This week we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion. We will also be marking PIE Day.
What is PIE Day? You may ask....
For a long time March 14 has been known as Pi day, after the Greek letter π that also stands for an irrational number which begins 3.14. If you remember your high school math you might remember that π is used to calculate the circumference and area of a circle. It was a bit of a math joke (and who does not like math jokes). In the church a more recent usage has been to use the fact that Pi is a homophone of Pie and use the day as a part of how we live as Affirming Ministries. In this usage PIE becomes an acronym that stands for Public Intentional Explicit. It is a day for us to make public and explicit our intention that LGBTQ+ folk are full members of our community, a day for us to ask ourselves what we mean by that and how we live it out, and a day where we challenge ourselves to improve on that in the future.
The Scripture Readings for this week are:
- Matthew 5:14-16
- John 3:14-21
The Sermon title is π PIE Love, π PIE Light
We will also hear a message from Shylo Rosborough on the difference between Welcoming vs. Affirming
Early Thoughts: We are called to be irrational at times. Following Christ, living as citizens of the Kingdom of God is sometimes an invitation to behave in ways that tradition and culture name as irrational. (Or maybe tradition and culture are the irrational ones??)
SO far I have a couple of strands...
The light set up high, the city on a hill, speaks strongly to the idea of PIE. As followers of Christ we are called to be forthright about who we are. We are called to share our understanding of God's vision for the world boldly and openly. I think we often fail at this. When our vision differs from the norm, where we feel to share it boldly might make us a target of some kind, it is often easier to be quiet about it, to assume if people really want to know where we stand they will come and ask us.What light are we keeping hidden? If we are truly intending to make LGBTQ+ folk full members of our community (not just welcomed but full active members) how will anyone know if we don't proclaim that intention openly? Sometimes we might set the wick poorly and our light will falter. Sometimes the construction work being done to build the city will look a little rough until it is finished. But we are still called to be there, open and forthright about our understanding of God's vision for the world.
And then there is John. This passage contains one of the best known verses in all Scripture: "For God so loved the world...". This verse always reminds us that God loves the world, not part of the world, the whole world. Sometimes we humans forget the whole world part. Sometimes we think God loves the parts of the world we love more than the parts of the world we dislike. But God loves the world, and God calls us to love the world as we have already been loved. This is our challenge. In the very next verse Jesus proclaims that the Son does not come to condemn the world. For centuries Christians have been really good in condemning others in the name of the Son. Maybe in our adoration of John 3:16 we have forgotten to read 3:17? Maybe the path to following Jesus involves a whole lot less condemnation and judging and a whole lot more love? Let us pour that into our lamp, let us use love as we build the city.
--Gord
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