Author: admin

Collect

Eternal lover of our wayward race, we praise you for your ever-open door.
You open your arms to accept us even before we turn to meet your welcome;
you invite us to forgiveness
even before our hearts are softened to repentance.
Hold before us the image of our humanity made new,
that we may live in Jesus Christ,
the model and the pioneer of your new creation. Amen.

Readings

Joshua 5:9-12

Psalm 32

2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’

So he told them this parable:
The Parable of the Prodigal and His Brother
Then Jesus said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’ ” So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.

‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.” ’

As I was reading the passages for this week and also going over the sources I check to create my Family Focus, I was struck by the theme of “bad decisions” and the consequences of those decisions. If you’re anything like me, sometimes the choices you’ve made in your past – actions, paths, behaviours – can be haunting. As someone who deals with anxiety on the daily, I can often find myself spiralling into the abyss of memories and residual embarrassment over something I said or did while I was depressed, didn’t have the verbal filter on, was caught up in immaturity, or simply did without thinking about it.

In this story, the son who makes the “bad” choices is the one who receives celebration and praise. I think to truly understand what this story is trying to tell us, we need to think about how we frame the gifts we have in our lives.

The parable of the Prodigal Son, our Gospel reading for the week, is a story about two sons who make two very different decisions about what to do with the property/inheritance from their father. The one son takes the money, spends it all, ends up with nothing, and takes up a job tending to pigs. He still doesn’t make enough to survive, or at least isn’t getting enough to eat, so he goes back to his father and asked to be treated like a hired hand so that he can at least be able to live. When he returns to his father, he was treated with such joy and celebration at being back.

The other son, in the meantime, wisely tends his father’s property, and has never had any kind of celebration or gifts like his brother who had made the “bad” decision received when he returned. His father, interestingly, tells him that of course they need to celebrate the brother who left, because in doing so, he was “dead” and now he has found his way back and is alive to the family again.

This parable is kind of confusing, because we want to believe that if we make “good” choices and we do the “right” thing, then we will be rewarded and we will get ahead in life, whatever that might look like for us. But in this story, the son who makes the “bad” choices is the one who receives celebration and praise. I think to truly understand what this story is trying to tell us, we need to think about how we frame the gifts we have in our lives.

I come from a position of a lot of privilege in society. I was raised in a White, middle-class home with a Mom who stayed home to take care of my brother and I, and a Dad who worked extremely hard and often long hours building a medical practice and volunteering in various organizations. We never really wanted for anything. We took trips. We did extracurriculars. Our university education was paid for and we were supported every step of the way.

In comparison, my husband Josh had a very different childhood. By the time we had met, he had moved houses more times than he had had birthdays. He left home at 16, and moved to northern Ontario to support his then partner through her education. A big deal for him as a child was getting a brand new pair of basketball shoes because he had made the school basketball team. Money was often tight, but his parents worked (and continue to work) extremely hard to take care of their family.

I can look at the trajectory of my life, and where I am now, and feel unimpressed with myself. Could I have done more? Am I a disappointment? Given all the resources I had available to me, I could have done literally anything with my life. I’m blessed to be where I am, sharing ministry with my Transfiguration church family, but there are lots of ways in which I often think I could have done better, whatever that means. Then I look at Josh – he started with practically nothing, and now he runs a successful small business. We both received help along the way, and we both ended up in similar places, but we had different starting points, and I think that’s the key to understanding this parable. Josh didn’t necessarily do anything wrong to get himself into difficult circumstances, but because he had farther to go to get where he is now, it feels like a bigger achievement to be living a privileged life, as we do now. I might have made some bad choices, but I had lots of blessings along the way, and so it feels less remarkable to be where I am today. But, neither of our experiences or achievements is greater or less than the other’s, and I certainly have struggled with diminishing my own experiences in the past. We have both had challenges in our own ways, and blessings in our own ways, but just in very different ways.

Going back to the parable, both brothers end up back with and in the care of their father, but the son who left and ended up with nothing had farther to go to come back. The son who stayed was always there. He did what was expected, and was rewarded with stability and a good quality of life along the way.

Neither made a “bad” decision – notice I’ve been using quotes around the whole good/bad thing – they each made choices that took them in different directions in life. The son who stayed home was equally as blessed as his brother. Certainly he didn’t receive a fatted calf or jewellery or whatever other gifts his father might have given him, but he had lots of gifts over a long period of time. He was blessed continuously and received the reward of stability and a good life. The son who went away took a risk and had a lot of lived experiences that his brother didn’t approve of, but he made his way back and found the humility to ask for help when he needed it. He found his way back to the same kind of life – the same endpoint – but he gets showered with praise and gifts because he had chosen to find his way back.

I’m going to wrap this back into the concept of being haunted by past choices and actions. Our psalm today talks about how when we remain silent about our transgressions, they weigh heavy on us. But, when we ask for help and face our mistakes, then we are met with open arms by God and are forgiven, and even offered a place of safety. It is not worth holding onto the things in our past that we are haunted by. They only hold us back from finding our way. If we’ve done questionable things, harmful things, embarrassing things – we can ask for forgiveness and for help and still be met with joyful celebration. You can let those things go. Acknowledge the person you are now and be mindful of the choices you make today while also looking at how far you’ve come.

