Introduction
Rev. Held grew up outside of Chicago,
Ill. She graduated from Rhodes College,
Memphis TN. and later from Louisville Presbyterian Seminary with a MDIV and a
DMIn. She served churches in Memphis Tn
and was the solo Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg Va. for
24 years. While pastoring in
Harrisonburg she was on the founding boards of the Free Clinic, Open Doors
Homeless Shelter and Chair of the Board or Directors of Massanetta Camp and
Conference Center. Ann has two
daughters: Rebecca and Eleanor, and 3 grandchildren: Hannah, Ben and Leah.
Message for
All Ages
REV. HELD: My name is Ann. Ms. Hannah gave me a name tag. Right here.
And I'm a Presbyterian minister.
I was ordained in 1978. Lot of y'all
weren't born by then. At least, she wasn't.
CHILD:
(Indistinct)
REV. HELD: Yes.
And I'm Hannah's grandmother. And
Leah's grandma. And Rebecca's mom. And this stole -- this is a stole that was
given to me. I was the pastor of Trinity
for 24 years. And it lists all the
members of the church at that time. I've
been there 15 years. I had a lot of
creative people in the church. A lot of
quilters and artists. And they made me
this beautiful stole. And I wear that
reminding me of my faith community. And
we're going to be talking about community today.
So I want to tell you a story. It's from the Old Testament in the
Bible. Now, the Old Testament is the
Hebrew scripture. And it's what the
Jewish people use to understand their faith.
And Christians do, too. So there
was Abraham, who actually is the father of three religions: Jewish, Christian
and the Islam faith. And he had --
Abraham had a son, Isaac. And Isaac had
two sons, Jacob and Esau. And they were
twins. So they came out pretty much
together. But Esau was the first.
And back in those days -- that was a
long time ago, that if you were the firstborn son -- you had to be the son --
firstborn son, you got to inherit everything when your father died. The cattle, the sheep, the goats, the pigs,
the land, the crops. Everything. That meant Jacob wasn't going to get
anything. He had to obey his
brother. Well, he didn't like that. It'd be like Benji, because he's the first
son, would have everything. Yeah. You wouldn't be too excited about that.
CONGREGATION: (Laughter)
REV. HELD: Obeying Benji. That would be a trip.
CONGREGATION: (Laughter)
REV. HELD: So anyway, Jacob and Esau were brothers. But Isaac loved Esau better. Parents are supposed to love their children
all the same. But in this case, Isaac
loved Esau better. And Rebekah, which
was the mother, loved Jacob better.
Ahh. Okay. You get the idea? So Isaac -- here's Isaac, right here. Kind of looks old, doesn't he?
CHILD:
Yeah.
REV. HELD: Yeah.
CHILD:
Is he a kid?
REV. HELD: No.
He's not a kid. He's an old man
now. He couldn't see very well. And so he's about to die. And so he's going to give his son --
CHILD:
Is he still alive right now?
REV. HELD: He's not alive now, no. This happened a long time ago. He's even older than I am.
CHILDREN: (Laughter)
CHILD:
Whoa.
REV. HELD: Whoa.
Yeah. I know.
CONGREGATION: (Laughter)
CHILD:
How old is he here?
REV. HELD: How old am I?
We won't get into that. I'm old. I'm old enough to have a granddaughter. Okay? Okay,
so it turns out that Rebekah overheard -- I mean, Isaac says to Esau, "Make
me a stew. Go hunt" -- he's a
hunter -- "bring me back some meat, make a soup, and I will give you my
blessing." So Esau's off doing
that. He comes back. But before he comes back, Rebekah hears
what's going on.
CHILD:
(Indistinct) there's a church on the outside and the inside. I think that's more --
REV. HELD: Okay.
So Rebekah knows what's going on.
And so she gets Jacob to make a stew.
And he brings it. And look what
Jacob looks like. He dresses up -- see,
right here? This is Jacob. And he --
CHILD:
I got to look out, and there's big windows to (indistinct).
REV. HELD: Oh, that sounds good. This is Jacob. And Jacob decides to dress up like Esau. So the bottom line is, Isaac, who can't see,
thinks this is Esau. And it's really
Jacob. And so he gives Jacob the
blessing. So he's going to be the one
that gets all the crops and the goats and everything. All right.
