Is It Over Yet?

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.

Is it over yet?  Are the carols gone from the air waves? Have the stores dismantled their decorations?  Has Christmas been put away to make room for Valentine’s Day?

It seems like we’ve been preparing for Christmas form months.  Does anyone know when the first Christmas displays went up in Wal-Mart?

The first display I saw was on November first.  It probably would have been earlier if it weren’t for Halloween.

We waited and waited for Christmas and it was over in a flash.  But it did not happen that way for Mary; and we should not let go of Christmas so quickly either.

All who heard the shepherds were amazed at the story they had to tell.  It was Mary who kept turning the events over and over in her mind, trying to figure out their meaning.  From the moment of the angel’s unbelievable declaration, she realized that for the rest of her days she would be living with mystery.  And so she kept all these things in her heart.

Paul reminds us that because Jesus was born of a woman, we are made children of God.  The Spirit of Jesus is given to us so that we can call God by the intimate term “Abba,” or Daddy.  Is this any less amazing than the report of the shepherds?  Yet, when was the last time any one of us went in haste to announce this marvel?

When the first day of the New Year falls on a Sunday we celebrate “The Naming of Jesus.”  Another traditional name for this day is “The Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.”  So today we celebrate that wonderful relationship between mother and son; between Mary and Jesus.

One very old tradition for this day is to pray for peace.  This year, peace is much more than a seasonal theme.  It might conjure up the faces of frightened children dressed in foreign garb, or that of a daughter or son in uniform.  Making the prayer of Aaron our own, we beg God to look upon us kindly and give us peace.  Here again, Mary may well serve as our model.  She considered deeply the events of her life.  So must we, if peace is to take root in our day and take flesh in our lives.

As we go forward into this new year, let us all try to remember that we are a people formed through Christmas.  Many Christians refer to themselves as Easter people, meaning that they focus their faith on the Resurrection.  Others are Good Friday people, centring their faith on Jesus’ suffering for us.  We need to be both of these, but we also need to be Christmas people.  We need to remember always that God placed himself in our care as a helpless baby; a baby that was given the Greek name Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs), which in Aramaic is יֵשׁוּעַ (Yēšûă‘), or Joshua, meaning “Yahweh delivers,” or “Yahweh rescues.”

Jesus had this name before the Resurrection.

Jesus had this name before the crucifixion.

Jesus even had this name before he was born.

So as we start a new year, how are you or I rescued or delivered by God just by knowing that God came among us a human baby.

How can you or I model our families after the relationship between Jesus and Mary?

How can we bring that maternal love into our relationship with the church and each other?

How can we remember, each day, that Aaron’s blessing of Israel, which I repeat most Sundays, has already happened at Jesus’ birth.  God has blessed us and kept us.  God has made his face to shine upon us.  God has been gracious to us.  God has lifted up his countenance upon us and given us peace.

We repeat this blessing so often because the blessing of Christmas is not a one day thing.  Jesus’ birth changed our relationship with God forever.  By remembering Jesus’ birth, we renew that relationship and that blessing every time we bring it to mind.  By remembering that love, we can bring that love into our lives.

And so at the beginning of this new year, I pray that we all find the openness to see God’s light and the courage to follow wherever it leads us.

The True Meaning of Christmas - Fill In the Blanks

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.

Is it true? This whole story of Christmas?


Who can tell me the story of Christmas?


What was God like before Christmas?


Do any of you have a baby brother or sister? What are they like? Are they powerful? Can they do anything for you? Can they do anything for themselves?


Now what was God like before Christmas? … And what was God like on Christmas?


What does that mean to you? How does that change your life? How does that change all of our lives?


O God, how great, how strong, how bold,
You ruled our lives both young and old,
And then one day in winter cold,
You gave yourself to us to hold.

From that day on our world was new,
Our vengeful God, away he flew,
Now at our breast, the baby grew,
Our God, with us, was human too.

The strife and hate of old were done,
The ancient war at last was won,
New life we found in God the Son,
Our loving God, the Three in One.

Doxologies Great and Small

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.

Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith-- to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.

These are the last words of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Many believe that someone other than Paul wrote them and added them to the end of the letter, but regardless of who wrote them, they are an important statement by the early church.

Does anyone know what this kind of statement is called?


It is called a doxology. There are a couple of doxologies which you probably know much better. One is an old hymn. Feel free to join me if you know it.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

When I was growing up, we sang this each and every Sunday in church.

Can anyone think of another doxology that we use here in church?


Glory to God,
whose power, working in us,
can do infinitely more
than we can ask or imagine.
Glory to God from generation to generation,
in the Church and in Christ Jesus,
for ever and ever. Amen.

We say these words every time we share the Holy Eucharist according to the Book of Alternative Services.

All three of these doxologies share one key point. All of them direct our praise to God. All of them say that it is God’s glory, not ours.

In some ways, though, they are all quite different. In my opinion, the doxology from Romans is the strongest and the one we say regularly is the weakest. Ours lets us almost entirely off the hook.


That’s right. I said that I believe that the Anglican Church doesn’t always make the right choice. As a denomination we make mistakes. I’m also sure that many Anglicans would not agree with me that this choice of doxology is a mistake.

Would you like to know why I think our doxology is weak?


Of the three doxologies, ours is the only one that is passive on our part. We don’t have to do anything.

Glory to God, whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.

God’s glory is there. God works in us. We don’t have to do anything. We don’t even have to ask or imagine because we couldn’t ask or imagine anything good enough.

Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.

God’s glory is still there. It is passed down to us in every generation. We still don’t have to do anything.

This is a recipe for a failing, passive church. This is a plan for stagnation and decline. This is what we, as Anglicans, have been doing for far too long.


Let’s try another one. “Praise God, from whom all creatures flow ….” This doxology fixed one thing. It is active. If we follow this doxology we must actively praise God. This is a good thing, but it is very limited. Praise God and the rest will just happen. This is the doxology that I grew up with in the Presbyterian Church. They haven’t done so well either.

That leaves us with the doxology from Romans. How is this doxology different? Well, first off, it is longer. It isn’t particularly poetic. It is harder to remember. And it isn’t particularly well written.

