Message for September 19, 2021
Omagh’s 183rd Anniversary
John 1:1-14

Have you ever had the experience of going to a world-famous landmark
which did not, for whatever reason, live up to your expectations? While I have
never seen it, this is how many people I know have reacted to the famous
Statue of Liberty in New York City. I don’t know how many people have told me
that “It’s so small! I expected to see something far larger!” And then again there
are those places that do live up to our expectations and more.

One such place for me is Peggy’s Cove, and especially its famous
lighthouse sitting on the massive rocks. It doesn’t matter whether I was there on
a sunny or foggy day, that place has always enthralled me. But of course we
also have some beautiful lighthouses closer to home. I think of some of those
located on the shores of Lake Huron for example and especially those around
Tobermory such as Big Tub, Cove Island, Cabot Head and Flowerpot Island.
Truly there is something almost magical about lighthouses that appeals to our
imaginations, and so perhaps it is not inappropriate that lighthouses are
sometimes used as a Christian symbol, especially in light of some of the
imagery used to describe Jesus himself.

This morning’s scripture passage is the famous Prologue to John’s gospel,
and it sets out many of its themes. Writing of Jesus, John said: “In him was life,
and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness and
the darkness has not overcome it”. Later in the Prologue, John went on to write:
“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world”.
This theme of Jesus being the light is picked up by Jesus himself later in
that gospel: “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes
in me should stay in darkness”. And of course there is also the famous: “I am
the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will
have the light of life”.

This theme or image of Jesus being the Light of the World is certainly an
appropriate one. Jesus for example came to shed his light upon us, teaching us
how to live and how to get the most out of life. All too often people think that
their true peace and happiness lies in doing what they want regardless of the
feelings and needs of others. Not so said Jesus, true happiness, peace, and
contentment are to be found by following the light of his teaching and example.
But Jesus of course isn’t just the light for life here and now; he is also the light
that proclaims that in the darkness of death, there is indeed a life yet to come.
As he famously said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in
me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever believes in me shall never
die”.

Truly Jesus is the Light and is like a lighthouse shining in the darkness,
but of course what describes him should also describe us as well. As Jesus
said in his famed Sermon on the Mount: “You are the light of the world”. This is
what we and the church are called to be; we are the light or, if we prefer, we are
to be like lighthouses. In a world that all too often seems to have lost its way,
we shine in the darkness striving to proclaim the light of Christ’s teaching by
both word and deed. In a world where so many people lack so much, we strive
to help fill some of the needs. We do so for example through such as our
contributions to Presbyterians Sharing which supports the work of the larger
church. We also shine through our support of PWS, Presbyterian World Service
and Development, which works to alleviate some of the needs of the Third
World. Closer to home we have supported Evangel Hall, our denomination’s
inner-city mission in Toronto that works with many who are homeless. Even
more closer to home, we have supported the Salvation Army as it strives to
meet the needs of the less well-off of our own community. Indeed, without being
the least bit egotistical about it, this church’s light shines through me; by
supporting a minister, other ministries can and do happen in our community.
We may be a small church family here at Omagh, but we have, and still try to do
our part to shine in the darkness. As I have sometimes said, we punch above
our weight. But while we let our light shine, acting like a lighthouse by the things
we do, we also shine in yet another way as well and that is through this very
building itself.

If only because they are so expensive to build and maintain, there has
been a great deal of debate in recent years about the role and purpose of
church buildings. At one end of the spectrum are those who believe that we
should get rid of the church buildings altogether; why think of the ministries that
could be supported with that money! At the other end of the spectrum are those
for whom the building is the end all and be all; one would almost think that the
congregation exists to serve the building and not the other way around. The
truth however is to be found somewhere in the middle since a building does
provide a place to worship and may be used by other groups in the community.
The building however doesn’t just serve as a lighthouse through its use; it also
serves as a lighthouse by its very existence.

As we are constantly reminded, we are now living in what is called “the
post-Christian era” and the statistics certainly bear this out. While the vast
majority of Canadians still identify themselves as Christians, the truth is that
fewer and fewer people have any real connection with organized religion at all
whether it be Christian or another faith. In fact, the fastest growing group of
people in our society today are those who identify themselves as non-religious.
In such a world, our church buildings do have a vital role to play. It doesn’t
matter whether it be a great big cathedral with a spire reaching to the sky or a
smaller building such as our own, by their very existence churches silently bear
witness to the world that God exists, that Jesus is his son, and that there is more
to life than the here and now. To put it another way, borrowing from military
imagery, churches are God’s boots on the ground. This came home to me a
few years ago.

It was a Sunday morning here at Omagh and when I stepped outside to
greet people following the service, I noticed two young women in their late teens
or early twenties off to the side, huddled against the front of the church. They
were sitting on the ground and were obviously upset. When I asked them what
was wrong, they told me their story. They had been at a party the night before
somewhere north of Toronto and while there they had met a couple of young
men who were from Milton. They invited the two of them back to town with
them, an invitation that they accepted even though the men were complete
strangers. They ended up in a house somewhere in town where, before long,
they realized that they had made a terrible mistake and fled. Totally lost, they
wandered all over until somehow they ended up here, feeling scared,
bewildered and unsure of where to go and what to do. They were looked after,
but the point of this little episode is this: they knew that they could go to a
church and that there, that here, they would find help.
That Sunday morning this very building itself served as a lighthouse
shining in the darkness, showing the way to help and safety. That is what this
congregation started to do back in 1838 and that is what it has been doing ever
since. In the beginning we were the church of the pioneers, and if we don’t think
that the first settlers here didn’t need the light offered by Christ and this church,
then all we have to do is read what is written on some of the tombstones in our
cemetery. Then we became the church of the settled countryside. And now?
The countryside and the world around us are changing before our very eyes but
while some things may change, some things do not. One constant is Christ, the
Light of the World, and the other is our role; to shine in the world around us.
Being the good Presbyterians that we are, we have the Burning Bush on the
sign just outside the front door. Now I am not for one moment saying that we
should ever change it, but truly this symbol could just as appropriately be a
lighthouse.

Pastoral Prayer
Gracious God, hear us as we now come to you in prayer on this, the last
Sunday of summer and this church family’s 183rd anniversary.
We thank you for this season drawing to its close, and also for the season
of beauty and harvest that will soon be upon us.
We thank you for this land and nation in which we live, and that we have
the right to choose those who exercise power over us. With tomorrow’s election
in mind, help us to follow our beliefs and conscience, that we may choose wisely
and well.
We thank you for what it is that we celebrate here this morning: 183 years
of witness. We thank you for those who have gone before us, many of whom
we have known and loved. Grant that we may be inspired by their examples of
faith and sacrifice.
We thank you for your Son, the foundation upon which your church and
this very congregation itself is built. He came as the Light of the World and in
his love he has entrusted his ministry to us. We thank you for this, praying that
through your Spirit you will help us, individually and collectively, to shine as well.
We pray for your light in the many places and situations where there is so
much darkness; the darkness of illness, grief, want, violence and fear.
We pray for your light in our society as the Fourth Wave continues. May
the ill find healing, the grieving find comfort, and that those whose task it is to
heal and comfort find the strength and comfort to do so. We especially
remember this day the people of Alberta with the threat of their healthcare
system being totally overwhelmed. Through your light bring us through the
darkness of the present time.
We ask these things in your Son’s name. Amen

Message for September 12, 2021

James 2:1-10

There was once a young man who had recently left his native land and had arrived in a new country that he hoped to call home.  The young man was a very serious individual and had a very keen interest in spiritual matters.  He had been raised as a Hindu but, for various reasons, was unhappy with that faith.  He’d had some limited exposure to Christianity and being curious, he had bought a Bible and read it.  The Bible, and especially the parts about the life and teaching of Jesus, had quite an impact on him, so much so that he decided that he would attend a worship service even though he had never stepped foot in a church before.

One Sunday morning then he got up early, had his breakfast and made himself presentable.  He made sure that he was at the church long before the service began and when he stepped inside, he was met by an usher.  But did the usher warmly greet him, shake his hand, and thank him for coming?  Not at all.  Instead the usher curtly told him to go away since he was not allowed in the church; he wasn’t simply because he was not white.  The young man turned around and walked away but he did not just walk away from that church that Sunday morning, he also walked away from the very Church itself.

He did so because to him there was such a discrepancy between the teaching of Jesus and the behaviour of the usher.  He quite rightly assumed that if the church was really following the teaching and example of Jesus, then it would never have told him that he could not enter and worship God because of the colour of his skin.  Since the church had rejected him, he in turn rejected the church and even the very Christian faith itself.  Indeed years later when a prominent missionary asked him why he disliked Jesus so much, his response was to say that he didn’t dislike Jesus at all; in fact he admired Jesus very much.  His problem wasn’t Jesus, rather it was the followers of Jesus who would not take his teaching seriously.  But who was that young man?

Mahatma Gandhi, and this happened in South Africa over one hundred years ago.  Eventually Gandhi left South Africa and returned home to India where he, more than any other person, helped bring about India’s independence through his policy of passive, non-violent resistance, a policy that was directly inspired by Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount.  No one knew it at the time, but that Sunday morning was full of ‘what ifs’; what would have happened if that usher had welcomed Gandhi instead of turning him away?  What would have happened if that church had really paid attention to what James had written so many years before?

Like last week’s, today’s scripture passage was also written by James, a younger half brother of Jesus.  In the decades following his elder brother’s death and resurrection, James became the leader of the Christian congregation in Jerusalem.  At that time the church was, for the most part, made up of such as slaves, the poor and the outcasts.  To belong to the church was not fashionable; in fact it was the exact opposite.  As time went by though, attitudes began to change.  More and more people including the well-to-do, realized that these Christians were on to something good and so more and more of them started dropping in on the Sunday morning worship services.

