Allthereness

John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

*Call to Worship

Psalm 34: I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together.

*Hymn # 341 Let’s Enjoy God Together

*Invocation / Lord’s Prayer                Almighty God, you who have made all things for us, and us for your glory, / sanctify our body and soul, our thoughts and our intentions, our words and actions, that whatever we think, speak, or do, may glorify your name.  Let our body be servants of Jesus Christ.   Lord’s prayer - sins

*Gloria Patri

Responsive reading Psalm 130

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.

2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!

3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.

5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;

6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.

8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

Young’s Peoples Moment    
There was a Benedictine community to whom nobody came. As the monks grew old, they became more and more disheartened because they couldn't understand why their community was not attractive to other people. Now in the woods outside the monastery there lived an old rabbi. People came from all over to talk to him about the presence of Yahweh in creation. Years went by and finally the abbot himself went into the woods, leaving word with his monks, "I have gone out to speak to the rabbi." (It was of course considered humiliating that a Christian community had to go back to the synagogue to find out what was wrong with them.)
When the abbot finally found the rabbi's hut in the woods, the rabbi welcomed him with open arms as if he had known that he was coming. They put their arms around each other and had a good cry. The abbot told the rabbi that his monks were good men but they spread not fire, and the community was dying. He asked the rabbi if he had any insight into the work of Yahweh in their lives. The rabbi replied, "I have the secret and I will tell you once. You may tell the monks and then none of you is ever to repeat it to one another." The abbot declared that if they could have the secret, he was sure his monks would grow.
So the rabbi looked at him long and hard and said, "The secret is that among you, in one of you is the Messiah!" The abbot went back to this community and told his monks the secret. And lo! as they began to search for the Messiah in one another they grew, they loved, they became very strong, very prophetic. "From that day on, the community saw Him in one another and flourished!"--Story told by Joan D. Chittister, OSB, Living the Rule Today: A Series of Conferences on the Rule of Benedict (Erie, Pa.: Benet Press, 1982), 98-99, as quoted on pp. 82-83 of Wolff-Walin
Call to Prayer               The fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. ( James 5:16)

Prayer Hymn                # 436 Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying (refrain)

Pastoral Prayer          “Lord, I am awed that there never was any god before You and there never will be any after You. I rest in the fact that no one is more powerful than You are. Nothing and no one can take us out of Your hand. Thank You that there is no Savior but You. We cannot save ourselves, no matter how good our behavior is. Forgive us for thinking that because we’re doing better than someone else is, we’re OK. Only You are holy. Only You are sinless. Our own efforts are empty, but Yours are full.”

Prayer response

Offertory sentence  For the next seven days, write down the times when you grumble, and the times when you give thanks.

offering                       Doxology

offertory prayer

Hymn # 273                I Stand Amazed in the Presence

Scripture Text            Ephesians 4:25-5:2

So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.  Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,  and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Sermon                       allthereness

Thankfully, most of us do not deal on a daily basis with the most profound issues of morality and ethics. What we do face every day, however, are small matters (should I keep my word? should I honor my commitments.) Caught up in the big newsmaking issues (murder, abortion, war) of ethics, these small matters sometimes go by the wayside. The church needs to be aware that its role is as the one "hosting the Host," and act accordingly.

Our society moves at an incredible pace. It bombards our senses with baffling amounts of stimuli. In a world so shrunken by satellite feeds that we are capable of simultaneously feeling a part of events in the Mid-East, Russia, and the American West, it is hardly surprising that courtesy and Christlikeness are in danger of becoming casualties of technology.
It is precisely those seemingly minute matters that determine the quality of our lives, the integrity of our existence. Few of us personally confront on a daily basis the issues of murder, or political corruption, or nuclear responsibility. We do, however, continually face such ethical questions as, "Shall I keep my word?" or "Can I honor my commitments?"
As Christians we should be able to reflect a distinctive attitude which sets us apart and distinguishes us from the rest of society. We should hear Jesus over and over again asking his disciples: "What do you more than others?" // We know society has lost transcendent sensitivities when the most considerate encounter we have all day is an automatic teller machine personally thanking us for using it. In a day where the last place one expects "service" is at a "service station" (unless it is in Wickford), individual concern and attention is so exceptional that its presence functions as an advertising "hook." Hence General Motors has distinguished a whole genre of mechanics as "Mr. Goodwrench," claiming they are unique and special because they provide fair, quality, efficient service with politeness thrown in.
Etiquette is protocol, rules of behavior that you memorize and that rarely bend to encompass individual concerns and needs. Manners embrace socially acceptable behavior, but are much more than that. They are an expression of how you treat others when you care about them, their self-esteem and their feelings. Manners are under your control, because they come from your heart. In a chaotic world, they can make order out of disorder and give you the power to bring pleasure into other people's lives.(4)
In the absence of strong ethical guidance and guidelines it has become the role of mannerists to teach us "good character." in her syndicated newspaper column, "Miss Manners," Judith Martin has attempted to present an overarching code of personal integrity and conduct. In both her columns and her books Martin conducts a type of remedial instruction for the American public in the subjects of honesty, kindness, compassion, attentiveness, and selflessness. Yet as insightful and sometimes painfully precise as Martin's critiques of modern manners may be, her basic commitment is to a general body of "manners from the heart" not to any uniquely Christian principles.
One of the most consistent and deceptively casual expressions of the attitude urged by Paul to the Ephesians is found in the personage of Public Television's "Frugal Gourmet."Jeff Smith, a.k.a the Frugal Gourmet, is an ordained minister who has moved his pulpit into his kitchen. He exudes the joy of Christian love as he mixes a generous dollop of practical and poignant theology in with his recipes. His faith delights in extending invitations of hospitality to all he addresses. To a culture where something as basic as cooking has now become a matter of choice, not necessity, Smith creates an atmosphere that welcomes and accepts all who tune in to his recipe/sermon. Sure, it's "just" a cooking show. But the spirit that Jeff Smith succeeds in making tangible in his kitchen, is the same Spirit that Paul insists that we seek to imitate as we act as representatives of Christ's body here on earth. "When you ask someone to share a meal, it is the ultimate compliment" (65). /////

