O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the meditations of our hearts. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Every year, at the end of the church year, we observe a tradition that is 2000 years old, one that dates from the time the three magi bent their knees in homage
to the Baby of Bethlehem.
We name Jesus, here in our worship together, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. We hold him up as the one anointed by God, to be the Messiah, the King of the Jews, the one chosen by the ancient of days to be the deliverer and the Saviour of the world.
Jesus the King - it is an interesting and an important title in our tradition about Jesus - a title that bears looking at.
Being a king really meant something in Jesus' day. A king was the most powerful human being on earth. A king speaks, common people tremble.
For nations, the king was the only means of securing order and peace. The king was, civilization and domestic tranquillity personified in one person. He was to be honoured and respected and served. He was to be revered and feared and obeyed.
A king was everything and everybody rolled up into one. He was of upmost importance - so much so that time itself was calculated on the basis of when the King began his reign.
In the fifth year of the reign of Julius Caesar, In the twenty-fifth year of the reign of King David, In the year of our Lord, two thousand...
As your preacher the question I am struggling with this morning is: What does it mean for us to name Jesus King?
Especially when you consider what we have done to kings in our day and age, indeed what we have done to all sources of authority.
There is no respect, there is no honour, there is no reverence in us, for those who rule over us in the political realm.
We regard no-one as better than us. No-one as ultimate more important than us. No-one as really, in the end, worthy of our unquestioning obedience and our unflagging dedication.
We have reduced our royalty to the status of soap opera stars; we almost universally regard our politicians as corrupt and uncaring and out of touch; our judges and our police we condemn as ineffective; and the laws that they make and enforce, when they are applied to us, we often call unfair and arbitrary, and we seek to get around them.
The image of Jesus as King, is an image that is hard to get hold of, and once gotten hold of, it is an image that is hard to take seriously. It is, I believe for most of us, a fantasy image, an image that belongs to stories that begin with the words "Once upon a time, in a land far far away..."
What does it mean to call Jesus King?
In our scripture reading this morning Pontius Pilate clearly wondered this - albeit for different reasons than we here many wonder it today.
Pilate, who served the most powerful king in the world, knew what a king was. He knew about the power that a King has, the authority that he wields, the unquestioning obedience that he demands, and the power that he has to compel that obedience should it not be volunteered.
Pilate was a creature of his time, one who knew and accepted the rules, one who in fact was charged with making and enforcing the rules, and while he, like people today, sought to use those rules to his advantage, he knew what the consequences of ignoring or scoffing the rules were.
One of the rules that Pilate was called to enforce was the rule that anyone who claimed to be a king, anyone who dared to set themselves up as an authority over and against the lawful authority of Caesar, was to be executed.
It was a rule that Pilate had no scruples about enforcing. it was a rule that he had enforced thousands of times throughout Galilee.
And so when Jesus is brought before Pilate the charge that is laid against him is that he is a revolutionary - that he is one who unlawfully claims to be the Messiah, the King of the Jews.
The very idea that the bruised and beleaguered man that stood before him could be taken for a king must have seemed ridiculous to Pilate. He knew what Kings acted like. He knew what they looked like. He knew what even those who pretended to be kings acted like and looked like.
Nevertheless Pilate does his duty. He asks Jesus if the charge against him is true. He asks Jesus if he is, or if he claims to be, King of the Jews.
Jesus answers Pilate that he is a king - but that his kingdom is not of this world, and then he says:
"If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities."
Pilate understands this - he knows what a King is, and after checking Jesus once more by asking him "So you are a king?" and hearing Jesus respond with that he was born to testify to the truth, he tells Jesus' accusers that he finds there is no case against him.
Pilate cannot image Jesus as a King, the image that he has of a King, like the image that many of us have, just doesn't fit Jesus.
And so - while in the end Pilate allows Jesus to be crucified with the word's "King of the Jews" posted over his head in three different languages, Pilate himself does not believe what he has caused to be written.
And today I wonder if it is the same for us.
I wonder if we, like Pilate, name Jesus as King but for one reason or another just don't believe it, or take it seriously, or understand what it means.
We take a lot of things about Jesus rather lightly after all. We often name the name of Christ and either do not accept or comprehend or believe what we are saying.
So when we here in the church today name Jesus as King, when we call him Lord, do we know what we are doing? Do we accept it and believe it? And if we accept it and believe it, do we understand it?
Clearly the more radical feminists amongst us do not accept it or understand it.
They reject Jesus as their king because they know that not only are Kings male, which is bad enough for some of them, they also know that Kings rules autocratically, that they dictate rather than consult, that they make orders rather than arrive at consensus, that they demand obedience to themselves rather than seeking to serve others.
Radical Feminists take too seriously the image of King that Pilate had - the image that history hands down to us of Kings, and not seriously enough the words of Jesus - "My Kingdom is not of this world, it if were, my disciples would be fighting to prevent me from being handed over."
Others among us take up those words of Jesus, words that were meant to describe the nature and the source of his authority, and twist them so that his kingdom ends up being "other-worldly".
They accept and believe that Jesus is a King, but regard his kingdom as being something we hope to experience someday, in the great beyond as it were, but not as being something NOW for us, or if it is NOW - it is now only in some vague "spiritual sense" - it is not meant to have real impact on how we conduct our lives and act together as social beings.
Some do this by saying that business is business, and that religion has no place in it, just as it has no place in politics.
Others do it by making excuses for their behaviour, they withhold from Christ the obedience he asks of us in witnessing to others about him because it is too pushy or because they do not want to offend; they refuse to obey his command to love and forgive others as he loves and forgives us because the person they have a grudge against doesn't deserve to be loved or forgiven; they fail to help their brothers and sisters in the Lord and to contribute to the needs of the saints as he asks because they have already tithed the mint and dill from their gardens and the rest of their wealth they have "dedicated to the Lord" in some other way.
Still others accept and believe that Jesus is King and misunderstand, by trying to force Christ's teachings upon others, as if is kingdom was from this world.
They do this by insisting that laws be made to compel prayer in the school, by seeking to ban gambling as contrary to the Spirit of Christ, and working to enact legislation to abolish abortion clinics as an abomination to the Lord.
