Exodus 20: 1-20
Psalm 19
Matthew 21: 33-46

The Ultimate Roommate Agreement

One of the shows I try to catch several times a week is “The Big Bang Theory,” now in re-runs. One of the main characters, Dr. Sheldon Cooper, a theoretical physicist, child prodigy, self- centred hypochondriac, and, by far, the oddest of the bunch, puts a lot of stock in his multi-page “room mate agreement” - outlining what others could and could not do if they lived in “his” apartment and this document was certainly crafted to his advantage. His frustrated friends seem to just put up with his eccentric ways.

When I was in university I stayed in residence but for the summer after I graduated from Atlantic School of Theology I boarded at the home of a professor who rented rooms in her enormous faculty house during the school year to students. During the school year they had worked out various agreements so that they could live together in harmony. For example, there was a ribbon system for the fridge - so that each person would get a fair share of the various sized shelves in the fridge and know whose food was whose. When I was there it was actually not that bad because fewer people in the house meant that I had more room than I might normally have had for my food in the one fridge. “Stocking up” would have been difficult if those items needed fridge space. A half full carton of milk does not take up less space than a full one! Each person was to use her own dishes and cutlery and so on. Since I was there for only the summer and did not have any dishes or cutlery I used the professor’s!

I frequently did late night typing which I did downstairs in the dining room and not at my desk because the tap tap tap noise would disturb my sleeping house-mate. It a few years before computers were commonplace.

If you live in an apartment or duplex you have to be aware how noise travels in your building or you may have annoyed neighbours. In your own house you can usually make all the noise you want!

When I was in Jr High a copy of the Canadian Bill of Rights was posted somewhere in the school, probably in the library. For whatever reason the short paragraph that appeared in the bottom right corner over the signature of Prime Minister Diefenbaker, made an impression on me.

	“I am a Canadian, a free Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship God in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, free to choose those who shall govern my country.  This pledge of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind”. 

After I graduated and went to university the government of Pierre Trudeau, brought in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. On the fancy display version, the following words appear over Prime Minister Trudeau’s signature. “We must now establish the basic principles, the basic values and beliefs which hold us together as Canadians so that beyond our regional loyalties there is a way of life and a system of values which make us proud of the country that has given us such freedom and such immeasurable joy.”

During this time of COVID it may be harder for most Canadians to find the “immeasurable joy” that Mr Trudeau referenced. There are so many activities that are temporarily unavailable to us, depending on where we live. We hear a lot of protests against mandatory mask wearing; an argument usually based on personal rights. “It is my right not to wear a mask if I choose not to. I’m not sick.”

We need to remember that: a) with COVID you might be sick and not know it, and b) being a good citizen is not just about individual rights its also about responsibilities toward others.

At some point during the Junior High years of which I spoke a few minutes ago, a classmate said this: “My right to swing my fist stops when it connects with your face”.

If a random group of people were asked to name a list of universal rules and norms, many of them, many of us perhaps, might mention what most call the “10 Commandments”. We probably all memorized a version of them in Sunday school.

We may have memorized a paraphrased version without even realizing it. Some have assumptions we no longer hold and would no longer want to promote.

Since I can’t possibly do justice to the 10 Commandments in one sermon, all I want to do is to give you something to think about, in regard to these familiar rules, this “roommate agreement for living in God’s house.”

Sometimes the lectionary gives you options. For today I had the option of the short version of the ten commandments or the long version; I asked Nash and Kate to read the long version which has a few verses which can seem a little surprising to us and which most of us did not memorize, King James Version or paraphrased!

Also known as the “10 Words,” we are told that these words were given by God to Moses just after escaping from captivity in Egypt. The first thing we need to know about these commandments is that they are in two sections. They begin with a preface in which God’s identity and recent action to free the people are stated. This calls forth a proper relationship to and with God and THEN a proper relationship to one another. Keep that in mind!

As a 21st century, English speaking people, we can miss the nuances that are present in the original Hebrew, especially if the language is paraphrased. We all probably think that “false witness” is a reference to lying but it seems to refer specifically to statements made in a court of law.

With respect to the commandment against making idols, I’m wondering if you noticed that it’s part of the one verse that speaks both of God’s jealousy, and God’s steadfast love. That’s one of the parts I could have left out! Most people don’t consider jealousy a good attribute, and it is often a factor in “intimate partner violence”, but there it is, from God’s own mouth, as it were, “I am jealous”.

This verse is speaking of pagan idol worship which, according to the story in Exodus was, in fact, happening at the exact same time as God was giving these rules to Moses. The people down on the desert floor started to fear and forced Aaron, Moses’ brother and 2nd in command to make a god for them to worship; they needed something tangible. So, they got together all the precious metals they had STOLEN while on the way out of Egypt and they made a “golden calf”. They must have taken along something to melt metal too!

Now, you might say that we in 21st century Canada don’t have idols but we do, we certainly do. Long ago I studied the writing of a theologian who talked about faith as “ultimate concern”. What is really most important to us? It’s not what we say is important, but what actually is! For some people it’s their personal appearance or their fame. Look at body builders or look at how we idolize movie stars or how we value material success.

I think it is a commandment because it is not easy; it is part of an almost universal human struggle. We know, for example, that wealth and success does not buy happiness, and sometimes even causes great misery. These verses would tell us to remember to place our trust in someone worthy of that trust, namely the God of freedom, not something fleeting.

Now, what about the verse against coveting. I suppose there was not much to covet when everyone was living in a tent and out of a suitcase, as we might say. However, the verses look forward to a time of settling down and, no doubt, of differences in levels of prosperity or the amassing of possessions.

Note the language. This is one of those passages where it is obvious that the verses are addressed to men; who were the ones who did all the owning in that culture. They owned animals, slaves and wives. Remember that they had just escaped from Egypt where they had been slaves, I find it interesting that they were not commanded to give up slavery! I don’t think that this means slavery is OK, it merely shows that these commandments are a product of a certain time and place where there is an assumption that slavery is just part of the way things are. BUT not even slaves are to work on the Sabbath, based again, on God’s own action and example. Even though the assumption here is that a man’s wife is his property, it does not make it OK for life in the 21st century.

However, what about coveting itself? It is defined as the desire to possess something. Is it all bad? While coveting could lead to stealing, or adultery, among other things, is it not essential to any notions of ambition and progress? Or maybe that is the source of our ecological crisis?

How would we function as a society without coveting - without wishing for something we don’t have? You could say that I coveted a university degree so I worked for one and then a second, enduring all that studying and long days in the library and long nights batting ideas around with fellow students.

You can’t start or grow a business without wanting and working for “more”. However, it could seem to me that there are two ways to grow a business . One would be to create a market for something that was not previously needed, such as cell phones, when cell phones were becoming popular. The introduction of such phones did not take anything away from companies that had what we now call “land lines” - that is, until recently!

The other way to grow a business is through competition - but there is healthy competition and cut-throat competition. Where one business’ practices fall is often a matter of debate!

I saw an obituary in the paper the other day from an area where I used to live and remembered that the deceased was the owner of a BIG business - until the owner of a BIGGER one wanted to expand and basically used his clout to force the other business to sell to him go out of business.

Did these commandments provide part of the framework for a transition between slavery and living in the land of promise; a transition that took 40 years, or “an entire generation”.

How do we live together in community? How do we live in relation to the God whose grace has made life possible for us?

The 10 commandments are one set of guidelines that have stood the test of time - there are others, but these are a good start.

Amen.

