A Recipe for Reformation

I have a no fail recipe for tea biscuits: Rheba’s Mayonnaise Biscuits to be precise. She was a member of St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in West Northfield, NS. After posting a devotion in the summer that included the recipe, I asked if anyone knew her. From people in Lunenburg Co., I learned many things about her. All comments showed that she was dearly loved. She loved cooking for crowds and could multiply the barley loaves so to speak. She was a fixture at community fundraising meals, candied popcorn was her Hallowe’en specialty, she cared for the sick and needy with food. Rheba’s gift was one of hospitality.  She lived a life where God’s love for her, was lived in faithful witness through hospitality and lovingly feeding the community around her.

This is the message we have shared for generations. This is the importance of commemorating the Reformation: once experiencing God’s love and grace we can do no other than share it. Our good works are not good works, but, God’s love pouring out through us. We celebrate the foundation of our formation: sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, sola Christo, sola deo gloria. – scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, glory to God alone.

Some recipes are foundational, others not so much. When I bake muffins, for instance, they are never the same twice. Muffin recipes I continually reform – transform – depending on what I have in the cupboards or what suits my fancies. Rheba’s biscuit recipe, I follow exactly. There are some recipes that do not need re-inventing: the final form, the biscuit- is in perfect form. Every time it is mixed there is consistency of basic ingredients – transformed into something delicious. Perhaps this is the recipe for continued reformation in the church – some recipes can be altered, but others remain consistent with the same basic ingredients repeated. We need both to feed us, both to live by; both are the Bread of Life and bread for hungry.

 

So let us put together a batch of Rheba’s Mayonniase Biscuits.

 

4 c flour – Flour is the substance, the main ingredient.  In Reformation language it represents sola scripture (scripture alone). Flour contains gluten which provides elasticity to the dough and helps it stretch. Scripture is the Word which provides an active agent in our brains and hearts, stretching our capacities to understand God and God’s kindom.

 

1 ½ tsp. salt – The Word in the Gospel of Mark reminds us to: have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another (Mk9:50).  Salt is used in baking to enhance the flavour of other ingredients. It adds depth and complexity – although a supporting role, without it the final product lacks taste, in some cases making the product unpalatable. Reformation wise, salt, is sola fide, by faith alone. The ingredient is not necessarily seen yet has a supporting role in how it is that we live in the world. Salt, faith, is a gift, that seasons life; and adds depth and complexity when wrestling with circumstances of life.

 

6 tsp. sugar – The Word teaches in Proverbs, gracious words are like honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. (Pr.16: 24). Living faith changes the conversation we put into the world.  Faith is sugar – it is forgiveness – a blessed sweetness- knowing we cannot attain forgiveness by own merit, it is extended to us. Being sweetened by God’s gift of faith allows us the ability to speak gracious words to others, healing words, words that build up community, and encourage individuals with hope – an assurance of that which is not yet seen.

 

6 tsp. baking powder – This is the Reformation slogan: sola Christo -Christ alone. Baking powder in a recipe is the rising agent. It increases the volume and lightens the texture of baked goods.  Christ alone is the heart of the gospel. God chose to enter the human condition; becoming vulnerable, suffering, and choosing to die to show us to what lengths God will go to love us. Christ rises out of suffering and death, inviting humanity to follow – to live resurrected lives, where in dying to oneself, -submitting to God’s way, trusting in God,- one dedicates themself to be an agent of human liberation and bringing God’s kindom of shalom.

 

2/3 c mayonnaise – Is Mystery. Some bakers considered mayonnaise to be a magical ingredient; adding moisture, tenderness, vitamins (goodness); to the baked-good it adds flake or fluff (flare). In Reformation speak, sola deo gloria, glory to God alone. 

 

1 ¾ c milk – Milk is grace and promise. How many times does scripture say, that God will set before you a land flowing with milk and honey?  Sola gratia, by grace alone. Once poured into the batter, milk can not be removed. It instantly starts to soak into the other ingredients. Because of God’s actions – love- all are invited (the sinner, the weak, the vulnerable, the alienated, the outcast, the lonely, you, me) to belong. Forgiven liberated, redeemed we are part of something far bigger than ourselves. We have purpose. We are given life in community.