What does it mean for us to name Jesus King? Well, it certainly doesn't mean any of the above.
Jesus is not a worldly king. His power is not from this world, nor is it meant to be exercised in the way that the world exercises power.
Jesus exercised his power by serving others, by forgiving others, by healing others, by giving to others, by sacrificing himself for others. His power is the power of truth, the power of faith, the power of hope, the power of love - the power of life itself.
On the other hand Jesus' kingdom is not something that is in the sky by and by. It is real, it is present, and it makes demands upon us.
Jesus calls us to obedience, to faith, and to love here and now. But Jesus does not force or compel us. He calls us to allow God to enter into our lives and to rule our lives. He invites us to walk by the light he himself has shed. And he shows us in his own person and in the lives of those who follow him that when we turn to him that there is healing and wholeness to be found.
Pilate found Jesus not guilty of being a King like the kings we normally think of. But he executed him anyway - to please the crowd which had assembled before him.
But Pilate's question to Jesus - are you a king - remains as an important question - a fundamental question.
It is a question about sovereignty, about rule, about who is in charge when it is dark and the world is falling apart, about who we can turn to when we are in need or when others are in need, about who we should go to when we seek justice for others and when we look for mercy for ourselves.
Jesus answered that he is in charge - not in the way of the world - not with force and violence, but with love and with life.
He answers that he has control over the darkness - that he is the one that, because of the faithfulness of God to him, vanquishes death and brings healing and peace to all who follow him.
It is this king that I name today and seek to follow.
It is this king that I pray you will also name and follow,
for in him is life, and that abundantly. Amen
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
I Samuel 1:4-20; I Samuel 2:1-10; Hebrews 10:11-14,19-25; Mark 13:1-8
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the meditations of our hearts. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
I don't know about you - but I get scared at times. At times I feel afraid.
The fear I am talking about is the kind of fear that arises when a person walks into a crowded room and suddenly it goes silent, the fear that can overwhelm you when you see two people look at you and then begin to whisper to each other, the fear that arises when someone you love and need is angry at you, the fear that happens when your father criticizes you, the fear that clutches at you when you have been told for weeks how your company has to cut staff and suddenly your boss calls you and says he wants to talk to you about your annual performance evaluation.
I don't feel this fear as often as I used to, buut every now and then it reaches out and tries to grab me, every now and then I am overwhelmed by self-doubt, every now and then - I wonder if I am good enough, and fear that I am not.
At such times I stop for a minute and remember that God thinks that I am good enough. And that if God thinks I am good enough - it matters not what I think of myself, or what my fear is trying to make me think of myself.
And the moment passes.
The reason I mention this today - is because both the Gospel reading and the Reading from Paul's Letter to the Hebrews speak about having confidence - about not being alarmed by the signs of the end of our world - nor being fearful when it appears that we are about to meet God.
As I thought about these texts during this past week - as I thought about how Jesus encourages his disciples in the Gospel to not be alarmed when the temple is destroyed and nations rise against nations, and earthquakes and famines overwhelm various parts of the world, and about how Paul tells us that because of Christ's sacrifice we can enter the Holy of Holies with confidence and hope and there meet the living God - the God that, at one time, no mortal could look upon and live, I wondered why it was so important for Jesus and for Paul to say these things.
I wondered why so much stress is laid upon holding fast to our hope without wavering and upon encouraging one another when we see the Day of the Lord approaching.
You see, to a large extent I have lost track of my fear.
When I was younger I lived in a house of fear, a house of physical and emotional violence. I knew what it was to cower and cringe and what it was to hide my fear so that I would not be picked on again. But I moved from that house and I discovered the healing love of God in people around me.
I knew too one time the fear of failure, the fear of criticism, the fear of not being good enough. That fear was a constant companion for many years, but - except for the occasional time it reaches out to grab me, those times I mentioned at the very beginning of the sermon, I have left that fear behind, I know that God loves me - I have experienced his acceptance from the hands of others, and in the depths of my prayer and my meditations.
Nor do I worry about the end of the world, or about earthquake, famine or flood or war. I pray for the coming of a better world - for the coming of the kingdom, and on the simplest level of total and undeserved grace. I know that the trailer is on solid ground, that forest grows abundantly, that the creek in near where I am living has not flooded over its banks for many years, and that wars are something that happen when people fail to obey God. My duty is to share and to work for peace. My only fear is that I will forget to do all that I can do and forget to love as well as I can love.
As for meeting God face to face - while I have a certain desire to avoid the moment coming too soon, I also have an eagerness for it - a longing for it - that is based on a long standing assurance that God will treat me mercifully and justly and a long standing set of experiences that tell me that God has not yet once judged me as harshly as I judge myself or as others judge me.
I have lost track of almost all that I once feared. And so I suspect have most of you.
So when Jesus tells his disciples to not be alarmed when they see the temple thrown down so that not one stone is left standing upon another - and Paul speaks about how we can enter the inner sanctuary of God with confidence and hope - the full impact of those words can easily be lost.
While they are good words, encouraging words, they are not words that normally startle us or strike us with any sense of urgency, specially those of us who have been in the faith for a long time, those of us who have tested and trusted in the claims of Jesus for many years, and those of us who have, like me, achieved a certain number of years upon the face of this earth and have in those years been touched by genuine love - by Christ-like love.
But - my friends - if not for ourselves, then for the sake of others we need to relate strongly to the words of today's readings from the New Testament.
Fear for the most part may have passed us by, we may have outgrown it, or we may have become so familiar and so comfortable with the good news of God's love and care that fear rarely reaches out to grab us, but for many people fear is a all-pervasive presence: it shapes their behaviour during the daytime and moulds the dreams that they have at night. It leads ever greater numbers of teenagers to commit suicide, and it cripples the emotional and social lives of millions upon millions of adults.
