LENT 3 - C

INTRODUCTION OF THEME

Second Chances… They are wonderful things.

I grew up believing in them. My parents got angry about the things I did, but they always gave me a chance to make up for it. Don’t get me wrong, I never got third chances. But a mistake was just a mistake – and then you try to correct it.

You know, when you think about it this was the message that Jesus began with – that we all have a second chance to get right with God; and it was the message that he in turn had heard from his cousin, John the Baptist. John said it a different way – Repent! But basically to repent is to start over, to turn around, and to choose a different, and better path.

I am not sure if you have heard the story behind Amazing Grace… The author was John Newton, born in London in the summer of 1725, the son of a commander of a merchant ship which sailed the Mediterranean. Later he was forced into the Navy, then started working on a slave ship, and finally he became captain of his own ship.

Newton had given up religion as a child – but on one homeward journey, while attempting to steer the ship through a violent storm he had what we might call a “come to Jesus movement.” And gave it all up to become an Anglican Priest.

For the rest of his life he observed the anniversary of May 10, 1748 as the day of his conversion, and later he would write the hymn which for him was all about the second chance he was given.

READING

Luke 13:1–9

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were guiltier than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

GROWING TIME

Ask the children to pretend that they have been given the important job of looking after a fruit tree. It could be an apple tree, a peach tree, or a pear tree—something that is appropriate for your climate and area. Ask the children how they would look after the tree. Ask them if they think it would produce fruit if they ignored it and didn’t provide any water or care. Explain that God looks after the people of the world, including the children, just as a good gardener looks after a fruit tree. God provides people to care for the children and supports in the community, such as churches and schools, so that the children can be productive members of society and produce fruit in the community.

SCRIPTURE

Isaiah 55:1–9

“Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    my faithful love promised to David.
See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
    a ruler and commander of the peoples.
Surely you will summon nations you know not,
    and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has endowed you with splendor.”

Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

CONTEMPORARY READING

TO THE FIG TREE ON 9TH AND CHRISTIAN - ROSS GAY

   Tumbling through the
city in my
mind without once
looking up
the racket in
the lugwork probably
rehearsing some
stupid thing I
said or did
some crime or
other the city they
say is a lonely
place until yes
the sound of sweeping
and a woman
yes with a
broom beneath
which you are now
too the canopy
of a fig its
arms pulling the
September sun to it
and she
has a hose too
and so works hard
rinsing and scrubbing
the walk
lest some poor sod
slip on the silk
of a fig
and break his hip
and not probably
reach over to gobble up
the perpetrator
the light catches
the veins in her hands
when I ask about
the tree they
flutter in the air and
she says take
as much as
you can
help me
so I load my
pockets and mouth
and she points
to the step-ladder against
the wall to
mean more but
I was without a
sack so my meager
plunder would have to
suffice and an old woman
whom gravity
was pulling into
the earth loosed one
from a low slung
branch and its eye
wept like hers
which she dabbed
with a kerchief as she
cleaved the fig with
what remained of her
teeth and soon there were
eight or nine
people gathered beneath
the tree looking into
it like a constellation pointingdo you see it
and I am tall and so
good for these things
and a bald man even
told me so
when I grabbed three
or four for
him reaching into the
giddy throngs of
wasps sugar
stoned which he only
pointed to smiling and
rubbing his stomach
I mean he was really rubbing his stomach
it was hot his
head shone while he
offered recipes to the
group using words which
I couldn’t understand and besides
I was a little
tipsy on the dance
of the velvety heart rolling
in my mouth
pulling me down and
down into the
oldest countries of my
body where I ate my first fig
from the hand of a man who escaped his country
by swimming through the night
and maybe
never said more than
five words to me
at once but gave me
figs and a man on his way
to work hops twice
to reach at last his
fig which he smiles at and calls
baby, c’mere baby,
he says and blows a kiss
to the tree which everyone knows
cannot grow this far north
being Mediterranean
and favoring the rocky, sunbaked soils
of Jordan and Sicily
but no one told the fig tree
or the immigrants
there is a way
the fig tree grows
in groves it wants,
it seems, to hold us,
yes I am anthropomorphizing
goddammit I have twice
in the last thirty seconds
rubbed my sweaty
forearm into someone else’s
sweaty shoulder
gleeful eating out of each other’s hands
on Christian St.
in Philadelphia a city like most
which has murdered its own
people
this is true
we are feeding each other
from a tree
at the corner of Christian and 9th
strangers maybe
never again.

