Matt. 2: 1-12

“Taking a hint”

          It just recently dawned on me that if the three wise men hadn’t taken a hint, we wouldn’t be here.  Oh, we would “be” here – we would still exist, but we all would not be here this morning together having this great celebration of Christmas as a church family.  Dennis Union Church would not exist, the United Church of Christ would not exist, nor would Christendom itself.  No, if the three wise men hadn’t followed the insider tip, Herod would have found baby Jesus and as we say, that would not have been “a good thing.”

          So, here we are this morning as the organized church and as a new congregation being organized as we speak, celebrating the birth of Jesus as well as the good sense the wise men had to pay heed to a hint; somebody tipped them off and they were wise enough to listen.

          Life is full of hints or cues, is it not?  Anybody who has acted on this stage for an Eventide Arts performance, knows about cues:  enter when the door slams; exit stage left when the lights go out; start laughing when the bell rings, and so on.  You know exactly what I am talking about.  Actors count on cues.

          Anybody who has sung on this stage for a church service knows about cues:  Maggie and Betty Anne give cut-offs so that choral groups don’t sound like hissing snakes; a finger is pointed at the section next due to come in; winces occur as the choir goes flat; smiles happen when an eight-part split actually works! and, heads shake side to side letting the singers know that they are going to have to practice this song  a little more.

          Of course, we all know that cues are a part of life in every arena.  We learn to pay attention to the sometimes-subtle hints of others so that we can be appropriate in our responses.  We learn to read one another, don’t we?  We understand how important body language is and we realize the need to be aware of it.

          As our grandchildren worked their way through the “terrible twos” which I prefer to call their “declaration of independence,”  there was little problem knowing exactly what they wanted.  Their hints were not exactly hints.  Anyone who has every dealt with a two-year-old’s meltdown in the middle of Wal Mart knows that it doesn’t take a psychotherapist to help you understand what that child wanted!  Amidst crocodile tears and the chaos of a scream that is loud enough to break your eardrums you know what the child wants.  The hint is very clear; the “hint” is somewhat along the scale of a national broadcast.

                   Of course, with age we get more sophisticated.  The second significant form of “hinting” enters about 10-12 years later with the adolescent slump.  As teenagers we learn how to sulk knowing that our parents will pick up on this “sublte” communication and finally give in to our demands.  Some will resist for awhile:  “Stop sulking around the house and go do something!”  But eventually most parents yield to the pressure and yield to the wishes of their teens.

          As adults, we get more refined in sending out hints or cues:  we roll our eyes; we sigh; we start walking to the door while someone is speaking to us; and, we give a little glance at our watches. 

          We also are more skilled as adults in taking the cues.  We sense when someone is “done” talking on the phone and work gracefully toward closure of the conversation.  We see someone covering a yawn and know that it is time to leave.  We see that someone is running a little low on energy and offer to alter the day’s plans.  We notice someone staring off to the distance and realize that something may be weighing heavily on them so we ask if things are OK.

          As many of you know, Diane and I came here March 1, 2004 and stayed until September 25, 2005.  After 19 months here we headed to Bellevue, WA on the east side of Seattle for another interim.  I had at that point, discerned a new call.  You might even say that I had taken God’s hint to go to a new place and bring my bag of gifts and experience to a church coming off a very successful 14 year pastorate, but also a church needing guidance through the search process.

          I had taken various hints including those that were sent by God through the Interim Ministry Search Team of FCC, Bellevue and had decided to “take the cue.”  You will recall Diane and I left that September day in 2005 with a dramatic exit out the front door of the church after Sunday worship, to a waiting limo that whisked us off to Logan Airport!

          The 15 months in Bellevue went quickly and it wasn’t long before I was looking for my next cue.  This time, the proposed new church start in Mashpee caught my eye and so I had to begin answering the question: “ Do I have the energy and the determination to do a second new church start?”  Had the new start in Arizona used up my church planting battery or was there still plenty of power to see the project through its tender and trying stages of development?  I started looking for some hints.  I needed to know if God was calling me back home or would we be headed to some new and distant place to do another interim?

          The process of discernment involves looking for a series of cues or hints and whether it is for a new call for an ordained minister or a new job for a lay person in the congregation, it’s all the same.  How many times have you spoken to someone who has made a recent job change and who remarked about seeing in his former job, “the handwriting on the wall?”  Or what about the hint of:  “I’m just not getting anywhere in this job.  I need to look for a new one, something that will be more challenging.”

          Some will recall from child rearing days, hints that your son or daughter may be drifting off from the desired course:  perhaps grades have dropped a bit; maybe a call from a softball coach telling you that your child’s attitude is poor;  or, you notice a shift in the group she has been hanging out with. 

Hints. Signs.  Clues. Cues.  We learn to pay attention.  Sometimes we suffer the consequences of missing them.

This happens not only horizontally amongst ourselves, but this happens vertically as we relate to God.  In the United Church of Christ we have told the world that “God is still speaking.”  Now our job is to make sure that we are listening.  What is God telling you to do?  Are you taking the hints?

