“The Cell Phone that Came”

November 14, 2004

Scripture Reading:   Isaiah 65:17-25

 Rev. Dr. Carol L. Kerr

Blue Point Congregational Church

God Is Still Speaking,…

Once upon a time there was a woman, let’s call her Jane.  A package arrived at Jane’s door one day.  It is a cell phone which she didn’t order.  She looks down the street for the UPS man to tell him that there has been some mistake.  But, no one is in sight.  How did they deliver it so quietly?  The dog never even barked.  She checks the address on the package.  Sure enough it is hers.  The cell phone is a deep gold and warm.  On the back it has the name of the phone company – G.I.S.S. Connect.  Do they mean K.I.S.S?  or M.I.S.S. or B.L.I.S.S?  GISS is not a word.  The paperwork in the package says it is “A free Gift” from God Is Still Speaking – Connect.  GISS is a bad acronym.  But, someone had decided on GISS – God Is Still Speaking – Connect.   It ended with a comma and not a period.  Was this poor grammar?  Or, was there purpose to it, like there is more to come?

“Oh,” she thinks, “I get it now.  This is some evangelist come on.  It’s a new gimmick.  They stick a phone at your door like some pre-approved credit card.  You use it and somehow you are hooked into them.”  Jane feels a lot of anger on account of the cell phone coming.  After all she did not order the phone.  She did not ask for the phone.  She resented the phone.  Or, more accurately she resented the evangelists she imagined behind the phone gimmick.  At the core of her anger were  the fact that some things happened in her life that she knew they would condemn her for.  Once she had had an abortion.  She knew that they would call her a sinner and condemn her for it.   She wasn’t sure whether she had done the right thing or not.  That time in her life had been a nightmare.  She had been divorced once too.  And she had good friends who were gay.  The thought of these evangelists felt like she was being pushed against her will again.   She was about to throw the phone out, but she noticed on the small gray screen of its, no bigger than some postage stamps, there is a text message it says, “No matter who, no matter what, no matter where you are on life’s journey you are invited and welcome here.”  That was different than what she expected.  She read it over again, “No matter who, no matter what, no matter where you are on life’s journey you are invited and welcome here.”  Instead of making her feel bad it made her feel good.  “No matter who, no matter what, no matter where you are on life’s journey you are invited and welcomed here.”  So, she put the phone down on her counter.

The phone rang again.  It ring was a twangy and thin versions of the hymn “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today.”  Jane gets angry again. “I knew it was some evangelist stunt.”  So she picks up the phone and yells into it.  “I don’t care who you are or what you believe, you have no right calling me or leaving me this phone!  God is still speaking – Give me a break!”   There was silence on the other end.  She didn’t hear music, or worse, breathing, just silence.  Like who ever listening had all the time in the world to hear her anger.  She yelled everything she had been thinking into the phone.  Still this silent listening happened.  There was another text message.  It said, “The hymn doesn’t say ‘Come some of ye faithful.’  The hymn says, ‘Come all ye faithful.”     It twangs out the Christmas Carol on its microscopic speakers.  She didn’t throw the phone out while it was playing because she still loved Christmas.  It reminded her of mystery and wonder.

She grew up thinking she knew what most of the bible meant.  To say the least, she thought she knew people who knew what most of the Bible meant.  She thought she knew what other people should and should not do.  She thought she knew what people should and should not believe.  She could see now how into control, analysis, and objectivity she was back then.  Tough things in life happened.  A lot of the answers she knew with such certainty,  hung like and usused dresses at the back of her closet for years.  The kind of faith that she wrapped herself in now was a faith in the mystery and wonder of it all.  It was something she felt as a little girl.   It made her skip and swing in circles then.   She thought maybe she shouldn’t call it faith.  Doesn’t faith have to do with knowing all the answers?  Yet she decided to keep the word faith.  Because if faith is meant to keep you praying it is this mystery and wonder that did.   It wasn’t really about answers.  Her faith was really this sense of awe that she wrapped around her  when she walked on the beach alone, or saw the first snow falling.   Things seemed beautiful at these times.  It was the power of the experience that would lead her to believe the words like “The Lord is my shepherd.”  Or “Love one another as I have loved you.” The words in turn drape the cloak around in marvelous folds.   Yes, she believed she still could join the great Christmas processional of all the faithful joyful and triumphant.” 

