Truth Comes to Me at the Fence Post

 

Before I go on a journey, particularly if it involves airplane travel, I take time to find a novel to take along. I try to find a piece of fiction that is engaging and is long enough to last through long waits in airports. It is sometimes read while on the plane. I can read for hours, completely at home in the story. Time passes quickly and is enjoyable.

 

Matt Haig, in his book, Notes on a Nervous Planet, writes:

In a world that can get too much, a world where we are running out of mind space, fictional worlds are essential. They can be an escape from reality, yes, but not an escape from the truth. Quite the opposite. In the “real” world, I used to struggle with fitting in. The codes you had to follow. The lies you had to tell. The laughs you had to fake. Fiction felt not like an escape from truth but a release into it. Even if its was a truth with monsters or talks of bears, there was always some kind of truth there. A truth that could keep you sane, or at least you you.

For me reading was never an antisocial activity. It was deeply social. It was the most profound kind of socializing there was. A deep connection to the imagination of another human being. A way to connect without the many filters society normally demands.

Reading … is important because it gives you room to exist beyond the reality you’re given. It is how humans merge. How minds connect. Dreams. Empathy. Understanding. Escape.

Reading is love in action. (-pg238-9)

 

Reading is love in action. Haig describes for me what the long readings of the Lent cycle and Holy Week are all about. Jesus is into the telling of parables – stories wherein we are released into truth- we experience a deep connection to the imagination of God; a room beyond our known and experienced reality. A place of possibilities and hope. Love in action. We are surrounded by God’s expansive imagination and truth in the parable of the fig tree. The parable of the prodigal son. The Passion narrative.

 

I don’t know about you, but every time I come to the story of the prodigal son, I fall into it in a different place. I hear and experience new truths, learning much about myself as a human being and where I am in life and my relationships with others. I become aware of where I am stuck in not living God’s covenant fully. The prodigal son parable is like falling into a therapy session. And because I know the story and the characters it feels like a safe place to wander because at the conclusion of the story, I always come away with feeling that the reading is love in action – big love, God love.

 

I have a good friend who explores scripture by imagining themself in the Gospel story. They insert themself in the story as they are in their everyday life. While in the story they talk with the characters, work alongside them, and participate in whatever is going on. When my friend talks about these journeys I am amazed with the deep conversations they have with Jesus. My friend often says, “So, I asked Jesus about that.” Then they tell me about what wisdom they encountered; the truth that was present. They drop themselves into the story with the expectation that their experience with Jesus will change them  - their perspective, their understanding, their capacity; their ability to love and be loved. What a powerful way to enter the Gospel --- God’s story.

 

Haig, in his writing, draws on his experience of mental illness and depression. The reading of fiction is one of the ways he finds healing and wholeness. He writes, “Find a good book. And sit down and read it. There will be times in our life when you’ll feel lost and confused. The way back to yourself is through reading. I want to remember that. The more you read, the more you will know how to find your way through those difficult times.” _pg266

 

We have a good book. In fact, we have many good books, all in one book – the Bible. This year, the focus is on the Book of Luke and Luke’s telling of the Gospel story. Luke is a master storyteller. His characters are everyday people, living everyday lives, with everyday emotions. The stories are understandably human. What appear to be very human stories are waiting for us to fall into them – to read and relax into truth. What we find is that the stories, while being very human, are rich with the presence of God.

 

This year, as I relaxed into the story of the prodigal son, and walked around in it, I rested at the gate of the farm. The prodigal son returns: I saw him coming down the road. The father whoops and hollers loudly when he sees the son. Shortly thereafter there is a whole lot of commotion. Large groups of birds are disturbed and fly in circling masses. Hired hands scurry all over the farm gathering the fixings to host a celebration, a party with food and dancing. People from the neighbouring countryside are issued invitations, as the word spreads people start streaming to the farm. At the gate I see and hear the makings of a party. There is movement and work all over the estate, along with the noise of that work. I smell the food cooking. The dust from the road catches in my throat as it swirls behind carts and wagons. It seems everyone has heard about the party --- except for an oblivious older son, who doesn’t realize until he pretty much stumbles in the door of the farmhouse. It is impossible to believe that he had no idea, that his senses missed it all. How did he miss the excitement and enthusiasm, the commotion and the preparation?

This is when Truth joins me at the fence post and taps me on the shoulder and asks me, “are you oblivious?”

 

I pause because I cast my gaze on the party at hand. I saw the son come home. I felt the joy of the father and the love given to the returning son. I was present in the commotion. I witnessed the daftness of the elder son.

Truth, has not let go of my shoulder, and whispers, “To what are you oblivious? What is God doing? Where is love? Where is there rejoicing? Where is there extravagant hospitality?” Truth whispers it as fact, I am oblivious even though I pride myself on being keenly observant.

Truth turns and stands in front of me and looking me in the eye, looking deep inside and repeats, “what are you missing?”

 In this later half of Lent, Truth asks me to step away from being preoccupied in work and daily tasks, being consumed by world crisis, from being self-absorbed, and to pay attention to a present God who is hosting welcome home parties all over the neighbourhood, inviting me to come, and use my hands to participate with excitement and enthusiasm in the commotion and preparation for the celebrations.

Truth has spoken to me through the Gospel story.

 

This Sunday in Lent we are given a gift of story. I encourage you to return to story of the prodigal son and the rejoicing father, Luke 15 starting at verse 11, place yourself in the story, be released into truth – and find what Truth says to you. Pick up the Gospel of Luke, sit down and read it. As you read, find the way back to yourself, make deep connections in all relationships, be healed by the presence of God, and be inspired by love in action, to be God’s love in action.

 

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Time Flies!

 Time flies!

