A Personal Audience with God?

Advent 4b, Luke 1:26-38 with II Samuel 7:1-16 in b.g. (December 18, 2011)

Does God ever speak to you, ask you for anything?

 

You heard me correctly. I asked you, "Does God ever speak to you, asking you to do or say or give something of yourself to others for God?" These are important questions – not easily answered, for they require much more than words or even thoughts. These questions require obedience in our lives, risks, venturing often beyond our comfort zone.

 

We are somewhat familiar with Mary's story. But I wonder, just how familiar are we? Luke tells us that an angel was sent to Mary. We have our conceptions of angels – like some sort of winged creatures – ethereal, maybe even nice. I am not sure if any one of us truly knows what an angel looks like. But at their core angels are messengers of God. That's right – angels speak something from God to a person or to a group of people.

 

Think about that for a moment. Attempt to think about that from Mary's perspective. She very likely could have been 12-15 years old. She lived in a patriarchal society – that is a society completely and absolutely controlled by men.  Mary's status was determined firstly by her father – and perhaps in a while by her soon to be husband. She didn't have any status, any earning power on her own. Her voice would not have mattered to the society outside of her home, her family.

 

On top of that for a woman to be pregnant who wasn't married was shameful – perhaps even punishable by death. At the very least if she became pregnant – and her fiancée Joseph wasn't the father – well what would he think? What would he do? Would he abandon her?

 

I want us to understand a little bit of what Mary's life was like.

 

Nevertheless God's messenger, Gabriel, comes to Mary – yes Mary, and greets her directly. We are allowed to listen in. "Greetings favoured one. The LORD IS WITH YOU!"

 

It's no small wonder that Mary is perplexed. A representative FROM GOD is speaking TO HER. What sort of greeting might this be? She ponders this, wondering about it.

 

What would you do – if you heard a message from God directed specifically to you?

 

The messenger doesn't stop there though – with this announcement that she is favoured, that God is with her. Oh no! That's only the beginning. The angel Gabriel proceeds.

 

The angel tells her in so many words that she is not to be afraid, that she has found favour with God.  That may be like me telling those of you prone to worry, not to worry. Good luck with that.  Then the angel continues with this incredible announcement. The gist of it is that Mary is to conceive a child and bear a son, and name him of all names, Jesus, which Mary knows means God saves, God delivers, God rescues. Not only that but the angel tells Mary that her son will be great and will be called GOD'S SON and will somehow REIGN FOREVER – that his power will never end.

 

Think about that. It all has to sound impossible to Mary. I mean on so many fronts – that she, Mary, would be the mother of some kind of king. That this king would reign forever. No king had ever reigned forever. And right now – her land was being reigned over by a foreign ruler, who was anything but nice. I suspect that Mary was continuing to ponder.

 

And this is exactly where I love her. She asks this messenger a question. She recovers long from her awe long enough to ask a logical question. "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"

 

Good question! The angel continues – with words and language – but they point beyond x's and o's, beyond 1 + 1 = 2. The angel points to God and God's Spirit. Do you remember the creation accounts? The Spirit of God moves over the face of the deep and God speaks. In that act  new life, new creation comes into being. There's some of that here – the Spirit of God will come upon her and overshadow her and the child to be born will be holy – that is set apart, of God. And then (TAKE A DEEP BREATH) he will be the Son of God."

 

I suspect Mary is doing more pondering. But Gabriel is not aloof to her pondering. He gives  her a sign, something she can hold onto for a moment anyway. He tells her of her relative Elizabeth – who is old and past child bearing age. Elizabeth who had so wanted a child – but had never been blessed with one. Well, Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah, that old priest, are now pregnant. In fact Elizabeth is in the 6^th month of her pregnancy.... Then Gabriel makes a bold statement. "For nothing will be impossible with God." ....                                     WOWSERS.

 

Perhaps Mary was silent for a long time. The text doesn't give us time frames. But  eventually she is moved to speak. Her words humble me. They are great news. At the same time they are humbling for any who would question God's activity, resisting it, questioning its ultimacy. Do we now hear Mary's response to Gabriel's declarations? "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." .... And Gabriel leaves her.

 

So I ask you, do you ever hear God speaking to you? We may think or feel that it would be impossible. I mean who are we? We are just common, ordinary people. We are people who struggle with loving ourselves, who often don't love others – who often forget to pray. I mean when was the last time you even opened the Bible? We may think, we may feel, what gifts do we have that God would be interested in?

 

But my goodness people SEE MARY. Talk about common, ordinary. She had limited if any education. She very likely couldn't read or write. She had no savings, no financial influence. She had little or absolutely no status in her community. And she was too young to have had a lot of experience in the ways of the world. Comparatively speaking, many of us are more experienced, more talented, have way more wealth and education.

 

But GOD CHOOSES MARY! Let me say that again. God chooses Mary to be the mother of God's only Son. And just as miraculously, Mary embraces God's choice. She doesn't complain. After much pondering and struggle (which I suspect was only the beginning of much more pondering, struggle and heartache) she says, "Here am I, the servant (another word for slave or handmaiden, waitress) of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.

 

Make no mistake people, Mary could have no idea what she was getting herself into – or more correctly what God was directing her to. Nevertheless, we are among the countless billions who have been so richly blessed by Mary's giving of herself to and for her Son, God's Son, the One who comes to earth to challenge and ultimately defeat death and evil, by giving himself over to them.

 

So let me ask you again. Does God ever speak to you? The messenger may take many forms – maybe even once in a while a person dressed in a white dress. Or that messenger may be another person, a plane burning on a roadway, a lonely or hungry person, an employee or employer or friend. I mean God isn't limited in the way God speaks.