I took the hint and back Diane and I came to Cape Cod.  This time the call was not for interim ministry, but for new church start.  I mean “brand new church start” as in sitting in my Starbucks office in Mashpee Commons on January 15 of this year, sipping a Grand Vanilla Double Shot Latte, asking the question, “Now what do I do?” 

God said, as in made a strong hint, “Grow a new congregation.”

So, I drove home and asked Diane if she would like to be the very first recruit for the Launch Team for the New Mashpee Congregational United Church of Christ.

She asked, “Do I get to vote?”

“I guess so,” I said.

“Good. I call a congregational meeting! ”

Remember talking about body language?  Can you picture the gulp I made?

The next day, I go back to Starbucks and I start thinking about how I can begin to network.  How do I find new brave souls in this growing town who are willing to join a Launch Team for a new church?

I went home and shot off emails to three good buddies of mine and asked them if they would form via email, and Intercessory Prayer Team,  I explained how much I would need prayers to help prepare the Mission Field for my Planting.  They all said “yes.”  Almost instantly amazing things began to happen.  More prayer teams have developed in addition to this first one. 

The next day, as I was sipping a venti double shot low fat vanilla latte from my Starbucks mug, I thought of yet more ways I could connect to the Mission Field.  God spoke.  God said, “Take a hint:  there are a lot of retired people living in Mashpee, especially Southport and New Seabury who love to play golf.”  I took the hint and went to the Deer Crossing shopping area where what to my wondering eyes did appear, “Edwin Watts.”  After having avoided the frustrating game of golf for all thirty-seven years of ordained ministry, I finally took the hint:  you can actually meet people by playing this game.  An hour later I walked out of the store with a full set of clubs, a glove (the patient pro in the shop had to advice me as to which hand wears it), a package of golf balls, a bag of tees, and a couple of other little do-dads with which I had no idea what to do and wouldn’t ask since the pro seems to have had enough of my ignorance.  Have we talked about signs we make when we have had it with someone?

Before long, I was heavily into the networking having a ball meeting town officials, merchants, area clergy, educators and so on.  So, that was all working.  What else could I do to help get this new congregation going?  We started holding gatherings and open houses.  This was successful and really got us moving. 

What else?  I could take a hint.  We were not integrating into the community enough.  We needed to do some outreach!  Off I went in search and before long, God led me to the Boys and Girls Club of Cape Cod located right in the heart of Mashpee.  Did you know that over 800 students are enrolled in the Club and that only half of them are from Mashpee?  What a blessing this turned out to be!  We now have a team of 18 people who prepare meals on Friday nights for some 140 children.

But God was still sending me more hints that we were not doing enough to get the word of God’s newest UCC church on the Cape out the people.  So what was next?

Guided by the Holy Spirit I wandered into Mashpee Town Hall and learned that the Town holds a huge family picnic before the July 4 fireworks.  I asked Gus Frederick, Director of Leisure Services, if our new congregation could set up a booth.  His smile was a sure hint that this was going to be just fine.

I went home and called a meeting of the congregation.  Fortunately, the Moderator was home.  I said, “What do you think of having a booth at the Mashpee Family Picnic and Fireworks?”  The vote was affirmative and we were on our way.

Ok, we will have a booth but we don’t own one and we will sell something, but we don’t know what. 

We needed some more recruits.  I went to visit Dan and Denise Dutson (Dan’s sister is a UCC pastor in Wollaston and she had given me a hint that her brother and sister-in-law might be interested in the new church) and I told them what was happening.  After a lengthy conversation, Denise  asked, “So, how many people do you have so far?”

“Two,” I replied.

“Well, now you have four.”

In one hour, God had doubled the size of the congregation!

But back to the booth:  Diane recruited 10 contact people from ten of our UCC churches on the Cape and each one of them recruited 10 people each to bake 2 dozen cookies.  Yes, a grand total of 2,400 cookies.  During coffee hour you received a gift of a cookie in the same packaging used at the Picnic. It features a gold-painted bay scallop with a pearl which have become our logo, of sorts.  Throughout the year, Diane and I have walked the beach harvesting some 800 bay scallop shells.  It’s been tough work, especially on those warm summer evenings, but hey, somebody had to do it!

All 2,400 cookies were sold before the fireworks began and yes, we can take a hint:  we will be back next year!

Good people, I do not have enough time this morning to tell you all the exciting things God is doing for and through us in our mission field.  Following our First Anniversary Dinner Celebration on January 17, we will be working hard to prepare for our launch, the beginning of Sunday worship, on May 4^th at the Meeting House in Popponesset Marketplace.  For the first time since 1830, the sounds of Congregational worship will once again journey thorough the winds of historic Mashpee.         

Thank you Dennis Union Church for your amazing gifts of support.

As a special treat, I hope, and as a way of saying “thank-you” a few  members of the New Mashpee Congregational Church will now, for the first time ever, present to you the rewritten words to a familiar tune.  This Fifth Sunday of December is also the 5^th Day of Christmas, so we celebrate this festive season with this all-time favorite: not the DUC Singers but the MCC Singers: