Surprised by God

Imagine having to wander into a new town or city where you don’t know anyone, and you need to find someone who will trust you enough to welcome you into their home?  And the only thing you possess is the idea that God is coming to set things right.  The only skill you have is the ability to say, "God is getting ready to surprise you!"  How would that fly in Fort McMurray today, or Athabasca, or Smith or Wandering River or Boyle?

Probably better in the smaller places than in the larger ones.  Wandering into the local burger bar might be easier to strike up conversation than at a casino or hotel bar.  Travelers would have to step carefully, not knowing what the local hot button topic might be. Should we buy Taber corn or should we boycott it?  Was it the women’s shelter or the homeless shelter that shut down in Lac La Biche? And so on.

The challenge of connecting has become difficult.  Even the disciples would have a hard time finding people open to new ideas, new understandings, new opportunities.  Since Covid, it seems like we are locked into polarized attitudes.  Even walking into a Dairy Queen for a chocolate dipped cone may end up in a stressful debate about politics, healthcare or human rights.  It’s heartbreaking.

Abraham was not interested in having a fight with total strangers over the dangers of vaccination, or whatever the equivalent of his time would have been.  One of his core values, his spiritual practice, was practicing radical hospitality.  Hospitality that was generous even while struggling to survive in the wilderness.  Generosity that was radically compassionate, dignified, and respectful.  Generosity that was so kind that his guests gave him and Sarah a special blessing.  The blessing of a child.  A blessing that seemed so ridiculous that Sarah laughed. 

The longing for a child can become debilitating.  Abraham and Sarah were beyond desperate.  They had tried, they had grieved, they had hoped and they had given up on hope.  Sarah had even given her servant Hagar to Abraham to have a baby with.  And to hear these strangers promise her long-buried dreams would be fulfilled would have seemed like salt poured onto a wound.  Her childlessness would not have been only a matter of infertility, it would have been a personal and spiritual failure of epic proportions.  To this couple who had fled the big city life to start a family in a tent in the wilderness, the dream of a new way of life of deep spirituality and bold discipleship would have been centered on having future generations.  The pressure on Sarah would have been both part of her culture and part of her understanding of herself as a woman.  No wonder she laughed.

Laughter is surprisingly healing.  It can come when we least expect it, and it can soften angry hearts in ways that debates, logic, facts and opinions fail to do.  Patch Adams, made famous by the movie starring Robin Williams, discovered how much more effective he was when he made his patients laugh.  They healed faster, and the hospital became a much more pleasant place to work.  Laughter can shift our brain chemistry and help with the healing process.  Our brains are mysterious and complex things.  Who knows how the experience of laughter changed Sarah, but it did.  It so changed her that she named her son “Laughter”.

When we are struggling, when we feel there is no hope and no future, when we see the divisiveness in the world, when we don’t know where to turn, it’s easy to laugh off the idea that there may be hope coming just around the corner.  A baby coming to a childless couple, a heavenly leadership plan coming to the world, they may seem laughable.  Yet the reign of Heaven surprises us when we least expect it.

We have been waiting for the reign of Heaven to surprise us for a long time.  In many ways we need it more than ever before.  As the conversation around separatism gets more intense, it may be overwhelming for some.  The rise of racism, sexism and homophobia online is scary.  It can leave us feeling paralyzed and terrified. But we are also able to find surprises when we entertain angels unawares.  Surprises like the kind hospitality of a nomadic city slicker living in a tent with no hope for the future, who serves their best food to unexpected strangers.

One person that surprised many is Romaine Patterson, who made angels costumes with wings seven feet high and wore them in front of protestors from Westboro Baptist Church so Matthew Sheperd’s family couldn’t see them.  She went on to become an advocate and public speaker. Another story of surprise is of grassroots organizations like Ofewa, a group of a dozen people meeting in a country where same sex relationships are illegal.  They got together under a tree to talk about what they could do to build a safer future in a dangerous country.  They built a coalition of more than a dozen organizations—some focused on intersex rights, some on media representation, some on legal support. They quietly meet with police officers, judges, lawyers, anyone who will listen, to influence change.  There’s Rev. Will Campbell who was a white Baptist minister and strategist for Martin Luther King Jr. He was asked to share his views on capital punishment at a public debate. The majority of people there believed that the death penalty was the only way to build a civilized country.  They were surprised into silence when Campbell said that he was against Capital Punishment “because it’s tacky.” The moderator asked Campbell several times to explain himself, and he eventually said, “Hell, everyone knows what tacky means.” And that ended the debate.

What if we said something surprising, like “I think that arguing is unCanadian.” And get back to that common understanding of Canadians as kind, welcoming and compassionate people.  People who hope to build a land of peace and hospitality.  People who follow in the footsteps of Abraham and the disciples, nurturing hospitality, generosity and kindness.  Let’s surprise the world with love and generosity and watch how God surprises us!

Will the real God(s) stand up?

As some folks know, I have a love of inspirational card decks.  I have ones on leadership, art, labyrinth walking, discipleship and more.  I’ve taken them to workshops and council meetings, scattered them around the Sanctuary with miniature Jesus figures, used them for Coffee time conversations, and even handed them out in worship randomly. 

When I went to the first of the Blazing Walnuts Workshops, the minister that was helping Moderator Lansdowne with the course was Northern Spirit’s Office of Vocation minister, Rev. Laura Fause. She’s responsible for helping ministry candidates go through the discernment and education process that helps them decide whether or not they are being called by God into ministry with the United Church of Canada.  She’s also the author of five sets of inspirational cards that she sells on a website store (Affirmation Cards for Disciples – My Blessing Studio).  There’s one for disciples, there’s one for flourishing, one for pride folks and one for kids.  It’s a playful, joyful way of finding a thought to inspire our day.

At one time, playful and joyful were not words that we applied to Christianity or our understanding of God.  Many times Christianity is painted as a “Get out of Hell free” card, and the literature going out to recruit disciples is all about the torture and punishment of rebellious, wayward souls.  And at one point, the use of shame, fear and guilt seemed to bring people into the church and keep them there.

