1 Kings 17: 8-16
Psalm 146
Luke 7: 11-17

Otherwise?

Today we have two stories; one from the Hebrew Scriptures, one from the Gospels which appear, on the surface, to be miracle stories! But if we limit these stories to that literal interpretation, we both rob the stories of their power to say something much more universal and we can easily cause unneeded pain to those who have quite literally buried children who died much too young and who have read these stories and wondered “where was God when I needed my miracle”.

In 2016 in Canada we have various mechanisms that are supposed to ensure that widows and orphans, among others, do not live in poverty. Whether they actually do what they are supposed to do is another question, but they are there. In biblical times, things were very, very different. Most of the land was held by the rich and everyday people were day-labourers with no such thing as “job security” or “old age pensions”. Generally speaking, the man was the sole breadwinner for his family and earned only enough for the day’s needs. A widow without an able male worker to look after her was often completely destitute.

If there was any money or property to inherit, it all went to the son, not to the widow or a widowed mother. If the only son died the family property went to the husband’s nearest relative who would not necessarily see it as his obligation to care for the widow. Their “social safety net” was mostly cracks and holes! To make matters worse, the loss of the family breadwinner was often seen as “God’s punishment for sin”.

Jesus and Elijah both preached in desperate times. Ahab and his foreign wife, Jezebel, were among the worst of the Royal Families in their history and the Roman Empire re-wrote the book on cruelty.

Into each of these times, we are told, God sent a preacher, a person who spoke the truth to power, who proclaimed in word and deed that God was with them. It was not always the person who was expected that became that needed voice. Dr. Walter Brueggemann, who is a well-known Old Testament scholar, referred to Elijah as someone who was “completely unexpected, uncredentialed, and uninvited” and the same could be said of Jesus, yet their influence is hard to overemphasize.

The role of the Hebrew prophets, by and large, was to call the leaders and the people to account for their shortcomings. God had told them what they were supposed to be doing as a people and what the consequences would be, if they did not do so.

Because he had risked telling the wicked Queen Jezebel what she had done wrong, Elijah had a price put on his head for much of his ministry and it was during one of those precarious times that he visited the un-named “widow of Zarephath”. You have to know that Zarephath was in Sidon, not Israel. She was a foreigner; the enemy!

Jesus, as he began his ministry, quoted the passage from Isaiah which talked about his ministry to the poor and the brokenhearted AND he referred to the story about God sending the prophet to this unnamed foreigner. The people were upset because they had long since developed an “us first” religious outlook. It became clear that Jesus was not going to let this outlook limit his ministry.

Let’s go back and take a closer look at the passage from Kings. King Ahab had married a foreigner who instituted the worship of her country’s gods, the Baals, who were basically “fertility gods”. Remember the 10 Commandments? Famine descended upon the land. Elijah called Jezebel out on her action and she put a price on his head ; he fled for his life. Yet, at each step God cared for him in fairly miraculous ways! You can read that for yourselves if you like! But, as our story beings God has a new plan to look after Elijah, the faithful prophet. He is sent to a foreign widow on the verge of starvation herself!

Many years ago, I knew a minister who would call a woman in his congregation and say, “I’ll be by about 4 and I’d like a pie to take with me”. Well, this is basically what Elijah did but the woman picked for him had nothing in the house but enough for a last meal and it was a very meagre one at that. Well, we heard the story; she acted in trust and there was always just enough for one more day. There is no indication that she found her flour barrel and her oil jar full! THEN her son died, which meant that when and if the famine ever ended she would have no means of support. Elijah restores him to her. ALL of this for a foreigner. It’s a bizarre story set in the time when foreigners were not highly regarded.

The trouble with many of the biblical stories is that you cant read enough at any one time to see all of these contrasts and surprises. In the gospel story just BEFORE this one, Jesus heals the servant of a centurion, a man who was powerful but a gentile. In this story the widow and her son are Jews but they are at the bottom of the social ladder!

When bad things happen, either in one’s personal life, or in the social life, there is a tendency for us to say that God has left us - God has abandoned us - Or even; God is punishing us!

But these passages tell us something quite different. Walter Brueggemann, whose words I quoted earlier, wrote a book about the prophetic role in this kind of situation and called it “Testimony to the Otherwise”

When everyone tells you to see things in a certain way, the biblical message challenges us: “No, God says otherwise”.

The rich and powerful are often those who define the reality of a nation - the financial meltdown of a few years ago was not caused by Jo and Jane Public, yet they bore the cost. The wars that cost trillions and cause heartache, untold damage, and take the lives of millions, are not caused by common folks, but by politicians and billionaires with something to prove or a dollar to make! We know the gap between rich and poor is increasing and, in the west, more and more are falling from the middle class. Oyr jobs are going offshore to people who probably were far better off before our factories relocated there!

As Christians this is something that should not sit well with us. There are some who see our wealth and privilege as a sign of God’s favour but that is not necessarily sol What if we were given more so that we have more with which to work in our mission to be a blessing to others? If God is on the side of those who would otherwise be ignored, are disadvantaged and pushed to the margins, that should be our work as well.

Recently, Pope Francis said something like this. “Christians should pray for the poor. Then Christians should help the poor. That is how prayer works.”

I was scrolling through the posts on my phone and I came across one on Friday afternoon that I found thought provoking. It’s a quote from Abraham Lincoln, “..my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side”. That’s as true for us in Canada as it is for Americans!

Despite their familiarity, these passages turn our first assumptions on their heads and ask us to think of life in the completely opposite way.

Sometimes people find themselves in a situation where they are called to do simple but incredibly risky things. What if we had a minority group living here in Hantsport and the government decided to round them up and do who knows what to them because they were “different”.

Europe during WWII was a dangerous place to speak your mind and think “otherwise”. Bishop Chrysostomos was a leader of the Greek Orthodox church during the Nazi occupation. When the Nazis ordered all the Jews of Greece to be rounded up so they could be deported to the death camps in Poland, the mayor of that particular island was ordered to provide a list of all the Jews living there. The mayor did make the list but then went to the Bishop for advice. The Bishop told him to burn it and then after pleading with the Nazis did not work he gave them a list which contained only two names: his and that of the mayor - which caused enough delay and confusion that it gave the people who cared, enough time to warn the Jewish people and help them to hide them in the mountains. Even though many of the children were taken to work camps as a punishment for the town’s insubordination, the people provided the hidden people with food and shelter until the island was liberated more than a year later, saving the lives of 275 people.

