Radical Welcome

 

Jesus had a way with words.  He knew how to get at the heart of a dispute and was a master of conflict resolution.  And he wasn’t afraid to wade right in and bring his wisdom into an emotionally laden situation.  In our scripture reading today, he charged in and took the bull by the horns.  None of this whispering behind his back for his followers was going to be tolerated! 

Now, the disciples might have had some excuses for getting all emotional.  Jesus had in the previous chapter, gone to a high mountain, picked Peter, James and John to come up with him where they experienced the transfiguration of Jesus.  They came back down glowing with excitement, full of enthusiasm and energy to spare.  And as much as Jesus tried to caution them not to get too excited about what they had seen, they still were higher than a kite.  So this argument, was it them lording it over the other 9? Or were the nine trying to take them down a peg?  It certainly doesn’t sound like they wanted Jesus to know what they were quarrelling about behind his back.  He bluntly asked them, wanting to have the conversation out in the open.

Then he gave them a concrete visual reminder of what power was supposed to mean for his followers.  Not about dominance, who’s the smartest, the strongest, the most powerful, the richest, the favorite.  But about caring and serving and helping others.  Practicing a different mindset than something fueled by toxic masculinity.  Something fueled by wisdom instead.  Wisdom from God, not wisdom from impulses, hormones, resentments or jealousies.  Jealousy and ambition may have been at the root of the disciples’ argument that day in Capernaum.  Jealous of the ones who seemed to have an inside track with Jesus, jealous of the fact that he could heal people that they still could not, jealous of the influence Jesus had over the crowds.

Easier said than done.  We live in a world where jealousy and ambition fill the air.  Where jealousy and ambition spread racist rumors about immigrants from Haiti that empower people to send bomb threats to children’s schools, or plant explosives in walkie talkies and pagers.  Where wars are justified on the basis of ridiculous rumors or the desire to control lands that are already inhabited by people different than the invaders.  Where people of color or women politicians get threats because of their gender or their shade of skin, and when many of these actions are done anonymously, hidden away where no one can see.  Hidden hypocrisies, talking about valuing lives of the innocents one moment then blowing up children at a funeral the next.  Jesus exposed the hypocrisies of his disciples and reminded them that no hypocrisy will stay hidden forever.  And that radical welcoming of children is a signpost that we are getting this whole servant practice right.

One person who apparently was a member of the United Church, embodied this radical welcoming well.  He was an American carpenter who loved making sets and building backdrops for theatre productions. He also liked doing puppetry jobs and in 1964 came up to Canada with a buddy of his to come to work at the CBC. They worked together there for three years before his buddy moved back to the States.  Of course, puppetry led to children’s entertainment, and he spent many happy years developing his style of communication that was based on gentleness, respect and creativity.  Children of all ages were entranced, so much so that when he addressed university audiences, they would respond warmly and enthusiastically to him as if they were still kids.  One university crowd was given this piece of advice: “Keep your crayons sharp, your sticky tape untangled, and always put the top back on your markers”.

His message of radical hospitality impacted Canadians of many ages, and they recognized his influence on them and children by giving him the Order of Canada and a star on the Canadian Walk of Fame with other famous Canadians like Anne Murray, Alex Colville and Bobbie Orr.  He and his wife even opened a daycare called Butternut Square after the first job he ever had in Canada, a show on CBC.  He went on to work for the CBC for 33 years before retiring in 1996, four years after his wife died in a tragic car accident, and two years after finally becoming a Canadian citizen.  He also became the Canadian spokesperson for the Save the Children Canada; a responsibility he took very seriously.  Although he was never interested in politics, he did often have people tell him they would vote for him if he ever wanted to become the Prime Minister of Canada.  He travelled across Canada doing live shows after he retired, singing, dancing and telling stories.  He even received an honourary Doctorate of Laws by Trent University. His show still has set pieces on display at the CBC studio museum in Toronto, a treehouse and a colorful trunk that would have all kinds of things inside it.

