Never Too Late

Vince Amlin

 “When you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your sibling has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your sibling, and then come and offer your gift.” – Matthew 5:23-24 (NRSV, adapted)

In 793, Vikings raided the monastery at Lindisfarne in England. Also known as Holy Island, it was the most sacred site in the Kingdom of Northumbria. Desecrated. Its altars dug up, its valuables stolen, its inhabitants killed or led away in chains.

In 1993, on the 1200th anniversary of the attack, a delegation of two arrived from Norway at St. Mary’s Church on Lindisfarne, bearing gifts. A bust of St. Olaf, the country’s patron, and a letter of reconciliation.

A sign at the front of the sanctuary tells how the community welcomed the visitors, worshiped with them, and shared the eucharist. It concludes: “So, although we had not previously realized that we were still at war with Norway, peace was definitely declared.”

Jesus doesn’t outline any statute of limitations on our offenses. (Nor, thankfully, any expiration date on his forgiveness.) He only says that the moment we remember we’ve hurt a sibling, we should stop whatever we’re doing and seek to be reconciled.

Whether it’s been 1200 years or 12 minutes. Whether they realize the war is still raging or they believe the armistice was declared generations ago. It’s never too late to repent of the pain we’ve caused. And it’s never been so long that we should neglect the work of repair.

Prayer

For your prayer, go listen to this song by Lyndsey Scott. As the lyrics say, “It doesn’t matter how long you have forgotten, only how soon you remember.” Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vince Amlin is co-pastor of Bethany UCC, Chicago, and co-planter of Gilead Church Chicago, forming now. This reflection was originally posted on the United Church of Christ’s website as a Daily Devotional from the StillSpeaking Writers’ Group: https://www.ucc.org/daily-devotional and accessed on September 20, 2023. Used with permission.

On Being 86 Years Old

Sitting On a Bench

By Dilynn Wise

Come and sit a spell. There is something about sitting and observing nature. It involves no thought, or excessive energy, to do so. Have you sat and watched the sunrise? Or sunset from beginning to end? The reality of life is so busy and chaotic that there is no time to sit. We spend so much of our lives rushing, rushing, rushing, to and from one place to the next. Taking the time, making the time, to just sit is a wonderful thing to do for yourself. And if you find a special place to sit and watch nature unfold before you, all that is left is to listen to what nature has to tell you.

Listening is something we say we do well, when really we are trying to wait for the opportunity to interject our thoughts and relay our true meaning from a few minutes ago, because the other person interrupted. There are times when we are trying to make ourselves understood and the words or phrases used do not give the other person a proper picture of what is being said. So you try again, and again, and now both parties are frustrated and the original point is just being repeated even louder. Because no one is listening, truly listening, to each other.

Nature is quite the opposite. There is nothing to understand, convey, or explain; there is nothing to do but simply listen. Listen to the roar of the river; or the rattle and sway of the trees talking to each other in the wind, not caring one bit about you sitting there. Then there are the animals whose home you have come to visit and soon will leave, like you were never there. All of these things outside want nothing from you, so all there is to do is sit awhile, and listen.

Can you do it? Have you found a place? I have found mine, and have found a way to be there for the whole summer. I am very lucky to have a place to sit a spell.

Challenging Times

By Wendy Morical

My lovely and talented mother, who spent the last year of her short life both fighting cancer and completing her Doctor of Ministry degree, described herself as a contemplative. Her doctoral dissertation focused on incorporating the teachings of contemplative guides like Julian of Norwich with practicalities of modern life. She read, prayed, and wrote extensively about the effort to merge a daily, direct connection to the Divine with her quotidian responsibilities. She was a scholar and a mystic.

She was also silly, sarcastic, and self-deprecating. Pinned to the bulletin board in her workspace was a Peanuts cartoon dating from the 80s. In it, Sally announces in the first frame, “I hate everything! I hate the whole world!” Her brother Charlie Brown, who’s watching TV, responds with, “I thought you had inner peace.” Sally’s retort: “I do” and then, in the final frame, “But I still have outer obnoxiousness!”

I still have this cartoon. It makes me smile with fond and vivid memories of my amazing mom, but it also touches a strong chord in my own personal consciousness. This resonance comes from my very real sense of being overwhelmed by negativity some days. I feel battered by events around me. There are days when I am precariously close to Sally’s world view, hating the world and everything in it.

We all need to accept the fact that the pandemic and its aftereffects are still with us – and so, too, are repercussions of other social upheavals of recent years. In her current book Enchantment, Katherine May describes the spirit of fear and anxiety she finds pervasive in 2023:

 “The last decade has filled so many of us with a growing sense of unreality. We seem trapped in a grind of constant change without ever getting the chance to integrate it. Those rolling news cycles, the chatter on social media, the way that our families have split along partisan lines: it feels as though we’ve undergone a halving, then a quartering, and now we are some kind of social rubble.” (p.5)

This is a troubling reality, yet it’s gratifying to hear others speak about their own struggles and to know this is a shared experience. Several people have talked to me recently about being unsettled, feeling resistant to circumstances, or carrying low-grade distress. I can’t put my finger on what it is that has shifted in me, but this blog post is not long enough to list all the trivial setbacks that frustrate and anger me – daily! (Bozeman traffic, anyone?) Nevertheless, I do not want to develop habits of responding negatively to the world.

I imagine everyone can recognize a portion of what I have tried to express, even if your experiences are different. Many dear people have faced loss far greater than my petty setbacks, and recent hateful legislation has impacted lives much more significantly than the minor inconveniences that I may find myself focusing on. Regardless of our varied perspectives, I hope that rejecting a life of outer obnoxiousness is a shared goal. We are all in this together.

As we, together, strive to find our own versions of inner peace, it might be worthwhile to begin by acknowledging that life is flowing on, although its course and rate of flow may have shifted permanently. There isn’t going to be a return to “normal”, as we eagerly anticipated during Covid shutdowns. We may need to work a little harder to navigate this new era – and to support each other in our efforts.

