A Thought For The Week Of December 18, 2017

"This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:12) With Christmas fast approaching, I find my attention drawn ever closer to the incarnation - its meaning, its purpose and its implications. A line from C.S. Lewis seemed appropriate: "The Eternal Being, who knows everything and who created the whole universe, became not only a man but (before that) a baby." That's rather mind-boggling. The Supreme and Almighty God came to us in as vulnerable a way as possible: as "a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Babies are completely dependent on others; and completely vulnerable to those who would harm them. And yet, that is how God came. That picture of incarnation says two things to me. First, that God - having been vulnerable - understands what it is to be vulnerable. Those who are the vulnerable among us (and any of us might be vulnerable at any given moments - and some may always be vulnerable due to their circumstances) are not alone. God who was vulnerable understands the vulnerable and stands with them. Far from being abandoned - they are loved, perhaps in a specially intimate way because God has shared this condition. Second, this reminds me that God calls upon we who are able to look out for the vulnerable: to accept and welcome them; to protect them and their rights; to stand up when systems or society abuses them or tries to cast them aside. Jesus said that "whatever you do for the least of these you do for me." By "the least of these" Jesus was in fact speaking of the extremely vulnerable of our society. When we stand for them we stand for Jesus - because Jesus was one of them. Incarnation - that God took on human flesh - is especially important to my own understanding of the Gospel. Understanding the vulnerability that Jesus experienced through the incarnation reminds me of what my purpose as a Christian is - to be a voice for those whose voices are silenced, and to look out for those who through no fault of their own cannot look out for themselves, or at least who need help to do so.

December 17 2017 sermon: The Christmas Angel To Mary: Answering The Unanswerable

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

(Luke 1:26-38)

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

     Like pretty much everybody, I love a good mystery. There’s nothing quite like reading or watching a good mystery – walking through the story with the characters and struggling with them to try to figure it all out. Sometimes I’m successful at solving the mystery and sometimes I’m not, but the fun is in the trying; the fun is in the existence of the mystery itself and the invitation the mystery represents to puzzle it out. I don’t think there’s anybody who doesn’t love a good mystery. Setting aside books and movies and TV shows, there are all kinds of mysteries in the world. What do we make of people who claim to have seen UFOs, or sasquatches, or yetis, or chupacabras? We might dismiss them as crazy, or we might just assume that they’re mistaken, or we might believe them, but the mystery is still intriguing, isn’t it? The fun is in wondering if it’s really true or not – or even if it’s possible! When I was a kid I was really into the whole UFO thing. There are a lot of really great UFO stories out there. I don’t know if many of you saw this in the news, but on June 17 of this year a wildlife photographer was taking photos in the marsh area near the General Motors headquarters in Oshawa, when he noticed this object off in the distance:

     He said 

“I was walking back to my car and I just saw something pop out of nowhere, way up high, far away in the sky. I thought it was a big turkey vulture so I just took a picture of it anyway and then it kind of hovered, sat there for a minute and then it took off. … A balloon wouldn’t go that fast and disappear … and it was too high. Nobody would be flying a kite there because it’s just railroad tracks and the road and there was nobody around there. … and where did it go? … It’s just really odd; I’ve never seen anything like that. … I don’t know what it is”

     I’ve been to Oshawa a few times – and seen a few things there (a few of them kind of strange!) – but I’ve never seen anything quite like that. It’s a mystery – and it’s close to home! You have to love it!

