Sermon for March 17, 2024               Fifth of Lent                 “To Truly Live”

There are times when on a first or even second or third reading, scripture does not seem to make much sense. This text, at least for me is one of those times. There is public worship, there are Greeks there, they ask to meet Jesus, when they do Jesus talks of his death, to serve me you must follow me, the time for me to be glorified is at hand, a voice from the heavens for the sake of the people, when I am lifted up, people will follow. And no one is sure what happened to the Greeks.

Perhaps word of Jesus ministry made its way to Greece and these travelers are curious to know more. What we do know is that Jesus takes this opportunity to indicate to all that his ministry will be larger than the small region of Galilee and Jerusalem. It will expand farther than the extent of his arms. But in order for that to happen, there will be some difficult days.

Even though he knows how this is going to happen. “It is for this reason that I came,” he declares to a bewildered couple of followers who aren’t quite sure where he is going. To move beyond the limitations of the flesh. To step outside the confines of time. To reach beyond the span of my arms. They can only go so far. And to show them, he stretched them out. “See,” he told them that quiet afternoon, “see; how can I embrace the whole world with arms that only go so far?”

“That’s my son,” came the voice from above. That’s what it meant anyway. “Father, glorify your name,” declares Jesus. “I did,” says the Voice. “I did in you; I did when you became flesh and dwelt among them. I glorified my name in the life that you lived and the words that you spoke and the deeds that you did. I was glorified in your every act, in the breaths you drew, in the light you showed forth.” And there must have been a pause here, “I will glorify my name again.” There had to be a hush in the heavens as those words were spoken—a divine hesitation before declaring what was to come. “I will glorify my name again,” the Voice whispered, the Voice thundered, the Voice wept in the gentle rain that fell.

“What was that?” the folks standing around wondered. A sudden rumble of thunder, and a few drops of tear-shaped rain. “Maybe,” some ventured, “Maybe it was an angel speaking to him.” Jesus smiled that wistful smile as they once again missed the point, and said, “The Voice was for you, not for me. To ask you to raise your eyes and see beyond yourself, see something more significant, see the big picture. The Voice was confirmation that I will indeed be lifted up, hung on a cross to die so that I can live. To die so that you can live.”

Excuse me? Why would the one who came that we might have life now want us to hate it? That seems counterintuitive, to say the least. OK, he doesn’t really want us to hate living; he doesn’t want us to despise ourselves and run around beating our breasts and ringing our bells and calling ourselves unclean. What he wants is for us to hold our lives lightly, to hold ourselves lightly. It is not all about us, despite what various and sundry advertisers want us to believe. It is about something bigger than us. It is about giving ourselves over to a larger truth, a deeper reality, a more profound life than the one we find at the end of our noses and fingertips or at the end of the rainbow. He wants us to extend our reach, just like he is about to extend his. Jesus knows and wants us to know that when we can look past our self, hold in choreographed beauty the tangible and the mystical, the human and the divine then we will truly begin to live for a greater purpose. I am not saying that all the tangible we do as Christians is not worthy, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, offering hospitality to the downtrodden and homeless, opening space the ones that are not like us is part of our mission. What I am saying is that Jesus first wants our heart, Jesus wants us to see the bigger picture that embraces who and what is around us, and the bigger picture of a realm as yet unimaginable. I do not think Jesus wants us to understand it all, all at once. That is why I believe we are called to a life-long journey. And that is why we can hear…’that’s my son’ and ‘listen to him.

Sermon for March 10, 2024               Fourth of Lent             “Inside, Outside”        

“For God so loved the world” that is when we really start to listen to the teaching for today. We miss the reference to Moses and Joshua and the people of Israel as they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. This time when the people complained, God sent serpents and a cure. As Moses fashioned a bronze serpent and attached it to a staff, it appeared at first sight a cruel symbol, a craven image. But we know that as Moses followed the will of God, even it seemed by times odd, he said to Joshua and to all the people that as they looked up at this serpent they would not perish. And they did not. And to the disciples, Jesus will be raised up and so long as you look to him you will have life.

