This week's authors are Anne and Tim Hughes, Co-Directors of Silver Lake Conference Center for the Connecticut Conference, UCC.
Once Upon a Time...
There was a Man, who came, taught, laughed, prayed... who healed sick and
troubled people, and told stories. He had many friends, who gathered
together and traveled with him, and, by his urging, became leaders who
proclaimed the Good News message of his Creator Father's love.
Even long after he died, his message, the passionate love that he expressed
even at his death, his stories, and the impact of his life and death were
carried on for many generations. They got passed from person to person,
mostly through changes in people's lives. They were witnessed by those who
knew him and those who heard about him. Many who heard were so moved to
follow this Way of Peace and Forgiveness and make a new life of profound
Love towards one another.
Many were even more astonished, because he came back Again, even after he
died.... For a short while, he stayed to give some more clarity to his
friends about his life's whole purpose, because they were pretty confused at
the time.... They were desolate and afraid, and sad.
He also probably wanted to have more "closure," because his death was so
grim and his followers scattered in chaos. He was committed to fulfilling
prophesies of God's previous messengers, which predicted he'd show up again,
as a sign that he was truly God's Son.
So it was really remarkable that he left his friends with another gift, the
Holy Spirit, that they could call on anytime, even when he wasn't there in
flesh and blood, to sustain and guide them.
They thought this was pretty cool.
Then a really, really long time later, there was this special place on a
lake that kids came to every summer, to learn about this Man, and his
Creator Father's love, to laugh, to pray, to play, to tell stories, and make
new friends....
And lots of kids grew up and told their friends about their experience in
this special place, and lots of kids began to change their own lives, to
express a new love for one another, and many committed Themselves to serve
these people whom the Man had come to save.
And at this place there was this tree. It was a really big tree, and shaded
many generations of kids. They played in it, and told stories under it, and
somehow its presence provided a touchstone of peace.
Well, one of the boys, who had come as soon as he was old enough, and played
under it, and made many friends and tried to climb it, and who lived in the
cabins in its shade for several special weeks of summers, suddenly died.
Everyone knew he had a big heart. He expressed such love for this special
place, and for his new friends, and he had such exuberance for that gift of
the Holy Spirit which he began to recognize in his young life, that he
shared it with many other 5th and 6th and 7th graders.
Then his beautiful big heart just gave out one day at home, and his parents,
and sister, and friends were just grief-stricken, desolate, and sad. All
his church friends, who knew this young boy had been touched by the Holy
Spirit at this special place (because he talked about it a LOT, and told
stories about it all the time), got together and decided to do something to
honor him, and keep his spirit and exuberance alive, just like when the Man
came back to give another gift. So they went to work to gather together a
whole bunch of money, and expert hands, and a lot of Home Depot tools, and
they would build a big gathering cabin, right where that old tree stood, for
the whole village of kids in the cabins in its shade to build community in,
to gather, to hear more stories, to develop trust, and to play in, rain or
shine.
They soon realized they had to cut the old tree down for safety reasons.
This was a top-heavy pine tree afflicted with a "broom" that resembles an
eagle's nest. A tiny parasitic plant, the "dwarf mistletoe" grew on the
twigs, producing wounds that completely changed the growth characteristics
of the infected part of the tree and eventually the entire tree.
A branch which the mistletoe has invaded becomes so thick and bushy with
extremely rapid-developing twigs that it literally grows the tree to death.
Apparently, this young boy's heart had also grown rapidly, far out-pacing
the rest of his body, and caused his body's death.
Even so, remembering the Man's wounds on the branches of another tree Once
Upon A Time, that Man's friends and the boy's friends, which had become one
big community, had the big tree cut down (after a blessing ceremony, with
all the kids around to thank and honor the old tree), and they set about
building this big community cabin.
Weekend after weekend in the Fall, they came. They hammered. They shingled.
Then they wrapped the whole thing in wrapping paper, hung a huge wreath on
it, and waited for Spring.