     There’s another – and far more significant – mystery that’s even closer to home for us. The Christian faith deals in mystery. The opening works of “A Song Of faith” - one of the United Church’s statements of doctrine – are “God is Holy Mystery, beyond complete knowledge, above perfect description.” And yet, for all that mystery, week after week we seek to know God better, even if we can’t know God perfectly. But rather than simple answers we proclaim mystery; rather than a simplistic view of God we proclaim a God who is Holy Mystery. Advent is a season of mystery, as we reflect on the nature of the God who boggles the human imagination by becoming one of us. During Communion services we often summarize the mystery of our faith with the words “Christ has died – Christ is risen – Christ will come again,” but I want to suggest that there’s a fourth and essential part of the equation that gets left out: Christ was born! That’s just as mysterious! At one time in my life of faith I would have called myself an Easter Christian and argued up and down and sideways that Easter was the central celebration of the Christian faith; that without the resurrection Christianity would be emptied of its power. Now, I haven’t abandoned either Easter or the resurrection. I still don’t believe there would be a Christian faith (at least not one we would recognize) without the resurrection, but I have come to the conclusion that I’m more of a Christmas Christian. Resurrection is central to our faith, but crucifixion and resurrection lost their focus if they themselves aren’t grounded in incarnation – in the birth of Jesus as God in the flesh, as strange and mysterious as that sounds.

     The idea of God in the flesh may sound mysterious to us – but it was just as mysterious two thousand years ago to those who were closest to the event.

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

     There’s the question, folks: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” Actually, you can even set aside the last part of that question. It’s not that I don’t believe that Mary was a virgin, but maybe – just maybe – that isn’t really the point. Maybe all that really needs to be said is, “How can this be?” How could God be one of us? Why would God be one of us? Maybe the process by which that happened is less important than simply that it happened! Advent pushes us to consider the mystery of incarnation; to ask the questions and to embrace the uncertainties and in doing so to be touched and transformed by God.

     Of Jesus, A Song of Faith says,

In response to who Jesus was and to all he did and taught, to his life, death and resurrection, and to his continuing presence with us through the Spirit, we celebrate him as the Word made flesh, the one in whom God and humanity are perfectly joined, the transformation of our lives, the Christ.

     It is this union of the divine with the human that is the greatest of mysteries. This is the ultimate display of divine love – that God, who needs nothing, would nevertheless choose to experience the all that accompanies the existence of those whom God has created: joys and sorrows, laughter and tears, friends and enemies, loyalty and betrayal, and even birth and death. “This is love,” John wrote, “not that we loved God but that [God] loved us and sent his Son.” This is divine love freely given to us – the depth of which is perhaps the greatest of mysteries.

     Advent and Christmas are invitations into the mystery of incarnation. When Mary asked, “How can this be?” the angel gave her the only answer possible: “the Holy Spirit will come upon you.” The Holy Spirit guides us ever so gently into the mystery that is God’s love, demonstrated by the coming of Jesus, and then ever so slowly the mystery is unraveled until we too come face to face with God’s presence among us and with God’s presence around us and with God’s presence within us, and, being touched and inspired and even overwhelmed by the experience, we then say as did Mary “let it be with me according to your Word.” The mystery of incarnation reminds us that we are indeed to wait upon God – to wait for God’s call upon our lives and to respond to it humbly, serving God even as God served us through Christ. Let us, then, celebrate the mystery that is the birth of Jesus, and that God appeared in him.

     Incarnation – God in the flesh – raises a lot of questions, but ultimately the Holy Spirit provides the answer – God is love, God came to us out of love, God came to bring us love, and God calls us to love. In response to that call, may we – like Mary – say, “let it be with me according to your will.”