Well, what do you think Esau thinks when he finds out what Jacob has
done?
CHILD:
Is there a -- is there a upper floor?
REV. HELD: It's okay.
It's okay.
CHILD:
Well, why is there windows up there?
REV. HELD: Hey.
I'm used to Benji.
CHILD:
Why is there windows up there, then?
REV. HELD: There are some windows.
CHILD:
Why?
REV. HELD: There weren't any -- well, see, there's a
window in their little house. So anyway,
Jacob leaves, because he thinks Esau's going to kill him. So he leaves.
And his mother says, "Go to a different community, Haran, and
that's where you're going to find a new community."
Well, he goes, and he has -- he's
tired. So he takes some rest. And there's a song called "Climbing
Jacob's Ladder". It's an
African-American spiritual. Jacob gets
some stones, and he lays down on the stones, and he falls asleep. He has a dream. He dreams that he sees angels -- this is a
dream, now -- going up and down this ladder.
And then he hears a voice. And he feels like it's the voice of God. And the voice says, "I'm Abraham's
God. I'm Isaac's God. And now I want to be your God. And I'm going to be with you, even though you
sort of messed up. I'm still going to be
with you."
So Jacob wakes up, and he goes, "Wow,
God still cares about me. That's really
neat. I was in this place, God was in
this place, and I did not know it."
So Jacob, even though he messed up and had to go away from home, and he
was away for a long time, he knew God was with him, and eventually, he came
back, and he got back with his brother, his brother forgave him, and he was
back with his family. So just remember,
even though we mess up sometimes, God is with us. Love is with us. Okay?
READING
REV. HELD: Okay, somebody else wants to help grandmother
-- well, I'm delighted to be with you all.
The church that I served for 24 years -- I was in two churches in
Memphis before that -- the sanctuary was a multipurpose room. And so we didn't have a raised pulpit. And so I'm very comfortable with this.
In fact, when I go preaching, since
I've been retired, in other churches, and the pulpit's way up there, I don't
like that, because, at least, my understanding is that whenever someone shares,
just like -- we're coming from the congregation. I'm part of the congregation. And so I'm not above the congregation. I'm with the congregation, on the same level
plane.
We already talked about Esau and
Jacob, but I want to just go over those words again, about the dream. "Jacob left Bathsheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed
there for the night, because the sun had set.
Taking one of the stones of that place, he put it under his head and
laid down in that place. And he dreamed." Now, if I had slept all night with a stone, I
think I would have had a headache, not a dream.
"He dreamed that there was a
ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to Heaven, and the angels of
God were ascending and descending on it.
And the Lord stood beside him and said, 'I am the Lord, the God of
Abraham, your father, and the God of Isaac.
The land on which you lie, I will give to you and to your offspring, and
your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad
to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and all your
families of the earth shall be blessed.
Now, I am with you and will keep you forever, as you go, and will bring
you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I've
promised.'
"Then Jacob woke from his sleep
and said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.' And he was afraid, and said, 'How awesome is
this place! This is none other than the
house of God. This is the gate of
Heaven.'"
I looked at the back of your hymnal,
and found, as one of the call to worships, or opening words, this word that
comes from Genesis 28. "Surely, the
Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." So I want you to just meditate for a minute
on that verse. "Surely, the Lord is
in this place, and I did not know it." Amen.
MESSAGE
REV. HELD: As mentioned by Alice, I grew up in a suburb,
actually, of Chicago. My father grew up
in downtown Chicago. And he was a
member, for his growing-up years, of the People's Liberal Church in Chicago,
Illinois. Anybody ever heard of that?
It was a Unitarian church. The pastor was Preston Bradley. He was quite the orator. And he started when he was only 25, and built
it into a fairly large community, over 4,000 members, in the '40s, and several
million listeners to his radio broadcast.
It was kind of a big deal. And he
was Unitarian. Bradley stated that he
wanted to church to be a prophetic voice and have a civic conscience. The People's Liberal Church was known for
their community outreach. So I think
that a lot of who I am, my father passed on to me.
Now, my mother was Methodist. When they got married in the late '40s, they
moved out into the suburbs. And each
suburb -- kind of the way it was in the '50s -- the Methodists would take this
suburb, the Presbyterians this one, the UUCC -- you know, they kind of divvied
out, so there weren't too many churches.
