Creation Time Begins
Introduction
Do you know what book of the Bible has the most questions in it?
The book of Job.
The reason that it has the most questions is that it is the only book of the Bible that is solely about the human equation, about tragedy, about what it all means…
In case you don’t remember, there is this guy named Job and he is the most faithful and most richly rewarded person out there. And Satan, who is God’s “devil’s advocate”, decides to prove a point.
He tells God that Job is only good because God has given him everything, family, riches, friends, purpose… and if God took it all away… Job would lose faith.
What comes next is hundreds of pages of questions: why is this happening? What did you do to deserve this? IS God fair? How can I get it back? What is wrong with me?
6000 years later… when things go wrong… we are still asking the same questions.
So it is fall, school is starting up, church is starting up, the warm weather is making its annual pilgrimage to the south… Time to start being serious again – time to figure some things out… time to, well, time to remember that even when things do go wrong in this crazy world, there is still a God , a reason, a point.
Parting the Sea
I know that not many of us are into local United States politics… When I lived in Quebec, which I did before and after 9/11, New York state was one of our border states. We talked about stuff from there, and, well, my parents were living in the states so perhaps I felt more attuned… but I remember Rudi Guiliani before 9/11.
Anyone else?
The people of New York sort of hated the guy. He was a Democrat who changed allegiances and ran as a Republican in order to win the election as Mayor of New York in 1994. Before that he was a US Attorney General prosecuting Mob Bosses. The best thing anyone could say about the guy was that he was tough on crime. But even then, he was accused of “arranging” high profile arrests to further his political goals – later having to let the criminals go because he really didn’t have the evidence to begin with.
Then a couple of Jetliners flew into the World Trade Centre.
The second thing I ever saw on the news was Guiliani, and then over and over he was always there – he mirrored the emotions most people felt, shock, sadness, anger, and resolution… He brought the people together and told them to believe in themselves in the middle of tragedy – he cried with them, celebrated with them – he led them.
The day before 9/11 his approval rating was 36% … within a couple of weeks, it was 79%... He became Time Magazine’s person of the year, and Queen Elizabeth even went on to knight him because of his actions in the face of the tragedy. Oprah Winfrey called him, “America’s Mayor.”
You see, we are never sure what we are capable of until the moment comes – and we are called upon.
Moses, who was unsure of himself, who stuttered, who ran away from most fights, finds himself camped on the side of the red sea when dust appears on the Horizon – turns out it is chariots… lots of chariots…
And he turns to his people instantly and says, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again…”
I imagine he is as frightened as they are, God has not revealed any great plan, they are trapped, but Moses rallies the people anyway… he leads.
And the waters part, and they cross over, and they believe that if you trust, maybe you don’t need to know all of the answers right away – maybe there is a power in the universe that looks out for our best interests…
But more importantly, we see people like Moses, like Guiliani, willing to be authentic and willing to stand up in courage and encourage. What we see is that sometimes answering the questions is not nearly as important as living authentically and having courage.
Living and Dying
Stuck in the middle of Paul’s argument for vegetarianism is this line: “for whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s”
It is a really interesting argument he is making, but it takes some work to get it… so in a nutshell here it is – there is a lot to worry about in the world. And if we let it, it will eat us up…
But we spend so much time worrying about who is right and wrong, we spend time judging others for the way they do things… and we spend FAR too much time thinking that how we do things is the right way.
There really is only one way, God’s way – and when you stop to think about it, NONE of us are doing it that way. So why the animosity? Why the anger? Why the heartache? Why all the questioning?
Really, it is because of ego – we cannot just let go and let God – we cannot just trust!
This is all part of God’s wondrous world… and whether we eat vegetables or meat, whether we say God or Allah when we talk to the divine, whether we live or die, we do it “in” God.
Think of this as yet another answer to the whole “why” question… let it go… all things work together for the glory of God. The divine energy of the cosmos surrounds us all at every moment. There really is no why, or right way, there is just trying to do it as best as we can.
The Old Seventy Times Seven
What is the first reaction you have when the world hurts you? When something goes wrong?
For most of us it is anger. We almost cannot help it.
Remember the first days after 9/11? The universal reaction of Americans was that they should bomb the Islamic world into the stone ages.
There was no introspection, no wondering why anyone would hate Americans, nothing but anger fuelled by fear.
To be fair, they started asking, or some people started asking the deeper questions later… questions like whether American arrogance had not led to ill feelings in international relations.
But when the bad things happen we want to lash out, we need to blame people, it is only natural.
But the Bible, and our faith tradition, tells us to take a step back…
Here is the question asked by our parable today – how should you act, knowing you are already forgiven by God?
There is a reason the church always asked people to consider their own sinful nature… it is not in vogue to say it anymore, because we are all supposed to be good and honest and loving people… but we are not. We are all sinful. Which is to say, we all do the wrong thing sometimes because of our ego, and we all make mistakes, and we all find it hard to forgive, and we all expect easy answers, and we all struggle to love people who make us so darn angry….
“Why is the world like this? Why did this happen?” always, if we were really honest, has some element of, because we are not better people.
But God loves us. We are forgiven for all those things. God accepts us. We are loved despite ourselves.
When you know that, isn’t it a little petty to keep your own list of wrongs? After all, if I can be forgiven for what I have done to hurt people, maybe I should be a little easier on the people I know.
Wrapping It All Up
So here is the thing. There are days when I worry that what I believe, what I do, is kinda foolish. There are days when I wonder if the human race is not just spiralling into oblivion. There are days when being different seems like so much work that I think I should just subscribe to then me first get rich attitude of everyone around me.
But they are fleeting moments. And along comes an opportunity like the fall to start over, to try in my own life to get it right this time, to listen to some of the things that God has been trying to say and let that make a difference.
A decade ago I was involved in all that went down around 9/11. I did the largest funeral I hope I ever have to do. I sat through some of the most painful moments of grief I have ever seen. And it almost broke me. I walked away from everything for a while.
Those moments where I am shaken to my core happen far too often – and I imagine they happen for all of us. But God is there. God loves you. And knowing that, perhaps we don’t really need to know any more.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Pentecost 2 A
CIDER HOUSE RULES
Introduction
Anyone ever see or read the Cider House Rules?
It is an interesting movie to be sure, The gist of it is this: Rules are often made to keep things in order; they are rarely made to make it easier for the person involved.
There are two parallel stories as it unfolds, that of a New England abortion doctor who is genuinely trying to help people despite the rules; and at the same time we watch migrant farmers who have come north to pick apples and are supposedly subject to the artificial rules of the farm owners.
Through violence and upset and overturning of moral norms we come to learn something – hospitality, the simple rule of loving the other person as we would hope to be loved, changes everything.
--
So… the story of Abraham and his son is a pretty strange story of following the rules… If God says it you have to do it is what I first got out of this story in Sunday School… but the story is actually about something else, it is about testing the rules and how that changes us.
Consider this – Abraham is not the one who changes in the story; God is. Let’s for a moment assume that God has had a rough time with this whole creation thing, it is almost never working out how it was expected to – there was that whole flood episode for example.
The story presents God as skeptical, as uncertain what will happen if he actually pushed us. SO God demands the sacrifice of Isaac… a Child Abraham waited 90 years to have. And Abraham shrugs his shoulders and says OK.
It is Abraham that actually ups the ante. Abraham tells Isaac that God is going to solve the problem. God stops short… what… Abraham trusts me more than I trust myself; I better step up… and the ram gets caught in the thicket.
--
So today I want you to think about how the things we do affect not only the person we do them for, but us as well. All of life is a two way street and any given thing we do changes everything. There is something to be said for responding with love, and taking hospitality to the next level of trusting everything will be all right.
Let’s take a moment and think about that while we listen to some music.
Forgetting the Wages of Sin
What do you think sin is?
The week I was on study leave was quite incredible. It was all on prayer and how we relate to God. In my mind the most impressive speaker was Michael Morwood, who was a Catholic Priest in Australia until he wrote a book about God in which he said God is not out there anywhere, God is in here, in our hearts.
He was promptly censured and defrocked… which is strange because what he said has been being said for thousands of years – especially in poetry which expresses things like the fact that God is a close to us as our next drawn breath.
