ST. DAVID'S UNITED CHURCH: October 2012

Sunday, October 28, 2012

PERFECTLY FINE

October 28, 2012

Pentecost 22

Hebrews 7:^25-28

Mark 10:^46-54

(prayer)

There is worry and angst in the world, that is for sure. In 2012, we are more globally aware than at any other time in history. And so, we can carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. Every once and a while, it is wise to contemplate that there is much that is right with this life: we have valuable relationships that give us support and purpose; we are connected spiritually that remind us that we are part of something larger than ourselves. This is good. Even in the midst of difficulty, these are indeed ‘happy days’.

I believe that, as we explore the scripture passages for today, that this is one of the things we can come away with: we are not intended to be creatures of perpetual doom and gloom. We can admit that there are aspects of this life that are ‘perfectly fine’.

As we read into the later verses of chapter ten in the gospel of Mark, Jesus and his disciples are continuing toward Jerusalem. In today’s reading, they have made it as fair as Jericho, less than 25kms east of their goal.

Jericho would have been a natural stopping point on the journey from Capernaum to Jerusalem, but the historical significance would not have been lost on the first readers of the gospel.

Jericho was the entry point of the Hebrew people’s return to the land of promise after centuries of slavery in the time of Moses. Symbolically, to ‘rest’ there would be a sign of new life and freedom!

So, with that context in the back of our heads, we can hear the story of Bartimaeus in a new light.

The man begged at the roadside on the western edge of Jericho. Although unable to see, he had heard about this one called Jesus of Nazareth: Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!

If you have ever been on a busy city sidewalk, as the people pass by others who are vocally panhandling, you have witnessed what happened next. It seems that, like in our day, not everyone in Jesus’ time appreciated the needs of those who were forced to beg.

Bartimaeus’ call for mercy was responded to with shouts to shut up!! Bart responds by upping his volume too: Son of David, have mercy on me!!

It is an interesting note of history and of today that the cries of those in need of compassion are given exactly the opposite - they are often ignored (most just avert their eyes and walk by quickly) or they are vilified for even asking for help.

Bartimaeus was rejected by the crowd...including the disciples, who I picture acting like bodyguards for Jesus.

It is Jesus who runs counter to the culture of the moment. Jesus stopped ... and asked someone nearby to call the man over to him. Then the crowd changed their mood of ‘ambivalence’ toward Bartimaeus to a mood of ‘benevolence’: Take heart, he is calling you. Come!

Simple words from Jesus resulted in an immediate change in the attitude of the crowd. On those words, Bartimaeus sprung up, threw off his cloak and ran right over to where Jesus was.

Bartimaeus found new life in Jesus. He, literally, saw his world differently as he was shown the compassion he needed. The text tells us that Bartimaeus became an active disciple of Jesus at that point: He followed Jesus on the Way.

Our faith, as fellow followers of Jesus, invites us to experience a new wholeness in life along the Way.

When we look at the world through our Jesus lenses, what can we see that is in need of an experience of new life? We can each ask: as a follower of Jesus’ Way, how is my sight changed?

Faith changes us, because we are given a new perspective on our lives and the world we live in. We can even pray like the old hymn says:

Open my eyes that I may see,

glimpses of hope thou hast for me.
Open my eyes, illumine me,

Spirit Divine.

Faith changes our worldview. And that is perfectly fine.

The context of the Hebrews letter is all about a changing worldview and can be summed up in this way:

As the Christian movement rolled into the later years of the first century, many of the believers had some significant soul searching to do about the relevance of their traditional beliefs.

For those whose path to Christianity was through Jesus’ own faith tradition, Judaism, the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in the year 70 left them wondering about all of those rites and rituals that were tied to Temple worship life. What about the acts of atonement, what about the bringing of first fruit and other offerings and what about the rituals of cleansing and purification?

How could people be assured of their right relationship with God in a post-Temple era?

There was no longer a Temple. There were no longer high priests at the Temple to confirm that all was ‘good’. Was there any aspect of the faith they held dear that still made sense?

Into a changing context, a first century church leader sought to assure the people that there was a continued relevance of what they knew and had experienced.

