March 10 sermon - Life Of Jesus # 5: The Real Exorcist"

They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, He was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at His feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, don’t torture me!” For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places. Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss. A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So He got into the boat and left. (Luke 8:26-37)

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

     Some of you know that I’m sort of an amateur movie buff, and so you may find this hard to believe, but it was only a couple of years ago that I actually saw the movie “The Exorcist” for the first time. I have to be honest. I was actually rather underwhelmed by the experience, and I thought the movie quite over-rated, which means that as I did some reading about the movie and its background, I was really quite startled to discover the reception the movie received back in the early 70’s when it was released. With my now 21st century sensibilities, I regarded “The Exorcist” as really not much more than a pretty standard horror movie with not a whole lot going for it. Back in the 70’s, though, it was quite the controversial movie. There were calls in some countries for it to be banned. It was considered too shocking for people to view. In the UK, although it was released in the cinema with very severe restrictions as to who could watch it, “The Exorcist” wasn’t approved by the British Board of Film Classification to be released on home video - until 1999! It wasn’t considered appropriate as a film you would take home with you. I wonder what its critics would have said about today’s gospel passage, in which Jesus performs an exorcism - and drives a demon out of an obviously tormented man?

     The great author C.S. Lewis once wrote that “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.” Those words probably grate a little bit on our post-modern ears. We’ve entered an era which repeatedly tells us that the most important thing in the world is “me” and “my comfort.” Sometimes that way of thinking has taken over the church as well, so that people come to church to be made happy and comfortable - and woe to the preacher who doesn’t offer that in abundance! That reality was noted as long ago as 1965, when Pierre Berton wrote a book called “The Comfortable Pew,” in which he accused the church in general of simply becoming a part of the establishment with no desire to challenge the status quo rather than what he thought it should be: a calling to a counter-cultural way of life. I suspect that a part of the reason that we don’t take up that challenge often enough is because, among other things, it would force us to confront the very real existence of evil - and most Christians (I’ve observed over the years) like to shy away from the real existence of evil. In our post-modern, New Age, “spiritual but not religious” culture, it baffles me that most people are quite willing to concede the existence of “good” spiritual forces (such as angels) but they shy away from evil spiritual forces (such as demons.) I don’t see the logical reason for believing that one can exist, but the other can’t, but that seems to be where a lot of people are.

     But then we get confronted by passages like the one today: Jesus confronts and sets free a man possessed by a demon. What do we make of that? This might be an example of what Lewis meant by saying that Christianity isn’t what you choose when you want to be made comfortable. The type of picture painted in Luke 8 is a frightening picture. It gave birth to movies like “The Exorcist” - and even today in the Roman Catholic Church every diocese is supposed to have a priest who’s trained as an exorcist to deal with people who have been determined to be possessed. I knew a minister once (of a United Church!) who told me that he had been involved with exorcisms - and who then advised me not to get involved with that kind of ministry unless I felt a true calling to it. And I’ve had at least one situation in my own ministry (many years ago) of dealing with someone who frantically claimed to be possessed by a demon and who was finally “set free” (so to speak) only when I agreed to pray over him.

     I’ll be honest - I don’t really know what to make of this story. I’ve seen enough in my life and in my ministry to be forced to believe that evil exists - not just as bad things that people do, but as a real power that overtakes a person and forces them into completely inhuman behaviour. I can’t think of Paul Bernardo or Clifford Olson and not think that these were more than just bad people - that real evil was somehow involved. I can’t think of the Holocaust or 9/11 or the slaughter of innocent children in Connecticut and not think that these were more than just horrible events - that real evil was somehow involved. If you’ve ever heard someone ranting and virtually frothing at the mouth about blacks or gays or immigrants or Moslems then you’ll surely know that there’s a type and form of hatred that goes beyond anything rational and even beyond anything that can be explained in psychological terms, and if the love of God for us is beyond comprehension, so is the hatred that lurks behind evil. It’s deep, it’s dark and it’s dangerous!