And then…For God so loved the world. There was in Jesus day a strong belief that the Messiah would come with a great army and smite the oppressive Romans and any others who might threaten the Jewish way of life. It was not the only belief but is was the most prevalent. After all, being a people oppressed for hundreds of years the only way out would seem by brute force.

Jesus begins his ministry as the long awaited Messiah and everyone, disciples, romans, Gentiles and the general population are looking over his shoulder looking for this army. Jesus has a surprise in store but more on that later.

This scene is part of a larger scene where Jesus and Nicodemus (a leading Rabbi) are having a conversation late into the evening. Jesus is trying to explain that there will not be a mighty army, that people will still experience joy and pain, bones will break and hearts will break, that some will insist on ruling by might and some will not, and all the human complexities will continue. But with Jesus and most importantly, believing in Jesus, you open yourself to a new way of seeing others and the world. That way is through the eyes and heart of love. Jesus came to claim our heart and belief and to point the way toward a new realm.

For Nicodemus, a man of the laws of God, this was a great leap, one he struggled with and by times came close to understanding. That is reassuring because even today we humans struggle with the spiritual, the abstract and divine. After all, how can you possibly overthrow the Roman might and oppression without an equally mighty army? To offer a hint…resurrection points the way and the generations since have struggled to understand, let alone live into the ‘love your neighbour part’.

Nicodemus was mirroring the understanding of the Jewish people about the nature of the Messiah. One who would set them free from generational oppression and oppression by the Romans. Jesus is ushering in a new realm but not what the first century Jews imagined and probably not even what we imagine. The problem we have with Jesus is that he did not overlook anyone. That bears repeating and repeating. Jesus does not overlook anyone. As Christian churches argue with one another that their way is the right way, who is in and who is out, as Christians love pointing fingers and deciding who is in and who is out. As we argue about the petty. Jesus says; surprise! I am not leaving anyone behind.

As we anticipate Jesus to endorse our way as the right way, like those looking over his shoulder looking for an army, we will be disappointed. There is great truth in the words ‘for God so loved the world’ and its next statement ‘that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life’. Is an invitation to believe that the unexpected can happen, that the mysterious will be made plain and that our objections that Jesus is not doing it my way will be silenced. And in believing a path will emerge and be plain for all. Jesus never asked us to draw lines or build walls, that is not our job. Judgement belongs to God. All Jesus asked is for us to love as he loved.

Sermon for March 3, 2024     Third of Lent                “Believing Takes Time”

Jesus is not in a bad mood, he is just annoyed that this sacred place is used for deceit, slander and questionable practices by everyone. And yes even the temple officials who really ought to know better. So Yes Jesus is annoyed.

In chapter one we have the opening of the Gospel ‘in the beginning…’, then the testimony of John, calling of all the disciples, a wedding in Cana and now the dignified angry scene in the temple. It sure did not take Jesus long in John’s rendering of the Gospel to create scene. So, even though we aren’t ready for this, here we are, cleansing the temple before we get to the teaching or healing or storytelling that we love so much. It’s almost as if Jesus – according to John – has an agenda, and it begins with worship. No, wait, it begins with right worship. Not right in form or structure, not right in genre or setting, but right in intention. Right in presence. We spend a lot of time worrying about the songs we sing and the words we say when we design worship, and we should! These are important matters. But here in the second chapter of John, Jesus is concerned with our hearts when we come to worship.

The text then says ‘the Jews came to him’ and here we need to be cautious because John is not referring to all Jews but rather specifically the Jewish Temple leaders. One would think the response would be outrage, call the police, get him out of here. But no, they come and ask for credentials. There is something going on here, unspoken or even unseen that makes the temple leaders to suspect that Jesus may just be a prophet. The proof of that is prophets do signs. So the question ‘what sign do you do?’. The answer is ‘tear down this temple and I will build it in three days’. I imagine they all looked around at the magnificent stone structure and smirked.

