All posts by Jamie Walters

Archetypes Sermon Series, Sermons, Symbols and Metaphors

SERMON: All Wet – The Archetype of Water in the Scriptures

On Sunday, February 11, 2018, the Rev. Dr. Arthur Suggs continued with — as he said — “a series of sermons on primal archetypes that wind their way through the scriptures, bend their way through the world’s religions, and churn their way through our lives.

First in the series was trees, the second was mountains, the third was light, the fourth was music, and this sermon explores the archetype of water.”

The Rev. Dr. Arthur Suggs

Flying over an Archetypal 
Symbol, I Am Disconcerted by
the Absence of Terra Firma.

I had a marvelous experience a number of years ago when a friend of mine who is a pilot had a three-day meeting in San Juan. He asked me if I could take three days and go with him. He lived in Kansas City, so he flew his four-seat airplane to the Binghamton regional airport, picked me up, and then we flew down to Miami, crossing over Washington, D.C., airspace, where I learned they’re rather picky about that.

We landed in Miami and were told we needed to pick up a little box that went at my feet, which was an inflatable life raft in case things go bad. That was at my feet as we left Miami heading for San Juan, Puerto Rico. Shortly after taking off, we flew at 7,000 feet, and the big planes were at 40,000 feet, zooming past us as we puttered along.

We were not far out, just 15 minutes out of Miami, when I fully realized there was no land in sight. Wherever I looked, there was nothing but ocean, and it stayed that way for quite a while. It was a little disconcerting being in a tiny airplane, and a little statistic came to mind — three-quarters of the earth is covered with ocean.

Suddenly, it seemed like a lot of water.

What I’m going to do is to give you two brief overviews, and then to look in detail at two passages from the Bible, which happen to say the same thing.

Two overviews first: The symbolism of water is huge.

It’s everywhere, and so what I’d like to look at is the concept of dream symbolism.

You see a waterfall, for instance, or a geyser or a river in your dreams. What does that mean? There are symbols, meanings that go with images of water.  Here are a few of them:

Triple Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. Photo by Rocketstove, CC PD Wikimedia.

Symbols of Dreams About 
Various Kinds of Water

Ice — For example, if you dream about ice, there’s a situation in your life that’s frozen or static and needs to be thawed out.

Muddy or murky water — The situation is unclear and needs to be clarified.

Splashing water — There’s a need for arousal, for awakening.

Steam, vapor, mist, fog — Not all has been revealed; not all is known.

Ocean — A classic symbol of infinity. Either standing on a beach and looking out as far as the eye can see or flying in an airplane gazing in any direction.

Tides — Are symbolic of the natural rhythm of things. Beyond that, there’s a powerful rhythm. In other words, it’s foolish to fight against it.

Snow — Represents quiet and peace.

Flood — This is a complex image because it’s both bad and good. It means too much, to the point of danger. It means damage and loss, but it also means judgment. In addition, it means destroying in order to purify.

Spring rains — Mean warmth, growth, softening, renewal.

Lake — This is also complex. It means unrealized potential because you see only what’s on the surface, and there’s so much underneath that has yet to emerge.

Puddle — Symbolizes play, childhood, fun, carefree; go ahead and get dirty.

Cross and Church at St. Patrick’s Well, Marlfield. By Rustythedog, CC via Wikimedia.

Stream, river — Another symbol for infinity; ever flowing, never stopping.

Oasis — Water in the desert; a place of safety or refuge, away from danger.

Well — One of the most extraordinary symbols of all. Like the ocean or the stream, it’s one of the most pregnant symbols of all time. Its meaning is to go deeper to find life-giving water. Go deeper in sports, meaning to try harder. In our intellect, in our spirituality, going deeper to find nourishment, to find reward.

These are only a few examples of water symbols — 14 of them if you were counting, out of dozens and dozens.

Overview Number Two —
Classic Bible Texts
 Concerning Water

The second overview on water is to look at these classic texts in the Bible about water, that reference water — the same profound and important things, using water as imagery. Let me give you a handful of these:

Genesis 1:1 — “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.”

Rainy Season in the Tropics, 1866, by Frederic Edwin Church, Hudson River School. PD.

This is a philosophical passage. That primal, chaotic, formless potential that God’s spirit swept over in order to begin creation. It’s a poetic way of wording it. Some of the other texts are a bit tough.