The bishop and the mayor and the people of the island did not accept the power of the Nazis as a given. They envisioned the world to be “otherwise” and lived in faith as if it was!

When we talk about the past it is easy to speak from the point of view of the winners (and we did defeat the Nazis) but when its our everyday - here and now existence, it is less clear.

The worldly ideas of wealth and “bigger is better” also negatively affect churches and communities of faith. Many people see the only successful churches to be the “big churches”; but perhaps we need to think otherwise. It’s not about what we cannot do, getting us down, but about challenging ourselves to be what we can be, to do what we can do, to proclaim the Gospel, to live out our faith individually, not just on Sunday morning but 7 days a week.

The philosophy of the world is: The one who dies with the most toys, wins! The biblical prophets and Jesus ask us to consider another way - that God’s will is that all of creation - all people, are beloved and that it is God’s will that all people have what is needed for life and blessing. Let us together with God, overcome boundaries that prevent this from happening!

Let us be the people of God - let us proclaim the “otherwise”.

Amen! with credit to Kathy Donley, PRCL-L Preaching list for the title and for the inspiration that enabled me to finish this sermon.

1 Kings 21: 1-10, 15-21a
Psalm 5

Just Because You Can Do It, Doesn’t Make It Right!

Living a good life, a life of faith, has a great deal to do, not with the hand we are dealt, but the choices we make.

Jean Vanier, a well-known Canadian, the son of former Governor General Georges Vanier and his wife Pauline, and a naval officer himself, was a son of privilege. Yet, he chose to leave behind an academic career for more spiritual pursuits and to share his life with two disabled men whom he invited to live with him in his home in France. This was the beginning of what would eventually become 147 L’Arche communities and over 1,800 Faith and Light communities. For Vanier, the inner journey to a deeper relationship with God results in a movement outward and toward those who are poor and in need. Turning “commonly held views” upside down he sees a disabled person as a teacher, not a burden and wonders why there are so many barriers and walls around people.

This is 2016 and with social media things that may never have been on our radar are now in the palm of our hands and we can’t ignore them.

About a year and a half ago a rape took place behind a dumpster near a frat house at Stanford University in California. The young man found guilty has just received a six month sentence, half of which he will probably serve on parole.

I think it was this light sentence that caused the whole issue to “go viral”. Some of the news articles about the event published before and during the trial, took great pains to note that the accused was a “star athlete”; as if that gave him a “free pass”. We’ve all heard the expression, “Oh, well, ‘boys will be boys’!” Some argued that a conviction would ruin his life! Apparently, the judge felt that a longer sentence would be too harsh! His own father referred to his crime as “20 minutes of action”. What it was, was 20 minutes (or more) of criminal stupidity! What it was, was 20 minutes (or more) of violence and hate and abuse of power! I think the courts should be more concerned about how his “20 minutes of action” ruined someone else’s life than about his future of privilege.

It would be easy enough to insulate ourselves by saying that it does not affect us, here in the Annapolis Valley but it does. A rape culture exists on just about every campus of every university in this country - where the statistics on sexual assault indicate that one in four female students will be assaulted - one in four - a culture where some young men feel entitled to a woman’s body just because the want it.

We need to change our culture, as adults, and talk to our young people about respect and consent and what constitutes abuses of power. We need to start, in age appropriate ways, with children when they are very young. This kind of attitude and behaviour needs to be modelled in the home. We need to teach our sons to be the kind of men we would want our daughters to date!

And like those Swedish grad students who happened to be cycling by, stopped, quickly assessed the situation and apprehended the rapist - not look the other way.

At the recent meeting of Maritime Conference we were encouraged to pose topics, form discussion groups around those topics, and come up with actions in response. One group I attended was about the plight of the Palestinians whose land has been occupied by Israeli citizens, often referred to as “settlers,” who, in their hunger for land, destroy houses and farmland that has been worked by Palestinians for many generations.

There was a picture of one such farmer, a friend of our presenter, who was looking at his ruined olive grove, trees pulled out of the ground and doused with chemicals so they could never take root again.

What can we do as Canadians, thousands of kilometers away? Neither indifference or tears are enough. As Canadians we need to stand with those whose land is being taken and whose lives are being destroyed, illegally. We need to urge the world community to help the parties involved seek a fair and just solution to this very difficult problem. We need to stop investing in the companies which profit from these illegal settlements and we need to stop buying products which are produced on what is, essentially, stolen land.

There are few people with more choices for good or evil than a king and queen in ancient times. In the biblical story, its not an olive grove but a vineyard, but it’s also a story of an abuse of power. The biblical story leaves us both a legacy of advocacy for justice and a mission.

There are people who suggest, sometimes quite strongly, that the church stay out of “politics” and stick with morality. This has never been the biblical tradition. Taken together, the biblical texts are very involved with “public” (or political) life.

The prophet Elijah called Ahab and Jezebel’s treatment of Naboth a sin. It was an egregious abuse of royal power. Instead of just wagging our fingers at someone in self-righteous indignation, the goal is to hear the prophetic tradition of justice and see it’s relevance in our own lives.

The bottom line is that how we choose to live is important. Is it for the good of all, for the weak and the vulnerable or is it only for ourselves?

I think we know what we are called to choose.

Amen.

2 Kings 2: 1-2, 6-14
Psalm 77
Luke 9: 51-62

The 1980s film that tells the story of English Olympian Eric Lidell uses the phrase, “Chariots of Fire” as its title. In the movie, a chariot of fire is a symbol of God’s power and zeal. In the movie Lidell is quoted as having said, “When I run I feel God’s pleasure”. The theme music would be recognized as normally accompanying a hymn which refers to a “chariot of fire”.

