goes well, maybe we will do it again.

The second service is the "Family" one. The kids play music. Congregants (many of them former RE denizens or RE Committee people) read from a "Children's Bible" and we will recite Christmas poetry from Dylan Thomas and Horatio Alger, Junior. Later, the more formal service begins. We used to refer to it as the "candlight" service but we have candles at the Family service, too. My readers will be the two community ministers affiliated with Eliot, the Reverends Dave Miller and Donna Tetreault. After that, I will have lost my voice. We say our "Merry Christmases," our Music Director, Stephen James, grabs a flight, and I close up church.

Back home we put on a video. My wife and kids will have ordered pizza after the first evening's service and put in some serious "claymation special" time. After a while we will go to bed.

My Christmas Day is similar to Peacebang's except with kids. We get up, we open presents, we have an enormous breakfast, walk, eat, play, and then sleep. We do not have visitors. Usually, we do not see family. I am too tired to do much more than hang out with my immediate family. Since they hadn't seen me pretty much for 24 hours, they like it, too.

That is Christmas for a religious professional. Certainly I miss the family and a part of me would like to be with them. Still, I like it this way. My mom, after all, is also a minister, so my parents will be doing similar things. They understand and I like the day without distractions, doing nothing with the wife and kids. It is a rare opportunity for everyone these days.

I hope you all have similarly satisfying ways of spending the holiday. God bless. Merry Christmas.

Advent Sermon, 1st Sunday, 2006!

2006-12-04T11:50:00.000-05:00

Here is my first Advent sermon of the year. I finally took the time to "prosify" one for ease of reading. I should tell you that--I use a lot of these--. Mostly it is because sermons are meant to be spoken, after all. Blogger continues to be a bit sticky, so, for some reason I cannot make this as readable as I would like. Maybe when they get around to fixing themselves, I will come back and adjust everything...

Demonstrations of Doubt
Rev. Adam Tierney-Eliot
The Eliot Church
December 3, 2006

"The Days are surely coming," says God through Jeremiah
"When I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel."

This is a statement of certainty and optimism. It urges us to look forward with anticipation to the sure fulfillment of prophecy. This certainty is a hallmark of much of modern faith, be it Christian, Jewish, Muslim or any other of the great world religions. There is the sense of absolute truth. We see this understanding in the architecture of the great cathedrals and the rituals of the church. We see it particularly during Advent, when so many people are preparing for Christmas, for our annual celebration of the birth of Jesus

This story of Christmas--one that many churches begin preparing for today--is a powerful one. It is a story that, in many ways, transcends our actual beliefs. But, of course, as moving as the story may be, many of us who gather here today to help usher in the Christian New Year and with it the holiday season, probably have a few questions lurking in the back of our minds. There are doubts sitting and whispering in the corners of our hearts

Our newspapers are filled daily, not with the news of the coming Commonwealth of Heaven, but with news of war and famine and tales of natural disasters that ruin lives and communities. The suffering continues in spite of the promise of prophets like Jeremiah. For many of us, the very stories, themselves, from the Creation in Genesis through the Christmas nativity and on to the resurrection, have become harder to comprehend and believe in the light of two thousand years of growth and discovery.

Our doubts can wear on us and wear on those who would just like to believe and want us to believe, too (to be happy, maybe when we are not,to worry about “putting the Christ in Christmas” when, perhaps in deference to our Jewish and Muslim friends, we do not). Still, we gather on this first Sunday in Advent to once again experience and remember the teachings of the prophets and heroes of the Biblical past. We gather together to celebrate Christmas just as dissenters of the past did--people like the Universalist Olympia Brown, the Unitarian Fredrick Henry Hedge, and (while his father, Lyman forbade it growing up), the Congregationalist Henry Ward Beecher--all of whom we have spoken about this past month. We gather just as they did to live out a faith founded on love.

Why do we do it? Why do we celebrate this holiday even when we have questions? Well, the asking, of course, is natural, it is part of our tradition. It is a tradition of debate that goes back to the Bible. There we can find plenty of people who aren’t so ready to accept the party line. There is Peter, of course, and Thomas, apostles who required convincing on many occasions. There is Zekariah, from one of our readings today, unwilling to believe the angel of God, saying, “How will I know that this is so?” (Luke 1:18)

The Gospel writers, themselves, disagreed with each other--each book representing a different tradition and a different audience. The texts are filled with contradictions as each early Christian community or school of thought attempted to have their perspective heard and understood. This merely proves that in faith and scripture, it is hard to find any absolutes.

For example, in the Gospel of Luke we find the virgin Mary and her husband-to-be, Joseph traveling to Bethlehem where Mary gives birth to Jesus in a barn. In Matthew, however, Jesus and Mary apparently already live in Bethlehem and Jesus is born in a house. The writer of Mark, the oldest Gospel, seems to feel that the circumstances of Jesus’ birth are not remarkable enough to record (which is strange when one considers the claims made by Matthew and Luke). In fact, the earliest texts in the Bible are Paul’s. He doesn’t mention the virgin birth, either, and the Gospel of John refers to Joseph as Jesus’ father, without any qualifications that would indicate that his fatherhood was adoptive rather than biological.

Knowing all of this, it seems almost too much to point out that the Hebrew word (Almah) in Isaiah--a word that Matthew cites to legitimize Jesus as the main character in a messianic prophecy, and that our Bibles have translated as “virgin”--lacks the biological implications that we usually associate with it. It refers instead to a young woman who has recently been married but isn’t yet pregnant.

The jury is out on the historical veracity of the Christmas story as we know it, as it is on many aspects of scripture. However, that doesn’t mean we have to box up our ornaments and take down the tree. Nor must we anoint ourselves the town Grinches.

All of these points of theology, either known or intuited by many of us here today, have less to do with why we celebrate Christmas than we might think. Norman Vincent Peale once said that, “Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.” There is something magical about this time, A beauty and a goodness that tries hard to break through the shell and cynicism of our modern minds.

Our understanding of the Bible and its contradictions isn’t a reason to throw it away. Instead, it reinforces an approach and acceptance of the fact that (In the words of Bible Scholar and priest Father John Dominic Crossan) “It is possible to take the Christian message seriously, without having to take it at all points literally.” The spirit after all, is still there, strong and holy. For all that the tradition has done to present our faith as one monolithic system of beliefs, the fact remains that from the very beginning there have been different ways to understand it. We, in the tradition of our forebears are well within our rights to demonstrate our doubt. Our doubts keep us honest. They excite and energize us. They allow us to find, in all the competing signs, the true light and spirit of the season.