So they moved to Palos Park
Presbyterian Church, because it was the church in their community. The Presbyterians seemed to accept my father,
even though every Sunday, he would, after church, be in the face of the
preacher, and tell him what was right or wrong.
It was too far to move every -- to go back every Sunday to downtown
Chicago, to go to his church he grew up in.
They wanted to find community.
They wanted to find a faith community for their children. So they joined the Presbyterians.
We all need community. In fact, I would assert that we all need some
kind of faith community that challenges us, supports us, stands by us, journeys
with us, in this adventure called life. I
find that you value community, as stated in your Seven UU Principles,
especially Number 3, "Acceptance of one another and encouragement to
spiritual growth in our congregation", or community; and Number 6, "The
goal of world community with peace, justice, liberty, for all." We all need community.
Now, I'm sure you're familiar with
John Donne, an English poet who wrote in the 1600s. "No man is an island." And being the feminist that I am, I have to
kind of change the wording now, a little bit.
No one is an island unto itself.
Everyone
"is a piece of the continent,
a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less,
as well as if a promontory were:
as well as if a manor of your friends
or of your own were.
Anyone's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in humankind.
And therefore, never send to know for whom
the bell tolls;
it tolls for thee."
Well, Jacob thought he could be an
island unto himself. Didn't he? He didn't need anybody. Well, maybe his mother, who helped connive
things with him. He thought, though,
that he could do it alone. He was
obviously jealous of his brother. A
little sibling rivalry there. He
realized, after he had tricked his father into giving him the blessing, that
Esau was going to be out to kill him.
That's what it says in the Old Testament. "So I'd better flee God." Right?
Or else he's going to lose his life.
His mother says, well, guess
what? Where she was from was in Haran,
where Isaac had found her. Rebekah's well. "And you could go there, and my kinfolk
will take care of you. You will find a
new community." So he starts to
flee. He's messed up his covenant
community, the one from Abraham and Isaac.
He's left his family in shambles.
And he pretty much, I think, thinks he's left God behind, as well. But God hasn't left him behind.
So he beds down for the night, with
these stones, and he has a dream. Jacob's
ladder. If I was a singer, like my
daughter and my husband were, I would sing "Jacob's Ladder." But I'm not.
In the dream, he senses the presence of the Divine, that the Divine is
not going to leave him, even though he's messed up big time, that God's always
going to be with him.
And so he wakes up, and he says, "Surely
the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." Now, what do those words mean to you? And actually, I'm more of a teacher than a
preacher, I think. Anybody have any
thoughts? "Surely, the Lord is in
this place, and I did not know it"?
Have you ever sensed that? All of
a sudden, feeling divine love or presence, in a way?
JOHN: Sure. When, when things seem bleak, when things
seem despairing, I tend to find moments that -- I can feel a way out, that (indistinct).
ALICE:
This is kind of strange, but I remember one time when I was waiting for
a biopsy result, and I was, you know, I was nervous, and I was anxious about
it. And I just saw all of the animals
and all the people that had left, you know, just standing there, surrounding
me. And it gave me such a feeling of
comfort, that I wasn't alone. And I just
felt better.
REV. HELD: Mm-hm.
Yeah.
CONGREGANT: I actually make a practice of thinking of my
pets and my ancestors, parents, who have left, around me. I don't know if it's just kind of come to me,
but I just kind of sit down and picture it, and I -- it makes me feel better.
REV. HELD: My husband died 13 years ago, of prostate
cancer, way too young. He was very
involved in the PATC, the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. He was an environmentalist and a hiker. I wonder where Rebecca got that.
He was president of the chapter there
in Harrisonburg. And we're about an hour
from the Shenandoah National Park, and the AT, the Appalachian Trail, goes
through there. And so part of that
chapter's responsibility is to take care of a certain amount of land, to do
trail work. Well, the headquarters of
the PATC is either in Arlington or Vienna --
CONGREGANT: Vienna.
