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Collect

Gracious God, Creator of all, you made us your stewards of this planet earth; enlighten us that we may care for and share its resources. Nourished in body and soul by your creation, may we lift our hearts and voices, joining the chorus of all creation as we praise you: creator, sustainer and redeemer.
Amen

Readings

A Reading from the first chapter of Genesis

In the beginning God created the sky and the earth.

Then God said “Let there be light” and there was light. Then God said “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters.” And God said “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered into one place and let the dry land appear”. And it was so.

Then God said “Let the earth produce plants—some to make grain for seeds and others to make fruits with seeds. Every seed will produce more of its own kind” and it happened.

And God said “Let there be lights in the sky to separate day from night. These lights will be used for signs, seasons, days and years and give light to the earth.” And it was so.

Then God said “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly in the air above the earth.” God created large sea animals and every living thing that moves. He also made every bird. God blessed them and said :” Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas and let birds multiply on the earth”

The God said “Let the earth be filled with animals each producing more of its own kind: livestock, creeping things, and beasts and let each produce more of its own kind”. And it happened.

Then God said “Let us make human beings in our own image and likeness, male and female.” God blessed them and said “Have many children and grow in number”.

And God saw everything he had made and it was good.

Then God planted a garden in the east and called it Eden. God caused every beautiful tree and every tree with fruit to grow. And God put the human beings in the Garden to care for it and till it.

A Reading from the 12th chapter of the Book of Job

Ask the animals and they will teach you or ask the birds of the air and they will tell you. Speak to the plants of the earth and they will teach you, or let the fish of the sea tell you. Every one of these knows that the hand of the Lord has done this.

The life of every creature and all living things and the breath of all people are in God’s hand.

Mark 12:28-34a

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way it treats its animals.
Earth has lost half its wildlife in the last 40 years

The first sentence presents the idea of a measuring or evaluating. The second sentence is a state of the earth statement.

Due to unbridled exploitation, degradation, climate change, use for food, this includes over fishing, over hunting, destroying habitats, poaching animals for ivory in Africa or bear gall bladders in western Canada we have seriously injured the natural world we live in. But there is no need to just list all the bad things, unfortunately the list is too long and depressing. If we watch the news or read, we find out more than we want to know.

The traditional Gospel for St. Francis Day is from Matthew Ch 6 “Consider the lilies of the field”. It tells us God looks after the birds, clothes the lilies. Why then should we worry? God will do it all. But stop and think, Jesus ministry to the poor, lonely, the hungry and sick This was his call to action, to justice, a mission given to us when we proclaim that we are God’s hands in the world. We act with and for God.

Firstly, I think we need to be convinced that care of the earth, sky, water and animals is not only essential to our life and lives of generations to come, we need to be convinced that such care is an integral part of our journey in faith Then secondly, we have to be committed to stepping out, to changing, to challenging each other to adjust the way we live. The World Wildlife Federation estimates that it would take 3.5 earths to sustain life if everyone lived like Canadians. As to the first, is this part of our journey in faith?

In the 5 marks of mission adopted by National Church and Diocese the fifth mark is to strive and safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth. This is also now part of our Baptismal vows.

As to the second, just as we work at feeding the hungry, alleviating pain, walking with the lonely (all part of creating justice) we need to work at our care for the planet and all its resources. We need to be constantly examining what we do, how we do it and the resources we consume.

To put money before the environment is a short term gain for long term pain. Work on behalf of creation is going to cost us money and change the way we live.

Think electric cars, limiting our driving range, increasing renewable energy (solar panels, many more wind turbines), more shopping and eating local products, buying clothes with long lives not fast fashion with synthetic material, retrofitting houses, giving up plastics and so on. And there is great urgency about doing these things.

Jesus calls us to act with compassion in creating justice in the world, to act with passion, to be compassionate towards and with people as God is compassionate.

Our challenge is to act with compassion in creating justice for all of creation.

Collect

Vibrant God
Your creation explodes with the colours of the rainbow
Your peoples reveal the beauty of diversity
We remember today when the joy and dignity of a precious child was destroyed.
We lament today for the childhoods lost through the residential school system.
We mourn for the spirits crushed and the futures compromised.
Celebrate the hope and joy of every child
Tell the stories of resistance that make us stronger
Build the bonds of solidarity to ensure “never again”
In the name of the one who was child among us
Amen

Readings

Isaiah 40: 25-31

Psalm 148

Philippians 4: 4-9

Matthew 19: 13-15

Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.’ And he laid his hands on them and went on his way

Today our parish is honouring Orange Shirt Day.

Every year on September 30th, people across Canada wear orange and participate in Orange Shirt Day events to recognize and raise awareness about the history and legacies of the residential school system in Canada. Orange Shirt Day originates from the story of Phyllis Webstad from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation. In 1973, on her first day at St. Joseph’s Residential School in Williams Lake, BC, Phyllis’s shiny new orange shirt was stripped from her, never to be seen again.