Amos 5:21 and 23-24 — Fantastic imagery but extremely judgmental. God is speaking, “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. // Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. // But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.”

Jeremiah 2:12-13 — An equally judgmental passage. “Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the Lord, // for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, // the fountain of living water and dug out cisterns for themselves, // cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”

John 7:37 — “On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” ’ Now he said this about the Spirit, which they were to receive . . . .”

 

Download the Full Sermon: All Wet – Water in Scripture

Featured Image Credit: Clouds over the Atlantic Ocean, Brazil. By Tiago Fioreze, CC Wikimedia.

Archetypes Sermon Series, Epiphany, Sermons, Symbols and Metaphors

SERMON: Make a Joyful Noise – Music is the Mediator

On the fifth Sunday after Epiphany (February 4, 2018), the Rev. Dr. Arthur Suggs continued with — as he said — “a series of sermons on primal archetypes that wind their way through the scriptures, bend their way through the world’s religions, and churn their way through our lives. First in the series was trees, the second was mountains, the third was light, today is music, and next will be water.”

Spiritual Music … the Beatles?

The Rev. Dr. Suggs started with this: “For the sermon this morning, let me begin with part of an article from about a year ago. It was strange because only after reading the article did I look at who wrote it and realized that I know him:

“As a child being raised in a troubled home, religion and spirituality were discussed about as often as we discussed opera, which was never. Music and, to a lesser degree, nature were my sole companions. Turning on the radio one day, I heard a hit song that began, ‘Help! I need somebody! Not just anybody! Help! You know I need someone! Help!’

“I was a twelve-year-old boy, and, like John Lennon, I also needed help, but I didn’t know where to turn. I did not have a girlfriend, therapist, church, or relationship with a ‘concept’ called God. So I turned to the Beatles, none of whom professed or practiced Christianity, and yet they wrote and recorded song after song that came from a place of deep spirituality.”

The Beatles arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport, 7 February 1964. U.S. Library of Congress, Wikimedia.

“It was not Jesus, Yahweh, Sigmund Freud, Higher Power, or Jehovah 
that led me to hope for some ‘Help!’ It was the Beatles. George Harrison was a Hare Krishna who wrote ‘My Sweet Lord’ and ‘Give Me Love’; John Lennon penned ‘Eleanor Rig-by,’ ‘Imagine,’ and ‘Give Peace a Chance’; and Paul McCartney composed ‘Lady Madonna,’ ‘Black Bird,’ ‘Let It Be,’ and ‘Hey Jude.’”

A Powerful Link Between 
Music and Our Deepest Emotions, from Sadness to Joy

“There’s a link, somehow or other, between all kinds of people and their varieties of music. Many researchers have studied this phenomenon, and there’s a very powerful link between music and our deepest feelings, our deepest emotions, covering the range of emotions from sadness to joy and everything in between.”

Rev. Suggs shares examples of evocative music, from the recognizable scores of The Titanic and Schindler’s List films, including the “Hymn of the Sea” in the former and Itzhak Perlman’s violin solo in the latter – “a very simple violin piece that makes you ache inside with both sadness and beauty.”

Then a song from the Rocky III soundtrack …

“So I’m tooling down Route 17 when “Eye of the Tiger” comes on, and I crank it up loud. In my mind, I’m Rocky, defeating the enemies, unbeatable, and listening to this music.”

“Suddenly, I look down, and I’m going 95 miles an hour. A wave of panic comes over me, and I check all the mirrors, not expecting to see one cop but anticipating six cops behind me. Thankfully, there’s no cruiser, but I slow way down to a normal speed limit. How do you get so engrossed that you don’t even know you’re going 95 miles an hour? It’s amazing.”

Jimmy Hendrix, Woodstock, the “Flower Duet” from Delibes’ opera Lakmé, Eminem, Amazing Grace, praise bands, Gregorian or Taizé chant … and then some.

Rev. Suggs continued …

Everything in the Universe
Vibrates in Motion with 
Frequency and Sound

Plato wrote:  Music “gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaity to life.”

I suggest to you that it’s sort of significant for Plato to say that. Here’s the author who introduced into the world the idea of the soulness of things. “Music gives soul to the universe.”

Two observations:

There does not exist a religious tradition that does not have music integral in some way. Even the traditions based on silence (Quakers, Zen Bhuddism), chant music of some type as prelude 
and postlude for them. It’s found everywhere.

