Jeremiah 18: 1-11
Psalm 139
Luke 14: 25-33

Reshaped by the Potter

Potters, of the kind that Jeremiah knew, work their craft on a slowly rotating wheel. If they make a mistake they can simply start over and re-make the wet lump into what is closer to their vision of it. If you look at an experienced potter at work it can seem effortless but, I’m sure, that seeming ease is a result of lots and lots of practice.

In today’s passage the prophet Jeremiah has been told to go the potter’s house at which time further teaching will be given. When he arrives he discovers that the wet clay has toppled over or been otherwise ruined and the potter has simply returned it to a heavy wet lump and begun again.

One of the things about pottery is that there are no two pieces alike, even when made by the same potter. Made by hand, without calipers and other forms of precise measuring and quality control, no two pieces of pottery can ever be exactly the same size. I talked to a potter one day who had been selling her works at a craft fair and a fussy customer was holding up the line, eyeballing all of the mugs of a particular style in the hope of getting a set that matched as perfectly as possible. I suppose she was worried that one of her friends would think that her coffee cup was smaller than the others!

This year, the 44th General Council of our church met over the internet for the first, and I hope last, time in our history. In 2009, the 40th General Council met in Kelowna BC and the theme centred on this passage from Jeremiah. We were called to reflect on God’s message for the church in that time and place. We asked “How was God seeking to shape, or re-shape, the people of faith we call the United Church so that we would be able to follow into the future.” At the service to constitute this General Council, we observed a potter at work, shaping and reshaping a piece of pottery. For the rest of our meeting, many pieces of hand made pottery, as well as the potter’s wheel and the partially finished pieces sat as a silent but powerful reminder of these words of that long ago prophet.

Our questions are the same as they were for the people to whom Jeremiah spoke. What is God calling us to do and be? How is God seeking to form, or “re-form” us and for what purpose?

The theme of this year’s Council was the question Jesus asked the disciples, “who do you say that I am?” As always, God asks a question and then demands that we live into our answer. If we answer, for example, that God calls us to justice, we must live as a people who actively seek justice. If we do not truly seek justice, then, our proclamation ends up being hollow! If we answer that “Jesus is Lord” then that proclamation must affect the way we live; it must show that Jesus has some influence over our living!

Taking the advice of Jesus in today’s gospel we have to figure out how Jesus message will form or shape us and what it might cost us - before we start our faith journey.

When the gospel passage tells us to assess the cost, it is not to say that we should let the cost of discipleship deter us, but that we should realize that discipleship IS a costly business. We are called to realize that the life of faith is not something we just do for an hour or so on Sunday. Discipleship involves much, much more than nice ideas, quaint concepts, and a traditional moral code. Following Jesus is not just about “salvation”, if by that we mean ensuring a place at the heavenly dinner table! Salvation is a process of shaping our lives where the words of Jesus influence and shape our entire lives and our outlook. Salvation begins in radical justice and abundant life here on earth if it is to have any meaning in what we might term “an afterlife”. Following Jesus is about loving your neighbour, which has a cost. Being a disciples is about loving our enemy, which has a cost.

Over recent years the United Church has committed itself to a number of things including climate justice, reconciliation with our first peoples and becoming a multicultural church - to name just three.

If we look around us here in this community of faith, we see people who are very much like us, (white and English speaking) (or the descendants of immigrants from Ukraine.) We are very much like most of Canada used to be like. This is no longer the case in many parts of our country or church. One of the key passages in exploring our theme for this year’s General Council was read, over and over again, not only in English and French, but in many, many languages, spoken by people who are part of our church. Living into being an inter-cultural church does not necessarily have a high economic cost but for those of us who are white and Anglo-Saxon it may cost us our smugness - our insistence that everyone will have to become just like us to belong. It’s one thing to learn a new language to be able to communicate with new neighbours and to function at work but when it comes to the life of faith, its vital to have some recognition of our “mother tongue” our ‘heart’s tongue” and our culture. More Voices has many hymns which are presented in other languages as well as English. Congregations like ours can learn to sing them.

In our new hymn book, I expect that there will be hymns in languages you may never have heard tell of before - but which we can learn. In all of this we are called to remember again and again that Jesus was middle-eastern and most certainly did not look like the man depicted in many paintings with which we are familiar. And no he did not speak English. English, as we know it, had yet to develop 2,000 years ago. The potter is seeking to form us into a multicoloured and beautiful vessel.

When it comes to dialogue with indigenous peoples we have q long way to go in listening to their stories. Many of these stories involve being moved off of their lands to make way for our ancestors way of life - laying exclusive claim to a piece of land and growing a crop. Their stories involve the demise of the buffalo, by our hand. The buffalo were the life blood of the plains peoples! Their stories involve the harm that continues to be the legacy of residential schools and what we call “multi-generational trauma.” Those of us who are the descendants of settlers need to be open to learning from these first inhabitants of this land on which we live together. We need to not only apologize but to live our apology with concrete actions. It is an open neded relationship; we don’t yet know what changes will be needed.

Climate change is perhaps the most pressing problem for our world. Its remedies and solutions are the most controversial. While typhoons and flooding from rising sea levels might well never reach rural Saskatchewan, it does not mean we do not have a part to play in reducing greenhouse gasses. Our standard of living is causing great devastation in the developing world. For example, just last week I was listening to radio reports of the devastation in the country of Pakistan. They are experiencing unprecedented levels of flooding. Ahsan Iqbal, a government Minister in that country, told reporters, “The quality of life that people in the West are enjoying today, someone is paying the price in the developing world.”

We have three choices in response to this kind of news. We can feel entitled to the benefits of “progress;” live as we always have and change nothing. We can send aid through organizations such as the UN and live as we always have. Or, we can ALSO seek to reduce our own carbon footprint as much as possible. Living these solutions is not easy and there will be a cost. I have a friend who lives in south Georgia. He installed solar panels on his house recently and they generate all his electricity needs including charging the electric car he drives when he is home for the winter. These changes wewre not cheap but he is satisfied that he is doing his part of be “carbon neutral.”

When it comes to farming, I cannot imagine that there is a way that rechargeable batteries can sow and harvest the thousands of acres of wheat, barley and canola that is grown. Can we cut our use of chemicals that cause environmental damage? Did we not already give up plowing to save the environment?

Can we trade these necessary activities by ceasing to do something that is more of a choice? I heard a story of a young couple who went on a blind date. He tried to impress her with the list of stuff he did. He had a jet ski, and a powerboat so he and his brother could water ski. He went four wheeling in the summer and snowmobiling in the winter. At the end of this litany of leisure she asked, “Don’t you do anything that does not involve burning gas?”

What happened to leisure activities that involve us expending our own energy such as walking, skiing and swimming.

I know people who have grown up in cities who do not own a car or have a driver’s license; they rely on busses. As we know though, in rural Saskatchewan the only ones with access to public transit are school children. We can’t go anywhere on a bus and taking the train is a challenge. Soooooo, in Saskatchewan we must drive. It’s very cold in winter and becoming very hot in summer, we need heat and cooling in our houses and places of work. How do we reduce the impact of these necessities as much as possible. These are not just social or economic questions, they are faith questions. How are we to look after this planed we call home.

As the prices of just about everything continue to rise we know that there are more and more people living below the poverty line or hovering near it. Should our goal be to make sure we and our families are okay or are we called to reach out to the poor and share what we have with others. Are we called to risk our own security so others may have life? About 40 years ago a professor of mine had a poster on his office wall that posed a question, “can we live more simply so that others may simply live?” Can we? Will we?

The potter’s hands shape the pot or cup being made. Some pressure here and so much there, influences it’s shape and quality. There are lots of forces calling to us to let them influence us and our lives. Each and every one of these forces want us to let them form the vessel of our lives.

Many people operate on the outlook of scarcity; “there is only so much, so make sure you have as much as you possibly can”. This attitude tells us we have to look after ourselves first and foremost.

The question for people of faith to ask is, “How is God forming us in this time and place.” As we plan for our retirement, what room do we leave for charity, for sharing with others.

I am continually amazed by the stories of people who have visited developing countries. They have gotten to know people who have very little who are very generous. They tell stories of the people who are happy with much much less that we feel we need or feel entitled to.

The power of the gospel is changed hearts and changed lives. Are we prepared to consider that the cost of the gospel will involve giving up more than we thought but, in the process, gaining our very souls.

Amen.

Jeremiah 4: 1-11, 22-28
Psalm 14
Luke 15: 1-10

Lost and Found

At 6:14 am CST, twenty one years ago today our world changed forever. On this day, the three digits usually synonymous with summoning help, took on a deadly and ominous meaning. When we say, “Nine Eleven,” we will, no doubt, form a picture of the so-called “twin towers” in lower Manhattan belching black smoke, the Pentagon with a smoking hole in it’s side and a gaping black hole in a field in Pennsylvania. We will remember the endless coverage of the event - for weeks and months and even years. The unquenchable sorrow of many turned to anger and “let’s get em” as the American war machine was quickly mobilized.

Air travel is the one activity where the changes are obvious as everything and everyone is screened more thoroughly.

The rise of Islamophobia can be directly related to the events of this day. Canada is not immune to incidents where Islamic people, or their places of worship, are deliberately targeted. You may remember the story about the family of 6 who were mowed down by a van in London, Ontario a little over a year ago. Only the youngest child of this family survived.

