Rev. Dr. Philip R. Newell, an ordained Presbyterian Minister, came to the Welsh Congregational Church in 2003 steeped in religious service and tradition. The current Chair of Committee on Ministry at the Presbytery of New York City, learned about the church when its then Pastor, Dr. John C. Evans, was moving to San Francisco. They came to know one another through their interactions through the Presbytery business and functions. It was John Evans who actually suggested his name to the Church. A small delegation met the Dr. and his wife, Madeline, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Not being Welsh hasn't hindered his ministry at the church. " I think people have gone the extra mile in accepting me and my wife Madeline. We feel very warmly received", he says. Dr. Newell, a Scotsman, feels a deep bond to the Welsh. This is because of his own Celtic background. He feels the Scots and the Welsh are "cousins". He's lived in Scotland, has visited Wales and has some knowledge of the Welsh culture.

Dr. Newell appreciates the ability this Church community has to draw people of other denominations. "In the Welsh congregation we have Unitarians, Episcopalians, Baptists, Roman Catholics… and I feel very comfortable with that because I love the Liturgy, I love the Eucharist, and I'm very, very appreciative of the fact that my kind of approach to the bible and the contemporary world seems to me, to be on the same wave length as the people in the Welsh congregation. I feel a faithful interpretation of the tradition and the scripture applied in the contemporary situation, is just what people respond to and that's exactly what I try to do. I try to preach, and yet convey some of the teaching substance at the same time."

He also likes interacting with the Congregation in small groups-setting format. This was clearly evident when in February 2005 a snowstorm hit the NYC area and the attendance that Sunday was low. The service was informal that day and opened itself to Pastor/Congregation engagement. He's looking forward to more of these types of services (without the in-climate weather) where people can ask questions, challenge, and exchange ideas.

Although he shares a Celtic background with the Welsh here in New York, when asked about the future of the Welsh Church community he was quite candid. "I don't know what holds the Welsh community together here in New York. I think this congregation is one factor. I would like to see some interplay or interchange between this Congregation and other parts of the Welsh Community, but I can't make that connection because I don't know the language. There is a kernel of faithfulness and a historic life in the current Welsh congregation. My regret is that it isn't shared by more people; but a lot more people would enjoy the friendliness and the spirit of humanity that is present in the Welsh congregation."

Of his duties at the Welsh Church, you would think it would be the preaching that he likes the most, but it's not. Dr. Newell Loves the Welsh singing. He says, "I like the tradition of music that is represented by the Welsh Congregation. When you get a bunch of Welsh people in the congregation you don't need a choir because everybody is the choir." His favorite service is the Advent -Christmas service. It's all music and he preaches a brief meditation.

Dr. Newell was worried when Organist and Musical Director Marshall Williamson retired, but he feels the present Organist and Director, David Enlow has picked up the torch and is carrying on marvelously. Dr. Newell says, "I'm so fond of him and I love his music".

In addition to ministry, Dr. Newell has proven himself to be a man of social conscience as well as he played a role in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960's. There's a consortium of theological seminaries in Boston. They include Harvard, and Boston College. At the time, Dr. Newell was serving a semester as a Graduate assistant lecturing in introductory philosophy courses at Boston University. There, during a seminar, he met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Both men came from outside the main body of students so they both had something in common, says Dr. Newell. He saw him "a half a dozen times afterwards for coffee or a soft drink. He was very thin and very quiet." Dr. Newell found him interesting, but un-assuming. Dr. Newell went to Scotland and returned to the U.S. three years later. He found King had made a metamorphosis and had become the major figure in the Civil Rights movement. Of this Dr. Newell says, "He was living proof of the existence and power of the Holy Spirit."

Dr. Newell was among Inter-Faith clergy who felt the need to support the Civil rights movement and in 1963 by providing church hospitality for participants at the March on Washington. Dr. Newell personally organized 16 Protestant churches where buses would have a place to park and the people, on that hot August day, would have a place for a cool drink to rest, and use restroom facilities. After the March, he further worked with the movement. He was jailed in Mississippi during a voter registration drive in 1964. He says he was privileged to play a role in the Movement in terms of organizing churches in the Metropolitan Washington area.

