The Gospel Response to Peer Pressure

 

On Friday morning CBC Radio One had a conversation with Mayor Mike Savage. The conversation was about solutions to housing across levels of government. The Mayor commented that he has worked as a politician for a long time; stating that his leadership has been one of partnership not bipartisanship; willing to work with all levels of government, all parties, to the benefit of the municipality, rather than casting blame, setting a scape goat, playing for votes.

 

Over this past week, letters from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land and the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, along with organizations like Canada Lutheran World Relief and the Lutheran World Federation who have partnerships in the region and work that has spanned decades --- all shared a desire for pause and for peace; not a taking of sides and an escalation of violence.

 

Leaders – around the world and of all sorts- are surrounded by fear-filled people. They themselves also harbour fear. Fear-filled people panic. They harbour anxiety that makes it hard to regulate emotions. The brain is prevented from functioning well; reading situations, identifying options, living from one’s values becomes increasingly difficult. Fear-filled people are reactive rather than thoughtful and creative. Fear-filled people make demands of their leaders, pushing them to immediately stand and fight that which threatens, and wanting quick solutions.

What is a leader to do?

 

In this week’s Working Preacher resource, Zina Jacque, Assistant to the Pastor at Historic Alfred St. Baptist Church, Alexandria, Virginia, suggests that readers of Exodus have been hard on Aaron, Moses’ brother, and that readers need to take another look at the scripture and apply the timely lessons found therein. She adamantly writes that the story is not a failure of leadership on Aaron’s part. Aaron is rather, a good and faithful leader, who succumbs to peer pressure.

 

Most of us at some point bow to peer pressure.  We find ourselves, as Zina Jacque says, “on the wrong side of right, absent the presence of mind to adhere to an ethical standard, and wordless in face of wickedness.”

 

Peer pressure – in this case the peer group is a very large group of people who have fled slavery in Egypt, to journey through a desert region to find a new place to settle. They have what they are carrying. They have little knowledge of the desert and have complained about the lack of food, the lack of water, the lack of direction. The people become impatient waiting in the desert – in limbo- for leader Moses to return; he has been gone a long time. Fear is insidious; it has been with the people from the moment they stepped into the desert, as they have had concern for their survival. Fear has been shared, grown, articulated in complaints, and now reactive, demanding, pushing, wanting quick solutions – they pressure Aaron --- do something!

 

 Peer pressure – Aaron as a leader would know that a mob under the influence of fear and acting as a reactive unit of peer pressure, is a daunting prospect for a leader. When not under such stress, he would know, that peer pressure fueled by a fear-filled people will have people take sides; they will judge and demonize those whose views are differ; the people will solidify there stand and not change sides or cross the line they have drawn in the sand; and the longer fear percolates, the more who succumb to the peer pressure, the risk of mayhem and violence increases exponentially.

What is a leader like Aaron to do? What are readers of this story of Exodus to do?

 

Aaron had options – options that were veiled as he succumbed to peer pressure and came up with a quick solution to craft a golden calf to appease the peoples’ complaint.

 

Zina Jacque claims that Aaron had options, three good ones, three options that are the take- away for us. Three options to put into practice when facing a world that is ridden with peer pressure, peer pressure that has turned the peoples of the world into a pressure cooker.

Aaron -if he had taken a moment of pause- to let his heart and head catch his emotions and impulses- in the pause, Aaron could have grasped the remedy for fear-filled peer pressure, and stood firm as a good and faithful leader. The immediate options at hand were to:

 

Rehearse God’s word. Review God’s miracles. Remember God’s promises.      X2

 

Aaron was the leader who spoke to the people for Moses. Aaron spoke a lot of words that God told to Moses to tell the people. There were lots of words that Aaron could have repeated to the people. There were lots of miracles that Aaron could review with the people: making it safely across the sea, followed by a pillar of cloud by day/a pillar of fire by night, manna, quail, water that poured from rocks. Then Aaron had the option to remember with the people God’s promises: a relational covenant, a people who will number as the stars, a land, a fresh start.

 

The Gospel reading today could be interpreted as an extrapolation of leaders succumbing to fear-filled peer pressure. A big shot only invites some chosen people (those deemed worthy and proper) to a party; a reactive impulse when no one shows has the host invite those judged to be less than, to rub it into the face of those who didn’t come. But those who come can’t come as they are they are pressured into wearing a garment handed to them or get thrown out. The story is spoken to a group of religious elites subscribing to covenant, yet the story points to the way the group is not living covenant, how judging, pressuring, conforming, changing values has become the model – and ending up on the wrong side of right, absent the presence of mind to adhere to an ethical standard, and wordless in face of wickedness.

What are leaders – what is the banquet host to do?

Rehearse God’s word. Review God’s miracles. Remember God’s promises.

 

When it comes to pastoring, the things I do, I often do for myself and invite others to come along; I figure that if I am struggling, others might just be struggling with something similar.

I think and feel that we, as a community, through Sunday worship, practice rehearsing God’s word, reviewing God’s miracles, and remembering God’s promises. What I struggle with the most in a world ridden with peer pressure is the PAUSE. 

… the pause… wherein my heart and head can catch emotion and impulse.