I’d like to share a few questions I’ve been focusing on in recent days. Hating everything, hating the whole world, has become too exhausting. I need to chart a new course.  

•     Who are mentors I can rely on to guide me?

•     Where can I find joy and continuity in my life?

•     How will I more intentionally focus on those things?

•     How can I make a positive impact on others today?

•     What role does my faith play in challenging times?

As each day begins, I can ask a loving God to grant me patience and compassion for others and for myself. As Pastor Laura reminded us last week, “in the midst of all these changes and challenges” always remember that this is God’s realm, filled with God’s power and glory forever.

Thank God for the life we have been given – and the challenges that help us grow.

Kingdom Dance

By Bruce Smith

On a recent Sunday Pastor Laura shared thoughts on the meaning of “Kingdom” in the second line of the Lord’s Prayer. We pondered what such a kingdom might look like here on earth and agreed that it didn’t include castles and moats. Instead, various members volunteered ideas such as peace, enough food, clean water, friendship, adequate housing, and equality. The list, of course, could be extended. We might all agree that it would be a time of thoroughgoing happiness far different than what we witness in our daily lives.

Returning home, I happened to notice one of Jeanne’s favorite Picasso prints hanging on our wall. You can see it above. While the official title is “La Ronde de la Jeunesse” (Dance of the Youth), I saw it as “Kingdom Dance.” I imagined it presenting people of all different colors joyously joining hands and dancing wildly together in celebration of peace. Those bouquets of flowers held high in their hands symbolizing the restored earth’s abundance and beauty? And in the center is the dove of peace, the peace that is so lacking in our personal, community and world so much of the time. And that dance itself, isn’t it as wild and ecstatic as we might wish in a restored perfect kingdom? The figures are bursting with happiness that’s shared in a circle of equality and friendship. The image made me feel hopeful that it was a glimpse of what having “Thy Kingdom Come” might be like.

As enticing as this image is, it unfortunately, won’t come easily. But we can each do what we can to build that kingdom and see each other and the people we meet as potential dance partners. While performing acts that bring that kingdom a little closer, maybe we can even dance a few steps in celebration. Father Leo Proxell, in a recent column, was thinking similar thoughts when he wrote. “So, in this holy time of summer light and warmth, enjoy wandering through God’s good creation and live that goodness inherent in your life. Share it with others by way of joyful giving of your time and talent and treasure for building up of the Kingdom of God that we are all part of.”

May you enjoy the summer and as Father Leo might also say, “May His Kingdom Come.”

Generational

Dilynn recently came “down the mountain” from Camp Mimanagish for a quick overnight to do some shopping for a few items rather than a large, restaurant-quantity of items. Luckily for me, it happened to coincide with the weekend when my car was in the shop being fixed and they had called on Wednesday to tell me that they found additional damage that would change the estimate and would result in them waiting for parts to come in. Which meant that I wouldn’t have my car until sometime the following week. Hmmm. How to get to church for a quick pick-up choir practice before the service and bell practice after the service when I don’t have a car?? Dilynn to the rescue!!

Her visit reminded me about how much I actually enjoy my adult child living with me. I mean, I enjoyed some parts of her first 18 years, but the joy is watching her as she has matured after being away from home for several years. And, watching her as she has taken a few risks and stepped out of her comfort zone and tried her hand at a few different things.

We parents are usually encouraged to push our chicklets out of the nest so they can fly. And for the most part, this is a good thing. But the question every parent who has all their kids out of the nest faces is: What do I do now that the kids are gone?

There’s something to be said for families which embrace the multi-generational household. There were benefits to that practice in years and decades gone by. Parents gradually shifted to being the “elders” of the house, but letting the next generation take the lead in managing the house, making decisions, etc. The elders had earned the right to sit back and have someone take care of them. It’s become the conundrum for families as we see this practice being lost due to the opportunities available to our children outside their hometowns, resulting in families being spread out across the country or even the world.

I saw this evolution as my own grandparents aged. While my grandfather “Spence” passed away when I was about 8, the rest of the grandparents spent time with us at our cabin on Seeley Lake each summer. We came together to cook dinner, enjoy family, including my Aunt and Uncle and their two kids, and other friends as they came and went. Dad would drive back and forth to work during the week. It was a commitment. But it changed as the “grands” became less able to do the driving, and as we kids got older and spent less time there. Then we made a big change and Mom and Dad built the cabin (log house) on Flathead. Not so easy for the grandparents to come up and stay due to their increasing restrictions based on age-related issues. Then we watched as choices were made to try to find the right fit for them before each one passed. And still, we had choices as my sister and I graduated and started our own lives.

Pilgrim has seen it happen to various members who have had to make the decision to move into assisted living or move into a 55+ community when they don’t want to move away. Others have made the decision to move to be with their adult children, or near them, so they could have that support as age does what age does.

While I’m happy Dilynn has work she loves during these months from May to September, and is in a place which is near and dear to my heart, and is close to family and friends; I’m also happy when she can come back down the mountain and stop in for a visit. And not just because she can cook dinner and schlepp me around when my car is unavailable. There’s a different energy in the house when she’s there. Even when she is in her room with the door closed, watching one of the many Asian dramas she’s become hooked on watching, it’s comforting to know she’s there. It’s fun when she comes running into my room to share something she found on Facebook or some other social media.

I’m treasuring this time with her as an adult. I’m grateful we are in a place where we get along and know each other well enough to anticipate reactions. There’s real enjoyment in the experience. I rather wish I could have shared some of this type of experience with my own parents and grandparents. But then, maybe I did. Those times at the cabin on Seeley gave me a rare glimpse into what it might have been like in a multi-generational living situation. I think it works for some families and I rather wish it worked for more. There’s something to be said for letting go of the parent/child role and just experiencing this connected world generation to generation.

