Handy Work The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring Eden United Church of Christ Hayward, California Fifth Sunday of Easter May 18, 2014 John 14:1-14 (NRSV) Country music composer Stuart Hamblen wrote a song called This Ole House back in the 1950s. Rosemary Clooney recorded it on the flip side of her hit single Hey There. The song topped the Billboard charts in 1954. Since that time, numerous artists have performed and recorded This Ole House, including Mel Tillis, Box Car Willie, Bette Middler, Deborah Lee, Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson. I became acquainted with This Ole House when I was a child. I remember listening to my mother play it on the piano in the parlor after supper. It was part of her repertoire. Given that my mother was a freshman in high school in 1954, I suspect that she bought the sheet music and learned the tune to please my grandparents, who liked Rosemary Clooney and who had a lot of experience maintaining old houses. In addition to hearing live piano performances of This Ole House, I remember hearing Larry Hooper, the low bass on The Lawrence Welk Show, sing it on TV. My parents and grandparents were big fans of The Lawrence Welk Show. They never missed. We watched it every Saturday night, right after supper. Do you remember the song or any of the singers? The chorus and first verse go like this: This ole house once knew my children This ole house once knew my wife This ole house was home and comfort As we fought the storms of life This ole house once rang with laughter This ole house heard many shouts Now she trembles in the darkness When the lightning walks about Verse 1 Ain't a-gonna need this house no longer Ain't a-gonna need this house no more
Ain't got time to fix the shingles Ain't got time to fix the floor Ain't got time to oil the hinges Nor to mend the window pane Ain't a-gonna need this house no longer I'm a-gettin ready to meet the saints I was reminded of this song recently by one of our trustees, Jim Fryer, who has been going through his personal treasure trove of church records lately. Jim found and brought me a copy of his version of This Ole House, which he pirated, and renamed (and rewrote.) Jim s version is called This Ole Hall. He rewrote the lyrics for the congregation s farewell to our old fellowship, Pilgrim Hall, which was held about 12-13 years ago just before the hall was demo ed and converted into an office suite for one of our campus tenants. Pilgrim Hall was located in the second floor of the east wing. That space now houses the administrative offices of Tiburcio Vasquez Health Clinic. In researching the origins of Hamblen s original rendition of This Ole House, I learned that the composer was inspired to write it as the result of an experience that he had been on a hunting expedition with his actor friend John Wayne. The two apparently came across a falling-down shack in the mountains. They went inside and found a dead man and his guard dog, keeping watch over him. The falling-down shack and the deteriorating corpse were mutually reinforcing images for the composer. The song s popularity, no doubt, was due in part to listeners resonance with the ongoing challenges of keeping up property, and the finite nature of humans earthly existence. 1 II Jesus reference to his Father s house in John 14 similarly describes a reality that transcends heaven and earth, like Hamblen s lyrics in the song This Ole House. The image of God s house, in the gospel of John, served as a metaphor for heaven that place where Jesus community of beloved disciples was promised a room in the next life even while they strove to stay strong in the midst of earthly struggles in their time. The Johannine community faced a myriad of challenges at the turn of the first century: some of them internal, and some of them external. The major internal threat to the Johannine community had to do with theological and cultural diversity. The Johannine community was the most heterogeneous of all 1. Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 15. ISBN 0-85112-250-7. The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, Handy Work, 5/18/14, p. 2 of 6.
the early Christian groups. Matthew and Mark emerged within a Jewish following, while Luke grew out of a Gentile group. John, by contrast, was associated with two different Jewish strains and a Gentile group known as the Samaritans. There were, for example: 1) Jews who were followers of John the Baptist, who believed that Jesus was the Messiah whose arrival the prophets anticipated (22); 2) Jews who believed Jesus was the new Moses, and who converted to Christianity the Samaritans the people considered to be the most vile of all by ancient Judaism (37-38); 3) Samaritans who saw Jesus as their savior, as the divine who walked the earth, and who would descend again from heaven to save them from earthly trials (45). The diversity within the Johannine community presented both a threat and opportunity. The threat was schism and the subsequent death of the Johannine community, while the opportunity included the possibility of learning from others beliefs and developing a more complex and sustained faith. The external threats were no less significant. Raymond E. Brown, one of the leading Johannine scholars in the U.S., describes these threats in his book, The Community of the Beloved Disciple. 2 According to Brown, the Johannine Christians were expelled from the synagogues for espousing the view that Jesus was the Messiah. Heretofore, theological diversity had been tolerated in the synagogues, but by the time that John s gospel was written down, Judaism faced increasing oppression from the Romans, and the Pharisees were gaining greater control of the synagogues. As a result, religious diversity was being snuffed out including the views and the personages of Jewish Christians (22). Expulsion from the Temple and synagogues not only cut off the Johannine community from their religious heritage, it created conflict for its members with their families, and it threatened the religious standing of their relatives. Moreover, expulsion left Johannine community members vulnerable to the Roman governor and military, because anyone who was not Jewish was expected to worship Caesar or face imprisonment, beatings, and even execution. Suffice it to say that being expelled from the Temple and synagogues was practically a death notice for the Johannine Christians, because they had no intention of worshipping Caesar. While the risks that the Johannine Christians faced as a result of expulsion from Judaism were no small matter, their experience of alienation led the Johannine Christians to draw into their community the most alienated group of all the Samaritans. Rather than 2 Brown, Raymond. The Community of the Beloved Disciple (New York: Paulist, 1979). The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, Handy Work, 5/18/14, p. 3 of 6.
