A Blessing and a Blessed People - Christmas Eve 2012

Doesn’t the church look lovely today?  I would like to thank everyone who helped decorate.  You are a blessing to us all.

Blessing … what does that mean?

How does the Bible talk about blessing.

Do any of you say grace before you eat?

NRSV Matthew 26:26  While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body."

Does God bless us?

NRSV 2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

Do we bless God?

^NRSV Psalm 115:18 But we will bless the LORD from this time on and forevermore. Praise the LORD!

Is there any other way we use the word bless?

^NRSV Psalm 37:26 They are ever giving liberally and lending, and their children become a blessing. ²⁷ Depart from evil, and do good; so you shall abide forever.

This is the most important.  What does it mean to be a blessing?

A Welcoming People - Advent IV 2012

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.

          Wasn’t the carol service wonderful?

          Thank you to our lay leaders who made it possible.  And thank you to all of the youth who read and made such incredible music.  What a blessing to have so many young people here in our church.  It was such a joy to see so many kids join us in our worship.

          (pause)

          What was wrong with what I just said?

          It was very unwelcoming.  Did it sound that way to you?  Well, let me say it again and listen for it.

          Wasn’t the carol service wonderful?

          Thank you to our lay leaders who made it possible.  And thank you to all of the youth who read and made such incredible music.  What a blessing to have so many young people here in our church.  It was such a joy to see so many kids join us in our worship.

          (pause)

          Did you hear it this time?

          Whose church is it?  Ours – not theirs, but we are glad they are here.  Whose worship is it?  Ours – not theirs, but we are happy to see them.  Who made the service possible?  Our lay leaders – not the kids, but we thank them for doing what we asked them to do.

          It is so easy to think we are being welcoming while what we are doing is exactly the opposite.  When I wrote that “thank you” for the carol service I meant every word of it.  I meant for everyone who was involved to feel appreciated and welcome.  I failed.

          There are lots of things we do in church that make this an unwelcoming place even though that is not what we are trying to do.

          I would like everyone to look around them for a moment.  If someone new were to come to church, where would they have to sit?  Up near the front.  Is that a place you would be comfortable sitting?  How do you think someone who is nervous about being in church in the first place would feel?  What if someone came into church late?  They have a few choices.  They could look inside, turn around and leave.  They could stand at the back.  Or they could walk past everyone and find a seat.  If you didn’t know anyone here which would you do?

          Thinking back to the carol services, I was so happy to see all the children who came.  But I got very confused as the service went on.  We call this a family service.  We say that we are welcoming and open.  I saw a bunch of little people sitting quietly next to their parents or grandparents.  I didn’t see children.  It wasn’t because of anything that anyone was doing during the service.  It was because of something that has been done for a long time.  Those small people were not allowed to be children because their parents were taught that it is not okay to be a child in church even if you are one.  Church is where you are on your best behaviour.  You aren’t supposed to do anything that will call attention to yourself even if you don’t understand what is going on or even worse if you do understand and you’re bored.

          Whose church is this?

          It’s not yours.  It’s not mine.  It’s not theirs.

It is God’s church and we have been called to look after it.

Our feeling welcome and comfortable here should not come at the expense of someone else’s welcome.

So what can we do be more welcoming?

Some things should be easy but they may be a bit uncomfortable.  Earlier I asked you to look at where everyone was sitting.  How could we change that just a bit and make this a much more welcoming place?  How about this: reserve the last one or two pews for latecomers and visitors who may be uncomfortable sitting up near the front.  Don’t worry.  This will still leave you well towards the back of the church.  I’m not asking you to move right up front.

          Another way we can be more welcoming is to choose our words more carefully.  I’m going to go back to the beginning and try to fix what I said.

Wasn’t the carol service wonderful?

Thank you to everyone who helped to make it possible.  What a blessing to have such a beautiful service take place here in this church.  It was such a joy to be able to join in worship with all of our younger members.

Did you hear how that was different?  The service was for and by everyone.  There was no talk of theirs and ours.  There were no hosts and no guests.  This is God’s church.  And in God’s church, there really are no visitors and members.  There may be regulars and people who come less often or even only once, but as the regulars it is our job to make it understood that we don’t guard the door.  We don’t choose who gets to come in and who should stay out.  Everyone has as much of a right and a calling to be here as we do.

