Readings and Reflections

Collect

O God of all the prophets,
you herald the coming of the Son of man
by wondrous signs in the heavens and on the earth. Guard our hearts from despair so that we,
in the company of the faithful
and by the power of the Holy Spirit,
may be found ready to raise our heads
at the coming near of our redemption,
the day of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Readings

Jeremiah 33: 14-16

Psalm 25: 1-9

1 Thessalonians 3: 9-13

Luke 21: 25-36

‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’

Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

In some ways it seems a bit harsh to think about entering Advent, the season of waiting, when all we seem to have been doing the last nearly two years is waiting. Waiting for the vaccine to be created, waiting for the isolation to end, waiting to see where the pandemic numbers are heading, up or down, waiting for the restrictions to lift. Yet perhaps that puts us in a good place to really understand what not only the season of Advent is about but also the deep desire of the people of Israel before the birth of Jesus.

Jesus came to witness to the truth, the truth of God’s nature, the truth of God’s plans and the truth of God’s love. Not even we who are the recipients of two thousand years of teaching and witness to God through Jesus Christ are really able to take these truths in to our very core.

For thousands of years the people of God and in fact the whole earth was in a time of waiting. Waiting for the promise of God to be fulfilled, the promise of one who would come to save us, from sin and evil and even ourselves. Over time the people of Israel began to believe that the one they were waiting for would be a mighty King with a strong army to save them from the slavery and oppression they lived under for hundreds of years. The one who would return Israel to its former glory and show the world the power of God and the love that God had for the people of Israel.

By the time a squalling baby is born in a small rural town to a poor couple the idea of a Messiah seems to have faded into the mist and become something of a fairy tale, so it is no wonder that the Israelites and in fact the world was so unprepared for the coming of Jesus. They were expecting a military and political leader, instead they received a healer and teacher, a reconciler, and a witness to the truth. A truth that was deeper and stronger than they could even imagine. The truth that God loved not just the people of Israel but all people, and not just all people but all animals and birds, fish and plants, the rocks and skies and rivers and that God’s plan was not about relieving the military oppression Israel struggled under, but the oppression of sin felt by the whole world, of being disconnected from God.

Jesus came to witness to the truth, the truth of God’s nature, the truth of God’s plans and the truth of God’s love. Not even we who are the recipients of two thousand years of teaching and witness to God through Jesus Christ are really able to take these truths in to our very core. To allow them to transform us, to heal us, to bring us to the wholeness Jesus came to bring us to. We can however learn from the Israelites and cling on to the teaching of Jesus about how to wait.

The people of Israel had lost sight of the bigger picture, if they even ever really had it, they had not reckoned with the love of God being so much bigger, so much fiercer, so much wilder then they believed. During their time of waiting their relationship with God had grown distant and their faith had dwindled. This is a natural reaction to waiting, but that does not mean it is the right reaction.

During Advent we look back to understand what the world was waiting for with the birth of Jesus and now we look ahead as we wait for Jesus to come again to complete the work he began while he was with us. So how are we going to wait? Will we allow ourselves to become complacent believing that God has forgotten us and is not aware of what we do? Are we going to become bored and turn to things that grab and hold our attention more easily, money, relationships, success? Are we going to begin to think that the stories of Jesus and the idea that he will come again is just that, a nice story, nothing more?

Jesus warns against all of these temptations, again and again we are told to ‘stay awake’, ‘keep watch’ to continue to follow the teachings of Jesus, to continue to learn and grow in our relationship with God, to continue in prayer and praise, worship and just actions are ways to guard against these temptations. During Advent we focus on these practises, we remind ourselves about why we what and what and who we wait for. We remember how we are to bring the light of Christ to the world, that the world is longing to see it and come close to its warmth.

These are also all good teachings as we continue to navigate our way through this pandemic, as we continue to wait. We need to hold more tightly then ever to the teachings of Jesus, to pray when anxious, to hand our worries and fears to God, to gather as a community to remember we do not face this alone, to be aware of the needs of others as it takes the focus off ourselves. To practise as God said through the prophet Micah, to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with our God. Practise kindness now more than ever, it is what Jesus practised every day of his life and it is what the world is in desperate need of now more than ever. Amen.

Collect

Most high God, majestic and almighty,
our beginning and our end:
rule in our hearts
and guide us to be faithful in our daily actions, worshiping the one who comes
as saviour and Sovereign,
and who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy spirit, one God. Amen.