 

But it is important for us to listen to and for God. As we listen it is important by the grace of God, to say YES to God. For who knows? Mary couldn't have begun to comprehend what God was about to do in and through her. And maybe , just maybe we may not be able to comprehend what God is about to do through us. To be sure, it isn't necessarily on the grand scale of sending a saviour for the world. But who knows God may work through us, to save, to deliver, to bring hope to just one other person, just one other creature.

 

May God help us in the midst of our unknowns, our fears, our anxieties, our doubts, our anger to listen for, to hear God. When God speaks, as God speaks even now, may we like Mary be moved to say and do,  "Here am I. Let it be with me according to your word". Amen.

           

Beyond Existence, Beautiful Grass

Advent 2b, December 4, 2011 (Isaiah 40:1-11)

Some people seem like they have been and will be there forever: in the middle of our lives. That's the way it was with my Gram. She was there when I was born, the 17^th of her 20 grandchildren. She was there to teach me to tie my shoe laces after everyone else had given up. She was there to see that I ate my fair share of vegetables and fruit although I liked neither. She was there to teach me to think critically. When I refused to do so, she bluntly pointed out that what I had said didn't hold water. She was there on my confirmation day, my ordination day and my wedding day. And she held our first child lovingly in her arms, her 32^nd great grandchild. But soon after that, to me, seemingly suddenly, one day in her 97^th year, my Gram died. She wasn't "there" anymore.

 

Perhaps you've had a similar experience – where you have had a relationship with someone who was always "there" for you, but then suddenly no longer was.

 

Some things seem like they will be there forever. I remember the first church building I literally grew up in. It was located on the corner of 12^th street and 1^st Avenue East. I was baptized there, confirmed there, ordained there and married there. The building lives on – but not the way it used to be. It now houses a Greek Catholic community's worship services. Subsequently it doesn't resemble the "church" I knew and loved.

 

Many things change. The Berlin Wall – seemingly an immoveable fixture, "suddenly" came down over 20 years ago. If you had asked people 2 weeks before that event, few if any would have thought that the wall could come down so soon, if at all.

 

For many people the color barrier in baseball was for a very long time just the way things were. But in 1947 cracks began to appear i that barrier. A young black man, Jackie Robinson, was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers. Today there are players from many different nations and backgrounds playing major league baseball. In fact, the leading all time home run hitters, Barry Bonds and Henry Aaron are both African Americans.

 

Even in nature things change. Mountains erupt. Their face is altered. Tidal waves spring out of the ocean. Coastlines are altered. The earth quakes and topography moves. There was a time when "our" coastal mountains didn't exist.

 

The prophet Isaiah knew such underlying realities. He had witnessed the once powerful Israelite empire rot from the inside out. The people refused to listen to God. They were too busy turning a profit to actively care for any who were hungry or poor. They were so busy serving themselves that they couldn't and wouldn't serve God. As a result their empire had become sick and vulnerable. The Babylonians came. The Babylonians conquered them. The King of Judah had his eyes gouged out. Many of the people had been placed in chains and dragged away. Their temple had been sacked. The walls of Jerusalem had been breached. Proud Jerusalem had been humiliated. For a  while God had withdrawn from the people. They hadn't wanted to speak or listen to God. God had obliged – for a period.

 

Look around. Haven't empires ended in our life times? The Great British Empire, the third Reich. Even the American Empire seems to be teetering on the edge. Whom shall its people believe or trust? In Canada, the "true" north strong and free, it often isn't safe for women to walk the streets alone. We pick our children up from every event, because we have fear about them being alone. Many of us have installed "security" systems in our homes, because we are afraid of being robbed and or vandalized. Fear is something we know up close and personal.

 

Isaiah knows the reality of such experiences. He hears a voice telling him to cry out. "What shall I cry?" he asks. The response is, "All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass!"

 

Do we realize that we are grass? Do we know that someday, sooner or later, our lives here too will end?

 

If we do acknowledge and live with such reality, how shall we live?

 

I remember a hit song from the late 60's or early 70's. It went like this: "If that's all there is my friend, then let's start dancing, let's break out the booze and have a ball. Such a song isn't a sign of hope. It is a song of resignation. If life is just going to end, if so much of life is mortal, unjust and beyond our control, well then let's party for this brief moment we have.

 

Some people choose consciously or unconsciously to live like that. They work at not actually reflecting upon their lives or the lives of others. They attempt to engross themselves in their daily tasks and pleasures so that the questions of purpose, of deep honest relationships, of what will endure, and of what ultimately matters are drowned out.

 

Others despair, giving up. The temptation is to "exist" as if nothing really matters, so who cares? This is not "existence". This, in reality, is death.

 

The Judahites now exiled in Babylon experienced the derision of their captors. The exiles are tempted to give up. Some try to fit in, to exist. But God does remain silent.

 

God speaks to them and to any who will listen through the prophet. Yes, all people are grass (mortal). Yes, the grass withers, the flower fades. BUT – THE WORD OF OUR GOD STANDS FOREVER.

 

The prophet exhorts the people to remember. Remember God's promise made long ago to their ancestors Abraham and Sarah. They would have descendants. And after a number of struggles and questions, they did. God promised also that they would have a land. And after a number of struggles and deep questions, they did. Truly, in that moment, they didn't have that land. But God hadn't given up on them or God's promises.

 

Finally, God's promise had spoken to them of being a blessing to the nations. Could this be possible, for a people where so many had turned their back on God, who were even now exiles?

 

The prophet proceeds. He is to cry, "THE WORD OF OUR GOD STANDS FOREVER... SAY TO THE CITIES OF JUDAH, 'HERE IS YOUR GOD'! THE LORD GOD COMES WITH MIGHT."

 

Incredibly, some of the people do hear. God's Word isn't merely "words" but translates, is fleshed out into action. Cyrus of Persia comes to power. Cyrus declares that the people of Judah can return to their homeland. Once again, they have a land. God's promise is kept!

 

All flesh is grass! We need to experience this truth within ourselves. We will not live here forever. Nor will the institutions that we pledge our allegiance to be here forever. We are mortals. Our "creations" are also similarly finite.