One thing that the liberal church does well is to articulate what we do not believe. Much less frequently (and often with an overabundance of modifiers and conditions), we say what we do believe. This Christmas season gives us the opportunity to do both. For at the root of our faith is an idea, one that all of the Gospel writers can agree on: That God is in the world. Wherever and whatever else God may be, God is in the world and in us and between us.

Today we read responsively from a piece inspired by the Magnificat, when the gospel of Luke quotes Mary as saying,
“My soul magnifies the sovereign God
And my spirit rejoices in God my savior
For God has looked with favor
On the lowliness of this servant”
God is with us and in us. God is with and in all the lowly servants, just as it was for Mary and the Commonwealth of Heaven exists for us all--women and men of all races, all nations and creeds--in our joy as well as in our deepest suffering--no matter how painful, no matter how dark.

It is telling that the great Roman critic of the Christians, Celsus, objected to the idea of the virgin birth of Jesus, not because he thought such a thing impossible--the Emperor Augustus, for example was supposed to have been the son of the god Apollo--no, his objection was that such a thing would happen to the least of these. Not to an emperor but a carpenter. Not to a warrior but a rabbi.

The story of the birth of Jesus is a parable in some sense lived by us each year. It is lived by us in rituals and retelling and is meant not to widen the gulf between us and God, but to help us bridge it. To help us bridge the gap through the life of a man who did and said extraordinary things.

The great irony may be how isolated the holidays can make us feel, so let us all try to celebrate this universal message of peace and of love, to remember that God is with us all. Amen

Advent Pastoral Email

2006-12-01T11:10:00.000-05:00

Dear Eliot Church Members and Friends,

This Sunday marks the beginning of Advent. It is a busy time. Advent is the beginning of the church's worship cycle, preparing us for the story of Jesus. It also means that it is a mere four weeks until Christmas! In the midst of all the festivities and general holiday craziness, let us all try to find times of quiet and of peace so we may maintain our own good humor in the days to come. Also, the holidays may be hard for some of us. I urge everyone to look out for each other and to reach out when the opportunity presents itself.

Naturally, it is a good time to be in church, too. It is nice to be able to see friendly faces this time of year. It is also good to gather and remember why it is we celebrate Christmas in the first place! Besides, we have some important dates coming up soon. The famous annual Christmas pageant, for example, will be cast this Sunday and the pageant, itself will be on December 17th. I hope everyone will be able to attend and participate. Also, this year we will have three services on December 24. The first will be at our regular time (10am). The other two will be evening services at 5pm (this is the "family" service) and 7pm (a more traditional service).

Once again, have a blessed and joyous holiday season.

Yours in Faith,
Adam

Quebec Nationhood

2006-11-30T10:53:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of son #2's Kindergarden class singing that Reagan-Era hit "Proud to be an American". The things on their heads are paper turkeys. I will never think of that song the same way again...

While we were all eating our turkey and giving thanks something interesting occured just north of us. the Canadian Parliament voted to recognize Quebec as a nation within Canada. This may have some interesting implications for Canadians in particular and for the concept of nationalism and nationhood in general. What, exactly is a nation (Quebec) within another nation (Canada)? It isn't clear that everyone has even close to the same idea...

My wife and I lived in Montreal for a while "pre-children". We were there during the emergence of the Bloc Quebecois and their then-leader Lucien Bouchard. Since then I have followed the unique relationship between Quebec and the rest of Canada. It is intriguing to me on many levels. It looks like it will continue to be.

Finally just a reminder to folks. The Canadians live right next door! Take an interest, people. They are a large, industrialized, wealthy nation with an interesting perspective on the US, democracy, and life in general. They also impact how we see ourselves and how we live. They even play football. I actually have a dream of someday becoming the Alex de Toqueville of Canada, traveling across the country, writing pompous things about Canadian culture, etc. Maybe you should pay attention, too.

Dead Fish and Such (Or my Dan Harper Moment)

2006-11-29T09:53:00.000-05:00

Not too long ago (I believe it was the Saturday before Halloween). I stopped to sit on the park bench at the dam across from my house. It was cold and the rain was threatening to make its appearance at any moment. I, however, wasn't entirely alone. On the other side of the dam, one of the Herons that make their home on the Charles was busy catching fish. First he stood stock-still and then, thrusting with his beak he poked at the water in front of him. Finally, he was successful and spent the next twenty minutes stabbing his catch to death before gulping it down.

The other denizen of the opposite bank was not so lucky. While the Heron was exhalting in its dinner, a fisherman cast his line twice, and then got it tangled on some rocks. Ah, well. Maybe there was something for him in the fridge.

I thought of this moment today thanks to the church air conditioner. This particular appliance gets very little use from humans and, therefore, has become the home to a family of birds. They are quite loud today. I don't mind. The sound reminds me of my country childhood, of the various suburban nature preserves, and of the urban parks and greenhouses that have been a part of my life. In particular, it reminded me of the Lincoln Park Conservatory in Chicago, similar to the one on Belle Isle in Detroit. No doubt the wet weather today helped me make the connection, too.

I realize that nature doesn't exist for my happiness but, still, it brings me joy. I hope that it brings you joy, too. Winter is coming, and coming soon.

I am a big fan of good science and have never really understood why many faith leaders are so bent out of shape about Darwin and others who have called into question some of the stories in scripture. I would hope that their trust in God is greater than that. Why would we think that any human being (Yes, the bible was written by humans. This is indisputable.) could reduce the wonder of the world to the written page. It cannot be done. Modern discoveries do not prove God's non-existence so much as prove our limitted understanding. I hear the voices of the birds and the rain on the roof today and stand in awe of all we do not know of the complexity of this creation.

In the past, I have written a bit about Natural Selection and made it the topic of my summer reading. The reviews of the books I read can be seen here and here and here. My buddy Dan Harper has a post about the Christian Conservatives and their approach to science here.

Snow?

