Season Of Pentecost - Year B -- 2018
Indexed by Date. Sermons for the Season Of Pentecost Year B
Job 23: 1-9, 16-17
Psalm 22
Mark 10: 17-31
Before I needed bifocals, and before my cataract surgery, I had no real problem threading needles. My sewing machine and serger needles were almost as easy. Now, the sewing machine and serger are a real challenge. There does not seem to be any good distance at which I can sit to see those pesky little eyes on the needles and the holes and grooves on the loopers - and, of course, the other parts of the serger often get in the way. If its night time and the lighting in the room is poor, the task is even more difficult. I am thankful for my “Ott Light”! Sergers are wonderful machines when you can get them threaded; very frustrating when you can’t!
There is a saying out there, “Don’t ask a question if you aren’t prepared for the answer”. In today’s gospel passage, a man runs up to Jesus as he is preparing to go somewhere and asks Jesus a question. “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” We have no reason to believe that it was anything but an honest question. Unlike some other times, this time, there did not appear to be any attempt to trap Jesus. Perhaps he was looking for a pat on the back and the assurance he was doing everything that he needed to. Perhaps, though, deep down, he felt that he felt that he was “just not there yet”; perhaps he felt that there “was something missing”. If he could just do that one new thing, he would make it! He seems sincere, dedicated and faithful. Keeping all of the commandments was certainly not easy.
Yet, he did not like the answer he received. We are told that he went away sad because he had many possessions. We are not told if he ever came back. I’d like to think that he ended up doing what Jesus asked and then became a part of the community of those who followed Jesus.
Later on Jesus tells his disciples that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven! We know the saying, of course, we’ve heard sermons on this passage before. Putting a camel, a huge animal, through the eye of even a large upholstery needle, is downright ludicrous. Picture it if you will!
Today there are three species of camels. I don’t have to tell you that some have two humps and others have one. You may be interested to note that there were camels in North America before humans arrived but that species is now extinct. They are large animals; a quick google search indicates and average of 6' in height, 10' in length and a ton in weight. Hey, mice are very small animals and you wouldn’t even think of trying to thread a mouse through the eye of a needle, how silly could you be to suggest such a thing. A camel, well now, that’s downright insane!
Some people have tried to make this passage less ludicrous in two ways.
First the word for camel and the word for rope is very close; perhaps an early biblical copy editor misspelled the name! A friend of mine wrote a paper in university about the verse that warns people against hiding their light under a bowell! Putting a rope through a needle would not be ludicrous - but the images could be seen as belonging together. Others have also suggested that the “eye of the needle” was a small gate in the city wall of Jerusalem. A small camel might get through if the camel was carrying no baggage, got down on its knees and crawled. There is no evidence that such a gate existed though!
However, I think we do better if we leave these images as they are - listeners such as yourselves will hear, laugh, and retort, “ya, right!” The obvious exaggeration is part of the story - The rich will get into the kingdom of heaven “when pigs fly” or “when (you know what) freezes over”. The mental pictures are so vivid.
Before I go further I need to say a word about the “kingdom of heaven”, sometimes called, “the kingdom of God”. We are not talking about a place where the “streets are paved with gold and which is guarded by St Peter at the “pearly gates,” but rather an existence which is both now and in the future in which the whole world will know God’s blessings! You could say that the Kingdom of God would be like returning to the goodness of creation.
In Jesus’ day riches were seen as a sign of God’s blessing and poverty was a sign that people were being punished by God. While I won’t say that Jesus’ view was the complete opposite, I believe that in Jesus view, poverty and illness were not punishments for sin but opportunities for people to reach out in love. In every age, a lot wealth comes as a result of those in power exploiting the poor.
In this passage Jesus sees riches and possessions as things which get in the way of life in God’s kingdom, or at least they did for this one person.
Traditionally we have assumed the rich man went away sad because he could not give up his attachment to his possessions, even for the sake of a fuller life, but perhaps he was sad because he knew that what Jesus said was true and it would take some effort, but he would make it.
When I was in university, a relative died and I discovered that I was in her will. I think she gave the same amount all of her great nieces and nephews, if memory serves me. I did not have to do anything for that - I didn’t earn it. It was a gift. Yet, she did not give to “strangers”, she gave to people and to organizations with which she had some relationship. We inherit the kingdom if we have a relationship with the God of life. Yet there are many things can keep us from a relationship with God that brings true life.
When I was a kid we all thought camels stored extra water in their humps. The hump of a camel would certainly be one feature of the camel that would make it hard for it to navigate tight spaces.
This leads me to ask the question “metaphorically speaking, what is it that is keeping me from fullness of life?” What parts of my life or my priorities gets stuck in the eye of that proverbial needle? What else, other than riches and material possessions, would prevent people from inheriting the kingdom - or, “true fullness of life”.
There are 2 AA groups that meet in the church in Hantsport - and the journey to a fuller life for them, the journey to sobriety for them, means NO ALCOHOL at all. It is very difficult for some people to do this and requires a determined effort, and an adherence to the “12 steps”. In AA the anniversary of their sobriety, their birthday, is an important celebration. But as much effort as they put in, AA members recognize that they did not get there alone - others were part of the journey. The support of sponsors or other members is vital.
There are people who go to the doctor and are told to change their diet and exercise more in order to become healthier and to alleviate some annoying or debilitating medical symptoms. Some people however, just cant get motivated to do that because they love potato chips, pizza and pop while watching other people exercise, on their enormous big screen TV.
Yet the more literal, obvious meaning, still gives us pleanty to chew on in 2018. We are a culture addicted to stuff. It’s a large part of what keeps our economy going. It’s killing our planet. Go online and enter the phrase, “the story of stuff” and you will find a light hearted but hard hitting look at modern culture and its stuff.
When I was first in ministry the social divide between the kids in the school was those who “had a Nintendo” and those who “did not”. The first group had many friends who visited back and forth afte school. Those who did not, were sometimes left out in the cold.