Collect

God of infinite goodness,
throughout the ages you have persevered
in claiming and reclaiming your people.
Renew for us your call to repentance, surround us with witnesses to aid us in our journey,
and grant us the time to fashion our lives anew, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

Readings

Isaiah 55:1-9

Psalm 63:1-8

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Luke 13:1-9

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’

Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” ’

Patience, we heard this in Sheila’s sermon last week and we find it again in this week’s reading from Luke. I see patience with the gardener who asks the owner of the fig tree to “let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down”. I think we are like that fig tree and God is our wonderful gardener. God knows that if given that second chance, a little encouragement and even some stinky poop, we too can bear fruit. However, there is no deadline with God. Unlike this gardener, God has no timeline to get things right or else. You will never hear God say to you that you have 1 year to get it right. He does not set deadlines, because God is always patient and willing to give a third, fourth and an unlimited amount of chances. It’s okay… I don’t think he is keeping count.

But is this a test? Does God test each of us in our lives? I have given this a lot of thought and ‘I’ think he does not but then again maybe. The word test is defined as a series of questions or problems that is used to determine a person’s ability or understanding of something. More generally, test refers to a trial, experiment, or examination that is designed to determine the qualities or characteristics of someone or something. (taken from dictionary.com). If I use this definition and if I believe (and I do), that God knows who we are and what we know, then why would God need to test us? Maybe it isn’t about his test to figure out more about our knowledge about things, but instead a test for us to understand who we are, for us to see the strength of our faith.

All gardeners know that if too much fertilizer is used it can burn and eventually kill the plant. So what about God, can he give us too much?

Let’s go back to the fig tree and gardener. The reading says that the gardener was going to give the tree some manure or fertilizer, but what if he gave it too much? All gardeners know that if too much fertilizer is used it can burn and eventually kill the plant. So what about God, can he give us too much? I have heard the phrase “God will never give you more than you can handle”. This would mean that what we get in life came from God. Yes, God gave us all life, the world around us and the gifts that we have, but does God give us our illnesses, our wars or fires? Each of these can and do kill people. What about mental illnesses that result in suicide? Obviously that was more than one could handle. In First Corinthians verse 13 it says, “he (God) will not let you be tested beyond your strength” and like a lot of sentences from the Bible, they can be forgetting the second part of it; “but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it”.

If you have been paying attention, you will notice the word ‘test’ or ‘testing’ in this reading from First Corinthians and I can hear some of you saying, “but wait Sandra, the Bible says that God tests”. Yes, I saw that too.

The Bible is confusing some times. What part are just stories to help us to understand the Father, Son and Holy Ghost better and what part is actual fact? Not all of us believe in the story of Noah’s Ark or Jonah and the Whale. Can words be there that were not translated properly and we have to remember this particular letter was written by Paul, who had his own beliefs.

In my mind, God does not give us all the things that happen in this world. Some, like wars can come from people with no care for others, just themselves; fires can happen through faulty wiring or an act of arson and illnesses can happen. But, when we are faced with anything that has us struggling, no matter where you believe it came from, God is there. He may not answer our prayers in the way we may want or in our timeframe, but remember, God has no deadlines, and we need patience. He may send people on his behalf, but he is always there with an outreached hand if we are willing to just grab a hold of it.

Collect

Hope beyond all human hope, you promised descendants as numerous as
the stars to old Abraham and barren Sarah.
You promise light and salvation in the midst of darkness and despair,
and promise redemption to a world that will not listen.
Gather us to yourself in tenderness, open our ears to listen to your word,
and teach us to live faithfully
as people confident of the fulfillment of your promises.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Readings

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18

Psalm 27

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Luke 13:31-35

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’ He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.” Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” ’

Covenant People

The OT lesson emphasizes God’s Covenant with Abraham, and hence to us, his descendants. God’s promise to Abraham and to his chosen people invests them with a sacred responsibility. Our understanding of Covenant changes over time. M. Scott Peck in his book, A World Waiting to be Born, traces the changing concept of Covenant through the Bible itself, from God’s promise to Noah after the flood never again to destroy the world, to the Ten Commandments for his chosen people, to the New Covenant offered by Christ and preached by St. Paul, not restricted to a specific group now but open to all people. Even Jesus, in his confrontation with the so-called “uppity woman” at the well, came to realize that God’s mercy and compassion were available not just to the people of Israel, but to all those who truly trust in God. Thomas Berry in his book Dream of the Earth explains how mankind’s misunderstanding of the covenant relationship, seeing our species as special and superior over the rest of creation, has led to our negative attitudes to nature, leading us to exploit and subdue the earth in the mistaken notion that we were exercising God’s will, building God’s kingdom by forcing nature into our own image. The consequence of our misunderstanding was “to negate the natural world as the locus for meeting with the divine.”

