The Phoenix Arises: Resurrection!

Well, dear hearts and gentle people! The above is a picture of  my hometown main-street/ old Highway 38 ( extra points if you knew that the line ” dear hearts and gentle people” is from an old popular song, from ‘way back.) The old store is our family-store, the white house is where my mother grew up and Dad lived behind there, on what is now called Walker Street. Yup, kids next door to each other became the parents of Anne Elizabeth Walker and Christopher Blake Walker. We think the picture is from the 1930’s/40’s but someone that knows old cars could clear that up for us, I’ll bet.

Whatever the case, it was a long time ago, well before sis and I were even  ‘a glint in our parents’ eyes ‘ , as the old people used to put it. It is good to know that one is from somewhere, whether it is from a village, from a family, or from a part of the world that one can call home.

Here’s what I know for pretty-sure: I will only live there one more time — down by the Old Swimming Pond , a section of Rock Lake which borders the Verona Cemetery. There’s a rock there , with the same names on either side of it as you see in on the old sign in the picture: Walker…..Genge. it’s the only lakefront property that I will ever ‘live’ by again. I have joked, for years, that when I get up on Resurrection Day, I’m going to take a final dip in Rock Lake, remember my baptismal vows and go live wherever Jesus calls His neighbourhood from that point on.

Here’s the better news: resurrection happens every day, as soon as we awaken from that little-death known as sleep. You and I are resurrected, new every morning, freshmen again in the University of Living in the Here and Now. As followers of Jesus, we know the story of resurrection, the reality of what it means to arise like the mythological phoenix from the ashes.

When given the privilege of serving briefly as the Stated Supply minister of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Kingston, I noticed a stuffed bird that sat up on the tallest pipe of the pipe-organ in the sanctuary. The story behind it is this: the original St. Andrew’s burned in 1888. The only thing remaining from that is the following: some of the stones which were used in rebuilding the sanctuary AND…..wait for it…..that bird. That’s why it is still there perched defiantly on the pipe, overlooking the worshipers plus the Minister! Now….I’m pretty sure it’s not a  phoenix; however, once I learned this story, that bird has become my symbol of what it means to rise again each day to possibilities…do-able acts of praise to the One who reanimates us all through life.

Folks, I’m telling you… I am forever grateful to St. Andrew’s and the Presbyterians for giving me the opportunity again to minister. It’s been a total now of 8+ years that I have served in that tradition.

I like to think that, in 1827, when Protestant Jimmy Walker came over from Belfast, Ireland — a staunch Presbyterian — he may have attended the original St. Andrew’s Kingston, he may have sat under the watchful, fierce gaze of that bird that later on looked at his great-great grandson in his pulpit-robes at the ‘new ‘ St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. All that is fun to think about and to fantasize may have been true.

Yet, it pales in comparison with the present, powerful joy of knowing that our loving Lord is still going about reanimating people as unlikely as me for His purposes.

I have decided to ‘resurrect’ this blog. If you so desire, please follow along as I gear this thing up again. I look forward to sharing some thoughts and ideas and rants and cogent critiques.

Message: Called to be Partners with God and Others

…..w/YHWH and w/others….

Date – February 16 , 2014 Place – LC

Scripture – Deut. 30: 15-20; Psalm 119: 1-8; 1 Cor. 3: 1-9; Matt. 5: 21-37

Other – 6th Sunday after the Epiphany; Year A, 2014; Series ‘ Called ‘ . Message 5. Heritage Sunday (PCC)

MESSAGE : ” Called to Be Partners with God and with Others ”

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 See, I have set before you today

life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the

commandments of the LORD your God that I am

commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking

in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and

ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and

the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are

entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do

not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and

serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you

shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan

to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness

against you today that I have set before you life and death,

blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your

descendants may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying

him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and

length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD

swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to

Jacob.

Psalm 119:1-8 Happy are those whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law of the LORD. Happy are those who keep

his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart, who also

do no wrong, but walk in his ways. You have commanded

your precepts to be kept diligently. O that my ways may be

steadfast in keeping your statutes! Then I shall not be put to

shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. I

will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your

righteous ordinances. I will observe your statutes; do not

utterly forsake me.

1 Corinthians 3:1-9 And so, brothers and sisters, I could

not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of

the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid

food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are

still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as

there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of

the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?

For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong

to Apollos,” are you not merely human? What then is

Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to

believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos

watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who

plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who

gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who

waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages

according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants,

working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Matthew 5:21-37 “You have heard that it was said to those

of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever

murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if

you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to

judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be

liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be

liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at

the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has

something against you, leave your gift there before the altar

and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then

come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your

accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your

accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the

guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you

will never get out until you have paid the last penny. “You

have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust

has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your

right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is

better for you to lose one of your members than for your

whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand

causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for

you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to

go into hell. “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let

him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that

anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of

unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever

marries a divorced woman commits adultery. “Again, you

have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You

shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made

to the Lord.’ But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by

heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is

his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great

King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make

one hair white or black. Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No,

No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

 Happy Valentine’s Weekend! Have you been enjoying the full-moon romance of it all? Cards, flowers, chocolates and the whole nine yards…..that, along with the Olympics going on in middle of our full-blown winter wonderland of a season, with Family Day/Heritage Day tomorrow in Canada-Land. Certainly, it all lends a rather festive air to the whole weekend. Matter of fact, Winter 2013/2014 seems altogether seems almost like seasons of a childhood era in which anything seemed possible.

 To all of this revelry and joy , let us interject a rather sad historical fact : the saint after whom Valentine’s Day is supposedly named was martyred on this day, February 14th, in the year 269 A.D. In case you did not know this, as with all ‘saints-days’ in the Christian calendar, what we are celebrating is not their birthday but their death-day – the day in which they were martyred because of their witness for and faith in Jesus. The reason their death-days are celebrated is because they were then, as we are now, following the One who wants to make “death dance backwards”, as one has put it. For Christians back then and for us who presently name Jesus as Saviour and Lord, the day of physical death is the day we begin to fully live out the promise of eternal life within the fullness of eternity. It is our last stage of complete re-birth, so to speak – the completion of God’s ‘order of salvation’ in us . Our long day’s journey into night completes not with oblivion and meaninglessness , but with a household move into the full light and knowledge of God’s presence.

 If you read The Chronicles of Narnia , the seventh and final book in the series is called ‘The Last Battle’ . It crescendoes with the heroes going further up and further into the kingdom . ( SPOILER ALERT: I’m about to give away the secret at the end of the Chronicles…….) The reader finds out some very bad news: there had been a train crash and most of the heroes and heroines of the story had actually died long before. As the author puts it : it is a never-ending story…….one “ which goes on forever, and in which every chapter is better than the one before. “ Now , that’s a reason to celebrate Valentine’s or any other martyrdom. It is a reason to not fear our physical death, but to embrace it in God’s good timing — but I don’t think it has anything to do with chocolates, cinnamon hearts and flowers!

 Well, that puts a rather darker cast on things, doesn’t it? If St. Valentine’s Day is actually celebrating the day in which he physically dies, as do all saints’-days – then what good does it do to be a saint, a holy-one-in-process?

It is because of the very good news that eternal life begins when we turn around and embrace the One who has been lovingly pursuing us all along. The good news gets even better : for all of life, we have the privilege of being called to enter into full partnership with God and with other people. This is an offer initiated by the Chief Executive Officer, the Owner of the largest corporation the world has ever known or will ever know. At the very onset of our relationship with this Family-owned and Family-run business, we are offered all of the perks and benefits that the Owner can bestow. His Son, the Corporation’s Chief Investment Officer, has invested all of His assets, which includes nothing less than all of Himself, into us in order to welcome us into the organization and the organism known as the Body of Christ. The Spirit who animates the Family business and keeps it moving forward also literally animates us all as partners in the Corporation.

 Moses got it, didn’t he? The portion from Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell charge to the stakeholders/partners in God’s great new entrepreneurial venture called the people of Israel. Moses, by the call of God, had invested his whole life in the Company and was now passing the torch of leadership on to the next generation of partners. His time had come to completion and he was about to go to meet His Lord God who had called him into partnership long before. Oh , what stories in which Moses had been involved, what dreams had come to completion! Moses began as a full partner with the Family long before he shares his accumalated knowledge and wisdom with the people he had led through the wilderness, those who were about to go into the Promised Land after having been slaves for centuries before. He sets before them the vision and mission of God’s Corporation: “ I have called heaven and earth …….I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you you and you descendants may live…..” God had called him into full partnership, with all of his challenges , his strengths, his abilities and non-abilities. So it is with us: we are those who are being called to pay forward all that God has given us to the next generation of people, letting them know that , like us, they too can be full partners with God and with others . Further up and further into the kingdom: that’s the motto of this Corporation and of its’ people who are stakeholders.

 Paul got it too, just like Moses did. He understood that it was all about God and what He was doing. Was it all about Paul – admittedly (like Moses) a driving force in God’s Corporation? He was commissioned if you will , to be the think-tank and idea department, the developer of franchises all over the world surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, the one who was personally involved in beginning new branch companies at home and abroad. Was it all about the eloquence, charisma and intellectual gifts of Apollos who was apparently a convincing , capable teacher about Jesus? Assuredly not – , actually, apparently Apollos was actually taught much more about Jesus by none other than Priscilla and Aquila, the tentmakers who were so instrumental in working with Paul at Corinth? Was it all about Peter, that Paul had earlier mentioned in the letter to the Corinthians, who confessed Jesus as the Christ the Son of the Living God – the confession upon which Jesus said He would build His church? No…..though Peter and Paul were key partners in spreading God’s corporate vision around the world.

 Paul writes: “ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase! So, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but only God who gives the growth. …….For we are God’s servants, working together……” Paul understood what we too are to grasp: to be called to be a Christian is to be a stakeholder, a stocks and bonds holder, a servant and a labourer, yet also a fully-vested partner in the Corporation whose only product is God’s Corporation getting bigger, more pervasive and with as many other participants in the vision as possible!

 Jesus most definitely got it. When he set out to communicate the vision of what this different kind of kingdom was all about, he had no trouble at all in reinterpreting that vision in a way bigger and better than anything anyone had ever heard before. The message on the mountain starts out with the Founder’s Vision: “you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times……..but I say to you……” This is Chief Investment Officer and Co-Owner taking the vision of the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Owner, amping it up, ramping it up in such a powerful new way that it is remembered forever as The Sermon on the Mount! Jesus understood that His and the Father’s partners in this inspiring new Corporation would need to be different than anything that had offered to the public before, and that would ever be offered by any competing corporation for all of time. Jesus, the Chief Investment Officer, set the standard higher than could ever be attained…..unless the animating Spirit of the Family lived in and among their co-partners

Being called to be Christian is to give of ourselves , giving not less than everything we are and everything we do. This particular Corporation is The Body of Christ #2 and there is no other plan, no other vision than that we are full partners with all of the sorrows and all of the joys, all of the responsibilities and all of the perks of partnership. Thankfully, God’s whole family — Father, Son and Spirit — will neither leave nor forsake us. 

Message: Called to Have the Mind of Christ

Date – February 9 , 2014 Place – LC

Scripture – Isa. 58: 1-9a ( 9b-12); Psalm 112: 1-9 (10); 1 Corinthians 2: 1-12 (13-16); Matthew 5: 13-20

Other – 5th Sunday after the Epiphany; Year A, 2014; Series ‘ Called ‘ . Message 4.

MESSAGE : ” Called to Have the Mind of Christ ”

Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12) Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up

your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their

rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day

they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a

nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the

ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments,

they delight to draw near to God. “Why do we fast, but you

do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”

Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and

oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and

to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you

do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the

fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down

the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?

Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is

not this the fast that I choose to loose the bonds of injustice,

to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with

the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide

yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth

like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your

vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be

your rear guard. a Then you shall call, and the LORD will

answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. b If

you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the

finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the

hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light

shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the

noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy

your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water,

whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you

shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of

streets to live in.

Psalm 112:1-9 (10) Praise the LORD! Happy are those who

fear the LORD, who greatly delight in his commandments.

Their descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation

of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches are in their

houses, and their righteousness endures forever. They rise

in the darkness as a light for the upright; they are gracious,

merciful, and righteous. It is well with those who deal

generously and lend, who conduct their affairs with justice.

For the righteous will never be moved; they will be

remembered forever. They are not afraid of evil tidings; their

hearts are firm, secure in the LORD. Their hearts are steady,

they will not be afraid; in the end they will look in triumph on

their foes. They have distributed freely, they have given to

the poor; their righteousness endures forever; their horn is

exalted in honor. The wicked see it and are angry; they

gnash their teeth and melt away; the desire of the wicked

comes to nothing.

1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16) When I came to you,

brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery

of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to

know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him

crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in

much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not

with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of

the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on

human wisdom but on the power of God. Yet among the

mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of

this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to

perish. But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden,

which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of

the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they

would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is

written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the

human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those

who love him” these things God has revealed to us through

the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths

of God. For what human being knows what is truly human

except the human spirit that is within? So also no one

comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.

Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the

Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts

bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in

words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit,

interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. Those

who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for

they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to

understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are

themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny. “For who has

known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we

have the mind of Christ.

Matthew 5:13-20 “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt

has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no

longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled

under foot. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a

hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under

the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to

all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before

others, so that they may see your good works and give glory

to your Father in heaven. “Do not think that I have come to

abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish

but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass

away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from

the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks

one of the least of these commandments, and teaches

others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of

heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be

called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless

your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and

Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” PierreTeilhard de Chardin, French geologist and paleontologist , philosopher, Jesuit priest and practical mystic.During his lifetime, until the moment of his death, on Easter Sunday, 1955, he grappled with the revealed truths of the scriptures and their necessary link to the use of a reasoning mind. From that lifelong struggle emerges his quote which speaks to the sincere seeker after truth. What IS the relationship between what we see , touch, taste, hold, smell, hear which defines us as human beings AND what we cannot experience through the senses – that which is the essence of our inner sense of selfhood? Teilhard de Chardin seems to suggest it is best to define our humanness within the context of being primarily spiritual. It is, perhaps, a defining difference of our being from other entities in the animal kingdom.

We are considering, in this series of messages, what it means to be called-out – called-out as Christians, as saints-in-process as we travel along life’s road, to be saints who are marching, meandering or even limping into God’s better kingdom while still in this world. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian Christians has suggested that it means to be in the same mind and purpose with one another – to be wisely foolish, strongly weak and upwardly lowly. Today, we called to have the mind of Christ . In 2: 16 , Paul quotes the Old Testament : “ For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him?” Then he brazenly asserts: “ But we have the mind of Christ “ .

I remember reading that long ago, shortly after deciding as a wanna-be adult, that I was going to follow Jesus the rest of my life. That decision was made based on an aha moment when reading a paraphrase of Romans 12: 1-2: “With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.“

In both quotes, the idea that the life of the mind did not have to be set aside in order to be a Christian came through to me like the proverbial bolt….of enlightenment. Up until that point, frankly, I wondered: why would anybody want to be identified as a Christian? It seemed that faith was some kind of fatalistic leap into a great cloud of unknowing, a foolishness that had been given up by the intellectual intelligentsia who could think great thoughts like the scarecrow given a diploma by Oz the Great and Powerful who then thought he was thereby granted profound wisdom!

But to realize that there is a balance informed by the revealed word of God, the hard glare of history and tradition, the fully-attuned thoughtful questioning of countless minds since the biblical era — all ratified by a heart-warming experience of knowing God by accepting Jesus as His Son whose person and purposefulness on the cross makes a difference in my life and all who accept Him as Saviour and Lord — well , then the question became: why not base one’s present life and predicated future on following Him wherever He leads?

What does it means to have the mind of Christ? Here are some conclusions one can draw from the scriptures read today:

• It means to do the right thing. Isaiah’s God tells us: let people know that they are free at last – from injustice, from slavery, from oppression. Let them share the good things that God has given you, even the literal food from your table. Let those who are homeless go home with you. Give people your clothes. Go back to your relatives, even the ones you find annoying and disturbing, especially to those, for they are God’s means of grace to teach you something you need to know. Don’t talk trash about others, destroying them and yourselves from within; instead, build them up, literally edify them. Be restorers, be repairers. My very intelligent brother-in-law – a professor in English, now retired – used to say , partially in jest, partially in earnest : Be big, be a builder. That’s what Isaiah’s Lord in the Older Testament and our Lord Jesus both say: be salt, be light , fill full to overflowing the law of love – love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and love your neighbour as much as you love yourself…..until they experience the love of God which passes all understanding. To be called is to have the mind of Christ to do the right thing.

• It means, also, to come in weakness, fear and much trembling. What did Paul have to fear? He was an influential, powerful, entrepreneurial mover and shaker in his world, before Christ — even for years after Christ called him. How can we considerful this powerful spokesperson for Christ as weak, fearful or trembling? Really — read the list of what Paul went through, both before Christ and on behalf of Christ’s church. This is no shaking aspen, no weeping willow. This is a mighty oak tree of a person. This weakness, fear, this trembling was in Paul because he was proclaiming a crazy bad news story as good newsthat would make no sense to most people. He was actually asserting that the executed criminal Jesus of Nazareth was Yahweh God, the Son of God, the Meschiach of God! This was a received truth, one that was given to Paul which went against every grain that was in him and he had had to grapple with it himself! This was a truth that only God could make plain and real to the people of Paul’s day, too. Folks…… it is still a revealed truth that seems no less foolish today in 2014 than it was when Paul proclaimed it smackdab in the center of one of the most sophisticated worldly cities of his day. To have the mind of Christ was, for Paul, doing what Jesus did: a seemingly foolish, meaningless life lived in the name of God for values which God Himself has said are values that are eternal , real and reliable. We are to have that kind of mind, against all odds. Paul goes on to note that the wisdom of God seems as foolishness . WE too are totally reliant upon the Spirit of God – that which is not seeable, tasteable, touchable, smellable. We are called to demonstrate the power of God, to become less and less so that He becomes more and more. To have the mind of Christ is to have the spirit of interdependence – God’s Holy Spirit speaking into and living through our human spirit. For we are spiritual beings having a human experience and it only by living our lives reliantly upon God’s Spirit within that we can become the full, complete human beings that our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer intends us to be. To be called to have the mind of Christ is to come to others , to go to others in weakness, fear and trembling. Then, they will experience the mind of Christ through a living and human being that has been gobsmacked with the living God of the universe!

• It means to live large but not in charge. What is meant by that? Simple and profound: we are to come out of the closet, to be champions for Christ Jesus on a world stage, ready for both the agony of defeat and the thrill of victory. The essence of salt and light is that they are out there, doing what they are supposed to do – giving all they’ve got, being all they can be. The Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius is Latin for “Swifter, Higher, Stronger.” That motto was proposed by Pierre de Coubertin on the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894. Coubertin said “These three words represent a programme of moral beauty.” Indeed it does…..and for the Christian especially! A more informal but well known saying, also introduced by de Coubertin, is “The most important thing is not to win but to take part!” My high-school’s motto was Ludum Facite — (play the game ) It’s a line from an old poem ( Vitai Lampada ) by Sir Henry Newbolt ; the line at the end of each stanza is : “play up, play up and play the game! “ Jesus tells us that we are to play the game with vim, vigour and vitality. We are to fill the law of love of God and love for other people , to fill it so full that it has to run out into other peoples’ lives. That’s what the mind of Christ is – to live a life large, but with God’s Spirit so in charge that people get a vision of life so that they too will play the game, will become champions in the name of Christ Jesus, the Son of the living God!

