September 14 sermon: Little Things Don't Have To Mean A Lot

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. It is written: “As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.” So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

(Romans 14:1-12)

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    “Little things mean a lot.” You've probably all heard those words somewhere along the way. The words actually come from a song that's been performed by a lot of fairly well known singers over the years. The best known version is perhaps from Willie Nelson. It includes the words:

Blow me a kiss from across the room

Say I look nice when I'm not

Touch my hair as you pass my chair

Little things mean a lot.

Give me your arm as we cross the street

Call me at six on the dot

A line a day when you're far away

Little things mean a lot.

     Little things do mean a lot. When Willie Nelson sang those words, they were a reference to positive things. We can make the people who are important in our lives feel pretty good by doing little things, like the things that are talked about in the song. Not every act of love has to be a big production in other words. But it's also true in a negative way. Sometimes – maybe most often – it's little things that cause the most trouble; seemingly unimportant things that for some reason take on a life of their own and become a big issue. When I served in Sundridge I once had the sister of a groom who for some reason had taken charge of the wedding hit the roof and scream at me in my own home because she didn't think that the liturgical colours that were in the church because of the time of year would be a good complement to the bridesmaids' wedding dresses. True story. Ask Lynn. She was there. She heard it. So, I've developed a theory. There are three kinds of church fights: there are fights that have to be won because they're over an issue so important that if I don't get my way I just can't in good conscience stay; there are fights that have to be fought, because they're over meaningful issues and I think my opinion has to be made known but I can live with not getting my way. But then there's the third kind – there are fights that shouldn't be fought. They're over issues of no real significance. Maybe we have strong opinions, but in the overall scheme of things they just don't matter. In my experience, 90% of church fights I've seen over the 20+ years I've been in ministry probably fall into that category. Sure, little things mean a lot. But they don't have to mean a lot. Sometimes they're better off being ignored.

     Last week I was speaking about the importance of the community in making sure that we work together to resolve problems before they become big issues. Here's a practical example of a church with  a problem, and Paul's thinking about how to look at and resolve the problem. This passage seems to suggest that the problem in Rome is that some people are vegetarians and some aren't. We look at that and think – so what? But that's what's going on here.  At its core, the issue here is each group setting itself over and above the other group, claiming the high moral ground for its particular practices and opinions. On one side are the vegetarians and on the other are people who will eat anything, with each side apparently sneering judgmentally at the other about their behaviour.  The meat eaters say the vegetarians are weak; the vegetarians say the meat eaters are sinners. You know what? It's hard to praise God when you're busy passing judgement on everybody else over little things. And what Paul is trying to say is that in the life of the church, what really matters aren't little matters of spiritual or religious practice (and maybe not even weightier matters of doctrine.) What matters most is the relationship between God and believers. Paul saw himself as one of the meat-eaters. It was they who he saw as strong in the faith, because they realized that they could eat anything, while the vegetarians weren't vegetarians out of health or dietary reasons, but because the meat had likely come from pagan animal sacrifices. Their faith was weak because they didn't realize that in the face of Christ, pagan idols were nothing and so even if the animal had been sacrificed to a pagan idol, it didn't matter. Christians could still eat it. So Paul's advice was directed to the meat-eaters: don't look down on someone because you think their faith isn't as strong as yours; or just because you're convinced that you're right and they're wrong. Make room for the person whose faith is expressed differently than yours.

     Situations like this one in Rome still happen all over the place in the Christian world. It might not be vegetarian vs. meat-eaters. I suspect no one would care if at the next church potluck a few people brought vegetarian dishes. But there are other little things that divide people in various churches. Wafers vs. bread for Communion. Or wine vs. grape juice for Communion. Or should we come forward for Communion or should Communion be brought to us? How about contemporary music vs. traditional music. Now there's one! Or should we read from the NIV or the NRSV? And there's still a few King James only folks in the English speaking Christian world! Should we baptize babies or only adults? Should we just sprinkle or should we fully immerse? And who should we be willing to marry anyway? There's one that's still controversial. And all those disputes shine the light on exactly the wrong place. They put the spotlight on us and on our views and our opinions. But you know what? This is the church. Where's the spotlight supposed to be? Who's the spotlight supposed to be on? Paul's pretty clear about that too.

