Looking Ahead to April 6, 2023 -- Maundy Thursday

 For Maundy Thursday this year we will be having a short, less formal, worship in the Friendship Room at 7:00. Communion will be served.

The Scripture we will hear this evening will be:

• 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
• Luke 22:14-23

Early Thoughts: For 2000 years we have gathered at the table of faith. For 2000 years we have broken bread and poured out the beverage (sometimes wine, sometimes juice) and eaten together.

The central weekend of the Christian Year begins with this meal, this remembering of another meal shared in an upper room. Before the arrest, before the trial, before the horror we pause to remember the God who sets God's people free. We pause to eat together and be refreshed.

As we gather on this evening there are a few things I want us to remember.

1. this is the meal that unites us across the miles and throughout the centuries with other people who have chosen this path of faith.
2. this bread and this drink may be a mere mouthful on this night but they remind us of the banquet that awaits us at the end of days, a time when folk will gather from many different places and traditions to eat together.
3. the meal that lies beneath this meal is a reminder that God sets God's people free, and so is also a reminder that we need to avoid placing each other in bondage

May our gathering to eat and drink and remember on this evening strengthen us as we face the emotional roller coaster that the weekend will bring.

Looking Ahead to April 2, 2023 --Palm Sunday

As this week is the first Sunday of the month we will be celebrating the sacrament of communion. If you are joining us online you are invited to have bread and juice available so we can all eat and drink together.

The Scripture Readings this week are: 

• Matthew 21:1-11
• Matthew 26:17-30
• Philippians 2:5-11

The Sermon title is Poured Out

Early Thoughts: In Matthew 26 we read: "While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”  Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you,  for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

In the other Gospel accounts of the Last Supper similar language is used. Luke (and Paul in 1 Corinthians 11) include words like "which is given for you" after the breaking of the bread. As we approach Good Friday and trial and execution (judicial murder if you prefer) maybe we should pause and reflect on the language we use around the sacrament.

Palm Sunday is a pivot point in our story. We begin the service on a note of triumph with a parade and promise and hope. But even in the midst of our celebration we can see a shadow on the horizon. All is not well with the world.

What does it mean to describe Jesus body as broken for us? What does it mean to describe the blood poured out for us? I ask this also thinking of the passage from Philippians we read this week.

Many scholars believe that these verses contain part of an ancient Christological [Christology is the branch of theology that talks about who we understand Jesus to be] hymn, which would make this among the earliest Christian musical pieces we have (does it count as a musical piece if we only have the words???). Paul's description of Jesus in the first half of this hymn, in my reading, goes well with the imagery of the words of institution -- broken for you, poured out for you.

There are many ways we can understand the communion meal. I believe that at different times we raise up different understandings. Certainly one of those understandings is to highlight the sacrificial nature of our faith story. Jesus embarks on a path for the glory of God's Reign, knowing what the likely result would be. Or in a more traditional understanding, Jesus take the place of the sin offering in the Temple, and makes that sort of sacrifice. Is that what it means to be poured out, to empty oneself for the sake of humanity?

This sacrificial understanding of Christ's work is not often raised up in the United Church (in my experience at least). It seems to be something that makes us uncomfortable. Certainly this is not my preferred understanding of the Communion meat (I personally prefer the banquet that gives us a foretaste of the banquet at the end of time). But I have come to learn that sometimes we need to intentionally sit with the things that make us uncomfortable. 

What does it say to you to talk about Jesus' body and blood broken and poured out for the world, for you? How does that cause us to respond?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 26, 2023 -- 5th Sunday in Lent

The Scripture Readings this week are: 

• Ezekiel 37:1-10
• John 11:32-45

The Sermon title is Is There Life Here?

Early Thoughts: Sometimes we see what we are looking for and miss out on what else there is to see. Where we expect to see death we see death, and maybe miss the promise of life.

Ezekiel in a valley of dry bones. Jesus, Mary and Martha weeping at the tomb of their beloved brother and friend. Why would they expect to see anything but reminders of the reality, the finality, of death? But in both stories God brings life. God surprises with life. God opens the possibility of life. God helps people see that life is still a possibility

Because make no mistake, in both of our stories the life comes from God. In the midst of his mystical experience Ezekiel is asked if life can be found in these bones. His response is a politer version of “why are you asking me? You have the answer?". Before calling Lazarus out of the tomb Jesus addresses God in prayer, naming that in what is about to happen people will see that God is active in Jesus' ministry. Death is a part of the reality of the world. Life comes from God.

I think we can get caught up in the reality of death. I think we can get so focused on the losses of death (both big deaths and little deaths) that we can lose hope that life is possible. We don't even see that God could bring life into the situation.

Sometimes our expectations shape what we see. We can look at a situation that feels hopeless and the only things we will see are signs of why it IS indeed hopeless. We can be so afraid that the church is dying that we only see the things we are losing as it dies. Sometimes we may need to hear God asking if there is a chance for life -- and then give the same answer that Ezekiel gives.

Is there life here? What will that life look like? God only knows....
--Gord

Looking Forward to March 19, 2023 -- 4th Sunday in Lent

 This Sunday we will be celebrating the sacrament of Baptism.

The Scripture Reading this week is 1 Samuel 16:1-13.

The Sermon title is What Did God See?

Early Thoughts: Samuel sees with the wrong eyes. He starts out to anoint a new king and thinks he knows what God is looking for but is wrong.  

Samuel sees Eliab and is sure "this is the one". What did he see? Was Eliab tall and strong? Did he have wisdom in his eyes? Was he youthful and energetic? We don't know what made Samuel so sure, but he is wrong. God, we are told does not look at the outside but the inside. So what does God see in the youngest son, the one who has been out tending the flocks?

Source

Ironically, the text, having earlier said that God does not look at outward experience, then tells us how wonderfully attractive David was.

But the fact remains that David is the one who has been chosen. David, who we later will learn is far from perfect, is the one that God says "this is the new king". What did God see in this shepherd boy?

The text this week tells us that God looks at the heart. So God saw something in David's in-most being that stood out. As the story of David unfolds over the next several chapters we find out that David may well have a good heart, a focus on trusting God, a special relationship with God. David will slay Goliath [and do so trusting not in human armor but in the power of God] in defense of God and God's people. David will (according to tradition) write poems and songs showing his devotion to God. David will also fall mightily, he will go astray, he will sin grievously but will then fall before God in repentance and confession. Is David perfect? By no means. But God sees something in David and God stays with David to the end of his life.

I think God saw the imperfection but also the possibility. And God focused on the possibility. So Samuel was called to anoint David as the next king of Israel.

So what does God, who looks not at outward appearances but at the heart, see in us? In our baptism liturgy we affirm that we are commissioned, called, and claimed by God. In baptism we recognize the baptized as a beloved child of God. What does God see in us? What possibilities and promise does God see in God's beloved children? What parts of us does God focus on?

I suspect that we, like Samuel, often see with the wrong eyes. We look for the wrong things. We judge by the wrong standards. Can we try to see ourselves and our neighbours as God sees them?
--Gord