Interestingly, there is another line we hear a lot these days as people seek to distance themselves from established, traditional Christianity or even other belief communities: “ Well, you know — I’m a spiritual person, but I’m not religious. “ We understand and can appreciate that the person saying such a thing usually means something along the lines of : “I care about things having to do with my inner life, but I am turned off by any organization that thinks they have the final say on God. No one can tell me what to think about that! “ The word, religion, comes from the Latin ‘religare’ which means ‘ to reconnect‘. Re-ligare: think ligaments, which attach muscle to bone giving the body strength, power and the ability to move forward purposefully . What Paul is saying, what Jesus makes clear, is that to be a spiritual person means that we are all religious. We human beings are all trying to make things connect with each other in meaningful, purposeful ways. One could do no better in this endeavour than to have the mind of Christ Jesus in us, among us – the One who connected earth and heaven, the most human and most divine being that there has ever been or ever will be. Let us follow Him to the ends of the earth…..swifter, higher, stronger…….. 

Message : A Signal for All the Peoples. Sunday, December 8, 2013, Advent 2. Church of the Covenant and St. Paul’s Presbyterian Churches.

A vision of God to Isaiah in the context of war and chaos…….

Date – December 8 , 2013 Place – LC

Scripture – Isa. 11: 1-10; Ps. 72: 1-7, 18-19; Rom.15: 4-13; Matt. 3: 1-12
Other – Advent 2, Year A, 2013

SERMON: ” A Signal to All the Peoples ”

Isaiah 11:1-10 A shoot shall come out from the stump of

Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of

the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and

understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of

knowledge and the fear of the LORD. His delight shall be in

the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he

shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of

the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and

faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with

the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and

the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead

them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie

down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The

nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the

weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will

not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will

be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the

sea. On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to

the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling

shall be glorious.

Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19 Give the king your justice, O God, and

your righteousness to a king’s son. May he judge your

people with righteousness, and your poor with justice. May

the mountains yield prosperity for the people, and the hills, in

righteousness. May he defend the cause of the poor of the

people, give deliverance to the needy, and crush the

oppressor. May he live while the sun endures, and as long

as the moon, throughout all generations. May he be like rain

that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the

earth. In his days may righteousness flourish and peace

abound, until the moon is no more. Blessed be the LORD,

the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Blessed

be his glorious name forever; may his glory fill the whole

earth. Amen and Amen.

Romans 15:4-13 For whatever was written in former days

was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and

by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.

May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you

to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with

Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Welcome one

another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the

glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant

of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that

he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and

in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it

is written, “Therefore I will confess you among the Gentiles,

and sing praises to your name”; and again he says, “Rejoice,

O Gentiles, with his people”; and again, “Praise the Lord, all

you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him”; and again

Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse shall come, the one who rises

to rule the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles shall hope.” May the

God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that

you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 3:1-12 In those days John the Baptist appeared in

the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the

kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom

the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one

crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.'” Now John wore clothing of camel’s

hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was

locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and

all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the

Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan,

confessing their sins. But when he saw many Pharisees and

Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood

of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to

yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you,

God is able from these stones to raise up children to

Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees;

every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down

and thrown into the fire. “I baptize you with water for

repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming

after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize

you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his

hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his

wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with

unquenchable fire.”

 

The Hebrew scriptures contain beautiful words of a peaceful vision from Isaiah, but they were not spoken at a time when all things were going well. This was not some merely mystical moment of wonderment when the grandeur of the  topography of Israel was spiritually overwhelming, leading him to think great thoughts. He was not in a peaceful vacation frame of mind, watching the glories of nature unfold before him. Rather, this was his vision during a time of war, of bloodshed, of pain and misery. An army from Assyria was marauding through his and Yahweh’s beloved land , leaving only blood and mayhem in its pathway. The prophet was going through what may well have been the first holocaust of the Jews as it has come to be known. It happened sometime between 740 and 700 B.C; for several times during these 40 years, that army, huge and far better than theirs bulled its way through Israel. Shakespeare’s devastated Marc Antony would later put this human horror at treachery and concentrated evil like this, in the play Julius Caesar, after the Roman emperor’s assassination by his one-time friends and fellow leaders :

“And Caesar’s spirit, raging for revenge, With Ate by his side come hot from hell, shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war, that this foul deed shall smell above the earth With carrion men, groaning for burial.”

Without respect for anyone’s culture or religion or life, that devastating army of human beings came upon God’s beloved country like a plague. Again and again, the people had been ravaged, decimated by so-called human beings lusting for violent power. Who could plant their crops with hope that those plants or they would survive to be harvested and eaten? Who could count on being able to have and to hold a spouse and family to a ripe old age? It was a wretched forty years . Isaiah had been there, embedded with his people to see it all before his very eyes, to feel pain within his own heart. .

 It was into his kind of absurd situation that Isaiah spoke God’s words, words that we would do well to take to heart as we observe our own world’s situation : “Even though our world has become a wretchedly long nightmare, though there is no sign anywhere that peace will come again, though human greed and destruction are in full display in our everyday lives, listen to this abiding truth, dear people, my friends and neighbours: : God’s promises are more more sure and more powerful than any chaos and mayhem that human beings can commit! The wolf shall dwell with the lamb; the leopard shall lie down with the kid. “

 Isaiah’s world accords with life the way we know it; it fits with what we real human beings in this crazed world experience , either directly or indirectly. Time and again, in the way the world appears to be, it seems as if things must fly apart before they come together again. That is why we need to be reminded or taught again and again : no matter how dire our circumstances, this too shall pass . As a minister for over thirty years and as someone who has been a human being for twice that long, this has been evident to me. Life falls to pieces for people, for some more than once, for a few it seems to be the rule rather than the exception.

 Yet there is another rule that is simultaneously evident, for every once in a while, a little shoot of life comes out of a dead stump. Just a couple of days ago, in tidying up around some bushes in front of the building in which we live, I saw green shoots even while plucking dead leaves off the branches, and it’s not yet technically wintertime. What seems like the end to what has been is just the beginning again. That happens in people’s lives too. Sooner or later, a man or woman, a boy or a girl does notice; though still wounded by the unfairnesses of life that have killed the past , the future begins to unfold — differently than expected of course, but it does unfold and often it is toward a better, brighter bigger completion that could ever have been planned

• A man who thought he should not venture into a new job taking steps to do exactly that and discovering it’s what he was really good at…..

• A woman whose husband was found dead at home after two weeks of her being away visiting family finding a hope, a home and a future of greater joys and continued service to her family, community and church ……..

• An older man, my own father, who watches the people literally and figuratively closest to him pass away all within the scope of one year, then rediscovers the joys of a new life with his new wife and her extended family, building a new home and a place to live out his remaining years with joy and confidence. Different, but quite wonderful, really……

• Many folks who have been hurt by previous experiences in congregational life who have found a new place and a new way to worship and serve, and have rediscovered joy in the midst of it all.

• A clergyperson who thought that his ministry-life was over and done, but who was given many years of service in surprising, affirming ways

• People in these two congregations whose lives have taken a turn from worse to better and perhaps even now, to best ever……

Lives are lived out through Advent days of increasing darkness and of surprising light, days of catastrophic endings and of serendipitous beginnings, days of death and unexpected life. The signs and signals and intimations of change may not seem all that promising… just a shoot out of a stump, only a branch out of the roots, merely one step toward the future…not much, but enough to know. Change is coming and we shall see what’s around the next bend in the road…….

Every now and then, peace steps into view in a place where one could never have believed true peace to be possible. In ways that are unexpected and even unlikely, longstanding wounds begin to heal. On occasion, someone decides to ask to be forgiven or to forgive someone else who has long been considered an enemy of their own souls and relationship is restored — different than before, even better. These kinds of changes are signals that something wonderful has happened. It must come from elsewhere, like Isaiah’s vision in the scriptures read earlier — light, peace, healing, calm – a hope and a future.

Isaiah’s words speak to us in this Advent season. They are a banner over us called love, they are a signal to us and to all peoples that God is at work in surprising, invigorating ways. We are those who long to live in a place where there is something better coming for us, something better coming from us, if we will only keep dreaming. We want to believe in a place and a people like this . We want to believe in someone better than you or me coming to us. We want to live toward a reality that so far is only promised, but which, in the power and mystery of God, is sure. Isaiah’s vision is deep speaking to a deepness within each of us that is only met by the God whose vision for His peoples everywhere is of Someone who will meet the hopes and fears of all our years with change we can believe in and toward which He and we can work .

Could it be a newborn child in a small inconsequential village in a country that has seen more than a fair share of its own pain and still experiences threats from bullies all over the world? Could this Child be a signal to all peoples that God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform? Might this child grow up to be a transformer of human beings into people of small and large heroisms? Could this Child be a motivator of someone held captive in a prison in South Africa for 27 years and then was released to become a political catalyst for change? Could this Child be someone who has been the impetus for places of healing, education, programs for countless improvements in countries around the world? Could this Child be the One whose Cousin John said would baptize people with the Holy Spirit and with fire for centuries and millenia to come, and whose Church the gates could not prevail against? Could this Child be a signal to all the peoples: God is always in the business of changing people, circumstances and human history for the advancement of His kingdom.

It hardly seems possible that the One who started in such inconsequential ways could be the One who has not only come once, but is coming again day by day. He is the One who is more powerful than any of us. He is the One who has considered us worthy of being servants and friends in His kingdom, now and forever .

[Of Eternal Love Begotten…..]

“This is he whom seers in old time
chanted of with one accord,
whom the voices of the prophets
promised in their faithful word;
now he shines, the long-expected;
let creation praise its Lord,
evermore and evermore. “

Message : An Opportunity to Testify. Sunday, November 17 2013, Lansdowne/Caintown Presbyterian Churches

Stand up…..speak up…..act up….move on up…….

 

Date: November 17, 2013 Place: LC

Text: Isaiah 65: 17-25; Psalm 98; Luke 19: 1-10

Occasion: 26^th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 28C, Ordinary Time

Other: Restorative Justice Sunday

Message: “ An Opportunity to Testify ”

Isaiah 65:17-25 For I am about to create new heavens and

a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or

come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am

creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its

people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in

my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in

it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant

that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live

out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be

considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will

be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit

them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall

not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and

another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my

people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their

hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for

calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD

–and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer,

while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb

shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but

the serpent–its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or

destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

Psalm 98 O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done

marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have

gotten him victory. The LORD has made known his victory; he

has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations. He

has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the

house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the

victory of our God. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the

earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises. Sing

praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound

of melody. With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a

joyful noise before the King, the LORD. Let the sea roar, and

all that fills it; the world and those who live in it. Let the

floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy at

the presence of the LORD, for he is coming to judge the

earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the

peoples with equity.

Luke 21:5-19 When some were speaking about the temple,

how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated

to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days

will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all

will be thrown down.” They asked him, “Teacher, when will

this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take

place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for

many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time

is near!’ Do not go after them. “When you hear of wars and

insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take

place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he

said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom

against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in

various places famines and plagues; and there will be

dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. “But before

all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they

will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be

brought before kings and governors because of my name.

This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your

minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give

you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be

able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by

parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will

put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of

my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your

endurance, you will gain your souls.

There are times – even many times – when there is nothing one can do but to put with up with it all . I have heard it said that, in such circumstance, the four most important words are: this, too, shall pass.

Most of us have lived long enough to experientially understand this truth: life can be really tough to bear. But is quite one thing to acknowledge it intellectually, and another to have to go through it day by day, year after year. If you have lived with a long pain or sorrow in which you wake up each day thinking about it, you can easily identify with Hamlet when he says…..

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether ’tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end
The Heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks
That Flesh is heir to? ‘Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep,
To sleep, perchance to Dream; Aye, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause.

The disciples of Jesus were hearing about a time when the pinnacle of Jewish dreams, namely the temple and the security which it represented, was going to fall down. Further, their own human existence was going to be threatened. Not many years following, that is indeed actually what happened. As best as can be known each of the closest followers of Jesus were martyred for their faith, except John the disciple whom Jesus loved as he called himself in the gospel bearing his name. Even he endured exile on Patmos and the slower longer pain of watching all else that he had known in life disappear. For there is pain in living to a good old age which is to watch the world you once knew disappear before your very eyes.

The answer Jesus gives them to their question must have been rather terrifying, don’t you think? He was telling them that their future and that of the Jewish people was rather bleak: wars, earthquakes, famines, plagues, arrests, imprisonment, being hauled before the governing powers. He then tells them: don’t be terrified, don’t prepare in advance, I will give you words and a witness that none of your opponents will be able to oppose or contradict. As well, betrayal by family and friends will follow and you will be put to death. It doesn’t sound like the kind of job description that would entice me, frankly.

This was an answer given specifically to them in the context of their lives and times; however, it has implications for us today as well. For the reality of biblical prophecies, especially those from Jesus, is that they unfold more fully over the long haul; those that have specific application for times past also have present and future revealings to which we are to pay attention.

Here is the good news from Jesus which is embedded in the hard-rock reality of life ; frankly, for you and me, life is short and we are living in our own personal end-times and there is wisdom and truth that we need to hear as we eavesdrop on Jesus in talking with his guys here. Remember, it wasn’t long after this when He disappeared out of their sight into a tomb and later on he disappeared from their view to be with His Father; their world changed profoundly as does ours. So, we need to hear what they heard from Jesus, so that we can be prepared for a long obedience in the same direction, no matter what tough circumstances we are in or will be in sometime.

• Don’t be led astray. Jesus knew what we also know: there are lots of tangents that can be followed –false teachings that don’t hold true, shiny things that can take our attention from the essential truth that we are God’s creations and He wants to be our Father, our own foolishnesses and wrong decisions that can divert us from the pathway toward the truest Truth that we see in Jesus. There are even false teachers in the highest halls of learning. Instead we are to keep our eyes on Jesus, the writer to the Hebrew Christians later writes, the One who is the beginner and completer, the Author and the Finisher of our faith, who for the sake of the joy set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame and who now sits at God’s right hand to assist us, to intercede on our behalf. Don’t be led astray…..

• Do not be terrified. I remember an old Reader’s Digest play on words suggesting that the saying that “ it’s good to be back on terra firma “ meant that the more firma, the less terra! For terror means to be shaken. Jesus did not want his followers to be shaken when things fell apart for them in the future. This is not long before his own shuffling off of his mortal coil. Many times in the gospels, we hear the words, do not fear, don’t be afraid. We have been promised, as were those first followers, that we would not be left, we would not be abandoned. As we move toward Advent, let us remember Emmanuel: God is with us, His Spirit lives inside. We have the Body of Christ, the church, which is God’s own great idea. I am the church, you are the church, we are the church together. Whether these stones and bricks and mortar are still standing 137 years from now or not, the church is The Body of Christ #2 and it will not disappear. Do not be terrified…..

• This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your

minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give

you words and a wisdom…. not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance, you will gain your souls. Again, we recognize that this has specific application to those who first heard these words; nonetheless, folks – this is where the proverbial rubber meets the road. Are we playing at Christianity or are we following the One who is the Christ? For the church is in the marketplace; the church is on the frontlines of this world’s challenges. Whatever happens to you and me is not the end of the world at large; it may be the end of the way things used to be in my world or yours. Change may be a-comin’ for you and me; but it’s not the end of the world. It only feels like it is.

The reality is : following Jesus means change. You and I can’t follow someone that isn’t moving forward! There are endings and new beginnings all the time. Even Isaiah, which was earlier read, acknowledges this truth which comes from God: “ For I am about to create new heavens and

a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or

come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am

creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its

people as a delight. “

The kingdom which is to come on earth as it is in heaven requires that the kingdom of this world changes. We may not want it, as we do not want change coming into our everyday worlds….but change is a-comin’ notwithstanding . So, we have a choice to make: will this hard truth give us an opportunity to testify or do we just want to wear the name ‘Christian’ as a badge showing our club-membership? Are we admiring the beauty of what is all around us so much that our reliance is on those things which will pass away more than the kingdom which will never pass away? We can testify , we can witness to those things which do not change no matter what: about the peace that the world cannot give, cannot understand and thankfully can never take away. The point is not to have some formulaic way of witnessing for Jesus; all we have to do is to let others know that Jesus is with us , He has given us an endurance which has gained us our souls. No longer are we only just existing, we are eternally enduring, we are hanging in there not because of some grand wondrousness in our own selves, but because He is our champion, He is our fortress, He is our Rock , He is our healer, He is our Guide, He is our Shepherd, He is our Leader into the unknown future. Even if the hairs on our head perish ( ! ), so what? He has given us an opportunity to testify, to witness, to own up to Him as being the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith . That’s what it’s all about: it’s about Him, it’s not about you and me. It’s about others, it’s not about you or me.

Through all the changing scenes of life,
In trouble and in joy,
The praises of my God shall still
My heart and tongue employ.

Of His deliverance I will boast,
Till all that are distressed
From my example courage take
And soothe their griefs to rest.

O magnify the Lord with me,
With me exalt His Name;
When in distress to Him I called,
He to my rescue came.

Their drooping hearts were soon refreshed,
Who looked to Him for aid;
Desired success in every face,
A cheerful air displayed.

“Behold,” they say, “Behold the one
Whom providence relieved;
The one so dangerously beset,
So wondrously retrieved!”

 

Message: “God, Face to Face”, Sunday, October 20, 2013, Lansdowne/Caintown Presbyterian Churches, Ontario

 

Whassa matta U?

 

 

Date – October 20, 2013 Place – LC

Text – Luke 18: 1-8; Genesis 32: 22-31; Psalm 121

Occasion – Student and Colleges Sunday

Other Info – Just @ Synod Cornwall 2013

Sermon: God, Face-to-Face

 There is an inescapable message among all 3 scripture passages read: God wants to be in a face-to-face relationship with His people. He is One who loves to connect with us. Part of the challenge of this parable is that we equate the nasty judge with God, a false equivalency if ever there was one. Frankly, part of our problem as Christians  is that even we tend to think more of the legal metaphor of God as judge, far more often than the relational metaphor of God as the loving parent. These three passages suggest that God likes to mix it up with us: wrestling, helping, watching over us without respite, keeping us from danger, evil and keeping us alive! Our keeper seems to think that WE are keepers too, and goes the nth mile to ensure that we know He loves us.

 At Bible study , we talked about the context of the early church as being a time of 3 major empires going through major shifts and transitions to something different: Roman, Greek and Hebrew. That is when God chose to show up as a real live boy, right in the middle of that human muddle, in order to speak a clear word to all of humankind for all of time in all cultures. Somehow, the tensions among those 3 great civilizations were the perfect context for God to become flesh. Jesus was God’s parable about His nature and character, a story come to life after thousands of years of being captured on parchment and papyrus.

This parable in Luke 18 is not an allegory. God is not like a crusty old judge who doesn’t care. Rather, it transitions us in our minds from lesser to greater: If a judge who doesn’t care two hoots for a widow actually ends up giving her justice, how much more will God, who loves justice and does care, do for God’s people? That’s what I would call the Big Point of this parable. Indeed, though we will talk about the implications for our praying, that’s what Jesus wants us to truly understand. God, my Father, is your Father too and His banner over you all is love…Luke means to say to those who are in danger of becoming discouraged, “Don’t lose heart. Trust in God. Be confident. God is faithful and will deliver you. God will keep His promise. Wait for the Lord. As you wait, wait trusting, not giving up.”