But since the 1960’s, people have been rejecting that.  They have been deconstructing this rigid understanding of God as the divine grumpy king sitting on his throne, pitching people headlong into fire and brimstone. And to be honest, the Bible is full of a diversity of images and names of God far grander than a miserable bearded codger on a glitzy chair. 

Genesis One is a good example of this.  Anyone who takes the Bible literally might consider looking at the ancient Hebrew names for God.  "Elohim" is now translated by some as plural, and "El Shaddai", used in the song of the same name, can mean both God of the mountaintop or anything cone shaped, especially women’s endowments, "The many-breasted God".  Elohim is the creator of humans in God’s own image.  Then in Genesis 2, we have Yahweh not Elohim, and it tells a different story of creation where humanity is made first before the plants and the animals are made last.  There are references to God as being a baker, a king, a woman in labor, a wind, a still small voice, and something so vast humans can’t even see God’s back side without risking their sanity.  All these images point to the human experience of God being complicated, and God being surprising.  God shows up in wondrous ways, or as our Song of Faith puts it, "above perfect knowledge, beyond perfect explanation, a holy mystery".

Humans have been trying to understand God as mystery for a very long time.  Some were people like Hildegarde of Bingen, and Julian of Norwich.

Hildegarde became the leader of a convent when she was very young, and dabbled in God language that shocked many, especially men in positions of power in the church.  She was a musician, a writer, a dreamer, a philosopher and a psychologist who wasn’t afraid to talk truth to politicians.  She was born 20 years after William the Conqueror took over England from the Anglo-Saxons and had many surprising ideas. She thought that women should strive to be more masculine, and men should strive to be more feminine, in order to become a balanced Christian. God was called Divine Feminine and Divine Wisdom.  She wrote of God speaking surprising words to her, “I am the one whose praise echoes on high.  I adorn all the earth.  I am the breeze that nurtures all things green…  I am the rain… that causes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life.”[1] Her ideas of God were shared throughout Europe even though they were not conforming to traditional understandings.

Julian of Norwich lived in England about three hundred years later and also pushed the boundaries of God images.  She lived through wars, the Bubonic Plague, losing her husband and children in her early thirties, and surviving an illness that nearly killed her.  When she recovered, she had herself bricked into the local church where she was given meals through a slot in the wall and never came out in public again.  She listened to daily worship and many people who came to her curtained window outside.  It makes me wonder if she had neurodiverse characteristics.  Her routine would have been constantly the same, she never had to make eye contact with anyone, and she could write down her visions in solitude.  Even though she had lived through immense personal tragedy, she’s most famously remembered for saying “All Shall be Well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.” She said it because she believed that God is Love and as creator, God’s love will triumph. She described God as the trinity God: Maker, Keeper, Lover, or Might, Wisdom and Goodness.  She described Jesus as a breast-feeding mother, explaining it as “our precious Mother Jesus can feed us with himself… with the blessed sacrament,” how the bread and wine is as essential to us as a mother's milk.  She also had a vision that God’s creation is so precious that it is held in God’s hand, who loves everyone and everything in creation.

Whether we use Father Son and Holy Spirit, or as our Song of Faith puts it, “Mother, Friend, and Comforter/ Source of Life, Living Word, and Bond of Love, our old understanding of God the angry emperor is rejected by many people.  They see Christianity as a weapon of control, and a tool of oppression.  We won’t go forth and make disciples if we cling to these feared images of God, more like the Greek god Zeus or the Roman God Jupiter than Yahweh, Elohim or El Shaddai.  But many people hunger for hope.  They still need good news.  They yearn for the tender love of a healing and caring God. They long for a community that will love them into healing.  Maybe it’s time for us to redraw our deck of cards when it comes to describing our God as closer than a loving parent, who feeds us like a tender mother and cares for us with a love that is unshakable.  May God's love, however we describe our higher power, our great mystery, continue to inspire, empower and encourage us and others.  Amen.

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[1] P. 5, Earth Prayers edited by Elizabeth Roberts and Elias Amidon, Harper San Francisco Press, 1991

Fill me up!

There’s nothing that says “Summer Fun” quite like a humble beach ball.  For children, it was a big soft ball that even the smallest of toddlers might be able to play with as it was big and slow and quite soft compared to the hard red rubber balls that were used for endless games of dodgeball.

Beachballs were more durable than balloons, and could be used on land or in water.  They could be used for volleyball, or water polo, soccer, and if there was a hollow plastic bat, it could be used for a pick up game of baseball.  Mind you, no one over the age of 8 would be impressed with how far the ball might fly.  Even fully inflated, beach balls would never break windows or leave bruises after a hard game of soccer.  They couldn’t knock kids off their feet or break a tooth.  They were gentle and soft and caused no harm to their users.

But beachballs depended on someone having a good set of lungs.  Without having some serious air volume, the beach ball would eventually go soft and not be nearly as much fun, as bouncy, as responsive to the actions of younglings wanting to have a good game of catch.  The balls were only as good as their ability to keep air locked inside.  Sometimes they needed to be patched with some good old duct tape.

In our John reading, the gospel tells us of the first Easter Sunday experience, after Mary Magdaline found the tomb empty but before Thomas asked questions and got answers.  The disciples were deflated from the events of their beloved Rabbi’s crucifixion.  They had gone through immense trauma as they ran away or witnessed his humiliating treatment by the temple leadership in a secret trial at night. Some witnessed the state-sanctioned torture and execution by Roman law enforcers.  Never mind that the trial was unjust and the interrogation was done by a corrupt politician, the disciples felt like the wind had been knocked out of them.  They had lost their bounce and playfulness.  They were deep into depression and grief.  They were tired and traumatized.

Then Jesus appeared, greeted them with peace and breathed on them.  They were filled with joy!  Just like a beach ball that is pumped up to the brim, they were ready to bounce and have fun and spread joy.  They still were not ready to go out into Jerusalem to share their good news.  That’s where our Acts reading comes in.  Pentecost is a Hebrew festival 50 days after Passover that celebrates the first harvest of grain for the year.  Pente means 50.  What were the disciples doing for those 50 days? Luke described Jesus telling them to wait.  Wait until the Spirit let them know what’s next.  So they waited. For two months of questioning, conversation, experiences of the risen Christ, debates, decisions, praying and wondering what would be next. 