An Attitude of Gratitude

“The Vicar of Dibley” is a superb example of British Comedy. COMEDY. This show is about the first female vicar serving in the fictitious Parish of Dibley, located somewhere near London, England. After she has been there a few years, the entire Parish Council knows that their vicar, the Rev Geraldine Granger, really, really, wants to be married. She laments that she has done so many weddings - for other people! She wants her own! This story line is the cause of much humour in the series. She even receives several quite hilarious proposals from members of the Parish Council. Then, a handsome stranger from London buys the cottage next door to the rectory and they strike up a friendship. Soon both are totally smitten with each other but unsure of the feelings of the other! One night he comes to her door and asks her to marry him. Since she has recently seen him in the company of a young and beautiful blonde she assumes the question is yet another request for her to perform THEIR ceremony. Her reaction is priceless! When she learns that the blonde is his sister - and that the proposal is that she be HIS bride, she is ecstatic. In the second try of his proposal he said to her, “I’m asking YOU to marry ME, Geraldine Granger. I absolutely know that we are meant to be together forever and that we will always be happy.”

I hoped that the vast majority of the couples I have married felt that way as they planned their wedding. Of course, not all of those marriages survived the test of time and some lasted longer than others! To be honest, some of the breakups and divorces did not really surprise me all that much; while that of others almost “blew me out of the water”.

As the people of Israel prepared to enter the land of promise, it seems that there was quite a large amount of instruction on being grateful. Before they had even set foot in the promised land they were told, “you will be grateful.” It is most appropriate that today’s passage is one of several that could be read on Thanksgiving Day. They were to enter the land of promise with the attitude that they WOULD BE abundantly blessed and grateful for God’s abundance!

I don’t know what exactly my great-grandparents found in Rouleau when they moved there early in the 1900s, along with many others. KI gather they wanted to get away from milking cows! However, when my grandparents moved to PEI in the early 1930s, the farm on which I grew up had already been a working farm for a number of generations. It was typical of that era: comprised of small fields and probably totalling about 50 acres of land. It was also blessed with a stream, a dam, a large mill-pond, and a couple of mills for sawing logs and grinding grain - a cash income, if there had been no depression going on. I suppose their first order of business was to plant a crop. It was far less land than they had left behind but they managed to support a family on it. I don’t know what those who came from the British Isles directly to PEI found in terms of land ready to plant, several generations earlier, but someone had to have cleared the land. As far as I know, PEI was all forest when white settlers arrived and anyone can tell you that a forest does not pasture many cattle or grow much oats!

When the dam washed out in the 1990s they discovered that the trees that once stood on the land had been felled by hand before it was originally flooded - probably at some time in the 1800s. The stumps, were still there in the mud and bore axe marks. There were no chain saws back then! I’m fairly sure that when my brother last cleared land, or removed hedgerows to make bigger and more efficient fields, that he hired a crew with tree harvesters and bulldozers, but in a previous century it was done with oxen and draft horses and axes and strong men!

We sometimes forget that the people entering the land of promise had been camping out in the desert their entire lives. They were the children of slaves, slaves who had been forced to work on building projects. Their children would have had to learn how to be farmers - a different skill set entirely!

Yet, the message from the God who led them is “adopt an attitude of gratitude”. “Be thankful” “You are in the place that was promised to our ancestors Abraham and Sarah, many years ago.

We are told elsewhere that the manna continued to fall each day until the first crop was harvested and then it stopped. No longer would their food “just be there”. They would have to work for it and have patience as their crop grew and matured and the milk and honey started flowing.

Not that long ago I heard someone speaking of the “good things” that have come from this “Covid Pandemic”. While many people tend to focus on the layoffs and cutbacks at their workplace, and on the things they can’t do, others have appreciated the opportunity to stay closer to home and explore local attractions; to spend time with the people they actually live with; to appreciate those the things we often taken for granted. They have enjoyed the “at home” pursuits of gardening and puttering in the back yard more than they ever thought they would.

The Epistle passage ties together blessings and generosity in a similar way as reaping is tied to sowing. Humans often think of sharing as “something we do AFTER we have determined that we have enough to meet our own needs!” From the time of their early years in their land of promise, it seems clear that God was telling them that they were to be the kind of community that provided for everyone and where there were not “haves” and “have-nots”. People were not supposed to get rich off of the backs of others. There was to be no generation upon generation of amassing property in such a way that a class of landed people held sway over mere workers. By Jesus’ day though, such idealistic thoughts were long in the past. In Jesus’ day, labourers lived from hand to mouth; widows and orphans were often destitute. People with leprosy, and others who could not work, or were not allowed to, were at the mercy of a few spare coins and stale bread tossed their way.

Now, I don’t know about you, but it has been my experience that the people who tell me that they are “blessed” are also the people who are most generous, and the people who describe themselves as “we’re not rich” are often the least generous - but - on the surface at least, the latter group can SEEM more prosperous. The people with 2 shirts will give one away while the people with 4 or 5 have none to spare! But it is an attitude toward life and one’s relationship with Creator rather than their bank account.

I recall visiting a couple in the nursing home a few years ago. She was mostly confined to her bed or to a wheelchair and he was losing his ability to walk. One day I asked them if they were “cup half-full” people or “Cup half-empty” people. They replied without hesitation, “our cup runneth over!”

The gospel passage for today is a familiar story to many of you, I am sure. Jesus heals ten people with leprosy but only one pauses to stop and give thanks. To be fair he did tell them to go and show themselves to the priests. They could not do anything else unless the priest had given them a clean bill of health - if they had been suffering from leprosy, at least. In biblical times it was the priest who declared that someone was, or was not, suffering from leprosy. I have been told that biblical leprosy was a skin disease not the dreaded disease also known as “Hansen’s Disease” which can become quite disabling! The nine who were healed lost no time in going to get their “all clean” rating. I can certainly understand this desire to get back to normal! We all can!

On the nightly news a while ago there were several reports of lineups in which parents waited, some more patiently than others, with their school age children be tested for COVID before they could return to school. They had a sniffle or a cough or something and were banned from school as a precaution untilt they tested negative. I don’t know what will happen when cold and flu season descends on us! In some households a cold goes from one person to another almost all winter.

I am now allowed to visit the hospital in my role as your minister, and when I go, I am screened by having my temperature taken and being asked questions to determine if I may have been exposed to the virus.

It might be a stretch to compare COVID with leprosy, but after watching a “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” video last night, I could be excused for feeling like a leper. In this video a very LOUD band, supposedly somewhere in the Atlantic Provinces tells people not living there to “stay the blazes home” - you can come and we will welcome you, another year! Occasionally this summer I would post a “woe is me, I cant go home” comment on my Facebook page. Some of my friends on Facebook (and I am talking real friends here; people I have known for years and years) replied - “no offence, but this year we don’t want you. Stay there”. “We don’t want to risk getting sick”. My PEI birth certificate and years or Maritime living, carried no weight. Also, it is difficult to get there without going through Toronto or Montreal - hot spots for the virus.

Almost as an aside, the gospel tells us that the one man who was healed of his leprosy who came back to thank Jesus, was a Samaritan. To put it bluntly, in Jesus day, Samaritans and Jews hated one another. They would not associate with one anther and I am told that good Jews would go out of their way to avoid travelling through nearby Samaria. Jewish tradition held that Samaritans were heretics and not true children of Abraham. In this event, it is the half-breed heretic who shows more spiritual depth than the 9 men (who were supposedly Jewish). The we are meant to notice the irony of that!

Sometimes those of us who have been Canadian for generations, need to listen to recent immigrants, and particularly to refugees about the blessings and freedoms we take for granted in this country. We also need to come to terms with the deplorable conditions in many First Nations communities and work to bring the standards up yo what we would expect for our own communities.