The other observation is one that I think we do take for granted, but it’s only things that are categorically true. There are zero exceptions to this and that is:

Everything in our universe vibrates. Every single portion of our universe is in motion with a frequency and a sound and a vibration.

The Milky Way, NASA-APOD.

EVERYTHING!

Our Milky Way goes around 
 once every 230 million years.
The Sun and our whole solar 
 system orbit the Milky Way 
 in 230 million years.

Our Earth circles the Sun, and 
 we define it as a year.


Our moon circuits the Earth 
 every 28 days.


We observe the sabbath 
 based upon our religious 
 traditions every seventh day.


The cycle of our day is based 
 upon the rotation of the Earth 
 relative to the Sun.

And 
 so we have breakfast, lunch, 
 and dinner every day.

We 
 have waking and sleeping 
 every day, and work and 
 leisure every day.


Our hearts beat around 70 times 
 per minute.


Our respiration is about 20 times
 per minute.


We can hear music from 60 hertz 
 up to the vicinity of 20,000 
 hertz.

The vibration of atoms 
 in general is 1013 hertz.


Every ray of light has a 
 frequency to it.

Beethoven’s walk in nature, by Julius Schmid (restored by Michael Martin Sypniewski). Wikimedia.

Ludwig van Beethoven said:

“Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.
So what we do, with a combination of both art and science, is that we organize the frequencies. We manipulate and arrange the vibrations to express our grief and our joy, our sadness and our exultation, our longing and our reverence.”

Amen.

Download the full sermon PDF

Featured Image Credit: Flash Mob! HKFO performs the Beethoven “Ode to Joy” Flash Mob, Hong Kong’s largest choral-orchestral flash mob at Shatin New Town Plaza on 28 July 2013.

Newsletters

February 2018 Forecaster – Sermon Series Preview: Archetypal Symbols and Biblical Hotspots

The Rev. Dr. Arthur Suggs

In this edition of the Forecaster, the Rev. Dr. Art Suggs gives a heads up on two unusual sermon series on deck. He writes:

“Sermon Series!

But there are other kinds of series as well.

We looked at mystics on and off for nearly a year a while back.

I think a fascinating series could be made of the notion “God is Still Speaking.” We could look at potential answers to the question of what God has been saying lately, and where is that communication found.

I spent a year once on “Those Famous Old Testament Stories” looking at the stories of Noah, Samson, the Tower of Babel, Jonah and the Whale, and many others. Predictably the favorite one in that series was about David and Bathsheba. Another series I enjoyed immensely was one on Jesus’ Parables. There are a lot of them, and some fantastic lessons to be learned from them.

In the Mountains, 1867, by Albert Bierstadt. {{PD}} Wikimedia.

Right now I’m doing one on some of the deep archetypal concepts threading their way through the entirety of the Scriptures: trees, mountains, light, music, and water. That series will take us up to but not including Lent.

Then for Lent I’m beginning a new one, and admittedly one I’m a bit nervous about. It’s about the Bible.

And the main reason I’m nervous is that I have had a love/hate relationship with the Bible for years. (I realize that I shouldn’t admit that publicly, but I would rather be honest.) It amazes me still that something containing such beauty and profundity as the Bible could at the same time be so brutal and primitive, and lend itself so easily to being weaponized.”

Rev. Dr. Suggs sums up his message with, “Wish me luck on this, please. What I will be trying to balance is the love and the hate. I will try to be fair, and perhaps even a touch reverent, but I’m also not going to go easy on it.”

We’ll be posting the sermons from the series mentioned above over the coming weeks.Iin the meanwhile, you’ll find the Christianity 2.0 Sermon Series and others here.

Download the full edition of the February Forecaster, with additional announcements and upcoming programs and services.

 

Archetypes Sermon Series, Epiphany, Sermons, Symbols and Metaphors

SERMON: Darkness Shall Not Overcome – The Universal Symbolism of Light

On the fourth Sunday after Epiphany (January 28, 2018), in a series of sermons on the great archetypes in the bible, the Rev. Dr. Arthur Suggs reflected, and spoke, on the universal, multi-tradition symbolism of Light and the power to overcome those deep valleys of unknowing, uncertainty, fear, and even despair.

Others in the Great Archetypes series include Trees, Mountains, Music, and Water. (You’ll see those in the Recent Posts at the sidebar if they’ve been uploaded to date.)

