Sermon for August 9th 2009

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Our readings this morning are not comfortable warm pink fuzzy readings … they are challenging, and they move us deeper into a place of self-reflection.
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The first reading has David weeping over his son Absalom, who had lead an unsuccessful rebellion against his father, only to be killed after hanging by his hair in a tree for an extended period of time … yet, even in the face of this rebellion David openly weeps and laments for his son … his grief is real because what might have been has passed …
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Then we move to the reading from the book of Ephesians where we have the writer, presumably Paul, spelling out in almost painful detail the kinds of behaviour that are acceptable and those that are not within the church … one can almost hear Paul sighing with exhaustion at the thought that he has to put something so utterly simple to paper because the Church at Ephesus isn’t getting it … speak the truth, be angry but do not let your anger fester – deal with it before the sun goes down, resist evil, share with those who are needy, watch what comes out of your mouth, build one another up with your words don’t tear each other down, trust in the spirit, and put away bitterness, wrath, anger, wrangling, slander and all malice … and this is where the Church too often fails miserably: “be kind to one another, be tenderhearted, forgiving as Christ has been forgiving, and live in Love, as Christ has loved you …
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Simple words to say. Simple concepts to envision. But the question that resonated through Paul’s world, and that continues to resonate through ours is – why is it so hard to LIVE THOSE WORDS?
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Then we turn to the Gospel reading where we have Jesus continuing the attempt at teaching the people what it means when he says – “I am the bread of life …”
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They can’t quite wrap their heads around the concept of hungering after something other than real bread … they’ve been through the feeding of the multitudes, they’ve been following him watching the miracles and asking for more signs that he is God’s chosen on, and NOW, as he tries to enlighten them about what ALL of this means – they simply don’t get it …
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The debate today focuses on how Jesus can be descended from God while his family is here …
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They are so focused on the fine points, they are missing the big picture …
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This week I encountered a delightful quotation about living a life of faith in a time of incredible upheaval and change. Bill Easum, in his book Dancing with Dinosaurs observed: “Who, then, do we turn to when looking for clues about ministry in the twenty-first century? We certainly cannot turn to those who insist on clinging to the status quo. We turn to the people on the fringe of normalcy.”
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Jesus is standing before a crowd clinging to the status quo … their lives are filled with change and upheaval. Rome is a harsh occupying power. The stringent requirements of the temple and keeping Kosher are tough, and getting tougher. They are in a time and a place that feels like standing on sand …nothing that was once certain is any more, and the future is filled with grey and murky images of what might be … or maybe not …
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SO the people yearn for something MORE … they want their spiritual hunger fed. They want certainty …
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Jesus says – “look to God,” and they start to bicker about what he means … There is an element in these moments that the comedy team of Monty Python picked up on in their movie “the life of brian”.
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The scene where Jesus is relating the Sermon on the Mount shows the kind of unbelievable confusion that must have accompanied Jesus as he spoke and preached … IN the movie Jesus says – “blessed are the peace makers,” and as the message is relayed through the crowd it is transformed to “Blessed are the cheesemakers …” then at the back of the crowd they start debating if he meant ALL dairy producers, or JUST cheesemakers …
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Such is the world Jesus lived in … such is the world we live in … everyone is on the look out for a loophole, everyone wants to get there easily and quickly with a minimal amount of effort, everyone wants someone to do something but they would prefer if it was not them…
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“Show us a sign,” they call … and even as Jesus shows them sign after sign after sign, they don’t get it … they want more, and they understand less … even when he spells it out in plain clear language, they still don’t get it …
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And sadly, we – we as a modern society and culture – we as a modern church – we still don’t get it … we are like the folks Paul was writing to … he was spelling out things that should be common sense – yet he was writing to a Church and saying – “as members of the Body of Christ, you WILL refrain from …” and he inventoried actions and behaviours that should be regarded as abhorrent within the Church …
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But if we look back over the history of the Church we find some of the most savage and nasty fights erupting over things that we would readily say – “should be regarded as abhorrent within the Church …”
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Slavery, the vote and equal rights for women, civil rights for non-whites, treatment of Jews, First Nations People and other ethnic minorities, and if we dig deeper we find fights over “what language will the services be held in?” and “is it okay to translate the Bible into the vernacular of the people instead of just using the Latin text?” … the list of fights within the church where that litany of Paul’s to the Ephesians gets thrown out the window and the gloves come off is LONG … we even have the example of the Churches in Nazi Germany dividing over whether to support Hitler or not … it is remarkable what can happen when people cling to the status quo, as Easum says, and fail to see how unfaithful that can truly be …
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The challenge is to listen to the voices on the margins … the voices who are urging us forward in a radical way … Jesus was one of those voices … a wandering rabbi from Galilea who consorted with sinners, tax collectors, Samaritans, and the unwashed - he was already an outsider in the establishment of his day.
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Then he opened his mouth and started speaking about things that were radical – radical as a return to the fundamentals of faith … Inclusion, welcome, openness … these were the concepts at the heart of his message when he spoke of God’s gift of boundless Grace.
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Yet somewhere along the way confusion set in, and these ideas became just words on a page …
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This past week, I’ve started an online discussion with a young theology student in Toronto who has been a friend for a number of years. We’ve repeatedly had online exchanges on any number of issues. But this week he posted a link to one of the study documents going before the United Church’s General Council this week in BC. The document is asking what it means to be Church in an inter-cultural context … it is asking what it means to be a welcoming, inclusive and open community in the modern world …
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Adam and I began to discuss this when I read the material and thougth - “oh great, they’re shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic to get a better view of the ice berg instead of tending to the gaping hole in her side …”
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The modern church has such a tight grip on maintaining the status quo that we’ve lost sight of any other possibilities, and we’ve lost sight of chance to embrace and embody change by living out the welcome that Jesus offered …
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Adam replied by noting: “I like to think of this text as an Apocalyptic Welcome; I like to think of this passage as one that reveals that which God is calling out of us. But we need to get our words straight about apocalypse, which is a Greek word that means “to reveal” or “to disclose” or “to unveil.” The word welcome, on the other hand, is about the positive greeting on the arrival of a person – be they a friend or a stranger. The God that Christians worship in Jesus Christ discloses generosity through us – the Church – to those we love and to those we hate. The Apocalyptic Welcome is deeply rooted in the cross…”
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I like the concept of the Apocalyptic Welcome … I see the resonance of the Apocalyptic Welcome in our readings today.
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David is struggling to make sense in a place where all of his hopes and dreams for the future of his family, his throne, and his country are in upheaval … the only certainty is this moment, and it seems pretty bleak … so he laments …
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Paul is writing to a church who is struggling to live its faith. They are falling into their old ways, and being less than kind to each other, and they are not being good reflections of faith … so he takes a deep breath and tries to spell it out clearly …
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Jesus is standing before a crowd who simply doesn’t get it … they want the status quo to remain. They want things to go from uncertain and frightening to calm and docile … they don’t want the boat rocked. They don’t want to be confused …they want simple straight forward answers …
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SO Jesus takes a deep breath and gives it to them – “I am the Bread of Life …”
And still they debate and argue … they fail to see the Apocalyptic Welcome that is right there in front of them … they miss it …
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And perhaps most distressing of all – we miss it too.
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Too often in the Church we get caught up in the moment and we won’t let our hands that are tightly gripping the status quo let go … and most frustrating of all – we simply fail to see it … we’ve invested SO MUCH in the way things are, that we are deeply hesitant to embrace the way things might be if we dared to let go and trust in God to carry us through …
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One of the most significant quotations I’ve encountered an lived over the last three years is the simple statement: one does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time …
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It’s a scary thought – but it is the heart of what Jesus and Paul are saying … it under girds David’s life taking a turn he didn’t expect nor embrace … it’s about letting go and trusting in God to carry us forward to something new … something different … something we may not expect, but something that will be guided by the Spirit …
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One last quotation – this one from Mark Twain … Twain said -
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“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
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Our children and grandchildren have been raised on the lessons of the Magic School Bus that has teacher Ms Frizzle say in each episode – “take chances, make mistakes, get messy …”
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It’s good advice for children learning to discover and explore the world … and it’s GREAT advice for the Church seeking to continue the journey of discovery and exploration that accompanies us as we wrestle with understanding and sharing our faith in a changing time, and as we struggle to embrace our calling to ministry … it’s about letting go and trusting in God to embrace ALL of us in an Apocalyptic Welcome …
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May it be so … thanks be to God … Let us Pray …

Sermon for August 2nd 2009

King David is experiencing one of those moments when the rubber hits the road, and he’s having a hard time maintaining control … to recap … David has just about everything – power, prestige, wealth and a solid kingdom to preside over. Then one afternoon he spies his neighbour bathing on her roof, has her brought to the palace where he sleeps with her, gets her pregnant and then tried to cover his tracks.

