On The Edge of New?

Christmas1c, Dec. 30, 2012 (Luke 2:41-52)

We near the edge of a new year. Will it be new? Or will it be the same old, same old? Not that all of the same old, same old is bad. Some of the same old, same old may be wonderful. We may have developed habits that are constructive – that contribute to our own health, physically, mentally, spiritually and the health of others. Keep them up.

 

But we may have developed habits that are destructive – that ultimately damage ourselves and or others. We can gossip. We can turn our backs on others in need, to feed our wants. We can neglect God – an intentional time each day – a specific time to be with others each week – to be nurtured, fed and challenged by Word and Sacrament.

 

Yes, we near the edge of a new year. Will it be new?

God chose Mary and Joseph to raise Jesus. This morning we hear they are observant Jews. Each year they travel the round trip of 150 miles from their home in Nazareth to observe the Passover Festival in Jerusalem. They realize – they need to remember and their son needs to remember – whose they are and whose they are called to be. So they go – every year – a 4 to 5 day walk there and back – not always safe, probably not inexpensive nor convenient. But they do it. They seek to obey and love God and their children.

 

Later in the Gospels we see Jesus' own habit of prayer. He withdraws to pray – regularly, intentionally. Where do we think he first learned such a habit? An educated guess would be from his mom and dad – perhaps from his extended family. This is as real to him as eating and drinking, laughing and crying – very important.

 

Martin Luther, the one whose name our Church carries, is reported to have said – that the busier his day – the earlier he rose – to spend some more time in prayer. Somehow he realized that he needed God's guidance and help – to make good decisions, to resist temptation, to have courage to seek to do that which was right.

 

We near the edge of a new year. What will it be for us? Praying is an amazing privilege. And the amazing thing about prayer – and I suspect worship – is that the more we do it, the more we appreciate it and want to do it.

 

There's one other thing that stands out in this account of Joseph, Mary and Joseph and their 12 year old son Jesus travelling to Jerusalem to observe Passover that I want us to reflect upon. Did you catch Jesus' rebellion or obedience.?

 

How he disregarded Joseph and Mary- at least for awhile? How he sought desperately to obey God – to learn and grow at the feet of those who were learned of God's law – of God's dealings with the people of Israel? Both are realities.

 

Can we imagine – what it would be like to lose a child in a big city for 3 days? How desperate, how frightened – how angry (likely at ourselves) would we be? And then – only to find that son or daughter had stayed behind willingly not telling anyone. Well, wouldn't you just feel like throttling them after that initial profound sense of relief passed?

 

I suspect that Mary voices some of that to Jesus as she finally "discovers" him in the temple: "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, (don't you understand), your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety." We can identify with frustration, pain – even consternation.

 

But the 12 year old Jesus' response blows us – as I suspect it did his parents – away. "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I MUST BE in my Father's house, seeing to my Father's business?"

 

Somehow at that point – Jesus had a sense of the call upon His life to obey God, the Father. And if on occasion that caused him to do things that his parents just couldn't or wouldn't understand – well it was necessary.

 

This doesn't mean that he completely disregarded his responsibilities and privileges as the son of Mary and Joseph. For in a few verses we are told that he goes back to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. That too is part of his call from God – to be their son, to grow in experience, wisdom, understanding and stature. Luke tells us that Jesus increases in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.

 

We near the edge of a new year. Who knows what this next year will bring for us? Joy, celebration, hopefully growth even in divine and human favor. There may also be struggle, pain, grief, loss, confusion. These too are parts of this life we are gifted with.

 

But in it all and through it all – whatever wonders we are given in our families – let's live with them under the direction and guidance of God's Spirit – realizing that as we are claimed by water and the Word in our baptisms and even drowned to death and evil – the call goes forth upon our lives – to love God with our whole hearts, minds and souls – and to love our neighbors as ourselves. That's a tall order – an impossible order on our own. To love those who hurt us, who wound us, who disregard us – to love god whom so often we cannot see – and sometimes don't understand. BUT see Jesus – see His obedience to God, all the way to the cross. And know that He loves us, that He is with us – O come, O come Emmanuel.

      The primary question as we near the edge of a new year – is are we listening, will we hear and sing, dance and cry realizing that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord? A blessed New Year and an ongoing wonderful Christmas celebration. Amen.

Christmas Tenting (Who knew God liked camping?)

Christmas Day, 2012 (John 1:1-14, Isaiah 52 and Hebrews 11:1-4)

Oh precious ones of God, by God's grace may we behold the Word become flesh who dwells among us.

Have you ever been waiting? I mean desperately waiting – waiting to hear the results of tests. And then the Dr. tells you "GOOD NEWS- you are going to be OK!"... What's that like – when only a moment before everything as you had known it was hung out to dry not knowing. And then the message is good news: how then will you, will we live? Will we simply go back to the way we were – allowing ourselves to be caught by the weather, the markets,  a cold or the way someone else appears while we complain or exist but do not really live? Or, will we in the face, in the light of such good news breathe deeply, dare to sing, move our feet, look into someone else's eyes, compose poetry, engage in deep, deep questions not being afraid to actually wonder. Yes, how do we live in the face of good news?