I remember the child’s near “ meltdown” when he ignored his grandmother’s repeated request to turn off his game and come to supper. She went to the TV and shut the game off and he lost all his progress. You would have thought that the world had ended. I havea friend whose children knew that she was serious when she announced the 5 minuter warning when theywere on a car trip. “We will be getting to (the restaurant or store or other destination) in 5 minutes. Save your game and shut it off. If they didn’t they had the game taken away and shut down without saving it. The mom was not willing to let the game rule their schedule.
As adults, our biggest temptation” is that we are constantly goaded into upgrading - you can’t possibly survive without that larger cell phone screen or that car that can park itself or, have you seen the commercial, the “family hub, a refrigerator with an enormous cell phone integrated into the door. Or you can get one with a tinted glass door. Knock twice, a light comes on and you don’t have to open the door to see what’s inside! I have always said that this would be wonderful; but they cost about $3,500. Shop around and wait for a sale; some stores even offer free delivery. At $2,800 they should. If they build it, someone will buy it!
We forget that the first part of “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle is REDUCE. Do we need whatever it is that we want to buy? Of course appliances aren’t made to last anymore. Designed obsolescence ensures that we keep the economy going by replacing small and large appliances on a regular basis and we keep someone, somewhere, in a job and the profits rolling in.
The man who came to Jesus was told to give what he had to the poor. When we give to the poor we realize that we are part of one human family.
The poor in some parts of the world are so poor they will starve if we don’t intervene. This kind of poverty has become much worse because of climate change and because of the global economy which funnels the benefits of labour away from the worker to the shareholders of multinationals who demand more and more profit and care less and less about working conditions and the environmental damage caused by the manufacture of their products.
Of course, the poor can be just as attached as the rich to “stuff” - they too may have the hope that being able to afford more stuff will bring them happiness and fulfilment.
30 years or so ago, when I was first out on my own I had a list of things I wanted to buy which required me to “save up.” I think three of the items were: a microwave, a colour TV and a vacuum cleaner, and after they came into vogue, a computer! Yet, as I acquired those things, I realized that their acquisition did not make me happier or more fulfilled - even if life was more enjoyable in those small ways.
As a people of faith we are called to place our trust in God and in the ways of God. We cannot buy happiness; it is not a possession we can put on a list of “assets.” Of course a certain amount of stuff is necessary to meet basic human needs (shelter, food, clothing) but passages such as this call us to guard against the accumulation of more and more stuff as an end in itself.
Growing up in poverty drives some people to hoard and become selfish once they become better off because they know what having nothing is like. Growing up in poverty compels others to a life of generosity because they know what being poor is like and are grateful they are in a position to alleviate the poverty of others, even in some small way.
Each of us needs to decide, in our own life, how we are to fulfil the call to trust in God’s promises of fullness of life. Each of us needs to decide what, if anything, is getting us “stuck” and keeping us from inheriting and living God’s promises of a full life.
Amen.
Job 38: 1-7
Psalm 104
Mark 10: 35-45
Slide 7
There was once a couple who went to the minister because they were having marital troubles. The minister was a no-nonsense kind of guy and said, “but, you promised to take each other for better or for worse.”
The husband responded, “but she’s worse than I took her for!”
Of course no one getting married knows what they are in for when they walk down the aisle. Even couples who live together for a number of years find there are surprises in store for them.
We are approaching the 100th Anniversary of the end of what we now call WW1. At 11:00 am on Nov 11, 1918 the guns fell silent and the world breathed a sigh of relief. Approximately 10 million military personnel and 10 million civilians died in that conflict. Just 2 minutes before 11, Pte George Lawrence Price, formerly from Falmouth, was killed by a sniper’s bullet. He is widely regarded as the last British casualty of that war.
One of the great things about the modern age is the fact that you can find almost anything on the internet; much of it is not worth looking for! One of the amazing things you can find are the “Attestation Papers” of Canadians who volunteered or were drafted into the Canadian Expeditionary Force. One of the questions asked of the volunteers was “do you understand the nature and terms of your engagement”? Interestingly, those who were drafted did not have to answer this question, at least not on the documents I have seen!
What does that question mean? I suppose, on the surface, it would mean, “do you realize that you might not come back?” Yet, there is much to war that cannot be anticipated. Were any of those young men really prepared for the trenches, the mud, the bullets, the hand to hand combat, the boredom, the fear, the loss of friends in an instant, and the years of reliving it in their dreams.
I suspect that most soldiers, if they were asked the same question on their return, would say, “I had no idea what it would really be like.”
Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, as he addressed the British House of Commons in the early days of WW11 said, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat." He did not coin the phrase himself though. These words, or ones very similar, were used by Theodore Roosevelt about 50 years before and Giuseppe Garibaldi, 50 years before that. In all honesty though - what else can you promise a nation after a declaration of war. If we are honest we all know that there is a lot more gory than glory in war!
In today’s gospel passage we have two of Jesus’ disciples coming to him on the ‘QT’ and asking for a favour. James and John were brothers, sons of Zebedee. Jesus nicknamed them, the “Sons of Thunder”. We actually don’t know why.
We all know how wary a wise parent is when a child asks for a ‘yes’ to an as yet unasked question. We’ve all heard stories of parents who promised their child anything at all their little hearts desired, and lived to regret it! King Herod promised his daughter that and John the Baptier lost his head. I preached a sermon on that passage.
In the gospel of Matthew this account of this event states that the brother’s mom asks for the favour on behalf of her sons. Perhaps Matthew did not like the picture Mark painted of two of Jesus’ closest followers. It’s hard to say what the motivation behind these differences was. I don’t think it matters much. The other disciples were not much different! They were upset when they found out what their friends had asked. The gospel seems to imply that they too wanted the honour that James and John sought. Perhaps they were waiting for the right moment to ask themselves! Perhaps they too wanted honour and glory out of their little adventure with Jesus. It took Jesus his entire ministry to get them to change their attitudes about what he came to do and what they would “get out of it”. Perhaps he wondered if they would ever learn!
