Monday, December 24, 2012
“Nothing But a Child” based on Luke 2:1-20 Christmas Eve Humber United Church
Waiting for Christmas. Especially as children, throughout December, it seemed like nothing but just waiting for Christmas. Waiting is a hard thing to do when you’re a child - well, hard for all of us. Waiting has a strange dynamic. The more you wait the longer time stretches. It’s like when your eyes are glued to the clock, time just won’t pass - or you stand drumming your fingers, waiting for the kettle to boil.
Waiting is not one of our cultural virtues. We want what we want and want it now. No money? No problem. Charge it. Who saves for something they want any more? Have you ever done this? I have - picking up two cheeseburgers and fries at one of those fast-food places, trying to eat while driving, steering the car with my knees. Yet we know, that getting food fast and eating fast is actually not good for our health. The process of waiting for food includes sitting down at a table, studying the menu, smelling the food. One of the things I love most about being in Portugal and Spain is that every place has olives and bread on the table to nibble on, and engage in conversation, waiting for the meal to come. Waiting - good for your health.
Would Christmas be half as much fun if we just skipped all of Advent? Would we take any time to pause and do some reflection about the meaning of Christmas? Jesuit priest William Lynch says there are two kinds of waiting: first, the “nothing else to do” kind, where the world thinks it is up to God to make a move now. People go through each day doing ordinary things while worrying about the future - and this is the place where we find despair, helplessness, and confusion - and we get the people who pick up on something as obscure as a round stone that the Mayans used as a calendar, that stops at December 21, 2012 - and right away we think it means the world is coming to a literal end.
It's like throwing up your arms and saying, everything's so corrupt that we just have to wait for the tide to turn. "We keep on waiting for the world to change." It almost sounds like an appeal to a higher source, a prayer to God for help.
Wait a minute...God already did help....that’s why we are here tonight. An angel appeared and said "I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: A baby has just been born in David's home town, a Savior who is Messiah."
The Messiah has already come, and continues to come. God's peace and goodwill has been declared to the world. This is not a message of passive waiting for God just to wave a wand and everything will come right. This is the second kind of waiting.
The second kind of waiting is based on expectation.. It's an active waiting, like preparing for visitors who are already on the way to see us. The house needs to be cleaned, food needs to be prepared. What we're waiting for is imminent, in that it’s just about to happen - but also immanent, already here in part.
Tonight we hear Oliver sing "O Holy Night", written by French poet Placide Cappeau in 1847:
Truly he taught us to love one another, his law is love and his gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother, and in his name all oppression shall cease.
Amazing - written one year before the French abolition of slavery, and the American Emancipation Declaration by almost 16 years. Cappeau had an expectant kind of waiting, and an active waiting. God was actively at work in the world for the full realization of the coming realm, and it was to come in the birth of a child. Nothing but a child..
Not everybody sees the magnitude of what Cappeau saw. We’ve made Christmas about being busy, partly so the waiting will go faster, partly because our culture tells us we have to, but the “busy” often wears us out. We miss the best part; taking part in this birth.
In this story from Luke, the world is invited to reflect on the birth through the eyes of faith. God is pushing us to look, to see the miracle, the hope tied up in a child. Nothing but a child - and yet in a child, the hopes and fears of all the years are met. In the birth of every baby, Jesus is born again, and in the birth of Jesus, the hopes and the fears of all our years are met with faith.
“Nothing but a child could wash these tears away, or guide a weary world into the light of day. Nothing but a child could help erase these miles so once again we all can be children for awhile.
Now all around the world, in every little town, everyday is heard a precious little sound. Every mother kind and every father proud looks down in awe, to find another chance allowed.”
A small town, a young girl and a man, a baby - a gaggle of ragged toothless shepherds - and a choir of angels of every kind singing - the hopes and fears of all the years, are met - in nothing but a child. Nothing but a child, and yet everything wrapped up *in* this child, in every child. What an incredible gift to the world!
Sources:
1) Waiting on the World to Change, by Rev. Frank Schaefer, based on LKuke 2:6-12
2) "Images of Hope: Imagination as Healer of the Hopeless'' William F. Lynch, 1966
3) "O Holy Night" music by Adolphe Adam in 1847 to the French poem "Minuit, Chrétiens" by Placide Cappeau
Saturday, December 15, 2012
“Joy Shall Come” Philippians 4:4-7 “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Third Sunday of Advent, December 16, 2012, Humber United Church
May you always be joyful in your union with God. I say it again: rejoice! Show a gentle attitude toward everyone. God is coming soon. Don't be anxious about life around you, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking with a thankful heart. God's peace, which is far beyond human understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe, in union with Jesus.
*************************************************************************
This isn’t the sermon I wrote earlier in the week. Just as the sermon was finished, news came of a horrendous shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Some of my colleagues thought that we should not light the candle of Joy today, as a way of remembering those people, including eighteen children - whose families will feel no joy this Christmas.
Others of us felt the opposite - that this is precisely the time when the candle of Joy should be lit. If we allow such things to even push us to stifle the light of faith, then the young man who did the shooting wins again. The passage from Philppians tells us to show a gentle attitude towards everyone; not to be bogged down in anxiety about life, but pray to |god for what is most needed, and pray with a thankful heart. Precisely what is needed in this tine is a message of peace, and the message that there will yet be joy, even in the face of such great and unspeakable sorrow.
Following the shootings, Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas, was interviewed on Fox News, and made this comment:
“It’s an interesting thing. We ask why there’s violence in our schools but we’ve systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage? Because we’ve made it a place where we do not want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability. That we’re not just going to have to be accountable to the police, if they catch us, but we stand one day before a holy God in judgment… Maybe we ought to let [God] in on the front end and we would not have to call him to show up when it’s all said and done at the back end.”
When I heard this comment, I had quite a strong, negative response, and in fact sent a message to Mr. Huckabee suggesting that his personal political agenda had not place in this time of great tragedy and grief for these parents. I’ve had to struggle with why the reaction to him was so strong.
One reason is that Huckabee’s argument is painfully crass. The odds are that this person suffered a personality disorder, or some deep grief of his own which took him to such a place of darkness.
According to media reports, Adam Lanza killed his mother and then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he proceeded to kill 20 children and six adults before killing himself. To say that he went on this rampage because “God has been removed from our schools” is witless. A simple generic prayer at the beginning of the school day would not have prevented this young man from carrying out this act.
If he believes that removing God from schools took God’s protection from 20 children and seven adults, which resulted in their deaths, then he’s also theologically confused. Huckabee’a faith teaches that sometimes suffering and death are evidence of one’s devotion to God (see the fate of Jesus and almost every one of His disciples). Why were the victims people who had nothing to do with the offenses that so upset Huckabee? Why would anyone link the attacks to “removing God from our schools”, instead of linking indifference to the plight of the poor – a concern spoken about much more often in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament?
Was Mike Hucakbee more godly and Christian in his comments? Did his comments offer any compassion to these families? Or were they dismissed because there was no prayer every morning in that school?
The great writer C.S. Lewis was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland. Although raised an Anglican, he fell away from the church, and only began to deal with faith when he met the great Christian writer J.R. R. Tolkien. He held academic positions at both Oxford University, and at Cambridge University. He is best known for his fictional work, The Chronicles of Narnia, and for his non-fiction Christian writings, such as Mere Christianity, and Miracles. In 1947 Time magazine portrayed Lewis on its cover alongside a pitchforked, horned, and tailed devil. The magazine accused Lewis of heresy. His heresy, interestingly, was Christianity in a world gone awry. Lewis was a man of laughter and surprises, of jokes and joy. He had a ruddy face because he had a sunny heart. A publisher who collecting selections from Lewis’s works for a book, called it The Joyful Christian.
Yet Lewis knew pain. His wife, the American writer Joy Davidman, died a scant four years after their wedding. Lewis's book “A Grief Observed” describes his experience of bereavement. Throughout the months immediately following his wife’s death, he very candidly describes his resulting anger and bewilderment at God, his observations of his impressions of life and his world without her, and his process of moving in and out of stages of grieving and remembering her. Lewis exhibits doubt and asks fundamental questions of faith throughout the work. Because of his candid account of his grief and the doubts he voices, some of his admirers found it troubling. They were disinclined to believe that this Christian writer that they had grown to know and love could be so close to despair. They even thought that it might be a work of fiction. Others, such as Lewis’s critics, suggested that he was wisest when he was overcome with despair.
About four years ago the Atlanta Journal carried an article that which talks about depression, particularly around the holidays. Christmas is often a season of unmet expectations, because in some ways it touches the most idealized memories of our childhood; we get nostalgic over the loss of that time in our lives…over losing the ability to enter innocently into the joy of the season. The parties we thought would be great aren't; we see all sorts of ads on TV about toys and realize we can't get our kids everything they want. At Christmas dinner mom or dad gets drunk again, a family argument erupts, the car breaks down, a family member gets the flu and joy is sucked away.
Or, worse, a disturbed and violent young man takes two guns, shoots his own mother, and then goes into a school and simply begins shooting again.
But I have to say again, that it is precisely because this threatens to overwhelm us that we have to light the candle of Joy, and hold fast to that faith - to be gentle with others, to rejoice in God always. God does not cause such horrendous acts as some kind of punishment. The whole of Jesus’ life and message was that God does not behave in such a way. God has given human beings choices and will; sometimes the world around us becomes so heavy and unbearable that such atrocities can happen. God does not desire them, does not cause them.
The theme of joy surrounds the whole Christmas story, and it’s at this time that we can NOT let go of it. The angel said "I bring you good news of great joy" (Luke 2:10). Peter writes of the Jesus movement, "Though we do not see him now, we believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy" (1 Pet. 1:8). In the New Testament the word for "joy" occurs 60 times. The verb form, which means, "to rejoice" is used 72 times. If we do not see the New Testament as a book of joy, we fail to understand the message.