 

I ask because it's THE PRESENT. IT'S CHRISTMAS.

 

From the get go John's Gospel gets caught up in cosmology. John's gospel doesn't get trapped in one little place in history. No, John's Gospel takes a panoramic view. It's like we get to see from  far above the earth, with a view that is more grand than even the sight from the space ship Challenger. "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the word was God." ... In the beginning – not just our beginnings nor the beginning of the Church nor Judaism nor even the beginnings of humanity nor the earth. No, instead THE BEGINNING. You can't go back any further.

 

Notice what the speaker is saying. In the beginning was the Word. That's with a Capital W. And that Word was with God. That Word was God. So ... for John, God is the Word- One who communicates with human beings. But how? How can this cosmic Creator of an ever expanding universe, that is still so beyond our comprehension or explication, even our imagination, how can this great God communicate with us, we earthlings, we creatures of dust? After all aren't we dust and to dust we shall return?(P)

 

But do you hear? Are your ears, your hearts, your minds on "red" alert. The Word became flesh and tented among us, full of grace and truth. Could it be? Would this God take on OUR flesh, ligaments and tendons, bones and feelings, OUR vulnerability? Would this God be willing to wait, even desperately for a hard headed, sometimes heartless people to be grasped, embraced, caught up and transformed by God's love?

 

Will God wait for this???? (Pause)

 

My God, our God, the answer is YES! God is willing to become one of us. God wants to communicate with us. So God approaches, draws near to us. It's like being at a Grade 7 dance – do you ever remember those? The boys sit in chairs on one side of the gym. And the girls sit in chairs or stand on the other side of the gym, huddled in groups. Those no longer kids but certainly not adults in such moments aren't sure whether to hope or fear that someone has the courage to approach them to ask them to dance.

 

Well God not only takes the first step, but all the steps in becoming one of us.  Sometimes we don't see this so clearly because God's light is bright. Too often we live by squinting or shading our eyes or even crouching down in the fetal position to attempt to escape such light. 

 

But God is not deterred by our juvenile behavior. In fact God's love reaches out, down, beside, whatever preposition one may choose. God becomes one of us in order to communicate with us in a language that we might begin to hear, to be grasped by – to understand and then be transformed by.

 

You see – GOD LOVES US ..............not after we perform all the religious duties we know we should – not after we get straight A's or B's or even C's – not when our marriage is as we'd like it to be or our kids have finally appreciated us. No – God loves us. And so, God comes to show us God's love by becoming One of us.

 

God loves us even when or better yet especially when much of the rest of our "news" is bad. That Dr. may come in after our desperate waiting and give us devastating news. People who are not well do destroy others. Too often we hurt ourselves and others whom we love.

 

But God's Word in the flesh does not shy away from us. Instead God as the Word becomes flesh drawing near to us at those times too. Then there can be  new life, confession. healing, reconciliation, hope. I mean, Isaiah tells us that even the ruins of Jerusalem can rejoice. And I would add  Baghdad or New Town, someday.

 

To many all of this sounds ludicrous – too good to be true – a fable, a deception by mostly men in white dresses, who are out of touch with reality.

 

But is it? When teachers sacrifice their own lives for students as a gunmen enters a school? When a father and a son embrace after not speaking for 40 years? When a person caught up by addiction goes to a meeting and admits, "my name is Joe and I am an alcoholic". Soon he is embraced by others who will seek to accompany him on a journey towards life.

 

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. It happened – long ago, far away. The Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. Look around today – and see!

 

 Christ the Saviour, the One with us and for us and the world has been born. He lives, even as the Spirit moves among us.  Dare to wait. Open our eyes, ears and hearts to  watch,  hear, know and live. As he draws near our lives are flooded with grace and truth. A blessed, blessed Christmas. Amen.                                               

Imagination's Birth

Christmas Eve Sermon, 2012 (Is. 9:2-7, 11:1-9; Lk 1:26-38, 2:1-20)

MT – God comes to us – to be vulnerable, to love, to show the way – to deliver us beyond ourselves (to turn things upside down that we might begin to imagine and live anew)

Malady – given up on God; think we can do it on our own; want control.

Have you ever been caught up by your imagination? I'm not talking about an attempt at escaping reality. But instead have your ever allowed yourself to be caught up by your imagination to enter more deeply into reality, to wonder what might be and how you are called to contribute to that?

 

Think about this. If you could choose any place to be born – would it be where you were born, to your specific parents, to the particular circumstances of your birth? If not, why not? If, yes what are you doing with who you are and where you are now?

 

Also ponder this. If you could do anything right now, would it be this, singing, listening and praying here? If not, why not – perhaps you should leave. But if this is where you want to be for this hour of your life, drink it in, let the carols, lessons and candlelight wash over you like healing waters, like the sweetest aroma of sticky buns coming out of the oven, like the smell of fresh cut grass or the feel  of those first snowflakes landing on your tongue.

