Change is permanent.  Change is constant.  Nothing can endure unchanged. This paradox is one that has confounded humans from very early in our history.  That does not mean every change is forever.  Time has a way of adjusting things and we have a choice: adjust with it or be left behind.  Even when we resist, that becomes a part of the change.  It happens.  There is no stopping it.  Sometimes we see advancement; sometimes we see regression.  The one constant is the change.  It's part of our identity.  Sunday we change from two worship services to one.  We come at 10am to gather as a community of believers to worship God and sing His praises.  We continue an ancient practice that ties us to the very first believers who began to trust the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Our hearts will continue to receive the blessings of God and His mercy will continue to comfort us.  My prayer will continue to be one of hope and joy.  It will continue to be a prayer addressed to the One who has made promises to our human family.  Come with a heart ready to celebrate and give thanks and make known your love for Christ.

Hate is a poison to our souls our families our neighborhoods and to the world.  I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.  The Beatles reminded us in one of their hit singles "All you need is love."  I used to think that was true.  But it isn't.  If it were, they wouldn't have broken up.  Apparently they needed their own space and the freedom that goes with it.  If love is all you need we could save/cure the world.  Wait, the Christian Church teaches the love of God is awash in the world.  And Jesus is the savior of that world and yet, we need plenty more than love to make things work.  Back to hate.  The author Graham Greene is reputed to have said "hate is a lack of imagination."  By what the news reports every day, over and over and over, we might come to believe hate has taken over.  North Korea, Syria, London bombings, shootings at charity baseball games,  Our politics seem increasingly hate driven.  Our court dockets are jammed with people and businesses alleging grievances that have resulted in their diminishment to the point they want their opponent bankrupted or imprisoned.  Civility has a bad case of the flu.  In addition to love, we need to stop finding a place for hate to live in our hearts.  We need a better tuned imagination that thinks and believes there is a more creative solution to our grievances than hate and hostility.  No one counts to ten anymore.  I think I'll teach my grandchildren to count to twenty or thirty. At least it's a start.

It never ceases to amaze me the things that once were permissible to do that no longer fit in that category.  One such thing simply baffles me as to how it was ever permissible.  On this date, the 13th of June, 1920, it was no longer permissible to send a child via Parcel Post in the United States of America.  Are your teeth still in place?   It took an official act of the US Postal Service to ban such a practice.  Who in the world was doing such a thing?   Just imagine this.  Mid-morning, say around 10:38, a knock at the door arouses your attention.  There stands your only grandson; all smiles and desperately in need of a bath and a cookie.  All you needed to do was sign for him.  Would you?   What if there was postage due?   Could you be sure he really was your grandson?   Where were his parents?   Have the authorities been notified?   If all the paperwork was in order, what else was there for you to do?   1920 must have been a rather wild time in the good old US of A. After all, they were called the "Roaring Twenty's!"

Today is the 73rd anniversary of the D-Day Invasion.  On the beaches of Normandy tens of thousands of allied fighting men risked life and limb for freedom.  Many thousands of them died.  Thursday the voters in Britain will decide who controls the reigns of Her Majesty's government for the next five years.  Three deadly terrorist events will have an impact on that vote.  The dead and injured in those events remain in our prayers.  A frail and blind Bill Cosby is on trial accused of unspeakable crimes.  Our nation is entangled in partisan party conflict on so many levels it's hard to keep track.  Giant Pythons are invading Florida's Everglades.  Wonder Woman is enthralling theater patrons across the nation.  And Jerry Lewis is not well in Las Vegas.  Lots of news is of no consequence.  Some of it is life or death.  Here's a bit of news that matters plenty to Julia and me.  Tomorrow our daughter, Sarah, will be thirty years old.  That day, thirty years ago was Pentecost Sunday.   By this time tomorrow, we'll know if our next grand child is a boy or girl.  And then, the buying will begin in earnest.  And every penny will be well spent.  There are joys in life that cannot be measured.  Amid the horrors our world can place at our door, making ready for a baby is just about the best remedy there is.  Thanks be to God.

I won't use her name. She doesn't deserve any more attention.  Ever!   She's in the news because she had her picture taken holding a bloody effigy of President Donald Trump's head; as if he'd just been decapitated.  Just when you thought there was no lower point on the "disgusting scale" she gets below it. Apparently, this is what passes for political humor in her mind.  She may be alone in that assumption.  After all, even the Satan worshipers have disavowed her antics.  American politicians have always been fodder for stinging humor.  A decapitated head is outside the bounds.  Given our revulsion when terrorists behead doctors and journalists and alleged spies, or for that matter, any human being, makes this former actress, stand-up comic no better than a terrorist.  I read where she has apologized.  That's a start.  Now, let her fall into a well deserved obscurity.

