James 1: 17-27
Psalm 45
Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

I know a man whose wife would get after him for swearing around their children. She didn’t want them picking up their father’s bad habits. She told me that one day her child brought her this report, “Mom, dad broke something in the garage today and he looked around to make sure it was just me there, and then he said a bad word.”

Most of us, if we have to pause before reacting with the first word that comes to mind, can easily choose a more appropriate response.

Then again, in response to something that had taken place, an elder in one of my first churches, said to me, “Now, THAT would be enough to make a preacher swear!”

Jesus lived in a culture where the religious leadership was very concerned about little rules - and not just for “preachers” and other religious leaders - for everyone. They weren’t always easy rules to follow. Even today, how many people who work outside can easily wash their hands before opening the lunch they packed that morning? My brother used to flag on the highway and packed a lunch every day. I would be more concerned about food poisoning than his dirty hands.

I recall the day about 25 years ago when I found some wild blueberries on the farm and asked my nephew if he wanted to go with me and pick some. He did, so I told him he had to wash his hands first. I expected him to go into the house, but instead, he went over to a nearby mud puddle, bent down, swished his hands in the water, held them up, smiling in satisfaction, proclaiming them “all clean”. I guess a dirty kid is a happy kid; off we went to pick and eat our blueberries with no ill effects.

In the gospel reading for today we are told of an encounter between Jesus and some leaders who were very concerned that Jesus and his disciples were not following their purity laws. This had nothing to do with germs, following these rules was a sign that you took your faith seriously and thoroughly, but, according to the Gospel writers, sometimes they just got in the way of both common sense and ministry.

Writing for Gentile readers, Mark and the other gospel writers, who were clearly biassed, make sure to give the background to just how far reaching these rules were. They indicated that these rules sometimes became an end in themselves and could prevent them from helping people in a time of need. The gospels tell of several other occasions on which Jesus also challenged their viewpoints.

However, we don’t have to look very far to see the same kind of legalism in the church. In days gone by, it was common, in the United Church, for people to be very concerned with things like, drinking, smoking and playing cards, especially on a Sunday. It seemed that these “don’t’s” were more important than “do’s” such as acts of “charity” or “justice seeking.” For some the life of faith was about avoiding named sinful acts. For some what one wore to church was so important that people without “church clothes” just didn’t feel welcome! Some denominations or some congregations still regard those things as important “don’t’s”. We ALL have our lists, even if they are just in the back of our minds!

One of the questions addressed in the New Testament is, “what does the Christian life involve?”

How DOES one live as a Christian? What is important? Of course, volumes have been and still could be written on this subject. Today’s passages give us ample food for thought on these matters.

One of the most difficult things in life is keeping a community together when those members hold diverse opinions. The early church was certainly one such a community.

Human beings have never had so much access to information and communications as they now have. We spend a great deal of time “keeping up”. A bee stings someone halfway around the world, in Australia, and we know it the next second. However, more news does not always mean better news! We no longer have to wait to watch “the news”; there are a number of channels who broadcast nothing else; each with their own bent! According to former journalists Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, 24-hour news creates ferocious competition among media organizations for audience share. This, coupled with the profit demand of their corporate ownership, has led to a decline in journalistic standards. .... They write that "the press has moved toward sensationalism, entertainment, and opinion" and away from traditional values of verification, proportion, relevance, depth, and quality of interpretation. Quoted from Wikipedia Public discussion, or rather, reaction is more important than the factuality of the event.

A number of years ago one of my parishioners said to me: “the biggest drawback to the peace and good order of Canada was the invention of the telephone.” Instead of voicing their views at a meeting, for example, people would go home and call a friend and talk about the meeting and what should or should not have been done, or to commiserate over being on the losing side of a vote.

In 2018 I would say the most divisive force today, is how Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, are often used. They can be wonderful, and time saving, means of communication. Instead of calling twelve people to say you just found out that your car does NOT need a new engine or a rebuilt transmission and their offers of transportation will not be needed, put it on Facebook! Saves time! Everyone who knew of your dilemma in the first place gets the message.

Then there are all those cute kitty and precocious child videos and pictures. I see a lot of posts on Facebook that poke fun at stuff or criticize stuff. The government makes a decision and Facebook goes wild! A post tells you: “ ‘Share’ and ‘like’ this if you think it’s awful that this or that is happening.” You have some choices in your response. You can press ‘like’ and you can ‘share’ it and choose how widely to do that. You can ‘comment’ on it. However, there is no button to indicate that you absolutely, 1,000% disagree with the expressed sentiment. (For that you have to comment) I wish there was such a button! Often I ignore the ones in this category but sometimes I post a comment saying why I am not an enthusiastic supporter of the expressed sentiment.

What I think we really need to do, if the person posting the idea, means something to my life, is to arrange a face to face meeting, put down our phones and have a real, honest to goodness conversation about things that truly matter. We don’t need more “shot from the hip” instant off the cuff responses. We need heart conversations. We need to foster real relationships that build up community. We don’t need more and more of those one or two seconds of, “oh that sounds good, I’ll share that” with everyone on my list.

When I engage in such conversations I often discover that there are other sides I have never considered that need to be considered.

Life in community, no matter the size or kind, cannot or should not be reduced to simple quips and quotes, each taking up only a second or two of our time. The title of my sermon is a “summation” of some good advice on listening from the heart. I distilled it from the Epistle reading and from my own learning on listening skills. To truly listen to someone else, from the heart, one must put the brakes on our initial compulsion to disagree, or be angry, or dismissive. Those who teach these things advise us to “listen first, without even trying to come up with a response to what was said”.

