Matthew 28: 1-10
Acts 10: 34-43
Psalm 118

Good News For The Likes of Us!

A number of years ago a young minister, serving a rural, multi-point, pastoral charge was struggling through the second delivery of what he had long since concluded was a terrible sermon. Preachers on multi-point charges have all been there (or at least I have)! For the third service he announced that the sermon was not worth preaching and would not be preached! As the congregation was leaving an older man shook the young minister’s hand, stared him straight in the eye and said, “Young man, don’t you ever think that the Holy Spirit of God depends on the likes of you.” (Pause) That young man grew into one of the finest preachers I know and served for three years as our Moderator.

The Good News is that the Holy Spirit does not depend on any of us to be able to work in the world. The Holy Spirit does not depend on our skill or ability but moves where it wills. The Good News for today and EVERY day is that the message of Easter IS for “the likes of all of us.” We don’t have to be extraordinarily religious to be specially commissioned to proclaim the good news of the resurrection. We don’t have to be a certain age or a church member or attend every Sunday AND Christmas Eve and Holy Week. You could be 4 or 94!

Now you would think that his disciples; at least the 11 who remained after Good Friday, would have been the first to witness the resurrection, having been with him his entire public ministry, but they were nowhere to be found. They were in hiding. You will remember that Peter denied Jesus three times when he was standing outside during his trial.

If you recall the various stories of his ministry though none of the disciples were the the brightest of pennies - sometimes they were, as the saying goes, “as dumb as a box of rocks”. Often the last to understand what Jesus was saying, they slept when Jesus was in his final hours in the Garden, to give just one example. Two of them wanted positions of privilege in his kingdom and had not realized that any such positions would be ones of service.

The first appearance of Jesus was to those who would have been considered most unlikely - two women - both of then named Mary. In Jesus day women were second class citizens in an occupied country (where even the men had few, if any, rights or freedoms)

Women were the property of their closest male relatives, did not even qualify as a witness in a court of law and had no leadership roles open to them. Jesus had some remarkable discussions with women during his ministry and showed that he did not feel constricted by those particular cultural norms. Thus, it was to the “likes of them” the first Easter proclamation came.

They were the ones who showed the faith and courage to stay around during the crucifixion - they could not prevent it - but they were there; they would not abandon him. The disciples, fled and hid - after all they were the public companions of his ministry!

Sometimes, perhaps more often than some of us would like to think, the Spirit works in us DESPITE our best efforts or qualifications.

Within the early Christian church they came to know that the ones thought to be the most unlikely, were the ones most often called by the Spirit. The disciples themselves were not educated folks accustomed to public speaking or other roles of leadership but they became leaders in the church. Paul the persecutor of the church became its most well known and influential apostle. The Spirit chose “the likes of him” to be one of the most influential leaders in the development of the early church.

Time and again, when the church was in the middle of trial, difficulty or inaction, the Spirt came upon some of the most unlikely folks and called “the likes of them” to take on a leadership task. They were the ones to whom the message was entrusted. They were the people who eventually left those locked rooms and the empty tomb and began to proclaim the mystery of Easter: “Christ is Risen.”

Let it be made quite clear here that the phrase, “Christ is Risen,” is not past tense, nor is it future; it was and always will be a statement of faith in the present tense. Whatever the resurrection was, it is not a “was” but an “IS”. It is a present reality.

Easter is about the triumph of life over death. It is about the triumph of hope over despair. We are living in despairing times - The US is engaging in military action against North Korea and in Syria refugees are being created daily and many thousands, if not millions, in Africa are on the verge of starvation. Poverty in Canada does not seem to be easing as food bank use continues to rise.

In the midst of a temptation to despair we have a proclamation that life and hope are not dead. We have the words of life. We have the message of hope. Folks like us also have the means to make this message real - to put our money where our mouths are - to put hands and feet on our caring - to feed the hungry - to make a blanket for a homeless person - to comfort the distressed - to be the practical help the hurting world needs.

The good news is for “the likes of us” and the commission to proclaim “Christ is Risen” comes to the “likes of us”. Let us say and do be that Good News.

Amen.

