MVLP “Gather 'Round” E-News - Issue #64April 9, 2021

This is the sixty-fourth issue of our E-newsletter, “Gather ‘Round,” to call us together through the internet to share news and needs and stories with each other.  If you have a tale to tell or a perspective to share, please send it on for the next issue!

The Buildings Are Closed;The Church Is Open!

Back issues of “Gather ‘Round” E-news are available on the Moosup Valley Church website, thanks to our webmaster, Pat Safstrom. Go to moosupvalley.church and click on the tab at the top of the page.

Who Do You Say That I Am?

Who is this Jesus who has been crucified and buried, then later claimed to have been resurrected? Who is this Jesus whom we celebrated just this past weekend on the Sunday we now call Easter? “Truly, this man was God’s Son!” says the Centurion at the cross (Mark 15:39). Yet, that was a point of contention among Jesus’ followers. When people were speculating about who this Jesus of Nazareth really was – John the Baptist? Elijah? – Jesus had asked the disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15).

How do you answer that question, if you even think about it? Who is Jesus for you? Scholars use the term “Christology” when they talk about the study of the nature and work of Jesus and his human and divine natures, and such matters as Incarnation and Resurrection. There are “low Christology” churches and “high Christology” churches, even in the same denomination. And in the same congregation, the person sitting next to you in the pew may have a different perspective on Jesus from your understanding.

Even the gospels present a different Jesus under different influences and for different audiences. Mark, for example, is writing to the fledging church in Jerusalem about the year 70 CE and presenting his story as a new development in the history of Israel, not as a new religion. John is writing several decades later under Greek influences and presents Jesus as a heavenly figure existing with God before the world was created. We love the Prologue, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). What does it say to you? Do you believe that Jesus is God “in the flesh”? And if so, how?

Trinitarian Christians, like Baptists and United Church of Christ members, say God is One, yet has three persons – God the Creator, God the Christ, and God the Holy Spirit – of which Jesus is the second person. For some, Jesus is “Fully God and Fully Man,” co-mingled, a mystery. For others, Jesus is a teacher, a mentor, a prototype for how life is to be lived and

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cared for. We talk about our “Lord and Savior” and sing about our “Friend” Jesus, our “Brother” Jesus, our “Precious Lord” Jesus.

In response to Jesus’ question, would your answer to Jesus be Peter’s answer? “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16). In the UCC Statement of Faith, we claim, “In Jesus Christ, the man of Nazareth, our crucified and risen Savior, you have come to us and shared our common lot, conquering sin and death and reconciling the world to yourself.”

We also might ask, How does the world see Jesus? In Judaism, although Jesus was Jewish, and he argued with the other Jews within the context of Judaism, and although we share the same Hebrew Bible/Old Testament scriptures, most Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah because he failed to bring in the Messianic Age. In addition, Jews would regard the worship of a person as a form of idolatry, i.e., “Thou shalt have no other God’s before me.”

In Islam, Abraham is credited as its founding prophet, yet Jesus is credited with miracles and a virgin birth. When a skeptic challenged Mohammed on the virgin birth account, he shot back, “What…you think God is incapable?” And Jesus is quoted in mosques around the world. Written around one archway is a panel of Persian script which reads: “Jesus, Son of Mary (peace be upon him) ….” said: “The world is a bridge. Pass over it but build no houses upon it. He who hopes for a day, may hope for eternity; but the World endures but an hour. Spend it in prayer, for the rest is unseen.”

The reincarnation religions of India urge mindfulness of our spiritual natures so that we won’t act badly and wound others and disfigure ourselves in the process. With every act, we are building a mold for our future. Enlightenment is the goal which can lead us to Paradise. Humanities teacher, Lawrence Brown, writing in the Cape Cod Times in December, tells the story of a man found in the desert, near death. The Bedouins bring him to their camp and revive him … only to see him head back into the desert again. “What are you doing?” They ask him. “You’ll die out there!”

