The Search Committee has a candidate for a part-time minister for our church. Ralph English would fill our pulpit every Sunday except about 8 Sundays a year.
The Rev. Ralph S. English was ordained by the United Church of Christ in 1979 and served congregations in New York State until he first retired in 2020. After a brief stint as Music Director of the Wilmot, NH UCC church, he served as the Trasnsitional Pastor of the Union Congregational, UCC church in Hebron, NH until August of this year.
Ralph comes to us from Grantham, New Hampshire. He will be preaching on November 23rd at 9:30. He will join us for a pot luck dinner at 5:00 pm on Saturday, November 22. Call Doris Backus (802-522-6176) to let her know what food you would be bringing for the dinner. Join us for either or both events!
The Sharon and Tunbridge Churches, which have served their communities for years, hope to begin a new chapter in their histories with a shared minister — bringing back a tradition from their past.
They seek a lay or ordained pastor to serve both communities with Sunday worship and religious holiday services in each town. Pastoral duties are not initially contemplated, but could be developed for the candidate who is a good speaker, relates well to people and is enthused about the possibilities.
Sharon Congregational Church, at exit 2 on I-89, dates to the 1800s. The Tunbridge Church, 20 minutes away, was established in 1978 by the town’s Baptist, Congregational and Methodist churches all founded in the 1800s. Outreach activities, including hosting food shelves, and community involvement are important to each congregation.
Doris: This
reading is from Isaiah chapter 40, verses 1-11.
Doris: “Comfort,
Oooo comfort my people,” says your God.
“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her, announce to her, proclaim
to her:
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand double
for all her sins.
Doris: A voice calls out: “In the
wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway
for our God. Every valley shall be
lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall
become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has
spoken.”
Doris:
A voice says, “Speak out!”
MARK: (bored) And I said, “What shall I declare or reveal? What shall I announce or speak? What shall I proclaim and preach? All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it – when the spirit of the Lord moves over it; surely the people are grass. And yet. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.
Doris: Get
you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice
with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah, speak out to the cities of Israel, cry out to all: “Here
is your God!”
Mark: See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
Doris: Here end this reading for the Second Sunday of Advent.
Mark Sometimes I get tired of trying to
pronounce names that have come from languages that use a different alphabet.
Especially since the individual seems to have little significance to the story.
Vicki
And the bible tries to identify
the person using references that have no known
reference to us. And sometimes it seems like the names of even the kings
do not matter because they differ only in the details of what evil they did.
Just a repetitive cycle that just repeats over and over again in a of
redundancies.
Mark With these common complaints in
mind, here is this morning’s scripture. Basically from II Kings chapter 22
&23 but with some context leading in and commentary. If this worries you,
read it in your bible to see exactly what it says. In some translation of an
ancient language. That used a different alphabet. From multiple ‘original
texts’ that do not agree with each other. But to start somewhere:
Vicki The
king did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
Mark When he died, is son became king
and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
Vicki When
he died, is son became king and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
Mark When he died, is son became king
and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
Vicki Wait…
wasn’t this one a good king?
Mark I lost track too. Maybe that is why
we have names for them. Mostly they are bad, and “walked in the way his father
had”.
Vicki Yeah.
Hezekiah was very good, his son was very bad, his grand son was really
bad and only seemed a bit better because his father was so bad.
Mark But then his son was Josiah.
Josiah did “what was right in the sight of the Lord. “
Vicki How
did he manage not to keep the evil family traditions going?
Mark Well, he began his reign when he
was 8 years old. Maybe he was just too young to have learned the bad stuff? But
he gets compared to David favorably. We know who his mother and grandmother
are, maybe they are mentioned because of their positive influence.
Vicki Who
are they?
Mark I cannot pronounce the names. There
are symbol things over the vowels. Just like the names for three guys that
Josiah sends to do stuff. So, just pick up where King Josiah tells those three guys
what to do.
Vicki “Go
up to the high priest Hilkiah, and have him count the entire sum of the money
that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the
threshold have collected from the people; let it be given into the hand of the
workers who have the oversight of the house of the Lord; let them give it to
the workers who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house, that is, to
the carpenters, to the builders, to the masons; and let them use it to buy
timber and quarried stone to repair the house. But no accounting shall be asked
from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal
honestly.”
