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
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Open Our Eyes... Humber United Church October 21, 2012 Mark 10:46-52
They spent some time in Jericho. As Jesus was leaving town, trailed by his disciples and a parade of people, a blind beggar by the name of Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, was sitting alongside the road. When he heard that Jesus the Nazarene was passing by, he began to cry out, “Son of David, Jesus! Mercy, have mercy on me!” Many tried to hush him up, but he yelled all the louder, “Son of David! Mercy, have mercy on me!” Jesus stopped in his tracks. “Call him over.”
They called him. “It’s your lucky day! Get up! He’s calling you to come!” Throwing off his coat, he was on his feet at once and came to Jesus. Jesus said, “What can I do for you?”
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
“On your way,” said Jesus. “Your faith has saved and healed you.” In that very instant he recovered his sight and followed Jesus down the road.
************************************************************************
Try to imagine the scene in which this parable takes place. It’s less than a week before the Passover begins in Jerusalem; people from everywhere travel to Jerusalem every year for this holy day. For some, it’s a yearly pilgrimage, and for others it may be the only time they ever go. There is lots of excitement in the air, and the vendors in the markets are busy getting everything ready. It’s also a time when the Romans are most concerned about outbreaks of “freedom” groups.
Imagine you are an innkeeper in Jericho. This is the time of year when you make enough money to pays the bills for the rest of the year. People are filling the streets, rooms command premium price for those passing through on their way to the festival You never make it to Jerusalem yourself, - too busy working - but the brisk business is welcome.
Times haven’t changed much, have they? People still go to Jerusalem for Passover, and there is still the ever-present threat of violence. Every year many Muslims travel to Mecca in the Hajj, the holy pilgrimage. - and there are those who take advantage of pilgrims, in order to make a fast shekel. Some will be selling T-shirts and key rings; in Jesus’ time I wonder what they would have been selling - maybe cheap sandals, or money bags, or some kind of holy relic left over from the trip with Moses.
And there would be those who sit by the road and beg, knowing that the pilgrims will be in a good mood, and that the crowds will come back next week when the celebrations are over To these beggars, this is the best kind of crowd to work with – they are in good spirits, there is extra money to be spent, and it’s a religious holiday that encourages people to give. They couldn’t ask for anything better.
There is a particular intersection in downtown Toronto, where a couple of panhandlers appear usually around Thanksgiving and Christmas, knowing that people will be feeling a bit more generous. They sit out in the freezing cold, right at the stop light, and as cars pull up to stop, most people hand over some cash. I usually do. It *is* that time of year. They aren’t usually there, but they are clearly quite poor, which tells me that the panhandling is to get a little extra money to be able to celebrate the festivals.
Well, back to the road to Jerusalem. This year there is the hot-shot traveling preacher who brings his crowd along. He has a reputation for miracles, but there is even speculation that he may be the Messiah, the Son of David, who will ascend the throne of Israel and free the land from Roman rule. Expectations are high, among the followers. This man is surely the one, and he just needs to get to Jerusalem, and will demonstrate his incredible power.
Jesus could barely keep the disciples in check. As we read through Mark’s Gospel, we see that Jesus has been trying to hammer home the point that he will die in Jerusalem. But they would rather hear the rumors that are circulating; they want to believe a story of a King being acclaimed and anointed, who will rule from David’s throne, fulfill the hopes of the people, and be ruthless with the enemy, Rome.
In today’s reading, all of these groups and expectations meet in the city of Jericho at the bottom of the hill that leads up to Jerusalem.
What do we know about Bartimaeus? We know that he is Bar-Timaeus, the son of Timaeus. We know he was blind. We know he was looking for mercy, not money. We know that, because he asks for mercy and because he throws off his cloak, which he likely would have used to catch the money thrown to him by travellers. So it isn’t money he wants at all.
Unlike the “man born blind”, it’s more likely that Bartimaeus acquired blindness at some point in his life. A common experience among the people contracting a disease in which the eye duct would dry out, and in the arid and hot climate this often led to blindness. It was a dreaded disease spread by flies; when he cried out, the crowd, even the disciples, try to hush him up.
As a blind man, he was not welcome at religious festivals. People with disabilities could not take part in temple events, something straight from Levitical Law (Lev. 21:17-21). According to those laws anyone with any kind of blemish could not participate in sacrifices. So Bartimaeus had to live a life without worship. He was cut off from the religious centre of the community. At a guess, maybe his parents provided for him, so he didn’t need money, but more likely acceptance.
In some ways he could see things that people around him didn’t see, as if he had insight rather than eyesight.
When he called out to Jesus as the Son of David, for example, he may have been acclaiming Jesus as the Messiah (Mk. 10:47-48). It could also be that he remembered that King David made room at his table for Mephibosheth, the lame descendant of King Saul. Perhaps he was calling Jesus to make room for the blind and the crippled in his coming realm. Maybe he was pleading for mercy on behalf of all those who were cast out because of their disabilities and deformities.
For many years in the Buddhist system of belief, it was thought that women, and those who had any disability, could not become enlightened. It wasn’t until the time of Shinran, a Buddhist monk in Japan, that women and the disabled were allowed to take teaching. There is no question that Jesus also recognised that those who were outcast, pushed aside, or deemed not acceptable, were just as acceptable as anyone else.
Jesus asks almost the same question this week as last. Jesus asked James and John “What do you want me to do for you?” Today he asks Bartimaeus “what do you want?”
Last week the disciples asked to be seen and noticed by everyone.
This week Bartimaeus asks to see.
It would have made somewhat more sense, maybe, if the disciples should asked to be able to see clearly, and Bartimaeus asked to be seen. Mark’s Gospel keeps hammering home how thick the disciples were at not being able to see what Jesus was trying to get across to them. Maybe they really should have asked to see - but of course, they weren’t even aware they *needed* to be able to see.....they were too focused on the prestige of being on Jesus’ right and left, elevated above all their peers. - and because they could not *see*, they didn’t realise that Bartiemaus really need to be seen, to be recognised as a person, regardless of his blindness. Yet all Batimaeus can ask for is to be able to see, not to be *seen*.
What would you ask for? Your physical eyesight? Or insight? Like the disciples, maybe we really don’t want to see. Maybe it’s easier to look past the beggars on the streets, easier not to notice the lonely in our community, preferring someone else to do it. Seeing the needs might require us to act. If we actually know how we might help, we might also have to do something.
