In our lectionary readings for the last couple weeks we watched Jesus choose his disciples. As one who struggled with my sense of call to ministry for 30 years, I am amazed (and a little bit jealous) as I see the disciples drop everything and immediately follow Jesus in what has been called “radical discipleship.” Youth doesn’t always appreciate the consequences of their choices; instead, they usually discover this much later. How does one know when one is called, and (most important) to what ministry one is called? When in doubt, I always go to my favorite resource, “Crazy Talk” for the answer.

Vocation: The thing you do that was given to you to do in the way you do for the benefit of those you are doing it for.

Got that? Vocation—Not to be confused with vacation (taking a break from things) or vacuation (getting stuff out of your system)—is the thing(s) you are called by God to do, with gifts and talents God has given you, to which you commit your passion and excitement and energy for the sake of God’s creation.

The word comes from a Latin term, vocare, meaning “calling”— which implies a caller: God. God calls more than just pastors. God calls each of us, gives many gifts, and gives us a lift up by means of the Spirit. Actually, we all have more than one vocation. Our Christian vocations include our jobs, our roles as family members, our roles as friends, as neighbors, as citizens, and so on. Vocation is all about loving our neighbor and serving in God’s name.

Friends, we all are called by God for something. As a pastor friend of mine is fond of saying, “An inactive Christian is an oxymoron. In my last sermon I quoted Frederick Buechner who wrote, “The place God calls us to, is the place where our deep gladness and the world’s deepest hunger meet.” What is your greatest passion?  Where does this intersect with the needs of the world? That’s where and to what God is calling you. Meeting people where they are. Taking an interest in who they are and what they most need in life. Guess what? This is the most effective evangelism. I challenge you all in 2020 to live this calling. This will build personal bridges with others, which Jesus can cross. Amen

Dear Friends,
I was reading an article from Christian Globe when preparing my sermon for this Sunday. It reminded me that we as Christians are responsible to “keep Christmas well” throughout the year.

However:

It’s hard not to feel a little let down on the day after Christmas.

A few days after Christmas one pastor was noticing that all the Christmas decorations at one of the local pharmacies had been removed. These decorations already had been replaced with Valentine’s Day trinkets and cards. Red boxes of candy, teddy bears with big hearts on them, red candles for romantic lighting. The clerk behind the counter was complaining to another of her co-workers, “I hate Valentine’s Day,” she said. “I never have a boyfriend and I hate Valentine’s Day.”

The pastor goes on to comment with these words, “Nothing is as over as Christmas when it’s over. The empty boxes, the pretty paper on the floor, the stray tinsel from the tree with which the cat has played and left abandoned on the sofa, the empty cartons of eggnog stuffed into the trash bag. Life has come back to normal, whatever that is, and it means that the diversion of the past few weeks, the frenzy and fuss, the lights and glitter are packed away once again like the star at the top of the tree; taken down and carefully wrapped, padded and protected in its ample box. And what is left? Fighting around the world, homeless people sleeping in door stoops, hungry people begging for food, drive-by shootings in St Louis or Chicago, worries about health, kids that concern us, jobs that wear us down. We’re back to where we left off before the holidays . . . Like the folks who were left in town after the Lone Ranger had been for a visit, we may ask out loud, “Who was that masked man?” Or better said, “Who was that babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, left lying in a manger?”

Well, we haven’t moved that far from Christmas yet. We’re just a few days past celebrating Christ’s birth. But there is the inevitable letdown. So much was packed into the four weeks of Advent. We can talk about keeping Christmas all year long, but who could handle it? We don’t want the clogged streets around the mall all year. And who could maintain the pace of eating? In fact, many of us are already planning our diets to begin January 2.

Actually, we need a little respite from all the busyness, don’t we? We read this week how Mary and Joseph weren’t allowed to reside permanently in Bethlehem and neither can we. It’s time to get back to the real world…

However, perhaps this year we can make the real world a little more real for us this coming year. The “real world” becomes a little more real when we become more involved with the hurting around us. At the Blue Christmas service this year I described a friend who spends her adult life as a social worker helping the homeless. Because of a few financial setbacks, she was going to be homeless herself. She was blessed by people in this congregation who helped her catch up on her rent before she was evicted.

I was told that it was a blessing to be able to help. “All we need is someone to show us the need,” they said.

I’ll make a deal with you all. If you are willing to play around in the “real world” with me, I’ll show you what the “real world” looks like in 2020. Amen??

Sincerely,

Pastor Cory Hartz

Saturday, December 21st at 7:00 p.m.

The end-of-year holidays can be a painful time for some of us. It may be the first Christmas without a loved family member who has recently died; it may be a time that holds a different life change or a time that has always been difficult.

