Sunday, January 24, 2016

“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 1st 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.

Monday, January 18, 2016

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.