We hope this helps your day get off to a good start.
Worship Wednesdays April 1
Worship Wednesday March 25
Here is the link to this week’s worship Wednesday video.
Worship Wednesdays
A link to a short worship service including scripture, prayer, reflection and solo.
The Messiness of the Incarnation
Oh the weather outside is frightful,
but the fire is so delightful,
and since we’ve no place to go,
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
To be honest, I’m devastated that we are not gathering together at Cochrane Street United Church this evening. The thought of not being together as a congregation on a night like this, to celebrate this most wondrous story is frankly, unthinkable to me. It is, however, a reminder that we often take such things for granted, things like a Christmas Eve service or the birth of Jesus Christ, born in a manger in Bethlehem so many years ago. Situations like this help us to remember that such things are perhaps more complicated, more entangled; messier than we initially assume.
When we contemplate, reflect upon, and commemorate Jesus’ birth it is easy to romanticize that night in Bethlehem. We sing carols that speak of silent nights, telling us “little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes” – we think of the nativity in idealized terms, softened and censored. But that is not the reality of the story, the real story of Christmas is much more complex, much messier than we would like to admit.
“In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:1-7, NRSV).
There are a lot of details missing from this story: a lot of crying, screaming, pushing – a lot of literal blood, sweat, and tears are missing from this story. The incarnation and nativity of Jesus Christ is raw, it is messy, it is human.
When we talk about our own Christmases, we often try to idealize our own situations as well. We do not talk about the grief and sadness many of us experience at this time of year, we do not speak of awkward and challenging family dynamics that we may have to encounter. Instead we take the messiness of our lives and try and hide it, opting to become picture perfect like a Hallmark Christmas movie, rather than come face to face with the reality of the situation.
On a messy evening such as this, with snow and ice and wind, I take great comfort in knowing that the very first Christmas happened in such less than ideal circumstances, it was not picture perfect, and the circumstances were not the making of a Hallmark movie.
It is the story of long journey to partake in a census ordered by a tyrant. It is the story of an inn with no vacancies. It is the story of a young and scared girl giving birth to her son with no midwife or other medical personnel to be seen. It is the story of a birth among animals with nothing but a feeding trough to act as a crib for the child. And yet, this is the birth of God. This is the birth of Jesus Christ in less than perfect circumstances. There is nothing more human than for God, who could have come to earth with power, might, and authority, to instead be born as a helpless child, to a young woman in poverty, among animals and laid in a manger.
At Christmas, we celebrate that Jesus Christ was born into this world fully human and fully divine – and that means he is born to fully experience what that means – both celebration and sorrow, both tears of joy and tears of sadness, experiencing all that human life has to offer, both the good and the bad.
At Christmas it is easy for us to focus on making sure that everything is perfect: we seek to make our homes perfect, to do all of this baking, decorate to the nines, purchase extravagant gifts, to present our lives as “picture perfect,” but the hope of Christmas is that Christ will still be born, even in less than ideal circumstances. Even if all of our Christmas preparation doesn’t get finished, Christ will still be born. Actually, as much as it pains me to say, even if do not gather together in our Church on this the holiest of nights, Christ will still be born. Christ is born in less than ideal circumstances, no matter if nothing is done to prepare for Christmas, Christ will be born again and again, regardless of if our homes are ready and regardless of whether we have a Christmas Ever service or not. Jesus Christ will be born again and again in our hearts and in our world, today and everyday, because God is in the business of taking the less than ideal, the messy, the disastrous even; and turning it into something wonderful, something magical, something so special that language fails to do it justice.
Jesus Christ is in the business of being human, along with all of the messiness that entails. Jesus Christ comes into the world, complete with the literal blood, sweat, and tears with which we all enter this world. And Jesus Christ cries the holiest of tears as Joseph wipes the amniotic fluid from his body as he hands her to Mary and she smiles despite her exhaustion. And in the midst of that holy mess, Christmas happens. In the midst of the messes that our lives can be, Christmas happens. In the midst of this messy and stormy night, Christmas happens.
And so we remember that this messy night is a holy night; just as God intended – it is a night of messes, a night of surprises, a night that is very human. It is a night that does not go the way that we expect it to, it is a night that challenges us and inspires us, all at the same time. This night, this holiest of nights, is a reminder that God’s love will always find a way to break through in our lives, despite the wind and the snow, the messiness that we encounter, even (or perhaps, especially) when things do not work out perfectly. God doesn’t deal with perfect, God deals with messes and storms and snow and babies born to young mothers in stables -- and from those things God creates holiness, hope, peace, joy, and love where those things seem impossible.
This night, this Christmas night, let us take comfort in the knowledge that God is with us in the midst of imperfection, creating everything out of nothing, making hope radiate from stables, seeing the perfectness in imperfection turning it into wonderful, majestic, and magical possibilities.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not, will not, cannot, overcome it. For that good news, thanks be to God! Alleluia! Amen.
Oliver Dingwell
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
REFLECTION September 15, 2019
Devastation…but not Completely!
By Karen Critch
September 15, 2019
The mood of this chapter is one of an immediate threat. The possibility of repentance is still open to Israel, but time is running out fast. Plans for death and mourning are already laid. The people seem doomed.
The first couple verses in this passage talk of a hot, strong wind. It is not a refreshing wind that cools the body and spirit but an overwhelming display of strength and force—a whirlwind. Moreover, the origin of the wind is God. God will be in the judgment and destruction. God will be active in the desolation of Judah.
For many, this is a disturbing understanding of God’s involvement in evil and punishment. Jeremiah sees God as an active participant (leader!) in using Babylon to punish Israel for its wrongdoings. To connect God so closely with destruction makes modern readers uncomfortable. We do not want to associate the Holy One with natural phenomena such as a strong wind or tornado. And we do not want to associate those types of events with punishment for sin.
There are four “I looked” sentences.
First, this watcher sees the earth turn back to “waste and void,”. This was the characteristic of the world at its beginning when watery chaos covered the earth. This world had no light because God had not spoken it into existence. The earth is undone and returns to this disordered state as God’s judgment.
Second, the watcher sees quaking mountains and rocking hills. Solid terrain becomes unstable.
Third, both people and birds have left because of the earth’s transformation. They flee because of the earth’s devastating transformation.
Fourth, the land that produced fruit and food transforms into an unproductive desert, while the cities are laid to ruin. Magnificent city structures are torn down.
Creation suffers because of people’s actions. The judgment against the people has a profound effect on the natural world and all its creatures.
The link between the judgment of the people and the desolation of creation is an essential reminder to us that our actions affect more than just ourselves. They affect more than just other people. The whole world is interrelated.
One might suppose that all hope is lost. Yet, even now, there is reason to hope. Even now, with cities laid in ruins, with neither bird nor human to be found, with the earth in mourning and the heavens covered in black. Even now when the earth is void and the heavens give no light. With mountains moving and the fruitful land a desert, even now, the relationship is not ended.
The message of the consequences of evil and the possibility of healing and wholeness is as today as it was in Jeremiah’s time.
People wonder why our God would even consider such devastation here on earth back then and now. Is it because evil outweighs good? Is a balance that needs to be met or if not, there will be consequences? Still today we see the damage through major forest fires, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and of course humans. Why do these events still occur, have we not learned our lesson? On the west coast of Canada, you hear of the massive forest fires spreading over BC and Alberta this happens every year, but has it gotten worst yes. But after a forest fire what happens to the ashes which are full of nutrients are returned to the earth to help the trees that have survived the fire. Giving hope the forest will flourish again.
Or during the first world war where there was so much bloodshed between the world until one day in Flanders field a John McCrae wrote a poem. There were poppies growing over the graves where fallen soldiers lay, despite the despair the flowers gave hope to the Veterans and survivors. Thanks to his poem we wear the poppy today remembering that seen long ago giving hope for the Veterans and survivors.
The last couple of weeks our friends in the Bahamas were struck with a category 5 storm. I look at the devastation these storms cause yet again these storms are not uncommon they are happening more frequently and stronger each year. The whole chain of islands is faced with devastation, yet they still live there why. Is it because generally the weather is nice and the tourism industry? After the storm they start to rebuild their community with only to find out that another storm is on the way. What are these people feeling, what are they thinking how can they find hope in this situation? Just before the storm was announced there was help on the way, people were organizing backpacks of necessities needed for the people at this time.
This past week we remember the tragedy of 911, this was the 18th anniversary of when two planes would change a city a world. After going through the rubble there was a Callery pear tree found at ground zero. It was in bad shape roots snapped burned branches. This tree was taken from rubble and sent to Van Cortlandt Park where the NYC department of Parks and recreation nursed the tree back to health. The thought at first it would not survive but later returned in 2010 and is now know as the “Survivor Tree”. Now the tree has new growth which surrounds the old stump this clearly shows that not all hope is lost even through the worst devastation and gives us the strength to rebuild it times of great loss. This tree also spreads its hope across the world through its seedlings, there are three seedlings given out each year to the communities who have endured such tragedy & despair in turn giving them the hope they need to rebuild their future.
