Hard Bread!

I love home-made bread. I especially love my mother’s home-made bread. I especially love the kind she made before she bought a bread-maker; which (if you ask me) is next to cheating where home-made bread is concerned! AND I really, really loved toast made with her home-made bread. Now it was too big for you average pop up toaster, but that was OK because when I was a child we didn’t have a pop up toaster. We had an old drop-leaf toaster that could accommodate my mother’s bread. Sometime my grandmother, who always made our after school toast, had to hold the end of the cord so it would not fall out of the slot in the bottom of the toaster. Frequently she made grill cheese sandwiches with that home-made bread and Cheese Whiz. What a treat when wee came home - as much fresh cold milk as we could drink and these big, thick grill cheese sandwiches! It almost made going to school worth it!

When we were hungry we were counselled to eat a slice of bread; that would fill us up (especially when we added some butter or peanut butter)!

When I talk to people about bread and school lunches it seems that the kids who took bought bread to school wanted home-made and those of us who took home-made would rather have taken the bread that was shaped like the kind everyone else had. We never knew that one envied the other.

Bread in its various cultural forms, is one of the staples of life. How many Maritimers grew up on beans and brown bread on Saturday night. Hold the beans but give me home made brown bread any day!

From grades 7-12 my best friend, whose family was from Jordan, brought home made bread to school that didn’t look anything like my mom’s home made. It was round and thin and could be split in the middle and filled with cheese and other things; I think it was some kind of pita bread, but it wasn’t store bought, it was also home-made.

Bread was important to folks in biblical times. Within the pages of the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible you can find the word “bread” 325 times. (By the way, “wine” is mentioned 303 times). The city of Jesus’ birth, the city of David, is Bethlehem. The word means, literally, “house of bread”.

There are many, many biblical stories which involve bread. The prophet Elijah was on the run from Jezebel, who wanted to take his life, and he was fed by a raven - and the food was bread. The connections between bread and Christianity are deep and almost inseparable from our faith. Jesus is referred to as “bread of life” and as being “bread from heaven” to name just a few occurrences.

In today’s passage the bread is a kind that gives life in a way that the people who heard the teaching found hard to accept and many turned away and no longer followed. They were not looking for food to take them on a journey to the cross. They were not looking for food for a journey to challenge empire; they were looking to become their own empire and replace the one that oppressed them with another - but one based in power and not in weakness.

It seems to me that this passage is symbolic of all the times when we expect the teaching of the Gospel to be “food” for our journey of life but what we are really looking for is junk food; food that gives a “high”; food that is good on the palate, but its rush does not last. This kind of bread that we seek is often nothing more than empty calories; it is not sustenance for a faith journey which may be difficult, or cause us to struggle with our faith and our commitment to Jesus.

So we need to eschew the feel good bread of faith, the chocolate bars and potato chips which look good, and taste good, and which make is feel good, at least initially, but what we are called to search out is the bread that leads to true life. We are called to seek out the bread of struggle and self-giving. We are called to seek out the bread that turns the other cheek; the bread that marches to the beat of a different drummer; the bread that tells us that true life can only be found in giving it up so that it can be given back to us as a gift of pure grace.

This is heavy stuff for a hot summer Sunday when all we want to do is complain about the weather, (or about the weather forecasters). (Hurricane Bill is supposed to be on the way) This is heavy stuff when all we want is a relaxing day at the beach. But there will come a time when we will need to decide what to pack for our lunch and for our supper as we set out again on the journey of discipleship and commitment. Let us choose food of substance not the stuff which will fool us into thinking we are being truly nourished. On the journey of faith we are not promised that we will always we successful; always well off; always in control; but we are promised presence and the assurance that what we are doing is the journey we should be making. Let us choose the true bread; the bread with what it takes to see this journey through.

Amen

Song of Solomon 2: 8-13
Psalm 46
James 1: 17-27
Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Washing of Hearts

You can hardly go anywhere these days without encountering a jug of hand sanitizer. Most hospitals have two kinds for you to choose from and many, many jugs of them - on desks, attached to the wall at every turn and doorway. Common everyday germs, the virus that causes the common cold , the H1N1 virus, as well as many others, are tricky critters and we don’t want them to hitch a ride along with our best intentions when we visit in a hospital or when we shake someone’s hand. I guess the motto of the 21st century is, “If in doubt sanitize”.

One day, many years ago, my nephew agreed to go with me and pick some blueberries at a little patch near the end of the driveway. Since he had just been in the pig barn I suggested that he should wash his hands before we went. He promptly walked over to a puddle, swished his hands in the reddish water and held them up for me to see, proudly exclaiming, as only a young child could do, “All clean Beff!” (He just turned 19 so I guess the few germs didn’t hurt him)

Today’s gospel is about a clash between ways of being faithful servants of God. It is about what is important and what is not.

When I was a child I picked up the notion from some of the older folks in my family that Christianity was mostly about what “we” didn’t do. We didn’t drink, or smoke. We didn’t swear. We tried our best to do nothing on Sunday (such as play cards, knit, sew, do needlework, do homework, fish, make hay or any other kind of unnecessary physical work). We could go for a drive on Sunday (to go to the beach or visit relatives or read a book on Sunday though.) We didn’t break any of the other ten commandments.

Now, on the “do” side: we went to church and we children went to Sunday School and Mom made sure we had all our memory work, memorized. We were reasonably certain that if we could manage all of that we had Christian living down pat.

Yet there were others, some in my family and some not, who had a shorter or different list of don’t’s. When I was very young we had a carpenter building a house for us and he didn’t eat meat on Friday. (Since my mom cooked his dinner five days a week we didn’t eat meat on Fridays either for the year or so he was building our house.)

In today’s gospel passage we read about a confrontation between Jesus and the Pharisees over the washing of hands. The Pharisees concern was not for germs, (as they had not yet been invented), but for ritual purity. Ritual purity was necessary for one to be able to approach God in worship and praise. One became ritually impure in the course of daily life but there were activities that you could limit, or avoid, to limit the chances of becoming ritually impure. Priests and those involved in the liturgies in the temple had to be extra careful, especially just before the Sabbath. Pharisees, for the most part, followed the rules because they were important to them and because they were usually of a high enough social and economic standing that they could. Working people, who generally lived from hand to mouth, did not have the time to do so or simply could not and do the work they did.

So this passage really has nothing to do with washing your hands before you eat, per se. I say to you, “Wash your hands and wash them often, not because you’ll be closer to God but because it’s the smart thing to do”. Now back to the passage.

