Hello said I (just once, I’ve heard (unconfirmed) that if it is a robo-call, they seem to wait for you to say hello twice). And a young man said hello back. He identified himself as someone named Robbie, and was calling on behalf of Congressman Brian Billbray who proudly serves California’s 50th district. Robbie was seeking my support for Congressman Billbray in the upcoming election.

Now, normally this is the kind of call I would not have answered. I would rather do the research on political candidates and come to an understanding on where they stand on issues. But at this point, I was in for a penny, in for a pound…

Robbie assured me that Congressman Billbray needed my support and he was strong on the issues and that my support would help us get away from the possibility of Nancy Pelosi (who proudly serves California’s 8th district) having a lead in the House.

I can easily read and understand where Brian Billbray stands on the important issues of unemployment, the economy and the like, but where does he stand on the issues that tend to represent the marginalization of people especially those seeking immigration reform and marriage equality. So I asked.

“Mr. Billbray is firm on dealing with illegal immigration.” Is what Robbie told me. When I checked Congressman Billbray’s webpage, indeed, he is very firm on illegal immigration and most of the legislation he supports deals with keeping people out of our country as opposed to legislating ways of improving immigration and allowing people into the US legally.

I asked about marriage equality and support for the LGBT community. Robbie admitted that he didn’t know where Congressman Billbray stood on that particular issue, but he knew that Mr. Billbray stood for traditional family values. I asked what that meant. Robbie said that Billbray supported the family. I pointed out to Robbie that “Traditional Family Values” was sometimes conservative-speak for marginalizing the LGBT community. Again, Robbie stated that he didn’t know what Billbray stood on that issue, but was supportive of traditional family values. Well, Congressman Billbray’s website indeed does not offer any insight to his position on marriage equality. However, a quick web-search on his voting record shows that Congressman Billbray voted against the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” was in favor of the 2006 initiative on adding a constitutional amendment to establish that marriage shall consist of one man and one woman, and voted for the “Defense of Marriage Act.”

I pointed out my concerns to Robbie, and stated that I couldn’t support a person that didn’t represent my social justice beliefs. Robbie stated that he (Robbie) was just a college intern and that he (Robbie) thinks that we should all get along together and treat each other justly (good position Robbie).

After I told Robbie that I wouldn’t vote for Billbray, he went on to say that Congressman Billbray was depending on my support this year and could I donate $100 to ensure that Billbray can successfully take on the likes of Nancy Pelosi. Now, I understand Robbie was probably reading from a script, but when you hear that someone is not going to vote for the candidate you are pushing, wouldn’t it just be best to back out and be done?!? I kind of pointed this out to Robbie by essentially saying that I had just told him I wasn’t going to vote for Billbray, and there was no way on earth that I was going to donate $100 to that cause. Robbie continued that I didn’t need to contribute $100, a lessor amount would also… and that was as much as I heard as I hung up the phone.

So, why am I writing this… well, I am not repeat not trying to influence the person that people want to vote for. What I am trying to influence is voting for the candidate that best represents your beliefs, values, and understandings of the world. Big issues are of curse important, but equally so are the issues of social justice, social practice, treating people with care and dignity, and looking out for the people who have been historically marginalized.

During the recent United Church of Christ General Synod #28 in Tampa, FL, I had the opportunity to chat with a very old and dear friend Rev. Susan Henderson who served as the Interim Conference Minister in the New Hampshire Conference when I lived there. I explained to Susan that I was in discernment to be a Commissioned Minister to Youth; her response was: “No you’re not; you already know that; you need to let others know so that they can complete their discernment about you.”

Even though my ministry is with the Conference, I will be working with my local church, Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad, and with the Southern Association through the discernment process.