For some there is no such thing as a day without fear, and I don't mean the physical fear that overwhelms us with Adrenalin when a car swerves towards us on the highway, nor do I mean the fear that rises in us when we hear that a loved one has cancer - the fear that we will be left alone - though that is getting closer to what I mean. NO, I mean the fear that life is pointless, the fear that no one will ever love us, the fear that every hand is either set against us - or totally ignorant of our existence. The fear that our children, our friends, and our lovers will never reach the goals we dream of for them, the fear that God does not exist and that if he exists - we are going straight to hell, the fear that when all is said and done - we will perish utterly from the face of this earth and that not one thing that we have done or will ever do will make a difference to anyone or anything, and I mean the fear that the World really is ending, that war and earthquake, and flood and famine will destroy everything and that in its place there will come nothing - nothing for the universe and nothing for me - that there will be no new heaven and no new earth for myself or my children - that all that is good now will cease to be and no good will arise in its place.
For the sake of those who feel these fears as a present reality - as a daily reality, we need to get in touch with the fears we have overcome and the confidence we have been given.
And we have to share that confidence, that faith, with those around us.
We have to share our confidence and our faith with those teenagers who believe that when a friend died the light went out of the world - and with the likes of the lonely old woman in the nursing home who, despite her relatively good health, keeps on saying that there is nothing to live for.
We have to bring out the treasure that we carry hidden in our hearts and hold it up before our work-aholic brothers or sisters - and tell them of the peace that comes from working less and playing with and loving our neighbours more.
We have to reveal the light that has placed in our lives by God to those whose whole world is the darkness of fear and inadequacy - sharing with them the fact that God truly does love us as we are - and that there are no conditions - no demands - no qualifications put on that love.
We have to reveal and live out the vision we have received of a new heaven and a new earth - of a kingdom of justice and truth, of joy and love, and of peace and plenty to those who fear that the end of this world is coming....
At one time my friends I could not imagine a day without fear. Now, because of what God has given me, because of how I have discovered God's love for me, I find it hard to imagine a day that has fear in it.
But for the sake of others - both you and I are called to imagine the fear that dwells in the hearts of so many around us, and to meet together and encourage one another with the encouragement that we have received.
We have to speak forth our faith and live out our belief so that all can hear and see.
Our help is in the name of The One who made heaven and earth, and in his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. He will not suffer your foot to be moved - He is your keeper, your defence at your right hand, from every evil he shall keep your soul, goodness and mercy will follow you all your life, and you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen
I don't know about you - but I get scared at times. At times I feel afraid.
The fear I am talking about is the kind of fear that arises when a person walks into a crowded room and suddenly it goes silent, the fear that can overwhelm you when you see two people look at you and then begin to whisper to each other, the fear that arises when someone you love and need is angry at you, the fear that happens when your father criticizes you, the fear that clutches at you when you have been told for weeks how your company has to cut staff and suddenly your boss calls you and says he wants to talk to you about your annual performance evaluation.
I don't feel this fear as often as I used to, buut every now and then it reaches out and tries to grab me, every now and then I am overwhelmed by self-doubt, every now and then - I wonder if I am good enough, and fear that I am not.
At such times I stop for a minute and remember that God thinks that I am good enough. And that if God thinks I am good enough - it matters not what I think of myself, or what my fear is trying to make me think of myself.
And the moment passes.
The reason I mention this today - is because both the Gospel reading and the Reading from Paul's Letter to the Hebrews speak about having confidence - about not being alarmed by the signs of the end of our world - nor being fearful when it appears that we are about to meet God.
As I thought about these texts during this past week - as I thought about how Jesus encourages his disciples in the Gospel to not be alarmed when the temple is destroyed and nations rise against nations, and earthquakes and famines overwhelm various parts of the world, and about how Paul tells us that because of Christ's sacrifice we can enter the Holy of Holies with confidence and hope and there meet the living God - the God that, at one time, no mortal could look upon and live, I wondered why it was so important for Jesus and for Paul to say these things.
I wondered why so much stress is laid upon holding fast to our hope without wavering and upon encouraging one another when we see the Day of the Lord approaching.
You see, to a large extent I have lost track of my fear.
When I was younger I lived in a house of fear, a house of physical and emotional violence. I knew what it was to cower and cringe and what it was to hide my fear so that I would not be picked on again. But I moved from that house and I discovered the healing love of God in people around me.
I knew too one time the fear of failure, the fear of criticism, the fear of not being good enough. That fear was a constant companion for many years, but - except for the occasional time it reaches out to grab me, those times I mentioned at the very beginning of the sermon, I have left that fear behind, I know that God loves me - I have experienced his acceptance from the hands of others, and in the depths of my prayer and my meditations.
Nor do I worry about the end of the world, or about earthquake, famine or flood or war. I pray for the coming of a better world - for the coming of the kingdom, and on the simplest level of total and undeserved grace. I know that the trailer is on solid ground, that forest grows abundantly, that the creek in near where I am living has not flooded over its banks for many years, and that wars are something that happen when people fail to obey God. My duty is to share and to work for peace. My only fear is that I will forget to do all that I can do and forget to love as well as I can love.
As for meeting God face to face - while I have a certain desire to avoid the moment coming too soon, I also have an eagerness for it - a longing for it - that is based on a long standing assurance that God will treat me mercifully and justly and a long standing set of experiences that tell me that God has not yet once judged me as harshly as I judge myself or as others judge me.
I have lost track of almost all that I once feared. And so I suspect have most of you.
So when Jesus tells his disciples to not be alarmed when they see the temple thrown down so that not one stone is left standing upon another - and Paul speaks about how we can enter the inner sanctuary of God with confidence and hope - the full impact of those words can easily be lost.
While they are good words, encouraging words, they are not words that normally startle us or strike us with any sense of urgency, specially those of us who have been in the faith for a long time, those of us who have tested and trusted in the claims of Jesus for many years, and those of us who have, like me, achieved a certain number of years upon the face of this earth and have in those years been touched by genuine love - by Christ-like love.
But - my friends - if not for ourselves, then for the sake of others we need to relate strongly to the words of today's readings from the New Testament.
Fear for the most part may have passed us by, we may have outgrown it, or we may have become so familiar and so comfortable with the good news of God's love and care that fear rarely reaches out to grab us, but for many people fear is a all-pervasive presence: it shapes their behaviour during the daytime and moulds the dreams that they have at night. It leads ever greater numbers of teenagers to commit suicide, and it cripples the emotional and social lives of millions upon millions of adults.
