Looking Ahead to January 19, 2025 -- 2nd Sunday After Epiphany

The Scripture Reading this week is 1 Corinthians 12:1-31

The Sermon title is What Is Your Gift?

Early Thoughts: We all have gifts. Sometimes we don't recognize them. Sometimes we don't give them the honour they deserve, and sometimes others do that to us.

The church in Corinth had issues. They were divided in factions, apparently along a variety of fracture lines. Paul spends much of this letter trying to get them to move past these divisions. One of the lines of division seems to be that some members of the community thought they were superior to others because they had the Spiritual Gift of speaking in tongues (or glossolalia to use the technical term). 

In response to that particular issue Paul spends chapters 12-14 talking about Gifts of the Spirit. Chapter 12 talks about the variety of gifts, and the fact that they are ALL needed and important. Chapter 13 is Paul at what I consider his finest with a discourse about the Greatest gift (we will look at that next week). Then the first 2/3 of chapter 14 is Paul specifically dealing with the gifts of speaking in togues and prophecy.

Paul lists a set of roles in the church, a set of gifts if you will. They are important roles in any faith community. I don't think they are the only gifts that God bestows upon people. Just as there are many more body parts than Paul lists in the second section of this chapter, there are many other gifts that go into the building of God's Beloved Community (a term that has been used for the church).

So what gift(s) do you bring into the community? Are we also guilty of seeing some gifts as superior to others?  Do we think some body parts are more important or attractive than others?

A community functions best when there are a variety of members, with a variety of strengths. As such it is incumbent on all of us to help raise up the gifts we see in the community. 

How have people helped you see where your gifts and strengths lie? How have you helped others see that in themselves?

I also think we need to recognize that different gifts/strengths are need in greater or lesser proportions at different times. As I remember hearing during the 'equal pay for work of equal value' debates 40 years ago: "if your plumbing is leaking the work of a plumber is far more valuable than the work of a typist". Over time all gifts are needed, at a specific time one may be needed more than another. That is not a statement of ultimate value.

In the same vein, though a bit of a different branch, I suggest that we as individuals have different gifts or strengths to offer in different seasons of our lives. Part of our task is to discern what season has past and what new season is beginning.

As a community we rely on the shared gifts we all bring to the table. As individuals wee need to claim what we bring (and be humble enough to admit what we don't bring) and we need to help others recognize what they bring. That is how a strong body is built.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to January 12, 2025 -- Baptism of Christ Sunday

One description of the Liturgical Year is that from Advent through to Easter we look at the life of Jesus and then from Easter to Advent we look at the life of the church/life of the faithful. I am not sure I fully agree with that breakdown because I think we do both things all year but in that model we find an explanation for this Sunday. Traditionally the first Sunday after Epiphany is set aside to mark the Baptism of Jesus, which Matthew Mark and Luke use as the launching point for his public ministry.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Acts 8:14-17
• Luke 3:21-22

The Sermon title is Spirit-Filled

Early Thoughts: What does it feel like? Being filled with/receiving the Holy Spirit, what does that mean to us?

Both the passages for this week make a clear tie between baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit. OR at least a complete baptism involves receiving the Holy Spirit as it appears that the people in Samaria had only had half a baptism before Peter and John showed up. For the early church it seems clear that part of becoming a child of God is baptism with water and the Spirit -- which in fact is what John the Baptist told folk to expect.

That, to me, is part of why we give families a baptismal candle. Fire/flame is an ancient symbol of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

But back to the key question --what does it mean? How can we tell if a person or a community is filled with the Spirit?

I don't think there is one way, one litmus test that answers that question. I think the in-dwelling of the Spirit in us as individuals and as communities shows up in a variety of ways (coincidentally, the next couple of weeks we will be reading from 1 Corinthians 12-14 where Paul talks about some of the gifts the Spirit gives). In A New Creed we talk about the God "who works in us and others by the Spirit". Being filled with the Holy Spirit helps us grow as disciples, as learners and followers of Jesus. It strengthens and emboldens us. The presence of the Spirit in our lives also serves to comfort us, to remind us we are not alone. Being Spirit-filled would, I think and hope, spread through every part of our lives. It would help us see the world differently. It would guide our actions and choices.

