Union Church

August 17, 2008
Matthew 15:1,2, 10-20

The first thing we need to recognize about this reading is that the faith 2,000 years ago was under construction. The roadbed of life needed to be rebuilt in the wake of the New Roman Order.
The roadbed of religion was under construction in Gennesaret, in northern Galilee.

Jesus is engineering a new expression of the faith for his new times. The Pharisees come up from Jerusalem to inspect and see what is being built.

The first thing they do is latch onto the purity code.
The disciples are not washing their hands before eating lunch.
Now, we are not talking about just using a little soap and water. The purity code lays out the proper way of washing your hands. And it is a practice that cannot be followed in the common walk of life. It requires a pitcher, a basin and water.

Who would have these things when travelling on foot, in the countryside, in a desert climate?

Jesus gives the Pharisees an ear full. They are just filling old pot holes when a new roadbed is called for. He then begins to teach the people abou the new roadbed of faith.

Jesus tells the people, “We are not defiled,
we are not separated from God over hand washing.
It is not what goes in. It is not the external that affects our relationship with God.
It is what is within.
It is what comes out of us that affects our relationship with God and one another.
The new road being built on the religious right-of- way is not about pavement, not about the surface but about the quality of the road bed.”

August 10, 2008.
Matthew 14: 22-33.

Today’s reading is filled with so much material and symbolism that I could go on and on for an hour or so.
But fear not, I will attempt to control myself and remember that we are in the midst of summer.

In 2001, John Ortberg wrote a book based on today’s gospel lesson called, “If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get out of the Boat.”

The book focusses on a number of personal motivations for engaging the story line of getting out of the boat, but I want to focus on the collective motivation.

If we want the Church to walk on water,
we have to get out of the boat.
If we want to revive the Church’s valued position in society,
we’ve got to get out of the boat.
If we want to silence the ‘nay sayers’ about religion or Christianity in general and the United Church in particular,
we have to get out of the boat.
If we want the Church to walk on water once again; if we want the Church to walk the talk of radical hospitality then
we have to get out of the boat and get serious about water walking.

It is not just the other person’s responsibility.
It is not just the minister’s responsibility.
It is not just the Board or Session members’ responsibility.
It is each and everyone’s responsibility.

Let’s remember the story. It all begins from our reading last week.

Jesus hears about the mindless, murder of his mentor John the Baptist. In his grief, he seeks to get away to a lonely place. Instead the crowds find him and so he heals them throughout the day.

Matthew 14: 13-21.
Jesus has just heard about the mindless murder of his mentor, John the Baptist by Herod.
In his grief, he seeks solitude.
In his grief, he tries to slip away to a lonely place.
But the people find him. And yet, even in his grief, he has compassion for them.

We know what it is like to lose someone significant in our lives.
And we just want to grieve alone for a little while.
We want to get away.
But somebody comes to us in need and in our grief we are still able to respond.

Jesus sees that the people are wounded and bewildered.
Most of them have been turned off their land by the new Roman order.
They are ill, depressed, and dispossessed.
hey are dazed and confused.
In the midst of his own grief, Jesus has compassion for the people.

As the day wears on towards evening, after many healings and teachings, the disciples want to send the crowds away for it is a lonely, isolated place.
Jesus rejects this idea.
He tells them to provide for the people’s needs.
The disciples come up with 5 loaves and 2 fish.

Jesus employs the institution that we are all so familiar with in Holy Communion: He takes, blesses, breaks and shares the bread.
And the people receive what they need.
In fact, there is more than enough - there are leftovers.

Scholars tell us that this story is positioned in the gospels as a metaphor for the early church grieving the loss of Jesus, their Lord. They feel abandoned, dispossessed, weak and vulnerable.
And yet, the story tells us, through the Spirit, they discover there is enough.

June 15, 2008
Genesis 25: selected verses.

Let’s review the story line of Father Abraham.

Terah, the father of Abraham decides to leave Ur near the eastern end of the Fertile Crescent and go into the land of Canaan, on the western side. With his son Abraham, daughter-in-law Sarah and Lot, Abraham’s nephew, he only travels about half way and settles at Haran in the north.

