Falling Like Lightning?

Michael and all Angels Sunday, September 29, 2013 (Daniel 10:10-14,; 12:1-3) with Rev. 12:7-12 and Luke 10:17-20 in b.g.

Do you ever become tired? I don't just mean physically exhausted, like wanting to lay down and take a nap or even wanting a long sleep of ten or twelve hours. I don't even mean, do you really want or need a longer vacation to have your batteries recharged. No, I mean, do you ever really get tired? Do you ever reach that place where you wonder what's the use?

 

This week alone: a 6 year old boy is struck and killed by a school bus in Alberta; not one but two earthquakes strike a somewhat remote area of Pakistan killing over 300 people while leaving thousands homeless. These are people who already had little or nothing in terms of material goods.

 

Meanwhile the crimes against the people of Syria continue to mount, seemingly perpetrated by their own leaders. Chemical warfare has been waged against them. The victims – innocents – men, women and children, older people have died in the streets.

 

At home there are frequently beautiful and amazing things. I watch as people from our own congregation give of their time and possessions to help those on the lower East Side. One young woman named Angel said to me yesterday at the LUMS meal, "God bless you and your people Tim for what you do." Certainly her words are wonderful. But they are not spoken in isolation. I looked not only at her but also at the two hundred people that we helped to feed. I couldn't help but also see many signs of mental illness, of drug addiction, of people trying so desperately to keep their heads above water, but often being caught by the torrents of the "raging waters of their own lives and the systems they are part of. I also watched  the LUMs staff, Pastor Brian, and the First United staff and wondered, "How can they keep on? How are they not exhausted physically and mentally to the point of burn out, of simply giving up or in?" From that perspective I also being to wonder about our society, including myself. I have often asked,  "What can we do differently, so that these people can be recognized and treated as valued children of God in our society?" I do not see any easy nor comprehensive answers, – now or in the future.

           

So, I ask, do you ever get tired?

 

When we do, when we are exhausted emotionally, when we eventually get to that point where we feel like just plain giving up, refusing to ask the difficult questions or even throwing in the towel in terms of caring for others or ourselves, well then,  it's very important to realize that we are not alone!. . .

 

Can we hear today's Scriptures?

 

The 2^nd century BCE Jewish community are beside themselves because they are being persecuted. Their land is occupied. Their very faith is under siege. Many of their people are losing sight of God, giving up the faith, convinced that there is no use – that maybe even God is no longer God. Some are claiming that God doesn't even exist!

 

The late 1^st century Christian community is trying to make sense of the incredible resistance that is literally crashing up against them both in the Empire of their day but also in their own families, within their very congregations. For a long time they have been convinced that their risen Lord would soon return. They have hoped against hope that Jesus' way of love, of sharing, of costly forgiveness would sweep across and capture at the very least their own families. Some of that has happened. Some amazing wonderful things are going on. But at the same time, the resistance to their message, to this way of Jesus was growing and growing. The cost to them of such resistance and still seeking to follow Jesus is high:  of friends, of business and sometimes now of life. Jesus has not returned as they had thought and hoped. At times the forces against them are so great – that they just felt like quitting, giving up, losing sight of the hope that has been in them. The very forces of the heavens at times felt like it is aligned against them.

 

Today as North American Christians, we face challenges. Our numbers are shrinking. The forces of resistance to Jesus' way of love, forgiveness and sacrificial giving are mounting. Temptations to think of our faith as only personal and private, as not impacting the way we do business, the way we as entire groups treat those who are seen as the least, the vulnerable, the dispensable, grow. The temptations to think that we can't afford to do what God is calling us to do: to feed the hungry, free the prisoners of addictions, self debasement, depression and mental illness, to love the enemy, to relentlessly seek and be open to truth – these temptations also grow. Dare I say, we may even be tempted to wonder if there is truth, or if everything is simply relative?

 

Sometimes as we risk to be care and be open to try to follow in Jesus' way, we too are beaten around and can become exhausted.

 

But let me ask you this. Do you think that Jesus ever became tired? I am convinced because he was fully human that he did. What does he do, when he is so tired? He regularly goes off by himself to pray. He regularly attends  synagogue to worship, to hear the lessons, to be encircled in the story of his people with God, which is also our story.