The passage from James and the gospels asks us to consider the question of identity as part of our response. Our identity as followers of the way of Jesus should inform how we live in the world and respond to the world. Behind James’ advice for today is the deep conviction that we do not live in the world as a people concerned only for our own self-gratification but as a people gifted by God and changed with the responsibility of living out this awesome gifted-ness.

For James there are two choices: the way of Jesus and the way of the world.

However, we all know there are many different opinions about what belongs where! The Pharisees had settled these matters many generations before Jesus; the life of faith involved a rigorous attention to purity. It showed that you were committed.

In the Gospel passage read today, Jesus took the conversation to another level and said that it was the things that came from the heart that were important, not what went into the body.

Last week a friend of mine recommended the movie, Downsizing. A quick search of the internet will inform you that the reviews are mixed. While it may not be a “great movie”, it does have a decent and thoughtful message! If you want to watch it on Netflix though, I will warn you that it has earned its “R” rating.

The movie is a futuristic science fiction -romantic comedy - (that’s certainly a mouthful) about people who take advantage of a new technology to “downsize” themselves, literally! Downsizing has two advantages. One: Small people have a smaller “footprint” on the planet! Two: The premise is that when you are 5" tall, you can live like royalty on a fraction of what it would take in the real world. Your retirement savings go much further! In the movie most of the people who chose downsizing did so for this reason, and not any altruistic desire to save the planet. For many in the movie, life is a perpetual luxury vacation!

This movie’s main character, Paul Safranek, and his wife decide to be downsized and move to one of the small communities designed for them. However at the last minute his wife opts out but he does know this until it’s too late.

One day he meets his eccentric neighbour’s maid, a famous Vietnamese dissident, whose Christian faith is a driving force in her life. Her boss allows her to take his expired medication and the leftover food from his frequent parties. Paul discovers that she is spending all her spare time taking these items to a slum where many people are in need of food and basic medical care. I guess that even in a carefully designed utopia there are people who fall through the cracks and they need compassionate people who try to patch them up!

At one point Safrenak is contemplating another irreversible change, but she is not willing to undergo it with him; there are people who need her! She has had a difficult life; a life which has made her more compassionate. She says to him, “ When you know death comes soon, you look around things more close. “ As he tries to persuade her to join him in his contemplated change, he says something like, “I just don’t know who I am anymore.”

She responds, “You Paul Safranek. You good man.”

In the end he tells her that he loves her and they return to their lives and to their volunteer work in the slum to help those in need.

What is important in the life of faith?

Today’s world is increasingly complex and we are assailed from every angle to be fearful and to look out for ourselves. The young are warned to: Save, save, save because the old people are going to spend all your pension money long before you retire. We are all told to: Spend, spend, spend, and keep the economy going. Business wants maximum profits to keep the shareholders happy; those who advocate for a living wage know how important meeting basic needs are to life and health. As the gap between rich and poor widens there needs to be a true conversation here!

As Canadians and as Christians we have to decide if we are a people who believe that it is all up to us, to grasp all we can of the world’s scarce resources that are available OR if we can take a leap of faith and trust in the abundant goodness of God’s grace.

We are called to thoughtful action as we respond in faith to a generous and loving God.

Amen.

Proverbs 22: 1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Psalm 146
James 2: 1-10, 14-17
Mark 7: 24-37

Changing What USED to be True!

I am a fan of Murdoch Mysteries. It’s set in the very early 20th century and appears to be on the cutting edge of many of the “modern” inventions we now take for granted. On one episode, one of the constables was complaining that the members of the Toronto Constabulary had to rely on call boxes, placed strategically on various street-corners, to call the station for “back-up” in times of crisis. He suggested that every member of the constabulary should have his own phone, in his pocket, to call for help. I think it was George Crabtree who says that it would be impractical because of the long cords which they would have to drag behind them and would always be getting tangled. Of course, if your definition of a telephone includes a cord, such devices would indeed be very impractical!

When I mowed the rather large lawn at my first manse, all I had was an electric mower. I had to pay attention to that rather long cord that gave it its power. The previous minister, who brought the mower with him when he arrived, forgot and mowed over it! He agreed to leave it behind if the church fixed it!

People who move to Canada from Great Britain, India or Japan notice very quickly that we drive on the wrong side of the road.

When we think of something as simple and familiar as a “world map” I bet you do not expect it to look like one of these! (Show “Peter’s Projection” map) This map tries to represent more accurately the actual size of the countries, especially the ones that are on the equator. This other map wonders why north has to be up; why not a map where south is up? (Show this map) It’s only “upside down” because we are so accustomed to maps which place Canada at the top and to the left! Why not a map with the prime meridian in the middle? Since we are a globe, and a flat map is an artificial construct to begin with, who says one view is more accurate than another. When you get to space, you will discover that there is no up! Who can forget the photographs Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield took in his spare time during his 6 month sojourn in space. (Show picture of PEI) We’re not used to seeing this nearby province from this angle, taken through a 7 window cupola, 400 kms above the earth. .

Back when I was in university, there was an election in my home province. Running for the Liberals was Joe Ghiz, a lawyer educated at Dalhousie and Harvard law schools, and the son of Lebanese merchants. My mom told me that one day there was a “call-in show” on the radio and the public was invited to call and ask the candidates questions. One caller asked a very abrupt question: “Where were you born, Mr Ghiz? Ghiz named a hospitals in Charlottetown!” I gather that you could tell that the man was not expecting this; he stammered a thank-you and hung up. I guess he could not find any objection to a man who was born in PEI!!! Joe Ghiz would become the first person of non-European extraction to be elected as Premier of a Canadian province! In today’s passage from the gospels we have an event which many Gospel readers find surprising, shocking or even downright disturbing.

