 John 8:31-36 Reformation Sunday
In talking to people inside and outside of the Church, I have come to the conclusion that there are two basic spiritual needs people have, and they are sometimes in conflict. We all have a basic need for security, and we all have a basic need for freedom.
Now, there are churches which offer people mostly security. They tend to be rigid in their beliefs, and offer a complete life-and-belief system which you have to buy as a complete package. You are not supposed to try to think things out for yourself, just accept everything they teach, do everything they say, and you will be saved. Many people find this very comforting. They don't have to work it out themselves, just accept it. You know a church is mostly offering security when their main evangelical emphasis appeals to fear: “Where are you going to spend eternity? In heaven or in hell?”And very often these churches are growing and thriving when other churches are in decline. A lot of people crave security and are willing to trade their freedom for it.
However, not everybody has an overriding desire for security. Many people find the rigidity and rule-following nature of these churches is oppressive and confining. That's one of the reasons many people don't go to church, in fact. The church of their childhood was oppressive, and they don't want to go there. Or they hear and read of churches like this – which tend to be more vocal in the media – and are horrified at the thought of getting into their clutches.
These people have a stronger yearning for freedom. They want to work things out for themselves, they don't want an institution telling them what to believe. They want to be able to do whatever they want, without worrying about whether it is against somebody's rules or not.
The trouble is, without God, there is no lasting freedom. Anybody active in AA or NA or any 12 step program will tell you that you have to put your trust in a higher power, or you will never be free of your addiction. And we are all addicted to sin. There is always something that trips you up, no matter what your standards or principles are. There are always instincts that get the best of us, selfishness that destroys relationships, fear and anger that interfere with our enjoyment of life. And so we don't have the freedom that we crave, after all.
I really think that God was puzzled by us humans. God created us for good, to be God's children and friends, and we turned aside and did all sorts of evil and violent things. God called Abraham to make a new kind of humanity, and still people went violently wrong, and his descendants ended up as slaves in Egypt. God freed them and gave them explicit instructions through the Law of Moses – and for the most part it failed to bring them closer to God. God sent prophets to point out where the people were going wrong – and that didn't work either. Finally God had to come down here Godself to tell us – and when God became human, then God understood. We are slaves to sin. We can't help it. No matter how hard we try, we are going to screw it up somehow.
I think it was at that point that God realized that we are the way we are because that's the way God made us. We are deeply flawed because that's the way we were born. So Jesus proclaimed that we were forgiven, but honestly, we found that hard to believe. That's the tragedy of humanity – we know what we should be like, but we cannot attain to it. So Jesus went to the cross, declared forgiveness even as they were killing him, took all the blame for all our sins on himself, so that we could finally really believe that God wasn't mad at us anymore – that God accepted the blame, that it was okay that we were not perfect. And it's at that point, when we become aware that we don't have to live in fear of death and God's judgement, that God loves us and wants us to be God's dear children – that's when we are freed. The Son has made us free, and we are free indeed.
And in finding this freedom, the freedom from guilt and shame, the freedom from fear and anger, the freedom to live life in love and acceptance and joy, we also find true security. Because no one is more secure than the one who knows that they live in God's love, which is stronger than death.
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved,
and though the mountains shake in the depths of the sea...”
“The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.”
Therefore we will not fear, though our congregation seems to be dissolving and disintegrating. Therefore we will not fear, though we don't have enough money to pay the pastor any more. Therefore we will not fear, though a host of personal troubles assails us. The Lord of hosts is with us! The God of Jacob is our stronghold!
And because God discovered that we really can't help screwing up all the time, God said, “What they need is a piece of me inside them!” So God sent us the Holy Spirit to be inside us, changing us from the inside out. So we don't have to try and try to live up to what God wants – God is making it happen as we live and pray and help one another out. We don't have to go by what someone else says. “No longer shall they teach one another, saying, Know the Lord!” But we all know within ourselves that God is with us, freeing us, leading us, loving us.