God’s affirmation of the divine decision to bring disaster, “I have not relented, nor will I turn back,” is not the last word. The decision not to relent combined with the decision not to make a full end of things leaves open the possibility for repentance and for a remnant to rebuild the nation. This glimmer of hope is present because, ultimately, God seeks healing and wholeness for the nation, not an end to the relationship. Who knows what is instore for us or what is yet to come, let us always find hope when all is thought to be lost! Amen.
My Love Colours Outside the Lines
The story of the walk on Emmaus Road is one of my favourites. I confess that I had to write this sermon twice! I started telling the story like I always do – focusing on that first seven miles. The one where the two they talk non-stop about what’s happened. The lead up to Jesus’ death. Peter denying Jesus. The cross. The empty tomb. Mary’s bold proclamation that she has seen the Lord. How some of the disciples thought the women were telling an idle tale and Peter went to the tomb and found it just as the women said. There was no shortage of things to talk about. Then I moved on to them talking with Jesus and finally knowing him in the breaking of the bread!
But what I really wanted to talk about was that second seven miles back to Jerusalem. Do you ever wonder what it was like to fly as fast as their feet could carry them to Jerusalem? Their hearts burning from the joy of understanding. If they really thought about their walk to Jerusalem they would have realized it was anything but ordinary. It’s not that often a perfect stranger says, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!” Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26) And then goes on to teach you about all of the prophets starting with Moses.
It is only as they get to end of the day, when they are tired from the journey that they finally truly see Jesus as he takes an ordinary loaf of bread and breaks it. And just as they finally see Jesus, he vanishes. I don’t even think that they ate the bread before putting on their shoes and heading back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples the good news. Their hearts were burning. The joy. The wonder. The amazement. Did they ran all the way? Did they ever stop and wonder if they had imagined seeing Jesus as they broke he bread? Or maybe to reassure one another that they really did see Jesus. That journey back to Jerusalem is uncharted and without precedent. It colours outside the lines of what’s expected. People who die on crosses simply do not rise to life. It was amazing and unreal and exciting. When the two finally arrive, they proclaim boldly, “The Lord is risen indeed, and he as appeared to Simon!” Luke writes, “Then they told what happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.” (Luke 24:35) That’s when the journey for the disciples really begins. How do the follow Jesus now?
For us here at Cochrane street we are also charting a new path and colouring outside the lines. You’ve never had a minster on Sabbatical and I’ve never been on sabbatical. I don’t know what it’s going to be like to not come to this place with all you wonderful people each week. I’m going to miss being part of this community that’s been an integral part of my life for the last 8 years. Added to that, I haven’t been in school for over 18 years so I’ve got a steep learning curve ahead of me. So I would ask for you to pray for me on this journey. And I for my part will pray for you on yours. I know that you will navigate the road ahead with dignity and grace, working together to lead services and support the work of your church council. I know that when it comes to celebrating the lives of your loved ones or you need care in hospital you are in excellent hands with Rev. Bruce.
Today marks the beginning a new journey for all of us as we each in our own way colour outside the lines. When I come back in May, we can share with one another the things we’ve learned on the way, we can share the struggles as well as the joys. The story of the two on the road to Emmaus is a resurrection story and we are an Easter people. So we trust that our God, who in Jesus gives us everything – love, grace, new life will guide us in the journey that lies ahead.
And we trust that with God’s grace and with God’s help, these next few months are going to fly by as you follow your journey and I mine. As we say in our creed, “We are not alone. We live in God’s world.” And when we find our courage waning, we can gather at the table, for gifts of bread and wine that reminds us that we meet Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Nourished, we find renewed energy to follow the one who invites us to colour outside the lines sharing love, hope, grace and new life with all those we meet along the way. We are not alone. We live in God’s world. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Why be a church Member
Our question this week, is in a way linked to last week’s question. Last week we talked a about why come to church? There are other options and things to do on Sunday morning that don’t involve going to church. People said everything from we go so that we know we aren’t the centre of everything, to needing it to get through the week, to finding joy in the people, the music, the service and for some it is the feeling of home. This week the question is, what does it mean to be a member of a church in today’s?
Confession. Until this question, I didn’t really spend much time thinking about the meaning of membership. It gave a chance to think of my own journey. I first became a member of the United Church when I was 13 or 14. I remember meeting with our minster Rev. Ted McCleod. I remember his asking us thoughtful questions and I remember celebrating becoming part of the church. The church that my parents of and the one that their parents before them belonged to. My mother loves telling me about her Presbyterian grandfather who not become a member of the United Church after Union in 1925. I’ve visited people here who tell me that they are Methodists and not United Church. As clergy, I am no longer a member of a congregation, but a member of a region. Over the years I’ve talked to people who want to be members and others who are deeply committed to their church don’t believe that the church is a club that requires membership.
Our relationship with church membership has its roots in our beliefs about God and is also affected by the generation we were born into. Generationally speaking there is a different sense of denominational loyalty. Generations ahead of mine, chose one denomination and that’s what they were. There is a shift in the millennial generation. This generation Whereas my generation and the ones that follow mine, are less concerned with denominational loyalty and more concerned about the feeling of the local church community. The same is true when it comes to brand loyalty. Previous generations there was a high level of brand loyalty whether it was to car or to the company that you worked for. (http://discipleshipresearch.com/2017/03/millennials-dont-do-denomination/)
I don’t usually bring up The Manual in sermons but there is a first time for everything! In the United Church we have a designation of full membership – you belong to a specific congregation as well as a denomination. We have what is called full members this happens through confirmation (reaffirmation of baptismal faith) or adult baptism and profession of faith. (The Manual) We can transfer that membership between congregation. We have another group called adherents. They are people who attend worship and contribute regularly to the life of the congregation. In our daily worship together, we don’t often make a distinction between members and adherents. At our Congregational meetings those in full membership can make a motion allowing everyone to vote on all matters related to the life of the congregation.
In the past number of years the United Church has done several studies on membership. Some people want stronger regulations for membership and others like me want looser definitions of membership. I am on the side of wanting everyone who shows up, shows an interest and wants to be involved being considered members. This was shaped by my first congregations. Many of the most involved people in the life of several points were not in full membership. They were there every Sunday to turn on the lights and fix what needed being fixed or organize church functions. It didn’t seem to be that the polity of the church was in keeping with the practical day to day functioning of that congregation. I’m guessing that there are many other churches like this as well. It also likely that this is why the most recent survey on membership wasn’t conclusive – there was an almost 50/50 split on how to define membership.
So what does it mean to be a member of a church? Why be would you be a member? I think we need to move past polity and into how it shapes our faith. Years ago, I heard ago I heard a beautiful story about a man whose loved one passed away. I can’t remember if it was his mother or father or someone very close to him. All his life he’d attended church, singing hymns and praying/saying the creeds. On the day of his loved one’s funeral he came to church, it came time for the first hymn and he couldn’t sing. The words got stuck in his throat. Reflecting on this experience later, he shared that he was thankful that there was a congregation behind him who could sing the words of faith when he couldn’t. Someone else was believing and singing for him when he couldn’t.
Together we are stronger because when I don’t have the words of faith and doubt or sorrow creeps in, you will believe for me. I will do the same for you in your time of need. The community of believers brings meaning to membership. There is something spiritual that happens to us when we sit together, sing together, pray together, and eat together from one week to the next. It reminds me of that great quote from Hebrews, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,[a] and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,” (Hebrews 12:1)
In our reading from 1 Corinthians, we have Paul’s reminder that we are all members of the body of Christ and each one of us brings our own unique gifts and every gift is important. The thing I appreciate about Paul’s letters is that he writes when there is trouble in the community and the community at Corinth was arguing about whose spiritual gifts were the best!! It happened then and it happens now. Paul says, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. … Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” (1 Corinthians 12:12, 27 – 31) That still more excellent way is the way of love that Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 13.
Membership in a church community gives a place to live out our faith, to work with one another and work things out when we do not agree. Membership in a community gives a place to express our doubts and explore our faith. It reminds us that we are not alone grown, learn, question and doubt. It gives us brothers and sisters in faith who will believe and sing for us when we cannot find the words of faith for ourselves. Membership is a way of supporting each other and hold each other accountable for a living faith.
In our gospel reading, Jesus invites the first disciples to drop their nets and follow. Membership in a church community is one way we live out our invitation to discipleship. It is not the only way. As members of the body of Christ, we follow in Jesus way of contemplation and action. Jesus often took time to pray and he also took time to make everyone feel welcome. Following in the way of Jesus is not easy. We need to the time to worship, sing, pray, and learn so that we can go out care for others, our community and our world. Belonging to a gathered, worshipping community helps to live into Jesus’ final commission.
In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus’ departing words to us were, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18 – 20) Let us go from this place to be the body of Christ in the world. Amen.