For some there is no such thing as a day without fear, and I don't mean the physical fear that overwhelms us with Adrenalin when a car swerves towards us on the highway, nor do I mean the fear that rises in us when we hear that a loved one has cancer - the fear that we will be left alone - though that is getting closer to what I mean. NO, I mean the fear that life is pointless, the fear that no one will ever love us, the fear that every hand is either set against us - or totally ignorant of our existence. The fear that our children, our friends, and our lovers will never reach the goals we dream of for them, the fear that God does not exist and that if he exists - we are going straight to hell, the fear that when all is said and done - we will perish utterly from the face of this earth and that not one thing that we have done or will ever do will make a difference to anyone or anything, and I mean the fear that the World really is ending, that war and earthquake, and flood and famine will destroy everything and that in its place there will come nothing - nothing for the universe and nothing for me - that there will be no new heaven and no new earth for myself or my children - that all that is good now will cease to be and no good will arise in its place.
For the sake of those who feel these fears as a present reality - as a daily reality, we need to get in touch with the fears we have overcome and the confidence we have been given.
And we have to share that confidence, that faith, with those around us.
We have to share our confidence and our faith with those teenagers who believe that when a friend died the light went out of the world - and with the likes of the lonely old woman in the nursing home who, despite her relatively good health, keeps on saying that there is nothing to live for.
We have to bring out the treasure that we carry hidden in our hearts and hold it up before our work-aholic brothers or sisters - and tell them of the peace that comes from working less and playing with and loving our neighbours more.
We have to reveal the light that has placed in our lives by God to those whose whole world is the darkness of fear and inadequacy - sharing with them the fact that God truly does love us as we are - and that there are no conditions - no demands - no qualifications put on that love.
We have to reveal and live out the vision we have received of a new heaven and a new earth - of a kingdom of justice and truth, of joy and love, and of peace and plenty to those who fear that the end of this world is coming....
At one time my friends I could not imagine a day without fear. Now, because of what God has given me, because of how I have discovered God's love for me, I find it hard to imagine a day that has fear in it.
But for the sake of others - both you and I are called to imagine the fear that dwells in the hearts of so many around us, and to meet together and encourage one another with the encouragement that we have received.
We have to speak forth our faith and live out our belief so that all can hear and see.
Our help is in the name of The One who made heaven and earth, and in his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. He will not suffer your foot to be moved - He is your keeper, your defence at your right hand, from every evil he shall keep your soul, goodness and mercy will follow you all your life, and you will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen
Sunday, November 11, 2012
I Kings 17:8-16; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the meditations of our hearts. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
At first reading, today's gospel passage from Mark seems to have a lot to do with money.
Given that the widow puts in money, Jesus is sitting watching people put their offerings into the money box, and then Jesus talks about money, this is obvious.
There are some good messages about money here. It is good to give. Jesus doesn't condemn the rich who give lots. And his comments and approval are given toward the poor widow who gave what she had.
Giving money is good. And if we take what Jesus says about the widow seriously, giving till it hurts is good - in fact giving till its has gone way past hurting may even be better.
However, there's more to today's Gospel than just money and giving. You see, I believe that for us to give something, and let's stick to money here, is not hard.
Any of us can throw a few coins into a UNICEF box, a couple of hundred dollars for Po Leung Kuk, or a few dollars on the offering plate as it goes around each week, and not suffer too badly for it.
A few dollars here or a few dollars there. Ten or twenty dollars another place. In the bigger picture, it doesn't matter. It's not going to kill us. It may mean one less coffee at break time, or one less dim sum lunch at our favourite restaurant or even one less supper at our favourite steak house, seafood restaurant or Japanese restaurant - but not much more. We can each give.
In fact, I believe that we all like to give. That we are good at it.
If someone in the community came forward with a problem; financial or otherwise; we would respond. Chores would be done for them. Donations of goods, clothes, food, shelter, would be found.
We are reasonably good givers. In fact most of us are very good givers.
We know that God wants us to give and love and help where we can.
We know that Jesus calls us to look after our church and the people around us. We know that there are always people who are worse off than we are. We know all that. And that places us firmly into the story we read today from Mark.
If Jesus was sitting down there watching as we put our envelopes or our cash onto the offering plate he would see a lot of giving. And I don't believe that he would get up and storm out in a huff because we weren't givers. However, the question must be asked, would we be credited in the same class as that widow? Would we be worthy of special notice? As an example of real sacrificial giving?
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be put in that class.
Even though I give a fixed percentage of my next income, when I ask myself the question, "Do I give out of my surplus?" the answer is pretty well, "Yes." When I look at the "stuff" I own, and the stuff I keep thinking I need to buy yet, I have to say, "Yes, I do tend to give from my surplus."
Yet in today's Gospel story, as in today's old testament reading, we are faced with this widow who gave everything she had.
Widows were right down at the bottom of the social order in Jesus' time. They had no male to defend them, or work to support them. They were like unclaimed baggage.
People weren't sure how they fit in, or what to do with them, but they were sure that widows were not theirs to take care of. So widows and poverty went pretty well hand in hand. Especially in the rural areas. To expect a widow to have money to give away, was totally unrealistic. It is no surprise that this particular widow only gave two small copper coins. Yet, those two coins were noteworthy to Jesus.
Imagine if you will, that the next time this offering plate comes around, you would place on it say $50,000. Or maybe you're feeling really extravagant, so you put $100,000 on instead.
Where would the money come from?
What would you not have once the money was gone?
How would you feed the family this week, this month?
Would you lose your house or your car?
OK maybe that example is pushing it a bit, but what I'm talking about here isn't just generosity. It isn't just giving, or tithing, or donating. It's not even about money. What I'm talking about here is faith.
The faith to really risk - to really sacrifice - to really give all that one has to God. To really give all that one has for what is right and good and true in the trust that God somehow, someway, will use that sacrifice and honour it.
Honour it not for the sake of me - the giver, rather honour it for the sake of the work of God in this world. Honour it for the sake of the Kingdom, for the sake of others in need, for the sake of the peace that God promises to the world.
Today, as I speak - I look out upon a number of you who are (or were) involved in Scouting, a number of you who are Beavers, or Cubs, or Scouts, and who believe in the principles outlined by Lord and Lady Baden Powell 100 some years ago.
