CCC Blog

Walking Two Dogs

I have two dogs

Same breed

Same size and coloring

From a distance they could pass for twins

Up close too, at least sometimes

They sleep in positions so synchronized they must come from coordinated planning

Both cuddle up to the random, stray pillow that has found its way to the floor in the same way

Beyond that, though, they are anything but twins

One is pushing triple digits in human years

The other in the throes of human adolescence

The Older one’s mouth bares only fragments and remnants

Each tooth broken or chipped  and all the color of field corn

He no longer hears the knock at the front the door

His overcast eyes take an extra moment to track

His legs first quiver when pressing upward from slumber

The Younger one’s teeth come to glistening points

He can go from 0 to 60 at the faintest trace of the door’s knock

His energy measured by relentless 360-degree spinning as his food dish is filled

The Older one wasn’t always this way

His barreled chest once heaved as his paws thundered down the path of a forest’s floor

But the years have a way of taking their toll

They usually do

Hidden underneath fur are the scars of multiple surgeries

We almost lost him

More than once  

The Younger one got sick last year

Lethargic would be too gracious a word to describe him

He didn’t eat  

He was too pained to lay down

Just stood there, head drooping to the floor

Every breath a pathetic wheeze that only came as if by hard labor

A humbling reminder of the fragile transience of youth

But he rebounded

Went 0 to 60 in just few days

Agedness has not yet placed its limits on him

The difference between these two dogs of mine is never more pronounced than on a walk

The Younger one dashes ahead

Head and shoulders straining – legs bounding and zigzagging – every scent jerking his nose this way and that – a manic back and forth explosion of sensory overload

The Older one lags behind

His steps plodding and measured

His olfactories leave no stone unturned and pore over every blade of grass

Sometimes he even stops

Not in pain, nor making any sound or gesture of discomfort

Just silent, statuesque resistance as if to say, “I have come as far as I intend to go”  

And I am in the middle, between the two

Trying to keep us all together

My arms pulled so far in either direction it seems I’m holding wrought-iron leashes

Every time we go out, we replay this choreographed routine

The young one racing out in front

The old one pacing up the rear

And me straining to hold the one back and coax the other forward

Sometimes I am successful and we are all together

The three of us walking side by side

Our steps in perfect alignment  

But it is a fleeting moment and soon we revert to our prescribed positions

I wonder if we are all not walking two dogs like this – each in our own way

Finding ourselves between a world that seems to be out of control, changing faster than we’d like, and one we know is never coming back

Between a body that longs to keeping writing checks and one that hasn’t been able to cash them for a lot longer than the check-writer can accept

Between racing to catch up to a church we were never meant to become and one not ready to admit its better days are behind it

Between a version of ourselves impatiently pressured to achieve and accomplish, and one that is learning to lollygag in gratitude and contentment

Maybe one day we’ll find our steps in alignment

Or maybe the best we can hope for is a glimpse here or there

One thing I am sure of, though… both dogs are loved.

Blessings – Michael

God-Sightings Sermon Series 2025

As we kick off a new year, our focus in worship will be God-Sightings: Glimpses of God at Work.  Between now and Ash Wednesday, we will catch different glimpses of Jesus at work as he undertakes his ministry among us.  Glimpses are, by definition, snapshots.  They are not the entire picture of anything, but they do reveal a great deal of what they depict.  Though they are, by nature, temporary but what they leave with us is lasting.  Over these next few weeks, we’ll catch a glimpse of Jesus being baptized, calling his first disciples, preaching his first sermon and performing miracles.  Along the way we’ll see him leave us with lasting lessons about what it means to be his followers today.  It is our hope that we will not only learn something new during this sermon series – something new about who Jesus is and what he teaches us; who we are called to be as his people; and how we are to interact with one another in our world today. 