Many people didn’t know him by his name, Ernie Coombs, but almost everyone in Canada who had been a kid between 1964 and 2006 knew Mr. Dress Up.  His show in Edmonton’s Jubilee Auditorium was packed with fans of all ages.  His simplicity and his genuine welcome warmed everyone who met him.  That kind of hospitality of children was meeting them with respect and treating them as equals.

Jesus called us to servanthood and to radical hospitality.  James reminded us to be wise in the ways of peace.  Ernie Coombs showed that it is indeed possible to do so even in today’s angry, divisive society.   Maybe especially in an angry and divisive society.  When we face the temptations of jealousy and ambition, let us remember that it is possible to choose wisdom, peace and kindness instead. May God strengthen us to follow in the footsteps of James, John, Peter and Jesus to do the same.  Amen!

Checking the Polling Numbers

Doesn't today's scripture sound like Jesus was doing a post-debate poll of how his message was going down?  He was trying to find out what the crowds at his rallies thought of him.  Let's check out the undecided listener, let's do some number crunching, let's do a survey and see how our messaging is landing, and if it's making any impact on the folks who are sitting on the fence.

Not too much different than an episode of the West Wing where everyone is wondering about approval ratings and spin doctoring. Is the message getting heard?

For Jesus, the core question he wanted his consultants to ask was 'Who do people say that I am?" He wanted to know if people thought he was the equivalent of a demented cat lady or racist convicted felon. The disciples didn't know those terms of course, but responded with what they heard, prophet, famous teacher, reincarnated baptizer and so forth. Even when Peter came up with the answer Jesus was looking for, Jesus challenged his interpretation of that title. It would be like Jesus saying to us, "it's all well and good to call me your Premier or Prime Minister but I'm going to be living under a bridge, picking bottles so I can buy food, and I'll get arrested on a picket line and stabbed to death in a homeless encampment riot. Wait! What kind of Prime Minister does that?

No wonder Peter challenged him.  What is the point of public opinion declaring that Jesus was an influential person, a political and theological expert, if he was going to use such a ridiculous campaign strategy. It was ridiculous! In fact, in some ways the whole claim he made sounded ridiculous.  Die and rise again on the third day.  What kind of politician would center their campaign on that? Even Paul said that this message sounded foolish.

C. S. Lewis once wrote, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said wouldn't be a great moral teacher. He'd be either a lunatic on a level with a man who says he's a poached egg or else he'd be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse."

I don't know about you, but I'm not keen on believing in someone who is delusional. I want to follow someone who shows clear leadership, deep compassion, and determination to consider the welfare of all people, not just his cronies or wealthy friends.

People today are looking for leaders they can trust and don't know where to find such leaders. Some are so cynical that they don't believe that anyone cares at all about them. They have given up on humanity. They've been hurt too much, failed too often or seen their dreams crushed too much. One person claims that 'apatheism’ is the biggest challenge facing Christianity today. Not atheism, not believing in any God, or agnostics who are not sure, but apatheists who are apathetic to the question of whether there is a God or not. Why bother to care? They might be assuming that Christianity is all about saving yourself from Hell and that they know they're going there so what's the point in trying or caring?

Jesus wanted to turn that apathetic attitude upside down. He said that those who tried to save their lives would lose them, and those who lost their lives would find them.  People who only think of themselves, "me, me, me" instead of "you, you, you" or even "us, us, us" would find that they did not have a life of significance or impact. People who go beyond their egotistical attitudes and opinions, who love and serve others, who work towards the common good, they're the ones who will make an impact bigger than they could foresee.

The question Jesus asked his disciples so many centuries ago is still important today. Again, Lewis wrote, "You must make your choice: either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher."

This world has a lot of people promising all kinds of nonsense.  No wonder so many are experiencing apathy, depression, and anxiety.  Teachers talk about a mental health crisis.  Estimates are that 1 in four adults are wrestling with depression, one in five have thought about suicide, and 32% of people are addicted to some kind of substance.  Apathy is a way of letting ourselves off the hook, a way of telling ourselves that there’s nothing we can do to change the world.  We are stuck and life sucks, end of discussion.

