Pastor Blog

From Interim Pastor Rev. Dr. Helen Nablo

Dear Friends,

 

There’s been a lot of stewardship talk in the church of late.  A deficit of over $60,000 will do that.  After much deliberation, the decision has been made to go to the congregation and ask for people to reconsider their pledges, to see if they can stretch and help close the gap.

 

Stewardship is of course not just about dollars given.   It is about our time -- how we use it, and how we offer our talents towards God’s good purposes.  But stewardship is also about how we share our financial resources.  It matters that people in the church know their pledges really do make a difference. 

 

There have been at least three things that moved me in my stewardship journey. 

 

The first was about eighteen years ago, when I was newly into parish ministry.  It was simply hearing a man at a church speak about his own stewardship journey, sharing how he and his wife felt challenged to try each year to increase the percentage of their income they gave to the church.  They were not yet at a tithe he said, but each year they realized they could indeed give a larger amount of their income to support the work of the church.  As they gave more, their sense of commitment to God grew.  His excitement and joy was contagious!

 

The second, shortly following the first, was looking more closely at how I use my money.  Realizing then that I spent nearly as much money on my hair as I did in my individual giving to the church was startling to me – and a reality I wanted to change. 

 

The latest thing that moved us was only a few years ago.  Mike was serving as an interim in an affluent suburban church that had a giving problem.  (They were looking at a forty two thousand dollar deficit if I remember correctly)  In order to challenge the church about their commitment, Mike preached in a way that was more bold than he’d ever preached before.  I remember he told people that he’d examined the church’s finances and most of them needed to double their pledge.  We had moved our giving up a few percentage points by then, but we moved it up another percentage point.  Because Mike had suggested that every active participant of that church might challenge themselves to increase their pledge by a full percent of their income, we felt that we needed to do so as well.

 

Our two pledges added together are still short of a tithe (10 percent of income) but this fall we did a little math and realized that when you add our two pledges up, our pledges are somewhere between seven and eight percent of our income. 

 

I share this reality not to be smug.  I share it because it’s part of my stewardship journey, and I hope it will prompt you to think more deeply about yours.

As a pastor, I believe that our giving is tied both to our personal well being and to the well being of congregation.  A vital congregation has ever-larger numbers of people who feel it is part of their faith life to give and who are excited to give.

 

A few weeks ago we celebrated the dedication of the new lift.  A capital campaign touched many of you so that you gave – so that the building would be maintained, so that the building would be accessible to all.

 

So what about now as we look to support the programmatic life of the church?   Can we view stewardship as the personal challenge to “strive for the greater gifts”  (I Cor 12)?  How about also seeing stewardship as a corporate challenge – a critical part of this particular church preparing for the future?  As I shared in my sermon, many pastors assess the health of a congregation they are considering serving by the degree to which church members support the ministry of the church.

 

Can we keep talking about matters often deemed so “personal” and “private”?   If we are excited about the future of this congregation, can we step up and answer these challenges now?

 

In confidence,

 Helen

 

October 10, 2008

Dear Friend:

         SEVERAL YEARS AGO a movement was begun in France called “worker priests”.  The movement was started buy a Roman Catholic Cardinal named Suhard, in Paris. The Priest went to work each day, but not in churches, rather into factories, mills, shops, offices - - wherever men and women were working, to be there as workers also, doing the same kinds of work everyone else did.  They went as co-workers but also as believers.

            When Cardinal Suhard began the movement to he introduced it with this statement:

      “To be a believer is not to make propaganda, not to correct or change people, it is not to be telling people what to think or even what the church thinks; it is to create a mystery.  It is to live in such a way that life is inexplicable if God does not exist.”

         That is a useful description of what it is to be a Christian, and to be a church.  We are called to live in such a way that those who live and work right alongside us, who watch us, and hear from us and have to deal with us, that living of ours is inexplicable if God does not exist.  Not because we do things so perfectly, not certainly because we have all the answers, or even necessarily in every situation the best answer, but because of evidence we hold ourselves accountable to the Most High, and when we relate to people we know and behave that we are standing on holy ground.

