TURN OF FORTUNES

October 27, 2013

Pentecost 23

Joel 2:23-32

Luke 18:9-14

(prayer)

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand, 
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh. 
But when the taxman comes to the door, 
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes, 
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no. 
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no.

It sounds like a vaudevillian joke: “a tax collector and a pharisee walk into a temple …”

Two people; two prayers.

[standing, eyes open to heaven]

“God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. ¹²I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.”

[down, eyes closed]

¹³… “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

Two very different people; two very different prayers:

Pharisees were respected leaders of faith.  They were teachers of practical faith (more ethical than theological: like say, scribes or Sadducees) - champions of social justice.  They taught that we interact with a ‘spiritual world’ all the time, they hoped for a future with an after-life and they preached that there was an inherent equality in all people under the torah.

Tax Collectors (in Judea during the Roman era) tended to be self-serving, greedy and willing to experience a social outcasting as a fair exchange for the healthy profit they could make collaborating with the empire.

So, as Jesus tends to do with his parables, the impression you have of the characters initially may not be a complete interpretation of who they are.

1.    Pharisee: respected leader, champion of equality.

2.    Tax Collector: roman collaborator, selfish and greedy.

But then Jesus lets us over hear their prayers - not just with our ears but also with our eyes.

The Pharisee, is upright, eyes open to the heavens - he prays a loud, prideful prayer:  “Ohhh God, what a great life I have.  I am so thankful that I am better than anyone else - take for example, O God, this tax collector over here.  Surely, he’s not a great as me.  I’ll bet you he doesn’t fast twice a week like me, or give 1/10^th of his income to the temple, as you, O God, know I do.”  It was nothing short of a self-serving, arrogant speech, disguises as a prayer.

And in the distant, the tax collector, is eyes down, he is beating his chest.  If he is loud, it is not to put on a show for others, it is because the passion of his prayer cannot be silenced: “Have mercy, God.  Have mercy!  I have lived poorly, unfaithfully; I am a sinner!  Have mercy!”

Both of their prayers expressed honestly what they believed in that moment.  The Pharisee was happy with his life; the tax collector, ashamed.  The Pharisee wanted a holy pat on the back, the tax collector wanted a hug of forgiveness from God.

Jesus’ conclusion: the tax collector’s prayer was more on the mark - more what God would desire.

Both were honest - but only one was humble and vulnerable.  Both prayers were heart-felt, but only one sought an overall better life for the community.

The fortunate one was not the one who prayed about how fortunate he was.  The Pharisee wanted more of the same.  He defined himself on the misery of others.  The tax collector, just wants enough to move ahead in life on a better path.

//

It is not easy for biblical scholars to precisely date the book of Joel.  It mentions the temple, but it is unclear whether this was Solomon’s temple from before the Babylonian exile, or the rebuilt temple after the exile was over. What we do know about the context is that there has been a recent history of drought and insect infestations that have resulted in very poor harvests.  What Joel celebrates in the beginning of our passage today is that the spring rains have started.  The harvest is a long way off, but this is a very good sign.  The early rains are enough to feel the blessing.  This year will be different, the prophet predicts - the harvest this year will be a payback for all of those crops the locusts got to enjoy.

You shall eat plentifully, you shall not need to be ashamed!  You will have enough.

//

As I have confessed before, I am a city boy.  The smallest place I have ever lived was Swan Hills and it is a good hour’s drive from the nearest farm.  But I hear people talking that this year’s harvest is (on average) a pretty good one.

Every farmer knows that even with the best planning, the perfect choice of seed and fertilizer and pest and weed control will mean nothing without the luck of good weather at the right times.

//

Jesus’ Pharisee felt very fortunate for his life.  He would have counted the quality of his life as a ‘fortune’ Fortunate and fortune have same word root, but we hear them very differently - ‘fortune’ is often interpreted as earned.  Whereas, ‘fortunate’ involves luck.

I would assume that both they Pharisee and tax collector had fortunes, but who was truly fortunate?

Jesus challenges his readers to see that the fortunate one is the one who sees value in humility - for charting a better path in this life.

//

As harvest gives way to the first hints of winter, we are reminded of the seasons of growth and rest. Each of these is an obvious blessing.

Scarcity and busyness can make the blessing hard to see. In a world where we are told we never have enough (time, resources, everything), can we find that moment where we know that we are where God needs us to be – where we are? And that this is more than enough!