Rev. Suggs began the sermon on the archetype of Light with the following:

“Far, we’ve been traveling far without a home, but not without a star.” ~ Neil Diamond, America

“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” ~ William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

“Look to my coming, at first light, on the fifth day. At dawn look to the East.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien, Gandalf in Lord of the Rings

He says, “You are the moon of my life.” And she replies, “My sun and my stars.” ~ George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones, Khal Drogo to his Khaleesi

LIGHT …

… Is a powerful metaphor
 and a dynamic symbol in
 all parts of our culture.

Expulsion – Moon and Firelight, 1828, by Thomas Cole. {{PD-US}}

In paintings of every type, the artist plays an unusual dual role by painting light itself as an important motif in the picture and then by lighting the whole picture.

In stage and theater, the art of lighting can spell the pinnacle of performance or the death of dreams.

Throughout literature, authors depend on light to excite their insight. I have provided a few examples from various media.

Light permeates all of theological printing and speaking, and it is found virtually everywhere in the sciences.

Even a musical concert can be enhanced or ruined by the lighting. The solo spotlight on a piano performance. Or the lasers and the burst of flame at a rock concert. Or — and you’ll find this hard to believe — spotlights on preachers.

Light has pervaded our language:

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

“There’s light at the end of the tunnel,” an expression that we use when we’ve been trudging through something, and “Finally there’s a measure of hope at the end.”

In American politics, pretty much every four years or so, we have “The dawning of a new era.” Reagan got a lot of mileage out of “Morning in America.”

Or we hire an expert to “Shed light on the subject,” whatever it might be.

The imagery infuses our soul as well:

  • Starlight to a sailor.
  • Sunlight to a prisoner.
  • Moonlight to lovers.
  • Candlelight to a scholar.
  • The light of a campfire to old friends.
  • A light in the window to someone who is lost.
  • And a thousand other examples.

Here are some samples from the Bible. These are among the few equations of God:

“God is light.” It doesn’t say, “God is the light.” It doesn’t say, “God is a light.” It just says, “God is light.” God equals light. There is only a handful of other equations like this: God is spirit, God is bread, God is love.” ~ The First Letter of John, Chapter 1, Verse 5

Light Through a Stained Glass Window. PD Stockphotos.

The Letter of Paul to the Philippians, Chapter 2, Verse 15, speaks to the children of God, this is for you: “Shining stars in the sky.”

“Let your light so shine before others.” Don’t put a bushel basket over it. Let it shine the way the song says. ~ The Gospel According to Matthew, Chapter 5, Verse 16The first Letter of

Or in Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonions, Chapter 5, Verse 5: “You are children of the light, and children of the day.”

Preacher: I’ve Been Here Long 
 Enough, and You’ve Heard Me 
 Long Enough to Know That . . .

. . . many of the aspects of standard orthodox Christianity don’t suit me very well.

There’s an example with the notion that “God is light.”  So it says in The First Letter of John, and then in the Gospel of John he adds two more verses to it.

Now I want to put the three of them together, and you tell me what you think it means:

As mentioned, in his First Epistle, John says, “God is light.” But then, in the Gospel According to John, Jesus is recounted as saying, “I am the light of the world.”

Now bear in mind that he spoke problematically in Aramaic, translated into Greek, and then translated into English.

I Am the Light of the World, c. 1900-1904, by William Holman Hunt, St. Paul’s, London.

Fortunately, the linguistic construction is identical in all three languages. “I am” is both the belief of referring to “me” or it’s the name of God. Either he’s saying “I am the light of the world,” citing himself that he, Jesus, is the light of the world, or he might be saying, “God is the light of the world.”

To add to the confusion, a little later he says, “You are the light of the world.”

There’s a part of me that wants to take all this at face value and ask, “How are we to understand this?” And so I’ve got these three thoughts here — “God is light,” “I am the light of the world,” and “You are the light of the world.”

At face value, the only conclusion I can come to is that there is a linkage between our physical being — who we are as homo sapiens, as organisms — and divinity.

There’s a linkage, an identity linkage, that either we want to deny it or ignore it or just set it aside and never preach on it, but it’s there in the background.

A Series of Archetypes:
 Here Are Two Lessons
 from the Notion of Light

We’ve been looking at deep archetypes that run through scripture, and this is the third in a series.

