First Congregational Church-United Church of Christ in Constantine, MI, 360 S Washington Street, Constantine, MI (2026)

10/11/2025

SAVE THE DATE! OCTOBER 23, 2025 at 6 p.m.!
Jazz n' Cookies at First Congregational - it's a bake sale and a concert! Pr. Kathy's jazz band, the Classics, will perform at the church, and some lovely baked goods will be for sale also. Cookies and Jazz - what could be better? See you there!

09/04/2025

SAY WHAT, JESUS?
By Pr. Kathy
Luke 14: 7-14
Hebrews 13: 1-8

I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this, but Jesus attends a lot of parties. People consider him a social catch at their dinners. But in our gospel reading for today, you’d be forgiven for wondering why he is a wanted guest! He forgot to bring a bottle of wine (somehow I just know this), he chastises the other guests and the host and I just bet he forgets to send a thoughtful thank you note at the end. What would Jesus say? “Thank you for a lovely evening. I’ve really enjoyed insulting you and your guests.” He really puts our Proverbs reading to the test: “Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold is a wise rebuke to a listening ear.” Yeah, right.
All that, over choosing places to sit.

Personally, I remember wanting to sit next to the teacher in first grade. Of course, everyone else wanted to sit there too and she only had two sides. Even at my tender age I could do the math and that meant only 2 kids got to sit beside her. She had this rotation system. In theory everyone got a turn, but it seemed like my turn never came soon enough. I smile about it now, but it was a deadly serious event, who got to sit next to her.

So I can relate to this dinner party because in the first century middle eastern dinner etiquette was more than just a polite ordering of chairs. It was a career path. This dinner Jesus was invited to was probably served around a U-shaped table. Each position was judged according to the proximity of the host - who was always wealthy. No one else could afford to give these lavish parties. Where you sat around that table determined your honor status. In that rigidly structured society, your honor status was more important even than wealth. It governed where you could safely travel, whom you could visit, which business opportunities would be offered to you, and which families would accept your children in marriage negotiations. It was everything.

So normally the host would invite high-status people he wanted to impress, or his social equals who had something to offer him. Some reciprocity, other than a thank you note, was expected. That’s why Jesus’ words simply make no sense. None.

I know this is a standard preaching theme about how Jesus always favors the people others forget, but take a moment to let this sink in. In the world of rigid status levels, Jesus insults everyone present equally. To the guests who are doing the normal 1st century version of scrambling up the social ladder he reminds them that would be a social nightmare to have to give up your spot to a person of higher honor. A faux pas from which your social standing might never recover. Better by far, Jesus says, to get a boost up by your host, not a push down.

Not that the host gets off lightly either. Jesus, no doubt noticing the guest list contained only leading citizens, tells the host next time, invite the most undesirable people – people who were social outcasts and could never repay that hospitality.

But hidden within Jesus’ request is a social bone-crusher. He is asking his host to align himself with the losers of society. If his host was so foolish as to obey Jesus, his own honor status would be threatened. He would find himself classed with his undesirable guests. His business ventures would suffer, no one would want to marry into his house or take his daughters into theirs. It would cost him everything in this world. But in so doing, he would gain a seat at the table where it matters most – God’s table.

It's a tough call, isn’t it? And it’s hard to relate to in our time. If we invited strangers, even smelly unwashed ones with visible skin diseases to our Labor Day cookouts, we might even get a solid reputation for being a really nice person.

No, I think now to relate to this story, we’d actually have to get invited to eat with a homeless person. We’d have to ask them to teach us how make a meal out of others’ scraps, and how to beg for food alongside them. We’d have to learn how to clean up in public restrooms, and find a warm place to sleep before the cold weather hits. Then we might have a clue as to what Jesus is asking of his host.

But that’s the kind of honor that Jesus prizes – that inner humility that notices the less-than, the have-nots. The kind of humility that enables us to move freely among them, giving and receiving the honor that comes of being children of God, equally together.