On his personal reaction to the shooting death of Dr. king, Dr. Newell says, he and other clergy "were too busy, in the local reaction, to reflect on it for about ten days-but it was probably the most devastating important event in my own personal life. King was the visible symbol of a future where people would treat each other as equals and this life."

You are invited to hear Dr. Newell and fellowship with the Welsh Congregational Church of New York every second Sunday afternoon at 3:00 from September through June (check schedule on the Events page).

Sermon by Dr. Philip Newell

"Saving the Best for Last"

a sermon preached by The Rev. Philip R. Newell
at the Welsh Church of New York
15 Jan 2007

The Gospel according to John is theological, more than it is historical.

The whole book, the whole gospel, is theology grounded in an historical context. From the prologue to the resurrection, the story is strongly subordinate to doctrine. The doctrine that God, the Logos, the word, become flesh and dwelt amongst us, full of grace and truth, and we beheld his glory. And the story is about that glory. The first sign of that story is when Jesus changed water into wine, in a wedding in Galilee. The Gospel according to St. John is a book of signs --signs pointing to the glory of God come alive in the human enterprise, in the person of Jesus. And his mother, and his friends, and his family, and the people that he met along the way. The Gospel of John is a witness to the truth that is known as Jesus of Nazareth.

I require to tell you that Jesus' father was not a carpenter. He was a day laborer. One step down from a profession. Yes, the lineage of David, but he was a day laborer, a construction worker. Someone who could be standing on a street corner in Garden City, waiting to be picked up. So was Jesus' father.

A little background here will help us understand what happened at the wedding. In the first chapter of John, when we get through the word becoming flesh, Jesus picks up four disciples. First of all he bumps into Andrew and Peter, who are busy fishing. And then he runs into Philip and Nathaniel. Both of these pairs of disciples are brothers. And Jesus comes along, and says Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Drama all by itself. And in the end of Chapter One we find Jesus with Andrew and Peter, whom he has recruited from his original name of Simon, and with Jesus' mother - who is nameless in the Gospel of John (nowhere is Jesus' mother's name mentioned) -- and they are all headed for a wedding. They all got invited to a wedding.

Now in those days, a wedding lasted at least as long as the money didn't run out. So some weddings were two days long, and some weddings lasted three days. Human beings now wanted to show that they could make a wedding last seven days. And the typical wedding, where people had to come from all over -- the normal conveyance was shanks mare, in other words they had to walk-was between seven and twenty-five days. And Jesus and his friends and his mother arrived there sort of half way through. And when they got there, they found --since naturally wine flows freely at a wedding, if anywhere it flows freely at a wedding!-- they found that the wine was all gone. And his mother says, " What are you going to do about it?" And he says, "What has that got to do with us? My hour has not yet come, (The glory that God has in store for me) My hour has not yet come". But his mother goes ahead and tells the servants, "Do what he tells you to do. I know he can do something".

The mother's confidence in Jesus is shown thereby in her instructions to the servants. The writer of the Gospel of John, whom we do not know, pauses and bothers to explain to us. Why there were six stone jars full of water, standing by? These were for the purification of the bride and groom. And they were in stone jugs -not in clay pots because clay pots can become infected -- each one held 8 ¾ gallons. Jesus tells the servants to draw the water from these stone jugs and take it to the master of ceremonies. And the master of ceremonies tasted it -- what now was wine - he did not know where it came from - He said to the bridegroom, "Everyone else serves their good stuff at the beginning of the wedding, and when people are less capable of judging the quality of the wine, they bring out the plonk. That's not what happened here. "You", said the master of ceremonies to the bridegroom, "have saved the good stuff for the last".

And this was the first sign that Jesus made, at Cana of Galilee, at a wedding. There is a three fold climax here: one, it is a first sign; two it is a manifestation of the glory in the joyousness of a wedding; three it confirms his newly-won disciples in their faith in Him.

The main interest of the writer of this book is evidence of the glory of the Son of God, first revealed at a wine-laden wedding, at Cana of Galilee.