If the parable addresses itself to prayer, which it does, this is the context for Jesus’ teaching. It teaches something valuable: prayer is work, because our prayers for the things we most need are often met with long bouts of silence from God. One theologian writes that prayer is hard work because the human experience is often an experience of waiting in the face of delay.To listen to some , prayer is easy. For others, prayer is the way we get our spiritual vibrations twanged. To listen to others, prayer is the way to get material wealth. For yet others, prayer is the answer-machine where God clearly addresses all questions and eases our pains of various kinds. The truth is that prayer has costs that are as much, if not more, than is given. It can even generate more questions than answers. Prayer is work …….ora is labora! Actually, prayer is a lot like …….well, wrestling…… with God. Jacob wrestled with God, struggled with God, through a long night until the break of day. The people who know the most about prayer are the ones who have practised hopeful, confident prayer in the face of God’s silence and keep on striving to learn as much about themselves as they do to convince God to do something.

Most of life is defined by waiting with questions far more than being awash in answers. Otherwise, why are scriptures filled with images of waiting upon God? Why does the Psalmist ask God to explain delays? How many times have we prayed and prayed for one of God’s promises to be fulfilled only to hear God’s long silences? This experience of delay represents a moment of spiritual crisis, a time to choose how we will respond. What will I do? How will I respond in the face of the silence? Despair? Easy answers because better that than to wait patiently for the real one? Is it to abandon confidence in God or to decide that He is permanently absent?

No. In the face of a delayed promise, we are to pray like a brash and bold widow giving a black eye (that’s the force of the language here) to a nasty, cynical, uncaring old judge. Pray with confident intensity — pray without ceasing. Pray with trust and confidence in God, who is worthy of it. Don’t pray in despair. Don’t lose heart. God will come to you. He loves to come face-to-face with those who are wanting to get up into His face and thereby closer to His heart and mind. Now, He may say no, slow, grow….or He may say ….Go ( Schuller ) ! Here it is , exactly as you had hoped,, yet even better than your expected!

 The Psalmist says, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help and my God” (42:5). The time we spend in hopeful, confident prayer, in the face of promises delayed, in the presence of long seasons of silence —  that’s the time that reshapes us into containers able to hold the answer when it finally comes – no matter what the answer is. It’s far more about us being reshaped by God than about us us getting the answer we want. Praying with patience and hope in the face of such deafening silence leads us into what mystical and practical writer/thinker Thomas Merton calls “pure prayer,” —  prayer no longer focused on the self, prayer no longer even focused on prayer, but prayer which has come to focus the soul completely  on God, on being face-to-face with Him, willingly binding one’s self as a servant to His desires for us more than our desires for our own answers.

Jesus finishes the parable with a haunting, daunting question. “When the Son of Man does come, will he find faith on earth?” Folks, will you and I still be alive in God, in spite of our delays in receiving an answer to prayers? Or will he find us having given up, given in to despair? Will our hearts still be open to receive the answer we have wanted for so long? Will our lives still be turned toward God who has always turned His heart towards us? Or will we have turned instead to resentment, cynicism, despair? How will the coming of God’s answer find you and me?

Follower-students of Jesus, those who have been taught to pray as he prayed, are like bold, audacious, in-your-face people who demand justice from a crooked judge – who figure what’s the worst that can happen anyway?? Prayer is the medium through which we wear God out if you want to look at it like that, through which we give God a black eye, through which we boldly remind God of His promises, until His final answer comes. Prayer is the way through which we connect with God, through all aspects of life, especially the ones that are dry as a bone. Prayer is the tool  through which we ready ourselves for the answer, since we are often unready to receive God’s answer when we first make the request. God is reshaping us through prayer when we wrestle with Him, as he ‘reshaped’ Jacob into Israel — that’s what is really going on when He is face-to-face with me and you.

I’m not going to give in or give up. There are answers that have not yet been given. There are promises God has made to me yet to be filled to their fullest capacity. So, what? Am I going to give up? Shall I just let my relationship with God suffer and go to ruin? How can I do that for God is the only hope I have?! Of all of the relationships I need, my relationship with God is the highest. I will keep my heart and mind open, no matter what. I am like a weaned child, sitting on my mother’s lap, confident in her though I’m not sure what’s coming next. I will try to act every day like that radical  tough persistent woman, asking until I receive, knocking  until it finally unlocks, flinging my prayer into  even silence until an answer finally, and possibile surprisingly,  comes.

The widow never gave up, never lost heart. Neither will I. And neither will you– neither…..will….you. 

Message : “Vapour”, Sunday, August 4, 2013. Lansdowne/Caintown ON Presbyterian Churches

Vapour of vapours….all is vapour….

Sunday, August 4, 2013 LC

Text: Ecclesiastes 1: 2, 12-14 and 2: 18-23; Psalm 49: 1-12; Luke 12: 13-21

Pentecost 12, 2013, Year C Civic Holiday weekend

Message: “ Vapour“

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. I, the Teacher, when king over Israel in Jerusalem, applied my mind to seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy business that God has given to human beings to be busy with. I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind. I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to those who come after me –and who knows whether they will be wise or foolish? Yet they will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is vanity. So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labors under the sun, because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? For all their days are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest. This also is vanity.

Psalm 49:1-12 Hear this, all you peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the harp. Why should I fear in times of trouble, when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me, those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches? Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life, there is no price one can give to God for it. For the ransom of life is costly, and can never suffice that one should live on forever and never see the grave. When we look at the wise, they die; fool and dolt perish together and leave their wealth to others. Their graves are their homes forever, their dwelling places to all generations, though they named lands their own. Mortals cannot abide in their pomp; they are like the animals that perish.

Luke 12:13-21 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

In one of the congregations we served, there was a retired professional man  who also deeply loved studying the scriptures. He had an intellectual curiosity to match his spiritual enthusiasm. Long ago, he started wondering about the word ‘vanity’ as found in Ecclesiastes; he felt that there must be a differing meaning than what we would assume when we use it. After exhaustive research, he wrote a treatise detailing why he believed the meaning could be better grasped in our present days by using the word ‘vapour’: “Vapour of vapours…all is vapour and a chasing after wind….” This truly is a helpful way to get hold of the sense of how fleeting life, its’ activities and enthrallments are, as laid out rather starkly in the Hebrew Scriptures of Ecclesiastes and the Psalm . Even in the gospel reading, Jesus’ parable ramps up a complementary lesson. Now, we know the Teacher of Ecclesiastes was well-known by Jesus and his listeners; they would have heard echoes of the Preacher/Teacher from their own scriptures when this Rabbi Yeshua has God directly addressing the rich man, calling him a fool whose life was, in that moment, soberingly short…..

In the middle of summer 2013, on a civic-holiday weekend Lord’s Day, let us have ears to hear what the Teacher/Preacher and Jesus are saying to us about the pursuit of happiness and its’ attendant securities as well as its’ more ephemeral, will-o-the wisp nature.

Ecclesiastes is traditionally thought to have been written by Solomon, supposedly the wisest man that ever lived — though one might wonder when looking at his personal life. He had obviously thought deeply; much of what is called ‘wisdom literature’ in the Hebrew Scriptures comes in his era, even from his mind directly. His dark conclusions are captured in this one anguished rhetorical question: “ What do mortals get from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? “ His conclusion is stark and hopeless: whatever we get is vapourous, prone to disappearance in the blink of an eye. Experientially, we know this to be true; it is a self-evident truth needing no further argument.

Let us see what Jesus has for the younger brother in his crowd. Apparently, as was the law, the older brother got all the inheritance. It started getting under Younger’s skin one day; so, as was the custom, he came to a rabbi he trusted: “ Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me. “ Essentially, Jesus said, like Pope Francis did this past week: who set me to be judge or decision-maker in your life? Deal with it yourselves….. then, he turns it into the teachable moment as was his custom.

This Saturday, we’re having a yard-sale to get rid of the last vestiges of our stuff. These are things, in almost every instance, that we haven’t used for years. It is stuff that has become nonsense. Right now, I’m of a mind to call the yard-sale aspect off @ noonhour, have a truck waiting and take the rest to the local dump. I even have to pay a tipping fee for that! As we get older, and hopefully wiser, it becomes clear: the less stuff , the better. This story makes it clearer as to why stuff can become a barrier to real riches.

The problems this rich man had were more than one:

• he was talking to himself. There is no indication that he had anyone else in his life which made life worth living. So, he ends up rich in things but poor in relationships. Family, friends and others in our lives have a way of unselfing us of ourselves; otherwise, our universe become very small .

• He had a great year for harvest – no problem there. Farmers have lean years and good years and they need places to store their harvest. But this year was such a good one that he didn’t have enough room. The problem detailed here? He seemed to have a blind spot about sharing his stuff for the greater good of humankind. It didn’t occur to him to give away his stuff, even from his abundance, let alone in the years when he stomach was rubbing up against his spine, I would bet. A generous spirit seemed to have been crowded out with too much of a good thing.

• I, yi-yi, yi-yi! I will pull down, I will build larger, I will store, I will say to myself….. and so on. He seemed to have what someone in our past called a ‘ charisma bypass’ . His entire focus was upon his own pleasures, with no thought for those who were in great need as was so profoundly evident in his day. He reminds us of the cartoon-seagulls in the movie “Finding Nemo” whose cries were translated by the cartoonists into the English language: Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!

• The big problem which elicited God’s direct and devastating derision? That he had forgotten, until it was too late for him, to ask the ultimate question: what happens next after I die? What are the ultimate concerns for which I need to prepare? Do I know about others and care for others? Far more important: do I know God, do I care about Him?

Friends and family, that’s what blasphemy is – the unforgivable sin of acting over the long haul as if God doesn’t matter. It’s worse for those who are believers: blasphemia/ slander is going ahead on my own – on your own – as if He doesn’t exist or matter in that instance because we just think God gets in the way of what we want to do.

Luke is the only gospel writer including this parable and he tucks in, after this story, the teachings of Jesus we usually associate with the sermon on the hillside aka the Sermon on the Mount that we have connected with Matthew’s gospel. Seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness first is the issue of primary importance for both rich AND poor. We can be just as, if not more so, focused on stuff and bigger barns and more storage space whether we live paycheque to paycheque or if we never have to worry about money again except how to best invest it.

Solomon and his father David, the Psalmist, both understood from their own wonderful, terrible life-experiences that all is indeed a vapour – here today, gone tomorrow. We do well to listen to God speaking through them — to me and I — and you and yourself today – especially in the dog days of summer when all things may be going well for us….. in the moment…….we think.

Two big lessons to learn:

First: our priorities rightly draw Jesus’ attention.

There was nothing at all wrong in building bigger to take care of larger crops. It was that he was unprepared for the possibility – even the fact in his case – that this also happened to be his last night alive! God wasn’t being unfair to him; actually, a case could be made that God gave the man a great gift: time to put his affairs in proper order. The man’s time had come and he had given zero-space to the idea of his own earthly absence. He had no relationship with the one with whom he was going to be forever in a time beyond time – whoever that might be. He had no relationships with his fellow human beings, nothing beyond a utilitarian give-and-take one: you give, I’ll take. A person’s life is not rated or valuable or she in what he owns. Forever-life is in a relationship with One who gives us life in the first place let alone who redeems it and sustains it; then , also , we are taught to share this abundant life with others in this world , as a rehearsal for the grace of God who ultimately gives us everything . All else in this world: vapour and vanity.

The quarreling brothers were being told by Rabbi Jesus: guys, fellas – you’re owned by what you think you own. Like the brothers and the foolish rich man, we too playaround with life, often doing a less-than-adequate job in recognizing what’s most important. We like to tell success stories about ourselves and our children and that’s OK. They may be great success stories, yours and mine, but Jesus says it doesn’t amount to anything at all…… if we aren’t rich toward God and other people.

Life is a place and time to learn how to make right decisions, wise decisions. We are given opportunities to choose between unimportant and important – even tougher, among good/better/best. When you and I think of the time we invest, the gifts of our selves we share until it truly really hurts, the money we sacrifice, are we putting God first in life? Are we prepared to meet him face to face today? I am only stating facts when asking it this way: if we were not visible in this world tomorrow, will we have had our priorities straight? Will others think so? Will God think so?

Second: Jesus graciously goes way beyond his discernments about us, eternally beyond , by matching his justice with an unconditional love for us.

The good news is that there is a measure of grace in what Jesus teaches us in this harsh life-lesson. Parents know how it is with your children. You may note out loud to them, even others, a lack of promptness or discipline. You help them polish up their people-skills, to do better in the courtesy department and they sass you back, “You’re always on my case. You don’t care about me at all!” The truth is that we say what we say because we do care. Otherwise, we’d let them do whatever they “ bloomin’ well pleased” , as my father used to put it. Jesus’ stern admonition to the people back then was a sign of his love for them and up through the centuries for us. Every part of life is an opportunity to come closer to God, growing up to be His better children in His way of thinking, being and acting. If we allow ourselves to be distanced from Him by our own rebellious sassiness by giving ourselves lock, stack and barrel to the things of this world, then we will have completely missed the point of life. We will come empty-handed to Him for no good reason and with zero excuses.

Even more good news : he shows us how to live as free women and men, girls and boys . We will then not have a life in which we are tied to stuff and nonsense, but to our love for God and thereby for other people – wonderful, wildly different, people that are God’s gifts to us. By Jesus’ prayer life, his regular visits to synagogue and temple, time intentionally invested in caring for, teaching and loving others how to be and do what he was and was was doing – Jesus is His own parable, showing us a freedom from the kind of life which commits so much time to only investing in, caring for and getting rid of the craziest of things. In investing himself in us by crawling onto the cross, he surrendered the only actual possession he had as a human being: his very own self. He used a couple of pieces of wood, did this Carpenter, to very visibly give Himself away rather than hiding Himself away for His own use.

We live in another time and place today. We are not about to surrender all that we have to walk into our lives with only our sandals and clothes on our back. Neither does God ask us to do so. We are, however, constantly reminded by Jesus to trust that the life he gave for us at the cross – His very own life – lives in biggest and best barns He could possibly building. We are His Temple. Apparently, there is in London a plaque within St. Paul’s Cathedral paying homage to the architect, Christopher Wren. It says, “If you would seen his monument, look around you. “ We are not only Christ’s barns: we are His cathedrals. He lives within us and empowers us with, not vapour, but gloriously, beautifully……..the very breath of God, the spirit of God, the wind of God.

What would fill me and you fuller: — gathering more things, or sharing more of myself and yourself with others? What is the substance of our own ongoing serious reflection about the big questions of life? Could it be that we were created to be filled differently than are those who are enthralled by the vapours of this life: as people who shared more of ourselves, willingly, freely, lovingly with spouse, children, neighbor, friend?

The good news for us is that the one who said, “you fool” is also the one who said “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” . ( I’d like to know what that rich man did in the next and last few hours of his life. Surely, the tough, loving grace of God awakened him!) The wonderful grace of Jesus helps us to know that there are some choices in this world that make us truly rich.

Message: How Much God Has Done for You. Sunday, June 23, 2013. Lansdowne/Caintown Presbyterian Churches, Ontario.

 

 

 

Sunday, June 23, 2013 LC

Text: Isaiah 65: 1-9; Ps. 22: 19-28; Gal. 3: 23-29; Luke 8: 26-39

Pentecost 5, 2013, Year C Marie away w/kids

Message: “ How Much God has Done for You “

Isaiah 65:1-9 I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask, to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, “Here I am, here I am,” to a nation that did not call on my name. I held out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and offering incense on bricks; who sit inside tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat swine’s flesh, with broth of abominable things in their vessels; who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.” These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all day long. See, it is written before me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will indeed repay into their laps their iniquities and their ancestors’ iniquities together, says the LORD; because they offered incense on the mountains and reviled me on the hills, I will measure into their laps full payment for their actions. Thus says the LORD: As the wine is found in the cluster, and they say, “Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,” so I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them all. I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah inheritors of my mountains; my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall settle there.

Psalm 22:19-28 But you, O LORD, do not be far away! O my help, come quickly to my aid! Deliver my soul from the sword, my life from the power of the dog! Save me from the mouth of the lion! From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me. I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you: You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel! For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him. From you comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the LORD. May your hearts live forever! All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.

Galatians 3:23-29 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Luke 8:26-39 Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”– for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

I’ve been reading an updated version of a book read 20 years ago: the name has been slightly amended to now read Kingston: Building on the Past for the Future. When first read, I picked it up at the local library in Toronto while living in the historic Guildwood Village on the shores of Lake Ontario, just up the coast a bit from here. It had turned on some aha lights in my mind.

 In the updated version, there is a series of small maps of the hinterlands of Kingston, in a section about old Kingston’s desire to develop a “populous back country” . They each have a meandering line detailing where the Canadian Shield ends its’ long crawl from ‘way up north. For the first time, intuitive thoughts were corroborated about where the boundary of the Canadian Shield is in relationship to my hometown of Verona. Indeed, It is just south of Verona. I can tell you the limestone rock-cut between Verona and Hartington where one drives out of the Shield and into the beginning of the ancient limestone striations of the glacial ocean which has pretty much receded into Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. It’s an area called the Long Swamp and I remember my father recounting of how countless roads built across Long Swamp( part of Hwy 38) disappeared into the mire until, finally, bedrock was reached. I love the fact that I grew up in the bogs, swamps, lakes, streams and arboreal forest area north of the southern boundary of the Canadian Shield. I intend to be buried in the Verona Cemetery on the edge of the lake by which I lived there – one we all called Rock Lake.

 One of my former pastors from those days, who also grew up and had roots deep into the Canadian Shield in Verona, often quoted something we read recently in worship. It’s been on my mind a lot ever since, even while reading Brian Osborne and the late Donald Swainson’s book about Kingston. Here it is :

Psalm 16: 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.When the Rev. Snider would intone those words, it was with absolute sincerity and a romantic nostalgia which I am only now in life beginning to understand. It has to do both with the gauzy remembrances of this old son of Verona as well as with the far more important truth which applies to all who have been blessed by the presence of the living God in their lives.

 How much God has done for us! We are within the strong boundary-lines of His grace, grounded firm and deep in the Saviour’s love, anchored to the rock which cannot move. In the Bible study of Wednesday evening @ Lansdowne church, we have been exhorted by Paul to displace all of the old way of living with praises and the giving of thanks for what God has done for us.

 That’s the thread that runs through all of the scripture lessons today, even the epistle which at this time of the Christian year isn’t supposed to link up with the rest of the readings thematically. I want to simply walk quickly through these portions while thinking together about how much God has done uniquely for each one of us. If we are sitting or standing here today, let us praise God and thank Him for the boundary lines, the goodly heritage which has been and is ours. Let us overflow with deep gratitude for our respective joys. Have there been sorrows, even tragedies, for us? Of course, for we are human beings caught both in a fallen world and in the consequences of our own foolishnesses; however, we have put off our old selves by the grace of God, we have been renewed in our minds, and we have put on our new selves – all by virtue of being loved by God. The old has past, the new has come! Thanks be to God!