To be a leader in a troubled world, to be church – a people of God- that is a leader in the world, we are called to practice the pause--- and invite others to enter the pause too.

 

On Tuesdays I have set aside 30mins to publicly pray, considering PRAYER to be my pause – our pause as a community and a place to invite others to practice the PAUSE. It is an invitation to be spread to our family, friends, and neighbours – shared on social media, written in letters, asked over the phone, mentioned in conversation – ‘what would you like prayer for?’ Would you like to pray with us? Either at the time or later on in comments, in the book in the hall, or tell you so that you can add other’s prayers to our prayers…

To our PAUSE

Where our heart and head catch emotion and impulse and draw them back, grounding ourselves in the source of our being, to Christ at the centre, strengthening us to withstand the peer pressure of the world, and boldly proclaim to the pressure-cooker of the world options for wholeness; options that start with a long PAUSE

A pause -a prayer- long enough to replace fear with humility, peace, and grace.

 

May this be so. Amen.

The Ten Lepers and the Tithe of Thanksgiving

 

Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. Vs15

… was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? vs18

…Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well. Vs19

 

This morning I would like us to consider that the story of the 10 lepers is a story about TITHING. It is a story that Creator (God) wants us to hear and take to heart, so that we can live out this Gospel story in the world.

 

First let us remind ourselves what it is to tithe:

A tithe is: a one tenth portion of annual produce or earnings given as a contribution, generally to a religious organization and charity. To tithe is to give 10% of one’s income to God’s work.

Tithing is an ancient practice recorded in Ancient Near East writings, in Hebrew Scripture, and continuing today as a principle in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism.

 

Often when wrestling with the principle of tithing the conversation is about money. An important conversation and a principle we should continually wrestle with – but this morning, let us draw our attention to the offertory prayer we have said so many times together as a community. Blessed are you, O God, maker of all things. Through your goodness you have blessed us with these gifts: our selves, our time, and our possessions. Use us, and what we have gathered in feeding the world with your love…

Tithing is not just about giving a portion of our incomes. Tithing is about giving of our selves, our time, and our possessions.

 

Returning to the story of the 10 lepers. We hear the Good News that Jesus had compassion on the lepers and the lepers were healed. One healed leper returns to the source of the healing -Jesus- to give thanks and praise. 1 of 10. It struck me that within the story there is a TITHE of thanksgiving, 10% of the group offers thanksgiving.

 

Hearing the story this way has me wonder: are we called to the be 10%? Is this how our lives can share the Good News? Is this what the celebration of thanksgiving is about?

Consider that the people of the world – all the people of the world- are represented by the group of 10 lepers. The people of the world, all of us, are leprous: sick, anxious, discombobulated; pot-marked by war, inflation, climate crisis; and at disease in body, mind, and spirit. Humanity – we- are worried, weary, and worn.

We may be feeling this way, and yet, we have come to gather with others to give thanks.

Maybe, just maybe, we (Christians gathered across the country) are 10% of the whole, a tithe of thanksgiving, offered to Creator God.

 

It is an interesting thought. What makes up a tithe in a world that is plagued with infirmity, instability, and injustice?

Tithes are often connected to charity work – sharing resources with those who are hungry, unclothed, and unhoused. Anybody can do this work. We have something else, and it is wrapped up in the tithing of our selves.

The answer to the question, “what makes up a tithe in a world that is plagued….in so many ways,” comes down to the essence of church and what makes Christian living different from simply being a good person. Our tithe grows from God, God’s grace, and faith community. It is rooted in a belief and experience that we receive and share a peace that the world can not give; in hope that sees resurrection in death; and a community where the weight of the world is a shared burden that is carried -let go of - in the weight being lifted to God in prayer.

 

Hearing the Gospel story of the 10 lepers with one who was the tithe of thanksgiving, excites me- not to get down on the nine who go about doing what Jesus told them to do, but getting excited that a tithe was enough, that it happened. I want to be that tithe – a tithe that keeps thanksgiving empowering healers like Jesus, resurrecting thanksgiving in what was infirm, and being Good News told generations down the road.

 

This story tells us of a sacred trust. For the health and healing of the world it takes a tithe of 10%. In this case a tithe of thanksgiving.

 

In the realm of kindom there is much to tithe. Grace. Compassion. Forgiveness. Love. Thanksgiving.

 

For those who like numbers – you have 24 hrs in a day, 2 ½ hrs would be a tithe of time and your self in that time; for a traditional work week of 40 hrs, 4 hrs would be a tithe of time and your self. In the period of a day, do you give a tithe of thanksgiving (grace, compassion, forgiveness); in a work week do you give a 4 hr tithe of thanksgiving, grace, compassion, forgiveness in the office, to your co-workers? In a week consider a thanksgiving tithe that could be part of your social media time.

 

Recent conversations I have had with parishioners have begun in commiserating about the state of the world, the troubled times in which we live, and difficult decisions about the future of the church. In the end conversations have come to conclusion in affirmations of the sacred trust that rests on us as a faith community. A sacred trust to be a tithe of thanksgiving! And from hearts filled with thanksgiving to boldly proclaim grace. To boldly proclaim hope. To boldly proclaim resurrection…to the glory of God.