She wondered how it was that she was chosen to get this phone.  Maybe they had gotten hold of a subscription list and her name had been on it.  She didn’t subscribe to Guideposts, or anything remotely religious.  Was it because they found out she subscribed to Time magazine, and thought she needed an antidote to the often negative and frightful affairs of the world?  Or maybe it was National Geographic that whoever it was assumed she was interested in humanity around the globe and thought she might want a theological basis for it.  Perhaps it was the Adventurer magazine she like to browse through and let her fantasy go.  Did they think faith was some sort of daring and exciting adventure she might be interested in?    She certainly didn’t think she was chosen because she was somehow better than anyone else.  Even though she was not sure why she was chosen she did have a hunch as to what she was suppose to do.  If the phone wasn’t trying to convert her to a certain set of beiefs, then the phone, or God Is Still Speaking – Connect, wanted her to make a call.  

She thought, “Oh this is a new twist.  Usually it is the telemarketer that calls your home.  Now the telemarketer wants me to call them.”  Another message flashed on the screne it said “Journey’s wanted.”  She thought, “Well if this is a gimmick it sure is a good one.”  She dialed her best friend’s number.   She was sure that the phone was programed to connect her with some evangelist waiting at GISS central for calls to come in and then give her a hard sell.  883-2901….  “Hello, Jane?”  It was Barb’s voice.  “I can’t believe it’s really you.”  Jane said.  “You won’t believe this crazy golden phone I someone sent me…”  Jane started telling Barb about the phone.  Barb thought it was really funny which made Jane lighten up about it.  She then said well if the phone wants journeys  I can tell you about mine.  So they talked about when they were young and what Christmas was like.  Then they talked about belonging.  Then they talked about twists along the road of life.  Then they talked about churches they had been to and were going to.  Jane found she could go onto the menu of the cell phone, click music and a selection of hymns would come up.  Delighted and giggling, Jane and Barb listened to the top ten hymns.  “Rock of Ages,”  “Morning Has Broken,” “Blessed Assurance,” “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,”  and more.  They sang together over the phone in corny voices.  They had fun.

After she called Barb she put the phone away in her sock drawer.  The next morning she opened the drawer and it the text message was flashing, “Journey’s Wanted.”  She thought, it’s got to be kidding.  I already called Barb.  How many phone calls does it want me to make?  “Journey’s Wanted” kept flashing.  Jane thought, “I’m too busy.  I have got to get to work.”  She turned off the phone.  She closed the drawer.  When she got home that night, she opened the drawer and the screne was flashing again, “Journey’s Wanted.”  “You have got to be kidding.  I’m too tired.”  On the weekend she had a cold, so she wasn’t going to make any calls on the phone.  No matter how many times she turned it off it would turn back on.  What was really annoying is that in the night sometimes it would wake her up with one of it’s hymns.  One night it woke her up 3 times with  “Now Thank We Al Our God.”   The next morning she opened her sock draw and the text message wrote, “If you think making a few phone calls is hard, try resurrecting from the dead.”

The phone thinks its funny.  But, it made its point.  “What the heck” Jane thought.  Why can’t I make a few more calls.  So each day she called a new friend and told them about the phone.  They shook their heads and chuckled.  It would always get them talking.  Often they would suggest maybe God had sent her the phone and laugh.  She would respond that she preferred the scientific explaination which was that an space ship landed in her yard and little green men had left the phone for her.  She would play some of the hymns.  Friends would tell her their journeys.  Sometimes they would update her since the last time she called.  As far as she could tell there were no gimmicks with the phone, there were no strings attatched, no tests that you had to pass to use it, no roaming charges, no charges at all, and no one appeared at her door to claim it on a follow up.   As far as she could figure, all it cared about is that she makes calls on it.

People liked her phone so much that they bought their own golden phones and typed out special sayings in the text window, put in inspirational hymns and music, and sent them to each other.   She felt like the phone had put her set her off onto a lifelong spiritual journey scavenger hunt with others. 

