Sermon March 23, 2014 Lent 3

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

⁴And you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
   call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
   proclaim that his name is exalted.

During Lent we have been exploring our journey with Jesus as we travel to the Easter celebration.  IN the first two Sundays of Lent we explored ways of Spiritual Renewal .  This is the renewal which is unique to the church in a culture that looks to action and activity in how it renews itself.  Spiritual Renewal is a way which can help us navigate through those times in life in which we feel as if we are tottering on the edge of the pit as Isaiah spoke of in last Sunday’s OT lesson.  It can also help us to more closely follow our  Saviour each day – in the good times as well as the bad times. 

Today Isaiah speaks about drawing water from the well of salvation.  Spiritual Renewal calls us to different ways of draw on the water of salvation.  This is an echo of what Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well:  “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

 Jesus tells us to draw of the water which he provides that water of eternal life.  This is the goal of Spiritual Renewal.  On the first Sunday in Lent we looked at a way of reading scripture - Lectio Divino, Holy Reading .  There are four steps in Holy Reading.  The first is to read the passage – the Lectio.  The second step is meditation – meditatio. The third step is Responding – Oratatio.  Finally there is Rest – Contemplatio. 

Last Sunday we walked the Labyrinth - the moving prayer in which we follow the twists and turns of our spiritual life to the centre and back.  Sometimes it seems we are getting close to the centre and then there is a sharp turn in our lives and we seem to be moving away from our goal.  However, if we follow the path that our savour prepares for us we will reach it.  Today I invite you to experience a form of prayer which also helps us draw the water of eternal life from the well.  It is centering prayer.   Centering Prayer is a form of silent prayer in which you make space for you to be more aware of God’s presence in your life.  God is always there but we often have difficulty perceiving it.  The process is quite simple with just a few steps. 

Choose a word or phrase that resonates with you as an expression of your intent and desire - It use the word ‘return’.  Sit comfortably and upright, eyes closed, breathing naturally, and begin to repeat this sacred word silently. As your attention is focused on the desire behind the word, gradually let the word slip away. Rest in silence.  You will find that thoughts and images and feeling may come into your mind.  We are not used to quiet in our culture – our brains want to fill silence.  This has been called our monkey brains - which is very descriptive.  When these thoughts, images or sensations arise, gently return to the sacred word as a symbol of your consent to God’s presence and action within you. 

The recommended period for prayer is twenty minutes each day.  However, we will begin today with five minutes to give you a taste of the experience. 

Sermon March 16, 2014 – Lent 2

Terror, and the pit, and the snare
   are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
¹⁸ Whoever flees at the sound of the terror
   shall fall into the pit,
and whoever climbs out of the pit
   shall be caught in the snare.

It can feel at times in our journey on this world that we are in danger of becoming lost and disoriented and falling into a pit as the prophet Isaiah says.  On Ash Wednesday and last Sunday when we began our Lenten journey I introduced you to an exploration into the journey which has is its goal Spiritual Renewal.  That is the type of renewal in our culture which is unique to the church.  Spiritual Renewal is a way which can help us navigate through those times in life in which we feel as if we are tottering on the edge of the pit.  It can also help us to more closely follow our Saviour each day – in the good times as well as the bad times.

Last Sunday we looked at one form of prayer – Lectio Divino or Holy Reading as a way of listening to how God is speaking to us and where God is leading us through scripture.  Today I want to offer you another way which can help you navigate on that journey in life.  Today we are going to explore the Sacred Path of the Labyrinth.  The first thing that is important to know about the labyrinth is that it is not the same as a maze.  You may be more familiar with the maze which is a network of paths that are a puzzle which has to be solved to find your way out of.  In a maze you can take wrong turns and run into dead ends.  It is something that you might not actually solve. 

However, the labyrinth is different.  It is a path that if followed will lead to you on the inward journey to the centre and out again on the return journey.  There are many twists and turns but the path will never lead you astray.  The labyrinth is an ancient form which has – as far as we know – always been used as a spiritual practice.  The oldest surviving labyrinth is found in a rock carving at Luzzanas in Sardinia which dates from about 2500 B.C.E. The remains of a labyrinth can be found in Mount Knossos on the Island of Crete.  Labyrinths have been known to people for over four thousand years and have been found in almost every religious tradition around the world. 