January 19 Luke 3:21-22 Pastor Vicky The Baptism of Jesus

January 26 Luke 4:14-21 Pastor Michael The First Sermon

February 2 Luke 5:1-11 Pastor Michael The First Disciples

February 9 Luke 6:17-23 Pastor Michael The Sermon on the Plain

February 16 Luke 7: 1-10 Pastor Melinda The Humility of the Centurion   

February 23 Luke 9:10-17 Pastor Michael The Feeding of the Multitudes

March 2 Luke 9:28-36 Pastor Melinda  The Transfiguration

Blessings – Michael

Something to Think About – Epiphany 2024

January 6 is the day designated as Epiphany in the Christian year.  “Epiphany” is a Greek word that means “to shine upon” (to reveal; appear).  For Christians, Epiphany refers to the star shining in the sky the night Jesus was born.  That star revealed Jesus’ birth to the world, and it appeared to magi living in the east.  They saw the significance of that star as signaling the birth of a new king whom they wished to visit.  They most likely resided in the Parthian kingdom (Persia, or modern-day Iran) and since that journey from Persia to Bethlehem lasted 12 days, these magi would have arrived in Bethlehem on January 6.  Thus, Epiphany – the day the Jesus was revealed to the Magi – is celebrated 12 days after Christmas.

Who were these magi?  In popular culture we think of them as kings, but scholars and historians are sure they were not kings.  Sometimes we refer to them as wise men – which is fine.  They probably were wise.  But the best way to name them is “magi” – which would have been a cross between philosopher-astronomer-theologian.  Moreover, we tend to think there were three of them. But did you know that scripture never gives us a number?  The only place the magi are referenced is in Matthew 2:1-12.  There, no number of magi is ever given.  A number of gifts brought to Jesus is mentioned however.  Three.  The magi brought gold, frankincense and myrrh as gifts to the newborn Jesus.  And these gifts they brought are far more significant for us than the number of magi who brought them.  

First, there was gold.  Since the most ancient of times, gold has been associated with royalty.  Giving Jesus the gift gold signifies that Jesus is a king.  That is not surprising to us.  The prophet Isaiah described Jesus as a King of Kings when he prophesied about the coming messiah.  From a spiritual standpoint, calling Jesus a king means seeing in him the source of ultimate authority in this realm.  It challenges us to allow Jesus to transcend all the ways earthly authority can be divisive.  What if we allowed our faith in Christ to be preferential over our political affiliations?  What if we engaged one another on the basis of our shared faith in Christ and allowed that affiliation to have priority of the ways we are divided over other issues like abortion and gun control?  Jesus prayed (John 17:20) that all his people might be one.  What if we took that desire more seriously without also making other issues conditions of that unity?

Next came frankincense.  Frankincense was just one of may “incenses” used in the ancient world. It was a resin collected from trees and then burned slowly for the fragrance it produced.  Incense was also used when the gods were worshiped.  In polytheistic cultures, the way a god was “worshipped” was by waving burning incense around a statue of that god.  The fragrant smoke would surround that statue and was seen as a way of honoring that god.  To bring Jesus incense was to signify that he was God.  Not only was he a king with authority over all earthly kings, he was also God.  Jesus would have the power to grant salvation that no one on earth could; that none could but God.

Finally, there was myrrh.  Myrrh was highly fragrant and because of this was used to embalm corpses in ancient Egypt.  To bring Jesus myrrh was to acknowledge his death; that he would one day die as all earthly bodies die.  Jesus would be a god of a different nature than all other gods with which people were familiar at the time.  Gods were immortal.  God’s didn’t die.  But this God – Jesus the Christ – would bring us victory over death by doing what no one would have believed and first dying himself.  

Taken together, the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh reveal a faith in Jesus a king; a king who was also God; who held in his very being both human and divine natures; who wished to be seen as authoritative over both heaven and earth; and whose salvation would come by means of embracing death in order to overcome it.  Personally, I find interesting the conversations about these magi (how many there might have been, what their names were…), but not nearly as interesting as the significance of the gifts they brought to Jesus.  