Naturally this thrilled the congregation.  It was good to get any visitors at all, but it was even better to get these socially respectable visitors with their nice clothes and gold rings!  These visitors were fussed over but this behaviour infuriated James because of the double standard.  When the well-to-do showed up, they were fussed over and given the best seats but when the poorer visitors showed up, they were told to sit on the floor.  The Christians were making distinctions amongst themselves, and James firmly believed that this was completely and utterly wrong.  More than anything else, Christians were supposed to obey the ‘Royal Law’, which we today call the Great Commandment.  “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  And you shall love your neighbour as yourself.”  Love of God and neighbour was what the church and even Christianity itself was all about and this meant treating other people as they themselves wished to be treated.  Would they have liked it if they had showed up at church for the first time and had been told to go and sit on the floor while seeing other people being fussed over and given the best seats in the house?  Not very likely!  More than anything else the Christians were to love, and if they truly loved then there wouldn’t be any partiality or favouritism; everyone, absolutely everyone, would be equally welcome and treated the same.

I have never forgotten a minister’s children’s time at an anniversary service at Omagh years ago.  During it the guest minister asked the children who the most important person or people in the church were.  The children had all sorts of answers and at the end of his message the minister told them that they were the most important of all; they were simply because they were the church’s future.  Now I know what that minister was driving at and to a point, I agree.  Children are important; they are in their own right, and also because they are the church’s future.  As it has been said, the church is always one generation away from extinction.  Where I found myself disagreeing with him though, was with his assertion that the children are the most important, with the stress being on the word ‘most’.

In the church there is no most important.  Children are not more important than adults, nor are adults more important than children.  Men aren’t more important than women, nor is it the other way around.  The Session is not more important than the Board of Managers or vise versa.  Certainly, the minister isn’t the most important of all either.  Within the church there isn’t any ‘most’ important for the truth is that we are all equally important.   In fact, love does not allow for any ‘most’ important.

To use an analogy, we can think of the church as being like a family.  Would we ever say that some members of our families are more important than others?  No, all are valued simply because they are a part of the family.  While his language is certainly dated because of our use of inclusive language, I like William Barclay’s vision of what the church can and should be like, bearing in mind that when he used the word ‘man’, Barclay actually meant everyone.  As he wrote back in the 1950’s:

“The Church must be the one place where all distinctions are wiped out.  There can be no distinctions of rank and prestige when men meet in the presence of the King of glory.  There can be no distinctions of merit when men meet in the presence of the supreme holiness of God.  In his presence all earthly distinctions are less than the dust.  In the presence of God all men are one.”

Truly in the presence of God, and within his church, we are all one, equally valued and equally important.  So said James, and while we may not realize it or appreciate it, what he wrote has had a direct impact upon what is happening in our country right now.

We are of course in the midst of a national election.  The right to vote and indeed the idea that we are all equal before the law regardless of our race, income, education, or anything else, is one of the most cherished ideals of our society.  That we do in fact believe this though is in no small part due to the impact of Christianity and, more specifically, today’s scripture passage.

We may not realize it but James’ insistence on equality within the church and, by implication, outside of it, was revolutionary at the time and still is today.  Truly, as I wrote in one of my messages a few weeks ago, this belief about the equality of all makes us members of one of the most radical and revolutionary institutions in the world.  People may like to look at the church and dismiss it as being irrelevant and old fashioned with no meaning for our modern world, but nothing could be further from the truth.  If we take our faith seriously then we are amongst the greatest radicals and revolutionaries of all time.  We are simply because Christianity believes that everyone, regardless of their race, colour, social status, wealth, or anything else is equally loved by God and so equally important.  Perhaps it is no wonder then, that there was debate about including James’ letter in the Bible in the first place, and that some people down through the ages such as Martin Luther wanted it removed altogether.  Maybe, just maybe, James with his radical claims can be a little bit ‘too hot to handle’.

Pastoral Prayer

Gracious God, hear us as we come to you in prayer on this late summer day.

We thank you for the gift of this day, and that you have created us to be a part of your glorious creation.  We pray that your creation may be all the better for our being a part of it.  We thank you for everyone and everything that makes this day a gift to be treasured, praying for the well-being of all those dear to us and that of your very creation itself.

We thank you for the holy mysterious wonder that is you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We thank you for making yourself known to us in so many different ways, but above all we thank you for your greatest self-revelation of all, your Son.  We thank you for his life, teaching, death, and resurrection and all that they mean for our lives, now and forevermore.  In gratitude for all that you have done and made possible for us, help us as best we can to follow his teaching and example.

We pray this morning for the sake of all of your Son’s disciples everywhere, and your church as well as she strives to minister in these difficult and challenging times.

We pray for the well-being of our children and young people on their return to school as the pandemic continues.  We pray for all who are ill and all who mourn the loses of the past year and a half.  We remember too those people, rightly or wrongly who are filled with anger and even rage at what is happening in their lives.  As the election continues, we thank you that we do have the right to vote, praying for the safety and well-being of all of the candidates willing to stand for office.

Today we remember James’ vision of what the church, and by implication, what even the world itself could and should be like.  Through your Spirit, help us to help make James’ vision a reality so that this life may truly be a foretaste of the life yet-to-come.  We ask these things in your Son’s name.  Amen

Message for September 5, 2021

James 1:19-27

Years ago a book rather surprisingly made it to the best-seller’s list; it was Robert Fulghum’s “All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”.  It is easy to see why this book became such a hit and is in fact still readily available today.  I would like to begin today’s message by sharing some of Fulghum’s insights.

“Most of what I really needed to know about how to live, and what to be, I learned in kindergarten.  Wisdom is not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school.  These are the things I learned.  Share everything.  Play fair.  Don’t hit people.  Put things back where you find them.  Clean up your own mess.  Don’t take things that aren’t yours.  Say you’re sorry when you hurt someone.  Live a balanced life.  Learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.  Take a nap every afternoon.  When you go out into the world, watch for traffic and hold hands and stick together.

And then remember the book about Dick and Jane and the first word you learned, the biggest word of all:  look.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere.  The golden rule and love and basic sanitation.  Ecology and politics and living.  Think of what a better world it would be if we all – the whole world – had cookies and milk at three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankets for a nap.

And it is still true, no matter how old you are when you go out into the world it is best to hold hands and stick together.”

As I have already mentioned, this book is entitled “All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” but it could just as easily be called “Back to Basics” because that is what this book is all about, returning to the wisdom and the lessons that we (hopefully!) learned in childhood.  And that in a sense is what this morning’s scripture passage is about too, getting back to the basics.

Today’s passage is taken from the letter of James.  This letter was written by James who was the half-brother of Jesus and one of the most influential and respected leaders of the church in its earliest days.  James was usually called “James the Just” because of his strong sense of ethics and morality.  The letter written by him bears his name and is most unlike all of the others in the New Testament.  James in fact was one of the last letters or books to be included in the Bible and some people, such as the great reformer Martin Luther, argued that it should have never been included in the first place.  Luther in fact even wanted James dropped out of the Bible altogether and it’s certainly not hard to see why.

Unlike other letters in the New Testament for example, James doesn’t talk about Jesus’ birth, life, death or resurrection; in fact James only mentions Jesus twice and each time it is only in passing.  James isn’t interested in abstract theological ideas either such as how salvation is obtained or the meaning of the cross.  Instead, James is concerned with one thing and one thing only which was, to him, the most basic and important thing of all:  how Christians ought to behave.  This is certainly reflected in today’s passage.

In today’s passage James offered this practical advice.  “Everyone should be quick to listen, then slow to speak and slow to become angry”.  A ‘true’ Christian, said James, must learn self-discipline, self-control and especially how to control their tongues by not saying the first thing that pops into their minds, especially if it is mean or disrespectful.  Indeed James’ attitude was really quite simple.  Yes, we may be saved by our faith in Christ, but the reality of that faith and what a person truly believes, is revealed by how they behave.  As he wrote in another passage:

“What good is it my brothers if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?  Can such faith save him?  Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed’, but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself if it is not accompanied by actions, is dead.”

This then was James’ firm belief; that if a person wants to have a real, living, vibrant faith, then the way to achieve it is by getting back to the basics!  Don’t be so worried about the abstract but instead focus on the practical, the down-to-earth and the here and now.  Make your faith a visible reality that the people around you can see and experience.  To be more specific, exercise self-control, be slow to anger and watch what you say.  After all it is the things said and done, this day and every day, that either proves that our faith is real or else just makes a mockery of it.  To put it another way using ‘street language’ or slang, “we must walk the talk” or, if we prefer, “put our money where our mouth is”.

According to an old folk tale there was once a monk who was known for his sharp tongue and terrible temper.  He never had a nice word to say about anyone or anything and the least little thing that irritated him would set off a temper tantrum.  No one could ever live up to his standards and one day he got so fed up with everyone else in the monastery that he decided to leave and go live by himself in a little hut in the desert.  He was only there for a couple of hours when he accidentally knocked over a jug of water.  His response was his usual one; he lost his temper and cursed the jug.  Then, a little while later, he knocked the jug over again and this time he really flew into a rage.  He screamed at the jug, picked it up, and then hurled it against the wall smashing it to pieces.  Within seconds of doing this though, the truth hit him.  Everyone else back at the monastery didn’t have a problem, he did.  It was his foul mouth, his bad temper and his lack of self-control that was the problem.  He had thought that he had been such a great Christian by putting up with everyone else, when  in reality they had been the real Christians for putting up with him.

