Looking Ahead to January 1, 2023

This is our annual "choose what we sing" service. The assembled congregation will get to choose the Carols we sing during the service.

The Scripture Reading's for New Year's are:Ecclesiastes 3:1-13 Revelation 21:1-6

During the service folk will be invited to share Highlights/Lowlights from 2022 and also Hopes/Fears/Resolutions for 2023.

The Reflection title is A New Beginning

Early Thoughts: What is 2023 the time for? Where is God leading us this year? What is beginning to happen in your life? In our communal life?

As we take one calendar down and put the new calendar up it is a time for new beginnings. Something new is on the horizon. What do we hope it will be?

Scripture reminds us that God is at work in the world. The Revelation passage reminds us that God is creating a new heaven and a new earth, that God is living among us, and that all time (the ending and the beginning) is in God. 

As a congregation we launch into a new year, how will we be the church differently in 2023? How will we be the same? God is calling us to be a beacon of loving community here in Grande Prairie, we have to determine how we will continue to shine brightly.

As 2023 begins we are still, as a society, somewhat in recovery mode. Almost 3 years in the era of pandemic continues to leave a mark. Add in the soaring inflation we met in 2022 and ongoing uncertainty both at home and abroad we have to wonder what 2023 will bring. Will it be  a year of recovery or of limping along? 

But God is in the midst of all of it. If 2023 is a year of great recovery or if 2023 brings new hiccups God is in the midst of it. Maybe this year will be a time of dancing. Maybe it will be a time of weeping. (Likely it will bring both.) At any rate, a new year is beginning, with new hopes, new possibilities. May we walk with God into whatever might come out of it.

Everyday Miracles – A Christmas Eve Reflection

What miracles have you seen at Christmas?

Christmas is a time for miracles. Sometimes the miracles are big, like the complete personality change we see in the Grinch or Ebenezer Scrooge. But most often they are small everyday things that we could easily miss. In her poem The Christmas Miracle Angela Morgan writes:

Do you know the marvel of Christmas time,
The miracle meaning of song and chime,
Of hearty love and huge good will,
Of feasts that gladden and gifts that spill?
Do you know what happens to homes and men
When Christmas love is abroad again?
Could you look beneath, you would see the rush
Of a flood as real as a river's gush;
A torrent wonderful, deep and wide,
That sweeps the world in its magic tide.

Oh, it isn't the gift, and it isn't the feast;
Of all the miracles, these are least.
It's the good that flows from the hearts of men
When Christmas love is abroad again.
For wishes are real, and love is a force,
And the tide, which ages ago had source
In the heart of a babe, has grown and gained
Till all humanity, single-veined,
Answers the call of the mighty surge,
Swings to the great resistless urge.

What miracles have you seen at Christmas? What small everyday miracles have been part of your Christmas celebrations?

Christmas is not only a time for miracles, Christmas draws out miracles. As we tell again the story of God breaking into the world, of God becoming one of us, the Word-Made-Flesh we are drawn to look for the miraculous around us. At the same time, the story and the spirit of the season draws the miraculous out of us.

I think of the phenomenal amount of giving that happens this time of year. Salvation Army campaigns, toys for kids, Christmas Hampers, “Adopt-a-family” programs. What is the success of those things if not a miracle? Even when times are tight and everyone expects givings to be down I am often surprised at the amazing generosity of people in the Christmas season. A specific example. As Advent began the St. Paul’s Explorers group asked for help so they could fill “blessing bags” for the Friendship Centre. Three weeks after they asked they had enough donations (and money to buy more supplies) that they were able to fill 52 bags. Which happened to match almost exactly the number of clients the Friendship Centre had who they would give those bags to. Is that a Christmas miracle?

The ghost of Jacob Marley tells his former partner that it is required of every spirit to walk among their neighbours. Too often we fail to let our spirits do that, maybe because we are too busy, or too wrapped up in our own ‘stuff’, or just too tired. But there is something about Christmas that pushes our spirits out and about. That may be an everyday miracle in and of itself, certainly it allows more miracles to happen. When we reach out beyond ourselves and share gifts of love miracles happen.

The next stanza of The Christmas Miracle reads:

Oh, vain is the boast of the hardened one
Who scouts what the centuries have done.
Be he ever so mean, be he ever so cold,
Though his heart be flint and his claim be bold,
His veins will tingle, his pulses thrill,
To the sound of " Peace on earth, good will! "
Why, even the man who grips his purse
With a stingy mouth and a cruel curse
Must yield to the flood and be borne away
To join in the glory of Christmas Day.

So I ask again, what miracles have you seen at Christmas? Were they big and showy or were they everyday miracles? Something like one bored child choosing to entertain another young child and getting a hug in return. Or maybe strangers connecting so that one is not alone and lonely over the holidays. Or maybe the person with just enough still putting a couple of bucks in the Salvation Army Kettle. Or maybe some other gift of love shared with a neighbour, a friend, a family member, a stranger. What miracles might have floated right under our noses without our seeing them? What miracles have we done without thinking it was a big deal?

Christmas is a time for miracles. The miracles of Christmas are expressed in words like hope, peace, joy, love, and birth.

Hope: it is a miracle of Christmas that God breaking into the world gives us hope for what yet may be. Even with all that seems to go wrong in the world Christmas reminds us that God is still active in the world, God still moves us toward God’s vision for the world.

Peace: Christmas marks the birth of the Prince of Peace. A miracle of Christmas occurs when the story moves us closer to living together in peace and justice with all our neighbours. We may have a long way to go, but the miracle is that we keep heading in that direction.

Joy: Christmas Joy is that deep sense that somehow, some day all will be well. Christmas Joy is the miracle that allows us to search for joy even when our hearts are heavy.

Love: Love is always a miracle. Love that moves us to give of ourselves for the benefit of our neighbours is deeply embedded in the Christmas story. The baby in the manger is Love in human form. Love that is shown in grand gestures and gentle everyday kindnesses is the miracle that keeps the world functioning, keeps us hopeful, leads us to peace, and gives us great joy.

Birth: New life, new possibility, birth is a miracle. Birth happens in many ways, many things are born each new day. Each birth opens a door to a new way of being in the world. What is being born in your heart this Christmas time? What new miracles might that birth bring about?

In The Lord of the Rings we find gems of wisdom like “I have found that it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folks that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.” or “Even the smallest person can change the course of the future” or “Such is of the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.”. It is wisdom like this that leads me to believe so strongly in the power of everyday miracles, everyday acts of love. Not because they are grand or showy, but because they are loving. We may feel we can not accomplish great things but each of us can do many small things. We are all capable of sharing the love, peace, hope, and joy that shines from the manger on Christmas night. And that might be the greatest miracle of all.

We close with the remainder of The Christmas Miracle:

Have you guessed the secret of Christmas night,
When the whole world loves with all its might,
When the whole world gives with a lavish hand
And joy is awake throughout the land?
Do you know the marvel that happens then
In the glow that goes from the hearts of men?
Have you looked beneath, have you seen the fire
That leaps from the soul of a great desire —
A warmth as real as the heat that springs
From the hearth where the great log laughs and sings?

Oh, it isn't the holly, it isn't the snow,
It isn't the tree or the firelight glow;
It's the flame that goes from the hearts of men
When Christmas love is abroad again.
'Tis the laughter of children, quivering high
In a shower of radiance to the sky
For wishes are real, and love is a force,
And the torch which ages ago had source
In the star that lighted the wise men's way
Burns with a magical fire to-day.