Although it is an ancient spiritual and religious tradition it fell out of use in modern culture and was only rediscovered and moved into popular culture in the 1990’s with the work of different people including clergy and laypeople at Grace Episcopal Cathedral in San Francisco.  Since then it seems to have taken the western world by storm and labyrinths have become almost common place in different cities.  There is a beautiful outdoor labyrinth at the Kanuga Conference Centre of the Episcopal Church in North Carolina where my wife Lorna and I attend dream Conferences’ and an indoor one at the Mount Carmel Retreat Centre in Niagara Fall which hosts our spiritual direction program.  We have walked the labyrinth many times and both found to to be an important part of our spiritual journeys.

Walking the labyrinth can represent different things to different people.  It can represent the journey into wholeness which is undertaken as we seek to become the people God intends us to be.  IT can be a form of walking meditation.  It can represent the twists and turns our spiritual life takes which never seems to be a straight live.  But if we follow the path which God intends for us and listen to where God is leading us it can represent the journey that God will guide us on throughout our lives until we reach our final goal- union with God when our life on this earth have run its course. 

We can’t experience a full-fledged walking of the labyrinth this morning of course but we can walk it with our fingers.  The greeters will be passing out a diagram pf the 11 course labyrinth along with a pointer and I invite you to follow the path of the labyrinth to the center and back again – as time allows.  As you follow the path notice and experience how at times you will seem to be approaching the destination on the inward journey – the centre and then there will be a sharp turn which will take you away from the centre. 

There are many ways to approach the labyrinth walk.  I am drawing the work of Rev. Lauren Artress who is a canon of Grace Cathedral.    There are many ways to walk the labyrinth.  One beneficial way is to simply quiet you mind letting go of all thoughts and cares.  As thoughts enter your mind just note them and release them.  The goal is to let a gracious sense of attention flow through you. 

Another way is to ask a question before beginning you walk and focus on it was you walk.  Keep the question in your conscious mind and you proceed and see what response you receive. 

Take you time – it is important to proceed at a slow steady pace.  We will have five minutes or so and I encourage you to continue your journey later at your leisure and experience it.  IF you have a chance to walk a full sized labyrinth I encourage you to experience it – as many times as possible. 

 

Sermon March 2, 2014 Usefulness in Uselessness

Matthew 17:1-9

Can you think of a wonderful experience in your life?  It could be the first time you fell in love.  It could be your wedding day – although that is often such a whirl-wind of activity that it is hard to remember.  It could be crossing the threshold of your first house.  It could be the first day on your first job.  It could be the first day of retirement.  It could be eating a meal or other activity with people who you know truly love you and who you.  It could be the first experience of feeling completely safe after living in an abusive relationship.  It can be such a wonderful experience that you wish deep down that you could hold on to that experience forever.  Later we often hope that we can recapture that wonderful feeling and there is a sense of loss when we realize that it is just not possible to relive that particular experience again.

Given our reaction to want to hold on and claim wonderful experiences we can certainly understand Peter’s reaction to the wonderful vision before him: “3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 

Peter’s reaction is to do something – build dwellings so that they could hold on to what he was seeing.  To understand this amazing, wonderful vision we have to realize the significance of these two figures to the Jews in Jesus’ time.  Moses and Elijah were central - you could say iconic figures in Judaism.  They were the personification of the two central components of their religion – the law and the prophets.  Moses was the law Giver who had received the Law from God – the Tablets of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.  Elijah was the quintessential Prophet.  In an epic battle Elijah defeated the priest of the foreign god Baal who had been introduced to Israel by King Ahab.  His end on this earth is also magnificent as we are told that when he was walking with Elisha, his successor:

11As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. 12Elisha kept watching and crying out, ‘Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. (2 Kings 2: 7-8)

Both are unique in Judaism.  Moses is the law giver and Elijah does not die on earth but is the taken up to heaven in heavenly chariots.  Is there any wonder that having these two people with Jesus affected Peter so strongly?  Would we not want to do just what Peter wants – to hold on to that wonderful scene for as long as he could?  He must do something – he must act on this impulse – he must build three dwellings to contain them.