     To me, the most frightening thing about “The Exorcist” is that there was no real explanation of how the young girl got possessed - which was probably the point: evil can strike anywhere for no obvious reason. There’s no explanation of the possession of the man Jesus encountered. He simply was possessed by evil. He was isolated (he lived in a cemetery) and he was violent and dangerous and apparently ridiculously strong (he was kept in chains and under guard, although he apparently kept escaping.) This story (and the movie) paints a great picture of possession - too great a picture, frankly. I think that people take from these pictures that evil is obvious. We’re going to know when it’s there and when it strikes. Like the Holocaust. Like a wild man living naked in a cemetery. Like a girl walking backward and upside down like a spider. Sometimes, perhaps, the stories of the gospel are too good. They paint such vivid pictures that we get complacent. If there’s no demon screaming from our mouth, then there can’t be a demon, and since that’s the stuff of a horror movie or even “just” the Bible - and not our real, everyday life - then there can’t be demons.

     I don’t know what to make of demons; in much the same way that I don’t really know what to make of angels. The Bible speaks of both. Whether we’re intended to take the stories literally and so assume that they’re actual sentient beings of some sort, or whether they’re meant to be understood as simply the  spiritual forces of good and evil around us and within us I’m not sure. But we do know that good and evil are both all around us and within us, and so, in one way or another, angels and demons are all around us and within us. I suppose that we can deal with the angels, but the demons - whatever they are - are more trouble. One of the pledges that gets made when a person is baptized is that evil will be resisted.To put that into the context of the gospel, the demons won’t be given free reign over our lives. They’ll be stopped. They’ll be fought. They have to be, because we all have them. We talk about them. Our “inner demons” we call them. Things that have entered our lives, usually through no fault of our own, and that - indeed - can take possession of us. Some are horrible things - addictions, experiences of violence or abuse. Many of them are fairly benign. They live in the background of our lives and our minds. They don’t pop up all that much. Maybe those around us don’t even know that they’re there. They don’t control us on a day by day basis and dominate our lives. But they’re there. And unfortunately, they do conquer some people - with usually tragic results not just for those who are conquered but for others as well. And if we don’t take them seriously then we give them free reign.

     To go back to C.S. Lewis for a moment, Christianity doesn’t exist to make people comfortable by patting them on the head and telling them, “now don’t you worry. There’s no such thing as evil and demons.” Christianity says that such things (in some real and tangible form) are real and that they’re powerful and that they affect us and that we shouldn’t take them lightly - and then to remind us that as powerful and as frightening as they seem, they’re beaten. Completely and totally beaten. Because Jesus can set us free. Completely and totally free. Which doesn’t mean that we’ll never be bothered by evil again, but it does mean that it can’t beat us and it can’t take away that which God has given us - grace, love and new life. As I said earlier, I don’t really know what to make of demons - except that they’re mentioned in the gospels, and Jesus did battle with them - and He won! Forget Father Merrin in the movie “The Exorcist.” Jesus is the real exorcist. He’s the one who sets us free. He’s the one who makes it possible for us to live for God.

A Thought For The Week Of March 4

"You didn’t receive a spirit of slavery to lead you back again into fear, but you received a Spirit that shows you are adopted as his children. With this Spirit, we cry, 'Abba, Father.'" (Romans 8:15) One of the first things I can remember learning about Aramaic, when I became interested enough in the Bible to wonder about some of those strange words that Jesus periodically used, was that "Abba" meant, sort of, "daddy." It was an affectionate and intimate term that Jesus used to refer to God. It pointed out the special relationship between, in trinitarian terms, the Father and the Son. At the same time, Paul, in this verse from Romans, tells us that we too have the chance to cry out "Abba, Father" - to enjoy and to express joyfully our own special, affectionate and intimate relationship with our God. Paul basically says that we have a choice. We can live in fear, with a spirit of slavery - slavery to this world and its ways, subject to the principalities and powers that swirl about, trying to draw us ever farther away from God - or, we can choose the spirit of adoption, being constantly reminded and assured that we are God's, loved by God with a depth and a passion that is hard for us even to imagine. The beautiful thing is that anyone can have that relationship of intimacy with God. No one is cut off, or rejected. We don't even really have to approach God, because God is already with us. We just have to set aside the fears that hold us back and that hold us captive and that sap the energy and joy out of life. I hope we'll all find ourselves crying "Abba, Father" over the next few days. Have a great week!