Jesus taught a different way.  Those who are trying to be safe, trying to control their world, will spiral down into despair and apathy.  Those who try the way of Jesus, will let go of their own lives, and look at what they can do to help others.  People have found when they start looking for opportunities to help, it makes a world of difference.  Ask any grateful member of AA or Al Anon, and they will tell you the importance of service in their recovery.  Jesus calls us to consider who he is for us too.  Maybe we too have struggled to find hope, maybe we too have struggled to find someone to trust, who cares about us, and who helps inspire us to do better and be better.  Maybe when we answer that big question, “Who do you say that I am?”, our stories will inspire us anew.  May we find the strength to share our stories with those who need to hear them.  Amen.

Asking Questions

One of the hardest things a woman can do is ask questions when she doesn’t like the answers she’s hearing.  It’s even harder if she is from a different ethnic background than who she is talking too.  If she’s poor or desperate, or not fashionable or not pretty, it’s even worse.  Women are not supposed to be uppity, they are not supposed to be loud, and they are definitely not supposed to be demanding or insistent on their rights. 

The Syrophoenician woman was everything she was not supposed to be.  Wrong race, wrong gender.  Brazenly talking to a man without her husband present, which meant that she probably didn’t have one.  Advocating for a child who also was female.  Bold enough to not take Jesus’ refusal personally, and to keep asking for what she wanted. 

This is a hard scripture, and it is one that many people struggle with.  Why did Jesus sound so sexist and racist?  We don’t need that in our fragmented world.  We don’t need women’s voices being shut down, we don’t need women’s opinions being treated with disrespect, we don’t need women’s requests for health care being dismissed or disregarded.

Right now, in this world, women who are working in politics or who are environmental scientists, or who are elite athletes that don’t look stereotypically female are getting attacked through comments, social media posts, and even murdered as seen in the case of the doctor in India, the Olympic marathoner in Uganda or the Turkish-American woman shot by Israeli soldiers. Indigenous women are still disappearing in Canada. Teenagers are at risk of losing their access to sex education in Alberta while cases of sexually transmitted diseases are growing, not to mention what might happen if Covenant Health takes over all hospitals.

We could go on and on with examples, but where is the Good News for us in this scripture?  It does not appear to be supportive of a woman’s right to ask for help without getting push back.  Except that the Syrophoenician did, and she got results.  She challenged the status quo and got what she needed for herself and her daughter.  She got the attention that made for real change. 

Her story was unusual and no wonder it was recorded.  And maybe just maybe she knew Jesus’ story.  Somehow, despite not having an instagram account or a snap chat or facebook or tictoc, she knew about Jesus and even though he was hiding out in a city outside his home country, she reacted the same as some folks here might react if they found out Taylor Swift was visiting next door.  She barged in without permission.  Not to get an autograph, but to get a healing.  Maybe she knew the same scriptures that Jesus did.  His bible had many stories of the importance of taking care of widows and orphans and even foreign women.  Maybe she knew the stories about Elijah healing a foreign widow’s child, or Elisha who saved a widow’s children from being sold into slavery because of debts.  Maybe she had read the teachings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Malachi and others about how the God of Israel taught that children and widows were to be protected and treated with respect and hospitality.

Jesus pushed back.  Why, we don’t know.  Was Jesus grumpy?  Was he tired and here was someone interrupting him on his holiday? Was he racist?  We don’t know his thinking.  Or maybe this was an opportunity to show his disciples how to go beyond racism.  This event became a lesson of radical inclusion that stuck, and the disciples changed and got over their stereotypical assumptions and chauvinist attitudes.  God was not just for the Jewish people, and God certainly was not just for men or priests or scholars.  God was for everyone!  Everyone deserved to hear the good news that God was ready to change the world for the better.