This “confrontation” opens up an opportunity for Jesus to teach about the way of God’s kingdom. This passage draws our focus away from the “incidentals”, such as diet and personal habits, to the social consequences of one’s life. It certainly does not say that morality is un-important, but it does look at it from a different perspective. The focus of a life of faithfulness is not “purity” but results.

Jesus was asking the Pharisees, and by extension, “the Pharisee in us,” to look at the results of someone’s life, rather than their personal habits which have little to do with the life of faithfulness.

When I was a teenager I encountered a group whose religious practice was close to impeccable (and they took pride in this) but the problem was that this was where it ended. Their basic problem was that they were “so heavenly minded they were no earthly good”. They were very concerned with right belief and right practice but as far as making any kind of positive change went, they were unconcerned.

There are many people on the fringes of the church today who cannot bring themselves to recite the traditional creeds and believe some of what they have been told is required of Christians. Instead of being active in a church, some of these folks have dedicated themselves to improving the lives of others, and although they may use different language, they basically see this as “their discipleship”.

The website of the organization Habitat for Humanity says this:

“Habitat's ministry is based on the conviction that to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, we must love and care for one another. Our love must not be words only— it must be true love, which shows itself in action. Habitat provides an opportunity for people to put their faith and love into action. We bring diverse groups of people together to make affordable housing and better communities a reality for everyone. 

I know folks who work with Habitat who struggle with the traditional tenets of the faith, but who have no such struggle when it comes to the Christian response to human need. It is part of what has been termed the “theology of the hammer”.

Florence Nightingale, known as the founder of modern nursing, began the work for which she has become best known, in Turkey in the mid 1850's, during the Crimean War. When she was asked why she did not write something and she replied that thoughts put on paper were easily wasted but thoughts should be distilled into actions, especially those actions which bring results. Her result was a drop in the mortality rates in the field hospitals from 42% to under 3%.

In the incident recorded in the Gospel, Jesus is talking about a unity of faith and practice that comes from the heart. He is telling his listeners that it’s not about faithfulness for the purpose of social status, or earning “brownie points” with God. It’s not about image. It’s not about “being seen” as being religious, or about proving anything to anyone; it’s about living in ways of faithfulness and justice, simply because it’s the right thing to do. It’s about putting the way of the Gospel first in our lives.

It’s about allowing the Spirit to work and transform one’s life in such a way that responses of sharing are second nature. In time a lifestyle of caring deliberately and consciously chosen, becomes an intrinsic part of who one is.

There is a club associated with the Catholic church and the High School in Souris called the “Caring Hearts” and the members participate in community outreach activities to earn credits for university bursaries. It’s a wonderful group of young people. When I met with them at the St Mary’s rectory in June, for a year end barbeque, both Fr Paul and I talked about their voluntarism becoming a way of life; not just a means to earning special credit, or some other personal benefit. We talked about adopting it as a lifestyle, with no external reward than the activity itself.

Sometimes though its about beginning to live the lifestyle of caring because we know it will benefit ourselves as well as others, but over time its about allowing the Spirit to transform us so that this kind of life becomes part of who we are. In reality, we live with mixed motivations for many of the things that we do - very few of us operate from complete altruism, solely for the benefit of others.

However, as we continue our Christian journey the hope is that our actions will be more and more Christ like and become a natural part of who are.

So we go from here into the new season of activity and priority setting needing to set a map for our lives, choose priorities and set goals. Let us place our response to the call of Jesus as our primary goal, knowing that it is accomplished in all we do and say and think.

Amen!

Proverbs 22: 1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Psalm 125
James 2: 1-10, 14-17
Mark 7: 24-37

Challenges To Our Faith

I have a friend who is a modern version of the SyroPhoenician woman. About 15 years ago she cam to the realization that he disabled daughter could no longer be cared for at home. Her only option was a nursing home but the programming and facilities were not appropriate for young adults. So she began to advocate, on behalf of her daughter, for funding for such a facility.

She decided to go and see her MLA (Member of the Provincial level of government in Canada - the “ Legislative Assembly”) about this. (A common Canadian method) But she did not make just one visit; she went each and every week, week in and week out, until funding was found for such a home for young adults like her daughter.

In today’s gospel we read of Jesus encounter with a woman who was clearly a gentile, specifically of Syrophoenician origin. When we read passages such as the one we encounter in today’s gospel we may shake our heads and wonder if we have heard (or read) it correctly. (But there is at least one of Jesus’ own parables which is like it.) We read it and wonder to ourselves, “surely Jesus would not be that insensitive. Surely Jesus would not have been that cruel to this woman in need. Jesus was supposed to be perfect, wasn’t he?”

Yet, here we have him refusing to help this woman and her daughter on account of her not being “a child of Israel”; in essence he was saying that he was not about to waste his healing power on the likes of her! And referring to her as a “dog” was the slur it sounds like - and was far worse than being dismissed simply because she was “from away”. An inside joke for PEI where anyone not born here is often referred to as “from away”. In that time and place though what Jesus is recorded as having said would have been on the minds of those who were listening. There was a marked amount of animosity between Jews and their Gentile neighbours. It was an “us and them” mentality and had been so for generations.

(Within a fairly short time, the church would exhibit a different kind of community.)

But this particular woman was not going to take this, even from a revered teacher. She snaps back and in her retort she shows just how much faith she has in Jesus and his ability to heal. A crumb or two will be enough! Remember the days of, “A little dab will do ya”? It was a risky response.

But, not only did she get away with it; she got what she wanted: her daughter healed and her faith has been praised ever since.

We could look at this passage as an example of Jesus himself learning a lesson but when it is paired with the passage from the epistle of James, a different theme emerges.

In the passage from James we find a rather hard-hitting criticism of a community which has lost its egalitarian centre. It is a community which plays favourites with those who are wealthy, giving them better seats and more prestige. It seems that the rich are fawned over while the poor are shunned outright. It sounds like many organizations, but should it be that way in the church? I was at a dinner with my mother not long ago, honouring givers to a particular organization. The big givers sat at the front, while the smaller givers were at the back where it was hard to see and hear. We all had the same meal but, even though the least there had given in the thousands over a period of several years, we knew who was really, “real important”. That is the way big fundraising events work, and maybe the people with that kind of money need that kind of recognition, but that kind of recognition at a “one of” event can come to colour the value of particular people in the organization as a whole. The question is: “is that any way to run a church community?”

James thinks not. Hard hitting and practical, James is clear that such behaviour does not proclaim the gospel the community professes.

