Caring for My Instincts

 Last week I had a dream which I want to share with you.  Here is what I recorded in my dream journal:

I discover a scheme to give animal drugs to people.  I am at an unknown house or building and I explore an area which I have not been in before.  There are seven unknown men sitting on a couch, I realize they are being given prescriptions for drugs intended to be used on animals that they will use on themselves.  The person issuing the prescriptions is an unknown man who is a veterinarian.  He is doing this illegally,

 I find this dream to be interesting initially as I have not dreamed a similar dream that I was aware of.  I found it to be particularly interesting when I heard a few days ago that animal drugs are being touted by some people as a cure for COVID-19.  A drug, ivermectin, intended for use to treat parasites in animals, was being recommended on social media including a cable network I won’t name (it has the name of an animal coincidentally) are being modern snake oil salesmen and saleswomen and are promoting it as a cure for COVID.  The overworked and overtaxed medical systems in some States are now having to deal with cases of poisoning in patients who have taken the drug.

I could treat this dream, at least on one level, as premonitory i.e., it foretold this future event of people being persuaded to take drugs intended for animals in this time of COVID. This could be on the level of the collective conscious. The dream does seem to be dealing with this particular scenario.  This, of course, could happen, and probably has at other times.  However, it is interesting that it happened in proximity to the reported event.  So, I won’t dismiss the possibility that the source of the dreams was sending me this message.  However, dreams do operate on more than one level, so I want to explore another message it might be carrying to me, the dreamer.

First, let’s look at the association we can have with animals in dreams.  There is general agreement among people working with dreams from the perspective of Carl Jung, that animals in dreams have an association with instincts.  So, on that basis, my dream can possibly be saying that the men in the dream – who are aspects of me - are being given drugs or aids that will help my instincts.  It is notable that all the people in the dream are masculine, therefore it can be understood that the masculine aspect of my psyche needs assistance or help to assist me in putting my relationship to my instincts on a healthier basis.  The number seven is also notable i.e., the seven men waiting in the office to be given the prescriptions.  Numbers in dreams can have meaning or significance as can all dream contents.  Consulting the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, which is a good reference source, the number seven can relate to completeness or wholeness.  It can also relate to beginning a new cycle after one has been completed.  I can take from this that the dream might have the message that I will need to work consciously on relating to my instincts to have a more complete relationship within my psyche. 

I hope that this rather brief exploration of one of my dreams will give you a taste of how dreams can inform the dreamer of aspects of their inner life that are not conscious to them.  One of the principles of dreams is that they come in aid of the health and wholeness of the dreamer.

May you be blessed with many dreams on your journey.  

Change for Good or Ill or Both

Those who know me are probably aware that I don’t necessarily embrace the new with open arms.  Being an Anglican at heart, if not by birth, I appreciate the value of the tradition that has enriched our lives.  The three pillars of Anglicanism are scripture, tradition, and reason. 

There is the joke about change and Anglicans: how many Anglicans does it take to change a lightbulb?  We don’t change, we’re Anglicans.  That joke, perhaps unintentionally, illuminates (pun intended) the problem with this approach.  Perhaps it would be better to say challenge rather than problem.  Sometimes change can be a good thing and sometimes it is even necessary.  If we didn’t have the development of the COVID-19 vaccine we would be in deep do-do to use a technical term. 

 

Change for change sake, on the other hand, can turn its back on much that is valuable.  This is as true in religious matters as it is in secular matters.  Being at our cottage in Prince Edward Island, our religious life is emersed in the liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) as opposed to the updated service book, the Book of Alternative Services (BAS) which is not that new now being introduced to the Canadian Anglican Church in 1985.  I presided at a service on Sunday using the BCP liturgy and was reminded about the strengths and weaknesses of the that liturgy.  As is often the case when the pendulum of change swings, it goes perhaps too far along the arc.  It will be interesting to see where it lands when a new prayer book is brought to life in the future.  In any case, it is the tension that perhaps is inevitable when change rears it (I won’t say ugly) head.  However, sometimes it can be divinely intended tension to borrow a phrase. 

