Looking Ahead to November 24, 2024 -- Reign of Christ Sunday

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14
• Psalm 93
• John 18:33-37

The Sermon title is King?

Early Thoughts: What does it mean to talk of God/Jesus as our king?

I think that is a question about authority and loyalty. I also think it might push us to reconsider how we currently assign those things.

Jewish  Scripture is, at best, ambivalent on the question of whether or not kings are a good thing for society. I think it in fact leans heavily to the side that human kings "like other nations" are not a good thing for the people of Israel. The people of God do not need a king like other nations because they already have a king to whom they owe total loyalty and from whom authority flows -- that would be God. At their best the human king is seen as God's anointed/chosen (sometimes, as in Psalm 2:7, also described as Son of God) and acting as God's surrogate.

In the Apocalyptic parts of Scripture we also find this insistence that God is the proper King, source of authority and owed our loyalty. When the world is changed then God will rule over the world.

And then we have Jesus. All three of our hymns this Sunday will have us singing about Jesus, the Messiah, as Lord and King. A relatively common Christian understanding of Daniel 7:13-14 is that it is talking about Jesus, particularly the Risen Christ. This is not a Constitutional Monarchy being discussed [which makes sense since the ancient world had no concept of a Constitutional Monarchy like we find in Canada and other nations today] but a King with full authority and power.

In a world where kingship has largely taken on a totally different understanding what does it mean to proclaim God/Jesus as Lord and King? In a world where we try to flatten the distribution of power where do we place authority? In a world where we are constantly told we have to be loyal to our country, or community, or 'our people' or even our church where does the Reign of God that extends beyond all human divides come in?

This is the final Sunday of the year, a day when we explicitly name that we are part of, and waiting for, the Reign of Christ/Kingdom of God. I think that taking that seriously means thinking seriously about things we largely took for granted in the days of Christendom.

In a Christendom world there were assumptions made. It was assumed that the king (or other form of government to some degree) was still God's chosen and anointed. Part of the coronation of Charles III included an anointing with oil by an archbishop. It was therefore assumed (generally) that the King was owed your loyalty and that to rebel was not only disloyal to the realm but an affront to God. This is part of why it was such a big deal that England and France (in different centuries) executed their properly installed monarchs.

I think assumptions are dangerous. Human kings and governments are prone to error, to say the least. AS we have move to different understandings of government and have moved out of a Christendom-defined worldview I think we can start to challenge some assumptions.

I think the first assumption is about loyalty.  We hear a lot about loyalty these days and are liable to hear a lot more.  President-Elect Trump showed during his first term and has continued to show that he expects his appointees to be loyal to him personally even when their role (and even their oaths of office) are to loyal to the US Constitution.  Sort of a modern-day equivalent of l'etat c'est moi (I am the state) from the days of France's monarchy. That is an extreme example but there have always been voices in many countries calling that people prove their loyalty in some way.

Maybe the voices are wrong. Maybe the ultimate loyalty for people of Christian faith is not to any country, political party, or leader. Maybe our loyalty is meant to be given to God and God's Reign/Kingdom first and foremost. Maybe our call is to be a citizen of God's Country/Reign/Kingdom first and a Canadian (or British or French or....) 2nd. 

The loyalty question leads almost automatically push us to consider authority. What does it mean to say that God has authority over us? Maybe the authority question, in a world where we are increasingly encouraged to claim our own personal autonomy and authority, is in fact the hardest part of seeing God/Jesus as king. Who or what does have authority to guide or direct us? To influence our decisions?  To tell us where we have gone wrong? Why do we grant them that authority?

Christian Scripture and tradition have long proclaimed Jesus, the Risen Christ, as our King (king of kings and lord of lords one might sing). Pilate passes on the accusation that Jesus is a king in opposition to Caesar (and Jesus sort of evades the question -- or at least moves it into a different realm, different type of kingdom). But Scripture and tradition have also proclaimed that Jesus is a different type of king, a Servant King who is among us "as one that serves". In this world what does it mean to talk about the Kingdom or Reign of God or Christ as King? How do we show we are loyal to God's Reign? Where do we cede authority to God?

ANd what do we do when the systems of power that govern our lives act in ways incompatible with our understanding of being a loyal citizen of God's Realm?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 17, 2024 -- Proper 28B, 26th Sunday After Pentecost

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Daniel 12:1-3
• Mark 13:1-8

The Sermon title is Is the End Near?

Early Thoughts: This past weekend I was thinking of a quote from the movie Hope Floats (which may make a re-appearance on the first Sunday of Advent when we consider seeking hope in the midst of chaos):

Beginnings are usually scary and endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up. And it will.

 It is my firm belief that really life is a series of endings and beginnings (with more than a few continuings thrown in for good measure). That can be both exciting and distressing. IT can lead us to explore a brave new world or it can lead us to weep and wail, to tear our clothes and mourn.

Maybe not this particular preacher

Our Scripture readings this week come from a genre of literature called apocalyptic. Apocalyptic literature often leads to discussion of the 'end times'. It is also not a part of Scripture that many United Church folks spend a lot of time talking about. Talking about the end times conjures up images of the street corner preacher with a sandwich board and a loud voice calling everyone to repent before it is too late.

However it is undeniable that talk about the end is a part of our faith story. In both the Jewish and Christian Scriptures there are predictions of what will happen when God transforms the world and what currently is will come to an end. So we really should talk about it at some point.

I see at least two things that need to be part of our discussions. First is to ask what we mean by 'near'. Scripture does not tell us how to know exactly what near might mean. The apocalyptic literature in Scripture can, and has, been used to describe almost every era of human life in the last 200 years. And given that Christianity talks about the coming of the Kingdom of God in terms of the 'now and the not yet' that is not really surprising. If God is, as I believe to be true, constantly at work transforming and changing the world the the end has come, is now, and is yet to be. So maybe near is not the best term to use unless your vision if of some cataclysmic event where everything will be changed in a flash.