For his entire ministry a great many people were asking, over and over, ‘who is this guy, anyway?’ Slide 8
Let us just say, for sake of argument, that you can all draw or paint expertly. You have the skill to form a picture in your head and then you can paint or draw it precisely as you want to.
If you lived in Japan, Slide 9 or Korea Slide 10 or Ethiopia Slide 11 you might come up with something like this. If you were from India Slide 12, Cuba and Spain Slide 13, or Egypt Slide 14 your Jesus art would show that heritage. Coming from Russia Slide 15, Nigeria Slide 16, or a North American indigenous tribe Slide 17 would produce different depictions. You may have once wondered if the image on the famous Slide 18 “Shroud of Turin’ was “real”. We probably all think that this is close to what we have imagined since childhood Slide 19. A United Church artist drew four pictures of Jesus. Slide 20. Originally called, Jesus Christ, Liberator, the one in the top right corner, now widely known as the “Laughing Jesus” is on my office wall. I can imagine this Jesus laughing at a good joke or celebrating when one person finally realizes the kind of abundant life he came to give. This image may be disturbing; Slide 21 here Jesus is portrayed as a crucified woman, perhaps because so many women suffer and die at hands of the men who had promised to love and care for them. Despite all of our depictions, Jesus was a middle eastern male and probably looked more like this one Slide 22 that any of the others I have shown.
Why is this important? There was a university professor who gave two tests to his incoming students in New Testament. The main theme of the first test was “What was Jesus like?” The second test was designed to find out what each student was like. It was discovered that the students, in general, envisioned a Jesus who was just like them, or just like someone they wanted to be when they grew up and graduated university.!
In our culture we value success and that is measured in terms of wealth, power, and fame. Successful people are “listened to.” Slide 23. Weakness and vulnerability are to be hidden or downplayed.
I spoke of the work of Jean Vanier a few weeks ago. Slide 24 I could also refer to the work of Mother Teresa Slide 25 who each found (or find) the face of Christ in those in need.
Among other things the cross is the symbol of ultimate vulnerability. Essentially, this passage asks us if we are prepared to be vulnerable in our service of the gospel. Vulnerability is not valued in our culture; strength is. You have to be the best: whether that is the strongest, the richest, the fastest, the “best-est”. Yet we know that life is not the Olympics, or pro sports, which are, only for the few and for those few, only for a few years.
When we look at the life of following in the way of Jesus we are looking at a lifetime of modelling our lives after the way of Jesus. We don’t retire and get pensioned off at 65, or 70, or even 99!
I began my sermon with a “funny” illustration of a couple having problems. Actually, it was a joke my dad loved to tell. Marriage is a relationship that requires a certain amount of vulnerability in order for it to be successful. To be vulnerable is to admit that you need something or someone as well as having something to give; good relationships need both.
A good friend is a teacher who has spent most of her career teaching 5 year olds. I don’t think she has any trouble asserting her authority, but she is also prepared to show her vulnerable side. How best do you reach a child who is feeling afraid and overwhelmed, except to show that adults are sometimes afraid and overwhelmed as well!
In researching the graphics for this sermon I found a great many regal looking Jesus pictures. He is the picture of health and power - even if he could use a haircut and a shave. He looks like a king. There are many verses that refer to Jesus sitting on the throne, in glory! There are many pictures of Jesus with a crown!
Of course, because it’s the way the internet works; I also found a number of pictures of and stories about “our Royal Family.” I was surprised to find out that Princess Eugenie, married a week ago, chose a wedding dress that revealed a long scar, from a scoliosis surgery she had when she was age 12. She wanted to connect with those who had medical issues and children undergoing surgery as she had. This pleasantly surprised me; I guess I had long thought of her as an “entitled and spoiled Royal”.
How do we gauge success? How do we measure faithfulness? As the JNAC does its work, you, the congregation, will be called to reflect on the question, ‘what is our mission?’ Is Avon United Church here ‘just to keep the doors open’ or is there more? We need to ask the question, “Why do we want to keep these doors open? How are these communities and the world a better place because of Avon United Church? How do we best serve this community of which we are a part?
The short answer is that we are supporters of the local food bank, the local schools breakfast programs, two local agencies that help homeless and hungry people, an outreach mission in Halifax, a foster child, the Mission and Service Fund, an ecumenical prayer shawl ministry, visits to shut-ins, provide space to 2 AA groups and a TOPS group and more. These are the kind of things we should be doing.
Some people come to church to be fed spiritually, (hey, we even have physical food downstairs after the service today, as a bonus); some come to see their friends; some come to be seen by the important people; some wish to get away from whatever is bothering them; some come to hear the word preached; some come to take part in a community of faith; some come out of habit! Hey, not all habits are all bad - like brushing our teeth or driving on the right side of the road - “it’s a good thing”.
There must be a balance between what we can hope to “receive” and what we can “give or offer” when it comes to faith or community. It’s not just “about us”.
Following Jesus is not meant as a plank of our platform to worldly success. Faith is seen by Jesus as a way of serving others, of showing by word and deed that God wishes the fullness of life for all people and indeed for all of creation.
Our future depends on our ability to realize that its not about what we can get, gain or keep for ourselves but about the abundance for ALL that was offered in Jesus.
Amen!
Job 42: 1-6
Psalm 34
Mark 10: 46-52
On the 60th Anniversary of the Springhill Mining Disaster, Tuesday’s online edition of the Chronicle Herald , among many, carried stories about the last surviving member that event. He remembers that after their battery powered headlamps gave out they lived in inky blackness for the rest of the five days it took the draggermen to did through the destruction to reach and rescue them. Some of the draggermen were survivors of the explosion who reached the surface early on, only to be told to go back down and help rescue their co-workers! When those in the mine the longest were brought to the surface they had to cover their eyes so that the light from the flashbulbs would not harm their eyes.
