Looking Ahead to January 2, 2022

 This being the first Sunday of the month (and of 2022 for that matter) we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion. If you are joining us on-line you are encouraged to have elements ready so that we can all eat and drink together

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Micah 4:5-10
• John 1:1-5

The Sermon title is One God? One Word?

Early Thoughts: I was always led to believe that the stories of Scripture unflinchingly claimed there was only one God. That is not true.

The stories of the Hebrew Scriptures make it clear that other cultures have other gods. At most there is a claim that "our" god is the One True God. There are parts of Isaiah that predict a time when all the nations will worship the God of Israel. But otherwise there is an acceptance that there are other cultures with other gods.

Even Paul preaching in Athens (Acts 17) is dealing with the question of other gods, although Paul gets closer to saying "those aren't actually gods".

What do we do in a pluralistic world with multiple expressions of faith? How do we make a claim to there being one God, known in many different ways, with many different faces and not make a claim that other expressions of faith are unworthy or evil or wrong? I am not sure we have done all that well on that point.

In the end, I think faith language is a love language. I think faithfulness to our understanding of the Divine is a statement of love. Years ago I watched an interview with Rabbi Harold Kushner who used the example of a spouse claiming that their partner was the best partner in the whole world. Obviously that can not be proven or dis-proven but it is still a true statement -- even when multiple people say it about their own partners.

So our challenge, as people of faith, is not to prove that "our god is better than your god" or that our understanding of the Divine is more accurate than someone else's. The challenge is to witness to what we believe about the Divine and why and what difference it makes in our lives.

Reading the Micah passage reminds us not only that other cultures have other gods, other understandings of the Divine, but also that God is with God's people, that we are being redeemed and lifted up. Reading the opening of John's Gospel reminds us that the God we meet in Jesus of Nazareth is the God who was present at the beginning of our faith story.

As Christians we proclaim a particular understanding of God. Like Judaism and Islam Christianity proclaims that there is one God. Unlike them we proclaim that the one God took human form. Our task is to proclaim how we understand God, how we understand God's activity in the world, how we understand God's hopes for God's people. What does it mean to us to name that there is one God, and one Word that takes on human form. How does the Incarnation inform our understanding of how God is redeeming us, how God is building us back up?

--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 19, 2021 -- Advent 4

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 1 Samuel 1:19-28
• 1 Samuel 2:1-10
• Matthew 1:18-25

The Sermon title is The Promised Child

Early Thoughts: At the heart of the Advent-Christmas story is a promise. The promise of a child.

This Advent season has been full of stories about promised children. Each of those promises comes into a situation where pregnancy and childbirth are not straightforward. A slave girl (Hagar) who has no choice in the matter, whose child is a product of her enslavement. Multiple women (Sarah, the mother of Samson, Hannah, Elizabeth) who were considered to be barren, who were never expected to have a child. And then there is Mary, a young girl, pregnant too soon, possibly to be cast aside because of the child she carries. Sometimes the promise of a child is complicated.

The interesting thing is that in each of our stories this Advent season the promise of a child has also been accompanied by hope. True there has sometimes been a shadow along with the hope (Ishmael will be a wild-ass of a man for example) but there has always been hope. Maybe the hope is that the child will be the progenitor of many nations. Maybe the hope is that the child will be a deliverer, saving his people. Maybe the hope is that God will do something amazing with/through this child. But there has always been hope.

We hear about two children in this week's readings. One will grow to a ripe old age. He will (for better or worse) anoint the first two kings of Israel. He is long expected and is dedicated to God's service from a very early age. His birth prompts his mother to sing of justice and hope and promise, a song about the God whose priorities are different from the way the world tends to operate. God hears Hannah, God responds to Hannah, and Hannah responds in turn. Samuel will be a major figure in the story of faith.

The other child will not grow to a ripe old age. His commitment to embodying and preaching God's vision for the world will lead to conflict and a cross on a hill. But his impending birth also prompts his mother to sing of justice, hope, and God turning the world upside down (many scholars believe that Mary's song is based on Hannah's song). One of the names (Emmanuel) he is given in this week's reading leads us to a place beyond any of the other children we heard about this season. He will be called "God is with us". He will bring salvation and deliverance. For those of us who are called Christians he is the central figure in the story of faith.

A child is promised. A child will be born. And that will make all the difference.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 12, 2021 -- 3rd Sunday of Advent

As Advent progresses we continue our journey through stories about birth announcements this week. Also this week we will be celebrating the sacrament of Baptism.

 

The Scripture Readings for this week are:

• Judges 13:2-7
• Luke 1:46-56
  

The Sermon title is He Will Deliver

Early Thoughts: All parents have dreams and hopes, maybe even expectations for their children. Some of them might be grandiose, some might be more humdrum. but they are always there. I suspect few of us have reason to expect our child will change the world, will deliver their people.

This week's passages are about expectations and promise. Both Samson and Jesus will, in their own way, change the world. Both are hailed as the ones who will make things right. Samson's mother is told to respond to the promise with a specific lifestyle, to begin the child's life in a way that he will later live. However the [un-named] wife of Manoah knows full well what has happened here. God has sent her a message. God is choosing to intervene in her life and through this intervention God will bring deliverance to the people of Israel. 

Thus far in Advent we have seen Mary's encounter with God's messenger, where she was told of her impending pregnancy. We have seen Mary visit her cousin Elizabeth, who is also expecting a child. NOw after all that has happened Mary is moved to song. Her song sets out her understanding of what God is up to in the world. While the song never explicitly says that Mary's as yet unborn son will be part of how God will do these things verse 48 contains a strong hint that this is her understanding.

I wonder. Did Samson and Jesus know about these hoes and expectations? Did they feel a need to live up to them? Wouldn't that be a heavy weight to carry as you grew up?

All parents have hopes and dreams and expectations of their children. Mary and the mother of Samson had particularly special ones.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to December 5, 2021 -- Advent 2

 This being the first Sunday of December we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion. If you are joining us via YouTube you are invited to have bread and juice available so we can all eat and drink together.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Genesis 17:15-22
• Psalm 78:1-7
• Luke 1:39-45

The Sermon title is Trust, Surprise, Laughter

Early Thoughts: We continue talking about birth stories. This week we hear about the promise to Abraham and Sarah finally being fulfilled. Well maybe it is more accurate to say that we hear about the promise being renewed -- with a fairly firm date about the when it will actually come to pass.

As people of faith we are part of a family. We are part of a family that stretches back to Sarah and Hagar, forward through Elizabeth and Mary, all the way to the people that we meet when we are walking down the street. The babies we hear about in our Advent readings this year are a part of that family.

Sarai/Sarah was well past the age where child bearing was a possibility. Could she bear a child at her age? Abraham found the idea laughable.  Were they still able to trust in the promise? Other parts of the story tell us that Sarah found the concept a bit laughable as well. But surprise of surprise, it happened -- and they name the child Isaac, which means laughter

Elizabeth was also well past the age where pregnancy seemed possible when she found herself with child. And then here young cousin, pregnant too soon, arrives. When the two babies draw near to each other the child Elizabeth carries dances for joy. Surprises again. Laughter and joy. Trusting in the promise.

What does it mean for us to name that these people are a part of our family? What does it mean to say that these mothers, these powerful mothers are a part of our lineage?

Then there is Ishmael, son of Hagar, almost forgotten child of Abraham. At least Abraham still remembers and cares for Ishmael in this passage, even as the story is busily pushing the child off to the sidelines. The forgotten and pushed aside children are a part of our family story as well.

