Sermon for March 27th 2011

Our Gospel reading starts simply enough. Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at the well, and ask her for water, then she engages him in an extended conversation about the well, water, herself, and the history not only of the well itself, but of the relationship between her people – the Samaritans, and his – the Jews.

On the surface it all seems kind of pedestrian and mundane, but this exchange is anything but mundane. This is one of those defining moments in Jesus ministry, where he not only lays bare the heart and soul of his teachings, he also extends the Gospel invitation to others.

We’ve lost the dramatic effect that engaging in conversation with a Samaritan represented in Jesus’ world. For him, as a good Jew to speak to a Samaritan at all, much less a woman who had had five husbands, was a major social, religious and political faux pas.

The Samaritans were the outcasts within the spectrum of the Jewish world. They were kind of like Jews, but not really. While the Jews of Jesus day worshipped in the Temple in Jerusalem, the Samaritans practiced the same rites and liturgies, but they used them as they worshipped at Mt. Gerizim, up in the high country to the north east of Jerusalem.

While to us, it may not seem like a big deal that they worshipped at their own temple in Mt Gerizim – a temple that was one of the sanctuary sites built centuries ago, and used by the great prophet Samuel, But to an observant Jew in Jesus’ day, there could be only one temple – and that temple was in Jerusalem.

To the Samaritans, there was only one temple – and that temple happened to be on Mt. Gerizim … and so, like many other good religious conflict throughout human history – the battle lines were drawn, and sides formed and they were off …

So, as Jesus moved through Samaritan territory, he should have, as an observant Jew avoided any contact with Samaritans, but clearly in this reading, he didn’t. Not only did he have contact with a Samaritan, he managed to break rule after rule after rule … he talked with her, he asked her for water, she was a woman, she was a Samaritan, she was a multiple married Samaritan woman … if this was filmed for a tv show like Canada’s Worst Driver, we could have a little in the corner of the screen tallying up his breaking of the rules, and it would be spinning as this story unfolds … Even his disciples asked “what the heck are you doing?” when they saw what he was up to …

So, all controversy aside for a moment … the heart of this exchange is the invitation to partake in the living water that pours forth in abundance from God. Everything Jesus says to this woman, leads to the invitation to drink from the well of living water … water that is abundant, endless and free to all for the taking …

It’s a radical concept that hearkens the listener back to the moment in the Sinai when the people were hot and tired from being out in the wilderness, and like good children everywhere started the whine … “are we there yet?” … “I’m hot …” … “I’m tired …” … “I have to go to the bathroom …” “I’m thirsty …” and so on.

So to not only address their whining complaints, but to show them the very power of God, Moses takes his staff and slams it down on the hard baked ground and suddenly water begins to pour out of the broken rock.

Now, on one level it’s impressive – striking a rock and causing water to flow in the middle of the desert. But on another level, it is proof that Moses was an observant and intelligent leader. It is said that even today in the wilderness deserts Moses and the Israelites wandered, that the herdsman can read the landscape and find water where others see only dry sand and rock.

In the intense heat, water bubbling out of springs tends to evaporate, and as it evaporates, it leaves behind a layer of minerals that slowly forms a crust that in time covers the spring itself. Herdman have passed down the knowledge over millennia, of how to read the rocks and find those places where springs have been sealed up by their own water. Then taking a wooden staff in hand, and delivering a mighty ‘whack’, they can set the water free by breaking through the hard crust … it’s a good trick, and when Moses used it, he wanted to remind the people to trust in God (and him), and stop their whining ,..

There’s enough water for all, was Moses’ message, and it was Jesus’ message too. Stop worrying and fretting and trying to protect it – the water is a gift from God to be shared and celebrated, so open wide the circle and invite in ALL of God’s children!!

Over and over in our scriptures, we encounter this radical welcome that reaches out beyond the status quo and seeks to draw in ALL people, not just a chosen few.