Readings

2 Samuel 23: 1-7

Psalm 132: 1-13

Revelation 1: 4b-8

John 18: 33-37

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?’ Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.’ Pilate asked him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.’

This week we celebrate Reign of Christ Sunday (also known as Christ the King Sunday, by others). It is the Sunday sitting between Ordinary Time and Advent; the Sunday between the End and the Beginning of the liturgical year.

During Ordinary Time, we see the colour green in the church; on the priest, the altar and banners. Green represents survival, growth and flourishing of the church. I like to think of it as a time when we are not rushing around trying to ‘be ready’ for an event. Maybe a bit of a more relaxing time. It is a very long season in the church, a season where we can relax a bit and focus on just being Christian.

“Jesus didn’t start an institution, he started a movement. The same movement as Abraham and Sarah. The same movement as Moses and the Israelites. The same movement Amos described when he said ‘Let justice roll down like a river, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream’.”

Reign of Christ Sunday, on the other hand, is represented by white for the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. On Reign of Christ Sunday we celebrate that God’s reign in the entire universe has already been accomplished. On the other hand, has it really? Is Jesus’ reign truly over? I suppose yes, in his human form on earth it is complete but he is not done with us. When our Queen passes away, a King will take her place and reign in his own way, but in religion and with Jesus we don’t get another King to step into the role. His is still our King and Saviour. We are the hands and feet of God and need to look to him to guide our way through life each and every day. So, when does his reign over us get completed? When we have finished our time on earth and have been welcomed into heaven into the arms of Jesus.

This Sunday gives us time to reflect on a new beginning. A new beginning, waiting for the arrival of a baby, who is found in a manger and waiting for his coming again. But do we just sit and wait? We all know the answer to that is no. But what will you do to start a new beginning in your walk with God?

I found out through facebook and bit of reading, that November 25 begins the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence. It is a United Nations campaign to challenge the world for the prevention and elimination of violence against women. This year is the 30th anniversary of this and its theme is ‘From Awareness to Accountability’

This falls right into place with what Jesus asks of us. We need to speak out for others, not just women but for all people. Sheila has been leading a book study for the past few weeks, using the book “The Social Justice Bible Challenge”. It has been quite an eye opener for me to realize how often Social Justice is represented or spoken about in the Bible.
In this book, Michael Curry, the Episcopal Church’s Bishop had this to say about Social Justice:

“Jesus didn’t start an institution, he started a movement. The same movement as Abraham and Sarah. The same movement as Moses and the Israelites. The same movement Amos described when he said ‘Let justice roll down like a river, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream’.

This is a movement commissioned and commanded by God to transform this world from the nightmare we’ve too often made it, and into the dream that God has intended all along.”

As we come up to Advent, the time of waiting, we don’t have to wait until his arrival at Christmas for that new beginning in our walking with Jesus. BECAUSE, by starting now, by the time of his joyous birth, we can already have made a difference in someone’s life and in the world that Jesus still reigns.

So what will your new beginning look like? In the words of Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek – The Next Generation…
Make it so!

Collect
Providing God,
You journeyed with Ruth
And comforted Hannah
When their lives were burdened by grief.
Grant us faith to believe you will provide a future where we see none,
That bitterness may turn to joy
And barrenness may bear life. Amen.
Readings

1 Samuel 1: 4-20

1 Samuel 2: 1-10

Hebrews 10: 11-25

Mark 13: 1-8

As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!’ Then Jesus asked him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.’

When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and An- drew asked him privately, ‘Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?’ Then Jesus began to say to them, ‘Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, “I am he!” and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumours of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

War and Peace

I have always been uncomfortable at Remembrance Day services, whether in churches or at cenotaphs at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month. It is meet and right to be uncomfortable, for it is not a comforting time or event to remember. My discomfort in youth stemmed from what seemed to me then a glorification of war, a celebration of the glory and honour of the sacrifice of fallen heroes. It was all a little unsettling, especially as history and literature so graphically show us the horror and injustice, the propaganda and atrocities, committed by all sides in conflict. Wilfred Owen summed up the feeling for many in the elegiac poem he wrote during WWI, “Dulce et Decorum Est”: if the reader could witness the gruesome pain and horror of a gas attack, Owen concludes, then “my friend, you would not tell with such high zest/ To children ardent for some desperate glory/The Old Lie: “Dulce et decorum est/Pro patria mori.” It is not sweet and gentle to die for one’s country; it is an insane, horrible, hellish, painful death.