We looked at trees two weeks ago; we looked at mountains a week ago; the notion today is light; and next Sunday it’s music. I’d like to offer two lessons from this notion of light, pervading its way through the scriptures but beyond the scriptures, infusing their way into every facet of human existence.

Read the rest of this sermon:

Download PDF of The Darkness Shall Not Overcome – The Symbol and Metaphor of Light in Christian Scripture

Featured Image Credit: Beam of sun light inside the cavity of Rocca ill’Abissu at Fondachelli Fantina, Sicily. By Fediona; Creative Commons via Wikimedia.

Sermons

SERMON: Baptized By Beauty

In this sermon, the Rev. Dr. Arthur Suggs explored the major symbolism in the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech given the day before Dr. King was assassinated.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Memphis, TN, April 3, 1968.

In that speech, the Rev. Dr. King told a story about how, several years before that, he’d gotten stabbed by “a demented black woman” while at a book-signing in New York City. The Rev. Dr. King said,

“The only question I heard from her was, ‘Are you Martin Luther King?’ And I was looking down writing, and I said, Yes. And the next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it, I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital.”

“It came out in The New York Times the next morning, [and the way in which they worded it was that,] if I had merely sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later . . . . they allowed me to read some of the mail [which included the letters he received were those from the President, the Vice President, and the Governor of New York, but there was one from a young girl that he said he would never forget.] It said simply:

Dear Dr. King,


I’m so happy you didn’t sneeze.

I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School. While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I am a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I’m simply writing you to say that I’m so happy that you didn’t sneeze.”

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., March on Washington. National Archives, NAID-542069.

The Rev. Dr. King noted that he, too, was glad he hadn’t sneezed, because if he had sneezed, given the proximity of the knife wound to his aorta, he wouldn’t have been alive to witness a few key events:

“I wouldn’t have been around here in 1960, when students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters. And I knew that as they were sitting-in they were really standing up for the best in the American dream.”

“If I had sneezed, I wouldn’t have been around here in 1961, when we decided to take a ride for freedom and ended segregation in interstate travel.”

“If I had sneezed, I wouldn’t have been here in 1963, when the black people of Birmingham, Alabama, aroused the conscience of this nation and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill.”

“If I had sneezed, I wouldn’t have been down in Selma, Alabama, to help lead the five-day march in 1965 from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery, across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.”

Skellig Michael, Co. Kerry, Ireland. Image courtesy of World Heritage Ireland.

“If I had sneezed, I wouldn’t have been in Memphis, Tennessee, to see a community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering.”

“And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?”

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter to me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop.”

“And I don’t mind.”

The Rev. Dr. Suggs in his post-Epiphany sermon, goes on to explore the major symbols in religious and spiritual traditions — the pilgrimage, the often arduous climb to the mountaintop being symbolic of the spiritual journey itself.

Rev. Suggs shared,

Rainy Season in the Tropics, by Frederic Edwin Church. PD via Wikimedia.

“Mountains are more than just their primal metaphor for our spiritual quest, more than just a reminder of that beyond, especially when we are so totally engrossed in our world. The mountain also beckons us, encourages us, calls us, draws us toward the higher plane of the spirit.”

“Trees remind us of our nature, that we are both flesh and spirit, both earthly and heavenly. Mountains call us higher. The view of creation gets better the higher we go.”

Download and read the full Baptized by Beauty (I Have Been to the Mountaintop) sermon here.

 

Advent and Christmas, Sermons

SERMON: Childermas – The Holy Innocents: When Jesus Became a Refugee

UCC’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Art Suggs, shared this about Childermas:

“In 33 years as a pastor, I’m doing something right now that I’ve never done before: I’m preaching on a passage and a topic generally ignored or avoided.

Rubens, Massacre of the Innocents, 1610–11, PD-US. The Thomson Collection, Art Gallery of Ontario.

December 28 or 29, depending on the Roman Catholic or Orthodox calendar, is the relatively minor holiday feast day called Childermas.

In the same way that Christmas is Christ Mass, a mass celebrating the birth of Christ, Childermas recognizes children, but specifically the children who were massacred by Herod.

The significance of it comes from one line I read years ago, where it said, “The significance of the day is that it is the day Jesus became a refugee.”

Massacre of the Innocents, 1611, by Guido Reni. {{PD-US}} Wikimedia.