 

Yet, instead of giving up, of feeling and acting as if there is no point, no reason nor purpose for living and life, hear the prophet. "The word of the Lord stands forever." God's promise to love, to care for, to intervene on behalf of all people, stands. God's love for the entire cosmos, people and creation is real!

 

Who else but God can truly lower mountains, raise the valleys, smooth out the rough spots? This is true in our own lives and times. Mountains of prejudice, of self-destructive and addictive behaviour can be lowered.  Valleys of poverty and injustice can be filled so that new life can emerge. The rough places of uncertainty and confusion can be smoothed over by God who sends His Son to be light for the world.

 

Not that we are to stand idly by. God does keep God's promise. But, we are to trust God, to serve God by listening to God and acting in responsive ways. God loves us. God loves each and every person. Might all experience God's presence and love!

 

Even though we are grass, the Spirit of God blows on us. Will we receive that breath daily? Will we be open to God directing us, body, mind and spirit, individually and collectively, following the direction of that breath? Don't we see that the mountains and valleys of our lives and the lives of others can be changed for the better?

 

Remember: the Word of the Lord, God's promise stands forever. God's promise is translated into action Christ Jesus and then through Christ even in us. May God help us to receive this active, living Word in the very middle of our living so that we and others may not just "exist" but truly live. Sometimes grass does become beautiful. Amen.

Something New Is Happening Here!

Advent 1b, Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13:24 – 37 (November 27, 2011)

 

Happy New Year! Here we are at a brand New Year, at least in the Church. But so much in the reality of our world seems to be , THE SAME OLD, SAME OLD. Topping the list from time immemorial is suffering, pain, injustice. Nine days ago I sat with my mother in an Emergency Room. Her one arm was broken. Both her hands were swelling. Such swelling dumbfounded her physicians. All the while they attempted to ease her pain. They literally pumped demerol, morphine and significant amounts of anti –inflammatory drugs into her system. But her pain not only persisted, it raged. She turned at me to speak. "Son, pray". She wanted, she yearned for an easing of her pain, perhaps even the end of her pain. Couldn't God just come down and do something RIGHT NOW?

 

It's the same sentiment, brutally honest, very real, that the people of Israel recently returned from Exile, exhibit in today's first lesson. Perhaps they had thought that once they arrived home, back to Jerusalem, that "things" would somehow fall into place. Like the "good old days" – which may have been truly good only in memory, or retrospect. But once they did arrive  things didn't proceed quite the way they had hoped. Now with frustration, nearing despair, they recall the old stories, the recited remembrance of their forefathers and foremothers.  Hadn't God delivered their ancestors from slavery, given all of them food and drink in the desert? So they cry out now, "Tear open the heavens and come down God." Come, RIGHT NOW God!

 

I must confess – even if it pushes religion or more importantly faith closer to magic – I am with those people sometimes and my mother too. Please God, come, show yourself in some unmistakeable way! End the Aids epidemic – where people old and young are ravished, where thousands of children through no fault of their own are left orphaned, to fend for themselves in a world where almost all of the "cards" are stacked against them. Come God into this word, give us a cure for cancer, or Lou Gehrig's disease or MS. Come God into this world and show the people who don't believe in you, just how wrong they are! Do something fantastic that will make Justin Bieber, Tom Cruise, Sidney Crosby or Travis Lulay or any other famous or hero like figure, appear to be the very mortals that they are. Come on God, tear open the heavens and come down, or up – but come here!

 

But very often God doesn't do anything like that. Some of us, maybe all of us at one point or another, lose hope, lose faith, give into despair or seek to escape into denial. Was Scrooge throughout most of his life right, "Bah, Humbug?

 

It is important for us to note that even the writer of Isaiah 64 demands God to come right now. And even though that same write attempts to blame God for his or her own people's sin,  near the end of our passage, this same writer works to remind God of who God is and his or her people as to who they are. This is very important! Did you hear the writer's assertion? "Yet, O Lord, you are our Father, we are the clay, and you are our potter, we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity, sin forever. Now consider, we are all your people."

 

What/whom do we consider this Advent 1, 2011? Yes,  it's only 28 days until Christmas. Yes, all the demands on our time are ramping up? But in all of this, do we consider, are we fully aware that God is our Father/our Mother? Do we realize that we are both literally and figuratively clay? It's only been 17 days since my cousin's husband, Bernie, one whom I knew and loved for 43 years, went out to walk his beloved dog and collapsed, dying on the ground of a massive heart attack. I must not forget. Clay – we all are clay.

 

But that's not all we are! No sirree bob. We are also God's children – all of us. God is to be not just the potter, but our potter, shaping and moulding us, with love and skill,  whatever may be happening. Do we see that? Are we open to such shaping – especially in those moments when we just want God to come in some way so that our struggles, our pain, our uncertainty, our insecurity can be over?

 

In this new year we are allowed to eavesdrop on Mark's Gospel. Mark yields interesting observations, some profound and powerful realities for those with ears to hear, eyes to see, hearts to be set on fire.  As Jesus is baptized (in mark's Gospel), just as He is coming up out of the water, what does he see? Jesus sees the heavens torn (yes, that's the word, literally translated as torn) and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove upon him. Then Jesus hears a voice from heaven saying of him and to him, "You are my Son, the beloved. With you I am well pleased." You see in Jesus God tears the heavens open – maybe not in the ways we would have – but in God's own unique way. Through those torn heavens God does come among us!