 

Get up and go on your way, your faith has made you well.

Could it be that this sacred trust of tithing thanksgiving is faith enough to heal the world?

 

God – empower us to be a tithe – tithing thanksgiving, hope, resurrection, and grace:

To be about thanksgiving in a world where many walk in infirmity;

Hope in a world where many walk in insecurity;

 Resurrection in a world where many walk in injustice;

And grace, much grace, upon a world that is ill.   Amen.

Phronesis - Naming the Intangible Quality of Christ Community

 

The First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament, tells the 2^nd Chapter of Philippians this way:

Walking the Road Together – As you walk the road with the Chosen One, have you gained from him courage for the journey? Have you found comfort in his love? Do you share together in his Spirit? Has his tenderness and mercy captured your heart? If so, then have the same kind of thoughts. Love with one heart. Join together in one Spirit. And walk side by side on one path. This will make my heart leap for joy.

 

The Apostle Paul is writing to the Philippian community of faith. There is no doubt in the telling from the First Nations Version that the letter is to a group. Have the same kind of thoughts. Love with one heart. Join together in one Spirit. Walk side by side on one path. Or as we heard from the NRSV: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind; let the same mind be in you.

 

Those who are grammar oriented probably balked at the opening line printed on the bulletin:

What gratitudes are in OUR heart this am? It was written this way to describe a

 collective heart: my sense of gratitude is not mine alone, the items for which I am thankful are also items others are thankful for; we bear each others gratitude, our collective heart offers thanksgiving together. This collective heart of gratitude (encompassing individual gratitudes) is evidenced in the singing and swelling of hymns, voices weave and sound grows, and the joint expression turns the air to joy. Gratitude interconnected and inseparable.

 

In writing his letter, Paul uses the Greek word phronesis- which in English is often translated ‘be of one mind.’ Be of one mind- only kind of gets at the power of this word. Phronesis is not a word used in relation to an individual. Phronesis is a property or ability that is created within community -one mind- and is defined as ‘the wisdom of knowing what to do.’

This is a unique gift that faith communities have. When you look at the world where does one experience a place where with others phronesis is created – one mind, one heart? At school board meetings, town councils, legislative assemblies, the House of Parliament, NATO, the UN? – maybe not as much as we would hope.

Phronesis is used twice in Phil.2:2 and is the active verb in verse 5-11; which has been called the Christ Hymn, a poem that describes Christ – not as a sole individual- but with phronesis, with God, people, creation.

Let the same mind be in you as in Christ Jesus, who though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God, as something to be grasped, but emptied himself…

 

Paul’s letter directs the community’s collective heart to the core of its being. The centre from where comes power and healing and wholeness; courage, comfort, love, tenderness, and mercy. When you come into the sanctuary, in fact in most Lutheran churches, the centre focus -front and centre you will see a cross. When altars were against the front wall, a large brass cross sat on a stepped stand or shelf on the altar. In remodels – like here- the cross was kept central in a new design, here the altar cross was affixed to a large wooden one. Our collective heart -gratitudes in our heart- begin in the phronesis of God/Jesus/Spirit. We are who we are as a faith community because we are embraced into and whelmed by the phronesis within God’s self, who works redemption and salvation in one mind –meaning continued through ‘one mind’ created and practiced in faith community; a community attuned to the cross and emptying themself.

 

What I appreciate most about this passage from Philippians is that it addresses the present struggle congregations have when they discuss what to do with their sanctuaries. Congregations talk about their sanctuaries and the feeling they get when being in the worship space. Consider for a moment the feeling you have when you step inside this space;

when you step inside a little country church, or a magnificent cathedral.

The air is different. The light or the smell is different. Sound changes.

Paul’s words to the Philippians identifies this intangible, unmeasurable substance of faith community. It is phronesis - (Ancient) wisdom created and gained over time –a group of people of ‘one mind’ working out saving paths together (for they are of one mind and heart with Christ) and together discern faithfulness and together know how to act especially when face with in complex and confusing situations. From generation to generation, this phronesis seeps into the walls, into the wood, into the air.  … into our hearts … one heart.

 

That’s what I feel in this space.

Sadly, I have experienced a church or two, where the sanctuary was cold – not because they had turned the heat down to save fuel costs- but cold as in empty of joy, void of love and compassion, disjointed and only going through the motions of worship. In these cases, the congregation was about the Pastor’s ego, or a singular person or two who used money or influence or bullied their way to attention. The phronesis within God’s self, the focus of the cross, and the working out of salvation through faithful community – being of one mind- was missing, lost along the way.

 

As our morning shifts from worship to discerning next directions for this congregation and this place of worship, let us return to the questions asked in the First Nations Version:

 

As you walk the road with the Chosen One, have you gained from him courage for the journey?...

 Have you found comfort in his love? … Do you share together in his Spirit? … Has his tenderness and mercy captured your heart?...

If so, No because this is so - then have the same kind of thoughts. Love with one heart. Join together in one Spirit. And walk side by side on one path. May this phronesis guide Our heart, Our conversation, Our gratitude.

 

And, this will make Our heart leap for joy.

And Our tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God!