So great the shining, so pure the blaze,
It reaches beyond, through the stellar ways,
Till — listen! A wind voice told it me —
Our globe that swims in ethereal sea
Glows like a lamp whose flame is love
To the other worlds that swing above;
And this the signal that makes them know
We have hearths and homes and cheer below
Why, gods and angels walk by the light
That streams from the earth on Christmas night!

Let us all listen for the laughter of children and words of love. Let us all look for the glow that radiates from the manger and through the hearts of men, women, and non-binary folk alike. Let us all walk with gods and angels this Christmas night,

May we all see the miracles happening right in front of us. May we all take the chance to be miracle-workers in our own right – even if our miracles are of the humdrum, everyday type.
Amen.

Looking Forward to December 18, 2022 -- 4th Sunday of Advent

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Matthew 1:18-25
• Matthew 2:13-15, 19-23

The Sermon title is Dreams of Love

Early Thoughts: Disney's Cinderella would have us believe that "a dream is a wish your heart makes, when your fast asleep". The Everly Brothers suggested that all we had to do was dream and our beloved would be in our arms. The Mamas and the Papas told us that California Dreamin' was the way to escape a dreary winter's day. It seems often, but not always, when we sing about dreams we treat them either as wishful thinking or a way to escape reality.

Maybe dreams are like that sometimes. I know I have had my share of escapist or wishful or 'what if' day dreams over the years.

But sometimes dreams are something deeper. When we quote Dr. King's famous speech where he pronounced "I have a dream" nobody accuses us of being escapist. We recognize the words of a man who knew reality and saw a different possibility. Sometimes dreams push us to live differently.

Still, it often seems that to say someone is a dreamer is a slightly nicer way of saying they have unrealistic hopes or expectations.

Then there are dreams in Scripture. Dreams are a common way for God to communicate with God's people in our faith story. Consistently those dreams are times when God offers direction and/or comfort so that those people can go on following God's Way. And so I believe they are dreams based in God's love for the world and for those individuals. In love God encourages them to follow a hopeful path (even if there are times the path seems fraught with danger and disaster).

As Matthew tells the story, Joseph is a dreamer [which reminds me of another Joseph who rose to prominence  not just for having dreams but also for interpreting other people's dreams]. In a dream he is told not to give in to the rules and divorce Mary, despite her being pregnant, but to marry her and name the child (to have Joseph name the child would show that Joseph is accepting the child as his own). In a dream he is warned to get out of town before Herod's goons get there. In a dream he is told to go back to his homeland, and then a subsequent dream suggests he go to a different town instead.

Would the story of Jesus even get going without all these dreams? What role do dreams have in furthering the story of Love?

In these verses Matthew shows God acting through dreams to make the story possible, to make the renewal and restoration of the world possible. [There is another dream in these chapters of Matthew -- the Magi are warned not to tell Herod where the child is to be found.] In dreams, God is acting to protect the promise of Christmas.

How does God move in our dreams? How does God prod us to act, to participate in the story of renewal and restoration and redemption that we find in Jesus of Nazareth? How does God plant the dream of a renewed world in our hearts?

Are we ready to dream big dreams, and live out the dream despite the dangers there may be along the way? Can we share the dream and possibility and promise of love active in the world?

Can we risk being called dreamers?
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 11, 2022 -- Advent 3A

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 146:5-10
• Isaiah 35:1-10
• Luke 1:46-55

The Sermon title is Rejoice! The World is Changing!

Early Thoughts: Joy to the World! The Lord is come! Mind you that seems also to carry the promise of a lot of turning the world upside down.

In the Gospel of John we are told that unless a seed falls into the ground and dies it will only remain a seed, but if it goes through death it becomes much more. When a seed is planted it is transformed. When a seed is planted what looked like barren ground can burst into life. Flowers can bloom. Joy  abounds!

Our cause for rejoicing as people of faith is inextricably linked to God's ongoing work of transforming the world, transforming us. And yeah, sometimes the process of being transformed is really kind of difficult and painful and less than joyful.

Mary sings words that echo the Psalm reading, words about a world being turned upside down. Isaiah promises renewal and return and new life (flowers in the desert wilderness). Isaiah also talks about strengthening weak hands and hearts, about encouraging those who are fearful as this time of renewal breaks into the world.

This week we will light the candle of Joy. Paul once exhorted us to "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say rejoice". Our faith story is not about a world that is staying the same. It is the story of a world that is being changed, of values that run counter to what is generally considered common sense, of an invitation to let ourselves be transformed in mind, heart, and soul. And still we are called to rejoice.

Change is hard. Change is often nerve-wracking or terrifying. Often we try to avoid change, or at least to control it. But God invites us to embrace change that we can not control. God steadies our nerves and strengthens our trembling knees so that we can be transformed. And for that we will rejoice.
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 4, 2022 -- 2nd Sunday of Advent

 This is the first Sunday of December so we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion.

The Scripture Readings for this week are:

• Isaiah 11:1-10
• Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19

The Sermon title is The One Who Brings Change and Peace

Early Thoughts:  It seems too good to be true. It could not possibly happen....could it?

At first glance Isaiah's portrayal of the Peaceable Kingdom seems to be a bit of a pipe dream. Actually it seems a little farfetched at a second, third and one hundredth glance too! What kind of a leader can make these things happen? Who is this shoot from the stump of Jesse?

For Christians, of course, the shoot from the stump of Jesse (father of David) is seen to be Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, born in David's town of David's line. There is a strong tradition that the original hearers of Isaiah's words might have thought King Hezekiah was the one who would bring these things about. Scripture tells us that Hezekiah was a Godly king and leader who did many good things, but he did not bring about the Peaceable Kingdom. Has Jesus? Will Jesus?

What level of change is needed for ancient enemies, predator and prey, to lie quietly together. If you think back to Genesis and Adam and Eve, you may remember that the serpent and the human were told they would be enemies "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”" (Genesis 3:15). But in the Peaceable Kingdom foretold by Isaiah "The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den." (Isaiah 11:8) What wizardry is this?

We are not there yet. Some days I wonder if we are even getting closer...

Ancient hatreds, and new hatreds for that matter, still seem very powerful. In Isaiah 10:1-2 we are told that the Northern Kingdom (Israel) has fallen to the Assyrians because of their failure to care for the least in their society: the needy, the poor, the widows and orphans. How do we measure up on that account? Is the Peaceable Kingdom really just a dream?

Maybe. But we are called to be dreamers. Maybe it seems beyond possibility, but so does resurrection. 

The Psalm reading this week is a prayer for the king. But I suspect it was a prayer for a king who never really existed. It sounds to me like a prayer that the king will live up to an ideal, an ideal that few (if any) monarchs in history could claim as their legacy. There is, however, a lot of overlap between this ideal king and the leader described in Isaiah 11 [no doubt this is why the passages were linked by the lectionary creators]. We need ideal leadership if we are going to get to the Peaceable Kingdom. And one of the markers of the ideal leader (in both Psalm 72 and Isaiah 11) is a passion for and commitment to justice for the people at the margins of society. The path to peace is paved with justice and equity, righteousness and faithfulness.

