TRY TO STAY FOCU ...

June 27, 2010

Pentecost 5

Psalm 77:1-2,11-22

Luke 9:51-62


(prayer)
"When the days drew near for [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem."
//
These were the opening words of our gospel lesson today (a good literal translation from the New Revised Standard Version): it’s a good physical metaphor – he “set his face” to go to Jerusalem. The Contemporary English Version and the Good News Bible both say that Jesus “made up his mind” to go to Jerusalem: I’m sure that is what “set his face” means; I just like the physicality of the literal translation.
However you say it, Jesus now was very focused on the next phase of his ministry: which would include a potentially dangerous journey to Jerusalem, for this year’s Passover pilgrimage. Dangerous: because Jesus was well aware that some of his teachings were not supported by the temple hierarchy and some of the more orthodox sects in Jerusalem.
Focused. And he facing it head on.
//
Focused. Determined. I can do that. I have one of those personalities that can keep things relatively organized. I have always been the kind of guy who could be counted on to get things done. At least that’s the reputation I am trying to perpetuate.
The reality is that I make choices of where my energy should go. When I make a commitment to a project or an activity, I am pretty reliable. But there are lots of things that I leave on the wayside. I pick and choose. The things that I deem as important or things that I simply enjoy tend to rank higher.
I suspect that most people are kind of like that – at least in theory. We gravitate our focus to the things we like or are passionate about.
//
Jesus and his followers set out for Jerusalem to attend the upcoming Passover festival. The first part of the story we heard today was about a stopover along the way. The route they took was along the western shores of the Jordan River. Jesus had sent people ahead of him to make arrangements for the group to stay in the village. But this village was largely populated by people from Samaria. Samaritans did not recognize the temple in Jerusalem on Mount Zion as a legitimate place to worship God. They held to the more ancient practice (going back to the time of Jacob) of worshipping at Mount Gerizim. Up until about 200 years before Jesus, the Samaritans had a temple on Mt Gerizim. It seems that since Jesus and his group were travelling to the Jerusalem temple, the people of this town wanted nothing to do with them.
This part of the story ends with the curious threat of James and John: ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’
Could Jesus disciples do that? That’d be a pretty convincing trick. I doubt that this was a literal threat, but rather a rather dramatic curse: an insult to be hurled at the people as they left: (May God consume you all with heavenly fire). It seems that Jesus response was to say to them: “don’t worry about that, we’ll just stay somewhere else, stay focused on where we are going, not where we’ve been.”
//
The theme of “unwavering focus” continues in the next verses.
I’ll follow you, but I have to tie up a few loose ends.
I’ve always been a bit uneasy with this passage: at how un-compassionate Jesus is in this passage. The “loose ends” don’t seem all that unreasonable: my father’s funeral, say goodbye to my folks - “Let the dead bury the dead. Don’t look back”. These sound like ‘cult-leader’ techniques: turn your back on the past.
In the small picture of the specifics of this story, it all seems harsh and without the Christ-like compassion we expect. But in the wider picture, I get it. I suspect that this memorable saying of Jesus was important for the Gospel writers (Q >> Mt, Lk), because they wanted their late first century audiences to hear that message of “staying focused”: especially when being a follower of Jesus became challenging or even dangerous, they were to focus on where they were going, more so than where they had been.
//
So that’s the message: “stay focused”.
Of course that would be easy if there was only one thing in our lives were were trying to focus on. But most (all?) of us have more complex lives than that. We are busier than that. Is it really possible to narrow the focus.
I think that is one of the challenges that “I” continue to face. I let busyness cloud my focus.
Not that my busyness is necessarily bad – as I said earlier, I tend to pick and choose how I use my time. That’s what makes this a true dilemma: having good options before me.
//
I think I am able to use a good part of my time, doing ministry, doing work of God. But I lament that I find myself losing focus on simply being a work of God.
I have to remind myself that “in-active time” can also be time well spent. I sometimes wonder: Doesn't anyone just sit still anymore? We have evolved our culture to want instant gratification: and so we move quickly from one thing to another. Sometimes, there is so much going on that we have trouble focusing on what is really important.
Part of that is … just being a work of God.
You’d be surprised how many ministers I know who have trouble finding time to be quiet in their own spirit: to just pray, to give thanks, to offer praise, to ponder the direction God might be calling. “Trouble finding time” is an excuse – if this is a focus issue, we have trouble making time.
I know that to worship, to pray, to wonder is a choice. When life gets busy – even with “good” busyness – we should still choose stillness as part of the mix. It is for our own good.
//
I am glad that I was drawn to the psalm as one of the readings for today. I don’t often preach on the Psalms.
I cry to God in my distress. Calling to God in distress comes easy. You want to hear people praying or talking spirituality, turn on the TV during some news story about a disaster. But it is more challenging to have a regular focus that can feed our spiritual need to understand that God is with us always: not just at the edges of extreme good or bad.
