2 Samuel 5: 1-5, 9-10
Psalm 48
Mar6 6: -13

You Can’t Go Home Again!

What are the qualifications for leadership in the modern world, particularly in a modern democracy? I am not sure if any of our current Canadian politicians have ever served in any branch of the Canadian Armed Forces, but in some countries a history of past service is all but required. We know that the US President is the Commander in Chief of their armed forces, but I am not sure if he has the “power to command.”

When it is an official occasion, we know that the members of the British monarchy turn out in fancy, mostly red, dress uniforms festooned with lots of gold braid, medals and other insignia. The late queen served as a mechanic during WW2; women were not sent into combat; I gather all of her uniforms represented honorary ranks. Her husband was in the navy and, their sons and grandsons in direct line to the throne, all saw active duty but they also have numerous honorary ranks. I remember when Prince Andrew was serving as a helicopter pilot in the Falkland Islands War and of seeing an interview with Prince Harry in which he had to leave, mid-sentence, because a siren alerted him that his plane was taking off and he had to be on it.

I guess that a leader in military uniform gives the image of toughness - “don’t mess with us”. While the fancy ones with the bling are nicer to look at, perhaps ranks of soldiers in battle dress marching down the street imply that they are ready for anything that may come. Various military regimes have regular parades with jeeps, armoured personnel carriers, tanks, and rank upon rank of soldiers marching. Top it off with a fly-past of the best planes in the fleet, or their equivalent of the Snowbirds or the Skyhawks, and we feel so good about their country’s military prowess.

But what if we were on the verge of our country breaking apart. I have lived with the threat (however weak) of Quebec separating since I was politically aware. I know that the Maritimes and the Prairies are very different places to live, politically speaking.

In comparison to the Israel in the book of 2 Samuel, our country is very old. David would only be the second king they had ever had. Today’s coup was staged when Saul was still on the throne! Life in Egypt was not that far behind them. While just about everyone had wanted a king, loyalties were divided. Saul had his followers; David had his. This passage tells us of the point where David’ was able to amass enough loyal subjects in order to become king. They were also his kin; bone of his bone. Even though his “line” did not last more than a couple of generations, and they would not be the masters of their own destiny for long, his legacy as the “best king they ever had” would last for generations. In later years, up to the time of Jesus even, his reign was the one they looked back to with hope and nostalgia. By the time of Jesus the mighty Roman army kept the peace with fear, intimidation and threat of severe punishment. The Messiah was seen as the one who would reverse everything, sit on David’s throne and Israel would be great again. Jesus was seen by some as this Messiah.

While Jesus may have accepted the designation of Messiah, he did not accept all of the baggage that went with it. Jesus had other ideas! He and his disciples had been wandering about as itinerant preachers. They remind me of the Mormon young people I knew through the Air Cadets; each had a mission to complete just after high school!

The disciples are presumably grownups and not teenagers. Their goal is repentance, but let us keep in mind that repentance is not FEELING BAD but desiring to change one’s direction in life. We are pulling out of our driveway and have to decide - , Melfort or Prince Albert. Make up your mind! We are looking at our garden plan: tomatoes or potatoes; corn or cabbage in that row!

Like David, Jesus was one of them; he was bone of their bone and flesh of his flesh. So why was Jesus’ rejected and David, centuries before, readily accepted?

Maybe selling peace and service is a lot harder than selling war and victory and power. One of the most famous statements made by the 35th President of the United States, John F Kennedy, goes something like this:”ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” As a conclusion to his inaugural address , his words inspired many young Americans to join the Peace Corps while others enlisted in the Green Berets.

As you know, Anne of Green Gables is a children’s classic set in PEI in the late 19th century and is famous the world over. It has been made into a movie at least once and adapted for televison several times! The basic story is that an ageing brother and sister send for a boy from an orphanage to help with the farm work. Please remember that it IS the mid 1800s! Child labour laws were far in the future. They are in the process of deciding to send her back when this conversation takes place, “What good would she be to us?” asks Marilla.

“We might be some good to her,” replied Matthew. They hired a boy, gave the girl a home and the rest is, well, not history, but a literary classic!

I was taking to some of you at Timmys on Wednesday. The topic of dust control on the roads came up and I said that I did not believe that PEI spread chemicals on dusty roads - because there really are none left. Actually, there may two “heritage road,” but no one lives on them! They pave the road - for a vote or two. For country roads, the other two provinces use a process referred to as“chip seal:” basically, tar and gravel! In the Maritimes people who want to get elected, campaign on pavement or jobs or whatever it is that the people are looking for and they hope the government can deliver. I guess there are too many miles of roads here where no one actually lives, for that to work. Farms have gotten bigger and bigger and bigger. Farms here don’t have animals like they used to which means that the farmer can live in town. If farmers still lived on their farms, had a milk quota, and the school bus and the mail and the milk truck had to get through 5 days a week things might be different.

Today’s passages challenge the reader to take a look at the nature of leadership and discipleship and the call to faithfulness. I believe that our primary question is: “Do we call people to greatness or to service?” I was looking around the internet the other day and came across some quotes from Lucy Maud Montgomery and placed on the lips of her heroine. Anne Shirley. “That’s the worst of growing up and Im beginning to realize it. The things you wanted so much when you were a child don’t seem half so wonderful to you when you get them.” As individuals we have ambitions and goals, as communities faith we have things we look forward to and as nations we desire certain things but what if we got all we wanted and were still unhappy, still wanting more, still not satisfied.

I think the answer lies in discerning the nature of our goals; are they for us and our family or are they for the other. If we desire a better standard of living for ourselves or a better world for the other which goal will make us happier when it is achieved.

The Christian faith is about discerning the will of God and what is that we are called to do and be and proclaim. Let us go forth to be the proclaimers and the enablers and the ones who work with God to heal all of creation.

Amen

2 Samuel 6: 1-6, 12b -19
Psalm 24
Mark 6: 14-29

Have We Seen a Ghost?

The other day I was watching one of the Law and Order shows I like, and it is discovered during an investigation into a crime that someone previously thought to have been murdered was actually alive and living somewhere else under “witness protection”. She had worked for the office of the district attorney but because she helped to convict a drug dealer she had to be given a new identity, moved to a new community, and sever all ties with her former life including close family. When she walked into the courtroom, the look on everyone’s face spoke to their feelings of incredulity, shock and anger. Most of the negative feelings came from those who had not been, “in the know”. The circle of trust in such situations must be kept extremely small. The others discovered that they had been mourning someone who had not actually died. When she entered the courtroom they felt they were seeing a ghost. At the end of the episode, even though the people directly responsible for all of the murders and attempted murders were convicted and imprisoned, because of their connections to organized crime, it was felt that she had to again change her identity and was whisked away to yet another new life.

Today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark is, mostly, a flashback. Herod heard about Jesus and faint bells started to ring. The rumour mill was working overtime, as it often does. Jesus was just so much like John the Baptizer; the “word on the street” surmised that there could not be two of him; the wilderness prophet John; must have come back to life! To make sure his readers are all up to speed, Mark tells the reader what had happened to John!

As most of you know, I go to a United Church family camp in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, for a week every summer. Many of those who attend have been there have been going their entire lives. Except for one pandemic year, the camp has been holding its encampment for over 150 years. Of course, no one is THAT old but some of the “old families” were there at #1. The Association uses the camp for about a week and a half while the rest of the summer it is rented. That common week is officially “the encampment” but we tend to just call it “Berwick.”

I have only been attending for about 25 years but every year I notice changes in both the campsite and the campers. Like any regular community there are both births and deaths; we see the little ones grow up through the nursery through VBS to the youth program and beyond. Occasionally there is a wedding or a baptism. Some minister’s children consider it their “home church”. We see the seniors become less able to navigate the paths around the campground and the presence of the golf-cart taxis become even more important. We sit on the stoops and reminisce about how fast one little one is growing and how we miss others who have died or cannot come for reasons of health.

Through the last few years I would take notice of one boy I could describe as “bouncy;” yes, bouncy, like the cartoon Tigger! I believe that he is on the autism spectrum. Occasionally though, I would see him, and wonder if that was the same teen who I had seen the day before. There was just something slightly different I could not put my finger on! Then, one evening at worship I saw two of him sitting together. Both of him were quite bouncy; they were always happy and loved to jump up and down to the music. My comment to the mother after the service was, “I was right, there are two of him!” She chuckled! Identical twins, these two young men are as fully integrated as possible into the life of the camp. For many years though, it was usual for only one of them came at a time because they had other summer activities to occupy their time. Yet, despite them looking very much alike, they ARE NOT the same person; their parents, at least, know their quirks, their likes, their differences; their parents can tell them apart!

As I said, most of the meat of today’s passage is told in flashback. We are told that some people thought that Jesus must be the reincarnation of John and then we are told how the last months and weeks of John’s life played out. We know that Jesus picked up where John left off and that fact alone gives an ominous beginning to Jesus’ ministry.

John, the wilderness preacher, considered himself a prophet. His main reason for preaching was to get the people ready for the Messiah, for Jesus. In the church we have a phrase that talks about the prophetic mandate of “speaking truth to power.” Sometimes the powerful have so much power that it is obvious the rules that apply to regular folks don’t seem to apply to them or so they think. Bribing officials makes a fine or a criminal charge go away. Being the biggest employer, or the only employer, in the town means that enough people look the other way or will not stick their neck out to say anything. Poorly kept secrets lurk just beneath the surface.

