Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13: 11-13
Matthew 28: 16-20

Spinning Blue Planet

It was Christmas Eve 1968, just a few months short of 40 years ago, that three Apollo astronauts: Frank Borman, Bill Anders and Jim Lovell, orbited the earth in a small spacecraft and, along with film footage never before seen by human eyes, read about ten verses of some 3,000 year old religious poetry. Despite its age, it was familiar to almost everyone listening and watching on television.

The astronauts read part of the first creation story, from the book of Genesis, "In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth." From the website: Journey With Jesus .

Planet earth looks so beautiful, so majestic and yet so fragile when viewed from space. (Which, of course, is the only vantage point there is to be able to see it all at once). It is a serene and beautiful blue and white sphere spinning silently and quietly in the blackness of space. I can see the allure of space tourism - except that most people don’t have the millions of dollars needed for the ticket and most folks aren’t willing to assume the risks of space travel.

I am sure that many of you remember when the space shuttle Challenger disintegrated just 73 seconds after launch, killing all of the astronauts aboard, including the first “teacher in space”. Most TV stations had stopped broadcasting Space Shuttle launchings, it had become so commonplace that it was not newsworthy. The 2003 Columbia disaster in 2003 reinforced what we already knew; space travel is very dangerous. For most of us space travel is reserved for our TV rooms. Whether it is Star Trek or Star Wars or something like it; human beings have a fascination with the world that we can see but can only enjoy from a distance. It’s entertainment that seeks to satisfy our quest for knowledge about things that are really beyond human knowledge.

The first of the two creation stories in the book of Genesis is at least three thousand years old, but like all good literature, is truly timeless. Provided that we do not take it as a day by day recounting of events, we can say that these words are as true as they were when they were first penned - back when everyone thought the earth was flat, back before human beings knew anything about DNA or the real age of the planet on which we live. When you look at this spinning blue planet from a space craft, or from the pictures that have come back from such missions, or when we simply sit in our homes and look at the beauty of a sunset or the power of the pounding waves on the shore during a fall storm, we can sincerely and honestly pray, along with the Psalmist, “what are human beings that you are mindful of us?” We are overwhelmed by the awe that we should feel when we look at the vastness of the universe and the power of nature.

The first part of Genesis is a story about beginnings, a story to put what we humans know and see with our finite ways of experiencing and understanding things into a broader context. I think that the whole purpose of Genesis is to talk about thiswider context; to speak about these fundamental relationships. The first verses outline the primary ones:

the relationship of “all that is” to God; the human relationship with the creator God;

human relationships - one to the other; and vhumans relationship to the earth.

When I read this story what strikes me is the continual repetition of the phrase: “God saw that it was good”. This phrase is repeated each day of creation and at each step. The last “work day” is given the evaluation, “and it was very good.” According to the story, when God sat back and rested, everything was VERY GOOD!

I think that is very telling that our holy scriptures begin with an account of creation; a story of the beginning. We are meant to notice that it is as story that begins, not with human beings, but with God. And human beings don’t come along until earth has been fashioned with everything else. One might say that this was because humans were of greatest importance and their creation was left to the last because they were the pinnacle of creation, “the best for the last” kind of thing. Related to this point of view is the belief that since humans are the “most important”, we can act in any way we please.

Others might say, however, that we are meant to notice and pay close attention to the fact that our lives on this planet depend on everything else working in proper relationship with one another - the key word being RELATIONSHIP! For far too long human beings have seen this planet as a right and not as a sacred trust. And humans have assumed that since the planet was so large and each human so small that the human footprint could never alter the planet. We now know that we were wrong. Scientists tell us that we are quickly approaching the point of no return; greenhouse gases have destroyed our ozone layer and global warming has initiated a climate change so catastrophic that we may not survive as a species.

An individual human or small group of humans can do very little lasting damage, that is true, but the combined impact of the billions of footprints of human beings assisted by the results of the industrial and technological revolutions is destroying the planet; GOD’S CREATION.

