The Scripture Reading this week is Psalm 1.
The Sermon title is Drink Deep. Grow Strong, Bear Fruit.
Early Thoughts: Where are we planted? Which road do we choose?
Will we be in the group who "follow the counsel of the wicked" or will we be in the group that delight in the law of God?
Will we be blown away like so much chaff or will we be like trees sinking deep roots to find water?
There is an old song that comes to mind:
The problem is the image only works if we are planted/rooted in the right place. Maybe we sometimes need to be transplanted first? Are our roots searching for the water of life or anything that is wet and seems to serve the purpose? After all a tree will grow into your sewer line because it senses water there. But wouldn't we rather it find another source?
Within Judaism one of the greatest gifts God gave to the people was the Torah, the Law. While Law always includes limits that is a gift. Law gives a framework within we live. Law sets the field in which we can grow and thrive. As most parents (and most landscapers too) understand, setting limits is needed to control and direct growth. So it is with the Law. SO it is with God's wisdom.
But we tend to chafe at limits. We tend to uphold freedom as the greatest thing since canned beer, as if freedom and limits were mutually exclusive. We hold up Paul who seemed to claim that grace trumps law and therefore the law is in our way. (though this is not quite what Paul was trying to say)
God calls us to new life. God calls us to be God's people. God calls us to live in a particular way. Yes we are free. Yes we can choose. But we are free to choose to follow the Way, and with that choice means setting limits (or accepting limits). The tree is not free to wander around testing different streams.
This week the United Church of Canada turns 90. Our anniversary comes at a time when we are pondering (or just plain worrying about) our future. I suggest that we as congregations and as a denomination may need to ask if our roots are searching for the living water. I suggest we need to wonder if we have cut the roots off from that source.
Are we ready to delight in the limits of God's freedom? Are we ready to soak in the Living Water so that we would grow strong (which may not mean big or fast) and bear fruit in our own season?
--Gord
Monday, June 1, 2015
Monday, May 18, 2015
Looking Ahead to May 24, 2015 -- Pentecost Sunday
The Scripture Readings for this week are:
Early thoughts: We are called to be the church....but sometimes that is easier than others. When things are hard, how can we be the Spirit-filled body that is the Church? When things turn against us how can we have the confidence that the Spirit is leading us forward?
Simple. Because God is with us. Because no matter what happens God is with us.
That is why the first apostles were able to go out and build the church.
That is why the early church survived through persecution.
That is why the great Reformers were able to challenge the way the church was operating.
That is why a congregation can keep going after a building burns down.
Because God is with us. Because there is nothing that can separate us from God. Because the Spirit moves in us, in our prayers which come out as sighs too deep for words.
On Pentecost Day the Spirit lit a fire. Every day since the fire has been burning, sometimes smoldering slowly, sometimes a blazing inferno. In the heat of that fire the Kingdom is being born, shaped, brought to life.
It doesn't happen all at once. But it is happening. And throughout that process we know that God has been, is, and will be with us.
THAT is how we can be the church. (How WILL we be the church may be a whole other discussion)
--Gord
- Acts 2:1-4
- Romans 8:18-39
Early thoughts: We are called to be the church....but sometimes that is easier than others. When things are hard, how can we be the Spirit-filled body that is the Church? When things turn against us how can we have the confidence that the Spirit is leading us forward?
Simple. Because God is with us. Because no matter what happens God is with us.
That is why the first apostles were able to go out and build the church.
That is why the early church survived through persecution.
That is why the great Reformers were able to challenge the way the church was operating.
That is why a congregation can keep going after a building burns down.
Because God is with us. Because there is nothing that can separate us from God. Because the Spirit moves in us, in our prayers which come out as sighs too deep for words.
On Pentecost Day the Spirit lit a fire. Every day since the fire has been burning, sometimes smoldering slowly, sometimes a blazing inferno. In the heat of that fire the Kingdom is being born, shaped, brought to life.
It doesn't happen all at once. But it is happening. And throughout that process we know that God has been, is, and will be with us.
THAT is how we can be the church. (How WILL we be the church may be a whole other discussion)
--Gord
Monday, May 11, 2015
Looking Forward to May 17, 2015
The Scripture Reading this week is Romans 6:1-14
The Sermon title is Dead to What? Alive for What?
Early Thoughts: From ancient times baptism has been understood as a passage through death to life. That is to say, in our baptism we have died and been resurrected.
But what does that mean?
For Paul, the process is transformative. For Paul we are a new creation. For Paul we have been released from bondage.
Paul sees the world in a state of conflict. On one side is God and life. On the other is sin and death. The death and resurrection of Christ, for Paul, defeats the forces of sin and death. In baptism we share in the death and resurrection of Christ (an image which works really well with baptism by full immersion where the baptized goes under the water and then rises back up).
