Looking Forward to September 23, 2012 -- Proper 20B, 17th After Pentecost

THe Scripture Reading this week is James 4.

The Sermon Title is Humble Yourself

Early Thoughts:  Verse 10 reads: "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you"  What does that mean?  When I was in High School our youth group's default song (one we could easily sing at the drop of a hat when needed) was a two part song based on this verse.  But I don't remember us actually talking about what it meant.

That verse comes after a bit of a diatribe about how worldly and unholy people are/can be.  And it suggests that the real problem is one that is brought up often in religious discourse.  DO you trust in wisdom from above or from below?  And while that is a very common question, it is most certainly not an easy one to answer is it.

What does it mean to be humble?  Here is the first definition of humble found at dictionary.com:

hum·ble
   [huhm-buhl, uhm-] Show IPA adjective, hum·bler, hum·blest, verb, hum·bled, hum·bling.
adjective
1. not proud or arrogant; modest: to be humble although successful.
2. having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience, etc.: In the presence of so many world-famous writers I felt very humble.
3. low in rank, importance, status, quality, etc.; lowly: of humble origin; a humble home.
4. courteously respectful: In my humble opinion you are wrong.
5. low in height, level, etc.; small in size: a humble member of the galaxy.

 James calls us to be modest, to lower ourselves, to be respectful.  James challenges us to get out our egos out of the way.  James suggests that if we can do that then we will be less prone to doing things against the flow of God.

I think James is right.  But can we do that reliably?  What would it look like on the ground???
--Gord

Looking Forward to September 16, 2012 -- Proper 19B, 16th After Pentecost

This Sunday we will celebrate the Sacrament of Communion

The Scripture Reading this week is James 3

The Sermon title is Bridle Your Tongue!

Early Thoughts:  What damage can a small slab of tissue weighing (on average) 60-70 grams do?  Plenty.

So much in fact that one of the pieces of business at this summer's General Council meeting was this:

The Conference of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario proposes that:
the 41st General Council 2012
1. take a stand against the spreading of gossip in the same manner that it has taken a stand against gambling and other evils of society; and
2. direct the General Secretary, General Council to:
a) encourage Congregations to seek ways to raise awareness of the harmful aspects of gossip; and
b) encourage Congregations to open discussion regarding how to differentiate between gossip and a caring pastoral conversation.
(page Green12 of this document)

There was more than one person who read that in the docket and asked "this is important enough to be dealt with by General Council?????" (sometimes accompanied by a snort or two of derision).  And to be truthful I am not sure it was.  But it does raise an important question in the church about what we do or do not say.  What do we share? (and how do we share it)  When is it better to not say anything?  We need to use discernment in deciding how to use our tongues.

James is very clear to his listeners/readers that the tongue is an organ to be taken seriously.  James is very clear that speech is a serious matter.  So how do we bridle our tongues?
--Gord

Looking Forward to September 9, 2012 -- Proper 18B, 15th After Pentecost

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• Matthew 7:15-20
• James 2

The Sermon Title is Sola Fides???

Early Thoughts:  Shall we talk about money or about faith without works?  Or maybe they are linked so we should talk about both?

AS this chapter opens James is chiding his readers/listeners for playing favourites based on economic status.  This is hardly new in the world of Judeo-Christian ethics and faith.  The prophets of ancient Israel railed against such things.  Jesus chided his culture for such things.  Paul lambastes the Corinthians for doing this.  And now so does James.  Apparently this is a common failing.  A number of people might suggest that the church of 2012 risks falling into the same trap.

But to me this is merely one example of how our works/actions/choices show what our faith REALLY is.  One of the best known phrases from the book of James is in this chapter "faith without works is dead".  And for some Reformed theologians this seems on the surface to be a problematic phrase (but it really isn't once you dig deeper).

One of the tenets of the Reformation was sola fides.  That is to say that we are saved by faith alone.  There is nothing we can do to earn our faith, our good works do not cause us to be saved.  (for what it is worth I suggest that we are in fact saved/forgiven/justified not by faith but whether we have faith or not, whether we know we need saving/forgiving/justifying or not, we are forgiven/saved/made right with God simply because we are creatures/children of a loving God.  but that leads to a whole other discussion.)  In part this was lifted up because of an understanding that the prayers and indulgences and other penitential practices of the Roman church were ways that people could earn salvation, could pay off the debt they owed to God.

Sola Fides is a theological strand that flows clearly through Paul to Augustine to Luther and Calvin.  While it is also present in much Roman Catholic theology, it has become a marker for Protestant churches, often tied with a specific understanding/theology of the cross and atonement.  In its most strident framing it is placed up against "works righteousness" which claims that people can earn their own salvation  And here we read James exhorting folks that faith without works is dead.  Is there a problem here?  Is James arguing against the Pauline view of things?

The short answer is "No".  James and Paul would in fact likely agree on this point.  James is not arguing that we need both faith and works to be saved.  James is arguing that the sign of a person having a living, breathing, active faith is the works they do.  The works are the fruit of the faith.

Really it is a continuation of last week when we were exhorted to be a doer of the word, and not just a hearer.  And arguably it is another way of saying "by their fruits you shall know them".

So what do your works say about your faith?
--Gord

Looking Ahead to September 2, 2012 -- Proper 17B, 14th Sunday After Pentecost

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• James 1
• Psalm 15 (VU p.736)

The Sermon Title is Someone I Would Like You to Meet...

Early Thoughts: For the 5 Sundays of September we will be exploring the Letter of James. Which works quite well since there are 5 chapters in the book, so we will read a chapter a week.