Are there ever times in life when we are a bit like that monk?  Do we ever consider other people as a burden to be borne when the reality is that they have had to put up with us?  What harm have we done and what heartaches have we caused because of our thoughtless comments or fits of temper?  Have we ever made a mockery of Christ and our faith, even as we prided ourselves on our being so religious and faithful?

If we wish to be doers and not just hearers of the Word, then we must learn to exercise self-discipline.  We must learn to think before we speak, and when in doubt we must learn to keep silent.  Indeed as it has been said, we have two ears but only one mouth, and what this means is that we should listen twice as much as we talk!

A poem written by a Ruth Senier puts it this way:

I don’t always mean what I say.

I don’t always say what I mean.

Sometimes I say what I think will make you like me.

Something witty, clever, cute, entertaining.

Sometimes I say what will keep me out of trouble;

bend the truth, exaggerate, halve the facts.

Sometimes I say what will make me look good.

Wow’em with words:  compliment, praise,

sound pious, poised and put together.

About my words Lord:

please check them for truth.

About my words Lord, please check them for truth.  This is so very true but it’s not enough just to ask God to do this, this is also something that we must strive to do ourselves.  And only if we do this, only if we are quick to listen, slow to speak and even slower still to anger, can we be doers and not just listeners of the Word.  Only if we do this can we live up to our title and calling; Christians, or as the first Christians called themselves, the People of the Way.

Pastoral Prayer

Gracious God, hear us as we come to you in prayer, on this, the first Sunday of yet another month.

We thank you for the gift of this month just begun, not quite summer and yet not quite autumn either.

We give you thanks for this long holiday weekend and what it celebrates, the gift of labour.  We thank you for the work you have given us and the work of others, acknowledging that all too often perhaps, we lose sight of our dependance and reliance upon other people, what they make and the services that they provide.

We thank you this morning for what this weekend signifies for so many people, the end of the summer holiday season.  We pray for the well-being and safety of our children and young people as they return to school, even as the pandemic continues.  We pray too for the teachers and other staff as they strive to do their jobs in such challenging times.

We thank you this day for this nation in which we live and her aspirations as well, even as we acknowledge that sometimes the reality falls short of our ideals.

We thank you for the peace and security that we have, remembering and praying for all of the places such as Afghanistan where there is so much fear and uncertainty.

We thank you for this part of the world in which we live, remembering and praying for those people who are not as fortunate as ourselves.  We especially remember this day the farmers in the West coping with drought, and the people of Louisiana and the Eastern Seaboard coping with the floods and other destruction in the aftermath of the hurricane.

As the pandemic continues, we thank you for the medical system we have that, despite its shortcomings, is still so much better than that of so many of your children who have little if any medical care at all.  We pray as well for the staff of our hospitals, so many of whom are feeling worn down and worn out, as even now the Fourth Wave tightens its grip.

We ask these things in your Son’s name.  Amen

Message for August 29, 2021

Ephesians 4:25-32

King Henry the Second was one of the greatest kings of medieval England.  Almost single-handedly he created an English empire in France and turned England from a small island nation into one of the greatest powers in Europe.  Henry’s quest for power and glory however brought him into conflict with Thomas Becket who was the Archbishop of Canterbury.  Henry insisted that since he was the king, he had to be obeyed in all things; his word was law!  Thomas however strongly disagreed, saying that while he was the king’s loyal subject, God ultimately came first.  The tension between the two men lasted for years until it finally resulted in a fateful explosion.

King Henry was known for many things, one of which being his temper.  He often threw temper tantrums and was even known to roll around on the floor screaming while literally chewing the rugs.  After one particular run-in with Thomas, Henry completely lost control.  He screamed, raged and stomped his feet but he also uttered the fateful words:  “What cowards I have, that no one will rid me of this low-born priest”.

Now even though the king was famed for his rages, four of his knights took his words at face value and set out for Canterbury to kill Becket.  When he heard what they planned to do, Henry promptly calmed down and sent messengers to stop them, but it was too late.  The four knights broke into the cathedral and murdered the archbishop.  Everyone was horrified by what had happened and blamed Henry.  Indeed, from then on things slowly but surely went downhill and in the words of one historian, “In a fit of temper he had thrown away everything for which he had striven for so long”.  In one moment of blind unthinking anger, Henry destroyed the work of a lifetime.

Anger is one of the strongest emotions that we ever experience, and with good reason, a person once said that anger is like dynamite.  If it is not handled wisely and with extreme caution, then the result can be a horrible devastating explosion.  Perhaps not surprisingly then, since anger can be so destructive, the Christian message for years was a simple one; control yourself and don’t get mad, but does this really mean that there is no place for anger in our lives?

Hardly.  After all, there were times when even Jesus himself got angry.  We can remember the time for example when the mothers wanted to bring their children to Jesus and the disciples tried to stop them.  Jesus’ response was to get indignant or, as we can better translate it, angry.  And then of course there is the most famous episode of all when Jesus made a whip and drove the moneychangers out of the temple.  If Jesus was not angry on that occasion, then what was he?  If we use Jesus as our example, then there are times when anger does have a place in our lives.  This was certainly Paul’s view.  As he wrote in today’s scripture passage, using the Revised Standard Version of the Bible:  “Be angry, but do not sin”.

Be angry but do not sin.  There are times in life when we are allowed to and even should get angry.  What we must realize though is that there are in fact two different types of anger, one being bad and the other good.  The first type of anger, which is also the most common, is essentially self-centred in nature and erupts when we do not get our own way.  We are driving along for example and someone cuts in front of us.  There is no real danger but we are forced to slow down.  Does this ever leave us feeling irritated or even angry perhaps?  In extreme instances this can even result in road rage. Or to use another example, suppose we are waiting for a clerk to serve us in a store but then that clerk serves someone else first who arrived after us.  So often we get angry because we do not get our own way or, as one person puts it:  “When you boil it all down, your anger is a demand that you get your way”.  This is the most common kind of anger, but Paul didn’t have this type of anger in mind when he told the Ephesians that it was alright to get angry.  Rather Paul was writing about a righteous anger that is not aroused by what happens to ourselves but rather by what happens to others.  We can return to the examples of Jesus’ anger that I mentioned earlier.

On the few occasions when Jesus got angry, he didn’t do so because he couldn’t have his own way.  Even when he was on trial for his very life and experiencing a travesty of justice, he didn’t get angry.  Nor was he angry when he was unjustly crucified.  Rather the only times he got angry was when he saw others hurt.  He got angry for example when he saw his disciples, as well-meaning as they were, stopping the children from coming to see him.  That time in the temple when he got angry, he did so because he saw the money changers fleecing the poor.  In both of these instances the anger of Jesus was not born out of pride, greed, or wounded vanity, rather it was fanned into flames when he saw wrong being done to others.  And as it was with Jesus so it should also be with us.

It has been said with some justification, that anger is the dominant emotion in our society and even in the world itself today.  There is for example the tremendous anger inspired by the pandemic with its resulting loss of life, livelihoods, and all of the restrictions.  Then came the anger aroused by the horrific killing of George Floyd last year.  Earlier this summer many people were outraged by the discovery of the remains of hundreds of indigenous children in unmarked graves at the sites of various residential schools.  In the past few weeks there has been a great deal of anger about what is happening in Afghanistan and the plight of thousands of people desperately trying to escape the Taliban takeover.

Truly there is so much anger in the world today and there is a place for much of it.  As Bede Jarett wrote in “The House of Gold”, “The world needs anger.  The world often continues to let evil flourish because it is not angry enough”.  Yes, there is a place for a righteous anger but just feeling angry is not enough.  To use an example, anger about the wrongs of the past may be expressed by the removal of statues of people whose beliefs and actions we find abhorrent today.  Likewise, we can rename streets, schools and other public buildings named for these people and feel a sense of righteous accomplishment by doing this, but then what?  What does the removal of a statue or the renaming of a school for example, do to lessen the plight of an indigenous child living on a reserve in an overcrowded house without safe drinking water?  Such anger is what I sometimes call “cheap righteousness”; it may make the person expressing it feel better, feeling a sense of accomplishment, but in reality it achieves little.  A true righteous anger is more than a feeling; it will also lead to constructive action.  Even as we experience this righteous anger though, we must also remember what else Paul said.  “Do not sin.  Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry”.

Now sometimes people, and especially married couples, take this literally; they will not go to bed mad at one another and if that means staying up all night trying to resolve their differences, then so be it.  Rather than taking this literally though, the importance of what Paul wrote lies in the point he was making.  While it would be nice if we could always resolve all of our disagreements and never go to bed angry, this isn’t always possible.  Resolving feelings of anger sometimes takes time and the process cannot be rushed.  Nevertheless, Paul is still making a valid point and that quite simply, is that sooner or later we must let go of our anger; we must simply because we do no one including ourselves any favour if we nurse it and turn it into a grudge.  I have long liked the way one of my favourite authors, Frederick Buechener, puts it:

“Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun.  To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of confrontations still to come, to savour to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back – in many ways it is a feast fit for a king.  The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself.  The skeleton at the feast is you.”

This is so very true.  No matter how justified or how righteous our anger may be, there comes a time when we must let it go.  If we don’t then it will surely consume us.

Anger, along with love, hate and fear is one of the strongest emotions that most of us ever experience.  Indeed it is so strong and fearsome that the usual Christian message has been that all anger is always bad.  Anger however does have a place in the lives of Christ’s disciples.  There are times when we should get angry when we see the harm done to other people, but it is not enough just to feel mad; what good can we do with our anger before we put it to rest?

Pastoral Prayer

          Gracious God, hear us as we now come to you in prayer.  As we so often do, we begin this prayer by offering you our thanks for the many blessings that we have and experience.

We give you thanks for the gift of this day and this summer season itself with all of its varied beauty, such as our gardens and the sight of the moon in the night sky.  We thank you too for the goodness of your creation, such as the fields and orchards with all of their bounty.