The other question is based on remembering a couple of hymn lines: "In our end is our beginning..in our time eternity..in our death a resurrection", The Christian story of cross and empty tomb reminds us that endings open the door for a new beginning. I also remember that all good things come to an end, that nothing human is in fact meant to remain the same forever. Change is, as they say, the only constant. 

As God's Reign grows to full flower in the world some things must end so that the new thing God is doing can start to grow. Some things have to end so that others can begin. In a finite world, where energy and resources are limited, the only way to grow is to die.

So the end being near might be a good thing. It might be a cause for celebration as well as a cause for concern. Talking about endings may bring sadness as we prepare to say good-bye to something we hold dear. But talking about beginnings may bring hope and promise (as well as a bit of anxiety). As we celebrate the coming of the Reign of God the end is indeed near...but so is the beginning. Thanks be to God.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 10,2024 -- Remembrance Sunday, 25th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper27B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 146
• Isaiah 61:1-4 
• Luke 4:16-21

The Sermon title is Peace, A Transformed World

Our reflection prompt for this week

Early Thoughts: Peace. What does that look like? How do we get there?

One of the markers of the Reign of God/God's Kingdom (or Kin-dom if you prefer) is that this will be a time of peace and harmony. Isaiah and the other prophets point to this with images like the Peaceable Kingdom in Isaiah 11 or when both Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 talk about turning swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks and then going on to say "nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more". In the Sermon on the Mount, as part of the Beatitudes, Jesus says that the Peacemakers will be blessed. 

The Reign of God is also a Reign of Peace. It is a transformation in how we live with our neighbour. It is a world where all has been changed. It is a time when the hearts and priorities of humanity have been transformed.

I am one of those people who believe that peace will never come from a show of strength. It does not come from the use of force to crush those who disagree. I believe that peace comes with justice (by which I mean social justice). Unless we have a just world we will never have a peaceful world.

All 3 of our Scripture readings this week echo this call and hope for justice. They share images of release and liberation, of healing, of God's special concern for those on the margins. This is the transformation the Jesus announces at the beginning of his ministry. Jesus is, in the Gospels, all about proclaiming that the Kingdom of God has come (indeed in Mark's Gospel that is precisely how he begins his public ministry). With Jesus God is at work bringing transformation to the world.

Next Monday we are invited to pause for 2 minutes at 11:00. In that pause we honour those who have been sacrificed by a world that does not yet know what peace could be. In that pause we recognize that the transformation has not yet happened, or at least has not yet been completed. Some days it seems unlikely that the transformation to a world where peace and justice are the rule and norm could ever happen. It would be easy to write it off as a utopian pipe dream.

Another CHatGPT creation

But we are called to be people of hope. We are called to remember that God is not done with the world yet, that God continues to work in, around, and through these often-flawed children that God loves. We are people of a dream, God's dream. In Scripture we see the stories of people trying to sort out how God would have them live. But we also see in Scripture a picture of what is possible. God proclaims that there WILL be a day when peace and justice are not only possible but a reality.

It will take transformed hearts and minds and souls. It will take a radical change in human priorities. It will look very different from how the world looks now. But it IS going to happen--someday.  Peace will break out. Justice will flow like a river. And we shall be living in the full-blown Reign of God.

May it be so.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 3, 2024 -- Proper 26B, 24th Sunday After Pentecost

All images created using ChatGPT

For the month of November we are building toward the last Sunday of the Church Year, a day when we intentionally talk about the Reign of Christ/Christ the King. I encourage us to take this month to reflect on what it means to procalim the reality of God's Kingdom in the world today.

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Leviticus 19:33-34
• Ruth 1:1-10, 19-22
• Mark 12:28-34

The Sermon title is Love the Migrant, the Refugee

Early Thoughts: The heart of what it means to follow Jesus is to love your neighbour with a very broad definition of neighbour.

9 Years ago, in the middle of a Federal election we had the leader of a federal party talk about "old stock Canadians", a phrase which caused a fair bit of reaction and discussion. Earlier this fall the premier of Alberta talked about Albert only wanting to accept immigrants who "share our values". In the current US election there have been a LOT of comments/discussion about immigrants and how dangerous they are (most recently one candidate referred to the US as an occupied nation that he would free with the largest deportation program ever). The former British government developed a scheme whereby refugee claimants would be sent to Rwanda.

How we respond to migrants (economic migrants, people looking for a change/second chance, and refugees) has probably been an issue for human civilizations since the beginning. In countries like the US and Canada which have been built through immigration there have been long debates over who is "acceptable" as immigrants. In recent years asylum seekers/refugees in general have been largely seen with deep suspicion both in North America and Europe. [And we have to note that skin colour/country of origin has often or always played a BIG role in determining if people should be welcomed with open arms or not.]

So it is that this year as I mused on what to do with the commandment to love your neighbour as yourself my mind went to the question of those who come from away. Really it is a focusing on one aspect of the question Jesus is asked in Luke 10:29 "But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?". Is the economic migrant, the refugee, the newcomer truly my neighbour? Am I really supposed to love them like I love the people I grew up around? The people who are like me? 

Pretty sure Jesus would say yes.

The stories of Scripture show us that those people were also concerned with how to treat migrants, newcomers, and those from away. And while there are parts of the story that are not friendly to those who are 'not like us' (eg. the people who returned from exile in Babylon were told to put aside the foreign wives they had acquired while in exile) there are other parts of the story that talk about caring for, acting lovingly toward, the stranger, the outsider, the migrant.

Ruth was an outsider. She married into the people of Israel because her husband's family were economic migrants to Moab and settled there, building a life.  Then she herself became a migrant when it was time for what was left of the family to return home. Poor Naomi is an economic migrant or refugee twice in the story.

Levitical law tells the people (who as the story goes were a whole refugee people fleeing one life for a better life) treat the outsider well. A big part of that argument is "for you were aliens in Egypt" . You know what it is like to be mistreated so do better when you have the chance.