We can no longer assume the planet will absorb and negate all of our abuse. We and our governments have become addicted to the use of fossil fuels and we know that the implementation of the Kyoto protocol, or any other such restrictions, will cause great economic hardship.

As Canadians we live in a cold country and we need heat for more of the year than people in most places; we live in a sparsely populated one and we need to get to and from work and bring farm produce to cities. Much of our economy is connected to consumption and we don’t know how to run an economy any other way. We develop a new technology and soon all of our gadgets need this new technology - and we just toss the old ones out. For example, I am currently on my third cell phone and second Palm Pilot and almost ever day we are encouraged to upgrade.

We know that the quality of many of the things we buy has deteriorated and we have come to accept this - because that is what keeps the economy running. We don’t know what to do instead and we aren’t really sure we want to. We like our conveniences. We like our imported food. We like our choices and variety. We like our recreational opportunities and choices. We like the fact that we have an easier life than our grandparents did.

So much for our relationship to the planet. We live in an era when the plight of the people of China and New Orleans and Myanmar comes into our homes in living colour in ways that were not possible even half a generation ago.

Back when I was in university one of the sayings that became popular in church groups was the saying: “We (in the first world) need to learn to live more simply so that others may simply live.”

We have lots of options. We can buy more foods locally (and it is also good for our local farmers and economy) . We can combine our trips and burn less gas (and at today’s prices that helps our budget) and we can reduce our dependance on processed foods (and that will help our health) and we can make do with something old rather than relacing it as soon as something new comes out (again it helps our budget as well as the planet). We can think of more ways with a little effort I am sure.

When I was a kid my parents were always telling me that money did not grow on trees and that there was not enough to buy what I wanted. As humans we need to realize that the created order does not have an unlimited supply of things for us to take for our own wants. We need to realize that what we take for ourselves is not available for others. Of course its not as simple as putting the peas we don’t want to eat in an envelope and sending them to the starving children in Africa! But if the people of South America, for example, are growing our coffee, they cant grow their own food. The involvement of multinationals usually means that the farmers don’t benefit from the food they are growing. Maritime farmers are now starting to see the results of global market forces gone crazy.

We could easily become discouraged to the point of paralysis. But the creation story is primarily a story of hope. You see, the story continues on to one where people mess up, take responsibility for their actions and then change their lives and seek to live in harmony with God’s ways.

The creation story continues on to talk about the creation being renewed in the resurrection fo Jesus and in the continuing presence of the Holy Spirit. We need to (in the words of another justice slogan) think globally and act locally.

We need to recognize our interconnectedness to all of creation and our responsibility to act in ways which show that we believe we can make a positive difference for the good.

God looked at the creation and saw that it was good - may we be enabled to participate in the healing of creation so that it can give life to all once again.

Amen.

Isaiah 49: 8-16a
Psalm 131
1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Matthew 6: 24-34

The minute I hear the advice, “don’t worry”, I see it as a signal to begin worrying. If I was told NOT to worry this must be an indication that the average person would worry!

Jesus uses the lilies of the field as his example of “something that does not worry”. Granted, as far as we know the flowers of the field cannot worry; but I am not sure about the birds of the air. I have watched pairs of Canada Geese, a species which mate for life, where one watches over the other if it is injured. I wopuld call that worry. We all know that domestic pets can be susceptible to worry; they take their worries out on the furniture if the owners are not home and a cat will ration her food if she is not sure when the owner is returning! Cats have been known to make themselves sick by worry.

When we turn on the news we see and hear stories of those with many reasons to worry. Citizens of Burma and China have many reasons to worry as natural disasters have devastated many communities. We may not have to worry about cyclones or earthquakes in PEI but we do have our problems.

For some unknown reasons the lobster catches are down significantly this year and those who depend on the fishery for a large portion of their income worry about that. With all the rain we have been experiencing farmers are worrying about getting their crops in on time. Pork and beef farmers are shutting down their operations because of high debts and impossibly small returns - and wonder where it will all end. Some are planning to reap the benefits of growing grain for the bio-fuels markets because it’s the only market that promises a way to make a living while others worry about how this trend is contributing to the worldwide food shortage and cost of feeding a family.