According to the Gospel writers, one of the frequent complaints aimed at Jesus by the religious elites was that he associated with the wrong kind of people. Apparently, religious leaders were not supposed to associate with tax collectors and other sinners.

Jesus had no time for preaching to people who had no interest in what he had to say which apparently included at least some of the religious leaders. His response on this day was to talk about the importance of seeking the lost - using the examples of a sheep and a coin - easily understood in his time, and ours. I suppose the sheep had it’d own part in becoming lost, but I can guarantee the coin did not grow legs and wander away all by itself.

A number of years ago, on a busy Saturday, at a large mall in the province of New Brunswick, this announcement went out, over the public address system: “Attention shoppers, we have an important announcement “ and then the voice of an obviously young child came on, giving his name, his hometown AND this piece of important information, “my mother is lost.” The mall employee then announced, “if you have found this little boy’s mother please bring her to customer service.” Even though the child’s enunciation was very garbled, by the time the mother made her way to the customer service counter, a number of her friends and colleagues were already there. I guess every colleague from her town went to the mall in that city to shop on Saturday! They knew exactly who was supposed to show up to claim her young son.

“My mother is lost”.

That child knew exactly where he was and could not fathom why his mother had wandered away! She tells me that he was ANNOYED when she showed up.

Long ago my family and I were at the provincial exhibition in Charlottetown and one of my brothers disappeared. I remember that he was bawling when the RCMP officer brought him back to our relived parents.

Stories of lost children have a way of pulling at our heartstrings. We know about Frank Young who was reported missing from Red Earth in April. We also know that his remains were found in July. Sometimes no trace is ever found which leads relatives to hope they will come back some day.

When it comes to lost things; I’m a bit of an expert. It seems that I’m always looking for something. It does not help that I have both an office and a house where things could have been left. I can only blame the cat when the objects are very small. She plays hockey with pencils and jewellery but can’t do much with a book or a jacket!

It’s been quite a week!

A great deal has happened in our province in the last week. Just before church time last week we all received an emergency alert - on our TV if we were watching, or on our cell phone (if it is a newer model). We were informed that two men who were suspected of stabbing a number of people to death, were at large and we were to shelter in place, not to pick up hitchhikers and so on. By suppertime on Wednesday the crisis was over but both of the suspects were dead and there were more questions than answers. We know that one of the suspects, a man who had stopped reporting to his parole officer, was arrested, seemingly without incident, but died shortly thereafter. The cartoonist for the Saltwire News Network based in Nova Scotia, drew a cartoon with a Saskatchewan flag being ripped apart from behind by a knife. Rest assured, the rest of the country has you in their thoughts and prayers. The last cartoon of his with this kind of “reach” had to do with the Broncos’ bus crash. Despite the feeling that no one cares, these gestures remind us that we are never alone. Political cartoonists’ bread and butter is often satire and irony, but when it is called for, their art can be very meaningful and speak volumes with no words at all.

Lighting candles, is a time honoured gesture for expressing solidarity, and for praying when we have no words. The worship committee chair and I had already made a decision to light a candle for each victim of this senseless massacre.

Then, as I contemplated this situation, I thought, there should be two more. We do not know what factors brought the perpetrator or perpetrators to the kind of anger which must have been behind their actions. We can hope and pray that these two lost souls, have not, in fact, been lost to God, for the good shepherd’s embrace and care also includes them. We don’t yet know what part the first brother played in the massacre. That being said, I am much more comfortable when people with their track record are “found” and then put behind bars.

Then, about noon on Thursday we heard that Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned over the British Commonwealth for 70 years, has died. We learned earlier in the day that her family had begun to arrive at Balmoral in Scotland, her favourite summer home! Protocols that have been in place for years were enacted and we will know more about the succession as time goes on. Even as I wrote these words Charles was preparing to begin his life as King. We pause because few people remember the world of George VI. I sang God save the King for the first time in my life at Pineview on Thursday night. When one monarch died, the next immediately takes over.

Back to the parable; think about Jesus’s question for a moment: “Which one of you ....? I am fully confident that someone who loses 1 of 10 silver coins would search high and low for the missing one. I have no idea how much a “silver coin” was worth and why the woman would have 10. Some have speculated that it was part of a headdress which was a sign of her status. Regardless they were of enough value, the loss of one of them, initiated a thorough search. I know the joy of finding something that was lost and I worried if I would ever see it again!

But think now about this same question in regard to the flock of sheep. Far from being cut and dried, this is one of those parables that leaves us scratching our heads. Jesus asks the audience, “Which one of you would....” I think that since this is often a children’s story it comes with heartwarming images of Jesus bringing back a lost little lamb. BUT would a shepherd or the owner of a hundred sheep actually do that. The sheep were apparently in the wilderness; they were all in need of protection. There is the implication that the shepherd was their only means of protection. He leaves 99 sheep alone, without protection, to go and look for one that may already be dead. Not very wise if you ask me. What if a wolf or bear came the back way and polished off a dozen more sheep while you were away. Wouldn’t it be better to cut your losses and leave the one to whatever fate may befall it, if it is not gone already?

Well, I guess it’s a good thing that the shepherd is in a parable and is not a lesson about raising sheep in a school of agriculture. I doubt that a shepherd expected to raise all of his lambs to maturity without some loss. That’s farming. My brother raised pigs and he certainly did not expect 100% of the piglets to survive to maturity.

But, a good parable should leave us scratching our heads and wondering “just what is Jesus trying to say”. Just like the parable we often call the “Prodigal Son” - its ending may not have sit well with the hearers. In some cases the parables of Jesus might have made some of the hearers, angry!

I guess we should be grateful that God does not deal with us as if the life of faith were a business transaction. The lost are not numbers on a spread sheet or grouped amidst the numbers of acceptable losses. Perhaps the sheep left behind are only in danger if they get their noses out of joint about being left behind. Perhaps the sheep left behind are only in danger if they resent the care given to the lost and wayward sheep who does not deserve the shepherd’s care?

Perhaps the relationship of shepherd to sheep is one of grace and not of any earthly way of calculating value.

This leads me to ask the question, “when we plan our church programs, do we cater to the 99 or do we plan something in the hopes of meeting the needs of the one? Is the church for the 99, or the 1?

Sometimes we need to wonder more than we do about biblical passages. Sometimes they are supposed to leave us scratching out heads.

What is clear is the joy. They joy in finding is clear in both halves of the parable. Can we take joy in small victories, small discoveries, small ways in which people are reached? What are we prepared to risk in order for that to happen?

Amen.

Jeremiah 8: 18-9:1
Psalm 79
Luke 16: 1-13

Can you Repeat That Please?

I was watching an episode of Downton Abbey the other night (I don’t remember what season it was) and Lord and Lady Grantham were strategizing over the seating of a certain guest at an upcoming meal. Lord Grantham said something like, “there’s nothing quite like a prince of the church for being toffee nosed” (a term synonymous with “snobbish”). He said that he would seat the guest beside his mother who would know how to handle him! My response was a chuckle and the thought, “well isn’t that just the pot calling the kettle black!” From my perspective, from this side of the pond and this many years after the series is set, the WHOLE FAMILY was snobbish.

They managed a country estate and, I suppose, lived on the income generated by the people who worked for them or paid them rent. They would certainly not have regarded these folks as “equals”. In addition, they employed a large number of people who, ideally, saw their station in life as “servants to the great houses”. It was trickle down economics at its finest.

It’s a world most of us only see on television; it is a world that has, for the most part, disappeared. It is also a world far removed from our daily lives. England, particularly before WWI, was a society divided by a rigid class system; one that changed drastically and dramatically as a result of the Great War, and then the stock market crash of 1929.

As I have said, the Canada of the 20th century in which we all grew up could not be more different from the world of Downton Abbey and its vast estates. In the last few weeks we have had an “up close and personal” brush with royalty as we have gotten to se the various castles and estates owned by the late Queen Elizabeth and now by Charles III. In addition to being “royals” this family has great personal wealth.

We may think of the large “middle class” as the normal state of affairs, but really it only developed after WWII. While owning land was once seen as a sign of power, privilege and wealth, I’m not sure that is true anymore. You all tell me stories of Saskatchewan’s earlier years, of a homestead with a family, on every quarter, but that is no longer the case. Rural depopulation does not mean less land in production, it means more and more land being needed to make a viable farm - a liveable income. Farmers have limited capacity to set a price that will enable them to make a living. It’s all controlled by “the market”. The forces of globalization seem to be bent on creating another wealthy aristocracy with it’s own division of rich and poor.

Another world which is far from our own and about which we know little is the world in which Jesus lived and taught. It is a world of rich and poor; of slaves and slave owners. In this world, the vast majority of workers were day labourers and they depended upon their own ability to work for their survival. When they were to old to work they depended on their children to look after them. Tnormal folks did not have “savings” and there was no social safety net at all! The scriptures tell us that the care of widows and orphans was a large concern for the early church, simply because, no one else was caring for them.

Once again this parable of Jesus leaves us scratching our heads. In this very troubling parable, Jesus seems to be praising dishonesty and that just does not seem right.

Somehow it feels a bit like a bulletin misprint or a poorly worded sentence. For example, there was an announcement in a church bulletin one day asking for prayers for “the sick of the church”. Everyone knew what it was supposed to mean, but the phrasing left readers with another, somewhat humorous, impression!