We thank you for this time of year which has been a time of rest and relaxation for so many people, a welcome break from the routine.  As even now we look to next weekend and what follows, such as the return of our children and young people to school, we pray for the well-being and safety of all.  To this end, we pray for those in authority, that they may be guided to make the best decisions for all of us as the pandemic continues.  We pray for our society as well as the debate grows increasingly more bitter and strident over mandatory vaccinations and vaccine passports.

Gracious God, when we look at the world around us and see such as the situation in Afghanistan, climate change, the pandemic, the wrongs of the past and the injustices of the present, we often feel a sense of justifiable anger.  Help us we pray, individually and collectively, to channel these feelings to bring good out of all the bad.  Save us from a false sense of self-righteousness, and grant that we may see others with the same love, understanding and compassion that you do.

We pray this day for your many children who are hurting; those who are hurting because of illness and those who are hurting because of the death of a loved one.  We pray for all of your children who live in fear, and especially those in Afghanistan and those who fear what will become of loved ones and friends in that troubled land. Truly may your love and compassion be over all that you have made, and may the day come when your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We ask these things in your Son’s name.  Amen

Message for August 22, 2021

Genesis 28:10-17

Psalm 139

Matthew 10:26-31

          Two of the most common birds to be found in North America today are the house sparrow and the starling but it comes as a surprise to many people to discover that neither of these birds really belong here.  Over one hundred years ago a group of Shakespeare enthusiasts imported one hundred starlings from England and then released them in New York City.  They did this because they thought it would be ‘nice’ if everyone could enjoy these birds which are mentioned by Shakespeare in some of his plays.  These one hundred starlings are the ancestors of the numerous starlings that are to be found in Canada and the United States today.  And as for the sparrows?  They were brought to Canada from Europe in an effort to try and keep the insects under control and, as they say, there was no looking back. These two species are amongst our most common birds of all but not everyone of course likes them.  One person who certainly doesn’t like the sparrows is the author, Jim Taylor.  As he writes:

“On summer mornings they set up such a twittering soon after dawn that they make sleeping impossible.  They awaken in me – normally a non-violent person – murderous rages.  I have to remind myself that even a sparrow’s life has some value.  For that reason I have never had any problem with Jesus’ assurance, ‘You are worth more than many sparrows’, until it occurred to me one day as I looked out at the lawn covered with feathered pests that God might have a similar view of us.  Maybe we humans are worth more than sparrows – but how much of a privileged position does that give us?  Considering what we’ve done to God’s backyard, poisoning the water and air, paving over farmland, squandering our resources, and generally overpopulating the place even faster than sparrows – God might well think of us as pests.”

So writes one rather cranky author, but this of course is not how God regards us.  In the eyes of God, we are anything but pests, rather we are his precious children.  That in fact is the message of today’s New Testament passage.

It appears that at the time of today’s passage some of Jesus’ disciples thought that just because they followed Jesus they had it made; no more worrying or suffering, instead they would have riches, honour, power and dominion forevermore!  But such was not the case, Jesus warned.  Far from shielding them from suffering, being his faithful disciples practically guaranteed that they would in fact suffer.  And yet despite this said Jesus, there was no need for them to fear.  There wasn’t because no matter what ever happened in life’s journey, they were still in God’s hands.  Consider the sparrows, said Jesus.  They were amongst the humblest of God’s creatures and in the eyes of most people they were virtually worthless.  If you wanted one for a pet, you could buy two of them for a penny in the market.  If you bought four of them, then a fifth was usually thrown in for free.  That was how worthless they were and yet said Jesus, God cares so much about the sparrows that he even knows when one of them lands on the ground!  And if God cares that much about a humble sparrow, then we can be absolutely sure that he cares about us too.  Indeed we are so precious to God that even the very number of hairs on our heads are known to him!  Even if we don’t always realize it or appreciate it, God is well aware of us and what is going on in our lives.  This being the case, no matter what ever happens, there is no need for us to be paralyzed by fear.  There isn’t because, as the song puts it, “we never walk alone”.  And this is a message that we all need to hear from time to time and especially now perhaps as the pandemic drags on with its wearying restrictions, both physical and mental.  As a person has written:

“It is perhaps one of our greatest longings in life, to know that someone will walk beside us through the passing years, who will commit to walk beside us for the long haul.  But if we are honest, we know that walking alongside us is not for the faint-hearted!

For all kinds of reasons, people who seemed to fall into step alongside us change their minds, move on, or just simply fade out of our lives.  Sometimes it has been the very rawness of our need that has made them turn away.

It would be a lonely world, a hard road without companionship.  But, cliched as this comment may sound, Jesus Christ is the only one who can truly make that commitment to walk beside us through the passing years.”

The fact that we do not walk alone is one of the messages and promises of this morning’s Old Testament passage.  It tells us about Jacob’s special vision at Bethel when he saw the angels climbing up and down a ladder between heaven and earth.

There has been a lot of debate over the years as to what this vision means, but I find it more significant when Jacob had the vision.  At the time Jacob was on the run, trying to escape from his brother Esau’s righteous wrath after he had defrauded him of his rightful inheritance.  Jacob was going into exile and was leaving behind his family, friends, and everything else.  He was facing an unknown future in an unknown land and so, quite naturally, he felt lost, scared, and even overwhelmed.  Then, in the midst of it all, he had a wonderful vision where God not only promised a glorious future for his descendants but, even more importantly for Jacob himself at that point in his life, also promised that “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.”

There was Jacob, weighed down by a guilty conscience and fleeing into an unknown future, and there was God, promising that despite all that Jacob had done, he still loved him and would be with him.  This was God’s promise to Jacob, and this is also his promise to each one of us too. In the wonderful words of today’s psalm:

Where can I go to escape thy Spirit?

Or where can I flee from thy presence?

If I ascend the heavens, thou art there,

There too if I lie in Sheol!

No matter what we have said or done or no matter what may or may not be happening in our lives and the life of the world around us, we are not alone.  A doctor Lawrence Jones, who was the Dean of the Howard University Divinity School, once used this analogy for us and our relationship with God.

Jones said that at the university where he taught, there was a stone wall that ran the entire length of the campus and his little boy liked to run along the top of it.  The wall however ran underneath some huge oak trees that cast long dark shadows.  Whenever the boy came to the shadowed parts, which he found so threatening and intimidating, he would jump down off the wall, run over to his father and take his hand.  They would walk through the darkness together but then, when they came back into the sunlight, the boy would let go of his father’s hand and jump back up on the wall.

Now this, said Jones, is the way it is with us, life, and God.  When it is ‘light’, when everything is good, we often like to run along by ourselves.  Who needs our Father?  Once it gets ‘dark’ though, we like to run back to our Father for his comfort and protection.  The important thing that we ought to remember though is that whether it be light or dark, God our Father is always present and more than willing to take our hand, if we will offer it to him.  We may be fickle and changeable, but God is not.  Indeed that is the message and promise of this short passage that was printed on a birthday card that I once received.  It is certainly a fitting ending to today’s message.

You are My child.

Your times are in My hands.

My thoughts toward you are precious.

I will love you with an everlasting love.

I will bless you.

I have placed My hand upon you.

I hold you with My hand.

I do everything for you in love.

I am for you.

I will not fail you.

I am your provider.

With Me, all things are possible!

And so they are.

Pastoral Prayer

Gracious God, we give you thanks for the gift of this day and this very season itself which is so unlike all the others.  We give you thanks for the goodness and beauty of your creation too, even as we remember and pray for all those who are finding the heat and humidity a challenge to cope with, especially those who have no access to air conditioning or have to work outdoors.

We thank you for everyone who means so much to us, praying for their well-being and safety in these challenging times.

We thank you for the many things that bring so much joy and pleasure to our lives, such as our work, the music we listen to, the shows we watch, the books we enjoy, and our other pastimes that give us a sense of pleasure and accomplishment.

We thank you for the holy wonder that is you.  You are God, so righteous and so different from us.  Even so, you still love us, redeem us and share the journey with us.  Help us we pray, to discern you in all the things of earth this day.  Whatever the circumstances may be, help us too to put our hope and faith in you.

We pray this day for all who are oblivious to you, your reality, presence and working in the world around them.

We pray this day for your healing in the lives of all those who are ill, whether it be in mind, body, or soul.

We pray this day for your guidance for all who are perplexed, your strength for all who are feeling overwhelmed, your peace for all who are troubled, and your comfort for all who mourn.

We remember this day the people of Afghanistan, especially the women and children, as the Taliban regains control.  We pray too for all those who, fearing for their lives, are desperately trying to escape and find refuge elsewhere, including in our own country.

We once again remember in prayer the people of Haiti after experiencing yet another earthquake followed by the torrential rain.

We remember too our own nation with the beginning of the election campaign.  We thank you for all of those willing to stand for office, thus giving us a choice as to who we can vote for.  We thank you that we have the freedom to choose those who would govern us.

We ask these things in your Son’s name.  Amen

Message for August 15, 2021

Ephesians 5:15-20

          The “2020” Summer Olympic Games came to an end last Sunday and they were unlike all others because of the pandemic.  On the one hand there were the thrilling athletic accomplishments as usual; we can think of Penny Oleksiak and the other members of the women’s swim team, Andre De Grasse, Damian Warner and of course the women’s soccer team to mention just a few of our Canadian athletes.  On the other hand though, the games almost seemed to be surreal with the opening and closing ceremonies being held in a huge but virtually empty stadium.  The venues for the various competitions were virtually empty as well and the award ceremonies were pale imitations of the usual ones.  Truly in some ways the Games were the same as usual and yet in other ways they were so very different.  I did however notice one constant.