Waiting is not easy as anyone will tell you who has been pregnant or is waiting on the results of a biopsy.  Waiting is an uncertain time.  It can be stressful too in its own right.  People who rush too soon to decisions can find themselves dealing with unintended consequences, something we saw happen this week when a committee released their report to the public before they had even finished their meeting!

Waiting is hard.  Yet the disciples waited as Jesus asked.  They rested, they reminisced, maybe they planned a committee meeting or two. They prayed, they sang, they talked and they listened.  Then on that 50^th day, something happened that changed their world.  Wind and fire and God!

Things happen that change our world too.  Wind, and fire sweep into our lives unexpectedly.  10 years ago on Pentecost Sunday, Donnalee preached in Athabasca United Church with several folks from Fort McMurray United in attendance, which was the first time we did a joint worship together.  At that time, Athabasca omitted all references to Pentecost flames. We knew that this was a resting time, a waiting time for the whole city in exile, waiting until it was safe to return.  Even when the fires were out, more waiting happened, waiting to hear if their homes had been spared, and how they would rebuild.  No one had the time or the energy to bounce back.  They lost more than homes and possessions, they lost any sense of order, security and stability they might once have had.

Now much of the world also feels like it has lost stability and predictability.  We hear news of politicians making confusing decisions, building ballrooms while people struggle to pay the bills, plans to round up unhoused people and force them into detention centres, plans to change AISH and plans to hold a vote on whether to hold a vote on separatism. No plans whatsoever to repair the loss of privacy for millions of Albertans.

They are rushing to make decisions which will have unintended consequences.  Do these decisions have the ability to restore our bounce?  To help us feel joyful?  To give us space to be playful, loving, hopeful and kind?  Somehow, I doubt it.

Time and time again, Christians have lived in chaotic seasons of political instability.  They have lived through seasons of plague, times of persecution, years of drought or famine, decades of war or oppression.  They turned to God in their distress, turned to deep spirituality through reading the bible, praying with words and without words, remembering hymns that encourage them, and sharing stories of times when God filled them with hope, love and yes, even joy in the midst of terrors.  They have waited for Jesus and been sustained in a community of broken but hopeful believers practicing deep spirituality together.  They have found inspiration that has filled them up until they are able to not just survive but thrive and encourage others to thrive.  We are living in such times again.

We wait, we pray, we sing, we share, we gather together to be inspired and to inspire others.  Sometimes we wait quietly, sometimes we wait joyfully.  And we wait together to find God’s breath filling us up until we are able to love and serve others, seek justice and resist evil, and proclaim Jesus crucified and risen.  In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is filling us with love and hope and joy.  May God restore the bounce in our step and inspire us to thrive in these times with wisdom and compassion. Amen

Courage and Innocence

Have you ever been arrested for doing what is right?  Have you ever had to go to court to prove your innocence?  Or gotten a call from a loan shark looking for someone who shares your name but not your credit rating?  If you are truly innocent, you probably took it calmly and cheerfully.  Hopefully it didn’t end up in court, where a judge had to make a difficult decision of who is telling the truth.

Both scriptures sound like somebody is going to court.  John’s gospel even had Jesus describing the Holy Spirit in legal language.  “The Advocate” in the original Greek, was the term used for lawyers in charge of protecting a defendant. When we pair these two scriptures up, we hear the call to live lives of truth and honesty.

Our world needs innocent and good people now more than ever.  But how do we be brave and trustworthy?

When we face challenging times like these, some people try to ignore everything bad.  Just do your job, keep your head down, and mind your own business, they might council.  

Some people might rage and join in the conflict, going below the line in anger to prove that they are the smartest person in the room.  They blame, judge, complain, even lie or exaggerate.  They don’t like it when they get a letter telling them to cease and desist or when a judge rules against them.  

Then there’s the third group of people.  They are taking the command to be innocent and courageous to heart.  Even when they know that bad actors might have their personal addresses, they still make the tough calls in the courts or tell how they really feel about current events.  Not everyone who is brave and honest gets their five minutes of airtime, but some folks might just surprise you with their courage.  One such courageous action that recently took place was an organized letter against an event in Red Deer.  This event wanted to connect politics with right wing Christianity, excluding all other faiths.

By the time the Alberta Christian Leadership Summit with Danielle Smith took place on May 4 in Red Deer, 205 faith leaders had signed the Statement of Conviction. It started with 50 signatories on April 20. I was part of the original 50.

The statement read in part: 

We are faith leaders from across Alberta - from many traditions, many communities, and many ways of understanding the sacred. What we share is a conviction that faith, at its best, moves us toward one another - toward the neighbour who looks like you and the one who doesn't. It calls us to lead with humility, to welcome the stranger, and to stand with those the powerful would rather ignore.

We also believe in pluralism - not as a compromise, but as a gift. Alberta is home to people of many backgrounds, many faiths, and many ways of living a good life. That diversity is not a problem to be managed. It is what makes our communities more honest and more compassionate. A public life that only makes room for some voices is diminished for everyone.

The Premier's Annual Christian Summit… claims to bring faith into public life... But the event's structure - its cost, its curated guest list, its exclusive framing - means that many voices will simply not be in the room. Smaller congregations, racialized communities, younger leaders, and those without means or connections will be absent. That is not a gathering shaped by the values of welcome and humility. It is a gathering shaped by access and privilege.

We are also concerned by what this event represents more broadly. When any government aligns itself with one religious identity, it diminishes the independence of every other faith community - regardless of tradition or theology. No single tradition, congregation, or political movement speaks for all people of faith. And the faith we know - across our many traditions - has never been most itself when it is closest to power. Rather, it has been most itself when it is closest to the people that power overlooks.

This letter was drafted by Affirm United, which is an organization that includes churches that publicly choose to welcome and include people that are not always welcome in other churches.  They reported that 

“Those 205 people didn't just push back against one event. They stood for something: a vision of faith and public life in Alberta and across Canada that is expansive, pluralistic, and unwilling to let one narrow interpretation of one religion set the terms for everyone. That's the opposite of what was being promoted in that room in Red Deer, and it needed to be said out loud, by name, on the record.

