Pentecost 21 – October 21, 2007

First of all, excuse the absence of a new post last week.  I must have hit the wrong button when I completed it.  This week, then, you’ll find two new entries.

In our reading from Luke for this Sunday, 18:1-8, Jesus tells the parable of a widow who is very persistent in her quest for justice.  Day after day, she comes before the judge. Day after day, he refuses even to listen.  After a while, however, she wears down the judge.  To get rid of her, he grants her what she is demanding.

Jesus says that this parable tells us about our need to always pray and to not lose heart.  God isn’t like this self-serving judge.  Instead, the Creator is Someone who listens, Someone who cares, Someone who loves.   Even is the answer seems a long way off, God will ultimately respond, sooner than later.

In the midst of this expectant waiting, we are to keep the faith, to keep trusting in God’s promises, sharing the GoodNews. God is faithful, and will prove just.  Waiting for Jesus is abut continuing to be active, to keep God’s vision of justice alive.

Let us keep going and share the heart of the Gospel.

Pentecost 20 – October 14, 2007

In our reading from Luke 17:11-19, only 1 person healed of leprosy comes back to thank Jesus.  The other 9 continue on their hurried journies to the priests, seeking to be declared clean.  The other returns, before he rejoins them.  Jesus praises him for his action.  He declares him healed, not because of any words from the priests, but because of his trust in God’s promises.

It doesn’t seem at first that the other 9 are doing anything wrong. They are only going where Jesus told them to go.  No one would blame them for wanting to get the religious stamp of approval as quickly as possible, so that they might resume normal life again.

Still, when we realized we have received a gift from God, do  we stop to thank the Creator for it? Or, do we just use it as quickly as possibe, get on with life?  I believe that Jesus tells us here that in the midst of life, we can still stop and offer thanks.  It might be extravagant or it might be known only in our hearts.  However we express it, we remember who is in charge, whom we honour, whom we turn to  in  good as well as bad.

To God be all honour, now and for ever. Amen

Thanksgiving Sunday – October 7, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving! Giving thanks is not an uniquely Christian thing to do. People of all faiths, and even of no faith, can be thankful, for a myriad of reasons.  Possibly, many Thanksgiving celebrations this weekend willl proceed with little thought of a Divine One.

Yet our readings from Scripture for this coming Sunday  invite us to remember or to make that connection.  For example, the writer of I Timothy (4:4-9) sees giving thanks as a continuing prayerful response to God’s promises.  Through it, the Creator draws us into relationship.  We begin to see the bigger picture of life, God’s vision of it.   We learn that we can have joy, thankgiving, even in the midst of troubles, struggles, and disbelief, because God in Christ revealed to us love, forgiveness, grace, and caring.

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.  Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  The Lord is near.  Do not worry about anythng, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpases all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Pentecost 15 – September 9, 2007

Our reading from Luke this Sunday, 14:25-33, continues Jesus’ instruction about the nature of discipleship, following him.  These aren’t easy words.  We hear that to respond to the Gospel we have to leave behind our families, give up all our possessions, and carry the cross. 

I don’t find these words particularly welcoming or appealing.  Whenever I read them, I try to read between the lines, to find an escape clause.  Yet there doesn’t seem to be one.  What Jesus has said, he means: no exceptions.

In the end, I believe Jesus talks this way because he wants us to take both his ministry and his invitation seriously.  Being a disciples, living out the Good News in word and deed, isn’t something we only do when we have the time, or when it’s to our advantage, or when we feel like it.  It’s not just another self-help theory.

Instead, being a disciple challenges our lives, changes our lives, and rebuilds our life.  It sometimes results in making  decisions that are not simple, turning away from what we used to consider important, putting in perspective what has value and power.  It includes speaking out against injustice, helping others, taking a stand   It is a journey of life and faith, lived every moment.

Come and join in   

Pentecost 14 – September 2, 2007

When I was in school, many times in phys. ed.  teams got chosen by the student leaders.  Invariably, I got chosen close to last.   Everybody, including me,  knew that I was not very gifted at sports.  I loved to play, but I wasn’t much help to a team.  I got used to the fact that I had to wait to be picked.  However, for a long time I never got over that feeling of not being good enough.  In fact, as soon as I got to high school, I dropped phys.  ed. (it wasn’t required back then in Ontario).  

Yet one invitation I received gave me a new perspective about the athletic abilities I did possess.  I was in Cubs.  One day we went out to a Scout camp.  The leader informed us we were going to do running and exercises, in an attempt to complete our Athletic badge.  I groaned, fearing, and knowing, that I could never make it.  On and on the evening went, and in each event I always fell short of the goal.  Yet, each time the leader encouraged me to do the next one. 

After the competition was all over, the leader called us together and started handing out badges.  To my great surprise, he called out my name.  When I came forward, he handed me my badge.  I protested that there must be a mistake.  Instead, he told me that I received this badge, not because I had been the best, but because I had done my best.  The leader had included me, and a few others with my same capabilities, because we were Cubs, and we had lived up to our motto.

This coming Sunday, Jesus is at a dinner.  He tells the host that in the future he should not invite those who are supposed, expected, to be invited.  Rather, he should invite all those sitting on the outside, those chosen last, those not chosen at all.   This Jesus says, will reflect the kingdom of heaven, where God will gather all people together, regardless of stature or ability.  It will be so different than expected.  It will be so good.