It Is Time to Make a Faithful Decision

 

 

I invite you to look at the image.

You have 30 seconds to turn this into a picture. … What do you draw?

This task was given to a grade 2 class. Guess what most drew.  A clock.

Now the same task was given to the class again but this time the students were given 30 mins. to complete the picture. If you were given 30 mins – what would you draw?

The teacher received pictures of pigs, and cats, and pizza… with the gift of time the capacity for creativity grew.

 

The Exodus reading began with verse 2 of chapter 16. The first verse that was not included reads: The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim and came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.

This verse is important. It is about time. A whole month has gone by since the people have crossed over the Sea. It means that the provisions they brought with them have run out. Now they will learn a couple of important lessons.

 

In the book I use to accompany the confirmation class learning the Bible, Daniel Erlander talks about the Hebrew people leaving Egypt and once crossing over the Reed Sea, they enter wilderness school. In the wilderness school there are three lessons that the people are to learn:

God gives manna for all. The lesson is that we own nothing. All is God’s. All is gift.

The second lesson is that hoarding stinks. There were those who took more than their daily manna, what they tried to keep rotted.

The third lesson is the gift of sabbath. This lesson teaches that extra time is a beautiful gift and it is a gift to be built into the way the people keep time.  Not only does Sabbath include worship, “Sabbath allows humans to experience full time the wonder of friendship – with God and others and all creation.”

What we learn by following the journey with the Hebrew people in wilderness school is that learning these lessons takes time; their story took 40 years. It takes time --- for what and who they will be to emerge.

 

Tomorrow a devotion about making decisions is going out to the email distribution list and will be posted on my blog. The devotion talks of six characteristics that mark faithful decision making. One of the characteristics is time.

 

Resurrection has been in this neighbourhood a long time, 108 years: faithfully marking Sabbath by worshipping together, receiving daily bread, and redistributing God’s manna and abundance. There is something interesting about this 108 year period of time. There was always daily bread – manna for all, both physical and spiritual, all the pieces that sustained a community of faith over tine. Twice in the journey and once again now, the congregation is discerning the manna accumulated and how best to configure and use it so as not to hoard, and to continue with passion a place to mark Sabbath with worship and give the gift of sabbath and rest to all.

Time in faith life runs in approximately 40 year cycles: coming up to 1955 the church hall is built, followed by a reimagining of the sanctuary space; in 1995 discussions of what to do with the church, the parsonage, partnering with campus ministry, using interns, reducing ministry, as money was tight and there were large capital expenses. Every 40 years faith community returns to wilderness school. It’s as if time were the gift that God is giving as daily bread. A time to reflect, to reevaluate, to remember what is important, to reimagine the proclamation of the gospel; to return relationship – of loving God, each other, and all creation.

As this journey in the wilderness comes towards the end of a 40 year cycle, we are nearing the Jordan river – where on the other side the people set up community to live out what they learned in the wilderness- this is what we are discerning now, preparing the place to worship and mark Sabbath, to receive daily bread, to redistribute God’s manna for the next 40 years.

 

Thankfully we are a community who has journeyed through articulating our values and beliefs. We know our gifts and the work of God that we do in the world. This tells us that it is time to make faithful decisions, we are at the cusp of coming out of the wilderness.

The people who left Egypt needed time to shed the layers of slavery and bondage under which they had lived. It meant being able to look back, not bellyaching for what they had and now miss, but actually, seeing, that where they came from was not the ‘good old days.’ It was slavery, it was persecution, it was genocide – the experience in the wilderness was the gift of time given to move the people from that disfunction and ungodly system to forming God community, God kindom, a community that would live by faith not by sight, in relationship with God, each other, and creation.

 

We have been practicing the lessons of wilderness school.

Receiving daily bread and sharing the bread, honouring the sabbath by providing the sacred space for worship -connecting people with God and God with us, and us with others, and all of us with creation and with God; and this whole conversation of what now? – is wrapped up in the lesson of hoarding stinks. Do we keep our resources to ourselves, living in a bondage to the past and keeping things the same, hoarding the manna that is left until it is all gone and we stand in the wilderness grumbling – or do we courageously realize it is time to leave the desert and get on with building a place for sabbath and sharing manna with all, that will carry humanity -in this place- for the next 40 years?

 

I think about the image I shared at the beginning. With 30 seconds many people draw a clock. With 30 mins creativity abounds and people imagine and draw all kinds of pictures. I see the circle as this faithful community, the two lines are the work we have done investigating and gathering information; the gift of time has opened up options, the lines are ready to move outside the circle and with decisiveness draw all over the page with God’s manna.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Current State of Affairs - Grace Changes Everything!

 

A week ago at National Church Council meeting, those in attendance had a candid conversation about the future of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. We shared our fears, stress, and sorrows; our hopes and dreams, amidst the realities of being church in the current Canadian context. Through the conversation, National Church Council came to a place of shared hope.

 

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. (Rm. 14: 7-9)

 

I hear these words from the book of Romans as a place of shared hope. Paul’s words confront the church – the ELCIC, Synods, individual congregations, Christians around the world, this congregation, reminding us that our practice of church is to the glory of God. Pressing upon us that God is in the business of redemption and resurrection. And that we are graced with participating in ongoing death, redemption, and resurrection.