Back in the 1850's when one of the churches I once served was built, it was the custom to raise the needed funds by renting pews. The nicer and larger pews, with more room to stretch your legs, more room for your family, and closer to the front, cost more, a great deal more than those at the back or for those willing to climb up to the balcony. You might be interested to know that the choir sang and sat for free. I don’t know when that method of meeting the budget was done away with, but perhaps that is why some people sit in one pew of the church and cannot be persuaded to sit elsewhere, unless an unwitting newcomer sits there and the people who hold title on the pew are too polite to say anything. (I have heard of one case where the people were asked to move - 2 students who never again returned to that church).

The question underlying the James passage is: who is of the greater value in the church community? Who should be given the greater honour? When you think about it, the question should sound like an oxymoron; a self contradictory statement. Who is worthy to receive God’s grace? Worthy? Grace? Of course, those two terms do not belong in the same sentence. No one is worthy of grace - not even those of us who have been coming to church our entire lives. Grace deserved is not grace.

The movie, “Pretty Woman” is about a Beverly Hills prostitute and a wealthy businessman. This man usually rented the penthouse suite because it was the best, even though he was afraid of heights. She taught him not to be afraid all the time and he taught her that she deserved better.

The Christian faith, according to James is the great leveller; no one has a box seat.

Because this book can be seen to refute the belief that we are “saved” or made right with God through faith alone - James thought that “works” were an important companion to “faith” - some have criticized it. Martin Luther, the great 16th century reformed called this book “an epistle of straw”. That is not the focus of that sermon and I don’t want to get into that argument itself.

For the purposes of today’s sermon, it would seem to me that if all believers are saved by grace, and equal before God in that sense, it would only make sense that those with means would help provide the necessities of life to those who lacked them. Given Jesus’ concern for the poor and the early church’s mission it only made sense to James that not only did the “well off” had a responsibility to care for those who had very little, BUT ALSO that they were to be treated the same in the community.

Welcoming is an important part of any church community, but many of us are terrible at it. Part of the Emerging Spirit Campaign, aimed at attracting those born after 1964 was to teach congregation’s how to be welcoming. We all want to grow, but generally we want to attract folks just like us - preferably the folks who stopped coming when they were confirmed so we don’t have to bother teaching them very much. And we certainly don’t want to have to change very much to accommodate these new folks. But just as Jesus needed to learn something about his welcome on that long ago day, many churches need to be able to look at themselves with the eyes of an outsider. I remember a newcomer asking for the words of the Lord’s Prayer. They knew it - they weren’t new to church; they were new to worshipping in English. Since they could speak English I didn’t think of this, but saying it in worship, at the speed we usually say it, was difficult for them, and may well be for those for whom English is a second language.

If visitors come to church I usually hope they don’t sit in front, - for no other reason than they cannot see when others sit and stand and for what - but they sit there because they know that the back seats are usually reserved!

When we look at our ministry to the poor we must go beyond the food bank approach and look at it in terms of the systems that govern our lives. Being poor ain’t no picnic. When I moved I could see how some people people can become caught in a circle of powerlessness.

For example, you cannot get a driver’s license without proving that you live somewhere - and for that you need mail, such as a bank statement with your new address. To get a bank account you need to prove that you live there and for that the easiest way to prove residency is a driver’s license. In some jurisdictions you cant get social assistance unless you have an address (so they can mail you the cheque) but if you have no money how do you pay the rent on that address?

On November 24, 1989, the House of Commons unanimously passed a resolution to seek to achieve the goal of eliminating poverty among Canadian children by the year 2000. Two years later, Campaign 2000 "committed to promoting and securing the full implementation of the House of Commons Resolution of November 24, 1989."

In case you have not been keeping track, there are still poor children in Canada, and I would suggests that 100% of them come from poor families.

Poverty in Canada is a different thing than poverty in many countries around the world - but that is not to say that we should not be concerned about it. I think that it should mean that we are even more concerned about it, since we can put a face and a name to it. What we need is concerted action on behalf of governments and citizens to organize our society so that people do not fall through the cracks and that individuals and families have what they need to live with dignity.

What does it say about us, as Christians, when waste and want live side by side? Well, in the words of the hymn, “Walls that Divide”, “it’s gospel that we lack”.

Let us go into this new season of work and worship in our church seeking to live out this gospel call to welcome all people and to see, as much as possible, that all people have the necessities of life.

Amen.

Proverbs 1: 20-33
Psalm 19
James 3: 1-12
Mark 8: 27-38

Who Am I?

Many of the workshops I attend for the church start with some kind of “get to know you” activity. At one such meeting each of us discovered we had a sticker of an animal on our name tag. We were to pair up with the other person with the matching sticker and enter into conversation. At the end of the allotted time we were to introduce that person to the others. It is very interesting how different the things are that people reveal in such activities. Some stay with “common knowledge topics” such as name, address, family situation, job and church involvement (as this was a church meeting). Some don’t bother with that and go from name to likes and dislikes and hopes and dreams.

I have also found this in my marriage preparation sessions as well. After I inquire about the information I need for the registration of the marriage, (full name, date if birth, parents’ information, etc) I ask, “So just who is NNN?” Sometimes I get the standard, “I was born in Souris, I went to school in Fortune and Souris and now I live in Dundas and for the past five years I’ve worked in Charlottetown”. Many years ago, at one such session, the “groom to be” went from, his name to, “I consider myself a kind of renaissance man”. Usually though, its takes some prompting for people to reveal much more about themselves - about likes and dislikes, about hopes and dreams, about their “heart” as it were.

(Now I am going to pick on Claire. I hope that is OK) If I were to ask all of you “who is Claire Gallant”. Many of you would say, “she is our organist. (And a very good one, and we are lucky to have her!) She is Roman Catholic, but plays for us too. She lives with her mom. She works for Prompt Plumbing. “ While all of that may be perfectly true (Claire?) it is not all that there is to Claire’s life and it is not all that is important to her. We need to know her; talk to her and spend time with her if we are to find out who she truly is.

Sometimes we think that we know someone and we find out we don’t. A young couple was sitting down to breakfast one day and, as usual, the husband made the toast - but there was only one slice of bread left, in addition to the heel. He removed the bread from the toaster, carried it to the table and handed his wife the heel with a smile. She looked at it, sighed, started to cry and said, “Not again. Why do you ALWAYS give ME the heel? You are so inconsiderate sometimes. “

He looked at her with hurt in his eyes and said, “But it’s my FAVOURITE piece.”

Sometimes when we know what is in a person’s heart (especially what their favourite part of the loaf is) we see their actions in a different light.