Herod was king in an age where there very few who would hold the king to account; or in the words of that old fable, very few people who would say out loud that the emperor had no clothes!

However John was willing to speak out. John was willing to call a spade a spade. John was quite willing to tell Herod that he had broken God’s law by marrying his brother’s wife. (That was his particular issue with Herod) Herod had him put in jail, even though the wife in question wanted him dead. Herod was unwilling to do more. All of his interactions with John had made him both intrigued and uneasy, I think because deep down he knew John was right.

But Herod’s wife who was at the centre of his wrong-doing, finally forced his hand. And a rash promise made in front of powerful friends at a party where there was probably a little too much drinking going on, finally did him in. You heard the story read just a few minutes ago. He really should have known better! He did not count on the girl consulting her mother, depicted as the true evil in this story. Perhaps Herod thought his step-daughter would want some jewellery? Most girls her age would! Perhaps she would want a new dress or two. Perhaps she wanted a party to which she could invite some good looking boys. But the promise was too open-ended, too naive. No one in power would ever make such a rash promise. However, he had made it and when the request was delivered he had to come good; none of these people of power would understand him going back on a promise for the life of a very strange wilderness preacher - they were a dime a dozen! John’s life was certainly not worth a king’s honour! Sparing John’s life would make him look weak for no good reason!

So we see Herod’s wife, working behind the scenes, to get what she wanted by manipulating her husband in front of his friends. You have no doubt heard the saying, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Well that is Herod’s wife!

What does it say to those who follow in the way of Jesus - What is our goal? I went out Wednesday afternoon to pick up a few groceries and blaring over the speakers in the store the BeeJees disco classic, “Stayin Alive” caught my attention. I read that when this song was written the city of New York had just lived through the terror wrought by David Berkowitz. Often dubbed, “the Son of Sam” Berkowitz killed 6 people in New York City over a 13 month period and the city lived in fear. For a time the goal of everyone in the city was indeed, “staying alive.” It became the lead song of the musical, “Saturday Night Fever” which was a teen hit all over North America. Along with the musical, “Grease,” the next year, some of my classmates went dozens of times, it was so captivating. I lived in the sticks; I could not have convinced my father to take me more than once!!!!! but I was not really interested and I’ve actually never seen either one!

Living here in Saskatchewan in 2023 what is our goal? Stayin Alive? Paying our bills? Spending time with family? Buying enough groceries to feed that family? To focus things just a little more finely, “What is our reason for being a follower of Jesus of Nazareth?” or “What is our reason for being a part of this community of faith?” Or “what principles guide our family life, our community involvement, our community service.

One day I was talking to a mom of teens about her busy life. She got up in the morning, cooked three meals, got the kids to their sports, did laundry, and went to bed exhausted so she could do the same thing all over again the next day. There was no variety, no day off.

Before almost every surgery, Grey’s Anatomy neurosurgeon, Dr Derek Shepherd reminds himself of his immediate goal, “It’s a beautiful day to save lives.”

I’ve talked before about the folks whose goal in the Christian life is to “keep their noses clean,”to “avoid sin.” If goals are focussed on what we must avoid then we really don’t have much mission, do we? We are like those described as, “being so heavenly minded we are no earthly good.”

If we are like Jesus though, looking around and seeing ways in which we can enact and proclaim God’s love we will be drawn into the community as we proclaim, in deed and word, the Good News.

For the past number of years, before the United Church was restructured, I have attended Conference Annual Meetings and monthly Presbytery meetings where we felt it was important to take stands on certain topics.

I don’t know about Saskatchewan Conference’s history, but as one example in the Maritimes at the Presbytery and Conference level we tried to get the government to lessen their reliance on gambling revenue instead of increasing it. We were very careful to approach it from the viewpoint of the harm caused by gambling addiction. Too many people were becoming addicted and losing everything and the government was making money for various grants and programs. In terms of our public proclamation we focussed on those least able to help themselves.

But within the walls of the church we were able to challenge one another that pinning our hopes on a lottery win represented a skewed hope. Whether anyone listened or not we proclaimed that a massive influx of cash would not buy happiness and flew in the face of our claims to trust in God. Just because gambling is so much with us does not mean we should not speak against its skewed values. Despite the fact that I know many United Church people buy tickets will not stop me from saying why I think we should lave them in the store and not raise our money in that way.

We look around us and we see people being excluded by the colour of their skin, their sexual orientation, their gender, their age, and we recall the values we learned about all people being equal in the eyes of God.

In John we see an example of someone who was immersed in the scriptures and teachings of the prophets and determined to hold the people in power to account for their actions, or lack of them!

In Jesus we see someone who knew the people in power had forgotten their principles; they had thrown the baby out with the bathwater. He called the crowds back to basics; back to the centre.

Lots of churches make public statements about what they are against but I believe that in our case most of what we speak about is grounded in our search for justice for those who are vulnerable - rather than a strict morality which may only give us bragging rights.

So let us be people of faith and justice, not so that we may feel better and puffed up but so that the hurting and vulnerable may have a better life.

Amen.

2 Samuel 7: 1-14a
Psalm 89
Mark 6: 30-34, 53-56

“Not for Ourselves”

I try to not comment on elections in my sermons, especially American ones, but this thought popped into my mind as soon as I read a commentary on today’s reading from the older testament. We just heard that King David was told, through the prophet Nathan, that he will not be the one to build the temple; that task will fall to his successor. We know that there was never a “David’s temple”, but rather, a “Solomon’s temple!” We are also told in this passage that God will continue to bless him and build him a house of flesh and blood, in other words, a royal line. It is, of course, a word play on the word, “house”. The biblical story loves word plays!

Maybe you see this next part coming? I wonder, I wonder what would happen if Donald Trump had a dream, or one of his closest advisors had a dream, and in this dream, God message was, in effect, “DONALD, YOU ARE NOT THE ONE TO MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.” America will become great again under a future president.” Or even more horrible for the GOP, “America will become great again under a Democratic president.” Imagine!

Every leader, every candidate, provincial or federal, campaigns on set of goals or key points. “If you elect me, in 4 years this will have changed and I will leave X, Y and Z as my legacy.” Or, at least they used to! More and more though, Canadian politics is going the way our American neighbours did quite a number of years ago. So-called, “attack ads” focus on what the others are doing “wrong”, rather than saying anything significant about what the party in question will do right! It’s too easy to criticize, much harder to be positive.

Many years ago I was involved with the National Department of Stewardship Services of the General Council. Once a year, I flew to Toronto for three days of meetings. One of the members of the Department lived in a suburb, I think, somewhere between Toronto and Hamilton and the congregation he served was building a church. His congregation, most of whom lived in big, swanky homes (probably heavily mortgaged) came to the conclusion that it was not right that they lived in big homes, but rented worship space for their church. They decided that it was time they built a church! God deserved that much! Even before a sod was disturbed they had so many decisions to make; often the kinds of decisions those who built the first city churches in Canada probably took for granted and did not even discuss.

Some churches have what I might call a “high” sense of architecture; the space or view both inside and out, must speak of the worship of God. The whole building draws the eyes and the heart upward. Others are very “low” church and it is the music, among other things that transforms their plain space into worship space. I was never in that new church so I don’t know how that church conveyed the idea that this was worship space; I don’t know what their sanctuary looked like. In the days when people were moving to the suburbs and building lots of churches it was common for United Churches to have a gymnasium and many classrooms for Sunday School. The one I can think of in PEI now rents half of those classrooms to a local private school because the rent helps them tremendously with their occupancy costs and they don’t need them for Sunday School.. I know of another congregation which built a new building and paid for it so that their young people would not have that burden; but those once young people, now in their 30s and 40s have moved away, or are not interested and the ageing congregation is left wondering “What happened?”

Many Canadians are sports fans, following hockey and curling in the winter and baseball and football in the summer to name just a few sports. I heard on the radio on Thursday that there is a group trying to determine if there is enough support to pay for a replacement stadium in Saskatoon. It’s going to take a lot of money and stadiums don’t appear out of thin air! Do you remember game 7 of the Stanley cup playoffs; it wasn’t that many weeks ago! The end of the game was near and one more goal for Edmonton would tie the score, another would win the Cup! They had come from behind, surely they could do THIS! So, there I was, yelling at my TV for an Oilers goal. (As if the team could hear me!) When the play got close to the Panthers net I yelled, SCORE, SCORE; I wanted a Canadian team to win. YET, I knew that if it was, lets say Toronto and Anaheim, in the same situation, despite the fact that the Leafs have not won since just before expansion, I would be cheering for Anaheim. I’ve got nothing against the Leafs, but my nephew is on the Anaheim team. I know that I will cheer for his team no matter what jersey he wears.

We know how fast a team’s fortunes can change; I remember the back to back World Series wins by the Blue Jays - I’m certain my sister still has the commemorative Coke Cans! But I don’t think they have taken the series since! But it’s all about the recent past! It’s about fame and legacy and winning and there can only be one winner, can there! And one winner also means a whole roster of those who did not win, though it is hard to call any player at that level, “a loser.”