Peter’s reaction to do something resonates strongly with our culture.  We are very much a world in which we are told and taught that we must act if we are to be successful and if we are to make our mark in the world.  Even the church falls into this belief.  We are told we must act to build up God’s kingdom.  We are told that we must “Renew” our Diocese if we are to survive and thrive in this world. We need to have a mission statement to have a ministry. St. Stephen’s is a Bishop Luxton Church.  Bishop Luxton responded to his times by a significant church planting in the midst of where people were – in subdivisions where the church would be part of the community.  I suspect that is why there is no parking lot with St. Stephen’s – people would walk to church.  Today we are given a new response to our situation – we are to paint the church doors a bright colour.  Churches are to be planted on busy intersection. 

There is nothing wrong with all this.  And I am not suggesting that the church doesn’t need to be in the world and respond to the perceived needs of the culture.  However the church also has a tradition of a different kind of response to where we are and where God is calling us.  It is a different kind of renewal that is very foreign to our culture today – a spiritual renewal. 

One of the great prophets of Spiritual Renewal is Henri Nouwen.  In the last part of his life he had a great connection with the L’Arch Daybreak Community in Newmarket living there in the final years of his life.  In his book entitled Out of Solitude Nouwen writes:

In solitude we become aware that our worth is not the same as our usefulness. We can learn much in this respect from the old tree in the Tao story about a carpenter and his apprentice:

A carpenter and his apprentice were walking together through a large forest. And when they came across a tall, huge, gnarled, old, beautiful oak tree, the carpenter asked his apprentice: "Do you know why this tree is so tall, so huge, so gnarled, so old and beautiful?"

The apprentice looked at his master and said: "No . . . why?"

"Well," the carpenter said, "because it is useless. If it had been useful it would have been cut long ago and made into tables and chairs, but because it is useless it could grow so tall and so beautiful that you can sit in its shade and relax."

Nouwen goes on:

In solitude we can grow old freely without being preoccupied with our usefulness and we can offer a service which we had not planned on. To the degree that we have lost our dependencies on this world, whatever world means--father, mother, children, career, success or rewards--we can form a community of faith in which there is little to defend but much to share. Because as a community of faith, we take the world seriously but never too seriously. In such a community we can adopt a little of the mentality of Pope John, who could laugh at himself. When a highly decorated official asked him, "Holy father, how many people work in the Vatican?" he paused a moment then replied, "Oh, about half of them I suppose."

 We are on the cusp of the season of Lent which begins this Wednesday with our Ash Wednesday service. It is the perfect time to renew our lives in that way which is a special calling of the church in this world – spiritual renewal.  Our Gospel lesson closes with a commandment of Jesus as they descended from the mountain top experience, “Jesus ordered them, ‘Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead’.”  There is a time for action and a time for reflection and renewal.  Let take time this lent for reflection and spiritual renewal.  Amen. 

Sermon Ash Wednesday 2014: Rend Your Heart Not Your Clothes

Lent – repent - it even rhymes.  That is usually what we think of - when we happen to think about Lent. Well perhaps not repenting but of giving up something for Lent.  The idea being that we must give up - sacrifice something that we enjoy to observe a Holy Lent.  It doesn’t mean much if we give up something that we don’t enjoy anyway does it.

 

There is value in giving up something.  It focuses us on the important things in life that are not connected with the pleasures of life.  It focuses on the spiritual things.  Aren’t the spiritual things supposed to be serious and sombre and .. well… not really very much fun? 

 

If that is true, what kind of a God is it that would create in us the capacity for joy and happiness and then tell us – no you cannot enjoy life.  You must sacrifice and give up and lead a completely boring life.

