Christ is risen! Easter Sunday 31 March 2013

[Due to circumstances beyond my control - like the nastiest cold I've had in years - I haven't uploaded my sermons lately. In any event, here is my Easter Message.]

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”

• When Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and the other women came to the tomb on that first day of the week, what were they expecting?
• I think we can be sure that they were expecting what is usually found in cemeteries and tombs – that is, the dead. We can believe that they expected to find the dead body of their crucified teacher. They were expecting to use the spices they had to properly bury the body. It could not have been done on Friday because the Sabbath had begun and such work was not allowed.
• What they were not expecting was to find the stone rolled away and the tomb open. They were not expecting to find the tomb empty except for the burial cloths. They were not expecting to be told that ”He is not here, but has risen.”
• The women had expectations that were quickly changed and that change confused and frightened them. What they saw and experienced confused and terrified them so much that they hid their faces against the earth. Still they left the tomb and returned to where the disciples had gathered.
• None of the disciples expected this either. They would not believe the women. Peter had to go and see for himself and he was “amazed” according to Luke.
• Peter want to believe, but is confused. He is always one for big words and big gestures. So he runs to the tomb to see for himself what the women told him – that his friend and teacher, Jesus, was not in the tomb, but was raised and is gone from the tomb.
• The events of Easter combined with the days before are amazing and everyone involved appears to be unable to understand what has gone on.
• What do we expect from Easter? Where to we expect to find Christ? Do we search for the living among the dead? Do we relegate our faith to funerals? Why do we lean on our faith only in the times of greatest mystery, like birth and death? It's true that those events are the times and places where mystery touches our daily live most. But there are other mysteries. It might be a good practise to seek for the living God among the living. It is in the living – the events of what we call our daily lives – where the living Jesus may be found.
• We spend maybe an hour a week in formal worship and maybe some time each day in personal prayer and devotions. What about the rest of the time in our week? All that time we spend doing for ourselves and for others we may think of as “less than godly”, but is it really? If we look at how our days and our weeks are divided and we trust that God is present in all the portions of our days and weeks, then God is present and waiting to be seen in what fills our time. Not that it's easy! Still it is possible to find the living Jesus in those things that make up our lives and make our lives worth living... and in finding him, give thanks.
• We should seek the Living One among the living rather than the dead. The face of Christ can be found in the people around us. He can be found in our fellow Christians whom we can turn to for support and to whom we offer support. Often our needs are filled by the Jesus who looks like someone else.
• He can be found in those around us who are suffering or in need for it is in serving the poor that we serve the poor Christ who had nowhere to lay his head. As the poem says, often goes Christ in a stranger's guise.
• He can be found in those who are troubled for it is there that we know Jesus' own troubled heart in Gethsemane.
• It doesn't matter what the person's age, gender, or situation. If our hearts are attuned to grace, we will see Christ there.
• In another way, we find and know the living Jesus in the Word proclaimed and in the water of Baptism and in the Word-made-flesh in the breaking of the bread. Here we are supported in our life by Jesus' life in the Word, in the water, the bread, and the wine. Even if it is only a few minutes a day and an hour or so a week, the face of the living Jesus is there to be found.
• So then, we know Jesus resurrected and among the living, when it comes time to face death - whether our own or another's – we will know that death is defeated and as Paul wrote: “as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.”
• As we are all here today, so is Jesus – in the Word, in the broken bread and shared cup, in the community, and in ourselves as people of faith. As we leave here, we not only take the living Jesus with us, we encounter him where ever we go.
• It would be a great joy to see Jesus face-to-face and to walk with him, in conversation or in silence. My faith tells me that will happen one day. But 'til then, we can know him still, and anticipate our own resurrection with him.
• The mysterious men in the tomb asked the women why they sought the living among the dead. And their question holds for us, too. Where there is life, there you can find the living Jesus. In him, even the dead who have died in faith are not dead in him.
• And neither are we.
• Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed!) And because he lives, we shall live as well.

Vacation Bible School

Our annual Vacation Bible School will be held on July 15-19, 2013 beginning at 9.30am and ending at 12.00 noon.