Why Go to Church
Why go to church? It’s a great question! Especially in a time when people are choosing increasingly not to go church. There are some Sunday mornings I wake up and I long to do what people who don’t go to church on Sundays do. Read a book. Sit and sip a good cup of tea in my backyard. Meet friends for breakfast. Finish one of those half finished projects. Even as I’m saying it sounds relaxing and nothing like the scramble we sometimes face going to church. I know for many families it is their only day at home together. So why would we, why do we bother going to church?
I asked some friends on Facebook and here is some of what I got:
1. For spiritual and cultural reasons
2. For music – even it is not always fulfilling
3. For the people – not going to church would have meant missing out positive relationships.
4. Because it is the place where we are loved and welcomed
5. For the spiritual knowledge, spiritual uplift and connecting with others
6. So you can get through the week.
7. To be reminded that worship is about God. “
8. For the rich theology of hymnody.
9. The quiet contemplation of prayer.
10. The studious sharing of the sermon.
11. The gathering of the saints of God, warts and all, which affirms that I belong.
12. It is intentional community revolving around the deep mysteries of faith which are foundational to all that I have been
13. This one I can’t summarize so I quote, “I go to worship God. I think often of the quote I read, in a book that I think may have been written by Marva Dawn, of a colleague of hers who was greeted at the door with a parishioner who said they didn’t get one thing out of that service and the officiant replied, “Well it wasn’t for you, it was to worship God “. Our society’s addictions to capitalism and ME, ME, ME...are hard on a soul. Worship is one way of reminding myself that I’m not the centre. God is. In my life, in my family, clan, church community, town, my national identity as a Newfoundlander or as a Canadian, a dweller on our fragile earth. Being the centre means you have to carry it all, but being reminded that She who always was, can and will do it all with or without me is such freedom.”
For those of you who want to read more, check out Rev. Rob Cooke’s reflection “Why do we need to go to church and some response by congregation members. Links provided in my sermon on our website! (https://stmarksanglicanblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/why-do-we-need-church/?fbclid=IwAR02FRey0qBpMEkyl-RHpewU720tDBIEWd-BczF2Qfrg8U-AawjEYrF14eE and responses: https://stmarksanglicanblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/?fbclid=IwAR1kwJREzZScW__PSDH8Z0qIkqoO3PSb2ur6aackyCmuOk7sM4xPORqlIPo)
No one shared why they don’t go to church but I’m guessing that my Facebook friends group is heavy on the church attenders! I’m guessing that there as many reasons as there are that people come and the some of the reasons have to do with difficult experiences at church. One person said they go but they are barely hanging on to church attendance.
Now it’s your turn. You are here this morning? Why do you come?
I come to church because for me it is home. When I first moved to Newfoundland and Labrador, I was often homesick. I was living for the first time away from my family and friends. Sometimes I longed for the bright lights and busy streets of Toronto because that’s where Scott was and sometimes for my home in Nova Scotia filled with family and friends. I remember very clearly driving home from Nova Scotia, getting off the boat at Port Aux Basque and beginning the drive back home to Newtown. I was missing Nova Scotia already. It was Sunday morning and I was longing to feel at home. As I came up to Deer Lake I could see the church steeples and hear the church bells. I wondered – is there a United Church there? It was still early – 10 am maybe but I thought, I’m going to church. I walked through the doors and I felt that warm peace of home. I can’t tell you what we sang or what was preached but I can tell you it made the rest of the trip back to Newtown easier.
For me, I go to church for so many reasons: it is the people, it is the music, it is those fleeting but beautiful moments where it seems that God has come close, it is for the music that lifts my spirits and it is for the reminder that I am not alone in this journey through life.
As I thought about what passages from the bible to include for this week, I kept coming back to the story from the book of Acts. Church was different – in fact they probably wouldn’t have called it church. For some it was the way of Jesus. For some it was a new revelation about God. Our reading from Acts follows right on the heals of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit comes like a flame and gives birth to something new. After some heard Peter’s Spirit inspired sermon people asked what to do next. Peter said to repent and be baptized. Here is what is says about the early church, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to breaking the bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42 – 47)
Somethings have changed and some have stayed the same. We still break bread together –whether it is at the communion table or in our fellowship time after church. We continue to pray as a community and learn from the apostles teachings. While we don’t hold all things in common, we still do our best to ensure the welfare of people in community. The food was so important because in that early community there were people who had plenty and people who had nothing. They had different social and economic backgrounds and they had to learn to how to be one in “Christ’s body” It says it so well in Galatians, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28)
This is the strength and the beauty of the church – we come from different backgrounds, different generations, different life experiences but we come here to be one in Christ Jesus. Why come to church? Because here we are all beloved children of God and together we bear Christ’s light in to the world. Amen.
What About Grace?
Our question for today is one I struggled with. The initial question wasn’t “What about Grace?” The question was about the meaning of sin and salvation and every part of my body got tense. I don’t want to talk about sin. Mostly because the word itself comes with so much baggage. All too often at least for me sin has been defined a set of moral behaviours that you must avoid in order to get you into heaven. Just think of the so called seven deadly sins – pride, greed, lust, envy, sloth, gluttony, and wrath. I see in that list sins that I’m well acquainted with. Like pride, greed and envy. It reminds me of terrible song we learned in Sunday School. “Be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little eyes what you see. For the father up above is looking down in love. Oh be careful little eyes what you see.” The suggestion of course if we aren’t careful some version of a vengeful God will keep track of what your little eyes have seen and your little ears have heard and what you little hands have done. And for me none of that fits with the God I love that I know. The one whose carried me through the most challenging times in my life.
Not to mention the fact that it makes the second word – salvation an impossible goal. If sin is a list of moral behavioural code that we must fit ourselves into, then salvation becomes something that we must work towards. We can strive and strive to do all the things on the good list but we will always all short because we humans make mistakes. Frances Spufford writes in his article on sin in the Huffington Post, “The human propensity to [mess] things up, because what we’re talking about here is not just our tendency to lurch and stumble and screw up by accident, our passive role as agents of entropy. It’s our active inclination to break stuff — “stuff” here including moods, promises, relationships we care about and our own wellbeing and other people’s, as well as material objects whose high gloss positively seems to invite a big fat scratch.” (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-sin-really-is-the-hu_b_4164852_)
It seems to me that we’ve spent too many theological hours focusing on sin as moral behavioural code and not enough time talk about grace as gift from God. truest sense of the word is about the things that separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. And to many hours focusing on somehow achieving salvation, that we’ve lost sight of Grace. Salvation isn’t about striving for that unattainable perfection. Nadia Bolz-Webber writes, “…the Greek word for salvation is sozo, which means “to heal, bring wholeness, preserve.” (Shamelesspage 18)
This is what Jesus was about. Healing. Bringing wholeness. Preserving our lives. For me this is what grace is all about and what Jesus wants for us all. Our parable of labourers in the vineyard is all about grace. Jesus is describing the kingdom of heaven. There is a landowner who needs labourers for his vineyard. So he does what everyone does and goes to the town square and hires those waiting for work that day. The first workers agree to the usual daily wage. Then he landowner goes back to the square at 9, 12, 3 and 5 and sees workers still waiting to be hired for the day. The landowner says to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay whatever is right.” (Matthew 20:4)
At the end of the day, when the labourers are getting paid, the landowner pays everyone the usual daily wage. The people who were hired first thing – and got paid last and the same as everyone else were furious. I think they got their hopes up that they would get more because they’d worked longer than all the others. But God’s kingdom is not about what we consider fair. God’s kingdom is about grace. The life a day laborer was precarious. Not get hired meant not eating. When the landowner says to those hired first, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” (Matthew 20:13 – 15)
God’s grace is getting paid a full days wage when you worked only an hour. Grace is the prodigal son being welcomed home with open arms and a party. Grace is the lost sheep who gets brought home safe. Grace is not about what you earn or do or striving for perfection or a moral behavioural code, it is being loved just as you are. Grace is a gift, just for you. And it doesn’t matter whether you laboured all day in God’s vineyard or for one minute. We are all given the same amazing gift – no questions asked. No strings attached.
Today we celebrate baptism. Sacraments are that visible sign of an invisible grace. We pour water and offer blessing. So that we can remember the gift of grace that comes to us each day. It is a daily gift and no amount of living can wash it away. So on those days when you are haunted by the voices that tell you terrible things like “not good enough or not loved or failure” we have Gold’s grace that whispers, “You are my beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Amen.
Who Am I?
This week’s topic was hard to form around a question. She writes, “I personally think a lot about what it means to be a woman and mother.” It’s a good question. One I think about myself. As I pondered how to even begin answering the question, I realized that I could only say what it means for me in the context of my own faith. It’s tricky because all too often women are supposed to fall into two categories – saintly virgins like Mary, mother of God or those evil temptresses like Eve. As we delve in – it important to acknowledge that men are also boxed by ideas that men can’t show emotion and must be the macho bread earners in the family. That’s a topic for another day.
What does it mean to be a woman and a mother? Who am I? I’ve been reading Michelle Obama’s book, Becoming that tells the story of her life and her own struggle to find meaningful work and balance that with being a good mother. While not everyone becomes the First Lady, I think most women struggle to figure out their place in the world.