The promise of Christmas, the promise of Jesus, the Word-Made-Flesh is a transformed world. The promise of Emmanuel, God-With-Us, is that peace and justice are more than a dream -- they are a real possibility that will one day be a reality.

It may seem improbably as we look at the world around us. It my seem that we are incapable of that much change. But the promise is there. Jesus is coming. Jesus will bring transformed hearts, repentant people who go a different way, and the Peaceable Kingdom is waiting. As the old prayer says: Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.
--Gord

An ADvent/Christmas Letter

People, look east. The time is near of the crowning of the year...
Set every peak and valley humming with the word, the Lord is coming.
People, look east and sing today: Love, the Lord, is on the way.
(lines from verses 1 & 5 of People Look East by Eleanor Farjeon, #9 in Voices United)

Friends in Christ, Grace and Peace to you all!
Somehow I look at the calendar and find that Advent is upon us already! The crowning of the year is imminent!
As a community of faith we once again start to prepare for the birth of a child in a stable, a birth proclaimed by angels visiting shepherds, a child who will change the world. As we move into this season of preparation and hope and promise I thought I would take time to share some news about the season and about the life of our community of faith.

Here at St. Paul’s it is customary that we have a special Outreach campaign during Advent. This year we have made cash donations from the Outreach Fund to support the work of our partner agencies. We were able to give $4 000.00 to The Salvation Army, $500.00 to the Elders Caring Shelter, and $500.00 to the St. Lawrence Centre. Donations to the Outreach Fund to build it back up so we can continue to offer food vouchers as needed are welcomed.

The other part of our Advent Outreach Campaign this year is to support the Explorers as they create Blessing Bags. They are looking for things like socks and gloves, toiletries, feminine hygiene products, and portable snack food. These items can be dropped off at the church by December 4^th as the Explorers will fill the bags at their meeting on December 6^th. If you would rather, you can make a donation to St. Paul’s Outreach Fund earmarked for the Blessing Bags and we will pass the money on to the Explorers to cover their costs.

Over the last few years we have had a practice of a Memory Tree, where we hang names of those we remember at Christmas. Without having a Blue Christmas service this has been our way to mark the “blueness” of the Christmas season. This year we will include the hanging of our memories on the 1^st Sunday of Advent (November 27^th) and invite folk to add names throughout the season. If you are currently attending worship online and wish to have a name added to the tree just let the office know and we will make it happen.

As a reminder, all of our worship services are live-streamed on our YouTube Channel: https://youtube.com/@st.paulsunitedgrandeprairie. This year that will include the CGIT Vesper service at 7:30 on December 4^th. Please join us in person or online as the CGIT girls invite us into the Christmas Season.

Our Christmas Eve service this year will be at 8:00. Again please join us online or in person as we celebrate in story and song the miracle of a baby in a manger. As we are, hopefully, beyond the most active part of the COVID-19 pandemic we are not limited in attendance numbers this year and pre-booking a seat is not required. I would love to see the sanctuary filled with folk on Christmas Eve.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the financial realities of our life together. We continue to struggle to meet our budget, with a year-to-date deficit of around $33 000.00 as of the end of October. So I ask each of us to consider how we might be able to support the ongoing ministry of St. Paul’s this year. We make a difference in the life of Grande Prairie because of your support. Donations can be dropped off at the church during office hours, or they can be brought on a Sunday morning, or a cheque in the mail always works. For electronic giving you can give through CanadaHelps (https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/36020) or through an e-transfer using secretary@stpaulsuc.ca as the receiving e-mail (no security question is required). E-transfer might be preferable as there is no service charge paid by St. Paul’s for that. An ongoing option is to get started on, or adjust your current, PAR. Contact Carla if you want information about PAR.

Yet with the woes of sin and strife the world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled two thousand years of wrong;
And warring humankind, hears not the love-song which they bring;
Oh, hush the noise, and cease your strife to hear the angels sing.
(verse 3 of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear by Edmund Hamilton Sears, #44 in Voices United)

Every year in the Advent/Christmas season we look for signs that God is breaking into the world. Every year we name that the world as it is is not the world as it could (or should) be. So we wait with Hope for the coming of the Prince of Peace who will transform the world. We wait for songs of Joy to spring out of our mouths and the gifts of Love to spread from every corner and hamlet. There is a lot of bad news out there, but once again the angel will bring Good News that shall be for all people. For unto US a child is born, unto US a child is given, God is with us, we are not alone. God will transform the world through the life of a baby born to a peasant family in a backwater part of the Roman Empire. And the world will never be the same again.

May you find time this Christmas season to hush the noise and listen for angel song. May you find God in ways and places you least expect. May you feel the Hope, Peace, Joy and Love of Christ’s presence in your busy-ness. Have a blessed Christmas.

Or, as Tiny Tim might say, “God Bless us, every one!”

Looking Forward to November 27, 2022 -- 1st Sunday of Advent

The Scripture Readings for this week are:

• Romans 13:11-14
• Matthew 24:36-44

The Sermon title is This Is Hope? This is Change!

Early Thoughts: We start off our journey to Christmas with the Sunday of Hope. And so of course we have a Gospel reading about the End Times paired with some Pauline injunctions about how we should live. What hope do we find in these passages?

The hope is in the change. The hope is in the fact that God is transforming the world, transforming us, when we least expect it.  Of course that may also mean that the hope is in the pain, because sometimes transformative change is both painful and terrifying.

I always find it a challenge to know what to do with the apocalyptic passages in the Gospels. On the one hand they really tend to give off a "be afraid, be very afraid" vibe. On the other, I know that they are pointing to the hoped-for era when the Reign of God has broken into the world with full power and glory, when the world has been transformed and we return to the garden. There is fear but there is also promise. There is transformation and renewal and there is destruction. As we begin the season of Advent, the time when we prepare for God to break into the world as a baby in a manger, we remind ourselves that there is a continuing promise that God will break into the world in ways and times that we least expect.

That, in the end is our hope. Our hope is based on the God who continually breaks into the world and brings transformation.  Sometimes the transformation is big. Most often, it seems to me, it happens in small, easily missed increments. Being awakened may be a shocking, blaring alarm. Or it may be a gentle "wake to music". Either way being awakened (being woke?) leads us to live differently in a world that is also different. Hope lies in being awake, even if being awake calls us to make changes.

What changes give you hope this year? What changes do you hope to see this year?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 20, 2022 -- Majesty of Christ Sunday

The Scripture readings this week are:

• 2 King 24:8, 11-17
•  Psalm 47 
• Matthew 27:11-14, 27-37

The Sermon title is Destruction, Death, Majesty?

Early Thoughts: Reign of Christ, Christ the King, Majesty of Christ. What images do those terms evoke?

Now, how does the destruction and looting of a city, thousands being dragged off in exile, or a beaten peasant hanging on a cross fit in with those images?

I am going to guess there might be a bit of a discrepancy.

To follow Christ means we have to embrace a series of paradoxes. I think that the last Sunday of the liturgical year really highlights that. We refer to this Sunday using titles like I listed up above. They are titles that tend to evoke power. Words like Reign, or King, or Majesty draw our minds to grand ballrooms, Buckingham Palace, pomp and pageantry, horse drawn carriages, people bowing in respect and fealty.

And yet Christ is a King on a cross. Christ's majesty is shown through death and and empty tomb. No pomp. No gilded carriage. No grand palace. Over the centuries that have followed you will find the people bowing in respect and fealty but certainly not in this story of trial and execution.