Go to any hospital waiting room and you see people who are waiting for tests and doctor’s appointments and whose faces and nervous pacing prove that they who worry if the news will not be good.

“Don’t worry”.

The last thing you need when you share your worries with a friend is to be told, “Oh- that’s nothing. Just listen to what someone else has (or I have) to worry about!” That method of counselling was one sure way to fail our “pastoral visiting” course at theological college.

“Don’t worry. God will look after you.” And when the Gospel passage was put to paper, the early church did have very good reasons to worry. Persecuted and in fear for their very lives, becoming a Christian was a brave decision. They knew from experience that all the faith in the world would not stop bad things from happening to them!

In Jesus day, the working people literally lived from hand to mouth; a day’s wages bought a day’s food for most people. A day off work meant a day without eating. Widows and orphans were especially vulnerable because there was no male breadwinner to support them.

Yet, in following Jesus’ teachings, the early Christians did not sit back and let things just happen. They transformed the teaching about worry into positive action. They did not let their fears paralyze them; they did not let their fears overwhelm them; they stopped, reflected and prayed and then acted within the parameters of their faith.

We are told that the early church coped with this kind of worry by creating a different kind of community, a community which held things in common and provided for the needy out of common resources.

Sometimes our worry comes fro our lifestyle or the priorities we choose.

This story has been going around the internet for some time but I think it says a lot about how we create our own worry.

One day a man was sitting in a lawn chair, on a dilapidated dock, with his fishing pole propped up between the cracks in the dock and his single line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish. He had all the appearance of being a man without a care in the world.

About that time, a well dressed man of business came walking down the dock, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting there on the dock and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family.

"You aren't going to catch many fish that way," said the businessman to the fisherman, "you should be working rather than sitting here doing nothing!"

The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, "And what why would I want to do that?"

"Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!" was the businessman's answer.

"And why would I do that?" asked the fisherman, still smiling.

The businessman replied, "You will make money and you'll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!"

“And why would I want to do that?” asked the fisherman again.

The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman's questions. "You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!" he said.

“And what would I do then?” Asked the fisherman.

The businessman was getting angry. "Don't you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!

“And what would I do?” asked the fisherman.

The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, "Don't you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. You won't have a care in the world!"

The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, "And what do you think I'm doing right now?"

We all know the story of Ebenezer Scrooge whose worries caught up with him one Christmas eve and who banished them with opening his heart to those in need and seeing it as a duty and joy to help those less fortunate than himself.

Considering the lilies is not about putting our heads in the sand and letting the world pass by us; it is, as Jesus makes quite plain, seeking God’s kingdom, and trusting that things will work out.

Sometimes change and the correction of injustice (the cause of great worry) takes change and tireless effort, but, as Christians we are enjoined to strive to be God’s people in all things.

We can look at the farm crisis and wonder what we can do about it; or we can try and determine what we as church could do - such as buying locally and supporting policies that allow more access to locally grown meat and produce.

That we are talking about the church. We can look around at our dwindling numbers and be more concerned than we need to be about the lack of people in the pews or dollars in the offering plate. We can go back to the reason for our being and seek God’s will for the twos or threes who do gather. When ALL we can focus on is “keeping the doors open” and we have time for nothing else and budget for nothing else, we have lost our focus and we probably do nothing but worry, worry, worry. When we can take the time and the energy to step back and focus on “Why we want to keep the doors open,” we will have found the church in our time and place. We will have found new reason to be the church, apart from the buildings in which we worship - and most United Churches only use the sanctuary on Sunday and for weddings and funerals. When we have been able to focus solidly on our mission we will have a clearer view of the dilemmas surrounding our buildings.