Over and over we find ourselves in an unlikely place where suddenly, we are challenged to something more … Walter Brueggemann offers a glimpse into what that something more is when he writes:

I propose that the church is now God's agent for gathering exiles of which I can think immediately of two groups. First there are those exiles who have been made exiles by the force of our society, those who are rejected, ostracized, and labeled as outsiders. This, of course, includes the poor, and inevitably we would also think in one way or another of gays and lesbians. We have an exile producing culture that displaces some folks who are variously visible and coval among us. But second, after the obviously excluded, I suggest that the category of 'exile' also includes those whom the world may judge normal, conventional, establishment types. For the truth is that the large failure of old values and old institutions causes many people to experience themselves as displaced people ... anxious, under threat, vigilant, ill at ease, and so in pursuit of safety and stability and well-being that is not on the horizons of contemporary society. It is not obvious among us how the dream of well-being can come to fruition among us. ... In context, then, ministry cannot be about maintenance; it is about gathering, about embracing, about welcoming home "all sorts of and conditions" of people. Home is a place of mother tongue, of basic soul food, of old stories told and treasured, of being at ease, known by name, belonging without qualifying for membership. The ministry of gathering is one to which this God has been committed forever. (Mandate to Difference, Walter Brueggemann. pg 51)

The springs of Living Water are for the sharing – and not just with the chosen few, but with ALL.

The waters of our baptism are a celebration of that invitation and the abundance of God’s love and grace for all. Baptism/Marshall is a reminder not only of our baptism and the affirmation of our circle of community, but his baptism is also a vivid reminder that everyone is welcome to come and share in the abundance of the living waters that are poured out from the very hand of God.

In Baptism, we are called BY NAME – the liturgical action begins by repeating before the community and before God, the name of the child, and then affirming the place the child has in the family of God through the waters of baptism … in Baptism we are affirming that we – all of us – belong to God, and are loved, and cherished and known to God BY NAME.

The challenge we are then called to live and share is to go forth from the Font and return to the world and invite others to come and find a place of belonging alongside the living waters that we call home.

The words of invitation and welcome are ours to share … we are called by name to go into the world and share that invitation with all.

May it be so … thanks be to God … let us pray …

Our Newest Pilgrim !!

The picture is a tad blurry, but the smiles are broad and sincere, and it captures a moment in the middle of sanctuary that was, thanks to technology, shared via Facebook, with at least one member of our flock who has been absent from our Sunday morning services. While on one hand this is a 'new' use of technology, and may strike some as strange, it is very much in keeping with the historical legacy and spirit of the Congregation that calls St. John's home for over a Century.

A reading of the Church archives revealed a decision in the early 1900's to run a dedicated phone line from the Church to the house of a member who lived nearby and who was unable to attend worship services due to the challenges of age. In their decision, the Board of the then Methodist Church, felt such an action was a way to honour this gentleman and his family for their service and dedication to their life and ministry.

In a unanimous decision, they strung the cable, and began 'broadcasting' their services to the nearby home so they could be included in the circle. Today, we simply reclaimed that same spirit by snapping a picture of the newly baptized young man and his family, then during the next hymn, I used my iphone to post the picture to a photo album on Facebook, and within the hour, the picture was viewed online by one of our flock who wasn't there this morning.

What a wonderful use of technology to ensure inclusion, even from a distance!
But more importantly, what a wonderful way of ensuring that technology is vital and central to the ongoing ministry of The Church in the Grey Highlands! Now that the first step has been taken (or in this case, re-taken), stay tuned, we'll be trying things like this again!!

For the moment - a warm welcome to young Marshall, who is the latest in a long line of family members who have called St John's home through several generations!! It was a wonderful service !

The journey (and the conversation) continues ...

Welcome to the new blog for the Flesherton Pastoral Charge in the United Church of Canada. In addition to the sermons published here, additional earlier sermons can be found over at The Prairie Preacher blog, and more information on us and our ongoing ministry can be found at the St. John's & Eugenia United Churches Web Page.

To find the blog 'The Prairie Preacher" please click here.