A Thought For The Week Of December 11, 2017

"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ..." (Psalm 122:6a) The city of Jerusalem has been much in the news lately. I have my opinions, but here I'm not really interested in the politics around the status of Jerusalem. I'm interested in Jerusalem as a symbol; Jerusalem as a spiritual hope - an appropriate issue to reflect upon during Advent. The city plays an important role in the biblical story. It's the centre of the home of biblical Israel; the place where the temple was located. It's a troubled city - not just today but for millennia, and the Bible portrays that. We aren't asked to pray for the peace of a city that enjoys peace, after all. It was devastated by Babylon as the exile approached; it was declared to be troubled (or frightened, or disturbed) by the news of the birth of Jesus; Jesus referred to it as the place that killed the prophets; and it was, of course, the place of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and later of the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans. Although the temple has never been rebuilt, the city remains the symbolic centre of religious life for the Jewish people, and for the Muslim world it's the home of the Al-Aqsa mosque, considered the third most holiest site in Islam. Many Christians consider it holy - although, to be honest, I consider the city more important historically than spiritually. But as a spiritual symbol, Jerusalem matters. I take the concept of the "New Jerusalem" very seriously. Revelation 21:2 speaks of "... the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God ..." As a symbol, Jerusalem (the former home of the Jewish temple, and the only place, really, where such a temple could be rebuilt) represents the dwelling place of God. The idea of a New Jerusalem to come reminds me that the day will come when all that separates God from humanity will be removed - and there will be peace not only between God and humanity, but among humanity as well. This New Jerusalem will be a place not to be contested among nations, but to be open to all peoples. This New Jerusalem to come won't have walls or boundaries to keep people out. Instead, it will have the presence of God welcoming people in. It will be whatever reality it is that God will call into being at the appointed time, when righteousness will rule and perfect reconciliation will be achieved. When we "pray for the peace of Jerusalem," of course we're praying for the peace and security of all those of any religious faith within the earthly city - but we are also praying for the inbreaking of God's Kingdom; the establishment of God's reign on earth. To "pray for the peace of Jerusalem" is, in a sense, another way of saying, "Come, Lord Jesus, come," with the establishment of peace that Christians believe his return will mean.

December 10 2017 sermon - When God Appears

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

(Isaiah 40:1-11)

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

     What’s it like when God appears? What do you think? The approach of Christmas makes me think about that question a lot. I find it hard to imagine how Mary and Joseph must have felt as they waited for the birth of their child, or the shepherds as they encountered the angels, or the magi who would start their journey guided by a mysterious star. It’s hard to imagine because it doesn’t happen very often. Not in that way at least. Oh yes. We believe in the presence of God with us. We speak of seeing God in nature or in the faces of those around us or wherever it is that love is shown. And, yes, God is there. But that’s not quite the same as Mary and Joseph or the shepherds or the magi. Still, I believe that God does appear to us today through more every day kinds of experiences that all of us might have. Through those feelings that come to us that simply tell us that there’s something more; something beyond us; something greater than what we see and touch.

     In a way, Isaiah the prophet was discussing this in our reading this morning. As you read verse by verse through this passage, you get a sense of the nature of God, and of how God’s nature impacts our lives – and when God appears to us (even if its only a glimpse through a momentary experience every now and then) we know that we’ve been in God’s presence. We know it because we feel it, and I want to share with you briefly four things that God does in our lives when we have such experiences to tell us that we’re not alone – that God is with us!

     When God appears there’s a sense of comfort -  a sense of deep and abiding comfort that God is with us no matter what our circumstances might be. Isaiah began today’s passage with the word “Comfort.” “Comfort, o comfort my people ...” God is known to us by that sense of comfort we experience at the most unexpected times. There are many people in the world today who need comfort. Just last week I was at the annual Pine Ridge Memorial Service that’s held here, and there was a whole sanctuary full of people looking for comfort at a time of year when comfort is for many people in short supply. We, of course, are called to offer comfort to those in distress or who live with grief. And when we do that, perhaps we are – just a bit – helping God to appear in the lives of those who have such a need. So we need to do more than just offer comfort – we need to point people to their real source of comfort, and that’s God, because that’s what happens when God appears: there’s a sense of real and deep and abiding comfort, - a “peace that passes all understanding” - regardless of circumstances.

     When God appears there’s also a sense of assurance. It does no good to point someone to God unless, in some way, they’re going to be convinced that God will help. And so, in very direct and dramatic ways, God helps those who are in need. That’s not just a possibility. Never point people to God believing that God might help; point them to God believing that God will help. Doubt is fine. We all experience doubt. There are days when our faith is strong, and others when it seems to hang like a thread – but even in the midst of doubt, in those times when God appears in our lives, our doubts vanish and we become convinced – we know! - that God has touched us and will care for us. Life can be a bit of a roller coaster at times – but then, suddenly, God appears. “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain,” Isaiah said. With God, the roller coaster flattens – or at least the ups and downs become bearable – because we know that God is with us through it all. “Then,” Isaiah said, “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” As Isaiah proclaimed, everything else in the world will fade away, “but the word of our God will stand forever.” God doesn’t fail, and when God appears, we know that. When God appears, there is assurance.

