Bulletin for March 25th 2012 (5th of Lent)

Sermon for March 25th 2012 (5th of Lent)

I found the best description of Jeremiah this week as I was preparing my sermon for today. In introducing the Book of Jeremiah, the writers says: “poetry and narrative, metaphor and myth, sermonic exhortation and theological defiance converge in what can seem like a cacophony of non-melodic speech …”

The writer goes on to acknowledge the challenge posed by the Book Jeremiah’s multi-facted conversation that moves towards healing and hope in a radiant future, ALL the while being deeply affected and influenced by the historical and present day reality in which the prophet has arisen and offers his message …

Confused slightly?

What ALL of that means is that Jeremiah is a prophet standing in a place of history where huge changes and transitions are rocking the boat in which the little nation state of Israel sits, and while people are trying to make sense of it all, Jeremiah dares to stand up and offer a discomforting view not only of politics, economics and society at large, but Jeremiah dares to suggest that everything the people rely on for comfort and security is about to be wiped away …

Jeremiah appeared on the scene in a tumultuous time in Israel’s history. The Babylonian empire has risen to power in the east and is now threatening Israel … Jeremiah, rather than offering empty promises of deliverance and hope that say “we will overcome … we will prevail” instead says the equivalent of: “we’re pretty much hooped people … we better get ready to lose, cause it doesn’t look good …”

The people didn’t want to hear this … they didn’t want to hear that defeat was the ONLY outcome … so they locked Jeremiah up and went on with their lives …

History tells us that not only was Jeremiah right in his assessment of what was about to happen, he was likely under-estimating the result of the Babylonian invasion and victory … The Exile that saw the temple destroyed, the intelligentsia and prominent hauled off in chains to far off Babylon and the total disruption to the nation, the people and the psyche of Israel was beyond comprehension … even today, with a Century of armed conflict, war and terrorist attacks, NOTHING we’ve experienced in the modern era can compare to the sheer magnitude of what the people of Israel experienced when the Babylonians came and conquered them.

And so, it was in the midst of ALL of this that Jeremiah’s warning to rely on a New Covenant – not a covenant carved in stone and preserved as a holy relic of the past, but a living Covenant that is found in the hearts of ALL believers.

A living Covenant that is carried with you wherever you go and is not reliant on a temple, or a holy site, or even holy rituals – but is lived and breathed with the passing of each moment in life …

The heart of this New Covenant for Jeremiah is the notion that EVERYONE will know the Lord … they will not need the rituals of the Temple, or the intervention of the Priests and Scribes, but rather will share and live and celebrate this Covenant because of the faithfulness God has continued to show in our world and in our lives …

And so the Prophet Jeremiah offers a blend of “poetry and narrative, metaphor and myth, sermonic exhortation and theological defiance converge in what can seem like a cacophony of non-melodic speech …” because he is speaking in a confusing and tumultuous time … the old ways make little sense, but people are clinging to them because they are comfortable and familiar … the economic and political system is broken and in desperate need of reform, but no one knows what to do, so they blindly continue to trust and believe in it … the safety and security of the nation is being threatened and everyone is relying on the military to protect and comfort them even though it is obvious there is very little that can be done … and so the people stand frightened and confused … and desperate for some comfort … and in this moment, the Prophet speaks.

Not words of comfort that sooth a troubled soul … rather the prophet speaks the truth … the uncomfortable, troubling and disturbing truth that ALL is NOT WELL.

Six Centuries later another prophet speaks to his disciples in the days leading up to his own death and dares to suggest that they need to be willing to follow him even to death, and be prepared to lay down their life for what they believe …

Today, we like to make this notion into a heroic thing – soldiers and heroes will risk their lives for the Common Good … but what if the intent of this idea is not the defense of the Common Good, but the willingness to question the validity of the Common Good?

What if the very thing we are being asked to risk our lives for, is a harsh and needed critique of the values and things we hold dear?

The Prophet seldom speaks a message that the mainstream of society can accept much less follow … the Prophet is the voice that calls US – you and I as the children of God and people of faith – back to God.

