A Service for a United States Coast Guard Veteran

A SERVICE OF HOPE IN THE RESURECTION

Golden Gate National Cemetery

San Bruno, California

May 8, 2015, 1100

Chaplain: (Capt.) Edgar S. Welty, Jr. USV-A

For

WO4 (Retired) David Ellis Clark

DOB 12/16/1936; DOD 04/27/2015

United States Coast Guard

Semper Paratus

From Aztec shore to Arctic zone, to Europe and Far East.
The Flag is carried by our ships in times of war and peace;
And never have we struck it yet in spite of foe-men's might,
Who cheered our crews and cheered again for showing how to fight.

SURVEYOR and NARCISSUS, The EAGLE and DISPATCH,
The HUDSON and the TAMPA, the names are hard to match;
From Barrow's shores shore to Paraguay, Great Lakes or ocean's wave,
The Coast Guard fought through storms and winds, To punish or to save
Aye, we've been "Always Ready", To do to fight, or die
Write glory to the shield we wear, In letters to the sky.
To sink the foe or save the maimed, our mission and our pride,
We'll carry on 'til Kingdom Come, Ideals for which we've died.
Chorus:
So here's the Coast Guard marching song, We sing on land or sea.
Through surf and storm and howling gale, High shall our purpose be.
"Semper Paratus" is our guide, our fame, our glory too,
To fight to save or fight and die!  Aye! Coast Guard we are for you!

GATHERING TO HEAR GOD’S WORD

Invocation

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of all mercy and the God of all consolation. He comforts us in all our sorrows with the consolation we ourselves have received from God 

Thanks be to God

Scripture Romans 6:3-5

When we were baptized in Christ Jesus, we were baptized into his death.We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that, as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life. For if we have been united with Christ with a death like his, we certainly will be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Prayer

The Lord be with you               And also with you

Let us pray. O God, who gave us birth, you are ever more ready to hear than we are to pray. You know our needs before we ask, and our ignorance in asking. Show us now your grace, that as we face the mystery of death we may see the light of eternity. Speak to us once more your solemn message of life and death. Help us to live as those who are prepared to die, and when our days here are ended, enable us to die as those who go forth to live, so that living or dying, our life may be in Jesus Christ our risen Lord. Amen.

HEARING GOD’S WORD

First Lesson Romans 8:38-39

I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will

 be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Word of the Lord!  Thanks be to God!

Psalm 23 LBW (Read Responsively) Pastor Congregation

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down –in green pastures; and leads me beside still waters.

He revives my soul and guides me along right pathways for his name’s sake.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

 I shall `fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.  You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me;

you have anointed my head with oil; and my cup is running over.

Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Gospel as Fulfillment of Ancient Prophecy John 10:14; Isaiah. 40:11

Jesus said: I am the good shepherd.  I know my own and my own know me.  He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his

bosom.        The Word of the Lord!  Thanks be to God!

Eulogies –Testimonies (Open to anyone who wishes to speak)

RESPONDING TO GOD’S WORD

Living together in trust and hope, we confess our faith.

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.  On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the

forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.   Amen.

Prayers of the People

For our brother David, Let us pray to pray to our Lord Jesus Christ who said, “I am the resurrection and the life. “Lord, you consoled Martha and Mary in their distress;

Draw near to us who mourn for David, and dry the tears of those who weep.

Hear us Lord.

You wept at the grave of Lazarus your friend; comfort us in our sorrow

Hear us Lord.

You raised the dead to life; give to our brother eternal life.

Hear us Lord.

You promised paradise to the repentant thief bring David to the joys of heaven quiet mind.

Hear us Lord.

Our brother was washed in baptism and anointed with the Holy Spirit; give him fellowship with all your saints.

Hear us Lord.

He was nourished at your table on earth; welcome him at your table in the heavenly kingdom

Hear us Lord.

Comfort us in our sorrows at the death of David; let our faith be our consolation and eternal life our hope

Amen

The Lord’s Prayer KJV (Please stand.)

Let us pray as Jesus has taught us:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us:

 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.  For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever.                        Amen.

Commendation

Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant, David Ellis Clark.  Acknowledge, we humbly beech you, a sheep of your fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming.  Receive him into the arms of you mercy, into the blessed rest of

everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light.  Amen

Poem of Commitment Going home”

      1.   Going home, going home, I am going home
             Quiet like, some still day, I am going home

     2.    It's not far, just close by, Through an open door
            Work all done, care laid by Never fear no more

     3.     Mother's there expecting me Father's waiting too
              Lots of faces gathered there All the friends I knew
              I'm just going home

4.     No more fear, no more pain, no more stumbling by the way
        No more longing for the day Going to run no more

5.        Morning star light the way restless dreams all gone
   Shadows gone, break of day Real life has begun

6.    There's no break, there's no end Just living on

       Wide awake, with a smile Going on and on,

     7.    Going on and on Going home, going home
             I am going home Shadows gone, break of day

   I'm just going home

.

GOING FORTH IN THE HOPE OF GOD’S WORD

Charge (Matthew 22:37-40)

Go out into the world in peace. 

Love the Lord your God

With all your heart,

With all your soul,

With all your mind.

and love your neighbor as yourself

Blessing (Hebrews 13:20, 21)

The God of peace.

Who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus,

Make you complete in everything good,

So that you may do God’s will, working among us that which is pleasing in God’s sight

Through Jesus Christ.

To whom be the glory forever and ever!

Amen

Guided in Prayer

Guided in Prayer

May 17, 2015
Written by Kathryn Matthews Huey

Sunday, May 17
Seventh Sunday of Easter

Focus Theme
Guided in Prayer

Weekly Prayer
Gracious God, in the resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, you have given us eternal life and glorified your name in all the world. Refresh our souls with the living streams of your truth, that in our unity, your joy may be complete. Amen.

Focus Reading
John 17:6-19

[Jesus said:] "I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.

"And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

"Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth."

All Readings For This Sunday
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
Psalm 1
1 John 5:9-13
John 17:6-19

Focus Questions

1. What are your priorities?

2. Does your way of life contradict or express those priorities?

3. Would we feel and behave differently if we remembered that we are a community that Jesus prays for?

4. How do you think the disciples were feeling that night, after dinner, sharing wine and conversation with Jesus?

5. What's the connection between living in truth and being close to God?

Reflection by Kate Matthews (Huey)

I wonder how the disciples were feeling that night, sitting around after supper with the customary wine and conversation. It often seems that we relax more after dinner, perhaps with a cup of coffee, and just talk, opening up more then than during the meal itself. Jesus has now been talking for several chapters in John's Gospel, in a speech called the farewell discourse (another ancient custom, at the end of a great person's life), ending in the high priestly prayer. Last week, we heard Jesus urging his disciples to abide in his love, to make their home in his love, and to love one another as he loved them. The lectionary, however, skips over the next part where Jesus mentions that the world would hate them, and even kill them, as it had first hated and killed him.