First he sends Bathsheba’s husband home … but Uriah won’t go, instead because his fellow soldiers are sleeping on the battle field, he beds down in the guard house rather than his comfie bed at home … next David tries to get Uriah drunk and sends him home to sleep it off with Bathsheba … even that fails … so, David sends Uriah back to the battle field with secret orders that demand Uriah be placed in the most vulnerable place on the battle field, while the Israelite army falls back and leaves Uriah to his fate …

Uriah dies in battle, and David, the benevolent King brings the poor pregnant widow to the palace …

It’s a nice tidy ending … David keeps his misdeeds relatively secret, Uriah is out of the picture, Bathsheba is now one of his wives and no one is any the wiser …

Until dear old Nathan steps up and shares with the king and the court the sad story of the poor land owner who had but one lowly sheep … a sheep he loved like a child … a sheep he tended and doted upon … a sheep that was his precious animal …

As the story unfolds the poor little land owner loses that sheep to the banquet table of his wealthy neighbour who wants to host an extravagant feast but would not sacrifice any of his own animals to his own table … instead he sends his servants over to the poor landowner and they take the poor sheep and prepare it for their master’s guests …

The king hears the story … as a shepherd he understands the connection to the sheep … the fiercely protective attitude one has towards the animals under their care …they are animals, but more … The King is out raged … “who is this man to do such an outrageous thing??? How dare he. He must pay … tell me Nathan WHO IS THIS MAN??” the king bellows …

The culmination of the story is Nathan … and I picture this moment like this … Nathan has come before the king and told the story … as the King reacts he has turned and is leaving the court … he is almost to the door when the King bellows – “who is this man ??” Nathan stops … the room is quiet … Nathan slowly turns and staring into the king’s eyes lifts his finger and says – “YOU are the man … YOU are the one who did this …”

Then in the hush of the court, Nathan moves towards the King and reminds him of ALL of the blessings that God has given to David – all of the power, the wealth, the success - ALL of it … and David couldn’t be content with it … for David it wasn’t enough, and so he had to have more … and he was willing to murder poor Uriah for it …
Nathan filled with righteous indignation and anger stands before the King and says – “YOU are that man …” and in that moment David’s world comes to a screeching halt as he stares into the mirror that is held before him…


And in our Gospel reading, we encounter the crowds following Jesus and clamouring for more of what he offers …

Jesus, no doubt tired and weary begins to press the crowd about what it is that they want … “a sign, give us a sign …” they demand … “I’ve given you signs, but it isn’t enough …”

“we want more …” the crowd calls … we want more …

Jesus likens the moment they stand in to the time in the wilderness when the people clamoured for food and demanded that Moses DO SOMETHING, only to be given manna and water and quail … but still it was never enough … it is never enough … they want more …

(Ann Weems – Gifts of God)

I like to use this poem at Communion as we prepare to break bread and pour out the cup. It is a powerful reminder that sometimes OUR ways are NOT God’s ways … sometimes we clamour and yearn for things that are unimportant and that ultimately will stand in the way of our relationship with God and with each other …

Like a cosmic Oliver Twist we stand before God with our hands outstretched as we utter the words, “Please sir I would like so more …”

Except God doesn’t mock us by saying “More, you want MOOOOORRRRREEEEEE…” Instead God quietly supplies us with more and more and more, hoping all the while that perhaps we’ll pause long enough to realize how much we really have.

That’s where the Nathan’s in our world come in handy … they are the reality checks that help us pause and consider where we’re at, and what is really important.

Sometimes they are obvious and noticeable. Other times they arrive quietly and subtly, popping up where we least expect it.

The Nathan’s in our lives are those people and those moments when we are forced – and not in a negative way – but in an open way, to reflect on our path and our journey and what is important in our lives, in our faith and in our movement in the world …

It can be something as simple and unexpected as a picture in a newspaper, or it can be something as big and dramatic as a prophetic presence standing before us with a single finger pointing at our nose … the entry into the moment varies, but the outcome remains constant … the self-reflection and consideration of what is happening in our lives is central …

It’s an inner – “what would Jesus do?” moment when we consider what we are doing with our lives and our faith and the many blessings God has poured out upon us …

Taking time to reflect on our life journey and how we are living our lives is never a bad thing …

The WWJD movement began with the publishing of a simple book called “In His Steps.” A book many of us have read. The premise of the book is that a small town church is deeply affected by the visit of a tramp – a homeless guy, who arrives in the community and dies. This profoundly affects the pastor who reflects on whether his response and that of his faith community is in keeping with the values offered by Jesus and his ministry.

The Pastor then challenges his flock to spend a year living their lives with the simple guiding principle of asking themselves “what would Jesus do?” in each and every decision they have to make …

The outcome is dramatic and challenging … one by one the characters in the story wrestle with the question – what would Jesus do when it comes to business, to pleasure, to life … their reflections lead them to challenging and interesting outcomes … but one by one they appreciate how easy it has been to live their lives without really trying to connect their faith and their day to day decisions. There has been a disconnect … the things they did Monday to Saturday, and even Sunday afternoon were not always in keeping with the values they were about on Sunday morning … so slowly they began to change. They began to take their faith more seriously. They began to place their faith in the forefront as they made decisions throughout their lives.

It wasn’t an easy process. But the outcome was a transformation of themselves and of their community … All because the pastor had an encounter with a moment in time that required of him some critical self-reflection …

Critical self-reflection is key … the 12 steps of AA are ALL about critical self reflection that leads to a better understanding of one’s self … much of the counseling and help offered to people struggling in life is about critical self-reflection to help them better understand themselves from within … I remember as a teen going to our minister in my home church and asking him tough life questions as
I struggled with issues in my life and my world.

It was frustrating that Ross would never offer a straight answer. Nine times out of ten, his answer was ANOTHER question … I would ask him a question and he would answer with a question …

I went away mad and frustrated. But looking back I’ve come to appreciate that in asking those questions – questions I didn’t want to face much less ask myself – Ross was moving me forward …

I would find the answer to my first question as I wrestled with the second questions … and as I came back and shared my reflections Ross would nod and smile and ask another DARNED question …

And so it went – step by step – question by question – struggle by struggle until I came to see with a bit of hind-sight, that each question was moving me forward and holding a mirror up before me. A mirror that required I take time to reflect on what was there, and to consider how that impacted my life …

Self-reflection isn’t easy … but, whether we are 15 or 85, it is part of remaining vital, dynamic and active in our lives, our faith and our attitudes within the world … being able to wrestle with our demons and doubts is key to growing in faith.

David stood before Nathan, no doubt with knees shaking … Nathan through a story had laid bare the King’s misdeeds and errors and called him to a different path …
Jesus stood before the crowds, weary and tired and through story challenged them to open their eyes, their hearts, their minds and their souls to what God was offering them …

We stand before a mirror, and are challenged through the story that is OUR lives, to open our eyes, our hearts, our minds and our souls to what God is offering us …
And in that moment we remember … “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases … God’s mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning … and for those who open their whole being to God, and bend their knees to praise God … for them the whole world is a gift …”

May it be so … thanks be to God … Let us Pray …

Sermon for June 28th 2009

June 28th 2009

Readings:

Psalm 130
2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Mark 5: 21-43

Sermon:
What do YOU pray or?

Today, in this place, as part of this service, what have you called to mind as we’ve gathered before God and prayed?

Honestly – what do YOU pray for when you engage in prayer?

Do you pray for your family and friends? Do you pray for healing for someone close to you who is sick? Do you pray for recovery for someone in the hospital? Do you pray for what others would call a miracle?

Do you pray at all?

As I read today’s Old Testament reading I was mindful of a time in my ministry when the community where I lived prayed for the health of a young boy who was in hospital … we prayed for his recovery and healing … we prayed for his family and care givers … we prayed that God’s spirit would rest with him and grant him peace.

Then one day word came that to recover this young boy would need a heart transplant. We were ready to pray that a heart could be found for the surgery, but then even before the words escaped our lips the implication of that prayer hit …

To pray for this young boy’s recovery, was to actively pray for the death of another young person … With trembling lips and a heavy heart we prayed carefully and mindfully …

Not for the recovery of our young boy at the expense of another family, but rather we prayed that in the event of a tragic accident some good could come of it by perhaps extending life, in the face of death …

It would have been easy and callous to pray for the health of the young child needing the transplant, but the full implication of that prayer was not lost on our faith community, nor on the family … it was a moment of brutal honesty, and gut-wrenching agony … it was a lament in the fullest sense … naming the pain and the feelings of alone-ness that enveloped the family and their faith community, while also acknowledging the pain and alone-ness that came with any outcome … but then, in the midst of our tears, we also proclaimed our trust in God …

A Lament is form of prayer that names the reality of the moment, rages at God for the injustice and the hurt of this moment, and then in the midst of the anger, disappointment, sorrow and hurt, pauses to proclaim our certainty that even NOW – in this moment when we might feel completely and utterly alone – God is with us …

One of the best descriptions of a Lament I’ve eve encountered comes from Jewish writer and holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who describes a court case held in one of the darkest hours in a Nazi Death Camp.

