UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST in SIMI VALLEY
Twenty-first Sunday After Pentecost - November 2, 2003
All Saints' Sunday
Anne G. Cohen
Ruth 1:1-18
For Our Reflection:
It is far more dangerous to be a saint than to be a conqueror.
- George Bernard Shaw, Preface, Saint Joan (1923)
All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
- Dhammapada c. 5th century b.c.e.
Outside the Box - What Box?
CLIP FROM video "WAKING LIFE" - scene two (re box)
***
In the days of Ruth and Naomi, every people had its God. Or more
accurately, every God had its people. The Moabites had a God. The
Hebrews or Israelites had a God. To switch Gods was to change one's
ethnic identity. To marry into or to ally oneself with a different
tribe was to change one's faith - to leave one God behind and pick up a
new one.
And that is exactly what the great grandmother of King David, ancestor
to Jesus, did. What a wild woman. Ruth defied all of the social
norms
and expectations, followed her heart and her
mother-in-law into a
completely new identity. The witness protection program has nothing on
the life changing decisions Ruth made, consciously or unconsciously, the
day she chose to follow Naomi back to
But Ruth did not come to her decision in a vacuum. In the matrix of her
ethnic, religious, cultural identity - she lived according to certain
values. Those values led to an earlier decision to marry outside of her
ethnicity and faith - to marry a refugee from another country and
another God. She chose to embrace cultural diversity and love someone -
and his family - because of their character rather than their tribe.
Those values led her to an ethical and emotional loyalty to her foreign
mother-in-law - even when that loyalty meant becoming a foreigner
herself in
So often, in our daily lives, we make decisions - simple or radical -
that are rooted in our values. Even so - we would have to stop and
think if someone asked us to articulate the value we were acting out
of. Can we name the value or set of values that led us to choose our
life partner? That makes us cross or not cross a picket line? That
moves us to eat chocolate or fruit salad for dessert? That makes us go
to work every day? That urges us to pick Scott tissue over Charmin - to
pick a younger lover or an older one?
USUALLY, we are swimming in an environment of societal expectations and
family patterns that are as invisible as water is to fish. But if we
begin to open our senses and minds to that water, we can begin to
describe it, see the nuances - and make choices more consciously - with
more awareness of the context of our decision-making.
We often talk about teaching OUR values to OUR kids - mostly by
example. But how many of us sit down with our kids - define the meaning
of the word VALUE - describe the water we're swimming in, the air we're
breathing - and then elaborate on a list of particular FAMILY VALUES
that we prefer all family members to live by? USUALLY our family values
are a secret code that is deciphered - interpreted or misinterpreted -
over time. RARELY do you see the words ACCOUNTABILITY or HONESTY or
GROWTH or AUTHENTICITY or RESPECT stapled to the refrigerator door.
Unless you go into the Summy's
home. They are in the process of not
only describing the water they are swimming in - they are in the process
of purifying it. Their family values are not only on the refrigerator,
they are embodied and they hold each other accountable to them -
learning more about their individual and family identity in light of
them. And they aren't doing it alone. They have help
and support -
and, in turn, offer help and support to others.
The Summys have had a number of challenges, tragedies
and near misses
over the years. And in the last two years, there has been a sea change
in and around them. Their ongoing transformation is as radical as
Ruth's and is, by their choice, a teaching tool for others. I hope that
others of us will take advantage of our proximity to them and
relationship with them - open ourselves to healthy change -
transformation, if you will, through their offerings and other
opportunities that are repeatedly made available in life.
Fear is real but it is no excuse for not living life fully and
consciously. Ruth and Naomi had much to fear over the years of their
sojourn in each other's lands. But it didn't stop them from making
value laden choices that changed their lives and the lives of others for
the better.
Its a matter of looking at the water we're swimming in
- or becoming
aware of the air we're breathing - or thinking outside the box we're
in. What box? The box we don't even recognize as a box until we hit
the wall, come up against constructed limitations, injure ourselves on
expectations and norms and values we unconsciously agreed to - and,
often, are afraid to violate.
We each have a cultural identity - inborn and /or adopted. What IS it?
What are its parameters? What are its rituals and symbols? What
lies
beyond that identity besides terror of the unknown?
