Looking Ahead to April 28, 2024 -- 5th Sunday of Easter

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Galatians 5:22-23
• John 15:1-17

Source

The Sermon title is Fruit of the Vine

Early Thoughts: The first commandment God gives humanity in Scripture is "Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28). What does it mean to be fruitful?

Or maybe the better question is 'what sort of fruit should we produce?' and then ponder how it compares to what we actually do produce.

Looking at the passages for this week I find myself calling to mind another piece of Scripture, Matthew 7:15-20, which reminds us that trees are known by the fruits they produce. Jesus calls us to see ourselves as branches growing from the True Vine (which is Jesus) rooted, I assume, in God. Paul calls us to strive to produce the fruit of the spirit (with all its multiple flavours) that stands in direct contrast to what Paul, in verse19-21, calls the works of the flesh.

What fruit are we producing?

If we live into our identity as followers of Christ, branches of the True Vine how will people know that to be true? As the folk song goes "They will know we are Christians by our....love". We are called to bear fruits of love (the first flavour Paul lists). Growing from the core of Christ, who has been called Love Incarnate, we bear that fruit first and foremost. John's Gospel even suggests that if we fail to remain connected to the vine, if we fail to bear good fruit the branch may be cut off/pruned/cleansed, it will no longer have the life in abundance that Jesus promises to bring.

We can only be fruitful if we remains connected to the core, drawing strength and nutrition from the vine and the root. We are the branches stretching out into the world, may we be healthy branches, full of good, sweet, fresh, life-giving fruit.

What do you grow?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 21, 2024 -- 4th Sunday of Easter

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• John 20:24-29
• Luke 24:36-49

The Sermon title is Touching, Seeing, Believing

Image Source

Early Thoughts: What would it take for you to believe? What would make the Resurrection real to you?

Our stories this week come from the first days of the post-Easter community (the Luke story is either the evening of Easter Day or possibly the day after [depending how fast the walkers to Emmaus got back to Jerusalem], the John passage is a bout a week after Easter Day). There are rumours and stories about this remarkable event. Some people have had direct encounters with the Risen Christ and some only have the stories to go by. Some people believe, some are still a little unsure what is going on.

So Jesus shows up and offers proof.

A number of modern folk struggle with the Easter story. One of the areas of struggle is "was it a real body?". Were the appearance stories people seeing the raised body that had been taken off of the cross or were they mystical visions? Certainly the history of Christian theology and mysticism shows that people continue to have visions of the Risen Christ well beyond the time period of Scripture and those are clearly visions, not a visitation by the body that came off the cross. I would argue that Paul's experience of the Risen Christ, the experience that led directly to his conversion, is in that category.

But what about those Easter stories in Matthew, Luke and John?  What were/are they?

The witness of those Gospel writers clearly attest that these appearance stories are not mystical visions but are physical visits by a flesh and blood body. And in the stories we read this week the narrative goes to great lengths to prove this physicality. The Risen Christ eats, can be touched, hears and speaks. This body still carries the wounds of his death (I think this is an important piece, though possibly a whole other sermon). And it is in these signs that belief comes for those early disciples.

What does it take for us to believe Resurrection is real?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 14, 2024 -- 3rd Sunday of Easter

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 2 Corinthians 9:7, 10-15
• John 13:1-5, 34-35

The Sermon title is Gratitude

Early Thoughts: What fills you with gratitude? How does being grateful change who you are and how you act? 

I believe that the foundation of good stewardship discussions is gratitude. Gratitude shapes us into people who are more likely to share our gifts with the world around us. Gratitude shapes us into people who are more able to love our neighbours as we have been loved.

I think gratitude is important in two (at least) ways. First when we have grateful hearts we see the gifts as gifts, we see the abundance we have rather than seeing life in a scarcity mindset. This opens us to the possibility that we have something to share. Second when we tell others how grateful we are for the ways they have shared gifts with us and our community it provides an incentive for them to continue to share.. Gratitude can lead us to share and then it can lead us to share again.

So again I ask. What fills you with gratitude? For what are you most grateful in your life?

How do you live a life based on gratitude and abundance?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to April 7, 2024 -- 2nd Sunday of Easter

This being the first Sunday of the Month we will be celebrating Communion.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Acts 4:32-35
• 2 Corinthians 8:1-7

The Sermon title is: Sharing Sharing Sharing

Early Thoughts: It is one of the first life skills we learn. It is a key part of how we get along. Many years ago when Robert Fulghum shared his list of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten the first item on the list was "Share Everything". 

