Looking Ahead to October 20, 2024 -- 22nd Sunday After Pentecost Proper 24B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 92:1-4
• Psalm 91

Did some playing with ChatGPT

The Sermon title is Thanks for Being There

Early Thoughts: When have you felt alone and isolated? What was that like? Did you feel vulnerable, unprotected, at risk?

One of the things I truly appreciate about the Psalms is that they invite me to explore, settle it, maybe even wallow in the reality of life with God. One of the other things that I appreciate about these ancient poems is that they can bring me comfort, they can remind me that God is there, they can tell me that God is looking out for me.

I could have chosen many different Psalm readings for that purpose.

Psalm 91 is, for me, a very comforting piece. Like many others I know the stomach churning that comes with feeling alone, isolated and vulnerable. Maybe that is why I have always been so drawn to the fact that A New Creed begins and ends with the affirmation that we are not alone.

This is our month of Thanktober, our Month Of Thanks, a time when I want us all to stop and reflect on why we are thankful.

More ChatGPT Playing

One of the reasons that I am thankful is that I am not alone, that it is not only my wits and strength that are going to protect me.

And that is a good thing.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to October 13, 2024 -- Thanksgiving Sunday

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Joel 2:21-27
• Matthew 6:25-33
  

The Sermon title is Share Thanks, Not Worries

Source

Early Thoughts: There are a number of lists of failed church signs/announcements circulating around the internet (and have been for decades, well before social media took over the world). One of those failed messages is shown in the picture. It could be a great statement about faith helping us deal/cope with worry--or it could be a much more negative comment.

Some of us are natural-born worriers.  Worry is a default reaction for some of us -- we are always wondering what could/will go wrong or how this could end badly. For others worry is a reality of life because no matter how they do the math there just isn't 'enough'.

Quite often I read this passage from Matthew with at least half my mind saying that Jesus is not being reasonable or realistic. Then again I am one of those natural worriers. Still, telling people not to worry about where their next meal will come form but to live on trust seems a bit utopian to me. Maybe I am being a bit too literal, a bit too all or none in my thinking?

What happens when we dwell on our worries and anxieties? Does it, as Jesus reasonably asks, "add a single hour to the span of your life"? One could (and many have) in fact argue that dwelling on our worries and anxieties and fears can shorten our lives, while simultaneously robbing us of happiness.

What might happen if we dwell on the reasons we have to be thankful? What happens if we choose to highlight the ways God has been with us, bringing hope instead of despair, abundance where we only saw scarcity, renewal where we only see destruction, life instead of death? It might not add a single hour to the span of our lives, or it might by lowering our blood pressure and saving us from cortisol poisoning, but it almost certainly would add happiness to those days. It might also make us easier/more pleasant to be around.

Many years ago Bobby McFerrin urged us all to Don't Worry, Be Happy. A bouncy little song, it lifts my spirits just to listen to it but when you look at the lyrics you see that it has a degree of realism. Unlike Pharrell's song Happy from a decade ago, which is just about being happy all the time, McFerrin's lyrics name several reasons one might have worries that weigh them down. Still he encourages us to put those worries aside, to not let them run our lives.

This, I think is a path to better mental emotional health (or at least part of the path). We need to be honest and realistic about life but then we need to make a choice. We can choose to focus on our worries and anxieties. Or we can choose to focus on the good things and give thanks with a grateful heart.

When I talk about this month being a Month Of Thanks or call it Thanktober I am encouraging us to make the second choice. Joel shares a promise to a people who have had a hard time of it, a promise that God will reverse their fortunes. Jesus tells his followers to live lives based on trust and hope rather than worry and anxiety. Let's all try to share our thanks more than our worries. It will, I believe, make us happier as individuals and as a community. It also appears to be how God would have us live.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to October 6, 2024 -- Creation 5, Worldwide Communion Sunday

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St. Francis of Assisi is often seen as having an affinity for God's Creation (particularly animals). The Scripture Readings this week were chosen from readings sometimes used on his feast day (October 4th):

• Isaiah 55:1-3, 10-13
• Psalm 148:7-14

The Sermon title is Celebrate and Praise the Creator!

Early Thoughts:  We sing our praise. We sing our praise and celebration. We have done it repeatedly over the last month. Titles like It's a  Song of Praise to the Maker or This Is God's Wondrous World or All Things Bright and Beautiful or the one we will sing this week Praise With Joy the World's Creator all move us to celebrate the world God created and God the Creator.