If we can get past all of that, it is a much stronger statement. I’m going to read you a paraphrase of the doxology from Romans by a theologian from Montreal named Dr. Chris Haslam. He is a retired engineer who turned to a study of theology after retiring.


God has commanded my preaching of the good news, and the proclamation of Jesus Christ in order that the mystery that was long kept secret might be revealed to all people through the Scriptures, and that by this revelation God might streng¬then you in faith and thus in obedience to him. To the only wise God be the glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.


It has the same bits as the other doxologies. The glory belongs to God. God is working in us. It doesn’t really talk about worship. Instead it talks about obedience, proclamation and preaching the good news. These are not the duties of God, they are our duties. God does not do them through us. Instead, God strengthens us so that we can do them. There is absolutely nothing passive about this doxology.


Each and every one of us is called to preach the Gospel … not just the priest.

Each and every one of us is called to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

Each and every one of us is called to reveal the mystery of God living as one of us, walking beside us as a brother, sharing our pain as a friend, nursing at the breast as our son, dying a horrible death because of our weaknesses.

Refusing to let death stop him from doing all of the rest over and over again.

This is the good news or Gospel that the doxology from Romans commands us to shout aloud.

This is the ministry that every baptized member of the Christian Church has promised before God that we will do.

Praise and Glory be to God that God has promised to strengthen us for this work.

Why the Pink Candle?

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.


Why is there One Pink Advent Candle?

"In our Advent Wreath, three candles are purple and one is pink. Why the one pink candle?"
Before I answer the specific question, for those who aren't familiar with the church "liturgical" year, let's look at the season of Advent.

Advent is the beginning of the church year. The first Sunday of Advent (and the first Sunday of the church year) is the fourth Sunday preceding Christmas day. This year it was November 27th. The church divides the year into seasons, much like our meteorological year. The seasons are Advent, Christmastide, Epiphany, Lent, Eastertide, and finally Pentecost. Although there has been a move in some denominations to remove the seasons of Epiphany and Pentecost and rename them Ordinary Time, my personal belief is there is no "ordinary time" in the church. All seasons in the church are extraordinary.

In any event, Advent is a four-Sunday season of preparation in the church (and the world) for the arrival of Christ into the world, both at Christmas and in our lives. An Advent wreath is one of the traditional accessories for the season. The wreath is decorated with greenery and laid upon a stand. A large white candle, called the Christ Candle, stands in the middle of the wreath and four candles are placed into the wreath surrounding the central candle. The four candles may be all blue, all purple, or three purple and one pink. These candles are lit on successive Sundays in Advent, one for each week. The pink one is lit on the third week and the Christ Candle is lit on either Christmas Eve or Christmas day, and on each Sunday during Christmastide.

Now, why the pink candle?

In the earliest years of the church the only church season was Lent, the seven weeks prior to Easter. Lent was a season of fasting and prayer as the church commemorated the crucifixion of Jesus. The traditional color of banners in the church during this time was a deep purple, signifying royalty, repentance, and suffering. During Lent the church lit seven candles, one for each week of the solemn season. However solemn the season, the story of Lent also has a twinge of hope and joy since the death of Christ prefigured the resurrection. So, on the third Sunday of Lent, the church was encouraged not to fast, but to feast. In ancient times on this particular Sunday the Pope would honor a citizen with a pink rose, and as time passed the priests wore pink vestments on this day as a reminder of the coming joy.

When the season of Advent was instituted the church viewed it as a mini-Lent, a time for reflection and repentance (thus the purple). In so doing, the church adopted the first four candles of Lent and changed the third candle of Advent to pink in honor of the Lenten tradition. This is why we have a pink candle in our Advent Wreaths.

To further heighten the sense of anticipation of Christ's coming during Advent, the church named each candle in the wreath -- the first being hope, the second peace, the third joy, and the fourth love (there are a number of other traditional names as well, though these are some of the most ancient). It has always seemed fitting to me that the pink candle is the candle of joy, the one that speaks to us with its twinge of color.

Two weeks ago this parish took a good look at our financial standing and started to look with hope for a future where we are still a part of this community.

Last week, we came together with a sense of peace, having done all that we could to start the process of figuring it all out.

This week, parish council and I will be meeting with members of the Parish Relations Committee of the Diocese. It is very important that we look at this as a time of joy. This week we take the next step on our journey into the future.

If we can keep that joy strong in our hearts as we work together, our next step will be easy. We will be able to love one another and ourselves. With joy and love, we can become a strong parish with two churches who work together and help each other to search for and find new meaning in our lives together.

If we can do all of that, we can do anything. We will have a long and vibrant future here. We can become excited again about the work we are called to do in this place. We can truly welcome Christ into our lives.


And so I would like you to look at the end of your bulletins to the Advent Message. Would you please read it with me.


Advent is the beginning of the new church year. It is a time for looking within ourselves and finding a new way forward. It is a time for new beginnings. It is a time to challenge ourselves, to push ourselves, to make demands of ourselves which may not be comfortable or easy. This year we will be doing this together as we search for new and exciting ways to be “church” in our community North of Smokey.


Thanks to http://www.hcna.us/columns/pink_advent_candle.html for the part about the Advent candles.

Advent and Penance

I speak to you in the name of the One, True, and Living God.  Amen.

Does anyone know why the colour of Advent is purple?  - Why does Advent share a colour with Lent?

Advent and Lent are both “penitential” seasons.

So what does it mean to be penitent?

The Latin root for the word means either to regret or to have remorse.

 

I’m sure all of you have pictures in your mind about what it means to be penitent or to do penance.  Some of these pictures will be historically accurate, some will be inspired by movies, and I’m sure some of them are pure folk-lore.

Does anyone know what our church’s current practise is around penance?

I’m going to read a definition of Anglican penance which can be found on Wikipedia.  It is a well written definition.