 

Fast forward through Mark's entire Gospel to see more. Behold Jesus hanging on the cross. He is dying, suffering horribly. We want to turn our eyes, our minds, our ears, our noses off. It's so horrible, too ugly, not nice, certainly not Christmasy. At the cross there aren't any white Christmases or bells a-ringing or snow glistening. But don't do that. Don't turn away from Jesus on the cross. Seek to watch Him. As he gives a loud cry and breathes his last something amazing happens. The curtain of the temple is torn in two, from top to bottom. That curtain was symbolic of so many things. There was a system where things were offered in order to bring about reconciliation between God and people. On the cross God offers his Son in a particular way – that shows us new ways of reconciliation. Jesus' suffering an death on our behalf  opens us up to being reconciled and reconciling. In addition that temple curtain being torn in two also reveals that the gulf between we people – often rebellious, hurtful, vengeful, selfish, denying people and God is very real and hugely immense. And yet as Jesus dies, Jesus bridges the gulf between humanity and God. Father forgive them, Jesus cries. In Jesus and his cross, God draws near to us – to bring about new life even in the face of all suffering and death.

 

To be sure, it's not the way we would have done it: in destroying our enemies or dancing in the end zone, or singing "nah – nah, nah, nah,  – nah, nah, nah, nah. But to cross, Jesus vulnerable on that cross is God's way: to come to us – to be with us and for us, to destroy hatred and death.

 

Do we see this God,  in the bedsides of our lives, in our pain, suffering and brokenness? Do we even now, 28 days before Christmas 2011, hear God's call to reflect the light of Christ, to depend on Him at all times, but especially when we just have to cry out, "God do something"?

 

Can't we see? God is doing something! The heavens are being torn in God's way in Jesus. Are we part of it?

 

Come Lord Jesus Come! Even to and through us. Amen. 

           

           

Breaking In? (The Kingdom)

Christ the King Sunday, Matthew 25:31-46 (November 20, 2011)

Do you ever wonder about just how crazy the world is? I mean really wonder. Wonder sometimes if you can go on – or if you do go on, can you continue to be a sane, caring person?

 

The world is SO CRAZY. There are people who have so much: name it, they have it. They are surrounded by things, sometimes even power. And with that they do reckless, heartless, horrific things. Do the names Ghadaffi or Hitler ring a bell? Then millions of people and their descendants suffer. The world CAN BE CRAZY.

 

Ourselves, we have so much. Still, sometimes we feel compelled to get more, or we may not or do not have "enough". Anxiety seeps into the crannies and cracks of our minds and hearts. Then we can't sleep. Then we can't stop worrying.  The world is crazy.

 

Meanwhile seemingly innocent children are starving, both far away and at home. Wander down to the East Side and see who comes in for the LUMS lunch. Go over to the Richmond Food bank and see who the "clients" are. Attend a local school. Observe first- hand the need for hot meal programs. Visit Gilmore Park's Dream Auction. Hear the stories of  people in need in this the most expensive city to live in Canada. Yes, there are Huge houses, expensive land. But there are also many people who are hungry, who don't have a warm or safe place to sleep. Craziness.

 

Toss in the sad and depressing stories of children and very young teenagers being abused by seemingly reputable coaches – whether it's in hockey, football, gymnastics, or even by pastors or other church leaders and you get the drift.  The world can be very crazy, hurtful  even insane place. Add the literal fragile nature of life:  of children and people oh so young, contracting terminal illnesses, being struck down as they stand on the side of the road and there's no doubt about it. Sometimes the world is a crazy, nonsensical place. Some then feel that it's also a hopeless place.

 

Our temptation and inclination then may be to hunker down. To try to live with a faith that is other worldly, that understands salvation as only something that can happen in the future – in an out of body experience that has little or nothing to do with the here and now, the beauty and the craziness of this moment. Or, our inclination, our very real temptation is to give into fear. Out of fear we try to secure enough stuff, enough favors, enough power or status or material goods to guarantee the best care, the best protection for those we love and those most like us.

 

But then either religion and "faith" become merely an opiate of the masses dulling us to the vast experience of present reality. Or religion and faith are pushed to the outer edges of our daily life. We desperately attempt to construct some container called "spirituality" to contain our "faith" and or "God".  Such containers and "gods" have little or nothing to do with the everyday experiences and relationships of our lives.

 

Today  marks the last Sunday of the church year. Next Sunday begins Advent, the new coming church year. But today, this last Sunday of the old year, has long been titled Christ the King Sunday.

 

Now the title, king, is not only cumbersome but for most of us, also meaningless. We don't know any kings. Many of us couldn't even name the governor general of Canada (the King/Queen's representative). In my own life, now spanning nearly 6 decades, I have never experienced a king's reign even in this country.

 

Nevertheless, sometimes the traditions that we have been inherited have value. In ancient times THE KING was one upon whom each person was literally dependent.  And if (a huge IF) one's king was benevolent, that is did his very best to care for those subjects entrusted to his care – well then the entire kingdom was blessed. It was from that hope, that the subjects literally swore allegiance to their king. He would war for them – in the best case scenario's, sometimes even dying for them. Of course there are also many, many examples of horrible kings. The world being crazy is not a new reality.    

 

Our forebears spoke and wrote of their experience and relationship with God and others by employing images and words which had great meaning for them. We need to do the same. In order to do that we need to find ways to translate "old" even ancient images into words and images that reflect our realities.

 

So, on this Christ the King Sunday 2011, living in this crazy but also amazing world, whom are we looking to for guidance, strength, direction and hope? Be careful how we answer.

 

I suspect that the answer is not revealed so much in what we say – although words can be important tools to help, to care, even to express love. But our words must be accompanied by action – or our words are hollow, like mirages of water on a hot summer's day, that when one draws nearer dissipate into nothingness.

 

Into the craziness of our world comes today's Gospel. Now this isn't my favourite Gospel text. It rings of judgment. I am not sure it is about the final judgment or even the judgment of all people – although it has often been read that way. But judgment is real! Whether it's regarding what we eat and how we do or don't exercise – or whether it's how we employ the earth resources or don't – there are consequences to our actions and inaction. Within the realm of Christian tradition we often confess that Jesus is the judge. Note: it is Jesus not any human being who is the judge. Also remember: Jesus is not only King in some amazing, yet fully to be determined sense, but also the One suffering, dying on s cross. Jesus does not absent himself from vulnerability or oppression.