It is struggle because for too long women’s histories were not written about or talked about. So we don’t know their stories how they’ve shaped meaning. The Bible is largely silent when it comes to women. You have to work hard to find them and many don’t even have names. There is the widow of Zarephath or the story of the widows mite or the woman caught in adultery. There are some whose names we know, like my name sake Miriam – who led the people in dancing and in their wondering in the desert. There is Deborah who both prophet and Judge. There is Sarah who went when God called to seek that land of milk and honey.There is Dorcas who was an early apostle and preached the good news alongside Paul. There are Jesus friends Mary and Marth. There is Ruth and Naomi and Rachel and Leah.
But the women in the bible whose stories have become the archetype for women in general are Eve and Mary, mother of Jesus. The traditional interpretations that have been handed down from one generation to the next are narrow ways for women to be in the world. There is evil temptress Eve and there is the Saintly Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. What woman do you know that can fit neatly into either one of those images?
I can’t. I’m neither the temptress Eve nor the saintly Mother Mary. I wear many hats. I’m a woman. I’m a daughter, a wife, a mother, a sister, a friend, a minister. I get this wrong. I make mistakes. I struggle. I love children and I love being a mom. My children bring me such joy. But it was hard for me when I first became a mother. I thought it would be something I just knew how to do. They let me leave the hospital with a baby and there were days I wasn’t sure what to do. There were challenges with breastfeeding and no sleep. I thought it was supposed to come naturally but it didn’t. I had to read books and talk to other women. I never called my mother so much as in those first few months of Will’s life. I missed my work and adult conversations.
As women we need to hear the stories of others so we can learn about making mean for ourselves. If you read Genesis carefully Eve isn’t evil. She is curious and she listened to the wrong voice. The serpent instead of God. I’m guessing Eve isn’t alone in doing that. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the three was desired to make one wise, she took the fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6) Adam didn’t need much persuading. He’d seen that fruit on the tree of knowledge of good and evil and he wanted try it just as much as Eve did. I think Eve’s gotten a bad rap over the years. Adam and Eve both have their eyes opened and both stand naked before God – not just Eve.
Then we have of Mary – mother of Jesus. In every statue and portrait, she stands there in so serenely in her blue gowns. But she was so much more to her. She was young when the angel came to her asking her to bear God’s son into the world. Where did she get the courage? She boldly says to God. “Here I am, the servant of the Lord.: let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) Mary had the courage to say yes. Her first identity should be as child of God.
As women, we need to reclaim the fullness of Eve and Mary’s stories. We also need other role models. Our last reading is the story of Mary Magdalen. She was a follower of Jesus. Before we go any further, there is speculation that Mary was a prostitute. This is simply not supported by the biblical record or that available historical records. Mary was an independent woman. Some say she was a dealer in purple cloth. It is clear that she was a big supporter of Jesus because it says that she provided for him out her own resources. There are some who believe that Mary was Jesus wife. What we do know, Mary was cured of the seven demons who haunted her. We know that, even though it is not part of our bible, there is a Gospel of Mary. We know that is was Mary Magdalene – in every gospel account – never left Jesus. She was there for the crucifixion when all the others had fled. And it was Mary who was the first witness of the Jesus resurrection. Mary was the one who told the rest of the disciples the good news that Jesus was risen. “I have seen the Lord” (John 20:18)
Here is why Mary makes a good role model for me. She is complex – she had seven demons cast out of her. She knows what it is like to have troubles. She knows what it is like to feel whole. She knows what it like to love someone and lose them. She knows what it is like to be a follower of Jesus and boldly proclaim, “I have seen the Lord.” (John 20:18) After Jesus’ resurrection, Mary was one of the people who shared and helped to the good news.
As I wrestle with how to tie the many hats I wear together, Mary is someone who reminds me that women have an important story to tell. What does it mean to be a woman and a mother? What makes me who I am and what gives meaning to my life is faith. For me, before I am anything else being I am a beloved child of God and follower of Jesus. That is my starting place as both a woman and a mother. It is because God loves and Jesus invites me to follow that I can be a mom and be minster and be a wife and daughter and sister. It is God’s love that gives me strength and courage when I need it. And when things seem to go terrible wrong, it is God’s love that comforts me. Jesus gives me a path to follow and the reminder that I am never alone. What gives shape and meaning to my life is my life of faith. It is my starting place.
I am thankful for the generations of women who’ve gone before me showing me the way. For who Eve reminds me to be curious and asking questions but not to listen to those devious voices that don’t sound like God’s. Mary, mother of Jesus, reminds me that before am a mother, I am invited to be about God’s work in the world. When God calls, we too can say, “Here I am. Let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) Mary Magdalen reminds me that even though the voices of women in the bible are few, they are so important. She reminds me to bold proclaim my faith, “I have seen the Lord.” Amen.
Is It Really All Part of God's Plan?
Because of what I do, I have spent a fair amount of time in hospitals and at funeral homes and sitting with people in their sorrow. Sometimes, I’ve overheard good hearted, well meaning people say things to people facing loss that make cringe. I’m guessing that the people grieving are wondering why someone would say that? Its things, “It’s all part of God’s plan. God just needed another angel in heaven.” Or how is this one, “God doesn’t give you anything you anything that you can’t handle.” Perhaps the worst one, “If only you’d prayed harder, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.” Somehow all those sentiments make it seem as though God planned our suffering and made these things happen. As though God is up in the heavenly realm doling out suffering to see if or how we mortals handle it. In an article called, “What to Say (and not say to say) to someone who is grieving, David Pogue shares, “In support groups for parents, ‘God never gives you more than you can handle’ is universally known as one of the cruelest comments for devastated parents to receive,” added Wendy Prentiss, whose 6-year-old nephew was diagnosed with a deadly cancer. “It suggests that the parents are weak for being crushed. It comes across as judgmental and tone deaf. It also suggests, wrote Kathryn Janus, “that God had a hand in the death, and that’s just awful. And, P.S., sometimes the death is more than the bereaved can handle.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/smarter-living/what-to-say-and-what-not-to-say-to-someone-whos-grieving.html It is hard to imagine Jesus saying this to someone in their time of need.
Jairus comes to Jesus, falls at his feet and begs him, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” Can you imagine Jesus saying? “It’s all part of God’s plan.” The woman in our gospel, the hemorrhaging woman, who’d spent everything she had on getting better, who can’t go to worship or be around people or have anyone touch her because the purity laws of the day say that she is unclean. For twelve long years she suffered. Some so called miracle healers came her way, took her money and she is only worse. Would Jesus say to her, “Maybe you should pray harder, God doesn’t give you anything you can’t handle.”
And yet we find woven through scripture the notion that God knows us and knows all our days – the very hairs on our heads are counted. I believe that plan that God has for us, is not about what we eat for breakfast or the minute by minute details of our days. God’s plan for us is wholeness in mind, body and spirit. And when things go wrong, which they do all too frequently, God’s promise is to be with us in our pain and suffering. To be with us until that wholeness is restored. It says in our Psalm, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” (Psalm 56:8) Turn to Revelation 21, “See the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear for their eyes.” (Revelation 21:3 – 4a)
When Jairus throws himself at Jesus’ feet and pours out his about his daughter, Jesus doesn’t say anything to make it better. He simply goes with Jairus. Following him to his home. Staying with him in this difficult time. As Jesus goes with Jairus, the crowds follow him. In the crowd is a woman whose suffering is beyond our imagining. The bleeding is just one part of her pain. The other is the social isolation and the loneliness of her condition. She shouldn’t be in the crowd that day. She knows she shouldn’t touch Jesus, but she thinks, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” (Mark 5:28). In that moment the bleeding stops.
And so does Jesus. He feels the change. He says, “Who touched my clothes?” (Mark 5:30) And the disciples can’t imagine what Jesus is talking about because they are in the middle of a crowd – of course someone is touching you! Jesus ignores them, keeps looking around the crowd to see who touched him. I can’t begin to imagine the courage it took for the woman come forward and tell Jesus her story. Jesus pulled her out of the shadows and placed her back into the heart of the community saying, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” (Mark 5:34)
While Jesus is talking to the woman, some tells Jairus his daughter has died and there was no point in troubling Jesus further. Jesus turns to Jairus and says, “Do not fear, only believe.” Jesus, Jairus and the disciples go to Jairus’s house. Jesus enters the room and says to the little girl, “Talitha cum,” which means “little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about.” (Mark 5:41 – 42)
Jesus actions are not about being with people in their time of need. When Jairus comes to Jesus and tells him about his sick daughter – Jesus goes with him, offers him hope, and restores his daughter to him. When a woman who’d suffered for 12 long years, reaches out and touches him, he restores her to community. And he does this over and over again. Jesus way of love and compassion shows us God’s love at work.