Our neighbours need to know this. Many of our neighbours are still living lives of desperation, still slaves to sin, living in fear. We are a part of God's solution. As God became human to rescue us, we can reach out to others with that same rescue. We can say, “Your freedom is here. Your security is here. Yes, you can have it all. It is found in Jesus.” Thanks be to God! Amen.
 Mark 10:17-31
What an idiotic thing for James and John to ask! Especially after the passage that is just before this one, which reads,
“ They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again."”
And then, “James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." And he said to them, "What is it you want me to do for you?" And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory."
They just don't get it, do they? Or maybe in horror they just glossed over all the mocking, spitting, flogging and killing, and just focused on the rising again. Maybe they thought they could just stand back and watch all the bad stuff, and get into the good stuff later. Obviously the glory part is what they wanted.
And are we all that much different? We want the glory and resurrection, certainly! And yes, they will be ours. But the way to all that glory is not so pleasant. We don't get to just sit back and watch.
Following Jesus means following Jesus, including going to the cross. And although nobody is threatening to execute us, what we are called to do can still be pretty painful. “Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.”
Now being a servant is often not very much fun. It means putting what you want to do aside, and doing what someone else wants you to do. People do this all the time, of course. Nowadays we call it having a job. And the reason “thank God it's Friday” is such a popular saying is because it is the time when you can stop doing what someone else wants, and do your own thing. And this is good, we all need a Sabbath, a day off.
Nothing wrong with that.
But Jesus wants James and John, and all of us, to pay more attention to our job as disciples. It is to be a servant of all. It is to do things that other people want done for them. We often like to do things for people, but it is usually the things that we think they should like. How many times have you had someone do something for you, and it was exactly the wrong thing? The person didn't really know what you wanted, and took a guess, and guessed wrong. My mother always used to give me money to buy Christmas gifts for my children from her, because she said she had no idea what they would want or like. Wise woman!
The thing is, being a servant means knowing what the person you are serving wants and needs. A waiter in a restaurant who gets the customers' orders all mixed up is not going to get very many tips. So the key to being a good servant is to pay close attention to what the other person really needs.
Jesus knew what we needed. It was not another King to lord it over us the way kings usually do. We needed to be shown that power-tripping is not the way to happiness. We needed to be shown that violence does not solve problems. We needed to be shown that peace lies in being forgiven and in forgiving others. We needed to be shown that God loves us so much that God would even die for us.
So Jesus went to the cross, willingly, to teach us all that. He came not to be served but to serve. And he still serves us, still teaches us, still calls us to be reconciled to God. And he still calls us to carry out his work of serving the world.
And of course the key to doing this successfully, is to pay close attention to what the world needs. We can't just assume that our neighbours need to come to church on Sundays. We have to find out from them, what their actual needs are. That means we have to talk to them. We have to be curious about their problems and their concerns. We have to learn to think about what God may have to offer them in the difficult paths of their lives. And then we have to learn how to offer God's help, in very real terms.
This may mean offering to pray for them or their loved ones – many people really appreciate this. Or it may mean offering some more concrete help. Even bothering to find out what's going on in their lives might in itself be a help, as they discover that someone really cares about them.
And this is the big payoff. As we get to know our neighbours better, we develop a relationship with them. And relationships of love enrich our lives in so many ways. What seemed a burden in the beginning can turn into a joy.
Our congregation has made some efforts in the last while to find out just what it is that the people around us want and need. We have been asking them just what their spiritual needs are and how we can help. We are not here to organize the kind of worship service that we like, just because we like it. We are here to serve our neighbours. And then God will have the glory. Thanks be to God. Amen.
 Mark 10:17-31 October 14 2012
“What must I do to inherit eternal life?” That is one of the basic questions that all religions try to answer. We want to know that we go to a better place when we die, and so religions try to give us some direction on how we should live to make that a certainty. But this young man was not convinced. Even though he had followed all the commandments of his religion faithfully, he still did not have the certainty he craved.
And many of us feel the same way sometimes. Many people, if you ask them if they think they are going to heaven, will say, “Well I think so. I hope so.” It is not a matter of certainty.
