All posts by Jamie Walters

Meet FCC’s New Church Administrator – Lisa “Li” Roth

Lisa ‘Li’ Roth, FCC’s Church Administrator.

Li (pronounced “Lee”) joined FCC as Church Administrator on May 13th,

She brings over 10 years of experience from her work with two Jewish Synagogues in New Jersey, as well as experience as an event planner.

Originally from the Southern Tier, Li returned recently to the area to be near family.

She has great administrative and office skills, is highly motivated, and is enthused about learning new things. She brings a wealth of creativity and a passion for working with the congregation.

The FCC Church Office is open Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., so stop by and welcome her!

Featured Image Credit: Welcome! Photos-PD dot com.

THE FORECASTER: Alleluia! Easter Dawns (and a Transition Update)

Rev. Lisa Heckman, FCC’s Transitional Minister.

Pastor’s Ponderings

God enables newness to happen in our lives, whether we think we need it or not, whether we believe it can happen or not.

Dear Friends,

Easter blessings to you all!

We are in the season of celebrating Resurrection, both Jesus’ and the Resurrection open to all of us through him.

Resurrection occurs in the life we live now; it’s not merely a heavenly insurance policy. God enables newness to happen in our lives, whether we think we need it or not, whether we believe it can happen or not.

This transitional period is by its very nature a time of newness. That can be uncomfortable or raise anxieties.

USDA Forest Service, PD. Photo by Ben Lomond.

We are assured, tho, that God is walking this path with us.

My purpose here is to help navigate through this “wilderness”, together discovering where God is leading us.

Four Tasks of the Transitional Pastor

Transitional pastors have four general tasks; these tasks are not linear or sequential and often overlap.

• Joining (Getting to Know You)

• Assessment

• Vision and Goal-Setting

• Exiting – preparing for the new pastor

Joining is the “getting to know you” that I’ve been engaged in the most over the last three months.

While that continues, this month I’ll begin the process of Assessment.

It involves looking at all aspects of the church’s life to lift up all the positive things that God is doing here and to determine if there are any areas that that can be improved in preparation for the next pastor.

With the help of the Assessment Team (a.k.a Profile Committee), we’ll examine the details of all facets of FCC’s ministry: mission, spirituality, programs, outreach to the community, structure, staffing, finances, etc.

The Assessment results will provide fodder for Vision and Goal-Setting by the Council and the Boards.

It also provides the information necessary to create the formal church profile for the pastoral search.

Light at the End of the Tunnel. PD Image Segugio.

Things are moving forward!

Be assured, things are moving forward.

By taking the time for assessment, we have a better understanding of FCC’s ministry and the qualifications needed for the next pastor.

That, in turn, will give guidance to the church leadership and will enable the Search Committee to find a candidate who is best suited to FCC.

This is all good!

As we enjoy the blessings of Spring and Resurrection, may we experience God in our midst each and every day. Grace and Peace.

Lisa

Upcoming Sacred Sites tour in Binghamton:

The Preservation Association of the Southern Tier is co- sponsoring the New York Landmarks Conservancy Sacred Sites open house. The theme this year is “From Medieval to Modern: Celebrating New York’s Religious Art and Architecture”. This free event is held each spring.
That day houses of worship around the state have an open house for people to see and learn about them.

This year the day is Sunday May 19, 2019. FCC’s historic church is on the tour again this year, and will be open to the public from 11:30 AM to 1:30 p.m.

What else can you find in this month’s The Forecaster?

  • The Worship Schedule for May 2019
  • Upcoming Trustee’s Work Day
  • Faith Works Fellowship for May
  • Annual Sleep Out for the Homeless sponsored by SUNY Broome (May 10)
  • Academic Achievement Awards
  • Jazz Vespers Final Event on May 12th at 5 p.m, featuring Al Hamme & Friends
  • FCC Photo Directory is finished!
  • Binghamton Downtown Singers
  • Coffee Hour on Sunday, May 5th … join us!
  • Upcoming UCC New York Annual Conference (May 18th and 19th)
  • Book Works books available, and more …

Download the full edition of The Forecaster for the details.