"It also appears to have had some effect. Since the statement was released, the summit made three changes without explanation: the lowest ticket price dropped from $349 to $199, the application-and-approval system was replaced with direct public purchase, and the event's name changed from the Premier's Annual Christian Summit to the Alberta Christian Leadership Summit. We're not claiming sole credit... But 205 faith leaders speaking clearly and publicly has a way of making things harder to ignore."

Another minister, who also leads an affirming church in Northern Spirit Region, The Reverend Blaine Gregg, attended in his rainbow shirt.  To put this into context, there were some 700 attendees, and mainstream reporters from the CBC, the Edmonton Journal, CTV and the like were not allowed in.  Talk about brave and innocent! Blaine wrote an article for Broadview Magazine, and said, 

"I noted four areas of concern: banning abortion; restricting or eliminating medical assistance in dying; promoting anti-transgender views; and opposing changes to federal legislation, including Bill C-9’s religious exemption in anti-hate laws…There was a clear sense… that ‘real’ Christians shared the same… opinions on societal issues and ethical values, and that aligning with the provincial government would translate those beliefs into policy.

"This… included a palpable shared fear and worry that… Christianity was losing the battle for the soul of the nation. "

Blaine went even though he knew he might not be welcomed.  He went even though the other people were potentially hostile.  He took Peter’s words to heart, “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.”

When we play small, or if we lash out in anger, we act as the world expects us to act.  But when we intentionally do our best to live out values of compassion and justice, our witness threatens those who would bully the vulnerable, attack the rights of minorities and intimidate those who are isolated.  When we speak out, we discover we are not alone, and the bullies are silenced, the powerful are challenged and the selfish face justice.  Christianity is not a private club for comfortable people, it is a call to stand up for those who have no voice.  When we are brave and innocent, we will find that God is our judge who will dismiss the case against us.  God is with us, we are not alone, thanks be to God!

Corrupt Generations

One phrase that jumps out of today's scripture is "save yourselves from this corrupt generation". Peter preached this as part of his Pentecost sermon, and it resonated with his listeners. How many of us feel like we are living in the midst of a corrupt generation? With stories about some grocery store chains adding the meat packaging when they calculate the price of chicken thighs, or the government rejecting recommendations for constituency boundaries for the next election, or Canada Revenue Agency being scammed for millions of dollars, who wouldn't want to be saved from a corrupt culture? Peter’s audience sure did.

Peter’s solution? Repentance, baptism and commitment to a life of discipleship. Baptism was free to everyone, no strings attached. And of course, that was just the start. Baptism welcomed the new disciples into a big, vibrant conversation about faith, God, and personal and cultural transformation.

Peter invited them to be transformed as he had been transformed. Peter had witnessed his beloved leader going through the farce of an unjust trial where the decision was made by a court more interested in political popularity than justice and fairness. And Peter ran away, afraid for his life. Then he hid behind locked doors, anxiously wondering when his arrest and execution would happen. The transformation from coward to leader was unexpected and he attributed it to his Easter experiences of the Risen Christ like some disciples had on the road to Emmaus.

Unexpected transformation can come in many ways. It can be dramatic and instant like Mary and Salome finding the tomb empty. It can be quiet and slow like on an eleven-kilometer walk as described in our gospel reading today. That's not a five-minute stroll down to the mailbox!

Today we're most likely to experience a long journey with a stranger by carpooling to an event or taking a bus tour or airplane trip, but back then folks were expected to travel to Jerusalem for Passover. And unless they were rich or had mobility issues or were pregnant, they didn't use donkeys. Donkeys were a luxury, not for regular people. And regardless of how you travel, a stranger traveling with you can be the worst thing or the best thing for such a long trip. Like astronauts flying around the moon and back for days in a tiny space with a broken toilet, the time spent together can be transformative. Just as Jeremy Hansen said in their recent press conference, the astronauts now have become good friends and also have new perspectives and hope for the future.

The disciples picked up a hitchhiker and had no idea what was coming.  They discovered that the more they talked to the stranger, the more surprised they were at his ignorance of current affairs, and then amazed at his thorough knowledge of scripture.  They were trying to figure out what had happened.  Was Jesus resurrected?  Was it a hoax?  Was it a hallucination? They weren’t sure.  But they called themselves disciples, and although they are not a part of the official list of 12, they too had followed Jesus, they too had learned his teachings, they too, knew his methods of thinking through complex issues.  And they too knew what disciples of Jesus were called to do.

Disciples are called to test the insights and ideas that come their way.  They are to ask questions.  They are to explore the scriptures, the sacred texts, not as a law book with rules and regulations, but as a road map that may need some redrawing from time to time.  Like astronauts seeing the world from a different angle, scriptures help change our viewpoint.  And scripture helps us explore what God is calling us to through conversation, through logic, through experience.  The disciples said, “this is what we experienced, this is what we know, the tomb is empty.  This is what others are saying.  Now stranger, help us understand what is happening.  Help us make sense of our upside-down world. Help us understand this corrupt generation and how we are being called by God to respond.”

Notice that they didn’t get their full answer until they practiced that first, fundamental Christian discipline of offering hospitality to the stranger.  It was only after they invited him to stay and eat with them that the revelation of who he was transformed them.  It was only when their simple meal of bread and wine was turned into the sacrament of sharing abundance that Jesus had practiced with them that they realized his true identity. This revelation transformed them so much that they ran back the 11 kilometers in the dark to testify to the disciples that Easter was real, Jesus was risen! Transformation was possible, both for individuals and for their corrupt generation that had murdered an innocent man.

Some will say that our generation is not corrupt.  And yet the Guardian newspaper reported this week that the world’s largest oil companies are making more than $30 million an hour in excess profits. Exxon will earn an extra 11 billion, Shell will get 6.8 Billion, and Chevron 9.2 billion if the price continues. The Alberta Government is dismissing the non-partisan report on where to draw political boundaries, and they are excited about new legislature that will protect children from pornography in public libraries while cutting grants to family violence programs.  Now I don’t know about you, but I have never seen a copy of Playboy on the magazine shelves, nor have I ever seen 10 year olds sneaking blue videos out of the libraries, or librarians gleefully lending 12 year olds piles books on how to make money as a sex worker.  Our definitions of what a corrupt generation is may vary from church to church, but we are all called to be disciples that are transformed away from exploitation and manipulation to justice and compassion.