 

Are we doing those things? Do we regularly: make time to pray, gather with other members of the body to be encircled, enveloped in God's story, which is our story? When we do so, we are strengthened, upheld by a power greater than ourselves!  In such moments, even in future difficult moments we then can be enabled to hear the reality that even though we may feel up against it, somehow by ourselves, we are not. We have heard of how God sending angels, messengers, even advocates to help those before us. At times such angels have fought against evil powers on behalf of God's people. We can't see that ourselves most days. Nevertheless  others tell us of their visions, of their experiences. At times we may be overwhelmed by all the things within us and around us. Yet even then or particularly then, by God's grace comes the voice of One who encourages us to keep on seeking to do God's work whether or not we feel that we are making any difference.

 

And occasionally that audible voice may come from one whose name is literally  Angel. That voice calls us by name to keep on keeping on, because God's work is good; because all people and all earth do matter/ and ultimately because  God's reign, God's love and forgiveness in Jesus Christ will overcome the very gates of hell and hatred. Then all will be fed. No one goes hungry. Then we realize that we are all brothers and sisters, because we are all children of God, this loving Creator of the universe.

 

Take heart dear people. Do not give up. Continue or begin to pray. Gather for worship.  The Spirit will move, even  us. And then perhaps again and again Satan, that accuser and deceiver, the very power of evil, will give way and fall, maybe even like lightning. For Christ's sake. Amen.

 

Lost and Bein' Found - Party On.

Pentecost 17c, September 15, 2013 (Luke 15:1-10)

Have you ever lost something precious to you – something that really matters? About 6 months after my wedding, I was laying in the water, waiting to be pulled up to waterski in a northern Saskatchewan lake. As the boat's engine revved and I was drawn up out of the water my wedding ring slipped off my finger. Immediately I let go of the tow rope and thrashed around in the  water. Thoughts whirled around in my mind. How could I ever tell my wife that less than a year after we were married I had lost my ring?  What would I do? How could I be so stupid? But then, even as my thoughts raced one of my friend's wives who had been standing on the shore walked with her wee babe in arms out into the water. When she was nearly waist deep she said, "Tim, I think that I see your ring!" I thought to myself, "Yah, sure and pigs fly too." Nevertheless I sent a younger boy swimming carefully over to where this woman was standing. He dove down and came up with my ring in his hand. Can you imagine how relieved I was, how thankful I am? Even when I look at my ring today, I can sense that joy and relief of it nearly being lost some 30 years ago.

 

Moving beyond that ring, as precious a thing as it is to me, let me ask you this.  Have you ever lost someone precious to you – or nearly lost them. I remember just over a year ago when our Bishop's daughter under went what was supposedly a "regular" tonsillectomy. Only a few days later feeling some pain she went to the hospital. While there, blood vessels ruptured and she could have died. Fortunately afgter some time in the ICU she could go home. What joy in our Bishop's family when their daughter could come home? What joy and appreciation of this young woman's own life might occur, be lived out! ?  

Or, can we imagine – what the parents and families of those 3 young women abducted in Cleveland andheld hostage for years have been through? They may have thought that their daughters had been killed, in some sense lost to them forever. But then one day their children are brought home- home to heal, to hopefully experience new life, have new possibilities unfold for them. The ones lost are found. Rejoicing, thanksgiving, unbelievable. Life could never the same again. They have experienced the depths of despair. Hopefully they can also experience the wonder of new life and great joy.  

 

So it is that we are ushered/delivered/thrust by Jesus and the Spirit into these 2 parables. At first glance they may seem to be irrelevant. The images are variously unfamiliar because of their historical context. A lost sheep? A lost coin? They don't seem to have much significance for we 21^st century N. Americans. We are beginning to do away with coins. Occasionally we sometimes toss them into water. But rarely are coins found in our pockets. After all we live in a digital, computerized world. As for the image of sheep: unless we are from a rural background we just can't identify. We don't even count "sheep" anymore to attempt to sleep. Instead we turn up the music or take a pill.

 

But let me ask you this – are you ever "lost". I don't just mean geographically, like a young man refusing to ask directions or an older person suffering from dementia. Rather do we ever have the sense of being rootless, utterly exhausted, hopeless, without God? Are we ever "lost" in such ways?