It wasn’t exactly the same, but there was an underlying familiar truth that they could hold on to.

What was different was a sense of an eternal ‘right-ness’ with God. To be fair the tradition of repeatedly bringing temple offerings was not so much a belief that people had lost God’s favour and needed to regain it, but the rites were repeated as a means of keeping the promise of God front and centre – of making that memorial action a part of regular life.

For the early Christians, who did not (and even if they wanted to, could not, after year 70) adhere to the Temple traditions, one of the key interpretations of the stories of Jesus death and resurrection was to see the crucifixion as an atonement offering (a sacrifice) willingly given by Jesus and the resurrection was the assurance returned by God – in the tradition of the ancient Hebrew rites.

It is not the only way the events of Jesus’ final days were interpreted by the early church or in the centuries and millennia since, but it is one that made particular sense to those Christians who were used to that kind of language and practice.

We see this interpretation of Jesus’ passion most obviously expressed in the letter to the Hebrews.

The way that I read Hebrews in 2012 is to say that we are in a perpetual state of right-ness with God. Our short-comings, our mistakes, our sins (if you will) are set aside by God: NOT because we have bought that forgiveness through our actions or prayers or faithfulness, but because God gifts it to us.

It may simply be our faithful hearts and minds that allow us to see the grace of God in our lives.

But, I would go further to say that – even if we don’t see it – God’s grace envelopes us and holds us safe and secure.

And that is a perfectly fine notion to consider.

Instead of moving through this life with a sense of utter worthlessness and unworthiness in need of some future divine intervention (sadly sometimes promoted by Christians and other [so called] people of faith), we are already declared ‘good’ and we are already ‘made well’.

Bartimaeus was annoyingly rejected by the crowd following Jesus and even by Jesus’ close disciples. In the same way, sometimes, people (sometimes even Jesus’ modern disciples) fail to see the wide reach of the grace of God extending into the lives of some people in this world.

I believe that it is not perfectly fine to ignore the cries for compassion in this world simply because we might have cause to cast some blame on to people for their own problems.

Panhandling is not a very visible circumstance in the communities of Beaumont and Leduc. Sure, people working with helping agencies or in churches see the need more easily, but for the average Jane and Joe on the street, it’s not an upfront issue.

I have been privileged in my life to have travelled to a few larger cities and spent time in the streets where panhandling is much more front and centre: Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, New York, Los Angeles, even Penticton and Kelowna. I have travelled with one or more children at times into these areas.

I am so pleased that my children (and I) have had the opportunities for worldview changing experiences and for an education in the potential of the human spirit.

When I am in a big city, I always carry loose change and small bills in my pocket so that I can initiate some contact with individuals who are simply asking for compassion. I have engaged in conversations of life and generosity with people in need and I have been chastised by other people on the sidewalk for this: “don’t encourage those people.”

I ‘beg’ to differ – it is perfectly fine to bring encouragement into the lives of others: especially those who hunger for compassion.

As I engage the scriptures and read the stories of faith passed on to us, I am increasingly convinced that the God-at-the-heart-of-existence is far more liberal that the most progressive among us, when it comes to being open to new welcome and compassion. We may have our moments when we want to block out the calls for compassion – to ignore or chastise this calls, but God is closer to this perfection than we are able to achieve. This God (and we see this embodied in Jesus) is perpetually forgiving, eternally encouraging, everlastingly hopeful and steadfastly faithful.

The Apostle Paul knew it and tried to express it in words:

unconditional love (agape - agaph), he wrote, is the greatest of all gifts, without which we are nothing (cf. 1^st Corinthians 13:¹³).

Even though, Jesus is the perfect high priest, capable of deeper compassion and love than we can realistically achieve, we can still strive to be perfectly fine in how we live out a belief in the grace of God in our lives. We can do this in being consciously compassionate to each other as our first and best reaction in the journey of this life. After all, it would be what we would need in that situation.

This is the promise that accompanies a compassionate worldview – that we all matter, we all are cared for and we all deserve to be loved.

This is how new life can be experienced in our lives and in the lives of the people we meet.

Let us pray:

God, when others cry out, help us to listen and not turn them away. When their cries are to us, give us the strength and courage to respond on your behalf. When we cry out to you, help us to listen then, too, and rejoice in the answers you give. Amen.