We each believe in a set of ideas. How do we NAME that set of ideas?
Do we call it God or a Higher Power or Human Potential or Universal
Law? What do these beliefs lead us to do with our lives? And what
lies
beyond those beliefs besides "wrong" or "misguided" ideas
of "others"?
We each have values that guide our relationships. How would you
describe and teach those values to a child? How congruent are your
words and actions with those values? How aware of those values are you
when you make daily decisions?
All of these things together form the culture and theology of each
family. Collectively, they form the culture and theology of this
church. These are the things that will shape our life together in that
currently empty but nearly completed building over there. These are the
things that are shaping our individual character, our relationships, our
families, our circumstances. What is this box we are in? What does
it
mean to think and act outside of it? What is possible if we choose to
be conscious of our surroundings and embody what we believe? Anything
is possible...
***
SLIDES OF SUMMY FAMILY and THEIR TRANSFORMATIONS........
*******************************************
BULLETIN
WE GATHER FOR PRAYER AND CELEBRATION
Music for Gathering
Welcome and Perspective on the Day
Musical Preparation for Worship - A Time for Centering
+ Call to Worship (unison)
You are home to the exile
touch to the frozen
balm to the burned
daylight to the prisoner
authority to the silent
anger to the helpless
laughter to the weary
direction to the joyful:
come, our God, come.
+ Opening Hymn For All the Saints Hymnal # 299
Our Common Prayer (unison)
Creator God who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,
on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the kingdom and the power
And the glory forever. Amen.
A Prayer For All the Saints The Congregation
Please name those who have died that you wish to remember
during this time of reflection and prayer.
One: My soul
waits in silence.
All: God is my rock and my fortress. I will be at peace.
Silent
Reflection
The Assurance
of Good News (unison)
All are remembered and cherished in the Eternal Memory of God.
Sung
Response For All the
Saints Hymnal # 299 v.1
WE TEACH, REFLECT AND PROCLAIM
Conversation with Our
Children The Box
Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures Ruth 1:1-8
Sermon Outside the Box - What Box?
Celebration of Holy Communion
+ Welcome to
the Table
Here, O My Lord, I See You Face to Face Hymnal #336 vv1,2,4
Invitation
Sharing the
Bread and the Cup
Communion will be served to you as you remain seated.
Please wait until all have been served before eating the bread -
and again before drinking the cup - to signify our unity with one
another and with all who eat and drink at God's table this day.
Prayer of
Thanksgiving (in unison)
We affirm the goodness of life and the openness of the future
because our God is a God of life and love. As God comes to
us in this act of communion, so let us go out to others in acts
which bring healing, reconciliation and hope to our world. Amen.
WE RESPOND TO GOD'S INVITATION
Intercessions, Celebrations and Encouragements
Call to
Prayer Be still and know that I am God
Hymnal # 743
Time for
Silence
Our Joys and
Concerns and an Offering of Prayer
Sung
Response In
Solitude
Hymnal #521 vv. 1 & 2
We Offer Our Gifts So That Our Lives May Be Our Prayer
A Stewards'
Story
Offertory
Prayer of
Dedication (unison)
By giving, we open ourselves to the possibilities of being a healing
presence in the world. By giving, we open ourselves to the holy
task of bringing God's light into the lives of others. By giving,
we create options and bring newness to old and tired expectations.
May God bless our giving with new meaning. Amen.
+ Sending Hymn I Sing a Song of the Saints
of God Hymnal # 295
+ Commissioning (unison)
Remember the saints who, with the mind of God,
thought of those to come when they made their
choices and lived their lives. Let us also remember
those who are yet to be born, think beyond what is
and choose to live for the future.
+ Sung Response (we gather in some semblance of a
circle)
Hymnal #526
We are marching in the Light of God, We are marching in the Light of God
We are marching in the Light of God, We are marching in the Light of God
We are marching, Oo, We are marching in the Light of
God
We are marching, Oo, We are marching in the Light of
God
+ Postlude
***
WORSHIP NOTES
Call to Worship is by Janet Morley, All Desires Known (p.81) adapted
Offering of Prayer Ibid. (p.33) adapted