One of the Pastor's upcoming events

I will admit that this is a blog post that will blow my own horn a bit. However... if any of the readers would wish to see me or the members of my family in a completely different light, I'd like to invite you to the "Battle of Longwoods", a reenacting event rather close to London and other places in south-western Ontario, at the Longwoods Conservation Area. For the schedule of events, I'll refer you to this website:

http://www.royal-scots.com/id5.html

(the Royal Scots or the Upper Thames Military Reenactment Society sponsor this event yearly.)

My wife and I will be helping with the 'education day' on Friday, May 4th At the Longwoods Conservation Area, but that event is not open to the public and is put on for educational purposes for local schools. Saturday and Sunday are open to all and the schedule may be seen on the website linked above.
It is a very different day and if history interests you, come out and see.



My son, Robby and I in "Regimentals"




Rob was 'captured' by First Nations warriors
 and exchanged for a musket




Katie in camp gear




Beth and I - I'm in an old uniform




I might - might! - put too much powder in the pan.



The Pastor's Sermon - 29 April, 2012 - Fourth Sunday after Easter/ Good Shepherd Sunday

 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

• Today is called “Good Shepherd Sunday” although that is not the 'official' name of the day. The readings are Good Shepherd readings and the day is named after that. Not a bad idea, all things considered.
• But first I'd like to read a new story to you,
• This is from a report by the Associated Press:
• Drawn by a Facebook-organized protest, Norwegians flocked to public squares across the country Thursday and rallied against far-right fanatic Anders Behring Breivik, now on trial for a bomb-and-shooting rampage that killed 77 people.
• They sang a Norwegian version of a Pete Seeger tune that the confessed mass killer claims has been used to brainwash the country's youth into supporting immigration.
• Defiant singalongs of "Children of the Rainbow" were staged in Oslo and other major Norwegian cities, even as the ninth day of the trial went on with survivors of Breivik's attacks giving tearful testimony. In downtown Oslo alone, about 40,000 people raised their voices as Norwegian artist Lillebjoern Nilsen played the song, a Norwegian version of Seeger's "My Rainbow Race."
• Breivik has admitted to setting off a bomb July 22 outside the government headquarters that killed eight people, and then going on a shooting rampage at the Labor Party's annual youth camp on Utoya island, killing 69 others, mostly teenagers.
• Shocked by Breivik's lack of remorse, Norwegians by and large have decided the best way to confront him is by demonstrating their commitment to everything he loathes. Instead of raging against the gunman, they have manifested their support for tolerance and democracy.
• I wonder if you are as amazed as I am. This is something we might not expect. Most people might expect calls for vengeance or punishment, but a singalong in the face of murder, to affirm what a group of people stand for and want to continue to stand for is not at all the expected behavior.
• The question come to my mind: what do we expect from our God? On a Sunday when we look to the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd, is this what we expect of our God? Or do we have other expectations?
• Often people expect reward or punishment from God based on their actions. When one or the other is not forthcoming, there is concern that God is unfair or capricious. This is especially so if the reward or punishment is not according to our notions of justice.
• “It is very odd,” theologian Herbert McCabe writes, “that people should think that when we do good God will reward us and when we do evil he will punish us. I mean it is very odd that Christians should think this; that God deals out to us what we deserve. … I don’t believe in God if that’s what he is, and it is very odd that any Christian should, since there is so much in the gospels to tell us differently. You could say that the main theme of the preaching of Jesus is that God isn’t like that at all”
• If Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd, it is not because he wishes us to be good, obedient, unthinking sheep. He is not talking about us; he is talking about himself: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
• John takes this a step further, applying this to his readers and to us here today. “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”
• Here we have the Good Shepherd in the future and in the present. We look forward to a future where the Good Shepherd, who has laid down his life for his sheep, will fulfill his promises of life for this flock, to whom the Kingdom has been given. We take part in a present where the Good Shepherd is with us and knows us through and through. It is in this present where the Good Shepherd is also our example and the model for our behavior. “and we ought to lay down our lives for one another... Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.”
• It is Jesus the Good Shepherd that promises us his care and love for as long as we live and beyond. It is Jesus the Good Shepherd who is our way of being and living. As he laid down his life for all that lives, so we are to lay down our lives, loving in truth and action, loving those who are not deserving. This can often mean stretching beyond ourselves to love those we might not be inclined to, loving those Jesus has chosen and accepting his choice over our own choices: accepting those who might find unacceptable, forgiving those we'd rather not, loving those who are often found unlovable. It is not enough to love in word and speech, but love means love in truth and in action... and not always how we'd expect. The old Prayer of the Day for this Sunday said this: "Send us as shepherds to rescue the lost, to heal the injured, and to feed one another with knowledge and understanding."
• The bottom line truth of the Gospel is that God does not treat us as we deserve and maybe not as we expect. God loves us when we are unlovable, forgives us when we are unrepentant, accepts us when we are unacceptable, and dying for us when we are so much less than worthy of his life. And that what he asks of us.
• "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
• “he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”