“Imagining the fear that Jesus’ parents must have experienced, the Bible says that Joseph was warned in a dream about Herod’s intention to kill male babies two years old and younger.”

“But in a day prior to mass communications, how would one know, if you lived in Bethlehem, that such an order had been given?”

“A rumor would likely spread that a male baby would grow up to become King of the Jews, and he would usurp power from Herod. The word would spread one family at a time, and hopefully it would spread faster than Herod’s goons could move from house to house.”

“Learning of the decree, one person telling another, do you fight?”

“No, you cannot outweigh the forces of evil, so you either hide or flee, and Joseph and Mary chose to flee.”

Nativity Grotto Star, Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem. PD-CC Mark87 via Wikimedia.

Rev. Suggs went on to speak of the Church of the Nativity and his visit there in 2005 — the Grotto of Christ’s birth, as it’s called — and how there are two sides to this story.

On one hand (or side), this story is only mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew, leading “some scholars (to) suspect that the lack of supporting backup is what’s called a “contrived fulfillment of prophesy.” They’re trying to make that linkage (between Moses and Jesus) in the Gospel of Matthew. Perhaps flim-flammers are supporting a specious story to make it look as though Jesus was a second Moses. So that’s one side of the story,” said Rev. Suggs.

“The other side of the story is this. I wouldn’t put it past Herod to give out such an order. Get a load of this: He murdered three of his sons; he murdered his mother-in-law; he murdered his second wife; he murdered his brother-in-law; he murdered what is estimated at 300 military commanders.”

Flight into Egypt, 1542, by Jacopo Bassano. {{PD-US}} (Toledo Museum of Art)

“And as well, he murdered an unknown number of Pharisees; they didn’t bother to count because they were not as important as the military commanders. But you can bet it was more than 300. So would he give out an order like this? You tell me.”

“What I asked myself to think about on this Sunday morning is why we’re looking at this notion, this story that’s happily ignored in our scriptures.”

“Who in their right mind wants to preach on two grottos, the false story of the Nativity and the killing of babies? I haven’t wanted to do that for all of my career, but something snapped this year, and I thought this might be the time to look at it.”

In the full sermon, Rev. Dr. Suggs shares why the world is still a brutal place for children … and why there is profound, statistically proven reason for hope.

Download and read the full Childermas: When Jesus Became a Refugee here.

Advent and Christmas, Newsletters

January 2018 Forecaster – Advent and Christmas Hymns, Meaning and Memories

In this edition of the UCC Binghamton Forecaster, the Rev. Dr. Arthur Suggs shares some witty and soul-stirring reflections on some of the traditional Advent and Christmas hymns, including an uncle named Harold (Hark the Herald Angels Sing), and Mary, the First Theologian (What Child is This, Who, Laid to Rest).

About In the Bleak Midwinter, Pastor Art shares this: “Christmas occurs right after the Winter Solstice. And this is not a coincidence. And this hymn serves as one of the deepest, yet most subtle, reminders of the light breaking forth when it is darkest, of warmth breaking forth when it is coldest.

The “earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone” is symbolic of when life is hard, operating at a primal, Jungian level in our souls. So also the image of a tender newborn, asleep on the hay, with a radiant Mary looking on, instills a message of love, hope, peace in our souls, softening the ice and iron.”

Read the rest of the reflections, and other notes from the church family, here:

Download the January 2018 Forecaster (PDF)

Featured Image Credit: Star of Bethlehem, 1885-1890, Edward Burne-Jones.

Advent and Christmas, Sermons

SERMON: Advent 3: Blessed Are We – The Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth

For the third Sunday of Advent, FCC’s former assistant pastor, the Rev. Janet Abel, shared the stories of Mary and Elizabeth, the visit between a very young and pregnant Mary and St. Elizabeth, her older cousin who is pregnant with Jesus’s cousin, John the Baptist.

Rev. Abel noted that the third Sunday of Advent was traditionally known as Joy Sunday, symbolized by the pink candle on the Advent Wheel — pink symbolizing love, of course, and Mary.

Rev. Abel shared what intrigued her about this visit — a pregnant Mary, in a time when women didn’t necessarily travel in that way.

“I want to focus on this extraordinary visit. Why would Mary leave home to travel a long distance to visit her cousin Elizabeth?” she wondered.