Join us and become part of Paul’s journey to share the good news about Jesus. You’ll travel back into Bible times to see, hear, touch, and even taste what it was like to live in ancient Athens. 

 If you would like to be a part of this adventure, contact Beth Goldsworthy or send us an email at stjohnvbs@outlook.com.

We are also in need of adult and teen volunteers to help with crafts, storytellers, and food merchants.  (and teens - this DOES count toward your community service yours!) We are asking each person to come and join us for just one or two mornings, or for the entire week. If you can join us, contact Beth for more information. 

Sunday's Sermon - 17 March, 2013 - Lent V

(Since this Sunday was also St. Patrick's Day, I wore my saffron kilt under my vestments.)

I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

• What Paul says here is pretty radical. He says that everything that has been in his life will count as nothing or less than nothing compared to knowing Jesus Christ. Truth to tell, I'm not sure I could say the same at the present time.
• It's been said that Paul was saying this toward the end of his life. He is actually writing from prison and anticipates a judgement of death against him. Still, he writes out of concern for the church at Philippi and thanks them for their continued generosity to him and to the entire Christian community. It's been said that the imminence of death clears the mind and this might be the case for Paul. He can say this because he has taken stock of his life and has his priorities straight.
• In any event, he lays out his history and resume for the Philippians: his circumcision, his membership in the tribe of Benjamin, one of the constantly faithful tribes of Israel, a blameless Pharisee and a perfect keeper of the law.
• Then he says it's all loss, not gain, all rubbish (although he uses a much stronger word, more like “dung” which Luther translated as “ich erachte es für Dreck, damit ich Christus gewinne”) Even in prison, Paul is not one to mince words!
• So why is Paul so confident? Why is he so ready to give up everything, even his life?
• One thing is for sure – Paul's confidence is not in himself. He has quite a resume for a faithful Jewish person of his time, but he pushes it off. He has an powerful history as a Christian apostle... which he makes no mention of. He is in prison and expects execution for his beliefs, but he's not overly impressed with himself. He's pleased to have friends who remain with him in his sufferings and is grateful to the Philippians for their physical and spiritual support.
• What he really relies on is something else entirely: the righteousness from God based on faith. He says that not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law..., all his hope is in Christ Jesus.
• His hope is not yet fulfilled and he has a ways to go, but he knows what he wants: I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
• So knowing where he wants to go, how does he get there? By putting his trust and hope in his own life and his achievements? No; he's discounted them and called them loss and trash. He doesn't even put his trust in his own faith, for this could be a personal work like all other things he's laid aside.
• It is in the mercy and grace of God found in Jesus Christ that Paul's hope is laid, and safely too.
• We know what became of Paul and we know that his preaching still rings true today so many years after his ministry.
• We also know that we are like him. We might not be able to preach like he did, nor have we been called to make the same sacrifices he had. But, in a large part because of Paul's ministry, our trust is in that same grace and mercy of God found in Jesus. We grasp stand in this grace through our faith, but our faith does not earn it, as though it were something to be rewarded. Don't get me wrong;faith will be rewarded when the time comes, but not because our faith attracts God. Our faith will be rewarded in how we live out our faith in our lives. This is faith as faithfulness or fidelity to what God calls us to rather than faith as subscribing to a certain set of beliefs. The first flows from grace while the second could be considered a type of work. And we all know the old slogan – grace, not works.
• If we look at the Gospel for today, we see an example of this fidelity. Mary, whose faith we only see by her actions here, anoints Jesus' feet with an expensive perfume in a hugely extravagant gesture. Judas – and rightly, in fact – points out the cost of this and how the money could have benefited the poor. The evangelist takes pains to point out that Mary's actions are motivated by love while Judas' are motivated by greed. Mary responds to grace and acts in grace. Judas... not so much.
• So here we are... living our lives in grace that surrounds us so throughly that we often don't even notice it. It is that grace that saves us and motivates us to be the face and hands of Jesus in this world.
• In this we, too, have a ways to go. So in our daily lives, we resemble Paul: I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Lent IV --- 10 March 2013

The Gospel is Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 -  the parable of the Prodigal Son

'...let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!'