         Two things more Cardinal Suhard encouraged: a humility before all of life’s mysteries, and a gratitude before all God’s gifts.  There is a balance in all this; some times we DO tell others about our church and our beliefs and invite them to “come and see”.  If we have found some light in this dark world it makes sense to share it.  But other times, and probably largely, religion is better caught than taught.  It isn’t the person who tells you, “You better do this or God won’t be pleased with you”; it is the one whose decency and liveliness cause you to say, “I’d love to experience something of what they seem to have found.”

         It was the way of our Lord; not, “shape up or else”, but “seek and you shall find, ask and you shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you.”

                     Sincerely,

                          Pastor Condon

Dear Friend:

WHAT A CURIOUS, even odd, peculiar word St. Peter addresses to the Christian folks in Rome as he writes to them. I think he understands that he is an outsider to their experience - - he is not a household slave as many, many of them are; he is not an alien, not one, presumably whose family has turned thumbs down on him because of his new-found Christian beliefs. He has NOT, yet, shared, so much in the name-calling, the persecutions, the punishments so many of them have. He speaks NOT as one who knows what it is like to be them. But speak he does; and most of it is highly encouraging, greatly supportive. Take their share of opposition and suffering as good soldiers; it will give them a fresh appreciation of what the Lord Jesus went through, he says. It will bind them to Christ ever more closely. It will draw them, these persecutions and troubles, will draw them closer to God, he says. All of that, very encouraging. I think he might ask to hear a report of their pains and troublers, he might expect a rehearsal of efforts and achievements. Maybe a word about all they have lost and lost out on. None of that. “Be ready” St. Peter says, “to give an account of the HOPE that is within you.” Tell us, having come up against such great disaster, what gives you Hope. Tell us, mired in a pagan empire, with government enmeshed in its own self-importance and arrangement, what gives you Hope. Tell us, pushed further and further by greater expenses and fierce and fearsome hatred of other regions, other races, other religions, what gives you Hope?! What is the Hope that draws your hearts and your hands, tell us that. Much to ask of those who have already given much. And then he adds, and here displays his great wisdom, adds - - “but do so with gentleness and reverence”. That is, permit us to come to our own mind about matters, that maybe we too can make a difference, offer a service, let a light shine. This, in fact, is what I heard in church last Sunday, from our New Orleans Missionaries. They did not tell us what any of us should now think or believe or even do. They showed us their Hope and their Hearts, and let us tell them what that led us to believe and think we could do. In other words, they gave an account of THEMSELVES not an account of what the rest of us are supposed to look like. We’ll see what we then believe and what we then do, and leave to God to decide if it is faithful. Great wisdom.

Sincerely, Pastor Condon

April 7, 2008

Dear Friend:

I AM NOT unmindful of the efforts (plural!) many folks make to get to church on Sundays.  Getting up and ready on time, getting the children ready and explaining once again why we “have to go”, forgoing the extra sleep, the other tasks and “necessaries” that are demanding to be done and will not go away, a quick breakfast, etc., etc, many efforts. And you do that; and I am both mindful of it and grateful for it.

It has always been the case you know, human beings, Christian people have always done this, and done more.  Some endured great danger to get to church, and some have braved ridicule and hostility and opposition of all kinds.  Others have attended to the worship of God when there was no such thing as a “comfortable pew”, there were hard benches in cold, drafty meeting halls, and long, long services with little to put a smile on the face or a lilt to the heart.  These were times when it was felt it is best to upbraid people, warn them, and keep them in line by sermons armed to challenge their most self-pleasing considerations.  People were best served, it was thought, by harsh, critical thinking and cold comfort.  Brace them.            

Still, people came, always; because people do find God a restoring Presence no matter what the words or how demanding the conditions.  People understand, here is the chance I just might find and feel myself in the Holy Presence, and a moment there will do more for my heart and soul than just about any entertainment ever would or could.  So, they came; still do.

I further have no hesitancy in urging you to continue to come.  I don’t just think so, I KNOW it shall be worth your while.  I also know and believe that you will do the rest of us “a world of good”, your presence, your interests, your concerns, your worship will inspire and sustain the rest of us, perhaps more than you can know.

