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15th after Pentecost [Prop. 19] Nov 11 Yr. A Forgiving <ABCforgive>
Matthew 18:21
One of the things you have to admire about the apostle Peter is his spirit. This was the guy who proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah. He offered to put up tents for Moses and Elijah when Jesus met with them on the Mount of Transfiguration. It was Peter who boldly declared that even though others might deny Jesus,. he would never do so. He was the one who carried a sword into the garden and even though the disciples were vastly outnumbered, Peter didn't intend to go down without a fight. He took a big swing with his sword and took off the ear of one of the guards.
In the parable before us we see Peter's spirit once again. Jesus had been talking about the need to go to great lengths in an attempt to be reconciled to those who offend you. Jesus told us to go to someone we knew personally and seek to resolve the issue. If that did not work we should bring a mediator with us. if the person would not listen to the mediator then we were to bring it before the church - not just to the pastor, but to the gathered community.
Now, Peter was listening to this teaching and when Jesus had finished we are told that Peter came to Jesus with a question. "Jesus, how many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?
I think Peter wanted to show Jesus that he was listening. And he also wanted to understand the parameters of the instruction. For in Peter's day the rabbis told the people, that based on God's instructions to Amos, they were to forgive a person three times for an offence. Peter understood that Jesus was raising the bar so to speak. So he asks if seven is a good figure to use for how many times to forgive.
It is an honest question.- one that many of us have undoubtedly asked ourselves at different times in our own lives. How many times should you extend forgiveness? Where should we draw the line when it comes to being gracious and merciful? How should we respond to that person who offends again and again?
The answer Jesus gives staggered Peter and has been staggering people ever since.
Jesus' answer to Peter was not what Peter expected - we are to forgive 70 X 7. A staggering number - so high a number that it would be unreasonable to keep track of how many times a person was forgiven. In other words, there was to be no limit to the requirement to forgive.
Immediately, you and I have problems with this teaching. For we have all been hurt by people over and over and over again. So the question we want to ask is, "Did Jesus really mean what he said? Are there any situations under which we need not forgive?
Well, it would appear that Jesus seems to be saying, no! We are always to forgive. As I reflect on his response it occurs to me that there are several reasons for this.
FIRST, a lack of forgiveness imprisons us. The offender is seldom affected by our unwillingness to forgive. The bitterness, anger and resentment are emotions that we have to carry with us. these things, in time, become a weight on our soul and a barrier between God and us. besides, it robs the joy from our living. Forgiveness allows us to lay those feelings down. Forgiveness sets us free.
SECOND, a refusal to forgive implies that you will never need to be forgiven. The person who refuses to forgive has about them an air of superiority that assumes that they can look down on others.
Remember the words of Jesus: Do not judge, or you will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. AND why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
THIRD, a lack of forgiveness makes reconciliation impossible. Until you are willing to let go of the hurt, any hope of reconciling your relationship is lost. In the context of this passage Jesus is concerned about reconciled relationships. Our goal is to work through our differences, not perpetuate them.
FOURTH, forgiveness and reconciliation are separate things. It is important that you and I remember that you can forgive someone yet still not be reconciled to them. We are required to forgive. We are required to put judgement in God's hands. And we are required to try and reconcile the relationship. But sometimes that may be impossible.
Jesus goes on to say in the parable: if that person still refuses to listen take your case to the church. If the church decides you are right, but the other person won't accept it, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector. In other words, ignore them.
There may be times when both parties sincerely believe that they were right. In those cases it is our responsibility to act with grace. We must admit that sometimes we don't have all the facts. Sometimes we mis-read a situation. In these times we are to let go of the hurt and seek to gain new understanding and a new relationship.
At rot, this parable is about our relationship to God. Jesus understands that his teaching is difficult. A popular movie which illustrates this parable is "Pay it Forward". In the movie when someone received an act of kindness they were told that instead of trying to pay it back they were to seek to pay it forward by extending kindness to three other persons. The greater the act of kindness you received, the greater the kindness you extend. This is the same message Jesus is giving us in this parable. Having received God's forgiveness we are to pay it forward by extending that forgiveness to others
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Lost and Found
15 th after Pentecost (prop. 19) eccclesicakes Cp15
First, I listened for the conversation going on among the lectionary passages for this week.
Jeremiah 4:11-12; 22-28. The writers of Jeremiah 4 see little hope for those they identify as foolish, ignorant and stupid, skilled in doing evil (22). Jeremiah seems to be identifying people in a different situation than the "lost" of Luke 15 or the writer of Timothy (13). Jeremiah 4 sees no hope for the community thus described because God has no interest in relenting from applying dire consequences for their attitude and behaviour (28). Jeremiah painfully reminds us that inescapable repercussions follow from unholy ways of being and acting. I suppose an example which fits with Jeremiah's imagery of verse 26, would be the global warming and its effects* which result from our burning of hydrocarbons.. Some would also argue that dire results (such as spread of disease, and rise of terrorism) l occur when the rich and powerful enjoy the bounty of God's creation while ignoring the health and nutrition needs of their neighbours on this planet. In this new entury this is panfully true of the "developed " world's attitude toward southern Africa.
Psalm 14. This psalm takes a view of humankind similar to Jeremiah's, but goes beyond Jer. 4 in asking, where do we find God in such a world? Psalm 4's answer assumes that while all humanity is corrupt, there are those who can be called "righteous" [presumably those who openly advocate for God's will to be observed in the world**] (v. 5). God is with them, and with those who have been marginalized - that is, the poor (v.6). This psalm also seems to assume that deliverance from our present state is what we really want and long for and on that day we all will rejoice [in an era of "sharing and caring"*** - equity and justice for all people] (v.7).
1 Timothy 1:12-17. 1 Timothy is a very problematic epistle because of its misogynistic passages in chapter 2. The author is opposed to spiritual teachings which come from the local culture, while supporting as a kind law, the culture's attitudes toward women. Doubtless, this could be said of even the best of us who espouse some values which may not express the Gospel. So, when reading Timothy we need to bring to it the same questions we might bring to any sermon. That is, which of this pronouncement is from God and which part of it comes for the social environment of the speaker. Some might find 1Tim. to be so tangled with its culture that all of it is thrown into question so that we can trust neither its attitude toward women nor its rejection of other ways of spirituality.****
What is commendable about today's passage is the author's confession that God's grace had the power to bring this blasphemer into the role of proclaimer of God's grace for all who are distant from God.
We would hope that this experience of grace will take "Paul" and this community on the road to a fuller grasp of the implications of that grace with respect to women. Sadly, we all know that is taking a long long time. [In 2005, the UN reported that that most of the women of the world live under regimes of repression. In some countries men may rape or kill women with impunity - even blaming the victim for the offence.]
Luke 15:1-10 Here Luke offers two parables as aids in grasping the attitude of God toward those who experience themselves outside the community of faith, and categorized as "sinners". The audience for these parables is both such sinners and the pharisees who accuse them. The accusers are pictured as having toward "sinner" the attitude Jeremiah 4 has in relation to the wicked (although it is doubtful that Jer. 4 had the poor in mind). They see no hope for those in the sinner class or caste. In their view, the best one can do is steer clear of them (15:2).
Jesus is portrayed as offering the opposite view, teaching that heaven sees these outcasts as like lost sheep or coin for whom the shepherd or the householder searches until they are found and brought home. These two illustrations are not strictly speaking, parables. It seems to me that the main point is not that God is like a Palestinian shepherd or householder, but rather that God seeks the lost until they are found. This is cause for great joy in heaven. Psalm 14 speaks of the people expressing joy over such a reunion, Luke says it is heaven that rejoices
*The Fort White Centre of Winnipeg, Canada teaches
that there is a consensus among scientists that global warming is
happening as a result of our behaviour and brings with it drought,
and other extremes of weather, including floods.
**Many ways the church acts for the good of all
humankind, the mission of secular agencies such as Greenpreace, and
the ecological work of Dr. David Suzuki
***The Right Rev. Stanley McKay in an address given at
the University of Winnipeg in about 1990+/-
****Tom Harper (The Pagan Christ, Thomas Allen, pub.)
says that the church of the first three hundred years denied and
worked to eliminate all forms of spirituality other than its
own. Today, we are encouraged to appreciate other faith's perspective
and insights.
.Sermon/discussion notes
Today's Gospel lessons are two illustrations from Luke which teach that God seeks us when we are lost just as a shepherd seeks after a lamb lost from the flock until it is found, or a a householder searches the whole house through looking for a lost precious until she has it again. Also like them, heaven rejoices when the lost are found.
If something in today's service touches a deep pain in you over loss please know that I would be open to hearing of it before you leave today - or you may choose to share your pain with a friend or counsellor.
We can all identify with this phenomenon of losing or being lost. I'm sure that all of us have had the experience of losing something that was precious to us, keys, glasses, wallet or purse.
Of course the parable draws us to consider more serious occassions of lostness. Almost every summer we hear of a child lost in the woods. We seek for the lost child and do not rest until they are found. There is great joy when the child is found to be safe and sorrow beyond measure when they are not
Just as a whole community would not let one child be lost because we have many other children, these biiblical illustrations teach that God seeks the lost even though heaven can lay claim to many who are not lost. There are 99 sheep safe in the pens for the night, but one is missing and so the shepherd goes out into the dark to find that one who is missing. Each of us is precious - none of us is disposable.
The second illustration makes the same point in a slightly different way. The woman has ten silver coins, and turns the house upside down to find one that is lost. Of course she would do that because that one silver coin was very precious in itself. So each of us is precious in ourselves and every lost one is sought after.
Not everyone who listened to Jesus agreed with him. Luke tells that the pharisees present saw some people as "sinners" who were lost forever and can never be redeemed. The "lost" were those whom society had marginalized and labeled as "sinners."