Christ has a different form of majesty, Christ is a different type of king with a very different type of reign.  The Majesty of God's Kingdom is seen in death and resurrection. The Majesty of Christ is seen in a specific approach to life and love, not in pomp and pageantry.

Sometimes we need to see how destruction and tragedy might (not always but might) lead to something new.  In the moment it will not feel like it. In the moment it feels like defeat and disaster. But sometimes God can lead us to new hope and possibility, maybe even majesty?

--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 13, 2022 -- 23rd Sunday After Pentecost

This week's Scripture Reading is John 2:2-11

The Sermon title is Mom Knows Best.

Source

Early Thoughts: Sometimes we need someone to give us a bit of a shove. Even Jesus did.

Normally when we talk about this story we talk about the incredible abundance of wine. I did the math once and it is hundreds of regular (750mL) bottles of wine. Everyone was sure the wine was running out and then BAM enough wine (and good quality wine at that) shows up to keep the party going for days [and the hangovers for a few days beyond that I suppose]. There is a lot of sermonic potential there. In a world where we are too often led to see life in terms of what we are lacking, what we don't have enough of it is always a good idea to remind ourselves of the abundance the lies right under our noses --  even if we have yet to recognize that it is there.

However there is one detail about the story that has always fascinated me. Jesus acts because he is pushed. Left to his own devices Jesus does not seem inclined to do anything. Even when it is suggested he should do something he is pretty clear he sees no reason why he should. "Not my problem" he says. Only when his mother (let's go with the other Gospels and call her Mary even though John leaves her unnamed) pushes harder does Jesus actually do anything. This leads to the miracle and the great abundance and the reason we remember the story.

But let us not forget Mary. Mary who sees a problem and looks for a solution. Mary who knows that Jesus can fix the problem and will not let him brush it off. Part of me wonders if under her breath she was muttering something like "stop partying with your friends, get off your butt and fix this problem". Jesus is unquestionably the focus of the story, the miracle of water into wine is the focus of the story. But none of it happens without Mary. Maybe mom does know best after all.

How many of us have only started to act because we have been pushed? Many call stories I have heard over my life have referred to someone who first asked "have you ever considered?". Those initial questions, those words of encouragement are often what push people into a variety of tasks and roles in life. sometimes we first hear them and we are sure we are not ready so we try to push it off, "not the right time" we say. So time passes and quite commonly the questions, the "you might want to consider"s, the "I think you would be good at"s keep coming. Eventually we might start to listen, we might even start to act on it.

How many times have those pushers/encouragers been mother-like figures in our lives?

Maybe that is one of the roles of eldership, to push people, to make suggestions, to point out possibilities we see in others. Maybe that is part of how we keep individuals and the community growing.

It can be daunting to make the suggestion. It can certainly be daunting to follow the prod given by another. There can always be a reason to keep quiet and/or remain inactive. But I think God challenges us both to be the prodder and the proddee. Maybe in that person who asks "have you ever considered..." God is speaking.

Will we choose to listen? If not now, when?
--Gord

People of Hope...

 As people of faith we are all called to be people of hope. Indeed in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul lists hope as one of the three highest virtues “But until then, these three remain – faith, hope and love – and love is the greatest” (1Cor 13:13, First Nations Version). And that is great to say, but what does it mean to be people of hope?

Hope is what keeps us moving forward. Hope is what keeps us working for change. Hope is what allows us to dream. Hope can change the way we see the world. Hope is very powerful, hope is a motivator. Just yesterday I was starting to work on Advent worship by looking for poetry (my plan is to use some piece of poetry each week in Advent). The poem I think I will use on the first Sunday, when we light the candle of Hope, was written by an 11-year old in Texas and is titled I Can Change the World with Hope. But still I wonder, what does it mean to be people of hope? What does it mean to be a hope-filled community?

Having hope is sometimes seen as an unrealistic, pollyanna-ish response to life. I can see that reaction. Sometimes people use hope and trust as words to cover their flights of fancy. Sometimes hope is used as a way to escape from hard realities. Dreams are vitally important, but those dreams have to deal with reality. Hope is a vital part of growth but it has to be grounded. Simply wishing away the hard stuff is not, in my opinion, hope. True hope is ready to get down into the trenches and get dirty.

About 11 years ago I read a book that remains one of my go-to sources for short reflections. It is called It’s Not Too Late: A Field Guide to Hope. In its’ opening pages I read:

...The “field is the seemingly inexorable deterioration of the earth’s environment and the economic well-being of humankind. Like a handbook about desert plants or inner-city tourism, this book might seem to promote a seemingly futile task: looking for a rare thing amid a hostile environment. In fact the opposite is true. Just as plants bloom in the desert and inner cities teem with barely visible wonderments, so hope flourishes in these difficult years.
(It’s Not Too Late by Bob Sitze, Alban Institute ©2010 p. xx-xxi)

Christian hope is based on flowers that bloom in the desert, and an empty tomb, and the Word-Made-Flesh lying in a feed trough. Christian hope centres on the claim that God has not abandoned the world but shares the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, stands against the troubles of the world and, by opposing, ends them – eventually. Christian hope lies in the words of Dame Julian of Norwich “all shall be well, all shall be well, all manner of thing be well”. Christian hope reminds us that the Reign of God is real and growing in our midst.

The world is a tough place. We are still sorting out how things have been totally changed by the pandemic. We still have news reports full of violence and bloodshed. Those words I quoted earlier were written over a decade ago but economic chaos and environmental deterioration are still leading stories (and arguably getting worse). Many communities of faith find themselves wondering what their future as a community will look like with shrinking numbers, aging members, and uncertain finances. What might hope look like for us today?

I think we need to look for hope in the surprising places, places we might not expect (of course if we expected it they wouldn’t be surprising would they?). Hope will not be found, I think, by looking back to what once was. Hope will be found, as it often is in our Scripture story, where God is doing something new and renewing the community. We can not, in my opinion, create hope. That is what God is doing around us. We can become infected with hope as we open ourselves to see, hear, and feel God active in the world around us.

What does it mean to be people, to be a community of hope? It means we acknowledge the messiness of the world around us, the ugliness, the broken-ness and then we look for more. It means we listen for angels singing about a baby on a manger, we dare to visit a tomb in a garden only to find it empty, we allow a mighty wind to drive us from our places of safety out into the world where we share in word and action the love of God. To be hope-filled people and communities means we sing about the world that could be, the world that God is creating and re-creating, even as we work hard to make the world as it is a safer, more loving, more equitable place to live.

Listen, for here is Good News! God is at work around, within, and among us. The germ of hope and promise is floating in the air, ready to infect all of us. As individuals, as a community we could choose to despair at all the broken parts that seem to make up the world. Or we could try to wish them all away. Or we could decide that this world does not really matter and wait for some heavenly reward. Or we could choose to be people of hope, people that look for the flower in the sidewalk crack, the love in a sea of anger or fear, the life where death seems to have won. God calls us to be people of hope. Shall we give it a try?

Looking Forward to November 6, 2022

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 48:1-3, 9-14
• John 2:14-22

The Sermon title is He Did What?!?!

By Reinhardhauke - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

Early Thoughts: "Gentle Jesus, meek and mild", so goes the old hymn. Turns out maybe he wasn't so meek or mild, and not always gentle.

