Sunday, May 17, 2020 - Easter VI

The Spirit of Truth

Our first reading today from 1 Peter, offers us a great deal to ponder upon …..Psalm 66 instructs us to make a joyful noise , to praise God, our Gospel from John 14 brings us full circle and calls us to live into the pledge of our baptism…

the pledge of a clear conscience toward God…

A call to live in the Spirit of Truth…

This takes courage… this take determination…. This takes faith! We see and hear this in the teaching of Jesus and the disciples. Especially in the Gospel of John

I am the way, the truth and the light…

We do not connect to the divine by doing and saying whatever words are driven by the emotion of the day or a particular moment. Such words rarely serve us well, nor do they draw us to the path of Christ… The Jesus way.

This is not to say that those around Christ did not have doubts. Thomas has been labeled with his own saying…when someone acts in an unsure way, or whoever is not on board with whatever the plan is, they frequently receive the label of being “a doubting Thomas.”

Yet must our faith be blind? Uncensored by the ability to think and reason clearly…. uncensored by a discerning heart and soul?

Like the disciples, sometimes we do not see clearly; at times we do not hear with our heart. At times we do not speak in a manner that respects…

the pledge of a clear conscience toward God…The call to live in the Spirit of Truth

Not to dwell for an extended period of time on politics… however these are interesting and uncharted times. As the tragedy of COVID 19 continues to unfold here in Canada and around the world, we see leaders who move with care and compassion, doing their very best to live into the Spirit of Truth; that is before them. It is a pandemic of epic proportions that cuts across all social economic classes and kills without regard. Yet the vulnerable have paid a horrific price with their lives.

In some countries, the regard and sanctity of life and the role of science is pushed aside. The most prominent of these being Brazil and the United States. In Brazil, Nelson Teich, their health minister of a month, has resigned. He dared speak the truth about what it will take to keep people safe. In the Portuguese news, he used strong language; suggesting that president as lethal a virus as the COVID 19 virus.

South of our border we had unprecedented steps taken in the media yesterday. There is a long standing policy that former presidents do not comment on sitting presidents and their work. We saw President Obama brush this aside with graciousness and some humor, speaking into the truth of what is at play in his country. People are needlessly becoming ill and dying because of lack of leadership… and because of a lack of truth.

These are the words of someone who can rest no more…Obama is in a position to call to task those who are not speaking into the Spirit of Truth, and he has done so.

The question I pose to you is:

How hard should we push to honour the pledge of a clear conscience toward God?

Do we become the village tattle tale, naming every offence, positioning ourselves as the judge and corrector of all truths? Perhaps not, as that would become super annoying and by the end of the day or week, no one would talk to us or have us near. This is about setting the intention to move with a truthful heart, to move a sincere way of being in the world, for there walks Christ, and we with Him. Amen.

Sunday, May 3, 2020 - Easter IV

“A Joyous Entrance through the Shepherd’s Gate”

In our first reading and in our Gospel this morning we are charged with many difficult tasks and options that may not have much appeal to us….options that, in a northern climate, may not make a lot of sense

“They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”

This is a theme that is heard many times in the New Testament…giving away our possessions so that others might have what they need. Clearly it does not make much sense to give away one’s only winter coat or warm boots. We would surly freeze to death or end up with frostbite on our feet. However we must wrestle ourselves into the question: “ How much is enough?”  Have we sorted out the difference between need, want and desire?

The call in our first reading is to share. To break bread with each other; to share what we have so as to ensure there is enough for all. The abundance of creation actually does provide enough for all, it is we humans who have created an unbalanced equation on our planet.

Jesus is unequivocal in his statement

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

How do we understand a life that is full. If it is simply having lots’ of stuff, all that we want to eat, all of our favorite toys and music and art and leisure activities and houses and cars and a high paying job….we have missed the boat. We have not seen the “ open gate” that leads to a life that is balanced and full… a life filled with Sprit, led by the example that Christ put before us.

I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.

In Christ we will find peace, a way balanced with grace and stillness, a joyful way of being in the world.

The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.  The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice.