     When God appears there’s also a sense of strength. Once God appears, we never again doubt the strength of God. Many don’t turn to God because they don’t believe in their hearts that God can help. Whatever problem they’re facing seems so overwhelming that even turning to God seems hopeless. Now, it’s true that God won’t solve all our problems for us. We have to take some responsibility for what’s happening in our lives and how to deal with it. But we are not alone. We have comfort and assurance from God – and God gives us strength as well. We can persevere through all things – not because we are strong but because God gives us strength. Isaiah says that “the Lord God comes with might.”There is power when God appears; there is strength when God appears – and we claim that strength as our own when we face those times (which most of us have surely faced) that we know we can’t get through by our own strength – and yet the strength comes to us, and we do get through. That’s God, I believe. Never doubt the power of God; know instead – without a doubt – that when God appears in your life you will find strength.

     And when God appears there’s also a sense of tenderness. God does not come in power to frighten us into submission, but rather with a strength that beckons us and draws us; God comes with a strength tempered by tenderness. God’s desire is that we respond not out of fear but out of love. Tenderness is also in short supply in a lot of people’s lives. Perhaps they’re in abusive relationships; perhaps they’re simply alone in life. There are children all over the world – and I have no doubt in our own communities – who are crying out for tenderness, because they never receive it at home. They need the tenderness of God, but even if we don’t have those same problems – we need the tenderness of God, and divine tenderness is overwhelming! No matter how happy your marriage, no matter how loving your family, no matter how supportive your friends – God’s tenderness is still needed. Isaiah tells us that God “will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them ...” With love, patience, mercy and tenderness, God will care for God’s people.

     God doesn’t appear very often – but Advent is about awaiting the day when God will appear – and when that happens comfort and assurance and strength and tenderness will be an every day part of life. But until then – and we don’t know when that will be – we have to look for those moments when God makes appearances in our midst today – and that may not always be obvious. The author and ordained minister Lee Woofenden once wrote that “it’s good to keep in mind that whatever way we may happen to picture or perceive God in our mind, it is not the only way God can appear.” So we’re not looking for appearances right now as much as we’re looking for the comfort and assurance and strength and tenderness that always accompany God – and if you have truly felt those things in a special and inexplicable way at some point in your life, then God has appeared to you. Rejoice in that, because it’s a blessing, and try to find some way to share that blessing with someone else during this Advent and Christmas season, and beyond!

A Thought For The Week Of December 4, 2017

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1) Faith is not an easy thing - especially not in a society that often seems to be fixated on needing proof of everything. If something can't be proven empirically, then many people won't believe it - whatever it is. That, of course, isn't something that's restricted to today. We have to remember an apostle like Thomas, who is the role model in some way for those who demand proof. "Unless I see ... unless I touch." That's why he was given the nickname "Doubting Thomas" - because he found it hard to believe on faith. But, ultimately, that's what Christianity rests on. There are all sorts of things that we can't prove" about what we believe. At this time of year the virgin birth leaps to mind. In the Thomas story, the resurrection is the point for doubt. Actually we can't even prove empirically that God is real or that Jesus actually lived. We can cite "evidence" - but most of that is either experiential (in the case of God) or from biased sources (in the case of Jesus.) So in a way being a Christian is being comfortable with uncertainty and doubt. Christian faith is exactly what the author of this verse spoke of - it's being confident in our hope and believing what we can't see. Of course, a big part of that is what we hope for. Do we hope to win the lottery? Well, that's not faith - it's wishful thinking. What we as Christians hope for is the establishment of God's Kingdom here on earth. What we hope for is the reign of Jesus' ministry of love and mercy and compassion and reconciliation. That's our hope. It seems a long way away, and perhaps every now and then we start to doubt that it will ever happen. Sometimes it just seems impossible. But this Season of Advent is about embracing mystery and believing that even what seems to be impossible can sometimes happen. Disciples of Jesus know that it can. We believe! That is our hope!