No wonder, then, that Jesus feels a need to bring the conversation to a close with deep, heartfelt prayer; this week's reading comes from that prayer. John wrote his Gospel for a community that, sixty or so years later, was experiencing that hatred and rejection, so this prayer is for them, too, and for the church down through the ages, and for us as well. Fred Craddock compares readers of this text to "a congregation overhearing a pastoral prayer. We are not directly addressed, but we are very much in the mind of the One who is praying." I wonder how the disciples felt that night, as they listened to Jesus praying for them.

Struggling with our questions

By the time Jesus turned from them to speak directly to God, it must have been sinking into their hearts and minds that something big was about to happen, and it wasn't going to be good. They had tried to get a handle on the situation, to understand what he was talking about, to find a way to negotiate the road ahead. Like people of faith in every age, they had questions. Dennis E. Smith suggests that Jesus' answers might be summed up this way: "Pay attention to the story; there you will find 'the way' and there you will find 'the Father.'" The story of Jesus and his life, then, is the path to understanding and knowledge about God.

The disciples' world was about to be turned upside down: they were on the brink of losing Jesus to death. John's community must have felt small and vulnerable after losing their synagogue home, and facing strong opposition from the world around them. Don't worry, Jesus tells them, before turning to God in prayer, asking that they will be protected, entrusting them, and all who would follow, into God's care. Jesus asks that they will be one, that they will be made holy. More than that: that they will experience joy.

What does it mean to abide?

In some mysterious way, perhaps all of that is what it means to abide: to trust, to love, to be one, to be holy, to know joy. And this is also what it sounds like when Jesus prays for us. Gail R. O'Day wonders what might happen if we remembered that "We are a community for whom Jesus prays." We often hear about the faith of Jesus, and in this passage that faith is trust. O'Day draws on Karl Barth to describe the way Jesus prays, boldly reminding God of God's promises (like so many people of faith before and after him): "You have given, you have sent, you have loved; now keep, sanctify, let them be oneÖ." This is a prayer, O'Day says, that is very much in accord with God's own will. Each time Jesus speaks of being "one," he's talking about the way he and the Father are one, and how we are drawn into closeness to God because we know Jesus.

This quiet, trusting prayer (unlike the other Gospel accounts of Jesus' anguished prayer in the garden) addresses God as "father." Dianne Bergant explains that we shouldn't be surprised by this, in a "patriarchal" and "male-centered" society. It wouldn't have surprised the disciples, because God had been described as "father" in their tradition; after all, "God created and protected them," Bergant writes. But Jesus went farther than this, to a level of deep intimacy. And we're drawn into that closeness to God because of our relationship with Jesus, and assured that our trust is well-placed, even thousands of years later, Fred Craddock writes, because "the church is not an orphan in the world, the creation of a religious imagination, the frightened child of huddled rumors and popular superstitions. For those who need to examine the credentials of the church's life and message, here is truth's pedigree: from God, to Christ, to the apostles, to the church."
 
Living in a "liminal time"

Jesus had already turned the disciples' lives upside down, and they were never going to be the same. But during that quiet after-dinner conversation, everything seemed about to change once again, and we all know what change brings: anxiety. Bergant observes that the disciples were in a "liminal time in between, a time of change and transition." The disciples, however, were not unique in this regard. We all face change and uncertainty, and sooner or later, we too live in a liminal time, a time for decision and a time for trust. Bergant describes the disciples' very human desire to "cling to what they have known while realizing that things are no longer what they were before," and their need to "rethink their priorities, reorder their lives, and reconstitute their community." Does that sound familiar? When we're going through change, loss and uncertainty, we can take heart that other faithful people have been here before us. We can take heart when we remember that we have one another to love, the assurance of the Word, and the comfort of knowing that "We are a community for whom Jesus prays."

This reassurance gives us the courage to speak the truth, even in the face of danger and hatred. Carmelo ¡lvarez challenges us to take the risk that comes with reordering our lives and the life of the world: "A search for the truth," he writes, "can lead to controversial topics such as naming corruption, unveiling impunity, and unmasking idolatry in personal, communal, and systemic entities." For example, after emerging from a time of rampant human rights violations, Argentina collected "stories and testimonies of torture, disappearance of persons, and abuses of power by the militaries." For them, national reconciliation and healing would begin by "telling the truth." In spite of danger, hatred and risk, then, ¡lvarez reads in this text an either/or that tells the faithful in every age that "indifference, apathy, and complacency are not options" if we seek to live in the truth.

Forgiveness and justice

Several years ago, after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida, I heard an interview with Bishop T.D. Jakes on NPR, about a book he had written on forgiveness. The interviewer asked him how he reconciles a message of forgiveness with the call for justice in regard to Trayvon's death. Bishop Jakes responded that forgiveness does not do away with the importance of knowing the truth, and the need for justice. Alas, right here in the city of Cleveland, we are waiting a very long time with growing tension for two controversial decisions, once again in response to the shooting deaths of people of color, both of these times by police officers. The mayor calls for calm, "makes preparations" (which sounds ominous to me) in the wake of "events in Baltimore," and seeks the cooperation of people of faith, especially faith leaders in the city of Cleveland, in keeping the peace when the decisions are announced. This is one of those times when forgiveness does not negate the need for justice, for telling the truth, and for answers to difficult and even risky questions.

An either/or choice confronts us as followers of Jesus and it often sets us in opposition to the world. In his prayer, Jesus speaks of the world in a way that might surprise us, if we remember John's earlier words, perhaps the most well-known verse in the New Testament: "For God so loved the world" (see John 3:16). God created and continues to create this world, and God loves it all the while, but the culture we find ourselves in can lead us astray. If we're going to reorder our lives and rethink our priorities, we're going to have to make some choices. This week's passage tells us that there will be times when we have to choose, and when it comes to life or death, love or hate, God is on the side of love and life.

Does love indeed win?

"The world," we're told, will not agree. In the world, power and security, victory at all costs, wealth and possessions, prestige and honor, numbing our emotions and suppressing our hope ñ all of these things appear to win out over love, humility, justice, peace. That's the way this passage tells it, and that was Jesus' concern as he prayed for us. At times, however, the church itself has stumbled, entangling with the ways and values of the world rather than being consumed by gospel values. When the church becomes one more social organization (a club, even!), one more activity, one more voice that props up the powers that be, it has lost its way.

For example, in his superb film, "Brother Sun, Sister Moon," Franco Zeffirelli depicts the terrible compromises of the 13th-century church as it sought political power rather than the power that comes from Jesus' own prayer for us. Zeffirelli tells the story of Francis of Assisi, whose simplicity and humility before the pope (Innocent III, at the zenith of temporal power for the church) were more powerful and transformative than all the pomp and majesty of the court around him. By his sweet spirit and earnest humility, Francis reminded the magnificently robed church leader of his own early, sincere longings for holiness. You can see in the face of the pope a realization that he had been lost to the ways of the world around him. We seem to be seeing a resurgence of such hunger for a simple, loving spiritual leader in the current appreciation of one who not coincidentally chose the name of Francis when he became pope two years ago.