In our hymnbook, we have the wonderful chorus:
"You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace;
the mountains and the hills will break forth before you,
there’ll be shouts of joy, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."
On Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the Sundays following, we sing one of the greatest hymns of Isaac Watts. Watts was in poor health most of his life, and for the last thirty years was an invalid, unable to leave home. He could have been bitter, instead he wrote: "Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King”. He wrote it for Easter, but it has become such a part of the Christmas season, that it works in either. In fact, it works all the time.
There’s another one “While by the Sheep”....
While by the sheep we watched at night, glad tidings brought an angel bright.
How great our joy! Joy, joy, joy!
This gift of God we'll cherish well, that ever joy our hearts shall fill.
How great our joy! Joy, joy, joy!
And another one “Joy shall come, even to the wilderness.....”
I am sure those families in Newtown will feel as if joy has gone from the world. Our prayers go to all of them, to hold them in love. Our prayers must even go to the family of the young man, who will find no joy this Christmas. Yet for the Christian, it is Joy which is our theme in this season. Joy which comes from the knowledge of the love of God, the love which holds us in spite of ourselves, in spite of the things which happen in the world. Joy shall come, even to the wilderness......may it be so.
Sources:
1. Mars Hill Review 8 (Summer 1997) “Joy and Sehnsucht: The Laughter and Longings of C.S. Lewis” by Terry Lindvall
2. Sermon “All I Want for Christmas”, by Rev. Steve Jackson, New Song Church, 230 Elm Street, Cumming, Georgia. Dec. 2000.
3. Voices United 884 “You shall go out with joy”
4. “While by the Sheep”, Traditional German carol, Nach Friedrich von Spee.
5. Comments re: Mike Huckabee, from a blog by Peter Wehner, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Previously worked in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.
*************************************************************************
This isn’t the sermon I wrote earlier in the week. Just as the sermon was finished, news came of a horrendous shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Some of my colleagues thought that we should not light the candle of Joy today, as a way of remembering those people, including eighteen children - whose families will feel no joy this Christmas.
Others of us felt the opposite - that this is precisely the time when the candle of Joy should be lit. If we allow such things to even push us to stifle the light of faith, then the young man who did the shooting wins again. The passage from Philppians tells us to show a gentle attitude towards everyone; not to be bogged down in anxiety about life, but pray to |god for what is most needed, and pray with a thankful heart. Precisely what is needed in this tine is a message of peace, and the message that there will yet be joy, even in the face of such great and unspeakable sorrow.
Following the shootings, Mike Huckabee, former Governor of Arkansas, was interviewed on Fox News, and made this comment:
“It’s an interesting thing. We ask why there’s violence in our schools but we’ve systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage? Because we’ve made it a place where we do not want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability. That we’re not just going to have to be accountable to the police, if they catch us, but we stand one day before a holy God in judgment… Maybe we ought to let [God] in on the front end and we would not have to call him to show up when it’s all said and done at the back end.”
When I heard this comment, I had quite a strong, negative response, and in fact sent a message to Mr. Huckabee suggesting that his personal political agenda had not place in this time of great tragedy and grief for these parents. I’ve had to struggle with why the reaction to him was so strong.
One reason is that Huckabee’s argument is painfully crass. The odds are that this person suffered a personality disorder, or some deep grief of his own which took him to such a place of darkness.
According to media reports, Adam Lanza killed his mother and then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School, where he proceeded to kill 20 children and six adults before killing himself. To say that he went on this rampage because “God has been removed from our schools” is witless. A simple generic prayer at the beginning of the school day would not have prevented this young man from carrying out this act.
If he believes that removing God from schools took God’s protection from 20 children and seven adults, which resulted in their deaths, then he’s also theologically confused. Huckabee’a faith teaches that sometimes suffering and death are evidence of one’s devotion to God (see the fate of Jesus and almost every one of His disciples). Why were the victims people who had nothing to do with the offenses that so upset Huckabee? Why would anyone link the attacks to “removing God from our schools”, instead of linking indifference to the plight of the poor – a concern spoken about much more often in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament?
Was Mike Hucakbee more godly and Christian in his comments? Did his comments offer any compassion to these families? Or were they dismissed because there was no prayer every morning in that school?
The great writer C.S. Lewis was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist from Belfast, Ireland. Although raised an Anglican, he fell away from the church, and only began to deal with faith when he met the great Christian writer J.R. R. Tolkien. He held academic positions at both Oxford University, and at Cambridge University. He is best known for his fictional work, The Chronicles of Narnia, and for his non-fiction Christian writings, such as Mere Christianity, and Miracles. In 1947 Time magazine portrayed Lewis on its cover alongside a pitchforked, horned, and tailed devil. The magazine accused Lewis of heresy. His heresy, interestingly, was Christianity in a world gone awry. Lewis was a man of laughter and surprises, of jokes and joy. He had a ruddy face because he had a sunny heart. A publisher who collecting selections from Lewis’s works for a book, called it The Joyful Christian.
Yet Lewis knew pain. His wife, the American writer Joy Davidman, died a scant four years after their wedding. Lewis's book “A Grief Observed” describes his experience of bereavement. Throughout the months immediately following his wife’s death, he very candidly describes his resulting anger and bewilderment at God, his observations of his impressions of life and his world without her, and his process of moving in and out of stages of grieving and remembering her. Lewis exhibits doubt and asks fundamental questions of faith throughout the work. Because of his candid account of his grief and the doubts he voices, some of his admirers found it troubling. They were disinclined to believe that this Christian writer that they had grown to know and love could be so close to despair. They even thought that it might be a work of fiction. Others, such as Lewis’s critics, suggested that he was wisest when he was overcome with despair.
About four years ago the Atlanta Journal carried an article that which talks about depression, particularly around the holidays. Christmas is often a season of unmet expectations, because in some ways it touches the most idealized memories of our childhood; we get nostalgic over the loss of that time in our lives…over losing the ability to enter innocently into the joy of the season. The parties we thought would be great aren't; we see all sorts of ads on TV about toys and realize we can't get our kids everything they want. At Christmas dinner mom or dad gets drunk again, a family argument erupts, the car breaks down, a family member gets the flu and joy is sucked away.
Or, worse, a disturbed and violent young man takes two guns, shoots his own mother, and then goes into a school and simply begins shooting again.
But I have to say again, that it is precisely because this threatens to overwhelm us that we have to light the candle of Joy, and hold fast to that faith - to be gentle with others, to rejoice in God always. God does not cause such horrendous acts as some kind of punishment. The whole of Jesus’ life and message was that God does not behave in such a way. God has given human beings choices and will; sometimes the world around us becomes so heavy and unbearable that such atrocities can happen. God does not desire them, does not cause them.
The theme of joy surrounds the whole Christmas story, and it’s at this time that we can NOT let go of it. The angel said "I bring you good news of great joy" (Luke 2:10). Peter writes of the Jesus movement, "Though we do not see him now, we believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy" (1 Pet. 1:8). In the New Testament the word for "joy" occurs 60 times. The verb form, which means, "to rejoice" is used 72 times. If we do not see the New Testament as a book of joy, we fail to understand the message.
In our hymnbook, we have the wonderful chorus:
"You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace;
the mountains and the hills will break forth before you,
there’ll be shouts of joy, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."
On Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the Sundays following, we sing one of the greatest hymns of Isaac Watts. Watts was in poor health most of his life, and for the last thirty years was an invalid, unable to leave home. He could have been bitter, instead he wrote: "Joy to the world, the Lord is come, let earth receive her King”. He wrote it for Easter, but it has become such a part of the Christmas season, that it works in either. In fact, it works all the time.
There’s another one “While by the Sheep”....
While by the sheep we watched at night, glad tidings brought an angel bright.
How great our joy! Joy, joy, joy!
This gift of God we'll cherish well, that ever joy our hearts shall fill.
How great our joy! Joy, joy, joy!
And another one “Joy shall come, even to the wilderness.....”
I am sure those families in Newtown will feel as if joy has gone from the world. Our prayers go to all of them, to hold them in love. Our prayers must even go to the family of the young man, who will find no joy this Christmas. Yet for the Christian, it is Joy which is our theme in this season. Joy which comes from the knowledge of the love of God, the love which holds us in spite of ourselves, in spite of the things which happen in the world. Joy shall come, even to the wilderness......may it be so.
Sources:
1. Mars Hill Review 8 (Summer 1997) “Joy and Sehnsucht: The Laughter and Longings of C.S. Lewis” by Terry Lindvall
2. Sermon “All I Want for Christmas”, by Rev. Steve Jackson, New Song Church, 230 Elm Street, Cumming, Georgia. Dec. 2000.
3. Voices United 884 “You shall go out with joy”
4. “While by the Sheep”, Traditional German carol, Nach Friedrich von Spee.
5. Comments re: Mike Huckabee, from a blog by Peter Wehner, senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Previously worked in the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Who is In??? Luke 3:1-6 Acts 5:4-11 Humber United Church Second Sunday of Advent December 9, 2012
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene - during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. All people will see God’s salvation.’”
Acts
When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that they were accepted, by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as was done for us. God did not discriminate between us and them, for their hearts were purified by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that they are saved, just as we are.”
***********************************************************************
Remember the outcry when women were to be ordained in the church? It was indeed fearsome to behold. If women were going to be ordained, the whole Christian movement would go to hell in a handbasket. Yet, today most mainline Protestant denominations have ordained women.
Two of the kinder arguments used were that Jesus didn’t ordain any women, that women were not as smart as men. The less kind argument was that women could not possibly be a reflection of Jesus - and the Bible was used as a kind of proof. Well, technically Jesus didn’t ordain any men either! The Bible does tells us that Jesus called women as well as men to be his disciples. Luke’s Gospel tells us of the women and men who travelled together with Jesus - and the women provided the money. The Book of Acts tells us of the women who led churches. The first witnesses at Easter were Mary Magdalene and her friends. Genesis, in the creation story, says both male and female were created in the image of God, and it’s interesting that the Catholic Catechism also says that both men and women are made equally in God’s image.