On Remembrance Day we should talk of peace, not war, but it is so difficult, for our minds, our language, conditioned by centuries, more easily sing of arms and man than the way of peace.

Or so thought Ernest Hemingway’s narrator in the finest novel to emerge from the First World War, A Farewell to Arms: reflecting on his experiences and observations while serving on the Italian front as an ambulance driver—something Hemingway himself did—the young lieutenant, who has narrowly escaped death in a mortar attack—again as Hemingway himself experienced—observes that he “was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain . . . I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it . . . words such as glory, honour, courage, or hallow were [now] obscene.” A bitter cynicism reflected there, shared by many veterans who expressed themselves artistically after that war. After WWI and II, we live in a skeptical age; we do not easily trust politicians and statesmen to do the right thing. We are too aware of the influence of arms manufacturers and multi-national corporations, of the dependence of our economy on military spending, of the sale of arms by the developed world to the underdeveloped world. We know that the five major arms suppliers to the world are the five permanent member states of the UN Security council.

It has often been said that “war is waged by old men; fought by young ones.” I saw a billboard once that read, “Bring back Canadian peacekeepers; send the politicians.” Visiting a Canadian war cemetery in the Netherlands, I was moved to anger at the ages of the dead on the simple white tombstones, 17, 18, 20, 22. When I became a father, my discomfort with Remembrance Day increased a thousandfold; I cannot stand the thought of any of my children—all our children—going off to war. I will do anything in my power to prevent that from ever happening. That’s what Remembrance Day means to me now, and what I think it has come to mean to many: not a celebration of war but a declaration that world war must not happen again: there must be no more sacrifice of the younger generation by an older. We owe our children and our children’s children that promise and assurance.

On Remembrance Day we should talk of peace, not war, but it is so difficult, for our minds, our language, conditioned by centuries, more easily sing of arms and man than the way of peace. War is the failure of the human imagination. Surely the central message of the Prince of Peace calls us to radically change our attitudes, to pursue the way of justice and peace. The hymn often sung at cenotaphs this day, “I vow to thee, my country,” contrasts our earthly nation with an as yet undiscovered realm of peace. It seems after 2000 years we still haven’t found our Lord’s way. The churches, indeed the religions of the world, have a central role to play in the cause of peace. At the base of so many conflicts in our world lie hatred and prejudice of peoples of differing faiths and creeds. If spiritual leaders worldwide spoke loudly and plainly against hatred, against racism, against injustice; if religious leaders of the world would not give their blessing and encouragement to human conflict, surely their impact would be felt among the people. All the world’s great religions profess the cause of peace, yet we have Muslim armed against Jew, Christian against Muslim, Protestant against Catholic. Everyone seems to hate everybody else and the way of peace is lost in the shouting rhetoric. If spiritual leaders cannot love, there is little hope for their followers. Words such as sacred, glory, hallow, could have meaning again if they were infused with their true spiritual significance, if they were applied to the cause of life, not death. “I have set before you life and death,” says the Lord; “therefore, choose life, that you and your children may live.” Asked once how to achieve world peace, Mother Teresa answered, “Children, ask your parents to teach you how to pray. That is the beginning.”

On Remembrance Day, we honour those who fought for their country in wartime, and it is meet and right that we should lament their loss. But let us not forget those who returned from war maimed, physically, emotionally and spiritually. In the last ten years, the Canadian armed forces have lost more soldiers from suicide than were killed in Afghanistan. Let us not forget the wives and children of veterans, living and dead, whose lives have been shattered as well. Let us not forget those who struggle for peace for the good of all nations and commit ourselves anew to that quest. We, as Christians, as Canadians, as members of the human family, need to challenge every call to hatred we hear, every slur against other races, against refugees or people of other faiths. All people everywhere want the same thing—food and shelter and a brighter future for their children. That common goal should unite us all. The way of the Prince of Peace is through compassion and justice. It is not an easy road, but it is our Lord’s Great Commandment.

Collect

God of widows and strangers,
you protect the oppressed and forgotten
and feed the hungry with good things.
You stand among us in Christ, offering life to all.
give us open hearts and minds
to respond with love to the world, caring for those for whom you care. Amen.

Readings

Ruth 3: 1-5; 4: 13-17

Psalm 127

Hebrews 9: 24-28

For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgement, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Mark 12: 38-44

Today’s reading from Hebrews offers one doctrine in explanation of why Jesus died on the cross.

In this reading we are given a theology of atonement—that God caused Jesus to die as payment for the sins of humanity-past, present and future.

I say ‘one explanation’ because there are a number of other explanations which are part of our tradition. There is a growing consensus that Jesus was killed because of his radical teaching which offended both Jewish religious leaders and Roman authorities.

His summary teaching ‘love God, love your neighbour’ put forth an alternate visions of God and humanity.

Set out below are some thoughts on atonement by Bishop John Spong.—This too presents an alternate vision but also calls humanity to task for atrocities committed in the name of and/or sanctioned by Christianity as various points in history.

“What human life needs is not a theology of human denigration. That is what atonement theology gives us. What we need is a theology of human fulfillment.”–John Shelby Spong

“Atonement theology is not the pathway to life. The ability to give ourselves away to others in love is. It is not the winners who achieve life’s meaning; it is the givers. That is the basis upon which a new Christianity can be built for a new world. Atonement theology was born in Gentile ignorance of Jewish worship traditions. It was fed over the centuries by literalizing biblical narratives in ways that Jewish worshippers, who knew about storytelling, would never have understood. I say it again: Biblical literalism is nothing less than a Gentile heresy. Its results are now revealed in the fact that Christianity has been transformed into a religion of victimization. For centuries we have practiced our faith by building up ourselves as winners, survivors, the holders of ultimate truth, while we have denigrated the humanity of others. That is the source of evil. That is why Christianity has given birth to anti-Semitism. That is why the crusades were initiated to kill “infidels.” That is why we gave our blessing to such things as the divine right of kings, slavery, segregation, and apartheid. That is why we defined women as sub-human, childlike, and dependent. That is why we became homophobic. That is why we became child abusers and ideological killers.

What human life needs is not a theology of human denigration. That is what atonement theology gives us. What we need is a theology of human fulfillment.”

–John Shelby Spong, Biblical Literalism: A Gentile Heresy: A Journey into a New Christianity Through the Doorway of Matthew’s Gospel

John Spong does not ‘mince words’, does he?

Collect

Source of all being,
beginning and end,
we praise you for those who have served you faithfully.
kFor the sake of Jesus Christ,
replenish our hope in your eternal kingdom,
that we may have life in all its fullness,
unfettered by the fear of death. Amen.

Readings

Wisdom of Solomon 3: 1-9

Psalm 24

Revelation 21: 1-6a

John 11: 32-44

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?’

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, ‘Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, ‘Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.’ When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out!’ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’

We have been reflecting a lot recently about who Jesus was as a person, both God and human. It’s easy to view Jesus as special, and having God-like qualities, but here in our Gospel reading this week, we are reminded again about the human nature of Jesus. Jesus had been friends with Mary and Lazarus for some time before we meet them here in this reading. In fact, we are told that he loved them. Jesus learns that Lazarus is sick, and so he travels to be with Lazarus and Mary, knowing that Lazarus has already died.

When things feel hard, no matter how much we feel like we are living in hell-on-earth, and I’m sure we have had those moments, we need to try and remind ourselves that there’s heaven-on- earth too.

When Jesus approaches the tomb of Lazarus and sees his friend weeping, and other friends of Lazarus weeping, Jesus is moved to tears himself. Even though he knows there is a plan for his friend and that his friend will live again, the grief and sadness expressed around him in that moment affects him deeply. The crowd remarks how Jesus must have loved this person so much that he is moved to tears, but I think there is more going on here. Jesus, in his true humanity, expresses empathy for his friend. He literally feels her pain and weeps with her in that moment.

I’m sure many of you have been to the funeral of a person you weren’t close with, and perhaps you’ve also experienced the same kind of empathy that Jesus did in that moment with Mary and the crowd at Lazarus’ tomb. In moments of collective sadness, we feel the grief of others deep in our souls. When a loved one gives a eulogy and describes the things that they will miss about someone, we are right there with them, imagining that person and the hole they will leave in the lives of those who had the privilege of knowing them. We weep along with those in the crowd because in a small way, we can take some of that grief from them and express it ourselves. That’s what empathy can be: feeling someone’s pain alongside them so that they can know they are not alone, thus easing the burden of their pain a little bit.