Confession and absolution, sometimes called the Sacrament of Reconciliation, is the rite or sacrament by which one is restored to God when one's relationship with God has been broken by sin. The form is the words of absolution, which may be accompanied by the sign of the cross. Confession and absolution is normally done corporately (the congregation invited to confess their sins, a moment of silent prayer while the congregation does so, a spoken general confession, and the words of absolution). Individuals, however, can and do also participate in aural confession, privately meeting with a priest to confess his or her sins, during which time the priest can provide both counselling, urge reconciliation with parties that have been sinned against, and suggest certain spiritual disciplines (penance). There is no approved ceremony for a private confession of sins, the event being provided for in the Anglican tradition only in uncommon instances where an individual cannot quiet his conscience or find consolation in the General Confession that is part of the liturgy.

Anglican clergy do not typically require acts of penance after receiving absolution; but such acts, if done, are intended to be healing and preventative. The phrase "all may, some should, none must" is often taken as the Anglican attitude towards the sacrament, though there are provinces and parishes where participation in the sacrament is expected for the forgiveness of post-baptismal sin. The priest is bound by the seal of confession. This binds the priest to never speak of what he or she has heard in the confessional to anyone.

So that is our “practice” around penance, but what is it about?

Here is where being Anglican becomes a problem!  There are as many understandings of penance as there are Anglicans.  Our church is bound together by common liturgy (the way we worship) but we have many different ways of understanding why we do what we do.

The best I can do to tell you what penance means is to give you some possible perspectives.

Once tradition, which comes from the very early church, is often called “original sin.”  The basic idea of original sin is that every descendant of Adam shares in his sin of eating the forbidden fruit.  Because of this we are by nature sinful and must constantly try to fix our relationship with God.  Since it was first talked about in the 2^nd century by Irenaeus, theologians have never stopped fighting about this idea.

 

Another tradition views penance as spiritual healing and growth.  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, confession is not made to the priest.  Confession is made directly to Christ.  The penitent confesses not only their sins, but also their good acts and good things that they are thinking of doing.  Confession not only improves the penitent’s relationship with Christ, it also helps the penitent to understand themselves, leading to better spiritual health.

 

Our Lutheran brothers and sisters have a very concise understanding of penance.  It is divided into two parts: confession and faith.  In their understanding, forgiveness has nothing to do with penance.  Penance is something we do to improve our relationship with God.  Forgiveness is a gift that we have already been given by God.

 

So that’s what it means to be penitent.  So I’m done, right?

Oh yes, I said I was going to explain what penitence has to do with Advent.

 

Just a little bit ago, we sang a song which was probably new to you: “Prepare the Way of the Lord.”  That is what we are doing throughout Advent.  We are preparing our lives for the coming of Jesus Christ.  We are making room for him in our hearts and in our actions.

If you think about any of these understandings of penance, they all work to improve or fix our relationship with God. 

As we move through Advent, we are getting ready.  We are making ourselves pure.  We are healing our spirits.  We are doing all of this to prepare the way for Christ to come more fully into our lives.

This is why we are penitent in Advent.  Not to punish ourselves for every wrong we have ever done, but to be healed spiritually so that we are ready to see how blessed we are by God’s many gifts to us.

Thanks be to God.

The End of the World is Nigh

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.


“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”


I had to think long and hard about which reading to preach on today. I seriously considered preaching on grace today. After the past week, I really didn’t feel like tackling the end of the world as we know it.

Well, none of you chose the easy way out, so I guess I don’t get to either. So end of times it is.


THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH!!!

Or as Chicken Little put it – “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!”


What happens when the world ends? According to our Gospel today, “the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light and the stars will be falling from heaven and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.”

Has your world ever ended? -- Mine has. – When I was young, fresh out of high-school, I asked my high-school girlfriend to marry me. She said yes! My future was set. I knew who I was and where I was going. My fiancé and I were both in university. I was studying engineering and she was studying music. Then something wonderful happened. She got accepted into Julliard School of Music – one of the best music schools in North America. Off she went to New York City while I stayed in Vancouver.

We managed to keep our long distance relationship together for nearly two years before we realized that we didn’t have anything in common anymore.

All the light went out of my world. Saying that I didn’t know what my future would be isn’t quite right. At that time, I wasn’t really sure if I had a future. The sky had fallen so slowly and quietly that I didn’t know it was happening until there wasn’t a star left in my sky. My world ended.
About six months later, with the help of my family and my doctor, I re-entered life. I started building a new future for myself.


If I hadn’t had that experience, I probably would never have met Victoria. I might have kids, but they wouldn’t be Rosa and Paul. I might never have studied music. Unless she’s changed drastically, my former fiancé would never have supported me going into the priesthood. My life is brighter and more fulfilling now than it ever was before the darkness.


I’m sure some of you have your own experiences of the end of the world. I’m sure some of them are more personally devastating than my own story. And not every story has such a bright ending.


Right now this parish is having its own dark times. I believe that our financial issues are just a symptom, not the root cause of our problems. I am not completely sure what true problem is. What I do know, is that as we go forward from today, we’re going to find out.

This past week, we took our first step into the future. It is still too dark to see very far into the future, but we can see the start of it. Any future other than a short one, has us working as a parish – not as two separate churches. Our future includes a major commitment of time to work with our Archdeacon, Gloria, and others from the diocese to understand how our past brought us to this darkness and what we need to do to find new light.


That’s one neat thing about darkness – unless this truly is the end of the world (and if it is, this sermon is pointless) – darkness doesn’t last forever.


After the darkness comes the dawn. A new day. New life.


I see a potential for a bright future here in this parish. Not because of what has happened in the past, but because of the people I see here in God’s house. When I read the words Paul wrote to the Corinthians, I look out at you and hear them echo in my mind. They could just as easily have been written about this parish.

“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind – just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you – so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”


Amongst you all, with both churches put together, you have the gifts to be a strong parish. You have the vision to make a bright future here in this community. You have the will to make that future happen.


After the darkness comes the dawn.


So I say again: THE END OF THE WORLD IS HERE!


Thanks be to God!

Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth

I speak to you in the name of the One True and Living God. Amen.

Our gospel today is one of those that might need a bit of explanation. It may seem straightforward enough on first reading … three slaves, each given some money to take care of by their master. Over the years, I’m sure you’ve been told that a talent was a lot of money. But the most any of them were given was 5 of these talents. How much could that actually be?