 

Might the parents who want their children to succeed so much that they wrap their whole lives around hockey games and dance recitals be lost?

Might the career minded man or woman who has made moving up the ladder the one and only priority be lost?  

Might the folks who work jobs they hate just to give their family things they never had be lost?

Might the teen who works so hard to be perfect and who is willing to do just anything to fit in be lost?

Might the earnest Christian who is constantly expecting that others have to live certain ways to be a Christian be lost?

Might our world which so often neglects those closest to us without home or shelter, those affected by domestic violence, to instead being obsessed with bank rates and stimulating the economy be lost?

Might our world which employs euphemisms like friendly fire and peacemaker submarines be lost?

 

The answer is yes, yes, yes! Our reality is multifaceted. We are a people individually and collectively who so easily can be swept away, lose any sense of foundation or purpose that is life bringing. Even our churches can get caught up in a survival mentality. (Pause)

 

But there is hope. This great God, Creator of the universe, imaginer of each person's unique DNA, deeply loves us and this world. God's love for the world is so deep that God dares to become human in Jesus of Nazareth. God through the Spirit and the Spirit's working, keeps on looking for us – to seek and to deliver all who are lost into a community of belonging where God's love, mutual care and forgiveness are the modus operandi. God's seeking all of us out is an ongoing process for all of us and for the world. Let me tell you – there is great abounding joy in heaven and on earth when any of us are so found. It is in being found by God that we begin to realize whose we are and live by our God given identity – as God's own sons and daughters, brothers and sisters in this mystical but wonder-filled body of Christ. As such we are also stewards, caretakers of creation.

 

So as we are blessed to live our lives will we rejoice, celebrate, dance, sing and joyfully share as God reaches out to find us again and again, even as others too are being found? Will we welcome all to God's table and seek to extend God's gracefulness to all whom we meet, including God's and wonder-filled creation? Or will we grumble and complain, be overcome by fear and suspicion as we attempt to categorize the "other" and so lose sight of whose we are and therefore who we are?

 

When God's children pray and sing, share and sacrifice, love and forgive what rejoicing there can be and will be. May it be so with us and through us, for Christ's sake and the sake of the world. Amen.

           

 

 

Love, Pain and New Life

Sermon on Pentecost 16c, September 8, 2013. (Jeremiah 18:1-11 and Psalm 139)

 

Have you ever gone shopping for clothes with someone you love? What's that experience like? You know it's not really any different if it's your grown daughter or son, wife or husband or close friend. What do you do when they pick up something they really like and you realize not only that it doesn't look that good on them, but in fact it may even look really bad. Do you say nothing because you don't want to hurt their feelings? Do you actually trespass your better judgment and because of their excitement tell them something that isn't really true – that the dress, the shirt, the slacks look good on them? Or because you actually do care about them will you make yourself vulnerable and open up the possibility of hurt by telling them something like this –" perhaps there is something else that you would really like that might look better on you?" Make no mistake – they aren't dumb. They know you at least as well as you know them. Even though you are attempting to cushion the words, they will get the message. That particular thing which they really like doesn't really look very good on them.

 

Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg. When we actually care about someone else, we seek to act consistently in their best interests. All of this becomes  more complex as we seek to follow Jesus. The risen Jesus through the Holy Spirit calls us to act in the best interests of all others including ourselves. Remember, God  loves the world!

 

This becomes increasingly difficult  as we seek to love those whom we know the very best. There are occasions when soft or loud "no's " are required. As we raise children there are times when they really want to do something Which could result in harm for themselves or others. Then we will be called upon to say, NO! They may not much like us then. But that's not what really matters, even though it will be painful. Because we love them, there will be times when we will need to speak a word they don't wish to hear.

 

The more deeply we come to know each other, the easier it is to hurt each other – sometimes even when we don't intend to:  by a lack of a word or the tone of our voice, or by forgetting an important event or a promise. If you have lived very long and ever been in caring relationships you will know what I mean.