It certainly feels that way for many of us. Perhaps we have crammed so much into our days that it feels like we have not enough time. Or time seems shorter because as we age it takes longer to complete tasks. Maybe we sense the earth’s drift closer to the sun and note that every few years clock time is readjusted by a few seconds because it takes less time for the earth to circle the sun.

Time flies!

In New Denmark, NB, our Lutheran siblings have a tradition where at the end of the graveside prayers, those in the cemetery sing to the tune of Silent Night, the first verse of this Danish hymn:

Klokken slaar, tiden gaar, evigheden os forestarr…

Loosely translated and continuing: Bells strike, time passes, eternity awaits us. So, let’s use the precious time to serve our Lord with earnest diligence; then we’ll come home, then we’ll come home.

Time flies!

The scripture texts for today remark on how it is that humans spend their time.

Isaiah pointedly tells listeners that they busy themselves spending time and money on things that do not satisfy and on things that have little value. As prophets do, they berated humans for amassing wealth and failing to care and share with others. The prophet calls humans to repent… to turn away from wasting time and money.

Jesus is swarmed by a group who are spending their time gossiping about Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with sacrifices and wanting a response from Jesus.  Jesus’ response is a redirection, a turning away from gossip and fear mongering; a call of sorts to repent.

Jesus continues to refocus the conversation by pulling from the news reel of the day. The news of the tower’s collapse and the subsequent deaths was probably the consuming talk of the whole town. Jesus turns people from the news, repent; turn away.

Time flies!

In myself, I have noticed a change in how I experience scripture. As humans turn towards gossip, fear mongering, highlighting death, forgetting to care for neighbour, amassing more for themselves – including power, I hear a growing urgency in the words of Isaiah and Jesus. I sense an urgency within myself. It doesn’t take long for times to change, for that which we thought was stable to fall apart. Repent – turn around.

For Isaiah, turning around is described as: Eat what is good, incline your ear, come to me, so that you might live. Your earthly life, your time as a people is short, get on with living the covenant. For Jesus, turning around is described in the parable of the fig tree where one turns towards patience and loving and tending that which is before them.

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians describes for us a community of faith that is figuring out how to apply and live the words of Isaiah and Jesus. They are discerning repentive action: turning away, turning around, and turning towards.

Paul uses snippets of Hebrew stories to serve as examples, explaining that Hebrew scriptures were written down to instruct us, on whom the end of the ages have come. And reminding the people that No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. The scriptures referred to address fear-filled times, the end of the ages as Paul puts it, and are used to illustrate God’s continued faithfulness regardless of world and human affairs.

 

Reading the letters to the Corinthians, we note that the community is not of one mind. Although having a unity in the figure of Jesus and commonality in the following of Christ, there is a diversity of opinion on how the community goes about being a Christian community that lives in a world of idolatry and terror.

The text is very human. It reveals a proclivity for rules, a human system to determine sin and a way to judge the same. It reads pointing fingers at historical actions leading to destruction, exile, and death. In Paul’s letters there is a repeated focus on naming sin, and communities consumed in judging sin of its members, rather than living with Christ-like concern for others and being guided by this principle. It is like the parable of the fig tree, Jesus turns the focus from what is interpreted as a no-good-tree, to concern and love for the tree.

Paul does get to the point of his argument, that the community is to faithfully be on the lookout for ‘ways God will provide.’ And it might be in the most unexpected ways. The church in Corinth is a young Christian community that is different from the world around them. Most notably it is what the community will eat and not eat; these rules based in Hebrew scripture. It posed real challenges and potential danger for the Christian community, as the society in which they lived, shared and ate food sacrificed to Roman-gods. To not eat that which was offered was offensive and anti-Empire. Some ate, some didn’t, both had a theological reason for choosing the action they did, and both sides judged each other’s religiousity or sinfulness. Paul invites the community to repentive action – turning away from judging and arguing. Paul refocuses the conversation of discernment on how to live as God-followers in the world as a turn towards patience and love. Let love dictate interactions in the world.

I hear Paul’s words as an urgent plea to repent, time is flying, time is short. Repent from spending your time making a hierarchy of sin, of judging each other, and get on with covenant living, get on with loving.

Time flies!

Klokken slaar, tiden gaar, evigheden os forestarr… Bells strike, time passes, eternity awaits us.

 

I appreciated the singing of this Danish verse. To mark the end of earthly life, those gathered are reminded that time passes and eternity awaits us. Simply put, it is reminiscent of Ash Wednesday’s Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return and Jesus’ words from the cross to the thief, Today you will be with me in paradise.

The statement is simple and true.

There is certainly nothing we can do about time passing. There is nothing we can do for those who have died. There is nothing we can do to change the past. The final act of singing this verse allows one to gently be laid to rest, while mourners sing a seed of hope to move them from death to living life in the time they have.

As Isaiah, and Jesus, and Paul invite repentance and a turning towards covenant living--

So let’s use the precious time (we have) to serve our Lord with earnest diligence; then we’ll come home, then we’ll come home.

Time flies!

There is no time like the present to repent – to turn around – to turn towards living each precious moment serving our Lord with earnest diligence and with patience, loving and tending those who are around us.

 

The Mother Hen

 Can chickens fly? …

I’ll come back around to answer this question.

 

While writing this Gospel, Luke may very well have been praying or singing Psalm 91.

You who live in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress; my God in whom I trust.’ For he will deliver you from the snare of the hunter and from the deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and defense. -Ps 91: 1-4

The Psalm describes God’s shelter, or being shelter by God, as being covered by wings. Pinions – that is the outer part of a bird’s wing including the flight feathers. Enfolded in the faithfulness of God’s wings, the persons collected find refuge, fortress, and deliverance; a shield, a defense.