 

Featured Image Credit: He is Risen – The First Easter, 1893-1896, by Arthur Hughes. PD Wikimedia.

Mark Your Calendar: This Moment is Your Miracle (May 2019)

Jenny and Greg Donner, teachers of A Course in Miracles, will be offering a workshop at F.C.C. in early May 2019 as they come through Binghamton on their U.S. tour.

Greg and Jenny will guide students deeper into the teachings of A Course in Miracles using David Hoffmeister’s new book, This Moment Is Your Miracle, as a springboard.

Come and join us for an experience that is deeply healing and authentic.

When:  Saturday, May 4, 7-9pm, and Sunday, May 5, 2-6pm.

Where:  First Congregational Church, 30 Main St, Binghamton, N.Y.

This even is co-sponsored by FCC’s Adult Education Committee.

For more information, please visit Jenny Donner’s site.

Featured Image Credit: Public Domain Pictures.

Mark Your Calendar: The Spring (Spiritual) Happening 2019

Mark your calendar for Saturday, May 4th, 9-5 p.m.

That’s when this year’s Spring Happening will be held here at First Congregational Church.

Attendees can stop by and hear talks on spiritual topics, browse the $1 Spiritual Books tables, share spiritual conversation, and break bread (well, sample from the various salads that participants and attendees are welcome to bring to the share-a-dish meal!).

This year’s Spring Happening speakers include Jim Bryden, Tom Meade, Art Suggs, Tom Moberg, and Rick Gridley.

The requested donation for the event is $10, and attendees are invited to bring a salad to share for the bring-a-dish meal.

The Spring Happening is co-sponsored by Binghamton Spiritual Study Group and First Congregational Church.

Learn more about the speakers and the event.

SERMON: The God of Second Chances

Rev. Lisa explores scriptural parables, contemporary experiences of people like you and me, and how, whether in times of ease or intense challenge, chaos or order, God’s mercy is greater than God’s judgment.

Mature fig tree, Palestine. Wikimedia

The God of Second Chances allows us the time to ripen and bear fruit, while also tilling the soil of our being, nourishing root and plant, so that healing and new growth can take place.

As Rev. Lisa reminded us,

“Many are going through challenging times or times of transition, but God is present with you even when it seems hopeless!”

How might God’s tender care make itself known to us? Listen in …

Listen to the sermon here (audio)

Featured Image Credit: Garden of Gethsemane, Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, by Tango7174, CC Wikimedia.

THE FORECASTER: Planting Seeds for a Successful Transition Period

“More than qualifying what attributes are needed for FCC’s next installed pastor, the transition period is an important time to reassess who we are as a unique part of the Body of Christ and explore the particular direction God wants us to go now.”

~ the Rev. Lisa Heckman

Pastor’s Ponderings
Rev. Lisa Heckman, FCC’s Transitional Minister.

For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.~~ Jeremiah 29:11

Dear Friends,

God sends that message of hope through Jeremiah at a time when the people were hopeless. Recently exiled from their homes in Judea, now displaced in Babylon, they thought God had forsaken them.

We at FCC are not hopeless by any means (!), and we have even more assurance in God’s plans for our hope-filled future.

Our challenge is discerning what those plans are. That’s gonna take some time!

Those who were here before Art Suggs’ ministry may remember a period of tribulation with several Interim Ministers and a significant loss in membership.

Add to that the normal anxiety of a time of transition, and the immediate reaction is to get the next installed pastor in place as quickly as possible!

“While the desire to rush things is understandable, a fast solution is rarely the best solution. A quick fix can create even more problems in the long term.”

Stained glass window, historic sanctuary at First Congregational Church, Binghamton, N.Y. Photo by J. Walters.

The Transition Team stated that one of the key goals of the Transitional Period is:

To help the leadership and thus the congregation refresh, evolve, and/or clarify the vision and mission, and affirm or create anew a really clear sense of the values and mission-elements that are important to these times and help us to move forward.

More than qualifying what attributes are needed for FCC’s next installed pastor, the transition period is an important time to reassess who we are now as this particular part of the Body of Christ and what is the direction God wants us to go.

This work will dovetail with our exploration of what is needed to create the church’s formal profile for the pastoral search.

