The Pastor’s Sermon - 23 September, 2012 - 17th Sunday after Pentecost

He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."

• I'd like to share a song with you as part of this sermon. It may sound like it has nothing to do with the Gospel today, but I think it does. Still here goes:

                        Oh, Lord, it's hard to be humble

                       When you're perfect in every way.

                       I can't wait to look in the mirror,

                      'Cause I get better lookin' each day.

                      To know me is to love me;

                       I must be a hell of a man.

                      O Lord, it's hard to be humble,

                      But I'm doin' the best that I can.

• That's not a song I would recommend singing in this church or any church. It's a bit giddy and strange and I really do hope that it made you a little uncomfortable. In such a humorous song, there is a kernel of truth, as there often is in humor. The scrap of truth is the fact that so few humans are truthful about their own lives. We either see ourselves as a person as close to perfect as can be or as a person as far from perfect as possible. Should we consider ourselves as something other than those two extremes, we usually say “At least I'm not as bad as so-and-so.” At least, that's what I say.
• Still Jesus says Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. This sounds like a prescription for a life of endless toil and put-downs. It reminds us of cold food and lack of selection at the buffet. To be “the servant of all” sounds like “be everyone's doormat.” Is that how we are to be? That is a very good question. We need to ask ourselves if we believe that Jesus wants us to consider ourselves worthless.
• In speaking to his disciples and putting a child in their midst as an example of the persons they should be receiving in his name, Jesus is teaching his followers about true humility. It isn't focusing on how good or how bad we are. It isn't about focusing on ourselves at all! Our focus is on the other, on those around us. Jesus tells his disciples to accept the least and smallest, and in doing that accepting Jesus and the One who sent him.
• In short, humility in the Christian sense, one of the greatest and most prickly of virtues, is centred on God, not on ourselves, and leads to the accepting of others as they are. In its best sense, humility is not being first or last but simply being what we are. It is accepting ourselves for what we are before the face of God.
• The word, “humility”, is related to the word “humus”, which means the stuff the ground beneath our feet is made up of; in other words, the earth.
• The stuff of creation, the material that makes up the earth is always just what it is, without pretence or mask. And yet as so many of you here today know so well, look what comes from the good earth, the ground that is planted and cared for, and that yields such fruit/
• In all honesty, I'm talking about dirt, earth, ground. I don't want to say we are all dirt as in 'dirty', but as we are told on Ash Wednesday, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”
• Jesus set a child in the middle of his gathered disciples not so much to show them (and us) child-like faith; Jesus says accept the child as you would me, so the direction is to accept the lowest as we would the highest in all humility for God's own reasons.
• Why a child? In many societies, even the one that Jesus lived in children were the least of the least. They were without voice or rights or place in society. They could not inherit riches or power or title until a certain age. This is so to a greater or lesser extent even our own age. So there were - and are - coming of age rites.
• The child is the perfect example of one without power or ability to reward and so is the perfect example of the sort of people Jesus recommends his disciples accept and embrace in his name. To say that welcoming a child in Jesus' name was to welcome Jesus and the one who sent him would be an eye-opener. To welcome and celebrate the presence of the King's messenger and even a prophet of God would be admirable and right. To give that same welcome to a child who is without power, influence, ambition, or ability to reward would be unthinkable. Street urchins were an annoyance at best. Yet their's is the Kingdom of God!
• The use of the small child says less about the child and any example we might take from him or her than it says about the disciples and the way they are to view the world – in fact, the way WE are to view the world.
• Jesus' teaching continues his telling his disciples, in effect, “If you want to be first, be last.” Now really, will there be a struggle for the last place? We normally push for the first, the highest, the finest, so will we push and shove our way to the bottom? Some people call this sort of message “counter-intuitive.” This means it goes against the common wisdom of our time or any time. Yet this is the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ!
• To lead, one must be servant of all. The teaching is clear ...and hard. Jesus showed this in his own life, His washing of feet in John's Gospel shows this in a very particular way. His crucifixion and his acceptance of death for the salvation of the world in all the Gospels shows this.
• Jesus starts his message to his disciples with these words, words they could not agree with: "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." From there, he tells his disciples how to BE his disciples: "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."
• I recall the words of a very wise man of an earlier time in Church history: "What we are before God is all that we are and nothing more."
• This Gospel message is as powerful and troubling today as it was then. Things may change all around us, but this teaching is one that still challenges and inspires us. May it always continue to do so.