 

Therefore, there is also a wonderful part to this Gospel text. Did you notice that regardless of whether it is the "sheep", those who care for the vulnerable, the oppressed, the hungry, the naked, the "imprisoned" or whether it is those who refuse to care for the people in need, no one in either group realizes that in so doing, or not doing so, that they were caring for or refusing to care for Jesus?

 

Why is that?

 

Jesus says something here that fills me with both hope and fear. Do we hear him? "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these you did it to me!" The reverse is also true: "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me."

 

These sayings give me hope because they underline that God in the flesh does not remove Him/Herself from those in need, those most vulnerable regardless of their age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status or gender. In fact the opposite is true. Jesus is in and among all these people – perhaps all such creatures. This is hopeful!

 

But His saying also causes me to be fearful. I realize that I have not always seen Jesus in such people. I have not always visited, clothed or nurtured such people. At times I have been too tired, too exhausted, too broken myself to make the effort required. Sometimes I have just thought of myself first and then given into fear and apathy. How about you?

 

There is judgment. God forgive us. God help us to do better. May our actions speak honestly of our trust in you. May you help us to trust in you as we see you through Jesus and those He so deeply loves.

 

In the midst of your judgment, oh God, may we also experience your grace, not just for ourselves but in order that we may be so gracious to others. May we feed as we are being fed, clothe as we are being clothed, hospitably visit as even now you visit us in Word and Sacrament. May we love even a little bit  as God loves us in Christ. For then, not only is God's kingdom ultimately coming, but it comes here and now in bits and pieces even through us. In such moments there is great rejoicing not only in the future but right now. Thanks be to God! May we be so, for Christ's sake, Amen. 

One Lord, One God?

Sermon for All Saints Sunday, November 6, 2011 (Revelation 7:9-17)

Have you ever wrestled with faith, your faith, your ability to trust God? Have you ever struggled to actually believe, not just with your head but in your heart, with all of your soul, mind and strength - that God is God? Do you actually trust that God cares - that God loves you, all people and all creation?

 

Here's my confession. I do. I have. I suspect that I probably will, for as long as I live or at least as long as my brain and emotions continue to connect.

 

There is so much evidence that says NO! No even to God's existence. Certainly no to God's love both on a grand scale but also on a more local scale. We live in a world where millions if not billions are born in abject poverty. Right now they have absolutely no say about that. Can you imagine the difference in your life if you had been born in Rwanda or Uganda, instead of China or North America or somewhere in Europe?

 

I have had a warm bed to sleep in every night of my life – unless I chose otherwise. I have had ample food and drink both for myself and those closest to me every day and night of my life – unless I chose otherwise.  But in these ways I am among a minority in this world. Today thousands if not millions of African children are born without one or both parents – due to the Aids epidemic. Again this is not a choice that either the children nor often their mothers have made. It is a somewhat long and complex story. Suffice it to say that many African wives are compelled to have sexual relationships with their husbands regardless of where their husbands have been or what their husbands have done. This reality doesn't even begin to touch the wars that rage on in many parts of Africa, the Middle East – where things that we don't even like to think about are perpetrated by people on other people, men, women and children. Where is God then?

 

Closer to home, where is God as disease and super bugs strike at the hearts of those we love? Cancer spreads, despite our most valiant efforts. Other diseases like such as Multiple Sclerosis, Huntington's, various forms of dementia inhabit large numbers of  people of all ages and backgrounds. To be sure most of the rich in our world get richer. Indeed the super rich become immorally rich – while so many of the remainder of the people have little or no access to health care, safe water, or education. Where is God then?

 

Do you remember? Not that long ago a young man sees a fight on a local bus. He intervenes to try to protect perhaps both parties. But he ends up dying. Where is God? How does, how can our faith deal with this?

 

You may be able to add your own some what similar stories. Such stories  aren't merely "stories", but events, happenings in your life and in the lives of others who have touched your life.  

 

The writer John in the book of Revelation writes to early Christians whose lives and faith are under attack. The Empire cult of the Roman empire demands allegiance. Everything from the coins in circulation to the vaunted Roman military underline that Caesar is at the very least king if not himself almighty God. If one dares to disagree with that Empire, well woe to you! See what has happened to Jesus. Those hanging on crosses outside major cities were a constant reminder of what could happen to anyone who would challenge the power, the dominant message of that empire.

 

It seems so violent, even so vulgar, so all encompassing to us. We may thank "our lucky stars" that we don't live in a world like that. But are we so sure? We North Americans may think that we are free to worship and honor whomever/whatever we want. But the powers of empire still exist. They grab for absolute control. Only among us they are much more subtle. Whom do we give our loyalty to? Television, the internet, malls, all the halls of commerce all demand that we give our time, our ultimate allegiance to them. Let me tell you, it's hard not to – be influenced, to begin to think that this is just the way things are. After all, what can I do to change anything?

 

But when we think that way, when we begin to live that way:  that the market determines the worth of people including ourselves; that the earth is merely a vessel or container to be used; that we must first and foremost seek to protect and even procure our own future including the future of those closest to us, we have lost our faith. Truth be told, then we have lost sight of almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

It's to this great challenge raging even then, over 1900 years ago, that the writer of Revelation is addressing. He describes the horrors of empire and evil in living horrific metaphors in both chapters 5 and 6 while the seals are being broken and the revelation unveiled. But just before the unveiling of the 7^th seal comes this amazing vision. "After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne (where God was) and before the Lamb (that is the risen Jesus)."

 

That vision is set before us now. It is a vision that God is, as that great multitude proclaims, One to whom blessing and glory and wisdom, and thanksgiving and honor and power and might are ascribed FOREVER AND EVER.