SO as those who have been baptized we are, in theory, dead to sin. WE are alive to a transformed life. We are called to live as transformed persons. Sin and death have no power over us.
How do we live that out????
--Gord
The Sermon title is Dead to What? Alive for What?
Early Thoughts: From ancient times baptism has been understood as a passage through death to life. That is to say, in our baptism we have died and been resurrected.
But what does that mean?
For Paul, the process is transformative. For Paul we are a new creation. For Paul we have been released from bondage.
Paul sees the world in a state of conflict. On one side is God and life. On the other is sin and death. The death and resurrection of Christ, for Paul, defeats the forces of sin and death. In baptism we share in the death and resurrection of Christ (an image which works really well with baptism by full immersion where the baptized goes under the water and then rises back up).
SO as those who have been baptized we are, in theory, dead to sin. WE are alive to a transformed life. We are called to live as transformed persons. Sin and death have no power over us.
How do we live that out????
--Gord
Monday, May 4, 2015
Looking Forward to May 10, 2015 -- continuing with Romans,
The Scripture Passages for this week are:
Early Thoughts: What possible good comes from suffering? And what possible good comes from boasting for that matter?
Normally we discourage boasting. And in matters of faith we particularly (in theory) discourage boasting. Boasting would suggest that faith is something we do, that salvation somehow depends on us and our actions. Christian tradition is clear that salvation has nothing to do with us, but is an act of God's grace.
But here Paul is, encourage us to boast in our sufferings. What's up with that?
Paul sees the possibility of good coming through suffering. It is true that at times when we persevere through hard times it builds character, it allows us to find hope. It is true that sometimes we have to learn through struggle. And it is true that this happens the most where there is love, where God's love is being made real in our lives.
But there is a big problem looming. Does this just give us a reason to say "suck it up" to the person who is struggling? Does this idea of suffering producing endurance producing hope lead us to ignore the reality of suffering? How would we apply those verses to Nepal? or to the streets of Baltimore? or to the families of murdered/missing indigenous women?
Obviously not all suffering should be lifted up.
Or maybe we only know which suffering produces endurance produces hope in retrospect?
Or maybe the real question is how we respond to our own suffering and the suffering of our neighbours?
WE will struggle in life. Some struggles will be minor, some will be and feel catastrophic. But we have hope. We have hope because there is love. We have hope because we have the God who offers to give us support and rest. And in that hope, in that love, with that support we can endure. And maybe there we will find the hope for next time....
--Gord
- Romans 5:1-5
- Matthew 11:28-30
Early Thoughts: What possible good comes from suffering? And what possible good comes from boasting for that matter?
Normally we discourage boasting. And in matters of faith we particularly (in theory) discourage boasting. Boasting would suggest that faith is something we do, that salvation somehow depends on us and our actions. Christian tradition is clear that salvation has nothing to do with us, but is an act of God's grace.
But here Paul is, encourage us to boast in our sufferings. What's up with that?
Paul sees the possibility of good coming through suffering. It is true that at times when we persevere through hard times it builds character, it allows us to find hope. It is true that sometimes we have to learn through struggle. And it is true that this happens the most where there is love, where God's love is being made real in our lives.
But there is a big problem looming. Does this just give us a reason to say "suck it up" to the person who is struggling? Does this idea of suffering producing endurance producing hope lead us to ignore the reality of suffering? How would we apply those verses to Nepal? or to the streets of Baltimore? or to the families of murdered/missing indigenous women?
Obviously not all suffering should be lifted up.
Or maybe we only know which suffering produces endurance produces hope in retrospect?
Or maybe the real question is how we respond to our own suffering and the suffering of our neighbours?
WE will struggle in life. Some struggles will be minor, some will be and feel catastrophic. But we have hope. We have hope because there is love. We have hope because we have the God who offers to give us support and rest. And in that hope, in that love, with that support we can endure. And maybe there we will find the hope for next time....
--Gord
Thursday, April 30, 2015
MAy Newsletter
Diversity. It is
something we talk a lot about. It is something we in Canada often
claim to prize highly (though sometimes our actions make me wonder
how highly). But what does it mean? How do we nourish it?
I am writing this as
I reflect on the first day of a conference here in Grande Prairie.
The name of the event is Fostering Diverse Communities Conference
2015 (Twitter hashtag
#FDCC2015). All day long (and continuing tomorrow) we have been
talking about how to be
a welcoming community, how to integrate newcomers/immigrants, how to
embrace being a diverse community.
After
all diversity is sometimes scary. Sometimes we find it difficult to
admit that we don't all have to be the same. Sometimes we expect
that newcomers will quickly become “just like us”. And
we certainly don't like to admit the reality that whenever somebody
new joins our community the community is no longer the
same. It is now a new
community.