ENGAGING THE THEME

When I was growing up it seemed to me that my life was set out in front of me. At least, when I got to Jr High and High School. My father wanted me to be a doctor. He wanted me to go to Acadia where he went to school, where my grandparents had gone to school, where most of my aunts, uncles, and eventually my brothers went to school.

I wanted to be an artist. I wanted to be different. And I ran… I went to Mt Allison intending to study art but getting lost in religion and political philosophy. I left Sackville and headed to Montreal in an attempt to get even further away from my family. Boy, did I ever think I knew it all.

If I could just be different from them. If I could just define myself somehow as not Baptist, as not a New Brunswicker, as not the “good obedient son.” And I did. I did that in spades. I was a rebellious teenager who was never far from trouble, I hung out on the streets of Montreal and idled away time and money and reputation…

I got in trouble with the law, lost friends, and went years without seeing my family.

Someday I will work the rest of my life into the sermons you hear. I think it is a pretty interesting story. But my point here is just to point out how far I veered from the plans of my family, and for that matter, from the gifts that I was probably intended to use by God.

I spent a lot of my life on the wrong path.

Now – your life may not have seemed so dramatic as this – or perhaps it is even more dramatic. I have a friend who is a minister in Ontario who actually joined the US Navy to get away from his parents and his past…

But we all do it. In some way we set out to find ourselves, we set out to be different from our parents. We set out to be original… And I would wager that all of us have made mistakes along the way.

But – here is the thing – no matter how far off of the route we are, God provides on ramps…

This is what struck me in the meandering poem I read to you… Here is this guy wandering through the city lost in his own thoughts, feeling negative about everything when all of a sudden he sees a fig tree, and he eats some figs, and so do others, and all of a sudden he remembers not only that life is good, but that he is not alone.

Give it a second chance, says the gardener, and I bet it will grow. We just need to be reminded that the second chance is out there. Perhaps it is as easy as seeing a fig tree where we didn’t expect it.

CONCLUSION OF THEME

Some 4000 years ago the prophet Isaiah spoke to a bunch of people who had lost hope – have nothing to drink? He said, come and drink with me. Are you hungry? God has provided milk and honey. Leave behind your wicked ways and turn to God and you will be welcomed…

There is always a second chance.

This is another truth of Lent that we need to wrap our heads around – no matter how far gone and no matter what we think we have done, no matter if we think we are too young, too old, too stubborn or too weak, there is a second chance.

No one has sinned too much – no one is so far gone that they are not loved by God.

But we have to take the time to work the soil, to add a little water, to accept that love and start once more to bear fruit. That is the journey of Lent.

LENT 2 C

INTRODUCTION OF THEME

There is a line I love in the book The Colour Purple, Alice Walker has one of her characters say, “I think it makes God mad when you walk by the colour purple in a field somewhere.”

Lent is a time for purple. It is a time for looking around. It is a time to engage God, to look for God, to be open to finding God… Even if you have to look at a flower in a field, or the leaves on a tree, or the pinks and purples of a sun set.

We might even find God in the hymns we sing, or the readings we listen to – peering through the stained glass on a Sunday morning…

But I want to talk about some of the less well known ways we encounter God. We all know about the big ones, Seeing God in a Rainbow ever since the flood, or the voice of God speaking to you, even an angel at the foot of the bed… but if we are always focusing on these traditional ways – we might miss some of the smaller ones; or some of the less familiar ways.

Have you seen the commercials for Buicks lately? They play on the idea of “This isn’t your father’s Buick” but essentially it shows different people saying, I’ll be driving the Buick or some such line, and then not being able to find them because they are driving a cool looking car…. And we all know Buicks are not cool.

So this is the same sort of thing – we all have an understanding of God. We all look for God in certain ways – whether it is the answer to a prayer, a message from a sermon, or a feeling from a sunset. But what if God is out there, right there, like the colour purple… and we are walking by.