And there are many other hymns and songs which do the same thing. Why? Why is this such a common thing in our library of worship song?

I think it is because in our hearts, even those of us who spend most of our times in the urban jungle and inside, looking out at the world through panes of glass or the widows on our computer screen, we know that we meet God in creation. God is revealed in the world around us, particularly in the natural world. 

I have a LOT of nature pictures...

Christian theologians talk about two different types of revelation: General Revelation and Special (I prefer specific myself) Revelation. Special Revelation is what we find/see/hear/experience in the words of Scripture and especially in Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh. General Revelation is what we find/see/hear/experience in the world around us. God's creation is God's General Revelation. Therefore we sing our praises.

IT is an easy thing to lose track of though, this idea of looking for GOd in the natural world. In a world where too often the earth is valued for how we can use it for our own benefit and many of us spend very little time in nature it can sometimes be easy to lose track of the wonders of creation. We need to be reminded sometimes.

Celebrating the Creator and singing praise for the gifts of creation can also be a bit counter-cultural. One of the reasons that Celtic Christianity was disparaged, rejected, and quelled by Roman/Latin/Imperial Christianity may well have been that the Celtic version of Christianity always upheld the sacredness of nature. When one holds up the sacredness of a thing it is much harder to turn that thing into  mere tool to be used solely for our benefit (as I typed that sentence my thoughts turned to some of the rhetoric used to support slavery and racism). Roman/Latin/Imperial Christianity had, since the time of Constantine, been pressed into service of the Empire. The Empire needed to utilize the earth's resources as "best as they could" and seeing the sacredness of the tree simply as a tree rather than as firewood or a spear shaft might get in the way of that.

We are a part of the world that God has created and is creating. We live in the midst of the creation where God is revealed. Therefore let us sing our praises and celebrate both the gift and the Giver.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 29, 2024 --Creation 4

Image Source

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Genesis 8:1-22
• Revelation 22:1-5

The Sermon title is Paradise is a Garden?

Early Thoughts: Our story begins and ends in a garden. I read the Genesis passage this week and I find it suggestive of Noah returning to a garden. Certainly there are echos of the instructions to Adam in the instructions to Noah.

Maybe paradise (where our story starts and stops) is in fact a garden. [The hours of weeding over the years make me doubt that a bit] But then I remember something I learned a few years ago. Something etymological.

Picture on the cover of Saving Paradise

 9 years ago I read a book called Saving Paradise. Early in that book it talked about how the earliest church focused not on the crucifixion but on paradise. I remember wondering what it might mean if we chose to focus our attention in the same way. That might be another sermon, maybe for Reign of Christ Sunday some year....

Anyway, in the first part of that book I was introduced to the idea that the word 'paradise' has its roots in words relating to a walled enclosure or garden. Add that to our Genesis and Revelation accounts of Eden and the New Jerusalem and yes maybe paradise really is a garden.

What might that mean for how we live in the world?

Now I am remembering a more recently read book. This was a book on Celtic Christianity and spirituality called Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul. In this book it is suggested that one of the reasons Celtic thought was incompatible with "orthodox" Roman Imperial Christianity was because it raises up the sacredness of creation. Empire (Roman, British, American to name a few) is built and maintained largely by seeing the creation as a tool and/or raw materials to use as the structures of empire are built and maintained. To name Creation as sacred and something to be honoured and treasured for what it is rather than what we can do with it gets in the way. How do we see the world around us now? Is it gift to be celebrated or tool/raw materials to be utilized effectively? Do we sometimes like to claim one answer while our actions reveal something different?

We are invited to see the world as a garden. Or maybe we are invited to pine for the time we will return to the garden. I am now pondering what it might mean to see the world as a garden (though maybe without the wall implied by the etymology of the word paradise).
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 22, 2024 -- Creation 3

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Job 37:14-24
• Psalm 104:24-32

The Sermon title is Can We Understand It All?

Early Thoughts: Sometimes we need to be a little bit humble. Humanity, as a whole, understands a whole lot about physics, chemistry, and biology. We know a great deal about how the world works. We don't know or understand everything -- not even those people who are at the top of those scientific fields claim to know or understand everything. Those of us making do with high school science classes or maybe some post-secondary science can certainly not claim to know how the universe works.