Peter called us to turn from a corrupt generation, by repenting, remembering our baptism, celebrating God’s presence, welcoming strangers, feeding the hungry, comforting the lonely, and being open to new encounters with Jesus when we gather together in the breaking of bread, the celebrating of communion, and the gathering of disciples to celebrate Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope. In Life, in death, in life beyond death, He is risen, halleluiah!

Passing the Peace

In almost every United Church of Canada, which includes churches in Bermuda, by the way, at some point in the service, there will be a moment where someone says, “Peace be with you,” and those who’ve attended at least a few times before, will respond, “And also with you.”  Some churches have the right-side pew sitters stand and say it to the left-side pew sitters and vice versa.  Some bow with hands folded like they are ending a yoga class, a practice that became popular after Covid.  Some wave.  Some shake hands, like at a Rotary or Toastmaster’s Club.  Some say it in sign language, where the word peace is made with two actions, “turning” and “stillness”.  Some churches only do it at communion, some do it every Sunday to start the service, some do it at the end of every service, some vary their practice from week to week.  Of course, it’s not just the United Church, many denominations do this as part of their worship.  And it comes from the first Resurrection appearance as described by John.  Jesus pops up like a magical Dr coming out of a police box in the middle of a living room, astonishing everyone.  Except Thomas of course, who proceeded to sulk and grumble because he was left out and thought they had gone off their collective rockers!

One of our former moderators, Richard Bott, described the scene with Thomas like this: “I have to wonder how long he politely smiled at the other disciples, nodding his head, thinking, “Yeah. Right. Grief. Does strange things to a body, eh?” How long did he listen to the disciples tell the story of what they experienced, over and over – “What were you doing when he appeared?” “Oh, I was playing dice with Peter – had won him taking over dish washing duty for a week!” “Yeah, I was just staring out the window, bored silly, when I heard the commotion.” “Didn’t he look great?” “For having been crucified, he looked amazing!” and on and on… until [Thomas] finally had to say, “Ok. Stop it! I don’t know what you’re up to, but until I can see him… no – until I can touch the wounds the spikes made in his wrists and put my hand on the side where they speared him, I just can’t believe you!”  Then he gets his wish.

“Turn to Stillness, all you stressed disciples,” Jesus commanded Thomas and the others.  Not an easy thing to do then, and still not easy to do given everything that is happening in the world today.  There’s a new war in the Middle East and an old one in Ukraine.  There’s angry rhetoric between separatists and non-separatists.  Cuba is in crisis. The price at the pumps and in the grocery stores doesn’t help. The odd weather we’ve been having where some places have three or more feet of snow while other places are worried about flooding and going from -20 to plus 10 in a matter of days, does not help.

It’s too much, and many people may think that peace is something we get when we block out the world, turn off the phone and hide under the bed covers, or maybe blast off into outer space.  That was not the peace the disciples got.  They were, except for Thomas, hiding from the world behind a locked door, afraid that the roman soldiers would be coming for them at any time.  Thomas was out and about, showing his face in public.  Was it bravery?  Was it despair, a desire to martyr himself because without Jesus, he felt there was no reason to live and hang what the Romans might do to him?  We’ll never know.  We do know that he was the one who wanted proof, who doubted the words of his community, who struggled to understand what Easter was about, and had the courage to name it out loud.  He wasn’t afraid to call out the elephant in the room. 

But he also didn’t have peace in his heart.  He had anger and defensiveness, and he knew he was right.  When people get entrenched in certainty that they are right, and the rest of the world is wrong, they can get locked into unhealthy attitudes and power struggles that also do not lead to peace.  Peace like that is what led to the crucifixion in the first place.  The Romans defined peace as something they were entitled to inflict on others through violence, what they called “Pax Romana” or state-sanctioned ability to prevent a lot of the freedoms we take for granted today, the right to freedom of speech, the right to protest what we see as unjust laws, the right to basic human needs including education and clean water.  Peace through authoritarianism was not what Jesus believed in, and saying so in public is one of the reasons why the religious and political leaders executed him.

“Peace be with you” is a gift that money can’t buy.  It’s a prayer that disrupts our moods, and our certainties.  It’s a call to remember our Christian commitment to compassion and justice. It’s a reminder that we are disciples inspired by Jesus, crucified and risen.  Let us turn to stillness now.  Take a deep breath.  [breathe] Take another, down to your belly button. [breathe] Then one more. Now let us pray, repeating after me:

God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change

Grant us the courage to change the things we can

And the wisdom to know the difference.

Grant us the serenity to accept the people we cannot change

The courage to change the people we can

And the wisdom to know the only person we can change is ourselves.

And let us remember to turn to stillness and pray that we give everyone we meet the gift of turning to stillness too.  Amen

Friends, if you are reading this and enjoying the thoughts here, if they inspire or even challenge you, consider supporting Athabasca United Church.  Without their support, I wouldn't get paid to write.  Without their support, we wouldn't be the only organization in Athabasca publicly supporting human rights for all people regardless of gender orientation.  They also support the food pantry and a variety of outreach projects both in Athabasca and even as far as the Ukraine.  E-transfers to athabascaunited@gmail.com or https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/athabasca-united-church/ will help me continue to share my reflections on the world and scripture.  Thank you!

Passport to Life

When was the last time you looked at your driver's license or your passport? Or if you don't have one of these, ask to look at a friend's or parent's. The last time I got my photo taken, it was taken with strict instructions.  Don't smile. Look up. No glasses. Get your hair off your face. Then the bright flash seems to suck all the color our of your face and the results are ghastly. Pale, dull, emotionless blank look that in all honesty looks way older than you actually are. Boring and lifeless.