What are we to make of this story, that Jesus changed the water into wine? Or, maybe it didn't happen. There are plenty of stories from the Hellenistic Age of the God Dionysius appearing in the human enterprise, and getting everybody soused. The details in the story, the unnecessary details -- the conversation with the mother, and the talking about the servants -- indicate to professional scholars that John didn't make this up. He reproduced this story as he received it. Remember he was writing three or four generations after Jesus died and disappeared into heaven.

The main lesson of the story is that Jesus of Nazareth brings abundant life to anyone who will accept it from Him. And that was his wedding gift to the bride and the groom and all the other guests to whom he gave abundant wine. He gave abundant wine. He gave the best wine. And he gave the living wine. In John and throughout the New Testament, people are always bursting in on us out of the page: the amazement of the master of ceremonies - everybody is kind of fuzzy, and now you bring out the Saint Emilion, at the end, at the last. Nobody does that!! Nobody but Jesus. And there is, lurking behind this story, the theme of the joy that people experience at a wedding, at a wedding where wine is flowing freely, and at a wedding in which Jesus brings Himself as the wedding gift.

Frederic Nietzche said, "These followers of Jesus must sing more joyous songs ere I learned to believe in their Savior". Obviously, Nietzche did not know any Welsh! People who know Jesus are joyous, because they have had the best wine.

Are we joyous? Do we have something other people want? Do we live as though the best wine is available to us? We ask, what is the meaning of this wedding story? Maybe it didn't happen. Maybe it's a story about Jesus, about Jesus' wedding gift. Maybe it's like a story about Dionysius. I don't think so. Maybe it's a story that means the best wine is the only wine. God through Christ shows us humans what love and joy are all about. And God is in favor of us having a good time.

But beyond that, deeper than that, as I said, the Gospel of John is a book of signs. Turning water into wine, and making people happy at a wedding, is not enough meat, not enough depth, for our true understanding of this story. The point of the story is, God turns the tables on the human condition. If we want to dance at the wedding, if we want to feast in the Kingdom, God turns the tables on our natural disposition. Of course we serve the good wine at the beginning. We want everyone to know that we serve good wine, or good food, or good whatever. But God does not have to do that. God through Christ -and this is the glory- saves the best wine for the last. It's no accident t that the theme of the New Testament throughout: God turns the tables on the human condition.

Blessed are the poor. The poor are not blessed in this life -- at least not by any measure that we have. The meek will inherit the earth. Yeah. When's it going to happen? Not with Bush in the White House. My friends, the Gospel turns the tables on the human condition. Yes, the meek will inherit the earth. Yes, the last shall be first. Yes, blessed are the poor All signs in John, beginning with this one, point to God's glory in Christ. And the final, final sign of God's glory is the resurrection itself. Which nobody saw happen. So beginning with the wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, and culminating in the empty tomb, the signs of the Kingdom of God are in this book, and for us all to see and experience. For the Kingdom of God which will come one day, is coming now, is yet to come. It is yet to come, it will come, and it is coming. And taste it. It is the best wine.

Tomorrow, the Nation is going to celebrate Martin Luther King in a national holiday. Many speakers will invoke Dr.King's dream of a just and peaceable society. But how many speakers will ask the question, "What made King such an enduring voice of justice?"

I first knew King in a graduate seminar on Hegel in 1952. He was slender and shy and kept to himself. Four years later when I returned from Scotland, he was the increasingly powerful leader of a movement that changed America. What happened? He was seized by the same spirit that informs our Gospel lesson today, the spirit of the living God that turned the tables on the human condition so long ago at Cana of Galilee, and still was at work in Selma and Montgomery.

It is no wonder that we followed this leader: his was the voice of the Lord God Almighty, come to us with healing under his wing.

Sermon by Dr. Philip Newell

"The Salt of the Earth"

Sermon by Rev. Philip R. Newell
Given 10 February 2008

Isaiah 58:5-11
Mt. 5:13-16

"You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be regained? It is thrown out, and trodden underfoot." So said Jesus of Nazareth to his disciples.

How many of us can remember the last time an avowed atheist ran for prominent public office in the United States of America???? It was in 1892 when General Robert G. Ingersoll was the Vice Presidential candidate on the Republican ticket. Ingersoll made his living lecturing as an atheist in well-known venues and conference centers from coast to coast. He had been an heroic general in the Civil War, showing extraordinary courage at the Battle of Round Top in Gettysburg in 1863. Much decorated, he was an attractive and articulate politician whose atheism was open and eloquently defended. Needless to say, his ticket lost to the Democrat, Grover Cleveland.