ENGAGING THE THEME

Jesus talks about God in a way we do not expect. In the story I read earlier he talks about wanting to be like a mother hen who gathers her chicks under her wing to keep them safe. God is both a mother and a chicken. Not what we are expecting.

Also the sentiment is not quite what we usually hear – God is not the warrior, God is not the teacher, God is not the creator… God is a loving parent who wishes to protect us from harm. Knowing that this is one of the ways Jesus understood God does it change your perception at all?

Or how about our story from Abraham, Where God appears in a vision as the one who will fulfill the promise of children. Do we think of God that way very often… I need kids, so God will provide? What about at a more basic level – God is the one who fulfills promises… who is faithful in all things…God is the “quality” of faithfulness… God is the “quality” of caring.

I am not the first person to say this – it comes from the Jewish practice of Kabbalah, an ancient mysticism… who first asked the question, what if God is not a noun… what if God is a verb?

Jesus said it first, God is love. But what if this is really, really true at a deeper level than we thought. What if God is not a person on a cloud, but is the actual act of loving? What if God is not an angel in the sky but is the actual verb, the action, of taking care of people? What if God is faithfulness?

So what if the reason we miss seeing God is that we miss experiencing God. When a stranger smiles at us, or a store owner says to forget about the fact you are a dime short for your coffee. What if waking up with a day that has no plans, or lying on the beach in the sunshine is experiencing God?

Does that change anything? This is our Lenten question for today… How do WE experience God, and when we do, are we letting it seep into our souls and empower us to be the people who help others to see God too?

CONCLUSION OF THEME

A few years ago my car broke down on the side of the road. I was stranded right on the edge of the city of Moncton. I managed to coast down onto the exit ramp for the major road into town… As I sat there, a lot of cars drove by. And I was thinking to myself how people in Moncton spend too much money on cars – there were BMW’s and Mercedes, Cadillacs and Audis. I kid you not, it seemed like everyone was driving a luxury car. And there I sat in an old Toyota with the four ways on while they drove right on by.

I started to have another thought about these people. One I cannot share. And I sat and sat and sat…

Finally a car pulled up behind me, a beat up old Honda civic – you know the type, a wannabe street racer. And out of it hopped two guys who looked like drug dealers. I was a little worried – but they came up and asked if I needed help, they got me to open the hood and found the problem, and fixed it… I offered them money but they would not take it…

It sure was a good lesson in humility and in judging people. And in where we might find God in our world.

And I guess this is what I am saying – during these 40 days while we are preparing ourselves, while we are looking at how we live, and how we interact with God. Let’s not just look in the places we have already searched, but let’s be open to the mysterious, the unexplained, the unexpected… after all, isn’t that where God usually shows up?

LENT 1 C

INTRODUCTION OF THEME

When I was young my grandmother always used to warn me about taking the easy way. “Don’t take the easy way,” she would say, “it will never get you where you want to be.”

It was good advice. I did not always listen. But as I grew older and wiser I seemed to get it more and more. When we skip steps to make it easier, the end result is worse – and it often ends up being harder in the end.

I wonder if Jesus’ had a grandmother around to pass on this wisdom. Perhaps his mother did. But he certainly seems to take it to heart when he makes a huge life choice and leaves behind carpentry to become a preacher, teacher and healer.

I can picture him, lying in bed at night, going for walks, thinking about how to tell his mother that he is leaving. Wondering if he is making the right choice. And in the end, being tempted to take the easy way out.

As soon as he makes a decision, and gets baptized by his cousin John, he goes off into the desert to spend the next 40 days preparing for his ministry. And it is while he is alone in the desert, confronted with all his hopes and fears that he has to make some hard decisions.

This is the story of Lent…

TIME WITH THE YOUNG AND THE YOUNG AT HEART

40 days in the desert. 40 days is a long, long time to be alone with nothing but a campfire to keep you warm at night. And remember, Jesus has basically left behind every single thing he knows, carpentry, family, Nazareth, and safety. He is taking some huge risks and his first step is to confront his inner demons and figure out who he really is.

So there is Jesus, out there trying to figure out his life, trying to figure out his calling, trying to figure out what it is exactly that God wants of him.