The Pastor's Sermon - Easter III - 22 April, 2012

"Have you anything here to eat?"

• There are Sundays where we must ask ourselves where grace can be found in the readings. This is how I found myself in preparing for this Sunday's message. The story given to us by Luke the Evangelist is one of astonishment, disbelief, and finally revelation. It is a resurrection story where an appearance of Jesus to his disciples is recounted.
• I think there's something missing. Just before this passage, the appearance of Jesus to two disciples on the road to Emmaus is told. Why that doesn't appear in the Sunday readings this year is not clear, especially since it is such a great story.
• Our reading begins with Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you." The passage has been edited and a portion left out, in order that the passage will make sense. If we were to read the verse unedited, it would begin with While they were talking about this... Jesus himself stood among them... So what were they talking about?
• Well, the two disciples who had met Jesus on the road and had invited him in for supper had just hastened to the place where the whole group of disciples had gathered. They were greeted with the new that ‘The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!’ The two men related their story and while they were talking Jesus stood among them...
• What may strike us is how Jesus reveals himself to his disciples. There is no clap of thunder or earthquake. There is no fanfare or angelic choir. Jesus stands among them and greets them with peace.
• In the case of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, they didn't recognize Jesus even though he explained the Scripture to them, showing them how it applied to him. They only knew him when he broke the bread at the table.
• When Jesus comes into the gathering of the disciples, he greets them with "Peace be with you." He offers them his hands and feet and tells them to touch him to reassure themselves that he is not a ghost.
• As a final proof since the disciples were confused and disbelieving, Jesus asks for something to eat and is given a piece of broiled fish. He eats it in front of everybody. Since ghosts and spirits don't eat while humans with bodies definitely do, this appearances to be the final proof of Jesus' resurrection. Then he opens their minds to understand the entire Scripture. He also commissions them to proclaim his message to all nations as his witnesses.
• These two stories, so closely related, tell us of the resurrection and of the reaction of the disciples. Again, there is no thunder, earthquake, angelic choir, and fanfare. (Compare it sometime to the account of the birth of Jesus in Luke!) What do we see? If we distill the stories a bit, we see:
• People of faith gathered
• Conversation and concern among the disciples
• The study of Scripture
• The sharing of food, whether seen as mundane or sacred
• A mission to share what has been found to be Good News
• Sounds awfully normal, doesn't it?
• Could it possible that among the promises of the Resurrection is the blessing of the everyday, making what we do from sun-up to sun-down holy and blessed?
• Could it be possible that Jesus resurrection is seen and known to us in talking and eating, and in the gathering of Christians?
• Could it be possible that God's grace is available and found where ever Jesus is present?
• I think we all hope and believe so. So then, where is Jesus present?
• The Gospel of Luke tells us that the resurrection of Jesus is revealed in the meeting of disciples, in the breaking of the bread, and in the sharing of the story of Jesus. Of course, Jesus is present in so many other ways, but these are the most available ways we all have and agree upon.
• So let us rejoice in the simple things that show us the presence and the grace of Jesus. These are simple things that we can readily share with others. These are also simple ways to share the Good News with all who are in need of it.
• With our celebration of the Resurrection, all our days can become holy days, all our actions can become holy actions, and all our encounters with others can become encounters with the Resurrected Jesus.

"Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see... You are witnesses of these things.”

The Pastor's Sermon - Easter II - 15 April, 2012

“Do not doubt, but believe.”