This morning’s news is awful. In one night, two mass shootings. One in El Paso, Texas with 20 people dead and more than 2 dozen injured and another in Dayton, Ohio with 9 killed and 16 injured. These are tragedies for the mothers, fathers, sisters, aunts, uncles, friends and communities. This is not some part of God’s plan. There is no amount of prayer that could stop this. There are no more angels needed in heaven.
It is hard to understand tragedy and suffering and pain. It comes in so many forms and is different for each of us. It doesn’t matter if caused by sickness, or relationship break down, or depression, or loss or loneliness or grief or abuse, or addiction or unexpected tragic accident, we all carry these burdens differently. What I do know that God does not cause it and faith doesn’t give us a “get of out pain free” card. Faith reminds us that when the pain comes, we are not alone. Jesus stays with us in our sorrow. God counts our tears, God wipes away our tears and walks with us in our time of need. Somehow with time, with help of friends, and God’s sustaining love we too can say with the Psalmist, “For you have rescued me from death; you have kept my feet from slipping, So now I can walk in your presence O God, in your life-giving light.” (Psalm 56:13)Amen.
Shh.... Not in Polite Company. Why can't we talk about Sex, Politics and Money?
This week’s question is mine. I’ve always wondered why there are some subjects that fall into the forbidden topic zone whether you are at church or work or a party or in community gathering. It’s like these few words are a flashing stop sign. And I understand why. The question is mine but that didn’t mean that I didn’t spend the whole week avoiding doing the bulletin because I was nervous. I posted the topic and my heart started racing because I was nervous. Should I broach this in church? Then I remembered the stories of the bible. None of them shy away from talking about money or sex or politics … and you don’t have to look very hard to find them. A few years ago, I attended stewardship. They gave us this definition for stewardship – it is everything after we say yes to God and that means no topics are off limits with God. In her new book Shameless Nadia Bolz-Webber writes, “…our sexual and gender expressions are as integral to who we are as our religious upbringings are. To separate these aspects of ourselves – to separate life as a sexual being from a life with God – is to bifurcate our psyche, like a musical progression that ever comes to resolution.” (Shameless page 4) And she is right, when topics that are central to our lives like sexuality, like our faith, like money, like politics are off limits they hide in the shadows, can produce shame, anxiety and fear. None of this is what Jesus wanted for us. Jesus invites us to wholeness and abundant life.
Just before we dive in – this is a beginning. There is no way we can cover all these deep topics in one sermon. But maybe if we dip our toes in to the waters of the challenging topics, it will help us to keep explore, talking and learning. And maybe as we have these holy conversations, we will catch a glimpse of the kingdom that Jesus talked about so much.
How many of you have read the full book of Song of Solomon? If you have you will know that it is the bibles erotic love poetry – filled with passion. Our reading this morning is just one small part of that poem and a PG rated reading. Listen: “My beloved is like a gazelle or young stag. Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice. My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; for the now the winter is past, the rain is gone.” (Song of Solomon 2:9 – 11) There is a long tradition of Christian mystics, like St. Teresa of Avila, whose prayers mimic that language we use to describe a lover. There is strong connections between our souls need for God and our relationships with our lovers. Today, we know from research in our education system that the teenagers who get comprehensive sex education have lower rates of pregnancy and are less likely to get a sexually transmitted disease. They had a space where they could learn, ask questions and have a conversation with their peers. Even if its uncomfortable and the room fills with awkward giggles. I wonder what change if we talked about sex as both gift and blessing from God instead of something that is forbidden or sinful or only for marriage? I wonder open conversation about sex and sexuality change the silence that happens around sexual violence? I wonder if there would be less shame and more joy?
Psalm 139 says, “O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. …For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.” (Psalm 139:1 – 2, 13 – 14)) We are all made in God’s image beautifully and wonderfully made and that includes our sexuality and gender expressions. It includes how we live together in our communities and how we use the resources that God gives us.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus makes just this point. He is teaching the crowds when the Herodian and Pharisees show up. The Herodians and Pharisees don’t agree on much politically speaking but they agree that Jesus is a problem that needs to be fixed. The Herodians are fine with Caesar’s tax, given Herod’s cozy arrangement with Rome. For the Pharisees, the tax is a problem but so is the coin used to pay the tax. The coin proclaims Caesar as a god which runs contrary to the commandment that says “you shall have no other God before me.” So they set the trap with flattery and what seems like a simple question.
“Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" (Matthew 22:16 – 17) Their goal is to cost him his following or his life. If he approves payment of the tax, he supports the empire and people will abandon him. If says they should not pay the tax, he is committing treason.
Jesus calls them all hypocrites. "Show me the coin," Jesus says. With the coin in hand, Jesus then asks the two simple questions: Whose image is that? Whose title? They say, “The emperor’s” What follows is a well known passage of scripture. The King James Version translates it this way: “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." (Matthew 22: 21)
Dr. David Lose writes, “All of which sharpens the bite of Jesus’ response: “give, therefore, to Caesar, the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And suddenly the tables are turned, as all in attendance confess that everything belongs to the holy One of Israel. With just a few words, Jesus reveals the truth about his would-be accusers and simultaneously calls them to a higher fidelity than they’d imagined. I wonder if Jesus is doing the same to us? Not trying to trap us, of course, but rather inviting us to declare our allegiance. Perhaps the key issue in this exchange isn’t whose image is on the coin, but rather whose image is on us.”
(http://www.davidlose.net/2014/10/matthew-22-15-22/)
Back to our starting place. Everything after we say yes to God is stewardship – how we live out our faith. Jesus wanted to change the world for the everyone. Jesus talked about the kingdom of God – that place where all find home and welcome. It is our calling as followers of Jesus make this kingdom a reality. And if we can’t talk about how our financial resources get used and if we can’t talk about politics then, then how are we going to help transform our world so it reflects that kingdom?
I think it is becoming increasingly urgent for us to talk about money and politics. I turn on the news and I’m horrified that a world leader would have the audacity to citizens to go back to the country they came from. And in case you think it’s only happening in other countries, just listen to the rhetoric of some of our politic leaders at both the provincial and national level. We need to talk about racism and the kind of world we want to live in. I turn on the news and I hear about the many have no home or not enough money to buy food. We live in a world that has enough resources to feed and shelter everyone. Why can some people spend more money on a luxury item then some people make in 10 years? We need to talk about poverty and wealth. I turn on the news and hear about the planet that we call home and I worry for my children. We need to talk about climate change and how to change our destructive habits so our children can live in safety.
Father Gregory Boyle in a video by Work of the Peoplesays, “Jesus was only about dismantling the barriers that excluded. Jesus was only about expanding the circle of compassion hopeful that no one would be standing outside.” We need to keep talking about those things that make us uncomfortable or considered forbidden so that our world starts to be that circle of compassion where no one is standing outside. Amen.
How Do I Pray?
The first time I was asked about my prayer life was at a session meeting, where I was asking my home church to start the process of becoming a minster. It was the first time I really thought about prayer and I didn’t want to say, “what?” So, I have vague memories about saying something about that I prayed while I was on the move and in all I did. I didn’t really know what to say because I’d never really thought about prayer before.
I think that Frances poem sums up so well the questions I was asking at the time and still ask about prayer.
how do I pray?
in hours of darkness
my heart cries out
please, please dear God
help
crying in my hour of need
sighing with my heart of greed
is this prayer?
how do I pray?
as a child
even before I understood words
I knelt for an hour by my bedside
trying not to fall asleep
trying not to dream
trying to summon words deep in my heart
reaching in the void, the coldness and the dark
was this payer?
How do I pray?
how do I speak to the almighty God
weak and childish as I am
how can I find the right words
when my heart needs so much
how can I be a child of God
when I don't even know the answer
to the question
How do I pray?
The bible is full of directions on prayer. The disciples were confused about how they should pray so Jesus gave them what we now call the Lord’s prayer. When the Israelites were held captive in Babylon, they didn’t know how to pray anymore because they’d always gone to the temple in Jerusalem. How should they pray in this foreign land? In this foreign land – Friday prayers in the home began. The book of Psalms is the prayer book of the bible. We read one this morning and there are 149 others. Each of the Psalms are unique but as a collection can find words of praise, emotional pleas for help and songs of heartbreak and prayers for life to be better or to be sheltered in the palm of God’s hands.
In our reading from Philippians, Paul writes these instructions, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4: 4 – 9)
Prayer is a fundamental part of a living faith. Yet so many of us struggle with it. I’m guessing that there are many reasons. Perhaps we worry about doing it right. Perhaps we think we don’t know how. Perhaps we worry about what we should and shouldn’t be praying for. Should I pray for that new shinny toy? I think sometimes we make it more complex that it really is. So we start with a definition. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines prayer this way:
Definition of prayer
1a(1): an address (such as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought
(2): a set order of words used in praying
b: an earnest request or wish
2: the act or practice of praying to God or a god kneeling in prayer
3: a religious service consisting chiefly of prayers —often used in plural
4: something prayed for
5: a slight chance haven't got a prayer
At its heart prayer is a conversation between our hearts and God’s. A good conversation requires someone talking and someone listening and then changing roles. That conversation with God can take as many forms as there are people. When I first started praying, I could only pray while my body was in motion – mostly when I was going for a walk by myself. I would look at my day, if there were hard tasks or conversations, I’d practice what I’d do or say. Passersby must have smiled because they thought I was talking to myself. For a lot of years, I was better at the talking than the listening – and that’s okay. I still pray this way today.