In both Guiding and Scouting the youngest groups are reminded of the importance of sharing at every meeting.  This week's sermon title is the Beaver motto (and has been for decades, I remember learning it when I was a Beaver). The Sparks promise is captured on the t-shirt pictured above -- which used to be the official uniform for Sparks when our girls started in the program.

Turns out it is a Biblical injunction too. Both in this week's reading from Acts 4 and earlier at the end of Acts 2 we are told that the early church survived by sharing what each had for the benefit of the whole community. [If you read the beginning of Acts 5 you will find a tale about a couple who tried to skirt this requirement of being a part of the community.]

Both Christianity and Judaism (from whence Christianity sprung: Jesus, Peter, Paul and many others--all the earliest Christians were Jewish) place a high priority on the communal well-being. I am sure the same is true of many other faith traditions. Jewish law has in it restrictions aimed at ensuring the well-being of the whole community. More than once the Gospels tell of Jesus warning about the dangers of accumulating wealth (in human communities the accumulation of wealth often happens at the cost to other members of the community). We are called to share what we have for the benefit of all.

Some might call that Stewardship. Some might call it love in action. Some might call it ridiculous Marxist thought.

The faith community we call St. Paul's United Church only exists because people have shared. For over 100 years, starting when Alexander Forbes first began to create a Presbyterian church on this site, people have shared what they had with each other and with the larger community of Grande Prairie. For this faith community to continue to exist and move from surviving to thriving we need people to continue to share.

This week I ask you to prayerfully consider what you have to share. What can you put in the common pot? What do you have that can help the community bloom and grow? Yes that includes cash, the bills have to be paid. It also includes all sorts of other gifts. We pool our gifts of talent, time, treasure, prayer and love together and find that the sum is greater than the total of its parts (or at least that is the hope).

Sharing. It's a good thing to do. That is why we teach it to our kids so early in life. (And both when we are young and when we are older it can also be a challenge.)
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 31, 2024 -- Easter Sunday

The Scripture Readings we will hear this Easter Day are:

• Isaiah 25:6-9
• Mark 16:1-8

The Sermon title is Fearful Joy

Early Thoughts: A great surprise! A wondrous terror! Run and hide! Share the news!

Or maybe we could sing:

Refrain:
This is the day that God has made!
Rejoice! Rejoice, and be exceeding glad!
This is the day that God has made!
Rejoice! Rejoice! Hallelujah!

Christ has conquered death at last,
left the tomb that held him fast!
Gone the sorrow, gone the night,
dawns the morning clear and bright!
(beginning of This is the Day that God Has Made, #175 in Voices United)

Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son;
endless is the victory Thou o’er death hast won.
Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
kept the folded grave-clothes where Thy body lay.
(beginning of Thine is the Glory, #173 in Voices United)

On Easter Sunday we announce boldly that they powers of death and destruction do not have the last word. Life and love will win. Who could help but sing and dance and share the news where ever they go?

Well, according to Mark, the first witnesses to this surprising victory had a very different reaction. In what is commonly believed to be the earliest, original, ending to Mark's Gospel we read "So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.". 

To be honest, I get that. When your whole understanding of how the world works has been challenged, when you expect to weep at a graveside only to find an empty tomb and news of resurrection, when the world has been turned upside down terror and amazement seem natural. Maybe later you might tell someone else about it (which obviously Mary, Mary and Salome did) but first you might need some time to process what has happened.

Easter is a surprise. Easter is a shock. Easter is, to someone who is not really expecting it, terrifying. Easter disrupts life (with life itself ironically). This is not a comfortable experience. It may be wonderful news but that does not make it comfortable. In some ways this original ending of Mark's Gospel is my favorite Easter story. It captures that mixture of joy and disruption, wonder and fear so incredibly well.

For the Easter season our worship question about finding God is going to be "where did God surprise you?". AS we celebrate the Good News of an empty tomb this year I invite all of us to consider what times we feel that mix of fearful joy. Where is God surprising, elating, and terrifying you all at the same time?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 29, 2024 -- Good Friday

This year we will hear the story from Arrest to Burial as told in the Gospel of Mark 14:43-15:47

The Sermon title is Disaster???

Early Thoughts:  What do we think about as we sit at the base of the cross and remember this story? Can we read it, immerse ourselves in it, feel all the feelings, without remembering the rest of the story? Does remembering that this is not the end of the story rob the cross of its horror and power? (And is that necessarily a bad thing?)

The disciples, the people closes to Jesus had to live through this not knowing for sure what the end of the story truly was. For them it must have seemed very possible that this was the end. All their hopes were being destroyed. The promise of a new world was gone. The horror and terror must have been a palpable part of their experience.

