Choosing Paths

We’ve been inundated with water these past few weeks.  The Athabasca River has been rising, Edmonton has seen severe flooding that has flooded basements and freeways.  Our Pastoral Relations Minister at Northern Spirit Region, Rev. Adam Hall, has been on the news as the mayor of Tofield, when he declared a state of emergency.  Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

We in Canada are blessed with an abundance of water.  In the 2020 novel “Watershed”, Calgary author Doreen Vanderstoop wrote of what Alberta might be like in 2058.  She imagined the province losing glaciers and the southern part of the province becoming a dry desert worse than the Dirty 30’s. Up in Fort McMurray, there are lush green forests and crops, because it still has water.  The politics and quality of life is impacted in a Mad Max scenario where survival and vigilante behavior is unchecked.  All because of a change in water.

It’s easy to take water for granted.  Living in the arid lands of the middle east, Jesus knew how precious it was.  Rivers were few and far between, wells were the centre of a community, and Abraham and Sarah, travelling through the wilderness, depended upon finding springs for their survival.  Living Water was water that moved.  Water that was still and stagnant, like a certain reflecting pool in Washington, would grow algae and be unsafe to drink.  Water is essential to life, and everyone following Jesus knew it.  Offering water was more than playing nice and being welcoming.  It was the gift of survival. It was radical hospitality.

Hospitality can be as simple as offering a glass of water.  Hospitality is something that can lay the groundwork for community and friendships.  Hospitality can be an invitation to a new way of life.  One of our challenges in the United Church is that we struggle with how to invite.  We think we should invite people to church, but what we are really called to do is invite people to this odd and wonderful lifestyle and philosophy that we call Christianity.

Inviting is not easy if we are unsure of what Christianity is, or why it makes a difference.  It is not easy when the brand of Christianity that gets the most attention is seen as full of judgement and hypocrisy.  When the bible is used to oppress people, we have a difficult time selling it.  When Christian leaders meet with politicians to support legislation that discriminates against people, we have a problem.  The trends that start in the US trickle into Alberta rapidly, fueled by social media that knows no borders.  The Southern Baptist Convention backed away this month from officially ordaining women preachers, and many tictoc influencers, even women, are promoting the idea that women don’t need to vote.  That they can let their men decide on politics for the household.  And this is justified in the name of being a good Christian.

It’s an uphill battle.  No wonder so many people are cautious of churches.  When we develop a culture of invitation and hospitality, we need to be aware of that.  We need to be aware that some people are rejecting Christianity for strong reasons.  Lillian Daniel talks about how people who say they have no religion tend to have four attitudes.  There are the “No ways”, “No Longers”, “Not Yets” and the “Never Haves”. She describes them this way:

The No Longers have drifted from church. Sometimes they return for a big life event like a wedding or a funeral, but not until they feel a lack in their lives.

The No Ways made a conscious choice to leave, often after being seriously hurt by a religious community. Sometimes they find a different kind of church...  When we do welcome newcomers, we do a pretty good job with the No Ways. We're good at telling people what kind of church we are not, and sometimes they like what they hear.

But the Never Haves and the Not Yets have never experienced religious community before. Never Haves are often the grown children of the No Ways, inheriting their parent's anger or pain, nervous about showing up to any church.

The Not Yets are open and curious, and may wander in. Unfortunately, we often treat them like No Longers or No Ways, by answering questions they are not asking. "We're not like this or that kind of church," we say. Meanwhile the Never Haves and Not Yets are simply wondering who we think we think we are talking to during all those prayers.

How we talk about our faith needs to keep these different kinds of folks in mind.  And the translation we heard of the Romans passage is helpful.  It takes the word ‘sin’ and translates it as ‘the path of broken ways’.  Sin has become a weaponized word, full of judgement and condemnation, used to justify taking away human rights, especially for the 2sLGTBQIA community.  Sin is the word that many churches use to try to recruit newcomers, it is a word that pushes fear as the motivation to join their communities of faith.  But the original meaning of the word was “missing the mark”.  A path of broken ways is a fresh original way to think of what keeps us from full life.  A path of addictions to all kinds of things that block us from beauty and harmony. 

We still struggle with our addictions to everything from drugs to temper tantrums.  But our faith and our community help us with that struggle.   We thirst for peace and love and joy and hope.  We are blessed with an abundance of water to quench our thirst, not just water we physically drink, but spiritual water that helps us on our right path to beauty, peace and love.  God’s love has quenched our thirsts for community, thirst for acceptance, thirst for justice, thirst to make a difference.  May God inspire us to listen for the thirsts of our neighbors so that we can offer them living water. 