So, on this Monday morning, and on every other one too, I find myself grateful for you, for this place, and for our promises to each other, to be here, on the Lord’s Day, seeking the Presence of the Holy One.  Never doubt that you are known and appreciated

                                                            Sincerely,

                                                                   Pastor Condon

February 28, 2008

Dear Friend: INCREASINGLY I LIKE the words “options”, “alternatives”, “contingency”. Some desireables (is that a word?!) may turn out not to work, turn out not to be affordable, turn out not to be after all “desireable”, so “options”. I like that. I have no quarrel with the thinking that there may very well in fact be one preferred way, one which is shorter, or quicker, or cheaper, etc, etc, but when it comes to the variety of interests, needs and concerns we most of us have, and the great variety most of us are, alternatives are nice, contingencies are helpful. Most weekdays I take the same route to work at church; it is familiar, I know the traffic patterns, I am prepared for the school busses and the trucks and other commuters, we get in line and make our way. It works well, nearly all the time. On Sundays, I take an entirely different route HOME FROM CHURCH; it takes a little longer, it is more varied, more interesting, it provides me with an alternative in case the usual way on weekends is blocked for some reason or other. Mostly I just like it. What I remind myself at this moment is that just knowing there IS an alternative, a contingency goes a long way to relieving the stress and frustration there might other wise be if the normal route was blocked, and I couldn’t use it. What I further remind myself is that this thinking has greater application. I do have my preferred ways, and often they have come about because of considerable effort and hard work. The time and energy spent on how we go about our Sunday worship or what to do in a Confirmation program can be considerable, and I put into them all I know how to do. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t; and there is the fact that still I most often have to do the best I can with what I have, alternatives, options, if there could be room for those, the out come can be better or even best for all. I am trying to keep that line of thinking part of my “game plan’. Glad to share how it is working. Glad to hear from you how (or even whether!) it works for you as well. Sincerely, Pastor Condon

February 1, 2008

Dear Friend:

                  WHAT ARE YOU, A CHRISTIAN, to do about someone who is being obnoxious?  How do you, Christian person, behave toward someone who makes daily life or work miserable?

                  I know what I am tempted to say and do, and I do not fault you one bit if you feel angry, attacked, and act out of that anger and attack.  That seems to me quite natural; may not be all that helpful but natural.  Feelings are what they are, they have been prompted, and our own health and well-being survives best if we do not ignore or suppress feelings.  ACTING upon those feelings is another matter; and acting as Christ would, another matter still.

                  This is tough business, that first; and no easier (maybe much harder) for a person making the effort to be Christian.  Matthew in the Bible has some counsel; he hears Jesus addressing a similar matter.  In the Bible it has to do with one Christian being violated by another, so this is not an exact duplication, but the counsel still may be worthwhile.

            Jesus says, “when someone else violates you, tell the other person what they have done to you - - disrespected you by their language, attacked you by charges or allegations, used language you find offensive, hateful.  You are NOT telling them they are hateful, vulgar, vile; you say what that which they have done has done to you, you speak for and about yourself.  That is a beginning, because it means talking MOST to the other person involved directly, not only about the other to someone else.  You may find useful the encouragement and counsel OF ANOTHER, but mostly speak directly to the one involved.

            Then, the Lord says, “If they listen, o.k., but if not (and he well recognizes they may not) if not, tell the matter to (he says) the church (you may have to substitute your own appropriate community, but it means you do not have to carry this all by yourself, it belongs on the shoulders of that community, family, company, etc).

            The Lord continues, “if they will not listen to the community (and again he knows they may not) let them be as one who has put THEMSELVES outside the community.”  Your dealing with them need not continue.

            Two things: one, that may be much easier said than done, and it shall not be done lightly, but no one must or should accept unchallenged another’s hateful, hurtful behavior.  Period.  Two, here in this matter, in the Bible, is where one of the great, often-quoted lines of Jesus is given, here in this difficult matter he says, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  Remember that - - in this, one of the most upsetting and troubling circumstances we experience, he promises to be a partner to us.  You are not alone, you are not abandoned.  That remembered gives you an enormous advantage.