And he is tempted… as the story goes the “devil” comes to him, the tempter comes to him and points out three very obvious truths:

“You are hungry and depriving yourself,” says the devil. “You don’t need to be, it is easy, make some bread and get on with it. Why deprive yourself of anything?”

“Just become the king,” says the devil, “you have the power to conquer everything and everyone – just use it. If you were the king of the world you could get everyone to do whatever you want…”

“Use your powers…” the devil finally says, “you can do miracles, you can command angels, you can be immortal – just use your powers and everyone will believe.”

At its simplest these temptations are one and the same – the devil comes to him and whispers in Jesus ear, take the easy way.

Take the easy way. Be rich, be famous, be powerful, use miracles and force everyone to believe.

You don’t need to suffer, says the devil, you don’t need to wait, and you certainly don’t have to waste time convincing people – you have the power of God to change the world in a heartbeat… would that not be better? And, as a bonus, you will not die horribly after being tortured and hung on a cross.

You don’t even have to be out here, the devil basically says, just go and get started, what is to think about…

ENGAGING THE THEME

Doing the easy thing can even be risking your life… Take the story of Alexander Severus, a Roman emperor who none of us really remember because in 235 AD he chose the easy way. Here is what happened:

Germanic tribes invaded the Roman Empire during the time Severus was emperor. This was the so called Barbarian Invasion and the emperor marched out his troops to meet the invaders. The troops were ready to fight and defend their land…  But what happened? When they were near the enemy, the emperor chose to bribe the enemy instead. He tried to buy them off using the empire’s wealth. Instead of facing the challenge, the emperor chose the easy way.

The troops didn’t like it. In fact, they were angered by it. They looked down on him and eventually decided to kill him.

It’s tragic, but it also contains a profound lesson: don’t take the easy way. Don’t take shortcuts when you face a problem. It may look easy and attractive, but it’s not without its danger. What you should do instead is face the challenge and do the right thing. It might be painful and take a long time, but the reward makes it worth it.

Jesus knows this… He needed to convince people, he needed to walk with people, and he needed to earn their trust and show by example just how powerful the love of God is.

CONCLUSION OF THEME

Lent is our 40 days in the desert. Lent is our 40 days of soul searching. Lent is the time when we face our own temptations, and in doing so, we prepare ourselves to follow Jesus no matter where it may lead.

Since the days of the early church this has been a time when we are more sombre, when we look inward, and when we ask the hard questions that Jesus had to answer before he could follow God…

What would be your easy way out? What tempts you? What demons do you need to confront?

It can really change us if we take this seriously. Lent is not an easy time, but it is a powerful one.  

We have those same choices that plagued Jesus in the first place – the temptation to put ourselves first, the temptation to use our power to force others, the temptation to play it safe… It is in fact because of the reality of these temptations that we repeat Lent each and every year.

God is calling. We have already chosen to be here. But now we renew that vow by following in Jesus footsteps and preparing ourselves for the road ahead. 

TRANSFIGURATION C

“To put it simply: the Holy Spirit bothers us. Because he moves us, he makes us walk, he pushes the Church to go forward. And we are like Peter at the Transfiguration: 'Ah, how wonderful it is to be here like this, all together!' ... But don't bother us. We want the Holy Spirit to doze off ... we want to domesticate the Holy Spirit. And that's no good. Because he is God… he is the one who gives us consolation and strength to move forward. But: to move forward! And this bothers us. It's so much nicer to be comfortable.”

                               ― Pope Francis, Encountering Truth: Meeting God in the Everyday

INTRODUCTION OF THEME

If you look at the top of the Bulletin, you will see a quote from Pope Francis – I had never seen it before this week, but I totally agree with him… One of the problems with the Spirit of God is that it is so active – the spirit blows here, the spirit blows there; and no matter where it blows – it brings change.

The winds of change – you have heard that expression I suppose – and the winds of change do blow – they blow all the time… and that is a problem. It is a problem because there are very few of us who like change. There is no doubt, however, that the Spirit of God brings change.