As a Baptized and Baptizing Community we are called to be Spirit-filled as individuals and as a collective. If we allow that to happen (sometimes we might fight against the leadings of the Spirit) it has the potential to change how we live.  Are we willing to take that chance, not knowing where it might lead us?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to January 5, 2025 -- Epiphany Sunday

The Feast of Epiphany falls on January 6th, right after the 12 Days of Christmas. This Feast is when the church marks the visit of the Magi to the Holy Family, as told in Matthew's Gospel). When January 6th is not a Sunday many churches choose to mark Epiphany on the Sunday before.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Isaiah 60:1-6 (which is the basis of the Call to Worship) 
• Matthew 2:1-12

The Sermon title is Strange Visitors

Early Thoughts: What did Mary and Joseph think about it? When there was a knock at the door and these strange men from far away came into the house what thoughts might have run through their minds? For that matter what did Herod think when these visitors from afar appeared talking about a new king? (We are given a hint of his thoughts in the verses that follow this week's reading -- suffice to say that joy and praise are not in his heart).

Matthew tells us this story as a way of showing that the coming of the Messiah is both a gift for all nations, not just the Jewish people, and is recognized by those who know what to look for -- no matter where they may be. Strange visitors may have told Mary and Joseph something more about this child (it is unclear if Matthew sees this happening when Jesu was still an infant or moving into toddlerhood) they had in their family. Strange visitors warn the powers that be that change is in the air. Strange visitors proclaim that God is at work.

Even the gifts that Matthew mentions have (or have been given over the years) deeply symbolic meanings, as the carol We Three Kings will tell us. The Magi seem to have chosen these rich gifts to mark the birth of a king (Gold), the birth of one who is deeply connected to the Divine (Frankincense), and foretell his death (Myrrh, a burial spice). Strange gifts for a peasant family.

There is a saying in community development that sometimes you need the outside voice to tell you what you already know. Sometimes the voices from within the system just don't get heard but the outside expert says the same thing and everybody sits up as if it is new information (many clergy will tell you that churches can be really bad for this). Maybe the strange visitors can open our eyes to what God is doing in our midst. Maybe that is part of what the Magi do in Matthew's Gospel -- they help open the eyes of the readers/listeners to see what God is doing in the Jesus story.

What strange visitors have helped you grow in you awareness of God's activity in the world? What strange visitors might we need today to help us see where God is in our midst, to show us a way forward -- even if it is by a different road than before?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 22, 2024 -- 4th Sunday of Advent -- Love Candle

 

The Scripture Readings this final Sunday of Advent are:

• Psalm 146 
•  Luke 1:39-55

The Sermon title is Jesus Is Coming, Sing Justice, Dance Love

Early Thoughts: Mary was not, it appears, meek nor mild. Mary had a vision of how was God was at work to transform the world -- ands wasn't shy about sharing it.

I think I like the story of Mary and Elizabeth's meeting as much as the Christmas story itself. Elizabeth, pregnant when it was well past the time that such thing should happen (to quote a play I was in 30 years ago "when a women who shops the Co-Op on Seniors day is about to have a child the world is not out of surprises yet") meets her cousin Mary, pregnant too soon. As Luke tells the story, the child Elizabeth carries will be known as John the Baptizer, he will predict the coming of the Messiah. The child Mary carries will be seen as God living among us, the Word-Made-Flesh, Emmanuel. Two special children and two bold mothers.

When they greet each other Elizabeth feels her child leap for joy (which can't have been too comfortable for mom in her last trimester), some might even say John was dancing in his mother's womb. At that instant one of the women (generally seen to be Mary but some sources say Elizabeth) is moved to song.

But her song is not a lullaby. Her song is not about the worries and wonders of impending parenthood. Her song is a cry for change, a manifesto for a just new world, a proclamation that God ahs something grand in mind. Mary sings of justice, of a world turned upside down by the God who created and loves the world.