                  

                                          Sincerely,

                                                      Pastor Condon

July 12, 2007

Dear Friends,

As my time to depart closes in, I have been thinking about what the life and messages of Jesus are regarding the goodbyes in our lives.  One thing that stands out for me is that the Bible tells us he knew what it was like to go through those painful times.  He, too, had many moments when he felt pulled apart, knew the hurt of leaving behind, felt the emptiness that comes with loss.  Not even Jesus was spared the ache and struggle of letting go.

At about 30 years of age, his ministry began with a goodbye to the security of his home, his family, his friends, his work, and the people & places he spent his time of leisure and fun.  Despite what he was giving up, somewhere inside of him was a tug that said, “It’s time you move on.”  I believe that “tug” for Jesus was God—as it is for all of us at certain times throughout our lives.  And it certainly wouldn’t be his last goodbye.  His three short years of ministry took him to many new places and faces.  Yet, everywhere he went, he took with him all the gifts that others had given him.

Please know that my future ministry, wherever it takes me, will include all the gifts this church has given me.  First Congregational Church of Sharon will forever be a part of me and the ministry I bring to others because of all this congregation has done for me.

Sunday June 3^rd was a most memorable day for me.  I was touched by the honor given me in the farewell commendation.  I thank Pastor Condon and Rev. Dale Hempen, our UCC Conference Minister, for the gift of their participation and for making this part of the service so special.  I thank the choir for the gift of their wonderful and heartfelt anthem “How Beautiful the Feet of Those” and their benediction “Irish Farewell.”  I thank the deacons for their gifts of the Revere bowl with its beautiful and touching inscription “Seminarian, Pastor, Friend”… & for the unforgettable and appropriate step stool!  (I will never step upon it without thinking you & God are raising me up.)  I hold a special appreciation in my heart for Nancy Welch and her outstanding artwork…  the gorgeous bouquet of flowers and the corsage only added to the beauty of the service.  I thank the Christian Education Committee for the gift of their laughter & lightheartedness, and the generous gift certificate they so graciously presented to me after the service!

And I especially extend my gratitude to you—the parishioners of the FCC of Sharon.  You have given me many gifts during my time here.  The gift of accepting me into this church as I began my seminarian position.  The gift of calling me as Pastor to this church.  The gift of a wonderful Ordination service.  Gifts of your kindness, instruction, and mentoring as I ventured into the many areas of ministry, service, worship, baptisms, weddings and funerals.  Your gifts of support and encouragement that helped me to build my confidence.   Your gift of entrusting me to cover for Pastor Condon during the summers enabling me to experience ministry “on my own.”  The gift of kind words, encouragement, and advice as I grew into these many rolls while ministering with you.  The confidentiality you entrusted me with in the gift of sharing your life concerns, joys, and sorrows.

I also thank everyone for the letters, gifts, emails and personal conversations that we have shared both in these last couple of months and through the last 5 years.  I thank the many committees I served on, and individuals on those committees, for your listening and embracing new ideas.  And though not on a committee, I extend a special thank you to Susanne for her gift of “people skills.”  Words cannot properly express how much I appreciate all she has done and all the ways in which she has helped me each day…  even when it had nothing to do with church!

As I mentioned earlier, please know that my future ministry, wherever it takes me, will include all the gifts this church has given me.  You will all forever be a part of me, and the ministry I bring to others, because of all you have done for me.  Please except my apologies if I have forgotten any thank you’s.

The life and message of Jesus witnesses to us that when goodbyes come we can grow through them.  We can be changed, transformed, and raised from our empty places of loss to experience something new within us.  May blessings of the wonder and fullness of life shine through you till we meet again.

