What’s faith? Faith is that belief that God is with us even when the mast of our sailboat breaks in two and we are holding the hand of a beloved who is dying. Faith is a gift from God that helps us to continue on our journeys even when our hearts are broken.
Faith is the hope for a better world even when war or turmoil seems to have an upper hand in our world.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11: 1, RSV, Thomas Nelson & Sons, Toronto, 1952.)
What’s a cup? The obvious answer is a cup is either 8 ounces or 225ml of something.
A cup for me is that coffee with God while I conduct my morning devotions and prayers. A cup is a wonderful remembrance of a beloved friend with whom I would talk and visit. A cup filled with tea is an afternoon event, or a measure of sugar to a neighbor in need.
A cup of faith is whatever needed that helps us be the friends of God to the people of God. A cup of faith is both given and received as we share our faith stories that supply spiritual food and living water to one another.
To God be the Glory, thank you God for your Glory which multiplies as we live in faith, hope and love.
Rev. Judy A. Stanley
Northway Cathedral
The 12 Teacups of a Faith Journey
The First Teacup is Perseverance. I wonder if you can tell one’s life story by teacups or coffee mugs. I can! Now you may tell your story using ball caps, cars or decorative plates. And I would like to hear it!
My twelve articles in the 2005 issues of “The Chalice” will be stories of my faith journey using cups and mugs from my collection.
From the “forward” in the book Remembering Your Story, “A Guide to Spiritual Autobiography” by Richard L. Morgan, I read with interest the following quote:
“I believe that the greatest gift we can offer to each other is the telling of and listening to our stories. This empowers us to appropriate and live out our own stories, unifies us in diversity, and leads to reconciliation (the mission of the church).” Lynn W. Huber, ACSW, Ph.D.
With this in mind, let me tell you about a porcelain teacup. A special teacup, one of the four beakers from the Brambley Hedge series, in the Royal Doulton china collection that I have in my assorted cup collection. Mine is chipped and well-used and much loved. My Mother Allie or Aliete, used to haul me around to the most unusual places. With or without my consent, she had an idea to instill in me a little culture. It was a tough task, but my Mother was a persevering teacher. She was a believer in the scripture “Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray.” (Proverbs 22:6)
One college break, we decided to go to the Williamsburg Pottery Factory and do a little shopping. Back in 1975, it was big but not anything like it is now (several football fields long)! Prowling around, in and out of the many buildings, I came to a wonderful collection of English pottery, and came across the 4 cups, each illustrating the beauty of the four seasons, designed by Jill Barkham. They were wonderful and affordable, although it’s quite conceivable that I borrowed the money from Mother. Also, it’s quite possible that I quickly forgot about the debt and returned to college and to exams, to campus life which for me was a wonderful foray into a spiritual community with Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, United Methodists, Quakers, Unitarians, and others. We had seekers and doubters, skeptics and mystics. The cup went on my desk in the dorm room, and filled to the brim kept me toiling away. I was persistent in pursuit of a degree!
So years later, the cup reminds me of the perseverance of Mother, who raised her family of three with her own combination of faith: perseverance against all odds, insistence on honesty, and a love of culture her own and that of others. She always said she found God in everybody and in their church. When she needed something miraculous to happen, she just went to God in prayer expecting God’s providence. Her life (and the life of several of my spiritual mentors) is like the lovely porcelain teacup: strong, delicate and the epitome of perseverance.
“For when we ask how good a person is, we do not ask what they believe or what they hope for but what they live.” St Augustine, from the Enchiridion.
Blessings & Perseverance in the New Year,
Pastor Judy
The 12 Cups of a Faith Journey
The 2nd Cup is Wisdom
The Apostle Paul speaking to the church in Corinth says: “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same spirit…” (First Corinthians 12:8, NIV).
To me the gift of wisdom is manifested by those special persons who teach the way of the cross by word and deed, through a humility that is bold and an intelligence fused with faith and with honor. I know many smart people. However, the person who stands out as wise is rare. That rare bird would have the following virtues extolled by Boethius and knowledge of God’s wisdom, which took on flesh and was perfected in Jesus Christ.
“Wisdom is the highest virtue, and it has in it four other virtues: of which one is prudence, another temperance, the third fortitude, the fourth justice.” (Boethius, Consolations of Philosophy.) Martin Luther stated: “All the wisdom of the world is childish foolishness in comparison with the acknowledgement of Jesus Christ” (Table Talk).