The Negro Spiritual, “Swing Low. Sweet Chariot” is commonly believed to refer to death bringing a release from the suffering from slavery, but during the period of slavery it could have been a much more subversive wish and prayer for better and more just times!

One of the problems of preaching is to be able to have a large enough passage so the “story” and “context” are clear but small enough so that you can actually deal with the material in one sermon!

We have encountered Elijah before. Elijah was the prophet who confronted Jezebel and Ahab about their unfaithfulness. He was pursued by the Queen because his preaching challenged her authority. As we know, the silencing of critics is often a tactic of tyrants.

Back in 1 Kings we were introduced to Elisha, Elijah’s disciple. In the midst of the turmoil in his life, Elijah was led to call Elisha as his successor. He found Elisha plowing with oxen. To show his commitment to his call, Elisha slaughters his oxen, uses the wooden yoke as firewood, and cooks the beef to feed the people he would leave behind. He then follows Elijah but disappears from the biblical text until the day mentioned in today’s passage.

The images and actions in the passage from 2 Kings are vivid and compelling. To not mention any of them would be to, use a common expression, ignore the “elephant in the room”, but to focus on them too much would be to miss the message this passage has for the 21st century!

Back in the “good old days” of Elijah and Elisha, in the land ruled by Jezebel and Ahab, life was hardly safe or certain for a prophet. In “them times” speaking truth to power could get the speaker killed!

In that poem by William Blake, which refers to a chariot of fire there is also a reference to “dark satanic mills”. During the industrial revolution massive numbers of people moved to the cities to work in factories and no longer farmed the land. Wealthy people made a fortune with whaet amounted to slave labour in the cotton mills, the large flour mills and other enterprises which completely and fundamentally changed the way society would function. No longer did small millers and artisans supply what was needed but everything was designed so that most of the money flowed to the top. If it sounds familiar, it is!

The main difference is that our “dark Satanic mills” are sweat-shops in the developing world, that take our jobs and introduce much of the world to cheap and dangerous labour to make stuff they can’t begin to afford and destroy their normally sustainable economies. And its not all that great for our either!

Blake’s poem also expresses the desire that England would become a place where none are oppressed by the economic disparities that abounded at that time. The chariot of fire becomes a compelling visual metaphor for the energy, zest and power of God in the midst of great change and upheaval.

The Brexit vote that took place this past week, and the US Presidential election that is coming in November both seem to boil down to two views of the world - “me first” or “a broader vision of blessing and responsibility”. At least some of the “mass shootings” seem to arise from frustrations about “those people” who are ruining things for the “rest of us.”

Clearly, these are not easy times? Do we speak our truth or do we remain silent out of indifference, or from a fear of sticking out or that the cost of change will be too great?

When a recruit signed up for service in what came to be known as WW1, before the institution of conscription, he was asked, among other things, “do you understand the nature and terms of your engagement?” I suppose most read this to mean, “do you understand that this is a war and you might be wounded or killed”. Few, if any, imagined the horrors that awaited them in this new form of warfare and the lasting toll it would take on the “returned men”. Even today, 99 years after the war, you can’t walk on the grass at some war memorials in Europe because of unexploded ordnance.

When people come to be married they promise, “for better or worse, etc. but there are really no specifics in the ceremony because no one really knows what may happen the next day, or year, or decade. When children are born there is no guidebook to cover any one child in every aspect let along a family of two, three or more, or families with half-siblings, step-siblings and other people’s kids who just move in!

If we are honest we know change is the only constant in life. Each age and stage of life has its benefits and responsibilities and sometimes moving from one to the other is easy but at other times it is stressful and difficult.

Today’s passage deals with change and the passing of the mantle, or cape, symbolic of the prophet’s responsibility and authority, to a successor.

Elisha asked for the “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit, a reference to the double portion of an inheritance received by the oldest son of a family. In addition to double benefit it also meant double responsibility; Elisha was agreeing to a “BIG” task.

When Elisha picked up the mantle he was tasked with informing the next generation of the demands of their God.

Perhaps we are Elijah readying the next generation to pick up where we have left off and knowing that their journey will have twists and turns that we could not imagine or predict.

Perhaps we are Elisha; we are the ones standing at the Jordan this day looking at the clouds which have just taken our glorious past and we are left holding the mantle wondering what we have gotten ourselves into. Perhaps we are nostalgic for a time when things were better or clearer or there was more guidance from the wise ones.

Changes in personnel always mean changes in direction and the ways of doing things. The one constant is the power and presence of the God who has been with us and will be with us.

In the lazy, hazy days of summer, in which we seek refreshment perhaps there will be time to reflect on these things.

May we have our time to teach and be taught, to mentor and be mentored for each time needs its own leaders.

May we pray that the God who breathes life into and throuh all generations will bring us our chariot of fire!

Amen.

2 Kings 5: 1-14
Psalm 30
Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20

Unexpected Wisdom!

British scientist Sir Alexander Fleming is reported to have said, “one sometimes finds what one is not looking for.”

Life in the 20th century has been made so much easier and more certain by various medical breakthroughs and discoveries. Who would want to imagine a world without antibiotics? We all know that antibiotic resistant bacteria are threatening to take us back to those times, and we need to be far more carefulo with their use, but did you know that penicillin was discovered by accident, perhaps even by it’s discoverer’s sloppiness.

You know how it is trying to get out the door for a vacation. You make a to-do list, get your tickets, then you pack, pay the bills you can before they are overdue, you eat the food in the fridge that will go bad before you return or you put it in the green bin, you get someone to sit the cat or dog, you gas up the car and you clean the office - at least to ensure that you can start with a clean desk when you return.

In 1928, scientist Alexander Fleming was in the midst of conducting experiments with the flu virus when he went on a two week vacation. He returned to the lab to discover that mold had contaminated his staphylococcus cultures. Upon closer inspection he discovered that the virus was not growing in the part of the petri dish nearest the mold. With the assistance of others, penicillin was developed and soon became the wonder drug that saved many lives.