The author of Hebrews puts it like this: “Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them, those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.” Man, is that hard scripture! I don’t think God wants to cause us pain though. God simply desires to challenge that internal division that assumes we are intrinsically different, finer, somehow than the pan-handler on the street corner. Jesus reminds us that we are all made of the same stuff. We are not allowed to hold ourselves above or apart from anyone else.

I remember once I was at a church event in Chicago about the challenges of being the church in the 21st century. It was a kind of lecture format in an auditorium and I got, shall we say, bored with the lecture. With a polite smile, I got up and brushed across several people’s knees on my way out, hoping everyone would just think I was taking a potty break. There was a window looking slightly down on the street and I stood front of it, liking the cool draft on my face. Then I saw, down at the corner, a homeless person pushing her cart. I remember thinking of the vast gulf that separated us church of the 21st century folks and her. I saw no way of crossing that great divide, not then.

There is my world and the one she inhabits. I don’t like hers, and she probably wouldn’t like mine. I used to think it was my job as a Christian to bridge that gap. But according to the story in our gospel, Jesus will do all the bridging that is required. All I have to do, all we have to do, is share a meal together.
Amen.

08/31/2025

Fourth Sunday of excellent watermelons, sweet corn and tomatoes, August 31, 2025

Psalm 112 Responsively
Proverbs 25: 6-28, Hebrews 13: 1-8,
The Gospel - Luke 14: 7-14

08/14/2025

The King's Heart
by Quinn Caldwell

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; [God] turns it wherever [God] wills. - Proverbs 21:1 (NRSV)

What does the heart of the leader of your nation do for the people?
Does it quench their thirst, or does it leave them gasping and desperate? When they are withering on the vine, does it come to their aid, or turn away?
When fires rage out of control, does it quench them, or does it spray fuel instead? What does the heart of the leader of your nation do for the people?
Does it seek to cleanse the nation’s sins with honesty and justice, righteousness and generosity, or does it just spray more filth?
As temperatures rise, does it provide refreshment, or does it further scorch an already-burned people?
Does it dissolve the bonds of cruelty and injustice, or does it exult while they harden into place?
This is how you know your leader is on God’s side, says the author of Proverbs: parched lands are watered, deserts spring to life, the withered become juicy, the brittle become supple, those who thirst become sated, the dirty become clean, and new life bursts forth in a rush.
If at least some of these things are happening in your nation, there’s a real possibility that God is using your leader’s heart to do her work in the world.
If none of them are, it’s probably worth asking who’s using that leader’s heart instead.
Prayer
Let the heart of every leader be as a gentle stream of cool water in your hand, O God. And let mine be, too. Amen.

Quinn Caldwell

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Quinn G. Caldwell is Chaplain of the Protestant Cooperative Ministry at Cornell University. His most recent book is a series of daily reflections for Advent and Christmas called All I Really Want: Readings for a Modern Christmas. Learn more about it and find him on Facebook at Quinn G. Caldwell.

05/21/2025

ABUNDANCE
By Pr. Kathy
Acts 11: 1-18
Revelation 21: 1-6
John 13: 31-35
“Equal rights for everyone does not mean fewer rights for you.” I saw this bumper sticker the other day and it fascinated me. It seems to cut right to the heart of our uneasy feelings about welcoming new people, whether it’s to a potluck, a church family or a country. It speaks to some of our deepest feelings that there might not be enough to go around.

I have a story about that. It happened at rehearsal the other day when my band was getting ready for our gig on May 29 at 6 p.m. right here in the Constantine library (pre-registration required). Anyway, we were playing a piece that had a solo for everyone who wanted a solo. This made the piece rather long, so the solos were rather short. But I love this piece, the chords fit my fingers, and I sounded really good. So, I played an old saxophonist trick. I don’t know why other instrumentalists don’t use this trick but they don’t. Saxophonists use it all the time.
It works like this: you begin playing your solo during the last couple measures of the solo before yours, under the guise of working up to your solo. You play your solo through and continue playing into the next few measures of the next person’s solo, under the guise that all phrases must be finished and surely no one will grudge you finishing up your solo neatly. Using that trick, saxophonists have been known to gain a good 4-6 measures extra for their solos. Which I did.
But a few measures after I’d finished and in the middle of someone else’s solo, the pianist stopped playing, which meant we all stopped playing. She looked at me and smiled sweetly. She said, “This is the song where everyone takes turns playing a solo. Will everyone get a turn? Yes. Will you get a turn? Yes. Is it your turn now? No.” We all just broke down laughing.
It helps that our pianist is a music teacher of young children, because sometimes we older children misbehave just like a little kid worried that their turn will never come.