 

I wonder if Luke was experiencing a sense of instability in the world around him. I wonder if he had anxiety. The world at his time was filled with political posturing, Roman aggression, economic troubles, increased taxes, religious disputes, escalating violence, and growing discontent. When I read the Gospel of Luke, I wonder if some of what I feel today – or the how ‘we’ feel – was what Luke felt. Did he feel troubled by the chaos in the world around him? Remember in this Gospel one of his favourite phrases is ‘Do not be afraid.’ Often writers write as much to themselves as for their audience. Today’s text speaks to me as if Luke took great comfort from an image he knew from the Psalms and wanted to share that comfort with others. God will cover you will his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge.

 

Yet here, Luke understands that taking refuge under God’s wings does not mean that the struggles encountered in the world, or the turbulence in society disappears, rather it changes him and his ability to live in that world. Luke, in his telling of the gospel, describes a lost society where because people were ensnared – to their own will or to the will of others, there were ever more who were forgotten by the same. The forgotten were marginalized whether poor, widowed, orphaned, hungry, sick, or demon possessed. A significant group from the general population had turned away from seeking refuge in God. God’s vision of creation was far from being created and lived. We hear this in Luke’s story in the words of a frustrated – grieving, lamenting- Jesus, how often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!

 

Luke takes great comfort under God’s pinions and refuge in God’s wings. It is from that faithfulness and strength of God’s, that he can write truth about power. It is no mistake that Luke calls Herod a fox; a shrewd choice of language. The Pharisees would agree. Herod was a fox. In an act of resistance, the pharisees approach Jesus, as a mother hen – offering a warning to protect that which they know too also be in opposition to, or counter to, the way of the fox. Luke begins this story with the Pharisees coming to warn Jesus of Herod’s intent to kill him. Unlike the Sadducees who were in cahoots with the authorities, the Pharisees separated themselves from Rome and its culture, recognizing the dangers of Roman Empire and its rulers who continually incited chaos and used violence towards the occupied territory and its people. This is represented in calling Herod a fox, there is no gospel in this statement. However, the gospel is found in the completion of the metaphor, Jesus as a hen gathering her brood under her wings -Lk 13: 34

 

The next two weeks Luke continues sharing the Gospel with stories told to the disciples and other followers, Jesus speaking to a brood of chicks. Under the wings of a mother hen, the chicks stay warm, growing together until they are big enough and feathered enough to fend for themselves. While in Jesus’ care the disciples hear parables – we will hear parables- that reflect God’s patience, God’s forgiveness, God’s grace, and God’s unconditional love. It is important for this mother hen time.

 

I feel this sanctuary on a Sunday morning as God’s pinions wrapped around us. We gather, together, to stay warm, to grow big enough and feathered enough to fend for ourselves. While here, I also feel like a mother hen gathering us and having specific stories to share to protect and strengthen us to face the foxes.  

This time is important. It is important to take refuge over the next few weeks because in our journey through Lent we know that a shadow is cast over the earth, over the human story, over the Incarnate One.

We are going to need the shield and refuge of stories reflecting God’s patience, forgiveness, grace, and unconditional love. We do not want to get caught being chickens running around with our heads cut off – a people without hope, wandering aimlessly, forgetting who we are, marginalizing others. These are serious times. We know…

Time is coming when the fox does kill mother hen and the chicks scatter. The hen is dead and buried.

Time is coming when from a sealed tomb, the rock is cracked open, and new life will emerge. The hen will rise.

Time is coming when the chicks will seek refuge in a locked upper room, mother hen returns with open wings ‘peace be with you.’

 

Can chickens fly? Technically yes. They can fly 10-12 metres and a little higher than an average human can reach. For all intents and purposes, the answer is no. Chickens are not really gifted with the ability to fly.

But a bird that can’t fly has much to teach us about the strength of being present. This inability to fly grounds the hen. Farmyards are not full of chickens all in a tizzy trying to fly. Chickens are content staying close to mother earth and to their chicks. A mother hen’s wings can collect and protect approximately 12 chicks – although there are instances where full sized hens have taken on twice that. There wings give protection and warmth. If there is no safe place to take refuge when a fox appears, a mother hen will gather the chicks under her wings and hunker down. The hen will not move, giving her life in protection of the chicks if necessary.

 

Jesus did not fly away from the fox. Jesus did not leave the disciples.  

God did not fly away from humankind. God chose to become and remain Incarnate. Present.

 

Bonhoeffer wrote in Discipleship –

And in the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God. Henceforth, any attack even on the least ... is an attack on Christ, who took the form of man, and in his own Person restored the image of God in all that bears a human form. Through fellowship and communion with the incarnate Lord, we recover our true humanity, and at the same time we are delivered from that individualism which is the consequence of sin, and retrieve our solidarity with the whole human race. By being partakers of Christ incarnate, we are partakers in the whole humanity which he bore. We know that we have been taken up and borne in the humanity of Jesus, and therefore that new nature we now enjoy means that we too must bear the sins and sorrows of others. The incarnate Lord makes his followers the siblings of all humankind.

Can chickens fly? More pointedly do you fly? When times get tough or too much do you (and your will) fly away, or do you ground yourself and taking refuge under God’s wings remain present. Partaking in Christ incarnate do you open your wings, gathering the chicks around you and bearing the sins and sorrows of others. Protecting, warming, with patience, forgiveness, grace, unconditional love, to death and beyond.

 

As Luke ends this story may it be true of us - blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

May This Church Be like a Tree

 

May This Church Be like a Tree – what a beautiful prayer and blessing for the church.

This blessing was written in the form of a hymn by Pablo Sosa and was his contribution to the Lutheran World Federation’s 500^th Commemoration of the Reformation, which was held in Namibia. It is common practice in Namibia to gather for worship and meetings under trees, just like in his part of the world, the Apostle Paul would go to the water the place people gathered to pray.