March 3 sermon - Life Of Jesus # 4: Like Little Children

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have Him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, He was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them. (Mark 10:13-16)

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

     Usually, when someone tells you that you’re acting like a child you take it as an insult. It means that you’re acting in an immature manner, you’re doing silly things. And usually that’s true. Adults sometimes act like children. I know someone (and it’s not me!) who - every time the Leafs lose a game - threatens to beat up fans of the opposing team and rip their heads off. And sometimes I (and others) have to treat him like a child, and we’ve told him regularly, “You’re acting like a 7 year old! It’s a game! Grow up!” But he doesn’t. And he doesn’t make himself look good by doing it! But it’s not always bad to act like a child. In fact, sometimes it’s the most faithful thing we can do, and the most faithful way we can act. In the Gospel reading today, people were bringing their little children to Jesus to ask for a blessing. This was pretty typical behaviour in the day. Jewish families often brought their children to rabbis to be blessed, and that’s basically how Jesus was perceived. But the disciples didn’t like this. I don’t really know why they objected. Maybe they thought Jesus was being overworked? Maybe they thought they should have Jesus all to themselves? Some people think the rebuke was because the disciples felt that the parents were being superstitious - as if having Jesus touch their children would do something magical in a child’s life. Whatever it was, the disciples rebuked these parents for bringing their children to Jesus. And what’s most important, of course, is that Jesus rebukes the disciples in turn.

“Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them.

     Whatever the objections of His disciples were, Jesus apparently though rather highly of little children, and I suspect that His words must have cut His own disciples to the core: “anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” So, the question is, why did Jesus make little children an example for his disciples, and I guess then, for us as well? We usually think of childhood as something to grow out of. I guess for Jesus, though, there’s a big difference between being child-like and being childish. Childishness - like threatening to beat someone up because they support a different hockey team - is something we should leave behind. But to be child-like seems a precious thing to Jesus.

     Marjorie Foerster Eddington is an educator. She works with children and teens, and she’s involved with a ministry called “Bible Wise” that tries to teach the Scriptures to young people. She identified five qualities of little children that she thought Jesus was particularly attracted to. I want to share those five qualities, and I give credit to Eddington for pointing them out and helping to define them.

     First, little children are completely trusting of their parents. Whatever they need - a shoulder to sleep on, a diaper change, milk or food, a hand to help them walk, arms to crawl into -- they turn to their mommy or daddy with wide eyes, open arms, complete trust. Obstacles may be in the way, but as long as they’re holding onto the hand of a parent, they’re totally confident that they’ll make it. Jesus wants us to be completely trusting of God. No matter what happens we should trust that God is going to take care of us. Even with God at our side, we might have to take a few nervous, deep breaths - but that’s what children do. They trust their Parent. We trust our God.

     The second thing is that children love discovering things and learning things! Children point to everything. They have a sense of wonder. They want to know what this is, what that feels like, what it smells like, what something tastes like. They’re open to everything their senses tell them is around them. Jesus is asking us to be always wanting to learn more about God. Jesus wants us to be humble enough to say “God, teach me everything there is to know about You and Your creation.” Jesus doesn’t want us to stop doing that. After all, God is infinite and eternal, so just imagine how much we have yet to learn!

     Then, when little children (especially babies) discover something new, they look at it from every angle, they put it in their mouths, they roll it around. They are totally focused on now. They have the quality of immediacy. They’re totally focussed on what they have at any given moment. Jesus is asking us to be more absorbed in the present moment with God? Jesus wants us focussed on “now” - on “today.” Not lamenting yesterday and not fearing tomorrow, but focussed on today. Think of how our lives might change if we were completely focused on what God is giving us to work with, to do, to think about, to love - right now at this very moment. We wouldn’t worry about our career, or our pension, or our health, or the mistakes we’ve made or the sins we’ve committed. We’d find it so much easier to forgive and to move forward.

     A fourth quality that I suspect Jesus admired in little children was sheer joy. Children laugh and take delight in the simplest of things - a silly face, a little tickle, a tumbling toy. Ever play peek a boo with a baby and enjoy the laughter and smiles you got in return? Children don’t even think what others will think of them. They’re just joyous. They smile. They laugh. Jesus wants us to have that gift. Not to be worried about what somebody else thinks of us, but just to be ourselves. Just to be able to express our joy without limits or worries! Really - isn’t that what God wants for us? Repeatedly in both the Old and the New Testaments, we’re told to “rejoice.” How many of us lose the joy of living as we grow up? How many of us become deadly serious? That’s not what Jesus wants.