Paul initiated this message in verses 4:17-19, drawing a dismal portrait of the lives of those untouched by the knowledge of Christ. Christians are to renounce all marks of a Christless culture, "bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice." Yet the Christlike qualities he enjoins are remarkably simple: being "kind," Tenderhearted" and Forgiving." None of those qualities appear especially heroic or dramatically expressive, but rather work quietly and with dignity to create a community based upon divine love and respect.
Perhaps another way to encapsulate what Paul is urging is to contrast our frantic, fractured, unfocused rush through life with the New Testament ideal.

This week's text begins with verse 25, counseling us to put away falsehood, and speak the truth: "for we are members of one another." The inclusive nature of the Christbody community which is the Church gives new force to the old teaching of the ninth commandment and its teachings on bearing false witness against one's neighbor. Paul acknowledges the validity of anger born out of disagreement, but he cautions readers not to allow self-serving tendencies to extend the natural boundaries of our anger. By counseling that we not let the sun go down on our anger, Paul doesn't ask us to be emotionless, but neither does he give us the latitude to create an environment for nurturing grudges and rivalry, a "room for the devil."
Paul's counsel continues to emphasize the traditional communal values of the commandments (he advises thieves to give up stealing and aid those in need). But it is not only actions but Etudes that Paul wants Christians to adjust. Verses 29-32 stipulate the criteria which must prevail as Christians consider their words, thoughts and deeds. Building up" the body of Christ which "gives grace" to all its members is the ambition of the Christian life. Paul insists that Christians take their baptism seriously. As a people "marked," believers are to act discernibly different than the pagan society surrounding them.

We have all heard people speak of a person suffering from some sort of personality dysfunction or mental disorder as being not "all there".  We flick our wrist and make an excuse for someone, saying, "Oh, she's just not all there." A strange expression, but a telling one, for sanity or what might more accurately be called the wholeness of existence comes from a state of "allthereness" (a phrase from the Quaker theologian Douglas Steere), from being "all there." It is this focus on "allthereness" which Paul calls us to exemplify.
There was an old directive among the early Franciscan Third-Order of lay Christians: The giving of alms, or the equivalent of our weekly "offering," was inadequate. Members of the Third-Order were to find ways in which they could mix their bodies, their personal service, with their alms. And so St. Francis kissed the blind man's face into whose hands he pressed assistance; at the leper hutch at Rivo Torto he not only brought food but he dressed the lepers' sores. The state of allthereness, the measure of Christian wholeness, is to be personally present where you are, to always search for fresh ways to show your willingness to mix your soul into other people's needs and hurts.

Despite the apparently merciless behavior Joab displays in the story of Absalom's death, he nevertheless was so intimately in touch with the heart of David and the needs of Israel that he took action which he felt safeguarded both his king and his country. Joab's actions hardly meet with the mandates for mercy and love that we associate with both Jesus and Paul. Yet while Joab was fully aware of the ambiguities surrounding his actions and the pain they would cause, he plotted his course based on a sense of loyalty and integrity. He was completely and personally invested in this desperate act, despite the real risk of retaliation that it presented.
Isn't that precisely the problem of being present? Isn't that the reason why more of us don't reach that state of "allthereness?" Isn't that why we are a people with such bad manners? We want to be truly present to each other but we tremble before the possible cost of such vulnerability, and we settle for something less exacting. "It is important to know how to use your knife and fork properly, yes, but it's more important to know how to talk to someone whose child is in prison for dealing drugs. It's helpful if you have the reputation for being an expert on protocol, but it's even more helpful if you are able to stop a person from being falsely maligned. It's attractive for you to dress appropriately for social functions, but it's even more attractive for you to make someone who feels really down to feel up again." (9-10)
For to be truly present to another person is more than a readiness to respect and to stand in wonder and openness before the mysterious life and influence of the other. To be present, really present, is to be vulnerable, to be able to be hurt, to be willing to be spent. This is why Paul concludes his chidings and reprimands with the reminder that we are to imitate God // the God whose "allthereness" in our lives is made fully and dramatically possible by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our salvation.   Christians demonstrate their love for God with their desire to be like God as children mimic their own parents' behavior and attitudes. God has shown us the divine attitude towards all creation with the sacrifice of Christ for its sake. Paul's directive that we imitate this behavior is then no small undertaking. Those deceptively simple qualities of kindness and a forgiving nature are in reality a call to let membership in the body of Christ change the sinful heart of humanity into a commitment to selfless, sacrificial love.
Hymn #   212  We Are One in the Spirit

Benediction    You have given so much to me, Give one theme more, a grateful heart.
Amen. -George Herbert (1593-1633),