 

Chapter 14 of Romans illustrates the significant struggles with diversity in the Christian community – or rather communities- in Rome of 60CE. In this chapter Paul speaks directly to the traditionalists (that was part of today’s reading, staring, Some judge one day better than another…), while the later part of the chapter is directed at the liberal contingent. Paul argues with both, and all groups in between, that differences in worship practice and piety don’t make anyone a better Christian or a better community. Such, is simply that particular community’s way and expression.

What matters, what really matters – what a community’s life depends on- is resting in and belonging to Jesus Christ who died for all. In this belonging, God holds all -traditionalists, liberals- in life, in death, in life; and whether a community is currently in a time of life or death or life it remains in God. Is this not a freeing perspective? Is this not a place of shared hope?

 

In conversations, like the one I was part of with National Church Council, I appreciate that once our fears are articulated, room in our hearts grows to contemplate what really matters. For me, no matter what the church looks like in coming days, there are aspects of Lutheranism that keep me grounded and preach gospel to a hurting world, and for these I am willing to lay down my life. Deep down I know that I can let a lot go, so long as the church continues to preach that ‘grace changes everything.’ That there is nothing a person can do to earn the unconditional love of God because God has already given and continues to give this love. I value that Lutherans, since the 1500s, have welcomed the asking of questions, theological reflection and conversation are for everyone, faith education and teaching are for everyone by everyone. I appreciate commitment to liturgy – both ancient and reformed at the same time- with a vast compendium of music and hymns, prayers of the people, and persistence in Word and Sacrament. I take comfort that Lutherans embrace the ‘Theology of the Cross,’ that in vulnerability and suffering God meets us; in the reality of everyday life God is incarnate and dwells among us.  I can let a lot go – buildings, present church structures at all levels, job security – as long as those things I mentioned remain in the world. For me, my list of what matters, speaks and proclaims a Gospel that the world is in such desperate need of. The world needs a space and place of shared hope. We know this place. Christians have lived in this place through millennium. Paul preaches to us:  God is in the business of redemption and resurrection, and we are graced with participating in ongoing death, redemption, and resurrection.

 

This cycle of death, redemption, and resurrection; of life and death and life- is ongoing. This is baptized living, Kindom living. It is forever and always.

Matthew plays with this thought in his Gospel. Peter asks Jesus how many times should one forgive another member of the church? It is like asking: when have I paid my dues, completed following the Law, when can I retired, when can I stop actively participating?

Jesus’ response is a parable that directs hearers to what really matters. What is at the heart of the forgiveness question, is one of living compassion and showing mercy. Is there ever a time when a professed follower of Jesus can be done with compassion and mercy? No – there is no end to being compassionate and showing mercy. Compassion and mercy are the essence of a place of hope. Compassion and mercy are how we proclaim a gospel to a hurting world. Forgiveness, compassion, and mercy are how we participate in redemption and resurrection. Forgiveness, compassion, and mercy is our reaction to God’s grace, and our proclamation that grace changes everything!

 

In the current Canadian context – and the crisis throughout the world- it is a daily struggle for me to remember and live redemption and resurrection. I feel afraid. I feel sad. I feel angry. I feel helpless. I feel tired. And I grieve.

 

And in this heart space, in the valley of the shadow of death so to speak, I am greeted with the words:

We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. (Rm. 14: 7-9)

 

A place of shared hope - spoken through the ages, in times of community squabbling, persecution, war, famine, natural disaster, exile, displacement…homelessness, climate crisis, nuclear posturing, revoking of rights and freedoms…

A place where shared hope is translated into redemption and resurrection through small acts of forgiveness, compassion, and mercy—which are not so small, in fact they are very large to the receiver, who is living in an unwell world.

And when compassion and mercy are the grace received, grace changes everything. These moments of redemption and resurrection are the heart of the matter, and this matter is in our hands. It is never-ending that through forgiveness, compassion, mercy, God’s kindom comes.

 

Our practice of church – no matter what form it takes- is to the glory of God. Pressed upon us this morning is that God is in the business of redemption and resurrection. And that we are graced with the gift of participating in ongoing death, redemption, and resurrection.

To God the giver of life. Amen.

...But Nobody Wants to Die

 

Have you ever considered the thought – Everyone WANTS to go to heaven, but nobody WANTS to die?

It doesn’t take much reflection to realize that WANTS rule our lives. We want to have, we want to be, we want to achieve, we want … Our wants are messed up – sometimes, like in the starting quote, not compatible. Our wants say much about our view of the world and the way we choose to live our lives.

 

This is Labour Day weekend. Labour Day is the first Monday of September. Traditionally it was marked with parades and picnics organized by trade unions. The day is an occasion to campaign for and celebrate workers’ rights. Origins trace back to 1872 and the Toronto Trades Assembly who publicly demonstrated to release from prison those who went on strike to fight for a 9hr workday. Groups of skilled workers were encouraged to join trade unions who mediated disputes between employers and employees, demanded safe workplaces and regulated job sights, and advocated for proper compensation for employees.

