June 10th, 2007 - Second Sunday after Pentecost

This was Pastor Mark and Dena’s first Sunday worship since the birth of Brandon and for most of the congregation this was their first time seeing the baby.

Today I appreciated the shared congregational gifts that combine for worship. First of all there is altar care. All before and after worship, unnoticed when it is done but would definitely be noticed if it were not. Diane Mattox performed the work for this worship.

We have several outstanding readers in our midst and Vera is one of those readers. There is a combination of qualities in her voice during a reading that balance to make Bible verses resonate in the heart.

Lisa, as assisting minister, led the Prayers of the People, as she has done many times before. There was such a confidence in her voice during the prayers and the response. The congregational response “hear our prayer” felt rich and full.

We sang a new song for worship, although some were familiar with it, Marty Haugen's Neither Death Nor Life. David gave it a great feel. The congregation did not sing it as tentatively as new songs are frequently sung.

Pastor Dayle preached about miraculous resuscitation — of the newly dead being brought back to life from the Bible readings today. I appreciate that she asks the tough spiritual questions we all have and can admit these questions drive her nuts.

We long and can pray for the miraculous, but usually the fact that it is miraculous means that it doesn't happen often. Someone is brought back from the dead, and will die again. Now, do we say this is a momentary miracle and we should rejoice when it happens. When it doesn't happen, what then? Are the people to blame involved because they did not believe, refused to see, or were not graced? I can't imagine the answer to any of those questions is yes.

The sermon went on to say that the gospel is messy. It challenges us and makes us feel uncomfortable with how we see the world as working yet, to quote from the sermon:

It’s a burdensome, tricky and hopeful gospel.

God is opening us up to new things to us.

This sermon coincided with interesting spiritual questions I am grappling with about magic, the miraculous and the everyday world where we spend much of our time. The same messiness of personal faith versus the rational is at the heart of my dilemma. Can I accept something irrational not simply as meaningful, a spiritual metaphor but as existing in the rational world? Is logic a way to understand or something that can betray a person in spiritual matters or both?

This question is more than troubling to me at this moment in my life.