 

But what if the One who knows us so intimately, is God? God knows not just what we do or don't do, but all our thoughts, our words, internal and external, our feelings towards others and ourselves. What if this God also deeply cares about us, and so wills at times to redirect us, in order to protect us from ourselves?  So it is that God gives us rules, guidelines – to put God first always, to take one day off each week to rest and to worship, not to do a hundred and one other things that we didn't get done the rest of the time because, well we are so busy? What if that One calls us to honor and love our parents even when that is so very hard? What if that one commands us not to kill, not merely literally but figuratively via disparaging words or gossip? What if that One realizes that when we keep wanting more and more we only become empty, less satisfied, less fulfilled? So, it is that God calls us to stop wanting more and more – and look for meaning and purpose with God and with others. Will we listen to such a One? Will we obey God – seeking to be closer? Or, will we rebel and turn our backs – thinking we know best and will do whatever we wan? After all, we live in  a free world, don't we? But I ask, where has such freedom gotten us?

 

How amazing it is to reflect upon this reality – that the wondrous God, creator of the universe, dares to love us even though She/He knows us intimately, even so much  better than we know ourselves. This God, out of love for us, dares to become human! Bask in this mystery. It is mind boggling – sometimes frightening. Yet, at the same time it is also comforting, even hope bringing. God refuses to give up on us, because God loves us.

 

We need to know. The reality of God's love does not give us licence to do whatever we want, taking God's love for granted, anymore than we have license in our marriages or friendships to betray those we deeply love, who trust us. Even more so, it is good for us to strive to honor God's will.

 

Dear people I encourage us to be still and know God. Know this One who knows us, who loves us so, who dies so that we can be reconciled to God and each other. God's love for us is steadfast. Rest in that – and then run with it, limp with it ,crawl with it. It is God's love and forgiveness, that is the hope of the world. It is God's love and forgiveness that is the source of hope of every parent, of every husband and wife, of every friend – and yes even of every enemy even, though they or we may not be consciously aware of this.

 

We are fearfully and wonderfully made by God. We have strengths and weaknesses, the capacity to care and hate. Oh God, help us to love and not hate, to forgive by refusing to hold on to wrong- to trust you and so be able to discern whom else we may trust. May God give us the courage to risk by taking part in God's grand mission of loving the world which always must start with loving those closest to us, those we know best, those who know us best, warts and all,  with truth, compassion, mercy and justice, humility and grace. May God bless us all as God's children. May we not turn our backs on God. Instead may we daily turn to God, depending on God's love, for Christ's sake and the sake of the world.  Amen.

Hurting and Healing Truth

(Pentecost 15c, September 1, 2013) Jeremiah 2:4-13

Do you ever actually see yourself?

 

This last week I have been almost forced to see myself in a number of pictures taken on the occasion of our daughter's wedding. In such pictures I can see the outside of myself, what others first see when they look at me. At others times someone we love, draws to our attention a reality, positive or negative, about ourselves. Whether we hear such reality or not depends upon whether or not we dare to listen. If the comment about us is negative, critical – we may pass it off, being unwilling to attend to its possible truth.

 

Jeremiah writes to a people who are in trouble. Their society is collapsing. They have refused to tend to the most vulnerable. Consequently, their society is deteriorating from the inside out. Such deterioration has repercussions. People do not have each other's backs. They hardly even see each other. They certainly don't know each other. Indeed Judah's independence is being threatened. The world power that has been, Assyria, is crumbling. A new power, Babylon, is rising. What will the people of Judah do?

 

They are convinced that if they can just form the proper political and military alliances everything will be alright. They begin to believe that if they could just prop up their own economy, guarantee some kind of "order", things will turn out. They refuse to stop, even for one moment, to consider God- to ask for God's direction, God's help. They refuse to consider whether or not the consequences of their present actions will be life bringing for all? Their prophets have bought into the existing cultural norms: that might is right, that self preservation is the ultimate matter. So, their political leaders are running scared attempting to preserve only their own lives, forgetting their very reason for being.

 

Overall, the people have forgotten God. They no longer know God. Consequently they cannot see themselves realistically.

 

How about us? Do WE KNOW GOD – THE ONE AND ONLY GOD who creates the universe, the galaxies, who imagines and gives us our DNA, who fashions each and every cell? DO WE KNOW THE UNFATHOMABLE GOD who is continually working for justice and yet is merciful, who wills to bring peace through honest transformation of all, that is honest, who loves us and all people so much that this God takes on our frail, and sometimes feeble human flesh? Do we know this God who is jealous for us, who wants to converse with us, who desires that we obey HIM/HER because that is what's best not only for us but for everyone, for all creatures. Do we consider this God in all of "our" decisions?

