November 28, 2023
Haven’t I seen you somewhere?
It doesn’t take much for me to
struggle with faces and remembering who people are. I was surprised to learn that there’s a
condition called face blindness where some people have such a poor memory for
faces that they don’t even recognize themselves in the mirror. I’m not that bad, but when a young man snuck
up on me at a concert last March, it took me a whole 3 seconds to recognize him
as my own son! It causes awkwardness
when people remember me better than I remember them.. It’s one of those skills people take for
granted but it doesn’t come easily, any more than making eye contact is for
many neurodivergent people.
So the sheep and the goats in
Matthew’s parable didn’t recognize the King when he showed up unexpectedly to
sort things out. Not surprisingly, they
were confused and bewildered when the King thanked them or scolded them for his
treatment. They all had face blindness
when it came to the ruler of all!
They were surprised to be judged in
such a way. Regardless of whether they
were sheep or goats, the shock was great for everyone. They didn’t expect to be herded into groups,
they didn’t expect to be called to account for their behavior, and they
certainly didn’t expect the rewards or the punishment they were given.
Judgement is not a topic we feel
comfortable talking about in the United Church.
We preach a more loving God who forgives everything and loves
everyone. And when we define God as
infinite love, that’s an easy conclusion to make. Who can resist infinite love? But the gospel of Matthew is sprinkled
throughout with stories like this.
Stories of bringing down the powerful people who bullied Matthew’s
community.
Stories of God making things right,
like the words from Ezekiel: “I am stepping in and making things right between
the plump sheep and the skinny sheep. Because you forced your way with shoulder
and rump and butted at all the weaker animals with your horns till you
scattered them all over the hills, I’ll come in and save my dear flock, no
longer let them be pushed around. I’ll step in and set things right between one
sheep and another.”
We all know what it’s like to be
butted by a stronger person. It leaves
us feeling vulnerable, anxious and frustrated.
We struggle to figure out how to respond. Should we butt back? Should we run away? Sometimes we turn around and butt someone
else instead. We may not intend to
become the one who butts others, but it happens. Some of us don’t even realize that we are
butting people. God is not impressed.
At a workshop on Tuesday for clergy
in Norther Spirit Region, there was a guest speaker who talked about his
community’s project to reduce butting.
It was called “Voices Against Bullying” and it was started after a 14-year-old
boy was killed on the grounds of his high school. Research and resources were developed to help
families, teachers and children learn about ways to reduce bullying in schools. They consulted specialists and made
presentations. They found a simple way
to teach kids about bullying using the picture of a seesaw. Sometimes people seek power over others, what
we call bullying behavior. Sometimes
people seek power under others, what we could call victim behavior. We can also call it win lose and lose
win. What we really want, and what God
wants, is power with, or win win, a balanced seesaw. God calls us to love our neighbors as we love
ourselves which means to not let someone bully us, nor let ourselves bully
others. When we are in an uncomfortable
situation, we can ask ourselves about who is getting the power and who needs
the power. That can help us get to a win win or balance. Easier said than done.
For those who feel powerless, and
we probably all feel that from time to time, it is a great comfort to know that
God will come and sort out those bullying sheep, those arrogant goats. But as one wise theologian said, as soon as
we sort people into those bullies and us victims, we are causing problems
too. He said that we shouldn’t assume we
are the innocent heroes and they are the bad guys as it keeps us feeling
self-righteous and smug and does nothing to rebalance the see saw. It is a form of bullying in itself. We strive to have power over the other people
and their hurtful behavior, and we refuse to see that they might be hurting
too. We pretend that they are bad goats,
not good sheep and can feel complacent or satisfied that God will get them.
The reality is more complicated, of
course. We are all human, and for the
most part have all known what it is like to have little power and lots of
power. But as Christians, our role model
is Jesus, whom we call divine Prime Minister, Ultimate President, King of
kings, who is guiding both sheep and goats alike. And we remember that Jesus, the king of
kings, became a servant and asked us to be servants to each other. In as much as you have been full of empathy
for your neighbor, in as much as you have chosen power with instead of power
over or power under, in as much as you have strived to understand others and
treated them with respect, you have done this to Jesus. What a powerful call and powerful message! May we grow in wisdom, understanding,
compassion and healthy servanthood, may we recognize the face of Jesus in
everyone we meet. Amen.