//

For the Pharisee, it was enough to see people worse off than him to feel good about his own life.  Somehow, I imagine, that even if nothing changed in the pharisee’s life, the fact that the tax collector sought to be a less selfish, more community minded person, would have left the Pharisee longing for more.

It is one of the reasons I am baffled by the staunch opposition I see on the US news to health care,  immigration reform and same sex marriage.  Why does the fact that more people will have a chance to be healthy, more people can enjoy the security and status of marriage and more people can enjoy the benefits of citizenship, have to make those who already have those advantages feel slighted somehow.

If the only value in our lives comes from seeing others worse off than ourselves, no matter how much ‘fortune’ we have, it will never be enough.

//

Joel didn’t need to wait until the harvest to have a hopeful confidence: the early rain was enough.

The second half of the Joel reading looks to a hopeful future beyond even that year’s harvest - to a time when people will experience the unity that come with God’s Spirit.  He imagines a world that the distinctions of age and gendre and social status will melt away as God’s spirit rains down on the world.

//

The tax collector had to look deep with inside himself - nowhere else to see where life needed to improve.

As we delve deeper into what it means to live as one, we often grapple with internal and external barriers, histories of shame, and feelings of unworthiness. Our scriptures this week celebrate how nothing stands in the way of God’s love, and no distance is too great for God’s grace to reach.

This is very good news.

Let us pray:

God, thank you for making us who we are – unique and unified. May we grow in mercy to heal the separations between us.

Amen.

#375VU “Spirit of Gentleness” 

THE EPISTLE OF STRAW

October 20, 2013

Pentecost 20

World Food Sunday - YH Presbytery

Jeremiah 31:27-34

James 1:1, 19-24

(prayer)

It seems to me that it was a long time ago that I suggested St. David's Church be the host for the fall 2013 meeting of Yellowhead.  The dates were set ahead of time.  So, it was already known that the gathering would run Friday to Sunday - which I knew would mean that (on that Sunday) the congregation would include a number of presbytery members, include a significant number of people who, themselves, plan and lead worship on a regular basis.

Now, these presbyters are kind, open and forgiving folk, so you there is no need to be nervous.  I did expect to feel a bit of 'pressure' preaching among so many other preachers, but it was always far enough down the road that I was fine.

//

Then last week, my mind started quoting Jeremiah: "the days are surely coming."

I have been practicing a spiritual discipline of patience this fall - in that I have avoiding making any plans for a particular Sunday service, until the previous Sunday is completed- kind of like organizational fasting.

But when my brain started preaching at me, "the days are surely coming", I was tempted to break my fast and get today's plans done early.

Lead us not into temptation. 

//

I did not stumble.  I waited until Monday before I planned out most of the service details early in the week so I could get the hymns to the musicians and info for the church office to prepare the virtual and paper bulletin. 

Although I knew that the week would be busy, I intentionally, left things to the last minute as far as sermon preparation went. 

As the meeting began on Friday, the pressure started to affect me.  No longer were the days surely coming - the day was here.

//

//

Today we heard from the new testament epistle of James (epistle means letter from the greek for ‘upon sending’).  The letter of James is a unique document in our Christian Scriptures - it has a unique author from the other books. 

Old tradition held that it was James the blood brother of Jesus - the leader of the Jerusalem early Christian community).  The text simply says that it is from “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”.  Most modern scholars think that it was very unlikely that Jesus’ Aramaic-speaking, peasant brother could read or write in Greek (if he could in any language) and that the content of the letter suggests a writing date from the latter first century after James’ lifetime.

James also appears to be a general letter, not one sent to a specific community or group of believers.  It is addressed to the dispersed twelve tribes of Israel.

Now this doesn’t mean that James is writing to all Jewish people; rather he is writing to the Jewish Christians who live outside of Judea and Galilee.  This was not a document trying to evangelize people into the church - it was a letter for people who were already in, but whose faith origins were in the same traditions of Jesus himself - Judaism.

The letter of James is not part of the letter tradition of the Apostle Paul - which was written to non-jewish (or mixed jewish-gentile) communities.  Letters with Paul’s name on them largely focused on the early church members' ability to get along with each other under a common mission.

Paul, and those of his school of thought who later wrote in his name, had a primary focus on a right mindset for faith.  The letters of Paul describe faith as an attitude of mental spirituality.  Paul preached very strongly against the notion of blindly following rituals for the sake of ritual.  For Paul it was a case of faith versus the law.