SO what is Sin? Michael Morwood says that sin is the intentional failure to recognize the Divine in the people around us… or in ourselves… If I treat someone else like they are different than me, or like they could not possibly be loved by God, or part of God’s creation, then I have sinned.
In India the traditional greetings is “Namaste” which people say as they meet and when they are leaving each other – Namaste means: “I honour the place in you where the entire universe resides; I honour the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace. I honour the place within you where if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us...”
Pretty complex sentence – but essentially you look at someone and say, “I see God in you.” And they look back and say, “I also see God in you.” And that being true, we have to treat each other differently.
So sin is death – and grace is life. That is what Paul wrote to the Romans. If we fail to see God in ourselves or in others life becomes not worth living – but to be truly alive and empowered is to see God in everything and embrace it all fully.
Welcome Me, Welcome You
In 1993, mountaineer Greg Mortenson attempted to climb K2, the world's second highest mountain and located in the Karakoram range of northern Pakistan-administered Kashmir, as a way of honouring the memory of his deceased sister, Christa.
As a memorial, he had planned to lay her amber necklace on the summit of K2. After more than 70 days on the mountain, Mortenson and three other climbers had their ascent interrupted by the need to complete a 75-hour life-saving rescue of a fifth climber.
After getting lost during his descent, alone, he became weak and exhausted. Instead of arriving in Askole, where his porters awaited, he came across Korphe, a small village built on a shelf jutting out from a canyon. He was greeted and taken in by the chief elder, Haji Ali of Korphe.
To repay the remote community for their hospitality, Mortenson promised to build a school for the village.
That is the plot line of the book, “Three Cups of Tea” which is named because of a Balti Proverb:
"The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honoured guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family..."
Mortenson became co-founder of the Central Asia Institute (CAI), a non-profit group that, as of 2010, reports it has overseen the building over 171 schools. CAI reports that these schools provide education to over 64,000 children, including 54,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before in the remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
See, all of our readings are about the power of the encounter… the way that our interactions change people.
Jesus once said in answering a question, if you have fed the hungry, helped the widow, clothed the orphan or even offered a little sip of water to the thirsty, you have seen me…
When you help the other person because you believe in them, because you see them as holy, you have lived as Jesus taught.
“If you welcome me, you welcome God. “ Jesus said, and then he broadened it out to the fact that welcoming everyone is welcoming God…. Jesus seemed to know about this Hindi Greeting, Namaste.
Conclusion
So I think we can turn the world around with simple things. Let’s start by working on hospitality.
In every opportunity try to look beyond what you see in front of you – the tired, lonely, hurting people we encounter every day are only part of the picture… the other part of them is God, it is holy, it is worth honouring… and if we can manage to connect even a little to that, we can change the world.
Introduction
Anyone ever see or read the Cider House Rules?
It is an interesting movie to be sure, The gist of it is this: Rules are often made to keep things in order; they are rarely made to make it easier for the person involved.
There are two parallel stories as it unfolds, that of a New England abortion doctor who is genuinely trying to help people despite the rules; and at the same time we watch migrant farmers who have come north to pick apples and are supposedly subject to the artificial rules of the farm owners.
Through violence and upset and overturning of moral norms we come to learn something – hospitality, the simple rule of loving the other person as we would hope to be loved, changes everything.
--
So… the story of Abraham and his son is a pretty strange story of following the rules… If God says it you have to do it is what I first got out of this story in Sunday School… but the story is actually about something else, it is about testing the rules and how that changes us.
Consider this – Abraham is not the one who changes in the story; God is. Let’s for a moment assume that God has had a rough time with this whole creation thing, it is almost never working out how it was expected to – there was that whole flood episode for example.
The story presents God as skeptical, as uncertain what will happen if he actually pushed us. SO God demands the sacrifice of Isaac… a Child Abraham waited 90 years to have. And Abraham shrugs his shoulders and says OK.
It is Abraham that actually ups the ante. Abraham tells Isaac that God is going to solve the problem. God stops short… what… Abraham trusts me more than I trust myself; I better step up… and the ram gets caught in the thicket.
--
So today I want you to think about how the things we do affect not only the person we do them for, but us as well. All of life is a two way street and any given thing we do changes everything. There is something to be said for responding with love, and taking hospitality to the next level of trusting everything will be all right.
Let’s take a moment and think about that while we listen to some music.
Forgetting the Wages of Sin
What do you think sin is?
The week I was on study leave was quite incredible. It was all on prayer and how we relate to God. In my mind the most impressive speaker was Michael Morwood, who was a Catholic Priest in Australia until he wrote a book about God in which he said God is not out there anywhere, God is in here, in our hearts.
He was promptly censured and defrocked… which is strange because what he said has been being said for thousands of years – especially in poetry which expresses things like the fact that God is a close to us as our next drawn breath.
SO what is Sin? Michael Morwood says that sin is the intentional failure to recognize the Divine in the people around us… or in ourselves… If I treat someone else like they are different than me, or like they could not possibly be loved by God, or part of God’s creation, then I have sinned.
In India the traditional greetings is “Namaste” which people say as they meet and when they are leaving each other – Namaste means: “I honour the place in you where the entire universe resides; I honour the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace. I honour the place within you where if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us...”
Pretty complex sentence – but essentially you look at someone and say, “I see God in you.” And they look back and say, “I also see God in you.” And that being true, we have to treat each other differently.
So sin is death – and grace is life. That is what Paul wrote to the Romans. If we fail to see God in ourselves or in others life becomes not worth living – but to be truly alive and empowered is to see God in everything and embrace it all fully.
Welcome Me, Welcome You
In 1993, mountaineer Greg Mortenson attempted to climb K2, the world's second highest mountain and located in the Karakoram range of northern Pakistan-administered Kashmir, as a way of honouring the memory of his deceased sister, Christa.
As a memorial, he had planned to lay her amber necklace on the summit of K2. After more than 70 days on the mountain, Mortenson and three other climbers had their ascent interrupted by the need to complete a 75-hour life-saving rescue of a fifth climber.
After getting lost during his descent, alone, he became weak and exhausted. Instead of arriving in Askole, where his porters awaited, he came across Korphe, a small village built on a shelf jutting out from a canyon. He was greeted and taken in by the chief elder, Haji Ali of Korphe.
To repay the remote community for their hospitality, Mortenson promised to build a school for the village.
That is the plot line of the book, “Three Cups of Tea” which is named because of a Balti Proverb:
"The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honoured guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family..."
Mortenson became co-founder of the Central Asia Institute (CAI), a non-profit group that, as of 2010, reports it has overseen the building over 171 schools. CAI reports that these schools provide education to over 64,000 children, including 54,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before in the remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
See, all of our readings are about the power of the encounter… the way that our interactions change people.
Jesus once said in answering a question, if you have fed the hungry, helped the widow, clothed the orphan or even offered a little sip of water to the thirsty, you have seen me…
When you help the other person because you believe in them, because you see them as holy, you have lived as Jesus taught.
“If you welcome me, you welcome God. “ Jesus said, and then he broadened it out to the fact that welcoming everyone is welcoming God…. Jesus seemed to know about this Hindi Greeting, Namaste.
Conclusion
So I think we can turn the world around with simple things. Let’s start by working on hospitality.
In every opportunity try to look beyond what you see in front of you – the tired, lonely, hurting people we encounter every day are only part of the picture… the other part of them is God, it is holy, it is worth honouring… and if we can manage to connect even a little to that, we can change the world.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Pentecost A
On the Wings of a Bright White Dove
Introduction
There is an old, old story that says once upon a time your great great great great 100 times removed grandparents decided to build a tower. They kept getting it higher and higher and hoped to touch the sky…
Now the thing is, it was easy to work together because everyone was basically the same; an hey all spoke the same language.
But their pride and self-worth was a little overbearing… so God decided to make it so that everyone spoke different languages – then the work would become harder, and well, they would not be so arrogant.
It’s a story – a myth that was written to explain why we all speak different languages… but the deeper meaning, that we are arrogant and that differences make it difficult to work together… that is totally true.