I mean I don't see anything in those verses about making a whip of cords, overturning tables, pouring money on the ground in a fit of zealous, righteous anger.

This is a story many people love to tell. This is a story many people find challenging. It can be hard to remember that living by Jesus' base principles does not always mean going along with the flow, that sometimes those principles require one to take a stand. Sometimes they even lead us to cause a fuss.

In 1st Century Judaism the temple was the center of the faith. It was the dwelling of God on earth. Only after the sacking of Jerusalem in 70CE did Judaism start to re-imagine itself without that center (largely because they had too since the temple had been destroyed). For Jesus to suggest he would destroy it and rebuild it in 3 days would have sounded ridiculous. For Jesus to cause such a ruckus in the temple precinct was probably pretty scandalous.

Jesus saw injustice in action in the courts of the temple itself. He saw profiteering. He saw people being taken advantage of. Or something like that.  Scholars are a bit divided what the clearing of the temple was really all about. The fact that John puts the event at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry (the other Gospels have it happen right after the Palm Sunday parade) suggests to me that John saw it as a statement about Jesus' priorities. Jesus' priorities are not so much on doing the rituals 'right' (the business occurring in that space appears to have largely been about ways of getting proper animals and coinage for temple worship) as they are about inviting folk to come into God's presence. Setting up barriers to that is a problem.

So where do we need to cause a ruckus today? Where do we let focus on getting the outward stuff right interrupt our search for the really important stuff? Where do we need to rage like Jesus? What parts of our life of faith might lead Jesus to rage at us?

Jesus calls us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves and as we have been loved. Jesus calls us to live as people of God's Reign. Jesus calls us to be people of hope. Sometimes we get there by being nice and meek and mild. Sometimes the gloves have to come off and it is time to braid a whip and get down to brass tacks. 

Which will we do?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to October 30, 2022, 21st Sunday After Pentecost

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 1 Kings 2:10-24
• Psalm 127
• Luke 22:24-30

The Sermon title is Governing Ethics

Early Thoughts: What are the key principles that guide your decision making and actions? That, in a nutshell, is what ethics are.

In these passages we have some principles that might help us form an ethical basis for leadership. Some are positive and some less so.

Let us start with Solomon. David has died and Bathsheba has made sure that her son Solomon will inherit the throne. Perhaps the best known story about Solomon's accession is that he seeks the gift of wisdom instead of long life or riches. That was a good start to his reign. This story about the transfer of power shows Solomon getting off to a much less helpful start. He and his brother argue about who gets to take possession of their late father's young wife/concubine, which leads to the death of the elder brother (who may also have had a stronger case for the throne, being elder). Solomon begins his rule with bloodshed, with possessiveness, with fear and jealousy.  That may be a basis for leadership ethics, but I would advise against that model.

Then we have the Psalm. The poet reminds us of the important role God has in establishing the foundations of a healthy life. Our ethics need to be based on Godly Wisdom, on God's priorities. Otherwise we are, to use an image from the Gospels, building on sand rather than on rock.

And finally we come to the Gospel reading. As people who follow Jesus the teachings shared in the Gospels are one of the primary sources we use as we establish our systems of ethics. Jesus challenges ideas of leader and follower, or greater or lesser, of how power is distributed. Jesus-based ethics are centered on leadership through service. This particular passage also suggests that Jesus-based ethics include a commitment to remain present in trials and hardship. Jesus trusts that his closest friends share his ethical principles and so invites them to share in the tasks of governance in His Reign.

What foundational principles shape our understandings of power and leadership? Are we more like Solomon or more like Jesus? What do others see when they look at us?

Looking Ahead to October 16, 2022

This Sunday marks the beginning of St. Paul's week of education as we continue to work toward naming ourselves as an Affirming Ministry with in the United Church of Canada.

The Scripture Readings for this week are:

• 2 Timothy 3:10-4:5
• Genesis 1:26-28, 31
• Luke 4:16-21

The Sermon title is Scripture: Weapon or Balm?

Early Thoughts: Scripture can be used to lift us up. Scripture can be used to break us down. Sometimes both happen in the same statement. Sometimes the breaking down is intentional, sometimes is comes from a failure to question older interpretations and understandings.

The above quote from the late Rachel Held Evans speaks to me. It reminds me that Scripture can be a tool for a whole list of purposes Which, to my mind, calls us to be very careful and intentional about who we read, interpret, and use it. If we are totally honest we have to name that the church has, too often, chosen to use Scripture as a weapon to lock people into boxes rather than a liberating healing balm.

One area where this has been, and still is, true is in where members of the LGBTQ+ community. For centuries Scripture has been used by people of faith to support a proclamation that only cisgendered heterosexual people are acceptable.

I believe this is a lie. I believe that the use of Scripture as a weapon to dehumanize any child of God is a twisting of the Gospel. 

As there are with question of women's equality, or slavery, or racism, or the whole "one true faith" discussion, there are certainly specific passages used as 'clobber verses' to try and control people. I have specifically chosen not to engage with those verses in this sermon. I made this choice for two reasons. First is because to engage with those specific passages is, in my opinion, much better done in a discussion Bible Study type setting rather than a sermon. The other reason is that I think there is a foundational step to be taken first. We have to talk about how we understand Scripture and what we believe the foundational message God offers us through Scripture is.

One of the passages I have often heard used to try and support the claim that all words of the Bible have equal merit and weight and that they are all a direct message from God is the passage from Timothy that wee are hearing this week, in particular verse 3:16 "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,". There is some unpacking to be done here but I suggest it is not as straightforward as people want it to be. I even suggest that some modern readers take those words farther than even the writer of Timothy would have.

My understanding of Scripture is that those words are the story of people trying to understand who God is and how God would have them live. As such there are times when the words stretch us beyond ourselves. there are also time when the message from the Divine gets corrupted by the people who try to pass it on (sometimes I think of the game 'Telephone' many of us played as children). So our challenge is to reach into the text and find the message the carries Divine inspiration.

That brings me to the other two passages we are reading this week. The ancient hymn to creation in Genesis 1 reminds us that humanity (all humanity) is both created in God's image and is part of the creation which is called very good. In Luke we read of the beginning of Jesus' public ministry where he reads a passage of liberation from oppression. To me, these are two passages that speak to the foundational nature of Scripture. In Scripture God is sharing a message of freedom from oppression to the beloved children who are created in God's very image.

If that is the foundational message of Scripture as a whole then I bring in a concept I learned many years ago. We use Scripture to help us interpret Scripture. We measure any one passage of Scripture against the whole of Scripture. So when a passage is used as a weapon, when Scripture is used to attack or dehumanize or oppress a person or a group of people we measure against the foundational message of freedom and love.

There is a lot to talk about already.  I wonder how the sermon will shape up for Sunday (and hopefully not be too long).
--Gord

Looking Ahead to October 9, 2022 -- Thanksgiving Sunday

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Deuteronomy 26:1-11
• Philippians 4:4-9
• John 6:25-35

The Sermon title is Remember with Thanks

Our Tree of Thanks waiting for more leaves

Early Thoughts: For what are you thankful this year?  As we approach Thanksgiving weekend we are encouraged to think about the gifts we have received over the past year (and the years before that). Sometimes we forget to be thankful. Sometimes we forget what we have to be thankful for. In a world where there is an entire, multi-BILLION dollar industry dedicated to convincing us to buy more it can be easy to forget about the abundance we already have.

