The New England Church Pulpit New England Congregational Church UCC Aurora Illinois

One of the things I appreciate about New England Church is its openness to seeing the divine in new ways. When I have an Inquirer’s Meeting for those interested in learning about our church, I tell those gathered that we are a liberal church, liberal in the classic sense of that word. That we are open to finding God in any way God chooses to come to us.

By definition, liberal means to be generous, and it means being broad-minded, not bound by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, or traditional forms. It’s not that we don’t follow traditional forms, because we do. But as congregationalists, we’re not bound by them, nor are we bound by any authority other than our conscience in relationship with God.

For some that is too open-ended; they want to be told what to believe or disbelieve. But we are called to use our head as well as our heart, caring and thinking, broadening the possibilities of finding God in a myriad of ways, finding truth through our own faith not someone else’s faith. If God is dynamic, not static, then God is constantly changing, ebbing & flowing with the new insights that crash upon the shores of our minds. In one sense God never changes, because God, by definition, is the center of all that is, and the core of that is constant. But our understanding of God changes as we live, as we encounter evil, as we experience success and failure, as we mature.

The moment we utter a word to describe God, we limit God. When we speak of God as a person, or a male or a female, we limit the possibilities and box God inside the confines of our own limited understandings. But God is not human. God is spirit, God is breath, the breath of the wind, the breath of each cycle of oxygen and carbon dioxide that sustains us.

Is God limited to hymns or the Christian bible in speaking to us? If God is the center of all that is, then is not the God who inspired the Psalmist also the God who inspired Shakespeare? Is it not the same God who inspires modern novels or poetry that excite us to life, that inspire us, and connect us to things holy?

Is God limited to coming to us only in church? Is not the One who gifts the musician also the One who gifts the athlete? A relaxing game of golf or some other recreation is as necessary as church. Watching the Cubs or the Sox play a good game may be as inspiring as a bible reading (...the operative word there is “good” game). The artful execution of athletic talent is poetry in motion, and inspiring. God–and life–are to be experienced more than defined, dogmatized, or delegated to certain prescribed activities . As you go into the summer months, go with your eyes, your mind, and your heart wide open to all the possibilities. Experience the divine in every activity or non-activity. Watch a movie: the same inspiration for those recorded stories of the Old Testament is the same source of inspiration for the silver screen. Read a book, sit on the deck, play a game with the kids, frolic at the beach, or work the garden soil with your bare hands–all these are possibilities for God to come to us. Every contact with every human being is a possibility for meeting God, even with the cranky and out-of-sorts people. Every encounter with a rock or a tree or a cloud or a thunderstorm are opportunities for encountering holy things.

In the words of contemporary poet Willow Hambrick:
An old woman in curlers and scarf,
pastel housedress and slippers,
tomorrow’s epiphany under wraps,
walks her round-shouldered walk,
dabbing the shimmer of dippity-do
leaking down her salient brow,
her earnest, powder-cracked face

and sanguine cheeks absorbing
what light is offered by a low-hung
but rising, Sabbath eve moon.

Dust kicks up as a boom box blares
the music of tanked teens hell bent
on a Saturday night; one cautious glance
she gives to those who would profane
her weekly constitutional. And then,
I see her wave at those boys, kindly,
the wave of a woman who is able to see
eternity in hazelnuts; the wave of a woman
who softens the corner where she stands,
while her paschal curls prepare to spring.
(Christian Century, May 17, 2003)

If we live in the mindset of panentheism, meaning God is in everything, everything is in God, and God is larger than everything, then we will keep our eyes open to seeing God every moment of every day. Is God in evil, is God in bad things, is God in the things that threaten harm to us? When there is evil, is not God there suffering with those who suffer, and inspiring those who take up the cause against evil even at the risk of their own lives? In those dark days of life, God is incarnate in you as you reach out to those in need or go the extra mile for someone else. When harm threatens us, God is in that experience as if to innoculate us with that event against succumbing to larger, more potent threats.

God is in the big and the little things. God is in the silence and the words. God is in the little phone call to say hi, or in the brief moment you take to write your name on the cards each Sunday. Several weeks ago the congregation signed a card to one of our servicemen. On Thursday I opened my email box to find the following note:
I received the card from the congregation a few days ago and thought to myself, what a caring group of people I am a part of. I grew up in New England Congregational Church, from going to pre-school all the way to confirmation. I never really realized how close the people in the congregation were until I left. People I may have met only once still ask my parents how I’m doing and show their support and concern. I just wanted to write and express my gratitude for helping “raise” me and continuing to look after me. I hope everything is well back home, and I cannot wait to see the new improvements on the church. Enjoy your days, everyone of them is special.
Lance Corporal Rob Brooks
Can you see eternity in hazelnuts? Can you see the possibilities of even the grayest days? Can you see beyond the obstacle in your pathway at the moment? Can you be open to the joyful combination of mud puddles and children as a holy moment without worrying about clean clothes? Or to divine possibilities in a walk around the block with a neighbor or your grandkids? Or playing a rousing game of bridge? These are the habitats of a dynamic God who finds a million ways to come to us each day. Enjoy your days; everyone of them is special. Amen.

–Gary L. McCann

Tao Te Ching 51
(translated by Stephen Mitchell) Every being in the universe
is an expression of the Tao (The Way).
It springs into existence,
unconscious, perfect, free,
takes on a physical body,
lets circumstances complete it.
That is why every being
spontaneously honors the Tao.

The Tao gives birth to all beings,
nourishes them, maintains them,
cares for them, comforts them, protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.
That is why love of the Tao
is in the very nature of things.

Copyright © 2003 by Gary L. McCann. All rights reserved.

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