How do we tell the family story this Christmas season?
--Gord

December Newsletter

 The Word Made Flesh

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-4, 14)

I have an uneasy relationship with the Gospel of John. For years it was my least favourite of the Gospels, but I have to admit that I have always loved this opening.

For the writer of John, Jesus is the physical incarnation of The Word that was around at the beginning of time. John has no nativity story because John does not need one. For John the second person of the Trinity has been around forever, but in Jesus of Nazareth The Word became flesh, The Word shared our reality, The Word entered the world in a wholly different way.

Possibly my favourite Christmas album from the time I was a teenager is a Medical Mission Sisters album called Gold, Incense, and Myrrh. All the songs on it were written by Miriam Therese Winter in 1971. One of them is based on the Prologue of John’s Gospel. It includes these words:

And by the will of God himself,
the Word was with us, the Word was flesh.
He lived among us, side by side.
We saw His glory far and wide.
He touched our race, full of truth and grace.
In the beginning was the Word
(found at https://moam.info/gold-incense-and-myrrh-word-sheet-from-the-original-_5a010c861723ddd4632f2bb1.html)

To me it captures the mystery of the Incarnation.

The mystery of Christmas is, after all, the mystery of the Incarnation. Why would the Eternal Word become flesh? Why would the Eternal Word “live among us side by side”? The Christmas story reminds us that God is not above getting down and dirty with God’s people. The Incarnation shows us the extremes to which God will go to connect with God’s people. In Jesus of Nazareth God is trying a whole new way of leading God’s beloved people, God’s beloved children, to live in The Way.

There is a story I once used on Christmas Eve in Atikokan. A man sees a flock of birds at risk of perishing in the cold. He knows that if those birds sought shelter in the barn they would be safe. Nothing he tries can entice the birds into the barn. Finally he realizes that if only he could become a bird himself he could lead them into the barn.

The Incarnation is God becoming one of us so that we can be lead to safety. The Word becomes flesh so that God can meet us on our own terms, sharing our reality, and so lead us into a new way of living. That is why after all these centuries we still affirm that “We believe in God.... who has come in Jesus, The Word-Made-Flesh , to reconcile and make new” (The New Creed).

One month from the day I write these words it will be Christmas Eve. We will once again tell the story of a baby in a manger. We will once again sing about angels and shepherds. We will remind ourselves that to a peasant family in a backwater part of the Roman Empire hope and love took the form of a helpless infant. Why? Because God loves the world, because God has a hope for the world, because God wants to lead God’s people into God’s Reign of Shalom. And God decided that the way to do that was to become, as Joan Osborne sang many years ago, “one of us, just a slob like one of us, just a stranger on the bus...” (https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/joanosborne/oneofus.html).

This Christmas season, I invite you to ask what it means to you that the Eternal Word, who was present at the beginning of time, becomes flesh and walk around among us. I invite you to ponder what sort of God would do such a thing. I invite you to embrace the love shown by such a choice. Elsewhere in John’s Gospel Jesus (the Word-Made-Flesh) will describe himself as the Light of the World. And behold, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness con not overcome it. The Word speaks into the noise and the noise can not drown it out. The Word whispers into the silence and fills it with echoes of hope and possibility.

God is born at Christmas. God breaks into the world again and again. The Incarnation changes us, changes the world, changes everything. Joy to the World! The Lord is Come!

Merry Christmas.
Gord

Looking Forward to November 28, 2021 -- Advent 1

 Welcome to a New Year! (Liturgically speaking that is) This week we enter into a new year as we begin the season of Advent. With the beginning of Advent this year we are also starting to work with a new lectionary. This is the Women's Lectionary and will push us to view Scripture from a different point of view.

One of the traditions we have developed in the last few years is to have a tree of memory in the sanctuary. This is a place where we recognize the 'blueness' that can accompany the Christmas season and we are invited to hang the names of those we hold in our memories on the tree. The tree will be available starting this Sunday and you are invited to hang your name(s) on it as you arrive. The tree will remain in place throughout the season and you can add a name at any time.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Genesis 16:7-13
• Luke 1:26-38

The Sermon title is Congratulations?!?

Early Thoughts: A slave girl who can not consent. A peasant girl where the question of consent is very wide open. These are the two young women who are told that they will give birth in this week's readings.

Hagar has no choice in the matter. The Divine One tells her to return to her place of bondage, her place of abuse and there she will have a child. The child will be the ancestor of many, but will also be a handful -- "wild ass of a man" is what the text says. Are congratulations due in this case?

Mary does not start the story as a slave. But in the end she embraces the role of slave. She offers her body, her being to God. Over the years many people have pondered if she truly had a choice. Could she have said no? And given what we know about the life and death of the child Mary will birth, are congratulations appropriate with this pregnancy announcement?

This Advent we will hear a lot about babies. For each of them the birth is announced by God (or a messenger thereof). For each of them we are told that God has a plan for their life. All told that seems to be a mixed blessing for each of them -- sometimes the mixture leans positive, sometimes it leans negative.

Are congratulations always the automatic response to news of a pregnancy? Or is it a bit more complicated than that?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 21, 2021 -- Reign of Christ Sunday

 This Sunday is the last Sunday of the Church year. On November 28th we will begin a new Church Year with the first Sunday of Advent. Many people follow the example of our Roman Catholic siblings and refer to this last Sunday of the year as either Reign of Christ Sunday or Christ the King Sunday.

The Scripture Readings we will hear this week are:

• Mark 1:9-15
• Luke 4:14-17
• Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
• Luke 4:20-22

The Sermon title is Jubilee, Shalom, Reign of God

Early Thoughts: Jesus was all about the Kingdom of God. In both Mark and Luke he starts his public ministry with proclamations about it.

In Mark Jesus is quite explicit. The Kingdom of God is near now. In Luke it is not quite so explicit but at the beginning of his public ministry Jesus reads in synagogue. The passage he reads describes what life will be like in the time of God's favour. Then he closes the scroll and says that these words have been fulfilled. The time of God's favour is now. The Reign of God has begun.

I have often wondered if we tend to get the idea of the Reign of Christ or the Kingdom of God wrong. I suspect that we hear that monarchical language and we think of a society sort of similar to what we know, just with God in charge (remembering that as part of Christian faith Christ is God, so we are not talking about two different rulers here). And the fact that the festival of Christ the King was first declared by the Pope in part as a response to the dwindling of political power for the Papacy does not help that percerption.

But what if the Kingdom of God, the Reign of Christ, is more of a time for us to say "and now for something completely different"?

This fall I have been reading a book called Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision. In this book Randy Woodley talks about something he has encountered in North American Indigenous peoples called "The Harmony Way". Woodley suggest that this resemble the way of Shalom that we meet in the Hebrew Scriptures. The short form translation of Shalom is peace, but the term is much deeper than that. It is a peace based on justice and abundant life for all. The English mystic Julian of Norwich spoke of a time when "all matter of things be well". A society living out Shalom is that very time.

What would that deep peace and justice and abundant life for all look like? What might it look like when the Reign of God becomes fully real around us? That is what I think we are invited to explore on Reign of Christ Sunday.

Jesus begins his ministry proclaiming that the Kingdom is near, or even here. We also know that it is not really her in full power and wonder. We live in what is traditionally called the "now and the not yet". And so we wait for the fullness of time, the fullness of God's Realm. Are we ready to imagine what it might look like?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 14, 2021 -- 25th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 28B

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Hebrews 10:19-25
• 1 Peter 4:8-10

The Sermon Title is Provoked? To Love?