I love how the psalmist is drawn to the stories of faith: almost forcing himself to be included. I will recall your deeds, O God; I will remember your wonders of old. The psalmist is choosing to focus on the Spirit.
//
It was nice to read the psalm responsively this morning and to sing a refrain as part of that experience. That helps us become part of the story of faith. Many of the Psalms were intended to be participatory. They were sung, they read together. 39 of the 150 psalms are addressed to the [choir] leader. Psalm 77 is one of them. In most of these choir psalms, we also see a special note that is often missed if we just read the words of the psalm. In fact, it was not included in the Voices United version we used today. Not every English language bibles has it, but in some translations, you’ll find an extra word in some lines of some psalms that doesn’t seem to be part of the psalm narrative: it’s like a side note: se’lah.
You can see it for yourself in the blue covered Bibles that are in the pews. [slide] If you want, turn to Psalm 77: it’s on page 537. You can see that at the end of verses 3, 9 and 15 is the word se’lah.
The meaning of the word is not all that clear, but it does seem to be a notation rather than part of poetry. Most Biblical scholars are convinced that it was a message for the choir director. Perhaps there was to be a pause at that point, or maybe a musical interlude. It may be like the bold R we had in our psalm this morning that told us when to sing the refrain.
The placements of the Se’lah are not likely random, but well chosen. It could very well be a reminder to focus on what was just said.
One possible root meaning of the word se’lah could be similar to a word for “hang”. That brings to mind to image of measuring out the value of something by hanging weights.
I like that. It could imply that se’lah is an invitation to measure what is being said in the psalm. Maybe a musical interlude was added to provide an opportunity to let the mind work and really focus on the message; to provide time to engage the poetry of the psalm at a spiritual level.
//
It is contrary to a world of acceptable uber-busyness, but the reality for us should be: that “Pause is Praise”. Whatever else is going on in our lives, we should not lose focus on that.
“Pause” is not necessarily empty or even quiet time. It is the opportunity to ponder, to wonder – to hang the weights and measure the importance of the spirit in our lives.
It is good for people to focus on questions like:
· What am I looking for?
· What am I longing for?
· What do I hope for?
· What’s missing in my life?
And perhaps most critically …
· What’s holding me back? and
· What am I going to do about that!?
//
To engage in times of reflective pause is to be in communion with God. To allow ourselves relief from the distractions of life is to come close to the heart of Christ.
//
I am uneasy with the fact that Jesus may have told someone that attending his father’s funeral was un-important. I am un-easy that Jesus might not have wanted a follower to stay connected to his family. The micro-literality of this passage still bothers me. But I get the broader message.
In fact, when I take the discipleship conversations as examples of broader patterns, I find much to ponder in this passage.
Did you notice that the gospel writer doesn’t tell us how the would-be disciples reacted to Jesus’ cautions. We can presume that they might not be as “interested” in following after Jesus gives them a reality check.
I will follow you wherever you go: Foxes and birds may have homes, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Are we prepared to be a disciple (a learner) or follower of Jesus’ Way, even if that way is less than comfortable. Does dis-comfort cause us to lose focus?
I will follow as soon as I have gone and buried my father. Let the dead bury the dead. It’s an extreme example. How about some softer ones: I will follow as soon as I have finished mowing the lawn or I’ll follow as soon as I’ve slept in a bit longer, or I’ll be there as soon as I’ve finished my shopping. Have we developed a pattern where we give our faith the leftovers of our life? It’s important … if we can fit it in.
I will follow … later, I want to home first. You can’t plow in a straight line, if you’re always looking behind you. Are we distracted from a focus on our faith? On Friday, I caught an interesting show on the Discovery Channel. Some researchers blind-folded and ear-plugged people and brought them to a large flat field and told them to walk in a straight line for about 5 minutes. Their path was tracked with a GPS device. In each case, people walked in circles: some larger, some smaller, some clockwise, some counterclockwise.
Without something to focus on (a sight or a sound) straight-line-walking just didn’t happen. Now, the scientist had physical and biological explanations for why this happens, but I love the metaphor. It’s the same one Jesus used with the third disciple “you’ve got to look ahead if you want to plow straight”.
When we are overly ‘comfortable’ or too ‘busy’ or ‘distracted’, we can have trouble focusing on our calling to be followers of Jesus: to be disciples (learners) on Jesus’ way.
//
We need to pay attention to those se’lah invitations in life. Let there be pause. Let there be times of wonder and ponder. Let there be praise and enlightenment and encouragement. Let the Spirit focus who we are, so that we can discover where we are in our journey with God.
A lot of us make time for public worship: in this church or in other places. Those can times of se’lah. But there will be se’lah invitations all throughout your lives, besides this hour-and-a-bit on Sunday mornings. Try to focus so that you can see them.
And when they are there, use them. Measure, ponder, reflect, challenge, change, grow, inspire … live in Jesus’ Way.
Let us pray:
God, Centre of all Creation;
Be our focus and our guide. Help us to live in the spirit all throughout our lives. AMEN.