 

One of the "foundational myths" that circulates in our society, even among we Church people is that God only cares about "spiritual" things – about the realities of our individual "souls", which according to this myth has nothing to do with our money, our political beliefs or our sexual needs. Such a myth relegates God to such a very small place in our lives – a place that we may feel we can manage. According to such a myth it's as if God only has to do with what happens to individuals after we die. It's as if God doesn't care about the here and now. Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

To be sure God does care about death and works for life after death. But if we dare to read the Bible we will see that it is plumb full of God's concern about people here and now, about adequate food and drink for those who are hungry and thirsty, about the well being for those who are sick. God commands God's people to also care, to look out for each other so that all may know and experience God's love, here, now and forever. That's a tall order. It isn't for sissies or for people who are arrogant enough to think that we could somehow accomplish this on our own. 

 

This week I want to challenge you, to begin each day by praying to God  to show you God's presence in the people you meet, the situations you find yourselves in, your very own life. Dare to ask God to give you direction in your own life this week. Be prepared for a full, surprising, difficult but wonder-filled week.

 

We gather under the sign of the cross each week. Our foreheads and hearts are inscribed with the sign of the cross. Our Lord and Saviour is this God who dares to become a vulnerable human being, in so many ways like us. His love for this world is so great that He suffers and dies to show us God's love, here, now and forever. We do not need to be afraid of evil, of death. God is greater than these. And God will not abandon us. What a gift! 

 

We are also nurtured each week in this place by the presence of the Spirit of God, who equips us through Word and Sacrament to be reminded of whose we are, God's beloved sons and daughters. This is our being equipped to leave this place both assured and commissioned that we are called to be salt and light, love and forgiveness, hope and advocacy in this world for any and all who need it. This occurs not because we have it all together nor in any manner shape or form are perfect. Rather, this occurs because we are being touched, claimed and enlivened by the One and only God who so deeply loves this world here and now.

 

Dear people – let's never forget – we are not God. Thanks be to God for that! But God, the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit, amazing creator, suffering servant, moving holy presence is God. And we, well, we are God's own children, not the only ones for sure, but nevertheless significant ones.

 

May we live with the daily awareness of God's presence, God's call and God's mystifying power in us and among us, working in this world, here and now. Then by God's grace we will not only know where God is , but will miraculously on occasion even be reflections of God's hopes and dreams, God's forgiveness and love right where we are. This, brothers and sisters, is actually drinking of the life giving water God wills for all, a water which brings life here and now. This is very different than any mirages which promise life and seem so sweet and nice but which only disappear into nothingness as we get closer or the going gets tougher. May we drink from the life-giving water that is God and share it with others. There is more than enough, right now. Amen.

 

Not A Nice Guy!

Pentecost 13 c, August 18, 2013, Luke 12:49-56

 Jesus is nice. Do you believe that?

              

Jesus is your friend. Do you believe that?

 

Think about these statements. Wrestle with them. "Nice". Does nice cut it in the world we live in? I remember as a child on more than one occasion having the next door neighbor lady come over to our house in the middle of the night with cuts and bruises on her face and arms,  her nightie torn. She would then ask my parents to phone the police because her husband was in a rage and had physically beaten her, yet again. I remember the police arriving, hauling the guy away. Yet the very next day he would return because she wouldn't press charges – either out of fear, or some sense of marital loyalty – or perhaps even feeling that she should be nice to her husband.

 

This morning I find myself thinking even further about marriage as our oldest daughter is taking that step in her life next Saturday. How I hope and pray this man she is choosing will be kind and loyal to her – and that she will reciprocate and maintain her unique loyalty and kindness towards him. At the same time I know the failure rate of such covenants of marriage including the rate of domestic violence. How hard must it be when the one you love threatens to or actually beats on you?

 

This morning I also find myself thinking about the people of Egypt where a desperate battle for power rages. The Eyptian police have been authorized to use, get this, "live" bullets. Hundreds of people have been killed. Thousands of others are wounded. The scars on the surviving children and adults will run deep with incalculable ongoing ramifications. Nor is Egypt the only place where violence flames on either large or smaller scales. Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Israel have the violent fires of hatred raging. Too often our own street resemble battle zones.

