What does Pentecost mean for you?

 What does Pentecost mean for us? And how does it impact our lives, or is it just another weird day on the Christian Calendar that doesn’t have any way of being turned into a Walmart greeting card?  I was listening to some wise people who said that if we call Pentecost the birthday of the church, that’s all very nice and good, but it makes Pentecost a one-time event in the past that we can remember and celebrate, but it doesn’t really impact us here today.  Which is a sad thing.

Pentecost is more than a time to remember, it’s also a time where the church might allow itself to be open and vulnerable to God’s musings, God’s direction, and God’s call to change.  It’s a time when we celebrate the coming of the most uncomfortable part of the Holy that we call God.  We are a trinitarian faith, which doesn’t mean that we worship three Gods, but we worship three experiences of the Holy.  We mostly focus on Jesus stories, and Jesus as fully human is someone we can relate to and learn from.  Jesus is a great teacher and a wonderful roll model.  He inspires us and challenges us even today.  Jesus the human Rabbi is easy to relate to.  The Easter resurrection is a more uncomfortable Jesus, dipping into woo-woo and weird touchy-feely stuff.  Is he a ghost? A myth?  A story gone wild?  Or something infinite that we can’t put into a simple box?  And that’s nothing compared to the Spirit!

Our Pentecost readings today focus on the many gifts that we have, the breath that we get from an encounter with the divine ‘woo woo’ that should have us squirming a bit.  Whether it is as a rushing wind, tongues of fire or a test to see if Jesus had brushed his teeth that morning, the Spirit is supposed to stir us in new ways.  Pentecost is supposed to continue to happen with and among us.

It's like a balloon.  They aren’t much fun when they come out of a package, because they don’t have any air in them.  And if we blow them up without tying them off to keep the air in them, the balloons can trigger a certain amount of chaos, can’t they?  Let go of a balloon full of air and watch out!  Some people are afraid of the chaos that can result, and certainly, it can cause some problems.  Too often we humans decide that we either want nothing but the chaos, or we don’t want any chaos.  And churches can often err on the side of caution, which isn’t much fun, is it?  But who wants a flat balloon?  It’s not much fun, is it? 

What if we add a cone to the balloon, helping it lower the resistance to the air, streamlining the balloon?  It will go farther, and we could even aim it.  The cone is like God, sometimes known as Good Orderly Direction, which is aiming at the big picture.  Then let’s add the arms of Jesus to it, what happens now?  It would look like an airplane! Instead of a wibbly, wobbly trajectory, our balloon has a much more stable flight path.  It goes places, it has the oomph to make a journey and take a straighter route to where it wants to go.  Purpose, stability and energy.  All three are needed.  And all three can keep things from being a chaotic mess.  Spirit without God, God without Jesus, Jesus without Spirit, all can keep us from moving and being the enthusiastic people we were created to be.  Pentecost is the time to open ourselves up to new possibilities, new ideas, new adventures.  With the wisdom of God, the courageous compassion of Christ, and the enthusiastic energy of the Spirit, we can become people who make a real difference in our world!

Motivation In Challenging Times

What a delight it was to wander downtown this week near a couple of the stores on main street.  I was astonished to see chalk drawings for quite a stretch of sidewalk.  Some of the art looked like it was done by preschoolers, but some of it looked impressive.  And it was very positive and uplifting, a bright moment in an otherwise uneventful week.  

Uneventful other than a smoke advisory almost daily and lots of news about politics.  There is so much that divides us, party platforms, vaccines, chem trails, drug interventions, you name it.  

Such polarization can lead to isolation and apathy.  When we feel alone, we can lose enthusiasm for life.  When we feel unheard, or like our concerns are being ignored, we can feel helpless.  When we have lost a loved one, or a home or a job or a livelihood or even our health, we may wonder what the meaning and purpose of existence is?

The disciples in the story of Acts 1 want to know when the world will become perfect.  When will justice reign? When will peace be universal? When will warring and bullying cease?  When will Christ return?  And Jesus gave his disciples the very unsatisfactory answer that it was in God’s time not theirs.  It was almost like saying, “it’s none of your business when perfection comes, your job is to let people know that we don’t need to wait for perfection to in order to find hope and courage in the face of injustice.”