• Once again we hear of the man called Thomas the Doubter. Really now, doubt isn't so bad. Doubt is not denial; it is a desire for more. Denial says “no matter what, it can't be.” Doubt says “Could it be?”
• At times, I find myself troubled by all the denial going on in our world. I probably shouldn't bother myself with it, but I do. Many loud voices tell us daily that God does not exist and never has; that our faith is an illusion and a denial of the reality of all that is. Other voices tell us to believe no matter what and that any doubt is a denial of what God demands. There is even a third current that denies both positions and does not take sides in the debate. This third way seems to strive to live without faith or denial, asking only to be left alone. Maybe there is a god, maybe there isn't, they might say; Maybe we'll know, maybe we won't. In any event, They'd rather not be bothered. This is reflected in some modern fiction that there isn't so much a battle between good and evil, as a struggle between the forces of Good and the forces of Evil with a rather neutral and often uninterested humanity as the battleground. In such stories, the majority of the human race would just as soon be left to decide their own fate or direction.
• Thomas wasn't like that. He was a disciple of Jesus and had been one of the apostles from the original choosing. The death of Jesus made a great difference to him. To hear that the Lord had risen from the dead probably made his head spin. He wouldn't believe it without proof, possibly for fear of being either disappointed or defrauded. If nothing else, he was honest about his doubts. Matthew's Gospel says that others doubted as well, even when face-to-face with the resurrected Jesus.
• In honest moments, we might admit our doubts and come clean about our wonderings. We might remember that there is no need to shrink from our doubt and questioning. That's how things are discovered, decided and moved on. That's how scientific discoveries are made.
• We all have questions; we're only human. As it's been said, “it comes with the suit.” When we're puzzled and confused. we ask questions. It's a normal human thing.
• However, questions alone can make one feel superior, and some people see themselves as questioners. There are those who ask questions for questions sake, but don't want answers. They just want to have questions that go unanswered. If there is no answer, then no commitment is needed... and no commitment possible. The issue is not one of being satisfied or unsatisfied with an answer as it is the refusal to really seek an answer.
• Thomas wasn't like that. I think Thomas wanted answers and I think some of us might be like him. We might reserve judgment and remain skeptical, especially in the face of a lack of evidence. Thomas wanted evidence; he wanted to see and hear and touch. I can't blame him; I think I might have wanted the same.
• And evidence is what he got. Jesus spoke to his doubts directly, personally, and compassionately. Thomas was not condemned for his doubts. Jesus seems completely ready to have Thomas probe his hands and side. He's ready to do all that so Thomas would believe. In the end, Thomas makes the simplest and deepest confession of who Jesus is: “My Lord and my God!”
• I think Thomas was a believer. He didn't respond to the other disciples' news of the Resurrection by saying “Sure, whatever you say.” and continue with his everyday life. No, he wanted to believe. Thomas did not back out of the community of disciples because of Jesus' crucifixion, nor did he leave when he heard the news of the Resurrection. Thomas stayed a disciple, a follower of Jesus. He was committed and his commitment deepened in the presence of the Risen Christ. He believed, but having seen the death of Jesus, belief became harder although his commitment -the real action of faith- remained.
• The Resurrection does not create faith; faith acknowledges the Resurrection. We should remember Jesus’ comment on the power of the resurrection to create faith in Luke 16:31, where Abraham tells the rich man in Hades when the rich man asks that Lazarus be sent to tell his brothers of his fate: "If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead."
• What about our own skepticism and unbelief? We receive the same witness our parents received and their parents before them. We receive the same witness Luther and all the reformers and all the doctors of the Church received. And although we might wish for more, it has been enough or we would not be here. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
• Believe it or not, we have something that the earliest disciples did not have; we have what John says to us today: Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. The early Christians cared enough about the Good News of Jesus that they wanted the future -near or distant- to know about it as they did. And despite our weakness and doubts, we have the same mission. It is up to us to do the same.

“Do not doubt, but believe.”