Early Thoughts: Have you been provoked to love in your life? What provoked you? How did the provoking change you?

One of the things that has most marked the last 20 months for me has been the change in, or even lack of, community. From Mid-March to Labour Day of 2020 all my worship offerings were to a camera with one other person in the room. From mid Advent 2020 to the end of May 2021 I was leading worship looking at a (basically) empty sanctuary -- the only other people in the room were either the singers behind me or the tech team way off in the back corner. As I read these verses from Hebrews with the line "not neglecting to meet together" that is the first image that comes to my mind. Covid-19 has certainly challenged us in how we gather as community, how we provoke each other to love, how we encourage and serve each other.

Christianity is a faith system based on community. It is by being together that we can encourage and provoke and challenge each other. In the last 20 months we have learned that there are a variety of ways to be together as a community. I have often wondered what this pandemic would have looked and felt like 20 years ago, when the tools we have for virtual connection were so much more limited (pretty much to the telephone). But still, it has not been the same as gathering together in the same space. One of the most consistent things I hear people express that they miss, that they grieve, is that ability to gather together, to be a community in person.

That being the case, that we desire and need to gather together, to be a community that encourages and provokes and serves each other, a key question (a stewardship question) must be "how do we support the creation and maintaining and growth of that community?".

God works in a variety of ways in our communities. God challenges us to use the gifts we have been given to serve (to love) each other. God provokes us to build communities where we in turn provoke each other to love and good deeds.

How have you been provoked? How have you provoked others?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 7, 2021 -- 24th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper27B

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

The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 12:38-44.

The Sermon title is Why Did She Do It?

Early Thoughts: This is an interesting story. Some read it as Jesus commending the widow for her commitment and devotion to the Temple -- so devoted that she gives all she has. Others read the story and see Jesus condemning a system that demands that the widow give all that she has, more than she can afford, while others are able to give a portion of their excess. I know that my earliest memories of discussing this story used the first interpretation. How have you been taught to read it?

Does the widow give those two small coins, the 'widow's mite', all that she has, freely? OR does she have no choice? Or maybe she has been guilted or coerced into it? Why she does it matters.

Why do we offer up our time, our talents, our energy, our money to the church or to various other causes in our lives? Is it out of a sense of obligation? A sense of excitement for the good work our gifts help make possible? Habit? How do we encourage others to share their time, energy, talent, and money?

There was a time, I remember hearing such things said in fact, when around October or November churches would issue panicked statements and attempt to guilt the congregation members into increased giving to meet the budget by the end of the year. And in many cases it may have worked, or at least seemed to work (mid-October through Christmas is often the time of year when a healthy portion of church income arrives). Even here at St. Paul's we have memories of the so-called 'Christmas miracle' that helped balance the year off.

It is questionable that such tactics work as well (assuming they did work before) anymore. Those messages were often based on tying into a sense of obligation and even guilt. Obligation is certainly a reason to give. Membership may not, despite what American Express tells us, have many privileges, but it does have responsibilities. However creating a situation where  people give because they want to, because they are excited about what their gift helps to accomplish is --in the long run-- a far more effective stewardship tactic.

So why did the widow drop those two coins in? She may have been paying the obligatory tithe. It appears that is what the others, the ones Jesus says gave less, have done. Possibly they calculated carefully what they were obliged to give. Or was she giving what was required and a bit more because she was thankful for the gifts God had given her in life? Had she once been supported by the Temple and this was part of how she was responding? The story leaves both these options (and likely a few others) as possibilities.

This Sunday we will explore why the widow gave what she did. We will talk a bit about the various answers might mean as an appropriate response.  Do we praise her or condemn the system? But we will go from there and talk about why we choose to give. We will look at how we make our choices. In the end it is not always the amount that matters, it is the motivation.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to October 31, 2021 -- Reformation Sunday, 23rd After Pentecost, Proper 26B

 Following worship this Sunday we will be having our Congregational Update. Folks attending in person are asked to remain for this, those joining us on YouTube will be invited to watch for us to go live again shortly after the worship closes (we will end the worship stream right after the Postlude and then start a new stream as the Update begins).

As this Sunday is also All Hallow's Eve, we invite  people to attend worship --in person or online-- in costume.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Deuteronomy 6:1-9
• Mark 12:28-34

The Sermon title is What is Our Why?

Early Thoughts: Earlier this year I took an online course looking at what it means to be a hybrid (online and in person) community of faith. In the first session we talked a lot about the importance of knowing our why.Why are we doing what we are doing? I find that in the church we are good at discussing the "what will we do and the "how will we do it" but not always as careful about discussing the "why are we doing this?".

In organizational theory it is suggested that every organization has a base "Why", a base reason for their existence. To be true to that why everything the organization does needs to tie back to the reason for the organization to exist. This is equally true for the church. We have  a base reason to exist, we have a foundation that undergirds (in theory at least) everything that we do. If you are building a structure, to improve stability every part of the structure needs to be connected in some way to the foundation. Same thing for an organization. We are stronger and more stable if everything we do is connected to our foundational reason for existence.

Generally in organizations this foundation is referred to as our mission and vision statements. It is worthwhile asking of all our activities (the ones we have been doing 'forever' and the new ones that get proposed) how they interact with our mission and vision.

Another aspect of being clear about who you are and why you exist is that of stewardship. People support organizations that are clear about why they exist and are visibly true to that vision and mission, whose activities make a difference in the world.

So what is our why as a congregation of the United Church of Canada in Grande Prairie in 2021?

I believe we find hints and guides to our why in a variety of places. The Scripture passages we are reading this week speak to the foundation of what it means to follow The Way of Christ. Love God with your whole heart. Love your neighbour as you love yourself. Put these two things first and foremost and let them guide everything else you do. That is foundational. That is the footing, the rock, the cornerstone.

Another place I look is in the documents of our tradition. Within the United Church tradition (in A New Creed) we find this paragraph that helps gives us our raison d'etre:

We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.

So that is another layer, some more detail to our why, some more description of what we are all about. This is what we have stated God is calling us to do and be.

Providentially (and honestly I had no idea this was going to happen as a planned this sermon topic a month ago) at a meeting on October 23rd the Annual Recall meeting of the 43rd General Council approved new vision and mission statements for the denomination as a whole. Here is what they have to say:

Vision

Mission

 

 These are not necessarily binding on us a congregation but we are encouraged to hold them in view as we discern how exactly God is calling us to be the church in these days.

 

 What do these words conjure up for you? I am still processing that question for myself.

How might it shape our understanding of being a church to use words like these as lenses as we determine what we will and won't do?

As a congregation we have our own mission and vision statements. The mission statement is in a photo up above. I encourage all of us to keep our "Why" in sight. I encourage us to constantly consider if/how a proposed activity fits in with that Why. And if an activity does not seem to fit what do we do then?

If St. Paul's chooses to become an Affirming Congregation within the United Church of Canada we will need to create new Mission and Vision statements that explicitly name our commitment to inclusion. That process will help us discern our Why. It will help us discover what we set as our foundation.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to October 24, 2021 -- 22nd Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 25B

The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 10:46-52

The Sermon title is The Squeaky Wheel

Early Thoughts: Does it always get the grease? Would Bartimaeus have been healed had he sat quietly by the road (as it appears some people wanted him to do)?