Our "Common" Prayer

By Carolyn Pinet

Has "common" changed meaning

over the centuries?

Years ago I paged through

The Book of Common Prayer

in my uncle's country church and

years ago

I invoked "the power and the glory -

they sounded poetic

without my thinking deeply about them.

"Pray the prayer you wish for and love,"

urges our pastor, and

she recommends a film, "What Do You Believe Now?"

She knows the King James version of "Our Father"

is poetic and she generously gives us space

for our own loved version of

what Truth might denote -

which changes any fixed sense of faith

trapped in a dogma of words.

So could "common" now denote "fluid" -

a river over stones

flowing in sunlight

and changing color

in iridescent waters?

Ah, despite all,

I still do love our lyrical King James,

the "common" poetry

of watery hymns of praise.

With thanks to Pastor Laura

Having Pride in Pilgrim

By Kerry Williams

This year is a banner one for me, with my best friends from growing up all turning 50 along with me. I’ve been looking forward to celebrating the friend I’ve known the longest in my life by going back to where I grew up and becoming the fourth daughter in their family again, just like when I was little. The time with all of them was fantastic because I could plug back into a sense of belonging that is so core to my being, I don’t consciously know it’s there. I got a short time to experience the duality of being a wizened adult while feeling like my child self around people who love me just as I am, knowing all the awkward missteps I’ve made all along the way. My favorite time from the birthday festivities actually came as the party was wrapping up. My friend had hosted a wine tasting in the late afternoon, and as evening fell, there was a crew ready to continue the celebration at a local bar. Since I was staying with my friend’s older sister and didn’t have a car, I knew that getting myself out of there when I was over socializing would be an issue. The magic was: so did my friend. We locked eyes, mine saying “I love you and wish you so much fun on your birthday” and hers saying “I know this isn’t your thing so please stay back because you certainly don’t have to prove you love me by coming to a bar.” It was an instant and genuine understanding when I gave her a hug good night and settled into her sister’s comfy couch. My friend’s two sisters are three and six years older than her, respectively (the oldest my favorite babysitter growing up). As I was the first-born child in my family, it always felt like a grand social experiment to fit myself into their family dynamic alongside the youngest sibling. I always felt appreciated and vulnerable at the same time with the teasing and bossing around that is to be expected as the lowest in the pecking order. This night, though, as I hung out with my friend’s sisters and their friends, I was just part of the conversation (though I do still describe it as “getting to hang out with the adults.”) We talked about how our two families were the only Lutherans in the sea of Catholics (and a small smattering of Congregationalists) we grew up with, and the way that camp and youth group deepened our connections. The oldest sister said that she was searching for a sense of community like that, especially since the church we grew up in was part of the synod that has taken a stance against the LGBTQIA+ community. Along with the three of us Lutherans, there happened to be a former Catholic and a gay couple whose one husband was a rejected preacher’s kid, so there was no end to the various points of view that were brought up through the topic of religion, but disenchantment was a strong theme. How can an institution be trusted and how can a person hold the beliefs they were taught by leaders who let abuse and abuse of power run rampant? How can someone find belonging in a place that doesn’t allow everyone to belong? How can a religion uphold judging people based on their skin color or their sexual orientation or any other human quality? I piped up with the concept of Church 2.0, a reimagining of what people in this day and age need for their spiritual well-being, and I was so proud to say that I am part of a church that is looking forward creatively to fill the gaps in people’s lives on a metaphysical and also just plain physical level. The proudest moment, though, was when the gay man who was rejected by his evangelical father asked what kind of church I belonged to and started crying when he told the story of finding a UCC church when he lived in Oklahoma. He said he never knew that he could be welcomed for who he is, not despite who he is. Walking into that UCC church changed his life. He went from feeling rejected and just hoping for the miracle of being tolerated to being fully appreciated and loved by people of God. Seeing the emotion on his face and hearing how very much that experience healed him was profound, and I was so glad to bring the memory back and share it with him through his story. The evening moved on to the question of whether at least something bigger than ourselves exists, even outside of religion, but that show of emotion was so powerful that it reverberated throughout the rest of the discussion. Everyone who loves Pilgrim UCC needs to know that our existence matters, because we let others know that they matter.

July Song

By Carolyn Pinet

I should do more of this:

I shift perspective from

this lying-down chaise

and watch the shipshape clouds

imitate polar creatures while

the breeze sways the shining willow

and the beagle sleeps, one eye open.

It's an invitation to rethink everything, switch around brightly colored tiles and form a new mosaic undreamt of until now.

I gaze at the wild mint,

the plump lavender bush,

the green grass blades in shadow.

How come July has arrived

to surprise us with

new color, a new tune? -

covid's become corvid,

listen to that ancient,

insistent song!

The Reckoning With Racism Project

By Amy Lloyd

For years, I’ve heard complaints about yet ‘another DEI’ training. White girl though I am, such complaints hit my heart like daggers.

DEI, which stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, refers to classes, trainings or workshops designed to help all of us to gain awareness of various identities and the implications of being one vs another identity within specific contexts. For example, white cisgender males will have a very different experience as an American than a white trans male or an African American woman and so on.

I was taken off-guard one day with a colleague who is African American, made that complaint. She explained that she’d never been to a DEI training that actually accomplished anything. They barely scratch the surface and often feel like a box for a company to check.

Years later, when I received an email from Pastor Laura inviting me to an anti-racism training, others’ dubiousness had rubbed off on me. By now, I’ve been involved in a handful of DEI and anti-racism trainings and workshops and yep, I’m always left wanting. I leave feeling like that white person who gets to pat themselves on the back because they sat through a 2-hour meeting in which they learned nothing and nothing in their life will ever change, least of all their preciously held limiting beliefs.

I reminded myself that this is Pastor Laura. She has never struck me as a waste everyone’s time, going through the motions, box checker.