 

Imagination is  one of God's great gifts to humanity. To dream of new possibilities, to hunger, long and work for them can be some of the essence of life.

 

Unfortunately sometimes even when we employ our imaginations to enter  more deeply into reality, reality doesn't easily become what we have hoped for or dreamed about. Occasionally reality does move, changes occur at the behest of our imaginations and efforts. People begin to dance and sing, learn, make discoveries, find cures, challenge unjust rulers or  even change their own minds. Wow! Then we aren't just surviving. Instead we are together breathing deeply, sharing and caring, letting go of old ways of hatred and apathy. Imagine that!  

 

But many times (always?) the significant forces opposing such imagination, such giving, such changing of the status quo when it sucks the life from children, the elderly, the most vulnerable, rise up angrily in attempts to crush all such imagination, such dreaming, dancing, singing and questioning. When our dreams are crushed, and our imagination stifled  there is a real palpable darkness. The tanks in Tiananmen Square sought to crush the will of a people. The Arab spring at times seems to be approaching a deep freeze. A mentally ill man shoots innocent children. Spouses raise their voices and sometimes their hands against each other. The wonder of language and social media at times is misused to confuse, or to deceive and belie the truth. Then our darkness is deep.  

 

This too is part of life, our human lives here and now.

 

But this is not all of life.

 

God – is the source of life and light. God is also the artesian well of life bringing, of life- giving imagination. So, God dares to become human. Even as that baby in a manger in Bethlehem God begins to turn the world UPSIDE DOWN. When we humans acquire power we think that we have control. Attempting to exist with the illusion of control we desperately seek  to keep it – often regardless of the cost. The results are disastrous. Scan the annals of history – of empires, or religions including Christianity making war, murdering – all on the assumption that we human beings with our limited understandings know best. IT must be our way! But always devastation, pain and incredible loss follow. Is there no end to the darkness?

 

But God intervenes for God loves us. God wills that we  be moved from darkness to light, from destruction to construction, from fear to hope, from conflict to peace and reconciliation. God fleshes out God's love by becoming a vulnerable human being. God does this not at first in the emperor's palace, at 24 Sussex Drive or even the White House. Instead God approaches a 12-14 year old girl/woman in a backwoods place. Who else would have been willing to say to God – "Here I am, your servant. May it be with me as you desire!"? Would we have been willing in the face of incredible opposition to attempt to raise God's own child? Or, would we prefer to stay the way we were?

 

God works through Mary and Joseph to raise a human being. Jesus, this God in the flesh,  shows us a different way. Even if the tanks roll and the soldiers carry out their orders or do worse,  even if all the land is burned, agent oranged or devastated by chemical spills – by God's grace there remains a stump. From that stump springs a branch. That branch bears fruit:  hope, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity. Such "fruit" spreads like wildfire. Yet instead of destroying people and creation, such fruit births new life. Such  fruit grows not just out there nebulously in the annals of a library or a philosopher's mind – but springs up in Bethlehem, spreading to Rome, to Newtown and Columbine, to Vancouver on the East Side, Surrey and Richmond. It can be beheld by anyone but particularly by those whom many consider as outsiders, like the shepherds were or as bikers,  gang members and prostitutes are today. God's possibilities are infinite.

 

This transforming love of God can overcome hatred, apathy, addiction and self-deprecation. The love of God taking flesh in Jesus of Nazareth always intends to be given away. Today over a billion people will hear Jesus' birth story – of one whom many treated as simply an insignificant birth in a backwater place to a seemingly unimportant teen. Who could have imagined all that His birth has brought, can bring?

 

So, listen carefully! The shepherds though terrified are informed of Jesus' birth by a single messenger of God: "Don't be afraid for I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people; to you is born this day, ... a Savior."

 

To be sure many continue to discount this as so much  imagination, merely a fairy tale, even religious delusion! But what about you, what about me? Do we dare to listen? Could it be that God is catching our minds, hearts, and imaginations?  All can be turned upside down because God, the CREATOR of the universe becomes one of us in love.

 

May he be born among us tonight. Imagine that. Ponder all these things in our hearts. Mary does and look what happens! With God all things are possible. Amen.

 

Stretched By Surprise

Advent 4c, December 23, 2012 (AM) Luke 1:39-55

"And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?"

 

Do you like surprises? Surprises can carry with them great happiness even when the surprise also carries apprehension. Upon receiving the news of the conception of a child long desired there is excitement and joy coupled with apprehension. Do you know what's going to happen? How will it go?

 

Or when someone calls or texts telling us that old friends who live far away are "dropping in" within the hour we are both excited and scurrying to have our homes "ready". When we receive the news of a promotion that we weren't expecting there is both excitement and happiness. Or when we receive the news of a good mark on an exam in a course that we didn't think went very well, that's also good news bringing happiness.