Using a common modern phrase, the letters of Paul encourage being more 'spiritual than religious'.

That is (of course) an over-simplification, but unfortunately the over-simplification leads some people to assume that faith is just a matter of the mind.  That one's spirit is limited to non-physical faithfulness.  Being faithful is to trump doing faithful things.

This attitude was big during the protestant reformation - one of the mantras espoused by Martin Luther and other protester of the reformation was sola fida - "[By] Faith Alone!"

The context of the protestant reformation was that people like Luther were deeply troubled by the practice of the church of the day that qualified a person's faith based on how stringently they followed certain rituals and practices.  I get it - in that context - a push to the other direction makes sense.  In a 'works-centered theological' context, 'faith alone' makes sense.

But in the broader context, I think extremes are seldom helpful.

 //

So, thank God for the letter of James: be doers of the word and not merely hearers.

When someone says they are more spiritual than religious, they are referring to a discomfort with empty rituals, with disconnected institutionalism, with a discouragement to open dissent or challenge or 'thinking'.

If that's the what you mean when you say 'spiritual not religious', I agree with you.

However, I would say that the thesis of James is about a very strong religiosity - a call to religious behavior.

//

Not everyone thinks so.  Obviously James was a problem for Martin Luther, with the letter’s focus on good works and Luther’s thesis that the true gospel demands faith, not works.  Luther even argues that James did not belong in the bible.  He called it ‘an epistle of straw’.

To mix my metaphors, the letter of James would be no trouble for any ol’ big bad wolf to blow flat.

//

//

With apologies to one of the great church visionaries of the reformation and to our good and kind neighbours across the parking lot to the south, I think James is great and I feel blessed that it has been passed on to us by the early church as Christian Scripture.

//

Yes, it is true that faith may well be (in many ways) an activity of the mind.  Certainly, faith grows as we think and reflect about what is important to us: as we delve into the lessons of our Bibles and seek to understand how we fit into this story of a beloved creation which is loved by a deeply loving God.

//

Personally, I think that the mind, might be the second step - if these kinds of things are quantifiable at all.

My experience is that faith is rooted in feelings - emotional responses and yearnings.  Yes, that often is made know to us through thought and reflection, but I am sure that you all know that we can feel a certain way, without understanding why.  To put it another way: the brain sometimes has trouble catching up to the heart.

//

I would venture to guess that everyone of us here today is longing for something that we hope this whole ‘church community experience’ can support.

We feel that there is something more than the sum of our thoughts or the limits of our knowledge.  And we have ventured through a church’s doors because (at some level) we are interested in (open to) delving a little deeper to see what we can discover.

//

I don’t see the Epistle of Straw in opposition to that.  I see it as focusing on yet a further step in the process of faith development.

//

If faith is, first, a feeling waiting to be understood; it is, second, an action waiting to be taken based on whatever it is we decide that faith means to us.

Faith is a dance between the

·         heart,

·         head and

·         the feet.

James reminds of the final partner of the dance without expecting an exclusion of the other two.

//

In our reading from James this morning, we can see that the author begins by appealing to the minds of the readers: “you must understand this, my beloved…”  What follows are actions to take based on faithful attitudes that are already part of the person:

ÿ    be quick to listen, slow to speak;

ÿ    slow to anger;

ÿ    rid yourself of wickedness;

ÿ    welcome meekness.

The book of James is a primer on how one should act as a believer and follower of Jesus, the Christ in those early decades of the Christian movement - well worth a look, some 2000 years later - most of those lessons have stood the test of time.  It is still a good thing (I would argue) to be slow to speak and quick to listen.

You heard in the passage that was read what could be called the summary verse of the entire letter: chapter 1, verse 22: “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers.”

Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers.

//

That sounds easy.  Of course, we should do that.  Right?

But, it is good for us to realize that this phrase is a challenge for each of us.

//

//

I think that one of the reasons that the words “spiritual but not religious” is so popular is because religion brings to mind the big administrative and institutional aspects of the Christian movement.  And there is no shortage of hypocrisy in that.

A Church that proclaims it wants to follow Jesus’ instruction to serve the poor and welcome the outsiders, is swimming in exorbitant wealth and has built (literally and figuratively) high walls to participation.

“If that’s religious, count me out”, people must say.