I believe that is what Joel was getting at in the OT readings.  As noted by a Roman Catholic Theologian I discovered on-line, the scripture for the opening of Lent, Joel 2:12-18, takes us back to a time of great danger in Israel. The land has been ravaged by locusts, the crops are failing. The very life of the population is in question. The prophet Joel, convinced that the people have brought the disaster upon themselves by virtue of their unfaithfulness, summons the House of Israel to repent its ways. But, interestingly enough, he does not call them to attend penance services in the synagogue. He does not require them to make animal sacrifices in the temple. He does not talk about public displays of remorse, the time-honored tearing of garments to demonstrate grief. No, Joel says instead, "Rend your hearts and not your clothing."

Lent – and particularly Ash Wednesday - is a call to weep for what we could have been and are not. Lent is the grace to grieve for what we should have done and did not do. Lent is the opportunity to change what we ought to change but have not. Lent is not about penance. Lent is about becoming, doing and changing whatever it is that is blocking the fullness of life in us right now.

I believe that what we need to look at in Lent - what we need to observe a Holy Lent is to seek and see – to identify those things which separate us from the love of God.  Another way of saying that is to see what is sinful.  That can take the form of denial – giving up something that takes our attention and energy and attraction away from God – something that encourages us to believe that the material things in life are the most important. 

However, even more it is to rend your heart - finding that place in your heart where that connection to God is most clear and is most precious.  It is to begin to peel away those things – one at a time – that separate us for the love of God.  It is to find those things that we truly cherish about ourselves and others – those things that God has created in us that are most precious and that connect us most clearly and dearly to God.  Find those things and strengthen them – cherish them.  And observe a holy Lent.

Sermon February 23, 2014 Forgiveness Part 2

Matthew 5:38 - 48

Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch Christian who, along with her father and other family members, helped many Jews escape the Nazi Holocaust during World War II and was imprisoned for it.   In her book, Reflections of God’s Glory (page 69), she wrote, “In Africa a man came to a meeting with bandaged hands. I asked him how he had been injured. He said, “My neighbor’s straw roof was on fire; I helped him to put it out and that’s how my hands were burned.”

 
“Later I heard the whole story. The neighbor hated him and had set his roof on fire while his wife and children were asleep in the hut. They were in great danger. Fortunately, he was able to put out the fire in his house on time. But sparks flew over to the roof of the man who had set the house on fire and his house started to burn. There was no hate in the heart of this Christian; there was love for his enemy and he did everything he could to put out the fire in his neighbor’s house. That is how his own hands were burned.”

My sermon today could be subtitled ‘Forgiveness part 2’.  Last week when we looked at the commandment of Jesus to ‘be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect’ I noted that the key to understanding that seemingly impossible demand by Jesus is forgiveness.  Jesus knows that we are not able to live perfect lives.  He was well aware of the imperfections of his disciples and everyone he encountered every day.  The commandment in today’s Gospel is just about as impossible as that requirement to be perfect.  Loving your enemy is truly a challenge for people.  I guess we could consider it part of being perfect.  

Loving our neighbours is hard enough sometimes but loving our enemies that seems pretty much impossible.  That story by Corrie ten Boom illustrates how difficult it is.  If I were in that situation I don’t know how I would react and I hope I never have the opportunity to find out.  However, I’m almost certain I would not react as the hero of the story did.  I would probably be filled with hate and the desire for revenge at least at first.  I believe that my reaction would not be unusual.  However, as Christians we are called to love our enemies.  How then is it possible to love someone who does terrible things to you or your loved ones?  I believe that the key to that is forgiveness.  If we cannot forgive the hurts that life and people throw at us there is no possibility of loving not just our enemies but also our neighbours.  More than that, we do not have the possibility of loving ourselves.  

Corrie ten Boom has another statement which addresses the absolute necessity for forgiveness.  She says in Clippings from My Notebook, “Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.”  These are powerful images – the door of resentment; the handcuffs of hatred; the chains of bitterness; the shackles of selfishness.  This is exactly what hatred does.  It locks us in a prison with walls that separate us from the love of God.  However, we cannot love or receive love when we are imprisoned by hatred.

