We walk or bike with our kids to school. Well, Kate does. I usually do it on Friday, my day off. There’s another parent who picks their kids up that we talk to. It became quickly apparent to me that we see the world very differently.

“They don’t say the pledge anymore,” he complained.
“I don’t think that’s correct…” I said.
“They’re offended about the ‘under God’ part. No prayer in public school. We’re going Godless. It’s a shame.”
“As long as there’s testing, we’ll have prayer in school,” was all I could muster.

As I sat with it, I got more confused. My kids say the pledge every day at their public school, and they did at their last school, too. And if we have any problem with the pledge, it’s not the “under God” part, it’s the part just before. One Nation. That’s the part we’re struggling with, One Nation. I think that’s the issue today and has been for a long time.

We split our nation during the Civil War. I’ve heard of a school history book in Texas that downplays slavery and doesn’t even mention Jim Crow.[1] One school system in that state is trying to remove slavery all together from their curriculum. Well, then you wouldn’t be able to talk about the Constitution because there are provisions that support slavery and an amendment that ended it. The Constitution is obviously important when teaching about the past, present, and future of our nation.

Without slavery, we couldn’t talk about the Civil War or the presidencies leading up to it, including our greatest president… Yes. I know. It’s shocking that we wouldn’t even mention Millard Filmore in our schools. We couldn’t talk about his Missouri Compromise and so much more. Many want to even deny that the Civil War was over slavery, saying “It’s about states’ rights.” Yes, states’ rights to own people.

We are becoming more and more separated. We even divide up our news with the conservatives watching FOX and the liberals watching MSNBC. I used to be a news junkie. The best thing we did was to cut cable. After I watched hours of that stuff, I wouldn’t feel better about our world. I would feel more anger, more outrage, especially about those who don’t agree with me. Those who don’t speak the right way and use the same terminology as I do. I’m trying to unlearn it because it doesn’t help.

As a former cable news addict, I can tell my friend at school is one. Takes one to know one I guess. Instead of getting the information from the TV, they could have asked their kids. “Do you do the pledge?” And they would answer, “Yes. Every morning at Morning Motivator.”

On that first Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit showed up, it blew the doors off the place. The disciples couldn’t help but tell of the Good News and people from all over understood them! Each one heard them speaking in their native tongue. This is the reverse of the Tower of Babel in Genesis.

How is this happening? Are these not Galileans? And we each are hearing our language of Medes, Parthians, Libya, Cyrene, Rome, both Jews and Proselytes. People from every nation. All were amazed! But some started to sneer and say, “They’ve had some new wine.”

No! No! This is what the Prophet Joel said! “I will pour out my Spirit on all people and your sons and your daughters will prophesy and your young shall see visions, and your old will dream dreams. Even the slaves will be in on this, both men and women!”

And this Pentecost story features our favorite disciple, Peter. Peter who had a C average when Jesus was alive now delivers an A+ sermon to the people. Unity was found! Something new was being born.

For those of us who have witnessed or experienced birth, it’s not a clean thing. It’s messy. It’s dangerous. It’s a miracle.

I remember when Eve and Sam were born. I remember every second. I find it amazing that two people walked into a room and three people walked out. I am amazed at Kate’s strength. I’m amazed how she turned food into a human. I’m amazed at the doctor’s professionalism and care. I’m in awe that they let me leave and be a parent, I had no idea what I was doing! You’re going to let me leave with this child?!

Bringing something new into the world is a lot of work and care. It’s exciting and it’s troubling. Will this experiment work out? There are all sorts of disease and chaos in the world… anything could happen. It’s an act of faith to bring something into the world. Whether it’s a child, a project, a product, an idea, a piece of art, a story.

The rabbis talk about how we are called by God to be co-creators. God is the creator, and we have been given dominion over this creation, not to wreck it or control it but to co-create with God in it. It’s how we got great creations like bread, pizza, Golden Doodles and the Star Wars films!