But if we cannot see, how can we follow Jesus on the road to Jerusalem? We would see neither the cross, nor the tomb.
What’s the very last thing Mark tells us in this story? That Jesus says to Bartimaeus “Your faith has made you well.” He has been given sight. - and Mark says he got up and followed Jesus.
So the question remains, what do you want Jesus to do for you?
Sources:
1. What Do You Want? A sermon by Rev. Randy Quinn based on Mark 10:46-52
2. Feasting on the Word, commentary by Victor McCracken. Westminster John Knox Press 2009.
They called him. “It’s your lucky day! Get up! He’s calling you to come!” Throwing off his coat, he was on his feet at once and came to Jesus. Jesus said, “What can I do for you?”
The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”
“On your way,” said Jesus. “Your faith has saved and healed you.” In that very instant he recovered his sight and followed Jesus down the road.
************************************************************************
Try to imagine the scene in which this parable takes place. It’s less than a week before the Passover begins in Jerusalem; people from everywhere travel to Jerusalem every year for this holy day. For some, it’s a yearly pilgrimage, and for others it may be the only time they ever go. There is lots of excitement in the air, and the vendors in the markets are busy getting everything ready. It’s also a time when the Romans are most concerned about outbreaks of “freedom” groups.
Imagine you are an innkeeper in Jericho. This is the time of year when you make enough money to pays the bills for the rest of the year. People are filling the streets, rooms command premium price for those passing through on their way to the festival You never make it to Jerusalem yourself, - too busy working - but the brisk business is welcome.
Times haven’t changed much, have they? People still go to Jerusalem for Passover, and there is still the ever-present threat of violence. Every year many Muslims travel to Mecca in the Hajj, the holy pilgrimage. - and there are those who take advantage of pilgrims, in order to make a fast shekel. Some will be selling T-shirts and key rings; in Jesus’ time I wonder what they would have been selling - maybe cheap sandals, or money bags, or some kind of holy relic left over from the trip with Moses.
And there would be those who sit by the road and beg, knowing that the pilgrims will be in a good mood, and that the crowds will come back next week when the celebrations are over To these beggars, this is the best kind of crowd to work with – they are in good spirits, there is extra money to be spent, and it’s a religious holiday that encourages people to give. They couldn’t ask for anything better.
There is a particular intersection in downtown Toronto, where a couple of panhandlers appear usually around Thanksgiving and Christmas, knowing that people will be feeling a bit more generous. They sit out in the freezing cold, right at the stop light, and as cars pull up to stop, most people hand over some cash. I usually do. It *is* that time of year. They aren’t usually there, but they are clearly quite poor, which tells me that the panhandling is to get a little extra money to be able to celebrate the festivals.
Well, back to the road to Jerusalem. This year there is the hot-shot traveling preacher who brings his crowd along. He has a reputation for miracles, but there is even speculation that he may be the Messiah, the Son of David, who will ascend the throne of Israel and free the land from Roman rule. Expectations are high, among the followers. This man is surely the one, and he just needs to get to Jerusalem, and will demonstrate his incredible power.
Jesus could barely keep the disciples in check. As we read through Mark’s Gospel, we see that Jesus has been trying to hammer home the point that he will die in Jerusalem. But they would rather hear the rumors that are circulating; they want to believe a story of a King being acclaimed and anointed, who will rule from David’s throne, fulfill the hopes of the people, and be ruthless with the enemy, Rome.
In today’s reading, all of these groups and expectations meet in the city of Jericho at the bottom of the hill that leads up to Jerusalem.
What do we know about Bartimaeus? We know that he is Bar-Timaeus, the son of Timaeus. We know he was blind. We know he was looking for mercy, not money. We know that, because he asks for mercy and because he throws off his cloak, which he likely would have used to catch the money thrown to him by travellers. So it isn’t money he wants at all.
Unlike the “man born blind”, it’s more likely that Bartimaeus acquired blindness at some point in his life. A common experience among the people contracting a disease in which the eye duct would dry out, and in the arid and hot climate this often led to blindness. It was a dreaded disease spread by flies; when he cried out, the crowd, even the disciples, try to hush him up.
As a blind man, he was not welcome at religious festivals. People with disabilities could not take part in temple events, something straight from Levitical Law (Lev. 21:17-21). According to those laws anyone with any kind of blemish could not participate in sacrifices. So Bartimaeus had to live a life without worship. He was cut off from the religious centre of the community. At a guess, maybe his parents provided for him, so he didn’t need money, but more likely acceptance.
In some ways he could see things that people around him didn’t see, as if he had insight rather than eyesight.
When he called out to Jesus as the Son of David, for example, he may have been acclaiming Jesus as the Messiah (Mk. 10:47-48). It could also be that he remembered that King David made room at his table for Mephibosheth, the lame descendant of King Saul. Perhaps he was calling Jesus to make room for the blind and the crippled in his coming realm. Maybe he was pleading for mercy on behalf of all those who were cast out because of their disabilities and deformities.
For many years in the Buddhist system of belief, it was thought that women, and those who had any disability, could not become enlightened. It wasn’t until the time of Shinran, a Buddhist monk in Japan, that women and the disabled were allowed to take teaching. There is no question that Jesus also recognised that those who were outcast, pushed aside, or deemed not acceptable, were just as acceptable as anyone else.
Jesus asks almost the same question this week as last. Jesus asked James and John “What do you want me to do for you?” Today he asks Bartimaeus “what do you want?”
Last week the disciples asked to be seen and noticed by everyone.
This week Bartimaeus asks to see.
It would have made somewhat more sense, maybe, if the disciples should asked to be able to see clearly, and Bartimaeus asked to be seen. Mark’s Gospel keeps hammering home how thick the disciples were at not being able to see what Jesus was trying to get across to them. Maybe they really should have asked to see - but of course, they weren’t even aware they *needed* to be able to see.....they were too focused on the prestige of being on Jesus’ right and left, elevated above all their peers. - and because they could not *see*, they didn’t realise that Bartiemaus really need to be seen, to be recognised as a person, regardless of his blindness. Yet all Batimaeus can ask for is to be able to see, not to be *seen*.
What would you ask for? Your physical eyesight? Or insight? Like the disciples, maybe we really don’t want to see. Maybe it’s easier to look past the beggars on the streets, easier not to notice the lonely in our community, preferring someone else to do it. Seeing the needs might require us to act. If we actually know how we might help, we might also have to do something.