We
don't like to admit that. We would prefer to claim that we welcome
everyone. But the stories we heard today show that our perception
(or our preferred reality) is not always the case. In every part of
Canada there are times when newcomers are made to feel second-class,
to feel unacceptable, to feel that they don't quite belong or fit in.
And
here is the most uncomfortable piece. The church is no different.
Most churches, if you asked point blank, would say “certainly all
are welcome here”. But many people have told stories about how it
is hard to break in to a church community. Churches
have a reputation of wanting new people – as long as they don't
make us change how we are who we are, or as long as they are willing
to become like us. Churches tend to be pretty uniform places.
How
diverse are we as a church community? When Tymmarah Zehr was working
on her Masters thesis around issues of being a welcoming community
she called to ask if we had a population of newcomers who might be
interested in being a part of her research I had to tell her we were
not the best congregation to look at. Because (for a variety of
reasons – a big one being that immigrants tend to look for a faith
community that they know from home and of course the United Church is
very much a Canadian institution) the United Church is not often a
place where new Canadians look for a faith community. And so we are
not as diverse as perhaps we could, or maybe should, be.
Next
time you walk around town take a look at the people you see. Grande
Prairie is a very diverse community now. Something like 120
countries are represented in our population (up from 81 in 2006).
Now take a look around our sanctuary. Do you see a difference?
Now
I am realistic. We will never be as diverse as the community as a
whole. But maybe we could ask ourselves how to make connections with
those immigrant and newcomer communities. Maybe we could find some
way to help people integrate into Canadian society. Not necessarily
by having them join us (unless they want to of course) but by
supporting them, learning their stories while we share our stories.
Learning
those stories, inviting newcomers (either immigrants/new Canadians or
multi-generational Canadians)
to become part of our circles,
will change us. New
people in a group, be it a family, a business, a social club, a
church – any group – change that group. And
until we have experienced it we don't really know how we will be
changed. This could be scary. It could also be a blessing.
In
Scripture we meet the God who gave Peter a dream telling him to eat
animals he was taught to believe were unclean. We meet the God who
called Paul to spread the Gospel beyond the walls of the Jewish
world. We meet the God who challenges our assumptions about what it
means to be a part of the community. It is my belief that this God
wants us to welcome diversity, to celebrate it. We are not all the
same. And that, as Martha Stewart might say, is a good thing.
How
will we celebrate the diversity that is Grande Prairie?
Monday, April 27, 2015
Looking Forward to May 3, 2015 -- Beginning a series on Romans
This Sunday we will celebrate both Sacraments: Baptism and Communion.
The Scripture Reading this week is Romans 1:1-17
The Sermon title is Hi! My Name Is...
Early Thoughts: For the month of May we will be hearing passages from Paul's letter to the Church in Rome. AS Paul's letters go this one is a bit different. Most of the letters are examples of Paul writing to a community where he has previously visited, likely to the church(es) he planted while there. And so in many of them he appears to be answering questions from the community, furthering their growth in faith.
But Paul has not yet been to Rome. Instead of a letter to old friends this is a letter of introduction. Paul is preparing the ground for his visit to existing Christian communities. It is also argued that in Romans we have Paul's clearest explication of his own theology. Unlike, for example, the letter to Corinth, he is not trying to deal with questions and issues that have come back to him. He is letting people know what to expect from him in terms of teaching and preaching when he arrives.
This week we have the beginning of the letter. Paul introduces himself not just by name but by making clear who he represents. One commentary notes that those opening verses match the standard form of diplomatic correspondence in the first century.
And then Paul gives a bit of a "teaser" about what he is all about. Which of the themes he hints at here will we explore further over the next month?
--Gord
The Scripture Reading this week is Romans 1:1-17
The Sermon title is Hi! My Name Is...
Early Thoughts: For the month of May we will be hearing passages from Paul's letter to the Church in Rome. AS Paul's letters go this one is a bit different. Most of the letters are examples of Paul writing to a community where he has previously visited, likely to the church(es) he planted while there. And so in many of them he appears to be answering questions from the community, furthering their growth in faith.
But Paul has not yet been to Rome. Instead of a letter to old friends this is a letter of introduction. Paul is preparing the ground for his visit to existing Christian communities. It is also argued that in Romans we have Paul's clearest explication of his own theology. Unlike, for example, the letter to Corinth, he is not trying to deal with questions and issues that have come back to him. He is letting people know what to expect from him in terms of teaching and preaching when he arrives.
This week we have the beginning of the letter. Paul introduces himself not just by name but by making clear who he represents. One commentary notes that those opening verses match the standard form of diplomatic correspondence in the first century.
And then Paul gives a bit of a "teaser" about what he is all about. Which of the themes he hints at here will we explore further over the next month?