Lets go back to good ole King David. He’d done quite good for someone starting out as a mere shepherd boy, hadn’t he! The Hebrew people had no tradition of monarchy (only what they observed when they looked at other nations) and David’s was only the second “house” to have occupied the throne. He seems to have organized a strong enough army that his battles were over, for a while at least. He was relaxing and had time on his hands!

He thought that it was time for a temple; a permanent house for the Ark of God, since he lived in a palace, made of cedar. It did not seem right that God lived in a tent! I suppose David’s palace of Cedar would give him some bragging rights. The temple might give him more!

Look at all the castles and estates and palaces that the House of Windsor owns or had access to. (I would not want the occupancy costs - but Charles III has independent income streams! )

God’s immediate promise involves a legacy of flesh and bone, a “house of David” not a house of brick and stone. God has a plan and it is God’s plan to start with the House of David before a building built by him.

As I have hinted, I gather that the temple that David had in mind may have had more to do with David making a name for himself, than it did to praise God and to bring honour to God’s name. While there are biblical passages in which others look to the wealth of the land and proclaim, “look at that, God has done great things for them.” It seems that things start to go askew when the people begin to think that they are the ones responsible for the “great things.” “Look at what great things there people are doing to honour their God. Aren’t they dedicated.” See that subtle difference.

In comparison to the grand cathedrals of Europe Canada is a late-comer to the party. Of course, some of that is the technological knowhow to raise heavy stones and make it seem as if they are just hanging in the air. Funded by kings and bishops, it is hard to determine if the great cathedrals of Europe are supposed to make a name for the architect and builders or for God.

Some denominations believe in austerity in terms of a worship space while others see the grandness as a primary way to inspire holy awe in the congregation.

Quite a few years ago now I read a very, very long book about a man who began his career as a builder of great cathedrals. As he completed one phase of one cathedral he would leave and travel to other jobs and asw he went he learned more and more about arches and flying buttresses and domes and learned that, as a master craftsman, he would only be hired when the work was difficult. When they came to the point where any ninny of a stone mason could oversee the next phase, his contract would be done. It was an interesting look into the history of architecture and the building of these magnificent churches.

When we look at our role in the community and our mission to it, how do we balance making a name for ourselves and having what we do praise God. For example, we DO want to be known as the church who helps the poor and hungry, but how do we connect this to our response to the Gospel rather than a call to “look at us, WE help people, aren’t we great!”

As we seek to be God’s people in this time and place let us remember that our primary task is to give glory to God and not to ourselves. Let us trust that God will honour our response at the right time. Let us give Glory to God in all things.

Amen.

2 Samuel 18: 5-9, 15, 31-33

Psalm 130

John 6: 35, 41-51

“This Love is NOT Easy”

For some reason, a picture of a soldier killed around the year 1361 appeared on my Facebook page recently. His badly damaged skull was still inside his helmet, which had encased a large portion of his head and face. Apparently, the battle in which he died was waged between farmers and the Danish army. I had never heard of it, never studied it in school. It was well before the famed battle of Culloden, before the Crimean War, prior to the Boer War, and well before the two world wars; all of which I have studied and know at least something about.

Because of bombing from airplanes, missiles drones, and suicide bombers, war has changed a great deal. There are many new ways armies have developed to maximize destruction to the enemy and minimize danger to themselves. The Geneva Convention is a modern set of “rules of engagement” that tell soldiers when, how and even if, they can kill the enemy and how they have to treat prisoners.

In the time of King David there were fewer rules; killing an enemy combatant hanging from a tree by his hair was acceptable, and I suppose, expected. Who would adjudicate the crime anyway? The fact that this was a time of great confusion and, a military and family coup, made things more complex.

Even though the death of Absalom was necessary from a strategic standpoint it did not lessen David’s grief. They were still father and son despite everything that had happened. Family conflict was not a new thing to the Hebrew people. After all, the first recorded death in the biblical story is the result of sibling rivalry. We are not told what feelings Adam and Eve had when Able was killed or when Cain was banished. Did they wonder what they did wrong? Did they grieve?

Of course, the Genesis story has other purposes and is not designed to answer those questions but we have more scope with the story of David. To begin, it is the story of a succession struggle gone wrong! The Royal Family of the United Kingdom has a very defined line of succession which we have recently experienced but, again, history tells us what happened when someone else wanted the job. Some of the history is not very pretty. The supreme leader of North Korea is known to have executed top officials, including members of his own family who were thought to want the top job and presented a threat to him. Like the children’s game, now gone out of fashion, there can only be one, “king of the castle.” In the USA they are having a succession battle, otherwise known as “an election” where the winner will be declared “President of the United States” and in Canada our next winner will be declared “Prime Minister”. There are supposed to be clear rules for elections and everything is supposed to be above board (with an emphasis on “supposed to be”)!

We and our neighbours to the south are democracies but accusations of election fraud abound in the USA and Canada is not exempt. By the time the next President is inaugurated I know I will be good and tired of the news of Trump and Harris and glad for a reprieve! I hope I get at least that wish!

Of course King David knew that Absalom had defected to the enemy and that he probably had to killed if the threat he represented was to be properly dealt with but he was still a father and he still wept.

I have talked to parents about their children many times. Some were parents who were very proud of their offspring and their accomplishments; some were scratching their heads and dealing with their broken hearts, with tear filled eyes and wondering, “what happened?” One parent said to me, “well, the wheels might still come off the bus but we have been very lucky so far. We have good kids.”

I have visited with parents in hospitals when their child has gotten into trouble and ended up in the ICU, or with parents whose child is in jail, and love and bewilderment are struggling with each other in the parents’ hearts.

I know of children whose loyalties have been deliberately divided between parents during a divorce and the child is the one who suffers most.

Years ago an ecumenical couple showed the marriage preparation resources from the other denomination. It was tltled something like, “Only Love Can Make it Easy.” I would probably title it, “Only Love makes it Possible.” The relationship of marriage is rarely easy but love is an essential component.

I have talked with children who left home because they could not, or did not want to, follow the plan the parents had made for their lives. Being a minister, I get to hear the stories of the parents AND the children in the same family and all I can hope and pray for is a future reconciliation.

Too often, as a minister, my role in such a family is also to conduct funerals where there has been no resolve, no reconciliation. And that is very sad.

Some people look around at the pain experienced in some families and they decide not to take the risk of love. Some people close themselves off from others and take an, “If don’t care, I wont be hurt,” attitude thinking that this will bring some kind of peace. Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote, “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” In the writings of CS Lewis on the death of his wife he penned something about happiness and sadness being woven together.

Throughout the Gospel story and in the early church the foundation laid for the Christian community is love. It is acknowledged that biological family may well end up rejecting those who follow Jesus, but the early community is also assured that the love of God, in Christ, will bind the non-related believers together as if they were actual brothers and sisters.

Several years before I moved here I was talking with one of the teens from the congregation who was from a “blended family” and she said some of her “friends” were giving her a hard time for referring to a half brother’s step sister as her sister. While there was indeed NO biological relationship, we agreed that having more people to love was a great thing and that she was more than justified in referring to this person as a sister. I told her that I thought it was just fine. When I was in Tatamagouche last summer I met a minister from Nigeria who referred to his friend, the new minister in Preeceville-Sturgis Saskatchewan as “his brother.”

When we have more people to love, and more people to love us, we have a tremendous opportunity to show that God’s love dwells in us. I will warn you that within the realm of faith and faith community we are no longer able to get ourselves off of the hook by saying that we have no connection to “the other,” and thus no responsibility toward them. As baptized and baptizing community we are part of a much larger family

Over the years one of my responsibilities has been to preach on Remembrance Day. Another minister in Nipawin is Legion Chaplin so that is NOT on my job description here! As a Christian Minister and as a Canadian I have to walk a fine line between bring proud of our accomplishments toward the preservation of freedom as we know it, and the horrible things that are a necessary part of war.

In wartime there are people who do not fight but play a vital role such as journalists, poets and artists. Perhaps drones will be able to take all the pictures or videos we need in the future without putting civilians at risk but I don’t think so. Imagine Remembrance Day without “In Flanders Fields.” The doctor turned author has penned words that resonate with many as do the words of the act of remembrance, “they shall grow not old as we who are left grow old.” Poems such as, “the Man He Killed” by Thomas Hardy ask us to think of the enemy as just another “fellow made an enemy” because that is what war does, what war expects. I recall the man in one of the congregations I served, who was a WWII veteran; (pause) he was a Prussian drafted into the German Army and forced to serve on the Russian Front - all because of where and when he was born. After many years in Canada he proclaimed to me, “Canada is the best country in the vorld.”

There are great debates in clergy circles about flags in church. As a symbol of primary loyalty, some clergy feel that flags do not belong in church because here is the only place where we have to have our primary loyalty as to the God we have met in Jesus of Nazareth. During a service of worship, at least, that would be first and foremost. Others believe that our faith calls us to be loyal to our country. Before we stand up and proclaim with a straight face that God is on our side we should take a searching inventory to determine if we follow the will of God in terms love and compassion. Have we clothed the naked? Have we bound up the broken hearted? Have we visited those in prison? Have we sought to heal the sick? Has our country called us to do this?

God is not on our side, or the other country’s side, but on the side of love and justice. Out task is to align ourselves with the will of God, not to beat other people over the head and force them to come to our side.