After practicing with the talking I moved to simply reading the bible and journaling about the reading, about my joys, about my struggles and sometimes what I did that day. I’m not alone in wanting my prayer to have action. The ancient labyrinth is a form of walking prayer or walking meditation. There is not starting point and no end but you move through a time of reflection. I realized this year when I started doing yoga that I felt the same way after doing yoga as I did after I prayed. There is no right or wrong way to pray. For some that feeling of connection comes through community, for others it is when they hear beautiful music that their soul soars to the divine and for others it can be through dance or running or writing.
Several years ago, at a retreat, the leader invited us to simply focus on our breath. The first time I did it, it was hard. I was wrestless and self-conscious. But I also liked it. So I started practicing. It took me a long time to come to a place where I could sit and just breath. Not getting distracted by thoughts – simply open to God and God’s direction for me. Part of our weekly prayer group is simply open our hearts to God and listening in silence. It is holy time.
The beautiful thing about prayer is that there is no right or wrong way to do it. The question for you to think about is what works for you connect with God? I think that Mary and Martha are both great examples of different ways of doing that. I know Jesus told Martha that Mary chose the better part, but what did Jesus mean by that? Maybe he couldn’t see that Martha was offering a prayer in service and with the food she brought.
Chapter 10 in the gospel of Luke in many ways presents many ways of approaching faith. It begins with the sending out of the 70 in pairs to every town to proclaim the kingdom of God, followed by what means to be a good neighbour in the parable of the Good Samaritan. As they travelled, Jesus and the disciples were invited to Mary and Martha’s home. Martha provided hospitality to weary travels and a much needed meal. Mary captivated by Jesus’ teaching sat and listened. For too long we’ve dismissed women’s work because or given women the choice between learning and serving.
That’s not what’s a work here. Jesus time is short. Already in chapter Luke 9, it says that “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:51) Jesu knows what is coming next and it is not going to be easy. After this, everything Jesus does is pointing him to the cross. On that particular day and in that particular context, Mary chose the better part. Maybe Martha was distracted and worried because she’d already started to hear what a trouble maker her good friend Jesus. She couldn’t imagine life without him so keeping busy helped her cope with the road ahead. And Jesus, is inviting her to spend the time left with him – listening and learning. There is a wonderful legend that Martha slayed the beast at Tarascon by sprinkling him with holy water, thus taming the best and then spent the rest of her days in prayer and fasting.
Jesus invites us, to live our faith in prayer and in service. Mary and Marth help us to know that there is a time for each and that we need both. If we can’t reflect on our faith, listen for how God is calling us to live, and offer to God all our cares and concerns our service will fall flat. If all we do is serve, then we will grow weary and loose our way.
This week take some time to think about how you pray – how do you engage in that holy conversation with God whose grace is with us always. Thanks be to God Amen.
Pride Sunday Reflection by Ebonee Hicks
Trinity Blessed
In the calendar of the church year, the Sunday after Pentecost is Trinity Sunday. It is one of the doctrines of the church that I struggle with and I’m guessing we all struggle with. Three in one? How does that work? For the strictly rational and mathematically inclined it doesn’t work. St. Patrick tried with the idea of the shamrock – three leaves and yet one leaf. From the Song of Faith
With the Church through the ages,
we speak of God as one and triune:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We also speak of God as
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer
God, Christ, and Spirit
Mother, Friend, and Comforter
Source of Life, Living Word, and Bond of Love,
and in other ways that speak faithfully of
the One on whom our hearts rely,
the fully shared life at the heart of the universe.
The preacher Nadia Bolz-Webber writes, “So let’s get right down to it, shall we? Here we go: God is three persons and one being. God is one and yet three. The father is not the son or the Spirit, the son is not the father or the Spirit, the spirit is not the Father or the Son. But the Father Son and Spirit all are God and God is one. … So to review. 1+1+1=1. That’s simple enough.” (https://sojo.net/articles/some-thoughts-holy-trinity#sthash.WnU2XuS2.dpuf)Richard Rhor writes, “Religious belief has made me comfortable with ambiguity. “Hints and guesses,” as T.S. Eliot would say. I often spend the season of Lent in a hermitage, where I live alone for the whole 40 days. The more I am alone with the Alone, the more I surrender to ambivalence, to happy contradictions and seeming inconsistencies in myself and almost everything else, including God. Paradoxes don’t scare me anymore.” https://onbeing.org/blog/richard-rohr-utterly-humbled-by-mystery/?fbclid=IwAR0S32QTPqTU3_rT4OA4WvaYmlb-P-XqUeoZqBq8929r4M02GJstfDAtX5s
The trinity is beautiful in its complexity as is our reading from Romans which sounds more complicated than it actually is. Our reading from Romans begins with Paul writing, “Therefore since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1 – 2) We are justified by God sounds like we have to complete a series of skill testing questions to receive it. But the opposite is true. It means do nothing to earn God’s love. It is a gift offered to us daily.
Dr. David Lose in his blog “In the Meantime” writes, “…I am also struck by Paul’s insistence that it’s precisely because we have the peace of God through justification that we can endure almost anything, and not just endure but grow stronger and find hope. Justification is nothing less or more than the promise that God accepts you as you are not because of who you are or what you have done, not because of what you might become or do, not because of who you have promised to be or what you have pledged to do, but that God accepts you because that’s who God is and what God does – justify the ungodly in order that we might know peace and turn in love to extend the same grace, mercy, and acceptance to those around us.” (http://www.davidlose.net/2016/05/trinity-c-shh-dont-mention-the-trinity/)
And because we are justified (read loved and accepted) we can get through times of challenge and suffering. No magic wands. No instant cures. Through faith we are not alone. God is with us. In our most challenging times we are sustained by the prayers of our brothers and sisters in faith and by their acts of kindness and support. A friend of mine is going through a difficult time, he recently shared this, “If any of you wonder whether thoughts and prayers matters as you send messages our way, let me say YES. It creates a wonderful sense of warmth and comfort know that we are surrounded by a host of people who care, love and support.” Part of the reason for joining a community of faith is to be sustained by those prayers – and to sustain others in our prayers.
Paul says, “And not only that, but we also boast in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3 – 5)
That is the good news on this day of weighty theological ideas of trinity and justification. We have a hope and because there is hope we can find our way through the most challenging times and we don’t do it alone. God is is with us loving us just as we are, we sustained by the Spirit we follow in Jesus’ way of love. On this amazing journey, we have brothers and sisters in faith. Sometimes we are held in prayer and other times we hold others in prayer.
Together we make our prayer, in the words of the hymn Three Things I Promise, “Revive and guide me living God, as day by day until my death, I bless your name, and cling to Christ and listen for the Spirit’s breath.” Amen.
What Cochrane Street and the United Church mean to me
Our newest members share their thoughts on becoming members of Cochrane Street United Church and The United Church of Canada
Commissioning and Benediction
I can still remember it the day clearly. It was toward the end of our 30 day journey in Israel Palestine. The sun was beating down on us and I’d left my hat at the convent where we were staying. We’d just left the sheltered beauty Dominus Pater which is the place we remember Jesus teaching the disciples the Lord’s prayer. The next stop on the journey was the Mosque of the Ascension.
As you enter the courtyard there is a small chapel and inside it you will find a square box sunk into the ground. In centre of the box, there is rock in it that is said to be the last place Jesus touched the earth before ascending into heaven. Some said they could see the footprint of Jesus still in that rock. I don’t know if it was the heat getting to me, but I looked at that rock and couldn’t see the shape of a footprint and my only thought was, “really?” I think my younger self was less comfortable with good mystery. I missed the point of the place. It is a place to remember something holy – something mysterious. So much of faith is that tension between concrete proof and the great mysteries which are yet to be unraveled.
The disciples are in that same kind of in between in our reading. They aren’t really sure what’s going on. We’ve had 7 weeks since Easter. But for the disciples the timeline is so much shorter. We are still in the 24thchapter of Luke. Verse one has Mary heading to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week. She still doesn’t know about the resurrection! As today’s reading begins, the disciples are still talking about the news from Cleopas and how Jesus appeared to them on the road to Emmaus. It is into this conversation that Jesus steps in, and says, “Peace be with you.” (Luke 24:36). Luke writes, “[The disciples] were startled and terrified, and thought they were seeing a ghost.” (Luke 24:37)
Even though Jesus started with offering his peace they still don’t really understand what they are seeing or what is happening. Jesus says to them, “Look at my heads and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” Then Jesus asks them if they have something to eat, and like good church people of all generations, they sit down and eat together. And after they eat, Jesus reminds them of that the Messiah is the one who must suffer and die and then on the third day rise. Then Jesus offers them a promise, “And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49)
They walk as far as Bethany, Jesus lifts up his hands and blesses them as he is being carried up to heaven. And this is what is so important to remember – Jesus last act on earth is blessing. It is fitting in the book of Acts, the book that tells us about the early days of the Christian community, that Jesus last act is an invitation to be witnesses of the good news. Jesus says to the disciples, “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:7 – 8)
I love that Jesus two last acts on earth are just how we closes worship every week – commissioning – you are my witnesses and benediction – he raises his arms in blessing. These two things summarize our calling as a people of faith. We are blessed and with that blessing in hand we go to bear witness to that blessing.