These were people who were considered spiritually unclean. Sometimes persons were made "unclean" by their work. For instance, a person who had the job of feeding pigs, would be considered unclean, so would a prostitute,or the mentally ill. Tax collectors seemed to have been put in the same category. Others simply did not have the time or money to carry out the daily rituals that made one clean. These were considered to be the lost in Jesus society. All good people thought that the best thing one could do was stay away from such people - certainly a godly person would not sit at table with sinners and eat with them.
Jesus, it seems, took a quite different view. Jesus believed that God loved all those who were labeled unclean, and he ate with them. Because of this association Jesus himself would have been considered by some to be unclean, and lost.
Then, there those who thought of themselves as being spiritually clean. Luke puts most pharisees in this self-righteous category. It seems that Jesus thought of these self-righteous ones as the real sinners and the truly lost - although he did not give up one them. (see Luke 6:37-42; 12:37-52; 18:9-14).
It would seem that Jesus thought that persons could be lost in two ways -first, by being marginalized, disemopowered and labeled as unclean or second-class in society. The second way to be lost is by being self-righteous and better than those others. In both cases people find themselves cut off from the fullness of God's bounty.
Now, how might this apply to us today? where does the rubber hit the road for us? Do we find people lost in these two ways in our society? How might people be lost or found today? What is our mission toward the lost in the name of Christ?
I do find people in these two categories of being lost today. In our world there are many who are marginalized and abused. Society can be whole only when such people are respected and encouraged to contribute to their communities.
For indstance, children and spouses are abused in tyrannical homes; citizens are abused by tyrannical rulers. I think in many cases they are lost in that they often like that lost lamb Jesus spoke of - cringing in fear and unable to be their full selves.
It is not necessarily the case that all who are marginalized and abused are lost. Many people in these positions contribute much to the church and to society. They have much to teach us from their perspective on the church and on society.
The church has a role to play in enabling all such people some in from the cold and home to a affirming ways of being. In fact, the church is already engaged in such a mission. In our congregations and in our world outreach programs we promote non abusive environments in our homes and in the world. As Christian citizens we can urge our governments to take action against abuse of power within both families and nations. Let the abusers be restrained, educated, and forbidden to abuse any more. In the name of Christ let the oppressed come home to full participation in our churches and communities.
These marginalized and poor are not the only ones who may be lost in our world. There are also those who are lost to the fullness of God's grace by their abuse of power and their grasp of an unfair share of God's bounty.
The world is fast becoming a place where fewer and fewer control more and more of the world's wealth and resources. This is where being lost most closely comes to many us and may include us in the "West." For instance, I consider myself to be among the fortunate few of this world. Beginning from a poor family I have arrived in my latter days in a warm and safe place to live and with a church pension, which allows me to live without worrying about where I will find lunch today. Along the way I received a public education and encouragement by social workers and teachers. As well, I live in a country where all people share in the cost of medical care, so that all get the treatment their need regardless of their wealth of lack of it. All of this was gained for me by the good works of others. It was these others who put in place by church and government legislation an environment which is wholesome for me.
In as much as I regard these advantages as my right, regardless of the situation of other people in the world, I am lost to God. In Christ's name I am compelled to be a part of the spread of God's bounty of nourishment, and grace to all people. As others in the past have done this for me and other Canadians, so I must be one of those who help enable all humankind people. This brings me home to God, and gives both myself and my creator much cause for rejoicing.
The Good news is that our creator will not stop searching for us, but will come and bring us home, rejoicing and Is. 11:9 shall come to pass. May God may God find us all and bless us with ministries of grace, love, equity and fairness.
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16 after Pentecost (prop.20) What Kind of Society <Cp16>
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 This passage is part of a corporate lament, appropriate to a time of disaster or disintegration. I know I am influenced by the Gospel Song when I cite the central question for Christians at such a time to be: Is there no balm Gilead? It is a question people of the nations in the world might ask just now and, in Canada, it is a question for churches who see the high point of the church to have been the years of popularity, influence and growth in the 50s and 60s. Can we live in anticipation of God will using us even today to bring forth an new era of hope for all peoples so we can sing, "There is a balm in Gilead."
Psalm 79:1-9 I wonder if the reading of this psalm and the above Jeremiah passage should not be left for a time of true lament - when the the people are truly feeing bereft and defeated and not read while we still are in denial, holding onto false hope.
Amos 8:4-7 + and Psalm 51:1-10 (the alternate texts) might be appropriate readings if we are inclined to be more in the mood for warning and possible repentance and change than we are for lament.
Timothy 2:1-7 Having noted the misogamy of the verses to follow the assigned text (see Prop 19 above) and if still wanting to draw from Timothy, these verses would be appropriate in a stable environment, or for those struggling to create quietness and peace in troubled lands. It does imply that people of faith are to take profound interest in the affairs of the state, and work for the good of all, and not seek a pious withdrawal from things political and from national economics.
Luke 16:1-13 Jesus' sense of humour and teaching through humor is generally ignored by preachers and biblical scholars. This passage is one that begs to be read as humour, particularly the way stand-up comics use humour to show the clay feet of the powerful or the self-righteous. The Smothers Brothers comes to mind, or in Canada, the political and social satire of "This hour has 22 minutes." So, I invite us to imagine Jesus using that form to communicate the necessity of getting yourself ready for the new life of the Spirit. Imagine the disciples rolling with laughter seeing that the joke is on them. The message is: becoming a member of the Way is like being fired from a position in which you squandered the gifts that were entrusted to you. So, now is the time to get yourself ready for life after the firing - call in the gifts and calculate what you owe, and start making payments of love, of kindness, or true righteousness, etc., to show that you can be trusted to be a member of the Realm of God, knowing you can never make payment in full.
Sermon/discussion notes (having in mind the readings
from Amos and Psalm 51)
I like Amos. I like Amos because his accusations are
so real for today. Listen again to how this tree pruner cuts away at
the diseased branches of his society and ours [read Amos 8:4-6,
pausing at the end of each verse]. Isn't this a wonderfully true
description of a "bottom line" world such as ours is?
I suppose I can say that I like Amos because I am not in the position of having to make hard decisions in order to keep a business going and its employees with jobs. However, I am a participating member of this society which has price and profit as one of its highest values. I give legitimacy to that value every time I choose to spend my dollar in a store which keeps its prices and its wages low and stay away from those places where the employees are organized and well-paid. I know a person who refuses to use banking machines because, she says, "They put people out of work," and who wrote to the board of her credit union complaining that the pay we give our clerks is not enough to live on.
The kind of society that I want to support would be ones in which the reason for living in communities is to care for one another - each one giving what they can and receiving what they need. A parishioner once asked me what of our behaviours I thought would be seen as wrong by future generations. I replied that I didn't know, except to say that it would be something that the dominant class unquestioningly values. It seems to me that that is how it once was for slavery, for instance.
The other day I was thinking about this question again - which of our behaviours and values might future generations reject - and it seemed to me that future generations might reject our assumption that a family can't have good and nutritious food unless you can pay for it. Does it seem silly to us that every family would have access s to good and nutritious food just because they need it to grow healthy children? At one time in Canada our families couldn't have health care unless they could afford it. Now, we can't imagine our country without an equality of health care for everyone.
Recently I read a newspaper column written by an expatriate Canadian living in New York. He said that Canadians are a bunch of sicko's, wanting guaranteed medical care. In my view he missed the point entirely. As I see it, our medical system is an expression of a country in which one of the highest values held by ordinary people is mutuality and equity as opposed to the society Amos lived in. In that society and also in much of ours, we live together so the powerful can have much. More an more we live in a world in which fewer and fewer people control more and more of the world's wealth. These same people would like to destroy medicare and any other way of being a community of mutuality.*
Amos also points out that that there are dire consequences to the way our leaders are taking us In our own time we can see that a very frightening world is emerging from the "bottom line" values which our world leaders espouse.
Jesus saw this in his world too. So, Jesus called his friends to leave that world and become part of a world with different values. He called this different world, the Realm of God. He still urges us to make this move. In the parable we read this morning, Jesus joked that leaving the world of bottom line values and entering the Realm of God was like being fired from your job because you wasted the bosses resources. Now having been fired from that job, how will you show yourself a good member of your new job in the Realm of God?
The temptation is to try to live by bottom line values in our new job. May the God who calls us into community give us good work to do in building** a world in which the bounty God provides is shared among us all according to our needs.
* Abandoning Care for One Another -The Sep. 2004 issue of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Monitor reported that "Policy makers are quietly and stealthily planning to follow Britain's Tony Blair's lead in redesigning Canada's social policy programs" into a new"third way" in which the concept of being in this together would be dumped in favour of an expectation that people would "save on their own to cover any future emergencies they might face." www.policyalternatives.ca.
Allan Sloan, Wall Street editor for Newsweek magazine reports in the Sep. 04 issue that U.S. President George Bus revealed a new plan in which U. S. governments would withdraw from social services and hand that responsibility over to individuals and their families. Its called Ownership. "Instead of depending on government or employer you'd own your own future."
There was no visible sign of this new direction in the Step. 2004 meeting of Canadian governments in which and additional $18 billion of federal taxes was budgeted for Health Care. This is largely because Canadians demand that their their medicare system be made to work.
**The interchurch peace organization, Project Plowshares says in its 2003 Annual Report: The world's tragically repetitive resort to war must be challenged by people who know ... that peace is built rather than won [by war]. www.plougshares.ca
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17th after Pentecost [prop. 21] God and Consequences Cp17
Giving attention to hear what common message there might be in today's lectionary selection
Jeremiah 32:1-15. Jeremiah hears God giving two seemingly contrary instructions: announce that God will give Jerusalem into the hands of Babylon and spend money on land that soon will belong to a power which may not honour Hebrew land deeds. I observe that Jer. was like the best of prophets then and now; deeply personally involved with his God given missions. That is, he lost his freedom for the first and gave his money for the second.