This passage from Deuteronomy, a common one for Thanksgiving Sunday, is not really about giving thanks -- at least not at first reading.  It is about remembering. And it is about giving from what you have.

The remembering what God has done is a common theme in the stories of the Israelite people. Does that mean they tended to forget to remember? Remembering is often a conscious act, it is something we choose to do (or choose not to do). But if we don't remember what happens?

I am not thinking here of Santayana's dictum that those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it (though I tend to find wisdom there). I am thinking of how remembering or forgetting tie in to both our gratitude and our stewardship.

If we forget then are we aware of why we are grateful? I suspect not. If we forget the path that has led us to this point, the gifts shared and given to help us along the way, then it is easy to not express our gratitude.

If we forget the gifts shared and given that helped us along the path it is easier to think that we did it all by ourselves. And then to wonder why others can not do the same for themselves.

Memory is at the base of our gratitude and our stewardship. In the Deuteronomy passage the act of remembering is intrinsically tied to the act of offering the first-fruits to God's service. Practically speaking it appears that this offering goes to feed an support the Levites (religious workers) and Priests as well as those who are in need. As they remember they are thankful and they give from what they have received.

What memories make you thankful? What gifts do you pass forward as you remember and are grateful
--Gord

Looking Ahead to October 2, 2022

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

The Scripture readings this week are:

• Psalm 103:1-17
• Mark 10:13-16

The Sermon title is Wisdom’s Gifts

Early Thoughts: How do you measure Wisdom? What gifts has Wisdom given you?

In some places in Scripture Wisdom or Lady Wisdom (or in the translation we will hear on Sunday She Who Is Wisdom) is a title used for God. The NRSVUE, like many other translations, has chosen the traditional use of Lord/Father/his throughout Psalm 103. Dr. Wil Gafney, in her translation for the Women's Lectionary, has chosen Wisdom and female pronouns to refer to the Divine. Does that change how you see the gifts offered in the words of the Psalm?

What does it say to name Wisdom as the one that offers forgiveness, who brings life, who renews us, who offers faithful/steadfast love to all her children? Does that say something about the path of wisdom? Does that say something about how we are called to live in God's way?

I posit that The Way of Wisdom would be one way to describe what it means to follow Jesus, the one we call Christ. In that case what does the Psalm suggest about how we are to live?

The story of people bringing their children to Jesus is one many of know well. But this year, reading it in conjunction with Dr. Gafney's translation of Psalm 103 I read it differently. I saw it as a way that the wisdom of the Reign of God (and Jesus' whole ministry was about proclaiming the Reign/Realm/Kingdom of God) gets enfleshed. In many social situations over history, maybe even today, it would be seen as inappropriate to bring children to the great teacher. Common wisdom would say that this activity was an interruption to the work. Jesus gets angry, because Jesus sees the world differently. For Jesus the path of wisdom lies in "let the little children come to me". Jesus sees wisdom in children that we often discount or miss.

What gifts has children's wisdom given to you over the years?

The wisdom of living in God's way is often different from the wisdom of common sense. Sometimes it appears foolish by some standards. However, Lady Wisdom offers us the gifts of life, and that in abundance. We may need to have our eyes, hearts, and souls open to appreciate those gifts. ANd then we can be thankful for those gifts.

--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 25, 2022

 The Scripture Reading this week is 2 Samuel 11:2-15

The Sermon title is Integrity vs. Self-Interest

Early Thoughts: There are three main characters in this story. One is silent,the story happens to her and we do not hear anything about her perspective. The other two are more active, and are a contrast in character.

On one hand we have the King. In this story David openly abuses his power and authority. He takes (by force) Bathsheba to his bed without any pretense at wooing or seducing her first. Then he decides to cover up his crime by getting Uriah to come home and sleep with his own wife so that the resulting child will be seen as Uriah's, not the result of David's act of rape. In fact David tries repeatedly, even to the point of getting Uriah drunk, to have this happen -- not, it appears, out of any concern for Uriah or Bathsheba but solely to cover his own backside. When this is eventually unsuccessful David arranges to have the man killed.

Then we have Uriah. One could read the story and see Uriah solely as an unwitting dupe. He has no idea what is really going on. But as I read the story this month it struck me that Uriah shows himself to be a man of great integrity. He refuses to claim or accept more privilege than his men have. While they are living rough at the front he will continue to live rough himself -- no matter what enticements the king might offer.

This is a hard story to read. It is a hard story to preach on.It is a story that makes you wonder how it got included in the final edit. David, the great King, is shown to be a rapist, an abuser of power, a wholly unsavory character. NOw what do we do with the story?

I think we start by naming the reality of what it is. It is, to borrow a phrase from a feminist theologian for the 20th Century, a "text of terror". We do no favors to the text,or to ourselves as readers by trying to obscure that fact. Many have tried to limit David's sinfulness (which is odd because the text of 2 Samuel never tries to hide David's sinfulness), usually with the result of casting blame on Bathsheba. "Slut-shaming" has a long history, one which continues to this day, when people talk about sexual violence.

Along with naming the reality of the story is to name the reality of what it shows us about David. Everything David does in this story is motivated by self-interest. He wants sex-he gets it. He wants to get around blame for the resulting pregnancy and tries everything he can to get that too. In then end he has Uriah killed so he can simply take Bathsheba into his household and try to avoid accusations of adultery (later the prophet Nathan will force David to face his sin -- to a degree, still treating Bathsheba as stolen property rather than as a rape victim).

In our lives we will miss the mark, we will get things wrong. Hopefully none of us will fail so egregiously as David does here but at some point we, as individuals and/or as a community, will do damage to another. When that happens will our self-interest lead us to try to minimize what happened and escape consequences? Or will we have the integrity to name what happened? 

At the same time, some time in life we may be given the choice of Uriah. We may be promised rewards or a way to an easier time while our neighbors continue to live rough. Which will we do?

This week during our Tame for the Young at Heart we will be talking about Orange Shirt Day. As we remember and reflect on the truths of what the Indian Residential School system was and did how will we respond? As a settler community we did damage to our Indigenous neighbors, damage which continues to resonate and shape lives to this day. As a society the impulse to rush toward reconciliation and 'put it all behind us' is strong. But is that acting out of self-interest or with true integrity? Are we wanting to hide hard truths even if it means sacrificing the Uriahs who get in the way?

This is a hard story to read. It is one that should probably carry a trigger warning. What does it teach us about human nature in the face of sinful acts? What might it have to teach us about ourselves?
-Gord

Looking Ahead to September 18, 2022 -- 15th Sunday After Pentecost

 The Scripture Readings this week are: 

• 2 Samuel 1:17-27 
• Ezekiel 19:1-3, 10-14

The Sermon title is The Power of Lament

Early Thoughts: Have you seen the 2015 Disney/Pixar movie Inside Out? Having watched it recently I found the dynamic between Joy and Sadness to be a very telling description of how we are sometimes encouraged to live our lives. Joy is convinced that Riley has to be happy, that if Sadness impacts any of Riley's memories it will hurt her. Spoiler alert! Joy comes to understand how deeply Riley needs Sadness to be a part of how she processes her life. The path to healthy life includes Sadness (and Disgust and Fear and Anger all have their roles in Riley's life as well). In fact, Joy's insistence that Riley be happy and brave is, arguably, doing damage to Riley.

