ON THE LONGEST NIGHT

December 21, 2011

COMING TOGETHER

This night is the longest night of the year.  For us in the northern hemisphere, the sun is at its lowest angle and its light and warmth are further away than at any time of the year.

The night seems dark and it is hard to see the guiding star above us.  This Christmas season is, for many people, a time of great joy and celebration.  But for those who know grief, who are experiencing hardships, sadness or frustration, the shouts of Joy to the World can be muted.  It can be a long, dark time.

In this simple service, we want to acknowledge these shadows and embrace them so that we can know that we are not alone:  that God is with us.  Listen to this good news found in the gospel of John:

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ^2[[The Word] was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through [the Word], and without [the Word] not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in [the Word] was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Let’s pray together:

PRAYER

God of Love and Understanding, we come here in this quiet place seeking your reassurance and hope.  We come in the midst of noise, listening for your gentle heartbeat.  We come in the cold, wanting the embrace of your warm love.  Grant us a taste of the hope, peace, joy and love that you promise to all.  Amen.

POEM  “Footprints”

One night I had a dream.

I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Across the sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene , I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand:

one belonging to me and one belonging to the Lord.

When the last scene of my life flashed before me,

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

I noticed that many times along the path of my life,

there was only one set of footprints.

I also noticed that this happened at the very lowest

and saddest times of my life.

This really bothered me and I questioned the Lord about it:

Lord, you said, that once I decided to follow you,

you’d walk with me all the way;

But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times of my life,

there is only one set of footprints.

I don’t understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me?

The lord replied, My precious child.

I love you and would never leave you,

During your times of trial and suffering,

when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.

SCRIPTURE

Ezra 3:10-13  The first temple had been laid to ruin during a time when the Judean people were forced to live in exile in Babylon.  After some 70 years people returned and re-built the temple.  For most it was a time of joy, but for those who remembered the old temple it was a time of bitter memories.

10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments were stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, according to the directions of King David of Israel; ¹¹and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord,
‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures for ever towards Israel.’ And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. ¹²But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, ¹³so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away.

Luke 14:16-23  This story offers hope for those who have no one to invite them.  It reminds us that in God’s divine order, no one is excluded – all are invited.

¹⁶Then Jesus^* said …, ‘Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. ¹⁷At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, “Come; for everything is ready now.” ¹⁸But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my apologies.” ¹⁹Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.” ²⁰Another said, “I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.” ²¹So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” ²²And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” ²³Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.”

Luke 2:1-7  and Matthew 2:13-15a  Jesus himself was no stranger to being a stranger, an outsider, a refugee.

2In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. ²This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³All went to their own towns to be registered. ⁴Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. ⁵He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. ⁶While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. ⁷And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

And …

¹³ … An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ ¹⁴Then Joseph^* got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, ¹⁵and remained there until the death of Herod.

Matthew 8:19-20  In his own life, Jesus shared the experience of having no place to call home, no family, no security.

¹⁹A scribe then approached and said, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ ²⁰And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’

John 11:32-36  In his life, Jesus knew the pain of losing a loved one.

³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ ³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the [others] who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ ³⁵Jesus began to weep. ³⁶So the [crowd] said, ‘See how he loved him!’

Matthew 11:28-30  When burdens get piled on top of burdens, the load can crush us.  Jesus offers to help.

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

Romans 8:38-39  The Apostle Paul wrote with such confidence that God’s love breaks through any barrier we experience or imagine.

³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 5:1-12  Jesus taught that a “blessing” was an experience of the loving presence of God whether we are knowing joy or difficulty.

5When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ²Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:

3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 ‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely^* on my account.

¹²Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

1^st Corinthians 11:23-26  In brokenness, Jesus offered nourishment and new promise.

(break and pour while reading)

23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for^* you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ ²⁵In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ ²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

CANDLE LIGHTING

SHARING BROKEN BREAD AND POURED CUP

Even though this is the longest night, it is not completely dark.  There is still light.  The days have been shorter, but there is still the light of day.  And even the night is guarded by the moon, planets and stars.  And beginning tomorrow, the days will begin to lengthen.

The path of life’s difficulties can never be completely dark as long as even a single candle burns.  And so, we will be comforted in the candle’s warmth and glow.

If you wish, I invite you to come forward and light a candle, maybe more than one.  It may be for you a candle of memorial, or a candle of struggle, one of hope or a desire for peace or a symbol of a simple prayer.

And in the ritual of the church, I invite you as well to come and take a piece of this bread and [dip it into the] a cup of grape juice and share the communion of Christ.

Let all that we do here bring you spiritual warmth and nourishment.

(music)

PRAYERS

Ever-present God, we wonder how it can be in a world of more than seven billion people that anyone can be alone?  Perhaps it is because loneliness is not about who is around us, but rather an isolation of the heart.  May we know that we are truly never alone!  We pray for all those who are gripped by loneliness this Christmas.

Death touches every life in some way.  The death of someone close is hard.  To face the world without a familiar face is a daunting task.  It doesn’t matter if it has been days or months or years, we will always have an empty space within us.  We pray for all those who are gripped by grief this Christmas.

There are pressures all around us to determine our value by the bottom line.  The cycles of boom and bust are too often tied to our happiness and worth.  The economics of our society can be a source of great pressure.  It can be hard to make ends meet for a variety of reasons, but we must never believe that we are only a number or that our worth is seen but the numbers of dollars in our pockets.  We are of immeasurable value to you, O God.  We pray for all those who are gripped by financial pressures  and who are gripped by life’s burdens this Christmas.

Each one of us knows what it is like to feel afraid, but for some the fear is paralyzing:  a fear of others, a fear of the unknown, a fear of illness, a fear for our safety.  Every fear can shrink a person.  May tomorrow find us feeling more calm and safe.  We pray for all who are gripped by fear this Christmas.

God your creation seems based on relationship.  Our interaction with each other seems to be part of your plan.  Yet some human relationships end and are strained.  Separation, divorce, harsh words, regretted actions, ll remind us that not everything we build in life stays strong.  We seek a reconciliation of the heart; even if words are left unsaid and relationships cannot be restored, we will hope for peace and respect. We pray for all those who are gripped by strained relationships this Christmas.

Our bodies and minds are delicate.  The balance can be lost.  Illness can be with us for a short time, or it can become a long term reality in our lives.  Illness can be scary and uncertain.  Medicine and therapy cannot always bring cure.  We pray for healing, if not from the illness, then from the worry and anxiety.  We pray for all those who are gripped by illness this Christmas.

Gentle God, pain can linger for years.  We can carry the worries of the past.  We can hang on to regret and grief for things that might have been.  Let us realize that the past cannot hurt us any longer.  It is done; it is history.  Help us, God, to let go of that which we cannot control, so that we will not be burdened by our past.  We pray for all those who need to “let go” this Christmas.

Strengthen by this meal of unity and in the glows of these candles, let us join together in the Lord’s Prayer:

   Our Father,

who art in heaven, hallow-ed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day, our daily bread

and forgive us our trespasses

as we forgive those that trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory

forever and ever,  Amen.

VIDEO

"How Did You Find Me Here?" link to YouTube

GOING OUT

You are welcome to stay here for a while if you would like.  As you are ready :  Go in peace, knowing that the God whose love created the world, who sent Jesus into this same world to be our friend, companion and savior, is the same God who in the Spirit is journeys with you everywhere you go.  The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out!  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

HEARTLAND

December 18, 2011
Advent 4
2nd Samuel 7:1-11
Luke 1:46-55

(prayer)

“My soul magnifies the lord! And my spirit rejoices in God, my saviour”. Luke chapter one, verses forty-six and forty-seven. The beginning of the Magnificat: the Song of Mary. This is how the gospel of Luke reports on Mary’s reaction to the reality of a child within her womb.