#371VU “Open My Eyes”

Sunday, October 21, 2012

NOT SO AMONG YOU

October 21, 2012

Pentecost 21

Job 38:^1-7

Mark 10:^35-45

(prayer)

Well, God certainly has a sarcastic side, eh? Did you listen to how God spoke to Job: If you’re so smart, tell me how to create a universe? What measurements would you use? How deep should the foundations be? You must have been there when this world was created. No? Oh yeah, that was me! You are speaking words without knowledge.

The bible is filled with passages where God is described in terms of human characteristic (anthropomorphized): God has been described as angry, heartbroken, delighted. When we read this Job passage, we could add down-right snarky to the list.

And it seems that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree of life. Jesus, also, had a least one angry moment when he saw the blatant commercialism of the Temple. And we know that Jesus cried when a dear friend of his died. And certainly he had moments of pure delight as he met people and played with children.

In the second reading for today, there is a bit of that divine snarkiness again as Jesus spoke to James and John: Are you able to do what I am doing? Oh yeah, really?

I have to admit that ‘sarcasm’ is my favorite kind of humour: I also like a good pun, but well done sarcasm makes me laugh. It can be a little dangerous of a form of humour, because if people take you seriously, you can sound pretty insensitive and callous. Sarcasm is not for every situation, that’s for sure. But when it is used, the purpose is to point to something beyond the words – the message is intentionally veiled, but unless you can see that part, the sarcasm can have no effect.

Some of you may know bits and pieces of the story of Job.

He is described as the epitome of the upstanding and righteous person; Job is faithful without fault. And God is very proud of him.

Then we can read that God gets into a debate with a character simply known as ‘the accuser’ (in Hebrew: הַשָּׂטָן, ha satan). The argument goes that, of course it is easy for Job to be faithful and righteous, he has an extremely comfortable life – he has wealth and happiness – he has all of the comforts that can afford a life of faithfulness.

Last week, the gospel story in Mark was about a rich young man coming to Jesus, asking, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’. The answer was to ‘follow the commandments.’ ‘Well, I’ve done that since I was a boy!’ That man, like Job, had no need to steal or covet, he had all he needed. In our day and age, we know that the root cause of most crime and societal dysfunction is poverty. Wealth and privilege simply make living a better life, easier.

That was The Accuser’s point: If Job wasn’t so comfortable, he wouldn’t be so faithful.

Then, to paraphrase the book of Job, God says, “Oh yeah, wanna bet?”

“You’re on!”

The story goes that God, then, changes the circumstances of Job’s life: wealth and property gone; family dead; his health severely compromised. All he has left are a few friends, who seem content to insult Job about how he is responding to the whole situation.

You see, God was winning the bet. Job was remaining faithful. But his friends were quick to point out that all the evidence pointed to the idea that Job must have done something to lose favour with God – Job must not be faithful enough. When Job insists that his faith is a strong as it ever was, the friends then try to get Job to turn his back on God, who it appears doesn’t care about Job.

Job does not curse God, instead Job demands justice from God. It was out of deep faith that Job stood by his belief that God must have a just response to the situation. The reading today is the beginning of God’s answer to Job.

The situation is more complicated that you realize. You do not have my capabilities, God says. You are going to have to trust that I have the big picture in control.

God spends the next several chapters of the text listing off the litany of things over which God has control like we begin to see in the first few verses of chapter 38. God’s claims-to-fame are mostly expressed in that sarcastic style: “Can you do [this]...?

In the end, Job accepted God’s authority over all creation, including him and his life – Job prayed for God to forgive the words and actions of the three friends and, eventually, Job became even richer than before, with a new family, even greater than before.

As uplifting as this story is, I suspect that you might share an uncomfortableness that I have: how could God play so callously with Job’s life, just to win a debate? I know Job got a new family and new wealth at the end and is said to have lived a long and prosperous life, but ... what about the trauma in the middle?