Taking in to consideration all the suffering and death around them, a group of prisoners put God on trial. They call witnesses, they review evidence, and they argue whether God has abandoned his people or not, and ultimately if God exists at all.

At the end of the trial, having listened to the arguments, and having heard the testimony of the witnesses, the judge solemnly pronounces his sentence. With a soft voice he proclaims that God has indeed abandoned the people and that the evidence all around them compels him to pronounce God dead.

As the judge bashes his gavel on the table before him pronouncing his sentence and his words – “God is dead, there is no God” settle across the erstwhile Court room a door to the barracks opens and a young boy bursts in proclaiming – “It is Shabbot – Sabbath, it is time to pray …”

The judge then proclaims the court closed, and orders everyone outside to observe the Shabbot … he orders them to pray.

(pause)

The judge declares there to be no God, then in his very next breath demands that everyone observe the Shabbot to honour that absent, non-existent God.

Such is the power of the Lament … you can inventory all the terrible things that are happening around you, you can name the feelings of abandonment, you can weep and rage at God and declare God dead … then in the next breath fall to your knees and TRUST in God’s presence to hold and sustain you …

The Lament is an ancient prayer that is offered in times of distress and trouble … in those moments when you feel MOST alone, you can and should rage at God … and then as you fall to the ground exhausted and depleted you crumple into the presence of that God – OUR God.

Our Gospel readings echo this … the young girl’s family are exhausted … they search out Jesus … they are at their wits end … they need – they want – they yearn for healing … so they ask Jesus …

Along the way, a second healing happens. This one is of the woman who for twelve years has been hemorrhaging. She is the ultimate outcast – there is no way for her to be ritualistically clean. Her ailment renders her and outsider to her family, her friends, and her community … she is alone … utterly and totally alone …

And so, in desperation she reaches out and touches the hem … the hem of Jesus’ cloak searching for healing …

Both the family of the little girl and the woman who for twelve years has suffered from a hemorrhage receive their healing … They have each in their own way lamented to God, and in that moment when they fall to the floor exhausted and spent, they find God’s holy presence there to hold them …

So, we pray for healing … we pray for the miracle … we pray for restoration … but does it mean that if the outcome we yearn for doesn’t happen, that God hasn’t heard our prayer? Or that God has denied our prayer? Or that we haven’t prayed hard enough?

Several years ago I met a woman who was dying of terminal cancer. To look at her you would never know. She looked hale and healthy. She was active in many activities, and rode her bike and jogged. She was in better shape, than many supposedly healthy people.

But her acceptance of her diagnosis had not come easily, nor had it come without a great deal of soul searching and emotional angst. She had many long dark nights of raging at God about the unfairness of it all … then one day she encountered a book on prayer and medicine, and she came to realize that sometimes the answer to our prayer is not the miracle healing, but the gift of
wholeness …

Not the gift that flippantly says – “it’s God’s will” but rather a wholeness that proclaims life to be a gift, and every moment to be precious, and that allows us live life fully …

This is not an idealistic, pie in the sky polly-anna-ish outlook that pretends life is wonderful ALL the time, and we never experience suffering and the alone-ness that comes when the bottom seems to fall out of our world … this is the foundation of our faith – us and God … and in our weakness, we find God’s wholeness and strength and courage.

The Lament – lived and spoken – is one of the most powerful expressions available to us.
In the Lament we name the harshness of life, we rage at God, we may even doubt God’s existence at all … then when we are utterly spent … we fall into the certainty that no matter what God is with us …

It is a deeper understanding and experience of the poem Footprints that says – “during those times, I carried you …”

The Lament begins and ends before God … we can thunder at God from the deepest anguished depths of our soul and God will listen and God’s response will be to hold us even in the darkness …

… and in that moment comes the whisper from the lips of Jesus himself, who says – “do not fear, only believe …”

We may not get exactly what we want when we cry out to God, but we WILL receive the gift of life, strength, grace and most of ALL love …

We need only ask …and it will be there… "Do not fear, only believe ..."

May it be so – thanks be to God – let us pray …

Sermon for April 26th 2009

Author Sue Monk Kidd notes of the Fair Tale about Rapunzel the following:

The story of Rapunzel, recounted in Grimm's Fairy Tales, reveals a false-self pattern common to many of us at certain times in our life. Rapunzel was the damsel imprisoned by a witch in a tower without a door. The only access to the tower was through a solitary window at the top. When the witch wanted to visit, she stood below and called for Rapunzel to let down her long, golden hair from the window. Then the witch scampered up, using Rapunzel's hair as a ladder.

Year after year Rapunzel sat in the tower, singing sad songs and waiting for someone to come along and rescue her.

As I identified my false selves, I recognized Rapunzel in myself. She was the part of me that wanted daddy, mummy, husband or SOMEBODY else to come and fix it, the part that languished in whatever struggle I found myself, singing sad songs, and looking outside instead of inside for help.

Rapunzel is the helpless damsel waiting for rescue. Locked in a "towering" problem or difficulty, she waits for deliverance rather than taking responsibility for herself. her waiting is negative waiting, not the creative, active waiting that initiates growth.

As I thought of Rapunzel, stuck all those years in a tower without a door, I wondered why Rapunzel couldn't figure out a way to get out. AFTER ALL, THE WITCH WAS INGENIOUS ENOUGH TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET HER IN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

When I re-read the tale, especially the ending, where the witch in a fury picks up a pair of shears and cuts off Rapunzel's hair - I wondered why it had never dawned on Rapunzel to cut off her hair herself and use it as a ladder. THE ANSWER WAS THERE ALL ALONG, ONLY SHE (RAPUNZEL) WAS SO BUSY WAITING FOR RESCUE SHE DIDN'T SEE IT.

It's important to be able to ask for, and accept help, but not Rapunzel's way. She chose to forgo the contemplative experience of taping her soul-strength, (the dark night of the soul) to bury her problem-solving potential and project it onto others. Struggling with the difficulties of life, we may adopt the idea that we're too weak, too dumb, too busy, or too incompetent to take care of ourselves and extricate ourselves from pain and problems. A tape recording plays in our heads: "you can't manage that ... you aren't able to figure that out yourself ... you are too weak to do it on your own ..."

When that happens, Rapunzel makes her grand appearance.

The Rapunzel pattern reminds me of an insight ... received while watching the opening credits of the television programme "Mystery" on PBS. As the credits roll, a cartoon-animated woman whose ankles are tied waves her hands in the air and cries "Ohhh!! Ohhh!!" waiting for someone to come untie her.

I watched that show for a long while before it occurred to me that the woman's hand's weren't tied. She could, if she were so inclined, bend down and untie her own ankles.

We live in a world that wants everything new and improved, easy and fast – the easier the better and if it can be done in six easy fast steps – wonderful! But if it can be done in three even better !!

Such is the fast food society in which we live – everything is about faster, stronger, simpler and so on. Our busiest restaurants are fast food outlets that may even have signs outside that say – “15 minute parking strictly enforced”. Our news comes from stations that pride themselves at being able to reduce EVERYTHING to 30 minute rotation cycles. And our entertainment now comes in half hour or shorter packages, with audio books becoming the choice for millions of ‘readers’ – you can listen to the latest best seller while driving – rather than spending endless hours with a book in your lap, and a cup of tea at your elbow … why waste such time??

Yet, fortunately we also live in a time and a place where people are beginning to appreciate, not the speed and haste at which everything moves, but the leisurely pace that allows us to savour and enjoy things in a more timely fashion.

The whole concept of slow food is proof of the world looking at our fast-food culture and saying – “let’s slow it down and re-connect …” “let spend time over conversation rather than gulping our food and running to the next appointment …” “let savour the flavours and textures and the company … let’s take time to enjoy it …”

Time.

That’s the think that in our society we muse that we never have enough of it, and we’re always pushed for it if we find any, and we are definitely bound by it.

And in the Easter Season we are challenged to pause and consider the event that are unfolding in the narrative, and by our story today to consider the sights, the sounds, and the sensations of the Risen Christ.

We are to open our eyes, our hearts and our souls to the events happening in and around Jerusalem, and in this morning’s reading – Jesus has arrived to greet the disciples who are still wallowing in their self-pity and sorrow …

He greets them and by his actions shows them that something new is unfolding right before them – something that they are welcome and indeed invited to be part of. God is crafting something wondrous right before them that arises from the darkness of the tomb and death – and represents new life in abundance …

Rapunzel is being freed from her tower to return to that metaphor. In the moment Jesus takes the fish and eats it, he is showing those gathered that God’s rules are at play and the world has shifted to a place where the sorrow and suffering are NOT the end of the story … we are to be open to life’s possibilities and potential, and see with the WHOLE of our being, what God wants for us and what God offers us …

Opening our lives to what’s around us is a simple concept. We often say it, but we’re less open to actually doing it. We fall into old habits and fit this concept into what has been, rather than embracing what could and would be if we were to truly open ourselves to the possibilities that exist around us.

