Looking Ahead to May 20, 2018 -- Pentecost Sunday

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Acts 2:1-21
• Philippians 4:4-9

The Sermon title is Keep Calm and Keep On

Early thoughts: How can we continue to be the church? In a world of change how can we keep being something that has been around for 2000 years?

A couple of thoughts come to mind from our passages for this week.

One is that the Spirit is still blowing around this crazy world of ours, calling forth faith and courage. The Spirit still breaks into closed (even locked) spaces and sets itself free -- freeing people in the process.

The other is that if we honestly still believe that God is with us we are still called to "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice". Paul wrote to the Philippians from prison, but even then he did not give up on the church. It is not always easy to be the church (some might argue that it should never be "easy" to be the church). But still we are called to be the church.

We keep the faith. We try to keep calm, to avoid panic, to avoid giving in to "the church is dying" rhetoric (even if we half fear those statements might be true). And we keep on.

Not always in the same way. But with the same vision in mind. We focus on the vision, we focus on the Gospel, we focus on the God revealed in the faith story and we keep on being the church. We might use different language or different tools or different styles than our parents and grandparents (or even different ones than we ourselves used a few decades ago). We might put the emphasis on different parts of the story. We might even change our understanding of how God is calling us to react to some things. But we keep on. We keep looking for those things that are true and honourable and commendable. And we keep on being the church.

Centuries ago the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the Risen Christ blew into the hearts and souls and lives of a small group of people and transformed them. They then went out to share a story that would transform the lives of dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of others. The same Spirit  blows in our world today. Are we ready to keep on being the church?
--Gord

Looking Forward to April 29, 2018 -- Easter 5, Paul in Athens

Because the Youth Group is leading worship the first Sunday of May we will be celebrating Communion this week instead of May 6.

The Scripture reading for this week is Acts 17:16-34

The Sermon title is The Unknown God

Early Thoughts:  How do you explain Christianity to people with no idea of the background?  What if they have a totally different culture, different poets, different understandings of the Divine, different thought processes? Would simply tell the story and hope it sinks in?

Paul shows that he knows a different way. Greek philosophical types are not likely to be swayed by references to Jewish Scripture (which is the tool used early in the book of Acts by Peter preaching to people in Jerusalem) so Paul shapes the message in ways that will interact with what they know. And apparently it piques their interest, at least for some who say they want to hear more.

This has been the challenge for any faith that tries to spread itself beyond the place where it was founded. How do we cross a cultural boundary? How do we make ourselves relate to this new people without insisting that they become like us? Christianity has a mixed record on that. At times, like Paul in Athens, the church has done it well. At others it has been a little heavy handed. Other times it has opened itself to accusations of cultural appropriation (from a modern viewpoint at least).

I think that the question is opening itself again. For generations, even centuries, in the Western World we have assumed that people had some familiarity with the story. We assumed that we shared enough culture that we could tell the story using all the old tools and people would be drawn in.  I suspect we have over-estimated how true this is for a few decades now--and that it is getting less true all the time.

Earlier today I saw this picture, it reminds me of the attitude we need to bring if we want to share the Christian story, message, and hope with a culture that is differnt from what we know, or what we want it to be: 

How do we tell the story today? What new images do we need to borrow and recast? What new poets do we need to quote in a new light? God remains known only in part, God remains unknown (and unknowable) in part. What is our message about the Unknown God in the marketplaces of Grande Prairie?
 --Gord

Looking Forward to April 22, 2018 -- Easter 4, Saul/Paul on the Damascus Road

The Scripture reading this week is Acts 9:1-22

The Sermon title is Open Your Eyes!

Early Thoughts: God is doing a new thing! Why is it so hard to see that? In this week's passage both Saul and Ananias have to have their eyes opened (in Saul's case quite literally).

By this point in the story we have already met Saul.  We saw him standing and approving as Stephen was stoned, then we are told that he was an avid persecutor of the new community. But then he experiences the presence of the Risen Christ and changes to an avid proselytizer for this new thing God has done/is doing.

All we are told about Ananias is that he is a disciple.  It would seem a logical guess to think he might have been a person of some importance within the Christian community in Damascus. God calls on him to bring Saul into the fold. But Ananias knows Saul...surely God must be joking? or God is mistaken? This horrible man who is out to destroy us, you want me to go to him? But Ananias does so and God's ability to change people is revealed. I do note that because the story is about Saul we do not know what Ananias thinks of the end result.

The work of the Risen Christ is to transform people. Sometimes that transformation is to bring the outsider, even the violent opposition, into the fold. Sometimes that transformation is to remind us that God can call and use "even them" in the work of the Kingdom.