Our bible states right in the first book that God created all humankind, male and female both in God’s own image.  All humans are.  And there is a thread of women empowered by God to make a difference.  Eve chose knowledge over ignorance, Miriam lead worship with her brother Moses, Deborah was a Judge of the Israelites before there were kings.  There’s Ruth and Ester and Mary who were leaders that spoke out against the status quo.  Women have been speaking out ever since.

Who are the voices we are not hearing from?  Who are the people wanting to be included in God’s community?  There are many who feel isolated or depressed.  News articles abound about the epidemic of mental illness.  One of the prescriptions given is to find a community, but people are reluctant to look for one.  One woman said, “I’d come to church if I knew there was a church that wouldn’t mind me asking questions.  Another person said they didn’t dare come to a church because they knew they would be judged.  Someone else said they were badly hurt by a congregation’s power struggle, or a priest’s cruel remark.  They expect a church will judge them because they have had that experience in the past.  They have been hurt badly.

Our job, like Jesus with the Syrophoenician woman, is to listen and encourage.  When we understand where people are coming from, we can be an agent of healing for them.  It makes a difference.  It made a difference for the Syrophoenician woman.  Tyre developed a congregation that was strong and proud to associate with Paul and the other disciples, and in Acts was mentioned as one of the earliest churches founded by Jesus.

When we, like Jesus, listen with curiosity and let go of our prejudices, amazing acts of healing occur.  God is still healing the ones that are hurting, God is still loving those who are full of despair and God is still speaking to those who are questioning.  Thanks be for a God who loves questioners! Amen.

Armor up!

Did you know that the average slap shot today whizzes at about 160 kilometers per hour?  That’s enough to cause bruises, concussions and broken bones.  It’s a brave person who will step into the crease and be a goalie for a professional hockey team.  There’s a reason they wear so much padding; it can be a lifesaver.  Goalies are brave!

Christians are also called to be brave.  In Paul’s letter to Ephesians, he talked about the many risks he took as a Christian in a Roman world.  Christians were seen as atheists because the idea of believing in only one God was bizarre and novel to the Roman Empire, and the fact that they were encouraging people outside their faith to join them meant that the number of people worshiping the Emperor was slowly diminishing.  Your average citizen would almost certainly be shocked that Christians and also the Jews of course, did not worship the emperor with the same respect that Jupiter, Venus, Zeus, Athena, Osiris or Isis, or any of the other gods received.  Romans were very clever that way.  When they invaded, they didn’t subtract Gods and Goddesses, they just added to them.  So Christians, by taking away gods and refusing to pray to Caesar, were considered dangerously delusional.

No wonder Paul used such vivid imagery, then to talk about protecting yourself with the daily outfit of people he saw often, who lived dangerous lives of violence.  He used soldiers’ uniforms to teach his listeners how to cope with life’s challenges. When the Ephesians were feeling the pressure conform to the culture of the day, they were to visualize strapping on armor to keep them safe from the pressures that challenged them. 

But what ridiculous armor!  Truth doesn’t really stop arrows, peace is not something that will protect a foot from a hard rock, God’s salvation is not a hard hat, and the only weapon suggested is scripture.  Really?  The armor undermines the idea that we are dressing for war, when it is so, well, woke!  Talking about scripture isn’t going to stab anyone.  Any more than if we glued pages of a bible together to stop a slap shot from a hockey player. Ridiculous!

This isn’t meant for an offensive attack on other people.  It’s meant to remind us, ground us and centre us in what is truly important.

I was listening to an interview of a Canadian who talked about remembering what is truly important in our lives.  He and his brother are well-known fellows in certain circles, and he’s had a very diverse work history.  He graduated in 1969 from Cornell University with a B.A. degree in History.  His first job he wore a lot of protective padding, and interestingly enough, his brother also had the same job but in a different city.  That job took him to Russia in 1972 where he helped make history for Canada.  His next job was as a radio broadcaster, then the manager of a sports team. He became an author who wrote 7 books!  He and his brother went into federal politics and he even ran for the leadership of a National political party.  He served as the Minister of Social Development, cared about youth employment and social justice issues.