I believe that working to create a world where justice reigns is what it means to put "love your neighbour" into action. The Christmas story is not just a sweet story about angels and shepherds and a baby in a manger. The Christmas story is a story of the world being changed. It is a story of God breaking into the world to live among us and start the avalanche of justice called for by the ancient prophets "But let justice roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream." (Amos 5:24) Mary sings a song of justice to help us dance the dance of love.

Both the children who are in this story today (albeit in utero) will carry forward the song of justice and the dance of love. John will preach a baptism of repentance and encourage folk to change how they live (se Luke chapter 3 for how he does that), Jesus will call attention to the way the world could be and invite us all to live into a new way of being. It is an old song, an ancient dance -- it's rhythms can be felt from the days of Moses right through to the new heaven and new earth in Revelation and on through wise ones, prophets, and teachers to this very day.

We are invite to sing and dance too. Are we ready to lift up our voices, faltering as they may be at times, and try out the steps, even when he may have two left feet? Can we join Mary, Elizabeth, John and Jesus in hope and joy, working for peace love and justice -- a world reborn and renewed?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 24, 2024 -- Christmas Eve Celebration.

 

Nativity Scene at St. Paul's

This year we are going to reflect on the story of the night.  We will in fact hear it 4 times:

1. As set for children in The First Christmas
2. from the King James Version of the Bible
3. form the First Nations Version of the New Testament
4. from the GenZ Bible

Stained Glass from St. Paul's

The Reflection title is The (N)Ever-changing Story

Early Thoughts: In her Advent song Hope is a Candle United Church musician Linnea Good writes: "For we are a people of a Story. Of stars that sing and love that cries". In his book The Truth About Stories Canadian writer Thomas King says "The truth about stories is that that's all we are". Hearing and telling stories is one of the biggest ways we learn about and find meaning in  life.

At Christmas there are lots of stories we tell -- we have a rather heavy (as I remember each year as I haul them up from the basement) collection of Christmas books in our house. Some of them are stories about a jolly old elf who lives at the North Pole and flies around in a sleigh pulled by magical reindeer. Some of them are stories about families gathering together for song and merriment. And then there is the story that lies under the season...

From Riverview United in Atikokan

In the age-old special A Charlie Brown Christmas Charlie spends most of the episode trying to figure out what Christmas is all about. Finally he lets out an anguished cry "Can anyone tell me what Christmas is all about?!?". At this point his friend Linus steps in, calls for the spotlight and shares an ancient story about shepherds and angels and a baby lying in a manger. That is the story we tell tonight.

I have learned that one of the wonderful things about truly great and timeless stories is that they can be told in a variety of ways. We can change the setting (either in time or in geography). We can tell it from the point of view of different characters. We can tell it in song, in poetry, in narrative, in drama, or through pictures -- maybe even interpretive dance. We might find new and innovative ways to tell the story and yet it remains the same story.

Found on Facebook

This is, I have found, true of the Nativity story as well. We may be used to hearing it in one way [Though I have heard and read it in many different ways over the years to this day there is a part of me that always hears it in Linus' voice using King James language.] but it can and has been retold many different ways. This picture recasts it in a more modern setting (and there are lots of references to the Biblical story hidden in the picture.  How many can you find?). 30+ years ago I was in a musical that set the story in rural Saskatchewan during a farm credit crisis.

My daughter loves Nativity scenes.  We have a living room full of them -- when she eventually sets up her own house and takes them all away we might have to find new Christmas decor. We have sets with South American imagery, or Little People, or one called a Canadian Nativity. But despite the wide variety of art and style they all tell the same story. They all tell about a baby born in a less than ideal place. Most of them include angels and shepherd or Magi, unusual visitors for a newborn child.

I happen to think that the story actual gains meaning when we find new ways to tell it. When we use our imagination to re-tell the story in new ways we might notice something we never have before. Or maybe changing it from 2000 years ago in a far off land to be a story about a young homeless family on our downtown streets will bring it home in a new way, make it more relevant to our lives today. Or maybe using language and slang and idiom of a new generation will open it up to that new generation. The story doesn't change -- how we tell it does.