Sometimes, all we need to do to start is to start…

• Day 5: Pray for those who are burdened – Prayers abound for the people of Japan and people world wide who are affected by this disaster. I changed my Facebook Profile picture to include a prayer for the people of Japan.
• Day 6: Find the beauty in the everyday – I really do believe that beauty does exist in the everyday… My morning greeting is always “Good Morning Sunshine” and I’m really not talking about the weather. Although, I could be as we do get a lot of sunshine were in Southern California! The vistas of mountains, deserts, and coastal plains are always beautiful to me. I also find beauty in the rich multicultural diversity we have here.
• Day 7: Donate 5 items of clothing to Goodwill or the Salvation Army – This was kind of a no-brainer… we have clothing that hasn’t been worn for awhile, or doesn’t fit right, or no longer reflects our taste. So, we gather these things on a regular basis and donate (usually) to Salvation Army.
• Day 8: No Complaining day – This was an interesting choice… Actually, not complaining requires a commitment to living fully in the present and accepting what comes. The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr came to mind often today: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;  courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference. The other interesting part of a “No Complaining Day” was not getting drawn into other people’s complaining.
• Day 9: Help someone with their tasks or chores – This was fairly straight forward too. Being helpful to others is always one of quirky behaviors that tends to work both ways; that is, if you are helpful to others, they tend to be helpful to you… The trick is to encourage others to accept help, and to be able to accept help ourselves.
• Day 10: Buy a few $5 food gift cards to donate to a shelter – I am not trying to sound trite, but it seems that some people are looking for a hand out and some are looking for a hand up. How do we tell the difference? Here in SoCal, it seems that every busy intersection has a person standing on the median with a sign stating that they are homeless, unemployed, need money for food, need money for family, etc. How do we know if these people really need that hand up to keep them going? I remember seeing a person on Duval Street in Key West displaying a sign that said: “I’ll be honest, I want a dollar for a beer.” So, I’ve taken to donating gift cards (like from Subway) because they are expressly intended to feed people.

Traditionally, in the Western Church, Lent is 40 days long starting on Ash Wednesday and ending the day before Easter. Note that Sundays are not counted in the 40 days, as each Sunday is a celebration; a mini-Easter.

I like to preach, and I appreciate the challenge of preaching from the Lectionary… So I agreed to preach on Sunday August 15^th. The Lectionary readings for that day included Hebrews 11:29-12:2… a discussion on the Faith of Ancient Israeli Heroes. So, I decided that “Heroes” would be an appropriate title, and I decided to talk about how our Youth Workers (including Youth Ministers, Youth Group Advisors, Youth Directors, Youth Counselors, Camp Counselors, etc., etc.) are heroes in their own right, as well as being a chief contributor to helping develop new heroes. So, yesterday was the day, and my daughter Annalise and her friend Nicki (who sometimes seems to be one of my daughters) joined me at UCC Sun CIty

I had been asked to provide a short bio so the congregation would know who I am… So I included that in the beginning of my message.  I included in the bio that I was born and raised in the town of Greenfield set in Western Massachusetts.

During the course of my message, I was drawing connections between a Youth Leader in my life (Bill Salt) and how that relationship profoundly affected my participation in Youth Ministry.

My message seemed to be well received by the good people of UCC Sun City (or they were just very gracious). As I greeted people after worship, I heard a number of “good sermon” and “great message” until one very nice woman who introduced herself as Ruth said that she too was from Greenfield, MA! She was very surprised and delighted to hear that I was from there.

After worship, the church was celebrating the birthdays of three members of the church who were all turning 100 years old! Wow; that is so awesome! Anyway, the celebration included lunch, and I was invited… so, as I was making my way to the fellowship hall, I ended up in several different conversations with folk on a variety of subjects. The very nice woman from Greenfield (Ruth) offered to fix me a plate, but I declined knowing that I would get a chance. Eventually, I sat down with Annalise and Nicki and some women from the church. Ruth joined us as well, and we chatted some more. As it turns out, this very nice woman, Ruth is the mother of a fellow that I graduated High School with, none other than Rand Folta! Rand is one of my friends on Facebook!

Ruth Goodwin-Folta (Rand's Mom)

Later, as we were making our way to leave, Ruth was talking with these two gentlemen. As it turns out, they are brothers, and one lives in Sun City, and the other in New Jersey. They asked about Bill Salt from my sermon… So, I told them how Bill had entered seminary later in life, and attended Bangor Theological Seminary which at the time had a program that allowed you to earn your M.Div. even without a BA, and finish your BA later. Once completed, you could move on to ordination… Anyway, these two brothers, Jim and Bill Wilson and Shirley Wilson were very excited, because after Bill was ordained, he took a call to a church in New Jersey and lived very close to these brothers!

These events really remind me of just how small and close our world can be. Also, we should always speak well of others because we are unaware of the relationships that exist out there, and you never know when you’ll be talking to someone’s son, brother, neighbor, mother, father, and on and on.

This is the fifth church I’ve visited this year, and something I seem to hear again and again is: “Oh, we used to always bring our children to Pilgrim Pines” or some variation on that theme. Usually this has been from folks that were speaking about their now grown children, and the reference time was in the ’60s or ’70s. I think there were fewer options for young folk in those years than there are now. Now, we need to make places like Pilgrim Pines the Priority Option! Parents, grandparents, and maybe even great-grandparents have wonderful memories of camp and the joy of going to Pilgrim Pines… We need to remind them and also inform our current youth that there are new memories waiting to be experienced; just wanting to be had! Come on up! Pilgrim Pines is waiting for you.

Thanks again to Pastor Jeanne and the members and youth of Diamond Bar UCC!