“We don’t think ourselves into a new way of living; we live ourselves into a new way of thinking.” — Richard Rohr

Berry’s comment reminds us that the Bible portrays the Divine within natural images: God meets Her people in the wilderness, at a mountain; God speaks to them “from a cloud”; God confronts Moses in the form of a “bush burning but not consumed,” at one and the same time, earthly and holy. Creation is God’s first incarnation. All life is holy. All creation is divine. As fish swim in the sea, so we live and move and have our being in the Divine. If the human species dies out on this planet, it will not be God the Creator destroying humankind as in the story of the great flood, but rather mankind not assuming attitudes consistent with God’s true covenant. God is as faithful and true as the sun that rises every morning. If we are to save the environment, it is necessary to change our attitudes, and such changes are profound, reaching to our fundamental spirituality.

What is very important to understand about this covenant is that we cannot separate worship of God from the divine way of life. To quote Richard Rohr, “We don’t think ourselves into a new way of living; we live ourselves into a new way of thinking.” We know God by engaging in divine activity. Christianity traditionally understands God as a personal God and like any person the Creator has divine attributes which we can recognize: “where love is, God is.” Many Biblical passages make it clear that we know God if we live in love. To be God’s covenanted people we must act as mediators of the divine to the world by our attitudes and actions: “if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Following the way of the cross, knowing God and knowing the divine way, are one and the same covenant.

Perhaps the best way to get a handle on just what it means to be the people of the Covenant in 2022, we could recycle and reuse Paul’s words from the epistle today: “setting your mind on earthly things.” In light of the environmental crisis facing us, it is necessary for us to “set our minds on earthly things.” Humus is the Latin word for earth. Humanity comes from earth (“dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return”). Humility is being close to the earth, hence, earthiness, honesty. In other words, we must see the earth with Divine eyes and realize it is precious in God’s sight. To fulfill our covenant with God, we need to care for Creation, not subdue it or “have dominion over it,” but love it. “For God so loved the world that he gave . . . life.” Rev. Lauren Van Ham wrote recently, “Unfathomable harm has come from misinterpretations of scripture . . . which never meant that our species had God’s blessing to use our power over other forms of life, but rather to take full responsibility for the power we have been given, to use the privilege we hold as humans, to care for all Creation and to develop intimacy with all beings.” To be God’s covenanted people is to live Christ’s way of selfless love so that others might live abundantly, including the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, indeed, the very sea and air which bring forth life.

Collect

God of deliverance and freedom, you taught the people of Israel
to acknowledge that all things come from your bountiful hand.
Deepen our faith so that we may resist temptation
and, in the midst of trial, proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, now and for ever. Amen.

Readings

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

Romans 10:8b-13

Luke 4:1-13

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” Then the devil[a] led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” Jesus answered him, “It is written,
‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written,
‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’
and
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

By definition Lent is a 40 day penitential season of the Church Calendar, in preparation for Easter. In the early church, it began as a two day fast ending the Saturday night before Easter.

It was not until the mid-4th century that the two day fast became 40 days (not counting Sundays). The 40 day period was chosen because it shadowed Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness (today’s Gospel reading) and Moses’ time on Mount Sinai. The focus was a time to prepare baptismal candidates, and in some locales it was a time of penance. Grievous sinners sought restoration and a return to participation in Communion (having worn sack cloth and being marked with ashes for 40 days).

There was not universal acceptance of the practice for a number of centuries, but the basic nature of Lent was eventually solidified in the Roman Catholic Church calling for a solemn season of faith and sacrifice, fasting, study and alms giving, and daily attendance at Mass.

After the Reformation, Protestant churches adopted various practices from the Roman model, and today, we in the Anglican Church follow a variety of practices such as book studies, scripture readings, taking on new outreach tasks. (We, however, do not seem to emphasize the daily fasting from certain foods as we recognize that enjoying food is one of the gifts of creation).

…this Lent asks us to act—to act to preserve and care for creation, to be willing to change how we live—to help ward off the real threat of Climate Change and related environmental degradation.

This year, with direction from Sheila, we have a particular Lenten focus for reflection, study, prayer and action. Shelia’s chosen book for the Lenten Study is Saving us: a climate scientist’s case for hope and healing in a divided world. In addition Sheila asks the parish as a whole to look at our stewardship of the planet we call home and challenges each of us to find ways to be a blessing to the earth.

The idea is to thank God for all the blessings of creation—to use our reflections, study and actions to focus on changes we can make in our daily lives to show our love for God in our care for creation.

This is a change from the traditional focus of Lent which in many churches has tended to emphasize sin and our need for repentance and forgiveness. For example, the liturgy for each week could start with a Penitential Order found on page 216 of the BAS.

We need to recognize that God, the ground of our being, is to be found within creation—in each of us, in the plants, the animals, the earth, the sky, the water—all kinds of living things. And that loving God means loving creation and calls us to be caretakers.

Thus, this Lent asks us to act—to act to preserve and care for creation, to be willing to change how we live—to help ward off the real threat of Climate Change and related environmental degradation.

Change is possible—but change is rarely easy or cost free.