Think of Rapunzel – poor dear Rapunzel locked in that tower by the nasty old witch. The only way Rapunzel gets visits is by lowering her hair and letting the witch climb to the window … Sue Monk Kidd is right when she asks “WHY?” – why doesn’t Rapunzel cut off her OWN hair and use it to climb down and run away … Why doesn’t the woman tied the tracks just reach down
and untie her OWN ankles and set her self free …

Because we’ve been conditioned – by the stories we tell ourselves – by the little tape that plays inside our heads – by our own past, we’ve convinced ourselves that we need to be rescued and helped and so we sit like Rapunzel playing our sad songs and lamenting as we call for help …

But Easter is the moment that breaks through and asks the blunt question – WHAT ARE YOU DOING???

Rapunzel, why are you sitting in this tower weeping and waiting for rescue when all you need to do is take the scissors and snip off your own hair and you have a rope to climb down on …

What is holding US captive?

What things in our lives are keeping us from being fully, the people we are meant to be?

What changes are we waiting for someone ELSE to make when in truth the changes are already within us?

My mind wanders to the old Saturday Night Live sketches that had Al Franken step out as self help motivator Stuart Smalley. Clad in a sweater and a big smile, he would look into the camera and say – “You’re good enough. You’re smart enough. Doggone it people like you…” and other warm pink fuzzy platitudes.

From the absurdity of this character whispers a truth … the gift of Grace that we are about as a Church is simply that – “you are good enough. You are smart enough. AND people DO like you …”

The power of the resurrection – the gift of Grace incarnate in our world is found in accepting that realization and opening ourselves to the FULL potential of what that can and does mean …

Opening our eyes to what is before us and having the courage and the faith to embrace God’s presence ALL around us …

There are countless people who have made MILLIONS of dollars from the whole self-help industry, and when you look critically at what is happening you realize that ALL of the successful self-help stories are about helping one’s self … we look out there to find what is already here …

The disciples wanted someone to push back the darkness and the fear and rescue them …and suddenly Jesus was there opening their eyes to what they already knew, but had simply forgotten …

Rapunzel cried for help and waited for rescue when the solution was there ALL the time …

We are Children of God – bound by love and grace … we can sit and lament how things are, or we can, as people of faith claim the gift of Grace and proclaim our faith in the resurrection by living IT …

The choice is ours … and doggone it - we know what we have to do!!

May it be so, Thanks be to God … Let us pray …

Sermon for April 19th 2009 - 2nd of Easter

In his book Twenty Piece Shuffle, that offers profound and moving reflections on inner city street life in downtown Toronto Greg Paul shares an experience of he and the staff at Sanctuary, a Church community not far off Yonge Street in the heart of Toronto following the brutal murder of a young woman who was involved in their ministry and community.

Cali was murdered in a subway station one Sunday afternoon, and as news of her killing spread amongst those gathering at Sanctuary for evening worship, grief, anger, exhaustion and despair over took the staff and volunteers and the community members as they wrestled with the death of a friend … in the cold-heartedness that marks life on the streets, the death of this young woman touched many in a startling way …

Paul describes the contacts they had with the you woman’s family, her friends on the street and those directly affected by her death … the emotions ran high as people struggled to make sense of the senseless, and tried to offer comfort to each other … Then one night almost a week later, the staff of Sanctuary gathered to do their usual “debrief” session and they were exhausted, beaten down, overwhelmed with grief, anger and despair. Sitting together in their meeting room they said little beyond blank stares, disjointed chatter and heart-felt sighs, until it was suggested they have communion …

Some one ran to an all-night grocery store, while some one else got a couple of glasses and a bottle of port that had been tucked away in an office … and they shared communion …

(light the candle - pour juice and break bread on small table at front of sanctuary)

They shared communion and it became an moving moment – “the brokenness of that bread stood for the shattered lives in our community, the aching sense of loss, and being lost that tore at our own hearts, our profound failure, we felt, to make a difference. It told us too, that Jesus was right there in our midst and out walking around in our neighbourhood among our friends who, like us were desperately trying to find a way to ease the pain. … But it didn’t feel like he was there. I think we felt in that moment like Martha and Mary must have, after they had sent an urgent message about their sick brother Lazarus to Jesus: “Come quickly, the one you love is dying.” And he stayed two more days in the distant town where he was when the message had first arrived.
Waiting.
Dawdling, apparently, while their own dear brother moaned and faded and finally expired. Easy enough to say, after the fact, that is was all just preparation for the resurrection that was coming, but what comfort was that at the time?
Slim comfort, too, that he was “out there” seemingly doing nothing to change the courses of our friends who were actively seeking their own demise, doing nothing to protect those who like Cali were defenseless. … The Wine: a deep foreboding purplish red in the candlelight.
Salvation, cleansing, healing, Words – mere words. But with the cup, a subtle shift.
We must, we begin to say to each other, recount the victories we have witnessed in the past.
We must lift up our heads, look for whatever flicker of light we can spot in this present darkness, and place our hope in a dawn yet to be revealed. This, here and now, is what faith is. The only alternative is despair. (pg 198-9)

In that moment, Paul and the others lived an Upper Room experience that paralleled that of Jesus’ disciples who gathered in the upper room following Jesus death and in the wake of the news that the tomb was empty and the women returning from the cemetery proclaiming that “Jesus has Risen.”

It is significant for us, 19 centuries removed, that the disciples returned to the place where in the last hours of his earthly life, Jesus broke bread and shared the cup. The centrality of communion to all that we are, and all that we do can not be under stated. Returning literally to the communion table in the darkness and uncertainty and fear is a significant thing …

What must it have been like that night in the upper room when the disciples gathered?

It could have happened within hours of discovering the empty tomb, it could have been a couple of days later, or it could have been a week later … we simply don’t know how long it was after the discovery of the empty tomb. What we do know however, is that the disciples and those gathered were frightened – they we terrified that they could be next if the authorities found them.

In the darkness – overwhelmed by their grief, their exhaustion, their despair – in the midst of that moment, where like Martha and Mary, Jesus fells absent … SUDDENLY – he is there … standing among them.

I wonder how many of us – if we were honest with ourselves – how many of us have had Upper Room moments. Moments when we’re sitting in a time and a place where we feel very much alone – frightened, scared, trembling in the dark – then suddenly we are overwhelmed by the holy …

Paul shares with us one of those moments … when in the midst of the darkness a flicker of light is found … Theologically, I would dare to say that moment is what communion is all about … from the ordinary and the profane – ordinary bread and ordinary wine – suddenly, we are embraced and overwhelmed by the holy …

I remember one such moment in my journey when I served in Bella Coola among the first peoples there. In town there was a group of gentleman known as the troopers.

The troopers – or the troops, were the guys who got up in the morning and wandered around town – or trooped around town – gathering empties and doing odd jobs for a bit of cash. When they gathered enough they then TROOPED to the liquour store and made a variety of purchases for the remainder of their day.

I used to watch them walk past my house on their way to the liquor store, and would at times open the door and yell at them – “don’t forget to bring me back the 10% for the church …”

They ALWAYS met my call with laughter – sometimes a few cat-calls – but always laughter and the invitation to come and help them if I wanted 10% for the church.

After they made their purchase they would return to one of their houses and weather dependent - sit on the front step to enjoy it. One afternoon when I was off to visit an elder they called from the front step saying – “Hey, we got the wine – if you had some bread we could have communion …”

Later that week after fresh bread was baked in our house, I took a small loaf and slipped it into my coat and headed off into the village. As I was passing by the house where the Troops were sitting they waved their bottle and said – “hey, we got wine if you had bread we could …” their words were cut short when I pulled out the loaf of bread …

We sat in the warm spring sunshine and broke bread and poured out the wine and laughed, and cried … and embraced holiness … The full impact of the holy came later … when the Troops would call when one of their number would end up in the hospital and wanted me to visit … when I needed someone to help paint the CE Hall behind the Church and they were there … when they needed to talk about their life experiences including Residential School, they trusted me to be the one to share their hurt and pain for …

The holy came from that moment when we broke bread and shared the cup and found comfort in the circle we formed on the front step of their house … it brought them comfort that transcended the moment and helped us find the faint flicker of light that helped to guide us forward …

Unfortunately, many of us are too much like Thomas … we want instant results – we want to be able to feel and taste the Holy … we won’t believe unless we can touch it and see it for ourselves …

And yet, it is here (the broken bread, the poured cup, the candle) where we see and touch and taste the holy for ourselves … we break the bread and we remember … we pour and share the cup and we remember … we gather around the table and build and share and celebrate the community where the whisper is heard – “place your hand here and believe …” “touch and believe …”

When we break bread we are not only remembering the very presence of Jesus, we are also naming and owning our brokenness. We are broken – like the bread, we are broken and the fragments of our lives are sometimes tossed around like the crumbs that fall when we tear the loaf …

When we pour out the cup we are not only remembering the Easter Sacrifice of Jesus, we are also naming and owning the bleeding wounds that we have sometimes had to endure … the broken hearts, the bleeding spirits, and the scarring stain that remains as the wounded begins to heal. The deep dark colour of the wine connects us to this as we pour the cup …

The power of Communion is the memories and the actions … we break bread and remember our brokenness and the brokenness that Jesus himself experienced … we pour out the cup and remember the woundedness in our lives and the wounds that Jesus himself experienced … in Communion we remember that even in those moments when we feel profoundly and utterly alone … when like Martha and Mary we wonder where He is … when like Greg Paul and his associates we wonder where He is … when like the disciples gathered and cowering in the upper room we wonder not only where He is, but how ALL OF THIS COULD POSSIBLY HAPPEN … in that moment as we remember – suddenly we are not alone …and we are enveloped and overwhelmed by the Holy … and we are challenged to fall to our knees and simply believe … it’s that simple …

… may it be so … thanks be to God. Let us Pray.