#560VU “O Master Let Me Walk With Thee”

SCARY STUFF

June 20, 2010
Pentecost 4
Galations 3:23-29
Luke 8:22-39
(prayer)
The disciples and Jesus decided to sail across the Sea of Galilee – from Galilee to Gerasene. Things seemed to have started off calm enough, because Jesus went to sleep. It was one of the obvious advantages of calling some fishermen to be disciples. Jesus could leave the driving to someone else. Along the journey, the winds pick up and the waters got rough and extremely choppy. The boat was tossed and turned in danger of capsizing.
“Wake up master, we are perishing!”
Jesus then did an unusually thing, he spoke to the wind and the waves and the seas were calm. The disciples weren’t sure what was more scary, the windstorm or suddenly realizing that Jesus might be more that they had thought (who is this that even the winds and waters obey his commands?).
//
Once on the other shore (as soon as Jesus stepped on the shore Luke says), they were approached with by a very disturbed man. He was known to wander around buck naked and screaming. In the medical assessment and theology of the time, he was said to be dominated by a demon, or spirit. It was obvious to all who knew him that he certainly was not in control of himself. The people of the town were scared of him and had tried several times to restrain him, but he (or they would say the demon) was strong and broke the bonds, leaving behind any family and home and running off to the wilderness hills where there were graves and tombs. It was a disturbing scene. Certainly, this was not the ambassador that the local chamber of commerce would have wanted greeting visitors at the port.
//
Then, in a very similar scene to the boat, Jesus spoke directly to the problem, he addressed the man’s illness, his demons: commanding them to leave the man alone. The scene was dramatic and chaotic, we can imagine the naked man shouting incoherently, and Jesus working hard to get the man’s attention. There would have been murmurs and comments rushing throughout the crowd wondering what was going on. Suddenly, the crowd’s attention shifted to a herd of swine who had been panicked into rushing down a hillside right into the lake. Before the swine herds could respond the herd was lost and drowned. I imagine that it was at that time that someone realized that the disturbed man was calm. Someone may have given him a clock to wear and Jesus and all through around him were smiling and talking joyfully with him.
As people told others what had happened they would link all of the events together. It was as if the man’s demons had left the man, entered the swine, who reacted by rushing to their deaths.
People weren’t sure what was scarier: the man when he was so disturbed and not in his right mind, or realizing that this stranger from the lake might be something more than they thought. They all asked Jesus to “just leave”, everyone is except for the man who had been healed.
Both in the boat with the disciples and on the shore with the Gerasenes, people were too scared to imagine that something wonderful might have happened in their midst.
//
A week and a half ago, I got to spend a couple of days the immediate past moderator of the United Church, the Very Rev. David Giuliano. It was a retreat planned by Red Deer Presbytery in support of the camping and youth programs.
The event title (Fear, Faith and God) was taken from the sub-title of David’s book, Postcards from the Valley: Encounters with Fear, Faith and God. As many of you might know, very shortly after begin elected moderator in 2006, David learned he had a cancerous tumour near his temple. The book is a series of personal reflections that David shared with the church through a blog and in other ways before during and after his treatments.
Ironically, David admitted at the event, he thinks that he was elected Moderator largely because of four words of scripture he quoted during his moderator nomination speech - three words found at many different places in the bible: DO NOT BE AFRAID.
He had no idea, how much those words would challenge him only a few weeks into his three year term as moderator.
//