Everyone listening on that long ago day could easily imagine the scenario that Jesus set up. A rich man had a manager. This manager was the one who would do the hiring and firing, the buying and the selling. The manager would be responsible for earning his boss a profit. Rich men did not get their hands dirty or deal with the “riff raff”. That task went to middle-men. We are not sure what kind of mis-management had been conveyed to the owner but it was clear, the managers job was over! These days, the rich man would have the manager escorted out of the building, keys and pass cards confiscated and his computer access revoked. Someone else would clean out his desk and sent his personal possessions to him. The company would then hire a firm of auditors so that they would figure out if money was missing or if the manager was just not paying enough attention to his master’s business and being wasteful.

Years ago, I read a newspaper article about a local lawyer, a high school classmate, being investigated for fraud related to trust accounts. According to another friend though, it turned out that at the end of the day his only crime was being a sloppy book-keeper; the money was eve ntually all accounted for!

But back then, this imaginary soon to be unemployed manager was asked to get the books in order. (Remember it is a parable and not a true story.) So what he did was to take a look at his accounts payable and he “cook the books.” In exchange for immediate payment, he reduced the debt owed. His goal was that the people would be grateful enough to “take him in” or “give him a meal” or extend him some other kindness.

I think we need to keep in mind that what was owed would have been a combination of the amount borrowed, interest, and whatever commission the manager had tacked on for his own “cut” - which was, in effect, his salary. Perhaps what he was cutting out was his commission; with the rich man losing nothing. Interestingly, the law of Moses forbade the charging of interest. I think that law was largely ignored.

When the owner found this out he praised the shrewdness of the manager. The fired manager himself admitted that he was not strong enough for heavy work and was to proud to beg. The rich man would likely have known this and he is “impressed” by the way the former employee worked things so that he, the owner, got much of his money back, and the manager had a cadre of people who owed him a favour or two.

I don’t think Jesus is praising the dishonesty; he is praising the effort. In a completely unjust social and economic system the average Joe had nothing going for him. He and his family were at the mercy of people of power and wealth. The average person was so far down the pecking order as to be of little concern to those at the top.

When it comes to biblical interpretation, there is the concept of arguing “from the lesser to the greater”. People put a lot of effort into growing their business and investing their money so that it would grow. But, how much thought effort is put into the life of faith? How much effort is put into the things our faith asks of us?

We are asked to make our faith a priority; let’s not give God the leftovers, but the best of the harvest!

COVID has made the world of social entertaining an enormous challenge. Throughout the pandemic couples were not free to invite the people they wanted to invite, to their weddings. Many could not invite those whose weddings they had attended themselves. The world of social entertaining is often an “exchange”; I’ll invite you and someday you will invite me back. If you feed me prime rib or lobster, I would not think of serving you Alphagetti or hot dogs. Jesus’ day was no different. What Jesus was proposing was a radical idea. Invite people who have no way to return the favour. Work at it. Don’t develop your guest list with the hope of a returned favour in mind. In facgt, try to disrupt that system so much that no one can remember who owes whom a meal!

I am greatly dismayed every time I see an ad for so-called “pay day loans”. These businesses charge enormous amounts of interest and attract those who are desperate for the money that they will take any terms of repayment. Why are there not other options for the working poor? If we have enough money to invest, do we care how this money is being used, or are we just concerned with “our return”.

The 16th century reformer, Martin Luther, warned,

“‘Many a person thinks he has God and everything he needs when he has money and property.  In them he trusts and of them he boasts so stubbornly and securely that he cares for no one. Surely such a man also has a god — mammon by name, that is, money and possessions — on which he fixes his whole heart. It is the most common idol on earth.”

The language of the quote is a little formal (it is probably a translation from the German as well) but it asks us the hard question, “Do we follow Christ or the dollar”. The Steward in today’s parable has spent his life following the dollar and was, all of a sudden forced, to give up some of those dollars to secure his future.

What if his economic outlook had had more room for others in the firste place. What if he considered the less fortunate, off of whom he made his money.

The first summer I was away from home for work, I lived in a coal mining town in Cape Breton. The stories of the old days were everywhere. Rest assured, these were not the “good old days”; they were days of exploitation and poverty. A song, sung by “The Men of the Deeps” had a line that went something like this, “St Peter don’t you go calling me home, I owe my soul to the company store.” The company store gave the employees credit but the inflated prices often meant that they were always in debt.

Quite a while ago, I was looking at an episode of Dragon’s Den; you know the show where small time entrepeneurss are looking for investors. In the show they pitch their product to several rich people looking to make money. Sometimes the ideas of the guests on the show are great while at other times, I would not give them a cent! This particular evening, Kevin O’Leary, one of the dragons said, “all I care about is the money. Shoiw me the money” In other words, his only goal is to make money with his money.

When I was a child I learned that Canada’s Banting, and Best discovered insulin (or they developed it, not sure what the technical term is) They were issued a patent for the drug. They, and a co researcher named Collip, sold it to the University of Toronto for $1 each. They felt that it belongged to the world and they should not be making a profit off of something so necessary. Their desire was for everyone who needed access to it to have it.

Our world is fast paced and we do not have the luxury of dealing with one thing at a time. I remember being jolted from sleep by the emergency message telling me a killer was on the loose. 10 people had already been killed. Then before we could get our heads around that, the Queen died. Now that is virtually all that is in the news. By the time I preach this sermon there will, no doubt, be something else. We will never have the luxury of attending to one thing at a time - we have on our plates at the moment: climate change, the war in Ukraine, reconciliation with our First Nations peoples, the call to pay a living wage to Canada’s workers, the poverty and living conditions of many on the, so-called, “reserves,” inflation, and on and on and on.

The Children of the Light, in other words, the followers of Jesus, are called to tackle these and all other issues with the heart of faith in Jesus. Faith in Jesus is not just for Sunday - not just for when we have all the other stuff figured out, but is for the day to day and hour by hour living of our lives, while we live them.

So let us put all our effort into being a people of faith who also must get an education, earn a living, raise a family, socialize with friends, neighbours and strangers and live the call of discipleship to its fullest.

Amen.

Lamentations 1: 1-6
Psalm 137
2 Timothy 1: 1-14

“Faith for These Times”

I listened in shock and deep sadness to the news coming from James Smith as the tragedy unfolded there almost a month ago. I kept repeating the number “10" in my head and knew there were also many injured. I could not comprehend 10 of my friends and relatives being murdered by someone everyone knew.

I watched CBC News Network in horror and disbelief last Saturday and saw houses that had been swept away or collapsed, roads washed out and trees toppled. My social media came alive with friends giving updates about their safety and then their properties.

When I lived in coastal New Brunswick, the street on which I lived was flooded one fall. A high tide combined with very strong on-shore winds was enough to flood our low lying peninsula, and the Fire Department woke us all up in the middle of the night and told us to leave. It only affected a few streets but for some on those streets it was disruptive and costly. The pictures I saw on Facebook this weekend looked eerily similar and reminded me of what happened when I lived there.

The CBC continues to interview people whose lives have been turned upside down by the damage caused by the storm. Most of them are in coastal Newfoundland and Labrador and have lost ALL their physical possessions. Thursday many discovered they are not insured for what the insurance industry terms “acts of God”.

When you live by the sea, some of this kind of damage is inevitable. Generally speaking coastal people know how to prepare for these events. My nephew, a building contractor, worked hard to protect his partially completed build sites. I assume my brother had work to do to secure some of his farm buildings, his cattle and the equipment. Hundreds of fishermen hauled their boats, sea cages and traps. People secured their outdoor furniture and so on. People did have lots of warning, but the wallop delivered was far, far worse than anticipated and the damage far worse than anyone imagined.

It was so bad that, for some people in coastal areas, any plans of going back to normal are in doubt. With global warming causing more and more weather related havoc, rebuilding your dream “beach house” on it’s pre-storm location may be impossible, or certainly uninsurable! It is probably unwise as well !

Of course, it’s not just the sea which causes flooding! I understand that some areas of High River Alberta have been declared off limits to human settlement since the flood 9 years ago. Since the danger of flooding and the injuries and property damage that occurs is almost a certainty, these areas have been returned to a natural state and are no longer available for development. Any changes of this nature will be very hard for the people who once called a certain spot, with a certain view, their “home”.

It’s hard to move an entire community; it’s hard to move on when you can’t go home again. It might be easier if you could pick up the entire town and replicate it somewhere else, exactly as it was - but that is not possible. How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?

On Tuesday morning on CBC’s “The Current,” the host was interviewing a survivor of Cambodia’s “killing fields”. I read a book a few years ago written by a woman who managed to survive the Rwandan Genocide by hiding in the bathroom of a reluctant neighbour. We have also recently heard about the discovery of bodies showing signs of torture and execution in areas of Ukraine formerly held by Russian troops. Of course there are the continuously unfolding stories of finding the graves of children at former residential schools in Canada. These are heartbreaking stories of the toll taken by racism and war. Yet they are also the stories of people who have found the strength to go on and have worked to make some sense of it in terms of their faith. They have learned how to rely on their faith, on one another, and on the assistance of total strangers who cared enough to help.

Many years ago, in a rural area on the north shore of Nova Scotia, a man and his young son died in a house-fire. The presiding minister began with a text from the book of Lamentations, “My soul is bereft of peace, I do not know what happiness is.” That text reflected the mood perfectly. The grieving needed to hear those words as “words of faith.”