December 3 2017 sermon: While We Wait

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind - just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you - so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

(1 Corinthians 1:3-9)

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

     A few days ago I was chatting with Scott McEachnie, from McEachnie Funeral Home. Actually, we were sitting in a car, waiting to make a left turn on to Church Street from the church parking lot to lead a funeral procession up to Pine Ridge Cemetery. We were talking about how times had changed – that there used to be a time when, at the first sight of a funeral procession, all traffic would stop to let it through. Now, it’s not unusual for the lead funeral coach to have to fight its way into the mad rush of drivers having to get wherever they’re going in a hurry because if it took them five minutes longer to get there – well, something awful would surely happen! As we sat there, waiting for a break in the traffic or for some kind soul to let us in, I thought that this was actually a pretty good image to hold on to as the First Sunday in Advent loomed just ahead. People don’t like to wait anymore. We don’t like to wait for anything. Our society has developed instant this and instant that – instant everything! So we have all sorts of instant foods – instant rice and instant noodles and instant pudding and instant oatmeal. Heaven forbid we should ever have to actually cook anything! And for those who do dare to cook, I noticed that one of the hottest selling items on Black Friday was the instant pot – which promises to cook your food up to 10 times faster. If you’re wondering, Chatelaine Magazine reviewed the Instant Pot and said that while the results are good, it’s not as fast as advertised! But it’s called the “Instant Pot” - so it will be a big hit, because it promises less waiting, and waiting is increasingly a lost art. People want to get what they want and when they want it without ever having to wait for it. In an article in the Boston Globe, a 23-year old man was quoted as saying that “my generation is used to getting everything we want without having to wait for it.” He went on to say, “Maybe it’s made us a little impatient.” Well – maybe.

     This desire to have everything now is probably one of the reasons that Advent is a tough sell for a lot of people. We don’t want to have to wait for Christmas – and increasingly we don’t. I have satellite radio in my car. Sirius XM started its all Christmas music station on November 1. Seriously? I mean, you can only listen to “Winter Wonderland” so many times before you want to rip the radio out and toss it out the window, and once you’ve heard “Feliz Navidad” for the 50th time in a week? Well, let’s just say that Jose Feliciano starts to lose his appeal. Some stores had Christmas displays out in August. Christmas lights and Christmas trees were up at some houses long before Remembrance Day. And there’s the never-ending debate in some churches – can we sing Christmas carols in Advent or do we have to wait for December 24? Waiting for Christmas seems so old fashioned – even in the church. We just want to get right to it.

     But it’s not just the current generation or recent generations that face this challenge with impatience. You can trace this desire for instant gratification all the way back to the days of Jesus. That was generally not a day of instant gratification. From what I’ve heard they didn’t even have high-speed internet in Jesus’ day. Imagine – Jesus must have surfed the web on dial-up! And yet – people still had trouble waiting. Even the disciples of Jesus would find themselves getting just a little bit impatient at times. There was a scene in Mark 13 between Jesus and his disciples. Jesus was describing to them the signs that they should be watching for. And rather than listening and then watching, the disciples started making demands: “When’s it going to happen Jesus? Tell us? We want to know.” And Jesus must have shaken his head just a little bit and maybe done a bit of a face palm. They just didn’t get it. “Nobody knows,” he finally said. “Nobody knows. The angels don’t know. I don’t even know. Only the Father knows.” There are some things you just have to wait for.