repeating the practice of exclusion, John s people turned their experience inside out and became a more inclusive community. John s community of believers faced multiple threats, internally and externally, to their existence. It is in this context, then, that Jesus prayer for unity is set. This is not only a prayer for unity among the Johannine Christians, but for unity among Christians in all times and places. John knew, as Jesus knew, that times would be tough. The people of the way would need to stick together if they were to survive and if the faith was to thrive. III Today, Western Christians are fortunate to no longer face the political and religious opposition that the first-century Johannine community faced in their time. Still, we have challenges of our own that are significant and that must be successfully addressed, in order for the church to survive and for Christ s mission to thrive in our day. Differing theological views and differing cultural realities persist throughout the generations and provide a basis for conflicts that can potentially divide our congregations and denominations apart, or that can be grist for debate that leads us to better decisions and more informed faith and action. In the UCC, we have developed a robust culture that honors diversity. Our pastors will not tell parishioners what to think. We will not sort you in or out of the faith based on your answers to hotly debated theological questions. Instead, we will give different points of view a hearing, and strive to make room for diversity. And if and when we do not agree, we will strive to agree to disagree. In this way, we fulfill Jesus image of God s house with many rooms here on earth. IV In addition to making and caring for our theological rooms as a church, we grapple daily with the practical challenges of keeping up a church campus and funding the church s mission. The many rooms located here on the corner of Birch and Grove range from 147 to 11 years of age, and house five major tenants and host numerous community groups, in addition to our own congregation, staff, and programs. The ownership and operation of our beautiful campus comes with a hefty price tag. The replacement value of the campus, six years ago, was estimated at over $15M, and the utility and insurance companies and contractors who we hire to keep it up are not taking sticks for pay. They expect to be remunerated in cash. This year alone, the cost of operating our campus will be approximately $160K. (This amount includes supplies, equipment, contracts, and operations personnel, but does not The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, Handy Work, 5/18/14, p. 4 of 6.
include the $100K that we spent to restore the organ or the $12,500 the Trustees spent out of the Building Reserve Fund to repair two leaking roofs. Also missing from this total is the value of the volunteer hours donated by our Trustees, at least one of whom is on campus daily to investigate a maintenance problem, or meet with a contractor about a bid or work in progress.) Nearly all of the money given by the congregation to support the annual budget this past year was spent on the basic care of the campus and programs which our members directly benefit from. The General Reserve Fund and the Eden Area Foundation grant funded campus care and ministries that serve the congregation, which we as members weren t able to fully fund. Although congregational giving by household has increased percentage-wise over the past decade, these increases have not (in recent years) met the actual costs of caring for the campus and running programs that serve the membership, such as the education, spiritual life, music, and fellowship programs. We have been fortunate in these challenging times to have had increased income from campus rents, and the General Reserve Fund which have covered this difference between expenses and members contributions. At the end of this fiscal year (June 30) the General Reserve funds will be depleted. This is why the Stewardship Committee has encouraged each and every one of us to increase our contributions to the church by 10% this year. This is also why the Church Council has contracted with a local commercial real estate firm to find a new tenant or two to lease our underutilized classroom and office space on the second floor of the West Wing. Some of us are in a position to embrace the Stewardship Committee s invitation to increase our gifts to the church s mission by 10%. I hope that those who are able will do so. Some of us are not in that position. All of us, regardless of our economic situation, can contribute to the health and vitality of the church s mission. Here are a few key examples for us to consider, as we contemplate our personal and family s support for the coming year: 1) In the next year, each of us could bring one person or family into the church who could contribute at our same level. If we did so, Eden Church would have $100K surplus this year, and would be calling a congregational meeting to decide what to do with our windfall. If you can commit to bringing one new individual or family into the church in the next year, please indicate your commitment to do so on the pink TNT form in your worship bulletin. 2) Each of us could identify one or more activities on the pink TNT pledge forms that could advance the mission of our church, and preclude the church s need to hire someone to do this work or go without it. If you can commit your time and The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, Handy Work, 5/18/14, p. 5 of 6.
talents to volunteer in some way that advances the church s mission in the next year, please indicate your commitment to do so on the pink TNT form. 3) Each of us can pray for our church and its ministries. Pray for courage, creativity, and clarity for our congregation in this challenging time. Pray that God will help us to be gentle with ourselves and others as we face these challenges, open to God s hope for us and our church, and willing to incorporate new people and new approaches into our ministry as a congregation, so that we may fulfill God s mission in this time and place. In sum, there are many ways to give: hospitality, time, talent, treasure, and prayer. Many hands are needed to give and receive these gifts, so that our 149-year old church house can be properly cared for, and so that God s mission can be fulfilled in this place. So the only question that remains is this: what gifts will be give and receive, so that God s grand and glorious mission may be accomplished in and through us and Eden Church. Ponder this question, if you will, as we sing our next hymn and prepare to come forward to present our offerings and to receive God s blessing. Amen. The Rev. Dr. Arlene K. Nehring, Handy Work, 5/18/14, p. 6 of 6.