But he replies that now he knows where the oasis is, he can only think of so many others, parched and failing, who must be found and led to safety. He’s willing to risk his life for them. Hindus and Buddhists see Jesus as such a person. “When goodness grows weak, when evil increases,” says the Hindu’s Krishna, “I make myself a body. In every age I come back to deliver the holy, to destroy the sin of the sinner, to establish righteousness.”

Christians and Hindus share the idea of God made flesh. Gandhi – who said he would be a Christian if he could find someone who actually practiced it – carried a copy of the Gospels with him as well as his Hindu scriptures.

Jesus is ours, but not only ours. And while we may think other religions are strange and alien, there is much common ground. Jesus says, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for

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someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:23, 25). The Buddha cautioned that worldly riches interfere with our attempt to lead a good life: “Riches make most people greedy, and so are like caravans lurching down the road to perdition. Any possession that increases the sin of selfishness or does nothing to confirm one’s wish to renounce what one has is nothing but a drawback in disguise.”

Alan Jackson sings a song, “O How I Love Jesus,” which you might have sung as a child in Sunday School years ago, “Because he first loved me.” Yes, Jesus surely loved people – all people. Especially those on the margins. Jesus was poor, and he spent most of his time with the poor, advocating for them. “When did we see [Jesus] hungry and thirsty, naked and sick, a stranger and in prison? When we ministered to such people, “the least of these”, that’s when we did it to Jesus. (Matthew 25).

So, some of our response to the question “Who do you say that I am?” must have to do with our actions, how we treat our neighbors, not just what we say we believe about Jesus. That debate is carried out in the Letter of James: “Someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do” (James 2). In this, Jesus is aligned with all the great religions of the world who also are concerned with the poor. All the great religions of the world teach the value of compassion and humility – something the world is desperate for right now!

Ultimately, each of us is faced with Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” And it makes a difference in how we live our lives. Theologian Albert Schweitzer in his book, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, finally comes to this realization:

He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those men who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same words: "Follow thou me!" and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.

I imagine that Jesus himself might have wondered, himself, who he was and what his life meant; we all ask these questions from time to time. What does Jesus mean to us now, to you now? Regardless of our “Christology,” Jesus’ life, and what was made and said about his life after his death, changed the world. And it so changed his followers that they were known as the “People of the Way” – Jesus’ way. Let us be People of the Way in our time and place.

Moosup Valley Sunday Service Moosup Valley Church holds Sunday Worship by Zoom, at 10:30 a.m. Liturgy literally means “the work of the people,” and at Moosup Valley we take this to heart. Members of the congregation take part in reading, playing, and singing. This Sunday, we will reflect on John’s story of Jesus and Thomas; Rev. Betsy’s reflection will be “A Tangible God.” Watch

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for the Zoom link and the Order of Worship bulletin which will be emailed on Saturday morning and will include everything you need to participate, all in one PDF document.

Rice City Worship Worship at Rice City will be live, in person (with precautions) this Sunday, April 11, at 9:00 a.m. as well as online on the MVLP Facebook page Sunday morning and throughout the week. The Order of Worship will be emailed with Moosup Valley’s on Saturday morning.

Mount Vernon Wednesday EveningsMt. Vernon Baptist Church streams a live service on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 p.m. The link: https://www.facebook.com/MVLPspirit/ ?ref=bookmrks ). The Order of Worship will be emailed with Rev. Betsy’s Order for Evening Prayer that morning.

Evening Prayer Moosup Valley holds Evening Prayer, Vespers, on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. by Zoom – a brief (20 minute) time of scripture, song, meditation and prayer, a time to give thanks for the day just past andpraise to God. As appropriate, we also reflect on questions for the season. If you wish, please bring a candle to light. Let Rev. Betsy know if you would like to sing an evening hymn. It is acceptable to come in your PJs! The Order of Prayer bulletin is emailed on Wednesdays, along with the Zoom link.