The young man said, “What must I DO?” You see, if it all hinges on what we do, there can never be any certainty. Because no matter how carefully we avoid doing the things we know we shouldn't, there are always accidents. And no matter how hard we try to always do the right thing, sometimes there are grey areas where it is very hard to see what the right thing is. And no matter how much good we try to do for others, there is always more that could be done. Have I done enough? Could I try a little harder? Yes of course. But no one has the strength to do all that could be done. That's why, in the prayer of confession we said at the beginning of the service, we confessed that we have sinned by what we have done and by what we have left undone. If it all depends on what we do or don't do, we fail every time.
This young man tried so hard, and Jesus looked at the young man, and loved him. It was not because he tried so hard that Jesus loved him, but in spite of the fact that he tried so hard. And Jesus said to him, “One thing you lack... come, follow me.” Oh yes, he said all the rest to him as well, all that about selling all that he had and giving to the poor. That would be necessary if he were to follow Jesus. But the whole point of the selling and the giving was so that he could follow Jesus.
You see, inheriting something does not depend on what you do. It depends on who you are. I inherited from my mother, not because I took her into my home and took care of her. Her will was drawn up long before I did that, and I didn't get a penny extra because of it. She left me my inheritance simply because I was her daughter. It was the relationship that generated the inheritance.
And Jesus wanted such a relationship with the rich young man. He wanted him to follow him, that is, to be his disciple, to live with him, to learn from him, to do whatever he did, and go wherever he went. This is what Jesus wants of us, too. To live with him, to learn from him, to do whatever he did, to go wherever he went. This is what is means to be a disciple.
And this is what gives us the certainty of eternal life. It's not because of what we do, it's because of who we are. And when we are followers of Jesus, we have this relationship with Jesus which is stronger even than death. It is eternal life, not only after death, but even before death, life in Jesus, life with God.
And what is true of individuals is also true of the Church. Does our congregation please God? Is God going to save our church? Well, it is not because of anything we do that God loves our congregation. It is because we belong to God, that we are Our Saviour's church, that God loves us. And it is because God loves us that God is showing us all sorts of things that God wants done in the world. It is because God loves us that God calls us to the enormous privilege of doing God's own work.
It is not because we are doing all these things that God loves us; we are doing these things because we are following Jesus. Yes, we have had to give up a lot of things in order to do this following. We even had to make up our minds to give up our building. We have had to have to give up our comfort zones and take on new challenges and new responsibilities. We have had to say goodbye to friends whom God was calling to go to other congregations. Sometimes giving things up is necessary in order to follow Jesus. But we have his promise: “There is no one who has left house, or brothers or sisters, or mother or father, or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold, now in this age.” Thanks be to God. Amen.
 Matthew 6:25-33
Thanksgiving October 7 2012
So here is another Thanksgiving rolling around, and we look around to see what we have to be thankful for. Well, the world hasn't come to an end, World War Three hasn't broken out – yet – so things could be worse! But many of us are struggling with our health, or our life situations. And we look around the church and things have certainly been better.
The people that Joel is talking to in the first reading have certainly seen better times, too. They have experience a great calamity – swarms of locusts. When locusts swarm, they devastate the landscape, eating every scrap of green. They come by the tens of thousands, they are everywhere, eating everything - “my great army, which I sent against you” says the Lord.
This brings up the question, “Did God actually do this to the people?” It's one thing to suffer a natural disaster – something that just happens, an earthquake or a flood. It's not a judgement on us. But it's another thing when we start to suspect that God is punishing us in some way. That messes up our relationship to God. But that is exactly what this text says.
When calamity comes upon us, that is a question that we also may ask, or that at least is lurking in the back of our minds: “Why is God doing this to me?” Of course some times God isn't doing it at all, God is just not interfering with the course of nature – and sometimes allowing us to experience the consequences of our own actions. But every calamity is a wake-up call for us. It is an opportunity to examine our lives and see if there is anything we should change. And that's always a good thing spiritually.