The Visitation, c. 1528, by Jacopo Pontormo. PD via Wikimedia.

Reviewing the story as it appears in Luke 1:39-56, Rev. Abel pointed out that the distance between Nazareth and “into the hill country … into a city of Judah” that was close to 100 miles (130 or more kilometers) — a big deal to travel that distance, in that condition, then.

“What concerns me here — what concerns us — is not “did this really happen this way?” or to get so caught up in how these two women — one too young and one too old — get pregnant.”

But rather that “There’s mystery here, and meaning; meaning especially, because Luke’s story is our story.”

“Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord”

“And blessed are we who believe … believe that we the beloved by God are full of grace and chosen by God.”

The Madonna of the Magnificat, detail, 1483, by Sandro Botticelli. PD Wikimedia.

Rev. Abel continued,

“The Magnificat is the song that Mary sings in response to Elizabeth’s and John’s extraordinary greeting.

These words echo the prayer of Hanna — sung way back when she’s finally pregnant with Samuel — a woman like Elizabeth who waited so long for her prayers to be fulfilled.

Mary’s song isn’t just about herself but about the world, about justice, about the last being first … finally.

It’s about wrongs being righted …  finally. About this world that we see, and hear on the news, and see on television, and being reminded that that’s not all there is.

God chose these two very ordinary women to bear extraordinary beings into this world.

That’s what Christmas really is: bearing the extraordinary, the Divine, into this tired, work-a-day hopeless world.

And this world becomes full of hope, and promise, and love, because God chooses us too — you and me — to bear the extraordinary, the Divine, into our worlds.

Blessed are we…always.

Amen.”

Featured Image Credit: The Visitation (painting) by The Visitation, 1491, by Domenico Ghirlandaio, depicts Mary visiting her elderly cousin Elizabeth. PD image, Wikimedia.

 

 

Advent and Christmas, Sermons

SERMON: Advent 2: Beneath Lies the Seed

In the second sermon of the Advent Season 2017, the Rev. Dr. Art Suggs explored the world and culture into which Jesus was born, and the main pillars of Imperial Rome that defined the culture.

Rev. Suggs shared why the historical context mattered, and why the message ushered in by Jesus was such a threat to the established order. He said,

“Religion — War — Victory — Peace, in that order. You worship the gods. You go to war with their assistance. You are victorious with their help. And you obtain peace because of their generosity.
It is what is called the Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome.

Also on that temple is the phrase “Victory with peace secured on land and sea.”

What I have recounted for you is classic history written by the winners.

It does not ask the opinions of the Syrians or the Jews, nor of the Egyptians or the north Africans, nor those on the Iberian Peninsula, not the Gauls nor the northern tribes of Brittania or Germania.

The Victorious Advance, 1873, by Peter Janssen. PD Wikimedia.

All around the empire, in a complete circle, peoples, tribes, nations bent into submission by overwhelming force. Pax Romana because you dare not fight back.

And into that, we celebrate the birth of one who wasn’t afraid, eventually given the real title of Prince of Peace. One who taught a very different message.

The whole point of that history is to show the difference between the two messages. What should I do if someone strikes me? Turn the other cheek. If someone harms me or insults me, should I forgive them? Yes. What if they do it again? Forgive seventy times seven times. Make this part of your soul. “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”

Learn to love. It is primary, central, foremost. It is the principal, essential spiritual directive. Even my enemies? Even those who hate me, harm me, despise me? Especially love them. As you can see, Jesus taught a different way of peace.”

Download the full sermon (PDF) – Beneath Lies the Seed

Featured Image Credit: The Consummation: The Course of Empire, 1836, by Thomas Cole. PD Image, Wikimedia (NY Historical Society).

Advent and Christmas, Sermon Transcripts, Sermons

SERMON: The Overture – Why Does the Christmas Story Matter?

Why does the Christmas story matter?

Because Jesus was teaching spiritual freedom in a time of brutal occupation and slavery, where there was no sense of justice for oppressed peoples.

As Pastor Art notes in the sermon, “So this cute story, with animals and angels, and wise men and shepherds is at the root of a parabolic overture to a deeper and grander story of spiritual freedom and spiritual healing for all of us.”

Read the full sermon – The Overture (12-3-17)

Featured Image Credit: The Holy Night, 1867, by Carl Heinrich Bloch. {{PD-1923}}