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!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Saturday, November 12, 2011
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?
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?
Saturday, November 5, 2011
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?
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?
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