During the 12-13C CE, the Cathars, also called Albigensians by Rome, lived in the area of Languedoc, in southeastern France, bordering on Spain. The Cathars rejected any idea of priesthood or the use of church buildings. They divided into ordinary believers who led ordinary lives, and an inner group of Parfaits (men) and Parfaites (women) who led ascetic lives, but worked for their living - generally in itinerant manual trades like weaving. Men and women were regarded as equals; there was no doctrinal objection to contraception, euthanasia or suicide. By the early thirteenth century Catharism was probably the majority religion in the area, supported by the nobility as well as the common people. Not only did many Catholics, priests included, defect to the Cathars, but the group refused to pay tithes to Rome. Accusing the Cathars of heresy, Pope Innocent III instituted a Crusade against the Cathars, and by the end over 500,000 people, Cathar and non-Cathar alike, had been killed.
We of a certain age can remember even further back, when blacks were not considered people, could not worship in a white church, or eat in restaurants for whites, or use the same washrooms, or shop in the same stores, or live in the same parts of town as whites. In 1980, when Norio and I visited friends in Maryland, they told us that selling their house to blacks would mean the value of homes in the whole area would go down.
Many of us remember the debates over the admission of gays and lesbians to ordained ministry in the church in 1988. At the national office, I often found letters on my desk, accusing gays of having sex with animals, and all kinds of depraved behaviours. At General Council in Camrose, Alberta in 1997 - bags of dog poop were left on the chairs of people who were either suspected of being gay, or supported gay ordination. These things were always done either overnight, or early enough in the morning that no-one saw who it was.
Well, less than 20 years after the Pentecost experience, Paul and Barnabas faced similar challenges. It is a fact of human living that as long as there are institutions, and churches, and societies - there will always be arguments about who is “in” and who isn’t. Acts 5 records the most controversial, and the most pivotal event in the life of the early church. It called into question whether or not the new “church” was a Jewish reform movement, an independent sect, or was a wider movement where all barriers had been removed. There had already been other arguments about food, and practices foreign to the Jewish church. Following his conversion, Paul had visited Jerusalem, met Peter and James, caused a stir there among the Jews, been shipped off to Caesarea and then home to Tarsus. He spent the next eleven years in Cilicia and Syria. Around 40-41 CE rumours of Greek converts in Antioch went around, and the Jerusalem church sent Barnabas to check it out.
Barnabas got on board, and together with Paul became pastor of a new church which was young, dynamic, and mostly Greek converts. The church in Jerusalem was strongly Jewish, and steeped in the Jewish traditions. The church leaders in Jerusalem thought that any Gentiles who wanted to follow Jesus had to become Jews first, by being circumcised. They could buy the idea that proselytes to Judaism like Cornelius could receive the Holy Spirit, for he was already a "God fearer", but accepting out and out pagans from another place and culture was a different matter. Its wasn't long before this issue came to a head.
On the first journey Paul and Barnabas witnessed to Jews and Gentiles alike. They founded churches in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe in the Southern region of the province of Galatia. Increasingly, it was the Gentiles who believed. The Jews got jealous and incited the rabble, and the authorities, to throw the apostles out of each town, one after another. When the dust had settled, and their visas were running out they turned round and worked their way back to the coast visiting each of these newly formed churches, and appointed leadership teams. Eventually they returned to home base, Antioch in Syria, tired but fully convinced of the rightness of their strategy. The hostility of the Jews, the responsiveness of the Gentiles, and the evidence of the filling of the Holy Spirit convinced them that it was the grace of the Spirit, not religious law or text.
In the Acts text, the words of some believers who were Pharisees insisted that new believers must be circumcised and require to obey the Law of Moses. Peter points out that God made the choice that the Gentiles would hear the message; that God had given them the Spirit, and that God made no distinction between Jew and Gentile. And Peter asks “Why do you put God to the test? We believe it is by the grace of the Spirit that they are saved, just as we are.”
If we are Christians, that means we are followers of Jesus, and that means we are followers of the most radical and inclusive way. That’s the message about preparing the way - preparing your heart, opening it to the Spirit. Everyone receives wisdom and Spirit from God, regardless of race, language, age, gender, or sexuality. Paul says God makes no distinctions. There is no “in” and “out”. Being inclusive means recognising the gifts that the Spirit has given to all people. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Sermon by Rev. Stephen Sizer, www.cc-vw.org/sermons/ibsacts15.htm
2. www.catholic-womens-ordination.org.uk/old-site/against.htm
3. http://www.cathar.info/
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. All people will see God’s salvation.’”
Acts
When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.” The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that they were accepted, by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as was done for us. God did not discriminate between us and them, for their hearts were purified by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that they are saved, just as we are.”
***********************************************************************
Remember the outcry when women were to be ordained in the church? It was indeed fearsome to behold. If women were going to be ordained, the whole Christian movement would go to hell in a handbasket. Yet, today most mainline Protestant denominations have ordained women.
Two of the kinder arguments used were that Jesus didn’t ordain any women, that women were not as smart as men. The less kind argument was that women could not possibly be a reflection of Jesus - and the Bible was used as a kind of proof. Well, technically Jesus didn’t ordain any men either! The Bible does tells us that Jesus called women as well as men to be his disciples. Luke’s Gospel tells us of the women and men who travelled together with Jesus - and the women provided the money. The Book of Acts tells us of the women who led churches. The first witnesses at Easter were Mary Magdalene and her friends. Genesis, in the creation story, says both male and female were created in the image of God, and it’s interesting that the Catholic Catechism also says that both men and women are made equally in God’s image.
During the 12-13C CE, the Cathars, also called Albigensians by Rome, lived in the area of Languedoc, in southeastern France, bordering on Spain. The Cathars rejected any idea of priesthood or the use of church buildings. They divided into ordinary believers who led ordinary lives, and an inner group of Parfaits (men) and Parfaites (women) who led ascetic lives, but worked for their living - generally in itinerant manual trades like weaving. Men and women were regarded as equals; there was no doctrinal objection to contraception, euthanasia or suicide. By the early thirteenth century Catharism was probably the majority religion in the area, supported by the nobility as well as the common people. Not only did many Catholics, priests included, defect to the Cathars, but the group refused to pay tithes to Rome. Accusing the Cathars of heresy, Pope Innocent III instituted a Crusade against the Cathars, and by the end over 500,000 people, Cathar and non-Cathar alike, had been killed.
We of a certain age can remember even further back, when blacks were not considered people, could not worship in a white church, or eat in restaurants for whites, or use the same washrooms, or shop in the same stores, or live in the same parts of town as whites. In 1980, when Norio and I visited friends in Maryland, they told us that selling their house to blacks would mean the value of homes in the whole area would go down.
Many of us remember the debates over the admission of gays and lesbians to ordained ministry in the church in 1988. At the national office, I often found letters on my desk, accusing gays of having sex with animals, and all kinds of depraved behaviours. At General Council in Camrose, Alberta in 1997 - bags of dog poop were left on the chairs of people who were either suspected of being gay, or supported gay ordination. These things were always done either overnight, or early enough in the morning that no-one saw who it was.
Well, less than 20 years after the Pentecost experience, Paul and Barnabas faced similar challenges. It is a fact of human living that as long as there are institutions, and churches, and societies - there will always be arguments about who is “in” and who isn’t. Acts 5 records the most controversial, and the most pivotal event in the life of the early church. It called into question whether or not the new “church” was a Jewish reform movement, an independent sect, or was a wider movement where all barriers had been removed. There had already been other arguments about food, and practices foreign to the Jewish church. Following his conversion, Paul had visited Jerusalem, met Peter and James, caused a stir there among the Jews, been shipped off to Caesarea and then home to Tarsus. He spent the next eleven years in Cilicia and Syria. Around 40-41 CE rumours of Greek converts in Antioch went around, and the Jerusalem church sent Barnabas to check it out.
Barnabas got on board, and together with Paul became pastor of a new church which was young, dynamic, and mostly Greek converts. The church in Jerusalem was strongly Jewish, and steeped in the Jewish traditions. The church leaders in Jerusalem thought that any Gentiles who wanted to follow Jesus had to become Jews first, by being circumcised. They could buy the idea that proselytes to Judaism like Cornelius could receive the Holy Spirit, for he was already a "God fearer", but accepting out and out pagans from another place and culture was a different matter. Its wasn't long before this issue came to a head.
On the first journey Paul and Barnabas witnessed to Jews and Gentiles alike. They founded churches in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe in the Southern region of the province of Galatia. Increasingly, it was the Gentiles who believed. The Jews got jealous and incited the rabble, and the authorities, to throw the apostles out of each town, one after another. When the dust had settled, and their visas were running out they turned round and worked their way back to the coast visiting each of these newly formed churches, and appointed leadership teams. Eventually they returned to home base, Antioch in Syria, tired but fully convinced of the rightness of their strategy. The hostility of the Jews, the responsiveness of the Gentiles, and the evidence of the filling of the Holy Spirit convinced them that it was the grace of the Spirit, not religious law or text.
In the Acts text, the words of some believers who were Pharisees insisted that new believers must be circumcised and require to obey the Law of Moses. Peter points out that God made the choice that the Gentiles would hear the message; that God had given them the Spirit, and that God made no distinction between Jew and Gentile. And Peter asks “Why do you put God to the test? We believe it is by the grace of the Spirit that they are saved, just as we are.”
