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!

No One and Nothing Left Behind

How was your summer?  I hear linger by the sea was a great success.

We had a great August.  Good family time.

Well now summer is over.  Many of our friends who summer here have gone away.  The kids are back in school.  The rain and the wind have come.  Everyone is starting to settle into their fall routines.  Life is getting back to normal.

Our readings today would be easy to interpret in the summer.  During the summer we would be talking about paying attention to each other and forgetting about the strangers among us.  These readings are not nearly as comfortable once the tourists have gone.

All of our readings warn us not to neglect anyone for any reason.  Poverty, disease, age, because we just don’t like them.  Even Jesus had to be reminded … Syrophoenician woman.

Who deserves our care?

Meetings to develop a community safety plan for N of Smokey.

Support each other.  No one left out.  No community left out.

Good start, but I think we need to go much further.  Has anyone heard of Silent Spring?  (by Rachel Carson about the dangers of over use of pesticides such as DDT, published 50 years ago, led to the modern environmentalist movement and the EPA, she was sued by Monsanto and others for publishing it)

Our actions and our inactions, things done and left undone, have consequences. ….

And so we pray – Gracious God, we give you thanks for this wonderful community that you have put in our care.  Help us always to be mindful of the needs of your people and show us how to care for your creation.  This we ask in Jesus name.  Amen.

Temptation and the Armour of God

Temptation – Armour of God
August 26, 2012 - Sandy Cove

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.

Last week I spoke about representing God to the best of our abilities.
This week I will speak about one way that God helps us.

 

Temptation … we live as broken people in a broken world full of temptations.

Some of mine are procrastination, logic puzzles, sci-fi / fantasy books / movies / TV.
Some of yours …?

Most temptations, like most things in life are OK in moderation.

What do we do when they begin to rule our lives?  (Adiction)

Reformation – Michael Sattler – Schleitheim Confession … Led to the Baptist and Mennonite denominations.  Those who follow it most strictly resist temptation by shutting themselves away from the outside world … think of the Amish and Anabaptists.

I think they missed the point of the Armour of God.

Paul is telling the Ephesians not to avoid temptation, but rather to accept it as part of our lives and to depend on God to help us live in the midst of it.

Long before 12 step programs, Jesus told us that we can’t do it alone.  With God’s help … give in to temptation in moderation because we are human … resist and recover from our addictions (we all have them) and be beacons of hope to the rest of the world … representing the power of God in our lives.