In today’s passage we find Jesus taking a kind of poll. “What’s the word on the street?” “What are the rumours.” “What do John and Jane Q. Public say about me?” The answers may seem a little outlandish to us, as the people to whom the answers refer were historical figures; and they all had one thing in common; they were all dead.

To the people of that day and age; it was not so outlandish though. The return of the prophet Elijah, who was reputed to not have really died, but instead was carried heavenward in a chariot by flaming horses, was seen as a harbinger of the age of the messiah. John the Baptizer, executed only recently, was clearly attempting to usher in that age of hope and expectation. It was to be an age of glory for Israel; an age in which the messiah for whom they had hoped, would help them to return to a state of glory and power by defeating their enemies - and they had many enemies.

So you see, the view that Jesus presented, of suffering and death, did not sit well with the disciples. Imagine working on a political campaign and each day the candidate comes into the office and says, “we are going to be walloped on election day, and that is what is supposed to happen - so get used to it”. (Pause) There would be very few campaign workers I am sure. There can only be one winner in an election but each team goes into it with the hopes of getting as many votes as possible. You certainly don’t plan for defeat!

Yet where we have Jesus putting defeat and victory into a different light; he is, in fact, re-defining them. Jesus is not putting the Christian life in terms of victory or defeat, but rather, in terms of service. We do not follow Jesus so that our lives will be easier, or so that we will “not go to hell when wee die”, or because we will win friends and influence people in that way; but because we are answering a call to service.

We have heard recently from the Epistle of James that a Christian cannot sit idly by while there is hunger and want around us. As Christians we care for one another and we care for those who are in need.

But its not just care for those in need; its changing our perspective from “What’s in it for me” to “how can I serve.” “How can I use the gifts, talents and abilities with which I have been entrusted, for God’s work of giving life to all of creation.

The insight that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ is not knowledge that we can just park on the shelf; it calls for a decision on our part. Will we follow? Will this knowledge be allowed to change our lives and our outlook on life and faith and commitment? Will it?

In September we often make choices and set our priorities for the season ahead. Let us take up the challenge given by Jesus to choose the way of the cross.

Amen!

Proverbs 31: 10-31
Psalm 1
James 3: 13-4:3, 7-8a
Mark 9: 30-37

Whose Are We!

(Somehow, after the reading of the gospel and before the sermon I am going to make an excuse to sit down and then I am going to pull a package of chocolate creme cookies, double stuff, out of my purse and eat em all. I suspect I will have brought three or four.)

It’s hard to resist some things. (Smile) For me, its chocolate. (Especially chocolate cookies)

For some people it’s a winning lottery ticket - even if they have to steal it from a customer. Canadian lottery companies have been investigating a disturbing amount this kind of crime of late.

Quick, you see blue and red lights on the car you are meeting and you KNOW they are for you. Now, how long will it take that car to cross the road, turn around, and pull up behind you and slightly to your left. That’s as long as you have to come up with your excuse - make it a good one.

You have just had your blood work done and in a week you have to see your doctor. What reason will you give for not exercising more, what will you tell her when she asks why you are eating more fat and fewer vegetables than you should? Quick. What will that excuse be. Quick.

Have you ever gotten caught, with your hand in the cookie jar, metaphorically speaking? Quick, you’ll need one of those excuses when you gat caught red handed, or full mouthed with the cookies.

Somehow you knew that life is not about the accumulation of cookies or eating as many cookies as possible, or becoming a human (and not the blue and furry kind of) Cookie Monster, with all due respect to Sesame Street. Despite that though, those devilish disks of deliciousness are so tempting, that it will not matter if you pig out on this day. Just this one day. Right?

OK, lets stop talking about cookies and blue furry creatures because, for good or for ill, this is NOT a sermon about cookies.

The gospel for today is build on contrasts: the contrast Jesus is making with the expectations that the people had of the messiah and the reality that he was prepared to deliver. It is about the contrast between the ways of the world around them and the new age Jesus was ushering in. Its about the excuses people make when they get caught with their hands in the cookie jar of power and the quest for greatness.

Jesus has been teaching about the Son of Man being betrayed and dying. Which is what ended up happening, but which was not at all what was expected of the messiah. As Mark tells the story, the disciples were just not “getting it”. They wanted Jesus to become politically and socially powerful and they wanted powerful roles as well.

When Jesus questioned them, they knew that Jesus had their number; they knew that this kind of competition was not appropriate in God’s kingdom - so they remained silent. But they couldn’t resist the temptation.

I love watching the medical shows, er and Grey’s Anatomy. A common thread in the show e.r. is a person arriving in pain and looking for narcotics. Knowing the quick fix effect of these drugs can become addictive and then ineffective, doctors are careful not to prescribe them in this context. (Signs at the Souris and Montague hospitals tell you that you have to make an appointment with your regular doctor to have your narcotic prescription renewed.) So people don’t receive what they want because, in the end, it will not really fix their problem.

Another common thread, on Grey’s Anatomy, is the competition between the interns. One of the interns vies constantly to be allowed to scrub in on “cool procedures”. So the whole gang of them cross their fingers and hope that the patient in the ambulance that is en route will have injuries so bizarre that they will be able to brag about it for months to come. All the while they are forgetting that they are dealing with real, live, human beings. It is the assumption that they will change their attitude as they progress up the pecking order to being full fledged surgeons.

Jesus saw how addictive the hope of a political messiah could be. He saw how addictive the quest for power and might could be. He tried to present a different model for life and faith.

We are a culture based on competition; beating out the competition in order to get the prize. When I was young CBC sponsored “Reach for the Top” a “ Jeopardy style” quiz program for high school students. Remember it?

vThe popularity of tv shows such as “Survivor: Northwest Passage to South Pole” speak to this. (Did they do that one already?!!!!!!!!!!) You have to do what you have to do to survive and win the big bucks.

Yet in the last few years there has been another trend emerging: that of people feeling they need to downplay their education and experience on job applications in order to make themselves more attractive, and less expensive to future employers.

Instead of the ways of the world Jesus a child to demonstrate the way of the kingdom. We have to be aware of what he’s not doing here. Scholars have pointed out that it’s not the “ ways of children”, such as innocence, saying sweet things, giving Aunties hugs and kisses that Jesus is pointing to. (Remember the disciples were arguing about greatness!) It is the status of children in first century Palestine. In first century Palestine children were nothing. Of course their parents loved them and made plans for them. BUY they had no social status and certainly no power. Nothing revolved around children.