Reviewing the material I’d missed in the first meeting that she shared with me, I knew I had to be a part of this. First, it’s not a 2-hour workshop but a 6-month commitment. Second, it’s not even just Pilgrim, but many churches throughout Oregon, Montana and Wyoming. This is what I’ve been naively expecting all along.

Where are we now?

The first assignment took me back to childhood. Growing up in the south, I’d wander around my farm, the surrounding fields of a commercial nursery, and the woods, imagining who lived there during times of slavery, during early colonialism, when the first white Europeans arrived in this ‘uninhabited’ land. What non-human animals? What plants? How old are these trees? Were they there then? It wasn’t lost to me that the men working the fields of the commercial nursey were all Filipino. So many centuries and too little change.

Our first assignment invited us to develop a kinship with the land. Walk the land. Meet the inhabitants.

[“We Shall Remain” video shared by Jillene Joseph – check out this video which was part of our first lesson]

Then to revisit with a zoomed-out focus. Sit with what we know about the land and also what we don’t know. Who lived here before colonizers? Are there other painful, hard to look at truths that long to be seen?

I arrived at Pilgrim on afternoon to join up with Pastor Laura, Danielle Rogers and Sarah Hollier to walk the land here at the church. Remember that crazy snowstorm in late March? We thought it’d be a great idea to tromp through the snow, post-holing thigh deep. I mean, that’s how things are done in Montana. How else would we come out to meet the land?

It was a lovely time of climbing out of deep snow with every step, of saying hi to the rocks and the lichen growing on them. To stand under the pine, appreciating its shelter. To make eye contact with the deer.

Then back inside to share our experiences, the acknowledgements we made, the questions that came up. This is what healing looks like.

Currently, we are diving into building a land genealogy of the land Pilgrim sits on and maybe to some extent, the larger Bozeman and Gallatin Valley area.

Here’s Where You Come In

I’m writing this to catch you up on what we’ve been up to because it’s pretty cool!

And also, to ask… what questions do you have about this land? What experiences, stories or people do you know that might be relevant that you could share?

Some of the questions we’ll be exploring are…

What pieces of the land story are hard to find? Why is that? Who benefits from them staying hidden?

What resistance or tension do we notice in ourselves as we learn hard truths?

How are we honoring the ‘both/and’ about the people we learn about?

What opportunities might we discover or create as a result of this?

Reach out to me with the experiences and stories you know that would support this project.

And let me know if you’d be interested in joining us on any local field trips we might plan as we’re conducting our research.

What’s Next?

Remember, this isn’t a 2-hour workshop. We’re in this for the long haul.

While the official nature of the Reckoning with Racism project concludes in June, we are just getting started.

The land genealogy alone will be ongoing. And then there are those inherent yet still unknown opportunities that we all get to flesh out.

This is the real deal. This is what it looks like to be doing God’s work. This is why I am proud to call Pilgrim, home.

Mountains

By Dilynn Wise

I forget that I live in a beautiful place. Living in a city, I get caught up in the next thing that I have to do, or the funniest new video that I just have to share with my Mom. I get really lazy, and drive down the block instead of walking or riding my bike. I will have no problem staying in my house all day, and making excuses to put off going out for as long as I can. I just drive. My only mission is to make it to my destination in the shortest amount of time possible. The aggravation of all the heavy traffic, and how it has gotten so much worse lately, makes me want to scream most days.

I forget that those mountains are there. I mean, yes I see them every day and I use them as my compass. But I don’t allow myself to really see them as they are, what they are in all their glory. When you are surrounded by something all the time you become blind to it and forget. The name for this is called perceptual blindness. I guess everybody does this at some point with something in their lives. Because you are used to it, and don’t realize that this thing is wonderous.

But there are times that I look up and am blown away. The view that is in front of me steals my breath. All I can say is "WOW". Which is profound all by itself. But sometimes that is all I can come up with to say. It is then that I feel ashamed that I have forgotten the fact that I live in such a beautiful place. These mountains that surround me are proud and majestic, I hope they are not offended by my inattention. A song that comes to mind while writing this has a line "… Deep in the shadow of the mighty mountain…" Mountains are these mighty things above us always, we just have to remember to look up.

Please look up. Look around and see the beauty that is all around and remember you live in a beautiful place.

The Journey

Some of you may know that I am spending two weeks on the road in support of a highly skilled bike racer competing in the Race Across America. Heather is a mother and physician who has also managed to build her personal fitness to a level where she can realistically plan to bike 250 miles per day, day after day, to achieve her goal of crossing America in under 12 days. We crew members devote our time to round-the-clock nutritional, medical, and emotional care. 

 This is a remarkable journey, in all ways. Today, we passed through Monument Valley and began the climb into Durango, Colorado. There has been astounding beauty and dire dinginess; there has been cowbell-clanging elation and tears of frustration and fatigue. On the first full day of riding, the generator running the air conditioner overheated and shut down, interrupting the precious 3-hour sleep time allotted to Heather each day with the searing heat of the Arizona desert. As her sleep attendant, I felt this setback as a personal failure. Our own sleep is in short supply as well. This is hard work.

Every day, I am given multiple opportunities to be irritated with others, to rue circumstances and regret errors that have cost us time, to wonder why I am not comfortably enjoying summer evenings from the deck of our home. However, this means I am also provided with multiple opportunities to choose how I respond to things that are not as I’d wish them to be -- not how they’d be if I got to be boss of everyone and everything!

 An article by Georgia Noble* calls aging “enlightenment in slow motion.” I think of this phrase often as I strive to embody my best self at this developmental stage of my life. I’m still learning to focus on what is, in this moment – not what should be, or what I wish was, but what is actually present in the gift of this moment. My late, lingering journey of enlightenment leads me back again and again to the same goals: letting go, accepting God’s sustaining presence, and resting in gratitude.