Then Jesus tells us that we are to love our neighbour as we love ourselves and the. Jesus tells us to love our enemy. Jesus tell the story of the Good Samaritan to answer the question about who is my neighbour. Jesus tells us that others we will know we are his followers by our love.

THere are many concerns that go into the immigration discussion. How does population growth impact housing and public services is a big concern. We can't pretend there are not details to sort out to make it work. We also can not, as people of faith, followers of Jesus, try to limit ourselves to only accepting the 'right sort' of people. We have to care for the refugees and migrants. We have to push for them to have the same standard of living and opportunities as the rest of us.

Most importantly we can not allow ourselves to be led in to thinking they are a problem to be solved or a threat to be neutralized.

Jesus never promised that loving friend neighbour or enemy would be easy after all.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to October 27, 2024-- Proper 25B, 23rd Sunday After Pentecost

The Scripture Readings this week as we close Thanktober are:

• Jeremiah 31:7-9
• Psalm 126
• Mark 10:46-52

ChatGPT's image for healing and renewal

The Sermon title is Thanks for Renewal

Early Thoughts: When have you felt healed and renewed? Is there a difference between healing and renewal? If so what do you think it is?

This week we have two passages that talk about the renewal or restoration of the nation of Israel (meaning the scriptural nation of several thousand years ago, not the modern nation-state) alongside a healing story where Jesus gives sight to Bartimaeus -- we are not told if Bartimaeus has been blind since birth or came to be blind later in life, though the last verse does suggest that he once had sight but lost it through accident or sickness.

I asked ChatGPT to add Jesus

Over and over again in Scripture God is revealed as one who bring wholeness, healing, restoration and renewal to the world. I believe God continues to do this. 

So when have you felt healed or restored or renewed? When has God brought wholeness back into your life?

Conversely, when have you felt in need of healing, renewal or restoration? When have you felt a broken-ness that you wished could be made whole again? Did the healing/restoration/renewal or return to wholeness match what you thought you wanted or needed? [Sometimes it doesn't.]

I suggest that sometimes, maybe even often, we miss the acts of God to bring healing or renewal because they seem so small. Or we think that there is some other reason, like some choice we made. Or we might even miss the healing/restoration/renewal because it was not what we expected.

A year ago this congregation was, to a degree, in a state of panic. For three consecutive years we had 5 figure deficits, with 2022 being around $30 000. We knew that this put as in danger of running out of resources but we were really unsure what the solution might be. We were sure we had to either sell the building, cut staffing time, or both. The concern was palpable. But God had already been working -- we just hadn't quite caught on yet.

Then I asked to add a sense of community

Starting in the first half of 2023 God had obviously been at work in the hearts of the members of this faith community and revenue started to improve. So much so that we finished 2023 with essentially a balanced budget, without major cuts to expenditures. There was still a bit of wondering of "was this a one-off event" but many started to feel that we had a bit more time to breathe and ask who God was calling us to be as a community of faith in the space and time. Then halfway through this year we got a surprise -- someone wanted to lease out half of our basement. All these things happened because people made choices but it is my belief that God was at work in hearts and minds and souls as those choices were made.

God brought a measure of healing and renewal into our midst. Even when some had started to lose hope God was at work.

This is one example. Many of us, in our personal lives, can think of other examples. Maybe we need to stop and look at the events again, to have our eyes opened and see with new sight, to see where God was at work. Still God has been at work in our lives, healing our hurts, renewing our world, restoring our hope, making whole that which was broken.

Thanks be to God.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to October 20, 2024 -- 22nd Sunday After Pentecost Proper 24B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 92:1-4
• Psalm 91

Did some playing with ChatGPT

The Sermon title is Thanks for Being There

Early Thoughts: When have you felt alone and isolated? What was that like? Did you feel vulnerable, unprotected, at risk?

One of the things I truly appreciate about the Psalms is that they invite me to explore, settle it, maybe even wallow in the reality of life with God. One of the other things that I appreciate about these ancient poems is that they can bring me comfort, they can remind me that God is there, they can tell me that God is looking out for me.

I could have chosen many different Psalm readings for that purpose.

Psalm 91 is, for me, a very comforting piece. Like many others I know the stomach churning that comes with feeling alone, isolated and vulnerable. Maybe that is why I have always been so drawn to the fact that A New Creed begins and ends with the affirmation that we are not alone.

This is our month of Thanktober, our Month Of Thanks, a time when I want us all to stop and reflect on why we are thankful.

More ChatGPT Playing

One of the reasons that I am thankful is that I am not alone, that it is not only my wits and strength that are going to protect me.

And that is a good thing.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 1, 2024 -- 15th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 17B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Psalm 15
• Psalm 24:3-6 
• James 1:21-27

The Sermon title is Am I Worthy?

Early Thoughts: How do we make ourselves worthy? Do we just have to work harder? If we just try harder, do more, spend more hours in service will we make ourselves worthy in the eyes of our families? Our neighbours? Ourselves? God?

Some (many?) of us wrestle with feeling worthy from time to time. For some people the default is to assume that for some reason they are unworthy: unworthy of love, unworthy of friendship, unworthy of success, maybe even unworthy of life. We might pick up those messages from a variety of places: family, teachers, peers, social media, our own self talk, tv/movies. How do we counteract that?

To be honest I don't think our readings this week help with that.  Both Psalms seem to set a pretty high bar for being eligible to stand in God's presence. Not that any of those attribute we find listed in them are bad, in fact they are indeed good things to aspire to, just that how many of us can honestly say that our lives meet that standard all the time? Maybe, like Wayne and Garth, we fall to our knees and declare:

And yet, in the years when I was most beset by feelings of guilt/shame and inadequacy the church was one of my refuges from those feelings. I think there were a couple of reasons for that. One was certainly the community, the community that I had been a part of for so long, the place where so much surrogate family could be found. But there was also something deeper. Since I was a young child the church taught me about the God who looks at creation and says "it is very good", the God who sees me as their Beloved Child, the God who knows my failures and mis-steps and offers forgiveness. In short the church reminded me that in God's eyes I have worth.