Psalm 91:1-6;14-16 If God's people cannot take literally this text's promises of deliverance [as did the rulers in Jerusalem according to Jer. 21:1-10], how are they to be understood? God not only didn't protect, but rather sent trouble presumably in response to their "evil doing" (Jer. 26:1-3). Does this mean that in the understanding of this Psalm and Jeremiah, God protects only the truly faithful, and brings trouble on all others? If this is true, do we assume that those among us who experience pain and suffering are being punished for their sins by a vengeful God? Or can we take the liberal view that troubles are the certain consequences which flow from our ungodly behaviour, while people who generally lead a good, fair, just and generous life toward their neighbours by and large are beset by few troubles? I have tried to resolve this quandary by asserting the not entirely satisfactory view that God does not send us troubles and is with us in whatever troubles come our way ( 91: 15).
1Timothy 6:6-19 If we can forgive 1 Tim. for misogyny (see pent. 15 above) as a cultural blind spot which the Spirit is leading us beyond (even as we ask to be forgiven our own blind spots), we find in 6:6-19 advice which may answer the conundrum posed by Jeremiah and Psalm 91. Assuming that God's grace and mercy are the foundation of the faithful life (v.1:12-16), I find here instruction that is sound and helpful to live by. By the way, I change 1 Tim. 6:11 to read people of God.
Luke 16:19-31 This is a different kind of parable. Most true parables are tales from a slice of life, whereas the Rich Man and Lazarus begins with true life experiences, then goes on to portray their consequences in a proposed after-life which consists of the opposite of life on earth: the flames of Hades or being with Abraham. One notices immediately that Lazarus' final home with Abraham is not a reward for doing good but, it would appear, simply the result of suffering the indignities of being poor. The rich man, on the other hand, goes to Hades not for being wealthy, but for not using wealth for the benefit of his neighbour, Lazarus.
This could be another tale told with humour. Can you picture the peasants, shepherds and day-labourers who often, like Lazarus, missed a meal, laughing to tears at Jesus' portrayal of the the rich man finally acknowledging Lazarus whom he had ignored all those years.
This parable has been unpopular with both the rich and the poor. We can easily see how it has had little appeal to wealthy Methodists. On the other hand, leaders of worker movements have accused Christians of misusing the lesson of this parable to discourage the poor from seeking justice in this life because they would get their "pie in the sky when they die" (American Depression-era folk song).
Sermon/discussion notes
Taken together the lectionary passages for this day present us with two views of suffering and faith. One the one hand there is the teaching that the Creator has made the world in such a way that there are consequences which flow from our behaviour. These consequences apply in this life and in the life beyond. These consequences also apply to us individually and corporately.
Saying, "There are consequences that from our behaviour," may sound trite and too obvious and trite to bother with. However, consequences arising from actions is a very important fact of all life. Without it, we could not travel. When I was training to be a an aeroplane mechanic, our class was told that this was the principle behind jet engines. A jet plane can get off the ground only because for every action there is a consequence [an opposite and equal reaction]. A jet engine expels hot gases in one direction and that drives the plane in the opposite direction. As a consequence, I can ride from Canada to Britain. This same principle applies to walking; pushing back with one foot after the other moves us from the couch to the dinner table and as a consequence, we get to eat.
Some philosophers say that our every movement has a consequence. Just by breathing in and out we participate in the world's consumption of oxygen which the tree outside our window is producing. As a consequence there is life. Environmentalists may point to flushing the toilet as more a gross example of action having consequences. Health specialists make this point by printing ugly cancers on the packets cigarettes come in. Political scientists say that policies of our governments have serious consequences for citizens and even for people in other nations, Just think of the consequences of a nation going to war. Sociologists and Psychologists will say there are consequences to a boy kissing a Girl. A major consequence for all this can be our realization that we all are part of the great whole of creation - interconnected with all.
Theologians will add that how we treat our neighbour will have consequences for our relationship with the Creator.
If any of this is true, consequence is something we cannot escape. When you think about it, you soon realize that many of these consequences have potential to bring both joy and suffering. From a religious perspective, it would seem that the Creator has built this into creation: action and its consequences of joy and suffering., life and death.
All people of faith will say, "All that is true, but is it not the whole truth." People of faith will want to add one more truth. That, is the grace, mercy and love of God. In other words, as the creed of the United church of Canada confesses: We are not alone, God is with us.
This too has consequences. It has moral, ethical and mission consequences. As a consequence of God's love, we are called to let the Holy Spirit guide into decisions that have have holy, caring, and graceful outcomes and in the midst of joy and suffering to live a life of love and mercy as much as we are able.
God's love also has personal consequences. We are invited in life to open ourselves to God's love and mercy, and to know that we are loved beyond measure in this life and in the life to come. As Psalm 23 proclaimers; Yea, though I walk through the shadow of death, Thou are with me.
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18th after Pentecost [pop. 22]You are God's Possession Cp18
Listening for the conversation among today's lectionary passages -
Lamentations 1:1-6 A Lament over Jerusalem's loss of people and place. Many verses of this passage remind me of Sunday morning worship in the 3/4 empty sanctuaries of some of our once-large congregations and the current low status of the church in the western nations where in earlier times she was consulted by political leaders.
Psalm 137 Could be used as a lament for those in Canada who are exiles or expatriates far from their homeland. I think today of the many people who have been forced by political and economic circumstances to leave their country of origin for a foreign land where they are required to sing and dance the "old country folk tunes" for those whose parents landed here a generation or more before them.
II Timothy 1:1-15 During a time when Paul is experiencing rejection in the church (v.15) and accusation of treason from the state (v.8), he urges Timothy to continue unashamed and with courage to proclaim the faith in God's grace that was in Timothy's mother and grandmother, and which was confirmed through Paul laying hands upon him.
Sermon/discussion notes Luke 17:5-10
How would you describe your relationship with God? How would you characterize you connection to the Creator?
This is a serious question. Would you say: I am a volunteer in Jesus work force? Would you say that you are connected to God through the ethical and moral values of the faith? Would you say that you and God have a mystical relationship of love for one another? Would you describe yourself as God's slave?
The Gospel lesson for today certainly open the question of our relationship with God. Luke tells us that Jesus claimed our relationship with God to be like that of a master and slave. I don't think this fits very well for most of us who live in societies in which slavery is no more. When Luke was written slavery was a fully acceptable institution. People of that day would probably say: Society could not function without slavery. Even most slaves would have accepted slavery as normal (except perhaps their own). They may have once been slave owners before they became slaves themselves.
The supply of slaves came from defeated armies or whole populations of captured towns or children sold by their parents. A slave master would be proud (not embarrassed) to own a number of slaves.
The status of a slave was very clear. A slave was utterly and completely owned by the master. No part of the slave's life was their own and the master had no limit on what could be demanded of the slave. Nero was known for entertaining his guests by throwing living slaves into a pool of flesh-eating fish. Slaves could have no other expectation than absolute obedience unless they were able to purchase their freedom. Slaves also differed in rank. Some were field hands while some where influential civil servants.
Jesus is apparently teaching that the faithful person's relation to God is like that of a slave to the master. If God asks us to forgive we must forgive (v.3-4) and do it happily, if God asks us to love our neighbour we must do it gladly. Also, we have no right to expect thanks or any other reward for doing what is good, what is right, what is generous and what is compassionate. This is to be our response to the God whose grace and love has captured us and made us God's own.
I think you and I would be very wary of anyone who claimed to be God's slave. That sounds a tad too zealous for us. We see in the news accounts of people who gladly die as a human bomb because of their devotion to their God. History is also full of people who would gladly kill innocent children as an act of faith. When I think of someone being a slave to God, these are some of the images that come to my mind. This makes me want nothing to do with the idea of being God's slave.
However, everything about seeing ourselves as God's slave is not bad. Thinking of ourselves as God's slave does present some ideas that have long been central to our faith. I can think of at least two important lessons that come from the image of a master slave relationship with God.
First, For instance, there is the matter of choosing. That is, did you choose God or did God choose you? The idea of being God's slave suggests that God has chosen (or bought ) you; God took the initiative in calling you. You and I are God's people because God's Spirit reached out and caught us or bought us. If you think about how you came to the faith you probably will come to the conclusion, "Yes, God worked in many ways to bring me to be God's faithful servant."
That is one view of our relationship with God that is supported by the image of us as God's slave. Another is the notion that doing good is not an option, it is an absolute requirement that we do our very best to be good. In this regard we are like slaves. Slaves give their whole selves to carry out the master's wishes. We are called to be like that in fulfilling the commandment, Love your neighbour.
We are purchased slaves in God's employ. One thing needs to be added; God is a loving, graceful, merciful master, who is with us in our work of love.
Before closing I want to set before us some images other than slavery which people use to describe their relationship with the Creator. So what images from our world and our experience can we use to describe our relationship with God? I would be very much interested in your answer to that question. At the beginning of this sermon I suggested three ways we might describe how we are connected to the Holy. They are: 1. committed volunteer; 2. adherent to certain principles and morals; 3. a mystical lover.
Let us reflect on these for a moment and ask ourselves if any of these fit ourselves. 1. Many of us would see our relationship as like that of a committed volunteer. We have been asked to play a role in the Realm of God and have said, "yes, I will come." Or the Spirit revealed to us a need and we saw that we could help. Thus we have a relationship with God in which God and us are partners working together. 2. Others of us may see our relation to the Holy as being through certain principles, ethical and moral standards. For those of us who see things this way, God is primarily the good ground of of our being. We know that we are closest to God when we are following those principles in the church and in the world. 3. Then, others of us will describe our relationship to God as a mystical one. By this we mean that we are closest to God in acts of worship. We experience the Holy Divine One in the music of worship and in the prayers. But not only in church worship. We will have mystical moments of our connection with God through nature or in the warm smile and embrace of a dear friend.