I imagine that's how Mary Magdalene and the other women looked when they hurried to the tomb that first Easter Sunday. Shocked and maybe even traumatized by the experiences of Good Friday, they would have been going through the motions, numb and empty. Their faces blank, putting one foot in front of the other, doing the traditional mourning rituals that were a part of their culture and religion. Trying to organize the details of what to do next. The community was in turmoil, and rather than a cohesive group looking to a leader to guide all their decisions, they had no one to fall back on. Did James and John make plans to rejoin their dad's fishing business? Did Matthew think about going back to his job of despised tax collector? Would Mary and Martha have felt trapped back into a life where they would only be allowed to cook and clean and never sit with the men as equals? Would Lazarus have thought about going back into his tomb and never dream of coming out again? Would the Samaritan woman plan to go back to her well and her village, doomed to go from one man to the next as she used to, or the man born blind wish he could close his eyes to the pain he saw in the faces of his new friends?

At times of terrible pain, we can go into such a state of numbness, and many of us can relate. Our days feel meaningless and empty. We slip into states of apathy where even getting out of bed seems too onerous. Now in the days of Jesus, life was far shorter and folks might have been more prosaic than we are with our modern medicine and hygiene, we don't know for sure. But even though Jesus tried to prepare his followers, they hadn't listened, they rejected what they heard as gloom and doom nonsense. So Good Friday would have been a real shock to them all.

It also would have been a time of great guilt and shame for the men who had all either run away or denied their connection to Jesus. The women didn't run, but witnessing the ordeal must have been dreadful.  The United Church’s Song of Faith describes it this way, “Because his witness to love was threatening, those exercising power sought to silence Jesus. He suffered abandonment and betrayal, state-sanctioned torture and execution. He was crucified.” It could have become the stuff of nightmares.

The historian Josephus, writing his book for the Roman Empire of the history of his Jewish country wrote that Jesus was executed. This we know is fact. Jesus was real and he was killed in the most public and shameful way possible, on a hill that could be seen for miles, nearly naked in a culture that treasured modesty, and slowly as a traitor, to remind other potential rebels never to question authority.

That should have been the end of the story. This Roman execution should have snuffed out their small movement before it had a chance. End of story. Except it wasn't. The morning when the women came to the tomb, the one thing they weren't expecting was that it would be empty.

Death was not the last word. Now, there are a lot of theories and explanations trying to debunk the resurrection.  Those theories started from day one, trying to discredit Christianity.  Over and over, the detractors attacked, mocked, belittled and even tortured people believing in a Risen Christ.  The Roman Empire and modern Communists alike made it illegal.  Atheists like Richard Dawkins and Carl Sagan wrote book after book ridiculing the Easter Story, and they expected their scientific debunking to end Christianity and all other faiths.  Their motives were sound, they wanted to end violence and religious wars.  But often religious wars are using people’s faith to manipulate and convince people that war is necessary, it isn’t because religion itself is warlike.  Interestingly enough, even with atheists and countries declaring faith illegal, a research project found that the only faith shrinking in 2026 was Buddhism.  Christianity grew by 5%.  Rather like the Monty Python knight, Christians can claim that “I’m not dead yet!”

The truth is that a stolen body can’t inspire a spiritual revolution, a lie can’t inspire people to come together and risk their lives to talk about teachings of respect, compassion and faith.  A scam doesn’t inspire quiet resistance to tyrants, a plot doesn’t embolden people to protest against discrimination.  The Resurrection story has inspired people for centuries.  Without it, William Wilberforce wouldn’t have worked to end the Slave Trade, Charles Dickons wouldn’t have written about the oppression of impoverished children which inspired the establishment of public schools as a human right, monks and nuns wouldn’t have built hospitals and hospices, and people like Martin Luther King would not have preached equal rights even at the risk of their own lives. 

Easter, like God, is Holy Mystery, beyond complete knowledge, above perfect description.  It inspires us to love our neighbors, love ourselves and love that holy mystery whatever we name it.  Easter helps us work in hope for a better world.  Easter brings people to life, giving them purpose and a vision.  We become more than our passport or driver’s licence photos; we come to life.  Easter inspires us to deeper spirituality, both in our daily lives and in community here.  Easter inspires us to engage in learning more about our faith and our world so that we can practice bold discipleship.  Easter inspires us to also work daringly for justice, whether it’s joining in protest rallies, voting in elections or sending e-mails and phone calls to people who need to hear that we believe in human rights and equality for all.  Easter empowers us to speak against racism, homophobia or discrimination.  Easter is the ultimate “No Tyrants” event, not started by Jesus, or the disciples, but started by Holy Mystery itself. Our Song of Faith says, “in love, the one eternal God raised Jesus from death, turning sorrow into joy, despair into hope.  We sing of Jesus raised from the dead. We sing hallelujah.  

Today, let us choose to have the mystery of Easter, however we understand it, inspire us to continue the work for justice and human dignity that Jesus started so long ago.  Because the empty tomb didn’t stop the followers of Jesus back when they knew what Herod and Pilate did, and they followed Jesus anyway.  Not because he was a passport to power or wealth, but because he was a passport to community, love and abundant life.  Thank God for this passport we have that is the Risen Christ.  Christ has risen, Halleluiah!

Deep, Bold and Daring Conversations

What kinds of conversations happen in the middle of the night?  Usually secret ones.  Ones that we don’t want the public to know about, ones that may be completely innocent, and ones that may be deeply evil. 

When I wake up to headlines about war and assassination and leaders of countries being bombed, I wonder about the secret conversations that happen behind closed doors in the middle of the night.  Orders given, decisions made, and worst of all, accountability ignored, compassion sneered at, human rights completely disregarded.  It is deeply disturbing that two men, having most of the world’s military power, made a decision that impacts the whole world.  Where is the accountability?  Why do they think they are entitled to take over countries and send the world in a tizzy?  Why do they want to start another world war? 

Today’s scripture reading shows a conversation that didn’t start a war, for all it happened in the night and not in public.  Was Nicodemus sneaking off to talk to Jesus secretly, or was it one of those, “gosh, look at the time” conversations?  We do know that Nicodemus was really struggling to understand Jesus.  He wanted things to be practical and easy to understand.  Jesus was talking in metaphor.