Aside from the hardness of the pews you look pretty comfortable, and you live pretty comfortably, even as you give your time and effort and your money in the cause of Scouting.
Some years ago - in Goma - near the border of Rwanda - three Scouts who were working in Katale Refugee Camp, were injured and put in hospital after bandits attacked the camp.
At first it was thought 30 Scouts had been killed while working there. Thankfully it was not that bad.
But the story is instructive for us as on Remembrance Day.
From the start of the dramatic events in Rwanda, the Scout Associations of Burundi, Zaire, Rwanda, and Tanzania mobilized their forces to help the hundreds of thousands of refugees that fled the massacres being carried out there.
The first action undertaken by the Scouts in the camps was to carry out a census of displaced persons. This enormous task, carried out with very few means and with no official recognition, enabled many families to find relatives, even though they were sometimes in camps more than one hundred kilometres apart.
Then hundreds of Scout volunteers collected and buried the bodies of the victims of starvation, exhaustion, and cholera. In twelve days, in appalling conditions, conditions that resemble the worst scenes from Hiroshima after the Atom Bomb was dropped, the Scouts collected and disposed of twenty-six thousand, six hundred and thirty-four bodies.
This in addition to caring for orphaned children, distributing food to as many needy persons as they could, and attempting, with other volunteers, to dig sanitation ditches and provide clean water to the thousands of people moving into the region each day.
How do we give in comparison to this? How much do we sacrifice for the work of bringing health and hope to the world? What kind of faith do we have?
We read in the Old Testament this morning about another widow, a widow like the one Jesus saw put her two small coins in the temple treasury.
Like the widow in the temple, the widow of Zarephath gave everything she had for God's work, she gave her son's, and her own, last meal to a foreigner, to the prophet Elijah - whose God she did not even worship.
She gave everything. As the Scouts working in Zaire and Rwanda were giving everything, as the veterans of both world wars as well as the United Nations and NATO's current peace keepers gave and are giving everything, because it was the right thing to do, the loving thing to do.
Think of it for a minute: Neither of the two widows in today's scripture readings knew for sure what the outcome of their giving would be for themselves - they did not know if they would live or die because of it. In fact the widow of Zarephath expected to die - one meal earlier than she had planned.
The same can likely be said about the widow Jesus saw in the temple making her free-will offering to God. Her two small copper coins were all that she had.
As for the Scouts in Zaire and Rwanda - well they expected to eat, but they also expected, as do all the volunteers working in places like Rwanda, and all the soldiers peace-keeping in foreign countries, and all those who served in Holland and France during the last war, to be beaten, attacked, shot at, and endure hardships beyond our wildest nightmares - and all for the sake of others - all for the sake of freedom - all for the sake of dignity - all for the sake of their love for their fellow human beings.
What is our faith like?
We'd like to imagine we are the widow giving all we have, even our whole living remembering God to the final hours of our lives.
But are we like her?
As scouts are we like those who are giving of themselves in Rwanda and Zaire? As citizens are we like those who have served our country and other nations for the sake of freedom? As people of faith - do we care so much for those around us - that we actually give up our comfort? Not to mention our pride, our ability to be hurt by the thoughtless words of others, and our desire to be recognized and approved by those around us?
Brothers and sisters, we're often uncertain of our calling, what it means. We don't know if or how our experiences can be put to use in "The Church". We don't know if we are really able to serve God. We often feel inadequate when we look at ourselves in comparison to others, especially if those others are characters from the bible...
Aside from our ready cash, and our desire to care for others, many of us come with nothing evident to offer.
We bring fear, vulnerability, ignorance, neediness, confusion, embarrassment, loneliness, and a profound lack of time and energy.
We bring our poverty. And that is OK!
In times when we feel this way. In times when we don't know what to do, or we know what to do, but feel that there is no way we can do it, remember, remember and trust in God by offering what you have:
Remember the Scouts who, at the risk of their very lives, do a good turn each day in places like Rwanda, and recall that you have neighbours who need comfort and support, that there desperate needs to be fulfilled in our own backyard, needs which your real sacrifice of money and of time, and of love can go along way to meeting.
Remember those who served in the last war to win our freedom and those who still serve, and become involved it the fate our country by doing such simple things as voting and helping others to obtain justice from their village councils, District Councils and Legislative Councillors by making phone calls and writing letters.
Remember the widow of Zarephath who gave her last meal and the widow who gave her last coins, and trust - as did they - and as did Jesus - when he gave us life for us on the cross. AMEN.
At first reading, today's gospel passage from Mark seems to have a lot to do with money.
Given that the widow puts in money, Jesus is sitting watching people put their offerings into the money box, and then Jesus talks about money, this is obvious.
There are some good messages about money here. It is good to give. Jesus doesn't condemn the rich who give lots. And his comments and approval are given toward the poor widow who gave what she had.
Giving money is good. And if we take what Jesus says about the widow seriously, giving till it hurts is good - in fact giving till its has gone way past hurting may even be better.
However, there's more to today's Gospel than just money and giving. You see, I believe that for us to give something, and let's stick to money here, is not hard.
Any of us can throw a few coins into a UNICEF box, a couple of hundred dollars for Po Leung Kuk, or a few dollars on the offering plate as it goes around each week, and not suffer too badly for it.
A few dollars here or a few dollars there. Ten or twenty dollars another place. In the bigger picture, it doesn't matter. It's not going to kill us. It may mean one less coffee at break time, or one less dim sum lunch at our favourite restaurant or even one less supper at our favourite steak house, seafood restaurant or Japanese restaurant - but not much more. We can each give.
In fact, I believe that we all like to give. That we are good at it.
If someone in the community came forward with a problem; financial or otherwise; we would respond. Chores would be done for them. Donations of goods, clothes, food, shelter, would be found.
We are reasonably good givers. In fact most of us are very good givers.
We know that God wants us to give and love and help where we can.
We know that Jesus calls us to look after our church and the people around us. We know that there are always people who are worse off than we are. We know all that. And that places us firmly into the story we read today from Mark.
If Jesus was sitting down there watching as we put our envelopes or our cash onto the offering plate he would see a lot of giving. And I don't believe that he would get up and storm out in a huff because we weren't givers. However, the question must be asked, would we be credited in the same class as that widow? Would we be worthy of special notice? As an example of real sacrificial giving?