The gospel tells us that Mary received an angelic message that she would bear a child and that the child would be ‘great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’

//

Did you happen to notice this picture as the announcements were scrolling by before the service? A few friends of mine were sharing it on facebook this past week. It is from a billboard put up by an Anglican church in Auckland, New Zealand. Look at the expression on her face? Do you see what anachronistic object she is holding in her hands? The results are in: she’s pregnant.

//

It looks like Mary is saying what Patti said when she and I looked a similar stick in March of 2002: “Oh God...”
This Is really happening.

Now, everything will be different.

I’m not married yet.

People won’t understand.

My family won’t understand.

Joseph won’t understand.

I need to go visit Elizabeth.

And that’s what the gospel of Luke says Mary does. Mary has an elderly relative, Elizabeth: the wife of a temple priest (Zechariah) Elizabeth was said to be barren, but was now six months pregnant with her first child. Would she understand what Mary was going through?

Well, the gospel tells us that Elizabeth was exactly what Mary needed. When she arrived, she was greeted with warmth and welcome. She was not treated as the unwed mother embarrassment to the family.

Elizabeth welcomed Mary with joy and excitement for the reality of their lives.

It is out of that environment that Mary sings her song: “My soul magnifies the lord! And my spirit rejoices in God, my saviour” and that Elizabeth proclaims I am filled with the Holy Spirit. These two women both feel that they increased in their experience of God as a direct result of their un-expected, ‘expecting’ situations.

//

Today, I am inviting us to delve into Mary’s heart and soul as she came to terms with her role in the Christmas story. In less than a week, we will (likely) be singing

All is calm; all is bright,

round yon virgin mother and child

Although, I don’t intend it to be the main topic of this sermon, I want to spend a little time speaking about Mary, the virgin.

The central biblical reference that sends us down this path is Isaiah 7:14 -- Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: the maiden is with child and she will bear a son, and will call his name Immanuel.

About 200 years before Mary lived, the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek. When the translators worked on Isaiah 7:14, they translated עַלְמָה, ’almah, which means maiden or young woman with παρθένος, parthenos, which means ‘virgin’. Hebrew does have a word that more clearly identifies a virgin, בְּתוּלָה, betulah. But ’almah (not betulah) is the word in Isaiah 7:14. So the Hebrew text of Isaiah says that the sign is that “a young woman is pregnant”, but the Greek version available to (and quoted by) the Greek-speaking authors of the gospels assumes that the sign is that “a virgin is pregnant”.

The authors of Matthew and Luke (the only gospels to attempt to tell stories of Jesus’ birth), clearly want their narratives to be consistent with the Greek translation of Isaiah 7:14 – and so Mary is openly claimed to be a virgin.

Many modern theological thinkers question the historicity of that claim, just on the inconsistencies from the original Hebrew text.

Does it matter? Now I can’t be 100% sure that Franco Harris caught the immaculate reception and there is TV footage of it. What I am to make of the claim about Mary, written down some 45 years after the fact, with the author using a faulty translation?
For some questioning the virgin birth might be faith shattering. For me, I don’t need to be convinced that the actual biology of Jesus’ conception was supernatural to believe that Mary believed that her pregnancy was the will of God and that her child would be great, and would be called the Son of the Most High. He would reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there would be no end.

I don’t need Jesus’ conception to be miraculous for me to believe that “The Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus, that God had anointed him to bring good news to the poor; to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

//

I will say that there was a strong spiritualism that surrounded Jesus’ birth: a spiritualism that we see echoed in how the gospel writers record Mary’s reaction to being pregnant:

“My soul magnifies the lord!

And my spirit rejoices in God, my saviour”.

//

//

Perhaps it was the combination of the warm welcome, and the rush of excitement and hormones that allowed Mary to find that thin place where she was able to see God most clearly – as if through a magnifying glass. In this mystical state, she sings that she feels very blessed, that God is with her and looking out for her as God has done throughout the ages. God lifts up the lowly, fills the hungry with good things. Mary feels this to be true for her own experience of God, whom she calls “The Mighty One”.

Within Mary’s heart, within her soul, God was a reality. And that she was a home for God’s purposes to be fulfilled.

//

Sometimes people think that faith is about accepting a set of beliefs and that those beliefs are pretty much set: come to believe what is handed to you.

I am increasing unconvinced that this true.

Faith is more complex, more fluid, more flexible. People have spiritual experiences all of the time without the pre-benefit of a prescribed dogma. This has been true throughout the ages. In fact, it is through the sharing of these experiences, in the finding of similarities and a desire to understand that people work together on what eventually might sound like a set of beliefs or dogma.

As it was for Elizabeth, I am coming to believe that faith is about being filled with the Spirit – being in-spirited, inspired.

In the 1st century of the New Testament, the dominant philosophy was that the mind and the spirit were separate; there was a dualistic teaching that did not see the head and the heart as being on the same plain. This also found function in seeing the spirit as above the physical; and it was used to justify seeing men above women. This philosophy can be found all throughout the gospels and the New Testament letters with only occasional attempts to bridge the gaps: more often our scriptural mentors tell us to forgo the physical for the spiritual; to focus on the ‘next world’ at the expense of this world.

As a 21st century person, my head and my heart are kin to each other – reason and feeling are in constant conversation about what is real for me. I refuse to see the world we live in as being devoid of spirit – I do not long for the destruction of the world to usher in an age of enlightenment. I’m expecting to see 2012 (sorry Mayans)

My mind is amazed at the complexity and harmony of what I experience of this planet and this universe. At the same time, my heart is moved by the thought that I am part of this. And that I have the ability to wonder about such things.

I don’t need God to prove a spiritual aspect to my existence. I do not need a sign. Jesus does not need to have been born of a virgin for me to think and feel that he was ‘of God’.

I need to have an open heart to allow for mystery, yet unexplained. And I need my mind to be satisfied by what makes sense given what I have come to know.

//

As we share this old, old story of Immanuel – of God-With-Us – let us pledge to experience it all with fresh hearts, with vigilant minds.

//

One thing that Advent and Christmas can magnify for us is that we are reminded that the basic nature of God...is Love. Love is the final candle that encircles our advent wreath.

//

What is love?

It is common to see “love” from a purely emotional perspective. Love is a feeling. Love is of the heart.

But, I am suggesting that when it comes to a faith perspective on ‘love’ that it needs to be of both the heart and the head – it is both a feeling and a thought.

A spiritual message of a faith founded in the life and teachings of Jesus is that we are meant to wonder about

 The reason for love – What is it? How does it affect us; and

 The reason to love – What difference does it make to me...and to the world because of me.

For Mary, the ‘depth of her being’ felt the love of God becoming more present in her life and she expressed that in the way she spent time with Elizabeth.

And in her mind, she imagined the practical aspects of this love being lived out: the poor uplifted; the hungry fed, promises kept.

Love is of the heart and the head. It is a feeling and a thought...and that leads to action.

Love needs to be felt (emotionally) and love needs to touch lives for it to be known in its fullest reality. Love needs to be known beyond the superficial.

King David thought that he could show love and admiration for God by creating a symbol of wealth and power in which to worship God – to house their holy relic. But God’s desire was for the people to know peace and safety – to live prosperous lives in their homeland.

//

Mary’s life was turned upside down when she became pregnant – but her soul was filled with the love of God and she knew that her child would show love to this world in a new and special way. She shunned the rumours and the loose talk about her character and instead felt blessed when she realized that she was truly welcomed for who she was right at that moment.

Love is meant to be felt and love is meant to touch.

This is easy for most people within their inner circle of family and close friends. But let’s remember that Jesus didn’t just talk about love and save it for his friends. He risked love by showing it in real and tangible ways to all whom he encountered.

May it be so with us. Each person we meet – each stranger we encounter is worthy of our compassion and care because, they – like us – are part of the household of God. The holy spark that enlivens our spirit, burns within everyone to some degree or another.