At the conclusion of many races some of the runners, often from the United States and Jamaica, knelt down and offered up a short prayer.  None of us of course know the content of those prayers though I would be willing to predict that the general theme was that of gratitude, thanking God for enabling them to run a good race and perhaps even win.  There is nothing particularly unusual in this practice but as I watched some of the athletes doing this, it occurred to me that this certainly flies in the face of our society’s values.

For the longest time we Canadians have liked to mock our American neighbours for always going on about their ‘rights’ as guaranteed by their Constitution and Bill of Rights.  The obvious example that comes to mind is their insistence on the right to bear arms and the resulting deeply entrenched resistance of many to gun control.  Yet while we may like to gently mock our American neighbours for their insistence on their rights, things have been changing up here north of the border.  Ever since the adoption of “The Charter of Rights and Freedoms”, we Canadians have been more aware of and insistent upon our own rights.  Now there is of course nothing wrong with this; indeed we all believe that everyone has certain rights, even if we don’t always agree about what those rights are!  The one thing that this growing insistence and emphasis on rights has done though, is dull our sense of gratitude.  This is because if people feel that they have a right to something, are entitled to something, or have somehow earned it, then why should they feel any sense of thankfulness or gratitude when they get it?  After all they are only getting what they deserved in the first place!  The Old Testament though warns us about forgetting about our dependence on God, and reasoning that “my work and the strength of my arms have produced this wealth for me”.  Even so, this is how many people feel nowadays.  Consider this true-life example.

A young woman went to university, worked hard and was an academic success.  Upon graduating she wrote thank you notes to all of her professors expressing gratitude for their teaching her and all the support that they had shown her.  One Sunday a minister used her as an example of thanksgiving in action but a person in the congregation took exception to this.  He said that the young woman had no need or even any business thanking her professors because they had been paid to teach her; why should she bother thanking them for simply doing their job?

This is a small example, yet it captures how many people today feel.  Why should we feel any real sense of gratitude for what is essentially a transaction, when someone provides a service and we pay for it?  Or why should we feel any gratitude for what we have earned, are entitled to, or have a right to?  Truly having a sense of gratitude goes against the grain for many people today.  As if that is not enough though, we are also confronted by the demand of today’s scripture passage.

In his letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul gave the members of the congregation a brief summary of what we would call a Christian lifestyle: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.  Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit.  Sing and make music from your hearts to the Lord.”  There is nothing particularly remarkable, challenging or striking in these words.  So far so good but then Paul went on to write:  “Always give thanks to God the Father for everything.”

Always give thanks to God the Father for everything.  This might well give us pause for thought.  Many people find it hard to give thanks at all never mind always, and now we have Paul saying that we should thank God for everything, the good and the not so good.  This seems to defy common sense and even reality itself!  Tragedy strikes and our hearts are broken, or everything that we have ever dreamed of has turned to ashes, and we are supposed to feel grateful?  It is so easy to dismiss Paul’s words as pious faith talk bearing no relevance to the ‘real’ world, but that would be a mistake; it would be simply because whatever else Paul was, he was not an other-worldly dreamer.  Indeed Paul was well acquainted with life’s heartaches, disappointments and physical suffering.

One person who has wrestled with today’s passage is the well-known American preacher, William Willimon.  Several years ago he preached a sermon on this text and in it, he personified gratitude so that it was like a real person.  I found what he had to say very thought provoking and I thought I would share part of his sermon with you.  It is a bit lengthy, but this episode is best told in his own words.

“Paul says to us, ‘always and for everything give thanks.’

Isn’t this a bit much to ask?  I don’t mind having Gratitude there for Thanksgiving dinner, or on the day we leave for the family vacation.  But always?  Everywhere?  In every situation?

Every life knows dark days when Gratitude is the last person you want to drop by.  It has nothing to do with not liking him.  It’s just that there is a time and place for everything.   There are times and places that he just doesn’t fit.

Take death, for instance.  Grief?  Yes.  Anger?  Hurt?  Doubt?  Sadness?  Yes, all appropriate guests at a wake, but not Gratitude.  Let him come by later when the crying is done.

When the call came we were sitting with Gratitude in the den, having a party to celebrate my mother’s recovery from surgery.  The phone rang at 11:15 p.m.  The voice said ‘We did all we could … everyone is so sorry.  She went very quickly.’

Through dark, cold streets we drove, in shock, in disbelief.  Papers were signed, clothes collected, a few potted plants and get-well cards, and back home.

Anger, Hurt, Grief, Blaming, all rode back with me from the hospital.

I turned into the driveway.  Walked up to my door, opened it.  There he was.

‘Don’t you think it’s time for you to go?’ I asked.  ‘The party’s over.  You take the rest of the champagne with you, if you want.  We’ll call you after we get back from the funeral.  Don’t call us, we’ll call you.’

And he looked me straight in the eye, and with a voice that mimicked my mother’s, Gratitude said, ‘Say thank you.’

‘Look, I don’t think you’re being very funny,’ I said.  ‘You are really very insensitive.  Gratitude, you have the poorest timing.’

But he didn’t listen.  No, he was already getting down the family photograph albums, at 2:00 a.m., no less, passing them around – pictures of my first steps on the lawn, my second Christmas, my first bicycle, my mother at my sister’s wedding, my mother rocking our children.

And someone began to laugh … and then we were all laughing and crying and having a warm, wonderful time.  Then I understood.

‘Don’t go, Gratitude,’ I said.  ‘Please stay.  She would want you here.  I was wrong.  You do belong, even here, especially now.  Stay with us through the night and day after tomorrow at the funeral.  We’ll need you.’

That night I knew that Paul was right.  It is not only possible, but even necessary that we should ‘always and for everything give thanks.’  The presence of Gratitude transforms even the darkest nights into glorious days.  For a Christian there is no where we go that Gratitude doesn’t belong.”

This is so very true.  As the people of God, we are called to be a grateful and thankful people, and this includes the times when gratitude may well seem to be inappropriate.  Oddly enough perhaps, it is the times when we may feel the least grateful that we need to be the most.  We need to because it is gratitude for the good of what was and is, that gives us the strength to cope with the here and now.  Truly as Paul said, “always give thanks to God the Father for everything.”

Pastoral Prayer

Gracious God, we confess that even at the best of times, we sometimes find it hard to feel grateful for life’s many blessings, believing, in our pride and foolishness, that some how we have earned them or deserve them.  Help us we pray not to think this way and grant that we may never lose sight of you and our dependence upon you.

We give you thanks this day for the blessing of our lives, and the lives of everyone so dear to us.

We give you thanks this day that in a world where so many people lack so much, we have so much; food, shelter, clothing, peace and security.

We thank you this day for the gift of yourself made known to us through and by your Son.  Help us as best we can, secure in your love and forgiveness, to live as your Son’s disciples this day and every day.  As a part of doing this, hear us now as we offer our prayers on behalf of others.

On TV we see the images of the huge forest fires in B.C., California, and Greece, and so we offer up our prayers for all those whose lives have been devasted by these disasters.

With the release of the latest U.N. report on climate change with all of its implications, we pray for the sake of your creation.  Help us, individually and collectively, to care for what is ultimately your world, and to use it wisely.  Indeed, grant that we may love the creation around us as you do.

As the pandemic continues, we pray for the well-being and safety of everyone, praying too for all in positions of authority that they may be guided to make good and wise decisions.

We pray for all whose lives have been devastated by the pandemic and especially for those who have lost loved ones or their livelihoods.  We pray as well for relationships and friendships under stress or even ripped asunder because of differing views on vaccinating.

Remember Lord, your Church in these difficult times as she strives to minister in what is, in so many different ways, a changed landscape and world.

We ask these things in your Son’s name.  Amen

Message for August 8, 2021

2 Samuel 12:1-9

          During the past few months there has been intense speculation that there will be a federal election sooner rather than later.  Some people welcome the prospect while others are less than happy.  Whatever our feelings may be though, we should at least be thankful for one thing and that is that we do have the freedom to choose those who govern us.  That we have this freedom is due to many people, one of whom is Oliver Cromwell.

The King of England at the time was Charles I, and he firmly believed that since he was the king, he had the right to do whatever he wanted to.  In his view parliament had no real power and only existed to rubberstamp his decisions.  Parliament however didn’t see it that way and the upshot was the English Civil War when the royalists led by Charles, battled it out with the parliamentary forces led by Oliver Cromwell.  Ultimately Parliament prevailed and their victory helped lay the foundation upon which our modern-day parliamentary democracy is built.

Not surprisingly, given his importance, it was decided that an official portrait of Cromwell should be made.  Cromwell’s face however was covered with disfiguring warts and the artist, wanting to make Cromwell look good, omitted them.  Far from being pleased though, Cromwell was furious when he saw the painting.  “Do it again”, he roared, “Show me as I really am, warts and all!”  And so it was done and the true likeness of Cromwell was preserved for posterity, warts and all.

I remembered this story as I thought about the background to today’s scripture passage.  On the one hand King David is such an admirable character; he stepped up and fought Goliath in single combat for example when no one else would.  David also unified the twelve squabbling tribes to form a nation and then he established a dynasty that ultimately reached its pinnacle with the birth of the Messiah, Jesus himself.  Truly David is an admirable man or, as the Bible puts it, he is “the man after God’s own heart”.  And yet such is the fearless honesty of the Bible that it doesn’t hesitate to portray a darker side of David too.  If we don’t think so, then all we have to do is remember the tragic scandal that led up to today’s scripture passage.

One very hot day David went up to the flat roof of his palace to cool off, and when he looked down below he saw one of the most beautiful women that he had ever seen.  She was having a bath on the rooftop of her own house.  David asked who she was and was told that her name was Bathsheba and that she was married to one of his most loyal generals, Uriah the Hittite, who was away on a campaign.  David ordered that Bathsheba be brought to him and the end result was that she became pregnant.