Let me tell you about the second cup, which is a porcelain mug with the words:
“America’s Cup-Bring Home America’s Cup-Challenge 1987” and a stunning emblem of red, white and blue and gold. This cup epitomizes wisdom. The man who sent away for it was a wise man and when he was trying to teach me a few things, I probably appeared hopeless. He and I had the relationship that Mark Twain described so well with his Dad. Do you remember the self-deprecating remark that the writer made: “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.” (Reader’s Digest, September, 1937)
Whether you have a Dad, a step-father, an uncle, an aunt, a grandmother, a friend or a coach like this man: rejoice! Try to write down your stories with these people. Here is my story about Robert Emett Gadrow. Bob born in Peacedale, RI and the third of seven children, He was an avid learner and a voracious reader. In the family’s white-frame house, Bob would stake out a corner, a stool and hide behind a book or newspaper. His family farmed, but he was sent to earn a steady extra-income in the textile factories. He worked in the mills early on and loved to corner his boss with a clove of garlic in his teeth, and ask if he was doing things correctly. He signed up for the Navy after completing High School. This man ended up 19th, out of 445 men, at the Naval Academy. He commanded ships, he ran Naval departments, and he would come home and clip coupons and recipes, and fix dinner. He loved to cook because he loved to eat. He cooked for us, the old favorites: blueberry pancakes and clam chowder. He would test out pepper steak and new types of spaghetti, served with the tried and true vegetables of Swiss chard, pinto beans, and whatever was in season.
After dinner, Bob liked his coffee. He drank Taster’s Choice; instant coffee was an economical and natural choice. Dad Bob did not intentionally waste anything! One day, in the year of our Lord 1987, he saw this magazine deal where you sent in the labels off the Taster’s Choice bottles and would receive a free commemorative coffee mug. Now you needed to drink a lot of coffee and pry loose a ton of labels. Dad Bob ended up with 4 cups, and one day he gave me a one of these prize cups. When I see the cup, I hear his voice. Hearing his voice, I am reminded of some story in our life together where the gift he gave was where to find wisdom. In faith, in experience, in reading and in conversations with those who have something to say for the common good, in our forefathers and foremothers, who like Bob share their insights to the Glory of God.
Blessings & Wisdom,
Pastor Judy
The 12 Cups of a Faith Journey
The 3rd Cup is Cooperation and Unity
Psalm 133 starts off with this lovely verse: “It is truly wonderful when relatives live together in peace.” (Contemporary English Version) Another variation reads: “Behold, how good and pleasant it is, for the brothers to dwell in unity!” (Revised Standard Version) It appears that even the first residents of this country the Native Americans had trouble with living in peace and harmony. The various tribes waged war one with the other. Then, boatloads of people eager to escape economic deprivation or religious intolerance arrived and settled in town and country side; before long conflicts erupted. Freedom is never without sacrifice, peace is a delicate balance tenuously poised between memories of former battles and rumors of future wars. (Matthew 11: 12)
One of my cherished coffee cups is my naval chaplain school mug, the heavy stoneware cup is white with the Naval Chaplain’s school emblem on one side stating “Cooperation Without Compromise” The logos of the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps painted on the other side, a gray anchor flanked on the port side by a Latin Cross and on the starboard side is the Star of David atop the Ten Commandments. In 1990, when I served as the Company Commander of the Chaplain’s Basic Course, the mug cost $10.00 and we ordered them from Bill’s Mug Shop in Jacksonville, Florida. As of March, 1990 there were over 150 recognized religious denominations credentialing chaplains and supporting men and women service members with religious paraphernalia. As I write this epistle, there are over 220 denominations and groups, noted by the Department of Defense. A military man can have the word Atheist on his dog tags, a military woman can request to have Satanism as her religious preference. This is the tragic religious polarization of our day!
So you see “Cooperation Without Compromise” is a tough act for the Commanding Officer and Command Chaplain to achieve; they need our prayers now more than ever. Peaceful coexistence within a battalion or on an aircraft carrier is not an easy climate to control, and as the troops execute their mission objectives they need external strength and peace within. Whether we believe this war is vital or senseless, we can rally around the prayers for our troops and their family and friends! These women and men who come from our home state, our neighborhoods, our schools, and our families, who look too young or appear to be well along in years we can applaud their duty, their devotion and their sacrifice. And remember the Psalms are full of prayers for our enemies and that God will work through corrupt and evil leaders.
