For the past 18 months I have been involved in a process toward being a Commissioned Minister of the United Church of Christ, through music. In June 2016, I present Part One of my commissioning paper to the Committee on Ministry of the Central Association of the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC, as I begin the final steps of the journey. Part One calls for my theological perspective, prompting me to tailor it to my “What It Means to Me” series. This is a working copy of the paper.
“For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”
Another clause in the Lord’s Prayer which requires me to break it down into ordinary speech if I’m to have any chance of grasping its meaning. “The kingdom, power and glory are yours for ever, [God].”
“And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”
How is it that “temptation” and “evil” end up in the same clause, here? On a daily basis, I feel like the only things that tempt me are snacks, both decadent and humdrum, and the lure of staying up later than I should, if I hope to attack the following day with a cheerful attitude. Meanwhile, “evil” is a term that I tend to reserve exclusively for only the worst of fictional characters.
“Give us this daily our daily bread.”
Daily bread. What a throw-away line. To me, it’s fathomable that if The Lord’s Prayer were brought to an editor’s desk in modern-day America, this clause would be marked for deletion.
I participated in a roundtable discussion on “Saving the World Through Singing” at the American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division‘s biannual conference in February 2016. The following is a recollection of my opening statement, following the conversation.
“Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
When I was fresh out of grad school, I gave a sermon on Jesus’ second coming. I felt at the time, that there had been a great deal of interest in the potential for the “end times” to be upon us sooner than later.
“Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name”
A church musician considers the Bible in terms of lyrics of hymns and anthems, not simply as spoken verses to be memorized. One of the beauties of our trade, in fact, is the truth that we have committed to memory hundreds of verses over our careers (whether paid or volunteer), often in multiple languages, and more often than not, without even realizing it.
It occurred to me at one point this Advent that I’ve never known what Christmas is like without the church being a vital part of it. We hear about the over-commercialization of the holiday season, and that we’ve lost the “true meaning” of Christmas, but I’m over here quietly saying, “I haven’t!”
I am not having a good day. It started out good, I suppose, though particularly commonly. Roll out of bed a few minutes before the alarm; ponder the day during shower; piece together lunch box; check that the internet is up for my wife’s morning; kiss her sleepy noggin; head out the door.
This post is the working copy of a sermon I gave at Edwards Church, UCC in Framingham, MA on June 7, 2015. The live version deviates a bit, in that I was not reading from these notes. (PDF)
“Truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:19-20, NSRV)
Why are you here?