 

I was reminded last week that sometimes change can produce wonderful results.  One of the Daily Meditations of Richard Rohr which arrive in my inbox daily focused on the adaptation or rewriting of the Lord’s Prayer by the New Zealand Anglican Church.  I was introduced to this more than 10 years ago at a Summer Dream Conference of the Haden Institute held in North Carolina.  I was deeply moved when I heard it and have appreciated beauty and spirit filed language ever since then.  Some traditionalists might object with changing the words of a prayer of Jesus but it is good to remember that Jesus did not speak English - the Queen’s or otherwise – and translations always change the original meaning to a greater or lesser extent.  There are also two versions of the Prayer on the bible – one in Matthew and one in Luke - so even the Gospel writers couldn’t get a definitive version. 

 

Rohr’s Daily Meditation noted that the New Zealand version honours and reflects the Maori culture which makes it very appropriate in this time of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.  Below is the excerpt from Daily Meditation which included the version of the Lord’s Prayer: 

 

We invite you to pray this modern version of the prayer of Jesus from the Anglican Church of New Zealand, which both honors and reflects indigenous Maori culture.

Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples
        of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
        sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
       now and for ever. Amen.

 

May you be blessed with the Divinely Intended Tension of change on your journey.

High Tech and High Touch

Last Friday, Lorna and I “attended” the graduation ceremony for our oldest grandchild, Thomas.  Of course, in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic we did not attend the ceremony in person.  It was held by the all-pervasive ZOOM on the internet.  It was wonderful to be able to be part of this event as we were about 2000 km away at the time at the cottage in PEI and would not have been able to attend otherwise.

This experience brought to mind a phrase that was popular back in the long-ago time when the internet was just beginning to come into common use.  This was probably in the early 80’s – that’s the 80’s of the last century and not the 1800’s although it might as well have been it seems so long ago.  That phrase was “high-tech and high touch.”  As I recall the idea behind the concept of high-tech/high-touch was that technology would bring new opportunities for all the world to be in touch in new and wonderful ways.  It would bring a world of possibilities for people to connect with others regardless of where they were.

I haven’t heard the phrase in many years but there have been many developments in social media such as blogs - I have one for some time now http://anotherfoolforchrist.blogspot.com/ but blogs are old news and have almost gone the way of rotary dial telephone.  There is also Facebook which is not as old but is now the realm of old fogies.  There are things such as ticktock or is that Tiktok which I know nothing about and the all-pervasive twitter which Donald Trump made famous for misusing until he was banned from it.  I am able to say I have never tweeted and in my darker moments have thought that those who tweet are twits.  But some might say in response don’t knock it until you try it.

The high-tech part of the prognostication seems to have been fulfilled with a vengeance.  However, I am not so sure about the high-touch part.  Having worshipped at the temple of the great god Zoom, I am aware of the limitations of the touch when we meet in this or similar media.  It does allow us to touch others regardless of where they are in this wide world.  However, the touch is not what I would call high.  There are limitations to meeting this way and on social media in general – at least in my somewhat limited experience.  However, I have attended conferences, workshops, worship services and meetings.  I have even co-led a few workshops via Zoom.  I have even entertained a group of people on Zoom.  I can conclude that the touch is not that high – certainly not as high as in person.  At the moment we are in quarantine at the cottage and there is very little touch allowed outside my bubble so I am grateful for all the touch available via the internet.  I will continue my exploration of the touch of high-tech next week.

May you be blessed and keep in touch on your journey. 

Be Still and Know That I Am God

March 11^th was the anniversary of the COVID 19 pandemic.  The World Health Organization made official what many people already knew, COID 19 was a world-wide pandemic.  I hesitate to call it the first anniversary as I sincerely hope and fervently pray that next year at this time, we will be back to something approaching a pre-pandemic world.  However, I am sure that there will be significant changes which are part of what will be considered normal. 

The Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Linda Nicholls offered a prayer to mark the day:

God of infinite compassion and mercy, our hearts are overflowing with a flood of emotions from the past year, Fear and sorrow and grief — endurance, relief, and hope;

For the families of all who have died, who have been unable yet to mourn, we ask your comfort;

For health care workers persevering in the battle with the disease we ask your strength and courage;

For government and public health leaders we ask your wisdom;

For all facing the relentless uncertainties that continue we ask your endurance and peace.

We give thanks for the resilience discovered within us;

We give thanks for all who continue to work to protect and care for us;

We give thanks for your unending love and compassion in our midst at all times.

As we face the year ahead fill our hearts with that same love and compassion for our world and its needs;

For in you we find all that is needed — for whatever lies ahead. Amen. 