And now if you would join me in the Advent Prayer.  I pray that God will help us all during this Advent to hear his call in our lives.  I pray that God will send his spirit upon us so that we may heal the hurts that we have caused and be healed of those hurts that we have received.  I pray that God will open our eyes so that we can see clearly the effects that our actions have upon ourselves, upon those around us, and upon our community.  I pray that we can become a people who look for God’s blessings in our lives and in the lives of those around us and that we can celebrate those blessings as a gift to us all.  And most of all, I pray that all can feel welcome here, surrounded by our love and the love of God.  Amen.

Farewell to 27 - Rest In Peace

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 aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel!  Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!  The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies.”  (Zephaniah 3:14-15 NRSV)

          I have something to say to everyone who made it to the candlelight walk yesterday ….  You are a blessing to this community.

          We all need to support each other in the communities North of Smokey.  Every job lost to our local economy affects us all.  And it is not just here.  Our current government is moving many jobs away from small communities and eliminating others.  What they are telling us is that we don't matter.  Well, it isn't true.  We do matter.  You matter.  Our communities matter.  And the more we do to tell them that what they are doing is NOT OKAY the greater the chance that they will listen to us.  Yesterday’s walk was one way to do that.  The petition that we had here in church on Thanksgiving was another way.  Can anyone think of some other ways to let the government know how we feel?  What we think matters to our community?

“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.”  (Isaiah 12:2 NRSV)

Have courage.  Governments can be changed.  Jobs can be brought back.  This is a strong community.  I have faith that whatever comes you will support each other through this and other difficulties.  Remember that you are here because you want to make this community a better place.  You are here to bring God’s blessing to this community!

I would like you to remember also that no matter how bad things seem sometimes for our community here, there are others that need our prayers and support.  Two days ago in Connecticut twenty-seven people died.  Twenty of them were children.  What kind of response can we make to this tragedy?  How can we even make sense of it in our own lives?  And how does God fit in to what happened?

God is Love.  I believe that God calls us but God does not direct our lives.  At times like this I take great comfort in this belief.  If God is love and God does not direct our lives, then I have to believe that God did not cause this to happen or even want it to happen.  Instead, God shares the pain of everyone affected by the shooting.  I’m sure there are lots of things that led to this happening but God wasn’t one of them!

How do we respond in our own community?  Our schools already have lockdown procedures.  Our children are taught what to do if there is a threat at school.  This saddens me.  We are teaching a whole generation (and maybe even a second one) that it is not okay to trust.  We are teaching our children to be afraid of anyone they don’t know.  And yet here in church we talk about having faith in God and in our fellow human beings.  Which is it supposed to be?

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say Rejoice.  Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  The Lord is near.”  (Philippians 4:4-5 NRSV)

Since the shooting, I have seen people suggesting that we should turn our schools into fortresses to protect our children.  I have seen people saying that this happened because this particular school was “Godless.”  Living our lives in fear or hatred is not living the Gospel.

So how do we respond when something like this happens?  We show our sadness.  We show our anger.  We say this is NOT okay!

And we pray.  Today we will not be sharing my advent prayer.  Instead as we light the advent candles I will read the names of the twenty-seven dead and I ask you to hold them and their loved ones in your hearts.

Charlotte Bacon, 6. 
Daniel Barden, 7. 
Rachel Davino, 29. 
Olivia Engel, 6. 
Josephine Gay, 7. 

Ana M. Marquez-Greene, 6.
Dylan Hockley, 6.
Dawn Hochsprung, 47.
Madeleine F. Hsu, 6.
Catherine V. Hubbard, 6.
Chase Kowalski, 7.
Nancy Lanza, 52.
Jesse Lewis, 6.
James Mattioli, 6.
Grace McDonnell, 7.
Anne Marie Murphy, 52.
Emilie Parker, 6.
Jack Pinto, 6.
Noah Pozner, 6.
Caroline Previdi, 6.
Jessica Rekos, 6.
Avielle Richman, 6.
Lauren Rousseau, 30.
Mary Sherlach, 56.
Victoria Soto, 27.
Benjamin Wheeler, 6.
Allison N. Wyatt, 6.