     Finally, Jesus admired the purity of children. Children don’t find themselves burdened by worldly concerns or issues or problems. How many people do I know who grew up during the Depression and have shared with me that “we never knew we were poor. That’s just how we lived.” Children see the good. Nothing’s more tragic than when a child’s pure and innocent view of life is taken away. But no matter what happens to us, God loves us and God heals us and God can restore us to purity. Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” So it’s possible. If we can see and understand the goodness of God’s Kingdom around us, we’ve claimed for ourselves the purity of a little child.

     “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” I don’t think that’s a threat by Jesus. It’s not an attempt to keep certain people out of the Kingdom. It’s a way of throwing open the doors to the Kingdom to let everyone in by telling us what we need to reclaim for ourselves to truly understand that the Kingdom is all around us every moment of every day.

     Trust, wonder, immediacy, joy and purity. These are the qualities of little children - they’re also the keys to the Kingdom of God. May they be what defines our lives of faith!

The Biggest Challenge Facing The Church

Sometimes I get questions from people who want to talk about all the challenges the church is facing in the modern world. Usually, these "challenges" come down to one of three things - declining attendance, declining membership and increasing budget deficits. In my own context of Central United Church in Port Colborne, although our attendance is well below what it was about 20-30 years ago, in fact for the last 5 years we've been holding pretty steady. Our membership has taken a hit, and, yes, we have budget deficits. Sometimes big ones. We have some reserves to cover them, but they'll eventually run out if we don't straighten things out. Fortunately, over the last couple of years things have been getting better. The deficits have been going down. That's good news. Overall, though, those three things are the things I hear talked about as the biggest challenges facing the church today. A fourth that sometimes gets mentioned is the increasing secularization of society. I'm not going to deny that those are all significant challenges. They are. But I am going to suggest that none of them are our biggest challenge (either at the micro level of my own congregation, or at the macro level of western Christianity.) The biggest challenge facing the church today is a lack of hope.

Those other challenges can cause us a lot of problems, but when we lose hope, we can easily find ourselves paralyzed. We start to die not so much because we're dying, but because we're convinced that we can't survive. And we become more and more insular, more and more focused on ourselves. Ultimately, the purpose of the church stops being outward mission and becomes fund-raising in increasingly desperate attempts to keep the doors open for another few months. People get worn out serving the institution, and they forget about serving God. Or, they get the two mixed up - and serving the institution becomes serving God. And it's all because we lose hope for the future, we become convinced that we're going to die and so we become committed to just hanging on for as long as we can. Rather than something to be embraced for its potential, tomorrow becomes something to be feared. And that's such a shame. We should face the future with excitement and confidence - and , yes, hope. Loss of hope is the greatest challenge facing the church today, not just because it makes us fearful, but because it runs so counter to what we as Christians believe.

We believe in a risen Lord! Jesus died - and yet Jesus lives! How can we who follow Jesus be so fearful about the possibility that a congregation might die? From death comes resurrection. From death comes new life. And I don't believe we have to literally die to be resurrected. There are congregations today that are dead already - they just don't know it yet, or they're fighting against that reality. But even that reality is (if looked at properly) their great hope - because maybe resurrection awaits. Maybe new life is around the corner. Faith is supposed to release us from fear by reminding us that the thing we fear most - death - is already defeated. So, what's to fear? Why not be hopeful? We should be the most hopeful people of all, because Jesus died - and yet Jesus is alive!

I don't have a prescription for church survival. There are all sorts of church growth books out there; all sorts of programs that are specifically designed to bring the masses into your congregation; all types of new and modern worship and music that will attract the young people. And if you could just get a better minister! Well, I think if we put our faith in books or programs or different kinds of music or liturgy or ministers we'll be disappointed. Some of those things might be good and useful. Others probably aren't. But our only hope is in God. Fearing the future; falling into despair about tomorrow; giving up on possibilities. Those are signs that we've lost our faith and we're just trying to hang on. It doesn't mean that we're bad people. It means that we're real people with real challenges. But sometimes we need to take a step back from the problems of today and take a look at the world and universe around us and remind ourselves - God is with us! We are not alone!