Too often missionary zeal in the past sought to tell the good news of Jesus to people who had never heard it but we also brought with this news a whole lot of cultural baggage. When we forced children into residential schools we forced them to wear the white settler’s clothing, to eat a very poor quality settler’s diet, to speak the settler’s language and we removed all semblance of their connection with Creator. Our lack of true love and respect for the first peoples of this land caused damage that will take just as long to repair.

For most of us the decisions we face are not those on the level of war and international diplomacy; not of obviously world-changing significance, yet they are decisions to walk the path of love and justice where we find ourselves.

We may find we may have choices about loyalties. In all aspects of life we have to decide between the easy way and the way that is right and often costly. I know that there are great debates about investing in oil and gas or investing in green energy. When I was a young adult it was the ethics of investing in companies that profited from the Apartheid system in South Africa.

There are debates about traditional agriculture and alternative methods of feeding lour family and the planet. The choices are never as black and white as we live our lives in the grays. The question is, “Can we do this as a person of faith?” They are not as simple as the choice between killing the gal who dinged your new car or just yelling at that person. We are called to view our decision-making with the eyes of faith. Years ago young people were encouraged to wear WWJD bracelets whose initials stand for “What Would Jesus Do?” I think a better question would probably be, “What Would Jesus Have Me Do? But WWJHMD does not slide off the tongue as easily! Golfer Payne Stewart who died in an airplane accident about 25 years ago often wore a WWJD bracelet but his proclamation went further as he helped underprivileged kids experience golf in a Christian Camp context.

We may not agree with what other people of faith do as they live out their faith but that’s not the issue; we are all called to live or faith, not just slap it on our car’s bumper of wear it on your wrist. .

Let us be and do the work of the one who calls us his own beloved.

Amen.

1 Kings 2:10–12; 3:3–14
Psalm 111
John 6: 51-58

Seek Ye First the Wisdom of God!

2 years ago, about this time of year, it seemed that reporters from more than half the world were hovering at the gates of Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at least virtually, awaiting news of the woman whose length of reign was longer than that of Queen Victoria and second only to the French king known as Louis Quatorze. Her children and grandchildren had rushed to her bedside and as expected the proclamation of her death eventually came. After the required notifications of the British Prime Minister and heads of state of the Commonwealth Countries the world was told, “The queen has died.” There are protocols for royal succession and when “London bridge went town” those who were “in the know” knew just what to do. The monarchy instantly and gradually transferred to the new generation.

Of course, King Charles spent many more years than his mother as “monarch in waiting” and will not hope to have a reign to rival the length of that of his mother, nor will Princes William or George. By contrast, in today’s passage, we are told that King David’s career was only 40 years; a good run considering the life expectancy of the time, but short in comparison to Queen Elizabeth II.

Young Solomon was not his father’s eldest and his ascension to the throne was neither certain nor easy. In today’s passage, Solomon refers to himself as a child (I believe he was about 20) and when asked by God, in a dream, has a request of God, “an understanding mind to govern God’s people, and the ability to be able to discern between good and evil; “ Indeed throughout history, Solomon was known as the “wise king”. We all probably remember the story of him deciding between 2 women who both claimed a child as their own, when one of the their children died. He was able to have them tell him who was the real mother.

There are probably thousands of jokes told about someone finding a genie in a bottle, or some such thing, and being granted three wishes. In the jokes, the third wish is, of course, the punch line!

In a way, it might seem like Solomon is part of a joke setup where God comes to him in a dream and grants him one wish. When he asks for the “right” thing he is granted all of the other things kings usually enjoy. Solomon’s request is for wisdom rather than wealth or power and is seen as the “right answer” in this passage and his reign is blessed. This passage is, of course, designed to tell the reader the important points of Solomon’s reign and what it was that made him memorable for the generations to come.

Considering that all the kings up until this point (Saul, David, and Solomon) had to fight their own people to ensure their succession and contend with the neighbouring states to secure their borders, it should not be a surprise that ethnic tensions were always a factor. Then, after Solomon’s reign the country split in two and to make a long story short, both parts were defeated by superpowers and eventually disappeared from the world stage!

When I was in my first year of university I took a course in biblical studies. It was taught by a Presbyterian minister from Scotland, who came, complete with the Scot’s accent. He was also the Dean of Arts. At some point in the fall, he went to an almost week long series of “deans meetings” and he asked another member of the Religious Studies department to handle his lectures. That professor was a United Church minister, from Cape Breton who was a theologian, not a biblical scholar! The lectures he gave were on the part of the Older Testament often called, “the wisdom literature.” He said to us, “Im glad your professor asked me to do these lectures; after all what would the dean of arts know about wisdom!” It was his attempt at humour!!!! I’m told that the following year at about the same time the dean again went to meetings and asked the same professor to cover the same unit and he used the same joke. His humour was dry but razor sharp. I connected with him occasionally over the next 30 some years as our paths crossed on Presbytery and Conference matters.

A few years ago he had to move to a nursing home because he had developed dementia; his wife, who I also knew, told me that his wonderful mind was gone. He died when I was on vacation just a few weeks ago, and I was reminded of the big influence he had on my development as a Christ follower and as a minister.

In many different cultures the world over there are people who are revered as wise and their memorable teachings cross the boundaries of culture and language. There are people we know who are smart and knowledgeable and there are people who are wise; the two traits don’t seem to have much to do with one another! I read that studying will give you knowledge but wisdom comes from observing and reflecting. Our tradition tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom - keeping in mind that “fear of the Lord” is not the same thing as being afraid of God’s punishment if we stray!

In the Hebrew and Christian biblical tradition, wisdom is knowing the greatest and highest goal and how to achieve it. Wisdom comes from a kind of reflection on life that cannot be learned. The people of Israel are asked to consider wisdom.

What is most important in a society? What is the mark of a successful one? I guess it depends on your measuring device. Our culture often probably ties this to the economy and to economic growth. By this metric we have to be better off than we were last year; we have to have growth. Parents work so their kids can have more than they did and those kids grow up and in turn wish the same for their own children. However in so doing we have created a culture of endless consumption and are now to the point where more is not possible and many wise people are telling us that success will come in living with less; our very survival will come in living with less.

Facebook memes try to influence our thoughts and actions. “Lets look after ourselves instead of welcoming refugees.” or “The measure of a society is how we look after the poor.” Those two contrasting statements seem to represent the two basic types of opinions in western society today. I cannot let sleeping dogs lie and often irk people when I disagree with statements like the first. People have posted these because it seems to align with their worries and concerns. They are statements that initially look to be something others can endorse. My hope is that my challenge will make people re-think it from a faith perspective.

As we reflect on all of the thoughts and actions which seek to influence us, the question for us as people of faith is, “which points of view or “goals” are in sync with what we understand to the mission of Jesus,” and which are not? When we are nourished by the bread of life and when we are a part of a tradition that focuses on the wisdom that comes from God, what should be our concern? Faith and wisdom are not meant to be knew jerk reactions; we are people of discernment. We are meant to think and ponder when we encounter the needs of the world as we try and determine what God is calling us to do.

As the American (and Canadian) elections approach we will be seeing more and more posts that attempt to influence our political allegiance. The Trump campaign has posted many of them as has the Saskatchewan Party even though it is not provincial election time. What kind of world do we want? What kind of province? What we are really called to ask, “what kind of province, country and world is God calling us to support?”

When we look at Solomon’s choice we see that he wanted an understanding mind, able to discern between good and evil. Modern democracies have a host of problems but I don’t think that many can be solved by simplistic off the top of the head or knee jerk reactions, “Lock em up and throw away the key,” is a common reaction to increased crime. We have to remember though that most problems are complex and it’s not just about us and the people like us.

I recall sitting in that same United Church professor’s office all those years ago and looking at some of the posters on his wall; the one that said, “justice, not just us” had a powerful effect on me. There was another, even more powerful, a picture and a quote by Dom Helder Camara, a Roman Catholic Bishop from Brazil, “When I give food to the poor they call me a saint but when I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist.”

Saskatchewan’s own Tommy Douglas, wisely stated, “We are all in this world together, and the only test of our character that matters is how we look after the least fortunate among us. How we look after each other, not how we look after ourselves. That’s all that really matters, I think.”

Biblically speaking, wisdom is not “the smart thing” and it is not the thing that will that will make us wealthy - it is the right thing, it is the way of faith. Wisdom helps us to challenge western culture’s attraction to individualism and no-holes-bared competition, and to embrace the good of the society in which we live and the whole world has enough to sustain a dignified life.

Let us seek the wisdom to know right from wrong and to bring abundant life to the world God loves.

Amen.

1 Kings 8: 1, 6, 10-11, 22-30, 41-43
Psalm 84
John 6: 56-69
August 25, 2024

Can You Repeat That Jesus?

In the Merchant of Venice, a play written by William Shakespeare, a Jewish money lender, Shylock, loans a significant amount of money to Antonio, so he can help his friend, win a woman’s hand in marriage, and the penalty, if Antonio cannot pay, is a pound of his flesh. When he cannot pay the debt, Shylock takes him to court seeking his pound of flesh. A smart lawyer, who is in actual fact his best friend’s new wife, in disguise, arrives to argue Antonio’s case. The lawyer tells him that he can have the flesh, if he can cut off exactly one pound! AND he must not draw any blood. Both conditions are impossible. How many times have any of us gone to the deli counter for a certain weight of a sliced meat and had to accept either a little more or a little less - and pay for what we received, not what we really wanted? We know that even a small cut bleeds even if a blood vessel is not involved. Topping it all off, the lawyer then claims that Shylock is guilty of threatening the life of a citizen of Venice which would be the logical result of cutting off a pound of his flesh! Instead of the death penalty, Shylock’s punishment is to forfeit his entire estate and to be forced to become Christian. Shakespeare classed this play as a comedy, but in a post-holocaust world, it is easy to see the outright racism here; I would class it as a tragedy.