Acts 2: 14a, 36-41
Psalm 116
Luke 24: 13-35

What is the most amazing picture ever taken? In the world of space exploration a series of milestone pictures would qualify. In 1935 a camera mounted in a balloon shot a series of pictures from 13 miles above the earth’s surface which when stitched together clearly showed the curvature of the earth. In 1946, using captured German missiles with the warheads in the nose-cones replaced with cameras, the first grainy images of earth were captured from a height of 65 miles. While that may have seemed “awesome”, it was not enough though for those who thought BIG. Arguably the most famous picture of earth, dubbed the “Blue Marble,” was taken in 1972 during the Apollo mission to the moon. Those of us who grew up in the days of “moon landings” can take those photographs of our “spinning blue planet” for granted. Yet, we were all awestruck when Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield, sent pictures to earth on an almost daily basis - one was very recognizable as PEI (though it was upside down!) Soon two Canadian astronauts will be chosen to start training, from a short list of 17 big dreamers. . A Nova Scotian is included in this new generation of dreamers!

Launched before Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski became household names, a spacecraft is now exploring the space between the rings of Saturn and the planet. The Google Doodle on Wednesday featured a cartoon version of a spacecraft named for a 17th Century astronomer, Giovanni Cassini, which has also sent us a picture of Earth. From an orbit around Saturn we are but a bright dot of light in the blackness of space. It puts our planet into a completely different perspective!

The mission to Saturn also tells me that dreaming and imagining are keys to solving problems and making dreams come true. Ever since human beings wished they could soar with the eagles they have been dreaming of flying and then of space flight. We need people with big dreams.

The people of Israel were always a people who dreamed big. Since the time when there were only two of them: a lone elderly childless couple, they began to believe in God’s promise they would become a great nation, as numerous as the stars in the heavens above them. For a couple of senior citizens, it was certainly an audacious hope. But, this hope, this dream, this divine promise, took them to a glorious time when they were a small nation with a great and powerful king and then into times of division, defeat and exile, never to be in charge of their own destiny again. It was quite a ride!

Fast forward through many, many generations to the time of Jesus, we find a nation still harbouring a hope for that ancient greatness. They were living, no merely existing, under the heavy hand of the mighty Roman empire but hey still yearned for the promises of old. They yearned for peace, for freedom, for autonomy, and for greatness. Along comes Jesus of Nazareth and did his followers ever have big hopes for him! He would make their nation great again! He would sit on David’s throne and happy times would be with them again! He would be, without question, a great military leader.

When Jesus came, his preaching was so compelling. His followers were dedicated. He brought life and healing to many. They knew that he was from God. They hoped that he was the ONE; they hoped that he was the Messiah! Yet he talked about different ways of being great - of loving enemies, of peace, of radical generosity, of a God who loved everyone, not just the children of Israel. He preached in the prophetic tradition that called people to look outward, not inward - to serve instead of to be served. Being a “light to the nations” was a call to servie - not to honour and privilege”.

The authorities were suspicious of him and often antagonistic. When you live under oppression hope can be dangerous and careful people don’t rock the boat. Those allowed to be leaders knew they were just holding on to what little power they had. Almost overnight he was betrayed by one of his own and executed like a common criminal. The body was hurriedly buried in a borrowed tomb by some friends as his closest followers hid.

Then a rumour got going that the body was gone from the tomb and that some folks had even seen him and heard his voice.

But they knew, they knew that this really did not happen! I mean, it only happens to me in my dreams - encountering those who are dead. But the folks who claimed it was true knew they were wide awake and well aware of the danger and confusion of their situation.

And so today two of these folks, neither of them were among Jesus’ remaining 11 disciples. One was named Cleopas and they are walking to Emmaus, a journey of about 7 miles. In the privacy of the wilderness, where the walls have no ears, they can express their disappointments and confusion to each other. They had such high hopes for Jesus and now those hopes are dashed and gone. They were trying to get used to it the way all of us who have lost a loved one need time to “get used to it”. That “he’s alive rumour” was not going to be anything after all, it’s was just the wishful thinking of the grief-stricken - wasn’t it?