A Thought For The Week Of February 25

"You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you." (Isaiah 26:3) Peace is a word that gets mentioned a lot in the Bible. Even Jesus is called "the Prince of Peace." I sometimes wonder if we ever really give enough thought to what is meant by this "peace," though. Is it the absence of war? Obviously not. Even Jesus said that war would continue. Not that we shouldn't stand for peace, but I don't think that's really the biblical idea of "peace." This "peace" - this "perfect peace" that Isaiah speaks of - is the inner quality of contentment that God places within those who follow him. It doesn't mean detachment from or disengagement with the world. In fact, it means quite the opposite. We should be actively engaged with the world, and doing all that we can to offer a glimpse of God's Kingdom through our own lives. In fact, this "perfect peace" is what allows us to do that, because the call God gives us is a hard one. In practical terms, there will probably be more failures than successes; more steps backward that giant leaps forward. But as people with the "perfect peace" God places within us, we can continue on, knowing that no failure or setback can do anything to separate us from the God who loves us and will never let us go. That's "peace," and that peace empowers us to do literally anything God calls us to do. Have a great week!

February 24 sermon - Life of Jesus # 3: So What Would It Take Today?

Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news about Him spread throughout the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. Jesus went to Nazareth, where He had been raised. On the Sabbath He went to the synagogue as He normally did and stood up to read. The synagogue assistant gave Him the scroll from the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the synagogue assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on Him. He began to explain to them, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.” Everyone was raving about Jesus, so impressed were they by the gracious words flowing from His lips. They said, “This is Joseph’s son, isn’t it?” Then Jesus said to them, “Undoubtedly, you will quote this saying to Me: ‘Doctor, heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we’ve heard you did in Capernaum.’” He said, “I assure you that no prophet is welcome in the prophet’s hometown. And I can assure you that there were many widows in Israel during Elijah’s time, when it didn’t rain for three and a half years and there was a great food shortage in the land. Yet Elijah was sent to none of them but only to a widow in the city of Zarephath in the region of Sidon. There were also many persons with skin diseases in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha, but none of them were cleansed. Instead, Naaman the Syrian was cleansed.” When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was filled with anger. They rose up and ran Him out of town. They led Him to the crest of the hill on which their town had been built so that they could throw Him off the cliff. But He passed through the crowd and went on His way. (Luke 4:14-30)

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

          “When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was filled with anger. They rose up and ran Him out of town. They led Him to the crest of the hill on which their town had been built so that they could throw Him off the cliff.” That seems a little excessive, don’t you think - and not an especially friendly way to welcome Jesus back home. Jesus was from Galilee, and the synagogue he spoke in front of on that particular day was apparently his home synagogue - the people among whom He had been raised; the people who had been influential in teaching Him about faith; the people who had nurtured Him from the time He was a boy. And now they wanted to throw him off a cliff? That would be like Victoria Park United Church in Scarborough - my home church that nurtured my faith and sent me off into the world of ministry - asking me to come home to preach and then, because they didn’t like my message, pushing me into the middle of the traffic on Victoria Park Avenue. It wouldn’t be very nice. Actually, this passage makes me think back to the first sermon I ever preached here at Central - more than 8 years ago. Those of you who were here undoubtedly remember what I said, but for those who’ve joined the congregation since, on that auspicious occasion I said something along the lines of wanting my preaching to honour Jesus, but not expecting to draw forth the same extreme reactions that Jesus caused in people. So far, although from time to time some of you may not have agreed with me 100%, no one has tried to drive me off a cliff - which could, I suppose, be simply the result of there being no cliff particularly handy! Nevertheless, the reaction of the folks in the synagogue on that day seems a little bit excessive. What was it that Jesus had said that got them so riled up - to the point at which they were prepared to kill him?

     So, obviously the first question before us as we contemplate this passage is: what did Jesus do to provoke such an extreme reaction? What was the power of these words:

“And I can assure you that there were many widows in Israel during Elijah’s time, when it didn’t rain for three and a half years and there was a great food shortage in the land. Yet Elijah was sent to none of them but only to a widow in the city of Zarephath in the region of Sidon. There were also many persons with skin diseases in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha, but none of them were cleansed. Instead, Naaman the Syrian was cleansed.”