That's been our experience here in this congregation for the past couple of years, too. We look around and it kinda feels like there has been a swarm of locusts that have eaten away the congregation. And this calamity has caused us to examine our life as a church. We have pondered what our purpose as a church is, what God's purpose for us is. We have looked at the neighbourhood to try to see how God wants us to reach out to the people who never come to church. We have tried to see how we could be a different kind of church, a priesthood of all believers that is not dependent on professional clergy.
And so today, we hear a message of hope. We hear God declare through Joel, “I will repay you for the years the swarming locust has eaten... and my people shall never again be put to shame.” “O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the LORD your God, for he has give the early rain for your vindication... My people shall never again be put to shame.”
And indeed, there are a few signs of growth among us, like tiny sprouts of green popping out of the ruined landscape. Some of our young adults have decided to start a KAIROS local committee, and nurture their spiritual lives in that way. The house church that meets Thursdays at Mary's has started to grow. We got another volunteer from the community for Cubs. It's not a full harvest, not yet, but it is a sign of hope in the midst of our weary struggle.
So as Jesus says, we can stop worrying! Worry never helps anything anyway. God is providing for our every need, in fact, God has already provided everything we need to do what God has planned for us. It is time to stop looking at what we don't have, and start looking at what we do have. As Jesus says, it is the gentiles, those who don't know God, who are always worrying about where they are going to get all they need. We know where all our blessings come from. We know that God is taking care of us. So therefore, we can look around at what we have, and be grateful.
Look at what we have: We have a good building that can be used by even more of our friends in other groups. We have some wonderful, talented people. We have good solid theology. And most of all, we have the assurance that God has called us and chosen us, has adopted us and put God's spirit upon us, that God has forgive all our sins and put our feet on right paths.
“Seek first God's kingdom and God's righteousness.” God spoke these words to me a long time ago, or rather, when I read them in the Bible, God highlighted them for me and made me understand that this was a job offer straight from God. And that is God's marching orders for us as a congregation, too. “Seek first God's kingdom and God's righteousness.” We don't even have to find them, just seek them.
So where is God's kingdom? Where should we begin looking? We know from other parts of scripture that God is found among the lost and powerless people. We know that God's kingdom is found among the children, for example. And among the poor. And where is God's righteousness? It is found only in Jesus Christ, and is given to us as a free gift, so that we can live in right relationship with every other part of God's creation.
As a congregation, we are making some steps to seek God's kingdom and God's righteousness. We gather to hear the Good News and to accept the forgiveness of sins that gives us God's righteousness. And we are going out into the neighbourhood to find what God is doing out there in God's kingdom. We are welcoming the neighbourhood children to Beavers and Cubs. We are welcoming the neighbourhood families to Messy Church. We are welcoming our neighbours who have struggled with addictions, not only to NA on Tuesday nights, but also now on Friday nights. We are inviting our neighbours who are concerned about Peace and Justice issues, to a new KAIROS group.
And some of us spend all day quilting so that refugees can have warm coverings.
Is it enough? We have God's promise: “Seek first God's kingdom and God's righteousness, and everything else will be given to you as well.” So we know that God has already given us everything we need for our quest, and will give us everything else we need as we go forward.
Remember, this is Our Saviour's church, and it only has one Saviour, and that is Jesus Christ. We don't have to save the church, that's God's job. Our job is to rest in the knowledge that God will provide. Thanks be to God! Amen.
 Mark 9: 38-50 September 30 2012
In my conversations with people who are outside the church, over and over I encounter people who do not go to church, people who don't even believe in God, and all because of the behaviour of some Christians they have met. I met a man last week who grew up in the Roman Catholic Church, but now does not go to church because he married a non-Catholic and his church does not consider his marriage valid. I know a woman who does not believe in God because all she knows of the church are the rantings of certain televangelists who seem to be anti-almost-everything – especially freedom. And there are the parents who won't trust their children to the church because of all the cases of pedophilia they have heard about. And if you talk to enough people, you are bound to encounter one who will throw the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition in your face.