Sometimes we might think that if we were just 'better" that would make us feel worthy. We just need to do more (and better), to work harder and longer, then we would earn worthiness. Our culture can support that idea, the idea that we are only worthy because of what we do/accomplish/earn (and buy). But I think that misses the mark.

I believe that God call us worthy by virtue of existing. This does not mean we always get it right, t means that we are worthy even when we get it wrong. So I think the Psalmists might be a bit off. Or maybe the Psalmists were being aspirational, encouraging us to live into God's vision for who we could be. Maybe James is doing that too. Because there is a mirror to not feeling worthy, it is to get too comfortable in the idea that God calls us worthy "just as I am without one plea". The path of wisdom is in remembering that we are called worthy and Beloved AND that we can probably do a bit (or a whole lot) better.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to August 25, 2024 -- 14th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 16B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Joshua 24:14-18
• John 6:56-69

Source

The Sermon title is Where Would You Go?

Early Thoughts: Let us begin with a memory...

It is 1991. I am meeting with representatives from the M&P Committee as a first step in entering the candidacy process. During this meeting one of them asks if I am sure that the UCCan is the right place for me. He says that over the last couple of years he had heard from many members and clergy who were realizing that they may have been in the wrong place. At 22, as a third generation UCCan person who had grown up in that specific congregation since I was 2, I found it a very odd question. Why would it not be the right place? 30+ years later I see it was actually a very wise question. [In hindsight I have to wonder if the 1988 General Council Decision regarding human sexuality was a part of the background to this question.]

Sometimes we need to be challenged, we need to be pushed to consider if we are in the right place --even if we see no reason we would go anywhere else.

The sixth chapter of John begins with a miracle story. Jesus feeds thousands of people with just a couple of fish and a few small loaves. The chapter then has an extended discourse on Jesus as the bread of life. Now, as the chapter comes to a close some in the crowds are finding that the teaching is too hard and are falling away. So Jesus asks those who are still there if they also wish to leave. They return with the question "where would we go?". In Jesus they have found the path to Life, in Jesus they have met the Word Made Flesh. Why should they leave?

In our other reading we stand at Shechem with the people of Israel as Joshua, the successor to Moses, the one who led them across Jordan into the Promised Land, gives his final address to the people. He has reminded them of all that God has done since the time of Abraham until this very moment, then he challenges them, asking if they will remain faithful to the God who led them there or will they fall away to the other gods worshipped by their new neighbours. The people respond that pf course they will remain faithful. [It is worth mentioning that in the next verses Joshua tells the people that they are not going to keep their word but that this day will be a witness against them when they fail at the task.] How could they turn away from the God who has done so much for them? Where else would they turn?

How might we answer these two question, the one asked by Jesus and the one aske by Joshua? When things get challenging will we fall away? If we did where might we go?

IT is a harder question than it seems. The easy response is to pretend it is an odd, even irrelevant question. Surely we would stay where we are, we would not fall away. So maybe the first thing is to ask ourselves what might lead us to fall away. After all what leads us to look for a new path/place may shape where we would end up going.

If we are honest with ourselves and each other we know that we change over time. A place that has always felt like home may eventually feel like a foreign land (either because it changed or we changed). Sometimes to be faithful to who we are and to how God is moving in our lives we need to find a new place, a new expression of the faith, a new home. SO how do we know where we might go as we look for the words of truth and life?

And for the record, my answer to the question about the UCCan from 30+ years ago is the same. I love my ecumenical partners and colleagues, but this denomination is where I find the best expression of my faith. Where else would I go?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to July 14, 2024 -- 8th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 10B

The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 6:14-29.

The Sermon title is Dangerous Oaths

Source

Early Thoughts: This week we continue our journey through Mark's Gospel. But what on earth do we do with this story?

It is a nice light thing to talk about in the middle of the summer isn't it. Salome dances and pleases the king [side note, this story is the origin of the famed "Dance of the Seven Veils", which adds a bit of a salacious angle to the story] who makes a somewhat rash promise. Then Salome's mother sees a chance to get revenge on a troublesome preacher, ending with a rather gruesome addition to the evening's festivities.

I see a few possibilities. One could take a slightly misogynistic turn on the story and preach on the ways women lead men astray, using both Salome and her mother as examples. Not going there myself. Not ever going there.

Or one could use this to talk about the risks of speaking truth to power. John is in this situation because he called Herod and Herodias to account for their behaviour. And he ends up paying a really steep price for doing that. We too are called to speak truth to power, to take risks for what we feel is right. There is certainly a sermon there.

For me this year one line jumped out. When Salome comes back and tells Herod what she wants him to do to fulfill his oath Mark says "he king was deeply grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her". Earlier in the story we have been told that for various reasons Herod was reluctant to kill John, but now he seems to be trapped by his own words.

When do we find ourselves trapped by our own words? When do we make a promise and then feel honour-bound to keep it even when it feels distasteful or wrong to do so?

From an early age we are told to keep our promises. Scripturally speaking, keeping oaths would be a good thing. Herod would lose face if he 'chickened out' and reneged on the vow that he made in front of them,. There are lots of reasons to follow-through. And yet....

When I re-read the story I have to wonder if anyone other than Herodias thought this was a good idea. I ponder the possibility that some or all of the guests were repulsed as the platter was brought in and presented to Salome. Might the gathering have given Herod a free pass when they heard the request? 

AS people of faith we are called first to be faithful to the rule of love. Yes we need to be people who keep our word, we need to be seen as people of integrity but our first loyalty is to the gospel of love. So we need to be careful about the promises we make, we have to not make promises that put us in conflict between keeping our word and living as people of love.

Even more important, there may be times when we need to be ready to look foolish or lose honour and respect because we know what the right thing to do is. Sometimes we need to do what is right and faithful even when it means breaking our word.

If we are realistic, we know that this is the way life works. We know, and we teach our children, that there are time when we have to say "I know I promised but...".