We have probably all been taught that Jesus was always kind to the marginalized. I’ve even preached on Jesus’ habit of crossing human boundaries and challenging assumptions about the value of people who had been shunned by society. We know from other gospel stories that he frequently got himself in hot water for doing this. He talked with women as equals, welcomed tax collectors, embraced children, hung around with riff-raff and this bothered the elites! Yet, on this day, when he was out of the country, a TOURIST, he acted just like a typical, entitled Jewish male; just like the kind of elitist that he accused others of being.

Now, such behaviour would have been commonly expected of other Jewish leaders- the bystanders on this day might well have said, “harumph, well he’s just like all the rest!”

2,000 years later, more or less, we hear this story as grating and offensive; he was downright rude; in the PEI vernacular of my childhood, we would have said that he was “very “ignorant”; he called her a dog! Of course, it just doesn’t sound like the Jesus we know. It doesn’t sound like a Jesus we would even like. What’s going on here?

If I had been the gospel writer Mark, I may have left that story out and chalked it up to Jesus having a bad day!

Yet the biblical writers tend to show the heros in an honest fashion - warts and all! While this may disturb our sensibilities, the gospels still tell the story. I wonder how it survived. Wouldn’t they want to show Jesus in the best light possible?

Well, I suppose this shows that Jesus was human, that he could make mistakes when tired and worn out. It also shows that he was a man of his time. It shows that he believes that his mission was indeed only to the children of Israel!

The woman in question was no ordinary woman for her time. She knew Jesus had the right stuff to help her. She had deep faith in Jesus. She was also quick witted. She stood her ground and advocated for her child. She obviously felt that she was as “deserving” as any parent in Israel. Her child should be freed of the death dealing forces that held her child back from becoming all that she could be.

I suspect Jesus was a more than a little bit taken aback. Unlike some of the other challenges he received from some of the leaders, about what he was doing and what rules he was breaking, he realized that she was right and he was WRONG.

We have picked up the idea somewhere that Jesus did not grow and change during his ministry. He started out perfect and he stayed that way.

Why is this view necessary? I’d rather follow a Jesus who was challenged and then grew and changed, just like you and I are supposed to grow and change in our faith and in our sense of mission.

In the natural world there are things we learn as children and we know them to be true but sometimes we are challenged to change our opinions or outlook.

All Canadians know that January is in the winter. Do you agree? Well, it IS true; but only in the northern hemisphere. In Australia, and all of the Southern Hemisphere, January is not the bleak mid-winter but the height of summer. Christmas is in the summer! Easter is in the autumn. Certain assumptions we make about the seasons and our faith going together like a glove, need to be re-thought! New life and Easter eggs go together in spring - but the new life in Christ needs other metaphors in a climate where the leaves are falling!

Before the invention of GPS, mariners navigated by the North Star, unless, of course, they were south of the equator, in which case their calculations were based on the constellation known as the Southern Cross. I’ve already given other examples of how moving from one country to another changes some basic assumptions about culture and community life.

One of the most contentious issues today is that of climate change and, specifically, that it is caused by human activity. Perhaps that’s not the most contentious part; the really contentious part is the economic cost of doing something else, something different!

We probably ALL agree we want less pollution but when we calculate the cost of stopping what we know to go toward the unknown, we run into a whole lot of controversy.

The stories that begin our Bible tell us of God’s creation of the world and there are 2 traditions with two separate time lines. What the stories imply, and we often forget, is that in many ways we are like the other creatures, we are part of creation and we depend on the creation.

For a number of years the ecumenical churches have been observing the months of September and first part of October as“Creation Time.” My stole, was inspired by the sunset outside my west facing manse in PEI. One of the first things I said to their new minister when I met her a few weeks ago was THE SUNSETS ARE SO FABULOUS. She agreed and posted one on facebook the very next day.

For us, creation time is the season of harvest and fulfilment of a season of growth. It is a reminder to us of our responsibility to care for the creation. Even if we are only looking out for human beings it is in our best interests to look out for the only home we have. The possibility of our making a life for homo sapiens on other planets is probably much more than one generation away! We can’t exist apart from this fragile planet we call home. At this point, we have nowhere else to go.

In the opening paragraph, of a statement on looking after the earth Pope Francis writes that “our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us.” He quotes Saint Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Creatures,” which states, “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs.

It used to be that the majority of Canadians were of Northern European descent and Christian, at least nominally. In the 21st century we must come to terms with the history of our relationship with our First Peoples and the the change in patterns of immigration. No longer are the people from “the old country” “like us”.

We are challenged to be welcoming in ways which DO NOT force people to act, dress, and eat like we do, before we see them as valuable, before we see them as Canadian.

Sometimes the immigrants do as good a job of being neighbours as those of us who have been here for centuries.

When Fort McMurray was burning one of the sources of the aid to that city were recent immigrants from Syria. They knew what it was like to flee for their lives from forces they could not control.

Jesus learned that this foreign woman, this Syrophoenician woman was a person of faith and she blew all of his assumptions out of the water.

May we be as surprised as he was and find faith where we least expect it. Amen --

Proverbs 1: 20-33
Psalm 19
Mark 8: 27-38

What’s A Messiah?

When I am talking with couples who want to be married I often ask them a simple question; a question which turns out, sometimes, to not be so simple. I ask them if they are comfortable with the terms “husband” and “wife” for each other. If they are, I ask them what those words mean to them. The man may define the word “wife” as the one who cooks the meals, cleans the house, does the laundry, looks after the children they will have and arranges the visits with family. The woman may define a “husband” as the one who does all the heavy tasks around the house, such as mowing the lawn, shovelling snow, putting up Christmas lights and Christmas trees, repairing stuff, takes out the garbage and look after car washing and waxing and maintenance.