 

At times it's hard to believe this. In fact, at times it is impossible to believe that God is the only ALMIGHTY.  That is it's impossible if faith were something that somehow you or I, or even all of us together, had to come up with. Much (perhaps most?) of the evidence that we can see, taste, touch and somehow attempt to explain often speaks in the other direction: that there is no God, or if there is a God, He/she is absent or not that powerful or must not care about what's going on here and now.  

 

But look more carefully at one particular cross! There see God in the flesh making Himself/Herself most vulnerable. There see Jesus, God in the flesh, instead of screaming invectives at those who have scourged, spat upon, abandoned and most cruelly executed him – choosing to call upon His Father, God, to forgive them for they don't know what they are doing!

 

Also see Jesus, later on somehow return to his motley crew of followers. Then He gives them a part of himself, His very Spirit. Watch them as they are being transformed from people who were afraid, who were concerned primarily and foremost of themselves, to become people who get up, to boldly proclaim in a whole variety of ways and places that Jesus has been raised, that this Jesus has the ability to lead anyone and everyone through good and bad to new life, here, now and forever.

 

Also  see that these earliest followers are only part of this incredible stream of many who are being embraced by the love and forgiveness of Jesus to go forward. They go into this world – to share the good news, to build schools, and hospitals – to explore by emptying themselves so that others may have life and have it abundantly. Oh, to be sure, these followers didn't always get it right. Sometimes they blow it royally. After all, they are also sinners, just like us.

 

But they are embraced by the love and forgiveness of Christ. Therefore they refuse to give their ultimate loyalty to anyone other than God.

 

How about us on this Sunday closes to all Saints Sunday? Do we trust God that someday there will be a vast multitude, a choir of "saints" where there will be no more tears, no more suffering, no more death.?

Today, looking around at only that which we can see, it may seem highly unlikely, even impossible. On our own it would be. But we are not alone. The One who has gone to the cross loves us and this world even when (though) we don't know what we are doing! Even now He seeks to blow on us giving us His Spirit. That's what the waters of baptism are all about. They are not intended to be merely a historical event but are meant to be renewed every day.

 

Would you pray with me? Loving God, we believe, help our unbelief. By your grace, embrace us with your love so that we may be freed from bowing down in any shape or manner to anyone or anything that isn't you. For Christ's sake and the sake of this world. Amen.  

Looking for Freedom in all the Wrong Places?

Reformation Sunday October 30, 2011 (John 8:31-36)

Freedom – what a wonderful thing. Free as the breeze. Free to do whatever we want whenever we want. Free from school. Free from examinations. Free from responsibility. Free, free, thank God I am free at last. The last sentence, the epitaph on Martin Luther King Jr.'s tombstone.

 

Are you free? Am I free? Be honest now. Is the church free? Are Christians experiencing freedom? I mean today we mark Reformation day. And for years we gave thanks to God that Luther in some ways rediscovered the actual grace of God – the free love of God in Christ – that our ultimate standing and relationship with God does not depend on us. So true. But does that doctrine lead us to freedom? Are you free not to hate? Are you free not to worry? Are you free to actually care about others – others who think differently than us, look differently than we do, worship differently than we do.

 

Our track record hasn't been good – as Christians, as Canadians, even as men and women. From the crusades, to residential schools, to wars and disputes between Christians regarding certain understandings of "truth" we have hated, killed and slandered. Is that freedom?

 

As Canadians – from interring Japanese Canadians during the Second World War to erecting residential schools assuming that our language, our religion, our culture was vastly superior to "theirs" – is that freedom? And finally seeking to live together as people in love whether in the boundaries of marriage or in some other arrangement – why do we continue to need shelters for those who have been violently harassed, even abused by their partners? Is that freedom?

 

Often we think about freedom as an idea – of being able to do whatever we want. Even if that self centered individualistic concept were freedom, would we be free, here and now?

 

The Biblical witness holds up for us again and again a mirror reflection of our reality. As human beings however hard we may strive to be, we are not free. We are not free to love our brother or our sister as ourselves. There may be instances when we do. Wonderful, thanks be to God for that. A plane out of control suddenly veers and crashes meters from the runway. Smoke and flames engulf the plane. Passengers are obviously injured maybe even killed. And some people just driving by, perhaps even without stopping to seriously think about the personal danger they are assuming, race out of their cars to begin to attempt to pull people out of the wreckage. For a moment, there is wonderful freedom. But when they and we return home, back to "ordinary" life – does such selfless love, such concern for the other, still abide, even thrive?

 

There seems to be something within us, within the human mind and heart – that compels us to be suspicious, of others, of ourselves. If it seems too good to be true, well then it must be!

 

There is also something within us, that compels us to be anxious. We fret about our own wellbeing and  the well being of those closest to us. And so we work often feverishly attempting to explore options trying to secure a future, our future. At times we may even think or feel that we are making progress. But then the unknowns occur: the markets crash, we lose our job, an illness befalls us, someone betrays us. We may even do something we couldn't have imagined doing, something that hurts others and ultimately ourselves. We might not even know where the impetus for such a thing came from, but nevertheless we did it.

 

To these realities Jesus speaks this morning in John's Gospel. He addresses some people who had believed him. Even now they may be ascribing some worth to his teaching. But Jesus refuses to be an intellectual exercise for them or for us. He says to them even as we listen: "If you continue in my word you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free." They take umbrage with his declaration. They ARE NOT SLAVES! Oh, really? Their anger with him is growing, soon to be leaping out of control.

 

Jesus is more direct. Might they understand? Might we? "Very truly I tell you, (code words in John for THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT) – EVERYONE WHO COMMITS SIN IS A SLAVE TO SIN. "

 

Everyone who falls short of God's hope and dream individually and collectively by thought, word and deed is enslaved to sin. YES, SUCH STUFF COMES FROM SOMEWHERE, from deep within, from around. It is embedded in our very beings, individually and collectively: this suspicion, this tendency towards violence, hatred, jealousy, envy – unwillingness to be open, to be hardhearted, prideful.