 

May This Church Be like a Tree is hymn number 1042 in All Creation Sings. It is a suggested hymn for today, as it echoes the imagery from Jeremiah and the Psalm of the day, Psalm 1.

Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.

They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.

It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leave shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. Jer. 15: 7-8

 

The World Council of Church’s in memorial piece for Sosa refers to him as the “grandfather of what became known as ‘ecumenical worship.’ …He was engaged in a creativity that not only learned from other traditions and cultures, but formed new liturgies so that the ecumenical community might participate with one another.”

Sosa believed that singing and music is “embodying the theology of another, and in the process understanding more clearly how we were shaped by our presumptions.” Sosa also believed that by embracing global song and singing together, “God was accompanying the people in the song, living within their history. Even the rhythm of the song brought God closer, incarnate within the beat of the street. The music itself was part of song’s theology.”

The 500^th Commemoration of the Reformation and the song May This Church Be like a Tree, emphasized to the Lutheran World Federation what a tree the global church has grown into and what abundant fruit there is yet to bear. The hymn calls the church to be a joyful place of feast (communion) and simple prayer; to be about justice, acts of love, and compassion; a resting place, a welcome shelter, open arms and an embrace for the pilgrim and stranger; a place of self-giving and abundance sharing.

Take a moment to think about this – the Lutheran expressions of church around the world that we represent, or ministries we have been connected with. Since WWII, especially, the church has changed their leaves, and grown new branches, letting other branches to be pruned and discarded. Branches of social awareness have abounded, and the theology of the church has become more expressive in contemplating the connection between faith life and worship life, the biblical connection between worship and justice. Sosa reflected much on this and the lifting up of hope with song. Sosa delightfully described worship as “the fiesta of the faithful.”

 

But this ‘fiesta of the faithful,’ was – is - born in and through the pains of a weary world.

Pablo Sosa grew up in Argentina. As an adult he became a composer and a pastor of a large Methodist Congregation in Buenos Aires. He taught liturgy and hymnology at a seminary. He served in Argentina during a period known as the Dirty war, Guerra sucia, 1976-83. During this period, Argentina experienced military dictatorship and a state of terrorism. Political dissidents, students, young professionals, intellectuals, trade unionists, writers, journalists, artists, citizens suspected of being left-wing activists, anyone associated with socialism or having left-leaning sympathies were subject to harassment, detention centres, torture, concentration camps, or death squad. Others were simply ‘disappeared.’ It is estimated that 22,000 to 30,000 people were murdered or disappeared.

 

Pastor Sosa and his congregation experienced the atrocities of the regime when two girls from the congregation were ‘disappeared’ because they worked among the poor. … Because they worked among the poor - Compassion and mercy- faith living threatened the regime. Churches both Protestant and Catholic were conflicted on how to be under and in this state of terrorism and military regime. How was the church to be? Was it to speak out, be silent, support the government, subversively undermine authority? Continue to openly resist by offering compassion and work for justice, or to only speak in house building resilience and hope among the people? During this time many people lost faith. As the Dirty War continued it caused economic meltdown and plunged the middle-class into poverty.

 

There have been and always are places in the world where God’s faithful question what it means to live faithfully. The Church – even from those who do not profess the faith of the church – is looked to for statements, answers, or action; and if none are forthcoming the church is vilified. Today we have an inkling of what it is to personally, as a community, and as a larger church body, understand living in a place and time where the church is seriously contemplating and discerning what faithful living is amid an aggressive world, where those in leadership only make this weary world wearier. Do we speak or stay silent, does the church support the powers that be or blatantly defy orders? With whom does the church stand, work, support?

 

In 1977 in Argentina, Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo held their first vigil for the ‘disappeared.’ A group of women gathered in the Plaza de Mayo, in a demonstration requesting to have their young adults returned to them alive. The women, and others, have gathered in solidarity every Thursday afternoon thereafter. They pursued details of the fates of their lost relatives. They named the disappeared as ‘fighters for the people.’ Their justice work in human rights continues today, until, in their own words, there is a “defeat of imperialism and the sovereignty of the people are achieved.” Faithful acts of love, compassion and mercy. A continued persistence in seeking justice.

 

ELCA pastor and professor Mary Hinkle Shore wrote: “With the beatitudes, Jesus announces that the provision of God is trustworthy when the world is offering poverty, hunger, grief, and rejection. With the woes, Jesus announces that the provision of God is even more trustworthy than acting in what we imagine is self-interest. The Messiah embodies a whole way of being in the world that is better and more basic to life than either eking out an existence or building barns and filling them.”

 

This is what I feel it is to be like a tree – embodying a whole way of being in the world that is better and more basic to life than either eking out an existence or building barns and filling them – some form of middle ground where no one has too much and no one too little.

This is what I feel it is to be like a tree – embodying a whole way of being in the world where worship and justice are connected. Where worship is the fiesta of the faithful. A place to be connected with God and each other, to be filled with a zest and power, to go and be the embodiment of hope in everyday life.

This is what I feel it is to be like a tree – embodying a whole way of being trusting in the provision of God. Where this principle is the root that waters discernment and decision making; our love, compassion and action. May we – the Church- be like a tree.

 

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, who trust is the Lord.

They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream.

It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. Jer. 17: 7-8

Three Epiphanies

 EPIPHANY

An epiphany to the ancient Greek was a manifestation, a striking appearance. Today an epiphany is considered an aha! moment where a new insight or clarity of thought comes upon a person. There is an element of surprise to an epiphany. An Epiphany doesn’t just happen, pre-work -sometimes years of study, work, or searching are required before a discoverer experiences an epiphany.

An Epiphany is a feeling of enlightenment that positions one in a new headspace and/or heartspace.