And what about the people who cry out for help but do not get healed?

The healing stories of Jesus bring out so many questions.

It is undeniable that the Gospels reflect that Jesus was a healer. All four Gospels attest to a lived experience of a man  who healed people of various infirmities, of one who revealed God's power to bring health and wholeness to life (and that in abundance). These stories are a challenge for our scientifically minded world. They seem to fly in the face of what we know about medicine. What do we do with them?

I am going to suggest that we simply accept them for what they are. I suggest we don't get into deep debates about 'what really happened'. I suggest that those debates deflect us from the witness to God present in their beloved world, present in the lives of God's beloved children, offered by the story

So what do we do with Bartimaeus? One of the pieces I take from this story is that Bartimaeus would NOT have been healed had he simply sat quietly by the side of the road. He had to make a scene, had to make his presence and need known for the miracle to happen. The fact that he is willing to do this makes people uncomfortable. The text tells us that some people told him to be quiet. Bartimaeus will not be silenced. He claims his place, speaks his need, and gets noticed. How can Jesus meet a need that Jesus does not know exists?

Sometimes the squeaky wheel does indeed get the grease.

I suggest that we still do not know how best to handle asking for help. Some of us are uncomfortable doing the asking (and then some within that group complain that nobody offers them help). Some of us are uncomfortable with people naming their broken-ness or their need, we sometimes would be like the people in our story who tell Bartimaeus to be quiet. But how can we help people when we don't know they want help?

We need to make room for squeaky wheels in our lives. Sometimes we also need to listen carefully to pick out the reason for the squeakiness. Sometimes we ourselves may need to be the ones doing the squeaking -- either on our own behalf or to magnify the squeakiness of one of our neighbours.

None of this hides the fact that sometimes the squeaky wheel does not get the grease, or gets  grease that is not helpful. Some people who sit by our roadsides and cry out for help are unheard, or ignored, or simply cast aside. Some people seek healing and do not find a cure for their ailment. 

But if we never ask, we may never find out what the results of asking would be. If we don't give people a chance to ask, to name their need, we never know what the possibilities are.

Where do you hear squeaks in your life? In your circles? In your world? How will you respond?
--Gord

Looking Forward to October 17, 2021 -- 21st Sunday After Pentecost Proper 24B

 This Sunday is also World Food Day. We will be discussing that during the Time for the Young at Heart.

The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 10:35-45

The Sermon title is Power Play

Early Thoughts Over the last few months we have heard a lot of discussion about power and authority, compliance and resistance. And as is often the case I am not sure we understand what power and authority are really about.

Vaccine mandates (or lack there of), mask requirements, limitations on social activities. Do we abide by them? Do we advocate for them to be put into place and enforced? Do we protest them and refuse to comply? What is the appropriate response to power as followers of Christ?

First we need to ask where power and authority come from. And we need to ask if it is justified. We need to consider the end goals -- are they to have power over and exert control or are they to build up a safe community for all members?

Power in the Kingdom of God is different. It is not based on power over or special status. It is based on servanthood.  That is what James and John, and the rest of the crowd, get wrong. James and John think they can ask for special status, status that puts them in the places of importance, status that will give them some form of authority. To be fair, the rest of the disciples have the same understanding of that status -- why else would they be indignant that James and John had the gall to ask. But Jesus gently chastises them as he points out that power and authority in the Kingdom of God, that land of Shalom, the world of Harmony are very different.

To this day I think we get power and authority wrong. We still tend grant it based on things other than servanthood and the building up of a safe community. Sometimes we give someone power because they say they will make things better for people like us, or because they promise to control the troublemakers, or because their biases are the same as ours, or because they promise us freedom. Christ still calls us to see power in terms of serving and loving. Christ still calls us to recognize that the las will be first, and the first last, and that to lead is to serve.

Will we be like James and John? Will we seek special status?

Will we refuse to comply or balk at rules set out to build a safe community because they are inconvenient or they seem to rob us of some sort of freedom? DO our needs and beliefs trump the needs of our neighbours?

OR will we seek power that comes from putting others first, power based on servanthood, power that does not seek to control the other?
--Gord

AS a side note, did you know that they motto of the Prince of Wales, Ich Dien, means I serve?

Looking Ahead to October 10, 2021 -- Thanksgiving Sunday

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 126
• Matthew 6:19-34

The Sermon title is What, Me Worry?

Early Thoughts: I am a worrier. I have been a worrier for as long as I can remember. I can always find something to worry about in any situation. I might call it my superpower except...well it doesn't seem like much of a power.

So what do I do with a Jesus who tells me not to worry?

Certainly I have been blessed enough that my worries have never been about where my next meal will come from, or next month's rent, or having nothing to wear. But still I am a worrier. I can always see the worst possible outcome (even if I know that said outcome is not very likely) and worry about it. While I can often make myself see the positive possibilities I naturally find the catastrophic possibilities.

So what do I do with a Jesus who tells me not to worry?

This is a bit of an odd choice for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate the gifts we have been given. Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate that harvest has been safely gathered in (and with a mix of rain and snow in the forecast for this week I do hope many of the fields have been taken in by now). Why would we talk about worries? The Psalm reading makes much more sense for Thanksgiving than a passage with warnings about storing up treasures, and watching where our heart lies, and worrying too much. [As a side note, on this week when we read the psalm which includes verse 6 about coming home joyfully carrying the sheaves we are indeed going to sing Bringing in the Sheaves]

Then again, what keeps us from being thankful? One thing is when we are feeling threatened, that we don't have enough, that we are not safe, that we have to store us extra "just in case". Worry keeps us from being thankful. Worry can keep us from seeing what we have to be thankful for. (Side note, I wonder if this is why I have such trouble when I try to post one note of gratitude every day in October -- apart from my remembering to do it that is.)

SO what do we do with our worry?

Is this a matter of trust? Our United Church Creed has the line "We Trust in God" at almost the exact center of the poem. I wrote about that last week. If we are able to trust, to life in trust does that take away some of our worry? Jesus seems to suggest that it does in these verses from Matthew's Gospel.

Is this a matter of redefining "enough"? Do we need to see what we have with eyes that see abundance and not listen to the voice yelling about scarcity? I think that is a big thing. It is one reason why probably my favourite song from the movie White Christmas is "Count Your Blessings". I have been pondering how verse 22 of the Matthew passage might tie in to the rest of the passage for a Thanksgiving sermon. Maybe this is how. What we see shapes what we believe (and vice versa). What we see shapes how we act. We need to see the world differently if we want to cut down on our worrying.

Is it a matter of changing where we look? I have a hunch that for myself a good way to cut back on my worry is to stop following media (especially social media) too closely. Taking a pause to walk the labyrinth, or wander through Muskoseepi, or simply to pray or meditate, might be a real antidote to increasing worry and anxiety. They are things that change the focus, that push me into a different mindset. Maybe that is part of the equation?

There is a lot to worry about in this life. Over 18 months into a pandemic many of us have found our worry and anxiety steadily increasing for a long time now. But still Jesus encourages us not to worry. I really think that less worry and anxiety in life is the healthier choice.

If only I could know how exactly to get there...
--Gord

OCtober Newsletter We Trust in God

Do we really? When we get right down to it do we really trust in God? Sometimes I wonder about that.

That four word line, “We Trust in God” is at the middle of the United Church Creed (aka the New Creed). I think that this is intentional. Sometimes, not always but sometimes, being in the exact center of a piece of poetry is a telling thing. In our case it places the idea of trusting in God at the center of our faith statement. Does that put it at the center of our faith?

