LENT 4 - C

INTRODUCTION OF THEME

The idea of Lent is to explore aspects of life, aspects of ourselves that both help and hinder our ability to be faithful. Perhaps I should say that a different way. Being human means that we have certain feelings and ideas… take love for example… we all feel it in one way or another, we can love people or we can love chocolate. But because we love we also hate – and that can be anything from our neighbour to Brussel sprouts.

But how is that feeling – love – helping our faith? And how is our love of things making it difficult to live the way Jesus taught.

That is the idea behind Lent – take something familiar and examine it more deeply with the hope of understanding it better. The more we understand it, the more we can make sure it is not interfering with the way God would have us live.

By doing this, we are seeking to become even more faithful.

So today, the idea I want us to focus on is forgiveness. And its opposite, which for lack of a better way of expressing it, I am going to call holding a grudge.

Now I think we can all agree on why holding a grudge could be a bad thing… it takes up emotional space, it forces us to remain angry or at least to have negative feelings, and if you stop and think about it… or if it gets too bad, it could even give you an ulcer.

Most importantly though – it keeps two people apart.

And I would argue this is the furthest thing from what God wants. To keep people apart.

The point of life is in fact relationships, right. Getting a job, building a house, buying a car, these are all just things that make life more or less liveable. What life is really about is who we love and how we love. It is about the love we share with God, with family and friends…. The relationships.

Forgiveness and Relationships… hmmm… That is not an easy topic is it?

READING

Luke 15:1–3, 11b–32

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

So he told them this parable:

Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.

“Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

2 Corinthians 5:16–21

From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

ENGAGING THE THEME

We have probably all heard the story of the prodigal son at one time or another I our travels. One of two sons comes of age and instead of staying on the family farm decides to take his share and set out on his own. He spends the money way too fast, probably on a new sports car and some electronics, and then realizes he cannot repay his debts… after living on the streets for a while he realizes that the farmhands back home had it way better than this and decides to go back, hat in hand, to ask his dad for a job.

This is how we have heard the story. This is what we often focus on. The son. Youth. Bad decisions… and second chances.

You know, it was hundreds of years after it was written that someone decided to put subtitles and called it the prodigal son. In truth, this story is not about the kids at all – it is about the father. It is a story about love and forgiveness.

So let’s look at it from the other side… This is the story of a father who works hard, who has built something up for his family and his sons, and whose son just does not care. In fact, the son thinks he knows better and essentially says, I would be happier if you were dead – so give me my inheritance now and I will have nothing to do with you.

And the father does. He loves the son so much he is willing to let him go and make his own mistakes. He hopes for the best but fears the worst. And while the son is gone, he continues to live a good life which he shares with his other son.

But then the son comes back – having failed, having lost everything, brought as low as he could be. And instead of saying, I told you so. Instead of coldly turning his back. The father welcomes the son back like the long lost love he is.

We are called to follow Jesus… there is a hymn about that I think…

And Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and said essentially the same thing – that Jesus showed us a new and different way to be – and that way, as the Psalm suggests, is a way of grace and love.

It is not natural. We naturally hold grudges. We naturally feel hurt. We naturally want revenge. But to walk a mile in Jesus’ footsteps we need to let that all go. We need to be like the father who just loves – and lets the son make his own mistakes – and still loves him no matter what goes wrong.

If we can manage to pull that off… we are getting closer to what Jesus was trying to teach us.

CONCLUSION OF THEME

Jesus told parables so that the people who listened to him could relate. He used ideas that everyone would get – like the difficult relationships between father and sons.

Faith, he wanted to let people know – was not something out there, different, only on Sundays… Faith was about how we live our lives. And I guess that it what I have been about during Lent – trying to bring it back close to home and helping us to understand that our faith is not mystical and different – it is about the basics – about the seemingly simple things – and choosing to do them the way Jesus would.

And like I said earlier, faith really comes down to relationships. To paraphrase Jesus explaining this to someone else… it is all about Love; love of yourself, love of God and love of Neighbor. And really, the main thing we have to do to make relationships work is forgive.

There is never going to be a moment when someone does not disappoint or hurt you – there is never going to be a time when we do everything out of love. We are always making mistakes. So to be like Jesus we have to be able to say – I love you anyway.

As we will see as the story unfolds; Jesus takes this as far as possible, actually praying for God’s forgiveness of his executioners. And sure, that is where we hope to get in life, but for now… we need to make forgiveness more a part of our day to day… don’t expect people not to make mistakes, don’t expect perfection, and allow people to love you back… when we do that we are living faithfully.

Pentecost 12 - C

Thief in the Night!

Introduction
How much faith do you have? Enough to move mountains?