It can be hard for us to get our heads around, but as sociologists tell us, childhood is a modern invention! Of course, every generation has its children (that is how the human race has continued) but the age from birth to puberty was a sort of wasteland of waiting - until maturity was reached and personhood was achieved. Children were unseen and unheard by all, except their immediate families. They were not important at all.

That is Jesus point. The disciples, who were looking for glory, were to take as their example, a child - a creature with no status and no importance to anyone other than their own parents and grandparents.

It was almost a contradiction in terms: aspire to be the least in the world. Why, you can do that without trying.

I think that what Jesus was trying to say was that the Christian community as a whole, and its individual members, should not be concerned about social status, or power which brings wealth and prestige. He speaks, yet again, about the paradox of the faith that those who want to be first must be last of all, and servant of all.

Both the passage from Proverbs and the passage from James speak of the wisdom that guides life. The Proverbs passage personifies this kind of wisdom as an idealized wife, in terms that no human could ever live out. The James passage calls people to look at the problems in their lives in terms of a lack of willingness to let wisdom guide them, rather than their own ambitions and desires.

The disciples were feeling vulnerable and reacting to the growing realization that Jesus’ days were numbered. It seems that Jesus teachings about service and the upside-down nature of the Kingdom were taking a while to sink in. Old habits die hard. Old metaphors always come to the front in a conflict.

The Christian message is about playing a new tape in our heads till it is played by our hearts. Jesus came to serve; we are called to serve. Jesus came to show that greatness, in the world’s terms is not all that it’s cracked up to be. How can we be arguing about greatness when the world is killing the essence of God’s goodness? The disciples needed to wake up and smell the coffee before it was too late.

We are called to risk being as vulnerable and as unimportant as the least important in our society. Since today’s view of children does not make that an easily made analogy anymore, perhaps Jesus would have called us to become like the people who live on the streets of our large cities. Perhaps Jesus would have called us to become like the Aboriginal women who disappear and no one in power seems to care. Perhaps Jesus would have called us to become like the vulnerable “children in care” who fall through the cracks of an uncaring system. Perhaps Jesus would have called us to become like the people whose livelihoods have disappeared in the “new economy” and the government programs are geared for someone else. Perhaps Jesus would have asked us to become like those who depend on food banks, women’s shelters and who each and every day of their lives dread the sound of an opening door.

When we recognize our vulnerability, and seek God’s wisdom we can find a way to live which knows that any greatness we can achieve can only be found in service to others.

So we can sneak away and eat cookies, or come up with excuses as to why we have not tried to do something, or we can seek God’s guidance and wisdom as we seek to serve the needs that are before us.

Amen.

Esther 7: 1-6, 9-10; 9: 20-22
Psalm 124
James 5: 13-20
Mark 9: 38-50

In the film Beyond Rangoon, Patricia Arquette plays a deeply depressed Dr Laura Bowman, who is taking an extended trip to Burma as part of her way of coping with the tragic murder of her husband and son. To make a long story short she ends up on the wrong end of the military forces that run that country and she is forced to escape to Thailand. In the last scenes of the movie, after crossing a river under gunrfire, she arrives at a hospital in Thailand treating severely wounded people and her skills and instincts as a doctor immediately kick into gear. As he works on a wounded patient, one of the hospital staff, standing there in shock asks, “Who are you and where did you come from?” Then, almost immediately she changes her mind and says something like, “never mind. How long can you stay?”

It was clear that this person was medically proficient and would be a great asset to the hospital - the other matters of what brought her to that place were really incidental.

Mark’s Gospel tells the story of the disciples discovering someone doing healings in Jesus’ name, but the problem was that they did not know him. He was not one of the twelve; not one of their friends and colleagues! They are quite concerned and report this to Jesus, but Jesus is not fazed by this and says, “Whoever is not against us, is for us”. “Look at the deeds and not the name”. “So what IS the problem here?”

You could say that the message is, “Just because we have never done it that way, does not make it wrong”.

Then the story relates a a number of seemingly unrelated sayings about the community of faith and its place and role in the world.

It seems to me that the variety of sayings are all about reflecting on our lives as individuals and as a faith community. What does it mean to be part of a community of faith?

Let’s start with the one about cutting off our hands and feet to save our souls, it seems obvious to me that we should not take the advice listed there in a literal fashion! Yet we cannot dismiss it entirely. We need to take it seriously; once we figure out what it means. But what DOES it mean?

If we take it as a metaphor, perhaps it is symbolic of the things that seem to be as much a part of who we are as a community as our hands and feet are to our body. They are a part of who we are but they may actually be causing us to lose our way. We need to ask the question: “what is it that seems as valuable as a part of our own body, that is now standing in the way of our faithfulness in this time and place? What principles that we used to hold dear are no longer useful or valuable? To what principles do we need still to hold fast?

On Thursday at Presbytery which met at Camp Abegweit we had a presentation by two of this year’s Camp Counsellors. One girl was wearing a heavy winter hat and told us that the campers would laugh at her because of her hat. The other was a boy with long curly hair. They didn’t look like camp counsellors did when I was a camp counsellor, but they were great with the children at the camp and provided great leadership. Formal or informal dress-codes often need to be reassessed - or at least once every decade. The ideas we used to have about what people wore to church are changing and we have to decide if those things are of any importance. The need to sing only the “old familiar hymns” may be distancing young people from the church. The responses, “We don’t do things that way”, and “We’ve never done it that way before” (and by implication), “we aren’t going to start”, is one sure way to drive away new ideas and new blood. Somehow the old and new have to embrace one another as we go forward in faith.

What about salt. We put salt in food to bring out the flavour, We put salt in and on food to preserve it. Salt also had healing powers. It seems from the context that Jesus is speaking of salt as that which adds flavour and spice to life. Salt cleansed the wounds of the world.

Sometimes we see religion as that which takes away the spice from our life. Religion prevents us from doing fun things - at least that is how many teens and even adults see it. Yet, Jesus view is the opposite. How do we present faith and faithfulness as that which adds spice and brings out the flavour in life? Do we sing with true joy when we sing about our faith?

The times in which the Bible were written were chaotic and things were changing very quickly. In many ways we share more with “Bible times” than the church has for many generations.

The church is no longer the centre of society. Church going is no longer something everyone does on Sunday morning. There is a great deal of competition for Sunday morning. Many in the community are hostile toward the church; at least that is what the surveys tell us.

What I think we need to do is to recover the biblical spirit that was present in the times in which the early church grew and developed. We need to present the word as a real “light”, as real “spice”. We need to work with those who have similar goals as we do - and who seek healing and wholeness for our world and the people in it.