Nicodemus struggled to understand what Jesus was trying to explain to him.  Not just the whole “being born of the Spirit” but all that Jesus was teaching.  The way of compassion, empathy and spirituality.  This way that the United Church has described as “deep spirituality, bold discipleship and daring justice” was not something Nicodemus was comfortable with.  He had heard Jesus talk in scathing terms about Pharisees like Nicodemus. Jesus thought the pharisees who were more concerned about what people thought about them than what God thought, were hypocrites.  The leaders that Jesus challenged liked having a clear rule book of what would bring them closer to God and what would pull them away from God.  Rules were easy to follow on a surface level.  Jesus wanted them to explore at a deeper level what a relationship with God could be like.

For Jesus, a life of faith was centered around loving God, and loving neighbor.  This wasn’t a matter of nice stories or poetic prayers. It wasn’t about compartmentalizing what we believe on Sunday mornings and what we do on Monday mornings.  This wasn’t a conversation that was a fun little exercise in debating skills, but a call to reexamine our lives and our priorities.

It was about what we do in public.  It was about how we live out our God-shaped priorities.  It’s about when do we make a stand, when do we act? When do we make a commitment to empathy, compassion and justice?

Jesus wanted people to live deep bold and daring lives, not secretive ones.  He wanted people to have deep, bold and daring conversations about their faith and their relationship with God.  All too often, we’ve seen how that has been done in abusive ways.  In ways that are more like the Pharisees than Jesus.  Especially now, when Christian Nationalism seems to be the only game in town.  When John 3:16 is used to shame and blame people for not having a deep enough faith.  When conversations are not dialogues where people actually listen to each other’s opinions and try hard to understand them, but monologues spouting whatever conspiracy theory happens to be most popular on social media.

Nicodemus was very brave, even though he came in the dark.  But Jesus called him to live a more honest and open life.  A life of secrecy can cause tremendous harm and stress.  In modern business lingo, it is ‘living below the line’.  Below the line attitudes are like thinking, “I’m right, I will reject new ideas, I’m reacting emotionally, I’m resisting.”  Nicodemus was resisting what Jesus was trying to teach him.   He didn’t like the new idea of being born into a spiritual way of being.  He didn’t want to look at his theology as something to be lived, not just thought about.  But somewhere during that conversation, some time during that long night, something Jesus said made sense.  And his words still resonate today:

“This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”

This Lent, we can see on the world stage what happens when world leaders become addicted to practicing evil, addicted to denial and illusion.  It’s easy to point fingers at them for their behaviors that are leading us into another war.  But we can’t control the men who order armies around.  We can only change ourselves.  Nicodemus was changed by his conversation.  He became public in his exploration of what Jesus was teaching.  He became accountable for his actions, standing up for Jesus to the other Pharisees, and eventually publicly burying Jesus in his own family tomb. This Lent, let us give up living in secret, hiding our lights, being addicted to being right, avoiding hard conversations and being stuck in denials and lies.  Instead, let us remember that God loves us as we are and wants us to live lives that are deep, bold and daring, for the world needs more transparency, more love and more hope.  Let us also remember that when we choose to live deep, bold and daring lives, we will find that we are not alone, we live in God’s world, in life, in death, in life beyond death, thanks be to God. Amen!

Temptations

Have you heard the old cliché, “Hurt people hurt people”? Sometimes people are not even aware of the hurt they do to others, or they justify it, brush it off, dismiss it.  Fine and dandy, but when they start to think that they are justified, or even that the people they hurt deserve it, or even worse, that the people they hurt aren’t really, we have a situation that can spiral out of control.  Whether it’s addictions to violent video games like Roblox or sharing toxic claims about immigrants or trans people, or taking pride in insulting people who have a different political perspective than us, it’s easy to go from polite Canadians apologizing to everyone for everything, to becoming a keyboard warrior or someone who cuts people off in traffic and waves the finger at other drivers.  Hurt people hurt people. 

It doesn’t help that we live in a world that glorifies violence.  Dr. Walter Wink talks about the myth of redemptive violence and it’s often the subtle theme of Disney movies.  The princess is captured by an evil person, often a woman who is the opposite of the princess, who is defeated by a brave prince who is willing to fight the dragon or the sea witch or whatever the evil figure is. Violence protects the innocent and maintains their sweetness and goodness because they can’t do it themselves. 

We all like to think of ourselves as the heroes of our own life stories and turn anyone who obstructs us as the villain in our lives.  We can get fixated on what ‘They’ are doing to mess up our lives, or what we can do to get even with “them”.  We don’t realize that in our righteous anger, we are hurting someone else who then sees us as the villains in their own lives.  One psychologist once said, “It’s like the world is in a massive competition to prove who is the biggest victim and it’s always me, and the biggest villain is always the other.  The myth of redemptive violence teaches us to hit back, to seek revenge, to rage and it goes back to the Babylonian creation myth.  It paints humans as being born from violence, when two parent gods conspire together to kill their noisy offspring.  The younger gods get together and kill the father and mother.  From the blood of the murdered gods come all of creation, including humans. Contrast that story of family violence with our creation story which talks about God shaping the world and calling it good.  It’s a profound rebuttal of violence of any kind as it points to humans created in love, not in war. 

Then there’s Jesus, who goes up against the ultimate bad guy, Satan, in the temptations in the desert.  Jesus doesn’t beat Satan to death.  Jesus doesn’t shoot laser beams out of his eyes.  He doesn’t pull out a missile launcher or yell and scream or post scathing insults on Facebook.  Jesus instead calmly quotes scripture at Satan, and refuses Satan’s clever tests.

“Do you want security”, Satan asks, “the power to never go hungry, to turn rocks into food, to turn whatever you have too much of into whatever you have not enough of?” How many of us have bowed to the temptation of taking shortcuts, helping ourselves to things that are easily in reach?  Most of us have never been tempted to shop lift or to steal from a neighbor.  But we all would like quick fixes for our problems, and Satan tempts Jesus to go for the quick fix, the simple solution.  That is the path to addictions, whether it’s bargain shopping at Temu or having more craft supplies than we can ever possibly use.  Accumulate stuff, hoard stuff, save stuff because we fear not having enough.