Sometimes in the name of putting on a brave face we fail to give so-called 'negative' emotions the space they need and deserve in out lives. I have heard of people that would claim that we are unfaithful or lack trust in God if we are anxious or depressed or lamenting.

That is utter nonsense.

Scripture includes some very powerful laments (in fact it has a whole book called Lamentations). Lamenting is an important way we respond to the crises of life. Lamenting allows us to name our pain and our sorrow and that is a key part of moving forward in a healthy way. And if lament is part of a healthy life, lament is part of a healthy faith.

Our Scripture readings this week are both passages of lament. In 2 Samuel David laments over the death of Saul and Jonathon. In the Ezekiel passage we have the lament for the end of a royal line/family. I look at them, in part, as examples. How can we lament? Can we make space, even (as in the case of David) in the midst of events that really will work out fairly well for us, to lament and have empathy?

All too often we have trouble with lament, with sadness, with something other that the stiff upper lip. We live in a culture that seemingly has trouble accepting that lament and sadness are a natural part of life, or at the very least wants to put strict limits on when/how/how much lament is acceptable. I would argue that we would be mentally ,emotionally, and spiritually healthier if we gave each other more freedom to lament. AS we pour out our sorrow and our rage and our anxiety we invite God into the reality of our lives and that is where transformation becomes a reality.

What leads you to lament? HOw do you lament? Has it been helpful to give yourself that freedom?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 11, 2022 --14th Sunday after Pentecost

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 71:1-6
• Matthew 6:9-13

The Sermon title is Pray

Early Thoughts: Why do we pray? How should we pray? What does prayer accomplish?

Prayer is one of the central practices of Christian Faith (as it is in many other traditions as well). Prayer is a time to communicate with the Divine, when we talk and when we listen. Prayer is a time for us to silence our world for a moment and soak in God's presence.

In prayer we can sing our praises and our thanksgivings. In prayer we can pour out our grief. Or maybe we can shriek out laments and anger. Or maybe name our greatest needs. Or maybe seek wisdom and discernment. What else might prayer do for you?

In the Gospels we are told that Jesus regularly went off on his own to pray. Other than the scene in the Garden just before his arrest we do not know what his prayers were, we are just told that he went to pray. In Luke 11 observing Jesus at prayer leads the disciples to ask Jesus to teach them to pray (which is when we find the Lord's Prayer in Luke's Gospel). They know that this must be an important thing and as learners they turn to the teacher for instruction.

Prayer can take many forms. There is, in my opinion, no one 'right' way to pray.For many of us the piece we call the Lord's Prayer gives us a bit of a structure. If nothing else it links us to other Christians across the miles and the centuries. But walking the Labyrinth is also a form of prayer for many people. Or there are those who pray by sitting in silence. Or there are those who never use formalized sets of words but rather pour out a stream of consciousness type of prayer. Some sing their prayers (St. Augustine is reputed to have said that "[he] who sings, prays twice"). Maybe the answer to "how should we pray?" is more of a "what works for you and the time and the place" rather than a set once and for all answer.

This week we hear a prayer from the Psalms (a book full of prayers). We hear Jesus share a formula for prayer. In response we will reflect on why and how we pray.  Prayer is a key part of our relationship with God. It makes a difference. Which reminds me of this: [Source]

I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day. I had so much to accomplish that I didn't have time to pray. Problems just tumbled about me, and heavier came each task. "Why doesn't God help me?" I wondered. He answered, You didn't ask," I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day toiled on, gray and bleak. I wondered why God didn't show me. He said, "But you didn't seek.: I tried to come into God's presence. I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, "My child, you didn't knock." I woke up early this morning and paused before enter the day. I had so much to accomplish that i had to take time to pray. 

 And now I need to go and prepare for Facebook prayer time for this Tuesday afternoon.
--Gord

September Newsletter

 Evolving Church...Into What Exactly?

About 17 years ago then Moderator Peter Short called for a gathering of leaders within the United Church to discuss the future of the denomination. Like a lot of other such discussions I don’t remember anything concrete actually coming out of that event. I do remember writing a letter placing my name in nomination for attending (I was not selected).

In his call for the Arnprior event Short commented on the fact that the United Church was 80. Apparently some people count 40 years to be a generation and so, Short said, the United Church of Canada was entering its 3^rd generation. This resonated with me at the time, as I could clearly count myself as part of that third generation. My paternal grandmother had been, I found out at her funeral, a Presbytery Secretary in the 1950’s. My own parents had been very active in local church governance/leadership for my entire life. And I of course had gone into Ordained Ministry. But that is not really the point I was making.

The point I found when I looked at these three generations of leadership was that the church into which I was ordained was already very different than the church when my parents were on local council in the 1970’s and 80’s. That church itself was markedly different from the church when my grandmother was a Presbytery Secretary. Even then the United Church was a very different thing than it had been when my grandparents became United as children, when the Presbyterian Church in Simpson voted to become part of Union. 17 years later the church is again a different place than it was when I wrote that letter.

The church has always been evolving and changing. Even when we don’t notice. Even when we wish it would stay the same. Even when we pretend the change is not happening. Even when we try to stop it from happening. The church is always changing, largely because the people in the church and the world around the church is always changing.

Over the last 10-15 years I have seen a number of articles about what happens when organizations are not nimble enough to evolve as the world around them changes. Generally they don’t do so well. A classic example is KODAK, which remained stuck in the film era as cameras quickly became digital – where are they now? However mere survival is not why I think the church needs to keep evolving. In fact if survival is our main goal I suggest we are missing the point of being a faith community.

In the church we keep evolving, we keep reforming, because we are striving to follow where God is leading. The more we interact with the world, and with the tradition, and listen for God’s voice the more we are changed. The question that needs to guide our evolution is less “how can we be more relevant or worldly” and more “how is God calling us to be in the world today”.

So the question is never “should the church change?”. The questions we need to ask are “How is the church changing?” and “How should the church be changing?”. If the church did not evolve we would still not be ordaining women, or re-marrying divorced people, or recognizing the reality of racism, or working for LGBTQ+ inclusion. If the church did not listen for God’s wisdom (which I believe is revealed in a variety of places and ways) we would remain stuck in old ways of thinking and miss out the signs that God is at work around us. We would lose the chance to be a part of what God is about in the world.

The church can choose to resist. The church could choose to be the same as it once was. But then God will find another way. God leads us to evolve and change and grow so that we can take part in what God is up to – creating the Kin-dom of God. Sometimes we will get it wrong and try to evolve in the wrong direction. Sometimes we will run into a dead end and have to re-group. But we have to keep being open to change and evolution. May God give us the wisdom, the courage, and the hope to keep evolving as the gathered children of God.

And who really knows where we will end up, what we will look like, who we will be? Maybe God has some big surprise waiting for us!

Looking Ahead to September 4, 2022 -- 13th Sunday After Pentecost

As this is the first Sunday of September we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion this week.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• James 2:8-13
• Mark 7:14-23

The Sermon title is What Do People See?

Early Thoughts: How can you tell if a person has been transformed by their encounter with the Living God? Is it in the words they say? Maybe. Is it in their piety? That can possibly be a show. Is it how well they can quote Scripture? That could just show they have a good memory. 