What are the new things we might miss because we are too set in our understandings of how God is at work? Where do we need our eyes to be opened?  And what will it take to make that happen
--Gord

Looking Forward to April 8, 2018 -- Easter 2, Jesus Appears to the Disciples

This Sunday we are pleased to welcome the handbell choir Jubiloso as they take part in our worship.

We will also be celebrating the sacrament of baptism.

The Scripture passage for this week is John 20:19-31

The Sermon title is Would You Believe?

Early Thoughts: I have always felt sorry for Thomas. In John 20 we are told that on the evening of Easter Day the disciples are huddled in an upper room, plausibly hiding from the authorities who might haul them all off to be crucified next, Thomas has the courage (or maybe he drew the short straw) to go out into town. Maybe he went to buy food?

While he was away Jesus appears in the room, Easter becomes real for the people gathered there. When Thomas gets back they all tell him “We have seen the Lord” but Thomas says he will only believe when he sees for himself. And ever since Christians have called him Doubting Thomas

It has been said that Thomas is the patron saint of everyone who misses church (or some other gathering) only to be told that the most wonderful thing has happened that day. But really I think he gets a raw deal. After all, what would you say if you were him? Would you believe this amazing story?

And to be fair Thomas does not ask for anything that all the others did not get.  They all got to see and hear the Risen Christ before they believed/understood Easter. Thomas simply says he needs the same level of proof.

The challenge is for us. We do not generally experience the Risen Christ standing in our midst showing us the wounds of crucifixion (or if we do it is a much more mystical way than that described in the Easter stories). Even Paul (whose story we will hear later this month) has a different type of experience than the ones we find in the appearance stories. How can we believe that Jesus who died is now alive? And can we accept that this Risen Christ has deputized us, as he deputizes the disciples in an upper room in this passage, to go out and continue sharing the Good News? Where do we find the energy/strength/confidence to continue the work of Kingdom-building?

It is the Easter season. Christ is Risen. Can we believe it? Can we allow resurrection to change how we live?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 25, 2018 -- Palm Sunday

The Scripture for this week is John 12:12-36

The Sermon title is This Hour

Early Thoughts: Is this a royal procession? Is the the opening of a coronation festival?

Or is it the beginning of something much more somber? 

Which hour is this that Jesus refers to? The celebration or the tragedy? Possibly both?

AS John tells his story of Jesus this triumphant entry into the city immediately follows the raising of Lazarus. Which is important for two reasons. One is that the raising of Lazarus has greatly raised Jesus' status and so the crowds around him have grown larger. The other is that in response to the incident in Bethany the leadership in Jerusalem have made a fateful (and fatal) determination. For the good of the nation this Jesus must die. As readers we are aware of these machinations, while the excited crowds are less aware.

So today is indeed both comedy and tragedy. Both masks are being worn. We join in the celebrations and the glory.  With the Greeks watching we ask to know more. But also we see the gathering clouds on the horizon.

As the clouds grow thicker and heavier over the week, can we remain as children of the light?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to March 4, 2018 -- Annual Meeting Sunday

As this is the first Sunday of the month we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion this week.

A reminder that the Annual Congregational Meeting will happen immediately following worship. Lunch and child care are being provided.

The Scripture readings for this week are:

The Sermon title is As One That Serves

Early Thoughts: Servant-leadership. That is what Christ models for us and that is what we are called to practice.

But what exactly does that mean?  Does it mean washing feet?

Maybe.  In Jesus' era footwashing was a basic part of entering a dwelling. Often (perhaps most often) the host would ensure that the basin and pitcher were available and the individual would wash their own feet. Sometimes a slave (almost always a female slave apparently) would do the actual washing.  But a free-man would never wash another person's feet. Certainly the Teacher/Leader would not wash the feet of the Student/Follower. But that is what Jesus does, over the strenuous objections of Peter.

Why?

One possibility is it is an act of devotion, a way to show how deeply he cares for these people (and washing another's body is a deeply intimate action).  Just a chapter earlier in John's Gospel we had the story of Mary pouring perfume over the feet of Jesus and wiping those feet with her hair (it is Judas who objects that time). This is a clear act of devotion. Maybe Jesus is modelling love and devotion here as well.

But then we remember that Jesus consistently points out that in the Kingdom of God reversals are the rule.  The last will be first. Come like a small child. In Luke's Gospel Jesus makes it plain that while he may be the Teacher, maybe even the Anointed One of God, he is among them as one that serves. To love others as we love ourselves, to love each other as we have been loved by God, is to serve each other. That is the way we lead each other into the deepest understanding of Kingdom-living.

TO a degree the church has always known this. In fact the National United Church Men's Organization takes it's name from this Luke Passage -- As One That Serves.