But if we cannot see, how can we follow Jesus on the road to Jerusalem? We would see neither the cross, nor the tomb.
What’s the very last thing Mark tells us in this story? That Jesus says to Bartimaeus “Your faith has made you well.” He has been given sight. - and Mark says he got up and followed Jesus.
So the question remains, what do you want Jesus to do for you?
Sources:
1. What Do You Want? A sermon by Rev. Randy Quinn based on Mark 10:46-52
2. Feasting on the Word, commentary by Victor McCracken. Westminster John Knox Press 2009.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Scarcity or Abundance? Matthew 5:1-6, Mark 10:17-31, Mark 10:35-45
Matthew 5:1-6
When Jesus saw that his teaching was drawing crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were followers, apprentices of a sort, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his companions. This is what he said:
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are - no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God, who is food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for. You’re blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.
***************************************************************************
He went up a hillside to teach......
Maybe one like this - in La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia. A friend of mine, who lives in Minca, Colombia travels to Nabusimake, in the Arhuaco Valley, to learn from the Arhuaco elders. John Lundin has a PhD in Pastoral Counselling, and has co-authored a book with the Dalai Lama. He is currently writing a book about the Arhuaco people and their life and spirituality. This is where the teachings are given.
Two weeks ago Sonya and the children told us the story of Stone Soup - a story of what happens when we cooperate and give thanks for what we DO have. Last week we heard a story called T
Give Thanks for Rocks - another story of giving thanks for what we DO have, even if at first glance it looks like not much. Today we are observing World Food Day; a time of recognition that other parts of the world do not have such fortune. In many places, this lack is due to circumstances beyond the control of the people who are most affected - war, drought, poor harvest, dirty water, flood.
Last week, Canadian Churches celebrated Thanksgiving, and World Communion Sunday. It is a time when we give thanks for gifts, and for life. Thanksgiving has been a time of celebrating the abundance of harvest. In the Jewish tradition, last Sunday was the last day of Sukkoth, the Feast of Tabernacles - a celebration of harvest in the first year of freedom after years of slavery and wandering in the wilderness - a celebration of those things which God provided: manna and quail, and water from a rock. Celebrations of the earth and our place in it.
And yet......
Today’s story from Mark is a typical story of human-ness and greed. James and John, who apparently have finally got the point that Jesus is going to die, and eventually both of them, ask Jesus to set it up so that they will be greater than the others. Even after they are gone, they want more - and never mind their friends and companions - they want Jesus to give them places of honour...they’re looking at what they don’t have, instead of celebrating what they do have. And Jesus tells them they might want to re-think that a little.
In a sense, these two remind me of the congregations I’ve served, including here at Humber. In the post-war era, here in North America, the churches went through a great period of growth - but only for about twenty or twenty-five years, and then they started to decline again. That’s the part we’ve tried not to notice - since the ‘70s, both the United Church in particular, and the church around the world in general, has been in decline.
I’ve heard that the church of my childhood, Wesley United in Prince Albert, had over 600 kids in the Sunday School. I’ve heard that the church of my youth ad teen years, Deer Lodge United in Winnipeg, had over 400 in Sunday School, and about 100 in the youth group. I am here to attest to the fact that those figures are greatly inflated by nostalgia for something that in reality never existed. Wesley United might have had 150 in the Sunday School, but there surely wasn’t room for more than that. Deer Lodge United had maybe 30 in the youth group.
So as time goes on, numbers appear to slip, costs rise to the point where we have deficit instead of plenty, we fall into what theologians are naming as a Theology of Scarcity. We spend all our time looking backward and trying to dream of a time when the pews will be full and we have lots of money. We have to get more people out to church, is the comment - we have to be able to pay our bills, we don’t have enough. Is that what we are supposed to be about? Is that what God wants for the church??? Or is it maybe that God wants us to look more closely at what we do have, compared to those who are destitute, and right the balance? Is it maybe that God wants us to function as a community of the whole, not worrying for the future, but cooperating and collaborating for the benefit of the whole.
In every congregation I’ve served, I struggle to find a way to get people to change their mental and spiritual attitude of focusing on what they *don’t* have, and instead focusing on what we *do* have. We need to move from a theology of scarcity to a theology of abundance...
...and Jesus, sitting on the terraced hillside, says
“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are - no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God, who is food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for. You’re blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.”
One of the alternate readings for today was an earlier story in Mark, about the very wealthy young man who came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to enter the realm - and Jesus responded “Sell all your stuff, give it to the poor, and then come back.” Mark reports that the young man left in tears. - and we, in our rather simplistic way of thinking, assume that the young man is unable to let go of all his things, and is in tears because giving up those things is beyond his capacity.
My friend, Rev. David Shearman, comments "You could also interpret the story as the man grieving because he *had* decided to get rid of his stuff and follow Jesus. His tears were not of sorrow but of acceptance because he knew he had taken the very first step into a new future. He realized that joining Jesus in kingdom values was excruciatingly painful.” The young man had just been confronted by Jesus in a very difficult way, with the difference between need and want.
We are confronted with that in the church. What we want, indeed what we think we need, may not be what we really need. One thing I do know - is that a theology of scarcity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more we focus on what we don’t have, the less we will have. We need a theology of abundance - a theology which says we have everything we need, right here. We don’t need any more.
I want to show you some photos of the Arhuaco people and their homes in Colombia - because I believe this is precisely what Jesus was talking about, and what God would wish for us.
John and I had a conversation this week about the Arhuaco people. It seemed to me, from the pictures and from his words, that they have everything they need. It seemed, in looking at the pictures, that this is a people completely at home in the world. They have no sense of poverty or of scarcity. When I asked John, here is what he replied:
“Not only do they have a different understanding of 'abundance' versus 'scarcity' or even 'poverty,' the truth is they don't have an understanding of that concept or tension at all. They have everything they need and don't ever think of 'want.' They have no interest in accumulating 'things,' and they go about their business of caring for the planet and each other 24 hours a day - including cultivating their crops and caring for their livestock. Everyone participates, and there is never a sense that they are "working." For them there is no difference between work and pleasure - when one is involved in the work one is called to do, the joy is in that harmony of purpose.”
May it be so.
When Jesus saw that his teaching was drawing crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were followers, apprentices of a sort, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his companions. This is what he said:
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are - no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God, who is food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for. You’re blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.
***************************************************************************
He went up a hillside to teach......