Retired United Church Minister John Shearman says about this book:

The Letter of James is one of the anomalies of the New Testament. Because it makes few references to Jesus Christ, it was one of the very last to be included in the Christian scriptures. It has more of the flavour of a moral essay attributed to James, the brother of Jesus. Of course, this claim has been disputed almost from the time the church set about the task of defining the NT canon. It may well be a collection of the sayings of James compiled after his martyrdom or a formal letter encouraging its recipients to live in a strictly ethical and deliberately spiritual way at a time of threatened persecution.

 In chapter 1 we see themes emerge that will continue in later chapters (and we will pick up then). But this week we will take time to introduce ourselves to this letter--one of the ones we often do not talk about.

And just for reference, Martin Luther did not think the letter of James belonged in the canon at all. He called it an "epistle of straw". Maybe we will see why he disliked it so much
--Gord

September Newsletter Piece

One of the realities of living and working in the church has always been dealing with change. And dealing with change (both as individuals and as organizations) is, to say the least, difficult. Here are some thoughts about change that I wrote for the newspaper while I was in Atikokan. Does it speak to us here at St. Paul's? What changes are on our horizons (both as a church and in Grande Prairie as a whole)?

The Mathematics of Making Change

Come gather ‘round people wherever you roam.
And admit that the waters around you have grown.
And accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin' (Bob Dylan)

We live in a changing world. That much is certain. There is truth to the old adage that the only thing that is consistent in life is change. And yet why do we often find it so hard to change? Even when we think we are ready to change it seems that we easily get stuck in old ruts, old habits. What stops us? Is it just fear or is it maybe something mathematical?

Yes, that’s right I said mathematics might be our problem.

A few years ago I was introduced to an equation for change. It is: MC=fp(fv)(fs). Expanded that means Movement for Change=felt pain x future vision x first steps. The important part of the equation is that it is multiplication. Think back to your school days, what happens when you multiply by zero? The answer is always going to be zero. In our equation above, if any of the variables are missing then change doesn’t happen.

The first variable, felt pain, is easy. Many people, many communities, have that in abundance. Often much of it comes out of that experience Bob Dylan sings about – the times they are a-changin’. As things change we feel pain and grief. But that isn’t enough to change. We need a sense of where we are headed (future vision) and we need to get started (first steps).

So how do we fill in the blanks? Where do we find a vision? Well we begin with asking why we are here. Then we ask what our ideal result would be. For people of faith these questions are intricately linked to our understanding of God’s plan. What is needed for us to be the people (or the church, or the town, or the nation) that God would have us be? Who is God calling us to be? What is God calling us to do? As we explore these questions a vision or goal starts to appear.

That leaves possibly the hardest part of the equation – the first steps. Once we have found a vision, once we know here we are headed, why is it so hard to get going. Often this is where the fear kicks in. Maybe the vision leads us to a place very different from where we have been before. That is scary. Maybe the vision has holes in it and the first few tries might not work exactly. Failure also is scary. But remember that multiplying by zero equals zero. We have to conquer the fear and take the first steps. And for people of faith there is help in remembering that we are not alone. We live, move, and have our being in God. With God’s help, we can take risky steps, we can step out into the unknown, we can embrace change.

What felt pain do you have? What vision do you have for the future? What is the first step in your new path? Where will the mathematics of change take you?

Looking Ahead to August 26, 2012 -- 12th After Pentecost, Proper 16B

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 1 Kings 8:1-30, 41-43
• Psalm 84 (VU p.800)

The Sermon title is God's Dwelling Place??

Early Thoughts:  Where does God live? Where do you meet God?  And are we guilty of worshiping our buildings too much?

Buildings are a blessing and a curse for the church.  But it has not always been so.  For many cultures the local temple was seen as a (or the) place where that God dwelt on Earth.

Certainly that is how Biblical Judaism saw the Temple (and later the 2nd Temple).  While they wandered through the desert the Israelites carried the Ark of the covenant, in which rested the tablets containing the Law.  Now that they are established as a nation Solomon puts the Ark into the very core of the Temple.  And so the Ark is either where God lives, or at least where God interacts with God's people.

Is this how we view our church buildings?  Officially no.  Christian thought has never officially said that God can only be met in the church building (though it has often suggested that God can only be met in the church as institution).  And yet the phrase "House of God" is generally used to describe a place of worship.

So where do you meet God?  How are our church buildings a blessing?  How are they a curse?  And where exactly does God dwell?

--Gord

Looking Forward to July 15, 2012 -- 7th Sunday After Pentecost, Proper 10

The Scripture Readings this week are:

• 2 Samuel 6 
• Psalm 24 (VU p.751)

The Sermon title is Celebrate Passionately!

Early Thoughts:  What is your passion? What would make you lose yourself in the moment?  And, perhaps more importantly, are you able to live out your passion?

David was a person of great passion.  Sometimes his passion gets him in trouble.  But I would argue that if David was not as comfortable with his passion he would not have become the hero of Scripture that we know.

What is your passion?  Does following your passion guide your life choices?  How do you feel when doing something you are passionate about?

GOd calls us to be passionate people.  It is sometimes said that to find your own particular ministry you need to find that place where your passion and God's passion and the needs of the world all intersect.  And so God wants us to live out our passion.

Some of us (might I dare suggest especially those of us with British, Presbyterian roots?) have an uneasy relationship with passion.  To be  passionate might mean being disorderly, or out of control, or even imprudent.

But still I say that life is better when we live out our passion.  Still I say that God wants us to live full, abundant, passionate lives.

So what is your passion?
--Gord