Grieving and God

There is still another feeling here, another experience we share with those early disciples: grief. Sooner or later, we all experience loss and heartbreak. As we come to the end of the Easter season and recall the ascension of Jesus into heaven, we remember that even after triumphing over death, Jesus still left his disciples. They may not have been orphaned, and they did have the gift of the Holy Spirit on its way, but there must have been some sense of loss and grief at the thought of losing the one for whom they had left everything behind. In the May 19, 2009 issue of The Christian Century, Maureen Dallison Kemeza reflects on that grief and on the nearness of God around us: she calls John a "theological poet" and reminds us that "the universe is a sacrament of the presence of God." John is the Gospel writer who uses the term "eternal life" far more than "reign of God," although Gail O'Day suggests that he speaks not of "a gift of immortality or a future life in heaven, but a life shaped by the knowledge of God as revealed in Jesus."

Perhaps we're surprised and even uncomfortable about the way Jesus speaks of "the world." Here we find another path for reflection. David Cunningham has written evocatively of the paradox of being human, both animal and yet made in the image of God. "Although we frequently allow ourselves to be ruled only by our appetites," he writes, "we can rise to a level of forethought, creativity, and abundant gift-giving that aligns us very closely with God." The question we must ask focuses on how we will order our lives and examine our priorities and shape our institutions, especially if we are really, really close to God because of our knowledge of Jesus. We may take our cue from that relationship between Jesus and Abba God, a deeply intimate knowledge and love, and build our own life together avoiding hierarchy and granting one another lots of "space" in order "to live into full personhood within a loving community of care." Cunningham also makes holiness sound different from the striving and righteous piety that we might think we must pursue. Instead, to be holy means to be "set apart--particularly for God's special purpose," like Israel, like holy water...not because we're better but because we are set apart and given a particular calling in this world that God created, this world that God loves, this world in which we live and move and grow into fully human and richly blessed children of God.

A people both set apart and sent

So we live in the world, and God loves the world, but we are somehow set apart within it. The words I find both comforting and energizing are "for God's special purpose." We live in that tension between gathering as a set-apart community and being a community that is sent into the world. Aren't we tempted to create a little world for ourselves, especially inside the church, where we can take refuge from the world? Thomas Troeger describes the temptation that the earliest Christians had in common with us, to draw together in such communities, remembering Jesus and feeling his presence with us, and not having to deal with "a hostile world" outside our walls. And who can really blame us, with the world so threatening, so insecure, so...hopeless, at times? But Troeger reminds us that this text assures us that Jesus will always be with us and will empower us "to live vitally and faithfully in the world, not owned by it, but fully engaged with its needs and wounds and energized by the truth of God's word."

Energized and engaged. Many of us are so "engaged" that we can't remember where to find the energy for all our activities. Our spirits are drying up, and we long for fresh waters. N. Graham Standish has written an excellent book, Discovering the Narrow Path: A Guide to Spiritual Balance, in which he illustrates the way "the world" has led us away from the streams that refresh our spirits. He puts it simply: we do too much, have too much, want too much, and then blame our stress on the perception that we do or have "too little" or "not enough." We're driven, out of balance, consumed by the ways of the world, drowning in excess. As I understand Standish, excess doesn't have to mean riches (although North Americans are richer than most of the rest of the world). It can mean too much activity, too much striving, even too much effort to overcome the stress that comes with doing too much. I appreciated his suggestion that the experts who tell us to meditate are giving us one more thing to do when we already have too much to do, and we feel like failures when we can't fit one more thing in.

Here is where Standish's book connects with this text, because he calls us to that same priority-rethinking, life-reordering, and community-reconstituting that Bergant sees in every liminal time. Christians, Standish writes, need to ask themselves, "What are they serving: God or something else?" (that either/or that John loves so well). As Christians, he continues, we're called "to live a radically different kind of life: a life of balance with Christ as the balancing fulcrum." The over-stimulated, too-busy life that we seem enslaved by is not God's will for us, but the peace and joy of God's reign are. While we may not face the same persecution that the early Christians experienced from "the world," we're still called to a very narrow path, different from the paths of the world. On that narrow path, we'll have to "make choices, prioritize, and put at the center those things that should be at our center" of a life dedicated to God, including "compassion for others, and communion with God." The choices are hard when all around us the world tries to lure us off the narrow path, but we need not fear: we are a community that Jesus prays for, a set-apart community that nevertheless loves the world that God loves, a people sent into the world to love and serve God and everything and everyone that God loves.

The Rev. Kathryn Matthews (Huey) serves as dean of Amistad Chapel at the national offices of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio (https://www.facebook.com/AmistadChapel).

You're invited to share your reflections on this text on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.

A preaching version of this reflection (with book titles) is at http://www.ucc.org/worship_samuel_sermon_seeds_may_17_2015.

For further reflection

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 19th century
"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least."

Mahatma Gandhi, 20th century 
"Action expresses priorities."

Stephen R. Covey, 21st century
"Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important."

Richard P. Feynman, 20th century
"Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is."

Victoria Moran, 21st c. (in Lit From Within: Tending Your Soul For Lifelong Beauty)
"A simple life is not seeing how little we can get by with-óthat's povertyó-but how efficiently we can put first things first....When you're clear about your purpose and your priorities, you can painlessly discard whatever does not support these, whether it's clutter in your cabinets or commitments on your calendar."

Harry Emerson Fosdick, 20th century
"Self-denial is not the negative, forbidding thing that often we shake our heads about. In one sense there is no such thing as self-denial, for what we call such is the necessary price we pay for things on which our hearts are set."

Michael Novak, 21st century
"The more common vices today are likely to be spiritual: preoccupation, hyperactivity, a failure even to heed the natural rhythms of the body and the sense, distractedness, an instrumentalizing of people and time and activity."

About Weekly Seeds

Weekly Seeds is a United Church of Christ resource for Bible study based on the readings of the "Lectionary," a plan for weekly Bible readings in public worship used in Protestant, Anglican and Roman Catholic churches throughout the world. When we pray with and study the Bible using the Lectionary, we are praying and studying with millions of others.

You're welcome to use this resource in your congregation's Bible study groups.

Weekly Seeds is a service of Local Church Ministries of the United Church of Christ. Bible texts are from the New Revised Standard Version, © 1989 Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The Revised Common Lectionary is © 1992 Consultation on Common Texts. Used by permission.

Words from the 2015 Graduating Class of PANAMERICAN INSITUTE

Words from the 2015 Graduating Class

of

PANAMERICAN INSITUTE 

JESUS DANIEL RIVERA VILLEGAS (15 YEARS OLD): I am so happy to have attended this school because besides learning

typing, computers, accounting, etc. I learn how to be in control of my reactions. I learned that the best life

policies are to tell always the truth, be honest, trustworthy, respectful, punctual and polite to live in harmony

with everyone. I sure will miss coming to classes every day and the fellowship with my teachers and

classmates, but I am also excited to start another school where I plan to keep an average of 10. My next goal is

to attend the preparatory school “Lazaro Cardenas” and then attend the Autonomous University of Baja

California to study Accounting. I want to meet more people to have more friends. I would like to convince my

family in 2 years to attend talks about parenting and I want to help my mom.