I know I have preached in this area before, but fear is such a strong emotion that can come so quickly into our lives – so when the suggested readings for a particular Sunday point me in that direction, I am nudged to go back.
//
The truth be told, the actual lectionary Gospel reading from Luke for today did not include the calming of waters section I read at the start of the service, just the verses about the demons and the swine. That passage still has a theme of fear, near the end, when the people of the town are afraid of Jesus, because of what he did.
//
In almost all cases, when fear is mentioned in the Bible, it is contrasted with Faith. As I have noted before: “doubt” is not the opposite of faith in the Bible, “fear” is.
I read the story of Jesus and the disciples in the boat from Luke today, because that is the gospel the lectionary readings are focusing on this year. Matthew and Mark tell very similar stories. Both of these gospels quote Jesus as saying to his disciples: Why are you afraid, where is your faith? Fear and faith seeming tigging in opposite directions. For some reason, Luke chose not to include the first half of the question. Although, Luke does say in the very next sentence that the disciples were afraid.
//
Why are you afraid is a slightly passive way of saying don’t be afraid. But the message is similar. Faith will calm your fears.
It is one of the high spiritual promises: that a deeper connection to the holy, a stronger relationship with God, will give us calm and contentment. Sadly, the facts of life, even the lives of the very faithful, show us that faith does not seem to allow us to avoid fear, but perhaps we can still trust in the hope that we are not leave us completely alone with our fears and worries. [I often speak of fear and worry together – worry for me is just a softer word for fear.]
//
All of us have some experience with fear. And I know that for each of us, it is significant and is not well served comparing it to other’s experiences. I know for me that it doesn’t usually bring me much calm just to know that someone else has it worse off. What worries me is still valid, even if it could be worse.
//
One of the things that this Biblical theme gets me thinking about is that when my heart and mind are dominated by fear and worry, I find it hard to connect spiritually. Fear and worry tend to pull be right back to the basics of the moment and right into myself. Fear and worry can make me extremely short-term and self-focused. It seems to be a pattern that I have noticed that when I am so narrow in my focus that I have trouble noticing or being affected by the God is all encompassing and eternal.
On the same idea though – my experience has been that as the light of God is able to penetrate my cocoon of worry and fear, I begin to be released.
David Giuliano reminded us that most often, when Jesus asks people, why are they afraid, or just straight out tells them do not be afraid: something amazingly wonderful happens.
It might always be what we want to have happen. The man in the story today wanted Jesus to stay (to hold the moment of enlightenment), but he was instead commissioned to share the good news of God’s activity in his life.
Fear and worry don’t always disappear with faith, but they can begin to be less dominate, so that we can find the energy we need to confront what is holding us in that negative place.
//
This holy experience is not just for the ultra-pious or for the eccentric 24-hour-a-day praying hermit. The hope for God’s comfort and love is a promise we all share. We also heard those powerful words from Paul’s letter to the Galatians: the barriers that this world uses to divide us don’t matter to God. A first century world that saw men as superior to women, where slaves were subordinate to the free and where everyone foreign was considered barbaric, did not affect the reach of God’s love where faith was concerned.
And so, we too, are all given the hope of God’s love and comfort – especially when we are faced with scary stuff. As we said earlier:
We are not alone. We live in God’s world.
In life in death in life beyond death.
God is with us, we are not alone!
//
Let us pray:
God, help us know that you are with us. Hold us in our worries and fears even when we aren’t able to feel your embrace. Love us deeply, O God. Amen.