The profile is an extremely detailed and comprehensive description of our ministry. It incorporates the usual statistical and demographic information about FCC, but goes much deeper:

It  requires the same kind of exploration of mission, ministry, and calling that we already wish to do during the transition.

We will need a team of people to develop the profile on behalf of the congregation, and it is my hope to work closely with this team as we explore and uncover who we are and where God is leading us.

While all this is going on, our day to day, week to week ministry will keep moving forward!

We will worship, study, serve the community, be in fellowship with one another, laugh and cry together, and live the Spirit filled lives we are called to live.

God has good plans in store for us and we can be assured of Jesus’ presence with us every step of the way.

Grace and Peace,

Lisa

On the Near Horizon – Lenten Music & Meditation Services

On Wednesday evenings between Lent and Easter, join us for our Lenten Music & Meditation services starting on March 13th through April 10th.

The community Soup Supper begins at 6 p.m. each Wednesday during Lent, and is followed by the Music & Meditation service at 7 p.m.

FCC’s Church Council Begins its New Year

FCC’s Church Council, February 2019.

With 12 leaders present at the first meeting of the new year, almost all activity groups in church were represented. The various reports helped the new leadership know what is happening.

It also was helpful for Rev. Lisa Heckman, FCC’s new Transitional Minister, to get a feel of how the Congregational “system” works.

Rev. Heckman also shared what she feels called to do as pastor of our congregation.

An important part of that work is to survey our membership and find what we believe and want for our church.

That will be part of the challenge of a committee to be appointed to write a church profile. Once the new formal profile — that reflects who FCC is now — is completed, a search committee will be able to identify the qualities to look for in a new pastor.

The profile committee will be established very soon.

Council will also organize an installation of newly elected church leaders on Sunday, March 3, 2019.

Connect on Facebook

FCC has had a Facebook page for quite awhile now, and it’s about to get a fresh inflow of inspiration as Rev. Heckman begins her Transitional Ministry!

If you haven’t already, follow us on Facebook. If you’re already following, stop by and see what’s new and what’s brewing!

FCC on Facebook here.

The March edition of The Forecaster also includes:

  • What’s up with Jazz Vespers this month,
  • FCC’s March Sunday worship schedule,
  • FCC’s popular Lenten Music & Meditation Wednesday evening services,
  • Other news and events.

Download the full March 2019 edition of The Forecaster.

THE FORECASTER: A Message From Our New Transitional Minister (and other news)

Pastor’s Ponderings

Dear Friends,

Greetings! I am excited and honored to begin ministry with you all of First Congregational!

I am here to travel with you through this transitional time.

I don’t see myself as an interim, merely filling the void between one pastor and the next. Nor do I come with an agenda, expecting you to do certain tasks or becoming what I think you should be.

Instead my purpose is to work with you to keep the ministry of FCC vibrant and moving forward. This begins by discovering what God is already doing with you and where God may be leading. I intend to celebrate all you have been and are, lift up your giftedness in ministry, and be an encourager and cheerleader for what we can do together.

My theme song for the first couple of months is: Getting to know you, getting to know all about you . I want to meet with as many of you as I can.

I’ll be attending every group and meeting possible, but I would love to visit over coffee or a meal, in your homes or at the office, as individuals, couples, or groups. Invitations are welcome! I also hope we will set up small group gatherings for conversations, as well.

Expect a lot of questions from me, especially ones that ask “why”. When I ask, it is never meant as a criticism, simply to understand why you do what you do.

To help you get to know me, here is a little bit about me.

I have been a pastor for 20 years, serving five churches of varied sizes and settings. I’m Presbyterian, but am used to being outside those “bounds” from serving a union Presbyterian/Methodist church. (I’m looking forward to learning more about the UCC way of doing things and am taking an online course to educate myself.)

Earlier in my ministry I felt a call to interim work and had some training in it, but the timing wasn’t right. Following a new kind of transitional ministry training in 2016, I was led to my first position at the First Presbyterian Union Church in Owego.

This past summer, God strongly confirmed that this is the ministry I’m called to, so I feel blessed that we were brought together here at FCC!