Lorna and I marked the occasion with three minutes of silence as suggested by Anglican House of Bishops.  The use of silence for occasions such as this is probably best known in the two minutes of silence on November 11^th to mark Remembrance Day in honour of those who made the supreme sacrifice during the world conflicts in the last century.  I have often said that the two minutes of silence during Remembrance Day services can seem, if not like an eternity, at least a lot longer that two minutes in duration.  Surprizingly, the three minutes silence on March 11^th did not seem long at all. 

When we observe moments of silence we generally do not do so with ease.  Our conscious ego-centered brains do not accept silence gracefully.  The silence needs to be filled and thoughts enter unsought.  This is the challenge that anyone practicing Centering Prayer for the recommended twenty minutes discovered.  The activity of our so-called “monkey brains” does not accept silence and wants to fill the vacuum.  However, there is a long tradition of emptying our minds of extraneous thoughts to allow room for God’s presence to come to the fore.  This is grounded in scripture with the passage from psalm 46:10, Be still and know that I am God.

Despite the imposed inactivity of the pandemic, we are still in need of opportunities to still the bombardment of information and activities and distractions which can fill the minutes and hours of our days.  This will allow us to be open to the things which truly matter and the presence of God in our lives.

Blessings on your journey and my you occasionally be still and know that God is always with you.

The Marshmallow Test for Christians

Last week I read an article in the New York Times which spoke about the “marshmallow test”.  The article was entitled “America Fails the Marshmallow Test” by Paul Krugman.  Now, I had forgotten about the marshmallow test which I had heard about some years ago.  It is an experiment conducted by psychologists that tests a child’s ability to delay gratification.  In the test, a child is given a marshmallow and told that if the child can delay eating it for fifteen minutes, they will be given a second one.  The hypothesis behind the test is that a child with the willpower to delay gratification and gain the second marshmallow will be more successful in life. 

The article notes that this hypothesis has not held up well outside the lab.  However, as the article states, it is a useful metaphor for the dynamic of how individuals or groups operate in the world.  Krugman was using the metaphor for a yardstick to measure how the United States is performing in the COVID-19 pandemic and concluded that the country is failing this ‘marshmallow test’ and many people do not have the willpower to maintain the steps such as social distancing to defeat the pandemic.  This conclusion seems to have been confirmed by the rally held by U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend in which a relatively large crowd, which was planned to be much larger. gathered in an indoor facility without social distancing and generally not wearing masks.  While they may not have been singing, there was a lot a cheering and shouting.  A perfect formula for spreading the Corona virus.

That being said, I have to wonder about a marshmallow test for Christian.  Can the principle of delayed gratification be applied to the people of God?  Pondering this, I am reminded of another concept which I heard some years ago; God the Butler.  This speaks to the idea that people want to think of God as someone or something that we can call upon to come up from the servant’s quarters when we believe that God can give us something which we want or need.  We want God to answer prayers on our terms and on our schedule.  Needless to say, we are often disappointed when God does not live up to our expectation and does not deliver on demand.  I am reminded of the song by Janice Joplin, O Lord won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz.  In effect, we fail the marshmallow test in our relationship with God.

When we do this, we are letting our egos run the show.  The ego wants to be in charge – indeed it believes much of the time that it is in charge and wants to maintain control.  And when we have to face that our egos i.e., we, are not in control we rebel and want to find a scapegoat for our disappointment.  We are not God or even gods despite what it says in Psalm 82,” I say, ‘You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you.”   As Christians, we are certainly children of God but not gods in that sense. 

As hard as we try, we can never come close to understanding the fullness of God and as it says in Isaiah:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55: 8-9)

We can still turn to God in our times of trouble and we have the assurance through Jesus Chris that he is with us and knows what we are going through always and especially in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic.   Let us consider as Christians how we fair in light of the marshmallow test. 

Blessing on your journey. 

A Time for Contemplation

 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:”

That wonderful passage from Ecclesiastes seems to be speaking to us in new way during the pandemic.  This is truly a season which none of us alive today have ever experienced before.  It would be tempting to yell at God that there can’t be any purpose in all that we have been going through – indeed all that the whole world has been going through and continues to go through in this time of COVID-19.

We could rewrite the words of Ecclesiastes and lament that it is a time to self isolate, a time to be anxious, a time to suffer from illness, a time of economic challenges beyond belief and yes even  a time to die – Ecclesiastes was correct on that one as more than eight thousand people have died from the pandemic in Canada and over 400 thousand worldwide at last count.  So, what in heavens name could be purpose under heaven in this time?