2006-11-28T10:16:00.000-05:00

I was watching the warm-up to last night's MNF game and saw snow. Quite a bit of it fell, actually, in Seattle. I, of course, couldn't be much farther from Seattle but, still, it got me in the holiday mood and that is a good thing. Dave Miller, one of the community ministers affiliated with Eliot and also a local realtor, was putting his X-Mas lights up at his office across the street from the church yesterday. Man, I love Advent.

I have even started Christmas shopping. I have gifts for various relatives and friends. I have also made my first seasonal donation. I gave a little something to the UCC's God is Still Speaking Campaign. Eliot Church is not a part of this but I find it to be refreshing. You can donate too, if you would like. You can also vote for your favorite UCC commercial. Yes, I do like the "Ejector Seat" commercial the best, but "All The People" is much more Christmasy

One interesting by product of the season is that my archives get a great many hits thanks to google-searches for Advent sermons. I will be posting them again this year. Partly this is because I like to share. Partly, however, it forces me to focus during a hard-to-focus time.

I would, however, like to apologize to all the folks who are apparently looking for pictures of Metallica Drummer Lars Ulrich. Once, a long time ago, I posted a link to a picture of him and since then folks keep getting driven to me! From one fan to another, I am sorry. Feel free to stick around, though...

Congregationalism

2006-11-24T06:06:00.000-05:00

Happy day after! I hope all of you are well. I have a stomach ache, alas, and cannot sleep. Here is an article I wrote for the church newsletter. Eliot is doing quite a bit of formal and informal work on its identity. One problem (and I have mentioned it before) for Union Churches is that they have so many affiliations. At the risk of confusing things for non-Eliots (this is part of a broader discussion). Here is what I wrote on the subject this month...

“Who (or What) are we?”
Rev. Adam Tierney-Eliot

How do we describe the tradition and identity of the Eliot Church? Are we Unitarian Universalist? Are we United Church of Christ? What do we mean by “Community Church” anyway? I often hear these questions from members of the congregation. No doubt, many of you hear questions like these from fellow-members and from friends and family. The answer sometimes seems complicated. However, it really isn’t.

Much of the confusion, I think, comes from the attempt to reconcile three apparently distinct concepts. Two of these are related to the UUA and the UCC, larger institutions that we are affiliated with. The other is our identity as a “Community Church”. However, appearances can be deceiving. All three are facets of the broader tradition of American Congregationalism.

If someone asks you what kind of church Eliot is, you can’t go wrong by saying “Congregationalist”. Our tradition has a long history dating back at least to 17th century England. Interestingly, it had its start in this country when a small group of people deciding to separate from the Church of England eventually ended up in what we now know as Plymouth, Massachusetts! In addition to a tendency toward religious reform and theological diversity, this is the tradition that gave New England its town meeting form of government and a wide variety of social reformers, philosophers, scientists, and politicians.

Let’s start with our two associations, the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association. They are called associations for a reason. Associations are collections of independent congregations, each with its own tradition. Over the years the UUA and UCC have merged with other movements and have developed different interests and points of emphasis, but this fundamental fact of their lives has remained. In essence, the denomination in Congregationalism is the local church. This is why Eliot hires its own minister, owns its own buildings and, generally makes its own decisions without having to defer to a larger organization.

The UUA and the UCC are two of four associations of congregations that date their founding to one document, the Cambridge Platform of 1648. This document laid out a system of self-governance for individual worship communities. All four associations provide support and nurture to their member churches and to their ministers. Sunday School, retreat opportunities, continuing education for clergy and lay leaders, and mission (or social justice and outreach) programs are their primary function. The purpose is not to tell the churches or their members what to believe so much as to help them on the journey.

Are there differences between these institutions? Absolutely. A recent public discussion between the leaders of the UUA and UCC—attended by members of our church—underlined many of them. There are reasons why there are so many different paths on the Congregational Way. Not only are there differences between the various associations, but there are also differences within them as there are within any religious movement. Churches are not uniform monoliths so much as dynamic communities in conversation. The conversations that we have at Eliot are uniquely Congregationalist. These conversations are aided by our theological diversity and the creative tension developed from being part of more than one congregational group. However, even if we belonged to no association in particular, Eliot would continue to be a Congregationalist church! This is, after all, our history.

All four of these groups share certain things in common. One is the primacy of the local church, another is a non-creedal basis for membership. We believe that revelation is not sealed. In the words of the UCC, “God is still speaking”!

One of the two associations we are not currently affiliated with, the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches (NACCC) puts it this way: “People of a Congregational Church do not seek to be led by a creed, but by the Spirit. Ours is the tradition of a free church, gathered under the headship of Christ and bound to others by love, not law.” The NACCC is interesting because it rests in theology and tradition right between the UUA and the UCC, as do we.

The term “Community Church” is also part of the Congregational tradition, although not exclusively. The word “Community” can be a vague one. Our building rests inside the neighborhood of South Natick in the town of Natick. Most of our members are from Natick as well. However, the term also refers to the “gathered community” of (drum roll, please) the congregation. Many of our members come from Wellesley, Framingham, Dover, and Sherborn. They are part of the church community, too. So while we take our place in Natick very seriously, ultimately, the congregation is the community that we are most accountable to.

As we say on Sunday morning, “we bring many gifts and together build one church community”. Our tradition and identity as a non-creedal church, open to a broad understanding of Christianity and of religion in general is the cornerstone, not just of Eliot, but of a great and vibrant tradition. It is worth exploring and talking about in the years to come.

Thanksgiving

2006-11-23T20:37:00.000-05:00

It's pretty much over here at the parsonage. My wife's parents came up from Maryland and have now returned to the hotel where they are staying the night. We had a roast instead of turkey. The sides included roasted vegetables and sweet potatoes. The pie for desert was made by the kids in the West Virginia Work Camp. Good kids. Good pies. I should have cooked the roast a bit longer though.

After we ate I took the dog for a walk around the neighborhood. It is raining hard and cold here in Natick but I didn't mind getting out of the overly warm house for a while. Everywhere we went we could see lights on and extra cars in the driveways. In a few cases, the houses were dark. In a couple you couldn't tell that anything out of the ordinary was going on. I silently wished all of my neighbors well as I passed by. The holidays can bring a variety of emotions, some festive and good, others not so much.