Jesus is many things. Sometimes he is an agitator (though that may well be a form of servanthood). Sometimes he is a teacher. Sometimes he is a healer. Sometimes a preacher and truth-teller. But at all times he is a lover, one who loves God and one who loves the people who surround him. And at all times he is serving. Serving God, serving the best interests of the world that God loves.


Because to lead is to serve, to serve is to lead. At least in God's Kingdom.

How do you lead? How do you serve? What is your brand of servant leadership?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to February 25, 2018 -- Lent 2, the Raising of Lazarus

This week we have the third (and final) long passage from John. This time it is John 11:1-44 which tells the story of the death and not-so death of Lazarus.

The Sermon title this week is His Friend Died...Can You Guess What Happened Next?

Early Thoughts: Sorrow turns to amazement, despair to wonderment, weeping into shouts of praise.

I suspect this is a story that we are too familiar with. Like many stories of faith it is hard to read the beginning without knowing the ending. But does knowing the ending before we get there rob the story of its power?

What would it be like to read it for the first time? What would it be like to live it?
 
Mary and Martha are heartbroken. Their brother has died. They are sure that had Jesus been there he could have kept Lazarus from dying.  But Jesus was not there and Lazarus has died (depending how far away Jesus was it is possible Lazarus was dead by the time Jesus got the message that he was ill).

Has Jesus come back for a funeral for the friend he loved? Or is there something else in play?

Jesus weeps in this story. Jesus feels the grief of a friend's death. But he is not willing to accept the finality.  In this story death is real. Early in the Jesus tries to slide over its reality by using the euphemism of sleep but his disciples miss the point so he has to be blunt (personal note, we need to be more blunt about the reality of death in the world, euphemism's only bring the appearance of comfort). Death is real. Lazarus is really truly dead. In fact we are told he has been dead for four days. In a hot climate sealed in a tomb imagine what an un-embalmed body would smell like (think of the chicken you forgot to put in the fridge for a day or two...). Death is real.

But death is not final in this story, or in the larger story of faith. Death does not have the last word. Life speaks last. The word of Life, the invitation to abundant life unbinds us and sets us free.

In John's Gospel this is the last of 7 signs that reveal who Jesus is. Here we hear that he is the Resurrection and the Life, and then we see it in action. Here we see that maybe the "last days" are closer than we think -- and also less of a sudden turning that a growing edge. It is notable that in John's account this is the last straw for the rulers.  This is where the decision is made that this Jesus must die.

What part of this story speaks to you the most?  What signs of hope do you draw from it? And have you ever wondered what Lazarus thinks of the whole deal?????
--Gord

Looking Forward to February 18, 2018 -- First Sunday of Lent

The Scripture Reading this week is John 9:1-41

The Sermon title is He Spat on the Ground...What Happened Next will Amaze You

Early Thoughts:  Why didn’t someone tell me decades ago that spit and dirt make such a great healing tool?  I could have been a millionaire before starting kindergarten!!!!

Who is blind? How and Why? How is that blindness to be removed?  SOme of the questions that come up for me this week.

In the passage this week we have a healing story, though to be honest it really appears that the healing is not the point of the pericope. The healing is a launching point for some theological (and possibly political) discussion leading to a statement of faith. Then we end with some shade being thrown at those who are unwilling to see (there are none so blind…).

Another problematic piece is the political overtones of the dialogue with the parents. The text claims that the parents choose not to answer because of fear of “the Jews”. [To me it makes perfect sense that parents would say of their adult child–go ask him, he can speak for himself.] Traditionally I have been taught that this, and other references in the Gospel, refers to a time when Christians were being turfed from the synagogues, which would still make it anachronistic within the narrative as it stands. In the Jewish Annotated New Testament they suggest that even this is something that is hard to find historical references for. As with any time John says “the Jews” I see a potential for anti-Semitic interpretation. It makes it possible to read the rest of the passage as saying “those silly sinful, willfully blind Jews. why will they not see?”

Finally, there is a whole issue of how do we talk about the need to be healed from blindness, or the question of being willfully blind, without verging into a form of ableism?

A man is healed and becomes a witness.  With a whole lot of other stuff surrounding it.  I wonder what the sermon will have to say about it?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to February 4, 2018

This being the first Sunday of the month we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion.

The Scripture Reading this week is John 4:1-42

The Sermon title is He Asked For a Drink...You Won’t Believe What She Said

Early Thoughts: A strange encounter, possibly a chance encounter, is the story for this week. A conversation about a cup of water takes on a whole new dimension.

It is a story about boundary crossing:  male-female, Jew-Samaritan.

It is a story about needs being met. What are people in the story thirsting for?

It is a story about God being revealed, and about a witness sharing the news.

It is a story full of questions.