 

History bears this out – not that there aren't instances of individuals and even collectives of people being enabled to break free for awhile –to care for and love others. Thanks be to God. But too often our enslavement is obvious. Driving our cars, having our mental monologues about others – enslavement!

 

What shall we do? What can we do?

 

More Than Words Or Rules

23^rd Sunday after Pentecost, Matthew 22:34-46  (Oct. 23, 2011)

 

I am going to ask you to wrestle with three questions this morning.

 

Firstly, if I ask you to describe a person that you love deeply to someone else, how would you do that (turn to someone else and tell them now). I am giving you 2 minutes, 1 minute for each of you to speak and then 1 minute for you to listen)

Discuss that process. How did you do that - describe one person you love to another person? Did you list their physical attributes? If so, did you describe them now, or the way they looked 5 years ago, 10 years ago, or when you first met them? Did you list their emotional attributes, their spiritual attributes? Did you talk about what they do for you and for others?

 

Secondly, if I ask you to describe how you show love to that person whom you love, what kinds of things would you say?  (Do this in the larger group)

 

Thirdly, if I ask you to describe what it means FOR YOU TO LOVE GOD, what kinds of things would you say? (Do this in the larger group) (Pause)

 

At times we are a people who like to think that we have a handle on things – that realities in life can be reduced to formulas or ideas. Once we have THE FORMULA or THE IDEA, then we have it made.

 

So, some Pharisees, that group of Jewish people who at the time of Jesus devoted their lives to keeping God's law, had one of their members, one whom the text refers to as "a lawyer" approach Jesus. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" Now we need to know there were 613 commandments in the law divided into 365 prohibitions, one for everyday of the year, and 248 positive commands, one for every bone in the body. So which one is the greatest?

 

Christ responds directly from what Christians refer to as the Old Testament. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind". Perhaps the lawyer Pharisee is nodding to himself. But Christ continues. "This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself'. "

 

Now the Pharisee would not likely be nodding to himself. Loving God: tithing, making sure that he was ritually clean, he had been working at that. But loving his neighbor? He couldn't do that and continue to be ritually clean. How could two such seemingly diverse things fit together?

 

Christ's commands apply not only for some Pharisees long ago and far away but also for us. These 2 commands – to love God and to love our neighbor are like a door and hinge. They belong to together.

 

Love God with our minds, our very beings – and in Mark's words our might – that is our economic and reputational resources. Yes, LOVE. It's a word that is much maligned and misunderstood. We often think about love as a feeling, an internal, personal experience. So we say, "I love my dog. I love football. I love my wife, my husband, my children. What does Christ mean when He commands us to love? Can love even be commanded?

 

Importantly the Greek has 3 different words for the English word "love". There is eros – physical, sexual attraction. There is filia – friendly, liking, hanging out, sometimes even a mutual caring. Finally there is agapay: unselfish caring and active commitment to the other person.

 

Guess which one of these 3 words Christ employs in responding to the Pharisaic lawyer? That's right – agapay – unselfish caring and active commitment to the other person. Such a command taken seriously is difficult, even impossible.   

 

For Christ is saying – one cannot separate love, unselfish and caring commitment to God, from unselfish and uncaring commitment to others. The two flow together. They are not identical – but love for God leads to, results in, is fleshed out by this unselfish care and commitment to and for others.

 

Where does this leave us? I suspect in at least 2 places. Firstly, Christ's command leaves us with a grand, a great vision, a dream. There is a call: ALL are worthwhile, ALL are to be loved in this way.   This is a call, a demand, a dream WORTHY OF OUR ALL. It is also a call that leads us far beyond liking someone, or even having warm fuzzy feelings about them. The best illustration I can use for this is the love my parents have had for me, all my life. They have often not liked me- but they have remained committed to caring for me, sacrificing for me, caring about me. Whether I liked them or not is beside the point. Sometimes even whether they liked me or not is beside the point. This love that Christ commands transcends feelings.

 

Secondly, in Christ's command we are also confronted with our short comings. As one of our daughters said to me when she was only 8 or 9 years old: "Dad, you don't always love others the way Jesus does – you don't always even love me."

 

It was like she had taken a knife and thrust it into my heart. Why? Because she was and is absolutely right. She speaks the truth. From the midst of my pain, I had to wonder at the honesty and insight of this little girl who knew and knows me so well.  Because I do not always so love even my own daughters, I need forgiveness. I need their forgiveness. I also need God's forgiveness. Not so that I can go on the way I always have but forgiveness so that I can begin again and again from God's love in my life to work at so loving each of them.

 

We need to be careful about formulas, ideas and certainty when it comes to God and even to others.  God can never be limited to descriptions, even wonder-filled words. Our lives as followers of the Christ must not be limited to or defined by following rules and regulations, even though there are rules and commands. Nor can our living faith ever be defined merely by feelings or experiences.

 

In becoming human in Jesus, in sending the Holy Spirit to us and among us, God gives us glimpses of God's self, of the wonderfully real mystery we refer to as "God".  God works to love us unselfishly, completely. God seeks the best for us, for all people, for creation. From God's active concern we are called to obey God, to work at loving others and therefore also ourselves. Sometimes, even when we are trying with all our might to so love, we still fail, even miserably.

 

But God does not stop loving us or others or creation. We see and experience this reality in Jesus' life, suffering, death and resurrection. We may even sense such love as the love of Christ is conveyed in the Sacraments and hopefully even in my thoughts and words here on Sunday mornings. In Christ we hope, dream, and attempt to love as we are being loved by Him. What a dream. What a vocation worthy of our lives. Amen.  

