Rev. Rebecca Yowler

All God's Critters

Sun, 01 Sep 2024 12:43:23 -0700

I’ve been a part of choirs for most of my life. I was in a national girl scout choir that recorded a record, I was in the children’s choir at church as a kid and then joined the “Grown up” choir when i was in middle school. I’ve been in conference choirs, community choirs, and even the seminary choir. Let’s just say, I’ve done a lot of singing.

My seminary friend, Brian, who tragically passed away just months before his daughter was born, loved to remind us of the song about all God’s critters having a place in the choir. And, this is the song that has been on repeat in my head since I got the email asking me to share my thoughts today. Do you know it?

All God's critters got a place in the choir

Some sing low, some sing higher

Some sing out loud on the telephone wire

And some just clap their hands, or paws or anything they got now

The verses are silly- talking about the bullfrogs and hippotamus singing base and the crickets fiddling and the porcupine talking to herself. But my favorite verse says:

Everybody here is a part of the plan

We all get to play in the great critter band

From the eagle in the sky to the whale in the sea

It’s one great symphony

Whenever I’m supposed to preach or speak or share my story, and a song gets stuck in my head? Well, I figure that’s the holy spirit giving me some inspiration, so why did this song get stuck in my head for today? I think it’s probably more than a little obvious.

Here at First Christian Church, I have been shown again and again that we’ve all got a place to belong. From my first moments here, I have been welcomed. I was welcomed before I even got to Ames by Mary Jane over Facebook. And then on Christmas Eve Sunday, I came to church for the first time and was immediately welcomed and taken under the wing of Sue and Marv, and then by Deb, and somehow within a...Read More

The Mandala Effect

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 08:30:10 -0700

This meditation was delivered at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) Ames, Iowa. It was written in response to the mandala "Seventy=Seven Times by Lauren Wright Pittman (seen below).
The Mandala Effect
Perhaps you’ve heard of the phenomenon known as the Mandela effect? The term is used to describe a situation where a large group of people collectively misremember facts, events, or other details in a consistent manner (Mandela Effect | Examples, Definition, & Origin | Britannica). The collective memory takes an idea, repeats it, and somehow creates truth. This can be something as innocuous as being sure the line from Star Wars is, “Luke, I am your father” when the actual line is, “No, I am your father.” But it can, of course, be more insidious- perhaps when a group of people collectively remember incorrect facts to the point of violence.
But that got me thinking about a Mandala effect instead. What if, like a mandala, this repetition and re-remembering were faithful and intentional?
A mandala is a geometric configuration of symbols that is meant to be an aid to meditation, focus, and introspection (Mark). A mandala is a circle of repetition and intention that can change the creator or the viewer. A circle of repetition and intention. This circle of repetition and intention becomes a holy thing, and that is why mandalas are used in some way in almost every major religious movement. Repetition and Intention.
That brings me back to my question- what if we could create a MANDALA effect? What if we could collectively change ourselves and our communities by shifting our memories toward peace, affirmation, acceptance, equity, and love?
When I look at this piece of art, THIS mandala, that is what I see. I see a circle of repetition and intention. The repetition is...Read More

Lo How a Rose E'er Blooming

Sun, 17 Dec 2023 07:31:07 -0800

It is already the third Sunday of Advent, and if we had our wreath, it would be the day we light the pink candle. The third Sunday of Advent is “Joy” Sunday and it is intended to remind us of the joy the world experienced at the birth of Jesus as well as the joy that we’ve made it halfway through Advent. The candle is pink because today is technically Gaudete Sunday. That comes from the Latin mass for the 3rd Sunday in Advent which begins “Gaudete in Domino semper, iterum dico gaudete.” This means, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.” The traditional color for this day is rose- which the priests wore and which has been translated into the candle colors. It’s intentionally different because it’s meant to be a break in the somber penitence of Advent and a focus on the Joy that comes with the Birth of Christ. Because the color for today is rose, I wanted to talk about the hymn Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming.
“Lo! how a rose e’er blooming” is based on Isaiah 11:1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots” and “originally referred to Mary as the rose. Sixteenth-century reformers sought to change the emphasis of the hymn to refer to Jesus” (McKim 49). . Originally stanza 2 interpreted the "rose" as being Mary, mother of Jesus.
The hymn also refers to Isaiah 35: “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.”
Neither of the verses in Isaiah specifically mentions a rose, though. And it seems, “The origin of the image of the rose has been open to much speculation. For example, an apocryphal legend has it that on Christmas Eve, a monk in Trier found a...Read More