As busy individuals, when we know we have too much on our plate that HAS to be done and we can’t delegate any of it; the only solution is to organize, prioritize and then get busy devoting the time and detail given to the task in relation to the time and detail truly needed. “Don’t worry” is no excuse for laziness or for sitting back and letting others look after us when we are able to do that for ourselves, and others. “Don’t Worry” is a philosophy of life and work that allows us to live to our potential all the while placing our trust in Almighty God.

As a church we are called to reflect on what it is that we are called to be and then devote our time and energy to that. In seeking to be faithful to our call we can stretch the limits of the possible and accomplish more than we ever imagined.

We must act in faith and then leave the rest to God.

Amen!

Genesis 22: 1-14
Psalm 13
Romans 6: 12-23
Matthew 10: 40-42

“THIS ? is the Word of the Lord”

Sometimes you hear a story that you just know can’t have happened the way it was described. Occasionally, and I emphasize, very occasionally, you go and buy a new bible and read a verse and say, “This must be a mistake”, and it is! That has happened to me once with the study Bible I use most of the time. Not long after I bought it, a certain passage appeared in the lectionary. During a Bible study I suddenly noticed that the familiar passage did not sound quite right. I had to read it several times to be sure. I wondered if it was a new translation and wrote to the publisher. I received an apologetic letter from the senior editor with the assurance that this minor error would be corrected in the next printing.

Apparently in 1631 there was one edition of the bible which listed as one of the ten commandments, “thou shalt commit adultery”. Dubbed “the wicked Bible”, the printer was fined the equivalent of $400 and King Charles 1 ordered all copies destroyed, but someone didn’t obey and 11 still exist.

The story from Genesis I read today is much too long to be that kind of error but there is something in us that invites the response, “There MUST be some mistake?” But no, it’s in the Bible and, in addition, those who designed the lectionary thought you good church folks should hear it in church once every three years. That’s what you get for coming to church in June!

We are told at the beginning of this text that this is a test which Abraham must pass. But a test of what?

Abraham’s hearing? Not likely!

Abraham’s willingness to carry out the unthinkable?

This is not likely either, for at that time many cultures DID practice child sacrifice. There are references to this practice in the biblical record and it is certainly possible that one of the implications of this story is that the children of Abraham will no longer condone or participate in this form of piety.

To understand this terrible story you have to look at it terms of God’s promise to Abraham; the promise that through him there would be a great nation. Abraham was promised descendants that would outnumber the stars!

A number of years ago, Bob Barker of “The Price is Right” used to say, “having children is hereditary. If your parents didn’t have children, you won’t either”!

When he was given this promise Abraham had no children, let alone much hope of millions of descendants. He and his wife Sarah were both getting on in years and we are told that neither believed the promise, at first, and that, in fact, Sarah laughed. Then they waited and hoped that finally they would have a child of their own. After many years and at Sarah’s suggestion, according to culturally acceptable norms of the time, Abraham fathered a child with Hagar, one of his slave girls, but they were to discover that Hagar’s son Ishmael was not to be “the” child of promise. The child they were waiting for was still to come.

FINALLY, after many long years of waiting, came Isaac whose names means either “laughter” or “God will provide”.

One of the terrible stories of the Bible is the one which tells of Sarah convincing Abraham to cast Hagar and her son out into the desert because she was jealous of this other woman’s son. Biblical scholar and feminist theologian Phyllis Trible, calls it “a text of terror”. There is nothing redemptive in the human actions depicted in that story but instead of this story turning into a story of death, God’s actions change it to one of both life and hope. The people of the Muslim faith believe that it is from Ishmael they are descended and that they are the heirs to the promise to Abraham.

From the perspective of today’s text Isaac is the child of promise. Throughout most of this passage Abraham really believes that it is God’s will that he kill this child. The story seems to be saying that if Abraham was willing to do this he would show that he trusted in God utterly and completely. He is willing to stake the fulfilment of the promise on yet another miraculous act of God. He is willing to trust that God can bring life from death, joy from sorrow and hope from despair, no matter what the humans do to stop the fulfilment of God’s purposes.