Thanksgiving can be an excuse to pig out, to dig onto mountains of food, and laze on the couch in a food coma till it’s time for the Christmas and New Year’s round or we can see it as a time to stop, and to notice. Like the man who had leprosy we need to stop and notice our blessings. We need to stop and give thanks, even if our “list” is shorter than last year’s. It is a time to open our hearts to others - in need of a phone call, of some gesture of caring, or a kind word or even a meal or two.

We have been blessed; let us be a blessing to others.

Amen.

Exodus 33: 12-23
Psalm 99
Matthew 22: 15-22

Rendering Unto God!

The Fraser Institute, declared June 14, 2020 as tax freedom day in Canada. Each year, this right of centre “think tank” fixes a theoretical date dividing the year into two. Before this date, ALL our money goes to some sort of government taxation, after this date, we get to spend the rest of our money however we choose! I used to find the concept of a tax freedom day interesting, but the more I’ve thought about it lately, the more problems I have with the whole concept and the assumptions behind it! One is that it seems to be based on the assumption that what I have “earned”, I deserve to spend as I see fit and I should be able to use as much of it as possible in the way I see fit with no interference from government and no feeling of responsibility toward others.

Secondly, we must all admit that taxes fund things that would otherwise have to be paid for out of pocket and they are supposed to level the playing field for everyone. Despite what some may say, ALL of our taxes do not get sucked into some black hole out of which nothing emerges!

What if we had no taxes? Well, we would pay tuition for our children to attend school and fees for them to take the school bus! We would pay for doctor’s visits or we could get the best insurance we could afford! We would find that the richer you were the better care you got!

I suppose it would be simple enough to tape a certain amount of money in an envelope to our garbage bags each week which is what I actually used to do before it went into the NS tax base. Then again, what about other services that normally come from our taxes? What about the snowplow service? What if the residents of 2 of the 6 houses on our street did not pay for plowing? Would the plow lift its blade when it passed those houses? What if you had to go by those properties to get to work? How would that be fair - after all, YOU PAID!

If there was one thing that the people in Jesus’ day knew about it was the reality of taxes. They were taxed by the temple system and by the various levels of government. They were literally, “taxed to death” and had no say whatsoever in the use of the money.

Many years ago there was an article in a large Maritime newspaper about an anti-abortion rally outside a large regional hospital. A senior colleague remarked how interesting it was that at least two of the groups, standing together to wave placards did not normally associate with one another, but on this one issue, they could agree.

The Herodians, obviously, were supporters of Herod, the puppet king installed by Rome. The Pharisees, no friends of Herod, advocated a strict adherence to the generations old laws and traditions of Moses. We know that they had a habit of opposing Jesus because he did not see adherence to those laws in the same way. abbath observance and the washing of hands before eating. As I was writing this sermon I thought that they would the perfect people to keep us safe in this mask wearing, hand sanitizing, and socially distancing pandemic time, with lots of rules !!!!

So, these two groups must have gotten together to cook up a “there’s really no right answer” question for Jesus! “Jesus, you are so great and smart. Tell us something, will you? Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?”

Of course, in all jurisdictions that levy taxes it is illegal NOT to pay your taxes and occupied Israel was no different! Their question actually pointed to the religious law. The real question was this: “Can you be a faithful Jew and still pay taxes to the emperor?” It’s a somewhat different question!

Now, if Jesus had said, “no it is not lawful to pay these taxes to this gentile government; it is an affront to then Holy God,” he could have been arrested for sedition - for encouraging his followers to flout the civil law. BUT, on the other hand, if he had said “yes”, the people would have felt betrayed! They saw him as being on “their side’ - opposed to their oppressors!

I also gather that this was a question about a specific and much hated tax; a “poll tax” which was levied against everyone equally. It was set at one Denarius apiece and no matter how much or how little someone earned; everyone paid the same. To make matters worse, it was what funded the oppressive regime under which they were forced to live.

But Jesus, as they say, “was not born yesterday” and immediately saw the trap. His response was to take the conversation to a whole other level.

First: he asked to see the coin used for the tax. In Jesus day there were 2 kinds of coins; one which was legal tender and the only coin that could be used for government purposes and another kind which could be used for more regular purchases and for temple offerings. This second kind had no human or animal images on them because good Jews were forbidden by the 10 Commandments to carry around any “graven images”.

However, the only coins they could use for the tax were Roman coins which bore the emperor’s image on the “heads side” along with words to the effect, “Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus.” In addition to breaking the law against graven images these coins also broke the law about worshipping other gods!

Good Jews were not supposed to have any more of these coins than absolutely necessary but these Pharisees had no trouble in producing such a coin when Jesus asked!

Jesus then asks, “Whose image is this?” and the obvious answer was given, “The emperor’s!” Jesus reply, “Well give him what is his and God what is God’s.”

In this seemingly simple but very ambiguous answer lies a great deal.

What is Jesus really saying? Is Jesus telling us that all our money belongs to Caesar? Or just the Roman coins? 2,000 years later, what is he saying about our Canadian money, which in its “coin form” shows the image of the Queen and the words “Elizabeth II, Queen, by the grace of God?”

I think the real meaning lies in the next part of the answer - about giving to God what is God’s.

Perhaps Jesus is reminding his hearers of the biblical teaching that all human beings bear the IMAGE of God. While Caesar’s image is on our money, God’s image is on us! Sooooooooo, give to God what is God’s. But, “JUST WHAT DOES belong to God?

In Genesis we are told that human beings are made in the image of God. What this says to me is that we are 100% God’s. But what does it mean for us that we “belong to God?”

It’s first implication refers to others and how we regard others! “ALL human beings belong to God?” This applies to the people I know and like AND to the people I only see from time to time, those who hang around in the bad part of town and are a little sketchy! It applies to the people who steal flags and to those who decorate churches with graffiti and drop their used masks on the sidewalk! It applies to all of “those people,” no matter who they are and no matter if they want to recognize that designation, or not !

I received my confirmation of voter registration in the mail on Wednesday. It informed me that I was indeed registered as a Saskatchewan voter. This mailing told me where and when I could vote and what ID I would need. If I choose not to exercise that right, no one could force me to do so, but that decision would not change the fact that I am on “the list”.

In the light of this passage, I put the two together and surmise that I am also a voter who is created in the image of a God who demands 100% allegiance!

How should this impact my life? It first should affect my attitude toward the “other”. Every other person is stamped with God’s image and there is nothing I can do about that. Even the person who votes another way! Even the person running for THAT party and wants to have the government do this or that! Even the people I mentioned earlier who do all the things that are annoying and disruptive and hurtful! It seems obvious to me that I should take them into consideration when I vote - and not just consider my own needs and wants.

This shared identity should also be lived on a daily basis! If this fundamental identity is part of everything we do and are, there is no aspect of life that is safe from the test, “does this attitude or activity or speech reflect God’s identity stamped on me?” There are no days off or passes where I get to be selfish!

As far as our elections go, I believe that this passage, written long before there was any kind of democracy anywhere, challenges each of us to exercise our vote as someone created in God’s image and aligned with God’s goals of fullness of life for all of creation. We cannot have one set of values for our family and social life, or for Sundays, and another set for our business and commerce life on the other six days of the week.

We know that politics can get heated as people hold strong and sincere, but opposing, opinions but I find the style of campaigning where one trashes the opposing side to be offensive and just pain wrong. We can and should be civil and respectful of one another.

At election time we are asked to cast a vote for one candidate, or another (and therefore for the party) that promises to deliver a certain kind of government. Some parties seem cater to those who are looking out for themselves and their friends. These parties promise, “We’ll make YOU better off; you will keep more of YOUR money. YOU YOU YOU! Other parties seem to aim toward a more altruistic set of principles - a “better life for the marginalized and those struggling to survive”. Sometimes the rhetoric seems the same but the details are in the fine print.