Which to be fair, happens sometimes. That’s why we all harbor an uneasiness about life and why we all have to be taught, over and over again, how to share and why we share.

In our reading from Acts, Peter goes up to Jerusalem and fields a hard question from the Jewish believers in the early church. Remember, in the beginning everyone in the early church was Jewish. And why not let it stay that way? The men were all circumcised, just as God had commanded Abraham to do so long ago. That was their identifier as Jews, so of course, why not let it be the identifier of the new Christian church? But it had come to their attention that the gentiles, which is everyone who is not a Jew, had accepted the word of God as embodied by Jesus. Someone had to be teaching them. Someone had to be inviting them. Someone had to be baptizing them! And they weren’t even circumcised, because everyone knew that was a Jewish thang. Yet clearly, someone had been extending an unauthorized welcome to them and the believers knew just who would be bodacious enough to do a thing like that.

Peter didn’t bother to deny it. I can just see him saying, “yeah, that’s right, it was me.” And the entire synagogue falls silent. Peter begins to explain. He had a vision of many different kinds of animals being lowered from heaven and a voice said, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” Peter was aghast. Some of those animals had been forbidden to the Jews by God, and that’s what he said. “No, I won’t do that. I’ve never eaten anything unclean.”

But the rules had changed. The voice told him, what God had declared clean, Peter must not declare unclean. This happened three times, which is the number of certainty. Once might have been a fluke. Twice might have been a hallucination. Three times, and it’s a fact. And on the heels of that vision, Peter had visitors from Caesarea, gentile visitors.

God’s sweet Spirit told Peter and his friends to go with them, and not consider himself apart or different from them. They took him to a house, a gentile house, and Peter heard the story of how an angel told the gentile family to send for Peter. Peter would give them a message of salvation for everyone in that home. And as Peter preached, the Holy Spirit descended upon them, the outsiders, the gentiles. Peter concludes his story by saying, “If God gave them the same gift he gave us when we first believed in Jesus, who was I, that I could hinder God?”

To their credit, the believers accepted the gentiles into the Christian church. They even rejoiced for the new believers, that they too had received salvation. That’s spiritual maturity, BTW, to rejoice when outsiders become insiders through the power and grace of God.

It takes a lot of faith to welcome anyone, especially when they are different from you. I think of the classes that exist in our culture – the ultra-rich, the merely rich, the harassed middle class, the lower middle class, the working poor and the poverty level. You know what I’m talkin’ about. Those dividing lines are there, and if you are a politician, you map these lines to a nicety because, in this wealthy country, so very many of us think that abundance for everyone means we will somehow get less.

I’m not condemning anyone for thinking or feeling that way. I do it myself. That’s when I turn to today’s reading from Revelation, because more than anything else, this runs counter to the limits we place on generosity. God is speaking of abundance beyond telling for everyone. Not even Jerusalem is just for Jews anymore. It’s for everybody and the abundance is protective, if anything. Everyone will have everything they need and how can there be any hatred or killing if there is more than enough for everyone? The home of God is among mortals. They will be God’s people and he will be their God.

When Jesus told his disciples how important it was that they love each other, it wasn’t just for their sakes. It was a witness for everyone who ever felt left out, excluded, forbidden to come to the feast that God longs to set before us. This love, Jesus says, is to be our identifier. Our family name. Our family resemblance by which people will say, “You gotta be a Christian. I’m right, aren’t I? Because no one else loves like you do, except for God.”