     These are the words that transformed an otherwise peaceful synagogue crown into a murderous mob. The only possible answer is that the crowd was enraged when reminded that God’s love and power were extended to others, and not just to themselves or to their own co-religionists. It was a widow in Sidon who fed Elijah during a time of famine and it was a Syrian who was cleansed. The power of God was seen to be working in unexpected places and in unexpected people, and this rankled the crowd. First they were stunned, then they were angry and they they turned murderous! All because they were reminded that they couldn’t contain the love of God to just themselves or their own people; that they instead had to be willing to acknowledge that God was not just their God; that God was God - God of all the world and God of all people. God’s blessings would have to be shared; they couldn’t be hoarded. God’s love couldn’t be confined to a particular nation or a particular group of people. God’s love extended to humanity. There was no room for pride on the part of God’s people. They weren’t special - they were just loved, like everyone else. The only thing that was different was that God’s people had a responsibility to take the light of God’s love to the world.

     That’s no different for God’s people today. We gather here as the people of God, and while we have been blessed by the realization that we are the people of God, we’ve not been given any place of pride - instead, we’ve been given the work of sharing the good news of God’s grace. Our congregation is not at all unlike that synagogue Jesus spoke in front of 2000 years ago. Christianity today has much in common with the Judaism of Jesus’ day. And if we have so much in common, then a troubling question gets raised in the light of this reading: what would it take to turn us into a frenzied mob today?

     We may not ever try to drive someone off a cliff (to take their life) but I wonder. If Jesus were here and spoke from this pulpit and essentially said (as he said in Nazareth) “you’re nothing special,” how would we respond? We probably wouldn’t like it. We might not try to drive Jesus off a cliff (or off the edge of the Welland Canal) but we probably wouldn’t like it. Truth be told, don’t we like to believe that we’re special? Don’t we like to believe that as believers we have a special place in God’s heart, so to speak? And if someone were to challenge that (Jesus, me or anyone) then the congregation might be a little bit taken aback. We probably wouldn’t be turned into a bunch of homicidal maniacs, but we probably also wouldn’t be very happy. Because we want to be special. Deep down, buried, tucked away in our innermost fantasies is the desire to be special - but Jesus seemed to say that to God everyone is special. Syrians and Sidonians then. Perhaps Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists today And everyone else of course. And that rankles at least some people.

     I want to say that we are special. We’re special to God. We’re “God’s own people,” 1 Peter says. But let’s understood what that means. We’re special not because we’re better or more loved by God than anyone else. We’re special because we’ve been entrusted with the gospel - and with the great responsibility of sharing the gospel. That’s our life’s work and that’s our faith’s work and that’s what makes us special. Having our “special status” with God challenged might sting (just as it stung the people of Nazareth long ago) and being told that our “special status” really means the call to be a servant may not sound like much fun. It may not be glamorous. But it’s the truth. And, in truth, it makes us special beyond belief. To be entrusted with the gospel; with the very word of God, and to be asked to share the news of God’s love with the world. What a privilege that is!

February 21 sermon - What We Should Give Up For Lent

(Preached at the weekly Lenten service at St. James-St. Brendan Anglican Church in Port Colborne)

Whenever New Year’s Day comes around, I tell people who ask me if I’ve made any New Year’s Resolutions that, in fact, I haven’t. I haven’t done so in a lot of years actually - because the last New Year’s Resolution I made I’ve been able to keep and I don’t want to press my luck! Some years ago, on New Year’s Day, I resolved to stop making New Year’s Resolutions. You see, they always seemed to set me up for failure. I’d convince myself that I would stop doing this or start doing that, and before you knew it I’d either be doing the thing I had resolved not to do or I had stopped doing the thing I had resolved to start doing. So what was the point? I was tired of setting myself up for failure, so I made the one New Year’s Resolution that I was pretty sure I could keep, and so far I’ve kept it - I resolved to stop making New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve adopted more or less the same principle with Lent. Many people mark Lent by choosing to give something up for Lent; something they love; something whose absence they’ll notice. Some of you here today have probably made that type of pledge, and I applaud you for it, and I respect you if you can stick to it. Me? Again, perhaps my will is simply weak, but I fear I’d be setting myself up for failure by promising to give something up that I love. What would I give up? Oh, I don’t know. I could give up watching hockey or basketball for Lent. I’d miss the Leafs and the Raptors. I could give up Facebook, but it’s become one of my prime tools for keeping in touch and up to date with people, so that wouldn’t actually be productive. I could give up preaching, but Central United Church wouldn’t be too pleased if I made that decision (or maybe they would! Maybe I shouldn’t ask!) The point is that if I committed to give something up for Lent, I think it would be like a New Year’s Resolution. I’m not sure I’d make it, and I’d be setting myself up for failure, and so, years ago, I decided to give up giving something up for Lent. So far, I’ve been successful at that. 