For most of my life I struggled with poor eyesight. With my glasses I could still drive of course but without my glasses I could do very little. When I had surgery 12 years ago the Dr came by to see how I was doing; I asked for my glasses before I was able to answer. I had to be able to see his face in order to have a meaningful conversation! If I could not see I did not really know how I was!
Before I went to school I assumed everyone saw what I saw and how I saw. Then some kind of health nurse came and tested our eyes - in front of all the other kids in the class! Some of them thought it was quite funny when I gave wrong answers to many of the letters on the eye chart she brought with her. I was referred to a doctor who prescribed glasses. I could see much better; at the age of 6 I knew something had changed, something was different. I probably should have had glasses much earlier! Over time I came to depend on my glasses more and more and, as is often the case, my vision worsened. My glasses could only help so much but I got used to it, only noticing when I got a new pair and I knew I could see a little better. My “dream” of being able to see the clock radio on my night-stand without the aid of my glasses, if I woke up in the middle of the night, remained elusive though as I was not a candidate for laser surgery.
Then, a two years ago I was told I needed surgery to remove cataracts. After a few days I could see well without my glasses for the first time in my life. It was confirmed for me when I could read all the lines on the eye chart! As I read each successively smaller line of letters I became more and more excited - I had NEVER ever been able to read that far down the chart! Needing reading glasses is a little annoying but it’s a small one!
In today’s story from the Gospel of Mark Jesus encounters a beggar who is blind. He is sitting by the roadside wrapped in his cloak. The cloak may have been also used to catch the coins that were tossed to him! This man cries out to Jesus and identifies him, NOT as “Jesus from Nazareth”, or as “Rabbi”, but as the “Son of David.” That in and of itself shows a striking level of insight. Perhaps he has heard the stories circulating among the crowds; he has heard the stories of healing, he has overheard the speculation about this stranger’s identity. But Bartimaeus, this man whose name means simply, “son of Timaeus” has no doubt. He knows!
The social conventions of the day meant that beggars should be seen and not heard and the crowd tells him to be quiet. After all, what would Jesus want with the likes of him? It is only when Jesus calls for him that the crowd acknowledge him and encouraged him.
He throws off his cloak, his one possession, no doubt, and goes in the direction of Jesus’ voice.
Then somewhat surprisingly, Jesus asks “What do you want me to do for you?” Did you notice that question? Instead of assuming that he wants to have his sight restored, Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants? At first reading it may seem to us like a really dumb question; he’s BLIND; why would he have any other request?
LAST WEEK Jesus asked that question in response to the request of two of the disciples for a favour. In the event recounted in last week’s passage Jesus found out that the two “sons of thunder” wanted positions of honour and privilege. On this day he finds out that Bartimaeus simply wants to see again.
Of course, this story relies on a “pun” or play on words. In many languages the same word can be used for “physical sight” and for insight or “understanding”. I may be on a walk in the woods with a friend and she may point and say, “look at that cute little chipmunk” and when I see it among the leaves and tree trunks, I can say, “yes I see it.” On the other hand, the same friend may describe a traumatic or upsetting event in her life and I may reply, “I see why you are so upset.” That kind of “sight” has nothing to do with my eyes.
Mark’s story shows his readers that the disciples, who had normal physical vision (we can assume), were really quite clueless about Jesus’ real identity and purpose. They saw but did not see. Bartimaeus, on the other hand, was blind but saw clearly who Jesus was! He wanted to have his physical sight restored but he already saw the most important thing there was to see - Jesus’ true identity. You may have noticed that Mark indicates that he responded to this healing by following after Jesus.
A few weeks ago Jesus encountered a rich man who had everything going for him, every opportunity to keep the law, but knew something was missing. After meeting Jesus he was sad because Jesus told him that he needed to give up his reliance on his possessions and he was sad because he was very attached to his many possessions.
By contrast, the beggar named Bartimaeus has only one possession: his beggars cloak. He throws this off as he rises to meet Jesus - he is willing to cast off that one possession, that one thing into which passers-by would cast the few coins that would feed him. It was, in many ways, his only security.
I asked a patient in a hospital if she would like me to pray with her. We were taught to ask. She said, “no.” That wasn’t as surprising as the woman in her early 90s who swatted me with her hand as a response to the same question! I told her son what had happened and he just chuckled! I asked another patient and she was a little miffed and said, “you should just pray, you shouldn’t need to ask!” and another, “yes, of course.” I asked a man what he wanted me to pray for and he said, “my family”. Another person wanted me to pray for “everything”. Many want me to pray that they would be able to go home and heal quickly from whatever ailment has landed them in the hospital. Yet, sometimes the prayer request is not what I would have assumed; that’s the thing about assumptions, that’s why we were taught to ask!
There was a traveller dining in a roadside diner somewhere in the “southern States”. His meal came and he noticed something unfamiliar on his plate. He asked the waitress, “what’s this?”
“Them’s grits, of course!” she said.
“I didn’t order any grits” he said.
“Oh, you don’t order grits,” she replied, “they just come”.
I suppose its like the piece of iceberg lettuce and the slice of tomato or the sprig of parsley that we might see on our plates in a restaurant around here; you don’t order them, they just come.
The hymn, Amazing Grace, which we will sing in a few minutes makes a veiled reference to a change of heart using the images of blindness and sight. John Newton, once the captain of a slave ship, was converted during a storm at sea and was eventually ordained as an Anglican Priest. As his faith matured he became active in the movement to abolish slavery in the British Empire, and lived long enough to see slavery become a thing of the past.
We know that once we see something we can’t un-see it. Once we have a certain insight, we can’t go back to a time when we did not know that!
In the last few days there has been some controversy over the flying of a so-called “straight flag” by the Village of Chipman in New Brunswick. It was flown by people who thought they needed to assert their straightness in the light of the rainbow flags that symbolize gay pride.
The “Black Lives Matter” campaign has been countered with an “All Lives Matter” response in some places.