(Silence)

Called to Bless

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.

“Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction … and put on forever the beauty of the glory from God.”  (from Baruch 5:1 NRSV)

As I said last week, during Advent we explore the reasons that we come to church.  We ask what it is that God is doing in our lives and how we are called to respond.  We are called to look at what we are doing well and what we could do better.  We are called to explore our mission in this place and what resources we have to accomplish that mission.

          Each year I during Advent I look back to my ordination and think about the vows that I made.  This year I am focussing on my vow to pronounce God’s blessing.  This vow sits at the centre of much of the controversy that we can find in our Anglican Church today.  The most obvious case is with the blessing of same sex unions.  When I first came here, clergy were being asked to let the bishops know where we sat on this issue and why.

          The first part was not hard for me to answer.  I grew up in Vancouver and we have been talking about this for many years.  I had long since come a clear understanding of my position.  The second part was harder to put into words.  It was the first time I was being asked to think about this as a priest, and that meant that my reason had to be theologically grounded and it had to fit with my vows.  In the end this is what I said.

          I have made a vow to pronounce God’s blessing.  I was not given the option of withholding it.  In fact, as Christians we are told in Matthew and in Luke that we should not judge one another.  Instead we are to love all of God’s creation.  If I were asked to bless a same sex union, I would be put in a very bad spot.  I do not believe that I have the right not to bless.  And this is not only about same sex unions.  I am called to pronounce God’s blessing to all who ask for it, whether they are a common law couple or married by a JP, whether they want their relationship blessed or their ship blessed, or their cat, or their house, or their lawn-mower ….  You get the idea.  I made a vow to pronounce God’s blessing, not to bless what or who I believe is worthy of being blessed.

          You might be wondering why I am brining this up now.  Well, as I said before, Christmas is a special time to celebrate God’s blessings in our lives.  During Advent, we think about our blessings and prepare to offer them back to God.  We think about the blessings we have in our families.  We think about the blessings we have in this community.  We think about the blessings we have in our church family.  And on Christmas we give thanks for these blessings.

          As many of you know, I have been asked to offer up the marriage of Adrianne and Michael to God and ask his blessing on them.  I am so happy for them that they want God to be a part of their marriage.  I think that it is wonderful that they see this as an expression of their life in this, their church family.  While it may not be common, it is fully within our tradition as Anglicans to celebrate this type of blessing as part of our regular gatherings as a congregation.  I hope that you will find as much joy as I will to be able to share this blessing with them just before we share Christ’s peace with one another on Christmas Eve at St. John’s.  And if you are worshiping at St. Andrew’s this Christmas Eve, I ask that you keep them in your prayers and think of their blessing in our lives as we share the peace.

          And now if you would join me in the Advent Prayer.  I pray that God will help us all during this Advent to hear his call in our lives.  I pray that God will send his spirit upon us so that we may heal the hurts that we have caused and be healed of those hurts that we have received.  I pray that God will open our eyes so that we can see clearly the effects that our actions have upon ourselves, upon those around us, and upon our community.  I pray that we can become a people who look for God’s blessings in our lives and in the lives of those around us and that we can celebrate those blessings as a gift to us all.  And most of all, I pray that all can feel welcome here, surrounded by our love and the love of God.  Amen.

Advent Message (extended version) 2012

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 New Year!

Today we start a new year in the church calendar.  We start Advent.  But what is Advent all about.

Advent is a time of preparation.  Advent 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.

          Each year at Advent, we are called to look deeply at our traditions and practices as members of the Christian family.  What does it mean to be Christians in a world that is no longer dominated by those of our faith?

We are called to look as faithful people who belong to the worldwide Anglican Church.  We are part of a denomination that spreads around the world.  We are a denomination that is currently divided against itself on many issues.  …

We are called to look as part of the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.  We are part of a diocese that is spread wide over two provinces.  We have to travel nearly six hours to visit our cathedral and close to two hours to visit our nearest neighbours within the diocese, Sydney Mines or North Sydney.  What does it mean to be part of a family whom we almost never see?