Ouch!  Gosh, Jesus, it’s not easy being a disciple!  Especially not in the midst of forest fires and election campaigns.  It’s not easy to challenge the stories we tell ourselves of what the world is like.  It’s not easy looking for hope and love and courage in these times.  It’s not easy to be drawing pretty pictures on sidewalks when they are going to be stepped on, ignored or washed away moments later.  It is easy to tell ourselves stories of scarcity and helplessness against all that we face.  But are these stories actually real?  

I am watching one of my family members who is remembering who they really are.  They have told themselves the basic story that they are stupid and have no friends and no talents.  But one of their friends have asked them to preside over their wedding!  And instead of retreating to their basic story, they are asking me for help in planning the wedding service.  They are also remembering the many good times they did drama, sang in a choir, took a role in a high school musical that surprised everyone including themselves. They are remembering the accomplishments they succeeded at, and they are remembering that they have the intelligence and experience to tackle something as daunting as a wedding service!  It is wonderful and beautiful to see them coming to the realization that they have more skills than they thought they did and remembering their accomplishments more than their failures.  

We think in such black and white terms about ourselves and our neighbors, we expect and demand so much perfection.  Someone recently said to me, “Well, the Ukrainians did terrible things too, before Russia invaded.”  Like the Ukrainians were supposed to be 100% perfect in order to be blameless of the invasion?  A much smaller and weaker country is expected to be perfect before we can be outraged on their behalf?  Like if they are not 100% blameless, it’s their fault and the bully is justified in its action?  It’s similar to when I say things like “I love my hybrid car and I hope my next one is an electric”, I hear comments like, “the province isn’t perfectly set up for electric cars so don’t bother.” Or “the technology isn’t perfectly innocent of environmental impacts itself, so you’re not saving anything.” Again, a basic story that says unless the progress is perfect, don’t try to make any changes.  Go back to being a passive victim and don’t think you can make a difference.”

Walter Brueggemann, a world-renowned bible scholar and justice speaker once said that evangelism is the invitation to challenge those stories of hopeless helplessness.  He said that the dominant story of our lives is one of therapeutic, technological, militaristic consumerism.  Where buying the right kind of gadgets, which if you live in Texas, would be a semi-automatic assault rifle, is the only shopping therapy that really makes us feel good about ourselves.  This kind of quick-fix basic story doesn’t require us to do anything except go shopping.  It assumes that happiness is found in a credit card.  If we think our credit cards will solve loneliness or war or division, we are sadly mistaken.  We can’t buy or earn love, we can’t buy or earn perfection.

We can change our basic stories.  Jesus wanted us to become a community centred in love and hope and trust and compassion and justice.  He didn’t pray that we be perfect.  He didn’t pray that we be identical to each other.  He didn’t even pray that we would vote for the perfect party, heck, democracy wasn’t even possible in his time and place.  He did pray that we may become one, become united in the principles of fair play, community and hospitality.  He prayed not that we buy every shade of chalk that can be found on Amazon, but that we take our chalk and draw pictures of hope and courage and inspiration for all to see.  The chalk drawings were a reminder that people do care about how we are being divided by fear and anxiety.  They were a sign that someone wanted to do something to add beauty to our town.  The artists were like disciples sharing a new story of inclusion and kindness.  Whether we chalk it up to inspiration or a careful plan, we can challenge our world to see the hope and beauty that happens when we come together.  Let us do like the chalk artists and Jesus’ disciples, do small acts of beauty to make our world more kind and just and loving for all.

Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire!

 

How are your lungs doing this week?  Our air quality has been so bad last Tuesday and Wednesday that I wore a mask to cut down on the amount of smoke I was breathing.

It was unnerving to hear of evacuations in Athabasca while I was in Camrose last weekend. Ironically, my Facebook popped up a picture of Rev. Donalee and myself in this very church seven years ago.  It also felt ironic that we who have lots of experience in hosting evacuees might end up being evacuated ourselves. It was a relief to hear that it was contained, and people were allowed back home after three days.  Some folks in Drayton Valley are still not back home from their trip to Camrose.  And of course, people from Fort McMurray and Slave Lake who were at our meeting remembered how hard this is on the townsfolk who are still waiting for the ‘all clear.’