Both of these responses entirely miss the point of “the Rainbow Flag” and the “Black Lives Matter” campaigns. In many places things have happened to black people that have shown them that their lives do not matter as much as the lives of white people. People who identify as LGBTQ seek a world where they are as safe from harassment and violence solely because of their sexuality. The #metoo movement seeks to end the oppressive silence in a culture which sees women as sex objects and open to exploitation.
Like the cry of blind Bartimaeus, each of these movements cries out to society to look with new eyes, to develop new insight, respect and understanding. See me. Really see me. Walk in my shoes. Don’t try to silence me. Love me for who I am. It’s not about diminishing who you are; but see me and respect me.
The questions for us are: for what do we cry out? AND How can we be instruments of healing in this time and place?
In the latter case our tendency is to do what we think is best for those in need, for the homeless, for the abused child, for those who are marginalized because of who they are, instead of really seeing them and really ASKING them, “what would bring you life and healing?”
A colleague encountered a street person who used a wheelchair to get around. He asked, “what do you want me to do for you?”
“I need gloves so I can push my wheelchair. My hands are very cold and sore.” The minister went to a store and bought him a pair of gloves. His kids know that sometimes the needs of strangers will mean that they don’t get what they want!
Sometimes the people who cry out for help annoy and disturb the people who just want to get about their day. The homeless, in any culture, are shunned at best, or at worst, abused. In cities there are so many of “them’; there is so much need, it can seem overwhelming.
Many of the folks with enough money to have a home want them to “go away”. They are told to be quiet. They are told to, “get a job”. We want to think that if they tried hard enough they would not be where they are. But, many are coping with mental illness. Many young people who are homeless or in the “sex trade” are victims of abuse or human trafficking or drug addicted and can’t just “leave”. Collectively they cry out for mercy and understanding and more than a few coins tossed their way.
It’s a confusing time for many of us. Some of us are being asked to re-think our assumptions on many fronts. Some of us don’t know what we’re supposed to think anymore.
But we are a people who live by grace. We don’t have to “get it” and “see clearly” all at once. The disciples were quite slow to get what it was that Jesus was talking about! Yet God’s grace enabled them to continue the journey. Bit by bit they learned their new identity, not as the world defined them but as Jesus defined them.
What is our first identity after our name? Are we Consumers? Citizens? Or are we Children of God? Disciples? People who live by faith?
How do we respond to the God we have met in Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Son of David, Jesus the healer, Jesus the teacher and guide.
The ball is in our court!
Amen
Ruth 1: 1-18
Psalm 146
Mark 12: 28-34
Anne with an “E” is a new adaptation of the tale by Lucy Maud Montgomery about a freckle faced, red-haired, orphan girl sent by mistake to a farm in Prince Edward Island. This newest, made for TV, version of the story takes a number of liberties with the original books, deliberately “pushes the edges”, as they say, and deals with subject matter with an openness that would be very rare in the early 20th century in which it is set. In the most recent episode, a young man from Trinidad, Sebastian Lacroix, accompanies his new-found friend Gilbert Blythe, home to PEI and they are both invited to Christmas dinner at the Cuthbert home. It will be interesting to see where this story will go for the rest of the 2nd season. This re-make of Anne seems to be designed for a 21st century audience, not the pre-WW1 one in which the original author lived. Of course we will never know what a 21st century Lucy Maud Montgomery would have written!
The “book” we often call, “the Bible” is made up of many kinds of literature and its writing spans several thousand years. Among other things there are many good stories. Good stories contain the kind of truth that meets us as we are and shines a light on our faults and shortcomings in ways that a direct confrontation could never do! The story of Ruth is no exception. Like many of the stories in the biblical record, the story of Ruth is really about us, as it has been about every every person whom has ever read it.
Even so, since it is set in a long ago and far away land, a little background and explanation will help us to more fully appreciate the irony that is essential to grasping its meaning.
The book of Ruth begins with a reference to the “time of the Judges”. In case we think it was a reference to “the good old days”, we need to keep in mind that the days of the judges were not “all they were cracked up to be.” As “those days” wound down things deteriorated and those times were remembered as being ones of lawlessness and moral decay.
Scholars tell us that the name of one of the sons in our story sounds almost like the same word used for one of the plagues that struck Egypt and that the other son’s name literally meant, “to perish”. So, there are hints, even at the very beginning of the story that tragedy would strike and that neither young man had that long to live!
Anyone in Israel would know that the name “Bethlehem” means, literally, “house of bread.” Here’s the bitter irony: in the time in which this story is set, there was a FAMINE. The house of bread had nothing to eat! Of course, this was the driving force behind the move to Moab. Food shortages have always caused a great deal of migration, even today! I suppose the other main motivator is war! Moab, I am told, was a country with a climate very favourable to abundant harvests. Perhaps this was a cause of jealousy and the jealousy turned to animosity.
I’ve never been to Israel but I’ve seen pictures and being accustomed to the lush fields of the Maritime provinces I marvel that they can grow anything at all in Israel, even with irrigation! I wonder what it was like for that family, living amongst the enemy in Moab, grateful to be there but knowing all the time that they dependant upon these foreigners for their very lives. The language would have been different. The customs would have been different. There would have been no formal worship gatherings where they could offer their praise to the God of Israel. In most migrations at a time of famine it would be rare for this one family to be there alone, but we don’t know of any others. They must have been very homesick! But, it is there in Moab that the couple’s sons come of age and marry, not someone from their own land, but FOREIGNERS.
In the end though, this land this land is not as “life-giving” as it might have seemed and all three of the men die leaving Naiomi and her daughters-in-law completely bereft of support. In those days women worked very hard but never outside the home in paid employment!
Even without the benefit of radio, television and Facebook, Naomi hears that the famine is over in Israel and decides to return home. She tries to persuade her daughters-in-law to go back to their families. Perhaps she feared they would be treated with contempt in Israel. Perhaps she was worried about how her people would treat her if she brought two foreigners with her.