 

Nor is it only in such seemingly "dark" places that violence, mayhem and the dehumanization of people occur. Our own streets, our own malls, our own minds and homes are sometimes the locales of horrid thoughts towards others, despicable images regarding others, perhaps even our own fits of rage, inwardly or externally.

 

So let me ask again:  is Jesus nice?

 

If Jesus is to be the Saviour of the world, not just in the sense of another world, after this One – but if Jesus is also to effect change within us, among us and through us – so that the hungry will be fed, the lonely included and welcomed, the desperate experience hope here and now, the hated and hateful be loved and so empowered to change, and the addicted be liberated from all that enslaves them – well, can Jesus then be "nice"?  

 

Or, must Jesus be radical: radical in His love so that He speaks the truth to us and through us? Radical in the light of His life and death so that we see the naked truth firstly about ourselves and then about our participant systems? Must Jesus, as the Saviour, be radical in the giving of Himself – so that the delusion of our systems which want, nay demand our total and absolute allegiance be exposed for the false gods they are?

 

Yes, yes and yes to Jesus' radicality!

 

If Jesus were only and always nice, He would never have been crucified. If Jesus were only nice He wouldn't have called Peter and Andrew to leave their families and follow Him, challenging the structures of His time and place while necessitating that others step and care for their family. If Jesus were merely nice He wouldn't have inaugurated a prayer in which we are all called to pray for his kingdom, his new radical way of life to come.

 

If Jesus were only nice He wouldn't had to call his disciples including ourselves to take up our crosses and follow him. He could have instead joined the voice of Bob Marley and said, "don't worry be happy." Instead Jesus calls his followers to love their enemies, even to pray for those who persecute them.

 

The truth is that Jesus isn't nice. And that's good news! Jesus loves us too much to leave us the way we are. Very often love can't just be "nice". Instead love needs to be truthful, caring, often self sacrificing. Such love firstly works change within ourselves. How we need to be changed: to have our minds opened beyond self absorption – to actually care for and about others. Such caring pries open our pocket books and our hearts to actively risk ourselves. We may then be hurt because we have become vulnerable. Yet at the same time we are also blessed: to experience  life with courage that actively faces fear, to live while letting go of the arrogance that claims to know it all, an arrogance which will be replaced again and again by a genuine humility. We can be blessed to know that our lives rest not on human power but in God.

 

So Jesus dares to go to Jerusalem. This is the baptism he is stressed to be baptized with. In Jerusalem, He suffers, He dies. He is also raised. In all of this he reaches out to the entire world including us. We are so privileged to hear him personally address us: "This is my body given for you. This is my blood shed for you". For you! For me! For the entire world, that we might die to our old ways of hatred, fear, destruction, blaming, back biting, grasping, trying to earn our security, being overcome by fear. But then through such "dying"  we are being raised each day by God to experience new life: forgiveness, courage, hope that though often challenged refuses to be quenched.

 

How privileged we are  to receive His body and flood "For you, for me, for the world" – that we might "see" Him and know His love. This world is loved. We are called regardless of the cost to care for and also love this world.

 

Make no mistake - the cost of such love is high. Work for peace, genuine honest peace, where the majority's oppression ends, where there is honesty and accountability for each person and each group and you will experience conflict, perhaps even hatred. Work to advocate for the poor or the oppressed and some will not like you – perhaps even seek to hurt your family. Work to share God's love by telling the truth with compassion and you will experience ridicule, perhaps even exclusion.

 

But the result of such living is amazing. We will grow in faith, hope and love. In the midst of the struggle there is a courage and a resiliency that comes from beyond ourselves. At times we will meet the most amazing people, people who in experiencing the touch of God respond to the best of their abilities.

 

Finally we will realize in ways that are impossible to explain but nevertheless very real, that we are not alone. God is with us - behind, before, leading the way. Following God is life!

 

So, thanks be to God that Jesus is not nice. Instead He dares to confront all the powers that be with truth and love in order to be the Saviour of the world. Our world although often amazing and full of incredible possibilities is frequently anything but good to so many.  So, like us, this world needs a Saviour, Jesus Christ the Lord. May we trust Him and by His grace follow Him, whatever the cost. Amen.