 

But there are also other kinds of surprises that do not evoke happiness or joy. We or someone we love are diagnosed with a disease. How we can get through today, tomorrow, the next week or year? Will we survive? Or we may receive bad news – news of a horrendous accident or tragedy.

 

There are many surprises in life. Some are welcomed. Some chill us to the bone.

 

But there are also PROMISES. Promises that parents make as a child is baptized. Promises that politicians make to constituents during leadership or election campaigns. There are even promises we make to ourselves: "I will never ever again drink that much", or "eat that much", or "spend that much".

 

Often, our promises are broken. We may not intend to break them. Nevertheless, from the reality of our sinful, broken human nature we don't always keep our word. It's like we can't help ourselves. Breaking our promises often results in pain. Others were counting on us. We may have been counting on ourselves. To be human is to know something about broken promises either to ourselves, towards or from others. Sometimes there is a great deal of surprise. At other times, resignation.

 

God is also one who makes promises. Read the Bible!...

 

Now two women  take center stage. On the face of it they seem to be polar opposites: old Elizabeth and oh, so young Mary. Old Elizabeth: for years she had yearned to have a baby. But time had passed her by. Now, inconceivably, as she is well past child bearing age, she and her husband Zechariah have conceived. Before their baby is born her Zechariah, a priest, often full of words his entire life, is rendered mute. Strange things are going on. . .

 

Young Mary likely isn't even thinking of having a child. Not yet married she is still a virgin. . But now, she finds herself … PREGNANT! To be sure Mary has heard God's promise that this child within her is unique: "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Still, who can blame Mary for asking the most logical question: "HOWE CAN THIS BE?" The angel speaks to her again pointing to the promise of God without any detailed explanation. Unlike Zechariah's initial response, Mary is moved to faith. She trusts the angel's message. She is being opened to God's ongoing direction for her life.

 

Now, having heard that her much older relative Elizabeth is pregnant Mary sets out for a visit. As Mary arrives, Elizabeth's baby jumps in her womb. Then Elizabeth is moved to exclaim, "And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?"

 

Why indeed? Why has Elizabeth conceived a child in her old age? Why is the young virgin Mary pregnant? Why does the mother of our Lord come to old Elizabeth? Why are we here this morning?

 

There are many surprises. Some fill us with wonder and awe. We do well to thank God for such surprises. Other surprises bring with them great difficulty, causing us and others immense pain and suffering.

 

We would be wise to ask for God's help to live with all the surprises of our lives. But in all such surprises may we not lose sight of the promises of God to us and for us, TO and FOR THE WORLD. Over and over the Scriptures proclaim that God loves the world: you, me, all people and all creation.

 

Once again we await the celebration of Jesus' birth, God in the flesh, the Son of the Most High. In Him we can clearly see the truth: GOD KEEPS GOD'S PROMISES. In Jesus God comes to us. Certainly Jesus came long ago and far away to Bethlehem. God came to old Elizabeth and gave her a special child. Her child, John the Baptizer plays a special role in Jesus' coming.  God also comes to young Mary who in many ways may not have wanted and certainly wasn't ready to have a child. But that child will flesh out God's love and birth ultimate deliverance from death and evil for the world. What powers those are. HOW GREAT TO BE DELIVERED FROM THEM!  

 

There's one more thing for me to say: God comes to us today – not necessarily as a baby but also as the crucified and risen one, in, with and under the bread and the wine, through spoken and sung words. God may even approach us through others who may irritate us, whether old or young, understandable or not. God may even come through those who comfort us, as the surprises of life deliver more than we can personally bear.

 

This One of God, who is God, comes "to bring peace". It is often difficult to believe that there can ever be peace as sirens wail, bullets fly, little caskets are accompanied to grave sites and people starve for lack of food, love or understanding.

 

But the peace that this God in the flesh promises bears excitement, joy and pain all at the same time. In the midst of all that is part of human life, there can be born within us the conviction, the reality, the transformation that God is with us, seeking to direct our lives, and the direction of the universe, caring for us in the midst of all surprises and experiences. This One who is coming can move us from unfaith to faith, from silence or skepticism to loud rejoicing, from apparent insignificance to profound meaning. Watch Zechariah, Elizabeth and Mary.

 

So, this 2^nd last day of Advent, don't be alarmed at surprises. Instead by God's grace may our eyes be opened to see Mary being stretched and old Lizzie being huge. Their joy, consternation and labor is also to be born among us. Can we join old Elizabeth in wondering why - "and why is it that the mother of our Lord comes to us, bearing her Son, our Saviour?"

 

For if this loving God dares to come to us, "little old us", well then we have to realize, anything is possible. Amen.   

 

Changing

Advent 2c, Dec. 9, 2012 (Malachi 3:1-4 and Luke 3:1-6)

Main thought – "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God"

 

And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Really? However we may understand salvation – whether it is temporary deliverance or release from something that holds us in a destructive way or a permanent deliverance to be with God and in God's presence, experiencing peace -  this, that all flesh shall see the salvation of God, is an audacious claim. Many would say it's a ridiculous claim.  All flesh - all humanity at the very least? Come on!