Found on Facebook

On Christmas night we tell a timeless story. We talk about God breaking into the world in a different, unexpected way. We talk about a baby born long ago and far away. At the same time we tell the story of a God who continues to break into the world and live among us. We tell a story that happened long ago and continues to happen today. God's time works in a cyclical fashion, God's time moves forward by pulling us into a story that keeps flowing.

The story never changes and the story always changes. Join us on Christmas Eve to reflect on the ongoing story.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 15, 2024 -- 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year C -- Joy

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Zephaniah 3:14-20
• Isaiah 12:2-6
• Philippians 4:4-7

The Sermon title is Jesus is Coming, Relax Into Joy

Early Thoughts: What does Joy mean to you this year? Where does joy fit into the chaotic world in which we live?

I think that when defined in a faith sense joy is not about being happy. I think it is about trust.  Earlier this fall I saved this quote with the thought it might come in handy this week:

We are called to be joyful not by ignoring the chaos of the world but despite the chaos of the world.

Our Joy rests in the knowledge that we are not alone. Joy comes with the promise that God is at work transforming us and transforming the world. Joy comes with the reassurance that the powers of death and destruction will not have the final victory. Joy, as one of our Easter hymns tells us, comes with the dawn, with the morning sun, with the empty tomb.

All three of our passages this week talk about rejoicing, about being joy-filled. And in each of the presence and work of God is a key part of the call to rejoice.

As we go through Advent, as we move closer to the day when we will listen for angel song and eavesdrop and the angel says to the shepherd "I bring you Good News which shall be for all people" we await God breaking into the world yet again. When God breaks into the world, when God acts decisively in our lives we are called into joy.

Can we trust in God's presence and action enough to allow us to relax into Joy in the midst of a broken world?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 8, 2024 -- 2nd Sunday of Advent, Peace Candle

The Scripture readings this week are:

• Malachi 3:1-4 
• Luke 3:1-18

The Sermon title is Jesus Is Coming, Be Refined for Peace

Early Thoughts: We all Jesus the Prince of Peace. We share the promise of a transformed world where peace will be the norm. How will we get there?

I think this weeks passages hold a clue, or at least part of the answer. But first a song. Whenever I read this passage from Malachi I am reminded of a song that I learned many years ago in my late teens.

Now back to the idea of peace. Certainly peace comes from structural, systemic change. We can not have a reign of peace unless the rules of how we live together (as individuals, communities and nations) are changed. But it also means that we ourselves have to be changed. We need to be refined.

This week we hear from John the Baptist, who Luke tells us is a cousin of Jesus. John is an interesting character in our story. From what Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell us it seems he was wildly popular. People flocked out into the wilderness to hear him and be baptized by him in the Jordan (Jesus himself will be baptized by John a bit later in the story). But John's message is not warm and fuzzy. He is not in this business to make friends. John is in the business of calling people to repentance -- his is described as a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (which makes for some interesting questions when Jesus gets dunked) -- and he is not shy about telling them how they have fallen short of the target.

Source

John's vision of what the promised Messiah will do is not different. He envisions a Messiah who will be big on judgment, on separating out the wheat from the chaff, of getting rid of the dead weight. Such a nice message to hear as we prepare for Christmas. "Joy to the World! You are all terrible people"

Then again, maybe some self-reflection is in order as we prepare for God to break into the world yet again. If we are honest with ourselves we know that we could probably do better, live better, love better. Using imagery like brood of vipers, chaff fit to be burned, or a tree that needs to be cut down might be a bit over the top but it does not hurt to be reminded that personal change is needed.

Historically Advent, like Lent, has been described as a penitential season. To repent means more than admitting where we have made wrong turns, it means to change directions. In Lent we are called to change directions in preparation for the story of cross and tomb, when God will break into the world and change the world through the Resurrection. In Advent we are called to change direction so that we are ready for God to break into the world through a baby in a manger. And our lives will never be the same again.

I actually like the imagery used by Malachi, of refining and purifying. It reminds me that each of us has the final product (gold or silver) inside us already. Refining ore removes the overburden and dross so that the pure  (or purer) product gets released. Each one of us is a diamond in the rough, a chunk of ore being refined to draw out our true essence.