 

1 egg    - The Community. The prophet Isaiah wrote, as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth (Is. 10:14). The egg is like glue, sticking all the ingredients together, and offering stability and structure to the batter. Community has us supporting each other and the wider community, invested in sharing with the neighbour and ever expanding our understanding of neighbour, gathering eggs that have been forsaken.

 

The recipe conforms to a regular baking structure: Stir dry ingredients together.

Add the wet ingredients -mayonnaise, milk, and egg. Then mix all together.

 

Grease a cookie sheet. Form dough into 12 pieces.

Bake at 375F for 15-20 mins.

The baking time makes me think of the time we meet in community to hear, teach, and learn the Word, the moments we partake in sacrament, all the instances that bake faith, grace, Christ into our hearts.

 

Some of you will remember congregation member Aino Brzak. In her mid 90s she moved from her home into Northwood.  On my first visit to her room, I took a traditional housewarming gift, salt (a blessing that life will always have flavour) and bread (to symbolize never knowing hunger). I took bread in the form of homemade tea biscuits. Aino graciously took the tea biscuits and had me sit down. She set about pulling out two little glasses and pouring us liquor.  Then, surprising me, she turned, pulled out a tea biscuit, and broke off a piece. She handed it to me and said, “the body of Christ” and likewise with the liquor “the blood of Christ.” That day I brought the bread, she, the bread of reformation. Aino turned the table - in her own pastoral way, she fed and blessed me.

A recipe for Reformation – -take the Bread you have received, turn the table, and in your own pastoral way feed and bless those whom you encounter.

By the grace of God go we. Amen.

I AM Prayer

 * note that italic portions are commonly known prayers

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through the belief of Threeness,

Through confession of the Oneness of the Creator of creation.

I arise today

 

I am Prayer.

 

I was in the beginning – hope articulated- the Prayer, “Let there be.” And there was.

That’s what I do. It is my purpose, my mission, my God-given gift

Transforming  - hopes, dreams, thoughts, wishes, grumblings, sentiments, ideas, heartache;

From what they are to what they will be.

 

Over the eons I have been:

Whispered on lips,

 proclaimed with gusto

moderated by scripted words

extemporaneously emitted

 

I’ve been said, stammered, and shouted:

Lying down, standing up, huddled in the corner of a prison-cell;

In a box, with a fox, in a house, with a mouse, here or there, anywhere

On a boat, in a car, from a plane- from a plane, lots on a plane

Don’t let me die.

Help!

Thank you!

 

I love being Prayer.

Raw emotion beyond human ability to satisfy, calm, or wrestle into submission-

That feeling of effervescent excitement bubbling up and exploding

The experience of prolonged concentration on an intention

The exhausting journey of embodying sighs too deep for words

 

As a thought – I am in the beginning, where spirit moves over the waters;

As articulated word - I am created

Prayed- I am set free to act; released I belong to the universe;

Let go from bondage to sin - bondage to hearts, hands, heads, of humans and creatures,

-Whether meant or not meant, visible or invisible, serious or not serious-

Articulated and prayed I am set free; I am sanctified, redeemed to live my best life

Purposely prodding, championing change, willing wholeness

That’s me!

My name is Prayer.

I am fierce. I am passionate. I am about changing lives.

 I am about creatures and humans participating, acting, and wearing their prayers.

Festooning the world with garlands made of the cries of the poor, laments of injustice, odes to peace, wails of grief,

…poking, prodding, championing, willing… the human heart to change

Transforming word, the cries, the laments, the odes, the wails -to action

 

I am always on the move.

Winding my way, riding the currents of time,

I find myself in unexpected places -

 I get caught in the mouths of politicians blowing hot-air, unnoticed I have been breathed through them, changed them for a moment, then spat out to weave my way to another;

 I am in the wave that mysteriously whispers through the forest leaves, an active soundwave inspiring - transforming the hearts of the next generation of climate activists;

nestled in the breeze I gently grace faces and shoulders, I’m there in a moment of cooling comfort, warming gratitude, a pleasant pause.