Today is Pentecost and sometimes we call it the birthday of the church. The reason is that what we are celebrating is the day when we overcame our differences and decided to work together. No small task… and I am hoping to tell you some things about the Holy Spirit today that you might never have thought about.
Time with the Children – Let’s Go Fly a Kite
How many of you like to fly kites? It is great fun to watch a kite soaring high into the sky. What is it that keeps the kite up there? It is the wind, isn't it? How many of you have ever seen the wind? That was a trick question! No one has seen the wind. We can't see the wind because it is invisible. Well, if we can't see the wind, how do we know that it is there?
One way we can know the wind is there is that we can hear it. When I wake up in the morning, I sometimes turn on the TV to see what the weather is doing. There are some mornings that I don't even have to look at the TV to know that the wind is blowing because I can hear it! I can hear it whistling through the trees, down the chimney, and around the windows and doors. We can't see the wind, but we know it is there because we can hear it.
Another way we can know that the wind is there is that we can see it moving things. (Take some bits of paper in your hand and blow them into the air.) We can see it moving the leaves on the trees and blowing bits of paper around. We can't see the wind, but we know it is there because we can see what the wind is doing.
Still another way we can know that the wind is there is that we can feel it. Blow onto the back of your hand. Did you see anything? No, but you could feel something, couldn't you? We can't see the wind, but we can feel it blowing against our faces and blowing through our hair.
Today, many churches celebrate a special day called Pentecost. It was on the day of Pentecost that God sent his Holy Spirit to the church. The Bible tells us that the apostles were all gathered together when suddenly there was a sound like a mighty, rushing wind. Then, it says, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit is like the wind, we can't see him, but we can know that he is there, just like we can know that the wind is there.
We can know that the Holy Spirit is there because we can hear him. The Bible says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him." (Revelation 3:20) We can't see the Holy Spirit, but we know he is there because he speaks to our hearts.
Another way we can know that the Holy Spirit is there is that we can see him moving people to do God's will. The Bible says that the Spirit of God moves his people to speak and to do things for him. (2 Peter 1:21) We can't see God, but we can see people doing things that God's Holy Spirit has moved them to do.
We can know that the Holy Spirit is there because we can feel his presence. The Bible says, "I will fear no evil for Thou art with me." (Psalm 23:4) The Bible also says that "if we love one another, God lives in us." We can't see the Holy Spirit, but we know he is there because we can feel his presence in our life.
God, thank you for sending your Holy Spirit. Even though we can't see him, we are thankful that we can hear him speak to our hearts, feel his presence in our daily lives, and see him moving us to do your will. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Hurricanes
Anyone ever been out in a hurricane? Or a violent rain storm? Mary apparently was outside on the porch during that storm the other night. She just felt like that and so stood there watching as the rain poured down.
I have been in a few real storms. They are violent; they are frightening; they are terrible.
Here is an often overlooked fact about Pentecost; in Acts 2:2 while setting the story up we read: “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind…” Ever thought about that? God’s spirit doesn’t just bubble up in these people like a warm glow – it sweeps through their lives like a violent wind and changes everything.
But no…
I blame hymn writers in particular for distorting this message. Think about all of the hymns we sing about Pentecost or about the Holy Spirit; they all focus on one side, the gentle, loving, gracious spirit of God…
Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness…. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me…. These are lullabies… they are like rocking a newborn to sleep and feeling that gentle breath of love on our shoulder…
Which is not to say that is not part of it – but that is not the part we are talking about at Pentecost. We are not focused on God’s love and grace. We are talking about God’s power and action. That is where the church began.
This is what Pentecost celebrates. Not a gentle breeze but a strong force that spins people around and changes everything.
Perhaps a little history… The disciples were not in Jerusalem for Pentecost, they were in Jerusalem for Shavuot – the Jewish festival commemorating both the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt Sinai, and the first harvest of wheat from the fields. It was a pretty major festival as it marked the time when first fruits of the garden could be brought to the Temple for Sacrifice. Everyone would have been in town for the big festival, the party like atmosphere, the crowds… think Mardis Gras in New Orleans.
But then, think about this a little deeper. This is the festival where we celebrate the giving of the Ten Commandments; which was not just a list of rules; it was the backbone of a nation. On that day these wandering Aramaens became the nation of Israel…. They were given the equivalent of their declaration of Independence, or their Bill of Rights…. And they rallied around it and decided to keep up the good fight that would see this journey through and find a homeland…
Now, here are the rag tag Christians who have lost their leader hanging out at the Festival when all of a sudden… the Holy Spirit breaks violently upon them; knitting them together as one people giving them identity and purpose, empowering them to… well, I am skipping ahead.
Here is the interesting thing… the people had to embrace the power of the Holy Spirit in order to be empowered. It was only when they accepted that something powerful and active was in their midst, in their souls, that they could harness that power like a tongue of flame and preach, heal, teach, inspire…
This is not a wishy washy story…
Being the church is not a passive thing.
So here is the question: how do we, here, now, embrace the Spirit? How do we let its full power move us where it will like a rushing wind instead of only as a gentle breeze?
To Be A Kite
by Londis Carpenter
I would like to be a kite on a string
and soar up over the trees.
I would like to try to reach the sky
With butterflies and bees.
I'd love to fly past billowy clouds,
With my tail of red and white,
And climb so high the things below
would disappear from sight.
If I could fly above the clouds
would I ever, ever return?
And think, if I could fly so high,
Just how much I would learn.
We are like kites soaring in the wind but when we are afraid of the wind, we stay on the ground, inactive. There is power in God’s spirit… we just have to embrace it.
Introduction
There is an old, old story that says once upon a time your great great great great 100 times removed grandparents decided to build a tower. They kept getting it higher and higher and hoped to touch the sky…
Now the thing is, it was easy to work together because everyone was basically the same; an hey all spoke the same language.
But their pride and self-worth was a little overbearing… so God decided to make it so that everyone spoke different languages – then the work would become harder, and well, they would not be so arrogant.
It’s a story – a myth that was written to explain why we all speak different languages… but the deeper meaning, that we are arrogant and that differences make it difficult to work together… that is totally true.
Today is Pentecost and sometimes we call it the birthday of the church. The reason is that what we are celebrating is the day when we overcame our differences and decided to work together. No small task… and I am hoping to tell you some things about the Holy Spirit today that you might never have thought about.
Time with the Children – Let’s Go Fly a Kite
How many of you like to fly kites? It is great fun to watch a kite soaring high into the sky. What is it that keeps the kite up there? It is the wind, isn't it? How many of you have ever seen the wind? That was a trick question! No one has seen the wind. We can't see the wind because it is invisible. Well, if we can't see the wind, how do we know that it is there?
One way we can know the wind is there is that we can hear it. When I wake up in the morning, I sometimes turn on the TV to see what the weather is doing. There are some mornings that I don't even have to look at the TV to know that the wind is blowing because I can hear it! I can hear it whistling through the trees, down the chimney, and around the windows and doors. We can't see the wind, but we know it is there because we can hear it.
Another way we can know that the wind is there is that we can see it moving things. (Take some bits of paper in your hand and blow them into the air.) We can see it moving the leaves on the trees and blowing bits of paper around. We can't see the wind, but we know it is there because we can see what the wind is doing.
Still another way we can know that the wind is there is that we can feel it. Blow onto the back of your hand. Did you see anything? No, but you could feel something, couldn't you? We can't see the wind, but we can feel it blowing against our faces and blowing through our hair.
Today, many churches celebrate a special day called Pentecost. It was on the day of Pentecost that God sent his Holy Spirit to the church. The Bible tells us that the apostles were all gathered together when suddenly there was a sound like a mighty, rushing wind. Then, it says, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit is like the wind, we can't see him, but we can know that he is there, just like we can know that the wind is there.
We can know that the Holy Spirit is there because we can hear him. The Bible says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if any man hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him." (Revelation 3:20) We can't see the Holy Spirit, but we know he is there because he speaks to our hearts.
Another way we can know that the Holy Spirit is there is that we can see him moving people to do God's will. The Bible says that the Spirit of God moves his people to speak and to do things for him. (2 Peter 1:21) We can't see God, but we can see people doing things that God's Holy Spirit has moved them to do.