So…are we listening? Have we heard the shepherds voice? Have we sought out the gate to the pasture that is Jesus? It takes discipline and intention. It s a life long journey. The cool things about the gate…is that it is always open.  we are free to come and go as we please. We can dance in the pasture, we can enter joyously or hide in the shadows… the choice is our to make. It does not need a huge banner or trumpets in the sky to announce that we are ready to enter his gates with  thanksgiving.

However each time we spend time in prayer, offering care and kindness, moving with compassion in the world world, acting without judgment, placing others first….we are dancing in the pasture…we have made yet another joyous entrance through the shepherd’s gate.

It is a life long journey

Sunday, April 19, 2020 - Easter II

Sunday, April 12, 2020 - Easter Sunday

Love One Another

Once again I would like to welcome everyone and thank them for being with us this morning. By this time we would usually have completed our first service and had an Easter breakfast together. These are not usual time. This is an Easter unlike any other we all have journeyed through. The parallels with COVID 19 and the world within Christ moved on a daily basis have much to teach us.

Tragedy and high death due to disease were not uncommon…to have many without access to medicine, to have shortages of food and basics need to sustain life….the descriptors ,equipment and foodstuffs may have changed, but out basic needs have not….

I offer daily prayers of thanks that I/ we are blessed to live in Canada, knowing or imagining that if I or one of our congregants were to fall ill, they would be offered the very best care that is available, regardless of which neighborhood we call home, that the ambulance will take us even if we don’t have private insurance or a visa card with a $10,000 limit…in this matter we are truly blessed

Yet we can do more…. we can do better.

There are vulnerable sections of our population who are at risk, many who provide us with essential services have risked much these past weeks…at first not having gloves and masks or partitions in grocery stores at the cash….our front line health care workers in hospitals’, long term care facilities , shelters not having the PPE to work safe, keep safe and ensure their clients and patients are kept safe.

Now is a time of care….now is a time of extraordinary generosity…the weeks and months ahead will strain us…yet we must press on, sharing our stories, listening with both heart and ears, little gestures really count…each piece of kindness that you can add to the abundance of good will is a joyous event. Check up on each other…check up on family, neighbours and friends, minimize our travels and keep safe distance. Our patience is being tested….Jesus did not give up on us…we must not give up on each other

Jesus laid down his life for us, and in this extraordinary gesture he called upon us to love one another…we have no time to wait…the time is now….love one another….be creative…be thoughtful….rejoice…for Christ is Risen this day. It is an extraordinary day and we are so blessed with your company and care. Amen

Sunday, April 5, 2020 - Palm Sunday Worship

Envy and Fear

Isaiah sets the stage for the ministry and crucifixion of Christ in 6 short verses: we are told that he will challenge the people, he will teach the people, he will show them wisdom that will sustain, he will open us to hear in new ways, he will open my eyes to see that which was before me that I simply had not noticed before.

Isaiah lays before us a major tenant of the Ministry of Jesus…turn the other cheek…be fearless in your pursuit of faith…no matter what you do you will not lose face or the grace of God because the Spirit is with you.

The fire and passion of faith will ignite in others simply by being in the presence of Christ or having faith in and like him.

I shall set my face like flint…

Courage and vindication to those who believe…God is always near…God is the vindicator…

Then a question is posed…who will bring charges against me? Who is the accuser?

This is followed by affirmation. God is always there to help!

It is the sovereign Lord who helps me.

What will happen to the accusers?

They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.

The images and words engaged by Isaiah to share his prophecy are vivid and full of life…they are full of things familiar to people of his time…yet still ring true centuries later…this is inspired writing…writing that dances upon our ears, hearts, souls, eyes and minds…stirring a yearning for understanding…a wondering of who this amazing one will be.

I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; Then He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed.

So I pose the question to all here and for all to hear; have we allowed our ear to be woken…have we continued to “that one more thing” that is asked of us…even when we are tried and grumpy…even when we have said: “Lord I cannot bear one more thing to go wrong in my day…”

Isaiah has set the grand stage for the coming of Christ with inspired words that teach and instruct… with inspired words that open our very being to that which is in front of us and that which will transform us; that which will keep us connected to the divine.