What we have here is a story, not an historical account. All of the central aspects of the story are interpretations of the facts of what are happening. The three friends offer what they see as the reasons for Job’s plight. The story teller gives us a divine motivation for what happened, but the basic history of the story is that:

There was a man named Job. He lived a good life, but then deep tragedy struck his life. His friends tried to convince him to either confess his unrighteousness to God (because it was Job’s fault) or to curse God (for being unworthy of devotion). Job refused to do either, instead holding fast to his faith in God, even to the point of demanding justice. In the end, Job’s faith is what stands out. It gets him through the tragic times and when his life improves, his faith journeys with him to his final breath.

Okay, as stories God, it’s not the greatest to learn about God’s compassion in the touchy-feely sense, but it does express God’s confidence in the integrity of the created order.

A moral to the story can be to say that: “Seek to remain faithful even in difficult times; God will always be faithful to you.”

The original hearers of the book of Job certainly would have gotten that message.

“God will always be faithful to you!”

As I noted earlier, last week the Gospel reading was also from the Mark chapter 10; it was a lesson about the sacrificial nature of discipleship. It ended with a proclamation by Jesus’ disciples that the have given up everything to follow him. Jesus then spoke about the blessings of God that outweigh what they have sacrificed. Jesus’ memorable final line of that conversation: ³¹...many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

The lectionary skips over three verses to get to today’s reading. Those verses describe that Jesus and his followers begin their fateful journey to Jerusalem. The author of Mark, even hints at the events of Holy Week as this journey begins.

Presumably it is on the way to Jerusalem that John and James make their special request of Jesus:

‘Since you have promised us all great rewards and blessings in heaven, could we get seats of honour in your heavenly kingdom. We have been with you since the beginning, when you asked if we wanted to follow you and fished for people. We left our family, our work, everything we knew. Can we have the number two and three seats beside you?’

Jesus hints that his own sacrifices are still not an end. And he questions whether even these two long-time loyal disciples are prepared to sacrifice along with him.

The conversation was loud enough that the other ten disciples found out what was going on and they were upset with James and John. The text doesn’t tell us whether they were mad because John and James were being selfish and putting themselves above the others, or because James and John thought to ask first.

Jesus responds to this tense situation like he always did, he told a parable, a lesson-story:

‘Think about the nations of the world, Caesar and the other leaders rule with a heavy hand – they are tyrants. They see themselves as better than everyone else and feel they deserve anything they want. Well...it is not so among you. That is not the way I want you to behave; that is not the way I want you to be. Just a few days ago, I spoke about the first being last and the last being first. This is what I meant: whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.’

Jesus’ message and actions were intended to reach and influence and serve ‘many’ not just a ‘few’.

It sounds easy. But in reality it is not: servanthood doesn’t always come easy – most people, I believe, prefer to be in control, rather than serve. If we are all honest, we probably have to admit that.

Our culture is ascension-based: it’s all about advancing one’s self. We seek to acquire more time; we look to the bigger house, more toys. Our economy is never content with maintaining what we have – if it doesn’t grow, it’s bad. This past Friday, the Wall Street stocks took a bit of a tumble because some company’s earnings reports were lower than expected. Microsoft, General Electric and McDonalds are all still profitable, but because they weren’t profitable enough, the Dow Jones sunk over 200 points and had its worse day in over four months.

But it is not so among you.

That’s the vision of the culture that surrounds us – personal, selfish advancement must be perpetual.

We have the choice to be counter-cultural.

Ah, choice.

It can cause us so much grief.

Oh, how much easier life would be to not be faced with choices of how to live, how to connect, how to find balance. And yet, even as we choose a faith that guides us, the path is still for us to travel, including the choices (some really perplexing and hard) along the Way.

Can we choose to ‘drink the cup Jesus drinks’?

Can we choose to accept that selfish personal advancement will not be the dominating motivation of this life?

Are the lives of others important to us - to the point that we can accept that our well-being is tied up with their well-being. You see it is not about setting aside our own needs – it is about living as partners not as tyrants.

Each day, we will experience a number of opportunities to make this choice in small or big ways.

And at each of those moments, you can ask – is it so with me?

Let us pray:

God, we can be demanding and often we want to be assured of the path before us. Remind us that you are with us always and maybe that is enough to know. Amen.