The Sermon for Easter Sunday - 8 April, 2012

 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

• Tell. That's what the angel said to to. “But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you."
• However, Mark says that the women were to terrified to say anything to any one. Strangely enough, the Gospel of Mark ends with this silence, fear, and amazement.
• Still, we have to know that Mark was wrong about the women at the tomb; they told someone. They had to or how did Mark learn of it? There must be more to the story, but, sadly, it is lost to us through some quirk of history. The Gospel of Mark ends with the women fleeing the empty tomb, which is an odd place to end. Other endings have been found, but Scripture scholars are skeptical about them.
• Still the women must have told someone. Otherwise the story would have died with them. Instead we have the four Gospels, written so that what was passed on person-to-person would not be lost.
• There exactly is the main point: the Gospels were written to preserve what had been passed on person-to-person. As the original disciples passed on, those who remained and those who were coming needed a way to remember what was known to those who knew Jesus when he walked the earth. The written word became a way to preserve and pass on what was the spoken and told word in the early gatherings of Christians.
• And so it is down to our own day. The story is still told today and the written accounts are still preserved and discussed and interpreted and, yes, to be honest, misinterpreted. The written word seems to mean the most to those who have come to faith through the word told in other ways.
• Yet the story is still told.
• It is told and the words and teachings of Jesus are still embodied in his disciples. It is disciples that make disciples, either by their example, by their presence and compassion, by their loving service, by their words, or even by their blood. Often it seems that these other ways of making disciples speak louder in our times than the words of teaching and proclamation. I could very well be wrong, since people remain people in every age, even though we see our own age in its own peculiar light and judge it in that light – the only light we have.
• Bishop Johnson's seven words of spiritual renewal include “Tell” as the last word. To tell the story is still important and cannot be done without. It is important for each and every one of us to tell it, not the ministers alone. Every Christian is to tell the story. Every one of us is to tell what the story means to us. Every one of us is to live out this story in our everyday lives, letting the value of it shine through our actions and attitudes.
• The young man at the empty tomb said the women should tell the disciples. Mark says they were too afraid to tell, but the existence of Mark's Gospel shows the women did tell someone... and that telling made a big difference in the lives of the hearers.
• Maybe Mark's Gospel didn't end there and some old papyrus in some musty basement contains the true end of the Gospel of Mark. But maybe that doesn't matter. Mark begins by saying this is “the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” It sounds like a good way to start a written work, but maybe the entire written work, the entire Gospel is the “beginning” and we are in the middle of the story! The story is going on right now and our own stories tell the larger story of the love and care of God in this world.
• The story is still there to tell. The story is ours to tell. The story had become our story. Our story is a part of the bigger story that is to be told to others. Mary Magdalene was the first to tell it and she has not been the last. God willing, neither will we. Listen to the angel; Go and tell.
• Christ is risen!

St, John's at Easter

Here are a few photos of St. John's decorated for Easter.



The Chancel and "choir" area with flowers




The Baptismal font and Paschal Candle




We took the top off the font and placed the ewer in there. Tomorrow, I'll
fill it with water for the renewal of Baptismal vows.




Another view of  the font.




One of the Easter banners -  on the west wall.




A lily on the altar




A decorated lily on the chancel steps

 God bless you all this Easter! May you have peace and know the joy of the Resurrection of Jesus!
(Many thanks to my wife for the great pictures, to my daughter for her assistance in all this, and to Nancy M. for obtaining and setting up the lilies.)

The Harrowing of Hades

A small addition to your Easter celebrations. God be with every one of you. 

At the centre of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead. As such, the Icon of the Resurrection is the most common, and the most instructive.

Jesus Christ was not content with laying in the tomb for three days after His crucifixion. Instead, while His body was entombed, Christ’s soul descended into Hades, or Hell. Christ descended there not to suffer, but to fight, and free the souls trapped there.

In the Icon, Jesus Christ stands victoriously in the centre. Robed in Heavenly white, He is surrounded by a nimbus of star-studded light, representing the Glory of God. Christ is shown dramatically pulling Adam, the first man, from the tomb. Eve is to Christ’s left, hands held out in supplication, also waiting for Jesus to act. This surrender to Jesus is all Adam and Eve need to do. Christ does the rest, which is why He is pulling Adam from the tomb by the wrist, and not the hand.

Surrounding the victorious Christ are Solomon, David, John the Baptist, Abel, Elijah and Elisha. They predeceased Christ’s crucifixion, where they patiently waited the coming of their Messiah. Now they are freed from this underworld, and mingle freely with Christ and His angels.