Maybe one like this - in La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia. A friend of mine, who lives in Minca, Colombia travels to Nabusimake, in the Arhuaco Valley, to learn from the Arhuaco elders. John Lundin has a PhD in Pastoral Counselling, and has co-authored a book with the Dalai Lama. He is currently writing a book about the Arhuaco people and their life and spirituality. This is where the teachings are given.
Two weeks ago Sonya and the children told us the story of Stone Soup - a story of what happens when we cooperate and give thanks for what we DO have. Last week we heard a story called T
Give Thanks for Rocks - another story of giving thanks for what we DO have, even if at first glance it looks like not much. Today we are observing World Food Day; a time of recognition that other parts of the world do not have such fortune. In many places, this lack is due to circumstances beyond the control of the people who are most affected - war, drought, poor harvest, dirty water, flood.
Last week, Canadian Churches celebrated Thanksgiving, and World Communion Sunday. It is a time when we give thanks for gifts, and for life. Thanksgiving has been a time of celebrating the abundance of harvest. In the Jewish tradition, last Sunday was the last day of Sukkoth, the Feast of Tabernacles - a celebration of harvest in the first year of freedom after years of slavery and wandering in the wilderness - a celebration of those things which God provided: manna and quail, and water from a rock. Celebrations of the earth and our place in it.
And yet......
Today’s story from Mark is a typical story of human-ness and greed. James and John, who apparently have finally got the point that Jesus is going to die, and eventually both of them, ask Jesus to set it up so that they will be greater than the others. Even after they are gone, they want more - and never mind their friends and companions - they want Jesus to give them places of honour...they’re looking at what they don’t have, instead of celebrating what they do have. And Jesus tells them they might want to re-think that a little.
In a sense, these two remind me of the congregations I’ve served, including here at Humber. In the post-war era, here in North America, the churches went through a great period of growth - but only for about twenty or twenty-five years, and then they started to decline again. That’s the part we’ve tried not to notice - since the ‘70s, both the United Church in particular, and the church around the world in general, has been in decline.
I’ve heard that the church of my childhood, Wesley United in Prince Albert, had over 600 kids in the Sunday School. I’ve heard that the church of my youth ad teen years, Deer Lodge United in Winnipeg, had over 400 in Sunday School, and about 100 in the youth group. I am here to attest to the fact that those figures are greatly inflated by nostalgia for something that in reality never existed. Wesley United might have had 150 in the Sunday School, but there surely wasn’t room for more than that. Deer Lodge United had maybe 30 in the youth group.
So as time goes on, numbers appear to slip, costs rise to the point where we have deficit instead of plenty, we fall into what theologians are naming as a Theology of Scarcity. We spend all our time looking backward and trying to dream of a time when the pews will be full and we have lots of money. We have to get more people out to church, is the comment - we have to be able to pay our bills, we don’t have enough. Is that what we are supposed to be about? Is that what God wants for the church??? Or is it maybe that God wants us to look more closely at what we do have, compared to those who are destitute, and right the balance? Is it maybe that God wants us to function as a community of the whole, not worrying for the future, but cooperating and collaborating for the benefit of the whole.
In every congregation I’ve served, I struggle to find a way to get people to change their mental and spiritual attitude of focusing on what they *don’t* have, and instead focusing on what we *do* have. We need to move from a theology of scarcity to a theology of abundance...
...and Jesus, sitting on the terraced hillside, says
“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are - no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God, who is food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for. You’re blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and heart - put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.”
One of the alternate readings for today was an earlier story in Mark, about the very wealthy young man who came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do to enter the realm - and Jesus responded “Sell all your stuff, give it to the poor, and then come back.” Mark reports that the young man left in tears. - and we, in our rather simplistic way of thinking, assume that the young man is unable to let go of all his things, and is in tears because giving up those things is beyond his capacity.
My friend, Rev. David Shearman, comments "You could also interpret the story as the man grieving because he *had* decided to get rid of his stuff and follow Jesus. His tears were not of sorrow but of acceptance because he knew he had taken the very first step into a new future. He realized that joining Jesus in kingdom values was excruciatingly painful.” The young man had just been confronted by Jesus in a very difficult way, with the difference between need and want.
We are confronted with that in the church. What we want, indeed what we think we need, may not be what we really need. One thing I do know - is that a theology of scarcity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more we focus on what we don’t have, the less we will have. We need a theology of abundance - a theology which says we have everything we need, right here. We don’t need any more.
I want to show you some photos of the Arhuaco people and their homes in Colombia - because I believe this is precisely what Jesus was talking about, and what God would wish for us.
John and I had a conversation this week about the Arhuaco people. It seemed to me, from the pictures and from his words, that they have everything they need. It seemed, in looking at the pictures, that this is a people completely at home in the world. They have no sense of poverty or of scarcity. When I asked John, here is what he replied:
“Not only do they have a different understanding of 'abundance' versus 'scarcity' or even 'poverty,' the truth is they don't have an understanding of that concept or tension at all. They have everything they need and don't ever think of 'want.' They have no interest in accumulating 'things,' and they go about their business of caring for the planet and each other 24 hours a day - including cultivating their crops and caring for their livestock. Everyone participates, and there is never a sense that they are "working." For them there is no difference between work and pleasure - when one is involved in the work one is called to do, the joy is in that harmony of purpose.”
May it be so.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
“Giving Thanks” Thanksgiving Sunday October 7, 2012 Humber United Church Matthew 6:25-33
“This is why I tell you: do not be worried about the food and drink you need in order to stay alive, or about clothes for your body. After all, isn't life worth more than food? And isn't the body worth more than clothes? Look at the birds: they do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet God in heaven takes care of them! Aren't you worth much more than birds? Can any of you live a bit longer by worrying about it?
And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers. It is God who clothes the wild grass - grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't God be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have!
So do not start worrying: ‘Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?’ These are the things the pagans are always concerned about. God in heaven knows that you need all these things. Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Realm of God and with what is required of you, and you will be provided with all these other things.”
**************************************************************************
Sukkoth in the Hebrew tradition is the Feast of Tabernacles, or Feast of Booths Sukkoth is the Jewish autumn festival of double thanksgiving, which began this year on September 30th- five days after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Sukkoth ends today, October 7th. This is one of the three Pilgrim Festivals spoken of in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Exodus 23:16 refers to “h’ag ha-asif “, the“Feast of the Ingathering,” when grains and fruits were gathered at the harvest’s end, and to “h’ag ha-sukkot” in Leviticus 23:34, recalling the days when the Israelites lived in huts during their years of wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt. The festival is characterized by the building of huts made of branches and by the gathering of four species of branches, with prayers of thanksgiving to God for the fruitfulness of the land. As part of the celebration, a sevenfold circuit of the synagogue is made with the four plants on the seventh day of the festival, called by the special name Hoshana Rabba (“Great Hosanna”). Jesus would have celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, and joined in the Great Hosanna!