• The parable of “the prodigal son”... It's mis-named. By calling it “the prodigal son” the emphasis is put on the younger son who has made a mess of his life and now repents. I'll leave it to you to decide whether he repents from a change of heart or from an empty stomach.
• Considering who the older son is shown and considering who Jesus was speaking the parable to, focusing on the older son, who has been “working like a slave for you” and wants his father to remember it, would not be good news to the hearers.
• That leaves the father in the story. Some people who read this passage think he's crazy.
• First, he goes along with the younger boy's hair-brained and very disrespectful scheme to take his inheritance NOW, treating his father as if he were dead already. Then he waits and watches for the bum in case he should come back. When that wastrel does show himself, the father runs to him (something no mature man worthy of respect would do in Jesus' time), welcomes him back with open arms, restores him to his place in the family, and throws a great party with music, dancing, and the best food. He even argues with his more sensible and loyal older son, to have him take joy in his brother's return.
• If we look at this parable from the viewpoint of either of the sons, it is highly unfair, impractical, and painful. Loyalty is not rewarded and disrespect is brushed off. If we look at this parable from our own view point, it is scandalous. This is not how a father acts nor is it how a son acts toward his father.
• In truth, we should be jarred by what goes on in the parable. It goes against common wisdom and human decency!
• That's because it is not a guidebook for family behaviour or etiquette or legal inheritance. It is not a story of fair play and proper sharing. It is not a story for children. It is a parable of GRACE.
• The story is shocking because it isn't what we expect. We don't expect the younger son to be restored without some sort of probation period, maybe serving as a field hand until he works his way back to the father's favour. We don't expect the elder son to be left out of the loop in deciding the fate of his brother.
• We certainly don't expect the father to be so generous. He won't listen to his son's entire excuse or pleading! He won't even acknowledge that his older son is more loyal, more hardworking, or maybe just plain better. He does say "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours” even as he almost begs his son to rejoice that his brother is alive and home.
• As I said, this is a parable of grace and grace is exactly what we never expect.
• Grace is always surprising. It will always come in unexpected ways in unexpected places, doing unexpected things. We may be shocked and we may be scandalized, but that's God for you. As we heard from Isaiah last week, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. (Isaiah 55:8)
• This message of grace would be good news to the tax collectors and “sinners” who listened to Jesus. It would be infuriating to the righteous people who heard the message and were scandalized that This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.
• Jesus came preaching the kingdom of God to just those people. His message was about a God whose love surpasses all typical or usual expressions known to humanity. That love is celebrated by those who really hear it in the gospel of Jesus, which we see in the scene of celebration at the homecoming of the younger son. But the expression of God's love also evokes resentment in those who assume that they know all about God and God's love and claim to know who is worthy of it, and who is not, seen in the elder son’s refusal to join in the celebration.
• This story -so well known to us- is one of unfairness and inequity, without a doubt. It is a story of grace. If we find ourselves “squirmy” when thinking this story through, if we find ourselves wondering how God could ever work this way, then grace is at work in us. If we find ourselves grateful for God's grace given to us in surprising ways at surprising times for the benefit of surprising people, like ourselves, then grace remains at work in us. If we know ourselves to be forgiven in the face of all we've been and are, grace is truly present.
• In the light of this parable, I want to close with a quote from the South African Bishop, Desmond Tutu: You may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.
• (Thanks be to God.)