Words, oaths, promises are powerful and important things. They can keep us on the right path or they can push us into doing terrible things. We need to discern when to make promises, when/how to keep our promises, and also when to break our promises. May love always be our guide.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to July 7, 2024 -- 7th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 9B

 The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 6:1-13.

The Sermon title is Right Place? Right Time?

Early Thoughts: How do you know? Is the time and place right or wrong? Is one right and the other not? Does it really make a difference?

This week we continue our journey through the Gospel of Mark. Jesus has made his way home and his reception is a bit mixed. On one hand people are amazed at what he has to say and what he can do. On the other hand they are a bit dubious. After all they have known him forever. They know his family. They may even see him as being a bit uppity, too big for his britches.

It seems that home was not the right place for Jesus to do ministry after all. Sometimes you can't go home again. So Jesus goes out and about again.

Around this time in the story it appears Jesus decides that the work needs to be shared. The work is never all for Jesus to do, others play a role. Accordingly, he sends his closest followers out in pairs (the work is to be done together, not alone) to continue what they have seen him doing. They are to travel light and to rely on the kindness of strangers. The text tells us that they do just that and have a measure of success in preaching and healing and casting out demons.

But the text also tells us that they may not always be welcomed. They may find that they are in the wrong place for their ministry to be welcomed, or possibly the place will be right at a different time. Jesus tells them be ready to accept that reality and head off to the next stop.

I wonder if we sometimes need that same reminder.

Are there times we get so caught up in our own agenda, or maybe our own comfort, that we miss the signs that the time or place calls for a different response? I think this can go two ways. Either we try to push people into a place they are not yet ready to go or we prefer to sit in our comfort, saying "we aren't ready to do that". 

We need to read the world around us to know what response is needed and when.  That can be difficult in communities. After all not everyone in a community is in the same place (physically but more importantly philosophically or emotionally) at the same time. Which means that some call for different responses at the same time. What are people in leadership to do?

In our Gospel reading this week results seems to be the answer. Because his hometown was not the right place Jesus was unable to do ministry there. Where the disciples were welcomed they could preach and heal and cast out demons. Maybe paying attention to the results will help us know if we are responding to what the time and place require of us. Then we can re-evaluate what we do next.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to June 30, 2024 -- 6th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 8B

The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 5:21-43

The Sermon title is Restoration

Early Thoughts: Jesus was many things. He was a preacher, teacher and prophet. He was a rabble-rouser and troublemaker who upset the "way things are". The Gospels are also clear that he was a miracle worker, an exorcist, and a healer. The reading this week (and last week come to think of it) presents us with the Jesus of that third sentence.

The Jesus who stilled the storm on the sea and cleared the mind of the man possessed by Legion in last week's now gets drawn/invited/dragged into a couple of healing episodes. SOrt of a story within a story this week...

First Jesus is approached by Jairus, a man with a fair degree of social standing in the community but also a man who is distraught. His daughter is dying, surely Jesus can intervene. Jesus has been invited into a situation where healing is required and he accepts the invitation. We could jump to verse 35 and finish this story.

But there is an interruption. And sometimes great ministry happens when our plans get interrupted.

As Jesus makes his way through the crowd (by this point in Mark's Gospel Jesus is almost always surrounded by a crowd) a woman sees her chance. She has been suffering from a flow of blood for 12 years. Nothing has helped. But she just knows and trusts that if she makes even tangential contact with Jesus ("If i but touch his cloak") she will be healed. So she reaches out and makes her attempt. Healing follows, Jesus has been dragged into a second story even while the first has yet to be resolved.

I think the woman was hoping to remain anonymous, to get her healing and go about the rest of her day. But Jesus feels the power flow through him and stops to address what has happened. [Does Jesus feel violated that he was not asked first? Is he stopping to ensure there is proper care given?] Does this interruption mean that he will be to late to finish his errand before Jairus' daughter dies?

Apparently, because while the interruption is being resolved news comes that the girl has in fact expired. But Jesus sees no reason to stop now. The story is not yet over. More healing follows and joy replaces devastating sorrow.

Jesus the healer and miracle worker has arrived on the scene.

When we read the healing stories we can debate "what really happened". We can ask "could Jesus really change a person's health like that?". Our logical, rational, scientific mindset tends to go in that direction, usually with a degree of skepticism attached. Or we could follow the logic of Hamlet and admit that "there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy". We can not understand or explain everything, sometimes miraculous things happen. I think that opens us to a new discussion.

What does it mean to be healed? In the two healings this week the physical meaning is pretty clear. but is that all that happens in these stories? I think there is more, I think that in most, if not all, of the healing stories in the Gospels there is more than physical wellness at stake. When Jesus heals the broken body or disturbed mind, when Jesus casts out the disruptive demons, Jesus also restores things to the way they should be. Jesus restores people in their wholeness as members of the community.

The woman with a flow of blood for 12 whole years! would have been on the outskirts of society. Not only would there have been a hygiene issue and quite possibly a ritual purity issue but her ability to function would likely have been impacted. With healing the physical ailment doors open for the rest of her life. She can rejoin the community.

The family of Jairus has been torn asunder. Life has fallen apart. Jesus returns their daughter to them and restores their family. The community has been brought back into a right state. The first sign of this is that she should eat, she should return to doing what healthy people do.

Jesus brings healing. Sometimes by his choice and sometimes by the choices of others. Both Jairus and the unnamed woman seek Jesus out because they know/trust that he can make a difference, he can fix what is wrong.

Where do we need to seek out/ask for/demand/claim healing in our lives? What might that healing look like? In these stories healing means cure of the physical ailment, is that always true? Do we trust that the God we meet in Jesus can bring healing to our lives?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to June 23, 2024 -- 5th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper7B

 The Scripture Reading this week is Mark 4:35-5:15

The Sermon title is Storms Settled

Found this on Facebook

 Early Thoughts: What storms have you endured in life? What has helped you weather them? Did the relief come as soon as you hoped it would?