This is the kingdom of abundance. Is there enough for everyone? Yes. Is there enough for you and you and you and me too? Yes. So then, let us all rejoice together in God’s gift of abundant life through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen.

05/14/2025

Ordo Amoris
by Molly Baskette | published on May 14, 2025
Jesus asked, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” The lawyer said, “The one who showed him compassion.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” – Luke 10:36-37

Catholicism has a doctrine called ordo amoris, which has recently enjoyed 15 minutes of fame thanks to Pope Francis of blessed memory.

Ordo amoris translated is “order of love.” Vice President Vance parsed its meaning as, “Love and compassion start with family, then extend to neighbors, then nation, and last and least reach fellow human beings as such.”

In other words: kin get the first fruits of our love while strangers, especially those in distress, get moldy rinds at best.

Pope Francis corrected him in a letter to U.S. Bishops: “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups. … The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the Good Samaritan, the love that builds a fraternity open to all without exception.”

Unpopular opinion: It’s not just “other Christians” who engage in this kind of ordinal thinking about love. Lots of us put our kids, for example, above everybody else. Isn’t that our job? And who will do it if we don’t?

But this kind of thinking confuses favoritism for love. Elevating and resourcing ourselves and our kin at the cost of more distant others in desperate need isn’t love. It’s fear disguised as virtue.

Try this: Write down a list of everyone you love (it may take a while!). Then add to the list every person you encountered in your day today. Then add whole groups of people, especially those in distress: “incarcerated people, those living unsheltered, immigrants in detention, kids in foster care.”

Now cut up the list, with one name per slip of paper. Order those slips of paper randomly. Re-order them again. Put a holy object (perhaps a cross necklace, a wedding ring) on a table, then turn those slips of paper into rays coming out from that sacred center. Pray with this ordo amoris.

Prayer
God, you’ve given me so many people to love. How can I possibly love them all without running low? Show me.

Molly BasketteAbout the Author
Rev. Molly Baskette is the lead pastor of First Church Berkeley UCC and the author of books about church renewal, parenting, spiritual growth and more. Sign up for her author newsletter or get information about her newest book at mollybaskette.com.