Whom can we invite now into our banquets, our activities, whom we might be leaving on the outside?  Whom can we invite in, to help us see a larger image of God’s kingdom?  There are many waiting to be called.  Do we dare take that step?  Or are we one of the ones waiting?   Send/wait for that invitation…

August 19 – Pentecost 12

I’ve arrived back at this space, after vacation, to discover that the reading for this coming Sunday, Luke 12:49-56, is one that I would rather avoid!  Jesus tells his disciples and the crowds that he has not come to bring peace to the earth but rather division.  This disunity will be so severe that it will break apart highly-valued family relationships.  He says that his message contains a fire that once kindled will burn until his baptism — his ministry, death, and resurrection — are completed. 

I suppose that we could relegate these words to the archives, saying that Jesus’ baptism is now accomplished, and that divine peace has replaced divine fire.  Yet, I fear that if we do so, we set aside an important facet of the Gospel.  Jesus’ messages of love, grace, and reconciliation are not just words to make us feel good and comfortable.  Instead, I believe that God through them continues to both invite and challenge us.  

Living by faith, putting into action what we hear God saying, we  sometimes have to make difficult decisions about living out God’s vision for our lives and for the world.  This might include how we relate to others, government, leaders, the marginalised, etc…

However in the midst of this, I hear messages in other parts of the Bible which suggest that Jesus does see such division as permanent, or even good.  So we hear in our 2nd lesson this week, Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2, that we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses.  God didn’t break down the walls of sin so that we might build more.  Instead, the Creator promises to keep working in us and through to cause barriers to fall down and to build a new community.   In the midst of our disunity, we can pray that God uses us in this creating, so that one day, all people might come together to praise God.

Pentecost 5 – July 1, 2007

Our second reading for this Sunday, Galatians 5:1, 13-25, concludes, ‘By contrast the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control’.  As I reflected on this oft-quoted list, I found an interpretation which was new and refreshing for me, a former produce clerk in a small food store:

“It recently occurred to me that we hardly ever see blemished fruit any more.  In an age of environmental concerns and pesticides and pollutants, we have forgotten how precious it is to have an unbruised peach or an apple without worms.  In some ways, the presence of so much ‘perfect’ fruit in the marketplace places us at a disadvantage; we are conditioned to think that producing good fruit is an effortless endeavour.  The people who heard Paul’s words would be well aware of the vurtue (and the desirability) of good fruit.  Those who tilled the soil were well acquainted with the amount of work required to produce a good harvest.  Lest we forget — good fruit, umblemished fruit, takes great care. We are called to live in the Spirit and to bear godly fruit.”  Preaching Helps. Copyright © 2007 The General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church, PO Box 340003, Nashville TN 37203-0003. Worship website: www.umcworship.org.

This will be my last posting for several weeks.  May God bless you and keep you, until we meet again in this special place.  Pastor Matthew

Pentecost 4

In our second reading for this Sunday,  Galatians 3:23-29, the writer tells us that all those baptized in Christ have been ‘clothed’ with Christ.  that is, ‘there is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ.’   What a beautiful, powerful image! 

Today, Thursday, June 21,  participants in the national conventions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and Anglican Church in Canada are taking time to meet together to celebrate this unity, and to explore concrete ways of expressing it.  For 6 years our two denominations have had full communion, as a joyful response to God’s gift to the world revealed in Jesus Christ.

As part of these joint sittings,  our two churches are also marking National Aboriginal Day.  Part of this will include a gathering with 10 Christian groups to challenge each other to show this unity in action. A ceremony will mark the 20th anniversary of the signing in 1987 of the document entitled ‘A New Covenant: Towards the Constitutional Recognition and Protection of Aboriginal Self-Government in Canada’.  Following this, a news conference and the release of a commemorative poster and a statement calling on all Christians to work ecumenically and collaboratively with Aboriginal peoples will take place.

We have been given unity in Christ.  God’s Spirit continues to show us the wonderful and challenging diversity of paths this unity takes us.

Pentecost 3 – June 17, 2007

Who was this woman, seen at the begining of Luke 7:36 – 8:3? She has no name, no future.  Society of the time knows her past and present time all too well.  She is a ‘woman of the city’, a prostitute.  She is a sinner, cut off from respectable, God-fearing people, except possibly for her clients.  Many even  feel that she is outside of God’s reign of love.  They know how God would judge her, and so they do likewise.

Showing much courage, and much determination, she washes the feet of the One she has heard will forgive her, will welcome her.   Tears of embarassment mingle with ones of hope, and of joy.   Even when Simon the Pharisee debates Jesus, we do not hear that the woman stops.  She keeps on serving, beginning to follow, sharing her love in a new way. Finally, she hears Jesus tells her she is forgiven.  She goes on her way, in peace.

Jesus tells us today that there is more than enough room in the kingdom of God for all those seeking something more from life, for all those captured by the ways of life, for all those living without hope of love and grace.    God sees us, God knows us, God sends us on our way, in peace.

Pentecost 2 – June 10, 2007

I’m not preaching this Sunday!  The one congregation I serve has cancelled its service, and we are holding a joint one at Our Saviour’s at 11 a.m. I’ve been told to show up and sit with my family.  Apparently, there’s going to be a lot of suprises, including guest pastors and special cake.

That reminds of a story about surprises (you really didn’t I coud keep quiet, did you?!), told me by Pastor Paul Bosch.  It seems a yong man desparatedly wanted to discover what God desire him to do with life.    One day week during a vacation, he came to look at the Crand Canyon everyday.  Perphaps its was hiding a  serect about God’s creation.   However, by the 3rd day, he had had enough.  He complained to God that he was being left in the dark.  H e demanded a response.  After a few moments of silence, he headr God coming.  He said again, ‘Help me, what should I do?’  God replied, ‘I don’t know; suprise me!’

God puts all kinds of opportunites in front of us.  Let’s get’s seivingl