Quite a number of the things we take for granted were discovered by accident, or by the product failing at meeting it’s original purpose. Some of these include the toy known as the “slinky”, post-it notes, synthetic dyes, anaesthesia, X-Rays, viagra, nuclear fision, safety glass (now used in all car windshields), plastic, microwave ovens, Vaseline, pacemakers, strike anywhere matches, gunpowder, corn flakes, and at least two artificial sweeteners. With that list, at least a few have to have benefited each and every one of us here today.

Sometimes the best things turn up in the most unexpected of places. I have married more than one couple who met, unexpectedly, when one was on an overseas vacation, or far from home at a foreign university.

Today’s passage from the book of 2 Kings tells the story of a discovery of healing power in an unexpected place, from Naaman’s perspective that is!

I love the story because it is a story about God's unexpected grace and the unexpected wisdom from a young girl.

Lets look at all of the unexpected stuff in the story.

At the time in which this story is set, Aram is the is the enemy of Israel but Naaman the commander of its army has won favour with God - this seems quite unusual, especially in a story told by a later generation of writers in Israel.

The commander of this foreign army, Naaman, has a disease referred to as leprosy - but it probably isn’t the same dreaded disease known in the 18th and 19th century as leprosy and which still affects some in the developing world. Instead of leprosy, it may have been psoriasis or some other much less debilitating but still very itchy skin condition. We can never be sure when it comes to ancient diseases. It seems to have been characterized by white patches of skin but whatever it is, he wants to be clear of it.

The army of Aram had captured some people on one of its raids and one of them, a young girl, is a slave to the wife of Naaman. Maybe she is a lady's maid similar to the ones portrayed on the TV show, Downton Abbey! Like all servants she knows what's going on but has no right or authority to suggest a solution to any of the problems faced by their lords and ladies!

This girl is a courageous child and having enough knowledge of her own people she tells her mistress that there is a prophet back home that could cure Naaman. It seems a bit unusual to me that she would even want to help her enemy; the people have taken her into slavery after all! Perhaps she sees it as a way of proving the superiority of her people’s god but it’s just another part of an unusual story.

Of course, every good drama has to have a wrinkle and some suspense!

It is the way of the world that kings talk to kings; kings don’t talk to commoners or even the designated prophets! So Naaman goes to his King and the King agrees to his request to go to Samaria and prepares an entourage with many expensive gifts and such to send to the KING of Israel! That part was completely and totally expected - but like the Wise Men many generations later, they weren't going to find anything useful at the palace!

The King of Israel is justifiably afraid: actually, he is quaking in his boots! He knows he has no power to cure the commander's hiccups let alone something like leprosy! It sounds to him that he is being given an impossible task as a pretext for more war. Sounds like a logical conclusion to me - wars have been started for less!

The suspense lifts when the prophet Elisha hears of this visit and sends word - "send the man to me". Of course, the king is only too glad to do so.

“Finally, I am getting somewhere”, he might have thought! Naaman and his delegation go to where Elisha was. He meets, not Elisha, but a servant! Once again, it is not what he expects! He’s an important man and he expects to be treated as such. It seems that he wants some “respect”. He wants "yes sir" and this from the powerful healer himself, not through a servant. He does not get the personal audience and he does not get the "hocus pocus" he expects. All he receives is a command to wash in the muddy Jordan which by anyone's standards was a second class river! He has far better rivers at home. Did he come all this way for nothing?

It is his servants who are the unexpected voice of wisdom. They say to him, "It's a slmple thing, Sir, why not do it. If he asked you to climb a high mountain, or lie on a bed of nails, you would have done it. Wouldn't you?"

So, Naaman washes in the muddy Jordan, seven times, as he is instructed and is healed. His skin became, as they say, “as smooth as a baby’s bum”.

All from an unexpected prophet, by unexpected means, and pointed in the right direction not only by a prisoner of war but a girl child at that!

This leads us to ask oureselves how we expect to encounter God and the holy and asks if we are open to surprises!

An older friend of mine had to move to a nursing home because her husband could no longer look after her at home. As her dementia progressed she became unable to speak. One day, she saw a woman in anther room in need of medical attention so she went off to find a nurse to help. While she could not speak she managed to let this nurse know that someone else needed her, RIGHT AWAY. No one expected her to have that level of awareness but her role was vital that day.

Years ago who would have thought how important cats and dogs were going to become in long term care facilities such as Windsor Elms Village and others. Last time I preached at the Elms, Zoey the cat graced our service with her presence and I think we all smiled. We’ve all heard about the “generation gap”! Because of this “generation gap” people in one generateion don’t value or don’t feel valued or understood by those in another. A dy or so after the Orlando shooting a 19 yr old cousin of mine, a university student working in France for the summer, posted an awesome “response” on her facebook page in place of her normal travel blog. It was well written and exhibited a wisdom I would not have expected from one so young.

This passage calls us all to listen and be open to the spirit working through others. It calls us to be open to the surprising ways in which someone else can have a positive impact in our lives - even if it is just to bring a smile to our faces or fill our heart with unexpected joy.

How many of you marvel at the wisdom of children when they first begin to reason out how the world works or does not work and give voice to the things we long ago stopped questioning or accept without such questioning. The next time a child asks “why”, think about it!

Sometimes, I think we miss moments of grace and opportunities for joy because we close ourselves off to their possibility. We label someone as “not smart” or “Not worthy” and we cannot see them as wise in any way!

Sometimes, for example, we decide that we will never be happy in a certain situation and lo and behold, we are indeed miserable. But in many of those cases, if we left ourselves open to the possibility of something good happening we would be surprised by grace and joy.

God is reaching out to us in many ways; some of them the most unexpected. Let us be open to grace.

Amen!

Amos 7: 7-17
Psalm 82
Luke 10: 25-37

Just BE A Neighbour!

I think I have told this story before, but if I haven’t, it’s time I did. A radio station was hosting a “call-in” with a home economist as a guest. People were invited to ask cooking related questions and many were asked about things like preserving fruits and vegetables and how to tell when the beef was “rare” or “well-done” or somewhere in-between! A woman calls with this story and attached question. “My mom died recently and my family was cleaning out her freezer. We found a turkey in the bottom of the freezer that was ten years old at Easter. Is it safe to eat?”

