254 Main Street, P.O. Box 147,

Plympton, MA 02367 (781) 585-5764

plymptonucc@comcast.net

 

"What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God?"   --Micah 6:8

 

CALL TO WORSHIP 

 

      Leader:    Happy are we

      People:    when our wealth cannot be quantified.

      Leader:    Happy are we

      People:    when our knowledge is tempered by mystery.

      Leader:    Happy are we

      People:    when our pain is held in the balm of love.

      Leader:    Happy are we

      People:    when our delight comes from beyond ourselves.

 

RESPONSIVE SCRIPTURE READING #185:    Matthew 5:1-12

              Leader:  This is the Word of the Lord.

Prayer Requests

Silent Prayer

Pastoral Prayer

*HYMN OF PREPARATION #102                            vss 1,  3 & 4

                                         

BENEDICTION: (Ephesians 3:20-21)

      Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.

 

        Like the meek who often lost self-respect, feel less than those around
        Like those who yearn for righteousness, "right relationships", who know the poverty of disconnection and feelings of not belonging anywhere
        Like those who are persecuted for whatever reason, know the poverty of forgiveness, understanding, compassion.
       In the human scheme of things, we are all poor in some way.  To be sure, the “hierarchy of needs” would suggest that we focus on the basic physical survival needs first; but often the other emotional and spiritual needs directly impact and contribute to the continuation of true poverty.
We all have known poverty.
       The hardest reality in the midst of poverty can be the tremendous loneliness and sense of hopelessness.
In his book, Loneliness, Clark Moustakes writes:
“Whoever is able to bear the loneliness grows to the stature of his experience. Loneliness paves the way to healing, to true compassion, to intimate bonds with all living creatures and all aspects of nature and the universe . . . We must learn to care for our own loneliness and suffering and the loneliness and suffering of others, for within pain and isolation and loneliness one can find courage and hope and what is brave and lovely and true in life . . The moments between death and creation, the periods between the end and the beginning, the interval between completion and starting of a significant project are often times of deep loneliness . . Loneliness is as much a reality of life as night and rain and thunder, and it can be lived creatively as any other experience.”

        So where is the thanksgiving in this poverty, this emptiness, this loneliness that we feel?
The answer comes to us, not by focusing on what we lack, but on focusing on the potential and actual filling that can take place.  As one poet instructs:
Be loving of your empty times
as well as of your full ones. 
No one has ever had a filling
without an emptying to give it room.
        We begin in striving to honestly face that poverty that haunts us.  In what ways are we poor? In what way am I poor?
        We then seek to find:
        To find the specific food that will fill the hunger, Prayer, reading, music, activities to pull the focus outside ourselves to keep from spiraling deeper into our impoverishment.
        To find the appropriate clothing that will warm the soul,
Things to put on - sometimes just the way we dress, or the expression we carry on our faces can actually change the inner experience.
        To find available shelter, might we say sanctuary, that will surround the emptiness.
Seek out friends, share with those close at hand whom we know to be sensitive and compassionate
        The following was written several years ago by a then 12 year old friend of ours, Erin Leary to her grandmother during a worship service. Her family had just moved to town and started coming to church.

“Though you have moved, 
You are now home, Welcome and wanted; 
“You are needed; And invited, cared about 
And wished for, 
“This church will Pull you in and Protect you.” 

        That light that shines into the darkness is a great light.  
Just like turning on the light in the morning, its brightness causes us to shade our eyes momentarily.
Just so is the filling of the emptiness, the caseation of our poverty - our hearts will never be more thankful.
The world is never more colorful, nor music more swelling, the silence never louder, than in a sad and melancholy moment.
The poverty that leads to thanksgiving.
        Once we have faced the impoverishment that exists within ourselves and discovered the love that can fill it, forgive it, change it, heal it; then, with the filling; with hearts thankful and overflowing, we will be better able to share God-like compassion with others similarly poor.
Cause for thanksgiving all around.

“The poor are with us always.
“Blessed are the poor . .
“God has chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith . .
A truly grateful heart is one that has known a poverty and emptiness that faith has filled.
We must see the poverty all around and the various forms it can take.
Know it within ourselves.  Recognize it in others.
Reach out, receive and be filled to overflowing.
The circle is complete - Thanks be to God!

While reading “Dante’s Inferno”, Loreena McKennitt wrote and then performed the hauntingly beautiful “Dante’s Prayer”:
"When the dark wood fell before me and all the paths were overgrown, I did not believe because I could not see.
"When the dawn seemed forever lost You showed me your love in the light of the stars
"Though we share this humble path, alone - How fragile is the heart.
"Oh give these clay feet wings to fly To touch the face of the stars.
"Breathe life into this feeble heart; Lift this mortal veil of fear;
"Take these crumbled hopes, etched with tears; We’ll rise above these earthly cares.
"Cast your eyes on the ocean - Cast your soul to the sea;

"When the dark night seems endless, Please remember me."