“Can We Talk?” 

Luke 13:31-35

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 

So, my first sermon, that is, my first sermon not as a candidate, but as your pastor. Folks, you're stuck with me now.  

I want to confess something too you. In this delicate conversation that is the pastoral search process, I learned something that well, gave me pause in my consideration of whether to come to Utah or not. A certain fact was reported to me, and so weighty was it that I decided to research it, to see if it was true. And indeed it was. I quote from State of UT resolution 5, 2001

      Be it resolved by the Senate of the state of Utah:

      WHEREAS, Jell-O® brand gelatin was introduced to the country in 1897, just one year after Utah was admitted to the Union as the 45th state;

      WHEREAS, Utah has been the number one per capita consumer of Jell-O® brand gelatin for many years;

      WHEREAS, more than 14,000 signatures have been collected from the people of Utah in support of the campaign to select Jell-O® as the Official Snack of Utah; and

      NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the state of Utah recognize Jell-O® as a favorite snack food of Utah. And it passed.

This is the state to which I have been called as Pastor.  

Well, I have another confession to make. I was raised in Hawaii, and little is it known that Hawaii is the number one state in the consumption of the delicacy that is Spam.  

It is true.  

For those of you who are not acquainted with the delicacy, Spam is a particularly delectable brand of canned meat. I know that it has been much maligned, and the ingredients that make up this meat may not be readily apparent. Some have said that the name Spam is an acronym for “Something Posing As Meat”, but McDonald's in Hi has added Spam to its menu as part of its “Hawaiian Breakfast”. Let me tell you, you haven't truly eaten until you have enjoyed dishes, listed in Hawaii's Spam Cookbook, like Spam omelets, Spam and beans, and Spam with Japanese radish fermented in a syrupy sauce. 

You may stand up for green Jell-O. I, having grown up in HI, will stand up for Spam. 

This is the individual you have called to be your pastor.  

Now normally, if you lock lovers of green Jell-0 and spam in a room, and ask them which is best, you have a recipe for great conflict.  

If you think about it, Jell-0 of any color and Spam are so different, one wonders how they could make a good match? But I submit to you that something divine has happened, for only God can bring together lovers of Jell-O and Spam and unite them as one.  

Though I utter all of this with tongue planted firmly in cheek, this seem to be the way that God often works, bringing together unlikely matches, making illogical choices, using unlikely, marginal people to accomplish wonderful and mighty deeds. Scripture is infused with such stories about the strange ways that God works, so should we be surprised that Jell-0 and Spam, that a church in Logan and a strange guy from NJ have been brought together? 

Surprising or not, together we are. You're stuck with me now. 

It is a new beginning for us, for the Heins family, for me as a Minister of Word and Sacrament, and for this church. From this time forward, when I say us, I mean you and I together.  

Like Abraham in our story, God, in Spirit, is ushering us outside and casting our gaze up into the night sky and saying, “do not be afraid…I have a special purpose for you. I have a unique ministry in this community that I have prepared just for you. Look to the sky count the stars if you can, these stand for the lives that I want you to touch as you celebrate a life of faith together.”  

Is this too grand a statement? I believe not. It was not for Abram, who left his home at the command of a God he barely knew, who received a promise of land and many descendants, and yet was an old man with no offspring and not an acre to his name. Yet he looked up at the sky and believed.  

Do you believe? Do you believe that God has a special purpose for your life, and for this church, our congregation? I hope so. Let's celebrate this moment. 

But this is not the end of the story.  

Given this celebration, we can ask, where do we go from here? After all, we are ultimately not about Jell-0 and Spam, we are concerned with things much deeper and more fundamental.  

If God abides here (I sense this is true), and if God has indeed brought us together (I believe this to be the case and I hope you do as well), and if our gaze is truly fixed on the deep, fundamental things of life, then we can ask, what now Lord? 

How do we proceed? What do we do? Where do we go from here? 

As for the specifics of this ministry, as for how God's grand and special vision will play out, this is for us to discern together in conversation.