It goes without saying, I suppose, that each generation of engaged couples have a different list, or think they do!

If they both agree there’s not much of a discussion that follows, but if they don’t, it can be an opportunity to talk about the roles they take on in their relationship. If, for example, each wants to be the one who has the final word on what they do in their free time, conflict may arise! Who controls the TV remote? Who decides what groceries to buy? Who decides when they can “afford” a certain purchase? The list goes on.

Often the words “wife” and “husband” come with different expectations for each member of the couple and those differing (and sometimes unspoken) expectations can cause conflict in their relationship. Some of their expectations have come from observing the relationships of friends, from their families of origin or from their own experience. Often the members of the couple know what they expect but unless asked don’t really know why they expect it this way or that way.

In 1992 the “911 Act” came into being in the province of Nova Scotia and from then on these three digits were the “one stop shopping” number for emergencies. Before that we had to have a ‘phone number for the police, a ‘phone number for the ambulance and a ‘phone number for the fire department! Now all you have to remember is NINE ONE ONE.

However since September 11, 2001 the number 9/11, written just a little differently, NINE SLASH ELEVEN, has come to mean a day of unprecedented fear, disaster, destruction and permanent change. We just say NINE ELEVEN and in our minds we see burning and collapsing skyscrapers, a massive scorched crater in a field in Pennsylvania, a gaping hole in the Pentagon and thousands trying to flee a city in shock.

The word Messiah came with many expectations in the first-century world of Jesus and his disciples. The word “Messiah” comes from the Hebrew language and tradition and means Anointed One. The Greek word for messiah is χριστοϛ “christos”, from which we get the English title “Christ” which became so synonymous with Jesus that is used as if it is Jesus’ surname, which it is not.

Just as different people have different expectations of what a husband is and does, so there were many different expectations of what this Messsiah or anointed one was, and did.

The hope for a Messiah was connected with King David. He was the symbol of their golden age of their country and the hope was that a person would come along as the one “anointed” to replace him and make their tiny nation great once again. Since their nation had been defeated and sent into exile in Babylon many generations before Jesus, the people had hoped that a strong and charismatic leader, a “son of David”, would take charge of a military campaign to overthrow their enemies and sit on the throne of an independent and powerful state. The good old days would return and the other nations would know that they were a force to be reckoned with.

Did Jesus see himself as the Messiah or not? Biblical scholars are divided on this. It is clear that the early church saw him as the Messiah or the Christ and very soon after his death, they applied that title to any mention of his name.

But what did JESUS mean by the title Messiah and why was it so important to him to keep it a secret, as he seems to have wanted them to do. on the day in question in the gospels.

He begins the day with asking them two questions. Who do PEOPLE say that I am? And Who do YOU say that I am? Mark, the gospel writer, is telling his readers that Jesus is not some hero returned from the past but a unique messenger of God, sent to the people with a ministry and a message. Yet, the word Messiah, or Christ, had so much baggage attached to it, and people had so many assumptions, that Jesus needed time to let them know what he was going to do and why.

His ministry was not going to be about power and glory but about the necessity of suffering and death. Traditionally, the church has interpreted this death on the cross as the thing that “saves sinners.” Jesus was the innocent sacrifice that paid for the sins of the world. Because he had no sin of his own, he could die for others. Many people still see this as the purpose of Jesus’ ministry.

However, I would like us to consider a different way of looking at it.

Jesus came, not to die, but ready to accept this as the inevitable consequence of his way of life. He ruffled feathers. He called people to question their heartfelt assumptions about what was important in the life of faith.

Jesus message was a “turn the world on it’s head” kind of message. He was always eating with and talking with the people that polite society had turned their backs on. He was not interested in the traditional measures of success. When it came to religious rules, he wanted to go much, much deeper than the letter of the law, to the Spirit. When pettiness prevented him from healing someone on the Sabbath he told them that they had missed the point.

For the people who lived from day to day, (or as we might say, paycheque to paycheque) he was a breath of fresh air; for the elites, he was dangerous. His world did not favour wealth and power; it favoured a radical sharing with the poor and a society free of the powerful taking advantage of the powerless.

This was almost the opposite to the idea of a King who would come and make their nation great and powerful once again. For at least some of the disciples this flew in the face of the idea that he would have a “cabinet” or “court” or group of friends who would have positions of honour, esteem and power.

Jesus called them to be servants of all and embrace humility. On days such as the one in question in the gospel read today, he needed time to convert their hearts to his upside down way of the Gospel.

When we think of church there are time we think of it more like a club than a centre from which outreach is done. In smaller churches such as ours it does take a great deal of effort to just keep the doors open so that we can gather together worship and be inspired and strengthened in our lives.

We must never forget that we are also called to reach out to others beyond these doors and beyond our own immediate families. United Church people tend to do the most of their outreach through other organizations, such as community groups, service clubs, and there is nothing wrong with that, but there is also a lot to be said for us working together, as a group, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, to proclaim God’s care for all all people and for all of creation.

As a church we are collecting cereal for the breakfast program at 2 local schools, because we care about children. We know that hungry children do not learn properly. The breakfast program is open to everyone because we do not want to single out and stigmatize the children who are hungry. In offering food to everyone, we trust that it will reach those who need it most.

