Deep Spirituality. Bold Discipleship. Daring Justice

Today’s sermon has been adapted from a message written by David Sparks that the United Church of Canada is sharing with all congregations that are part of our denomination:

“The church, our church, The United Church of Canada, has deliberated, the church has wrestled with some different concepts, the church has come to a conclusion, and now we have a Call and Vision, endorsed by the 43rd General Council.

Here it is: “Deep Spirituality. Bold Discipleship. Daring Justice.”

These six words are our call as a United Church. And they go with a vision:

Called by God, as disciples of Jesus, The United Church of Canada seeks to be a bold, connected, evolving church of diverse, courageous, hope-filled communities united in deep spirituality, inspiring worship, and daring justice.

Sounds great, sounds challenging, but whatever has it to do with Transfiguration Sunday, the mountaintop experience of Jesus and the disciples?

Well, we celebrate the last Sunday of Epiphany, which is the season of ‘a -ha’ or eureka moments, the season of light coming into the chaos of this world and giving new insights, new visions of what it means to be a Christ follower. Today we reflect on what it means to be a disciple.  The mountain top encounter was a hugely important experience in the lives of Peter, James and John, almost as important as the easter resurrection.

Wait a minute, “hugely important,” but was this a historical incident, were there historical incidents where God actually spoke on mountaintops, or has another story about how Moses talked to God been modified by the gospel writer Matthew?

Wrong question!

This is not just a story of some guys going on a hike. It became supremely important to them, to get to understand who Jesus was, what he was about, and what his mission was.  It was so breathtaking that Peter, James and John didn’t know how to respond, they were filled with questions, excitement and adrenalin with their new experience.

To go back to the new United Church Call and Vision, the story is reminding us that it isn’t the state of the economy that matters most, or our financial or workplace success, it is what we have going for us in the realm of spirituality, deep spirituality. The followers found Jesus to be unlike anyone they had ever met, and he became central to their quest for spiritual learning.  They became inspirations for our own spirituality. And more than that, we are united in our spirituality. We find it, we are silent with it, we pray it from the bottom of our hearts, and we share it in the faith community. The spiritual is a hopeful faith-shared sphere of our existence, and it matters hugely.  There are times we talk about it, like in our first reading today, and there are times we have to process it, waiting for the right time to share it, just as the disciples were told by Jesus not to share just yet.

This may be a deep spiritual experience, but how did they move from spirituality into boldness?

Okay, remember you are not dealing with history. This is likely a very good story, and we only have read 1 Peter to see that he went from confused tent raiser to ardent writer and speaker.

Throughout Matthew’s gospel the training and work of the disciples has a prominent place. Not far into the gospel of Matthew (Matt. 10:9‒15) there is an account of the training program for the disciples, and it even includes a section on what to do when rejection comes your way.  That’s great training!

The Call and Vision talks about bold discipleship. Bold―not perfect!―and that is what is made clear in the gospel record. As the early church finds its feet, disciples emerge and grow, sometimes not very expertly in their committed following of Jesus.

But what about now?

If ever there was a time for developing a bold program for local evangelization, using Facebook and other social media, it is today (or maybe yesterday!). If ever there was a time to go out in twos and knock on doors and tell people, “The church is alive; this is what the church is really about, not what the media often says it is about,” it is now! You could try it!

Fair enough! But what about “Daring justice”? Do we have some daring justice stories that tell what the church has been up to recently? Our local church or the national church with Mission and Service stories?

Actually, we have. We help raise money for Lee Thunder’s headstone, and we are building safe space for youth in our community who are isolated and alone. We have talked about and advocated for homeless initiatives in Athabasca, and started a youth group for kids who need a safe space to be kids. We helped kickstart food programs for kids at the high school and are a part of Athabasca PRAAC.  We talk about racism, sexism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination.  We partnered with the Library to bring back the Blanket Exercise to Athabasca.

So to sum it all up, what emerges from the ancient story of transfiguration as it relates to the Call and Vision statement?

What we have in this story in the Epiphany season, what we as church people have in the mountaintop experience, is of huge fundamental importance.

It calls on us to take the Call and Vision statement seriously.

It calls us to deepen our spirituality. It calls us to be emboldened as disciples. It calls us to be daring as we strive for justice.

Are you up to the challenge? Am I? Amen

© 2022 The United Church of Canada/L’Église Unie du Canada. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike Licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca. Any copy must include this notice.