You may be wondering about the strange-sounding comment that Naomi made, saying that was too old to have more children who could become husbands to her daughters-in-law! There was a custom in Israel, designed to preserve the family name and property, that if a man died childless, his brother would be obliged to marry his widow and have a child in the dead man’s name. We know that Naomi was elderly and had lost her husband and all of her sons; there was no hope for a new son to become a husband for these younger women in that family line!
At any rate, Orpah returned to her family but Ruth pledged her love and support and refused to leave Naomi’s side. Keep in mind that Ruth was giving up everything: her country, her religion, her family. In accompanying Naomi home to Israel she was jumping in with both feet; there would be no return to Moab if things did not work out.
Since there is no church service next Sunday you will miss the reading of the conclusion to this story. The two parts need to be seen together as a whole in order for us to truly grasp why the story of Ruth is so very important.
Sooooo, here’s the rest of the story; the “Reader’s Digest” version! As Ruth works hard so that she and her mother-in-law can eat she shows an uncommon dedication to Naomi and is noticed by a landowner who is actually her late husband’s relative. Gleaning, or picking up the stalks of wheat dropped by those hired to work the harvest, was a time honoured tradition for the poor, but a foreign woman gleaning in a field could expect at least some sexual harassment. The text tells us that the landowner warned his workers to leave her alone. In the end, this man, named Boaz, agrees to marry her and they have a son who grows up to become the grandfather of the great King David. It is no accident that Ruth is one of the few women mentioned in the biblical genealogies. She is remembered for her courage, her faithfulness and her love for her mother-in-law.
I’ve known this story since I was a child but as I grew up I came to realize that it’s much more than a “lovely, sweet story” of a nice, hard-working, young woman. The story of the people of Israel, on the whole, is one of survival in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds.
Many generations after the time in which Ruth is set, many years after the time of King David, the people were defeated in war and carried of into exile. When they were allowed to return there was a concerted effort on behalf of the leadership to purge the county of foreign influence. Their religious leaders saw their lack of faithfulness to the ways of their God as a large part of the reason they had been defeated in the first place. Men who had married foreigners during their time of exile, I suppose, were told to divorce these foreigners.
The leaders wanted to remove as much danger of foreign influence as possible; ethnic diversity and multiculturalism were NOT values the leadership wanted to encourage.
It seems that this story was written down in this later time period. In the face of the prevailing attitude toward foreigners, the story of Ruth served to remind them of the “one foreign wife” who had been a very large part of making their small nation great the first time around. The story reminds them, not only that good things could come from Moab, but also they also would not have become what they were without her. Like the story of Jonah, the story of Ruth reminds them that their God cares for and values the people of every nation.
Like the parable of the Good Samaritan, this story tells us of a foreigner who went above and beyond for the people of Israel.
Almost every day we turn on the news and find coverage about ethnic violence and its not just taking place in far away places its even happening in Canada and in the USA. The shooting at the mosque in Quebec City in January of last year and the recent shooting at a Synagogue in Pittsburgh show us that ethnic hatred is closer to the surface that we might like to admit.
We may be at a cross-roads in this country, (as I believe the USA is) where we have to make a conscious decision to be welcoming of those who are different from the northern European norm. We white folks have been in power for so long that we have forgotten that we too are immigrants and that we were initially welcomed as guests but then became conquerors when we did not get what we wanted on our terms. We need to take a step back and take a good and honest look at our history.
As Christians we need to take this look through the gospel lens - through the Gospel call to love. We need to pause for a second before we agree with the sentiments of those who posted the “it’s ok to be white” signs oh Halifax power poles this past week. No one has ever said it wasn’t ok, but lots of others have said that it’s not ok to be some other skin colour.
As we approach Remembrance Day the TV news has been carrying stories of the wars in which Canada was a participant. Thursday evening there was a story on artist Max Smart who lost his entire family in the holocaust but was able to escape himself and found a new life in Canada. I heard him speaking on the radio on Friday morning. His art is dedicated to finding the beauty in life.
Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel, who died in 2016, became a lifelong advocate for human rights.
Rohingyan people are fleeing violence in Myanmar. The west had great hopes for Myanmar as it transitioned from a military dictatorship to a democracy but there is still great persecution of minority groups, predominantly Christian and Muslim.
When I was in university one of my professors had a poster on his office wall. Justice. NOT Just Us. There is no justice in the world when we think only of ourselves and only our success and survival. The book of Ruth shows a hated foreigner acting in truly loving ways.
Jesus of Nazareth was continually challenging people to live in loving ways, despite the perils of their own lives. Jesus lived in an occupied country, their lives were not their own. Yet the stories he told spoke of a God who called people to see beyond the narrow limits of their own people to the people who were the whole community of God’s people. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, while he may not have coined the phrase, speaks of God’s rainbow people.
If we say that we love God then we will love what God loves. We are told that God loves the world and God loves all people. Our call is to live out that love in all that we say and do. The story of Ruth gives us only one example of such love and dedication.
As Canadians we do not have a spotless history. We must come to terms with our treatment of our own aboriginal people and our internment of japanese citizens during WWII. In the modern age we are confronted with a refugee crisis of unimaginable proportions happening in many countries of the world.
Ultimately we need to ask ourselves if we are a people who love by fear or by love.
Amen.
NO SERMON. Church was cancelled because of community Remembrance Day observances.
1 Samuel 1: 4-20
I Samuel 2: 1-10
Mark 13: 1-8
OK Hands up. Anyone here ever watched, “Sister Wives”? It’ the TLC show about Kody Brown, his four wives and their various children, trying to fit into life in a culture which does not appreciate their lifestyle. I’ve seen only parts of a few episodes but at its height the show commanded 2.5 million viewers per episode. Being on a “tell almost all” show is also quite lucrative as each adult once received $180,000 per episode! I can’t understand the appeal but I guess some people like seeing other folks whose lives are even more messed up than their own!
If you are looking for stories of other people with “messed up lives” you don’t have to look further than the biblical story. Despite their less ideal lives these folks have been remembered for the parts they played in the story of the people and God’s call and faithfulness.