I remember a time when Memorial Day was celebrated by huddling around a radio and listening to the Indianapolis 500.  My dad would keep track of laps and leaders and the eliminated drivers on a special insert provided by the Indianapolis Star newspaper.  That was a long time ago.  The race was first televised in 1986 and, for my money, The Greatest Spectacle In Racing isn't nearly as exciting now, some three decades later.  While I'm at it, The Greatest Show On Earth is no more.  Ringling Brothers' and Barnum & Bailey Circus closed the Big Top for the last time yesterday after 146 years of thrilling audiences around the world.  Boys and girls ran off to join the circus for all kinds of reasons.  If I ever had a hankering to run off and join the circus, I never acted on it.  No more lions or elephants or tigers.  No jugglers or high-wire acts or clowns.  How does one lure an audience to a three ring extravaganza when every sort of entertainment can be found on your phone?  Political correctness and animal cruelty laws make for difficult times when it comes to what passes for fun and frivolity and thrills of daring do.  Life changes and moves on.  We change or get left behind.  Or we just die.  Which brings me back to Memorial Day.  It is the day when Americans celebrate and honor those un-numbered patriotic dead who marched off or sailed away or took flight into the wild blue yonder to defend what is good and decent.  Deciding to hazard all for nation and family, we salute them and we honor them and bow in prayer for their eternal rest.  God bless them all and God bless America.

This is the fifth week of Easter.  We live in the light of the glorious gift of God's son.  The Light of the World, the Resurrection and the Life, the Door, Gate, Good Shepherd and more.  I remember seeing bill boards along the highway announcing "Jesus Is the Answer."  The glib and dismissive response to that was "What was the question?"  Too often we try to draw to the finest point possible the whole of the Good News; as if we could hold the entirety of it’s mystery in our hands.  I hear far too frequently Jesus died for us.  Jesus died for our sin.  Jesus died that we might have life and have it abundantly.  I don't hear what I believe to be the "rest of the story."  Jesus lived for us.  In fact, because we're in the Easter Season, let me remind you, Jesus continues to live for us.  Jesus' death was the penultimate act of God leading to our salvation.  The resurrection of Jesus acclaims all of his life as an ever living sign of God's love for creation.  As Jesus still lives for us and as the Holy Spirit faithfully empowers us, let us remember during this Easter Season, we too live as ones who bear witness to that Good News in all of its unfathomable mystery.

This coming Sunday is Mother's Day.  It is a time for remembering our mother. We rejoice, either in her living with us still in this life, or with Jesus in the Kingdom.  Regardless of where she is, our love for her is still alive; and so too her love for us.  Death does not stop love.  Death does not separate us from love.  Death does not have the last word.  We are still in the Season of Easter.  It is the proclamation of the Church that the resurrection of Jesus happened that first Easter Sunday and is overtly celebrated for the seven weeks before Pentecost.  Mother's Day is one of sentimentality in all kinds of ways.  Presents and cards and flowers and special dinners and family traditions.  They all come together for Mom.  The last word is safely ensconced in the eternal promises we have in Jesus.  As he lives beyond the grave, so too does His love for all of us.  While Mother's Day is a non-religious holiday, it makes room for all our efforts to love our mothers.  And for that, Happy Mother's Day.

Again we have been reminded little things matter.  Little gifts can make a difference in life.  Over a year ago we began collecting pocket change for the Backpack Lunch Program.  We started by encouraging our own children to offer their change that other children had food for the weekend.  $1,843.64 has been given to the program.  While the total dollars are significant, what our children learn is of inestimable value.  They are learning even the smallest gift can be valuable.  Even with small steps a grand journey can begin.  Sunday we hosted Gretchen Showalter at Calvary.  Eleven year old Gretchen had a vision of helping children in Nigeria. She shared with us a bit of how she does it.  She makes and sells small items and purchases others and gives the proceeds to her mission.  Many of you bought some of her creations and that, coupled with what Calvary gave to her mission put her giving to date over the $1,000 mark.  Again, small things matter.  Even pennies and nickels (pocket change) can be a witness to the love of God in the world.  Thank you, Gretchen.  Thank you, Calvary.  Thank you, God. 

Just a brief reminder about Easter.  It is a day, to be sure.  It's the most significant day of the Christian calendar.  That much most of the Church acknowledges and celebrates.  However, Easter is also a season.  It lasts until Pentecost, the birthday of the Church; the day when the Holy Spirit is bestowed on thousands.  Easter sets the agenda for every Christian life.  God is victorious over death once and forever.  The powers and principalities are defeated, even if they do not entirely go away.  Our fears about the past are safe to put away and never again will we be left to our own devices to try to save ourselves.  With that burden lifted from our shoulders, we can faithfully and joyfully look to the present day and every day to come with hope.  The assurance of our salvation has been revealed in Jesus' passion and resurrection.  Now, we can get on with the business of bearing witness to this mighty act of God in every word we speak and deed we accomplish.  Let them all be worthy of your salvation.