I do not. I have to be honest with you, I have never been one of those people who feels that if I pray about it everything will be ok. I knew a guy in seminary who would set out on a road trip to an important meeting and not fill the car with gas, claiming that God would provide… Most of us thought he was crazy….

But he, honest to God, believed that God would provide… the one thing he did not lack was faith.

And it always made me wonder, what does it mean to have faith? What is it that we are supposed to have faith in?

There are many possibilities, we can believe we are going to heaven if we are good enough, we can believe that God is making things work out the way they are supposed to, we can have faith that Jesus came and did something which saved us in some way…

But on a day to day basis… what do we have faith in? And what do we mean by that… is it the same thing to say, “I believe in” as when we say that “I trust that” and is that what it is to say, “I have faith in”

Just some light fluffy questions for you to think about …

I can tell you that it is hard. It is hard for most people to believe everything will be all right when the evidence shows differently. When you are all alone it is hard to believe in love. When you are really sick it is hard to believe you will get better. You get the idea, just having faith that something will work out is not a very easy thing to do.

Is it Just Trust?
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and not seen.

I have heard that definition for most of my life… faith is simply believing, despite the evidence. So, from this perspective, is faith simply trust? Is that all there is to it?

That passage from Hebrews is right, there were a ton of people who trusted God and did what was asked of them without ever seeing the promises fulfilled. Abraham was going to be the father of a billion people, or at least that is what God promised; but when Abraham died his kids hated each other and it was not looking good.

Moses never saw the promised land, even Jesus didn’t find out whether Easter meant anyone to anyone…. In other words, they just trusted that doing the right thing would bring the right result.

We all take risks. I suppose, we take a new job, or we move, or we get married or we have kids, or we buy a house… hoping that things will work out the way we want. But we have some idea before we do it, don’t we… we go and see the house, we interview for the job… we try to raise the kids properly… it is not really going in blind… we are not asked to trust that everything will work out even though we cannot possibly imagine how that could be possible.

The Biblical characters were… Abraham finally had a son when he was somewhere North of 80 and the very next thing God tells him to do is take him up the mountain and sacrifice the boy. So… he has waited his whole life for the promise of kids… and when it happens… God says, you are going to lose him… but trust me…

What would you do? Do you have faith like that? Can anyone? And again, is that what it means… to trust despite not knowing?

The Stick
What if the definition of faith, the definition of trust was to sell everything you have and join a convent, become a monk, join the church and wait for the end of the world? It might make things a whole lot easier, no?

At least we would know what was expected of us, what being faithful meant…

But I think this passage goes deeper. Where the passage about Abraham told us that faith is being able to trust God, this passage tells us that faith is also the belief that things are different, that things will get better, that there are other possibilities.

What if I said it this way: You don’t need the fancy car or the big house. You don’t need the big promotion or the flashy jewelry. You need to live life in a way that you are ready for whatever happens. You need to be ready for the miracle of really living… of the unexpected… of the new… and if you are too tied in to the old, you will never be able to recognize when the new things are happening.

One of the main things that Jesus came and tried to teach us is to embrace possibility. He would call it the kingdom of God, and he was always saying that God has made the world much bigger than we believe… that there are always more possibilities than we can imagine… that anything is possible.

I remember growing up and believing that I had to be one of four things, a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, or a minister. I honestly did not think there were many other jobs… but I could also be a soldier while doing any of those things so make it five…

One day when I was in my 20’s and almost done seminary I drove by a billboard saying that I should become a Marine Biologist and work with whales… And I thought, how cool would that be! But I never even thought of that before? People can really become marine biologists?

I know it sounds silly, but that was really what I thought. All of a sudden I realized the world was a whole lot bigger than I had been imagining… and the only thing limiting me was myself; I had made myself believe that only certain things were possible.

I have done a whole lot of things since then, just for the record, and right then I also decided to start working on writing. It took a decade or so but I started writing for the papers, and on stories, and magazines….

I had never believed I could do that… but all of a sudden I started to ask, why not?

So be ready for action, keep your lamps lit, let go of the things that are holding you back, look out for the opportunity that is coming in the middle of the night, be ready for what God throws your way…. That is what I believe Jesus was saying.

Conclusion

So I do not think that faith is simply trust, and I do not think it is simply believing in certain things.

I believe faith is a way of life. It is a way of seeing the world that says that there is more out there than I can possibly imagine, and being okay with that.

That also means that we are called to have a sense of trust, a sense of belief, a sense of openness and a sense of wonder as we approach life.

No matter what comes our way, we have to be ready to embrace it and see it through, we have to be willing to ask, what are we supposed to learn in this and where is it supposed to lead us…

By embracing the world for what it is and seeing God at work in everything, maybe we can even move mountains.