The Hantsport and Area Food Bank is one of the best in the province - thanks to the generosity of the residents of this area, we are able to provide a good food box once a month to about 60 households and emergency assistance to others between the monthly distribution. For them life is better because of this outreach of churches, community groups and individuals.

During Advent we will be gathering mittens and hats simply because we know all children need warm hats and mittens.

Our UCW takes flower arrangements to shut-ins this time of year to brighten up their homes and to show our care for them.

A groups of folks in this area is working hard to raise money to be able to support a small refugee family who can be invited to begin their journey as Canadians in this area. Some of our choir members and many others are preparing for a fundraising concert to support this effort.

If I had one message, perhaps it would be that we are called by Jesus of Nazareth to live out our faith 24/7. I used to ask my congregation on PEI, “Where is the church of Jesus Christ on Tuesdays?” If I had another message it would be that the life of faith is not about “eternal life”; it is about abundant life and abundant life includes not only us but our neighbours as well.

Each of us are called to live out our faith where we find ourselves on Tuesdays (and Wednesdays and Fridays and those other days of the week) The life of faith is not limited to what happens here, it is about what begins here.

The life of faith is sometime about risky choices, choices that may well cost us rather than line our pockets or pit feathers in our caps. Jesus went to the cross because he would not compromise his message and the church convinced that the power of God would not let that message die were also willing to suffer and even die for their loyalty to Jeuss and his message of life in abundance for all people. Jesus said, “What good is it if we have all the money in the world but lose our own souls in the process.”

Amen.

James 3: 13 - 4:3, 7-8a
Psalm 1
Mark 9: 30-37

Welcoming the Child !

On the doorframe between the kitchen and the pantry at my family’s home were, and actually still are, many pieces of green masking tape. On each piece of tape is a name and a height. Over the years my brother’s children stood to have their progress in height marked by “grammie and grampie.” My brother and sister-in-law also have such a chart, written right on the frame between their kitchen and living room. Ours was in the sun-porch and eventually was covered up when my parents decided what kind of woodwork they wanted around the doors. Such a growth chart can be found in many family homes! These days, families post “sets” of pictures on facebook - one picture may be of a toddler and beside it, of that child’s high school graduation or of the child with their own baby in arms, as the case may be! We look at the marks on all those walls and door-frames, and the pictures, and we marvel at “how fast they grow”.

Yet, in the child’s mind, “it’s never fast enough”. Within a generation or two our society has become so child centred that it is hard to get our minds around another way of thinking children in community and family. Until the last few hundred years children were essentially regarded as “property” and had no rights or status in society. Poor children were often ultra-cheap labour whose work was often very dangerous; in some countries it still is! It was a position of great vulnerability. For much of human history, of course, females, no matter their age were regarded in a similar fashion. They still are in some countries.

In response to passages in which Jesus welcomes children and encourages his followers to become like children I could spend more than one sermon encouraging you all to adopt some of the characteristics of children.

Children are more trusting. Children are filled with wonder. Children see the world as full of possibility since their experience has not yet told them that some things are impossible. Children can learn at an incredible rate in comparison to adults. When my grandfather and his buddies were quartered in farmer’s barns in Belgium during WW1 they all knew that the adults would never figure out the military’s plans by overhearing their conversations in English but the children would get the drift of things within a few days. So, it was “the kids are listening, keep quiet”. Children certainly pick up “swear words” very quickly! Then again children can have temper tantrums when they don’t get their own way and they do annoying stuff like write on walls with permanent markers and put all sorts of things, other than food, in their mouths.

But I don’t think that’s the aspect of “child-like-ness” that Jesus had in mind. In the gospels context is very important. Just prior to the verses where Jesus talks about the first becoming last and welcoming the child!

Jesus’ ministry must have been very confusing. He healed people. He fed people. Sometimes he seemed to be able to control nature. On one day they were sure some disciples even heard God talking and saw him with Moses Elijah. They became certain that this Jesus was going to be a great Messiah and surely some of them would have positions of power and honour. They started to discuss it, perhaps even argue about it.

It made no sense to them that his death part of the plan. It made no sense when he told them that a leader had to be a servant - in their minds, a leader HAD servants. Today he tells them something very strange, “When you welcome a child you welcome both me and the one who sent me’.

That was the exact opposite of what the disciples wanted to hear, I am sure. Theirs was a very class conscious society, much more than ours is and status meant everything. Think “Downton Abbey”. Which finished its run just a few years ago. Think “Upstairs- Downstairs” from the 1970s. Asking someone who could have a high status to take a lower one was unthinkable. In Jesus’ day Children were NOTHING. They had no status, no rights at all, they were, as I have said, mere possessions.

These days if politicians, particularly male politicians, want to get public support they work a crowd and make sure to admire and kiss all the babies that are handed to them. I easily found pictures on the internet of Trudeau, Trump and Putin, each kissing random babies on the campaign trail. Presumably, politicians who kiss and admire babies can be trusted to fulfill the terms of their office. (Just thought I’d tell you that a quick search of the internet will land you a picture of Adolf Hitler admiring a small child for a photo-op! AND we know how that regime turned out!)

The message in much of Jesus’ teaching was about God’s care for all people, and most especially for those who seemed to have been forgotten by society. The widows and orphans of their community were the major outreach focus of the early church. They were the ones who had no one to look after them. They had, as we might say, “fallen through the cracks,” and the church community stepped in.

Ever since a scratchy, almost worn-out film introduced me to the work of Jean Vanier when I was in university I have admired that work and the deep spiritual principles behind his communities. The one line that has stuck in my mind all these years from that film was that L’Arche communities have this principle, “if you are not there you are missed.” ? At L’Arche, everyone is welcome. Each one is missed if absent. As I understand it, at L’Arche, there are not strict divisions between “residents” and “staff,” but all share their lives together and those who may have considered themselves “able bodied” become vulnerable and realize the people they have come to “help” have become their teachers. They have received in abundance and out of proportion to what they were able to give.