40 years later, on September 30th, 2013, Phyllis spoke publicly for the first time about her experience, and thus began the Orange Shirt Day movement.

The Canadian government designated September 30 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, beginning in 2021. This responds to Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 80, which states that the federal government will work with Indigenous people to establish a statutory day to “honour Survivors, their families, and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process”.
-from the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre

As Anglicans in our baptismal vows we promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbour as ourself and we promise to strive for justice and peace among all people, and to respect the dignity of every human being. This is why we honour Orange Shirt Day because in the Indian Residential school system none of this took place.

The survivors of these schools were not seen as children of God, they were not treated with dignity or respect or love. As brothers and sisters in Christ we need to listen to these survivors’ stories, we need to sit with them in their pain only in this way can we truly understand their suffering, only then can we even begin to consider how we might be reconciled to them and to their stories and to the past events of the country that we live in.

We cannot erase the past, we cannot really apologize for the harm done by others, but we cannot ignore it, we cannot wish it away, we cannot turn our backs on the reality of these peoples stories. The repercussions of the cruelty and harm inflicted continues to sift down through generation after generation. There are indigenous people who have never attended a Residential School but who have suffered because parents and grandparents did. Today that is what we have to acknowledge, that is what we have to be aware of, that is what we have to reconcile.

Our prayers go out this week for every child who never returned from an Indian Residential School, every child who was buried without their family there to grieve for them, every child who lies in an unmarked grave as though they could be forgotten, as though their parents and grandparents, uncles, aunts, siblings did not mourn their death. We pray for them and for their families and for all survivors of an Indian Residential School. We pray that God will hold them gently in his hand, that they will find comfort, empathy, justice and peace.

Collect

O God, our teacher and guide,
you draw us to yourself
and welcome us a beloved children.
Help us to lay aside our envy and selfish ambition,
that we may walk in your ways of wisdom and understanding as servant of your peace. Amen.

Readings

Proverbs 31: 10-31

A capable wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships of the merchant,
she brings her food from far away.
She rises while it is still night
and provides food for her household
and tasks for her servant-girls.
She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
She girds herself with strength,
and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor,
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid for her household when it snows, for all her household are clothed in crimson.
She makes herself coverings;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the city gates,
taking his seat among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them;
she supplies the merchant with sashes.
Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household,
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her happy;
her husband too, and he praises her:
‘Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.’
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Give her a share in the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the city gates.

Psalm 1

James 3: 13-4:3, 7-8a

Mark 9: 30-37

There are definitely weeks that when look at the scripture readings they sort of jump off the page and slide into some good words for a reflection or sermon. That is not in my opinion what we have this week. Nothing jumped anywhere. How do priests do this each week and still give us good information?

The Proverbs reading is one that I looked at earlier in the week and wondered how could I possibly write anything in a good light on a virtuous wife. What comes to mind here is a fairy tale? What woman has time to do all this and have a life too. This is 2021 after all. and yes, I do realize that this was written many years ago. When I read this I think of Mrs. Cleaver from the old show, Leave it to Beaver or Mrs. Brady from the Brady Bunch. Both of these characters from television shows were home in dresses with smiles on their faces and just seemed to be happy most of the time, rarely a hair out of place. So like I said, fairy tale type.
But, is this the only way we can look at this reading. I am going to take it in an entirely different direction and I apologize in advance if you think I am stretching things. In a sermon not long ago, Sheila mentioned that sermons are opinions, so this is my opinion only.

If we look at the happy, dutiful wife and change it to a happy, dutiful Christian, how does that work?

When you have a moment read the scripture passage again thinking Christian and not a wife. Some lines will work and others not so much.

Starting at the first line. “A capable wife who can find” …

I have heard people who have said something similar to this about Christians. That some can be a bit two sided. Christians in the church but not outside the church. We need to make sure we are not that way in our lives.

Many of the lines in this reading can be translated in a “person doing things for Jesus” and not a husband. God trusts each of us to do what Jesus was put on this earth to teach us to do. We all need to do things that show God’s love for everyone and it is not a part time job. It should not be switched off like a light switch when it isn’t convenient for us to follow Je- sus. It isn’t always easy but as long as we are truly trying then we are in the right direction. We have to believe in ourselves that we are equipped to be a good Christian and with prayer and the strength of God behind us we can do more than we can even imagine.

The reading has a line “she opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue”. We have the knowledge to keep being good Christians, sometimes we have to think twice about what we may say or how we say it.

I always remember as a kid, when my mother would get angry with me for what I had said. I would look at her and say “What did I say that was so wrong?” Her answer would be that it wasn’t what I said but it was the tone I said it in. A tone can make the whole conversation different than how it was intended.

It isn’t always tone that can get us into trouble, but also how we do things. I have done jobs in the past because they needed to be done, however I wasn’t always happy about doing some of them and it is possible that the way I did the task showed that I wasn’t quite thrilled to be doing it. I think if we all, when taking on any job, we do it with as much joy as we can, remembering that Jesus himself had some lesser than pleasant jobs to do, but did so with respect for all.