Whether you like or dislike unions- or are somewhere in between- the core of union work, the stand of the employer, and the public’s perception, is wrapped up in naming and negotiating WANTS and NEEDS.

 

This week, CBC Radio One had a segment about back-to-school and how this is an ideal time to teach children financial intelligence. The young people interviewed spoke about first day clothing and how one had to dress to fit in; others spoke of wanting the ‘right’ backpacks and shoes. Parents spoke about the increased cost of everything from school supply lists through lunch box foods. The interviewee stated that a foundation skill of healthy money management is determining and separating NEEDS and WANTS.

 

Two weeks ago, when Habitat Canada presented their proposal to us, it was nice to dream about what could be. Creating something new ----we dream, we want. Slipped into their talk was a question -that we have not yet tackled, (but will) what are our NEEDs in a worship space, as a gathering faith community, and as a community space? What serves us and what doesn’t? Stewardship of God’s gifts begins in articulating and separating our NEEDS and our WANTS.

 

This year, the Gospel of Matthew has been our guide through the stories of Jesus. Matthew’s Gospel has waxed on interpreting the meaning of the Law for everyday life. The Gospel does not shy away from pointing to NEED and WANT. NEED as exemplified in texts like Mt. 6: 11, give us today our daily bread. Later in the same chapter with regards to WANT: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures … where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Mt.6: 19-21

By the end of the same chapter, Matthew directs listeners to a principle that helps sort out the mess we get into with unbalanced WANT - Seek 1^st the kindom of God and his righteousness and all things will be added to you. Mt. 6:33

 

This morning once again Matthew continues – one way, among many, to interpret this morning’s text is in relation to NEEDS and WANTS. We hear: For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? (Mt. 16: 26)

 

There is a story of a happy labourer, who went to work each day whistling merry tunes. The labourer led a simple life and was content. The ruler of the land was annoyed that the labourer should be so happy with so little; the ruler didn’t understand how the labourer could be happy. The ruler’s chief aide said, “that’s because the labourer is not part of the ’99 Club.’” “What is that?” asked the ruler.

The chief aide put together a bag with 99 pieces of gold and in the middle of the night left it on the doorstep of the cottage. The next time the ruler saw the labourer, the labourer looked haggard and was no longer whistling merry tunes. The ruler asked the aide, “what is the meaning of this?” The aide replied, “The labourer is now part of the ’99 Club.’ After receiving 99 gold coins, the labourer couldn’t believe that one wasn’t missing – who has a bag of only 99 coins and not 100? The labourer is seeking out that lost coin – a coin that is not lost because it never existed. This want of one more coin will consume the labourer from now until eternity.”

 

We could say that the labourer gained the world in 99 coins; but, the 99 coins also had the labourer lose – forfeit- the contented and peaceful life that was. In a twinkling of an eye WANT dominated the labourer’s life. Human WANTS are all messed up.

 

Matthew’s gospel has been addressing how the Law applies to everyday life. The Law, as in the commandments, the Covenant, and God’s vision of kindom, are all wrapped up in human ability and inability to balance NEEDS and WANTS.

Today’s reading is one more attempt to appeal to those who knew the Law to faithfully live it – not to gain anything for themselves, to be better than someone else, or more righteous; not to find loopholes that had individuals amassing wealth or authority; not to focus on the rules – the do nots-…

Focus was to be LIFE – kindom life.

A life of faithful covenant living, seeking God and God’s kindom first and all things -relationship, community, shalom, contentment – will be added to you. In this NEEDS are met in the whole community. WANTS are balanced.

 

 

To WANT eternal life means that one NEEDS to die.

To WANT God’s kindom to come here, I wonder what NEEDS to die in us as individuals, and in us as a community of faith to allow for that to happen?

 To WANT to continue as a worshiping and gathering community of faith, to discern what is next on the corner of Windsor and Allan, what NEEDS to die, what NEEDS to be carried forward, what NEEDS to change, what NEEDS to resurrect?

 

You are invited to reflect on NEEDS and WANTS in relation to worship space, in relation to congregation and community gathering space.  In coming weeks, a place will be provided to share your NEEDS and WANTS.

Start your reflection grounded in Matthew 6: pray for our daily bread, seek first the kindom of God, place your heart here and breathe deeply.

What do we NEED?

What do we WANT – what does God WANT? What does God NEED?

 

Holy Wisdom,

It is beyond us to consider your needs and wants, yet in our depths we sense that our purpose is in the essence of your needs and wants; the fulfillment of your kindom and living covenant.

Help us discern the difference between our wants and needs.

Instead of asking for what we want, change our prayers to pray for those who need our prayer.

Beyond our needs and wants, God, be at work in our lives and in the lives of others, that the world’s needs and wants become balanced for the wellbeing of all,

that you be glorified, now and forever. Amen.

Midwives of the Kindom

 Midwifes Are Uniquely Built for Chaos.

Could the Gospel for us this morning BE that we are uniquely built for chaos?

 

Professor Kimberly Russaw of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, shared the phrase and idea of midwives being uniquely built for chaos. As she reflects on the Exodus text she notes the contextual chaos that the midwifes, Shiphrah and Puah, lived and worked in: unsettled times, crushing slavery, oppressive authority, government regulations, stressed work environment, suffering and death.  All of this on top of the regular chaos, potential complications, and the unknown of delivering babies into this world.