When we attend funerals, we are also reminded of everyone else we have lost and grieved our entire lives. Funerals let us process our own grief anew and freely express sadness and loss that we, by necessity, have had to push aside during our day-to-day lives. In those moments where we remember someone else, we remember ourselves and our own losses and let them flow with the others in the room. It is a collective release: a catharsis. We can imagine that Jesus was not only feeling the sadness that his friend felt in that moment, but also the weight of things that had already happened, and the weight of things to come.

All Saints’ Day seems particularly meaningful given the tone of our lives the past 18 months. There is so much grief in the world, so much loss, and a lot of pain and struggle. But we see Mary, even though she is upset, grieving, and angry at Jesus for letting her brother die, has faith that God and Jesus will make it right. She believes that even though there is pain now, that God will continue to be faithful to God’s people, and to Jesus.

The message of hope is one that can be difficult to focus on when we are so entrenched in our own challenges. We often tell folks that “it gets better”, but how is that helpful right now? We can hope that it gets better (or maybe we can’t, and that’s ok too) but we also need to figure out how to make the here and now better. In today’s reading from Revelation, we are told that “the home of God is among mortals” (21:3). I think this is really important to focus on: God dwells within us and around us always: God’s home is here. When things feel hard, no matter how much we feel like we are living in hell-on-earth, and I’m sure we have had those moments, we need to try and remind ourselves that there’s heaven-on-earth too. God’s home is here with us, and God is with us always. And when we are unable to see that or remember it, know that there are those around us who will sit and lament with us, and help share our burden when it feels too heavy for us to bear.

Collect

O Jesus Christ, teacher and healer,
you heard the cry of the blind beggar
when others would have silenced him.
Teach us to be attentive
to the voices others ignore,
that we might respond
through the power of the Spirit
to heal the afflicted
and to welcome the abandoned
for your sake and the sake of the gospel. Amen.

Readings

Job 42: 1-6, 10-17

Then Job answered the Lord:
‘I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
“Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?” Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. “Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you declare to me.”
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.’

And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money and a gold ring. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this Job lived for one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. And Job died, old and full of days.

Psalm 34: 1-8

Hebrews 7: 23-28

Mark 10: 46-52

They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’ Jesus stood still and said, ‘Call him here.’ And they called the blind man, saying to him, ‘Take heart; get up, he is calling you.’ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ The blind man said to him, ‘My teacher, let me see again.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your faith has made you well.’ Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

There is so much going on in this brief story about Bartimaeus the blind beggar which is par for the course in Mark’s gospel. I want to focus on a couple of moments of action which captured my attention. The first one is the quick turn around of the crowd and their dealings with Bartimaeus. When Bartimaeus begins shouting to gain Jesus’ attention the crowds are so dismissive of him, sternly telling him to be quiet. The word sternly is indicative of their distain that this blind beggar, a person of no importance and in fact someone who is generally to be ignored should have the audacity to try to speak to Jesus is so clear. It is like an adult who finds children to be a nuisance rather than a joy, telling them to be quiet when the grown-ups are talking. Then how quickly their response to Bartimaeus changes when Jesus not only hears his cries but pointedly stops walking and asks to have the man brought forward. Now they tell the beggar to “Take heart, he is calling you.” How quickly public opinion changes when a different light is shone on a person or issue. With the focus and interest of Jesus now pointed at Bartimaeus the crowd reacts very differently to him, now they are quite solicitous and kindly, whether because they are aware of what Jesus has been hearing them say to Bartimaeus and are trying to cover it up or because the fact that Jesus is interested in this man has changed their opinion of him. When we look at people and issues through the lens of the love and kindness of Jesus our view can be changed quite drastically. The ‘homeless people living in public parks’, issue becomes a call for justice for all God’s people, a chance to reach out to those in need in a kindly and caring way to find help for their suffering. They are no longer homeless people but God’s children and therefore our brothers and sisters and that immediately changes the way we see them and treat them.

The second thing I want to look at in this passage is Bartimaeus’ reaction to Jesus’ call. Mark writes, “throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus”. There is such an immediate and powerful reaction from Bartimaeus when he hears that Jesus is calling him. He throws off his cloak and springs up and goes to Jesus. If his cries to Jesus for mercy do not reveal his faith, then the actions he makes when Jesus hears him and calls to him definitely do. The throwing off of his cloak is like he is shedding his former self, ‘blind beggar’, recognizing that that is not the way Jesus sees him. His springing up shows his joy and excitement in the chance to speak to Jesus directly and his going to Jesus reveals his desire to be right in the presence of the one he calls ‘the son of David’, the anointed servant of God Almighty. Then Bartimaeus goes further, he follows Jesus on the way.