     God is the centre of everything. “God has accepted them ...” “... the Lord is able to make them stand.” “Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God.” “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” “As surely as I live,” says the Lord, “every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.” The point seems to be that where people are striving to honour God with their actions and practices (even if you do things in a different way) you accept them.

     There's a story about Ruth Graham – Billy Graham's wife. Dressed and made up as most American women in the 1970s would have been, she attended a luncheon with wives of pastors in Germany. These German Christians had more conservative ideas about how women should look. They didn't believe that a married Christian woman should wear makeup or clothing that made them look too worldly, and one German pastor's wife, sitting across from Ruth, became very upset. She thought it was shameful that the wife of this famous evangelist looked so worldly. Ruth Graham was even wearing mascara! The German pastor's wife became so angry that she started crying right over the beer she was drinking. Meanwhile Ruth Graham couldn't understand why the woman was crying, but it sure bothered her that a self-respecting pastor's wife was drinking beer at a meeting that was supposed to bring Christians together as the unified body of Christ.

     Sometimes we all get caught up with the little things. And – yeah – little things mean a lot. But the point is they don't have to mean a lot. Not all the time anyway. Sometimes it's better to focus on the big thing – God, revealed by Jesus.

A Thought For The Week Of September 8

"When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.'" (Luke 19:5) The story of Zacchaeus is a bit obscure. Just a few verses, and Zacchaeus never gets mentioned again. Which seems unusual. But it's an important story. It's an example of Jesus choosing to associate with someone whom society would have looked down upon. Zacchaeus was a tax collector - he worked for the Romans; he was a collaborator, and probably despised as a result. Most people would likely have had nothing to do with him. But Jesus reached out to him in an interesting way. It's not an invitation to Zacchaeus to come to him - he invites himself into Zacchaeus' home! "I must stay at your house today." That's rather bold of Jesus. But it worked. Zacchaeus was thrilled. First, that Jesus saw him; second, that Jesus welcomed him; third, that Jesus would enter his home in spite of the controversy that he must have known it would cause. I see here some interesting parallels to my own journey of faith. I'm not sure I was ever looking for Jesus to make himself at home with me. But he did. I know where that has led me, but one of the mysteries of the story is that we don't know what happened to Zacchaeus. Did the thrill last forever? Did it change his life? Was he simply satisfied with the feeling of acceptance he got from this man Jesus? We know nothing about Zacchaeus' future - and maybe that's the point. The appearance of Jesus in our causes causes each of us to respond in different ways - from wholehearted acceptance to passionate rejection. But either way it's a response to Jesus. And Jesus keeps appearing and keeps asking himself into our lives when we start to wander off. How are we going to respond to him? I hope with faith and with trust. Have a great week!

September 7 sermon - Why The Church Family Matters

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”

(Matthew 18:15-20)

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     It was in some ways an innocuous comment made as a post in a Facebook group of ministers that I belong to. The subject under discussion was the concept of the church as a family. That's an image which to me is very important. I think it says something about both our relationship with God and our relationship with each other. I think it teaches us something about how to live our lives of faith together. It also helps to explain both the strengths and the weaknesses of the church as a whole and of individual churches, because – let's face it – just as families can be healthy or unhealthy, functional or dysfunctional, so can churches be all of those things. “Family” - I believe – is an important image for the church. So I was a bit troubled by some of the comments that were being made. One person – whom I know a little bit – said that we have to be very careful with the image of the church as a family and we have to remember that the connection isn't by blood. Well, “blood” isn't necessarily what defines a family. As an adoptive parent I know that very well. But it was someone else's comment that bothered me most. It was from a person I went to theological college with but haven't seen since I graduated more than 20 years ago now. She said, with no hesitation, “we are not a family.” And I thought - “that must create a warm and happy and caring environment, when the minister states flat out that 'we are not a family.'” To me it was sad, and ever since I took part in that discussion, I've been reflecting upon the image of the church as a family and what it means and why it's important. Because it is.