I can forgive the temple leaders for going ‘all literal’ at this. When brick and mortar are the corner stones of your thinking, imaging the spiritual, the mystical, the realm of God is nearly impossible. Jesus has changed gears in a hurry and no one is keeping up. It was not until after resurrection that the disciples understood what Jesus was talking about. It took the disciples about three years to figure it out. So don’t feel to guilty if you are still learning and discovering new things about Jesus, God and faith.

Maybe that’s the key for us as well. Worship is about Resurrection. We are being raised up as we gather and sing and pray and commune together around word and sacrament. So, we are asking the question about what we do when we gather: “What will raise us up?” What honours God first and lifts the people into God’s presence when we come together as the body of Christ? What distracts and demeans ought to be avoided. What elevates and gathers in is where we need to be. We live in a world that can destroy the body and the soul. If we are to stand against that which tears down, we need to consider how we are building up.

In the teaching today Jesus is demonstrating that it is vital to clear away the distractions that keep our hearts and minds on things that are not God. In Jesus day, like ours, greed, consumerism, not tending to the poor or sick or hungry. The Temple leaders wanted to follow the Law and yet turned a blind eye to abuse when profits were soaring. Then as today Jesus is drawing our focus back to worship and having our hearts, minds, body and soul tuned into Jesus.

We have to be alert to distractions from our true purpose of worshiping God and building up the body. It doesn’t always have to be as obvious or sinful as preying upon the people through money changing or greed. Yet, we keep alert to those distractions, nonetheless. Here in the Lenten season, we are looking toward Holy Week and Easter all the while preparing for those events and reveal the true glory of God and God’s great love for all.

At the dawn of 1942, 11,000 troops were deployed on a special mission to construct a supply route between Alaska and Canada. Among the 11, 000 were 4000 Black segregated soldiers . They were segregated to their own infantry because the thought at the time was that the Black soldiers were just not as capable as White soldiers.

For this particular mission, the Black soldiers were tasked with carving out the initial route from the North by clearing a path at least 12,000 kilometers long through virgin wilderness, and meeting up with the path that the White soldiers would be clearing from the South. That path was the foundation for what we now know as the Alaska Highway. How many of us have traveled that highway in these times?

In our scripture of Mark 1: 29-39 we experience a busy Jesus—“Jesus be hustlin’”. Early morning prayers with the guys, then he got wind of Simon Peter’s mother in law being sick, so he went to attend to her. Then by afternoon and into the night people were bringing many sick and hurting people for him to heal and minister to.

That is what we call a full day. By the next morning he was prepared to start all over again. He commenced his day with morning prayers, but this time he went alone. He needed to be renewed, refreshed, refueled to continue his work.

Jesus needed that time of preparation in the wilderness. He needed to get his mission clear in his own heart so that he wouldn’t be captivated by the expectations of adoring fans or intimidated by the threats of furious critics. If we dare to follow Jesus and proclaim the radical dimensions of God’s good news as he did, we will face the same twin dangers of domestication and intimidation.…

How many times do we need to find a way to renew our bodies and souls so that we may continue our work, whatever our work is? No matter who we are and what we do, we all get to a point where we crave that element of renewal. For some of us, like Jesus, that may look like some time alone, to reconnect with ourselves in quietness. For some of us, that is where we most encounter the Holy.

For others, a refuel comes from being surrounded by people and feeling the love. For some of us, we are renewed by the interactions in the village. Our village or family of St. Marks welcomes all people. You heard part of the inclusion statement read earlier by Grace, and we strive to live into that reality. All who come here add their unique voice and flavour and we grow and are better for it. And we add something to all who enter here and they are better as well.

In our scripture, after a busy day and an edifying morning, Jesus decided to change gears. He said: “I’ve done all I can do in these other places. Let us go somewhere else—how about we go to those nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”

I wonder how often Jesus message was not heard by people in the villages, especially Gentile villages just because Jesus was Jewish. How often is Jesus message not heard in our villages today because what Christian leaders have said and done in the past that now taints the real message of Jesus?

Jesus says, “I have done a lot of work in these places, I’d like to spread the blessings around a little bit. Let us go somewhere else—how about we go to those other villages to preach? That is why I have come.” And we know what Jesus preached… he preached love, compassion, and selflessness. Jesus urged his followers to love their enemies, to forgive others, and to care for the oppressed and marginalized.