I love listening to artists and musicians talk about how they create. Most marvel at the mystery of the whole thing, they start feeling compelled to try something and see where it goes. Like Jane Greinke with her painting, she noticed something about our church and felt compelled to sit down and paint. This is the result, and she is as surprised as anyone. Or Stephen King, regardless of what you think of his books, he writes a lot. In his book, On Writing, he states, “Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe.” There’s a mystery in creating something, it comes from somewhere else. Many of you confirmed this on Facebook this past week. Rob said, “Creativity just is.” Deb Waldron stated, “Creativity is a way of life.” Ann Nagy said, “I create when I’m connected to the Holy Spirit.”

It’s almost like creativity comes from some where else. Some other source. As my pastor friend Mariah said, “You know how sometimes you’re walking and trip on an invisible object? And you kind of stumble for a few yards, eventually ending upright, slightly disheveled, and walking like no one saw you? That’s how I feel.”

We as a species have given birth to so many great ideas like air conditioning, automobiles, and satellites. Many of these were created by accident! Microwaves, lava cake, and fireworks were all created by accident, by people who just noticed things happening and figured out why.[2]

We can give birth to some great things when we’re united. We can launch spaceships and movements. It’s almost like the stars align and some magic greater than ourselves happens when we’re united.

Our country is still young. It’s just 241 years old. It is an experiment that has never been tried before; self-governance of the people, by the people, and for the people. And our church is 199 years old. It’s a new experiment as well that requires all of us to show up, keep tabs on what’s going on, and make our voices heard. For individuals create groups; groups create communities; sometimes communities quicken and begin to breathe and become a nation. We cannot deny that our past hasn’t been all good for all people. We might not be able to solve every problem we face, but we won’t solve anything until we face the problem. In our nation and in our personal lives.

Once I was at a conference with UCC pastors, and we had to worship together. It was just a service from the book of worship, something we’ve done a million times, but when that first hymn was sung… The harmony, the voices, the unity… something magical happened and suddenly these pastors with their different political and theological traditions and God-given gifts from various churches with their various histories from all over this great nation… we came together and are still together. I can reach out to so many of them now for prayer, advice, and help. They help me face my problems.

These people know so much about me and I know so much about them. Good and bad.

We can’t deny the bad parts of our history, especially when so many were harmed by it. It’s uncomfortable to look at. In the early church, the cross wasn’t depicted with much regularity during the first 300 years. People were still being crucified! The early church wanted to focus on Jesus as the Shepherd. Or the fish and the loaves. Or an anchor. Symbols of unity. The cross was too painful because we lost church members to that torture device. But it eventually became a symbol of unity as well and it hangs prominently in almost every church on the planet. It’s a dark symbol, a hard part of our life together, but it has a central place in our worship.

Father Bird, my childhood priest used to say, “The cross is God saying, ‘I love you this much.’” What was once painful became a symbol of hope, unity, and love. I know we can do that again! We can be that open to one another, both in church and in our nation. Great things happen when we are united.

Seek unity. I say this for myself and for our life together. Y’all had some history before I came here. Some animosity between services. Some bitterness between members. I’ve listened to it for a year and I am not about to deny it. What I want to do is turn it into a blessing that brings something new into the world and our life together. Something that unites us. We are going to do lots of new things together! We are going to bring about some great things here on our corner of the square! Together! In each and every service. I invite each one of you to be a part of it! To be one church, under God. Working to bring God’s beloved community about through our welcome, our loving, and our service. Amazing things can be born when we’re united.

Let us be about this creative work! In our congregational meeting today after church, everything needs to be about the transformation of human beings to transform an unsuspecting world. To bend it to blessing. We are here to produce people fully alive.

That parent at the school pickup and me, well; we both love our kids. Eve is best buds with their kid. Each time I see this person, I smile. We have a shared interest. We have a sense of unity. So they complain and I laugh and say something and it causes them to laugh because the conversation is always coming out of left field for both of us.

Here we are, two parents laughing as we wait for our futures to get out of school. Laughing together like we’ve had some new wine. I don’t know about them, but I think something new can be born between us. For the sake of us both, of our families, and for our nation, may it be so. Amen.

Works Cited

 https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/07/13/421744763/how-textbooks-can-teach-different-versions-of-history

[2] http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?m=1109315887701&ca=01856406-1a0c-4eb3-ba90-ca51a8dc0cc4