This woman at the well is pretty amazing. Her life has not been easy.  She has either been cast-out/abandoned/divorced by multiple men or she has been widowed multiple times. It seems she is now relying on a relative (possibly the brother of a dead husband following levirate law) for shelter. And yet she has the gumption to engage in a theological discussion with this strange man from another place. Then she has the courage to go and tell everyone she knows "you gotta come see/hear this guy".

What strange things can happen when one person asks for a drink of water.
--Gord

Looking Forward to January 28, 2018

The Scripture Reading for this week is John 3:1-21

The Sermon title is God Loves the World

Early Thoughts: God loves the world. God loves the world and all that is in it. Do we believe that?

This week's reading includes one of (if not THE) the best known verses in Christian Scripture. "For God so loved the world..." But I think that we miss the point of that verse when we forget to read the next verse.  Verse 17 reads "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.".  The point of the Christ event is that the world be saved, because God loves the world.

So why do so many people talk about what God hates? Why do so many people talk about what God condemns? (conveniently it seems that often God condemns and hates the same sorts of things that the speaker condemns and hates...)

In the beginning of the faith story we have a hymn to creation. And the refrain to that hymn tells us over and over again that God looks at what is created and says it is good. Because God calls the world good, because God created the world, God loves the world and desires the best for it.

This is the reason God becomes flesh. To show love for the world, to teach the people that they are loved, to redeem and save the world from itself.

JEsus loves us, this we know...
--Gord

Looking Ahead to January 21, 2018

The Scripture Reading for this week is John 2:13-25

The Sermon title is WWJD?

Early Thoughts: A few years back there was a craze of bracelets bearing the 4 letters WWJD. The purpose of the bracelet was to encourage the wearer, when faced with a decision, to ask "what would Jesus do?" before acting. Given that there is a strand of Christian theology that maintains that the goal for the Christ-follower is to become more Christ-like this was a sound concept. But it had flaws (as all concepts do eventually).

One flaw was that I think it asked the wrong question.  I think the question for the Christian to ask is "what would Jesus have ME do?". WE can become Christ-like by trying to imitate Jesus. But Jesus lived in first-century Palestine and we live in 21st Century Alberta. And so we need to translate what we know about Jesus' moral an theological thought into a new context. We do not always know what Jesus would do...but we can think about how he would have us act.

The other flaw is that most people assumed that the question would always push people into being loving and kind. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with pushing people to be loving and kind but that is not all there is to being Christ-like. As a meme that sometimes floats through my Faacebook feed says, "when asked WWJD remember that pushing over tables and making a whip might be an option".

Sometimes to be faithful to Jesus means using anger in the work of Love's Kingdom. There is sometimes a desire to domesticate this side of following Christ. And yet just this morning this came
across my Facebook feed:

When we try to always answer WWJD in ways that have us being "nice", when we try to limit what it means to follow Jesus as acting (to use a strongly Presbyterian idea) "decently and in good order" we open ourselves to the criticism Dr. King shared so many years ago.

Jesus was passionate. To follow Jesus means to be passionate. Passion may lead us to act in ways that others say are not "nice" or "proper". How we do this becomes the big question.

What are the issues where we need to flip over some tables? What are the issues where anger in the service of Love's Kingdom is required rather than gentl prodding to do the "right thing"?

WWJ(have you)D?
--Gord

Looking Forward to January 14, 2018

The Scripture reading this week is John 2:1-11

The Sermon title is Party On

Early Thoughts: The party must go on.

Jesus and company are at a wedding. Weddings in their world were generally a multi-day affair. And after a couple of days the wine runs out. Not a good thing.

The (unnamed in this passage) Mother of Jesus encourages him to intervene. At first he is reluctant, but then accedes.  With the result that 120-180 gallons of good, indeed the best, wine are made available. And the party is able to continue. I suspect I have known a few people in my life who would welcome such a party.

[SIDEBAR: Raymond Brown has suggested that part of the reason that the wine ran out may in fact lie with Jesus and his friends. The wedding celebration may well have been a Bring Your Own Wine event. Jesus and his friends may have been living a life of voluntary poverty that did not allow them to bring wine...but would not have stopped them from consuming. As one blog I read put it "maybe if Mary had not brought all those "+1" the wine would have held out longer. It does help explain why Mary is so concerned that the wine has run out.  Another theory that has been posited for why Mary was so concerned is that the wedding was for someone in Jesus' family and so they were sharing the hosting duties]

Why tell this story?

For the writer of the Gospel this incident, like many other things that will come, is a sign pointing to what is happening in Jesus, it is a sign to reveal who Jesus is. That is one reason we tell this story.

WE also tell the story to remind ourselves of the abundant and overflowing grace of God. We remind ourselves that just when we think we have run out of resources Jesus, the one who Matthew describes as talking about the lilies of the air and the birds of the field who neither sow nor spin, is there to provide what is needed.