November 21, 2023
Message: Taking Risks
And the dollar bills start
falling from the ceiling and everyone goes nuts! Wow! Look at it all! Woo hoo!
Money!
Now you may be saying, hold on a
moment, the people in today’s parable didn’t get almost half a million dollars,
they got a measly talent. Why are you
blowing this out of proportion? After all, we know what this parable is
about. It’s about wise investing and not
just our money but our skills and aptitudes, right?
Well, yes and no. It’s easy to overlook this particular parable
because we’ve heard it so many times.
Same old same old. But we forget
that parables were told by Jesus to shock his listeners. The stories were like a defibrillator to
their souls, to surprise them and help them think of the world in a new
light. Jesus didn’t intend this story to
be boring or predictable!
So let’s put it into a bit of
context. First of all, remember that he
is talking about a master and his servants in the Roman empire. Chances are they are not servants, they are
slaves. They don’t have the right to go
on strike or switch jobs without permission.
They do what they are told and they don’t need resumes because they have
the job for life. No retirement plan
either unless they have a compassionate master.
But they get two square meals a day and a roof over their heads if they
are working hard. And it’s all about
pleasing the master because if you don’t, you could be out on your ear and
homeless at the snap of a finger without a severance package, a recommendation
or anything other than the clothes on your back.
The master decides to leave his
slaves in charge as he goes on a long journey.
He hands them some money. A
talent, which in the Greek is talanton which meant weight, probably the
equivalent of a ton of gold or as one commentator said, 15 year’s wages for an
average citizen. That’s what the third
slave gets, 15 years wages!
So at $15/hour, 40 hours a week,
50 weeks a year, over 15 years, a talent is about 450 thousand dollars! The other two slaves must have been even more
astonished. The first got two and a
quarter million dollars, the second got almost a million. No wonder they invested that money in some
kind of interest-bearing project.
The third slave got considerably
less, probably because the master knew he wouldn’t be able to wrap his mind
around such a huge sum of money. But
still, almost half a million dollars without any instructions is a pretty
impressive windfall for anyone.
How many of you would throw half
a million dollars into a clay pot and dig a hole in the back yard and bury it
there for safe keeping? Or would you
throw it in a checking account? I think
most people would figure out some way to earn interest, it’s a bit of a no
brainer. Back in the time of Jesus, burying
a few coins was not unusual, it was similar to putting money into a
mattress. Back then there were no bank
machines on every corner and no credit cards.
So, the third slave buried his
money to keep it safe. Then when the
master came back, the slave came up with a million excuses as to why he did
nothing with the money. He didn’t want
to take a risk with the money. He didn’t
trust the master’s judgement, he didn’t want to disappoint him, and he didn’t
want to take a chance. And he tried to
shift the blame to his master. It’s your
fault I don’t take risks. It’s your
fault I want to make sure to please you.
Except this cautious approach
didn’t please the master. The excuses
didn’t land well especially since the other two slaves did invest their
windfall. The third slave could have
simply asked the first two for advice on where to invest. Instead, he chose the easy way, the simple
way, the way that didn’t take him out of his comfort zone. He chose not to risk.
One of the six hallmarks of a
thriving church is the willingness to take risks. In fact one minister described their thriving
church as one that had a high risk appetite. He said “we're comfortable with
failure and excited to try different things to get different results.” Sounds like they take this parable to heart!
Taking risks might be as simple
as sharing our events on Facebook even though we get push back. Taking risks might be wearing a rainbow
pin. Taking risks might be challenging people
to not gossip about others. Taking risks
might be coming to our Trans day of remembrance
potluck tomorrow evening where we will commemorate people who risk their lives
just by leaving their homes to shop for groceries. Taking risks might be trying a new mission
idea to help our community become safer for others. Taking risks might be handing out sandwiches to our neighbors.
As Jesus said, a life with zero
risk is a terrible way to live because it means that fear drives every choice
we make. And as Paul wrote, we are
children of honesty, called to live lives of openness, trustworthiness and
compassion. We are called to live with
courage and with encouragement and with risk taking because God has trusted us
with abundance and sees us as talented and beloved. May we see ourselves as God sees us, capable
of risk and courage as we live into God’s vision of what the world could be
like if we loved and worked as Jesus did.
Let us be grateful risk takers for God’s vision! Amen.