Special PrayersPrayer is the act and presence of sending [the] light from the bountifulness of your love to other people to heal, free, and bless them. When there is love in your life, you should share it spiritually with those who are pushed to the very edge of life. There is a lovely idea in the Celtic tradition that if you send out goodness from yourself or if you share that which is happy or good within you, it will all come back to you multiplied ten thousand times. – John O’ Donohue, Anam Cara, a Book of Celtic Wisdom

Please hold a place in your heart and prayers for…

For the family of Frank and Natalie Arnold, whose parents died within two days of each other two weeks ago. They are grateful that they could be together until the end and that they were able to die in their own home with family nearby.

For Rhoda Dexter who is in Worcester Memorial Hospital with a blood clot and probable gall bladder surgery.

For Judi White’s husband, Andrew, who was in an accident on an

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icy road in NH a week ago and who is suffering from a fractured vertebrae; and for Judi’s mother, Joyce Chase, who is scheduled for open heart surgery on April 21.

For Moosup Valley’s beloved Music Series Coordinator Bill McGrath, being treated at Brigham and Women’s for COVID pneumonia. Please pray for Bill to pull through this!

For Billy Dexter, Phyllis’ son, recovering from COVID.

For Vicky Neville’s sister, Carol, who is recovering from heart surgery.

For Rocky Riccio who now has complications from COVID and is being treated with blood thinners.

For Earl Mann who is recovering from back surgery and is now out of pain!

For Rose Desilus who is recovering from gall bladder surgery at home.

For Phyllis Dexter’s family and all of those who loved her.

For Martha’s niece Rev. Mindy Reed as she deals with chronic life-threatening conditions.

For Joan as she continues with radiation following surgery, and Joan and John’s grandson, Christopher, and for Joan’s friend, Jane, who is in need of strength and courage.

For Barbara’s cousin Judy who is still holding her own with new treatments for tumors.

For Judi White’s co-worker Ann’s new grandson, Wyatt, born prematurely on January 1 at 24 weeks. Although he has suffered some lung damage, he now weighs 5 pounds, 9 ounces, and has a good sucking reflex. Each day brings more hope for this little fighter!

For Jean Salemi, recovering from back surgery and awaiting the time we can all be physically together again.

For Richard Lucky who had another follow up procedure in Boston and is awaiting a safe time to be baptized at Rice City.

For Carol and Bob’s friend, Kathy, back in the hospital in Boston and knows that she will always have some of the pain that she currently is trying to endure.

For Linda’s son Peter, now that he is in his own apartment. 

For Jeanne Lavoie’s son-in-law Ryan as he undergoes chemo treatment.

For Chris Crowther’s partner Jen who has qualified to receive a liver transplant.

For our Asian neighbors, particularly women, as they face increased violence, not just in Atlanta, and for the families of those killed recently in mass shootings in Colorado, California, Washington, D.C, and South Carolina. Where is the will to stop this?

For our beloved country in the midst of persistent hostility and division. 5

Gather ‘Round for Bible Study Reverend Betsy’s Bible Study has been moved to Thursday mornings at 10:00 a.m., still by Zoom. We are finishing our discussion of the Letters of John – high Christology in a fractured community! To receive the Zoom link, contact Betsy.

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Sometimes the best answers to our theological questions are the simplest ones, the creative ones, the ones that we tell through children’s stories. Here is a favorite of mine:

Old TurtleA Story by Douglas Wood

Once, long long ago …yet somehow not so very long …when all the animals and rocksand wind and watersand treesand birdsand fishand all the beings of the world could speak …and understand one another …There began . . . an argument.It began softly at first . . .

Quiet as the first breeze that whispered, “He is a wind who is never still.”

Quiet as the stone that answered,“He is a great rock that never moves.”

Gentle as the mountain that rumbled, “God is a snowy peak, high above the clouds.”