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.  And we are seeing not just literal fire in our province, but hints of fiery tempers and anger around us.  Take Back Alberta had a meeting in Athabasca this week.  Another police officer was gunned down in Canada, and two others injured.  Protestors of all kinds of political stripes are protesting angrily at other people’s rallies.  Conspiracy theories abound even about the fires. We need more than the Federal Government sending in troupes of soldiers to deal with these kinds of fires. 

The fires of intolerance, the fires of anger, the fires of judgment, the fires of isolation, the fires of fear.  Especially the fires of fear.  Fear of change, fear of government secret agendas, fear of societal collapse, fear of financial destabilization, fear of loss, fear of grief, fear of death, fear of bullying.

Fear. It’s almost as thick as the smoke on Tuesday.  Neighbors afraid to put up political signs on their lawns because they worry about repercussions.  Kids afraid to speak up about the bullying they are facing in school or at home.  Community members afraid of what a homeless shelter might mean to the town, shop owners afraid of the homeless people and the vandalism they might do, and politicians afraid of public debate.

Not that much different from the Early church community.  “Do not be afraid” is in our scriptures 169 times!  John and Peter were both preaching to communities of faith who were struggling to find ways to be courageous.  The new Christians had been shunned by their families and friends in the synagogues, and also in the Greek and Roman temples.  They were used to praying to Zeus and Jupiter, Athena and Aphrodite and now were praying to Yahweh together.  And as their congregations learned how to be a community, the outside world became less and less tolerant of them.  The Roman government declared that they were atheists because they didn’t worship the Roman Caesar as a God.  Romans had passed laws where all people were forced to declare “Caesar is Lord” and this upstart little movement was declaring “Jesus is Lord”.  Saying that was treasonous! The persecutions this new group faced were real and their lives were at stake.  When they declared “Peace be With You”, they were entrusting their lives to each other for they didn’t who the informants and spies were.  And people were killed for their faith.  The word “martyr” originally meant “Witness”, but the persecutions were so bad that it became twisted into “person willing to die for their faith” and many did.  Peter certainly did.

Hear his words again: “Who is going to harm you if your goal is to do what is right? But even if you do suffer for what is right, count it a blessing. Don't fear what they fear. Don't be afraid, and don't worry. In your hearts, set Jesus apart as holy and sovereign.”

And John’s testimony: “Don't let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith in me as well. In God's house there are many dwelling places; otherwise, how could I have told you that I was going to prepare a place for you? I am indeed going to prepare a place for you… I won't leave you orphaned; I will come back to you.”

It is not easy to be bold in such fearful times.  And yet it is what we are called to be.  I was so proud of our Northern Spirit Region last week.  We spent three days considering what Deep Spirituality, Bold Discipleship and Daring Justice would look like and voted overwhelmingly to become an official Affirming Region.  It means that we will consider the needs of people for things like non-gendered bathrooms, safe spaces and inclusive language at every regional gathering and make space for diverse voices on all committees and executive.  It was exciting to see Rachel, a new regional rep, get involved, and I happily stepped down from the Affirming Task Group that had worked so hard for this goal.  It is in good hands as people boldly stepped forward to take it to the next level.

On this Mother’s Day, we also are called to be as bold as regional reps, or even as firefighters, remembering that the waters of our baptisms quench the fires of fear.   We are called to remember the many martyrs that spoke against bullying cultures and changed the world through their witness.  Anna Jarvis stood up in a Methodist Church in 1905, asking for Mother’s Day to be a day of peace where mothers would stop sending their husbands and sons off to be killed in wars. She witnessed against systemic violence and oppression.  Whether it is in the home or in the community or in the public sphere, let us join in public witness that while there may be fires of fear, we will remember to be bold disciples that witness to our faith that in life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us, we are not alone! Thanks be to God.

Feed my Sheep!

 Jesus keeps popping up in the most unlikely places in Easter resurrection stories.  The locked room, the road to Emmaus, the empty tomb, the gathering a week later with our good friend, Doubting Thomas.  Every time, it is unexpected, and it is life changing. 