If we think about our current money, what is the largest bill any of you have ever had?

What is the largest bill any of you have ever heard of someone having?

$1000?

So the one who got 5 talents would have about $5000. That’s a lot of money, especially for someone who really has no money. But it isn’t even remotely close to what is being talked about in the Bible.

A talent was a measure of weight. It could refer to an amount of silver or of gold. A talent of silver was said to be nine years wages for a skilled labourer. Essentially a tradesman. If we say that a skilled labourer makes, on average, $50,000 a year, which is pretty low for most of the trades, one talent would be worth close to half a million dollars.

If we try to understand the worth of a talent of gold, it helps to know how much a talent weighs. It was just over 34 kilograms. 34 kilograms of gold is quite a weighty bar, not the coin that I usually picture in my mind. A talent of gold is worth close to $1.5 million at today’s prices.

If someone gave me that amount of money to take care of, I would be scared too. I also would have no clue what to do with it.

Today’s wisdom would be to invest it. You could do this through the banks and receive a small return. Or you could risk losing it on the stock market and maybe make a bundle.

What do you think the common wisdom was for taking care of or protecting large sums of money? According to the rabbis, burying your money was a good way to protect it. So our slave with the one talent was doing exactly what his religious leaders said was right.


Well, now we have the background to at least guess at the reaction of Jesus’ audience. The slave who buried the money did what he should have and the other two were at best irresponsible, at worst, reckless or negligent with their master’s money.

Like usual, Jesus turns our world upside down.


First, he is telling us that even the smallest talent that God gives us is worth more than we’ll probably ever see in our bank account, let alone have given to us.

Second, our gifts are not ours to hold on to. Doing nothing with our gifts is the same as stealing from God.

If we stop there, we already have a great lesson. But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He has a little more to say about gifts from God.

What was the promise to the slaves who used their talents? … When we use the gifts that God gives us, it’s not like a piggy bank, slowly drained of its resources. It’s not even like a well, where what is taken out is replaced as fast as you use it.

Instead, try to imagine a pile of gold. Now this isn’t any ordinary pile of gold. It’s a special pile of gold. … Every time you take a coin off the top of the pile, two more get added in to the bottom.

This is what we mean by abundance. It’s not so much that God will give us what we need. No, we are the ones that are responsible for our fate.

God has given each of us enough to get started. God tells us that we need to use what we’ve been given. And if we use that start, for every bit of our gifts that we spend, we will be given again twice as much.

And if we just sit back and try to protect what we have? There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I think there has been enough weeping and gnashing of teeth.

How about you?

The Price of Sainthood

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.

Today we celebrate both All Saints Day and Remembrance Sunday.

Two years ago I talked about the three different ways that our tradition defines saints: those that the church names as special saints like St. John or St. Andrew; all who have died and gone on to the heavenly banquet; and finally every member, living or dead, of the Christian church.

Last year I talked about the relationship between All Saints and Remembrance. I talked about how we bring these two holy days together into one Sunday. How this combined Sunday brings our past and our future together in the present. This combined Sunday helps us to see how the roots of our tradition can help us to plan a vibrant future.

This year our Gospel is the Beatitudes. It is such a well-known passage that when Monty Python added extra verses – blessed are the Greeks and blessed are the cheese-makers – most people knew that these lines were a joke. And if you haven’t seen The Life of Brian you should. It has a lot to teach us about how Jesus would have been received in his time.

The Beatitudes have become so well known that they no longer surprise us. They should surprise us!

Earlier in Matthew, we have had a long series of stories setting up who Jesus is supposed to be. He is supposed to be the Messiah! In Jesus’ time, there were lots of “messiahs.” These messiahs usually played on the Jewish hatred of the Greek rule. They tried to cause any trouble from little bits of resistance to open rebellion. They were highly political and they worked to get the ear of the most influential Jews, those who held positions of power. So when Matthew is talking about the coming Messiah, this is what the people expect.

Then Jesus goes up on a hill and says “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Are these words supposed to rile up the powerful? “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Maybe. “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy?” “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God?” I don’t see this inciting anything. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God!” “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

And then we have the real kick in the butt to those who want to cause trouble. “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven!”

These words are not what they were expecting and they shouldn’t be what we expect!

The Old Testament is full of scripture about a powerful God who steps in to make his people victorious. God fights on their side against all adversaries. The Messiah is supposed to be the one who will lead them to victory over their oppressors.

And what does he do? He tells them to suck it up and turn the other cheek. Don’t fight the oppressors. Let them keep their rule over you. It is not what is important.

Well, if fighting the oppressors is not important, what is? And what does it have to do with either All Saints or Remembrance?

We are called today to remember those who came before us. It is not enough to just remember their names. We need to remember their successes and their failures. We need to learn from them.

Jesus told the Jews not to rebel against the Greeks. He told them that being powerful only meant that it is harder to be close to God. For nearly two thousand years the Western world was ruled by Christian empires and governments. Did they get rid of hunger? or poverty? or oppression? -- No.

So if those in power, even if they are Christian, can’t make this kind of difference, who can?

In 1922, there was a poor school-girl in Macedonia named Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. Does any know what became of her? I’ll give you a hint. In 1948, at the age of 38, she was the principal of a Catholic high school in Calcutta.

…

You might know here better as Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

Our history shows that change doesn’t usually happen from the top. Change happens when people forget about trying to get power and instead try to make the things that they can see better. Change happens when ordinary people look for the needs around them and respond.

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was an ordinary girl who grew up to be an ordinary woman who saw people in need and went to work to help them. She did not try to overthrow the governments that allowed poverty to exist. She gathered people around her who saw the same need. She inspired people that never met her. She worked tirelessly until her death in 1997 to help those who had nothing in Calcutta and throughout India, and later in other countries. By the time she died, the order that she founded, The Missionaries of Charity, had 610 missions in 123 countries.

Saints are ordinary people who remember where they came from and refuse to give up just because change is impossible.

Are you ready to be a saint?

Remember the surprise of the beatitudes. Sainthood is not an easy road and the earthly rewards are not so pleasant.