To visit our Congregational Web Page please click here.

Stop by again soon !!

Sermon for March 20th 2011

Ever contemplated what it means to be a blessing?

In our Hebrew Scriptures reading this morning, we have Abraham and Sarah being offered the Covenant from God that not only promises their family to be a great nation, but it also promises that this family will be a blessing to the world. Then we turn to our Gospel reading, and we hear about God blessing the world with the gift of his own child who brings God’s love and presence into the world.

So, what does it mean to be a blessing?

Is it still possible for us – the church – to be a blessing in the modern world?

As I contemplated our readings for this week, I also heard from various corners of our Pastoral Charge, concerns being raised about how we live out the welcome we extend to our community. As I heard the concerns about welcoming in not only the new faces of strangers and new comers to our community, but also welcoming home those who have been hurt and wounded by the Church, or those who for whatever reason have wandered off; I began to realize the centrality of living our words of welcome in our calling to be a blessing to the community around us and the world.

Being a welcoming community is far more than just hanging a sign on the door and saying “All welcome.”

Being a welcoming community means living out the idea that we are called to be a blessing every day …

As I hear a faith community wrestling with the idea of living out their welcome in a better and more inclusive way I think of two experiences I’ve had in the past where living that welcome has been a challenge … The first was a congregation that prided itself on being a welcoming and inclusive community. One of the old time members proudly boasted one morning that “we’re a welcoming place. Anyone can come in the door and we would gladly welcome them. They will have a place here, and they would know it …”

Almost on cue the door of the room opened and a dirty, disheveled and very drunk First Nations man stumbled through the door … “What are you doing?” he asked.

“Having a Bible Study,” I answered.

What was startling to me though, is that as this man joined the circle two of the members got up and got him a cup of coffee and some cookies and welcomed him PHYSICALLY into the circle, while others, the member who had JUST been speaking included, moved away from the man AND pulled their purses protectively closer to themselves … out of 12 or so members, two lived the welcome, while the others, perhaps totally subconsciously, contradicted the very notion that they were a welcoming community.

It was one of those defining moments that revealed the heart of the community. The words we speak are important, but whether we chose to live those words is more important …

The second incident that came to mind this week as I reflected on the notion of being a blessing happened many years ago when I was a young, eager and enthusiastic student preparing for ministry in this United Church of ours. The congregation was a strong and very welcoming rural congregation that was not great in number, but great in commitment to one another, and to the work they have been called to do.

One Sunday morning, quite unintentionally, one of the long time members was offended by the welcome given by another long time member and friend … one the surface it was one of those moment that simply happen. The greeter that morning was in a jovial mood and when they saw the other member, who had not been at worship for a few weeks, jokingly said – “oh, are you visiting? Would you like to sign our guest book?”

The greeter meant nothing by it. They were trying to be funny, and to welcome their friend and neighbor … BUT … instead the person who was coming back after a long absence felt slighted, humiliated and ridiculed … they were hurt and that hurt quickly turned to anger.

In the moment they laughed it off, but coupled with the events and happenings that had kept them from church they were hurt … and they pulled back from the one place they desperately wanted and needed to be.

We can hear this story and roll our eyes and say – “it’s not big deal … so someone was kidding around and someone else was offended … so?”

But that misses not only the point, but it also adds to the feeling of alienation that is so often felt by people who are struggling to come in the doors in the first place … Researchers have repeatedly shown that our church congregations are surrounded by a large and diverse group of people who for any number of reasons no longer attend the Church they still call home.

Canadian Gordon Turner authored the book “Outside Looking In” using the conversations he had with people from coast to coast who no longer attend worship services, but who still call the United Church home. Over and over Turner chronicled the reasons why people no longer attend, and repeatedly he heard that they no longer felt welcomed … they know the congregations try to be welcoming, but usually something had happened that rolled up that welcome mat and left feelings of hurt and even anger in its wake.