#154MV “Deep In Our Hearts”

LASTING CHANGES

June 6, 2010

Pentecost 2
1st Kings 17:8-16

Galatians 1:11-24


(prayer)
The author of the book of Acts tells us a dramatic story of how Saul of Tarsus, a self-proclaimed opponent to the followers of Jesus changed his ways and became known better by the Greek version of his name, Paul as a zealous member of the early Christian church movement. Acts tells about Paul en route to Damascus with official papers sanctioning the arrest of any followers of The Way, when he was literally knock off his horse and blinded by the light of God, as the risen Jesus asked him “Why do you persecute me?” Within a few days, Paul was part of the very movement he had hoped to eradicate. The book of Acts was written about 15-20 years after the events it describes. Paul himself does not describe the events surrounding how he came an apostle. What we do have is the passage from the first chapter of the Galatians letter: Paul had come to accept that it was his destiny to be an apostle – and that (at the appropriate time) God revealed that calling to him. And he was changed.
It was a lasting change – it made a difference in his life and (directly) in the lives of many early followers of Jesus, who heard the good news from Paul. Indirectly, of course, we are all lasting products of the changes that Paul made.
You may have noticed the sign outside St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Leduc this week: “We don’t change the message, the message changes us.” Finding and living Faith is about change.
This is based on a basic belief that we have potential to improve ourselves. That we are not complete in every aspect of who we are. We can learn and grow and we can make changes that impact our lives and the lives of others. It is a noble desire to seek to change one’s life for the better.
Jesus encouraged those who had been sold the message that their lot in life was fixed: the poor, the outcast, the sinner. Jesus told them that they were loved so much by God that they were more than they might assume. As a beloved child of God, they were deeply valuable and were on par with everyone else in God’s creation – even those who “the world” might define as above them.
It makes sense that it is in the Galatians letter, where Paul tells of the importance of his conversion, that he also writes that: There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:38)
Lasting Changes. It is both our goal and mission.
Like Elijah did literally with the widow and her son, we want to (figuratively) feed the hungry and quench the thirsty. We want to offer hope for lasting changes. It is not surprising that a desire to enable these internal changes, also motivates us to make tangible changes in people’s lives. It was churches that began many of the outreach programs that grew into modern government run social services. Church people continue to be behind many food banks and movements for social justice and change. Like they did with Paul, internal changes tend to have external impacts.
We are people with a history of change, who seek to have a good and lasting impact on the future we share.
//
In 1911, the Presbyterian congregation and the Methodist church in Leduc saw a value in joining forces. The history of “why” is sketchy, but a good guess would be that there were very practical reasons – combining the people of two churches made a larger congregation and having one minister rather than two free up resources for other ministry possibilities. But I suspect that there was a deeply important theological reason at play as well that was emerging in Canada at the time.
Canada became a recognized nation in 1867, built largely on European immigration to North America that had been occurring for the better part of a century and a half. They brought with them the church traditions of their home lands. Many of these European parent nations had long established national churches. Now that Canada had a national structure, within established denominations, there were formal national unions of smaller regional units.
In the latter half of the 19th century, there was a movement aimed at creating a national Canadian church. Turn of the century discussions included the involvement of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Congregationalist Union of Canada and the Methodist Church. In Western Canada, this movement led to practical unions in anticipation of national unions (St. David’s was part of that union church movement). National progress was halted when the Great War (WW1) broke out in Europe in 1914.