We are called to look as people seeking to improve our own community here North of Smokey.  We are asked to look at what we do and decide whether or not it serves us and those who look to us and to the church for care.  What do we have to offer to the community?  And what should we be asking from the community in return?

During Advent we explore the reasons that we come to church.  We ask what it is that God is doing in our lives and how we are called to respond.  We are called to look at what we are doing well and what we could do better.  We are called to explore our mission in this place and what resources we have to accomplish that mission.

          In the time I have been here, I have seen some great things.  I have seen two churches grow together in their ministry.  I have seen a willingness to work together towards a future as a united parish.  I have seen congregations who have come from talking about needing to attract more people, to congregations that have looked at ways to be more welcoming to those who do come, and finally to a parish that is ready to go out and bring news of its ministry directly to those in the community who are affected and ask them if there is more that you could do.  I am so proud of where we have come together.

          There is still work to be done.  I ask you to think this Advent about what it means to be a people who celebrate God’s blessing in our personal lives and in our life as a church.

I ask you to think about what it means to be truly welcoming to the point where it is more important for someone to feel welcome than for you to feel comfortable yourself.

I ask you to think about how having someone share their experience of God’s blessing in their lives could possibly take away from anything that we do together in church in this parish.

And so I ask you to join me this Advent in prayer.  I pray that God will help us all during this Advent to hear his call in our lives.  I pray that God will send his spirit upon us so that we may heal the hurts that we have caused and be healed of those hurts that we have received.  I pray that God will open our eyes so that we can see clearly the effects that our actions have upon ourselves, upon those around us, and upon our community.  I pray that we can become a people who look for God’s blessings in our lives and in the lives of those around us and that we can celebrate those blessings as a gift to us all.  And most of all, I pray that all can feel welcome here, surrounded by our love and the love of God.  Amen.

Christ the King

I speak in the name of the one, true and living God: Creator and ruler of the kingdom of heaven.  Amen.

Today we celebrate The Reign of Christ or Christ the King.

What is Christ the king of?

How is this different than other kings?

How is Christ different than King David?

King David is the chosen one, the favoured of the God of Jacob. … Both Matthew and Luke talk about Christ being the Chosen one, chosen directly by God.

King David is the anointed of the God of Jacob. … Christ is the Messiah which means the anointed.

King David is the king of all Israel and of Zion, God’s holy city. … Christ is the King of the Jews and the ruler of the kingdom of God.  Christ is the king in the new Jerusalem or Zion.

You would almost think that King David and Jesus Christ were kings in exactly the same way.  The same words are used to describe them both.  They are even in the same royal line.  Jesus is a son of the house of David, a member of David’s royal line.  Jesus is a direct descendant of David.

Can anyone think of ways in which King David and King Jesus are different?

King David had a palace. … Did Jesus? … Not on Earth anyway.

King David had at least nine wives.  Two of which he took from their husbands.  Michal was promised to David (essentially married) and then given to Pelti as wife and taken back by David.  Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, David took as his mistress and when she became pregnant he set Uriah up to be killed and took Bathsheba as his wife.  David’s wife Abigail was the widow of one of David’s enemies.  David also married Ahinoam, who may have been Saul’s wife.  Finally, David married Maacah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah, Bath-shua, .  We know very little about these wives except that they bore sons for David.  David also had concubines.  We don’t know how many.  David was busy.  Who his wives were and how he came to have them was clearly an issue.

The Bible says absolutely nothing about Jesus’ love life.  In Jesus’ time it would have been very strange for a Jewish man of his age to be single.  It was absolutely expected that a man would marry and have children to carry on his name.  Usually when something is unusual or out of the ordinary, the Bible tells us. … Since the Bible doesn’t tell us, I’ll leave it up to you to make your own decisions and to think about what differences those decisions make in how we see and understand Jesus. … It is clear that there were usually women around him.  There were often children there.  Jesus was obviously comfortable with both.  Jesus treated all whom he met and all who travelled with him as his own family.  Even those who follow him after his death are his family.

King David had many subjects.  These subjects had to obey his decrees or they would be punished.  King David had his enemies killed or killed them himself.  All of King David’s subjects lived in the boundaries of his kingdom.  When King David died, he stopped having subjects.  His kingdom passed to his heir.