Then a stranger joins them - funny they were so preoccupied, they hadn’t noticed him joining them. He asked why they were so worked up and despondent. Amazed that he was not “in the loop,” they explained it all to him - Jesus’ captivating message and personality and their sudden screeching halt to disappointment, despair and danger at the end, just days ago.

Then the time came for a parting of the ways, as often does when strangers journey together for a time, but the disciples thought better of it. Perhaps it was what Jesus taught them about table fellowship - they welcomed this stranger to eat with them. It seemed like the right thing. They did not know from his appearance if he was Jew or gentile. They did not know if he was friend or foe. They simply welcomed him in for a bite to eat; it’s what Jesus would have done. Jesus ate with friend and foe; with Pharisees and tax collectors and people of ill repute. Like often happens to the guest - the guest is asked to say grace and then , then ......

Then all of a sudden, we are told, it dawned on them, while they were talking and walking along the road, while they were preparing to eat, they had been in the presence of the Christ. Even as they were sharing their story, their hopes and dreams and disappointments with this total stranger their hearts had been burning within them. They had been in the presence of the holy all that time. They had encountered the Risen One.

I suspect that this was the beginning of many new insights into what Jesus had said to them over the course of his short ministry.

This event is pivotal my own understanding of Holy Communion; it is not primarily a “last supper”; it’s not about staging a re-enactment of a past event as much as it is an opportunity to encounter the risen Christ.

Perhaps there was a slow realization that their hopes for Jesus had not been dashed; their hopes were not too big - they were too small. They had hoped he would make their nation great again. But Jesus had no interest in a political structure that would make one nation great at the expense of another. Jesus had no interest in a social structure where some had way more than they needed and others did not have what was needed to sustain life. He had no interest in a division of peoples into “us” and “them” .

These rekindled hopes gave purpose and mission to the early church. They were not to be dashed or disappointed but were to sustain them when they seemed to be a voice crying in the wilderness, begging to be heard, begging to have powerful people wake up and realize that God’s promises weren’t just for “them” but for all of creation!

As we sit here two Sundays after Easter what do we expect from the Easter experience? Is it that we will get to go to heaven when we die? Or is there more? I believe that Jesus’ promises of abundant life have as much to do with our life and work and mission for life here on earth - this small vessel of live in a vast cosmos. I also believe that it’s promise is not just for us but for the whole of creation.

As a people of faith we are called to big dreams. What would the world be like where we our love for God was reflected in our love for our neighbour (no matter where they lived)?

What would a world be like with no poverty and no starvation and no war? Just because its never happened doesn’t mean that dreams can’t come true. Like the imagination that led to space flight though, it begins with imagination and faith and is made possible by perseverance.

Are we willing to settle for small promises? OR are we willing to dream big? Are we willing to believe that the message of Jesus can transform our lives and through us and others transform the world.

Amen.

Acts 2: 42-47
Psalm 23
John 10: 1-10

I Want (To Be Part of ) That!

A few years ago The Source, formerly Radio Shack, became the store responding to “I want that”. No matter what you wanted, in the realm of electronics and home entertainment, The Source had it to sell to you. They didn’t even bother to try and convince you that you actually NEEDED that enormous plasma tv with surround sound or a cell phone for each member of the family, they just proclaimed themselves as having whatever it was that you wanted.

Across from the rock formation known as “The Sleeping Giant”, on the north shore of Lake Superior, stands a massive monument to Terrence Stanley Fox. I was in my second year of high school when this young cancer survivor from Port Coquitlam BC dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean at St. Johns NF and began his Marathon of Hope to raise money for cancer research. Almost no one was there to see him begin his run but by September 1, when he had to stop because his cancer had returned and spread to his lungs, everyone knew his name and was cheering him on. He died in June of the following year. The entire country mourned.

People of all ages, including children whose parents weren’t even born when Terry was running, now participate in yearly Terry Fox Runs. Why? They can’t possibly remember him? I think they run to take part in something valuable. They run because others are running and they want to be part of something important; something bigger than themselves. They run because they have the same hope that kept Terry going; the hope that sometime, “somewhere the hurting must stop”; the hope that someday a cure would be found for cancer.