Jesus advocated for respect and fairness for those who had none. These sentiments resonate with the spirit of Black History Month, as it calls us to continue spreading the message of justice, equality, and hope, and to live the message of justice, equality, and hope. The message that Jesus took to the villages is the message we are called to stand on as people of goodwill who claim Jesus as Saviour.

The message that Jesus took to the villages is a message of hope. Those segregated soldiers who laid the foundation for the Alaska highway swung those axes and those picks, and with every swing came a grunt of effort and pain, and through each wince of pain was a melody ejected, which no doubt was met with the harmony of another, cause that’s how we made it through the hard times….

Each grunt of pain wherein you could find a song was a song of hope. In the face of adversity, people have persevered with the unwavering hope of Jesus. We are called to be messengers of that hope, sharing the vision of a better world where love and justice prevail.

Whenever we hear the Gospel message we are reminded that the struggle for justice and equality is an ongoing mission. We are called, like Jesus, to go to nearby villages, to spread the message of hope, and to work toward a world where all God’s children are treated with dignity, respect, and equality. We are called to ensure that others aren’t hindered from the villages where the blessings of Jesus can be had.

May the lessons of history inspire us to be agents of change in our communities, sharing the message of love and justice for all, Amen.

Parts of this sermon are taken from the material prepared for Black History month and used with permission: © 2024 The United Church of Canada/L’Église Unie du Canada. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca.

Sermon for January 28, 2024            Fourth of Epiphany     “A Different Vision”

It had been the same for so long. Life in the Synagogue was the same as it had been and expectation it would remain so forever. Life for the people shifted from time to time when the Rabbi’s wanted to gain more control. For example, in the reading from Deuteronomy we hear “18:19 Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. 18:20 But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak–that prophet shall die.”

The action was intended to be of God but as the Rabbi’s wrestled more and more from God to themselves it slowly became the power of the Rabbi’s to determine if a prophet was a prophet and if what they were saying was of God. A useful tool in silencing voices that are visionary. This revised version of Deuteronomy was particularly useful in Jesus day. As Jesus’ popularity grew and attracted more people, it became a threat to the Rabbi’s and the rule of Synagogue. So being able to simply declare that Jesus is a false prophet and then say that he must die would be an easy way to silence him, all the while hiding behind the rule of Torah.

Skip ahead a few thousand years and Jesus is in the Temple teaching. That alone as we hear, was amazing. People were astonished at what he was saying and with such compassion and authority. And all of a sudden it was interrupted by a man possessed by many demons who screamed out ‘what have you to do with us? I know who you are, Holy Man, son of the most high God’. And there, right then and there, Jesus healed the man and the demons left.

I can see the jaws drop and the hands come up to cover the open mouths. Is the astonishment that Jesus healed a man possessed in their presence, or the fear of the wrath of the Rabbis who would be furious that Jesus healed, let alone on the Sabbath, which was forbidden. Now if you thought news could travel fast in our day, well it travelled just as fast in Jesus day after that Sabbath.

Skip ahead a few thousand years and you are at a dinner party and in the course of conversation you say, did you hear of the faith healing the other day? At which point you find yourself standing along, talking to yourself. Faith healing is just not something we bring up in the company of others. I am not saying that it does not happen, I know it does. But only those who witness healing or are healed themselves are prepared to engage in this conversation.

Our 21^st century mind takes over and we know some truths; the world view of 1^st century Middle East was different that it is today, understanding of medicine was different then than now. So we tend to rationalize the story with our 21^st century minds. Not always a good idea, but we do know that arguing against someone’s truth will never end well. In Mark there are 18 miracles, 13 are of healing and of those four are exorcisms. For the people of Jesus’ day, the first was spectacular and then they became common-place.