If we are Christians, that means we are followers of Jesus, and that means we are followers of the most radical and inclusive way. That’s the message about preparing the way - preparing your heart, opening it to the Spirit. Everyone receives wisdom and Spirit from God, regardless of race, language, age, gender, or sexuality. Paul says God makes no distinctions. There is no “in” and “out”. Being inclusive means recognising the gifts that the Spirit has given to all people. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Sermon by Rev. Stephen Sizer, www.cc-vw.org/sermons/ibsacts15.htm
2. www.catholic-womens-ordination.org.uk/old-site/against.htm
3. http://www.cathar.info/
Saturday, December 1, 2012
“Looking for Light” a sermon based on Luke 21:25-36 Humber United Church Corner Brook, Newfoundland
“There will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth whole countries will be in despair, afraid of the roar of the sea and the raging tides. People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth, for the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory. When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Think of the fig tree and all the other trees. When you see their leaves beginning to appear, you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that the Kingdom of God is about to come.
“Remember that all these things will take place before the people now living have all died. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pas away. Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you like a trap. For it will come upon all people everywhere on earth. Be on watch and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
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Allow me to begin by wandering off into Christmas carols a little. There’s one which we love to sing that could be almost be called an advent hymn - I wonder if you can guess?
Here’s a couple of clues: It is loved by children and adults alike, it speaks about the coming of an important person, who knows us and our every action, someone who is good and loving and who expects us to be the same.
Did you get it?
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve ben bad or good, so be good for goodness’sake:
Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, Saint Nicholas...the figure we have now derived from a person who lived in southwestern Turkey in the 4th century. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, and he was credited with miracles involving sailors and children. After his death he became the patron saint of sailors, children, and unmarried girls. Historically, feast days are given for saints, and so the "feast day"of Nicholas was celebrated on December 6th.
At about the same time Nicholas lived, Pope Julius I decided to establish a date for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. As the actual time of year for this event was unknown, the Pope decided to assign the holiday to December 25th. There had long been a pagan midwinter festival at this time of year and the Pope hoped to use the holiday to christianize the celebrations.
Eventually, Saint Nicholas's feast day also became associated with December 25th and his connection with Christmas was established. A tradition developed that he would supposedly visit homes on Christmas Eve and children would place nuts, apples, sweets and other items around the house to welcome him. In Holland, where the tradition was strongest., he became known as “Sinter Klass”, and after the tradition came to North America, the name gradually became "Sancte Claus." and then Santa Claus.
It’s interesting that the song summarises the Advent message in a secular way. In the movie “The Polar Express”, Santa refers to himself as a symbol of the spirit of Christmas. Here, in a song about Santa, is the essence of what today’s gospel tells us about being aware an ready to see Jesus..
What are some of the things which happen in our homes this time of year? The house was decorated, a tree trimmed, and baking shortbread, cakes, squares, and sugar cookies cut into
the shapes of trees and stars? And one other thing.....lights are put up. The history of decorating trees with lights comes form the 12th century, when candles were put on the branches of evergreen trees. The history of using light, in all our church celebrations, is much more. The coloured lights we put on the trees, and use to decorate our homes, come from a time in Christian history when Advent and Christmas were the season of light. In the Jewish year, the Season of Light, Hanukkah - also happens in December. It’s the time of year when the nights are the longest and darkest.
Jesus tells one of his hard stories again this week. He pairs a kind of foretelling of the earth in chaos, coming suddenly - and then he moves from there to a fig tree, which can look really totally dead - but begins to show leaves as the days change, and we know spring is around the corner, and there is a return of light.
I am not sure Jesus is saying be ready for the end of the world, although it sounds like that. I think he is saying what he said last week - that the coming of the Realm of God means an ending to the old way of life, and the beginning of a new way of living, and being human. - and he says we need to be ready for it.
“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good, for goodness’ sake.” You know what - I don’t think this means “For goodness sake be good so Santa will bring gifts.”. I think it means be good, just because being good is the right thing to do. And “being good” is the way to stay alert, to look for the coming of Jesus, and the coming of the realm....
Just as we get all excited about the coming of Santa, we are also called to expect Jesus’ coming with the same energy, the same dedication, and indeed the same joy.
In fact, what we are doing here, with Advent is looking for light - light in the darkness, light which signifies the coming of something special, the light from the star the Magi followed - we’re looking for light to break into this world. We hang lights, light candles, pray for light. We come to services, looking for light - God’s light, the light of Jesus. We want that light to illuminate us - and Jesus says clearly we need to be ready
We are called to prepare ourselves for the gift of God to us, and the best way to prepare for that gift is what Advent is all about; not fear of what will happen if we are not prepared, but rather by learning to BE light - hope, peace, joy and love, and we use the candles and lights to remind us that we are “lights” too.
God sees us when we’re sleeping. God knows when we are awake. God knows what we do. God calls us to learn to be something else - the light of the coming realm of God. May we prepare, in this time of Advent, to be ready.
“Remember that all these things will take place before the people now living have all died. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pas away. Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you like a trap. For it will come upon all people everywhere on earth. Be on watch and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
******************************************************************************
Allow me to begin by wandering off into Christmas carols a little. There’s one which we love to sing that could be almost be called an advent hymn - I wonder if you can guess?
Here’s a couple of clues: It is loved by children and adults alike, it speaks about the coming of an important person, who knows us and our every action, someone who is good and loving and who expects us to be the same.
Did you get it?
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve ben bad or good, so be good for goodness’sake:
Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, Saint Nicholas...the figure we have now derived from a person who lived in southwestern Turkey in the 4th century. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, and he was credited with miracles involving sailors and children. After his death he became the patron saint of sailors, children, and unmarried girls. Historically, feast days are given for saints, and so the "feast day"of Nicholas was celebrated on December 6th.
At about the same time Nicholas lived, Pope Julius I decided to establish a date for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. As the actual time of year for this event was unknown, the Pope decided to assign the holiday to December 25th. There had long been a pagan midwinter festival at this time of year and the Pope hoped to use the holiday to christianize the celebrations.
Eventually, Saint Nicholas's feast day also became associated with December 25th and his connection with Christmas was established. A tradition developed that he would supposedly visit homes on Christmas Eve and children would place nuts, apples, sweets and other items around the house to welcome him. In Holland, where the tradition was strongest., he became known as “Sinter Klass”, and after the tradition came to North America, the name gradually became "Sancte Claus." and then Santa Claus.
It’s interesting that the song summarises the Advent message in a secular way. In the movie “The Polar Express”, Santa refers to himself as a symbol of the spirit of Christmas. Here, in a song about Santa, is the essence of what today’s gospel tells us about being aware an ready to see Jesus..
What are some of the things which happen in our homes this time of year? The house was decorated, a tree trimmed, and baking shortbread, cakes, squares, and sugar cookies cut into
the shapes of trees and stars? And one other thing.....lights are put up. The history of decorating trees with lights comes form the 12th century, when candles were put on the branches of evergreen trees. The history of using light, in all our church celebrations, is much more. The coloured lights we put on the trees, and use to decorate our homes, come from a time in Christian history when Advent and Christmas were the season of light. In the Jewish year, the Season of Light, Hanukkah - also happens in December. It’s the time of year when the nights are the longest and darkest.
Jesus tells one of his hard stories again this week. He pairs a kind of foretelling of the earth in chaos, coming suddenly - and then he moves from there to a fig tree, which can look really totally dead - but begins to show leaves as the days change, and we know spring is around the corner, and there is a return of light.
I am not sure Jesus is saying be ready for the end of the world, although it sounds like that. I think he is saying what he said last week - that the coming of the Realm of God means an ending to the old way of life, and the beginning of a new way of living, and being human. - and he says we need to be ready for it.
“He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good, for goodness’ sake.” You know what - I don’t think this means “For goodness sake be good so Santa will bring gifts.”. I think it means be good, just because being good is the right thing to do. And “being good” is the way to stay alert, to look for the coming of Jesus, and the coming of the realm....
Just as we get all excited about the coming of Santa, we are also called to expect Jesus’ coming with the same energy, the same dedication, and indeed the same joy.
In fact, what we are doing here, with Advent is looking for light - light in the darkness, light which signifies the coming of something special, the light from the star the Magi followed - we’re looking for light to break into this world. We hang lights, light candles, pray for light. We come to services, looking for light - God’s light, the light of Jesus. We want that light to illuminate us - and Jesus says clearly we need to be ready
We are called to prepare ourselves for the gift of God to us, and the best way to prepare for that gift is what Advent is all about; not fear of what will happen if we are not prepared, but rather by learning to BE light - hope, peace, joy and love, and we use the candles and lights to remind us that we are “lights” too.
God sees us when we’re sleeping. God knows when we are awake. God knows what we do. God calls us to learn to be something else - the light of the coming realm of God. May we prepare, in this time of Advent, to be ready.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
“Endings and Beginnings” based on Revelation 1: 4-8 Humber United Church November 25, 2012
“John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from the One who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before the throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a new realm, priests serving God, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will . So it is to be. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega," says God, “the beginning and the end.”
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There is a scene in the Lord of the Rings stories, just near the end. Two hobbits, Frodo and Sam, have carried the One Ring of great evil all the way to Mount Doom, to the fire where it was created, and they have thrown it back into the fires where it is destroyed. They just get out before the mountain erupts - and we see them marooned on a huge rock - the pyroclastic lava flow all around them, the mountain blowing rocks and flames. They weep together about what might have been; Sam remembers Rosie Cotton, and says with tears in his eyes “If there were ever someone I would marry, it would have been her.” Frodo says to Sam “I’m glad you’re here with me, Samwise Gamgee, here at the end of all things.”
But of course, it turns out not to be the end of all things, but the beginning. There is no question that both of them have been deeply and permanently scarred by their long journey into the fires of evil, and their struggles with temptation to choose the easier way. Neither one will ever be the same again. In some senses, that moment in the movie signifies the death of both Sam and Frodo - the death of who they were.
Yet they are resurrected - carried off the rock by great eagles, returned to the home of the woodland elves, and their lives are restored. - and I don’t think it’s any accident that the author, JRR Tolkien, used the eagles in this precise place in the story.