We can know that the Holy Spirit is there because we can feel his presence. The Bible says, "I will fear no evil for Thou art with me." (Psalm 23:4) The Bible also says that "if we love one another, God lives in us." We can't see the Holy Spirit, but we know he is there because we can feel his presence in our life.
God, thank you for sending your Holy Spirit. Even though we can't see him, we are thankful that we can hear him speak to our hearts, feel his presence in our daily lives, and see him moving us to do your will. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Hurricanes
Anyone ever been out in a hurricane? Or a violent rain storm? Mary apparently was outside on the porch during that storm the other night. She just felt like that and so stood there watching as the rain poured down.
I have been in a few real storms. They are violent; they are frightening; they are terrible.
Here is an often overlooked fact about Pentecost; in Acts 2:2 while setting the story up we read: “And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind…” Ever thought about that? God’s spirit doesn’t just bubble up in these people like a warm glow – it sweeps through their lives like a violent wind and changes everything.
But no…
I blame hymn writers in particular for distorting this message. Think about all of the hymns we sing about Pentecost or about the Holy Spirit; they all focus on one side, the gentle, loving, gracious spirit of God…
Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness…. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me…. These are lullabies… they are like rocking a newborn to sleep and feeling that gentle breath of love on our shoulder…
Which is not to say that is not part of it – but that is not the part we are talking about at Pentecost. We are not focused on God’s love and grace. We are talking about God’s power and action. That is where the church began.
==
This is what Pentecost celebrates. Not a gentle breeze but a strong force that spins people around and changes everything.
Perhaps a little history… The disciples were not in Jerusalem for Pentecost, they were in Jerusalem for Shavuot – the Jewish festival commemorating both the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mt Sinai, and the first harvest of wheat from the fields. It was a pretty major festival as it marked the time when first fruits of the garden could be brought to the Temple for Sacrifice. Everyone would have been in town for the big festival, the party like atmosphere, the crowds… think Mardis Gras in New Orleans.
But then, think about this a little deeper. This is the festival where we celebrate the giving of the Ten Commandments; which was not just a list of rules; it was the backbone of a nation. On that day these wandering Aramaens became the nation of Israel…. They were given the equivalent of their declaration of Independence, or their Bill of Rights…. And they rallied around it and decided to keep up the good fight that would see this journey through and find a homeland…
Now, here are the rag tag Christians who have lost their leader hanging out at the Festival when all of a sudden… the Holy Spirit breaks violently upon them; knitting them together as one people giving them identity and purpose, empowering them to… well, I am skipping ahead.
Here is the interesting thing… the people had to embrace the power of the Holy Spirit in order to be empowered. It was only when they accepted that something powerful and active was in their midst, in their souls, that they could harness that power like a tongue of flame and preach, heal, teach, inspire…
This is not a wishy washy story…
Being the church is not a passive thing.
So here is the question: how do we, here, now, embrace the Spirit? How do we let its full power move us where it will like a rushing wind instead of only as a gentle breeze?
To Be A Kite
by Londis Carpenter
I would like to be a kite on a string
and soar up over the trees.
I would like to try to reach the sky
With butterflies and bees.
I'd love to fly past billowy clouds,
With my tail of red and white,
And climb so high the things below
would disappear from sight.
If I could fly above the clouds
would I ever, ever return?
And think, if I could fly so high,
Just how much I would learn.
We are like kites soaring in the wind but when we are afraid of the wind, we stay on the ground, inactive. There is power in God’s spirit… we just have to embrace it.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Easter 7 A
note: this sermon more than most is NOT what I preached on Sunday. I often deviate from the text, and this time I had way too many unfinished thoughts in the text - but this is where I started from and what I had in front of me
Passing the Baton
Introduction
I overuse it, I know, but it was seriously meaningful to me in the 90’s. My favourite Valedictorian Speech of all times was the song on the radio, “Sunscreen” by Baz Luhrman. In it he says:
“Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh never mind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked…
You’re not as fat as you imagine. Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you. Sing. Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. Floss. Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.”
Well, excellent advice… something to pass on to our graduates as they move on; and something that would be a good bit of advice for anyone as they go off to the cottage or vacation, or things wind down…
But it is not everything you need to know – because the world is bigger than we imagine; there are connections and issues and problems that go beyond our own needs. I do like the song because it reminds us that we are usually worried about the wrong things – but I also think our faith has something to say…
The Relay Race
Life is a race… it really is… but the truth is; it is a race that goes a lot faster if we understand that we are in it together:
Spoon Water Race
Two teams – everyone versus one…
How long will it take one person to fill a cup using a spoon? How about if there are ten people? A hundred?
Are we there yet?
I am sure I any of you have ever been anywhere with kids – either your own or grandkids, or even friends, you have heard the question – “Are we there yet?” In fact, you have probably heard it a million times…. I would like to suggest that we never grow out of that question, we just become more subtle…
Listen again to the disciples talking to Jesus: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” … They have been walking around for years teaching and preaching, healing and confronting and all the time wondering if they are accomplishing anything – all the time wanting to ask, “Are we there yet?” and finally they get up the courage and ask, is it time for you to solve all our problems?
Because that is what we all want, right, the time to come when things will be better. My daughter Rachael wants to be as old as Emily so she can chew bubble gum. Emily wants to be old enough to stay up later. Kids can’t wait to be teenagers, teenagers can’t wait to be adults, adults can’t wait to finish school, workers can’t wait to retire, retirees can’t wait for the winter and their trip down south… etc… there is always something out there that is “better”
“It is not for you to know the times and periods of things, you are not gods...” says Jesus.
Then later the disciples say essentially the same thing to the people gathered: Why are you looking up into heaven? Look around… there are important things happening right here, right now…
Still later the author of 1peter says, “Cast all your anxiety on God….” And then it goes on to be sort os a spiritual warfare guide – there are always bad things happening, there are always evil situations and people seeking you out…. So what do you do?
Discipline yourself, keep alert, be humble… know that God loves you and trust that things will work out…
Those who have great wisdom know a truth we find it hard to accept – we are never going to be “there”… life is about the journey and what we do on it.
All Good Things
I mean, seriously, listen to the words of that Psalm… I will read you the concluding part as it is in the Bible …
(God is the) Father of orphans and protector of widows… God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a parched land. O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain at the presence of God, the God of Sinai… again in abundance, O God, you showered abroad; you restored your heritage when it languished; your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.
Awesome is God in his sanctuary, the God of Israel; he gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!
Going back to my Valedictorian Speech … Here is the way Moses would have given it, or Jesus, or any of the prophets: There is evil. Believe it. Bad things happen for no reason; live through it. Know that God loves you; trust; have hope in something better… because there is something bigger than you; there is a plan and a purpose, and the universe is unfolding in a way that you cannot imagine.
One Love
So the time has come for Jesus to leave and he is going to give his last will and testament – sort of a final speech and last wish… what he ends up doing is a prayer for people:
Really this is a speech about passing the torch… he is saying that he is ok with leaving because he knows that there are people left to do work; and that they believe in the same things he does – their goal is that all may be one.
One Church
I think in the United Church we see the path laid out before us – the way to go and be and bring about God’s kingdom.
Conclusion
So – this was a bit of my own valedictorian speech. It was a bit all over the place. It drew in too many sources…
But the things is, whether you are graduating from High School, finishing a school year, having your life change in front of your eyes, getting married divorced, retiring, or just facing a summer at the cottage… you have choices laid out ahead of you…
In the Bible God puts it this way:
“I put before you this day Life and Death, Blessing and Curse, … choose life, that you may live!”
Passing the Baton
Introduction
I overuse it, I know, but it was seriously meaningful to me in the 90’s. My favourite Valedictorian Speech of all times was the song on the radio, “Sunscreen” by Baz Luhrman. In it he says:
“Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth; oh never mind; you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they have faded. But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can’t grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked…
You’re not as fat as you imagine. Don’t worry about the future; or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind; the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you. Sing. Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours. Floss. Don’t waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind…the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.”