So, how would you characterize your relationship with the Creator? I am aware that you might have a completely different set of images from those I have given. I would be very interested in hearing from you.
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Thanksgiving Yr. C. Living a Wonderous Myths. Cthankgiving
In response to the challenge that Tom Harper puts to us, I am going to approach the lessons for thanksgiving Yr. C as pure myth. The lectionary provides three wonderful myths on which much of our Faith rests: Creation, Exodus - Promised Land and Incarnation. In this article I have chosen to reflect on the Exodus-Promised Land pair.
In The Pagan Christ, Tom Harpur proposes that the whole of our scripture is myth. By "Myth" Harpur means they embody the truth we seek for the journey and fulfillment of our souls (and I would add, for the journey and fulfillment of our communities), but are not history. Regarding the Gospels he quotes Alvin Kuhn who sees them, from the nativity to the resurrection to be not the story of a historical Jesus, but story of our own souls. Likewise the Creation, Exodus and other biblical stories are wonderful eternal myths which lead us through our own search for identity, liberty, and belonging as spiritual beings. The Pagan Christ, Tom Harpur. Thomas Allen Pub.
In one sense this is not at all new. Every Sunday thousands of preachers will read the account of the Hebrew slaves escaping Egypt and ask their congregations questions such as: "What is your slavery from which you seek to escape? What is the Red Sea you must cross? etc. Or at Christmas, Christians will rehearse the Bethlehem story and be asked if there is room in their heart for the Christ that they may become?
What I did find to be challenging in what Harpur asserts is the notion that nothing in the Bible is historical. In some ways this too is not new. Many have for years read the creation stories as powerful myths which tell us that we can see ourselves as children of a loving Creator. How else could they be read? Certainly they are not history. The same may be said of the stories of Jesus birth. Many of us will have always read the nativity as myth designating the spiritual birth that we and our communities may seek as Jesus is born within us. In doing this I have always kept the belief that there is a kernel of history (even cosmic creation history) behind all this. Harpur says, No, it is all myth.
I find it difficult to let go the notion that there really was a Jesus. For instance on a recent Sunday I was present at a baptism service in which Jesus was pictured as giving a special place for children. In my heart and sense of mission I want there to have been a real incarnate person who defended as full persons, children and others who were and still are marginalized.
Harpur also challenges me to go further in my my own Christian reading of the bible as myth. He declares that the purpose of these great myths is not to lead me to imitate Christ, or even have Christ in me, but rather to encourage my own potential to be Christ, to bring to life the divine spark within me.
All this can lead to flipping over of the way we have been accustomed to defining Jesus Christ. Up to now I have seen Jesus as a historical figure with some mythic dimensions added. Now I have the alternative of perceiving Jesus as an mythic figure with a kernel of historicity.
It is from this starting point that I now wish to encounter the Hebrew lessons for Thanksgiving Yr. C. for its mythic value. As I see it myths generally function in three ways: Historic-socially, Personally and Soulfully. I will use this perspective also in interpreting this passage.
Note: In reflection upon the following article, I realize that much of what I have written may be seen as using the Exodus and Promised Land as metaphor. This is true, however I think the difference between metaphor and myth is the power the myth has to give us courage and to call us to fulfill it.
Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Obviously this passage prescribes a worship response to the Exodus and the Promised Land. Today, I will considered these to be the paired "myths" of Exodus and Promised Land. These concepts have powerful mythic value which touches many people deeply in their experience of needing to break free from Tyranny and in order to travel to a place where they can be at home and be nourished in body and soul.
Examples come to mind. For instance, when I consider this pair of myths functioning historic-socially, I can hear the voice of Martin Luther King Jr. ringing in my ears as he testifies: "I have seen the Promised land." Whatever his views of the Hebrew story of their flight from Egypt, the Exodus and Promised Land were powerful myths for him and his people. Another example might be the recent events in Bosnia where people fled enslavement, then returned to their birth place to make that into a land of promise fulfilled. In September of 04 the Canadian troops left Bosnia, finishing their part in helping the people there realize their dream of a land of milk and honey.
Yesterday I heard General Martin, the head of the Canadian military in Afghanistan describe their mission; to help the people of that land gain control of their government so they would not be subject to regional war lords, terrorists, criminals and religious zealots. He said that large numbers of women are, for the first time, registering to vote. I see this as another instance of people choosing Exodus and claiming Promised land.
Myths used in this way may have a dark side when claimed as the exclusive property of a particular people. The myth of Promised Land can be used to justify taking away the land of one people and giving it to another. This is certainly true of Palestine and the Americas, including Canada. Where this is the case, there can be no peace in the land unless the land is seen as Promised to all the inhabitants. Where there is no justice and fairness the myth is betrayed, and the land is restless as the people who live on it try to name as God's gift that which they stole.
Then too I know of instances of this pair of myths functioning for people personally. Over ten years ago I had the privilege of befriending two Young men from Uganda who had fled to Canada after their parents and siblings were butchered in a civil war. Recently I had a reunion lunch with them. Becoming refugees was their Exodus and Canada their Promised Land. Many of us in the world today have similar stories in our family's experience. Then there are those of us will have the experience of moving away from situations in marriages or work for instance, and after a period in the wilderness, finding ourselves in a Promised Land of love and freedom from fear.
Thirdly, these myths function soulfully. Harpur makes much of this. It is the soul freeing itself from the bonds of physical existence in this life and after. I can't say much about this because I don't experience bodily existence to be oppressive or a burden. On the contrary I experience my body as a wonderful vessel for my soul. My ears, eyes and touch transport beauty to what I consider to be my soul, and my soul apprehends the world through these senses. At the same time I had a friend John who was "handicapped" with what our society calls severe physical disability, whose soul shone forth brightly to transcended these physical realities.
Ultimately the question arises: What has this to do with us?. This reading from Deuteronomy is one answer. It calls us to remember our Exodus and to give thanks for the Land of Promise which we inhabit today. Each of us could write a personal or corporate (family, congregational, national, ethnic etc.) testimony similar to the one we find in Duet. 26:5-9. This we could recite as we bring our thanksgiving offering to the alter.
On the other hand, it may be that we are challenged to identify the state from which we need to flee or the situation we want to transform personally, soulful, and corporately
Thirdly, we can identify what "Promised Land" would be for us personally, soulfully, and community-wise and then, ponder how we can contribute to making that coming into reality.
For many of us the reality will be that we can never completely escape nor fully realize Promised Land. We live in a world where giving one another support in a very mixed life is the best of all worlds. God is with us in all of this.
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19th after Pentecost [prop.23] Spin Doctors of Christ Cp19
Jeremiah 29:1; 4-7. As Dozeman points out (Preaching the Revised Lectionary Yr. C After Pentecost 2. Abingdon), these verses need to be seen in the context of the debate that went on in Jerusalem 597 BC as set out in Jer. ch.27-29. As it often is in politics the question was, "What is the truth of our situation as portrayed by the "spin doctors" of those in power and as viewed through the alternate perspective of the so-called radicals?" The lectionary passage gives us Jeremiah's take on things (see also 27:1-12), but there was another perspective (28:1-4). Through the scribal media of the day both these views were delivered to the people in exile (ch. 29). This not unlike our experience - there are even those who claim to know the mind of God about war and peace, justice and equity.
How do we discern truth in all this? If Babylon takes over the government, do we see this as God's will and carry on our private life under the new regime, or do see this as a time of testing which will be followed by a return the way it was, or thirdly do we see this an opportunity to work for an entirely new era that will embody the Realm of God?
Psalm 66:1-12. Seems to support the view that God may test us,but in the end will not allow anything bad to happen to us who are God's people.
2 Timothy 2:8-15. According to Marion Soards these verses need to be read within the whole of chapter 2 (Preaching .. et al). Apparently these were those who taught that keeping to Christ Jesus was not an absolute. In rebuke the writer * declares keeping the faith in Christ Jesus to be like a good soldiers, athlete, or farmer - being loyal to the leader, keeping to the rules of the game and working hard for the harvest. This is underlined by the inclusion of an early faith statement that was probably known to them all. * Not Paul (St. Saul, David Harman Akenson. McGill)
Luke 17:11-19. Between chapter 9:51 and 19:28 Luke portrays Jesus making his way to Jerusalem just after speaking twice of his death. Along the way Jesus has encounters with, friends, foes, and those who need help. He rebukes would-be followers, and trains 70 for the mission. Also in this time he offers many teachings including many saying, the Lord's Prayer, the parables of the Good Samaritan, Rich fool, faithful and unfaithful servants, the pharisee and the tax collector, Rich man and Lazarus. sparrows, and lilies and reference to his death for a third time. Laid out in a seemingly random manner, they add to the earlier Galilean ministry to build up a picture of the Realm of God. Luke brings all this to a culmination with Jesus in the Temple, the Last Supper and the Passion and Resurrection.
Than we might ask, What does today's reading contribute to this? Luke places it between a teaching on the discipline required of followers and a declaration that the Kingdom of God is among us. Does that mean that one of the disciplines is to bring the outcasts in, and in doing so we express the Kingdom of God among us? Then we can look at the passage itself. I note that Jesus is shown to act in response to a cry for help - nothing more us required of the lepers. They are sent to present themselves as candidates for cleanliness without making any faith committment. Then there is the single Samaritan leper who comes back to express heartfelt thanks. This gives an opportunity for Luke to express consternation over the 90% who receive gifts of healing and strength and take them for granted. What about the affirmation: You faith has made you well? Is Jesus saying that that the healing came not from him but from the faith of those who cried for help? Or did the one who came back receive a special wellness because his faith included gratitude?