We tell the story to remind ourselves that the party continues. WE remind ourselves in this story that Jesus brings new wine, new hope, new possibilities and so in Jesus we celebrate the new wine, the good wine, the zestiness of life.

NOw I have to go research science experiments to turn water into wine...on Sunday you can find out if I have any success.
--Gord

Looking Ahead To January 7, 2018

This being the first Sunday of the month (and indeed of the year) we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion.

From now until Easter the Narrative Lectionary has us exploring the Gospel of John. This week's selection is John 1:35-51.

The Sermon title is Come and See

Early Thoughts:  Evangelism.  What thoughts does that word evoke?  Possibly signs like this?

Photo Credit

TO be fair the person who posted that labelled it as "A very poor evangelism attempt"

Or maybe this is the image that comes to mind? (Looks like a Watchtower Society pamphlet to me)

Photo Credit

Those would be common images.  OR maybe the couple knocking at the door, or the street corner preacher...

And because of images like that many of us find evangelism to be a hard topic. It is a word we don't use much anymore.  Not many United Church of Canada people would say they are evangelical.  But is that true?

Have you ever invited someone to come to church with you?  If so you have been an evangelist.

Have you ever shared some part of your faith story with someone?  Have you ever said that your faith influences the choices you make/priorities you have?  If so then you are an evangelist.

In our John reading for this week we see evangelism.  We sort of see it in John's proclamation "Look, here is the Lamb of God!" but we see it most clearly at the end of the passage.

Having met Jesus, having talked with Jesus, Andrew felt something.  And that something led him to go to his brother Simon and say "you gotta meet this guy!".  Andrew is the first evangelist in John's Gospel.  He is the first person to lead someone else to meet Jesus, to share the person he has met. Then a few verses later Phillip does the same thing (even if Nathanael is dubious that this fellow from Nazareth could be that special).


I suggest this is evangelism in its best and healthiest form. A gentle invitation, no threats of eternal punishment, no promises of eternal reward or earthly riches, no guarantee of a miraculous event, just a gentle invitation, "Come and see, come and experience for yourself, come and decide for yourself".

Can we say to a friend "there's someone I want you to meet"?  Can we be evangelists?

I would argue that we have no choice.  If our faith makes a difference in our lives, in how we live, in what we choose, in what we find important, then people should be able to see that difference.  And that is being evangelistic.  And if people ask why you make such "weird" choices and you link it to your faith?  Then you are being evangelistic.

Can we do that?

Oh and more than one article has stated that the #1 reason people first come to experience a church is because someone personally invited them, because somebody said "you should give this a try"...

To whom would you say "Come and see"?
--Gord

Looking Forward to December 10, 2017 -- Advent 2

This Sunday we will celebrate the Sacrament of Communion

The Scripture reading this week is Isaiah 55:1-13

The Sermon title is Go Out in Joy

Early Thoughts:
They could be forgiven for having no hope. After all, they were living in exile, a defeated and enslaved people whose land and temple had been destroyed. And to these people God speaks through Isaiah saying:

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price...Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

In the midst of the lives of scarcity, shattered dreams, and despair God speaks of abundance and promise and hope.

If we are honest, we would admit that we do spend our money and our labour in ways that are often less than satisfying. Often those choices feel forced upon us. And short of the Kingdom of God coming to full flower I am not sure that will totally change anytime soon.

On the other hand, the passage reminds us, there is more about life than those things.  God is still active and changing the world. God's word (the word of life, of love, of hope) is still falling on the world. God is still speaking, and God promises that God's word will have an impact -- eventually at least..

Which means that we can go forth in joy and peace, we can join in the celebration of the earth.

Christ is coming, the birth of hope is nigh, Joy shall come, even to the wilderness.
--Gord

Looking Forward to November 26, 2017 -- Reign of Christ Sunday, Light in the Darkness

This Sunday we will be celebrating the sacrament of Baptism.

The Scripture Reading for this week is Isaiah 9:2-7 [in the Tanakh it is actually Isaiah 9:1-6 as they put the chapter break at a different place].

A little Handel for your day:


The Sermon title is Dawn.

Early Thoughts: This is a passage that is often read during the Advent-Christmas season. And to Christian ears (after almost 2000 years of teaching) all those words about light in the darkness and the child being born and the coming reign of peace do sound very Christ-like. 

I hunch that is not what Isaiah (or his original hearers) had in mind. In fact some commentators think that Isaiah is referring to Hezekiah, king of Judah.

IN the preceding chapters of Isaiah we learn that the nation is under threat. When a nation is under threat there are people who get very gloomy. If the threat is dire enough (or the people are made to believe it is dire enough) the communal mood becomes dark. [And history has shown that in these periods of darkness communities and nations can be lead to do horrific things, though Isaiah does not say that Judah follows that path.]