I think trust in God is pretty close to the center of our faith. I think that we trust in the God revealed by Jesus. We trust that God is a work within the world establishing God’s Kingdom as was proclaimed by Jesus. We trust that God is providing for our welfare, giving us life and that in abundance. In theory at least.

To be honest I often think we trust in God in our words, in our statements, in our rhetoric. I also think we often live out of doubt. I think we live as if we trust God, but trust ourselves a bit more. This is, perhaps, most true in the question of whether we trust that God is there to provide life in abundance.

Maybe it is because we have grown up in a society that puts a lot of emphasis on the need to be independent. Maybe it is because many people live with the worry that some day they will not have ‘enough’. Maybe it is because there are so many voices telling us that we have to look out for ourselves – no one else will do it for us. For what ever reason it seems like our first instinct is to trust in ourselves rather than in God.

This year on Thanksgiving Sunday we will be reading a passage from the Sermon on the Mount. In that passage Jesus tells his listeners that they should not worry about things like food or clothing. God clothes the lilies of the field and feeds the birds of the air, Jesus says, so why would God not do the same for you? Whenever I read that passage I am reminded of a piece by Natalie Sleeth I learned many many years ago in Sunshine Choristers (as our Junior Choir was called) named Consider the Lilies. The last verse of it goes:

For more than the lilies that bloom and grow, more than the birds of the air,
Your Maker forever your need will know and feed you with heavenly care.
Through the grace of God above, tending all in constant love,
Every want shall be supplied, for God the Lord will provide.

Can we trust in God that much? Can we truly stop worrying about food or clothing or shelter? Can we simply trust that God will ensure our basic needs are met, freeing us to spend energy on other issues? [As a side note, this is part of the argument for a Guaranteed Livable Income, to take away the worry about basic needs and free up energy for other things but that is a whole other column.] Honestly I am not sure if I can.

I am a worrier. I overthink. I can almost always find the worst possible result to any situation. The idea of simply trusting that my basic needs will be met is a little bit daunting.

I do trust in many things. I trust that God is at work in the world. I trust that God is gracious and forgiving. I trust that some how God is working to bring a Kingdom of Shalom out of this mess we call life. But trusting in the every day provision of needs? That is still a growing edge for me.

What about you? Where do (and don’t) you trust God?
Gord

Looking Ahead to October 3, 2021 -- Worldwide Communion Sunday, 19th After Pentecost, Proper 22B

 This Sunday we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion. If you are joining us via YouTube you are encouraged to have bread and juice available so that we can all eat and drink together (while physically separated).

Also this Sunday during the Time for the Young at Heart we will be offering a virtual Pet Blessing. If you want your pet included in this please send in a picture by Friday.

The Scripture Reading for this week is Job 1:1; 2:1-10

The Sermon title is When Life is Unfair....

Early Thoughts: We have all said it at one time or another. "It just isn't fair!" Or maybe "Why ME!?!" Or possibly "What did I do to deserve this?"

Job is justified in saying any of those things and Job knows it. Job know that he has done nothing to deserve the destruction that has visited his household. He knows it is not fair. And yet Job remains faithful. Job refuses to curse God despite the gross unfairness of the situation. Maybe this is why Job has become a name equated with patience.

As the book continues Job never swerves from his insistence that this is not fair and that his punishment is undeserved. Even as his 3 "comforters" try to convince him that there is a logic and a reason to everything Job knows that this is not so. Eventually Job will rage at God over this unfairness, and get a response as God speaks to Job from the midst of the whirlwind. And eventually Job will be rewarded for remaining faithful. But the fact remains. What happens to Job is unfair, is undeserved, is seemingly some form of entertainment for a capricious God and one of God's retainers. The story of Job disturbs me in a variety of ways.

But still it opens a window for some pretty basic questions. What do we do when life is so patently unfair? What does it mean to remain faithful when it appears that God is either randomly capricious or spiteful or just impotent to control things? A global pandemic seems to be one of those things that might bring up those questions.

We are never promised that life will be fair. Lived experience shows us that sometimes in fact life is really quite unfair. What do we do with that?

In part we name it. We lament it. We even rage about it. God is big enough to listen to our weeping and raging.

And then we look for a way to live with it, to live through it. Sometimes we also look for a way to end it, to ensure that this particular form of unfairness, of injustice, of mistreatment ends and is not allowed to resurface. Sometimes we accept that there are ways that life is a little bit more random than we would like.

What do you do when life is unfair? How does it impact your relationship with God?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 26, 2021 -- 18th Sunday After Pentecost , Proper 21B

 The Scripture Reading this week is James 5:13-20

The Sermon title is Praying Community = Caring Community

Early Thoughts: We are called to be the church. We are called to be a community. We are called to love and serve others. We are called to care for our neighbours, to act lovingly towards them. We are called to pray for and with each other.

There are so many ways we show that we are a caring community. It is one of the gifts of being part of a healthy congregation.  A healthy congregation hears each other's stories, celebrates together, weeps together, holds each other up. And yes they pray together.

There is something special about being in a group that prays together. Even if it is people with whom you generally do not agree, even if it is with people with who you never agree, there is something special about praying together, praying for each other. It builds community. It ties us together. It lifts us up.

I do believe that prayer makes a difference. It may not be the magic wishing list that some think it is but it makes a difference. It changes the world in some way. It changes US in some way. 

Let us pray together. When we worry, when we celebrate, when we hurt, let us pray together. Let us care for each other.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 19, 2021 -- 17th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 20B

 The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 8:22-30

The Sermon title is Who Do You See?

(I forget where I first found this)

Early Thoughts: At the center of what it means to be a follower of Christ is to keep Jesus at the center of the picture. Or maybe to wear a set of "Jesus Glasses" whose lenses change how we see the world. So when you look at Jesus who do you see? Is the picture clear? OR is it a little fuzzy at times?

Immediately following this week's passage Jesus talks about his upcoming death and Peter is unwilling to hear that. What Peter sees when he sees Jesus does not include the cross and empty tomb -- or at least not yet. Is Peter seeing clearly or is he missing a part of the picture?

The healing miracle that starts this week's reading has always fascinated me. It is a story that only Mark could tell, only Mark allows for an imperfect healing, the other Gospel writers need Jesus to get it right the first try. But I think this is a much more honest, much more accurate portrayal of how Jesus changes our lives.  Sometimes we only get a hazy view of the Kingdom, and Jesus needs to give us another dose to help us get there. 

Or sometimes, like Peter, we only see what we want to see and then Jesus needs to set us straight to help clear our vision.

SO when you look at Jesus what do you see? How do you interpret the person you see standing there?

--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 12, 2021 -- 16th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 19B

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Proverbs 1:20-33
• Psalm 1
• Psalm 19

The Sermon title is The Way of Wisdom

Early Thoughts: Here we are in the middle of an election campaign and 20 years into the "War on Terror". What would be the way of wisdom in today's world? Where have we followed it? Where have we walked away from it?

The psalm readings for this week suggest that a big part of wisdom is following God's path, God's Law. Listen to the One who has a vision for the world. Listen to the One who desires life in abundance for God's people.

The Proverbs reading draws a picture of someone standing on  street corner calling people back to the way of wisdom. If Lady Wisdom/Sophia were to be calling out on our street corners (or maybe the modern equivalent would be posting on Twitter/Facebook/Instagram/TikTok) what might she say to us today?