After the war, the idea of a union church were taken extremely seriously. A Basis of Union was drawn up establishing how the churches would come together – everything from structure to doctrine was included. [slide] The Congregationalist Union was on board, The Methodist churches voted in favour of union and that denomination agreed to the union. The Presbyterian Church followed a different method, each congregation was given a choice to enter the new union or stay Presbyterian. In the end about 2/3s of the congregations agreed to Union [that is why there is still a Presbyterian denomination in Canada].
In 1925, it was made formal – by the unprecedented method of an Act of Parliament. At a formal service on June 10, 1925, [slide] 8,000 people gathered in Arena Gardens (later renamed Mutual Street Arena) in Toronto to liturgically enact the birth of the United Church. The United Church of Canada was born.
//
So, on Thursday, the United Church of Canada will be 85 years old. Birthdays bring families together. You may know that we have been paired with the United Church in Murray River, PEI. [slide] It is hoped that people will send a letter or an email to establish a connection between our churches.
At a family celebration, we often tell stories and reminisce as a way of remembering who we are and where we’ve been. We’re going to do that now, giving thanks to God for being with us all the way—“in life, in death, in life beyond death.”
Let’s begin by going all the way back to 1925 and the first hymn of the inaugural service of The United Church of Canada. Please remain seated to sing the first verse “The Church’s One Foundation.” It is #331 in Voiced United. [slide] As we sing, imagine four processions—the Presbyterians, the Methodists, the Union Churches, and the Congregationalists—meeting at the entrance of the church and mixing together as they enter the church for the very first worship of The United Church of Canada.
// sing #331VU v1
I’m going to tell some stories now. I am grateful to my friends Karen and David Holmes for sharing the wording of some of these stories for this special anniversary Sunday.
Since some of the stories come from 85 years ago, you may not have been there so you might not remember them. But I’ll just remind you. Part of our being church is that we take our stories—some going all the way back to the Exodus and before—and we make them part of us and our lives here and now. We re-member them. And so, after each story, I’ll ask you a question: “Do you remember?” [slide] And I invite you to respond, “Yes, we remember.”
//
On June 10, 1925, a new church was born. Administratively and institutionally, it was a bit of a train wreck. I mean, you know what it’s like trying to get some agreement in just one church, try organizing different denominations into one! But at the same time, this was a new and exciting thing. Instead of breaking up because we disagreed with one another, we were uniting.
The United Church of Canada was the first modern union of different denominations in the world. We were born out of a desire to follow Jesus’ prayer that all of his followers in the world might be one, united in love and in purpose. It was a history-making moment.
Do you remember?
All: Yes, we remember!
In 1936, Lydia Gruchy became the first woman ordained into ministry within the United Church. Although Methodist Churches in the US had been ordaining women since the 1880s, it was still pretty controversial in Canada. Of course, it wasn’t a complete shattering of the glass ceiling: the church did not permit married women to be ordained until the late 50s. Even so, given that some churches today, still do not believe that women should be ordained, we were well ahead of the times. That seems to be a hallmark of the United Church. We are often at the leading edge of church movements.
Do you remember?
All: Yes, we remember!
In 1968, the United Church elected its first lay Moderator, Dr. Robert McClure. Robert McClure was a medical doctor, a missionary who served many years in China, India, and the Middle East, among other places. Oh, if we started to tell stories about him we’d be here all day! But he was a challenge to society and to the church. He challenged society to live by the values of justice, courage, and compassion—and he challenged the church with piles of questions and fresh thinking, backed up by a lifetime of service to Jesus Christ.
It was during Robert McClure’s tenure as Moderator that we began saying “A New Creed”, a statement of faith that has since travelled all over the world and been used in all sorts of churches.
Do you remember?
All: Yes, we remember!
Normally on communion Sundays, we say the United Church Creed together, just as we are coming to the table. Even though our bulletin has that for today as well, let’s say it early! Turn to page 918 in Voices United.
As we read our Creed, listen to these words that have shaped and defined the character of our church. I invite you to remain seated as we profess this faith together. [slide]