In fact, the eagle is imbued with great spiritual meaning in many different faiths. It represents spiritual protection, carries prayers, brings strength, courage, wisdom, illumination of spirit, healing, creation, and a knowledge of magic. The eagle has an ability to see hidden spiritual truths, rising above the material to see the spiritual. It represents great power and balance, dignity with grace, a connection with higher truths, intuition and a creative spirit grace achieved through knowledge and hard work.
The dictionary of scripture and myth, describes the eagle as “A symbol of the holy spirit, which flies through the mind (the air), from the higher nature (from heaven) to the lower nature (earth), and soars aloft to the self (the sun). The eagle is symbolic of new beginnings. Have you ever noticed in many churches, the Bible is placed on a pedestal which is an eagle with wings outstretched.
In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that Magi came to King Herod looking for a new king who was to be born. Now, Herod was a lot of things, but one thing he was not was stupid. He recognised immediately that the coming of a new king could well mean the ending of his rule. Yet Herod had in many ways been a good ruler. He was the only ruler of Palestine who ever succeeded in keeping the peace and bringing order to the region for any length of time. He built the Temple in Jerusalem. He was both absolute tyrant and unusually generous. He paid the Roman taxes for his people in times of difficulty and even melted down his own gold plate to buy grain to feed the starving people in the famine twenty-five years before Jesus was born. Yet he was also insanely suspicious of anyone who might be a threat to his reign. He murdered his wife and her mother and assassinated three of his sons. He was not willing to consider the ending of his own rule. So he sends his troops to end the lives of any who might be a potential threat.
You might remember awhile back some publicity around Wal-Mart stores, and Shopper’s Drug Mart, playing Christmas music early in November. Customers were not happy. I feel the same way. Rev. David Shearman reports that in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canadian Tire had Christmas lights out in September. He says “I thought that was a bit of a record. They hadn't quite taken down their garden centre and there were the Christmas lights!”
This past week Pope Benedict published his last commentary on the life of Jesus, called "Jesus in Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives". Pope Benedict's work raises a few eyebrows, because he disconnects the birth of Jesus from the date of Christmas. Now, for those of us who have been through a seminary or a Sunday School in the more liberal theological tradition, this won’t come as any surprise. The selection of the December date had nothing to do with historical or literal accuracy, but because early missionaries wanted to reach out to Druids who celebrated the winter solstice, the longest and darkest night of the year - and what better way to do that than to offer a festival of hope and light right after the longest, darkest night?
Pope Benedict suggests that the date of Jesus birth was not based in any kind of fact but be a series of calculating errors by a 5th century monk called Dennis the Small. It is likely that Jesus was born sometime between 7 BC and 2 BC and we really don't know when. What's more, it's likely that Jesus was born in the summer and not the winter and they the idea of oxen and donkey and sheep in the stable where he was born is unlikely.
Well, how did I get from Sam and Frodo through to this? Sam and Frodo believe that time, all time, has come to an end. ...and then the eagles arrive. The psalms talk about eagle’s wings, don’t they? “I will raise you up, on eagles wings; bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun.” To rise, on wings of eagles.
The point of the other stories is to show how our sense of time is so limited - and that’s why the Book of Revelation is important.
John was writing a hundred years after the death of Jesus, in a political time where being a
Christian was not only risky but downright dangerous. Christians were being persecuted and killed by the state for their beliefs. It was much easier to just turn away from Jesus, and faith. At least you would be alive.
So John writes letters to the seven churches in Asia: Grace to you and peace from the One
who is and who was and who is to come. Then he says “He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
This is important language because it is the language of time. God was, God is and God is to come. God is the beginning and ending of all things. I wonder, if in all this, we need to hold up these words and remember God’s time, and this assurance that God is always with us. What we may perceive as the end of all things may not be; new beginnings are really part of a much larger circle, the circle of God’s time, that has no beginning and no end, that goes on forever.
Sources:
1. “Alpha and the Omega” a sermon based upon Revelation 1: 4-8, John 18:33-37. Author anonymous.
2. “Endings and Beginnings” a sermon based upon Revelation 1:4-8. Rev. David Shearman, Central-Westside United Church, Owen Sound, Ontario.
3. Tolkien, J.R. R. Lord of the Rings Trilogy: The Return of the King. Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt, Boston MA.
***************************************************************************
There is a scene in the Lord of the Rings stories, just near the end. Two hobbits, Frodo and Sam, have carried the One Ring of great evil all the way to Mount Doom, to the fire where it was created, and they have thrown it back into the fires where it is destroyed. They just get out before the mountain erupts - and we see them marooned on a huge rock - the pyroclastic lava flow all around them, the mountain blowing rocks and flames. They weep together about what might have been; Sam remembers Rosie Cotton, and says with tears in his eyes “If there were ever someone I would marry, it would have been her.” Frodo says to Sam “I’m glad you’re here with me, Samwise Gamgee, here at the end of all things.”
But of course, it turns out not to be the end of all things, but the beginning. There is no question that both of them have been deeply and permanently scarred by their long journey into the fires of evil, and their struggles with temptation to choose the easier way. Neither one will ever be the same again. In some senses, that moment in the movie signifies the death of both Sam and Frodo - the death of who they were.
Yet they are resurrected - carried off the rock by great eagles, returned to the home of the woodland elves, and their lives are restored. - and I don’t think it’s any accident that the author, JRR Tolkien, used the eagles in this precise place in the story.
In fact, the eagle is imbued with great spiritual meaning in many different faiths. It represents spiritual protection, carries prayers, brings strength, courage, wisdom, illumination of spirit, healing, creation, and a knowledge of magic. The eagle has an ability to see hidden spiritual truths, rising above the material to see the spiritual. It represents great power and balance, dignity with grace, a connection with higher truths, intuition and a creative spirit grace achieved through knowledge and hard work.
The dictionary of scripture and myth, describes the eagle as “A symbol of the holy spirit, which flies through the mind (the air), from the higher nature (from heaven) to the lower nature (earth), and soars aloft to the self (the sun). The eagle is symbolic of new beginnings. Have you ever noticed in many churches, the Bible is placed on a pedestal which is an eagle with wings outstretched.
In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that Magi came to King Herod looking for a new king who was to be born. Now, Herod was a lot of things, but one thing he was not was stupid. He recognised immediately that the coming of a new king could well mean the ending of his rule. Yet Herod had in many ways been a good ruler. He was the only ruler of Palestine who ever succeeded in keeping the peace and bringing order to the region for any length of time. He built the Temple in Jerusalem. He was both absolute tyrant and unusually generous. He paid the Roman taxes for his people in times of difficulty and even melted down his own gold plate to buy grain to feed the starving people in the famine twenty-five years before Jesus was born. Yet he was also insanely suspicious of anyone who might be a threat to his reign. He murdered his wife and her mother and assassinated three of his sons. He was not willing to consider the ending of his own rule. So he sends his troops to end the lives of any who might be a potential threat.
You might remember awhile back some publicity around Wal-Mart stores, and Shopper’s Drug Mart, playing Christmas music early in November. Customers were not happy. I feel the same way. Rev. David Shearman reports that in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canadian Tire had Christmas lights out in September. He says “I thought that was a bit of a record. They hadn't quite taken down their garden centre and there were the Christmas lights!”
This past week Pope Benedict published his last commentary on the life of Jesus, called "Jesus in Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives". Pope Benedict's work raises a few eyebrows, because he disconnects the birth of Jesus from the date of Christmas. Now, for those of us who have been through a seminary or a Sunday School in the more liberal theological tradition, this won’t come as any surprise. The selection of the December date had nothing to do with historical or literal accuracy, but because early missionaries wanted to reach out to Druids who celebrated the winter solstice, the longest and darkest night of the year - and what better way to do that than to offer a festival of hope and light right after the longest, darkest night?
Pope Benedict suggests that the date of Jesus birth was not based in any kind of fact but be a series of calculating errors by a 5th century monk called Dennis the Small. It is likely that Jesus was born sometime between 7 BC and 2 BC and we really don't know when. What's more, it's likely that Jesus was born in the summer and not the winter and they the idea of oxen and donkey and sheep in the stable where he was born is unlikely.
Well, how did I get from Sam and Frodo through to this? Sam and Frodo believe that time, all time, has come to an end. ...and then the eagles arrive. The psalms talk about eagle’s wings, don’t they? “I will raise you up, on eagles wings; bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun.” To rise, on wings of eagles.
The point of the other stories is to show how our sense of time is so limited - and that’s why the Book of Revelation is important.
John was writing a hundred years after the death of Jesus, in a political time where being a
Christian was not only risky but downright dangerous. Christians were being persecuted and killed by the state for their beliefs. It was much easier to just turn away from Jesus, and faith. At least you would be alive.
So John writes letters to the seven churches in Asia: Grace to you and peace from the One
who is and who was and who is to come. Then he says “He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
This is important language because it is the language of time. God was, God is and God is to come. God is the beginning and ending of all things. I wonder, if in all this, we need to hold up these words and remember God’s time, and this assurance that God is always with us. What we may perceive as the end of all things may not be; new beginnings are really part of a much larger circle, the circle of God’s time, that has no beginning and no end, that goes on forever.
Sources:
1. “Alpha and the Omega” a sermon based upon Revelation 1: 4-8, John 18:33-37. Author anonymous.
2. “Endings and Beginnings” a sermon based upon Revelation 1:4-8. Rev. David Shearman, Central-Westside United Church, Owen Sound, Ontario.
3. Tolkien, J.R. R. Lord of the Rings Trilogy: The Return of the King. Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt, Boston MA.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Two Kinds of Empire A sermon based on 2 Samuel 23:1-7 and Mark 13:1-8 (Tales of the Apocalypse) Humber United Church, November 18, 2012
David son of Jesse was the man whom God made great, whom the God of Jacob chose to be king, and who was the composer of beautiful songs for Israel. These are David's last words:
The spirit of God speaks through me; God’s message is on my lips. The God of Israel has spoken; the protector of Israel said to me: “The king who rules with justice, who rules in obedience to God, is like the sun shining on a cloudless dawn, the sun that makes the grass sparkle after rain.”