One possibility is that it is a time of turning inward.  Not inward in the sense that we are all just looking after ourselves and turning our backs on others in this time of so much need.  Rather, it is a time for contemplation; a time of seeking God in the silence that is all around us.  You could argue that there are still many distractions that can capture our attention – from endless news stories of tragedies brought about by the pandemic to the most recent cases of systemic racism in our country and our neighbour to the south with the uprising of protests that have followed.  Certainly justified and over due but there is little silence in this.

However, as we are self-isolating in our homes there an opportunity to turn inward in a way which is often neglected in our society.  It can be a time of contemplation in which we turn inward to find a deeper connection to the source of all we are and have.  We can seek and find the inner voice of God speaking to us – that so often still, small, quiet voice that is so easy to miss in the usual hustle and bustle and distractions and noise of what was the normal part of our life in the Western World until three months ago.  Richard Rohr addressed the need for contemplation in this time:

The word contemplation must press beyond the constraints of religious expectations to reach the potential for spiritual centering in the midst of danger. Centering moments accessed in safety are an expected luxury in our era. During slavery, however, crisis contemplation became a refuge, a wellspring of discernment in a suddenly disordered life space, and a geo-spiritual anvil for forging a new identity. This definition of contemplation is dynamic and situational. . . . Richard Rohr Daily Meditation June 11, 2020

There are many ways in which to practice contemplation from reading and reflecting on scripture, to prayer and meditation to being in the great outdoors of the world that God has created, keeping the social distance of course.  I will leave you with another passage from the psalms as a possible candidate for contemplation which seems to be speaking to this time. See which words or phrases resonate with you and spend a few minutes contemplating them.

A Song of Ascents.

130:1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
2 O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel
from all his iniquities.

Blessings on your journey in this time of COVID-19.

Who Is My Neighbour in the Time of COVID-19

What is the Christian response to what can be considered the next stage of the Corona Virus?  We are entering a stage in which the self isolation, thank God, is beginning to be relaxed and we are able to take small steps forward into what may be the new normal in our lives – at least until a vaccine is developed.  We will begin to interact more with others.  Some stores and other facilities are beginning to open to the public, albeit with social distancing rules in place. 

One aspect of this new stage is the wearing of masks.  The message on this has been somewhat less than straight forward since the beginning of what can be called the time of COVID.  Whether you wear a mask or not when you are in these - now new - situations whenever you encounter others.  Should I wear one or should I just maintain strict social distancing – keeping that Canadian perspective of a hockey stick distance from other people.  Is there a particular Christian perspective on this question?

Let’s look at the factors we might consider in addressing this question.  First, it is important to remember that you wear a mask to protect other people – it will do little if anything to protect the wearer from the Corona Virus.  If you are infected it will reduce and, hopefully stop, the spread of droplets to other people you may be in Contact with.  Second, it is important to remember that you can be infectious even if you are asymptomatic i.e. have no symptoms.  On the other hand, wearing a mask can be inconvenient.  It can be uncomfortable and if you wear glasses, as I do, the glasses tend to fog up when you wear them.  And some people might even think that they look silly if other people around them – hopefully at least a hockey stick away – are not wearing one.  I think many of us do not like to be the odd-person-out in a group – after all, what would they think about me?

The primary consideration here is, I believe, that as Christians we are called to love one another and particularly to love our neighbours as ourselves.  We can show our love for our neighbours by following all the guidelines in this new stage of dealing with the Corona Virus and specifically by wearing a mask when we are in situation where we come into contact with others.  Others may think we are being silly and overly cautious and it might be a bit inconvenient but it is one way in which we can love our neighbours as ourselves.

Take a mask and use it on your journey.

Prison or Refuge

CORDELIA

We are not the first
Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the worst.
For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down;
Myself could else out-frown false fortune's frown.
Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?

KING LEAR

No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison:
We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;
And take upon's the mystery of things,
As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out,
In a wall'd prison, packs and sects of great ones,
That ebb and flow by the moon.

That speech by King Lear in Shakespeare’s play of the same name, has resonated down through the years with the essence of old age which, regrettably, has been lost in our modern age.  However, it seems to be even more poignant in this time of COVID-19.  Lear responds to the daughter who has remained true to him as his world has been disintegrating around him throughout the play.  Little by little, through Lear’s folly rather than wisdom, he has made assumptions and followed his ego rather than seeking the higher wisdom that is possible for people who “grow old, instead to merely sinking into the aging process,”[1] to quote Helen Luke who was an exemplar of someone who did just that, ‘grow old’. 