We are told that “just in the nick of time” the execution was stayed and a ram substituted. Good news for all (except, of course, for the ram.)

If God has promised you grandchildren you want to be looking after your children, not hurting them. If you believe that God has called you to a certain occupation then you would want to make choices which fulfil that, not make choices which work against it. Seems like common sense to me. If you want to become a doctor make sure you get good marks in science, don’t faint at the sight of blood and save your pennies.

This passage from Genesis is an incredibly difficult story to get our heads our hearts around. It makes no sense. Many would call that kind of God a monster.

It is important to realize that the human understanding of divine will evolves and changes considerably between the beginning and the conclusion of the biblical story. We come to this story about 3000 years after it was written and our ideas about the love and goodness of God are considerably different from those of Abraham.

This story is about Abraham’s trust in the graciousness of a God who promised that he would become a great nation and that this nation would be provided for.

I might be stepping out on a limb when I say that I don’t think it was God at all who gave Abraham the command to sacrifice his son in the first place, but it was God who got through to him in the end when he said

“Look around Abraham”. It was God when he shouted to Abraham’s distressed soul,

““There is a better way Abraham” . When the message got through, “Do not kill the child of promise”.

This is a passage about trusting the God who promised Abraham so much. He did show great trust when he was willing to sacrifice Isaac but it was a misguided trust. As I said, the idea that God demanded blood sacrifice, of a human child, was common in that culture, but according to the tradition it stopped with Abraham, within the bounds of the people of Israel.

Yet the message of trusting in the promises shine out from this passage. The trust of Abraham was that even if he killed the one person on whom the promise rested that God would still provide a way for the promise to come to pass. In the end the entire biblical saga is more about God’s trustworthiness than ours anyway!

This is also a story about the terrible things people do to preserve their ambitions or misguided priorities.

The murder or disappearance of a child always makes front page news. We all remember the stories surrounding disappearance and murder of Karissa Boudreau from Bridgewater, Nova Scotia in late January. We wonder, “Who would do such a thing?” One of the first people the police look to as suspects are the child’s own parents, particular if there are marital difficulties. This seems to be the case with Karissa’s death. (Her mother has been charged with first degree (premeditated) murder.) Sometimes one of the parents sees their child as a barrier to a future with someone who does not want that child. Sometimes it is because the parent does not want their former partner to gain custody of the child. We find all such cases abhorrent and well we should.

Sometimes the murderer claims to be acting on a command of God. We should all agree that if this person was in touch with God at all, they heard wrong!

Yet there are many instances when children and their futures are sacrificed without actually being killed.

They may be sacrificed on the altar of their parents own misguided ambitions.

There are times in which children are overindulged as a way of trying to over- compensate for a busy parent’s time and lack of presence.

A friend of mine says its sad that many kids today have so much that its hard to imagine them looking forward to anything, either a special event or a special purchase, because their parents have chosen to give them everything they have ever asked for.

There are times when difficult parenting decisions are not made because the parent wants the child (usually a teenager) to “like” them rather than taking the heat for making what are properly parental decisions.

There are times when children suffer for the parent’s actions or lack of them. I knew someone whose mother never missed an opportunity to tell her that she was a mistake and that she was not really wanted - but the law said they had to look after her,so they did, grudgingly. She suffered from serious mental health issues that no one seemed to be able to help her with and she eventually committed suicide.

Obviously parents cannot be blamed for every problem of their children but parenting is a vocation that needs to be taken seriously and invested with as much time and energy as possible.

If you look at Isaac as a metaphor for the “powerless or vulnerable person” you can see all sorts of implications for those who are in power and their ambitions for profit or other kinds of greatness.

We can all name instances where companies have arranged the work schedules of their employees so that they are not legally bound to pay any benefits. Their shareholders profits increase while their employees are forced to work part time at low wages their entire lives.