“No. You should definitely not eat that turkey” was the almost instant reply.

“Oh, Ok” the questioner responded, and then she added. “Then, I guess I’ll donate it to the food bank.”

I guess she thought the people who utilized the food bank had to take what was given even though it was not fit for anyone else to eat.

((I’ll insert a food bank memo here - DON’T GIVE ANY TEN YEAR OLD TURKEYS TO THE FOOD BANK - they will go into the green bin!)).

Interestingly, in Jesus day there were two sets of rules when it came to some things. A Jewish man of business could not charge fellow Jews interest but could if the transaction was with a Gentile. Likewise, I read that a Jew was not permitted to sell meat from an animal that had died on its own (as opposed to, been properly slaughtered) to a fellow Jew, but the meat could be sold to someone who was not Jewish! ((In case you don’t know, such meat would be considered unsafe, for all sorts of reasons! )) Apparently there were many such differences.

One day, a number of years ago, my mom received a phone call from an elderly man who had founded Vesey’s Seeds. He asked her a question about pollinating pumpkins by hand. My mom said that she didn’t know the answer and he proceeded to answer the question himself. My mother realized that he had called her to tell her that he knew this, not because he wanted to find out!

In today’s two part Gospel story a lawyer asks Jesus a question. Jesus is astute enough to realize that this man could very competently answer his own question, which he in fact does. “Love God, love neighbour, love self”. It was already in their tradition. Actually, it would NOT take a lawyer to figure that out; any teen would be able to score an A+ on that one!

Perhaps the lawyer (who would have been trained in religious law) was looking for a confirmation that “people from this or that group were not, in fact, his neighbours OR a even a compliment that he had gone “above and beyond” by showing love to people he didn’t really have to. He would have made the assumption that “everybody” and “neighbour” were not synonymous!

“Is a neighbour someone who lives on my street?”

“If they live on the next block are they still a neighbour?”

“What about the people in the next village?”

No one would have included the Roman soldier or the resident of a far country in the category of “neighbour”.

Instead of giving a direct answer, Jesus tells a parable.

This road from Jerusalem down to Jericho was very rugged, steep and noted for being dangerous - a lone traveller may well expect to be robbed. We are not told why the first two men did not help this unfortunate traveller, but the reading I have done in this past week says, that’s not the point; no one would have expected them to help. It would not have made for much of a story! People probably expected that a “regular Joe” would end up being the hero. What was not expected was the “SAMARITAN Hero”.

Just who were the “Samaritans”? Simply put they were a people of “mixed race” who shared a common ancestry with the Jewish people. The members of these two groups were despised by each other and tried to live separate lives. Even Jesus had suffered rejection at the hands of the people of Samaria! Most Jews would not have put the terms “good” and “Samaritan” in the same sentence. Of course the traditional name applied to the parable comes from later editors and is not from Luke, the writer.

We have all heard stories in the news where someone was in trouble and more than one person who heard the commotion or cries for help ignored the situation. Particularly in cities - it’s common.

What if the person that does help is a gang member? What if he is an escaped convict? Or an illegal immigrant who speaks no English?

Often, it is the outsiders who show the way. In November of 2005 an Israeli soldier shot and fatally wounded a 12 year old Palestinian boy who was waving a toy gun. Hit in the back of his head and in his pelvis he was rushed to hospital where he later died. This was not at all unusual in the conflict between Israeli soldiers and those in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. Sadly it was, and is, still all too common.

What happened next WAS unusual and made the news. The grief stricken parents donated the boy’s organs for transplant - fully realizing that since their son took his last breath in an Israeli hospital that at least some, of the recipients would be Israelis. His mother, Abla said "To give away his organs was a different kind of resistance. Violence against violence is worthless. Maybe this will reach the ears of the whole world so they can distinguish between just and unjust. Maybe the Israelis will think of us differently. Maybe just one Israeli will decide not to shoot."

Ten years on the father of that boy still endures the injustice of being a Palestinian trying to get to work, - actually just a short distance away as the crow flies, but which takes hours because of the now infamous “wall” and the many checkpoints.

I tell that story because the Parable of the Good Samaritan has become so familiar that it has lost its power to startle us, to make us think, to turn our expectations on their heads. Is there anyone we would not help, or from whom we would not accept help?

How many All in the Family fans here? Do you remember Archie Bunker’s reaction when he found out that a black nurse had donated blood to him during an operation? I don’t know what was worse for Archie: that the nurse was black or that the nurse was a woman! Or, do you remember when a passenger passed out in his cab and he had to administer “mouth to mouth resuscitation” - and he later discovered that “she” was actually a “he”, in drag.

Someone once said, “Jesus told parables and Jesus was crucified” Both are true statements but to connect them by including them in the same sentence, is indeed thought-provoking. Parables are not supposed to be nice, sweet, moral tales; they were designed to tease the minds of the people to deep thought and to leave them wondering, “Whatever could Jesus have meant by that story?”

Perhaps the message is a no-brainer! Stop asking who is in and who is out - just be a neighbour!

Amen!

Amos 8: 1-12
Psalm 52
Luke 10: 38-42

Mary or Martha? Which One is it?

The “Black Lives Matter” movement has to be one of the most frequently covered issues in media in recent weeks. Not surprisingly, it has also generated controversy. A rally to protest, at least what seemed to be, an increase in police shootings of black men, turned to chaos in Dallas as a sniper opened fire on the police who were there to ensure it remained peaceful and no one was hurt.

Just this past week, tenor, Remigio Pereira decided to make a statement by adding “all lives matter” to his rendition of “O Canada” as he was singing at the beginning of an all-star baseball game last week. “All lives matter” counter-protests have been organized as a response to the “Black Lives Matter” ones.

We need to understand that in proclaiming “Black Lives Matter” we are NOT saying that other lives do not also matter. What we are saying is that the lives of black people matter as much as the lives of others. Secondly, the daily lives of those who are black are all too often filled with incidents which imply that they don’t matter as much as the lives of others and this movement is seeking to change that! The dominant social group in any society does not need to assert their worth!