Today, we express our thanks, our gratitude to God for the harvest, for providing for us, for caring for us, for getting us through another year. We can tell the story of God’s faithfulness, of God’s love, of God’s care, and we can tell it exactly because we are here--alive and well! We who are present are evidence of the goodness of God.
Over the last year, all of us, in one way or another - have had a personal crisis. Life involves worry, and we don’t get to escape it. Some of us have gone through tremendous struggles, and you are here; others may go through difficult times right now, but all of us agree that thanking God is important on this Thanksgiving Day. We are here today to give thanks to our loving and caring God!
My Facebook clergy friends started a list the other day of the subject of our thanks. Everyone said, of course, family and friends; home; health.....but it seems to me an attitude of gratitude means thanks for life - the good and the bad. The late George Burns, on the celebration of his 100th birthday and his appearance on a television talk show, was asked if he was glad to be able to be there. He responded “At my age, you’re glad to be anywhere.” Well, despite the fact that this was classic George Burns, it occurred to me that this is the very essence of a life of gratitude - we’re glad to be anywhere.
It almost seems when we say "thank you" to God - even in the midst of the most incredibly crushing events in our lives, which threaten to extinguish the light of our soul - we can deal with those events and still be able to sing a song of thanks. "God has done great things for us, and we rejoiced." Maybe thanking God allows us to focus away from ourselves, at least a little, and to open our eyes to what is going on around us. This is what Jesus is doing when he looks about and sees a couple of birds in a nearby tree. Jesus says: don’t worry. Nothing has ever been gained by worrying. Instead, "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet God in heaven feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"
As we soak in Jesus’s words, we start to feel safer, the voice of fear is squelched, instead a feeling of gratitude is gradually swelling in our soul. And soon we are saying: "Yes, if God takes such good care of a bird and a flower, God will take care of me too. After all, I am one of God’s creatures too!" When we talk about God taking care of us, I don’t think it means God will prevent bad things from happening, I think it means God is there, always - even in the midst of the crises of our lives.
Paul speaks of the benefits of the attitude of gratitude in the following manner: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity."
Have you ever met someone who is a truly grateful person, someone who takes nothing for granted and is thankful for anything you do for them. Well, I do know a number of those grateful folks. They are people I like to hang around. They are peaceable people, people that have many friends. That’s the kind of attitude I want to have.
Margaret Visser's most recent book, "The Gift of Thanks", addresses a social ritual we take for granted. How many times did your mother tell you to say "Please" and "Thank you"? It is part of our ritual of politeness, and we get irritated at people who don’t say thank you. She notes our 21st century experience of dismissing thanksgiving when we say "Everything I want I can buy." She says that "We often forget that it is not gratitude and giving, but advantages taken for granted, and then unshared, that are much likelier to produce and encourage differences in status and injustice."
Rev. John Henry Jowett was born in Halifax, England, and lived from 1864 to 1923; for a time was minister at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. He said "Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road." He also said “The real measure of our wealth is how much we would be worth if we lost all our money.”
I wondered, as I read this scripture over the week, what Jesus really means. Does he mean throw caution to the winds? Or does he mean don’t take anything for granted in this life, but believe that every new day is a gift, every person, every possession, everything God sends our way is a blessing and a gift.
If we believe we are children of God, what should we fear? Problems? Hunger? Death? It almost seems that an attitude of gratitude is the antithesis to fear and worries. As we are released from the chains of stress and strain, as our gratitude to God grows, we will find ourselves able to reach out to others; to people that may be worry-stricken, to the poor, the needy, those of us who really don’t have enough to go around - and we can demonstrate that gratitude in how we relate to others all the time.
What does reaching out to the poor, the needy - just reaching out to others altogether, have to do with Thanksgiving? The prophet Joel notes that it is important because poverty and hunger is always a reality among people in many parts of the world, and because God is compassionate and caring, and calls us to the same. Let us not only be people who know how to celebrate Thanksgiving once a year, but let us be Thanksgiving people--people who have an attitude of gratitude.
A few quotes on gratitude, from a variety of people....
“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” Albert Schweitzer
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” – Cicero
“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.” – Buddha
“One regret dear world, that I am determined not to have when I am lying on my deathbed is that I did not kiss you enough.” - Hafiz of Persia
“Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.” - Kahlil Gibran
We come to this table today for the symbols of bread and wine - the symbols of God’s openness, generosity, love - and the opportunity to make all God’s generosity available through us - from our hands to the hands of others. That is why we practice an open table - because God is open to everyone, so we are open to everyone. We cannot put boundaries on God’s love. We are called to live in gratitude for all that is. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Don't Worry--Be Happy! by Frank Schaefer Mat. 6:25-34
2. A Life of Gratitude , by Fran Ota Thanksgiving 2009
3. The Gift of Thanks, by Margaret Visser. HarperCollins, NY. 2009.
4. http://sourcesofinsight.com/gratitude-quotes/
And why worry about clothes? Look how the wild flowers grow: they do not work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers. It is God who clothes the wild grass - grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't God be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have!
So do not start worrying: ‘Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?’ These are the things the pagans are always concerned about. God in heaven knows that you need all these things. Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Realm of God and with what is required of you, and you will be provided with all these other things.”
**************************************************************************
Sukkoth in the Hebrew tradition is the Feast of Tabernacles, or Feast of Booths Sukkoth is the Jewish autumn festival of double thanksgiving, which began this year on September 30th- five days after Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Sukkoth ends today, October 7th. This is one of the three Pilgrim Festivals spoken of in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Exodus 23:16 refers to “h’ag ha-asif “, the“Feast of the Ingathering,” when grains and fruits were gathered at the harvest’s end, and to “h’ag ha-sukkot” in Leviticus 23:34, recalling the days when the Israelites lived in huts during their years of wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt. The festival is characterized by the building of huts made of branches and by the gathering of four species of branches, with prayers of thanksgiving to God for the fruitfulness of the land. As part of the celebration, a sevenfold circuit of the synagogue is made with the four plants on the seventh day of the festival, called by the special name Hoshana Rabba (“Great Hosanna”). Jesus would have celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, and joined in the Great Hosanna!