As noted by Luke, Cordelia has the passion of youth and wants to go out and confront the evil that has overthrown the ruling value represented by Lear.  No, no – a thousand times no, is his response showing that as a result of all his trials and tribulations, he indeed has grown old, “Come, let us away to prison.”  The question for us today is our staying in place and self isolating a prison or a refuge.  It can be either depending on how we decide to see it.  This is a time, which seems to be more suited to introverts who seem to be more easily embracing this self-isolation, as a refuge than a prison.  At least that is my experience and the experience of Lorna as we are both strong introverts.  I’m not sure how the extroverts who are used to living in a world made for extroverts, are fairing.  I would suspect it is more of a prison for them.

Lear asks some engaging questions for these times; “Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;” I don’t know for sure who are the winners and who are the losers in this time of pandemic.  I suspect that it will be the usual suspects that win - those with the resources and influence seem to be able to win regardless of the circumstances.  The team of NBA basketball players that were all able to be tested while those on the front lines of dealing with the pandemic couldn’t.  It has become more evident in this time who is in and who is out in our society during the pandemic.  The essential workers have been recognized and acknowledged.   The front-line workers, the people who deliver the supplies and food, who work in the food store, and all the health care workers including cleaners, to those who pick the crops are now recognized as essential in our society.  Many of them are the lowest paid as it is clear that their remuneration has little or nothing to do with the essential nature of their work. 

It has, unfortunately, been brought front and centre what value we give to the aged in our society.  The fragility and inadequacy of the institutions where so many of our senior citizens spend end of their lives has been put in the spot light.  If that recognition is turned into action in the new normal of our lives that may be something positive that comes out of this dark cloud of COVID-19.  I live in hope that our society will grow in wisdom as a result of this rather than simply sinking back into the old ways of doing things.  I live in hope but am not hopeful - if that makes sense.

Blessings in your journey in this time of COVID-19; stay safe and keep the distance.

---

[1] Old Age, Journey Into Simplicity

Ringing the Bells

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That’s how the light gets in.

(Anthem by Leonard Cohen)

Yesterday on Easter Sunday, the bells were still ringing or perhaps I should say ringing again, after what seems like an eternity of silence.  Perhaps it was the sound of silence to call up another popular song.  There seems to be a defining sound of silence these days.  However, yesterday that silence was broken across Canada as the leader of the Anglican Church, Archbishop Linda Nicholls, called for the bells of Anglican churches to be rung at 9:00 a.m.   Lorna and I went over to St. James Anglican Church in Parkhill, Ontario and rang the bell – we only have one but that one rang out.  I hope that this let those within hearing distance recognized that this was the evidence that church bells still can ring even though church buildings have been closed for a month and we have not been gathering for worship. Before ringing the bell,  I prayed the collect prayer for Easter Morning and Lorna served as acolyte holding a candle:

Collect
Lord of life and power,
through the mighty resurrection of your Son,
you have overcome the old order of sin and death
and have made all things new in him.
May we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
reign with him in glory,
who with you and the Holy Spirit is alive,
one God, now and for ever.

Our offering of the bell ringing out was an offering even if it was not a perfect offering when compared to gathering together in worship especially on Easter Sunday.  We did not raise our voices together with those many beautiful Easter Hymns such as Jesus Christ is Risen Today, or Welcome Happy Morning.  However, we were able to tune in to the Easter Services on-line, of which there were many.  These were of varying quality as many clergy are using social media for the first time to make there worship available and, as one priest noted, he did not receive any training in how to do this in his theological studies.  However, as the great lyrics by Leonard Cohen state so wonderfully we need to forget our perfect offerings - all are acceptable to God. 

There is a deep truth in the song lyrics.  There are cracks in everything which have been made obvious at this time of self-isolation and quarantine.  We human beings do not easily embrace the cracks that appear in our lives whether it is in what we have believed is the foundation of our existence or even in our physical appearance – who is that old guy staring back at me in the mirror anyway?  However, perhaps in these days of COVID -19 we are beginning to see the light that is shining through those cracks.  We are beginning to really appreciate what is important and what is essential.  We can see that perhaps those people who are serving us and ensuring we have the necessities of life in this time of COVID-19 are the true heroes; the cleaners in the hospitals, the staff in the food stores, the truck drivers who are bringing the all the products to stock the shelves, the front line workers in hospitals and nursing homes.  All those who we now see as essential are so often the ones who are not compensated appropriately for people who are essential.  Perhaps there is some light shining through those cracks.