We know also that the Jewish people had rules against eating meat that still had blood in it and they had to be sure that it was properly killed and prepared. In today’s Gospel passage, for the formerly Jewish disciples and casual listeners, to be instructed to feed on Jesus flesh and blood was very offensive. Sounds like cannibalism. Perhaps such a thing was even worse than eating pork or another unclean food. Maybe they heard it wrong, but Jesus’ hearers took it literally and could not get beyond the very idea.

The disciples, on the other hand, were becoming accustomed to Jesus’ hard sayings, sayings that they had to figure out, that challenged and even offended. They would discover that they were sustained on their journey by Jesus in ways that the finest food could not. His teachings worked their way into their hearts and grew there and changed them from within. I suppose they may have “chewed on his words” over and over again as they stayed up around a campfire, late into the night. They savoured the taste of his teachings like they might a fine wine. As they did so, their faith changed and grew. They became different people.

In order for us to learn and grow as disciples we need to be fed and nourished, in discipleship. We are told that what we need is the body and blood of Jesus - speaking metaphorically of course? We need to consume and digest Jesus through his teachings and the presence of the Spirit. While it sounds like the language of Holy Communion, it has to be more than those literal elements, more than those teachings A teaspoon of grape juice and a 1cm cube of bread could not sustain anyone, physically; of course it’s meaning goes far deeper. We are meant to consider all of Jesus’ teachings and the stories the Gospels tell. We need to decide for ourselves what they mean for us and for our life of faith.

A much younger colleague of mine brags on Facebook that her toddler is not a picky eater. The family diet includes various ethnic foods as well as typically Canadian fare. She is fortunate, as many small children have quirky likes and dislikes when it comes to food. I tease her and tell her that her next child will only eat red food or round food, like some young children.

I recall the TV commercial for a popular restaurant. The mom is away and dad is feeding the children. Not knowing any different, he cuts the child’s sandwich in two, and the child complains that it is cut “the wrong way.” The complaint becomes dad’s excuse to take the kids out to eat at this particular restaurant. I know a few dads who would indulge that - but once mom intervened it would only happen the once! As we grow we have to be adaptable and flexible with food choices.

This leads me to ask the questions; what sustains us as Christians? What, for us, is the body and blood of the matter? What gives us food for thought, what is too hard to digest? When are we taking the lazy way out and pretending we are satisfied with pat and simple answers which do not stretch us and if we are really honest, do not sustain us?

There were many saying and teachings of Jesus that left people scratching their heads. To use just one example, I don’t know anyone who took literally the saying, “if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better to go through life maimed than to have two feet and burn for eternity.” Followers were still meant to take it seriously. However the sayings about leaving mother and father in order to become disciples was, by the time the Gospels were written down, actually proving to be true in their lives, but as their blood relations were replaced with relatives in the Spirit.

When I think about the Christian diet I think of all the folks who leave church part-way through Sunday school, and do not have the opportunity to grow their faith. They have a few stories interpreted from a child’s perspective and in many cases their faith falters when it hits the real world of adult life. My nephew’s oldest son is not yet 2. He has graduated from baby food to adult food, but it is cut into small pieces so he can pick it up with his little fork or spoon and chew it with the few teeth he has so far. Like all children as they grow, his diet will expand when he can handle more challenging food.

As adults we can wrestle with the Parables at different levels than we did when we first learned the stories when we were children. Sometimes what we are feasting on is actually the equivalent of “spiritual junk food.” There is no body or blood, no nutrition, to it. The life force of Jesus’ ministry and mission is not in it. We seek out stories that tell us we are ok. We search out stories that affirm that we are doing all we can to show God’s love. Last week I quoted a poster from my former professor’s office, “if I give food to the poor they call me a saint but when I ask why the poor have no food they call me a communist.” For at least an entire generation, the justice networks of the church have been calling on us us to feed the poor but ALSO to ask why we have to keep doing this year after year.

One of the things that schools have known for a long time is that a good breakfast is essential to learning. Yet many children arrive at school hungry and are at a disadvantage when they try to learn what the teacher has to teach. A school breakfast program allows everyone who needs it to have the nutrition necessary for learning to occur.

When we read that child poverty is rising sharply, (there was an article in the Journal on Friday about the Moose Jaw Food Bank) we need to ask who and what are presenting the poor from being able to have their own food. We are told that it’s a combination of high rent, high food costs, high gas prices and low and part-time wages. We are cautioned against blaming the poor; it is rarely if ever, their own doing. We need to take a hard look at how the entire economy is designed to funnel as much money as possible to the top. Jesus teachings also give us the mandate to visit those in prison and, it seems to be, to ask why they are there. What drives people to a life of crime? Why are there more racialized people locked up than Caucasians? Those hare hard questions and we need a lot of energy and faith community support to ask them. We need to have the strength to take the answers and then attempt to change the way things are. We need to have a good breakfast of Jesus’ teachings in our bellies as we start any discipleship quest.

Sometimes we stop in at our favourite place for a quick bite (who doesnt from time to time) and what we get is tasty, but it is also high in fat and salt, low in other nutrients; it fills us up but we know we have to do better for our next meal. The Christian life is not about the quick and the easy, its about the seeking to do what is right.

As Christians we pursue a high and holy calling to be followers of Jesus. We feed on Jesus, whose body gives us energy and purpose and identity and meaning. We can feast on him and his word through the Spirit. We are not called to only come here, sit for an hour or so and then leave feeling good. We are called to come here and then go forth and be the church of Jesus - changing the world one life and one heart at a time. If we have eaten well we will have the energy we need for the task.

Amen.

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

Doers of the Word

I think it was a winter funeral where I met a young man wearing a heavy yellowish work coat or hoodie with the capital letters “DHCM” emblazoned on the front. After a few attempts at trying to come up with a meaning myself, I asked what it stood for and was told, “Dirty Hands Clean Money.” Obviously the company makes clothing for people who work in so-called, “blue collar jobs.” Actually, in my experience most their collars end up looking very black! I thought of getting one of the coats as a gift for my nephew who is a building contractor but I never got around to it; I have to keep making baby gifts for him! (Which is more fun!)

Many years ago I was visiting my family and asked this same nephew, who was three or four, if he wanted to go blueberry picking. He did. Since he had been playing in the barnyard, I suggested that he needed to wash his hands. I expected him to go into the house and use the bathroom sink but he marched over to the nearest mud puddle, bent over, swished his hands in the reddish water and then held them up for my inspection with a big smile, pronouncing them, “all clean.” We did go to the berry patches but I let him eat what he picked. Now that he is married and has 2 children of his own, he and his wife will have to decide what is clean enough when it comes to hand washing before they eat.

When I was growing up it was not uncommon to pull a carrot out of the ground, wipe the dirt off on your jeans and eat it, sand and all; the same with beans from the vine, apples from the tree, or we would chew on a stalk of timothy or suck the sweetness out of a clover bloom. When we were baling hay we all drank from the same glass - and yes, Facebook people, I drank from a hose on more than one occasion.

But all caution was NOT thrown to the wind ; we did wash our hands when we came in from outside before sitting at the kitchen table to eat a meal. I well remember the muddy towels when the men washed their hands but wet and dried their entire arms. My mother had been a nurse before she was married and had children and for the rest of her life thorough hand washing was important to her.

When I was growing up I discovered early on that different families had different rules and when you were visiting you followed their rules. Usually, it was my friends’ job to war me beforehand, “in this house we ...” Some couples disagree about family rules. My mother and father disagreed about Sunday work. My father would make hay on Sunday if it was ready no matter how much my mom protested.

One of my parent’s ministers grew up in the UK and he told us that in the winter his father would go to the Jewish neighbour’s house to light the coal stove in the morning because they could not do any work - and lighting the stove was considered work they could not do but having a gentile do it for them was OK. I was reading the manual for my new stove and apparently there are special models made for Jewish people which have a “Sabbath Setting” which allows you to leave the oven on overnight and you can eat food that is warmed up on the Sabbath as long as it is cooked beforehand. Instead of rolling our eyes we should just acknowledge the existence of such rules and the reality that some people do take them seriously.

When I was in theological school I discovered that some of my classmates had been in lay ministry in Newfoundland and in some communities they had to not only hide their wine bottles they had to hide their playing cards. In those communities ministers did not play cards. In one nearby community the ministers knew who would go to the liquor store for them and they could pick it up from their house under the cover of darkness. In one of the churches I served, I found out that more than 100 years before the minister would allow his children to play on Sunday AS LONG AS THEY STAYED IN THE BARN WHERE NO ONE COULD SEE THEM. They were part of the so-called “Free Presbyterian” tradition that also did not allow children to have fun on Sunday or to have organ music in the church service. These Presbyterians broke away from regular Presbyterians when they became too liberal. That’s not my definition of freedom!