 

I mean, we know better, don't we? Today we are privileged to have two Africans present to share the struggles of their land and people – and what is being done, what can be done by others of God's people to help them.  But our human record  in Africa, in Europe, in North America isn't pretty. We hurt one another. We argue, spread rumours, stereotype and are filled with fear and ignorance. Genocide, racial inequities abound. I attended elementary and high schools with aboriginal kids from a local residential school. I had little awareness then of what was happening to them. Canada is not exempt from all flesh not seeing the salvation of God – but too often experiencing the very opposite.

 

This week in Quebec a mother has allegedly killed her own children. Not that long ago – a father killed his children in Merritt. All flesh see the salvation of God? Come on! Too often we can't  even glimpse the salvation of God ourselves.

 

But this promise is found in Scripture. We who attempt in our own feeble ways to follow Jesus are called to take this proclamation seriously. . . In the time of Second Isaiah this proclamation was made to the people of Israel who were experiencing captivity in Babylon. With good reason, they didn't think they would ever be able to return home, to Jerusalem. But somehow, through the agency of one Cyrus who probably didn't even "believe" in God, those people were allowed to return home. In a profound sense the valleys, mountains and hills that had held them captive were removed. MANY OF THEM DO GO HOME!

 

Today we hear Luke's appropriation of this Isaiah text. John the Baptizer claims Isaiah's proclamation. John is keenly aware of the errors of the religious institutions of his day. He can also see the shortcomings in his own life and the lives of others in terms of God's call. Words come easy. Not so with merciful actions, kind deeds, advocacy for the weak and oppressed. There is a significant cost to all of that. We human beings often shrink from such cost. Now John goes into the wilderness to both invite and indicte people to come admitting their need for forgiveness, to be washed. John calls them to be turned towards God instead of themselves. Luke sees John the Baptizer as the forerunner of Jesus. John's actions and words prepare the way for Jesus' coming onto the world stage.

 

But we live now! In many ways most of us are revving up for Christmas. Our cultural temptation is to treat Christmas as cuddly, warm, even nice. I have to confess: there is much about Christmas that can be warm, beyond nice to loving! Celebrate that!

 

But Christmas, John's proclamation and Jesus' coming are RADICAL REALITIES, calling us to BE PART OF THE CHANGE GOD IS WORKING. As such there is much opposition to both Jesus and John from within and without. Only a few short verses later, John is thrown into prison because he confronts Herod about having sex with Herod's own sister-in-law. Even though Jesus comes with good news for the blind, the hungry, the imprisoned and the deaf  (which one would think needs to include all of us) He is not met with open arms.  The opposition to Jesus is substantial.

 

Sometimes we are so caught up in trying to do the right thing, that we lose sight of the truths about ourselves and of God. God is both holy and merciful, loving and just. So, think of how we sometimes treat those we love most as we are caught up in our Christmas frenzy. Are we ever short with our words, striking out with frustration, anger or pain?

 

Yet - are you ready for it? That baby is coming anyway! He stretches Mary, Joseph, Bethlehem and Nazareth. He grows. Then He moves on towards Jerusalem. He wills to be born not just as an idea or a historical mental recollection. He wills to live in the totality of our being, our imaginations, hearts and dreams. As this becomes real within us, there will be numerous changes, washings and even mini deaths. We need to be washed anew every day, to have our apathy, hatred and fear drowned. We need to be "raised" again and again in order to realize that we are not alone. God who loves us is with us and for us, with us and for all creation! God comes in the flesh, to love us and forgive us, to reach out to love and forgive everyone. As we are washed and drowned and raised to new life, who knows what we might and could do? 

 

Even now by God's grace as we look to Jesus we can see the deliverance of God. That deliverance is intended for all flesh. Are you, am I intentionally being part of that?  Amen.

Beyond Tumbling Down

Pentecost 25b, November 18, 2012 (Mark 13:1-8 with Hebrews 10:11-25 in the b.g.)

How many of you like change?

 

It depends, doesn't it? Is the change for the better or for the worse? Perhaps that depends on our perspective. Take this I phone. In some ways it's amazing. Even with my limited skills I can receive and send text messages, emails, phone calls. I can even take pictures. At the last 2 clergy conferences I have attended many of the younger pastors no longer bring Bibles. They have the Bible instead on their phone. Now that's a good app to have.

 

But the I phone technology can be also be misused: to bully, to spread false information, to defame and slander. And that is not good.

 

Change is all around including the church. In fact the rate of change seems to be continually accelerating. When I was a kid we had Communion maybe 4 X a year. One had to be have been confirmed to receive.  Everyone under 14 was excluded. And the lay people, well they didn't come up to the front of the church – never no way, except occasionally to kneel for communion.  Not that long ago there was an abundance of pastors. Now very few men and women are entering our Lutheran Seminaries in Canada.