Vanier on you tube

There are other vulnerable, low status, folks who are easy to treat like the children of Jesus’ day. Our society values success and wealth to the point that the wealthy are thought to deserve more and the poor re blamed for being poor.

The message of the church has, as I have said, always included a concern for the poor.

For the first time in history the Pope is on Twitter! A few years ago I read a tweet by Pope Francis that went something like this: “As Christians we pray for the poor. Then we help the poor. That’s how prayer works.”

So we have Jesus telling the disciples, who were concerned for prestige and glory, that true greatness lay in service. True greatness lay in allowing oneself to become vulnerable. True greatness lay in being willing to become last.

We look at politicians glad handing through a crowd, making both small and grandiose promises, kissing babies and smiling and then when they get into office it seems the fulfilment of those promises is often less than the expectations. Close to 30 years ago the Canadian parliament passed a motion to end child poverty, yet its worse now than it was then.

A large portion of the food boxes prepared at the Hantsport Food bank go to families with children. We have a breakfast program at the school because children come to school without breakfast and can’t learn properly without food for their minds and bodies.

And it’s not just food, children across Canada and around the world suffer when they are taken advantage of and the community and world sit in silence.

I read somewhere that the church is the only organization that exists to serve those who are outside of the church. Or maybe, there was a “supposed to” in that statement!

Perhaps we don’t know anyone in those situations, but I don’t think it absolves us of the responsibility to seek laws and policies that benefit those who are most vulnerable. Our ability to advocate, both for ourselves, AND FOR OTHERS, is one of the great benefits of living in a democracy.

We are all concerned about the damage done to property in this area since the aboiteau on the Half-way River washed out, and the potential for greater damage, and we should be. BUT our concern for ourselves should not stop us from working for the benefit of others, advocating for others, and asking for programs and policies that are needed by others even if there is a cost to us.

I have read that 9% of Canadians live in poverty. 17% of children in Canada live in poverty. 21% of Nova Scotia’s children live in poverty. Poverty means many things but most of all not having enough resources to meet the daily requirements of a healthy life.

Jesus was teaching and preaching about the Kingdom of God. In this kingdom there would be no suffering as a result of hunger, poverty and disease. There would be no powerful people exploiting others because they could.

One of the main characteristics of the gospel is paradox. The last are first! Lose your life in order to find it! Stop trying so hard to be great, stop trying to win first prize while not caring about those you hurt along the way, but accept God’s grace which is really all you need. Share with others and you will find yourself blessed beyond measure! Spend time with others who can give nothing back to you. Risk your heart.

The good news for the poor, is also for us: God’s love and blessings are extended to us even if we have not been successful in the ways the world considers successful.

If we have financial benchmarks for our lives that are the “bee-all and end-all” of our existence and we have not made it, we may find great freedom in putting those goals a little further from the top of our list and carving out some time and energy to reach out to others, who are hurting, who are lonely, who are vulnerable, who are the real, or metaphorical, children of our age.

May we, like the disciples, find great freedom and blessing as we embrace the call to embrace those who need us most.

Amen

Introduction to Scripture:

Tradition tells us that when God gave Moses the law, he commanded the Jewish people to observe seven feasts throughout the year. Over the intervening centuries, two additional celebrations were added marking vitally important events in Jewish history. One of these is Hanukkah-the Festival of Lights-that celebrates the cleansing and re-dedication of the Temple under the Maccabees. The other is Purim, which celebrates another time the Jewish people were saved from certain death. The biblical book of Esther tells this story.

Today's scripture will be told in somewhat different way. Instead of hearing a part of the story from the biblical book of Esther, along with a Psalm response and another scripture and then hearing a sermon, I will just tell you the whole story of Esther and reflect on what it might mean for us, here and now.

Purim is what I would call a "festive" observance. The next two slides aren't about Purim but I thought a good chuckle would get us in the right mood. Joke cartoons aren't easy to "explain" but in just case you cant make out the captions -

A dreidel is a top - (show dreidel) you spin it there are symbols on each side. So a dreidel goes to the doctor complaining of dizziness.

Think of how annoying it is when your cat climbs the Christmas tree. Puddy, my cat, did that all the time, her first few Christmases in my house. I suppose that if a cat were to bite a tree light wire it might be a shocking experience! But Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah and use candelabra with 9 candles. A cat climbing such a candlestick could get totally scorched.

As I understand it, the ENTIRE book of Esther is read in the Synagogue as part of the Jewish festival of Purim. When the story is being told some synagogues have the tradition of making loud noises when the name of the villain, Haman is mentioned. So - lets practice now, when I say HAMAN's name you have to blow your party whistle. NOISE NOISE NOISE . If you don’t have a whistle, you can just go “BOOOO”.

Shofars, or horns made from animal's antlers, are important at Jewish festivals. Since I can't find a shofar, they are kind of pricey for just one service, so I brought my vuvuzela to be sounded at the beginning and the end. If you are World Cup Soccer fans you may remember them making the news because so many people brought them to the games when they were held in South Africa in 2010.

Then, as church finishes, you are invited to pick up a treat. It's a cookie called Hamantaschen. The most traditional is made with poppy seeds.

They are sometimes called "Haaman's ears" or "Haaman's pockets". They are triangular because tradition says that he had triangular pockets, a triangular hat and ears that looked like triangles!