I am single, no kids, but with two fur-babies: my cats, Carter and Callie. I grew up in northeastern PA and lived in various parts of that state, before moving to NY in 2001. I’m a second career pastor who was an industrial engineer, computer manager, business manager, and computer programmer in my previous life.

(Some other time I’ll tell you how God moved me from all of that to pastoral ministry.)

Because of that, I balance a business mind with a pastoral heart. I love music, reading, playing games on my devices, and connecting with friends and family through social media and a variety of other means.

My mom, who lives in the area, wants you to know that I was baptized in the Congregational Church in Carversville, PA, which was also the church of her childhood.

Hopefully, I’ve whetted your appetite to get to know me better, as much as I want to get to know you. May God richly bless our mission and ministry together in the coming time!

Grace and Peace, Lisa

Jazz Vespers – February 10th, 2019

The featured artist for the February 10th Jazz Vespers will be The Southern Tier Brass Quintet. This group of professional musicians finds beautiful arrangements for brass instruments, and play with a flair and a sense of humor that is wonderful to hear. Please join us at 5:00 PM in the sanctuary on the 10th for an early Valentine’s Day delight.

Other FCC News and Events

You’ll find other news about the recent Congregational Meeting, the Spiritual Book Club, the Faith Works Fellowship gatherings, and a thank you from our recently retired pastor, the Rev. Dr. Arthur Suggs and Tracy Suggs (plus a look from the January 13th celebration of Rev. Suggs’ ministry) in the full edition of The Forecaster – download it here:

Download the full February issue of The Forecaster (PDF)

SERMON: Hard of Hearing – God is Still Speaking. Do We Have the Ears to Hear?

The Rev. Dr. Arthur Suggs

Snapshot: God is Still Speaking, but are we listening? Or have we been somewhat ‘hard of hearing’?

Plus, three important examples of how U.C.C. has been at the forefront during its history (and ours). Read on…

As people enter into old age, they say that one of the most difficult aspects of it is hearing loss. I watched as this happened to my Dad. He became quite hard of hearing in his latter years, and then almost completely deaf toward the end.

It’s isolating. When one doesn’t pick up on what everyone else is saying, you feel out of it, not part of the group, and it’s frustrating.

So the family tried, with some success, to always make sure Dad not only was included, but felt included, by speaking loudly and directly.

But despite some of the problems, there is also a lighter side to being hard of hearing.

As you know, we’ve lived on the West Side of Binghamton for nearly 30 years. The homes there are nice, but the properties are quite small. It doesn’t even take me 5 minutes to cut the grass. There are lots of fences in the neighborhood, and we’re all packed in pretty closely.

As well, from many past sermon references, you know that we have a hot tub, which Dad bought for us for an anniversary.

So one time when the parents were visiting, early one morning, as the pre-dawn* light was beginning to filer through the trees, Dad and I are enjoying a soak in the hot tub.

Public domain photo from Goodstock Pics.

In my neighbor’s yard there is a tree, where on one particular branch I have seen squirrels mating several times.

It seems to be their favorite spot, this one branch. Squirrels, it seems, prefer early morning lovemaking.

So to make conversation, I say to my Dad, “Dad, that branch over there, that’s where the squirrels have sex.”

He says, “What?”

I say, “That branch over there, that’s where squirrels have sex.”

He says, “What?”

Finally, I say, “THAT BRANCH (pointing to it) IS WHERE SQUIRRELS HAVE SEX!”

He turns and looks at the branch, when we hear a voice from the neighbor’s yard asking, “What branch?”

God Is Still Speaking … Keep Listening.

As we know and love, the motto of the United Church of Christ is “Got is Still Speaking.” And I’ve been trying to delve into and expand upon this theme in a number of recent sermons.

In my opinion, that motto is one of our crown jewels. And I don’t think it has dawned fully upon the denomination, let alone the greater Church, how valuable that jewel really is.

That motto came into being after a quip by Gracie Allen, of the George Burns and Gracie Allen comedy team of the 1950’s, where she said, “Never place a period where God has placed a comma.”

It’s a great piece of advice, and a fine sentiment, but it in turn creates a disconcerting and nontrivial problem for us. How do we discern the voice of God?