 

The last couple of weeks have been particularly unsettling. The earth has quaked near Haida Gwaii. Super Storm Sandy has wreaked havoc in the Caribbean and on the Eastern seaboard. What does one do when that which we believed to be unchangeable, even unalterable completely changes and is forever altered? What shall we do when the oceans rise up over the coastlines destroying much in their path? What shall we do when people we had counted on let us down? What do we do when illness strikes, when the people we love suddenly become sick and even die or have their capacities forever changed because of an "accident"? Such "changes" can shake us to the foundations. Where is God in those times? What does my trust in God or lack thereof mean then?

 

In today's Gospel Jesus leaves the temple for the last time. The Temple was a massive structure. Inside it's holy of holies is where God was thought to particularly dwell. It had taken Herod's many artisans a long time to build such an edifice. The stones (building blocks) were 12 by 35 by 18. Those are big stones. Even more imposing than the actual structure itself was the place that the "Temple" held in the peoples' psyche. That being said, as Jesus leaves the temple for the last time we hear him saying that even the Temple will not stand. It's "end" is coming quickly. Not only that, but there will be all kinds of things happening to his earliest disciples and to all those who follow him. Such "things" will not be easy. In fact they will be difficult, even earth shattering.

 

Jesus' words came true. Many of his early disciples, significant numbers of his followers today, give their lives to live out his message of death and resurrection, of forgiveness and love in Christ. The cost of following Jesus is often high in terms of relationships and families. Many of the early Christians were kicked out of the faith they had grown up in.

 

What about us? Are we convinced that there is a goal, a purpose an "end" for which Jesus has come? In using the word "the end" here I don't mean so much that's all she wrote – there's no more. Instead, I mean that Jesus has come to earth – He has lived and loved, suffered and died for a purpose.

 

The writer to the Hebrews underlines this purpose when he talks about the importance of Christians gathering together to provoke or irritate one another to love, to do good deeds for others. This is all in response to Jesus' actions in his life, death and resurrection.

 

Jesus comes and goes to Jerusalem to suffer and die. As he lives and dies He reaches out to all whom he meets, showing them a different way. His way is not the way of  violence or envy, jealousy or hatred, fear or being "grasped" (i.e. held) by how much we have or don't have. Our purpose, our meaning, does not arise from any of those realities.

 

Sometimes it's tempting to think that a lot, or maybe even all of "it" somehow depends on us. But – when the waters come over the shorelines, when we face the truth about ourselves – we begin to realize that we need help, a great deal of help. When Jesus tells his disciples that all the stones of the temple will be overturned, well we need to realize that the stones of our temples, whatever they are, could also be overturned. 

 

Jesus tells us this even as He is moving towards his own death. Because he dies, whatever the changes in our lives, whatever the devastation, the loss, the uncertainty, we must see that we are not alone! God is with us, before us and after us. Our suffering is not in vain because his suffering was not in vain. There are overarching goals, purposes even though we may not be able to visualize or comprehend them. As Jesus said then, these are the beginnings of the birth pangs.

 

Changes continually come within and without – individually, collectively, locally, globally, universally. Some change will be hailed with great joy. Other change will bring about untold pain, struggle, suffering. This is the reality of mortal life, of good and evil, of the mystery of their mixture. There are times when we can sense God/Christ/the Spirit's presence. Such times are uplifting. There are other times when we are so hurt that we don't feel much of anything except anger, pain. It is OK to cry, to yell to call out God.

 

But whether we able or unable to sense God's presence in the most difficult times, we are called to look to the Cross. There we see that God does actively care. God takes on our suffering, struggling predicament. The "third day" will eventually come. Death and evil eventually do give way to God and new life!

 

Let us daily turn our eyes to the cross. See Christ who knows so deeply that everything will eventually come tumbling down. See Christ who also leads us through such tumbling down  to new beginnings in Him. Let me tell you, such beginnings are ultimately good because He is good! Amen.

 

 

Give 'Til It Hurts?

 November 11, 2012 (I Kings 17:8-16, Hebrews 9:24-28 and Mark 12:28-34)

There are times when it is absolutely essential to have open eyes, open hands, and open mind to receive a gift. For instance when one is about to catch a baseball, it just won't work if one isn't paying attention, if one doesn't have open eyes (to see the ball), open hands to catch the ball and an open enough mind to actually trust that the ball may be coming your way. If those realities are in place – well then one can receive the ball. That's sometimes why a catcher in baseball is referred to as a receiver.

 

Love – that is true – that is an unconditional gift is like that. Love can only be at first received. We see this from the time we are first born – when we are cared for by another or others: from our bottoms being wiped, to feeding at our mother's breasts, to learning words. We need open minds, hands and hearts.  Sometimes we do well with all of that in amazing ways. At other times we are afraid and closed. Then we don't receive the good gifts that may have been intended. Fear and even conflict can result.  