Humility is a good thing.

Which is what led me to look at Job for this week. Job is a strange book, but one which pushes us to consider some pretty deep questions. Certainly, and for some very obvious reasons, it is often used to get into questions of justice and fairness and "why bad things happen to good people?". But I also think as the text pushes forward it raises questions about humility.

The section we are reading this week comes from the end of one of the speeches of Job's so-called friends and supporters (personally I don't find them to be all that supportive to Job). As Elihu draws his soliloquy to a close he pushes Job to consider that he can not know or comprehend the full mind of God. Job can not know how the world God has created works because God's majesty is so far beyond our existence. Interesting theology of nature perhaps, and not one I totally agree with but it raises some interesting questions, particularly given what comes next...

In the next chapters, starting literally the verse after this reading, God finally shows up to respond to Job's complaints and accusations. Speaking out of a whirlwind God asks Job a series of questions and issues a series of challenges about Job's level of knowledge and control over the way the world was created, the way the world works. (There are multiple sections from these chapters that I could have chosen to use this week instead of the words of Elihu.) By the beginning of chapter 42 Job responds in humility, humbled before the majesty of God.

In context both Elihu's words and God's response out of the whirlwind are not really about eco-theological concerns. They are about recognizing the God who is in control and in charge. However I have come to think that humility and being willing to say "we don't know how that works" or "we don't really know how to do that" or (to re-purposes some words of Hamlet) "There are more things in heaven and earth...than are dreamt of in [our] philosophy".

We want to know it all. We want to understand it all. Humans are, and I suspect have always been an inquisitive and curious species. We also tend to be a little bit proud. Sometimes a little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing. We might start to think we have all the answers. We don't. Interestingly I find that often the people with the most knowledge and understanding are more likely to be the ones who admit there are limits to what we know and understand (and that limit keeps changing as time goes by). Some of the people most insistent that we have all the answers are the ones who have limited direct experience in the field -- take the furor over a certain Olympic boxer this summer and questions around gender as an example.

In the most recent United Church faith statement A Song of Faith God is repeatedly referred to as Holy Mystery. I remember talking to someone whose (either agnostic or atheist) son was a physicist, working at a high-level. The son told his father that beyond a certain point they could not explain how things worked, it was a mystery. Faith and science agree that there are things (they may not always agree on what things) that can not be explained. We have to be humble enough to accept the mystery (at least temporarily -- science and curiosity will continue to explore and search for answers) and trust that there is meaning in it.

HOw do we live with the reality that we don't, or possibly can't, know everything about the world? First are we willing to admit it? Then how do we live in the uncertainty? As people of faith I think part of the answer is trust. Part of the answer is trust in the God who has created and is creating both to continue to reveal the world to humanity and to be at work in the world around us. After all God loves the world that God calls good (and yes that is a faith statement, not a scientifically provable claim).
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 15, 2024 -- Creation 2

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Genesis 2:4b-22
• Psalm 104:14-23

From Hamlet Act 2,Sc. 2 Image Source

The Sermon title is How Important Are We?

Early Thoughts: Is humanity the apex of God's creation? Or are we just another part?

It is easy to read Scripture and think that humanity is indeed the apex, the pinnacle of God's creation. It the hymn to creation we find in Genesis 1 humanity is created last. In the second creation story, the one we find in Genesis 2, humanity is created first and then helps God name all the other creatures. In both stories one could get the sense that the rest of the creation, the flora and fauna in particular, are there for humanity to use.

Then there is Psalm 8 which says (in a passage a later writer would refer to in Hebrews 2):

³ When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;
⁴ what are humans that you are mindful of them,
    mortals that you care for them?

⁵ Yet you have made them a little lower than God
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
⁶ You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under their feet,
⁷ all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
⁸ the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

 That seems a clear statement about humanity's importance (at least according to humanity).

But is that a true representation? From a another point of view humanity is, at best, a mere blip in the history of the planet and the cosmos. Even if humanity manages to make the planet uninhabitable for humans life and the planet will continue. We might have a lot of ability to manage and alter the world around us but still the world would continue if we were suddenly gone. [Some might say the world would continue better if we were suddenly gone but I am not sure the equation is that simple.]

