I speak to you in the name of the one true and living God: Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End. Amen.
What is All Saints day really about? … Who are the saints?
I actually want an answer to that. Who are the saints?
In our tradition there are three kinds of saints. Two are directly referenced in the Bible and the third is only hinted at. Oddly enough, it is the third meaning that we most often use. The ones who get a capital ‘S’ – those declared Saints by the church for what they did in their lives. What they lived for and what they died for. These Saints are important because they remind us of the cost and the purpose of Christ’s message. This does not mean that we are all called to get our ‘s’ capitalized.
One of the other meanings of saint that is used in the Bible refers to those who have already died who were Christians. This is the communion of saints. When we think of the Anglican communion or the Roman Catholic Church, we think that’s a lot of people in communion with each other. These are nothing compared to the communion of saints. Every person who has died in the past 2000 or so years and who had faith in Jesus Christ is a member of this communion. They are the Tradition of our church. They are our past. They foretell our future. (And I firmly believe our church has a future).
We are the final group of saints. When Paul opens his second letter to the Corinthians with “To the church of God that is in Corinth, including all the saints throughout Achaia” he is referring to us. This is where the Mormon church got their name: The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. Those who have faith in Christ and live their lives according to his teaching are the living saints.
That’s a lot of saints. We have a way too much celebrating to do.
So what does this all have to do with today’s gospel reading?
It’s about time!
It’s about God’s time. The Greeks had two distinct concepts of time. The first, chronos is the time that we use every day. The time is says on our watches and clocks. The time that says supper will be ready in 15 minutes. The time that says today I am one day older than yesterday. Time marches on. This time is measurable and moves ever onward at a consistent pace. Chronos does not stand still. This is not God’s time.
Kairos on the other hand does stand still. Or it sometimes seems to. Kairos is God’s time. Eternity can be measured only in kairos. It has no meaning in chronos. Eternity is not endless time. It is all time. In the eleventh chapter of John, we get many examples of God’s time: some are obvious, some are less so. Right at the beginning we are told that “Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair.” This hasn’t happened yet, but it will. This is talking about Mary anointing Jesus for burial (which is done after someone is dead). Jesus isn’t dead yet. In God’s time sequence doesn’t matter. The order in which things happen is not important, only that they happen.
Later Martha says “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” She tells us something very important about God’s time. Christ being alive in the world is not an event fixed in the past. This is chronos thinking. In God’s time Christ is eternally (remember eternally is for all time) coming into the world. We are not living between the first and second coming of Christ. We are living in a world where the coming of Christ is an ongoing reality.
So what does all this about kairos and chronos, God’s time and the time on our clocks, have to do with the saints?
How many groups of saints did I say there were?
I was thinking in chronos time. In God’s time there is only one group. There is another term that is used for the saints in God’s time. They are called the “cloud of witnesses.” All those who have witnessed, who are witnessing, and who will witness to Christ’s eternal message. Now this is a BIG COMMUNION!
It is very important to remember this when we feel like what we do doesn’t matter, when we see things in the world that are not just and think that we cannot change them. It is true that one person has very little, if any, influence on what happens in the world (unless that person happens to be Bill Gates). Even the president of the United States can’t get much done unless he is backed by a large number of congressmen and senators.
But if we choose those issues that are part of Christ’s message, we are not alone. Not everyone in the cloud of witnesses will pick the same issue, but we are a huge force which spans a lot of time (all of it). What is there that we cannot do?
But what does all of this talk of kairos and chronos have to do with what we actually read today?
There is a very important message in our gospel reading that means much more in this light. “Jesus wept.” This is the shortest verse in the Bible and one of the most significant. Jesus did not grieve for the death of Lazarus. In God’s time, death has very little meaning. Lazarus was alive and would be alive again. No, Jesus wept because he felt Mary’s pain. God feels our pain when we grieve. God understands that we live by our clocks and only have glimpses of God’s time.