So applying my finest scholarship, I did what any good intellectual would do: I Googled it.

I typed in “Sermons on how to discern the voice of God.” And guess what I got?

Lots of sermons mostly about Samuel, some about Moses, some about Elijah, (all of whom spoke directly with God), but I didn’t find them helpful.

I wanted to find some practical advice, not just biblical examples, on that otherwise weighty question, “How do we discern the voice of God?”

After all, what good is it that God is still speaking, if we can’t get the difference between that and the background noise?

Given that, here’s what I recommend.

There are three sentences in the Bible which in my mind are more like equations than sentences, where one thing “is” or “equals” the other thing. They are:

~ God is Spirit. (John 4:24)

~ God is Love. (I John 4:16)

~ God is the Way, Truth, and Life. (John 14:6)

So here’s the rule:

That communication from God (or at least what you suspect is God), regardless of form, promotes the thing that God equals — Spirit, Love, your Path, the Truth, and Life?

Regardless of form, communication with God invariably, consistently, and without exception, promotes your Path, advances Truth, enhances Life, nourishes Spirit, and is Loving rather than fearful or angry or divisive.

If it is at all true that the Atman, the Spark of Divinity, the Divine Spirit, is found in everyone, rather than in a separate entity on a throne in heaven, it follow then that communication from the divine would be equally broad and expansive, and of countless varieties.

It might take the form of an innermost thought or feeling, something someone else said to you, something you read, something on the radio, or a various other forms.

It could, then, take the form of songs, readings, things said by a friend or confidant; other Gospels beyond Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, such as the Gospel of Thomas, or Philip, or Mary.
It could take the form of what contemporary spiritual teachers are saying and writing, which is exactly what our present scriptures were 2000 years ago.

Could it take the form as well of Scientific literature, literature that advances truth, like what might be found in the Journal of the AMA, or the journal Nature?

Could God be speaking in any of several documents that many feel are dictated by God, such as A Course in Miracles, or Conversations with God?

But most commonly, could God be communicating with inner feelings, thoughts, urges, and images, or intuition? Sometimes it pops into your head that you really should call so-and-so, and you do, and after the conversation you realize how perfectly timed and appropriate the call was.

In my Wednesday night class a couple of weeks ago, someone asked this question:

Why is it, if we are indeed all linked together spiritually, that some people seem more spiritually advanced while others seem to be so warlike, exhibiting involved behavior?

Good question!

While we were pondering the question, another person told us of an image that had just at that moment formed in her mind.

USDA Forest Service. PD, photo by Ben Lomond.

It was an image of a flowering meadow.

Myriad flowers, but each of them opening in their own time. Some of the flowers open quickly and fully, while others are still in the bud stage. Yet all of them comprise the meadow.
What a beautiful answer! What a Godly answer!

Even more importantly, it was an answer that promoted our Path, advanced the Truth, enhanced Life, nourished Spirit, and was Loving rather than fearful, angry, or divisive.

Spiritual Leaders, Ahead of Their Time

This is my last sermon with you, and I have to mention the thing I am most proud of in the United Church of Christ.

1785 – Lemuel Haynes was ordained. Seventy-five years prior to the Civil War, our spiritual ancestors ordained the first black man to serve a church on the North American continent.

 

1853 – Antoinette Brown was ordained. Our spiritual ancestors ordained the first woman to serve a church on the North American continent, 110 years prior to the Feminist Movement of the 1960’s.

 

1972 – William Johnson was ordained. What may be 100 years prior to general acceptance — may it not take that long! — our spiritual ancestors ordained the first openly gay man to serve a church on the North American continent.

Why did they do that?

Why did our United Church of Christ (U.C.C.) spiritual ancestors ordain Lemual Haynes, a black man; Antoinette Brown, a woman; and William Johnson, a gay man, well before the wave to do so?

It had to have been incredibly unpopular, deeply problematic, and would have been ever so costly.

Ponder that last one for a minute.

What would that have been like to ordain a gay man in the early 1970’s? Many of us are old enough to remember the abhorrence and repulsion our culture had for homosexuals at that time. So why did they do it?