More than anything the evidence of transformation in a person's life is shown in their actions. Being a faithful follower of Christ is really a "by their fruits they shall be known" type of thing.

[detour... As I was writing the above paragraphs the Shoop Shoop Song (It's in his Kiss) came to my mind and I was almost tempted to rewrite  a bit of it...]

So what do people see when they look at us? What fruits are we producing?

In the Gospel reading this week Jesus gets to the heart of the matter. He points out that it is what comes out of us-- our words and actions-- that really matter. He points out that it is what is in our hearts that guides what comes out of us. It is a bit naive to suggest , as Jesus seems to, that what we take in does not play a part in the process as well (and I am not talking about food here). What we take in, the words and opinions and perspectives and attitudes, from the world around us can (and really does) make a big difference in the words and actions that we in turn put out into that world. The challenge is how we use and process what we take in. The challenge is in determining which inputs we give greater volume, greater power, greater influence.

And of course it matters what is in our hearts to begin with. How have our hearts been formed and/or transformed to enable us to live out the commandment to love our neighbour? That is part of what shapes how we process the massive amount of information and opinion and argument that washes over us each and every day. How is the Living God active in our hearts and souls to guide our words and actions? What is God helping grow in our lives?

What fruits are making you known in the world? What do people see in you?
--Gord

Looking Forward to August 28, 2022 -- 12th Sundy After Pentecost

 This week's Scripture Readings are:

• Galatians 5:13-21
• Luke 19:1-10

The Sermon title is Set Aside Old Ways

Early Thoughts: To follow Jesus is to open ourselves to transformation. To follow Jesus is to open ourselves to the possibility that the way we once lived is not the way we will live in the future. To follow Jesus means we may have to put down some things so we can pick something different up.

What do we need to put down? What do we need to set aside to make room for God's transformation to be at work in our lives? What might get in the way of us being able to fully live out God's commandment to love our neighbour as we love ourselves?

Zacchaeus took the chance. He made a real effort to see (and perhaps to be seen by) Jesus. And the encounter transformed him. He pledges himself to be a different man, he pledges his wealth in the service of his transformation. The simple act of being noticed by Jesus, of being welcomed into Jesus' circle (despite the objections of others to that act of welcome) pushes Zacchaeus to embrace God's transforming work in his life. 

Now we do not know all of his story. Maybe Zacchaeus had been pondering these questions for a while. Maybe he had been having a crisis of conscience in his work and role as a tax collector.  Maybe that is why he was so driven to see Jesus as he walked by? All we know is that this encounter results in a public promise that reflects a changed perspective. We trust and hope that he lived out that promise after Jesus left town.

WRiting to the Galatian church, Paul reminds them of a couple of things. One is that as followers of Christ we are called into a life of freedom, albeit a special kind of freedom. Freedom in Christ is not license to do whatever we want. Freedom in Christ is in fact committing ourselves to follow a Rule of Life, a Rule of Love. 

Paul also reminds us to be careful that we do not "bite and devour one another". Paul reminds us that there are things, he refers to the as desires of the flesh, that get in the way of us living out our freedom in Christ. These are the sorts of things that we need to set aside if we are to be open to God's work of transformation.

The big challenge, as I see it, is that many of the things we take for granted about the way the world works tend to fall into that list that Paul gives about the works of the flesh. Much of what is considered normal operating procedure n the world leads us to bite and devour one another. Some of the old ways we need to set aside have become so ingrained into our collective understanding that we do not even notice that they get in the way of our ability to follow the rule of Love. To be truly transformed we may need to have harsh truths told about "the way things are".

Jesus' ministry was all about proclaiming the Reign of God. Jesus invites us to follow a different path, a path of deep transformation. Zacchaeus heard the invitation and pledged to make major changes in his use of resources. He had to set aside a different way of acting and being in the world to live out that pledge. Jesus invites us to be transformed as well. What might we need to set aside to accept the invitation? Where is God trying to transform us?
--Gord

July Newsletter

 Connected... to what?

The prompt for this newsletter was the theme The United Church of Canada seeks to be a connected church. So the first question that comes to my mind is: “what does it mean to be a connected church?”. Which, as often happens in my brain, then leads to a bunch of other questions. Who do we want to be connected to? Who do we need to be connected to? Are the answers to those questions the same or different? Why do we want/need to be connected to them? Who are we already connected to? How are/were those connections formed? Who instigates the connection? How do we maintain the connection? Are we talking about local, denominational, ecumenical, interfaith, international connections?

Maybe I should stop thinking about questions....

When the United Church says it seeks to be a connected church I think it means a variety of things. Coming from the General Council level I think it means we should be connected to each other through the structures of the denomination. I think it also expresses a hope that we will continue to be connected to our various ecumenical and interfaith partners, both in Canada and in internationally. These are all, in my opinion, worthy things to work toward. It seems to me that we are stronger as a denomination when these connections are maintained.

But what does it mean for St. Paul’s to be a connected church? (Oh great, I am back to my questions again.)

First and foremost, I hope it means is that we feel connected to each other within this faith community. As a community of faith I hope and trust that we have developed a web of connections that allow us to support each other, share our hopes with each other, discuss life and faith with each other. Further I hope and trust that we have a web where new strands can be added in as new connections are formed.

Of almost equal importance to me is that we are a church connected to our neighbours. If we want to see ourselves as being a part, hopefully an integral part of Grande Prairie we have to be connected to the community around us. Reflecting on the stories I have heard over the years it seems to me that these connections have waxed and waned over time. There is a question I like to ask from time to time “if St. Paul’s suddenly disappeared from Grande Prairie what, if anything, would people notice?”. How we answer that question speaks to how connected we are to the wider community. I think that we are making new connections all the time. I think that we have built, or are building, relationships with a variety of groups in town. If we are going to grow and thrive as a community of faith we have to be intentional about continuing to build these connections. Also these connections will help us know how best to respond to the spiritual needs of the community.

We also need to be connected to the other faith communities around us. This means the United Churches in the area and the other faith communities in the city. I’ll talk a bit more about United Church connections in a moment. To be honest, connections with other faith communities were not especially strong as it was, and two years of COVID have probably weakened those connections that did exist. I think that as people who all care for the well-being of the community we are at our best if we can build (or re-build) connections with other churches and with other faith groups in town. It may not always be easy but I think it is important for us to think about.

Then there are connections with the larger United Church. One of the recurrent complaints I hear from across the country is that when we re-structured in 2019 we lost a lot of the connections between United Church congregations. I think that is largely true, though I am also quite sure that the pandemic has made that loss more profound than it might have been. Still, how much do we know about how life is going in the other United Churches in the Peace country? Do we know how we can support each other? Looking into the future, I see a time when the United Church of Canada will, in many areas of the country, be forced to look into new ways of being the church. This may, in some areas almost certainly will, include some form of regional ministry – and I think the Peace area is in the almost certainly category. That will only work if we have established healthy connections before we try to work out what it means to share ministry.

To be a healthy, thriving, lively community of faith; to be good witnesses to the Reign of God proclaimed and inaugurated by Jesus; we have to be connected in a variety of ways. I honestly don’t think it is an option. At the same time we can never be equally connected to everybody. So in the end I return to the list of questions I gave in the first paragraph. I don’t have full answers to any of them. I have shared some of where my brain leads me on those questions. Where does your brain take you when you consider what it means to be a connected church?
Gord