Preaching/ discussion notes Jeremiah 27-29.
Have you ever had an argument over what really happened? Or a disagreement over the interpretation of events? Maybe within your family? When I was a boy my brothers and I had arguments of this kind all the time: "Billy broke my toy truck! I did not, you left it on the road and somebody stepped on it! No, you broke it! I did not! It was broke when I found it!"
This kind of argument goes on all the time in public life; in politics and even in the church. There are people who specialize in doing this - they are called "Spin Doctors." Spin Doctors are professionals in interpreting what happened. They put a spin on events so they look favourable for their bosses, and unfavourable for their opponents. If the police say that a government official stole public property, the spin doctor might say, "they borrowed it, and forgot to return it."
This sort of thing will also happen in the church. If a minister is caught with his hand in the offering plate. One might say, "This is a matter of breaking the commandment, Thou shalt not steal!" Then another might say, "But he was taking the money to give it to the poor."
Putting a particular spin on events is an ancient custom. The prophet Jeremiah was involved in this 500 years before Christ. In Jeremiah's case the spin had to do with an interpretation of defeat in war. In the year 597 B.C. The city of Jerusalem was being besieged by the army of Babylon. Babylon was the super power of the time. Once before Babylon had defeated Jerusalem, and that time they took many of the people as captives to live in exile in Babylon. Now the armies of Babylon were back again, because Jerusalem refused to accept Babylon/s dominance. It was a foregone conclusion that Babylon would win this battle as they had done before.
As you can imagine this was a problem for the rulers of Jerusalem, both the king and the priests. Their main problem was: how do we explain God allowing this to occur. The Bible tells us there were two views of what was happening. The official spin was that God was testing the people of Jerusalem, and within two years, when the test was over, God would destroy the power of Babylon and things will be as they were before (28:1-4). So, they said, we must not let Babylon rule us. God will soon defeat Babylon for us.
But Jeremiah and another prophet named, Uriah (26:20-23), said that God was giving Jerusalem over to the Babylon; the people, the cities, even the wild animals (27). Jeremiah's spin on things was this: God created everything and so God can give everything to whomever God chooses, and God has chosen to give us all to Babylon for the next 70 years (29:10). Jeremiah says that God revealed this to him. So, Jeremiah's advice to the king and the people - even those in exile - was this: settle down and be loyal subjects to Nebuchadnezzer, the king of Babylon (29:4-7). God has given power to Nebuchadnezzer because we were not faithful to God. So, let us accept it. If we don't, Nebuchadnezzer will rightly punish us by the sword.
Now, what could this have to do with us? We live in a world of spin doctors who tell us how to interpret the events of our world. How are we to know whom to believe? Do we say: bow down to those with great power - God has given power to them, and we must be their loyal subjects? Or do we have other criteria by which we can judge who or what is true?
It seems to me that Christians are asked to let Christ lead us to truth. We might say: God has given power and truth to Jesus Christ, this is who we must follow. I conclude that the way of truth in our society and world are ways that do not contradict the teachings of Jesus Christ, no matter what the rulers of the day tell me. When I seek to do this I find that the guidance I get from Jesus often has quite a different spin to it than that we get from our leaders.
Also, it seems to me that in our day, God has given the power to choose over to we the people. In the end we must decide and choose what is right and good - what are the ways of the Kingdom of God. We, the people are the Nebuchadnezzer of our time - it is to us that God has entrusted everything. May we be open to the guidance of the Spirit as we sort through all the spin in search of that truth by which we will live with our neighbours..
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20th After Pentecost, Prop. Knowing by Heart 24 Cp20
Listening to scripture
Jeremiah 31:27-34. This passage follows a chapter in which Jeremiah
himself is inspired to declare that following due punishment, God
will "restore the fortunes of my people." and again
"you shall be my people and I will be your God"* (30:3 &
22). However, this is not a return to the old days - even at their
best, but rather is a new time of a "new Covenant," the
main feature of which is to be that God will write God's law within
the people - on their hearts.
Psalm 119:97-104. The poet is truly in love with God's Law. By replacement the word, "commandment" with terms of endearment these lines could have been written to a lover who has captured the poet's heart.
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5. Here, the author urges Timothy to be unflagging the practical pastoral work of planting the teachings of the sacred writings so that "every one who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work [have it written on their hearts?]."*
Luke 18:1-8. What if we look to see if there might be other messages in this parable along with that given by Luke in Vs. 7-8? First, the central focus of this parable is the justice-seeking widow. Can we imagine a widow pestering a judge until she gets justice? She is a model for all who are being treated unjustly - for instance, at one time women were denied the vote, workers had no right to seek just pay for their work, today many children are denied nourishment and education , homosexual persons are denied just treatment in many areas of society, and misogyny is still practised everywhere. Persons who keep on banging at the "judge's" door have God's commandment to love neighbour written deep within their hearts.
Preaching/discussion notes
In today's Hebrew Testament lesson from Jeremiah the prophet envisions God making a new covenant with God's people. Have you ever renewed a covenant, or known of someone who has? A couple of times I have been present when a married couple renewed their marriage vows. Hockey players often renew their contracts with some changes to the old contract. Many of us are in covenant relationships: marriage, church, work, school, doctor-patient relationship, ourselves and God and/or Christ. Sometimes these covenants get renewed - often without much notice. Think of the covenants you are a part of. Have they changed over time, or are they basically the same as they were at the beginning?
On occasion, covenants are renewed in a very explicit way. Jeremiah had a vision of God making a new covenant with the people. In his opinion the people had broken the old covenant so God would make a new one - start over.
The main characteristic of this new covenant was that it would not be written on stone, or on paper. This new covenant would be written on the people's hearts. Now, let's think about that for a moment. What might it mean to have a covenant written on your heart? What covenants that you are in now are written on the heart? It seems to me that to have a covenant written on my heart would mean two things: One - I and the others with whom I share that covenant would mostly act on the terms of that covenant without thinking about it and Two - we all know by heart what the covenant is.
The best example of this that I can think of is the citizenship covenant we all have written on our heart as Canadians. Lately I have spent a lot of time with grandchildren. I see that much of what parents and grandparents do is train the children so that they have this citizenship covenant written on their hearts. At least by the time we are 18 we are to know intuitively what it is to be a Canadian citizen of this country and as a Canadian citizen of the world.
No one gives us a book at age 18 to tell us what this covenant is - by our 18th birthday we just know it. Even if we did get such a book, it soon would be out of date - because this covenant is constantly changing - being renewed -being updated It is being renewed as our heart tells what how the covenant will grow. For instance, right now we are working out a new relationship with those Canadians who are homosexual. Meanwhile we still are working at what place women have in our society. At the same time we are renewing our covenant with the Earth itself and with all God's creatures. So our citizenship covenant is a fluid, growing thing.
I think that this might have been what Jeremiah had in mind when he called for a new covenant with God which would be written on our hearts. In our church we are doing this with our covenant with God. It is written in our hearts that the covenant with with God is basically rotted in two laws: Love God and love neighbour. We are constantly working out what this really means. For us Christians the main question is something like this: What does it mean to Jesus Christ in our hearts? How does this affect the way we love God and love neighbour?
For me, these two covenants - with God and other citizens of the world are very compatible. Both these covenants are constantly being renewed. These two covenants affect one another - the Gospel covenant influences my citizenship and the citizenship covenant influences my covenant with God.
Praise be to God for all the covenants which make up our lives.
*RSV Holman in all biblical citations.
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21st after Pentecost. Prop 25. Seeing Ourselves. Cp21
Joel 2:23 -32 I would suggest that this passage be read in the context of the whole book of Joel which may be seen as a spiritual/liturgical revolutionary drama as follows:Locust! 1:1-12 - A call to lament because "the crops of the field are ruined" ;Fire! 1:13-2:10 - Resort to wailing and sackcloth for the terrible Day of the Lord is coming like an irresistible army with God at its head and whose weapon is fire. All is lost!; Hope! 2:11-14 - God offers a way out through repentance and turning to God who is full of mercy and grace; Prayer! 2:15 - 17 - A great call to worship is issued and the priests weep and pray that the people be spared; Renewal! 2:18-27 God responds with an outpouring of agricultural abundance which also takes away the people's shame; Revolution! 2:28-29 Now God reveals that because the people responded to grace with repentance this Day of the lord is a day of spiritual revolution: "I will pour out my spirit on all flesh." I find it difficult to affirm the notion that agricultural failure through natural agents (grasshoppers) as God's punishment. In our own time we may need to repent our abuse of the land and nature's habitat - which is a different matter. On the other hand, turning to God through repentance or spiritual hunger is almost certain to lead to the gift of God's spirit.
Psalm 65 A celebration of God's grace and gifts of plentiful land
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18 The pastor's life had a holy focus and the life after this one will be consistent with that. The Lord is real enough to be his resource even when many others failed him. I am reminded of the hymn, "What a Friend...."
Luke 18:9-14 What if we read this passage omitting verse 14 (Luke's interpretation)? In that case we have occasions for prayer - Thanks from the one who has sought to be faithful as he understood it and that of another who was caught up in an anti social profession, and maybe felt trapped in it and ashamed. Could it be that both are prayers appropriate to the person and their circumstances?
Preaching/discussion notes
There a couple of themes that suggest themselves from today's
readings above: 1. our personal epitaph, and 2. standing before God
in prayer. I will share my thoughts on both.
On our tombstone 2 Tim.4:6-8. The reading from 2 Timothy gives what might be St. Paul's epitaph. These are presented as being among Paul's last words from his prison cell as he awaits execution; "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."* This is a very meaningful and powerful claim.