I suspect she would continue to ask questions like: "How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?". I often think that we stray so far from the path of wisdom that we have trouble finding our way back.

Wisdom, as I understand it, looks at what is best for us all as a collective. Wisdom looks at the long-term. Wisdom is the path that leads us to live a citizens of the Kingdom of God. Wisdom looks to peace and justice not punishment and retribution.

Wisdom, as the world seems to understand it, sometimes looks different. It pushes people to ask "what is in it for me?", the individual over the collective. It seems to operate in short term, immediate results (or at best the next election cycle) rather than thinking in terms of decades or generations. It is open to punishment, revenge, and payback as ways to achieve goals.

I want us to open ourselves to Scripture's wisdom. I want us to pay attention to that voice calling in the streets. I want us to look to see where God is pushing us. The wisdom of the world has lead us to this place of climate emergency, a 20 year unwinnable war, a time when basic public health measures are debated/protested/ignored in the name of 'my rights', a time when some have multi-billions and others have empty stomachs. The world's wisdom has failed us. Maybe it is time to look somewhere else.

What would it take for us to be describe thusly "They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither."?
--Gord

...To Seek Justice and Resist Evil (September Newsletter)

 One of the questions I ask of parents in a baptism service is “Desiring the freedom of new life in Christ, do you seek to resist evil, and to live in love and justice?”. A more traditional wording might be something like “Trusting the gracious mercy of God, will you turn from the forces of evil, and renounce their power?” (some traditions might simply say Satan instead of the forces of evil). Very similar (if not exactly the same) questions are asked in a Re-Affirmation of Baptism/Confirmation service. Part of entering the Christian family is recognizing the need to resist evil in the world.

What does that mean, to resist evil? It is my experience that United Church folk do not like to use that word, evil, very much. We love to talk about seeking justice. Indeed as a denomination with deep roots in the Social Gospel movement it sometimes seems that a particular understanding of seeking justice is our primary raison d’etre. But what about the second half of the sentence? What are we resisting as we seek justice?

In her book Inspired the late Rachel Held Evans talks about the various types of stories she finds in Scripture. Last night I finished reading about Fish Stories, next I will read about Church Stories. One of the earlier chapters was about Resistance Stories. In that chapter Evans reminds the reader that there is a consistent thread of resistance that runs at least from Exodus to Revelation. Over and over again the people of God resist various empires that are actively working against God’s vision of the world. I think that thread of resistance continues to this very day.

As people who follow The Way of Christ we resist those people and forces and systems that work stand in contradiction to the Reign of God. That is what it means to me to say we resist evil. Evil is a word we use to describe those things that work against the abundant life for all of God’s children promised in the life, ministry, teaching, death and resurrection of Christ. Conveniently (and I am sure wholly coincidentally) the English word evil is the mirror image of LIVE. Evil stands against life. As people called to celebrate life, to live life to its fullest, to help all our neighbours live life to its fullest, we have no choice but to resist evil.

And how do we do that exactly? Part of it is by telling and remembering the stories. When we tell the stories of our faith, when we remember the hope and the promise we hold up a different vision of the world. When we tell the stories and we look at how the stories intersect with our lives we find the strength and courage to stand in the face of Empire and proclaim a bold new world. We also resist evil by sharing our worlds of hope and love and resistance. Empire never gets defeated if nobody challenges it. So we challenge. We challenge all those “isms” of our world that degrade and attack and dehumanize our neighbours. We challenge the assumptions that there have to be winners and losers, where the winners triumph on the backs of the losers. We resist evil as we seek justice. We are not satisfied to challenge the way things are, we are not satisfied to share a dream or a vision, we actively seek ways to help bring the vision to reality. We actively change the story of our world, we change the rhetoric, we change the assumptions. And there is one more piece...

Look again at those questions in the first paragraph, particularly the second one. It asks about turning from evil. Other wordings of the question ask the candidate (or their parents) to renounce Satan/the forces of evil. We can only be honest about our attempts to resist evil if we are willing to acknowledge that at some times and in some ways we have been and are complicit in that evil. Resisting evil and seeking justice is never only about changing them. It always involves being honest about who we are and opening ourselves to change. That is the path to new life. It is hard to advocate for systemic or structural change. It is harder to admit that we are a part of those systems and structures.

May God help us all to resist evil and seek justice – both out there and in side our own communities, inside our own homes, inside our own selves. And may God’s will be done, God’s Kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven.
Gord

Grant Us Wisdom

 Long haul or short term gain? Who benefits and who loses?

These are two of the key questions I try to hold in my heart and head when we go into an election campaign. And this fall we are in two election campaigns at once! Certainly there are different questions to be asked in a federal election than in a municipal election but those two at the start of this column hold true for both. And unfortunately I am not sure the answers are always clear. Which is why I pray for wisdom to discern the best way forward.

In the Biblical book of 1 Kings Solomon succeeds his father David as king of Israel. In a dream Solomon is asked what gift he would ask God to give him. Solomon chooses to ask for “an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil”. God promises to grant this gift, and in tradition Solomon is counted as a paragon of wisdom ever since then. In our world, where we help select those representatives who make decisions on our behalf we still need that gift of wisdom and discernment, even as we hope that the people we elect have that gift as well.

As we enter this election season I think we need to stop and listen. Not to the candidates (that is a later step). We need to stop and listen to the world around us. Where is there groaning and wailing in the world? Who and what is crying out for relief, for change, for comfort and healing? I firmly believe that when we listen for these things we open a window where God’s voice can speak to us. God has long spoken to God’s people calling for a new world, calling for a better world, calling for relief for those parts of God’s world which are struggling. We need the wisdom to sort out the various noises in our world to help us discern the best way forward.

What do I hear when I pause to listen? What might help guide me in this election cycle? I hear groanings of the earth itself in regards to climate change. What is the wisest way to deal with that reality? I hear the cries of the people at the bottom of our economic and social pyramids. What wisdom might help us create a world where all have what they need to meet basic needs, where poverty is left behind? I hear the moans of people tired of dealing with an ongoing pandemic. What is the path through to the end of the pandemic? What path do we follow to restart and rebuild afterward? I hear God whispering to me that some things have come to an end, that some things (maybe things I love, maybe things that make my life easier) have to be dropped so new things can be started.

The path of wisdom might be found in political platforms. Or it might not be. There is no political platform on the face of the earth that matches the Kingdom of God. As we listen, and reflect, and pray, and discern we may make different choices. On September 20^th, and on October 18^th, people of sincere faith will vote for different parties, different visions, different individuals. There is wisdom and foolishness on all sides of our politics. Anyone who tells you different is playing fast and loose with their definitions. Still our task is to look beyond the rhetoric, beyond the promises and look for the wisdom and the vision and the hope.

I asked two questions as I started this column. I want to push myself to consider them as I seek wisdom through these next weeks. When I listen for the voice of wisdom calling in the streets I am forced to admit that we are too good at thinking of short term benefits and not a long term plan. I am equally sure that we have become really good at asking “how do I benefit” and not “what is best for all of us”. I am sure God calls us to look at the long term, to look at how we can lift everyone up. The whispers I hear in my soul tell me that God wants us to think beyond the next election cycle, or beyond our own lifetimes, or beyond our individual bank accounts.