//

I love the simple song by Jim and Jean Strathdee that invites us to let that spark of God within each of us be what we notice when we encounter someone – whether they be friend, enemy, family or stranger. I want to end this message time with the invitation to greet each other with the words and intent of this simple song.

“The Spirit In Me Greets The Spirit in You”



#89MV “Love is the Touch”

KNOWING JOY; LIVING JOY

December 11, 2011
Advent 3
Isaiah 61:1-4
1st Thessalonians 5:16-24

(prayer)

In just a couple of weeks we will be exchanging the standard seasonal greeting: Merry Christmas. The word ‘merry’ is a very appropriate adjective for this season – it denotes a celebration and excitement that is special – enhanced beyond the norm.

I also like the British phraseology:

But I heard him exclaim,

‘ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all,

and to all a good-night!"

‘Happy Christmas’ engenders a different reaction in me than the North American ‘merry Christmas’. ‘Happy’ draws me more inward than ‘Merry’ does. When I hear merry, I think sharing the experience: the merriment of a Christmas party or the family together on Christmas morning. Whereas happy feels more like a state of being – a contentment, a sense of personal comfort and security that is not dependant on anything else that might be going on around me.

“[Have a] Merry Christmas”

is an invitation to celebrate.

“[Have a] Happy Christmas”

is an invitation to be content.

Both of these are valuable invitations, indeed.

//

And yet…there is something lacking. Celebrations come and go. They are beyond the ordinary – they have their impact because they are not the norm.

And (I would suggest) that happiness is an experience of the moment as well. Happiness is tied to contentment – and not all moments of life are ‘happy’. We like happiness – we strive for as much as we can get. But it exists largely on the surface of life – easily displaced by hardship, frustration, worry and loss.

//

The New Testament reading today invites us to a deeper version of merriment and happiness: “rejoice always!”

We can have our moments of ‘happy’, of ‘merry’, but what we really long for is “joy”.

The way I choose to use the word [joy] is to see it as deeply founded happiness. “Rejoicing” is merriment that comes from the depth of who we are.

It is one of the most desirable of emotional states and it is a significant theme of the Christmas season - JOY. And yet, it may be the most elusive thing at this time of the year.

Our world has become so short-term oriented: instant gratification. This has served humanity well throughout its evolution. If you are able to live in the moment, if you can react to what’s around you and get what you need as soon as possible, you stay alive.

The reality is that beyond these life and death, existence situations, instant gratification creates a shallow perspective on our existence. We aren’t able to appreciate the value of those moments when we are able to pause and wait and reflect on more than simple gratification – short-term happiness.

//

Joy is more than happiness. It is deeper. And “deep” can be challenging. It takes time and effort to cultivate a state of joy in our lives. In a world that seems to be increasingly pressing in around us, does anyone have time to be truly joyful anymore?

Whereas experiences of happiness and merriment can simply present themselves in our lives and we can ride that train for a while, Joy requires effort. Joy requires vulnerability. The kind of joy our Bibles talk about open us up to the complexity of our mysterious relationship with God. To seek this kind of joy is to be vulnerable enough (humble enough) to allow the Spirit be active within us. Joy (in this way) is life approach – my whole being shall exult in my God. Joy comes to the surface from deep within us and the world can be changed.

//

Last week I talks about the diverse authorship of the prophetic book of Isaiah: how the first 39 chapters may indeed be the work of Isaiah, son of Amoz, prophet to the pre-exilic kings of Judah, but that at chapter 40, we have the words of a later prophet who was among those people of Judah taken into exile – the prophet who spoke of a hope that the people’s exile would end with such wonderful words: “In the wilderness, prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

Today our reading comes from a third section of Isaiah, chapter 60 begins post-exilic words – the remnant of the exiles and their families born in exile have returned to a very different Judah and are beginning a time of restoration of their lives and a reclamation of the value of their faith in this land of promise.

The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me;

he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.

The rejoicing of deep faith involve allowing the Spirit to be active – mending broken hearts, bringing dignity and liberty to those feeling bound. The prophet spoke to people grieving the loss of their history – the impact of seventy years of exile, while the symbols of their life in Judah were looted and laid in ruins. The prophet says that the spirit will comfort those who mourn these losses, not with traditional songs and symbols of lament (ashes and ripped tunics), but with symbols of life (flowers and mantles of praise).

//

I love the forest imagery in Isaiah 61: They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, to display his glory. They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up the former devastations. They shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

Mighty oaks – trees deeply rooted and symbols of a strong connection to the earth. It is God who gives the people this rootedness. And out of the depth of their relationship with God that the ‘restoration’ will be possible.

This is possible because “the spirit of Yahweh Elohim (the spirit of the LORD GOD) is upon me!”

Centuries later, the Christian leader, Paul, would write: “Do not quench the spirit!” I see that as a call to allow the spirit to be active within the depth of who we are.

If we had read further in Isaiah 61, we would have heard the prophet go on to say in verse ten: I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God.

Paul’s version of that sentiment in First Thessalonians 5:23 was to say: May the God of peace…sanctify you entirely.

Deeply founded rejoicing.

Deeply founded joy.

Entire, Holy Joy.

//

As we bask in the soft glow of our third candle in our advent wreath, we are challenged to let joy into the depth of who we are.

That sounds like a desirable thing, doesn’t it? So why is deep joy, so elusive?

I think because we can, sometimes be a bit afraid of digging deep into our psyches.

Real Joy is a deep emotion and deep emotions go together. Letting joy in can also involve us in the other deep emotions (grief, passion, utter disappointment, love).

Anyone who has known deep love knows what I am talking about. When we commit ourselves to loving another at the depth of our being – the highs can be so high, but the lows can be soul crushing. Do you know the experience of living through the death of someone you deeply and strongly loved? The pain of grief and loss is also deep and strong.

Maybe that is a deeper experience than you have had. Myself, I still think about two mentor I have had in my life.

One was someone I knew as a young adult working at camp. This person was old (probably in his thirties) and still had a passion for camp leadership. And the guy could play guitar – he seemed to be able to play anything. And he was so creative and handy – he could fix or make anything. I was like a starry-eyed puppy following him around. I admired him.

The other was a United Church minister who I met just after I was ordained. This person had such energy for church and ministry. He was innovative. We found ourselves working in the same area of Presbytery work. Right away, people started referring to me as a younger version of him. After all, we both had mustaches and played guitar. I admired him.

Both of these mentors, it turned out, had trouble keeping the ‘zippers shut’. They both destroyed their marriages with infidelity. And both of them used ‘sex’ as a tool of power and found themselves being drummed out of the roles I had met them in because of sexual harassment charges.

Admiration and awe became a distasteful disappointment. I let myself get in deep and I also got some deep pain.

//

Think about those times in your life when a deep joy has been connected to a deep pain.

//

As a people who are called to ‘rejoice always’ we are invited into a complex emotional state of being.

//

In ten days, I will be offering a service that has become a tradition in my time at St. David’s. A number of different churches offer what can be called a “service of healing” or “a blue Christmas service”. I refer to ours as “the longest night service” and try to hold it as close to the winter solstice as possible. The Christmas season is a time when “joy” is front and centre. While some are singing “Joy to the World” others are gripped by a different deep emotion: grief (recent or lingering), worry, hardship (financial or emotional), fear, loneliness and many other expressions.

I know what it is like to feel the wonder and beauty of the depth of joy – expressed in love and trust; and I know what it is like to feel the grief and disappointment, if I had never loved or trusted in the first place.

Some choose to avoid the depth to avoid the pain.

Then again as Garth Brookes sang it:

Looking back on the memory of

The dance we shared beneath the stars above

For a moment all the world was right

How could I have known

you'd ever say goodbye

And now I'm glad I didn't know

The way it all would end the way it all would go

Our lives are better left to chance

I could have missed the pain

But I'd of had to miss the dance

In the bigger picture, many of us, most of us can look back and say that the depth was worth it when it comes to those significant relationships we know in this life.

