Begin with this…
I went up to see Bob…
It was like visiting a friend who had moved into the sky…
I don’t mean that he had moved to heaven — though it was almost like that… when my GPS led me to the home of his friend Liz, where I was to meet Bob — it was like I was coming up out of the world into a beautiful mountain top — a bit like the opening sequence of The sound of Music — if you know what I mean. Exhilarating!
I want to begin here, in this beautiful errand of the heart — before this sermon goes dark.
Bob told me that, during the visioning process, when he and a group of people were trying to develop a mission statement, this group of 5 or six people — many of whom are here today — decided that, in order to get a fresh outlook on things — in order to really get their creative juices flowing, as it were, they needed what is known among theatrical types, as a change of scenery…
Wise! These folks are no fools!
So this team of people went to the up to the mountaintop…
No wait — it wasn’t the mountaintop — I’m mixing up my stories…
They went to a conference room at the library…. Oh no, wit it wasn’t that either…
Let me see…
Where did this crew of people go to find inspiration?
Did they go to a cathedral, or to a five star restaurant?
Ahh well — some of you already know the answer…
Everyone else will have to wait a few minutes…
***
Not much is known about Matthew Alexander.
The reporter for the Indianapolis Star who was given the story, found out little bits and pieces of Alexander’s life — that he graduated from Avon High in 2007, and that in the High School yearbook that year there was a congratulatory page that his parents had put together — nostalgic pictures of a boy growing up. Playing baseball.
Matthew Alexander went on to go to college at a college not far from his childhood home in Indianapolis. In 2014 he got a job as a dispatcher at a Fed Ex warehouse out by the airport. I suppose he was used to planes coming in and going out. But Alexander didn’t seem to have much of a hankering to go anywhere. Born and raised in Indianapolis, he seemed happy working at Fed Ex.
The lovely little human detail that the reporter uncovered about Matthew, is that he looked out for “his drivers.” Albert Ashcraft, an older man who worked with Matthew at one time, remembered this about him: “People would bring doughnuts in and Matthew was always setting doughnuts aside for his drivers.”
In a small way, Matthew, like you and me, cared about other people.
And this, dear friends, is the humble gesture that Matthew Alexander will be remembered for, because of all the things he did — all the people he loved, all the games that he played, and jobs he worked, all the pain he suffered, and all the things he earnestly he hoped for in his 32 years, this one detail — this thing about the doughnuts, is the the detail that made it on the headline in the Indianapolis Star: Matthew Alexander always saved doughnuts for FedEx drivers. He was killed in the shooting.
[Jess: Play “Jesus Remember me” while I paint a cross red.]
Let us recite the call to worship together in unison.
Our faith begins with this
That each human life is sacred
and so we grow into this truth
that each soul is a lamp lit with a holy flame
that is bestowed upon us
by the Breath of God
O God, We give you the soul of Matthew Alexander.
Give him now, the grace and honor that he deserves
As a child of your creation.
**
When I consider the events of the last week, I, like many of you, feel frustrated and depressed.
I find myself asking the question…
— when?
When will we ever learn?
Is there no event horrible enough to create real and lasting change?
Is spraying a crowd of concert goers with two thousand bullets, killing 58 people… is that not bad enough?
How about the church in South Carolina where a gathering of revered elders were shot dead during a Bible study?
Was that not bad enough?
If that wasn’t bad enough… what would be bad enough?
Would the School in Connecticut be bad enough? Sandy Hook Elementary School where 20 children who had not yet reached the tender age of 8 were shot dead?
Is that not bad enough to cause us to change?
Do we live in a society in which these things are OK?
If so, it seems we live in a society in which life — human life — is not sacred.
A society that is willing to accept this frightening state of affairs, and do nothing about it, is a society that begins with these assumptions:
Human life is disposable.
It happened to someone else, not me, so I don’t care.
We — you and I — are gathered here in the parking lot of the United Church of Jaffrey, because we do not follow those assumptions.
Our beliefs begin with this:
[Jess: Play “Jesus Remember me”]
Life is sacred.
each soul is a lamp lit with a holy flame
that is bestowed upon us
by the Breath of God,
And we feel the warmth of this flame
Within us, and within others
When we love.
Love is real.
Its not a hallmark card
Its a challenge
A challenge to
Love kindness
Seek justice
And walk humbly…
Growing our faith
Through acts of love
Toward all.
**
Have you ever worked the night shift?
If you have, you know how disorienting it can be.
Your whole life is flipped.
You are awake all night, and then you have to try to sleep during the day, when everyone else is up and about.
You must find ways to keep things dar during the day, so that you can sleep, and then when you get up, its dark again soon.
It’s like living in Alaska during the winter time.
Brief moments of light, followed by interminable hours of darkness. Or, for Amarjit Sekhon, who worked the 11 to 11 shift at the FedEx warehouse out by the airport in Indianapolis — 12 hours of flourescent lights.
She wanted to switch to the day shift, but the night shift was the onl shift available for a full time worker.
And she needed to work full time.
Her sons 22 and 16 years old, well, they liked to eat — and though cooking was her favorite pastime — food cost money, and Amarjit’s husband Palwinder, was disabled. She was the sole breadwinner in the family.
The only one making money, and the only one who knew how to make the good Indian dishes.
A mom.
A tireless mom.
And now…
Now she is gone.
She lived to take care of other people.
To support them. TO help them. To feed them.
And then on Thursday,
On her way into work
She was killed.
For no reason.
What will Palwinder and the boys do now?
How will they live?
[Jess: Play “Jesus Remember me” while I paint a cross red.]
Let us recite the call to worship together in unison.
Our faith begins with this
That each human life is sacred
and so we grow into this truth
that each soul is a lamp lit with a holy flame
that is foot is bestowed upon us
by the Breath of God
O God, Akal Purakh, — the timeless one
We give you the soul of Amarjit Sekhon.
Give her now, the grace and honor that she deserves
As a child of your creation.
**
We begin, and we end here — at the United Church of Jaffrey…
Where Bob Dunn and his visioning team left the church and went out into the world, to discover their own shared purpose. They needed a place to talk — a place to be centered and discuss what God meant to them, and to this community.
Where did they go?
Well, naturally .. they went down to the MacDonalds.
And there, gathered around a table with some cups of coffee and maybe one of the apple pies, and maybe, here and there a few sinful french fries…
They discussed
And laughed
And argued
And took in the scenery
And all their friends who wandered in and out…
And no one, I am glad to say, interrupted them with a gun…
People around wandered who all these excited folks were, and what they were talking about…
And why, all of sudden, this animated crew of folks started whooping and hollering in the middle of the MacDonalds…
They hooped and hollered, because they’d come up with it — our new mission statement…
The mission statement of our church…
[Jess: Play “Jesus Remember me” while I paint a cross yellow.]
The sentence that has defined my life — and yours — since that day to this…
The place where we begin and the place where we end…
Let us recite the call to worship together in unison.
Our faith begins with this
That each human life is sacred
and so we grow into this truth
that each soul is a lamp lit with a holy flame
that is foot is bestowed upon us
by the Breath of God
O God, We give you our mission — our purpose
In this beloved community
The place where we begin:
Our church mission statement
To grow our Christian Faith through Acts of Love Toward all.
Amen