--
Well, excellent advice… something to pass on to our graduates as they move on; and something that would be a good bit of advice for anyone as they go off to the cottage or vacation, or things wind down…
But it is not everything you need to know – because the world is bigger than we imagine; there are connections and issues and problems that go beyond our own needs. I do like the song because it reminds us that we are usually worried about the wrong things – but I also think our faith has something to say…
The Relay Race
Life is a race… it really is… but the truth is; it is a race that goes a lot faster if we understand that we are in it together:
Spoon Water Race
Two teams – everyone versus one…
How long will it take one person to fill a cup using a spoon? How about if there are ten people? A hundred?
Are we there yet?
I am sure I any of you have ever been anywhere with kids – either your own or grandkids, or even friends, you have heard the question – “Are we there yet?” In fact, you have probably heard it a million times…. I would like to suggest that we never grow out of that question, we just become more subtle…
Listen again to the disciples talking to Jesus: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” … They have been walking around for years teaching and preaching, healing and confronting and all the time wondering if they are accomplishing anything – all the time wanting to ask, “Are we there yet?” and finally they get up the courage and ask, is it time for you to solve all our problems?
Because that is what we all want, right, the time to come when things will be better. My daughter Rachael wants to be as old as Emily so she can chew bubble gum. Emily wants to be old enough to stay up later. Kids can’t wait to be teenagers, teenagers can’t wait to be adults, adults can’t wait to finish school, workers can’t wait to retire, retirees can’t wait for the winter and their trip down south… etc… there is always something out there that is “better”
“It is not for you to know the times and periods of things, you are not gods...” says Jesus.
Then later the disciples say essentially the same thing to the people gathered: Why are you looking up into heaven? Look around… there are important things happening right here, right now…
Still later the author of 1peter says, “Cast all your anxiety on God….” And then it goes on to be sort os a spiritual warfare guide – there are always bad things happening, there are always evil situations and people seeking you out…. So what do you do?
Discipline yourself, keep alert, be humble… know that God loves you and trust that things will work out…
Those who have great wisdom know a truth we find it hard to accept – we are never going to be “there”… life is about the journey and what we do on it.
All Good Things
I mean, seriously, listen to the words of that Psalm… I will read you the concluding part as it is in the Bible …
(God is the) Father of orphans and protector of widows… God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a parched land. O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain at the presence of God, the God of Sinai… again in abundance, O God, you showered abroad; you restored your heritage when it languished; your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.
Awesome is God in his sanctuary, the God of Israel; he gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God!
Going back to my Valedictorian Speech … Here is the way Moses would have given it, or Jesus, or any of the prophets: There is evil. Believe it. Bad things happen for no reason; live through it. Know that God loves you; trust; have hope in something better… because there is something bigger than you; there is a plan and a purpose, and the universe is unfolding in a way that you cannot imagine.
One Love
So the time has come for Jesus to leave and he is going to give his last will and testament – sort of a final speech and last wish… what he ends up doing is a prayer for people:
- did work was sent to do = help people know God
- thru words and actions = people came to believe
- “I am coming to rejoin you. So now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world.
- God, protect them, so that they may be one, as we are one.”
Really this is a speech about passing the torch… he is saying that he is ok with leaving because he knows that there are people left to do work; and that they believe in the same things he does – their goal is that all may be one.
One Church
- this very prayer/scripture prompted creation of UCC
- recognized call for not just spiritual unity but physical unity too
- worldwide movement = healing divisions within Xtian church
- bringing various churches together
- June 10, 1925 = Methodist, Presby, Congregationalist & Union
- first modern union of diff denoms in world
- 85th celebration: “...a new church was born. Administratively and institutionally, it was a bit of a train wreck...organizing four such different denoms into one! But at the same time, this was a new and exciting thing. Instead of breaking up because we disagreed with one another, we were uniting. ... We were born out of a desire to follow Jesus' prayer that all of his followers in the world might be one, united in love and in purpose.”
- Happy 86th birthday, United Church of Canada!
- continue to be “uniting church” = work together with other interdenominational and interfaith to be as one…
I think in the United Church we see the path laid out before us – the way to go and be and bring about God’s kingdom.
Conclusion
So – this was a bit of my own valedictorian speech. It was a bit all over the place. It drew in too many sources…
But the things is, whether you are graduating from High School, finishing a school year, having your life change in front of your eyes, getting married divorced, retiring, or just facing a summer at the cottage… you have choices laid out ahead of you…
In the Bible God puts it this way:
“I put before you this day Life and Death, Blessing and Curse, … choose life, that you may live!”
Sunday, May 22, 2011
EASTER 5 A
It’s the End of the World as we know it…
Introduction
I don’t suppose you heard about the rapture yesterday?
Harold Camping, an 89-year-old retired engineer who founded a ministry called Family Radio Worldwide started broadcasting sermons a while ago that said that at precisely 6pm on May 21st the rapture would occur.
Here is what they said: "On May 21, 2011 two events will occur," the group predicts. "A great earthquake (that) will be so powerful it will throw open all graves. The remains of all the believers who have ever lived will be instantly transformed into glorified spiritual bodies to be forever with God.
"On the other hand the bodies of all unsaved people will be thrown out upon the ground to be shamed. The inhabitants who survive this terrible earthquake will exist in a world of horror and chaos beyond description." In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Camping said that there was "no possibility that it will not happen."
So – I toyed with not writing a sermon at all; but… then I figured I might not be one of the chosen; and maybe some of you would still here; and well… perhaps I should prepare something.
This is not the first time the end of the world has been predicted – any of you remember how the Millennium was supposed to work out when the calendar clicked over to 2000?
One of the biggest changes that ever did occur was in the 1500’s when an alignment of the planets was thought to be the end. Among other things that came about as a result of this was the Protestant Reformation.
But I digress; suffice it to say that the end came and went and either the rapture did not happen or no one I know was among the chosen.
Money Where Your Mouth Is
The one thing about Harold is that he was willing to stake his reputation on the idea that the world was winning.
He had a vision of what he thought would happen. And he preached it; he preached it just like Stephen, the first head of the church, a brother of Jesus, preached it. And, well, people with conviction are sometimes not taking the safest path through life – they are taking risks.
Materials Needed: Bring enough small rocks in an open box to give one to each child. Take a fullsize piece of black or brown poster board and cut around its edges with scissors to make a large rock.
I have a true story to tell you today. It’s about a huge rock (hold up the poster board rock) and some stones (rattle the rocks in the box). Once there were 2 young girls: Margaret, and her little sister, Mary. Their home was high on a hill. To get to school, they had to walk down a steep, winding road. To get home again, they had to walk up the winding road. One day, they were on their way home when they heard something hit the ground close to them. (Drop one of the rocks into the box.) It was a stone, and it almost hit one of them!
At first, they thought it was an accident. Maybe a stone had fallen from the cliff above them. Then they heard some laughter. They looked up, and there, high above them, they saw some kids about to throw more stones at them! For a second the girls just stood there, frozen in fear. Then, a whole bunch of stones landed close by—thud, thud, thud—(rattle the rocks in the box).
Margaret grabbed Mary’s hand and they ran as fast as they could. Beside the road, they saw a huge rock that they could hide behind (stand up the poster board rock). They ran for it as more stones came crashing down around them (rattle the stones together). Luckily, not a single one hit them. The girls hid behind the rock, holding on to each other and the rock tightly (pull the poster board rock over close to you).
The 2 girls held on to the rock for a long time. They were so afraid. What if the kids above were still there? But as the girls waited and everything around them was quiet, they started to relax. They felt comforted by the warmth and shelter of the big rock. It was as if the rock was telling them, “It’s all right. I’m with you. Stay close together. You’re doing the right thing.” They felt reassured by this huge rock.
As Margaret and Mary hid there and felt the safety there, I wonder what they thought about. I wonder if they thought how wonderful it was that this huge beautiful rock had been right there beside the road ready to help and encourage them and any other living thing that needed to huddle close to it, for protection.