In the 1850s and the early 1900s when a communion service was held only members were served. Not only that though, non-members were dismissed. Before I learned this I wondered why some ministers would announce that you could stay put even if you were not partaking of communion. I would wonder, “why would I leave” but these ministers were familiar with the old tradition and wanted to assure people they were welcome to remain.

Preparation services prior to communion often went on for days on a communion weekend. At such services postage stamp sized pewter “communion tokens” were handed out; your turned them in before you could receive communion. I have a couple of them from different churches; one was a gift from a church in which I was conducting a communion service as part of my role as Chairperson of Presbytery! On one side they often have the words, “in remembrance of me” and on the other, “let a man examine himself”. One of mine has a little drawing of a communion table. I no longer remember which one came from which church. Part of the communion service involved what is called, “fencing the table” which was telling people up front that it was only for people who were worthy. I recall reading a service book from that time and seeing the words of “welcome” went something like, “these are God’s holy things for God’s holy people.” I am so glad that since 1850 our church has discovered grace.

At one of my session meetings about 30 years ago one elder mentioned that they should have communion cards like some churches. When I told them that it was a way to make elders visit every family on their list 4 times a year, they decided they did not need the cards!

When I was in university I met many people who were glad to be away from any restrictions imposed by parents based on religion or any family preference. Some of them took full advantage of this freedom. And I met people whose religious practices were much more rigid than I had ever known - other than going to church on Sunday. Their religion seemed to be defined by what they did not do. They did not drink or smoke of listen to non-Christian music or study on Sunday and many of them had a very narrow definition of who was and who was not Christian.

I read a story once of two monks who were on a journey; one was twice the age of the other who was still a novice monk. They were from an order entirely composed of men and they were not allowed so speak to or even touch a woman. As they walked they encountered a woman standing by a washed out bridge. She wondered how she could cross the stream and get where she needed to go. The older man picked her up without a word and piggybacked her across the stream. She thanked the men and they parted ways. For the next two miles the younger, very earnest monk muttered, “you should not have done that, you should know better.” and he repeated this over and over. Finally the older monk had enough, “I put here down two miles ago, why are you still carrying her?’

The teachings of Jesus are not meant to have us say, “I thank God that I am not a terrible person like that old so and so I see coming out of the liquor store with a crate of scotch every weekend after he has spent a mint on 6/49 tickets and he beats his kids who are always hungry because he spends his pay cheque before he gets home.”

Jesus has no time for that kind of thought pattern; our faith is not meant for us to avoid the sins that make life miserable for many people and only that. The Pharisees Jesus often encountered were often of a higher social and economic class that had the luxury of being able to pay attention in ways the working class and poor could not possibly do. Jesus had no time for their “superiority” and arrogance.

If all we can claim is that we have succeeded in avoiding sin we do not have too much to say for ourselves. Our faith is meant to free us for service - to connect the two - to see to it, for example, that the first man’s children have enough to eat and the other necessities of life despite the father’s shortcomings. It’s not work’s righteousness - but it is simply allowing the gospel to change us so that the works of faith radiate outward instead of just forming a useless halo around ourselves to puff ourselves up.

I grew up with an expression that went something like, “she is so heavenly minded she is no earthly good”. One of my congregational members in Nova Scotia used to say that a particular person was as pure as the driven snow but would “skin a louse for a penny.” Charity and generosity were not words in that person’s vocabulary.

When we look at what we consider important Jesus cautions us to look at what comes from our life, not just the sin we have avoided. It does not mean that sin does not exist, or that we are free to sin with wild abandon, but that any attempts at being “righteous” involve acts that show in a positive way that the love of God in Christ has transformed us and changed us to show God’s love in Christ to those we meet.

Let us focus on the outward manifestations of the Gospel and be agents of healing in our world.

Amen.

James 2: 1-10, 14-17
Psalm 125
Mark 7: 24-37

A Tale of Two Healings

During the humid and smoky summer days, I decided to stay inside in the evenings and watch TV while I cross stitched the baby gifts for the new babies in the family - three since the end of June. Because there were too many sports and too many reruns on TV I picked a Netflix series that some of my friends recommended. House MD is a show about a brilliant but socially inept doctor from New Jersey who works in a small teaching hospital. Addicted to painkillers because of a troublesome leg injury, some years before, Greg House leads a team of diagnostic specialists who tackle tough cases and bring patients back from the brink of death. Each episode begins with some kind of accident or onset of illness and he and his team try and figure out what is wrong and how to treat the ailment. House is often rude and sarcastic. His patients and his colleagues complain that he does not care - but he really is dedicated to curing what is wrong. He is often in the middle of a discussion about something else and he stops, stares off into space and then runs out of the room to a patient’s room with a new treatment or solution to the problem that is making that person sick. He does some of his best work while he is sitting in his office bouncing a ball off of the walls or sitting in his home playing a piano.

When we look at the stories of Jesus in the Newer Testament, we expect to find someone who is compassionate and ready to heal whomever comes his way. He heals Samaritans, blind people, deaf people and brings children back from death. He associates with sinners and people considered to be “unclean”. He challenges the self-righteous who do not recognize the value and worth of those who cannot meet their exacting standards for religious faithfulness. He is the very definition of kindness. I don’t know about you, but that seems like the kind of Jesus I learned about in Sunday school and the one I often preach about. “Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild” by Charles Wesley, was once a popular hymn, now over 250 years old, which depicts well how we tend to see Jesus.

Then, perhaps we learned the story of Jesus throwing the money-changers out of the temple and we re-thought that gentle and mild description. Today we read another story which asks us to rethink more of our previous notions. Jesus is on holiday and looking for a break. He is visiting someone and does not want people to find him.

But he is found out and a local seeks him out and asks for healing for her daughter. The way he treats this woman in need and her request is shocking. It is not the Jesus we know or want to know. He is aloof, rude, sarcastic and downright mean. When I read this story I think the gospel writer must have made a mistake: Jesus could not have been like this, could he?

Another assumption we may make about Jesus is that when he walked out of the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry and began to preach, he was totally sure of what he was about and he had no need to grow or expand his mind. We assume that his spiritual growth was complete.

Maybe, NOT! Let’s take a closer look.

First of all Jesus has crossed a border and he is in the region of Tyre, a place where many Gentiles live. Biblical historians tell us that in this place the gentiles have the upper hand. They are oppressive of the Jewish people who are in the area and they exploit them by unfair labour practices. Jesus’ and his disciples may well have had very little sympathy for this unnamed woman either.

Have you ever been on an airplane and over the intercom you hear an announcement, “is there a doctor on this flight?” Someone has fallen ill and the cabin crew needs expert medical advice, not just a St John Ambulance First Aid Course. The last time I heard this kind of announcement there was a large group of us on our way to General Council in BC. There was a doctor in our group and I gather there was another, a stranger to me. One was directly involved and the other “agreed” with the course of action. We ended up being diverted to the nearest airport in order to transport the person to hospital and we were several hours late arriving at our final destination. I don’t know how most doctors feel when this happens and if it has more to do with them being tired or on vacation or about questions about legal liability. Some keep their heads down and hope the cabin crew did not see the title “Dr” on their ticket.

Yet, Jesus’ reaction shows a very un-nice attitude toward the woman’s daughter. He calls her a, “a dog”. I find this Jesus offensive, unlikeable, very “un-Jesus-like.” Many people would agree. Even when we learn what assumptions are in the background we think that Jesus should rise above all of the cultural assumptions of that time and place.

Surprisingly this story was kept in the Gospels - perhaps Mark learned a thing or two from the OT, which would have been his Bible. In that part of the biblical story the heroes of the faith are not presented as people as pure as the driven snow. They have faults - the great King David had many, not the least of which was his wandering eye and the OT is honest about their humanness.

In this story the children’s bread seems to be a euphemism for God’s healing power. I recall watching a TV show, set at the turn of the century, where an intern in a private American hospital is taught they cannot treat the very poor - they are not a charity. They don’t waste their resources treating the people who have made poor choices and don’t have any ability to pay. This show takes long before any kind of health insurance was invented and before medicare in Canada.

This woman in the Gospel may accept her designation as less than human but her reaction shows the depth of her faith. Like the woman who needed only to touch the hem of Jesus’ clothing, this woman pleads that all she needs is a crumb or two.

It seems that Jesus realizes he has made an error. Jesus knew that some Jewish people didn’t have much faith in him. Today two people are healed; the woman’s daughter of her illness and Jesus of his Jesus’ eyes are opened, he is healed of some of his prejudice.

We forget that there was a time when the church struggled with the welcoming of Gentiles into the communities of faith. Since Jesus was seen as a Jewish messiah and saviour, a gentile was supposed to embrace the Jewish hopes and dreams before seeing Jesus as the Messiah. It was a real struggle in the early church. But before we judge the early church too harshly, we need to take a hard look at our own communities of faith.

I was reading about a woman who was new to a city and was church shopping. She was black and happened to visit a predominantly white church. One of the ushers approached her as she entered and told her that she would find a more comfortable seat in a church several blocks away. Most often the cold shoulder is less obvious but we church people have a way of welcoming those who wont rock the boat and are, “just like us.”

There is lots of literature about church communities learning how to be welcoming, open and inclusive. Quite a while before I moved here the United Church had a nation-wide program on being more welcoming, more open. Wonder Café was the online portion of this initiative; the sign was still on the (Nipawin) building on the side facing the post office - I had the building and grounds people take it down when we realized the website to which it referred was no longer working.