I am praying tonight for all those people who are wrestling with mixed feelings this Thanksgiving. For each person the reasons are different, but still relevent to them. Even the happiest among us knows that there are cares and worries waiting for us tomorrow or Saturday, Sunday or Monday. For some the weight is heavy. For others there are "missing persons" still present to us as memories of times good and bad. For whatever reason, I am praying for you. I hope this weekend is gentle to you.

After my in-laws left I called my parents, who were sitting on a bus from South Station to Portland, ME where they had left their car. They had gone down to Providence to see my brother, Matt, and his long-term partner, Anita. I had talked to Matt earlier in the day and, no doubt, will touch base with the rest of my siblings tomorrow. It is good to have family, even when they are scattered about a cold and dreary New England. I am thankful for their warmth and their thoughts wherever they are. I am grateful for my kids and my wife and her parents, too!

Last Sunday I preached off of a text from 1 Timothy. I have been carrying it about with me today as a reminder of the goodness of our endeavors. Sometimes it is a good thing to have something to fall back on. Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by God's word and by prayer. (1 Tim. 4:4-5).

May you be at peace with God's creation tonight and every night. May you give thanks for all that you have been given. May you see and celebrate even the smallest successes that reside in you. May you triumph over the darkness and may the light surround you.

Happy Turkey-Day.

Amen

If I Were Jazz, I'd Sue

2006-11-22T14:19:00.000-05:00

That's right. If I were Jazz, the vital art form that had its beginnings in the African-American experience and continues to be one of the most exciting art forms in this country or anywhere else, I would sue. I would, in fact, sue Jazz, an incredibly horrid diet soft drink produced by those taste wizards at Pepsico.

When I think of Jazz, the music, I usually recall a club/restaurant I went to with my wife while living in Montreal. the band was Cuban, the wine (from the "Dep" next door) was Chilean. It rocked so much I remember it quite clearly today. Not so for Jazz.

I think that it is supposed to be a sort of boutique beverage, the microbrew of the diet soda set. Flavors have names like "Strawberries and Cream" which, of course, tastes neither like strawberries nor like cream. The cream part, actually, would be rather frightening if it was authentic as most folks don't consume their dairy with bubbles and such. I first encountered Jazz not at a club, but at the Natick Mall when I was accosted with a free sample. The roving Pepsiperson informed me that it was "a new taste concept" that they were "trying out". She asked my opinion, too, but didn't take notes.

It seemed a fitting location for something so pedestrian as Jazz to be making its debut. I love the mall. I really do. I like the people all running around and the bustle of it all. I may even be there this Friday! However, it is a den of giddy consumerism where corporations try their hardest to package what is at its core derivative and standard--clothes, toys, and baseball caps, all fairly similar regardless of what store cubby you might be in--as edgy, experimental, and unique.

That this particular diet soda exists doesn't suprise me, nor am I surprised by its aluminum taste profile. What bothers me is that something so great (Jazz) can be used to market something so pedestrian (Jazz). I realize it is meant to infuse a sense of the exotic into the suburban landscape but, really. If I want to feel (and look) hip and relevant, even open-minded and progressive in thought and culture, do I really want to spend quality time with something that says "I like fads"? I don't think so. The only way to deepen one's awareness and depth of connection to humanity is to actually try not to conform to societal and corporate expectations.

Products like this get at one of the biggest problems we face today. Namely that we are loosing our sense of originality and cultural diversity. "Look, we've mixed some chemicals to gether that taste not enirely unlike berries mixed with milk, how jazzy!" We are forgetting how to be original and actually different--in ways both large and small--from our neighbors. I believe that churches have a role to play in stopping this dangerous drift. Pastors, too. We need to help people see that there is more to this world than what we are told we need. We can behave in different ways. Many of us naturally fear sticking out too much, but it is OK to be a "character" sometimes, even when we have not been endorsed by NIKE....

F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in 1931, "The word Jazz in its progress toward respectability has first meant sex, then dancing, then music. It is associated with a state of nervous stimulation, not unlike that of big cities behind the lines of war." Well now it means diet soda. Such progress.

Anyway, I will stick to the real thing. Fight the man. Hear Jazz.

No Comments

2006-11-22T09:50:00.000-05:00

So I disabled the comments function for a while. Primarily this is because my posting has become somewhat erratic and I never really had a whole bunch of comments posted anyway. Since I do not visit Unity every day and rarely respond to the posts that are left. It seemd to make sense to take a break.

In many ways, Unity has a readership similar to what PeaceBang expected for her blog. Hers are two distinct communities with many a comment and discussion. In fact, there have been times that I have not been able to post here because I have been reading the conversations there or at one of my other usual haunts (see the links section). This is a nice spot to read the occasional confused rant as well as to find thoughts and informations about the practice of liberal Christianity in the context of a United or Union church. I am too busy elsewhere to make it much more than that. Anyway, do enjoy what I do post and feel free to chat away elsewhere.

Incidentally, Happy Thanksgiving! We had a great time this past Sunday at Eliot. We had our usual family Thanksgiving service and our confirmation class did a good job playing music ad doing readings. A good time was had (I believe) by all. At least that is what folks said at our annual brunch. It is a tricky time for everyone going hither and yon. It was nice for everyone to touch base a bit before the Holidays truly began!

Suits and Such

2006-11-21T13:52:00.000-05:00

I just got back from my weekly Natick Rotary lunch. Today's speakers were the captains of the Natick High School Football team. In these parts, at least, most teams play a game on Thanksgiving Day against some cross town rival or other. This is the 100th anniversary of the Natick-Framingham turkey bowl and the pressure is on. Not surprisingly, many of the Rotarians present have played in the game themselves. I, however, am hopelessly uncoordinated...

Also today, the Rotarians helped out with the Natick Service Council Turkey deliveries. Harriett Buckingham, Dan Mahoney and I drove about town dropping off Thanksgiving meals to various folks who otherwise would not have had one. The Church donated three baskets (thank you to Aileen Zogby for her work on this). In addition to being a Rotarian, Harriett is also a long-time member of Eliot. Therefore we were doubly proud.

OK, one last thing for the football-minded this week. Sunday marked the first time in a long time that an NFL coach wore a suit on the sidelines. Mike Nolan of the SF 49ers wore one and then on Monday night so did Jack Del Rio of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Why haven't they worn them in the past? Well...way back when, many coaches certainly did. Then there was the small issue of an exclusive contract to Reebok and the NFL started to require all of its personnel to dress in painfully awkward ways.