Let us pray for them using the Lord’s Prayer, our “heart sung” prayers, the Psalms and the ancient tried and true prayers along with new invocations such as:
“Lord, You are Creator of all that is. We come into your presence this morning with thankful hearts. We give thanks to You for the bounty of Your blessings, for the opportunities of travel, for the sharings between peoples, and for the love of our families and friends. God, we ask Your strength and guidance throughout this day that we may do our best to serve You and each other in all our tasks.” (From Occasional Ministries)
On Earth as in Heaven!
Amen.
Pastor Judy
The 12 Cups of a Faith Journey
The 4th Cup is God’s Will and Our Response: the Jonah Cup
Alexander Graham Bell wrote:
“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us.” (From Lines to Live By, Edited by Clinton T. Howell)
When things don’t work out the way we expect, or dream or hope, do we as
Jonah run away and run into a counter-direction that may be like crawling into the belly of a whale? Do we land in a desert or find ourselves descending into Hell because we did not listen to God’s voice?
The fourth cup is on my faith journey is the Jonah Cup, the handle is a whale’s tail, and inside the coffee cup is another whale’s tail. It reminds me of Jonah and those times when God spoke and I ran helter-skelter the other way. However, I have to admit it’s hard to beat Jonah’s story.
From the New American Standard Bible, the Book of Jonah, chapter 1:1-3, I read:
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.’ But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
A Whale of a Tail
God’s will prevails just ask Jonah or the whale!
Or any of those sailors who with Jonah set sail,
In Jonah’s gray years he became the Sage of sages,
Telling all who he met, God stops at nothing: waves,
Whales, winds and sails, to show us our Lord saves.
In Jonah, chapter 3, Jonah is able to preach salvation to the Nineveh crowd. The people repented, and turned from their violent self-centered ways. God grants the people a second chance! God shows God’s Love (Hesed) and Shalom!
Jonah’s reaction to God’s compassion is the antithesis of kindness. He becomes angry with God and sulks. The rest of the story reflects God’s mercy with all of humankind.
Trouble is “Jonah attitudes” still prevail, and Jesus is still saving us from death to new life. Happy trails and sails to you and yours!
Pastor Judy
The 12 Cups of a Faith Journey
The 5th Cup is Patience
There are many places in my walk with God where the value of patience was revealed to me. It was an invaluable lesson that came to me like a slow, peach-burst sunrise over a topaz blue placid ocean. The truth is God is still teaching me the blessings of patience. Patience is extolled by St. Paul as one of the Fruits of the Spirit and I quote from his letter to the Galatians:
“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Gal. 5: 22-23)
Funny that there are no laws against patience to paraphrase Paul’s words (verse 23). Yet, consider how many laws have come to pass because people quickly misplace their religious values and resort to reptilian measures when placed in certain settings. The cup with no handles reminds me that a good cup of coffee or tea takes time to brew and is best enjoyed with time to savor. This cup was formed on Karen’s potter’s wheel in Robbinsville, North Carolina (western most part of North Carolina and the home of poet Joyce Kilmer). It is a pale blue color which suggests serenity and patience. It has a raised vine motif that reminds me of the Scriptures we read during Holy Communion:
‘Jesus said: “I am the vine, you are branches; he who abides in me and I in them, bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15: 5, NRSV)’
I know this to be truth from both Holy Scriptures and personal experiences. Every time I drink from this handle-less cup, I am reminded of being a part of the vine. This cup not only reminds me of the gifts of communion and community that come with living by the gifts of the Spirit. “Gifts of God for the people of God,” is how we may use our time, talents and resources as we live out our days to God’s glory.
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Judy
The 12 Teacups of a Faith Journey
The Sixth Teacup is Success through Failures
I am an admitted rummage or thrift store fan. I like yard sales and garage sale and auctions. I have this dream that is fantastic, I know, and yet it’s a fun fantasy. Someday, I’ll buy a painting of an old barn framed in weathered gray wood. Nonchalantly, I’ll go to hang the picture only to find an old Gilbert Stuart painting cleverly hidden behind the barn scene. Hah!
Now, this will not happen to me but maybe you or one of your friends may be so blessed. One day, while on Reserve duty, I happened on a thrift store (I am ¼ Scot by being a Presbyterian for 52 years), and found a lovely mug designed by Laurel Burch. It had the most exotic colors, and wonderful design of Anthurium leaves. I happily paid $2.00 for this oversize coffee mug.