So remember these two things.
With the cloud of witnesses behind us, we can do anything.
Jesus wept.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Rabbouni, My Teacher
Rabbouni, my teacher, I call to you. Open our eyes that we may see your glory. Open our hearts that we may let it into our lives. Open our ears that we may be directed in sharing it. Amen.
For the past few weeks we have been wandering through a section of the Gospel of Mark that is all, in some way, about vision. It starts in Chapter 8, where the Pharisees demand a sign from Jesus. He refuses. That is followed by his disciples being unable to understand what Jesus has done and what he is saying.
Along comes a blind man.
Jesus takes him aside where no one else, not even the disciples, can see. Jesus cures him and sends him on his way, making sure that none see that he has been cured.
Curious.
This kind of thing continues for a while. The disciples have moments of insight followed by a complete lack of understanding. Jesus refuses to prove anything. He has crowds around him and he warns them about the cost of following.
We skip forward a ways into chapter 10. James and John want Jesus to do something for them. Jesus asks them “What is it you want me to do for you?” They ask for places of honour when Jesus comes into his glory. They ask to be seen and recognized as special disciples. They have no idea what their request will cost them, or even what they are really asking for.
Along comes a blind man.
The blind man throws off his cloak and comes to Jesus. Jesus again asks “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man says “Rabbouni, let me see again.”
Oh, and somewhere in the middle of this we have the transfiguration. Jesus revealed in all of his glory and claimed by God as his Beloved Son, where some of the disciples call Jesus Rabbi.
This is all about vision but it is very confusing. Everything is upside down. We have disciples who see bits and pieces but don’t really understand what they see. We have crowds who follow Jesus even though they aren’t allowed to see anything and are warned of the extreme cost of following. We have blind men who get to see.
And we have two very similar words: rabbi and rabbouni. Similar but very different. A bit of Boring theology (that is to say from theologian Eugene Boring). The word rabbouni, which is used only twice in the New Testament, is a reverent form of rabbi used by rabbis to address God. Mary uses this word to address Jesus after the Resurrection.
The disciples, after seeing Jesus in his full glory address him as their personal teacher. The blind man, not being able to see a thing, addresses Jesus as a teacher of the faithful praying to God.
Why is it so difficult to see? What is Jesus trying to say to us?
I think it is about perspective. When we have many things, it is very hard to see what we need and what we merely want. In this same section, Jesus says “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
All of us here have things. We all see things that we want. We live in a society that is intent on consuming. Does this mean that we are doomed? I don’t think so. But it does mean that staying focussed on what is really important is very hard. I think I jumped ahead of myself there a bit. Even seeing what is important can be nearly impossible.
Are we being asked to blind ourselves to the physical world so that we can see God? Once again I don’t think so. I think we are being called to open our eyes in a different way. To change our perspective. Jesus said that it is essentially impossible for the rich, and I think we all qualify as rich, to enter the kingdom of God, but he also said that “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
Why did Bartimaeus throw off his cloak?
His cloak was his livelihood. It identified him as a beggar and brought him enough food to live. When he went to Jesus he had faith that he would not need to beg again. He did not ask Jesus to heal him. He prayed to God that he might see. And he did that as our teacher. We would do well to learn from him.
I don’t think any of us are as blind as the disciples or as visionary as Bartimaeus. We are all somewhere in between. By trusting in God and asking God’s help, we can work towards seeing more. Not only does God call us to him, but he meets us where we are. Where ever that might be.
I’m going to leave you with one final thought from Helen Keller. She was once asked if there was anything worse than being blind. Her answer was “Yes. Having no vision.”
For the past few weeks we have been wandering through a section of the Gospel of Mark that is all, in some way, about vision. It starts in Chapter 8, where the Pharisees demand a sign from Jesus. He refuses. That is followed by his disciples being unable to understand what Jesus has done and what he is saying.
Along comes a blind man.