//

But there is one more layer to this discussion I want to offer this morning.

In both of our readings – Isaiah and First Thessalonians – the joy being offered to the people is coming at a time of struggle. The people of Isaiah’s time were returning back from a devastating exile; and the people of Paul’s time had first hand experiences with persecution.

Joy is more than a state of emotional being – it is a gift and a promise from God. To proclaim that I will rejoice always, that I will pray, that I will give thanks…is to not allow the struggle to define us. But rather to allow our lives to be defined by our spiritual relationship with God.

As the post-exilic prophet said: I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my whole being shall exult in my God; for the LORD has clothed me with the garments of salvation, the LORD has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up.



Knowing God is to know Joy.

Living Joy is to know God.

//

This is where deep faith starts – by grabbing onto the promise and hope that God can be joyfully know and that we are not alone, no matter how elusive joy can sometime feel.

Let us pray:

Gracious God, our hearts are ready to be filled with joy. Let our joy shine brightly so that those cloaked by sadness may find their sorrow lifted. Amen.



#134MV “Dreaming Mary”

SPEAK TENDERLY

December 4, 2011
Advent 2
Isaiah 40:1-11
Mark 1:1-8

(prayer)

The Hebrew word for preacher is קֹהֶלֶת‎‎ (ko-he’-let). ‘Qoheleth’ is the title of one of the books of the Hebrew Bible: the Old Testament. We are more familiar with this book by its Greek-rooted name, ‘Ecclesiastes’ (which means ‘member of the assembly’). This preacher’s most familiar words from the book of Ecclesiastes remind us that: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven” (Eccl 3:1). The preacher goes on to list several examples of opposite, but common, life experiences, like:

• a time to be born, and a time to die;

• a time to plant, and a time to harvest;

• a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

• a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

It is good to be reminded that different times have different needs and opportunities.

//

Even though Isaiah, chapter one, verse one identifies the author as Isaiah, the son of Amoz, the full book of Isaiah is thought to actually be at least two books. Isaiah appears to have two maybe three authors: each writing in a different time into a different context of the lives of the people of Judah. The book as a whole must have been skillfully edited together later to give it a common flow and feeling.

The first half of Isaiah (chapters 1-39) comes from a prophet who lived in Judah, likely in Jerusalem: it was probably Isaiah, son of Amoz, as it says at the start of the book. This Isaiah is the same person who is named in the books of 2nd Kings and 2nd Chronicles as a trusted counsellor and advisor to King Hezekiah and three of his predecessors. The Isaiah of chapters 1-39, lived in the Southern Hebrew Kingdom of Judah in the time of the divided kingdom. He lived through the time when the Kingdom of Israel in the north was overrun by the Assyrian Empire. However, even if Isaiah served as a prophet to kings for 60-plus years as some scholars speculate, he would have died before the southern kingdom was invaded by the Babylonians, which led to most of the people of Judah being forced into exile.

So, we can call Isaiah a “pre-exilic” prophet.

//

When we read on in the book of Isaiah, chapter 40 marks a distinct change in tone. Beginning with chapter 40, we are reading words written ‘during’ the Babylonian exile. We can see that as we look at the first eleven verses today. The imagery...is of Jerusalem imprisoned. The people are comforted by the prophet for their hardship and for the hardship of Jerusalem: the physical abode of their life and faith.

The prophet then describes what we could call a second exodus. While Moses of old led the people across the obstacle of the Red Sea, in this time and place, it was land - it was a wilderness - that stood between the people in exile and their home in Judah.

3A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

It is a beautiful passage. Imagine a rough and rugged wilderness being transformed so that it contained a straight level highway. I think the imagery of the trans-continental railways is comparable. Trains can handle a bit of grade-variance, but for the most part, if there is a valley, a bridge is needed; if there is a mountain, a tunnel is needed – to keep the tracks as level and straight as possible. The wilderness is transformed to make passage possible.

The physical barrier that existed for the exiled Judeans is not a barrier for God. Isaiah chapter 40 is the promise that the people will return home. That hope was needed to sustain the people during this time.

It was a time for hope.

//

I’m actually feeling a bit behind the times. I was telling some ministry colleagues this week, that because I wasn’t leading church last week, I have to keep reminding myself that Advent has already begun. So, I don’t feel too badly for revisiting the theme of last week’s first advent candle: hope.

Isaiah 40 is all about hope and promise.

//

But...it also speaks to today’s candle theme: peace. The people are comforted and invited to ‘speak tenderly’. That is the language of an active peace.

//

To appreciate a need for tenderness is to appreciate the value in calmness, in a relaxed and safe environment. That is the essence of peace. The prophet knew that Jerusalem was under siege – that any remaining inhabitants were at the mercy of the Babylonians – it seemed the best they could hope for was to be sent into exile as well. The prophet does not use the language of rebellion, the prophet doesn’t even use that language of lament and sadness – the prophet speaks of tenderness.

There is a sense of active care in that word: tenderness.

“Peace” is most often defined by what it is not. On all of dictionary websites I looked at this week, the first definition offered for the noun peace was basically the same. Some of these said that peace is

• “The absence of war or other hostilities” (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language)

• “the state existing during the absence of war” (Collins English Dictionary)

• “the normal, non-warring condition of a nation, group of nations, or the world” (dictionary.com)

The implication is that peace means nothing unless it has war/conflict to compare it to. War, by contrast, is definable in and of itself:

• “A state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties” (The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language)

• “(Military) open armed conflict between two or more parties, nations, or states” (Collins English Dictionary)

• “a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air” (dictionary.com)

I found this dictionary search a bit disheartening – because I know that ‘peace’ is more than the absence of what it is not. The Hebrew word translated as peace is שָׁלוֹם (shalom). But its biblical meaning is more complex: in shalom there is a sense of ‘wholeness’ and ‘completeness’. On a day-to-day, it is the common greeting of meeting and departing: ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’. In that way, shalom is a promise – we come together and we separate in peace.

That is the same goal we try to express each Sunday, when we spend part of our worship time greeting each other – we call it sharing the peace. Its place in the liturgies of the church dating back hundreds and hundreds of years is that, in Christ, we are whole and we are to see each other with compassion and care – even if that is not how we are feeling.

That kind of peace is an inner attitude – where we come to terms with the need to express and live out a holy tenderness.

//

It was less than a month ago that, within our Canadian cultural context, we pause in remembrance of those who lived through war.

So seldom do wars end in a peace based on tenderness. The peace at the end of war is a forced peace usually; the conflict ends because someone is forced to give up the fight. In that way, the dictionary definitions apply – peace is simply the state of things when we are not at war. That kind of peace has a level of sadness to it, especially for the vanquished, but for everyone who had to live in that time – for there is loss on every side of war.

//

When we lit that second candle today, I hope that it means more than that. I will hold stubbornly to the promise that Peace is more than the absence of war – peace involves caring about the impact of the current situation: to simply care about “what is”.

//

As the television system in Canada went ‘digital’ this past year, our cable provider told us that we needed a digital box to be able to continue to get the channels we have been watching. The advantage is that we are now able to watch some digital channels we couldn’t see before we had the box. The other day I was watching KTLA, a local station out of Los Angeles, and caught live coverage of the police moving in to break up the Occupy LA encampment. It was such a contrast in images – people sitting in circles, chanting, singing, as the riot gear-clad police closed their circle tighter. One by one, protesters were forced to their feet and had their hands bound with those plastic, zip-style handcuffs. A few fought back, but it was striking how many simply went along peacefully (so to speak). Of course the footage that found the airplay on the news programs was of those few who resisted arrest.