Pentecost 11 - C

Money Where Your Mouth Is

Introduction

It was about a decade ago when I saw the most unnecessary product ever invented. Christmas was coming and all the television channels were abuzz with the latest must have kitchen gadget… the electric iced tea maker.

Now, think about this for a second. First off, that Nestea tropical iced tea instant powder is the best stuff on the planet. Secondly, growing up I always made iced tea by putting tea bags in a jar of water and putting it out in the sun to brew, lastly, boil water, add tea bags, and put it in the fridge.

If you need a machine to do this, you are really just looking for something to buy. You must already own everything in the world.

It begs the question, what is important to you? Where do you put your energy?
And to be honest, we all like to buy new things. Sometimes we only buy useful new things.

Sometimes we just want the newer thing. I, for example, do not own a modern flat screen television and I would really love one.

But then again, when I have to decide, should I take my kids on a trip or buy a television, the kids win.

So that is what I invite you to take some time this morning to think about – what it is that you think is the most important to you, and why.

First Reading
Colossians 3:1-11

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 

When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life.

But now you must get rid of all such things--anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.

In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

Doing the Right Thing

We know that Paul wrote to the churches in order to give advice on righteous living. Whenever we read these passages we should always be thinking of them as a sermon on good living. Paul also believed the world would end soon, so he was always making it sound urgent… you better straighten up and fly right or else the world will end and you will find yourself on the wrong side… that is essentially his message.

But if we were a little calmer, if we took away the life and death urgency of Paul, that moral advice is still right.

We should not let our passion, or our greed, or our anger, make the decisions for us. We should be focusing on the good and trying to live the example Jesus came to show us.

It is quite the list…. Stop doing all things that are wrong, and stop thinking all things that are wrong. Stop focusing on the wrong things and start focusing on Christ.

If you manage this, you will be able to see everyone as equal, you will be able to focus in a way that allows you to see the good in everything… you will know Christ as being in your heart. Which is Paul’s way of saying you will be living the way God intended.

I think of this as just being good advice, sort of like parents advice. You know you shouldn’t make fun of that person… You know if you just try to be nice… things like that. I think of this advice as being like the beginning of values.

Somewhere along the line we have all had people who have given us this advice, whether it was a parent, a teacher, a preacher, a boss…. And it comes in all sorts of ways, treat people like you would want to be treated, focus on what makes you happy… any of those sorts of things.

At the back of our minds, we all know this… so this is where we start.

Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." But he said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" And he said to them, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."

Then he told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, 'What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then he said, 'I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.'

But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'

So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God."

Seek Ye First

I read a book once by a guy names Steven Covey, it was about the habits of highly effective people. It was sort of a business guide, how to be the best at what you do… but one of the idea in the book really stuck with me…

When you are dealing with someone, talking to them, whatever, treat it like it is the last time you will ever see this person.

I don’t know, maybe I will get hit by a bus this afternoon and this will be my last sermon ever. Maybe you will all die in a freak tornado that wipes out just your houses and I will never talk to you again….

It is a morbid idea, but it works. If this was the last time you would ever see your spouse, your child, your friend, what would you say? Would you argue about who misplaced the keys if it was the last thing you ever did?

It is a simply a tool to focus.

I think Jesus was being a realist with this parable, and it hits home with me in just the same way; what if I am focusing on the wrong things? What if I spend all my time worrying about the finances and forget to enjoy the day and the world ends tomorrow?

What if I have a heart attack? I probably will someday. Will I have put off for tomorrow a lot of the things I should have done today?

When someone came and said, help me get my inheritance from my brother, they were essentially saying, this money matters more to me than my brother. So Jesus answered in the same way I began this sermon, what is important to you? What do you value the most?

Have you given that any thought as we have been going along?

If you were given a thousand dollars right now, and could do anything with it, what would you do? Not a million, not ten, but a thousand. Enough to be extravagant but not enough to have to worry about it…. What would you spend it on?

Right about now I want to be on vacation, since it is only two weeks away, so I might do a week long hotel stay somewhere with a pool and whirlpool. In this moment, that is what I feel like I need.

If you asked me at a different time it would be different… but I do know that I value friends, family, trips, and food a lot. I also like to care for people, and want everyone to find happiness. Those are the things I put time and energy into the most.

And if in the end I walk out of this building and get struck by lightning, I know I have lived my life well. I have tried to do the best I could with what I have, and I have not put too much focus on the wrong things.

Conclusion

This is a pretty universal story. You might remember the Ant and the Grasshopper… the grasshopper wasted away all his time focusing on the wrong things… in one book I read it was playing the guitar… while the ants made sure they had enough food for the winter…

That was one of Aesop’s Fables, written for the ancient Greek children so they could learn the same values Jesus was trying to get across, the same values Paul was trying to teach the new church.