Dealing with Dinosaurs

This week many of us had an incredible shock when we opened up our utility bills.  Heating costs, electricity, even our town services were up.  Then CBC had a news article that World's five biggest oil majors likely took in $200B in profit last year, and followed it up with a story that the Alberta Government wants to give up to give oil and gas companies up to $100M in credits for meeting their legal obligations to clean up old well sites.  While these companies may not be the same big five that had the big profits, and may be subcontractors as far as I know, it seems confusing to me that they need assistance when their profits are so big.  Maybe some economist can explain things to me.  I just don’t get it.

Bills, politics, war, earthquakes, busses crashing into daycares, there are days when the news feels overwhelming and it would be tempting to stay in bed with a pillow over my head pretending the world doesn’t exist.  And folks are struggling with their fears and challenges, it’s not just me.  Someone I care deeply about is having a rough time of it and I have certainly needed my fair share of hugs this week too.  I’ll probably be taking a box of valentine chocolates up to the RCMP detachment.

The way the world is these days, it would be very easy for me to slip into a state of anger and fear, and it’s tempting to send that anger to the wrong folks.  We humans can do that very easily.  We get angry with a spouse or child when we really are angry at the boss.  Or the next door neighbor or even ourselves, especially after a fender bender. Sometimes our anger can be positive especially if it fuels work for justice.

Sometimes our anger is triggered not by injustice but by fear.  An aged friend or parent breaks a hip.  An adult child crashes their motorcycle not once but twice.  A toddler gets lost or wanders off.  We react with our dinosaur brains, acting like we are crashing through the jungle, looking for something to roar at so we feel better and help us release all those fight or flight hormones that go surging when we feel threatened.  That’s normal, that’s what humans do, that’s in our DNA.

Except Jesus wants us to be more than dinosaurs.  Our scripture reading this morning in the gospel of Matthew was part of his big Sermon on the Mountain, his “I have a Dream” speech where he outlined his vision for what he hoped to build, a community of caring compassionate human beings who would be more than just dinosaurs, they would be bold, daring and deep disciples.

That meant that they would have to find ways to cope with their anger and fear.  That their relationship with each other would be taken as seriously as their relationship with God.  That when it came to the offerings and the rituals they did in their worship, they would do so after taking responsibility for the conflicts and miscommunications they were having.  And that they would do their best to be as honest, transparent, truthful and trustworthy as they could possibly be.

That is not easy.  Especially when we live in a culture that celebrates competition, that honors star athletes, that envies the rich, that strives to emulate the self-made man, that worships independence and craves the security that they think possessions will give them.  It’s like everyone wants to be the mighty T-rex or Albertosaurus and no one wants to be a duck-billed Edmontosaurus.

Not that much different from the time of Paul and Jesus.  Jesus didn’t pull any punches.  This part of his sermon counteracts the assumption that Jesus was meek and mild and trying to be nicer than the Old Testament teachings.  I often hear people say that the Hebrew scriptures are full of angry judgement and Jesus just taught love.  Here it’s the other way around, the scriptures Jesus quotes put a limit on human behavior, but Jesus wants to go deeper and put a limit on our thoughts.  Well, maybe not a limit on them, but a request to be accountable for them. Accountable to our community of faith.  Easier said than done.

Being accountable takes reflection.  It also takes dedication and commitment.  It’s not something we can speed up, and it’s not something that is easy or fast.  Goodness knows, I wish I could stand here and tell you I’ve got this nailed down pat.  There have been times when I wouldn’t or couldn’t put my burden down and run from the altar to go fix a broken relationship.  Sometimes the relationship was mended by time, sometimes it was so unhealthy that for my own mental health, I had to have good firm boundaries in place.  Sometimes I was able to figure it out, sometimes I went for counselling to get help figuring it out.  Sometimes I wished for the milk for infants Paul talked about, rather than the adult solid food that I was expected to eat.  Sometimes I wanted to find a Paul or Apollos I could follow instead of this challenging Jesus guy.  So it’s comforting to read Paul’s two thousand year old words that while he may have planted the seeds of faith and Apollos watered them, only God grows those seeds.  Whether it’s seeds of our individual ability to recognize when we are slipping into dinosaur mode, or the water of self-knowledge, it’s hard to recognize the times we are acting like a T-Rex.

The good news is that Jesus is an amazing archaeologist, so good he makes Phil Currie look like an amateur.  When we come together to sing and think and reflect on his teachings, it’s like he takes another layer away from our tough dinosaur hides to reveal the fragile fossils beneath the surface that aremaking us roar and stomp as we try to protect them.  Good news for us T Rex folks:  the more we come together in community, the more human we can grow to be.  Thanks be to God for the seeds Paul planted, the stories Jesus taught, the watering by people like Apollos and the many other leaders down the ages that have guided and nurtured us so we too can guide and nurture those who also choose to follow Jesus.