For them, this was a disaster. Yes Jesus has repeatedly told them that the Son of Man would be executed and then would be rise three days later but I am pretty sure they did not believe it. After all why would they? As far as they knew dead meant dead. Some of them might have heard and even believed in the idea that the righteous would be raised at the last days, resurrection was a part of some Jewish schools of thought in the first century, but still was now the time? What they knew for sure was that Jesus was hauled away and his death was imminent. For all they knew the highly identifiable followers of Jesus could be next.

How might you react if you had been there?

To be honest I think that even though we know the rest of the story (so far, the story has not actually come to an end yet) we need to stop and pretend we don't for a moment. It is too easy to ignore the horror and terror of this day when we want to jump right to an empty tomb and the promise of new life. I am not saying that is bad. Hope is always a good thing. Remembering the promise of God that life and love will always defeat (in the long view) death and fear is always a good thing. But maybe if we don't pause to remember the realities of death and fear, despair and defeat we don't fully appreciate the power of the victory.

The world around us knows a lot about fear and death. Despair is a common reaction to our news stories. Some days it seems like the disaster wins -- sometimes on a personal level, sometimes in our faith communities, sometimes on a global scale. We may need to sit with the disaster for a bit, even as we try to live into hope.

What are the disasters you need to sit with this year? Where does it look like the forces of empire and destruction are beating down the Kingdom of God? What makes you want to run away and hide so you are not the next one to get caught in the web of death?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 24, 2024 -- Palm Sunday

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 118:19-29 (read responsively to open the service)
• Mark 11:1-11
• Mark 11:27-33
• Mark 14:1-2

The Sermon title is Triumph!??

Image source

Early Thoughts: Hosanna, loud hosanna the happy children sang...  All glory laud and honour to thee Redeemer King... Ride on ride on in majesty...

Opening lines from 3 Palm Sunday hymns. Just typing them out conjures up images of people parading around the church waving palm branches. It brings out feelings of hope and joy. 

When I read the story of the entry into Jerusalem it carries with it that feeling of hope and possibility. The air seems to resound with the triumphant glory that the king has entered the city. It may well have been street theater. It might have been carefully staged to make a point. But there is a clear sense that the air rings with great news.

Unless you look beyond those verses of course.

The trouble seems to start immediately. People with power see Jesus' street theater as a threat. They start to wonder how they should react. (To be fair Jesus seems to be doing a fair bit to antagonize them as well.) By the beginning of chapter 14 the direction is clear. As Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice put it "this Jesus must die".

What type of triumphant story is this? When we sing those hymns and wave the branches what victory are we celebrating? The next few steps of the story seem far from victorious, in fact they lean more toward disastrous.

The Palm Sunday story is often called "the Triumphal Entry". But there is a big shadow looming over the parade. In fact  one of those hymns I quoted above includes the line "in lowly pomp ride on to die". 

Where do we go from here?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 17, 2024 -- 5th Sunday in Lent

 The Scripture Readings this week are: 

• Jeremiah 31:31-34
• John 12:20-26

The Sermon title is Life-Changing Promise

Early Thoughts: What difference does it make that to our lives to have the New Covenant written on our hearts and souls? 

Does it lead us to fall into the ground and die so that growth can happen?

Can people who watch how we live and act tell whether or not the words have soaked into the heart they were written on?

With this week's reading from Jeremiah we continue the theme set in the first two weeks of Lent of talking about covenants.  We started with the covenant of the rainbow, then we looked at the covenant made with Abraham. Because of our Annual Meeting Sunday we skipped over the covenant marked by the 10 commandments, and now we have Jeremiah and the promised new covenant. 

I read an article last month that suggested that each "new" covenant is in fact a divine act of covenant renewal -- arguably stretching back to the first covenant found at the beginning of Genesis. In the beginning God calls Creation good and has a vision for how the world could be. God makes promises and agreements with the first humans. Everything that follows from that point is God's attempt to keep these humans God has created in line with the vision. All these other covenants are times when God is trying again to bring God's beloved children back to the hope, to what they were created to be. In this process God has tried a variety of signs and forms. Now God has a new way.

Maybe the problem is that all the old signs and promises were external. Maybe the heart of humanity needs to be changed. Maybe if the law of love,  grace, mercy, and community is written on humanity's heart it will change how they live, how they interact with each other.

Christians have traditionally understood that this new covenant is enacted in the life, ministry, passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. As we grow as followers of The Way, as we develop as disciples of Christ, the law that is written on our hearts becomes a part of our DNA, becomes the guiding/shaping/forming principle that moves us forward.   