     This passage from Matthew doesn't specifically use the language of family to speak about the church, but it does speak about the relationships we have within the church and how those relationships are supposed to be conducted. And, to me anyway, our relationships within this community are always conducted within the context of a Christian family. Families are complex things. Some are closer than others; and within families some family members are closer than other family members. Within families, there's a sense of connection and belonging – sometimes whether you want it or not! Our families give us the basis for how we identify ourselves. Within families there's usually a lot of love – and the reality of that means that there can also be flareups, and I've known family fights that turn into very long-lasting and unpleasant situations because when we feel let down by the people we also feel we should be closest to, it's difficult to let go of. Church fights are a lot like that as well. Church fights can easily get out of hand, because we know what this community is supposed to be about. We know we're supposed to love one another and serve one another and support one another and encourage one another. And when we fail to do that – when we choose instead to judge or criticize or attack; when we inadvertently hurt someone by a thoughtless word or a careless act or an inadvertent slight – then the community – the church family – is battered and bruised. And the unfortunate reality is that even though this is the church and even though we're followers of Jesus – every now and then we slip up and we say or do things we shouldn't do or we forget to do something we should do, and the hurt that gets caused can be devastating, and it can take a long time to heal – if it ever really heals. And we all have the potential to be a part of the problem. As Eric Barretto (a New Testament scholar) wrote, 

“ We are rather expert at spotting those rabble rousers around us, identifying their destructive habits, and condemning the ways they seek to destabilize our communities. Noticing when we are engaged in these very same behaviours is another story. After all, some of those troublesome people are us.”

     And as a community and as a family, when things happen that are destructive of the community, we have to pull together and find a way out. I believe that's what this passage from Matthew's Gospel is telling us to do.

     Was Jesus really intending to give his disciples a step by step manual for conflict resolution? I don't think so. What I do think Jesus was trying to do was instill in his disciples' hearts the importance of their being true community between different people who – in spite of their differences – could all agree that they were children of God, and, therefore, family to each other. Jesus, I think, expected that there would be differences and divisions and conflicts within the family. Jesus said, “truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” Most people take that out of context. They don't look at the setting Jesus speaks those words in. It's in the context of talking about how to deal with divisions in the church. If you read those words in that context, it's actually a rather sobering verse. It sounds less like Jesus saying with authority “if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” Instead, it sounds like Jesus wistfully saying, “if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” Do you see the difference the emphasis makes? The way I've come to read this, it's Jesus lamenting that it was going to be hard for his band of disciples (whether the 12 he had at that moment or the billions he's had since) to find even two who could be in complete agreement on anything. Which is kind of sad when you think about it. But I suspect it's true. It's both a strength and a weakness of the Christian faith. It makes Christianity more approachable for some people because they have the freedom to explore and think and pray and come to their own conclusions. But it also means that because we then have to live in relationship with those with whom we disagree our positions can become entrenched and we can become far too convinced that we're right and everybody else better shape up or ship out, so to speak.

     The point of the passage is clear, and it isn't the specific step by step details that matter – that's being far too literalistic. What Jesus is telling us is that we need to work together as a community to ensure the health and well being of the community. Problems have to be dealt with. Disagreements have to be acknowledged. Conflict needs to be addressed. As children of God – all of us a part of the family of God – we're called by Jesus to work together to keep the family healthy. It's love that  requires that we address the challenges that sometimes arise within the family unit. It's not enough to sweep them under the rug. That just allows the pressure to build and eventually blow up, and that makes even a Christian community unable to function as God calls us to. The first Sunday of September is traditionally looked on as the start of the church year. Lots is going to happen over the next few months. And, as in all families, from time to time were going to have disagreements. We need to remember to work together as a community and to be able to resolve differences when they arise without making anyone else in the community feel put down.