November 14, 2023
Waiting with light
Of course, we want to
see ourselves as wise and not silly. We
want to have reserves for when the Bridegroom arrives and the party
starts. And we recognize that the party
has been waiting for a very long time.
The party where the Prince of Peace lives among us and the Community of
Heaven is fully realized.
How do we keep prepared
when it feels like the wait for justice and peace has been going on for as long
as humanity has existed? How do we find
the energy and light to keep hoping and praying for peace for all who live on
this big, beautiful planet? How do we find resiliency when times are hard, when
people are divisive, when empathy seems to be at a new low, when politics are
based more on conspiracy than facts, when leaders and scientists don’t speak
with consensus or from self-interest rather than from what is best for us all,
when global warming is dire, but war takes up more energy than peace?
How do we keep our
lamps lit? How do we wait wisely?
Joshua did it by
setting an example of commitment to God.
“As for me and mine, we will serve God” he said, and he reminded people
how they were rescued from slavery. Most
of them were the children and grandchildren of slaves, but they remembered
their parents and grandparents telling them what slavery had been like and how
hard it had been to wander in the wilderness until they accepted the fact that
they were fully reliant on God for their survival. That acceptance was not easy, and the book of
Exodus is full of stories of Moses trying to get them to rely on God instead of
looking back to the days of slavery where everything was decided for them. They were told where to work, where to live,
when to eat and when to sleep by their overlords.
In the wilderness,
every day was a choice, and every place they stayed had hidden
temptations. Let’s build a golden calf,
let’s complain because we’re thirsty, let’s complain because we’re hungry,
let’s complain because we got bitten by snakes and so on. Every time they complained, Moses reminded
them who they were, the children of Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Leah and
Rebecca. Then Moses reminded them of
what they had escaped. The mindless
slavery and petty abuse, the whips, the microaggressions, the racism and the
times where they lived in fear that their babies would be killed on the whims
of a power-hungry Pharaoh King.
Joshua did the same to
the people. And in this scripture, he was
about to lead the people into a new land where they would build homes, plant
crops and live more stable lives than before.
But he warned them not to forget their past. He warned them that following God had to be
more than lip service. It had to be a
total commitment to living in a covenant relationship with God. It wouldn’t be easy either. “Our God is a jealous God” he said, a God
that wanted more than a promise made one day and forgotten the next.
The parable of the 10
bridesmaids is also about commitment beyond lip service. It’s not about just accepting Jesus into our
hearts and we all live happily ever after.
The five silly bridesmaids knew the bridegroom, and even called him
Lord. That was not enough to get into
the party.
We don’t know why the
silly ones were not more prepared. Maybe
they focused on getting their dresses just right and their hair just so. Maybe they didn’t want to think about the
future. Maybe they were too busy having
a good gossip fest or maybe they were tired and apathetic. For whatever reason, they ran out of oil for
their lamps. They failed in their duty to be light bearers for the bridegroom.
God wants more than lip
service. God wants to invite us to join
in a wedding party like no other. That’s
hard to do when we feel caught up by the many gods competing for our attention. It means remembering that God rescues us
again and again from the slavery of addiction, anxiety, pessimism, worry and
fear. God feeds us again and again with
our daily bread when we trust that God is with us even when we wander in the wilderness.
Interestingly, the
commitment the bridegroom needed from the bridesmaids, and that commitment
Joshua asked from his followers is a big signpost of thriving United Churches
in Canada. Congregations that are
thriving consistently talk about the importance of being committed to God. They practice being positive about the future
and trusting that God is leading them.
They are prepared to light the way for others to find the healing that
they have experienced in their communities of faith, and they are intentional
in choosing God at the core of all they do.
May we find the courage
and conviction to turn away from the many false gods that clamor for our
allegiance, to the true God who invites us with love. May we put oil in our lamps as we wait for
the bridegroom who will bring us into the great wedding banquet that never
ends. Amen.
November 07, 2023
Lest We Forget
In the short ten years after union, the United Church
talked about many things bold and daring. They talked about the shortage of
jobs for newly ordained and commissioned clergy, how there were not enough
students going to school, and how congregations struggled during the great
depression to meet the needs of many desperate people. The church also debated the importance of
Jesus as a peace-maker. The 1936 general council voted on being committed to
peace, declaring “it’s determined opposition to war”[1] which sounded good and
noble. But then Hitler rose to power. War was declared by Britain and Canada in
September of 1939. A month later, 68 United Church ministers signed “A Witness
Against the War”, thinking that with the previous declaration, it would be an
acceptable witness to the importance of peace.