And it is most often HURT that is the reason for people pulling back … they have been hurt by something said or done – and 9 times out of ten, it was a completely unintentional thing that happened … yet, the hurt left unaddressed turns to anger and valued members or our church family frequently withdraw to the margins and leave the Church behind …

Turner highlighted many stories of families and individuals who pulled away from the Church for any number of reasons … some where families who experienced a devastating grief and felt unsupported and unacknowledged in the weeks that followed … it wasn’t that the Church didn’t care, or didn’t want to care – but rather it was that uncomfortable place that comes after the death and the funeral when we struggle to know what to say.

We don’t want to offend the person by not acknowledging their loss, but at the same time we don’t want to embarrass them by saying the wrong thing … so we fill the space with musings about the weather, or the latest sports happenings … our hearts are willing, but we don’t want to hurt them. BUT, in the process they feel that the burden they are struggling under is being ignored and overlooked … they want to cry out and acknowledge their burden, but feel uncomfortable because they don’t want say the wrong thing …

So two people stand, both reluctant to say the wrong thing, and both making erroneous assumptions … and in the process a rift is created in the very place a bond of community should be forged and strengthened …

Over and over Turner documented this process in our own United Church … over and over he spoke with families and individuals who shared their experiences and spoke eloquently of their desire to feel included and welcomed, but their hurt and their feelings got in the way … and as time passed, their absence deepened the challenges at healing that rift.

Those absent feel more and more self-conscious about being away and become less and less motivated to come back. Often, they stay away because they feel it would be embarrassing to come back after so many weeks or months or even years away … and on the part of the congregation, the simple action of welcoming them back with a joking welcome like – “would you like to sign the guest book?” served only to deepen that embarrassment and hurt.

I encountered this on a community level, when I arrived at a Congregation and when Remembrance Day rolled around, I asked the worship committee about inviting the Legion to our Service of Remembrance. The answer that was eventually teased out was that the Legion doesn’t come to the United Church. As I pushed more I learned that a couple of decades earlier one of my predecessors made some comments that were deeply offensive and hurtful to the Legion, and the Legion members had never darkened our door again … this is despite the fact that many members of the Legion were in fact United Church members.

Over time we began a conversation with the Legion and eventually they not only came to our Remembrance Day Service, we as a Congregation offered a long overdue apology for the hurtful words that had been spoken and left for too long … while it didn’t immediately heal the rift, the willingness to acknowledge the foolishness of the past allowed us to live our welcome by building a better tomorrow.

And that is the dilemma we face in the church … how DO we live our welcome?

How do we ensure that the words of our faith are reflected in our deeds and actions?

We reflect and embody our welcome in our body language … do we tuck our purses and possessions in closer when a stranger arrives? Do we tense up at the door when someone new comes? Or do we remain relaxed, open and welcoming …

Are the words that come from our mouths truly welcoming and inclusive, or are they mere words offered because it’s the right thing to say?

I recall being at a Conference AGM when a conversation began about being a welcome and inclusive community. The focus of this was the proposal for the Conference to formally become an AFFIRMING body where those with gay and lesbian sexual orientation might feel welcome.

Speaker after speaker rose and spoke of how welcoming the conference was, and how gays and lesbians had a place. Then, one speaker came to the microphone. Ken was and is a minister who happens to be gay, and he has in many ways been the spokes person willing to speak out on issues facing the gay and lesbian community within the United Church. Ken thanked the Conference for their attempt at being inclusive, but stated quiet emphatically that there was a great deal of work to be done BEFORE they could declare themselves to be an AFFIRMING Conference. He shared how the words spoken in Church courts don not necessarily reflect the day to day reality experienced by gays and lesbians within the church … in short, Ken echoed the findings of Turner and others who have looked critically at the Church when he pointed out the disconnect between our words and our actions …

We say and we believe that we are a welcoming and inviting community … and that is a wonderful first step. The next step is to look critically at how we can improve our role and calling to be a Blessing not only to the world out there, but to the people who have moved slowly to the margins and who are not here as often as we would want.