And on the winds of time, I am carried to the corners of the earth,

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer…and I’m in the hospital resting with the dying;

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer…and I am present with those intentions sent to the battlefield;

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer…and I am in an official office focusing on the hearts and minds of the powers that be;

And on the winds of time, I am carried beyond the corners of the earth, to the moon, to the great beyond.

 

I am Prayer.

I am beautiful.

Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam 

Blessed are You, Lord our God, ruler of the universe…

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto 

Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit…

Subhaan Allah, Alhamdo lillah, Allaho Akbar 

Glory to Allah, all praise belongs to Allah, Allah is the greatest…

Hebrew, Latin, Arabic – these are accents of my personality

Enduring, Beautiful, Faithful offerings I reverberate – dancing glory, praise, awe, joy

 

I am born,

as Prayer through the tax collector, the Pharisee, the on-looker;

resurrected appropriately, inappropriately, by both judge and the judged

Is there a hierarchy of form -no

Is there one better than another - no

Is there form that God does not hear - no

Is a prayer, is a prayer, a prayer? - yes

So---

You do you. -with serenity, accept the things you cannot change, courage to change the things you can, wisdom to know the difference. Live one moment at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as a pathway to peace; taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as you would have it

You do you.

I’ll do me.

In the name of God, I promise

To have and to hold – you – to embody your intimate feelings, sighs, and thoughts;

For better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health,

To love and to cherish you by being the me – the Prayer- you articulate and birth into the world.

 

I will bear your hopes and dreams, your fears and failings, your helps and thank yous, your heartache and pain, your joys, your love, your confessions, petitions, and intercessions.

And I will weave them – transform them

Every particle, every thread

 to BE

An instrument of God’s peace

Where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness/light; where there is sadness, joy.

To BE woven connection

Where God is our maker, our lover, our keeper.

Where all creatures and humans become

God’s kindom, prayers in themselves joined in relationship, community

Where all know beyond a shadow of a doubt that

By God’s grace all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.

I live for that day. I work for that time.

This Prayer’s prayer, my hope is

Wholeness in the tapestry of life – past, present, future

Blanketing the world with shalom aleichem, pax tecum, As-salaam alaikum, peace be with you.

 

For the kindom, the power, and the glory are Gods.

Now and forever. Amen.

An Itch

 

Based on: 2 Timothy 3: 14-5:5

But having itching ears…

It is that time of year, when I catch myself rubbing the back of my tongue on the roof of mouth – to scratch; perhaps you know that annoying allergy itch that forms in the middle to back of the ear which is impossible to reach. Some days it feels like the itch is driving me crazy.

Do you have itching ears?

 

But having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires

Take a moment and consider your teachers – your social media feeds: the news you subscribe to, the people you follow, the organizations you like, and profiles you avoid. Think about the books you read, your go-to authors or publishers, the schools where you will and will not do continuing education, churches or faith-communities that you agree to work with, and other institutions with which you affiliate. Consider your church community and the people who are part of your life. I suspect your teachers – your feeds- your relationships, look like you, sound like you, think like you; challenge you, but only in the ways you desire to go.

This is a state of persistent itching ears.

 

For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine,

When I did my doctorate, I was given the task of teaching a seminar class on American Lutheran theologian George Lindbeck, concentrating on his book, The Nature of Doctrine. During the seminar, classmates were invited to think about the Apostles’ Creed and complete an exercise. On Post-it notes one stated how often the Creed was used within the context of worship (these were placed on the wall); beside these, on a second Post-it note participants were to write what items were open for discussion, interpretation, or debate. Of the 12 students: 1 used the Creed regularly, another semi-regularly, the rest (that’s 10 people) never used it in worship. The other Post-it notes showed that ten out of twelve, considered the Creed to be fact, the inherent Word of God, and doctrine completely non-negotiable or changeable. The two that used the Creed in their communities related that the Creed was a starting point for conversation, not the Word of God but, a framework from which to explore the nature of God.