As Canadians we need to realize that this is a real concern here; its not just in the USA and its not just black people who need to assert their worth. I heard a first nations person on CBC last week who talked about the hassles with police that common occurrences for first nations people.

All lives DO matter, but until that is the actual lived experience, we will need a “movement” or a “statement” to bring the rest of us up short and make us look at things through the eyes of the other.

As with many biblical passages, the Mary and Martha story also needs to be taken in its context. In his gospel, Luke is telling a story about Jesus of Nazareth but you have to read the whole book to get the whole picture. The order of these events is one of the elements in “the whole picture”. It is the Parable of the Good Samaritan that comes before this story and taken together, they form a “not only, but also” kind of teaching. They form a balance between the “doing” of the Good Samaritan and the “being and reflecting” of Mary.

I am CERTAIN that you have noticed the behaviour of what I will call the “smart phone generation”. They will sit in groups at Tim Horton’s or McDonald’s but instead of talking and laughing together, as young people should be doing, they ALL have their phones out and are TEXTING other people or checking for Tweets and looking at FACEBOOK. To old folks, it is, as if, the people they are with are not as important as the people who are on the other end of the phone.

Over my years in ministry, I’ve done dozens, perhaps more, visits in which someone leaves the room to “make a cup of tea” - or find me some juice or water- and then they have to add a couple of squares, and a couple of cookies, and a piece or two of sweet bread, and a couple of biscuits, and some jam, and - and - and. I ended up talking to only one of them, or on occasion, even sitting alone, while the other, in an attempt to be hospitable, focusses on what is not really needed. While I do admit to having a “sweet tooth”, I would far rather have the conversation than the “lunch”, EVEN if it seemed effortless! I must say in the last ten years or so the number of things on the plate has gone down considerably - and I have not, as you can see, wasted away to nothing. I would hope, I have had more meaningful conversations.

Sooooooo, Jesus visits the home of Mary and Martha. This is an unusual household in that Luke does not feel like he needs to mention any men! It is John’s gospel that tells ua about Lazarus, their brother! In sitting at Jesus feet, Mary adopts the traditional posture of a student; a role traditionally reserved for men. This is not their first visit together; Jesus was a frequent visitor.

On this day, at least, Martha felt Mary should be helping her. However, it was downright rude for her to try and get JESUS to take her side in an disagreement that should have been private - but that would not have made for much of a story!

When I visit for a meal I sometimes get asked to say grace. I heard of a minister who was invited to a dinner party at the home of a family in his church one evening and the mom asked her son to say the grace. He protested, saying, “Mom, I don’t know what to say.”

She replied, “Just say what I usually do and it will be fine.”

“Ok” he replied. Everyone bowed their heads and the boy said in a clear, loud, voice, “Dear God WHY did I invite all these people here on such a hot day.”

I remember visiting my across the street neighbour for supper when I relatively new in that pastoral charge. I was instructed, by the daughter, to come dressed “casual and comfortable”. I was told later that all afternoon the hostess’ 90 year old mother kept insisting that her daughter do everything perfectly because “the minister was coming”.

The UCW has, as its reason for being - as expressed in its “purpose”: a means of expressing “... our loyalty and devotion to Jesus Christ, in Christian witness, study, fellowship and service”

You see, it’s not all one thing. It’s not all going along and picking people out of the ditches of life. It’s not all about feeding starving children, or donating stuff to homeless shelters, or writing letters to Amnesty International on behalf of the wrongly incarcerated. Then again, its not all about saying to people, “Jesus loves you”. It’s not about studying the Bible and memorizing a whole bunch of verses!

Sometimes we can get so caught up in helping that we do not take the time to reflect and ground ourselves in our reasons for doing what we do.

Sometimes we get too wound up in studying all aspects of something that we never get around to doing any useful action.

St Francis of Assisi is reputed to have said, “Preach the Gospel at all times - if necessary, use words!” In Mother Teresa’s work in Calcutta there was always work to do and it was done but there was time taken for prayer and study. There is also a need for the others who seek to address the factors that put people on the street in the first place.

There are those who believe doctors should treat disease and some who belive medicine should focus on the prevention of illness. In reality we need both. Who could imagine a doctor who would not treat a broken arm but instead told the child she should not have fallen out of that tree! What if the Good Samaritan had lectured the man in the ditch about travelling in pairs and avoiding that road in the first place!

It’s amazing how many times an illness in the family or a new baby compels people to reorient their priorities - and they decide that dusting the piano that never gets played is not important - at least not today.

The Johnston are stressful losers. We all are. My whole family. With the exception of, perhaps one. We lose stuff. All sorts of stuff. All the time. And then we run around in a great panic looking through piles and piles of stuff, turning everything up-side down, looking for that lost item - all the while our blood pressure and our voice rising! My brother’s wife, on the other hand, is a “we’ll find it, calm down” kind of person - and she is good at keeping things properly filed.

The teachers here today will appreciate this illustration.

A class was taking a timed test. At the sound of the bell they were to turn the paper over and begin. The bell chimed and, as if in sync, the whole class turned over the paper and began to write. The first line was an instruction. Read everything carefully before doing anything.

The second was “write your name and class on upper right”.

Questions three through nine, and eleven through fifteen were a combination of fill in the blanks and short essay questions related to the subject matter. Question ten was “speak your first name out loud” and question sixteen was, “do ONLY questions two through four and then put down your pen. Not surprisingly, before some students had finished writing furiously the sound of self-naming was heard throughout the classroom - clearly from people so eager to finish that they did not read the FIRST instruction, “Read everything first”.

What is needed?

To answer that, we need to know the context?

If, like the Samaritan we are traveling along the road of life and we see a pressing need - let us address it! Immediately! If like Mary, we are invited into the presence of the Holy, let us take joy in that presence and let us discuss and wrestle with our faith and the best course of action.

Let us take a deep breath.

Let us know that whatever we decide to do, as a response of love, we will be doing God’s work.

Amen.

Hosea 1: 2-10

Psalm 85

Luke 11: 1-13

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous?