Blessings, stay well and keep the distance on this journey we are all on. 

Putting the Passion in the Palms

Sunday was officially The Sunday of the Passion with the Liturgy of the Palms in the Church Year .  The events of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to the adulation of the crowd waving palm branches and crying Hosanna in the highest were contrasted with the events of Good Friday and the passion of Jesus’ trial and crucifixion. 

When I was growing up, I can remember that these two events were ‘celebrated’ on different days.  Palm Sunday recounted the entry into Jerusalem and the passion of Christ was marked on Good Friday – which it still is today.  I attended the United Church of Canada in the first part of my life and in my memory, Palm Sunday was reserved to mark the events of the entry into Jerusalem.  When I started attending an Anglican Church at the mid-point in my life – as I measure it at this point – I was surprized that the two events of Palm Sunday and the Passion were celebrated together and then the Passion was marked on Good Friday – where, to my mind, it rightly belongs. 

I must confess that, in the years that followed which included my formal theological training, I did not explore, what seemed to me, a strange convergence of the two Gospel narratives.  The issue was never addressed and I also did not raise it.  However, I have always thought that it made more sense to keep them separate as I had experienced it in my earlier life.  Well, with circumstances being what they are this year i.e. churches being closed due to the COVID -19 pandemic and with us being thrown on our own devices for worship albeit with lots of material available on-line and other places – ironically there is an embarrassment of riches in this context -  I decided to make the best of the opportunity and investigate how this came about in the current liturgy of our church.

It says in scripture, seek and you shall find, knock and the door shall be opened, I sought and knocked on Google’s door and it did open.  I came across an article from the United Methodist Church in the United States which addressed this issue. The author is not named but it is under the publication Discipleship Ministries https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/why-palmpassion-sunday-and-not-just-palm-sunday.   The author notes that he or she was one of the representatives of their denomination that was involved with the change which came about with the development of the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) which is used today in most churches.  The article puts to rest the rather common belief that this change was made so that church goers who perhaps were lax in their attendance on Good Friday worship services would hear the Passion story.   The reader is assured that this was not the case.  Rather, it was to address the perceived need to re-establish the dual event as a connection between Lent and Holy Week:

As a result of all this work by all these Christians, worldwide, over all this time, we are where we are now -- with a recovered Palm/Passion Sunday as the hinge between a recovered Lent and a more intense Holy Week.

Behind this was the goal of re-establishing and addressing the need to strengthening the discipleship of the followers of Jesus Christ by building on the Lenten observances and the foundational events of Holy Week:

The recovery of Lent was not simply about re-syncing our current calendars with more ancient ones. Instead, it was primarily about recovering the church's mission of discipling people in the way of Jesus, and realigning our worship practices to support that mission.

These are very lofty goals; however, I believe that something vital has been lost as a result.  By binding the two events inexorably together it does not enable the worshiper to experience the full impact and importance of the events of that triumphal entry of Jesus who was fulfilling the scriptural role of Messiah or king riding on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).  We need to have the full effect of being one of the crowed massed along the route hoping against hope that here is the long-awaited saviour who will address all the wrongs we have suffered in our lives.  Here is the anointed one who will make right all the wrongs in our lives and magically give us a new creation, a New Jerusalem.

Unless we have that experience as fully as possible, we will not have the full impact of being one of the masses that will turn on that failed saviour with the rage of our disappointment when those unrealistic expectations are unfulfilled.  We will never have at least a taste of the experience being part of the crowd that cries “crucify him”. 

If we are honest with ourselves will we admit that each of us would be with that crowd; or perhaps we would “only” be with Peter and would deny knowing him when push come to shove.

Blessings on your journey this Holy Week.

Procrastination in the Time of COVID

People who know me well know that I am prone to procrastination.  Well, that came home with a vengeance yesterday.  My birthday is coming up being April 1stt – no bad jokes about being a fool please but perhaps my procrastination was foolish in this case – but fortunately not too serious.