This occupy movement has been hard for much of our society to understand. Passive confrontation is hard to figure out. Angry violent demonstrations are easy to oppose and to justify moving in with batons and handcuffs. But we are witnessing a situation where the violence doesn’t exist until the batons are brought in. I suspect that most of us have seen the images from the University of California – Davis where the peaceful protesters were simply sitting on the sidewalk [slide] and the riot-geared campus police officer went back and forth down the line emptying the pepper spray bottle.

// At its heart, the Occupy movement is an expression that the status quo is frustratingly broken and unfair. There are any number of reasons why the occupiers believe things are this way, so the Occupy movement is disjointed in the details of its message.

But, in all honesty, amongst the occupiers there is a belief that things can really change. There is enough cynicism to see there is a problem with fairness in our systems, but not so much cynicism that stops the belief that change is possible.

//

Keeping the peace in the midst of change is extremely hard, because change is always about ‘loss’ and people will often fight to avoid losing. And so it is not surprising to see the violent fight in relation to the occupy movement does not come from the occupiers.

Peace is more than the absence of violence – it is an attitude that tenderness should be the normative state of the way we relate to each other. This is counter-cultural. The wider society has trouble with ‘tenderness’ – it is seen as a weak or defeated attitude.

But if we are able to hold onto tenderness in a time of change, even loss, we may very well be living in the light of this second candle. The Judeans living in exile, knew change to a much greater extent that we do that’s for sure – and the message to them was one of tenderness. Live out the change in peace and hope.

//

Change was the message of John the Baptist. His key word was ‘repent’, which means change direction, turn back to God, he was saying to the crowds by the river. The gospel writers borrowed the comforting exilic language from Isaiah to bring meaning to John’s call to change – what was literally a desert highway to the people of six centuries earlier, now a highway of the heart, where people could walk straight to God. That is the message John wants the people to hear, before they get to experience that reality in an experience of Jesus.

//

I suppose the challenge is still before us in our time and place, will we hear the call to tender living – a path of safety and security, light a highway with all of the obstacles and dangers removed.

Living in peace and hope may be counter cultural, but that is our calling. Jesus’ brought a new way of seeing people with compassion and care. Even his disciples were shocked at how much tenderness Jesus showed. In the end he would tell them to love one another as he had loved them.

And here at the beginning of Jesus’ life and ministry, John invites people to be on that path as well and be ready for a spirit that will change them.

//

Let us be people of comfort, of tenderness, of peace – even in the midst of change.

Let us pray...

In the midst of chaos, O God, we seek a patience to wait, to listen and to act with all compassion and tenderness. As followers of Jesus, we will live his shalom. Amen.



**Offering**

THIS IS IT !

November 20, 2011
Pentecost Last – Reign of Christ; Children's Sunday
Ezekiel 34:11-24
Matthew 25:31-46

(prayer)

Welcome to the end of the year. Yup, this is it!

//

After today, there are only four more Sundays before Christmas. So, next Sunday is the first Sunday in the season of Advent and Advent is the beginning of the church year.

//

This last Sunday of the church year is the final Sunday in the season after Pentecost. Pentecost Sunday was 23 weeks ago, on June 12th. The last Sunday in the Pentecost season is traditionally a time when we explore the leadership and authority of Jesus for Christians and for the church. Sometimes, we use the metaphor of Jesus as king to begin this exploration – after all the New Testament books of 1st Timothy and Revelation call Jesus ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’.

Remember that Jesus’ first sermon point when he began his ministry was to tell people that ‘the Kingdom of God has come near’. Jesus also did a lot of teaching on this Kingdom of God, which he said was like ‘a tiny seed that grew into a huge bush’ (Mark 4) and like ‘a found sheep or coin or son’ (Luke 15) but also like ‘a leaky jar that loses all its contents if you’re not paying attention’ (Gospel of Thomas 97).

This final Sunday of the church year can be called “Christ the King” Sunday or the “Reign of Christ” Sunday.

//

Like any metaphor, kingship imagery has its limits. In our day and age, when most of us have never lived under the power and leadership of an earthly king, we do well to try and understand the context that gave us this imagery, so that we can appreciate its impact and meaning on those first readers of the books of our New Testament.

For me, and suspect for others, the idea of a monarch with power seems to be an old notion (although it still exists in many parts of the modern world). I’m guess that many of us that have grown up in democratic systems believe that our leaders are chosen for their abilities, not their family linage – they rise to power from among the populous to serve the common good (okay that’s still the theory and hope). And we enjoy systems and structures that allow us to change leadership on a fairly regular basis – usually without the need for a revolution or coup (although those methods are practiced still in our modern world).

As well, kingship language has the baggage of patriarchy. The very word is ‘male’ and comes from an era where women were not granted anything close to equal status with men in society and certainly not within the hallways and battlefield of power. For goodness sakes, it was just this year that within the figurehead monarchy of Great Britain, [that] women were granted equal status within the lines of ascension.

So, to appreciate the impact of the word, king, in a first century context, we have to park our modern feelings about king-type language and leaders.

//

It’s not as easy as saying this is “the Presidency (or Prime Minister-ship) of Jesus Sunday”. Political leadership of the first century was generally autocratic: one person held supreme power – that person’s rise to power was not a movement of popular ascension. There was no election – no grassroots political movement. Changes often happened through the murder of the king. For the people of the first century, this is what they assumed was how things simply were.

Practically for Jesus and his followers, there were regional kings or rulers. Herod was a Jewish king of the area that included Galilee, but real power was centred elsewhere. In New Testament times the ‘king’ was the Roman Caesar. When Jesus was born Augustus was Caesar; when Jesus was about 20, a general under Augustus, Tiberius, became Caesar after Augustus’ death. Tiberius was likely the Caesar when Jesus was killed (although Tiberius was exiled for a few years in the mid 30s so it may have been Sejanus who was really running the show). By the end of the first century, the Roman Empire would see ten other Caesars besides the two of Jesus’ lifetime.

Plain and simple: the people (who wrote and first read various parts of the New Testament) knew no other kind of political authority than that of imperial autocracy.

So, when Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God, when his followers in the decades to come called him King of kings – we can understand how some people heard this as the “treasonous imagining” of Jesus as Caesar in Rome?

That’s actually the claim that got Jesus executed: treason – making claims to kingship. The crime was displayed above his cross for all passers-by to see: “Jesus of Nazareth – King of the Jews”.

//

And yet, by the time that the gospels were written a few decades later, we can see that the church was beginning to see quite a difference between the kingship of Tiberius and the kingship of Jesus. In gospel of John, we can read that Jesus’ kingdom is “not from this world” (John 18:36). In other words, it’s not like the kingdoms of this world. Jesus’ leadership and authority was not like the autocracy of Rome. And these different kinds of authorities required different levels of allegiance: “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give to God what belongs to God” Jesus once said. (Mark 12:17)

//

So what kind of ‘king’ is Jesus? What is the Kingdom of God all about?

//

First of all, when Jesus spoke about God having a Kingdom – it was a political statement as well as a spiritual one. Jesus was declaring that when it comes to real allegiance – God is the true sovereign and not any governor in a palace in Jerusalem or even the Caesar in Rome. As I said, there was such a political dimension to Jesus’ message that it got him arrested and sentenced to capital punishment.

//

What was really radical was the nature of this power that Jesus spoke about as the Kingdom of God or that his followers would ascribe to Jesus, by calling him king.

Last week (if you were in church) you may recall that we read [what is called] the Parable of the Talents – where three servant-slaves were judged by how great a return of investment they earned for their master. I mentioned last week, that we have to be careful to not assume that the meaning behind that parable has anything to do with money (just because that is the metaphor which the parable uses).

I suggested that it was really about the investing of our hearts and faith. In the very next passage (which was our reading from Matthew today), we get a more direct picture of what that expected ‘return on investment’ might be.