We need to look at ourselves as others might see us and ask ourselves if we are putting up barriers to people coming to us and seeking to join us as companions on this great and wonderful journey of faith.

As Jesus told his disciples, our job is to affirm in the other the presence of the Spirit at work. Our job is to be the flavour that the world desperately needs. Our job is to heal the wounds that life has heaped on the hurting and vulnerable. Our job is to speak Life to a world which is otherwise dead or dying. We worship a God of life and love. May our words and actions proclaim this always.

Amen!

Job 1:1; 2: 1-10
Psalm 26
Hebews 1:1-4; 2: 5-12
Mark 10: 2-16

Questions, Questions, Questions!

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do good things happen to bad people? Why has this tragedy happened to me or to my child?

Well, truth be known, these questions are not new. The seeming unfairness and inconsistencies of life are noticed by even very young children and have been a part of the human experience for thousands of years. Just as folk tales and fairy tales developed in many cultures to explain various aspects of life, the story of Job came about as an attempt from a “faith perspective” to explore this kind of deep and searching questions. Yet the answer given by the conclusion to the book of Job does not actually answer the question of “unfairness” at all, but asserts the great gulf between the greatness of God and the finitude of human experience. It emphasizes the importance of faithfulness in the midst of our difficulty and our ultimate unknowing.

First off, I need to say that there is no real attempt in the book of Job to assert that this is the story of a person who actually lived. It was never intended to be a “news report” kind of story. It does not belong in the “history” section of our library along with tales of the battle of Vimy Ridge, the struggle for responsible government, Confederation and the building of Confederation Bridge, but should be located in the “poetry section”. Job is a “once upon a time” story with a “they lived happily ever after” ending. Like Jesus’ parables, it “never happened” but contains deep truths about faithfulness and the human experience.

The bulk of the book seeks to explore deep human issues within the context of the life and misfortune of a man named Job who functions as a kind of extreme example of a good man fallen on hard times through no fault of his own.

Unfortunately the story of Job is too long to read in a Sunday service. I’ll summarize. The story of Job goes like this. God and some of the other heavenly beings are having a conversation about who on earth is truly righteous. God uses Job as an example. We are introduced to a character referred to as “Satan” or perhaps, more properly as, “the satan”. We must be careful here, because “the satan” in this passage is not the devil of later literature, but a heavenly being, one of God’s “buddies”, as it were. Apparently his role is to investigate things down on earth. He does stir things up; he tests. The idea of associating him with the origins of evil only comes much later in religious literature and thought.

This being asserts that Job is only righteous because he is wealthy and that if all of that were taken away, Job would curse God. God asserts that this is not possible and the bet is on.

The satan has free reign to do what he wants. Job loses everything; his family and his wealth disappear in a set of disasters almost beyond imagination. Despite the satan’s assertion, Job continues to praise God as he had before.

So the heavenly council has another go at Job. This is the part of the story from which our passage comes. The satan asserts that Job would change his tune if he was personally affected with illness. So God tells him to go ahead and afflict him, but insists that Job’s life be spared - the satan cannot go that far. So Job is afflicted with painful boils and he ends up on the community ash heap.

His so called friends; his so called ‘comforters’, come to see him and their reflective but pious advice and Job’s indignant responses form the bulk of the book. The opinions of his friends are examples of the various kinds of responses commonly given to the problem of human suffering.

At the end of the book there is a long speech by God who basically says, “Job you are only human. You DON’T know everything. Where were YOU when I created the world, tell me how I did it exactly”.

Job repents of his indignation and in the end he is more prosperous than he had been, with more stuff and more children than ever before.

Before I go any farther I must say two things. We have probably grown up with the expression, when referring to someone who has endured much, “she must have the patience of Job”. BUT Job, even though he was pious, was most certainly NOT a patient man.

As I said, the passage I read today sets the stage for part 2 of Job’s misfortune. Like the first stage it comes as the result of a heavenly game of “no he won’t” / “yes he will”. Job is merely a pawn in a game between God and “the satan”.

As I have said, Job was never a real person’ the book of Job is not and was never intended to be history. It is “wisdom literature”, which is concerned with proper moral and religious conduct and its connection with personal well-being and in that way this story attempts to convey great truth.

While we may ask the questions, “why do the innocent suffer?” and “What did I ever do to deserve this suffering?”, the book of Job addresses a slightly different question. It addresses the question of the relationship between our personal circumstances and our relationship with God. If we looked to the book of Job for an answer to why the innocent suffer we would have to conclude that the innocent suffer because the heavenly beings are gambling with our lives. I suppose it’s as good an answer as any, but that leaves us with the question: How do we respond in the face of such suffering.

The deeper we look we realize that the real test orchestrated by ‘the satan’ was “is Job’s relationship with God dependent upon his health and wealth or was it independent of it.

I have seen many people interviewed on TV after a disaster such as a plane crash who assert that God acted in some way in their lives to prevent them from being on that flight or in that location on that day. That sounds good until you look at the flip side of that kind of statement. Why did God not prevent the others from being there? Was there no divine plan for their lives; or did God simply not care enough for the ones who died?

While these questions are very human they are ones with no real answers. What we need to do is to change the question and look at questions for which we do have answers.

Some days it surely does seem as if our misfortune has been caused by some malevolent puppeteer; but does that mean that we are to blame God and to reject our belief in God’s goodness. The book of Job says “No”. The book of Job asserts that our call is to faithfulness, despite our circumstances. The Book of Job calls the faithful to make a witness that is independent of material or physical prosperity.

I only the well and the prosperous praised God, what would that say to us when we are unwell and down on our luck, in small or large ways.

We are called to a life of praise because of the nature of God and God’s relationship with human beings. No matter what happens God’s will for us is a will for life. God created the world and proclaimed with goodness.

In struggle and in ease we are called to praise, knowing that God’s will and power are ultimately stronger than anything else. As a people of faith, we gather to proclaim this truth and we proclaim it to one another in community so that we can be of support and receive support as the situation warrants.

We gather at the table today and on this day, most especially, we call to mind the many who gather at similar tables, and who receive strength from this meal and the words of the one who promised to be with us always, even to the end of the age.

We do this and we do all things in the name of the one who called us to remember, and to bring to life and word the love of God who created and is creating and who came to us in the Word made flesh.

Praise be to God at all times. Amen!