When we vote, or make any life choice for that matter, do we ask, “how does this decision show my identity as “marked in God’s image”. Do we ask only, “what’s in it for me?” or do we add to our list of questions. “How can I also use my vote (or my money or my time) for the greater good? How do I use my vote (or other resources) to honour the humanity in the other!”

How do I balance the two?

In our daily lives, as we mould and guide our children, as we exercise leadership in community groups, we need to ask the question of how we can faithfully live as someone stamped with God’s image. We need to show and model the way we are trying to teach. We to teach that it’s not all about what the world can do for them but it is also about what they can do for others!

The Herodians and the Pharisees wanted to skewer Jesus but in the end he walked away and made them think! This passage should make us think.

We have been stamped with the identity: “made in God’s image” and we must realize that there is no aspect of life outside of our faith and it’s claim on our lives. If we think we can ever be done with our loyalty to God think again.

To use a modern and more scientific image, God’s claim on us is in our very DNA - we cant get away from it! Let us seek to live as those who bear this holy image.

Amen.

Deuteronomy 34: 1-12
Psalm 90
Matthew 22: 34-46

“All You Need is Love”

From time to time I work with couples who are preparing to be married and one of them needs to have the marriage recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. This usually means that the couple must also participate in a course run by the diocese. I am not aware of the current policies in the Diocese of Prince Albert but at one time in New Brunswick the diocese required a course titled, “Only Love Can Make it Easy”. I don’t know how helpful the course was, but the title seemed to gloss over the often hard work involved in building and maintaining a good marriage.

I was talking with a worried parent who thought his child was marrying too young and without enough education to get a good job. His comment , “they say they are in love, but Reverend you know, you can’t LIVE on love.”

The first hymn I learned as a young child was probably “Jesus’ Loves Me”. As I began to contemplate this sermon, I thought of the song by the Beatles, “All You Need is Love.” I then googled “Elvis and love songs” and got FORTY-SEVEN results, some of which I had never heard of! I never listened to the Beatles or Elvis when I was young so that did not surprise me!

When I was studying for ministry, most of candidates went for a final “ordination interview” in the middle of our third year of theological college. There was one minister a middle aged heavy-set man, with a thick southern accent, who would often ask a question something like this: “speak to me of love”.

No doubt each one of us thinks we know what love is, but it does not have the same meaning for everyone who uses the word and each of us may have many levels or degrees of love! I can say in all sincerity that I love my cat, my sister, chocolate chip cheesecake, fresh cooked lobster with melted butter, Canada and God! However, even in my own mind, not all of those loves are equal nor are they of the same “nature”.

I enjoy doing crossword puzzles. I marvel at the breadth of the English language; we have so many words and some have two or more meanings! Sometimes, I discover the “right” answer to a difficult clue, and have to go, “duh” because I was thinking of the clue in a totally different context.

In 21st century Canada we might even have more words to order coffee than we do for love. “I’ll have a large iced caramel macchiato and my friend will have a small double-double!” (Although I’m not sure you can get that macchiato thing from the local Tim’s - the home of the double -double!) However, when it comes to the word “love” we are downright impoverished.

Although Jesus most likely spoke Aramaic and not Greek, the Christian Scriptures were written in that tongue. The Greek language has a number of words for love depending on whether or not you are talking love for country, the intense physical love of (let’s say) newly-weds, the mature love of long-marrieds, the love between siblings or a love which is totally self-giving.

In today’s passage we have Jesus skilfully avoiding yet another trap. Matthew presents this period in Jesus ministry as one of increasing conflict with the authorities! 2000 years later we need to remember that Matthew’s community was still hurting over Jesus’ crucifixion and “the Jews” were a too convenient scapegoat! I will dare to say that the conflict has been exaggerated!

Yet, as presented in the Gospel, the question, “what commandment is the greatest” seems to be asking Jesus to pick his favourite “must do” or “must not do”. If he was supposed to be chose from the “10 Commandments” it would be hard to pick a favourite or say one was more important than the other! In fact, by Jesus’ day, the list of rules and laws by which a faithful Jew should live had grown to a comprehensive one of 613. Some considered all of them to be of equal importance.

When I took my first course in the Bible at a university level I was told that there was a law against a woman using a mirror on the Sabbath. Why? The woman might see a gray hair and pluck it out - and that would be work! Not using a mirror helped her to avoid the temptation to work! I don’t know if men were under the same restriction. I won’t comment further because there are still faithful people of the Jewish faith who take these traditions very seriously and I won’t attempt to poke holes in that.

What Jesus did, again, was to take the conversation to a whole new level. He did not pull his answer out of think air but was quoting from other Jewish traditions, ones we don’t usually consider “commandments”. In accordance with the phrasing of his answer it should have been clear that he regarded the three aspects of love as part of the one essential commandment. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind and your neighbour as yourself. The word for love that he used was for a love that was deep, long-lasting, self giving and all encompassing.

Imagine standing in the centre of a circular structure, attached to the circumference by three equally strong bungee cords - it takes great effort to move in any direction because two other cords hold you in place.

As part of my sermon last week, I spoke last week about Roman coins. Today I have brought an old coin, not as old as the one to which Jesus referred; this one was minted 150 years ago for the colony of Prince Edward Island. The original exchange rate was 16 for a shilling, and because it was not very popular, eventually the price fell by 10%. I read that I could get over $1,200 for one in mint, never circulated, condition. I found this one in the lane at home when I was about 9 and it’s been through the mill - perhaps literally - in the case of this specimen. Every so often I try to polish it’s copper surface and make it less green! I believe they were in common use until long after Canada joined up with PEI in 1873. My mom told me she took one to Sunday school for her offering! 5 would buy a box of crayons!

Each coin has two sides - commonly called heads and tails and you would be hard pressed to separate the two sides. Similarly, the love of God cannot be separated from love of self and love of neighbour and in the true meaning of the Greek word, it is a self-giving and all encompassing love.

Or think of looking through three pieces of glass, stacked on top of one another, of the primary colours, red, green and blue. You discover that when the three are overlaid, the result is white.

In the terms of today’s scriptures, people who follow the way of Jesus are challenged to place these three loves as a three layered lens through which they view their decisions, as an unfailing guide for a faithful life. They are to see the rules as a set of elastic cords keeping their lives and their choices in balance.

This leads me to ask the question, “How do we as individuals and as a community of faith, make decisions?” How do our decisions and choices show that we love God, self and neighbour

Most often the difficult decisions are not between right and wrong but between various degrees of “better”. To steal from the store or not is a “no-brainer” as are lying and murder. It’s the gray areas of life that will get us into much more trouble.

When we look at the outreach priorities of our churches it is difficult to have a real discussion at this time because our building is closed to the public. We will not be able to open it for the kinds of activities we call outreach for some time yet. Yet, the people we used to serve are still in need, perhaps more so. They are still lonely, only more so. We feel a need to do something but it is much harder to connect our offering to their need!

Nevertheless, we need to ask questions of ourselves as individuals and as a congregation. Do do we use our money and our building as a resource for the community or is it just for our own church families. When we look at our personal finances or our schedules how do we divvy up our time and money with those three loves in mind?

Many years ago I heard of a church that had made a bold and policy decision that all special projects for the church would be matched dollar for dollar with outreach money. For example, if they needed a new stove costing $5,000 they would raise $10,000 and give half away, to the food bank or M&S or other outreach project.