“Feed my sheep”, Jesus asked Peter, again and again.  Poor Peter felt nagged and pestered.  And no wonder.  He just wanted to spend time with this illusive, here one moment and gone the next Jesus who popped up when Peter least expected him, then would disappear for days and weeks.  Who knew where he would show up next?  Or when or why or how?

And my goodness, he was disruptive when he showed up.  Jesus didn’t let the disciples slip back into the old patterns of behaviors.  Peter and the Zebedee brothers were fishermen before they met Jesus, and went back to their familiar ways.  They went back to what they knew best.  They went back to the life that they had been only too excited to leave.  It can’t have been much of a job and they couldn’t have had much of a passion for it if they were so quick to abandon it the first time.  Jesus didn’t let them stay stuck though, oh no.  Jesus had better things in mind for them all.

I think it’s very natural to go back to comfortable habits when we are stressed.  Teachers and parents often talk about regression of children when they experience challenges.  When a three-year-old gets a baby brother or sister, they will often forget what they have learned and might start sucking their thumbs more or have more temper tantrums.  Older children may cling more to their parents.  At a wedding I did last summer, teachers were telling me that the children were two to three years behind in their maturity levels and social skills because of trauma.  It happens.  During Covid, I found myself turning into a computer game zombie when I wasn’t at work.  I slipped into old habits again, bad ones.  I had to reclaim the positive habits and become very intentional about substituting the good habits for the bad.  It takes a lot of effort and time to get out of our ruts.

Sometimes going back is the only way to go forward.  I remember when my children were going into junior high school, and we needed me to be working.  The idea of going back to work gave me panic attacks because I thought that the only job I would get was flipping burgers at MacDonald's.  It scared me to think about brushing off my old resume.  My stomach was in knots and I didn’t know what to do.  I went to Naramata Centre that summer and took all my fear into it’s labyrinth.  As I walked that big twisty path, I found my shoulders loosened, my thoughts slowed down and I relaxed for the first time in months.  As I reached the centre of the labyrinth, I had a sudden picture in my mind of being in a rollercoaster, at the very top of a tall hill, ready to go down in a steep dive.  And a voice saying, “buckle up, you’re in for a wild ride!”  Not actually a comfortable message as I hate rollercoasters with a passion!  8 months later I was working at City Hall, 2 years after that I was working in a religious bookstore, a year later, I was studying in Halifax to become a minister, and that led me to Athabasca where I still am today.  It has indeed been a wild ride.  Would I have gotten that same sense of calm without walking a labyrinth?  Probably, but labyrinths have been my fishing boat, my ‘go to’ when I’m stuck.

It's like the scene in a favorite movie of mine, the Princess Bride.  Inigo Montoya, the Spanish swordfighter, is separated from Fezzik, the giant strong man, and remembers that if they got separated, they were to go back to where they started.  Inigo returns to the village, is reunited with Fezzik, and they lived happily ever after.

What is your beginning?  What is your labyrinth or fishing boat?  Where did you first have a sense of something greater than yourself, where you found peace or hope?  What sorts of things help you look beyond the addictions we use to fix the stresses of our lives?

In the end, the only question that really matters is the one Jesus asked Peter.  In the Good Friday stories, Peter lied three times.  Jesus questioned him on the shore three times “Do you love me?” and this time Peter told the truth.

Do we love Jesus?  Do we love the healing we have found, the courage we have felt along the path of faith, do we love those moments where the stories of Jesus help us get unstuck?  Do we love working and playing together in this community that is striving to follow Jesus’ footsteps?  Do we hear the call to feed the hungry sheep of our world who are looking for help to break out of their own ruts?  Do we remember making a difference through socks for the homeless, prayer shawls for the heartbroken, coins to heal places like Ukraine, meals to feed the hungry in this town, and building safe spaces where all will feel welcome?  Are we willing to love Jesus and experiment with living out his teachings?  And will we feed his sheep as he has fed us with wine and bread and hope and love?  We can do all this, when we remember that together, we can do and be more than we can as individuals.  When we seek Jesus, when we dare to dream and hope and throw our nets in new directions, we will find Jesus at the lakeshore and be fed by his love and compassion.  May it be so for us all!