Finally, Margaret and Mary had enough courage to step out from the rock (move the poster board rock to the side) to see if it was safe to continue heading home. There was no one. The other kids had gone. The girls moved the stones to the side of the road (move the box of rocks to the side, letting them rattle a bit), and in a gesture of “good-bye” they each touched the big rock that had helped them (reach out and touch the poster board rock). Then they went up the winding road, reaching home safely.
In Psalm 31 we read, “In you, O Lord, I seek refuge... you are indeed my rock.” And you know, God can be like that big rock in today’s story. God is ready for us to find and hold on to. And when we are troubled or scared, God is ready to encourage and strengthen each of us.
Now We Are A People
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Hugh Farquhar says that if his family had a motto above the door it would have been, “to whom is given much, much is expected.”
There are times when I think this is really where we dropped the ball with this whole Christianity thing. We had it in our grasp, this truth thing, 2000 years ago and we let it slip through our fingers because we, as a people, are far more likely to look for easy answers than to take risks.
But here the early Christian preachers were, saying to their congregation, God has chosen you, God has set you apart, to proclaim the mighty deeds, the marvellous light…. You were once individuals, but now you are God’s people… so Testify!
You know what - I could have gone on to do something different with my life; heck, I could have gone on to do anything… the thing is, if I had of gone the way I was going, I would have been dead long before now. I entered my first alcohol treatment program in grade nine. By grade ten I was hooked on drugs, by grade 12 I was a punk with a Mohawk, a runaway, and selling drugs.
You know what happened to me? Church happened; specifically one Danny Compton. He told me God cares about you and so do I. Now, Danny is no saint either – just ordinary people, with jaded pasts, who struggle to get by. But when it hit me that Danny was telling the truth – when I came to see in church a place that accepted me and offered me grace and love – I became part of that royal priesthood of believers.
More than that, I gave my life over to the church in the hopes that one day I could be that person for someone else; that my belief in the goodness and love of God would make a difference for just one person, sometime, somewhere.
The beauty is I don’t know if it has or not… so I keep trying.
Would I not have told you so?
Ah Jesus farewell speech to his friends. Also one of the passages I preach the most about at funerals.
I am usually talking about it as a text of “preparing the way” ; and thus using it as a passage which brings comfort in the face of death. But I don’t really end up getting to talk much about Jesus other claim, that he is “the Way the Truth and the Life.”
For me, too many crusades and too much fighting has gone on because we think that Jesus used the word “only” as in, I am the only way, the only truth, the only life…. Again, remember, he was talking to the people who were following him around for three years; he was their teacher, their Rabbi…
And Jesus was saying, “everything I told you, everything I showed you, the life I live…. That is the path. Stay on it and you will find yourself heading in the right direction. You will find the place I promised you.”
You see, it is not enough to say, I get it, when you are talking about Jesus; one actually has to walk the walk. One has to take the risks, one has to believe themselves to be called as a disciple with all the risk that it entails.
For Jesus there was this serious moment when he said, go out into the world and baptize in my name – heal the sick, help the poor, care for the widow and orphan – and each time you do something for the last and least; you are doing it for me.
What would it take for you to move from coming to church, to proclaiming your faith? That is the real question… what would you stake your life on?
Conclusion
So – live life with conviction – that is the quick answer. There is a long tradition of people who risked it all for what they believed, and they made a difference. Christianity spread throughout the known world in a very brief period of time because people were so willing, so convicted, so sure….
We need to capture that understanding and trust in God. We need to live that level of faith. If we do, perhaps it would be just like the second coming – and the rapture would be complete.
Introduction
I don’t suppose you heard about the rapture yesterday?
Harold Camping, an 89-year-old retired engineer who founded a ministry called Family Radio Worldwide started broadcasting sermons a while ago that said that at precisely 6pm on May 21st the rapture would occur.
Here is what they said: "On May 21, 2011 two events will occur," the group predicts. "A great earthquake (that) will be so powerful it will throw open all graves. The remains of all the believers who have ever lived will be instantly transformed into glorified spiritual bodies to be forever with God.
"On the other hand the bodies of all unsaved people will be thrown out upon the ground to be shamed. The inhabitants who survive this terrible earthquake will exist in a world of horror and chaos beyond description." In an interview with The Associated Press last month, Camping said that there was "no possibility that it will not happen."
So – I toyed with not writing a sermon at all; but… then I figured I might not be one of the chosen; and maybe some of you would still here; and well… perhaps I should prepare something.
This is not the first time the end of the world has been predicted – any of you remember how the Millennium was supposed to work out when the calendar clicked over to 2000?
One of the biggest changes that ever did occur was in the 1500’s when an alignment of the planets was thought to be the end. Among other things that came about as a result of this was the Protestant Reformation.
But I digress; suffice it to say that the end came and went and either the rapture did not happen or no one I know was among the chosen.
Money Where Your Mouth Is
The one thing about Harold is that he was willing to stake his reputation on the idea that the world was winning.
He had a vision of what he thought would happen. And he preached it; he preached it just like Stephen, the first head of the church, a brother of Jesus, preached it. And, well, people with conviction are sometimes not taking the safest path through life – they are taking risks.
Materials Needed: Bring enough small rocks in an open box to give one to each child. Take a fullsize piece of black or brown poster board and cut around its edges with scissors to make a large rock.
I have a true story to tell you today. It’s about a huge rock (hold up the poster board rock) and some stones (rattle the rocks in the box). Once there were 2 young girls: Margaret, and her little sister, Mary. Their home was high on a hill. To get to school, they had to walk down a steep, winding road. To get home again, they had to walk up the winding road. One day, they were on their way home when they heard something hit the ground close to them. (Drop one of the rocks into the box.) It was a stone, and it almost hit one of them!
At first, they thought it was an accident. Maybe a stone had fallen from the cliff above them. Then they heard some laughter. They looked up, and there, high above them, they saw some kids about to throw more stones at them! For a second the girls just stood there, frozen in fear. Then, a whole bunch of stones landed close by—thud, thud, thud—(rattle the rocks in the box).
Margaret grabbed Mary’s hand and they ran as fast as they could. Beside the road, they saw a huge rock that they could hide behind (stand up the poster board rock). They ran for it as more stones came crashing down around them (rattle the stones together). Luckily, not a single one hit them. The girls hid behind the rock, holding on to each other and the rock tightly (pull the poster board rock over close to you).
The 2 girls held on to the rock for a long time. They were so afraid. What if the kids above were still there? But as the girls waited and everything around them was quiet, they started to relax. They felt comforted by the warmth and shelter of the big rock. It was as if the rock was telling them, “It’s all right. I’m with you. Stay close together. You’re doing the right thing.” They felt reassured by this huge rock.
As Margaret and Mary hid there and felt the safety there, I wonder what they thought about. I wonder if they thought how wonderful it was that this huge beautiful rock had been right there beside the road ready to help and encourage them and any other living thing that needed to huddle close to it, for protection.
Finally, Margaret and Mary had enough courage to step out from the rock (move the poster board rock to the side) to see if it was safe to continue heading home. There was no one. The other kids had gone. The girls moved the stones to the side of the road (move the box of rocks to the side, letting them rattle a bit), and in a gesture of “good-bye” they each touched the big rock that had helped them (reach out and touch the poster board rock). Then they went up the winding road, reaching home safely.
In Psalm 31 we read, “In you, O Lord, I seek refuge... you are indeed my rock.” And you know, God can be like that big rock in today’s story. God is ready for us to find and hold on to. And when we are troubled or scared, God is ready to encourage and strengthen each of us.
Now We Are A People
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Hugh Farquhar says that if his family had a motto above the door it would have been, “to whom is given much, much is expected.”
There are times when I think this is really where we dropped the ball with this whole Christianity thing. We had it in our grasp, this truth thing, 2000 years ago and we let it slip through our fingers because we, as a people, are far more likely to look for easy answers than to take risks.
But here the early Christian preachers were, saying to their congregation, God has chosen you, God has set you apart, to proclaim the mighty deeds, the marvellous light…. You were once individuals, but now you are God’s people… so Testify!
You know what - I could have gone on to do something different with my life; heck, I could have gone on to do anything… the thing is, if I had of gone the way I was going, I would have been dead long before now. I entered my first alcohol treatment program in grade nine. By grade ten I was hooked on drugs, by grade 12 I was a punk with a Mohawk, a runaway, and selling drugs.