Are you willing to pay the price necessary to make this part of the world a better place?

Where have all our children gone?

May the Word be near you, on my lips and in your heart.  May we all confess and bear witness to the good news of Christ, alive and active in our lives and the lives of those around us.  Amen.

These words of Paul called the early church to examine itself.  Paul asked the congregation to think about who was welcome in their midst.  Their church included Greeks and Jews.  It was mostly made up of city-folk.  They had people from Jerusalem and from Galilee; from Thessalonica and Corinth, and many places farther away.  Most of these groups would not be found together anywhere else.  Even in the church, they mostly kept separate.

When Paul told them that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, he was telling them that none of them was more deserving of the good news than any other.  No group was closer to the heart of Jesus.  No way of belonging was more valid.  No blood made you more of a child of God.

Paul thought it was important to talk about being equal in God’s eyes because the church of his time was very divided.  Each group believed that Jesus had spoken mostly for them and maybe a little bit for others.  Each group thought that they were “the chosen people” and others were either unwelcome or needed to change their ways if they wanted to be included in Christ’s saving power.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Do we have groups in our church?

We have the obvious groups, like the ACW and the Lay Readers and Eucharistic ministers, but these are not what I’m talking about.  These groups are made up of followers of Christ with similar gifts to offer.  No, the groups I’m speaking of are here in the church, but we are less willing to name them.  They are groups mainly, but not entirely, divided by generation.  We have names for them that we use only when they aren’t here.

The old guard, who hang on the old ways.

The middle generations, who are afraid of change and of disappointing their parents.

The young parents and the youth, who are mostly absent; not because they don’t believe, but because they don’t feel welcome and they don’t see the point of this church.

 

This is the negative way of naming each of these groups.  It isn’t helpful and it isn’t really true.  At least it is not the whole truth.

So let’s look at a different way of naming ourselves.  Taking the same generational groups and looking at them differently.

We have the elders of the church.  They are to be honoured and respected for their experience and accumulated wisdom.  We think of them as stuck in tradition, but in truth, they are the only ones among us who have seen our tradition change and grow to be what it is now.  They are the ones who can help us to understand where we came from and look forward to where we are going.

Our members from the middle generations are the sustainers of the church.  They are the ones who have the time to devote to the operation and vision of the church.

The younger generations are our future.  It is for them that we labour.  Jesus called us to support each other, but that is only the start.  Our mission is not to those within.  Our mission is to reach out to those who are not here.  Our mission is to be a place and a people that proclaim good news to those who have not heard it already.

This is the next part of Paul’s message.  “But how are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’”

How are the younger people ever supposed to hear about Christ if they are not here?  Our children are not here because they are not truly welcome.  They have not been welcome for a long time.  Their parents are not here because they were not welcome when they were kids.  Our way of being church does not treat this group equally.  Our children do not have the same right to be here as we do, unless they are willing to behave like little adults.  We are willing to put up with a little bit of noise, but not too much.  We are willing to make an effort to include them for special services.  But we are not willing to let them be present as the children that they are!

“And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard?”

Many people believe that our church, and I don’t mean this congregation, I mean the Anglican church and other mainline churches, “our church,” is dieing.  This is not true.  There are Anglican churches that are thriving.  There are Anglican churches in this diocese that are growing.  Every one of these churches has embraced their children.  They have not only told the children that they are welcome.  They have included them in all parts of worship.  They have made the children and the youth equals in their congregations.

Our children are not here.

I don’t know what changes we need to make for the children to be truly welcome.

I don’t know what we will need to do to teach them that they are welcome and that they have a place here.

I do know that we need them here.

I do know that, together with God’s help, we can bring the children back.

Together, with God’s help, we have a strong future in this church.

 

Thanks be to God.

Sing to the Lord a new song - 911 Litany

O God, our mighty tower, and creator of Heaven and Earth,
Have mercy upon us.

O God, our Redeemer, who died and rose again,
Have mercy upon us.

O God, our comforter, who fell as a dove at the Baptism of Jesus, and strengthens all the faithful,
Have mercy upon us.

Holy Trinity, undivided, One God,
Have mercy upon us.

By the establishment of the firmament, and the speaking of light into the darkness,
Have mercy upon us.

By the blessing and sending of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Jacob and Rachel,
Have mercy upon us.

By the liberation of the children of Israel from Pharaoh’s hand and the renting of the Sea,
Have mercy upon us.

By the witness and courage of your holy prophets of old,
Have mercy upon us.

By the calling of our sister Mary, and the Incarnation of the Word into the world,
Have mercy upon us.

By the ministry of Christ, the preaching of the Good News, the healing of the sick, the casting out of evil, and the raising of the dead,
Have mercy upon us.

By the agony of the cross, and the victory of the Resurrection,
Have mercy upon us.

From the forces of evil, and from deadly acts of terrorism,
Good Lord, deliver us.

From the fear that grips us as individuals and as a people,
Good Lord, deliver us.

From the senseless hatred that hardens hearts and minds,
Good Lord, deliver us.

From war and violent conflict of all stripes,
Good Lord, deliver us.

We do beseech you to hear us, good Lord, that on this tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America, that you would rule and govern our hearts, and the powers of this world,
We beseech you to hear us, good Lord.

That it would please you to protect this nation, and the peoples of the whole world,
We beseech you to hear us, good Lord.

That it would please you to uphold the military of this nation, and all nations, who strive to bring peace and freedom to all your children,
We beseech you to hear us, good Lord.

That it would please you to root out the causes of terror and war in all places and among all people,
We beseech you to hear us, good Lord.

That it would please you to look upon those who would seek to do us harm, and turn their hearts from the ways of hatred and violence,
We beseech you to hear us, good Lord.

That it would please you to rain down grace and mercy upon us all, that your peace, which passes all understanding, would overtake us all,
We beseech you to hear us, good Lord.

That it would please you on this day to uphold all those who lost people dear to their hearts during the attacks, and in the conflicts which have followed in their wake,
We beseech you to hear us, good Lord.

That it would please you to surround widows and children, parents and loved ones, the injured and maimed with a hope in your trust, your abiding Presence, and life everlasting,
We beseech you to hear us, good Lord.