Now if this ever became public knowledge, the result would have been a major scandal and David’s solution was to try and cover it up.  He insisted that Uriah be brought home on leave, and once he was David proceeded to get him drunk.  David then urged Uriah to go home and spend some time with his wife but instead Uriah decided to spend the night in the palace.   When asked why he didn’t go home, Uriah replied that he couldn’t for two reasons.  First of all, the religious laws made it clear that any soldier serving on a campaign couldn’t have sexual relations lest he become unclean.  Secondly, how could he, a general, go home and enjoy himself while the men he led were roughing it out on the battlefield?  Uriah’s refusal to go home left David in a very awkward spot.  Since the unborn child could not be passed off as Uriah’s, a more drastic step would have to be taken.  Accordingly, Uriah was sent back to the fighting carrying a secret message for his commanding officer.  The message ordered that Uriah be placed at the forefront of the fighting and then his men were to be pulled back, leaving him isolated and facing a certain death.  All went according to plan too; Uriah died a hero and David married Bathsheba.  A scandal was averted, or so David thought.

As today’s scripture passage tells us, one day the prophet Nathan visited David and told him a disturbing story about two men, one of whom was very rich and the other very poor.  The rich man had numerous flocks and herds while the poor man only had one little lamb that he loved and treated like a member of the family.  One day the rich man had company whom he had to feed.  Rather than kill one of his own animals though he took the poor man’s lamb instead, and why not?  He was rich.  He was powerful.  What did it matter if he took a poor nobody’s only animal?

The story was obviously meant to get David’s attention and it did.  David was absolutely furious about the injustice of it all!  Who did this rich man think he was?  That is when Nathan sprung the trap and told David that the story was really about him.  “You are the man!” he proclaimed.  Did David really think that he was going to get away with committing adultery with Bathsheba and then killing Uriah?  Did David really think that just because he was the king, he could do whatever he wanted to, and that the rules and standards that applied to everyone else somehow didn’t apply to him?  Well he could think again, said Nathan, because that’s not the way it works.  In the eyes of God there isn’t one standard for the rich and powerful and another for everyone else.  While we may not always realize it or appreciate it though, this is a truly radical and even revolutionary message.

Right after graduating from high school my father went to work for Goodyear.  He joined the company at the very bottom in the mailroom and then did something that is probably impossible nowadays:  he worked his way up the corporate ladder and eventually held a senior position.  One of his responsibilities was the hiring, firing, and promotion of employees, and I have long remembered something he once told me.  “If you want to ruin a good employee” he said, “give him or her an important sounding title”.  What he meant by this was that all too often when a person was given such a title, it went to their heads.  They started to think of themselves as being entitled to this or that, and that the rules and standards that applied to everyone else no longer applied to them.  But this sort of thinking of course isn’t just to be found in the corporate world; we see this all the time with politicians, sports stars, and entertainment celebrities as well.  It is easy enough to mock these people or get angry at them, but the truth is that if we are not careful, then all of us may sometimes be like them.  It can be so easy and tempting to think that because of our jobs, education, ethnicity or whatever else, we are entitled to this or that and that the rules that apply to others somehow don’t apply to us.  But while we may sometimes think this way, this certainly isn’t the way God does.

One of the most basic teachings of the Bible is that everyone is equal in the eyes of God and so, by implication, this is the way it should be in his church as well.  St. James, the half-brother of Jesus, made this abundantly clear in his epistle when he harshly criticized a congregation for its practice of warmly welcoming and fawning over well-to-do visitors and escorting them to the best seats in the church, while at the same time telling their less well-off visitors to go and sit on a stool at the back.  James insisted that this was totally wrong and a betrayal of Christ himself.  The church and its members are called to love, and love does not allow for partiality, distinctions, double standards, or a sense of entitlement.  Indeed this is one of the things that makes the Residential Schools tragedy so disturbing and disheartening; that amongst other things the church did not live up to its own teachings and beliefs.  Love was not shown, and partiality was.  As more than one person has asked, would the churches have ever treated white children as they did the indigenous children?

Today’s scripture passage has more than a whiff of scandal about it but one of the greatest principles of the Bible and even Christianity itself arises out of that sordid mess.  We may sometimes make distinctions and reason that, as the old cliché puts it, “rank has its privileges”, but that’s certainly not how God sees it.  In the eyes of God and ideally in the eyes of all his people, we are all equal.  Indeed it is ironic that so many people like to think that we Christians are traditionalists and dedicated to keeping the status quo when the truth is that if we take the gospel seriously, we are really the greatest revolutionaries and radicals of all.  If we don’t think so, then why is it that totalitarian governments, whether they be communist or right wing, do their best to suppress, control and even better, eliminate the church altogether?

Pastoral Prayer

Gracious God, we praise you and give you thanks for the wonderful gift of life and all that makes life so good and precious.  We thank you for our loved ones, the food that nourishes our bodies, and all that nourishes our minds and souls.  We thank you for the beauty of your creation and this summer season itself with its long, warm days.  We thank you too for this nation in which we live, that even as we complain when things don’t suit us or live up to our expectations, we are still so blessed when compared to so many of your children.

As we thank you and rejoice in life’s good things, we remember and pray for all who have little cause to rejoice.  We remember those in the West dealing with the massive forest fires and drought.  We pray for all for whom the hot and humid weather is more than just an inconvenience but a threat to their health and well-being.  We remember too those who are still coping with the ongoing pandemic and the threat that it poses, not only to their livelihoods, but their very lives themselves.  With this in mind, we pray for wisdom for those in positions of authority as we continue to move forward and attempt to return to some sense of normalcy.

We pray this day for the sake of healing for all who are ill, whether it be in mind, body, or soul.

We pray this day for all who have lost a loved one, that they may be comforted.

We pray this day for all those who feel worn down and even worn out, that they may be renewed and strengthened.

We pray this day for your loving presence in the lives of all those who are hurting, for as you know full well, life’s pains and heartaches come in so many different forms.

We ask these things in your son’s name.  Amen.

Message for July 4, 2021

2 Samuel 6:1-9

It was the summer of 1974 and the opening act in the grandstand at the CNE that year was the Scottish World Festival Tattoo.  The pipe band that I belonged to at the time, the Oakville Optimist Pipe Band, was one of the bands invited to participate and it was a lot of fun.  For the four evenings that the tattoo was performed we marched out of the imitation castle and then all over the field playing different tunes.  And during the time when we weren’t playing?  We put our pipes and drums in the bus for safe keeping and ran off to the midway where we went on as many rides as possible before we had to play again.  Looking back, it was a wonderful experience, and the only drawback was that we had to march out onto the field after a mounted unit had finished performing!

On the day before the Tattoo began, there was a great big parade to kick things off.  I am not sure how many there were, but numerous bands assembled in the park behind Queen’s Park.  There we were organized into large columns with all of the pipers at the front and the drummers at the back.  Then, when the signal was given, the columns marched off, one following another down University Avenue.  Needless to say the noise was incredible with hundreds of pipers and drummers all playing at the same time.  I don’t know what the people watching the parade thought of the music, but I am sure that we looked quite impressive!

That parade was by far the largest that I ever participated in, and looking back I realize how much I enjoyed all of the different parades, big and small alike.  I did so simply because whatever the occasion may have been, the parades were all a celebration.  Indeed all parades are meant to be happy, festive affairs, and the one described in today’s scripture passage certainly was too, at least until disaster struck.

After years of incredible hardship and struggle, David had finally triumphed over all of his enemies; in fact David and his men had even managed to capture the city of Jerusalem, which was the greatest and strongest city in the land.  Afterwards David decided to make it his new capital but this didn’t please everyone; indeed, it seemed as if virtually everyone had their own idea as to where the capital ought to be and Jerusalem most certainly wasn’t it!  Then David or one of his advisors had a brilliant idea; why not take the Ark of the Covenant, which was the most sacred religious object of all, and keep it in Jerusalem?  It was reasoned that the ark’s presence in Jerusalem would attract people to the city and help them accept it as their new capital.  And so the decision was made.

On the day when the ark was supposed to be taken to Jerusalem, David gathered thirty thousand of his troops for the ceremonial procession.  The ark was placed on an ox-drawn cart and two of Abinadab’s sons, one of whom was Uzzah, were ordered to look after it.  David also included what amounted to an entire orchestra, playing every musical instrument imaginable, in the procession as well.  Finally, when everything was set, the parade went on its way and as the Bible tells us, David and the people made merry.  It was a wonderful festive occasion, at least until disaster struck.

One of the oxen stumbled and the ark began to slip off the cart.  Uzzah quickly grabbed it but when he did so he was struck down dead.  That put an end to all of the merry-making in a hurry.  Not surprisingly perhaps, today’s scripture passage is one that has long troubled people.  It has simply because Uzzah’s death seems to be so unfair; after all, all he was trying to do was stop the ark, which was Israel’s most sacred religious object, from falling on the ground.

There are several explanations for what happened that day and a popular one is that Uzzah died because what David and his men were doing was wrong.  As I have already said, David wanted the people of Israel to accept Jerusalem as their new capital and he decided to gain their acceptance by moving the ark there.  There was nothing necessarily wrong with what David proposed to do but did he ever stop and ask if that was what God wanted?  Did David ever ask God for permission to move the ark?

Of course not!  In his pride, David just assumed that his will and God’s will were one and the same thing.  And Uzzah, a hereditary caretaker of the ark who ought to have known better, just went along with it.  The result was a tragedy, and surely there is a message in this for us.