Easter Sunday Sermon ...

Easter Sunday – April 12th 2009 – First Presbyterian Portage

The story is familiar – we know the cast of characters, we know what happened.
Each year we mark the events of Easter and recount the story – it is familiar to us.
But – and this is the rub – what does it mean to talk about the Resurrection?
What does it mean to say – “He’s Risen”
Or “I’ve seen the Lord”

How do we celebrate something that we’ve known only from a printed story in an ancient book?
How do we embody the concept of BEING and Easter People when, if push really came to shove – we wouldn’t really have a clue of what it means to speak of the Resurrection, much less proclaim “He is Risen?” or “I’ve seen the Lord.”

On one level, that’s the power of the Easter story and the cast of characters that people it. We may find ourselves like Thomas who missed the happenings of Easter Morning and later sat in the upper room with the others who were happily chattering about the Risen Lord. It was Thomas who said – “I won’t believe until I see and feel for myself the Risen One …”

Or perhaps we’re like Peter and the other disciples who when the women arrived with the news that the tomb was empty and Jesus had been risen from the dead, ran to see for themselves. They had just enough doubt to question the veracity of the story from the women of all people – just enough doubt that they HAD to go and see for themselves …

Or perhaps we’re like the women … we approach these events in the the darkness – in the uncertainty of just not knowing for sure what has happened, only to discover … the earth has shifted, our understanding and our rational intellectual approaches are for naught … things are NOT what they should be … what we expected, anticipated and even dreamt of are simply NOT to be … things are in upheaval and uncertainty …

The women are perhaps the figures in this story where we can enter the story and experience THIS (…) for ourselves.

One of my professors at McMaster wrote a book on the role of anonymous characters in the Jewish Scriptures, and from the simple question – “why do some of the most important stories have a nameless anonymous character in them?” If the stories are so important, why aren’t all the characters named?

As an example – what’s the name of Noah’s wife??
She is central to all of the work that needed to be done, yet she has NO NAME.

Dr Reinhartz opened the door for the possibility that the anonymous characters are intentionally placed in the narrative of the story so that we – you and I – as listeners and readers can place ourselves IN the story, and experience the events in a first hand way.

In the Easter Story there are numerous anonymous individuals who break into the scene and fade away … the young man who ran away naked, the hapless servant who lost and ear, the Centurion who stood at the foot of the cross, and now this morning, we hear of the ‘disciple Jesus loved’ who figures prominently in the narrative of Jesus’ life, but is NEVER named …

Perhaps the whole point of this story – the account of Mary and Peter and the others, is to open ourselves to the possibility that we are to enter the story and be part of the moment when the disciples say – “I have seen the Lord …” and to live the consequences of that statement: “I have seen the Lord …”

This past week I’ve been reading the various resources I brought back with me from the StreetLevel Conference in Ottawa and over and over I keep stumbling on modern expressions of the old Celtic Blessing – “may you see the face of Christ in everyone you meet, and may they see the face of Christ in you …”

It’s such a simple concept – such a simple idea – yet, it is one that we struggle with in the Church constantly …

We can think of numerous examples of un-Christ like behaviour in our leaders and laity that leaves us shaking our heads … but it’s the complacency of saying – NOTHING – that is most troubling.

We are called to faith.
We are called to living and sharing our faith.

And yet, when we see glaring examples of un-Christ like behaviour we will shrug our shoulders and say – “what can you do?” and at times breath a sigh of relief that it’s THEM that got caught rather than ourselves … the spot light is on their dark little corner, not ours – “WHEW!!!”

If we take seriously the notion that we are to BE the face of Christ to the world many of us have some work to do …

Our attitudes need to be fine tuned.

Our outlook needs to be reoriented.

Our ideals need to be adjusted.

Our paradigm needs to be shifted …

AND NONE OF THAT IS EASY or COMFORTABLE.

And that’s the problem. … If it was easy and comfortable we’d be there yesterday.

But when it challenges us to look critically at who we are, how we fit in the world, and what we’ve been about – right down to our most deeply held beliefs – well, that’s a whole other ball game isn’t it?

That’s the point of the Easter Story … something wondrous and amazing has happened … we are no longer prisoners to the way things were … we are no longer to fear the shadows of death and darkness … God has entered Human life and history in a startling way and said – “Hey people – here’s a radically different way of looking at and living in and moving through the world!!!”

It’s called FAITH.

It’s about GRACE.

It’s about a gift of LOVE.

The resurrection is about the Kingdom of God in our midst – here and now, not in some sweet hereafter over there in the by and by – but here and now.

When the word spread that the tomb was empty, things started to change … The Risen Christ is not dead and gone – the Risen Christ moves among us – if we have the courage to open our eyes and see …

We speak words of welcome – but are they conditional? Offered only to the people who we are comfortable and like? Or are they unconditional and open to ALL?

If we are project Christ into the world – are the words of our lips – the prayers and proclamations we make here in this place – consistent with the actions and thoughts we have on Tuesday afternoon? Or Thursday morning? Or Friday night?

Its easy to say – “may we see the face of Christ in everyone we meet.” But what if that face is in the gutter? Or in an AIDS hospice? Or looking at us from between prison bars? Or dirty and drunken?

There’s the challenge of Easter in our modern world … Christ is Risen … we can see the Risen Christ all around us … the challenge is whether we really want to …

It’s easy to say – “I’ve seen the Lord …”

It’s harder to live that understanding as we move through our days … yet we are called to see the Lord in ALL people, not just some.

May it be so – thanks be to God … let us pray.

(and as though on cue - at the conclusion of the service when everyone retreated downstairs for coffee, they were joined by a very inebriated gentleman who was given a cup of coffee, some very generously heaped sandwiches, and asked if there was anything else "we" could do for him? He headed back into his day having recieved a warm welcome and the gift of sustenance ... I felt like I'm preaching to the converted !!!)

Sermon for April 5th 2009 - Palm Sunday ...

April 5th 2009

Today is Palm Sunday …

Lord Jesus …over the broken glass of our world, over the rumours meant to hurt, over the prejudice meant to wound, over the weapons meant to kill … ride on trampling our attepts at disaster into dust … ride on, ride on in majesty.

Over the distance that separates us from you, and it is such a distance measurable in half truths, in unkept promises, in second-best obedience … ride on until you touch and heal us – we who feel for no one but ourselves … ride on, ride on in majesty …

… through the back streets and sin bins, and the sniggered-at-corners of our city where life festers and love runs cold … ride on bringing hope and dignity where most send scorn and silence. Ride on, ride on in majesty …

For you O Christ, do care, and you must show us how. On our own our ambitions rival your summons and thus threaten good faith and neglect God’s people … in your company and at your side we might yet help to bandage and heal the wounds of the world … ride on, ride on in majesty, and take us with your … (Page 76-77 – Stages on the Way.)

And so today we begin our journey into the events of Holy week … a journey that WILL carry us from the Hosannas of a triumphant entry into the city of Jerusalem, through the horrors of Jesus’ arrest, his trial, his torture and abuse and his death, through the profound and utter darkness of the days that follow his death on the cross, and then after the darkness comes the glorious Hallelujahs of Easter morning …

Unfortunately, in the Church we have a propensity to jump from Hosannas to Hallelujah’s and not take time in the uncomfortable darkness that lies between.

Darkness makes us uncomfortable … it’s a scary place … we can’t see clearly … dangers might lurk just out there somewhere …

Think about horror films – from the early films with the likes of Boris Karloff and Bela Lagosi, through to the slasher films of the modern era – darkness is a simply frightening place to linger – in the case of movies, it could cost you your life …

Fortunately, at least for us, Easter doesn’t cost our lives – it cost Jesus his – but we are relatively safe …

Still, darkness is not an appealing place – it’s uncertain, confusing, disconcerting, and frightening … we walk more quickly at night … we tend to avoid certain places at night … and when we enter a darkened room we tend to flick on a light … we don’t like the darkness – so we avoid it – figuratively and literally.