Oh, that we could react in the same way when Jesus calls us. Whether it is Jesus calling us to stand up for the poor, oppressed and voiceless in our society or whether it is Jesus calling us into a particular role or work within the church or our community. May we be courageous enough to call out to Jesus, expect to receive a reply, listen when Jesus calls to us, throw off our cloaks of self-consciousness, doubt or fear, spring up and go to Jesus. Knowing that when we do, if there is anything we will need help with Jesus will give it to us just as he gives Bartimaeus the gift of sight when he asks for it and knowing that Jesus will lead us where we need to go and walk with us all the way. Amen.

Collect

Creator God,
you are wrapped in light as a garment,
clothed with honour and majesty.
Enlighten us with true faith and humble obedience that seeks to serve others in your name. Amen.

Readings

Job 38: 1-7

Psalm 104: 1-9, 25, 35c

Hebrews 5: 1-10

Mark 10: 35-45

James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’ And he said to them, ‘What is it you want me to do for you?’ And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’ But Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ They replied, ‘We are able.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.’

When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, ‘You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’

At first read of our Gospel reading and figuring out where this reflection should go, my thought went to the boldness of John and James for asking or having the nerve to ask Jesus if they could sit on either side of him when he began to rule his kingdom. They were looking for a place of honour by Jesus. Instead of being like Jesus, they were focused on themselves.

When I read the Bible I sometimes look up the map that I have to get myself familiar with where the reading is happening. This time I decided to find out if there was such a thing as a timeline of the New Testament which would help me to figure out where we were in the life of Jesus and his disciples. I found one that I will now use along with my map.

The particular reading from Mark is on the final journey to Jerusalem and if I had of read a bit before this particular passage I could have saved myself some time and effort. Oh well, lesson learned (I hope).

Now looking at this from a different perspective, had me understanding that maybe they felt that since they had, by this time, been with Jesus long enough, that they could ask him anything. Along with Peter, James and John were 3 of the 12 disciples who were special or closer to Jesus. There was an extra bond between them.

The other disciples who stood near and heard the request were angry, but we can take this in one of two ways. We all interpret things differently. Were they disappointed that they did not think of this for themselves or did they understand that this is not the way Jesus does things. There are other times in the disciple’s journey with Jesus, that they had discussions about struggling for power so I would think that they too wanted this position to sit with Jesus.

A problem here is that John and James did not understand what they were asking for. They were under the assumption that to sit on either side of Jesus would mean to be here on earth helping to rule, with Jesus as the leader. Instead, Jesus would have to die before he would rule in his kingdom.

Jesus explains to John and James that although they were followers of his and yes they would drink the cup that he drank and could have the same baptism, he was not the one who would choose who sits to his left or right. Only God will choose and that place was already prepared.

Back to all of the disciples: Jesus needs to once again explain that they need to be less concerned about where they stand in relationship to others, to think less about who is the best, instead their focus should be on serving others. Not being first, but being last. I think there are times in our lives that we all need to focus more on this, but how can we all be servants or how can we all be last? Somebody has to be first and we need leaders. This reminds me of the school line, when nobody wants to be first in line and the kids keep moving to the end and pushing someone else to the front. This is usually not for the same outcome but I hope you understand what I mean here.

Of course there needs to be leaders, but it is how we lead that makes us better followers of Jesus. Even a good leader can be a servant like Jesus by respecting those he/she leads and be willing and able to get his/her hands dirty and pitch in where needed. Jesus was a great leader. He had many followers in his short time on earth and how many more follow him today. Jesus was a great leader but by being a servant to all.
The disciples still couldn’t see it, or maybe didn’t quite yet understand but maybe that was the plan after all. They needed to see the whole picture before they could truly ‘get it’ and be the disciples that Jesus was training them to be.
We as people who come to church, who read and possibly study the Bible, have a bird’s eye view of what Jesus was teaching his disciples. It took until his death before the disciples ‘got it’. When will we stop worrying about the car we drive, or the clothes we wear or how much money or ‘toys’ we have and be more focused on being servants. Last week we were told that we don’t need to give it all away and live poor,
But: What will it take for us as Christians to truly ‘get it’?