Some questions I really need answers for...

I have some questions and they are not rhetorical ones that are asked to make us appear bright and sharp. These are dangerous questions and I wonder if they'll get answered at all. In any event, here goes:

 "What questions are you afraid to ask God?"

"What questions do you wish you could ask at church?"

I may be opening myself up for a load of flak, but I'd like to know.

The Pastor's Sermon - 16 September, 2012 - 16th Sunday after Pentecost

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

• It's not unusual for people to have illusions. Some of us believe ourselves to be wonderful athletes or great businesspeople. Some see ourselves as the most beautiful person in the world or the most interesting conversationalist. The reality of things is that this is not the case at times. The reality of things may be that we are not always the most interesting person at the table or the fastest person on the track or even the brightest person in the class.
• That's just the reality of things. This reality may be a crushing blow to some, but most of us have long ago made peace with reality and moved on past our illusions.
• However, there are illusions involved in our faith lives as well. Some of these can be harmless, but some are quite troubling and dangerous.
• I don't know of anyone off hand who is under the illusion that they are God, or an angel, or anything like that. Such cases go far beyond simple illusions; such cases usually require professional help.
• Having said that, there are other illusions that people labour under for their entire lives, illusions that cause them pain and trouble in their spiritual lives. Here are just a few.
• There is the illusion that I am sinless and that I never sin. I've heard this one from others, but never heard it applied to me. Some people say they never sin.
• I've also heard that a person's sins are too great to be forgiven and they are without hope.
• We've all heard the illusion that a person doesn't need God and that they do just fine without any reference to a Creator, Redeemer, or Sustainer.
• Some people believe that they are outside of salvation and that redemption and the love of God goes for every one else, but not them.
• There are other people who believe that riches, wealth, health, and success are signs of God's favour while the opposite – poverty, illness, failure – are signs of God's disfavour and condemnation. There have been some that have taken it so far as to let the poor, the sick, and the less-than-successful that they are on the dirty end of the stick when it comes to grace and salvation..
• The last one I'll bring up is the existing idea that there is no cost to our discipleship. Once the grace of God is received and accepted, nothing else need be done. One can just bask in the Divine light of grace and float on into heaven. The earthly life lived in the meantime is a distraction and some simply wish that God would get on with the heavenly reward.
• This list is not all there is, but it would serve no purpose to go further.
• So what is the cure? What is the antidote to the poison involved here? If these are illusions, what is the reality?
• The reality is nothing less than this: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
• The cure, the antidote, the reality is – as it always has been – the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we all know that it is not an easy way to go.
• The cross of Jesus is something that some people hide from or cover up. Some avoid it, but I for one don't think that can be done without illusion and even denial.
• For those who say they never sin, the cross stands as a sign that came to give us new life and that we will struggle against sin in our lives on a daily basis. Even if we fail... and we will ... we have one who goes beyond our sin and offers us new life and freedom from sin every day.
• For those who are without hope and see only sin, the cross stands as a display of just how far our loving God would go to bring sinners back, no matter what or how deep their sin.
• For those who say they don't need God, the Cross tells them that God loves them and wants to bring them close and that when they face the need of God at whatever point in their lives, God will be there.
• For those who feel they are outside salvation even though it is given to others, the Cross is the sign that Jesus did this for them and when they hear the words “...given and shed for you”, it is meant exactly for them.
• For those who see prosperity and success as signs of God's favour and the opposite as signs of God's indifference at the least, the Cross is a reminder that Jesus was born poor, lived poor, and died poor and oppressed, that the hope of the poor, the troubled, the injured and sick is the one who lived as they did and died as we all die so we might rise as he has. Jesus came among the poor to spread the Good News and the poor include the rich who might not have realized how temporary their riches are.
• To those who see no cost to their discipleship and see no need of daily repentance and re-dedication, the words of Jesus tell us of the daily discipline of his followers: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
• This is not a bleak message, although it is a realistic message. For us the Cross of Christ means salvation, new life, and renewal. I've said it before and we all know it to be true: For Christians, Good Friday always leads to Easter.