On a Sunday morning, he is regularly found in a United Church pew.  Maybe he’s even in church today.  Maybe he’s having communion and thinking about how his faith has strengthened his passion to work for daring justice.  Maybe he’s reflecting on Ephesians and how armor is very similar to hockey equipment.  Maybe he’s remembering the time his helmet protected his head from a stinging slapshot.  Maybe he’s imagining how skates could be like sandals of peace, and if he was 20 years younger, it would be fun to try out figure skates for the Battle of the Blades where burly hockey players team up with figure skaters to compete on CBC for charity.  Maybe he’s remembering when he was on Team Canada and went to Moscow in 1972 full of smug expectations, only to be shocked at how well Russians played.  He said in an interview 50 years later that it changed the way Canadians thought about hockey, and the assumption that there’s only one way to become a great hockey team. The Russians proved that wrong.  And maybe he’s thinking about the 3000 cheering Canadian fans that came to Moscow with them even though going behind the Iron Curtain was a dangerous and unheard of thing, and how those fans showed the power of teamwork, of focusing on the goal of representing Canada and democracy with honor. Maybe Ken Dryden is thinking about his children and grandchildren and how he hopes to build a better world for them, and that may be why he’s sitting in a pew in a United Church in Ontario.

Paul didn’t write about the power of teamwork like Dryden did, but it’s there, between the lines.  A sole Roman soldier was an easy target for an enemy.  The power of the Roman empire was in the discipline, training and focus that enabled soldiers to work and fight together as a team for a common cause.

We are not to be warriors and fighters with actual swords and shields.  We are to be goalies, protecting our team from the pucks and players that swirl around us hoping to score.  What’s in your goal that God calls you to protect?  Children from bullies? The environment from further damage? Towns and buildings from fires?  Civilians from wars that target them unfairly?  Workers and bosses from exploitive or selfish negotiations?  Voters from lies and scams?  Whatever God is calling you to, know that God gives you the team and the equipment you need to build peace and justice for all, and like Dryden and Paul, when you, when we put on the whole equipment of God, we will stand firm and strong against all evil.  Together, we can and do make a difference in this beautiful world. Thanks be to God, Amen!

Bragging Rights and Power Trips

Have you ever read an autobiography of a famous person simply because it promises to deliver all kinds of dirty little secrets about other people?  Some of them almost delight in bragging about their crazy stunts and bizarre, outrageous behaviors.  They go from one scandal to the next.  You can read all about Prince Harry’s life and resentments of his family, the media, his school and anyone else in too much detail.  His oversharing has not been appreciated by royal watchers who have been watching him live in royal splendor since he was born.  There’s not a lot of sympathy for someone you’ve watched all their life who decides to tell you how rough life really is.

Maybe that’s why Jesus had such a tough reception in Nazareth. The hometown crowd was too cynical.  Here he was back again, after a long absence where he disappeared into the wilderness for a long while, and when he came back, he brought strangers, city folk, tax collectors and stinking fishermen, as his best buddies.  It was obvious he had gotten too big for his britches and needed to be taken down a peg. There are many tales of the young city slicker coming back home after an education and being snubbed for their highfaluting ways.

This was surprising to Jesus, and his efforts to heal people fell flat in front of people who could tell stories of when he was in diapers.  And they snidely insulted him, “Is this Mary’s son, coming here thinking he can impress us?” Calling Jesus “Mary’s son” instead of “Joseph’s son” hinted at him being illegitimate without directly coming out and insulting him to his face.  Being called a carpenter wasn’t much better. The Greek word used here for "carpenter" was a handyman that could be called on to do the typical tiny jobs around a household, replace the hinges, get the hair clog out of the sink drain, that kind of thing.  Not the kind of person who would carefully craft a beautiful piece of mahogany into a one-of-a-kind coffee table for a wealthy patron and post the time-lapse video on TicToc to drum up likes.  There’s a different Greek word for that kind of carpenter.