REV. HELD: Well, I was going to say, it was either
Arlington or Vienna. I couldn't
remember. And John would go up there for
meetings. He got to know the national group. A lot of those folks did not have a faith
community that they were involved in, let alone have a member of their family
as a pastor. In fact, John, every once
in a while, when he became president, said, "Can I miss one Sunday a
month?" I said, "Yes, you
can. You hear me all the time." Because they went hiking on one Saturday and
one Sunday a month.
Anyway, when he died, the service was
at our church. And many of those people
that knew him from Vienna, and his work and trail work and stuff, came to the
service. The head of the -- at the time,
the national head of the PATC, came up to me after the service, offered his
condolences, but then said, "I felt a spirit here today. And I'm grateful."
So what is community? Well, it can be defined in various ways. I have three points. Presbyterian ministers were raised saying we
have three points. And if you could talk
in a Scottish accent, you could maybe get an extra thousand dollars, because, you
know, Presbyterians have a lot with Scotland.
First, community is a group of people
who identify with each other. You have a
set of goals, a set of principles. You
have these seven. And then you have
another statement under this. That is
how you identify yourself. How does the
community around here identify you? How
would you say they identify you?
CONGREGANT: You mean, how do they, like -- how does the
surrounding community --
REV. HELD: Yeah, they go, oh, those Unitarians, they
meet in whatever this place is, twice a month.
CONGREGANT: Oh, okay.
REV. HELD: I mean, what does the community say about the
Unitarians?
DEE:
I don't think we ask.
REV. HELD: Huh?
DEE:
I don't think we ask.
CONGREGATION: (Laughter)
REV. HELD: Oh.
Well, okay. Yeah.
CONGREGANT: I mean, I think the neighborhood knows that
some people come here. I don't know if
they know much about us.
REV. HELD: I know, when I've told some of my friends I
was coming to preach at the Unitarian church, they went, huh?
CONGREGATION: (Laughter)
REV. HELD: And I said, well -- and I've known this, you
know, because of my father -- I said, Unitarians are open to all people, in all
faith. Jewish, Catholic, Presbyterians, atheists,
agnostic. You know, it's an openness.
CHILD:
(Indistinct)
REV. HELD: And even little children running in and out.
CONGREGATION: (Laughter)
REV. HELD: My church, Trinity Presbyterian, was founded
in the '60s. It was based on Church of
the Savior in D.C. I don't know if
you've ever heard of that. But it's a
very ecumenical church that did a lot of social outreach, starting in the '40s.
Anyway, I would say the surrounding
community, when I got there in 1990, saw Trinity as a liberal church, even
though it was Presbyterian. There was a
Unitarian presence there. Fairly
small. But we had an interfaith
association. Unitarians attended that. So did Mormons. So did Muslims and Jews and Christians,
together. Fairly unique, I would say.
Well, I got there in 1990, and right
after that was -- the first Gulf War started.
And the interfaith said, hey, we need to have a prayer service together. And I thought to myself, well, Trinity would
be open to that. But you know, I was the
new kid on the block, and I didn't want to take control right away. And several people said, I know where we
should have this. We should have it at
Trinity.
Now, so part of that is the identity
of that church in that community. A
place that is open. And you all are like
that. And maybe the word needs to get
out. Another thing community is is, not
only do you identify, but you gather.
How do you gather? You come
together for worship. How do people know
about that? Facebook? Other places?
And I think you just told me you were recording things, so that the word
can get out. People need to know
Unitarians are involved people, open people, loving people.
You ever heard of Anne Lamott? And yes, she is Presbyterian, but don't hold
that against her. She grew up in San
Francisco, was kind of a flower child, as she said. Her grandmother would take her to church
every once in a while, but her parents wanted nothing to do with it. They had addiction issues, as well. She was a writer. She had, in her late 20s, early 30s, had
submitted several transcripts; nothing had succeeded yet. She was an alcoholic, had drug issues.
But every Sunday, she would go to a
flea market in Marin County. "It
happened that if I was there between 11:00 and 1:00 on Sundays, I could hear gospel
music coming from a church across the street.
It was called St. Andrew's Presbyterian.
It looked homely and impoverished, a ramshackle building with a cross on
top, sitting on the small parcel of land.
But the music coming out of it was something special."