I suggest that storms come in many different forms. Some are wind and rain and hail (like the one that blew through town yesterday afternoon). Many are more metaphorical. I suspect that sometimes those storms feel more threatening, harder to survive. How does one batten down the hatches when the chaos is in your mind or soul?

This wee's reading from Mark shares a a pair of stories. One is a healing story, one is a miracle story. I would say they are both about Jesus as the one with authority to still storms. Whether in a boat on the sea or driving out a demon Jesus is bringing calm and equilibrium to the lives of people around him. Jesus is defeating those things that threaten the well-being of the people in his world.

And I think Jesus is still at it. I think that the God we meet in Jesus is still at work calming storms and bringing calm. [At other times the God we meet in Jesus is at work causing storms and bringing disruption -- sometimes we need both. But either way God is with us in the midst of the storm.] Now the calming may not come as soon as we want. There may be days when the quote in the picture above feels all too real. There may be days when the only way to the calm is to fight our way through the storm. There may even be days when we refuse to allow God to bring the calm because it does not look like what we think we want/need.

Still God is with us in the storms of life. God will, in God's time, lead us to a place of calm and equilibrium. The storm may change us. The calming of the storm may change us. It may amaze us. But that is our word of hope in the middle of the storm that threatens to swamp our boat -- we are not alone, calm will return.

So this week I invite all of us to remember the storms we have endured (or maybe are currently enduring) in life. How have we survived them? What impact have they had on our lives? Where might you have seen God in the midst of the storm?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to June 16, 2024 -- 4th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 6B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Ezekiel 17:22-24
• Mark 4:26-34

The Sermon title is The Growing Realm

Early Thoughts: Where do you see signs of growth? How do you know that the reign of God is growing in the world today?

Our readings this week speak about growth and the God who gives that growth. (As I typed that sentence a line from 1 Corinthians 3 came to mind "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth".) In Ezekiel we read about the God who promises new life and regrowth from a twig of the old. Under God's care that tiny twig will become a grand tree, providing shelter to many. What twig is God transplanting in the world, in our lives today?

In Mark we have a pair of parables. "The kingdom of God is like....". It is like seeds spread by a sower who then leaves it for something mysterious to happen and grain suitable for food is the result. It is like a tiny seed that grows into an large plant (according to Wikipedia it is probable that the plant mentioned here grows up to 270cm (9 feet) tall) that can provide shelter. From something small something plentiful and large develops. That is what the kingdom of God is like. What small seeds have been planted recently? Where have you seen something get much bigger than it was when it started?

The mustard seed imagery reminded me of something else, a different plant. Wild Mustard is a weed, an invasive plant, and so it is a problem for some, even if others find it useful for some purposes (one of the links in that list also told me that it is the ancestor of some common vegetables). Maybe the kingdom of God sometimes grows in places we don't expect or where it is not wanted. Maybe there are times we see the growing kingdom of God as a problem to be removed not a benefit to be celebrated.

We do not grow the kingdom of God. God is doing that. We might delay or slow its growth. We might fight against it but it will grow anyway. We are called to sow seeds. We are called to grow in love and faithfulness as God feeds and waters our souls. We are challenged to allow that growth means change. As the kingdom of God grows in the world and in our lives we will be changed. That may be why we sometimes try to control or delay the growth that God is causing. Change is uncomfortable.

Even if it might be uncomfortable at times, God is causing growth in the world. Small twigs are becoming grand trees. Small seeds are growing even if we don't know why or how. Those seeds might grow into what we recognize as a tree, or as a food-grain. They might look like an unwelcome weed. But they are growing. God is at work. The kingdom is developing in our midst.

How will we respond?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to June 9, 2024 -- Affirmiversary, Church Union Sunday

 

A year ago St. Paul's had our celebration to mark our decision to become an Affirming Ministry. This Sunday we will mark that anniversary during our worship time. 

A photo of the Inaugural Service

99 years ago next Monday there was a worship service in a hockey arena in Toronto (the Mutual Street Arena) which marked the official beginning of a new Canadian Denomination -- the United Church of Canada. We will also mark that with a reflection on how we are called to be the church as the UCCan prepares to mark a century of existence in 2025. (Nationally there are plans to make it a year-long celebration starting this weekend)

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 1 Corinthians 12:4-13
• John 17:1-25

The Sermon title is Called to Be Church: Deep, Bold, Daring

Early Thoughts: How do we deepen our spirituality? How are we bold in our discipleship? How are we daring in crying out for/acting for/being transformed for justice?

In 2021 the General Council adopted the following Call and Vision statements that would guide the work of the National church over the next three year (2022-2025) period:

Vision

Call

While these are really more binding on the work of the General Council, all parts of the church, including local communities of faith, are encouraged to hold them in thought and prayer as we consider how God is calling us to be the church in our own contexts.

Our Scripture readings this week might help us in this consideration (at least that was my hope when I chose them). From Paul's first letter to the Corinthians we have a reminder of the importance and gift of diversity and remembering that while diverse we are also tied together in Christ. How does that unity in diversity help us be Deep, Bold, and Daring?

John chapter 17 (this week's reading is the whole chapter) is a prayer from Jesus to close the Farewell Discourse. Right after this prayer we launch into the story of arrest, betrayal, trial and execution. The UCCan motto Ut Omnes Unum Sint (That All May Be One) is taken from verse 21 and speaks in part to the hope of our founders that we would be a united and uniting church. While this is written as a prayer Jesus is offering to God, it is also a public pronouncement being made by Jesus. He is praying this in front of his closest disciples and obviously they are meant to hear and pay attention to it. I think that it is in part Jesus sharing words of hope for who they will be, in part some words of encouragement to keep them faithful when the road gets hard, and in part a reminder of who and whose they are. There is a bit of a sense of commissioning in these words to my ears. How does this prayer Jesus offers for his followers help us grow deeper in our relationship with the Divine, be bold as followers of The Way, be daring in our quest of justice in the world?