It's very hard to be held accountable for all the sins of everybody who every claimed to share your faith. And it doesn't really seem to help to declare, “But WE'RE not like that here!” People don't trust Christians because they have seen the very worst of Christians. And I don't blame them.
In fact, it is very easy to fall into behaviour that really puts other people off. Sometimes, when I come to church, and people are feeling anxious, and there is a lot of complaining going on, I'm really glad that there are no newcomers with us that day. What a terrible thing, to be glad nobody new came! But sometimes, the way we go on, it's just better that a new person doesn't get the wrong first impression!
Negative talk; fighting among ourselves; complaining; complaining about the weather, complaining about politics, complaining about our aches and pains – and I am just as guilty as anybody else – these are things that make us not very pleasant to be around. So no wonder people are staying away. No wonder God doesn't send any new people to us. Our own attitudes are a stumbling block, a stumbling block that would drive people away and not let them hear the Good News.
This is serious, folks. Jesus uses very strong language against anything that would interfere with one of the little ones, the ones not strong in faith, the ones who are just starting to learn about trusting God. What a terrible thing it would be if we stood before God, and God said to us, “Do you remember that young man who grew up in your congregation? I wanted him to be a Pastor. But he was so disgusted with your behaviour that he decided I didn't even exist and spent his life in sinful indulgence. And do you remember that woman who came to your church once? She felt insulted by your attitudes and never came back, indeed, never dared to try any other congregation. She died alone, with no one to pray for her.” Wouldn't that be an awful thing to hear when we finally come into God's presence?
Well, are you squirming? So am I. It seems hardly possible to even belong to a church without putting some people off. None of us is perfect, and we all get crabby from time to time. We get critical of other churches, mostly because of our own insecurity. If they are doing church differently from us, maybe their way is better, but that can't be, so we feel we have to criticize them in order to maintain our trust in our own traditions. And even with the best of intentions, those carefully maintained traditions can also put some people off, because they don't understand them and are a little intimidated by them. What are we to do?
There is only one way to avoid being a stumbling block to people, to being Bad News to them. And that is to be Good News. The word Gospel means, “Good News”. Jesus is Good News to the world. And we are the Body of Christ, which means that we are Good News too.
And there is only one way we can be Good News to the people around us, and that is for us to be the Body of Christ, to imitate what Jesus did, to be filled with Jesus. And to do that we have to look at Jesus, only Jesus, instead of at ourselves and at other people. When we look at Jesus, when we are in love with Jesus, it changes us. It changes our attitudes and our behaviour. It makes us into Good News.
“Have salt within yourself and be at peace with one another!” says Jesus. That reminds me of the other saying about salt, that we are salt for the world and light for the world. Salt preserves food, salt is necessary for life, and darn it! It just tastes good. When our lives become tasteless and boring, or difficult and scary, the zip, the enjoyment, goes out of our lives. We lose that saltiness that keeps us in good humour with each other, ready to forgive, ready to enjoy our differences.
It is God's love, God's inexpressable love for us, that gives us that saltiness that we need. We receive it by praying, by reading the stories of Jesus, by helping one another, by telling each other what God has done for us in the past.
Yes, our lives are full of anxiety and pain, perplexity and regrets. But whenever we start to feel these threats to our saltiness, it is important to remember to stop for a moment and lift everything up to God. To take our eyes off whatever is bothering us, and to look to Jesus.
The thing that is dominating our mind and making us crabby may seem like the most important thing at the moment. It may seem as important as our right hand, or our foot, or our eye – something we just can't do without. But Jesus says, “no, you CAN do without it. If something is making you Bad News to other people, you MUST do without it. Cut it off! Cast it out! Turn your mind to God's love and care, and you will never even miss it.”
I long for the day when a new person will walk into our midst, and by the joy and the caring he feels among us, he will get a glimpse of heaven. By the humour and acceptance she feels, she will know God's love. And God will add to our number daily those who are being saved. Thanks be to God. Amen.
|
RSS Feed