In our reading from Matthew we hear the story of Palm Sunday…the jubilation and joy…which we shared at the beginning of our service…re-imagine the walk through Jerusalem…palms in the air and upon the ground…we sought to reflect this is our words and songs this day as we gathered.

Our moods and emotions will shift through this week… On Thursday we will recall the Last Supper… the washing of the feet…powerful symbols of service offered to us… the importance of the Passover meal which is expressed in Christianity through the remembrance of the Last Supper. As believers in Christ who celebrate their faith in community, the sharing of hospitality is an important time for our community…a way of being together…nourishing each other through food as well as our presence for and with each other.

The story we hear in our Gospel from Matthew, is harsh and brutal. It is one that emanates from fear that which is not quite understood, fear of losing power and control…and envy…Jesus, this prophet and preacher from Nazareth, was gathering crowds …teaching and preaching…this was a task set aside for the elite of the day… the educated class who controlled the temples…Jesus was a threat to the system…He was upsetting the proverbial apple cart. He was the son of a poor carpenter… a nobody who should not be able to draw crowds and have followers and perform miracles… so they looked and watched and snarled and grimaced…jealously eating away at their souls until they could not stand it and had him arrested.

We must always remember that emotions are temporal things… anger… fear and jealously, while experienced as visceral and real… will pass…breathe it in… breathe it out…we must not hold them tight within our core being, as these particular Pharisees did…we must not live it…we must let it go…

We are human and will experience profoundly deep emotions that will drive us, taunt us and haunt us…control us …call us to act and do things that may not be helpful to our very well being… we are human, we have choice…the call of Christ from the cross is to seek out choices and ways of living that are life giving… that lift our spirits, voices and souls to the heaven; that connect us deeply to the divine life force that burns within us all…

Christ’s call to us to indeed, turn the other cheek…to drop everything that binds us and holds us back… to come and follow him…in life and in death…walking through the streets of Jerusalem with palms on the ground and palms in the air… to the foot of the cross…that is where our Palm Sunday Journey will take us. Amen

Sunday, January 26, 2020 - Following The Wind...

Sermon - January 26, 2020

Following The Wind…

1 Corinthians 1: 10-18 Matthew 4: 12-23

Gentle or strong, warm, chilly or cold….the wind is always with us…so too is our faith…so to is Christ…no matter what our mood or desire, Jesus does not turn from us…rather it tends to be us who make great choices, or not…who make choices that are rested and vested in faith… or not.

Yet many, if not perhaps all of us, have had moments when we would like to be like the leaf, or snowflake or kite…blown aimlessly wherever the wind might take us….the freedom of not making decision, of letting the wind pick us up and deposit us at our next destination without the hassle of  having to make an active choice….

Are there moments when we, as adults, still yearn for the teenage joy of throwing on a backpack, getting on a train or a bus, with no fixed destination? The joy of adventure, with relatively minor upfront commitment.

In today’s gospel we hear of such an adventure.

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.  “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

And in a moment, without hesitation, Peter and Andrew were in the wind…they left their job…they left their family…they left their friends… they left their way of life…to start a- fresh…to start anew…to walk to foreign lands with strangers they did not know.

They were called to take flight…as we too are called to take flight…to follow the divine wind of faith that blows through creation each and every moment; yet is so frequently ignored…to tagged as something we will get to later…call me back…I might be interested next week…this week I am too busy to follow Jesus or be a faithful Christian.

Peter and Andrew did not wait…did not hesitate…did not chat….did not send a a text to friends…or check review on yelp or google…they did not tweet…or snap a photo for instagram…or contemplate the heading to go with the pic for their facebook page..

They dropped their nets and left….touched to the core by what they had heard and seen in the man from Galilee…Jesus the healer…the fisher of men and women.

To yearn for such a deep, instantaneous revelation that changes one’s life in such an extreme way. In a flash they turned their life inside out…

Sometimes we do need to follow the wind…to make dramatic change…to confess to ourselves and those around us that we follow a Christian path… that we yearn for connection to the divine and seek it out. This is what brought you through the door today…and will do so again…follow the wind. It will lead you to divine places…quiet places…joyful places…places to nurse your grief in times of sadness…places to be joyful for every minute with which we are blessed…follow the wind and discover the divine. Amen