As the years have passed some folk have felt uncomfortable seeing Advent as a penitential  season. Repentance language is not always comforting or joyful. There has been a desire to spend Advent in a mode of joy and celebration, to focus on Good News, to keep it all light and cheery. I get that. I understand the need to counter the dark news that fills our world. But I also don't think it is being honest.

If we are to be peacemakers in a troubled world we need to be prepared for the job. If we are going to be labourers for the Reign of God we need to be prepared for the task. Jesus is coming. God is going to break into the world yet again. It is time to let the dross get melted away, to toss the chaff into the air to blow away, to be refined and cleansed and purified. Thanks to God who continues to refine us to be who we are meant to be.
--Gord

Advent Pastoral LEtter

 Advent candles burning bright
Gods love shown in flickering light
Love and Joy and Peace and Hope
It’s with God’s help that we can cope
Advent candles glowing fair
Driving out fear and despair

When the nights grow long and cold
Gods promise calls us to be bold
A promised child, with us to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
See the candles glowing there
Shining Gods love everywhere.
(Untitled poem ©November 2006 Rev. Gord Waldie, Atikokan ON)

November 25, 2024

Friends in Christ,
Grace, Peace and Advent Blessings to all of you!

All of a sudden another year has gone by and we are starting Advent again. Once again we enter the time of lighting candles and looking for Hope Peace Joy and Love in the world around us. Once again we sing the carols and tell the stories. Once again we await God breaking into the world in the form of a helpless infant. What will the Advent journey bring us this year? How might God surprise us in this time of waiting and preparing?

I don’t know. God tends to reveal them-self in ways we don’t expect after all. But some things I do know.

I know that we at St. Paul’s will continue to open the door (or maybe a window) to let God come in. I know that we will continue to welcome all God’s Beloved Children to join us in worship, either in person or via YouTube, as we light candles, explore the Advent themes, and remind ourselves that Jesus is coming. I know that the CGIT and Explorers once again invite us to join them for the Vespers service at 7:30 on December 1^st as a way to launch us into the Christmas Season. I know that on Christmas Eve many of us will gather in the sanctuary at 8:00 for a time of singing and storytelling as we celebrate the birth of the Word-Made-Flesh and hear again the words of the angel “for to you is born this night...a Saviour who is Christ the Lord”. These things I know. I just don’t know what God will do or reveal as we do all these things.

Like any community, we have traditions at St. Paul’s. One of our traditions is to highlight our Local Outreach Program during the Advent season. In the past this has meant collecting items to pass on to our partners. More recently we have made cash gifts to them. This year our Local Outreach fund has been a bit depleted which limited our options. We realized we could not support as many agencies as we had in the past. One of our long-time partners has been the Elders Caring Shelter and as they are an agency that tends to have less public support we decided that we would make a special appeal for funds to share with them. The other goal is to replenish the Local Outreach Fund so we can continue to provide grocery vouchers to our neighbours throughout the year. St. Paul’s has consistently showed itself as a very generous community and I thank you for that.

For many of us the Christmas season is a time of great joy and anticipation. For others it is a time of sadness and uncertainty. There are members of our community who feel quite strongly the absence of a beloved family member or close friend. There are some of our neighbours who will be stressed about the costs of trying to have a joyful season. Amidst the bright lights and the bouncy songs there is ‘blueness’. We need to make space for that. One way we do that is through our memory tree, where folk are invited to put a name or names on an ornament and add it to our tree. At the same time I encourage all of us, in our Advent and Christmas prayers to name the ‘blueness’ and uncertainty of the season and lift it up before God. Jesus comes into the world to meet us where we are and bring the assurance that God is with us in the bright lights and shadows, the loud joy and the quiet sorrow.

Each of my planned sermon titles for the four Sundays of Advent this year start with “Jesus Is Coming”. To me this is not only about preparing for a birth. Advent is a time to get ready for Christmas but it is also a time to make room for the Risen Christ who breaks into the world, and our lives, on a regular basis. Jesus comes into our lives, into the world, meets us where we are and invites us to be transformed. Jesus is coming to invite us to follow him into a whole new world. Jesus is coming to help us see the world through a different set of lenses. This Christmas season as we make room for Jesus to come into the world, into our lives, again may we keep our eyes open for Hope in a chaotic world, may we relax into Joy, may we allow ourselves to be refined for Peace, and may we sing of Justice and dance the steps of Love.