Peter, a man from one of my previous pastoral charges, was very impressed by Terry Fox. Peter made and donated both a sculpture and a painting of Terry to the local elementary school. Peter was born in Prussia, and I believe was conscripted to fight in the German army on the Russian front, and came here after the war. As an immigrant he saw in Terry’s run a great deal about what was good and positive in his adopted country of Canada and in the Canadian spirit.

Is life about getting what we want? Did you ever see the bumper sticker, “He who dies with the most toys, wins”? I think they were popular in the ‘80s. Most people, if they thought about it, would agree that such a life would seem rather empty. Most would agree that stuff is not the be-all and end-all of existence, yet we find ourselves caught in the trap of endless consumption. Advertising is everywhere and it is all designed to sell you stuff. It tells you overtly, or implies, that you will be happier with the refrigerator “with all the bells and whistles”. You can now get a fridge with wi-fi and it will show you what’s inside without even opening the door. I’m not sure I need a fridge that sends me texts showing my wilting lettuce but some people must think it’s worth paying for! I even saw one with a touch screen so that you could find a recipe online and order ingredients; kind of like an enormous smart phone! Consuming is the largest part of our economy - from houses to paper plates to vacations and everything in-between!

I’m sure you have heard the phrase, “retail therapy”. The problem with buying your way to happiness is that its effects do not last long - pretty soon the shine wears off and you have to go shopping again.

Of course we do need a certain amount of stuff to survive and have quality of life. What stuff do we NEED? Food, clothing, shelter, some personal care products, medical services and transportation. After that - well that’s where we get into discussions and arguments about living simply, living normally or living large!

I suspect that most of us began to learn at a very young age that different families have very different circumstances when it comes to even the basic stuff and when it goes out from there the differences can be quite glaring. This did not really hit me in elementary school but when I hit junior high the differences were eye-opening.

I remember students who did not have the money for small fees collected for classrom supplies and others had new, brand name clothes all the time and trips to Florida every winter - and everything in between.

At the beginning of Lent the Lions cooked stacks of pancakes and helped us to raise over 1,000 for the breakfast programs at our two local elementary schools. We did it because pancakes are the thing to do on Shrove Tuesday, but also because there are kids who don’t have enough at home to eat and thus cannot, generally speaking, learn as well as those who do. We did it to show we care for our community. We did it, well, because!

Our effort with this special event and with our Food Bank support are two of the direct connections we can make with the life and ministry of the early church. There have always been poor people and the church has always had a mission to them. One of the first things that was organized in the early church was a group to look after the widows and orphans - they were the people who were shut out of the economy and would have been destitute otherwise.

As I am preparing my weekly sermon, I almost always visit a website called, “Journeys with Jesus.” This week featured a refection on today’s passage from Acts:

“A couple generations after Luke, writing (the book of Acts ) from Rome, the theologian Justin Martyr (c. 100-165) summarized the appeal of Christian community: “We who once took most pleasure in accumulating wealth and property now share with everyone in need; we who hated and killed one another and would not associate with men of different tribes because of their different customs now, since the coming of Christ, live familiarly with them and pray for our enemies.”

And down in north Africa, Tertullian (just a few years later ) (AD 155–220) similarly wrote about the well-known and well-deserved reputation of believers for social generosity that built bridges of community rather than walls of separation: "Our care for the derelict and our active love have become our distinctive sign before the enemy… See, they say, how they love one another and how ready they are to die for each other."

If you looked at this passage from Acts for a “church growth strategy” you would find this: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the payers” and it also says, “And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” It does not say, this author noted, that they devoted themselves to evangelism and trying to fill the church!

It’s easy enough to miss. But perhaps a large part of church growth is not really about overt evangelism but about being the kind of community people would want to join. The early church was apparently able to overcome the barriers that usually kept people apart. They shared what they had in common. This would mean that the rich had less and the poor had more of what they needed. They cared for the poor and disadvantaged. They worshipped and broke bread together. This trust n God was at the root of their faith.

What part of that makes us squirm? The prayers? Probably not. Spending all that time with the other followers of Jesus? Maybe - we do have to go to work! Many of them did as well! I suspect its that part about holding things in common and sharing with those in need in such a radical way.