We tend to think of scripture as “words of faith” and by faith we mean “positive thoughts”, devoid of doubt or anger. But doubt is part of faith and expressions of anger and disappointment are not contrary to it. Those who wrote the words we now call scripture were not afraid to tell it like it was; they were not afraid to express sadness, disappointment and even anger. This is most evident in what we often call, “the Old Testament”. These words were expressed as part of their relationship to the God who called them and walked with them in both good times and bad.

In the late 1970s, Boney M, dubbed an “Afro-German-Carribean” vocal group, performed a song called, “Waters of Babylon” which I seem to remember a cousin of mine bringing back from a trip to England, about a year before it was heard on Canadian radio. I loved it and it stuck with me! It is based on today’s Psalm. When I told my brother that it was based on a Psalm from the Bible, he insisted it was not! I was crazy! Oh, isn’t sibling rivalry fun!

When we look at the passage from Timothy we need to keep in mind that he was under persecution and threat of death. In his case, he did die, at the hands of an angry mob. It was as a direct result of his new-found faith in Christ.

Paul, who would also end up dying for his faith, calls on him to recall that he was part of a family of people who followed in the way of Jesus. His faith was taught to him and modelled by two matriarchs in the faith, his mother and grandmother, Lois and Eunice. This passage compels us to call to mind those parents of our faith who taught us how to cope with tragedy and, of course, how to express true joy.

On World Communion Sunday we are led to call to mind that we are not alone. We are not alone in our joys and celebrations and we are not alone in the anguish of our sorrows and tragedies. God is with us. Yet, there is more! There are people who support us by listening and providing practical help. Throughout the texts that tell us of the early days of the church, the communities in one part of the church were called to contribute to the needs of others in need in a different part of their small world. It was wrong to have many blessings and ignore those who were in want!

Our common meal reminds us of those in places near and far who rely on this meal for strength for their own journeys of faith.

People, generally speaking, are social creatures. We have a need to share joys and sorrows with others. I think of the recent COVID times and all the things that could only be held with a small fraction of the initial guest list, or not at all. I think of all the high school students who would never have a prom and a proper grad ceremony or a couple who would never have a “first dance” as a married couple in the midst of friends and family. We are meant to lament this. But in our lamenting we also need to keep in mind that others are also in want. It’s NOT that we have no right to complain because no teen has DIED because there was no prom, but we must also be aware of others and their stories.

I think of refugees who must flee in the middle of the night and travel only at night, lest they be caught. I think of our ancestors who made great sacrifices to find new life in Canada. In most of the Maritimes I think there was the wood to build a log cabin as they cleared land to plant their first crops; in the southern prairies there was the infamous “soddy”.

There are many reasons for our ancestors to have come to this land; most of the time, having no choice. The generation that remembered their mother country sometimes never learned the language of Canada - leaving the children to be the translator - the banker and the go-between. For them and for their children there was no going back, only forward.

On World Communion Sunday we gather around the table. Depending on our ancestry we have a slightly different story of what brought us to this place. We have a different story of what impacts us when we hear of the cares and needs of others. We are not all the same but that is certainly not required. Each of us is a unique creation and each of us called to sing God’s song in the place in which we find ourselves.

We have bread and vine to bless us and nourish us on our way.

Amen.

Deuteronomy 26: 1-11
Psalm 100
John 6: 25-35

You Can’t Make Me!

I typed the word “Thanksgiving” in my search bar on my computer and when the results popped up, the first thing that caught my eye was the “Canadian Butterball Report”, which predicted a return to more normal celebrations after the pandemic years of social distancing, regulations on gathering sizes and food preparation restrictions. Did you hear that? “THE BUTTERBALL REPORT”. I wonder why they might they be interested in Thanksgiving? Ha!

I’ve seen at least 2 tv news spots on the “thanksgiving turkey” this year. Apparently, due to the bird flu, you may not have found any kind of turkey to buy this year, let alone a butterball. When I checked on Thursday there seemed to be plenty of turkeys at NoFrills! One of three grocery stores in town I’m cooking a chicken.

Just in case you didn’t know though, a butterball turkey is actually dairy free! I’m not sure how the dairy producers of Canada let that one slide but the name has been around for years and I don’t think the recipe has changed! Like many of you, in my youth, on our small farm, the cream cheque, was one of our only regular sources of cash income; so I’m still very loyal to real butter! To quote a friend, “I’d rather trust a cow than a chemist.” Besides, real butter tastes better!

When we use the word Thanksgiving we usually have visions of the first Monday in October (or for my American readers, that Thursday in November) when we gather at the largest house in the family and eat, and eat and then eat some more. That day has arrived once again - tomorrow! It’s also a long weekend. It is often similar to Christmas in that some people have to go to more than one dinner to cover all the in-laws and grandparents and other people who want to share the holiday with them. For some, the celebration takes days.

I believe Americans pair their Thanksgiving with a football game, though it does not seem to me like the two have anything to do with one another! Then they go and shop themselves silly in that curiously named event, “the black Friday sale.” We, on the other hand, go back to work! Don’t despair though, black Friday has come to Canada, and there is much less likelihood of there being a blizzard than there is on the day of our next big sale, Boxing Day!

When I read the passage from Deuteronomy I cannot help but notice that these instructions are given BEFORE they have entered the land, in anticipation of the bounty they will receive. Even BEFORE they begin, even BEFORE they do the hard work of planting, tending and reaping, they are told that they are to be thankful. Keep in mind that the scriptures tell us that their food had been appearing on the ground, six days a week, for 40 years. NOW, they will have to be farmers and WORK for their food, but gratitude is still mandated, still required.

They were mandated to adopt a thanksgiving ritual which involved the presentation of an offering and the telling of the story of their movement from being nomads, to a time of slavery and through the desert to freedom. This transition was guided by God. They were to give thanks to God for this new found life and bounty. They were to remember their humble beginnings and they were to recite it EVERY YEAR.

The other thing that is easy to miss about the carefully outlined Thanksgiving ritual, is that it is to be followed by a shared meal. It’s not just family who are to enjoy this bounty, but the Levites - their priests who apparently would have no land on which to grow their own crops and the aliens, in other words, everyone who is not “a child of Abraham”. It is open, inclusive and shows great hospitality.

This reminds me of the stories kept alive for generations, among settler families; stories of “how we came to this country”. Some of my ancestors came to Canada at the end of the American Revolution, in the 1790s and others came directly from Scotland, Ireland or Wales. The lure of free land brought many people here to this province from places like Russia and Ukraine. The drought of the late 1920s drove many farmers north to this boreal forest where, once again, a new generation had to clear land before they could plant their crop and make a living. Combined with people who were moving from other parts of the new country of Canada, these prairies developed with a rather unique ethnic mix.

Some people would say that you can’t make someone feel a certain way, and I agree. But love and thanksgiving are not feelings. While an attitude of gratitude is not always automatic, I believe that it develops as a part of cultural and spiritual practice. Like love, it can be required, but it does not come upon us full grown and mature, it has to be grown and nurtured like a delicate but beautiful plant.

Perhaps it is a bit like a good marriage in which the young couple standing before the presider cannot imagine loving each other more than they do at that moment, but couples married 50 years, or more, tell me that their love grew. As we practice thankful living, we grow in that thankfulness

How do we grow thankfulness?

I gave something to come children a while ago; it wasn’t much, a few cookies maybe. The parent looked at the children and said, “now, what do you say” and they dutifully said, “thank you”. I could tell from their smiles that they were pleased to get the treat but the mother was also trying to teach the socially expected response. The thing is, over time, the expression of gratitude becomes more than politeness; it seeps into our being and becomes a part of who we are.

We have had a rough few years with COVID and the associated isolation and restrictions. We might think that it is easier to be thankful this year. Yet, sometimes, getting back to normal does not elicit gratitude unless we say the words and spell it out, if only just to ourselves!

For what are we grateful this year?

I drove to Outlook a few Sundays ago for a Celebration of Ministries service and noted the many harvested fields along the way. I’m sure a lot of farmers are grateful, or at least relieved, when their crop is all in the bin!

I spent some time on Facebook a few weeks ago looking at pictures of happy relatives with their little babies. Older siblings were holding the newest addition to the family, grandparents were smiling with the new baby. One couple whose child was still-born a little over a year before, welcomed their “rainbow baby” with great thanksgiving. A few months ago it was graduation and wedding pictures. We all have those pictures, in our own albums, on our own family’s Facebook pages.

I was talking with one of Doug Pegg’s daughters a just after his death last week and she expressed the family’s gratitude for his long life and for his being able to meet all of the significant milestones he had hoped to see this summer and fall; I think a new baby and a family wedding.

As a community of faith, we have had a great deal of grief this past 6 months, with most of our losses being those folks who were “full of years.” For those who were not, there was always some grief at the times and events that will never happen but there is also gratitude expressed for the life that was lived and the times that were enjoyed.

The other day I saw an obituary for a 15 year old lobster fisherman who was from a community close to my former pastoral charge in NB. His parents are in deep grief, but grateful for the time they did have with their only child.

As I have already said, this thanksgiving celebration also involves sharing the bounty with others. But sharing with others does not necessarily involve feeding them. The following story may not be completely true, but it contains a great message.

 A taxi driver working in big city picked up an elderly woman and asked her where she was going.  She said that she was going to a certain seniors home to live.  She had lived all her life in the house where he had met her.  She was reminiscing about her life as they drove.  Just then the driver turned off his metre and said. “Where would you like to go, Ma’am?  This one is on me.  For several hours he drove to all the places she wanted to see again; places that reminded her of her husband, her children, and her friends.  As she got out of the cab, with tears in her eyes, she thanked the driver for his kindness. 