When I consider our relationship to the rest of creation I have to wonder if seeing ourselves as the pinnacle, the apex of creation has been healthy for us or for the wider world. Seeing the rest of creation as being there to serve us has maybe made us, as a species, a little arrogant. It has maybe given us a 'me first' attitude towards our brothers and sisters. If, as many cultures in history have done, we refer to earth as our Mother does our care for the earth match how we would actually care for a parent?

I don't think our relationship with the rest of creation has always been as it is now. I do think that earlier iterations of human society have had a different sense of inter-relationship than has developed since (largely) the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in Western Europe. At the same time I think we can sometimes romanticize how those other understandings might have looked in practice. Human activity has always impacted the world around them. Part of the issue is that we have developed the ability to make more of an impact and not always paused to consider the ramifications of that ability.

What happens if we try to see ourselves not as the top of the pyramid but part of an inter-connected web of relationships? Does that help us be more faithful followers of God who we name as Creator? If we see those other things that God has created (particularly flora and fauna) not as our tools or servants but as siblings how might we act differently?

As a species, and certainly as individuals at times, we can get an elevated view of how important we are. That can lead us to do wonderful things. It can also lead us to be really selfish. According to our faith stories God created humanity as a part of the larger world. We are told to care for the earth, maybe to subdue it or maybe to be stewards -- caring for something placed in our care by the one whom we follow. I suspect that to be faithful to the God who has created and is creating, the God who calls us to care for the earth means we need to stop and re-evaluate how important we are (positively or negatively) in shaping the world into the Good Creation that God first called into being.

Humanity is an important part of the equation (for now at least). That does not mean we are so important we get first billing. But we are important -- so are our siblings in God's creation.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 8, 2024 -- Creation 1

 We will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion this Sunday.  All are welcome to join us at the table.

 In recent years churches have been encouraged to take a few weeks in September (usually from just after Labour Day until Thanksgiving) to mark Creation Time. The intent of Creation Time is to reflect on how we as humans interact with the rest of God's Creation, or as the New Creed puts it "to live with respect in creation". We will be doing that this year.  Over the next few weeks we will hear most of Psalm 104, which is a hymn to creation and various other  passages that will, hopefully, help us reflect on our role as part of that which God has created.

This week's Scripture Readings are:

• Genesis 1:1-25
• Psalm 104:5-13

The Sermon title is Who Has Created and Is Creating...

Earthrise

Early Thoughts: In the United Church statement of faith we call the New Creed one of the first things we say about God is that God has created and is creating". The stories of our faith (as translation in the old King James) begin with "In the beginning God created...". God is many things in our lives and in our world but the first thing is that God is one who creates.

How does it change our relationship to the world around us to name that it is a creation of God, who then calls it good? Why is it important to say that God has created the world in which we live?

I think it is vital. Next week we will talk about humanity's place in creation (which is why this week we cut off the hymn to creation just before God says "let us make humans"). This week we pause to remind ourselves that creation is God's work. We pause to remind ourselves that creation has value just because God created it, not because of how we might be able to use it for our benefit. Certainly we will explore that deeper next week when we ask how important we really are.

Another gift that comes from reminding ourselves that the world is a creation of God and that God calls it good is that it pushes us to see the goodness of the world. Why does God call it good? In Christian tradition the Creation is one of the places where God's Word is written, one of the ways God is revealed to us. What does the world tell us about God?

There is a third point about calling God the Creator. What I like about the New Creed phrase is that it reminds us that the work of creation (and re-creation) is not actually finished. The hymn to creation that we find in Genesis 1 comes to the 7th day and rests because the work of creation is finished. But as I read the stories of Scripture I meet a God who continues, in different ways, to create (and sometimes to destroy and re-create -- looking at Noah for an example).

There is a theological position known as Deism. One of the markers of Deism is that God created the world but then stopped intervening in the world. Some have referred to the God you meet in Deism as the "Clockmaker God"; a God who set it all up, would the spring then sat back to watch it play out. It is worth noting that some of the prominent founders of the United States were Deists (despite the often repeated claims that the US was founded as a 'Christian Nation').

I find a deistic view of God to miss the point of Scripture. In my opinion if God looks at creation and calls it good and God seeks to be in relationship with that creation then God is going to remain interactive with that creation in some form. And that interaction means that God is still creating. The world is not a finished product. Where do you see God at work creating, re-creating, or renewing the world?