 Isaiah 65: God is talking here to His people, telling them how much He has been trying to get their attention: “Here I am, here I am”. He has been overwhelmingly generous to them, pouring out love lavishly. Yet, they go off and worship other gods on other mountaintops, as Sir John Gielgud intones in the movie Chariots of Fire. They talk back to God: “Stay away from us, we are too holy for you! “ God is tempted to get revenge on their insensitivity to His profligate love; yet, for his servant’s (singular) sake, God holds His fire and promises to bring forth descendants: my mountains, my chosen, my servants shall settle in this new land.

Folks, that servant is Jesus. Those servants are us, the church , the Body of Christ which is walking around in year 2013. We have a goodly heritage, the boundary lines have fallen for us in pleasant places. God is still jumping up and down, waving his hands, holding them out to a rebellious people. He is the self-revealing God that is foolishly in love with people who tell Him to go away, they want to be left alone. How much God has done for us and for those who will get over ridiculous rebellions. The goodly heritage is available to all upon whom is finally dawns that they are within the circle of God’s love.

Psalm 22: this is the Psalm from which Jesus quoted on the cross : “Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani – my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” In good Hebrew rabbinic fashion, Jesus knew that those around who heard him would know that Psalm’s full message – the good, the bad, the ugly truths — of the love of God – the agony of being seemingly abandoned by Him – the reality of suffering and pain. He knew that the Psalm came to the great truth that God’s love drew a circle that takes us in – into the goodly heritage, the pleasant places. It may be through trials and temptations, through suffering and pain, through a dark night of the soul, but in Christ Jesus, His person and His work – we are drawn within the boundary lines of God’s grace. “The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek Him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever! “

Sisters and brothers, we are to let our praise of God, our giving of thanks to Him be genuine, over-the-top – our praises of God’s provision to be overflowing. We are the poor who eat and are satisfied, those who seek and are satisfied, those whose hearts live forever!

 Galatians 3: Now, remember: the people of the area called Galatia were being corrected by Paul. Somehow, they had come under the spell – again – of those who were suggesting that they needed to come back under the laws-regime of the old way of thinking about God. Paul writes to remind them that those laws were only guardrails to keep them from flying off the road. For years, whenever this mental image of God’s laws being guardrails came to my mind, it was the very guardrails right next to the limestone rock cut mentioned earlier. If you were traveling south on Hwy. 38, just after you passed the huge rock formation on your right, there was a significant dip in the road at the bottom of a hill. And, yes, there were guardrails on both sides going up that hill! Why? Because there had been many accidents caused by cars hitting that dip at the bottom of the hill; then, they flew off either side of the hill when their vehicles became airborne! That’s what Paul is saying to the people: God’s laws are guardrails to keep you from flying off the road. BUT NOW, faith has come. The guardrails are no longer necessary. Through faith in Him, we are God’s children. We have come up from the waters of baptism with new clothes on – hand-me-ups with a new label: Made New by Jesus! We are wearing Jesus-clothes, the brand by which we are identified. It matters not your chosen or non-chosen status, slavery or free citizenry is not the issue; even your very maleness or femaleness are not the issue. The issue is, are you wearing the brand of clothing made by Jesus that reflect His work and His person? Then, you are one in Christ Jesus. Pay attention to what matters, not to the old peripheral divisions that used to define you. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. YOU, o church , are a brand new nation that God is creating!

 Friends, neighbours, family: the boundary lines have changed. Our goodly heritage is Jesus. We get to be heirs along with Him of all that God has offered, freely , to all people that want to have a do-over in their lives. We inherit what was thought to belong only to those who kept the 613 laws of the Hebrew Scriptures. It’s a gift given with all of God in it and it’s wrapped in clothing that has Jesus written all over it! Now that’s a goodly heritage and a boundary with which you and I and all can gladly live!

 Luke 8: It’s essential to know that the country where the unfortunate man lived was where the Gentiles lived. That means it was not within the pale of acceptable society. Hence, the swine lived there, in more ways than one! For our purposes, that’s all that is necessary to note from the bulk of the gospel lesson today. Let us focus upon the last few verses. This former unfortunate understandably wanted to go back to the right side of the boundary-line ( the sea of Galilee) with Jesus and His followers – who can blame him? The country on the east side of Galilee was the scene of some pretty wretched memories altogether and the prospect of potential future persecutions. Yet, Jesus didn’t need any more groupies; further, He knew enough about humanity to know that this man was going to be far more effective in the Decapolis, his home area, than he ever would have been back in the land of the ‘chosen’ people. “ Return to your home; declare how much God has done for you. “ And look what it says, it’s fascinating in that it shows how much this guy got it: “ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much JESUS had done for him. “ ! For this man, God and Jesus were one and the same. An argument could be made that he was one of the first apostles – the sent ones – that Jesus personally commissioned to be such. Paul, who called himself an apostle , one who was abnormally born, had no greater call upon his life that his formerly demon-possessed man had. He simply believed that the God who had done so much for him was the Jesus that had done so much for him. He viscerally understood what Jesus’ closest followers had ongoing trouble grasping: Jesus was and is God. The boundary lines around his life had been redrawn.

 The old poem ‘Outwitted’ comes to mind. It’s a bit difficult to understand grammatically, but somehow, as poetry is prone to do, the whole of it rather mystically speaks to the healed Gerasene man’s situation:

 “He drew a circle that shut me out—

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!“
–Edwin Markham

 Fellow apostles, you and I are that man. We are those who have been redrawn within the boundaries of God’s loving plan for humankind. We are those that are to return to our homes and declare how much God has done for us.

 Thus it is written, thus it shall be done………… 

Meanderings: A Deep-Settled Peace

Recently, the phrase ‘deliriously peaceful’ laid itself down upon a carpet in a warm corner nearby. Hard to say its’ source; like a stray animal, it scratched at the door and was let in. Ever since, it has simply been there and now beckons me to come and scratch behind its’  ears –to play awhile just for the fun of it. 

Perhaps it is because there is a birthday looming — not one of the ‘biggies’ yet somehow important to a growing certainty that life has taken a different — and welcomed — turn. We have discovered ourselves to be in another land of beginning again; wait —  perhaps it’s time to rephrase that loved poetic phrase a tad : a discovery that we have come full circle to the place where we began.

Presently, we are living in a beautiful old downtown apartment, within sight of the hospital where both I and our daughter were born. It is an historic city  where we have been privileged to serve over half of our ministry-lives. Now,  we are being given the privilege of being only ‘city-zens’ here in Kingston as I am presently beginning  in a circuit-riding ministry to the east of us .  There is a peculiar pleasure of being able to walk outside as part of the neighbourhood, and just ‘be’ ; before, I was ‘the minister of the church just up the street’ . Now, I’m  a ‘ministry-guy’ who lives in Kingston and serves elsewhere. We are back to the circuit-riding  regimen of long ago — and that’s just fine with me.  Marie and I each grew near and in …..villages — she as a dairy farmer’s daughter, I as a grocer’s son. So, we are enjoying the best of both worlds: city and country, urban and rural, here and there, on our own but deeply engaged in the Body of Christ elsewhere than where we have our home. It wasn’t expected, after about 35 years of urban-based church-life, but it is a welcomed change of pace. Is it slower? No, but it is more measured — a life which allows for some shaping of things rather than being shaped by the busyness of urban lives and their more kinetic, sometimes frantic pace. 

There is more to it than only that, though; somehow, the change of ministry-venue and geographic location has given us the gift of being mindful and reflective. After some rather tumultuous years of chosen ( and unchosen ) changes, life has become more …….human-sized…..again. ‘Acting rather than acted upon’  may well describe the difference between then and now……trusting that all things will indeed work together for good as has been shown to us many times but never moreso than this very minute.

That has to be part of what ‘shalom’ is: that biblical and Hebraic word which is more slippery than one would think. We usually think of ‘peace’ ( shalom ) as being the absence of difficulties, complexities, strife , wars; instead, it turns out that it is more mysterious and marvelous than that. A deep, settled peace can happen to any one of us at even the most complex, potentially disequilibrating times in life.  One can have shalom in the middle of war. It is the sense of that which has the benefit of also being true: God is with us and that is the best of all. It is the Sense of the Presence, a peace which passes all understanding — a peace that the world cannot give, cannot understand and, thankfully….cannot take away. 

Shalom, sisters and brothers……..shalom……..

Message: Remembrance Day/ Sunday, November 11, 2012, Lansdowne and Caintown Presbyterian Churches, Ontario, Canada

Anything but a quiet week……

 

 

 

Date – November 11, 2012 Place – LC

Scripture – 1 Kings 17: 8-16; Psalm 146; Hebrews 9: 24-28; Mark 12: 38-44
Other – P + 24; Remembrance Day/ Sunday; Session next evening

 

SERMON: ” More than All Those ”

Mark 12:38-44

As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

[Here is a word of assurance to those concerned about their deceased loved ones. It says that God has the living and the dead in Christ in good care and the end is the same: one of glory and of life lived in the presence of God. Grief need not overwhelm them as they have hope in the resurrection. There is today a growing concern in parts of the world-church about the return of the Lord. The thrust of this text is not to worry about these things – for the time is not known to us – but to encourage one another, to live in hope and confidence that God has all these things under control. Preparedness and readiness are all we can offer as we wait for the coming of the Lord.]

 

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
4:14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.
4:15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.
4:16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.
4:18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

“It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my hometown…” For over 30 years, that’s been the beginning line of a story spun out every week on a radio program called Prairie Home Companion. It’s about a fictional place , based upon an actual town where the narrator grew up. We could change the name of the town, and say the same thing – well, it’s been either a quiet week OR sometimes quite a week in Kingston, or Lansdowne or Mallorytown or …. or, my hometown, my neighbourhood, my life….

That’s true, frankly, about these past few weeks. Lots of things have happened. 2 Sundays ago , we recalled the Reformation of the church 495 years ago. That same week, it was All Hallow’s Eve, an end of a month, which also felt like the beginning of something, for it was also only a week ago Thursday November 1^st and All Saints’ Day when the Church historically remembers Christian giants upon whose shoulders we stand today, people thought of as saints.. Friday, November 2, was All Souls’ Day when we remember those personally-known giants, people who modelled before you and me what it means to be Christians but who will never be named as saints by any church hierarchy – people like us who wanted to live Christianly and did so in lesser-known ways in ways that affected us. This week may also have contained other joys and sorrows for each of us, gains and loss — making these past few days quite a week indeed, and anything but a quiet one.

As always, this time of the year brings forth fields of poppies that grow in our hearts and on our lapels. Perhaps you remember one special veteran who died on fields of battle, or several that you’ve known in the years since. Like my own veteran father who died on October 31 twelve years ago, you recall with pride the one in your family or circle of friends who lived with quiet distinction in your hometown.If they were those who also were vets in the battle of living Christianly, then their scars somehow were used to bring you a clearer picture of how to live in your personal life. Their example may have had some kind of family resemblance to Jesus, to the very character and nature of God, and it changed you forever. That’s what heroes do — they draw us upward and outward, to God and to others, by their example of living , and dying, well.

I was deeply impressed by 2 Remembrance ceremonies held this past Friday – along Remembrance Road in Mallorytown and at Thousand Islands Elementary School in Lansdowne. Each had differing ways of somberly honouring those who gave the last full measure of their devotion to their families, their countries and their love of freedom. To see both veterans and very young children coming together in a shared awe of what our military has done to fight for freedom which is never free was awe-inspiring and causes us all to want to be better citizens specifically and more just and loving people specifically.

In the light of this day and week and season of the year, we do well to pause and ask questions of primary importance. In that cause, we are aided by Paul who shares with us some thoughts about what our eternal alliances to things eternal means.

In the letter he’s written to newer Christians, Paul tells his original readers and us the answer to that question: what happens when we die? He says: you should, + you can live always with the Lord. Up to this point, he’s encouraged and praised them in their walk with God, he’s reminded them of what it means to be Christians who make a difference. In this 4^th chapter, clear teaching about living pure lives and loving other people has been given. Then, he goes on to address their concerns for believers who have died.

Now, why would they be asking these kinds of questions? Simple – because they’re like us! We wonder the same kinds of things about what happens to those who die, because we’re human beings. Our lives are referenced in relationships and when our relational circle is broken, we wonder what has happened to them, we feel profound loss, and we ask the reasonable question: is that all there is? To that plaintive query, God gives us his answer through Paul: NO! There’s much more to life.

This portion of scripture gives us a few handles to grab in getting hold of this mysterious future for our loved ones and for us. Now, we don’t know all that we would like about the future and what we do know is still shrouded in some mystery; however, brothers and sisters, one thing that is very clear from the scriptural record is that we will always be with the Lord. One of Paul’s favourite phrases, used often in some form in his letters is being “in Christ Jesus”. It’s so important to understanding Paul’s writings that theologians have dubbed this ‘the Pauline formula’. God being intimately connected to his creation through living, loving relationships — that was the irreducible minimum for Paul, who wanted people to know God as intimately as he did himself.

So in this part of the letter, he essentially says: Friends, those relationships you had before, with brothers and sisters/mothers and fathers/ friends/ neighbours – they don’t ever have to end. How should you live — with hope, with true knowledge, without despair. Relationships will continue forever, both with the Lord and with others that you have known in Christ Jesus.

Paul’ logical mind in this letter leads to theological truth and it goes like this.

• Jesus died and rose again. The basis of our hope is in the knowledge that Jesus somehow made death dance backwards, as one has put it. It’s possible that there had been some false teaching among the Thessalonians during the months since the church had begun, ideas that are still rampant today – that life is nasty, brutish and short, then you die – or that all there is to life is to die with the most toys – or that history tells us that it’s all going to disappear so eat, drink, be merry for tomorrow we die. No, Paul writes: Jesus’ life, death and resurrection makes that all different! Now, we know from our experience that the living God who brought Jesus back from death will also bring us back with him — we will always be with the Lord.
• Then, according to Jesus’ own words, God has a sense of humour – for those who already have died in him get to go first, before those of us who are still alive on earth. As Eugene Petersen puts it in The Message: ‘when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get the jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they’ll be ahead of us.’ What Paul has in mind here is the truth that our bodies will be dead but our spirits will be alive from the moment of our physical death and will be with Jesus always. Some versions of scripture use the word ‘sleep’ as a substitute for bodily death, not the soul’s death, and makes sense of this next section. And Paul writes, it’s only logical, then, since they died first, then they will go first in line to be with the Lord, with new resurrection bodies like the differing one that Jesus had when he was raised.
• There will be the shout of command, the archangel’s voice, the sound of God’s trumpet, and the Lord himself will come down from heaven. Again, we see here the reality that, if we are believers, we will be always with the Lord. Paul’s main concern in life was that people believed that Jesus was God. The whole of the record about Paul’s life points to the radical change in his life due to that experience on the road to Damascus. Jesus, who had died as far as Saul/Paul knew , spoke to there, as recorded in Acts 9. Paul caught on : Jesus is alive, and he raised me from the dust of the Damascus road to a brand new way of understanding God. I can know God, and so can anyone else, by believing in Jesus. For Paul, resurrection wasn’t just in the sweet by and by . NO! It was for here and now, eternity begins for the believer as soon as one is brought back to new life in Christ. And our physical death, then, is only a minor blip on the chart of being always with the Lord. Always begins now in this life and continues on to forever, with our Lord being first to be raised and leading the parade when all who believe in him are raised.
• Then, we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Petersen puts it like this: “Oh, we’ll be walking on air!” Somehow both those who were are newly resurrected and those who are still living and believing on earth will get to be together in that event when Jesus shows up again! On cop shows, the officers ar back at the precinct office and realize that the criminal they’ve been pursuing has been seen by someone who phones in; so, they say to the desk-sargeant, ‘ we’ll go out and snatch him up.’ And that’s it! He’s removed from society. Somehow, when we least expect it, we’ll be snatched up to be with the Lord forever. There are lots of differing ideas as to how long these many actions take, all together, but we know for sure that…..
• …… we will always be with the Lord. So, then, encourage one another with these words, Paul writes. Whether we have had quiet weeks, or quite a week, our hope is in this: Jesus loves us, this we know, and he wants us to be with him forever.

Friends, there are some simple truths from Paul’s letter teaching things which are clear:

1. Jesus died and rose again, and set the example for what will happen to us if we believe in God through him and live for him.
2. The Lord Jesus will be coming back in a dramatic way in God’s good timing, just as he came in a dramatic way as a human being.
3. The dead in Christ will rise up first, then living believers will join the party.
4. We can always be, now and always, in a forever-family,with the Lord Jesus.

 

Brothers and sisters, in these days of endings and beginnings, in this changing season of the year, in this reflective time of remembrances of saintly heroes and the glorious fallen war dead — it’s a good thing to think about the God who loves us so much that he went to war with the enemy of our souls and gave up everything of Himself in giving us the gift of His one and only child Jesus, sent to a foreign land to do battle for our futures —– so that we could live forever, forever, forever. Our main concern today is the decision to follow Jesus now , so that we can be with Him and loved ones always. Let’s pray….

 

 

Message: Not Far From the Kingdom , November 4th, 2012, Lansdowne Church of the Covenant and Caintown St. Paul’s Presbyterian Churches, Ontario, Canada.

So….whaddya think? Have you met a saint and could it possibly be you?

Date – November 4, 2012 Place – LC

Scripture – Deuteronomy 6: 1-9; Psalm 119: 1-8; Hebrews 9: 11-14; Mark 12: 28-34
Other – P + 23; All Saints/All Souls Sunday

 

SERMON: ” Not Far From the Kingdom ”

 

Deuteronomy 6:1-9
6:1 Now this is the commandment–the statutes and the ordinances–that the LORD your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy,
6:2 so that you and your children and your children’s children, may fear the LORD your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long.
6:3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.
6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.
6:5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
6:6 Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.
6:7 Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.
6:8 Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead,
6:9 and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Psalm 119:1-8
119:1 Happy are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD.
119:2 Happy are those who keep his decrees, who seek him with their whole heart,
119:3 who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways.
119:4 You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.
119:5 O that my ways may be steadfast in keeping your statutes!
119:6 Then I shall not be put to shame, having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
119:7 I will praise you with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous ordinances.
119:8 I will observe your statutes; do not utterly forsake me.

Hebrews 9:11-14
9:11 But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation),
9:12 he entered once for all into the Holy Place, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, with the sprinkling of the ashes of a heifer, sanctifies those who have been defiled so that their flesh is purified,
9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to worship the living God!

Mark 12:28-34
12:28 One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?”
12:29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;
12:30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
12:31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
12:32 Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’;
12:33 and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’ –this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
12:34 When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question.

You may be like me at this time of the year. We have turned our clocks back to regain the hour we lost last spring, inwardly amused that people all over the world have arrived for church an hour earlier than was needed; then, Hallowe’en has reminded us of our own childhood escapades on chilly October evenings gathering up more candy than anyone should have in a lifetime; you have raked and rid yourself of leaves by the hundreds of thousands, just wishing you had the courage to run and jump into piles of them like when you were kids. As November has appeared, you are already seeing or even wearing poppies, even in remembrance of someone in your family, like me with my navy-veteran Dad who died 12 years ago on an early Hallowe’en morning and a great-uncle, army veteran of WWI. In other words, this part of the fall season triggers us to look back in quiet thankfulness to people and times that have retreated into cobwebby corners of our memories. Gone, but not forgotten…..no longer with us, but always in the background like stage-sets as we play our present-day parts – the people, places and experiences we have enjoyed come into sharper focus, for me, in late October and early November, as in no other time of year. This season reminds us: we are part of an historical narrative set into the context of eternity.