So let’s all work towards being virtuous Christians. That is… striving for honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, integrity and self-control as we pick up our crosses and follow Jesus.

Collect

Wisdom of God,
from the street corners and at the entrances to the city
you proclaim the way of life and of death.
Grant us the wisdom to recognize your Messiah,
that following in the way of the cross,
we may know the way of life and glory. Amen.

Readings

Proverbs 1: 20-33

Psalm 19

James 3: 1-12

Mark 8: 27-38

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

Who do you say I am?

In the gospel reading today from Mark, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say I am?” and their answers refer to the fierce warrior prophets, John the Baptist, Elijah or someone like Jeremiah. These were men fearful to look upon and listen to, who shouted dire warnings and condemnation at the people for their sinful ways and their abandonment of God. The people in his time perceived Jesus in the tradition of the prophets and saw him as a prophet. Jesus too spoke of himself in this light: “Prophets are not without honour, except in their hometown.” (Mark 6:4) In the opinion of others and in his own consciousness, Jesus was like the prophets of the Jewish Bible. Like them, his calling and passion as a prophet came out of his experience of God. When Jesus asks the disciples, “who do YOU say that I am?” Peter’s answer rings out loud and clear: “You are the Messiah.” In Luke’s version of this incident, he adds the words, “of God,” and Matthew’s version adds, “Son of the Living God.”

The changes in Peter’s cry from Mark to Luke to Matthew reveal the developing tradition around Jesus and points to the early Christian community’s central conviction, that the Jesus whom they experienced and remembered is the decisive revelation of God.

In Matthew Jesus confirms that Peter’s insight has come from divine inspiration: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.” Jesus affirms that he is not the kind of Messiah that other people, “flesh and blood,” imagined and longed for. Throughout the gospels Jesus teaches his followers that he is a different kind of Messiah than expected, than we often still expect; he is “gentle and humble in heart,” not the warrior Messiah long hoped for by the children of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses, a hero to lead in battle and victory against oppressors. In Mark’s telling of this moment, Jesus “began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” Notice Peter’s reaction: “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him,” no doubt explaining to Jesus that the scenario he outlines just won’t do. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus praised Peter for his insight that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah: “Peter, you are favoured indeed, for you did not learn that from mortal man; it was revealed to you by my heavenly Father.” But now, it is Peter’s turn to be rebuked for “thinking as men think, not as God thinks,” because he does not understand or want to accept the type of Messiah which Jesus is called to be. Peter was no doubt hoping, as were many of his contemporaries, for a warrior Messiah who would free the Jewish people from bondage to Rome, just as Moses had led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.

Christ is not a warrior king, but a servant, the image coming from the second half of Isaiah, one who identifies and suffers with the oppressed, one who does not resort to violence to set his people free. We’re always living in violent times, as the news certainly makes quite plain. The familiar story of Jesus’ birth emphasizes that he too was born in violent times; however, as the Christ he assumed the mantle of a suffering servant, offering freedom and love. He was not a warrior but a shepherd, and his model of and for peace still waits to be unlocked on this “rock” by his people who have been given “the keys of the kingdom.” Jesus would have us follow his example to be good servants, to care and love all God’s people and God’s world, all of creation. Such a selfless sacrifice is graphically seen in Christ’s passion and death, and in the sacrifice of Christian martyrs, people called to stand up for their beliefs, but the majority of us are called to practice Christ’s way of loving in our lives, “daily,” as Matthew and Luke put it, and that too requires that self often be denied. To practice love requires that we put others before ourselves. In so many troubled relationships or situations, such as the violence erupting during this election campaign, the root cause is so often a selfish attitude, or several selfish attitudes clashing head on, each person vying for self-interest. It takes a spiritual effort to lose self, to find within oneself patience, kindness, mercy, or compassion in the face of anger and violence. These ideals of Christian behaviour are not always attainable, but we are to strive to uphold such ideals in a world sadly in need of compassion and direction. Our model is the selfless sacrifice of Christ, the never-failing love of God, “who so loved the world that he gave . . . life.” To be a follower of Jesus is to live Christ’s way of selfless love so that others might live abundantly.

It is much easier, for writers and filmmakers—and political candidates for the highest office in the land—to attract audiences with adventurous tales of violent heroics. A story of spiritual strength and inner peace just doesn’t gain much notice. The newscast needs the excitement of violence to improve ratings, pictures of war and rumours of war, but the quiet peaceful diplomacy of men and women of God, like Desmond Tutu in South Africa or the Dalai Lama of Tibet, do not often or easily make headlines. Christ offers his followers a way to freedom and love, to fullness of life, when they work together, guided by his teachings and principles of peace and goodwill. Peace comes when we make choices in tune with God’s purposes. Peace comes when we are at peace, with God and ourselves. Taking the risk to “choose life” and dedicating ourselves to God’s service can at times be extremely difficult, but we who profess to follow the Master must keep striving, within ourselves, with each other, with our society and world, to follow the path of peace, to serve others in the name of freedom and love.