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.