Today, we express our thanks, our gratitude to God for the harvest, for providing for us, for caring for us, for getting us through another year. We can tell the story of God’s faithfulness, of God’s love, of God’s care, and we can tell it exactly because we are here--alive and well! We who are present are evidence of the goodness of God.
Over the last year, all of us, in one way or another - have had a personal crisis. Life involves worry, and we don’t get to escape it. Some of us have gone through tremendous struggles, and you are here; others may go through difficult times right now, but all of us agree that thanking God is important on this Thanksgiving Day. We are here today to give thanks to our loving and caring God!
My Facebook clergy friends started a list the other day of the subject of our thanks. Everyone said, of course, family and friends; home; health.....but it seems to me an attitude of gratitude means thanks for life - the good and the bad. The late George Burns, on the celebration of his 100th birthday and his appearance on a television talk show, was asked if he was glad to be able to be there. He responded “At my age, you’re glad to be anywhere.” Well, despite the fact that this was classic George Burns, it occurred to me that this is the very essence of a life of gratitude - we’re glad to be anywhere.
It almost seems when we say "thank you" to God - even in the midst of the most incredibly crushing events in our lives, which threaten to extinguish the light of our soul - we can deal with those events and still be able to sing a song of thanks. "God has done great things for us, and we rejoiced." Maybe thanking God allows us to focus away from ourselves, at least a little, and to open our eyes to what is going on around us. This is what Jesus is doing when he looks about and sees a couple of birds in a nearby tree. Jesus says: don’t worry. Nothing has ever been gained by worrying. Instead, "Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet God in heaven feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"
As we soak in Jesus’s words, we start to feel safer, the voice of fear is squelched, instead a feeling of gratitude is gradually swelling in our soul. And soon we are saying: "Yes, if God takes such good care of a bird and a flower, God will take care of me too. After all, I am one of God’s creatures too!" When we talk about God taking care of us, I don’t think it means God will prevent bad things from happening, I think it means God is there, always - even in the midst of the crises of our lives.
Paul speaks of the benefits of the attitude of gratitude in the following manner: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity."
Have you ever met someone who is a truly grateful person, someone who takes nothing for granted and is thankful for anything you do for them. Well, I do know a number of those grateful folks. They are people I like to hang around. They are peaceable people, people that have many friends. That’s the kind of attitude I want to have.
Margaret Visser's most recent book, "The Gift of Thanks", addresses a social ritual we take for granted. How many times did your mother tell you to say "Please" and "Thank you"? It is part of our ritual of politeness, and we get irritated at people who don’t say thank you. She notes our 21st century experience of dismissing thanksgiving when we say "Everything I want I can buy." She says that "We often forget that it is not gratitude and giving, but advantages taken for granted, and then unshared, that are much likelier to produce and encourage differences in status and injustice."
Rev. John Henry Jowett was born in Halifax, England, and lived from 1864 to 1923; for a time was minister at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. He said "Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road." He also said “The real measure of our wealth is how much we would be worth if we lost all our money.”
I wondered, as I read this scripture over the week, what Jesus really means. Does he mean throw caution to the winds? Or does he mean don’t take anything for granted in this life, but believe that every new day is a gift, every person, every possession, everything God sends our way is a blessing and a gift.
If we believe we are children of God, what should we fear? Problems? Hunger? Death? It almost seems that an attitude of gratitude is the antithesis to fear and worries. As we are released from the chains of stress and strain, as our gratitude to God grows, we will find ourselves able to reach out to others; to people that may be worry-stricken, to the poor, the needy, those of us who really don’t have enough to go around - and we can demonstrate that gratitude in how we relate to others all the time.
What does reaching out to the poor, the needy - just reaching out to others altogether, have to do with Thanksgiving? The prophet Joel notes that it is important because poverty and hunger is always a reality among people in many parts of the world, and because God is compassionate and caring, and calls us to the same. Let us not only be people who know how to celebrate Thanksgiving once a year, but let us be Thanksgiving people--people who have an attitude of gratitude.
A few quotes on gratitude, from a variety of people....
“At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” Albert Schweitzer
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.” – Cicero
“Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.” – Buddha
“One regret dear world, that I am determined not to have when I am lying on my deathbed is that I did not kiss you enough.” - Hafiz of Persia
“Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.” - Kahlil Gibran
We come to this table today for the symbols of bread and wine - the symbols of God’s openness, generosity, love - and the opportunity to make all God’s generosity available through us - from our hands to the hands of others. That is why we practice an open table - because God is open to everyone, so we are open to everyone. We cannot put boundaries on God’s love. We are called to live in gratitude for all that is. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Don't Worry--Be Happy! by Frank Schaefer Mat. 6:25-34
2. A Life of Gratitude , by Fran Ota Thanksgiving 2009
3. The Gift of Thanks, by Margaret Visser. HarperCollins, NY. 2009.
4. http://sourcesofinsight.com/gratitude-quotes/
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Wisdom and Courage? September 30, 2012 Esther 7:1-10, 9:20-23 Humber United Church, Corner Brook, NL
What a lovely story we have today - a fairy tale right in the Bible. A beautiful Queen who shows great courage, and a King who shows great wisdom. Or is it?
One of the things the lectionary doesn’t do is give us entire stories. In this case we’ve missed the opening of the story, and the middle - which are pretty critical parts. So let me tell you the rest.
In 589 BCE King Cyrus decreed an end to the forced captivity of the Hebrew people. One hundred years later, the story begins with King Xerxes and his wife Vashti, considered a most beautiful woman; Xerxes ordered Vashti to parade herself in a kind of beauty pageant; Vashti refused. Because of her refusal, Xerxes ordered her killed - and then searched the kingdom for another woman to be his queen. Esther was found, and became the wife of the King. Her uncle, Mordecai, also her guardian, suggested that she not say that she was a Jew.
The King’s adviser Haman plotted to get rid of Mordecai, and slaughter the Hebrew people. Mordecai learned of the plot, and sent a message to Esther, who decided to speak with the King. Two nights in a row, Esther and Haman and the king had dinner, and Esther told Xerxes that she was a Jew. She asked him to spare her people. - and when Xerxes learned from Esther that Haman was the leader of this movement, he ordered that Haman be hung on the very gallows which was to be used for Mordecai.