You know what happened to me? Church happened; specifically one Danny Compton. He told me God cares about you and so do I. Now, Danny is no saint either – just ordinary people, with jaded pasts, who struggle to get by. But when it hit me that Danny was telling the truth – when I came to see in church a place that accepted me and offered me grace and love – I became part of that royal priesthood of believers.
More than that, I gave my life over to the church in the hopes that one day I could be that person for someone else; that my belief in the goodness and love of God would make a difference for just one person, sometime, somewhere.
The beauty is I don’t know if it has or not… so I keep trying.
Would I not have told you so?
Ah Jesus farewell speech to his friends. Also one of the passages I preach the most about at funerals.
I am usually talking about it as a text of “preparing the way” ; and thus using it as a passage which brings comfort in the face of death. But I don’t really end up getting to talk much about Jesus other claim, that he is “the Way the Truth and the Life.”
For me, too many crusades and too much fighting has gone on because we think that Jesus used the word “only” as in, I am the only way, the only truth, the only life…. Again, remember, he was talking to the people who were following him around for three years; he was their teacher, their Rabbi…
And Jesus was saying, “everything I told you, everything I showed you, the life I live…. That is the path. Stay on it and you will find yourself heading in the right direction. You will find the place I promised you.”
You see, it is not enough to say, I get it, when you are talking about Jesus; one actually has to walk the walk. One has to take the risks, one has to believe themselves to be called as a disciple with all the risk that it entails.
For Jesus there was this serious moment when he said, go out into the world and baptize in my name – heal the sick, help the poor, care for the widow and orphan – and each time you do something for the last and least; you are doing it for me.
What would it take for you to move from coming to church, to proclaiming your faith? That is the real question… what would you stake your life on?
Conclusion
So – live life with conviction – that is the quick answer. There is a long tradition of people who risked it all for what they believed, and they made a difference. Christianity spread throughout the known world in a very brief period of time because people were so willing, so convicted, so sure….
We need to capture that understanding and trust in God. We need to live that level of faith. If we do, perhaps it would be just like the second coming – and the rapture would be complete.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Easter 3 A
WHAT THE HEART KNOWS
Introduction
Have you ever just known something? Just felt it to be right inside of you? Ever had the experience of looking back at a situation and thinking to yourself, I knew that was going to happen... or that you felt something so deeply you are surprised it surprised you?
Augustine, one of the earliest writers of the church once said, “My Soul is restless until it finds its rest in Thee” while talking to God. A very poetic way of saying that he knew something was missing; and felt drawn to find that missing piece of himself in God.
For a moment – let’s call that love.
Each of us has different experiences of love. We fall in love as children with silly people who were never meant to last. We meet someone who changes everything for us and give them our heart; we even lose people and start over – finding some way to fill the empty space in our hearts. We experience love from family, from friends, from partners, and even from strangers.
Love draws us ever onward. You don’t control it. You can’t necessarily turn it on or off... it is.
Love is consuming... it is pain, it is joy, it is sacrifice, it is loss, it is memory, it is desire, it is everything.
My soul, my very being, is unsettled, restless, searching for love.
For many of us, that searching almost seems like a return – we knew that love once, when we were held by our mothers; when every single thing that scared us was fixed by those that loved us the most, when all of our needs were met at the expense of our mother’s health, career, sleep, perhaps even happiness.
And so... we search...
Family Trees
Ink Pad – Thumb Print
Close to Home
Not everyone had the best childhood. I certainly did not. I am getting pretty old to still be nursing the wounds of growing up; but I am.
I mention this because all love is imperfect. It is human. It is dependant.
My mother was brought up by a woman who was not the nicest on the planet. And so when she had kids, some of that continued to be passed down from generation to generation. My mother gave up some of herself for her husband’s career. And that probably drained some love from her. My mother was too tired some times when I expected too much of her.
So there have been moments when I actually did not like my mother at all.
All of you would be lying if you did not say the same. That time when your mother wouldn’t let you go out with your friends... or that time when you really needed her to understand and she didn’t... maybe when you were older and she disapproved of the person you brought home?
Human love, whether from a mother, a father, a friend, a lover... it has flaws because we are all flawed.
I know you don’t want to hear this...but the truth is, this is a huge part of our faith. It is a huge reason why Christian Contemporary Music is all love songs. It explains the Psalms. Faith is our longing for perfect love. A longing we rarely find, and which is fleeting, in the human realm.
Perfect love is the stuff of God.
Did Not Our Hearts Burn...
You see, the thing we feel throughout our lives is a type of loneliness. It is emptiness... and we try to fill it as best we can with money, with food, with gambling, with alcohol, with sugar...
We get married and live in relationships, we have friends, not to fill the loneliness but as a reflection of what we are searching for. In the same way that we are created in God’s image, human love is a reflection of divine love... but it is not enough to fill the emptiness...
I have often wondered if this was part of the mystique of Jesus... When we say that Jesus was the embodiment of God are we saying that Jesus loved in a way that overwhelmed? When Jesus looked at you did you feel safe, complete, loved, understood, hopeful, and powerful? I think you did.
I think this was why a no one person born in a nowhere place so rocked the world... the depth of charismatic love that Jesus had within him so reflected God’s love that it was almost inconceivable.
It sort of explains Easter, right. It explains the way it as so easy for the disciples to turn their backs on Jesus. They honestly did not know what they had. Three years of being loved and understood had just come to seem natural to them. So the loss of Jesus was sad, but not catastrophic... until they realized what they had really lost.
Every story after Easter shows a level of despondency and hopelessness that is sort of rock bottom. The disciples find themselves locked away in the upper room. They head back to Galilee and go fishing, something they have not done in like four years... they are lost, and aimless and lonely...
We find two of them dragging their feet through the dust on the road to Emmaus today. Lost and heartbroken they jump at the chance to tell this stranger all about Jesus...
But wait...
How are you feeling, one says to the other as they stop for lunch... This seems familiar... do you feel that – in your heart? Strangely warmed as if... wait... could it be...
They realize something that they have known, but not realized all day; this is Jesus. This is love.
You see, these Biblical stories are not just about them – they never are, they are about us.
They are about how we feel the same way when we have a religious experience. It is fleeting to be sure, but there are times when we feel totally understood and totally loved. And those moments make us understand what God is; God is love, wholly unconditional, totally undeserved, love.
We have those Emmaus road moments. Maybe you know what I am talking about. Maybe yours is yet to come. Maybe it will be the last thing that makes you smile on your deathbed. But it will be there.
It will also remind you of something. It will remind you of the first smile you ever saw; your mother’s. That sort of love that first envelops us is probably the purest moment of the divine love we have this side of eternity...
Conclusion
Last night I listened to an old Pete Townsend Song... ‘Let my Love Open the Door’ and it made me think of exactly what I am trying to say here. Just that one line....
We spend a lot of time in pain, a lot of time searching, we lose the people and places we love the most, we struggle with bills and sickness and kids and careers...
Well... no matter where you are this morning. God is Singing Peter Townsend... God is inviting you to remember the best love you ever felt. God is inviting you into a love that is better even than that.
You might just find the love burning so brightly within your own hearts that you run to tell others.
This then, is the good news.
Introduction
Have you ever just known something? Just felt it to be right inside of you? Ever had the experience of looking back at a situation and thinking to yourself, I knew that was going to happen... or that you felt something so deeply you are surprised it surprised you?
Augustine, one of the earliest writers of the church once said, “My Soul is restless until it finds its rest in Thee” while talking to God. A very poetic way of saying that he knew something was missing; and felt drawn to find that missing piece of himself in God.
For a moment – let’s call that love.
Each of us has different experiences of love. We fall in love as children with silly people who were never meant to last. We meet someone who changes everything for us and give them our heart; we even lose people and start over – finding some way to fill the empty space in our hearts. We experience love from family, from friends, from partners, and even from strangers.
Love draws us ever onward. You don’t control it. You can’t necessarily turn it on or off... it is.
Love is consuming... it is pain, it is joy, it is sacrifice, it is loss, it is memory, it is desire, it is everything.