I suspect that the first reaction of most of us would be, “Well that was a completely different time” and it was, but I think it can still present a credible challenge to us to live out our faith in very practical ways – here in West Hants and Kings in 2017.

In the earliest church it was widely believed that Jesus would return within their lifetimes and the future was not really something they needed to consider.

That’s one big difference. We no longer live in multi-generational communities and aside from nursing homes we pretty much have to look after ourselves after we have left the workforce. An ad I saw the other day warned me that I may have to stretch my retirement income to last 30 years. About 25 years ago our church’s retirement planners told a group of us to have savings in addition to our pension! For an increasing number still in the workforce today their income does not provide adequately for their needs let alone any savings and they have no pension.

The early church had to deal with a society that was very divided on an economic level. There were day labourers such as the ones we met in parables and in the healing stories. They and their families lived from hand to mouth with absolutely no security. Then there were the people who owned the vineyards and the sheep and hired those day labourers. There were the elites who lived off the taxes paid as part of the required by both the temple and the Roman occupiers. In short, there were the rich and there were the poor!

What is important to note was that their lives together, sharing whate they had, attracted people to the church and the church grew.

How then does this apply to us with so much of our lives built around private property, private savings and the like.

What would our community of faith look like if we truly believed that church is not primarily a building, and an hour long once a week activity, but a people and a community of which we are a part 24/7? While some of us may believe that charity begins at home, where did we learn that it ends there? That’s not the gospel teaching! How do we use our personal and collective resources to make the lives of our community more like we are called to be, and help those in need better? There are no “canned” answers, no “one size fits all” solutions, but we must work at it, struggle with it, challenge one another to live out the gospel in our lives together.

How do we build our sense of connection with one another so that our care for one another grows from what it is now. How can we build the community of Avon United Church so that others are attracted by the quality of our life together?

Let us resolve to live our way into answering these questions.

Amen.

Acts 7: 55-60
Psalm 31
John 14: 1-14

When A Stone is Not a Stone!

While my sister was visiting last week I saw parts of a couple of episodes of the tv series ‘Outlander’. In the show a nurse from 1945 travels back to 1743 and is thrown into the middle of the political turmoil of that era. In that time of great political unrest, trials were swift or non-existent and punishment was brutal. A sentence of “100 lashes” was common. And it took its toll on the one yielding the whip as well.

Going back to the time of the book of Acts we find a punishment system even more brutal. You weren’t meant to survive a stoning and it was administered by a group, not one person. It seems that in this instance, like many like it, a mob mentality took over and everyone nearby has a part in the execution. I don’t know if it was an activity where the men involved usually took off their cloaks, but in this instance the man standing near the pile of coats was a “young man named Saul”. Saul of Tarsus was a devout man who was also an ardent persecutor of the church until he had a forceful encounter with the Holy Spirit on the way to Damascus and, as they say, the rest is history! Some people think of this as an “instantaneous conversion”, partially because we only read one part of the story at a time, but I’d like to think that the Spirit was working on him since at least this event, this death of a young man who greeted death in much the same way as the preacher from Nazareth. Perhaps the Spirit was working on his heart and he found it harder and harder to forget how that young man met his death, and why!

I think we are meant to notice the obvious parallels between this story of the death of Stephen and the crucifixion of Jesus.

Thus the writer of Acts presents Stephen as being in the sprit of Jesus both as a “disciple” as he fearlessly proclaims the good news and in his very death. Note that he uses some of the same words as Jesus did; in particular, the words of forgiveness of his killers and words showing his total trust in God. Written in a time when many people were being persecuted for their membership in the group of people who followed in “Jesus’ Way” this story would have presented an example of someone who had gone before and an example of how they would be able to both live and die.

As I was reflecting on the story usually titled “The Stoning of Stephen” I thought of other uses of stones; this time positive ones. I used to live in a manse with a stone basement and a stone doorstep. The gristmills that used to dot the Maritime landscape all had grindstones to mill the wheat and we still refer to cornerstones when we erect public buildings, though they are entirely ornamental now. In the Ken Follett book, Pillars of the Earth, we learn a great deal about the architecture of the medieval cathedrals and how such massive stone buildings could be constructed and last much longer than more modern ones of concrete and steel.

