(prayer)
The song of the angels is stilled.
The star in the sky is gone.
The kings and shepherds
have found their way home.
The Work of Christmas is begun.
(“I Am the Light of the World” - #87VU)
The star in the sky is gone.
The kings and shepherds
have found their way home.
The Work of Christmas is begun.
(“I Am the Light of the World” - #87VU)
The light is in the world.
The Work of Christmas is begun.
//
Some of you know - when it comes to the work of the wider United Church
of Canada - that I and the recording
secretary of the Yellowhead Presbytery.
[A Presbytery is a level of
the UCCan made up of ministers and congregational reps from a defined
geographic region; YHP gathers people from the triangle formed by Jasper to
Leduc to Ft McMurray - about 40 congregations.]
Basically, I take and prepare minutes of meetings of the full presbytery
(and its executive Council) and I sign forms relating to decisions that the
Presbytery makes.
The full Presbytery is meeting later this week at a retreat centre in
St. Albert. We are not meeting in a
church this time, so I have been keeping track of registrations.
Expecting people to register helps us make arrangements for meals and
accommodations.
Normally notices of meetings go out about five or six weeks ahead of
time. That is not practical for a
January meeting, because the registration info can get lost during the busyness
of Christmas. So, I sent it out in
mid-November.
//
I appreciate that many of us want to take some time before we feel ready
to commit ourselves filling a page on our calendar. Almost no one likes to feel pressured to
decide before we are ready.
I knew that a problem with sending out a ten week meeting notice was
that some people would tell themselves that they have “lots of time” before the
registration deadline of January 15th.
As of January 1st, of the 46 potential presbytery members, only five had
registered (counting me). So, I sent out
a reminder. I got a flood of registrations almost immediately.
But, as of this past Monday (the deadline day), only 27 has
registered. So, I sent out another
reminder, with the tongue-and-cheek comment, that although most of us would probably be willing to share, it you want to
be ‘guaranteed’ a seat at the lunch table, let me know by Friday.
By Friday, 36 presbyters had registered.
Counting the two people who let me know they weren't able to come, only
eight people remain unaccounted for: an 83% response rate - pretty good,
really.
If anymore come in this week or if people show up un-registered, I won't
worry. History tells me that the number
of people who come at the last minute will be offset by people who end up not
coming.
//
//
I understand that all of us value our time. We are limited by the numbers of waking hours
of the day… and everyone juggles multiple activities we want to include in that
time (and probably a few things we wish we didn't have to spend time on).
And yet, occasionally we run up against a deadline that forces a
decision right away. And it is not
always a deadline that we have known about for ten weeks - sometimes, we find
out that an immediate decision is required with no notice at all.
//
//
The bible doesn't give us any details about it, but when Jesus was about
thirty years old, he began to spend time among the disciples of John the
Baptist. Something about what John was
doing and saying must have motivated Jesus to put his life in Galilee on hold
and spend time in the Jordan River valley.
Matthew quotes John as preaching “Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
Mark and Luke simply say that John proclaimed
a baptism of repentance. All three synoptic gospels report that Jesus chose to be baptised by John and that - after
coming out of the water - Jesus had a mystical experience where he was touched
by the Spirit of God and was assured that he was a beloved son of god who made
God proud.
All three gospels then tell of Jesus following up his baptism by
retreating alone in the Judean wilderness where he struggled with what all of
this meant and what he should do with his life moving forward.
//
The common understanding of the timeline of Jesus’ life is that - as
soon as he came out of the wilderness - he immediately
returned to galilee and began an active ministry of his own. That is the way Luke reads.
But… that is not what Mark and Matthew say. They both describe a pause between the
wilderness and Jesus’ active ministry.
//
//
As we heard this morning, Mark
(the oldest gospel record) writes that it is not until after John is arrested that Jesus is motivated to venture out on his
own.
The implication is that (after his vision quest in the wilderness) Jesus
stayed in Judea - presumably with John the Baptist and his other disciples…
advancing (with John) the message that people should Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near (Mt3:2).
//
Plans changed when John was arrested.