Wherever I take this mug someone inevitably compliments the mug, and I tell them about Laurel. Now, what I know about Laurel is that she has had many successes and failures in her career as a designer. Yet, she keeps going and growing, and finding new ways to market her exquisite designs in clothes and jewelry as well as tapestries and stoneware. People like Laurel inspire me. Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s was at 50 year old a man with a far-fetched dream of convenient and fast hamburger and milkshake restaurants. Do you know how many times he was rejected, insulted and had the door slammed in his face? Plenty, I can assure you.
We know that Jesus and his forerunner John were treated with derision, ridicule and rejection. Yet, John bore witness to his faith and paved the way for Jesus with courage and fidelity. Jesus’ ministry is one of repeated failures by worldly standards. Jesus with integrity and the greatest compassion intentionally failed to be the super hero so that God’s powerful love could reign supreme.
Any and all of us who struggle with failure, may pause to reflect on what is the supreme attribute one may give a Christian? I suggest the following. Christians teach others to love and to live in this world so that our contemporaries as well as our descendants might be encouraged to give their best and to love as Christ loved us. Faith, hope and love abide but the greatest is love.
Blessings on your June and July activities! Please bring a friend to Friendship Day on Sunday, June 5th.
In Christ’s love,
Pastor Judy
The 12 Teacups of a Faith Journey
The Seventh Teacup is Beauty
In my devotions last week, I read Psalm 149 and I was moved by this passage:
“The Lord takes pleasure in His people;
He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation.”
To have one’s affliction turn into something lovely to behold is truly God’s way of doing things. The cup this month is a Susan Williams-Ellis design of a purple-pink lilac surrounded by butterflies surrounded by dancing moths and butterflies on a Portmeirion cup. This mug is quite attractive; all these elements are quite easy on the eye and arranged with an elegant symmetry. However, gardeners know that plants at their onset as seeds or seedlings are quite plain and ordinary. And any one whoever has seen a caterpillar knows they can be quite colorful but mostly they are either utilitarian or scary looking.
Yet, awkward seedlings and insects change into majestic trees in bloom and winged works of art in God’s grand design. Recently, I have experienced God’s powerful presence in lives of people who turn to God and find unexpected wells of faith, courage and hope and the results as they respond to pain, loneliness, and grief is new life.
To discover beauty in affliction and support in suffering is what God intends for us, but we do best when we recall that God’s timing runs differently then our time table or scheduled expectations. God’s ways are not our ways. God’s means of salvation and intervention are not regular means. Caterpillars must hibernate and seeds must experience being buried before any transformation may occur. Human beings must cooperate with God and God’s people to be transformed through their hardships to a place of rest and renewal, ascending ultimately to new vistas and to higher ground.
When you are tested or experience a trying timing, remembering the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 8: “I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Read the rest of this motivational chapter, to find some of the most beautiful words ever written about God’s love for all God’s creation.
Pastor Judy
The Twelve Cups of a Faith Journey
The eighth teacup is God’s power.
Let every soul be subjected to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God; the powers that be ordained are of God. (Romans 13:1 [King James Version])
The eighth teacup is a porcelain mug that I picked up rambling around the side streets of Okinawa and depicts an awesome, blue dragon. Growing up, listening to the radio, I loved singing along with the folk song Puff the Magic Dragon. I like dragons, which have their roots in art, folklore and natural history (dinosaurs). Dragons or serpents are mystical, powerful creatures and, for me, evoke the power of God which is awesome but mystical, tangible but intangible. Just when you think you have God figured out, God will turn your world around or upside down. God is God and will have the last word. God is in the world doing new things and bringing old things back into view. God is doing new things at First Presbyterian Church and bringing old ideas back into vogue such as our historic interest in education and music.
The New Year for us as a church really begins in September if we think in terms of programs. On September 11th, we resume Sunday School and return to worship which begins at 10:45 am. The Chinese New Year, which begins on February 12th and is older than the Gregorian calendar, uses a fanciful animal to portray each year (in a 12 year cycle) such as the year of the monkey, the year of the serpent and so on. I see the dragon or leviathan as portraying the wonder and majesty of God’s visible and invisible power at work in our world. The people of Okinawa, who have suffered at the hands of greedy tyrants and warlords, from typhoons and monsoons, from famine and prejudice, herald the dragon as a fitting symbol of the Alpha and Omega power that transcends both the mundane and the extraordinary challenges of this world and enables them to overcome all things with faith and courage.
God gives us incredible minds and God calls us to continually use those minds! So on September 11th, I invite you to attend one of the Adult or Youth Christian Education Classes at 0930 am or to begin (or renew) your own self-study of theology, church history or of the Holy Bible. The Library, the Pastor’s Study, the Archive Room, or Fellowship Hall have excellent resources to begin your adventure.