Have a Blessed Advent and Christmas season friends. May God surprise you with Hope, Peace, Joy and Love
Gord

A Possible Newsletter Piece (it also might make no sense)

Another Taste of Fruit...

How are you a generous person? How does generosity guide your decisions?

Yes I am making an assumption there but I believe that most people are in fact generous, at least most of the time. I believe that most people know that sharing is a good thing. After all it is that list of things we learned in kindergarten. Sharing, they say, is caring.

So how does generosity make an impact on your life?

I am going to suggest that for most of us generosity makes an impact both in the giving and in the receiving. When we share something it makes us feel better, but also when someone shares something with us it makes our lives richer. I also suggest that this mutual benefit then results in a spiral of generosity. We become more generous because we have been generous and because we have experienced others being generous.

And I think that for people of faith it all starts with God. We have been the recipients of God’s overflowing grace and love. If we sink into that Divine generosity I believe it changes our hearts and moves, pushes, cajoles, maybe even requires, us to pass it forward. As recipients of gifts we share them with the world around us. It is how we live into our calling to be citizens of a New World.

In the end the key to generosity is not, I think, in the stuff we share. It would be easy to turn a column on generosity into a column about what we have to share. But I don’t want to do that, largely because I find those columns become a little pushy. I think the key to generosity is the heart behind it. I think the generous spirit is more important than listing off all that we have shared (which sometimes sounds a bit like bragging anyway). I believe that God is inviting all of us to have a generous spirit and when we accept that invitation generosity can become part of our very being.

There is a certain aptness to talking about generosity at this time of year. It is called the season of giving after all. But I encourage all of us to be aware of generosity all year round. I encourage us to look at the world with eyes that see what is being shared. I encourage us to look at ourselves with eyes that see what has been shared with us. As I said above generosity breeds generosity. In today’s world we talk about things going viral, about the contagious effect of memes or TikTok dances. Let’s help generosity go viral.

I have always found that St. Paul’s is a very generous community of faith. I may even have bragged about it on your behalf more than once. Let us continue to be generous. After all sharing IS caring.
Gord

Looking Ahead to December 1, 2024 -- 1st Sunday of Advent, Hope

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Jeremiah 33:14-16
• Luke 21:25-36

The Sermon title is Jesus Is Coming, Seek Hope in Chaos

Early Thoughts: The world is a chaotic place -- and getting more so. In the midst of that chaos is a lot of fear and despair. In the midst of that chaos are wars and rumours of wars, or economic instability, or social unrest. All of that brings worry, or foreboding, about the future.  Will things get worse? Will everything fall apart?

In the middle of all this comes Advent. In the middle of all this unrest and chaos comes the promise of God breaking into the world -- either as a baby in a manger or as the returning Christ, come to change the world.

That is where our hope lies. Our hope is in the God who promises to be with us and promises to b an active force in the world. The days are surely coming....

To a large degree we see what we want to see. Or we see what we expect to see. Or we see what we are looking for. Which does not mean that what we see is not actually there. It does mean that we may not be seeing the whole picture. In the Gospel reading this week Jesus tells his friends to be alert and watchful so they would be ready and prepared. He acknowledges the hard things but still look for the signs of something else happening. Look out and recognize the signs that the kingdom of God is near.

Traditionally the first week of Advent we light the candle of Hope. Hope, I think is a vital commodity for human well-being. Hope is what keeps us moving forward. Hope is what keeps us from self-destructing.

The world is a chaotic place. There are lots of stories about what is going wrong. If we choose we may only see the problems and the chaos. Or we can choose to look for the hope. This Advent (and on into the next year) let us commit to seek signs of hope. Speaking through the centuries Jeremiah still tells us that the time is surely coming when the world will be changed. What new leaves are sprouting? Will we miss the hope and not be ready for the transformation?
--Gord