What is God’s gift to you, today, in this moment? How can you take a pause to usher in gratitude for the life you have been given? In Pastor Laura’s newsletter message this week, she describes her response to the wonderful life of our church and the beauty of a June evening: “I had to stand in the parking lot for a minute to breathe it all in. Sometimes the goodness of it all nearly overwhelms a person.”

Pause. Breathe. Thank God for the gifts of this good world.

* I was introduced to this article at the Soul of Aging retreat at Camp Mimanagish! Read about that fantastic experience at the Camp Mimanagish website. It takes place this summer August 27 – 31.

Comicon for Church Nerds

by Laura Folkwein

I am a self-professed “church nerd.” Growing up as a United Methodist (UMC) pastor’s kid, I taught Sunday School, went to camp, participated in conference youth leadership, and attended conference meetings. As a grade schooler, I met a couple of youth delegates at UMC Annual Conference, and promptly told my mom, “I want to be just like them someday.” So, it is it is no surprise that I am very excited about attending my first UCC General Synod as an in-person voting delegate this month in Indianapolis. I just heard General Synod described as “Comicon, but for church nerds.” Exactly! 

For the less church-nerdy, who may still be curious -- General Synod is an amazing and diverse gathering of representatives from United Church of Christ conferences and congregations across the U.S. We meet every two years. This year delegates will consider changing the schedule to every three years. In Synod plenary sessions, delegates like me will vote on resolutions presented to the church for deliberation and hear reports from our various ministry areas. This year, we are electing a new General Minister and President. Rev. Karen Georgia Thompson has been nominated for the position. She is a powerful preacher, an already established leader in the national church, and the first woman, and woman of African descent, to lead our denomination. Learn more about her, here: https://www.ucc.org/ahead-of-general-synod-gmp-nominee-thompson-shares-vision-of-hope-for-ucc/ 

Alongside formal business, delegates and visitors worship together (it’s beautiful and inspiring), hear from nationally known keynote speakers (like Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber and Ibrahim X. Kendi), go to special events, hear more speakers, and participate in a wide variety of optional workshops. My favorite part is connecting with longtime friends and colleagues, and meeting new ones (and leaving the conference in search of local food…). My second favorite part is the vendor hall, so I am also taking an extra bag and a book budget! 

Our Montana-Northern Wyoming delegation includes me, our Conference Minister, Rev. Dr. Tony Clark, our Conference Moderator, Hank Branom from Great Falls First Congregational Church, Rev. Charles Wei, the pastor at Plymouth UCC, Helena, and Rev. Lynne Spencer-Smith, the pastor in Great Falls. You do not have to be a clergyperson to represent our conference at General Synod, but you can imagine the challenges of taking nearly a week off from work and family if you are not a pastor who is including this as part of your work. Rev. Danielle Rogers from our church has attended General Synod multiple times, and she is a great person to ask if you have questions about what is happening.  

Synod resolutions can be an interesting business, and delegates are encouraged to read and prepare for voting ahead of time. Some of this year’s resolutions are: Celebrating the 170th Anniversary of the UCC Building & Loan Fund (since 1853) and Affirming both Licensed and Commissioned Ministry as Authorized Ministries of the UCC (ie. formalizing an already approved process for authorizing clergy who come to serve through other than traditional seminary routes.) With a shortage of clergy and the expense of seminary education, this is a way to continue to provide diverse leadership in local congregations. Our rural Montana churches and smaller urban congregations, and others, will benefit from the continued development of this approach. 

General Synod also always considers an array of social justice resolutions, called Resolutions of Witness. One thing I love about our church is that we aren’t shy about our opinions! The other thing I love is that we welcome a variety of perspectives. Even if the General Synod passes a resolution of witness, each conference, association, and congregation decides individually how/whether/if they take action in their own context. Our denomination is organized such that “the General Synod speaks “to, but not for” the United Church of Christ. 

Some of the Resolutions of Witness this year include: Denouncing the Dobbs Decision and Proclaiming Abortion as Healthcare; Closing the Digital Divide: Calling on the UCC to Seek Digital Justice and Inclusion; A Resolution Calling for a New Study by our Church on our Relationship with the Indian Boarding Schools and the Boarding Schools in Hawai’i; and a resolution urging reparations in Hawai’i, where the UCC participated in the harms of colonialism. You can see the full list of resolutions, here: https://generalsynod.org/proposed-resolutions.  

Part of my delegate work (and another one of my favorite parts, because it is a great way to get to know other people across the church) is committee work. I was assigned to Committee #9. Together, I and 15-20 assigned delegates will learn about, discuss, and offer amendments on the resolution entitled “Free from Plastic Pollution.” The resolution addresses the growing environmental challenge of single use plastics and calls on the United Church of Christ to “join environmental organizations, faith communities, and other concerned groups to take action to reduce the plastic pandemic that impacts and threatens life and God’s creation.” This resolution was submitted by the New Hampshire Conference of the UCC. If you are curious about the process for submitting a resolution, and who can do so, you can learn more here: https://generalsynod.org/resolution-submission-process. 

I think it is interesting that there aren’t a lot of resolutions about our theology or discipleship practices. As a denomination, we offer a lot of leeway to individuals and local congregations on religious expression and practice. However, with this theological flexibility, and a list of resolutions of witness, what makes us a religious denomination instead of group of activists and advocates? If one places the list of resolutions in the context of our denomination’s Vision statement, “United in Christ’s love, a just world for all,” or our UCC Mission statement: United in Spirit and inspired by God’s grace, we welcome all, love all, and seek justice for all, the puzzle pieces of all of the resolutions begin to fit together. The resolutions promote repairing harm that has been done, preventing more harm, addressing injustice and repairing areas of inadequate resource (such as the digital divide). Placed in the setting of communal worship, study, and connection across all of our differences, it begins to make more sense as a church body’s work. What would you want this gathered portion of the Body of Christ to deliberate over at this time in our history?  