King Jesus has many subjects.  These subjects are asked to obey his teachings and his example.  These subjects are asked to love him and to love one another.  These subjects are asked to love their enemies.  King Jesus died so that we no longer need to be punished.  King Jesus’ kingdom has no boundaries in either space or time.  Jesus shares his kingdom with his heirs.  All of creation shares in the kingdom of Jesus.

Okay, does anyone remember the key similarities between the kingdom of David and the kingdom of Christ?

Both are chosen by God.

Both are the anointed.

Both are king of God’s people.

Both are king of Israel and of Zion.

How are they different?

David’s kingdom is very physical.

Christ’s kingdom is spiritual.

David is very concerned with the continuation of his line (lots of wives and children).

Jesus is also very concerned with the continuation of his line but in a very different way.  Jesus’ ‘son’ is the Gospel.  Jesus sired a message of forgiveness and hope for all.

David’s kingdom was limited in time and space.

Christ’s kingdom is the Kingdom of God.  It is eternal.  It is everywhere.  It is for everyone.

Why Just Why Are We Here

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 a gloomy bunch of readings.  I have to admit that I found them almost entirely uninspiring this week.

I sat for a while with our first reading from the first book of Samuel.  Hannah is a great character.  Maybe I could find something in her that tied in in some way to this community.  Perhaps something about being happy with what we have rather than despairing because of what we don’t have.  There was some promise there, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

Our canticle and gospel both talk about destroying things to make way for a new, better creation.  I could have talked about this.  I have talked about this at least a few times in the past.  It is a painful topic and if I felt you needed to hear it, we would be talking about it.  But I don’t think you need it.  You all understand the need for renewal and the counsels of this church are talking and praying about what needs to be done in this parish.  Preaching a sermon on it would just be unnecessary pain.

Well, that leaves our reading from Hebrews.  “Every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.”

It’s always nice to hear that I’m useless.

‘But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.”  For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.’

What is this all about?  The part about a single sacrifice for sins is clear.  We talk about that all the time.  Christ gave up his life on the cross to free us from the power of sin and death.  And then he didn’t have to do it again, because that sacrifice was not just for those who followed him at the time, but for all who were yet to come.  If was for everyone, including all of us.

But that last sentence.  “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.”  What does that mean?  One of the odd words, “perfected,” I’ve talked about before.  Does anyone remember what it means to be “perfect” in the Bible?  It means to be whole or complete.  So to be perfected means to be made whole.

That leaves just one more odd word: “sanctified.”  Does anyone know what sanctified means?  It means to be made holy.  It can also mean to have your sins forgiven.  So when we rewrite that sentence in everyday language, it is: “For by a single offering he has made whole for all time those whose sins are forgiven.”

And whose sins are forgiven?  Ours.  So who is made whole?  Us.

So why do we bother to come here?  Why do we say the confession and why do I pronounce the absolution?  We don’t need to.  By the grace of God we are already forgiven.  Nothing we do here can make us any more whole that what Jesus already did for us.  So why do we do it?

We do it to remember.

Think back to last week.  Do you remember what it means to remember?

We do all of this to make Jesus’ sacrifice new in our lives.  We do it to experience again the grace of God.  We do it so that the hope of the resurrection can lift our hearts and inspire us to do great things in God’s name.  Or much more likely, we do this to open ourselves to God so that God can do great things through us.

And we do all of this so that we can inspire and push each other to be the best that we can be and to follow God’s call every day of our lives.

“Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

This we ask in Jesus name.  Amen.

I speak to you in the name of the one who died so that we might be free.  Amen.

What does it mean to remember?  Is it as simple as recalling something to mind?  Recalling them names of our family members and friends who once fought for their country?  Is this why we gather on Remembrance Day?

There are two main words used in the New Testament which we translate as “remember.”  The first word means to be mindful of … to keep in mind.  It is an ongoing act, not something that we do every once in a while and then forget about until next time.  The second word means to make new in our minds.  We are to take the old memory and renew it in our lives, to make it current.