That is how God will bless my descendants, because he has made an eternal covenant with me,
an agreement that will not be broken, a promise that will not be changed. That is all I desire;
that will be my victory, and God will surely bring it about. Godless people are like thorns that are thrown away; no one can touch them barehanded. You must use an iron tool or a spear and burn them completely.
Mark 13:1-8
As Jesus was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples said, “Look, Teacher! What wonderful stones and buildings!” Jesus answered, “You see these great buildings? Not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one of them will be thrown down.” Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, across from the Temple, when Peter, James, John, and Andrew came to him in private. “Tell us when this will be,” they said, “and tell us what will happen to show that the time has come for all these things to take place.” Jesus said to them, “Watch out, and don't let anyone fool you. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will fool many people. Don't be anxious when you hear the noise of battles close by and news of battles far away. Such things must happen, but they do not mean that the end has come. Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another. There will be earthquakes everywhere, and there will be famines. These things are like the first pains of childbirth.
**************************************************************************
‘I met a traveller from an antique land
who said: - Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
tell that its sculptor well those passions read
which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
the hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
the lone and level sands stretch far away.’
In English we have a saying “Famous last words”. This Sunday is the second last one for the liturgical church year - almost the last words we will say before we begin another liturgical year, on the first of Advent in two weeks' time. So it’s interesting to look back through the Bible at some last words. Moses, for instance, blesses each of the twelve tribes of Israel; he names each of them, and notes their strengths and weaknesses; he prays for each one, and that their future will be blessed. Elijah encourages his young protégé Elisha, teaching him about taking risk and growing in faith. The last words of Stephen call for forgiving grace. Jesus commends himself to God’s care, and later when he appears to the disciples, he tells them that they will always see and know him, through thick and thin.
All of these are good words. The writers and editors of the texts show us the leaders taking the broad and high road of faith and life. We are encouraged to travel lightly and trust that God opens the way, even if we cannot see very far ahead.
David’s last words don’t fall into that category at all. David began as the golden one, who killed Goliath, who played and sang for Saul, who had compassion and kindness in him. He moved on to the King David who would send a man into battle to be killed, so that David could have his wife, Bathsheba. The David who, in the end, comes to trust in empire and wealth, and kids himself that God is doing it because David is so great.
David’s last words become a kind of “teacher’s pet” exit speech; all good things flow from the throne of the king, and on down. Anyone who disagrees is a prickly pain who needs to be eliminated - uprooted and burned as garbage. There is no room here for a next generation of blessings, unless it is another royal monarch. There is no room here for a child born in a manger, a nobody from a nothing little scrap of a village called Nazareth, washer of feet, one who will endure flogging and crucifixion.
Today we have too a group of disciples who are agog and impressed at the wonderful temple, how it has been rebuilt. The home of the Jewish faith; the one place in which they put all their trust, even when the religious leaders were taking advantage of them. They remark to Jesus on how impressive it is...
...and Jesus replies that not one of those stones will survive, that everything will come down. It is a clear comment on the differences between human empire, and God’s realm.
There will be wars and rumours of wars before the end of time. There will be all kinds of false prophets, those who set themselves up above others. But, Jesus says it does not mean the *end* of time has come, it means the end of that kind of thinking has come, and a new way of living with God’s blessings is about to appear.
Even though Advent hasn’t officially started yet, we are hearing Christmas Carols already!
“Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, born is the King of Israel.”
“This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing . . . “
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King . . . “
“Peace on the earth, good will to men, from heaven’s all gracious King . . . “
You can probably think of several others that, if you haven’t heard already, you will soon hear, or will be singing pretty soon. The common theme in these carols is that Jesus comes as the King.
What does it mean for Jesus to come as King?
The cycle of the church year begins and ends with the affirmation of Jesus as King. At the beginning of Advent last year, we looked forward to the coming King. Today we reach the end of the year, and point to the reign and rule of Christ, the King.
One of my favourite shows is “Law and Order”. One reason I like the show is that it addresses social issues from a variety of perspectives. How we, as a society, treat those with mental illness, for instance, or how corporate fraud affects the lives of every day people. Since the story takes place in New York City, several episodes have addressed the long term impact of September 11, 2001. The shows also raises the legal dilemmas facing our courts and those who enforce laws. One episode may address freedom of speech while another may explore the limits of the free exercise of religion.
Some of the recurring legal issues have been when and where and who and how plea bargains are used and the role of politics in our court system. And while they portray them as contemporary topics, those two issues are not unique to our court system, nor are they unique to modern history.
In fact, both politics and plea bargains are at play in the trial of Jesus – if you can call it a trial. In a system where the accused are presumed guilty and the court simply imposes the sentence, Pilate finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place. He looks for a way out, but cannot find one. If we continued in our reading today, we would hear Pilate concluding that Jesus is innocent, but claiming his hands are tied (Jn 18:38; 19:12). He will try to offer to punish another man, in a plea bargain-like proposal, but the opportunity will be denied him (Jn 18:39-40).
Pilate, who serves at the whim of the Emperor in Rome, is trying to appease the local citizenry. He has the authority to condemn or to set free but he does not have the political will to use his authority.
There is a strong irony in the comparison of the two readings today. David the King who rules y authority, while Jesus speaks with authority. David rules with power and might and violence; the other rules with truth and love and peace. David has no true wisdom, Jesus does. David rules his own little corner of the world with violence; Jesus raises no army and commits no crimes, yet is put to death for saying his kingdom is no of this world.
For David, a Kingdom required borders and troops and taxes. For David, a King held absolute power, a King was sovereign. For Jesus, the focus is not on the King, but on the Kingdom. Jewish law was clear that the role of the King was to care for the people – much as a shepherd takes care of the sheep. The King was not sovereign, but ruled under the direction of God (Dt 17:14-20).
Jesus turns nowhere but to the absolutes of truth and righteousness and the will of God. As sovereign, he willingly lays his life down for the sake of those who desire to live in his realm.
For us to acclaim Jesus as King is to suggest that we are both the focus of God’s concern and the beneficiaries of God’s providence.
Yet even so there are some who see God as a tyrant-King, someone of whom we are not just in awe, but full of fear - a God with all power, who executes justice based on the standards of perfection and sinlessness.
And the world has seen its share of tyrant-Kings and dictators who rule with only one concern – their own self importance and power. In the end, David was one of those kings, who put more stock in the power of human physical empire, and missed what God hoped for him and for his descendants.
Like David, Pilate, Herod, Caesar, these rulers really derive their power from the fear of the people over whom they wield their sword. In contrast, Jesus derives his power from God in heaven and uses that power to grant grace and forgiveness, even before we aware of our need..
Jesus fulfills the role of the Jewish ideal for a King. His concern is for the people, and the realm over which he has been given authority, and his authority comes from God, hence he does not need palaces and armies. Since this empire has no geographic borders, those who enter come of their own free will.
I began this sermon with the poem - called Ozymandias of Egypt, by Percy Bysshe Shelley. When we listen to David’s bragging in his last words, and then look at Jesus words about all the stones being torn down, nothing remaining, - and then the poem “My name is Ozymandias, king of Kings; look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.”
And Shelley finished the poem ‘Nothing beside remains: round the decay
of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
the lone and level sands stretch far away.’
Empires. Two kings, two kinds of empire. One is an empire of human wealth, military power, fear and punishment. A king who has lost track of what is truly important. The other empire one of peace, harmony, grace, forgiveness - and a King who stoops to wash the feet of others, whose call is to service.
Where do we put our faith?
Sources:
1. “Two Kings, Two Kingdoms” a sermon based on John 18:33-37 by Rev. Randy Quinn.
2. P. B. Shelley “Ozymandias of Egypt”
3. Rev. G. Malcolm Sinclair, in “Feasting on the Word”. Westminster John Knox Press, 2009,
The spirit of God speaks through me; God’s message is on my lips. The God of Israel has spoken; the protector of Israel said to me: “The king who rules with justice, who rules in obedience to God, is like the sun shining on a cloudless dawn, the sun that makes the grass sparkle after rain.”
That is how God will bless my descendants, because he has made an eternal covenant with me,
an agreement that will not be broken, a promise that will not be changed. That is all I desire;
that will be my victory, and God will surely bring it about. Godless people are like thorns that are thrown away; no one can touch them barehanded. You must use an iron tool or a spear and burn them completely.
Mark 13:1-8
As Jesus was leaving the Temple, one of his disciples said, “Look, Teacher! What wonderful stones and buildings!” Jesus answered, “You see these great buildings? Not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one of them will be thrown down.” Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, across from the Temple, when Peter, James, John, and Andrew came to him in private. “Tell us when this will be,” they said, “and tell us what will happen to show that the time has come for all these things to take place.” Jesus said to them, “Watch out, and don't let anyone fool you. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will fool many people. Don't be anxious when you hear the noise of battles close by and news of battles far away. Such things must happen, but they do not mean that the end has come. Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another. There will be earthquakes everywhere, and there will be famines. These things are like the first pains of childbirth.
**************************************************************************
‘I met a traveller from an antique land
who said: - Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
tell that its sculptor well those passions read
which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
the hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
the lone and level sands stretch far away.’
In English we have a saying “Famous last words”. This Sunday is the second last one for the liturgical church year - almost the last words we will say before we begin another liturgical year, on the first of Advent in two weeks' time. So it’s interesting to look back through the Bible at some last words. Moses, for instance, blesses each of the twelve tribes of Israel; he names each of them, and notes their strengths and weaknesses; he prays for each one, and that their future will be blessed. Elijah encourages his young protégé Elisha, teaching him about taking risk and growing in faith. The last words of Stephen call for forgiving grace. Jesus commends himself to God’s care, and later when he appears to the disciples, he tells them that they will always see and know him, through thick and thin.