The solution: a Reebok suit. It is still unclear as to whether or not this will be allowed in the future. I say allow it. It doesn't hurt--every once in a while--to let something graceful slip through the firewall of profit. Besides, some coaches could really use better options and I bet there's a way for everyone to make money...

A Matter of Perspective

2006-11-17T11:20:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted in a while and am feeling guilty so here is an interesting observation that I made recently.

First, some backstory. The town of Natick is working on some serious visioning for the future. The program is called Natick 360 and it involves a great many people at a variety of levels of input and committment. I have attended some of their events and contributed my two cents at various times. I am impressed, really, at all the hard work that has gone into this. At the same time, I have been involved with the MICAH interfaith social justice project here in Metrowest. Because of this, I have spent a great deal of time in Framingham, one town west of Natick.

As I was driving through Framingham this week I noticed, not for the first time, how big it is. It is officially a town (it has a representative town meeting, selectmen, etc.) but it feels like a city with its large and diverse population and many services and cultural opportunities. "Hm," I thought to myself, "I wonder how big Framingham is compared to, say, Portland, Maine". I am from Maine and my sister and her family live in Portland. Mainers think of it as city, if not the city as it has the largest population in the state. Lewiston is Second, incidentally, and Bangor is third.

So I went home and took a look. Here is what I found out: Portland (in 2000) had 64, 249 people. Framingham had 66, 910. Yep, if Framingham were in Maine, it would be the biggest city.

I also checked out the population for Natick, Framingham's largest neighbor. It was 32, 170. South Portland, who sustains a similar relationship to Portland (complete with a mall) is at 23, 324. Natick, in fact, was slightly larger than Bangor (31, 074 in 2005)! Most of these numbers are six years old, of course, but if you know Maine and you know Metrowest, one can only assume that, if there is any change, the gap has probably grown a little bit.

What makes this interesting to me is how our image of our selves and of a place can get a bit confused. When folks talk about Natick, they always like to say what a small town it is. In fact, whenever I imply that it might not be as small as people think, I usually get interesting looks, as if they expect me to have sewn a scarlet gadfly into all of my clothing. The fact is, I have lived in small towns where everyone knows each other and Natick isn't it. It is a great place to live, sure, but there are plenty of strangers who will probably stay that way until we choose to recognize them. In order to that we need to recognize our size.

It also works the other way, too. I am not so sure that Portland will ever seem all that big to me again. Maybe this has happened to you from time to time, a change of location can alter your understanding of who you are and your place in the world. This is one reason why it is important to explore and travel. It is also a good reason to question our assumptions.

Fine Young Christians

2006-11-08T13:06:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of some of the Fine Young Christians that were to be found at the UUCF REVIVAL! meeting this past week. Again, it was a good, spirit-filled time. Some things occured while I was there that made me think about the importance of quality worship. Worship is interesting in that it is part performance , partly and articulation of theology, and partly a lived relationship with God and our fellow humans.

We expect to come closer to the Divine through our prayers and hymns--the rituals of communion and Baptism, too. We hope to be inspired by the sermon, when possible. God, of course, is always present, but how we do worship affects how well we sense that presence. How well we put the service together, how we carry ourselves and how we pray and preach are very important.

A muddy sermon, overly long special music, a sanctuary that is too hot or too cold, readings that don't match the theme, an ego that shows just a bit too much on a worship participant--all of these things can detract from the movement of God through our sanctuary. It is hard to be connected when you are distracted! Instead, the worshipper can feel like someone at Thanksgiving dinner who cannot find a single thing to eat. Bad worship leaves you hungry and profoundly unsatisfied. Really bad worship can leave you exhausted and somewhat bruised.

On the other hand, there is planty of room for quality worship. Simplicity is an excellent watchword. Chris Walton's Taize service was simple yet moving. So too are many a "sermon sandwich". Sure, it may not seem exciting at first, but if the preacher is talking about Jesus and God, and if the congregation is truly being fed, then the excitment will build from within. There will be nothing then that can match the power of the unadorned Gospel message. That, after all, is what it is all about.

The weekend gave me some ideas about how to deepen the worship experience at Eliot. I hope to give something a try sometime soon. However, I will also be striving to remember the fact that the medium (in church at least) is not the message. Something clever may be great and fun, but does it serve an actual purpose? Does it tell a story of a people and their God or a church and its prophet? If it doesn't, maybe there is another place where we can excercise our artistic side.

Finally, it is also good to remember that what may work for one community may not work well for another. At Eliot when we do communion, we have the wine and the bread. We pass it around and we pray. For another church (particularly many UU ones) that may not feel right. On the other hand, we do not consider "Flower Communion" a communion. Nor would the "Water Communion" be (unless you drank the water, which could be dangerous). Their meanings are different, after all, for different people. That, too is a part of telling the specific story of a particular community of faith.

Anyway, more on this later. I just heard that Rumsfeld has resigned and I have other work to do as well. I just want to say that I have worshipped with the Fine Young Christians above and they've got it goin' on...

A Little Rain Must Fall

2006-11-08T11:12:00.000-05:00

Yes, a little rain must fall on every parade. A great deal has fallen on Mr. President's but I think that a little has fallen on mine. Am I happy about the election results? Sure am! However, I know in my heart that my first loyalty isn't to my party but to my faith. The work, my friends, isn't done. We need to keep our new congress and governors accountable.

For example, as a follower of the Prince of Peace I am concerned about gun control. Many of our new Democrats are perfectly happy with the way things are. It was nice to see all that blue on the graphics behind Ms. Kouric last night, but will our kids stop killing each other at school?

How about the immigrants who have made this country the vital and energetic place it has always been? What about my Brazilian neighbors and friends here in MetroWest? My faith tells me that there is a place at the table for everyone. Still, I hear that not all of our party saviors are in agreement on what to do. I will be watching for the immigrants and for me, grateful for all that they have done to add depth and richness to my little part of the world.

Also, many of these folks have limited voting records. I need evidence of how they will actually vote before I am willing to relax. For example, my new Governor-Elect/Rock Star Deval Patrick (who I did vote for) is more than a little vague about actual plans and positions. I have a vague sense that he is supposed to be liberal. Why do I think that? Because the incredibly incompetant campaign of Kerry Healey told me so. So, is it true? I guess it could be. That would be nice, but his past actions send a mixed message on many things that I care about. I am not so blissed out by him that I will ignore what he actually does.