The big overarching question we must courageously and fearlessly face is how do we live our welcome, and how do welcome home those who yearn for something more … we live in a time of great spiritual hunger, and here, in this place is what is needed to ensure that everyone feels loved and valued and included …

The welcome begins with simple words – “hi,” and moves through the faith FILLED commitment of living and welcoming the children of God who come here to be fed and nurtured and most importantly INCLUDED …

May it be so … thanks be to God … let us pray …

Sermon for March 13th 2011

Have you ever thought about the wilderness, and the role it plays in our lives and in our world?

In Canada we pride ourselves as a nation for having so many thousands of square kilometers of wilderness from the barren arctic tundra to the deep dark coastal rain forests, and everything in between. In pop culture, the wilderness had been an ever present reality.

Recent movies like ‘Into the Wild’ have highlighted the struggles and tragedy one young man experienced when he journeyed into the Alaskan wilderness.

Throughout human history, the wilderness has played a prominent role in all aspects of our lives. Found just beyond our civilized world, the wilderness is a relatively unfamiliar and unknown place full of danger and discomfort. When we travel into the wilderness we are by and large leaving the certainty and comfort of what we know behind, and putting ourselves outside of our comfort zone.

Admittedly, we could be like some of those who travel into the wilderness carrying with them all the comforts of home. I remember reading a book about the dangers and risks of climbing Mt Everest. The author describes climbers who spend enormous amounts of money carrying in everything from microwave ovens to portable wine coolers so their base camp will be a replica of their posh homes. On the toe of the mountain, hundreds of kilometers from home, the desire is to experience one of the ultimate wilderness experiences with ALL the comforts of home.

Yet, these notable exceptions aside, the wilderness is a potent force in the psyche of humanity. It is perhaps the danger that lurks just beyond our field of vision, that excites and titillates us. The first nations people on the west coast had a mystical understanding of the shadowy rain forests they lives within.

Often the villages of the first people crowded under the very edges of the massive trees that lined the coast, but they very seldom went very far into the forests beyond the fringe along rivers and inlets. The interior of the forests were then, as now, strange and shadowy places full of strange noises and able to disorient the unwary quickly.

The mythos of the First People along the coast is full of delightful and potentially dangerous creatures and beings who lurk in the shadows just beyond the safety of the smoke houses. Some like Tsoniqua will steal unguarded children and carry them in a basket slung over her back, others like Sasquatch offer no direct threat, but will scare you by their immense size and solitary nature. Throughout the stories and myths shared by the people, the wilderness was a place to be respected and honoured, and in many ways avoided. Better to stay near the hearth in the long house, then risk encountering one of the mystical beings who call the wilderness home.

Yet, the wilderness was also a place for the young to go and find themselves and make the spiritual transition into adult hood. The secret societies met out in the wilderness where they could wrestle with the mystical creatures both literally and figuratively. The wilderness became simultaneously a place of risk and danger, but also a place of spiritual nurture and place to more fully encounter the Holy.

This understanding of the wild places is a common thread throughout human history. The Aborigine of Australia see their harsh and hostile environment as a place brimming with spiritual life … Thoreau went into the wilderness at Walden to wrestle with things spiritual … and our Gospel reading today has Jesus spending 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness wrestling with temptation before beginning his ministry.

The wilderness represents the unknown and the uncomfortable, but it also represents the margins beyond which we know we’ll encounter God in a different and more direct way.

Moses travelled into the wilderness where he encountered the burning bush. The later he journeyed up into the craggy peaks of Mt Sinai where he again encountered God. Throughout the Scriptures we constantly encounter people who went out into the wilderness where they not only encountered God, but returned charged and called to share that experience and the message that came from meeting God in the wilderness.

Think of the prophets like Amos, Jeremiah, Isaiah and the others. They went off into the unknown desert wilderness around them, and returned proclaiming the message God had given them for the people …

In the 4^th Century, a new phenomena gripped the Church that saw and experienced the wilderness in a new and different way. The desert fathers began to travel into the wilderness to emulate the temptation experience of Jesus as a means of purifying themselves and ultimately the surrounding society.