All of these are good words. The writers and editors of the texts show us the leaders taking the broad and high road of faith and life. We are encouraged to travel lightly and trust that God opens the way, even if we cannot see very far ahead.
David’s last words don’t fall into that category at all. David began as the golden one, who killed Goliath, who played and sang for Saul, who had compassion and kindness in him. He moved on to the King David who would send a man into battle to be killed, so that David could have his wife, Bathsheba. The David who, in the end, comes to trust in empire and wealth, and kids himself that God is doing it because David is so great.
David’s last words become a kind of “teacher’s pet” exit speech; all good things flow from the throne of the king, and on down. Anyone who disagrees is a prickly pain who needs to be eliminated - uprooted and burned as garbage. There is no room here for a next generation of blessings, unless it is another royal monarch. There is no room here for a child born in a manger, a nobody from a nothing little scrap of a village called Nazareth, washer of feet, one who will endure flogging and crucifixion.
Today we have too a group of disciples who are agog and impressed at the wonderful temple, how it has been rebuilt. The home of the Jewish faith; the one place in which they put all their trust, even when the religious leaders were taking advantage of them. They remark to Jesus on how impressive it is...
...and Jesus replies that not one of those stones will survive, that everything will come down. It is a clear comment on the differences between human empire, and God’s realm.
There will be wars and rumours of wars before the end of time. There will be all kinds of false prophets, those who set themselves up above others. But, Jesus says it does not mean the *end* of time has come, it means the end of that kind of thinking has come, and a new way of living with God’s blessings is about to appear.
Even though Advent hasn’t officially started yet, we are hearing Christmas Carols already!
“Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, born is the King of Israel.”
“This, this is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing . . . “
“Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King . . . “
“Peace on the earth, good will to men, from heaven’s all gracious King . . . “
You can probably think of several others that, if you haven’t heard already, you will soon hear, or will be singing pretty soon. The common theme in these carols is that Jesus comes as the King.
What does it mean for Jesus to come as King?
The cycle of the church year begins and ends with the affirmation of Jesus as King. At the beginning of Advent last year, we looked forward to the coming King. Today we reach the end of the year, and point to the reign and rule of Christ, the King.
One of my favourite shows is “Law and Order”. One reason I like the show is that it addresses social issues from a variety of perspectives. How we, as a society, treat those with mental illness, for instance, or how corporate fraud affects the lives of every day people. Since the story takes place in New York City, several episodes have addressed the long term impact of September 11, 2001. The shows also raises the legal dilemmas facing our courts and those who enforce laws. One episode may address freedom of speech while another may explore the limits of the free exercise of religion.
Some of the recurring legal issues have been when and where and who and how plea bargains are used and the role of politics in our court system. And while they portray them as contemporary topics, those two issues are not unique to our court system, nor are they unique to modern history.
In fact, both politics and plea bargains are at play in the trial of Jesus – if you can call it a trial. In a system where the accused are presumed guilty and the court simply imposes the sentence, Pilate finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place. He looks for a way out, but cannot find one. If we continued in our reading today, we would hear Pilate concluding that Jesus is innocent, but claiming his hands are tied (Jn 18:38; 19:12). He will try to offer to punish another man, in a plea bargain-like proposal, but the opportunity will be denied him (Jn 18:39-40).
Pilate, who serves at the whim of the Emperor in Rome, is trying to appease the local citizenry. He has the authority to condemn or to set free but he does not have the political will to use his authority.
There is a strong irony in the comparison of the two readings today. David the King who rules y authority, while Jesus speaks with authority. David rules with power and might and violence; the other rules with truth and love and peace. David has no true wisdom, Jesus does. David rules his own little corner of the world with violence; Jesus raises no army and commits no crimes, yet is put to death for saying his kingdom is no of this world.
For David, a Kingdom required borders and troops and taxes. For David, a King held absolute power, a King was sovereign. For Jesus, the focus is not on the King, but on the Kingdom. Jewish law was clear that the role of the King was to care for the people – much as a shepherd takes care of the sheep. The King was not sovereign, but ruled under the direction of God (Dt 17:14-20).
Jesus turns nowhere but to the absolutes of truth and righteousness and the will of God. As sovereign, he willingly lays his life down for the sake of those who desire to live in his realm.
For us to acclaim Jesus as King is to suggest that we are both the focus of God’s concern and the beneficiaries of God’s providence.
Yet even so there are some who see God as a tyrant-King, someone of whom we are not just in awe, but full of fear - a God with all power, who executes justice based on the standards of perfection and sinlessness.
And the world has seen its share of tyrant-Kings and dictators who rule with only one concern – their own self importance and power. In the end, David was one of those kings, who put more stock in the power of human physical empire, and missed what God hoped for him and for his descendants.
Like David, Pilate, Herod, Caesar, these rulers really derive their power from the fear of the people over whom they wield their sword. In contrast, Jesus derives his power from God in heaven and uses that power to grant grace and forgiveness, even before we aware of our need..
Jesus fulfills the role of the Jewish ideal for a King. His concern is for the people, and the realm over which he has been given authority, and his authority comes from God, hence he does not need palaces and armies. Since this empire has no geographic borders, those who enter come of their own free will.
I began this sermon with the poem - called Ozymandias of Egypt, by Percy Bysshe Shelley. When we listen to David’s bragging in his last words, and then look at Jesus words about all the stones being torn down, nothing remaining, - and then the poem “My name is Ozymandias, king of Kings; look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.”
And Shelley finished the poem ‘Nothing beside remains: round the decay
of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
the lone and level sands stretch far away.’
Empires. Two kings, two kinds of empire. One is an empire of human wealth, military power, fear and punishment. A king who has lost track of what is truly important. The other empire one of peace, harmony, grace, forgiveness - and a King who stoops to wash the feet of others, whose call is to service.
Where do we put our faith?
Sources:
1. “Two Kings, Two Kingdoms” a sermon based on John 18:33-37 by Rev. Randy Quinn.
2. P. B. Shelley “Ozymandias of Egypt”
3. Rev. G. Malcolm Sinclair, in “Feasting on the Word”. Westminster John Knox Press, 2009,
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Flesh and Blood Saints Humber United Church November 11, 2012 Remembrance Day
Mark 12:38-44
He continued teaching. “Watch out for the religion scholars and leaders. They love to walk around in academic gowns and long robes, preening in the radiance of public flattery, basking in prominent positions, sitting at the head table at every church function. All the time they are exploiting the weak and helpless. The longer their prayers, the worse they are; but it will catch them in the end.”
Sitting across from the offering box, Jesus was observing how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. Many of the rich were making large contributions. Then he observed one poor widow who came up and put in two small coins—a measly two cents. Jesus called his disciples over and said, “The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all.”
******************************************************************************
Picture with me the temple scene: scribes and priests in festive and very expensive vestments, wealthy merchants, and prominent members of the community, all the pomp, the splendour, the rites and rituals. The pleats of their robes were neatly folded and the tassels were in their proper place. They wanted to look impressive as they paraded through the outer courtyards into the court of Israel. They continuously checked the ornate bags in which they carried their temple offerings to make sure that they had the proper coins and that the amount was sufficient for persons of their rank and standing.
At the same time, and very much in contrast to this scene, we see a little old widow getting ready for worship. She had been bargaining and scraping all week to have something for the temple. After all, she couldn't approach the house of God empty-handed. At the moment, she lived to give her offering to God. She wanted to tell God, "I'm thankful I still have you."
In spite of the insignificance of her temple tithe--two pennies--,Jesus lifts this woman up as an example: "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had". Jesus is not romanticizing poverty. There is nothing sacred about being hungry, cold, homeless, or powerless. The presence of the poor illustrates the need for church and its mission. But sometimes people who live near the edge of existence see things more clearly than those of us who have plenty. They see without impairment what is essential.
Today is Remembrance Day, a day set aside for us to remember those who gave everything they had - right to their very lives - to prevent world-wide disaster. The people who served in the First and Second World Wars are veterans, heroes, in the flesh. I might even go so far as to include those young men who went off to Viet Nam, and those who have gone to Afghanistan, or Bosnia.
On Friday, I attended the Remembrance Day assembly at Humber Elementary, and learned about young Corporal Brian Pinksen, who was all of 20 when he lost his life to injuries received in Kandahar. It reminded me of the young men I saw sitting in the chapel on the Tan Son Nhut Airbase in Viet Nam - from my perspective even in 1972 - they were barely old enough to shave - and compared them with the smart-aleck military commanders I met, who spoke about the local Vietnamese as “gooks”, and strutted around with their chests covered in medals, who stayed behind the scenes while the young ones went into battle. I thought about the young men who went home in body bags - and I thought about those unsung heroes, the doctors and nurses of the Mobile surgical hospital at the front who gave everything, but are forgotten.
I need to say, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a supporter of war. In the First and Second World Wars there were serious threats, and there is a part of me which says those wars were justified. I can’t be persuaded that all wars are justified - and every time I see a photo of a young person lost in war, I become emotional. I can’t say that the violence between Israel and Palestine is justified; I can’t really say the violence in Afghanistan is justified.
The problem I have is that there are so many other heroes, and part of me gets angry around Remembrance Day because of the people who are not remembered.. When Norio and I left Viet Nam, there were three other families who were good friends - all were Vietnamese men who had western wives. One was married to an Australian, one to a New Zealander, and one to an American. The wives and children were able to leave the country just before everything closed down in 1975. The men had to stay. We never found out if they were able to leave until years later when we were able to reconnect again.- and they would have had to pay large amounts of money to get away. They struggled within their country - a couple of them were highly placed in the government - and as our friend Duyet in Australia said “I was director of postal services in Viet Nam, now I lick stamps at the local post office.”