Mark your calendars now. Sunday, September 30 at 12:300pm, we will hold a blessing of pets and animals in the parking lot behind the church building. All animals and those who care for them are welcome.

The Pastor's Sermon - 9 September 2012 - 15th Sunday after Pentecost

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.’

• ...a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him
• Each of the four Gospels of the New Testament are unique, even though they tell the same story.
• Mark's Gospel holds a particular place for me, and not because it is the shortest of the four. It is held to be the first Gospel written down and it carries certain details that are not found in the other three Gospels. Mark shows both a very human Jesus and a very powerful Messiah in one person
• It is exactly one of these details that is at issue today. We hear of Jesus going of the to the district of Tyre, a rather famous city in southern Lebanon. In this Gentile area, where he is a foreigner, Jesus seems to be seeking some peace and quiet, a retreat as it were from all the constant demands he's come to know in his ministry. Here among a people who do not share his heritage or his religion, he will be away from what has become an overly busy time dealing with those who were needy or who saw themselves as needy as well as controversial situations, such as the issues of purity and defilement we heard of in last week's Gospel reading. Here, among Gentiles who would be indifferent to a Jewish prophet and controversies over the Law of Moses, he could get a little rest and have a little time to think. (In Mark's Gospel, Jesus moves almost breathlessly from one action to another. One of Mark's favourite words is “immediately”, which is used even in today's reading.)
• No such luck in finding peace and quiet. Jesus is recognized even though he did not want anyone to know he was there. A woman of the area very quickly brought her concerns to Jesus. She had a little daughter in the grip of an unclean spirit and she came to beg Jesus to cast the demon out. No matter what we may think of the idea or possibility of demonic possession, something is wrong here. Now lots more goes wrong. The woman bows down at Jesus' feet, which would be insulting for people of that time and place – a woman would not address a strange man directly, let alone bow down before him. Beyond this, the woman is not Jewish, but is a Greek-speaking Syrophoenician. Jesus has already healed a non-Jew in Mark's Gospel – the Geresene demoniac who was living in the cemetery and whose possessing demons were cast out into a herd of swine. This, however, was different; the woman has come forward with a request.
• And Jesus does not treat her very kindly. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."
• This passage has been controversial in the history of Scriptural studies and interpretation. Some authors have said this is Jesus way of testing the woman to see if she is sincere or just a seeker of experiences or healings, a person without faith in Jesus. Others have said that it is evidence of Jesus' own cultural background, that is, the fact that he is a Jew and Jews of the time looked down on Gentiles of all types as a general rule, and called them “dogs”, an animal considered unclean and an animal to be shunned. Western society sees dogs differently, so it's rather jarring to us to understand what Jesus said in the context of his own time and culture. There are some commentators who have gone so far as to say that Jesus is showing his own prejudices here. (I'll leave others to debate that.)
• The woman responds with wit and faith, seemingly without anger in the face of what might be considered unkind words. She repeats her request in a fairly poetic way: "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." ... and she receives assurance that what she asks is already done.
• No matter what we may think of this passage or it's various interpretations, there are two things we can take from the passage.
• First, we see quite clearly that Jesus the Messiah is fully human. This is something we often forget in our desire to know him as divine. The ancient teaching of the Christian Church holds that Jesus is both human and divine, without one taking away anything from the other. He surely lived as a man of his time and his own culture. We have to remember that when we read and meditate on these passages.
• Second, whatever the disciples thought, whatever the people around him thought, whatever may or may not have been in his own mind when first coming face to face with this foreign woman, in the end Jesus shows that he is everyone’s Savior by healing this woman’s daughter right there on the spot.
• What began as an apparent story of exclusion and separation becomes a story of unexpected grace for everyone involved. No matter what a person's situation, origin, background, or need, God shows concern through Jesus Christ and through Jesus' disciples.
• I could have preached on the letter of James and I might another time, but the conclusion there would lead us here. We are saved by grace and we are to live out our lives in grace, and in being messengers and agents of grace as disciples of Christ. Faith is seen in our actions and the actions of others build up our faith. In grace, we can ask for what we need and our ever generous God will not disappoint us.
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