These two “remembers” are what today is all about.  We are not just calling back to mind the sacrifices that were made for us, we are making those experiences new.  And unfortunately, we are adding more memories to the collection.  We do this so that we can properly give thanks to everyone who has served, who is serving, and who will serve in the military to protect our freedom and the freedom of other people throughout the world.  We do this so that we can continue to understand the full cost of that freedom and to offer our support.  We do this so that others may be inspired and moved by the dedication and calling of so many brave and courageous people through the years.

I would like to finish by reading a poem that has shown up for the last few Remembrance Days.  I think it does a great job of explaining why we gather each year at this time.

A Poem for Remembrance Day

"The inquisitive mind of a child"

Why are they selling poppies, Mummy?
Selling poppies in town today.
The poppies, child, are flowers of love.
For the men who marched away.

But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy?
Why not a beautiful rose?
Because my child, men fought and died
In the fields where the poppies grow.

But why are the poppies so red, Mummy?
Why are the poppies so red?
Red is the colour of blood, my child.
The blood that our soldiers shed.

The heart of the poppy is black, Mummy.
Why does it have to be black?
Black, my child, is the symbol of grief.
For the men who never came back.

But why, Mummy are you crying so?
Your tears are giving you pain.
My tears are my fears for you my child.
For the world is forgetting again.

Letting Go

I speak to you in the name of the one true and living God; the Alpha and the Omega; our Source and our Sustainer.  Amen.

What does it mean to have visions?

What does it mean to have vision?

Is Martha or Mary the better disciple?

How are they different?

Why do we fear death?  What is it that we fear?

Why do we have such trouble letting go of things that we no longer need?

Why have we all become hoarders?

How do we know when it is time to say goodbye to something that has been important to us; to our parents; to our community?

How do we then acknowledge the tradition it represented?  How do we grieve its passing?  How do we let it go?

There have been so many losses in this community.  In my time here I have buried 29 people and watched as two other members of this parish were buried.  I have seen the death of one legion branch.  I have seen people move away.  I have prayed as the fisheries continue to struggle and the parks cut back; as people lost their jobs.  I have sat with you in this church and its counsels looking at our present struggles and our hope for the future.

How do we know when it is time to let go?  This day, the Feast of All Saints, is a day when we honour those who came before us; when we honour those who have built what we call the church and those who continue to work within and for God through his church.  We honour them when we use what they built to work for God’s purpose here in this community.

All of you have a very difficult task ahead of you.  You are going to have to look at everything you have in this parish and prayerfully ask that question.  Are we using this to honour God?   I expect that sometimes the answer might be “no.  We are just trying to preserve the memory of what it used to mean.”  If that is the answer, it does not honour those who came before and it does not honour God.

I pray that you will have the support you need from God and from the diocese to mourn their loss; to remember their traditions and their meaning to this community; and to let them go so that you can move on worshiping and serving God for generations to come.  Amen.

From Sight to Vision

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.”

God calling ... is anyone home?

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.  When is the last time God answered you?

God speaks to us … Diocesan council … youth mission to Puerto Rico … Praying “What do you want from me, Lord” … vision of an weather worn woman in a floral dress … see that woman the next day and walk by … embarrassed to admit vision … go back …

What do we do when we hear God speaking to us?  Anyone who has had a call to ministry knows this one … ignore Him as long as possible!  Eventually, grudgingly, give in to God’s call.

Another thing the youth did while they were in Puerto Rico was to collect garbage from a popular beach … later they saw a picture of themselves posted to facebook saying “If people can come from other countries to clean our beaches, we should be able to take care of them too.”

I think that most of the time God’s call is so obvious that we don’t realize we are being called.  When was the last time you saw some small piece of garbage in a ditch?  … God was calling you.  Did you listen?  When was the last time you saw a tourist sitting on the side of the road looking at a map?  God was calling.  Did you listen?

Most of the time when God calls us it is for little, everyday things.  How can we expect to hear the big call when we ignore the small?

The good news is that God will not give up.  There is still time for us to learn to listen.  And once we know how to listen, who knows what we will be called to do.

Thanks be to God!

What Must I Do To Inherit Eternal Life

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Go to church?  Follow Christ?  Be a good person?  Give away all of my money?  Give away everything I own?  -- No!

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

I stand up here regularly and tell you that we are all wealthy.  We give thanks for the abundance that God gives us.  So what does this mean for us?