We hear the constant refrain on radio and television, in shopping malls and churches, about the happiness of the season, about getting together with family and friends. It reminds many people of what they have lost or may have never experienced. The weariness of ill health, the anguish of broken relationships, the insecurity of unemployment, the pain of isolation – all these can make us feel very alone in the midst of celebrating and spending. In times like this our spirits can sink, as the days grow shorter. The darkness we see around us as we move toward the winter solstice can feel like a darkness growing deeper around us. When that happens, we need the space and time to acknowledge our sadness and concern. We need to know that we are not alone.

Do you or someone you care about need encouragement for the days ahead of us? St. Peter United Church of Christ will have a special “Longest Night” service on Saturday, December 21st at 7:00 p.m. (You may also hear services like this called “Blue Christmas.”)

Come out and join with us in sharing and hearing prayer, scripture, and music that acknowledge that God’s presence is for those who mourn and those who struggle – and that God’s Word comes to shine light into our darkness. After the short service we’ll have light refreshments. Everyone is welcome!

Pastor Cory Hartz

If you are comfortable in this world, then I encourage you to ignore Advent. Christmas is the holiday for you. For you waiting and hoping are not really all that worthwhile at best, and a total waste of time, at worst. So instead, why don’t we all just jump to the fun stuff?

Advent only makes sense if you want (or need) something else, something bigger than yourself to hold onto. If you need to believe that as wonderful as the sun, the moon, and the stars may be, when they fall away it will be because a new, brighter, more perfect light has come and we no longer need these things, then Advent is time well spent.

Advent is a special time when we anticipate our favorite stories about Jesus’ birth, but if we do it right, it’s also a time when we look at ourselves and our world and decide we shouldn’t be comfortable. We shouldn’t be comfortable that people are starving a stone’s throw away and that their starvation will last
long past the holiday season when people are feeling generous with canned goods. We shouldn’t be comfortable that we stand as a divided country, politically, economically, racially, and that those on both sides of the political aisle are responsible. We shouldn’t be comfortable that violence seems to be increasing at an alarming rate, and all those on either side of the debate wants to do is accuse the other of not caring.

For us Christians, the alternative is to trust in the kind of king, who gets born in a stable, and laid in a feeding trough, who teaches that people who trust in God should not be concerned about their status or well-being in this world, and who gets strung up on a cross for telling the truth to people who were
completely comfortable with the world as they knew it.

This advent, join me as we journey toward Bethlehem, and ultimately toward Jerusalem, and honor the one who graciously makes us uncomfortable and leads us to joy!

Blessings on your Advent journey.
Cory

There are many questions that have been raised about OCWM during this stewardship campaign. At our
conference’s recent annual meeting, we were informed that 75% of our OCWM money stays here in Southern Illinois.

The following is adapted from www.ucc.org/ocwm_basic-support. I hope this sparks even more questions and discussion.

Gifts to Basic Support of Our Church’s Wider Mission benefit the full range of the United Church of Christ mission across the country and around the globe.

Our faith is 2000 Years old but our thinking is not.

Because of our belief in a continuing testament, we are attentive to God’s creative movement in the world…

Our contributions are used for:

Preparing leaders who are open to and prepared for ministry in the present and future church.

Training leaders who grow spiritually, who build up the church, and put their faith into action.

Providing resources to aid new kinds of congregations and new modes of leadership.

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.

Because we believe in extravagant welcome, we insist that God’s table is open, not closed, and God’s gift and claim in baptism are irrevocable…

We demonstrate this through public professions of our identity/purpose: multi-racial, multi-cultural, open and affirming, accessible to all.

The funds are used to advocate justice for all as an extension and expression of faith.

To explore and establish new ways of being church and forming Christian community, we affirm that cultural differences among our membership is a strength and we do our best to expand our reach to others.

We strive to keep our perspective global in our partnership with people of faith around the world.

Never place a period where God has placed a comma.

Because we believe in transformation, we believe the church’s mission is changing lives – individually, systemically and globally…

OCWM money supports, encourages and uplifts local churches where lives are being changed through worship, education, fellowship, mission, and justice advocacy.

The United Church of Christ identifies, recruits, educates and supports leaders who inspire others.

Our money supports churches and plants new churches as vital places of worship, learning, and justice advocacy.

With OCWM money lives are changed through our global partnerships, missionaries and advocacy.

I hope this review answers most of your questions. I also hope this writing brings up a whole new set of questions. Either way, I look forward to hearing from you.

Blessings, Cory

Friends, a couple weeks ago I mentioned that I would like to start a book drive, collecting bibles, Christian non-fiction, Sunday school materials, etc…. and have them shipped to those in developing countries all over the world via a wonderful organization called Love Packages. I copied the following from their website @ www.lovepackages.org. I think they can explain what they do better than I. Here is their story:

Today, Love Packages ships more than a thousand tons of donated bibles and other Christian media all over the world. But the humble story about the birth of the ministry may surprise you.

“You’re Wasting That.”