05/14/2025

MATTERS OF DEATH AND LIFE
By Pr. Kathy
John 10: 22-30
Acts 9: 36-43

When I lost my mother, the story of the raising of Tabitha from Acts 9 was suggested as something I might read to give me comfort. Like Tabitha, my mother devoted herself to helping others in the later years of her life. She did it unobtrusively, naturally, no big deal, and she did not consider herself particularly generous or outstanding for doing the things she did. My cousin had to go out to work and had no childcare? No problem! My 80 plus mother stepped in to care for her 3 year old toddler. Even when the child was sick, still no problem. My mother cared for him, sometimes even catching his diseases which did NOT make me happy. But that was how she was. Like Tabitha.
But Tabitha’s story brought me no comfort. I did relate to the part where the needy widows were crying over this good woman’s death and showing other people the many pieces of clothing she had made them. I should note that none of these widows were likely to have closets just stuffed with ready-to-wear or stuff from H&M. Clothing then was made to be lived in, slept in and was designed to provide protection from the weather. For example, a cloak was something that made a homeless person not quite so homeless. They could sleep rolled up in it. A tunic, handwoven as all garments were, was a significant investment of time and money. If Tabitha, as the story suggests, had made all these things for these women in poverty, her life indeed was irreplaceable, just as my mother’s life was for me. So it made sense to display these examples of Tabitha’s generosity to prove just how irreplaceable this one life truly was.
I think there is great holiness in holding up to God and others things that such a person has gifted you with. Handcrafted quilts, blankets, tools, carvings, furniture – touching these things and reminding God just how gifted was the life that was lost – that’s sacred ground. I think that’s why we were invited to take things from my mother’s life and display them at the funeral home and church service – it created the illusion that a) we were burying her the old-fashioned way, from our home and b) something of her remained to comfort those whose time had not yet come.
No, where the story didn’t work for me, was Peter’s great act of raising this one person from the dead. Good, fine, great, I was happy for all those widows and people who benefited from having this beloved woman back with them, but where was my miracle? My mother had suffered a fatal stroke but not quite fatal enough. During those long weeks of her decline, I had begged God for the miracle of a complete healing or at least the miracle of enough healing to make her life enjoyable again. I wanted my mother restored to me, physically. I didn’t want to hug her hand-made blankets in her absence, I wanted to hug her and feel her hug back.
But that didn’t happen. At the end of her slow decline was her death. So I tossed the story of Tabitha aside. What I didn’t realize was that I needed to take a closer look at what was going on here.
First of all, Peter had raised the death in Lydda and the rumor reached Joppa. The disciples who sent for him were truly grasping at straws. You will note that not one of them attempted to raise Tabitha and there is no mention of prayer at first.
But when Peter arrives and entered the death chamber, he asked everyone to wait outside. Then he knelt and prayed. With his entire body, he paid his respects to the author of all life, including his own. I would love to know what he said to God in that moment. Did he pray for strength? Healing, his own and Tabitha’s? Or did he pray that God would be glorified whatever the outcome?
I don’t believe everything happens for a reason – there is plenty of randomness and chaos in creation. But every story in the bible was placed there for a reason. Every miracle happens for a purpose and it’s not about us. I think the miracle of raising Tabitha from death was placed there to show the power of God, working through that most unlikely medium – humans. Peter had come a long way from the days when he strenuously denied knowing Jesus. He knew enough to know that the miracle of raising the dead might be attributed to him, but it was really the power of God working through him in that time and place. Sure enough, the miracle of Tabitha restored was enough to convince many people to believe that Jesus was stronger than death. Tabitha was an embodiment of the promise Jesus made to his disciples. Possibly Peter remembered Jesus’ words:
“My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will sn**ch them out of my hand. My Father is greater than all and no one can sn**ch them out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.” (John 10: 27-30)
I can see Peter, awed at the miracle God had worked through him, slapping his forehead as he remembered Jesus’ words and saying, “Now, I get it.” Because remember, at the time Jesus spoke those words I just read, people did not have a well-developed notion of the afterlife, either of heaven or hell. The words that Jesus spoke would have been interpreted literally by his disciples and the crowds around them. The words “They will never perish,” would have been counted as strange indeed, since everyone dies, no matter how beloved or evil they are.
But Peter and the other disciples now had reason to think differently. Tabitha and Lazarus along with other people raised from the dead, had been given a temporary reprieve. But eventually they would die, again. But the reach of God is so strong and so powerful, that death becomes less final. It’s more like a doorway into a life that waits for all of us who believe. Once we truly grasp that reality, that nothing can take us away from the God who has cared for us and loved us all our lives, we can face even death with boldness and courage. I think that’s the real message here.
But Peter’s story is not quite done yet. While all this converting was going on, Peter hung around and stayed with Simon, the tanner. Tanning animal hides was one of the most unclean occupations. Tanneries were always located away from the center of town. They were places of death that smelled of death and decay and finality. End of the line.
But hey, after you have raised the dead, what more powerful witness is there? Is there anyplace you don’t dare to go, anyone you don’t dare to talk with, eat with, stay with? Maybe Peter realized that the stink of death and decay is temporary. The life we live, in Christ, is eternal.
Amen.

05/01/2025

This is one cool lady, working hard to make sure everyone gets fed!

05/01/2025

Dedicated workers at the soup kitchen!

04/28/2025

DOUBTING, NOT SHAMED
By Pr. Kathy
John 20: 19-31

“Doubting Thomas.” Why is he singled out like this? And is Jesus really scolding him for hi inability to believe in the resurrection without tangible proof? It kind of sounds like that when
Jesus says, “Have you believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
It seems pretty straightforward, the blaming and shaming of Thomas, except for one bald fact: no one believes in the beginning that Jesus has indeed risen from the dead.
No one. The women at the tomb don’t believe it – and in some gospels, they are informed by angels! The apostles don’t believe it – even though some of them raced to the tomb in the aftermath of the women’s unbelievable account. But once at the tomb
it’s clear that they didn’t think about a risen Christ. More than likely, they thought about tomb-robbing. Something stolen from them, not something given back to them.
Even when Jesus stood right in front of them, or walked with them on the road to Emmaus, he went unrecognized. Which only goes to prove our eyes see what our minds expect to see. So let’s not be too hard on Thomas, because he wasn’t in the room with the others when Jesus unexpectedly entered the room. He hadn’t been given
any proof, only fantastical stories.