Two Wrongs Don’t make a right (Unless God is involved!)

Isn’t it just a bit shocking that Jesus described himself as a provoker of conflict and not the prince of peace?  We have lovely images of Jesus as being all sweet and kind and healing, but that’s not the way he talked in today’s Matthew reading.  Family strife was something he was familiar with, and some gospels tell of his mother and brothers wanting him to tone down his preaching.  And it was something that the Hebrew scriptures talked about too.  Stories like Hagar and Ishmael thrown out of their home to wander in the wilderness until they starved.

This was a tale of entitlement and competition.  Two women striving to make sure their child would be seen as the best.  Two women who have decided that there’s not enough to take care of everyone.  Two women struggling to see who has the most power over the decision maker of the family.

Not sure why this story gets paired with Father’s Day, quite frankly.  Maybe it’s a reminder that families aren’t perfect, that fathers sometimes get asked to make dangerous decisions, and when it comes to our kids, having a favorite can have devastating results. Or maybe it’s a reminder that biblical marriage, far from being a shining example of how our own marriages should be, was often complex and messy.  You don’t get messier than the emotional triangle we see between Abraham, Sarah and Hagar.

It’s unclear whether Hagar was Sarah’s servant or Sarah’s slave.  It’s also unclear whether Hagar had the power of consent when Sarah gave her to Abraham to have a baby.  But what is clear is that when Hagar’s baby Ishmael was born, she went from being the least powerful person in the family, to the one who had provided the continuity of the family, and that gave her more power and influence over Abraham than she had ever had before.  She enjoyed having more say in how things were going in their community.  Of course, Sarah didn’t like that and complained to Abraham, who told her that she was the boss.  So Hagar was back to scrubbing toilets and washing clothes while Sarah got to do what she wanted.  Which included treating Hagar so harshly, she tried to run away.  Then Isaac was finally born, named “laughter” and this baby did not bring peace to the family but even more jealousy from Sarah.

Abraham was worn down by the bickering and nagging, and he didn’t know what to do. God told him not to worry, and so Sarah got her way again.  Power struggles never end well, and often it’s the children who suffer the most. Hagar abandoned her own child rather than watch it die.  But God intervened again.  It’s interesting that the name Ishmael means “God hears” because consistently God, unlike Abraham, is able to hear Hagar’s prayers as much as God hears Sarah’s prayers.  God provides to both children, regardless of who their parents were, whether the mother was Aramaic or Egyptian.  God saw both boys as children of the promise, the covenant, that God had made with Abraham.  And while Abraham wasn’t able to be much of a father to his boys, God would provide what Abraham refused to do.  Because Abraham was, according to the Genesis reports, a very wealthy man with huge flocks, making deals with kings and winning wars.  But he did not win the war at home.  He did not set Hagar up in a separate household with enough to keep her and her son comfortable.  He sent her out with a bottle of water into the wilderness.

God became the parent Abraham refused to be.  God didn’t take sides, God took care. 

We are living in a world with so much conflict people have stopped watching the news.  We have so much strife that family members are estranged from one another.  People are angrily determined to be right.  Children are suffering and dying in the land that Jesus and Abraham loved, continuing the conflict that Sarah and Hagar started. Parades have been cancelled, Taber has had its corn sales threatened, and it’s hard to keep track of how many lawsuits are happening about the petitions.  First nations chiefs are being attacked by people who don’t understand that we are all treaty people, and who don’t respect or care about our constitution.  U S politics doesn’t help.

Another influence from the United States, Martin Luther King Jr., the father of the Civil Rights Movement, said that the way to change an unjust society was through love, power and justice.  “Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”  I think that’s what Jesus was talking about.  Peace at all costs is not just, powerful, nor loving.  Jesus wanted us to face conflict, as long as it serves justice, love and empowerment.  That kind of conflict could have prevented Abraham setting the stage for centuries of middle east violence.  When we are tempted to rage, ask ourselves if what is making us angry is unjust, unloving and taking power away from those who need it.  There are many ways for us to act for societal change.  This week, the United Church of Canada started a letter writing campaign addressing Bill C-12 which is limiting or even cancelling refugee claims and hearings, threatening families and causing anguish in United Church congregations that support refugees.  There is a letter online that you can fill in if you have internet, or write your MP directly.  Keep phoning MLAs abut the misuse of notwithstanding clauses. Make the call, write the letter!

We have always spoken out when unjust laws target powerless people, and this is one way to do so.  May we be reminded that Jesus wanted us to bravely speak up for those that Society does not love, and that when we do so, we are living the way Jesus asked us to.  Amen.

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