It is simply this – focus on what is important. We all know what that would be, focus on love, on family, on health, on happiness, on helping others, on caring and sharing… focus on living the good life in a way that you enjoy the gifts God gives you…

And when you do this you will find that your life is easier, that you have more happiness than an electric iced tea maker will ever bring you, and that you feel fulfilled in all you do.

So think about it this week, and try to see what needs changing, or focus on what you are already doing, but be conscious about it…. That is part of faithful living too.

Lent 1

Fiddling Along the Way

Introduction

A long, long time ago, the city of Rome burned to the ground. Some say that the Emperor, Nero, played his fiddle while he watched it burn. Nero wanted a lot of the slums and older buildings destroyed because he had big plans – he built a coliseum, and a racetrack, and gardens and palaces – all to honour him. But since everyone knew Nero wanted Rome burnt down; he needed a scapegoat. In front of the Senate, Nero blamed the “Followers of this man Christos.” This is the first time anyone ever coined the term – “Christians.”

Up until the late 60s AD this new Jewish revival movement was simply called, “The Way” and those who belonged were “Followers of the Way.” I believe that we lost a lot when the name changed. Our focus moved from doing the things that Jesus taught to the person of Jesus himself. What mattered to the Romanized version of our faith was where Jesus stood on the Pantheon – was he a stronger God than Zeus, stronger than Romulus, stronger than Caesar?

This never mattered to Jesus. In fact, whenever people tried to heap divinity onto him he rejected it. When someone called him “good” he responded that no one was “good” except God. When Peter called him the Christ Jesus rebuked him. It was not about Jesus – it was about the way that God wanted us to live.

Life as it should be…

Lent is a time when we prepare…. Now, technically, we are preparing to celebrate Easter… but if we look at it another way, we are preparing ourselves for another year of being faithful, of following Jesus, of living how God wants us to live…

We need to keep this in mind as we approach Easter. It is far too easy to make Easter into a magical celebration of how Jesus, who was God, killed himself on a cross so that we would be saved… an idea that would have stunned Jesus – who was all about trying to get us to follow his teachings about God which leads to working out our own salvation. We need to see Easter for what it is – political opposition to the values of God – and how those values triumph because of the self-sacrifice of one man.

That is why we started with a history lesson, a brief one to be sure… but I really do think it is important for us to reclaim the idea that we are living “The Way” of Jesus… that is what makes us who we are. Lent is a reminder that we are called to follow more closely in the footsteps of Jesus and come to understand how deep and meaningful our own faith can be.

It is not simply about coming to church – it is not a decision made once and followed, more or less, for the rest of our lives – The Way is a calling, a struggle, a constant decision, and the whole point of our lives.

So far this year we have been focusing on the first phase, the Epiphany or, as it is sometimes called, the “A-Ha moment”. An Epiphany is a sudden and intense realization about God. You might remember that Peter had his first aha moment during a miraculous catch of fish; or that the disciples figured some things out about God and Jesus during the transfiguration on the mountainside. For each of us it is different. Some people have that type of moment when they get sick and have to reconsider what it is that is most important to them. Others find their priorities and focus changing after the birth of a child and all of a sudden faith makes more sense.

But this is only the beginning. This is where we recognize the path, but next, we have to make a conscious decision to step out on that path and see where it might lead. Let’s think of Lent like that, we have recognized God and now we are setting out to find out more about ourselves as followers of God.

Where do we go from here?

So we set out, but where are we going? What are we doing next?

Our passage from the Older Testament can help us to recognize this: After the people had been in the Promised Land for a season, Moses gave them a ritual for remembering what God had done for them. In order to remember, “where we came from” and to look with hope at the journey ahead, we acknowledge God by bringing the first fruits – the best and first ten percent of everything we have earned, grown, or did, and offer them to God. It reflects the ancient understanding that the land and everything in it belongs to God – and invites us to be grounded in gratitude for what God has given. It is not a bad spiritual practice for us to get back into… do we give to God from the first fruits; or from what is left over? …

Perhaps that is a spiritual practice which could open us up to God more…. After all, The word Lent comes from the Old English word for the season of “spring.” So Lent can be thought of as a sort of “springtime of the Soul” It is the time when we begin to grow in our knowledge of who we are.

It all happened in Jesus life like this: As he neared thirty, Jesus heard that his cousin John had become a prophet. There was a movement out in the desert called the Essenes, and it seems like John went out and joined them for a while, but then came back to Jerusalem and began to preach from the river side.

Being curious about the whole thing Jesus decided to go down and listen – and something John said opened Jesus eyes, he decided to go into that river and get baptized right there and then. And when he did that, Jesus had an Epiphany. The disciples later described it like a voice, or a dove, come down from heaven… and it made Jesus believe two things – that he was so loved by God that he could do anything; and that God wanted him to teach others about this love.