Almost every character mentioned in the Bible had the spirit of God come and blow them in a new direction. It blew into Adam and made him aware of the world, it blew into Abraham and made him go to a new country and get a wife, it blew into Moses and convinced him to lead the people, it blew into Jesus and began his ministry, it blew into the disciples and strengthened them to risk their lives…

Every single time the spirit of God comes to us it pushes us in a different direction. And honestly, I am not sure about you, but I am pretty comfortable with my life. I don’t really need any major changes. I don’t want to move to a new country. I don’t want EVERYTHING to change.

Today we are talking about transformation – about change – and about how encountering God changes us. Specifically, we are talking about Jesus and a trip up the mountain where his conversation with God would forever change who he was and what he was going to do…

What would an encounter with God be like, I wonder? Could we ever have one and remain untouched? Let’s think about that and continue to focus our attention as we turn to God in prayer. 

TIME WITH THE YOUNG AND THE YOUNG AT HEART

(There is probably no better story in the Bible for the idea that the Holy Spirit changes us than this story from the life of Moses – Moses goes and talks one on one with God and because of this, his face is glowing….

Imagine it was that simple – listen to the glowing person – they are speaking for God.

We have trouble listening to other people, we have trouble believing someone else has good answers. We struggle to think that God is speaking to us. And so, there are times, unfortunately, when we do not listen.

I know, I know, we want to listen to God and we think we are good people. But life is not as simple as the glowing Moses would have us believe. .. at least, not anymore… when Moses came down from the mountain and you could see he had actually talked to God and he gave the people 10 simple rules to follow that would change everything… that was simple.

But thousands of years later we start to distrust the simplicity. It cannot be as simple as do not lie for instance, because we all know we need to lie sometimes. Like when the love of your life says, do you think I this shirt makes me look fat. There is no good answer to that, it is a trap.

And the more complex our lives, the less likely we are to believe the simple answers… the less likely we are to listen)

KIDS

If we try to listen to everyone we will just get confused. I’ll show you what I mean. Let’s think of a question we can ask the congregation. Here’s a question. Let’s ask the congregation how we should live and what we should do with our lives. Members of the congregation when I count to three I want you to call out together how you think these children should live and what they should do with their lives. Ready? Listen closely children. 1, 2, 3 Go. (Let the children listen to the chaos for a few seconds and then give a “time out” gesture to the congregation.) Well children. Was that helpful? No? Why not? You’re right. It was a very confusing trying to listen to everybody. It was crazy!. I think this teaches us something important. Sometimes it can get very confusing trying to listen to everyone’s advice. Sometimes everyone we talk to has a different idea of what we should do or not do. We need to remember what our Heavenly Father said to Peter up on the mountain of transfiguration when he was confused. He said to Peter, “This is my Son whom I have chosen, Listen to Him!” Listening to God’s Son Jesus is so very important. Getting ideas and suggestions from other people is important but it is most important that we listen to Jesus. We can listen to Jesus by reading about the life of Jesus in the bible. We can read what he said and taught and we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand too.

ENGAGING THE THEME

We all want answers. That is a part of being human I think – we wish we had answers for all those deep questions. Why do people die, what is the purpose of life, why did people in the 1970’s have lime green appliances?

We go through life feeling like if we only knew some of these answers it would be so much easier. We could accept things that happen, we could feel some sense of control; we could find peace. And we do try to find them. We read books and go to church, we watch movies and talk to friends – maybe we even try things like meditating, or yoga… Think about it – self-help books are the biggest sales out there. Everyone wishes they could find a deeper meaning for the things that happen.

The problem is – we do not really believe this – we are lying to ourselves.

I mean, I think we have the best intentions and I do think we seek out answers but there is a part of us that is never satisfied with what we hear. If I told you all you had to do to be healthy was to not eat any fried foods and walk five miles a day a part of you would say; no way, I love onion rings, I need to find something easier.

There are a lot of Biblical precedents for this – one upon a time there was a general named Namaan who had leprosy. He asked Elijah what he should do to cure the leprosy and the answer was wash in the River Jordan… but it seemed too simple, too foolish, and Namaan almost never even tried it.

Or how about the Rich Young Ruler who comes to Jesus and says I go to church, I help the poor, I follow the rules, what else do I have to do to feel good about myself? And Jesus says go and sell everything you own, give the money to the poor and follow me… does he do it? No. Was Jesus right? Yes.