Mark The high priest Hilkiah said to
Shaphan?… Shuffen? … Shufflen?.. the king’s secretary, “I have
found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.” When Hilkiah gave the
book to Shaeffan?… the king’s secretary, he read it. Then the secretary came to the king, and
reported to the king, “Your servants have emptied out the money that was
found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workers who have
oversight of the house of the Lord.” Then shhhaa… the secretary
informed the king, “The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.” The
Secretary then read it aloud to the king.
Vicki When
the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. Then the
king commanded the priest Hilkiah, and his servants with the hard to pronounce
names saying,
Mark “Go,
inquire of the Lord for me, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the
words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that
is kindled against us, because our ancestors did not obey the words of this
book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.” So the priest Hilkiah, and the others went to
the prophetess Huldah who is described by lineage but with unknown names. She
resided in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, where they consulted her. She
declared to them,
Vicki “Thus
says the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me, Thus says
the Lord, I will indeed bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants—all
the words of the book that the king of Judah has read. Because they have
abandoned me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked
me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be
kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. But as to the king of
Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus
says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard,
because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when
you heard how I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that
they should become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your
clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord. Therefore, I
will gather you to your ancestors, and you shall be gathered to your grave in
peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this
place.”
Mark They took the message back to the
king.
Vicki Then
the king directed that all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem should be gathered
to him. The king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him went all the
people of Judah, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets,
and all the people, both small and great; those with names easy to pronounce
and those with names that sound like alphabet hash, and he read in their
hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the
house of the Lord.
Mark The king stood by the pillar and
made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, keeping his commandments,
his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform
the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All the people
joined in the covenant.
Vicki Then,
because words are not action, King Josiah cleaned house. He literally clean the
House of the Lord of everything dedicated to Baal and Asherah the fertility god
and goddess and Molech who liked children sacrificed to him. Everything that
his ancestors had put in the Temple but was not holy to YHWH. Even horses
dedicated to the sun were removed and the chariots burned. Then he destroyed all
the fertility shrines in the high places of Judah. And the altar in Bethel
erected by Jeroboam he burned. And the shrines in Samaria he burned and he
destroyed the priests. Even if Solomon built it, if it was not Holy to the Lord
our God, it was defiled, destroyed, and turned to dust.
Mark And then?
Vicki Then
Josiah returned to Jerusalem. The king
commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the Lord your God as
prescribed in this book of the covenant. No such Passover had been kept since
the days of the judges who judged Israel before King Saul, David, or Solomon:
even during all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah; but
in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the Lord in
Jerusalem.
Mark This ends the reading of today’s scripture
lesson.
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I
called: “My son”.
The
more I called them,
the
more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering
incense to idols.
Yet it was I who
taught Ephraim to walk, I took them up in my arms; but
they did not know that I healed them. I led them
with cords of human kindness, with bands of love. I was to
them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent
down to them and fed them.
They shall return to the land of Egypt or Assyria shall be
their king, because they have refused to return to me. The sword rages in their
cities, it consumes their oracle-priests, and devours because of their schemes.
My people are bent on turning away from me! To the Most High they call,
but he does not raise them up at all.
How can I give you up,
Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How
can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows –
warm and tender.
I will not
execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and no mortal,
I am the Holy One in your midst,
and I will not come in wrath.
The sermon “Tender”
Lighting the Peace Candle at Sharon Church
At thee time of Veteran’s Day and 100 years after
the Great War ended.
November 10,2019
Today, near the 100th anniversary of the ending of World War I,
we light our Peace Candle for the times when the need for peace has called for
war.
We light this candle for the 37.5 million who died because of
World War I at a rate of 230 for every hour of fighting; 11% of Frances total
population died, 68% of all the Australians involved in the conflict died, for
the 8 million horses who died, and 1 million dogs who died.
We light it remembering that 7 million people were physically
maimed by bullets, bombs, and gas. We remember too those who were
emotionally/mentally maimed by what was called “Shell Shock”. We remember that
the costs included land, money, innocence, friends, family, and in some cases
the increase of anger.
We light this candle for all those who live because the war
was won when it was.
We light this Peace Candle for those who died so others might
live and for all those ways people suffered to bring people to pray that this
would be the war to end all wars. In a hundred years we have not learned
how to prevent war.
May this candle shine as a memorial, beacon, and a commitment.