Immediately after his eyes had been opened to this – Jesus knew that he could never return to his former life; and so he went off into the desert to find himself; That is the forty days and forty nights that we now find ourselves in the midst of.

So Lent is our forty days and forty nights in the desert. If we take this period of time and focus on ourselves, and look deeply at how we let our thoughts, fears, and struggles get in the way of our true relationship with God; we will face some temptations along the way.

Tempted in the Desert

Let’s take a look at the temptations laid before Jesus in the desert. “Satan” (which is Aramaic for the tempter) put before him these three: if you are hungry, change stones into bread. If you are the son of God, leap from a tower and rely on angels to rescue you. If you bow down before me, all the kingdoms of the world will be yours.

 Now at first it might seem like these are things we never need to worry about; this is clearly all about being “Jesus” and somehow being related to God. But look closer – these temptations represent some very real stumbling blocks to our following The Way. In a nutshell, Satan offers Jesus some very familiar things: magic, rescue, fame and power. These are the very same things that keep distracting me when I try to be faithful… I am tempted to believe that just around the corner lies something better; I am tempted to think that if I was rich and powerful I would be happy; I am tempted to believe that if I could just find the right words God would swoop down and save me from my problems; I am tempted to believe that if I was just more like that guy over there things would be okay…

That is what Satan wanted Jesus to admit; that the easier road is the better road.  These are the fantasies, the illusions, which call us from the path, that keep us from discovering our own rich reality, which is a gift from God.

What was asked of Jesus is what is asked of us – that we give up this illusion, its false promises, and “come to our senses,” trusting what Jesus taught about “The Way” set before us - which is almost never the easier way forward.

Conclusion

Lent is a season where we have to make time for our faith. God has invited us to use this season to journey inwards, to ponder those deeper questions about who we are and what life has set before us. My hope is that we all take the opportunity God is giving us. Amen.

Transfiguration

Let Your Light Shine

Introduction

Sunday Schools the world over have been singing a song since the 1920’s; this little light of mine; but have you ever stopped to think about the words.

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of min, I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine/Let it shine/Let it shine…

Now, what does that mean? What are we saying? What “light” do we have that we are singing about? What does it mean to shine?

This is Transformation Sunday. The time when we think about Jesus on the mountaintop and the way that he revealed God’s light to the world.

The idea of the light of God being revealed through people did not begin there though, it is as ancient as we are… Before Jesus, think about Moses; who went up on the mountain to talk to God about the ten commandments and came down with a glowing face… we are talking about people who are a lightning rod to the divine. Siddhartha Buddha for example became enlightened while meditating under a tree; or Mohammed who is said to have spoken to the angel Gabriel e on Mount Hira outside of Mecca and came away from that experience totally changed.

When someone is transfigured, it means, literally, that we become able to see the holy in that person, it means that they become on fire for God. It means seeing the light.

And it is not only in people that this can stop us in our tracks. Who has not stopped to look at a sunset, or the Northern Lights, or even the lights of fishing boats bobbing on the sea… Light has a power to make us feel awe and beauty. It brings out the best in the world around us…

So today we explore light.

Children’s Time

Stained Glass – Seeing the beauty means seeing the light inside…

Down the Mountain

So, if God came down the mountain right now and stood in front of you, glowing, I would wager that none of us would have a problem believing it.

It would be easy to see that this was someone different, powerful, holy… and we would probably listen to what they had to say.  Just like the folks did to Moses, or to Jesus…

But the thing is, those moments are rare, or non-existent in our lives. Even those perfect sunsets and candlelight dinners and northern lights are rare. The things that make us stop and focus on the beauty of the world are rare… in our day to day lives, it is harder to see God; it is difficult to see the light when it isn’t so obvious. We have to look for it.

The thing of it is, transfiguration is not something that happened once, a long time ago, it is something that has happened over and over to those who become closer to God.

In our gospel story we have Jesus taking his closest friends up the mountain with him while he prays. And there are a lot of things that could be said about the imagery here; about the people he seems to talk to, about the reaction of the disciples… but instead I want you to see it, with your mind’s eye, for what it is.

All of a sudden Jesus lights up. Whether he glows with real flames, or the sun shines through the clouds and falls on him, or what does not matter. What matters is that in this instant he becomes transfigured, he becomes alive with the light of God.  He becomes, if it is possible, even closer to God and even more Holy.

And even those who see this, even after they have looked closely and opened themselves up to this… even then, the disciples do not see it for what it is.

What matters most is that in being transfigured Jesus becomes capable of something he might not have been before; he becomes capable of coming down the mountain.