I have experienced this in a more pronounced way this year than has been the case for a long time. Perhaps it is the return to our roots by serving in country congregations for the past month; for you folks are now populating our forever-family, the family that ministerial couples see increased over the years as we are called to serve. Because I grew up as a 3-generation grocery store family in a close-knit village of people who seemed more like relatives than fellow-citizens to me, and because Marie grew up on a dairy farm among her massive Italian-American family of over fifty first cousins, aunts and uncles galore and cousins by the dozens – both Lansdowne and Caintown churches feel more like coming home than like new congregations to us.

We are already thinking of you as what you are: sisters and brothers, not just congregants. There’s a danger , you know, for ministers – to act as if we have a merely professional relationship with people. Certainly, there are professional aspects to the ministerial role, making high standards of conduct a necessary framework for relationships ; however, it is needful to remember that we are each and all in the process of becoming more like Jesus in his character and nature – including ministers.

Accordingly, let me rescue a somewhat churchly word from near-uselessness: that word is ‘saint’ . Now, recently, you may have heard that a Mohawk women was finally named a ‘saint’ by the Roman Catholic Church. Her name was Kateri Tekakwitha. She was born in the 1600’s in the Mohawk Valley , about 45 miles east of where Marie grew up by the Mohawk River. I visited the place Kateri was born, the site of a Roman Catholic shrine, several years ago in Auriesville, NY. It was during a time when I was researching the historic and geographic connections between Marie’s area and my home-area and realizing how closely we are linked. Only a couple of weeks ago, she was officially placed as the first aboriginal saint by Vatican City. On All Saints Day, we remember ‘famous’ Christians that have been traditionally known as ‘saints’.

Without any disrespect to the Roman Catholic tradition, it is scripturally clear that the word ‘saint’ in the scriptures is used of anyone who is part of the Body of Christ. If you are here this morning and are part of the Body of Christ, you are a saint. Please repeat after me : “I am a saint”. ………… You can never again legitmately say: You know, I’m no saint, but……! The scriptures tell us: yes, you are…..you are called to be saints and you are already living, breathing saints.

How do we know this is true? Paul often addresses the people to whom he writes as saints : in Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae. All of these folks are called ‘oi agioi’ (hoy hawgheeoy) – the saints, or those called to be saints. We know , from the content of those letters, that the members of the congregations there were far from perfect as in ‘without flaws’! We know that WE have a few challenges ourselves, frankly; yet, we too are saints this morning. The saints marching in…..are us!

So what makes a saint a saint? The word saint is used in so many ways. We refer to those who have led exceptionally devout lives as examples to all of us of how to live a good and holy life but who have gone on to a wider life in eternity; people like Sister Theresa, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and others. The original disciples of Jesus are referred to as Saint this or that, though we are less likely to do so in our part of the Christian tradition.

There is, however, another aspect to being a saint, those whom we call the saints on earth, the saints mentioned in Scripture. Paul would say baptism is a mark of sainthood. The writer of the Revelation to John in his heavenly vision puts it another way “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them;”

We are called ‘saints’ because of God’s continuing presence among his people; it is God who is intimately and fully holy, it is God who came in the flesh in Christ , who still lives by His Spirit in the middle of us his people. That presence is shot through the entire community of faith. What makes God’s people holy is His presence, not our behaviour — behaviour that is often less than perfect. We can and do move toward becoming more and more like Christ, by the favour and grace of God’s presence and Christ’s work on our behalf!

Slave-ship captain John Newton’s famous hymn “Amazing Grace” brings home the reality that it is God’s gracious presence in the midst of his humanity that makes this kind of sainthood possible. “Amazing grace! how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” Left on our own, we will eventually disappoint our own selves and others around us; with God’s loving grace, we can become more like Christ, by his grace in us and around us always.

We forget that saintliness is much less about perfection than it is about transformation. We, who are God’s messy saints in the real world, are called to allow the presence of God be a transforming influence in our life. For us, sainthood is about the internal person, who we are on the inside. Yes, we are called to do good….. but to always remember that it is the one doing good who receives the most benefit . On this Sunday of the year, God calls us again to be the clay in the hands of the potter, to allow God’s holy presence in our midst to continue to shape our lives and our faith as his saints here on earth. As saints on earth, we are called to live life inside out, living out the mandate that has been given us by the word of the Lord. Be holy, for I am holy. Be my saints-in-process, for I am whole, complete, holy and healing ( the One who makes you whole! )

Jesus’ interaction with the scribe of the gospel lesson is an interesting lesson for us on the All Saints Sunday. The Pharisees and the Sadduccees had already had a go at Jesus, trying to trip him up with some of their never-ending theological disputes among themselves. Each group fought within their circles and then, both groups jealously fought to determine who was the best among them. So, though in Mark, our story today seems benign, Matthew’s version seems to suggest that this scribe is just one more pawn to be played in a lopsided chess game that Jesus was undoubtedly winning.
He asks ‘ which commandment is the first of all ‘? Sounds like an interesting parlour game, rather benign and mildly amusing sport if you will. Embedded in the question , however, is the trap. If one commandment is the first or greatest, then, all the rest are second, third, fourth and/or lesser , by definition. It was seemingly a question that had no politically correct answer. But any answer was fraught with danger: of heresy with its’ immediate and deadly punishments.

But Jesus knew what was in the heart here; so he one-ups his questioner. The Sh’ma Yisroel is the first commandment that is taught to every Jewish child: the Lord is One God, the only one to be loved and with every part of your being. But Jesus adds the other law: that of loving your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.

Two laws morphed into one; you can’t have one without the other! Jesus has conflated the two greatest laws as being the first law!!

Not being far from the kingdom means, however, that there is more than knowing the greatest laws, even the law of love. It is to move from factions to actions, from what is objectively true to doing something about what one believes.

The Scribe,  surprisingly, agrees with Jesus. Jesus in turn is warm in his reply, ‘You are not far from the Kingdom of God’. Not far – but not quite there. A gap remains since right thinking aka orthodoxyy itself is never enough. Coupled with right thinking must go right action. 

Love and justice are words and concepts that can be replaced by two other words: choice and right-doing. Love is a verb and to be into the kingdom fully , to be further up and further into the kingdom requires moving from head to heart to hands and feet. 

As we remember those saints upon whose giant-shoulders  we stand, let us remember: we too are saints, not far from the kingdom. 

This day, this week : tell someone you know that they are saints-in-process. Watch the disbelief ( just like yours when I I had you say that out loud here this morning ) ; then see it change to surprise, wonder and joy! 

This day, this week : talk to someone who has had a positive influence in your life. Tell them why they have been an example to you and let them know how important that has been to you. Then, let them know: to you, they are saints; to God, they are his holy ones, in process of becoming more like Jesus. 

This day, this week and as we prepare for Remembrance Day: lest we forget, we are saints right now, doing whatever it is we are doing in the name of Jesus. Someone is watching our lives to see how we handle it; and Someone is in our lives helping us to do the right thing for God's sake.

Let us pray....... 

Message : “Mercy” , Sunday, October 28, 2012. Lansdowne Church of the Covenant and Caintown St. Paul’s Presbyterian Churches, Ontario, Canada.

I want to see again…….

Date – October 28, 2012 Place – LC

Scripture –Jeremiah 31: 7-9;Psalm 126;Hebrews 7: 23-28; Mark 10:46-52
Other – P + 22; Reformation Sunday; Returning from Frankfort

SERMON: ” Mercy ”

Jeremiah 31:7-9 For thus says the LORD: Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, “Save, O LORD, your people, the remnant of Israel.” See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

Psalm 126 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced. Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.

Hebrews 7:23-28 Furthermore, the former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office; but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently he is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he has no need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for those of the people; this he did once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests those who are subject to weakness, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Mark 10:46-52 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

There is a man named Ron that has been in my mind’s eye for over a week now. Let me tell you why.

A week ago Thursday night, we were just finishing  Bible study @ Lansdowne  and my cellphone rang. Seeing the name on the screen, it was obvious: I needed to accept this call. On the other end of the line was a sad, familiar voice : “ Chris, Bill here….Lois is gone, she died about an hour and a half ago. “ I had been asked by Bill – a well-respected, committed member of the church where my service has just completed at the end of September — to assist at his wife wife’s memorial service whenever the inevitable happened. Lois had been diagnosed with cancer in late August, a mere two months ago and now, she is fully present with the Lord of her life. Bill had already phoned to the new interim minister at St. Andrew’s, yet Tony was already away from Kingston for the week, back near Ottawa where he lives. So, because I know the family , Tony had gladly given me permission to go and be with them about 10 evenings ago. The family members, who had been holding vigil for some time, were all still gathered in Bill and Lois’s home when I arrived as they awaited the funeral-home directors to come. Understandably, I will not share the details of our time together…… but…..

Suffice it to say: it felt like I was walking on holy ground in that lovely condominium-home. Children and grandchildren, other family members were present. The good news is : so was God’s lovely Spirit. It is one of the great privileges that ministers have , to be with families who welcome us in to such poignant times in their lives. That’s when I first met Ron. I could see him, but he couldn’t see me; for Ron is blind. He’s one of Bill and the late Lois Hackett’s adult children . Folks, I think Ron can see a lot of things more clearly than those of us with full vision. He is a gentle soul, a poetic heart walking around and is clearly important to his family’s sense of itself. There were several tributes brought at the church memorial-service, about both Bill and Lois, this past Tuesday. They were all heart-felt and beautifully delivered, some through tears; I could not help but think what a tribute this family was to Bill and Lois’s care and devotion. But the one that sticks with me was written by Ron and was read out by another, a tribute based upon his mother’s last words to him before she died: “Should Be All Right” . Ron was standing there @ the pulpit while it was read to us all, his walking-cane folded under his arm, as he looked out unseeing at the whole congregation. There were many people there from across the city, including several officers of the law. Bill Hackett, Lois’ lamenting husband, had been on the police force of Kingston for over 40 years, and Bill had been the police chief for many of those years. He’s still a valuable part of the Police Services Board. There was their son, Ron, sharing a vision glorious of his mother and what she had meant to him all of those years. It was a powerful and moving service, but for me, it was Ron’s unflinching , poignant poetry in prose that said all that Lois had been to him. I saw Lois because mother and son loved each other……..and because Ron, the blind man, saw a quality of mercy in his mother that reached into his lyrical heart and reminded him that everything should be all right.

The memorial spoke of a woman whose quiet strength energized the whole of an extended family – a family whose father and mother gave themselves away in service to a whole community. It was a powerful example of what can happen when God gets into a man and a woman — so much that they overflow themselves in caring profoundly for others….others known, and not known. Their kindness and mercy to both family and strangers will continue to reverberate throughout the community. I found myself praying for that same quality of grace and mercy to pervade the remaining family members and , indeed, all of us present that day.

“The quality of mercy is not strain’d,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes. “

The Jesus we see in today’s story is absolutely fascinating to me….for the quality of his mercy. When I was a boy, he appealed to my child’s heart and mind, even my secret thought being   that maybe Jesus liked kids more than adults. I had observed that it was Jesus who scolded and shooed the adults away so he could play with the children. But, at this junior-senior stage of my life, there is this vision of another Jesus who most energizes my faith. It is the Jesus in today’s text, for instead of just giving me what I want, this Jesus makes me do most of the work in my own healing.  For Jesus asks me,  as he asks Bartimaeus, “What do you want me to do for you?” In the almost simplistic brilliance of that question, we are forced to decide what is really important in our lives. Bartimaeus’ answer is the answer of someone mature in living the life of faith. “I want to see,” he says. “I want to see the way things truly, authentically are so that I can follow the truth and you,  wherever you may lead me.”

To see the healing power of Jesus’ touch is to see a real world, a world of pain, sin,  evil. It is to see not only soldiers who died in Iraq and are dying in Afghanistan, but also to see the estimated thousands of Iraqi soldiers and civilians killed by bombs. It is to see not only the thousands of victims of the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 , it is also to see the 35,000 children slaughtered by the terrorism of hunger on that very same September 11^th and the countless thousands of Iraqi and Afghani people since. On the other hand, to see with the new eyes of Bartimaeus is to see all the beauty, wonder and grace of God’s beautiful, breathtaking creation. It is to see cruelty, greed and prejudice that people have produced – sometimes foolishly done in God’s name, on His behalf, as if God were the author of cruelty, unfairness and evil  —  and to still understand that , in Jesus, we see the love of God writ largely and clearly.

Today is Reformation Sunday which, for those of us who are part of the Reformed and Protestant tradition, is to be a day of remembrance, celebration and recommitment to the ‘alones’ – scripture alone, God alone, faith alone. Like the early reformers of the sixteenth century , even  like  those upon whose who shoulders they stood from previous centuries — we are also to look today,  thoughtfully and carefully,  at this institution called the church. Only then can we assess just how closely we are embodying the compassionate, merciful heart of Jesus. Because we believe that God is sovereign, that Christ is presently living, and that the power of the Holy Spirit always makes all things new, today , we too  are called to be reformed and always reforming. We are to affirm that we are being healed all the times, in order to see things in new ways, in fresh ways. We are presently and always being called to jump up, to throw off the comfortable cloaks of the past, and to follow Jesus enthusiastically and gratefully into the unknown dangers and the unimagined opportunities of the future.

 Yet ,  when we ask for a new sight, we must be prepared for changed vision, for letting go of fears, myths and  the shortness of vision that have beggared our living for too long.

Someone suggested that “to treat life as less than a miracle is to give up on it.” Well, today, eagerly, painfully, obediently, we who are like Bar timaeus refuse to give up on the miracle called life, called faith,   called Jesus. We are to jump up and grab hold of the guts and grace, the challenges and the mercies of the Christian life.

We are to both give mercy to others, and to say ‘ merci’ to the Lord of life, who gives us a Gift that costs him not less than…..everything!

• This day, this week: think of that one person or situation for which you cannot forgive either God or another human being. Give it up, let it go, anything that’s stopping up the flow of God’s grace and mercy in your life.
• This day, this week: remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. This world is not our home, we are just a-passin’ through. Go to someone who needs to be reminded that our Lord is a God of mercy and grace….. ask them what they want from you……….and give them exactly what they say. I’m not sure who will be the more thankful for such an act of mercy.
• Look for people who are displaying mercy to someone else; when you see them, thank them for being such gracious people. Tell them you are going to pay it forward to someone else.
• Ask God for mercy and forgiveness for something you have carried around like a weight on the shoulders of your heart. Then drop that burden at the foot of the cross and let it roll down the hill and out of sight, into the sea of God’s forgetfulness. And observe the sign: No Fishing Allowed Here!

Mercy ……the gift of kindness to those that don’t deserve it, like us.

Merci …… our gift of thanks to God who gives us all of Himself in Jesus the Christ……. merci beaucoup, Seigneur, thank you

Let us pray……. 

Message : “First Among You” , Sunday, October 21st, 2012. Lansdowne and Caintown ( Mallorytown ) Presbyterian Churches, Ontario.

Attitude, the same as that of Christ Jesus: emptying……….

 

 

 

Date – October 21, 2012 Place – LC

Scripture – Isaiah 53: 4-12; Psalm 91: 9-16; Hebrews 5: 1-10; Mark 10: 35-45
Other – P + 21; Student and Colleges Sunday PCC; Young woman died (previous week) on Parkway near Ivy Lea Village;

SERMON: ” First Among You ”

 

Isaiah 53:4-12
53:4 Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.
53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
53:8 By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people.
53:9 They made his grave with the wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
53:10 Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him with pain. When you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days; through him the will of the LORD shall prosper.
53:11 Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
53:12 Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Psalm 91:9-16
91:9 Because you have made the LORD your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place,
91:10 no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent.
91:11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.
91:12 On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
91:13 You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
91:14 Those who love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name.
91:15 When they call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them.
91:16 With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.

Hebrews 5:1-10
5:1 Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
5:2 He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness;
5:3 and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people.
5:4 And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
5:5 So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”;
5:6 as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
5:7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
5:8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;
5:9 and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
5:10 having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Mark 10:35-45
10:35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
10:36 And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?”
10:37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”
10:38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”
10:39 They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;
10:40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
10:41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.
10:42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.
10:43 But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant,
10:44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
10:45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

There are moments when what is important in life becomes crystal-clear. Just such a time is signified in this:

YUILLE, Sarah Anne – Tragically on Wednesday October 17th, 2012 on the 1000 Islands Parkway. Sarah Anne Yuille of Lansdowne, age 28 years. Beloved partner of Mike Graham. Loving daughter of Pat and Tracy Yuille of Lansdowne. Cherished sister of Lindsay Yuille (Cam) of Hamilton and Ira Burkenia of Belarus. Also survived by her maternal grandmother Margaret Guild of Mallorytown, paternal grandmother Sheila Grant (Wayne) of Belleville and her paternal grandfather Ivan Yuille of Gananoque; as well as several aunts, uncles and cousins. Pre-deceased by her maternal grandfather Thomas Guild. Family and friends may call at the BARCLAY FUNERAL HOME, 1033 Prince St., Lansdowne, Sunday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. The Liturgy of the Christian Funeral will be Celebrated at St. Brendan’s Catholic Church, Rockport on Monday October 22nd, 2012 at 10 a.m. Interment will follow at St. Brendan’s Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, in memoriams to Continued Educational Therapy for Sarah’s favourite 6 year old Gananoque boy, please make cheque payable to “Pat Yuille in Trust“.

Many of you will have known Sarah Anne or her family, her work, her background in this part of the world. There is no need to explain, therefore, how tragic this event is . We all feel this deeply in our inmost selves for it is not difficult to understand that this could have been any one of us. Some of you will know the driver of the other vehicle and how he will have to live with this the rest of his life. How many times have we all driven right by the very spot where this tragedy happened? For years, as Marie and I approached the Thousand Islands Bridge on the Parkway to go see our family in the US, one of our favourite drives in the whole wide world…..we drove where Sarah Anne was driving On Thursday evening, I drove Jackie Truesdell home after Bible Study at Lansdowne; she lives right near where it happened. On Friday, I was at the home of Don and Polly McCuaig in Ivy Lea Village and it happened just up the hill from them. How can we possibly drive by there from now on without remembering Sarah Anne, whose name means ‘beautiful princess’, remembering our thoughts and prayers for her family and friends?!

Yet, let’s also remember for our sakes : life is short and we need to get our priorities in order, no matter if we are young or old, beautiful or plain, well-to-do or poor. There’s an old song that puts it like this: “only one life, ’twill soon be past…..only what’s done for Christ will last.” That’s a far more motivating thought for me than the line that many will think about in the light of Sarah’s death : “Eat, drink and be merry , for tomorrow we die. “ The old song puts the emphasis on what you and I can do for the sake of other people; the hedonistic, libertine sentiment about obeying our appetites for pleasure focuses only on our own , short-term self-interests rather than on what we can do for the sake of people around us in our homes, family, work, school and communities. Folks, we Christians are meant to be about our Father’s business and our Brother Jesus’ call to be servants for the sake of others. This senseless loss just a few days ago and not very far from here makes it clear, making so much else seem petty and unworthy.

The gospel lesson speaks clearly about our motivations in relationship to other people in year 2012. Frankly, everywhere we look these days, we observe a will to power: in politics, in the work place, in educational pursuits, in whatever organizations to which we belong. The will to power is a philosophical concept espoused by Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher. The will to power has been described as : “ achievement, ambition, the striving to reach the highest possible position in life; these are all manifestations of the will to power. “ Frankly, in and of themselves, to be achievement-oriented and ambitious are not evil; indeed, the scriptures have urged us to strive and to seek for the best. However, the proneness we humans have is to seek power for its own sake as well as to have power over others rather than for the sake of others.