Jesus takes him aside where no one else, not even the disciples, can see. Jesus cures him and sends him on his way, making sure that none see that he has been cured.
Curious.
This kind of thing continues for a while. The disciples have moments of insight followed by a complete lack of understanding. Jesus refuses to prove anything. He has crowds around him and he warns them about the cost of following.
We skip forward a ways into chapter 10. James and John want Jesus to do something for them. Jesus asks them “What is it you want me to do for you?” They ask for places of honour when Jesus comes into his glory. They ask to be seen and recognized as special disciples. They have no idea what their request will cost them, or even what they are really asking for.
Along comes a blind man.
The blind man throws off his cloak and comes to Jesus. Jesus again asks “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man says “Rabbouni, let me see again.”
Oh, and somewhere in the middle of this we have the transfiguration. Jesus revealed in all of his glory and claimed by God as his Beloved Son, where some of the disciples call Jesus Rabbi.
This is all about vision but it is very confusing. Everything is upside down. We have disciples who see bits and pieces but don’t really understand what they see. We have crowds who follow Jesus even though they aren’t allowed to see anything and are warned of the extreme cost of following. We have blind men who get to see.
And we have two very similar words: rabbi and rabbouni. Similar but very different. A bit of Boring theology (that is to say from theologian Eugene Boring). The word rabbouni, which is used only twice in the New Testament, is a reverent form of rabbi used by rabbis to address God. Mary uses this word to address Jesus after the Resurrection.
The disciples, after seeing Jesus in his full glory address him as their personal teacher. The blind man, not being able to see a thing, addresses Jesus as a teacher of the faithful praying to God.
Why is it so difficult to see? What is Jesus trying to say to us?
I think it is about perspective. When we have many things, it is very hard to see what we need and what we merely want. In this same section, Jesus says “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
All of us here have things. We all see things that we want. We live in a society that is intent on consuming. Does this mean that we are doomed? I don’t think so. But it does mean that staying focussed on what is really important is very hard. I think I jumped ahead of myself there a bit. Even seeing what is important can be nearly impossible.
Are we being asked to blind ourselves to the physical world so that we can see God? Once again I don’t think so. I think we are being called to open our eyes in a different way. To change our perspective. Jesus said that it is essentially impossible for the rich, and I think we all qualify as rich, to enter the kingdom of God, but he also said that “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
Why did Bartimaeus throw off his cloak?
His cloak was his livelihood. It identified him as a beggar and brought him enough food to live. When he went to Jesus he had faith that he would not need to beg again. He did not ask Jesus to heal him. He prayed to God that he might see. And he did that as our teacher. We would do well to learn from him.
I don’t think any of us are as blind as the disciples or as visionary as Bartimaeus. We are all somewhere in between. By trusting in God and asking God’s help, we can work towards seeing more. Not only does God call us to him, but he meets us where we are. Where ever that might be.
I’m going to leave you with one final thought from Helen Keller. She was once asked if there was anything worse than being blind. Her answer was “Yes. Having no vision.”
Saturday, October 17, 2009
God's Call
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind.” Job asked and God answered. It wasn’t the answer that Job wanted, but it was an answer directly from God. If only it were that easy today.
God, why is there suffering in the world?
…
Silence.
…
God, why is my mother sick?
…
Silence.
…
Important questions with no answer from God. It used to be so simple. You could ask God why and he would come to you, in a dream or a pillar of fire or a burning bush, and tell you the answer. Or if you didn’t happen to be a prophet you could ask one. Sometimes he even spoke to large groups of people and to absolutely ordinary people in dreams and through angels. God, why don’t you talk to us anymore?
We do have prophets today and those who call themselves prophets. The first are mostly ignored and the others probably should be.
God, should I marry Persephone?
…
Silence.