Most churches claim that they want to grow, But growth is risky, growth is very risky. What if the new people or recently returned people want to sit in our favourite pew? What if they want to sing different hymns? How much change can we take? I was looking at the facebook post of a church I once served; all their pews are for sale. As far as I know, the church is not closing. Many churches are using moveable chairs these days - are they going that way too. I don’t know; but it would open up new possibilities for the use of their sanctuary.

((Alternate sentences for different congregations) Our Matthew 25 program is a good example of trying to reach out to both friend and strange with a nutritious meal. I have noticed through Pastoral Care reporting that the Pastoral Care Committee visits and supports those in Codette who are not part of our congregation - because we DO care about them!

Recently we had a church wide vote, called a Remit, asking if we would allow allowing the indigenous church to have autonomy in many things. Our ancestors brought the Gospel to Canada but we settlers continued to exercise control over their churches in ways that were not healing and not equal. The legacy of residential schools created much damage and distrust and the elders came to the General Council and said, “we need to he healed” and we need for you to allow us to do it in our awn way. It was if they said, “Trust the Gospel that you planted in us and is now seeking to grow and flourish.”

To heal the other is to take a risk that the now healthy person will go in ways that we did not expect and cannot control.

Jesus learned something on that long ago day. The woman knew that a crumb of respect and healing power and love would indeed heal her daughter. Jesus was forced to tear down some fences and remove a blindfold he did not realize kept him from fully proclaiming the Gospel.

This is Good News but if it does not become real for us in our lives then the Gospel has lost its power to transform.

The Gospels are not just stories of long ago they are stories that can come alive in the here and now - if we let them become so.

Amen!

James 3: 1-12
Psalm 19
Mark 8: 27-38

Front Page Challenge!

When I was young there was one TV station available and we had one TV, a black and white set, - in the kitchen. One evening program I remember my dad and grandmother watching was the CBC’s, Front Page Challenge”. A special guest would be standing behind a panel consisting of Betty Kennedy, Gordon Sinclair, Pierre Berton and a guest panellist, led by host Fred Davis. There were others over the years but these are the people I remember best! Panel members would have to guess who the mystery guest was through a series of questions. Over the years, the list of guests included Indira Gandhi, Pierre Trudeau, Gordie Howe, and in the very last episode, Shania Twain. The one question that was not allowed, of course, was “What is your name”. Unlike similar shows on American networks, the CBC did not steer away from controversy but did not allow 4 letter words! In time international guests no longer appeared once the CBC budget cuts deemed the travel to be too expensive.

In today’s passage the disciples are thrown into a first-century version of this game. First, Jesus asks for “the word on the street”. What have they heard at the local Tim Hortons? What’s the latest on Facebook? The answers seem far fetched - John the wilderness prophet had been executed only recently and Elijah had been carried off in a blaze of glory, generations before. The men they mention are dead.

Yet, the most important question, the question Jesus really wants them to answer, comes next. Who do YOU say that I am?

Many of you will remember the tv show in which someone always asked the question, “who was that masked man?” The answer, of course, was always, “why, he’s the Lone Ranger.” He was “lone” because a band of outlaws had killed the rest of his patrol, Texas Rangers whose job it was to keep the west safe for law abiding settlers. I suspect that every young boy who watched the show aspired to be a “Ranger,” even those watching through the snowy reception of rural Canada.

A lot of young people are inspired to enter a certain career because of nostalgia and romantic ideas of saving the world. When they begin their training they wonder if they will survive, let along graduate.

In other programs the, the failure rate is high. My uncle told me that when he entered engineering, his classmates were told, “say hello to the young man on your left and now on your right. Now say goodbye to one of them. I went to almost the same assembly, and most of us were not in engineering. It was supposed to make we young students realize that they were not in high school anymore and hitting the books would be far more important than the social activities that are so exciting for young people away from home for the first time.

The reality is that when we sign up for something we don’t really know what is involved, especially in the training period. Once the disciples have come to the conclusion that Jesus is the Messiah he orders them to be quiet, because? Well, that’s always been a bit of a head scratcher. You might think he would want them to proclaim it from the roof-tops.

But, I think it was because was going to re-define the concept of the Messiah. You see they thought of the Messiah as a warrior king who would lead an insurrection and drive the Romans out of their beloved homeland. He promised a return to the greater glory of their past. The Messiah would bring a new era that was just like the days of old. Since there had been generations and generations of not having any autonomy, people readily agreed, “wouldn’t it be great.” They saw through rose-coloured glasses.

Some of you know that I gather over zoom on Tuesday with colleagues. We don’t usually talk about our upcoming sermons but this week one of my colleagues noted that Jesus attempts to silence his disciples; they knew who he was but they were not allowed to tell anyone. This is often called “the messianic secret” and it has intrigued scholars for generations. “Why?” Perhaps, Jesus needed time for them to figure it out first, before they let the rest of the community in on their discoveries,

However, Jesus was not planning to be a military leader of any sort. Jesus was not planning to hand out positions of honour and privilege for his closest friends. The revolution he was planning was first one of the heart; he wanted to get the disciples on board first and then, by the time his secret was out, they would be able to tell others what Jesus ministry was really all about. It was also a revolution of reversal. The strong would become weak and the weak would be lifted up and given strength.

In some places you can tell who voted for the government because there is a new layer of pavement on a pot-hill filled road or a new government contract announced for a public infrastructure project. In Jesus’ world there would be no rewards for those who had helped to bring about the change or reversal of fortunes; everyone would win and most importantly, everyone winning did not mean that others had to lose.

Jesus also knew that his mission would rub many people the wrong way and that his message would ruffle a lot of feathers. Those who stood to lose a lot would try as hard as possible to silence him. And they did. But then they didn’t!

As we study the history of the early church we find out that Jesus’ first followers did suffer and die at the hands of those whose power was threatened. By the time the Gospels were written down a lot of his “predictions” had already come to pass.

Our neighbours to the South are in the midst of election fever and many Canadians have been following the debates and laughing or shaking their heads or, dare I say it, keeping their cats inside! More than ever the American elections seem to matter more to Canadians. I am dismayed that Canadian politics has become infected with the attack style ads and character assassination that was common only in the States. It should not be enough to proclaim that the other party is bad; there needs to be another vision.

At election time people ask the question, “What’s in it for me? “What can I get from this or that action.” I read a story a while ago of a man who was visiting a friend in a very poor neighbourhood. He parked outside the apartment and he saw a young boy and asked him if he would like to earn $20 for watching his car for him. He nodded eagerly because he did. When the man finished the visit he offered the boy a ride in his car. He drove him all over the neighbourhood and told him that the car had been a gift from his brother. “Wow, he GAVE you this car. Like it didn’t cost you NOTHING?” The boy asked.

“No, It did not cost me a cent.”

“I wish .....” The man was certain what the boy was going to say next, but he was surprised when his words finally came out, “I wish I would be a brother like that.”Imagine what it would be like to have so much spare change that you could give someone a car!

This passage from Mark’s gospel is one of the many in which the up-side-down world of the Gospels is held up and offered as the way of Christ. It’s not a “what’s in it for me?” perspective, but a “what can I be enabled to do?” point of view.

John F Kennedy, the beloved US President who was assassinated in 1963 gave a speech which included this line, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” During his term the Vietnam War was a difficult and divisive issue. The Space Race was in large part a competition with Russia and it took an astronomical amount of their resources but they beat the Russians to the moon.

I have read many stories and talked with many people who have lived overseas. Many have discovered that the people in the developing world can teach us a great deal about generosity and hospitality. A Mission Personnel from the United Church visited a family from his church and was offered a meal. He cleaned his plate which is what a good Canadian boy was taught. The plate was taken to the kitchen and refilled. The man again cleaned his plate. When it was brought back a third time the Canadian realized that, in that culture, not finishing your meal was a sign that you had eaten enough, that your host was a good host. What amazed him was that this stranger with very little was willing to give it to him.

We think of abundance as something we used to enjoy - back in the good old days, whatever those days were. Remember when food and gas were cheaper? Remember when .....”

In a world where the gap between the rich and the poor is ever widening, what does our faith call us to do and be? What do the teachings of this Jesus we follow have to say to our goals and ambitions and entitlements.

John Wesley, the famous Methodist preacher once said, “Earn all you can, save all you can, and give all you can,” in a sermon titled, “The Uses of Money.” We teach children about saving money - saving money for a rainy day, for a special purpose, saving money for education, for a house, for retirement. I wonder how many people teach their children to save money in order to give it away. It goes with all that other paradoxical stuff about losing one’s life in order to find it and dying so that one can rise to abundant life.

We all know the basic story of A Christmas Carol , the Dickensian tale about an old miserable miser who became happy only when he realized that giving to those in need brought much more joy than adding to his bank account. I read somewhere that this book can take most of the credit for the formation of modern Christmas associations with generosity toward the poor.

If we believe that Jesus is the Messiah and are ready to proclaim that in him we see the fullness of God, what does that mean to us.

If this knowledge and commitment is “saving” then what exactly does “saving” mean. If we are saved, then is it FROM something, or is it, “FOR” something.

Let’s not even talk about “heaven” for the moment; most of Jesus concern was about the place in which he lived and the people to whom he preached. To trust in him and in his way we are saved from the desire to amass and have and posses as much as we can. We are saved from the burden to rely on ourselves alone and to rely on the relationship between the dollar and human happiness. Instead, says Jesus we are to rely on God as we take up the cross and follow.