//

Today we heard: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

A bit of background on these introductory verses to today’s New Testament reading (from Seasons of the Spirit Fusions):

Jesus’ teaching tells how “all the nations” will be gathered before the throne when “the Son of Man” comes in glory. In Matthew “Son of Man” is a term Jesus uses to speak of himself. In Ezekiel, this term refers to a human being; in Daniel 7:13, it refers to God’s chosen saviour. “All the nations” is a reference to the entire world and seems to echo Isaiah’s prophecy of all the nations coming to God’s holy mountain (Isaiah 2:1–4).

The nations will be separated in the same way a shepherd separates sheep and goats. In Jesus’ day, flocks of sheep and goats together were common. Shepherds would count their animals at the end of the day, separating the sheep – which needed more attentive care – from the goats. In the Hebrew Scriptures, sheep sometimes are an image of God’s people (for example, Psalm 100:3 and Isaiah 53:6). In the New Testament, the image of sheep often refers to those who follow Christ, the good shepherd (for example, John 10:1–11 and Hebrews 13:20).

All of that complex imagery would be mixed together from the crowds listening to Jesus speak these words and to the first generations of believers who read the book of Matthew.

The presumption is that a faithful follower of Jesus will have lived their life in service of Kingdom of God – putting their allegiance to their spiritual king of kings. The focus of the faithful was to have been in the service of Christ.

But in a surprising twist (to everyone in this parable – both the so-called sheep and goats) they are to be governed and judged by an obvious criterion: to what degree have they responded to the call to serve the ‘overlooked’ and ‘ignored’ among them? Were they able to see the holy in everyone – especially in those who are often not seen at all?

//

THIS IS IT ! I believe that this is the centre of what it means to be a follower of Jesus! Jesus hinted at it before when he said that the greatest commandments were ‘to love God and love neighbours as yourself’. There are those among us (and sometimes it is us) who are in real need of compassion and care – people who (for reasons of circumstance or choice) are separated from others.

A lack of food and/or clothing [shelter]

Loneliness (the stranger)

Illness

Imprisonment

Ignoring how we can be Christ-like for such as these is a-kin to ignoring Jesus himself.

And on the other side (which was also a surprise to those in the parable) – even not being aware that such compassion was a ‘Christ-like act’ did not stop it from being a direct service of Christ!

Q: What is it that separates people?

A: How well they care for others.

//

Now I can’t ignore the pronounced judgment that is also part of the parable: you, come enjoy the riches of my kingdom – and you, let’s just say it’s not going to be so easy for you; you will be as far away from the comforts of my kingdom as you can imagine!

At the Words of Faith study session this past Wednesday evening, we looked at a United Church Statement of Faith from 1940. People commented on how the language of salvation and judgement (clear lines between right and wrong – good and evil), does not seem to be as useful today (as people try to engage their faith) as it might have been in the context of the start of World War 2 – the notion of a God who throws people in fire for disobedience is hard to mesh with a God who is purported to be Love. So, passages like the end of Matthew 25 raise similar challenges for people of today, as the goats are left to slaughter at the end of the parable.

If we focus our attention on the fate of the parable’s goats, we might miss the wider point.

I do not feel I have to believe in a fiery divine punishment to understand what I see as the key message of this teaching of Jesus – which must never be lost when we read Matthew 25:

How we care for others matters!

The motivation is to act justly and with compassion for Christ’s sake – not simply as a insurance plan against judgement.

If there is anything, I have come to firmly believe about the modern church is that we will NOT help enable spiritual nurture by trying to scare or guilt people into being part of a faith movement.

Compassion must come from within. It must be genuine and heartfelt. That’s one of the most wonderful things about this passage – compassion was so ingrained into the psyche of the first group that they didn’t even realize the deeply spiritual aspect of what they were doing.

As our church year ends, we have come to a time and a place where we can sum it all up in a few words.

To really serve Jesus, we will serve each other – being especially mindful of those who really could use that connection in their lives right now!

//

I am so grateful to be part of a church community here in Leduc that not only sees it mission to welcome in, but also to reach out. As a community of faith together, you all serve your Christ in the ways you carry the light of Christ into the lives of others.

I must say that the support this church has shown to its children’s programming this fall has been nothing short of inspiring. A new curriculum for the Sunday School – the re-designation of part of our multi-purpose space to allow for a more accessible children’s sanctuary in room three is visionary and wonderful. I wonder how welcoming it must feel to the young people among us to know that they are not being ignored – that they have been made a practical priority in the life of this church.

Coincidentally, another theme for this final Sunday of the church year is to call it ‘Children’s Sunday’. You can see a special Call to Worship on the back of today’s printed bulletin. This is all because November 20th has been declared Universal Children’s Day by the United Nations and Reign of Christ Sunday is usually pretty close to that day (of course today is November 20th), but most years the Sunday after Nov 20th is Reign of Christ, so the two dates usually coincide.

The Reign of Christ and Children’s Day are a great pairing – after all Jesus was the one who stunned even his friends by inviting the children to come and sit with him while he was teaching (what people assumed should be an adults-only time).

//

When we make the time and space in our lives for compassion to be lived out, we are showing ourselves and the world a different kind of authority. The Kingdom of God is not an autocracy where the influence is at the top – the Realm of God is only real as long as the people of God live and move and have their being in God – that is:

 they are seeking justice, loving with kindness and walking humbly;

 they are living out a love of God and neighbour at a level we hope and dream for ourselves;

 they are naturally showing compassion for:

 those trying to survive with the basic necessities of life;

 those who feel alone;

 those who are gripped by illness;

 and even those who are in need of society’s forgiveness and rehabilitation.

//

This is what it’s all about. This…is…it!

{prayer – Reign in our hearts, O God, so that we can shine your light into the world. Amen.}

#600VU “When I Needed a Neighbour”

WHAT TO DO?

November 13, 2011
Pentecost 22
1st Thessalonians 5:1-6
Matthew 25:14-30

(prayer)

When I was a youth, I used to stretch my mind pondering the nature of existence. I would imagine where and how I fit into the grand scheme of the universe as I knew it: living on this earth, on the edge of the Milky Way, swirling and moving within this vast sea of billions and billions of stars and emptiness. I would feel insignificant and special at the same time.

And I would try and imagine what might still exist, if I didn’t exist. I didn’t make the explicit comparison, but I suppose it was my own way of asking “if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” These are the kinds of thoughts that would keep me up at night.

//

I think that Human beings are amazing and wonderful creatures. We are made up of the primordial elements that enliven our entire universe, a yet our particular combination is this mysterious mix of matter and mind – of flesh and spirit (to use theological language). The fact that we are more than physical beings of instinct is what really defines us. As my youthful mind stretching taught me, we are aware of our existence beyond the innate thrust to survive. We can ponder our existence. That simply act of pondering defines us in a way. In the words of the philosopher, ‘we think, therefore we are.’

What I find especially interesting is that these deep thought allow us to go beyond instinct – even against instinct, when we choose to. Sometimes, this can be seen later as wonderfully wise and at other times, going against our basic instincts leads to embarrassing regret.

All in all, this enables us to explore and grow and learn as the creatures we are.

//

We are beings of complex choice.

//

Today is the second of three consecutive weeks when we are invited to read part of chapter twenty-five in the gospel of Matthew. It’s a long chapter, some 46 verses long. Last week, we read verses 1-13 >> ‘The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids’: a lesson in thinking ahead and choosing to be ready; next week, we will hear verses 31-46 >> a parable about how people are judged to have served Jesus: a lesson that will see how no one really saw the true impact of the choices they made.

Today, we heard the middle story, ‘The Parable of the Talents’.

//

This parable is a favourite of Church Fundraising and Finance Committees. I have heard it reflected on several stewardship or philanthropic events I have attended that encourage us to be cheerful and faithful givers. And why not, this parable talks about multiplying financial resources. In the church, these kind of results provide opportunities for enhanced and expanded mission – to further the realm of God on earth.