“Do you want safety”, Satan asks, “the ability to never be hurt by anyone ever again?” How many of us have become fearful of leaving our houses, of trying something new, of being hurt?  We surround ourselves with air bags and security cameras, but they won’t guarantee our safety.  They won’t protect us from being hurt, of sliding on the ice and breaking an arm or twisting a back.  We might try to hide in our bedrooms to avoid any risks, but it is not healthy.  Jesus accepted that part of life is getting hurt, stubbing your toe, hearing an opinion different than your own.

“Do you want control?”  Satan asks, “the ability to fix or save or correct anyone or anything that you think isn’t right?”  Control is a sneaky temptation.  It masquerades as wanting respect or wanting everyone else to measure up to our standards.  It says, “I don’t have to listen to anyone else’s opinions.  I’m right, I know I’m right and that is the end of it.” It leads to judgmentalism and bossiness.  It leads to wanting to be the loudest person in the room, drowning out other people’s opinions.  It says, “I have the right to be angry, rude, loud, and to throw my weight around.” 

Jesus rejected all that.  Jesus focused on God, and the teachings of the prophets that told stories of God’s compassionate generosity to widows and orphans, the sick and the lonely, the oppressed and the poor.  Jesus was determined to chose listening and healing, not bullying and being right or demanding perfection in others.  He rejected the dance of superhero violence even though it would cost him his life.

We are starting Lent, a time of self-reflection as we remember Jesus travelling to Jerusalem where he would be killed.  We talk about giving up chocolate or computer games, but we don’t talk about letting go of our need for control, our need for safety, our need for stuff.  What if this Lent we spent time in prayer for our healing.  Hurt people hurt people. We are all hurt.  But people who choose to ask God for healing will find that healing people heal people.  We are all on the journey to find healing.  May we find through healing through prayer and action and courage.  Amen.

Truth is stranger than fiction

 

Ever watch the movie “When Harry Met Sally”?  At the very beginning of the movie, there are interviews of how people met each other, how they finish each other’s sentences, and some remember as clear as day how they met, some constantly correct each other on the details?  It seems like a fairy tale that only a few people ever achieve.  And yet, all but the last interview with the main characters are based on true stories.  Some of them seem wildly impossible, like the one where both people were born in the same hospital seven days apart, lived one block away from each other, even worked in the same building for six years, one on the 5^th floor, one on the 14^th floor, and met on a holiday in a hotel in another state.  Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

From time to time, we hear incredible stories that are far-fetched.  Like the girl who grew up to marry her grandma’s math teacher’s grandson in Old Strathcona in Edmonton.  Despite the girl’s dad and the boy’s dad growing up kitty corner from each other as children, the girl and the boy never met until they were in university and had no idea how close their families were.  Both sets of grandparents were very committed United Church members, but even though they lived on the same block, they went to completely different United Churches in Edmonton. (For the record, I thought his name was Jim, not Tim!) It’s an example of how truth can be stranger than fiction.  And yet they are true.

The story of the transfiguration is one of the gospel stories that seems too strange to be true.  And for those bible geeks like the Jesus Seminar in the ‘90’s who liked to dissect scripture and analyze it until it was dead and dusty, this was a scripture that they disliked unless they could look at it symbolically.  Matthew’s gospel is drawing parallels between Jesus and Moses as he writes his gospel for Christian Jews who honor and respect both Moses and Elijah as so holy they both saw the face of God.  For those of you who may not remember those old testament stories, Moses was the one who rescued the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, defying the Pharaoh, and getting the 10 commandments from God who wrote them on stone tablets for all the people to see.  Elijah was a prophet who challenged the followers of Baal to a worship fight and dared them to get their god to burn the sacrifice on their altar, then when they failed, Elijah poured water all over the altar he dedicated to Jhwh God, and God lit the sacrifice on fire anyway.  Elijah also was the one who was described as riding a chariot up to heaven instead of dying like the rest of humanity.  So, Jesus hanging out with Moses and Elijah is a big deal.  It would be like if we ran into a friend and he or she had to take a conference call with Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny, and you knew that it was real and not a fake.  You would think of your friend very differently, wouldn’t you?

That’s what Peter, James and John thought.  All of the sudden, this wise leader was elevated in their eyes to something special, something unique, something unbelievable.  And yet he was still the humble, kind and caring man they had learned to trust while they followed him around Galilea.  And when he asked them to keep their experience a secret, they did.  It kept his followers around him from treating him any differently than just an inspiring speaker and teacher.  But for Peter, James and John, it cemented their trust in Jesus as the leader they desperately needed. The leader who would help them live at a time when their country was occupied by a foreign power, where they had little or no human rights, and didn’t know where their next meal would come from or if their jobs as fishermen would survive the competition from rich Roman fishing companies.

We struggle to know what is true and what is fiction.  Within hours of the incident at Tumbler Ridge, ugly rumors and outrageous claims were circulating.  People were demonizing a vulnerable minority of our society.  They ignored facts, going straight to paranoia and fear.  And now, with artificial intelligence producing videos that look appear real, we are going to need to on our toes.  It’s one thing to watch ninja kittens doing complex and flawless workout sessions but another thing to be able to recognize a video that has been faked so well it looks true.

Leadership that we can trust is important especially now.  When our very province is debating about staying in Canada, we need to be careful who we listen.  At a recent RCMP chaplaincy workshop, trustworthy leadership was described as authentic, purposeful, vulnerable, compassionate, empathetic and putting the needs of others before their own.  Our psalm describes what happens when leaders choose to put their own selfish agendas first.  Their power will collapse and their authority will disappear.  History shows that the psalmists are right, leaders who put their own desires ahead of God’s agenda for a peaceable, community will find that they lose all they desire.  And history shows that when we trust Jesus more than AI, more than leaders who promote fear and hatred for selfish gain, when we trust Jesus transfigured, the world changes for the better for everyone.  We come down the mountain, ready to act with compassion, justice and the assurance that God loves us all in good times and in challenging times.  Truth is stranger than fiction, because when we choose love over hate, we heal ourselves and the world.  May we all trust Jesus as our leader who transfigures our world to become a better place even in difficult times like these. Amen.