…
Did I pick an obscure enough name? Sometimes what we need to do is listen to our heart. This is not always as easy as it sounds. Is my heart calling me to this person or is it calling me to be a parent? Am I getting married because it is what is expected of me? Am I getting married because I am tired of being alone? Listening to our heart is difficult and we often get it wrong.
God, when are the mines going to reopen?
…
Silence.
…
Around Sydney there are those who still feel that the government should support them because their grandfathers lost their livelihood when the mines closed. Where is God’s answer for them? What happens when we miss the answer or ignore it because it is not what we want to hear?
A couple of weeks ago I caught an interview on CBC with Richard Dawkins. Does everyone know who he is? If you don’t, he is probably the most famous atheist. He has written several books explaining why God cannot exist.
He had an example of what he considers proof. In everything that has a larynx or voice box there is a nerve which runs directly from the brain to it. In fish (yes fish have voice boxes or their equivalent) that nerve runs in a straight line. In mammals, that nerve runs down the neck, around the aorta, and back up to the voice box. This is the same placement as in the fish but our necks are a little different (we have one). In a giraffe, that nerve is over 15 feet long to connect two things that are about a foot apart. Dawkins says that if a Giraffe was designed by God, this 14 foot detour would never happen.
I feel sorry for Dr. Dawkins. I don’t believe in his idea of God either. Such a god would make me very sad. His god does not work through love, instead he works through force. You will be this way because it is perfect.
God did not call the giraffe to be perfect. He called it to be a giraffe. And it was good. I think the giraffe is a wonderful example to learn from. It shows us how God works.
Warning. This is only a dramatization. This is not God actually talking, but it might have been.
psst, hey giraffe … yeah you … the food is up there.
You can reach it. Stretch. I know you can do it.
See I told you you could do it.
There’s another one just a little higher.
No, not that one, the one over there.
Maybe if you stretch a little more.
There, now you can reach the food that no one else can get.
Notice that God did not say “hey you nerve there, what you’re doing is stupid, come over here and be shorter.” Where that nerve is has nothing to do with God’s call for the giraffe to be GIRAFFE.
God calls us to be what and who we are. This is not always what and who we want to be. God does not call us to be perfect just to be very good. God forgives our mistakes and makes use of them.
Is there a question that is closer to home?
God, when will the fish come back?
…
Is it silence or is God calling?
“Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind.” Job asked and God answered. It wasn’t the answer that Job wanted, but it was an answer directly from God. If only it were that easy today.
God, why is there suffering in the world?
…
Silence.
…
God, why is my mother sick?
…
Silence.
…
Important questions with no answer from God. It used to be so simple. You could ask God why and he would come to you, in a dream or a pillar of fire or a burning bush, and tell you the answer. Or if you didn’t happen to be a prophet you could ask one. Sometimes he even spoke to large groups of people and to absolutely ordinary people in dreams and through angels. God, why don’t you talk to us anymore?
We do have prophets today and those who call themselves prophets. The first are mostly ignored and the others probably should be.
God, should I marry Persephone?
…
Silence.
…
Did I pick an obscure enough name? Sometimes what we need to do is listen to our heart. This is not always as easy as it sounds. Is my heart calling me to this person or is it calling me to be a parent? Am I getting married because it is what is expected of me? Am I getting married because I am tired of being alone? Listening to our heart is difficult and we often get it wrong.
God, when are the mines going to reopen?
…
Silence.
…
Around Sydney there are those who still feel that the government should support them because their grandfathers lost their livelihood when the mines closed. Where is God’s answer for them? What happens when we miss the answer or ignore it because it is not what we want to hear?
A couple of weeks ago I caught an interview on CBC with Richard Dawkins. Does everyone know who he is? If you don’t, he is probably the most famous atheist. He has written several books explaining why God cannot exist.