During the past month the media has been filled with reports about the horrific discoveries on the sites of two former residential schools and even now as I write this, it has been announced that another 182 graves have been discovered at the site of a third school.  Quite naturally many people wonder how this ever could have happened, reasoning that this is Canada and besides, these schools were operated by churches!

The various governments of the time saw the schools as a solution to what they called “The Indian Problem”, but the motivation of those who actually operated the schools was often quite different,  To return to the former teacher in a residential school whom I mentioned in my message two weeks ago, she sincerely believed at the time that she was doing a good thing giving the children the skills and knowledge that they needed to survive and even thrive in the larger society.  And of course an added incentive for the participating denominations was that the schools were also spreading the good news of the gospel as well.  As she said, there was absolutely no excuse or justification for the abuse that undoubtably took place, but even so she honestly believed at the time that the schools were not only good for the children but by implication, even the will of God himself.  Only in retrospect did she realize that the residential schools were anything but good or the will of God.  Would Jesus for example have ever approved of so many of the children being forcibly removed from their homes or being mistreated?  Of course not, but it is not just governments and churches that mistake their will for God’s.

Sometimes in life’s journey we decide what we want and then assume that that is what God wants too.  Indeed sometimes in our arrogance we even turn to God in prayer seeking his guidance but in reality we don’t want his guidance at all; what we really want is for God to rubber stamp the decision that we’ve already made.  And then we may wonder what went wrong if things don’t work out the way we planned.  It is like in this true story.

A woman was approached by a man who offered to invest her money promising a return that sounded too good to be true.  Instead of listening to her own common sense, she fell for the scheme and turned all of her life’s savings over to him.  Almost predictably both the man and her money disappeared.  The woman went to the Better Business Bureau and after hearing her story, the representative asked her, “Why didn’t you come to us first?  Didn’t you know about us?”  “Of course I knew about you” she replied, “I’ve known about you for years”.  “Then why didn’t you check with us first?”  “I didn’t”, came the honest reply, “because I knew that you would tell me not to do it”.

Now this of course is a story about us.  Do we ever assume that our will and God’s will are automatically one and the same thing?  And then, if things don’t turn out the way we expected, do we ever wonder why God broke faith with us?   As David found out though, it is wrong and sometimes even dangerous to just assume that what we want is what God must want too.  Whether it be as a nation, a church or as individuals, we must, to the best of our ability, try and be open minded when we ask God for his guidance in prayer.  Before we make any decision, we should ask ourselves, “In all honesty, is this what I truly believe God wants, or is this just what I want?”  After all, every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer we say, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  This is what we pray for on a regular basis, but do we always really mean it?

Pastoral Prayer

Gracious God, as we come to you in prayer this July morning, we give you thanks for the gift of this new month.  We thank you for this summer season and the goodness of your creation, even as we remember all for whom the heat and humidity of the past week has been a challenge.  We especially pray for those living in the West where the heat has been far more than a challenge.

We pray this day for the people devastated by the house fire in Alberta,                     and also for the people of Lytton, many of whom have lost everything.  Comfort those who mourn and those who wonder what has become of family members and friends.  We ask this too for those who are still trying to come to grips with the collapse of the condo in Florida.

With the discovery of even more unmarked graves at former residential schools, we pray for our nation.  Help us as a society to confront our past so that we may learn from it.  Help us too as we continue the journey towards Truth and Reconciliation.

We pray this day for the family, colleagues and friends of the police officer who died in the line of duty two days ago.  We thank you for the courage and commitment of all of the first responders, those whose task it is to serve and protect us all.

As the pandemic and the roll out of vaccines continues, we pray for the safety and well-being of all.  Comfort all who grieve for a loved one.  Grant healing for all who are ill.  Guide and sustain all who are faltering on life’s journey.

Help us we pray to see others and the world around us as you do; may we all be filled with the same love, understanding and compassion as you are.

We ask these things in your Son’s name.

Amen

Message for June 27, 2021

1 Samuel 17:1-11, 45-50

Even though it was written back in 1963, the children’s book entitled “Where the Wild Things Are” is still very popular.  It tells the tale of a little boy named Max who was sent to bed with no supper for misbehaving.  Wearing his wolf costume, Max, in his imagination, got into a boat and went off to the land where all the wild things were.  While there he triumphed over all of them, and after that he returned home and had his supper.  The story is very simple but even so, its appeal to a child is tremendous.  We adults may like to think of childhood as being a time of innocence and happiness, but childhood can also be a frightening time too.  Everybody and everything is quite literally so much bigger than a child and sometimes life may seem to be full of wild and frightening things, but in this story the little boy triumphed over all of them!  For a young child, this story is one of hope and reassurance.  In the words of a literary critic:

“I didn’t have to ponder why my children loved this story.  It was about the dreaded figures that terrify children when the light is turned off and they are in bed, and playthings take on an ominous spectral form.  To confront these nocturnal fears, to stare them down and make them friends; this had to thrill young hearts.”

But of course this is just a children’s book isn’t it, and it has no real meaning or relevance for us adults.  Unlike the kids, we know that there are no ‘wild things’ lurking in the darkness; or are there?

The truth of course is that our lives are filled with ‘wild things’ that cause us unease and even fear.  There is the ‘wild thing’ we call death, be it our own or a loved one’s.  There is also ill health, whether it be our own or a loved one’s.  Sometimes we worry about our family, our friends or what the future may have in store for us.  Some people worry about the big things in life too such as what the world will be like in the future with such as climate change for example?  Life can be full of the ‘wild things’ for both children and adults alike and that helps explain why today’s scripture passage is both so well known and even loved.

As I wrote in last week’s message, the prophet Samuel had, against his better judgement, anointed Saul to be the king.  While Saul looked very much like a king though, appearances were deceiving, and he was an absolute disaster.  God then told Samuel to anoint the young shepherd boy David to wear the crown.  David however was so young and it would be years before he could take the throne.  Saul then, very ineffectively, continued to rule.

As it happened, the Philistines had launched another invasion of Israel and their army was perched on top of a hill while Saul and his men were perched on another with a valley separating them.  The armies were posed for battle but nothing happened; all they did was camp on their respective hills and glare at one another.  This however was perfectly understandable.  We live in a world where warfare is rather remote, and we can think of the recent conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians for example.  The Palestinians launched their rockets at Israel while the Israelis responded with air strikes.  Modern warfare is largely impersonal, but such wasn’t the case in the ancient world.  Back then, armed with such as swords, spears, bows and arrows, a person had to get close to the person they were trying to kill.  Also, contrary to how they are depicted in movies, most battles weren’t free-wheeling affairs either.  Rather the soldiers formed a shield wall, which can be compared to the linebackers in a football game, only armed with weapons.  The soldiers pushed, stabbed, and kicked the men in front of them.  This was absolutely terrifying, and it took a lot of courage to go into the shield wall and stay there.  Not surprisingly perhaps, most of the soldiers simply didn’t want to do it and so every king hesitated before starting a battle.  Would his men muster up the nerve to fight and outlast the soldiers of the opposing army?  Possibly not, and that is why Saul and his army remained perched on their hill while the Philistines sat on theirs.  No one could muster the nerve to go into the valley below.

The kings and generals of the ancient world were of course well aware of the reluctance of their soldiers to fight and so they came up with a solution.  Rather than have all of their soldiers fight, why not have each side pick their champion?  Those two men would fight and which ever man won meant that his side was victorious!  And this is how many wars and battles were resolved; by what we would call a duel.

After enough time had passed, this is how the Philistines proposed to resolve matters.  Day after day their champion, a man named Goliath, descended into the valley and dared an Israelite to come and fight him.  Day after day though all of the Israelites declined the challenge and it’s hard not to blame them; why Goliath was ten feet tall!  His armour weighed over 150 pounds and his spear was huge too!  If it took courage to go into the shield wall, then it took even more courage to take on this monster!  And so Saul and his army unhappily sat on their hill listening to Goliath taunt them day after day.  Then David showed up.

David was far too young to join the army and had been kept at home to look after the sheep.  One day his father sent him with food for his brothers who were serving with Saul.  David happened to be there when Goliath came out and offered his daily challenge, and David couldn’t believe it!  Why wasn’t anyone willing to take Goliath on?  Since no one else would fight him, he announced that he would; after all God was with him!  Quite understandably Saul wasn’t thrilled with the idea of entrusting the fate of his kingdom to a mere boy but then again, what choice did he have?  David was equipped with armour and weapons for the upcoming duel, but he very quickly realized that far from helping him, they were much too big and heavy.  Instead, he went out to fight dressed in his normal clothes armed with nothing more than a sling and stones.

Goliath was less than impressed when he saw David; was this the best the Israelites could do?  After the ritual taunts and insults, the two approached one another with Goliath anticipating an easy kill.  Before Goliath could get too close though, David pulled out his sling, whirled it around his head and then let a stone fly.  The stone struck Goliath just below his helmet’s brim and killed him instantly.  David quickly ran up, took the dead man’s massive sword and chopped off his head.  Inspired by this, the Israelites then poured down their hill to fight, while the Philistines, dismayed by their champion’s death, turned and fled.  The Israelites won a tremendous although unexpected victory and it was all because of David and his conviction that God was with him.