//

Being doers of the word and not merely hearers is about seeking to be an authentic believer - where words and actions try to match.

//

Personally, I don’t care if you call yourself spiritual or religious, my hope for each of us, is the willingness to try and live an authentic faith.

Now, I said ‘authentic’, not perfect.

We all (at times) are quick to speak and slow to listen.  The desire to improve the connection between our words and our actions is the stuff that faith is made of.

//

Our God seems to have a greater focus on the future than the past.  Not worrying about what may have not been quite right, but encouraging a new attempt to live faithfully.  In churchy language we would use words like forgiveness and grace.

Even, the doom and gloom messages of the prophet Jeremiah saw the opportunities of a better faithfulness ahead:  The days are surely coming when I will make a new promise with the people.  It will be a new law to guide them, but not a law written in stone or papyrus or paper, it will be so ingrained within them, that it will be as if it is written on their hearts”.

//

With God, there is never a final chance to improve on that heart-head-feet dance of faith.  I believe that God calls us to do just that as we live as active followers of Jesus.

//

While it is great that we are able (from time to time) gather in places like this (usually on a Sunday morning) to focus on the head and the heart, let us also be people who let this faith move us.  Let us move into the world with our faith.

//

On some calendars, you may see that today is World Food Sunday.  It is usually the Sunday after October 16^th (which commemorates the founding of the ‘Food and Agriculture Organization’ of the United Nations).

For folks in the mid-northern parts of our globe, it is harvest time - the time when we gather the food for the year.  And so, people from churches and elsewhere who believe in the dignity of all human life.  Finding ways to participate in the path to the elimination of hunger is one way of being a doer of Jesus’ words.

This past Thursday, on day after the official World Food Day, the Leduc-area field dedicated to support the World Food Grains Bank was harvested.  Amen.

At least once a month, the contents of that box at the back of the church where people can place donations for the local food bank is emptied.  Today, we are fortunate to have a huge display on fair trade items - products that support the living wages of the producers of what we eat and enjoy.

//

Beyond food (c’mon, we can do it United Church)… beyond food, having a James-like active, word-doing faith is always about seeing others as kin, as beloved children of God, no matter how similar or different they are to you.  Being a doer of the word means that we treat all with the dignity and respect and compassion that equal children of God deserve.

Call it what you like: spiritual or religious or whatever… it is our mission, it is our ministry, it is our calling. 

The best part of this good news is that God promises to be our companion along the way - even when the dance is less than perfect (which it most certainly always will be).

//

The days are surely coming, and they are already here when we can proclaim that “we are not alone, we live in God’s world.  Thanks be to God!”

//

Let us pray:

Enduring Spirit, guide us with the lessons of the past to help us move into this time with faithful love and action - in Jesus’ name; following Jesus’ Way.  Amen.

Singing: “Bringing in the Sheaves”

MADE WELL

October 13, 2013

Pentecost 21 - Thanksgiving

Jeremiah 29:1,4-7

Luke 17:11-19

(prayer)

So, the Hebrew people have been forced from their land and homes - they have endured a painstaking journey across the wilderness and were now expected to live in makeshift refugee camps somewhere by the rivers of Babylon, and the prophet (still safely back behind Jerusalem’s walls, by the way) sent the exiles a message:  settle down there, build homes, plant fields - treat it like your new home.

Let’s be honest... that’s pretty optimistic for a doctrine. 

Let’s see: how can I relay to you all how silly those words from Jeremiah must have sounded?  If only there was a scene from a movie that I love that could give us a flavour of this...

//

Okay, I don't believe that Jeremiah was being flippant like Eric Idel and the boys of Monty Python in that scene from The Life of Brian.  The prophet did, I believe, have the short- and long-term interests of the exiles in mind.

I suspect that he was recalling the fate of northern Israel - a separate Hebrew kingdom that split off from Judah centuries earlier after King Solomon's death.

If you heard or read my sermon from last week, you may recall that I talked about Habakkuk, a Judean prophet who preached a decade or two before Jeremiah, right at the start of Babylonian imperialism. 

I mentioned that a main concern for Habakkuk was an arrogant attitude within Judah that nothing could ever challenge their status among nations or their place in the world.  The prophet's concern was that the people didn't even seem to worry much about practicing their faith.

In the back of Habakkuk's (and Jeremiah's) mind were the lessons to be learned from the fall of the northern kingdom, almost a century earlier.