In the middle of the fear and gloom Isaiah brings a word of hope.  In 7:14-16 he tells King Ahaz:

Therefore Adonai himself
will give you people a sign:
the young woman* will become pregnant,
bear a son and name him ‘Immanu El [God is with us].
¹⁵ By the time he knows enough
to refuse evil and choose good,
he will [have to] eat
curdled milk and [wild] honey.
¹⁶ Yes, before the child knows enough
to refuse evil and choose good,
the land whose two kings you dread
will be left abandoned.

Promising that the threat will be short-lived, that the armies which are threatening Judah will fade away.

Then we have our passage of the week. A promise that light will dawn, a promise of release from oppression [the reference to the day of Midian points back to the book of Judges and the story of Gideon].

Where do we look for dawn today? What darkness threatens to overtake our world?

This is the last Sunday of the Christian year. On the last Sunday of the year we celebrate the Reign of Christ even as we acknowledge that we have come to the end of another year and the Reign of Christ/Kingdom of God has not yet grown to full flower in the world around us. Next week we begin the season of Advent, a time both of preparing for Christmas but also a time of preparing for the coming of the Kingdom of God in full flower. We look at the darkness and we celebrate the promise of light.

Light in the darkness. Dawn is coming. We know darkness. We know those things that bring fear. Deep in our hearts we know that when we are afraid it is harder to be who God has called us to be. But dawn is coming. The kingdom of God is birthing.  We are people of hope, or at least we are called to be people of hope. 

Where do we look for the first rays of dawn?
--Gord 

PS: I think this is a riff off of the chorus of the dame name from Handel's Messiah..but it sure has a different musical feel:

Looking Ahead to November 19, 2017 -- Valley of Dry Bones

Following worship this Sunday there will be a potluck lunch.  Join us for this time of food and fellowship.

The Scripture reading for this week is Ezekiel 37:1-14

Complete with props for Children's Time.

The Sermon title is Can These Bones Live?

Early Thoughts: Ezekiel stands in a place reeking of death and despair and he looks for signs of hope and life.  Or more to the point, God leads Ezekiel to a place of death and asks if there is life.

Near the end of Lord of the Rings, after the battles have been fought and won, Gandalf takes the new king out to a desolate place. Aragorn asks for a sign of hope that his line will endure and Gandalf tells him to turn away from the city and look out into the desolation, where all seems dead. There Aragorn sees a seedling of the White Tree, a sign of the continuing line of Elendil. He finds his hope, not in the battle victory, or in his coronation, or in the celebrations of his people, but in the middle of a dead plain.

Similarly Ezekiel is looking for hope. His people have been enslaved and exiled. Their temple and city have been destroyed. They wonder if they have bee cut off from or forgotten by God. And God gives him a vision of skeletons lying jumbled in a ditch. "Mortal, can these bones live?"

Transformation needs us to be open to the Spirit's work within us. Transformation means we need to be able to give the same answer Ezekiel gave "O Lord God, you know". The bones were not alive even when reassembled and covered in flesh. They were only alive when the ruah, the Spirit that first moved over the waters of creation, the breath of life, was blown into them. For full transformation, for full resurrection, we need to let the winds of God fill us and change us. Are we ready to be transformed? Are we ready to look in the desolate places for new signs of life?

It is easy to lose hope. It is easy to think that death and decay will win. Ezekiel reminds us that God brings life, brings resurrection,  brings hope.  Where do you see God's transforming power bringing new life today?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 12, 2017 -- Justice that Flows Like Water

The Scripture reading this week is Amos 5:1-15, 21-24.

The Sermon title is Flood time?

Early Thoughts: Sometimes we need a good strong washing to allow for new growth to follow. Sometimes we feel like we are in a drought, and are crying out for that flow of water.

It seems a little strange to say, but I have always liked Amos. Not that taking the words of Amos seriously is a cause for comfort -- just the opposite in fact. But something about Amos has always struck me as special. I  think it is his passion for justice, his passionate denunciation of the world in which he finds himself that attracts me so much.

At the same time I think we could use some more Amos in the world today. I think many of his complaints are just as viable in 2017 as the were in the time of Kings Jeroboam and Uzziah.

We live in a world where people are shot in a plaza in Las Vegas while attending a concert, where a vehicle mows down people on a walking path in New York, where others are shot while attending worship in Texas. We live in a world where some live high on the hog while others are barely paid a living wage and others sleep in shelters or in doorways. Are thoughts and prayers the only things we can offer?

Don't get me wrong, thoughts and prayers are important. But if we stop there are we showing that we love the good and hate the evil as Amos exhorts? Or are we setting ourselves up for his next words "I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps"

What might it look like if justice came down like waters? What would it mean if the everflowing stream of righteousness flowed through and nourished  our culture?