I have long observed what may be self-evident truth ; namely, those who want power usually get it and it’s because there are many of us would just as soon not have the responsibility that comes with it! Sometimes, however, even often: those seeking power do so for the wrong reasons and without the gifts and graces that should come with power.

Case in point: James and John, the sons of Zebedee, elsewhere called “Son of Thunder”. One speaker I heard said that these boys-to-men probably had leather robes — something like motorcycle jackets — with their nickname on the back : Sons of Thunder! Remember, they easily left poor old Zeb in the fishing boats when Jesus called them to follow him. Following Jesus may have looked to them like a great adventure, far more exciting and appropriate to their views of themselves. Helping the old man pull in fishing nets for the rest of their lives may well have left them dissatisified, given that they were indeed…..”Sons of Thunder “ , named as such by Jesus Himself later on. They had been businessmen, sure, a good thing and needful, worthy of anyone’s focus in life; but they probably thought they were destined for greater, more important things than that! After all, they were……well, you know!

So, we have this story in Mark; J & J come up to Jesus, having cooked up a scheme to con Jesus into doing whatever they ask. In the gospel of Matthew, it is recorded that their mother was actually the one initiating this request when she brought her boys to Jesus. Imagine the gall of it, the chutzpah it took, no matter if it was Mom or the kids! One could argue that it showed great faith in Jesus’ vision of the future or a parent’s legitimate desire for their children to do well. Whatever the case, Jesus said the smart thing: “Well mother, boys: why don’t you let me in on what you want , then we’ll go from there? “ You see, the family had figured out: this Jesus was destined for greatness and they figured he would need savvy advisers….and who was any smarter and more deserving than them?! So , they asked for the power-positions in the new world-order so that they could be assured of their importance. To be first among their fellow-followers…that would have been a ‘sweet deal’ as it would be put today.

Jesus reminds them of what he had just taught them: with power comes suffering, with privilege comes a terrible responsibility. He also makes clear to them: there are others who may have a more legitimate claim to those roles. That would be up to others to decide; it might even have to be proven in the crucible of experience, whoever had those wonderful and difficult roles. It’s not who you are, Jesus is saying; it’s what you do that shows whether you are worthy of the position.

Self-seeking …..or self-sacrifice? That’s the issue at hand: is the will to power so that we can give ourselves away more and more for the sake of others….or is it to lift ourselves to places where we can tell others what to do and where to go? This specific temptation for those of us in leadership is an ever-present danger…..and each one of us here today is in leadership roles, large or small.

I’ve heard the question posed like this: at the completion of our lives, do we want the people that remember us to talk about our titles, our positions , our prestige …..or do we want witness to be made about what we did for them, for family, friends, communities and the world? The name of the talk was ‘Titles or Testimonies. ‘ It seems that the Sons of Thunder, the sons of Zebedee, even their parents, were interested in the titles and the prestige that came with it, rather than in the challenges that come with suffering, pain and persecution.

When Jesus put the question to them about being able to drink the drink of suffering and be baptized with his baptism of death….they said ‘sure, we can handle that…..”we are able”. But were they? That was yet to be discovered. Jesus let them know, right then and there that they were going to be put to those very tests. With leadership’s power and responsibility comes a whole unknown load of pain and suffering. Acts 12: 2 tells us that James was put to death with a sword by King Herod; John lived through to the end of the century, having to deal with the tough new beginnings of the church, persecutions by various Roman leaders including exile to a lonely Greek island and dying at an extreme old age saying again and again ‘love one another, love one another’ With leadership comes pain, whether we die young or old…….

The other ten were probably no better than those young whippersnappers, for they may well have had intentions of their own. They had not righteous but jealous anger that the Sons of Thunder were corrupting the established pecking-order. Sooooooo……

Jesus calls them all in for a huddle, to effect an attitude-adjustment: “Look guys, are you sure you want to do the same thing you see the rest of the world doing, where people in power like to abuse it for their own sake? Try this on for size: you want to be great? Be the least, be slaves for the others. The first among you is the one who chooses a servant-heart, who desires to outdo one another only in being a slave to all the rest. “ Then, Jesus closes the deal: The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, to give his life away so that others can be bought back.

Friends: we have all lived long enough to know this to be true: meeting the needs of other people – whether they are part of our circles or not – is the most satisfying way to live, the most fulfilled we can be as humans. We are not Christians because we serve; we serve because we are followers of Jesus, we are Christ’s ones, we are little Christs. We want and need to be just like our Father and His Son and the Spirit which inhabits us each and all.

One of the smartest people I know came to teach a class one day wearing everyday clothes, work-a-day clothes like the kind we wear when doing yardwork or other manual labour. He had pinned to his shirt one word: ‘doulos’. It’s the Greek word which is usually translated as ‘slave’ , sometimes as ‘servant’. He made clear what Jesus wants to make clear to us, his fellow-slaves: service to one another and to a world which desperately wants to know God with skin on means that we are the slaves of other people. Now…let us be clear: self-sacrifice and helpfulness are not substitutes for a saving faith in Christ Jesus; rather, they are an outcome, a natural expression of our faith in Christ and our desire to become more like Him.

What are some ways that we can express this truth , of being first because we are the servant to all?

This day, this week:

• Give someone a call that you know needs to hear your voice. Tell them you were thinking about them and wanted to be in touch to see how they are doing. Do the thing you’ve been thinking about doing just recently….but haven’t done it yet.
• Give someone you know a pearl of great price: your time. Time is so fleeting, so precious. Is there someone outside of your usual circles that could benefit from you giving them a couple of hours of your time?
• Give something away that is important to you. There is no sacrifice if it involves no pain. Is it money that you know would benefit another, even a stranger, of whom you have become aware? Send it to them or deliver it to them. Tell them it’s because you love the Lord and you care for them. No need to pay back…subtly or otherwise. Tell them it’s because someone else gave it to you……and frankly, Someone has.
• Finally, make yourself available to someone who has experienced the death of someone or something or some job or someone who has left them or someone who has moved away …… and simply let them know that you know…..and you care.

When we give ourselves away sacrificially, until it hurts…..we become a little closer to following Jesus while still in this world…..and we move further up and further into the kingdom!

Song:

“People need the Lord, people need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams, He’s the open door.
People need the Lord, people need the Lord.
When will we realize that we must give our lives,
For people need the Lord.”

Let us pray…

Perambulations : It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood! October 18 2012, in the FABR ( Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve )

A lovely area where we are now serving the Body of Christ @ congregations in Lansdowne and Caintown (Mallorytown), Ontario

I like to call it ‘Fabber’  — the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve. We’re in the centre of an hour-glass shaped UNESCO site that has its southern terminus in the Adirondack Mountains and the northern terminus in Algonquin Park. Seems fitting, somehow, for Marie and me to  be serving churches right in the center of these two better-known recreational areas. You see, she was raised in NY state on the very southern edge of the Adirondacks ; I was raised not too far south of Algonquin Park. When she was a pretty little Italian girl, she camped with her family @ Peck’s Lake in those mountains; when I was a little boy, one of the earliest family camping trips was to Algonquin Park. Even as I type, I can remember cool, cool mornings in an old canvas tent, breakfast over a campfire,  a ranger coming to show me the right way to hold a hatchet, and the terrifying and wonderful adventure of being in a place where you could hold your hand up in front of your face and couldn’t even see it ….because it was way too dark late at night in the Algonquin. 

Now, we are on an wondrous sojourn of service somewhere right in between…..camping, if you will, as we participate with the leaders and people of 2 terrific congregations in carving something new out in the wilderness. It’s not the geographic area that’s so wild; rather, it’s that we are actually believing our Lord to do something while we are wandering in the wilds of 2012…..in rural churches…..when many people appear to be less than wild about religion in general, Christianity in particular. We all really do believe that the Body of Christ is God’s great-good idea for civilizing human beings…..for growing us closer to God by knowing his Boy named Yeshua ben Yahweh ( Jesus, Son of God ) . We have this crazy-compelling concept that the One who created us  and has released us to love him back ( if we so choose ) has sent his Boy out into the wilderness of the 21st century AD to find his lost sisters and brothers in order to bring us back home. 

For some reason, these 2 longstanding congregations are still here, long past a century old, and the people  in them seem possessed! Yeah, but in a good way….possessed of the hope that is within them that they have found by being part of these families that care for ‘love God and love others’. We want to help meet the needs of one another and of our respective communities so that , number 1, people get to see God with skin on and, number 2, they also may become part of the family that will bring them closer to God and to one another. 

In this ‘fabber’ area of God’s great creation, in the center of the ‘hourglass’ (known as ‘the Arch’ around here )  —– we are where time meets eternity and where there is a thin place between this world and the next……thank God, and I mean it! 

 

 

Message: First Things First. Sunday, October 7, 2012, Lansdowne/Caintown(Mallorytown) Presbyterian Churches, Ontario, Canada

What think you? What’s essential , ‘of the essence’, most needful…..?

Date – October 7, 2012 Place – LC

Scripture – Joel 2: 21-27; Psalm 126; 1 Timothy 2: 1-7; Matthew 6: 25-33
Other – Pentecost + 19; Thanksgiving; First Sunday as Minister of LC

SERMON: ” First Things First ”

Joel 2:21-27
2:21 Do not fear, O soil; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things!
2:22 Do not fear, you animals of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness are green; the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
2:23 O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the LORD your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before.
2:24 The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
2:25 I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you.
2:26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
2:27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

Psalm 126
126:1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
126:2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
126:3 The LORD has done great things for us, and we rejoiced.
126:4 Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb.
126:5 May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.
126:6 Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves. 

1 Timothy 2:1-7
2:1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,
2:2 for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity.
2:3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
2:4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2:5 For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human,
2:6 who gave himself a ransom for all–this was attested at the right time.
2:7 For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Matthew 6:25-33
6:25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
6:27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?

6:28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin,

6:29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.
6:30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you–you of little faith?
6:31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’
6:32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
6:33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Folks, you deserve to know a lot more about me and Marie. So, this won’t be a typical Sunday message because it’s not a typical Lord’s Day morning. Not only has something changed; some one has changed and the new guy doesn’t usually wear sandals, shorts….and has yet to wear earrings. We’ll see what happens on that! Frankly, I deserve to know a lot more about you, but that will come in good time; my perception and knowledge tells me that it’s ‘ all good’ about you. You will decide in time if the same is true about us.

Let me say right up front: I will get better at wandering around when I speak because it’s what I want to do in this church and with my new church-family. For right now, and especially today, I may be a tad more tethered to the paper in front of me than either you or I want it to be. That will change over time here; for right now, I want to make sure I get it right for I believe in the sanctity of time and precision when it comes to being in this sanctuary for just a few moments with you each week. There will be ‘way too much attention to me and us right now because we’re newbies;yet,  we are here primarily to glorify God and to continue to enjoy him forever, as the Westminster Confession teaches us. Let’s simply agree that today is unique and that it will be helpful to put a few things out there which will clear the pathway better toward letting us all truly hear from our lovely Lord this morning.

|You must be wondering who these people are, this ‘Chris & Marie’ … so am I wondering about you. Remember, we don’t know much about you all ; who knows what we have been given in one another?! It’s a bit like Christmas morning when we were kids : we can see that everything is beautifully wrapped up and looking great, but we are not quite sure if the big guy coming down the chimney really knows what we wanted to get this year! 

You know some basics:  your previous minister Mark and I worked together for the past year in another congregation not too far away ; your former minister and I look nothing alike, except maybe that we tend to be more round than tall. You know that I and Marie have either no hair or gray hair….. which tells you something about our age and stage; you know that these people from Kingston must not be too dangerous, too prone to wander from the truth for we have been guided here by our Lord, by your former minister, your present Session members and even by the wisdom of the Presbytery!

Surely, all of those ( especially our gracious God) have vested interests in making sure you haven’t be given over to someone who will lead you astray….right?! We  all know one thing for sure:   the Lord is both wise and discerning; so for now, we’ll simply have to trust that he knows what he’s doing. It’s gone all right so far and the church-building is still standing!

Here are a few things that will help you to get to know us:

• we love doing what we do. Ministry chose us as much as we chose it. I still have ‘fire in the belly’ for ministry and you can see that my belly is rather……expansive. I am not interested in retirement — and I don’t intend to look up its meaning in Wikipedia.

• We have lived in cities large and small all during ministry-life, but we are a grocer’s son and a dairy farmer’s daughter. We love the city and the country and thrive on the combination! 

• We completely believe that this specific call is exactly what our Lord had in mind for us and for you. He calls congregations to ministers as surely as he calls ministers to congregations.

• We have been married for 40 years as of August 26^th, have one married daughter attached to one married son-in-law; they hold our 2 grandkids for ransom, insisting that we visit them every 2-3 months, and our families are very important to us. They live about 5 hours from here in the Finger Lakes part of NY state.

•  But  our  extended families are relatively small, the ones that we usually see – I’m the only Walker male of my branch of the Walkers left in this part of Canada since the first one took up residence in 1827. Marie has one sister that lives in the same house as their father near Utica, NY; I have one sister that lives in Lexington, KY. All in all, our family members are close enough to either visit or be visited – but far away enough so that we’re not nuisances to one another!

• We love and cherish our family heritages – for Marie, it’s pure Italian-American from around Palermo, Sicily, originally; for me, I’m a typical East Ontario mongrel: more Irish with Scottish background than anything else, some English, with a smattering of Dutch. That combination gives me a decent gift of the gab and sometimes there’s my  talking too much using multisyllabic words ( like’multisyllabic’), an acceptable level of financial restraint moving toward being cheap, a tendency to be over-confident in my role in life plus a dash of tenacity in sticking up for what I think. I’ll leave it to you folks to figure out which people-group belongs to which trait!

That’s some personal stuff about us; but, let’s get down to something more important and certainly more pertinent. Then, we will hear the essential lessons from the scriptures just read which is why we have really gathered this morning.

I’ve listened to only one audio-book, ever. It happened when there was a need for me to have practical advice about organizing, both personally and in ministry.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Habit 3: Put First Things First

Habit 4: Think Win-Win

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

Habit 6: Synergize

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

 

Recognize these? 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It was written by Stephen Covey, a Mormon businessman whose deep insights reflect scriptural principles. I have zero problem that he was a Mormon; all truth is God’s truth. It’s another thing you need to know about me: I believe and try to  practice these principles in life and ministry.

So, upon reading and re-reading the scriptures to hear what God has to say to us this morning, it became evident that Habit 3 was the principle that God is underscoring for us to hear today.

Let me take a less-than-usual step this morning by simply briefly highlighting something from each portion: 4 points to be made. It will be my regular practice to focus on one scripture and move through it referring to the others if appropriate; but , hey , it’s a unique morning and this approach will  indeed give you God’s words which are the far more important ones than mine; yet, as well, this  will add to the process of getting to know me better too, as we put first things first:

Joel: First things first? Do not fear…… be glad and rejoice in the LORD your God….I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. If you read only the first chapter and a half of the 3 chapters from the Hebrew Scriptures, you would think that Joel  was a ‘glass half-empty’ type, but now, the word of the Lord through Joel morphs into a ‘glass half-full’ enthusiasm. The  prophecy says essentially, in today’s vernacular: Hey, things suck now ; as a matter of fact, there’s a lot of hard work ahead; HOWEVER, understand, you people: things are gonna get better. “This, too, shall pass….” – that’s Joel, in a nutshell and more importantly, that’s God who moves us from where we are deeply aware there is a problem to letting us know there’s a solution. I have heard it said that these are the four most essential words to know in life: this, too, hsall pass. As a Christian minister, I would say it ain’t  necessarily so; however, outside of the scriptural truths, they are exactly that. Do not fear…words that we hear many times in both the Hebrew Scriptures we call the Older Testament and the Christian Scriptures we call the Newer Testament…. these are words that we need to hear right now at COTC and SPP: do not fear. Yes, things are changing, but the God whose character and nature never changes is at the helm of these good ships in Lansdowne and Caintown. We can reasonably be glad and rejoice, for the unique God , the one and only, is here; the known God is leading us all into the unknown future. Do not fear….be glad and rejoice…the LORD is our God.

Psalm: First things first? Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves.Could there be any better metaphor for us today, here in Lansdowne and Caintown on Thanksgiving Weekend, than that of seeds being sown and harvest being reaped ? Psalm 126 is one of the Songs of Ascents, Psalm 120 through 134, sung by people literally walking up to Jerusalem for the high holy days. This collection is also called other names. Gradual Psalms, Songs of Degrees, Songs of Stepsor Pilgrim Songs. That kind of language makes crystal-clear a truth about being a Christian: we are meant to be on a journey in following Jesus. An argument can be made and you will be hearing me make it many times: our life is meant to be found on the road while taking a journey…. far more than being settled down somewhere waiting for who knows what. The words given by Jesus elsewhere to his guys before he went to be with his father – we call it the Great Commission – are words to be lived out in our real lives: Go…. make disciples….. Let me translate that, in its’ fuller intent. In using the word ‘go’, Jesus is saying: “ In your walking around, in your going about your daily lives doing whatever it is you do…. at work, at home, at school, in being with and among those important to you…… make followers of Jesus, point them to him, live out what it means to be a follower of him and a leader of others to him. “ When we ‘plow the fields and scatter’, as the old hymn puts it ……it’s in the context of our daily life, right here, right now. First things first for the Psalmist? Carry seeds around and scatter them wherever you are!

1 Timothy: First things first? “ I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for everyone…… ! Remember, Paul is writing to his ‘dear child’ , his apprentice in ministry so to speak. Timothy needs to know that listening to God and talking with God are essential to living Christianly. Paul says that it’s not only for the sake of others but for our sake too: we have vested interest in praying so that we can lead a quiet and peaceable life! Wow! How about that? Prayer….conversation with God….has benefits for us, too. This allows me to say something truly important for us to hear, something Paul said to Timothy, something  also fundamental to my understanding and practice of the Christian pilgrimage: prayer is initiated by God so we need  to listen to him first before we start talking. Further than that: listening is far more important than talking! Our Lord talks to us all the time: through the scriptures, through the accumulated wisdoms of two thousand years of Christian history, through our intellect and reasoning capacities and through all the changing scenes of our experiences. Are we taking time to listen? The 5^th habit of highly effective people is called the most important one : Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Let me co-opt that to say it again: seek first to listen and understand God , then talk with him in order to be understood.

Finally, the Gospel from Matthew, which contains the life-verse given to the 8-year old version of me by my parents: First things first? Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. There’s an old English slang-word that I first heard incorrectly. The correct? ‘Gobsmacked’ is from the Irish word for ‘mouth’. It means amazed, astonished, astounded , as in “ well, I’m gobsmacked! I didn’t know that’s what that word meant!” I first heard it incorrectly as ‘godsmacked’ in which the person was attempting, perhaps intentionally, to describe someone who had an overwhelming experience with God, so much that he was irrevocably changed. Folks, I’ve been God-smacked from the day I was born: baptized as a week-old infant by my great-uncle, a Bishop of the North American denomination in which I grew up; a church-kid who went to morning and evening service every Sunday and at least one weekday church-event; loved going to camp meetings and encountered God on my own at such a thing; attended a Christian liberal-arts college where I met my best ‘means of grace’ called Marie Papa, now my wife of forty years who has a birthday this Tuesday; that began another whole saga which has culminated in 30 years of formal ministry to be personally celebrated next Sunday to the day. God-smacked through absolutely no merit of my own. Sisters and brothers, any seeking of God BY me was, as for any one of us here today, only a response to the prodigal Father who raced out TOWARD me to bring his foolish son home where he belonged. We do not choose God first; He chooses us. God so chose the world that He gave his only son so that whoever chooses God back by choosing his only son to follow forever will have a life that begins now and lasts forever. Putting first things first, according to Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount, means looking for his kingdom, his right way of living and not worrying about any of these other things that so enthrall us in life.