If I am honest I think that often in the UCCan we have done better at the daring justice and bold disciple ship part of the call than the deep spirituality. At least as far as our public face goes. A few decades ago the UCCan was known in some circles as "the NDP at prayer" -- and while some folk wore that badge proudly it was not, I think, intended as a compliment (nor was it as universally accurate as some might have thought). We have sometimes been seen as a faith community more interested in non-spiritual things than talking about how God is part of the world, a group that is more of a 'social club' or political movement than a church.

If I am equally honest I don't think that is and accurate picture of who we are. One of realities of faith life is that those three aspects of our call interweave and feed each other. Maybe it is that we sometimes find it easier to talk about the daring justice than our spirituality. Maybe our bold actions make better headlines than our prayers. But each feeds the other.

Our way forward as a a denomination, as a local community of faith, as individual followers of Jesus, is to go further. We need to take the time to deepen our relationship with God. We need to listen for where GOd is calling us to be so that we can step into those spaces. We need to have the courage to speak boldly about the vision for the world God shares with us, to follow a different path with different priorities than others in the world. We need to challenge voices and systems and actions that bring injustice and suffering to our neighbours (near and far) even if it might cost us something.

We are called to be the church, to continue the work of building unity in diversity, to share the Good News that God's Kingdom is growing in our midst. It may not always be easy, but still we try to be faithful.
--Gord

For our Young at Heart Conversation this week...

Looking Ahead to June 2, 2024

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Deuteronomy 5:12-15
• Mark 2:23-3:6

Sabbath Evening

The Sermon title is Sabbath is for....?

Early Thoughts:  We are commanded (it is not a suggestion) to take a day of Sabbath rest each and every week. Why? What might that look like? How well do we do that? 

The words of Scripture give us two different reasons for the commandment to keep Sabbath. When the 10 Commandments are given in Exodus 20 we are told to take Sabbath in keeping with the first story of creation in Genesis 1, where God rested on the 7th day. In this week's reading we have eh commandment as it is given in Deuteronomy where the act of pausing for a day is a sign that the people are no longer slaves. Even further, the people may have slaves themselves now but those slaves are also to be given a day of rest. Everybody--slave or free, adult or child, native or alien, human or livestock--  deserves a day of rest.

The act of taking Sabbath is an act of declaring our freedom.

Does that mean that refusing to take (or give) Sabbath-time is an act of enslavement?

Stepping aside from the why question for a moment (there are several years worth of discussion on why a day of rest is a good idea for our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health), let's ponder what it means to declare a day of rest. What does it look like to do that? How do we encourage or allow it to be a possibility for everyone? [For example, it can never be the same day for everyone but that does not mean it should not be available to everyone, just maybe on different days.] What exactly is meant by "do nothing"?

Within both Jewish and Christian tradition there have been vast amounts of discussion and writing about what is/is not allowed on the Sabbath (or in Christian terms "The Lord's Day" since the early church moved away from the Jewish Sabbath to mark the first day of the week in honour of Easter). I remember hearing of Christian homes that ensured their Sunday meals were all prepared by Saturday night so that no one would have to cook on Sunday. There are longstanding "blue laws" about what is not allowed on Sunday -- remember the Sunday shopping debates a few decades ago?

This week's reading from Mark shows us that debates about what "do nothing" means go back millenia. Here we see Jesus running afoul of others in the community because he does not appear to share their opinion about the best way to keep Sabbath. I like his answer: "“The Sabbath was made for humankind and not humankind for the Sabbath," (2:27) and later on "“Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?” (3:4). This fits with the Jesus who later will remind his followers that it is of upmost importance to love one's neighbour as you love yourself. As with the rest of life, the ethical requirement of keeping Sabbath is not about rigorously following rules, it is about caring for self and neighbour.

So how do we best honour the Sabbath commandment in 2024? I can think of a few possibilities:

1. Mandate in Labour law that no person can be scheduled for 7 days straight and no more than 5 days in one week at one employer (I am not sure what to do about people working for multiple employers but maybe the next point will help with that)
2. Ensure that every single person has enough to live on to remove the "I have to work constantly or I can't pay rent" reality that many face. One way to do this would be a Guaranteed Annual Income. People need to feel that a Sabbath day is in fact
   
3. Teach children from a very early age about a balanced life. As adults we need to model to our children that it is important to have a day of rest, not just a day off when we are busy cleaning or doing chores but a day of rest.
4. One possibility is a more compressed work week, say for example 4 10 hour days

I am sure there are other things that others could think of that make it easier to encourage and allow people to take a day of Sabbath time. But I strongly believe that the reason we are commanded to take Sabbath is that God recognizes that it is healthier for us as individuals and as a community. It changes our priorities. It changes how we spend our energy. It may even change how we relate to our families and neighbours. We would all be better off.

I Like this option (source)

I don't think the debate about Sabbath time needs to be about rules and "what is allowed". I don't think it need to be about "what day is best", no one day will ever work for everyone. The debate needs to be about "why is this important" and "how do we make it possible and acceptable".

We live in a world that has largely forgotten the importance of Sabbath time. It could be argued that in some circles the idea of Sabbath time, of down "non-productive" time is in fact denigrated. We need to get back to taking that time, for the better health of all of us.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to May 26, 2024 -- 1st Sunday After Pentecost

 This Sunday we are pleased to be celebrating the Sacrament of Baptism and welcoming 2 people into the family of faith.

The Scripture Reading this week is Psalm 1391-18, 23-24

The Sermon title is Child of God, Deeply Known, Deeply Loved

Early Thoughts: You are a Beloved Child of God. Yes you. As you sit there and read this remember that you are a Beloved Child of God. If you forget everything else you have eve learned remember that YOU are a Beloved Child of God.

First a confession. Psalm 139 is one of my favourite pieces of Scripture.