I see two image of water in those words. The first is the flood. Th rush of water that washes away many things. What might the flood of Justice wash away -- no matter how tightly we want to hold on? The other image is the constant steady flow of water that gives life. As people of faith we proclaim that Righteousness is a mainstay of God's kingdom. How do we feed and nourish those signs of righteousness, of justice, of peace so that the Kingdom will continue to grow in our hearts and in our world?

Takes more than thoughts and prayers.
--Gord

Looking Ahead to November 5, 2017 -- The Sound of Still Silence

This being the first Sunday of the month we will be celebrating the Sacrament of Communion.

The Scripture reading this week is 1 Kings 19:1-18

The Sermon title is Hush Children! What’s that Sound?

Early Thoughts: Sometimes what you really need is silence. Sometimes you need to force yourself to pause and leave space for God to enter.

From his perspective at least, Elijah is fighting a losing battle. King Ahab and his Queen Jezebel are leading the people into apostasy, turning to the old local religion rather than remaining faithful to the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Just before this week's reading Elijah has had a "miracle-off" with a few hundred prophets of Baal and after winning the challenge proceeded to kill them all. Unsurprisingly, this does not win the favour of the Queen who promises to kill Elijah in return.  So Elijah flees into the wilderness, heading south out of Ahab's Kingdom of Israel through the Kingdom of Judah.

SIDEBAR: Many important things happen "in the wilderness" in the Scripture story. It is a common location.

Despite his low feeling (he really suggests it is time for him to die) Elijah is led to the holy mountain. God provides food for the journey of 40 days and 40 nights before Elijah arrives at Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai. (which brings out echos of the Exodus story)

SIDEBAR #2: Many important things happen on mountains in the Scripture story, it is another favoured location (particularly in the Gospel of Matthew).

Here Elijah has a theophany, a time where God's presence is revealed. What is interesting, given the references already made to the Exodus story, is where God is found. In Exodus God is revealed in a pillar of fire, in the crashing of thunder, in signs and wonders. In the "miracle-off" God was revealed in fire falling from heaven God being revealed in an earthquake makes sense. But Elijah does not find God in any of these things. Instead God is found in what the KJV translates as the "still small voice", the NRSV translates as the "sound of sheer silence", and a newer translation (the Common English Bible -- CEB) puts as "After the fire, there was a sound. Thin. Quiet." (translation notes from here). It is at that point that Elijah makes himself ready for the word of God.

I think Elijah needed to be reminded to pause. The story up to this point is full of action and volume. Elijah is both panicked and depressed. The sound (or lack thereof) seems to start  breaking his panic and his depression. Not immediately because the next words out of his mouth will be to once again recount the horrible situation in which he finds himself. But it begins. Some would find that if God was not found in the fire or the earthquake or the mighty wind then the still silence is an odd place to look. Some would start to assume the God is absent (and there is a long tradition of people with deep spirituality having long periods where God seems absent).

But for whatever reason that is where, in this instance, Elijah finds God. ANd that brings a question for me...

Are we ready to look for God in places and ways we do not expect? Is there a part of us that wants the strong wind or the earthquake or the fiery pillar, that wants the signs and wonders and so we miss the still small voice?

We lie in a world where silence is often seen as the enemy. There is almost always a soundtrack to our lives. Get a group of people together to sit in silence and it is not long before it feels uncomfortable. But we can teach ourselves to be comfortable with silence, we can learn to pause and leave the space where something else can happen. Elijah did it (and then was given a bunch of work to do). Can we?
--Gord

And I just can't resist...



OR this one (which prompted the sermon title)

Looking Ahead to October 29, 2017 -- David is Anointed

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 1 Samuel 16:1-13
• Psalm 51:10-14

The Sermon title is Look to the Heart

Early Thoughts: David is a hero, for some reason. David is seen as a paragon of duty and kingliness, though I am not really sure why. God sees something in David's heart that is worth raising up -- though David's behaviour as king and husband and father will leave much to be desired.

The reading from Samuel this week marks the entry of David into the narrative of faith. A few chapters before now the people convinced Samuel  (and God) that they wanted a king like other nations and Samuel, with God's guidance, chose Saul. But by now Saul has fallen out of favour with God and Samuel is commanded to go find a new king. A risky duty -- kings tend to look negatively on people seeking to replace them, and in later chapters we will learn that Saul is not entirely stable.

Following God's commands Samuel goes to visit a man named Jesse. One of Jesse's sons is the one to replace Saul. And indeed it seems that God has already made God's choice.