Among the more metaphorical uses of stone and rock is on the metaphor of the “foundation of the church”. We will sing the hymn proclaiming our faith that Christ is the “foundation” of the church.

This is Christian Family Sunday, the day in the church when we celebrate our “Christian Family” - out ties with our “own congregation” - here in Hantsport and our ties to the world-wide church - whether they be worshippers in a large cathedral or a small group gathering in a private home. Rather than our bemoaning our differences, we celebrate what we have in common, that we are all built on the “one foundation” and we are reminded that the church includes people of many different ethnic backgrounds and nationalities and that we are all one in Christ. So often we focus on what divides us in our day to day lives, inside, between and outside the church.

We are in the middle of a provincial election campaign. The Liberals, the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP are all trying, in one way or another, to say how much better “we” are than “they” are. Politics is a world of “us and them” and perhaps it has to be. However, that is not all of life. This Sunday reminds us that our call to unity in Christ is something that is more powerful and more important (yes, I did say that) than distinctions created by partisan politics. We are called to work together to fulfill the mission of the Christian community - that all may have abundant life in and because of Christ - the strong foundation.

This is also Mother’s Day - the day to honour mothers everywhere and especially our own mother.

We have a couple of rather “romantic” notions of this day and they include: pretty cards, chocolates, “breakfast in bed”, (and getting up to a clean kitchen), flowers, special visits, phone calls for those who are far away and a general appreciation for the love which our mothers have for us. It is also a tradition in many communities to attend church as a family once again and then take Mom out to dinner - and no one in the family has to clean up the kitchen and do the dishes!

The origins of Mother’s Day are somewhat obscure. It was observed in Greek and Roman times, mostly to show allegiance to feminine goddesses. In the Christian church a mothering Sunday has been around for centuries. It originally honoured the mother of Jesus but was eventually expanded to include all mothers.

Julia Ward Howe, writer of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” an anti-war activist, who proposed a day for mothers to champion the cause of peace after the Civil War. She was also an advocate for the right of women to vote and take a larger part in public life. This is one of the “stones” on which our lives can rest.

However it was Anna Jarvis`idea of s day to honour mothers that eventually took over in the mind and imagination of the public. On this day we celebrate one foundation of the lives of many families, “the mom”. I don’t know if the opportunity to sell chocolates, cards and flowers had any part in it or not but Mother’s Day must be a prime money maker for the greeting card industry, florists, restauranteurs and candy makers!

While there is nothing “wrong” with the popular observance of Mothers’ Day, some people find the day difficult. It could be for one or more reasons such as: their own mothers were not nearly as kind, loving and giving as the “ideal mother” held up as an “example”. Some women who are not mothers are left feeling left out, particularly when it seems that the celebration views motherhood as the only activity for which women are seen to be suited. We all know that women can excel at many things - in addition to or instead of being mothers.

Some mothers feel that some of the notions of motherhood from the media are overly sentimental and unrealistic. Being a mother is not just about lack of sleep, giving away the last piece of pie to a child who needs two and always putting yourself last; it’s far more complex. Some feel their children have strayed a long way from the teachings they tried to impart and feel like they are “failures.” This is not just when the little darlings are teenagers. And lets not forget all the dads that are nurturing, lose sleep and provide part of the emotional support usually attributed only to moms.

Finally, many would wish that they were appreciated less on Mother’s Day and a lot more the other 364 days a year!

As a church community on this multi-faceted Sunday, how do we make a home or a community where people are built up and not stoned!

Of course when I was a teen, the phrase, “the stoning of Stephen” set us all giggling because of its verbal connection to those who smoked weed and got high. That is the nature of teenagers.

As human beings we have been given a great deal of power and we can “stone” people, without lifting a finger. We stone people with our words and our attitudes. I thought of this reading early last week - and I think its very appropriate for those of us who want to lay a good foundation for young people - whether we are mothers or not. I quote with a little license for 2017.

CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE 
Dorothy Law Nolte 
If a child lives with criticism,
she learns to condemn. 
If a child lives with hostility,
he learns to fight. 
If a child lives with fear,
she learns to be apprehensive. 
If a child lives with pity,
he learns to feel sorry for himself.
If a child lives with ridicule,
she learns to be shy. 
If a child lives with jealousy,
he learns what envy is. 
If a child lives with shame,
she learns to feel guilty. 
If a child lives with encouragement,
he learns to be confident. 
If a child lives with tolerance,
she learns to be patient. 
If a child lives with praise,
he learns to be appreciative. 
If a child lives with acceptance,
she learns to love. 
If a child lives with approval,
he learns to like himself. 
If a child lives with recognition,
she learns that it is good to have a goal. 
If a child lives with sharing,
he learns about generosity. 
If a child lives with honesty and fairness,
she learns what truth and justice are. 
If a child lives with security,
he learns to have faith in himself and in those about him. 
If a child lives with friendliness,
she learns that the world is a nice place in which to live. 
If you live with serenity,
your child will live with peace of mind. 
With what are our children  living? 

As a Christian family, mother or not, how are we, with God’s help, laying a foundation upon which a solid life can be built? How are we laying a foundation upon which a Christian life can be based?

Are we using our faith, our views, to hurl stones at others or are we building a foundation for personal and community life to rest?

Amen.

Isaiah 40: 1-5
Isaiah 12 (p880 VU)
Matthew 5: 13- 16

“Out of the Saltshaker”

While I’m no fan of classical music, and not that familiar with most of it, I can’t hear those verses from Isaiah without hearing the opening movements of Messiah by George Frideric Handel. Based on texts from the Book of Common Prayer and the King James Version of the Bible it is one of the most frequently performed pieces in the world. As I recall, it begins with a lone tenor singing “Comfort ye” and concludes about three hours later with “Blessing, and honour, glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. Amen”

The words of this prophet called “Isaiah” were originally addressed to a dispirited people beginning to lose hope they would ever return to their ancestral lands. As a nation they had spent 40 years in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses (an entire generation) but by this time about 150 in exile (several generations).

The words are a very lofty promise of preparing a highway through wilderness. These days, the last thing I want to hear is more words about road building. Those of us who must spend a part of each journey, by car or on foot, dodging dozers and evading excavators on Holmes Hill, are tired of the activity of road-building. Yet, when its done it will be great. One level sidewalk, one perfect street and underneath pipes that will last. I guess it proves the truth of the saying, “No Pain, No Gain”. In the last few weeks those of you who are Tim Hortons customers have also had to find new routes to get your daily caffeine fix! Somehow though, I think you’ve all been successful!

The book of Isaiah was not written by a single person; it’s really at least two books with two separate authors. There are two separate “main” themes: punishment and restoration. The first 39 chapters are about the inevitable consequences of the people’s unfaithfulness. In the 40th chapter we see a shift to restoration. Yet, we must not forget that the punishment was not without cause. The Good News of God is not that we can do whatever we please: the Good News is that the God who forgives us is a God who calls us into a true relationship; one of faithfulness and justice.

The passage from Matthew is part of a larger passage often called, “The Sermon on the Mount.” The sayings read today are well known but have we ever given them more than a passing thought? In the Hebrew Scriptures the nation of Israel was often referred to as a “city set on a hill”, or “a light to the nations”. They believed they were a chosen people, even if their actions, as recorded in the scriptures, leave us scratching our heads.

The prophets kept telling them that their identity as “chosen” was properly seen as one of special responsibility, rather than privilege.

Light and darkness are powerful images - powerful contrasts, and were even more-so in the time before electric lights.

In the Roman Catholic church there is the tradition of the Easter Vigil - an hours-long service during which a new Christ candle is lit from a fire on the church grounds and carried into the darkened church. I believe that it is this flame that blesses the baptismal water and eventually this light grows from one solitary flame to the flames from candles carried by each worshipper. Then the faithful carry the Christ-light into the world.

It is no accident that we celebrate the birth of Jesus at the winter solstice; theologically the light is coming into the world at exactly the same time as the Northern Hemisphere has been bathed in the depths of darkness and then begins, once again, to add minutes of light, instead of subtracting them. Apart from religion it is an important part of the cycle of the year and has been observed in various forms since the dawn of civilization.