I talked about voting last week and in the light of today’s sermon wonder aloud if we as Christians vote with only our own personal and family ideas and needs in mind or if we consider our love of God and love of neighbour as well?

As Christians, our decisions should always be made by an honest consideration of these three claims on our lives - love of God, self and neighbour.

Finally, this leads me to another, related question, “how do we see God?” This affects how we love God! Do we see God like Maude (you know, the Bea Arthur character,) warning her husband, “God will get you for that, Walter.” Is God a judging and demanding one or do we see God as the definition of compassion, the one who became human to save us. Do we see God as the punisher or the one who weeps over what human beings do to one another? What kind of God invites a more complete love?????

There’s a lot to think about, a lot to chew on. Let us go from our places of worship to be the people of God who live fully God’s gift of life and who love: God, neighbour and self!

Amen

Revelation 7: 9-17
Psalm 34
Matthew 5: 1-12

We’re All Together Again, We Are Here!

God be With You And also with you

I’ve been waiting to say that to a group of more than five for a long time! We have not been in this sanctuary, as a group if worshippers, since mid March. It is certainly an understatement to say that a great deal has happened since then! I began the lock-down time recording the broadcast at the manse on Saturdays and then, for several reasons, we moved to the sanctuary here in Nipawin at Easter. With the help of at least 6 others, the Good Friday service was pre-recorded over the platform called, “Zoom”, but it simply did not feel right to pre-record the Easter service on Saturday so I decided to go to the sanctuary and go “live” on Sunday morning! Since then we have been more or less live on Sunday. After some time, the piano sprang to life with Aileen’s skilled touch and was occasionally accompanied by Elieen’s violin or was spelled off by Brenda on several occasions. At first the reader called in by cell-phone, but that worked only semi-well and only some of the time! We eventually decided we could add one reader per week to our in-person team. We were joined by a skeleton crew of assistants, mainly Hughene and Kate. Over the ensuing weeks, we have had technical issues and glitches with the broadcast but generally, it has gone as well as we could expect given the status of rural internet and people’s comfort level with the technology. Last week we went back to broadcasting with a computer but the addition of a proper web-cam has made a big difference from those few first weeks in March when I sat alone in front of my laptop screen and tried to have everything I needed within easy reach! During that time, I often I wished I had Inspector Gadget’s arms!

I wish to say, “thank you” to all of you who have attended online, or who have had to imagine the worship service taking place as you read the bulletin in the safety of your own home. I would like to thank all who helped get all of these extra things off the ground each week and delivered bulletins so they would arrive in time for the upcoming service! There may be some of you who have opted to still attend worship in that way. We welcome you virtually and wish you a worshipful experience. To those of you who are here in person, “WELCOME”. Please be patient as we become accustomed to the new normal - we are all learning this together. We can’t do things like we used to but let us rejoice that we can do some of those things we have been longing to do for months.

We will continue to broadcast, or to use the new and up to date lingo, “live stream” as well as post the audio recordings of our services! I put a note on Facebook on Thursday to remind people that the broadcast time will change to 11:15 from now on. I hope that those who arrived at 10 will have come back!

When I was in Girl Guides we would sing the song, “We’re all together again, we are here” when we went to camp. First, we would sing it in our normal voices and then we would mimic a number others! We would sing it with a British accent, for example, and then in deep voices to mimic the Boy Scouts and in high voices to mimic the brownies! As Girl Guides, we were so much older, and considered ourselves much more mature, after all! We sang to celebrate this community that was created when we gathered in that place.

So we are once again the gathered Christian Community. However, we must keep from singing! If we were to sing as a congregation we should double the distance between our gr! It’s hard enough to space you out at 6 feet. Celia will have to do the singing and the distancing for us today! But we will listen and pray and read a few hymns and then we will go from this space to be Nipawin United Church and Codette Knox United Church as we live our daily lives. We need to remember that church is not a building or a once a week activity; it is a people and a lifestyle!

We have been living in this odd world turned up-side-down by Covid 19 since mid March. Sometimes we go to do things and discover (with a DUH) that we cannot. Every time I hear of an outbreak I am reminded of the fragility of life and health and how we must always be on guard.

Right about now, I feel “electioned out!”, if that is even a thing! We have just finished a provincial election campaign! We are in the middle of a municipal election. Each candidate promotes their vision of a better Nipawin! AND THEN there is the US election news, ads and rhetoric flowing freely across the 49th parallel. We are being told, again and again, what is important and what appropriate uses of power are.

Politicians are promising a better life if Americans vote for them. Perhaps some are telling the hearer what this better life involves and some are just letting the voter decide. They are telling you that the “other guys” are not to be trusted! Hey, our politicians are really no different anymore!

In 1928, US Presidential candidate, Herbert Hoover, is said to have promised a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage! In the next Presidential election campaign, the Democrats tried to use that promise to score points of their own, for dreams of universal prosperity had come crashing down just a year along with the stick market in 1929!

What IS a better life? “Aye, there’s the rub!” Is a better life marked by increasing wealth? Is it marked by having choices and options? Is it characterized by having the most age appropriate toys? (There is a store in NB which is called, “Toys for Big Boys.” It sells just about anything that burns gas and makes a big noise! )

Is the good life found by buying the right grooming products, going to the trendy eating places and having your doctor prescribe the right drug for whatever ails you? The world of advertising would like you to think so.

Today’s gospel passage, commonly referred to as “the Beatitudes” has probably challenged each and every generation of Christ’s followers with it’s upside-down view of the world. It speaks of the life of blessing using examples that are not usually considered blessings. It speaks of the life of blessing in ways that challenge our normal expectations!

Most people don’t consider it a blessing to be poor, or poor in spirit, to be in mourning, or to be meek and be treated like a doormat or to be driven by a hunger for a better world, a hunger that is rarely satisfied, or to even to be merciful rather than be right and powerful and in control. Is it not better to go to war and get what you want through force? It is no good to be persecuted even if you are in the right! All of these things promise a life of misery. DON’T THEY?

These pithy and counter-intuitive sayings simply don’t make sense to our modern 21st century brains!

Well, folks, I will tell you that they never did make sense, because they are not telling us how to be, or how we should be, but they are telling us how to respond to and see blessing in the way things are. They were addressed primarily to people who were already poor, and poor in spirit, and hungering for righteousness and justice. They were addressed to a people the world had left behind!

For many generations, (perhaps forever) human beings have lived with the idea that progress is synonymous with “more”. Progress is having more money to spend than we had last year and on buying more things than last year; progress is trading something in to get something bigger and better, and like George Jefferson, by “moving on up to the TOP.”

Many years ago I had a conversation with the manager of the village in which I lived. In referring to a local farm within the village limits, he said, “of course that land will eventually have to be developed.” When I questioned his statement he answered, “Well, we need to grow”. In his mind this small farm which only produced hay and oats for animal feed had to be transformed into a subdivision or a mall for which many more taxes were paid and which generated jobs and what he thought of as growth! For him, in the confines of that small community, growth was essential. Blessing was to be found in increased wealth.

I also believe that it is this assumption that is killing our planet. In the light of all of the information we have about global warming, I believe that this quest for “more” at any cost is a large part of our problem. We are never satisfied. Admitting to ourselves that there will always be one more mountain to climb, one more dollar to earn, or million dollars is the first step! We need to ask, ‘When can we stop and say “we have enough”’. Writer Leo Tolstoy wrote a short story about a rich man who never had enough land. Finally, he died. He was buried in a grave the same size as everyone else’s. Finally, he had all the land he needed!