             

Momentous, humbling decisions

18^th Sunday after Pentecost, October 16, 2011 (Exodus 33:12-23 with I Thessalonians 1:1-10 (bg)

At times we are faced with momentous decisions. They may begin when we are very young. Is this person trustworthy – could they be my friend? Is there enough time to cross the street safely? Or, shall I wait until there is more time? As we get older the decisions may have even greater impact on our lives and the lives of those we love. Shall I enter a trade or pursue post secondary education? Is this the person I shall live with/marry? Shall we seek to conceive children or not?

 

And then as we grow even older the decisions and questions we must answer continue: how shall I invest my earnings in order to have a retirement that is funded? What part of that is to be offered to charity, to God? What do I need? What is optional?

 

Of course there may be curves along the way. The loss of a job. The loss of a marriage. The contraction of a serious illness – cancer, heart disease, copd, multiple sclerosis. What then? How do you decide? Whom do you listen to? Whom do you trust? Where is God in all of that?

 

When I wrestle with such questions I often think of Abraham Lincoln who in the reality of the American Civil War is reported to have said, "I am often driven to my knees by the reality that there is no place else to go."

 

I think of momentous decisions often, because as a Pastor I get to listen into the wrestling of a number of people, as they must make decisions decide even when often there is no clear right or wrong, and certainly few if any guarantees of how the resulting action will turn out.

 

I particularly thought about these realities  in the last 2 months as a 34 year old friend awaited a much needed liver transplant. His family all volunteered to be tested to see if they could be viable candidates to donate to him part of their liver.

 

Moses in today's Old Testament reading is facing a momentous decision. It's one thing to be responsible for one's own life's decisions and the subsequent consequences. But it's an entirely overwhelming thing to be responsible for the lives and well being of many others – perhaps hundreds and even thousands of people.

 

Yahweh (God, the LORD) had freed the people of Israel from the oppression of slavery in Egypt. Yahweh had been leading them through the wilderness towards a land they had been promised. But the people were often filled with doubt, resentment, a yearning for what they thought were the good old days. They had complained bitterly about lack of food, water – about the unknown length of time for the journey and the uncertainty of the destination. Yet God had provided – manna, water – everything they had needed.

 

God had also been present to them, if even only at a visible distance. The was the cloud and the pillar of  fire. But all of that hadn't been enough for them. I wonder if God's provision is ever enough for us – or if we too doubt, complain, wander after other gods?

 

That's exactly what the people of Israel did. As Moses their leader had gone off on one of his relatively frequent forays to commune with God, to seek direction and guidance from Yahweh, the people yearned for something much more tangible to follow, go give their allegiance to, to cling to. They brought their gold, the very best of their possessions. Such offerings had been  fashioned into a golden calf. Then they threw a party, dancing around that lifeless image. Forgetting God who had brought them so far they gave their allegiance, their loyalty to a thing that was so far, so utterly different from God, that it is almost incomprehensible.

 

God is not pleased. God had promised to accompany the people directly. So, there had been the pillar of fire and the cloud. But now God tells Moses that an angel, a divine messenger, will be dispatched to go before them.  This is not convincing (a poor substitute?) for Moses. 

 

Now, we are privileged to listen into the intense intimate conversation that ensues between God and Moses. To be sure Moses is very thankful that God will not destroy the people, nor completely abandon them because of their serious transgression. But, Moses needs to know, wants to know in no uncertain terms, that God will personally accompany them –otherwise all will be lost. Without God, they will not be a chosen people, or even a peculiar people. So Moses, makes demands of God. Go with us! Show me your ways. Show me your glory!

 

 Amazingly God acquiesces - to some extent – BUT NOT COMPLETELY.

 

Moses doesn't realize what he is asking of God. If Moses were to actually see God's face, that is God's very essence, Moses couldn't handle it. NO HUMAN BEING COULD! And so God chooses to show Moses as much of God's glory as Moses can handle.  Moses is placed in the cleft of a rock where he can't see God directly. Only after God has completely passed by is Moses allowed to peer out from his cleft perspective and see what the Hebrew says beautifully, is the "backside" of God.

 

There is something profoundly amazing, wonderful, beautiful and mystical here. Despite the people's sin, in the midst of the consequences of their sin – GOD CHOOSES NOT TO ABANDON THE PEOPLE. God is merciful and gracious to those people, stubbornly keeping God's promises of giving them a land. Despite their sin, God still loves them. God no longer travels with them as directly as God once did. But God does not abandon God's care of them.

 

I wonder about this in the midst of our lives – of the global crises: economic, environmental;  of times when we have either lost our collective souls to consider and act on behalf of others and those who come after us in order to worship the gods of consumerism, apathy, anomie. What are the consequences of our living in these ways? Where is God?

 

Do we dare speak to God as frankly as Moses does? Do we have the courage, the faith to listen to how God responds?

 

The other profundity here has to do with faith. Faith is not knowing as in being able to prove to someone else who doesn't see or will not trust. Here, faith in God is about trusting enough to actually follow God's direction. For Christians this is about being guided somehow by the Spirit of God, a Spirit that cannot be nailed down, explained or even often understood. Yet, that Spirit blows into our lives. As we are directed and sometimes obey the guidance of this Spirit – sometimes even in retrospect we are allowed to see that it is indeed God who has been and is leading. In such moments we realize that God is gracious and merciful to us.

 

Part of human life is making momentous decisions. We must not run from them. We can use all the resources God places in our paths: science, the experience and wisdom of gifted people in any and all particular fields. But before and after any of that, may we like Moses consult God, realizing that God is THE ONE who loves us, makes us, and desires the best for the whole world. We see these qualities of God in the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

As we so listen may we then act boldly. By God's grace through our actions may some others see our labour of love, our work of faith and yes even our steadfastness of hope. How good and gracious it would be to reflect even the smallest smidgeon of the love of Christ Jesus our Lord!  Who knows – in such living, there may be healing for us and for others! Amen.