Here’s the missing part before we get to the feasts and celebrations. The Jews, led by Mordecai, then proceed to slaughter virtually everyone perceived to be an enemy. The edict for the killing was extended for an extra day, and the ten dead sons of Haman were hung in public. It is a violent and bloody massacre, ostensibly in self-defense.
Then, because the Hebrews were spared, the people are told to celebrate and feast their deliverance, on the 14th day of the month which had been set for their extermination. This is the origin of the Feast of Purim. It is not a Holy Day, but nevertheless a day of observance. Everyone dresses up in costumes, and has big parties - but every party stops while the whole story of Esther is read.
Rev. Judith Evenden, says that “at one level it is a great story of victory over oppression.” The victory of Esther, and in fact the courage of Vashti! Where all of us preachers get squeamish is the massacre, after the threat of their being killed had passed. So Judith asked for some comments from Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder. (1)
Rabbi Ruth comments “This is a relatively late biblical book. The story is one that has no connection to history in a way that makes sense. As a result, one must view it as a farce; a carnival story written by a diaspora people, disempowered and imagining their potential to reinvent themselves and avenge the wrongs perpetrated upon minorities.” (2) So the story of Esther, on one level, is a kind of humorous morality play - representing the wishful dreaming of a people in exile - a king who is a buffoon, a cartoon-character villain who comes to a sad end, a woman who outsmarts most of them. At the reading of Esther during Purim, those who are dressed in costume - and the audience - boo and hiss the villains, ridicule the foolish king, and celebrate Esther, a woman with great wisdom and skill.
“One of the four ritual obligations at Purim is to read Megillat Ester, the scroll of Esther. We are obligated to listen to the whole story, start to finish. Despite what one might think sitting in a contemporary synagogue with noisemakers, we are obligated to hear every word of the story. We cannot gloss over the challenging parts. We need to pay attention to the frivolity of the King, his excess of food and drink, and the consequences for those in his immediate family and those over whom he reigns. The Jewish people are both the victim and the beneficiaries of the King's tendency to indulge. His lack of involvement allows his advisor Haman to pursue a personal vendetta against the Jews. His fondness for food and drink (and beautiful ladies) draws him to Esther's feast where he is persuaded to save the Jews.” (3)
In fact, the house of King Xerxes was not a house ruled by wisdom. Xerxes prized only the beauty of his wife Vashti. His murder of her set back women’s freedoms throughout Persia for ages; internal plots and intrigue brought the life of the entire Israelite nation into danger. Esther’s actions did save the day, but they also left the Persians not in awe of God, but in mortal fear of the Israelite people. Her request that her people be spared resulted not in peace, but in a death warrant based in the rationale of self-defense. To the contrary, Esther’s actions kindled a violent civil war.
We watch Haman, whose single-minded evil and anger leads to his undoing. We learn that physical survival is full of challenge. For Esther, surviving means giving up her name and community, going into hiding, being sexually compromised. Mordecai has to give up his ability to protect her, and has to rely on the protection of others. (4)
If we use the Hebrew practice of ‘midrash’, interpreting the text in its historical context, and then interpreting it for modern times, one of the messages that sits in this story is the ability of those who are oppressed to become the oppressor; we see that the lines between power and powerless, frivolity and insanity are not as clear as we might like to think. We see those with power using it unwisely, and the powerless showing great wisdom.
The country of Zimbabwe might be a good example. From being a revered leader of an oppressed people, Robert Mugabe became the oppressor, even of his own people. He demonstrated that those lines are not as clear as we might like. Think back to Idi Amin and the nightmare of Uganda; or the horrors of Angola.
Or China - a country which once was occupied by Japan, armies marching through a slaughtering Chinese civilians without a thought. Now China invades and claims places like Tibet as its own. The oppressed have become the oppressor.
The Jewish people have been the object of hatred in many parts of the world for centuries. Six million Jews were exterminated during World War II. Many Jews changed their names, or lied about their origins, just as Esther did - fearing persecution. As of 1950 the historic home of both Jew and Arab was divided into Israel and Palestine. Yet in its claims of self-defense, Israel has slaughtered many, even while holding up the Holocaust to the world. Land which is rightly that of Palestine is being taken over and settled. Yet Israel is not all to blame. The Palestinian leaders deliberately provoke response. They know full well that if they attack Israel the response will be swift and devastating. Innocent people are used as shields and become collateral damage in a power struggle without end. Should Palestine ever get the upper hand, I am sure they would do exactly what is being done. Both claim they act in self-defense.
I keep returning to Rabbi Ruth’s comment - that the lines between power and powerless are not as clear as we might like to think. So how does this relate to us as Christians? On a global scale it’s not hard to comment, but what about the local?
The characters in the story did not use their power for the good of others, except perhaps Esther. The king, Mordecai and Haman had power and each used it unwisely to dominate and control others; Esther, who was supposedly powerless, found great power and used it wisely.
Here in this congregation I think the question is how do each of us use our power? Do we use it to be destructive, or do we use it for good or for ill? Everyone has power, whether or not they know it. Sometimes we can use our power in a way that has ripples throughout the community, causing harm. Sometimes we can use that power in such a way that the ripples produce great good, even beyond our community. It seems to me that the lesson from this story is how we use the power we have to build up all the individuals in our community, the body of Christ in the world, so that the whole body is healthy and productive.
For we believe we are the body of Christ in the world - every one of us - and every one of us has a function. Our role, in a community, is to recognise the contributions of each, and support and encourage them, help them grow and be productive members of the congregation. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Rev. Judith Evenden, Land o’ Lakes Emmanuel United Church congregation.
2,3,4. From a sermon by Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, scholar in residence at University of Chicago Hillel, Director of Joint Commission on Sustaining Rabbinic Education.
5. Feasting on the Word, essay by Telford Work, Associate Professor of Theology, Westmount College, Santa Barbara, CA. 2009.
One of the things the lectionary doesn’t do is give us entire stories. In this case we’ve missed the opening of the story, and the middle - which are pretty critical parts. So let me tell you the rest.
In 589 BCE King Cyrus decreed an end to the forced captivity of the Hebrew people. One hundred years later, the story begins with King Xerxes and his wife Vashti, considered a most beautiful woman; Xerxes ordered Vashti to parade herself in a kind of beauty pageant; Vashti refused. Because of her refusal, Xerxes ordered her killed - and then searched the kingdom for another woman to be his queen. Esther was found, and became the wife of the King. Her uncle, Mordecai, also her guardian, suggested that she not say that she was a Jew.