I thank our sponsor for their generosity, their visits to our school and for Christmas baskets we received every

December. I am so grateful for all the support I received from our counselor, Martha, our principal, Paty, our

computer teacher Karen, our secretary Lety and everyone else who dedicated time to us.

JUAN CARLOS PALOS ESPINOZA (15 YEARS OLD): After almost three year at PAI, I consider it my second home and

when I graduate, I will miss my teachers who made learning fun, my classmates and the great meals Señora

Vicky prepared for us every day. I am thankful to our benefactors for their support with my bus fares, medical

expenses and other school supplies. I specially thank the school secretary, Letty, for taking care of me when I

was ill. I think I could not have finished my Secondary school without them. Right now I am studying for the

admission exam to preparatory school, graduate from it with good grades to attend the Autonomous

University of Baja California. I want to improve my relationships with my friends and make new ones. I want to

prove to my family that I can have a job and get a career at the same time; help them and save up money as

well. In about 5 years I would like to find a girlfriend and then get married after I finish my studies.

ORLANDO JESUS MAYORQUIN BERUMEN (15 YEARS OLD): My plans after graduating from PAI are to enroll in a

preparatory school called “Cobach” and then attend the Autonomous University of Baja California. I want to

pay back the education Panamerican Institute gave me by returning and becoming a teacher here.

I also would like to study mixed martial arts and learn to dance. I want to buy a car, fix up my house and in a

few years visit my grandparents in Nayarit. I want to have a family of my own in 10 years.

ERICK ALONSO LEYVA HADAR (16 YEARS OLD): I started at PAI being a very poor student, not only in grades, but I was

not very responsible being on time or submitting my home work clean or with good quality. Now my grades

are better, I am almost never late to school and home work gets done right and on time. I also learned not to

fight in or out of school, but to solve problems by talking and negotiating. Now that I am graduating I am

enjoying more the delicious meals we get every day, the computer classroom and the soccer court because I

know I will miss them the most. I am grateful to my sponsor for all their very nice gifts they sent me and for

making possible the existence of this school.

I plan to start the Preparatory school in August and study until I get a Master’s Degree. I want to enroll in a

soccer team, and later in a box team. I want to have a driver’s license and spend more time with my family;

and show them that I can study really hard and get a good job.

ABRAHAM MEDRANO GAMBOA (15 YEARS OLD): The thing I will miss the most from PAI is the amazing computer

classroom. There is no other school with such facilities. Of course I will also miss my teachers who patiently

taught us so much in every subject and also how to be responsible and make the best of our circumstances to

build a better life.

I am thankful to our sponsors for their generosity with students they have not even met, but have trusted to

do well with this opportunity they provide to study.

Now as a graduate from PAI, I am ready to attend the preparatory school “Cobach” and the Tijuana Technical

Institute (An Engineering University) and have a job developing videogames. I want to travel with my family in

a year. I want to start practicing hockey in 2 years. I would like to get along better with my friends and make

new ones. In about 10 years I want to start my own family.

DIANA VALERIA ROBLES PARTIDA (14 YEARS OLD): O.K. I have to admit that I was one of the kids who did not know

how to sweep; I did not even know to hold a broom! Now I learned not only how to seep and clean but my

teachers and all personnel at PAI taught me that I should not limit myself because my family is not rich, that I

should see myself as a worthy person who can reach anything I can dream and I want to be a chef. So I will

take the admission test to the preparatory school, finish it in three years and start classes at the Autonomous

University of Baja California to study Gastronomy. I also want to start gymnastics. I want to meet new friends

and hang out with them, but keeping the old ones. I would like to have more communication and trust with

my family, and get along with everyone.

I want to thank all our sponsors and teachers who put up with us; I want to thank señoras Juanita and Vicky

and Señor Mauricio for all the improvements to our school.

FERNANDO IVAN PEREZ SANTOS (15 YEARS OLD): There are so many things that I learned here at PAI, all the way from

knowing how to use the right fingers on the keyboard to being responsible for my actions and for my life. I feel

strong enough to face the challenges the future might have for me and succeed; I will improve my grades,

attend the preparatory school “Cobach” and then the Autonomous University of Baja California to study

Psychology. I want to improve the relationship with my father, I want to work to help with the house expenses

and to pay for my sister’s schooling. I want to have good friends who always stand by me. When I am mature

enough, maybe in 10 years, I want to start my own family.

Now that I am graduating I know I will miss my classmates, my teachers and all the different activities at this

school which I believe is the best. I know that it will be hard to find teachers like Amalia who teaches Spanish

Grammar and Marcelino who teaches P.E. and taught us how to behave like gentleman.

I plead to our sponsors to continue helping because I know that the next generation of students will also need

your help. With all my heart I thank Señora Juanita for letting benefactor know how much we need a quality

STUDENTS MIDDLE ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT

JESUS ANTONIO LEYVA HADAR (17 YEARS OLD): Some of the things I learned at PAI and that will help me a lot to build

my future are: follow rules, but speak up if something is not right without causing problems or being rude. I

am grateful to my adopted sponsors for all their support, their letters and their gifts. Thank you for all the

incentives to continue my schooling and in that aspect I want to improve my grades, attend the preparatory

school and the University to have a bachelors degree.

I hope I can combine my studies and be able to practice boxing and soccer, and in a few years learn martial

arts. I want to meet more friends and be more social. I want to improve the communication between my

siblings and parents, and get along with everybody.

MAURA ALICIA SANCHEZ LAMBARENA (15 YEARS OLD): When I started PAI, I found very interesting all the new subjects

I had, subjects such as typing, computers, science, etc. but I struggled so much to keep up with everything.

Now after three years of schooling, I am a more responsible student; my school work is cleaner, I have a better

character and I improved my grades because I am more organized. I can express myself better; I can get along

with classmates, teachers and my own family. Thank you very much for making my life better!

I will miss a lot of things and people from PAI, this wonderful little school so far away from my house. I will

miss Señora Vicky’s meal, Teacher Amalia scolding, my classroom 303, my classmates and friends with whom I

had such good times and hopefully will continue to do so in the future.

I thank all the sponsors, teachers and PAI’s personnel who motivated me to do the best to become a better

person. I also thank my school that opened its doors to me and that nourished not only my body and mind,

buy my soul as well. Thank you teacher Martha for receiving us every day with a smile, thank you señora

Juanita for working to raise funds to give us the best quality education possible. I sure will miss all of you!

Now about my plans after graduation, I would like to finish my preparatory school with good grades and study

the University. I want to learn how to drive, stop arguing with my family, specially my sister and help out my

mom around the house. In about 5 years I want to travel with my parents. In 10 years I want to have my own

family and a house.

