-         Good Morning!  I am Nancy Bacon and the Youth and Young Adults Director at our church.  It is a pleasure to come and share with you some thoughts I’ve encountered while attending camp, and two conferences:  one on faith and sustainability and the other on church vitality.
 
This is our first Sunday in Lent, a time we journey with Jesus into the wilderness, just before he begins his ministry.
 
Things were a little different back then. He didn’t exactly submit a resume and await a call from a congregation, hoping to match their diligently prepared 45 page profile…Instead he went into the wilderness to prepare himself for wherever he was called.
 
Our skit today took us into a camping wilderness to help prepare us to listen for where we are called. I’d like to take you into another wilderness, this one aboard a ship, much like our Pilgrim ancestors boarding the Mayflower and setting sail for some unknown place.
 
I often think of our congregation like a ship. Some of us are sails and others are anchors; some seeking change and eager to put out to sea; others content with tradition and comfortable staying in port.
 
Of course, any good ship needs both – sails and anchors.
 
I had the pleasure of being with 95 junior high youth at Pilgrim Pines Camp, a big increase from the number that was there last year.  It was exhilarating to hear them all singing, “Yes Lord, Yes Lord, Yes Yes Lord” and “I am NOTHING, without You.”  The sails were so FULL – we were Sailing!
 
Coming back to our church, the sails are not so full. Sometimes it seems there’s little air in them at all. Have they been torn? Is there no wind? Are we too well anchored? Is our ship in trouble? 
 
Currently, we have no Reverend Captain, our boat’s been doing some rocking, and we’re not sure which direction we will go.
 
When the Israelites were wondering in the wilderness, there’s a joke that says at year 39½ Mrs. Moses secretly asked someone for directions. 
 
We know that during their days in the wilderness, Moses also left his leadership position to be with God on Mt. Sinai. The people became restless, saying to Moses’ brother, Aaron, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”  So they melted their gold rings and earrings (their “bling”) and made a golden calf to worship. (PUT UP GOLDEN CALF)
 
It is easy to turn away from God and fill that void with the worship of idols. Our church is set within our country’s context, and it too is seeking a new leader. Both political parties claim that expanding our economy is vital for our continued success as a nation. There are many false prophets proclaiming that consumerism can save us; make us happy. We can have it all.
 
There are no political saviors.
 
Listen for the words of the REAL Savior in the wilderness:
 
...the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you Satan!  For it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"
 
I love the blessings that surround me, however, the ways of the world, and of country, are sometimes inconsistent with the ways of God.  Church is where we come to hear God’s frequently out of favor voice.
 
Creator God has given us one planet and about 6½ billion brothers and sisters. We all crave a world of peace, but peace is built on justice. If all of my brothers and sisters were to consume as much as I do, we would need about 23 more planet Earths to provide the resources, and I’m pretty average.  It’s like getting in the potluck line first and taking what I want without regard to those in line behind me. 
 
Imagine Parent God giving one candy bar to two people to split. If we’re able to get to the candy first, do you think God wants us to take the larger half? Certainly any loving parent wants to see us strong and successful, but also to look out for our siblings. We need to be careful of using precious terms like “freedom” to justify simple greed. Our Loving Parent doesn’t have favorites. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus describes how the Lord will judge nations, saying, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.”
 
After leaving the devil and the wilderness, Jesus began to call his disciples, saying, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”  Immediately they let go of everything, left their nets and followed him.
 
Back on board our ship, we’re perplexed by this fishing for people business. We know we are not a church comfortable with evangelism. We also know we are a rather old church. More than 100 years old! Some have called our ship “a church of old people.” Yet, God seems to have quite a sense of humor.
 
When Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90, God informed them that they would bear a son, and have descendents as numerous as the stars in the heavens.  Sarah laughed to herself, and Abraham fell on his face laughing.
 
I remember when Steve and I had wanted to have a baby. We tried for years, knowing we’d agreed to give up at my 40th birthday. Two months before my 40th birthday I became pregnant – we couldn’t explain it – and we can’t explain why she was born on her Daddy’s birthday.
Miracles happen. This church has much to offer. We are amazingly strong in mission work, helping with the Homeless Shelter, rebuilding from Katrina, getting kids on the bus to visit their moms in prison, promoting fair trade, help for refugees; we should be pleased with what we all do together, but the winds of the world blow loud and strong and we must stay close to hear God’s voice. We are not called to plot our own course, we are called to follow and to fish.
 