I am concerned about economic issues (like predatory lending and the minimum wage), many of which did not get a lot air time thanks to that war in Iraq and the odd actions of various Republican politicians from the President to Rev. Haggard. Their inability to communicate a rational conservative message has been so deafening that I am not so sure that I hear the message of the new Democratic leadership all that clearly. I am looking forward to its articulation. I would feel more comfortable that way.

Here is the problem. I feel more like I did when the Patriots won the Super Bowl than like the nation is on a new, better course. This election was about our President and about a party that had learned rather quickly how to abuse its power. It wasn't so much about ideas or about how to turn our nation around. Now that the smoke is clearing and the rhetoric has (hopefully) toned down. What, if anything will change? How will things improve for the poor of this country and for those who live in the many places of this world where the influence of our government and our corporations is a basic fact of life? I will be watching our politicians of either (and no) party. This isn't over. There is work to do and I, at least, expect it to get done.

Dan Harper will be in Boston tomorrow to fight for gay marriage. If you can make it down, why don't you go? It would be a way to let the Democrats know that we aren't so impressed that we will stop watching, caring, and speaking out.

Voting is Fun!

2006-11-07T10:13:00.000-05:00

I voted. It was fun.

Actually, I am much more interested in finding out about races in other parts of the country. The fight for Congress has taken on epic trappings these past few weeks and I have been swept up in all the excitement. Unlike many Democrats, however, I am not as sure about our chances. After all, there are some pretty funny looking districts out there and many of them (thanks to the years of Republican control on both the federal and state levels) are controlled by conservatives. Still, I would love to be proven overly pessimistic! The Governors reces look better to me, after all, you cannot gerrymander a state.

However, as my dad always likes to remind me, there are important local races to consider. Also, there are statewide offices farther down the ticket. State Attorneys General and Secretarys of State, for example, have a great deal of power within their juristictions (sp?) and with the current administration continuing in office, these postions have become important in the arena of regional and national regulation. I am thinking, of course, about the tobacco industry and Microsoft, but really there are many other, less well publicized cases of state class-action suits...I am officially out of my element and will refer you to Dad's AG Blog if he ever updates it. Still, remember to fill out the entire ballot, people!

When I was growing up, my parents would keep us home from school the day after Election Day so that we could stay up and watch the returns. Tonight it will be just me and Son #3 as the wife has to work and the other boys will be going to school tomorrow. After all, back then it was the day that we found out if Dad still had a job. Now that is not the case. the position of Pastor of the Eliot Church is, in fact, an elected position as many a Congregationalist minister can tell you, but it is a different election cycle.

That fact, is an important one, however, as voting is a part of our faith and our tradition. If we do not allow ourselves to let other people make decision for us on matters of faith, then why, dear God, would we let other decisions and policies be made without our input and presence? Also, it is important to vote, even if you think your guy or gal will be fine without you. The number of voters (sometimes regardless of who they actually voted for) help to keep our politicians accountable and us powerful. Maybe it is because I was raised among politicians, but I haven't always been impressed by the creativity and critical thinking skills of our leaders. This is true for both self-prefessed liberals and their opposite numbers. They need to hear from us and respond to us, otherwise (and this is particularly true the more powerful the office) it is hard for them to get away from that mirror in the morning and remember that they work for someone important, namely us.

So go vote, and then tell Philocrites about it.

REVIVAL!

2006-11-06T11:44:00.000-05:00

I think you always have to write it that way (REVIVAL!). It is part of the rules or something...

I went to New York City to the annual convention/party/workshop fest of the Unitarian Universalist Christian Fellowship. The keynotes were Jim Mulholand and Gary Dorien (on different days). Mulholland has written a variety of books on Universalism, including the very popular If Grace is True. I am reading it now and it may appear in an adult RE program near you very soon! As far as the presentation is concerned, I was particularly impressed with his pastoral style and focus. I am a pastor, too, and am always interested in good ideas and good models of our profession.

Gary Dorrien was also good. His thing is the history of Liberal Christianity. Dorrien has written a trinity of books on the subject and teaches at Union Seminary. His talk was also good. Unlike the talk on universalism, however, it primarily fed the mind rather than the soul. No problem there. It is his job and he did it well. You may have gathered from previous posts that Eliot Church has been thinking quite a bit about its identity lately. For me it was useful and inspiring. I have much to read and think about over the next few days...

Tim Jenson did a workshop I attended on UU historiography. This was very neat, too. Tim, I owe you money for lunch, don't let me forget...

I missed many of the worship opportunities. I brought my family to NY with me so I spent some time with them interpreting the Kandinskys. Still, I did get to some of the offerings in this area and am very grateful to Chris Walton for his excellent Taize service. As I told him at the time, it was nice not to have a sermon! Thank you also to Fourth Universalist of New York for hosting the event and allowing us to tag along to Sunday Worship.

I have to tell you, though, that the very best thing about REVIVAL! (see I did it again) for me was the time I got to spend with friends new and old. People say the ministry can be lonely, but I think the better term is isolating You naturally live far from people you would like to spend time with and that regular absence can wear on friendships as much as on anything. It was nice, therefore, to get to go out, hang a bit and be, once again, impressed by how smart, witty and creative your fellow Liberal Christians really are. Thanks guys, it was a blast!

The Passing of Red and Other Things Green

2006-10-30T11:53:00.000-05:00

Red Aurbach died yesterday. The Celtics icon has been declining for some years and it has been a while since he graced us with his presence on any regular basis (he has usually lived in DC, not Boston). Still, it is sad. His death is one of the final chapters in the end of an era. The real Garden is gone. Now Red, too.

On a somewhat related note, this year marks the first time in history that the Celtics will have cheerleaders. They call them "dancers", however, which is quite a bit more accurate. Cheerleaders usually do stuff like back-flips and pyramids. They even lead cheers which may be a bit quaint for today's modern sport. I realize that the previous absence of cheerleaders had as much to do with the organization's respect for their female fans as their recent presence has to do with improving the quality of Celtic's play. That is to say, absolutely nothing. The more likely reason is the old-fashioned color scheme of the Celtics uniforms. If we--that is, Celtics Province (formerly Celtics Nation)--didn't need them when we were winning, why--in 2006--do we need them now? One of life's great mysteries, I guess....