 

In Christianity an Epiphany is a realization that Christ is the Son of God; the aha! moment is a new insight into the nature of God. The scripture texts in the Season after Epiphany provide examples of the manifestation of God: the wisemen seek and find the infant Jesus – Emmanuel (God with us), at Jesus’ baptism the Holy Spirit comes and God’s voice calls “you are my beloved and in you I am well pleased”, and Jesus’ powers are witnessed in the turning of water into wine.

 

This morning’s scripture from Luke is one of Epiphany. Jesus’ showcase of power wasn’t simply a miracle of providing a large catch of fish on a day when there were no fish to be had. It was an event that caused the disciples, Peter in particular, to recognize the transcendent and name Jesus as Messiah.

The experience of Epiphany positioned Peter in a new headspace and heartspace. It was such an aha! moment that he and his colleagues left their nets and followed Jesus.

 

As I reflected on the story of the calling of the fishermen to be disciples, while focusing on the idea of epiphany, I noted that there are ideas in the text to spur epiphanies for readers like us. This morning, I highlight three truths from the text that when taken to heart will transform and change a person’s life.

 

 

Epiphany #1 – EVEN WHEN BUSY, BE OPEN TO THE MIRACULOUS

The disciples are hard at work. It was not an easy task to be part of the fishing industry on the Lake of Gennersaret. Writing about Jesus and his part in the movement to transform the food economy, pastor T. Wilson Dickinson, describes the squeeze put on fishermen. The elite had control of the seafood economy. Fishermen paid an imperial official for the right to fish in the emperor’s lake– a fishing license so to speak. Then after the catch was brought to shore, the fishermen paid a toll or a tax on what they had caught. Fishermen were marginalized labourers working in an oppressive economic system. To pay to be on the Lake, meant that one needed to work hard and have a catch big enough to pay both the license fee and the surcharge on the catch.

On this particular fishing day, after catching nothing, how could the disciples be anything but disheartened? It would be reasonable for them to worried about paying their bills, feeding their families, keeping their jobs. It would be understandable for if they were considering side hustles to make a few denarii: patch a few nets, repair a dock, deliver someone else’s catch. They were busy making ends meet to provide for their families, when Jesus arrives.

 

Peter, whether needing a distraction or so done with the pressures, decides to take a huge risk and takes Jesus out in the boat. Maybe that day Peter had an inkling to hope in this Jesus who had been traveling to the small towns around the area. Although busy, there was an openness to change the script for the day. And what a script change - Once again, Luke is inspired by his favourite stories, the prophets Elija and Elisha, and the miraculous provisions of food provided in times of or in places of scarcity. The big haul of fish is representative of the abundance of God and God’s kindom.

Now if you were one of the fishermen on the boat, and you witness the great catch, what would your first words be? If you only experienced a miracle you would ask something like, “how did you do that? How did you know?” Peter had an epiphany brought on by the miraculous, the power of Jesus, recognizing Jesus’ power Peter forgot about the fish and how important a big catch was, and focused completely on Jesus.

EVEN WHEN BUSY, BE OPEN TO THE MIRACULOUS

 

Epiphany #2 – EVEN WHEN YOU THINK YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH- GOD SEES OTHERWISE

Jesus gets into Peter’s boat on a day when the fishermen couldn’t catch a fish. There were no fish stories to be told. No fish to share for supper. This though is the least of Peter’s self-esteem woes. Peter’s encounter with Jesus has given him a profound awareness and sorrow of his sinfulness – an unworthiness. He says, Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. Peter’s expression is also an epiphany of the power of Jesus. Jesus does not go away but stays. Peter’s full epiphany is that sin does not disqualify him from being in Jesus’ presence or disqualify him from God’s invitation to be more.

 There is a poster in church hall that reminds those who see it that – Noah was drunk, Abrahm was too old, Isaac was a daydreamer, Moses stuttered, Joseph was abused, Sampson was a womanizer, Jonah ran away, Elijah was suicidal, Job went bankrupt, David had an affair, Martha worried, Paul was too religious, Lazarus was dead. --- all things that humans consider make one not good enough. Yet, all were loved by God, all were given invitations by God to work for God’s kindom. Whatever busy-ness was going on in their lives, each was open to the miraculous, because each said ‘yes.’

EVEN WHEN YOU THINK YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH- GOD SEES OTHERWISE

 

Epiphany #3 - EVEN JESUS NEEDED HELP

In the story Jesus needed to borrow a boat. Jesus is popular and the size of the crowds are pushing on him, so Jesus climbs into a boat and asks the skipper – Peter - to put it out a little way from shore; Peter does. Jesus needs helpers – the crowds are getting too big to handle all alone. This story in Luke, although centred on Peter, tells of three others who helped Jesus in bringing in the miraculous catch. They are told, do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people. They too had epiphanies for they say ‘yes’ to the invitation and become the first disciples to follow. In future stories in Luke, more help is needed and 70 more are sent out in pairs to work for Jesus – sharing the Gospel, the Good News, doing miracles and healings. By the time of Acts, even more helpers are recruited. In each instance those experiencing the power of Jesus, hearing God’s invitation,

left what they knew – everything – and worked in the kindom of God. Their headspace and heartspace had been transformed and that changed their whole lives.

EVEN JESUS NEEDED HELP

 

My prayer is that these three truths from the text will be reflected upon and taken to heart.

Even when busy, be open to the miraculous.

Even when you think you are not good enough – God sees otherwise.

Even Jesus needed help.

And in taking these to heart, may your headspace and heartspace be transformed, changing your whole lives.

Christian Unity: We Believe

 

This past week I have spent a lot of time with our ecumenical siblings, attending Week of Prayer for Christian Unity events, all reflecting on the 1700^th Anniversary of the Nicene Creed. Each get-together offered new incites into the Nicene Creed and why this creed is important this long after it was written. The answer is unity.