This year’s General Synod special guest speakers, keynotes, and events include Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, Ibram X. Kendi (author of How to Be and Antiracist and Stamped from the Beginning), Bryan Stevenson (Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative), a reception with the Stillspeaking Writers’ Group – the folks who write the UCC Daily Devotionals, and a celebration of women in ministry with the UCC’s Antoinette Brown Society. Folk singer-songwriters, Carrie Newcomer, is from Indiana, and she will be performing at an outdoor festival for all of us with the McLain Family Band, an award-winning Kentucky Appalachian bluegrass band.  

I don’t know if this sounds like “Comicon for church nerds,” to you, but I am packing my best conference outfits, reading resolutions, and signing up for workshops with enthusiasm! 

If you are even a little church-nerdy, you can keep up with General Synod online, starting on Friday June 30th, here: https://generalsynod.org/. You can get a daily email or two with Synod updates, by signing up here: https://generalsynod.org/contact-us.  

For a more personal perspective you can follow my social media. My professional page on Facebook is Rev. Laura Folkwein. There is also quite an active and fun Synod conversation on Twitter. Look for #UCCSynod, #UCCTwitter, or follow me @lfolkwein, for humor, (opinions), and individual takes on everything from the snacks, to the tech, to the inevitable juicy drama in committees and plenary.  

You don’t have to sign up or follow anything to keep me, our Montana-Northern Wyoming delegation, and everyone else at General Synod 34 in your prayers. I will share more with you on Sunday July 9th, in worship. That Sunday, we will also share Communion, our ritual connection with the Body of Christ in all places and all ages, which is less nerdy and more spirit-filled.   

Ponderings: Algorithm Gremlins or Teachers in Disguise?

By Susan Wordal

I’ve found myself on Facebook now and again, and some days I just scroll and check in with friends, while other days I find myself going down a proverbial rabbit hole depending upon what has been posted by friends or shows up on my feed. I’m never sure what the gremlins in the Meta-verse do to create the algorithms that populate my feed, but it’s interesting.

 Recently, an “ad” popped up for a t-shirt. I don’t often buy them for myself, but I like to look at the slogans. I used to buy my son t-shirts with somewhat sarcastic slogans on them. They were pretty good and would usually give me a chuckle. He often came home to tell me a teacher liked whatever shirt he had on that day. It was fun.

 Anyway, this ad was for a t-shirt featuring a partial image of Ruth Bader Ginsberg and featured the saying: “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty”. Now, for those who don’t know, RBG was an attorney before she was appointed to the federal bench, and before she was appointed to the US Supreme Court. She’s someone I liked on the Court but have learned more about in recent years. There is a fascinating conversation with Bill Moyers I ran across after I saw this shirt:

https://billmoyers.com/story/transcript-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-in-conversation-with-bill-moyers/ During the conversation, Moyers’ uses this quote and references the ‘60’s, when both he and RBG were more at the beginning of their careers than the end. I liked the shirt and the quote, and it was being held up by Michelle Obama in the ad, so that was even better (even if she wasn’t really holding it, but as they haven’t been forced to take it down, I guess she’s ok with it). I bought the shirt.

 When I opened the package, I took the shirt out, put it on a hanger and took a photo and put it on my Facebook page.  Then the strangest thing happened. The algorithms gremlins decided I was making a reference to a statement which has been falsely attributed to Thomas Jefferson. So, they put a gray screen over the photo with a link to a site for Monticello refuting this as a spurious quotation by Thomas Jefferson. (Hmmm…with RBG’s partial photo and her signature at the bottom???)

 Now, I may be an English Lit major and not a historian or a political science type, but I’ve read the Declaration of Independence and other documents from that time, and I know that the specific language isn’t something to attribute to Thomas Jefferson. He was a flawed individual, as many are in our history. He was someone who was the product of his upbringing and environment. He stepped out of the comfort zone of that time a little in his writing (while still acting much like others of his time and station. UGH!), but while some of his writing was forward-thinking, he still was flawed and did things that, from our perspective today, were not very credit-worthy. But one cannot deny that his prose in the Declaration of Independence went against the established thinking and continues to stand and inspire and educate. It charted a new course for a new union. And we have been pushing against the boundaries ever since.

 But I wondered if this had any relation to the function of religion. How does one take a phrase like: “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty”, and find within it a message from the Holy One? Interestingly, when I put the phrase into a Google search looking for a biblical passage, I came across an address given at the Vancouver School of Theology by guest speaker Professor Martin Rumscheidt on July 6, 2017, entitled “When Injustice Becomes Law - Resistance Becomes Duty”, Theology is Not Exempt. Given that Professor Rumscheidt was born in Germany in 1935 and moved to Montreal, Canada in about 1952, and only then really began to confront the legacy of Hitler and what that meant to his perspective on life and his relationship to others, this address is fascinating. https://vst.edu/2017/07/06/when-injustice-becomes-law-resistance-becomes-duty/ He talks about resistance as a verb not a noun. He points to John 14:6 “I am the Way, the Truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” And John 10:1 – 9 wherein Jesus is the doorway or the avenue by which one reaches God and not otherwise. (there’s something in there about entering a sheepfold by climbing in rather than entering through a door is akin to being thieves and robbers.) If you consider it, the point is: The Holy One has given us the path through Jesus Christ, and to follow a path of another that stands against the path offered by the Holy One we do not work in service to nor do we honor the Holy One, but that “other” who would lead us down the false path. Thus, we must resist those who would lead us to dishonor the right path by dishonoring those of a different faith, a different color, or a different gender. Sounds like the one commandment: Love thy Neighbor as thyself. If we consider that refusing to merge “the State” with “the Church” we embrace freedom for a more truly theological existence, then we have a “duty to resist”. Hmmm.