I need to say a little about the metaphor of “taking up the cross.” For generations people have gotten the idea that this cross refers to an illness or a some kind of disability. Taking up your cross is a CHOICE, a choice to life sacrificially for the Gospel.

To take up one’s cross is to choose among at least two courses of action - and to chose the one which proclaims that love of God and love of self and love of neighbour. Since the time we have learned to speak in sentences we are taught to never begin a sentence with me, as in, “Me and Cathy are going to PA.” The rules of grammar notwithstanding, sometimes we do have to care for ourselves and rest, BUT the way of the world where it is assumed that we will look after #1 first, is not the way of Jesus.

This was not the kind of information the disciples could absorb on the fly. The gospels tell us that some of them were looking for positions of honour, dear know what some people Jesus knew from his school days were looking for! I read a story about a famous recording artist who was autographing albums in a record store. Someone tried to jump the queue by claiming a high school friendship. The artist did not remember that person and she waited in line with the rest of the riff raff.

Participating in this “Challenge” is not just a game. This is one of the most important questions we will ever have to answer and should change our lives to their very core. Who do you say Jesus is?

Let us make our own decision about who Jesus is for us, but as we are making it, may we realize its not about what we can receive but what kind of world we can create with the help of other like minded people and the Spirit working within us.

Amen.

OFF LECTIONARY - Stewardship Sunday

John 21: 15-19
Psalm 138

Our Gratitude Needs to Show Through!

Sermon is adapted from a resource provided by the Stewardship resources of the United Church of Canada.

Have you heard the story about a couple who were sitting on the verandah one summer evening and she turned to him and said, “Abe, do you know the one thing that still bothers me after 40 years of marriage.”

“No, What is that?” he replied.

“You never tell me anymore that you love me.”

“Well, Sarah,” he replied, “I told you that the day we were married. If I change my mind, I’ll let you know.”

Sometimes people are a little uncomfortable receiving thanks! There was once a young girl who was invited to a friend’s birthday party. When she went out the door in the morning with the gift for the party her mother reminded her to say thank you to her friend’s mom. When she arrived home, her mom asked, “did you remember to say thank you?”

“No, I didn’t. Katie left just before me and she said thank you, but Susies mom said, “don’t mention it,” so I didn’t.”

Love and gratitude are wonderful emotions, but we have to say them out loud. I know a mom who frequently picked up her children and said to each of them, “Mom loves you.” This was from early infancy; during a diaper change, or a bath and long before the child could speak or respond in any way.

When it comes to our lives in community, the phrases, “Thank you,” “I really appreciate it,” “I really appreciate you,” and “I love you,” are very powerful! These words have the potential to grow our love and strengthen our relationships, just by saying them. To speak them aloud is to create and foster an attitude of gratitude.. To not express those feelings aloud is, therefore, to miss an opportunity.

And yet, the truth is that many of us do not express our love and gratitude very much at all. Even as a church community we don’t always say it enough. It is not that we don’t love one another, it is not that we don’t appreciate each other and what we do for God’s mission here at Bridging Waters Community of Faith, it is just that we don’t remember to say it enough.

Do we always remember to thank the people who make the morning coffee, or the church supper crew, especially those who stay late to get everything looking all spiffy again. How often do we thank those who made all the posters for tea and looked so hard to find that one picture from the first year we did that, or the one with one of the recently departed saints in it. How many people move away when they can’t live on their own and need to be near family and we kind of forget about them. Can we find a way to sent regular letters or, if appropriate, emails. What about cards at Christmas?

I would like to try a little exercise if you are comfortable. Turn to a neighbour (someone you did not come with) and say, “Thank you for being here today. And thank you for what you do in this congregation.” Thank you for being here today. And thank you for what you do in this congregation.

Now, I will say to each one of you, “thank you so much for your presence, and for the many ways you contribute to the life and mission of this church. Your time, your sharing of talents and leadership, and your contributions to both our local ministry and Mission & Service change lives every day and are very much appreciated. We would be much less without you. I have been so grateful these past five years to be in ministry, with all of you.”

Do you want to know something else? As my beginning illustrations showed, expressing our love and gratitude in words is important and often more powerful than we can possibly imagine. It also helps us, when we are the ones who do the thanking! Indeed, there are many recent studies that show that focussing on our abundance and expressing our gratitude regularly make us happier and healthier as individuals and stronger as a church community.

Dr Diana Butler Bass, professor and author, in her wonderful book called Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks, sums it up beautifully: “In addition to heart health, gratitude has also been linked to emotional well-being, lower levels of anxiety and depression, decreased panic attacks and phobias, reduced risks of alcoholism and substance abuse, and longevity (yes, grateful people live longer). Researchers found that thankful people live happier lives as well.” So the bottom line is—don’t be shy! Say thank you! Say it often!

When we focus on our gratitude, and know that saying it aloud is necessary, we must remember that it doesn’t end there. Love and gratitude must also be lived out—expressed in our actions. We all know of cases where someone says “I love you so much,” but their actions are not consistent with their words. They give a mixed message. And we also know that when messages are mixed, people believe our actions over our words. So it is key to both say it and to live it. So, how do we express our love and gratitude to God?

Well, we can say it aloud and we do, regularly through prayers, storytelling, and singing. Indeed, when you think of it, our worship services are often full of words of thanksgiving. But what about our actions? How do we show God thanks and love? For instance, when we have those incredible moments of thankfulness, when our hearts are overflowing with gratefulness and praise, what can we do to express our love and gratitude to God?

God’s name never came up - but the plumber who came to fix the stove (In Nipawin) on Wednesday could not wait to show us the picture of his new granddaughter, their first and to tell us that her parents brought her for a visit the other day. His joy was unmistakable.

Jesus had something to say about this too. As told in Matthew’s Gospel, when asked once what God expected of a believer, he said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind…. And…” [here it comes] … “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

It might surprise us to hear that neither of those two commands were new to Jesus’ listeners. What was new was the way Jesus linked the two, in essence, saying to people, “You want to express your love to God? Then love one another, love your neighbour. Want to express sincere gratitude for all that God has done for you? Reach out and care for all those God loves.”

In today’s reading from John’s gospel we get a similar message. Jesus is speaking to Peter. It is after the resurrection. Jesus is about to leave this earth and he wants to ensure that the disciples understand their mission. It is so important. Jesus asks Peter not once, not twice, but three times, “Do you love me?” And each time, Peter says aloud, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus wants Peter to show him and says, “Feed my lambs,” “Tend my sheep,” “Feed my sheep.” In other words, if Peter wants to express his love for Jesus, he should show him and love those whom Jesus loves. You may recall that on the night that Jesus was arrested, Peter was asked about his relationship with Jesus and Peter denied he even knew Jesus. In the days after the crucifixion, we can imagine that this would have been heavy on Peter’s heart. But here is Jesus giving Peter a path for healing and an opportunity to get it right this time—to proclaim that not only does he know Jesus, but he loves him.

The biblical story tells us that in the days to come many people came to faith in God, not just because of Peter’s words, but because of how he lived his life from this moment on. His actions spoke loudly and reinforced his words. Eventually, Peter would give up his very life for the sake of Jesus. Now that is speaking loudly through your actions!

To conclude: When we live our love as well as speak it, we are following God’s example. God tells us and then shows us. That is the central message of the story of Jesus. For the modern mind, it is unbelievable to imagine God coming to the earth as a human being, taking on our limitations, our pain, our suffering, our doubts, and our fears. Coming to the world to tell us, but most importantly, to show us, an incredible, life- transforming and never-ending love. God, in Jesus, came to show us that which God had been repeating for centuries through the Hebrew leaders and prophets—we are loved and God will be with us no matter what. God is here for us, here with us, changing our very lives forever with love.

A little girl was walking home from church one Sunday with her mom. At one point the little girl turns to her mother and says, “Mommy, the minister’s sermon this morning confused me.” The mother said, “Oh? Why is that?” The little girl replied, “Well, she said that God is bigger than we are. Is that true?” The mother replied, “Yes, honey, that is true.” “And the minister said that God lives in us. Is that true, Mommy?” The mother replied, “Yes, that is also true.” “Well,” said the little girl, “if God is bigger than us, and lives in us, wouldn’t God show through?”

Folks, today, God’s love still needs flesh and bone. Today, God still needs people to show others God’s love and care. Indeed, as Christ’s followers in our time and place, we are called, in grateful response to God’s love and abundance, to be nothing less than the hands and feet of God—making a difference in the lives of others, particularly those in need, for Jesus’ sake. God promises to be with us in this endeavour. Through the Holy Spirit, God promises to help us show this love, God’s love.

Today, I have asked you to take the time to reflect on God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s abundant blessings in our individual lives, and in the life of this faith community. Today, in a spirit of gratitude, we will pause to give God thanks for all that we have, and all that we are. But let us also take this day and the days ahead to show God our gratitude by letting God’s love shine through us to bless others.

Friends, may God’s Spirit be with each of us and with our congregation as we seek to grow our faith, our love, and our impact in this coming year. The world is waiting. God’s people need us—and what we can give. May God bless us through our words and may God’s people be blessed through our actions.

Amen.

NO SERMON