Be generous with your lives!

One of the things I start doing at this time of year is dreaming of going to Naramata Centre for the summer.  I love the workshops and the fellowship with the big grand family that is the Wider United Church, running into other ministers or lay folks who are involved with the church, sunrise worship on the dock, sandcastles on the beach, great music and potlucks in the campground.  The amazing conversations around a campfire or over a good bottle of wine with intelligent, caring, spiritual folks are unforgettable.  The chance to walk a labyrinth, pick cherries, learn new drum or ukulele techniques, make new friends, share stories and deepen my faith are all things that happen at Naramata.  I can’t wait to look at the catalogue of classes!

Tim likes the crops in the neighborhood.  The first time he learned the art of wine tasting was on a bus tour of the area’s many vineyards.  Whether it’s Township 1775, Therapy, Blasted Church, or some new start-up, he’s sure to come home with a bottle of Gewurztraminer or two.  I prefer the ice wines or something sweet from Elephant Island.  Whatever we bring home, we more importantly bring home renewed faith, courage, enthusiasm and hope for our journey.

I feel my light shining more brightly after time there, like I’ve got my saltiness back.  Even when I was writing this and reminiscing about our many visits, it helped me feel more encouraged and excited about God, faith, and our mission.

One thing grapes are is generous.  There’s not one lowly little fruit like a cherry where it takes quite a bit of time to fill a bucket.  Picking a bunch of grapes instantly gives a big handful of fruit that lends itself easily to sharing.  And grapes are so versatile.  They can be made into grape juice or wine, they can be eaten fresh, they can be pickled, thrown in Waldorf salad, cooked into jelly, and I even found a recipe for pizza on line that the cook raved about.  Raisins go great in cookies, pies, muffins, cereal, you name it.  I won’t wade into the great cinnamon bun debate and whether or not raisins belong in that particular treat, but you get the picture.  It’s a versatile and flexible fruit that can serve many purposes and give great delight.

But!  Many a time I picked up what I thought was a chocolate chip cookie and found it was raisin.  Some even joke that’s why they have trust issues.  More seriously, too much wine can cause all kinds of troubles. We have folks who meet in our building every Thursday evening because they struggle with wine.  That’s why our communion service uses grape juice, to have a safe place that won’t trigger cravings for people recovering from addictions.  Too many grapes when I was a nursing mother could cause agony for my babies, which I didn’t expect.  And raisins have a surprising amount of sugar.  Moderation with grapes is important.

Jesus wanted us to be generous and flavorful and enthusiastic, but was also aware of the need for balance.  Too much salt on food can make it unpalatable, bad for our blood pressure and kidneys.  Too much salt on the land can leave it barren, unable to grow anything.  Too little salt and the wildlife lick highway road salt which causes all kinds of havoc.  Finding the right balance is complicated.

Another analogy of generosity of spirit was seen in the movie many of us watched last Sunday, “Guitar Lessons”.  The main character started out being stingy of his time, his talents and certainly his heart.  He was living the dream many Albertans crave.  Beautiful home, amazing toys but no people in his life.  No community.  He was the ultimate rugged individualist, the successful person who could do what he want when he wanted it.  But he was lonely.  He didn’t know how to connect with others.  It wasn’t until a stubborn, bratty kid walked into his life at a Tim Hortons and refused to leave, that the main character was able to shift to a spirit of generosity.

Generosity is a fruit of the spirit that takes wisdom and discernment to do wisely.  Our mission statement says, “We are called to be an Inclusive Christian Community empowering spiritual growth through meaningful outreach and dynamic, inspiring worship.”  It used to say ‘enabling spiritual growth’ but there’s a world of difference between enabling and empowering.  They are both supportive, generous words where we give people time and encouragement to deal with the issues they struggle with.  But when we enable people, we can actually keep them stuck in their troubles, bailing them out from all their troubles.  When we empower people, we help them come up with their own solutions.  Generosity that enables others can bankrupt us.  Generosity that empowers others can make a huge difference.  There was a scene in “Guitar Lessons” that showed an example of empowering generosity, when the elder gave his nephew a wooden box and careful instructions what to do with it.

When Jesus said, “You are Light, You are Salt”, he used the Hebrew word for the plural of you, like “Vous” instead of “Tu” in French. He was preaching to the whole community, not individuals.  When we grow the gift of generosity together, our little lights gleam together and make a real difference in the world.  May it be so for us all. Amen.