Just a friendly reminder

Don't forget to turn your clocks AHEAD one hour this Saturday night. ("Spring ahead, Fall back")

Lent III - 3 March 2013

No, I tell you

• Both the religious teaching and the common wisdom of Jesus' day held that a person's sins caused their lot in life. If a person suffered anything, it would be possible somehow to connect the dots and trace their misfortune to a specific sin. It makes for a very neat package, all tied up in a nice bow. A lot of the Book of Deuteronomy supports this understanding of sin and human behaviour.
• The Book of Job takes issue with this and asks the age-old question: Why do bad things happen to good people? Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a rather well-know book by that name a few years ago.
• We thirst for answers and for justice. It bothers us when we see people we consider evil thriving in this world. We cringe when we see good, honest folk undergoing all sorts of sorrows and troubles. We say it is unfair... and it may well be.
• Jesus tackles this same question in the reading from Luke today. Were those Galileans whom Pilate had killed while they offered sacrifice the worst sinners among all the people from Galilee? Were those eighteen people killed in the collapse of the tower worse sinners than anyone else in Jerusalem? Jesus' answer is interesting and puzzling at the same time. No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.
• Now, Jesus is not both confirming and denying the sin-punishment idea here. He is issuing what some commentators call “the providential call to repentance.” He is using the news of these incidents as a teaching moment. No, these people were not such evil sinners that their sins cried out for immediate and deadly punishment while all the more righteous people were left walking around. Yes, every one of you will perish unless you change your ways.
• Jesus tells his listeners, the people then and us in the here and now, to repent. Hearing the word “repent” often brings to mind pictures of the Spanish or Mexican penitentes, beating themselves up in procession or carrying loads of cactus against their bare backs to atone for their sins. It reminds us of hair-shirted, wild-eyed preachers holding signs on street corners, proclaiming that the end is at hand and fiery judgement is soon to come.
• Repentance itself really is a much deeper issue. The word in Scripture implies little of the practise of repenting in tears and self-punishment as it does changing our lives. The word used in the New Testament actually means “to turn around.” It implies making a new start and that is quite appropriate when discussing our life in God.
• This idea of making a new start carries through into the second part of today's Gospel reading, the parable of the fig tree. In that parable, the tree that has been barren so far is given another chance to do what it is there for – bearing fruit - although there is also a warning that second chances are not infinite; there are limits. But that may not mean what we think it means.
• When you think about it, our God is a god of second chances. Isaiah wrote let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
• Does our God limit forgiveness? Is there a certain number of times we will be forgiven? Another part of the Gospels says that number is either 77 times or 7 x 70 times, depending on which version pleases you. In any event, either 77 or 490 times is far more than can be counted on the fingers AND toes, the basis of math in the ancient world. Both numbers are symbolic of immense and perfect forgiveness.
• So if there is always a second (or third and more) chance, why emphasize repentance and turning our lives around? The call to repentance is a daily call to return our lives to the One who has given our lives to us. Our God is forgiving but we are not always accepting.
• A pastor friend of mine leads a congregation in the Ottawa Valley area. In his Internet blog, he shared some reflections that his bible study group brought up, many of which are appropriate to our topic today. He asked them to reflect on forgiveness and these are a few of the responses:
• “Confessing sin is about become aware again of my need for and my dependence on God.”
• “God will not act toward us in judgement because of our sins so much as for all the gifts we refused from the gracious hand of God.”
• “Forgiveness of sins is not a reprieve from a judge but an embrace from a lover.”
• All of these reflections are very true and quite insightful:
• Repentance brings us into a right relationship with God, not as people who are perfect and righteous, but as people who understand they are created beings.
• Repentance is a way of accepting what God gives. As Isaiah reminds us, God will abundantly pardon, and we can still refuse that abundant gift. The fig tree in Luke's parable will be cut down if it does not respond to the work and the care of the gardener, but any fruit in its limbs will save it.
• Repentance is accepting the forgiveness that is present. Forgiveness then is more of a hearty welcome-home-we're-glad-you're-here than an courtroom acquittal and dismissal. (Remember this for next Sunday's Gospel.)
• Repentance is funny-odd rather than funny ha-ha. Repentance and forgiveness don't simply clear us of all charges, but restores us to a mutually loving relationship with our God.
• As Christians, one of our missions in this world is to proclaim and model the forgiveness God has given us in a world that doesn't recognize forgiveness and won't permit forgiveness. We stand for the gracious forgiveness of God and we'll be best able to speak of it when we realize we've received it.