Some chose caves or isolated huts far from the lure of cities and towns. Others chose more extreme locales, such as one monk who perched himself atop an abandoned pillar from a long forgotten pagan temple. Writers today acknowledge that while many of the desert fathers were sincere in their spiritual quests, many could easily be regarded as hucksters who were in it only for themselves. Criminals used the desert asceticism as a means of escaping their actions, others used the desert to flee happenings in their lives, while still others engaged in full blown fraud by charging the unwary for the supposed wisdom and knowledge … nonetheless, the ascetic desert fathers movement has left a profound and lasting legacy on the entire Christian Church – a legacy that remains present over 16 centuries later.

It was from the desert fathers that many of the religious orders arose. Some like the Benedictines came from the desire of Benedict to encourage his brethren to live in the very presence of God, and realized the necessity of invoking some sort of order and discipline to weed out those who are less than sincere about their spiritual quest. In short, Benedict wrote rules and regulations, not to control the wilderness, nor to limit the experience of God ‘out there’, but rather to ensure the purity of spiritual quest one can find in the wilderness.

Ironically, orders like the Benedictines physically abandoned the wilderness, but carried with them the concepts and the ideas that the wilderness represented and offered. Even Centuries later in their monasteries and cloisters, the religious orders still engage in liturgy and actions that arose in the remote isolated wilderness with the desert fathers.

Such is the power of the wilderness … it is a place of risk and danger, but it is simultaneously, a place of awe and wonder where we can encounter the Holy presence of God in startling ways.

I discovered some of that when a few years ago I began back country mountain biking in Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. On many weekends, I would throw my bike in the back of the van and head out on one of the many trails that criss cross the park. Along the way I had nose to nose encounters with moose and elk, and encountered sights and vistas that repeatedly took my breath away and left me marveling at the beauty of this corner of creation.

It was hard work at times to bike up and down these back country trails, but the experience was well worth it. Such is the power and the draw of the wilderness. It is something different from what we have around us day to day. But more than that, it is something that enriches us by allowing us to be removed from the familiarity of our day to day lives, and experience something new and different – from something as simple as a sunrise through to the majesty of a mountain top – we experience something awe inspiring, and we attribute that moment to God, as a gift.

And that is the ultimate draw spiritually of the wilderness.

Jesus went into the wilderness to face his temptations and to make his final preparations for his ministry. But as one commentator pointed out, the entire experience was an attempt at finding and living in the presence of the Spirit.

The wilderness, with its discomfort, its dark shadowy places, and with its incredible diversity of unknown experiences and creatures offers us the opportunity to trust more fully in the presence of God. Journeying into the wilderness opens the door to experiencing God’s presence in a more direct and less familiar way – and that is what has drawn generations of people outside the comfort of the city walls into the wilderness.

Leaving the comfort of the city behind they seek the very presence of God and an encounter with the Holy … in many ways, the wilderness is the model for our Lenten journey:

The Way – Ann Weems

The way to Jerusalem looks suspiciously like Highway 10, and the pilgrims look suspiciously like you and me ...

I expect the road to Jerusalem to be crowded with holy people ... clerics and saints ... people who have kindness wrinkled into their faces, and comfort lingering in their voices ... but this looks more like rush hour ... horns blowing, people pushing, voices cursing ... This is not what I envisioned!

O God, I've only begun and already I feel I've lost my way. Surely this is not the road, and surely these are not the ones to travel with me.

This Lenten journey calls for holy retreat, for reflection, and repentance.

Instead of holiness the highway is crammed with the cacophony of chaos.

Is there no back road to Jerusalem?

No quiet path where angels tend to weary travelers?

No sanctuary from the noice of the world?

Just this?

Can this hectic highway be the highway to heaven?

May it be so … thanks be to God … let us pray …