The exercise was used to describe Lindbeck’s cultural-linguist model, highlighting relationship of text, community rules and grammar, and applying the text to faith-living. His thought was that faithful reform of tradition and interpretation of doctrine, grows from the text or Creed continually in one’s face, used, wrestled with, questioned, interpreted, and applied.

Continuing with the Creed is continuing to wrestle with theology and doctrine alongside new expressions and contexts – the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America has a recent hymnbook supplement: it includes a Spanish language liturgy, liturgies of lament, liturgies to use in times of violence; forward 21^st century hymnary with poignant phrases addressing contextual issues. Side-by-side the past is bought to the present to move forward; today’s itches with past history and past application of doctrine, scratches harshly – teaching, reproofing- so that doctrine becomes continually thought about in living practice for the wholeness of all relationship.

As a people – a faith community- Church, is our doctrine sound?

Or having itching ears, have we accumulated for ourselves teachers to suit our own desires. And thus, turned away from listening to the truth and wandered away to myths.

In a world with hard-core extremes, conspiracy theories, systemic injustices, where do we listen to truth – whose truth, and what stories do we wander in and out of? In church world, congregations come together hopefully with a common mission – a linguistic truth to be applied and lived. We know however, that church community can be divided - rearing up in arguments about the colour of the carpet, the lack of young people, or the drop in donations; people point fingers, take stands, and stop listening to each other. Fights within the church, can have people on seemingly opposite ends of an argument; missing that the polarity is connected. The path is like an infinity loop, a figure 8, where the loop crosses in the middle.  The middle is the focus, the reason, the mission, the wanted outcome, of both sides of the polarity; name that point and the community is back listening to the truth. Pinpoint the cross-over and focus energy from the centre, living it outward:  whether it is the mission of a healthy church, spreading of the Gospel, the continuation of Jesus’ story, or living faithfully.

 

The pinpoint of the text, addressed to Timothy, and for Timothy to interpret, apply, and live is this: --- and I suppose to those of us with itchy ears – is to:

Proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching.

 

With talk of doctrine, Creed, truth, myths, polarity – it is not just my ears that itch.

I itch all over. As a pastor, I itch to proclaim the message, the Gospel. As a teacher, I itch to learn and share what I have learned, to grow with others in conversation and study of weighty matters. I itch to know and experience truth. I itch because sometimes I am afraid the responsibility is too much.

I also itch to share written word that focuses my thoughts. In the extremes of polarity and discrepancy in doctrine – holding both and finding a message to proclaim – I came across work by writer, Jordan Harrell. Jordan writes about wrestling with truth – biblical truth, Christ as truth.

Jordan writes: “Genocide is biblical. Loving your enemy is biblical. BUT only one is Christ-like.

Slavery is biblical. Chain breaking is biblical. BUT only one is Christ-like.”

The same pattern is followed with the polarities of:

Patriarchy and counter-cultural elevation of women. Retributive justice and grace-filled restoration. Segregation and unity.  Both are biblical, but only one is Christ-like.

Jordan's guidance – beware of those who know one (meaning the Bible) but not the other.

 

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness

Amidst creedal phrases, the letter written to Timothy expresses and interprets that scripture is inspired and useful. It is read as tradition, interpreted through teaching, and applied to life in community. Proclaim the message; be patient in teaching, living a Christ-like life.

 

God,  Relieve us of itchy ears, freeing us from the accumulation of that which is self-satisfying and self-serving. May our ears listen to tradition, doctrine, and creed; hearing the pinpointing of focus for our context and our lives. Cause us to itch to proclaim the message, and to patiently teach through Christ-like living. Amen.

A Thanksgiving Read

 

Based on: Philippians 4: 4-9 (NRSV)

 

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

How do you read? When you pick up a book – whether novel, biography, poetry- how do you approach it?

I am a reader who is a gatherer with a positive bias. This means that when I read, I approach the text with a positive attitude expecting to find something, hopefully an abundance of somethings, nuggets - that can be taken, imagined, learned, thought about, built on, and applied. I anticipate that the book will challenge and change me -that a truth will unveil itself.