Joel 2: 21-27
Psalm 126
1 Timothy 2: 1-7
Matthew 6: 25-33

Thankful Living

Early in the 20th century a United Church missionary working in India was being hosted by a family in a local congregation. Being a good Canadian he cleaned his plate as a sign of appreciation for the gracious hospitality, particularly in the midst of so much poverty. After he put down his fork the host picked up his plate and soon came back with more. Being a good Canadian this missionary again cleaned his plate, though it was somewhat difficult.

He thought he noticed a slight sign of distress on his hosts face as he disappeared with his plate once gain and was gone a long time. This time he came back with a smaller portion of food. About that time a light went on in the missionary’s head and he ate the food, but was careful to leave a few spoonfuls on his plate and announced that he was full and could not possibly eat another bite. I believe this is a Jim Taylor story, from Currents or some other publication

He discovered that in that culture the expectation of a host was to feed a guest until the guest was full, and that could only be proven when there has been some food left. A good guest leaves just enough to show they are satisfied, but not enough to be wasteful. By contrast, in Canada at that time at any rate, a good guest was expected to clean his or her plate. This misunderstanding of expectations may well have cost the family its food for several days.

We have arrived once more at Thanksgiving weekend. Many of us will eat our fill of turkey with all the trimmings at least once this weekend. I’ve heard of some folks that make the rounds from friends to parents to in-laws and end up fed up with turkey.

Thanksgiving is a secular holiday but unlike some, it finds itself an easy fit in any church calendar. Who are we, as Christians, if our hearts do not easily fill with thanks and praise? Who are we if we fool ourselves into thinking that we as humans are solely responsible for our blessings? Who are we if we forget to pause and to share our bounty with others.

But, like Christmas, Thanksgiving is one of those days that tends to be “good while it lasts”, but rarely ends up affecting out attitudes and behaviour for more than a day or two. The question for us is: does thanksgiving become a way of living as faithful people or is it just another holiday, that lasts not quite as long as the boring leftovers?

Thanksgiving rituals are not modern invention and are a part of many cultures. As Canadian Christians, we must realize that we don’t have a corner on thanksgiving even though the first recorded thanksgiving by a “European in the new world” was in 1578. Martin Frobisher North American First Nations peoples had thanksgiving observances long before our ancestors arrived.

The biblical rituals outlined in the scriptures speak of Jewish celebrations of thanksgiving. One such passage outlines the ritual of thanksgiving; and the instructions were given BEFORE the first harvest in their new land actually took place.

As far as our own thanksgiving goes we sometimes have to pause to remember how much variety our land produces. We don’t produce bananas, oranges, or papayas but we do have many others. Fresh local strawberries were so long ago we hardly remember, as were the raspberries that followed them. Blueberries were later, followed by the cranberries. Grocery stores bins are full of squash and pumpkins and enterprising farm children have then piled by the gate in hopes of earning a few dollars for new skates or an iPod. Hay has been in for months and wheat, barley and oats are all harvested and the straw baled as well. Local apples are available along with all other kinds of vegetables if you know where to go to get them.

On PEI we all know that there is one major crop left. A large percentage of our potato crop is still in the ground and farmers and hoping that the weather will cooperate and the harvest will last in storage.

But, you might argue, some of those crops were not great this summer; too much rain at the wrong time and not enough heat when it was needed! And what about all those farmers who shut down their operations or who went out of business in the past year, or the lobster fishermen who barely made their costs? Soooooo maybe we should postpone thanksgiving, wait for those potatoes, to see if we have enough for which to be thankful. Maybe we should wait and celebrate in November, with the Americans.

In many ways, as we gather sound tables laden with food, Thanksgiving has become an excuse for excess and we are really patting ourselves on the back for all that we have managed to accomplish and for how well off we have become. But, hey it’s as good a reason as any to have a holiday, stay home and watch the game on TV.

This leaves us with the question: “In a time of uncertainty, and we do live in such a time in many ways, are we still called to true Thanksgiving?” In the face of total crop failure, are we called to Thanksgiving? In the face of total economic collapse are we called to thanksgiving? In the face of total breakdown of health, or community, or social structure, are we called to thanksgiving?

The short answer to all of these related questions is yes. We are called to thanksgiving because the call to thanksgiving is not limited to a call to be thankful for “stuff”, even though it is “stuff” necessary for life itself, but a call to live life in the realization that we are not self made; we are not solely responsible for all that we produce; all that we are and have and all that we can or will become. Thanksgiving is an attitude; it is about adopting “an attitude of gratitude”. Like the story of Job which we encountered last week, we are called to the profound recognition that we are only human and God is God. We are called to a recognition that the creation is a whole lot bigger than any one or any group of us.

As Canadians we have a lot for which to be grateful, but in the first decade of the 21st century, we have to face an unprecedented problem; that of our over consumption. We have to take seriously the fact that we have taken our resources for granted and that the entire planet is suffering for it. Human beings have become too greedy and we have come to believe that we re entitled to our over-consumption. And every year we give thanks that we are so blessed. Some of us may even believe, deep down, that our greed is blessed by God.

In the western world, we are blessed with wealth - we are blessed with abundant natural resources - clean air and clean water - generally speaking. We are are blessed with prosperity - generally speaking. Yet, mush of this comes at the expense of the planet and our developing world. We need to realize that the cheap imports of foods and manufactured goods which are driving our jobs away and our farmers out of business are not helping the average person in the developing world who is growing that food for us or putting that sneaker together. It’s the corporations who control all of this and whose only motive is profit. To make matters worse enormous environmental damage is being done to feed this prosperity. As the developing world seeks our standard of living, we are entering a great political quagmire as world leaders seem to reduce the overall human “carbon footprint”.

What is the solution? We are told that it’s consume less. Reduce. Reuse, Recycle. Drive less. Turn down your thermostat? Think about your need for a product before you buy it.

Many years ago a cousin of mine was given the job of distributing candy at a family gathering. She took great delight in going from person to person, doling out the treats, “one for you ..... and one for you ..... and one for you”. Now with the two grandparents, five or six parents and a dozen or so children usually present at a Johnston family gathering at that time there would have been quite a number of people getting a candy. As she neared the end though a look or horror came over her face: she realized that if she continued in the same manner there might not be “one for her.”

We know that as a people of faith we are called to thankfulness and that this call is to issue in generosity. Yet, even as Christians we live in a culture of fear. We fear that the kind of thankful living that issues in generosity will result in there not being enough for us.

What I want to talk about is a spiritual perspective on life that needs to accompany our thanksgiving and our “ecological” actions.

The gospel challenges us today: We are asked, “What happens when we truly live a life without worry? What happens when we truly trust in God? What can happen when we truly live without the fear that there will not be enough if we share with those who have less.