JOSHUA GAMALIEL GALINDO AGUILAR (15 YEARS OLD): I want you all to know how much I appreciate the opportunity

to study at PAI because I learned so much here, not only in the different subjects, but also to be more

responsible, to always make my best effort and to solve situations without violence. When I graduate I want to

enroll to preparatory school. Once I get in, I want to be part of their soccer team, learn to play better the

guitar and start martial art classes as well. I plan to study very hard to get only grades of 9’s and 10’s in all my

subjects, because I want to graduate with honors and study the University to become a Civil Engineer. I want

to make more friends and keep the old ones, have reunions with them. I want to get along better with my

little sister and practice respect within my family and teach my sister about this important value. I want to get

a good job to help my mom.

Joana Elizabeth Aguayo Chavez (15 years old): I am so sad to leave PAI in March, so near to my graduation, but

my safety is at risk by the man who killed my uncle before I was born. The man is out of jail and lives a few

blocks from my home. He threatened my mother with doing something in revenge for being in jail so many

years. I will move to live with my older brother in Quintana Roo and finish my secondary school there.

Thank you all for the support you gave me and my best wishes to all.

ELIAN RODRIGO TORRES ACOSTA (15 YEARS OLD): Thanks to PAI I now know what I want to be in the future which is to

finish the preparatory school and attend the Autonomous University of Baja California.

I want to obey my parents, get along with them and help them with house expenses. I want to respect more

the people around me and enroll in a soccer team.

I hope that in my future I meet other good people like the ones at PAI who taught me to believe in myself and

to work hard on reaching my goals. I will always keep PAI and everyone (sponsors, personnel and school

mates) in my heart. ¡GRACIAS A TODOS!

JESSICA YESENIA SALCIDO MORALES (15 YEARS OLD): I want to pass the preparatory admission exam to attend

“Cobach” and finish with an average above 9; I want to attend the Autonomous University of Baja California to

study Gastronomy while also studying acting. I want to prove to my mom that I am responsible and

trustworthy so she can be proud of me, in a few years I want to visit my family in Zacatecas. I want to become

an educated person, get married and have children in 8 years.

I am thankful to PAI because I learned to work as a team, to value what I have and to dream big. I will miss my

classmates and my teachers who make me feel confident and for the knowledge to pass the admission exam

to continue my schooling.

I appreciate very much the time my teacher Amalia took to make us learn and laugh at the same time. I

appreciate also that my teacher Maribel more than a teacher was my friend who always gave me good advice

and for being such a good life example of good morals. I also appreciate all the work señora Juanita did to

change my life for the better.

I am especially grateful for the support of my adopted benefactors who took care of me and congratulated me

for my achievements. Thank you for the financial help which made it possible for me to finish my Secondary

education. Probably I will not be able to repay for your generosity, but I am sure that God will reward you with

a wonderful life.

OSCAR ALBERTO LOPEZ VAZQUEZ (15 YEARS OLD): What is better at PAI than any other school is that we learned

important subjects to get jobs, subjects such as Accounting, computers and English. Now that I graduate I

know I will miss all my class and school mates. Surely in my next school I will not have sponsors to pay for my

education, so thank you all very much for all you did for me during these three years at Panamerican Institute.

As a short time goal, I want to get in better shape; I also want to keep, at least, an average of 9.5 in school. I

want to have more friends and keep the old ones. I want to prove my family that I can be responsible and

ANGELA GABRIELA HUERTA NAVARRO (15 YEARS OLD): I truly believe that in the three years I have studied at PAI I

became a better person. I now know how important it is to be in control of your anger, to be responsible, on

time and get along with people around you. Most of all I learned to work hard to make my dreams come true

and be happy with who I am.

I will surely miss all the love and extra time teachers and personnel gave me. I feel stronger now and able deal

with any situation. Thank you everyone for your support!

I want to attend a preparatory school called “Cetys” and pass every subject, attend the Autonomous

University of Baja California to study Dentistry in order to have my own dental office. I want to get along with

my family and visit them more often and, in 5 years, go visit my sister in Guadalajara. I want to have my own

family and children.

MELISSA MONTSERRAT RIVERA BENAVIDES (15 YEARS OLD): At PAI I learned that you do not need to have a lot of money

to be successful, what you need is to make your best effort and never give up until you reach your goals. I also

learned that we are not alone, that there will always be people sent by God to help us and that God will also

give us the tools to help others when they are in need. Because I now believe that nobody is better than

anybody else and even though I am young I could give advice as long as I am responsible, considerate, kind,

just and respectful.

What I will miss when I graduate are my teachers who so patiently helped me and Principal Paty who always

congratulated me for my achievements, Señora Juanita for working so hard to have the best school for us. I

will also miss my classmates who made me laugh when I was sad and when we all sat down at the same table

at meal times.

I am so grateful to all my sponsors for their unconditional support even when my grades were not that good.

My future plans are to study carpentry and attend the preparatory school, finish it then start my own

business. As I grow up I want to make new friends and become a better friend, by having empathy and giving

them advice. I want to spend more time with my family and travel with them; eventually I would like to help

my mom with the house expenses.

JENNIFER ROSALES AYON (15 YEARS OLD): I thank my school and teachers for making me appreciate the things I have

and the people around me. I will miss so much the scolding of Amalia to do things better and on time. I sure

learned a lot from her!

I feel so lucky to have sponsors who generously helped PAI stay open for all students who want a good quality

technical education. I thank señora Juanita for paying attention to all our needs and work to satisfy them. I

also thank our meals benefactors and señora Vicky for preparing all meals with such love. Without all these

help I could not be ready to start the preparatory school and attend the University to study either Psychology

or Teaching.

My short time plans are to learn how to box, play the guitar and the accordion. I also want to be nicer and

have more friends. I want to go out more with my dad and have an excellent relationship with my family.

PAOLA MONTSERRAT ROBLES YAÑEZ (15 YEARS OLD): I give thanks to everyone at PAI who had been part of my life

during the past three years. I appreciate the time, patience and love of teachers and sponsor who always had

our best interest in mind.

Thanks to the education I received here now I can attend the preparatory school called “Lazaro Cardenas”, the

Autonomous University of Baja California and become a Graphic Designer.

Of course my next few years are not going to be only for studying; I also want to go out more with my friends

and eventually find the one I will spend the rest of my life with. I also want to travel to Coahuila, San Luis

Potosi and Mexico City.

For now, I want to enroll in a gym to get in good shape and also get along better with my family.

CARLA MELIZA LEYVA HADAR (14 YEARS OLD): First I want to thank Señora Vicky for their delicious meals she

prepared for us every day, then I want to thank my sponsors and Señora Juanita for giving me the privilege of

studying in this wonderful school and to all my teachers for giving me a good education. My goal is to improve

my grades to 9’s and 10’s so my parents and sponsors feel proud of me. As a career, I want to become a flight

attendant. I want to prove my parents that I can be responsible by helping them. I want to meet new people,

and get along with everyone in my life.