Russaw also notes that in this moment, for Shiphrah and Puah, their job stands in opposition to what is at hand, despite hardship and chaos, their vocation is all about life and living.

 

Birthing life is a task of courage, embracing the unknown, being as prepared as possible and ready to act, managing the situation moment by moment, being patient, making informed and quick decisions, deescalating stress, supporting and caring for the mother, directing extra hands and helpers, being willing to move through a mix of emotion – everything from joy to grief.

Along with other gifts, these midwifery skills are what make midwives uniquely built for chaos.

 

We may not be midwives in the sense of delivering babies, but are we not in the vocation of birthing the kindom of God? Do we not have skills for birthing life into a suffering and hurting world? Can we identify ourselves, this church community, as midwives of life – love, hope, grace- uniquely built for this time of chaos?

 

On Thursday evening the congregation was invited to hear a presentation that proposed a possible partnership that would birth something new in this neighbourhood on the church property. This conversation came after a day of council members and myself doing a site-tour and a neighbourhood tour. Our guests took an hour to read through the vision wall – the Together We Know process that we have all been invited to participate in. Our guests saw the work that has been done, reflected back to us what we deem important --- they understood this community’s ethos, values, and heart and welcome for displaced persons. They saw that we are church who is a part of God’s mission, a part of what God is doing in the world. Birthing life into the immediate neighbourhood – engaging through the yard, the invitations, the words on the front stairs, the picnic table; birthing life through the resettlement and welcome of those from farther afield.

Our guests reflected back to us, skills of midwifery:

courage, an openness to articulate the current moment and entertain possibilities, know the risks and act, seek information, distill a direction, sit with an array of emotion, pray;

being prepared by putting everything on the table. We are uniquely built for chaos.

 

And this is good, for are we not being called to birth a new thing, to birth life into the neighbourhood, living faith relationship – the Gospel is about proclaiming and delivering life. Amidst chaos, suffering, and death, God is with us always, even to the end of the age.

Birthed, delivered, again and again.

   

German theologian Meister Eckhart, in a Christmas sermon preached in the 1500’s, asked: what good is it to me if Mary gave birth to Christ 1400 years ago, and I do not also give birth to the Son of God in my time and in my culture? We are all meant to be mothers of God. God is always needing to be born.

 

Meister Eckhart’s theology expresses that the scandal of Christianity is not only that we should be born again but that God would be born again is us.

Essential to his theology is that the Word can be born within us. The soul is wholly receptive and pure potentiality. The soul is greater than memory, reason, will, and being – a place beyond God that only God can enter. When God becomes one with soul, eternal Word is birthed within, through the outpouring of the self-giving love of Creator. What happens is an unfolding of the Trinity. This flourishing of Trinity is life birthed – Word is delivered – life and living through God being reborn in us and overflowing life into the world.

 

As I thought about mothering and midwifery, from the story in Exodus, I thought about the individual mothers giving birth and bringing life into a chaotic world. I thought about Shiphrah and Puah as midwifes, two named women who were likely the leaders of a guild of midwives. The midwives not only delivered babies, they are remembered as the women who birthed a nation, because of their actions saving a whole people from genocide.

I believe the story reflects our current times. Individually each of us is here and participating because God has changed us. In each of us God is being born again and again. Because of this we birth Christ into the world, sharing life - love, forgiveness, mercy, grace- with those around us. Yet, this is not the end of the story; in fact it is a very small part of it. We are open to something more – that is because we have joined in community with particular values, ethos, openness, and a holy desire - a mission; together not only can we birth life with those immediately around us, as a community we are a team of midwives with skills to deliver a whole big picture project, life to not just one neighbour, but life to a whole neighbourhood for generations to come.

 

The midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, were true to themselves, their hearts, their believes; their vocation was about life and living. The Bible says, God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, God gave them families.

We know who we are as a community – if you need a reminder or are visiting with us take a look at the vision wall- we know who we are. As a community, our vocation is about life and living.  As we move into making decisions about what will be birthed here, let us hold this promise – God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, God gave them families.

 

Midwifery in these times is not an easy task, it takes courage and all the skills mentioned earlier. Midwives are uniquely built for chaos – as Christ lives within and God is birthed again and again, so are we - midwives, uniquely built for the chaos of these times.

Meister Eckhart’s words bless us this morning – commissioning us for midwifery in this time and place:

Become aware of what is in you. Announce it, pronounce it, produce it, and give birth to it.

The Parable of the Teacher-healer and the Canaanite Woman

 

We are confronted this morning with an uncomfortable Gospel.

Commentaries and interpretations of the text take various routes to describe Jesus’ interaction with the Canaanite woman. Dubbed, troublesome for modern hearers, Jesus is labelled racist, sexist, patronizing, and complacent in dehumanizing people through religious perspective, societal norms, and systemic injustice.

Today I am inviting us to consider a different avenue to enter the text.