He had an example of what he considers proof. In everything that has a larynx or voice box there is a nerve which runs directly from the brain to it. In fish (yes fish have voice boxes or their equivalent) that nerve runs in a straight line. In mammals, that nerve runs down the neck, around the aorta, and back up to the voice box. This is the same placement as in the fish but our necks are a little different (we have one). In a giraffe, that nerve is over 15 feet long to connect two things that are about a foot apart. Dawkins says that if a Giraffe was designed by God, this 14 foot detour would never happen.
I feel sorry for Dr. Dawkins. I don’t believe in his idea of God either. Such a god would make me very sad. His god does not work through love, instead he works through force. You will be this way because it is perfect.
God did not call the giraffe to be perfect. He called it to be a giraffe. And it was good. I think the giraffe is a wonderful example to learn from. It shows us how God works.
Warning. This is only a dramatization. This is not God actually talking, but it might have been.
psst, hey giraffe … yeah you … the food is up there.
You can reach it. Stretch. I know you can do it.
See I told you you could do it.
There’s another one just a little higher.
No, not that one, the one over there.
Maybe if you stretch a little more.
There, now you can reach the food that no one else can get.
Notice that God did not say “hey you nerve there, what you’re doing is stupid, come over here and be shorter.” Where that nerve is has nothing to do with God’s call for the giraffe to be GIRAFFE.
God calls us to be what and who we are. This is not always what and who we want to be. God does not call us to be perfect just to be very good. God forgives our mistakes and makes use of them.
Is there a question that is closer to home?
God, when will the fish come back?
…
Is it silence or is God calling?
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Our Thanks Offerings to God
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Happy thanksgiving everyone. Today we give thanks to God for all of the gifts that he has given to us. I’m going to need lots of help from you today because we are all giving thanks today.
First, what are some examples of things to give thanks for?
- children
- food
- harvest
(Full list from the parish to come).
In just a moment I am going to hand out pencils and paper. On each piece of paper write down or draw one thing that you are thankful for. There should be plenty of paper. These are called thanks offerings. In a little while, we will collect them and offer them to God. Once you have written your own thanks offerings, please look to see if there is someone that you can help write theirs.
(Time passes)
(Place thanksgivings on the altar)
Please turn to page 860 in your Book of Alternative Services. We will say psalm 111 together as a prayer (please say every line).
(Read psalm prayer to follow).
The List From Our Parish:
- A Free Country
- A Place to Live in Relative Peace
- Ability to Assist in a Church Related Activity
- Ability to Provide Food For My Family
- Ability to Work
- Able to Be Here
- Abundance
- Air
- Air Conditioning
- All God’s creatures
- All of God’s Gifts
- An Interesting Life
- Animals
- Apples
- Balls
- Bananas
- Beauty
- Beets
- Being Canadian
- Best Friend
- Bird Song
- Birds (best guess)
- Books
- Canada
- Cars and Trucks
- Children
- Christian Life
- Church
- Clothing
- Coffee
- Coming Home For Thanksgiving
- Community
- Computer
- Cousins
- Culture
- Dirt bike
- Doctors
- Doggy
- Education
- Electricity
- Enough
- Every Day We Can Help Our Family
- Everything
- Eyesight
- Faith
- Fall Leaves
- Family
- Farmers
- Flowers (best guess)
- Food
- Freedom
- Freedom of Religion
- Freedom of Speech
- Freedom to Worship
- Friends
- Fun
- Games
- Gas
- God
- God’s Blessings
- God’s Gifts
- Good Fortune
- Grandchildren
- Grandparents
- Gravy
- Green Food
- Hair
- Happiness
- Harvest (land and sea)
- Health
- Health Care
- Heat
- Help Controlling Anger
- Higher Power