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be put in that class.
Even though I give a fixed percentage of my next income, when I ask myself the question, "Do I give out of my surplus?" the answer is pretty well, "Yes." When I look at the "stuff" I own, and the stuff I keep thinking I need to buy yet, I have to say, "Yes, I do tend to give from my surplus."
Yet in today's Gospel story, as in today's old testament reading, we are faced with this widow who gave everything she had.
Widows were right down at the bottom of the social order in Jesus' time. They had no male to defend them, or work to support them. They were like unclaimed baggage.
People weren't sure how they fit in, or what to do with them, but they were sure that widows were not theirs to take care of. So widows and poverty went pretty well hand in hand. Especially in the rural areas. To expect a widow to have money to give away, was totally unrealistic. It is no surprise that this particular widow only gave two small copper coins. Yet, those two coins were noteworthy to Jesus.
Imagine if you will, that the next time this offering plate comes around, you would place on it say $50,000. Or maybe you're feeling really extravagant, so you put $100,000 on instead.
Where would the money come from?
What would you not have once the money was gone?
How would you feed the family this week, this month?
Would you lose your house or your car?
OK maybe that example is pushing it a bit, but what I'm talking about here isn't just generosity. It isn't just giving, or tithing, or donating. It's not even about money. What I'm talking about here is faith.
The faith to really risk - to really sacrifice - to really give all that one has to God. To really give all that one has for what is right and good and true in the trust that God somehow, someway, will use that sacrifice and honour it.
Honour it not for the sake of me - the giver, rather honour it for the sake of the work of God in this world. Honour it for the sake of the Kingdom, for the sake of others in need, for the sake of the peace that God promises to the world.
Today, as I speak - I look out upon a number of you who are (or were) involved in Scouting, a number of you who are Beavers, or Cubs, or Scouts, and who believe in the principles outlined by Lord and Lady Baden Powell 100 some years ago.
Aside from the hardness of the pews you look pretty comfortable, and you live pretty comfortably, even as you give your time and effort and your money in the cause of Scouting.
Some years ago - in Goma - near the border of Rwanda - three Scouts who were working in Katale Refugee Camp, were injured and put in hospital after bandits attacked the camp.
At first it was thought 30 Scouts had been killed while working there. Thankfully it was not that bad.
But the story is instructive for us as on Remembrance Day.
From the start of the dramatic events in Rwanda, the Scout Associations of Burundi, Zaire, Rwanda, and Tanzania mobilized their forces to help the hundreds of thousands of refugees that fled the massacres being carried out there.
The first action undertaken by the Scouts in the camps was to carry out a census of displaced persons. This enormous task, carried out with very few means and with no official recognition, enabled many families to find relatives, even though they were sometimes in camps more than one hundred kilometres apart.
Then hundreds of Scout volunteers collected and buried the bodies of the victims of starvation, exhaustion, and cholera. In twelve days, in appalling conditions, conditions that resemble the worst scenes from Hiroshima after the Atom Bomb was dropped, the Scouts collected and disposed of twenty-six thousand, six hundred and thirty-four bodies.
This in addition to caring for orphaned children, distributing food to as many needy persons as they could, and attempting, with other volunteers, to dig sanitation ditches and provide clean water to the thousands of people moving into the region each day.
How do we give in comparison to this? How much do we sacrifice for the work of bringing health and hope to the world? What kind of faith do we have?
We read in the Old Testament this morning about another widow, a widow like the one Jesus saw put her two small coins in the temple treasury.
Like the widow in the temple, the widow of Zarephath gave everything she had for God's work, she gave her son's, and her own, last meal to a foreigner, to the prophet Elijah - whose God she did not even worship.
She gave everything. As the Scouts working in Zaire and Rwanda were giving everything, as the veterans of both world wars as well as the United Nations and NATO's current peace keepers gave and are giving everything, because it was the right thing to do, the loving thing to do.
Think of it for a minute: Neither of the two widows in today's scripture readings knew for sure what the outcome of their giving would be for themselves - they did not know if they would live or die because of it. In fact the widow of Zarephath expected to die - one meal earlier than she had planned.
The same can likely be said about the widow Jesus saw in the temple making her free-will offering to God. Her two small copper coins were all that she had.
As for the Scouts in Zaire and Rwanda - well they expected to eat, but they also expected, as do all the volunteers working in places like Rwanda, and all the soldiers peace-keeping in foreign countries, and all those who served in Holland and France during the last war, to be beaten, attacked, shot at, and endure hardships beyond our wildest nightmares - and all for the sake of others - all for the sake of freedom - all for the sake of dignity - all for the sake of their love for their fellow human beings.
What is our faith like?
We'd like to imagine we are the widow giving all we have, even our whole living remembering God to the final hours of our lives.
But are we like her?
As scouts are we like those who are giving of themselves in Rwanda and Zaire? As citizens are we like those who have served our country and other nations for the sake of freedom? As people of faith - do we care so much for those around us - that we actually give up our comfort? Not to mention our pride, our ability to be hurt by the thoughtless words of others, and our desire to be recognized and approved by those around us?
Brothers and sisters, we're often uncertain of our calling, what it means. We don't know if or how our experiences can be put to use in "The Church". We don't know if we are really able to serve God. We often feel inadequate when we look at ourselves in comparison to others, especially if those others are characters from the bible...
Aside from our ready cash, and our desire to care for others, many of us come with nothing evident to offer.
We bring fear, vulnerability, ignorance, neediness, confusion, embarrassment, loneliness, and a profound lack of time and energy.
We bring our poverty. And that is OK!
In times when we feel this way. In times when we don't know what to do, or we know what to do, but feel that there is no way we can do it, remember, remember and trust in God by offering what you have:
Remember the Scouts who, at the risk of their very lives, do a good turn each day in places like Rwanda, and recall that you have neighbours who need comfort and support, that there desperate needs to be fulfilled in our own backyard, needs which your real sacrifice of money and of time, and of love can go along way to meeting.
Remember those who served in the last war to win our freedom and those who still serve, and become involved it the fate our country by doing such simple things as voting and helping others to obtain justice from their village councils, District Councils and Legislative Councillors by making phone calls and writing letters.