I suggest to you that all of these things were done because our spiritual ancestors heard something — they heard a message, discerned a subtext, that was the guiding of the Spirit.

What I think they heard, somehow more clearly than before, is that we are all essentially spiritual beings made in the image of God.
They heard that we are primarily and essentially not just bodies, but Spirit.

As Pierre Teilhard du Chardin once said, “We are not humans having a spiritual experience; we are spirits having a human experience.”

If we are hearing God correctly, and clearly, we then realize that it is our spirit that matters, and little else.

It doesn’t matter how much melanin pigment is found in our skin cells; nor does it matter if our genome contains an XX or an XY chromosome.

It doesn’t matter as well what of the dozens of other preferences our physical body might have.

It is the soul of a person that matters. Our spiritual ancestors may not have worded it that way, but that is what I think they heard.

The Second Point: What If …

The second point is something that makes me feel wistful; I have a feeling of sadness to think about what might have been.

Ponder for a moment if the Church — that is, the Church Universal, with a capital “C” — had listened to our spiritual ancestors, and that the Church would then have led the culture toward recognizing the spiritual equality of blacks, beginning with the ordination of Lemuel Haynes in the 1780’s; recognizing the spiritual equality of women beginning with the ordination of Antoinette Brown in the 1850’s; and recognizing the spiritual equality of gays and lesbians beginning with the ordination of William Johnson in the early 1970’s:

What if, in our thought experiment, the Church had led the culture rather than holding it back?

Alas.

Despite what might have been, I am so glad, and proud, that our United Church of Christ spiritual ancestors were listening, and heard, a Word from the Most High, such that even though their actions would take a century to take hold, they got it started none the less.

Our Task in the Here and Now

Our task now is to open our minds and hearts to the idea that God is verbose. not just 2,000 years ago. Not just now and then through the centuries. But continually — Spirit, communing with spirit, a flow of thought, images, feelings of compassion, kindness, guidance, and love.

A number of years ago, my parents have been visiting in the Autumn, and with the cold weather looming, it was time to take them back to their home in the South.

With the car all packed, one afternoon on a bright, clear day, we headed South. We were in the Harrisburg area at dusk, and there was a gorgeous sunset in the West that day.

Mom was riding shotgun, and Dad was in the back seat behind her. mom was looking out the window at the sunset, taking it all in. She turned, and said to Dad, “Al, look at the beautiful sunset.”

He said, “What?”

“Al, look at the sunset.”

“He leaned forward and said, “What?”

She said for a third time, bur really no louder, “Look at the sunset.”

Dad sat back and said nothing. He still didn’t hear her. I looked at him in the rearview mirror. He was crossing his arms. He was mad and frustrated. I looked at Mom, and she too had a scowl on her face.

At the time, I was trying to figure out what to do. Do I tell Mom to try one more time, I wondered? Do I tell Dad to look at the sunset?

Beautiful sunset. PD Pics.

My mind was racing, when I saw Dad look out the window and take note of the beautiful sunset.

He watched for a moment, and then tapped Mom on the shoulder, and said to her, “Honey, look at the beautiful sunset.”

She turned towards him and said, “What?”

That, my friends, is humanity listening to God!

But notice: They both saw the beautiful sunset, and despite the communication issues, they loved each other all the more deeply.

Consider This…

Beyond the idea of “God is Still Speaking; beyond the advice, “Never place a period where God has placed a comma,” beyond that, consider that god is always speaking, always communicating in thought, feeling, images. Always. Continual.

Consider that God is not stingy with the embrace of Love, the inner guidance or assurance, the pouring out of Spirit upon our souls to heal, forgive, guide, and simply hold close.
God is always promoting your Path, advancing Truth, enhancing Life, nourishing Spirit, and cultivating Love. Always.

Keep listening.

Amen.

Download the PDF of this sermon here.

The Rev. Dr. Art Suggs in Worms, Germany. Photo taken by Clare Price.

The Rev. Dr. Arthur Suggs retired from his ministry at the end of 2018. Read more in the recent edition of The Forecaster.

* We’ve used the hyphenated version of pre-dawn per the A.P. Style Guide, noting that predawn may also be used.