Our new moderator, Mardi Tindall, in her Thanksgiving message to the church wrote about abundance in a culture of scarcity. Many people these days live as if everything is scarce and the most logical response to scarcity is hoarding. We keep what we have because we are afraid that there will be “no more”. However, as a Christian people we are called to live in the light of God’s abundance. Living in the light of abundance is not an excuse for either waste or excess, but a call to sharing and radical generosity.

We are all worried about the H1N1 virus because it is contagious. Generosity can also be contagious. When we encounter generosity it can inspire us to further generosity. Every time we opt for generosity instead of the “saving everything for a rainy day” approach, we place more and more of our trust in God, rather than in our own efforts and abilities.

Thanksgiving then is about a radical trust in the abundance of God that transforms our whole lives, informs our mission and opens our hearts to others.

We are not alone. We live in God’s world.

Amen!

Job 38: 1-7 (34-41)
Psalm 104
Hebrews 5: 1-10
Mark 10: 35-45

True Greatness!

(Beth) Mark. You’re my friend. I want you to do whatever I ask of you.

(Mark) What do you want me to do for you?

(Beth) You teach music, right?

(Mark) Yes .....

(Beth) I want you to make me the most famous composer and performer that ever lived.

(Mark) Well. Can you read music?

(Beth) No.

(Mark) What instruments do you play?

(Beth) The radios and the CD players at home and in my car!

(Mark) First you will have to learn to read music and then to play an instrument, a real one, and the rest is up to you.

(Beth) That sounds like work and sacrifice and all of that! I was looking for a gift. (Sigh)

(Mark): Sorry!

The quintessential New York City joke is to approach someone on the street, looking for directions, asking, “Can you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?”

The answer, of course, is “Practice, practice, practice.”

What does it take to be a great musician? What does it take to be a brilliant neurosurgeon? What does it take to earn a PhD in Chemistry? What does it take to earn a gold medal at the Olympic Games?

Work.

Practice.

Dedication.

Focus.

Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, is a heartwarming tv show about a deaf woman who is hired by the FBI because she can read lips. In post 9/11 Washington the agents in her little unit usually spend their time thwarting the schemes of domestic terrorists but occasionally they solve cold cases, investigate mob activity, ferret out white collar crime and take down petty thieves. They are assisted by Ms Thomas’ “hearing ear” dog, Levi, an irresistible Golden Retriever.

One of the agents in the office in which she works is Special Agent, Miles Lleland III. English accent essential Miles is known for his wit which borders on sarcasm, think’s that he is a cut above the average Special Agent and the others like to kid him just about every chance they can get.

One day he hears of a special foreign assignment and he dreams of beaches and palm trees and time spent living the life to which he feels entitled. After landing this job he discovers that there is very little glamour about the assignment and then has to get himself out of it by doing favours for Randy, the annoying accountant in charge of expense claims and personnel. When they too discover the real nature of this assignment his co-workers wonder to what lengths he will go to get out of the fix he got himself into.

He saw the special duty assignment as an exercise in luxury; the FBI saw it as an assignment that needed to be done, even under adverse conditions.

Apparently Miles Lleland III was not willing to give what it took to be great in that kind of assignment, preferring the comforts of Washington instead.

In today’s gospel passage Jesus is approached by two of his disciples and asked for a favour. It was no small favour - and as we find out - the other disciples are understandably offended. They may have wanted to be seen as deserving positions of favour but they weren’t jumping up and down waving their hands and shouting, “pick me, pick me”. Whether they were secretly whispering it, or not, is a moot point. The point can be made by Jesus response to the two brothers.

It is interesting to note that the request of the brothers sounds remarkably similar to the offer made by Herod to his daughter and how it cost the life of John, the baptizer.

We all know the phrase “right hand man”; it is a position of honour and power. They wanted positions of honour, but we are meant to think of the two criminals who were crucified with Jesus; one at his right and one at his left. That was not the kind of honour and privilege they had in mind, I am sure.

What does it take to be great in the kingdom of God?

First of all it takes the willingness to “drink the cup” of suffering that Jesus had to drink. It also takes the willingness to be a slave, or servant, to everyone.

It takes an ability to ignore any search of greatness for the simplicity of serving the last and the least. Don’t seek to be featured on the National feeding the poor and clothing the naked. Don’t seek fame for doing good deeds. It’s hard to be humble, even if you aren’t perfect in every way. In other words greatness is not something to be sought at all; greatness may be granted but it is not to be our goal.

What then is our goal as the people of God? For what should be strive? It seems clear to me that our goal is not to be fame, but faithfulness. Its one of those self contradictory kind of things: if you strive for humility you may well be proud when you have achieved it! - but then, you have lost it!

Perhaps the problem with the disciples was that they were not asking the right question. When we change the question we sometimes learn to see things in whole new ways.

I came upon an article on domestic violence the other night and it said that the media and society often asked the question, in relation to domestic violence, “Why does she stay?”, but in order to begin to get to the root of this serious problem, they had to learn to also ask the question, “Why does he hit?” In the course of their scientific endeavours, researchers discover they are asking the wrong question, and make progress only after changing their basic question. They call it “thinking outside of the box”.

As followers of the “Way” of Jesus we are called to think outside of the box of normal success and failure; outside of the box of the usual marks of status and prestige.

In many ways the Christian faith is about paradox. Some obvious examples include phrases or ideas such as: “You will only find your life if you lose it. The first shall be last. The least are the greatest. It is only in dying that life can be found.”

The two disciples were convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. At the time that the events in this passage take place they were convinced that they would be with Jesus to the end; to endure whatever suffering he kept talking about. Yet, along with the rest of the disciples, they too deserted him, when the authorities closed in and arrested him.

Of course, their story is our story, if it has any relevance for us today. As we think about our lives as individuals and as faith communities, we need to look at Jesus words today. If our mission is to be successful, to fill the church to the brim, to have no worries about money, then we are in the wrong business. Discipleship is not about success, primarily, but about faithfulness. It is about having the courage to speak truth to power as we advocate for the littlest and the least. It is about accepting the role of unimportance, as children were unimportant in Jesus day. It is about seeking to follow the Way no matter what the opposition or the rate of return.

We are assured that if we do this we will be given what we need, not what we want but what we need, in order to go forward.

As we contemplate our personal lives and our future as a church community let us look beyond success and failure, greatness and insignificance, because all of those terms are meaningless. Let us instead strive to be a people of mission, serving others with the mind and heart of Christ.

Amen.