So there is the thing – part of us wants the answer – part of us is really scared that the answer will mean we have to change something we do not want to change.

Who is Jesus? That is a question the disciples ask themselves every day? What is going to happen? How is he going to save us? Should we really be listening to him, because some of what he says sounds crazy!

And then they go up the mountain… They see Jesus pray. They see Moses and Elijah come to counsel Jesus. They watch as speaking to God makes Jesus seem to glow, to light up with the power of the holy Spirit…

So here is the answer. Yes, Jesus is special. Yes, God is at work in him. Yes, the Holy Spirit is inside Jesus. Yes, Moses and the Prophets support Jesus…. So…. Listen to him.

Still – like I said – Listening is hard. And it is especially hard when listening means having to do something, having to change…

How much do we really want to change?

CONCLUSION OF THEME

I wonder if it is fear. Are we afraid of change? Are we are afraid things are changing too fast? Are we thinking that following God is going to change us so much that we will no longer be ourselves?

Perhaps.

What the disciples were essentially saying when they saw Jesus is that they were comfortable the way things are. And we cannot really blame them – they are disciples of a great teacher, people are listening to them, people are feeding them, they are travelling, and they have found someone they believe in… why would they want to change that?

Listen – comes the voice of God – Listen to what Jesus is saying: Even if it is uncomfortable (and it was, Jesus has been talking about dying, about people not liking them, about all of this ending – it is certainly not going to be the same as it always has.)

And the disciples know this is true, they see the evidence, and all of a sudden they want to stay on top of the mountain – fear takes over.

Here is the thing: First, we have to really listen… which means tuning out some of the distraction, letting go of our expectations and being open to whatever God is saying.

Second: we have to accept that when the spirit is at work, everything changes. When we hear God speaking to us through our dreams and visions, WE are going to change. We have to have the courage for that.

Last but not least – we need to follow through; and when we do that, when we hear the voice and react – things really will get better – the voice of God is never going to lead us astray. So as we try to live out what we have heard we will be truly following Jesus.

“Called to Proclaim God's Mighty Acts”

Vietnamese Folk Story

Once there was an old man

who lived with his three young sons

in a small village in Vietnam.

Though they all loved each other very much,

the boys seemed to always be fighting and quarreling,

as siblings do.

One day the father called them to him.

He said:  “My sons, I want each of you to bring me a chopstick.”

So they each ran and got a chopstick.

When they all returned and stood before him again,

he asked his oldest son if he could break his chopstick in half.

The son said, “Yes, Father.  That’s easy,”

and he snapped the chopstick in two.

Next, he asked his middle son,

“Can you break your chopstick?”

And just like his brother, he said, “Yes, Father.  That’s easy,”

and snapped his chopstick in half.

Finally, the old man came to his youngest son

and asked him to also break his chopstick,

like his brothers before him.

It was harder for him,

But the youngest child was able to break his chopstick in half.

“Now,” the father said to his sons, “bring me three unbroken chopsticks.”

When they returned,

the father asked them to hold the chopsticks together and break them.

Each tried as hard as he could

but none of the boys could break the three chopsticks together,

not even the oldest and strongest boy.

It was then that the old man said,

“I hope you have learned from the chopsticks.

There is strength in unity.”

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Today is the last day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity –

a time set aside each year throughout the world

for churches to reflect on the importance of working together to follow Jesus.

This year’s theme came from the 1^st Peter reading that we heard this morning

and it is all about proclaiming God’s mighty acts.

Peter talked to the early Christians about how it was important to remember

that they had been called to show God’s greatness to the world.

I always get a little nervous when we start talking about proclaiming anything together with other denominations.

I have images of soapbox preachers standing on the street corners,

warning people of the perils of not accepting Jesus into their hearts

or of missionaries going door to door to teach people about the Lord.

That is simply not me.

That’s not the tradition I come from or find myself in

and it doesn’t fit with my own theology.

So, if we as churches are to work together –

to be the three chopsticks that are strong and not easily broken –

how do we do that when we all worship God in different ways

and when we all carry within our church communities different beliefs?

I think, for me, the emphasis needs to be on the word “acts”.