That it would please you to uphold all those who maintain peace and safety in our local communities and abroad,
We beseech you to hear us, good Lord.

That it would please you to shine your light into the darkness, that all would see and know you, and your ways.
We beseech you to hear us, good Lord.

Son of God, we beseech you to hear us.
Son of God, we beseech you to hear us.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,
Grant us your peace.

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

Let us pray.

O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, whose heart is glad when all your children live together in unity; we lift to you the grief of our hearts, hoping that you will not only comfort those hearts, but change them; that we may be the people you have created, and called us to be; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Sing to the Lord a new song - Pentecost plus 12

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.

Sing to the Lord a new song.  Praise him with dancing, with tambourine and lyre.

Do we have God on our side when we seek vengeance?

When we want those who have hurt us to be hurt worse than we ever were?

Our readings today are all about vengeance.  Our reading from exodus is the lead-up to one of the plagues of Egypt.  It is the basis of the Jewish feast of Passover and thus the basis for the last supper, Easter and our celebration of the Eucharist.  But at the heart of it, it is about God taking vengeance against Pharaoh for his treatment of the Israelites.

Our psalm today is also about vengeance.  It is about praising God for being with us when we punish those who have hurt us.

But do we really have God on our side when we hurt someone else?  Even if our cause is really Good?

Sing to the Lord a new song.  Praise him with dancing, with tambourine and lyre.

Our readings from the New Testament are about vengeance too, but they tell us another side of being hurtful.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he tells them that Love is the fulfillment of the Law.  When he tells us to live honourably, not revelling in quarrelling and jealousy; about making no provision for the flesh, he hints at, but doesn’t directly say, that hate is always a sin.

Our reading from the Gospel of Matthew is even more clearly about vengeance.  Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.  When we take vengeance, we bind that hate, not only to whoever or whatever we hate, but to ourselves.  That hate will follow us beyond this life.

Sing to the Lord a new song.  Praise him with dancing, with tambourine and lyre.

So what is our path forward?  Where do we find God in our lives and in these readings?  What is our new song?

I’m going to read an letter to you from the Rev. Canon Rod Gillis about Labour Day.  I believe that it leads us in the right direction.

The Holiday That Dares Not Pray Its Name

Monday is Labour Day. One of the legacies of growing up in the church in a large industrial area is an awareness of just how alienated working people, especially those in unionized jobs, became from the church. Coal miners, for example, had their "check-off" to the denomination, but participation in worship en masse was limited and with a heavy dose of scepticism.

Part of the reason for this is that , (with exceptions at the margins like AFSA, Sammy Prince, COADY and the like), the institutional church made choices--choosing monied interests over labour most times.

As September begins, one considers the focus in churches. Labour Day is mostly a demarcation line for programming. It's all about "after the long weekend" in September. There is an emphasis on the fad of "back to church Sunday" but no overt emphasis on Labour and working people. There are bulletins galore about injustices on the other side of the planet (and very important in the interests of human solidarity that there ought to be) but little emphasis on chronic injustices at home. Where are the statements from Church leaders on the recession and unemployment, and chronic youth unemployment, the silence about our participation in foreign wars?

Last week the mill closure in Port Hawkesbury was announced as a  catastrophic hit to the entire economy of Eastern Nova Scotia. Do we have something to say about that?

Some of the traditional themes that preachers might explore on Labour Day are unemployment, work place justice, war and peace (veterans are often lauded as heroes but treated like redundant labour by government), the environment.

[Today] the Hebrew Scripture reading is the story of the Passover from Exodus. It’s an archetypal story. I'm working on a homiletic angle around the "death of the first born, the sparing of the first born". The story is a classic Hebrew presentation of tangible justice being done by a reversal of roles (see also the Song of Mary). The first born child, first born calf, first cereal harvest are primarily signs of hope for the future. The story seems to convey the notion that the hope of the oppressor is ultimately tied to the hope, or denial of the same, to those who are oppressed.

Perhaps if we focus on why historically we have lost entire sectors of the population to the church by siding with vested interests then we may develop some clues about how to realistically get connected to people and the reality in which they live.

                                                                                                The Reverend Canon Rod Gillis

                                                                                                Rector, St. James’ Armdale

Sing to the Lord a new song.  Praise him with dancing, with tambourine and lyre.

In the Anglican Church, we have become very stiff.  Our worship is rigid and we have established a very set “in group.”  Everyone is welcome as long as they behave just like us, or at least don’t disturb my area of comfort.

Well, sorry to say it, but Christianity was never supposed to be comfortable.  It is about pushing boundaries.  It is about welcoming those who no one else will welcome.  It is about putting ourselves in the line of fire, choosing to be the ones to get hurt instead of the ones doing the hurting.

We are very good at being welcoming according to a schedule.  We welcome children on specific Sundays like the Blessing of the Book Bags, and St. Nicholas’ Day.  We welcome fishermen when we bless the fleet.  Where are those we welcome on other days?

Not here!

What do we need to do to be not only welcoming but truly inviting to those in our community who are not here?  Whatever it is, we need to start doing it soon, and at least in the beginning, it is not going to be comfortable.  Even though we are Anglicans, we need to get up and dance.  We need to make some noise around us.  For too long, we have been wearing Harry’s cloak of invisibility.

What is our new song?  How are we going to praise God?  Will it be with a whimper or with a bang?

Sing to the Lord a new song.  Praise him with dancing, with tambourine and lyre.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like Saffron

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.

The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed.

Do any of you cook with saffron?  What is saffron?  By weight, saffron is the most expensive spice in the world.  But what is it?

How about a crocus?  We have at least a couple varieties of crocus that grow here.  Saffron comes from a special variety of crocus.  It is the bits of the flower that hold the pollen, the stigmas.

I have a small box of saffron here.  Before it was opened, it held one gram of saffron.  Any guesses about how many flowers it took to fill this box?

There are three stigmas per flower.  One ounce is about 450 stigmas, or around 150 flowers.  To produce 1 kilogram of saffron takes around 150,000 flowers: a farm the size of two football fields.