 Apparently, the algorithm gremlins decided that my using the photo of the t-shirt is ok now, because my profile photo now shows up without being blocked. (Or at least I think it does.) But it reminded me that we are never too old to learn new things and we are indebted to those who blazed trails like RBG. She was and remains one of those jurists who battled injustice. Not because of her religion or her gender (although both came into play during her career), but because injustice is injustice regardless of one’s color, gender, orientation, religion, etc.

 Lady Liberty is blindfolded for a reason, folks. And it is good to remember that when we consider what this union of imperfect individuals from every walk of life is meant to be. I’m an imperfect person in an imperfect world striving to live up to the vision and the obligations my citizenship requires. I will resist as a duty I owe to my fellow human beings in order that I may walk the path of justice. I just hope I don’t step off that path too often, or that someone will yank me back when I misstep.

 Thanks for the lesson, algorithm gremlins. This gray-haired lady will keep watching and learning. I hope others will be with me and will keep me on the right path.

Green/Verde

By Carolyn Pinet

More rain and the grass grows

more intensely green

while the lilac fades.

Everyone has quit the cafe,

I sit outside with two older dogs -

the en garde beagle barks at nothing.

The orange umbrella is open above me -

will it rain or shine on it?

Impossible to predict

on this early June day

with half the country on fire,

and many submerged in floods.

But here our green grass dazzles

beneath a feather-boa sky

and parking-lot puddles shimmer.

"Green, I love you green," sang Lorca

to greet his Granada spring - look around:

each green blade bristles, glimmers with moisture.

Cafe M, Bozeman. June, 2023

Love in an Unexpected Place

By Bruce Smith

Earlier this year Pastor Laura preached a series on finding love in unexpected places. I want to share our experience of one of those places.

Northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, is one of the most troubled areas in Africa. The area is plagued by violence that developed after the Rwanda genocide. Now numerous militias rove the area raping and pillaging as they see fit. Goma is the major city sitting on the southern edge of the fighting. It was also the site of my first African mission trip. Goma has come on hard times. Left with little support from the far away capital of Kinshasa, subject to sporadic raids by marauding militia, experiencing economic hard times and damaged by a nearby volcano, it was a world far different than anything I’d experienced. Poverty was evident everywhere and our group was cautioned to always remain together to avoid possible unpleasantries. As the people repeatedly informed us, “Life is hard here.”

Months before Jeanne and I had been “recruited” by Pastor Levis, a highly spiritual visionary, to help in the continuing efforts to build an orphanage. We’d joined a small group from upstate New York to answer that call. Finally arriving after many hours of travelling, we found our accommodation with a lack of running water and few hours of electricity. We wondered what we had signed up for.

The next day our questioning continued as our battered Toyota crawled over barely passable “roads” to a partially built structure situated on rocky hardened lava with ramshackle houses around. Pastor Levis welcomed us, and we began our work and our experience of a unique expression of love. The work was very basic, clearing rocks, carrying bricks, and pulling weeds to assist a local work crew who, fortunately, were better masons than any of us.

As our time passed, I began to appreciate what was happening there. Pastor Levis and his wife Mimi were already running a mini- orphanage in their cramped, very basic home. In addition to their own children, they were somehow raising 13 orphans! We had the pleasure of getting to know these ragamuffins as we slowly progressed with building. We only completed the walls for the first and part of the second story before departing. At that point, Levis revealed that he was out of money but had plans for doubling the size of the original design. We left with doubts. Those doubts grew when a militia overran the area six months later.

But love has prevailed over the many challenges. The orphanage has been completed. Two wings, each of two stories, now house approximately 30 orphan children in what is probably the nicest structure in the neighborhood. Through his strong faith and the help of others, Pastor Levis has produced a striking demonstration of Christian love. That expression of love and faith exists in one of the last places you’d ever think to find it. Unexpected, you’d better believe it!!

What is Belonging?

By Kerry Williams

As a parent of teenagers, one of the things I find most baffling is how to negotiate the role of social media in their lives. There are the regular arguments that society continues to debate about the number of hours that kids are in front of screens (we were so proud of our family limits when they were little, but also wanted to navigate giving tweens a sense of personal responsibility and the chance to practice time management skills - did we balance that all correctly, who knows?) and the danger of disclosing too much online to those who would do harm, along with research being done on the hit to self-esteem that occurs by looking at everyone else’s curated posts and the possible exposure to radicalizing ideas and other destructive content (we hope we have given our kids the tools to make good discernments and the media literacy skills to question information, but it’s scary how sophisticated the technology is to skirt around even the most skeptical mind, so again, who knows?).

We run into time-worn tropes of privacy versus safety, which has existed since well before my own parents refused to allow me to have my own phone in my room. We are currently rehashing something that probably felt the same to my folks when the technology switched from a telephone that was plugged into the kitchen wall to the cordless telephone which could travel with a teenager to any room in the house. The stakes are higher, but the conflict is the same - where is the tipping point in holding on and letting go when we know our children are entering a whole new world that is running at a faster pace than we can keep up with? My struggle lately has been around the costs and benefits of social media. I have one child who is highly social, and since so much is being shared online, it is painful for him to miss any of that, to not be included in the dialog that is happening there. My other child is on the far other extreme, and for him online discussion and information is a lifeline into relationships that don’t come naturally through everyday interaction. Either way, the social aspect of technology isn’t in itself evil, and as often as I wish I could be parenting without this added dimension, I try to embrace the good that comes out of it.

I have been able to talk with my kids about the struggles I have with what pops up in my social media feed, and how hard it is to get out of loops of information that don’t serve me. It’s not a bad jumping off point for making decisions and following inspiration in the real world. I also have come across some some amazing perspectives that put something I have found true into words that make sense, and some really interesting ideas that have challenged my beliefs in a good way. One of my favorite Instagram accounts is @progressivechristianity, since they feature posts from so many different perspectives, and don’t expect any one person to agree with everything they put out there. I feel that they respect my ability to accept, reject, or grapple with any number of ideas being offered, and that they are not posting in order to cause debate so that they can garner likes, but are truly just opening up conversation so that mindsets can be expanded.