And notice: Thomas never takes Jesus up on his offer to touch his wounds. He doesn’t do it, not in any of the stories. He doesn’t need this physical proof after all. Pretty amazing for a guy who doesn’t even receive a name in any of the gospels.
His ‘name’ Thomas actually is a translation of the Aramaic Te-Oma, meaning “twin.” Like many twins, he is known primarily for the fact of his twinship. Some ancient writings give his name as “Judas Thomas,” but let’s not go there. The poor man has enough strikes
against him as it is.

So what do we make of Jesus’ statement: “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” ? We latter-day disciples have been patting our backs over that one for a long time. But the literal translation is not “blessed.” It’s much more
simple. The word is “happy,” or “content.” Happy are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe. t’s good to have proof, as Jesus says. But it is possible to be happy on faith alone.

Actually, I have found in my personal spiritual life, that Jesus doesn’t shame me. God has never shamed me though I am made aware of my shortcomings. But you know who does
shame people sometimes? Churches and the stories they tell. Pastors, sometimes. That’s not surprising, since pastors are human and churches are made up of humans and humans sometimes act badly. But shame has no place among us and shame has
no place in this particular story.

Doubt is present, and fear is present. The reality of Jesus dispels both those things. The fear is handled first because let’s face it – if you are terrified, you are not in good shape to do anything except run away. So Jesus bestows the gift of peace through the
power of the Holy Spirit. Wouldn’t you love to have been there that day? But Jesus also tells the gathered disciples that they are entrusted with the powers of forgiving or retaining sins.

Much ink has been used up exploring what that might mean on a cosmic level, but let’s not forget that Jesus is using very literal language here. In reality, each one of us functions as a sort of high court ourselves, don’t we? We choose every day to forgive
or to remember, to obsess over the sins of another person. Just let that sit on your mind for a minute. We modern disciples are meant to be steeped deeply in the love and forgiveness of God. That’s part of what Lent is preparing us for: to realize how deeply
sin reaches into our lives, and to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God’s love and forgiveness reaches even more deeply than that. We are freed and forgiven. We would do well to remember that, when Uncle Bill causes his usual disruption at the
summer get-together.
Forgiveness is always a choice. It doesn’t mean we don’t hold people accountable –Jesus did that quite often. It doesn’t mean we don’t limit access to someone who has hurt us in the past and does not offer an apology. But forgiveness is always one of the
choices in front of us.

Did Jesus know that the other disciples would try to expel their own shame of not believing the resurrection by condemning Thomas for his doubt? I don’t know, but I do know that Jesus understands Thomas fully and provides exactly what he needs to
dispel his fear and his doubt. And that Thomas is not shamed, but loved.
One more thing I know: happy are those whose sins are forgiven. Happy are those who have let God into their lives at the very deepest levels. Happy are those who trust
in God’s promises. Happy are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.

Happy are we, indeed!

Amen.

04/23/2025

DO-OVER
By Pr. Kathy
Isaiah 65: 17-25

Have you ever longed for a do-over? Ever done something you regretted and longed to fix? Maybe you violated someone’s confidence or acted in a way which you knew would bring harm to someone else. If so, today’s Isaiah reading is for you.

It is a re-creation of the Garden of Eden story, which is possibly the most holy story in both the Jewish and Christian religions. It is a story of origin. One way or another, it’s where we all came from and it was beautiful in the beginning. God and a newly created earth and its creatures were in constant communion. Humans were late-comers but we were made in God’s image and placed in charge of this beautiful earth. No work was required of us. The soil burst with good things to eat and the waters were pristine and sparkling.