How many of you want to be fishers of men, women, teens and children?
 
Tell the truth, you’re in church.
 
I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve been fishing with a periscope and blinders on. I’m from Minnesota, the land of 10,000 lakes. Fishing was our primary sport. This time of year if the fish weren’t biting, we’d wonder over to someone else’s ice house and ask them if they were having any luck, and what kind of bait they were using. I guess I’ve been acting as a scout for our church attending conferences to see what successful ships and fishers are doing. What I have been consistently told is that the place to begin outreach and growth is in our own back yard pond.
 
In the 1950s churches were built in a neighborhood and it was expected that people would come. Not so, anymore. We, like every other church in existence, believe we are a “friendly” church. If people make it inside our sanctuary we attempt to welcome them.
 
Yet there are 100s of families who step onto our property every week, who never come inside the sanctuary and we do not see them. Our extravagant UCC welcome has not been present. How many of you, like myself, don’t know the staff at Child Haven? Or the preschool parents, boy scouts, our janitors, or our neighbors?
 
Tell the truth. You’re in church.
 
Would any of these people know anything about our church? Would they tell others about how friendly and welcoming we are? Have we asked what we could do to serve them better, or have we been more concerned with whether they serve us? Are we stuck with anchors down believing it is us and them? Do we only serve people far from our church, not the strangers among us who God has placed in plain site?
 
Growing churches focus on serving those close at hand, welcoming diversity, and making strangers feel comfortable. This takes some time and effort.
 
Steve and I have three stray cats that have just started coming into our backyard at home. Steve has asthma and doesn’t care much for having these cats get too friendly with us. I on the other hand love cats and both of our family pets have recently died. We both absolutely know as professionals in psychology that couples should never under-mine each other and we stick to that, except with the cats. We laugh about it, but Steve chases them off, while I put out milk, food, and water. So far he’s winning. I haven’t been able to get them to trust me, maybe they belong somewhere else.
 
I think it’s not so different welcoming strangers to our church. It takes time to get them to trust us. Strangers may be a danger or mess up our stuff. We know our church neighborhood is not the best. But the home I grew up in is worth less than $10,000. I am one of them from the other side of the fence.  Maybe we all have been at some time or other.
 
For the first ten years I attended this church I believed there was little we could do to attract people of color. Though my previous UCC was multi-cultural and filled with children and youth, it seemed that this church was destined to be mostly white and mostly old. I believed trying to become more multi-cultural was a sideline issue. I now believe it is our core obstacle to increasing our vitality. We may believe that others would never want to belong here. After all, we know if you’re born Catholic, or Baptist, you stick with it for life. I’m curious, is there anyone here who hasn’t been Congregational their whole life, besides me?
 
In therapy we have some common sayings, like “Can’t is a swear word,” replacing it with “I will or I won’t” reach out to people of color, those who speak differently, or those who are poor or young – those not like us. Anyone who has studied genetics knows that increasing diversity adds vitality and strength to any tribe.
 
I hope you’ll bear with me for one more story. Once, Steve and I were hopelessly lost in an old part of Kyoto, Japan, where nobody spoke English.  Eventually we ran into a Buddhist monk and we asked him if he could speak English. He smiled and said, “I Love You.”  I said, “I love you, too.”  It turns out he didn’t know much English at all, but we became his guests for the afternoon. It was wonderful. He shared a tea ceremony with us and gave us a tour of his temple. Hours later, he took us into the most sacred part of the temple, spread incense around us and noticed our hesitant confusion.  Then he said his second sentence of English, “Relax. There’s only one God.”  He did a ceremony to bless our marriage and upon our leaving, we learned his only other English sentence, “Remember, wherever you go, Buddha watching you.”
 
Oh to be as generous as this monk, greeting strangers with words of love and sharing such hospitality.
 
Now we are preparing to cut lose of the preschool “ballast” we believe is bringing our ship down. This may be a great financial decision, but I regret not having put down my periscope sooner. 
 
Our ship is certainly not lost. We have had a Captain with us always, a direction manual, and fortunately plenty of women to ask for directions.
 
Let us be joyful, active crew members reporting for duty in solidarity. Please pray with me.
 
Holy Parent, let me not rely on my own wisdom or that of the marketplace. Help me see my siblings up close and those at a distance.  Be my vision.  Let us together boldly go where you call us, bearing your light to all. Anchors Away into lent! All hands and hearts on deck.  God speed.  Amen.