Remember the widow of Zarephath who gave her last meal and the widow who gave her last coins, and trust - as did they - and as did Jesus - when he gave us life for us on the cross. AMEN.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Hebrews 9:11-14, Psalm 146; Mark 12:28-34
Let us Pray - Nurturing God - we do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from you mouth. Make us hungry for this heavenly food and pour it down upon us - that the words of my lips andthe meditations of our hearts may draw us closer to thee and lead us to walk in the way of life. Amen
As we meditate today on God's word - that word found in the Gospel reading wherein we see a scribe, a teacher of the law, ask Jesus which of the commandments of God was first of all - most important of all, I want you to think not only about Jesus' answer - the answer that goes (as we read in verse 29)
"Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength - and - you shall love your neighbour as yourself"
but I want you to think as well about the Scribe's response to Jesus reply. About how the Scribe affirms Jesus and the truth of God by saying:
"You are right teacher.... this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices"
and how then Jesus recognizes the wisdom of the scribe and says to him, as he says to no other teacher of the law, to no other scribe that we have record of in this book:
"You are not far from the kingdom of God"
What interesting words these are...You are not far from the kingdom of God.
I thought about these words all this week. And the more I thought about them the more I wondered and marvelled at them.
What interesting words - when applied to a scribe - when applied to a member of a class of persons that so often are portrayed negatively in the Gospels - to that class of persons so many of us have been taught were more concerned about the letter of the law than the spirit; more concerned with observance than with the motivation behind observance.
It just goes to show that there is wisdom in the law of God and that those who study it - can find the truth within it; the truth that love is more important than sacrifice, and that mercy is more important than burnt offerings, and that these things are that from which all laws worthy of the name flow.
You are not far from the Kingdom of God. You who really try to do what is right. You who believe that God is One and that God is Good - and that to love him and your neighbour as yourself is what God's will for us is all about.
You are not far from the Kingdom of God.
Good words to hear from the teacher, from the one who bears the Kingdom within his very being and radiates the light of that kingdom for all to see.
Yet - yet in the words "not far" - it is possible also to hear that "there is some distance yet to go", that we are on the right track - but we have not yet arrived.
In a park in Europe, so I have been told, next to a beautiful flower bed, there is a sign, written in three languages:
In German the sign says: Picking flowers is prohibited.
In English: Please do not pick the flowers.
In French: Those who love flowers will not pick them.
It seems to me that in this sign lies part of the key as to what distinctions of distance we might read into Jesus' statement: "You are not far from the kingdom of God".
What is our motivation for doing God's will, obeying God's commands? Fear of authority? A desire for God's approval? And the approval of others? Or love?
What in fact does it mean "to love God"? What does it mean "to love our neighbours as ourselves?"
One wonders - at least this one does - one wonders when looking at the scribe in today's reading if he lacked a little something in his passion and in his understanding of the law of God? If perhaps there was a little bit too much duty and routine in his life of obedience and not quite enough eagerness and passion? A bit too much holiness - of being apart from the world - and not quite the right amount of compassion and of empathy?
Whatever it is - if there is anything - that implies a sense of distance between the scribe and the Kingdom of God - in a most profound sense it does not matter; it is enough most surely for him, and for us, to hear the words "you are not far from the kingdom of God".
You of sincere heart and sincere purpose
you who believe and who try to do what is right,
you who try to love as God wants you to love,
are not far from the kingdom of God.
A story:
A thoughtful, curious young man went to the desert to visit an elderly man, a monk, who had lived in the desert for many years.
Arriving at the holy man's cave, the young man encountered the monk, who was sitting out enjoying the sun, his dog lying lazily at his side.
This spiritual seeker asked, "Why is it, teacher, that some who seek God come to the desert and are zealous in prayer, but leave after a year or so, while others, like you, remain faithful to the quest for a lifetime?"
The old man smiled and replied, "Let me tell you a story. One day I was sitting here quietly in the sun with my dog. Suddenly a large, white rabbit ran across in front of us. Well, my dog jumped up, barking loudly, and took off after that big rabbit. He chased the rabbit over the hills with a passion. Soon other dogs ran barking across the creeks, up stony embankments, and through thickets and thorns. Gradually, however, one by one, the other dogs dropped out of the pursuit, discouraged by the course and frustrated by the chase. Only my dog continued to hotly pursue the white rabbit. In that story, young man, is the answer to your question.
The young man sat in confused silence. Finally, he said, "Teacher, I don't understand. What is the connection between the rabbit chase and the quest for God?"
"You fail to understand," answered the old hermit, "because you failed to ask the obvious question. The question is, why didn't the other dogs continue the chase? And the answer to that question is that the other dogs had not seen the rabbit. They were attracted by the barking of my dog. But once you see the rabbit, you will never give up the chase. Seeing the rabbit, and not following the commotion, is what keeps me in the desert."
"Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength - and - you shall love your neighbour as yourself"
You shall love.
Shall love?? How can we not love? How can we who have seen the white rabbit do anything else but chase after it! And how can we who have only heard the commotion and smelled the scent not avoid the temptation of giving up the chase?
Sincere and deep commitment to the commands of God, to the command to love - versus the eager desire to return the affection and the love that we have experienced from God - to God and to what God has made.
There is a distinction here. But it is not one to become anxious about unless you are about to give up chasing the rabbit.
When Jesus speaks to the scribe and affirms his wisdom and his insight, when Jesus tells him that he is very near to the kingdom of God, he is talking to all of us who strive to follow in the way of God, to all who seek to walk by God's light and to do good rather than evil.
He is telling us such folk draw close to the kingdom of God even when they do not use the name that we here in this church use - even when they do not name the name of Jesus - and even when they do not understand the fullness of God's mercy for them in Jesus.
But how much better to have seen the rabbit; how much better to allow God's love for us in Christ to penetrate our hearts and to well up from inside us.
I urge you today as you consider the greatest of all the commandments and as you think about the words of Jesus to the scribe "you are not far from the kingdom of God"; I urge you to not hear those commandments as if God's love for you depended on your fulfilling them but rather to hear what a wonderful place you have come to in your pursuit of righteousness and how much more wonderful it will be as your love grows ever more perfect through the Spirit that is alive in you.