He sounds quite comical. That is quite intentional. We don't like Haman! He's a bad man.

So, with that explanation let us sing our prayer for God to guide our listening and reflection this day.

Prayer for Illumination:

Esther Part 1:

The story of Esther: SOUND HORN

25 centuries ago King Ahasuerus A HAZ U ER US ruled over Persia, the land which stretched from what we know as Ethiopia to India! The people of Israel, the Jewish People, had been defeated and many were forced to live in Persia. They were subjects of a self-centred Gentile king. His parties lasted for MONTHS! Can you imagine? MONTHS !

During one of these parties, after he and the other men had been drinking for days, he sent his servants to get his wife and make her show off her beauty to his friends. The story says that she was to wear her crown, but implies that she was to wear ONLY her crown. She refused. That makes sense to me; your husband wants to show you off to a bunch of drunken men. It was all men - the Queen gave the party for the women.

The King was furious and consulted his "peeps". They said that if the King could not get his wife to obey him, no one in the land could get his wife to do the same! The king banished Queen Vashiti and sent a decree to all his lands that wives had to obey their husbands, no matter what was asked!

He then held a contest to find a new wife. This involved rounding up all the beautiful, single, women and bringing them to the palace for many months of beauty treatments and training and a one night "trial."

One of the contestants is a young woman named Esther. She is an orphan under the care of her uncle, Mordecai. She is also Jewish but does not tell anyone where she is from, on the advice of her uncle.

Esther wins the contest and becomes the king's wife. She still does not tell anyone that she is Jewish.

Meanwhile, a self- entered court official, the second most powerful man in the land of Persia, named Haman NOISE NOISE NOISE starts to insist that people bow before him. Esther's uncle, Mordecai, refuses to bow down to Haman. NOISE NOISE NOISE

Haman NOISE NOISE NOISE is offended and he has the king issue a decree that will result in the death of all of the Jewish people in Persia.

Hymn: "I The Lord of Sea and Sky" 509 VU

Esther Part 2

Because of the decree, Esther is in a predicament. She loves her people, the Jews, and would like to help them but if she reveals her true identity to the King she risks death. She consults with her uncle, Mordecai who asks her to be courageous. He says, "you may have been raised to royal dignity for just such a time as this."

Now there was a rule that no one in Persia could go to see the king without being summoned, not even the Queen. If anyone did that, they would executed UNLESS the king extended his sceptre to the person who had interrupted his "kinging" - which probably involved him sitting on his throne and looking important. She takes a deep breath and does go to see him and he extends his sceptre; she has completed step one of her plan. She asks him for a favour and he promises to give her ANYTHING she wants. He's still on his honeymoon, I guess.

She knows his love of parties and showing off to his friends so she asks for a party, at which time she will tell him what she really wants. The banquet is scheduled.

One night soon after, the king is plagued by insomnia so he asks for the records of the things that have happened in his kingdom.

He finds out that that a Jewish man, Mordecai, at some point during the time when all his prospective wives were receiving their beauty treatments, had saved his life - by uncovering a plot on his life, but that NOTHING had been done to repay or honour him.

The king is a man of honour and he can't let this go by without some sort of recognition. So, at the banquet he asks Haman, NOISE NOISE NOISE what he should do for "a man" who service was exceptional.

Haman NOISE NOISE NOISE is so full of himself that he thinks the king is talking about him and he tells the king that the man should be given some fine, expensive clothes and other things. Haman NOISE NOISE NOISE liked fine expensive clothes. The king agreed but Haman's NOISE NOISE NOISE smile fades as soon as the king told his staff to give a set of fine expensive clothes to MORDECAI as a thank you for saving his life. Haaman NOISE NOISE NOISE is furious and orders that a very high gallows be built for Mordecai and the rest of the Jews.

Hymn: "Will You Come and Follow Me" 567 VU

Esther Part 3

Esther will not tell her husband what she really wants. She stalls him and asks for yet another banquet. This King really loved parties! And showing off! He happily agrees At the next banquet Esther asks that her life and the life of her people be spared. The king looks dumfounded. You could have knocked him over with a feather! Who was going to kill his queen? Who would do such a thing? They must be stopped? So the king finds out that his wife is Jewish and that his second in command has tricked him into issuing a decree that would mean her death. Haman NOISE NOISE NOISE is hanged on the gallows he had built for Mordecai.

The king still has a problem though. Apparently there was a law that said that he could not change his mind and cancel a decree so he issued another decree giving them the right to defend themselves when the soldiers came to kill them. A lot of people died and I won't say that everyone lived happily ever after, but the Jewish people survived where the future had been very bleak.

The story of Esther: SOUND HORN

Anthem: " Flowers Will Bloom in the Desert"

Reflection:

The story of Esther is a nice little story, especially if you leave out the last part about the bloodshed.

The story is so outlandish that it's most certainly much more story than history. It is like an Old Testament parable, written to reveal a deep truth. It was written to show the foolishness of the empires of the world that hold power through force and fear and intimidation.

It has to be grossly exaggerated. Just think about the parties that went on for months!!!! By poking fun at "empire" it shows that the ways of God will, in the end, triumph, especially if the people of God act in faith and courage. It's a story to assure the people of God's care for then people and the necessity of acting with courage in the face of danger and adversity.

If you read the actual book you may notice that God is not named in Esther though God presence and care is certainly implied. For this reason the boom was one of the last to be included in the list of ‘scripture’.

Like the book of Esther we do not have to name God to do God's work.

What is the work of God. Well, it depends on the situation. However, just as other passages, such as the Song of Hannah and the Magnificat state, the work of God is bringing up the powerless and deposing the powerful who stand in the way of true life.

