Video of this service is not available. 

Three CMC members gave gratitude reflections

Heidi Minard

As I was preparing for this and thinking about what I wanted to say about gratitude, an idea kept nagging at me. At first, I thought about all the things I should say about gratitude – that being thankful keeps us thinking of the positive instead of the negative, that it boosts our mood and therefore improves our overall quality of life, that it’s important to think about things we are grateful for on a daily basis, etc. And while I believe that all these things are true, I kept coming back to this idea of gratitude being dished out in the form of guilt. Many times, when I am going through something difficult or struggling in some way, a voice in my head almost always comes to chastise me and say, “Your situation could be so much worse. Think of all the people around the world suffering with xyz. You should be grateful that your life is so good compared to others. Your struggle is so small. Get over yourself. Think of all you have to be grateful for.” And with these thoughts swimming in my head, instead of gratitude helping me to feel positive or boost my mood, it just makes me feel guilty that I’m struggling, when I have so much to be grateful for. I end up feeling sheepish or silly for even mentioning the difficulties in my life because they are so small in comparison to others.

I am a person who loves examples as a way to understand things, so I will offer you a personal example. This school year has been a struggle for me because teaching is hard. And it’s not just because of the pandemic. It’s because teaching is HARD….

CMC Scripture and Sermon 11/13/22 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Sermon | Looking back, looking forward 

Text: Matthew 1:1-1-16
Speakers: Joel Miller and Mark Rupp

Joel

It was Carl Sagan, the American astronomer, who first popularized the idea that the elements that make up our bodies were made by the stars.  Stars are an in-gathering of the most simple element, hydrogen, which fuses to form helium, carbon, oxygen, all the way up to iron, with higher elements forming from other star events like supernovae and neutron star collisions.  The lesson, both scientifically sound and poetically beautiful, is that all things – everyone and everything we see – share a deep kinship and common ancestry, traceable back to the stars.  “We are their children,” Sagan would say.   

This universal kinship is something worth highlighting often in a worship setting, almost unavoidable when we get to biblical stories like God taking Abraham out to look up at the stars.  Childless Abraham is fearful there will be nothing of himself that gets passed to future generations.  God offers a promise that Abraham will indeed be an ancestor to many by having him gaze up at his own ancestors – the uncountable, unimaginably distant yet pervasively present stars.

In the last decade or so I’ve become interested in my more recent ancestry.  I’ve told some of these stories in sermons and blogs.  There’s my mother’s father’s side, the Lehmans, Mennonites pushed off their land in Switzerland, facing near starvation during a series of harsh winters, migrating to northeast Ohio for religious freedom and economic opportunity.  There’s my mother’s mother’s side, the Planks, who migrated here accidentally, boarding a ship in the Netherlands to say goodbye to friends and having the ship set sail before they could get…

CMC Scripture and Sermon 110622 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Sermon | Chief Lawrence Hart and the sacred ground we share

Text: Matthew 5:13-16; 38-48

Speaker: Joel Miller

After the funeral service and burial the mourners gather in the community center for a large meal – beef, fry bread, and other favorites.  As everyone is eating the family gathers around the pile of gifts.  These are not gifts they have received, but gifts they will give out.  It’s the giveaway, the traditional Cheyenne practice of honoring those who have been part of their life. 

The first to receive the gifts are chiefs who led the singing and prayers during the ceremony, then others who played a part in the service.  Then everyone in attendance.  People are called forward by name.  Gifts are given.  Hugs and condolences exchanged.  A final call for anyone who has not yet received a gift to come forward and share in the thanksgiving.

In earlier times the giveaway had served to share with those in need, making sure everyone in the community had enough.  It had evolved into a practice of showing honor and gratitude – Like a photographic negative of how we do birthday parties and baby showers.  Here it’s the host who gives out the gifts in appreciation for the guests’ presence in their lives. 

In the early settlement years the giveaway had been banned by the US government for five decades.  It was seen as uncivilized, disregarding the values of private property and wealth accumulation, anti-capitalistic.  But the Cheyenne found ways to keep the practice alive.  It was alive and well at the funeral of Chief Lawrence Hart who died earlier this year at the age of 89, eight months ago today, March 6, 2022.  The Cheyenne…

CMC Scripture and Sermon 10/30/22 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

Music credits:

Soul Work. Text & Music: Phil Hart, 2021. Used with permission.

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CMC Scripture and Sermon 10/23/2022 from Gwen Reiser on Vimeo.

The video includes the scripture and the sermon.

Sermon | Locusts and swords, dreams and visions
Text: Joel 1:1-7; 2:21-31
Speaker: Joel Miller
 

Of the 150+ Sundays in the three-year lectionary cycle, exactly one includes a passage from the book of Joel.  I take no personal offense at this.  I’ve always liked that my biblical namesake is considered to be one of the “minor prophets.”  It does take some of the pressure off.  Or as fellow CMCer Joel Call recently said of the name, it’s like an indy label.  I’m waiting for his band “Joel and the minor prophets.”  Add in small business owner Joel Copeland, and we’re kind of everywhere around here.          

One of my first Bible memory verses of my own choosing was Joel chapter 1 verse 1.  “The word of the Lord came to Joel, son of Pethuel.”  I had no idea who Pethuel was, and still don’t, but I kind of liked the sound of the word of the Lord coming to Joel.  With that and John 11:35, “Jesus wept,” I was pretty sure there were at least two Bible verses I could remember word for word.

Of the many times I’ve preached through the lectionary, I don’t think I’ve ever focused on the three-chapter book of Joel.  So today is the day.  It’s a much less daunting task to do in one sermon than, say, the book of Mark.  

If you’ve been around church a while, chances are you’ve heard this prophet referenced.  Every Pentecost Sunday we read from Acts chapter 2.  The story takes place about 50 days after Jesus’ death and resurrection, after his ascension, when a group of Jesus followers are all gathered together in Jerusalem.  Suddenly…