After many decades Abraham and Sarah hear God calling them to leave Terah’s house and go to the land God will show them.
Through them, God will bless all the families of the earth. So they set out and eventually arrive in Canaan. There, God makes a covenant with them to make them parents of a great nation that will bless all the families on the earth.

But there is a problem. Sarah is barren and they are now well past child bearing age.

Ten years pass by and no luck. Abraham and Sarah remain childless. Sarah decides to offer her Egyptian slave girl, Hagar as surrogate, reasoning quite correctly for the times, that the child will belong to Sarah since she owns the mother.

It is not long before a child is on the way, but now Hagar and Sarah are not getting along.
Sarah abuses Hagar while Hagar acts contemptuously toward her owner. The battle over who is the top woman has begun.

Things get so bad the Hagar runs away and cries in the desert. God as an angel, hears her cry and talks Hagar into returning, promising to raise up a mighty nation through her son, who shall be named Ishmael –– God has heard.

Matthew 9: 9,10

Jesus sees a tax collector, named Matthew working at his tax booth. Now I’m not certain if this was a tax booth or a toll booth like the ones they are threatening to set up around the island of Montreal.

In any event, tax collectors were not the type of people the average person would want to hang out with.
Tax collectors were considered unclean, untrustworthy, traitors, and social outcasts.
They were not friend material and definitely not what we might consider disciple material.

But Jesus considers Matthew, Jesus chooses Matthew as a disciple.

So often we don’t consider ourselves disciple material.
We don’t think that the call comes to us.
We think the call only comes to people who go into the ministry.

The truth is, you have been called.
That is why you are here today.

And you are being called in your daily life.
Jesus calls Matthew in the middle of his work day.
God calls us in the middle of our work day.

The first step is that we have to hear the call.

The second step is that we have to accept the call.

The third step is we have to follow the call.

But following Jesus at the beginning of his ministry and following Jesus 2,000 years later is very different.
The difference is that through the Risen Christ, the call comes to us in every minute, in every moment, in every situation.
It is a spiritual call.
It is an inner call.
It is a call to intensified humanity that blesses the world.
It blesses the world through us.

Let’s sing hymn 567 Will You Come and Follow Me.

May 25, 2008
Matthew 6: 25-30.

Worry. We all know that we worry.
We’ve all had sleepless nights of relentless worry.
And we all know that worry seldom accomplishes anything besides discomfort and lack of sleep.
Worry comes from the thought or fear of scarcity: There won’t be enough to go around.
Money doesn’t grow on trees.
Worry also comes from the feeling of vulnerability:
I have no control over the situation.
It is just me against the world.

When we worry, we often spiral down towards despair. We become disconnected from our relationships and circumstances. We only see and hear and feel the worst possible scenario.

And yet, worry has become a virtue in our society. Isn’t a mother supposed to worry about her children even if they have grown up, have moved out of the house and have their own children?
How many times have I told ny daughter, Michelle that worry is written in the small print of the contract?

But we run into a problem with worry.
When we worry we don’t do anything but worry.
When we worry, we usually feel helpless to act.
When we worry, we wring our hands instead of rolling up our sleeves and solving the problem.

Now there is a lot in life to be concerned about.
But when we fail to engage our concerns we turn them into worries. When we engage our concerns, we change the outcome in the present. But when we worry, we are living either in the past or the future and we are no where close to the present moment where change occurs.
When we worry, there is no place for God.

May 18, 2008
2 Corinthians 13:11-13

Paul gives us the first Trinitarian formula. We know it. We have heard it so often.
“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” Countless books have been written on this topic.

Today I want to simplify it with a few images.

There was a TV documentary series call Millennium, 9 years ago featuring the American anthropologist Houston Smith.
Did any of you watch it or hear of it?
It was an exploration of religious traditions and meaning systems all over the world: From the rain forests to the inner cities.

The final episode was summarized this way.
All religions and belief systems, all world views and systems of human organizations must answer 3 fundamental questions:

Where do I come from?
Whom do I belong to?
Where am I going?