Of course, the expression of grief and loss must be honoured and it is not to be discounted but we can’t stay there. In order to be healthy we must learn to live with the loss and move on. I believe that gratitude is an essential part of that.

There is a hymn called, “Count Your Blessings” which encourages the singer to look beyond current losses and troubles to “count your blessings”. I’d never encourage singing it in the wake of a funeral or a disaster but it does have its place as people are moving to a new phase in their lives.

Some of you may have noticed the round plaque by my front door which has, around the edge, the words “grateful” and “thankful”, and in larger letter across the middle, the word “BLESSED” It’s a reminder to me that despite what I may be going on, missing home and family, too many funerals, and so on that I am blessed. Somedays, I really need that reminder.

A colleague of mine went to James Smith A nearby First Nation recently for a couple of the funerals that had to happen after the tragedy that unfolded there recently.She spoke of how everything began with expressions of thanksgiving - to Creator, to those who offered support in the midst of the tragedy. Few of us can imagine their grief but their spirituality teaches them to begin in thanksgiving.

As we celebrate the bounty of this land I must acknowledge and admit that we here in these two churches are doing so as a settler people. But we a relationship of reconciliation with the First peoples of this land. We acknowledge the territory every Sunday; but that is only one of many steps! Ever since first contact we, the settlers, have been making all the decisions and have caused them a great deal of harm with residential schools, active destruction of their way of life and pushing them to the margins in every way. This needs to change and none of us can predict what these changes will look like but we do need to enter into open and honest dialogue.

At thanksgiving we would do well to remember that many of the first settlers survived only with the help of nearby native communities who taught them how to survive the harsh winters.

In the biblical story there are 2 streams of thought. One is very much “no one has any value but us” and the other one sees value in the peoples we could term “other” and “alien. ”

As price of food, gasoline, and many other essentials continue to rise and as it becomes harder to make ends meet, we need a theology of abundance not a theology of scarcity. This is not the kind of abundance that justifies waste. It is the kind of abundance that fosters a trust in God and not in own ability to provide for ourselves. It is the kind of abundance that enables generosity. Hoarding cannot be a part of thanksgiving.

Well over 40 years ago I saw a film about a future time in which food was so scarce that country people formed militias to protect the food they grew from the gangs from places like Toronto where there was no food at all to buy. As the community prepares for a wedding the militia attacks a group of city people who have some food in their possession and will not believe their claims that it was a gift. At the wedding gifts of food constitute the wedding presents but the gang comes back to the community for revenge and several members of the bridal party end up dead. The film ends with the feeling that “the killin’ isn’t over”.

I have been watching my Facebook feed closely this past week. It’s amazing how we take electricity and running water for granted, until we don’t have it, that is. Many people in the Maritimes have been seriously affected by hurricane Fiona. Even when property damage is minimal many people are still trying to cope with its aftermath. Facebook is filled with lots of grumbling about the time it’s taking to fix the power lines. On Thursday some were facing yet another weekend without electricity, heat and running water. Yet, there is more than grumbling; those with it all the modern amenities working properly are offering “hot showers” and “hot meals” to their friends without. It is an outpouring of generosity and thankfulness in a difficult time.

Thanksgiving is more than a feeling. It is way of life. It begins in the realization of God’s generosity and grace and results in a generous spirit and a life of generosity.

It’s a way of life we must strive for!

Amen!

Jeremiah 31: 27-34
Psalm 119: 97-104)
Luke 18: 1-8

“Not Easy to Forget”

I recall a meeting that I attended at Atlantic School of Theology when I was a student. The president read a proposal of some sort and at least one student objected to it. The president flipped the paper, back and forth, in his fingers and said, “well, it’s only paper. It can be changed.” I suppose that by the end of the meeting, the proposal that we ended up with reflected the will of the majority. I can’t remember exactly; it was about 35 years ago, after all!

We use the phrase, “it’s not graven in stone,” when we mean that something CAN be changed.

The passage from Jeremiah that you heard just a few minutes ago envisions a future in which the people know the laws of God without having to be told, without having to be scolded, “You know better than that.”

I have no idea what medical knowledge of human anatomy was like in Jeremiah’s day but the use of the heart as a metaphor for the soul or being is easily understood, and still works, even in our day.

Of course, when I think of engraving something on human skin, I think of a tattoo. I was watching one of those “police procedural” shows one day and the forensic experts were examining the tattoos of a murder suspect who had committed suicide. Turns out a part of his tattoo was done in invisible ink. Viewed under a black light, this tattoo had a message that helped then to catch an accomplice.

I suppose some people love their tattoos and continue to do so, but I suppose that a tattoo of the name of an old flame, right there in dark green, on your arm, might get in the way of a new relationship!

When we learn how to read, we have to do some memorizing. We learn the alphabet and the basic sounds. I gather that these days there are sight words that a young reader simply must know. I learned how to “sound out” a word but English, at least, has so many exceptions, that such a method is more often than not, useless. Some words whose endings are spelled the same are not pronounced the same. Try “comb” (that thing which is used for hair) and “tomb” (the place of Jesus’ burial.) The last three letters are the same. I once had a reader look up that word on the internet for an Easter reading - and he pronounced it t oooom. I guess it was not a word he knew by sight! The funniest part was watching the expressions on the faces of his wife and adult daughter while he was reading about the women visiting the empty t oooom. As chance would have it, his wife read the same stories on Easter Sunday, the following year. She used the common pronunciation!

Another example is the word “separate” which refers to distinct items, or “separate” which refers to dividing something that was once together. Every farm in the good old days had a “separator” and we all hated washing them, didn’t we?

And really and truly, I’ve never figured out how American children distinguish between the pronunciation of Kansas and Arkansas when they are learning American geography; the ending is the same.

I actually love memorizing stuff. For some of the older members of my family, poetry memorization, was important and I learned how to do it when I was very young. As an adult, I have been known to recite poetry at “variety shows”. I can think of, “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” “The Highwayman”, and “The Wreck of the Julie Plante - A Legend of Lac St Pierre” which is best done with as good a Québécois accent as an Anglophone can muster!

When I was in grade 10, our English literature teacher made us memorize, in speech, AND in writing, the “Mercy Speech” from the Shakespeare play, the “Merchant of Venice.” Because it was in writing, all the punctuation had to be correct. I am told most of her students could still recite most of it, years and years later.

If you tell me something I need to remember, especially on a Sunday, please write it down and hand it to me. If I am out and about and have a pen, I might write a note on my hand - but that is hardly permanent.

Writing the law of God on the heart, literally, would be impossible, but it is clear what is meant. That would be one way to ensure it would not be forgotten. Jeremiah, often called “the weeping prophet” wanted in the depths of his being, for the people to know, automatically, what God required of them. Not only did they have to remember it and understand it; they had to integrate it into their lives. They had to feel it in their heart, in their bones, not just in their head!

Of course, people do not pull the “law of God” out of the ether or by mere experience. It is not like the law of gravity. Even a small child knows about gravity: they drop something it falls, and it may break; they jump out of a tree, they fall and may be injured.

While some of God’s laws can be derived from general experience, they are best learned within a community of faith that both teaches them AND lives them. As a community of faith we must learn and teach this law, and sit with it over time in order for it to be written on our hearts and thus on the hearts of our younger members. Baptism Sunday is a perfect reminder of this! We will have a part in the raising of these children as followers of the way of Jesus. We have to walk the walk as well as talk the talk. We have to understand with the heart what the story of God’s love is, not just know it with the mind - such as an historical fact. I can think of various obscure historical facts but if they have nothing to do with my life; the knowledge is head knowledge, not heart knowledge.

Being a faithful person is not about memorizing the religious criminal code - which begins with the ten commandments - and continues with rules your church leaders thinks are imporant , and then making sure one does NOT break any of those rules. As a people of faith we have to know and understand and live and breathe these laws and understandings of the life of faith.

The book of Romans tells us: Romans 10: 13-14 For, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’ But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?”

Some biblical versions use the phrase, “without a preacher”, but that lays an undue burden on us preachers. Sunday school teachers and other folks in the church community have an influence as well. The people from the Women’s Group, the Men’s Group and even the Property Committee each have a part in engraving that law of life.

All families have their own rules. We had tile floors when I was growing up and my mother believed that our socks lasted longer if we wore shoes or slippers in the house. “Save your socks, put on your shoes” was her mantra. To clarify though, we had boots for the barn, which were NOT worn in the house. I quickly discovered that taking off one’s shoes to save the carpet was the rule in many other houses!

While at a meeting in Toronto, I was taken to task about my lack of “subway etiquette” by a friend who had grown up in Montréal. “There does not have to be a sign, EVERYONE KNOWS that you don’t stand to the left. You block the people who want to walk up the stairs and get to the top more quickly! “ I wanted to tell her that I would have absolutely no way of knowing this! I don’t think there was even one escalator in PEI at the time, other than the one on the ferry, which only ran when the ferry was docking of leaving port. Making time on that escalator was totally irrelevant. The town where I attended university still had no escalator, the last time I checked. The professors in one of the academic buildings on campus though, were promised an elevator when renovations took place, but all that they received was the shaft!

What “everyone knows” was, at one time, new learning.