- Highland Manor
- Holidays
- Home
- Hope
- Husband
- Ingonish
- Jesus
- Job
- Kind Things We Do For Others
- Knowledge
- Laughter
- Life
- Lots of Other Things
- Love
- Love of God
- Love of Music
- Love of Others
- Ministry
- Money
- Moose
- Movies
- Music
- Myself
- Nature
- Neighbours
- Nephews
- Nieces
- Not Being In A Place Struck By Disasters
- Not Having to Choose Between Groceries and Rent
- Nurses
- Opportunity to Live Here
- Our Hospitals
- Parents
- Peace
- Pears
- Pets
- Pharmacy
- Pie
- Planet
- Plants
- Plenty
- Prayers that have been answered in times of sickness
- Pumpkins (Jack-o-lanterns)
- Quiet
- Rain for our Gardens
- Rainbows
- Relationship with God
- Religion
- Rev. Warren
- Rev. Warren’s Family
- Rev. Warren’s Voice
- Right to Move Around Freely
- Right to Vote
- Safe Fishing Season
- Saturday Mornings
- Scholarships
- School
- Serving the Lord
- Sewers or Servers (both good choices)
- Shelter
- Siblings
- Skidoo
- Smell of Salt Air
- Smiles
- Snow
- Snowmen (maybe)
- Soap
- Specific people (various)
- Spiritual Gifts
- St. Andrew’s
- St. John’s
- Strength
- Sunrise
- Sunset
- Sunshine
- Teeth
- Television (best guess)
- The Promise of the Second Coming
- This Beautiful Country
- Those who decorated the Church
- Time Spent With Loved Ones Now Gone
- Toys
- Trees
- Turkey
- Understanding
- Vet
- Warm Home
- Water
- Wealth
- Wheels
- Wife
- Windows
- Wood
- Wrench
Happy thanksgiving everyone. Today we give thanks to God for all of the gifts that he has given to us. I’m going to need lots of help from you today because we are all giving thanks today.
First, what are some examples of things to give thanks for?
- children
- food
- harvest
(Full list from the parish to come).
In just a moment I am going to hand out pencils and paper. On each piece of paper write down or draw one thing that you are thankful for. There should be plenty of paper. These are called thanks offerings. In a little while, we will collect them and offer them to God. Once you have written your own thanks offerings, please look to see if there is someone that you can help write theirs.
(Time passes)
(Place thanksgivings on the altar)
Please turn to page 860 in your Book of Alternative Services. We will say psalm 111 together as a prayer (please say every line).
(Read psalm prayer to follow).
The List From Our Parish:
- A Free Country
- A Place to Live in Relative Peace
- Ability to Assist in a Church Related Activity
- Ability to Provide Food For My Family
- Ability to Work
- Able to Be Here
- Abundance
- Air
- Air Conditioning
- All God’s creatures
- All of God’s Gifts
- An Interesting Life
- Animals
- Apples
- Balls
- Bananas
- Beauty
- Beets
- Being Canadian
- Best Friend
- Bird Song
- Birds (best guess)
- Books
- Canada
- Cars and Trucks
- Children
- Christian Life
- Church
- Clothing
- Coffee
- Coming Home For Thanksgiving
- Community
- Computer
- Cousins
- Culture
- Dirt bike
- Doctors
- Doggy
- Education
- Electricity
- Enough
- Every Day We Can Help Our Family
- Everything
- Eyesight
- Faith
- Fall Leaves
- Family
- Farmers
- Flowers (best guess)
- Food
- Freedom
- Freedom of Religion
- Freedom of Speech
- Freedom to Worship
- Friends
- Fun
- Games
- Gas
- God
- God’s Blessings
- God’s Gifts
- Good Fortune
- Grandchildren
- Grandparents
- Gravy
- Green Food
- Hair
- Happiness
- Harvest (land and sea)
- Health
- Health Care
- Heat
- Help Controlling Anger
- Higher Power
- Highland Manor
- Holidays
- Home
- Hope
- Husband
- Ingonish
- Jesus
- Job
- Kind Things We Do For Others
- Knowledge
- Laughter
- Life
- Lots of Other Things
- Love
- Love of God
- Love of Music
- Love of Others
- Ministry
- Money
- Moose
- Movies
- Music
- Myself
- Nature
- Neighbours
- Nephews
- Nieces
- Not Being In A Place Struck By Disasters
- Not Having to Choose Between Groceries and Rent
- Nurses
- Opportunity to Live Here
- Our Hospitals
- Parents
- Peace
- Pears
- Pets
- Pharmacy
- Pie
- Planet
- Plants
- Plenty
- Prayers that have been answered in times of sickness
- Pumpkins (Jack-o-lanterns)
- Quiet
- Rain for our Gardens
- Rainbows