The world is in a difficult place. To move forward we have to listen to the needs of the world and discern a path forward that takes those needs seriously. I close with one of my prayers, taken from a hymn by HenryFosdick: “Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the living of these days”

Looking Forward to September 5, 2021 -- 15th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 18B

 This being the first Sunday of September we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion. If you are joining us online via YouTube you are invited to have bread and juice/wine ready so we can all eat and drink together.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• James 2:1-9, 14-17
• Mark 7:24-30

The Sermon title is ALL Our Neighbours

Early Thoughts: In one of the best known stories from the Gospel of Luke Jesus is asked what is most important. He replies that loving God and loving your neighbour are the most important things to do. The lawyer, wanting to justify himself we are told, then asks "who is my neighbour?", which prompts Jesus to tell the parable of the good Samaritan.

All these years later I think we still ask the same question -- and we still hope to get an answer that makes us more comfortable than what Jesus seems to suggest. Then again, it appears even Jesus needed to have his definitions stretched.

When do we show favoritism? When are we partial to those we deem more acceptable or worthy of our attention? Are we always aware of it? Are there times when our definition of Neighbour is more limited than we would like to admit?

I suspect there are times when we show partiality, when we play favorites, when we limit our understanding of "who is my neighbour". I also suspect much of that we do unconsciously, that it is just a part of how we have been socialized and taught.

Which brings me to this wonderful story of Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman. She asks for help, not for her but for her daughter. Jesus says she is not the sort of person he was called to help. He likens it to giving the food meant for the children to the dogs (a little insulting and offensive there my friend). But she does not relent. She changes Jesus' mind and he offers healing to her daughter.

This can be a challenging story. Are we really ready to see a Jesus who shows such obvious favoritism based not on need but on ethnicity? (For the record in Matthew's telling of this story the ethnic favoritism is even more explicit -- Matthew 15:21-28)

Or more positively... are we prepared to see that Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh, God wearing a human form, is so fully human that he carries the prejudices and biases he learned as a child and the ability to grow beyond them?

WE are called to love, to act lovingly (treat love as a verb, not as a feeling when thinking about the Great Commandment), our neighbour. ALL our neighbours. The ones like us, the ones we like, the ones we think worthy AND the ones who are different, the ones of whom we disapprove, the ones we would rather went somewhere else. The good news is that we can be challenged on our definitions and understandings and grow beyond them.

James reminds us that our faith, our words, our statements of love need to issue in action. Let us all re-learn how to love our neighbours without favoritism or partiality. Let our faith remain lively and active.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to August 29, 2021 --14th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 17B

 The Scripture Readings for this week are:

• Psalm 15
• James 1:17-27
• Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

The Sermon title is Integrity

Early Thoughts: A long standing argument/excuse for not going to church is that the people who go there are hypocrites. A long standing condemnation of politicians (particularly during election campaigns) is that you can not believe anything they say or promise.

And if we are honest those become long standing because they carry a fair bit of truth to them.

The psalmist speaks of a vision of what makes people blameless before God. James encourages us to make our actions match our words. Jesus reminds us that it is what is in our heart that is most important, that what is in our heart flows out of us. In the end I think there is a call to integrity here. There is a call to be true to who we are created to be -- even if it may be inconvenient or uncomfortable at times.

Our words matter.  Our words matter deeply. Our actions matter deeply too. All too often our words and our actions do not match up. We talk a good line but shy away when the rubber starts to hit the road. We have grand dreams but find it hard to translate those dreams into reality. Or maybe we have an inclination toward one thing but we have deeply ingrained beliefs and habits that lead us in a different direction. In all cases the end result calls our integrity into question.

God calls us to a life of integrity. God calls us to grow into people who not only hear the word but have it shape our actions. God calls us to pay attention to both our words and our actions. May God help us live into that call.
--Gord

Death Throes or Birth Pangs? (A Piece for the Newspaper)

Stop for a moment and listen carefully. Do you hear the groans of the world? Do you hear it crying out in pain? Look around. Can you see places where ‘normal’ is no being called no longer useful? Can you see places where the fabric of our lives appears to be torn to shreds? What do we make of the groans, the cries of pain, the challenges to what is normal, this shredding of the comfortable? Are they death throes or birth pangs?

This summer I read a wonderful little book called Virus as a Summons to Faith by Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann. Published last year, the book is collection of 7 reflections on passages of Scripture in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The last two reflections are about change and God’s new thing. Both Jewish and Christian Scripture reminds us that God is in the process (constantly I think) of doing a new thing. The God who created the world is constantly at work creating and re-creating the world. Sometimes that fact brings hope and joy. Sometimes it brings fear and pain. Every time something new is born something old dies, at least a little bit. As Revelation proclaims “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away”. When God does a new thing there are great gains, there may also be great losses.

As I look at the world I see and hear so many signs and sounds that the world is groaning, calling out for liberation from the chains of our normal. The very earth is groaning with the reality of climate change. Our Indigenous neighbours and siblings are crying out for truth-telling, recognition, and reconciliation. The pandemic of the last 18 months has exposed flaws in our economic models, flaws in what we assume to be the most ‘profitable’ way to live together. As a person of faith I believe that God is speaking in, and listening to, these groans and cries. I believe that God is doing what God has always done – working to bring liberation and justice to the world. I wonder what things will look like when God is finished? I wonder what it will be like to live through it?

Woody Allen is reported to have said “I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens.”. A variation on the same idea is to not be afraid of death, but not wanting to go through the process of dying. Often I think the same holds true for any great change in our lives. We may have great hope and vision for the end result. But there is a part of us that does not want to go through the hard work of transition. It would be much nicer if there was just some big switch we could turn and get tot he end result without the pain and struggle. Alas, that is not how life works. Even when it is God leading the charge for change it is a slow process with struggle and loss and pain involved. Remember, the people of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years before they crossed into the Promised Land.

As a species, as a culture, we can be very good at turning a deaf ear to the groans. We can deny there is any problem. We can build walls to defend the normal and the comfortable. We might do this on a personal level. We might do it on a communal level. We might in fact do both of those. But the groans don’t go away. Eventually we have to listen to them, as God is already listening. Eventually we have to embrace the possibility of loss for the promise of a greater gain.

Both the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul used the image of a woman in labour to talk about the work God is doing to re-create and renew the world. Childbirth is accomplished with a lot of discomfort, to say the least. Sometimes (often?) the pains of childbirth are described as the worst pain the person has ever endured. Bringing forth new life is not easy, sometimes it is downright difficult and dangerous. But the pain is endured because of the promise of new life that lies beyond. Heck, many mothers even choose to go through it more than once!

How will we respond to the groaning of the world? Will we risk, or even embrace, the possibility that some things we have held dear will die so that something new will be born? Will we dare to feel both the death throes and the birth pangs as God brings re-creation and renewal to the world?

Looking Ahead to August 22, 2021 -- 13th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 16B

 The Scripture Reading for this week is Ephesians 6:10-20

The Sermon title is Suit Up!

Image Source

Early Thoughts: How we dress makes a difference. It can change how we carry ourselves, how we interact with the world, maybe even how we see ourselves.

How might we change if we saw ourselves as wearing the Full Armor of God?

It is an interesting metaphor Paul uses here. In Paul's day, and for much of the first couple of centuries of the Christian church, being a part of the military was seen as incompatible with being part of the Christian community. And yet Paul uses a very military-based image in these verses.

Armor can be seen both as offensive or as defensive. One can suit up to get ready to go out and attack. Or one can suit up to have some protection from the slings and arrows of everyday life. Which is Paul suggesting here?