Governments use social programs as election promises. Social programs for the most vulnerable are cut in order to keep taxes low and people with money happy and donating to political parties.

We may no longer build altars and light fires in order to offer the sacrifice but people suffer nonetheless. As this passage closes Abraham’s lesson is our own: our God is a God of life and health and freedom. Our God calls people of faith to unbind those who have been tied up and to stop practices that do not promote true life for all.

God’s call to Israel was to be a light to the nations; Isaac was the next step in the fulfilment of that great call. May we, like Abraham, be able to see the ways in which we are called to break out of our death dealing ways, trust both the promise and the promise giver and unbind the children of life and let them bring light and life to all.

Amen.

Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Psalm 45
Romans 7: 15-25a
Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30

Failed Again?!

I love the cartoon strip Frank and Ernest. I don’t see it often any more, because I don’t think the Guardian carries it. On Tuesday the strip pictured the pair sitting on a park bench under a tree. One says to the other, “My problem isn’t that the key to success is hard to find, it’s that the key to failure is always left in the ignition.” Copyright Newspaper Enterprise Association)

Most of us know exactly what that is like. We know what happens to most of our “New Year’s Resolutions”. How many months ago was January 1? Just 6? Well don’t despair, we’ll have another in 6 more!

We know how hard it is to make positive changes in our lives. We know how hard it is to avoid those habits that are harmful to ourselves or others. We vow “not to sweat the small stuff” and it seems that we find a reason to get hot under the collar, just about every day. We vow to get more exercise and we notice that our favourite show is on tonight and it’s the episode we missed when the power was out last winter! And tomorrow there is another reason not to take the time we need to get our bodies moving.

A young couple were eating dinner. The man liked his sweets and so did his wife but the woman was constantly having to watch her weight. Before he left for work the next day he took a look at the cake and said, “Now don’t ruin your diet by eating any of that cake. You know you wont be able to stop once you start.” She promised not to touch the cake while he was away.

Mid morning she said to herself, “Oh its no use, I need just a little sliver.” Soon the little sliver became 2 and then 3 and before she knew it half of the cake was gone. She decided he husband would be so cross that she ate the rest of the cake and made another fresh one and ate 2 pieces so that the new cake would match the one that her husband had seen that morning.

Most of us can sympathize with the woman on the diet and with our cartoon friends, dear ol’ Frank and Ernest; will-power isn’t always given in equal amounts to the temptation we face. The things we do not want to do are the exact things we do and the good things we try to achieve are left undone. When we put on a good front o hide our foibles we know deep down that we are only fooling ourselves.

What are we to do about it? Making up rules to govern our lives only makes our shortcomings and our excuses stand out even more. That’s part of what Paul was saying in his letter to the Christians in Rome. We need the law, but the law won’t solve our problems; it only makes them more visible.

This portion of the letter to the Roman Christians is a much debated passage in that many folks have tried to figure out exactly what Paul was talking about. We know that elsewhere he says that he followed the letter of the law; here he seems to have some kind of recurring issue. Elsewhere he refers to a “thorn in the flesh”.

Perhaps it is just as well we don’t know because we can allow its vagueness to speak directly to us and to our particular struggles. When we get right down to it, he was where we are; we are not really any different. Even though almost 2000 years, language and culture separate us - we know we know whereof he speaks!

We may wonder why some small, and not so small, children persist in attempting to do that thing which is forbidden whether it be touching a hot stove, or crossing the road on their own or running while eating a sucker. Perhaps it is because they do not believe the warning: this will harm you. We ALL like to push the limits; we want to test the rules. We are no different from children; we just don’t think we will be hurt and we hope we won’t get caught.

Yet we know when we could be doing things differently; we know we are not living up to our own potential.

We think that if we abandoned the rules life would be better. If young people are going to drink why not just lower the legal age? If people are going to drive at 110 why not just post that as the speed limit? Why not legislate the amount of time you spend with your spouse or children or make rules about how often you have to visit your mother in the nursing home.