                                        Blessings, Michael

“Gloria – We Praise the God of all Homecomings”

Everywhere we look in the Christmas story, we see people coming home.  When Mary and Joseph journeyed to Bethlehem, where Jesus ended up being born, because they were coming home.  Home to Joseph’s ancestral home.  Joseph was from the lineage of King David and David’s hometown was Bethlehem.  So Mary and Joseph went back home; to the place where it all began.  And when they arrived, they weren’t invited into a spacious room inside the roadside inn.  Instead, they had to squeeze into cramped space, out back in the stable, negotiating with the livestock for valuable real estate.  We go home like this too.  Not exactly the same way, but – from time to time -we also go home to the place it all began for us; to visit the house in which we were raised; to the farmland our grandparents settled; to walk the hallways of the schools we attended; to swing on the swings of our favorite playgrounds; and to sit in the pews of childhood churches.  Have you ever noticed, when you do that, that everything seems smaller?  Back then, they were so large – or at least normal-sized.  But now?  It’s as though we’ve outgrown them.  And it’s true.  We have outgrown them.  Coming home to the place our journey started shows us how far we’ve come; how much we’ve grown.  Of course, it all seems smaller now, because we’ve changed.  We’ve become so much more than we were then. 

The Wise Men also came home.  That is, before they came home they first came to Judea to visit the newborn Jesus.  They had been guided by a star and traveled from the East for many days.  And when their visit was over, they came back home.  But this time they traveled by another road; they took a   detour of sorts.  They were not up on all the politics going on in Judea at the time.  So, they didn’t realize the Jewish King Herod saw the birth of Jesus as a threat to his kingship; and that he wanted Jesus dead.  They also didn’t know that he wanted to use them as his own personal GPS system.  He told them to come back to him and tell him where exactly in Bethlehem baby Jesus was; that once King Herod had that information he was going to come and put the Jesus to death.  But even without knowing any of that, the Wise Men were warned in a dream not to return to King Herod, but to sneak out of town and head back home by another road.  So, their journey home took an unexpected detour and unanticipated delays - but they eventually made it home. 

Last year during Advent, we asked you to share stories with us about a time when Christmas “almost didn’t happen.”  When your Christmas plans unexpectedly changed so much that it seemed like Christmas as you knew it wouldn’t come about.  It shouldn’t be surprising that a good number of your stories were about travel.  Sudden blizzards, ice storms, road closures, flight cancellations all required a detour to be made, and delays to be endured, but somehow –   eventually and overcoming all odds – you made it home and Christmas did  happen.  Not only that, the ones that almost didn’t happen because of the   detours and the delays ended up being the ones that we remember the most.

Then there were the shepherds.  They also came home that first Christmas.  Or better put, they went home.  They were the very first people to hear of Jesus’ birth.  The angels who proclaimed, “Glory to God in the highest” could have gone anywhere that night.  They could have visited palace royals or big city businessmen.  They could have gone to the social influencers of the day. 

But they didn’t.  They went instead to certain poor shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night.  Shepherding was hard work; with long hours; and relentless exposure to the elements.  It was a low-paying job, so it was one that anyone with any means would run from. Shepherds were drawn from among the disinherited of the world.  They were those down on their luck; on work-release programs; who also met with parole officers and were trying to find a footing in life again. 

But it was to them that the angels came that night!  The ones overlooked and undervalued; with their backs up against the wall.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ was spoken to them first!  And after the shepherds visited the infant Jesus in the manger in Bethlehem, they went home differently.  They were praising God for all they had seen and heard.  They would be the first evangelists!  Long before James gave up his fishing nets, Levi left the tax both and John baptized his first repentant, the Shepherds were the ones preparing the way for the Good News of Jesus Christ to inhabit the world.  Where everyone else had beaten them down for the past mistakes, God lifted them up for their future potential. 

Home is any place that celebrates you for how much you’ve grown and how far you’ve come.  Home is any place that reminds you that the detours and delays on your life journey are meant to define you more than defeat you.  And home is any place that believes in you; that believes you matter; that no matter how much you’ve been humbled by life, you’re never to be humiliated.  For in God’s eyes, you are always worthy of love.  And while you can find that place anywhere in the world, we hope that you find it here.  We hope that every time you come to Central that you feel celebrated for how much you’ve grown - in life and in faith; that you are reminded that your challenges cannot break the spirit of God in you; and where you feel loved for you are… no matter what!   

Blessings – Michael