Biblical scholars are not sure if these words actually come from St. Paul or from someone else writing in Paul's name. Whether directly from Paul or not, I find it easy to imagine Paul writing these words as he awaits being punished for doing these very things: keeping the faith, running the race and fighting the good fight.
This raises for me the question: what might be our epitaph? What words might express our own personal faith and life-journey? Would you use any of Paul's phrases, I have fought the good fight, I have run the race, I have kept the faith?
I was once part of a church discussion group that met once a week all winter. Over these weeks together we got to feel close and trusting toward one another. This passage from Timothy was the reading we closed with. In that atmosphere of trust we were asked if we would consider what might be an appropriate epitaph for ourselves.
So, we took a moment to compose what that might be. I found this to be a challenging task, but I did find some words that I felt were positive and honest about myself. When we were finished writing we put all our slips of paper into a bowl and mixed them up and the leader of the group read them without us knowing who had written what. That was a very moving experience. I found each epitaph to be a profound statement of faith.
Since then I have been interested in epitaphs. In older cemeteries we find epitaphs on tombstones. Today see them mostly in newspaper obituaries or in funeral eulogies. An epitaph is a positive simple statement that expresses the values and actions by which we have lived. One of the most common epitaph statements that I hear goes something like this: She has helped make the world a better place. I am sure that all of us could put that on our tombstone. Another is: All who knew him, loved him. Again, A more kind and decent person has not passed this way. These all were written by someone other than the person they refer to.
One noteworthy feature of Paul's epitaph in Timothy is that Paul wrote it himself . I think that composing an epitaph for ourselves would be a meaningful exercise for each of to carry out. It is an affirmation of ourselves as a child of God and as a friend of Christ. Let me suggest that you do this for yourself this week. A way to begin would be to brainstorm a list of words that describe what you have stood for in your life whether you are young or have lived a long time: family, honesty, hard work, generosity, church, community, love, peace, laughter, fun, joy and so on.
From this write an epitaph or simply check off the four or five words that you think are most true of you. Then, if you are a praying person offer God a prayer of thanks for giving you these qualities, and then offer yourself and these qualities to God, asking for the guidance of the Spirit in your daily living so that they they may become more and more true of you.
Thanks be to God for the many graces we are given.
Luke 18:9-13 Praying our own truth. What if we read this parable without the interpretation of verse 14? What if we read them as portraying the truth that lies inside each of as and all of us? Each of is the pharisee and all of us are the tax collector? Let us look at these two figures.
First, the pharisee. This gospel lesson portrays a pharisee at prayer and we may assume that the pharisee is something of a hypocrite. However, let us think a bit about who the pharisees were before we rush to judgment. The gospels tend to portray the pharisees and their take on religion as the counterpoint to Jesus and his teachings. However, the pharisees were in reality seekers of holiness and people who dedicated themselves to God and God's law (see psalm 119). They have been accused of making faith into a complex set of rules. However, what they were striving for was a life in which every moment and every action was a holy, faithful moment in their life. They probably sometimes did look down on others who did not follow their way, however they may also have seen others as what they were afraid of becoming or what they were tempted to be. Finally, some have wondered if Jesus' interaction with the pharisees meant that Jesus was or had been a pharisee. Could it be that Jesus' relationship with the pharisees was like the arguments we participate in with members of our own church?
Then consider this. Maybe there is a pharisee in each of us. In this parable the pharisee gives thanks that he is not like the tax collector. We may say this too. I once went with a very loyal church elder to support a church inner city outreach project. As he looked at the poor state of the street people who were served by the mission, he said to me, "If not for the grace of God, there go I." He said this because he knew that he was who he was through the support of his family and friends. I Once knew a church minister say much the same thing about himself. He had two brothers who died of alcoholism. He often wondered how he escaped that fate. He knew it wasn't because he was a better person than his brothers.
Maybe Jesus wanted us to see this in the pharisee of his parable. Maybe Jesus wanted us to see beyond a too simple labeling of people. There is something of the pharisee in all of us. Like them, we too strive to live out our days as faithful citizens of god's realm, and we know that who we are and whatever goodness there is in us is the result of the support of family and friends,and teachers and lovers. We, like the pharisee can thank God that we have a good life. Then comes the question: what will we do with the opportunities and support we have been given?
Now, let us turn to the tax collector. The tax collector was among those who had gotten caught up in serving Rome. The tax collector gathered taxes for Rome and therefore supported the powers that be in that world. The tax-collector in Jesus' parable knew he was betraying both his people and his God. He confessed being a sinner, but we do not know if he went from the temple to the tax office and resigned. He probably had a family to support and commitments. Could he just quit?
Could we also say there a tax collector in us? Is there a part of us that is devoted to the powers that be? The Rome of our world asks us all to give it our support. It is a capital materialistic power. In our world the highest value is making a prophet - all else must serve that purpose. Recent reports show that under the Free Trade agreements in north America, the gap between rich and poor is growing, and over 90% of the world's largest corporations pay no taxes - the taxes are paid by the lowest earners. Doctors without Borders, the Council of Canadians; and The CCPA Monitor all report that world trade agreements are trading away the people's health and well-being. www.msf.ca; www.canadians.org; http://www.policyalternatives.ca
A survey on church attendance once showed the effects of this. In this survey many young adults said they didn't attend public worship because they could see such a large gap between what they learned in church and the rules they had to follow at work.
For instance, while the Bible calls us to live for all, capitalism requires the poor of this world to serve the needs of the powerful. While the church teaches that the saints are those who deeply care for others, the saints of our world are those with wealth. When the wealthy in my town give a million or so to charity, it makes front page news. But every day the widow gives a far greater portion of her income to the poor. She, of course, is not recognized even on the back page.
I am not saying that to be wealthy in and of itself is a sin. What is moral or ethical about wealth is how was it acquired, and how is it used, and mostly did our way of acquiring wealth and our way of spending it replace God in our lives? In that most of us are caught up in the values of this world, I think there is something of the tax collector in all of us.
I think Jesus' parable of the pharisee and the tax collector at worship is portraying how it is with all of us as we stand before God. Our worship also teaches us that God grants grace to each of us and to all of us when we truly confess our thanksgiving and our devotion to this world. Then, along with that grace comes the gift of God's holy Spirit to empower us so that we can make our lives an offering to God in all we do from Sunday to Sunday.
And beyond the changes we make in our personal lives, our mission as a church is to influence this world so that the decisions and values of business and government are those of love for one another in justice and peace. All faiths teach this. Thanks be to God. *RSV Holman.
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22nd after Pentecost . Prop. 26 Being Found. Cp22
the Eve of All Saints Day
Habakkuk 1:1-4 and 2:1-4. Even when God does not seem to be answering or to care about the people, the righteous live by faith.
Psalm 119:1-10 The way to happiness.
2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 The lectionary conveniently omits reference to God's repayment of those who do not obey the gospel. What we do have is praise for those who hold onto the faith in the face of persecution.
Luke 19:1-10 In verse 10, Luke has Jesus giving the purpose of his ministry - to seek out and find the children of Abraham who have been lost. Zacchaeus was a lost person by this criteria and outside the community as illustrated by the crowd's hatred for him. This view of Jeus' ministry may be from an early tradition before the mission to the Gentiles.
Preaching and discussion notes
What is it to be a saint? I would propose that it is to be found by God's searching Spirit. I never head of there being a Saint Zaachaeus, but surely he would be "among that number, as the saints come marching in."
There is are definite connections between Zacchaeus, me and many of my friends and most of my extended family. The first connect we have with Zacchaeus is that we all are wealthy. That is, we are rich compared to the state of most people in this world. In the circle in which I live, most either have pensions or work that is satisfying and challenging and which gives us an income that allows us to have the assurance of a warm safe home and food enough and more. As well we have family who love us. I just finished reading the annual report of the Canadian Feed the Children charity and was reminded that little of this true for many children of Haiti (www.CanadianFeedTheChildren.ca). Then Sister Patricia Cruise reminds me that this is also true for many children in Toronto, Canada's largest city. Like Zacchaeus, we are wealthy.(http://www.covenanthouse.ca )
A second connection between us and Zacchaeus is that we give to the poor. The other day I was talking about this with a couple of friends. Our problem was how to choose which of the many charities to give to. I think we give for some of the same reasons expressed by Zacchaeus. Some of us give out of guilt, not because we actually stole or cheated, but because we know that we do receive an unfair amount of God's bounty. Some of give in response to an experience of God's grace as did Zacchaeus. For some of us our giving is a thanksgiving for the great unearned love we feel from God. Some of may give simply because sharing is one of our values - maybe Zacchaeus came to that too.
A third connection between me, some of my friends and family and Zacchaeus, is our curiosity about Jesus. Just a few days ago I had conversations with two of my daughters about this very topic. The world seems always to be hungering to know more about Jesus. Just now, one of the best selling books raises the question: Was there ever such a person? Did he really exist? (The Pagan Christ, Tom Harper. Thomas Allen Pub.) . I am intrigued by the thought that Jesus might be a mythological figure, yet when I go to worship I find I need incarnation. My soul longs for God to have entered our history in a person who would call both me and Zacchaeus down from our trees.
Then, there may be a fourth way that we connect with Zacchaeus. Luke tells us that Jesus went to Zacchaeus house because Jesus' mission was to seek the lost children of Abraham. Are we not all lost children of Abraham? Every pastor or counsellor who listens to people will be surprised to find that most people need to be found. It seems to be a common feature of us humans that we need affirmation and recognition as valuable members of the human family. The other day a minister told me that an intelligent, gifted person expressed a sad question about themselves, "Have I done anything really valuable with my life?" I find that voice inside me sometimes too. However, I am glad to report that when I had a heart attack I did tell my eldest daughter that if I should die, I was satisfied with my life. I guess that means that, like Zacchaeus, I do know that I have been found by the grace of God.