There are so many good stories in the Bible and so much truth and power can be contained within a good story. I first learned the story of Samuel when I was a child. I guess it makes sense to teach children the stories in the Bible that are about other children! We heard the first parts of it today. Samuel will go on to become a great prophet in Israel, but first we must know where he came from. We must know that he was a little more than a just a nobody from the sticks! We must know that the child Samuel was special even before he was born.
At the beginning of today’s passage, we are introduced to an everyday couple who have been trying for years to have a child. Of course this is a time when the men could have more than one wife and the fact that this man’s other wife had children was a source of conflict and jealousy between the two wives. Apparently the husband is in love and does not care that she has no children. He clearly does not follow the stereotype for his time. Hmmmmm maybe it could be a tv show too! I read somwewhere that, as a childless woman, Hannah was very vulnerable. If her husband had died before she did she would have no one to look after her in her old age. Her husband’s other children would have no obligation toward her!
The Psalm-like passage we used today as the Psalm is Hannah’s song of joy when she finds out her good fortune. If it sounds oddly familiar, it should. Scholars tell us that the song that Mary sang when she found out that she would be the mother of the Messiah was patterned closely after this one.
As the story continues, the baby Samuel is born and once weaned is taken to the temple and dedicated to God’s service. I sometimes wonder what Eli thought about having a child to teach and look after, especially after his lack of success with his own sons. You might remember the part of the story when the boy was called in the middle of the night and he thought it was the elderly Eli who was calling him but it turns out to be God. This is the same Samuel.
Now, as a child I thought it kind of odd, and sad that Hannah wanted a child do much that once she got him she gave him away! It made no sense.
Over the past 30 years, I have had the privilege of walking with friends and parishioners while they are expecting babies, or trying to have a child. Some conceived with no special effort while others had many setbacks and much heartbreak along the way. Few of them would be willing to give their children away! Perhaps my childhood questions just can’t be answered by the passage. A great part of what the story is about is the origin of the great prophet Samuel. From a humble rural family to a great and faithful prophet!
This is also a story about calling upon God and relying on God’s grace. This is a story about persistence in prayer. It is the story of an unlikely person, the woman Hannah, being the driving force, in this part of the story. As the story goes there would be no future without the leadership of Samuel. He is the one who provides the transition between the time of the Judges and the time of the Kings, the greatest of whom was David.
We should note that Hannah’s sadness lifted when she was assured that her prayers had been heard. She had found peace.
Maybe this “peace” was what they needed to conceive. I know a couple who were certain that they could not have children, went through the long process to be approved for adoption, were approved, were told they were at the top of the list, and then conceived all on their own. It’s happened to more than one couple! In their case, the child they were promised was adopted by friends of theirs and the children grew up together!
This passage gives the assurance of God’s care to those the world seems to have abandoned. This passage, taken together with Hannah’s song, assure the people that God is not with those who use and abuse worldly might, but is with the lowly. In God’s plan there is more than the “same old story” of the rich getting richer and the poor living in the dust. This song looks forward to the fulfilment of God’s promises. This passage proclaims that those who live in God’s way will eventually be vindicated. Next Sunday we will celebrate “the reign of Christ”; it is in Christ that this song of Hannah will see its ultimate fulfilment. Next Sunday our hopes will come full circle and we will have, as my GPS is fond of telling me, “arrived at our destination”.
The next week we will begin the journey all over again; the life of faith is about journey - not about arriving and ending the journey.
Of course, we know that even the great King David, whose birth is foretold in these and other passages, was not a perfect person, did not have a perfect rein, and it was not too long before the nation split in two and was eventually taken into captivity. Yet it is his reign that is the benchmark against which the others are evaluated.
Despite this, the people are assured that they are not alone at any time and their role is the persistent and prayerful adherence to these topsy turvy ways of their God.
In their future, time and again the prophets would call the people out on their failure to treat the lowly and the downtrodden with the love and respect that this passage proclaims they have.
The next few weeks in our lectionary, or list of readings for Sundays, are about coming full circle. We are about to end one cycle of our yearly journey and begin another. We are told, once again, that we on a journey toward the reign of God. When we get here though, we are reminded that this reign does not look like we might expect it to.
I expect you could go online and Google the wealth of the world’s Royal Families. I think I saw something about what Prince Harry would have had to pay for the dress uniform in which he was married. It wasn’t an off the shelf item! It was a shocking amount!
You have to have a lot of money to run for high political office and have contributors with a lot of money. Having a lot of money is one of the marks of success in our world. The trappings of wealth are important to a lot of people - nice car, nice clothes, fancy house, Fancy restaurant meals, wealthy friends, lavish entertaining, coveted destination vacations. Going with this is a high paying, and usually high stress, job where you have to fight to stay at the top.
The gospel presents us with an alternative view of success; an alternative view of God’s heart. God calls us to side with the poor and the lowly. If we are the poor and lowly we are assured that we have not been abandoned, or punished for something. If we aren’t the poor and the lowly, God calls us to take part in the mission to lift them up.
As we approach the Christmas season we are met with appeals of many kinds from various organizations. Up front at the right are two such appeals for the homeless and in need in our own areas. Our recent snowfall has reminded us all that the heat of summer has come to an end and that safe and adequate shelter is essential to life in Nova Scotia. Many organizations send out their year end appeals to make their budgets and financial goals for the year. As always we are called to decide which ones will receive our support.
What I think we need to start our consideration with is an assessment of our own blessings. Instead of looking at what we don’t have, and thus why we can’t give, we can turn it upside down and look at what we do have.
Generally speaking it is the people toward the lower end of the economic ladder who are the most generous - in terms of their income. Someone like Bill Gates might give many millions but I doubt they are forgoing much of anything to give those gifts. These gifts make a big difference, to be sure, but should not be a reason for the rest of us not to give, our smaller amounts and in smaller ways.
