sermon-June 4

Sermon-Year A-3 Pentecost-Proper 4 –June 1, 2008
The Cloud of Unknowing,
"O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
If you enter the home of a traditional Jewish person, you will see on their door a small cylinder as you walk in. It is set at an angle , about this long. Verses of scripture are handwritten in a special style and placed in this scroll. The words are from Deuteronomy 6 and 11. And every time a person passes through the door they touch the mezuzah and then kiss the fingers that touched it, expressing love and respect for God and his teachings. It is not always easy to remember that learning is important, and so there has to be this reminder. Traditional Jews also wear something called Tefillin. Tefillin are small boxes attached by leather straps that are put on the forehead and on the biceps when a traditional Jew prays. Inside these small boxes are verses from scripture. These boxes are only worn during the morning prayers. It is not always easy to remember to pray, and so these boxes are worn as a reminder to pray, and also why someone prays. 11:18 You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead.11:19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. 11:20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
Today (at the 10am service) we will honor all those in our congregation who are graduating. It is quite an accomplishment to start out on a road, a direction, and finish it. It is not easy. There are so many things that rise up to challenge and distract when you are walking towards a distant goal. Some of the people we honor today have been working for their diploma or degree for a long long time. Many of them had to make great sacrifices to finish. Many of them worked at the same time that they were going to school. All of them wanted at times to quit. It was not easy. Some had to make tremendous sacrifices to achieve graduation. And for many of the people here, their families had to make great sacrifices for them to graduate. It was not easy. Today we honor those who have graduated, completed their course of study, demonstrated that they are committed to education-and to themselves. Today we honor their work and sacrifice and efforts. The sheepskins, the scrolls that they receive at graduation are symbols, powerful symbols, that learning and training and work and sacrifice are important. These are not put on the doorways. Sometimes they are framed and put on walls, and sometimes they are put away in attics, and we are tempted to think that they do not matter. But they testify that sacrifices were made, work was done, important learning was completed, and goals were achieved. We need to honor that, no matter how tempting it is to treat it as unimportant or unnecessary or pointless. In 1957, my father decided to go to college. He was working 70 hour weeks, with a wife and a son. He had to keep working full time while attending school. It was not easy. We all made great sacrifices for him to graduate. Even more than the learning , his degree taught me what you have to be willing to do for what is important to you. It was not easy.
Even more than learning today, we honor what people are willing to do to accomplish important goals. We honor their efforts, their work, their sacrifices, and their commitments. We honor their families, and we honor their goals. Today we honor that these people chose a hard path, and they finished it. And we are all the better for it. This is what we teach our children this day-that it is not the easy way that endures, nor the quick way that satisfies. We are teaching our children that sacrifice and work and commitment and goals and preparing for the future and working towards it is a rock to build our lives upon. It is not easy.
Reading of the names
And we are doing something special today-we are honoring all our acolytes. Five of our acolytes are graduating from high school this year. And it seemed an especially good time to give thanks to all of our acolytes for their service and ministry to us and with us.
As I call your name, please come forward.