Instead, it sparked outrage, with newspaper articles across
the country condemning them. They were
accused of everything from treason to naivety.
They were seen as unchristian, cowardly, and being in league with Hitler
himself. The backlash was so intense
that 4 ministers were fired, including Rev. Robert Edis Fairbairn, the
organizer of the petition. Other
ministers kept their pulpits, and one fellow in Toronto found his congregation
growing because of his unpopular stand.
Still other clergy, like the one pictured above, the Reverend William
Alfred Seaman, signed up to be a chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces. Padre Seaman left his congregation in Nova
Scotia and arrived in France just after D-Day in 1944. As a chaplain, he helped stretcher bearers
and did first aid on the battle front.
On July 14 while rushing to retrieve wounded soldiers in Normandy, he
was hit by an exploding mortar shell. He died of an infection a week later, on
his tenth wedding anniversary. [2]
Rev Seaman didn’t wear fancy outfits, he didn’t go parading
around in public showing off how holy he was.
Nor did Rev. Fairbairn his fellow clergy colleague. They were doing their best to model what they
thought God was calling them to. They
put their faith into action. Some folks
might have thought their sacrifices were controversial, or unnecessary or part
of their duty as Canadian preachers. But
these leaders witnessed to the best of their abilities to who they thought
Jesus was. And they knew, in a way that
I hope none of us here will ever know, the cost of putting their convictions to
the test and living up to the gospel.
Jesus would have approved. He didn’t have respect for
hypocrites whose faith didn’t cost them anything. He didn’t care for religious scholars more
interested in appearances than in God.
He disrespected spiritual leaders who were more interested in who they
knew, or how much influence they had or what special privileges they got for
knowing the right people. He learned
this from prophets like Micah.
Micah had the same disrespect for people who use their
authority to make the lives of less powerful people miserable. Micah spoke out against injustices done
against innocent people. And yet, while
Micah pulled no punches, we have to be more careful and intentional in our
words. Micah was Jewish, we are
not. Micah was able to separate his
faith community from the political leaders who claimed they were acting in the
best interests of the faith community.
This is not easy in our day.
There have been times when the United Church has been
accused of antisemitism by Jewish organizations. Whenever our church has asked questions about
conditions of people in Gaza, we had to be careful. We hosted visits to the
Holy Land that included trips to Palestine or Gaza. Our support of fair-trade initiatives means
that many households have bottles of Zatoun Olive Oil from Gaza farmers. We have Christian and Muslim partners in Gaza
who have worked for mutual peace for a long time, as well as Christian and
Jewish partners in Israel doing the same.
Somehow, we must not choose sides for one political group or another but
choose the side of those who don’t have a voice, the peaceful farmers, the
pregnant moms, the kidnapped concert goers, and the many children of both
faiths who have died because of this war. If Ireland could end the dreadful warfare nicknamed 'The Troubles', if South Africa could end Apartheid, if the United States could end racial segregation of everything from busses and toilets to restaurants and schools, surely it is time to end the violence in the Middle East.
What can we do to help? We can go to https://united-church.ca/social-action/act-now/humanitarian-crisis-middle-east It will take you to information on United Church partners in Gaza and Israel, where you can make a donation, matched by the Canadian Government, that will send aid to victims of the war. There are also prayers to read and a form to write a letter to your member of parliament about how you feel about what’s happening. If you have a phone, call your MP or call the United Church at 1-800-465-3771 to donate.. Remind your friends and neighbors that neither antisemitism or islamophobia, both of which are on the rise this month in Canada, are a healthy response to what is happening in the Middle East. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
On Remembrance Day, may we be willing to say that violence is
not the best solution, and that both sides need to come together to stop this
ancient vendetta. Jesus was Jewish and
taught us to love all our neighbors whether they practice our faith or
not. He would want us to act according
to our consciences as both Reverends. Fairbairn and Seaman did even though one
protested the war and the other died in the war. May we find their courage to work for peace
in our troubled times. Amen.
[1] P 52 The United Church of Canada A
History by Don Schweitzer
[2] Chaplain
among those Lost in Normandy 75 Years Ago | The United Church of Canada
(united-church.ca) accessed November 2, 2023
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