DENISE SALCIDO MORALES (15 YEARS OLD): I want to tell you that PAI helped me realize that all of us are important

no matter what our financial situation is and that is the reason why we should be respectful of everyone from

the littlest person to the oldest and more powerful person. We should be attentive of every ones points of

view. That I believe makes me a better person.

I will miss the meals, at the beginning I did not want to eat because in my home meals are different, but little

by little I learned to eat different things, I even eat vegetables now! I will miss Spanish Grammar classes

because Amalia taught me to be a stronger person with every scolding. I will also miss P.E., Civics, Physics,

Chemistry, all my classes in general, teachers and the school itself.

I am grateful because my sponsors helped me so much even though they do not know me in person. Every

time I needed some special financial help they came to my aid.

After graduating from PAI I would like to attend the preparatory school “Cobach” and after that the

Autonomous University of Baja California. I also want to play in a professional soccer team.

I will do my best to be friendlier, have better communication with my mom, my best friend and my family, I

want to help my mom with house duties and stop fighting with my sister.

JOSE FERNANDO TORRES SANCHEZ (14 YEARS OLD): The most interesting thing I learn at PAI was how to make science

projects to participate at the yearly contest. My favorite subject was Physics. I am not sure if I will have

teachers like the ones at PAI who patiently explained over and over again until we all understood the subject.

I am grateful to all of them for that.

I am also grateful to our sponsors for believing that I could do well in school and for providing us with hot

breakfast and lunches every day.

My short term goals are to play in a soccer team and have my driver’s license. I want to stop fighting my father

so much, help build an extra room to our house and paint the house. I want to plant trees around my

neighborhood, paint the graffiti off the walls and join a group that takes care of the environment.

My long term plans are to study all that is necessary to have a Master’s Degree.

Christian Vows

Sample Christian Vows for Your Wedding Ceremony

Bill Fairchild

By Mary Fairchild

These sample Christian vows may be used just as they are, or modified to create your own unique pledge together with the minister performing your ceremony.

Sample Wedding Vows #1

In the name of Jesus, I ___ take you, ___, to be my (husband/wife), to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, for as long as we both shall live.

This is my solemn vow.

Sample Wedding Vows #2

I, ___, take you ___, to be my wedded (husband/wife), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, 'til death do us part: according to God's holy ordinance, and thereto I pledge you my love and faithfulness.

Sample Wedding Vows #3

I love you ___ as I love no other. All that I am I share with you. I take you to be my (husband/wife) through health and sickness, through plenty and want, through joy and sorrow, now and forever.

Sample Wedding Vows #4

I take you ___, to be my (husband/wife), loving you now and as you grow and develop into all that God intends. I will love you when we are together and when we are apart; when our lives are at peace and when they are in turmoil; when I am proud of you and when I am disappointed in you; in times of rest and in times of work. I will honor your goals and dreams and help you to fulfill them. From the depth of my being, I will seek to be open and honest with you.

Righteous

Righteous

May 01, 2015
Written by Mark Winters

^"'Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?'" - Matthew 7:3
I was a righteous child. I knew I was going to grow up and rid the world of injustice. Which is probably why I didn't have a lot of friends as a kid.

When I first saw the movie, "Scent of a Woman,"I was blown away by Al Pacino's legendary performance as the blind, and (spoiler alert) suicidal Lt. Col. Frank Slade. But one thing really bothered me: why wouldn't Charlie (Chris O'Donnell) rat out those other boys? If you haven't seen the movie, some of the boys at Charlie's prep school had vandalized the Headmaster's car. Charlie saw what happened and who did it, but he wouldn't tell on them. Charlie was not exactly a friend of the perpetrators—in fact, they kind of bullied him. He really had no reason to protect them. In my mind, spilling the beans was the ethical thing to do. Pacino's epic speech at the end inspires us all to protect Charlie's silence, and who am I to argue with Al Pacino? But I always came away scratching my head, wondering why the story went that way.

Being the righteous kid, I never understood why tattling was frowned upon. After all, shouldn't we hold each other accountable for bad behavior? (Like I said, I didn't have many friends.)

When I finally came across this scripture from Matthew 7, suddenly it made sense. It's easy to point out the faults in others, but we are not so good about acknowledging our own imperfections. Charlie could've told the Headmaster what he saw and who did it, but I think he understood the danger of pointing fingers at others, and that a battle of finger-pointing is an exhausting and ultimately fruitless endeavor.

I'm now a righteous adult. I still want to rid the world of injustice. But now I realize that the best way to start this work is to look in the mirror and pull the logs out of my own eyes first. It's harder to do that, and more painful. But I have been able to see things in new ways, and for that, I'm grateful. (Maybe it's also part of why I seem to have more friends now.)

Prayer

Holy One, give us the courage and strong arms we need to pull those logs out of our eyes. Then let us use our new vision to build your realm of justice and love. Amen.

About the Author
Mark Winters is the Pastor of First Congregational United Church of Christ, Naperville, Illinois.

Let's Take U.S. Nukes Off Hair-Trigger Alert

Elliott Negin Become a fan

Senior Writer, Union of Concerned Scientists

Let's Take U.S. Nukes Off Hair-Trigger Alert Before We Blow Up the Planet

Earlier this year, a sobering documentary called The Man Who Saved the World made the rounds of U.S. college campuses. That title sounds pretty dramatic, and it is.

The film focuses on an event that occurred on September 26, 1983, during one of the most tense periods of the Cold War. Just three weeks earlier, the Russians had shot down a civilian South Korea airliner that crossed into Soviet airspace, killing all of its passengers. President Ronald Reagan, who had already denounced the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," called the attack "a crime against humanity [that] must never be forgotten."

Lt. Col. Stanislav Petrov was in a bunker just outside of Moscow, monitoring the Soviet Union's early warning satellite system. It was Petrov's job to report a nuclear attack to his superiors, who would send the message up the chain of command until it reached Soviet leader Yuri Andropov, who would then decide whether to retaliate. They would have only an 8- to 10-minute window to respond.

Just after midnight, alarms went off. One of the satellites had detected five U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) heading toward the Soviet Union. Repeated checks confirmed the satellite was working correctly.

Petrov was skeptical that the attack was real. He figured that if the United States had actually launched a nuclear attack it would likely involve hundreds, if not thousands, of nuclear missiles attempting to wipe out Soviet forces, not five. He told his superiors it was a false alarm, but with no hard evidence to back up his assessment.

Petrov's hunch proved correct -- and saved the world from nuclear disaster. Later it was discovered that the early warning system had mistaken the reflection of the sun on the tops of clouds for a missile launch.

That's right. The sun's reflection almost started World War III.

What's even more sobering is that this was not an isolated incident. There have been a number of technical glitches and human errors in both Russia and the United States over the last few decades that could have triggered a nuclear launch. A civilian scientific rocket, a failed computer chip, and an improperly installed circuit card are just some of the culprits that could have led to an international catastrophe.