No kingdom of God?  No ….  We can’t do anything to inherit eternal life.  It’s up to God.

So why do we do all of this?  Why do we baptize?  Why do we go to church?  Why do we spend our time and our money on this thing called the church?

To help God bring about the kingdom of heaven on earth.

How do we do that and what does it mean?

We support each other.  We learn about what it means to be made in the image of God.  We work for justice.  We look for Christ in everyone here and everyone we meet.

One of the reasons we are wealthy is because God gave us the church.  The church is our family in Christ.  Help when we need it.  Companionship.  Peace.

We are here because of love.  Our love for each other.  Our love for those who came before us and those who will come after us.  Our love for our community.  Our love for God.  … And most of all, God’s love for us!

 

Thanks be to God.

A lovely idea - but hard to follow!

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.
 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink …”

 

Our words today from the Gospel of Matthew.  A lovely idea but hard to follow.  How can we not worry when our own government takes away the jobs and supports that we need here in this corner of rural Canada.  First, changing the EI rules and making it harder to live in areas where most of the work is seasonal.  Second, trying to change the way fishing quotas work so that most of the fishing would be done by a few very large companies and making it almost impossible to succeed as a single-licence fisherman.  And now, privatising both the Keltic and the golf course.

How can we be thankful when our own government moves the few jobs that are here out of the community?  How can we be thankful when the only jobs for our young people are thousands of kilometers away?

Our gospel today tells us not to worry.  It tells us that God will provide what we need.  We just need to have faith.

A lovely idea, but hard to follow.

Everyone here will be affected by the loss of good jobs north of Smokey.  Whether you have one of those jobs or not, you will be affected.  So what does it mean to us to have faith?  Does not worrying mean we should just sit back and let whatever is going to happen happen?  I don’t think so.  As Christians we are called to action for ourselves and for others.  We are called to speak out against injustice.  We are called to work in response to the gifts that we have from God.

Do any of you know of the Serenity Prayer?

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.

What can we change and is not possible for us to change?  We cannot change the global economy and bring more jobs to our communities that way.  At least in the short term, we cannot remove the government that is taking away those jobs that we do have.  This does not mean that we can’t do anything about losing those jobs.  There are lots of things that we can do to push the government to do the right thing for this community.  We need to let the government know that what they are doing is not okay.  There are lots of ways that we can do this.  We can write letters to the editors of our local and national papers.  We can write to our MP.  We can write directly to Stephen Harper.  As a first step, there is a petition which is to be presented to our federal government asking them to keep the Highland Links golf course public.  There is a copy of the petition at the back of the church.  If you agree with it, you can sign it here or online at www.itsourgame.ca.  You can also encourage others to sign online and write letters.  Those in government do listen to what we have to say when it is said by enough people.  This is not one of those things that we cannot change.

 

Coming to this community has been a great blessing for me and for my family.  We have made good friends.  We have been living in the most incredible place on earth.  I have learned so much since coming here.  And I pray that you have learned and grown as a result of my ministry here.  But it has not all been easy.

As you all know, my family has been directly affected by the lack of jobs in Nova Scotia.  When we moved here we hoped that Victoria would be able to work at least within this time zone.  For the past three years, she has had to travel to Saskatchewan to find work.  We had also hoped that she could limit her working time to about four months a year.  This has also not worked out.  She has had to spend six or seven months in Saskatchewan to cover the costs of living in two places and travelling back and forth.  It has been a great strain on us and on our family.

Victoria will not be able to find work in this area.  This is something that we must accept.  We cannot change it.  She cannot work here and we, as a family, need to be together.  This leaves us with only one choice.  Rosa, Paul and I need to go to her.  This has been a very difficult decision to make.  We love it here.  We love all of you.  I am very sorry to say that we will be leaving to join Victoria in Saskatchewan at the beginning of the new year.  Please know that if we could do it any other way, we would.  My prayers will be with you as you decide where you go next as a parish and I hope that your prayers will be with us as we prepare for this new journey that we are starting.

God bless you all.

Sacramental Life

Holy God, help us to find your truth through human words.  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

Once again we are asked to listen to Wisdom.  But what is Wisdom and how do we hear it?  Does Wisdom have the same message for everyone?