Collect

O God,
in your Son Jesus Christ
you richly bless us with all that we need,
bread from the earth and the bread of heaven,
which gives life to the world.
Grant us one thing more:
grateful hearts to sing your praise,
in this world and the world to come. Amen.

Readings

Joel 2:21-27

Psalm 126

1 Timothy 2:1-7

Matthew 6:25-33

‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Thanksgiving 2021 Gratitude & Hope

It’s good that once a year our society stops to give thanks for the many blessings of this life, family, hearth and health and especially for the annual harvest.

So many of the psalms reflect thanksgiving for life itself, for the bounty of creation, for the compassionate generosity of the life-giving God of Love. Psalm 65, for example: “You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.” In the midst of this global pandemic, it may be a struggle to feel such blessings, gratitude, and hope. For Christians, as for all spiritual people, there is a deep dimension to Thanksgiving. There are essential words from the Commendation which the gathered community recite together at a funeral service: “All of us go down to the dust; yet even at the grave we make our song: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.” Even at the grave we sing; in the face of death, in the midst of death, we sing. ‘Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death’—that’s every moment of every day, and this pandemic highlights the fragility of existence—yet we say, ‘I shall fear no evil, for thou art with me.’ Remember what comfortable words St Paul saith: ‘neither death nor life . . . nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God.’ That is the source of our thanksgiving, of our gratitude.

Negative voices abound right now, especially from newsrooms, but positive spiritual inspiration comes from people like Richard Rohr, Diana Butler-Bass, Walter Brueggeman, and many others. Reading their tweets and longer meditations, available free to your email inbox, provides positive counterbalance to negative news and ungrateful people. Also, in the quiet afforded by enforced isolation, we can be still and hear the still small voice of the Divine; we can bring into consciousness our joy in the beauty and bounty of the natural world around us. In the busyness and hurriedness of our lives, we can be and talk with God anytime, we can bring our spiritual awareness to bear on the present moment, and know that Jesus, God, the Spirit, is right alongside us. “Lo, I am with you always.” “The kingdom of God is within you.” God is always right here and now, even and especially when we don’t feel particularly in touch with the Divine presence.

There is much that we can do to nourish the Spirit within: read, the Bible, yes, favourite passages, the psalms, the great parables, the Beatitudes, but read poetry too. What poems did you memorize in your youth and childhood? I bet you still remember. When I lie awake at 3am, I can meditate myself back to sleep by repeating the 23rd psalm, slowly. Listen to music that truly moves you, whatever lifts your spirit—classical, jazz, folk, country. There is beauty at the touch of a button, so much available through the wonder of the internet— stimulating lectures, seminars, art gallery tours. If you are stuck in the house, the computer is a window to the world, a light for the soul. Time alone is invaluable for the spiritual life, peace and quiet to meditate, but also it affords time for conversation. Bestir yourself to phone a friend or family member and have a good chat. If you can get out, exercise is paramount for physical and emotional and spiritual health—take a walk in the woods, “Forest bathing,” the Japanese “practice of immersing yourself in nature to improve your wellbeing.” In this time of isolation, people have stopped to smell the roses, to hear the birds, children’s laughter, to taste the fruits of the harvest, to see the stars and wonder, to feel the warmth of the sun or the crisp fall air. Dylan Thomas wrote in his poem, “Fern Hill,” that waking each morning of his youth on a farm, he discovered the world “was all Shining . . . The sky gathered again/ And the sun grew round that very day./ So it must have been after the birth of the simple light/ In the first, spinning place, the spellbound horses walking warm/ Out of the whinnying green stable/ On to the fields of praise.”

Standing outside at night gazing at the moon and stars, one might feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but humanity is the only species on earth that is self-reflexive, self-conscious. We are aware and we know we are aware. When we look upon the cosmos, we are the cosmos reflecting back on itself. When we sing, we are the universe singing. Illness and death are reality and the pandemic certainly highlights reality. The crucifixion portrays Jesus coming smack up against reality—injustice, suffering and death. But his resurrection gives us faith in God’s ever-present love, a sure and certain hope in times of trouble, assurance that we are moving inexorably toward a greater Light and everlasting Love. “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” We have much reason to sing: Alleluia!

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.