Can anyone tell me what a gram of saffron is worth?  Any guesses?

One gram in Canada is currently worth about $18.  That’s a little more than $550 per ounce.  Right now, the price of gold is very high, but through most of recorded history, the price per ounce of saffron has been fairly close to the price of gold.

By weight, saffron is the most expensive spice in the world.  But saffron is not very expensive to use.  When this box was fresh one stigma would flavour two cups of rice.  It would change the rice to a bright golden colour, give it a rich flavour and a spicy aroma.  So if you could use this whole box, 450 uses, while it was still fresh, about 3 years, each use would cost about 4 cents.  Suddenly saffron is not so expensive.

He told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like saffron.

Have you understood all this?  They answered …?

How do these parables of Jesus’ tell us anything about the kingdom of heaven?  How does mine about saffron?

The kingdom of heaven is very much like saffron.  It is incredibly valuable.  It is worth more than anything else you can compare it to.  At the same time, a tiny piece of the kingdom of heaven can completely change your life and the lives of those around you.  It spreads and brings flavour to the world.

So what does all of this mean for our lives?

I think that Jesus is trying to tell us to stop looking for the big things.  It is not there that we will make a difference.

What we need to do is to look for small things we can change, small places where we can make the world a better place, little glimpses of the kingdom of heaven that we can bring to light.  When we do this, when we make some small thing just a little bit better, we help to create a place for the kingdom of heaven to take root.  We plant a mustard seed that can grow into a small tree.  We add one tiny stigma of saffron to a dish and it spreads to flavour the entire meal.

Saffron is like the kingdom of heaven.

From Synod to Mission

But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, "It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses." The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. Acts 15:5-7


Just over a week ago, representatives of every parish in our diocese came together in Halifax to meet in synod. The theme of this year’s synod was “Called Into Community.” Over three days, we alternated between the business of synod (the motions that synod had to debate) and presentations around our theme.

The business of synod could be, mostly, divided into two or three categories. First, we passed several motions that change the structure of the administration of the diocese. The largest portion of these changes was to deal with a change of focus in the diocese. The new structure will allow the administration to respond to needs within the parishes of the diocese as they come up between synods, rather than waiting until the next synod.

The second category is justice. There was a motion on anti-racism. There were several anti-poverty motions. There were also several motions which could fit here or be moved into their own category that dealt with issues around human sexuality. All of these motions, any amendments, and the vote results can be found at:
http://www.nspeidiocese.ca/synod/143rdDiocesanSynod.htm. If anyone wants to read these and cannot see them online, let me know and I will print them for you. Many of the presentations to synod can be found here too.

The presentations around our theme were, in my opinion, much more important than the debates around the motions. Being “called into community” is fundamental to our identity as church, as Anglicans, even as Christians. Being called into community is all about mission. The reason that we meet every Sunday is not just to worship. We meet to learn about our mission within our community. We meet so that we can take action. In our councils and in our services we will be talking about mission for a long time. We will be focusing on it until we figure out what our mission work needs to be in our community and around the world.

We will continue with discussion on the nature of mission.

Mother's Day - 2011

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.

Since today is Mother's Day, I thought I would begin with a list someone has made which they have called "Murphy's Laws of Parenting." See if you can identify with any of these:
1. The later you stay up, the earlier your child will wake up the next morning.
2. The gooier the food, the more likely it is to end up on the carpet.
3. The longer it takes you to make a meal, the less your child will like it.
4. A sure way to get something done is to tell a child not to do it.
5. For a child to become clean, something else must become dirty.
6. Toys multiply to fill any space available.
7. Yours is always the only child who doesn't behave.
8. If the shoe fits . . . it's expensive.
9. Backing the car out of the driveway causes your child to have to go to the bathroom.
10. Do any of these strike home?
It isn't easy being a Mom. I chuckled when I read about a story by a Mom named Mary Jane Kurtz. Mary Jane says that when she was a young, single mom with four children, it was difficult to get them all ready for church on Sunday. One particular Sunday morning as the children started to complain and squabble, Mary Jane stomped from one room to the other, saying out loud why it was important they go to church as a family and have a good attitude. Suddenly, she noticed all four children huddled together and laughing.
"What's so funny?" Mary Jane asked. "Mom," they said, "every time you slam down your foot, smoke comes out. It must be the wrath of God!"

In reality, it was the powder Mary Jane had sprinkled in her shoes. But it worked. She says they made it to church on time that morning and practically every Sunday thereafter.

What we don't want to do on this Mother's Day, 2011 is take our Moms for granted. The best example I know of that is the Mother's Day card that reads like this: "Forget the housework, Mom. It's your day. Besides, you can always do double duty and catch up on Monday!"
All too often this is exactly what we do. We take for granted the huge amount of work that the women in our lives do every day. At least I know I do. As I’m sure you all know, Victoria has been away at work for more than a month now. Can you guess how often the clothes get washed? How often the floors get swept, let alone mopped? Whatever came to mind, it’s probably close. And I’m used to helping with the housework. When she’s here, we both do our part. Without her here? For my own sake, I’d better get it done before she gets home.
We’ve done exactly the same thing in the church. The Bible is full of examples of women leading God’s people. There are women who are prophets. There are women who contribute their own resources to the early house churches. There is a huge amount of evidence that most of the leaders of the early church were women. And Christianity was made the religion of the state and men took it over. Everything the women had done was swept under the rug (otherwise known as man-cleaning). The women of Christ were forgotten.
Only recently have we been rediscovering the role of women in the early church. Only recently have we been finding out that without women leading us in the church we cannot truly be God’s people. Without women, we are incomplete, or in Biblical terms, imperfect.

Of the women in the Bible, several are very important mothers. Can anyone think of a woman in the Bible who is a mother?
1. Eve (mother of humanity)
2. Mary (mother of Jesus)
3. Bathsheba (mother of ?)
4. Elizabeth (mother of John the Baptist)
5. Others?
Well, today we honour these women. Today we honour all mothers, especially our own. Today we try to remember that we should do this every day, not just today.

