Looking Forward to July 2, 2023 -- 5th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 9A

 The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Genesis 18:1-8
• Matthew 10:40-42

The Sermon title is Welcome!

Early Thoughts: Many centuries ago the writer of Hebrews wrote these words: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2). Near the end of the last century I read a book called Practicing Our Faith which outlines 12 practices, or habits, or ways of being, that are key parts of living out our faith (and as I type this I am wondering if I should give that book another read -- maybe a study group potential?) and one of those practices is hospitality. While I was looking through my bookshelves this morning I came across another book, Hospitality, the Sacred Art. It has chapters like "Hospitality as Transformation", "Hospitality to Family: Offering Full Presence to Those Closest to Us", Hospitality to Strangers: Pursuing Kinship Rather Than Estrangement", and "Hospitality to Enemies: Extending Generosity through Non-Retaliation". In my browsing around I even found a blog post I wrote on hospitality 13 years ago.

Which is a bit of a long winded way to affirm that I think that hospitality is really important in our life together.  This week's passages reaffirm that hospitality is one of those things commanded, commended, and modeled in our Scripture story.

Abraham sees three strangers coming by his tent and immediately makes them feel welcome. I have always thought that this story is one that the writer of Hebrews had in his head for the verse quoted above. At any rate Abraham knows that in the wilderness one needs to welcome the stranger. It is a matter not only of good manners but of survival. Those who are not welcomed and supported in the wilderness may find themselves in mortal peril.

In these few verses from Matthew's gospel Jesus commends the acts of hospitality, even a simple act like offering a cup of cold water. These verse come at the end of Jesus' discourse to the apostles as he prepares to send them out to teach and heal and preach. He has warned them that they will not always be welcomed. He has warned them that the message they carry might cause dissension. And then he tells them to recognize what has happened when they are indeed welcomed. Later in Matthew's gospel Jesus will tell a parable about sheep and goats and includes the line "whatever you did for the least of these [siblings] of mine you did for me". That parable itself contains multiple references to acts of hospitality.

When we decided to be an Affirming Ministry we were making a decision about how we practice hospitality. We made a commitment to be a place where folk are welcomed and supported as they wander through the wilderness parts of their lives (and as they wander through the less-wild {more civilized?} parts of their lives). Hopefully we will live that welcome out in big and in small ways. And hopefully we will continue to offer hospitality based on need and presence, not on membership in a community. Some groups only welcome those who belong or who fit the 'right' criteria. Some places have signs on their doors saying things like "washrooms for customers only". Jesus invites, commands, challenges us to practice a far more radical form of hospitality. We have committed to do so. How will we live into that commitment?
--Gord

PS: It occurs to me as I type this that this Saturday, the day before we will hear these passages read in worship the Canada Day parade will pass by our doorstep. And there are folks who will be handing out freezies and water, who will have the door open for people who need to use the washroom or possibly need to step in out of the sun for a moment. We already know how to live out radical hospitality.

Looking Ahead to June 25, 2023 -- 4th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 7A

 The Scripture Reading this week is Matthew 10:24-39

The Sermon title is Choose a Side

Early Thoughts: Sometimes we play it safe. Sometimes we try to keep the peace. Sometimes we shy away from controversy.

In this week's reading Jesus tells us we shouldn't do that.

Near the end of the 1st century of the Common Era (also known as the Christian Era, still sometimes referred to as AD [Anno Domini, Year of the Lord]) John of Patmos wrote down an account of his vision (or visions) in the book we call Revelation. In chapters 2 and 3 of that book we have letters to 7 churches in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Re-reading Jesus' words in Matthew this morning I was drawn to think of the letters to the Churches in Sardis and Laodicea. Both those churches are challenged on how they show their commitment to live as transformed people, followers of Christ. Multiple times over the last 20 years (or more) I have heard those words to Laodicea about being lukewarm applied to the United Church. To be fair I have also hear the United Church being accused of being too hot, to committed to certain causes. Sometimes it is hard to know how much heat is a good thing.

{Side note, for a while now I have been considering taking a few weeks to explore those letters to the 7 churches and see what wisdom they may hold for the modern church}

The challenge Jesus lays before us in these verses from Matthew 10 are not entirely comfortable. At least not for me, your response may vary. Does your vision of Jesus, the one we call Prince of Peace, include these words: 

Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me,

Then there is the challenge to take up your cross, to risk execution and ostracism, as a way of proving your commitment to The Way. These are not comforting images. They challenge my natural tendency to just keep things at as even a keel as possible.