The fact that this story doesn’t show Jesus in a good light after building him up as doing amazing things, is one of those signposts that Jesus was a living, breathing human being, and that the disciples around him often were as confused by what he taught as we are.  The trip to Nazareth has all the hallmarks of a failed trip.  Not quite as bad as a disastrous political debate broadcast around the world, but close.  The astounding thing was that Jesus didn’t let it shake his confidence.  He didn’t come up with a new marketing plan, a better advertising campaign, a new strategic vision. Instead, he sent his disciples out to go and practice what he had shown them.  He gave them authority to care for the people they met on their travels.  That authority was not shaken by Nazareth.  It wasn’t disrupted.  Jesus just carried on and said to his followers to remember to focus on the loving and healing part of the message.

The message Jesus was sharing wasn’t to get him elected to take over the Roman Empire and free the Hebrew people from their oppressors. Or how he was hard done by his family growing up.  It was to proclaim that God was in their midst, bringing new hope and new healing to their broken culture.

Paul also was clear that his preaching was not about him either. He wasn’t trying to impress people with his superpowers as a great disciple.  He wasn’t bragging about his debating skills or his mental sharpness.  He was writing to remind them about the teachings Jesus shared.  The teachings of caring for one’s neighbors, of being a community of equals, of working together, of looking after people whom the culture regarded as worthless and unimportant.

Our world today still struggles with these teachings.  We like to focus on people who are glamorous and powerful.  We idolize characters like Ironman, set aside as special, showing off how important they are for the survival of the world.  They are the only ones who can stand between the average joe and the powers of corruption.  Paul rejected that kind of hero worship.  He would have been the last person to build a Crystal Palace kind of church and plunk himself in the middle of it and bask in the power and adoration he felt entitled to.  Instead, Paul chose humbleness and caring, just as Jesus had.

We too have choices. Do we talk about ourselves and how great we are, or do we talk about how God shows up in our lives despite our weaknesses and challenges?  When Christianity is at its best when it remembers to be a channel of God’s love.  When it’s at it’s worst, selling $60 bibles to promote a political party or inflicting the 10 commandments in every classroom, or controlling women’s bodies or setting up cult-like mega churches with charismatic personalities, it degrades the message that God loves us all.  We think that we can’t talk about our faith unless we are smooth and practiced like a great political debater, but Paul and Jesus remind us that we can share that God is stronger than our weaknesses, and shines through our imperfections.  When we focus on caring for our neighbors, reaching out to those who are seen as insignificant, when we volunteer on Canada Day to serve our community, we are, like the disciples, living into God’s plan in amazing and beautiful ways.  The disciples never thought that they would teach millions of people about Christ, Paul never thought his humble words of compassion would topple an empire and last for centuries.  We never know when our simple small acts of kindness might do the same.  May we be inspired as Paul and the 12 were, to live our lives bragging about God’s love for us all. Amen.

Handing off Power

 

Ever seen a politician working the crowd, shaking hands, trying to have that personal touch to win your vote? Or maybe a celebrity on a book tour when they know they only have a limited amount of time to be in that spot and want to meet as many of their fans as possible? 

I had the privilege of sitting down beside Douglas Cardinal, famous architect and recipient of the Order of Canada last week.  He loved having an audience to tell the story of how he wasn’t allowed to study architecture in Canada but had to go to a university in Texas instead.  The interesting thing is that his assistant was watching the time so he didn’t have to.  Important people usually have someone along who is watching the time, keeping them moving so they can get to their next appointment on their very packed schedule. 

Just like the disciples hustling Jesus to get to the house of Jairus in time to save the life of his daughter.  There wasn’t a moment to spare.  This was an important person, and the fact that he came humbly to fetch Jesus, had boosted Jesus’ importance in the eyes of the crowds surrounding him.  Jesus had hit the big time!

Welcome to one of the longest stories Mark wrote about Jesus.  Usually, Mark kept his writing simple, straightforward and a bit blunt.  But in this passage, Mark went into great detail.  He described the emotional state of Jairus as well as the woman desperate for healing, and the family members who had started the funeral rites for Jairus’ daughter. Mark quoted what the woman with the hemorrhage said to herself, and even quoted Jesus speaking in Aramaic!  This story made quite an impression on Mark.  