     Whether or not we choose to give something up for Lent, far more productive, I think, is getting ourselves into what you might call a better spiritual groove. I think it’s better to take something on for life, rather than to give something up. More prayer, more Bible reading, more meditation, more faithful church attendance, more giving to charity. The possibilities are endless. I want to read today from a portion of 1 Timothy. It’s from Chapter 6, and it’s where Timothy is told to teach properly, to flee from all the things that cause trouble, and to pursue “a righteous life.” I’m using Eugene Peterson’s translation, called “The Message.”

These are the things I want you to teach and preach. If you have leaders there who teach otherwise, who refuse the solid words of our Master Jesus and this godly instruction, tag them for what they are: ignorant windbags who infect the air with germs of envy, controversy, bad-mouthing, suspicious rumors. Eventually there’s an epidemic of backstabbing, and truth is but a distant memory. They think religion is a way to make a fast buck. A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough. But if it’s only money these leaders are after, they’ll self-destruct in no time. Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after. But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life - a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses. I’m charging you before the life-giving God and before Christ, who took His stand before Pontius Pilate and didn’t give an inch: Keep this command to the letter, and don’t slack off. Our Master, Jesus Christ, is on His way. He’ll show up right on time, His arrival guaranteed by the Blessed and Undisputed Ruler, High King, High God. He’s the only one death can’t touch, His light so bright no one can get close. He’s never been seen by human eyes - human eyes can’t take Him in! Honor to Him, and eternal rule! Oh, yes. Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage - to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:2-19, The Message)

     Timothy is being challenged in this letter to give some things up, and to tell others that they should give things up. He’s also being challenged to pursue “a righteous life.” This, I think is the key, when we think about today’s Lenten practices. Giving something up is fine. Giving up something that’s enjoyable but that’s neither sinful nor harmful might be a sacrifice for a few weeks. Giving up some type of bad or even sinful behaviour is a right and proper thing, but I hope that will last far beyond Lent. But in 1 Timothy, the message for all of Christian life (and not just for Lent) seems to be that God is calling us to a radically changed life that’s lived in ways that are counter to the ways of the world and society around us. It’s not just a matter of giving something up or taking something on. Both of those can lead to pride - “I did it!” we might cry when it’s over. But Timothy is told to be changed; to be transformed by pursuing a life of righteousness; a life of right relationship with God and others; a life that stands as a contrast to the ways of the world and that serves as a light of hope to those who look around them and yearn for something different; for something better.

     Timothy is basically being told to give up covetousness; to give up desiring those things that he doesn’t have; to give up wishing that he had more, more - always more. That’s so often the way of the world isn’t it. You never really have enough, so you always need more. And eventually, that type of thinking can work its way into a life of faith as well, so we start to think that we’re never really good enough, and we can never be good enough. And that impacts our life, it impacts our relationship with God, it impacts our relationship with those around us, it impacts how we feel about ourselves; it impacts our understanding of faith and why it’s important. It’s why Timothy is told to “pursue a righteous life.” This is what God wants of us; this is all God asks of us. Not to be righteous; but to “pursue righteousness.” To seek God, to love God, to desire to be closer to God. And then, by doing all that, to learn the meaning of true righteousness - which is caught up in the very concept of love as God displays love - sacrificial love, always directed outward to others.

     Jesus died on a cross. There was God’s ultimate display of love. There was God’s ultimate example of righteousness. We’re not called to do that. But we are called to live righteously - by the principle of sacrificial love that we pour our for those around us, just as Jesus poured out His life for us. If a Lenten practice of giving something up for a few weeks is important, then so be it, but don’t let it be just a Lenten practice that comes to an end with the joy of Easter Sunday to be forgotten for another 11 months. Let is be the reminder of the sacrificial love that’s been shown to us and that we’re called to show to others. There are all sorts of opportunities to serve and sacrifice for others that will be all around us the moment we leave these doors. Seizing hold of such opportunities is one of the signs that we’ve chosen to pursue a righteous life, as God desires from us!