The Parable: In an agricultural society, land was the source of wealth. The political leaders and aristocracy lived on the taxing of land and its produce. Other than these political expenses, landowners had great opportunities to expand and grow their wealth. Like today, in Jesus’ day, there was quite a gap between the rich and the poor. The poorer workers struggled hard to survive day-to-day and the rich worried about getting richer. One of the ways they did this was to invest the money they earned into acquiring more lands.

The example in Jesus’ parable in the middle of Matthew 25, is of a wealthy landowner who possessed several tracts of usable land in different areas. Even hands-on owners like this couldn’t manage all of their property at the same time. They had to entrust others to manage things in their absence. In the parable, the master of this property was likely off to visit other parts of his vast holdings and instructed three servants to manage some of his wealth. I just called them servants, but many translations (like the NRSV) uses ‘slaves’ – one word in greek translates to these two English words. We often think of slaves as being ‘unpaid’ forced labourers. Even if these people were paid enough to survive day to day and even if they had the theoretical choice to leave and work elsewhere, the reality is that in the first century, there was little practical difference between a servant and a slave.

All that aside, these three ‘servants/slaves’ were given a white collar kind of job – there were to be brokers/investment managers. And the amount of money they were given is astronomical – way beyond what they could ever hope to see for themselves.

A Talent was a measurement of money in the ancient world. It’s exact value varied from place to place and in different times: about 75 pounds of gold (current value $2.1M+), the wages needed to pay a crew of 200 rowers for a month; One definition of a Talent was to equate it to what a labourer would earn over the totality of their life time: about 50 years daily wages. No worker could ever accumulate this kind of money – the daily wage was just enough for the family for a day: you’d have not work for half a century while not eating to have those kind of savings.

So you can imagine how obscenely high this money would seem to the three servants in the story – and they were given eight times that much to manage (the most trustworthy and talented servant investor was given five talents, the next, 2 talents and the final servant (obviously a first timer in this role) was only given 1 talent). When the master returned, his 400 years worth of wages had grown to 750 (8 talents had become 15 – an average return on investment of 88%. Even Italian government bonds as risky as they are right now are only offering about 7%. But the average return is not what is noticed – instead the fact that servant number three simply buried the money and returned it safely, but with a 0% gain was the topic of conversation.

Since making money was the whole point – the first two servants are praised for their good stewardship. The third servant is fired - his portfolio is given over to the first servant. The reluctant investor is kicked out of his home on the master’s estate and forced to find another way to support himself: not a promising prospect (weeping and gnashing of teeth is more likely).

The moral of the story: “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

//

I know that we would love to think of this parable literally: how we would love to get a 100% financial return on our investments, like the first two stewards – who are both praised by the master.

But I could not be more firm in my belief that Jesus was NOT preaching about money! The money is a metaphor. If it is a literal parable, I’m not sure I can agree with the ‘master’ – expecting outrageous financial gain at the expense of slave labour. If that was the case, I’d applaud the third servant not expel him for refusing to taking part in the obscene corruption of the system that widens the gap between rich and poor. But I don’t have to go there because, I am sure that Jesus was not actually taking about the investment of money, but rather the way we invest our faith!

//

Many sermons of the Parable of the Talents focus on the value of being active in our pursuit of advancing Jesus’ mission. We can be reminded that following Jesus is not always served by being overly cautious and keeping the good news to ourselves, but we are encouraged to risks to grow and learn and expand the church.

All of these are good and fine sermon topics on the ‘Parable of the Talents’. And I’ve preached versions of these in the past.

//

And yet, I wondered if that was really where this text was calling me for this Sunday.

Sometimes, as I plan for the worship service in a given week, I am naturally drawn to a particular message from the readings. Sometimes, I can’t type fast enough to get the sermon out of my head. This week took more time, a greater effort of searching, and prayer and discernment.

“What to do? What to do?”

I had planned to focus my time on Thursday morning this week to figure this out. But as often happens in this ministry biz, the day I expected to have was not the day that occurred: I spent the bulk of Thursday morning consulting with a couple of clergy colleagues from other United Churches about some situations going on in some of the congregations of our Presbytery. We all seemed to have noticed a pattern in churches that are having a tough time right now. I know that the dynamics are not limited to the United Church of Canada.

//

Some modern churches find themselves struggling between the pull to be in ‘maintenance mode’ and the call to be move their mission beyond where they are now. As I finally sat down on Thursday afternoon to work on this message, I was able to see that this parable could be used as a scriptural warning against stubbornly holding our ground instead of using the gifts that have been entrusted to us.

I believe that to be true at the congregational level and I am also quite sure that it applies at the individual level.

The basic question often is:

Is there something about what we have already experienced, faith wise, that really worked for us and that we do not want to loose? In other words, have we discovered what feeds our spirit, what nurtures our soul, what inspires us?

If that is the case, how does a changing world affect that? Do the way we have done church and liked church, still happen the way it once did? Or is it threatened by a changing population in the church, in an increasingly busy world?

One of the conversations I had recently, I imagined two possible statements people might make – people who feel their way of being church slipping away:

 I want this church to be here for my grandchildren.

 I want this church to be significant for my grandchildren

One of these statements of a proclamation based on maintenance; the other, a proclamation based on mission. One of them looks backwards for a model for how to be the church today, the other looks forward.

//

One of my personal goals as a minister is to be involved in a church that seeks to be relevant to the world we live in. This reminds me to be mindful about the uniqueness of this time in history and to not assume that the way church has been is the way it always has to be.

As I have been reflecting personally on this parable this week, I am coming to see that relevance only tells half the story – the real goal is to “be significant” – to allow faithful endeavours to make a difference in people’s lives.

I want to invite you all to think about a couple of questions:

 So, what is it that we all need to be mindful of as we seek to be St. David’s United Church – Leduc in 2011 and beyond? What makes church significant to you at this time in your life? What is missing in our mission together that would improve your faith life in the church?

 Who we have been prior to this point is unchangeable history. But I imagine that there can be some value in knowing the path that has led us here. What must we maintain of who we’ve been so that we can move forward with some sense of purpose and continuity?

Take a few minutes to think about this. If you are willing, chat about this with some people around you.

{conversation}

I’m open to talking with people about this. I know your church Council wants to share in these conversations.

Talk to me, email me, facebook me. Your church council usually meets on 3rd Wednesday evening.

I believe that this our mission will be strengthened through engaging what it means to be a church, significant in people’s lives. And like the metaphor in the parable, I believe that these kind of vulnerable and faithful investments of thought and action will bring us more that we can possibly imagine.

Let us pray...

(ad lib)



#509VU “I, the Lord, of Sea and Sky”

REMEMBERING TO CHOOSE

November 6, 2011
Pentecost 21
Joshua 24:1-3a;14-25
Matthew 25:1-13

(prayer)


On November 11, 1918, the Great War came to an end. The Great War: a war that had been fought mostly of the continent of Europe and a bit in northern Africa and western Asia, even Japan and the US were officially involved; Canada was not, but many Canadians signed up to fight for Britain, France or another country of origin. The Great War was over. And yet in many ways, the war affected much more widely in the world: European imperialism had reached North and South America, Australia. It was in many ways a World War.

A couple of years into the Great War, my maternal grandfather enlisted in the British army as a 16 year old (he lied about his age). After his sister told on him, he was kicked out. Within a year, he had travelled to a different town, lied again and served out the rest of the war. He was 18 on Armistice Day.

In his 39th year, my ‘Pa-pop’ began a five year service in the Canadian Army in another European war that involved a number of countries in the World.

These two major conflicts of the last century are the source of modern Canadian remembrance day celebrations. The camaraderie among these non-career soldiers that was created over several years was maintained through the post war associations in the Royal Canadian Legion. As time rolls on, the number of veterans of these world wars becomes smaller and smaller. We have heard the impact of this decline as Legions (including ours in Leduc) are closing or are struggling to remain vibrant organizations.