Rabbi Abraham Heschel writes of prophets “they speak and act as if the sky were about to collapse because Israel has become unfaithful to God … the prophet is the man who feels fiercely. God has thrust a burden upon his soul, and he is bowed and stunned at humanity’s fierce greed. Frightful is the agony of humanity; no human voice can convey its full terror. Prophecy is the voice that God has lent to that silent agony, a voice to the plundered poor, to the profaned riches of the world. It is a form of living, a crossing point of God and man. God is RAGING in the prophet’s words.”

In to that context fall the words of Jesus who said – “take up your cross and follow me …” “the one who loses his life for my sake gains it …” and “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies it remains just a grain of wheat, but if it dies it bears much fruit …”

In the last waning days of Lent, we are called to pause and consider that too often in the Church we lull ourselves into a place of comfort and complacency by knowing that beyond the darkness of Holy Week lies the wonder and majesty of the Resurrection … but to get TO the place of Resurrection demands taking time in the dark shadow places that the Prophetic voice thunder from …

When I was a student at Queens’ I was privileged to work for a time with a Catholic priest of the Order of Mary Immaculate – the Oblates … Father Brian Primeau was one of the most caring and sensitive men I have ever met. He was the Chaplain at a Catholic High School in Kingston, and I was there as a student intern … during the year we had many conversations, but one that has stuck with me for the last couple of decades was a conversation we had about his own Ordination.

Father Brian described the spiritual retreat he was on prior to his ordination and how he progressed through the events of holy week only to stall in the Garden … over and over his mentor-guide would say “Brian go back to the garden … go back to the garden …”

Until Brian, out of sheer frustration said “God, what do you want from me?” as he knelt in prayer in the garden … then it hit him … he was in too much of a hurry to move from the garden through deep dark events of Holy Week and stand at the tomb … in his frustration the light went on so too speak … his mentor wanted him to stop avoiding the uncomfortable places … to linger in the darkness and to understand and experience what lessons those shadowy place offer …

As a Church, Fr. Brian went on to reflect, we’re too anxious to get to the Empty Tomb of Easter that we don’t want to acknowledge what MUST happen to get there … we want to rush from the Garden to the Garden and skip the beatings, the suffering, the death and the profound aloneness …

And it is in that place- in that dark shadowy place – that the prophet stands calling us not only to linger, but to fully trust God …

As a society and culture, we stand in a tumultuous time that has remarkable parallels to the experiences of the people of Israel … things are NOT what they seemed even a decade ago … our world is gripped with fear and uncertainty … the things that seemed certain and trustworthy in the past are suspect today … and so, our habit is to reach BACK and hold to what is familiar and comfortable … and yet, we hear the voice of the Spirit speaking through Jeremiah and Jesus, questioning us … is this what God wants of us? Of the Church? Of the people of faith?

Marvin McMickle, a southern Baptist preacher and writer notes of the modern Church “within Congregational life, there is a tendency for the preacher to become preoccupied with such pressing matters as new members’ or confirmation classes; the maintenance or renovation of the church building; whether or not the annual budget will be met; and how to maintain a feeling of intimacy in the face of a rapidly growing or shifting membership. What may be lost in the rush to respond to these issues is the congregation’s responsibility to respond to an escalating problem of homelessness in the community, or overcrowding in the jails, or the abuse of drugs and alcohol in the local schools.”

He goes on to insist that the role of the modern preacher is to sound the alarm that THESE other problems are OUR responsibility, and that we cannot ignore them and remain faithful to our calling … the voice of the prophet tells us clearly that our task is to move from a place of comfort to a place of discomfort …

The words of Jeremiah and Jesus are about moving past comfortable ritual and soothing tradition, and LIVING the words of our Faith … living our faith is about being willing to take risks and chances and daring to linger in the shadowy dark corners of our world … living our faith requires sharing and celebrating the vision and calling of our ministry and mission …

As a people of faith – as a Church, we want to avoid those uncomfortable corners … but the prophetic voices of Jeremiah, Jesus and others challenge us to think and act otherwise … in a tumultuous time, what is needed is the living of faith … and that starts with the grounding of prayer, and continues as we TRULY dare to live out our faith and heed the prophetic voices challenging us to trust fully in God rather than heeding the whispers that tell us otherwise ...