A relative of mine and her husband have been living in the same house for a little over 35 years. They had been in the house for a few years and then started getting harassed by realtors who wanted to list their house and implied that it was their duty to move on to a bigger house so a young family could get their “starter home” and get their piece of the Canadian dream. Except that two bedrooms and a finished basement was enough for them; they did not want or need more and were happy with what they had!

I referred to global warming a few minutes ago. I believe that we are in a time of transition where we will have to figure out how to heat our homes and go places without depending so much on fossil fuels. We also have to figure out how to have a healthy economy that is not based on consuming more and more. I also believe that it is people of faith who can help show the way - we are not marching to the beat of the drummer of consumerism but the beat of the drummer who taped out a tune of sharing with those in need and of caring for God’s creation. The tune of this drummer says that a world is possible in which all people enough and hunger and starvation are things of the past.

We are in the midst of a pandemic. We are prevented from doing many things we want to do and have to take precautions we never thought we would have to take against an enemy we cannot see but which has a power which could prove deadly.

We cannot do many things we want to and many people have lost jobs and businesses have closed in the as a result. Many wish for the day when we can get back to normal; and for some this ,means “when we can go shopping like we used to!

There are a few commercials out there that are a welcome alternative to the hope of “lets get back to normal” as soon as possible. These commercials promote the idea that we should not go back to the way things were even when we can.

There is lots of evidence that people are appreciating the “more time at home” aspect of this lock-down. People are appreciating the slower pace of life, and are stopping to smell the roses more! (Or whatever it is that we do in early November!”) They planted gardens and enjoyed back yards and phoned relatives they had no time to talk to when it was - go - go -go!

No one would have wished this pandemic on our worst enemies but it has had a silver lining for some - a lesson, a learning, an eye opening experience.

We may well have discovered blessing in the most unlikely of places during this COVID time. It seems to be an oxymoron that this could be a time of blessing but that’s what the Beattitudes challenge us to see.

The beatitudes challenge us to see the hand and presence of God in places we might not have though to look. So let those with the eyes to see, see!

Amen.

Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25
Psalm 78

At The Crossroads of Life

We have been following the children of Abraham, off and on since God called Abram and Sara to journey into the unknown. To make a very long story short: the two did the unthinkable and pulled up stakes and started out on a journey with no set destination. The two eventually became three and then more and then a family of 12 and then were invited to Egypt and then became a multitude forced into slavery who escaped from Egypt through the Sea of Reeds under the leadership of Moses. They lived in tents in the desert for an entire generation. Then after Moses’ disappearance and presumed death they crossed the Jordan River into the land of promise under the leadership of Joshua. Their time in the wilderness was “book-ended,” as we might say, by these two “crossings” of bodies of water.

Bodies of water, whether they be seas, lakes, rivers or oceans are both barrier and opportunity, source of life and place of danger and death. Depending on their condition, especially at certain times of the year, a small stream can become a mighty torrent and present grave danger to those unprepared for the journey.

The settlement of the West in what eventually became Canada, had its origins in the fur trade which depended a great deal on the river systems.

Growing up, as I did, on Prince Edward Island, crossing the Northumberland Strait was a pause in any journey off “the Island”. It was a time to switch gears in the midst of what was ALWAYS an intentional act. These days high winds can force the summer ferries to tie up and close “the Confederation Bridge,” especially to “high sided” vehicles - which includes tractor trailers and busses. If it lasts for more than a few days you realize what “just in time delivery” means in a grocery store! The wind has to be really bad if they close the bridge to all traffic but it has happened about a dozen times in the 23 years of operation.

If you go out for a leisurely drive you might “accidentally” cross from NB to NS on a back road, but unless you are lost in the fog on a fishing boat, you don’t “accidentally” get to PEI, even with the Bridge!!!!! It is an island, after all!

Getting back to the biblical story, the descendants of those who escaped from Egypt have made their very intentional crossing of the Jordan and are encamped on the other side, their wilderness journey behind them. They are poised to begin their new life as the “people of Israel”.

Genealogists can tell a great deal about the origins of your ancestors just from your family name. Words and names in the Bible are of great importance. I know that the ending “el” on a name relates to the divine. For example, “Bethel means house of God.” Nathaniel, as a given name, means “gift of God.” I have read that Israel means “those who wrestle with God.” I find this ironic because we tend to think that the people of Israel had it all figured out and we need to learn from their example. The reality is that they “messed up” more often than not and we can learn from their mistakes as well as their so-called “successes.”

I get the feeling that the journey of the people of Israel went more in a circle, or circles, than in a straight line. The journey of Abraham and Sarah and their descendants is in the general direction of growing in their faith over generations and going from believing in, or following, many gods to pledging their allegiance to the one they came to seeas the “one true God”. Round and round the Monopoly board they went - Sometimes they went to jail, literally. Sometimes they were told “do not pass go”. We can recall the episode with the “golden calf” in the desert. The people succumbed to the temptation to craft something tangible to worship while Moses was off, getting instructions from this mysterious God of smoke and thunder on Sinai!

We often refer to the people as the “Children of Israel” because it is too early in their history to use the term “Jewish,” but at this point they were actually a pretty mixed group of various ethnicities. In fact, when we look at their relationships with their rivals we see many of what we might call “distant cousins” who, for various reasons, were in conflict with the group we would eventually know as Israel. And as we know if we want to see the fur fly all we need is a “family fight”.

The crowned heads of Europe tried to use arranged marriages as a way of forming alliances and preventing war, but it had limited success as a peace making strategy. We all know how well that worked in 1914 - the German Kaiser was grandson of Queen Victoria.

Closer to home. How do we determine who is “Canadian?” If we have to be precise, I believe there are 2 basic paths to citizenship: the people born here AND approved immigrants who become citizens though a process ending with the taking of the “Oath of Citizenship”. The reality is that those of who have been Canadian for generations often take Canada for granted but many immigrants have a much greater sense of national pride! There are also number of permanent residents who never intend to leave but will not become citizens.

So the people of Israel were made to stop and speak (or sign) an intentional covenant to be God’s people - the God of Abraham, the God of Sinai, the God of the Reed Sea crossing, of the desert, of the crossing of the Jordan and of this covenant. It was this covenant, this intentional act, that was to define them and give them their identity.

A common and recurring problem with these folks was that the people forgot easily, and often. A recurring theme was a desire to be like the other nations. It seems that the grass was always greener on the other side of the fence!

I don’t know about you, but it seems to me that using the life of a perfect person, or a perfect organization as an example is much less effective than telling of the struggles of those who are less than perfect.

We have Joshua here being the best leader he can - giving them a history lesson, telling them which God it was and is who is leading them and then telling them that they MUST DECIDE. As for Joshua, he is choosing to follow the one who has been their liberator. This is the one who asks for loyalty and Joshua is telling them that he and his household, for one, will be giving it. There is no room for waffling. The line is drawn in the sand and a decision must be made. It is this loyalty and devotion which will ground them, give them their identity and give them the strong wings to soar in faith.

On Halloween night a preschooler came to my door for treats. He was decked out in his costime - complete with a “Hawks” toque. His dad had a toque and a scarf symbolizing his hockey loyalty.

Today, we observe Remembrance Day as it is the Sunday closest to November 11. Today, we pause and remember those who gave their lives in the service of this country in war time. Today, we remember (officially) those who died in WW1, WW2, the Korean Conflict, and various peace keeping situations. 61,000 Canadians were lost in WW1, 45,000 in WW2, 516 in Korea and 130 in various peace-keepers missions.