Peter wrote:  “You may proclaim the mighty acts of God

who called you out of darkness into the marvelous light.”

Maybe our “proclaiming” could be our “doing”.

For diverse and unique churches might not agree on the words to use

but we can almost always agree on the actions that the world needs.

Maybe we are being called not just to talk about God’s mighty acts

but to call upon the divine to help us to do some mighty acts of our own.

In this city, I’m not really sure that we do that as well as we could.

Fredericton

The churches in Fredericton are wonderful.

They are quite often the biggest supporters of not forprofit organizations.

If you look at organizations like the food bank or the community kitchen,

you may find that church people sit on boards, donate items and volunteer their time.

In our churches, we spend time praying for issues like poverty, illness, and tragedy.

We draw attention to the justice issues and the needs.

Churches are a powerful force here that are making a difference and changing lives.

But, more often than not, we do it as individual communities.

You know, a United Church did this good thing. 

The Salvation Army raised this money for that. 

The Baptist Church helped here. 

The Catholic Church helped there.

So, the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in this place

provides for us a challenge.

Maybe this year we can think more about how we might be better at this.

Think about what it would have been like if Jesus stayed in one place.

If instead of gathering followers from all over,

he just stayed where he was, with those who thought like him.

I’m sure good things still would have happened –

sick people would have found healing,

the downtrodden would have found inspiration,

and the outcast would have found inclusion.

But the power of God would have been limited.

By going out into the world

and joining forces with other groups of people

who weren’t always like him –

who argued with him,

who challenged him –

he was able to change the whole world.

He spread his message of love

and proclaimed God’s mighty acts far and wide.

And that still has an impact today.

Now, I know we are sometimes hesitant

and we are sometimes afraid that if we go down those roads

that we will end up in theological debates

or disagreements about how things should happen –

because we are all very different.

But we need to imagine what wonderful things could happen if we do.

There are a few great examples of how this does happen locally.

I think of the wonderful work that the Interchurch Refugee Council does,

drawing different churches together to meet the need of newcomers to our country.

And I think of the great work of Campus Ministry at the university

that is very much the hands on work of several churches in the city.

These are two great examples of how this can happen.

Kairos

When I think about ecumenism –

this concept of the church working as one –

when I think of ecumenism,

my mind immediately goes to the organization called Kairos.

Kairos is an ecumenical group here in Canada

that has been doing the work of social justice for over 40 years.

It is made up of 11 different churches, including the United Church of Canada.

And it began with the desire of these churches to work together in meaningful ways.

The churches were and are very different

but they were able to put their differences aside

and focus on what they had in common –

a longing to make positive changes in the world –

a longing to spread God’s love through justice.

And through the years, they have done so much…

from helping refugees flee from Latin America

to tackling oil exploration on Aboriginal land in the Arctic

to apartheid in South Africa.

And we might take this for granted today,

but the fact that both Roman Catholic and varying Protestant churches

were working together was brand new and exciting.

They saw that is was possible to do together

what may have been impossible to do alone.

And today that work continues on

as they work on issues like the destruction caused by fracking and mining,

the plight of migrant workers, and gender inequality.

11 different churches accomplishing amazing things –

proclaiming God’s mighty deeds.

Let’s be inspired by their story

and make steps toward embracing such unity at the local level.

Conclusion

So, as we go forth from here this day,

the last day of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity,

let us go with our hearts ready to try something a little new

and our arms ready to greet our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let us go forward with the hope of making Christian unity

something that happens more than just one week a year.

EPIPHANY 2 C

MESSAGE  

INTRODUCTION

The Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh says, “I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don’t even recognize. A blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black curious eyes of a child, our own two eyes. All is a miracle.”

So I want to talk to you about the wedding at Cana - Jesus was there for some reason, and when they ran out of wine, Jesus made more. This is an incredible thing with lots of deep symbolism, but I don’t want to talk about how extraordinary it was…

I want to talk about how ordinary it is. I want to talk about miracles from the other side – not parting the red sea so everyone can walk on the floor of the ocean, but simple miracles, easy miracles, everyday miracles.