O Come All Ye Faithful

Sun, 10 Dec 2023 07:20:47 -0800

We have never gotten to sing together during my time here at the Kensington, and I’d like to change that today. I think we all know this hymn well enough to sing it together.
When I was a kid, my father LOVED to listen to Bing Crosby’s White Chirstmas. I can remember driving in the car listening to it on cassette tape or the music playing at the drug store. There was Mele Kalkikimaka, Christmas in Killarney, White Christmas, and Adested Fideles- Oh Come All Ye Faithful.
Adeste Fidelis
Laeti triumphantes
Venite, venite in Bethlehem
Natum videte regem angelorum
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus
Venite adoremus Dominum
What I love about Bing’s version is that it begins with the Latin lyrics, which is where this hymn has its beginnings. This hymn dates to the 18th century, so it is certainly not as old as last week’s hymn, but it is still fairly old. There is some debate about the origins of the hymn, “Although its exact sources and origins remain unproven, musicologists agree that the hymn was first associated with the 18th-century Catholic layman and music copyist John Francis Wade. He lived in an English Catholic community that was exiled to France after the failed Jacobite rising of 1745” (Ivry). It wasn’t until 1947 that it was firmly established that Wade was the author of both the words and the music (Studwell 4).
The hymn was printed for the first time in 1751 in a printed compilation of Wade’s manuscript copies and thus is credited to him in most modern hymnals as well (Petersen 219). It has been published in 712 different hymnals since that time, making it one of the most published Christmas hymns (“O...Read More

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent

Sun, 03 Dec 2023 07:12:01 -0800

A couple of years ago, I did a small sermon series with you on some songs of the season, their meanings, and their histories. It was one of my favorite things we’ve done together, and as we only have this and two other Sundays left, I wanted to so this with you again. So I’ve chosen songs for the first three Sundays in advent and we will talk about them each week.
This week, we’re discussing a hymn that can be traced back to the fourth century and the liturgy of St. James: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent.
Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
and with fear and trembling stand;
ponder nothing earthly-minded.
I think what strikes me most about the holiday season is the noise. There is noise EVERYWHERE when it comes to the holiday. Music on the radio, animatronic characters, the ho ho ho of a Santa, the jingling of bells, the noise of a cash register or a busy store. Each noise individually could be ok and even delightful, but in full cacophony, it just becomes noise. There’s even a song by Amy Grant that addresses this very thing- she says:
I need a silent night, a holy night
To hear an angel voice through the chaos and the noise
I need a midnight clear, a little peace right here
To end this crazy day with a silent night
So, it would appear that fourth-century problems and 21st-century problems are in some ways very similar. There is a need for silence.
This hymn has a deep and rich history and is one of the oldest, if not THE oldest, hymns that are still in use today. The hymn was adapted from the Liturgy of Saint James and was a part of the Eucharistic prayer during the liturgy. The point of this hymn was for early Christians to approach communion with a sense of awe and reverence for Jesus as well as awe and reverence for being a part of the communion meal with Jesus Read More

Unfinished Business

Sun, 29 Oct 2023 07:46:48 -0700

Many years ago- nearly 20 at this point- I took a group of middle schoolers to a retreat in Indianapolis. The theme of the retreat was vaguely something about gardens and growth. I remember we sang “Inch by Inch” by Peter Paul and Mary and that everything we talked about was garden related. But what I remember the most is the service project we worked on. We loaded up vans and pulled off the side of the interstate in Indianapolis- somewhere near the intersection of I-65 and I-74- and we climbed out into the grassy area in the cloverleaf of an exit. And then? With an auger and some shovels, we planted over 1000 daffodil bulbs. Now, this was all in early fall, and we did all the work in just one day, and then we loaded right back up into church vans and returned to the retreat.
I don’t remember exactly where we did this work.
I have never seen the daffodils in bloom.
I don’t even know if they DID bloom.
I just know that we worked together, dug together, sweated together, planted together, and got so many blisters together. I know that we had beautiful fellowship and had a wonderful retreat together. And I think, whether they bloomed or not doesn’t even matter.
Today’s story from Deuteronomy is about unfinished business. After all of the events of the exodus- the plagues, the Red Sea, the whole business with the manna and the water from the rock, the Ten Commandments, the golden cow- it was finally time to enter the promised land. They get there and stand on the precipice of all they had longed for. They see it all, stretched before them. And then…
The LORD said to him, "This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants'; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there."
And then Moses dies. He drops dead right there overlooking the promised land.
This story always...Read More

I pledge allegiance

Sun, 22 Oct 2023 07:21:05 -0700

Ok, let’s be honest. Does anyone really LOVE paying taxes? April 15 comes and everyone is like “Oh goody let’s do our taxes and have all the fun!!” Well of course not. And things were not any different during the time this story was written. In fact, in some ways, it was even more intense. But the issue here is less about money and more about loyalty. At the root of it all, we have people trying to trip up Jesus and make him say something to incriminate himself or make the crowd turn against him.
In today’s story, the Pharisees were again looking for a way to entrap Jesus and settled on asking a seemingly simple question. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor?
Well, this is of course a trickier question than it seems on the surface.
So yet again, let’s think about where we are and when this story is taking place. “In Matthew’s narrative, we are in Jerusalem. The city is tense because Passover is near. Roman soldiers are patrolling the area. Jesus’ activities are stirring things up; at least the authorities, both political and religious, consider Jesus to be something of a radical who threatened the status quo. Since many in the lower classes were fond of him, putting him in a no-win situation might help the leaders find a way of neutralizing him. So, Matthew tells us that a group representing the Pharisees (we’re told that these were students) and the Herodians (a party that supported the client royal family, and therefore would have supported the tax system) raises the issue of paying taxes with Jesus.” (Cornwall).
And this entire exchange takes place within the greater narrative of the previous stories in Matthew. There had been a number of “tense encounters between Jesus and his disciples on the one hand, and the scribes and Pharisees on the other Those encounters inevitably revolved around differing interpretations of Torah prescriptions...Read More