Walking in the Darkness

Hide it under a bushel, no, I’m gonna let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, no, I’m gonna let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, no… I’m gonna let it shine,

let it shine, let it shine, let it shine….

You realize that is the disciple’s reaction, right? Wow, you are the son of God, this is great, let’s stay up here… I don’t know, there could be a hundred reasons for this reaction, they had everything they ever dreamed of and wanted to stay, they were afraid of what people would do when they saw the glowing Jesus, they just sensed, rightly, that this was not going to work out well….

So they want to hide the light, keep the light, maybe even pretend they never saw it.

Again, this is not a once long ago story. This is a story that plays out every day in almost every place… everyone has those moments where they see the light… but what good is it if we don't recognize it?  What good is it if we don't see that God is shining through?  What good is it if we don't embrace these moments?

Perhaps the reason that we don’t always recognize the light of God in our midst is because transfiguration can only be seen in action.

When I began I pointed out places where we see light and it overwhelms us. And light is easy to see… the lights of a city, a candle, the stars, a campfire…. But what about the light in people… is that as easy to see?

Well, I think if I asked you for a list of famous people who have been light to others you could make a fairly good list. Think about Martin Luther King Jr. from last week, or Ghandi, Mother Theresa, even Pierre Trudeau seems to have made a difference to people.

Even if I asked you to name the types of people – a teacher or a firefighter… perhaps the stranger who stops to help someone stranded on the side of the road…

All of these people are the types of people who bring light to others.  The weird thing, is that we do not regularly talk about them as bringing God to others. In essence, we hide goodness… ask someone why they went into a burning building to save a cat, and they will say, I did not do anything special, I am no one special, anyone would do it.

But doesn’t that take away from the fact that there are people out there modelling God all the time? There are people out there BEING God all the time. And most of them have no idea they are doing it.

We do not need to hide these things under a bushel, we need to be celebrating the people who do the right things, those that do the good things, those that love unconditionally… these should be our heros. And we can find them around us every single day.

Bring it on Home Jesus

This is the transformation we witness. This is the transformation for today. This is how God is seen these days.

And a funny thing will happen when you start to recognize this. When you start to see the light in the world...when you really see it...you will start to change the way you live your life; the light will change who you are.

This week we are having an annual meeting. Let's see if we can see where the light is shining in our church, in our community. Let’s see where there are opportunities for us to reflect God’s love into the world.

We are also about to go into the season of Lent...a darker season.  Amidst the stories of fear and struggle and challenge and suffering, it will be hard for us to see the light. But I want you to remember the images that you saw here today.  Know that the world is overflowing with light.

Some days it might be a blinding light that you can't deny as if Jesus is aglow on top of a mountain. Other days it might be a little flicker that you have to search deep for. But you will find it.  And when you do, use it.  Let it shine for all the world to see.  Amen.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

When Geese Disagree

Introduction

So, today is the Sunday which falls on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It is a celebration held each year by the World Council of Churches. The council first met in Amsterdam in 1948. It was like the United Nations only from a Christian standpoint; in the wake of the two world wars it was felt maybe we should learn to work together more. So now it has some 349 churches, denominations and church fellowships in more than 110 countries and territories throughout the world, representing over 560 million Christians.

Now all that being said, if you look in your bulletin you will see that there are some 41,000 different branches of Christianity while only 349 belong to the World Council of churches; there are about 2 billion Christians in the world and the WCC represents some 560 million… What I am getting at is that ¼ of all Christians can reasonably work together on most things; while ¾ probably cannot.

So, when we talk about Unity, we are talking about it from a place of division… and I want us to think about that.

Each and every week we come to church and talk about the good things of the world, we talk about love and peace, and hope, and working together… and I really believe that those are the things God wants us to be focusing on… but in the midst of that we also have to be realistic. Most of us live in a world where we have a few close friends, where we know a few other people, and then there are a whole lot of people out there that we know nothing about, or don’t want to know, or whatever…

How do we get from where we are to a place where we are working together more? And should we?

Kids Story

Welcome – we are trying to see things differently during this time of Epiphany… and I want us to see the doors of this church differently… what do you notice about the doors? Why do we have doors? What would make them more welcoming?

A Prophet in His Hometown

I went to junior high school and high school while living in a place called Hampton, New Brunswick; you may have heard of it. Because my parents were divorced I moved in and out, living also in Calgary and Halifax during that time. I was always an outsider in Hampton, even though I was, sort of, from there. My Dad had moved there when I was in grade four and I had went to grade four and five there… in grade 8 when I returned I rekindled some old friends… sort of…

Anyway, I was both from there and an outsider… I got into a lot of trouble, and at the time it was a town of 1500 people and I spent the other weeks of my year in Halifax, the roughest toughest town in these here parts…

All this to say I really did relate to this Jesus story, and I get what Jesus is trying to say… the people that know us to be one way are often the people who find it very hard to see that we have changed. We also have a lot of pre-conceived notions about people, we make assumptions and we judge – based on looks, based on money, based on the way they talk… just about anything really. 