I really appreciate that kind of engagement, and it’s something that I also love about coming to Pilgrim. There is a sense of being grounded, a sense of “here is where we stand,” without a need to prescribe specific beliefs that everyone must agree upon. There is a sense of belonging amidst difference that seems so rare in these times, and I cherish that. I hope, and sometimes feel naive for it, that my kids find those spaces of inclusive belonging in their own lives as they move forward in both the online world and the real world.

I recently heard Brene Brown discuss the difference between belonging and fitting in, and it sure seems like we as a nation are having a difficult time figuring out how to manage this distinction. In fact, Brene says that "The greatest barrier to belonging is fitting in.” Here’s more: "Brown's research surprised her at first. She thought belonging was something people externally negotiated with the groups they seek to belong to. Brown said that when we 'fit in' as opposed to ‘belong,' we acclimate to the situation instead of standing for our authentic self. "We are more sorted than we have ever been in the history of the U.S. We have built ideological bunkers. We are more likely now to live with, worship with, and go to school with people who are politically and ideologically likeminded," Brown said. While logic may suggest that this 'sorting' results in more people feeling a sense of belonging, Brown warns these connections are 'counterfeit.’” For us to feel a sense of true belonging, we have to feel that our authentic selves are what is being accepted, not just the ideas in our heads or even the beliefs in our hearts. Time and time again Pilgrim walks this tricky path. As a church we show up and accept the messiness of being human. It’s difficult work, and maybe it’s why we’re here. I’m sure glad that my kids have had the example of Pilgrim in their lives, and I hope it can buoy them through all of the influences they need to navigate as they grow. It continues to for me!

Celebrating Community

By LeeAnn Swain

I was a bit late transitioning from the online service held March 26 to the online Zoom meeting coffee hour. I found I had to update the Zoom app to participate. That made me joyous! It had been so long since I had to attend a Zoom meeting during the height of the Covid 19 outbreak. I felt incredibly grateful. I also felt grateful that I could easily update Zoom and make it to the virtual coffee hour. After all, the folks at Pilgrim are unique and special. Those of us who attend, in person, or virtually, are privileged to bask in the reflective glow of the others. Yes, our thinking and assumptions are sometimes challenged, yet we are respectful of varying views. I like being left to wonder and mull over ideas. I enjoy my imagination being tweaked and pushed. Most of the time, we are able to have civilized conversations with each other which may involve opposing views. That skill set appears to have fallen into disrepair in wider public venues where accusatory language and inflammatory rhetoric are often used. I feel that the Pilgrim Community calls us to nurture one another on our spiritual paths. Sometimes, we even get to share the path with others. I so appreciate the Pilgrim community being present and witnessing for one another! Blessings!

Risen

By: Carolyn Pinet

Listening to Yo-Yo Ma play "Over the Rainbow"

to a humpback whale

off the coast of Hawaii's Big Island

raises my spirits in unimagined ways.

The whale spouts an inconceivable and showy fountain of water, and it sings along - is that just coincidence?  I want to believe it is entranced by Yo-Yo's plaintive and endearing "Over the Rainbow."

Meanwhile Toto trots along the beach,

convinced he will arrive at the Meaning of Life, and soon.

Yo-Yo is ;bobbing up and down in someone's boat, but, unfazed, he plays on:

the music imitates the waves

while the sea turns iridescent.

No wonder Jonah, mesmerized, lingered

inside that whale's immense body!

There's no way I can resist listening and watching:

all the rhythms of life seem at play -

Wallace Stevens knew it, so did Emily,

and now I do: I look and listen, entranced, and, for once, I'm convinced that, at last, I am hearing what rings true.

Ponderings: Margaritaville and the Telephone Game

A recent sermon hit a note with me when there was mention of the origin of a word or name in the Bible. It made me think about how, over time, the various versions of the Bible have relied upon different words and different phraseology in an effort to make the stories and lessons of the Bible more understandable. It’s why, when you take different versions of the Bible and compare them, some of the stories seem to be telling decidedly different tales.

It also made me think about an old game we used to play called “Telephone”. I’m sure some of you may even remember playing this game. A person leans over and whispers into the ear of the person next to them a phrase of some sort. Then the person next to the first relays the phrase to the person on their other side and so on until it comes back around to the last person in the group. That person is usually sitting or standing next to the one who started the whole thing. The last person has the dubious honor of stating the phrase out loud. I don’t think I’ve ever played this game and had the phrase sound anything like its original phrase. And generally, hilarity ensues.

Clearly, you can see where my mind went when it comes to the discussion of the origin of words and phrases in the Bible and whether those words and phrases were originally part of the story. The stories, in their written form, were not necessarily written by those who were telling them, but by others who heard these stories, often told around a table or fire, much like you might imagine other cultures or tribes of people passed down stories. Invariably, the stories were told by the elders of a group, and in the telling, much like in the game of Telephone, some things became distorted. That, coupled with the derivation of words, and the tendency to try to translate into something that makes sense “at the time” for those likely to read the story, can result in some interesting tales which may or may not have any true connection to what really happened. Then again, maybe I’m cynical after years of cross-examining people whose stories don’t make sense. You never know.

There’s an expression you often see on bumper stickers and the like: The Bible says it, I believe it, That settles it. Now, in my profession we rely greatly on what’s written in a contract or a statute. But this one is an expression I have serious doubts about given what I know about the many translations of the Bible and the stories which come out of our oral history. I tend to take such things with a grain of salt. My blood pressure doesn’t always like the amount of salt in my diet, but that’s a topic for another day.

So, as you consider your day, may you look back fondly at your experiences with the game Telephone. And may you take most things, including stories labeled “nonfiction” with varying degrees of salt.

Margarita with salt, anyone?