May Jesus each of us have Jesus come into our world and call us down from our perch and give us the grace to be a loved and loving and sharing person, that we may be among those saints who come marching in the company of the compassionate loving Christ.
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23rd after Pentecost [All Saints or
prop.27 ] God is Coming Cp23
All Saints Day or 1st in Nov.
Ephesians looks ahead to an era in which Christ will come to rule the affairs of human kind. Christ will be "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion" (NRSV).
So, we might ask, "How will it be different when that time comes?"
Another such sign of the Spirit was recently reported in the United Church of Canada Observer. The Observer tells of Sibongile Ndubaza, a different kind of banker in South Africa. She heads up a program that makes business loans as small as $120.00. These loans enable poor entrepreneurs to get started in business. Through her work Canadian churches are enabling people on the fringes to become self reliant and provide services to their neighbours. To me this another sign of the God's Realm emerging into human experience. We can play a role in this by supporting the Mission Funds of our Church. www.ucobserver.org
If you look around you, you will be able to see many ways God is coming to rule the earth.* This never happens without our support and encouragement. Our present governments are set up to serve the status quo, so it is up to us to pressure them to be open to positive change.
So, let us this week and all the days of our life, be a watchful people open to the signs that show God coming to rule with Love and Grace, justice and equity. Let us be ready to rejoice over the signs that show God's Spirit to be among us.
* In 2004 Canada asked citizens to name the greatest Canadians ever. Among the the top 50 were people who made a great change in the world: Nellies Mclung who got the vote for Canadian women; Frederick Banting who discovered Insulin and gave away his finding so it would be available for all diabetics; Tommy Douglas changed Canadian health care so that the government provides every citizen with free care from doctors and hospitals; Terry Fox who ran half way across Canada on one leg to raise money for cancer research. He died before he reached his goal but now there Terry Fox "runs" all over the world; Lester Pearson the Canadian ambassador to the UN who conceived of the notion of using armies to make peace, not war. For more see www.cbc.ca/greatest
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23rd after Pentecost prop.27 Piping inGod Cp23b
As I see it, three of the readings for this Sunday raise questions for me and for the church as I experience it.
Haggai 1:15b-2:9 The prophet urges the rebuilding of the Temple as the point at which God has promised to meet with the community.* As a Christian who understand the community of faith to be the living temple (1 Peter 2:1-10), how are we to live out our holy calling to be a sacred point where the Holy encounters humankind? Preaching notes
Ephesians 1:11-23 Hold on, the Day of the Lord has not yet come! Meanwhile, let us be open to God's spirit of wisdom and to revelation as we come to know Christ (vs. 17). Does this mean that this period before the Day of the Lord God is a time when God will teach us even more challenging truths of Christ?
Luke 20:27-38 The values of this world are not the values of the next. If, like the Sadducees, I find it difficult to believe in a life beyond this one, am I locked forever into this world's system of values? Sharing notes
*Thomas Dozeman, Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary Yr.C After pentecost. Abingdon.
Preaching/discussion notes - Haggai
I want to begin with an illustration that I can use to
describe the mission God has give us as individuals and as church.
The image is that of a tunnel.
The city in which I live has an excellent water supply. The fact that we have this water is something of a miracle of political action against great odds. In its early years the people of Winnipeg got water from wells dug into the prairie clay. Then in the mid 1800s a pump and system of pipes was constructed to supply our city with water from the two rivers which run through it.
But there were some city leaders who saw a huge body of clean water 50 miles away. They said why don't we bring water from these lakes into our city. They proposed that a tunnel be made to bring water to our city from these lakes. Others scoffed at the idea. They said, "How can we afford to do this?" They also claimed, "Winnipeg has all the water it will ever need right here in our rivers." In the end the visionary politicians won the day, and Winnipeg has one of North Americas best sources of water and plenty of it. All this water comes through a tunnel 50 miles long and wide enough to inspect it on a bicycle.
This tunnel bringing fresh clean water from Shoal Lake to Winnipeg is a good metaphor for what God wants of us as individual Christians and as communities of faith. God's has given us faith and created the church to be a channel through which God meets humankind. We are to be pipes that bring God's love and grace to the Earth. There is a point at which the water-bearing tunnel enters the city with its life-giving rush of water. We are to be a point where the rush of God's nurturing refreshment enters into our community and into the human condition.
The people of Israel built a temple which was their point of meeting the Creator. They believed that God had promised always to be present to them through this temple. The location of this temple continues to be an especially powerful place of worship. Today a Moslem Mosque occupies Temple Rock. This point in space continues to be holy sacred ground where Creator and Creation meet.
In Christian understanding of this concept, every congregation is to be seen as a temple - a temple made of ourselves as living stones. We do give special attention to church buildings and sanctuary space within the church building, however for Christians the temple is not a building but a people. We are to be one of those points in space. Each of is a tap through which God's peace, grace and love flows.
Let's think of what that might mean in a practical way. Can you imagine yourself being such a channel. Can you envision your congregation being a point in time and space where God can be encountered? How might we do that? How might we be that?
What do we do as a congregation, how do we be as a person, so that when someone encounters us they encounter the Creator? What characteristics can we exhibit that will lead people to say of us, "They are a Godly people?" It may well be that few people will say of us, "They are a Godly people." People don't talk that way, but they might sense that the way we act is consistent with what we claim to believe. So, people would find kindness, and compassion here; people would find grace and love here. How do we welcome people into our midst so that they experience their value as God's children in the way a thirsty person appreciates a glass of fresh water?
Also, how do we act in the world so that we bring God's peace to the affairs of humankind? How do we speak in the world so that we express God's justice and equity for all people? How do we stand in solidarity with those who do not have a voice in the world?
These (and other questions you may think of) are matters for us to ponder as we consider what it is that God wants of us in these times when people are thirsting for a world in which children have schools, families have homes and food, and all have freedom from tyranny and violence and access to clean water?
May we be what St Francis of Assisi prayed when he prayed: Let me be a channel of God's peace.
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23rd after Pentecost Resurrection Cp23c
Luke 20:27-38 - I confess to being a bit confused by Luke's use of the term, "resurrection." It would seem that Luke interprets resurrection to be simply life after death. Personally, I am not one who believes there is a life after this one, at least not in the sense of going to Heaven, or having a personal spiritual non-material existence. So what am I do with resurrection, surely a central concept in the Christian faith?
First, I am not arguing that there is no such life after this one. I am saying, "I don't believe in it, but am open to being delightfully surprised to find myself in a spiritual body when the saints come marching in"
Secondly, I do believe in resurrection. For me, resurrection is a powerful and meaningful present experience of this life, which may or may not issue into an afterlife.
I am sure many will agree that resurrection is a powerful experience of this life. It is not some new thing I dreamed up. For instance, I find Paul to be asserting this in chapter 6 of the epistle to the Romans. Paul teaches of death and a resurrection taking place in this life. Those who are in Christ have died to sin and have been resurrected to righteousness. They have been transformation in this life from slaves of sin to agents of righteousness. For Paul this is dying and rising. Dying and rising is how Paul sees the power of baptized. He probably has in mind adult baptism by immersions. In this case, going down under the water is dying, and being lifted out of the water is resurrection. Those who walk out of the water of baptism emerge on the shore of life changed, resurrected members of the body of Christ.
I was baptized as an infant so I can't claim to have experienced this transformation as I was carried from the baptismal font. However, I do claim to have known and continue to know resurrection. First, I have known resurrection in the way good people treated me as a child. Growing up, I experienced people treating me as a resurrected person. My family existed on the margins of society in every sense of the word. My mother was a crippled single parent living on social assistance. We lived in a shack on the edge of town. We were on the United Church list though we never went to Sunday worship. However, Rev. Clysdale the local United Church minister never treated me as a nobody. He always greeted me as a fellow member of the company of the resurrected. Jim Saborin, the local social worker always treated me as a person of worth. Later, when I was a young parent myself, I was and continue to be welcomed into the church as a valued member. These I claim to be among my experiences of resurrection.
This also is how I interpret the 6th chapter of John's gospel. In this gospel I hear the Christ proclaiming that everyone who believes has eternal life. I believe that this eternal life is not primarily a promise of life after death. As I experience it, eternal life is a life rooted in the eternal truths of Christ; depending on God's grace, taking nourishment from the Bread of life and empowered by the Spirit to love their neighbour. In John's gospel the Christ promises that such lives will be raised on the last day. I presume this last day is the day on which the powers of this world will succumb to the Reign of Christ - the day when God will wipe away all tears and death (as the enemy of life) will be no more (Rev.21:2-7). John's gospel proclaims that all those who possess eternal life (of many faiths) will be raised up. For me this is not the same as what we commonly hold to be life after death. Rather it is for me an affirmation that all that the resurrected people's and their work for the Realm of God will be recognized and lifted up. That is plenty for me!
Follow-up note: As I continued to ponder this matter it occurred to me that Heaven does exist in the imagination of the faithful. Is Heaven a place like the Moon is a place we can travel to? Or is it a figment of our faithful imagination which we can go to in our faithful imagination? Is our faithful imagination less real than the Moon? It seems to me that the Moon is more real than my faithful imagination only when I make Heaven a literal physical place.
Also, it occurs to me that many of the important concepts by which we live are found primarily in our imaginations. Take Love, for instance. In a wedding when two people join in wedlock, love exists primarilly in the couples' imagination. They promised to hold one another in a state that reflects this love which fills their imaginations.