When I started working on this sermon I began to think of the lessons we impart to children; when their heart is still being formed - literally and figuratively. What children learn at an early age is often written on their hearts, even if they cannot articulate where they first learned it or even put it into words when they become older. Don’t hit people. Biting others is not ok. Don’t pick up the baby. Say please. My oldest nephew, who often did not know his own strength was FREQUENTLY told, “be nice to the toy” - and these were his sturdy yellow “Tonka Toys!”. I wonder what heart lessons his child will have learned by the next time this passage comes round in the lectionary?

When I was a theology student, the Christian Education person for the Conference has a session with the United Church students and showed us a resource she used to help congregations choose Sunday school curriculum. What goals did we have for our Sunday School program? There were several categories and in each age category from about 4 and up there were three goals from which to pick. It turned out that if you chose option 1, from most of the categories, a certain kind of curriculum was right for you but if you chose option 2 then another curriculum was what you should buy. There was an option 3 as well. I don’t remember anything but the goal for 5 year olds. In the category, termed “overall goals”, the first option for 5 year olds was, “To learn that I am a sinner and need Jesus to save me”. The third overall option was, “to learn that God loves me”. It turned out that an “easy to use” curriculum popular in small United Churches had, as its goals, all of those line 1 options. Most of these options were not consistent with the preaching in the United Church or its genera ethos but it was used because it told the familiar stories and was easy to teach. The developers of this curriculum were catering to a conservative theology, black and white answers, and left little room for asking questions.

When the United Church tried to bring out our own curriculum, to engrave on the hearts of the people the same lessons taught to the clergy in their formal training, it was less than a raving success, partly because it was not easy to teach. I was speaking with a friend and senior colleague Thursday evening on this very subject and he said that he thought what was missing in that curriculum was an attempt make the teachings part of the heart. Using my own words it was was too much about knowing stuff about the Bible and not enough about knowing the God revealed in the Bible.

I remember watching the movie, “The Help.” Set in Mississippi in the 1960s, a black servant, or one of “the help,” tries to instill three things in the children she cares for. “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” The bad grammar aside, imagine those three things being said to you, day after day in a kind and caring voice; wouldn’t you begin to believe it!

So much of what is told to us as children is internalized, and becomes true, even if the message is wrong. So many children who could have been good at something, or would have enjoyed it as a career, have given up because of comments offered by others.

What if, for example, you are told, “your father never was any good in math, I don’t know how you could expect to be any different!”

I think of the former parishioner who is a university neuroscience professor who is actively involved, in the summer, when her University students are earning money for next year’s tuition, with programs which encourage girls to study science. One of the pictures she posted on Facebook, a few years ago, was of a number of these smiling teenage students, each with her own sheep brain, in a dissecting tray. I have no idea what exactly she was teaching them - or how, my last dissection of any kind was in high school, but they seemed very excited by what they had learned.

In previous generations, girls were not encouraged to go into most kinds of STEM subjects - which stand for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. This professor is enthusiastic about her field and wants to take at least some interested girls and engrave on their hearts that this is interesting and THEY CAN DO THAT IF THEY WANT TO!

Mentoring and modelling is important. My mother would tell us children that she did not always know why a certain grammatical construction was wrong, but just that it was. Grammar was engraved on her heart! She could correct my grammar with a “single look” even when she had advanced dementia.

We may talk about a change of mind or a change of heart happening in a person’s life. I remember well the woman (a predecessor’s wife) who said to me, “I never liked a woman minister (Pause) until you came!” I’m not sure if I knew that her beliefs were that strong, and just ministered to her family, in all of their joys and troubles, and let the Sprit do the rest. She was the one person who burst into tears when I announced to the Official Board that I was leaving.

We all have a role in engraving the law, or rather the Christian faith, on the heart of those who are part of this community. First though we all have to be open to having that faith engraved on ours. And remember, it’s about more than “rules.”

Our heart is a living, breathing organ. We are called to be open to the Spirit and allow God’s heart song to be written in our hearts so that all that we say and do and are can be a testament to the one we love and follow.

Amen.

Joel 2: 23-32
Psalm 65
Luke 18: 914

What is Prayer if it Isn’t .........?

Sometimes I read a biblical passage and have to ask myself two questions. One is: “What is this passage really about?”, and the second is, “How will it preach?” I decided that while it is about which man left the temple, in a right relationship with God, it is about the broader issue of prayer. Then I thought of a Janis Joplin song, typed it in and I was committed.

In mid 1970, the popular singer-songwriter Janis Joplin wrote, “O Lord, Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedez Benz.” In this song she is asking “the Lord” for a Mercedez Benz, to outdo her friends who drive Porches, a colour TV because she wants to win on a show called, “Dialling for Dollars”, and a night on the town where love is proven by the purchase of another round of drinks. You may remember that Joplin died of an accidental drug overdose shortly after the song was released. Like too many artists, Joplin depended upon a dangerous mixture of drugs and alcohol to stir her creativity and enable her performance. We have no idea where her career would have taken her and what other songs might have become popular if she had lived.

If you could categorize that seemingly shallow song, as a sort of prayer, then many prayers are similar and can be put in a group of what could be termed, “gimmie prayers.” I would dare to say that some of our prayers are no different, in kind, than hers! We too may see God as some kind of vending machine; we pray for what we need, or usually what we want! Please God, let there be some of that special deal left at NoFrills - they never get enough in for a good sale! When I lived in the Maritimes, but not on the Island, it was a prayer that I would not arrive at the ferry terminal only to see the ship pulling away! The Bridge at one crossing makes things much easier! When we were younger we may have prayed that a certain person in our English class would ask us the next school dance, or, as a parent we may have prayed that the young person in question would not break our own child’s heart, yet again! We may pray that our lucky numbers will finally be picked, in the mega millions draw, or that we will get to Saskatoon without getting pulled over for speeding because we don’t really have time to get there, if we follow the speed limit. Farmers pray for rain or no rain, as the need arises. The soon to be married pray for a nice day and we might pray that the cheque we just wrote is not cashed until after we make the deposit needed to cover it!

The list can go on.

We pray for all those people on our prayer list; the one in the bulletin or our own! We pray for family members and friends we think are in need of prayer - we pray for the people whose faces we see on the evening news. The people of Ukraine, of Port Au Basques, the family and friends of the RCMP constable stabbed and killed in Burnaby this past week. We pray for an easy COVID winter and for the hungry and the homeless and for many others.

Yet, above and beyond all of this, prayer is not just asking for stuff, even if it is something quite laudable, such as healing. Prayer is not a popularity contest to change God’s mind. If 5,000,000 people pray for the return to health of a prominent person, God will surely heal him or her. If 10,000,000 people pray for an end to the war in Ukraine, God will make it happen.

We know this is not the case.

I believe we are missing the mark when we see payer as shopping lists of needs. However, as we see in today’s parable, Jesus does not approve of the kind of prayer which seeks to exalt ourselves and put others down.

Prayer is also about confession. As part of the weekly liturgy, some churches always include a prayer of confession. The Anglican Book of Common Prayer lists the things we have done and the things we ought not to have done and the things we ought to have done but left undone! I don’t think there is much else!

But when we look at prayer, in general I think we are missing something. I believe prayer is relationship.

Good elationships don’t always involve words or actions, just being together. Good relationships develop and deepen over time.

I recall reading an article in a popular magazine about a well-known couple. They had been married for over 60 years. They were sitting quietly on the verandah, holding hands, when a visiting grandchild came out to inquire what was going on. “What are you doing?”

“Oh nothing, just listening.”

“I don’t hear anything,” she countered.

“Well, honey, we’re just listening to the quiet.”

Being a child she could not understand the depth of that kind of relationship where quietly being in one another’s presence, and listening to the quiet, was all that was needed.

Years ago, a man in hospital said to his wife. “I think I’ll sleep now, but can you stay? It’s so nice to see you sitting there when I wake up.”

Those of you who are part of a couple, or were, discovered that relationship is about the sharing of both the most special and the most mundane; from the birth of children and grandchildren to a simple drive together or sharing a pot of tea. It is about getting to know each other and accepting the other even if you don’t particularly like some of those things about that person. Relationships are also about grace.

Such is the relationship that we have with God; a relationship we cultivate through prayer.

Let’s look at this parable for a minute. Of course, these two men are stereotypes. Since it’s a parable, though, there is an unexpected ending and in that ending lies its message.

The first man is a Pharisee. He was a community ‘big wig” but I don’t think “Pharisee” was job, it was a social position. The average listener would have thought of Pharisees as “stuffed shirts”; good people who were out of touch with the day to day lives of people who had to work hard for a living. They were good at keeping the law because they did not have to work at menial jobs which would require them to get their hands dirty. They were probably “upper class” and it was assumed they looked down on common folk which is borne out in this parable. Yet this Pharisee wanted to be sure God knew that he went beyond the religious requirements. Just in case God did not know, he fasted TWICE a week and tithed. He was free from the sins that plagued others. In terms of “being religious”, he had a lot going for him.

The tax collector was part of a reviled group in Jesus day. He was like the replacement worker hired in a company town to keep the mill running during a strike. He was a traitor. It worked like this. Tax collectors were not civil servants, they were independent entrepreneurs. They assessed people enough to pay off the invoice sent from Rome for their district and in addition, whatever they would squeeze out of their neighbours on top of the required amouint. This top up was their salary. The biblical record seems to see these folks as thieves who made a good living off of pople who barely got by. As far as most people were concerned, he might as well be condemned to the outer darkness. Yet, as he prays it is clear that he is aware of his shortcomings and simply throws himself on the mercy of God.