Here is an earlier post about when I got to meet Red. It is the sort of thing that New Englanders of a certain age do not forget.

Thomas and Sinkford

2006-10-26T11:06:00.000-04:00

Thanks to a rather unpleasant cold/flu contracted by my wife, I was able to attend the discussion between Bill Sinkford (President, UUA) and John Thomas (General Minister, UCC) held at Andover Newton last night. I am glad I got to go. It was very interesting, indeed. I was particularly pleased by how intelligent and thoughtful they were. I wasn't surprised, of course, but it is nice to know that our collective movements are so well represented.

Did I agree with them entirely? Of course not! First of all, they didn't always agree with each other. They are separate associations for a reason. Second, we wouldn't be good congregationalists if there wasn't some sense of well-meaning discussion and debate. Still, in the midst of the friendly banter and good natured ribbing, serious topics were discussed and some common ground was found.

I asked them a question about United and Federated churches, soliciting their thoughts about how we can play a role in the dialogue between the two institutions. I thought the answers gave some food for thought and will think on them further. Rev. Thomas brought up one of the potential pitfalls of churches like ours which is that in an effort to get along, the church can--instead of being a place of discussion and growth--become a rather whitebread institution. after the presentation I had the chance to chat very briefly with him and he elaborated a bit. He used the term "non-descript" to describe churches like this and I share his concern. United churches
have the opportunity to be the most exciting, broad and dynamic. It is sad when we go the other way and become more comfortable than helpful.

During the conversation I realized that this is a risk that we at Eliot need to be aware of. In some ways we are doing well. We have multiple orders of service for Holy Communion, for example, that reflect the various traditions that we call home. One is adapted from the UCC Book of Worship. One is from a UU hymn book used by our past minister, Walter Kring. Another comes from the Iona Community and serves to honor our ecumenical status. This one was popular with my predecessor, Michael Boardman. Finally, there is one that I put together that is used on special occasions (Maundy Thursday, World Communion Sunday, etc). The first three are rotated through the months. In addition, I try to balance lectionary-based sermons with more thematic styles. Of course in all cases the Bible plays a central role.

In other ways we could do better in honoring our specific traditions and the Congregational Way as a whole. Sometimes we use our designation as a "community church" as an excuse for ignoring our historical roots. This, of course, doesn't make sense necessarily as there are plenty of Churches in both the UUA and UCC who use the same designation. It is a descriptor, after all, not a third and distinct tradition.

Interestingly, when I first came to Eliot I tried to avoid (and was asked to avoid) using specifically "UU" and "UCC" readings and themes. Now I am being asked to do just the opposite. I think this reflects a greater comfort with my ministry (as I have mentioned here before, I have Dual-Standing) and an increased interest--particularly among newer members--in exactly who and what we are as a congregation.

The fact is, while there are many distinct differences in both theology and culture between the two organizations, we have great deal in common. In particular, we approach the world and our faith in similar ways. It will be interesting to see how our conversation develops at Eliot Church. Certainly the leaders of our movement provided an excellent example.

Last Thoughts:

Here are some random links to Community churches affiliated with either the UUA or the UCC (there are plenty of others)...

Community Church of New York, Community Church of Boston (both UU)

Fairfax (CA) Community Church, Arlington Community Church (also in CA) (both UCC)

Peperell (MA) Community Church (both UUA and UCC)

...and a couple other churches named "Eliot"

Newton, MA, Roxbury, MA

Finally, there was apparently some concern in certain quarters that this meeting was a prelude to merger. I just have to say that the fear is unfounded...

2006-10-23T13:40:00.000-04:00

Revival is coming up and will be in New York City. This should be interesting. Unlike the Council of Christian Churches in the UUA, the membership of the UUCF is held by individuals rather than congregations. This makes for a different focus and slightly different interests. For example, the CXCUUA doesn't necessarily need a workshop on being Christian in a non-Christian congregation. However, for most of the members of the UUCF, this is a compelling topic. Likewise, there isn't a "Christian small-group" at Eliot church as all of our groups are, in fact, in some way Christian.

The diversity of the UUCF is its strength. I went to Revival a couple of years ago when it was in Worcester, MA. There were trinitarians and non-trinitarians (yes, there have always been individual trinitarians in our churches) . There are Christians and those who are more interested in the Christian roots of the UUA. I recommend the experience to anyone who can find the time to attend.

As a somewhat-more-than-casual observer I would have to say that Christianity in the UUA is experiencing something of a renaissance. Fewer folks seem to think of Christian Churches in the UUA as quaint living history installations, for example, and people seem genuinely interested in programs like Convocation and Revival. Its a good thing, too. The world needs Liberal Christianity and its message. The UCC, too seems to be growing and experiencing a growth in energy and committment. This is also a good thing, and for the same reasons.

You will note that here at Unity I have posted a link to the Shake Shack Webcam. This is as a service to any Meadville/Lombard Alums who find themselves in Madison Square Park. Why? Its all about the Chicago Dogs. At the risk of offending the New Yorkers in my family, New York is great, but Chicago is greater and being surrounded by all that steel and concrete might make certain fightin' Lombards miss the preserved-meat experience. I'll see if I can scare up an address for Chicago Pizza...

Sermon: Who's the Boss?

2006-10-23T13:28:00.000-04:00

So here are the notes to another sermon. Alas! I put a lot of these up, I know. A few folks asked for copies and it seemed easier to just post it here and direct folks to it. Some of the readings came out of a new book from the UUA who's name is escaping me. It is very nice, however...

The others came from the Bible and from a collection of sermons and writings by Henry Ward Beecher.