One day a week or two ago an internet friend posted a picture of the oddest looking lounge chair. It looked really comfortable, if, that is, you could relax in it and ignore the fact that it was a gigantic wooden scorpion! In real life, the stinger at the end of a scorpion’s tail can deliver a painful sting, but I am told it usually does not require medical attention in healthy adults. You would not want a child to be stung though. Of course no adult would hand a child a scorpion to play with or as a substitute for food. That would be cruel and insane.

For today’s sermon I want to look at the familiar and even sublime “prayer of Jesus” and the ridiculous sounding instructions to Hosea, the prophet. At first glance the two passages read today don’t seem to have much to do with one another but when viewed through the lens of the question, “What’s God want with us anyway”, I think they do.

We are told in the story from Luke’s gospel that Jesus’ disciples observed him at prayer and asked him to teach them how to pray.

In recent years, this prayer he taught them as a response to their request has been called the “Prayer of Jesus”. However, it probably should be termed the “Disciples’ Prayer”. There is no indication that he used it himself; he was teaching it as a model for their prayer. There are many beautiful and thought provoking restatements of this prayer, some of which are being used in this service!

The lines I want to focus on is “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven”. What is God’s kingdom, what is God’s will? How is this will accomplished?

Does this prayer teach us that if we pray hard enough God will wave a magic wand and give us what we want, right?

Well NO! Prayer is about relationship. Note that the prayer refers to God as “Father”, as “Abba” we assume in the original Aramaic language. It would be best translated “Daddy”. Many children show their dad they are growing up by doing something new and shouting, “Look at me Daddy”. Its familial, and informal but very tender and meaningful.

Some of my colleagues have taken to referring to God’s “kin-dom” because the word “kingdom” can be more about abusive power than it is about a place where all have enough and no one is abused or persecuted. What would the world be like it we were all kin and we treated one another like that?

I think this is what the prayer is saying when it speaks of “your will be done”. God’s will is not “the poor having nothing and the rich having hundreds and thousands times more than they need”. It’s not about children making cheap clothes for us - for the profit of multinational companies. Its not about going to war for selfish political ends. Its not about farm workers being exposed to chemicals in ways we would not allow, so that we can have all sorts of fruit that we never heard tell of half a generation ago and they have no land on which to grow their own food. Its about a just global community. Its NOT about “me first”.

Now, to Hosea. Hosea was a prophet whose unhappy marital life mirrored the relationship of the people to God. It was an extended metaphor meant to show the people that they were like an unfaithful spouse. The names of his children were also symbolic; “Not Pitied, “Not My People.” Can you imagine calling one of them in for supper, or telling them to clean their rooms - “Not Pitied, help Not My People with the dishes.”

I thought Michael Jackson naming a son, “Blanket” was odd but other celebrities now have children named ”West,” “Saint,” and “Apple ” ti name just a few.

What’s behind these names for Hosea’s children?

The prophets whose lives and teachings are recorded in the Older Testament often lived precarious lives; in many cases their proclamation was more than mere words delivered to a reluctant people. It was a thankless and dangerous job.

When we look at the Hebrew prophets, we need to remember that prophets do not predict the future. I might predict the outcome of the next American election but that’s not biblical prophecy. Biblical prophecy is connecting the current state of affairs to the will of God and under God’s inspiration giving the people hope in the midst of despair OR telling them to “smarten up” or else they will suffer because of their actions.

Instead of being for-tellers they are actually forth-tellers ! They speak forth, or proclaim, God’s word. Proclaiming the consequences of inattention to the message and then when nothing changes, that future coming true, is not the same as predicting the future!

While it is a universal human quest to search for meaning and for the answer to the question, “What does God want from us?” human beings sometimes don’t really want to follow the answer they receive.

It’s often much easier to sacrifice a calf, or give some money, than it is to live a life of justice and mercy within the human community.

When we come to church and sing about God’s love and then go out the door and treat the stranger abominably, that’s a problem. When we leave here and treat the need of the world with indifference, that’s also a problem. Sometimes we don’t really know how to help, but we should never be indifferent. The needs are always greater than we can meet, but we should never be indifferent or uncaring. Sometimes we go so far as to blame the other for their plight as a way of insulating us against the responsibility to help - that’s also not the response of faith.

Relationships are hard - ask anyone who is in one. It doesn’t matter if it’s a parent- child relationship, a friend-friend relationship, a boss-employee relationship or a romantic relationship to name a few common ones. They take work and primarily making the relationship a priority.

God’s relationship with the people of Israel, according the prophetic literature, was fraught with frustration. The people had taken their relationship for granted. Jesus’ relationship with his disciples was fraught with frustration. They were continually misunderstanding what Jesus was trying to tell them.

They saw the Messiah, as most of the people did in Jesus’ day, as someone who would come and make their nation great again. It would be like the “good old days” of King David, when there were no problems and they were rich and powerful. First of all, there WERE lots of problems back then. Second of all, they wanted a Messiah who would benefit them, and did not pay any attention to the “light to the nations” call of Israel. It wasn’t that God’s love was in question, but what was in question was their faithfulness!

To pray and to live a life of faith is to enter into a relationship with the reliable God who is like a loving parent to us and to be in that relationship is a life of trying to live into God’s will for us. Its not about waiting for God to do all the work and it’s not about assuming that our wants are God’s will.

Let us remember to discern God’s will and then as individuals and communities, let us seek to be and do that will.

Amen.

Hosea 11: 1-11
Psalm 107
Luke 12: 13-21

Set for Life?

Thank you for coming today - to gather in community, to sing some hymns, to get your spiritual fix for the week, or in this instance, for the next month. A special thank you to Rebecca for sharing her talents with us while Juanita is on vacation. The next four Sundays we will not be worshipping as a community but I would encourage you to take some time and reflect on all of God’s blessings and seek to be a source of blessing to at least one other person during these dog days of summer. It might be as simple as sharing a glass of lemonade in the shade or taking someone else’s grandchildren to the beach along with yours.

As for me, I will be taking several shift selling ice cream and candy to Berwick campers with a sweet tooth! I do tell the children to remember to brush their teeth! (Seriously, I do!) Oh yes, and I will be attending daily Bible study, theology for today and worship for the week. Then it’s off to PEI to see my mom, friends and family and to have some R&R.