Luke doesn’t tell us what the blessing is, but yesterday as I watched the funeral for the well know Christian author Rachel Held Evans, I wonder if this blessing written by Nadia Bolz-Webber might be what Jesus says to us today:
“Blessed are the agnostics. Blessed are they who doubt. Blessed are those who have nothing to offer. Blessed are the preschoolers who cut in line at communion. Blessed are the poor in spirit. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.
Blessed are those whom no one else notices. The kids who sit alone at middle-school lunch tables. The laundry guys at the hospital. The sex workers and the night-shift street sweepers. The closeted. The teens who have to figure out ways to hide the new cuts on their arms. Blessed are the meek. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.
Blessed are they who have loved enough to know what loss feels like. Blessed are the mothers of the miscarried. Blessed are they who can’t fall apart because they have to keep it together for everyone else. Blessed are those who “still aren’t over it yet.” Blessed are those who mourn. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.
I imagine Jesus standing here blessing us because that is our Lord’s nature. This Jesus cried at his friend’s tomb, turned the other cheek, and forgave those who hung him on a cross. He was God’s Beatitude— God’s blessing to the weak in a world that admires only the strong.
Jesus invites us into a story bigger than ourselves and our imaginations, yet we all get to tell that story with the scandalous particularity of this moment and this place. We are storytelling creatures because we are fashioned in the image of a storytelling God. May we never neglect that gift. May we never lose our love for telling the story. Amen. (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/4f63ddf524ac9f2c23f422a4/t/5cf14dfef9a0200001213a84/1559318017238/Funeral_Liturgy_for_Rachel.pdf)
Questions?
Miriam:
Some questions, like the ones in our reading from Genesis help us or others remember who they really are. Let me set the scene for you. Abraham is visited by two strangers – angels, heavenly beings maybe. After Abraham provides hospitality they tell him the good news – he is going to be a father! Sarah is going to have a baby. From the moment Abraham first asked, “What’s in it for me?” this has been God’s promise. Sarah heard about it and laughed. Then we find out that the strangers are on another mission. God is not happy with the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Let’s be clear, the age old tale that God is unhappy with the people of Sodom and Gomorrah because of homosexuality is just that, a tale. As Samuel Giere writes, the real problem is, “Inhospitality. Greed. Theft. Deception. Disregard of the poor and the orphan. Inhumanity.” (https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2935) In short they show no mercy.
In verse 17, God has a little chat with himself wondering whether or not he should tell Abraham what is going to happen in Sodom and Gomorrah. After some deliberation, God tells Abraham of the coming destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The guests head to Sodom and Abraham stays with the Lord. Abraham draws near to God and says, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty who are in it? For be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Fare be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (Genesis 18:23 – 25)
Oliver:
What a question! I wonder if God paused before answering Abraham? God says, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake.” (Genesis 18:26) Abraham doesn’t stop there. He keeps going. “But God what if five of the 50 are not quit up to par? Will you still go ahead with the destruction?” God says, “For 45 righteous, I will not destroy the city.” With every questions Abraham is forcing God to remember who he is. There is a wonderful word that is often used in the bible for God – in Hebrew it is Hesed – it means loving kindness. It is the way God loves us. Abraham seems to think that God has lost sight of Hesed – loving kindness. So he keeps up the questions until reaches the final conclusion, “For the sake of only 10, I won’t destroy the city.” (Genesis 18:32). Then the two part ways.
Miriam:
Questions can help us remember who we are and whose we are. The disciples are certainly experts in asking questions and getting the answers, very, very wrong. But that doesn’t stop them from asking more!
In our gospel reading this morning, we hear a great question from Thomas. It is in the part of John’s Gospel called the final discourse where Jesus is getting the disciples ready for a time when he will no longer be with them. Jesus just told the disciples about the many dwelling places in his Father’s house. He says to them all,
Oliver:
“You know the way to place where I am going.”
Miriam:
The disciples start to look at each other nervously, shifting in their seats, side-eyeing one another, until Thomas is brave enough to ask the awkward question that is on everybody’s mind,
Oliver:
“Uh, excuse me, Lord, we do notknow the way where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Miriam:
Sometimes in our life we have those moments of awkward questions, sometimes they are more challenging, thought provoking ones. Some give us pause for thought. Others rattle around in our brains and cause us to lose sleep. Our lives are full of questions and answers.
Oliver:
Some are practical questions:
Did I remember to take the dog out? Did I remember to pay that bill? Who is picking the kids up from school today? Wait, was it supposed to be me?
Miriam:
Some are more personal, inward thinking questions:
Am I following the crowd or am I doing what I know deep down is right? Am I a good example to those around me? Is this the life that I want to be living? Am I being too hard on myself?
Oliver:
Others are questions you might ask of others:
Did you do your homework? Did you remember to get juice on your way home today? How much longer can we continue doing this? How can I help you?
Miriam:
Some are questions we might ask of God:
Why is there so much suffering in the world? What do you want me to do? Why me, O God?
Oliver:
Often the answers come easy, other times challenging, but sometimes it can seem like there is no answer at all. We can ask questions like “Where have you laid him?” and find unexpected resurrection as the answer. We can be like Abram and ask, “Lord, what will you give me?” and see what is in it for ourselves. Even Jesus had questions, he asked if the cup could be taken away from him. On the cross he wondered why God had seemingly abandoned him, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”
In our reading today, Thomas wants to know to know what we want to know.
Miriam:
“Lord, we do notknow the way where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Oliver:
How can we know other than by asking those tough questions? How can we enter into deeper relationship with each other and with God without asking those questions? How can we know if we do not ask? Are there questions that you’ve always wondered about?
Miriam:
Over the summer here at Cochrane we’re going to be doing a sermon series on your questions of faith, the things that puzzle and perplex you, the things that keep you up at night, the things that you’ve always wondered about. Perhaps have been afraid to ask because you assume that everyone else already knows the answer. It might be something that is simple or it might be something that you might think is controversial. We want to hear your “hot topics;” your wonderings. We invite you to be like Thomas and to ask those questions that are burning on your hearts.
Oliver:
In your bulletin you’ll find a blank sheet on the opposite side of the list of questions we’ve provided for you. We invite you to write down the question or questions of faith that you have. There might be something that you know right away, or you might want to take some time to think about it. You can submit as many questions as you like, and we will choose from those to form our summer sermon series.
Miriam:
The pathway of faith may not always take the way that we expect, through the methods that we want, or in questions that are convenient. Perhaps one early morning to you find yourself at the empty tomb, with the stone rolled away asking, “Where have you laid him?” only to find new life and resurrection.
Oliver
For that good news, thanks be to God! Alleluia! Amen.
Love One Another
Just over a month ago, Christians around the world gathered to hear this passage that we just heard from John’s gospel. They sat in large cathedrals and simple rooms, and heard this call of love – this new commandment, “Love one another, as I have loved you.”
When I heard this reading last month I was in a small Anglican church in downtown Toronto, it was almost filled to capacity with people that represented the true diversity of the city -- students and seniors, people with various gender identities, a diversity of cultures and backgrounds, members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community, people with varying levels of physical ability, street people and the 1%. Many of us did not look alike, or sound alike; we did not have the same experiences in life, nor would we all return to the same comforts and luxuries when we returned home. But for that time of worship, when we sat with each other in that small sanctuary, we were united by the call of Jesus Christ to love each other – wildly and unconditionally – and so we did. We humbled ourselves before each other and we kneeled and lovingly washed each other’s feet and had our own feet washed – we shared together a simple meal of bread and wine – we prayed with one another for our world, our community, for each other, and for ourselves. Strangers, friends, family; professors, lawyers, prostitutes, and drug addicts all became united in the life and love of Jesus Christ. We truly heard and acted out the call, “Love one another, as I have loved you.”
It was of course, Maundy Thursday, and this story in John’s gospel is the “Manudy” part of that day – Maundy refers to that new commandment of love. On that evening in Toronto, it was my profound wish that our gathering had indeed changed the whole world – “Love one another, as I have loved you, by this everyone will know that you are my disciples,” I wished that as those words poured out from Jesus, about to be betrayed, about to be crucified – I prayed that those words had impacted each one of us that sat in that room who heard, remembered, and celebrated the story of Christ’s death and resurrection. But it didn’t.