The doctrine of the Trinity is the Christian attempt to answer these three questions.

Where do I come from? Christianity says, “We come from a Creator God.”
It is not an accident. It is a meaningful Creation.

Whom do I belong to? Christianity answers, “We belong to the humanity of God revealed in Jesus. We belong to a personal, relational, God who calls us into community.”

Where am I going? Christianity says, “We are going on a journey inspired and guided by God’s Spirit.”

Now picture yourself at a family gathering.
You are probably hanging out in the kitchen or around a table.

May 11, 2008. Pentecost, Mother’s Day
Acts 2: 5-8, 11b-18

In our post-Christian era, there is a growing chorus of scoffers. People feel they have the right to denigrate the Christian faith without consideration of how the faithful feel. They can be family members, co-workers, neighbours, and strangers. Often we suffer in silence as we unexpectedly encounter this rejection.
It has become more strident in recent years, but the truth is there have always been scoffers. There are always other interpretations of events. Whatever passes as a miracle can always be explained away by those who don’t want to accept it.

There were scoffers on that first Pentecost Sunday. And it is very instructive how Peter deals with them.
We can learn from Peter.

The first thing to note is that Peter doesn’t get hooked on the people’s initial response. In fact, he makes light of their criticism.

When the Spirit drives the fellowship of the believers out onto the street, some of the onlookers say, “They are drunk with new wine.”
Peter doesn’t get angry.
He doesn’t get defensive.
Peter accepts their initial response by saying, “These people aren’t drunk. It’s only 9 o’clock in the morning.” In other words, “You might think they are but it’s too early in the morning for that explanation.”

When we are dealing with people who scoff at our faith, don’t argue. Start with their position and move it towards a logically different place.

May 4, 2008
1 Peter 3:13-17, 5:6,7.

The latest rage in spiritual seeking involves a partnership of Oprah and Eckhart Tolle. Oprah and Eckhart have joined forces to create a 10 week, hour and a half, global, on-line simal-cast. The Monday night discussion group focusses on one chapter a week of Tolle’s best selling book “A New Earth.” Over a million people are watching it every Monday at 9 p.m. Eastern daylight time and millions more are down-loading the session through Oprah’s website or iTunes. Tomorrow is the 10th and final session and it will be two hours in length.

Have you heard of this new high-tech cyberspace undertaking?

Have you read the book?

Have you gone on line?

John and I have read the book and are following on line.
I believe this phenomenon is very important.
It is important because it makes available a simplified synthesis of the best of eastern and western spiritual traditions.
It is important because it makes it available to millions of people who are no longer church goers.

Much of the focus of the book and the sessions is around the problem of suffering. And suffering is a central issue in our I Peter reading today.

We in our modern western Christian tradition have a problem with suffering. We don’t want to suffer because we think all suffering is bad.

We also think that if we suffer it is a sign of failure or punishment. So then we blame suffering on God’s will or the Devil’s action.
It’s kind of strange when you think about it.

April 27, 2008
Acts 17: 22-28

A week ago Friday night and all day Saturday, John and I went to a continuing education event sponsored by the United Theological College. The workshop was about Progressive Christianity at the Grass Roots and was led by Hal Taussig, who both pastors a church and teaches at Union Theological College in New York City.

Taussig found five characteristics in this new grass roots movement within Christianity.
1.Spiritual expressiveness and vitality in Worship.
2. Intellectual Integrity.
3. Attention to and respect for gender and sexual orientation.
4. A proactive interest in respecting other religions.
5. Respect for the environment and social justice.

Notice the deep respect that flows through these criteria.
Deep respect for humanity, our belief systems, our life together and creation.

The fourth item on Hal’s list, which is a deep respect for other religious traditions, coincides with our reading from the Acts of the Apostles today.

Paul, upon visiting Athens, takes the time to observe the multitude of religious expressions of the people: The multitude of religious expressions that have found their way to the capital of the Hellenistic world. He takes the time to look beyond the superficial level of a mere tourist. He respects their religious traditions enough to learn about them. And in his investigation, something catches his eye: The empty pillar to the unknown God.