May it be so – thanks be to God … Let us pray …

Bulletin for March 18th 2012

Sermon for March 18th 2012

(To be clear - this is NOT me!!)

Our readings this morning shift our focus from God’s covenant with the people, and how to live that covenant to exploring the covenant relationship itself and pondering how we will rejoice over the gift of Grace God offers in the midst of a world roiling with suffering, brokenness, hurt and loneliness … one of our passages today has revisted what is perhaps the most famous scripture passage that of John 3:16.

A few years ago in a Sunday Morning Service I had one of the members of the Choir hold up a sign reading "John 3:16" much like those we see at sporting events and live tv happenings ... through the service at random intervals Bob held up the sign without saying a word ... it was an effective way to remind us of the importance of the issue we must face when we consider that it is not how many times can we hold up a sign at a sporting event proclaiming “John 3:16” – but rather how can we make real that love God has for the world…

Our Old Testament reading is from the book of Numbers, which one commentary I consulted this week notes should have been called “Into the Wilderness” because of the happenings and events the book records. It goes on to acknowledge that the content of the book of Numbers is a retelling of the fears haunting the Israelites as they continue their generational adjustment to the freedom that came with their departure from Egypt.

The fears they faced in turn created pockets of frustration, petulance, rivalry, rashness, and outright rebellion in the community … not ANYTHING we’re familiar with in modern life … Over and over though, the stories emphasis the importance and the centrality of whole heartedly trusting in God and God’s unending patience in dealing with a fearful and a fear-filled people.

In this morning’s reading, the people are once against grumbling about the conditions in which they find themselves … grumbling seemingly to be something they’re very very good at … in this case they are being plagued by venomous snakes. The people cry out for God’s help to keep them from suffering and dying from the bites of the snakes.

Mercifully God provides relief from the painful inflamed wounds - all the people need to do is look up and fix their gaze on the bronze serpent Moses lifted up on a pole … the people were asked to look up … to face the very thing they feared by looking past the real one, and seeing the bronze serpent … a metaphor perhaps?

Face the fear in THIS MOMENT by having the courage and the vision to look up – up towards where we think of God being – to look up BEYOND this moment to something bigger … to look beyond the fears and frustrations and the emotions of THIS MOMENT and to keep our eyes fixed on this gift of Holiness, this gift of Grace, this gift God offers, so that we can journey THROUGH this moment and find wholeness …

Then we turn to our New Testament reading where Nicodemus comes in the night to visit Jesus.

Nicodemus is a knowledgable and well connected man – he has much to lose associating with this wild provincial yahoo Jesus who has been stirring things up all through Galilea. So, he arrives in the darkness of night to keep his visit secret, and in the process we have a moment in Jesus’ ministry where his teachings tackle the fundamental Jewish traditions and teachings from which Jesus’ understanding and knowledge arises … in this reading we have a glimpse into the heart of how Jesus and the earliest Church understood his ministry, his role and his place in life and faith …

Jesus on the cross is to become the bronze serpent … in the troubles of this moment we are to look up beyond it and through the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross KNOW that we are people of the Resurrection, and that THIS moment is fleeting in the presence of God … no matter HOW BAD this moment may we know that wholeness will come!

One of the essential proclamations in the Gospel reading today is that God brings about our healing and our salvation though the death and resurrection of Jesus – For God so loved the world that Jesus was given so that EVERYONE – not just a select few EVERYONE may have eternal life.

The bronze serpent of Jesus crucified, suffering and dying becomes an essential and central aspect of our understanding of this Covenant with God to be a people of the Resurrection …

We ARE a community of the Ressurection … this weekend we can get it – finally. The cold and snow of winter has ebbed away and we are standing in the transition – a very very pleasant transition – between seasons with the warmth of the sun seeming that much more powerful and wonderful …

But as we stand basking in the warmth of the sun and SAYING the words – we are a community of the resurrection, the question lingers – how will we live out that understanding of being, of embodying and of celebrating this Resurrection?

Perhaps more importantly, the bigger question becomes – do we even show that we’re people of faith who trust and celebrated the gift of Grace as revealed through the Resurrection?

In a way, we would serve ourselves well to step back and consider the lessons we teach our children and how those moments can in turn teach us … we are very good at trying to convey to our kids the importance and centrality of faith.