We can’t look at forgiveness through rose colored glasses.  True forgiveness is not in any way easy.  The church I believe has done a disservice by talking about forgiveness as if it comes easily to people.   Our culture has been an accomplice in this.  Just forgive and forget we are told as if everyone can do it if we only try – no problem just forgive and forget.  The church has also held up forgiveness as something we can do just as Jesus ask his Heavenly Father to forgive his executioners when he was on cross.  Jesus certainly did it and shows us the need for it but for us imperfect creatures it is another situation indeed.  There was a story in the news a few years ago which illustrates this.  A Church of England priest – a woman – had given up her ordained status – given up as a priest because she could not bring herself to forgive the person who murdered her son.  She believed that as a priest she was called to forgive as her Saviour had forgiven those who were in the act of executing him.  Despite all her efforts she found it impossible. The account did not go into detail but I have no doubt that this decision came after doing all she could to forgive that murderer.  I deeply regret that she was not able to find forgiveness but I admire her decision.  I also regret her decision because I’m sure she was a wonderful priest and a good shepherd of her flock.  I hope and pray she has been able to find forgiveness in her heart in the intervening years.  

Let us not have any illusions about how difficult true forgiveness is.    My experience of it confirms this.  I have struggled to let go of resentment and anger at people who have hurt me in the past.  Just when I thought I had achieved it, that dark force of resentment crept up on me and took possession of me.  That often happens in the middle of the night when our ego based defenses are at their weakest.  However, forgiveness is absolutely necessary if we are to become the loving people that God intends us to be.  The love of God does have the power to enable us to forgive and to set us free from the hatred and bitterness and resentment that imprisons us and kills our souls.  I want to close with a dream – a prayer really that I discovered when I was in the Holy Land some years ago on pilgrimage with fellow clergy.  We toured the Holocaust museum.  I was moved deeply by what I experienced there – it is a very powerful memorial to the terrible results of hate.  Of all I saw and experienced the thing that affected me the most was the account entitled, Dream of Abramek Kaplowics age 14 murdered at Auschwitz: 

When I grow up and get to be twenty I’ll travel and see the world of plenty.  In a bird with an engine I will set myself down, take off and fly into space, far above the ground.  I’ll fly, I’ll cruise and soar high above the world so lovely in the sky. And so delighted by all the world’s charms, into the heavens I will take off and not have a bother.  The cloud is my sister, the wind my brother.

Abramek could have been consumed with hatred for those who imprisoned him and ultimately murdered him.  However, rather than being chained to hatred he was able to dream of being set free and soaring into the heavens on a journey to his spiritual home. 

Sermon February 16, 2014 Forgiveness Part 1

This is not the Gospel I would have chosen to use to preach my first sermon here at St. Stephen’s.  It would have been much easier to preach on last week’s Gospel lesson.  It spoke of us being the light of the world and not hiding our light under a bushel basket.  However, I don’t think that these things happen by chance.  I have to think that there is a reason why this Gospel lesson came up on the lectionary today.  I’m just not sure what it is. 

Do any of you feel hopeful after hearing the Gospel this morning?  Well I certainly don’t – or didn’t when I re-read this passage on Monday.  Jesus sets a very high standard for us as his followers.  I have certainly been angry with people in the past.  I don’t think I am angry with anyone at the moment but I’m certain that I will be in the future.  I think getting angry is part of being human.  You would have to be a saint not to get angry at times and from what I know of saints a lot of them got angry at times.  I must also admit that I have a wandering eye at times and appreciate a beautiful woman. 

I like to think of that as admiration for God’s creation but I’m not sure after reading this how Jesus would consider it.  He is setting a pretty high standard.  

In the passage before the Gospel reading he tells us, “Therefore, whoever breaks^* one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”  Now Jesus is talking about the Ten Commandments but it goes beyond that.  As a good Jew he was aware that there were 613 commandments in the Torah.  He was certainly referring to all of them because he tells us that we should not break the least of them and certainly you can’t consider any of the ten as less than any others.  However, there are some of the 613 that can be considered lesser.  How about the prohibition of eating blood?  I don’t follow Kosher laws.  The one a particularly like is the commandment to execute a disobedient child by stoning him or her to death.  I must admit that I have not followed that one.  