#684VU “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace”

Sunday, October 7, 2012

APPRECIATING PROMISE

October 7, 2012

Pentecost 19

Joel 2:^21-27

Matthew 6:^25-33

ALL AGES SERVICE

(prayer)

Birds flapped their wings and glided overhead. They landed nearby and pecked at the seeds on the ground. The grass swished back and forth in the breeze. The flowers opened their petals to the warm sun’s rays. Puffy clouds floated across the sky.

It was a beautiful, sunny day to be outside. The grass was soft and the birds chirped with joy ... and a crowd of people sat around Jesus, listening.

Take a moment and think about those things with which God has blessed you/us and for which you/we feel gratitude.

// (pause) //

These are gifts from God, which assure us of God’s accompaniment when we feel worried and anxious.

It is a strange reality of our existence that a little joy can go a long way in offsetting some pain or worry.

At least ya got yer health !

Of course that is not always true.

At least ya got yer God !

The promise of our scriptures is that this is always true.

Both the Joel and Matthew readings for today invite us to grab on to the confidence that the authors are promoting.

Both of these passages acknowledge that the current situation is less than ideal.

Joel is written at a time of drought. There is a real fear that the fields will not produce enough to provide for the needs of the people.

In Matthew, Jesus speaks to people who know (from real personal experience) what it is to be anxious about the basics of living – will they have enough food to eat; will they have adequate clothing?

The message is ‘do not fear’, ‘do not worry.’ Jesus and the prophet can say these words because they are confident in the promise of a hopeful future.

‘The treshing-floors shall be full of grain!’

‘If God clothes the grass of the field, will God not much more cloth you?’

It is thanksgiving weekend. It is a common activity, in families, communities and even churches, to look back onto our lives and to appreciate what we have: for some of us, we express our gratitude to God for providing all that we know and enjoy and for be a presence in our lives.

Thanksgiving provides for us that discipline. And that is good.

And still, I see a slightly different approach in today’s readings that can be a good discipline as well.

Joel and Jesus are inviting people to be grateful for the promise of what is still to come. To appreciate that God promises to be with us as we move from drought to bounty; from worry to calm.

The prophet says, rejoice and be glad, even in the midst of drought, for the rains are on their way and the grain stores will be full.

The Christ says, God has provided all that is needed, for birds and flowers AND US. Even if we are worried, God is not.

How can what Jesus says here be true in the most logical and practical way?

SHARE!

BE GENEROUS!

SET ASIDE FEAR AND WORRY!

AND APPRECIATE THE PROMISE!
SHOW THE LOVE OF GOD IN OUR ACTIONS WITH OTHERS!

Thanksgiving is more than an examination of how we have already been ‘blessed’ by abundance. It is about allowing that abundance to do its charitable magic.

Thanksgiving is about being the hands and feet of Christ within a world with too much fear and too much worry.

It was a beautiful, sunny day to be outside. The grass was soft and the birds chirped with joy ... and a crowd of people sat around Jesus, listening.

One young man with a concerned look on his face spoke up and said to Jesus, “Jesus, I am worried. I’m not sure I will find enough food for my family to eat.”

“I am worried, too,” said a woman close by. “We need warm clothing for the cold nights that will soon be here.”

“I am always worrying that our well might dry up and we will be left with no water,” said another.

“I worry sometimes, too,” replied Jesus. Then Jesus looked around and pointed to the large shady tree behind them. “Do you see those little birds pecking the seeds on the ground? They are not able to plant their own food. God cares for them. And God cares for you, too. Now look at those flowers blooming in the field.

How beautiful they are!

Even the great King Solomon, when he dressed up in the best clothes he had – even King Solomon wasn’t as beautiful as these flowers. God cares for the flowers. And God cares for you, too. Worrying won’t change things. God loves you. God delights in you and loves everything about you. And God knows what you need.”

Jesus smiled as he told the people, “God has given us a world that makes it possible for everyone to have food,

and clothing, and water.

How wonderful is that?”

“Yes!” cried the people, “and now it’s up to us to make sure that happens!”

Let us pray:

God, you pour out mercy until our hearts overflow. God, help us see that your hope is more than we can ever imagine. Amen.

**offering**