Who’s the Boss?
Eliot Church
Rev. Adam Tierney-Eliot
10/15/06

No doubt when some of you read
The title for today’s sermon:
Who’s the Boss?
Your mind naturally went to a certain television sit-com
Popular in the 1980’s
And starring the incomparable Tony Danza

In a way, this is fitting
That program was a product of its time
And dealt with changes in gender roles
And class relations
That continue to develop in
Somewhat different ways today
But in the midst of all the madcap mayhem
The dated situations, clothes and hair
Was the serious—even timeless—question
Embedded in its title

For regardless of who we are
What we do for work
What our family and private live may be like (after all)
We ultimately are accountable to
Responsible for
Must serve someone or something

Who is the Boss?
Perhaps more importantly,
Who is our boss?
What rules govern our lives?
It is the sort of question
That can drive someone to church
It is a question that gets at our identity
And at our sense of place and belonging
Our understanding of where we fit in

In fact, this question can move us
In many different directions
Depending on temperament and interests

In our more reflective moments
The search for the answer to this question
Drives our actions
And our thoughts
Because of this
(while we usually begin with good intentions)
We need to be vigilant
As it is tempting to cut corners

In our reading from Mark today
Jesus starts by responding to his questioner
You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.
But this isn’t what the rich man is asking
He is looking for more than that
At some level he must have understood
That there was more to life
Than going through the motions/
Obeying the rules

But when Jesus tells him to sell his possessions
He doesn’t know what to do
He despairs and walks away

The disciples, too, despair
When Jesus says It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." They were greatly astounded and said to one another, "Then who can be saved?"
One might wonder why they were so concerned
Having done, in most cases,
Just what Jesus had told the questioner to do
But they understood that the issue
Isn’t so much what one owns
But how much value we place on our possessions

In addition many of the things that we hold dear
And that may hold us back
Are not physical objects
But ideas and habits, addictions and beliefs
These can become a burden as much as the objects
That represent them

These possessions that burden us
Are hard to see and comprehend at times
Since we are so close to them
So we often do not know who the boss really is
Uberto Eco, in his novel The Name of the Rose
Writes that When your true enemies are too strong, you choose weaker enemies… Only the powerful always know with great clarity who their true enemies are.
In other words, when we, like the rich man
Try to do the right thing
We often are distracted by lesser problems and difficulties
Smaller ways in which we can improve
And so miss the power that truly controls us

This can be true for groups as well as individuals
Especially when it comes to ideas and beliefs
For example, we can consider the debate
That has raged with little development
Since the 19th century
Concerning how the world came to be
The Creationists on the one hand and Evolutionists on the other
Now, the scientific method
Allows for the possibility that Natural Selection
The theory developed by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace
May some day be proven wrong
(It has been altered and adjusted over the years
As new research and new discoveries
Have given birth to new ideas)
Yet I doubt that one fine day
We will discover that a literal reading of Genesis
Is the most accurate description
Of the beginning of the world

The Congregationalist minister and abolitionist
Henry Ward Beecher
In defense of the theory once said
We forget that the scripture itself…is…a proof of Evolution. There is no fact more absolutely patent than that every moral idea from the opening of Genesis…Every one of the great moral ideas rose like a star, and did not shine like the sun until ages had given it ascension. One thing is very certain, that the human race began at the bottom and not at the top, or else there is no truth in history or religion.

Still, it is hard to give up
The comfort of the past
So that image of Adam and Eve
The serpent and the garden
Exists as fact for many Americans
And out of their belief comes many implications
For the environment, medicine, the rights of women
And other important facets of our lives on this planet

Also, our general western culture
Drives us toward a specific concept of success
We keep score in our lives by comparing how much we make
Our tendency to be defined
By the conditions of our employment
(or what we “do”)
Is so well known as to be barely worth repeating
Yet it makes us look in strange directions
For enlightenment
It makes us seek out lesser enemies
And smaller dragons to slay

Or in the words of Waldemar Argow
A past minister of this church
More people poison themselves by what they think than by what they drink.
Often we human beings accept unquestioningly
Things that just turn out not to be true
Standards that are false and unhealthy
And make them the frame through which we look at the world

But there is also a flip side,
There is another way
Argow goes on to say that
Vastly more people find happiness and contentment by what they hold in their minds than by what they hold in their bank accounts.

This is, I think, what Jesus is trying to tell us
We have the freedom to think what we will
Happiness, enlightenment
These things cannot be purchased
Nor can righteousness, and goodness
Power in this world
Can be obtained with worldly weath, sure
But not understanding, not strength of the heart
And of the soul

We can get weighed down
And we all fall short of the ideal
But our lives, if we wish it,
Can be dedicated to the proposition
That there is a better master to serve
Than the one that tells us
How we have to look, what car we should drive
And where our children absolutely must
Go to college

There is another story in the Bible
That seems appropriate
In it we find Jesus and his followers
At the now famous Passover meal
The “Last Supper”
Down at the end of the table
Some of the disciples are
Participating in an apparently eternal argument
About who among them is the greatest/the best

Jesus hears them and responds
The greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves
In this church we provide many opportunities to serve
The reason as I have mentioned before
Isn’t just to do nice things for people
But because humility and service are a crucial part
Of the religious life
So, too we are motivated to participate in other community projects
Like Natick 360

Such work helps us—when it is done with intentionality
To find what in eastern religions
Is often referred to as a childlike nature
Or simplemindedness/Openness
It is the ability to look with wonder at the mundane
It is a great and difficult thing
To put aside the noises in our minds
Our education, the pressures that decide our actions
The basic concepts that dictate our thoughts
And see things as they are
Because, as the writer Benjamin Hoff said
As any old Taoist walking in the woods can tell you
simplemindedness does not necessarily mean stupid

The simple mind is what Jane Rzepka was seeking
At the Brooklyn Zoo
And it is the discovery that Sarah York makes
When in seeking out the deer in her back yard
She actually misses them

Now, Who’s the Boss lasted eight seasons
(A good long time for a television show)

But much more influential
Has been a work called The Wizard of OZ
A highly allegorical movie
That just about every American has seen
(How many of you have seen it?
It is the most watched movie in the country)
The Wizard of OZ
Is about the journey of self-discovery
About leaving the comfortable routine
And what does Dorothy find
After all that she sees and does on her way to the Emerald City?
She makes that same discovery that is made by Rev. York
Namely that The answer to our questions
Can be found in our own back yard

Who’s the Boss?
Certainly in exact formulation
It is different for each of us
But whatever brings us true understanding
Helps us when we are lost
And brings us to touch the Divine
This is what demands our loyalty
Our lives and our faith

May each of us find a way
To take even one small positive step
On our personal journeys
Away from chaos and toward comprehension
To approach this way-too-adult world
With just a little bit more of that simple
And childlike soul
That we have all been gifted with
That we all still possess