God Bless & Godspeed,

Pastor Deborah

 

May 18, 2007

Dear Friends,

Have you ever pondered the idea of becoming a monk or a nun?   For a while, as a young teen, I seriously entertained the idea of becoming a nun.  Yet, not being Catholic presented a quite a roadblock and I really didn’t have a desire to change that.  As I grew older, I came to realize my desire to be a nun was partly because I was at an awkward and uncomfortable stage in my life—so difficult and troubling to me—that I wanted to find a way to escape it.

I think many of us tend to think that monks and nuns reject, or at lest intend to escape, the present world, while the rest of us seek to live and find our way—our salvation—in that same world they attempt to escape.  Yet, in actual fact they and we are not so different.

The concerns that led our Christian ancestors to take leave of their lives “in this world” are also things we are concerned about: earning a living in a Christian fashion; the responsibilities of family life; temptations that prevent love of God, self, or neighbor; temptations that destroy the self; consumerism; the desire for power over others.

Some, no doubt, really may have thought of themselves as escaping the world.  But most, on the contrary, rather than escaping responsibility, “left the world” to get to the real struggle within themselves in order to deepen their relationship with God that they might put their full energies into what God was calling them to do for the world.  Monastics believed then, as they do now, that the goal of Christian life is love of God and love of neighbor. 

Let me share with you one of my favorite stories about the early monastics:

Once, the brothers in the monastery of Dorotheos of

Gaza

forgot what they were about in

the monastic life.  Dorotheos used this illustration to remind them of what we, as humans,

are about.  Imagine, he asks, that we have drawn a circle with a compass.  God is at the center—the point of the compass.  Imagine that the outside of the circle is the world, and the lives of human beings are represented by many straight lines drawn from the outside to the center.  (Like spokes on a wagon wheel.)

To move toward God, then, human beings move from the outer edge along the lines to the

center.  At the same time, the closer they are to God, the closer they become to one another; and the closer they are to one another, the closer they become to God. 

For the early monastics, love stands at the heart of the Christian life—as its staring point, it’s goal, and its purpose.  It was to be a concrete part of their daily lives.  What they wanted was to be able to love the ordinary people around them as images of God on an everyday basis.

We are all made in the image of God.  We are meant to have an intimate relationship with God.  And in the same manner, we are meant to also have an intimate relationship to each other.  The bonds that connect us are the bonds of love—God’s love—for us, but also our love for God… and neighbor… which can never be separated from one from the other.

Such an understanding has real significance for helping us make sense of our human situation. 

No doubt, we all have times when we wish we could escape this world.  Perhaps we would be wiser to get to the real struggle within ourselves, and in the process deepen our relationship with God that we might find a way to put our full energies into what God is calling us to do for ourselves… for others… for the world… and, so ultimately, for God. 

Loving the ordinary people around us as images of God requires being attentive to the people with whom we spend most of our time—people whom we may find irritating from such close contact!  Or people whose presence we might so much take for granted that we hardly really notice them any more!  How often we find it much easier to love in a crisis situation!! 

Yet, as the story of Dorotheos of Gaza shows, it is good that we all are unique human beings connected to God, thus, we should value each other accordingly as individuals.  The bonds that connect us are the bonds of love—God’s love for us, but also, our love for God—and in the middle of that connection is our neighbor.  In God’s eyes that’s what we, as humans, are all about.

God bless,

Pastor Deborah

                                                    A Prayer For The World

Let the rain come and wash away

the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds

held and nurtured over generations.

Let the rain wash away the memory

of the hurt, the neglect.

Then let the sun come out and

fill the sky with rainbows.

Let the warmth of the sun heal us

wherever we are broken.

Let it burn the fog so that

we can see each other clearly.

So that we can see beyond labels,

beyond accents, gender or skin color.

Let the warmth and brightness

of the sun melt our selfishness.

So that we can share the joys and

feel the sorrows of our neighbors.

And let the light of the sun

be so strong that we will see all

people as our neighbors.

Let the earth, nourished by the rain,

bring forth flowers

to surround us with beauty.

And let the mountains teach our hearts

to reach upward to heaven.

Amen.             