The big question that everyone she called on her phone and who heard its story wondered was this, if God is still speaking then what is God saying?  She didn’t know.  All she knew was the phone wanted her to make calls and talk about journeys.  Then they all concluded that maybe God was speaking though one of the journeys.  God wanted her and them (because so many people were connected now) to hear something special some one of them was saying.  They began to think that God was speaking through one of them only they didn’t know which one.  This made everyone search into the depths of the things they shared, looking for the words of God.  Is it Mary’s love for her autistic child?  Is it Joe’s honesty?  Is it the beautiful prayers that Ellen says at dinner, like poetry?  Is it even in the pain of one whose husband is dying?  They came close many times when they heard stories of love and patience, and kindness, and peace making.  It also made them wonder, of course to themselves for it would seem too egotistical to say it out loud, if maybe their own voice was the voice of God.  This made them start to change.  They began to feel like what they said and did mattered to others as they looked and were inspired by each other.   Could they somehow be reflecting the glory of God within themselves.  Didn’t Mary say to the angel Gabriel, “My soul magnifies the Lord’s.”  Why couldn’t their own soul reflect God’s glory in some way? 

Are you sure it didn’t come with directions?  Barb asked.   Jane said, “Absolutely.  I checked the box many times.  I searched the web.  I scrolled through its menu almost everyday looking for some “Help” option, but there isn’t one.  The only rule I came up with was on the paper that came with it.  After it said it was a free gift it said, “Never place a period where God has placed a comma.”  Barb wondered, “What does it mean by that?’  “I don’t know.  I guess it doesn’t like periods.  It doesn’t like things finished and wrapped up.  I guess you never know what is God is going to do next.  “What’s it saying now?” Barb asked.    It says on the scene, “I love you.” 

Today we are celebrating the kick off of the identity campaign of the United Church of Christ.  The key motto of this campaign is “God is still speaking,…”  In a nutshell this one phrase expresses the heart of what our denomination is about.  Our faith may be 2000 years old, but our thinking is not.   As the great pilgrim and forefather of our faith said on the Mayflower, “God has yet more light and truth to break forth out of his holy word!”   I hope my story about the mysterious cell phone captures what this means in action and experience.  We are a denomination that is inclusive rather than exclusive.  We don’t have a litmus test to determine whose in and whose out.  Jesus never did, why should we?  We believe in the whole people through their shared relationships and journeys work to discover the voice of God in our lives today.  Our faith is not open to the past but closed to the future.  Rather our faith is uses the revelation of the scriptures as a beacon reveal the growth potential of the  with the human race.  We believe we each have to figure out what our faith means.  No one is going to give us a set of instructions.  We believe that each human being has light inside of himself and herself that is able to find and be in relationship with God through their own intelligence, creativity, responsibility and love.

During the season of Advent and Lent the United Church of Christ will be airing two commercials that identify the core personality of our denomination.  One of which I described at the meditation on the top of our bulletin.    It is estimated that 60% of the population will be exposed to these commercials.  At the bottom of the commercial it has the UCC website page.  When people go to that website and they live in Scarborough, they will be sent to our website.

A recent survey on the state of the church revealed that 87% of Americans feel religion is important to their lives.  Yet only 42% go to church on a regular basis.  85% of mainline churches are in decline.  The United Church of Christ is actually doing better than some others.  

If so many people feel religion is important, why do so few attend church?  More than ever, there is a large segment of our society that has little or no church background.  Others, who do claim a history within the religious community, feel that worship is boring and uninspiring.  Some feel the church has lost its vision in society while others have had a very negative experience in a church community and feel unwelcome. 

In focus groups people who are no longer part of a church community, almost no one had heard of the United Church of Christ.  We are a well kept secret.  The denomination feels it is time to let the world know about the UCC.  It has a vibrant heritage, diverse congregations, and progressive theology that is engaged and passionate about justice in the world as well as our own spiritual journeys.

The logos is the red and black colors.  The big comma.  This is what will visually key people in throughout the country on our denomination and what we stand for.     

The prophet Isaiah saw a vision of the better world that is to come.  “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new hearth.  The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind… (65:17).”  We hope and believe that our denomination is part of  that vision even in and through our lives, as God is still speaking to us.