So goes the story of David and Goliath which is, despite its violence, one of the best known and best loved stories of the entire Bible.  One of the reasons why this story is so popular is because we all love stories where cunning triumphs over brute force, good over bad, and the underdog over the bully.  Indeed this story speaks to us because sometimes we, like David, are confronted by the Goliaths of the world.  Our Goliaths of course come in many different forms.  One Goliath for example may be trying to deal with unreasonable people, those whose main job in life seems to be to make our lives miserable.  There can also be the challenges of illness, and I am sure that all of us can easily come up with other Goliaths in our lives. What ever form they may take though, they all share one thing in common; they fill us with dread and fear.  Even so, the message of today’s scripture passage is that we, like David, can take heart; we can simply because God is with us, and with him beside us we truly have nothing to fear.  I like the way the preacher William Willimon put it in a sermon from several years ago:

“This story is not meant to be argued, explained or picked apart.  It’s meant to be asserted, enjoyed, retold by people who know what it is to be little, on the bottom.  When it’s you turn to stand and confront Goliath you can face the ‘giants’ in the name of the God who loves to make winners out of losers.  None of these bullies is a match for God.”

The truth is that none of the Goliaths we face in life are a match for God.  No matter where we are or what we are up against, we can take heart.  As the words of this psalm remind us:

God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in times of trouble.

Therefore we will not fear.

The Lord of hosts is with us,

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Pastoral Prayer

We give you thanks this day, this first Sunday of summer, for the goodness and beauty of your creation all around us, your creation that reminds us that you are God and that there is none other like you.  We thank you too for what summer means for so many of us, even as the pandemic continues; a time of rest and relaxation.  With this in mind, we pray for the well being and safety of all.

As we look ahead to Canada Day later this week, we give you thanks for this nation in which we live.  With the discovery of the remains of 751 Indigenous children in Cowessess this past week, we are so aware of the gulf between what our nation aspires to be like and the reality of what we have done in the past.  We pray for all who attended the residential schools and their families.  We pray for peace and reconciliation; that we may, as a nation, society, and individuals, learn and grow from these tragedies.  Grant that we may be better and do better.

We acknowledge today that as we make our way on life’s journey, we are often confronted by what we may call the ‘Goliaths’ of life.  Sometimes we may like to think that we are so brave and faithful but, all too often perhaps, we are not as brave as what we think we are.  Forgive us for our fears and help us to put our faith and confidence in you, secure in your love and forgiveness at those times when we act more like King Saul and his men rather than your servant David.

We pray this day for all who are ill and all who mourn, remembering all devastated by the collapse of the building in Miami.  We pray for all those who even now, as things open up, are finding it so challenging to cope with.  Grant us and your children everywhere the courage, strength, and peace that only you can.  We ask these things in your Son’s name.

Amen

Message for June 13, 2021

Mark 4:1-20

          The manse that we lived in years ago in Colborne had a huge vegetable garden and I use the word huge on purpose.  Susan and I though never had the heart to grass it over and so every year we planted corn, potatoes, beans, carrots, and Swiss chard.  I have to be honest though and admit that I soon discovered that I did not have a green thumb; indeed I quickly discovered that if I were a farmer I’d starve!  I remember one occasion in particular.

It was my day off and Susan and I were planting the seeds; she was ahead of me making the troughs while I followed her on my hands and knees dropping in the seeds and covering them up.  It was a very hot and humid day and the sun was blazing down on us.  I was getting hotter and more uncomfortable by the minute and started to mutter under my breath about the stupidity of it all, noting that the seeds were so small and the soil looked so lifeless.  When Susan just ignored me, I became all the more vocal.  I could imagine the beans making a go of it but it was beyond me how the carrots ever would!  What a complete utter waste of time!  And yet it wasn’t; enough of the seeds did take root and flourish to make it all worthwhile.

In today’s scripture passage, Jesus told a story about a farmer who went out and sowed his crop.  Some of the seeds fell along the pathway where they were promptly devoured by the birds.  Some of the other seeds fell on the rocky ground where there wasn’t much depth to the soil.  Those seeds sprang up quickly but, because the soil was so shallow, those plants were quickly scorched by the sun and perished.  Yet other seeds fell amongst the thorns and other weeds and so they never had a chance.  The remaining seeds however fell on the good earth where they took root and flourished, resulting in a bountiful crop.

Later when Jesus was alone with his disciples, they asked him to explain

the meaning of the parable to them.  Jesus said that they were like the farmer in the story and that they were to plant the seeds of faith in the world around them.  Some people would hear the good news of the gospel with indifference and would have no interest in it whatsoever.  Other people would hear the good news and respond with enthusiasm.  Their faith and commitment would flourish, at least for a short period of time.  Then, when confronted by the challenges of life or when things didn’t turn out the way that they had prayed they would, they would lose heart and fall by the wayside.  Still yet other people would hear the good news of the gospel and greet it with enthusiasm, but then, when their faith began costing them, they too would be gone.

I am sure that at this point the disciples may have felt discouraged and asked themselves if there was any point to their ministry.  All of this certainly sounded discouraging and yet, said Jesus, the disciples could take heart; they could and should because of the last group of seeds, those that fell on the fertile ground that took root and flourished bringing forth an abundant crop.  Those seeds represented all of the people who would hear the good news of the gospel, respond favourably and be there for the long haul, as if it were.  It was these people who would make the disciples’ hard work and sacrifices worthwhile.

Now this of course was a supremely realistic story for both the original twelve disciples and us as well.  As the disciples of Christ, we are called to sow the seeds of faith in the world around us.  The truth however is that despite our best efforts, not everyone will respond positively.  Some people will not for whatever reason, be interested in the good news of the gospel.  Other people will be interested at first but, for whatever reason, will not be around for the long run.  Yet others will be interested as long as things go their way and live up to their expectations.  Once things don’t however, they too will be gone.   And yet Jesus promised, enough seeds will take root and flourish to make it all worthwhile.  The message of today’s passage is that we are all called to be sowers.  In fact we may sometimes even be planting the seeds of faith without ever realizing it.

I recently read about a woman in New York City who has spent the last two decades in an urban ministry in one of the most impoverished and toughest parts of the city.  A person once asked her how she had become involved in what is oftentimes a difficult and discouraging ministry.  This was her reply:

“When I was sixteen, I went with my church youth group on a working summer mission trip to Appalachia.  At the end of the week, we had worship and during the service, or maybe right afterwards, one of the adult leaders said to me, ‘Sharon, I bet you will spend the rest of your life in service to the needs of others’”.

That adult leader had no way of knowing it but a seed was planted that day that not only took root but flourished.  There is also an example of this from the life of the well-known preacher William Willimon.

Willimon, who is one of the most respected preachers in the United States today, was invited back to his home church to preach.  He eagerly accepted the invitation as he especially wanted to see one of his former Sunday School teachers.  That man had had such a powerful impact on him and played no small part in his decision to enter the ministry.  Willimon met the man and told him about the powerful influence that he had had on him.  His response was to say how inadequate he had felt as a teacher and how glad he had been to give it up.  It is so ironical that that man who had had such an influence on Willimon and helped plant the seeds of faith, never even realized it.

So it is with us.  What seeds were planted by others that have led us to where we are today on our journey of faith?  What seeds have we planted, perhaps without ever realizing it?  What seeds have we planted, that while now seemingly dormant, will sprout and flourish in the years ahead?  The truth of course is that none of us really know, and we might well wonder if it is all worthwhile.  Indeed while not pertaining to anything particularly religious, this was brought home to me during the past week.

More than twenty years ago I took a course on how to read and transcribe medieval English handwriting.  The course was a challenging one since back in the Middle Ages there was no punctuation, no standard spelling and many of the

letters were shaped somewhat differently from the ones we use today.  After I

finished the course, I then became involved in what was known as “The Logge

Register Project”.  The Logge Register contains 379 wills that were written

between 1479 and 1486 in both English and Latin.  The idea behind the project

was to transcribe the wills into modern English so that they would be easily

accessible and readable for historians today.  This was a very long and

challenging project, especially given the fact that medieval handwriting is

generally even worse than mine!  After years of work though the task was finally

completed and the register was published as a two-volume set in 2008.

While browsing the internet during the past week, I found mention of the register and the website even gave a list of the universities that had a copy of it.   Needless-to-say it never became a best seller!  I found myself wondering though; while I certainly enjoyed the challenge of transcribing those wills, was all of the work and labour by myself and the other transcribers worthwhile?  Did it or does it mean anything to anyone?

The truth of course is that I have no way of knowing the answer to these questions, and so it is with all of us and our lives.  Whether it be our sowing the seeds of faith or the influence that we are having on other people in general, none of us truly know what impact we are having.  This is where faith comes in.  It takes faith to sow the seeds in the first place and it also takes faith to trust God for the results; that some of the seeds will bear fruit in God’s own good time.  The truth is that we are having an impact on the lives of others and the world around us, even if it isn’t obvious now or won’t be for years and perhaps even decades to come.  But this is what gives us hope, that we and our lives really do matter.  And they do simply because no one less than Christ himself has said so.

Pastoral Prayer

Gracious God, as we come to you in prayer this day, we acknowledge that there is so much pain and heartache in the world around us; there is the ongoing pandemic, the residential schools with their terrible legacy, and this past week there was the horrific killings in London.  We pray for all those devasted by these events, and we pray for our society itself and the safety and well-being of all.  We pray too that we, individually and together, may shape a society where everyone may live as you desire all of your children to live, in peace and security.

In the aftermath of this past week’s General Assembly and the decisions made, we pray for the larger church of which we are a part, for her well-being, her unity, and her ministry.

We give you thanks for the ministries that you have entrusted to us.  We confess that all to often perhaps we live our lives and wonder if the things we say and do really matter.  Help us to realize that they do matter simply because we ourselves matter.  Indeed, we matter so much that you became one of us in the person of your Son, so that we might have life in all of its glorious abundant fullness.  And for this we give you thanks, for the dying and undying love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We pray this day for all for whom life is not so good and kind, for all who are ill, all who mourn, and all who simply feel overwhelmed by it all that is happening in their lives and the world around them.

Grant us and all your children, the strength, peace, and courage that only you can.

We ask these things in your Son’s name.

Amen