--Gord
Monday, April 13, 2015
Looking Forward to April 19, 2015
This Sunday we will celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism
The Scripture Readings this week are:
Early thoughts: Why are we so good at drawing lines? In every culture, we humans seem to like drawing lines to mark who is a "proper" member of the community. Sometimes the lines are more "in your face", sometimes they are hidden, sometimes we like to pretend they don't exist. But if we dig a little deeper we find that they are always there.
Peter and Paul came from a purity culture. Jewish law was about dividing the pure from the impure, the acceptable from the unacceptable. This shows up in dietary laws (which forms the basis of Peter's dream) and in regulations about dealing with a corpse, and dealing with outsiders and pretty much any aspect of life. To be unclean/impure was to put yourself in a place where you could not take part in the life of the community, usually for a period of time or until you performed some ritual that returned you to a state of purity. Which works great if you want to be part of a closed community.
But the movement which would eventually be called Christianity was growing. And people's understanding of what Jesus of Nazareth had taught challenged those ideas of a closed community consumed with rules about what made them clean. In fact one of the remembered stories and sayings of Jesus challenged the whole idea that some foods made one unclean. And then people from outside the Jewish community wanted to join this new community. What to do?
This was a cause, it appears, of great dissension in the early decades. From the beginning of his public ministry Paul seems to have felt called to be the apostle to the Gentiles. And while he would teach in synagogues much of his evangelism was among the non-Jewish population of the Empire. Peter and some of the other leaders appear to have had more hesitation. This passage from Acts is Peter's conversion to a new understanding (and even then it took three times for it to sink in).
As the spiritual descendants of Peter and Paul. As those who have heard over and over again that God shows no partiality why do we keep drawing lines? Because whether we admit it or not we do.
MAybe the line is around sexuality. Or maybe around theology. Or maybe around gender, or age, or racial origin, or how long one has been around, or any of any number of other criteria. But we draw lines. Sometimes we don't even know that we have done it until we are challenged. Sometimes we have gotten so used to the line that we forget it is even there, and can't understand why folks don't feel welcome.
God calls us to erase the lines (to actually erase them from our minds and souls and actions -- not just from our written rules and structures). God calls us to be intentionally open to being diverse and different. When God names us all as clean and equal God is not making us the same (this is a danger we often fall into -- in our wish to be seen as open and welcoming we try to pretend that differences don't exist). Instead God is calling us to welcome the difference.
Can we erase our lines? What is stopping us?
--Gord
The Scripture Readings this week are:
- Acts 10:1-17, 34-35
- Galatians 3:26-29
Early thoughts: Why are we so good at drawing lines? In every culture, we humans seem to like drawing lines to mark who is a "proper" member of the community. Sometimes the lines are more "in your face", sometimes they are hidden, sometimes we like to pretend they don't exist. But if we dig a little deeper we find that they are always there.
Peter and Paul came from a purity culture. Jewish law was about dividing the pure from the impure, the acceptable from the unacceptable. This shows up in dietary laws (which forms the basis of Peter's dream) and in regulations about dealing with a corpse, and dealing with outsiders and pretty much any aspect of life. To be unclean/impure was to put yourself in a place where you could not take part in the life of the community, usually for a period of time or until you performed some ritual that returned you to a state of purity. Which works great if you want to be part of a closed community.
But the movement which would eventually be called Christianity was growing. And people's understanding of what Jesus of Nazareth had taught challenged those ideas of a closed community consumed with rules about what made them clean. In fact one of the remembered stories and sayings of Jesus challenged the whole idea that some foods made one unclean. And then people from outside the Jewish community wanted to join this new community. What to do?
This was a cause, it appears, of great dissension in the early decades. From the beginning of his public ministry Paul seems to have felt called to be the apostle to the Gentiles. And while he would teach in synagogues much of his evangelism was among the non-Jewish population of the Empire. Peter and some of the other leaders appear to have had more hesitation. This passage from Acts is Peter's conversion to a new understanding (and even then it took three times for it to sink in).
As the spiritual descendants of Peter and Paul. As those who have heard over and over again that God shows no partiality why do we keep drawing lines? Because whether we admit it or not we do.
MAybe the line is around sexuality. Or maybe around theology. Or maybe around gender, or age, or racial origin, or how long one has been around, or any of any number of other criteria. But we draw lines. Sometimes we don't even know that we have done it until we are challenged. Sometimes we have gotten so used to the line that we forget it is even there, and can't understand why folks don't feel welcome.
God calls us to erase the lines (to actually erase them from our minds and souls and actions -- not just from our written rules and structures). God calls us to be intentionally open to being diverse and different. When God names us all as clean and equal God is not making us the same (this is a danger we often fall into -- in our wish to be seen as open and welcoming we try to pretend that differences don't exist). Instead God is calling us to welcome the difference.
Can we erase our lines? What is stopping us?
--Gord
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