My soul, my very being, is unsettled, restless, searching for love.
For many of us, that searching almost seems like a return – we knew that love once, when we were held by our mothers; when every single thing that scared us was fixed by those that loved us the most, when all of our needs were met at the expense of our mother’s health, career, sleep, perhaps even happiness.
And so... we search...
Family Trees
Ink Pad – Thumb Print
Close to Home
Not everyone had the best childhood. I certainly did not. I am getting pretty old to still be nursing the wounds of growing up; but I am.
I mention this because all love is imperfect. It is human. It is dependant.
My mother was brought up by a woman who was not the nicest on the planet. And so when she had kids, some of that continued to be passed down from generation to generation. My mother gave up some of herself for her husband’s career. And that probably drained some love from her. My mother was too tired some times when I expected too much of her.
So there have been moments when I actually did not like my mother at all.
All of you would be lying if you did not say the same. That time when your mother wouldn’t let you go out with your friends... or that time when you really needed her to understand and she didn’t... maybe when you were older and she disapproved of the person you brought home?
Human love, whether from a mother, a father, a friend, a lover... it has flaws because we are all flawed.
I know you don’t want to hear this...but the truth is, this is a huge part of our faith. It is a huge reason why Christian Contemporary Music is all love songs. It explains the Psalms. Faith is our longing for perfect love. A longing we rarely find, and which is fleeting, in the human realm.
Perfect love is the stuff of God.
Did Not Our Hearts Burn...
You see, the thing we feel throughout our lives is a type of loneliness. It is emptiness... and we try to fill it as best we can with money, with food, with gambling, with alcohol, with sugar...
We get married and live in relationships, we have friends, not to fill the loneliness but as a reflection of what we are searching for. In the same way that we are created in God’s image, human love is a reflection of divine love... but it is not enough to fill the emptiness...
I have often wondered if this was part of the mystique of Jesus... When we say that Jesus was the embodiment of God are we saying that Jesus loved in a way that overwhelmed? When Jesus looked at you did you feel safe, complete, loved, understood, hopeful, and powerful? I think you did.
I think this was why a no one person born in a nowhere place so rocked the world... the depth of charismatic love that Jesus had within him so reflected God’s love that it was almost inconceivable.
It sort of explains Easter, right. It explains the way it as so easy for the disciples to turn their backs on Jesus. They honestly did not know what they had. Three years of being loved and understood had just come to seem natural to them. So the loss of Jesus was sad, but not catastrophic... until they realized what they had really lost.
Every story after Easter shows a level of despondency and hopelessness that is sort of rock bottom. The disciples find themselves locked away in the upper room. They head back to Galilee and go fishing, something they have not done in like four years... they are lost, and aimless and lonely...
We find two of them dragging their feet through the dust on the road to Emmaus today. Lost and heartbroken they jump at the chance to tell this stranger all about Jesus...
But wait...
How are you feeling, one says to the other as they stop for lunch... This seems familiar... do you feel that – in your heart? Strangely warmed as if... wait... could it be...
They realize something that they have known, but not realized all day; this is Jesus. This is love.
You see, these Biblical stories are not just about them – they never are, they are about us.
They are about how we feel the same way when we have a religious experience. It is fleeting to be sure, but there are times when we feel totally understood and totally loved. And those moments make us understand what God is; God is love, wholly unconditional, totally undeserved, love.
We have those Emmaus road moments. Maybe you know what I am talking about. Maybe yours is yet to come. Maybe it will be the last thing that makes you smile on your deathbed. But it will be there.
It will also remind you of something. It will remind you of the first smile you ever saw; your mother’s. That sort of love that first envelops us is probably the purest moment of the divine love we have this side of eternity...
Conclusion
Last night I listened to an old Pete Townsend Song... ‘Let my Love Open the Door’ and it made me think of exactly what I am trying to say here. Just that one line....
We spend a lot of time in pain, a lot of time searching, we lose the people and places we love the most, we struggle with bills and sickness and kids and careers...
Well... no matter where you are this morning. God is Singing Peter Townsend... God is inviting you to remember the best love you ever felt. God is inviting you into a love that is better even than that.
You might just find the love burning so brightly within your own hearts that you run to tell others.
This then, is the good news.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Easter 2 A
I get by with a little help from my friends...
Introduction
Easy answers are great things, are they not?
If only we could have them more of the time.
I would like to think that every now and again I could have something I was totally and without reservation sure of…. But so far that has never happened.
Death and Taxes… the only two things you can count on…. However, in my humble opinion not even those two are sure… my taxes change year by year and I never know whether I owe money or am going to get like a huge bonus… and death? Surely you have come to the same conclusion as I have; that I might live to be 120 years old and I might be dead by the end of the day… Doesn’t sound very certain does it?
Really, is there anything that you don’t wonder about, at least every now and again? It could be as simple as, is red wine a good or a bad thing… all the way up to, why do people who seem to be good have such bad things happen to them…
There are moments when conviction grabs hold of us… you are going to hear one in a second when I read from Peter’s first sermon in Jerusalem… but even for Peter, the head of the church after Jesus died, that conviction was fleeting and he had his bad moments… He thought too much… he had a lot of questions…
And I would like to suggest to you that thinking about things is the reason that God gave us the minds we have in the first place.
Elijah the Pancake Hunter
Story from Mark Gillman “God’s Mailbox”
Conviction
So what is conviction? IS your faith more precious than Gold? Are you willing like Peter to stand in the marketplace and declare that Jesus has died and is risen and that it changes everything? Do you love him? Believe in him? Or like the Psalmist is your heart glad that God leads you through each and every moment of life – preserving you from danger?
You know what news is, right? News is anything that is “out of the ordinary” at the end of the day those reporters come on TV or sit down behind their computers and start talking about everything that was surprising… a shooting… which hardly ever happens… a stabbing down on Main Street… only once in the last five years… and NDP upsurge… unheard of… these things are news.
The fact that someone was so assured of God’s love and grace that they did not fear the enemy, or death,… the fact that they felt they knew the purpose of their life… like Paul wrote in our letter or The Psalmist wrote in his poem - this was news.
Most people were far more like Elisha the Pancake Hunter – just trying to figure things out…
Or like Thomas… Unsure of what it all means… but we will get there…
For now I want you to recognize that the type of faith that moves mountains and never wavers – that faith has almost never happened. And when it does, it is fleeting.
Thomas
There are characters in the Bible I have real affinity for. I guess I like the underdogs… I always want to defend Joseph when Christmas comes around, and point out that he did not get enough recognition for his part in the whole Mary pregnancy scandal thing….
Then there is Judas… the most misunderstood and vilified of all the Biblical Characters; who I swear thought he was doing a good thing in forcing Jesus’ hand… or at least believed he was doing what God and even Jesus wanted him to do in order to make things happen according to plan.
Thomas is another one who I don’t get why he has a negative reputation… Let’s be serious; I come to you and tell you that I have seen your dead friend walking around last night… is you going to believe me right away?
Besides which, the other disciples were not unafraid and confident… they were cowering in the back while Jesus tried to convince them it was all right…
So let’s skip this and say Thomas was not extraordinary… that the doubting Thomas thing should not have stuck the way it did; and look at it a different way.
This story is about recognizing resurrection.
Thomas is not the main character, just one of the characters.
It is a story about us…. About what we need in order to know that God is at work in the world…
More importantly – it is a story about what is possible once you find out.
Thomas was the disciple who needed time, space, and evidence in order to come up with a plan to move forward. He wanted to figure it out and he had his doubts about what was happening.
He was also the only disciple to spread Christianity outside of the Roman Empire… he travelled to Egypt; He travelled to India; he travelled throughout Syria; he apparently wrote one of the most interesting collections of quotes from Jesus, The Gospel of Thomas – and he got into a few fights with Peter along the way.
That is why his impact on Christianity has all but been forgotten. That is why he got the bad name… it was political…
What Thomas actually was as a person was the most effective and surest of all the twelve… he was the one who was careful, who had doubts, but then used those doubts to figure out his life and to move on…
He never looked for easy answers and neither should we.
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