She goes on to say, "I went back
to St. Andrew's about once a month. No
one tried to con me into sitting down or staying. I always left before the sermon. I loved singing. But what I did know about the church was that
the radical old women of the congregation were famous in these parts for having
convinced the very conservative National Presbyterian Church to donate $10,000
to the Angela Davis Defense Fund, during her trial at the Civic Center. Every week, they brought huge tubs of great
food -- of good food for the homeless families living at the shelter. I loved this.
"But it was the singing that
pulled me in and split me open. I could
sing better here than I ever had before.
As part of these people, even though I stayed in the doorway, I didn't
recognize my own voice. Eventually, a
few months after I started coming, I took a seat in the folding chairs, off by
myself, and the singing enveloped me.
Something inside me that was stiff and rotting would feel soft and
tender. Somehow, the singing wore down
all the boundaries and distinctions that kept me so isolated." I think when she heard the singing, she
realized, "The Lord is in this place, and I did not know it."
Well, you gather for worship,
fellowship. I was at one of your picnics
one time, and you had the flower service, which was quite lovely. And you had fun today. Potlucks at people's -- I hear about you, you
know, all the time. I think a third
aspect, though, of a community of faith, is also serving. There's the inward journey, your spiritual
life, but then there's the outward journey.
How do you share that love, that
caring, that commitment to others? You
share it among yourselves, bringing food and helping with childcare when people
are sick. And I know Rebecca and I were
so grateful for your support during her cancer treatment. You help your own. I believe there was a group of people at a
courthouse recently, supporting. All
that is important. How do you support,
though, your community? The greater
community. Well, it was mentioned --
being involved in legislation. Writing
letters. Showing up. And you think that's not making a difference.
One of my dear friends, and she was a
very dear friend of my husband, was the librarian at JMU, James Madison
University. That's in Harrisonburg. She grew up in a small farm in West Virginia. And she has been trying to save the
Shenandoah Mountain, which is between Virginia and West Virginia, from
fracking, from timber cutting, you know, preserving it for wildlife, because
there's a lot of unique species in the Shenandoah area. She has spent 15 years of her life working on
legislation.
About two years ago, finally, Tim
Kaine, our senator in Virginia, went on a hike with her, to see the land. We had been giving money and praying, and
working, having rallies, to help this legislation get passed. It's finally made it to the Senate. Hasn't passed yet. But that's one person who has a dream, and is
making a difference.
You might think, well, we're too small
to do anything. No. You could do wonderful things. I read on your Facebook, the Week of
Kindness, simple acts of kindness, going to iHop, giving your server a
wonderful tip. A simple act of
kindness. But remember, your sixth
statement says, "The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and
justice for all."
We also are connected in the world. And I know all of us have been so concerned
with what's happening in Palestine and Israel.
What can we do about that? Two of
my seminary friends have been very active in relationships in Palestine and Israel,
through the years. They recently went to
Bethlehem and Israel. I don't know how
they got in.
A delegation of over 30 Christians,
mostly Presbyterian, along with a few ecumenical brothers and sisters, traveled
to Palestine in Israel in February. The
delegation was organized by Israel Palestine Mission Network, in a response to
an invitation from the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theological Center in Kairos,
Palestine, to show solidarity with physical presence in the hopes of leveraging
Presbyterian networks to mobilize Christians all over the United States, and to
continue to push for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and a just peace for the
Holy Land.
Well, my friend Rick Nutt -- and he
was kind of a nut in seminary -- he was a professor for Muskegon
University. He reported that
approximately 300,000 Palestinians lived in East Jerusalem. Since 1947, about 50,000 homes of
Palestinians have been demolished. We
were told that there has been a 70 percent increase in demolitions since
October 7th of last year, when there was the invasion.
And another person said, "This
morning we watched in horror as a Caterpillar bulldozer -- yes, made in America
-- demolished the dreams of two Palestinian families in the district of
Bethlehem. We stood with the families,
prayed, sang, and two vehicles of Israeli government riot police arrived to
keep the order. But there was no
stopping the bulldozers.
"In the lengthy meetings with
Christian Palestinian leaders, from Bethlehem and Gaza, they wanted to know why
the U.S. churches were so oblivious to their suffering. Their request: You can help us most by praying for us and
telling our story to your people."
One of your goals is "The goal of world community with peace,
liberty and justice for all." So I
lift up to you the situation in Palestine and in Gaza. May this community be a blessing. Amen.
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