That is when Jesus returned home and started his own version of what
John had been doing (verses 14 and 15): Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee,
proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, The
time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in
the good news.
As had been the case with John, Jesus’ message began to excite
people. Jesus began to develop a
following of his own. As the story
unfolds, we see that a major change that he made to John’s style is that Jesus
took his message on the road. John set
up camp and people came to him; Jesus was a travelling preacher.
Reading between the lines of today’s reading from Mark, among those
intrigued by what Jesus was doing and saying in Galilee were Simon and James:
fishermen in Capernaum. One day, as
Jesus walked among the fishing boats he - separately - invited these two to
join him on this ministry journey. Not
only did James and Simon leave their nets and follow Jesus, they brought along
their brothers (Andrew and John).
//
Just because this seaside encounter is the first time that the gospel
writer mentions the two sets of brothers, I don't think we have to assume that
this was the first time they had encountered Jesus.
I suppose it is possible that maybe Jesus made an amazing first
impression and the fishermen possessed almost super-human intuition, but (to
me) it is more likely they chose to go with Jesus that day because they had
seen him around town, heard him teach and liked what they saw and heard.
I like to think that Jesus had already planted a seed of discipleship in
these would-be disciples before that day on the beach.
//
Even so, when the time came, Simon, Andrew, James and John had to make a
quick decision… and they did:
immediately they left their nets
[and boats and co-workers]
and followed [Jesus]
(Mk1:18,20)
//
//
//
As I was (sitting in a coffee shop on Friday) writing out these sermon
notes, I had the audio of MSNBC news playing in my headphones listening to the
potential impacts of a looming government shutdown in the US. The american political rules required that a
decision had to be before midnight.
//
Not every decision can be deferred.
There can be opportunities-lost when deadlines come and go.
//
We heard the urgency in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. He uses
shocking language - emploring people to ignore their personal needs as he
appealed to them to focus on the faith needs of the moment.
The passage we read this morning is an extreme version of a theme Paul
expresses elsewhere in his letter-writing.
He encourages people to focus on all things spiritual rather than the
selfish desires of the flesh. This is
classic Hellenistic dualistic philosophy
- taught by the likes Plato and Aristotle - and still popular in the first
century: mind over the body, spirit over the flesh, heaven over earth, divine
over human.
The apostle Paul wanted faith to have priority in the lives of the early
Christians. He didn't want them to put
spiritual matters aside just because the busyness and stress of daily living
tends to want to dominate.
//
//
Unlike Paul, I don't ascribe to a strict dualistic view of the
world. It is not as simple of going to
one extreme or the other.
Paul was a single man, so it was easy for him to tell married men to
focus 100% on God and 0% on their spouses.
I doubt he even expected to be taken literally; but I am positive that
he did want his readers to think about how important their families are to
them; how grief and death affect them; how good it feels to rejoice; and about
the intrinsic value we place on treasured possessions.
Setting aside his extremist “all or nothing" rhetoric, Paul’s
point, I believe, is - as important as it
is to focus on these aspects of life - we are to acknowledge an even
greater value on focusing on our faith and spirituality.
//
My point is: we are not one dimensional beings.
We are mind, body and spirit.
Unless we are able to appreciate the need for balance, for growth and
purpose, we will feel unfulfilled and incomplete… like trying to sit on a one
or two-legged stool.
//
//
We might be tempting to set aside spirit (God, faith) when life gets
full. Consider a couple of modern
proverbs:
●
There are few things in life that can’t wait for
a few minutes;
●
Some of that which busys us can be left behind.
I am convinced that if we are mindful of a wider view, opportunities to
live out discipleship present themselves all the time.
//
But, instead of seeing the call to follow Jesus as just another thing to
add to busy lives, see it as a gift of God… an opportunity to be a fuller and
more complete holy creation.
//
Let us find a hopeful path in the words of Psalm 65: For God my soul waits in silence for God; my
hope is from God. God is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. On God rests my deliverance and my honour; my
mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
//
//
Let us
pray:
God of
today and always,
We have
heard your call to follow in the Way of Jesus.
Inspire us, encourage us and lead us.
Amen.
#356VU
“Seek Ye First”
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