Ann R. Lougee January 7, 2007 Growing in Wisdom, Not Just Years Luke 2:41-52 When does it happen that children begin to think in other ways from how their parents think? Just about the age that Jesus was when he was found in the temple by a distraught Joseph and Mary, right? Those of us who are or have been parents of teens know that sometimes those adolescents are as self-assured and unflappable as Jesus was when he was finally found, aren't they? We sometimes find ourselves waiting for our children to grow up so they won't think we're so stupid! We have, of course, just come through the Christmas season, a time that is at once family-centered and yet often full of family tensions, from money problems to old hurts brought to new life, from pressures and misunderstandings to unfulfilled expectations and disillusionment. The people who love one another have, after all, the most potential to confuse, disappoint and hurt one another. (That happens in the church, our family of faith, too, by the way.) Thus, in Luke's gospel, the lovely image of shepherds and stars and angels singing in the night gives way to that of anxious parents perplexed at their adolescent son's preoccupation with things beyond their understanding. Even now, still a child, Jesus cannot be deterred from "my father's business," not meaning the father in whose household he was growing up. He was not going to allow family and home to make him dependent on being safe and comfortable with the familiar. He felt himself called to shine the light of God's love out into a world that was full of cruelty, inequity, oppression and military conquest. When the familiar draws us into places too safe and too comfortable, we too must ask how God is calling us out. We must venture out to the unfamiliar and the risky and the different, out to the places of growth and new life, out where we need to shine the light of the gospel, the light of God's love, into places of cruelty, inequity, oppression and warfare. I'm sure that the foundation his family gave Jesus formed the underpinning of his ministry and mission. But he moved beyond what he learned from them to respond to the needs of his day. Just so, we at Pilgrim Church must honor the underpinning given our ministry and mission by our Founders. Yet we must also move ahead to respond to the needs of each new day. Our founders described the church they wanted as warm, liberal and family-oriented. We have continued to be concerned with those priorities, and we have evolved from them. I'm proud of the ways in which this church has carried on its ministry in the lives of its members and into the community and, indeed, into the wider world. Here are some observations I have made in the eight years I've been here. We are a theologically progressive family of faith, not bounded by the literalisms of fundamentalism nor the dogmas of previous eras; we help our members to recognize and trust their recognition of where God is moving in their own lives and experience. We are known in the Redding community as a church that is socially progressive as well, concerned with truth, justice and equality, compassionate in our caring. We are known both within and beyond our community as seekers of understanding and peace between peoples. We are known in our community and beyond as a place of inclusive hospitality. We try to be a welcoming congregation, welcoming all kinds of people into the life and ministry of this church: people of differing abilities, ages, economic situations, sexual orientations, cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, and religious beliefs. Our welcome is grounded in the hospitality of Jesus who made a place at the table for everyone. We want an intelligible faith that challenges our minds and helps us to make sense of a chaotic world. We want not only to worship on Sundays but to take our faith into our weekday life as well. If it doesn't make sense out there in the world, what sense can it make in here? Wisdom teaches that God is shrouded in Mystery, but we wrestle with it like Jacob at the Jabbok river, and the Mystery names us too. Our Bible studies, Readers and Seekers groups, forums, and retreats all engage our minds and hearts in the search for wisdom. Wisdom is welcome here. We are not only about being intellectual, religious iconoclasts, though. We are often struck by the amazing wonder of life, the very gift of being. We laugh with, not at, our children who remind us of an open-hearted and open-minded view of life. At wonderful moments, we climb into our child-skins and feel the wonder, not of knowing, but of believing that we belong and are loved. We haven't articulated all of that yet into an identity or mission statement, but that's something that is evolving too, through our Partners in Transformation process. The church where Norm and I had our membership for 25 years has recently completed the process of writing a mission statement, and one of its phrases is: We want to be known as a community of joy where God Is Still Speaking. When we get around to stating our identity, I hope it will be something like that. Our identity both flows from and upholds our founders' vision and priorities. Because time marches on and we cannot remain static, though, the ways in which these priorities are expressed and enacted have changed. They will continue to change, for like Jesus, we must carry on a dialogue with our teachers of the past, as we move on into the new day. New occasions teach new duties. God is still speaking. We stand today on the edge of a year when we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pilgrim Church in early October, a little more than two months after the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the United Church of Christ in late June. We were one of the first churches born into the United Church of Christ. As the lifetimes of churches go, we as a church are just getting into our adolescence, even though the predominant hair color of our congregation is gray. As a church, we're still young, still growing, still finding our identity, seeking God's guidance and wisdom for the direction of the life we share together. These are matters we will continue to ponder together in the year ahead, even as we look back at our history. As we look back, we thank our founders for our firm foundation. As we look ahead, we must be willing to strike out on our own, addressing the conditions and needs of each new day. May we, as followers of Jesus, increase in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. Amen.