Let us pray,
Loving God,
we thank you for the love of the mothers you have given us,
whose love is so precious that it can never be measured,
whose patience seems to have no end.
May we see your loving hand behind them and guiding them.
We pray for those mothers who fear they will run out of love
or time, or patience.
We ask you to bless them with your own special love.
We ask this in the name of Jesus, our brother.
Amen.

Rumours, Doubt, and Facebook

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.

What is our Gospel really about today? On the surface it is about belief. It is about believing the Good News that Jesus preached during his life. It is about believing that Jesus was the Son of God. It is about believing that Jesus rose from the grave and walked among the disciples. It is about believing that Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is still among us today.

All of that is true. Our Gospel is about these things, but that is only the surface. Like so many passages in the Bible, the surface meaning is very powerful, but there is much more to learn. The words that contain God’s Word are not so shallow. Words seldom are.

Let’s look at our reading more closely. Jesus and his disciples were Jews. They were an upstart sect of Judaism which did not fit with the most powerful group or groups of Jews. By the time this story was written, they had been thrown out of the Temple. If anyone found out that you were one of Jesus’ followers, it could be very bad for you. They were afraid and they were hiding what they were doing. So our story is about fear.

Jesus came and talked to them. He proved who he was and told them what they were to do. He breathed the Holy Spirit upon them and gave them the power to forgive and retain sins. This is the first ordination in Christ’s church. Our story is about priesthood.

Thomas, who had by now spent years with this small group of friends, wasn’t there when Jesus came. Thomas did not believe them. He had to see for himself. (I can’t imagine that made them feel very good). So our story is about doubt and mistrust and pain.

Then Jesus comes again when Thomas is there. Thomas sees and believes. So our story is about belief again.
Finally, Jesus did many other signs that are not recorded. So our story tells us that we should trust the message of Jesus without knowing the whole story.

So let’s see. Our story is about fear, priesthood, doubt, mistrust, pain, belief, and trust even when we don’t have all of the information.

Words have great power.

Have any of you ever played the rumour game? The game where a group of people sit in a circle – one person whispers something in the ear of the next person – that person whispers in the ear of the next – and so on around the circle?

What happens by the time it gets back to the first person?

How about this? Have any of you heard of facebook?

What happens when something gets posted on facebook?

Does facebook know if it is true?

Things posted on facebook are just like the rumour game. They can take on lives of their own. If the item posted grabs on to peoples’ emotions, such as fear, it spreads faster and quickly becomes exactly what is feared.

A rumour about something that we fear can make us just like Thomas. It can make us doubt a person that we have known for years. A person who has consistently done good things for us. A person that we have no real reason to distrust.

Now to bring it back to today’s Gospel. Jesus died and rose again. After his death, people were spreading rumours about Jesus. They were saying that Jesus was just an ordinary man. They were saying that those who said that they saw Jesus were either having delusions or that they were lying. Those rumours led to Thomas doubting his friends.

Jesus sends us out to spread the Good News. And what is the Good News in our Gospel today? “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Not one of us here today has seen Jesus, the man, in person. None of us have felt the wounds on his hands and feet or in his side. At least I haven’t. Maybe one of you has. But despite this, we believe. We are here because we believe the incomplete, good story rather than the rumours. We are here because we believe that our sins are forgiven and that we have the power to forgive others.
We believe.

I pray that if I fall victim to rumours, and I’m sure I will because words have power – I pray that when I fall victim to rumours, others will forgive me. I also pray that when others hurt me because of rumours, I will be able to forgive them.

This is my prayer for myself. What is yours?

Music for Thought

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.



As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. (John 9:1-3)


Music has always been an important part of my life. I love all kinds of music, but the music that feeds my soul is the music that we sing about God.

Does anyone know what this is? (Hold up hymnal)


I love hymns. I love to sing them. I love to read them. I suck at writing them. It’s a gift I’ve always wanted and never had. One of my personal sins … envy.


You might be wondering why I’m saying all this about hymns this morning. Don’t worry. I’ll eventually get there. But first I’m going to sing you the first verse of a hymn. If you want to follow along, it is number 371.

(Sing verse 1 of “To God Be the Glory”).

What a great hymn of praise to God. Here is another that has always been a favourite of mine. It’s not in our hymnal, but I have it in another one. I know it from my childhood in the Presbyterian Church: "All the Way My Savior Leads Me." (Tab 2) It tells about how Jesus leads us through the difficult times in our life. I have another one here that you might know: "Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine." (Tab 3)


Now to get to what you’ve all been waiting for. What do hymns have to do with today’s readings. Well, actually nothing.


But these hymns all have something in common. They were all written by the same person. In fact, that person wrote quite a number of hymns. Only one of them is in our hymnal. Her name was Fanny Crosby.

When Fanny was six weeks old, she had an eye infection. Her regular doctor was out of town, and a man posing as a doctor gave her the wrong treatment. Within a few days, she was blind. If that happened to me, I am afraid I would be very bitter and I would probably spend a lifetime feeling sorry for myself. Fanny was never bitter and she never felt sorry for herself. When she was only eight years old, she wrote this poem:

Oh, what a happy child I am,
Although I can not see.
I am resolved that in this world,
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't.
To weep and sigh because I'm blind,
I cannot and I won't!

Instead of being bitter and feeling sorry for herself, Fanny used the gifts that God had given her to write over 8,000 hymns and poems to praise and glorify God.

One day Jesus was walking with his disciples when they passed by a blind man. When they saw him, the disciples asked Jesus who was to blame for the man's blindness. Was it because of his sin or was it because of his parent's sins? Jesus answered them and told them that no one was to blame, he was blind so that God's works could be shown in him. Then Jesus healed the man and the people praised and glorified God for his goodness.

What about Fanny Crosby? God didn't heal her blindness. Perhaps if God had healed her, she might never have written all of those beautiful hymns -- and the world would never have heard of Fanny Crosby. She used the tragedy of her blindness to glorify God. I pray that tragedy will never come into your life, but if it does, remember that everything that happens can be used to praise and glorify God!

Dear Lord, the difficulties in our life seem small when compared to what others may be facing. Help us not to grumble and complain, but to praise and glorify you in every situation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.


based on sermons4kids