It highlights a contrast between the high-ranking, powerful religious authority and the nameless, poverty-stricken woman.  But there’s also the similarity between them, they both are looking for healing, the woman for herself, Jairus for his daughter.

Both the woman and the girl were considered unimportant in a patriarchal society.  Girls were only potential brides to carry on their future husband’s line, and often had no choice in whom they married. If they couldn’t produce babies, and a woman who was constantly bleeding would not be able to have a baby, they also would be seen as a burden on society.  The woman would be seen as untouchable by both her husband and the rest of society.  That meant solitary confinement, and if she was going to go out in public, she had to stay away from all men, not easy when living in a bustling town. She certainly would not be allowed in a synagogue, nor would she be allowed in the presence of a popular Rabbi or Jairus either, for that matter.  Yet she dared do the unthinkable, leave her house and sneak into the crowd, hoping she could figure out a way to get him to heal her on the sly.  It would not have been easy in the hustle to not get bumped or stepped on, and having the courage to work her way into the crowd to grab the hem of his robe would have taken some effort!

It’s fascinating to note that despite the urgency of Jesus getting to Jairus’ home, he stopped immediately to figure out what had happened.  The disciples, just like assistants to politicians, tried to get him moving, but he wasn’t going to budge.  His priority was not their priority.  He wanted to talk to the desperate person who reached down in the dust to touch his robe.  Much to her surprise, he did not condemn her, he commended her, admiring her faith.  Then and only then did he take off and heal Jairus’ daughter.

All well and good to have lofty priorities and to take time to really care for the people his culture thought were insignificant, but what would that look like here today in Canada?  Do we know anyone who lives or lived by those principles?

As a matter of fact, there was at least one person who we all know of.  He was the son of a United Church minister, grew up in the church, and spent his life caring about the people of Canada who were not necessarily wealthy or powerful.  He became a diplomat and an ambassador for Canada.  He worked for the United Nations in their early days, and his efforts to set up UN Peace Keepers to go to conflict zones netted him the first Nobel Prize Canada had ever been awarded, and it was for Peace.  He came home after being the president of the UN General Assembly, and entered politics.  Sometimes it went well, and he established the Canada Pension Plan; a universal Medicare system; a unified Armed Forces; and a new national flag which took 6 months of nasty arguing and debating before our current flag was accepted by both Conservatives and Liberals.  He also championed women’s rights, bilingualism, immigration, minimum wage and multiculturalism.  Four years after he resigned as the 14^th Prime Minister of Canada, his funeral was presided over by the United Church Moderator.  His friends and family called him Mike, but the world knew him as Lester B. Pearson, and The United Church knew him as a man who could be both conciliatory and dictatorial, but who did his best to live up to the values Jesus taught.

We don’t have to be politicians or famous architects to live out the values that Jesus taught.  Many of us will be volunteering on Canada Day, flipping pancakes, serving popcorn, pouring tea or coffee, riding in parades, and helping our neighbors find a good spot to see the fireworks.  There will be opportunities to make time for someone like the woman touching Jesus’ robe or the little girl.  May we notice when we bring Christ’s healing love to those we meet, through the strength of Jesus, the love of God and inspiration of the Spirit.  Amen

The Power of Words

Words can make such a difference in how we hear a story. “Peace, be still!” Jesus says to the storm, then “why are you so afraid?” to the disciples, some of whom had only recently joined the hand-picked team that Jesus had selected.  Jesus sounds so calm, so pastoral in these words.  So kind, so comforting.  Except that’s just a little bit of a disservice to the original Greek language that Mark was struggling to write his gospel in.  Unlike Matthew, Luke and John, his Greek was not smooth,  flowery or poetic. Mark didn’t use big words, and he didn’t get into fancy descriptions.  He was the kind of writer who would say, “The dog bit the man who tried to take away his bone.” Whereas the others might write “The tiny brown dachshund snarled and snapped when the robber tried to grab his meaty bone away from him”.  They paint a picture, but Mark is a plain-spoken, blunt man.