What really catches my attention is Mordecai's advice to his niece, "it may be that you have been raised to royal dignity for just such a time as this". Sometimes we look at unexpected good fortune or status as a blessing for us to enjoy, but perhaps there is a greater purpose.

As citizens of a relatively prosperous democracy we have the kind of power that many in the world envy. Do we use this for the good of the world God loves or keep it to ourselves, not comfortable with the risk it would take to speak up?

You may have heard of Vedran Smailovi?. He was known as the "Cellist of Sarajevo", and is a musician from Bosnia and Herzegovina. You may remember the war in that area which destroyed that beautiful city and caused many deaths. As a response to an attack which took the lives of 22 innocent people, for 22 days during the “siege of Sarajevo”, and dressed in a neatly pressed tuxedo, as if he were performing at the philharmonic, he played his cello, amid the runins of bombed out buildings. He also played at funerals even though they were a favourite target of snipers. His bravery inspired many. Few of us will ever be called to the kind of bravery of Queen Esther and the Cellist of Sarajevo' but I wonder what their bravery inspires in us?

NOTE : numerous slides using power point illustrated this sermon/ dramatic reading.

Joel 2: 21-27
Psalm 126

Matthew 6: 25-33

Consider the Lilies

For as long as I can remember, the first Sunday of October has been observed as World-Wide Communion Sunday. It’s observance began in the 1930s; long before my time!!!! We observe it was a way of promoting Christian community and ecumenical cooperation. I recall the years, in the early days of the internet, I displayed the collected greetings from hundreds of congregations. I left the many pages of tractor fed paper connected so it was like a roll of paper towel cascading off of the communion table. It was about that time that I discovered that its celebration is mostly confined to North America! However, some greetings did arrive from churches in other countries.

Every so often, specifically, whenever October begins on a Monday, this “first-Sunday” of October also ends up being Thanksgiving Sunday. It happened last in 2012, but does not occur again until 2029. I’ll probably be retired!

Unlike some other “2 in one Sundays,’ it is easier to find scripture passages to support the observances of both communion and thanksgiving. Canadian thanksgiving graphics for Power-point are a challenge. In the American dominate internet world such graphics tend to be cute turkeys wearing ‘pilgrim’ hats and the funny shoes with the buckles.

Even so, I’ve put a couple of thanksgiving cartoons on the screen for you to see. Peanuts. Family Circus. Garfield. Then I stopped looking because I could have spent the whole week looking and not exhausted the available supply!

When it comes to the celebration of communion it may be hard for some of us to see it as a “celebration”. I don’t know about your experience, but when I was young communion was very sombre - or so it seemed to me. We always sang ‘Here O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face’, very slow and mournful like, as if our best friend had just died, or rather, as if ALL our friends had died and we were all alone in the world.

Since the ecumenical movement began to influence theological education we, in the United Church at least, have come to see communion, more and more, as a time of thanksgiving. The communion prayer is often called, “The Great Thanksgiving” and it recounts stories of the people’s experience of God in what we often call the Old Testament as well as from the life of Jesus. It speaks of the people’s journey with God in search of fullness of life. No longer is it a sombre, joy-less remembrance of a dead friend but a celebration of a living Christ who brings abundant life to the church. No longer are children excluded because they “can’t possibly understand,” but all of us, just like happens at a family meal, celebrate together and, as we do, we ALL grow in our understanding. I’ve now been ordained more than half my life and my understanding of communion has not stopped changing and growing. I hope it never does.

This is Thanksgiving weekend and I suspect some of you have already eaten your fill of turkey, stuffing, vegetables, potatoes, gravy and, of course, dessert. It’s the Canadian way. The ‘feast with family’ has become a traditional part of our “thanksgiving”; similar to Christmas. Growing up, the only difference at my home, was what we had for dessert!

When we read passages such as today’s reading from Matthew we can too easily dismiss it as being “for a simpler time.” We can all too easily forget the kind of lives the people to whom Jesus spoke were really living. Only the elites had any savings in the bank. The only RRSPs were your children! No one had such luxuries as employment insurance or sick days or a medical plan. The lives of the everyday people were rough and uncertain. In the words of English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, in the 17th century during a time of civil war, back then, “life was nasty, brutish and short”.

I remember reading a story of a minister who went to India to work with a church there. He knew they were very poor so he made sure to eat every speck of food on his plate. This resulted in him bing given “seconds.” He then realized that “eating every speck of food on your plate” was a sign to your host that you were still hungry. What amazed and humbled him was that this poor family was willing to share, quite literally, all the food they had in the house, with him, a visitor.

In the face of an uncertain life Jesus tells the people listening to him to consider the wild flowers, and how they survived and thrived, presumably through no effort of their own.

You might say, ‘that’s well and good but I need more than water, sun and good dirt in which to grow’. Of course we do! I think it’s the next part that is the key. Many people in today’s economy need to work hard to make ends meet. The question is though, “what do we strive for.” Striving seems to me to be about something other than simply working hard, or working long hours. What is our focus? What is the purpose of our living? Is life more than things - even if those things are barely more than food on the table, a roof over our head, clothes on our backs, and heat and lights.

Jesus’ advice is to strive for the kingdom of God. Strive for a world where all receive the blessings of creation. Strive for a world where all people are treated fairly and all people are seen as God’s children. Strive for justice.

Thanksgiving is about much more than “making a list and checking it twice to make sure all the things we appreciate are on it”. True thanksgiving is an approach to live where we do the work of God, seek to follow in God’s ways and trust that what we have will be more than enough.

Thanks be to God. Amen!