 

Today's gospel text is one that I have come to wonder about more and more. Often this poor widow has been portrayed as an incredible example to emulate – to give everything we have away. It has been assumed that Jesus was honoring her in his comments to the disciples that she gave more than everyone else had.  But I wonder now if that was indeed Jesus' tone as he spoke to the disciples that day. Was he actually holding her up as an example to be emulated by them? I am no longer convinced. To be sure she gave more  in every way. But was that the point of Jesus' comment – that others should also do the same now and forever? What is the context?

 

In the preceding verses Jesus had been criticizing the scribes. The scribes were taking advantage of the very people that their religious conviction called them to care for. The scribes had become more concerned with their reputations than doing God's good and gracious will.

 

In fact that particular religious system had created expectations in this poor woman that she should give her all to the temple system. That very temple system would itself soon be destroyed. To be sure she did give more than everyone else. But I now suspect that Jesus' tone may have been critical – not criticize her but rather to criticize a system which fueled, almost demanded that the poorest of the poor must give everything to be acceptable or accepted.  

 

Would we think that someone had "done well" to give all they had to any charity, including the Church while leaving themselves destitute?

 

I reflect upon this on Remembrance Day as we remember veterans of wars long ago – and more recent wars. Hopefully we not only remember veterans but also their husbands, wives, partners, children, parents, friends. Most of them have made incredible sacrifices. Some have given their very lives. Others have made untold physical, emotional, mental and spiritual sacrifices.  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is very real for many veterans. Some wonder if there ever can be healing?  Our truth is that we continue to live in a world where the expectation is that some should give more – even their all. This is not a critique of them, but of the way we live and organize in systems and nations, haves and have-nots, the majority and minority worlds. God help us to change!  

 

To be sure, we must remember them. How committed to ideals of fairness and mercy, equality and democracy, many of them are or were.  We must remember their sacrifices and those of their loved ones on so many levels. Those of us who have not been in combat or had loved ones in such combat may never know such sacrifice.

 

But we also need to ask why/ even should it be so? Are there alternatives – that we can be part of in advocating for any who are poor, lacking - without opportunity for education, health care, safe drinking water, food, rights to travel, expression of their opinions, observing religious conviction?. Can we do anything about that individually, collectively, as Church, as part of this amazing country called Canada and all our Canadian alliances and church alliances including CLWR?

 

As your Pastor I acknowledge that prayer is part of this. But I also underline that as we honestly pray with opened hearts and minds, the Spirit will lead us to action of some kind. That Spirit has done so again and again and again. The Spirit of God is alive and moving.

 

I wonder what we are open to, receiving and offering in our living this Remembrance Day, 2012? In any way are we seeing Jesus the Son of God. Perhaps some days he sits opposite our "temple treasuries". Not that he is opposed to our giving to causes, including the Church, whenever those causes seek to love God and all neighbors especially the most vulnerable. Then I believe he commends us, especially when our giving is done out of compassion with no regard for what others think or notice.  But whenever we partake and support, either actively or by acquiescence in systems that rob and deprive especially those most in need – then we oppose God's love for this world. And that dear people is most serious.

 

As we mark another Remembrance Day  and near the end of another Church year, may we experience both Remembrance and Advent. Let's remember those who have gone before us with good intentions and to the best of their ability honest actions. May we thank God for them refusing to take for granted that which they gave significant parts or all of their lives for. May we also remember  those times when by God's grace we have acted and continue to act for the well being of others – especially those most vulnerable and hurting – the least, the lost and the littlest. Finally may we seek God's forgiveness for those times when we have forgotten such others or been part of systems that actively damage them – so that who already have so much might have more. May we then change and be changed.

 

Finally may we also be caught up in the miraculous reality  of Advent. Christ has come, is coming even now among us and will come again, eventually to wipe away all tears, to usher in a new earth. All will be valued, fed and experience love. Yes, Lord may your kingdom come – even in and among and through us.

 

So – open our eyes.  Let our hands, hearts and minds be ready to receive from God and then to give joyfully but respectfully, to others in need. For Christ's sake, Amen.

Beyond Death's Stench

All Saints Day, November 4, 2012 John 11:17-44

 

"My hands are tied!" "I can't think clearly." "Lord already there is a stench, because he has been dead four days."

 

We have many different ways of speaking about our reality. We are less than free.  Death and all its relatives can rock us, control us, limit us, suck all life and hope from us both individually and collectively.

 

Unless we have stood with, cried with, listened to ones we have loved die, unless we have actually stood beside their open graves, I don't know if we can realize the depths of the powers of death. Death's power pervades our lives like the skunk's stench. At first you can't escape it. It's too overpowering. But even after a long while - days, months and years, that stench still finds its way into the nostrils of our minds and hearts, into the pores of our being and imaginations. We might have thought we were all done with it, but death doesn't just "go away".

 

Quite often we'd rather not talk about death. Denial is tempting. We may refuse to draw up our own will. We may avoid cemeteries, hospitals or nursing homes. We may not make any kind of plans for our own funerals. We may even become convinced that there aren't new possibilities for our relationships, our workplaces, our schools, our churches. Even our language may betrays our attempt to avoid the reality and power of death. If we don't say "the word", will death really be delayed? So we say things like, "He passed away". "She fell asleep peacefully". "They left this life". But whatever we say or think, death is real. We do die. The people we most deeply love also die. The power of death is alive and very, very strong.