On this Thanksgiving Sunday……let us be truly thankful that we are the apple of God’s eye, that he holds us in the palm of his hand, and that this is his church, his Body of Christ. We are his beloved children and we have the best Big Brother in the whole wide world to follow…..His name is Jesus and He is the Christ, the Son of the living God…. let us pray.

Perambulations: Ponder Anew What The Almighty Can Do!

Hmmmmmm…..I wuh, wuh, wuh, wuh wonder……why? A-why, why……..

“Made ya blink…..made ya think!” I woke up with the ol’ mind just racing, galloping, stampeding. There is something about major sea-change in life that jars one into ramped-up, amped-up thinking. For years, it has been apparent that we are always ‘freshmen’ (freshwomen?) in life, no matter what age and stage. Just when you think the proverbial pinnacle has been reached, as may be the case, you realize that it’s do-over and even do-better time! 

Pre-K moves to K , to Grade 1, to Grade 8 to Grade 12 to undergrad to grad to post-grad to grad-to-the-nth degree….and on into the career. Hey, at a closer to the bone level, Shakespeare appears to have been a wise guy when he wrote: “all the world’s a stage and all the men and women — merely players, doing their parts….” and on he goes into the bell-curve of one’s life which ends with us being ” sans eyes, sans teeth, sans taste, sans……everything”! Yikes…….is that all there is, Peggy Lee?  God? 

Frankly , I like being a freshman , always have, always will. It feels like an adventure worth the having because for everything that has been before (which may well have been wonderful, scintillating, effervescent, Disney-like ) ……. our loving Lord may well have unthinkable excursions into wondrousness than we could ever have imagined. Further up and further into the kingdom, we may yet see unexpectedly joyous serendips and surprises. Sure, some of them may not be so welcomely wondrous; but think about what dreams may come if we only get a peek around some unexplored curve-corner. 

I’m already pondering this Sunday’s message to a new family of brothers and sisters that we haven’t fully met yet. The lectionary texts for this Thanksgiving Monday ( which I’ll use instead of Sunday’s texts ) include my life-chapter and verse, given to the 8-year old version of me when my folks gave me J.B. Phillips paraphrase of the scriptures: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these will be given you as well. ”  That sparkling jewel is set into the crowning anticipation and summation of Jesus’ Big Idea Ministry ( aka Life on the Wild Side with the King of the Universe ) . I have been looking for the Magic Kingdom ever since childhood, all the way through formal educative opportunities, ever since He called me to serve His fellow-family-members known as the Body of Christ. 

I’ve been on a quest ever since that 8-year-old boy who had lots of hair started seeking such a marvelous place. Oh…..by the way, I’m pretty sure it’s the pilgrimage as much as the destination. We are meant to be on the road where our spiritual and intellectual curiosity is meant to take us to just around the next curve and corner where we can’t quite see things yet. Seeking, diligently searching, curiously questing and questioning, cantankerously confronting and conversing with friends and opponents…… all of that is embedded in the call to seek the kingdom, the rightness…..the place called Bounty. 

During this month of GivingThanks, be glad that you are a freshman/woman again. Do not fear the unknown….ponder anew what the Almighty can do,  if in His love he befriends thee…….. 

Message: Bear the Name of Christ, Sunday, September 30, 2012, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Kingston.

Clan Christ: What’s our tartan? How will they know we are ‘little Christs’ — Christians?!

Date – September 30, 2012 Place – SAPK

Scripture – Numbers 11: 4-6, 10-16, 24-29; Psalm 19: 7-14; James 5: 13-20; Mark 9: 38-50
Other – Pentecost + 18; Clan Macpherson; Final Sunday/Day for CW @ SAPK! Music Sunday

SERMON: ” Bear the Name of Christ ”

Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
11:4 The rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and said, “If only we had meat to eat!
11:5 We remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic;
11:6 but now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
11:10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the LORD became very angry, and Moses was displeased.
11:11 So Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?
11:12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child,’ to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors?
11:13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’
11:14 I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me.
11:15 If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once–if I have found favor in your sight–and do not let me see my misery.”
11:16 So the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their place there with you.
11:24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent.
11:25 Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.
11:26 Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp.
11:27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
11:28 And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, “My lord Moses, stop them!”
11:29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit on them!”

Psalm 19:7-14
19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the decrees of the LORD are sure, making wise the simple;
19:8 the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eyes;
19:9 the fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
19:10 More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb.
19:11 Moreover by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.
19:12 But who can detect their errors? Clear me from hidden faults.
19:13 Keep back your servant also from the insolent; do not let them have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.
19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

James 5:13-20

5:13 Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise.
5:14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.
5:15 The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.
5:16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
5:17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.
5:18 Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.

5:19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another,
5:20 you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Mark 9:38-50
9:38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”
9:39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of

power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.
9:40 Whoever is not against us is for us.
9:41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
9:42 “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.
9:43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.
9:45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.
9:47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,
9:48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
9:49 “For everyone will be salted with fire.
9:50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

It is a self-evident truth, underscored by the presence of our Clan guests today : we humans are rightfully proud of our family names and their respective heritages. Embedded therein is the whole of our family history containing points high and low, cherished and best forgotten. I have heard it said: “Every head is a world”. To that, I would add: every family is a country of its’ own, populated with ancestors cherished and descendants anticipated. The old saying in this part of the world is ‘that there not so sweet a sound as that of one’s own name’. But there is a greater importance than either historic nostalgia or inner satisfaction attached to being part of our own family-line.

We bear our names which identify each of us as singular. Your name and mine imbues us with uniqueness. Respectfully, let me single out the example of our guest Chief of the Clan: there is no doubt but that there is only one Sir William Alan Macpherson of Cluny and Blairgowrie, TD – addressed properly in conversation as Cluny, He is unique in all the world. Just as surely, there is no other than the one and only The Rev. Christopher Blake Walker of Verona, Ontario, Canada – addressed properly as Chris, but you are welcome to call me Verona! So, now then, take a moment to consider your unique title and name in your mind and heart right now…savour the significance of that specific identity. Roll it around in your mind…………. Consider then the name that is above all names before which every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord: even Jesus, who is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

We bear the name of Christ and all that this signifies if we follow Jesus and confess that He is Lord. The followers of Jesus were first called ‘Christians’ in Antioch (Acts 11:26), ‘christianoi’, a Greek word meaning ‘little Christs’. The word ‘Christ’ is not Jesus’ clan name,his family name though we seem almost to use it as such; after all, He is called Jesus Christ. He is confessed by Peter as ‘the Christ’, which means Jesus was and is the Anointed One of God, the one who had been awaited for so long. We are His followers.

Ponder then this wondrous truth: we are those who bear the name of Christ. We are identified as ‘little Christs’. We are of the Clan Christ; when we come together to worship in places such as this or where two or three gathered in his name, we are are of the Clan Christ. Through Him and by His grace in our lives, we are those who are identified with Him. We wear His colours proudly , and rightfully so, when we gather as Clan Christ for public worship or for family prayer.

On this Sunday morning like no other before or again, let us then ponder what it means to be bearers of the name of Christ and to wear His tartan. In order to do so on this special morning , I have take an unusual point of privilege by choosing a quote from each of the four portions of scripture from the readings earlier. Usually , I would focus on one of the four readings ; today, I charge this Congregation to bear the name of Christ in specific ways as my time of 21 months of serving these lovely people in this beautiful space draws today to completion, based upon a wee portion of these readings assigned to this day’s worship.

For those less familiar with Presbyterian worship-practice, please know that we follow the Revised Common Lectionary, a schedule of scripture readings used by Christians around the world. Lectionary schedules seek to link the OT, an Epistle and a Gospel reading each and every day, with special emphasis on thematically connecting them for the purposes of public worship. As well, in good Church of Scotland fashion, a selection from the Psalter is also included in the lection for the Psalms are , if you will, the Prayer Book of the Bible. I have practised lectionary use for 30 years since first arriving four blocks from here at my first formal call to serve a congregation in October , 1982. I have grown to appreciate the lectionary’s meaningful rhythms, both personally and professionally. I gladly choose today to hear with you what our loving Lord has to say to each of us and to this congregation as we only briefly focus on a few things that identify us as members of Clan Christ:

Numbers: Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit on them!”

In the Old Testament Reading, Moses charges Joshua who will later take over leadership in leading the children of Israel from the wilderness to the Promised Land. Heaven knows and the people here also know it: I am no Moses; nonetheless, I would pray that same prayer for St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Kingston, as well as for the Body of Christ at large – be a people who are prophetic, speaking only the Lord’s words after Him. The Bible here is visiblyplaced, every Sunday, at the front and center of the sanctuary, just in front of the pulpit. That is a theological statement that harks back to a time when this very Congregation chose to remain a Presbyterian people in year 1925. A decision was made to focus upon the centrality of God’s Word as the unassailable, prophetic word of God. People of St. Andrew’s, identify yourselves as Clan Christ by remaining true to His word. Prophets are those who speak God’s Word at God’s command. Be those kind of people. Read great swatches of scripture for it is that upon which your very future vitality and viability depends. Speak and act boldly because you depend upon that very same Spirit of the Lord – the One who inspired the original authors — to interpret His word into your lives. My prayer is that you speak and live prophetically with the power of God’s Spirit in and among you.

Psalm: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Sisters and brothers of St. Andrew’s, and all others gathered this morning: be a people who respond to God’s words by praying. To pray means simply to ask, in the old English, as in ‘ I pray thee to talk to God.’ One of my habits in praying publicly has been to say : “ Let us be perfectly silent while God talks to us and we listen. Then we will respond to God by praying….” That is in imitation of a great man of God named Dr. Donald Demaray. The words from the Psalmist are a direct response to what God has been saying to him. The Psalms are primarily conversations with God . I charge you, Clan Christ: let the words of your mouths and the meditations of your inner beings be responsive to what you hear directly from the Lord. He is always talking: through scriptures, through the traditions of the church, through the rigorous use of our intellects in reason and through every — I say, every – experience that we have as members of His Clan. Listen carefully to God before speaking – for listening first is the evidence that you are paying attention to the Clan Chief.

James: Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.

Friends, Christians, Clan Christ members, lend me your ears: be a ‘one another’ kind of people. We have recently been paying attention to James and his letter to a maturing early church, the original Clan Christ you might say. James, as Jesus’ next oldest sibling, was the Clan Chief of Christians in mother-church Jerusalem. At the end of his letter which is filled with admonitions to live out the live of faith radically, James chooses to tell them to be a one-another Clan Christ. Here in one of the  mother-churches of the Presbyterian Church Canada, I charge you: be a ‘one another’ kind of people. Suffer and rejoice with one another. Pray with and for one another, sing and worship gladly with one another, heal one another and be healed among one another, forgive one another and be forgiven by one another. The original word, ‘allelous’, is used many, many times in the New Testament. It is translated ‘one another’ or ‘each other’. An argument could be made that it is the tartan we are to wear, as members of Clan Christ. Be a ‘one another’ kind of people; wear those colours with rightful pride, drawing attention to the Chief of Chiefs, even Jesus, who ‘one-anothered’ us all the way to the Cross, later bursting out of the tomb. He laid down His life for us, His friends, His family, His Clan of Clans.

Mark: But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.Whoever is not against us is for us.For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

Finally, in the Gospel, Jesus is correcting His disciples when they come to Him all upset because they felt someone unworthy was doing things in the name of Jesus and, well, that person wasn’t really following Jesus, wasn’t a member of us. So, what does Jesus say? Hey, don’t worry — at least He’s acting in my name; sooner or later, that person you think is doing things inappropriately may be your brother or sister Clan member soon. If they aren’t doing things that we wouldn’t do, then , they are not very far from the Kingdom. Brothers and sisters of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Kingston and of Clan Christ anywhere, listen to Jesus: whoever gives us cups of water because we bear the name of Christ — whoever we gift with cups of water —- may well be on the way to becoming one of us. This past year especially, think about it: there are now 8 groups of people inhabiting and using the space at the place called St. Andrew’s. This building, this location in the heart of downtown Kingston, this middle-way called St. Andrew’s right on the middle street of our city, this people called Clan Christ that has met on the corner here for almost 200 years – I believe that you are a gift to this community. There are people who gather on the pasture-lands of our lawn, who sit on our steps, who sleep in our hedges, who look out the windows of Tim Horton’s , Geneva Crepe Cafe, The Gourment Burger Works. There are students teeming down the sidewalks and thousands of others who drive by going north, south, east and west. Whoever is not against us is for us.

Our Lord has always had His overarching hand and gracious providence upon the people here: I believe He has a unique and beautiful purpose for the Princess and Clergy Kingston Branch of Clan Christ. Be a people who bear the name of Christ and wear His colours proudly.

Let us pray……..

Message: Wisdom from Above, Sunday, September 23, 2012. St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Kingston, ON.

Speak, Lord……your servant hears…….

Date – September 23 , 2012 Place – SAPK

Scripture – Jeremiah 11: 8-20; Psalm 54: James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a; Mark 9 : 30-37
Other – Pentecost + 17

SERMON: ” Wisdom from Above ”

Jeremiah 11:18-20
11:18 It was the LORD who made it known to me, and I knew; then you showed me their evil deeds.
11:19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. And I did not know it was against me that they devised schemes, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will no longer be remembered!”
11:20 But you, O LORD of hosts, who judge righteously, who try the heart and the mind, let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.

Psalm 54
54:1 Save me, O God, by your name, and vindicate me by your might.
54:2 Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.
54:3 For the insolent have risen against me, the ruthless seek my life; they do not set God before them. Selah
54:4 But surely, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
54:5 He will repay my enemies for their evil. In your faithfulness, put an end to them.
54:6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good.
54:7 For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a
3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.
3:14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth.
3:15 Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.
3:16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
3:18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
4:1 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?
4:2 You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask.
4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Mark 9:30-37
9:30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it;
9:31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.”
9:32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
9:33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?”
9:34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest.
9:35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”
9:36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them,
9:37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

There has been on my mind a wonderful British word: gobsmacked, a slang expression, meaning, “ amazed, surprised, astonished “ –as in , “Well, I’ll be gobsmacked! I didn’t know what that word meant!” Hearing it for the first time years ago, I heard it wrongly or it was said incorrectly, not sure which : ‘godsmacked’. Frankly, I liked it better in its’ wrong incarnation, for it had the intent of describing someone who had been confronted with God in an overwhelming way. In that sense, one might say that on the road to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus was ‘god-smacked’ , to the extent that he was blinded for three days and his life was changed forever – he became the apostle Paul. Amazed , surprised , astonished – gob or God — either word will do to describe someone who has been completely reshaped by something or Someone to a superlative degree, so much so that he or she is never the same.

There was a God-smacked Southern Catholic author, the late Flannery O‘Connor, who lived in Georgia and wrote wonderfully about the people of the deep South among whom she was living. Though the people  were primarily from what might be derisively called by others as fundamentalists or holy-rollers , she saw them creatively through the heart of her compassionate, respectful Catholic upbringing. She loved the people among whom she lived in Milledgeville, Georgia, where she raised peacocks. If you don’t mind being taken on a wild reading adventure, read some of her short stories, novellas and her ‘magnum opus’ called Wise Blood. There’s a line in one short story called ‘ The Peeler ‘ that goes like this. It’s a line spoken by a character describing an overpowering time of spiritual fervour in his life. Here’s the line : ‘four weeks and I thought I was gonna be sanctified crazy!’

My brother-in-law who teaches American Literature near Lexington, Kentucky introduced me to O’Connor’s works years ago while I was living and attending seminary across the street from the college where he is finishing his career this academic year. Kentucky is still called a border-state , so-called, because it is one of the states in the American Civil War that bordered the dreaded Northern Union army, those….Yankees. Now, if one has lived in either a very conservative Christian setting anywhere or in the South, one can viscerally understand what O’Connor was getting at when she came up with the term ‘sanctified crazy’ and put it into the mouth of one of her many creative characters.

I want to distinguish between that kind of  heated spiritual fervour and what hard-headed James is talking about here. James was a brother to Jesus and early in Jesus’ public ministry, we learn from Mark’s gospel that Jesus’ family thought Jesus had been ‘sanctified crazy’, that he was God-smacked , that he had lost his mind and was out shaming the family and maybe even bringing disrepute upon Yahweh. They came to take Jesus away. As the next oldest brother, James was probably there to take charge of his eccentric older brother. This is the James who, at some point after that, came to the conclusion that this same older brother Jesus was the Lord God of the universe. Maybe it was when Jesus appeared to James after the Resurrection, just to make crystal-clear that His Father really was Yahweh! That James – called James the Just, James the Righteous and some other less complimentary things – that very same James  later became the head of the Jerusalem church, the overseer, the main pastor-minister of the mother-church of very earliest Christianity. Now, he understands intellectually, experientially and by virtue of having seen Jesus alive again — this following-Jesus thing makes sense, makes practical everyday rubber-meets-the-road sense. 

James ……became……God-smacked but it did not happened all of a sudden. No, for him, it was an accumulation over time, a gradually growing light like a dimmer switch slowly illuminating the whole room of his understanding of life and his view of knowing Yahweh. James actually saw Jewish scriptures being fulfilled; he observed his own times and understood the history of his own Jewish people that had brought them to the time when Jesus was born; James used his intellect to grasp the truth that he saw in Jesus and he finally had the experience of seeing brother Lord Jesus resurrected from the dead.

James knew what ‘wisdom from above’ was all about and came to grasp the truth that was in Jesus…..but over a longer period of time, as is the case for so many of us. That’s what James is describing in his letter to the growing, maturing church in Jerusalem and elsewhere in the world by that time. He is reminding them of the hard-headed practicality of living Christianly in a tough world. He is saying being God-smacked has both short-term and long-term implications. After the bloom of first love, there is a life of marriage, if you will, between adoring Jesus and following him along some really difficult pathways.

He differentiates between two kinds of wisdom: “from above” AND not “from above” — Godly and evil . James always seems to seek guidelines for conduct which make a person “wise.” At the same time , he warns against conduct that ignores true wisdom and moves instead to undermine the best ways to live. James lists qualifications for the wise person…… as do’s and don’ts. He is saying right out loud that there is a winner and a loser in this war of the wisdoms, this war between two worlds. That may be tough for us to hear in our world in which we live with a thousand shades of grey.

We might not like it when someone says , this is a ‘go’ and this is a ‘no’, with our 21^st century minds, but James is saying it like he sees it. He’s been sanctified crazy, but crazy like a fox who knows how to live in the wilds of his world. James understands, by the time he writes this letter, that faith has to show up in the ways we actually make choices between what’s right and what’s wrong , what builds up and what tears down.

Our desires for the wrong things in life can take us over and then take us down. They can win over our love for the God to whom we have early on promised our love and devotion. James makes it clear: putting ourselves in complete servant-submission to God produces true wisdom. Sanctification is a process which makes each and every one of us more and more sane, more our genuine selves than ever we could be without God and without hope in the world.