1700 years ago, Constantine called together 318 bishops to air their differences and settle a squabble about the divinity of Jesus and how God the Trinity worked. Constantine really didn’t care about which side of the argument was accepted, he just wanted Christian leaders to decide on a common statement. You see, Constantine’s purpose was unity of this growing group of Christians, because unity in this group would be good for the whole Empire. It didn’t matter what was believed, but that there was unity in the belief.

 

I was asked by someone, what I would say this Sunday, them thinking I would address American politics. My response was ‘nothing specific to this week’s news from South of the border.’ That is nothing in addition to what I have been preaching for months, what colleagues have been preaching, what Anglican Bishop Budde said in the presence of the president - the gospel.

For me this week was framed, by a profound sense of ecumenical unity amidst beautiful diversity.

I was encouraged by actions of faith – it is no small matter that in such a busy world, time was taken to learn and worship together, that churches around the world strengthened faith by being in relationship with each other. 

I know the church hasn’t always gotten things right, in fact the church often fails, the church forgets to preach the gospel. But sometimes – in times like these- the church boldly preaches and demonstrates the gospel. Often as Lutherans, we turn to examples like Luther or Bonhoeffer, but there are many stories of local pastors, bishops, congregations, people like you who act in faith and stand for the gospel.

 

This week a colleague passed away. I did not know personally know this colleague, who had pastored for a time in Ottawa and Montreal. Pastor Maris Kirsons was a boy when fleeing Latvia with his parents, to be a Displaced Person in Germany, and then coming to the United States. After becoming a pastor, he came to Canada to serve Latvian congregations. Maris was faithful in action and preaching. His obituary says, he will be remembered by the many people whose lives he touched serving in the ministry of Word and Sacrament, teaching youth with relevance, and advocating for liberty for the captive nations during the oppressive occupation of the USSR. Perhaps the most iconic portrait of him is a photograph in which he is standing, arms outstretched and bleeding on a Soviet flag as a means to speak up for the millions held as prisoners under Moscow’s regime during the Helsinki Accords 1982 human rights conference in Madrid, Spain. He was arrested for this act of protest.

 

Unity – it gives the church courage to preach and be about the gospel. Latvian speaking Lutheran churches around the world are connected to the Lutheran bodies in the countries where they are, and together are part of the Lutheran World Federation – who work with Anglican and Roman Catholic bodies, study with and have relationship with Moravians and Mennonites, belong to the World Council of Churches, and so on.

Together important work is accomplished – the care of displaced persons and the organization of refugee camps and resettlement projects, the feeding of millions who are suffering from famine, and advocacy and development to address climate justice that affects the poorest on the planet. Unity allows for these gospel actions of compassion and mercy, the bearing of fruit for the benefit of the whole world.

 

This idea of creating unity through the faith identity of a people is not new – Constantine didn’t come up with a revolutionary idea. Identity – unity - is the theme of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

In 538 BCE, Persian King Cyrus authorized the return of those who were exiled in distant Persia cities back to their homelands. It was not an on mass all-at-once return but rather undertaken in waves of returnees that extended over years. Each wave of people took part in the long process of rebuilding the Temple and the city of Jerusalem.

This period of time was one of figuring out how to start again. Rebuilding the Temple and the city was fraught with argument and tension. There were so many groups of people with not only differing ideas, but fundamentally different perspectives. There were people living in the land who had not gone into exile, people who continued to work the land, there were waves (different groups) of returning exiles. Those identified as ‘outsider’ – kept changing and it depended on whether you were an exile returning or one who had remained in the land. By Nehemiah’s time we are in the third stage of resettlement. The Temple has been built. An ‘outsider’ is now considered those who are foreigners, other people, nomadic Arabs.

 

Third stage of the reconstruction of Jerusalem, 445 BCE under Nehemiah’s leadership, was focused on the building of the walls of Jerusalem and repopulating the city. But it was also a time when leaders - Ezra and Nehemiah- saw the need for identity making; where different groups who have been at the same task, people loosely associated with each other, are once more knit closely together with common purpose, ideals, values, and ethics. A strong thriving people requires unity.

And so, Nehemiah returns to teaching the story and reading God’s covenant made with the people following the exodus from Egypt. The Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) gets read, religious practices are reinstated – easier now that Temple has been rebuilt. Much time is spent encouraging a renewed commitment to live the life of covenant, making this whole group a distinctive people from the polytheistic and multi-cultural Persian Empire that is around them. Ezra and Nehemiah held a service of dedication that included celebration, purification, procession, and separation. The point was unity.

 

Neh. 8: 1 reads that all the people gathered. There was unanimity; they gathered as one (men, women, those who could understand, and those with ears attentive to the reading of the book of the Law). This attentiveness and oneness stood in contrast to arguments regarding the building of the wall and the repopulation of the city. They stood side-by-side to hear from the book of the Law of God.  Emphasis was on oneness!

More than that – the reading of the Law happened outside the gate – in the public square. This means that anyone who wanted to listen was welcome to do so, whether they were considered an insider or an outsider, a generational farmer, a naturalized citizen, a returnee, a descendant of the 12 tribes, a Persian, a foreigner, a traveler passing through.

About this passage, Prof. Helen Chukka of Wartburg Theological seminary in Iowa writes that, “in listening to and receiving the Torah, the people were invited to dwell in the feeling of trust and the expression of hope.”

 

At the end of the week, this is where I rest - in Christian unity, dwelling in the feeling of trust and the expression of hope. The theme verse at each service was from John 11: Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

United the response was WE BELIEVE. We believe in God, the Father, the Almighty…We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only son of God…We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord the giver of life…

This statement reverberated around the world as Christians shared and focused on one expression of faith, trusting in God who is the unifying agent. 1700 years of this statement of faith continues to bring unity, a unity that on any given day turns into faithful gospel-filled actions, that are supported and repeated by the whole body of Christ. Unity. We believe. May this continue to be so.