One final note about saying that God is the Creator. This is a faith statement, a philosophical statement. It is not a scientific statement. Genesis 1 or Psalm 104 are not science or history textbooks. Saying that God is the one who creates does not negate what we have learned about how the world was formed, about evolution, about how the world works. It does tell us about the God who is at work in the world and loves the world and calls it good. I see no reason why faith and science have to be enemies. We may delve a bit further into that topic on our third Sunday of Creation time when we ask ourselves how much we can understand about creation.

For this week we start with the affirmation that God has been at work creating the world from the beginning. We affirm that the world is God's handiwork. And we ask ourselves how that shapes what we see, how we act, how we perceive the world around us.
--Gord

Fruit Flavour of the Month: Kindness -- Newsletter Piece

If love is, as I suggested earlier this year, the predominant flavour of the Fruit of the Spirit it is good to ask what each undertone adds to that base flavour. What does kindness mean in conjunction with love, with the commandment to love each other as God first loves us?

Or to put it the way I did in my Google search this morning: “why is kindness a fruit of the spirit”.

As I was reading some of the articles in response to that search I was pushed to ponder a slightly different question: “what do we mean when we say someone is kind?”, which led me to a new starting point (there is a reason writing this has taken all day today...).

In the last couple weeks of my vacation I discovered a couple of YouTube Channels about etymology and found the topic quite interesting, so my eventual starting point for this newsletter piece was to go to the Online Etymology Dictionary and look up the word kind. Turns out the word has its origin in Old English. As an adjective the word means "friendly, deliberately doing good to others," and also "with the feeling of relatives for each other,". Kindness seems to have appears as a word around 1300 with the meaning "courtesy, noble deeds," with added meanings "kind deeds; kind feelings; quality or habit of being kind" showing up later in the 14^th century.

All of which means what for the life of faith, for striving to live as Spirit-filled people?

It means putting love into action. Maybe kindness is love with flesh on. Maybe kindness can be as simple as putting the needs of others ahead of our own wants (or even needs). It could mean big grand things, or it can be as simple as holding the door for someone and other basic courtesies. Living as a Spirit-filled person pushes us to care for the common good, to worry about what is good for all of us, not just good for me. Kindness, is a choice to make that more than a theoretical position.

One of my Google results was from GotQuestions.org. Normally this is not a website I find helpful as it tends to be much more traditional/conservative than I am but in this case there was a piece I found very helpful as we explore kindness as a flavour of the fruit of the Spirit:

When we exhibit the kindness of God, we are tender, benevolent, and useful to others. Every action, every word will have the flavor of grace in it. To maintain this attitude toward those we love is hard enough. To express kindness toward those who are against us requires the work of God (2 Corinthians 6:4-6). That is why kindness is a fruit of the Spirit.

We live in a world where kindness and kind people are sometimes most notable for their absence. In a world where more and more people are worried about getting what they want/need/deserve or a world where seeming strong and self-sufficient is highly prized being kind, worrying about what others need, can seem a little out of step with ‘how the world works’. Or maybe we are just too busy to take that extra second or hour to do the kind thing. It is easy to forget.

However the way the Reign of God works is different than the way the world works. I fully believe that to follow The Way of Christ means we have different priorities. We are called to remain humble, realistic about our own importance; to act lovingly toward ourselves, family, neighbours, and enemies; to do the big and small things that benefit each other; to be kind, to deliberately do good for others.

Kindness adds sweetness to the fruit of the Spirit. Kindness makes the world a better place. Kindness keeps us humble (I believe it is harder to be kind when you are too full of yourself). I think kindness also helps keep us from worrying too much (or maybe worrying too much makes it harder to be kind – or maybe both).

Who was kind to you today? When have you chosen to be kind to someone today?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 1, 2024 -- 15th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 17B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 15
• Psalm 24:3-6 
• James 1:21-27

The Sermon title is Am I Worthy?

Early Thoughts: How do we make ourselves worthy? Do we just have to work harder? If we just try harder, do more, spend more hours in service will we make ourselves worthy in the eyes of our families? Our neighbours? Ourselves? God?

Some (many?) of us wrestle with feeling worthy from time to time. For some people the default is to assume that for some reason they are unworthy: unworthy of love, unworthy of friendship, unworthy of success, maybe even unworthy of life. We might pick up those messages from a variety of places: family, teachers, peers, social media, our own self talk, tv/movies. How do we counteract that?