This event is known as the Harrowing of Hades In the icon, Christ is shown with the instrument of His death plunged deep into Hades. Beneath Christ’s feet lay the gates of Hades, smashed wide open. Christ has trampled death by death. Within the dark underworld are scattered broken chains and locks; and at the very bottom is the personified Hades, prostrate and bound. Hades is not destroyed – it is still there – but its power to bind people is gone. There are no chains, no locked doors. If only we raise our hands in supplication and longing for Jesus Christ, He is there to lift us from the grave.

The Pastor's Sermon - Good Friday - 6 April, 2012

• When it comes to Good Friday, we've all heard it all before. We've heard the readings and the readings really do speak for themselves. What then is a preacher to say?
• I asked that question in prayer earlier this week, and the answer came almost immediately. “Tell them how much I love them.” A wonderful idea and not an easy task. What words are there to convey the over-whelming, fearsome, terrifying love of God? How do we speak of the mystery of the days we celebrate?
• At Christmas, we proclaim that Jesus became truly human. On Good Friday, we come face-to-face with the reality of his true humanity. We also come face-to-face with his true divinity. In dying, Jesus experienced all that it means to be human. In why he game himself to death and what his death means to our lives, we experience what it means for Jesus to be divine.
• Each of us has a story; I've heard many of them and all of them are amazing. In those stories, we could wonder where God was. (It is possible that we don't wonder about this at all.) We might ask the question: “Where was God when I lost my home/ my loved one/ my health/ my job/ my hope? Where was God when all this took place?”
• The answer depends on where we see God. If we see God as beyond our lives, as a judge, above and beyond all we experience, we will have an answer and it will be terrible. If we see God as being in another place rather than a judge's bench, we will have a different answer. If God is a judge and judges us by how we respond to what fills our lives, then God is a tester and a weight-er of our intentions and our life. God would be a punisher for whatever we might imagine to be our offenses or God would just be vastly indifferent to our pain, our fear, our sadness... and our anger.
• If on the other hand, God does not sit in judgment, but stands beside us in our pain, our fear, our sadness, and even our anger, then we are looking at a different sort of God.
• Here we look at the God of Good Friday and of Easter. Here we look at the God who is not above and beyond the cross. We know, rather, a God who is with us in all things. Here we look at a God who hangs on the cross; on OUR God... who hangs upon the cross.
• We'd like to hear of Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday and skip what's in between, but there isn't a road to Easter that does not take us in front of the cross. And the only road to Easter is through the terrifying and ever-close love of God expressed in the cross. There is no other road to Resurrection.
• Let me end with a verse from Paul's letter to the Galatians: May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14)

The Pastor's Sermon - Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday - April 1, 2012

 Disclaimer: At the request of a few of the congregation, I’m ‘publishing’ the text of my sermon ‘as written.’ I cannot guarantee that I will deliver the sermon ‘as written.’

• Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus... he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
• This day is called Palm Sunday. It is also called Passion Sunday. It is the beginning of our Holy Week celebrations that culminate in the celebration of Easter. We're using the shortened version of the Passion because most everyone attending today goes to the Good Friday service.
• It's also the second to the last sermon on the 7 words of renewal put forward by our national bishop, Bishop Susan Johnson. Putting the two together will not be an easy thing. Personally I dislike the idea and practice of forcing a theme upon a festival, especially one as big as Palm Sunday.
• Still, Paul's theology of the “emptying” of Jesus is quite attractive in its own way and it fits with Bishop Susan's theme of “give.”
• When we talk about giving, no one – NO ONE – goes beyond Jesus. He “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross.” Paul's letter takes this as an example of how to live as a disciple. This living involves following the example of Jesus and emptying oneself.
• Of course, we'll do this imperfectly because we are what we are – imperfect, often broken people, and -dare I say- sinners. Still, we strive in God's grace to be the face and hands of Jesus Christ in this time and place.
• Why should we give? Because of the need? Yes, and there has always been and always will be need. Maybe we give because we actually need to. As Christian writer and preacher Barbara Taylor Brown has said: “Stop waiting for a miracle and participate in one instead.” When we give whatever we give, we participate in what God is doing in our world. We take part in the emptying of ourselves, following the example of Jesus.
• It is time once again – in fact it is always time – for us to put on the mind of Christ and let the same mind be in (us) that was in Christ Jesus.
• Read the Passion of Jesus for yourselves, from any of the Gospels. Then think again how to respond in your daily lives. Think again why we give. Think again how we give. Think again, pray, and then act.