As you know, I have been on vacation. As I like to do, I spent a lot of time reading- enjoying historical stories, mysteries, adventure, saga, drama, poetry… Each book was read in slightly different ways based on the genre. I read poetry in a rhythmic kind of way so that I ‘feel’ the words, which is different from a mystery where I concentrate on collecting facts to figure out the puzzle before the narrator tells me.

Instead of reading today’s text as an historical story about Jesus, let us explore the text as if Matthew is telling a parable – a short story to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or a moral, spiritual lesson.

A man who was a teacher and healer, went away to a foreign district, that of Tyre and Sidon

In the parable the teacher is confronted by a local woman of that place who gets in his face, yelling at the teacher to have mercy and heal her daughter. The teacher ignores her.

The teacher’s followers, called disciples, come along and ask the teacher to dismiss her – do something- because she is bothering them.  …

 

Hearing the Gospel as a parable, gives the brain and heart a chance to step back from a traditional interpretation of Jesus’ stories where Jesus’ character is seen as flawless, and troublesome passages, like this one, get cleaned up in the preaching of the text. Our understanding of Jesus can disrupt our ability to hear the Gospel being proclaimed.

 

Fenton Communications writes about the power of parable as a communication form. The power of parables is the “Parable Effect.” The parable effect is “the magical quality that allows a reader or listener to be transported into the mind of the protagonist – essentially turning on the empathy switch in our brains. Parables have the power to change the minds of those who fear change.”

 

I will admit that I fear change. My deepest fears are around change that is thrust on me or society as a whole. Changes that are out of my control. Chaos that can not be ordered. Change that happens without room for input or choice.

 

The Gospel at the heart of the parable of the teacher-healer and the woman is a truth that confronts the deepest fear of the hearers. The parable addresses change. Change, in this case, includes choice, order, control. Specifically, the parable pushes for change in ‘the religious,’ and in the culture and system they have created. It pushes for change that is brought about by adhering to and living the covenant, as highlighted in Matthew 22: 37 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ’love your neighbour as yourself.’ Herein the parable proclaims the Gospel, a gospel of good news of the kindom of God.

 

The parable addresses change.

The parable does so by placing a mirror in front of the modern hearer, in front of the disciples, in front of the audience of the time. The parable points fingers at the righteous who have fallen short of living into the covenant by making choices that do not bring God’s kindom to fruition. The parable builds on previous teachings where listeners have been encouraged to expand their understanding of covenant living.

 

Here the disciples come to the teacher – Jesus- urging him to send the woman away because she keeps shouting after them. The teacher’s response, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’’ The teacher is pointing fingers at the disciples. As a parable goes, can we interpret that the comment is not directed at or about the woman? Rather, disciples, see in the mirror that you are included in the lost sheep of the house of Israel? If Jesus is sent to you, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, to whom are you, a disciple, sent? Jesus points to the disciples; the woman is the disciples’ responsibility.

This is not ‘new’ for the disciples to hear. The same finger was pointed at the disciples a few weeks ago in Matthew chap. 14. At that time, late in the day, the disciples asked Jesus to send the crowd away so they could go buy food.  Jesus tells them, “They need not go away, you give them something to eat.”

Disciples, do you still not understand? Covenant  - Law- righteousness, is about living the commandments. And for instances where the covenant has been broken – like with this women, those places of broken relationship -areas of racism, sexism, socio-political barriers, difference of religion, or broken systems that breed suffering and injustice; get on with reconciliation. Disciples this is on you. Jesus has come to you, to teach you, to make you uncomfortable, so that your head and heart change; so that you might change the world.  You are to bring near the kindom of God.

 

And if this was not truth enough, the parable continues by pointing fingers at the larger audience -the original hearers of Matthew’s Gospel - who are of the ‘house of Israel.’ The parable casts Wisdom in the guise of the Canaanite woman. Everything in her words returns the people to God’s covenant and living as covenant people. Pointing fingers she says, Even dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table. There are only crumbs -pieces- no wholeness. And this lack of wholeness falls on the shoulders of the people. You, you people, you acting better than others, it is on you that God’s kindom is far away.

The alternative Hebrew scriptures in the lectionary for the summer are from the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet who cast God’s vision of what God’s kindom in fullness is. When the house of Israel is living in wholeness they will be a light to the nations, a place of healing and peace for themselves and all nations; people from the ends of the earth will come and bask in shalom, in peace, HEALED and WHOLE.

When followers of Jesus, disciples who have learned from the teacher-healer live in covenant and in right relationship others will bask in shalom, in peace, HEALED and WHOLE.

 

The truth – the point of the parable – is the Gospel at work doing exactly what the Gospel is meant to do -setting a mirror before those who align themselves with God, who venture into relation with God and thus, loving their neighbours….. so the disciples, the house of Israel, us -  are changed …. that is why this parable hits hard, why we cringe when the finger is pointed at us, because the Gospel has touched us such that injustice stirs us. We have changed by virtue of following Jesus’ teachings and healings, embracing covenant living.

 

In Matthew chapter 28, the Gospel finally solidifies for the disciples that the crowd, that the Canaanite woman are not Jesus’ situations and relationships to fix, send away, deal with; such circumstances – the kindom in the world- is through their hands and witness, their responsibility; that loving God and loving neighbour is the Gospel they proclaim  - we proclaim -(vs19-20) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.