To be honest I don't think our readings this week help with that.  Both Psalms seem to set a pretty high bar for being eligible to stand in God's presence. Not that any of those attribute we find listed in them are bad, in fact they are indeed good things to aspire to, just that how many of us can honestly say that our lives meet that standard all the time? Maybe, like Wayne and Garth, we fall to our knees and declare:

And yet, in the years when I was most beset by feelings of guilt/shame and inadequacy the church was one of my refuges from those feelings. I think there were a couple of reasons for that. One was certainly the community, the community that I had been a part of for so long, the place where so much surrogate family could be found. But there was also something deeper. Since I was a young child the church taught me about the God who looks at creation and says "it is very good", the God who sees me as their Beloved Child, the God who knows my failures and mis-steps and offers forgiveness. In short the church reminded me that in God's eyes I have worth.

Sometimes we might think that if we were just 'better" that would make us feel worthy. We just need to do more (and better), to work harder and longer, then we would earn worthiness. Our culture can support that idea, the idea that we are only worthy because of what we do/accomplish/earn (and buy). But I think that misses the mark.

I believe that God call us worthy by virtue of existing. This does not mean we always get it right, t means that we are worthy even when we get it wrong. So I think the Psalmists might be a bit off. Or maybe the Psalmists were being aspirational, encouraging us to live into God's vision for who we could be. Maybe James is doing that too. Because there is a mirror to not feeling worthy, it is to get too comfortable in the idea that God calls us worthy "just as I am without one plea". The path of wisdom is in remembering that we are called worthy and Beloved AND that we can probably do a bit (or a whole lot) better.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to August 25, 2024 -- 14th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 16B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Joshua 24:14-18
• John 6:56-69

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The Sermon title is Where Would You Go?

Early Thoughts: Let us begin with a memory...

It is 1991. I am meeting with representatives from the M&P Committee as a first step in entering the candidacy process. During this meeting one of them asks if I am sure that the UCCan is the right place for me. He says that over the last couple of years he had heard from many members and clergy who were realizing that they may have been in the wrong place. At 22, as a third generation UCCan person who had grown up in that specific congregation since I was 2, I found it a very odd question. Why would it not be the right place? 30+ years later I see it was actually a very wise question. [In hindsight I have to wonder if the 1988 General Council Decision regarding human sexuality was a part of the background to this question.]

Sometimes we need to be challenged, we need to be pushed to consider if we are in the right place --even if we see no reason we would go anywhere else.

The sixth chapter of John begins with a miracle story. Jesus feeds thousands of people with just a couple of fish and a few small loaves. The chapter then has an extended discourse on Jesus as the bread of life. Now, as the chapter comes to a close some in the crowds are finding that the teaching is too hard and are falling away. So Jesus asks those who are still there if they also wish to leave. They return with the question "where would we go?". In Jesus they have found the path to Life, in Jesus they have met the Word Made Flesh. Why should they leave?

In our other reading we stand at Shechem with the people of Israel as Joshua, the successor to Moses, the one who led them across Jordan into the Promised Land, gives his final address to the people. He has reminded them of all that God has done since the time of Abraham until this very moment, then he challenges them, asking if they will remain faithful to the God who led them there or will they fall away to the other gods worshipped by their new neighbours. The people respond that pf course they will remain faithful. [It is worth mentioning that in the next verses Joshua tells the people that they are not going to keep their word but that this day will be a witness against them when they fail at the task.] How could they turn away from the God who has done so much for them? Where else would they turn?

How might we answer these two question, the one asked by Jesus and the one aske by Joshua? When things get challenging will we fall away? If we did where might we go?

IT is a harder question than it seems. The easy response is to pretend it is an odd, even irrelevant question. Surely we would stay where we are, we would not fall away. So maybe the first thing is to ask ourselves what might lead us to fall away. After all what leads us to look for a new path/place may shape where we would end up going.

If we are honest with ourselves and each other we know that we change over time. A place that has always felt like home may eventually feel like a foreign land (either because it changed or we changed). Sometimes to be faithful to who we are and to how God is moving in our lives we need to find a new place, a new expression of the faith, a new home. SO how do we know where we might go as we look for the words of truth and life?

And for the record, my answer to the question about the UCCan from 30+ years ago is the same. I love my ecumenical partners and colleagues, but this denomination is where I find the best expression of my faith. Where else would I go?
--Gord