Samuel has Jesse parade all of the sons past. Each time Samuel is sure that this must be the one but God keeps saying no, that Samuel is looking at external signs, which seems to be a pattern -- in chapter 9 when we first meet Saul we are told how handsome and tall he was, while God is looking to the heart. After 7 sons have gone by Samuel asks if there is anyone else. Only the youngest, David, out keeping the sheep. David is sent for and when he arrives Samuel is told to anoint him, for he is the one.  Interestingly, even though we are told that God is looking at the heart rather than a physical characteristics, the first thing we are told about David is what he looks like.

The other reading is from Psalm 51. Traditionally it has been believed that this Psalm was written by David in the depths of his guilt after he rapes Bathsheba and arranges for the death of her husband. This link may be accurate, it may be a tradition with little basis in fact. But the section we read this week talks about the heart. It is a prayer any person of faith could (should?) share at various times in our faith journey. The poet asks that his/her heart be clean, that her/his spirit be made right with God.

God looks to the heart. God looks to David's heart, God looked to the heart of Moses, God looks to the heart of Peter and Paul. God touches the hearts of those who live in God's way. God looks to our hearts. Not necessarily the literal pump that sits in the middle of our chest, but to the core of our being. Our core values, our deepest priorities, our essential beliefs. God looks there, God speaks to us there, God stretches us there. SO maybe we should pray "create in me a clean heart O God and put a right spirit within me".

But more than that, God calls us to look as God looks. David is chosen out of all of Jesse's sons because God sees something in David's core that says he will be a Godly king. David will at times hear God speaking to his core calling him to a new way of being (which is probably why Psalm 51 is tied to the story of David and Bathsheba and Uriah). And David listens to his heart.

Later Paul will be struck to his core and will listen to his heart and be lead to proclaim the Way of Christ rather than persecute it. Martin Luther will be struck to his core and in remaining true to the understanding of God he finds there will start a ball rolling that will change the church. When we listen to the heart we just may hear God calling us to be truer to ourselves. When we look to the core we find God.  What do you see and hear in the core of your being? How is God creating and sustaining a clean heart and a right spirit within you?
--Gord

(not a perfect match but...)  (full lyrics seen on one screen here)

Looking Ahead to October 22, 2017 -- The Call of Samuel

The Scripture reading for this Sunday is 1 Samuel 3:1-3:21

The Sermon title is The Word of the Lord

Early Thoughts: When do we hear God whisper in our ear? What do we do next? Do we seek out the wisdom of others, possibly our elders? Do we engage the whisper? Or do we roll over and go back to sleep?

This week's reading tells us of the call of Samuel as a young boy. There is an element of misunderstanding in it as we see Samuel running to old Eli 3 times before anyone figures out what is actually happening.  But finally Samuel makes the response "speak for your servant is listening".

And if we actually stop and listen to the voice, what if we hear something that we don't like, or makes us afraid?

Samuel is given a message to pass on to old Eli. Eli his teacher and mentor, Eli the wise priest. Eli the father of troublesome sons. Samuel is to tell this man that because of the abominable behaviour of his sons the mantle of leadership is passing from Eli's house. No wonder Samuel is reluctant (the text actually says he was afraid) to pass on the message.

To his credit Eli demands that the message be shared even if Eli had reason to think it was not good news. [If you look back at chapter 2 you find out that Eli has already been given the message once but has been unable or unwilling to correct the behaviour of his sons.] More to his credit Eli is willing to accept the word of the Lord.

Often it is tempting to preach about the beginning of this story, about the farce-like scene of Samuel running back and forth to Eli. Then the sermon culminates with Samuel's eventual response "speak for your servant is listening". ANother temptation is to pick up on a single line way back in verse 1 "The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread." and ask if we are currently in such a time as that, to ask if/how God is still speaking today.

But this time round what jumped out at me was Samuel's fear/reluctance to share the word of the Lord.

Sometimes God reveals hard truths. Sometimes as people of faith we are led to share hard words, to say things that are unpopular, to say things we ourselves would rather not hear. What do we do then?

We can pretend we didn't hear properly. We can find some way to express the words in euphemisms or platitudes, if we do that well enough we might even rob them of their offensiveness. We might say "at a better time" and hold off. Avoidance is a common way of dealing with awkward conversations.

That is when we need an Eli. That is when we need someone to say "it will be hard but you MUST share the words" [noting that Eli even threatens Samuel with a curse if he does not share the Word of the Lord].

It ends well for Samuel. He becomes one of the heroes, one of the chief prophets of the story.  He will go on to anoint the first 2 kings of Israel. And he will continue to be called to do things that make him afraid -- such as anointing David while Saul is still king, such as telling Saul that God's favour is no longer with the king.

How will it end for us? When God challenges us with hard truths how will we react? Both as those who hear and those who pass on the truths?
--Gord

PS: it also strikes me that if everything you hear God saying affirms all that you are doing and all that you believe then you might want to ask yourself if you are hearing ALL that God might have to say...