To address this glaring problem, 166 countries voted in favor of a U.N. resolution last year that called on nuclear-weapons states to take their arsenals off "hair-trigger" alert status to dramatically reduce the chance of an accidental, erroneous or unauthorized launch. Unfortunately, France, Great Britain, Russia and the United States -- four of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and all nuclear-weapons states -- opposed it.

The issue, however, is expected to come up again during a month-long U.N. conference that began this week on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the international accord designed to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and eventually eliminate them. A coalition of a dozen countries, including Canada, Germany and Japan, will ask all nuclear states to take "concrete and meaningful steps, whether unilaterally, bilaterally or regionally, to further reduce the operational status of nuclear weapons." In other words, take their weapons off hair-trigger alert.

What should the United States do? For David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the answer is straightforward.

"The Obama administration should show some leadership and remove U.S. land-based missiles from hair-trigger alert status," says Wright, whose organization recently launched a campaign to raise public awareness of the issue. "President Obama can do that immediately and without congressional approval, and it would make the world a much safer place, regardless of what other nuclear states ultimately do. He doesn't have to wait, and he shouldn't. He needs to act."

'A Dangerous Relic of the Cold War'

The policy of keeping U.S. land-based missiles on a hair trigger dates to the Cold War era. Back then, military strategists on both sides feared a surprise first-strike nuclear attack -- not only on cities and industrial sites but also on their land-based nuclear missiles and bombers. To ensure that they maintained the capability of responding, both countries kept their land-based nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert so they could be launched within minutes to avoid being destroyed on the ground.

Whether or not this use 'em or lose 'em policy made sense years ago, it doesn't anymore. Just ask Lt. Gen. James Kowalski, who became deputy commander of the U.S. Strategic Command in October 2013. Before taking that job, he oversaw U.S. ICBMs and nuclear bombers. He says the notion of a Russian first strike at this point is "hardly worth discussing." Other, much more likely things, worry him far more.

"The greatest risk to my force is an accident," Kowalski said at a July 2013 forum in Washington, D.C. "The greatest risk to my force is doing something stupid. That puts my force at risk, more so than almost anything out there I can think of."

Kowalski wasn't directly referring to hair-trigger alert, but a number of high-ranking military officers and government officials have singled out that policy as one that could most easily lead to a disastrous accident.

For instance, Gen. James Cartwright, a retired four-star Marine Corps general who served as commander of the U.S. Strategic Command and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently co-authored a column in the International New York Times calling on both the United States and Russia to "scrap this obsolete protocol before a devastating error occurs." Now chairman of the Global Zero Commission on Nuclear Risk Reduction, Cartwright was the lead author of a 2012 study, co-written by former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, that advocated that the U.S. government end hair-trigger alert.

Cartwright and Hagel's recommendation echoed one made by former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz, former Defense Secretary William Perry and former Sen. Sam Nunn, who proposed a series of steps to establish a foundation for a nuclear-free world in a January 2007 Wall Street Journal column. Their very first suggestion was to modify "the Cold War posture of deployed nuclear weapons to increase warning time and thereby reduce the danger of an accidental or unauthorized use of a nuclear weapon."

Recent U.S. presidents also have acknowledged the threat.

George W. Bush referenced the issue during his first presidential run. "The United States should remove as many weapons as possible from high-alert, hair-trigger status -- another vestige of Cold War confrontation," he said in a May 2000 speech. "Preparation for quick launch, within minutes after warning of an attack, was the rule during the era of superpower rivalry. But today, for two nations at peace, keeping so many weapons on high alert may create unacceptable risks of accidental or unauthorized launch."

Barack Obama, too, touched upon the subject during his first presidential campaign. "Keeping nuclear weapons ready to launch on a moment's notice is a dangerous relic of the Cold War," Obama said in an interview published by Arms Control Today two months before he was elected. "Such policies increase the risk of catastrophic accidents or miscalculation. I believe that we must address this dangerous situation."

The Time is Now, Mr. President

We're now into the third year of President Obama's second term. So why are U.S. ballistic missiles still on high alert? The short answer is that no one in the administration has made this a high enough priority.

To those who worry that taking U.S. missiles off hair-trigger alert could compromise national security, UCS Senior Analyst Stephen Young points out that the majority of U.S. nuclear forces are on submarines, which are constantly moving and difficult to detect, making them virtually invulnerable. "Our subs represent a supremely capable response to nuclear attack, more than what would be required for any purpose," Young says. "They make the readiness level of our ICBMs irrelevant, even in a crisis."

Adm. Stansfield Turner, Central Intelligence Agency director during the Carter administration, said as much in a 1999 interview with PBS' documentary series Frontline. "I think that one of the first things we should do is take every U.S. [nuclear] weapon off high alert," he said. "We have an absolutely insane policy in this country. ...Our missiles that count are in submarines out here at sea, and [the Russians] can't see those. So we can always counter-attack, no matter what they do in that attack."

Of course, the world would be even safer if Russia also took its missiles off hair-trigger alert. A U.S. decision to do so, however, would likely encourage Russia to reciprocate. Either way, with widespread agreement that removing U.S. land-based nuclear missiles from hair-trigger alert would significantly reduce the risk of an accidental or unauthorized launch, the time is now for the United States to lead by example, especially when the advantages are obvious and the disadvantages are negligible.

Accidents happen. Let's make sure they aren't nuclear.

Elliott Negin is a senior writer at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Sermon Seeds: Fifth Sunday of Easter Year B

Sermon Seeds May 3, 2015

Fifth Sunday of Easter Year B                                                                                  
Lectionary citations:                                                                                           
Acts 8:26-40
Psalm 22:25-31
1 John 4:7-21
John 15:1-8

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Sermon Seeds

Focus Scripture:
John 15:1-8
Additional reflection on Acts 8:26-40 for Immigrants Rights Sunday

Weekly Theme:
Abiding in Love

Reflection:
by Kathryn Matthews (Huey)

Last week, the Gospel of John provided the image of a good shepherd to describe the close, caring relationship between God and Jesus, and between Jesus and us. Perhaps we're not herders of sheep, or haven't spent much time in an agrarian setting, but we get the idea of what John is talking about. First of all, the shepherd image is familiar to us from the much-loved and often-memorized Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd." And, from childhood, we've seen many paintings of Jesus with a little lamb over his shoulders, the flock grazing peacefully around him. Our theme last week, "Enfolded by Love," was reassuring, and reassurance was what the disciples and the early Christian community needed, especially John's community. Just as the disciples must have been bewildered by some of the things Jesus was saying, and anxious about the negative response of religious and political leaders, so the early Christians a generation later, expelled from their religious home, also needed a word of tender reassurance from the risen Christ, telling them that they weren't alone or abandoned.