The Greek words he used wasn’t “Peace be with you”, expecting the storm to respond, “and also with you”.  No, the words he chose were much more like a rebuke you’d give to a barking dachshund, “Shut up! Be Quiet”.  Then he turned to his disciples and bluntly said, “Why are you such cowards still?”  And some versions translate their response as ‘great awe’, while other translate it as ‘great fear’.  It would be very easy to be fearful if one minute I’m feeling like I’m going to drown in a storm, then the next thing I know, Jesus yells at the storm to chill out, and then yells at us for our cowardly attitude.  I’m not sure which would be more unnerving, almost drowning, or the unnatural stillness that follows, or the scolding afterwards.  And why did they still struggle to have faith, as Jesus presumed?

Good question.  We’re only in Chapter 4, and yet the disciples have seen healings like Peter’s Mother-in-law, a withered hand, and someone with mental illness.  They’ve watched crowds be healed and heard stories that were inspiring.  But they still waffled in their faith.

They were still new in their roles of being disciples, the 12 that were singled out for special teaching, and yet they waited to wake Jesus until the last minute.  They were still like us, one moment rock solid in their excitement about being the chosen ones caught up in a wave of enthusiasm, like a 5-year-old watching their first Oiler’s game, not really understanding what all the hype was but happy to cheer like everyone else.  Then they try skating for the first time and discover that while the big men make it look easy, it’s not.  It takes practice, discipline, patience and a lot of courage.  It’s not easy.  And coaches that bark at kids, using words like “Why are you such cowards?” are likely to lose their potential recruits before they are even starting out.  Words matter. 

Faith matters too.  When times are good, when everyone around us is happy, it’s easy to feel certain that we can trust God.  But when we’re away from the crowd, when the storms of life come roaring into our lives, fierce and unexpected, it’s natural to feel scared.  The disciples were no fools, they were experienced fishermen, and they knew how dangerous the sea of Galilee was.  They turned to Jesus for support.

Interesting words there.  “Do you not care that we are dying?” they cried.  They had accepted their fate.  Fishermen knew what it meant when a boat started filling up with water.  Death was certain, so certain for people who used boats for a living that even up to the 18^th century, many sailors and naval officers did not know how to swim, partly because of Europe’s cold and dirty waters on land, and  some believed it was better to drown fast rather than try to fight to survive.  They didn’t cry out asking Jesus to spare their lives, they couldn’t imagine that he could do that.  They cried out for Jesus to care about them as they faced death together.

Does someone care about us when we are in the middle of the storms we are facing?  Does someone support us, and calm the situations we find ourselves in, time and time again?  Now, I’m not saying that praying to God will cure our cancers, and protect us from disasters large and small, but something happens when we take our deepest fears and anxieties to the Holy Mystery, however we understand it.  Scientific researchers have often studied the power of prayer. Interestingly, there’s growing evidence that prayer works on us and our relationships!  When we pray that love be in our hearts towards another person, that can have real results on how we relate to them.

Words matter.  We often hear that Perfect Love casts out Fear.  If we turn it around, Perfect Fear casts out Love too.  And that’s what happened to the disciples.  They were in perfect fear.  “Don’t you care that we’re about to die” may have been tinged with anger, often the product of fear.

And of course he did care.  Turning to Jesus, even when we feel swamped by the storms of life, is the way of courage and faith.  It’s not easy, but it is the only thing that calms the trials we face.  We all wrestle with their last words to each other, “Who is this man?” That is the crux, who is Jesus?  For us, Jesus can be the man who inspires us to continue to grow our love for one another in the face of stormy times.  When we choose the word love over the word fear, God over chaos, hope over despair, our faith grows and strengthens in amazing ways. May we all practice such faith until we too are as brave as the disciples became, brave enough to face all our fears with a calm and certain faith in Jesus, our Christ, who always has the last word, love.  Amen.