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24th after Pentecost -Porp 28 Are We the chosen? Cp24
Isaiah 65:17-25 This is the prophecy of the third Isaiah who lived after the return from Babylonian exile and the reconstruction of the temple. Apparently the exiles brought with them Babylonian religious practises. According to Is 3, God took on humiliation, begging to be recognized by those whose worship outside the rebuilt temple included animism and ancestor worship (65:1-4a) Finally, says Isaiah, God will give up on them, intending to rebuild the faithful community by bringing forth new descendents of Jacob (65:9-16). This is but the first step in a broader renewal; the creation of a "new heaven and a new earth". Then, God will delight in the people and will give them a life that is gloriously long, bountiful, equitable and non predetory.
Isaiah 12. A psalm of praise and thanksgiving from 1st Isaiah.
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13 This epistle deals with the question: "How are the 'chosen' to behave while they await the Day of the Lord?" The author prays that during this time God will give comfort, and hope and strengthen their hearts for good work (vs.2:17) while making the church an agent of God to the end that Jesus Christ will be "glorified"(1:12). The chosen themselves are urged to keep to the teachings they have been given, which by this time, are considered to be "traditions"(2:15).
Luke 21:5-19 Luke's answer to the question is: It won't be an easy time; while we await the coming of God's temporal realm, beloved structures and institutions will crumble and fail, peace among nations will descend into war, the good will be persecuted, and chaos will rule. The only certainty will be the safety of our souls through commitment to Christ.
Preaching and discussion notes
However these passages may have spoken to the people for whom there
were first addressed, they certainly are relevant to us. From where I
live, I see every thing these scriptures portray being acted out
nightly in our Canadian television news. Just lately we are
seeing people who have given their life to good works being held
hostage and threatened with beheading. Young men who have signed up
to be trained as peace officers are lined up and executed with
a shot in the back of the head. Nurses and doctors who are providing
much needed medical services to people in lands where otherwise no
such care exists, are ambushed and machine gunned with no mercy.
Devote youth are being convinced that God wants them to become human
bombs in crowded shops and buses. Governments are sending attack
helicopters to rain down death on defenseless civilians. We see
grandmothers searching for family pictures among the rubble of their
homes which have been crushed by their own governments tanks. All
this while we await the coming of the new heaven and earth.
Specifically, I do wonder about this Isaiah passage and our own times. We seem to be living in an age when some practitioners the three major religions of the West and Middle East are claiming to act in the name of God as they murder one another. I think Is. 3 might identify this this is a false religion, the worship of dominance - to use a term from Walter Wink (Naming the Powers, Fortress). Also, it seems to me that all sides are seeing themselves as the people of the new heaven and earth ( President Bush named the USA "the home of freedom."). All sides seem to believe they are what Isaiah called the new descendents of Jacob, and as such we take the right to kill and dominate the others. This, of course is done by ignoring the essence of the new heaven and earth as expressed by Is. 3. Some of our key leaders in finance, trade, military, religion and politics seem to be able to take the notion that "we" are the new chosen ones (65:9) while turning a blind eye to the "no more" visions and conditions of the new earth as drawn by Isaiah(65:20).
All these events are happening in the Middle East of our planet, but lest we who live in other places think it is not us, we need to remember the World Wars, Ireland, and Bosnia. In the case of hostage-taking, I was surprised to see how the hostage concept is embedded in our culture. In Walt Disney's Peter Pan video an American Indian Chief is portrayed holding white children hostage and threatened to be burned at the stake, if his of his own daughter Tiger Lilly was not returned from Captain Hook. We need also to remember the role of our Western and Eastern leaders who support this injustice and domination by what they hope to gain. Finally, we the people need to accept responsibility for the power hungry leaders we elect and allow.
To me this raises the question posed by all these passages: As we await and work for the Realm of God on Earth, what values do we honour, what dogmas do we hold to, what good works do we do in order to glorify Christ, and not only our Christ, but all God's agents of Shalom?
To me the answer seems so clear as to make the question rhetorical. It would good for we who are Christian to read 2 Thessalonians every day, opening ourselves to God so that we become truly agents for the Kingdom; not lazy in working for the Realm of God, but people full of good works.
Note - All Biblical references are to the NRSV.
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25th after Pentecost [Prop. 29] Becoming Human Cp25
Jeremiah 23:1-8 ( as a part of Jer. 21:1-23;8): It is clear that Jeremiah sees the downfall of Jerusalem to stem from the leaders' abuse of power, their immorality, and their general neglect of the needs of the citizenry. (21:11-14; 22:13). This prophecy is relatively contemporary with Ezekiel's vision among the exiled in Babylon (Ez1-3). Both prophets are expressing God's call for humankind to yield to God and so become truly human - to fulfill our destiny - what we are to be when we become truly made in God's image (The Human Being, pp.26-34. Walter Wink. Fortress). Jeremiah does this by offering the hope of a monarch in whose reign "Judah will be saved and Israel shall dwell in safety."*
Luke 1:68-79 Luke announces that in the birth of John the baptizer God continues to fulfill the promise made to Abraham and Sarah, preparing the way for "a mighty saviour for us in the house of David." Specifically John's mission is to prepare the way through forgiveness of sin which will bring a new life of light and peace. If we turn the page to what John actually preached, we see that the "peace" of this salvation is nothing less than a radical change in behaviour toward one another. An integral part of salvation is conformation to God's definition of what it is to be human. This was immediately seen as a threat to "Herod the ruler" (Lk. 3:1-20).
Colossians 1:11-20 Paul wants to strongly assert two key truths: 1. believers are citizens of the "Kingdom of [God's] beloved Son," having been "rescued from the power of darkness, " 2. Christ is the firstborn architect of all created things and dominions and therefore is superior to all powers. Everything else is built on those two assertions. To be truly human is to live in this state of belonging to Christ (3:1-17). However, Paul does not see this as leading to radical change in society. Membership in the Realm of God is seen only as a moderator of existing relationships (3:18-4:1) which presumably were born in the realms of darkness, not radical change as might be expected in the "new self. (3:10).
Luke 23:33-43 (read as part of the section 23:32-24:53): Luke
presents Jesus as suffering saviour and as king who dies for the
people in fulfillment of the scriptures. The lectionary verse are
only the first part of this presentation. Here, everyone except one
criminal raise the question, How can this be the saviour, Messiah or
king of anything? Jesus, however acts in ways consistent with the way
he is presented as God's Saviour and Messiah in the earlier
part of the gospel- he offers forgiveness and grace (Lk. 1:11).
Then Luke answers these charges made at the foot of the Cross through
the empty tomb, teaching on the road to Emmaus, appearances to the
disciples, and ascension. The conclusion is a community of "great
joy" awaiting the power from on high (24:52).
Preaching and discussion notes
On this Reign of Christ Sunday, I want lead us into thinking about what it means to be a part of God's Realm. It occurred to me that one way to do this is to call to mind what it means to be a nation in the secular sense. We can start thinking about being members of the Kingdom of God by bringing to mind what it is to be a member of our political homeland. I am proposing that one way for Canadians (for instance) to imagine what it is to be a citizen of God's kingdom is to be in touch with our citizenship in Canada.
In reply we give and get two kinds of response; one we like and we are ambiguous about. The responses that are liked by the majority of Canadians go something like this: Canadians are a peaceful peace-making people who deploy their military to make peace - not war; Canadians are tolerant; Canadians tend to care for one another -ie. Public Health Care; polls show that the majority of Canadians have a liberal attitude to their Gay and Lesbian members - and so on like that. We like to be thought of as kind and caring - a sort of good Samaritan or father of the prodigal kind of people www.canadians.ca. Everywhere in the world one will find Canadians working for a better world for all people.
But these are not the only answers we get the question, Who are we? We also get answers we don't like. Studies and polls also show a darker side to Canadians. For instance, far from caring for one another, we have an aboriginal population who live in poverty, poor heath and despair leading to a high suicide rate; A recent world study of child care found Canada to be at the bottom of a list of industrial nations; Far from being an equitable people, we find that the wealth gap is growing so that many middle class families are sinking in debt, while the nation's wealth is in the hands of fewer and fewer families; Internationally, we are not necessarily the good guys. Our corporations are among those who gain from the employment of children from poor families in India. In many ways we are not the nice guys we want to believe we are.
It seems clear that we want to be, both in reality and in the opinion of others, a humane people.
I remind us of these humane and inhumane characteristics of Canada as a way to help us reflect on another citizenship we hold - citizenship in the Realm of God with Christ as our Chief. So, let us ask the same question about this other citizenship which we have in God's Realm: what kind of people are we as citizens in God's realm?
Walter Wink, one of my favourite theologians, answers this question by quoting William Stringfellow ( A Private and Pubic Faith) who declares: what God wants of us is that we become fully human (The Human Being, p. 30. Walter Wink. Fortress). The God who appears to us as the human being, Jesus of Nazareth wants nothing more or less of us than that we live as fully humane beings. This is what it is love God and love neighbour.
When God draws us into God's realm with Christ as our chief and pioneer, God wants of us that we express in our living the humanity which Jesus models for us. If we are to call ourselves the Children of God, the sisters and brothers of Jesus we must be seeking to express our selves so that those who look on us will say: There is a people of Christ!
We have been made in the image of God; god is in us. The Christ who is our brother calls us to be the vey best we can be. Every nation has it heroes who lead us in this way. In the Fall of 04, Canadians engaged in a program asking the public to name who is for them, the greatest Canadian. Terry Fox is one of those chosen by the people. Terry accomplished a remarkable feat of courage determination and compassion by running a marathon a day one leg to raise money for cancer research. Beyond that, he also challenged all of us to be he very best we are capable of being - fulfilling our own humanness. This is what it is to be a citizen of that Realm in which Christ is the chief, the pioneer, the model, our brother and companion; to run in that company. www.cbc.ca/greatest
Praise God who gives us the power of the Spirit to enable us in this citizenship!
"Health defines a humane way of pursuing life itself and is, without question, the fundamental human right." Dr. James Orbinski , Doctors without Borders www.msf.ca
* All biblical references are to NRSV.
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