This piece of ancient poetry reminds us of many things. That we are children of God. That God knows us deeply, "more deeply than we know ourselves" as I have sometimes said in prayer". That God is always with us, wherever we go. In fact God is with us even when we might prefer that God is NOT with us. God sees our hearts and continues to lead us in The Way.

Many of these things are all warm and fuzzy, At least on the surface. But what does it mean to acknowledge that we are fully and deeply known? Why does the poet talk about wanting to flee from God's presence? And what about those verses near the end about destroying the wicked? In the  end it is a much more complex poem than we might think if we picked and chose our favoured verses.

In our baptism liturgy we proclaim:

The sacrament of baptism proclaims and celebrates the grace of God.
By water and the Spirit, we are called, claimed, and commissioned:
we are named as God’s children,
claimed by Christ,
and united with the whole Christian community of every time and place.
Strengthened by the Holy Spirit,
we live out our commission;
to spread the love we have been given throughout the world.

Which, to my mind is why this Psalm is such a good match for a Baptism Sunday. Because we are indeed "called, claimed, and commissioned".

We are all children of the God who watched us grow in our mother's womb, who heard our borning cry, who is a part of every breath we take. God knows us deeply, flaws and all. God knows the parts of our lives we would rather not admit, and yet loves us and leads us in  The Way. God is there when life is terrible. God is there when the skies grow dark. God is even there when we think we would rather be alone.

We are indeed wonderfully and fearfully made, for we are made in God's image. WE are indeed fearfully and wonderfully known, because God knows us to our core. This is a blessing, it may also seem like a curse. It can lift us up or it can be a heavy weight on our soul. Sometimes we need the weight to help us be led in the way everlasting. We always need the blessing.

And remember, the God who knows you so deeply, who has been with you since your borning cry loves you deeply. You Are A Beloved Child of God!
--Gord

Looking Ahead to May 19, 2024 -- Pentecost Sunday

This week we will hear the story of the Holy Spirit blowing the disciples out into the world as told in Acts 2:1-21

The Sermon title is Drunk on God

source

Early Thoughts: When I read the Pentecost story there are a number of things that jump out at me. To a degree it is different things at different times but one of the most consistent is in verse 13 when the disciples are accused of having had too much to drink.

Because only drunkenness can account for such an ecstatic display...right?

But what if they are right. What if Peter and the others are in fact drunk...just not on new wine.

[Side note: when I was young we had a small music book at home that was in fact called New Wine, building on the passage in the Gospels about putting new wine into old wineskins]

What if Peter and the others are intoxicated by the presence of the Holy Spirit blowing into their lives? What if they are, in fact drunk on God?

What would it look and feel like if we had that reaction to God blowing through our lives? Would we feel that loss of inhibitions that often comes with extra alcohol in our system? Would we become more fearless? 

Sometimes intoxication might be a good thing. Maybe in a world and a church where we have been taught for generations that being in control and doing things in an orderly fashion (both Presbyterians and Lutherans have claimed the title "Frozen Chosen") are the best/only/proper way to be we could use a bit of intoxication in our lives.

I think we can use some of that new wine. We could do with being a little bit drunk on God these days.
I just hope it doesn't lead us into being hungover...
--Gord

Looking Ahead to May 5, 2024 -- 6th Sunday of Easter, Marking Ascension

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

The Scripture Readings are:

• Luke 24:44-53
• Acts 1:1-11

The Sermon title is Hurry Up and Wait

source

Early Thoughts: Easter has come and gone. New life is bubbling in the community. Now what?

Both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke end with a story of Jesus making a final appearance to his followers and leaving them with an instruction. But the instructions are very different.

In Matthew the Risen Christ meets the disciples in Galilee (on a mountain because everything important in Matthew seems to happen on a mountain) and tells them to go out into the world teaching and baptizing. Seems straightforward enough as we launch from the Gospel into the next phase of the story of God's action in the world. Luke takes a different tack. In Luke the final appearance takes place in and just outside Jerusalem and the disciples are told to wait for a sign that the next phase is going to begin.

SO are we supposed to respond to Easter with action, teaching and preaching and making new disciples? Or are we supposed to wait for God to do something else that will then move us into action?

There is some odd art out there...

The Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts are written by the same person. Luke is writing to his friend Theophilus to tell the story of Jesus and the Early Church. Luke ends the first volume and begins the second with different accounts of the same event. Which makes a nice linkage between volumes, though it does make one wonder what the event really looked like. There is one important piece that stays the same. Before Jesus leaves, before being taken up into heaven, he tells his friends to remain in Jerusalem and wait for God to act. Once God acts and the disciples have been filled with the power of the Holy Spirit then they can act.

Waiting can be hard.

We are so often told that we should "don't just stand there...do something" that it feels wrong to reverse it and hear "don't just do something...stand there". We can so easily see reasons to act that we want to jump in and make things happen. If we are honest, we sometimes (often?) get impatient waiting for things to happen "in God's time". Or maybe we are afraid that if we don't act now it will be too late: the window of opportunity will close or we will be too far behind to catch up.

It can be hard to know when to act and when to wait on God. It can be hard to know which one of those God is calling us to in the moment.

Earlier this year I read this book. It has pushed me to think about how we (both as individuals and as communities) respond to moments of crisis. Generally we are sure we have to act quickly, strategically and (hopefully) decisively to get things back under control. Sometimes that is true, at least as a temporary reaction. But I have to wonder if sometimes the perceived need to act quickly and decisively gets in the way of our need, as people of faith, to listen for God's wisdom and discern what God would have us do/who God would have us be.

In the end it is going to be God's action (remembering that God acts in a variety of ways using a variety of tools) that is going to matter the most. As a community of faith it is God's action that is going to bring us life and hope, not our own. If we read a bit further into Acts we find that the early church actually had trouble knowing that, they also found waiting hard and wanting to get into the action phase. But once God acted, once God filled them with the Power of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, then wonderful things happened.

What might happen if we paused to ponder and listen and wait? (And continue to gather for worship and praise as Luke tells us the disciples did continuously)
--Gord