My answer for that last question would probably be yes and no.  Today I am going to share some of my thoughts about Wisdom.  I am not going to try to define Wisdom or to tell you what Wisdom says to me.

 

Our first question.  When I believe that I have discovered or understood some bit of God’s Wisdom is it helpful to share it with others?  Yes.  I find that talking to others about important things helps me to understand them better: to explore what they mean and to determine if they are truly important or just seemed so at the time.  It helps me to refine my understanding: to keep the wheat and discard the chaff.

I don’t believe that I have the right to keep God’s Wisdom to myself.  It isn’t mine to keep.  I am also sure that I am not perfect in identifying God’s Wisdom.  No one is.  The only way I can be sure that I have found some of it is to keep looking, to keep paying attention.

Second question.  Is it helpful to receive Wisdom that someone else has discovered. … Absolutely!  It does not always have the same meaning to me.  In fact it seldom does.  But the Wisdom found by others usually leads me to my own discoveries.  Even if I absolutely do not agree with what someone else sees as Wisdom from God I can learn about myself from that contrast.  I also have to remember that I may be the one who is wrong or that neither one of us is wrong.  There is a wonderful book called “You don’t have to be wrong for me to be right” by the orthodox Jewish Rabbi, Brad Hirschfield which explores the idea that everyone is a child of God.  We may be called by God in different ways, but we are all called by God.  Trying to understand what someone else believes and why they believe it can only help me understand better what I believe and why.

Third question.  How do I look for Wisdom?  Mostly I look for Wisdom by paying close attention to the world around me.  I try to live into the idea that every moment the world may reveal some aspect of God to me.  I often don’t succeed at this but I try.  This is part of what is called living a sacramental life.  Conducting ones life with the understanding that everything that we have is a gift from God and everything we do is a gift to God.  Every moment is an opportunity to draw closer to God.  The sacraments of the church are focussed examples of this.

Each of the sacraments tells us something about God’s call to us, about how we are reflections of God.  For example: in baptism, we find that we are called to be part of a community.  We are expected to care for each other.  To teach each other.  To support each other.  To love each other.  To come together and do all of this as a group exploring our faith together.  This insight into baptism is by no means complete.  We could do an extensive workshop on baptism, or on any sacrament for that matter, and still only touch on what it means.  This is part of the glory of God’s gift to the church.

 

Now what does all of this have to do with what we read together this morning?  James says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”  I think this is a perfect quote to summarise sacramental living.  It tells us just how we can look for Wisdom.  God is always looking for ways to connect with us.  Unfortunately the society we live in teaches us to look for ways to disconnect.  I feel absolutely blessed by being here, North of Smokey, where this much less true that back in Vancouver.  Still, it happens.  I have to remind myself that it is only a short walk to get to the co-op and that I don’t need to drive.  By walking I remain part of the world I am moving through.  By getting into the car I isolate myself from it.  At the same time, the distance between Neil’s Harbour and Ingonish gives us the idea that we are separate from each other.  That same car eliminates the reality of this separation but we still act as if it was a two hour walk.

Every time we draw near to another person we draw near to God.  Every time we draw near to someone that we don’t know very well we learn something new about God, after all we are, each and every one of us, made in God’s image.

This brings us back to Wisdom.  How do we recognize Wisdom in each other and in the world around us?

Wisdom is more precious that jewels.

We trust Wisdom in our heart.
Wisdom does only good, never harm.
Wisdom works with willing hands.
Wisdom provides for us.
Wisdom never sleeps.
Wisdom makes the best use of what is available.
Wisdom is always worthwhile.
Wisdom keeps us clothed and safe.
Wisdom provides for those in need.
Wisdom perseveres in difficult times.
Wisdom can be recognized in those who embrace her.
Wisdom can be passed on to others.
Wisdom preserves the dignity of all.
Wisdom is never confusing.
Wisdom is constantly active.
Following Wisdom leads to rejoicing.
There are many good teachings but the teaching of Wisdom is better than all others.
Wisdom is not always the easiest or most appealing choice.
Wisdom is truly the most divine spouse that any of us could possibly have.  As we draw nearer to God, we find that God has already drawn near to us.

Thanks be to God!