Words of Wikstrom, Aug 2011
In each congregation I have served I preached essentially the same first sermon. Oh, I have made some changes to reflect the differences in the congregations, but the major thrust was always the same. And, in the past, this was not only my first sermon in that particular community, but also coincided with their Ingathering, or Homecoming, Sunday. It seemed appropriate to deliver a Sermon of Introduction.
But I have already preached here at TJMC in July, and will do so again in August. So our Homecoming Sunday will not be my first Sunday in the pulpit. Yet it would be a shame to let a good idea go to waste. So here, summarized for the newsletter, is my traditional first sermon.
For the reading, we turn to one of the most sacred compendiums of wisdom I know, Winnie-The-Pooh [Chapter One, Paragraph One.]:
Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it. And then he feels that perhaps there isn’t. Anyhow, here he is at the bottom, and ready to be introduced to you.
Winnie-the-Pooh.
Over the past several years TJMC has had to endure a few “bump, bump, bumps” on the back of its head. This three-year interim period has not always been smooth sailing. And perhaps there is some other way of making such a transition if only we could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.
Yet we are here now, together, and ready to be introduced to one another for real.
Let me say, again, how thrilled I am to be here. I would like to take this opportunity to thank, especially, Ann Salamini and Don Landis, Bob Gross, Kathy Philhour, Shannon Redmond, Deborah Rose, and Jim Rotherham for seeing the possibilities in bringing me together with you in mutual ministry. And I want to thank all the rest of you who agreed with them!
There are so many Grand Adventures ahead of us, so many stories for us to share with one another and even more for us to live into. The possibilities are limited only by our courage and our heart. And it is evident already to me that TJMC has a lot of both.
In the words of one of my favorite sayings:
For all that has been -~ thanks.
For all that will be ~ yes.
Dag Hammarskjöld
In Gassho,
Rev. Erik
PS ~ for those who are curious, “gassho” is the Japanese word that means bringing the hands together, palms facing and fingers pointing up. It is the hand position of a traditional bow, but besides this literal meaning it has a deeper significance within many Buddhist communities. The two hands coming together reflects the coming together of any duality into a single unity. Most especially it reflects the coming together of “you” (one hand) and “me” (the other hand) as One (the gassho).