- Relationship with God
- Religion
- Rev. Warren
- Rev. Warren’s Family
- Rev. Warren’s Voice
- Right to Move Around Freely
- Right to Vote
- Safe Fishing Season
- Saturday Mornings
- Scholarships
- School
- Serving the Lord
- Sewers or Servers (both good choices)
- Shelter
- Siblings
- Skidoo
- Smell of Salt Air
- Smiles
- Snow
- Snowmen (maybe)
- Soap
- Specific people (various)
- Spiritual Gifts
- St. Andrew’s
- St. John’s
- Strength
- Sunrise
- Sunset
- Sunshine
- Teeth
- Television (best guess)
- The Promise of the Second Coming
- This Beautiful Country
- Those who decorated the Church
- Time Spent With Loved Ones Now Gone
- Toys
- Trees
- Turkey
- Understanding
- Vet
- Warm Home
- Water
- Wealth
- Wheels
- Wife
- Windows
- Wood
- Wrench
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - October 4, 2009
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our rock and our redeemer.
Today we are going to look at the good, the bad, and the ugly. Has anyone here heard of it? … I thought so.
Job was a good man. He did everything right and he did it all for the right reasons. He was a very good man. So along comes this Satan guy, in this story he is one of God’s scouts, who says “this man is just too good to be true. I’ll just go convince God to test him so I can prove he really isn’t this good.” So Satan convinces God to test Job. Here comes the bad. Some really bad things happen to Job. In fact, a lot of extremely bad things happen to him. It gets really ugly.
Good person, bad things, ugly situation.
This isn’t how it is supposed to happen, but it does.
Did anyone here watch “Little Mosque on the Prairie” this past week? For those who don’t know the series, it is about a small town called Mercy where the small Muslim community worship in the downstairs of the Anglican Church. In last week’s episode, a new Anglican priest comes into the community. He is very religiously intolerant. He wants the mosque out of the church. In the end, he invites them to stay because he realizes that there will be too much backlash from his congregation if he doesn’t. In his sermon he talks about loving your enemies, but always remember that they are your enemies.
Good things, bad person, ugly situation.
This isn’t how it is supposed to happen, but it does.
Both of these stories are exaggerations of life as we know it. Bad things happen to good people. Bad people do good things. And if that weren’t bad enough. Good things happen to bad people and good people to bad things. Where is the justice?
Job isn’t the only book in the Bible that looks for the meaning in bad situations. Many of the psalms and most of lamentations do this just for a start. One of my favourite psalms is psalm 137. By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept. It is a cry for justice. The people of Israel are living in exile under harsh rulers. They are miserable. The call out to God “O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy the one who pays you back for what you have done to us! Happy shall he be who takes your little ones, and dashes them against the rocks.” They are angry. They are looking for meaning in the bad things that have happened to them.
Those in exile were trying to be good people. Their situation was very bad. Their emotions got ugly.
This isn’t how it is supposed to happen, but it does.
This last story is much easier to identify with. It is not talking about people who are perfect. It is not talking about people whose faults are so over the top that they become comedic. It is not idealized. It is human and real. It is about people whose lives and livelihood are torn from them. Like real people, they get angry and want revenge.
How do we deal with a world that isn’t fair? What is our response to injustice?
If we follow Job’s example, we continue along stoically. We accept the bad and the good never complaining about our lot in life. Never trying to avoid or fix the bad things that happen to us. Job is a great character to help us explore the meaning in the bad things in our lives, but he is not very human.