In this world there were no predators and all animals were free to rejoice in each other’s strengths and gifts. Best of all there was no death nor even any conception of it. God walked and talked freely with us, and often. Before we could call, God was right there.

In the middle of this heavenly scene there was a tree, and a serpent. You know the rest of the story. The tree was off-limits, the serpent questioned that and the woman ate its fruit, then handed some fruit to her spouse and that was it. We were driven out of our paradise and the serpent was castigated for its role in this tragedy.

Each of us in our own way re-enact this story over and over again. Some unhappy souls are doomed to sabotage themselves. Others of us fall prey to temptation. One way or another, we all fall from grace.

Judah had long ago fallen from grace in so very many ways. It was a small nation, located in a very active military pathway. It occupied strategic ground, and the world’s armies had tramped through it. These nations had left behind bits and pieces of their culture, their offspring, and their gods – the worship of whom was horrifying to Israel’s God. The nation endured enslavement over and over again. There was a brief moment of glory under the rule of David and Solomon but that was about it.

It should have been wiped from the pages of history, like the Assyrians and Babylonians. But it wasn’t. Just as Adam and Eve were cast out of paradise but not forgotten, Isaiah proclaims that now God is coming to his forsaken and barren people to remind them that their story is far from over.

It's a message we can all claim. On this bright Easter, be assured that as far as God is concerned, a return to Eden is possible. That pathway home was opened through the death and resurrection of Christ. What would such a return look like?

“See!” says our God. “I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.” That is key. Try as we may, sometimes it seems like we will never be able to forget our sins. The tearful words of Psalm 51 have been our bread for too long – “my sin is ever before me.” God says, not anymore. They are forgotten and they will not come to mind anymore. They are gone. Instead, God would have us “be glad and rejoice forever in what I create. I will…take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and crying will be heard in Jerusalem no more.”

God’s people will live incredibly long lives filled with good work which they will enjoy for years and years to come. And the children? They will no longer be doomed to the misfortune of early death and slavery. Instead they will live blessed lives.

Once again, there will be no predators here. Wolf and lamb, lion and ox will be reconciled. And the serpent who started all the trouble in the first place? Not even he is cast out, but he’ll eat everybody’s dust. Literally. “They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the Lord – which is maybe my favorite sentence in the whole bible.

The story of Eden is not complete without this vision of Isaiah’s. Our human story is not complete without restoration. As someone once said, “it’s all going to be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.”

If all this sounds just too polly-anna-ish for words, consider this. Silently, secretly, people are doing things differently. Cage-free eggs. I know, I know, but it’s a start.

World-wide turmoil as the poor of all nations start to organize, arise and make use of social media to remind us of their existence, their plight and their humanity, no different from ours.

The earth sends us almost constant reminders that her tolerance for our bad behavior is just about at an end. Now everyone is listening because there is no choice.

I believe these are the birth-pangs of something new coming into the world. Harm done to the waters is harm done to us. Harm done to endangered species is harm done to us. Harm done to us, is harm done to sweetgrass, among other species that depend on humans for their propagation. Yes, WE have a place in nature!

We are just beginning to understand these ancient truths that other people understood long ago. The lessons may be harsh but above all things, we are gifted with an unparalleled ability to learn.

It won’t be like it was, the Eden God is creating for us. We still have to work and we still have to die. There is no going back, but God stands ready to help us with a do-over.

Christ is risen after all, and blesses the good work of our righteous hands. At the end of our lives, death may do its worst but it cannot have the final word on us. Before we even know to call God’s name, God is right there. Nothing can stop Easter and nothing can stop our God.

Let it be so and AMEN to that! Happy Easter!

First Congregational Church-United Church of Christ in Constantine, MI

10/11/2025

09/04/2025

08/31/2025

08/14/2025

05/21/2025

05/14/2025

05/14/2025

05/01/2025

05/01/2025

04/28/2025

04/23/2025

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Place Of Worship

Shortcuts

Share

Category