It was reported in one of those supermarket magazines, so it has to be true. Right? Some years ago, a couple was in divorce court and they could not come to agreeable terms on their joint collection of Beanie Babies. So there they were, in court, in front of a tired and frustrated judge, with the power to say, “One for you and one for you.” These were grownups! In case you didn’t know, few people collect these anymore!

If there is anything worse than an acrimonious divorce, it’s a fight over the division of family property after a death. It usually goes something like this: a child who feels he or she has been shortchanged contests the will, and the estate ends up in court. Or, there is no will! Or, more often, the things that people fight over and cause the kind of conflict that lasts for years are not the things of great monetary value but the mementos such as mediocre stamp collection or great grampa’s non-functioning pocket watch, which stopped a bullet during the war and saved his life.

The gospel of Luke tells of one such family conflict. We are told little; only that the man wanted Jesus to take his side! In Jesus’ time, the rules about dividing the property were supposed to be clear so I am not sure what was going on here.

However this conflict or unhappiness has occurred, it caused one of the brothers to come to Jesus for his authoritative intervention but instead of taking the bait, Jesus tells a parable. This parable gives the readers of Luke’s gospel far more to chew on than merely intervening in the family dispute. As I have said before, where would the teaching come from that!

What is the issue in the parable? Well, it’s NOT that this fictitious man has a great deal more than he needs. It’s NOT that he builds new and bigger barns. It his attitude! He needs, in the words of someone with whom I went to theological school, “an attidude adjustment”. It seems that this man regards himself as self-made, self-reliant and he is selfish. He does not seem to give any thought to sharing some of what has come his way.

He has no room for God, he does not seem to need the God whose world has blessed him immensely.

Few, if any, farmers get where they are without hard work, usually a number of generations of it. Few if any farmers though are entirely responsible for their success. The weather, the climate and luck or chance, each play crucial roles. Knowing what to plant and when and where are the responsibility of the farmer but then it’s not really in the farmer’s power to affect the outcome.

In addition, these days, roads the farmer did not build and equipment the farmer did not invent assist the farmer in crucial ways.

The bottom line of stewardship is that all things come from God and belong to God. This rich fool did not realize this, or at least his life did not show he believed it.

What is the most telling is his “interior conversation” as he surveys his “bumper crop” and realizes that since he does not have the storage space. His solution is that he will build bigger barns.

In his own mind, he was “set for life” but did not realize how short that life would be.

Retirement contingent upon one’s saved resources is still a relatively new concept. As a general rule, we no longer rely on the younger members of our extended family for our food and lodgings in our old age. Indeed my great-grandfather, 100 years ago, more or less, unlike many in his generation, believed in education for his daughters so that they could support themselves if they did not marry instead of being a burden on the brothers!

These days, personal savings are encouraged and we are told again and again that the baby boomers may bankrupt our social safety net and tear it to shreds so we had better save, save, save and invest, invest, invest. Financial planners disagree about how much of our pre-retirement income will be needed to allow us comfort in our old age. In this climate it is all too tempting to focus on ourselves because, we reason, if we don’t look after ourselves, no one else will.

As a church we can fall into that trap as well. Do we save everything we have left over , for a rainy day. or do we also focus on the “other” who is in need, especially if we feel little “connection” to that other.

We had a wonderful Strawberry Tea a few weeks ago. A number of people got together and with donations and shortcake we raised $1,000 more or less for a family of refugees that we have never met, though I do hope we can once they settle in. It was a wonderful feeling to be doing something that we may never benefit from ourselves - directly and personally but will benefit others immensely. We trust these folks will become contributing members of society and can go on to help others, as some new Canadian residents who are former refugees have aleady done when Ft McMurray was in flames. Many took part, because, they knew how it felt and because it was the right thing to do.

This parable does not tell us “how much is too much” but it does call us to make our own decisions by asking us to question the value we place on these things in which we trust and that trust itself. If we feel the only thing we need to be “set for life” is MONEY then we are in for a very empty life. If we feel that we can be guaranteed what we have prepared for - we may be in for a rude awakening.

Sometimes I see people scrimping and saving for their golden years and putting things off until they can afford their “once in a lifetime adventure”, or whatever it was. I usually tell them, why don’t you enjoy some of your money now - too many people get to retirement and they for health reasons they can’t travel or do those things they sacrificed for in their working years.

How we live and our faith are intrinsically related to how we view and manage our resources, all of our resources. If we feel that we alone are responsible for our long term well-being then there is little room for trusting in God.

John Wesley, 18th century Methodist leaders is believed to have once said, ““Earn all you can, give all you can, save all you can.” Notice that he does not say, ‘Spend all you can.”

I get a kick out of those home renovation shows. Many of them are filmed in areas where I would need to rob a bank, or several banks, to own a home - but these folks seem to be able to upgrade to better and better and more and more - and live in a world where they have had it with “making do”. So they “love it or list it”.

For the first ten or twenty years of their marriage, at least, a cousin of mine was called on a regular basis by realtors looking to list their home becasue they should buy something bigger and make way for some family who needed a starter home. They are still in their same house!

What is important in life?

It should not come as a surprise to anyone that I am not a fan of lotteries or gambling- of any sort - but I want to focus for a minute on the ones run by the government. The phrase “set for life” gives one the impression that if only you had that kind of money you would “have it made”. If you had that kind of money you could “live your dreams” and you would be “set for life”.

We know though that not having enough to make even the most modest ends meet can be very debilitating but at the other end, how much more that meeting our basic needs IS enough? If we have what we need now, what about a $100 more a week? $200? $1,000? When you get that, will you come to feel that it’s not quite enough? Probably.

You can’t buy health. Sometimes you can buy better health care. Sometimes you can afford more expensive care but sometimes you can’t. No matter how much meoney you have will cure some diseases especially loneliness and isolation.

To what use will we put our disposable income? What do our choices say about our relationship with God and God’s good creation?

It’s something to think about through the lazy, hazy days of what remains of a Valley summer.

See you all in September.

Amen.