Jesus sets up a “no-win” situation; no one would have been pulling for either man to be revealed as the hero or the winner of this tale. But the tax collector was the one who received favour. In another very familiar parable, it was the Samanritan, another outcast, who was the good neighbour because he helped the person in need.

What gives with these crazy stories Jesus? Jesus liked to shock people. He liked to make them think.

Maybe it would help for us to look at justification. What is it? Well it’s not the kind of justification we bring up in a court of law when we plead we are justified in taking a certain action. “It was self-defence”. Or, “Officer, I was speeding because my husband was severely burned, I have to get him to hospital.”

No, its another kind. What I think of is the kind referred to in type setting a book or an essay. On a computer we set our writing program to line all the first letters up with an invisible line that runs vertivally down the page. We probably all learned to print in a lined scribbler. Same thing. New technology!

Now, think of the holiness and goodness of God as the line against which we view our own lives, our own attitudes. Think of the laundry detergent commercial; our shirt looks white until we compare it to something that is really and truly white; then our clothes look dingy and terrible. So we switch to the advertised detergent and our laundry woes are gone!

The Pharisee seems to have tried to tell God how good he was, as if God might miss some of his more favourable traits. He does not really need God; he’s doing pretty well on his own. He is assuming his life lines up with God’s wishes.

On the other hand what the tax collector did was to look at his life and at God’s vision and then to admit that he was sadly lacking. He does not go into specifics; he just self identifies as a sinner. He throws himself on God’s mercy. He desperately needs God.

As I said, prayer is about relationship. I believe that prayer is about a relationship which allows us to bring our true self into the presence of the one who is holy and be justified, or brought into line with God’s intentions for us, not by our merits, but by grace.

In prayer, we seek to bring our lives into line, as it were with God’s call and intentions.

Prayer is not about changing God’s mind, but about spending enough time in reading, reflection and “official” prayer and allowing the Spirit to change ours.

I believe that what was lacking in the Pharisee was humility. We are called to humilty; to recognize that we need God to be part of our efforts and faithfulness, at making a difference in the world, at proclaiming the gospel.

The trick of humility, of course, is to stay humble. I seem to be into songs today. Singer, Mac Davis woke up one morning, all alone, in a hotel suite awy from home and wrote,

“O Lord, it’s hard to be humble 
when you’re perfect in every way.  
I cant wait to look in the mirror, 
cause I get better lookin’ each day” 

When it is sung by Mac Davis, the words leave a different impression in me than, let us say, the version by a much older and weathered Willie Nelson!

The danger is, of course: If we try hard to be humble and we finallhy achieve humility then we can easily be guilty of being proud of our humility - you see the dilemma.

A short time ago we heard a passage about an unjust judge granting the request of a persistent woman for justice. How much more will God grant our requests. I did not preach on it last week, but you would have hear it read.

We are meant to be persistent in prayer but in that the midst of that prayer - not to nag God into giving us what we want but to listen for what God is trying to tell us - as I said, it is not always speech, but always dialogue, it is relationship.

This passage assures us of grace and forgiveness if we are honest about our lives. God does not need to hear about how good we are. Neither do we have to come up with a laundry list of our faults. We are called to take comfort in our relationship with a God who knows and forgives us because we know we rely on grace. Then out of this grace we seek to live a life of greater faithfulness because, with God’s help, we can.

Amen.

NO SERMON - see next week SNOW STORM

Preached Nov 13 due to blizzard on 6th

Haggai 1: 15b - 2:9
Psalm 145
Luke 20: 27-38

Genuine Questions?

When I took philosophy in my first year of university I was introduced to the question, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?” Pause It’s not actually a stupid question but it admittedly does not have anything at all to do “with the price of fish” as we used to say in the Maritimes. I COULD argue both sides of that fence, but, don’t worry, I won’t today!

In looking for similar questions, we could become more theological. We may teach children that God can do anything, at least some Sunday schools used to teach something like that! The theological term for this belief is “omnipotence.” But what if a thoughtful child asks, “if God can do anything, can God make a rock so big, even God cant move it?” Think about that one for a minute! It’s a “no win” question!

Theologians with too much time on their hands can take this to a much higher level, and debate, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” Apparently this question used to make the rounds among theology students; trying to avoid real homework, I suppose!

The 20th chapter of Luke’s gospel contains an account of the attempts of several groups of religious leaders to trip Jesus up and discredit him in the eyes of his followers. The early church did not remember this part of Jesus’ ministry with great fondness and may well have overstated the friction with the religious leaders of Jesus’ day! As presented to us, today’s Gospel story contains a question that is also a trick and a trap.

The Gospel of Luke was written for a mysterious “official” named Theophilus, who may have been unfamiliar with Jewish practices. The little comment about the beliefs of the Sadducees tells him (and us) just enough to let the reader know that there might be an ulterior motive in the question, because the Sadducees did not believe in life after death in the first place.

It seems that Jesus was beset by both Pharisees and Sadducees. They were not the same, but how does one tell them apart! In life you often have to memorize seemingly random things so many people have “tricks” to help them remember! The letters ROY G BIV will help you to remember the order of colours in the rainbow - red orange yellow green blue indigo violet - ROY G BIV! If you need help in remembering the placement of musical notes on the staff you need to know, FACE for the notes in the spaces and Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge, for the notes on the lines.

I had trouble remembering whether it was the Pharisees or the Sadducees who did not believe in an afterlife until I learned this little ditty:“Sadducees didn’t believe in heaven, so they were SAD YOU SEE! “.

The scenario of the unfortunate woman who buried seven husbands sounds absurd, until you learn a little about the practice of Levirate marriage - and even then it is a big s-t-r-e-t-c-h. The practice would work like this: Joshua and Elizabeth marry but Joshua dies before they can have children. Joshua’s brother is compelled to marry Elizabeth and have a child in Joshua’s name. This brother dies without children and the next brother is obliged to marry Elizabeth so that she can have a child in Joshua’s. Technically, I suppose, it could go on and on! One reason for this is the protection of family property. Another could be to provide for the welfare of the widow. In earlier times it was also seen as the way people lived on after death - in their children.

I don’t know about you men, but by the time I had buried three brothers and was about to be husband #4, I’d be trying to find any way I could out of marrying that “black widow”!

The main reason the Sadducees did not believe in life after death was that it was not stated in the first five books of the bible which were the only writings they accepted as scripture.

Jesus knows they do not believe in what they are asking about but he meets them on their turf. He speaks of the purpose of marriage, which most would have said was for the “procreation care and upbringing of children.” Our United Church “traditional marriage service” phrases it that way. Since, in the resurrection, people do not die they have no need to have children. To seal his argument he refers to the encounter with God experienced by Moses - when God appeared to him out of a bush that was burning but not consumed. You will probably remember that story! Jesus’ argument is a bit like this: Since God refers to the long dead, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, IN THE PRESENT TENSE there must be some way in which those folks are alive, to God. God says, “I AM the God of Jacob”, God did not say, “I WAS the God of Jacob”. To make things even better, this story is in one of the books of the Bible that the Sadducees accept as scriptural. Gotcha!

Did the Sadducees change their minds? Not likely! But in proving that he could hold his own in any debate, Jesus gives us much food for thought.

I once heard a presentation once from a person who did grief work with children and often went to schools to talk to children whose classmate had died. She was emphasizing that we must meet the children on their level, not on ours. She was talking with a class after a 6 year old classmate had died in an accident. One child was obviously anxious and finally had the courage to ask, “If Bobby is in a casket and they bury him in the ground, how does he get out when he needs to go to the bathroom?”

To this child, it was a critical question! When the counsellor said, “Well that one thing about being dead- he doesn’t need to go to the bathroom ever again.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really”.

When she was assured that this was indeed the case she became more settled and relaxed. She no longer worried about her friend.

We harbour so many common myths or ideas about the afterlife that I cannot begin to state them all. You know them. Pearly gates. Streets paved with gold. Angels playing harps. Heaven is up there, above the clouds and hell is down below, somewhere in the bowels of the earth and it’s really, really hot! Lots of our jokes are based on those images.

Children who lose a beloved Grampie, might be comforted by the hope of seeing him again, but how old will he be in heaven?

Out in the narthex (in Nipawin) is a picture of my grandfather in his uniform, taken when he enlisted at Rouleau in 1916. Were he and three others, as they looked in 1916, to walk into our service this morning, I would not be able to pick him out - I knew him when he was in his 70s, not his 20's! Yes, I know Nipawin was not even here in 1916! After he died in 1970, if he were to encounter a comrade he lost in the battle of Passchendaele, in 1917, at the so-called “pearly gates”, that young man would not likely recognize the older man I knew and loved. Do I worry about this - NO! I leave this mystery to God.

When the astronauts did not bring back pictures of God or heaven some people, atheists already said, “see, that proves it!” NASA has chosen not to emphasize the spiritual discoveries or practices of the astronauts but they do exist. I am told that communion has been celebrated more than once in space - the first time was just minutes before human beings walked on the moon for the first time. Scripture has been read aloud in space. Canada’s favourite space photographer, Colonel Chris Hadfield, whose up-close pictures of this spinning blue planet, brought feelings of awe and wonder to many, has said,

“I think what everyone would find if they could be in space - if they could see the whole world every 90 minutes and look down on the places where we do things right, and look down where we're doing stupid, brutal things to each other and the inevitable patience of the 


world that houses us -- I think everybody would be reinforced in their faith, and maybe readdress the real true tenets of what's good and what gives them strength.” 