Maddy and Brian

Sat, 14 Oct 2023 15:43:59 -0700

Imagine starting a relationship over a shared tuba. Maddy and Brian’s beginning is a little more complicated than that, but at the heart of it is the one tuba at Guilford High School that wasn’t falling apart.
Brian and Maddy met because of band. The first time they met, Maddy was an 8th grader and Brian was a sophomore music instructor at a band camp Maddy and her sister attended. But apparently, Brian doesn’t even remember meeting Maddy at that time. Later, they would play in jazz band together- Brian the trumpet and Maddy the trombone, but outside of Jazz band, they shared one tuba.
Soon, Maddy and Brian would share much more. From Halloween Laser Quest games to hanging out with their friends, together, they built a friendship that became something more. These moments with friends revealed something to Brian. He saw how kind, loving, thoughtful, caring and downright awesome Maddy is and knew he had to be with her. On Valentine’s Day, he wrote Maddy a small poem (not anything sweet, but something kind of stupid), and that got them talking. On March 2, 2016, they went on their first date. And that, as they say, is history.
I love the humble beginnings of this relationship, and how honest and sweet Maddy and Brian are to each other. For their honeymoon, they have chosen to do one of their favorite things together- hiking in Iowa. And that seems to be such a perfect way for them to celebrate.
There are lessons to be learned from hiking, and I want to share a few of them with the two of you before you embark on this journey called marriage.
No matter how good the map is, you’re going to get lost. Sure, we think there are great plans and maps for the future we want or the things we have in mind for ourselves, but that’s not how life works. Maps reflect what someone else has seen and written down, they don’t reflect what is really there. So even with a plan in mind, you have to make decisions...Read More

Rethinking the Ten Commandments

Sun, 08 Oct 2023 07:27:01 -0700

One of the many ways people like to use the biblical text is as a hard and fast rule book for how everyone should behave or live. For the most part, folks like to hop into the bible, cherry-pick a phrase or two, and use it to admonish everyone else for not following God the right way. When this happens, the Bible ceases to be a source of stories and meaning and becomes a weapon of coercion. The Bible says you have to do this… The Bible says you can’t do this… the Bible says, the bible says.
I don’t know about you, but if I were to sit down and write down ten rules that everyone has to follow, I don’t think it would be this ten. And, to be clear, I’m not entirely sure that that was the intent of these words to begin with anyway. As with every biblical story, the words are a record of a particular moment and they must always be understood in context. No parts of scripture are meant to be read independently of the rest of their story, and this very famous section is no exception.
So what is that context? Well, first we have to realize that in order to understand Exodus, we must be aware of the distance between the actual events and the descriptions of those events. Exodus was not intended to be a first-hand account of events, nor was it written as a news story. It is, rather, the story of the faith of a whole people (Burns 19). It has to be read as a theological creed, NOT a historical chronicle (Davison, Lecture on Exodus).
The narrative arc of Exodus, then, begins with the story of liberation, moves to the creation of a covenant between God and the people, and ends with an understanding of God’s presence in the life of the Israelites. This story makes the claim that Israel is a community like none other in history and that is only possible because God was willing to participate in daring ways within the...Read More

Water from the Rock

Sun, 01 Oct 2023 07:17:00 -0700

The people of Israel had been through quite an ordeal. They had been wandering in the desert after their liberation from slavery. They were tired, they were cranky, and they were thirsty. They could not and would not understand why God and Moses would be doing this to them. All they could focus on at that moment was their own need. Out of their need arises this conflict—this argument. They wanted water and they wanted it right then. In a way, it reminds me of those dreaded family trips in the car. You know the ones I’m talking about…packed into the family station wagon or minivan driving the interminable distance to the vacation destination. Crammed into the vehicle with all the luggage, blankets, pillows, and whatever-else-you-might-need. You get an hour or two down the road and then it begins… are we there yet? I need to go potty. I’m thirsty… are we there yet? Huh? Huh? (continue). Now, imagine this on a larger scale…thousands of people all hollerin at Moses…Yo! Moses! Are we there yet? We’re thirsty! Huh Moses? Are we there yet?? (Hey. Don’t make me pull this exile over!) This is the kind of situation both Moses and the Israelites found themselves in. We have a bunch of whiney thirsty Israelites, a tired and self-conscious Leader, and the God that put the whole thing in motion. Herein lies four questions: What do they want, how do they ask for it, how do they expect to get it, and how does God respond?
What do the people want? Ok, of course they want water, but what else are they seeking? What do they want from Moses, and what do they want from God? They are looking to Moses for Leadership…they want him to be the strong leader who led them out of Egypt. They want someone they can trust in this journey. They want to know if their journey’s end is going to be better than their journey’s beginning. They also want assurance. They want to know that God is indeed still with them and still watching out for them. They want to know that they are...Read More