 

Death can also rule our families, our institutions including the church, governments and schools. If we refuse to talk about any of the things that matter, refusing to face them head on, if we refuse to grapple with realities that can result in loss, suffering and death for many – then the power of death controls or at the very least limits us. In those times we are not fully alive nor free.

 

Do you ever wonder why? Why do we have such an abundance of water and food, even wasting them, while so many others continue to die from lack of safe water or starvation? Can we as Jesus' followers do anything about this? Should we? Will we?

 

Or, have you ever asked yourself, what are we doing, so that everyone will experience a sense of belonging here? What can we do to invite others, to make others once they are here, feel welcomed? If we do make such changes, how about others who are here now – will they still experience a welcome from us, from God?  Maybe we shouldn't do anything – just try to keep things the same? What do you think? 

 

I remember Harold and Emma. When they were married Harold was 40 and Emma was 17.  That's a huge age gap, one that many would sneer at, perceive to be an untenable age difference for marriage. But Emma had been a displaced person during World War II. Only she and God knew what had happened in her life. She was mature well beyond her years. Harold was a huge man but gentle. He loved Emma deeply. Some 25 years after their wedding day Harold had been diagnosed with cancer. He had undergone the requisite surgery and subsequent treatment. But that insidious cancer continued to ravage his body.

 

Near the end of his life he, Emma and myself would frequently share Communion. Now Harold had sought to live his life as a Christian man. He worshipped weekly. He and Emma gave a significant percentage of their income to the church and to a number of charities. He attempted to honor God in all his business dealings. Harold also was a man of few words. On one of the last afternoons of his life, Emma held Harold's big hand in her tiny hands. Softly she asked, "What can I or the Pastor do Harold?" Looking at her not with resignation, but with a genuine smile and profound hope he responded, "Emma- we have the cross – and that's all we need."

 

Lazarus had been dead 4 days. The Jewish people believed that the Spirit hovered around a person's body for up to 3 days. Then that spirit departed accepting the reality of the person's death. Lazarus had been dead four days. At that point Jesus arrives at Lazarus' tomb. He orders the stone to be removed from the entrance of the tomb. But Lazarus' sister, Martha, objects, "No Lord, there is already a stench, he has been dead 4 days."

 

Yet Christ is not deterred. The stone is removed. Christ then yells, "Lazarus come out". and Lazarus, once dead, now alive, emerges bound in his grave cloths.

 

Many are skeptical about this. But I ask, cannot God the creator of the universe, restore a dead person to life? The One who creates, cannot that One bring life out of death?

 

Lazarus' restoration to life births something of lasting significance for all of us. Now the opposition to Jesus grows. Only a few verses later, the high priest, Caiaphas is heard to say, "You do not understand that it is better for one man to die than to have the whole nation destroyed."

 

Too often this has been our human mantra. Better for Abel to die than Cain. Better for thousands if not millions of soldiers to die, than for – well, you fill in the blank Better for other nations to suffer or die than our nation. Better for another family to be poor than my family. Yet is any of this true? Why must so many suffer and die, be engulfed by poverty? Is it either or?

 

Into the powerful depths of hatred, fear and death wades Jesus. By raising Lazarus, Jesus continues his move towards Jerusalem. There, amid great struggle Jesus willingly suffers and dies. On the cross Christ begins to work out a reality, a mysterious power that can shatter the bonds and power of all death. Do we see Him? Are we trusting Him?

 

He continues to speak, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do… This is my body, my blood. Take, eat and drink for the forgiveness of sin – your sin, the world's sin". Jesus' suffering, death and resurrection birth new possibilities within us, for us and the world.  

 

His surrender is beyond the limited comprehension of our minds. Just when the forces of evil seem to have the upper hand, even as God's own Son is spat upon, tortured, humiliated and dies, just when God seems so distant, perhaps totally absent, even  irrelevant, in that very moment as Jesus dies, God is with us, for us and all creation birthing accompaniment and hope, here, now AND FOREVER.

 

It is the dying and rising Christ who entrusts the less than reliable disciples to go out and share their new life in him with others. They are enabled to let go of their fears, their envy and jealousy. They are being freed to go, to tell, to live. The cross of Christ is before them and behind them.  

 

Today is All Saints Sunday. Those who have gone before us in  faith were far from perfect. But by God's grace they were gifted with trust in Christ to move forward with hope in life and death to new life. Through them somehow, some way, the God's light shines.

 

This can also be our way. Death in all of its forms doesn't need to control nor paralyze us. Christ is the resurrection and the life! As powerful as death and all its forms, Christ's death and resurrection overcome them, calling us to think of, dream of and be part of  new realities that are filled with wonder. Only God can remove the stench of death by submitting to all those powers Himself/Herself. And the result  - well, let's trust, live and see.               Amen and Amen.