Colonel Hadfield choses not be specific about this personal religious beliefs because there are such a variety in Canadian society and does not want to be seen as favouring one over the other.

Yet, another Canadian astronaut, Julie Payette has spoken of her experience by voicing criticism of a cremationist view! I don’t know for sure, but I think that she thought that way before seeing the earth from space.

So what DOES Jesus say about the afterlife in this passage? Not much actually! Jesus, in this passage, is dealing with a particular question, not asked in terms of honest inquiry, but only to discredit him. Who enjoys those questions! Not I fer shure!

What I can say is that Jesus in his life and ministry was very much present tense - like the voice of God from the bush in the wilderness, both in his relationship with God and his call to discipleship. He was steeped in his tradition and had no intention of starting a new religion; he wanted people to stop paying lip service to their beliefs and live them out. Faith for him was trusting in God and following the principles of love of God, of self and neighbour. It was not about observing a list of rules that effectively prevented people from doing God’s will.

We all know people who are so--called “blue collar” workers who have no respect for “white collar” folks and vice versa. I have known people who have no respect for folks who go to certain other churches.

40 years ago I went to university with someone who claimed that United Church people were not real Christians and a few years after that had a parishioner who thought the same thing about Roman Catholics! The only difference was that my university friend was joking (I think) while I know the other person was not!

Christian faith is not about the kind of certainty we seek in science or physics - it is about living in trust. It’s about emcracing the mystery and about not having to have all the answers about absolutely everything but living our faith - trusting that the God of all time and space is with us. Today we gather at the Table to receive strength for that journey.

Amen.

Jeremiah 23: 1-6
Luke 1 (Song of Zechariah)
Luke 23: 33-43

Where Are We Going?

I’ve used a GPS unit for many years when I am driving anywhere that is unfamiliar. I type in a certain address in Prince Albert or Saskatoon, for example, and a voice will tell me which streets to take, turn by turn. Then it will announce in a triumphant voice, “You have arrived at your destination - on your left. (Or right, as the case may be)” Since I am a little quirky, my GPS talks to me as Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street! My sister hates it! But she does not travel with me very often anymore!

However, since a lot of addresses in small town Saskatchewan are not on the GPS system, I key in the town and when I arrive, I hope for the best. Sometimes, Google maps is more helpful as long as my phone will talk to me! Why, I don’t know! Rural areas are even more challenging as there are no civic numbers posted by every driveway! I have no idea how to morph your “land location” data into something I can use to locate you, although emergency services know how!

I recall that not long after I arrived I started out to visit someone. I looked the location up on an RM map, and figured out what I needed to do to get there and memorized the information I thought I needed to know. (Turn here, count the grid roads etc.) When I parked in the yard, the homeowner came out of the house and asked, “are you lost?”

I said, “No. Now that I know it’s your house, I’m exactly where I intended to be!”

On the last Sunday of November last year we all set our sights for this Sunday. Almost as soon as we began to prepare for the Reign of Christ once again, we focussed on the birth of baby Jesus. Just 4 weeks into the year we welcomed him and after he grew up (which was almost overnight), we learned what it was like to follow him. Our journey followed him to the cross but, on the third day, we gathered in small and larger groups and we realized that he had risen. Then we began another journey of finding out what it means to be a follower of the Risen One. At the end of this journey we arrive at this place and see glimpses of the Reign of God. We catch sight of the world as God intended it to be. It’s been quite a ride!

In each year of our lectionary cycle, we have a different view of the “Reign of Christ”. Matthew tells a parable of the Christ returning in glory as judge while John tells us of Jesus trial and the question from Pilate, “are you a king?” This year we meet the one who reigns on the cross. In each year, we might not be sure we have actually arrived. But that choice was made by the people who devised the lectionary!

Some churches refer to this as Christ the King but others prefer more gender neutral language, or better yet, words less autocratic, and out of touch, than most kings might seem to be.

On the 8th of September, the 70 year reign of Elizabeth II ended and the British Commonwealth simultaneously welcomed Charles III. We may be singing, “God Save the king” for the next 70 or more years but it will be for at least three different monarchs! Each of these Kings will be styled, something along the lines of, “Most Excellent Monarch, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of His other Realms and Territories, King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, and Sovereign of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.” I think that is the short version!” If I had such accolades, it might just “go to my head.”

When we think of Queens and Kings we think of grand palaces and vast estates. We think of tiaras and state crowns and sceptres and robes edged with ermine and titles that go on and on.

During a difficult time in France, when many people were starving, someone said to a high ranking lady, thought to be Marie Antoinette, that “the people are rioting because they have no bread” to which she replied, “Well if they have no bread, let them eat cake.” “Let them eat cake” has become one of the most famous quotes of all time and other than serving as an occasional “ad” outside of the Family Bakery ( a local business in Nipawin) it was seen as a testament to how out of touch with the real lives of real people, the King and Queen of France were!

Early in WW II Buckingham Palace was bombed and parts of it severely damaged, while the Royal Couple were drinking tea. Later the Queen wrote, “I am glad we have been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East-End in the face”. Princess Elizabeth enlisted in the women’s division of the army and was taught to repair engines. While most of the men in the British Royal family have seen military service their lives are most often ones of privilege.

The “Kings” of biblical times were people of great wealth and power. They lived in palaces and had many servants to do their budding - whether it was David and his descendants or the kings of their conquerors.

By contrast, the gospel writers and the very early church promoted a completely different model for Jesus’ kingship. When the early church was formed it was very much “the underdog,” was persecuted and had no power at all. Then the tables turned, Constantine became the emperor and the Empire and Christianity soon became synonymous. Political power and Christianity went together in some very unhealthy ways. Some churches preach a “prosperity Gospel” in which wealth is seen as a sign of God’s favour!

You may have noticed the odd spelling in the prayer; was it supposed to be kingdom or kindom? It was spelled like that for a reason! Just think of the kind of society where all people are “kin”. What would that look like? I wonder!

The gospel stories speak of a Jesus who is not comfortable with the kind of reign that justifies the wealth of the few at the expense of the many.

What speak to you of this kind of reign?

Some years ago the nursing home I visited often, partnered with the local elementary school in a program called, “Adopt a Grandparent.” I gather that a number of children had to share each participating senior. I can still picture an article in a newspaper that covered this story. In it, a senior I knew from the home, was explaining something to a young girl who was listening ever so intently to her new “grandmother”. In that picture I saw a glimpse of the reign of God.

Sometimes it is a non-Christian who shows Christ- likeness to us in profound ways. I think of the life of Mohandas Gandhi who was a critical force in the very difficult transition of India from a British Colony through partition into India and Pakistan and to independence. One of his most powerful quotes goes like this, “an eye for an eye can only make the whole world blind”. He was assassinated in 1948 by an extremist who was opposed to his acceptance of Muslims.

At the funeral, the American Secretary of State, said "Mahatma Gandhi had become the spokesman for the conscience of (hu)mankind, a man who made humility and simple truth more powerful than empires." The movie Gandhi came out when I was in university. The most powerful scene for my teenage self was the one where he encounters a man who tells Gandhi that he is going to go to hell because he brutally murdered a Muslim child, all because his own son had been killed my Muslims. Gandhi advised him that he could find his way out of hell by adopting an orphan Muslim child and raise that child as a Muslim.” I recall very clearly leaving the Vogue Cinema that night and hearing a fellow student behind me say to his friend, “what is most amazing is that was a real person. It’s not a made up story.”

How do we live in forgiveness and reconciliation when tremendous wrong has been done to us?

As we sit here and imagine the Reign of Christ - and see the a dying man, derided and ridiculed, in his dying moments, extending forgiveness to one man, who confessed that he deserved to be there, what does this change for us?

In ancient Rome, crucifixion was not used as a means of execution for people of power and status. It was used for the “lower classes”; it was one way of keeping the rabble in line. It was the ultimate removal of all honour and dignity and eventually, after hours and hours of suffering, the life of those so sentenced. So to crucify a “king” was to show that in no way do the people of power regard him as a king.

The followers of Jesus, by contrast said, “the power of God can take any insult you throw at us and turn defeat into victory and death itself has no power.”

On the cross, Jesus is clearly “in charge” but it is not a power to save himself, but to save others.

To state the obvious, Jesus was crucified along with two other criminals. This kind of very public execution was designed to humiliate the criminal and keep the populace in line! Crime and punishment have a complex relationship in any society and popular opinion seems to back, “tough on crime” stances. In our own communities the general belief seems to be that petty criminals “just get off with a slap on the wrist.” It may be true that jails are overcrowded because there is too much crime but what are the reasons for this crime? I think we need to address at least the problems of poverty, drug addiction and racism, before we begin to get a handle on crime in our town, province and country.

As I was reading quotes on forgiveness for this sermon, I discovered a number of quotes that challenged the idea that toughness will solve our problems. As someone said, “To forgive shows that we are strong, not that we are weak, like the world might think.” To forgive releases the burden of resentment that we may be carrying. To forgive is to set ourselves free. To be Christian is to be “counter cultural”. To be Christian is to walk the way of Jesus. It is to forgive - as we have also received grace and forgiveness.

Forgiveness opens the door to relationship and allows a conversation to move to a deeper level.

Christ reigns as the crucified forgiving one.

Can we follow him?

Amen!