Spring came, as promised, and all the young boy's family, church community,
and friends came. His boy scout troop came. More people came. People who
didn't even know him, but heard the stories, and heard about this new big
cabin building, where the old tree had grown, where the young boy had grown.
They came and hammered, and sawed, and brought more tools.... and added a
ramp, a railing, a porch to gaze out over the cabin village and woods, and
farther down, the lake, of this special place.
They are still building. They are even adding boards milled from the wood of
the old pine tree that stood and grew there for so many summers. And they
know one day soon, this summer, this new big cabin will be filled with kids,
friends of the boy's.... And those who do not yet know of him. Those who
have not yet heard of the Man, nor of his love, and his gift of the Holy
Spirit.
But they will. And they will be surrounded by the love for that boy that
built the walls and windows around them, and by the community of love for
the Man that came and taught and healed and laughed and prayed, and told
stories. And Came Back.
And they will leave this special place forever changed by that love.
Although they may simply say, "It was pretty cool."
We pray, O Jesus, that you lift up your servants, young and old, tree and
child, parent and friend, servants all, to Your glory and service; to
ever-widen this circle, to include the living community that you have
surrounded us in. We pray that we may abide humbly forever in Your Grace,
and we pray that you continue to bless us with Your Holy Spirit, as you did
throughout the lives in this story. Amen.
Please remember:
the loved ones of Corinne T. Clardy, mother of the Rev. Selena L. Blackwell, a former pastor of this Conference, who died on Apr. 23 after a long illness;
the loved ones of the Rev. Dr. Carl S. Dudley, Professor Emeritus of Church and Community at Hartford Seminary, who died on Apr. 22,
Cecile and Steve Gilson and their family on the death of their niece Michelle after a long struggle with ALS; Cecile is the Conference's Assistant to the Conference Minister;
Cheryl McNamee, daughter of the Rev. Al Turner, pastor of South Congregational Church UCC in East Hartford, who is being treated for breast cancer;
the Rev. M. J. Hinchliff, pastor of First Church of Christ, Congregational, UCC of East Haddam, who is being treated for breast cancer;
those ill with influenza, their caregivers and families, and those who seek to avert or respond to its outbreak;
those who suffered injury in the Italian earthquake: injury to body, to family, to house and home, to community, and to spirit;
the leaders of this nation, that they may meet the challenges of the day with insight, wisdom, and compassion;
those suffering due to the ongoing financial woes of the nation, be they struggling to meet an unaffordable mortgage, confronting the loss of a job, or working to find just resolutions to the crisis; and
those serving or living in war or conflict zones around the world, or where terrorists have struck, particularly in Iraq, Afghanistan, Colombia, Georgia, and the Sudan.
To be added to the prayer list, please send an email to your Regional Minister or to webmaster@ctucc.org.
Old Lyme
First Cong'l Ch of Old Lyme
P The Rev. David W. Good
AP The Rev. Carleen R. Gerber
AP The Rev. Cynthia Willauer
AP The Rev. Dr. Eileen Sypher
MV The Rev. Edward M. Castner
AP The Rev. Rebecca T. Crosby
Orange
Orange Cong'l Church
P The Rev. Stoddon Graham N. King
AP The Rev. Lee A. Ireland
CE Ms. Deborah G. Zaleha
Oxford
Oxford United Church of Christ Cong'l
P The Rev. Lucille L. Fritz
Plainfield
First Cong'l Ch of Plainfield
PE The Rev. Gordon C. Johnson
MM H. Kapszukiewicz
Plainville
Cong'l Ch of Plainville
IN The Rev. Dr. Claire Bamberg
Plantsville
Plantsville Cong'l Ch
P The Rev. Richard A. Koenig
AP Ms. Kathleen Cunliffe
To read previous editions of the Spirit Calendar, visit:
http://www.ctucc.org/fido/spiritcalendar/
To learn more about or subscribe to the Spirit Calendar, visit:
http://www.ctucc.org/fido/
The Spirit Calendar: April 28, 2009 by Anne Hughes, Co-Director of Silver Lake Conference Center