I wonder if the reason for so much division in the world is really that simple, that we see people as being different than us, and so we do not think of them as the same. Jesus for sure, was a carpenter from a small town, a Galilean, and when he came back to church to try and preach they thought of him as an outsider, as someone who had changed, and besides which, who did he think he was, talking to them that way…

Yeah, the story makes a lot of sense to me… not that it is right, but it does tell us a lot about human nature.

The Heart of the Matter

So if it is simple to find what divides us. And I know I am oversimplifying, but often it is that simple, and dumb… I wonder if it is as simple to figure out what we have in common? After all, even if we know that everyone on the planet thinks and acts differently than I do, there still must be something that connects us, right?

Paul thinks that something is love. Paul thinks if we understood love completely, and from a divine point of view, that we would see the way God sees.

And he has a point, there is nothing in this passage we could argue with, love should be patient, and kind, and calm, and open, and all the things that he says… we know that. And when you look at what he is talking about from the other side, we know that those are our bad qualities too… the impatience, the rudeness, the self-centeredness, the meanness…

But beyond that, when we get to look at it from a religious point of view – there are none of us, in any church, who are going to argue that love each other is not a central point for our faith. If you are Catholic, or Pentecostal, if you are traditional or liberal… love is at the centre of what we believe God and Jesus were on about all this time.

I do, truly, wish it was that simple… but perhaps it can be. Perhaps all we need is a little shift in our thinking and to put one simple principle into place… and then we can start to be different.

I talked about welcome in our children’s story today, because I think that the most practical way we love is through hospitality… how we treat people who come to our homes, how we make them feel welcome, what sort of effort we put into making other people feel comfortable. I really think that this is a practice of loving our neighbours the way that Jesus wanted us to.

Think about the story of the good Samaritan… here is exactly how and why the story is told – a man comes to Jesus and says, what is the most important religious principle; and Jesus says, love your neighbour. So the man says, but who is my neighbour… And Jesus picks the worst possible social outcast, a Samaritan – and tells a story in which the Samaritan goes out of his way to take care of a stranger…. That, in essence, is being religious… that is being Christian… that is the one thing that might reverse all of our turning away from each other.

The Sense of a Goose

In all of this what we are talking about is trying to be more like a goose.

Ok, that might seem like a little bit of a tangent, but consider this… In the Spring, when you see geese heading North for the Summer or South in the Fall, flying along in "V" formation, you might be interested in knowing what scientists have discovered about why they fly that way. It has been learned that as each bird flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird immediately following.

By flying in "V” formation, the whole flock adds at least 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

How about this, whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front. When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and another goose flies point.

And do you know why the Geese are always honking, to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Finally, when a goose gets sick, or is wounded by gunshot, and falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow him down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly or until he is dead, and then they launch out on their own or with another formation until they catch up with their group.

Now, all of this is the way that a group of people, or birds, would act if they all had the same goal, if they all cared about each other, and if they all worked together… People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are helping each other as they go along. It also pays to take turns doing hard jobs, with people or with flying geese. Finally, we will stand by each other, encourage one another, protect one another and sometimes make new friends who seem to be going in our direction.

If we put this in religious terms I am pretty sure we are saying what Micah was saying… God is love, and so we are required to do justice, or loving works to help each other, we are required to love kindness, or to take care of one another and be nice to one another; and finally, to walk humbly… which in the end, means to think of the other person as being just as important as you.

Conclusion

It is not so much an epiphany this week as a pointing out things we already know, instinctively, deep down… but it is good to be reminded.

The person who is on welfare, the rich guy in another country, the Presbyterian down the road…we really do have more in common with them than we think.

And as much as we fight against it the way forward is clear, it is to love everyone.

So I am going to celebrate the week of prayer for Christian Unity by trying, at least as much as I can, to take these lessons to heart, to try not to focus on the things that divide but the things that unite. I hope you can too.

Pentecost 14 B

Thinking it Through

Introduction

In the earliest church life was difficult – but faith was easy.

I’ve often wondered about that, if there is a correlation – When the Romans were occupying your country it was a simple list that made up your bed time prayers: Keep my family safe, help me feed them, send the Romans away.

Back when Moses came and said, God will free you from slavery – it was pretty easy to see the benefits of choosing God.

If life is easy – faith is difficult.

Think about it. If I have all the food I could ever eat and more am I really as grateful as I could be? If my life is filled up with fun and activities, why make time for church? At night, if I am happy and healthy and fulfilled, what more is there to say to God than thanks?