When I read the Bible, I come to it with the same style and attitude. Passages like the one from Philippians  -Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice, are the nuggets I gather – to remember, reflect on, quote, and apply. In my experience as pastor, and people sharing with me their take on the Bible, many of us read the Bible as gatherers, pulling out the passages that have meaning for us; passages that are comforting, pithy, joy-filled; those that help us understand the world and how to live in the world.

 

When I began teaching and mentoring seminary students, course work included the writing of papers, and so for me the marking of papers. I learned to read differently. I come to a paper with an attitude of scarcity. I read critically to find what is missing:  be it key themes, a misunderstanding of the project, a lack of theological reflection, not enough explanation or carry through of thought, or a good proof-read. I read this way to be able to direct students how to improve and continue their work and learning. This kind of reading is important, but I find it takes time, and is brain exhausting.

 

How do you read? Do you gather from what is present, or read looking for what is missing? Do you read as a starting point for new discovery and growing ideas, or to deconstruct what is present? Do you read with an expectation of abundance or scarcity?

 

Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.

It is not only words on paper that we read. Daily we ‘read’ the world around us. There are those who approach reading the world via Twitter scroll, hopping down rabbit trails that descend into tweets that point fingers, find the worst, harp on what is wrong, disrespect different voices, and focus on negativity. There are those who begin a day in the newsreel where 10 to 1 the stories highlighted are about violence, disruption, and crisis. There are those who read the world through the eyes of their immediate and personal inconveniences. When I read the world, I often feel discouraged, interpreting that too many readers approach life wearing negative reading glasses.

How do you read the world?  With what attitude  - abundance, scarcity-? Throughout a day do you actively anticipate finding ‘good,’ the positive, joy, God? 

Today’s scripture commends, letting one’s gentleness be known to everyone; as if there are people who read the world looking for gentleness; or perhaps it is authors – a person like you or me- who can write gentleness into the world for others to read. The more gentleness being written – the more it is like a book becoming a number one bestseller. Approaching life as an author of gentleness, in doing so, God is near. God is written into the world.

 

The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.

When reading the text from Philippians, it is hard to tell if the statement, The Lord is near, goes with letting one’s gentleness be known, or if it is connected to, do not worry about anything. It depends on how the reader chooses to read it.

The idea of reading the world as the Lord is near, has me ponder where God is. This morning I look out at a gathered community - I read your faces and see that the Lord is near, I read the emojis and comments from the people online and see that God is near.  I smell coffee and sense cookies and warm hospitality and conversation to come after worship, I read: God is near.  I anticipate reading response emails from email church; God is near. As I go into the world, do I, will I, continue to read with the attitude, God is near?

 

Earlier the text commended letting gentleness be known; here the text continues by commending prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.  Once again it is about reading the world and writing a response. Listeners are invited to approach the world with the intended response being prayer and thanksgiving. For instance – one reads/hears sirens and gives thanks for paramedics, for ambulances, for health care. One reads a rainy day, giving thanks for raincoats, buildings with roofs, and hot drinks.

 

We can all practice reading the world with the attitude ‘God is near.’ We can all practice writing into the world gentleness and thanksgiving prayer.

And in this we might finally come to the chapter of the book – the chapter of life where:

the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

At this point of writing the sermon – I realized that in early September I had purchased a Thanksgiving card for my father-in-law and his wife; I had set it away in a safe place and had forgotten about it. It is now in the mail.  I remember picking it out when Thanksgiving cards appeared – the images were beautiful in their orange and red hues and the words were perfect. The receiver of the card will read a blessing from my household to theirs. They will read that they are loved, that we give thanks for them, that our prayer is one of continued blessing and health.  I sometimes find it difficult to find a card that ‘reads’ the way I feel about the person I am sending the card too. I find it hard too to articulate and write everything I want a say in a Thanksgiving blessing for a card.

 

The letter to the Philippians has helped me today. I have read a Thanksgiving card blessing that is perfect for all of you – I suppose it is a Thanksgiving card blessing for me too. Accept this Thanksgiving blessing as a reader who is a gatherer with a positive attitude, to you I read:

 

Rejoice in the Lord always, and 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 request be made known to God.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Love and blessings, Pr. Kimber