I left that sanctuary that evening with such a feeling of the Holy Spirit’s presence; so sure that those words had finally become etched permanently upon my heart, but I’m positive that as I walked to the subway station the next morning I passed by homeless people that I had worshiped alongside just hours previously without giving them a second glance. I boarded the subway and mumbled under my breath as I saw the only free seat being taken up by someone’s backpack; I was not interested in loving my neighbour, I was interested in myself, my own comforts, my own needs – I’m sure I was not alone. We all hear these words, we all strive to live up to these words, to live out these words, to embody these words – but when it comes down to it, we fail to love each other. Truly living out the call of Jesus Christ is difficult.
Today, on this Fifth Sunday of Easter, we hear this passage again – and as I read it this week I was amazed at Jesus’ strength of character in this passage. Judas had just left to betray him to the Roman authorities, Jesus had announced that he knows that Peter will deny him three times. It would be perfectly reasonable for Jesus to give a lengthy speech about the consequences of evil, about loyalty – but instead, Jesus gives us this new commandment. In the face of certain death and abandonment by his friends, Jesus gives us this, “Love one another, as I have loved you.”
How I wish these words would penetrate all of humanity. Day after day I continue to be dismayed at the growing divisions and polarizations in our world. I look around and I see laws being enacted by states that oppress the rights of women, stating that they are protecting the sanctity of all life, while later that day those same states execute prisoners on death row. I see people saying that Canada should have allowed more people fleeing the Nazis in World War II to come to Canada, while also stating that those who are currently fleeing from genocide and war in their own countries should “go back to where they came from.” I see a world where we are becoming increasingly afraid of people who look, speak, and act, differently than we do, just because we do not understand. And in particular, my struggle with these situations is the lack of compassion, consideration, and love. What is our role as Christians and people of faith in this increasingly divisive world? Have we not heard the call of Jesus Christ to “Love one another, as [he] has loved us?” Have we not heard? Or do we simply not care? // The theologian D.A. Carlson puts it best, “this new commandment is simple enough for a toddler to memorize and appreciate, and it is profound enough that the most mature believers are repeatedly embarrassed at how poorly they comprehend it and put it into practice.”
It is easy for us to brush that off though, we can say that we are different. We can have the attitude that we think differently – that we are above that type of thought and behaviour. We can say that our church is different, that we are welcoming. But if we are honest with ourselves, we know that we are not perfect either. We, too, have boundaries, structures, and attitudes that prevent us from fully living out that call to “Love one another” – so where on earth do we start?
There was a small city in the Midwestern United States that was experiencing a massive issue with poverty. So the local churches in the area decided to do something about it. Congregations came up with a plan and there were concerts, dinners, fundraisers of all sorts put together to raise money for those that were in need. The congregations each struck a committee from its membership to decide how to use the money that had been raised – some thought that a community centre was needed, others resources for the food bank, some decided they would buy gifts cards to distribute. All good ideas. Every congregation raised money and decided what to do with it, except for one. The members of the smallest congregation decided to forgo all of this, instead they took their own money and went to the local pizzeria and bought an incredible amount of pizza. Then they took it into the area of town where people were struggling, and they went to peoples homes, they sat on the sidewalks, and they shared food and talked to the people who were in need. They actually asked them, “What do you need?” rather than assuming that they knew what was best for them. They embodied the ministry style of Jesus Christ, who sat with all kinds of different people and shared a meal. They took this idea of loving one another, loving their neighbours seriously – this church became known for their way of love.
It’s a simple command, to love, and I hope that everyone in this room this morning has truly known what means to be loved. That is what this is about, it is Jesus’ reminding us of how much he loves us – and of how much God loves us – and because of that love, we might be empowered to love others, extending God’s love through word and deed, and in this way love others as Jesus has loved us. We don’t have to do it perfectly to do it meaningfully. Even as we remember those who have loved us, we can probably acknowledge that while their love was not perfect, its impact was powerful.
Jesus said, “everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” And that is what we are called to do. That is who we are called to be. To be powerful in our way of love. We do not have to do it perfectly, but we must strive to do our utmost. Throughout history human beings have made mistakes, and frankly, some terrible choices, and in our own lives we have made mistakes, too. We have failed to live up to that call to follow in the way of love. However, if we actually engage with Jesus’ New Commandment, if we do our utmost, if we actually begin to live as Jesus has taught us, if we truly have those words etched on our hearts, then we will be known for that. As Jesus’ said, “everyone will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
So let us show love in the way that we care for our planet, not abusing resources and having dominion over it, but instead being good stewards of God’s creation.
Let us show love in how we respect all human beings, regardless of age, gender identity, health, race, sexual orientation, differing abilities, or economic circumstance. Let us love each and every beloved child of God for who they are.
Let us show love by giving from our abundance and privilege to lift up and empower others in our world.
Let us show love by making sure that women have the right to control their own bodies, and dismantling patriarchal structures that view them as inferior, rather than as equal and immeasurably valuable.
Let us love by welcoming those who are different from us, by engaging with the refugee and the stranger, encountering the unknown through dialogue and compassion, as Jesus would have us do.
Let us love by doing what is right, what is good, what is just, what is true; let us love by truly living out Jesus’ commandment to “love one another, as [he] has loved us.”
In this world of divide and division, let us walk hand in hand with one another, working in love to encourage and build everyone up in unity. Let us show our love for one another. Let us be known as Jesus desired us to be known: as individuals, as a community, as a church – may we be known by our love. Let us love, because Jesus Christ first loved us.
For that Good News. Thanks be to God. Alleluia! Amen.
The Good Shepherd
The fourth Sunday after Easter is always “Good Shepherd Sunday.” The image of the good shepherd is central to our faith. Just think of all the times the image of the shepherd is used in scripture. There is the young David who goes into battle against the giant Goliath. He tried to wear the battle armour belonging to his brothers but it just didn’t fit. Instead he goes out into the field with nothing but what he’d take in the field as a shepherd – a sling and five rocks. There is the book of Revelation that reminds us that we will hunger no more and thirst no more for the Lamb who is at the centre of the throne will be our shepherd and guide us to springs of water and wipe ever tear from our eyes. (Revelation 7:17) Think of the shepherds on that first Christmas who left their fields to follow the angels promise of Good News.
Woven throughout the book of Psalms is image as God as the shepherd who leads us. The best known are the words of 23rdPsalm, “Then Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want….” There is the wonderful but confusing parable of the shepherd who is missing one sheep and goes out searching for it and when he finds it comes home rejoicing. Then there is one of my personal favourites, John 21, just after that beautiful breakfast on the beach with broiled fish and bread. Jesus turns to Simon Peter and says, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21: 15) And Peter always keen to please says, “Yes, Lord, you know I do.” Jesus says, “Feed my lambs” (John 21:15) Jesus turns to Peter a second time again, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (John 21:16) Now Peter is starting to wonder if Jesus is doubting him or didn’t take him seriously the first time. Peter says, “You know I love you.” Jesus looks Peter in the eyes and says, “Shepherd my sheep.” (John 21:16). Just when Simon Peter thinks it’s time to go, Jesus turns to him a third time and asks him if he loves him. Peter can’t understand what Jesus is talking about now. He stands up and cries, “You know everything there is to know. You’ve got to know that I love you.” (John 21:17) One last time Jesus says, “feed my sheep.”
And if you flip back a few chapters in John you get our reading for today, Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. …My sheep recognize my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them real and eternal life.” (John 10: 14, 27 – 28). When we imagine the task of the shepherd I think we imagine gentle pastures and flowing brooks. The life of the shepherd in 1 century Palestine was grueling. There are no gentle green fields and water is scarce. Danger lurked at every turn. When we hear the promise of the Good Shepherd it is the promise of one who will guard our lives – who will seek out food and water even when it is hard to find and who will find us when we are lost or separated from the flock. It is the promise of the one who will never leave us behind.
Dr. Karoline Lewis writes, “Jesus does not all of a sudden or out of the blue decide that describing himself as a shepherd is a good idea. He’s on a mission. A John 3:16 mission. A John 10:16 mission. He’s brought the blind man into his fold. And with only one more miracle left in his pocket, the disciples need to know that they are his mission, too. Jesus as shepherd in John is the one “I AM” that holds intimacy and apostolicity together. That holds the extraordinary tension of John 20:30-31 together -- this book is meant both to sustain your believing and invite new believers. That holds “come and see” and “as the Father has sent me, so also I send you” together. That is, in Jesus as the Shepherd is revealed both our identity and our calling.” (https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=5326)
This why, on the fourth Sunday of Easter, every year, we take time to reflect on the Good Shepherd. It is the heart of the Easter Story. When we are lost we will be found. We are fully known and fully loved. We are invited to share that love with others. We do this trusting that our Good Shepherd leads the way and we are never alone. In the words of our opening hymn, “O to grace how great a debtor daily I am drawn anew! Let that grace now like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to you. Prone to wander, I can feel it, wander from the love I’ve known. Here’s my heart of take and seal it for your very own.” (Voices United #559 Come, O Fount of Every Blessing). Amen.