So, it is somewhat natural that we tend to jump through Holy Week and skip over the dark bits … the talk of dying … the breaking of the bread and the pouring out of the cup … the abandonment … the loneliness … the gut-wrenching prayers … the pain … the sorrow … the tears … the blood … the agony … and the death …

Easter Week is a hard place to travel … it’s not about a gentle Jesus, meek and mild … Holy week is not a pleasant spring like place filled with flowers and bunnys and pastel colours … Holy Week is a hard and dark place where the deepest emotions we are capable of feeling come to the fore and we are confronted with how cold and hard our world can be …

Ann Weems writes of Holy week:

Holy is the week ,,, Holy, Consecrated, belonging to God … we move from hosanna to horrow with the predictable ease of those who know not what they do …

Our hosannas sung, our palms waved,
Let us go with passion into the week.

It is a time to curse fig trees that do not yield fruit.

It is a time to cleanse our temples of any blasphemy.

It is a time to greet Jesus at the Lord’s Anointed One, to lavishly break our alabaster and pour perfume out for him without counting the cost …

It is a time for preparation …
The time to give thanks and break the bread is upon us.
The time to give thanks and drink of the cup is imminent …

Eat, drink, remember.

On the night of night each one of us must ask as we dip our bread in the wine – IS IT I???

And on that darkest of days, each of us must stand beneath the tree and watch the dying if we are to be there when the stone is rolled away …

The only road to Easter Morning is through the unrelenting shadows of that Friday. Only then will the alleluias be sung, only then will the dancing begin. (pg 67 – Kneeling in Jerusalem)

The problem – if it really is a problem – is that Easter, when we intentionally walk thru it, makes us uncomfortable and it makes us move past our comfortable assumptions … we have to face not just the harshness of life, but also the struggles that are part of it … Fortunately, Easter offers us the vivid and breath-taking reminder that in the face of the worst life can throw at us – at you and I – God has already been there, and is ready to carry us through …

Easter is the moment when the words of the Psalmist – “yea, thou I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou are with me …” come true.

After the darkest night – a rich beautiful dawn will break upon us … after the harshest ugliest storm – a beautiful rainbow will beckon us … after the cold flood waters recede a warm and glorious spring will come … The Resurrection is THAT profound and that simple …

The challenge is – we’ve grown complacent and comfortable in our faith. Attending – or not attending Church is easy. We can show up on Sunday morning, or not … we can join in the prayers and hymns, or not … we can drop a few dollars on the collection plate, stick around for a cup of coffee, and feel good about ourselves, or not … it’s all terribly comfortable.

Even when we look around and wrestle with some of the issues we’re facing – it’s still pretty comfortable.

And I think that is one of the biggest challenges we face as a people of faith … the comfortableness of our society has rendered faith irrelevant, not only for those folks out in the community, but for us as well … our faith has become a habit … something we do and don’t really think much about …

I point no fingers in this … I always say that my grandfather – my Presbyterian Grandfather – always told us kids not to point fingers – “for when you point a finger in judgment at another, three fingers are pointing back at yourself!!”

Instead, I include myself in this comfort … I have in many areas of my life grown complacent and almost lazy when it comes to things of faith … the challenge to be faced and over come is an openness to the intimacy that the Easter Season offers. Not the warm fuzzy, bunny filled Easter – but the journey that finds friends abandoning Jesus – the journey that finds the crowds that had so eagerly welcomed him fleeing and turning on him – the journey that finds us standing in the darkness of the garden, the courtyard, the back alley, the hillside … the journey ahead is neither easy nor comfortable, but in a full life it is necessary …

Today the journey begins … we’ve walked in the streets of Jerusalem and felt the palm branches crunch underfoot as the Chosen One of God is welcomed in as the Messiah – the Saviour – the one to rescue us … soon we will hear the thunk of the door closing as we gather in the upper room and the talk will turn from the triumph of the procession to the trials of prayer and suffering … In the coming week is the story of humanity – our story … the challenge – the call – the vocation we are called to is to walk carefully and thoughtfully knowing that even in the silent alone-ness of the darkness that lies ahead God is present …

May it be so – thanks be to God – let us pray …

Sermon for March 29th 2009

Old Testament reading for this morning places God firmly at the centre of all that we and all that we are.
We are mandated to love God with the whole of our being.
This is the first step in our faith. The first step in our ministry, and it is the thing – the essence – the grounding – the foundation of EVERYTHING we do from that point on. Loving God with the whole of our being is the axis around which all else revolves.
This past week I was in Ottawa attending the national Streetlevel 2009 Conference – a gathering of folks connected by issues of poverty and homelessness. Streetlevel is organized by the Roundtable on Poverty and Homelessness, who are a gathering of representatives of street level outreach ministries from across Canada, including Winnipeg’s Siloam Misson.
The Conference itself had Executive Directors, Board Members, Front Line Staff, Clients, Supporters, policy makers, politicians, and community representatives. Almost 400 people in all gathered for 3 days of worship, reflection, story telling, prayer, celebration and a commitment to the important work done everyday amongst the most vulnerable, broken and needy on the streets of our communities.
It was in a word – INCREDIBLE.
It was busy, exhausting, inspiring, and at times heart-breaking. As we celebrate the good work that is being accomplished, we are reminded of the failures and set backs and the ache of knowing there will always be those we simply can not reach …
The tone of the Conference was set for me when at the first night’s session several speakers noted that perhaps that as a Church we missed Jesus’ real commissioning when we place the emphasis on Matthew where the RISEN Christ commands his followers to go into the world and make disciples of everyone on earth.
They mused on whether the mechanics of discipleship – the action required to do the outreach – was missing the point, and whether we would do well to return to the Gospel of Luke where Jesus addresses the assembled crowd in his home synagogue – his home congregation – and with great flourish unrolls the massive scroll of Isaiah to the words – “the spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me…” Anointed him to heal the sick, to give sight to the blind, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to set the prisoners free and to proclaim the Kingdom of God !!

What if that – that call to action – was the Great Commissioning of the Church? That was the question posed to us – at the Conference – and today as the Church – what if caring for the outcasts and the cast offs was our Commissioning as people of Faith?What if we are to care for the poor, the addicted, the mentally ill, the homeless, the imprisoned – what if these are the people we are to make, not just disciples of, but to welcome and to include them in our life and work?
What if ?
It’s a radical thought … and in saying it’s a radical thought, there is an understanding of Radical that comes into play that has profound – incredibly profound implications … We use ‘radical’ for anything that is “out there” and that doesn’t fit the norm and is a bit off the wall – Radical tends to be applied to the things that rock the boat and stir the pot and challenge the status quo.
But it turns out that radical is about returning to the basics – to the foundations – the very roots of our faith.
In the modern Church, radical is not the out there stuff that rocks the boat and ruffles feathers, but radical is the stuff that is at the very heart of our faith – the stuff that is really important – and that is the simple idea that God is present and manifest in our lives!!

Speaker after speaker reminded us of the centrality of God in all that we do and in all that we are … trusting in God, not just to strengthen us in our work and ministry, but to heal and render WHOLE those we encounter daily who are in need of wholeness and healing.
The reminder – “I can’t heal any body” helped to recall that it is God who heals and it is God who offers the gift of wholeness.
But the true radical-ness of faith comes in that moment when we realize what a return to the foundations of our faith really means.
The Roundtable on poverty and homelessness affirmed the Ottawa Manifesto three years ago that reads in part:
Abandoning people to poverty increases health problems and welfare rolls, and sometimes drives people to crime – all major burdens for governments, and therefore, tax payers. The generational entrenchment of poverty diminishes hope (the capacity to dream) and the sense of personal value in the individual. Children, the unrealized potential of our nation, when they are born into poverty, start life so far behind others that they may never be able to catch up. The whole of society is enriched when the creative gifts of the poor are supported by governmental and social systems that affirm the value of what they have to offer. When people are shut out because of their poverty, poverty itself “snowballs”, at once increasing our societal burden and diminishing our societal capacity. Homelessness in Canada is a clear and concrete manifestation of this truth.
That is the true radicalness of our faith – embracing our call – our call to include the outsider, to love the unlovable, and to embrace the outcasts.
Discipleship at a distance is easy – radical inclusion is a whole other ball of wax. Glenn Paul writes of radical inclusion when he notes:
“giving some money to a panhandler is something I know I can manage; it can even make me feel good about myself. But embracing him as brother, literally putting my arms around his smelly, drunken, psychotic and possibly bug-ridden person, grappling with the concept that he, too is beloved of God, precious and made in his image – well, this provides and unnerving peek into my own soul.”