     I suppose that ultimately it comes down to forgiveness. Are we willing to forgive each other when the need arises. If we aren't, then what Jesus is saying seems true – the only option is separation. Somebody's gotta go! But we don't want it to come to that. We never want it to come to that. Forgiveness is the key in any family's life. Nelson Mandela said that “forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.” Forgiveness changes everything. And that's what we work toward – and we work toward it together. Within the family, no problem ever involves just two people – it involves everyone. And everyone needs to work together to make things right. That's what families do – even the family of God.

I've Been Thinking About Evangelism

My column for the In Port News, to be published September 12, 2014:

It's a dirty word to a lot of people. Even to a lot of Christians it's a dirty word. “Evangelism.” I think we shy away from it so much because of some of the excesses we see among many of the better known “evangelists.” Let's just say that I shy away from some of those as well. I've always believed as a Christian that our model in everything is to be Jesus. And what I see from Jesus (and from those who he had the change to engage with directly) is a kind of evangelism that's a lot different from our usual image today.

For some reason in recent weeks the story of Jesus encountering the Samaritan woman at the well has been coming to me a lot. I'm not sure why, but I've found that the Holy Spirit works that way. Some things just keep coming up for no obvious reason. It's God trying to get our attention perhaps. This morning I read that story over again and realized what a wonderful teaching passage it is to help us understand evangelism better. There's two examples of evangelism in the story, which is recorded in John 4. One type of evangelism is shown by Jesus himself; the other type is demonstrated by the woman herself. They're different approaches, but what they have in common is that neither resembles at all what we commonly think of today as evangelism.

Jesus doesn't even begin the encounter by talking about God or faith. The woman is at a well drawing water, so Jesus starts by talking about something the woman is well able to understand – the important of water. He needed water at that moment; he asked the woman to help him. Lesson 1: the evangelist can be as blessed by the evangelized as the reverse. We need to approach evangelistic opportunities ourselves with open hearts and minds. And Jesus didn't try to force anything on the woman. There were no threats; no statements of “you have to believe this or that or else.” After a bit of conversation, he simply got her attention by asking her if she would like living water that would satisfy her forever. And that provided an opening for Jesus to go deeper. And the woman was amazed. Jesus' evangelistic technique got her attention. And it pushed the woman to engage in her own evangelism.

She ran and talked to the people she knew about Jesus. Like Jesus, she doesn't seem to have forced anything on anyone. She simply explained what she had experienced. Jesus had touched her deeply, and people were amazed and curious. They wanted to experience this for themselves. That's also evangelism. We don't really have to tell people what to believe or convince them of anything. We invite people to experience Jesus. After all, we're not the ones who are going to “convert” anyone. That's the Holy Spirit's doing. We just want to invite people to experience Jesus – through the Scriptures, through the church, through our personal testimonies. That's evangelism too.

It's an important topic at this time of year. Most churches are shaking off the summer doldrums and getting things up and running again. And we have a lot of good news to share. If we pay attention to this story, we might learn how to share it better. Not by being pushy; not by threatening people with what will happen if they don't believe as we believe. Just by inviting them into the experience. That's what the Samaritan woman did: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could he be the Messiah?” It's what Jesus did. He found a connection that the woman could relate to – and he invited her into the experience rather than trying to force anything upon her.

Evangelism isn't a dirty word, and it's not hard to do. We have two great examples from this story of how to do it.

August 10 sermon - Questions and Answers

Well, it wasn't really a sermon. I took questions from the congregation for 20 minutes. I do this three times a year. Briefly, here's what came up in this morning's Q&A at church (The questions and my answers, edited for space!)

- What kind of food do tapirs eat? (That came from a child. I think it was my favourite question.) (They're herbivores! Thanks by the way to my associate for googling that and handing me her phone, cause I didn't know!)

- What did I like to do when I was a kid? (Also from a child. Something I still like to do - riding my bicycle. In fact, I rode my bike to church this morning!)

- What do I think about mediums and talking to the dead? (The Old Testament was very against it, I'm generally against it because I think it prevents us from letting go and moving on and it shows a lack of trust in God to take care of our departed loved ones.)

- How did Jesus feed 5000 people with five loaves of bread and two fishes? (I believe in miracles!)

- Could I believe Jesus was divine if he hadn't done any miracles? (Yes - I could.)