It is a sad (but understandable) reality. The professional, career soldiers of the last 6 or 7 decades have not had the multi-year combat experiences; even veterans of the 10 year long war in Afghanistan (longer than the World Wars put together) served relatively short deployments. Although many soldiers served multiple deployments at different time, it is simply a fact that veterans of modern wars live in a very different context from their WW1 and WW2 predecessors, so the context that led to Legions and Remembrance Day commemorations do not apply to them.

Myself, as a child of the sixties (literally born in the 60s), am among the first generations of Canadians who did not live in the context of war. My parents’ may not have fought in the wars, but they lived in homes where their parents did. Remembrance comes more naturally and must be easier for those who have direct ‘experienced’ memories of the 20th century’s world wars. For me, and those like me, the only way we will remember is if we choose to listen to the experiences that are shared in story and in history. Within just one more generation, there will be no one left to speak of the direct experiences. All we will have left is the history.

And so, I think it is fair to say that for the majority of Canadians, remembrance does not come naturally – we must choose to ‘remember’ – even if we can only do that indirectly. Thank you to the people of the Second Leduc Scouting Association for leading us in that today.

//

As I have reflected on the histories I have learned, I am hard pressed to find examples of wars where the results and effects are unquestionably positive. Even wars that we can claim to have been on the winning side, the consequences include so much negative.

The late George Carlin had a routine about a common condition that has affected soldiers throughout history, but how language has soften over the years:

“There's a condition in combat. Most people know about it. It's when a fighting person's nervous system has been stressed to it's absolute peak and maximum. Can't take anymore input. The nervous system has either snapped or is about to snap. In the first world war, that condition was called shell shock. Simple, honest, direct language. Two syllables, shell shock. Almost sounds like the guns themselves. Then a whole generation went by and the second world war came along and very same combat condition was called battle fatigue. Four syllables now. Takes a little longer to say. Doesn't seem to hurt as much. Fatigue is a nicer word than shock. Shell shock! Battle fatigue. Then we had the war in Korea, 1950. Madison Avenue was riding high by that time, and the very same combat condition was called operational exhaustion. Hey, were up to eight syllables now! And the humanity has been squeezed completely out of the phrase. It's totally sterile now. Operational exhaustion. Sounds like something that might happen to your car. Then of course, came the war in Viet Nam, which has only been over for about sixteen or seventeen years, and thanks to the lies and deceits surrounding that war, I guess it's no surprise that the very same condition was called post-traumatic stress disorder. Still eight syllables, but we've added a hyphen! And the pain is completely buried under jargon. Post-traumatic stress disorder. I'll bet you if we'd of still been calling it shell shock, some of those Viet Nam veterans might have gotten the attention they needed at the time.”

Carlin’s words. PTSD is a miserable experience what ever you call it. And it is an example of a very negative consequence of war – even for (especially for) the so-called winners.

//

“Winners” seems like to strong of word. How many wars end, but the conflict doesn’t. Germany fought alongside the Austro-Hungarian Empire in WW1 and history remembers then as the losers of that Great War. And yet, the imperialistic mindsets that fuelled the invasions and battles of the 1910s remained after November 11, 1918. It found a home in fascism and Nazism, leading to a second world war just a few years after the ‘war to end [all] wars.’

//

As we are at that time of year, where we (again) invited to ‘choose to remember’, I also want to encourage us to ‘remember to choose’ which results of war we will focus on as we seek to live into the time still to come.

//

It is coincidently appropriate that the lectionary cycle of weekly bible readings has us reading from the end of the book of Joshua on this Sunday before Remembrance Day 2011.

Joshua invites the people of Israel to make a choice – now that you are entrenched in the land where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob once lived: who will they serve with they faith – the gods of Abraham’s ancestors which is their oldest spiritual heritage? the gods of Egypt which is the heritage of where they had come from? the gods of Amon or Canaan, where they live now? Or will they serve Yahweh, the God who called Abraham’s family to leave their home in the first place, the God who inspired Moses to lead the people out of slavery and across the wilderness. Joshua doesn’t tell them what to believe – he invites them to choose. Now, he announces his choice: “As for me and my household, we will serve Yahweh!”

//

It is interesting that the context of this conversation is the aftermath of invasion and conquest. I noted last week, when we read from Joshua, chapter 3, when the Israelites first crossed into Canaan, that the fullness of the story is one of battles and invasions and a systematic take over. First was the well-known attack on Jericho; then the sacking of Ai; then a strangely obtained peace with Gibeon. That got the attention of the various kings of “the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites”, who all agreed that they must stop the Israelite’s imperialistic ways. The Amorites fell trying to attack Gibeon and Joshua publically executed the kings of five major Amorite cities; and it went on in this way: city after city was systematically invaded and overrun (usually so violently that the Israelites left no survivors). Read Joshua chapter 12 for a list of the vanquished; and chapters 13 to 22 for which lands were allotted to the various tribes of Israel.

The biblical version of events is highly romanticized and deeply theologically inclined (Yahweh was given all the credit for the success of the conquest).

Last week I preached about New Beginnings as the Israelites first entered the land. The reality is that this new beginning was brought about with extreme violence. As a ministry colleague said to me this past week “new beginnings brought about [this way] are shaky at best. Has Israel ever known lasting peace. There have been periods of some stability, but when it begins with violence, violence tends to return. It continues today.

//

There has never been ‘a war to end all war’ because violence has a history of breeding further violence. Ten years after the attacks of 9-11, the violent wars fought in response have not eliminated the desire for more terror and violence – ironically, new terrorists have been inspired by the violent responses to 9-11.

Violence breeds violence – it always has. And it will continue to, until a different path is chosen.

If peace is to be given a chance in this world, we have to choose it. When do you think we will be ready to do this?

“When will we ever learn?

When will we e...ver learn?”

Peace will be a reality, when we learn that we have to decide to make it happen! And the living out of this lofty goal will not appear out of no where – it will result from commitment and hope; it will result from resisting the reluctant, easy ways of violence over seeking to understand what divides. It will be opposed by those too proud or too arrogant to compromise; peace will require incredible patience. Peacemakers will need to be among the most prepared of people: people who know that they will have to re-fuel their passion for peace and justice to avoid the lure of indifference and cynicism.

//

Jesus told the story about ten light bearers for a wedding. They all brought lamps full of oil ready for the task – enough for the task...had everything gone as scheduled. As night fell they all lit their lamps. But the bridegroom was delayed. It became obvious that the oil in the lamps would not be sufficient. Half of the women had come prepared with flasks of extra oil. The other half weren’t focused enough on their purpose. They took a short cut and had to leave to get extra oil. Too many things going on – burning the candle at both ends will have you run out of fuel before you are ready. While the five distracted light bearers were gone, they missed the bridegroom. Because of their lack of preparedness and commitment, they ended missing out on the wedding celebration: the whole reason they were there.

Five of the wedding light bearers chose to remember the value of preparation and commitment. Jesus lauds them as mentors of faithfulness.

//

Are we ready to be faithful to the call to share the light and love of Christ? – who reminded people that the greatest way to live was to love God with all we’ve got and to love others as ourselves.

Issues of justice and peace can seem complex and we may not know where to start or even wonder if what we seek is realistic or possible. And yet, I believe that peace is less of an ideal and more of a lifestyle. Peace requires a simplicity of focus – are we going to hold strong to that Old Testament title for the Messiah – prince of peace? Are we going to desire the blessing that comes to peacemakers – a true and honest realization that we are carrying on the legacy of our God: blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

//

Peace is realistic at the level of local relationship. Learning to live in peace with those in our lives is our best way to bringing a lasting peace to the world.

What is needed is for the children of God to remember to choose the life-giving love of God experienced in a real peace.

Let us pray;

Holy God, help us to remember that you are our ever-present guide as we try to live out your purpose and as we shine as living examples of your peace and justice. Amen.

*****Offering*****