The King’s adviser Haman plotted to get rid of Mordecai, and slaughter the Hebrew people. Mordecai learned of the plot, and sent a message to Esther, who decided to speak with the King. Two nights in a row, Esther and Haman and the king had dinner, and Esther told Xerxes that she was a Jew. She asked him to spare her people. - and when Xerxes learned from Esther that Haman was the leader of this movement, he ordered that Haman be hung on the very gallows which was to be used for Mordecai.
Here’s the missing part before we get to the feasts and celebrations. The Jews, led by Mordecai, then proceed to slaughter virtually everyone perceived to be an enemy. The edict for the killing was extended for an extra day, and the ten dead sons of Haman were hung in public. It is a violent and bloody massacre, ostensibly in self-defense.
Then, because the Hebrews were spared, the people are told to celebrate and feast their deliverance, on the 14th day of the month which had been set for their extermination. This is the origin of the Feast of Purim. It is not a Holy Day, but nevertheless a day of observance. Everyone dresses up in costumes, and has big parties - but every party stops while the whole story of Esther is read.
Rev. Judith Evenden, says that “at one level it is a great story of victory over oppression.” The victory of Esther, and in fact the courage of Vashti! Where all of us preachers get squeamish is the massacre, after the threat of their being killed had passed. So Judith asked for some comments from Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder. (1)
Rabbi Ruth comments “This is a relatively late biblical book. The story is one that has no connection to history in a way that makes sense. As a result, one must view it as a farce; a carnival story written by a diaspora people, disempowered and imagining their potential to reinvent themselves and avenge the wrongs perpetrated upon minorities.” (2) So the story of Esther, on one level, is a kind of humorous morality play - representing the wishful dreaming of a people in exile - a king who is a buffoon, a cartoon-character villain who comes to a sad end, a woman who outsmarts most of them. At the reading of Esther during Purim, those who are dressed in costume - and the audience - boo and hiss the villains, ridicule the foolish king, and celebrate Esther, a woman with great wisdom and skill.
“One of the four ritual obligations at Purim is to read Megillat Ester, the scroll of Esther. We are obligated to listen to the whole story, start to finish. Despite what one might think sitting in a contemporary synagogue with noisemakers, we are obligated to hear every word of the story. We cannot gloss over the challenging parts. We need to pay attention to the frivolity of the King, his excess of food and drink, and the consequences for those in his immediate family and those over whom he reigns. The Jewish people are both the victim and the beneficiaries of the King's tendency to indulge. His lack of involvement allows his advisor Haman to pursue a personal vendetta against the Jews. His fondness for food and drink (and beautiful ladies) draws him to Esther's feast where he is persuaded to save the Jews.” (3)
In fact, the house of King Xerxes was not a house ruled by wisdom. Xerxes prized only the beauty of his wife Vashti. His murder of her set back women’s freedoms throughout Persia for ages; internal plots and intrigue brought the life of the entire Israelite nation into danger. Esther’s actions did save the day, but they also left the Persians not in awe of God, but in mortal fear of the Israelite people. Her request that her people be spared resulted not in peace, but in a death warrant based in the rationale of self-defense. To the contrary, Esther’s actions kindled a violent civil war.
We watch Haman, whose single-minded evil and anger leads to his undoing. We learn that physical survival is full of challenge. For Esther, surviving means giving up her name and community, going into hiding, being sexually compromised. Mordecai has to give up his ability to protect her, and has to rely on the protection of others. (4)
If we use the Hebrew practice of ‘midrash’, interpreting the text in its historical context, and then interpreting it for modern times, one of the messages that sits in this story is the ability of those who are oppressed to become the oppressor; we see that the lines between power and powerless, frivolity and insanity are not as clear as we might like to think. We see those with power using it unwisely, and the powerless showing great wisdom.
The country of Zimbabwe might be a good example. From being a revered leader of an oppressed people, Robert Mugabe became the oppressor, even of his own people. He demonstrated that those lines are not as clear as we might like. Think back to Idi Amin and the nightmare of Uganda; or the horrors of Angola.
Or China - a country which once was occupied by Japan, armies marching through a slaughtering Chinese civilians without a thought. Now China invades and claims places like Tibet as its own. The oppressed have become the oppressor.
The Jewish people have been the object of hatred in many parts of the world for centuries. Six million Jews were exterminated during World War II. Many Jews changed their names, or lied about their origins, just as Esther did - fearing persecution. As of 1950 the historic home of both Jew and Arab was divided into Israel and Palestine. Yet in its claims of self-defense, Israel has slaughtered many, even while holding up the Holocaust to the world. Land which is rightly that of Palestine is being taken over and settled. Yet Israel is not all to blame. The Palestinian leaders deliberately provoke response. They know full well that if they attack Israel the response will be swift and devastating. Innocent people are used as shields and become collateral damage in a power struggle without end. Should Palestine ever get the upper hand, I am sure they would do exactly what is being done. Both claim they act in self-defense.
I keep returning to Rabbi Ruth’s comment - that the lines between power and powerless are not as clear as we might like to think. So how does this relate to us as Christians? On a global scale it’s not hard to comment, but what about the local?
The characters in the story did not use their power for the good of others, except perhaps Esther. The king, Mordecai and Haman had power and each used it unwisely to dominate and control others; Esther, who was supposedly powerless, found great power and used it wisely.
Here in this congregation I think the question is how do each of us use our power? Do we use it to be destructive, or do we use it for good or for ill? Everyone has power, whether or not they know it. Sometimes we can use our power in a way that has ripples throughout the community, causing harm. Sometimes we can use that power in such a way that the ripples produce great good, even beyond our community. It seems to me that the lesson from this story is how we use the power we have to build up all the individuals in our community, the body of Christ in the world, so that the whole body is healthy and productive.
For we believe we are the body of Christ in the world - every one of us - and every one of us has a function. Our role, in a community, is to recognise the contributions of each, and support and encourage them, help them grow and be productive members of the congregation. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Rev. Judith Evenden, Land o’ Lakes Emmanuel United Church congregation.
2,3,4. From a sermon by Rabbi Ruth Abusch-Magder, scholar in residence at University of Chicago Hillel, Director of Joint Commission on Sustaining Rabbinic Education.
5. Feasting on the Word, essay by Telford Work, Associate Professor of Theology, Westmount College, Santa Barbara, CA. 2009.
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