Reflection on Church Community and Intimate Partner Violence

Trigger warning: please note that this sermon mentions intimate partner violence and domestic abuse.

When starting in a new job, settling into a neighbourhood or town, hanging out with a new group of people, you can learn a lot about them by the stories they choose to share right away. It is the same when a pastor begins ministry in a parish. Over the past few weeks, two stories have been floating around in my memory, both are stories that I heard in the first two weeks of being a pastor in my first call. The stories are two that I heard from more than one person.  

The first story was told to me during a tour of the area pointing out parishioner’s homes, people who needed visits, places to be careful, and so on. The story at one house was of a remaining family member who lived in a house where a relative had committed a murder suicide.

The second story was of a former Anglican priest who took care of the people in his charge. On one occasion he arranged to secret a woman and her children from a volatile domestic violence situation and safely took them to a shelter that was a few hours away.

These memories have been on my mind because of the 6 deaths due to intimate partner violence that have happened in NS in the past 3 months.

I wonder why I was told the two stories right away, when arriving in my first parish. Was it because I was a female pastor? Did the community feel safe in telling me? Or was it for my own safety? Was I being tested to see if I would listen, would I stay, could I be trusted?

Was I being told because people knew of present and immediate instances and concerns of intimate partner violence or domestic abuse? Would I be an ally? Would I be able to help?

 

The stories were told to me by women, not as gossip, but in earnest tone, conveying the information was important. It was important so that I could understand the individuals and families that had been involved. It was important because both events affected the whole community and the women in particular.

I realize I was being told the stories of intimate partner violence and domestic abuse because the women were telling me that such events happened in their community, they noticed, they cared, and as I built relationships with the women, I quickly learned that they supported those in difficult circumstances to the best of their abilities and wanted to include me in the support system.

 

The scripture from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians comes to life for me in the actions of the women living out their faith. Paul writes that the Spirt of God works through a variety of gifts, a variety of services, and a variety of activities. Every person – that includes you-  has been gifted so that their life can be a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. The variety of gifts, ways to serve, and participation in activities, all create an increase in Wisdom, faith, healing, and so on.

 

The women lived out their faith of noticing, caring, and supporting – women experiencing intimate partner violence and children suffering domestic abuse- from many directions. The gift of listening, at the top of the list as listed by survivors, I will talk about in a moment. The other work of the church women – services and activities- had a common thread, relieving as much stress as possible from individual households. The more stress in a system, the great the risk of desperation and an increase of violence. For the women, it was scripture-based faith work, relieving stress was feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, taking care of the widow…

The gift of faith was lived out in sharing preserves and baking, homegrown produce or fresh caught fish left on doorsteps. It was remembering birthdays, marking children’s graduations, and such with cards so you could slip in a gift card or money. It was hosting meals at the church with phoned invitations by men to the man of the household to come for the meal with their family (of course extra food was tactfully sent home with families). It was the church having or finding odd jobs at the church, or individual’s homes, for the man to gain confidence, skills, or have extra cash; or for the woman to have a few extra dollars to hide away should she decide to leave the abusive situation. It was having access to the church basement where kids could hide out, where notes could be left and exchanged; where a phone could be accessed in an emergency. Faith was lived out in women’s Bible studies where -no matter what time of day or night there was lunch served so there was time for a freedom to talk and others to listen. It was lived out by the men supporting the work of the women and participating by making deliveries, finding work or other reasons to interact with the abusers. Faith was lived out by the church opening their doors to anonymous and Al-anon groups.

 

In Corinth, Christian community was called together in specific place, a place that was in a context where culture and society paid no attention to Christ. Paul called the Christian community to pay attention to their identity in Christ and what that meant for their daily living in the world.  The Corinthian church community, needed to align their focus. They spent much of their energy in internal conflict, the mistreating of each other, nit-picking, and arguing. Paul’s letter encouraged individuals in the community to change their focus to what they could do together for the common good. Christian communities were encouraged to notice, care, and support others - examples in scripture from the early church where equivalent to food banks, sharing of resources, freeing of slaves, paying of servants, care of the widow and orphan, visiting of the prisoner --- in today’s context that translates to advocating for living wages, affordable and appropriate housing, and food security.

 

A healthy Christian community is one of a variety of gifts, services, and activities given and created through one Spirit. As we have been actively working on transforming church property, talking about this building, another building, it is important to hear Paul’s reminder of God’s big vision that compels communities to create space and an atmosphere with a focus on the common good for the societal context in which they live.

Earlier I said I would come back to listening – one of the gifts given by the Spirit- and a gift we can learn as individuals and as a community to help those living in intimate partner violence or domestic abuse.

The kindom of God is real in a moment of open conversation: sitting with each other, listening – listening that believes what the other is saying and responds without pressure or judgement, and responding “thank you for sharing, I believe you. It is not your fault.” Author and leadership guru, Brene Brown, describes listening this way, “In order to empathize with someone’s experience, you must be willing to believe them as they see it and not how you imagine their experience to be.” With practice we can do this. In addition, if one is willing to offer help by asking “how may I help you?’ Let the person telling their story guide what ‘helping’ might be – and if you offer to help, follow through. Listening is support and listening is a big gift on its own. And once you have listened, keep checking in!