When the Assyrian Empire expanded west toward the Mediterranean, the people of Israel were scattered.  Their capital city of Samaria was overrun.  They lost their identity as a distinct Hebrew people.

By inviting the exiles to form new communities in Babylon, Jeremiah was giving the Judean people a chance to remain "a people" even away from home.

//

Knowing who we have been helps us understand who we are and it is invaluable as we choose the paths to who we can become.  I think Jeremiah was encouraging the honouring of all that made the people who they were as a means of surviving the trauma of exile.

//

//

When the bible speaks about leprosy, it is not limiting the conversation to the specific disease we call leprosy.  It referred to any number of visible skin ailments (some temporary, some chronic, some contagious, some not) that would have isolated people from their wider society. 

Having "leprosy" (regardless we would call it today) in Jesus' time, meant being ostracized, kept away from family, work, church - people were so afraid of catching what you had, that you were required to announce your presence to others and above all keep your distance.

One of the hallmarks of Jesus' welcoming ministry is that he broke through those barriers: he visited the leper colonies; he invited the sick, and the sinner, and the outcast to dine with him on a regular basis.  He broke down those walls on a personal level, but there were times like busted down the society's walls as well.  Ten lepers were healed of their ailments.  The priests would verify the fact, and these people would be welcomed again in their world.

That wonderful occurrence is actually the set up for the story today.

//

After the ill were made whole, after they had started off to see the priest, one decides to come back and offer a personal thank you to Jesus - for this renewed chance at a full life.

To further emphasize that Jesus is all about busting through the walls of exclusion, it is pointed out that the one who came back was a Samaritan.

[In an interesting parallel to the context of Jeremiah's time, the Samaritans (of Jesus day) were those who populated some of the lands of the former northern Israeli kingdom.  By Jesus' time, the differences in culture and religious practice were so vast that the Hebrew people did not view the Samaritans as kin.  They were outsiders.]

To highlight how much faithfulness Jesus expected from the crowd made up of his own people, he praised the faithful gratitude of "the foreigner".

And the walls came a tumbling down.

//

//

Earlier, as we gathered around the baptismal font with Elliot and her family, we share words of hope and promise: We are not alone.  We live in God's world.  Thanks be to God!

//

"Thanks be to God."  Good words to say on Thanksgiving Sunday. 

Even though the harvests are coming in, for many people in our increasingly urbanized culture, ‘Thanksgiving’ is just a reason for another holiday long weekend.  Many of us (myself included) don't have the personal experience to really appreciate the joy and hope that a good harvest can represent.  In North America, it was not that many decades ago where life and death was dictated by the health of the harvest.  And it is still sadly true in parts of our world.

[This coming Thursday, the local field that is dedicated to the work of the Canadian Foodgrains bank will be harvested.  You are invited to come to the church at 10:30am Thursday to carpool out to the field and marvel at the fleet of combines working to feed a hungry world.]

The truth is… a good harvest represents not only a livelihood for the farmer, but life for the community.  We should all be thankful for that.

//

All of us are called to be appreciative of the life we are living.  The ease of that appreciation is not going to be universal: some of us know bounty, others of us know emptiness – many of us move back and forth.  The challenge of thankfulness is to appreciate life as it is in the moment – not what it might be if circumstances were different.  The challenge of thankfulness is not to replace appreciation for arrogance if life is good or with despair if life is hard.  The challenge of thankfulness is being open to the notion that we are not alone in this moment because God is with us. 

//

You may be familiar with Jesus' sermon on the mount (cf. Luke 6:20ff) - where he is quoted as saying phrases like:. Blessed are the poor; blessed are the hungry; blessed are the hated, the ostracized.  And then he tells them, You should rejoice.  [???]

I doubt that Jesus was saying that people should rejoice because of their poverty, their hungry, and their isolation.  Rather… even in the midst of hardship, the rejoicing is based on a recognition that we are not alone - that God is with us in the easy and the hard.  That is cause to rejoice. 

//

Few moments in life are perfect.  And, let’s be honest, for some, life is so far from perfect that it is a miracle that they have as much hope as they do.

The call to thankfulness is not about what we have accumulated.  It is not about what we don’t have.

Thankfulness is centred around a belief that God is with us in all circumstances, through thick and thin, in joy and in sorrow. 