                                                                                                               -- Rabbi Harold S. Kushner

June 8, 2007

Dear Friends,

               HERE IS our text: I Kings 17, beginning at verse 11. The central figure in the account is Elijah, the prophet of the Lord, the God of Israel. The time is during that of King Ahab, but Elijah is not directly in Israel, but a distance away, on the Phoenician coast. God is not pleased, there is a famine in the land, and after delivering the word to the King that these two facts are the condition for the present AND the foreseeable future, Elijah is sent away.

              Where he goes, to the distant Phoenician coast, not Israel, Elijah happens upon a widow and her son. They too have fallen victim to the famine; the few crusts the widow has managed to scrape together will do no more than postpone the inevitable end. The prophet asks her to bake him a small cake! With the added promise, should she do so, her resources shall not fail. She does, and they don’t!         

             Then her son falls ill, becomes unconscious, and looks to have died. This is not a happy story. The minister for God has performed an unpleasant task. The widow, with precious little promise, has jeopardized her own survival, and that of her child. Momentarily there is relief; but even that is cruelly crushed in the affliction to the widow’s son.

             What comes next could happen only in the Bible: Elijah asks the widow to give him her son! I think maybe he has done enough. I think he would think he better exercise some caution. I think he would fear to come anywhere near the child. I think wrong.

            Elijah takes the child into his own arms, goes to his chamber, and appeals to God; loudly; several times. He prays hard, soul-searching, heart-felt, life-requesting words, to God. And God, who provides meals for adults and a child from a crust of bread, exerts power that brings life. The child is returned to his mother. And the child is very much alive.

              The point of our reading accounts like this in the Bible is not to see if it is relevant to anything in our world, if it explains what happens in the world. The point, as Tom Long says, is to hear the account so clearly that it redefines what the real world is and questions what we believe can happen and cannot happen. The point is to tell ourselves and keep telling ourselves what happens in the world where God is alive and at work. The point is that in this account and in our own accounts the central figure is God. Even our own story is not primarily about us. A truth that is good news.

Sincerely,

Pastor Condon

May 18, 2007

Dear Friends,

BY ANY CALCULATION the overall bringing about of the plan of God, the will of God, is not designed to make us comfortable.  That is nearly a truism for people of the Bible, Abraham and Sarah and their long-delayed promise of a child; Moses and his fall from prince in Egypt to a raggedy shepherd – leader; Jonah, Jeremiah, Ruth, Mary, disappointment for all.  And our Lord himself, it doesn’t all work out as planned, thought, hoped.

A year and a half ago we embarked on a new plan for pastoral leadership in our church.  The plan was well-thought-out, and much effort was given to it by everyone.  Pastor Labonte and I were steadily committed to it, and we felt your support.  Now, for good reasons we need to revise the plan.  Deborah has felt the urgency of a call to serve a church on her own.  I am far from ready to bring my ministry to an end (that day will come, and I believe we can plan for that together as congregation and pastor, just not quite yet!) For now, we will be making some unforeseen changes, mostly back to my being full-time.

In all of this I express my appreciation to Deborah for the ministry she has had among us and the assistance she has provided me. I thank you the congregation for making a serious and fully-supported attempt.  It was a good experiment for us to try.  These new changes for us all mean not set-back, not loss, just new paths for how God is leading us on.  God always has bright promises ahead.

I see similar understanding in our Capital Campaign.  Many, many of you have been providing excellent leadership.  Results are astounding.  Careful and complete information is being gathered about how to address handicap accessibility.  The hours of devoted service for the well-being of the church and our people are inspiring. 

Some of our own church families have said they cannot participate at this time.  Some who cannot contribute financially have contributed in other ways; wonderful.  I hear of excellent visits with persons in our church family who cannot pledge now, demonstrating this whole campaign is not just about money, not at all.  I had one of those visits myself; it was the finest of pastoral conversations with one of you.

So, our plans, our designs do not always go as planned; it turns out they go forward even better than we ever could have devised ourselves.  And that was true in Bible times as it is true today.  We must work at it, we must make our plans, our attempts, our tries; and then cast them mightily in the hands of One who “gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist”.  Take a  look, Romans, Chapter 4.

                                                                     Sincerely,

                                                                     Pastor Condon