This is the moment the seed falls to the ground and dies … the status quo doesn’t cut it … a few coins in an empty cup, or an outstretched hand isn’t enough … the way things were is not how they will be … we are called to more … we are called to:

Therefore, to our brothers and sisters who struggle with poverty and homelessness, we commit to…

LEARN all we can about the systemic, sociological, economic, cultural and spiritual deficits that have left them in this state. We will listen carefully to them, for they are our greatest teachers. We will seek out the knowledge others have acquired, and teach what we ourselves have learned to those who want to care more effectively for people who are poor or homeless;

ACT with diligence and integrity to create with them healthy, nurturing relationships, and safe, secure, dignified homes;

SPEAK on their behalf when their own voices are not heard, and support them in speaking for themselves, to the end that Canadian churches, governments, media and businesses would make the substantial reduction of homelessness, poverty and their root causes a high priority; and

COOPERATE with others committed to these baseline objectives, respecting differences of approach and philosophy.

BEFORE GOD, WE MAKE THESE COMMITMENTS IN THE PLACES WHERE WE WORK AND SERVE, IN OUR COMMUNITIES OF FAITH, AND IN OUR PERSONAL LIVES.

The Ottawa manifesto calls us to faith and in faith we are to learn, act, speak and cooperate – we can no longer simply toss our pennies at the problem and say “Bless you” Now we are to roll up our sleeves and DO.
It is all about going back to our roots – reclaiming our foundations – rediscovering the basics.
We are, as Jesus counseled, to let the grain fall into the ground where it DIES … dies … the seed falls into the ground and dies …
Without the cold and snow of winter there would be no spring … without the darkness of the night there would be no glorious dawn … without the death of the seed there would be no abundant harvest … the seed has to die before it can bring forth new life.
We are the seeds. … we are the seeds that must die to produce an abundant harvest. And this analogy gains tremendous power when we consider that the Church – not just THIS church – but THE Church – is in decline. The act of dying is no longer a theoretical exercise – it is the reality we are living – it is a frighteningly real prospect.
We have become a marginalized minority.
We are poised on the verge of oblivion – and yet – WE ARE THE SEED – the grain that falls to the ground and must die before it can live …WEMUST DIE before we can experience the transformative power of the Resurrection.
Death is a physical reality, yet in the church it has many other manifestations as well.
Dying to the way things have been.
Letting go of the status quo.
Reaching out past our comfort zones.
Living a radical inclusivity – seeing the world in a new way …
ALL of these things represent a dying – and ALL of them offer the promise of a resurrection – a transformative rebirth to the Holy Presence of God in our lives and in our world.
The Lenten Season is a time for anticipating and preparing for the events of Easter. And Easter is about one thing – Death and Resurrection.
AND we are an Easter People. Yet we tend to speak of death and dying in whispers and hushed tones, lest we offend anyone … and we speak of the Resurrection as a one time event that happened long ago in a place far from here called Jerusalem …
We are an Easter People – a people of the Resurrection. We are called to proclaim the life and DEATH and RESURRECTION of Christ. We are people commissioned to go into the world and share the message of hope, and grace and love that issues forth from the transformative power God offers through the Resurrection.
We are to die to the way things are, and instead experience the Resurrection of returning to the foundations of our faith – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me …”

There’s no room for passivity or arm’s length charity. Our call – our vocation – our ministry – is to open the doors of our sanctuary – those doors back there – and the doors right here (in our hearts) AND welcome in those who desperately need to hear and experience the Hope – the life changing HOPE that our faith as an Easter People embodies.
God is present in our world and in our lives.
That is our Covenant with God – God shall be our God and WE – you and I and the stranger, the out cast, the AIDs patient, the orphan, the drunk, the soldier, the baby, the criminal, the minority, the homosexual, the mentally ill, the esteemed elder, the politician, the child, the enemy combatant, the refugee …ALL of us – all of us shall be God’s people.
And that understanding: that all of us shall be God’s people should be more than enough to send us into the world a transformed and resurrected people … may it be so … thanks be to God. Let us Pray.

Sermon for March 8th 2009

Hurting, they came to him.
Healed, they followed him.
Grateful, they gave to him what they had and what they were.
Blessed, they became a blessing and went out to all the world.

Those who are hurt, and healed,
grateful and blessed
still move among us in his name.
(Kneeling in Jerusalem by Ann Weems)

We are followers of Christ … children of God … we are the spiritual descendents of Abraham and Sarah … we are the one who have inherited the promise “I will be your God and you shall be my people …”

The promise – the Covenant with God that begins with the promise of presence and lead to the elderly couple having a new born son …

The story of Abraham and Sarah is one that begins with power and authority.

One day Abram, a resident of Ur – a great empire in what is now Iraq, is told by God that he is to travel across the deserts to a place that God will show him, and there God will make of him a great nation … AND Abram not only listens – he goes.

As the childrens’ story I shared a few minutes ago – he goes off on this strange quest without hesitation and takes his wife and members of his extended family with him, all because God said to …

The reality in today’s world is that if someone stepped up and shared an experience like Abram’s we would respond in fear … there is a very fine line between Abram’s experience and that of Vincent Li hearing voices and responding violently to them … and yet, this divine commandment stands as the defining moment in our collective faith …

I will be your God and you will be my people … stands as the foundational Covenant for the entire Judeo-Christian movement that has come from this transformation of Abram and Sarai into Abraham and Sarah, an aged couple being told they are about to become parents … The strange and miraculous keeps piling up in this story … the call from God begin this journey and the pilgrimage and preparations (things this Lenten Season is ALL about) leads them not only to a new land along with many adventures and mis-adventures, their journey leads them to parenthood while in their senior years …

Such is the miraculous nature of our God and our faith and the Covenant that we, by our presence here in the Body of Christ, partake of.

So, what does our Covenant entail?

How does the Covenant unfold in our lives?

What does it mean to LIVE the notion that “I will be your God and you shall be my people?”

One of foundational aspects of our faith is that of Prayer … not prayer that is simply crying out to God when we need help, but ignoring God the rest of the time, but prayer that is ongoing conversation with God through the day that expresses our faith and embodies our certainty of God’s presence in our day. Prayer as a conversation rather than a petition …

I once read a book that looked at the religious content and religious lessons that can be gleaned from the tv programme – The Simpsons.

Among the many wonderful lessons in the book is the contention that the father Homer is a typical Western Church goer. Homer in his life is busy looking after Homer. Donuts, beer and watching TV are his priorities. He goes to Church because he is forced to by Marge as “the thing to do” as a family. The only time Homer really prays is when he’s in trouble … which if you watch The Simpsons is actually quite often … his “aaaahhhh” is heard frequently, and in those moments Homer cries out for help …

Homer is not that different from the rest of us … how many of us prayer regularly and in a way that is more than just asking for help?

One of the things that impressed me when I began my pilgrimage within the Presbyterian Church has been the open expression of the importance of Prayer. Even in business meetings, prayer begins the meeting and ends the meeting, and to pause before a contentious discussion or debate would not be out of line.

This is not the case in other places …

I remember the DEBATE when I asked at a Congregation why they didn’t have a devotion and prayer when their Board – the equivalent of the Session. The suggestion was not met with enthusiasm … comments like “but this is a business meeting …” betrayed a strange bias that lacked the fundamental understanding of our Covenant relationship with God …

Many years ago I was privileged to be part of a presentation with representatives from the Ethiopian Coptic Church who came to talk about their faith – their background and their Church … the floor was opened to questions and the first question came – “why didn’t you speak of women in ministry?” The answer – “we’re Coptic, it’s not what we do …” drew a gasp of horror.

Then one man stood up and noted that we had sent millions of dollars in aid to Ethiopia to feed the people during a famine – and we had sent thousands of tonnes of food aid – then the man noted that the presenters spoke of over 1200 monasteries in Ethiopia. He asked – “what do SO MANY monasteries do to justify their existence?”

The presenters looked at each other and answered simply – “PRAY.” In a tone that sounded incredulous … this was met with an even louder gasp of horror from the floor …the thought of prayer as justification for the existence of monasteries was simply too much for the modern mind … despite this happening in a provincial CHURCH meeting, the mere suggestion of prayer was regarded as OUTRAGEOUS.

There is something seriously wrong in the Church when we no longer see prayer as a foundational part of our life in faith, both individually and collectively.

On Friday at the World day of prayer we heard the readings from Romans and Acts that celebrated the commonality of our Faith family with the diversity of many gifts and abilities – a commonality that is drawn together in PRAYER.

Not the – “oh God help me get out of this mess …” Prayers of Homer Simpson.

Not the – “Oh God, please heal my loved one of their illness …” Prayers that are common in our world – prayers that are a no-win situation …

If the person worsens in their illness and dies – does that mean God doesn’t care or doesn’t exist? Or if person A with this illness recovers, but person B down the hall with the same illness gets worse, does it mean person A is a more faithful and more deserving person that person B?

Or could it be that we’ve offered the WRONG prayer all together?

Perhaps instead of praying for healing we need to first pray for WHOLENESS, and seek the healing of spirit, and body simultaneously … with the acceptance of the moment and the wholeness of body remarkable things can happen … remarkable things that see the restoration of relationships and the healing of rifts and brokenness …and yes, I would never rule out the possibility of those miraculous healings … I’ve seen them happen – and there is ample evidence out there of them happening. One author Larry Dossey, a medical doctor has written a number of books on the power of prayer in medical treatment.