In this week's reading, John uses the image of a vine and its branches, to help – and challenge – that early community, and ours today, to claim our close relationship with Jesus. In Jesus' time, people would have been familiar with the vine metaphor; it appears in the Hebrew Scriptures several times to describe Israel. But even if contemporary Christians have never tended a vineyard, most of us have seen a grapevine at one time or another. Looking closely, we see the many entwined branches, winding their way around one another in intricate patterns of tight curls that make it impossible to tell where one branch starts or another one ends. This is not just intricate; it's intimate, and the vine shares with its branches the nutrients that sustain it, the life force of the whole plant. Even closer than the shepherd there on the hillside, this vine is one with the branches.

Intimacy and anonymity

Intimacy, and anonymity. Gail R. O'Day finds the "anonymity" in this metaphor "stark." John isn't interested, she says, in "distinctions in appearance, character, or gifts." The many voices of the New Testament give us a fuller, richer picture than one voice would have provided, so here we could do a little Bible study by comparing this passage with the writing of Paul in 1 Corinthians 12. O'Day contrasts John and Paul's writings, with Paul using the differences between the members of the body to define "what it means to be a body." On the other hand, John, instead of highlighting our individual gifts and roles, "challenges contemporary Western understandings of personality, individualism, and self-expression." For John, O'Day writes, "The mark of the faithful community is how it loves, not who are its members" (John, The New Interpreter's Bible).

We hear that word, "love," often in John's writings. Love is at the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Love is the measure of faithfulness. Our readings this month linger on this line of thought, but they're not legalistic or detailed. "Love" feels like a state of being, so the word "abide" almost jumps off the page in these readings from John. Fred Craddock understandably calls it "the central verb" in the passage, and emphasizes its importance in the entire Gospel of John (Preaching through the Christian Year B). Eugene Peterson translates "abide" in verse 4 a little differently, but with the same meaning, as Jesus teaches his followers, "Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you" (The Message). Just as we need the air to breathe, we need food and nourishment to live. We need shelter and community; we need a home. The early Christians, who had in a very real sense lost their spiritual homes and perhaps, along with them, their family ties and their physical homes, were undoubtedly comforted by this thought.

Rise up and get moving!

The setting for these words holds great significance. Just before this passage, at the end of chapter 14, Jesus has finished the Passover meal (the Last Supper) with his disciples and is ready to move on. "Rise," he says, "let us be on our way" (14:31b). But the very next verse, which begins this week's reading and chapter 15 as well, continues his long farewell speech, full of instructions and exhortations for the disciples. Charles Cousar doesn't skip over the significance of that last verse in chapter 14 or its connection to what follows: "Jesus' words are a call to get moving." Jesus is speaking to his followers, a community whose witness and service (perhaps it would be better to say "witness of service") expresses a "distinctiveness from the world" that provokes "distrust and hatred (15:18-19)" (Texts for Preaching Year B). In a way, there's a tension here: the word "abide" could suggest "planted" (like a vine, perhaps?), in place, rooted, fixed. But Jesus' command to "rise up" puts us in motion, in mission, in works that bear witness and bear fruit at the same time. Sarah Henrich is helpful here: "Bearing fruit does not create disciples," she writes; "bearing fruit reveals disciples. Both of these activities are dependent on abiding in Jesus, the real vine" (Feasting on the Word Year B, Vol. 2).

The corporate: a word of reassurance for the church

Scholars take at least two different approaches to this passage. Some, like Charles Cousar, focus on the community, on the "corporateness" of this image, and on the centrality of "the indwelling Christ" to its ministries. Cousar finds words that are front and center for a church that seeks new life: "connectedness, permanency, vitality." I love the image of green plants for church vitality, and Cousar would seem to agree when he associates the image of bearing fruit with "growth, usefulness, and nourishment" (Texts for Preaching Year B). Gail O'Day also emphasizes the communal nature of this life, a "model" of "interrelationship and corporate accountability" that challenges our unceasing attempts to stand out from, and rise up over, one another (John, The New Interpreter's Bible).

But what about this notion of "bearing fruit"? If bearing fruit reveals disciples rather than creating them, as Sarah Henrich claims, we might search our church's history to see how often abiding in Jesus can cause all sorts of trouble, just in case we're forgotten that the early Christians were not the last ones to face opposition and persecution for their faith in Jesus. Stephen A. Cooper calls the roll of such disruptions caused by Jesus' "radical" instructions: Paul, Anthony, Francis, Luther, Anabaptists, anti-slavery activists (Feasting on the Word Year B, Vol. 2). One question for the church today is whether we find ourselves speaking and acting a word contrary to the "comfortable" within us and around us, where we face together, not alone, the forces arrayed against justice and mercy. What would happen if our congregations spent less time talking and worrying and working on our survival and more time on putting ourselves in the line of fire, as Paul, Anthony, Francis (and Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Archbishop Romero and the four American churchwomen murdered in El Salvador, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer) and the rest did?

The personal: a word of reassurance for each one of us

However, the corporate reading of this passage is not the only way to approach it; in fact, this beautiful text deserves a fuller, deeper understanding. Not surprisingly, Nancy R. Blakely's pastoral reflection on the text considers the personal relationship each of us has with Jesus, the vine. She reminds us that we find the best grapes close in to the vine, "where the nutrients are the most concentrated." And she uses Peterson's image of "making a home" in describing the peace that we long for in our hearts. This kind of abiding for Blakely is the way God "sustains" us and showers us with "shalom, which speaks of wholeness, completeness, and health." Here, close to the vine, immersed in shalom, we find not only nourishment but also hope and joy, and we let God's word "find a home in us through faithful devotion." There, close to the vine, we find peace about all the things that we face, and all the things that we pray for, because our will will be aligned with God's own will. She even reminds us of the value of a painful but redemptive pruning: "All that is extraneous is carefully and lovingly removed. What remains is centered and focused on God's word" (Feasting on the Word Year B, Vol. 2).

A word of challenge for us all

How do we bring these two streams together or, to be closer to today's image, how do we graft them together, the personal and the communal? Blakely does just that when she reminds us that the Risen Christ in John's Gospel is warning his followers in every age and every setting not to "go it alone, trusting in their own strength. On their own they would be cut off from their life source. They would bear no fruit." This is really good news for us, no matter how much it flies in the face of everything we're told about success and measuring up. It's not up to us to dig deep down inside and make happen what needs to happen. Blakely reminds us that, if we stay close to Jesus, we have a source for all the grace and strength we need in our lives, and the result will be joy (Feasting on the Word Year B, Vol. 2). The result will be fruit that blesses the world and reveals us as the followers of Jesus, a community of love. Together, we are so much more powerful than any of us can be on our own. However, this "together" isn't out there, on our own even as a community, because our life force flows from the vine with which we are one. Barbara Essex perhaps puts it most succinctly: "The community that Jesus calls forth is one that embodies an African proverb: Because we are, I am" (Feasting on the Word Year B, Vol. 2). Amen!

The Rev. Kathryn Matthews (Huey) serves as dean of Amistad Chapel at the national offices of the United Church of Christ in Cleveland, Ohio