Are we ready to take a strong, loud, active stand in the world? Even if it causes some discomfort and conflict? Even if we feel we are taking a big risk? Can we stand in the light and proclaim from the rooftops?  Are we lukewarm or will we blow hot or cold?

What does it mean to choose God's side?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to June 18, 2023 -- 3rd Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 6A

 The Scripture Reading this week is Matthew 9:35-10:16

The Sermon title is Sharing the Story

Early Thoughts: Do we love to tell the story of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love?

Jesus sees that there is too much work for one person so he deputizes the inner circle to go out and share the work. They are to tell the story, proclaim the love, carry God wherever they go. They are to pack incredibly light and rely, as one might say, on the kindness of strangers.They are to seek out those who are 'worthy' (which I think might mean those who are amenable to the message that is being shared) and to avoid those who are 'not worthy' (after all why beat your head against a wall). 

At the end of the Gospel of Matthew the Risen Christ will appear to these same people on a mountain in Galilee and send them out again "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you", words that the church has held as instructions for all of us ever since.

So, like the original 12, we have been deputized. We have been sent out to share the story, to continue the tradition that is close to 2000 years old now.

What is the best way to do that?

The 1986 Apology

If we are honest, following this instruction has sometimes led the church to a bad place. In the era of colonization the church, in alliance with the kingdoms of Europe, saw this task of sharing the story as a part of "civilizing" the Indigenous peoples of Asia, Africa and the Americas. Our forebears mistook their version of the faith story as the only correct, or even the only possible, version of the faith story. 

At the General Council meeting in 1986 the United Church of Canada made an apology, and named that we had made that very mistake.

So how do we share the story, share the promise, share what feeds our spirits, and also respect that other people have their own story, their own spirituality? That may be the big question of how we do evangelism into the future.

If the church is going to survive, grow, thrive we need [at least] three things to happen: 1) we have to share the story, 2) the story will need touch the hearts of those who hear it, and 3) God will stir the hearts of the listeners to respond. We have no control over the last one. We have a good deal of control over the first two.

The church, us, has made mistakes in how we share the story in the past. We have to name that and learn from it. We have a story to share, a treasure in clay jars as Paul described it (we may be the clay jars in that image). We need to share the story, the promise, the hope. We also have to honour and respect the people with whom we are sharing the story. We can't assume that our understanding is the best or the only or the right one. We have to be ready to listen as we share. We have to be ready to celebrate what others have to share.

And then we trust that God is at work. Who knows what may happen next?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to June 11, 2023 -- Affirming Celebration

 At our Annual Meeting in March St. Paul's voted to become an Affirming Ministry and a member of Affirm United. We have chosen to make June 11 the day when we have our celebration of this decision and have our certificate formally presented. This means that going forward June 11 will be our Affirmiversary.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Isaiah 56:1-8
• Acts 10:9-16
• Galatians 3:26-29

The Sermon title is Outcast No More

Early Thoughts: What does it mean to say all are welcomed, all are included, all can choose to belong? Who are the outcasts in our communities?

Source

 

The story of faith is the story of our relationship with a God who wants to bring all people into God's family. The story of faith is also the story of communities who find many ways to make people outcasts. Years ago the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated that "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice". As people of faith, people who are growing in our understanding of how God would have us live in community, we too have to be willing to be bent towards justice.

As I consider this move toward justice, this desire of God to bring together all of God's family I find my head ringing with the words of the prophet known as Lady Gaga in the song Born This Way:

Don't be a drag, just be a queen
Whether you're broke or evergreen
You're black, white, beige, cholo descent
You're Lebanese, you're orient
Whether life's disabilities
Left you outcast, bullied, or teased
Rejoice and love yourself today
'Cause baby, you were born this way

No matter gay, straight, or bi
Lesbian, transgendered life
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born to survive
No matter black, white, or beige
Chola or orient made
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born to be brave!

I'm beautiful in my way
'Cause God makes no mistakes
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way
Don't hide yourself in regret
Just love yourself, and you're set
I'm on the right track, baby
I was born this way, yeah

We in the church have a ways to go. We in the wider world have a ways to go. We continue to build systems that create "in" and "out". God is calling us to a different vision. God is calling us to build a world where there are no outcasts. In Christ God invites all to come and explore what it means to be a beloved child of God. Who are we to deny the reality of that invitation?
--Gord