ALL the survivors of the trenches of WW1 are now long gone and the ranks of WW2 veterans are getting very thin. Our own Jim Granfield is nearing 100. Years ago I learned that the last Canadian killed in WW1 was George Lawrence Price - then I moved to the Annapolis Valley and discovered that he had grown up in the nearby community of Falmouth - about 7 minutes away. He also has a Saskatchewan connection, having lived in Moose Jaw, for a time. Price is buried a few metres from the first soldier to die in that war. Incidentally, November 11, 2018 was particularly deadly in that 2,738 soldiers were killed on that day. Imagine their loved ones when they received that word!!!!!!

This is a time for solemn Canadian pride but it is also a time for us to reflect on war and peace and how to work for a world that does not solve its problems by sacrificing their young men and women. The Great War was supposed to be a war to end all war, but it certainly has not been the end.

How do we take the rag-tag group that is the world community and unite behind a common goal, the goal of true peace. Force and coercion will not work. True peace is not achieved when many are oppressed by the military might of a few. True justice will be required. A lasting peace will never be achieved in a world where some live in abject poverty and others live in ostentatious opulence. True peace will not be achieved if we do not get to know, understand and respect those who are different than we are. In our own country - Black lives matter; indigenous lives matter!

The writings of the prophets have much to teach us about the connections between faith and peace and justice. They clearly believed that ignoring the ways of their God led to war and destruction and to much suffering.

For us in 2020 in Canada it is not a call for everyone to believe the same thing but a call to be committed to the well-being of all peoples.

If Remembrance Day has any useful purpose at all it can serve as a call to remember the sacrifices of war in such a way that our young and the generations as yet un-born do not have to have their names added to one of those lists etched in granite.

They fought and died for peace. We can surely live for it. We are at a crossroads wit many options and choices - in terms of peace, in terms of economic justice, in terms of climate justice. We cannot remain here. We have to decide with our actions one way or the other. We are challenged to choose life. I’m ready to sign on and sign up. Are you?

Amen.

Matthew 25: 14-30
Psalm 123
Pentecost 24

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!

Today is a momentous day in the life of the congregation here in Nipawin - we are growing by 6 members - to be fair, all 4 of you who are transferring here are just getting your paperwork caught up but two of you are almost brand spanking new. You were baptized here and went to Sunday school. We have seen you grow up! Now you are confirming, or owning for yourselves, the promises your parents made on your behalf a number of years ago. I remember the day about 30 years ago when I baptized two entire families on the same day 5 children and 2 moms! As is typical of Easter time in a rural multi-point Pastoral Charge with joint services during Holy Week, it was tricky to schedule the baptism and confirmation so it happened in the “home church” of the participants. It was planned for Palm Sunday in St Stephen’s United in Alma NB. And, as often happens at that time of year, in the Maritimes, Palm Sunday gave us a blizzard. So on the afternoon of Good Friday, after our regularly scheduled Good Friday event, which was outside, we went to the church for a rescheduled replacement service. I clearly recall the youngest child, aged 4, answering at least one of the questions, intended for her mother, with, “I will God bein my helpua”.

I recall my next-door neighbours, ages 9 and 6, arriving on my doorstep asking for baptism. Because they were children their parents had to make the promises, but it certainly was at their own initiative! Next spring the oldest of the siblings will become an ordained minister in the United Church! Of course, a great deal has happened in the intervening years but a large part of it was a congregation with a desire to keep them involved, to support their growth in faith and service and their willingness to say “yes” to such requests. Nash and Hudson, you are no longer children, you are old enough to know your own minds and to make these promises for yourself; welcome to this point in your journey. Welcome, welcome, welcome!

BUT PLEASE DON’T STOP HERE. Your journey is not over. Don’t stop asking questions. Don’t stop growing in your faith. Dare I say it, don’t think you’ve graduated and don’t have to come back till you need something - like to get married or have your child baptized! We want you to journey with us and we want you to soar on your own wings of faith and searching and discovery.

I recall a professor of biblical studies I had in university who, I don’t think, ever wanted to say that a student had a “really odd idea or interpretation” of a biblical passage. When a student offered an idea that may indeed have been. “unusual,” he would typically reply, in his distinct Scottish accent, “well. it’s a possibility.” Taking a page from his book, unless you come up with the idea that God and the moon are made of green cheese, I’m not going to say that you are wrong! You are welcome to call me anytime, or after COVID to come to my office, to discuss theology or to sit by a campfire some warm summer evening and talk about the meaning of life. In my faith journey such discussions were very important as I discerned my call and as I began to develop a faith I could call my own.

In the United Church we embrace people with a wide variety of beliefs and spiritual practices. You can call God Father or Mother, or Great Spirit or Creator, as our First Nations sisters and brothers have taught us. Or you can use all of those ways of describing or addressing the divine and many more.

The United Church of Canada has, for a long time, prided itself being an open and inclusive community and we proclaim that everyone is welcome. Every member is eligible to be trained and considered for leadership positions such as ministry - and a variety of congregational committees.

When I was in high school I served on our congregation’s building committee. We were adding a piece to the back of our small church in order to add washrooms, more Sunday school space in the bigger basement and a parlour. At some point I was the Sunday school treasurer and youth group secretary and treasurer (yes, we kept youth group minutes in the 1980s) and a Sunday school teacher and in university, a youth group leader. I admit that I was what some of my friends in high school used to call, “a real keener”. Nash and Hudson, I don’t want to scare you off or even to tell you, “When Hughene, Kim or Kate - from the Nominating Committee, phone or email you, they are looking to fill an empty committee seat, and please say. “Yes! I think we’ll give you a year before we ask you to chair the Board!!!!!! JUST KIDDING!

I want to tell you that we value you, we value your presence, your ideas and opinions and are interested in what is important to you.

Maybe only Eileen Fogarty will understand the difficulties of learning a certain piece on the violin, Hudson, but when you play, our spirits will surely soar with the wings of eagles.

When we hear how much you inspire your students as their gymnastics teacher Nash, we can remember how much we have learned from our own teachers throughout the years and we wish for you similar life-affirming relationships of teaching, mentoring and learning from your students.

I cannot help but think of the hymn, “I was there to hear your borning cry”. I’d like to quote two verses:

	I was there when you were but a child,
	with a faith to suit you well;
	in a blaze of light you wandered off
	to find where demons dwell.

	When you heard the wonder of the word,
	I was there to cheer you on;
	you were raised to praise the living Lord,
	to whom you now belong. 

Maybe I’m unusual, but I’ve always enjoyed learning biblical stories and trying to figure out what they mean. How is this story relevant to my life, in this time and place? Sometimes they are very clear while at other times I am left scratching my head in disbelief! I am certain that you will come to different conclusions in 21st century Saskatchewan than I did in the 1980s in the Maritimes. That is OK. In fact, that is essential. Each of us needs a “faith to suit us well”.

Today’s gospel is certainly a difficult passage. A good friend of mine sees this as a disturbing tale of someone who was doomed before they began! That is one way to look at it; but that would hardly be good news. Yet, the passage requires more thought and struggle than some.

Past of the problem is the word, “talent” and it’s association with “gifts and abilities” in English. In the parable the servants were entrusted with money; in fact they were entrusted with large amounts of it and seem to have had no direction at all.

As you heard two invested it and made more money for the master and one just hid it - in fact he buried his trust and waited for the day he was called to give his accounting.

How do we see God? If we see God as hash and judgmental, then perhaps that is how we will end up, feeling judged and lacking any blessing.

Life involves risk. To be clear, I am not talking about those people these days who go around flouting all of the COVID rules believing that God will protect them! Those kinds of churches have been the causes of major outbreaks! God has given us doctors, epidemiologists and scientists who are trying their best to understand how this virus is spreading and giving the advice they see as necessary to slow the spread, or, as the phrase goes, to “flatten the curve”.