We’ll teach them songs like “They’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. They will know we are Christians by our love …”

But if we dare to listen to the youth in each successive generations, they will question the disconnect between what we’re teaching and what we’re actually living … we may teach them the songs “they’ll know we are Christians by our love …” but our teens and our young people ARE going to call us on whether we are actually living out that fine words …

In many respects, the Church has gotten very good at living out our faith on the BIG stage … we can do the food banks, and the mission trips and the outreach over there somewhere, but when it comes to the day to day living out of a simple concept like “they’ll know we are Christians by our love” – we face a few more challenges …

But before we despair, I’ve come to appreciate over the last few weeks as we’ve faced challenges within the circle of our faith community here, that we are doing pretty well in striving to live out our faith.

We’re not perfect, but we’re trying … through prayer we’ve lifted one another up to God and acknowledged the many challenges, concerns and burdens being felt within our community – a process that continues and that is ongoing … by countless small gestures, we’ve continued to nurture the bonds of community that pull us together, and we strive to open that circle to include others, and to welcome in more than just the same old folks who share the pews with us Sunday by Sunday … prayerfully, faithfully, and with care – we continue to strive to share with the community around us, the best of who we are in faith, and the blessings of this faith we share …

As I reflected on ALL of this, I couldn’t help but consider the role our youth and young people play as a vivid reminder of who we are as a community of faith … and as I thought more about this, I was reminded of a reading by Ann Weems that speaks of who we are and what we do as a Church, and how that circle continues to draw itself ever wider to include more and more people who are yearning for this gift of grace …

Ann Weems writes: (stay tuned – I need to find the reference!)

In the season of Lent, we are to avoid the Alleluias as we prepare and anticipate the coming Holy Season and the dark shadowy places that are very much a part of that journey. But in prayer, and in fellowship, with laughter and great care for one another, we as a Community of Faith can and will continue to share and celebrate this faith we have as a community of the Resurrection …

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

Bulletin for March 11th 2012

Gathering Music:

Welcome and Announcements:

Lighting of the Christ Candle:

*Introit: Though Ancient Walls VU 691

Call to Worship:

One: We are like bread scattered on a hillside, seeds of hope.

ALL: Gathered together to fill a people,

Spilling over to the whole world.

One: Scattered again. Searching in the dark soil.

ALL: Gathered again. Searching for the table

where your presence comes alive among us.

One: We are the stranger and the poor, seeds of hope.

ALL: Reminded by your absence

when our circles are drawn to exclude.

One: Opened by our hunger and our confessions.

ALL: Reminded by Jesus, uplifted in the Spirit,

awed by creation, thankful for each other.

One: We are alive, seeds of hope. AMEN.

Our Personal Confession and Silent Prayer …

Silent Prayer ……………………… (F) Voices United pg. 959

Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory,

for ever and ever. AMEN

Prayer of Approach:

One: God of mercy, forgive us when our hearts become calloused to the

poor. Forgive us for averting our eyes, closing our ears and

ignoring those who need our help. Forgive us when we forget

the stranger, refuse to feed the hungry, or neglect the poor child.

Put within us Your spirit of compassion so we might meet the

needs of the poor. In Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN.

(E) *Hymn: Come and Find the Quiet Centre VU 340

(E) Story Time:

WE LISTEN FOR A WORD FROM GOD

Exodus 20:1-17

Psalm 19 (VU pg. 740)

I Corinthians 1:18-25

John 2:13-22

*Hymn: Jesus, You Have Come to the Lakeshore VU 563

Reflection: “Clearing away the clutter …”

WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD

*Hymn: Give to Us Laughter VU 624

Minute for Mission:

Offering:

Offering Hymn: “Praise God From Whom …” HFG 382

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise Him all creatures here below,

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost AMEN.

Offering Prayer:

Prayers of the People:

(F) *Hymn: Come and Find the Quiet Centre VU 374

(F) Story Time:

* Hymn: How Great Thou Art VU 238

*Benediction:

*Choral Response: Amen, Amen, Hallelujah, Amen (VU 974)

(Our Call to Worship and Prayer of Approach are from resources

produced by the Canadian Food Grains Bank)