You know, what struck me first and foremost about this passage was the give and take between God and Abram. In chapter 12, God speaks and Abram goes without a word, but not here. I can imagine Abraham saying, “God, can we talk? you know, your promised a great land, and nations and all of that well….” Then Abraham speaks with God, and God speaks with him, and they both listen to each other.  

In this conversation, God's purpose is worked out.  

God, can we talk? 

As Abram went back and forth with God, in conversation, offering his doubts and complaints as well as his faith and praises, so to do we engage in honest conversation with each other. God rarely speaks face to face with us as with Abram. Presbyterians believe that God speaks through community. Through our conversation, God's will emerges. 

So I will listen to you as you share with me about UT and this community, about what it is like to live here. I will listen to you as you share with me your vision, your stories, and your perspectives on life and faith. I will listen to you as you share your struggles, your doubts and your needs. I will listen to you as you try to persuade me that green Jell-o is better than Spam. 

And I will share with you the gifts that God has given to me.

Guided and empowered by the Spirit, in conversation we work out God's grand purpose for us as individuals and as a congregation. 

There will be challenges. There will be surprises. I will find out that you are not the perfect church and you will find out that I am not the perfect pastor. 

There will even be times of darkness. God promises not to remove our darkness in the present, but to walk with us each step we take through it. Through it all God's purpose will be accomplished, and we will be changed and blessed in the process. This is the invitation of gospel.  

I want to tell you about Gabby Mahuka.  I will never forget that name.  Gabby Mahuka.  Does that name sound tough to you?  It does to me.  It does to me because I remember the person who went with that name.  In fact it was his face that was inches away from mine when he grabbed me out of the seventh grade lunch line and thrown me up against a wall at Nanakuli Intermediate School in Hawaii.  Yes, he was about to beat the living daylights out of me.  While I was staring into Gabby's face in those tense moments, I remember some details with great clarity.  Out of my peripheral vision, I could see Gabby's "Boys" fan out behind him.  I could feel the wall against my back.  I could hear a girl in the background saying to my new friend John, "Help him John!" and I could hear my friend John replying, "No way!"

Well, it's quite a story.  You see, a short time before, we had moved to Hawaii from California, and I was pale, skinny, spoke a different language, and had a lot to learn about my new home.   

Being a new student, I caused quite a stir.  Somehow, within a few months, I managed to be elected the seventh grade Valentine Prince, who was to be part of the Valentine Court at the annual Nanakuli Intermediate School Valentine Dance.  This was an honor, I assure you, that I did not campaign for.   It was a joke of course, but I needed to find a date.  Not really knowing the ropes, I asked for advice.  I was told to ask a girl named Diane out.  I did and she accepted.  The plot thickens now.   

I, of course, did not know that Diane had just broken up with the aforementioned Gabby Mahuka.  Gabby Mahuka was older than I was, bigger than I was, meaner than I was, and certainly more attached to this girl than I was.  That is not the whole story though.  Gabby had said that it was ok that I take Diane.  I was in the clear.  The night of the dance however, keep in mind that these were the 70's, I was duded up in my black polyester vest and pants, with my Saturday night fever shirt with the big collar.  I had my dancing shoes on, and I was ready.  Unfortunately, the ceremony in which I was to participate as Valentine Prince required me to give a rose to my date and a peck on the cheek.  There, before the whole school, I had to kiss Gabby Mahuka's girl.  That is why Gabby's face was inches away from mine in the lunch line the next Monday. 

In that pivotal moment, I managed to utter, “Can we talk about this?” 

I don't remember much else, other than I did not get beat up that day. Little did I know that God needed a pastor in Logan in 2007 and so I was spared by divine intervention! 

But now we are also in a pivotal kind of moment. Wondering what God has in store for us. We have kissed the girl and now it is time to face the future.  

To discern our way forward, “can we talk?” 
 

March 4, 2007

Rev. Paul Heins

First Presbyterian Church

Logan, Utah