 

When I listen to Paul's letters - What I appreciate is his continued faith and hope in God’s big vision, God’s dream of kindom. He continued to encourage Christian community that it is possible to live out God’s kindom through Christ centred community. The communities Paul wrote to were both faithful and messed up and yet he still had hope and believed in the power of the Holy Spirit to work through human hearts and hands, forming gracious, redeemed, creative, vibrant, loving, and justice filled communities regardless of the surrounding society. When we hear letters of Paul to specific communities, we are reminded of all of Paul’s letters and the core message – regardless of how we are messed up, regardless of the society surrounding us and how messed up it is– faithful living as a community of Christ followers is essential, and God’s purpose for us, is to live and bring the kindom into the context in which we live. As a community we have a variety of gifts, services, and activities, that can be applied to daily living and to addressing intimate partner violence and domestic abuse –

let us use our gifts to the glory of God and  for the healing of the whole world. Amen.

New Year 2025: Respair and Big Naps

 

As we said good riddance to the sufferings and fears of 2024 - and wished happiness and health and peace to friends and family at the turn of year - 2025 began broken with its own terrors, violence, and chaos.

 

However today, this first Sunday of the New Year, you have made a choice. You have chosen to start the New Year gathering in faith community. Coming to a place where the broken is accepted, the broken is redeemed, the broken is loved, the broken is found, and the broken is washed in grace.

 

I invite us to start fresh and for a moment let go of the beginning of 2025 (breath in and loudly breathe out)

Let us BREATHE and start fresh.

 

Instagram content creator Worry_lines, posted this week: “to have big plans, you have to have big dreams, and to have big dreams, you have to have big naps.”

This is what it is to start the New Year gathering as a faith community – we come to hear God’s big plans – to as a community embrace big plans and have big dreams; plans and dreams that contain hope, love of neighbour, welcome of stranger, belief in kindness, faith in commonwealth and the possibility of peace.

While some of us do take naps during the sermon, being here, we all take a big nap from the world and the garbage the world inundates us with. Napping from the world is respite.

Big naps mean big dreams – the kind that are life changing and world changing.

 

You have probably heard the phrase, “In times like these” –

In 1943, Ruth Caye, who was a mother of 5 and a pastor’s wife in Pennsylvania, was deeply affected by the news from the front of WWII, the casualties of war and the seeming lack of progress, the rationing of food making life difficult, and the general malaise among people. After reading 2 Timothy 3: 1 In the last days perilous times shall come…She took to writing down a few thoughts and a tune came to her. Her hymn was later made famous by George Beverly Shea and the Billy Graham crusades. Her words were:

In times like these we need a Saviour/ In times like these we need an anchor/ In times like these we need the Bible/ in times like these O be not idle

Be sure and very sure. Your anchor holds and grips the Solid Rock – Jesus is the rock.

 

Ruth could have stuck her nose into various passages in scripture that speak of last days and perilous times.

I particularly think of the prophets. Jeremiah being a good example. Jeremiah, known as the ‘weeping prophet,’ spends 5 decades speaking big dreams into the doom and gloom of idolatry, social injustice, and the moral decay of his day. He faced opposition, imprisonment, and personal struggles. He must have taken lots of naps, for he had a hope that went beyond human understanding. In the middle of a war, with the enemy army invading and destroying, displacing people and exiling them, he buys a piece of land at full price. Believing God’s big dream of settled living, with abundance of produce, peace among people, love of neighbour, love of God; where everyone has enough, no one has too much; foreigners are welcomed, and the land is respected. That’s a big dream.

 

“In Times Like These” is a phrase older than Ruth Caye. Nellie McClung, a Canadian author, politician, and social activist wrote a book in 1915, titled: “In Times Like These.” This was during WWI. Her chapters: The War that Never Ends, The War that Ends in Exhaustion Sometimes Mistaken for Peace, What Do Women Think of War (Not that It Matters), and War Against Gloom. Before writing her thoughts on the war against gloom, I think she took a big nap, so she could dream big, so she had something to offer that she did not find in the world around her. She wrote an eloquent poem prayer, so suitable for the beginning of a New Year in times like these:

 Not for all sunshine, dear Lord, do we pray-  We know such a prayer would be vain;

But that strength may be ours to keep right on our way, Never minding the rain!

 

The Oxford Junior Dictionary is a condensed dictionary used mostly in schools. Words are chosen for the dictionary as words that the editors think all students should know. Every few years the dictionary editors review the words, removing some and adding others. In 2007, 40 common words of natural things (like dandelion, fern, otter) were left out, and replaced by virtual things (like blog, bullet-point, voicemail). This disturbed author Richard Macfarlane enough that he wrote the book The Lost Words. Using 20 of the 40 words he created a spell-book of sorts to bring magic and mystery and curiosity to the 20 natural item words; to provide a place to dream and imagine an acorn, a wren, a dandelion. Richard must have taken a big nap before putting the book together, to dream of the power of words. He believed that if you don’t have words for something, then it ceases to exist in the imagination.

 

God must have started with a big nap. God certainly rested after the creation of the world, before dreaming again. The opening of John’s Gospel sets before us the mystery, the beauty, and the vastness of creation, of God’s imagination and big dream, of the presence of the Word, woven in, around, and through everything.

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s son, full of grace and truth.

From his fullness we have received, grace upon grace.

 

I have taken a nap or two over the past week. My dreams have been filled by one word, RESPAIR.

Respair is an old English word that means new hope; a recovery from despair.

In times like these I believe we need respair. In times like these I believe that new hope and recovery from despair are a big dream, a dream that is dreamed and comes to be by resting here, in faith community, in the Word, in prayer; or in other words taking a nap with God.

In times like these, you have acted boldly coming to a place where we dream big – a place where the broken is accepted, the broken is redeemed, the broken is loved, the broken is found, and the broken is washed in grace upon grace.

This year let us read and listen to poetry – whether a bit from the prophet Jeremiah or the beginning of the Gospel of John, Nellie Mc Clung or Ruth Caye; let their dreams and the Word woven in the writing fuel life and beauty and mystery, and respair.

Take big naps so you have big dreams – and can live out God’s dreams.

And remember to BREATH.