We are not alone,
we live in God's world.
We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
We trust in God. [slide]
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God's presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope. [slide]
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
[slide]
//
Not all of our church’s history has been good. At the General Council in 1986, we made an apology to the First Nations peoples within the church. We apologized for the very serious harm we had caused the families, the languages, the culture, the faith, and the identity of the Aboriginal peoples of this land. We did not cause only harm, and for the most part our intentions were good. But we confused our cultural ways with the gospel and caused hurt we cannot undo. In recent years, the church has worked hard to respond with compassion and healing in the wake of the impact of the residential school system.
In this and in other matters, the ability to repent—and the need to repent—is part of who we are as the United Church. [slide]
Do you remember?
All: Yes, we remember!
In perhaps the most controversial move in our church’s 85 years, after almost a decade of study, conversation and reflection, in 1988, the United Church declared that a person’s sexual orientation, in and of itself, was NOT a bar to ministry. The wording was simple but powerful: “All persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are eligible to be considered for ministry.” The church drew opposition from within and from without. There were congregational splits and some people and even whole congregations left the church. It took a decade for things to somewhat stabilize. Through it all, the church stood its ground - believing this to be an issue of faith and justice. And it further defined the United Church as a staunchly inclusive church. I believe that it is our inclusiveness (and our openness to helping people engage the Spirit of God in the context of today’s world) which attracts many people to the church today.
Just a few years ago, here at St. David’s, as the marriage laws of Canada were changing, we decided (after study and conversation and reflection) that we would treat requests for marriage from same-sex couples no differently than we treat requests from opposite sex couples. Although, I have not yet been asked to officiate a marriage for a gay or lesbian couple, it was (and is) a powerful statement.
Do you remember?
All: Yes, we remember!
//
If I try to sum up the aspects of the United Church that truly define who we are: that try to highlight, how we hope to make lasting changes in people’s lives, I would say that:
We believe that God loves us all. We believe that Jesus lived and showed this love. We seek to follow Jesus in this way. Just as parents do not wait for that first smile before they love their children, so God loves us from the moment of our birth and even before. And God never stops loving us, no matter what we may do.
There can be this wonderful moment when any of us decides to follow—decides to say “yes” to God’s love. That is a personal yearning fulfilled at the deepest level of the heart and soul. That moment is enacted publically and celebrated in ceremonies baptism and confirmation of our faith.
It is a magical moment when we let go of our self-centred lives and take up a life of ministry centred on God. It’s like a new life, a new birth, a new freedom, and a new calling for us—and we become part of a new family, the Christian Church.
We are bathed with water in the name of our triune God, and we become part of God’s covenant people.
Do you remember?
All: Yes, we remember!
[slide]
[turn on lapel mic]
[sprinkle water]
So remember your baptism and be thankful! And if you have not been baptized, then enjoy this watery blessing!
//

[from pulpit]
I hope that you can take from this time together, a common quest: for self and world, made new!

Let us pray:
God of power and grace;
Open our hearts to know your care for us. Sustain us and give us generous spirits, that we may change our own lives and the lives of others. In Jesus’ name we pray, AMEN.

*Offering*