I wonder if Jesus, in our day, has become so common-place that he is not even noticed? Or, is our faith so familiar, so same-old-same-old that we do not even notice? Jesus burst into the life’s of 1^st century Jews and changed, dramatically changed their vision and view of the world. Is that still possible in our day? Can Jesus do a new thing in our day that shakes our complacency and awakens us to see differently? As much as I like routine, I think we all do, I also know that we are standing on the edge of a new and radical thing about to happen that will shake the church and Christians into a new way of seeing and being, with God, Jesus, each other and the world.

Remember that scene in the Gospel in the Temple where the people are paralyzed in awe or fear at the new thing being done before their very eyes? Well it is going to happen again. If you have ears to hear then hear. If you have eyes to see, then see.

Sermon for January 21, 2024            Third after Epiphany               “Follow Differently”

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” In the time of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany we are compelled to make some dramatic shifts in thinking. From expectation, birth and then the realization of proclamation. And in no time at, all we will be heading into the season of Lent. It seems a good time to direct our focus to one day at a time instead of the big picture.

In the days of Isaiah, the prophet there was a prophesy that God would send to the people of Israel a Messiah. There was some expectation that this Messiah would be revealed soon. As one generation gave way to the next, the hope in that prophesy was passed on from generation to generation. From good years, to years in exile, from one land to another, the prayer was for the Messiah.

Leap ahead a thousand years and Simon and Andrew are heading to shore after a long night of fishing, well they fished, they just did not catch anything. Which was not good for taxes had to be paid and no fish meant no money and no supper. Their father Jonah passed on the prayerful hope of the Messiah of God and Simon and Andrew grew up in that hope and believed they would pass it on to their children.

On the shore was a man, one they did not recognize so a traveler. He came to Simon and Andrew and said ‘follow me and I will make you fishers of people’. Now I am not sure how you recognize a Messiah. There is no mention of a media blitz, no banners, no angels and arch angels singing, no celestial pointers saying this is the Messiah. What we do know is that Simon and Andrew left their net and followed. James and John were nearby, probably watching this scene unfold and Jesus turned to them and said ‘you too, James and John, you follow me’ and they did.

With all the people claiming to be Messiah through the years and all the people claiming to be Messiah in Simon’s lifetime, how did they know Jesus was THE Messiah?  I wish the texts said something about that but they are silent. All we know is that they followed. In a moment, a single moment on the Sea of Galilee they changed from hoping for a Messiah to disciple of the Messiah.

I love the line in the Chosen of these scene where Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, James and John and Zebedee is left standing on the shore. James and John pause for a moment and look at their father and he says ‘the man we have been praying for our entire lives calls you to follow and you are worried about what I will say to your Emma when you are late for supper…go’.

In our day the teaching of Jesus are 2000 years old. In most of Europe and North America we take it for granted that everyone is Christian (though that is changing). Most of us are cradle Christians, we always were and for the most part did not have to give it much thought. The church will be there when I need it, so there you have it! I wonder if it is time for a rethink?

Being Christian take a moment and then a lifetime. Always in a state of figuring out ways to be in prayer, tend to our inner spirit, feed the hungry, cloth the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned, being good stewards of creation and being proclaimers of the Good News that we hold dear. For many our faith, our belief in Jesus has become routine, normal and that may leave us in a rut deep enough that we can no longer see over the edges and discover new ways of being. I think the growing multi-cultural nature of our communities is forcing us to find our voice as Christians. When confronted with the question; what do you believe? We often stumble over the answer, and if we can get to Christian and are asked ‘what does that mean? Or how do you do that? I fear we are often at a loss for words. So maybe the growing diversity is a blessing and opportunity for us who are so used to having everyone the same, as it will challenge us to re-examine what it means for me to be a follower of Jesus, to find words that articulate that clearly, and push us to living out loud what we now confess in the confines of our hearts and minds.

Will following be easy? NO. it was not for the first disciples, for the believers since and certainly not in our day. The good news is that the Realm of God is near, when all the followers will be united with Jesus. But not today. Today we are called to the hard work of being faithful here on earth, here in Saint John, here in our heart and in all our days. And Jesus whispers in our ear ‘I am with you even to the end of days’. Thanks be to God. Amen