Yet the rules don’t cause the behaviour we may regret; the most they can do is to make it more visible. Changing the rules wont alter that little inner voice that speaks the word of truth to us; the word we cannot ignore despite what we may say or do.

We love independence and freedom. “Me do it” is the protest of most, if not all, healthy children. Children need to do things for themselves so they can learn; whether it is eating appropriately with a utensil or putting on their clothes - even though it is far easier and more efficient for the supervising grownup to do it.

We don’t want to ask for help; we don’t want to admit that we need help. So we just limp along, thinking we can do it on our own, even though we know we aren’t doing a very good job of it at all.

The passage from matthew’s gospel refers to those who are carrying heavy burdens. The burden of trying to be what we want and need to be on our own, is too great a burden for most of us to bear. We cannot always solve adult issues by persistently trying and saying, “Me do it”.

In this passage Jesus tells his listeners, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”. That sounds like we have to add something to our load when we team up with this Jesus. But that is not what a yoke is. A yoke is not a burden. A yoke is a means of sharing a burden. You yoke two oxen together so that more may be accomplished with less effort. You carry a couple of buckets on a yoke so that the effort of carrying water or milk is lessened and you get the buckets where they are going.

In so called “self-help” groups, such as AA, people with similar needs gather together to share the burden and in sharing it make it lighter for everyone. Through the support of sponsors and community meetings as well as the “twelve step” process, people find a way to deal with their addictions and regain thier health and vitality.

Sometimes helping another with his or her burden not only makes our own seem lighter, but actually makes it easier to bear. I know of many people who have recognized that they would not have gotten through a difficult time in their lives without real, practical help. Sometimes though the help is just a listening ear and the assurance that they are not alone and that others understand what they are going through.

When we look at the problems of global poverty we do not need to feel helpless to enact any real change or make even a small difference. The Mennonite Central Committee used to have a program called “Self Help Crafts”, which has since been changed to “Ten Thousand Villages”, in which artisans in developing countries cooperate to ensure a fair return for the artisans whose work is sold.

With the assistance of “Farmers Helping Farmers” the people of Kenya can be helped to take charge of their own, brighter future.

Through these and other organizations, we can be reminded of the values of hope and perseverance in difficult times as we work for a world where as many people as possible have the necessities of life.

We know things aren’t as God intends. We have two choices. Wallow in guilt, self pity and feeble attempts to change our lives on our own. Or rely on the grace of God and work together to share the burden in community. If we work together in the spirit of Christ, whether our burdens be of a more personal nature or as big as the world we will discover and know the life and health which is God’s intention.

Amen

Genesis 25: 19-34
Psalm 119: 105-112
Romans 8: 1-11
Matthew 13: 1-9, 18-23

Family Values?

On Wednesday night I was channel surfing and came across a series of three regular programs. Degrassi: The Next Generation was followed by an episode of Wife Swap which was followed by Super Nanny. I stopped watching after the introduction to Super Nanny; I had to do some work on this sermon - when it was finally cool enough to think! (And in-between typing my thoughts or looking through web-postings and books, I swatted at few zillion pesky mosquitoes.)

In their own ways, each TV show dealt with conflicting and competing social and family values. What and whose values should society reflect? What values should children be taught and what if a child has his or her own opinion on the issues at hand?

Many churches look to the Bible for guidance on social and family values. That is much harder than it might appear at first. You need to be really careful when you look for “good stories” to use as “examples”. The stories of Abraham and his children and grandchildren certainly can’t be taken out of the biblical context and applied to our lives today, not without reflection and certainly not literally. The stories need to be seen in the context of the entire story of grace and faithfulness; sin and redemption.

The intention of this week’s story is much more about God’s grace and love than it is about Jacob and Esau themselves. It is also about setting in context the early history of their ancestors for the later generations.

Almost every parent of adult children had regrets about something or other that they would do differently, if they could. Almost every parents has times where they wonder about the future of their rebellious or difficult child.