Most of the world’s major religions have a festival of lights whether it be the Jewish Hanukkah, or Hindus, Sikh and Jain celebration of Diwali, a festival where they light lanterns and small earthen lamps to awaken awareness of God and the triumph of good over evil. Muslims, whose religion is closely related to our own, speak of Allah as the source of light - inspiring, motivating and guiding God's people.

As I have said the power of light, in the midst of darkness, is an awesome thing.

Every year 1989 groups of people all over Canada have gathered for candle-light vigils to remember the women who died at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal. It’s hard to believe that its been 27 year since those 14 women were gunned down because they were women daring to study engineering. The day has become a “Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women” and vigils are held at countless locations, especially universities.

The South African Archbishop, Desmond Tutu writes about the power of candle-light in his book, “Made for Goodness”. He describes how apartheid in South Africa was not brought down by guns or by violence but by a change of heart caused by prayer, by faith and by candles.

You see, in the Apartheid era, as a sign of their hope that one day the evil of apartheid would be overcome, the people lit candles and placed them in their windows so that their neighbours, the government, and the whole world would see them.

The government did see and they became afraid. A law was passed making it a crime to put a lighted candle in a window. The irony of this was captured by the children who joked, “Our government is afraid of lit candles!"

Indeed they were right to be afraid. Eventually those burning candles, AND the prayer and hope behind them, changed the wind in South Africa. Morally shamed by its own people, the government conceded that apartheid was wrong and dismantled it without a war; the apartheid government was defeated by hope, symbolized by the flame of many candles.

Salt has been used for centuries as a preservative and a flavour enhancer. I know many people who remember the flakes of salt fish hanging somewhere in the house and their mothers or grandmothers putting up meat by salting it.

To state the obvious, salt must be shaken over your food in order to enhance it. It benefits no one to keep it in the saltshaker where it may spoil if it becomes damp or contaminated. A little goes a long way.

I think that one of the most common reasons for a lack of action, on many frints, is a feeling that what we do cannot possibly make any difference. When we look at the example I cited earlier about South Africa and the change brought about by prayer, faith and candles, we are assured that each prayer and each act of daring to place a candle mattered.

While we will not eradicate poverty in Hantsport by bringing Kraft Dinner for the food bank or raising money for the school breakfast program we can help one family or one child (and for that one family or child, we make a big difference). Together we can advocate for living wages and better working conditions and if there are enough of us doing it for long enough with prayer and persistence it will turn then tide.

We do have the power to make a positive difference in the lives of people in this community and elsewhere but we have to shine our lights and shake our salt. Hiding it or keeping it to ourselves will do no good at all!

While knitting may not seem to be a task that can make much of a difference, those who receive shawls from the ecumenical prayer shawl group say they are much appreciated and make the world of difference in their lives.

While a group of farmers getting together to use their antique tractors to grow a crop for the work of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank may only seem like a drop in the very large bucket of need, the people it does feed are fed. The petition to support sustainable local agriculture in the countries often in need of food will go a long way in helping these farmers to feed themselves in a sustainable way.

Today is the Global Day of Prayer to End Famine. What does prayer do? Pope Francis has said, “Christians pray for the poor and then feed the poor - that’s how prayer works.” When we combine our prayers with our actions, including feeding of the poor and our advocacy for the poor, we will -over time- be able to accomplish a great deal. Famines often don’t just “happen” they are caused by global warming, warfare, political unrest, agribusiness taking over small farms for corporate gain, inappropriate farming practices, or a myriad of other issues, some of which can be addressed if we have the will. We can persuade our government through things such as the Foodgrains petition on supporting sustainable agriculture in developing countries. Today we pray for those who are starving because of famine and in our prayer we seek to address those reasons. The salt of their tears can become our impetus to act where we can.

As a people of faith we are called to be both salt and light in our communities, and in the world.

Sometimes we are called to be like Kayla who is GOING to Ecuador to build a school so children can learn what they need to in order to be productive citizens; sometimes we can support the Kaylas of the world, and sometimes our call is to support those organizations and people whose work is much closer to home.

We are all called to be salt and light.

We are called to support those things that will enable the salt-shakers to spill out the flavour and the candles to be lit so that all can see we worship a God whose will is that all people will have life and have it abundantly.

Amen.