And the fish in the ocean that answered, “God is a swimmer, in the dark blue depths of the sea.”

“No,” said the star, “God is a twinkling and a shining, far, far away.

“No,” replied the ant, “God is a sound and a smell and a feeling, who is very, very close.”

“God,” said the antelope, “is a runner, swift and free, who loves to leap and race with the wind.”

“She is a great tree,” murmured the willow, “a part of the world, always growing and always giving.”

“You are wrong,” argued the island, “God is separate and apart.”

“God is like the shining sun, far above all things,” said the blue sky.

“No, He is a river, who flows through the very heart of things,” thundered the waterfall.

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“She is a hunter,” roared the lion. “God is gentle” chirped the robin.

“He is powerful,” growled the bear.And the argument grew LOUDER and LOUDER and LOUDER . . . until . . .

STOP!

A new voice spoke.

It rumbled loudly, like thunder. And it whispered softly, like butterfly sneezes.The voice seemed to come from . . .

why it seemed to come from . . .

Old Turtle!

Now, Old Turtle hardly ever said anything, and certainly never argued about

things like God.

But now Old Turtle began to speak.

“God is indeed deep,” she said to the fish in the sea; and much higher than high,” she told the mountains.

“He is swift and free as the wind, and still and solid as a great rock,” she said to the breezes and stones.

“She is the life of the world,” Turtle said to the willow. “Always close by, yet beyond the farthest twinkling light,” she told the ant and the star.

“God is gentle and powerful. Above all things

and within all things.

“God is all that we dream of, and all that we seek,” said Old Turtle, “all that we come from and all that we can find.

“God IS.”

Old Turtle has never said so much before. All the beings of the world were surprised, and became very quiet.

But Old Turtle had one more thing to say,“There will soon be a new family of beings in the world,” she said, “and they will be strange and wonderful.

“They will be reminders of all that God is.

“They will come in many colors and shapes, with different faces and different ways of speaking.

“Their thoughts will soar to the stars, but their feet will walk the earth.

“They will possess many powers. They will be strong, yet tender, a message of love from God to the earth, and a prayer from the earth back to God”

And the people came.

But the people forgot.

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They forgot that they were a message of love, and a prayer from the earth.

And they began to argue . . . about who knew God, and who did not; and where God was, and was not; and whether God was, or was not.

And often the people misused their powers, and hurt one another. Or killed one another.

And they hurt the earth.

And finally even the forests began to die…. . . and the rivers and the oceans and the plants and the animals and the earth itself . . .

Because the people could not remember who they were, or where God was.

Until one day there came a voice, like the growling of thunder; but as soft as butterfly sneezes,

Please STOP.

The voice seemed to come from the mountain who rumbled, “Sometimes I see God swimming, in the dark blue depths of the sea.”________________________________________________________

And from the ocean who sighed, “He is often among the snow-capped peaks, reflecting the sun.”

From the stone who said, “I sometimes feel her breath, as she blows by.”

And the breeze who whispered, “I feel his still presence as I dance among the rocks.”

And the star said, “God is very close;” and the island said, “His love touches everything.”

And after a long, lonesome and scary time . . . . . the people listened, and began to hear…

And to see God in one another . . . . . . and in the beauty of all the Earth.

And Old Turtle smiled.

And so did God.

Church Offerings may be mailed for:

Mt. Vernon to Ron Allen (116 Barbs Hill Road, Greene, RI 02827),

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Moosup Valley to Pat Safstrom (76 Moosup Valley Road, Foster, RI 02825), or go on the website (moosupvalley.church) and donate through PayPal.Rice City to Robin Petrarca (105 Hopkins Hollow Road, Greene, RI 02827).

Reverend Betsy can be reached at BetsyAldrichGarland@gmail.com or 401-463-8697.

Pastor Bob can be reached at revbobh@gmail.com or 401-440-7831.

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