The exiles in Babylon could be thankful, even a wilderness away from their home - being under the thumb of the empire wasn’t going to dampen the thankfulness they were able to feel for the presence of God even in the foreign land.

//

When the Samaritan ex-leper came back to express a thankfulness to Jesus, our Christ saw it as an act (not just appreciation) but of faith: “your faith has made you well.”

//

I once read a paraphrase of the 23^rd Psalm that began this way: “The Lord is my shepherd.  That is all I have.  That is all I need.”

It takes a deep and trusting faith to be able to say that.  To be thankful for God, even if God is the only good and constant thing in our life.

//

So how much easier should it be for us, when we have so much more that just God’s presence in our midst.

Let us make true the notion that honest thankfulness is an act of faith.

Let us pray:

God, wherever we find ourselves, draw us near to you and the bounty of your love.  Hold us in your everlasting arms.  Amen.

#185MV

“Ev’ryday is a Day of Thanksgiving”

DOING THE WORK

October 6, 2013

Pentecost 20

Habakkuk 1:1-4 & 2:1-4

Luke 17:5-10

(prayer)

I have to admit, that there was a time - long after I had been active in church, after I had been confirmed, after I had served on a church board - that I don’t think I had ever heard of Habakkuk.

I remember ‘talking bible’ with some friends and someone was looking in the table of contents of their Bible and said why don’t we study about “Habakkuk”.  I thought they were (either), making up the name to be funny or mispronouncing it.

But apparently, there really was an Old Testament prophet named “Habakkuk”. 

It is not a common name - in fact it only appears twice in the whole Bible - both times in the book of Habakkuk.  Scholars aren’t event sure what the origins of the name are:  it could relate to a certain fragrant plant or perhaps the verb ‘to embrace’.

And there is almost no biographical material in the Bible about this prophet - other than describing him as ‘a prophet’.  Some people speculate that because the last section of the book is a hymn, that Habakkuk may have been a temple musician (of the tribe of Levi).

The text of the book is made up of three sections - the final one is that hymn or psalm of praise for the signs of God’s actions in the world, the middle part is a series of condemnations for wicked nations and their behavior (Alas for you who heap up what is not your own; Alas for you who build a town by bloodshed and the lile.); the first part is a conversation between God and Habakkuk.  It was from that section that we read today:

HABAKKUK: O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?  Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? 

GOD: Look at the nations, and see!  Be astonished! Be astounded!  For a work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told.

//

From the content of his words we can tell that Habakkuk likely preached these oracles in the early 7^th century BCE - at the time of the rising of the Chaldeans as a world power, who were beginning to take over from the Assyrians who had control of the region for 300 years (the Chaldean people would eventually found the Babylonian Empire). 

Habakkuk may have been active long enough to be a contemporary of other 7^th century prophets like Jeremiah and Zephaniah, but it is possible that (along with the prophet Nahum), Habakkuk was one of the first Judean voices of the early Babylonian era.

//

During the era of the Assyrians, Judah had enjoyed relative autonomy.  They maintained their kingdom, their rulers, their temple.  This is in stark contrast to the northern Hebrew Kingdom which was overrun by the Assyrians in 721BCE.  After that, the biblical record goes practically silent on what happened to the people of northern Israel, their culture, their religious practices.  The next time we get a hint as to what happened to them is when we read about the people of Samaria in the New Testament.  You may be familiar with some teachings of Jesus where he assumes his audience see the Samaritans as irreconcilably separated from the Hebrews of Judea and Galilee.

But that is all an aside to the story of Habakkuk.  He writes to southern Israel - the people of Judah, maybe even more specifically to the people of Jerusalem.

//

It was clear to the prophet that the times they were a-changin’.  And he was not convinced that the people, nor their leaders, were prepared for what might be coming their way.

You see, after the Assyrian experience, there was an arrogance within Judah - that they were somewhat invincible.  After all, the Lord of Hosts resided in their temple - Yahweh, the creator of heaven and earth was their God.

And yet it is not the emerging empire that concerns Habakkuk, it is the lacklustre faith of the Judeans - when he complains about ‘violence’ and ‘wrongdoing’ and ‘destruction’ and ‘strife’, he is speaking about problems at home, not abroad.  The ‘law is slack - justice never prevails’ Habakkuk says.