God loves you and God calls you to draw close to him so that you may know the fullness of his love. In the strength of that love - love as deeply and as passionately and as truly as did Jesus.
Blessed be God Day by Day, AMEN
As we meditate today on God's word - that word found in the Gospel reading wherein we see a scribe, a teacher of the law, ask Jesus which of the commandments of God was first of all - most important of all, I want you to think not only about Jesus' answer - the answer that goes (as we read in verse 29)
"Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength - and - you shall love your neighbour as yourself"
but I want you to think as well about the Scribe's response to Jesus reply. About how the Scribe affirms Jesus and the truth of God by saying:
"You are right teacher.... this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices"
and how then Jesus recognizes the wisdom of the scribe and says to him, as he says to no other teacher of the law, to no other scribe that we have record of in this book:
"You are not far from the kingdom of God"
What interesting words these are...You are not far from the kingdom of God.
I thought about these words all this week. And the more I thought about them the more I wondered and marvelled at them.
What interesting words - when applied to a scribe - when applied to a member of a class of persons that so often are portrayed negatively in the Gospels - to that class of persons so many of us have been taught were more concerned about the letter of the law than the spirit; more concerned with observance than with the motivation behind observance.
It just goes to show that there is wisdom in the law of God and that those who study it - can find the truth within it; the truth that love is more important than sacrifice, and that mercy is more important than burnt offerings, and that these things are that from which all laws worthy of the name flow.
You are not far from the Kingdom of God. You who really try to do what is right. You who believe that God is One and that God is Good - and that to love him and your neighbour as yourself is what God's will for us is all about.
You are not far from the Kingdom of God.
Good words to hear from the teacher, from the one who bears the Kingdom within his very being and radiates the light of that kingdom for all to see.
Yet - yet in the words "not far" - it is possible also to hear that "there is some distance yet to go", that we are on the right track - but we have not yet arrived.
In a park in Europe, so I have been told, next to a beautiful flower bed, there is a sign, written in three languages:
In German the sign says: Picking flowers is prohibited.
In English: Please do not pick the flowers.
In French: Those who love flowers will not pick them.
It seems to me that in this sign lies part of the key as to what distinctions of distance we might read into Jesus' statement: "You are not far from the kingdom of God".
What is our motivation for doing God's will, obeying God's commands? Fear of authority? A desire for God's approval? And the approval of others? Or love?
What in fact does it mean "to love God"? What does it mean "to love our neighbours as ourselves?"
One wonders - at least this one does - one wonders when looking at the scribe in today's reading if he lacked a little something in his passion and in his understanding of the law of God? If perhaps there was a little bit too much duty and routine in his life of obedience and not quite enough eagerness and passion? A bit too much holiness - of being apart from the world - and not quite the right amount of compassion and of empathy?
Whatever it is - if there is anything - that implies a sense of distance between the scribe and the Kingdom of God - in a most profound sense it does not matter; it is enough most surely for him, and for us, to hear the words "you are not far from the kingdom of God".
You of sincere heart and sincere purpose
you who believe and who try to do what is right,
you who try to love as God wants you to love,
are not far from the kingdom of God.
A story:
A thoughtful, curious young man went to the desert to visit an elderly man, a monk, who had lived in the desert for many years.
Arriving at the holy man's cave, the young man encountered the monk, who was sitting out enjoying the sun, his dog lying lazily at his side.
This spiritual seeker asked, "Why is it, teacher, that some who seek God come to the desert and are zealous in prayer, but leave after a year or so, while others, like you, remain faithful to the quest for a lifetime?"
The old man smiled and replied, "Let me tell you a story. One day I was sitting here quietly in the sun with my dog. Suddenly a large, white rabbit ran across in front of us. Well, my dog jumped up, barking loudly, and took off after that big rabbit. He chased the rabbit over the hills with a passion. Soon other dogs ran barking across the creeks, up stony embankments, and through thickets and thorns. Gradually, however, one by one, the other dogs dropped out of the pursuit, discouraged by the course and frustrated by the chase. Only my dog continued to hotly pursue the white rabbit. In that story, young man, is the answer to your question.
The young man sat in confused silence. Finally, he said, "Teacher, I don't understand. What is the connection between the rabbit chase and the quest for God?"
"You fail to understand," answered the old hermit, "because you failed to ask the obvious question. The question is, why didn't the other dogs continue the chase? And the answer to that question is that the other dogs had not seen the rabbit. They were attracted by the barking of my dog. But once you see the rabbit, you will never give up the chase. Seeing the rabbit, and not following the commotion, is what keeps me in the desert."
"Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord Your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength - and - you shall love your neighbour as yourself"
You shall love.
Shall love?? How can we not love? How can we who have seen the white rabbit do anything else but chase after it! And how can we who have only heard the commotion and smelled the scent not avoid the temptation of giving up the chase?
Sincere and deep commitment to the commands of God, to the command to love - versus the eager desire to return the affection and the love that we have experienced from God - to God and to what God has made.
There is a distinction here. But it is not one to become anxious about unless you are about to give up chasing the rabbit.
When Jesus speaks to the scribe and affirms his wisdom and his insight, when Jesus tells him that he is very near to the kingdom of God, he is talking to all of us who strive to follow in the way of God, to all who seek to walk by God's light and to do good rather than evil.
He is telling us such folk draw close to the kingdom of God even when they do not use the name that we here in this church use - even when they do not name the name of Jesus - and even when they do not understand the fullness of God's mercy for them in Jesus.
But how much better to have seen the rabbit; how much better to allow God's love for us in Christ to penetrate our hearts and to well up from inside us.
I urge you today as you consider the greatest of all the commandments and as you think about the words of Jesus to the scribe "you are not far from the kingdom of God"; I urge you to not hear those commandments as if God's love for you depended on your fulfilling them but rather to hear what a wonderful place you have come to in your pursuit of righteousness and how much more wonderful it will be as your love grows ever more perfect through the Spirit that is alive in you.
God loves you and God calls you to draw close to him so that you may know the fullness of his love. In the strength of that love - love as deeply and as passionately and as truly as did Jesus.
Blessed be God Day by Day, AMEN
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