It was the summer of 1975: God spoke to me as clearly as could be. That summer, God showed me the abundance of Christian literature that I had at my disposal and the tremendous lack of literature in third world nations.

Not realizing that everyone was as wasteful as I, I began to send my excess literature overseas. That first year my wife and I shipped sixty boxes of literature to missionaries in four countries. Soon the word spread about what we were doing.

Friends started bringing their excess literature to us for shipment overseas. We never realized or imagined that from that small seed God would build an ever increasing world outreach.

Not long after that, we began to receive literature in the mail; slowly at first, then from all over the United States. That second year we shipped 3.5 tons. The third year: 7 tons. The forth: 11, then 21, then 25, 27, 31, 51, 83, 100, 180, 250, and 600.

The Impact of Donated Bibles Today

We continue to send Christian literature to missionaries and Christian workers around the world. Statistics tell us that every piece of literature will be read by an average of 20 people. Each container has at least 1 million pieces, so the potential is to reach 20 million every time we send a container.

We are thrilled that since the beginning of Love Packages in 1975, we have been able to send over 15,000 tons of literature. We have seen thousands of people saved, healed, and delivered as a result of this mission.  Pastors and Sunday school teachers have, for the first time, materials to study and teach from.

Love Packages currently sends 20-foot ocean going containers to port cities around the world. These locations act as distribution points and have the capability to distribute these materials to thousands of churches overseas.

Everywhere we have gone in America, we have found people with old or extra bibles or other Christian literature that they didn’t know what to do with it. If you are one of these people, Love Packages is here to help you put that literature in the hands of people who are hungry for the Word of God.

Become Part of the Love Packages Story

Our vision is simple. We want to see all of our excess, the materials that are being wasted, placed on the mission fields of the world. Won’t you help?

I encourage you to visit their website to find out more about their incredible ministry and hear more of their story, take the nickel tour, and hear testimonials from all over the world. Sharing the word of God to people hungry for it is our mission. This is one way to share God’s Word by sending material that
are simply being wasted in our church and in our homes. Please consider working with me and reach out to our brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world.

Pastor Cory

Friends,

Are you catholic? (small c)

There has been some confusion as to why we use the word “catholic” (note small c) in either the Apostles or the Nicene Creeds. Rather than hold an in-depth study of the history of this word, I thought I would simply consult my favorite book, “Crazy Talk” a Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms. Here’s the definition and the explanation:

catholic (again, small c)- A word meaning “universal,” and therefore often used to describe only one part of the Christian family.

First of all, forget everything you think you know about the word catholic. Forget about Mass every Sunday, priests who can’t marry, praying to the Virgin Mary, the sweetly clad old dude who live at the Vatican, clad-in-plaid children going to private schools, fish on Fridays, and so on. Just forget it. The word catholic actually means “universal.” From very early in the history of the church, the term referred to the belief that even though the church is made up of many, many, many congregations, in many, many, many cities, in many, many, many countries, the church is still universal.

Every Christian may belong to a local congregation, but every Christian also shares in a fellowship with every other Christian in the universe. The church is a miracle that is made possible by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our catholicity (now there’s a word to impress your friends and relatives) is a gift from God, not something we do achieve, or are expected to achieve.

The church is not limited by geography, race, language, culture, style of worship, or gender (see Galatians 3:28). The church is open to all who follow Christ.

So what about those Christians who claim the name Catholic (note now a capital C) for themselves? Yep, they are part of the universal church. And so are you.

Protestant reformers understood themselves to be a part of “the holy catholic church.” Millions of Protestants still repeat these words every week as they stand in worship to recite the Apostles’ Creed. The word catholic was first used in this sense in the early second century when Ignatius of Antioch declared, “Where Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church.” Jesus Christ is the head of the church, as well as its Lord. Protestant believers in the tradition of the Reformation understand the church to be the body of Christ extended throughout time as well as space, the whole company of God’s redeemed people through the ages.

Protestants, of course, do not equate “catholic” with “Roman Catholic.” Jesus prayed that his disciples would be one, even as he and the Father are one, so that the world might believe. I think it is right to pray and work for the “full visible unity” of Christ’s church on earth which we know for sure will be completely realized when Jesus comes again. When we say that we “believe in the holy catholic church,” we are confessing that Jesus Christ himself is the church’s one foundation, that all who truly trust in him as Savior and Lord are by God’s grace members of this church.

It’s my contention that the phrase “Holy Universal Christian Church” is born out of anti-Roman Catholic prejudice and hatred. And while I understand this anger and prejudice, since for centuries there has been awful things written about Protestants by Roman Catholic theologians, and terrible things written about Catholics by Protestant theologians, I believe that any words used in  worship born out of hatred and prejudice has no business being used in sacred worship in our Church.

So, are you catholic? You bet your boots!

As always, I look forward to your questions and comments.

Blessings,

Cory