In order to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world and in order to lift up the broken and the lowly we have to be able to meet them where they are, identify with them, and as we help them up, we are getting dirty, truly hearing their stories, and realizing that we are all in this together. As we help we realize that we are also helping ourselves. There is no division between “us” and “them”; we are all in this together. God’s grace has been lavished on us. We are not blessed with what we are because we deserve them; there are so many factors in our being born in the place we have been born and in this time - likewise there are many factors in being borm to poor parents in thousands of places in the world or even here in Hants or Kings Counties. Our economic system is designed to keep people where they are.
We are not powerless though. We can act in love. We can make a difference. Our God’s call is to use our blessings as a source of blessing for others - as well as ourselves. God does not want us to be rich while our neighbour starves in the dark. I believe that God’s wish for all people is that they have enough to sustain life in happiness and abundance. Even if all we can do is a box of cereal and a bottle of shampoo, or if we can give many of those items and more, our first step is to see that God’s care is for everyone - to see in them the same spirit and value that is in us.
May our words, our hearts and our actions, truly praise God.
Amen.
2 Samuel 23: 1-7
Psalm 132
Revelation 1: 4b-8
John 18: 33-37
An alien spacecraft lands in a field and a strange-looking creature comes out and says to the first living being they encounter, “take me to your leader.” Of course, over time, that phrase has become a cliche for an entire generation.
Let’s assume, for a moment, that this has just happened to you. To whom would you take the alien?
Who is your leader? When we think of leaders we tend to think of people who are in government. There are many levels of this kind of leadership or authority. Outside of our own homes we have County Council, our warden, (or mayor, if you live in Kings County) our Premier, our Prime Minister, our Governor General, our Queen, if we climb the ladder of authority all the way to the top.
If the alien craft landed in the school ballfield, and the human encountered was a student, the leader might be the child’s teacher or the school principal. If the craft landed in a backyard, a child playing there might take the alien to see “Mom” or even “Grampa”.
But, we gather here in this church as a people of the Christian faith. We gather as people who profess to be under the leadership of the God we have met in Jesus of Nazareth.
In 1925, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Pius XI, instituted the Feast of Christ the King. He was responding to the rise of facsim and felt that Christians were also succumbing to an increasing secularism in the world. Over time, most mainline churches, who follow the lectionary, began to observe this Sunday in some fashion or other.
Of course, we have no choice but to live in the “real world” (we have to go to school, have jobs, buy groceries, heat our homes, clothe ourselves and our children, find a way to get around and to communicate with others and all of those things ) but the question remains: whose values really govern our lives? What are our priorities? Are we governed by the values of materialism, consumerism, elitism, militarism, sexism, racism, and the other “isms” that vie for our loyalty? Or are we governed by the Good News of Jesus.
Today’s passage from the Gospel is, essentially, a call to choose to live according to the ways of the realm or “kingdom of God” rather than the “kingdom of Caesar.” We can live in this world and march to the beat of a different drummer
51 Sundays ago, more or less, we gathered to begin a journey. On Advent 1 we outlined our hope for the upcoming year in the Christian journey. Five weeks in, we gathered around a manger in Bethlehem and we welcomed baby Jesus. We had such hopes for what he would do for the world!
That was 52 weeks ago! Today we gather, not in a throne room with a Powerful Ruler dressed in rich robes and wearing a beautiful crown, but in a makeshift courtroom with this Ruler on trial for his life! Is this where we thought we would be?
Therefore, as we prepare to come full circle and begin a new church year once again, next Sunday, we pause and reflect upon who Jesus theChrist is and has become in our lives. To challenge our thinking, we leave the stables, the shepherds and the stars behind us and look at what seems to be happening here at Jesus’ trial.
In Pilate’s mind there was only one King of the Jews and that was Herod, a client King of the Roman Empire. There was a delicate balance of power in the Roman Empire and it worked for those who were in the right place and knew their place, who knew what wheels to grease, and who did not aspire to move up the ladder. There certainly was no room for another “king of the Jews.”
The Gospel writer is challenging the readers tolook at the Kingship or Reign of Jesus through a different lens. Jesus is not a king in any way the world recognizes. A large part of the problem he encountered in his ministry was the number of people who thought he was going to seize power through a revolution and sit on the throne as a descendant of David. Israel would be great again, Oh yes!
In last week’s magnificent hymn from the lips of Hannah, Jesus is proclaimed as a king, but one that rules by love, not by force; a king of the weak and powerless.
Living in a western democracy we certainly have many more freedoms tahn are enjoyed by many people in the world, including freedom of expression and freedom of religion. I would say the vast majority of the world’s refugees are refugees because of powerful elites who will not tolerate the kind of differences represented by various ethnic or religious minorities.
The Rohingyan family who will soon arrive in Hantsport from Myanmar know all about being on the wrong side of a religious and ethnic debate that has made them stateless and endangered their very lives.
In many countries there is a conservativebacklash against immigrants, particularly immigrants from developing or war-torn countries. At such a time in history it is crucial that we struggle with the call of the gospel to recognize that we are all sisters and brothers together.
The questions, both asked and implied, in the phase of Jesus’ trial we read about today, are questions for us to answer. What claim does Jesus have on our lives? How do the teachings and ways of Jesus impact on our day to day lives? Does Jesus reinforce what we have always thought or does Jesus challenge us to a greater generosity of spirit - with our own family, our own neighbours and with those we have never met?
The Good News of the Kingdom of God is not just for people like us, but for all people. Indeed the Good News is for the entire creation that was proclaimed by it’s creator as “very good”. The Realm of God is a nation like none other. It trumps our politics and our nationality and calls us beyond all artificial boundaries and borders.
It is in many ways an impossible goal but a goal or ideal for which we should, nonetheless aspire. We are on a journey of faith, for which there is no end while we are living.
Let us pause for the food for the journey given to those who gather at the table and then let us pick up our walking stick and our backpack and continue to seek the fullness of the truth we have found in Jesus!
Amen.