Of course it is easy to justify not fulfilling some of these laws.  However, a few verses later Jesus sums up what he expects of his followers, “Be perfect, therefore, as you heavenly Father is perfect.”  How are we to live up to the standard that Jesus has set for us?  If we accept what Jesus is telling us at face value we might as well forget it.  We are doomed to failure and whatever punishment lies ahead for us when we meet our maker.  However, these commandments of Jesus cannot be taken out of context of his life and teachings.  Jesus spent a lot of time with outcasts and sinners.  I believe he did that because he knew that they were in need of him.  But I also in my imagination believe that it was because they were a lot more enjoyable to spend time with that the good pious people.  Jesus was also compassionate.  Remember the account of him saving the woman who was about to be stoned for adultery.  He stopped those preparing to stone her in their tracks by telling them that anyone who was without sin should cast the first stone.  Jesus knew that no one was perfect – no one was without sin.  So why would he require perfection of us?

If we investigate this at more depth we can discover that there are alternate ways of understanding what Jesus is saying.  We are reading this in English after various translations and after an oral tradition.  I have for some time struggled with the commandment of Jesus that tells us to be perfect.  That is certainly impossible for me and I do not know anyone who is perfect.  I also think it can be detrimental if we have expectations of ourselves and others that we will be perfect.  An alternate understanding of this passage is that the original language that Jesus was speaking in – Aramaic – a better translation of perfection is ‘all embracing’.  That is something which I can strive for.  It is still not something that is easy but it is a wonderful goal.  To embrace God’s creation in all its variety would be wonderful and I am striving more to do that in my life.  

However, I believe that the key to understanding the Gospel and much of his message for us can be contained in one word, ‘forgiveness’.  Jesus was and is well aware that we are not able to live the perfect life.  He told the woman caught in adultery to go and sin no more. However, if she didn’t – and I’m sure she sinned in different ways many times in her life as we all do.  However, if he had encountered her again he would have had the same message for her – he would not condemn her – her sins would be forgiven.   

For me the essence of this approach is summed up in our baptismal covenant.  One of the covenant statement says, ‘Will you persevere in resisting evil and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?’  Note it says not if you fall into sin but whenever you fall into sin.   We are to persevere in resisting evil.  But we will inevitably fail to do so.  We will miss the mark which is one meaning of sin.  As Christians we are called to repent of our sin – to acknowledge them to ourselves and to God and aim once more to hit the mark.  This may difficult and it is but it is not impossible for with God all things are possible.  Thanks be to God. 

Canadian Hockey Culture

Happy Family Day to everyone who is celebrating it today and even if it is not an official holiday where you are go ahead anyway.  It was not really on my horizon as being semi-retired I have the day off anyway.  I guess I just have to remember not to go shopping today as most things are closed here in Ontario. 

I am doing an interim ministry at St. Stephen's Stratford until after Easter and had my second worship service yesterday.  I also did my first children's focus and there were four little girls in attendance before they went off to Sunday School.  I have had mixed feelings about 'children's focuses' as they can turn into 'children say the darndest things' and children on display for the congregation.  I try to keep it short and not too sweet and focus on sending them off to Sunday School.

Yesterday I did talk about family and getting to know the children a bit.  I didn't have Family Day specifically in mind but this morning what comes to mind is what makes up a family today.  We have the traditional - almost deceased idea of the nuclear family of a dad who goes out to work and a stay-at-home mom and two and a half kids.  I did have close to that when I was growing up although there were four children but that certainly wasn't my experience as an adult.  The permutations and combinations have increased exponentially in the last ten, twenty or even thirty years.  This of course has its positives and negatives as does just about everything in life but the main positive for me is that people who are on the outside of mainstream do have more opportunity to live in loving supportive relationships.  That for me is a big positive.