Looking Ahead to June 4, 2023

This is the first Sunday of the month and so we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion;

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Matthew 28:16-20
• John 20:19-23

The Sermon title is Be the Church

Early Thoughts: We are called to be the church. Not called to go to church. Not called to support the church. Not called to say the right words of faith or sing the hymns. (Though those all may be good things in and of themselves) We are called to BE the church.

How do we do that? What does it mean to be the church?

These passages this week both come from the end of their respective Gospels. After Easter Jesus give his disciples instructions. In both cases the instructions are about going out into the world. The Risen Christ does not tell his friends to sit around and tell each other the stories. He tells them to go out into the world, to share the story, to share the promise, to share the hope.

How will we be the church? Are are we the church today?

We gather together as a community of faith to remind ourselves of the story, the hope, the promise. We read the scriptures and sing the hymns and say the prayers. We reflect on how the old story intersects with our story. But in then end we gather together, we do all those things, to gain wisdom and strength so that we can be the church in the world.

Our lives, hopefully, are our testimony. How we live, how we interact with the world around us, how the world is different because we have passed through are signs of how we have chosen, as people of faith, to be the church in the world.

Like Peter and Andrew, Mary and Martha, and so many others over the centuries Jesus calls us to follow The Way. Like them Jesus also sends us out into the world. Teresa of Avila wrote a poem which begins "Christ has no body now but yours, No hands, no feet on earth but yours," (read the full poem here -- this poem is referenced in #171 of More Voices). If we are to be faithful we have to go out and be the church.

Will you join me in being the church? Will you help me tell the story, share the promise, spread the hope, pass the peace in the world?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to May 28, 2023 -- Pentecost Sunday

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Numbers 11:24-30
• Acts 2:1-12

The Sermon title is Spirit-Infused Life

Early Thoughts: What would our live look like if we allowed ourselves to be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit? How do and could we make a difference as people infused with the power of the Spirit?

Pentecost Sunday is commonly called the 'birthday of the church'. The story of the Holy Spirit breaking in to the Upper Room where the disciples have been staying (hiding? laying low?)and driving them out to proclaim the Good News (or Gospel) marks the beginning of a transition of the Jesus movement from a small group of followers to something that will eventually reach across the world. The Church begins, according to this story, not with Easter but the infusing of the Holy Spirit.

Blown out, driven by the Spirit, Peter and company can not contain themselves any longer. The hope which was born on Easter spills out and they have to tell everyone they meet. [It is totally unclear to me in this story if Peter and company speak all those various languages or if the Holy Spirit causes the words to be heard in a language that would be understood, regardless of what language is actually being spoken. Maybe Pentecost is the first recorded instance of a universal translator.] When the Spirit fills them to the brim it changes how they act, it transforms them.

A similar thing seems to happen in our story from Numbers. Here we have two examples. First the Spirit of God rests on the 70 elders of Israel and they prophesy while the Spirit is upon them -- but only then, they stop when the Spirit departs. Then there is the case of Eldad and Medad. It appears maybe they were supposed to be with the 70 in the first part of the reading but did not go -- maybe they missed the bus? Still the Spirit of God fills them and they begin to speak. Some think this is a problem. Some think Eldad and Medad are out of line.I wonder if Joshua sees it as a threat to Moses' authority? Moses sees it as a great gift. As one who knows what it is like to be touched with God's Spirit Moses, it appears, has different eyes and ears to understand the situation.

It seems that being filled with the Spirit is dangerous. It seems that it removes control from us. Sometimes the threat is felt by those who find themselves moved to do and say things they would not otherwise (I think of all those call stories in Scripture where the person being called express great reluctance to accept the call). Sometimes the community around them feels threatened and wants to do something to calm things down.

In The Last Battle, the final book of C.S. Lewis' Narnia cycle, we are reminded that Aslan, the great King from over the sea (who is clearly an allegory for Christ in the Narnia books) is "not a tame lion". Many times in the Narnia stories Aslan causes, orders, or leads people to act in ways very different from their first impulse. Not only is Aslan untamed, he causes people to act less tamely. When we embrace the Spirit of God, the third person of the Trinity, when we allow them into our hearts and souls their wildness may infect us. We might become a little less domesticated. {That might not be a bad thing, it is often a little terrifying.}

Maybe there is a reason why wind and fire are two common symbols for the Holy Spirit.

I wonder if we too often play it safe. I wonder if we resist letting ourselves be overtaken by the Holy Spirit infusing our lives. I wonder if sometimes we are like Joshua and want to shut down those who have been inspired by the Spirit when we should be like Moses and see it as a great gift. Maybe we need to allow ourselves to be blown around a bit. Maybe we need to raise our sails and feel the winds of God today.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to May 21, 2023 -- 7th Sunday of Easter

 As we conclude the season of Easter we also conclude our journey through 1 Corinthians 15 with verses 24-26 and 50-58.

The Sermon title is The Final Victory

Early Thoughts: Linnea Good has a song which begins with the words "I am no longer afraid of death" (it is from her album There Is a Time). In it she sings that this is because, as the end of the chorus states, "I know these caverns that lead to life".

Can we say that boldly in our faith lives? Or do we still fear death? [Whenever I ask that question I am reminded of the Woody Allen quote "I am not afraid of death; I just don't want to be there when it happens".] 

Those who have listened to me preach over the years will know that I profess a belief that, in the end, life always wins. If life has not yet appeared to win then we have not yet reached the end.

"Thine is the glory, risen conquering son. Endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won". "The strife is o'er, the battle done; the victory of life is won" "the last enemy to be destroyed is death" "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 

In song and Scripture we proclaim that in the resurrection of Christ death has been defeated. We know the pathway that leads to life. So why would we be afraid of death?

What would it look like if we lived as if life will always win? How might that change our attitudes and actions, our priorities and plans, our hopes and fears?
--Gord

PS> stay tuned for a Harry Potter reference or two this Sunday....