After lamenting that God has been silent, the prophet finally understands God wanting him to speak to the people (write things down, share the words far and wide).  God says: look at the proud, (aka arrogant) their spirit is not right in them.  God asks for the prophet’s patience: if a [clear vision] seems to be delayed... just wait for it.  It will come at the appointed time.

//

Every person who has felt the draw of the social gospel (everyone who desires peace and justice in the world), knows how Habakkuk feels waiting for what is right to prevail.

When God finally speaks to Habakkuk, he is not told to wait quietly, but to take action - write, speak, tell people what they need to hear to live well and faithfully.  The patience was needed to wait for the fruits of his prophetic labours to be seen.

//

In our time, the work of social justice is not just about humanitarian aid, but also about proclamations against the systems that perpetuate the problems.

The United Church of Canada is involved in an ecumenical (inter-church) social justice organization call KAIROS - that for decades was supported in its work by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).  That is until four years ago, when the federal government abruptly cancelled the funding. 

You may remember the controversy where the grant application was approved by the department and signed by Kairos officials, but someone in the Minister of International Cooperation’s office, hand wrote the word “not” before the word approved on to the already signed document.  The reasoning (Kairos was told) was that priority was being given to efforts that had easily trackable results - like... How many people did you feed? How many women took the course of good parenting? How many AIDS victims did you treat?  How many are still alive?

Kairos does that kind of work, but they also advocate for changes to the patterns of systemic injustice.  And that often means pointing out to people that governments are sometime complicit in those systems.  Not a great way to apply for a government grant. 

Fear not, the CIDA funding was only part of the resources Kairos has, so they have continued their work all throughout the world in the name of the social gospel - including hands on work on the ground AND work to change systems.

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My point is that, when injustice needs to be faced, it takes work.  And sometimes that work includes patience waiting for the tangible results.

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Jesus taught his disciples to expect resistance in their work – he said that there would be occasions when ‘stumbling’ would happen.  In this context, Jesus (like the Apostle Paul would later) is specifically talking about things that get in the way of living faithfully – even within the group of believers.  The passage we heard from Luke 17 is an instruction manual for resolving conflict.  If, Jesus says, one of you sins, point that out to the person, if they recognise the error of their ways and pledges to correct the behaviour, you MUST forgive them and move on! Even if the person re-offends, but repents again, you MUST forgive again.  Jesus makes his point almost comically by saying that even if this happens seven times a day, if there is a desire to change, forgive and let the change happen. 

Jesus is teaching about doing the work of forgiveness, but also about being patient for results to become known.

The disciples knew that this kind of patience would test the limits of their patience, so they ask Jesus to gift them with a stronger faith –

“Increase our faith [so that we can do what you ask].”

“Do you think that forgiveness requires a lot of faith?  No!  If you have just a ‘mustard sized’ amount of faith, you could do this and more.”

In other words, I think Jesus was telling them that they already had the faith they needed – the simply needed to do the work of living it out.

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Aye, there’s the rub, isn’t it.  When faced with a challenge of faith, one reaction can be to throw ones arms up and say, I can’t do this.  Jesus is saying: trust the faith you have... and just continue do the work.  Don’t let the lack of immediate results discourage you.

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As of last week, the peewee football team which I help coach had not won a game.  In our eight team division, we were second last in the number of points our opponents had scored against us.  But we were third in the number of points we have scored.

In our last two games, we had averaged 32 points, but lost them both because the other team scored more.

So this past week, the team worked really hard on our defense.  We did drill after drill that focused on every player doing their small part of the bigger job (you see our problem has been that too often, players played like they were a team of one and everyone tried to be the one who made the tackle, even if it meant getting out of position and ignoring their part of the larger defensive plan.

So we worked hard in that this week, knowing that it will take a few weeks for us to know the fruit of our labours because the next two games were against the top two teams in our division.

Yesterday, the 0-4 Leduc Peewee Wildcats beat the 3-1 Sherwood Park Bulldogs 48-8.

Hard work, pays off (eventually).

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Our scriptures today are calling us to trusting the faith that we have.  We are invited to use that faith to make a difference in our world.  And most importantly to not give up, just because the change takes longer to see than we would like.

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That was a challenge for Jesus’ disciples in the 1^st century and it may even be more of a challenge for us in the 21^st century, where our culture is obsessed with quick results.

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This will take work.

Let us pray:

Holy Spirit, who kindled the faith of our ancestors, light our faith as well.  Give us the patience we need to let this faith do its work.  Amen.

***offering***