I think it is a bit of both. Paul is encouraging folk to be on the offensive, to speak words of hope and faith into a world that so often works against faith and hope, that so often stands in opposition to Gospel values. We still need that encouragement. We are called not just to be people of faith but to act out of that faith to bring change to the world. And the world still often stands in direct opposition to Gospel values. The Armor of God, empowers us to share the words of faith, hope, truth, and wisdom.

At the same time the Armor is defensive. It reminds us who we are and who we are called to be. It reminds us that we are not alone. It reminds us that we are loved and cared for. So when the world strikes back, when the world fights back against the vision of the Reign of God that we share, we have some protection from those slings and arrows.

Admittedly there are days when it feels like pretty porous protection. A lot of those arrows and barbs seem to slip through. I would argue that the armor has to remain pretty porous so that we remain empathetic and caring rather than get hardened to the realities of the world around us. I suggest that sometimes we need to get wounded if we are to model the Reign of Love in a world ruled be the violence of the sword. Maybe we need a follow up about the medical supplies of God to deal with the wounds incurred once we take up the armor of God?

As I said above, what we wear helps to shape how we are and who we are in the world. Often we are not even conscious of that effect. If we saw ourselves wearing the Armor of God, marked with things like truth and faith and peace and righteousness (as in being right with God, otherwise being "righteous" has a bit of a shadow to it) might that empower us to go out and be who GOd has called, formed, created us to be?
--Gord

Looking Forward to July 11, 2021, 7th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 10B

The Scripture Readings this week are: 

• Psalm 24
• Mark 6:14-29

The Sermon title is Speak Carefully!

Early Thoughts: What we say can get is in trouble. What we say can set us free. What we say has the potential to make a big difference in how we live our lives. So we should probably be pretty careful about what we say.

Herod speaks rashly and gets himself into a situation that his pride will not let him out of.  And so his dinner party takes a grotesque turn. Having John killed probably did not, in the big picture, bother Herod overly much. It may not have been top of mind but still...challenge the king and you place your life in jeopardy. But the text does say that Herod was distressed at the gift he has just promised to give. His promise leads to this. If he had chosen his words more carefully what might (or might not) have happened?

In the Psalm we have  a description of who gets to ascend the holy mountain, the hill of the Lord. [Side note: I am sure that when I was in Junior Choir many years ago we sang a song based on this Psalm] And the answer is? "Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully." There is a lot to reflect on in that verse. There is a lot that can lead to feelings of "I am not worthy, I am inadequate". In fact 15 years ago I wrote a reflection for a book of devotion focused in that very verse and talked about guilt and shame. But this year that last phrase jumped out at me: "and do not swear deceitfully". What we say, how we say it, is a part of how we act in accordance with The Way. Because language matters, speech matters.

In the Epistle of James there is a discussion that some translations give the heading Taming the Tongue. In those verses the writer names that the tongue is a double-edged sword (though they seem to be pretty sure it is more of a source of trouble than of blessing). The writer points out the damage that the tongue, that is to say speech, can do. 

It can be argued that words are our greatest tool. Words can lift us to great things.  Think of the great speeches and sermons of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Or the speeches of Barack Obama. Or John Kennedy. Or many other great orators throughout history. Using words they helped us see new possibilities. Using words they got people excited for what was possible.

It can be argued words are our greatest weapon. Words used skillfully can lead to great evil. Hitler was a charismatic speaker and orator. The Rwandan genocide was sparked by fiery speeches. Many anti-Jewish riots in the Middle Ages were sparked by passionate sermons (particularly around Good Friday). Or in the smaller scale, remember the old lie "sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me"? Does anybody truly believe that adage speaks truth? Many a schoolyard or community park, or household have seen souls and hearts and spirits shattered by the power of a few well-chosen words.

Words matter. What we say matters. They can get us in trouble. They can lead us into a new world. So we certainly need to speak very very carefully.
--Gord

To Love and Serve... (Newsletter Piece)

I’ll start with a story...well maybe two or four.

18 years ago, a day or two after we arrived back in Atikokan with newborn Sarah there was a knock at the back door. A friend (daughter of an Anglican priest as it happens) was standing there with three or four foil containers. “Here,” she said, “Shepherds Pie, Meatballs...” as she listed off what was in the containers. “Just have to be heated up.” What a great gift for new parents.

Story #2, just under a year later. We have been back in Atikokan for a day or two, with newborn Devyn this time. Some ladies from the UCW show up with a full meal for us to share. They did the same various other times for other members of the congregation, often at a time of bereavement. It was a part of how they understood their role within the community.

Story #3, 11 years ago. We have been in Grande Prairie for a day or so (also with a slightly older newborn at the time). Our furniture has not even arrived at the house yet. My dad and I return from buying supplies for the work we were trying to get done before said furniture arrived to find a couple members of M&P and the Board Chair at the house, dropping off baskets of food stuffs and envelopes with gift cards and such in them. Welcome to the community!

Story #4, many years, decades really, ago. A death happens in the family, my parents have to go away for the funeral but don’t want to take the kids. A call to one of our close friends and my sister and I have a place to stay (or maybe someone came to stay with us – details are a bit fuzzy).

Those are just some stories that come quickly to mind. I could tell many others. I bet many of you could tell the same sorts of stories about your lives. Sometimes you have been on the giving end, sometimes on the receiving end. In the end, it turns out that loving and serving others seems to come pretty naturally to people who live in community with each other.

In fact, I have a great deal of trouble imagining a community (religious or secular) where loving and serving others is not an active part of their story. I have talked to people who were not a part of such communities. I have heard stories where that love and service was not available. In fact for three years I worked at a place that existed to help the families where story #4 was not a possibility. Think of all the reasons you might nave needed emergency child care, or support when parenting was hard – and then ask what if nobody was around to help out. It made me realize how blessed I had been.

I grew up in a community that lived these words. The families supported each other, offered child care when it was needed, provided ears to listen when things went badly, celebrated life’s accomplishments together. We didn’t do it to prove we were living out a creedal statement, many of us did not even know the New Creed well enough at the time to know those words were in it. We did it because we were a community. We were, when you came right down to it, extended family.

In the 11 years I have been a part of this community I have seen love and service put into action repeatedly. Both within the congregation and in the wider community of Grande Prairie I have seen people who give of themselves for the benefit of others. Sometimes it is to benefit one individual, sometimes it is to benefit a larger group. And many times the love and service, the loving service, has been offered by people who did it automatically, who would not think it worth making a fuss about. Sometimes the small acts of love make such a big deal. The church (both this congregation and the wider church are full of people who offer such service simply because it is who they are – they live to serve.

Our next newsletter will have as its theme another phrase from the United Church Creed (aka the New Creed) – to seek justice and resist evil. I suggest that one flows from the other. Because we know what it means to love and serve each other we can be filled with a passion for justice. Because we know what it means to be loved and served and considered important we know it is important that all people get that same feeling. Because we offer and receive loving service we know that evil, those things that deny and work against love, needs to be resisted if we are to flourish as the Body of Christ.

I have said before that there is an old phrase about Stewardship. “Stewardship is everything we do after we say ‘I believe’” Loving and serving others is an act of faith, an act of stewardship. Thank you all for all they ways (big and small) that you have offered to your neighbours over the years. Thank you for all the ways you will do it in the future.

Have a blessed summer. (And since I am writing this in the middle of a heat wave remember to stay hydrated and keep cool!)
Gord