Early Christians knew their  wisdom literature very well. From the Hebrew scriptures (Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes) , wisdom was known as a gift of God and  was seen as an almost living being – sophia, a woman’s name, let me underscore. One author observes ” the initial readers of James’ words were familiar with the law of logic called the Law of the Excluded Middle. Aristotle had invented it ……. It said, “A cannot be both A and B at the same time.” Early believers in Jesus already were thinking that something could not be both right and wrong. Relative truth was a foreign idea to them, though in the last 100 years in Western civilization, the concept of relative truth has replaced the concept of revealed truth from a an outside source – the Source we know as the Lord God of the universe.  The original readers – early followers of Jesus – may well have wondered ‘ why is James repeating what we already know to be true? ‘ The problem was that they had settled into their world and were in danger, like us, of letting their first fervour be replaced by acceptance of the cultural mores surrounding them. They needed, as one of my old pastors used to say, “ not so much to be taught but to be reminded.” Attrition is our danger as well. We need to be reminded of the practical theology that James is underscoring in his list of do’s and don’ts. There are hundred of commandments in the Christian New Testament , too, you know; many more than 10. Many words in the letters that are recorded there are in the imperative ; they must be capable of being obeyed, by the grace of God’s Spirit within, otherwise, why would they be in there?? Folks, James was writing to Christians who were no longer freshmen in the faith. His letter was a general e-mail for us all to hear again in year 2012 as we seek to live, think and act Christianly every day in every way!

The Christian pilgrimage starts like a sprint but completes as a long, sometimes lonely, ultimately silent marathon. So it is with wisdom from above. It is a long, slow, difficult, beautiful, acquisition of small teachings which make us stronger — sanctified sanely, far from the stereotype of being a crazed, deluded , gobsmacked caricature that so often besets the world’s view of what being a Christian believer is all about.

How we become wiser from above? James says it is not easy but it is obvious ( exposit ):

Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.

But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth.
Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.
For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you?
You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Simple? No. Difficult? Yes. Crazy? No. Wisdom from above…without any doubt. Let us pray…….

Message: The Tongue of a Teacher, Sunday, September 16, 2012, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Kingston, ON.

O for a thousand tongues??!!

 

 

Date – September 16 , 2012 Place – SAPK

Scripture – Isaiah 50: 4-9a; Psalm 116 : 1-9; James 3: 1-12; Mark 8: 27-38
Other – Pentecost + 16; Intro of Tony Boonstra and Karen Bach; Congregational Potluck Luncheon

SERMON: ” The Tongue of a Teacher ”

Isaiah 50:4-9a
50:4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens– wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.
50:5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.
50:6 I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.
50:7 The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
50:8 he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.
50:9a It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty?

Psalm 116:1-9
116:1 I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
116:2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
116:3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
116:4 Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I pray, save my life!”
116:5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful.
116:6 The LORD protects the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
116:7 Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
116:8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
116:9 I walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

James 3:1-12
3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
3:2 For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.
3:3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies.
3:4 Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
3:5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!
3:6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.
3:7 For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,
3:8 but no one can tame the tongue–a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
3:9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.
3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.
3:11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?
3:12 Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.

Mark 8:27-38
8:27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
8:28 And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
8:29 He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”
8:30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
8:31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
8:32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
8:33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
8:34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
8:35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
8:36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
8:37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
8:38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Apparently, some of us have the most dangerous jobs in the world.

Indeed, to hear the description of the job of being a teacher in James’ letter, one would wonder why anyone would choose to do it. I often think of both the awe-inspiring privilege and the awful responsibility inherent in this calling of being a forth-teller , messenger, preacher — a teacher. The primary textbook one uses is the most popular book in the world. There are several versions of it, some wildly at variance with other translations, mainly because we are several times removed from the contexts and the languages in which they were originally written. Most ominously, the words of the textbook are ‘God-breathed’ (theopneustos ) — inspired by the Creator , Redeemer and Sustainer of the world. Our Lord used many authors over a period of centuries to write down world-changing ideas: histories, prophecies, poetry, apocalyptic literature, biographies, letters, visions, dreams. It’s really quite a textbook. It’s been the same one over thousands of years from which both the teacher-preachers and the students-congregations have learned and now teach. So, it can be an intimidating reality to be a preacher/teacher.

The upshot of the text from James suggests that words – of any sort – matter. Accordingly, we gather here to worship, as do countless more around the world, to pay attention to the words from the scriptures; however, apparently, words of any kind can have either a beneficial or a destructive outcome, according to James’ thinking. Surely the words of God written down and used as a textbook for knowing God and coming into right relationship can build us up and make us new people; but there is, James clearly states, a darker side to words, either from the scriptures or by abuse of those teaching from them. Sticks and stones can ONLY break our bones; but words, scriptural or otherwise, can break our hearts and minds and spirits.

We are continuing to see the ramifications of ‘the royal law’ to love your neighbour as yourself, as we saw it also last week in James’ letter to the church, scattered by this time across a larger part of the world. James seems to have a bit of a fixation on this putting our faith into actions, asking us to consider carefully how we treat one another and, more pointedly, how we care for those not like us. Last week, he was talking about the problem inherent in treating those who are obviously poor and powerless with disdain or cavalier dismissal……..versus our fawning adulation of anyone who is obviously wealthy, carrying their power around with them as easily as wearing just the right rings and things.

Today, his concern how we use the tongue, this little muscle in our mouths that has the awesome power to either build up and to tear down. Any of us can give story after story of how either we or someone else has suffered from the misuse of what we have said or has been said to us or about us. The teachings here are almost self-evident truths we have learned from bitter experience — words can take love away and replace it with sadness, longing and diminishment.

Let’s watch briefly how James uses word-pictures to make his points here and see if we can identify our besetting problem about the use of our tongue

The first picture, that of guiding a horse with a bridle, is obvious. The rider controls a horse massively larger than himself by means of a bit in its mouth — which works by pressing against the animal’s tongue. Literally, then, the one able to control the horse’s tongue with the bit controls the animal.

The captain, rudder, and ship in the next picture are like the rider , bit, and horse. Now, however, there are other factors that affect the outcome: wind and waves could redirect the ship off course or destroy it completely. The one able to keep control of the rudder can literally weather complex circumstances and come out unscathed and on course, without damaging either one’s self, the ship and all of those on the ship for whom one is responsible.

The third picture goes in a considerably different direction than the first two. The bit and the rudder are tools to be used. But now, there is a sense in which the tongue is more like something separate and uncontrollable. The picture of a destructive flame is of something completely uncontrolled and uncontrollable. What it sets in motion is not like a tool with a specific purpose but is, instead, by nature a destructive force.

Uncontrolled speech is of profound importance to James. He goes on to describe its damaging nature, upsetting the entire created order. He shockingly suggests that the tongue has its origins in the fires of Gehenna, or hell. Gehenna was a well-known place for those living in Jerusalem, for it was the the dump which burned all the time as garbage was constantly being added to it. Garbage in , garbage out and destructive fire in both instances……..

All of that to say: for James, our tongue remains untameable, “a restless evil, full of deadly poison” . However, despite our experience that the tongue is unruly, that controlling our speech is always a challenge, we can also affirm with James that there are different and better uses of our tongues.

We can and do praise God with our voices. If this is the case, then we can imagine that we are not predetermined to have our life controlled by misuses of our tongues. If we areable to praise God with our tongues (and we are), then we are not the kind of people whose tongues need to lead us astray. If we are fig trees, we cannot grow olives. If we are grapevines, we cannot yield figs. Accordingly, it follows that we are those who can choose to love our neighbours by using our tongues to lift our neighbours up where they, and we, belong. We are those who can, by the infusion of God’s Spirit into our inner beings , choose to act differently than that.

**Folks, if we can and do praise God and give him our thanks, is it too large a stretch to believe that we should be defaulting toward praising and thanking other people?**

Think about it : why does God insist, in His word, that we are to praise and thank Him so much? Do we really think that God has such low self-esteem that he requires us to pat him on the back and give him words to bolster his self-image? Or could it be that what God knows is that we have such a tendency to misuse our tongue and use it to abuse other people? What God may want us to do is to develop a habit of being which chooses to give thanks to others for everything that we are and everything we have. God wants us to develop a habit of doing which praises others other than ourselves for the successes that we have to enjoy in this life , this world. The praise and thanksgiving to Him re-habits us toward praising and thank others NOT our selves!

Let us consider, then,that each one of us has the tongue of a teacher. I am in awe of those whose profession is that of teaching young people day after day, week after week, year after year. How do they do that? We think we have it challenging to come to worship once a week , to prepare one message for people to hear; teachers do this day in and day out. Have we considered that we are teaching someone somewhere something each and every day, too –by the way we build up people or tear them down? Our friends, our families, those with whom we have to do in church or other groups to which we belong. One of my main concerns over the years in congregational life is what can be called the besetting sin of church life: gossip, tearing down another, coming to worship looking for the mistakes that are going to happen, finding ways to stoke resentment, being angry and resentful that things are not the way they should be. It’s a sad thing to observe: the taming of the tongue is the main obstacle to building up the kinds of relationships absolutely essential to healthy life in the Body of Christ, as well as in the family, our workplace and in greater society.

This day, this week: let us ask the Lord who created us, who redeemed us, who sustains us, to also teach us how to be teachers of others by our words —- words of praise and thanksgiving to God matched by praise and giving thanks to others who raise us up to stand on mountains, kudoes and compliments which lift those with whom we come in contact to a higher place than they presently are.

Methinks that what our loving Lord’s tongue of a teacher is trying to teach us. Let us raise one another up to be more than we can be, by the grace and favour of God. Let us pray……. 

Message : Your Neighbour as Yourself. Sunday, September 9, 2012, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Kingston, Ontario, CANADA.

“That ‘love your neighbour as yourself thing? I meant that…..” God

 

 

Date – September 9 , 2012 Place – SAPK

Scripture – Isaiah 35: 4-71; Ps. 146; James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17; Mark 7: 24-37
Other – Pentecost + 15; Partnership Recognition Ceremony

SERMON: ” Your Neighbour as Yourself ”

Isaiah 35:4-7a
35:4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you.”
35:5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
35:6 then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;
35:7a the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.

Psalm 146
146:1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD, O my soul!
146:2 I will praise the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
146:3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.
146:4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
146:5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD their God,
146:6 who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever;
146:7 who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free;
146:8 the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous.
146:9 The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
146:10 The LORD will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD!

James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17
2:1 My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?
2:2 For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in,
2:3 and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,”
2:4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
2:6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court?
2:7 Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
2:8 You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
2:9 But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
2:11 For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
2:12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
2:13 For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
2:14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?
2:15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,
2:16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?
2:17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

Mark 7:24-37
7:24 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice,
7:25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet.
7:26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
7:27 He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
7:28 But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
7:29 Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go–the demon has left your daughter.”
7:30 So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
7:31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis.
7:32 They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him.
7:33 He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue.
7:34 Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
7:35 And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
7:36 Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.
7:37 They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

It has been said that “politics is an Olympics for nerds” !! Marie and I must be nerds, then, for we have been captivated by two political conventions going on south of the border recently. You see, we have vested interests at a very personal level in the USA – our daughter/only child, her husband and our two grandchildren live there. So does my Kingston-born (but now American) sister and her family and, of course, Marie’s village-of-a-family, too. We are about the only ones of our extended families that have chosen to be in Canada. Politics matters to us, both here and there, but to be frank, right now, it matters to us there far more because the people for whom we desire hope and change live there.

Now make no mistake: we care about the best kingdom with the best King far more , but this world’s realities matter, too… be sure of that! Look at the ways the politics of our scriptures made a difference in the lives of the Hebrew people in their scriptures that we Jesus-followers call the Old Testament. The same is true in the Newer Testament for that good Hebrew family that Jesus grew up in, indeed all the people in the Gospels, later in the early church — even John the Revelator who was exiled to Patmos by the Roman emperor Domitian’s decree against anyone having to do with prophecy, astrology, divination, all of that kind of thing which was all lumped together. There John had his revelatory vision which completes the Bible and all of time!

So, politics do matter – no matter the organization or best kingdom in which one is involved. They matter, whether it be the governance of a country or meeting the needs and wants of people in the groups now using various parts of the building….including the people of St. Andrew’s! Politics mattered for James, too, but in his case it was the politics of privilege in the church of Jesus Christ….more about that later.

In the Democratic Convention ‘way down south in Dixie this past week, former president Clinton used his southern-based rhetorical skills to great effect. While the crowd was cheering and applauding something he said, he’d break right in at the beginning of that applause: “now listen….wait a minute now…..listen!” He would catch their attention again and again this way. It built and built to a crescendo at completion of the speech. If you want a master-class on how to keep the attention of people for twice as long as you are supposed to speak….even if you despise Bill Clinton….pull that speech up on Youtube or wherever….. I’m taking notes and have decided to become a Southern preacher….at least southern Canada!

So….wait a minute, listen now…….I’ve got something to say, you’re going to want to hear this….listen! It’s a quote but it’s worth the hearing…….

“ ‘Holy solitaries’ is a phrase no more consistent with the Gospel than holy adulterers. The Gospel of Christ knows no religion but social; no holiness, but social holiness.” ( John Wesley, 18^th century, founder of what became known as Methodism and Wesleyanism )

(Listen…did you catch that? Well, wait a minute now…..listen! I’m going to say it again. I’m not hearing cheering and clapping! Well, that’s OK! Listen!)

Friends, there are all kinds of politics wrapped up in those two sentences. For example, it’s a quote from one of the main spiritual heroes of my Wesleyan and Methodist tradition….and I’m standing in a Presbyterian Church which has allowed me the honour for 21 months of being here as a 24/7 minister. I am essentially a guest of this Congregation and Presbytery and have profound respect for the Presbyterian Church, it’s people and theological integrity. Nonetheless, these quotes of John Wesley ( the founder of my home traditions ) need to be clearly heard today, in the light of the scriptures… no matter what tradition we follow. I do not wish to be impolitic, especially given the graciousness of St. Andrew’s in receiving Marie and me since January 2011. Nonetheless, I take the liberty of this being one of my few remaining Sundays here to say what the scriptures before us are clearly wanting us to hear : the kind of holiness that is balanced, true and complete…..is a holiness that cares not only about the quality of an individual’s inner relationship with God, but with the way that spirituality shows up in what he or she does for others, especially others not like ourselves. No religion but social; no holiness but social holiness……

Let me tell you how ‘at home’ I have felt here preaching from this beautiful old pulpit…..I grew up in a church just north of here, even had one of my most profound spiritual awakenings at an old camp-meeting a few miles outside of Kingston under the same banner of words that are above this pulpit here @ St. Andrew’s Presbyterian:

“ Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness “. That is a direct quote from two Psalms ( 29 and 96). When I was young and less knowledgeable , I assumed that ‘holiness” of that sort meant the church building or perhaps even my denomination! After all, we were part of the Holiness Tradition , as it was then and still is called. So, it has been a quote shot through with significance for me and for many from that stream of Protestant Christianity …. and obviously, that is the case here too. You see it every Sunday you come to St. Andrew’s. Holiness matters……

What both scriptures and Wesley are wanting was to emphasize not only the otherness and purity of God , but also the other-directedness of what it meant to be a believer in both the Hebrew and Christian God and of His Son Jesus ( for Christians ). What Wesley modelled in his own life was a profound balance between cultivating a robust inner vitality in knowing God, along with an assertive people-centred caring for the needs of others. You see, holiness has at its root the idea of wholeness,completeness, a holistic approach to developing us as God’s creations. God said many times in the Hebrew Scriptures and in varied ways “ Be holy , for I am holy “. Be healed , be whole, be holy, be complete, be healed, be salved , be saved…… for I am all of that and you are made in my image. The Westminster Confession , one of the foundations of Presbyterian teaching, says that “the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” God wants every human being to reflect the wholeness for which we were made , whether rich or poor, powerful or powerless, inside or outside according to the politically correct, the socially elite and those that make the rules.

Understand something: Wesley generated much wealth in England in the 18^th century – some believe that he was one of the wealthiest commoners during his lifetime. If he had kept it all for himself, he could have lived the high life. But every bit of what he made, he plowed back into developing people. It was not at all only geared to what might be called spiritual development. He generated funds to begin businesses; he started up homes for widows and orphans; he gave away everything he made, sometimes to the chagrin of his family; he sprang people from debtors’ prison; he set up groups to nurture new Christians, not only in reading the Bible thought he was known as ‘homo unius libri’ ( a man of one book ) but in reading and learning broadly ( what we might call a liberal arts education ) so that even disadvantaged people were elevated in their wider understanding of the world. He rode over 250 thousand miles on horseback during his lifetime ( the equivalent of 10 times around the globe ) in order to ensure that the so-called revivals were not only for bringing people to a higher spiritual plane, but to ensure that his lay-leaders were trained and enabled to help people lift themselves up in other practical ways.

All of the scriptures today – the Psalm at the beginning, Isaiah, James and Mark – all proclaim the One who wants all of his people to be made whole again. It’s interesting to note: there may be some here today who are not aware that we at St. Andrew’s have been using the widely-used set readings called ‘the lectionary’ as a framework for crafting worship services and messages here. These particular readings just ‘happened’ (!) to fall upon today when we are recognizing and celebrating the partnerships that have been formed between 7 different community-groups and this Congregation. Let us take that as a divine confirmation both of what we are doing together and what we need to hear from God’s word.

We focus on James this morning. The last few weeks, the writings from James and Mark have been the focus of our attention – short, sharp, to-the-point …..their personalities come through in their writing. James, the brother of Jesus next-in-age …… Mark, someone who recorded bombastic old Peter’s remembrances as the Gospel …….. and Jesus Himself who did things surprisingly, even counterculturally……

These guys were all what the world might call disturbers, upsetters of the status quo. They were often abrupt and put up with no pretense or hypocrisy. Jesus and James as siblings probably were in some kind of rivalry together growing up. Think about it…….who did you say your Father is, Jesus….. yeah, right !? Think what it must have meant for James to turn around at some point in his spiritual pilgrimage to follow this brother as the Son of God, a sibling that had such a challenging resumé! Yet, James became the head of the mother-congregation in Jerusalem and had to ride herd on a church that kept on being persecuted, later dispersed into the larger world through persecution.

I can imagine James coming home one day after worship and writing these words into his journal as an inner conversation…. maybe what we have here is James’ journal where he reflects deeply on what he’s seen that day in synagogue; yes, synagogue,for it is true that what we call the church began in the pattern of synagogue ( read and illuminate ) :

“My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?
For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in,
and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,”
have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?
But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court?
Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?
You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.
For the one who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
For judgement will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgement.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you?
If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food,
and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?
So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”

Sisters and brothers of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian and sister congregations here in the city, brothers and sisters of other faith-traditions or of no particular faith-tradition: know that when we do what we do in fulfilling our respective visions and missions – we are involved in social holiness and that is the essence of what it means to incarnate God. For those that do so because you believe in and follow Jesus, be aware that you are being made more and more like Him because of His grace. For those who do so for the love of humankind and a desire to care for felt needs in society at large and your passion in particular, know that what you are doing is a good and needful work that reflects the very best of what human beings can become and can model for others.

We are thankful for where our visions have overlapped and stand on tiptoe to see what dreams may yet come……. Amen!

“That love your neighbour as yourself thing? I meant that…….” — God.