All Thy works shall praise Thee O Lord; and Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom and talk of Thy power. (Psalm 145:10-11)
Blessings and Happy Educational New Year!
Pastor Judy
The 12 Teacups of a Faith Journey
When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” (Matthew 21:23 [King James Version])
The ninth teacup in this series is a humble cup of gray and blue stoneware with the inscription of Hemlock Inn under a decorative hemlock branch. The cup was a gift from the owners of Hemlock Inn, which is in Bryson City, NC and is a constant reminder for me of pleasant, sunny afternoons.
For you see, many times after preaching on Sunday, I would go with friends for lunch the Inn. The Hemlock’s tradition was to arrange groups of eight at a round table with a lazy Susan loaded with platters of chicken, green beans, tater tot casserole, cheese soufflé and the fixings in the style of a true Sunday family-style dinner. After someone returned thanks, we’d take turns serving one another and sharing stories of our lives. Many times, around the Sunday dinner at the Hemlock, people made the acquaintance of a friend of a friend. Or you might encounter someone who was from your hometown, your home church or who had played football with your brother in college. Now these were good, relaxing and community-building times.
Recently I traveled to the Gulf Port-Hattiesburg area with your blessing to do a ministry of crisis counseling and pastoral support to the Presbytery of Mississippi.
This was a rewarding and life changing time! As I neared the Gulf Coast on Highway 17 south, I saw the farms, homes and businesses in disarray with roofs peeled off and trees “transplanted” with the roots where the branches were meant to be. Mounds of debris marked every mile or block. These small hills were filled with bits and pieces of furniture, housekeeping items or parts of trees and planters. Clusters of Katrina chaos punctuated the landscape in both the Pine Hill and Gulf Coast areas as far as the eye could see or as far as you could drive without running out of gas.
There’s an old saying that goes something like, “Whatever doesn’t kill you in this life will make you stronger.” Hemlocks have a poison that can kill you, yet a cluster of hemlocks is a beautiful part of any yard in North Carolina or Pennsylvania. After Katrina, most of the people in those hard-hit, devastated areas were knit together in a bond of suffering that forged partnerships under the authority of Godly compassion and love. The tremendous outpouring of aid and assistance came from the Red Cross and many, many churches, temples and synagogues who realized the authority God gives to do unto others as you would have others do unto you. I returned from this trip with a sense of renewed hope in the power of faith to forge a banquet table like the Hemlock Inn where when we sit together, we realize that we are one people under God, called to be God’s agents, God’s family, God’s force for the unfolding of God’s kingdom from coast to coast, from North to South, from sea to shining sea.
Pastor Judy
The 12 Teacups of a Faith Journey
The Tenth Teacup is Light, the Light of Christ
“I am the Light of the World he who follows me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the Light of Life.” John 8: 12
Singing more than one or two Advent hymns at Christmas is sort of new to me. I attended a church where we sang Christmas hymns from the Sunday after Thanksgiving through the end of December. Who does not love singing the old familiar Christmas carols like “Silent Night” or “What Child is This?” For me the comforting familiar tunes with their poetic words wrap around you like a familiar quilt or a well-worn jacket. Christmas is a wonderful time and Advent hymns have grown on me in this third season with First Presbyterian Church. The themes of Advent are many but this month, I‘d like to talk about Light/Darkness.
Many advent carols talk about people looking for light and hope and the Savior who will deliver them from darkness. Thus we sing “ O come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer our spirits by Thine advent here; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death’s dark shadows put to flight.” And as we settle into the season of winter, our spirits respond as the sun hides or becomes less available, and changes from golden yellow to a pale buttercup hue. We may focus on dark or dreary thoughts. These Advent songs and readings remind us that with Christ we have light in bleak, mid-winter. With Christ as our Light and Guide, we will break through any darkness. For we walk by faith not by sight.
This month’s cup came to me from a Scottish lady, whose early life was so hard that everything to her was a gift from God. She did not give gifts much, and one Christmas, I was surprised when she invited me to dinner and handed me the lovely cup as I exited her back door. I am reminded that if people surprise us even more will our God, who in Christ provided light that will surround us with inner warmth. God equips us with strength that will astound us. This is the light of faith and the hope of the world, which we have already received in part. Yet, even more light will be revealed, allowing us to walk with Christ even more “ dearly, nearly, clearly” day by day.
Blessings on you at Thanksgiving and Advent!
Reverend Judy Stanley