- Why do bad things happen to good people? (Because God gives us free will, and when I do something "bad" my choice impacts on others around me.)

- Does everything happen for a reason? (Not pre-planned; God doesn't "cause" everything that happens. Free will again. I don't believe in pre-determinism. But everything that happens is used by God.)

- Is there a delay between when we die and when we get to God? (Paul says that neither life nor death separates us from God, so the answer must be no, since we're never separated from God. And the idea that we have to "get" to God when we die implies that we've been separated from God.)

- Why did Jesus curse a fig tree? (This incident happens just after Jesus entered Jerusalem. I think - knowing what was ahead - that Jesus often became emotional and frustrated. Cleansing the temple, crying in Gethsemane, asking God to spare him from the cross - and cursing a fig tree. These, to me, are signs of Jesus' human nature coming out.)

A Thought For The Week Of August 4

"For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." (Matthew 18:20) Here in Port Colborne, Sunday was a double whammy this past weekend, from a church perspective anyway. It's a holiday weekend, meaning lots of people are away, and it's Canal Days - our community's great annual festival, meaning some others may have been concerned about the traffic or getting parked and just decided to stay home. The end result was a pretty low (OK - a really low) attendance at our Sunday service. But it did get me thinking about this verse of Scripture, and what it tells us about ourselves. We do often obsess about church attendance. As if it's the one and only measure of health. And, yes, of course we'd like to see our churches filled with people joyfully praising God and being transformed into Jesus' image. Of course we'd like that. But - praise and transformation are the key, aren't they? Maybe it's not all about numbers after all. Maybe we worry about that too much, and put too much emphasis on getting people into the pews and not enough emphasis on the people who are already there. I often reflect on David running into trouble with God because before a major battle he took a census of Israel's fighting men. That seemed a reasonable thing to do, but it displeased God according to the story. Why? Because it showed David putting faith in numbers rather than God. Setting aside what are probably some moral concerns and even distaste about portraying God as one who wants to lead his people into battle - I think the point is that we're to trust God and not numbers. It should be the same on Sunday morning, I think. We should trust God to be present and to work in our midst, whether there are 2 people - or 200 or 2000. Being together as Christians and worshiping God - that's what it's about. Not counting the numbers and lamenting that they're too small or rejoicing that they're so big - because that puts our focus on the wrong thing. Remember God. Remember that no matter how many are there - when you gather with fellow Christians Christ is among you. That's all that really matters. Christ is with you today - and in all the days to come. So - have a great week!

August 3 sermon: Always For Others

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

(2 Corinthians 1:3-11)

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     It's always about the other. Setting overtly religious language and formal doctrine aside, if I were asked to say one thing about Christian faith that a non-Christian might be able to truly relate to and understand without a whole lot of explanation being required, those might be the words I'd choose - “it's always about the other.” It seems to me that's how Jesus lived, and that's how Jesus reflected the love of God and the presence of God to those around him. He always made “the other” the focus of whatever he was doing at any given time. It was never about him. It's not that he didn't have needs; it's not even that he didn't have wants. But he never allowed his own needs or wants to become the focus. He was committed to the mission he was carrying out on God's behalf, and his early disciples, for the most part, seem to have learned that lesson. They understood that the faith in Jesus they now professed needed to be displayed in the same way that Jesus showed his faith in God – that they had to be “always for others,” and never for themselves – at least not as a first priority from the perspective of faith. Paul, for example, learned that lesson. In the course of his life of faith, he faced many hardships and he received a lot of comfort (from God and from fellow believers) – and he understood that every experience of his life (every challenge he had faced and every piece of comfort he had experienced from God or from others) – was valuable, because they gave him the ability to help others. By being comforted and helped, he was empowered to comfort and to help. He refers to God as the one “who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” The very principle of being “always for others” comes first from God, and we see that displayed throughout the Bible.