The Abraham stories are about many things, but one of the things they are most certainly about is the grace of God.

Like his parents, Isaac and his wife Rebecca have fertility problems. Like the previous generation they pray and pray and pray some more. After a long time of waiting they are told that their hopes will soon be realized; after TWENTY years of marriage they will have a child. However, it was one of those cases of “be careful what you pray for, you just might get it”, kind of scenarios when Rebecca discovered that she was carrying twins and the sibling rivalry had already started, BIG TIME.

When she sought divine guidance she was told that her twins would be the beginning of rival nations and that the elder would SERVE the younger.

We need to know that this was not how it was supposed to work. In their culture the oldest son was always the most important. If there was any serving to be done, it was the younger sons who did that sort of thing! It is clear from the story, as it progresses, that the younger Jacob was going to try and reverse the tables on the tradition of the oldest son having all the glory!

Even though one twin would be older by only a few minutes that son would still be considered the oldest - just as if there was at least 9 months between them. It may not be fair in our eyes, but that is simply the way it worked.

Unfortunately Isaac and Rebecca each had their favourite son and the boys obviously knew it. This favouritism is seen as playing a part in the continuing rivalry between the two nations.

Yet, as stories of God’s grace, these passages remind us that God’s call was not to perfect people who never did any wrong, but to people with plenty of faults and who even seem to delight in those faults. It used to amaze me that the biblical writers made no attempt to hide the faults of their heroes. We have more than one negative story about Abraham, Jacob and Esau. We know the story of David and Bathsheba. Yet these stories are included, I think, to remind that what is important is God’s grace and not the goodness of those who were chosen.

When we talk of birthright and blessing we tend to think of it as privilege. The problem in the history of the children of Jacob, afterward called Israel, was they thought of it as privilege while God’s intention was one of responsibility.

God promised to bless the people so that they could be a blessing to others. God promised to make them a light to the nations. However they forgot to live in ways which showed they were followers of the God of their ancestors.

What I think we can take from this is the same thing that the texts were tying to get the people of Israel to take seriously. Our call as people of faith is to be a blessing to others. Our actions in terms of righteousness are not irrelevant but they are secondary to our mission as God’s people.

As Canadians we live in a resource rich country. Yet we seem to think that we have a special and exclusive claim on these resources.

Many years ago I saw a film in which Dr Robert McClure was talking to a group of young people. Dr McClure was a former moderator who had worked under the umbrella of the United Church of Canada as a medical missionary in China and Africa and various other places. He has been speaking to someone in the developing world who had said, “you go home and ask your neighbours if it was their ancestors who put the gold in the rocks of Canada”. Dr McClure did not know much about globalization and the power of multinationals to take the resources of the whole world for themselves, even from the so-called “rich countries” but the comments of his friends should cause us to pause and make us think about how we could make use of our blessing to be a blessing.

When we look at foreign aid it seems to be an issue of how little we can get away with, rather than how much we can share.

As families how do we make use of our free time and our financial resources. In a time of high fuel costs many people are going to have a hard time eating, getting to work and keeping a roof over their heads. As a community how do we share our resources of blessing so that all may have enough.

I have a colleague who reminds his children that their income as parents is not just for their own family but to help make life better for others who do not have the basic necessities of life.

I know of lots of people who in their own quiet ways use the privilege of professional training or income to help those with limited resources or who are in need in some way.

We all know or know of the old song “Count Your blessings”. It presents the counting of blessings as a way of dealing with adversity of several kinds but have we ever taken it the step of how our blessings can strengthen us and equip us to be a blessing for others.

The Christian faith was never supposed to be “just for us” but so that we could reach out to those in need. As our world grown smaller through increased communications and as our communities become more diverse we need to open our eyes and hearts to those around us.

We cannot continue to ignore a world ravaged by poverty and disease and expect to be able to claim we are a generous and caring nation. Our freedom means little or nothing if the world is falling apart.

We must live out our faith, seeking in family, community and nation to be a blessing to others.

Amen!