We might not need it now – but there is a reason that most of the Bible was written during times of trial; and it is ultimately that wisdom which we need.

So today, as we start back into the fall, back to school, back to work, back to the times of our lives when we knuckle down and get things done; we are going to spend a little time thinking about the wisdom that our tradition has given us, looking to it for help.

READING
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

Time with the Children – The Kissing Hand

READING PSALM 45 VU p.769

All You Need is Love

Both our Psalm and our opening reading are reminders of just how wonderful the world is when everything is going right…. They speak of seeing things for the first time, of falling in love, of waking up to the beauty all around you.

Did you ever think that perhaps the issue is attitude?

Newspaper columnist and minister George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband. "I do not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him, I want to hurt him as much as he has me."

Dr. Crane suggested an ingenious plan "Go home and act as if you really love your husband. Tell him how much he means to you. Praise him for every decent trait. Go out of your way to be as kind, considerate, and generous as possible. Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him. Make him believe you love him. After you've convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him, then drop the bomb. Tell him that your're getting a divorce. That will really hurt him." With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, "Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!" And she did it with enthusiasm; acting "as if." For two months she showed love, kindness, listening, giving, reinforcing, and sharing. When she didn't return, Crane called. "Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?"

"Divorce?" she exclaimed. "Never! I discovered I really do love him." Her actions had changed her feelings. Motion resulted in emotion. The ability to love is established not so much by fervent promise as often repeated deeds.

READING
James 1:17-27

Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness.

Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.

But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act--they will be blessed in their doing. If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Healing from Within

In Medicine there is such a thing as a placebo effect. What that means is that most of the time, if you are given a placebo, a sugar pill, and yet, believe it is a real pill; it will cure you.

Science and faith, hand in hand, tell us that a positive attitude makes a lot of difference – that how you see the world makes a lot of difference. For James, a letter from one of the earliest of all Christian churches, this boiled down to some very simple wisdom – be the best you can be… in specifics, the means slow to anger, and forgiving, and that you should listen and work for good in the world.

Once more, simple wisdom – but for them it was enough. For us it is enough if we care to take it.

In The Anatomy of an Illness: As Perceived by the Patient, Norman Cousins tells of being hospitalized with a rare, crippling disease. When he was diagnosed as incurable, Cousins checked out of the hospital. Aware of the harmful effects that negative emotions can have on the body, Cousins reasoned the reverse was true. So he borrowed a movie projector and prescribed his own treatment, consisting of Marx Brothers films and old "Candid Camera" reruns. It didn't take long for him to discover that 10 minutes of laughter provided two hours of pain free sleep. Amazingly, his debilitating disease was eventually reversed. After the account of his victory appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, Cousins received more than 3000 letters from appreciative physicians throughout the world.

So what does this mean in your life right now? If you were to write a simple message like that contained in James about “how you should live life” what would it say?

READING
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)  So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?"

He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition." Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

Spoiled

Just because sometimes we need the stick instead of the carrot, Jesus comes with a reminder that the reverse is true… that true evil, true problems, they come from within as well – they are a matter of attitude.

When John the Baptist first appeared on the shores of the Jordan River, his rallying cry was “Repent”

Which actually means, turn around…

I’ve always thought of it as him calling us, like a wind turbine, or a solar panel, to turn towards the source of what is good, rather than focusing on what is bad.

Take away the whole ongoing argument with the Pharisees… which is really just about them trying to prove Jesus wrong, and look at the meat of what Jesus is saying – he is saying that our attitudes… that our own feelings, are what really cause the problems.

All of those attitudes and problems, like the feelings that would allow us to lie and cheat and steal, come because somehow we cut ourselves off from God, from looking at things the right way, from being content and happy with life.

I have to admit it is easy to let the bad thoughts and negative feelings creep in. It is hard not to let the little things get under your skin; but it is necessary.

Be on Guard – countless heroes of the faith have said to us over the years, be on guard lest your heart turn
to stone and your actions to wickedness…

Soren Kierkegaard a famous philosopher once wrote a prayer that I think we could all take to heart, he
wrote:

Lord! Give us weak eyes
for things that do not matter
and eyes full of clarity
in all your truth.

Conclusion

I think good or bad, whatever is happening in our lives, what we need to do is keep a positive attitude. Just like our momma and baby raccoon – the thing that matters most is knowing we are loved and will be ok.

That has always been God’s promise to us.

And as for us, well, it is as simple as trying always to see the glass half full.

I like to live my life looking on the bright side as much as possible.  I think of myself as being like the kid who got his report card from school and had to bring it home to his dad – despite the fact it was full of bad grades.

"What have you to say about this?" asked his father.

"One thing for sure," the boy replied, "Dad, you can be proud. You know I haven't been cheating!"