In the course of the war in Viet Nam, some 60,000 soldiers died. Over two million Vietnamese died. Estimates at the end of the war in 1975 were that 500,000 children were born with birth defects attributed to the widespread use of Agent Orange as a defoliant. Except that Agent Orange doesn’t break down, either in the environment or in the body. Once it’s there, it’s there.
You might remember a photo during the war in Viet Nam, of a little girl running naked down a road, with other children, when her village was hit by napalm. Phan Thi Kim Phuc survived the attack, but remembers running down the road crying “too hot, too hot”, as her back was burned by the napalm. She is a graduate of the University of Havana in Cuba, and is now a UNESCO world ambassador. She is one of those flesh-and-blood heroes, for me - someone who lived through such incredible times and is not afraid to speak out against war and violence. That’s here, of course. Kim Phuc now lives just outside Toronto.
There were those who chose not to leave at the end in 1975. They made the decision that even after the North Vietnamese took over, their expertise would be needed. Tailors, farmers, medical personnel, religious leaders - made a conscious choice to remain, to help their country rebuild. There to me they are the flesh and blood saints of the world - the ones who go on after the fighting is over.
My day job in Viet Nam, besides having two small children, was as office administrator for the YMCA Refugee Services. One of our projects was a co-operative village. Many of the refugees were farmers who had been pretty well napalmed off their land; they had to begin again, building homes in the jungle and finding a way to make a living. With the help of the YMCA, they were able to do that - build homes, and begin cooperative community projects. They raised pigs for food, but also for sale in the market. When the animals were sold, all the money went back into the community pot for the good of everyone. They grew crops, to feed themselves and sell in the market - and once again the proceeds went into the community pot. The director of the YMCA Services, Yukio Miyazaki, is in my mind one of those living flesh and blood saints who needs to be remembered on this day - because he was willing to give everything he had to make a positive difference in the lives of those people who had no way to get away, and no other way to survive.
In 2001, a movie called “Kandahar” was released. The story was written by an Afghani-Canadian journalist, Nilofer Pazira; it chronicles the story of a journalist living in Canada who returns to Afghanistan to save her suicidal sister. Some of it is her own story, and she returned to Afghanistan at great risk to herself, as she was the star of the movie as well, and had to go back into the burqa to be able to move around. In this movie we see the lives of Afghani women, and men, who are willing to fight back against oppression by any means possible. There is one scene where a group of women are walking together - and every singe one of them is wearing the most brightly-coloured burqa possible - every colour of the rainbow. No black burqas for these women - they are the flash and blood saints who find ways to survive even under the Taliban.
So where am I going with this?
Remembrance Day is important. There is no question that it is. But if we do not learn the lessons of war, or if we end up glorifying ourselves or our military, or acts of war, we lose. And I am afraid that if we do not continue to remind others of the deep and long-lasting effects of war, the world loses. As I sat listening and watching at the school on Friday, I could not help but think of the many people who are always left behind, who have nothing left to give but maybe two pennies and some commitment. These are the flesh and blood saints, the silent heroes, who should also be remembered at this time - those people who have suffered because of the actions of others, yet who continue to give whatever they can because it’s important.
Sources:
1. Nothing Left To Give? A sermon by Rev. Frank Schaefer
He continued teaching. “Watch out for the religion scholars and leaders. They love to walk around in academic gowns and long robes, preening in the radiance of public flattery, basking in prominent positions, sitting at the head table at every church function. All the time they are exploiting the weak and helpless. The longer their prayers, the worse they are; but it will catch them in the end.”
Sitting across from the offering box, Jesus was observing how the crowd tossed money in for the collection. Many of the rich were making large contributions. Then he observed one poor widow who came up and put in two small coins—a measly two cents. Jesus called his disciples over and said, “The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all.”
******************************************************************************
Picture with me the temple scene: scribes and priests in festive and very expensive vestments, wealthy merchants, and prominent members of the community, all the pomp, the splendour, the rites and rituals. The pleats of their robes were neatly folded and the tassels were in their proper place. They wanted to look impressive as they paraded through the outer courtyards into the court of Israel. They continuously checked the ornate bags in which they carried their temple offerings to make sure that they had the proper coins and that the amount was sufficient for persons of their rank and standing.
At the same time, and very much in contrast to this scene, we see a little old widow getting ready for worship. She had been bargaining and scraping all week to have something for the temple. After all, she couldn't approach the house of God empty-handed. At the moment, she lived to give her offering to God. She wanted to tell God, "I'm thankful I still have you."
In spite of the insignificance of her temple tithe--two pennies--,Jesus lifts this woman up as an example: "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had". Jesus is not romanticizing poverty. There is nothing sacred about being hungry, cold, homeless, or powerless. The presence of the poor illustrates the need for church and its mission. But sometimes people who live near the edge of existence see things more clearly than those of us who have plenty. They see without impairment what is essential.
Today is Remembrance Day, a day set aside for us to remember those who gave everything they had - right to their very lives - to prevent world-wide disaster. The people who served in the First and Second World Wars are veterans, heroes, in the flesh. I might even go so far as to include those young men who went off to Viet Nam, and those who have gone to Afghanistan, or Bosnia.
On Friday, I attended the Remembrance Day assembly at Humber Elementary, and learned about young Corporal Brian Pinksen, who was all of 20 when he lost his life to injuries received in Kandahar. It reminded me of the young men I saw sitting in the chapel on the Tan Son Nhut Airbase in Viet Nam - from my perspective even in 1972 - they were barely old enough to shave - and compared them with the smart-aleck military commanders I met, who spoke about the local Vietnamese as “gooks”, and strutted around with their chests covered in medals, who stayed behind the scenes while the young ones went into battle. I thought about the young men who went home in body bags - and I thought about those unsung heroes, the doctors and nurses of the Mobile surgical hospital at the front who gave everything, but are forgotten.
I need to say, I am not now, nor have I ever been, a supporter of war. In the First and Second World Wars there were serious threats, and there is a part of me which says those wars were justified. I can’t be persuaded that all wars are justified - and every time I see a photo of a young person lost in war, I become emotional. I can’t say that the violence between Israel and Palestine is justified; I can’t really say the violence in Afghanistan is justified.
The problem I have is that there are so many other heroes, and part of me gets angry around Remembrance Day because of the people who are not remembered.. When Norio and I left Viet Nam, there were three other families who were good friends - all were Vietnamese men who had western wives. One was married to an Australian, one to a New Zealander, and one to an American. The wives and children were able to leave the country just before everything closed down in 1975. The men had to stay. We never found out if they were able to leave until years later when we were able to reconnect again.- and they would have had to pay large amounts of money to get away. They struggled within their country - a couple of them were highly placed in the government - and as our friend Duyet in Australia said “I was director of postal services in Viet Nam, now I lick stamps at the local post office.”
In the course of the war in Viet Nam, some 60,000 soldiers died. Over two million Vietnamese died. Estimates at the end of the war in 1975 were that 500,000 children were born with birth defects attributed to the widespread use of Agent Orange as a defoliant. Except that Agent Orange doesn’t break down, either in the environment or in the body. Once it’s there, it’s there.
You might remember a photo during the war in Viet Nam, of a little girl running naked down a road, with other children, when her village was hit by napalm. Phan Thi Kim Phuc survived the attack, but remembers running down the road crying “too hot, too hot”, as her back was burned by the napalm. She is a graduate of the University of Havana in Cuba, and is now a UNESCO world ambassador. She is one of those flesh-and-blood heroes, for me - someone who lived through such incredible times and is not afraid to speak out against war and violence. That’s here, of course. Kim Phuc now lives just outside Toronto.
There were those who chose not to leave at the end in 1975. They made the decision that even after the North Vietnamese took over, their expertise would be needed. Tailors, farmers, medical personnel, religious leaders - made a conscious choice to remain, to help their country rebuild. There to me they are the flesh and blood saints of the world - the ones who go on after the fighting is over.
My day job in Viet Nam, besides having two small children, was as office administrator for the YMCA Refugee Services. One of our projects was a co-operative village. Many of the refugees were farmers who had been pretty well napalmed off their land; they had to begin again, building homes in the jungle and finding a way to make a living. With the help of the YMCA, they were able to do that - build homes, and begin cooperative community projects. They raised pigs for food, but also for sale in the market. When the animals were sold, all the money went back into the community pot for the good of everyone. They grew crops, to feed themselves and sell in the market - and once again the proceeds went into the community pot. The director of the YMCA Services, Yukio Miyazaki, is in my mind one of those living flesh and blood saints who needs to be remembered on this day - because he was willing to give everything he had to make a positive difference in the lives of those people who had no way to get away, and no other way to survive.
In 2001, a movie called “Kandahar” was released. The story was written by an Afghani-Canadian journalist, Nilofer Pazira; it chronicles the story of a journalist living in Canada who returns to Afghanistan to save her suicidal sister. Some of it is her own story, and she returned to Afghanistan at great risk to herself, as she was the star of the movie as well, and had to go back into the burqa to be able to move around. In this movie we see the lives of Afghani women, and men, who are willing to fight back against oppression by any means possible. There is one scene where a group of women are walking together - and every singe one of them is wearing the most brightly-coloured burqa possible - every colour of the rainbow. No black burqas for these women - they are the flash and blood saints who find ways to survive even under the Taliban.
So where am I going with this?
Remembrance Day is important. There is no question that it is. But if we do not learn the lessons of war, or if we end up glorifying ourselves or our military, or acts of war, we lose. And I am afraid that if we do not continue to remind others of the deep and long-lasting effects of war, the world loses. As I sat listening and watching at the school on Friday, I could not help but think of the many people who are always left behind, who have nothing left to give but maybe two pennies and some commitment. These are the flesh and blood saints, the silent heroes, who should also be remembered at this time - those people who have suffered because of the actions of others, yet who continue to give whatever they can because it’s important.
Sources:
1. Nothing Left To Give? A sermon by Rev. Frank Schaefer
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