At the beginning of February, I had received notices about the renewal being required for my drivers licence and vehicle licence – they expire on my birthday.  But no problem – or so I thought – I could go to the Service Ontario office a few blocks away and renew without any fuss or muss before that date.  One of the benefits of small-town life is the usual absence of long line-ups and busy offices.  With my schedule being rather free due to cancellations because of the COVID-19 restrictions on meetings and gatherings, I decided I would do the renewals the next day i.e. today.  Lorna and I were going for a walk yesterday and I noticed that the Service Ontario office had closed because of the pandemic.  What to do.  Well, no problem, I decided to renew on-line which was an option which I don’t usually avail myself of. 

Before going on-line, I thought I better check the expiry of my health card as well.  And, you guessed it, it was expiring as well.  You could say that this was a case of unharmonic convergence as they were all valid for different periods – one year, three years and five years.  In any case, no problem or so I thought - I could renew all of them on-line.  The computer age is wonderful isn’t it.  Well, I did just that - went on-line and managed to eventually get the drivers licence and vehicle licence renewed without too much difficultly.  The health card was a different matter – I was informed that I was not eligible to renew on-line.  What to do?  Apparently, I couldn’t renew on-line or in person.

I tried phoning and the line was busy – probably lots of procrastinators like me wanted to know what to do.  After a few more tries I got through and after not too long a wait on hold under the circumstances, I was able to talk to a real person.  I was informed that there would be no extensions to expired health cards.  However, not all of the Service Ontario offices were closed.  The one in Strathroy – about 20 minutes drive away was open.  It closed in about an hour i.e. five o’clock.  I thought, well no harm in waiting until tomorrow.  Then the outside voice of my conscience i.e. Lorna perked up and said I better go right then as that office could be closed tomorrow as the COVID-19 restrictions were increasing and becoming more real every day.  So, I decided perhaps more procrastination was not a good idea and headed off to Strathroy.

Well, to make a long story short – if it’s not too late, I got the renewal with no delays and no line-ups of any kind and found out that I was not eligible to renew on-line because my renewal notice had been returned as undeliverable.  As rather strange occurrences as I usually don’t have trouble receiving mail. 

In any case, all’s well that ends well as someone said.  Procrastination sometimes does not pay.  Some would say usually it doesn’t pay but I’m not sure I’m quite ready to accept that unconditionally – even in the time of COVID-19.  However, in general I could say that procrastination in the time of COVID is not a good idea. 

Love in the Time of COVID

The news cycle has been taken over by what is happening with the spread of COVID-19 which is the designation for the current corona virus replacing the news of the blockades which had its turn and has become yesterday’s news.  It is a pandemic by any common sense measure.  It is unlikely that COVID-19 will become yesterday’s news any time soon despite how fervent our prayers might be or the actions of our governments.

The people who know these things state that what the financial markets want more than anything else is certainty.  Well, by the reaction of the markets we have confirmation that there is no certainty where COVID-19 is concerned.  Lorna and I are dealing with our own challenge of uncertainty, having booked a grand tour to Western Canada beginning in the middle of May by VIA Rail.  We have put down a substantial deposit and have to pay the not unsubstantial balance by the end of the week.  In effect we have to fish or cut bait and decide if we will go ahead with what could be a trip at the height of a viral emergency.  It could also be that the outbreak has become yesterday’s news by that time as the warmer weather mitigates the spread.

At home, organizations large and small are facing the issue of what to do about gathering in groups.  Our bishop has issued a pastoral letter which is reassuring regarding worship with the passing of peace which is usually done by shaking hand and the receiving the communion elements.  Basically, it calls for common sense and no need for extraordinary measures at this time urging parishioners to stay home if they are unwell and above all wash hand frequently and thoroughly.  The advise is to sing Happy Birthday for the duration of washing but I think What a friend we have in Jesus would also be appropriate  The stress implied here is “at this time” as circumstances develop. 

The letter opens with the call that we “take appropriate precautions and also that we respond as faithful and caring Christians.”   The unstated implication is that we are called to love one another as Jesus Christ loves us.  We can best do that in this situation as in all others by showing our care for others.  In this case it might mean that we need to take extra caution about trying to ensure that we do what we can do to minimized the risk that we might spread the virus before we experience symptoms if there is any reasonable chance we have been exposed to the virus.  This is particularly the case if we have been travelling to area where there are cases of COVID-19.  Many faithful Christians will want to attend worship services after being away on a trip but perhaps the best way to show our love to the community is to stay home in such circumstance. 

This is only one example of how we have to rethink our daily activities in the coming days and weeks ahead.  As the hymn states, “they will know we are Christians by our love.”  Let us love one another at this time as we should at all times.

Blessing on your journey even if it is a journey staying home.