No one can run for President today without claiming to be deeply religious. In this regard, we might risk the observation that Darwin was wrong: progress in evolution is clearly not a given. The use of religion by politicians is certainly not a result of evolutionary progress. In fact, it's quite the opposite.

When the Christian community wants to get its bearings with regard to the role of religion in public life, the normative is to look for the Bible for clues. And so we will today look at the Gospel according to St. Matthew, and Jesus' statement to his disciples that "You are the salt of the earth."

What is interesting about salt? Two things:

1. salt brings out the taste in food, and adds zest and flavor
2. salt preserves food from spoiling. (Remember that the Roman army was paid in salt, so important was salt as a preservative in ancient times.)

Therefore, according to Jesus, his disciples are to keep the world from being tasteless, and to keep the world from spoiling. If you want to be Jesus' disciple, you will use the faith to keep the world from being tasteless and to keep the world from spoiling.

What is going on here, and what is Matthew trying to do, in this text? It is helpful to remind yourself that the book we call Matthew was written about 70 years after Calvary, and was intended to be a manual for membership for new converts the Christian community. What we call the Gospel of St. Matthew is the fullest account that we have of the historical events that we have of the historical events surrounding the birth, life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It was written as a manual of instruction for those newly drawn to the community of Christ.

Matthew shows that Jesus came amongst us, not to destroy the Jewish Law, but to fulfill the Law. The so-called Sermon on the Mount was meant to be a formal code of behavior that Jesus expects his people to follow, "blessed are the poor … blessed are the meek … etc." But Matthew knows humanity, knows that there are difficult situations in life, and knows that there are tough choices in life. He understands that no one absolute rule applies to all situations, e.g., he loosens Mark's absolute prohibition of divorce.

Over against the standards of judgment, Matthew places again and again the limitless forgiveness and mercy that he has found in the Christian community. Should you forgive your brother seven times? No, Matthew says: seventy times seven.

What is Matthew up to in the text today, having Jesus say that his disciples are the salt of the earth? This saying follows directly on the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, which are all promises of the Kingdom of God. To be in the Kingdom, therefore, is to be comforted, to obtain mercy, to inherit the earth, to be fulfilled. And to be in the Kingdom is to give comfort, to show mercy, to give fulfillment. The Sermon on the Mount is the picture of those who, through Jesus Christ, cling to God in simple trust.... Doing mercy, giving comfort, bringing peace.

The arrival of the Kingdom of God, which is here and yet still coming, heralds the beginning of a community of people amongst whom comfort and mercy and peace and forgiveness are being lived out, they are a byproduct of gratitude to God for getting in the Kingdom. You and I, because of Jesus Christ, are becoming lovers who do mercy, who do justice, and who make peace. This kingdom is open to everyone. You don't have to be somebody else first, to qualify for the Kingdom of God. Do you remember the parable of the fisherman and his net? It doesn't matter what kind of fish you are; it only matters that you are in the net.

Yes, Jesus expects his teachings to be carried out by his disciples. But that's only possible by those whose self-absorption has been broken by the power of God and that's what salvation is.

You are the salt of the earth! You are to prevent the world from being tasteless, and you are to keep the world from spoiling. To be a Christian in the world is to flavor the world with the contagious joy of doing mercy and serving justice and being fulfilled. Greed, meanness, tyranny, self-absorption are all the result of no salt.

Jesus calls us not to sensational deeds but to small acts of mercy and love every day. Salt itself is a small thing, an ordinary thing, but when it is not there it makes all the difference. Matthew is talking about ordinary people like us, ordinary people like you and me, each special in our own way. We are the salt of the earth.

Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. We Protestants have not been majoring in penitence in recent years, and giving things up for Lent. But giving things up for Lent is only a symbol of giving up our preoccupation with ourselves first. In old Isaiah we read that "the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard: Is this not the fast that I choose? To loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free?"

Thus it is not far from the Glory of the Lord as your rear guard to the salt of the earth and back again!

In the words of the contemporary poet, W. H. Auden, "If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me."