I firmly believe that how we use our time, talent, and treasure, what we do with the life we have been given, shows what is truly written on our hearts. I also believe that allowing the law of love,  grace, mercy, and community to soak deep into our very being will change how we use our time, talent, and treasure. A deep reading of what God, through Christ, has written on our hearts and souls will lead us to be good stewards of the lives we have been given.

For all of the existence of the church there has been an understanding that when we give ourselves fully to the new covenant, when we choose to be wholehearted followers of The Way, it is a process of dying so that we may live. In order to live in a new way we have to let (or encourage or even cause?) old ways of thinking and living die. Indeed, one of the reasons that white is a traditional colour for baptismal garments is to mimic the funeral shroud, as in baptism we pass through death and into new life (language often used more for Believer's Baptism than infant baptism and for immersion rather than sprinkling). Jesus himself, in this week's reading from John (and other places in the Gospels) reminds us that sometimes the only way to live and grow is in fact to die.

What needs to die so that the word God has written on your heart can fully impact how you live your life? What needs to die so that we can be great stewards of the lives we have been given?

There is something written on our hearts and souls, something that would, if we let it, sink deep into the very fiber of our being, something that can guide and shape all of our lives. Will we let it? HOw will those words of promise change our lives?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 3, 2024 -- 3rd Sunday of Lent

 All are reminded that our Annual Congregational Meeting will take place following worship this Sunday. Lunch will be provided.

The Scripture Readings this week are taken from a suggestion in Discipleship Is Stewardship a United Church Stewardship Resource.  They are:

• 2 Corinthians 9:1-15
• Luke 19:1-10

The Sermon title is Life Changing Thankfulness

Early Thoughts: What happens at that dinner?

There are a variety of opinions on what is happening in the story of Zacchaeus. Some ponder if he was the short one or if Jesus was so short the crowd covered him up. Some ponder why Zacchaeus was so determined to see this Jesus. And then there is the end of the story.

Is Zacchaeus professing "I am not so bad, I already do these things"? Or is he so transformed by the encounter with Jesus that he is starting a whole new way of being? I have read both interpretations but I lean to the latter,

 I think we are seeing a moment of transformation, the sort of transformation that comes from having an encounter with the Living God. And as I re-read the story I think that part of that transformation is driven by gratitude.

As a tax collector Zacchaeus would be seen as an outcast by the rest of society. He was in league with those who exploited the population. There is every chance that he is rich because he is good at gaming the system and his wealth is not exactly morally acquired. By going to Zacchaeus' house for a meal (inviting himself if we want to be blunt about it) Jesus is naming Zacchaeus as a member of God's community,  as a son of Abraham. I think that this being welcomed back into community opens up his heart. His response is based on gratitude for what Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh, is proclaiming about him.

How do we respond to an encounter with the Living God? Are we filled with gratitude? Are we driven to change our lives? DO we respond with generosity? Is that what makes us a cheerful giver, giving as we have made up our mind, not regretfully or under compulsion?

--Gord

Looking Ahead to February 25, 2024 -- Lent 2B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Genesis 17:1-27
• Mark 8:34-37

The Sermon title is Promises with a Price

Early Thoughts: What price might you be willing to pay? What might seem too much to ask?

Abram/Abraham is once again reminded of the promise and God makes a covenant. This sign of this covenant is that Abraham and all the males of his household (meaning Ishmael [born of the slave woman Hagar] and slaves and servants since the promised son [Isaac] has yet to arrive). The male who is not circumcised will not be a party to the covenant, will not be a member of the household. The male who is not circumcised will not be a part of God's Chosen People.

The promise comes with a price.

Then we have Jesus. Peter and company have been invited into a new way of being, they have been invited into the company of the Kingdom. Jesus is sharing the promise of a renewed world. Peter has just professed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Chosen One of God. In response Jesus  predicts his death and rebukes Peter for questioning that. Now Jesus tells his friends that to follow Jesus means being willing to give up their lives.

The promise comes with a price.

What price are you willing to pay to be a part of the promise?

WE are invited to be a part of God's beloved community. We are invited to be heirs to the promises of abundant life and hope and love. But there may be a cost associated with that invitation. One of the hymns in More Voices (one we sang earlier this year) talks about different invitations to follow Jesus and includes the line "lives will never be the same again". That could be a promise, it could be a threat, it certainly suggests there is a price to be paid.

Following The Way of Jesus means to follow a different path than the rest of the world. IT might not cost our lives in terms of hanging on a cross but it will come at a cost. IT pushes us to "deny our very selves", to have a different set of priorities.

What price are you willing to pay to be a part of the promise?

--Gord