     The prime example of this principle is probably John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave ...” God is a giver, and not a taker. That's important to understand. It is true that if you read the Book of Job you come across the famous line, “the Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.” I'm not sure, though, that Job really meant that God was actively taking things away. In the context of that story I think the message was that in both the things we receive and the things we lose, God is present. The whole point of the story of Job is that God sees Job through calamitous times and never leaves him in spite of the troubles that he faces; that God continues to bless him; that God provides for him; that God sees him through his difficulties. So even though Job may say “the Lord gives and the Lord takes away,” it's clear that basically Job understands God as the one who gives and who will continue to give, and so Job is able to stay firm throughout his troubles because he knows that God is a giving God who won't abandon him. And that's shown most clearly for us in the story of Jesus. “For God so loved the world that he gave ...” What did God give? “... his only Son ...” Understand the giving of Jesus and the cross as you will (because there are different ways of interpreting the message of John 3:16) but the point is that God not only gave – God gave that which was most precious! God is always for others – God is always for us. God doesn't hoard that which is precious and valuable. God gives it away – to the world! It's the way of God.

     Of course, “God ... gave his ... Son.” And his Son gave as well. There are all sorts of examples in the Gospels of Jesus being always for others. A few days ago, in some private reading of Scripture that I was doing, I was working my way through Matthew 14. There's a passage in this chapter in which Jesus seems to put himself and his needs first. It's the passage where we see Jesus, tired and in need of refreshment, setting off in a boat to go to a secluded place, presumably for some rest and relaxation. What's interesting in the passage, of course, is that it's questionable as to whether Jesus ever gets his R&R. Someone found out where he was going, and a crowd gathered to meet him when he arrived. It was difficult for Jesus to get a moment by himself. It was before the days of the paparazzi stalking movie stars and other celebrities just for the sake of getting a picture, but people with their own needs still followed Jesus everywhere. Jesus – at that moment looking for a secluded place to rest and commune with God – perhaps could have been excused had he seen the crowds waiting for him and simply turned the boat around to find some other place. But no. Jesus understood the principle established by his Father. Always for others. And the passage tells us that rather than being irritated by the demands that others were putting on him and rather than simply turning around and trying once again to leave the crowd behind, he was instead moved by compassion – and instead of withdrawing he stayed among the crowd and he healed them, in spite of his own need for R&R. Jesus is our example in every day terms of someone who gives ... and gives ... and gives. Who lives always for others, sacrificing himself. Jesus was always for others. When there was need Jesus met it, no matter how much he might have wanted to take time for himself. It's the way of God; it's the way of Christ.

     And Paul understood the concept. We can see that from today's reading. From Paul's perspective, not only everything that a Christian has but even everything that a Christian experiences is neither for our benefit nor for our hardship – they represent opportunities for us to learn how to be active in serving others.  Everything that we have can be sacrificed for the sake of others, and everything that happens to us gives us the ability to relate to and help others in the same circumstances. God “comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” God is the one who comforts us, and so from God we learn how to be a comfort to others. God is the one who is with us when we're facing troubles, so that we have the example of standing with others who face troubles. Everything about our faith pushes us outward into the service of those around us, rather than inward to be concerned about ourselves. It's how we live as Christian people, it's how we live as a Christian congregation – by always putting the needs of others before our own. Otherwise, faith can easily become a selfish thing, in which we focus only on what we need, which easily becomes a focus on what we want but don't really need. Too easily, we can start to perceive our faith as being useful only for what we can get out of it – but faith, to be meaningful, is about what we put into it and about how it moves us to touch the lives of others. It's the way of God; it's the way of Christ; it's the way of Christians.

     And if it's the way of God, the way of Christ and the way of Christians – then it should be our way too! It should be how we live our individual lives – in true love and compassion and caring for others, and seeking ways to serve those around us. It should be how we live our corporate life as a congregation – also in true love and compassion and caring for others, and seeking ways to serve those around us. Either way, we have to remember that what's important isn't what we get out of having faith; it's about what we give away because of our faith. And if we really adopted that way of living, then what would there be to hold us back? We'd be free of fear, because we'd be willing to give everything away. That's the way of true life, and it's the road to resurrection. Being willing to give everything away for the sake of those in need. Being always for others. The way of God; the way of Christ; the way of Christians. Our way.