Some people have great gifts but, sadly, never use them! It is, as if, their gifts have been buried in a field. For example, some people go through their various levels of school and study hard, always do their best, graduate and have a successful career. Some though are total SLUGS until they find a reason to study and excel. I know of several people who took up a second career after they felt a calling to it, and I’m not just talking about ministry. When these folks find their heart’s song, they excel and what had been a ho-hum academic record turns into a series of excellent evaluations.

I think the key is in our motivation and in our relationship with God. If we are afraid of God’s judgement and of failure we may end up being so paralyzed that we might as well bury our future, or calling, and with it, all the good we have the potential to do in the world.

I talked with a grandmother the other day. Last time I asked her about her grandson she told me he was pre-med. When I was his grandparent’s minister I think he was not yet a teenager! Now he has another career in mind - working on a masters degree in biochemistry, I think. As he advanced toward med-school another, related, field opened up for him and he found himself moving toward that!

As people of faith we are meant to invest time and effort in our lives and in our life of faith. We do this, not out of fear, but out of a deep in our bones feeling that we are called to do our best and to try and grow what has been given to us, in the same way as we seek to grow a financial nest egg.

Faith is not about fear but about living in trust and taking daily risks to express our faith. I mentioned a few minutes ago about the nominating committee giving the confirmands year or two off, but the rest of you don’t have that reprieve. As a community of faith we are called to work together and to grow as we seek to be God’s people in these small Saskatchewan community and beyond.

It may not involve work on a church committee; of course not; but it does involve each of us giving what we can and growing in faith as we seek to be God’s people who follow in the footsteps of Jesus of Nazareth.

Come on, don’t bury that talent, with God’s help it can grow and be a source of blessing for many.

Amen!

Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24
Psalm 100
Matthew 25: 31-46

I can imagine nothing more stressful on a family or a small community than a lost child. This spring in Nova Scotia, less than three weeks after the massacre of 22 people by a lone gunman, a small boy went missing from a nearby community. Most people, I think, assume he drowned in the creek that feeds the Salmon River and his body had been swept out to sea. However, his parents believe he was kidnapped and had offered a 10K reward for information as to his whereabouts. They have now increased that reward to 15K - with the money raised through crowd-funding.

We hear just enough stories of kidnapped children being held for years before escaping or being discovered that the parents are holding onto the hope that this is what happened to him. They want him home!

8 years ago, a first year university student disappeared after leaving a house party near the campus of Mount Allison University and has not been heard from again. His family and friends are still looking for answers. You all heard the story about the Nipawin senior who did not return from a trip to pick mushrooms near Big Sandy Lake and has not been heard from in 4 years.

The stories of Missing and Murdered aboriginal women are far too common, especially in these western provinces. Some people believe that it is nothing short of a genocide but no one has been able to make much headway on it. In these cases, in particular, someone, or a number of someones, must know something! As I understand it, Robert Pickton got away with his crimes for years, mostly because the women he killed were not “valued” by the wider society.

In most school classrooms there is a “lost and found box” containing assorted sweatshirts, mittens and other things - some of it “expensive name brand stuff” - that now seems to belong to “no-one”. Perhaps it is a statement on our young people’s “easy come - easy go” attitude toward possessions! People aren’t like lost mittens!

I recall watching a powerful movie based on the tsunami that devastated Indonesia in 2004. Caused by an underwater earthquake, this Boxing Day tsunami, killed more than 200,000 people, devastated many countries and actually “shook” the entire planet. The movie tells the story of one family separated by the disaster and their efforts to find one another in the midst of the chaos, confusion and devastation.

There are plenty of stories in the scriptures about being lost. There is the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coins. The prodigal son is a story of being lost.

Yet the biblical definition of being lost is a state of being that cannot be fixed with a compass or a GPS or by simply asking for directions.

This is Reign of Christ Sunday. This is the destination for which we set out on December 1 of last year when we began to hope for a world made new and prepared for the birth of the Prince of Peace.

We have been in the midst of an international crisis for a number of months. I would venture to say that there are 2 or 3 kinds of responses in the midst of disasters. Do you remember hearing of the 1998 ice storm that devastated large areas around Montreal? I was living in Nova Scotia and we lost our power for a couple of days. Our Presbytery sent a very heavy truckload of goods to Montreal. I do know that at least one of the community donations came from someone on Social Assistance who used one of her taxi vouchers to get the items to the drop off location!

Some people see such disasters as an opportunity for profiteering - such as those who bought up all the hand sanitizer and toilet paper they could find at the beginning of the COVID 19 pandemic back in March - and then tried to sell it for highly inflated prices.

Then there were those who relished their stash and did not let anyone know they might have extra. They were ok and just quietly keeping it all to themselves! I know how happy I was to open a little used cupboard and discovered a large package of toiled paper I had forgotten about!!!!

I heard of one church that offered a “no questions asked - toilet paper amnesty”. If you discovered you had an extra supply of that “hot commodity” you could take it to the church to be distributed to those who could not find what they needed in any store.

When I was a student a group of students in “pre-Theology” at Mount Allison University were given the opportunity to conduct a service at the local United church. It may have been this last Sunday of the church year for the passage from Matthew was the one my friend Darlene used for her sermon, “Wanna Be a Sheep?” (It was almost 40 years ago, so the details might be a little fuzzy!) Her assumption was that we all want to be one of the sheep, not one of those lazy, good for nothing, goats who get cast into “outer darkness’. Years later, I heard a professor from my theological school on the radio and pointed out to a caller that the parable is about the gathering and judging of nations, not of individuals. Still though, we want to be a sheep-like nation, not a goat like one.

We need to ask, “what are our priorities as a nation and as individuals?” Taking a second look at the passage you may notice that both the goats and the sheep call Jesus, Lord. Both would have considered themselves faithful to the Gospel. Both would do what was required if they saw a connection with their faith. After all, biologists will tell us that sheep and goats are not really all that different. What is the difference in this parable?

I think that the point is that the goats are not bad people and the sheep really win no points for being astute or spiritually aware but they acted in love anyway! Matthew is telling his readers that helping those in various kinds of need is a spiritual practice.

It is as my former professor emphasizes: it is a gathering of Nations. It is about more than what we do as individuals - it is our corporate response - of course this passage was written long before any kind of social safety net but there are the seeds of it here.

In a democracy this kind of thing is tied to taxes and to social policies - and assumes that we are all in this together. A cousin of mine, who has worked for government for a number of years, advocates “a guaranteed annual income”; its an idea that has been around for years. With an adequate income people can live with dignity, afford healthy food, and adequate housing.

This would, for example, enable people to buy local, rather than food of questionable quality flown halfway around the world, polluting the planet and providing profits to line the pockets of multi-national companies.

There are all sorts of stories, folk tales really, about people who were helpful, or not, to someone in a situation of need, and then discovered that the person in need was none other than the Christ child! These stories are often very popular at Christmastime but we are supposed to take the message to heart the rest of the year!

The metaphor of a storm has often been used for this pandemic time - ie, “we are we are all in the same storm.” We have been reminded that we are not all in the same boat. Some of us have booked a luxury cabin on the 721 foot Holland America’s Maasdam and some of us have our very own cabin cruiser while others have only an open 6 foot leaky dingy. For various reasons some people are much safer than others!

When COVID 19, 20, 21 is but a memory and we look back on it, how will we feel about our response. How will we feel about how we treated others and if there was anything positive that come from it. As they say, “hindsight is 20-20". What will the great pandemic of 2020 taught is about seeking the lost, feeding the hungry and being the hands and greeting the Christ who is most surely in our midst?

We may just discover that we once were lost but now are found!

Amen!