Dossey says – miracles DO happen through prayer, but he notes that from his scientific background the real power of prayer comes from the wholeness that it brings to the mind, body and spirit. The real miracle is the acceptance that comes and the commitment to life even in the face of a bad diagnosis …

Life is about living it fully …

I will be your God and you shall be my people … how do we live this idea ?

How do we share this covenant?

It begins with prayer … there is a Hindi poem/prayer that embodies this well: to talk with God, no breath is lost – TALK ON … to walk with God, no strength is lost – WALK ON …and to wait on God, no time is lost – WAIT ON.

Our job is not to make our conversations with God a divine shopping list of needs and wants – but our job is to talk with God in an ongoing way, and to share our joys and our sorrows, to be fully present to God in our world and our lives and to approach God in ALL moments as we would an old friend … we can pray in the shower, behind the wheel, walking along the lake, sharing tea with friends, lying on the sofa, or as we sit down to a meal … God is not somewhere out there … but remains part of this (our heart) …

Our Covenant means we need to talk to God and be open to God’s presence and power in our lives … the miraculous can and does happen … just look at the story of Abraham and Sarah … but it can only happen when we’re open and ready for it …

May it be so – thanks be to God – let us pray …

Sermon for March 1st 2009

Lent is a time to take the time to let the power
of our faith story take hold of us,
a time to let the events get up and walk around in us,
a time to intensity our living unto Christ,
a time to hover over the thoughts of our hearts,
a time to place our feet in the streets of Jerusalem
or to walk along the sea and listen to his word,
a time to touch his robe and feel the healing surge through us,
A time to ponder and a time to wonder …
Lent is a time to allow a fresh new taste of GOD!!
(Kneeling in Jerusalem by Ann Weems)

… a fresh new taste of God … ponder and wonder … and let holiness take hold of us …

When was the last time you saw a rainbow?

When you saw it did you take note of it ?Did you stop to admire it? Did it make you smile?

Have you ever thought about the role rainbows play in our world?

Rainbows are magnificent – every time I encounter one, I pause and take a moment to just enjoy it … But even more than just being impressive, Rainbows also play an important role in our stories and our mythos as a culture – for those of us who have some Irish Blood (apologies to my Scottish brethren), we tend to hold to the notion of following a leprechaun to the his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. So strong is that draw that many references to the end of the rainbow and the pot of gold are found throughout our culture and society.

The rainbows also loom large – pardon the pun, in one of my favourite movies - The Wizard of Oz, where the lead character begins the film singing a powerful song of hope called somewhere over the rainbow, then finds herself transported thanks to a tornado to an enchanted and colourful land filled with memorable characters and majestic vistas … then at the end of the movie as Dorothy awakens back in Kansas, the home she yearned to return to … she finds herself surrounded by the familiar faces of her family, people whom she had taken for granted, and people whom she realized were with her in Oz …

That moment of transformation over the rainbow was about seeing the familiar – those people, places and things we might take for granted in a bold new light – or in Dorothy’s case in a bright colourful new light, so she could return home and truly appreciate what it is she has … rainbows are about something truly and utterly breath-taking appearing in the midst of the rain …

It is too easy to take for granted what we have here yearn for “something better over there …” We all say it regularly without even realizing it – “the grass is greener on the other side of the fence,” “the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” and of course – “Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby.”

Whether we’re even conscious of it or not, we yearn for something more – something different … and yet, the less is repeatedly taught to us that when we get “there” to that supposedly “better” place, it is really no different, nor any better than what we’ve left behind …

The tendency, one we are all guilty of, myself included, is to feel overwhelmed in our lives and to yearn for salvation – rescue – for something better. But when we listen to the texts we have before us today as we’ve begun our Lenten Journey to Easter we hear a clear message to stay present to this moment and trust in God.

The story of Noah and his kin in the ark is a magnificent tale of survival and trust. Trust in God no matter what dark deep waters overwhelm you is the message. Trust in God to see you through the dark of the journey to a beautiful mountain top where you will once again stand blinking in the sun, overwhelmed by God’s grace and love.

This theme is picked up in the reading from I Peter where the writer not only likens the flood waters to our Baptism, but implicitly celebrates the TRUST that Noah and his family had in God … we are from time to time inundated by flood waters – some are intentional like our Baptism, or decisions in life that put us in challenging places for family, career, education or even fun – and some are floods that break upon us without warning, and that send us spiraling across the ebb and flow of the water – illness, life changes, accidents, disastrous acts of God – the list is quite lengthy. But the unifying feature is that simple expression of faith that the reading from I Peter proclaims that the key to “survival” in the flood waters is turning our trust to GOD.

That trust in God is foundational to our faith – that trust IS OUR FAITH. Yet we often get hung up on things that are not really important to our lives in community, or our lives as members of the Body of Christ called and commissioned to go forth into the world to share by word and deed the Good News of Jesus.

We’ve all heard the stories – and some of us have been involved in them – about Churches that spend inordinate amounts of time arguing over the colour of the carpet, or the placement of the furtniture, or other trivial things, when the work they are called to do and to be, remains unaddressed. Could you imagine what would have happened if Noah and his sons spent their time arguing over what type of floor covering would have been best in the elephant pen, or what shape the hatches into the hold had to be, or what colour the curtain on the sleeping quarters would be … Nothing would have gotten accomplished, and when the rains began to fall no one would have been ready …

Instead, Noah and the boys, along with their wives and children rolled up their sleeves and began the work that needed to be done. They built the ark, they gathered food and seed, they herded the animals and they got EVERYTHING ready. They were told to BUILD AN ARK … so they built an ark. They were told to gather the animals and enough food for all of them … so they got everything ready. They were told what to do and they did it.

Yet in the modern Church we are told repeatedly what we are to do … break bread, pour out the cup … by the waters of Baptism wash away the past and prepare for the future … by the gathering of community, gather in the lost and the stray … and by the breath-taking abundance that we have around us of relationship, food, talents, and even treasures, we are to go out in to the world and address the many challenges and burdens that bring suffering and hurt to the human family …

We are told in Scripture … in tradition … and in opportunities around us EVERY DAY what we should be about in our faith. Yet, we spend our time being distracted by other things …

We are so focused on other things we miss the opportunity that is often right here … I encountered a reflection once by a colleague in ministry on the West Coast. He shared a moment when he was crossing a parking lot during a stretch of almost intolerable grey, rainy days. It was one of those cold cloudy and crappy days when the rain just wasn’t letting up, and you walk with your head down and your collar pulled up trying to get from point A to point B as quickly and as dry as you can … One afternoon he was crossing a parking lot when he heard the insistent voice of a child saying – “look mummy, a rainbow … a rainbow …” More interested in staying dry, he ignored the voice but the voice continued – “Look mummy a beautiful rainbow!”

Not seeing or sensing any sunshine anywhere nearby he glanced around to confirm that they were surrounded with nothing but the thick grey rain clouds that the west coast is good at producing … He then noticed the child pointing at a puddle at her mother’s feet … “A rainbow” the child said, her finger out-stretched.

In the slick of oil or whatever is one the surface of our parking lots was the sheen of a rainbow … it had caught the child’s attention. She saw a rainbow … that’s all that mattered.

The subsequent reflection reminded all of us to keep our eyes open - even on the greyest and darkest days. You never know when you might find yourself stepping over a rainbow and unless you’re eyes are open you’ll miss it …

Now, aside from the icky connotation of considering WHAT was reflecting the rainbow that day – we have a good reminder to see what’s around us … partially with the awe and the holy WOW of a child … but predominantly with hearts, eyes, minds and spirits open to the divine presence – the HOLY that is all around us …

When we are in the middle of the deep dark storms that life can throw at us, our challenge as people of faith is to see these moments like our Baptism … we enter the waters broken, needy, and tainted by the world … the waters wash over us … God’s love envelops us … we find ourselves emerging from the other side bathed in God’s love … cleansed, renewed, made whole and strengthened by the presence of God in our lives and in our world …
Baptism is when we enter the waters and KNOW that we emerge the other side as the Beloved Children of God …

That’s what trust is all about … that’s the gift of the rainbow … that in THIS place – in THIS moment – we are given the gift of what lies “over the rainbow” – the “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow” – the “greener grasses from the other side” … and all it requires to experience this is FAITH … faith based on trusting in God’s presence in our lives and in our world …

Faith that allows us to journey forward and face whatever life throws at us by trusting in God’s presence and focusing on what’s important – what’s really important – OUR MINISTRY as the people of God present in this place …

Lavishly pour out the waters of our Baptism … Break the bread and share the cup without hesitation … worship our God and build community by inviting in the strangers and urging them to become friends … This is what we are called to be about … to get on with sharing the Good News …

… AND it begins here (Communion Table) … and it ends out there (the Doors) when we share our faith …

Instead of getting distracted, let’s just get on with it … It?? Being the Church and trusting God to see us through !!!!!!
May it be so – thanks be to God – let us pray …