     “… in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind - just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you - so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Those words are from our reading this morning from 1 Corinthians. Did you pick up on three words in the midst of it: “as you wait.” The last part of that sentence wasn’t really necessary. He could have just reminded the Corinthians that they weren’t lacking in any spiritual gift. They had everything they needed to get about their business. Oh, but those Corinthians. They were an impatient and ornery bunch. They wanted things their own way. They fought among themselves. They tried to outdo each other in flashy displays of holiness. They were willing to sacrifice some of the basic morals they had been taught for the sake of instant gratification. They abused the gifts God had given them for the sake of showing off rather than using them to serve God and gospel and others. So Paul reminded them: they had been given everything they needed so that they would not be “lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” They couldn’t have it all. Not right away.  Not any more than those disciples of Jesus could get all the answers they wanted from Jesus. Not any more than the disciples of Jesus today can get all the answers we want from Jesus. For all that we’ve been given by God, we still have to wait. But while we wait, we can still be about the business of God; the ministry of Jesus. This is another problem with waiting that Paul knew very well. Some are too impatient to be asked to wait and they give up and move on to something else if they can’t have everything they want as soon as they want it. Others revel in waiting, and use it as an opportunity to do nothing. Paul confronted that problem with the church at Thessalonica – who, convinced that the return of Jesus was imminent, immediately and enthusiastically and without hesitation set about doing nothing. “Why bother,” was their attitude. “Jesus will take care of it when he comes.” And Paul scolded them. “There’s no place for laziness in a Christian life” is basically what he said.

     You see, waiting for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ isn’t a call to idleness or laziness. While it is a call for us to watch for the signs of God’s presence and actions in our world, it is not a call to simply leave everything for God to sort out some day. This morning, once again, we will be strengthened by the gifts of God that we will find at the table of God. They’re simple things – a wafer; a cup of juice. But to us they are indeed gifts. More than that, to us they are life. To us they are reminders of Jesus, who gives us life and who sets us free; who calls us not to simply wait for his return to put all things right – but who rather calls us to begin the working of putting things right today. We cannot right all the wrongs of the world – but we do not have to sit back and simply wait. Where we see injustice, we can fight it. We we see hatred we can work to overcome it. Where we see oppression we can confront it. Where we see deceit we can correct it. Where we see need, we can try to meet it. Where we see grief, we can reach out in the midst of it. We do these things because these things are the ministry of Jesus, who calls us. And we can do all this while we wait. Waiting doesn’t have to be a passive activity. God has gifted us just as God gifted the Corinthians with every gift we need to serve as we wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And just be patient – because we won’t be waiting forever. As the American writer and Nobel Prize laureate William Faulkner wrote, “… sure enough even waiting will end … if you can just wait long enough.”

A Thought For The Week Of November 27, 2017

"But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honour because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." (Hebrews 2:9) It's strange to think of death as something that crowns someone "with glory and honour." After all, a crown is a symbol of a king - it's a sign of someone who possesses power and authority even more than it's a sign of glory and honour. And, yet, here is death being looked upon as something that crowns Jesus with glory and honour? We usually see death as a sign of our weakness; as a defeat. Death takes us, it defeats us and it seems to be victorious over our lives. So this seems strange - at first glance at least. But let's remember a couple of things. First is that with the gospel and with Jesus things are never quite the way they seem. Jesus and his gospel have a tendency to throw the established order into chaos. Just when we think we have life and the world figured out - all of a sudden Jesus comes and things aren't the way they had seemed. So should we be surprised that death (usually a thing of defeat) is described as a crown? Of course not. The unexpected is exactly what we should expect from Jesus. And that, of course, leads to a second point: we already know that Jesus accomplished something totally unexpected - he defeated death! In a very real sense death did become a crown of glory and honour for Jesus because it was his death that allowed his ultimate power and authority to be revealed. After all, without a death there can't be a resurrection. Just as one king has to die before the next king can take the throne, so did Jesus have to die before the full extent of his power and glory could be revealed. Death is a strange crown, and probably not one that most people would choose to seek for themselves. But Jesus accepted it. And as Advent is about to begin, we look ahead to the birth of the one who was born to be king.