If we follow the example of the new priest in the small town of Mercy, our motives are irrelevant as long as we do the right thing. This is very human but it isn’t very Christian.
If we follow the example set out in psalm 137, we look at our lot in life. We get angry at what is unjust. We yell at God. We get mad at God. We ask God why. And if we continue on this path, what is the next step?
As I see it we have two choices, with many shades of grey in between. We can stay angry. We can leave the church and turn our backs on God. We can be bitter. We can live just to better our own lives.
Or we can use our anger to fuel change. We can look for ways to change things so that the world is at least a little better. Sometimes we can’t improve our own lot but we can pretty much always find something that we can do to improve life for someone else.
What is your choice?
Today we are going to look at the good, the bad, and the ugly. Has anyone here heard of it? … I thought so.
Job was a good man. He did everything right and he did it all for the right reasons. He was a very good man. So along comes this Satan guy, in this story he is one of God’s scouts, who says “this man is just too good to be true. I’ll just go convince God to test him so I can prove he really isn’t this good.” So Satan convinces God to test Job. Here comes the bad. Some really bad things happen to Job. In fact, a lot of extremely bad things happen to him. It gets really ugly.
Good person, bad things, ugly situation.
This isn’t how it is supposed to happen, but it does.
Did anyone here watch “Little Mosque on the Prairie” this past week? For those who don’t know the series, it is about a small town called Mercy where the small Muslim community worship in the downstairs of the Anglican Church. In last week’s episode, a new Anglican priest comes into the community. He is very religiously intolerant. He wants the mosque out of the church. In the end, he invites them to stay because he realizes that there will be too much backlash from his congregation if he doesn’t. In his sermon he talks about loving your enemies, but always remember that they are your enemies.
Good things, bad person, ugly situation.
This isn’t how it is supposed to happen, but it does.
Both of these stories are exaggerations of life as we know it. Bad things happen to good people. Bad people do good things. And if that weren’t bad enough. Good things happen to bad people and good people to bad things. Where is the justice?
Job isn’t the only book in the Bible that looks for the meaning in bad situations. Many of the psalms and most of lamentations do this just for a start. One of my favourite psalms is psalm 137. By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept. It is a cry for justice. The people of Israel are living in exile under harsh rulers. They are miserable. The call out to God “O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy the one who pays you back for what you have done to us! Happy shall he be who takes your little ones, and dashes them against the rocks.” They are angry. They are looking for meaning in the bad things that have happened to them.
Those in exile were trying to be good people. Their situation was very bad. Their emotions got ugly.
This isn’t how it is supposed to happen, but it does.
This last story is much easier to identify with. It is not talking about people who are perfect. It is not talking about people whose faults are so over the top that they become comedic. It is not idealized. It is human and real. It is about people whose lives and livelihood are torn from them. Like real people, they get angry and want revenge.
How do we deal with a world that isn’t fair? What is our response to injustice?
If we follow Job’s example, we continue along stoically. We accept the bad and the good never complaining about our lot in life. Never trying to avoid or fix the bad things that happen to us. Job is a great character to help us explore the meaning in the bad things in our lives, but he is not very human.
If we follow the example of the new priest in the small town of Mercy, our motives are irrelevant as long as we do the right thing. This is very human but it isn’t very Christian.
If we follow the example set out in psalm 137, we look at our lot in life. We get angry at what is unjust. We yell at God. We get mad at God. We ask God why. And if we continue on this path, what is the next step?
As I see it we have two choices, with many shades of grey in between. We can stay angry. We can leave the church and turn our backs on God. We can be bitter. We can live just to better our own lives.
Or we can use our anger to fuel change. We can look for ways to change things so that the world is at least a little better. Sometimes we can’t improve our own lot but we can pretty much always find something that we can do to improve life for someone else.
What is your choice?
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