And there is a reason for us to think about the miraculous – Think of it as the old glass half full conundrum. I think far too many of us see the glass as half empty – we focus on the negatives and in doing so we get stuck in desolation, stuck in darkness, stuck in the depressing aspect of life and fail to see the everyday miracles around us…

The other day Ali showed me a picture of two girls in a windstorm – one was looking away from the wind with her hands up over her face and clearly looking annoyed… The other was turning into the wind and pretending to be flying, with a huge smile. The caption at the bottom of the picture said the only difference is attitude.

AROUND US EVERY DAY

I mean, think about it, just the fact that you are alive is a miracle!  Of all the millions of possible gene combinations, you came out. The timing was right, you have the right number of chromosomes, your mother was able to carry and nurture you for 9 months.  All the conditions have to be just right for someone to be born. Being you and being alive is truly miraculous.

But just look around - The sun comes up and the moon comes out. The earth spins on its axis and we have a brand new day every 24 hours. The seasons change, no matter where you live on the earth we see the same moon, there is music… So many things that are amazing which surround us every day.

I know it is weird, but I always think the way a body works is a miracle. The heart pumping blood, the way we process oxygen, the fact that our brain makes up ideas….

And what about oceans, tides, snowfall killing blackflies, the way trees breathe in carbon dioxide which is poisonous for us, and breathe out oxygen which we breath – while we breathe out carbon dioxide for the trees?

I wonder if we go through life ignoring the small miracles – the moments that bring exceptional beauty or grace, or love into the world?

There is a commercial for life insurance from Thailand. It is called Unsung Hero and it is very moving. I will post it up on Facebook or you can google it to watch it… but here is what you see – there is a young man who seems like he lives alone who wakes up, walks to work, eats lunch, comes home, goes to bed. Every day… every day the same.

He sees a dead plant near some water that is dripping from a pipe so he moves it over, he sees a lady who cannot lift her food cart over the curb so he helps here, he sees a homeless dog so he feeds it some chicken, he sees a woman and her daughter begging so he gives them some spare change, and he sees an old lady alone in his apartment building and he leaves her some bananas.

Every day… every day the same.

Until – one day – the plant blossoms with flowers, the lady with the food cart starts giving away food to poor people, the homeless dog follows him home, the begging little girl finally has enough money to start school and the old woman gives him a hug..

Every day miracles – simple things that change the world – that move us one step on the journey from desolation to delight.

WE NEED THIS

We all need this, you know, we all need to find those miracle which move us from one place to the next and help us to see the world for what it is, a thing of beauty and wonder.

I mean, there are the extreme things too which seem miraculous. A story on Oprah Winfrey was told about Lareece Butler, who was brave enough to try skydiving for the first time only to jump out of the plane with a faulty parachute. She escaped a free fall of 3,000 feet with only a broken leg, a fractured pelvis, and a concussion. As Butler plummeted, the chute's ropes twisted around her. She later told reporters she had prayed, God save me, please; I have a son, but could recall nothing else until she woke up in the hospital, surrounded by her amazed and grateful family.

Now, I am not trying to suggest prayer was what caused her to survive – it was just luck. But it is a miracle nonetheless, and we hear stories about miraculous things like this every day, a house fire where everyone lives, a dog who barks and warns of an upcoming tornado… these are the more obvious things…

But again – back to the simple….

Jesus was at a party and they ran out of wine – he pointed out that there was plenty of wine in the barrels over there by the wall… now people had checked, and those barrels were filled with water; but now they were filled with wine.

It is not a stunning miracle, it is not even an obvious miracle, someone might have moved the barrels, or they just assumed it was water when it was really wine all along – who knows.

But the message beneath the surface is – don’t give up on life. Don’t expect the negative. Don’t accept that things have to go wrong. There is always a solution. There is always a better way to see it. There is always a way forward. After every rain shower the sun comes out.

Thousands of years ago Isaiah said to the people, it will not always be like this, you have to see that God is at work all around you making things better. Beauty, love, peace, they have a way of rising up from the ashes all around us.

And if we are looking for the miracles, if we are expecting the good, then we will find that life is filled with them. So let us celebrate that we have a god in whom all things are possible. We have a god who changes the ordinary into the extraordinary, who changes water into wine, who changes desolation into delight. May our eyes be open to the miracles surrounding us this day.

Amen.